And A Strong Cup of Coffee
Hunting Blog

This Thanksgiving, there are many things I am thankful for; my family, my friends, good job, good health... but I am thankful that I get to spend so much time with my dad in the fall as we hunt. As you can see, it paid off! I shot a 10 pointer this morning. I will give you the complete story in my next blog (and I will show you more pictures) but until then thank you to each and every one of you that reads my little blog and leaves me encouraging comments. Hope you are enjoying Thanksgiving weekend!!!

This is what is coming our way - 8-12 inches of snow. Tonight into tomorrow. I am trying to focus at work, but really, its not working. Dad and I have been doing snow dances all season to get some snow to fall so we can track this damn deer that keeps mocking us and refusing to show himself. Gimmie some snowshoes and my gun and lets go! We will be out Thurs, Fri and Sat this weekend. Hopefully the snow sticks around into the weekend and we can get some good tracking in!

Dad was out scouting this week. He found a bunch of scrapes and huge tracks near my tree seat. Big. He said its probably the monster we saw on the camera this summer - 8 pointer that he hopes has 20+ inch spread. No pressure or anything. So, we worked through all of the possible angles that I could shoot this monster, depending on which shooting lane he steps into (the largest scrape is in the lane right in front of me - see previous posts for the photo - there is a blow down and its right under it). Dad needed something to use as a model. I had the perfect thing! We worked all sorts of scenarios - if the deer does X, shoot him here. If...

This is my dog. She is adorable. She is a rescue puppy that we got almost 2 years ago. And this is the only picture I have of her face on, usually she moves as the flash is going off. So, blog friends, meet Leah.

Nope. Not mine. Or Dad's. We struck out again this past weekend. We saw coyote and bear droppings (the bear was really cool because it was on the path to our sky condo). Dad was able to jump a few does but no bucks. No scrapes or rubs - are any of you seeing this as well? I am hoping that with a full moon on Thursday, rain all day Thursday and it getting colder here, that come Friday, I have a picture to post that is actually mine. The above deer was shot by my brother in law - 8 points and 225lbs. He got is at 8am on...

I found this cool article today about deer moving around in the rut. Do you agree? Hunt the Rut

Here are my before and after shots with the snow. I climbed back up in my tree seat to take Sunday's photos from the same view point. You can see how long my shooting lanes are with the snow on the ground. 48 hours from now, I will have been in that seat for 4.5 hours. Im cold just thinking about...

Ok friends, while I don't have any venison hanging up, it was a fantastic weekend! Incredibly cold but awesome. Dad and I were in the woods by 5:30, sitting in our Sky Condo (pictures coming soon). We were there for 4 hours, then moved to my tree seat and dad started walking, hoping to push them my way. I was able to thaw a little while sitting there - the sun, a little breeze... I didnt fall asleep, but I could have. I thought I would snap a few photos of the view from my tree seat so you know what sort of great views I have. And because I took the same photos about 24 hours later and there was 4 inches of snow on the ground. This is...

We found these out back today. Dad now wants to find the deer that matches these prints. We had to measure the best tracks to see how big it is. Dad thinks its the big deer the neighbor has been seeing, but now Dad wants to bring it home. Wish us luck...

So, I am anxiously awaiting the first few snowflakes of the season... I love snow. I love it a lot. Last year was the first year I had hunted in the snow and it was magical. It was so quiet and the temps would change just enough that it would go from snow to a wet snow to a light rain and back. Dad and I were drenched but cold enough to keep our gloves on. We sat and sat and sat. Then walked, walked, walked. When we were getting ready to call it a morning, we saw a single track. Like kids on Christmas morning, our energy levels sky rocketed and we started to follow. It was a fresh track and we split up. I had never tracked a deer before....

In an effort to clean my house before I go mia for the next 5 weekends, I started cleaning my office. I was of the mindset that if it was not critical to my daily life or have a significant historical impact, it was going in the trash. I had to. A lot of the stuff has been hiding in a closet for more years that I know and has been moved in those boxes probably 4 times. As I was going through stuff, I found the following that made me smile: They are handouts from my hunter's safety course. I am not sure why I held on to them since they are out of date now. I also found a notebook with permission slips for hunting on other people's...

The Outdoor Blogger turns 1 tomorrow! I recently added this little blog to their network and got a wonderful email from Rebecca welcoming me to the club. It looks like a great resource for folks to connect, network and talk about whats going on in the outdoor world. Happy Birthday Rebecca and Joe!! here is to many more years