Biology 104: How to take antlers off a bull elk (just in case you ever need to know)

We live in a 700 acre county park with cabins, a campground, lake, and a lodge (where Sarah & Craig and Joe & Lauren were married). We also have a wildlife exhibit with elk, buffalo and white tail deer.

When we moved to the park in September 1992, one of the first things I remember is hearing the elk bugling. I mean seriously….how many of you get to hear this wonderful sound from the peace and quiet of your back yard?  If you have never heard it, here is a sample: http://soundbible.com/tags-bull-elk-bugle.html

The animals we have are domesticated and have never lived in the wild. Obviously at one time their ancestors were in the wild, but that was many many generations ago. They are used for education and are considered livestock. They are governmentally regulated to make sure that they do not get released back into the wild. Al has to have a game breeder’s license in order to keep them in the park and he works hard to make sure that they are healthy and well taken care of.

Of course every year the animals breed and you end up with higher numbers than you want. Al usually sells or trades them to other county parks in the state, but this fall we ended up with three bull elk in the pen: a 4 year old and two 2 year olds. This time of year, that doesn’t work so well, because at least one of them is not going to get along with the others.

As they were feeding Monday afternoon they noticed that one of the bulls had an injury, most likely caused by the 4 year old bull’s antlers. It’s intestines were poking out of a hole in his side.

The solution to prevent more of this is to cut off the antlers of the bulls. As Al said “if one gets hurt, everybody loses their antlers because you don’t know who did it”. If everything worked fine each year we would let them shed their antlers naturally late in the winter/early spring, but sometimes even when we only have one bull, we have to remove them anyway to make sure he doesn’t accidentally hurt one of the cows when he’s getting frisky.

So, how exactly do you go about getting their antlers off? Al’s a big guy, but not nearly big enough to go up to an 800 pound bull elk and ask him to sit so I can please cut your antlers off. I don’t think the bull would cooperate anyway.

But he’s a great shot with a tranquilizer gun, and it’s pretty easy once they are in la la land.

You wait for a few minutes to make sure they are out, and then take a saw and cut the antlers off. Pretty simple, huh?

They then darted the hurt one, and the vets came out and did a little pasture surgery on him and pushed everything back in (he got his antlers cut off as well).

I think the buffalo had to make sure that the vets were doing their job correctly.  These are the same vets that have worked with these animals for the entire time we’ve been at the park. They’re pretty used to dealing with them and know just what to do.

They must have done it pretty good, because today the bull looks like he’s going to be fine.

The Pumpkin Farm

I had class in Des Moines all week last week, so we took the camper down for one last trip of the year. We went early on Sunday so that we could go to the Howell's Pumpkin Farm & Corn Maze with Matt, Erin & Ryleigh.

We did the obligatory tractor ride through the pumpkin patch.

To the corn maze.

Thankfully they had wheelbarrows that we could haul Ryleigh around in, because shortly after we got off the tractor, she was asleep. She missed all the fun kid’s activities and slept through the rest of the pumpkin farm!

They had pumpkins & squash of every color

And gorgeous mums in full bloom.

They had a store with gifts and dried flowers from their fields. Upstairs in the barn you could buy the dried flowers to make your own arrangements.

They also had a Corn Cannon, so each of us tried our luck at it.

They loaded a partial ear of dried corn in the “shooter” and you had to aim to try to hit a pumpkin face on a silo, or three garbage cans on a line.

Erin actually hit the cans once.

I even did it, but aimed too high every time….shot it completely over the silo all three times. :)

We saw this sign on the way out, I assume it was for the employees, which were mostly kids.

It was a great afternoon….too bad Ryleigh slept through it!

Weekend river trip

We are quickly getting to that time of the year when we will have to winterize the camper. The days are getting shorter and it’s getting colder and I hate to say it….snow will be falling soon. Al and I decided to take a quick trip last weekend to southeast Iowa.  We really didn’t have any specific plans and it turned out to be a nice weekend.

The weather was perfect, although a little windy. We camped at Geode State Park between Mount Pleasant and Burlington. It was a nice little campground that was full of campers for the weekend.  I’m sure everyone was thinking like we were that they were going to get one more weekend in.

On Saturday we headed out and made our first stop in Burlington, IA. Burlington is located on the Mississippi river, it was first settled in 1833, 13 years before Iowa gained statehood.  It was a railroad town and home to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad  which merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad.

It is a beautiful town with old churches and lovely old homes built in the 1840’s and 1850’s everywhere, but you can also still feel the railroad/river town as well.

Beer and ammunition….a great combo!

Since it’s on the river, the town is very hilly and streets are very steep. In 1894, in order to provide a more direct link between the downtown business district and the neighborhood shopping area, an experimental street design was built. They named it Snake Alley.

The alley is made of bricks and consists of five half-curves and two quarter curves over a distance of 275 feet, rising 58’ from street to street. It’s really hard to show you the rise in the photos. You can drive on it, but it’s one way down. We were driving the Big Monster and I don’t think it could have made the curves without going over the curbs.

We had lunch at a nice restaurant called Big Muddy’s on the River which had good food and a nice view of the river.

We left Burlington and drove down the river to Fort Madison, home of Iowa’s State Penitentiary. It was built in 1839 and the original cell block that was completed in the 1840’s is still in use today.  I didn’t get a photo, but the prison still looks like it could have all been built in the 1800’s. It is one of the oldest prisons west of the Mississippi.

The city itself was built near the site of the former Fort Madison, which was the first permanent fort on the Mississippi. It was the site of Chief Black Hawk’s first battle against US troops in 1812. Amazingly, it was only a fort from 1808 to 1813. In 1813 after constant attacks by the local Sauk and other Indian tribes, the Army abandoned the fort and intentionally burned it to the ground.

The actual fort site was uncovered in 1965 during excavations to build a parking lot. That site is on the National Register of Historic Places, but it still in private hands. A replica of the fort was built several blocks away with much of the labor supplied by inmates from the prison.

There were many many old homes built in the 1840’s and later that we drove by here as well. I just kept thinking how much their heating bills must be! Many of them were for sale, which I thought was interesting.  Here are a couple listings. As you look at the photos, just think how they looked when they were new!

630 Avenue E

435 Avenue E

915 Avenue E

We went across the river to Illinois on the Santa Fe Wing Span Bridge.  It is considered to be the longest double decker swing span bridge in the world. Vehicles go on the top deck, while the trains go on the lower deck. It is the last remaining swing bridge on the Mississippi.

We headed down the Illinois side of the river to Nauvoo, Illinois. The Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon’s) settled here in 1839, and in 1844 was the largest city in Illinois, surpassing Chicago. The LDS members left Nauvoo headed westward to Salt Lake city in 1846 making it almost a ghost town. Here again were many many historic buildings from the 1840’s.

The temple that can be seen for miles around. I’m not a member of the LDS church, but you can’t help but be amazed when you see a building of this grandeur.

We crossed back into Iowa at Keokuk, and then headed back up to the campground.

It was a nice weekend….too bad we couldn’t have lingered longer!

Hickory Hills Halloween

It was the Halloween weekend at Hickory Hills last weekend and it was a gorgeous weekend for it.  Craig, Sarah and the kids came out, and Matt & Erin and Ryleigh came for the weekend.

We had Tai as a horse with a jockey rider. He did okay with it, probably because he’s used to wearing cloths anyway, but he wasn’t too sure about all the other dogs so he didn’t get to stay out too late.

And we had the Mario Brothers Mario and Luigi, complete with Princess Peach, Toad and the Koopa (turtle). (you know that I had to look the names all up on the internet!)

And we had Matt as “Ranger Al”. Everyone thought it was cute. I don’t think Al thought it was quite so cute.

Erin dressed in a buck hat (to go along with Ranger Al) and Wally dressed up as a flower to go along with Ryleigh’s bee.

It was a fun day. Now we just have to wait a couple weeks to go to Joe & Lauren’s for the real Halloween (of course because no-one ever comes to our house……can’t imagine why?)

Hawkeyes and Seafood

Odd pairing, right? Not if you were at our house last Saturday.

We had the food:

We had the Bloody Mary’s:

We had the football gear:

You put it all in a big pot:

Cook it for a bit:

Protect the table with newspaper and freezer paper:

Pour it in the middle of the table:

Dig in and enjoy!

Clean up and watch football:

Truth be told I really don’t care for the Hawkeyes, I would choose Northern Iowa, but it was a great game. Everyone else likes them, so guess I can accommodate for one day. :)

The seafood boil is super easy and fun. If you want to try it, here’s the recipe. It was originally from Old Bay, but we tweaked it a bit.

Roll up your sleeves and enjoy!

                             Seafood Boil

Ingredients
10 quarts Water
2 can (12 oz) Beer; (optional)
1 1/4 cup OLD BAY® Seasoning
2 tablespoons salt
4 pounds small red potatoes; cut into pieces if large (3 per person)
2 pounds Smoked sausages; cut into 2-inch pieces1/4 lb per person
1 pound Andouille sausage; cut into 2 inch pieces
8 ears Corn on the cob; shucked and halved crosswise 1 per person
4 pounds jumbo shrimp; (21-25 count) 1/2 pound per person
2 pounds Crab legs; broken into pieces 1-2 legs per person (optional)
2 pounds Crawfish; (if in season)
2 whole Lemons; halved
2 whole Onions; cut into quarters
10 cloves Garlic; smashed
Butter; melted

Instructions
Cover your table with newspaper then freezer paper. This helps keep the juices from seeping through to the table.

Bring water, beer, OLD BAY Seasoning (2 Tablespoons per quart of water at least) and salt to boil in large stockpot on high heat (we use our fish cooker). Can add some Zatarain''s liquid boil if wanting it more spicy. Go careful, though it is very spicy!

Add potatoes & corn (if fresh). Cook 10 minutes or until potatoes are just starting to soften (may take longer, check your potatoes). Corn could be added a little bit later if using frozen (only take about 7 minutes for frozen ears)  Add sausage, onions, garlic, lemons & crab (if using). Cook 5-7 minutes (check to see if crab is done. Larger legs may need more cooking time).

Remove from heat, add shrimp & crawfish (if using). Cover and let stand 3-5 minutes or until shrimp is pink. Any longer than that and they will be tough.

Drain cooking liquid. Pour contents of pot into mound on paper-covered table. Sprinkle with additional OLD BAY Seasoning and lemon juice, if desired and serve with melted butter in containers. (we serve this on the side).

Serves 8 with large portions.

We use plastic forks and do not use plates. We do use table knives as crab crackers because I don't have these. The restaurant we usually go to uses small homemade hammers for this. I need to have Al make some for me!