Two posts in less than a week??

Beautiful little BJS Ophelia has finally gone to her forever home with Anne and Ed of Dunnville, Ontario.  She will be joining their small herd of Percy, Mowbray and Alexander.  Ophelia is one of the many kids born in Mar and April of 2011 but for some reason she was never chosen to go to a forever home until now.  Everyone seemed to pass over her even though she is cute and colourful and quite little for her age.  At last she can run and play with kids her own age with no big bully goats to push her around and she will get the best care in the world as Anne and Ed take wonderful care of their little herd and love them dearly.   YAY  Ophelia!!

In other farm news, it's poring rain right now.  It's better than snow.  Well, not much but at least we don't have to shovel it.  I spend altogether too much time shoveling stuff to be shoveling snow too. 

Breeding season is well under way.  Some of the girls have already been bred and are back out with the herd.  Cinda, Rhea, Sprocket and Aura have all been bred.  Not too sure about the rest as  not all the girls make it obvious when they are in heat.  So we just have to wait and see if they get the boys all worked up.  If not, then maybe, just maybe, they are bred.  Oh!  I can't wait for kidding season!!

Now, a word about hunting.

I don't want to offend anyone here....oh crap...maybe I do.  BUT, I don't like hunting.  That is not to say I think no one should ever hunt anything.  Of course you should hunt if you will starve to death if you don't hunt.  (Can't really see that happening in Campbellville but there you go.)  I also believe that it is more humane for a deer to be shot than to starve to death in the winter because there are too many deer and not enough food.

But, I've got a really problem with those macho men (and women) who head out to the back 40 and plug anything that moves with their trusty shot gun.  You see, we live on the edge of a forest that is about 200 acres and even though it is private property I've been hearing shot gun blasts and the occasional rifle crack out there all day.   RIFLE???  Did I say RIFLE??  Yes, I did.  Ok, so right now and for the next 3 days it is hunting season in our neck of the woods but it is hunting season for SHOT GUN and BOW ONLY.  No rifles are allowed.  There's a reason for this.  You see, a shot gun will make a very big noise and shoot a whole bunch of pellets or one good sized slug at a great velocity toward the intended target but you had better be fairly close to that target or the shot is going to run out of steam and flop on the ground like a wet noodle.  The range of the slug depends on the shot gun type, the slug type and many other factors.  I won't go into them here because it would bore most goat owners to death and the ones it wouldn't bore already know what those factors are.    Anyway, my point is shot gun hunting is allowed for 5 days in the fall to help control the deer population in a humane way and most innocent bystanders are relatively safe in their own back yards during the shotgun season because shot guns don't shoot very far.  You need to be fairly close to your target.  However, a rifle is a different story altogether.  A .22 caliber rifle can shoot a projectile, namely a .22 caliber bullet about a mile and a half.  That's not to sat you could shoot flies off a pigs back at a mile and a half.  You'd be lucky to hit the pig but accuracy is not he issue.  Sudden death from a stray bullet is.  Let's say Joe Mean the hunter is back in the forest behind my pasture hunting wolverines with his trusty .303.  Well, first off, Joe Mean is an idiot because there aren't any wolverines in Campbellville but aside from that, let's say he sees something move in the bushes and decides that must be the allusive wolverine he's been tracking.  So...BAMM...he shoots but he misses.  OHOH.  Where the heck did that silly bullet go?  Let's say Joe Mean was facing MY direction when he fired his trusty .303.  Let's say I'm just out standing in my field (pun intended) and THWACK!!  I take one right between the up rights.  Well, DAMN!!  How the heck did that happen??  Joe Mean was a mile back in the forest.  Unh hunh....and how far will a bullet travel?  So you see my point.

So I get to listen to BLAMM  BLAMM  BLAMM all day long, my dogs are going completely nutso cus they know something is in the forest and they can't get to it to shred it like an old paper towel, and I get shot between the ears.  No, I'm not a fan of hunting.

I would think most hunters are safety conscious, know their fire arms and know their targets.  I would expect that most hunters would not shoot at something unless they were 100% sure that what they are aiming at is what they are allowed to shoot.  I expect that most hunters are responsible citizens that leave the alcohol at home when driving to their desired hunting spot.  I expect that most hunters would not hunt on private property that has NO HUNTING signs posted every 50 feet or so.

And I expect I'd be wrong on all counts.

Hunting in the forest behind us is illegal.  Why?   It's private property and I know the owner well and know he would not give anyone permission to hunt back there.  

Hunting during off season is illegal.  Why?  Kind of obvious, isn't it?

Hunting with rifles in this area is illegal.  Why?  See above concerning distance.

Three strikes, you're out!

If it looks, smells and sounds like an idiot, it's probably an idiot.

Written with sincere apologies to all the responsible hunters that are given a bad name by idiots.