Rain,then snow!! Good moisture and not that much wind. Yet? The cows decided to take a break from calving. Only had one last night and none today. Good timing as far as I am concerned. We fed the cows and layed down some stalks for the calves to bed on. Almost saw the sun. Later….. Randy
The cows are calving right along. We have had good weather except for a couple days of cold East winds. The pairs are moved to the “Main Bottom” and are grazing there. The “heavys” are staying closer to the house yard. The geese are paired,also seeing a good number of ducks. We heard cranes yesterday. So all the migraters are headed North. Started to work some of the fields for crops and habitat. We are like everyone, praying for moisture. Later….Randy
Rhonda and I have been busy since our last post. We have just finished our 26th year of pheasant hunting. Thank you to everyone that has hunted with us this season and in the past years. We are already booking for next season. It is never to early to get the dates you want. The cows due date is tomorrow. Already have 30 head calved. Windy today. Max and I have been in the south pastures digging out our stock dams. When it rains we will be ready. Work in the shop when the weather is nasty. We are fabricating some peices for our pipeline project. Later…. Randy
Rhonda and I spent the day with good freinds Fred and Sherry Wells. We were maning our booth at the Northern Plains Outdoor Expo, in Rapid City.It was a day spent talking to potential hunters and and a number that we have hosted for years. Max is ”holding down the fort” doing all the feeding and anything that might arise on the ranch. The show goes through Sat. and Sunday, we hope to see you there. Later. Randy
We had hunts on Fri., Sat. and Sun. The dogs seemed to enjoy the hunts, with good scenting conditions. The weather just got colder each day. Cold today. But not much wind. After feeding the livestock we worked in the shop. We did some truck maintaince and I have been building a forecart. The forecart will be used in training a couple of our horses as a team. We also will be able to use it for driving a single horse,with just a little modification. Almost done. Later…….. Randy
Happy New Year to all our hunters,friends and family. It is one pretty day… sunshine, snow on the ground and no wind. The temperature is rising, no heat wave, but nice. Morning chores are done. Maybe pick a project to finish today. Hope 2013 is everything you want it to be. Later… Randy
It was a cold day for a pheasant hunt. That little East breeze was biting and the pheasants were wild today! They seemed to know where we were at all times. The corn and milo fields or any place with deep cover is where we found them. The bus started fine this morning, but by the time we got to the river the heater had quit working. But we hunted. Cold!!! The left outside rear tire decided it was to cold and went flat. But we hunted on. Then the right outside tire was flat. We continued to hunt. The incentive to get all of our birds and quit was when we came back and the left hand inside rear tire was flat. Do you know you can drive on 3 good tires and 3 flat tires if they are in the right place? It was a great day. Later …. Randy
Rhonda and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It is the shortest day of the year and it did not take long for the sun to drop behind the Haystack Buttes. This is the time of year we try to have some night time projects. Rhonda is busy baking, crafts and I am going to do some repair work on bridles and such or maybe some blacksmithing. Busy with hunts and livestock over the holiday. Happy holidays!! Later…. Randy
If you have’nt ever hunted pheasants in the snow, you need to ! Always a good time. The birds do not run quite as much and seem to hold better in the heavy cover. The gun dogs love it. On our last hunt, Molly was on fire! She was trailing well, made some nice points and some great retrieves. The scenting conditions were the best. More Later….. Randy
The calves sold in Philip ,SD yesterday. We felt they did well. We finished our pipeline project on the Smith & Burke Bottom. We sent the cows north into the corn fields for the rest of the winter. Had another beautiful day in western South Dakota . Hunted pheasants, dry scenting conditions,but that sounds like it might change. Colder weather and alittle snow may bunch the birds some. We will chase them around again tomorrow. Later…. Randy