A Buckless Deer Season

My 2012 deer season ended with out a filled tag. :( I logged 34 miles on foot, down train tracks, along old logging roads, and up and down hillsides. I'm still kicking myself in the butt for not taking a shot at the one and only shooter I came across all season, I guess ya win some ya loose some right? On the final night of deer season I decided it was time to take little miss out hunting with me, I picked her up from the bus stop and as she got in the truck threw her camo clothing in the back seat next to her. She had a less than thrilled look on her face at first because it was cold and raining be she sucked it up and got dressed as I headed for the hills. Once we got out there though and on top of a unit her attitude changed completely, she was beating me out of the truck to glass it all over. Didn't take long before we spotted some movement but it ended up being a doe, she didn't care though, she was totally excited to see the doe, we hit a few more units before sun down and saw 3 more doe that night. I was really hoping we would find a buck but no such luck. I will say that, that final night out there in the woods was by far my favorite, it was mother daughter bonding at it's finest! I loved watching her get excited when we would spot something and listening to her talk about how she can't wait until next year when she can hunt for deer with me! It's the little things in life that mean the most!

Till next time

Blacktail Season 2012 Contiunes

Since the season started I have logged 23 miles on foot, rain or shine, climbing up and down mountain sides, in and out of the brush in search of a blacktail buck and have yet to find one I can take or should I say have time to take. I went out hunting the other morning before work and that was a bad idea, it was the one and only time that I had been graced with the presence of a shooter, he was a nice sized 3x3 and he just so happened to make an appearance when I was on my way out so I could make it to work on time. The thought crossed my mind that I could shoot him, hopefully get him dressed, hide him and make it to work on time and then come back out after work and get him but I chose against it, mainly because there is a nice sized cougar that roams around out there and because I was working an 11 hr day and it'd be well past dark when i could get back out to him, I'm kicking myself now for not doing it since I have yet to come across him again. This weekend I did come across 2 doe and a spike but nothing legal to shoot. The rut is right around the corner and I'm hoping it will be my saving grace. It is the only time that mature bucks act like idiots in pursuit of tail, but then again just like I said in a tweet conversation, what male of any species doesn't act like an idiot in pursuit of tail! Even though I haven't gotten my buck yet I have loved every second I spend out in the hills! Nothing better than being surrounded by beautiful scenery and listening to the sounds of nature all around me! Here's to hoping that within the next 11 days I can get my buck! 

Since I haven't had much excitement happen while I have been out hunting I thought I would post a pretty comical post my buddy Kevin put up about his experience in Elk camp this last week. I died laughing because it is so spot on to every experience Ive had at a hunting camp surrounded by a bunch of men! I totally want in on next years excursion!

Since I am quoting this all exactly from him I dont feel I should spell check him or edit his grammar LOL

In his own words, 2012 Cascade Elk Camp Experience went something like this:

After 24 years of bow hunting this year I was invited to an elk rifle camp for the cascade hunt. These are the observations and things I learned.

When Kenny says go left he is going right. Go Right and don’t listen to Kenny.

When you borrow Kennys gun. Shoot the SOB first to make sure its sighted in. (5 shots at a bull at 50 yards later) 

Don’t invite a girl you have barely known to elk camp only to watch her make an ass of herself and get kicked out of camp.

When inviting the girl you don’t know make sure you have other sleeping arrangements, because at 6ft 2 and 200 pounds the front seat of a dodge truck isn’t that comfortable for 7 days. 

Don’t set up a tent in a dry creek bed when a storm is coming.

Everyone in camp has medicinal cards.

14 men can go through 5 pounds of chili in less than 5 minutes.

Don’t serve 14 men 5 pounds of chili the night before the season.

8 men can pack out a 900 pound bull whole.

8 men can pack out the same bull whole while drinking a bottle of bourbon and bottle of jagr.

Don’t be the only sober one in camp its boring.

To Ed there is not such thing as enough beer.

When you and the only girl are sitting around the fire while she is refilling her medicinal card make sure you have a rifle next to you when the dumbest bull in the planet walks into camp stares at you and the potentially asks for some breakfast.

7 men will haul an outhouse 12 miles rather than build another one.

Don’t bring just two pairs of socks to elk camp.

If you bring two pairs of socks make sure when you have to do your thing in the woods you have mountain money because then your down to one pair of socks. 

When your doing your business in the woods keep the rifle handy for the bull that ends up staring at you wondering why your pooping in his spot. (not easy to get a shot off while dropping trousers) 

Don’t give the girl in camp that has more energy than a spider monkey red bull.

While sitting on a ridge top looking at the world stop and thank the man dad that taught you to do this and shed a tear for the things he taught you.

5 miles later cuss dad for teaching you to do these things.

Smile and look back at the loved ones you lost on that ridge and its ok to break down and cry. (love and miss you CC) 

Man named them Elk because all the other 4 letter words were taken

8 men will find the ducks game on the radio when desperate.

A beer can and a used arrow make a great antenna to listen to the game.

Shooting a chipmunk skinning it putting a mini game bag on it and tying sticks to his head then hanging it next to the elk will get you many strange looks from other hunters.

Don’t eat chipmunk its not as tasty as you think.

When your hunting with 4 retired guys and your radio goes off that 3 elk are down break your radio and say you didn’t get the call to avoid packing all night in a storm. 

Its well worth the 5 dollars to pay for a shower at the resort 20 miles down the highway. 

The guys and girls that don’t want to spend the 5 dollars for the shower just give them the money and offer to drive them.

After 2 days of camp people smell. After 4 days people stink. On the 8th and final day nobody wants to get in the same care with the rest of the people. 

After 9 days walking over 100 miles, shooting an unsighted gun, packing out other peoples animals. Smelling like a dead hog. Swearing you will never do it again because of the blood sweat and tears you went through. 

Thank the people you spend the best 9 days of your life. Kenny, Ed, Tonya, John, Richard, Leroy, Nate, Brian, Ron, Leena, and the rest of the bunch. Then start planning for next year.

Opening Weekend Deer Season 2012

Well this past weekend was the opener of my deer season this year! I have been looking forward to this since I took my buck opening morning last year but seriously counting down the days 3 months prior to the start of the season.  I was hoping the closer opening day got the colder the weather would get, but that didn't happen. It has been unseasonably warm around here. Usually by now we have gotten some rain and the temps are about 10 degrees cooler then they have been. Someone mentioned today were on day 80 something of no rain. Come on this is the Pacific NW we are known for our rain! With the way the weather conditions were I knew that the hunt was going to be challenging but that wasn't stopping me! I did as I do every year, rolled out of bed at 3 a.m. and got ready to go!!! I picked up one of my girl friends who despite not having a tag wanted to tag along any ways and we headed for the hills! I might also throw out there that because of the way the weather has been it has closed down a TON of the land around here to hunt on. The only thing open for hunting at this point is US Forest land and BLM land. When we arrived to the area I wanted to hunt it was about 4:45 in the morning and we still had 2 hours till sun up, around here if you aren't staking out your spot hours before the sun comes up someone else will beat you to it. The land I really wanted to hunt was already staked out (by a friend of mine none the less) so I headed for my 2nd choice. When the sun started to make an apperance I started my trek in and thats when the coyotes started howling. We covered 8 miles on foot and never even saw signs of deer. I found elk droppings, tracks and even a carcass from bow season a few weeks ago, and tracks and droppings from the coyotes I'd heard at sun up but not one single sign of a deer having been any where in the area. Despite not finding a deer it was still a great morning, I was in one of my favorite places, the middle of no where, listening to the crickets, birds, frogs and coyotes and even stumbled across some old barns!!! 

I really hope that the weather changes soon but looking at the next 10 days in the forecast I see zero sign of rain :( If the rain keeps holding off guess I will just have to wait for the rut when they start acting like retards and my chances get better!!!! Luckily I have until November 2nd to fill my tag and I will be hiking miles in and out of units, up and down the steep terrain every weekend between now and then! 

Happy hunting!!! 

Slacking

Hope y'all had an awesome Thanksgiving! I sure did! I love going to the boyfriends parents cause lord can that boys daddy cook!! It was a very relaxing day which was much needed because I have been so damned busy lately it is insane. I am glad to say though that moving is FINALLY over! Now to just unpack, which is the part I like because I get to organize! I'm slightly OCD. Other than Thanksgiving being on of my fav days of the year so is the day after! I joined millions of other people for Black Friday and am I ever glad I did! I will say this though living in a rural town I had to drive 24 miles to the nearest town with Black Friday deals which is also a pretty rural town. Bi-Mart and Fred Meyer woohoo! Bonus though is I don't have to fight insane crowds of thousands of people just a couple hundred!  LOL!  I did the whole Black Friday thing when I lived in Portland and that shit just gets crazy. Bi-Mart was my 1st stop they had a killer deal on a moto shade and wall kit to put the boat under which is much needed since the new house had a uber small garage. I was so glad I decided to detour through the electronics department because they had a super awesome deal on a set of Midland radios! They would have been nice to have opening morning of Elk season so my girl and I could have split up and still been in communication. The second I saw these things I was in love! They were camo! Plus they were super cool cause they came with an ear piece and have a 36 mile range on them! Way better than the 6 mile range ones I had previously looked at. I can't wait to try em out!

I ordered most of my things for Christmas this year online. I'm most excited about the PINK LED T.V I got for mini mes' room! Shes gonna flip! Ordered myself some way cute shirts from Girls with Guns clothing and from Real Hunters Wives!!!!

I should get back to being productive! More later!

Back To Reality

Today is my first day back to reality, i.e. work. I spent the last 4 days beating down brush trying to kill my 1st elk. I had no luck. :( Opening morning I spotted 4 head over a ridge and down the hill and after hiking through the hills I finally got to the general area where I had seen them. It was apparent they had been through there not long before I got there. There were fresh tracks and droppings EVERYWHERE. I followed the tracks until they disappeared into the marsh and up the other side of the unit. It was getting close to noon so I decided to hike out and come back in the evening time to try and catch them heading back out of the brush. That didn't pan out either, no sign of the elk coming back so I hung around in the brush for a while and headed back to the junction where they had come down that morning to see if I could catch them there. Didn't find em there but I sure as hell got the surprise of my life, right where I had been in the brush 30 minutes prior there were fresh bear prints and big ol pile of crap. I decided I wasn't hanging out in the bottom of that unit anymore so I high tailed it out of there and back up to the top where I can see what in the world is around me. Now I know I shouldn't have been scared I mean for fucks sake I'm packing a 30-06, I could shoot the damned thing but I was. I'd much rather be able to see him coming from up top then straight out of the brush behind me. I definitely will be coming back for that SOB come spring bear season and I will be prepared to meet it face to face. It started getting late so it was time to head out and head home. Opening day was pretty good, spotted the herd, quiet a few deer, and evidence of a bear. I figured Sunday it would be GAME OVER.

Sunday morning I hiked back out to where I had spotted em the morning before and nothing, not even a single fresh track to even indicate that they had come back through. This was extremely disappointing. I stayed in the general area hiking up and down and all around for a few hours but decided to move on and see if I could track down another heard some where else. I spent all of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday covering miles upon miles of back country trying to find a herd and couldn't find a damn thing. I never even saw another animal those 3 days I was out. It was crazy! I was in prime elk country and nothing. Oh well that's how it goes sometimes. There's always next year. But next year screw this general season crap I'm putting in for a controlled hunt. I will say though even though I didn't get my bull I found some prime deer locations for next fall! I also got paid time off to go hunting! Nothing better than getting paid to do something you love!

I also can't say enough about my new gloves I got the night before opener. I ran down to Walmart in the next town down because I just LOVE their hunting department! I was in dire need of some new gloves because I knew it was going to be cold. I got a few pair and of course a ton of other stuff because I cant seem to say NO to things camo! I haven't tried out the fleece pair yet but I'm sure they will be great! The Real Tree Light Weight Womans Glove was what I used all weekend long. They were light weight, comfortable, kept my hands warm and dry (ran into rain a few times), and the embossed no slip grip on the palms was AMAZING! I didnt have to worry about loosing my grip on my binos or my rifle! If you ever run across these gloves I highly recommend them, especially for the price too, I paid something like $8.00 for each pair.

And since I didn't end up with my elk I've got no pictures for you of it but I do have some of the killer views I had all weekend!!

I love living in Oregon, its gorgeous even on a cloudy day!

I will say I am SUPER glad I didn't find anything here because that hike down to the bottom and back out would have been HELL.



Here's to a bear skinned rug next year!

Starting To Get Impatient

Elk season for me starts Saturday, but I am sure you all know this by now because I can't seem to shut up about it. It's consumed my thoughts since Monday morning. I started the countdown then and I won't stop til sunrise Saturday morning! And because my mind is consumed with the thoughts of elk and hunting just about everything else that I think about gets tied into it. For instance I decided it was time for some new DIY projects and decided I wanted to make a few scarves, well I know what style I want to make the question was what color? Immediately I thought Mossy Oak or Real Tree! Leave it to me to want to make a camo scarf to wear with my dress clothes! Then I decided why not make more? Why not girl it up a bit? I'm going to make multiple. Some just camo, some camo and pink, camo and black, camo and whatever in the hell I decide at the moment!!!! Then I decided I want to make matching head bands and bows! If my weekend wasn't already pre-planned out and I wasn't out to harvest a big ol Cascade Bull Elk then I would probably whip out my camouflage dip kit and dip everything I can get my hands on. Keep your eyes peeled as my store on Etsy might just have some new items soon!!!!

Dreamin of the big one!!!!

Maybe It's The Weather

I love fall and all it has to offer! The weather (most of the time), Halloween (my favorite holiday), Salmon season on the river, Deer and Elk Season, and my favorite part of my wardrobe, boots, hoodies, and jeans!!!

The last few days I've kind of been in a rut, and not the kind of rut where bucks let down their guard and act like an idiot and run wild in the day time so they can try and score a piece of tail! I'm talking in a gloomy, moody, I need some drastic change in my life rut. Id much rather be in the other kind of rut though LOL.

Usually when I get like this as I do every fall for some reason, which has got to be due to the dreary weather that I beg for all of September so I can have a better chance at harvesting a deer I make physical changes. Well Ive already chopped about 4" off of my hair and dyed it dark a week ago so can't really change that. I mean I could I could go pixie short and bright pink but that is definitely not happening. I'm in the mood for tattoos and piercings. Ive got 6 tattoos already and 1 piercing other than my ears and I feel like more. I think piercings are a smarter prospect as they can easily be taken out but I LOVE tattoos and I am ready to start a 1/4 sleeve. I want it to be girly yet reveal who I am. How do I incorporate hunting, fishing, horses, lace, and pink into a girly tattoo??? If any of you who read this happen to be a good artist throw me some ideas! There is only 1 problem to this whole wanting a tattoo though, my artist lives in freaking Texas. That's a long ass ways away. Gives me a good excuse for a trip to my favorite place in the world! But it also makes the ink that much more expensive. Maybe it's time to find an artist closer to home. Hmmmm.

In the mean time though I just arraigned an appointment to add some more holes to my ears. I'm hoping this helps me get out of my funk and stop wanting to change things. Because quiet honestly I am itching to move back towards the city. That is not the best idea. A. I know I will hate it once I do it, B. No way my guy would ever live there, C. If I want to go hunting, fishing, or 4x4ing  Ive got quiet a ways to drive for anything decent.

Oooooh maybe some online retail therapy will perk me up. This girl needs some new binos!

Dreaming of some leupold gold ring,

The Dreaded Question

It's that time of year when friends and family start asking "What do you want for Christmas?" I don't know why but I hate that question. I never know what to say. I'm more of a buy me a gift card to my favorite stores kind of person. That works for some of my friends and fam but for others they tell me that's to impersonal. Uggh. So this year I decided I'd make a virtual wish list from all over the internet. This way they can see what I like and what I've been wanting/thinking about getting and hopefully it will give them something more "personal" to get me than a gift card. Plus I was sick all weekend and didn't do much but lay around, sleep, and watch movies so Ive got nothing super cool to blog about. But that's ok with me cause I needed to just relax and get well before next weekend cause it's elk season!! YAY!!!!

So here we go:

Love these boots! Ugg Lattice Cardy in a size 9
Get em here

I could totally make this but <3 supporting small businesses and <3 the hell out of this
Get it here

Super cute Mommy and Me apron in John Deere none the less!!!
Find it here

Would love to put this on the living room wall!
Get it here

IDK why but I <3 this shirt
Find it here

Totally perfect for picnics and the grocery store

Get it here

These little babies are badass!!!

There here

Who doesnt want a 7ft beanbag sofa?!?!?!

It's here

<3 this sweatshirt!!! Size M

Get it here

This lovely too! Size L

Its here

The best for last

I want this shot gun soooooo damn bad!!! I have the matching .22

Get it here

Oh and then there is also this wonderful wishlist!!! Its pretty much that, just a WISHlist. A girls gotta dream right?

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SharedWishListView?listId=122372&langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051

Bows and Shotguns

You Know Your A Redneck When...

So I had the bright idea this morning to clean out my truck. I cant believe I let it get this bad. I have severe OCD about organization and how things should be and the mess in my truck was seriously getting to me. Once I walked out the door though my idea wasn't such a good one. It was freezing! Being the trooper that I am though I went through with it, it needed done but I only cleaned the inside out. Theres no way in hell I'm washing it, it would have turned into a frosty mess but it does nee it I cant remember the last time I washed it. As I was cleaning out the contents of the cab I was becoming more and more aware that the contents of my truck could tell someone who doesn't know me just about everything about me. I actually started laughing as I continued to pull stuff out. It made me think of Jeff Foxworthy and his "You Might Be A Redneck" lines. So I decided I would come up with my own based on what was in my truck this morning.

You might be a redneck if you get excited about finding the 1/2 rack of Keystone Light you forgot about in your back seat under your hunting bag!

You might be a redneck (girl) if you pull a camo gun case out from under the back seat and it contains a pink rifle

You might be a redneck if the pockets on the back of the drivers seat contain a bass pro shop and cabelas catalog

You might be a redneck if you find .22 rounds in the door of your truck and you leave em there cause you might just need em some time

You might be a redneck (girl) if your steering wheel cover and floor mats are realtree camo with pink accents!!!

You might be a redneck if in the middle of cleaning out your rig you find your Browning knife you tore the house apart the night before opening day looking for

You might be a redneck if 90% off the actual garbage that came out of your truck is empty boxes from buying new knives the night before the opener, empty fishing lure packages, and empty boxes that at one point contained 500 .22 rounds

If it wasn't for the pink stickers on the back window of my truck and the pink accents on my floor mats and steering wheel cover based on what I pulled out of my truck this morning you'd think it was a guys truck.... 

After the truck I decided to also clean out my purse this morning. Lord all mighty it was just as bad as my truck. And the contents were just as hilarious!

What was in my (camo)purse:

2 different wallets, (why 2 idk) both camo of course!

Inside 1 said wallet which is actually more like a clutch is a camo Browning beer coozie!! Hahaha

Check book (this is normal)

Some receipts (again normal)

Tons of lipglosses (normal again)

Day planner (normal)

Lottery tickets (should prob check those)

Fishing and Hunting Licenses

An empty 30-06 casing (not normal)

The knife I skinned my deer with a few wks ago (def shouldn't be there and idk why it is)

A fishing lure I bought last week and forgot about!!! Score!!!

Alright ladies whats in your purses?

Based on the contents of my truck and my purse eeither I'm not very girly, have a drinking problem (1/2 rack in the truck, coozie in the wallet), an over the top obsession with camo and firearms or Im just a badass. Im going to go with badass!!!

Cheers!

Me And Agendas Just Dont Fly

So I don't even know how many times I have said "oh I'll blog these days" or "I'll blog x amount of times in a week" HA well as we can all see that just doesn't ever happen now does it. So guess what? I'll just blog when ever I damn well feel like it, a.k.a when I have free time which is just about NEVER. I have so many things to blog about so I may just end up blogging quiet a bit this week. I say that now guess we will see if it really happens. But today, today is definitely a good day to blog because I am so excited about how my weekend went.

Lets start with this, Ive always been into hunting, I grew up in a family of mostly men so hunting, fishing, and camping was just a way of life. I have been on numerous hunting and scouting trips as a young child with my grandparents and uncles, kind of phased out of it in middle school and then back into it in high school dating guys who hunted but I had never had my own license and tag to hunt. That is until last year when I went out and got my license and deer tag. Unfortunately I got extremely sick during the season and didn't get much hunting in so I ended the season without a deer. Bummer.

This year is an entirely different story! Rifle season started this weekend and I was beyond excited! Hunting season is the only time of year I am OK and actually excited about getting up at 4 in the morning! I had been asking my boyfriend for days what time we were going to be leaving Saturday (opening day) morning and he kept telling me "early" or "when its dark" once he said "3" . Well Friday night he ended up falling asleep on the couch while we watched a movie and we hadn't discussed the game plan for the next morning so I took it upon myself to make the plans! I very much liked this as I'm kind of a control freak but Ive never let him on to this I find away to make him think hes in control so he keeps his pride but really its me. Haha. So I decided 3 am just wasn't going to happen I moved it to 4:00 a.m instead. Since he was asleep and I was to excited to go to bed at that moment I decided to paint my nails. I know I know, why in the world would I paint my nails before a hunt. Because I am a girl thats why. And because I thought that if I painted them blaze orange it might bring me some good luck! So I painted them and then crawled into bed for the night. My alarm went off and the 1st thing that went through my head was screw this I'm going back to sleep. Then my inner child kicked in and said get up get up its opening day! I literally flew out of bed pumped with energy I didn't even know I was capable of, I was oblivious to the fact he never even made it off the couch. I was dressed and ready to go when I finally realized he was still asleep. This was not okay. I went out and woke him up and this is the conversation that ensued.

Him: "Why are you waking me up at 4 in the morning"

Me: "Because you said we were getting up at 3 and you fell asleep last night but I decided 4 sounded better so I let you sleep in"

Him: "I was joking, it doesn't get light for like 3 more hours, wake me up at 7"

ME: "You've got to be kidding me"

Him: (chuckles)

Me: "You shouldn't tell me things unless your serious when it concerns something I'm excited about, you brought this on yourself"

 I then roll my eyes at him, head back down the hallway and flop onto the bed. I am deeply disappointed at this very moment that he is not getting up and is no where near as excited as I am. A few minutes later I hear him get up and moving around and start getting ready. At this point my inner child is screaming with joy again and I probably would have started jumping up and down on my bed if I knew it wouldn't break, its almost time to retire the poor thing.

We finally left the house about 4:15 and just as I pull out of the driveway there is a Doe and 2 Fawns at the end of the road. My immediate thought was "oh great this is going to be just like last year where I see them all over in the neighbor hood and back yard but don't see a single one in the woods" then it turned into "Or maybe this is a good sign, 3 is one of my lucky numbers". We head to 7-11 since its the only thing open in our podunk town at this time of the day and get our coffee. I ended up buy 3 things and the total came to $7.77. I was like you've got to be kidding me, maybe this will be my lucky day after all! My boyfriend quickly bursts that bubble and tells me its bad luck i should just quit while I'm ahead (aka alive) and go back home. (It's a good thing I love him as much as I do and that I fully appreciate and understand his messed up sense of humor other wise it's him I'd be worried about and not the deer I'm after). I refuse to let him bring my good mood down and we head for the hills.

We got to our desired area about 5:30 and had to wait about and hour and 15 until dawn came so we could start the hike in. When day light broke we hoped out of the truck and behind the locked gate we went. We hiked up the old logging road about a 1/2 mile and came up on a unit that would have been PERFECT to get a buck in. It would have been a straight hike down the unit to the road with it, even though I was having a pretty good morning my luck isn't that good. We hiked about another 1/4 mile and glassed over another unit, still nothing so we continued on about a mile or so glassed over that unit and nothing. We could however see across to another unit on the other side of the lake and someone had taken down a buck. It was at this point and after hearing several shots fired through out the morning I was getting bummed. We watched them for a bit and then the bf said "were not gonna get a deer sitting here watching them" so we turned around and headed back the way we came since we'd reached the end of that road. We got back to where it forked and went uphill some more and probably another mile or so into the woods when we found another unit. We started glassing it and not 30 seconds into it he spotted a buck. Lets just say it wasn't in the best place. He was about 3/4 of the way down the ridge across from us curled up in a ball a lot like his dog Toby does with his head by his ass. Not really the best position for a good shot. We watched him for a few minutes then my guy decided to go down the ridge we were on top of and down into the brush to try and get a better look at him and make sure he was at least a legal buck and to maybe scare him a bit and get him to stand up for a good shot. As hes going down the unit I get myself comfortable and kept my scope on him to make sure I never lost sight of him and if he decided to run id be ready to shoot. My guys down in the brush moving from spot to spot even throwing things at him and with all the yelling back and forth to each other he never spooked unfortunately. He was having a tough time getting a good view of his antlers so I stopped watching through my scope and pulled out my binoculars and focused in on him. Sure enough he was a forked horn. I yelled down to him "I see forks, and I think Ive got a decent shot, can we get this over with" Apparently he didn't hear the forks part because he yelled back "I need to make sure hes legal" I think to myself did i not just say i saw forks, whatever I'll just wait til he says go. So another 30 minutes or so go by and I am no longer comfortable I am cramping and shaking and ready to just shoot but he's down in the brush some where and I'm not exactly sure where at that exact moment so I cant. Finally he says "Let me know when your ready" I couldn't believe he just said that Ive only been ready for how long but whatever. I yelled back I was ready, took in a deep breath lined up my shot and fired. Missed. Damn It. He never even flinched double damn it. Jacked another round into the chamber lined up and fired. Nailed him!!! He gets up you can see hes having problems and starts to try and run its at that moment I go to jack another round in and realize SHIT i forgot to reload after practice shooting and I'm out. SHIT. All I can think is please stop trying to get away. Thank god Jimmy was ready and when he realized that I wasn't going to shoot again shot and got him right in the jaw which was enough to keep him from running anymore and he just tumbled down the unit. GAME OVER! Well for the deer at least. Now came the task of getting him out of the bottom of a unit.

I had to walk about a 1/2 mile to get to the ridge that he and the deer were at the bottom of. And then the non fun part started, I had to make my way down this steep slippery super brushy ridge to get to my animal and boyfriend. It took me a little bit because I am one of the last coordinated people I know. When I got there I was so stoked! I had actually killed a deer! And it was a 3 (barely) by fork, not the biggest deer but a good one for my 1st none the less!!!! It was quiet obvious there was no way I was going to get this thing out of there and it was up to my guy. So he gutted most of it and then I packed his rifle, knife and binos out for him and helped him load the deer on his back and we started the trek out. We had to stop a few times because it was a brutal steep slippery at times nothing to hold onto trek straight up. We or rather he finally got it out of the unit and the hardest part was over. Now for the few mile trek back that wouldn't have been so bad but there were still some hills to take on but none near as bad as the one we had just conquered. After about 3 hours after the kill went down we made it back to the truck with the buck in tow!

We headed for his parents house where we hung it, gutted what was left of it skinned it and quartered it and now it just sits in the fridge curing for a few days and we this coming weekend the jerky making with start!

In the field after I finally made it down the ridge!!!! Blaze Orange nails and all

 Back at his parents

Tractors can be used for multiple things!!!!

Here it is Monday and I am still more excited then a kid on Christmas morning waiting to open their gifts. I can't wait for elk season next month! Even though he said he wants no part in packing an elk after this ordeal lol! I guess that's what you have big burly uncles for!!!