Hunting 2013...

There have been a lot of hunting events this season and I figured instead of posting a blog about hunting every week I would wait till after the second shotgun season to group them together. So here it is in a nutshell...

On October 18th Charlie and his Brother in law, Eric, headed down to Texas to go Boar Hunting. Our dear friend, Uncle Ron, has a lease on some land down there and always welcomed them down at any time. So during Charlies last lay-off week he decided to take the opportunity and drove down. They stayed almost a week at the hunting camp and had a great time trying to take down some of these wild pigs.  Charlie didn't have any luck but Eric was able to hunt one down from his stand. I can't believe how big these things get. Fortunately Eric shared some of the meat so we made some loins, italian ground boar, and a nice big shoulder roast that we hope to try in the crock pot someday for pulled pork. We also made some brats with the meat and can't wait to try them out.

Italian Boar Brats

The weekend of November 22, the tables turned and Uncle Ron drove up to hunt the first shot gun season. It was great to see him and we loved that he was able to stay with us. He also shot a beautiful 8 point buck...his first up here on our land. My dad shot a few smaller deer so we were able to get some meat in the freezer, we appreciate any meat since that is our primary form of "beef" for the year.

Then this weekend, which was the second shot gun season, I was able to hunt! Charlie and I went out Thursday afternoon while Granny and Grandpa watched the kids. It was nice and toasty in our enclosed deer stand, the kind of hunting I like, and we saw a ton of deer. I ended up taking a shot at a nice size buck. It had 6 points and although that wasn't huge it was a great first buck. I ended up taking a nice clean shot and after tracking the deer in the dark we found him. He ran about 80 yards. Unfortunately he broke off one side of his antlers when he collapsed against a huge oak in front of him. Ahh well...hopefully it won't be my last buck and this guy will fill up Granny and Grandpas freezer for the year.

My first buck

Pretty bummed the antler broke off

Charlie and Eric hunted the rest of the weekend as well. Eric also shot his first buck, a 7 pointer, and Charlie got a doe for some more meat. We are excited that our land is so plentiful. Makes all the hard work we put into it pay off.