Rabbit Hunting

8/03/2010

Today my two brothers, friend, and I went rabbit hunting on Four Peaks rd. We noticed they were doing some construction where the old dirt parking lot and bathrooms had been. It seems they are filling it with various desert plants. There are rows of agaves, pronghorn cholla, saguaros, etc, which will look kinda strange for so many desert plants to be grouped together but we'll see what they plan on doing with it.

We went out with two .22's and two 20 gauge shotguns and paired up so each two had a rifle and shotgun. We ended up getting two cotton tail rabbits to add to dinner the following evening. I do need to find a better recipe for cooking the rabbit because they are a tough meat. Something that would tender them up and make them better would be great. If you have any methods of cooking rabbit, please leave a comment. It would be greatly appreciated. I didn't post any pictures of the rabbits because they were kind of gruesome and I know some people reading this blog wouldn't appreciate it. But the view around there is amazing with Four Peaks and Weaver's Needle in the background.

As we were heading back to the car to head home, I saw a whitish blur on the ground. A lizard! Twice in the surrounding area I have seen a white blur but never got close enough to distinguish the species of lizard. I had been hoping it was the desert iguana, known to be quite fast and a white/grey color. It is still a possibility but after going out riding the next week (in a different area) I saw a very similar blur but was able to identify it. I will post that story later. As for rabbit hunting we will probably go out again soon if not for the main purpose of dove hunting which starts Sept. 1-15. Hopefully I will have some good stories from hunting during that time.

San Diego

7/24/2010

It has been too long since my last post but I now have more stories to write about. At the end of last month my family went on vacation to San Deigo. We went snorkeling in La Jolla cove and kayaking near by as well.

On a side note, before this trip I had an old digital camera and a new SLR, Nikon D40. The camera is great but it is too large for hiking trips and such where you have to lug it around. So I looked into buying a new small camera and got the Canon PowerShot SD780 IS. The camera has 12MP and 720p HD video. Along with this I got a $20 underwater camera case from amazon.com (Underwater Camera Case). With this I was able to take some cool shots while snorkeling.The image and the video are of the California Garibaldi fish. They were quite abundant and fun to watch. Groups of them would swim together and if you snapped your fingers they would come to you. We asked the kayaking guides why and they said it was because the Garibaldi fish make a clicking noise to communicate with each other.

7/26/2010

A couple days later we went to Sea World. In order to see all of the park in one day--one long day--you have to be diligent and wise in your planning. You have to plan to be able to see all the shows, break for lunch and snacks, and have time for the rides in between. It can get quite hectic but we managed. I've always loved Sea World because of all the animals and it was fun getting to see them all again. I haven't been there in ten years.  

7/27/2010

The next day, and our last one in San Diego, my brothers and I went on a deep sea fishing adventure. We headed down the coast down into the seas of Mexico because that's where they had been catching fish pretty regularly. On the way out we saw several pods of dolphins swimming around and sea lions all around the boats when they stopped. We ended the day with 9 sand bass and 1 barracuda between the three of us. When the sand bass would hit, they would hit in schools and many people on the boat would reel them in. Unfortunately for the small boat with many people on board, it was common to get lines tangled and hard to determine whose fish belonged to whom. But it was an exciting trip. The first picture is of a couple sand bass and the second of the barracuda. Unfortunately we didn't put in for the jackpot because my fish was the largest on the boat. Oh well. We ate some sand bass when we got home and boy oh boy was it good!

Hiking Wind Caves

7/10/10

Today a friend and I hiked the Wind Caves at Usery Park located south on Ellsworth Rd. We began our hike shortly after 8 with a cloud covered sky and slight chances of rain. A beautiful day for a hike and some geocaches. Shortly after the hike began, we were in for a pleasant surprise. There on the path was a desert tortoise! How often does one get to see one in the wild? This was a rare opportunity so we stopped to take pictures and watch it on its way. After sitting for a while it got comfortable with us around and so it got up and moved along. It moved quite a bit faster than what I had thought they could move. Here is a short video clip of the tortoise walking down the trail. We named him Terry The Tortoise. 

We left it on its way and continued on ours. Almost to the wind caves we found one small geocache in a rock crevice. We reached the wind caves and continued up to the peak. After some rock climbing and rocks covered in gnats, we were near the top looking for another geocache.We found it and then headed back down a different way. Doing a little rock climbing down and some more hiking we reached the wind caves again only to leave once more on the trek back to the car. On the way down I found another large geocache and was looking for a small one that I couldn't find. I did see a few holes in the rocks that could have been desert tortoise dens. Walking back to the trail led me to another discovery, however. A snake slithering through the bushes. Immediately I determined it was not a rattlesnake so I followed it around from bush to rock to bush. As I was getting my camera out, ready to take a picture, it went under some rocks and then I could not find it again. I saw the whole body at one point and my thought was that it was a whipsnake. After getting home and looking it up, it was in fact a Sonoran whipsnake (check out Sonoran whipsnake or another picture for more details). I also noticed on the way back that almost every Saguaro cactus with lots of fruit on top had a white-winged dove perched on top eating the fruit. As we walked by a bird would fly off almost every one. Back at the parking lot, finding one more geocache would end our day's adventures. Just in time too as the sun finally poked through the clouds and we started getting toasty.    

Dirt Bike Riding: Florence Junction

7/09/10

Today my brother, friend and I went dirt bike riding near Florence Junction on the way to Florence. It was a nice day with some cloud cover. Shortly after riding I noticed some snake tracks in the path. I made note of where they were so we could check on it on our way back. Heading on we saw two large jackrabbits running near the trail and then off into the desert. As we were riding, I noticed that the prickly pare cactus had its fruits in bloom. All year my brother and I have been waiting for them to bloom after reading that they are good to eat. So now was our chance. You have to be careful with these because they have many glochids on them, each with tons of tiny hairs that are a big nuisance if they get in your fingers. So we carefully removed one from the end of the pad. They are redish pink in color on the tops of the green pads. I cut a hole in one and squeezed the oozing liquid and seeds out into my mouth. I sucked the liquid from the many seeds and then spit the seeds out. The flavor was pretty sweet and good. Because there are so many seeds they are a little annoying but not bad. They remind me of pomegranate because of the seeds. And a good source of food if you are lost out in the desert at this time of the year. I had read that they taste like kiwis and watermelon but my brother thought they tasted like cherries. I think they all have some credence. We took three with us and headed back to the truck to put it in the cooler. 

On the way back we stopped at the snake tracks. We followed it into some holes around a creosote plant and out of another. There were three different tracks either going from a hole along the path to the desert, or the desert to a whole, or right across the trail. But there was no sign of the snake. It was most likely a rattlesnake or a gopher snake. Both would easily eat the Round-tailed Ground Squirrels in the area. After some more riding and grabbing some more prickly pare fruit to take home we called it a day. 

Cabin: Day 5

7/05/10

Today, with no fishing in our plans, we slept in until the sun was thoroughly warming our beds through the windows. After eating some breakfast, my friend, brother and I left for Munds Park to find some geocaches there and along the way. We easily found 3 geocaches, all in ammo cans, before reaching Munds Park. They just required a little short hiking on relatively flat ground to reach them. Once reaching Munds Park we stopped by Odell Lake. This lake is a private lake for the residents there. So we parked along the street and started looking around. There were many muggles (those who don't know about geocaching) out fishing so it was difficult to look too much. But we did finally find it in a log. It was a nice very small cache, the size of a small pill container and camouflaged. 

Then we headed further in to the park near the I-17. We stopped at a gas station and crossed the street to where the geocache was supposed to be. The clues said it was in plain sight but well camouflaged and close to the golf sign. Our friend and I looked in a tree and I jokingly said, "Look! Here it is. It's well camouflaged...it's a rock." There was a rock in the branches of the tree. Of course that wasn't the geocache so we kept looking. Then as we were about to head back across the street to the truck, I said, "You know what guys? It's probably in one of those fake rocks that people put their keys in." Well there were a bunch of rocks and broken pieces of concrete at the base of the stop sign so my friend kicked one over as we headed back to the car. We turn around to see my brother crouched down displaying a shocked face. It was there in that rock. There was a small screw on cap on a small cylinder mounted inside the rock. What an amazing find. We were very excited about that one. Then we headed up to find one more back in some neighborhoods before heading back to the cabin to pack up and head home. 

And thus ends our cabin adventures.