Earlier this year my boy earned his Eagle Scout award. As a present we bought him a Bear Apprentice bow. He spent the summer practicing and this past saturday was opening day. We hunted near a apple orchard where a few bucks were known to visit in the evenings. Right at dusk he got a shot at this guy at 30 yards. It stepped just as he released, so it hit it a little farther back than intended. We watched it bed and decided to back out and leave it be.

We returned at 0'dark thirty and in the growing light we saw it had moved. When it was light enough to shoot we followed along the path it had been going and found it 100 yards away dead. I knew it was dead, but I had him stick another arrow in it "just in case" more for practice. He's thrilled and I'm mighty proud. Even the grandparents came over for a looksee that morning.

This is his 4th mule deer, having taken 1 with a rifle, and 2 with muzzleloaders. Pretty fun stuff.


-DallanC

He looks rightfully proud. Good for him and great training dad!

Well done young fella, on both the Eagle Scout award (that is no mean feat if I remember correctly) and your first bow deer...you have every reason to be as proud and happy as you look.

Sooo, who is gonna fill the freezer this year mate...Mum, the lad or Dad? Keep an eye out for that big elk and you might just have to buy another freezer.

Congrats and well done!

Awesome, hoping my son manages to connect with the bow this year.

Humph!! All my son hunts if geese and ducks.

he is doing you proud....good on you young fella.

Congrats! What an accomplishment! What else does he have this season to look forward to?

slimjim wrote:

Congrats! What an accomplishment! What else does he have this season to look forward to?

We just returned a couple hours ago from a quick weekend camping trip at one of our favorite lakes. As for hunting, he still has a cow elk tag he can fill and if he wants he can purchase a spike elk permit and try to find one of those.

Primarily this is a "off" year for him and his string of drawing great tags. I drew a trophy bull elk tag and my wife drew a trophy deer tag... so most of our effort will be going for those two hunts. Archery deer was the only season he had all to himself and I'm glad it worked out for him.

I also drew buck pronghorn antelope in Wyoming, but as anyone who's hunted antelope in wyoming can tell you, its really not so much hunting as it is a shooting sport, LOL! A person can drive up after work and fill a tag from the truck without much effort.


-DallanC

Dallan, sounds like your family has a great season ahead with a good start. My wife agreed to join me on my first pronghorn hunt in Northern CO. This will be our first hunt outing together. Not sure it will be like Wyoming. We aren't going to get there until the 3rd day of the season.

Got to my new hunting lease yesterday to check cameras and was carried away by mosquitoes! When I climbed back into the truck I had to spend 3 minutes killing them before I could drive away. He have had a lot of rain the last 30 days. Its actually green in August down here in TX.

Hoping your elk and deer hunts are successful.

slimjim wrote:

Dallan, sounds like your family has a great season ahead with a good start. My wife agreed to join me on my first pronghorn hunt in Northern CO. This will be our first hunt outing together. Not sure it will be like Wyoming. We aren't going to get there until the 3rd day of the season.

Wyomings pronghorn season is like 5 or 6 weeks long. I dont even hunt the first 3 or 4 weeks.

Quote::

Got to my new hunting lease yesterday to check cameras and was carried away by mosquitoes! When I climbed back into the truck I had to spend 3 minutes killing them before I could drive away. He have had a lot of rain the last 30 days. Its actually green in August down here in TX. Hoping your elk and deer hunts are successful.

Ugth! HAte those skeeters!


-DallanC

slimjim wrote:

Got to my new hunting lease yesterday to check cameras and was carried away by mosquitoes! When I climbed back into the truck I had to spend 3 minutes killing them before I could drive away. He have had a lot of rain the last 30 days. Its actually green in August down here in TX.

Slim, I'm sure this stuff is available in the US...

Bushman Repellent

I can highly recommend it because it actually does what it claims.

The worst insect problem I have suffered by far is Scrub Itch (see below). When you suffer this, the itching is terrible. Most guys I know that have 'caught' Scrub Itch end up tearing the skin off their legs and bleeding where they have been bitten. Bushman actually stops Scrub Itch from happening in the Aussie rainforest.

Scrub Itch

Scrub itch is the irritation caused by the bite of a small orange-red mite called a Trombiculid larva. This animal is the same animal order as other mites and ticks (Acarina). Various species are found around the world and are known under various names as Harvest Mite, Chiggers or Velvet mites.

Around Brisbane the mite is active in the summer months in all rainforest areas, particularly above the 300m altitude, where rain is more frequent during this period. The parasite is located as far south as the Dorrigo Plateau and northwards along the Queensland coast into New Guinea. North of Cairns and into New Guinea, the parasite carries Scrub Typhus, a potentially life threatening complication of the bite. To date, no one bitten south of Townsville has suffered this problem.

Eggs are laid in the soil and, on hatching, the larvae, which are 0.2mm long and scarcely visible to the human eye, climb up grass or other low vegetation. When an animal, including man, brushes past the plant the larvae drop and, if successful, land on fur or clothing whence they scramble to secluded areas or high perspiration zones.

Typically, humans are bitten at sites where the mite can get entry: the collar line, belt line and tops of the socks. The favoured sites are the armpits, pelvic region and calves of the legs. The mite secretes a saliva which dissolves the upper layers of skin - the resulting fluid being sucked up. This process rapidly produces a very itchy, angry, red lump with the mite continuing the process for several days.

Itching, or abrasion, can cause secondary infection, or possibly it causes the mite to relocate to another site and the process recommences. After a few days of feeding, the larva drops off and for the rest of its life cycle is no longer parasitic on warm-blooded animals.

Oh yep! Chiggers suck! Many years ago I came back from a little hike with over 120 chigger bites just from the waist down. I found that this stuff helped>

www.chigarid.com/