Bazooka Shells and Turkeys

Yesterday when I arrived to feed the horses I noticed that they were all on edge. I had them all put into the quarantine pasture because the US Forrest Service burned off our main pasture a week ago and burned up part of our fence in the process. Anyway, the horses were all looking over into the main pasture with alert ears and not escorting me to the hay shed like they normally do. This behavior was accompanied by the periodic stampede to the other side of the quarantine pasture to get away from whatever they imagined was in the main pasture. This can get really annoying when you happen to be walking among them to put the hay out. After I had put all the hay out and hadn't been trampled in the process I went over into the main pasture to see what was spooking them. I expected to find illegal aliens or deer or some other creature moving around out there but found nothing. What I did find was a whole bunch of wild turkey tracks. Turkeys have big ol' feet and the tom walks around his hens dragging his wing feathers on the ground making it look like Picaso was out there doodling in the dirt. The tracks were everywhere so it was obvious the big birds were taking advantage of the vacant pasture to look for bugs and whatever else it is they like to eat. I have been noticing these turkeys for several weeks because the tom is very vocal and very protective of his hens. When I was working on one of the trailers up in the tree line recently he was protesting my presence and fluffed himself up just like you see in those Thanksgiving decorations. A very impressive bird and very intimidating. Anyway, while I was searching around looking for something that might be spooking the horses I found something that kinda spooked me. It was an olive drab rocket casing laying on the side of the power line road. The military refers to these things as UXOs or unexploded ordinance. It was obvious to me that this thing was already exploded and I'm pretty sure that no one has been firing RPGs or bazookas out in our horse pasture so I assumed it was a prop for some sort of military training activity that had spilled over into our pasture. Due to my past military training on UXOs I knew better than to pick up the object but instead called the Range Control people to come get it. They came out post haste and they informed me it was an expended rocket (the kind used in bazookas) from the early 50's. In fact, the plate on the outside of the rocket stated that it had been manufactured in 1951. Apparently, when the Forrest Service had burned off the grass, this thing became exposed. It is amazing to think that I have been walking past this object for the past eight years and never noticed it. Now I'm mad that I didn't keep it for a souvenir.

By the way, I never did find out what was spooking the horses.