Alberta weekend, Post 2: Ranch fun

The rest of our weekend at Nicole's family's ranch was filled with lots of fun outdoor activities.

After the calf branding on Saturday, I had a bit of a nap while Ben helped with some more mustering and branding of grown cattle. He got to ride a horse, which I was sorry I missed since I've never seen him ride.

Then, we went gopher shooting! We had never seen gophers before, but we were told they were pests on the farm, and in need of some population control. Nicole, Roxy and I piled into the back of a red truck with a couple of dogs, and some of the others came along on quad bikes (aka four-wheelers).

Roxy

Nicole

Where we'd done the branding that morning

Then, we set off to find some gophers. We soon saw some - they make a habit of standing upright on their two back legs, usually beside a dirt mound that is the entrance to their burrow. We all took turns shooting at them, which they seemed blissfully oblivious to - they remained perched upright with an inquisitive expression while bullets whizzed past their ears!

Anyway, perhaps they were more intelligent than we gave them credit for: a great many bullets were spent and I'm pretty sure only one gopher was hit. You can see a photo of him below. I must admit that after Roxy and I saw this gopher up close, we were happy to keep missing his friends!

Layne

Layne and his son

Layne and me

Roxy having a go

Ben

Somebody's (not Ben's) kill

Alton and Ben

Tyson

Layne

Alton

Ben

All this for one gopher...

Next, we took a few quad bikes and headed bush in the hope of seeing a bear. (Well, I think some people (Roxy) may have actually been hoping we wouldn't see a bear. However, Layne, an expert hunter, assured us that no way would a bear attack a group this size. Also, he had a gun.) The bear hunt involved a lot of animated discussion, trekking to prime stakeout spots, and standing still pretending to be trees... but we didn't see any bears.

"The cabin"

A swing made for Tyson and Nicole's
wedding

Roxy and Nadine exiting a mud puddle

Layne waiting for bears while his
daughter sleeps on the ground!

Pretending to be trees

We did, however, see a bear's huge pawprint! This is it alongside Tyson's hand...

We rode back to the house via a scenic ridge and some real off-road conditions. It was a lot of fun!  (And although there aren't any photos of me riding a quad bike, I did have a turn!)

Ben and I atop a ridge

That evening we enjoyed a cosy dinner, and then Roxy and I sang some songs for the group. We ran through our country repertoire and sang a few Aussie songs too, which were a hit!

The next day, Sunday, we took a few photos after the meeting...

...And then headed back up to the cabin for an outdoor lunch cooked over the fire. This was extremely delicious, and a thoroughly pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon! After lunch, Ben tried out Layne's bow and arrow, and Roxy and I did some more singing.

The tranquil scene

Lunch on the way

Nadine and Jaelyn

Tisha

Jessie

Layne and Jaelyn

Ben getting an archery lesson

Hold, aim...

...and release!

This doesn't look dangerous at all...

Jaelyn

Singing

Our captive audience!

And that was our wonderful 2 days on the ranch! THANKS, Tom and Monica, for your kindness and hospitality... we had such a wonderful time!

We didn't leave until Monday afternoon, and I have one more blog post to write about our excursion on Monday morning, so stay tuned...