Insights From My Time Off Work

I was able to save some vacation time back and am currently in the midst of two weeks off of work, no complaints here! While I will certainly spend some time in the woods, I am really looking forward to (and already have) spent a lot of extra time with my wife and kids. Here is what I have learned so far:

1) My beautiful 1 year old daughter has picked up quite the habit. Several times already she has picked her nose, and held out the guilty finger with it's new prize towards me and said, "here ya go daddy, buger." Awesome, thanks. No really, I'm very thankful. If she keeps this up I won't have to worry about her dating until her mid 40's. I don't see any 17 year old boy thrilled at the prospect of his date picking her nose and offering him the bounty. 

2) I love Iowa, but......but shoveling/blowing snow for 4 hours this morning had me asking God why my parents couldn't have met in California instead of Iowa. Seriously, for those of you reading this who happen to be from central Iowa you know too well that we got around 3 feet of heavy wet snow during the night. 

I do have to say that it is beautiful! My kids and I were able to get out and play in the snow for a good 3 minutes before being blown back inside.

3) My wife is incredible. She cleans a house twice a week, puts up with me, does a great job with our kids, and is homeschooling (insert your own joke and role your eyes here) our oldest. And by homeschooling I don't mean she is locking him in the basement with a bowl of water and food until all of his work is done. She does a great job and I'm extremely thankful for her. I am not ashamed to say that I definitely married up!

4) Home Alone and The Elf  have ousted It's a Wonderful Life in our house. While it's still a good  back up option, a 1930's "family classic" does nothing for my young kids. All of the "life lessons" get lost in the none-HD picture quality. 

5) I ran out of points, but stopping at 4 just didn't make sense. Thanks for reading and hopefully you are going to be able to spend some extra time with your family this Christmas as well. Don't forget that the real reason for the season is Christ. Don't lose sight of the fact that they precious baby was born to die for our sins. 1 Corinthians tells us that He died, was buried, and rose again on the third day. He went to the cross, was punished for our sins, and rose on the third day proving that He was and is the Son of God. 

It's Christmas....don't blow it

Well, Christmas is less than two weeks away which basically means one thing...crunch time for most of us males. In the past decade of marriage I've gained some great insight into really maximizing this time of the year (sarcasm noted)  and I would like to share some of that timeless wisdom right now. So grab your palm pilot and start taking notes :)

Insight #1
DO NOT go hunting on Christmas Eve/Day. Unless you are planning on bringing back a new state record buck covered in gift cards to your wife's favorite store, it's just not worth it.

Insight #2
DO spend extra time with the family. It seems that when we have extra time off, we tend to spend less time with them. Put the kids to bed, make sure the house is picked up, change..........a diaper. Even if it's so bad you have a good idea Santa and his elves are looking to crack a window because with a small breeze from the south they can even smell it....it shows you care.

Insight #3
Surprise your wife with a night out......with her, not with your hunting buddies. This is not the time for you to "slip out" for some me time. Grab a sitter' for those perfect angels and take your wife out for dinner and a movie. Avoid phrases like, "Oh man, it's starting to snow. Those deer are probably moving like crazy with this front coming in" while enduring A Walk in the Clouds 3 or whatever movie she chooses.

Insight #4
Hunt/fish in moderation. I think she will understand that deer season is winding down and while you wish you wouldn't have passed on those "small" bucks back in late October, you did! So go shoot a doe and put some meat in the freezer.

Insight #5
Enjoy life! Take it all in my friends! The sights, sounds, and smells of spending extra time with your extended family. The disappointment of watching your team get crushed in their B-level bowl game. The ability of your kids to get up at the crack of dawn on your only day to sleep in, it's all worth it!

Merry Christmas everybody!

PS - I have a few more chances to try and fill my tags, here's to hope!

The Great Indoors

You don't always have to be camping or hunting to enjoy the great outdoors!

This past weekend my incredibly successful (sarcasm noted) bow hunting season came to an end which wasn't all bad! It meant more time to relax with the family. I needed to give my wife some down time so I gently tossed the kids in the car and we headed to Bass Pro Shops in Altoona, IA to enjoy all of their free Christmas activities that they provide through the month of December.

It did not take long for my kids to notice something new for this year, the carousel. After waiting in line for a few minutes and signing all of our lives away (they make you sign a waiver form, no big deal considering the to speed on this iron horse is around 3.3 MPH) we jumped on and enjoyed a ride there and then did some coloring, racing, shooting, and looking. Again, the nice thing about this is that all of their activities are free.

The really nice thing is that even the old standby's that they have can be free if your one year old daughter thinks she is racing a car even though all she is doing is turning a wheel for a few minutes :) On the whole, we had a great time and whether you have younger kids, or are watching younger kids and aren't sure what to do, you could easily kill a couple hours enjoying all of the extra activities. Just realize that if you go on a Saturday/Sunday you will be joining several thousand of your closest friends. So if at all possible, go on a week day, especially a Tuesday or Thursday so you can watch them feeding the fish.

If you do end up going, let me know what you thought of your experience and post those thoughts to the blog. Thanks for reading and have a great rest of the week!

A memorable hunt indeed!

Well, for those of you who don't know me very well the picture below sums up my personality :)

I love God, Family, Hunting, Sarcasm, and Mountain Dew. I try not to take life too seriously and in the last 15 months have been reminded that life is too short for that with the passing of my mom and grandma. So when something like this mornings hunt happens....well....you just roll with the punches!

Out of desperation, I made a "natural" ground blind last week because what few deer that were moving where I can hunt were out of bow range. (see above pictures)

In two weeks of bow hunting, the deer have been moving from south to north (right to left in the picture) so it was of course only a matter of time before I would "seal the deal." Cows are now out which means the deer had "no choice" but to move exactly where I wanted them to.

This morning from 8:15-8:45 I watched 8-10 does/yearlings spring by the cows, and graze directly under the deer stand I had hunted the previous two weeks without seeing one deer come within range. However, within a few minutes a few of the smaller deer were coming at me! My hear was pounding and I was pumped. I decided to get down on my knees to ensure I wouldn't be noticed. It was at this point that I discovered A) I'm not that flexible anymore B) I was never that flexible to begin with. Even so, this was the best shot I had at harvesting a deer with my bow. I crept into range, let er' fly, and watched as my lighted knock went sailing over the intended target. Hunt over right?

Oh no my friend, 15 minutes later, a smaller doe came up the same trail from the herd that had stopped for tea and biscuits and was currently discussing politics under my stand across the creek. I won't shoot over this time.....wack! My arrow hits right below this time. Now I'm laughing to myself thinking, what are the odds?

5 minutes later 2-3 more small does come down the trail but move south right in front of my stands 15 yards away, broad side. Thank you Lord! Pull back, and as I do...I picture myself bringing deer sticks to work, stopping by to show my grandpa on the way back out of the woods....and let her go! 4 feet from my blind the arrow strikes a large branch and goes directly into the ground in front of me.

What are the odds???? That pretty much summed up by bow season and that's ok! I had a great time enjoying creation this year and while the odds start to really be stacked against me, I do still have a few more times to get out and enjoy some late season hunting.

And as they say, that's why they call it hunting!

One last chance

The last five years of my bow hunting have had one thing in common: Bill the ol' buck. 

Bill has been on my camera for five years in a row, and he just showed up again this last week at 1:00AM!

I just happened to check my camera when I got back from spending our Thanksgiving in Huron, SD with my wife's family and I had to do a double take, but it was definitely him. He has to be 6 1/2 years old. I thought I saw him on November 12th around 165 yards away, and he wouldn't respond to my grunt tube. I'll post a pic of what he looks like this year in my next entry. Until then, Get Out There and enjoy the great outdoors!

Hay Bale Huntin'

Last night I tried hunting behind some hay bales in a picked corn field in an effort to have my son involved with my evening. I wasn't expecting to really have a shot at anything, I just wanted Hayden to be able so see some deer.

As "prime time" approached a black dog starting running through the corn field at us while his owner shouted all types of colorful words at him to get him back into his van which proved to be fairly fruitless. It was at this point that both Hayden and I realized the odds of us seeing anything were fairly slim, so we instead had a great conversation, Hayden tried out my buck growl deer call, and then we walked back to the truck.

While the evening didn't go quite as I had planned, it was still spent with my son, and we had a good time. I knew I hadn't turned him off from hunting for life when he asked about coming with me again the next time I went out.

Remember, memories can be made with our without big deer, and your kids are really more interested with just spending time with you, so get out there and enjoy the outdoors with your kids!

Outdoor Family Adventures

Here it is, my first entry!

Looking forward to sharing with you some great places to take your family, light hearted stories, and practical advice on how to enjoy the outdoors with your family.

I'll be posting a new entry every Thursday, so plan on checking in to see what is going on in my corner of the world and some of the greatest places in the world to enjoy with your family!

Mark