Deer Hunting 2011

We’re down in Southern IL this weekend, visiting with family and deer hunting. It’s an annual event and we always have a great time.

It’s chilly this morning with a decent wind out of the south. I’ll keep a bit of a journal of what I see.

Friday Morning

6:30 small 4-point buck from the east. Walked by within 25 yards

7:12 Single doe. Came from the southwest walked within 50 yards milled around before heading to the east.

7:35. Heard a shot from somebody back to the west of me.

7:54 doe. Straight out of the east. Running toward me. Never looked at me just jogged on by.

8:23. Two does running toward the south. They might have scented me or seen me. They came from behind me somewhere. I keep waiting for the big buck.

8:45 two bucks came up behind me. A 4-point walked right under my stand but the bigger buck crossed behind me and went to the south. Could have dropped an acorn on the 4-point. Didn’t get a great look at the bigger one, but I think he was a shooter. Just realized my new restraint system has a long extra piece that was flapping in this strong wind. That might have given me away

Left for a couple of hours over lunch time and came back around 2. This afternoon, I didn’t see much of anything. Toward evening, I heard a sound and looked over and saw a rabbit. I see a lot of animals when I’m hunting, but I don’t often see rabbits. This rabbit took a few hops and then I saw what looked like a hawk. It swooped down and landed on a stump about 10 yards away from me and I realized it was an owl. I don’t ever remember seeing an owl while I was hunting. It swiveled its head around like owls do and then looked me in the eyes. I couldn’t get my camera around quickly enough without spooking it to get a shot. It flew off and a couple of minutes later I heard it ask -”Whoooo are you, man?”

It’s always nice to be in the woods.

Saturday morning. I moved my stand to a little better location for the evening hunt yesterday. It’s pretty windy again, but the temperature is supposed to get close to 60 this afternoon.

Haven’t seen much in the early morning. Met a hunter going in on the other side of the road. I heard a shot a little after 7 that might have been him.

A little after 8 I saw a doe, a yearling, and a fawn (no spots). I got some video footage I’ll try to share later on.

November 18th, 2011 | Category: Life on the Farm | Leave a comment

Last hive check for this year.

We looked in the hive and winterized it today. To winterize it we put a cork in the bottom hole, took out the feeding box, bucket, and inner cover, we put a fiber board where the inner cover used to be, we put a black box that had a hole in it that matched where the deep’s hole is over the top deep, then we put the top and the rock back on. At some point I’ll have to flip the entrance reducer so no mice can get in. My mentor told me at some times the fiber board will be a block of ice. The fiber board is there to collect the moisture the bees make. I’m not sure what the box is for but it’s black to help heat up the hive.

November 10th, 2011 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Boomer

I just noticed we’ve never talked about Boomer so I’m going to talk about him now. Boomer is my favorite llama. He’s brown with white on his face. We got Him when he was three years old a couple days after the 2010 St. Croix county fair wich is coming up again this month July 20-24 2011. We boarded him when he was little so I got to work with alot. He went back to his old owners and then they moved to a place where they couldn’t take the llamas so I got him again, he wasn’t as well trained as when I left him but I worked with him a little and  he’s still  pretty good . With only a few weeks of practice I took him to the 2010  Minnosota State Fair (also coming up soon  August 2011) and got fourth place in PR (PR is like an obstacle course I think PR stands for public relations), eighth in halter ( Halter is judging the llamas conformation their where twelve in his class and he did pretty good considering the a lot of the other llamas come from breeders and are mostly only in a non-breeder class because the farms need llamas for 4-H kids or becuse they have enough boys) we didn’t place in obstacle, and  I didn’t show in showmanship (showmanship is judging how well the handler controls the llama )because each class cost money to enter in and my arm was  hurting from holding it up so long. Boomer will be going to the St. Croix County Fair this year I’ve entered him in halter showmanship and obstacle. There are mostly babies in his class so I hope he does well some times the babies  are so insecure they’ll follow there handler the only problem with that is they can push you out of an obstcle and you would get points knocked off. Posted by Maggie

July 5th, 2011 | Category: llamas | Leave a comment

Update on the bees.

The bees are doing well. We just put on the second deep a little while ago and we already need to put on a third! I got to see different kinds of cells where the eggs are laid. There were the normal worker bee cells, drone cells (The only boys in the whole hive!), and swarm cells We scraped the swarm cell off. The bees will make about six swarm cells. When they start thinking “Wow this place is getting crowded!” the queen will lay eggs in the swarm cells then take half the hive and leave. The nursery bees (The ones that just take care of the larva and eggs and won’t sting) will then turn them into queens and the first queen to hatch will bite the head off the other queens. If they hatch at the same time or they don’t notice each other for a day or two the queens will fight it out and only one of them will be left alive. After the fight  if the queen isn’t perfect like if she has a torn wing or a broken leg they’ll kill her.   Posted by Maggie

June 19th, 2011 | Category: The bees | One comment

Bzzzzzzz

Yesterday Maggie’s mentor came over and helped us set up the bee hive in it’s permanent location. Maggie painted it a very light lavendar color and we bought concrete blocks to keep it off the ground. It’s now ready for Saturday pick up time.  There are 400 beekeepers coming to pick up this year!  I had no idea this hobby was so popular.  The pickup times are staggard by time and last name.  Our mentor is going to be the one picking up for us.  The bees were delayed this year because of the weather. Originally our bees were coming from Georgia but for some reason the bees that are coming are from California. I don’t know the story on that yet. I will update Saturday with more news.  Possibly a picture or two. I’ve forgotten how to post pictures!

By Sheri

April 20th, 2011 | Category: The bees | Leave a comment

Spring? Could that be you?

The weather this week has been beautiful.  Chilly at night but not cold and warm during the day without being hot.  I’ve had the house airing out from the long winter and yesterday the last of the snow melted.  The grass in the field is starting to spring up again and I’ve spotted tulips and daffidils sprouting.  Yesterday on the way to get the mail I noticed that the hen and chick that my neighbors sister in law gave me last year is green already.  It really lifts the mood to see all this newness and feel the warmth.  The beehive is painted and ready for the bees.  The yard is semi cleaned.  We removed the plastic from the coop and moved the babies inside there.  Next we need to clean out the llama barn.  No fun task.  Who wants ammendments for their garden?  Come and get it!

by Sheri

April 12th, 2011 | Category: Life on the Farm | Leave a comment

Aussie Puppy

Since all the tragic events were written about I thought I’d tell about the blessings we’ve had lately. After Nola’s accident the house got very quiet. Imagine that with three kids! Really, we all felt a sadness and void. Nobody to wake you up with a nose in the ear (Maggie), nobody to wag their tail for you when you got home from work (Jay), Nobody to wrestle with (James) no body to follow you around when you had treats (Caelynn) and lastly, nobody to sit at your feet and be your total devoted pal (ME). I have always loved animals but never knew I’d get this attached to one. After talking to several people and our trainer we realized that if we were to get another dog we needed to get on a breeders list soon. Maggie would really love to do agility with her dog but you have to wait until their growth plates are developed before really training them. That will take about a year and a half. So off we were to find a good, reputable breeder. I had three to interview. Talked to my number one and we made an appointment to look at her dogs over the weekend. Later in the day I talked to my third and realized her dogs weren’t what we were going to wait for. She was semi retireing anyway. Number two never got called! When I was talking to Jodie from Crystal Winds she did tell me that she had a four month old female puppy.  Hmmmm.  We went out and got a kennel and a few toys. It was then that I knew if we liked these parents and Jodie and this puppy didn’t have horns growing out of her head we were taking her. THEN we saw her! She was adorable and loving and attentive, the big kids liked her, Jay liked her and she didn’t jump all over Caelynn and I could go on and on. By the end of the visit I KNEW to just go ahead and pay for her because she wasn’t coming back. She has totally lived up to that gut feeling. She is smart, quick, gentle, loving, bonded to everyone in the family, playful, no issues, confident, beautiful, lets us sleep through the night (whoo hoo), mostly potty trained (have to watch her but double whooo hoooo) and we all just love her to pieces.   So announcing  Crystal Winds Precious Jade.  We just call her Jade

If I can remember how to post pictures I will post some later.

By Sheri

April 7th, 2011 | Category: Dogs | Leave a comment

Newest members on the farm

We’ve brought in six chicks!  There are five different breeds there’s a blue polish, splash cochin, blue silkie, easteregger, blue d uccle, and a blue porcelen d uccle. All are very cute and the polish is slightly crazy but there all friendly and setteled in. And theres a plan on bringing in a puppy somtime after the st. croix county fair! Most likely a  female blue merle border collie. And also a package of honey bees around april first.

By Mag

March 14th, 2011 | Category: Life on the Farm | 2 comments

injurys and death.

Nola was hit by a car Friday March 11 2011. She died almost instantly. And my favorite rooster R.J lost almost all of his toes to frost bite and somehow snapped his left leg so there’s only a stump but if he’s standing still it just looks like he’s got his leg tucked up.

By Mag

March 14th, 2011 | Category: Life on the Farm | Leave a comment

Nola the Sled Dog

Our animal lover Maggie has been hooking Nola up to a kick sled, taking her to a place clear of trees, and teaching her to run with it . Nola pulled the other kids James and Caelynn in the sled today Caelynn sitting in the seat, James standing up behind where the person who’s steering is supposed to stand, and I ran next to them becuse neather of them knows how to control her and I don’t think James ever will but I’m pretty sure Caelynn will when she’s older.

Nola’s forgoten most of the comands I taught her last year but that’s my fault becuse I didn’t take her on the dirt road for practice and I still don’t have that PVC dog cart I’ve been asking Dad to help me build for a little over a year now. I’ve gotten Nola to where she’ll run, stay (most of the time), and walk on command and if I tell her to go right she’ll go left. I’m still working on teaching her the difference between left and right ;-)  Where I take her there’s a small hill and she hasn’t gotten the hang of slowing down before she gets to it so the sled doesn’t hit her.

What I really want to do with her is get her a proper sled dog harrness (right now all I have is a normal walking harness  with two leashes atached on the sides of  the harrness and tied to the two poles that make an L at the front of the sled so the weight’s spread evenly and they don’t slide around on the sled and make it hard to pull) and get her going good by herself this year and find another dog to pull with her next year. They might even be able to take me and james up the sleding hill! I don’t think she can do it by herself. It’ll be interesting but I want to try it.

by Mag

December 5th, 2010 | Category: Dogs | Leave a comment
 
  Older Entries »