Huntin' with the littlin'

Only one of the youngsters wanted to hunt this year. Of course it was the youngest(7), she had to show up her big brothers but "only if it's a boy deer". We got out the .410 the week before and she shot a couple slugs. She did really well. We also pulled up lots of deer pictures on the internet and she practiced showing me where to shoot each one.

We didn't get out too early and since we only hunt our own property we are limited on where we go. We posed for a pic so everyone could see her hunting deer.

We headed out and walked along the edge of the field you see behind us, where bucks like to bed down and watch the house. We didn't find any fresh beds, but when we got over to the other side i saw the neighbor kid in his half of the woods cutting firewood, but I didn't say anything to her.

We snuck into the woods and she learned how to cross a fence and a creek with a gun. We found a stump to sit on, where we could see the edge of a corn stubble field and watch a trail in the woods.

She did pretty good with sitting still and being quiet. We talked in whispers about different ways to hunt deer, then came in after an hour or so when we got cold.

We went back out that evening without the neighbor being in the woods so I had a little hope we would see something. No such luck.

All of our kids have shot some and all have kill animals in the live trap by shooting them. So far the only game they have eaten is the deer I have killed or has been given to us.

I have made a deal with each child that I will clean their first animal of each type they kill but then it is up to them (with my help) after that. The middle child I think is saving that for later since he won't hunt now but says he wants to in the future.

 I remember as a child the one thing I feared most was the blood, gore and guts of cleaning animals I killed. After I had actually done it there was no problem but the worry affected how hard I hunted.

I am hunting this weekend so wish me luck.

Still clinging to my God and my guns,
Randy

The live trap is getting a workout

The critters were getting in the garden so it was time to break out the live trap.

Here is the first customer on night two.

 

 

Here is our second customer on night three

 

I moved the trap out to some tall grass by our far shed and night four had another coon. We then skipped a day yesterday but had a ground hog this morning and a couple hours later had groundhog #2 of the day.

Hopefully I will get the groundhogs and coons thinned out soon.

Still clinging to my God and my guns,

Randy

 

Making the hard decisions

It's decision time. I have been doing a little writing the last couple years that hasn't amounted to much. Just look back at the ole blog here and you will see that I can put a lot of good information interspersed with a lot of drivel.

This year I have been getting more serious about it. I gave up one of my magazine subscriptions to get Writers Digest for Christmas. ( we poor folk have to ask for subscriptions for Christmas) It has made a HUGE difference by motivating me to write more.

You say "Really I hadn't noticed since this blog looks neglected to me."

Yes that's true I have been neglecting the blog ...still... but have been writing more elsewhere.

Which brings me to my problem...My laptop stinks!!!
I bought it used(mistake) it is slow and locks up all the time, it takes a good 30 minutes to boot up. When I bought it I figured it would be ok since I just planned on using it to write. It was ok when I was writing once  a month, but recently I have been doing actual writing for pay with deadlines and everything.

My dilemma...no $$$ for a new laptop...but I can sell a gun for enough to buy a basic model that is capable of what I need for my writing. I have a Marlin 336C in .357 sitting in the safe. I bought it for the cowboy shooting that I never started. It's had roughly 20 rounds through it in the eight years I have had it.

I know writing is taking away from the farm/homestead work but....E.B. White always felt guilty when he was working on his farm...So I figure have similar problems to E.B. White is a good thing.

To catch up a bit...

We got some Light Sussex eggs and have them in the incubator. They are much more common in Britain than here. They can be cross to make sex-link chickens. Our goal is to get a decent laying hen and a decent growing rooster for broilers. If we get the cross right we might be able to sell chicks for another stream of income. We have to fix up the coop to house the chicks in a few weeks.

Fire wood season was light since winter was so mild...I hurt my back again last fall cutting the first time and it really cut into how much we got. The Ash borer has killed so many ash trees in these parts that we were able to get several loads to keep us in wood. I let the furnace got out just this past Wed. May 2nd.

Have the garden tilled twice and will do it once more before planting.

I purchase some swarm lure and put it on the top bar bee hive I built a couple years ago. With luck we'll catch a swarm this year. I went to a bee clinic this winter and learned a lot, but we still can't afford bees.

My disc is still broke so I can't use the tractor to till the 2 acre field. I am looking for a three point disc but not luck so far in the affordability department.

Still clinging to my God and my guns,
Randy