Friday, October 14, 2022

Burdocks and Bows

After spending two hours cleaning tails again, I picked up the loppers and machete and went hunting for burdock in the woods where the mules like to hide out from the weather.

The offending burdock grows in inaccessible areas to machinery. Rocks, logs, an steep inclines keep me from mowing. The only solution is to do the work by hand.



I think I got most of it picked up and piled. Now I have to wait for non windy weather to burn the piles. I ended up with about 4 piles. I make them small and also rake all the dead leaves from around each pile before burning. 

For now, the mules have to stay out of this section until I get things cleaned up. I have to admit that all of my work in this area for the past few years is starting to pay off. It may not look like it, but the burdock has been reduced significantly since I 'took' over the pasture work.

There is another section of woods that I'll address later. I missed the spring clean up of the area and didn't maintain it this summer. It looks like it should be easy to clean up with a skid steer and a brush hog, but the rocks that jut out of the ground would make short work of anyone's blades.

At least I have things to keep me busy, right?

Bow Season is in Full Swing around here and Glen the Hunter who hunts the meadow to the east of us texted that he and his daughter would be bow hunting this weekend. He wanted to know if we would be around as he'd like to drop off venison for us.

Of course!

I told Glen he could come down our driveway and park in the fence line for easier access. After two years, hubby has decided that Glen was an okay guy. I have to give the guy credit as he has made the effort to be friendly to my husband. The meat never hurts either. It is a great bribe to an old deer hunter!

A few years ago, the land owner of the meadow told Glen to just use our driveway to access hunting on their property. Of course having a strange vehicle come down our driveway and park on the edge of our land was concerning to an old veteran with Chronic and Severe PTSD. 

Glen realized that getting to know hubby and befriending him would benefit everyone. Glen and I exchanged phone numbers so he can text us for the two weekends a year that he'd be out roaming near us.

I think that is a great lesson in being neighborly.

The landowner should take a lesson from Glen the Hunter.

Glen and his daughter or son only come for bow hunting as they feel it is the ultimate challenge.

Gun season is for nutcases on the neighbor's land. I bring the mules out of the woods and keep them in the lot near the house.

After all, hunters get Buck Fever. Right?


I've never personally hunted a deer. I've sat with a few people over my life time and found it rather boring. I'd rather sit in my blind with my camera for a few hours and catch a photo of one. Less work.




7 comments:

  1. I grew up in a city. No one in my family or neighborhood hunted. Mark didn't grow up hunting. When we moved here it was the first time in my life I'd ever heard gunfire! Asking is always good manners.

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    1. Yes, getting to my neighbor's meadow is difficult to do as there is no access to it and we agreed with the original owner to put a gate in so we could ride through and check his cattle for ihm.

      Since then the city brothers took over and they don't have a sense about how to deal with rural neighbors. Glen figured out quickly how to make 'good' with my hubby.

      This is bow hunting. I don't allow gun hunters any access from my driveway. Too often folks have just turned around in my yard when they discovered they not where they were supposed to be. The 9 days of gun season is when I do indoor work and rearrange the whole house. :)

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  2. Glen sounds like the kind of hunter you want in your area! Your war against Burdock is like me with the Poison Ivy! A never ending battle! We used to deer hunt, I prefer hunting with the camera now a days! Hope you have a good weekend!

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    1. It is a war mainly because I hate picking it out of tails and manes. Once upon a time, we had cattle that would eat most of it. Now? Nope. And goats are a pain so it is up to me!

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  3. The GReat Ethan Allen9:50 PM

    It's true... And I have hunted deer for years when I was younger! But now that I'm older... and with a little more reflection. I shake my head at all that time spent freezing and wet in a tree and seeing nothing. But it was not all bad. It gave me a purpose to be out in the woods. And sleep! I would love to take a nap in the woods. Now... I mostly hunt mushrooms and take pics of the deer if I ever see them. And I do see them probably more now then I ever did while hunting.

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  4. My niece is a bow hunter and is coming up next weekend to bow hunt here. I will make sure my neighbours know!
    Did you know that burdock root is very good for arthritis? I used to dig up the roots and make tea, and gave Beamer some of the ground up roots- but they are very hard to grind!

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    1. I did know that but I've tried the tea and it was nasty. I guess I didn't prep it properly!

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