Nov. 15-21, 2020

Weather | 11/15, 0.19" rain, 38°, 72° | 11/16, 29°, 58° | 11/17, 26°, 43° | 11/18, 31°, 61° | 11/19, 50°, 71° | 11/20, 47°, 57° | 11/21, 0.34" rain, 37°, 45° |

• Sunday, 11/15: Mom's 86th Birthday
  
  • I woke up at 4:30 am with a noise that at first I thought was thunder. It was a very strong west wind, so I moved the Cadillac to the driveway, then let the dogs out while it was raining. Wind I can take when hunting, but a strong wind with rain, forget it. We were wide awake, so we got up.
  • After morning chores and breakfast, I went to the Bobcat Deer Blind. On the way, I took photos of the trail to this blind, and then at the blind, I took a 360-degree video of the view from this spot in the north woods (see below). In the video, I start filming to the south, span west, then north, which is where the big oak tree is that I sit behind, then east, and finally back to the south, again. This blind is relatively bare, now. When I first made it, I wove grass and cedar branches into the fencing. I've found if you're absolutely still, deer usually don't see you, so I quit putting dead vegetation in the fencing at this blind. I've shot many deer at this location. When I first arrived at the blind today, 4 deer ran off to the west.  I saw a large coyote on the hill to the west.
  • I went back home around 11 am and we ate venison sandwiches.
  • I returned to the blind after dinner. At one point, I saw the feet of an animal, but not the body, running down the hill NE of me into the creek bed. By the way it ran, I think it was another coyote. Later, 2 deer ran down that same hill. One ran east, below me, and stopped for a second. I had him scoped in, but he had about a 6-inch spike for horns. It needs to be 3 inches or less, so I let him go. The second deer ran up the hill toward me. I took a left-handed shot and got it in the heart. It dropped instantly...no suffering. It's a small doe, which is good eating. I got Mary. We drove the tractor pulling a wagon down the trail to where I could turn around. Mary and I field dressed the deer, took it back home, cleaned out the body cavity with water from a garden hose, and hung it in the machine shed. Tonight's temperature is going down to 30°, so we're going to let it hang for the night, and butcher it first thing in the morning.
  • I talked to Mom. Her boss at the Circle (MT) Senior Center, Patty, took her out to a noontime dinner for her birthday. She's doing well.

1. Start of West Trail, with clothesline post right.

2. A few feet later, Frog Pond left, West Field ahead.

3. Next, trail goes through 8-year old oaks.

4. Next, trail goes halfway down west field.

5. Right turn, then cross field, & enter north woods.

6. Halfway down Bobcat Trail, once entered woods.

7. Bobcat Stand: cow panels, posts, & a bucket to sit on.

• Monday, 11/16: Our Deer Sanctuary
  
  • I pulled the curtains back after waking up and there were 3 deer in the far garden munching on frozen tomatoes and plants. We debated about me taking a shot out the bedroom window, but several head-height persimmon trees were between me and the deer, making it a poor shot. I let them go. They jumped the electric fence around the garden easily. After walking dogs, we spotted a 9-point buck looking at us from Frog Pond. Through binoculars, I watched him limp off to the west, probably wounded by a hunter's poor aim. So far, I've spent 4 bullets to sight in my rifle and one bullet to harvest one deer as humanely as possible. Hunting involves thinking ahead about your shot and aiming wisely, not spraying bullets indiscriminately from your AK-15, a poor hunting rifle in the first place. I hear them going off in neighboring properties...a first shot...a couple seconds...a second shot...then another shot...all sounding different as a hunter swings the rifle to follow a running deer and misses on each shot. I wish there was a button I could push that remotely slapped each of these poor hunters in the face with a prickly ash branch.
  • After breakfast this morning, I sharpened knives and skinned the deer hanging in the machine shed. We took the hind quarters off and deboned everything. This gave us 22 packages of meat. Then we got shoulder meat, loin, and tenderloin cuts from the carcass. Altogether, we made up 31 packages of meat from this deer. She had a long body, and such deer yield more meat.
  • I hunted the SE deer blind starting at 3 pm. I took photos of the trail to this hunting location (see below). When I turned off the East Trail to the trail to the SE Blind, a barred owl approached overhead followed by several crows that were harassing it. The owl saw me and landed in a tree directly above me. The crows saw me, too, scattered, and flew away. The smart owl obviously used my presence to persuade the yelling crows to leave. 
  • Even though I never saw them, I heard several deer run north, opposite from some cedar trees, as I approached this blind. A large midge insect hatch was out this afternoon, with hundreds of them dancing in the sunlight. About 20 minutes after sunset, I heard, but couldn't see, a deer stomping around north of me. It was dusk and dark in the woods. I saw a form for a little bit, but couldn't tell if it was a buck or a doe. A check of the time indicated it was 5:19, the end of legal hunting for the day. I unloaded bullets out of my rifle, grabbed my things, dropped something, and with those sounds, the deer bounded off to the north. A crescent moon was setting to the west as I walked up the hill to home.
  • Mary did all of the evening chores by herself as yours truly sat on his duff in the woods.
  • Katie enjoyed a blizzard today in Nuiqsut, Alaska, with sustained 30 mph winds.
  • Mom was at the Circle (MT) Senior Center, where she works part-time. She and her boss, Patti, baked 10 pumpkin pies for tomorrow's Thanksgiving meal served by the senior center.

1. East Trail start, garden fence left, compost bins right.

2. Later down the hill, Dry Pond right.

3. Next, trail switchbacks down steep section.

4. After long walk east, trail turns north.

5. Trail turns back east, with woods on right.

6. Trail drops with left higher than right.

7. Leave East Trail, follow ditch carved in forest floor.

8. After a few steps, jump the ditch, here.

9. Trail turns south a short jaunt through woods.

10. Turn east, jump deep ditch.

11. Trail turns NE, after leaving woods.

12. SE Deer Blind. Yes, another bucket.

• Tuesday, 11/17: "Your Deer Hunting is Over!"
  
  • I didn't go hunting in the morning, because I wanted a rest from it.
  • We had a mid-day chicken dinner with coleslaw and potatoes.
  • In the afternoon, I started to go hunting at the Wood Duck Deer Stand, but the SE breeze was blowing my scent over the dry creek bed where deer usually show up, so I moved to the Cherry Deer Stand, where a SE breeze is perfect. I took photos walking to both these hunting locations, but I'll put them on here some other day.
  • I was there all afternoon. I had a tufted titmouse land on a branch above me. It had an acorn nut in its mouth. Chickadees would land on seeded-out goldenrod. It bent almost to the ground as they tore seeds out and ate them. The sun set to the west at 4:43. It was after 5 when I watched a deer approach from the west. It stopped to eat grass from my trail. I tried to rest the rifle against a dead cherry branch, but it made a loud sound from raised bark on it. The noise spooked the deer, and it started running back to the west. It then turned north, giving me a full profile. I took a left-handed shot. It bounded off to the west. After 3 hops, I didn't see it, so I used a tall oak tree on the west treeline to mark where I last saw it from the deer stand, got down and tried to find it. I couldn't find it, so I texted Mary that my shot missed. When I got back to the tree stand to get my stuff to go home, I realized that I walked too far to the SW, so I went back and looked again and found the deer (see photo below). It is a very large doe.
  • I walked back home and Mary, after seeing the photo, said, "Your deer hunting is over!" We both laughed. It's over for this year, because we have plenty of meat with this deer for another year. I changed to my dirty field dressing clothes, fueled the tractor, then we drove back north. Earlier, I put my seat cushion in a high branch of an elm tree to mark where the doe was laying, but we couldn't find it in the dark, mainly because I kept telling Mary, who was walking ahead of me as I drove the tractor, that she was veering too far west. She wasn't. When I retraced my way from the deer stand, I discovered the deer was further west. I won't know until I skin it, but I think I hit its lungs and it dropped after running out of oxygen. We field dressed it, took it home, hosed down the cavity, then hung it from a rafter in the machine shed. We think it weighs 150-175 pounds without the guts. She's a big mama. The predicted low is 32° and it was 35° when we hung up the deer...ideal meat cooling temperatures. We'll butcher it tomorrow morning. Two bullets and two deer taken, although, at first this evening, I thought I was like the play, Alexander Hamilton, and I missed my shot. I was wrong, thank goodness. We're in the venison, now.
  • While I got a sore butt from sitting all afternoon on a deer stand, Mary cleaned the refrigerator's inside, other appliances, and the silverware. She also did all of the chores.
  • Mom texted that they served 67 Thanksgiving meals at the Circle Senior Center. Since it was a curbside delivery, Mom was very busy.

The 2nd & final doe of this hunting season.

• Wednesday, 11/18: Done With Meat Season - Each fall, we first go through chicken butchering, then deer butchering. It's not a fun chore, but it gives us inexpensive meat, especially with venison, since the only money spent is for ammunition, some plastic wrap, Ziploc freezer bags, and our time. On the final butchering day, which was today this year, we give out a sigh of relief, and a thought of thanks that the meat processing job is done for the year. Most people don't butcher their own meat. Even most local hunters take their deer to a butcher shop, who does the work for them. Butchering your own meat gives you more respect for all that is involved with providing this food staple. For us, I don't think we gobble up as much meat, since we possess a higher regard for the amount of work involved and for the gift of the animal, itself.
  
  • I sharpened knives, then skinned the doe hanging in the machine shed this morning. The deer meat was nice and cool. This big doe was extremely fatty...about an inch of fat on her back. 
  • While I skinned, Mary washed a load of laundry.
  • I singed any loose hair left on the body with a propane torch turned down low. Mary laid down 3 large plastic garbage bags on the kitchen table and taped them in place. We cut the big hind quarters off and hauled it into the house. I cut the hind quarters in half with a meat saw. Mary carved excess fat and silver skin off each haunch. I boned out sections of meat with a filet knife. Mary took each meat piece, cleaned off fat, sinew, and silver skin, then cut them into approximate meal sizes. Mary washed each piece, covered it in plastic wrap, then I put 3 or 4 of these pieces into a Ziploc bag, which is labeled, per the Missouri Conservation Dept., with my name, address, date deer was harvested, and the hunting verification number I get via my phone when I telecheck the deer in after shooting it. Today, we processed 37 packages of meat. With 31 from the first deer and 12 left over from last year, we have 80 venison meals in the freezer, which is plenty. Besides, this deer was large, so our meal sizing was likewise larger.
  • While I disposed of the carcass, skin, fat and gristle waste, Mary washed dishes and knives, and did the chores. I also put away lights and extension cords used for butchering that were strung up in the machine shed.
  • Katie texted that sunrise at Nuiqsut, Alaska is now at 11:37 am. She said what really surprises her is how incredibly long dusk lasts, which is common throughout Alaska.
    
    
• Thursday, 11/19: Fix-it Day
  
  • I fixed things today. First, I fixed it so Mary didn't have to cook breakfast...we had Waffle Friday on Thursday and I made waffles.
  • Mary washed jeans and towels, while I washed my hat.
  • I put a recyclable cloth bag filter in the place of a paper filter in the Shop Vac. It seemed to run better while I cleaned up flies and Asian ladybugs in our bedroom windows. It failed to start after I moved it to another room. It might have a faulty switch.
  • We haven't had a coffeemaker since the third night of chicken butchering, when Mary, who was obviously really tired, forgot to put the carafe into place, the basket that holds the filter and coffee grounds flooded, and filled the water reservoir with grounds, blocking coffee from going into the carafe on later tries at making coffee. Today, I tried to remove the bottom plate, but it's got weird 3-slotted Phillips head screws, known as tri-wing screws, and I don't have a tool for that screw type. I filled the coffeemaker several times with water and just dumped the water out with fewer and fewer grounds coming out each time. Then, I ran half vinegar and half water through the machine, as if I was making coffee, and then ran 2 more batches of plain water through the machine to clear out the vinegar. We're back in coffee tomorrow morning!
  • A couple days ago as I started a fire in the woodstove, a cat started scratching on a couch, so I grabbed the only broom we have that doesn't look like a scraggly Fu Manchu beard, swung it down hard on the floor to get the cat's attention, and broke the handle off the broom. Today I jammed a screwdriver in and removed the cheap plastic fitting that broke in half, found a Fu Manchu bearded broom in the machine shed, removed its handle and screwed it into our good broom head. Since that old broom was once our chicken coop broom, I cleaned the handle with ammonia cleaner.
  • Mary made a shopping list, since we're going to Quincy, tomorrow. 
  • She also swept and mopped the main level floors of the house.
  • Mary took a photo of a walking stick insect on our screen door (see photo, below).

  

  A walking stick (head is on the top).

• Friday, 11/20: Shopping Day
  
  • We shopped in Quincy, faithfully wearing masks and wiping our hands with alcohol-soaked paper towels (the cheaper hand sanitizing method) after each trip into a store. The Quincy Herald-Whig's top headline today is how their county, Adams County, reached 4,000 COVID cases. Yet, we still saw people in stores without masks. Shopping highlights...we got 3 turkeys, 1 for Thanksgiving and 2 for other times in the upcoming year; we found a Porter Cable vacuum, since our current Shop Vac stops after a few minutes of use; I found a small tool kit with several bits, including one that fits the weird tri-wing screw on the coffeemaker; we bought enough food for the return of "The Great Mastication Team," of Bill and Katie.
  • After Reuben sandwiches this evening, Mary and I wrapped all of the Christmas presents we have, so we don't have to do it later when kids are visiting.
    
    
• Saturday, 11/21: Bill Arrives
  
  • I tried out our new canister vacuum. It works great.
  • Mary did a bunch of housecleaning. 
  • Bill arrived around 12:30. Our dogs yipped and wiggled all over him. 
  • Mary did 2 loads of laundry. 
  • After chores, we had nachos and watched 2 movies, Sense and Sensibility and 2015 James Bond film, Spectre.