2010 hunting day 9

Sunday ...
The last day of the hunting season with the rifle ~ I sure hope I don't need the extended muzzle loader season to harvest a deer.  Although, I've never shot a muzzle loader before ~ Sam and Slim said I'd be able to do it.
~~
Bang ... Bang  ... 2 shots to the south of me.  They didn't sound that far off; but I think they were further than Mom's stand.  It's hard to tell when you're inside the deer blind and in the middle of a thick woods. I'll get the report when I'm done hunting this evening; she calls to update me.
~~
Remember on a prior post about a cabin that we heard had burnt down?  Well - this morning I went to pick up eggs from this woman that I have a standing order with ~ and I pull in the driveway to find out that her house is gone ~ here it wasn't the cabin that we thought it was, but her place.  There was nothing left  but a hole in ground where the basement was and some charred timbers from the rafters or floor joists. 

I feel so bad for them ~ losing their home like that.  What's also sad is that even though I got eggs from them for the last 3 weeks, I still didn't know their last names ~ just that they were Pat and George and he came up here to northern Wisconsin from Indiana, she from Chicago, they met on the internet and together decided to come live up north to live "green" and to "live off the land" last April.  They didn't even have electricity at their house or running water.

The barn where they kept their chickens and rabbits wasn't burnt and is still standing; but no one was around today when I pulled in and I didn't go into the barn to investigate.  I'm sure someone is taking care of them by all the signs of traffic in and out of their drive. 

I'm sorry to say this; but you know when you first meet someone and you get a feeling about them on first impressions ... my first impression of them was that they were not going to be able to make it up here in northern Wisconsin living the way that they were.  They were very naive about their living conditions.  They had a little stack of wood outside their house.  I had asked Pat if that was the wood they planned on using this winter to heat their house.  She said yes and I had commented to her that they needed a LOT more than that when it got 40 below and the cold winds started to blow.  Also, they needed to put up hard wood, that would make good coals and throw heat; not the pulpy wood like poplar that they had in their pile.    I was just offering a suggestion that I knew was helpful.  The amount of wood they had cut was about the amount that I use on a good night sitting around the bonfire.

She said something on the line about being tough and ready for anything mother nature threw at her.  My thought to myself ~ good luck with that ~ you haven't lived through a bad winter yet with no electricity, no running water and enough wood for a season.  You're in for trouble.  Let me know in the spring how you feel about living here like that ... our winters can be long and harsh.

I really don't begrudge them for trying ~ but seriously, if you haven't been raised that way it's not as easy as you may think.  Shoot ~ just look at me and my deer hunting experience.  If we were solely relying on my hunting to put food on the table ~ we'd starve.  BUT ~ if you were to put our family up against a family that has never been around supporting themselves solely off the land ~ we'd be able to not only survive; but probably survive quite comfortably.  But; then again... this is how we were raised.

I always get a kick out of watching the reality show Survivor.  I imagine my bunch out there for 30 plus days.  We'd build a house, dig a well, have a privy, a pantry probably filled with dried fruits, berries, fish, whatever critters available and widdled out some homemade instruments for entertainment!  AND that would probably just be the first week!!  Give us a few more days and we'd have wind power & solar power working in our favor.  lol  I know we'd survive.  I keep telling my kids to sign up for it; but they won't. bummer ...  ahhh... if only I had better health.
~~~
Boy, did I ever get side tracked.
~~~
The day is over ...
It looks like tomorrow I learn how to shoot the muzzle loader.

I talked with Mom before posting ~ and she didn't shoot her buck this year either.  She's done hunting.  At least she got to watch some does and fawns by her stand.  All I had this year was my little red squirrel on a daily basis.

We'll see what tomorrow brings ~ if I let the guys talk me into the muzzle loader season.

Thanks for sticking with me these last eight days.

Until next time...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel