Pella Wildlife Company

Cabin fever had officially gone to the next level with my kids so this past weekend we went to Merle Hay Mall here in Des Moines and visited the Pella Wildlife Company. They have a large space inside the mall on the second level completely devoted to wildlife and my kids really enjoy visiting it and I wanted to let you all know about it as well.

They have wolves, a Mt. Lion, a coyote, two black bears, a Lynx, Bobcat, and a few other animals that are all easily viewed in their wire cages. You can ask them as many questions as you want, and several times a day they bring out some of the animals for pictures and for petting (even the skunk).

These young black bears were small cubs this past year and my kids and I were able to help feed them and pet them, it was great! The other bonus is that it is only $1 per person to get in and you can stay as long as you want.

Trust me, Avlyn enjoyed it more than she is letting on! If you are a trapper they have all kinds of furs for you to look through as well, but my family and I were fascinated with the black bears. If you are looking for a cheap way to see some wild life up close and personal on the cheap, I highly recommend stopping by the Pella Wildlife Company on your next free afternoon. UP next: My hunting group plans our annual spring Turkey hunt to Nebraska! See you then.

My Iowa Deer Classic Experience

Long time no blog! The last two days I have been with outdoorsmanswap at the Iowa Deer Classic and our official launch! We had over 2,000 people stop by our booth and say hello, it was a great experience! I just wanted to give you a re-cap and let you know where we are headed.

It didn't start out looking like much...but here is our booth 10 minutes into the process :)

However, it looked great in about an hour! It was great to have my son Hayden along for the first day!

It didn't take long for people to stop and take notice, the site was very well received.

We even had a Nerf mini-gun for the kids to shoot.....and a few adults as well. I took this picture with my phone, one in a million to get the bullet like that!

Just wanted to say thanks again for all who have stopped by and signed up! Looking forward to seeing what happens in the next couple weeks. I will be doing some shed hunting next week and then before I know it Turkey Hunting in Nebraska! I hope your March is off to a great start, until next time, GET OUT THERE!

Great Indoor Shoot!

This past Christmas my son Hudson opened up one of the best gifts for little bow hunters I have seen in awhile: An undersized compound bow with two battery powered bucks for targets.

I liked it for a couple reasons: One, it keeps my kids (my daughter loves it to as you will see in the next picture) all engaged with bow hunting, even in the off season. And two, it only requires one double a battery per deer. 

If you are looking for this combo, they sell it at the Tractor Supply Store, and I'm sure you could find it online.  If you are looking for other gifts/toys for kids/nieces/nephews we also enjoy the "Next Generation" bows and inflatable targets. You will definitely be the favorite aunt/uncle when your little hunter opens up either one of these toys.

I hope your "off-season" is going well. There are plenty of indoor activities for you and your family to keep you going until the nicer weather arrives. We are looking forward to the Iowa Deer Classic March 1-3, (stop by our outdoorsmanswap.com booth) getting to the Pella Wildlife Co. at Merle Hay Mall here in Des Moines, and doing some camping later on this spring. Spring is almost here!

Yep, I'm 34

Life on the other side of 34...

On January 22nd I celebrated (celebrated might be a stretch) my 34th birthday, and 40 never sounded so young. It's hard to believe that I have been married for almost 10 years, have 3 children, and am officially eligible for a mid-life crisis.

I didn't do anything too crazy for my birthday, and that's just the way I like it! Spent some good time with my wife, played with the kids, and I was in bed pretty early. Now that's what I call a birthday! It's also usually on birthday's that you tend to do some thinking. What are my life goals? How have I been doing at what's most important which is loving God and loving others? What do I need to change as I move forward?

I know I want to spend more time with my family. That means that "my" hunting and fishing habits will be a little different in the coming years and that is just fine with me. One of the other things that I'm excited about is that we started outdoorsmanswap.com! I'm pumped to see how that comes out. (if you haven't listed anything on the site...shame on you!) I'm also looking forward to seeing what God has for me and my family in the coming months, we are definitely learning to trust Him as a family. I also need to improve on "not sweating the small stuff." For example, my daughter just used my sweatshirt for toilet paper around an hour ago, but what are you going to do? She's adorable, I can't get mad at the face!

Well, until next time keep the main thing the main thing! Looking forward to the next blog when we will be discussing a couple of the beaten places to enjoy the great outdoors indoors this winter. Until then, just get out there and enjoy some time with your family! 

Finally!

Well, it's been a loooooong, unsuccessful hunting season going all the way back to October 1st. I passed on a couple small bucks early during bow season, was unable to find a buck I shot during early muzzy season, and I had on last chance this past weekend to make something happen.

My dad, my oldest son Hayden, and myself headed down to southern Iowa and arrived at our spot (after a couple small detours) around 3:00PM. After loading my son up with enough hot hands to keep a family of five warm for the winter we picked out a spot along the edge of the timber looking up at a field edge and settled in for the afternoon.

It did not take long for us to have deer moving all around us. Around 4:45 a mature doe stepped out around 150 yards away and started moving down the field edge in our direction. I waited until she was around 85 yards away, leaned up against a small tree, and my Winchester Apex did the rest of the work. A few moments later, I was celebrating some late season success with my favorite deer hunters. 

It was so much fun to see my son enjoy the whole experience! (minus the field dressing part in the dark with coyotes howling all around us.....but that's another story) He sat still the whole time, was able to watch the deer, and even helped Grandpa track it. While it would have been nice to shoot a buck this year, I won't soon forget the memory made this past weekend! And more importantly, neither will Hayden. 

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!