OFI 730: How To Get A 100% Success Rate When Hunting

agribusiness, agricultural business coach, agricultural education, agricultural real estate, agriculture, agronomy, animals, branding your business, Business, business opportunity, business plan, cattle, coach, coaching, craigslist marketing, custom podcast production, custom podcating, drone business, entrepreneur, farm, farm coach, farm sitting, farming, ffa, ffa sae, growing a herd, high demand, high profit margin, how to buy a farm, how to market on craigslist, livestock, Marketing, mobile butcher, montana state university, organic farming, pastured poultry, permaculture, podcast marketing, regenerative farming, returning veteran farmer, rural development, rural living, sae, slow paying customers, small business, small business resources, start a business, training, urban farming, using a podcast to connect with customers, using craigslist for marketing

I spent this past weekend chasing elk in the mountains of Idaho near Sun Valley. I didn’t even see an elk let alone have any success. I’m actually glad there is no such thing as a 100% success rate while you are hunting though. That would take the sport right out of it. But, on Sunday I took a break from the elk to hunt something different where there is a 100% success rate – Christmas trees.

When I moved to Montana during college my friends and I started going into the national forest and cutting our own Christmas trees. For us, a tradition was born. Since then, I have cut down my own tree from the national forest every year, except for the three years I was back in California (where it is not allowed) and last year where circumstances prohibited us from doing so.

I have shared this tradition with Autumm and Hattie, and now it has become a cherished family tradition. And, when you are “hunting” Christmas Trees you are always successful, even if it is a Charlie Brown tree. This year was no exception. Autumm, the ultimate exercise seeker, spied the “perfect” tree way up a steep mountain that was covered in about 2 feet of snow. We climbed, sometimes on all fours, up that mountain, slipping in the snow until we reached our quarry. There, I harvested our 2019 Christmas tree and let it roll back down to the trail. Success!

If you have never cut down your own tree, you should give it a try. There is something extra special about doing it this way. If you have national forest close enough that you can make a day of doing this, I highly recommend it. If not, find a Christmas Tree farm that will allow you to pick out your own and cut it down. You won’t get the cost savings of cutting one down in the forest, but you can still get a sense of what it used to be like.

As a result of my pursuits of elk and of Christmas trees I ended up spending the weekend in the Sun Valley area of Idaho with Autumm and Hattie. Sun Valley is beautiful and very well known among the world’s elites. Therefore, there are a lot of multi-million dollar homes in the area. But if you drive south from there to the bottom of the Wood River Valley you get back into agriculture, specifically cattle ranching.

I couldn’t help but notice the transformation on my drive through there this weekend. One moment I was looking at mansions. And a few minutes later I saw a couple of people feeding cattle on the snow off of a beat up, old flatbed pickup. A kid, probably about Hattie’s age, was driving. And another person was standing on the flatbed forking hay off from a big square bale to the cows that were trotting along behind the vehicle. I’ve spent many a late afternoon doing this, and I love this way of life! I was happy to see it going on right here in one of the wealthiest counties of our state.