Spent...

worn-out (wôrnout, wrn-)
adj.
1. Worn or used until no longer usable or effective.
2. Thoroughly exhausted; spent.

I know you guys think "oh man, seriously? she just had a week and a half of vacation" or "she's always tired." Yeah well, I am, big time! After having the best vacation/hunting trip ever, I came back to a week of chaos and no half day @ work....meaning, I worked about 45 -50 hours this week with no break and Toni is on salary so no overtime for her (boo hoo!).

I'm recovering from a nasty cold that just will not go away. I've been trying to survive on Mucinex and Sunny D. I have to say that I think the Sunny D is what kept me from getting so ill. Vitamin C baby!

Anyway, I hope to post pics soon of my wonderful trip to Mississippi (yay, me!) and maybe finish sewing Koda's hoodie that I started 2 weeks ago but the way we are working right now it just seems my life isn't for me anymore! Yes, I do all I can for the animal world but I'd like some "me time." It's already Sunday night, it's 8pm and I'm exhausted from deboning 3 deer in the freezing cold for what seemed like 5 hours today. Koda is already sleeping and my eyes are slowly trying to shut. Peace out world, until next time. :)

Koda's first duck hunting trip

My boy did it, he learned how to retrieve on his first duck hunting trip! I had to share 3 of the best pictures of his first duck-tug-of-war with Sian:

Give it Sian!!!!

Sian, gimmie!!!!!!!!!!

I won!!!

Who says an Australian Shepherd can't hunt????

Happy Halloween!!!

Sorry I've been so MIA. Things have just been so busy. :)

Koda is no longer having to be dipped, his mange is completely gone....let the hair grow back!!!

Josh shot a nice doe this morning, Happy Halloween to him!

I'm crossing my fingers that as the winter comes I will have more time to start sewing, hunting and cooking.

Hope everyone is doing well!!!

And it's over, just like that.

Another deer season (and my second) has come to an end. Rifle season officially ended today and because bow season closes on Friday it really doesn't look like I'll get to hunt until the 2010-2011 season. That's ok though. I had a great time killing my first buck and double in the same day. I'm blessed to be able to live in an area where we can drive 15 minutes to our hunting destination! The deer just weren't really in our area this year. Maybe because of the extreme heat and a ton of rain so late in the season, who knows? Maybe next year we'll have better luck...until then, let the antlers grow!

Every time I want to hunt...

I haven't deer hunted in what seems like years! We scouted last weekend and found SOOO many tracks in front of my stand. I'm finally off of work for a few days and I wake up this morning at 5am to see this...



I don't hunt in the rain, especially THIS rain!!!! They are saying we're getting an inch today.

You see where the vermilion bay is???? That's me! Poor little me. :(

Poo on rain!

A weekend of firsts :)

Not only did I shoot my first snipe this weekend but I shot something I said I would NEVER shoot!

We were searching for woodcock and this rabbit zipped out of the bushes to my left (into more bushes). I shot 3 times and he went down. It was very exciting! I was just saying yesterday how I didn't want to hunt bunnies, lol! One of my favorite dishes is fried rabbit dipped in cheese from La Fonda's so I'll try and recreate it tomorrow night. YUUUUM!





Another cool thing is that I got to see Josh's pig that he shot earlier in the week. He had hauled it off into the bushes Monday and I had been saying that I wanted to see it. Lets just say that it REALLY stunk!!!! It's face was half eaten....ugh. I almost vomited but i just had to see it. Sorry, the picture was taken after dark moments after he shot it.


We sat in the deer stand on the pipeline tonight and I heard a fawn bleat for the first time!!! It was really close but we could hear it as it walked away from us.

What a great weekend!

My first snipe hunt

I went snipe hunting for the first time this morning. It was SOOOO much fun. There were 4 of us, we killed 12 and our friend Rusty killed the rabbit. :)

I've never eaten snipe so i'm looking forward to it!!!

My "rut"

I've been exhausted lately, from my job and then a virus I caught this week that spread around the office like a wildfire out of control. It feels like it's always something.

I was dead set on hunting this weekend. It rained yesterday morning so we got Christmas shopping done instead. I refuse to deer hunt in the rain. First of all, it's just miserable and second there's no way you can find a blood trail!!! We didn't get home until after midnight this morning so of course at 4:30 when my alarm went off, i decided to turn it off. Josh went, I slept in. I'm sure all you animal lovers are glad about that!!!! At this rate, two deer may be all that I get this season but I'm ok with that. I had an excellent second season and we still have about another month until it closes.

Happy Sunday....peace, love and venison!

Duckies, duckies everywhere......NOOOOT!

You see that? That's what a happy duck looks like!

Opening duck season weekend was terrible for us. We were 4 hunters Saturday, killed 8. 3 of us Sunday, killed 1. Yeah, that's pretty darn terrible.

The ducks are laughing all the way to the pond....and I'm starting to miss deer hunting!

Better luck tomorrow!!!

It's about time!!! :)

Saturday (opening day of rifle season) I killed my first deer of the season....

and the second.....not to mention, my first buck (120 lb 7 point)!

Yes, 2 in one day!



I was totally happy with the doe, which is the first one that I killed. Then 2 hours later, this 7 point walked out and I had a perfect shot.

I even took a picture of myself in the stand after killing the doe. I was super pumped up!


What a fabulous day! No, I didn't hunt there with the old bow. The deer were all 50 yards or farther from my stand so I'm so glad I brought Josh's rifle or I would have gone home empty handed.

There was plenty of activity. I saw four deer.




These were two young does that came up to my dead doe and sniffed and pawed at her. I didn't get pictures as they were doing that because Lucky #7 walked out at the same time!

Anyway, I was the only one to see deer this weekend. We even went hunting Sunday morning and nobody saw anything but a coyote. Maybe it was the first cold front that made them bright eyed and bushy tailed!



We had a deer cleaning party afterwards...it really wasn't a party, just a bunch of friends who came to see my deer. And no, it doesn't go by faster with more hands helping. I had to see the anatomy of each deer and what organs I hit inside. The whole fiasco started at 8:18 with the first kill and ended at 4pm and that was when we were so exhausted we had to stop. We didn't finish picking up everything until after dark.






Here's a little video for your entertainment:


As I say all the time, "yaaaaaaaaay me!"

...and God said, "Let there be deer!"

If you are reading this on Saturday morning then guess where I am???



Right now I'm sitting in my tree stand waiting to shoot my first deer of the season (with a bow for the first time). Heck, maybe I'm already cleaning my deer!

I've been waiting for this day for 8 months now...can you imagine the anticipation?

I hope the Mathews doesn't fail me like the muzzleloader did last year!!!



Come on big guy, come to momma!!!!



And if you decide to hide, there's always next weekend...

Teal Hunt: Opening Weekend

My first teal, THE first teal, of the season shot by anyone in our hunting party. I'm beaming!

9 birds, 6 people. I guess it could have been worse:




I took some pics when there was no action:




Sunday we scratched. The bad weather snuck up on us really fast. The neatest thing were the pics I got from the east:



and west:


We stumbled across this guy in the woods when we checked the game cams later that morning:





Cottonmouths are so poisonous but my curiosity outweighed my fear.

I think the older I get, the more brave I become.

Bow season opens Saturday.....so, that's 5 days til bow season and 3 1/2 weeks til vacation, whooo hooo!

Teal season is here!

Starting at sunrise tomorrow morning the teal will be falling down....like rain!

As the song says "Make it Rain" and that's exactly what I plan on doing. :)

Teal season is finally here and we have the privilege of taking 3 cops hunting with us. This should be interesting...4 grown men (3 cops and a navy boy) and little old me. I'll make sure and wear my pink boots just to remind them who is boss.

There are only 2 types of teal that are prevalent where we hunt, green and blue winged.




Surely I don't have to point out which is which, right?

I've never seen them, but cinnamon teal are supposedly common to this area during the winter. Here's a little pic:



I have 2 favorite birds to eat: wood ducks and teal. There's nothing like a good rice and gravy!



HAPPY HUNTING!

Come on bow season!

Well, dove season opened Saturday and teal season opens this Saturday but my first year of bow hunting deer starts next Saturday (September 19th). Everyone knows what it's like waiting for Christmas right? When ALL you can think about is presents, food and family??? This is my Christmas!



I'm super excited...that's an understatement. When I tell you that thinking about it gets my heart pumping really really fast is putting it mildly. I think about it at least 10 times a day so I'm likely to give myself a heart attack. As I told Josh last night, I've never in my life gotten so excited about something, NEVER! We were looking at deer skulls that he's collected from his past and the fever started all over again. Its become such a passion for me that I would give my left foot (that probably wouldn't do me much good) to hunt professionally and do it 365 days a year. I don't care about waking up at 4am or freezing my cadoochies off, it's the most awesome experience to me. What sucks (sorry mom for the terminology) is that it only lasts until January. :(



To be so blessed to be able to enjoy land that doesn't have buildings on it, that's never been touched by man is the best feeling. I sit quietly and blend in with the trees, watch nature, breathe fresh air and just....be.




I've been practicing my butt off with the bow, shooting moving targets from the ladder stand 20ft up in Josh's back yard and I'm almost "there." I'm not going to shoot a living, breathing creature if I'm not 100% of my shot, especially when a bow is a primitive object that doesn't usually kill right away on impact. It's sad that some hunters do not feel that way. We all make mistakes sometimes but some hunters will shoot anything that moves, anywhere on the animal's body, but that is another story and doesn't ever have a happy ending for the animal. They are God's creatures, just as we are, and deserve the upmost respect as we invade their territory. THAT should be on a bumper sticker!



It's really not the kill that I obsess about because that would be a little weird. The camaraderie among friends (mostly male-ha!), getting a bird's eye view of nature and being away from cell phones and technology is sometimes such a blessing! Its good to have something that reminds you that you are alive. To remind me that I do have a heart, i am affected by the weather and every living thing tries to survive in its own way with the natural defenses that God gave it.