Bob’s back

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Chris Shepherd

Bob.

The bobcat’s back. Actually, I don’t think it ever left.

We’ve been keeping the chickens in the coop for the most part, some days even, but today we let them out into their run. I was late getting back to lock them in tonight and sure enough, the little predator was back.

As I turned off the electric fence I scanned the ground and saw fresh prints. I looked up, scanning the woods and a bright pair of green eyes flashed back at me. I hunkered down and watched it as it lay on a log. It became clear the cat wasn’t going anywhere soon so I hustled back to the house and got Crystal.

The bobcat was still on the log and this time I had my camera.

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The goat has left the building

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Chris Shepherd

Earlier this month I tried to bring a goat into our home but it didn’t work out like I thought it would.

Now, I’m not talking about a real goat, but a figurative goat. This goat’s name was Brian. He’s a co-worker and was in transition after living at Yasodhara Ashram on Kootenay Lake’s East Shore. Brian was going to live in a tiny house (107 square feet) but the house wasn’t finished. While the man building it was working as fast as he could, the winter was coming faster and the tiny house was more of a place to sleep and that’s it.

When I heard about this I realized we (my wife, Crystal, and I) could help. We have a spare room that would be ideal for Brian. So, we invited him in for a few weeks, knowing it was temporary.

There’s recurring joke in my family about bringing “a goat” into the house. It comes from an old Jewish tale.

Continue reading →

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So long, Chris. Hello, Greenneck

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Chris Shepherd

Greenneck, red coat.

I’ve recently been going through the hundreds of blogs on Inthekoots and am impressed with the creativity people show when they name their blogs.

It puts the name of this blog, Chris in the Koots, to shame, and I’d like something that better reflects what I’m interested in. To be honest, when I started this blog, I didn’t know what I’d write about, but looking back I see a lot about hunting, butchering and chickens.

What inspires me to write these days is work around local food production and rural exploits. Continue reading →

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Bad (bob)cat

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Chris Shepherd

Last night, as I was climbing into bed, Crystal noticed unusual sounds coming from outside: it almost sounded like a cat screaming, which is ironic, because the noise was actually our chickens freaking out as a wild cat of some kind paced along their run, looking for an easy meal.

As the source of the sound sunk in, we scrambled to throw clothes on (Crystal nearly went outside without any pants on) and go scare the predator away.

Our neighbour beat us outside and we heard him hooting and hollering.

As I unplugged the electric fence I could see large cat tracks traced back and forth along the run. Several birds were calling out and flapping, very unusual as they usually don’t make a sound when it gets dark.

I could see blood on their beaks and in the confusion of flapping birds and flashing lights, I couldn’t see if there was a hole in the run that would signal if the cat had got in. Continue reading →

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The one that got away

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Chris Shepherd

I now have my “one that got away” story for snowshoe hare hunting.

Nick and I went out at 7 a.m. this morning. The forecast called for 2cm of snow overnight and more in the morning. Ullr didn’t deliver the goods and I had reservations as Nick and I drove up the familiar logging road to our hunting grounds.

We saw plenty of tracks as we went into the woods, but they were old. Despite the lack of snow and old tracks, we found our first hare about an hour into the hunt. We were on fresh tracks and Nick spotted the hare and called out to me. I saw it and watched as it hopped out of Nick’s view and then mine.

I guided Nick to one area where I thought he might see it and I hooked around another way, hoping to flush it out, but nothing. We started looking for tracks when I spotted the hare.

It looked huge. (Memory may have added a few 100 grams of weight to the animal.) It was in front of a fallen, hollowed out log. A huge, white hare in front of a dark circle.

How could I miss?

I missed.

I got excited. Didn’t wait for the exhale before pulling the trigger. Even more embarrassing, my vision hadn’t fully focused on the snowshoe hare. I have iron sights (no scope) and so I focused first on the hind sights, lining up the front sights and then looked to the target. I had its head lined up, but the animal was blurry and I didn’t wait. I didn’t even kneel, a more stable firing position than standing.

With the shot the snowshoe hare took off up the hill, bounding over logs and debris and out of sight. We were able to follow his tracks for awhile and I was relieved to not see any blood. I didn’t leave a wounded animal in the woods, but I didn’t come home with the biggest snowshoe hare ever, either.

Four hours later we came out of the woods, having had little

Conditions

  • Temp: -1.3C
  • Fresh snowfall: skiff (maybe 1cm)

PS

I do already have a snowshoe hare in the freezer. I shot it last weekend with Nick. Conditions were much better. Too many tracks, actually.

I’ll try recording my hunts immediately after each one. It was a great shot in the head and the field dressing and skinning went smoothly.

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