Sunday, January 8, 2012

A Message Sent To Me By Nature

Dear Mark,

You are kind of a lousy hunter. You are noisy and not terribly observant. You don't even wear camouflage. Here, have half a rabbit. Now, go on home.

-Nature


Dear Nature,

Thanks for the half a rabbit. I didn't know things like that grew on trees! I was tired and hungry anyways, so thanks for the gift.

Your Friend,

Mark


I went out to the local public hunting grounds. The game warden pulled in as I was getting ready to head into the field. He informed me that I needed an orange vest, as today was part of deer muzzle-loader season. He was kind enough to call a local store, who were out of stock, and then gave me directions to a hardware store in the area.  The hardware store did have it. I headed back out into the field, dressed as a traffic cone.

I first headed west through a corn field to try to find a site I had found when out hunting with Jeff a few years ago. There is a semicircle of earth raised up about 3-1/2 feet, spanning probably 25 or 30 feet in diameter. The trees in a line leading up to it are all very small. I am guessing there was either a plane crash or a meteor strike there. I plan to investigate with a metal detector in the summer.

After that I headed south to the southern border of the area, then skirted along to an area where I know rabbits dwell. I know this because I have seen them multiple times in the area. I didn't see any movement out there today.

As I was leaving that little area something in a nearby tree caught my eye. It was the front half of a rabbit, in the crook of a small tree. At first I thought it was the remains from another hunter who had bagged one and skinned it on the spot. Closer investigation revealed that the whole front of the rabbit was there, and no entrails littered the ground. Some bird of prey probably killed it and hung it in the tree to feast on. Thanks for the rabbit, stupid!

I was ravenously hungry by then. I contentedly took my half rabbit and went home. I have already cooked and frozen the meat. There is not a lot there but enough for one good meal


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6 comments:

  1. hmmmmm - Maybe Mother Nature is trying to tell you to go home and plan this year's garden adventure instead of hunting.

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  2. By the way . . . you are excellent at many things - you tell an excellent story, you're a great cook, you have excellent foraging skills, and you are the BEST son ever!!!

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  3. Aww aren't you sweet. As soon as this challenge is over I am going to plan a hunting excursion!

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  4. An impressive post, I just gave this to a colleague who is doing a little analysis on this topic. And he is very happy and thanking me for finding it. But all thanks to you for writing s=in such simple words. Big thumb up for this blog post!
    Rothco

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  5. No problem, if your colleague has any more questions just let me know!

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  6. Mark, that comment from "rothko" is spam.

    And this post is shocking. You took home tree rabbit.

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