Visitor

He still has chicken feed stuck to his nose. He and his herd ate over 30 lbs of it that day. And he is not afraid of me. Or snowballs.

Wildlife and drought

After I posted about the porcupine, I realized I hadn't shared my skunk story with all of you. Last week, my chickens went bonkers at around 5 am. I went out to check on them and could see something trying to tear my live trap apart. I went out and low and behold....there was Stripes! Or one of the original Stripes' relatives. 

   Hubby had plans that morning which required him to take the truck. I had no way to transport stinky and so me being just a curious as the kids, started going out to see how close I could get. It was well past the little guy's bedtime so he slept and occasionally would open an eye and look at us (At one point, we had nine people standing less then a foot from the cage) and give us a look that said "Do you mind? I am trying to sleep here!"

   The kids hand fed him peanut butter sandwiches and I got close enough to take some really cool pics. I had no idea skunks were so cute. I killed some time before Hubby got back researching pet skunks. Good thing for Hubby, I found out they are illegal in most states including ours. The kids were disappointed.

   Once Hubby returned we threw a tarp over the trap and put Stripes in the truck to his new home. If he hadn't been half tame, we would have shot him and been done with it. But just look at that face!

   We found an area away from all homes and chicken coops with running water nearby and opened the door to the trap. He waddled his fat little but right out of the cage and into the bushes.

   I think the drought has a lot to do with the wildlife coming down into the valley this summer. There are some really big bucks wandering around the neighborhood this year that no one has seen before. We usually have four or five skunks all summer. My neighbors dogs killed three in a WEEK! I trapped and released this one. We have had coyotes come right into yards and try to eat the family dog. We even had fish and game put down a mountain lion ACROSS THE STREET from my house this spring. I just read an article this morning in the paper about a mountain lion trying to get into a casino yesterday in down town Reno. A badger walked into a grocery store in Sparks and all he wanted was water. This winter is going to be tough on all the creatures. I just hope we gt enough snow to make next year better.

Early morning visitors

Woke up this morning to my chickens squawking and hollering. I ran out the door expecting to have to rescue them from a dog and instead found two bucks in my yard. This guy was only a foot away from me (on the other side of the window) and actually winked at me. If you look close, you can see chicken scratch on his lips.Here is is after I busted him and he jumped out of the chicken coop.
His buddy wasn't a very good lookout, he just stood and stared at me. He finally spooked and took off for the neighbors apple tree and the big guy followed.

These two bucks are part of a bachelor herd that used to hang out here in the neighborhood until one of them was poached in my driveway. All the deer disappeared and have only now (a year and a half later) started to return. I am happy to see them again, I have missed having them around.

I hope I get to go hunting.

The deer season started on Friday. Hubby has to work until next Friday. I have to be home to drive kids to birthday parties and throw a party for our youngest. That leaves me three days to get my deer. I sure hope I find a stupid one who is willing to walk out and say "Hi" during the few hours I can actually be out of the house. Hubby can hunt pretty much the whole week he is off, so at least if I don't get one, he has a better chance. He also drew out for a cow elk this year. I am hoping we get something, because once you draw out, you lose all of your points and we had to wait four years to draw THIS year. Here's hoping for stupid deer (and/or elk) and a full freezer! I will let you all know if we get anything.

Jackpot!

Like Lila, I excited for this hunting season! Not only because it means a plethora of home-soaked and smoked elk jerky (JERKY!) and venison steaks, but because all my little hunters are emptying out their deep freezes to make room for the new! Yesterday, a friend of mine stopped by and dropped off 5 lbs (in 1lb wraps) of ground venison for me to have! Sa-weeet! He's also getting me a couple cords of wood for the winter, but that's a whole 'nother thing.

My own problem is, although I've had enough venison and elk and moose (yum, moose...) to be bursting at the gills, I've yet to really cook it myself. I know venison can be amazing, but I'm worried about the gamey taste a little bit with feeding the Boy. I'm not sure he'll notice, but this meat has been in a deep freeze for almost a year and I'm not sure how that will affect the taste.

Anyone have any wondrous sage advice or forewarning I should know about?

Time for the Bow Hunt.

So it is that time of year again. Time to break out the bow, put the broad heads on the arrows and go hunt some deer. We are pretty excited. We are firm believers in only hunt what you will eat so we have not hunted for a few years because we had no place to store the meat. Welp new house meant more space meant we bought a deep freeze. WOOT. So now we have the space to store some meat and I am so excited. We have to go to a diff state because we are not residents here yet and out of state tags are like 1200. Yuck. So here's to fun weekends in the mountains. I'll let you know how we do.