What a beautiful opening morning...one problem - NO DEER!
That's my boy!...handsome little hunter Nate!
Nothing like a little added energy for the hunt! (Red Bull)
Our first hunt together with two tags!
Nate just catching some sleep during the hunt!
The ULTIMATE hunting guide...Dad!
An up close view of a T-rex print
Nate & Chris on the Dino Tracks
PROUD little Nate with his mom's kill of the day!
The one and only kill!
The deer hunt was AWESOME this year...I have never had a more fun hunt! I truly think it was because of my hunting partners...Dad, Chris, Nate, Nick and Brock. I have never hunted with Chris when we both had tags until this year. It was a blast! It has been 5 years since I've had a tag and 10 since I'd shot a deer! It was definitely time to cash in! We went out opening morning up to Flat Top Mountain above Enterprise...BIG MISTAKE! Not even a time to load a bullet...no deer! At least we enjoyed each other's company and spending time in Pine Valley at the cabin. My mom was a WHOLE LOT of help with Brynley. Unfortunately my Mom didn't draw out this year, so she was more than willing to watch Brynley for me. THANKS MOM! Well, after opening morning didn't seem to go so well - we did more homework and went over by Elephant Bute - WOW! Talk about a HUGE success. We (Dad, Chris, Nate & Me) got out there about 6:30 am Wednesday morning. We saw deer the second we took off on the wheelers - jumping them left and right. Chris got stuck in ahh watching a big one in his binnoculars and when he grabbed his gun - it was too late! He learned his lesson and by afternoon - he was shooting up a storm at those big ones...keep in mind he was shooting far distances...250 yards+...who knows maybe his 270 was off...we'll give him that! During the day, we stopped at some dinosaur tracks, Nate was thrilled - it was a lot of fun to pick out the T-rex prints! Nate was a great little partner - I definitely enjoyed teaching my son a few things about the wilderness - the cutest thing was coming back off a hike only to find Nate asleep on the four-wheeler trailer, with Grampy in charge - it was priceless...those early morning hunts were a killer. The thing I loved most about being with Nate was at about 6:30 pm, mind you that the hunt ended at 7 pm, and Dad, me and Nate were all one on wheeler, Chris was hiking on the next mountain pass over - I looked over (with Nate driving the wheeler) just in time to see a 'wall-hanger' - Dad grabbed Nate's hands off the handle bars, we came to a sudden stop, jumped off and I went down to one knee with my gun ready, however, I couldn't find it in my scope - unfortunately my dad didn't realize that and he had it in his, but he was waiting for me to shoot...I wispered dad, I can't find it in my scope - you shoot! you shoot! So by the time we communicated it was almost too late - dad shot as it ran off - he went after it and I jumped on the wheeler with Nate to drive as fast as I could and try to cross its course and send it back to dad...I felt terrible I had messed that shot up for my dad - I wished like heck I wouldn't have gone down on my knee to stabilize my shot - I should have stood up...I was so mad at myself...I was driving like heck and I couldn't see the deer anywhere, when all of the sudden I looked up and there it was...not the big one..but an average two-point about 40 yards away from me and Nate on the wheeler. I immediately stopped - now keep in mind it was the closing day of the hunt with only 30 minutes left of daylight - I jumped off the wheeler, while leaving it in gear with my 4 1/2 year old on it. I was only about 15 feet in front of the wheeler, I turned back to Nate and said, "Nate it's a little buck...should I shoot it?" and he keept quiet and shook his head real dramatically with a big YES. I said, "plug your ears" and turned around, it was still standing in the same place looking at me...I pulled up my gun quickly (without going down to one knee) and aimed at the heart...I pulled the trigger of the 300 mag!BOOM! WOW! It jumped and took off over a small hill. I looked back at Nate and his eyes were HUGE! He was sitting in total AWWW! He said, "Mom - you got it!" At that point, I wan't for sure and I didn't know what was doing to be on the other side of the hill (as far as blood, etc), so I said, "Nate, I have got to go after it really quick - just stay right there, I will be right back and you need to watch for Grampy - I know he heard me shoot. Nate was really good and stayed right there as I topped the hill and started the decline, I could see heavy tracks and blood - I was worried I only wounded him and didn't kill him, just then, I looked up as I nearly fell right on top of the body! It was NUTS! I glanced quick at him - saw that I shot him in the front of the chest and he was defintely gone. I took off my orange vest (which was over my orange coat) and laid on the bush next to the deer and took off on a dead ran back to Nate. I yelled from the top of the hill - "I got it Nate - I got it!" I ran down to grab Nate as my Dad came around to corner. Together we all got excited and I warned them of the small size - my dad didn't seem to mind the size - it was great! Nate just kept saying, "WOW MOM! He's HUGE! Good job Mom! Good job!"...then he said, "wow, my mom shot that deer Grampy...cool huh!" He was so very proud of me...it was a moment I will never forget! I got on the radio's we had and told Chris that I just laid one down, but right before I shot mine, I heard a shot from his direction...I said, how about you and he said, oh babe - I just missed a MONSTER, but it was a long ways away. He didn't believe me that I got mine and he had missed multiple times throughout the day, no tto mention that I got mine with the first shot I took of the day! I had to remind him that he let the little ones go and opted to only go for the big ones! At any rate, he finished the hunting out for the evening and came to find us - it was GREAT! We all had the best hunt we've ever ever had!!! THANKS EVERYONE! It was definitely a team effort that day! We all pitched in and had an unforgettable day! We are defnitely looking forward to more fun memories next year!
The deer hunt was AWESOME this year...I have never had a more fun hunt! I truly think it was because of my hunting partners...Dad, Chris, Nate, Nick and Brock. I have never hunted with Chris when we both had tags until this year. It was a blast! It has been 5 years since I've had a tag and 10 since I'd shot a deer! It was definitely time to cash in! We went out opening morning up to Flat Top Mountain above Enterprise...BIG MISTAKE! Not even a time to load a bullet...no deer! At least we enjoyed each other's company and spending time in Pine Valley at the cabin. My mom was a WHOLE LOT of help with Brynley. Unfortunately my Mom didn't draw out this year, so she was more than willing to watch Brynley for me. THANKS MOM! Well, after opening morning didn't seem to go so well - we did more homework and went over by Elephant Bute - WOW! Talk about a HUGE success. We (Dad, Chris, Nate & Me) got out there about 6:30 am Wednesday morning. We saw deer the second we took off on the wheelers - jumping them left and right. Chris got stuck in ahh watching a big one in his binnoculars and when he grabbed his gun - it was too late! He learned his lesson and by afternoon - he was shooting up a storm at those big ones...keep in mind he was shooting far distances...250 yards+...who knows maybe his 270 was off...we'll give him that! During the day, we stopped at some dinosaur tracks, Nate was thrilled - it was a lot of fun to pick out the T-rex prints! Nate was a great little partner - I definitely enjoyed teaching my son a few things about the wilderness - the cutest thing was coming back off a hike only to find Nate asleep on the four-wheeler trailer, with Grampy in charge - it was priceless...those early morning hunts were a killer. The thing I loved most about being with Nate was at about 6:30 pm, mind you that the hunt ended at 7 pm, and Dad, me and Nate were all one on wheeler, Chris was hiking on the next mountain pass over - I looked over (with Nate driving the wheeler) just in time to see a 'wall-hanger' - Dad grabbed Nate's hands off the handle bars, we came to a sudden stop, jumped off and I went down to one knee with my gun ready, however, I couldn't find it in my scope - unfortunately my dad didn't realize that and he had it in his, but he was waiting for me to shoot...I wispered dad, I can't find it in my scope - you shoot! you shoot! So by the time we communicated it was almost too late - dad shot as it ran off - he went after it and I jumped on the wheeler with Nate to drive as fast as I could and try to cross its course and send it back to dad...I felt terrible I had messed that shot up for my dad - I wished like heck I wouldn't have gone down on my knee to stabilize my shot - I should have stood up...I was so mad at myself...I was driving like heck and I couldn't see the deer anywhere, when all of the sudden I looked up and there it was...not the big one..but an average two-point about 40 yards away from me and Nate on the wheeler. I immediately stopped - now keep in mind it was the closing day of the hunt with only 30 minutes left of daylight - I jumped off the wheeler, while leaving it in gear with my 4 1/2 year old on it. I was only about 15 feet in front of the wheeler, I turned back to Nate and said, "Nate it's a little buck...should I shoot it?" and he keept quiet and shook his head real dramatically with a big YES. I said, "plug your ears" and turned around, it was still standing in the same place looking at me...I pulled up my gun quickly (without going down to one knee) and aimed at the heart...I pulled the trigger of the 300 mag!BOOM! WOW! It jumped and took off over a small hill. I looked back at Nate and his eyes were HUGE! He was sitting in total AWWW! He said, "Mom - you got it!" At that point, I wan't for sure and I didn't know what was doing to be on the other side of the hill (as far as blood, etc), so I said, "Nate, I have got to go after it really quick - just stay right there, I will be right back and you need to watch for Grampy - I know he heard me shoot. Nate was really good and stayed right there as I topped the hill and started the decline, I could see heavy tracks and blood - I was worried I only wounded him and didn't kill him, just then, I looked up as I nearly fell right on top of the body! It was NUTS! I glanced quick at him - saw that I shot him in the front of the chest and he was defintely gone. I took off my orange vest (which was over my orange coat) and laid on the bush next to the deer and took off on a dead ran back to Nate. I yelled from the top of the hill - "I got it Nate - I got it!" I ran down to grab Nate as my Dad came around to corner. Together we all got excited and I warned them of the small size - my dad didn't seem to mind the size - it was great! Nate just kept saying, "WOW MOM! He's HUGE! Good job Mom! Good job!"...then he said, "wow, my mom shot that deer Grampy...cool huh!" He was so very proud of me...it was a moment I will never forget! I got on the radio's we had and told Chris that I just laid one down, but right before I shot mine, I heard a shot from his direction...I said, how about you and he said, oh babe - I just missed a MONSTER, but it was a long ways away. He didn't believe me that I got mine and he had missed multiple times throughout the day, no tto mention that I got mine with the first shot I took of the day! I had to remind him that he let the little ones go and opted to only go for the big ones! At any rate, he finished the hunting out for the evening and came to find us - it was GREAT! We all had the best hunt we've ever ever had!!! THANKS EVERYONE! It was definitely a team effort that day! We all pitched in and had an unforgettable day! We are defnitely looking forward to more fun memories next year!
1 comments:
Congrats on your shot! Rob is going to try his hand at hunting/muzzleloading tomorrow. They can get 6 deer out here...crazy huh?! I don't know how you do it with your son, though...I won't let Luke even know Rob is going. I think it is the VA factor. IF word got out around here at school no parent would let their kid come over to our house...darn liberals! :) Great pictures, too! I love the tough side of Kim!
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