Bow Hunting Season 2010

Bow season came pretty quickly this year.  Warren & Hunter set up the tent on Labor Day weekend and we were very comfy.  Here  is the tent going up…

I think the best part of the tent accommodations was the wood stove.  We are usually boiling during bow season but this year it was pretty cold up in the mountains.  The wood stove was pretty much going all the time.  It was nice to get out of bed and be warm instead of icy.

Warren and Keith were after the elk pretty hard this season and part of that was dragging out the tree stands and refreshing the memory on how those darn contraptions work.  It was kind of fun to watch them use the stands out behind camp.  Here they are getting Warren’s stand attached to the tree.

and Warren going up…

And then we have Keith and his tree stand

Keith just jumped right up there and it was obvious that he had done this a few times.  It seemed that he had a tree stand that was a little more flexible that Warren’s and it was interesting to learn the differences.  If there ever is a next time we will know what to look for when we purchase another stand.

We usually just go back & forth on weekends until the last week of September and Warren takes his week off to bow hunt,  Once their week off comes Hunter and I go back & forth to camp on the weekends so we could see Warren and Hunter doesn’t miss school. 

On the last weekend of season we were fortunate to take Zach with us.  He is one of our great nephews and Hunter’s second cousin even though they are only 11 months apart,  When we arrived in camp that evening the guys were still out hunting.  Darkness came and we were still waiting so I took the opportunity to take a couple picture of the moon shining through the ponderosa pines.  Look Ma-No Tripod! 

Here is a picture of the kids wandering around in the moonlight.  I took a picture and the flash got them; I think it startled them a bit too.  At least they could see the horseshoe pits before they walked into them.

Here is Hunter out tending to the outside fire with camo jammies and all

And we had a little excitement in camp because we didn’t want to get bored or anything.  The boys were in and out of the Suburban getting their airsoft pistols and this and that.  Well, Mr. Hunter decided to lay my keys down in the back and put the tailgate up and then proceeded to close the hatch while the truck was locked!!!  I don’t know how long it took him to tell me but it was before the guys came back from their morning hunt. 

I had cell phone service and I was calling everybody to see if they could bring me keys or try the key fob over the cell phone.  The major glitch with that was Mom & Dad didn’t have keys to the current house!  I had somehow switched out the keys with some old ones the last time they were used.  I have wonderful family who tried to help me but to no avail – they couldn’t since I had not given someone the correct key to my house.  Thank you to Jeff & Jenn and my poor mom who tried to get into the house with the wrong keys.

The guys came back from the morning hunt and we told them that I would have to take the pick up in to get my keys.  I totally dreaded driving 2 hours to get my keys and 2 hours back to camp – Grrrrr!  Warren turned the pick up inside out because he thought he may have an extra Suburban key – NADA!  So they they were looking at ways to get into the Suburban without damaging it – not a lot of options short of breaking my window.  And then Keith came up with an option and the two strong men were able to get in with the help of two screwdrivers and a hotdog skewer!  My heroes!  I am so thrilled that we had a resident expert there on how to break into a car when you lock your keys inside – Keith’s idea saved my day!  Thank you Keith!!!!

After all of the excitement we came to the last day of season and it became time to pack up camp.  Must start dragging everything out of the tent and empty the woodstove…

  The guys had been complaining that there was a chipmunk under the floor that was digging at the floor all the time.  When you went into the tent it was hard to walk because of all the lumps and holes under the floor.  Here is a couple pictures of the ground after we pulled the floor up.

Brandy was really excited about the rat so she looked everywhere and dug in the fresh holes.  She finally decided to stand on the edge and wait while she surveyed the ground.  Of course she was underfoot the whole time they were rolling up the tent also…

Unfortunately the men did not get and elk but they were in them all the time.  Shots don’t always represent themselves when you are a bow hunter.  They did get to see plenty of black bear this year though so that made hunting a little bit more interesting.

In closing I will leave you with this parting shot.  This is my favorite picture for the camping trip.  It is of the sun coming up on the back of the tent and it was my “view” as I laid on the airbed reading my book in the morning. 

Very peaceful…

Here’s to hoping next year the guys get the pleasure of filling all of the tags!