Entertainment in the village… the bush rat hunt.
Oh, you’re jealous… I know.
You know sometimes living in the village is so amusingly like growing up in the country in Texas that it makes me laugh. Small town folks are just small town folks, no matter the continent, the country, or the culture. And boys are just boys. Out here, most of our days are pretty much the same, so even the smallest variation can be very entertaining. Lately our compound (and the one connected to it) has been having a problem with bush rats getting into the rice huts (the storage huts) and stealing the food. Due to process of elimination or simply because they wanted to, it fell to the boys (teenaged through mid-twenties) to hunt them down. The report was given that one of the boys had seen at least four bushrats underneath the rice hut all at one time. So an iron snaptrap was set up underneath the hut and the other semi-holes were blocked so that the rats would have to run across it to get out. When that didn't really work, and after me and Reaiah encouraged t
hem to used some sort of bait on the trap, they decided to put some ever-available peanuts on the trap. But after hearing the sounds of one of them escaping around the corner, one of the boys came back and told us that the sneaky little things somehow saw (and recognized) the trap and jumped over it. Then I listened to all these boys commenting for the rest of the night on how smart these bushrats are. So then it w
as decided that the trap would need to be hidden under something so that the bushrat wouldn't recognize it. It was covered with a black plastic bag and some dirt. And we waited again. The next night the trap was triggered but it snapped off the little bushrats foot and he escaped three-footed. Again a round of comments on the tricky things, running off and leaving his foot behind. But they all agreed that one had probably learned his lesson, and would NOT be returning to steal rice. A few nights later we finally heard the trap tripped and after our little bunch ran around the corner, we found a bushrat the size of medium
sized cat struggling to stay alive. It turned out to be the largest of the bushrats that we have caught yet, and it was pregnant. It took late into the night for these boys to run around and rummage up all the stuff they needed to skin and grill up our little friend for a late night snack. Much to the excitement of the guys. The next night we caught another one, roasted it on the fire and chowed down again. I think the count is now up to six bushrats that they've caught. The last attempt at a stake out was the other night. I had gone with a friend to visit some other women late one night only to get back to the compound to find the boys tearing through our pile of firewood with the machetes and hoes to reach a bushrat hole discovered underneath it. Several others stood around the edges with large sticks or hoes ready to swing in case the thing came running their way... Of course their digging and hopping around excitedly only managed to eventually scare the thing out of its hole and several of the younger boys tore after it around in the dump/field next to our compound as though they might be fast enough to actually catch it and kill it. No luck that night, but I laughed pretty hard.
hem to used some sort of bait on the trap, they decided to put some ever-available peanuts on the trap. But after hearing the sounds of one of them escaping around the corner, one of the boys came back and told us that the sneaky little things somehow saw (and recognized) the trap and jumped over it. Then I listened to all these boys commenting for the rest of the night on how smart these bushrats are. So then it w
as decided that the trap would need to be hidden under something so that the bushrat wouldn't recognize it. It was covered with a black plastic bag and some dirt. And we waited again. The next night the trap was triggered but it snapped off the little bushrats foot and he escaped three-footed. Again a round of comments on the tricky things, running off and leaving his foot behind. But they all agreed that one had probably learned his lesson, and would NOT be returning to steal rice. A few nights later we finally heard the trap tripped and after our little bunch ran around the corner, we found a bushrat the size of medium
sized cat struggling to stay alive. It turned out to be the largest of the bushrats that we have caught yet, and it was pregnant. It took late into the night for these boys to run around and rummage up all the stuff they needed to skin and grill up our little friend for a late night snack. Much to the excitement of the guys. The next night we caught another one, roasted it on the fire and chowed down again. I think the count is now up to six bushrats that they've caught. The last attempt at a stake out was the other night. I had gone with a friend to visit some other women late one night only to get back to the compound to find the boys tearing through our pile of firewood with the machetes and hoes to reach a bushrat hole discovered underneath it. Several others stood around the edges with large sticks or hoes ready to swing in case the thing came running their way... Of course their digging and hopping around excitedly only managed to eventually scare the thing out of its hole and several of the younger boys tore after it around in the dump/field next to our compound as though they might be fast enough to actually catch it and kill it. No luck that night, but I laughed pretty hard.
posted by Song of Deliverance @ 10:40 AM
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