October 2

It's October...doesn't seem like it should be but it is. Montana is beautiful right now, our leaves are changing colors (or color; everything turns yellow here). The two trees in my front yard have already given up for the year and all of the leaves are off. Beet harvest will start in the next week or so and I hope to get out and help out (or at least watch). Cattle are being shipped south to Colorado and Nebraska to feedlots. All in all, it's a busy time.

Yesterday when I went home for lunch the dogs were barking like crazy (nothing unusual there) but something made me go out back and see what was going on. It took a while to see what the issue was, but Maggie had a HUGE squirrel treed. It was one of the biggest squirrels I have ever seen! Maggie really does have a nice tree bark, but I am sure that the neighbors get tired of the hound baying. Speaking of which, I saw this past weekend in USA Today and article that was discussing a growing storm with hunting in Virginia; it seems that a few tree hugger types are trying to ban hunting with hounds. I know that there are a few bad apples in the coon and bear hunting community that don't respect landowner rights (in Virginia, that is EXTREMELY limited due to the "right to retrieve" laws) and these bad apples are going to ruin the sport for everyone else. It's the same thing in Montana (only without hounds), a few bad sports cause loss of access for everyone. It really sucks for those of us who do follow the regulations and try to be a good ambassador for the sport of hunting. I guess that I am on my soapbox about hunting right now because the countdown has started for pheasant season (9 days to go)!!! I can't wait to get out and watch the dogs (I've been talking to Kevin about taking Jet and Hatchet out again this year) and maybe we'll be lucky enough to find and flush some big roosters!!!