T
here are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.
Aldo Leopold

15 December 2008

Muzzle-loader Fox

We've had a thaw here in the land of Canoga Creek. All the snow melted away in the last 24 hours and the creek is swollen and chocolaty. I thought perhaps the break in the weather would get the deer moving and slipped away from the toil of work to hunt the last few hours of daylight. The ground was moist and quiet, with that springy pungency not expected until April. There was an eerie mist in the gully, but no deer.

I amused myself by observing the squirrels on the hill beside me, chasing, and was just remarking to myself at how quiet their movements were in these damp conditions when a flash of yellow and a snarling sound interrupted my rodent reverie. What's this? A nice red bushy-tailed fox, and me with a loaded gun, albeit somewhat atavistic. How interesting...
















I shot the fox with my New England Firearms "Sidekick" .50 cal muzzle-loaded rifle.
I have big plans for the pelt, which is in perfect shape.

13 December 2008

Thanksgiving 2008

We were blessed to have a crowd of good friends for Thanksgiving this year. The Tantillo/Tarlow family joined us, as did the Stedman/Nolen family, the Winchell/Perkins family, and the Parks family. We had 10 adults and 8 children for dinner! The menu and some pics below.

05 December 2008

Pheasant Hunt



The Pheasant Hunt
By Victoria Tidball and Danielle Riegel

We were in a car riding toward the one and only pheasant field. We were very excited. Then we stopped and got our gear ready to go, and went. Miss, the dog, was also excited. The breeze was cold and the thorns scratched us terribly and in pain we went on. Right away our Dad shot one. It's head was blown off. Then we saw another across the field. We ran after it. Miss was ahead of the gang. We missed the shot. We went along and found a bird nest. It was too high. We kept walking. Our Dads were walking in the woods as we were walking in the field. We walked towards the car. And all of a sudden another pheasant came out of the bushes. Our dads tried to shoot it. Then we went home. That was our trip. The end.