Whose at the Gate?

Recently we began to notice that Someone has been rubbing this bush right at our gate.

See that volunteer sprig right at the base of this cottonwood?

Look closer.............................

Closer Still........................................

Someone has been rubbing their antlers to shed them.  Now the WHO remains a mystery.  We have between three and five elk bulls that hang around every winter and also four huge mule deer stags. These guys have scared the bejeebers out of me several times by trying to commit suicide in front of my car!

 Last spring our daughter in law found a very nice elk shed on our place.

So to the WHO, we hope you leave us an antler or two!

Definitely, wildlife is one of the greatest things about living 60 miles north of nowhere.

Norm the bull

I wanted to share the tale of Norm our bull.  We acquired Norm as a young bull when we leased him as a two year old.  We liked him a lot, mostly because Norm stayed home!  A highly desireable trait in a bull who tend to wander over to the neighbor's (or further) on a regular basis.

So we purchased Norm.  He wasn't known as Norm in those days, we called him 'Little Bull'.  But he really did not stay little much longer.  And he did not stay home either.   He did not wander off as much as some bulls we had in the past; but he tended to leave once he had all 'his' girls bred.

Hubby would have to saddle up and go find him.  Sometimes it took days and days of riding.

Since the one pasture just north of us contains 10,000 acres that could involve a lot of time to just locate him.  Hubby tried to shorten the time required by first locating Norm with the pickup and then going after him with a horse.  See the rope on the saddle?  Well Hubby 'pops' Norm on the rear end all the way home with the end of this rope.  Understandably, it stings and Norm is NOT fond of this. Hubby thought it would reinforce to Norm he was to STAY  HOME.

Last summer we discovered it worked better than we could have ever hoped.  It pickup broke Norm.

After driving around for HOURS, trying to locate Norm after he had missing for a number of days, we declared defeat and went home.  Only to discover Norm was HOME and back with his cows!  We think he heard (or saw) the pickup and not wanting to endure a butt popping return home, came back on his own!   Well that was success!

Why do we call him Norm?

Norm's normal spot is right where the buckskin mare is standing.  He is standing in the middle in the back waiting for her to vacate HIS spot.  The chestnut standing next to him is the same horse Hubby is riding in the photo above, Melody.  

Remember Norm in the sit-com Cheers?  He always sat at the same spot at the bar.  Well Norm is always at the same spot at the feeder 24/7.  Unless one of the horses ursurps it when he goes for water.  Which is what happened in the above photo.

And now you have the complete story of Norm our bull.