Invasion!!
March 04, 2010 Filed in: Vineyard
On a whim, Ethan and I hopped up this passed Saturday morning and decided to head out to the vineyard. It is a three hour trip from here in Springfield, MO so I was a bit apprehensive. We made it though! Anyhow, we get there just a tad bit later than anticipated (which is pretty good) to find that Dad and Kristen were just finishing up getting some clippings from a few of the vines. After packing in we decided to take Ethan on a ride in the “Monster Truck” or so he likes to call it. (Jeep Wrangler to us taller than three feet).
Climbing the road between the sets of vine plots, we make it to the open field where the new rows are going to be. This is also the field that we typically use for our yearly campsite. See the map below if you need a reference.
A little further down the road and we came across a bit of a surprise. I’d say between 10 - 20 feet from the camp fire-pit, it looked like someone dig up the ground for some gardening, but was having trouble decided whether it should be “here... oh wait...maybe here...or here...”
Dad just stops the Jeep, pulls the near-iconic cigar off his lip, and says ... “Hog.” ... and then banjo music started playing out of nowhere.
Not really, but it might as well. A darn wild boar has started rutting up our campsite! The thing had pulled stones out of the ground that were the size of my head. Can’t imagine how hard it would be to move something buried that size. I’d stuggle with a shovel and a pick axe.
Dad said there was some serious ground damage up by one of the feeders on the other side of the pond in the east field as well. Not a good thing at all. One of these things could probably take out an entire row or more of vines in one night!
These aren’t the cute little pigs that have names like Wilbur. These are some ugly beasts. Here is a better photo of one taken recently near the farm:
Quite pleasant. These fellas will need to be dealt with.
If that isn’t enough, Saturday night around 10 pm, I stepped out onto the back porch and ran into skunk. He brought up the tail, and I didn’t move. Apparently I was deemed a bore, and he sauntered off.
Skunks also tear up the ground. The yard all around the farm house has little holes dug all over the place. What does one do about a skunk? Trap it? That sounds like a mess. A pistol can’t hardly result in anything too pleasant. Hopefully ignoring the little fella will be enough.
Anyhow, the critters are getting braver and moving in closer. And the bears are probably getting hungry.
Climbing the road between the sets of vine plots, we make it to the open field where the new rows are going to be. This is also the field that we typically use for our yearly campsite. See the map below if you need a reference.
A little further down the road and we came across a bit of a surprise. I’d say between 10 - 20 feet from the camp fire-pit, it looked like someone dig up the ground for some gardening, but was having trouble decided whether it should be “here... oh wait...maybe here...or here...”
Dad just stops the Jeep, pulls the near-iconic cigar off his lip, and says ... “Hog.” ... and then banjo music started playing out of nowhere.
Not really, but it might as well. A darn wild boar has started rutting up our campsite! The thing had pulled stones out of the ground that were the size of my head. Can’t imagine how hard it would be to move something buried that size. I’d stuggle with a shovel and a pick axe.
Dad said there was some serious ground damage up by one of the feeders on the other side of the pond in the east field as well. Not a good thing at all. One of these things could probably take out an entire row or more of vines in one night!
These aren’t the cute little pigs that have names like Wilbur. These are some ugly beasts. Here is a better photo of one taken recently near the farm:
Quite pleasant. These fellas will need to be dealt with.
If that isn’t enough, Saturday night around 10 pm, I stepped out onto the back porch and ran into skunk. He brought up the tail, and I didn’t move. Apparently I was deemed a bore, and he sauntered off.
Skunks also tear up the ground. The yard all around the farm house has little holes dug all over the place. What does one do about a skunk? Trap it? That sounds like a mess. A pistol can’t hardly result in anything too pleasant. Hopefully ignoring the little fella will be enough.
Anyhow, the critters are getting braver and moving in closer. And the bears are probably getting hungry.