Deer Hunt

So, Jordan and I are finally back home, whew! It was a lot of fun deer hunting, mostly because it wasn't freezing cold and we got to hike a lot. Meghann and Richard (my friend from childhood and her husband) came with us on Saturday and spent the day hiking and tracking with us. It was a lot of fun to have others with Jordan and me for a least part of the trip. This picture was taken near our cabin in Indianola, UT.

On Sunday we went to Jon's mission farewell. It was fun and sad at the same time. I am going to miss my little bro, but as I told Abby, 2 years will go by so fast it will seem like tomorrow when we see him again. Jon left yesterday for the MTC and is training/learning to be a missionary for the Cebu, Philippines mission. He is learning a new language and will be flying out to Cebu December 23rd and will miss Christmas this year...sad!! But he is excited and that is all that matters.

Sunday evening we left Logan, Sarah was well with Nana, and returned back to the cabin to hunt. We caught the evening hunt Sunday night, but only saw doe. I was convinced there weren't any bucks near our cabin since I'd never seen them before. Just a whole lot of doe!!

Monday Jordan and I decided to hike about 6 miles through the mountains using animals trails as our own. It took us a good part of the day to hike down through the ravines, find a trail that actually got us somewhere, and carefully hike over fallen trees, streams, and ridges. It was a beautiful hike. At the first of the hike we only saw 6 doe deer, go figure, but we continued on. Later we saw 3 grouse, 2 woodpeckers, and plenty of other wild birds. Jordan and I had hiked in about 2 1/2 hours and were near the river flowing between two mountain sides when I smelled something very different (a mix between a rabbit and a wet dog). Suddenly in front of us there was loud crashing, breaking of twigs, and thunderous running. Jordan and I got out guns ready not knowing what was in front of us and continued to hike on. Moments later we saw the river and...two bull moose!!

Instead of pushing out deer we pushed out two moose! Not to mention bull moose! They are majestic animals and it was neat seeing them. But, I stayed as clear of them as I could. Jordan and I sat on the ridge for about 30 minutes before we thought we were safe. We began hiking down the mountain again and suddenly we heard twigs breaking near us again. We turned our heads and five feet away from us were both moose! Jordan calmly turned to me and said, "Where's the camera?" I slapped him hurriedly on the back and exclaimed, "Get moving!" He has never been charged by a moose as I have and doesn't know the danger they present. Moose have been known to be more lethal than bears in Alaska (something he didn't know until I told him why I wanted to get as much distance between me and them).

On the trail we also discovered bear scat. Jordan didn't believe me when I told him that was what we saw until we spoke to another hunter who hiked the same animal trails we did the day before and said his brother had seen a cinnamon colored bear in that area. Well, needless to say I had my gun ready in case we walked into the bears path. But, luckily we stayed clear of the bear and the bear stayed clear of us!

On Tuesday we decided to go to the top of the ridge where we began hiking down yesterday because that was were we had seen the large herd of doe. Richard also saw a buck on Saturday, but Jordan was hiking behind him and couldn't shoot through Richard to get the deer. So, we decided that was where our best bet would be to find a buck. We waited in the cold for two hours, watching both mountainsides carefully for any movement--nothing. Then, just as I had convinced Jordan to start heading back to the 4-wheeler, a herd of deer came running over the ridge, stopped and looked at us, and began running down the mountainside. I was behind Jordan to the side and when I saw the buck I couldn't shoot through Jordan. Jordan shot once and then I saw the deer appear to be running down, so I got my gun ready and just as I was about to take off my safety, the deer tumbled down to the ground. So, Jordan shot a 4 point buck and could "hold his head high" according to him. At first, I must admit, I felt bad for the deer. I know others who read this blog do as well. Well, let's just say he died very, very quickly without suffering because Jordan has good aim, and it is for the best since we are going to eat the meat and share with Richard and Meghann who also need meat. I am not going to post pics here because I know some are sensitive to these things, so if you want to see a pic just email me and I'll send one along.

All in all, that was our trip. I convinced Jordan to come home Tuesday instead of Wednesday so we could process everything and clean everything up before we had to pick Sarah up from Nana. We then saw Jon off to the MTC yesterday and I had to hold everything inside while he gave me his quick goodbye with his nervous smile. I know Jonny will be a great missionary!! I will keep updates of him posted here as times goes on.