MY FIRST ELK

This Labor Day weekend proved to be just that... Labor. I'll start at the beginning... we moved our "Crappy Camper," (which we love, that's just a term of endearment) up to Island Park at the end of August to get ready for Elk Season. This is both Drake and my favorite hunting season of the year! He stays up there pretty much all of September, and I come up as often as I can. This is the 4th year I’ve hunted elk, and I had never taken one before. It’s not an easy thing to get within 20 yards of such smart animals. Instead of sitting in tree stands or hunting blinds, we are out hiking the mountains. Such a good workout let me tell you!
On the third day I hunted this month, we were up at 4:30 AM and Drake, his hunting buddy from Reno and I were just about to pull into one of our favorite hunting spots. It’s a pretty rough road and takes a very long time to get to the top before starting our hike. Right as the gate came into the truck view I realized that I had on my camp slippers/slip on shoes. I had put them on while getting ready to run outside real quick and thought I’d remember to put on my hunting boots. The trail we were planning on taking is about 2 miles uphill, in really thick terrain. So I said an unintelligible word and had to break the news to the boys. They were nice and said we could go back to camp, but I knew that would ruin the whole day and someone else would get back to this spot before we could. So because I’m super stubborn and knew I’d never live this one down, I told them I’d just walk part way for a minute and hangout on the trail while they hunted. For some reason I just knew that this was going to be a lucky day. I’m usually the only one that does dumb things like this around the Atwood family, and whenever I do it seems like I have the best luck right after. They thought I could just sleep in the truck while I waited, but that didn’t interest me because I couldn’t let the guys have all the fun. So we started up the mountain…. I can’t tell you what a workout it was to keep those blasted things on my feet. They are not comfortable at all! I was determined not to complain though. So after hiking nearly to the top we got into some elk. I had a huge bull 25 yards in front of me but needed him to take a step past a tree before I could shoot, and then the wind changed (meaning he could smell us) and he took off. When we are close to the elk, Drake backs up and calls to them while Tony and I sneak forward to set up for a shot. Tony was determined to film my hunt, so he had the video camera up at all times. So we hiked a little further and all of the sudden 3 elk started running right for me, Tony was right behind me. The first one was 5 yards in front of me and was about to run me over because I was standing on their trail. I wish I had my eyes on camera, because I was definitely panicked. Elk are HUGE! It was 2 cows, and a small spike (2 girls and a young male.) I didn’t want to get ran over so I pulled back my bow, which spooked them, and tried to get a shot. I was pulled back forever (meaning I was shaking because it gets harder the longer you are pulled back) waiting for one of the cows to turn broadside, but they took off before I could shoot. Tony and Drake started calling again and as I turned back around the small spike was standing 15 yards broadside of me, so without much thought I shot. Tony had just turned back to tell Drake to call and didn’t see me shoot, but surprisingly the corner of the camera caught it on film. I shot my first elk!! I shot my first elk in my slippers!! HA! I made a good shot and my arrow passed through. Unfortunately all the pictures of me with him are on Drake’s camera still in Island Park. He’s a small spike, but after 4 years of hard work, I’m very proud of him. We will have enough meat for at least a year! This first picture is me anxiously waiting to go find my elk while showing off my sweet shoes. The Atwood’s will tease me about this forever, and from now on will ask if I have my boots every single time we go out, but at least I have something to show for it! What a day! We hiked at least 4 or 5 miles total, and I was soar in placed I've never been before, but what a cool experience. Once the boys are back hopefully I can add the pictures and maybe even the video of my unforgettable day.


Lucky Elk Slip ons

It's so much work to pack out an elk, especially as far in as we were. This is Drake and Tony with their crazy heavy packs.

This was while we waited.... Isn't he so cute!

ALZADA MONTANA

Drake and I setting up for hunting antelope.

Brock and I with a antelope in the back ground. Notice the arrows in the bottom of the picture, I design and paint my own. I love my pink ones! So Cute!

SICK!!! This is one of the beasts that intrude in our hunting blinds. I seriously had to kill one by myself. Proud moment for me.

My mother in law Nancy, packed accordingly to my sweet tooth... Kinda embarrassing how happy I am in this picture... ha

On the 13th we pulled out with the Atwood family headed for Alzada Montana. I'm sure no one has ever heard of it because there are probably only 5 people that live there. It takes over 10 hours to drive there. All 5 of us drew antelope tags so we spent 10 days hunting. Drake counted about 91 hours total that each of us spent in our hunting blinds. A hunting blind is what we are standing in front of above. It's like a tent with no floor. To hunt antelope, or lopes as I prefer to call them, you get up at 6 AM and drive your fourwheeler out to your water hole. You climb into your blind and sit there for around 13 hours a day waiting for a lope to come get a drink. It is soooo hot there. The tempature was 90-100 degrees, and the blinds just trap the heat. Pretty much by the end of the day you dont have much clothing left on. Drake and I sat at the same water hole for a few days in our two seperate blinds, and we had walkie talkies to communicate back and forth. I drove him crazy because I'm worse than a little kid with them and would try to talk to him all day. They are seriously fun. Ha. I pretty much just read books and relaxed out there, being out of cell service for a week is actually amazingly nice. The last day of the hunt Drake was able to harvest a good antelope buck. The meat is very good when prepared right and a blessing to stock up our freezer. Two years ago when we went out there I wrecked a fourwheeler into a barbwire fence, so to come home unharmed this year was an added bonus. I know a lot of people don't understand the hunting lifestyle, but it really is something I'm learning to love. Being so close to animals is so cool, and spending that time with Drake makes all the spiders, and heat worth it.

helpsullengers.blogspot.com

There is now a blog to help my cousin Ashley and Pat Sullenger. Their little Preslee was flown down to Primary Children's Hospital on Friday (9th) night. If anyone would like to help the Sullenger family it would be greatly appreciated. You can go to helpsullengers.blogspot.com to make a donation. If everyone could do at least $10 it would make such a difference to this young family. Our prayers are with little Preslee, and her parents.

4th Of July Weekend

We had a hard time deciding what to do to celebrate the 4th this year. I'm not a big fan of the parade, and sleeping in sounded much better to me on Saturday. Later in the day we decided to head to Lava Hot Springs like we did last year for the 4th. We had our own little tailgate party with hot dogs and homemade salsa, before heading for a swim. Drake makes the best salsa! After

our delicious food we headed to the hot pools. If you haven't been to Lava Hot Springs, you need to go! The water is so relaxing! We were hoping they would have a firework show like last year, but they must have saved it for Sunday so we missed out. It was still fun to get out of town and enjoy the warm weather.

On Sunday we celebrated my father in law's belated birthday. He was up at bear camp for the big day, so we decided to make him a cake for the 4th. Drake's brother Jason and his kids, Chase and Hannah, were over and helped me with the cake. They are so much fun. The three of us couldn't get enough sugar or baking so we whipped up some sugar cookies after dinner. I wish I would have taken more pictures of my little baking partners. There was flour everywhere.

Three Year Anniversary

This weekend was our 3 year anniversary. I know everyone says this, but it really is crazy how fast time goes. To celebrate we started a few days early and went out to dinner and bought ben n jerry's ice cream tubs for dessert. Yes we got our own and they were delicious! Our anniversary was on Saturday and we decided that we wanted to get out of town for a few days.
We left on Friday for a camping/hunting trip. I know this may sound unromantic to most, but it was actually my idea. I love being in the great outdoors with just the two of us. Our camper is already hauled out to our spot, and it was so nice to be away for a few days with no cell phone service. I love Drake! It's been an eventful three years, and I'm excited for the next one. There aren't a lot of dull moments with Drake as my best friend and I feel really lucky.

This was the romantic dinner night...

And this was on our actual anniversary...

On by the way, we both saw several bears this night while hunting. I had a bear cub 35 yards in front of me playing around. He was so cute!

MAY SNOW FALL

This weekend we spent more time in the mountains getting ready for Bear season. Drake's parents and his brother Brock went with us. We go about an hour and a half away from home to get to our spot. We knew it would be colder this weekend, but had no clue we were about to enter a blizzard. It was freezing! Nothing like an end of May snowstorm. We were layered up and in our cute rain gear for these pictures. My mother in law, Nancy and I bailed out for the last two hours and sat in the truck waiting. An outdoor fourwheeling adventure is usually one of my favorite things, but I couldn't feel my fingers after too long and had to call it quits. On the bright side, it was a beautiful view.

BEAR BAITING

Bear Baiting might sound strange to most people... Yes we use bait to lure in big bears while we sit in the tree hoping to see them. Ha it still sounds odd to me too. May and June are bear season for the Atwoods and we spend a lot of time in the mountains. These pictures are from this last weekend when we were getting things started for the year. The barrel the boys are putting in the tree is full of the worst smelling thing you could imagine. We put them in a tree and stock all kinds of food near by, in order to get bears coming into our hunting spots. Last year was the first time I'd seen a bear that close and it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. I know how redneck and crazy this must sound to some people. HA! I really do love this whole new life of hunting though. It's more than just killing animals. I get to spend so much time outdoors with Drake and get to see the coolest animals so close. Seeing them and observing them like that is the best part for me. Not to mention the sexy camo I get to wear always!

I usually don't post very much because most our pictures are in the woods and of hunting, but I decided I might as well share my fun with my friends and family. The next few months of posting will probably be hunting and all the adventures we will have. I'll try to get some good pictures of the animals I get to see so you all can see why its so much fun!