1000 Words

 1000 Words

Did I Mention...

 Did I happen to mention that I got my first elk on the last day of late season hunting?

It was the last day... the last hour... technically, the last five minutes, but we got her!  Legal hunting is from 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset.  Sunset was at 5:28pm, so we had until 5:58pm.  I took my shot at 5:52pm.

We had obtained permission to hunt on the property where the elk were, but after I shot the elk, it jumped a fence before collapsing.  So, we had to figure out who owned the property where the elk collapsed before we could go get it.  It took some time and some teamwork, but thankfully, we live in a small town and we got ahold of the land owner within about 30 minutes.

It was a lot of fun, and I doubt it will be my last hunt, but I feel very comfortable saying that I only prefer to hunt when I have my hubby with me.  I got to scout the animals, find the animals, take the shot, find the elk, and be in the pictures.  He gutted the elk, dragged the elk, and transported the elk.  That's what I call teamwork!

Not Every Night

 Well, that doesn't happen every night... which is one reason last night was AWESOME!

Style

 These two Mountain Miller Men started the New Year off sporting the same camo style and we didn't realize it until they were next to each other.

What cuties!

Trapper

 Howard is officially a successful hunter/trapper.

Howard and Daddy were moving things around in our shed and discovered mouse droppings, so (under Daddy's guidance) Howard was charged with hunting and trapping the mice.  He was even promised a commission for each mouse removed from the shed.

Initially, Howard and Daddy set up standard spring mouse traps with peanut butter on the trigger.  But, when he checked the traps, Howard found that the peanut butter was eaten, but the traps did not go off.

So, Howard and Daddy fashioned a different kind of trap.  Howard filled a bucket half-full with water and sprinkled sun flower seeds in the bucket, so they were floating on top of the water.  The bucket looked like it was full of sunflower seeds.  You pretty much have to touch the seeds to know they are just a layer of seeds floating in water.

Then, Howard took a small piece of lumber and crated a ramp up to the top of the bucket.  He put peanut butter at the top of the piece of wood with sun flower seeds stuck to it and a trail of sun flower seeds coming down the ramp.  His hope was that a mouse would follow the trail up the ramp, and then see the sunflower seeds in the bucket and climb down for an all-you-can-eat feast of seeds only to drown in the bucket of water.

Howard was THRILLED to catch his first mouse a few days ago.  Ignore his crazy outfit -- it was Wacky Wednesday at school.  Since this picture was taken, he has caught a second mouse as well.

Please Mute Yourself

 This Youtube video of a teacher's online zoom call made me laugh out loud...

1000 Words

1000 Words 

For My Benefit

 The post is entirely for my benefit because apparently I need to do the research and then I need it for future reference...

pheasant:

Huntable pheasant populations can be found in Oklahoma, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, California, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, and many other states. Pheasants require weedy fence rows, ditch banks or brushy woods for escape cover.

grouse:

The grouse are among the upland game birds that are seen in the savannah and forests of North America. These birds can be found on the edges of the woods or even in the alpine above the treelines of taller mountains, in the warmer months.

quail:

The Gambel's Quail is a common quail found throughout California and Arizona. The Montezuma Quail can be found in drier habitats of Arizona and into western Texas. The Scaled Quail who has the plainest look finds its habitat from Arizona to Texas.

These are not the same birds.

Hubby's Surprise Part 1

 There were a lot of parts to Hubby's Surprise 40th Birthday Celebration, so I will break up the events and the photos into a few different posts.

Friday night of Labor Day weekend, Hubby went to bed thinking that his parents were arriving the next morning from St. Louis.  Little did he know that shortly after midnight, his brother, his wife, and their three little ones would be knocking on our door arriving for a long weekend, and staying with us.

When our kiddos woke up on Saturday morning, they were so excited to see Memaw and Pepaw -- who were on their way and arrived mid-morning... but they were shocked to find Uncle Nick, Aunt Mandy, and their cousins, Silas (age 4), Scarlett (age 2), and Sloan (age 9 months).

Memaw and Pepaw arrived mid-morning (they stayed at a hotel just for the sake of comfort and space, but they were at our home from morning until night).  We had a fun day at our house getting Nick and Mandy and their crew settled at our home, and letting their kiddos acclimate to our place.  The guys went out driving in the mountains and came home with some pheasants that they had shot.  We ate them on Sunday, and they were REALLY good!

Here are photos from Saturday and part 1 of Hubby's surprise.

Just Answer the Question...

 Hubby has been out bear hunting the past two days, and yesterday he found a spot with cell reception and called home.  Each of the kiddos got to talk to him for a few minutes, and this was part of his conversation with Howard.

Howard: Daddy, dad you shoot any bears?

Daddy: No, Buddy, I haven’t seen any bears. 

Howard: No did you SHOOT any bears?!?

LOL!

Good Plan

Whether or not Hubby and I add another baby to our family in the future remains to be seen... but we have agreed on one thing for sure.

We desire no more November babies.  Hunter was born 15 and it was not ideal for our family.

Too close to Christmas and Thanksgiving, right in the heart of cold and flu season, and right in the middle of hunting season.

So, Hubby and I kept that in mind this Valentine's Day.

Dissection

When your daddy is a hunter and your papa is a physician, sometimes Sunday nights include lessons in elk heart dissection...

 

Little Hunters

We have four little hunters excited for their daddy's elk hunt... but it'll be a few more years before they can join the hunt.