Monday, October 29, 2007

Maxim the Cattle Rustler...and the Upland Bird Hunter

Last week Maxim was begging to go pheasant hunting with my father-in-law and I, so on Tuesday I brought him along.

We got over to Papa Raymond's around 10 a.m. and they were working heifers..."preg checking" them. Now if you have never seen this firsthand, you are not going to appreciate this, but when he say the Vet stick his hand in, and heard the cow beller...it was an eyeful for a 5 year old. After about 10 minutes of watching, he was ready to go outside and play. I was happy he was getting farm educated.

We grabbed some food and around noon we headed to the field. We hunted corn and river bottom. Maxim walked the entire day, just blocking during the corn hunt so we didn't lose him! We figure he walked about 3 miles in switch grass, stubble fields and sloughs. He never once complained and carried a corn stalk gun for most of the time.

He was a trooper. I either ruined him for ever going out hunting again or he is now addicted.

After we cleaned the birds, which he stayed away from and called it "scary", Papa Raymond wanted us to help move some cow/calf pairs to a different field. Maxim and I took the 4 mile 4-wheeler ride to the field and jumped in the truck with Papa...a little safer in the truck.

We started pushing cattle, and he was very excited, imitating Papa by yelling at the cows out the truck window. The best part was when we encouraged an old heifer to "get along" by smacking her with the cattle guard of the truck, and Maxim's eyes got big again and he said, "Papa we crashed into that cow!" He fell asleep before we got to the field and didn't wake up for 4 hours!

That was a day I will remember for a long time...the exact reason we moved back to the lake!

After we got back to the farm, Brecken was getting in the way of the ladies painting in the house, so we went for a 4-wheeler ride across some of the same roads me and my cousin Eric used to tear up with go-carts, motorcycles and 3-wheelers. We found Eric and my Uncle Jim combining corn, and hitched a ride for a few rounds...Brecken was overwhelmed.

We got home right before dark, ate and slept very well that night.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

One of the greatest joys in your life is when your son or daughter will some day start a story with... "my dad and I used to..."!! Then you know you've done your best as a father.

I know the feeling...Love Dad!!