Hunting--- Take 2

So since our first outing wasn't successful (we didn't see any deer nor shoot any) we had to take another one. This time we were a little more successful, but not by much. We decided to take a little more time at it and went out on Friday AND Saturday. I know, we were fortunate to find a great babysitter that was able to stay with the kids both days. So we went Friday.
And right off the bat found 4 nice looking bucks that would have been great for the freezer. The problem was we weren't sure if we could hunt in that area or not. After looking at the maps and such we decided that we could and so started to put the sneak on them. Unfortunately---they fled and we couldn't keep up. Strike one.
We jumped on the four-wheelers and went into an area that Gabe and Lance hunted before (it was actually the same area where Gabe harvested our trophy deer that is hanging on our wall).


We saw nothing there. No, wait, I take that back.
We saw a couple of does (but this was an antlers only area), a few cow elk, and a rattlesnake....not to mention the numerous cows that were there. Strike two.
The next place we tried we saw three huge bull elk (it was enough to make Gabe and Lance long for a tag so they could take them down). Strike three. (I can't take credit for this elk picture. I tried to get my camera out but I wasn't fast enough. By the time I had it out they were already over the hill and gone. Thanks Kelli! I borrowed this from her.) I also have to put in here that the picture of Gabe came from Kelli too. He is so hard to get pictures of that I don't try anymore. Thanks Kelli for the great picture of Gabe too.


By this time it was getting late and as we all had children to tend to we decided to head home. As we were driving out, Gabe was scanning the hillside (we didn't give up even on the drive out). He saw a deer laying on the side of the hill. He thought she looked hurt and we again debated what we should do. We decided to go try. We parked the truck. All four of us got out, but Gabe didn't bring his gun as we weren't sure what we would find. We started up the side of the mountain. We got about 4 hundred yards from the deer and stopped. I saw one standing up and Gabe had seen one laying down, but said that the one I saw standing was the same one. We decided that Kelli would have first go. She shot. Missed. As she was reloading, we noticed 4 more does stand up! WOW! Lance took a shot...nothing. Gabe took some shots....nothing. Kelli took another shot and said that her deer disappeared. By this time there were about 12 does standing there and in various stages of leaving as quickly as they could. Since Gabe didn't have his gun, he had taken mine, so there was no way for me to have shot anything and then they all left, rather quickly. So now we climbed the hill to see if there was anything. We were surprised that Kelli's second shot was true and had brought down the deer. We were thrilled, but disappointed that nothing else was there. We took care of the business of cleaning her up and getting her loaded and headed home.
The next day was also a disappointment for us all. We saw lots of deer, but they were in places that we weren't allowed to hunt---in the city limits, and on private property. I didn't take any pictures because there wasn't anything exciting to see and all the scenery had been taken the day before. This means that another hunting trip is in order. I wasn't sure that I wanted to shoot something, but now the challenge is before me. My competitive nature has taken hold and I too have to get that elusive deer so I can say that I can do it too. If you want another view point of this trip check out Kelli's blog at www.coresonfamily.blogspot.com and you can see the pictures of her deer too.
This picture is one of the sage grouse that we saw. If you look closely you can see one big fat sage hen....this is my "Where's Waldo?" picture for you. She is there. But they blend so well that they are very hard to see.














This is our rattlesnake. As we were walking along the hillside Gabe heard it. Kelli was actually walking ahead of Gabe and almost stepped on it. A little scary but he didn't hurt us, nor did we hurt him.