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Borrego Springs, CA

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Youth hunt, visitors, and goat heads

Last Saturday I accompanied Stacy, the person in charge of the hunts on the refuge, on her rounds for the first Youth Hunt weekend of the season.  Young hunters, both boys and girls, under the age of 16 get the first crack at bagging some waterfowl.  They all must be accompanied by an adult that is not allowed to hunt.

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It was an interesting day.  I only got one picture of a happily successful young hunter.  He harvested two mallards.  Why is it that young boys always seem to have such big feet in proportion to the rest of their bodies?  I guess they’re like puppies; they’ll grow into them.  Winking smile

We only found one father and son that were hunting in a closed area.  They were not from this area, and got a little turned around in the dark at 4:00 a.m. as they tried to find their ‘spot’.  While I am not a hunter, I can appreciate the contributions that hunters have made to preserving our wild places.

It appeared that most, if not all, of the young hunters were successful.  A big cookout is provided by a local hunt group for everyone, and I believe every youth hunter went home with a great prize.  Many tables held all kinds of prizes like cartridges, gun cases, duck call thingies, camouflage apparel, decoys, and even four guns. 

Today, after a dentist appointment in Klamath Falls, I had to hurry back to the rig to get ready for some visitors. 

_MG_2425Loree and Luci drove down from around Bend, OR, to visit Emma and me.  We have been reading each others blogs for years, and missed a chance to meet quite a few years ago down in New Orleans when I was not feeling well.  Finally, we got to meet each other.  Little Luci was not thrilled with exuberant Emma, so she spent most of the time in the car or on Loree’s lap.  I fixed New York BBQ chicken and Waldorf salad for lunch, and Loree brought a bag of home grown cherry tomatoes and some delicious pumpkin muffins.  We just ‘chewed the fat’ for about three hours before they had to be on their way back home.  It’s always great to spend some time with someone you’ve known so long in blogland.

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Now for the goat heads…  This sure looks like a goat’s head to me.  I don’t know for sure if that’s what they’re called, but they are a real pain in the foot!  The area outside of my rig has a million of them.  They’re only about 1/8-1/4” wide, but those spikes get caught in my shoes and Emma’s feet daily.  I can’t even figure out what plant they’re coming from.  There isn’t much growing around the rig or around the picnic table, but I remove about twenty of them daily from my Crocs and Emma’s pads.  Nasty little devils!

I Googled ‘2015 government shutdown’ a little while ago, and it seems that it has been postponed until early December.  I guess that means I’ll be here a couple of more weeks before I head south.  I hope the weather holds out.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

29 comments:

  1. Do those spiny things come in on the wind? They must be from some plant nearby..ornerry looking things. Good to see youngsters hunting! :)

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  2. Judy- I had a wonderful time! Lunch was great, thank you so very much!! Was so glad I got to finally meet you both!

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  3. They come from a low growing long stemmed plant. They will put holes in bike tires and go through running shoes. I will try to get a internet picture of the plant.

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  4. Yep. Goatheads grow in clusters of four "heads," on the long tendrils of a ground hugging weed. Southern NM has had enough rain to make a goathead lawn in places, and now I've found them growing here on the Central Coast. They ;are invasive and bad for everyone except for other goatheads.

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  5. The hunt sounds like a great time for the kids.
    Hope the weather holds for you too.

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  6. Those "goat heads" are all over the place when we visit Mission, TX. We have to watch poor little Bella. There isn't much grass in that area. They use gravel/stones for their yards. She can't walk any where by the road, and then we still have to be careful. What a pain!

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  7. Those "goat heads" look nasty.

    Not a hunting fan. I like to see my mallards alive. I just don't get the thrill of killing.

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  8. Goat heads are nasty alright!!! Well looks like we will both be around for another two weeks!!!

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  9. So glad we don't have to deal with the government nonsense for now. I wish they could separate their issues.

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  10. Yes, those goat heads are bad. We've had many flat tires on our bikes from them over the years. Not good for animal paws, either. And they get into the carpet where you will only find them in the middle of the night when you get up barefooted:-)

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  11. Tribulus terrestris, Caltrop Family ( Zygophyllaceae ), Puncture Vine. Also called Bull Head, Bull's Head, Goat's Head, Bindii, Bullhead, Burra Gokharu, Caltrop, Cat's head, Devil's Eyelashes, Devil's thorn, Devil's weed, Goathead, Puncturevine, Tackweed, Torito, or Toboso.

    You most likely have the vine type as described by emjay and a picture can be seen at this link http://delange.org/BullHead/BullHead.htm
    The plant is most likely yellow/brown at this time of the year and will blend into the soil background.

    The long stem type that Barney (The Old Fat Man) described are a different variety.

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  12. I hate those goat heads too, and Lady's paws seemed to be a magnet for them. I think the climate and drought brings on the nasty weeds and kills the good grass. I have mostly rocks in my yard but the weeds come through.

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  13. Love the name Goat heads. We have something like those in the grass in the fall and my aging memory is failing me on what they are called. Really nice picture of Luci and Loree. Sounds like a lovely visit. All I can do is SIGH about the government shut down postponed. When will those boys (mainly) grow up?

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  14. Goat Heads are a pain in the butt. Almost as bad as government shut downs. Glad we've been spared of the latter, now if we could find a way to eliminate the former, it would make lots of us happy. ;c)

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  15. You had me fooled, I thought that actually WAS a goat skull! And I was thinking...I didn't know that the horns were like that! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. It's part of a plant???

    Glad you got to meet another blogger. I've met a few and they are always just as neat (or neater) in person as they are on the blog. I'm sad I didn't make it to Oregon to meet you!

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  16. Remembering my early days of hunting, it may not be that we had unusually big feet, just that we had to wear big boots:)

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  17. Our hope is to meet the Birdlady of Blogland...You have been a friend already, and I sure hope our paths cross down the road someday...If not, we will always be in touch somehow..I feel that.

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  18. Oh, I've met up with those danged things -- got a flat bicycle tire from 'em, too, near Gulf Shores AL. I think Jimmy called them sand burrs, but whatever you want to call them, they are nasty! Really dislike!

    Cool that you could share an afternoon with your blogger friend!

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  19. When you get to Jojaba -spray weed killer around your rig especially your tires. Those goat heads are seeds and they grow very well in the desert and are very hard to get rid of once they get started. Lived with them all my life in New Mexico.

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  20. As we've been moving south we've ended up with a bunch of those "goat heads" in our shoes. I'd heard the name but never put two-and-two together. Thanks for the info!

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  23. Youth Hunt sounds interesting, please keep on posting more. thanks.

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