2010 Turkeys

Its summer here in CO now, but I never took the time to post the birds that Isaac and I killed during the spring.

Turkey Season is almost here

Photos from our scouting trip to Eastern CO: Eight toms chasing each other in circles trying to determine who's the boss. They were all longbears. Two strutters heading towards three other toms out of the photo to the left.

Two toms relaxing in the sunshine. They were in half strut when I first spotted them.

Two strutters with 25+ hens (most are not in the photo)

We will be hunting CO and IL only this year. The NE trip we've taken the last three years will be put on hold. I had also looked closely at KS and OK instead of NE, but those are off also.

The CO season starts on 4/9 and Isaac has drawn a limited entry tag on the eastern plains. The SWA we'll hunt is on the CO/KS border along a cottonwood riverbottom. We've scouted it once and already saw quite a few birds, so we have high hopes for Isaac to kill a Rio this year.

I have not decided if we'll hunt it the first weekend. We would like to, but the round trip uses about $125 in fuel. The IL trip starts the following weekend and we can stop there for a 2 day hunt (one afternoon and one morning) on our way back, then plan accordingly if it doesn't work out. However, I'll be driving to the OTC area we hunted last season this Saturday to listen and scout. If the snow is still too deep and I'm not hearing or seeing anything promising.........we'll suck it up and point my truck eastward for Isaac's tag and hunt our OTC mountain tags upon our return from IL.

Its been a long winter and we are no where near the end. We've had a great year for skiing with a lot of snow, but I've skied less this year than the last couple. The kids are still loving the mountian and Isaac switched over to a snowboard this year. I expect Olivia to do the same next year and Boyd to follow.

We are supposed to have our Leadville house on the market the first of March, so hopefully that goes well and it sells quickly. The mine is making plans to open, so they are hiring a lot of new people. That should drastically improve the real estate market for selling.

We aren't sure what we'll do if it sells. I'm sure we'll rent for a little while. I'm hoping to end up down valley closer to work, but the prices are higher there. We'll worry about it if we sell.

Summer

We are well into summer here in the mountains. In fact, it will be fall before we know it.

We've worked on the house quite a bit, but have decided to hold off again on listing it for sale. We'll probably be sorry about March next year, but that is life at 10,000 ft.

The CBA Jamboree is this weekend and we will be camping Thursday (tonight) and Friday. David and Gretel will get here on Saturday and then Heather, the kids, and the grandparents will drive to CA to visit Heather's Aunt Betty. When they return the following Monday they will stay here until Friday and then drive to IL to visit. They will follow Mom and Dad back here to CO on the 18th of August, so they will be in IL almost 3 wks.

I'll try to get in plenty of elk scouting and bow shooting while they are gone, along with a little fishing, but I'll be one lonely guy and will definitely look forward to their return.

Elk season won't be long after they return (Aug. 28th). I don't have any photos of elk, but I've got plenty of NE turkey photos from our May hunt. I'll let the photos do the talking.

Turkeys

The IL trip was great this year. We had great weather and got to visit with family and friends. I killed two birds and Isaac one (his first). Isaac's bird had three beards and weighed 20 lbs.

On last Saturday, 5-22-2010, I killed a Merriam's here in Colorado. Isaac was with me but couldn't get the shot. We are headed to NE tomorrow to hunt the 26th to the 31st of May.

Isaac holding my CO Merriam's

IL Trip

We'll be pointed toward IL in three weeks. We are looking forward to the visit. Isaac and myself are also looking forward to the turkey hunting. We should arrive sometime around noon on the 16th.

Skiing at Cooper

We skied at Ski Cooper today. It was snowing most of the time, so the snow was nice. Photos of the kids:


Olivia

Boyd
Isaac

Isaac in the terrain park



Boyd in the terrain park

Isaac on the lift

Olivia in the terrain park


Olivia on the lift