A post for the boys....

The Great White Hunter and his sidekick Jabber Jaws

So this year was the first time Jared ever bow hunted. He found a very nice bow on Craigslist and of course had to get a target to practice on. Jack and Jared spent many nights in the backyard practicing their shots. Jack can actually hit the target every time (so can Jared). I tried a couple times with Jacks bow and never came close....didn't we have a lesson on bow practice in high school...I am pretty sure I wasn't one of the people that would clear the target and send my arrow towards the people on the track :). Then bow season opened and the Mighty hunter decided it was a great idea to take his side kick out in the woods with him (and a deer call). They came back empty handed and the Mighty Hunter said that his side kick was very good at using the deer call and all the deer knew their exact location :). They went out a total of 10-15 times in the bow season and it resulted in Mighty Hunter-0, Deer-15. The Mighty Hunter was discouraged....the sidekick, ready for the next hunt :).

The Great White Hunter & Jabber Jaws decided to take the other sidekick "Boss" out with them on one of the final bow hunts...She wasn't impressed.

Then the gun season opened. The Mighty Hunter was all ready. He had shot deer before this way so he knew it could be done. We went up to my mom's house where my sister and brother-in-law have many many many acres of prime deer hunting land (along with all the necessary toys: 4 wheelers). The first morning out he went solo...no sidekick for added support. He came home empty handed. Then they went out that evening. The sidekick was all for going with and sitting up in the new huge triangle deer stand Jeff had built. Off into the sunset they road...glowing a brilliant orange up over the hill. We waiting so patiently for them to come back and when they did. Jack....aka Jabber Jaws...came bursting through the door yelling "WE GOT ONE". We all got our coats on and went out to see it. Grace wanted to poke it's eyes...I don't know why but she likes to poke their eyes (she does this with fish that we catch too)...not my child. Jack didn't stop talking about how it all happened for days.

The Great White Hunter and his sidekick Jabber Jaws ready to go and with the reward!

Then the Mighty Deer hunter went out with his best friend on some public hunting land around Madison and was soooo excited to come home with a pretty nice size doe. He says it is the biggest he has shot.

The Great White Hunter and his best friend Bud

Then the following weekend we traveled back to my mom's and the prime deer hunting land to put some deer stands up that were bought so Jack could sit in a stand with Jared (they are the nice 2 man stands that look like a ski lift chair). Jeff wouldn't be up there until late Saturday night, so it was up to me to help the Mighty Deer Hunter with the stands. He got them all put together in the dining room and the next day he strapped them on the 4-wheeler and off we went. This is the 1st time EVER I have driven a 4 wheeler. It would have been ok but we were driving it in snow through fields (and my 4 wheel drive was broken). I was terrified and I had the side kick on my 4 wheeler asking to get off and he would walk :)...he didn't really trust my driving skills at this point. When Jared realized my 4 wheel drive was not working we traded 4-wheelers and it was great from then on. We got the 1st stand in the tree with no problems. Jack didn't like the tree Jared selected and kept saying it was too skinny and it wasn't safe but we had it all hooked up and that's where it stayed...for now :). We headed back to Nana's and Jack complimented me on not "whining so much" on the way home....thanks Buddy! I fed the baby while Jared hooked the 2nd tree stand onto the 4 wheeler and this time we only took the good 4 wheeler. We finally found the perfect tree and got it all attached. I even climbed up into it and it was pretty comfy and the view was GREAT. We then decided that the 1st stand had to be moved to a better location. We found a huge pine tree that was at the base of hundreds of deer tracks! PERFECT LOCATION! We unhooked it from tree A and carried it down a path to tree B. Not too hard and it worked much better on that tree. The view again was great! That night Jared went out with Jack to hunt from the pine tree (we call that stand the Naughty Pine). They were so excited to come home with another doe!

Looking for the perfect tree. The 1st tree it went in and Jack not looking to sure it was safe:

Jack was able to be with Jared for 2 out of 3 kills. It was a great year for both the Great White Hunter and his sidekick Jabber Jaws :) Sorry I don't have any pictures of the last deer or me in any stands...kind of hard to take my picture when I always have the camera and there were no deer around to ask for help :)