July 08, 2008

My First Kill - Alex

Two days ago I shot my first gopher. To tell you the truth I was a little sad killing one. My weapon was a special rifle. There are specific reasons for killing these animals. Among them are that they break the livestock's legs when they dig their holes and they eat our gardens and crop's. We need to save our crops and garden's, so read on.
 
A mixed bag of emotion
Since I have never killed another mammal before, I knew that it was going to be a little hard, but I got past it. After a while I shot one because I knew it was for the livestock and the crops. The sadness was not too bad because I continued to kill some more after that.
 
The rifle
My cousin Nolan brought a rifle to the farm. It was the same type that my Dad had as a child. It was a .22 Cooey single shot model 75. When you are loading you put a bullet into the rifle. Push the lever forward and down. Pull back another metal bar and then you are loaded.  You aim by finding the spec at the end of the rifle and line the shot up with the target. Finally you pull the trigger. That's how you shoot a rifle.
 
The circle of life
We take good measures against animals that eat our gardens and crops other than cows. We shoot, poison, fence, etc. We don't shoot animal like squirrels, chipmunks and birds because they do no harm. We do what we have to do to keep animals out of our farm.  We use dogs for larger animals and cats for small rodents. It's the circle of life.
This experience shows the circle of life in the barn yard and we are at the top.  It was a little saddening having to put a gopher out of his misery after I already shot it. The rifle is the all time killer of the gophers. The land and crops are going well and the gopher population dropped by 14 over the last few days. Now every night I hear a coyote and the next morning the dead gophers are gone!
 
By Alex Perry!

5 comments:

  1. You must be a good marksman ,Alex :) I know the gopher populations out West have to be kept down.I also know it is a hard thing to do,no matter what the reason for it is.I am glad that animals and birds that aren't destructive are not killed though.We have a crow family here and also have ducks rabbits and squirels and chipmunks,who live in and around our yard.We enjoy them and feed them every day.I am glad you & the family are enjoying the Farm experience!Sounds so laid back & relaxing (except for the ticks)! We have had a few years of tick problems ,living in Winnipeg & Shilo,and they are the only things I hated about living in those two places:( Mike said Charlene has had a few on her in the past week ,their dog also has had them on him and that is in the City of Winnipeg,so they are a problem.You always have to be aware of them and do tick searches often.YUK!!!! I hope they do not reach Ontario or I am moving farther East,PEI maybe :)We do have ticks here,of course,but only in the woods and usually they are not the ones that are responsible for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lymme disease.Our car had one on her here once but it came off easily.I checked her often though after that:( Keep your blogs going so we will be able to read about your adventures and bye for now..Gail PS I think a lot of people don't know you are still keeping the blog up cause your Mom said you wouldn't be back writting til' Sept.I didn't realize you were til' your grandma Donna phoned me and mentioned it.

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  2. I am the last blog Alex ,Gail,as they wouldn't let me send this E-Mail with my own name(for whatever reason ???)So I signed it anonymous and out it went?????Oh well,whatever works I guess :)

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  3. Wow Alex. What an experience. Zac was just asking me the other day if anyone in our family has ever shot a gun. I will get him to read this!

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  4. Oh yes...if it bleeds...we can kill it...lol.

    I hope my xbox 360 prepared you for this first kill Alex. I am sure your Mom was horrifed and your Dad was proud.

    Funny post!

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  5. Hi Alex
    This is all a part of life, just like you said. Earl said that it is terrible to see a cow or steer crippled because of gopher holes so you did the right thing.
    Looking forward to seeing you soon and hearing about all your adventures from battling a fierce storm on the water to fighting fierce ticks in the woods.
    Nanny Donna

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