Tracks in the Snow

What a change from the last couple of days! Two days ago we broke the previous record for the warmest day. It was 9 C above Zero, higher than the record in 1907, that’s over a hundred years ago. Most of the snow we received a week ago melted away. The grass was showing through patches of white. Now the temperatures dropped and last night it snowed. Everything is covered again with the white stuff. I guess it is inevitable; three more weeks and winter officially begins. Mother Nature doesn’t wait that long to bring us snow. In some years we’ve already had snow by the end of October and the snow stayed.
In a way snow is beautiful. It covers all the dirt and makes everything look nice and clean…until the winter enthusiasts make tracks in it with their snowmobiles. I have nothing against snowmobiles, except for the noise, and the damage they do to the grass if the snow isn’t deep enough.

I remember the first snowfall many years ago after we had moved into our first house. Looking out of our living room window I admired the beautiful sight of the clean snow on our front yard. I also remember how upset I was when the neighbor’s boys ran across the yard and spoiled the clean blanket of white snow with their tracks.

I still love to look at new snow and the unspoiled white blanket, but tracks in the snow don’t bother me anymore. I enjoy watching my grandchildren stomping through the snow, rolling it into a huge ball or making a snowman, heck, I even do it.

Here are a couple of pictures without tracks in the snow.

Hunting 2011 Part 2

As is evident from my last blog I enjoy hunting. I hunt ducks, geese, rabbits, grouse, and deer. Rabbits and grouse are scarce these days in our neck of the woods, and I’ve gone hunting for geese only 3 times this year. And, of course, I’ve hunted for deer.
There are many people who think hunting is a cruel sport. Hunters are cold-blooded killers who enjoy killing animals. Perhaps some are, there is always the exception, but most hunters actually love animals. It seems paradox but it is true. I love watching birds, I feed them all year. I get enjoyment from watching rabbits hopping around (as long as they don’t eat my shrubs ^_^ ), and I find pleasure in seeing does with their fawns coming out of the bush and grazing in the fields when there is no hunting season. When I hunt I shoot only what my bag limit allows me. And I eat what I shoot.
Many anti-hunters suffer from the ‘bambi-syndrom’, the Disney version of the animal world. In reality nature is cruel. At least it seems that way. Survival of the fittest...that is the law of the jungle and anywhere else in this world. Some animals are prey and others are predators. It has always been that way. Humans have hunted for their food since beginning of time. Humans have also been hunted by larger, stronger predators as food since the beginning of time. Fortunately, most of those large animals don't exist anymore; fortunately for us Humans. There are still Grizzly and polar-bears, tigers, and lions, but they are no threat to the majority of Humans.
For the Native Americans hunting was a way of life. The tribes moved with the buffalo across the prairies. They hunted deer and other animals for their survival. Parts of the animals were used as food, for clothing, shelter, weapons, and even ornaments and jewelry.
Modern man doesn’t have to hunt for food. We buy our meat in the grocery store, nicely cut, packaged, and labeled. Now we hunt for sport, for enjoyment, but also for the meat. Hunters enjoy venison, ducks, geese. Venison is not always available in stores. The regular stores don’t carry it, and the ones that do ask a hefty price for it. I’ve never seen wild ducks, geese, turkeys, wild rabbits, or game birds for sale anywhere. Heck, you can hardly find domestic rabbits in stores. They taste just as good as chickens, but when they are available they cost a fortune. The price of farm-raised geese and ducks is prohibitively expensive. Turkeys are only available for a descent price at Thanksgiving.
Of course, there are some people who think we shouldn’t eat meat at all.
The Vegetarians.
Poor misguided people. They don’t know what they are missing ^_^. Humans are part of the animal world; actually we are omnivores, which means we eat vegetables and meat. Vegetarians would not have survived for long in the northern parts of the country. The earlier people had no choice but to eat only meat in the winter. Nothing grows in the snow and when the temperature plunges to minus 20 C and colder.
Yes, we have to kill an animal to get the meat, but most hunters try to put an animal down as quickly as possible, make certain it doesn’t suffer. Lions, tigers, wolves, and other predatory animals have no such compunctions. They will rip their victim to pieces, and eat parts of it while it is still alive. Anyone who has the stomach to watch documentaries from Africa can attest to that. I’ve seen two lions chase a gazelle and rip it in half when they caught up with it. I’ve seen the fright in the eyes of a wildebeest when a lion jumped on its back and sank its teeth into its neck. The deer we shoot don’t suffer from that kind of fear.
It is not only the shooting of the animal we enjoy. The pleasure comes from being in the outdoors, breathing the crisp air, walking through the bush following a trail made by deer, elk, or even moose, getting excited when finding a deer track in the freshly fallen snow, looking at the stars on a cold, clear night, seeing the bright disk of the full moon, hearing the coyotes barking and howling in the bush, walking in the dark to our tree stand, spending time with friends, talking about past hunts, successes and missed chances. That is what hunting is all about for us.
Some people play golf, drive snowmobiles, ski, play football, hockey, or any other sport. We go fishing and we hunt. Some hunters may do all those other things, too.
Hunting is a huge industry. It creates jobs. Plenty of jobs and brings in millions of Dollars. Many people don’t think about that. All they see are a bunch of bloodthirsty rednecks with rifles killing innocent, cute animals. That is not what we are. We are regular people who just happen to enjoy hunting, a sport that is slowly becoming more and more difficult to pursue for many reasons.
Chickens are cute in their own way, so are cows, but we have no problem eating chicken eggs or buying a barbequed chicken from the store, we have no problem drinking the milk from the cows or eating steaks or roasts. Pigs are intelligent, more intelligent than dogs, and kinda cute with their snouts and curly tails, but we love bacon for breakfast with our eggs, or ribs (preferable all we can eat) when we go out for supper.
People who are against hunting have their reasons, but we don’t stop them from having them. We have our reasons for going hunting. I have mine and I will go hunting as long as I am physically able to do so. I’m not looking forward to the day when I don’t have the strength anymore to climb my tree stand, or the stamina to walk down a lonely trail through the bush on a cold fall day, looking for grouse or rabbits. But until that day comes I will enjoy every hunt with pleasure and appreciation for the privilege to do so.

Hunting for deer 2011

I spent a week in the bush hunting deer. My son and I and four friends. Our friends have a trailer while my and son and I sleep in my old work van which I transformed into a camper. Nothing fancy, just the bare essentials to make it comfortable. We have a propane heater to keep us warm and to keep the water from freezing. We sleep in sleeping bags. We grill our meat on a barbeque outside, fry eggs and sausages on a cooker inside. It is almost like home. Almost. I have to admit, sometimes it feels a bit cramped, but we are not there to be pampered. We are hunting.
We left Winnipeg at 9:15 am. The highway was good. No snow on the road and we made good time. We arrived at our campsite Thursday, November 10 in the afternoon, at around 3 pm. We’ve been going there for 25 years now. The same place, the same spot. It is in the bush. Nothing but snow-covered grass and trees. And, hopefully, deer.
By 3:30 we sat already in our deer stand for the evening hunt. We had until Sunday evening to shoot a deer with a muzzleloader.
I had a couple of so-so chances but missed. I don’t have a scope on my muzzleloader, which will be remedied next year. A scope is essential.
My son had more success. He bagged a huge buck with a great rack at 180 yards with his muzzleloader. That is quite impressive.
The general deer season started Monday, November 14. I sat in my deer stand at 7:20 am and shot my buck at 7:25 am. It was still a bit dark, but with a scope no problem. I waited until 7:50 to gut the deer. It was not a big buck, but it had antlers and I was happy. It’s been four years now since I shot my last buck. Larger than this one. Every deer hunter wants to shoot a big buck, of course, but the best meat is on smaller animals. Last year I was not successful, but two years ago I shot a nice doe.
After I shot my buck I was elated and sad at the same time. Elated at my success but sad because my hunting season was over. I stayed in my stand until noon, watching over my buck, because of the coyotes. The woods are filled with them and they will devour a downed animal in a short time. And there are also plenty of hungry crows and magpies, and the odd eagle, all eagerly waiting for something to eat. They will clean up the guts within hours, which is a good thing. In nature nothing ever gets wasted.
I went back to our camp at noon and my son drove with the quad to pick up the deer and transport it to our camp. The coyotes and birds will not come to the camp.
Years ago we used to have to drag the deer back to camp, which was a grueling task, especially if there was no snow. A large buck gave you a good workout. There were years when we shot four deer (it was legal), and dragging four large animals was exhausting. But like anything we enjoy doing, there is always a tradeoff. Nothing ever comes easy. If you want something you have to work at it. It comes with the territory.
We love venison. We skin and cut up our deer when we get home, take out the bones and package the meat. De-boning is important, because bones make the meat taste gamey. After it has been packaged it goes into the freezer, to be enjoyed with a glass of red wine in the coming year.
The last couple of days the weather turned cold and nasty. Even though I had bagged my deer, I still sat in my stand during the day, just to enjoy the outdoors and observe the wildlife, and to find out how much traffic my stand gets. A few years back I shot my two deer in the morning of the first day. I spent the rest of the week sitting in my stand and I saw the biggest bucks coming into my clearing. It was exciting but also frustrating, because my bag limit was filled…with a doe and a small buck. But that is part of the hunt. The big bucks always seem to get away…or almost always.
This time I saw only one buck on the last day. There was not much traffic in my clearing, possibly because of the weather. It was so cold the water bottle I carried in my backpack froze solid in two hours. Even my feet began to tingle a bit inside my boots. I did have toe warmers, but they were not enough.
We left our camp Thursday, November 17 at 3:15 pm. It began to snow and we drove home most of the way on a treacherous highway. We arrived home at around 7:30 pm.
Here is a picture of the buck I shot.

First snow

Well, we've had our first snowfall this season. Not much, only about 2 cm, but it stayed on the grass all day. Some areas in Manitoba did get up to 27 cm of the white stuff. I don't mind it too much. I'll be going on my yearly deer hunting trip this Thursday and a little snow is always welcome. It makes tracking the deer easier in case they need to be tracked. But I usually put my deer down on the spot, which means I don't have to track them through the bush. It is difficult to find a spur if there is no snow. But snow means cold...brrr...brrr...Not something I enjoy, especially when I have to sit in my deer stand for hours. It's the feet that get cold first, and after a while the whole body begins to chill. Of course, I shouldn't complain; after all, I'm having fun LOL. Nobody forces me to go into the cold outdoors. I bought some toe-warmers this year, so cold feet should not be a problem. As long as it doesn't rain or sleet...that is the worst. There is nothing more discouraging than a cold wet wind in your face and cold drops of water running down your neck. I'm feeling uncomfortable just writing about it. Too warm is no good either. It is pleasant to sit, but not good for hunting. The deer have to move. The cold weather also causes the bucks to got into rut, which means they'll be chasing the does and won't be so cautious.
I'm looking forward to getting away again for a few days, contemplate life and charge up the batteries. I'm not making much progress with Book Seven of The Xandra. Haven't even written ten thousand words yet. Maybe when I come back from hunting I'll be more anxious to write. Maybe I'll get some new ideas when I'm sitting in my stand waiting for the big buck to come by.
Till next time.