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2012/13 Hunting Season

toasty

The 2012-13 whitetail deer season is done. What began in October with bow season and has ended with the end of regular season in January has had it's hits and misses, literally, as you will read. I was able to spend a lot of time with my two youngest so the season was great whether a deer was taken or not. Sharing the outdoors and instilling a respect for the outdoors and it's many wonders with them is the apex of any hunting season. The fact that both were able to harvest animals made it even more special.

Truth be told, the season never really "begins" in October. It just never ends. Sure, we can't hunt until the season opens, but we are always working for the season, right? Whether it's building a new stand, preparing food plots, checking ladder/tree stands for safety issues, sighting in our bows and rifles.... does it honestly have an end?

Of course I take a break from it time and again. After all, there are lots of lakes with plenty of fish waiting to avoid my hook. But that will be another page on down the road. I could already script some of that page, you know, about the "one that got away". Same story could be said for hunting in many cases. Except this year, I got the one that almost got away.

I'll start off with letting you know that between my kids and myself, we took a doe, a buck and two hogs off our lease. My daughter was the doe slayer, I got the buck and My son hammered two hogs. I have learned to not rely on a cell phone for pictures and next year a real camera will be with me always but I did in fact use my cell for many of the pictures. Other pictures I am sharing on here came from different game cameras. I haven't found one I absolutely love but I don't spend big bucks on something that, being on a lease, can go missing easily. At any rate, I hope you enjoy reading about our season and the time God allowed us to spend together.


bignastyOne of our greatest tools as hunters now days is the game camera. I haven't dove off the deep end with high dollar cameras as I have found the more reasonably priced ones do what I want. That said, getting to the lease and going out right off to gather sd cards is exciting. We never know what we will find. Well, that's not entirely true, I know I will have pictures of hogs. I have deleted over two thousand hog pictures this past season. And kept some like the one to the right.

But there is always the excitement of something new or different. Naturally I have the multitude of rabbit pics. Oh, and raccoons. An occasional coyote will wonder by. And obviously there will be some deer. I have shots of does with fawns and alone. As well as the local nubbin buck who hangs with momma. But as I scroll through the pictures back at cam, I am always hoping for something I had never seen before. This year I got it. what the heckI showed this to several friends and got several answers. They guessed everything from a chupacabra to a caterpiller on the camera lens. I know it's a wing, however. I just haven't found what kind of bird it belongs to. Any guesses?

I know, you thought I was going to have a big deer . Well, I did! As I was scanning the pictures this guy appeared. big 8It was hard to contain my elation and I quickly dupped this buck "Zachary's Buck". I could have named him "Crabclaw" or "G2" but I wanted my son to get this buck as he has never killed one. Zachary's only holdback to killing this deer was himself. He seen the big 8 only one time. He was out of his stand walking around and a doe walked out in front of him. Then another. Then 4 more deer including the big 8 walked out. As he squatted in the lane he was pegged by the doe and they all ran off before he could manage a shot.

I seen the brute on the weekend before Christmas and ended up taking a shot at him. I must have had a speck of dust in my eye or....... ok, I just flat out missed. "Why were you shooting at Zachary's Buck?" you may be asking. Zachary and I had an understanding on this buck. If one of us sees him, we shoot him. Being on a lease doesn't allow for much sway on letting him walk for a later shot. And if Zachary wasn't at the lease with me he knew I would take the buck if presented the chance.


2012 Buck

As you can see, the big 8 made one last appearance on December 31st at 8:40 am. This time, there was no dust in my eye. Zachary had opted to go to a friends house instead of going with me to the lease. I claim to be calm and collected but this fella definitely gave me the fever.

big nasty downNow don't go feeling bad for Zachary. The season was still a success for him in a different way. He took two hogs this year. Something he has never done. He took a huge boar by belly crawling up on a group and playing the sniper. He downed this beast with a 30.06 and loved doing it. We kept the head and are getting a euro mount for him from it. His grin was one to remember for sure. (sorry for the poor picture quality.)

pistol killAnd he didn't stop there. As we were driving back to camp one day he yelled "PIGS!" and off he went. He had my Ruger .44 Super Blackhawk and wasted no time heading after them. I climbed off my four wheeler and started to unstrap my rifle so I could join him when I heard the loud BOOM! You guessed it, the pig slayer struck again. And just so you know, I am equally as proud of him and those pigs as I would have been if he had taken a deer.

So that leaves Olivia. This year she took her second doe. And yes, once again, it was another perfect shot. Whether it was in the camp, as seen in the foot warmer picture at top, or out in the stand, I had a blast spending time with her. As I do with all my kids. She would spend her time reading but when animals came out she enjoyed watching them. We even sat once and seen how close a small doe would come to the stand. Olivia's 2012 doeAs for her doe, she waited patiently for her shot. There were three all together and they seemed to not want to give a clear shot. But her chance finally came and she took it. Of course afterward she wanted to do her own tracking. And she blood trailed her deer without a problem. That's when it became daddy's turn and he had to drag it out and then skin it.

Well that about sums up our season. I could never cover all the fun we had not just on this one page, but anywhere on here. I love getting my kids into the outdoors. I love that they are growing to be responsible, conservation minded and involved. I spend my time with them so I don't have to spend my time looking for them.

This page wouldn't be complete though without including.....

The Sleeping Hunters!!!

Zachary asleep Olivia asleep

Cute ain't they?

daddy nap

Couldn't put just them out there and not admit I too caught a few Z's. Now bring on turkey season!

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