Digging on the Dogs

This groundhog seemed to have a patch of mange.

On Saturday night, after coming in from JRTCA Nationals, Connie and Kelly and I had a terrific dinner and a lot of laughs at Larry and Linda Morrison's.

The next morning I met up with the ladies at Larry and Linda's, and got treated to one of Linda's wonderful breakfasts (biscuits, eggs, sausage, home-made jam, potatoes).

We then loaded up the truck and headed out to a nearby farm to see if we could work off a few calories with shovel, digging bar, and terriers in tow. The weather was about perfect!



The corn had not yet come off of most of the fields, and the creek banks and hedges were dramatically overgrown with multiflora rose and cockleburs.

The ground down by the lower creek appeared to be a bit loggy, so we cut up through the corn to a small wooded copse to see if we could locate a few on higher and drier ground. There we found our first groundhog of the day under a pile of massive old cow femurs and bits of old farm detritus.



The second groundhog of the day was located in a massive multiflora rose break, which we cut down to size in short order with the help of a machete.

Kelly's young dog Lolly (pictured above) got face-to-face with her first groundhog at this hole, and she bayed it up, and then Wager got behind the groundhog and pushed it to bolt into a snare.

The third groundhog of the day (pictured at the top of this post) was located by Connie's dog Wager, who got in and bottled it up very nicely.



By now the day was getting a bit long in the tooth, and we were getting hungry, so we trundled back to the truck for water and cookies, before heading back to the Morrison's for another fabulous meal (deer steaks!) and more laughs.

I was a bit late rolling for home (apologies to the wife), but the time out was well-spent. Good people, good times, good food and good laughs. What more do you want from life? Nothing!
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