Thanksgiving

Mom and Dad

We started Thanksgiving Day out in the woods.  Afterwards we met my parents and brother at Mrs. Rowe's for Thanksgiving lunch.  It was nice that we didn't have to do any cooking or cleaning!  Then we headed over the mountain to Jeff's parents house to visit for a bit before heading back out to hunt.  Unfortunately, we did not see anything.  

Mike, Mom and Dad

Jeff making fun of all of us taking pictures

On Friday, we had lunch at Shannon and Matt's house.  Hailey was able to join us this day.  Matt's turkey was delicious!  Of course as luck would have it, this was the afternoon to be out hunting.  We probably saw 40 deer on the way home.  Boo hiss! 

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We rounded out the weekend with a Sunday Thanksgiving feast at our house for the girls.  Emily was out of town until Sunday, so we had a late celebration with her.  The glazed carrots recipe that I found on Pinterest was very good!  It was apparent that we needed a roaster after we realized how much stuff needed to go in and out of the oven.  So, we now have one for the future!

Venison...

To get into the spirit of hunting season, we had some deer tenderloin wrapped in bacon and oh boy was it delicious! 

After shooting three deer early in the season, Jeff went to his parents house to process the meat.  They clean the meat, cut it up, grind it and add fat to it to make burger.  

After getting a couple more deer, we now have 20 lbs of burger and about the same of sausage as well as some tenderloin.  The freezer is stocked.

First Few Days of Hunting and MY FIRST DEER :)

We were able to get out the first two days of rifle season and by day 2, I had taken my first shot and killed my first buck.  

This is what I see for a good part of my morning in the tree stand-- Jeff playing his games in the dark. 

Always a beautiful place to watch the sun rise. 

The view from my side of the stand.  The buck that I shot was up on the mountain to the right. 

Happy hunters

The view from another stand at Pounding Brook 

The only sign that Jeff could find other than a small drop of blood at the site of the shot. He brought it back to the stand and we waited a couple hours before going to look for my buck.  I was convinced that I had just grazed him.

After watching three does, we set out to see if we could find the buck.  I could have shot one of the does, but I watched and waited and decided against it.  I'd rather regret not shooting one than shooting one and regretting it later. In retrospect, I probably should have just gone for it because as the season went on we didn't see as many deer.

Anyhow, we hiked around and ended up finding him not even 100 yards from where I shot him.  He was a young seven pointer, the perfect starter buck.  I was relieved that he was down and wasn't off wandering around wounded somewhere.

The adrenaline rush of spotting him, getting the okay to shoot, and actually firing was crazy. I think Jeff was more nervous than I was and really didn't think that I was going to take a shot.  He should have known better though, I had a great teacher and knew what I was supposed to do. :) The whole process made my day for sure!

Pretty guy

Proud of my first buck

And just for fun, check out this cute little button buck!!  Apparently he didn't smell Jeff when he was out sitting in the woods and just about walked up to him.  I can't get over how cute he is....short little nose and ears.  :)

so close!

Checking out Jeff 

Shooting and Hiking

Today we headed over the mountain to prepare for hunting season with some shooting and then used our pass to look for wildlife on Skyline Drive.  Butch joined us for a little bit while we were shooting.  I feel comfortable shooting the 308 rifle and I'm getting much more comfortable with the Glock.  Now we just need hunting season to start!

Our short hike at Dundo campground proved to be totally worth it.  Each time we took a few steps off of the trail we saw something!  This included 4 bears, one of which we jumped just about 25 yards away which scared the crap out of me at first.  It was too hard to get a good pic, but I tried. We saw three more bears and some deer on our way back to the campground.  I've never seen so many at bears or been so close to them.  We are in stiff competition with my parents who have seen lots and lots of bears this fall on their excursions to the parkway.

A drive and a walk

We took a drive on Skyline Drive on Sunday to check out the mountains and look for some deer....

Later in the week, Emily and I walked the dogs down to the bus stop before school.  Jeff had to be at work, so we had a nice early morning walk!