HorseDoctor
PMA Member
In memory of Paul Harvey, we want "the rest of the story"! Congrats young lady!
AZHunter
Iowa Boy At Heart
My Opening Day Deer Success!!
Hi there, it’s Sydney again. I just wanted to tell you about my deer hunt. Last year, my deer was mature, but kind of small, but it was also a bit of a free card. My dad spotted it 30 yards off the road. She just stood there the whole time until I finally shot her. This time, we were going to our destination when I looked over and saw a silhouette of a great big bedded down doe. I said aloud, “deer” and told my dad to keep driving and told him where to stop. We got out of the truck and I said, “Let’s maneuver around her and try and get her from behind or from the side.” So we worked our way in and found the deer, but there was another doe bedded with her. That made us stuck on the side. Her friend stood up and walked out of view. But I didn’t even see that deer from the road. I saw the one that was in front of her also bedded down. She was quartering away from me so I had to aim farther back than where I would usually aim. With deer fever, I was shaking so hard my shot was I little off. She took off running and I thought I had missed her. I was crying as we walked up to where I had shot her and we found out that I had busted up her liver. We found a good amount of blood and liver pieces where I shot her. We didn’t find much blood after that, so we followed the path of the direction she went. As we were walking, my dad said, “Syd, there she is.” I looked up and saw her bedded down looking at us. I knew I might have had to finish her off, but just the thought of it broke my heart. That was something I really did not want to do, but I knew I owed it to the deer. Right as we were getting set up, she ran off, heading up and over a hill. As she was running, I saw some blood spraying out of the exit wound in her chest. So we waited for a bit talking about options, and then went after her.
We found a good trail of blood with big splotches. We started going downhill when my dad said, “You know Syd, you should probably tag your deer before you get in trouble.” Then I saw her. I was so happy! I didn’t cry like the first time I shot a deer, but I was extremely excited. It turns out she had bled to death but I destroyed her stomach, her liver, and hit the offside lung. She was also bigger than my last deer, but only 2.5 years old. After dad field dressed her, I grabbed some of dad’s gear to help him out while he dragged her 100 yards back up the hill. Luckily, we crossed a logging road as we were tracking her, so dad pulled his truck up there and made everything a whole lot easier.
Me and my doe!
That north rim doe hunt is always going to be fun, but I think next year I’m going to apply for bucks only. I am for sure applying for the 19A youth buck hunt, but I also might apply for the youth muzzleloader hunt in unit 15. I don’t know; I’ve never shot a muzzleloader before, so I don’t know what to expect. It would be great if I could get any info about muzzleloaders, and thanks for all the help and support throughout the season! Now I have to switch gears for my pheasant hunt in January. I still haven’t learned to shoot a moving target with a shotgun, yet. Dad is going to help me by switching my shotgun from being ready for turkey hunting to being ready for pheasant hunting. We are going to start shooting trap soon, so I can learn to shoot moving targets. I really need to practice! Dad and I are going to quail hunt when it gets colder in the lower elevations for live practice. We have to wait for it to get colder farther south of here because running into rattlesnakes while quail hunting isn’t always fun, although dad might enjoy it!
Hi there, it’s Sydney again. I just wanted to tell you about my deer hunt. Last year, my deer was mature, but kind of small, but it was also a bit of a free card. My dad spotted it 30 yards off the road. She just stood there the whole time until I finally shot her. This time, we were going to our destination when I looked over and saw a silhouette of a great big bedded down doe. I said aloud, “deer” and told my dad to keep driving and told him where to stop. We got out of the truck and I said, “Let’s maneuver around her and try and get her from behind or from the side.” So we worked our way in and found the deer, but there was another doe bedded with her. That made us stuck on the side. Her friend stood up and walked out of view. But I didn’t even see that deer from the road. I saw the one that was in front of her also bedded down. She was quartering away from me so I had to aim farther back than where I would usually aim. With deer fever, I was shaking so hard my shot was I little off. She took off running and I thought I had missed her. I was crying as we walked up to where I had shot her and we found out that I had busted up her liver. We found a good amount of blood and liver pieces where I shot her. We didn’t find much blood after that, so we followed the path of the direction she went. As we were walking, my dad said, “Syd, there she is.” I looked up and saw her bedded down looking at us. I knew I might have had to finish her off, but just the thought of it broke my heart. That was something I really did not want to do, but I knew I owed it to the deer. Right as we were getting set up, she ran off, heading up and over a hill. As she was running, I saw some blood spraying out of the exit wound in her chest. So we waited for a bit talking about options, and then went after her.
We found a good trail of blood with big splotches. We started going downhill when my dad said, “You know Syd, you should probably tag your deer before you get in trouble.” Then I saw her. I was so happy! I didn’t cry like the first time I shot a deer, but I was extremely excited. It turns out she had bled to death but I destroyed her stomach, her liver, and hit the offside lung. She was also bigger than my last deer, but only 2.5 years old. After dad field dressed her, I grabbed some of dad’s gear to help him out while he dragged her 100 yards back up the hill. Luckily, we crossed a logging road as we were tracking her, so dad pulled his truck up there and made everything a whole lot easier.
Me and my doe!
That north rim doe hunt is always going to be fun, but I think next year I’m going to apply for bucks only. I am for sure applying for the 19A youth buck hunt, but I also might apply for the youth muzzleloader hunt in unit 15. I don’t know; I’ve never shot a muzzleloader before, so I don’t know what to expect. It would be great if I could get any info about muzzleloaders, and thanks for all the help and support throughout the season! Now I have to switch gears for my pheasant hunt in January. I still haven’t learned to shoot a moving target with a shotgun, yet. Dad is going to help me by switching my shotgun from being ready for turkey hunting to being ready for pheasant hunting. We are going to start shooting trap soon, so I can learn to shoot moving targets. I really need to practice! Dad and I are going to quail hunt when it gets colder in the lower elevations for live practice. We have to wait for it to get colder farther south of here because running into rattlesnakes while quail hunting isn’t always fun, although dad might enjoy it!
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goatman
I hunt days ending in Y
Congrats Sydney and thank you a bunch for sharing. You're getting your field time in and it will pay off. You'll enjoy shooting a muzzleloader. You handle your rifle very well and a muzzleloader kicks less. Both my grandsons shot their first deer with muzzleloaders at age 8. Keep us up to date with the bird hunts.
bigbuckhunter88
PMA Member
Congrats Sydney. You're hard work is paying off. As already stated you will do fine with a muzzleloader. They main difference is you won't be able to see where you hit because of the smoke after the shot, but they are fun to shoot. Good luck with the pheasant hunt. Just remember to follow through!
HorseDoctor
PMA Member
Well done young lady, well done!!!
Hardwood11
It is going to be a good fall!
That is fun stuff, congrats!
Daver
PMA Member
x2! Great times for the family there, well done!
risto2351
Well-Known Member
Great job Sydney. You have done a great job !!
Good luck on your pheasant and quail hunts. My dog Oakley is envious of you.
As far as a muzzleloader, you will have no problem at all shooting one. Just make sure you have it sighted in properly. Aubrey and Aden both shoot one and love it. Wish Aden luck these last two weeks of our season. We will text pictures if we get lucky.
Take care.
Good luck on your pheasant and quail hunts. My dog Oakley is envious of you.
As far as a muzzleloader, you will have no problem at all shooting one. Just make sure you have it sighted in properly. Aubrey and Aden both shoot one and love it. Wish Aden luck these last two weeks of our season. We will text pictures if we get lucky.
Take care.
AZHunter
Iowa Boy At Heart
Dad's Perspective
Its been almost a week and I'm still beaming with pride! I thought I would add a little bit of my perspective of how things played out. Syd told me she thought that would be a good idea.
We were in and out of deer all morning last Friday, but couldn't make it work. Syd was getting tired and bummed, so she wanted to head back to camp for lunch and rest. Back at camp, Syd was getting more bummed and depressed. Her mom and brother came up Thursday afternoon to spend the weekend with us, and my wife is extremely supportive of our hunts. She and I offered words of encouragement and perspective. We talked about the "Law of Averages" and how, if you stick with it and stay persistent, all the encounters will eventually turn into a filled tag. I laid down for a quick nap, but was awaken by Sydney "Dad, I'm ready to go fill my tag. Can you wake up?" Again, hard to argue with that! We got ready and made a plan. Actually, she made the plan. She made it clear what she wanted to do. We were going to head back to the second canyon and hike in, but head farther down the ridge this time. We loaded up and this is where it got GOOD!
As we were driving in to our destination, we were both opportunistically looking for deer on the side of the road. Over the last couple of years, I've learned to trust Syd's spotting ability. As we were cruising along, I hear "Dad, Deer!" I didn't see them, but she said she saw a doe bedded down in the shade 80-100 yards off the road. Then she says "Just keep driving and I'll tell you where to pull over." All I could do was say "Ok. I didn't see them, so you're in charge." "Just pull over up there by those two pine trees, dad." After getting pulled over and geared up, she says "We're going to hike in from here and circle in from behind her since she was facing that way." I told her I had no idea where they were, so I would follow her lead, looking ahead as we walked in. Without dragging this out into a long read, the rest is pretty much like she described above. The other cool part about this harvest is that she used the exact same brass case from last year's deer. We saved it, marked it, and she reloaded it herself so that she could harvest another animal with it.
I told Sydney that my favorite part of this hunt was not the tag being filled, but how it was filled. This deer was 100% her. She found it, gave me directions, and planned the stalk. I put 100% of my trust and confidence in her and she made it happen. I was basically the chauffeur and Sherpa for this one. She told me she learned about patience, not getting discouraged, and persistence. She now believes in the "Law of Averages", too. She also wants to spend more time studying quarter away and quartering to shots so she can be better prepared for next time. I am so stinking proud of my daughter and the hunter she is becoming. She told me last night that her math teacher (who LOADED her with homework for the hunt) was excited for her, but asked her how she felt shooting another animal. She told her teacher that her heart hurts every time she takes another life, but went on to explain that its out of respect for the game and that hunters play an important role in conservation, keeping populations in check. I wish I could say she was one of my Hunter Ed students. I took the class with her before becoming an instructor, but since becoming an instructor, we talk hunter ed, ethics, wildlife management, etc. constantly, so she's a defacto student of mine. So. Stinking. PROUD!!!
Its been almost a week and I'm still beaming with pride! I thought I would add a little bit of my perspective of how things played out. Syd told me she thought that would be a good idea.
We were in and out of deer all morning last Friday, but couldn't make it work. Syd was getting tired and bummed, so she wanted to head back to camp for lunch and rest. Back at camp, Syd was getting more bummed and depressed. Her mom and brother came up Thursday afternoon to spend the weekend with us, and my wife is extremely supportive of our hunts. She and I offered words of encouragement and perspective. We talked about the "Law of Averages" and how, if you stick with it and stay persistent, all the encounters will eventually turn into a filled tag. I laid down for a quick nap, but was awaken by Sydney "Dad, I'm ready to go fill my tag. Can you wake up?" Again, hard to argue with that! We got ready and made a plan. Actually, she made the plan. She made it clear what she wanted to do. We were going to head back to the second canyon and hike in, but head farther down the ridge this time. We loaded up and this is where it got GOOD!
As we were driving in to our destination, we were both opportunistically looking for deer on the side of the road. Over the last couple of years, I've learned to trust Syd's spotting ability. As we were cruising along, I hear "Dad, Deer!" I didn't see them, but she said she saw a doe bedded down in the shade 80-100 yards off the road. Then she says "Just keep driving and I'll tell you where to pull over." All I could do was say "Ok. I didn't see them, so you're in charge." "Just pull over up there by those two pine trees, dad." After getting pulled over and geared up, she says "We're going to hike in from here and circle in from behind her since she was facing that way." I told her I had no idea where they were, so I would follow her lead, looking ahead as we walked in. Without dragging this out into a long read, the rest is pretty much like she described above. The other cool part about this harvest is that she used the exact same brass case from last year's deer. We saved it, marked it, and she reloaded it herself so that she could harvest another animal with it.
I told Sydney that my favorite part of this hunt was not the tag being filled, but how it was filled. This deer was 100% her. She found it, gave me directions, and planned the stalk. I put 100% of my trust and confidence in her and she made it happen. I was basically the chauffeur and Sherpa for this one. She told me she learned about patience, not getting discouraged, and persistence. She now believes in the "Law of Averages", too. She also wants to spend more time studying quarter away and quartering to shots so she can be better prepared for next time. I am so stinking proud of my daughter and the hunter she is becoming. She told me last night that her math teacher (who LOADED her with homework for the hunt) was excited for her, but asked her how she felt shooting another animal. She told her teacher that her heart hurts every time she takes another life, but went on to explain that its out of respect for the game and that hunters play an important role in conservation, keeping populations in check. I wish I could say she was one of my Hunter Ed students. I took the class with her before becoming an instructor, but since becoming an instructor, we talk hunter ed, ethics, wildlife management, etc. constantly, so she's a defacto student of mine. So. Stinking. PROUD!!!
AZHunter
Iowa Boy At Heart
New Hunting Adventures
Its been a while and its time for an update. We've been extremely busy with soccer (Syd) and Taekwando (Jacob). Our December is completely booked with soccer (YOP and tournaments), except for Christmas weekend, itself! In the middle of that, Jacob has Taekwando functions and we bought tickets to see the US Women's National Team play China in Phoenix in one of their last World Cup victory tour games. I won't mention names, but someone is VERY excited!
With all of those weekends booked and Sydney's pheasant hunt coming up the second weekend in January (9th), we finally carved out some time to do some trap shooting so she could get used to swinging and shooting at moving targets. We went out to the shooting range last Saturday morning to start practicing. We spent the earlier part of the week talking about form, process, etc., and watching videos. I told her not to get high hopes, but to concentrate on the process, itself. I told her with more and more practice, she'll get good at it. Turns out, she's a natural! We had the trap range to ourselves, so that was nice to not have added pressure. The trap is voice-activated, which was a new one for me. That took some getting used to as birds flew anytime you spoke. I threw a bird so she could see what it was like and then I wenlt. She nailed the first three birds in a row! To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement! After that, we both missed a few and hit a few. She even said that the recoil of her Mossberg 500 Superbantam wasn't bad at all. We didn't keep too close county, but we both hit somewhere around a dozen clays. 25 shots in a row ended up being a little much for her, so we called it a morning after one round. On the drive home, she asked if we could head back the next day. Yep, I smiled! We went back Sunday and, after missing the first few, she ended up nailing five in a row! She missed a couple after that, then hit three in a row, missed a couple, hit a couple and so on. She ended up hitting another 12-14 birds on Sunday! I'm trying to talk her into heading back out this weekend for another round, but we'll see how she feels.
A pic and a couple of cell phone videos from last weekend. You can't see it, but those are solid hits on clays!
Videos
We should find out tomorrow about spring hunts. AGFD should be hitting credit cards tomorrow for spring turkey and javelina. I'm hoping my 17 bonus points will finally bring that Gould's tag my way! The archery javelina tag is pretty much guaranteed for me. Syd couldn't put in for archery javelina this year because of (you guessed it) soccer and her pheasant hunt taking up all the free weekends. She put in for the youth javelina hunt at the end of January and it has two weekends. One of those has to be in our favor, right?
I have to finish getting my bow back to ready condition after making some adjustments to my sight cage. Archery deer opens December 11 and I'm planning on hitting a couple of units with a buddy. One is open in December (19B) and one is open in January (19A, along with javelina). I'll have to see if I can get permission to share the photos, but he shot (rifle) a 173" 5x6 mule deer in 19A and another friend shot a HUGE (no score) 4x4 muley in 19B. That 4x4 actually dwarfed my buddy's 5x6 if you can believe that! My wife saw those bucks and is being pretty open-minded about me being gone in search of a buck like that!
Its been a while and its time for an update. We've been extremely busy with soccer (Syd) and Taekwando (Jacob). Our December is completely booked with soccer (YOP and tournaments), except for Christmas weekend, itself! In the middle of that, Jacob has Taekwando functions and we bought tickets to see the US Women's National Team play China in Phoenix in one of their last World Cup victory tour games. I won't mention names, but someone is VERY excited!
With all of those weekends booked and Sydney's pheasant hunt coming up the second weekend in January (9th), we finally carved out some time to do some trap shooting so she could get used to swinging and shooting at moving targets. We went out to the shooting range last Saturday morning to start practicing. We spent the earlier part of the week talking about form, process, etc., and watching videos. I told her not to get high hopes, but to concentrate on the process, itself. I told her with more and more practice, she'll get good at it. Turns out, she's a natural! We had the trap range to ourselves, so that was nice to not have added pressure. The trap is voice-activated, which was a new one for me. That took some getting used to as birds flew anytime you spoke. I threw a bird so she could see what it was like and then I wenlt. She nailed the first three birds in a row! To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement! After that, we both missed a few and hit a few. She even said that the recoil of her Mossberg 500 Superbantam wasn't bad at all. We didn't keep too close county, but we both hit somewhere around a dozen clays. 25 shots in a row ended up being a little much for her, so we called it a morning after one round. On the drive home, she asked if we could head back the next day. Yep, I smiled! We went back Sunday and, after missing the first few, she ended up nailing five in a row! She missed a couple after that, then hit three in a row, missed a couple, hit a couple and so on. She ended up hitting another 12-14 birds on Sunday! I'm trying to talk her into heading back out this weekend for another round, but we'll see how she feels.
A pic and a couple of cell phone videos from last weekend. You can't see it, but those are solid hits on clays!
Videos
We should find out tomorrow about spring hunts. AGFD should be hitting credit cards tomorrow for spring turkey and javelina. I'm hoping my 17 bonus points will finally bring that Gould's tag my way! The archery javelina tag is pretty much guaranteed for me. Syd couldn't put in for archery javelina this year because of (you guessed it) soccer and her pheasant hunt taking up all the free weekends. She put in for the youth javelina hunt at the end of January and it has two weekends. One of those has to be in our favor, right?
I have to finish getting my bow back to ready condition after making some adjustments to my sight cage. Archery deer opens December 11 and I'm planning on hitting a couple of units with a buddy. One is open in December (19B) and one is open in January (19A, along with javelina). I'll have to see if I can get permission to share the photos, but he shot (rifle) a 173" 5x6 mule deer in 19A and another friend shot a HUGE (no score) 4x4 muley in 19B. That 4x4 actually dwarfed my buddy's 5x6 if you can believe that! My wife saw those bucks and is being pretty open-minded about me being gone in search of a buck like that!
AZHunter
Iowa Boy At Heart
Thanksgiving Fun
We had a busy weekend of soccer this weekend, including a "Tim Howard" save, as Sydney put it. It truly was one for Sports Center! We got back late Saturday night and she was exhausted. Going quail and rabbit hunting wasn't in the cards and two friends invited her to hang out for a few hours.
My wife, son, and I ended up heading to the Flagstaff Archers annual turkey shoot for a chance to win a Thanksgiving turkey. We had a great time just hanging out and shooting 3d turkey targets. When the scoring was all said and done, my son, Jacob, took third place in his "Cub" division and won us a turkey! My wife, who doesn't practice with her recurve as much as she'd like, ended up taking first place in the "Traditional" division, but they were only giving one turkey/family. I shot well, but not good enough to place anywhere. It was great just watching them take off and have fun! All night, we heard "I won us a turkey!" Jacob was so proud of himself. Now he's talking about upgrading his bow for his birthday next month!
Jacob: "Hurry up, dad, its getting heavy!"
We also found out that credit cards got hit last Monday, 16 November. Sydney has a javelina hunt and I have an archery javelina hunt. Even with 17 bonus points, I can't get drawn for my Goulds tag in SE Arizona. This is getting ridiculous! Looks like I'll be putting in for leftover tags on the north rim again. Syd wants me to put her in for a leftover tag, even though she gets the over-the-counter youth tags for the early youth season. She likes having that father-daughter turkey hunt. She tried to stipulate that I get first shot this year, since I always give her first shot. I politely quashed that one! One day, she'll figure out how this parenting thing works from our perspective!
We're just waiting for the results to be posted so we know which units we'll be in, although I have my suspicions. Syd even mentioned that she's interested in using my new AR for the javelina hunt! We're staying here for Thanksgiving and she's already mentioned a quail/rabbit hunt for the Saturday after. We're getting excited to get back out there!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all from Flagstaff!
We had a busy weekend of soccer this weekend, including a "Tim Howard" save, as Sydney put it. It truly was one for Sports Center! We got back late Saturday night and she was exhausted. Going quail and rabbit hunting wasn't in the cards and two friends invited her to hang out for a few hours.
My wife, son, and I ended up heading to the Flagstaff Archers annual turkey shoot for a chance to win a Thanksgiving turkey. We had a great time just hanging out and shooting 3d turkey targets. When the scoring was all said and done, my son, Jacob, took third place in his "Cub" division and won us a turkey! My wife, who doesn't practice with her recurve as much as she'd like, ended up taking first place in the "Traditional" division, but they were only giving one turkey/family. I shot well, but not good enough to place anywhere. It was great just watching them take off and have fun! All night, we heard "I won us a turkey!" Jacob was so proud of himself. Now he's talking about upgrading his bow for his birthday next month!
Jacob: "Hurry up, dad, its getting heavy!"
We also found out that credit cards got hit last Monday, 16 November. Sydney has a javelina hunt and I have an archery javelina hunt. Even with 17 bonus points, I can't get drawn for my Goulds tag in SE Arizona. This is getting ridiculous! Looks like I'll be putting in for leftover tags on the north rim again. Syd wants me to put her in for a leftover tag, even though she gets the over-the-counter youth tags for the early youth season. She likes having that father-daughter turkey hunt. She tried to stipulate that I get first shot this year, since I always give her first shot. I politely quashed that one! One day, she'll figure out how this parenting thing works from our perspective!
We're just waiting for the results to be posted so we know which units we'll be in, although I have my suspicions. Syd even mentioned that she's interested in using my new AR for the javelina hunt! We're staying here for Thanksgiving and she's already mentioned a quail/rabbit hunt for the Saturday after. We're getting excited to get back out there!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all from Flagstaff!
AZHunter
Iowa Boy At Heart
Chasing Quail
We got out Saturday morning for a couple of hours of quail and rabbit hunting. We drove down south of Sedona to an area where I usually get into a covey or two of quails and see both jackrabbits and cottontails. We ended up hiking about 4 miles and didn't see or hear a single quail. Quail numbers are supposed to be up this year after all the rains we had last spring/summer, but I'm wondering if this area is getting over hunted. We crossed paths with 5 cottontails and a jackrabbit, but most of them caught us by surprise, including two that jumped right up from under our feet. To be a good mentor and dad, I showed Sydney how to find cholla cactus the hard way and then how to get the big spines out of your legs! Although no shots were fired, we had a great time, got a chance to warm up a bit, and are planning a return trip during Christmas break.
On our way from the truck, we spotted a small herd of pronghorn in the distance. I never get tired of seeing those animals. On our way back to the truck, we spotted a second herd that was on the hillside below our truck. We played a cat and mouse game trying to get back to the truck without spooking them. When we finally got back to the truck, we were able to get my binoculars on them and saw a herd of 20. They were working their way along the ridge where the road was, so we took a slow drive out. We ended up stopping to look at the herd as they stood 40 yards from my truck. There were at least two great bucks in the herd, but they had all shed their horns recently. What an amazing experience!
We leave Friday night for her first weekend of YOP training down in Casa Grande. To say she's excited is an understatement. Our next three weekends, including this coming one are all soccer, so its going to be crazy, but fun. After Christmas, I'm hoping to get out for some archery deer hunting and some more quail hunting.
We got out Saturday morning for a couple of hours of quail and rabbit hunting. We drove down south of Sedona to an area where I usually get into a covey or two of quails and see both jackrabbits and cottontails. We ended up hiking about 4 miles and didn't see or hear a single quail. Quail numbers are supposed to be up this year after all the rains we had last spring/summer, but I'm wondering if this area is getting over hunted. We crossed paths with 5 cottontails and a jackrabbit, but most of them caught us by surprise, including two that jumped right up from under our feet. To be a good mentor and dad, I showed Sydney how to find cholla cactus the hard way and then how to get the big spines out of your legs! Although no shots were fired, we had a great time, got a chance to warm up a bit, and are planning a return trip during Christmas break.
On our way from the truck, we spotted a small herd of pronghorn in the distance. I never get tired of seeing those animals. On our way back to the truck, we spotted a second herd that was on the hillside below our truck. We played a cat and mouse game trying to get back to the truck without spooking them. When we finally got back to the truck, we were able to get my binoculars on them and saw a herd of 20. They were working their way along the ridge where the road was, so we took a slow drive out. We ended up stopping to look at the herd as they stood 40 yards from my truck. There were at least two great bucks in the herd, but they had all shed their horns recently. What an amazing experience!
We leave Friday night for her first weekend of YOP training down in Casa Grande. To say she's excited is an understatement. Our next three weekends, including this coming one are all soccer, so its going to be crazy, but fun. After Christmas, I'm hoping to get out for some archery deer hunting and some more quail hunting.
Glad I checked in for an update! Good luck with soccer and your upcoming pheasant hunt! I think those pheasants are going to be in real trouble. Keep me updated. Will and I spent 7 days deer hunting with the muzzleloader (saw 3 nice bucks), but in the end, he didn't even pull the trigger. Thats the way it goes sometimes. Hopefully, his older brother was well behaved at your house for dinner. Merry Christmas to all.
AZHunter
Iowa Boy At Heart
Its been quite a while since we've updated this. Life has been extremely crazy since her YOP soccer training started in early December. I was not able to make it out for archery deer in December due to waking up sick on Christmas morning and then a buddy I was going to hunt with 1-3 January informed me that his wife made plans for New Year's Eve at her parents place 3 hours away! I don't know that area well enough to hunt on my own, so I ended up taking Syd down for her last YOP weekend. That was actually cool, because I got to see some good saves! And it turns out that all the girls in her age group are invited to the sub-regional camp this summer...in Flagstaff! She's excited and already begging to attend the camp! I hope her busy summer plans work out and she can make it.
I was going to take off this Friday and deer/javelina hunt, but its snowing right now and we're expecting about 2 feet (+/-) this week, with the heaviest coming on Thursday, the day I'm supposed to leave. I hate driving on the interstate, especially down off the mountain, so its not looking good. I'm trying to salvage my javelina season, which ends 21 January, so stay tuned. I have until the end of the month for deer and I have plans for at least one day, assuming all the Phoenix travel for soccer doesn't wear me out! These storms are supposed to clear out of here by Friday, which is good because Syd and I leave Friday for her first pheasant hunt down near Mayer, AZ. She's extremely excited for that! I'm hoping to be posting up pics next Sunday or Monday after her hunt!
We (Syd and I) hope you had a very Merry Christmas and are having a great 2016 so far!
I was going to take off this Friday and deer/javelina hunt, but its snowing right now and we're expecting about 2 feet (+/-) this week, with the heaviest coming on Thursday, the day I'm supposed to leave. I hate driving on the interstate, especially down off the mountain, so its not looking good. I'm trying to salvage my javelina season, which ends 21 January, so stay tuned. I have until the end of the month for deer and I have plans for at least one day, assuming all the Phoenix travel for soccer doesn't wear me out! These storms are supposed to clear out of here by Friday, which is good because Syd and I leave Friday for her first pheasant hunt down near Mayer, AZ. She's extremely excited for that! I'm hoping to be posting up pics next Sunday or Monday after her hunt!
We (Syd and I) hope you had a very Merry Christmas and are having a great 2016 so far!