And A Strong Cup of Coffee

I priced out having someone else mount my antlers for me and decided that Dad and I can handle it. We are independent like that. So on Saturday, we cut off the antlers to my deer to begin making the mount for them. Leah had no idea what this was, but she was willing to go nose to nose with it. Then, Dad moved it and she took off running. Silly dog. Dad's telling me to stop taking pictures and help hold the head. You can see my tree seat on the left. Action shot. One handed! and taken 3 months to the day that I shot him. We each held up our antlers, mine from last year (we remeasured and they have a 13.25 inch spread) and Dad's from the 6-pointer the year before. He joked (I think) that the gloves are coming off next season and its...

Kim sent me more photos from my ice fishing adventure a couple weekends ago. Me and Kim Duckman and Ryan with a nice pike Playing cribbage Vose family

Before I arrived on the pond, Duckman had caught a 6.5 pound pike. I thought it was a huge fish and my dog had no idea what it was and kept coming over to smell it. All I could envision was her grabbing the thing and running. And then dropping it down a hole. Then I would owe Duckman more than I do (Leah thought she could help herself to some chowder). As Leah ran around, she found a dead bait fish and became intrigued. She would put the thing in her mouth, tail hanging out, run a little and then drop it. She had no idea what to do with the fish, what it was or what she should be doing with it. The last thing I wanted was for her to swallow the thing. So instead, I ruined her fun - picked the fish up and put it back into a semi-frozen...

On Sunday, I went ice fishing. I had never, ever been fishing before (unless you count the time I caught 13 sunfish when I was maybe 10) and had a vague idea of what to expect. I relied on this to shed some light on what to expect. I was at the pond at 6:45am, trying not to be the late kid and I brought my dog. The hubby was supposed to come but got the flu so the dog and I fled. I had dressed a little warmer than if I was going to go sit in a tree for 6 hours waiting for Bambi, but not by much. I used it as an opportunity to test some new layers I bought a month ago. Rabid had given me directions (not quite accurate, but not to worry, he gave his dad the same ones) but I had a good idea of where I was going since my best friend grew...

Im heading out on the ice this weekend with Rabid Outdoorsman and Downeast Duck Hunter. I have never been ice fishing before and after watching the videos on DH's website... I can only imagine what it will be like. Wish me luck!

I want to get this bad boy mounted. Just the antlers though. My home is not ready for deer heads just yet and I just decided I wanted to save the antlers beyond just keeping them downstairs or in the barn, which is where my little spike-horn's spikes are and all of Dad's antlers. Anyways, I made up my mind late and the head has been hanging out in the barn with misc critters since Nov 25th. So - friends and followers... where do I go? what can I do? I saw Rick's post. Should I make it my weekend...

I was the 26th person to buy a chance in the permit lottery this year/today (they went on sale less than an hour ago I would guess). The cost has gone up, $12 to $15 and there is now an option to NOT be entered, but to get a bonus point for this year instead. Last year, 50,000 people entered the 2011 lottery for a shot at the 3,862 permits that were available. I will know on Saturday June 24 if Dad and I will be headed out into the wild country to (attempt) to bag us a moose. It didnt work out the last time. This is last year's moose that my best friend's Dad got in the...

For some crazy reason, I actually thought I would have a problem finding ways to keep the conversation about hunting going throughout the winter. So far, I have been lucky with all of the things happening... such as this story about a Texas breeder who smuggled in many deer, including 2 monster bucks, and risked the lives of the entire deer population in Texas. I had to laugh at the names of these monster bucks "Barry" aka "Fat Boy" and "Hit Man" aka "Silver Storm" For one thing, who names their deer? And why not tag them and refer to them as #123 and #456. It seems to silly to me. But, its a huge 2+ billion dollar industry that could have been wiped out by greed. Any of those smuggled in deer could have carried bovine tuberculosis and...

Sunday night on 60 Minutes, Lara Logan did a story on big game hunting in Texas. The tag line for the article was "Can hunting endangered animals save the species?" and it interviewed Charly Seale who "is a fourth generation rancher and the executive director of the Exotic Wildlife Association based here in the heart of the Texas hill country. It's his job to represent the interests of some 5,000 exotic ranchers across North America." As I watched this show, I was torn. I love the idea of working to raise awareness of the threat of extinction for these animals. I love the idea of being able to give the species an opportunity to thrive in a much different location than African and I love that through conservation, we can try to bring...

I priced out having someone else mount my antlers for me and decided that Dad and I can handle it. We are independent like that. So on Saturday, we cut off the antlers to my deer to begin making the mount for them. Leah had no idea what this was, but she was willing to go nose to nose with it. Then, Dad moved it and she took off running. Silly dog. Dad's telling me to stop taking pictures and help hold the head. You can see my tree seat on the left. Action shot. One handed! and taken 3 months to the day that I shot him. We each held up our antlers, mine from last year (we remeasured and they have a 13.25 inch spread) and Dad's from the 6-pointer the year before. He joked (I think) that the gloves are coming off next season and its...

Kim sent me more photos from my ice fishing adventure a couple weekends ago. Me and Kim Duckman and Ryan with a nice pike Playing cribbage Vose family

Before I arrived on the pond, Duckman had caught a 6.5 pound pike. I thought it was a huge fish and my dog had no idea what it was and kept coming over to smell it. All I could envision was her grabbing the thing and running. And then dropping it down a hole. Then I would owe Duckman more than I do (Leah thought she could help herself to some chowder). As Leah ran around, she found a dead bait fish and became intrigued. She would put the thing in her mouth, tail hanging out, run a little and then drop it. She had no idea what to do with the fish, what it was or what she should be doing with it. The last thing I wanted was for her to swallow the thing. So instead, I ruined her fun - picked the fish up and put it back into a semi-frozen...

On Sunday, I went ice fishing. I had never, ever been fishing before (unless you count the time I caught 13 sunfish when I was maybe 10) and had a vague idea of what to expect. I relied on this to shed some light on what to expect. I was at the pond at 6:45am, trying not to be the late kid and I brought my dog. The hubby was supposed to come but got the flu so the dog and I fled. I had dressed a little warmer than if I was going to go sit in a tree for 6 hours waiting for Bambi, but not by much. I used it as an opportunity to test some new layers I bought a month ago. Rabid had given me directions (not quite accurate, but not to worry, he gave his dad the same ones) but I had a good idea of where I was going since my best friend grew...

Im heading out on the ice this weekend with Rabid Outdoorsman and Downeast Duck Hunter. I have never been ice fishing before and after watching the videos on DH's website... I can only imagine what it will be like. Wish me luck!

I want to get this bad boy mounted. Just the antlers though. My home is not ready for deer heads just yet and I just decided I wanted to save the antlers beyond just keeping them downstairs or in the barn, which is where my little spike-horn's spikes are and all of Dad's antlers. Anyways, I made up my mind late and the head has been hanging out in the barn with misc critters since Nov 25th. So - friends and followers... where do I go? what can I do? I saw Rick's post. Should I make it my weekend...

I was the 26th person to buy a chance in the permit lottery this year/today (they went on sale less than an hour ago I would guess). The cost has gone up, $12 to $15 and there is now an option to NOT be entered, but to get a bonus point for this year instead. Last year, 50,000 people entered the 2011 lottery for a shot at the 3,862 permits that were available. I will know on Saturday June 24 if Dad and I will be headed out into the wild country to (attempt) to bag us a moose. It didnt work out the last time. This is last year's moose that my best friend's Dad got in the...

For some crazy reason, I actually thought I would have a problem finding ways to keep the conversation about hunting going throughout the winter. So far, I have been lucky with all of the things happening... such as this story about a Texas breeder who smuggled in many deer, including 2 monster bucks, and risked the lives of the entire deer population in Texas. I had to laugh at the names of these monster bucks "Barry" aka "Fat Boy" and "Hit Man" aka "Silver Storm" For one thing, who names their deer? And why not tag them and refer to them as #123 and #456. It seems to silly to me. But, its a huge 2+ billion dollar industry that could have been wiped out by greed. Any of those smuggled in deer could have carried bovine tuberculosis and...

Sunday night on 60 Minutes, Lara Logan did a story on big game hunting in Texas. The tag line for the article was "Can hunting endangered animals save the species?" and it interviewed Charly Seale who "is a fourth generation rancher and the executive director of the Exotic Wildlife Association based here in the heart of the Texas hill country. It's his job to represent the interests of some 5,000 exotic ranchers across North America." As I watched this show, I was torn. I love the idea of working to raise awareness of the threat of extinction for these animals. I love the idea of being able to give the species an opportunity to thrive in a much different location than African and I love that through conservation, we can try to bring...