Target Practice

Matthew, Simon and I had the opportunity to take the Kentucky Hunter's Education class on Saturday. It began at 8:00am and lasted until 4:00pm and I was proud how well Simon paid attention the entire time. There was a 50 question written test at the end of the class and Simon scored a 94% on it, which I thought was great for an 11 year old who has not had many experiences hunting at all. It was a long day, but well worth it, and we had a lot of fun!

Squirrel season is set to begin next weekend, and we may go squirrel hunting the first day! It appears that squirrel population around here has exploded and we are thinking we will be able to really fill our freezers up with squirrell meat this year if we want to.

The class yesterday got us thinking about guns and hunting so after a wonderful service at church this afternoon it seemed that this evening would be a great time to get in some target practice! Matthew went with Rocky and John to shoot behind the fire house down the road and the rest of us went up into Pure Water Hollow to shoot at pop cans and pizza boxes at the clearing.

Simon likes the .410 shotgun the best because it is more his size. Here he is with some practice shots, first with the .410, then with the single shot 12 gauge.




Here Simon is shooting the big double barrel shotgun. You can tell that it is a bit bigger and heavier than the other two, and he has to stand a bit differently to support it. But he could hit the targets with it as well as he did with the .410!



Christina also got in some target practice. She prefers the .410 as well.




I wonder what Timothy thought about all this shooting?



We were using those foam ear plugs but Timothy did not like to leave them in his ears. He preferred using his hands! He actually did not seem to mind the loud noise and would yell "boom!" after the shot was fired. You can see him covering his ears again in this next picture taken from the other angle.



You got a peek of Lisa in that last picture, sitting with Timothy and Christina on the bench. I didn't take one of her shooting, but she is very comfortable with guns and is a good shot!

Simon fired off more rounds than the rest of us, but between the 4 of us, we went through about 40 cartridges. I think some of our shoulders are going to be a bit sore tomorrow!

Here is one of Christina shooting from the other angle. I'm glad she is not afraid of shooting a gun!



We had a lot of fun with the target practice and then did a bit of walking around looking at the various wild plants up in the hollow. Here is what the mint looks like at this time of year. I think it is pretty and it is very aromatic!




These next two pictures don't go along with the idea of target practicing or wild plants, but I thought I would put it up here anyway. For the past couple of days Simon has been working on carving a head out of the dirt mound next to the house. I thought it turned out pretty cool and decided to take some pictures of it today. Sometimes I am amazed at what a creative fellow Simon is! His finger can pull a trigger dozens of times and destroy the targets he is shooting at, and his fingers can also delicately carve and create a masterpiece!

Bear Killed During Two Day Legal Hunt

I just saw this news blurb on the Hazard TV station's website and I thought it was rather interesting. I used their headline as the title for this post:

"The cold and snowy weather did not stop a Pike County man from becoming the first person to bag a black bear during Kentucky's two-day legal hunt.

Danny Smith, of Phelps, shot the 265 pound male about 5 hours into his hunt Saturday.

Kentucky held its first legal bear hunt in 100 years last December, but hunters came up empty handed during that crippling snowstorm that left many in the dark."

I remember hearing about that bear hunt last year, but the one this year missed my ears all together. Not that I would have wanted to get in on the hunt, but I do like the emotions that are evoked by a "bear hunt" in Eastern Kentucky. Such a bear hunt conjures up images in my mind of the hardy Kentucky frontiersman 230 years ago, struggling to make a life out of the wilderness, and thankful that God had provided him hunting grounds occupied by plentiful deer, elk, bear, and smaller fur-bearing creatures!

Pure Water Hollow is located about 60 miles from where this particular bear was killed, but there have been numerous bear sightings reported very nearby over the years! I even saw a black bear myself a year or so ago! It was on the other side of the county from our homestead, but it was neat to see a black bear with my own eyes in my home county!

Speaking of big game animals, elk have also been spotted only a couple miles down the road from us!

The re-introduction of black bear and elk into Kentucky may have been a bit controversial, but I think that it's a pretty cool thing! And I believe Daniel Boone would be pleased, too!

Another Nice Evening In the Woods

Today gave us a nice evening to sit out in the snow and ice covered woods and watch the dusk settle around the beautiful nature God has blessed us with at Pure Water Hollow. And if a nice deer would happen to walk by, a muzzle loader would be waiting to greet it! We had a few snow flurries on this overcast day, but the main snow and freezing rain had ended yesterday. This afternoon saw a warm 30 degree temperature, so it was surprising how little of our winter storm had melted. We still had several inches of snow under a thick layer of ice, and it made a loud crunching sound as we stepped as quietly as possible across the frozen tundra. There was still a coating of silver ice around every twig of every tree, and the long blades of wild grasses would not bend when stepped through, they broke!

I set up at split rock overlooking dozens of deer tracks through the snow. It was difficult climbing up to the protected rock overhang because of the snow and ice. Matthew had gone up to the ridge to some heavily traveled deer paths, and I doubt his strong legs had any trouble at all with the ice.

I saw a couple of deer across the ravine, outlined against the white ground. They were too far away to shoot at, but it was fun to watch them meander and occasionally trot down the mountain in a ziz-zag path. After two and a half hours it was beginning to get dark so I decided to come on down from my hiding place. I quickly learned that it is easier and faster coming down a slick ice-covered hill than it is climbing up it!

Matthew had stopped on the ridge when he heard some deer snorting at his approach and crouched down in waiting. One did come close enough for him to get a shot off, but he missed. He was surprised how the smoke from the black powder blast engulfed his vision; the couple of seconds it took for the air to clear must have felt much longer as he wanted to see what had happened to the deer.

There were obviously many deer around, but a successful hunt this evening was not to be! It was still a pleasant way to spend the final 3 hours of daylight. Tomorrow is the last official day of black powder season and Matthew is thinking about going out in the morning before church and try once again. Perhaps that will be the fateful moment when he bags his first deer using a muzzle-loader!

Black Powder Season

This week has been muzzle loader deer season in our neck of the woods, and a cold, snowy week it has been! Saturday was nice weather, but no one here got the chance to go hunting then. Instead, Matthew decided to take the oppourtunity this morning.

It takes a real frontiersman to get up and go into the dark, snow-covered hills at 6:30am on a 8 degree morning! That temperature reading from our official Pure Water Hollow thermometer declares this morning to be the coldest one we've had yet! That same thermometer had actually dropped to 6 degrees by the time Matthew returned at 8:30am!

Matthew heard quite a bit of deer movement behind him and he saw a fox and several squirrels. After Matt decided to come back down he saw the deer sign behind him that he had heard earlier. If he had been about 100 feet behind where he had set up, he thinks he would have had one!

It's too bad he didn't get a big one, but I wanted to record Matt's first outing as a muzzle-loader hunter, anyway. Next time, I'm sure he will get one!

Meanwhile, a weather update:

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for our area from 9:00pm tonight until 4:00pm Thursday! Here is what they say:

* SNOW WILL DEVELOP DURING THE EVENING HOURS TONIGHT. THE SNOW WILL THEN MIX WITH AND CHANGE TO FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET FROM SOUTH TO NORTH LATE IN THE NIGHT OR EARLY THURSDAY MORNING BEFORE MIXING WITH AND CHANGING TO RAIN THURSDAY AFTERNOON.

* SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 TO 5 INCHES ARE EXPECTED ALONG WITH A QUARTER INCH OF ICE.

* TRAVEL WILL BECOME DIFFICULT TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY. THERE IS ALSO A THREAT FOR POWER OUTAGES AS HEAVY ICE AND SNOW ACCUMULATE ON TREES AND POWER LINES.

Well, I guess 'Tis the Season!

Fa, A Long Long Way to Run...

Well, it wasn't really that far, and I didn't run. But the buck did run, after my shot apparently missed him!

The pre-dawn was beautiful after a stormy night, and I decided to take advantage of the warm 50 degree morning. I left the house at 5:15am, trekked up the mountain along our half-mile of dirt road, and found the 4-wheeler path to the east ridge. It is easy to get fooled in the woods when it is dark, even using a flash light. I found it humorous that I had initially gone past the 4-wheeler trail without even knowing it! Once I realized where I was, it was easy to see where I needed to be. I was not running, but I was traveling on foot, so it was 5:50am by the time I sat down on my rock to await the deer that I hoped would come by. It was still completely dark at this time. Sitting in the pitch dark up on a mountain in the woods is a unique experience in my world and I would recommend it to anyone!

Last night we had strong winds and a wind advisory was issued concerning 45 mph gusts. Some of the gusts were still lingering, and it was especially whipping around up on the ridge where I was perched under an oak tree. Sometimes down at the house we can hear wind rushing through the trees up on the ridges but we can't even feel a breeze in our yard. I suspect it was like that this morning. Where I was on that east ridge, there was nothing to block the gusts of wind, and sometimes they were bone-chilling! I wonder what the wind-chill was? Good thing the air temperature was pleasant when the wind was not blowing, or else I would have been rather cold wearing only a sweat-shirt against those blasts of wind!

It was actually refreshing to feel the wind in my face and hear the creaking of trees around me and see the woods come gradually into focus with the brightening of the dawn. And it was exciting to see a line of deer come up the hill below my position around 7:00am. I let the first small one pass by, hoping that the others would be larger. The next one was indeed a larger buck!

Now, I can't explain what happened next. He was just about 150 feet away and I had him directly in my site. I pulled the trigger... I should have hit him directly in the neck! He just stood there and looked at me! I could hear a couple of the deer behind him running off, but he did not. Well, I decided after a few seconds that another shot was warranted, so I took it, right at his neck. Again, he just looked at me. I thought for sure he would fall right down, and to tell the truth, he made me feel a bit sad the way he was looking at me! I got up and started to walk toward him. After I had taken several steps and he was still standing there, I guess I should have shot again. Two other deer that I had not even seen before galloped away down the hill and that was when the buck I had shot at trotted away in the direction he had come. I was dumbfounded. I couldn't even find any blood where he was standing, but I don't know how I could have missed him?!?!

I'm thinking some target practice may be in order before I try to get another deer....

It was now time to go back to the house and get off to work for the day. I didn't figure I would have much hunting success now, even if I had time to stay in the woods.

My hunt could be classified as a failure, but I did enjoy the nice walks through my woods and feeling like I was part of God's nature once again. Perhaps next time I will get a deer?

The nice thing is that God has blessed us with the 3 deer that Matthew got this weekend so it's not like my family was depending on this buck to stave off starvation. I guess we have well over 100 pounds of good venison stored up (and some of it made a delicious meal Sunday evening!). And we soon will be butchering some more of our hogs, so we will be stocked up with pork again, too. Even if we had no ability to buy anything in a grocery store, my family would still be eating very well throughout this winter! Thank you, Lord!

Doe, A Deer, A Female Deer....

Matthew and Aaron went back into Pure Water Hollow and up to the ridge tops again this Lord's Day morning. The woods are a wonderful place to get close to God, and I trust that they felt God's presence!

It was a bit warmer this morning, in the upper 30s, and a steady drizzle was heavy in the air. God's morning light of dawn had time to awaken this day before any deer were taken. I was out opening up the chicken coop around 7:10 am. The rooster had been crowing for some time now, and the chickens are always anxious to get out into their lot as soon as they see light.

As I was feeding the greedy hens a shot pierced through the still, wet morning. I quickly turned to get back to the house because I had left the radio there and I wanted to find out what had happened. Before I reached the house, another gun shot rang out through the air from up in our hollow. When I got back into the house the clock read 7:20am and I had news over the radio that Matthew had shot two doe!

Matthew had gotten to the same oak tree where he was yesterday when he shot the buck. This morning he had time to sit down beneath a maple about 20 feet further on. With his back to the large tree, this silver maple offered him some protection from the cold rain.

As he sat and waited he saw a herd of 8 or 10 deer going by. He watched as the first two passed by. They were not very big and he was hoping for a bigger one. He decided to shoot the third one, which was bigger than the first two, and he was afraid that they may pick up his scent at any time. It fell immediately, and the rest of the herd bolted. But then Matt saw one of the large ones stop about 150 feet away. He decided to take it, and it fell in the spot where it was standing also!

Matthew and Aaron had taken his two 4-wheelers up to the turn around spot this morning before daylight, so all that was left to do was to load the two carcasses and bring them down to the house. It turned out that the smaller one was actually a button buck, but the other one was a large doe. It was more difficult to hoist that big doe up onto the swing set than it was the buck from yesterday. I'm guessing it weighed maybe 150 pounds? The button buck was smaller than the buck yesterday and Matt didn't have much trouble getting that one up.

Matthew proceeded with the job of gutting the animals and then Christina came out to help us skin them. Between the three of us, along with Aaron, we had the hides off and wrapped up in the freezer in no time! (We would love to try to tan them someday) We decided to let the carcasses hang as the temperature continued to be cool enough and we wanted to have enough time to get ready for church.

I was proud of Matthew that he was not going to allow the morning activities of the hunt, and the success of bagging two more deer, to interfere with going to God's House. (Too many people use deer hunting as an excuse for missing church.) We decided that we had much to thank Him for this morning, and what better place than church!

I'm glad we made it, also, because I was called upon to preach and the Lord blessed me with a good message! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Now for some pictures:

Here they are on Matthew's Suzuki 4-wheeler: (Matt had just bought this 4-wheeler 2 weeks ago and it has come in pretty handy!)




Here the two deer are, hanging up to be worked on:

Matthew wanted to hang them up by their hind legs today and see if the gutting would go easier. Yesterday he hung the buck up by the front legs. It worked fine both ways, but he decided that he like them hung up by the hind legs the best.




Here is that mountain girl, Christina, helping with the skinning:





Matthew with the two gutted and skinned carcasses:






Well, now we need to get outside and cut up this meat that the Lord has blessed us with! It has continued to drizzle throughout the morning and afternoon and has not really stopped yet. I guess we will just have to get wet. (By the way, Aaron is back up in the hollow hoping to get a deer for himself. He was not successful this morning, and so far he has not reported anything this afternoon.)

Again, we will thank God for the blessings of this bountiful harvest of venison! It will make the grocery budget stretch quite a bit farther! I also want to thank my son Matthew. I am very proud of him and his success deer hunting this season. Only the second day, and he has already bagged 3!

Music To Our Ears: Matthew's First Deer of the Season

Matthew told the story of this mornings' buck after it was all gutted, skinned, and sitting in the refrigerator. It is surprising how quickly he got it; he didn't even have time to sit down up on the ridge!

He had driven his truck up to the clearing and walked the rest of the way up the road to the turn around and on up the path to the east ridge. Aaron was taking the west ridge. It was still very dark as they were walking up the mountain side, but the first hints of dawn were beginning to show up. He kept his steps in the tire tracks from the path the 4-wheeler had made on previous days. This kept the crunching sound of the dried leaves down to a minimum.

It was difficult to see through the dim light of the morning, but Matt thought he was coming up on the big oak tree that he had planned on sitting beneath. It was about 6:35 am by this time. He thought he heard something walking, so he froze and scanned his surroundings. He was looking on down the trail, beyond the tree, when a form materialized before his eyes in the foreground of the picture! It was a buck, only about 20 feet away from him! He had walked right up on it, and didn't even see it at first! It dropped where it was standing on the first shot fired from our 30-30! He then shot it a second time to put it out for good.

Matthew came down to the house and got his 4-wheeler. He drove it up to the ridge to make the task of moving the deer carcass much easier. After loading it on the back of the vehicle, he brought it down to the house and we strung it up to our multi-purpose swing set in the side yard. Matt then proceeded to gut and skin the carcass and cut it up into pieces to store in the freezer.

It was a 4-point buck and probably weighed around 100 pounds. After we were finished taking the meat off that we wanted and deboning the roasts, we were happy to have about 35 pounds of prime venison meat!

Aaron came down and went back up in the hollow a couple of times throughout the morning, but he did not get a deer. He did see some, as well as turkey and squirrel, but he didn't get a shot off at the deer. Maybe tomorrow?

Here are the pictures I took, which may have been the first kill of the modern gun season of all the hunters out today!

On the back of the four-wheeler:



Hanging up on the children's swing set:



The gutting:



All skinned and ready to cut up for the freezer:





We feel blessed to be able to harvest this meat supply that God has provided us here at Pure Water Hollow!

The Hills Are Alive...With the Sound of Gun Fire

Today was the opening day of modern gun season, and you can tell it from the ring of gunfire coming from the surrounding hills. Matthew joined in with the ringing chorus and was right on tune!

It was a cool 34 degrees when he and his friend Aaron moved stealthily up our mountain at 6:00 am (in his 4 wheel drive truck). The sun was just beginning to illuminate the surroundings and promised to warm things up, but Matthew did not have much time to get cold. He came over the radio at 6:40am with the report of getting a buck!

He said it was just a 4-point, but that's fine. He's not in it for the trophy; just the meat. And it should be good eating!

When he brings it down I'll try to get a couple of pictures and post them on another post later. I'm not sure if Aaron is going to stay up there for a while and continue to try for one for himself or not. This morning's stanza is still unfolding and there is over a whole week to go in the symphony. Perhaps I will get to sing along before it's over, as well!

Thankful For the Hunt

The day began just as most Sundays do around our house. I woke with the dawn to open up the chicken coop while everyone else slept in a bit longer. It was a cold November morning and there was a thin sheet of ice on the lid of the garbage can I use to hold the cracked corn we feed the chickens. I felt good this morning and I enjoyed watching our growing flock of 32 birds as they each aroused in turn and made their appearance from the coop. Some hens jumped out immediately and went for those golden specks of grain that they so enjoy, while the roosters chased them around and did everything in their power to make them temporarily forget about their breakfast.

When my fingers and toes began to feel numb from the cold I headed to the house. Sometimes I nod off back to sleep in my recliner at this point, but I am always more pleased when I spend some time in God’s Word. I was blessed with about an hour of quiet prayer and Bible reading before my growing family of blessings began to arouse from their warm beds. Things tend to begin moving pretty quickly on Sunday mornings after everyone gets going; breakfasts, showers, baths, find matching socks, “where’s my shoes”, get the diaper bag together and Timothy ready, move the car that is blocking the van, warm up the van, and off to church.

We had a nice worship service and a nice long visit afterwards with the folks who lingered. It was almost 2:00 by the time we got home so our Sunday dinner wasn’t finished until about 3:30. It was time to feed the pigs and it had become a pretty nice afternoon. Matthew and I had a thought about this being the last weekend for modern gun deer season. Maybe we would take our guns with us to the barn and then keep on going up the mountain after chores? Would there be any use to try one more time?

Personally, I did not grow up hunting and my only hunting knowledge comes from books and videos. The last few years the idea of deer hunting has really grown on me and I have tried unsuccessfully several times. I never had a “real” rifle before; just a muzzle-loader and a .410 shotgun shooting a rifled slug. I had seen deer, and even fired at them once, but to no avail.

I set out several months ago determining that this year was going to be different! For one thing, we now know how to dress a deer and fix it all up for the freezer. Previous years we would have had to call for help, but we successfully butchered a deer last month that we traded a feeder pig for. This year we would also have better tools to dispatch a deer with. I had traded some goats for a nice Marlin 30-30 rifle, which is a good deer rifle for our kind of terrain and brush. My other ace in the hole was that Matthew was now more interested in getting a deer and he knows how to shoot!

So we expected to get a deer the first morning of modern gun season last Saturday. And we expected it that evening. And again the next evening. As well as several more times through the week. I’m not sure how many times we went up in our hollow between the two of us. Sometimes I went by myself, and sometimes Matthew went by himself, and a few times we were both in the mountains at the same time, but at separate locations. With our expectations so high, each successive unfruitful outing felt like a sledge-hammer blow to our hopeful, but fragile, dream of shooting our first deer.

I saw two deer at the clearing one night, but it was too dark to see them except for their white tails bounding along the trail. I also startled a deer behind the school house one evening as I was heading to feed the chickens down in the ravine. Matthew saw three deer one evening and one was a nice sized buck, but he wasn’t able to get a shot off at them. One morning he did get a shot off at one and drew blood, but it ran up the mountain. Matt tracked it up the mountain all the way to the top of the ridge and from there he could see the deer going up and over the next ridge. We had started to wonder if that would be the closest thing to bagging our first deer either one of us would get this year.

Going up in the hollow to hunt one more time this particular ordinary Sunday afternoon was almost an after-thought. Our hopes had been all but shattered by this time. Still, it would be an enjoyable way to spend the last hours of daylight on this nice Sunday evening, I thought. One thing I’ve re-learned this week is that it is easy to feel close to God sitting in the peaceful woods, still and quiet, listening to a multitude of forest sounds as unseen birds and small woodland creatures scurry and scamper through the crisp, crunchy fallen leaves. The darkening scarlet sky and the setting sun which changes the colors and shadows of the forest hues points toward a Master artist! A cool gentle breeze in my face whispers to me that God is real; He is here. Experiencing God’s nature allows one to recognize the beauty and majesty of God’s creation. Not getting the hoped for deer was disappointing, but spending these hours in the woods this week have not been wasted.

Still and quiet I sat under a half-fallen pine tree waiting and watching for the elusive deer to move into my view. I must admit that I had dozed off to sleep in this peaceful wonderland that I call home on this early Sunday evening. My ill-timed slumber was shattered with the crack of a gunshot not more than 150 yards further up the hollow where Matthew was staked out!

As I arrived past the clearing on the fern trail, this was the scene:



He had pulled off an expert shot from the hill above the clearing to the hill on the other side of the gully leading to the fern trail. The deer had stumbled down the hill and fallen near the creek. Since it was trying to get up Matthew decided to put one more bullet through the neck to be sure that it would not run off like the deer a week earlier had done.

We used his 4-wheeler and a rope to pull the carcass up to the level fern trail. We loaded it on the back of the 4-wheeler and then joyfully transported it down to the house to gut and hang.




We were primarily interested in the meat this animal would provide for our family, but the fact that it was a trophy buck was an extra blessing! It was a 9 point with the inside rack measuring 12 3/4 inches!



Hanging the carcass on the swingset and going through the gutting process was a memorable family experience:





Admiring his work:





The triumphant hunter, Mathew the Mighty, with our 9 point buck hanging to cool:




Needless to say, we are very proud of Matthew and of this accomplishment. I am pleased that he recorded our first deer kill at Pure Water Hollow. I’m sure there will be many more to come in the future.

Both Simon and Christina are waiting in the wings for the year when they will have a chance to bring in some venison for the family table, and one of these days I’m sure I will get one, too. We will give God the glory for providing both the wild game as well as the domestic animals for our sustinance and well-being. It all comes from Him, and I am thankful that He is allowing us to benefit from such abundant blessings!

Every day we are thankful for so many things at Pure Water Hollow Homestead, but this past week I was especially thankful for the hunt!

God bless, and may everyone have a blessed Thanksgiving Holiday this week!


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3 comments
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jrejhkids on November 24, 2009 at 11:09 am
I enjoyed reading your entry. I can picture some of the area now as I have been back to Kentucky. I took my son back to Berea for college in August.

He has also seen different areas of Kentucky and sent us pictures. He went to Stinking Creek for a field trip. The pictures he sent are beautiful.

It is wonderful how God provides more than we need. I love seeing the beauty of God's handiwork.

Have a great week with your family.

~jrejhkids
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Purewater on November 24, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Hey jrejhkids – Good hearing from you again.

If it was the Stinking Creek in Knox County, that was the country my father-in-law was born and raised.

Small world!
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Schatzi on November 24, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Wow, now that is excitement around your place…say congratulations to your son..and next time it WILL be you!!!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

Connie

Some Firsts During A Hot August Weekend at Pure Water Hollow

Since this weekend saw so many "firsts" for our homestead, I decided to take a few minutes to record them. If I had time, I would write a post about each item, including some of our hopes and desires for the future. But ,alas, it is late, and I need to turn in soon. At least these things will be recorded so we will be able to look back and see when they took place.

This weekend saw our first foray into alternative energy with a solar shed light. We had purchased it last week at Harbor Freight, which is very near the meat market where we were picking up our fresh pork. It is just a small light with a small solar panel and a 4 watt florescent bulb, but it is a start. It was on sale for $20, and I have long wanted to explore solar power. I figured this would be a cheap way to get a little experience with it. I finally put it up in the chicken coop yesterday morning and it actually works!

Yesterday afternoon we went to the stock market in town which has a big flea market attached. I’m thinking of taking our pigs there and wanted to see how it all worked. Anyway, while we were there we came across a Mennonite couple selling various things. What caught my eye was the baby guineas. We have talked about adding them to our poultry flock for some time, but you have to order too many of them in the catalogs. These were 4 week old Lavender Guineas and they were selling them for $5 apiece. We were glad to welcome our first two Guineas to our homestead and we might go back next week to try to get a couple more.

Also at the flea market we came across a big black dinner bell. It appears to be the very same one that I have considered buying from Lemans for $70. I got our first cast iron dinner bell for the homestead for a much better price. It was only $35! I’ve looked at old ones this size for $150, but I think this one will do well for us. I didn’t get a chance to put it up this weekend, but when we get it up, I think we will be able to hear it anywhere we might be working on our property. It is something I have wanted for many years, and I think we will make use of it often.

We have been visiting a small Baptist church just a mile down the road for the past several months. I preached the sermon there for the first time this morning, and it went very well. I believe there will be many future opportunites to preach there. It has been wonderful attending a church so close to home in our own community. This may be the church that God will have us work and worship in.

The last first for this weekend was going squirrel hunting with Simon and Matthew. Unfortunately, we did not see any squirrels, but it was still fun for the boys to walk around the woods carrying guns. Maybe next time we will bring home several squirrels.

A first for last weekend was picking up 7 bushels of apple peels and cores and chunks for the pigs and goats. I found a church that was doing a fundraiser of making and selling apple butter. I’m always looking for sources of free pig food, so I just called them up and asked them what they were going to do with all the left overs. They were happy to let me come and haul it off for them. The animals love the stuff. Yesterday, that church was at it again and this time they had 9 bushels of leftover peels and cores and chunks! It is really good food for the animals just for the price of the gas to go get it. So after the flea market and some work around the farm, I was happy to go over and get the boxes of apple stuff.

By the way, it has been very hot, humid and dry around here. We have been in the 90′s everyday, and no rain to amount to anything. My county is under a burn ban to try to deter the forest fires that are sure to start if we don’t get some rain.

I know this post has been a bunch of unrelated facts and firsts, but I think it is better than not writing anything at all. I am still wanting to be in the business of recording these days and happenings. The overwhelming main fact on my mind right now is in no way a first, and that is God’s blessings and love so abundantly shed upon us. To Him be the glory!

Still Celebrating Daniel Boones Birthday

Last night we worked on the pig lot too late in the evening for Lisa to prepare the supper she planned. She wanted to have a supper that Great-Great-Great-Great Uncle Daniel Boone would appreciate, in honor of his birthday. Daniel Boone was known as a great hunter, a provider of food for many hungry people, and someone who could live off the land of Kentucky. His birthday was yesterday.

Our supper was excellent tonight and all the children helped prepare it! Daniel would have been proud. We had scrumptious squirrel and dumplings, delicious deer nuggets, marvelous mashed turnips, creamy corn, magnificent mixed greens, and heavenly homemade doughnuts for dessert. Most often we drink water with our meals so tonight's quince juice was a treat. (Can you think of an adjective better than "queenly" that begins with a "Q"? I couldn't and "queenly quince juice" just didn't work for me.) It tastes sort of like lemonade and is made from the quince fruit off of our own quince bushes. The squirrel was from our land in Pure Water Hollow, as well. The deer might have been a part time Pure Water Hollow deer also, but a neighbor killed it over the hill on another ridge and shared with us.

Speaking of deer, a recent local magazine article surprised me with this statement:

"Kentucky's deer herd numbers around 900,000 this year; far more than when Daniel Boone first entered the state more than 200 years ago."

My first thought was, "Wow! That is some statement to make! That can't be true!" After all, there were no white men in Kentucky except Boone and 5 other men. Many Indian tribes hunted in Kentucky, but they were few and far between compared to the land area. It seemed to me that the deer population would had to have been larger in a virgin Kentucky wilderness forest without roads and cities and man to contend with!

But then I thought some more and remembered that Daniel Boone saw and hunted much large game that are no longer in Kentucky in great numbers. He hunted elk, cougar, bobcat, panther, black bear, buffalo herds, and probably others that I am missing. With predators like bears and cougars to feed on white tail deer and with elk and bison competing with them for the food, I guess there may have been fewer deer in Kentucky 230 years ago! (How in the world could they know how many deer were around back then anyway?)

I am glad there are deer in Pure Water Hollow, except when they were in our garden last summer. They are a beautiful, graceful creature to watch, and also a good source of food! I hope I don't offend any hunters out there, but I just cannot see hunting and killing such a wonderful creature just to get a trophy. I do not agree with hunting as a sport if the purpose is not to feed hungry people! For some reason I cannot picture Daniel Boone hanging a deer head on his cabin wall and leaving the meat out there to rot. I wonder what Daniel would think about today's sport of hunting in Kentucky if he were still here?



I'm glad he isn't seeing it. Happy Birthday, Daniel!


3 comments
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sheryl on November 9, 2006 at 4:54 pm
Hi!

I am new on the blog and just found your page today. I live in Northeastern KY. I am also related to Daniel Boone. It is through the Webb Family. Sheryl
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lambechops on November 10, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Hi! I am new to this site and am finding my way round, reading blogs with similar family situations etc. We too have 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls! We live in Northern Ireland, and are committed Christians. We belong to the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland. I hope to read more of your blogs, and I have really enjoyed reading it so far.

Karen.
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Chris on November 12, 2006 at 1:35 pm
How about quintessential quince juice? Your feast sounds grand, but not the kind of fare I am used to here in New England. Are you really related to Daniel Boone? I'll have to read more of your blogs, maybe the story is buried there somewhere? Hope your Mac is treating you right this weekend. -Chris

An October Dawn At Pure Water Hollow

It was a marvelous dawn this morning, in the woods of Pure Water Hollow. As the darkness of night began to give way to a dim, fog shrouded forest, I began to notice several small woodland creatures arising to greet the new day. It was a chilly 42 degrees according to the thermometer at the house at 5:40 when I began the trek that ended under this protective ledge that we call the West Cave.

I had at first gone past my destination because it was so difficult to see, even with a good flashlight. The heavy fog acted as a wall to my flashlight beam and I had never tried to hike up there in the dark before! I was finally in position around 6:00a.m., which would be a full hour and twenty minutes before I could recognize the dawn. I was armed with my muzzleloader with which I hoped I would get a good shot at my first deer when it walked by on the trail below. Yes, this was my very first adventure as a deer hunter! Months earlier I came to the conclusion that if I could provide meat for our table from wild game on my own land it would be a very good thing.  It would save us money and help us move closer to being self-sufficient.  Today was the day to begin!

This rock-house seemed to be a good spot because I would be well hidden, there would be no breeze from behind me that could carry my scent to an alert deer, and my black powder gun would be able to stay dry since there was a threat of rain. The mighty buck that would provide meat for our table did not appear on the trail where I envisioned him, but I was blessed by my time spent watching, nonetheless. I stayed there for the next 5½ hours, and just took in the whole marvelous scene that God rolled out before my eyes and ears.

A gray squirrel high up in the tops of the trees was the first animal to seem to say, "Good morning", when he caused several leaves to flutter to the ground.  He shook the limbs, jumping from one to another with ease. The dew was dripping so furiously from the trees that it sounded like a steady drizzle of rain, making pitter-patter sounds on the blanket of fallen leaves laying all around; the squirrel didn't seem to mind at all. I suppose he was used to it. This was his world; I was the foreign guest here, recognizing God's grandeur in ways I seldom have the chance to in the world of civilization.

Gradually, little by little, the night continued to retreat against the mounting army of dawn's light. At first I could only make out the silhouettes of the nearby trees and branches above me, and they were not even definite forms because of the heavy fog. It was a wondrous experience to observe the fog slowly disappear as more and more trees and rocks were revealed! It was as if I was looking through a camera lens that was out of focus at first, but then gradually adjusted until the foreground came into perfect clarity, with the background farther away still a blur. It wasn't long before a chipmunk could be spied running back and forth across a long, half rotted, log.

This old log itself seemed to tell a story. It had many years ago given up the fight to remain a towering tree, and was now content to be a home for small, furry, grounded creatures instead of highflying birds or acrobatic squirrels. The sights it had seen during it's existence!

As the forest floor came more and more into focus, I began to notice not just one, but three chipmunks, all of them scurrying around amongst the logs, rocks and leaves. I could see a greater abundance of the tree limbs of the forest tops and they began bouncing and swaying and showering leaves from several squirrels now. I got a very good look at one squirrel in particular when he stopped in a tree in front of me, not much higher than my eye level, and looked at me. I sensed that his eyes met mine, but he did not seem to be alarmed. After a few seconds he jumped to another limb.

The continual dripping of the dew became less and less pronounced as the light continued to gain command of the situation. Not only was light obliterating the darkness, but it was also driving the fog away; the noise-making dew seemed to be running away with the fog. The sound of birds singing in the new day soon began to replace the dawning dripping pitter-patter of the dew.

The most pronounced cry of the morning was that of a Pileated Woodpecker from the other side of the hollow. Another Pileated Woodpecker, which was above and behind me somewhere, answered his call. As the morning progressed, more and more of my view from this ledge came into crystal clarity with the foggy background moving farther and farther away.

I heard some definite leaf rustling noise across the trail and on the other side of the hill, below the point that was in my direct line of vision. I could tell it was getting closer and closer, coming up the hill. Soon it would emerge on the trail right below me! I cocked the hammer back on my gun and was ready to take down the deer that I knew would appear. Then I saw a strange oblong shape on a stick moving back and forth. As it came a bit higher and closer to the trail I realized it was the head of a wild turkey, which was scratching in the dirt and leaves! Soon there were two magnificent birds on the trail below me. I thought about touching one off, but at that point I still had hopes of getting a deer. I thought that the deer might hear the turkeys and not notice that I was up there, too. Maybe the turkey noises would make the deer feel as though everything was normal, I thought. The turkey must have noticed me when I slowly lowered my gun because they went back over the hill and disappeared silently and quickly.

As the day became brighter and the sun began to push it's golden rays through the canopy of leaves above, I couldn't help but notice the variety of different shades and colors of the leaves all around me. I thought that last weekend the woods were pretty, but this spot, at this time, was far more dazzling than anything we saw last weekend! The variety of golds and oranges and light greens of the poplar, beech, hickory and oak were complimented wonderfully by a couple of deep red maple trees. I thought to myself that I would be happy to stay here forever.

I may have been able to stay much longer, had it not been for my being so cold and hungry and stiff. I finally decided that it was not meant for me to get a deer at this time and place, so I got up and stretched my aching legs and back. I soon began the hike down the hill and to the clearing. I still had my gun ready, and decided to go along the Split-Rock Trail to see if I might scare up a deer or two there. It is a wide bench with many deer trails through the beech and birch trees. This would be my next pick for a perfect place to get a deer and some day I will try to hide out at Split-Rock much like I did this morning at West Cave.

I found no deer along this trail and decided to set the hammer back to the lock position as I came through the pine tree covered decent to the barn, because of the possibility of slipping. By this time, I had given up on the idea of getting a deer. It was about noon now. I was ready to get to the house so I was no longer walking stealthily. As soon as I crashed carelessly through the woods onto the dirt road in front of the barn I saw something across the ravine! It was two white tails bounding along the Pear Tree trail directly across from me on the other side of the ravine!

I didn't have much time to think, and had I been able to get the hammer up in the firing position quicker, I may have had a chance. There were many small trees and brush in my line of fire, and the deer were on the run, but I got off a shot in their direction anyway. Both deer dashed away, unharmed.

My muzzleloader, on the other hand, was not so fortunate. I'm not sure why it happened, but the nipple that the hammer strikes to send fire to the powder to shoot the ball was somehow blown away! I had been target practicing with the muzzleloader several times this week and did not have any trouble with it but this was the first time I tried it out in the field. The nipple was gone, and without that nipple, the gun is dead. So instead of killing a deer I somehow killed my gun! That meant I could not go back out tonight deer hunting like I had planned.

(Instead of hunting this evening, I went out and bought our first two pigs! I will write about that in my next post, maybe tomorrow.)

In conclusion, my first attempt at deer hunting was not a success. Or was it? After being out in God's nature all morning, I have come to a conclusion about the hobby of hunting. (My brother philosophized to me in a similar manner about golf last weekend. I don't play golf, but do people really just like to chase a little white ball around, or is there something deeper?) Hunting is such a popular hobby for many people not because they like killing animals, but because it gives them an excuse to experience the world outside an office the way God intended. A world without the phone ringing or the TV blaring or all the stress that goes with living in the modern rat race, when you don't even know the difference between night and day because of all the artificial man-made lights and stores that are open 24 hours a day. Hunting gives people a chance to get closer to the God that created them, and to see Him at work in ways that we usually do not even recognize. If I shed that light on this morning, then my first try at deer hunting was a great success indeed!


1 comment
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Renee on October 23, 2006 at 6:55 am
Congratulations on your new addition! My mom and dad had pigs for a while. They are so cute when they are little pigglets.

You are well on your way to being really good homesteader's:)

Love and Blessings,

Renee