Christmas 2009

We had a good Christmas this year, as usual. The kids decided they wanted to open gifts in the basement, so we had to leave Santa a note to drop them off downstairs instead of up. I've attached a few of the photos from Christmas morning below.

Isaac w/ new ski coat.

Olivia looking wild eyed wearing her new ski coat.

Boyd wearing his new ski coat and its removable face mask.

New ski pants to compliment the new ski coats. Boyd was rather fond of the lightning bolts.

Olivia is our horse lover. One day if we can afford land in CO, we'll have a few horses. Olivia is convinced that she will be a vet when she is older. I hope so.

Opening up gifts from mom and dad.

Everyone needs a pair of binocs.

Heather wearing all of the kids gifts to her. Boyd picked out the snuggie on his own. Olivia picked out "toe socks" and ski socks. Isaac picked out nice new mittens, so Heather's hands don't freeze while skiing in gloves. I bought her (actually I bought all of it) the hat. Santa put a nice MP3/camera/video player in her stocking.

Thanksgiving in IL

We got back to CO on the 28th of November after our visit to IL for Thanksgiving. We had a good visit and a safe drive both directions.

Isaac killed his first deer, a little buck, on the last day/last afternoon/last half hour of the shotgun season. We were both exited. Jacob and I both shot does the last morning of the shotgun season, and I killed a doe with my bow on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Sean was in a tree about 10 yards from me when I killed the doe on Friday. That is one of the few times, if not the only time, I've been able to kill something before he had a chance to shoot. Good thing I didn't choke the shot.


The archery doe is the third consecutive doe, in as many years, that I've whacked on our Thanksgiving trip to IL.

My late season rifle cow tag starts on the 15th of Dec. I'm ready to pack the freezer w/ elk meat.

6 days to Thanksgiving visit

We will be pointed east in less than a week. The drive will start wednesday afternoon and we'll arrive close to noon on Thursday. We will be staying at David and Gretel's first. I take the easy road and let Heather worry about when and where we stay.

Isaac is exited about his first deer tag for the shotgun season that starts on friday. I have a doe tag for the shotgun season and then a bow tag that I can use the following week.

CO season is over.......looking towards IL

Bow season has been over for almost a month now. The rifle seasons are in full swing (2nd season now), but my rifle cow tag is a late season tag that is the last week of Nov. and Dec. 15 to Jan 15. We plan to be in IL the last week of Nov. over Thanksgiving, so I won't hunt here in CO until Dec.15. Matt calls it a "haystack" tag because that is what a lot of the elk are trying to get to at that time...........a rancher's haystacks. I've been in withdrawals since season ended w/o a single tag punched.

We took the kids fishing last weekend and had a nice time. A lakeside campfire always adds to the fun. I believe the weather is about to take a permanent aim at winter soon, so we may not get to do too much more fishing. Hopefully we can get some good ice fishing in this year.

We should start driving eastward on the evening of Wed. November 18th and arrive in IL on the 19th. Isaac and I will both have antlerless gun tags and I'll have an archery tag also, so we should get plenty of deer hunting in while we are there. We will head back to CO on Saturday the 28th.

Last weekend approaching

The last weekend of elk season is approaching and I have not loosed an arrow yet. It has been a really tough season for me. The first weekend started out well, but all of those elk have been pushed to parts unknown. I hope to invest in some horses in the years to come, so I can start hunting farther away from the roads and still be able to pack an elk out w/o losing any meat.

Mom and Dad have been here for a little more than a week and will be leaving this Thursday morning. I was unable to put Dad on a cow, but he has caught quite a few fish. I think this will be his last elk tag for a while. We'll miss them quite a bit after they leave.

Not sure if we'll make it home this year at Thanksgiving. Furlough days at work have required a little tightening of the budget. We are going to try to make it, and I've scheduled the days off, but.............we'll see.

Elk Season (opening weekend)

We had a good opening weekend. We did not get to pack out any meat or antlers, but we came very close to killing a bull that I had been watching with a large herd. I made a conservative guess on his score while watching him through a spotting scope for quite some time. We originally were thinking 300" and maybe 320, but after having him at 65 yards we both decided he is a solid 320. However, considering all the opening weekend pressure in the area, it is ulikely that we will find him again. We had a few other smaller bulls close also. I would have taken any one of them given the right opportunity.

Isaac and I made it out for a short scouting trip on Saturday. We found a little fresh sign and a little old sign. Nothing to get too exited about, but a nice day out anyway. Isaac is doing pretty good keeping up with me now, so after the first weekend he'll probably hunt with me quite a bit.

I have not updated this in quite a while. I've been uploading photos to Facebook instead.

Summer is nearing its end and I am preparing myself for the beginning of elk and deer season in four weeks. Isaac and myself spent part of the last weekend scouting for elk and plan to continue that right up until season starts on the 29th.

Summer?

I'm not sure if we are going to have a summer this year. The weather has been quite unusual for Colorado. We have been in a cloudy/raining pattern for a while now w/o much sunshine. Hopefully this passes and the sun shows back up.

I'm trying to get my remodeling done and get this house on the market. Still haven't decided if we want to stay up here in Leadville or mortgage more money than should even be permitted and buy a home in the valley (probably Gypsum). The more I look at the cost, the more I think stay in Leadville.

Once I finish up remodeling the two bathrooms, I'll be done other than some back yard work. I plan to spend the rest of the Summer fishing and camping with Heather and the kids, and hiking above treeline to look for big mule deer bucks and herds of elk. I'm desperate to get above treeline. Maybe I can get out for a weekend camp at treeline and include scouting for elk and deer along w/ fishing a couple alpine lakes for brook trout.

Remi

I've finally been able to get Remi out a little and let him enjoy open water. He hasn't been in water for a while. Winter doesn't leave any open water near Leadville.

He was so exited he was shaking, and that was before he got in the cold mountain water.

Turkey Season is over

Nebraska Merriam's

Turkey season has came and went, Isaac and Olivia have both had birthdays (now 10 and 8), and Summer is almost here in Leadville.

Isaac and I hunted in the IL 5th season, CO, and NE. CO was a bust, but I wouldn't say we put a lot into it besides driving. IL didn't go as well as planned, but I was there when Donnie Vickers killed a good bird and I managed to kill a jake on the last day. The jake wasn't supposed to be a jake, but instead his longbeard buddy.

Nebraska was a great hunt and I killed a bird the first morning. We had two more birds within range of my 12 ga, but I had not bought another tag, so it was back at the cabin. I decided to concentrate on Isaac killing a bird, but they just weren't close enough for his 20 ga set up. He had a great time anyway and I really like spending time with him hunting. The Nebraska hunt will become a family trip every Spring if we have the money. I'll buy a second tag next time though.

Donnie Vickers' bird - 24 lb - 10+" - 7/8"

My mistake jake - 17.5 lb

Nebraska Merriam's - 20 lb - 8 5/8" - 1/2"

Isaac w/ my Merriam's

Twin Lakes

We drove to Twin Lakes last weekend. The sun was shining, so it was really nice out. The wind was the only thing that kept us in our coats. After some tire repairs at home the kids were able to ride their bikes for the first time since last Fall. They also did quite a bit of running, as did Remi. I've had a few comments about me not posting enough photos of the kids and just posting hunting photos, so I've included a few more photos of the kids.


Olivia and Heather

Isaac, Boyd, and Remi headed for a giant bolder.

Isaac and Boyd on the giant bolder.

Olivia trying to start a fire w/two sticks as Heather, Boyd, and Remi watch.



Remi enjoying something other than snow.

Olivia's ski school & Ski Joring in Leadville

Olivia graduated from her SOS Vail ski class while Mom and Dad were here. The lessons have bumped her skiing up several notches.

Today was the ski joring championships in Leadville. We had never watched them before. They truck snow into the street and build jumps. The skiers are being pulled by a horse that is running (much like water skiing). The skiers fly over the jumps and have a stick (?) that they catch hanging rings with. They are timed and they have seconds added for missed rings. It is really fun to watch them. We did not get to see the guys doing the bigger jumps. We came back home because Heather wasn't feeling good.



This is one of the horses w/ a skier behind.

This horse and rider is flying , but the skier had just went down over the previous jump.

This horse isn't moving too fast because the rider had let go at the beginning several blocks back. We didn't see what had happend.

This guy is just flying off the jump. The stick w/ rings can be seen if you look closely.

This skier is just about to come off the jump. These guys are crazy.

Three future ski jorers?

Cabin Fever!!!!!!!!

2007 IL Turkey

2007 IL Doe
2008 CO Turkey

2008 CO 4x5 Bull

2008 IL Doe



2008/2009 Late Season CO Cow

Bow season has long since passed, late elk is over, turkey isn't quite here yet, and it is too early to get out scouting for anything. Besides the occasional predator hunt or fishing trip, I'm pretty restless this time of year. I've been looking through my hunting photos and thought I'd post some of them up. Most have bee shown before, but I'm showing them off anyway.