MUDRUNNER

First check-in of the new year....you know the drill. It looks like a pretty nice weekend coming up. Dry & above normal temps. We're not doing much tonight after work. Running to the grocery store and that's about it. Tomorrow me & my cousin are going to get one last deer hunt in for the season. He hasn't gotten a deer yet this season, so anything we get will go to fill his freezer. Sunday my daughters softball practices resume, after taking a few weeks off for Christmas & New Years.

Nice! Looks like it would be a lot of fun to shoot.

Congrats Allison! That is a great buck! Looks like she hammered him! It puts a smile on my face seeing these young lady's getting it done....memories of a lifetime. Nice job William.

Sure makes for some nice scenery. We had quite a bit of cold & snow in November also. Just had a few flurries in December though.

Nice! Can't wait to hear about it!

What's going on this weekend? We are having happy hour at our house tonight. We try and do this occasionally just to get some of the family together a little more often. Plan on grilling up some backstrap wrapped in bacon for an appetizer, visiting with family, and drinking a few beers. Emma wants to hit tomorrow, so probably take her to the batting cage. Sunday we may start to take down the Christmas stuff. I work Monday, so we don't really have any New Years Eve plans.

Here's our little tree.

Great job NY_gun! One point lead for team 3! Man, that's quite a story Martin. Can't believe you guys both missed the same buck on the same night lol.

Nice big doe....congrats! Looks like you hammered her.

I hope everybody has a great Christmas! Today we are working until 1, then having a work Christmas party at a local bowling alley. I have only bowled once in my life and wasn't any good, so this should be interesting. Tomorrow I may take Emma to the batting cages in the morning so that she can get some swings in. In the afternoon the in-laws are having their Christmas party. I may start drinking early so I can make it through lol. No plans for Sunday yet, so I might try to get out deer hunting one last time. Christmas Eve our only plans are church in the evening. It will be weird not sitting with Grandpa in church. Christmas morning it is presents for the kids at our house, then to my sisters for a big family breakfast.

Nice! Looks like a pretty sweet piece. I guess I never realized that hand gun laws were so strict in Canada. I need to get my conceal/carry at some point.

Some of you may know from my Friday check-ins the last few months that my Grandpa has not been doing very good. Saturday December 8th the Lord called him home. He lived to be 91 and had a good life, but man I miss him. He deer hunted with me until he was 85. We went on quite a few South Dakota pheasant hunting trips together over the years as well. He & my Grandma played a big roll in raising my sister & me. He was a wonderful Grandpa, father figure, hunting buddy, and best friend. He'll be missed by many....rest in peace Grandpa.

Man, that looks like quite a trip! Congrats! Looks like you had a great time.

Congrats William! Looks like a nice buck. Looks like a very nice coat on him too, so should make for a nice cape.

First check-in of December. Let's hear it. Emma turned 15 yesterday, so she is going to the movies tonight with some friends & hanging out. My Grandpa is not doing too good again and his health is starting to fail, so I'm going to visit him tonight and spend some time with him. Tomorrow morning my youngest, Tyson has hockey & we might do a little Christmas shopping after that. Sunday Emma has her softball team Christmas party & Evan has his football banquet. Another busy weekend.

LOL that's good stuff.

Truth right there brother! These people just don't get the point that predator control & population control are part of conservation.

I'm sure some of you have seen the latest story of a wolf wandering off of Yellowstone & getting shot. Now they are calling for a buffer zone around Yellowstone, because....you know.... wild animals know where the end of the buffer zone would be & not get shot. Bunch of morons.The context of the stories & comments really tick me off. They all say "trophy hunter", which seems to be a phrase the media uses to put hunters in a certain light more than anything. Am I a trophy hunter since I like to shoot big deer? Am I a trophy hunter because I shoot coyotes & don't eat them? Is the person who shot this wolf legally really a trophy hunter, or just hunting a predator? The thing that these people don't seem to get is that a few wolves can decimate a deer or elk heard, and the population has to be controlled. I hear first hand stories of my buddies in Minnesota of the damage wolves do. I feel better...just needed to vent lol.

Congrats! That's a dandy.

Pretty neat video. That is so different than me parking my butt in a tree for 6 hours lol...looks like fun though. It looks like some thick, nasty stuff around there.

The last check in of November. You know the routine. Our second firearm season in Illinois is going on right now. I punched my tag during the first season so can't hunt. Evan & myself are going up to deer camp tonight to make dinner for everybody, enjoy the bonfire & cold beer, and play a little poker. He'll be deer hunting in a year or two, so I'm going to start preparing him for what goes on at deer camp lol. We'll head home either Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning. On Sunday the women folk are getting together for their annual cookie baking/wine day, so I'll be home with the boys relaxing & watching some football.

Well that is just about a wrap on my season. This weekend is our second firearm season, but I filled my tag during first season so will take on kitchen duties at deer camp Friday night instead. Next weekend is muzzleloader season and I don't have a tag for that. The following weekend I am out of town for my daughters softball tournament, and Christmas is the week after that. No complaints here though...it's been a good November & the freezer is full.

A goal of mine this season was to get my 14 year old daughter her first buck.....mission accomplished! Her hunting time is pretty limited, so we try to make the best of the few hunts that we can get in. Almost a year to the day that she shot her first doe last season, and she closed the deal on this nice 5 pointer. We climbed in the tree about 5:50 Saturday morning, with shooting time starting around 6:20. Weather was nice & wind was perfect for the set we were in. Bucks have really been responding well to the grunt call this season, so about 6:35 I gave a couple of soft grunts. About 5 minutes later this guy comes sneaking in. He is real timid & working his way to us very slowly. He's rubber necking hard trying to see the deer that grunted. He gets closer and Emma flips the red dot on & safety off on the crossbow. Instead of continuing up the trail that goes 15 yards in front of our tree he ends up turning and going to our right. It's a tricky shot since she shoots right handed, but I told her before the hunt that if she was comfortable it was her decision on what/when to shoot. He stops in the ravine about 23 yards and she squeezed it off. The shot looked a fuzz high, but judging by his reaction I didn't think he would go far. We hung out in the tree for about 45 minutes & get settled down a little. Went back to the truck for pop tarts and Gatorade to give him a little more time. We walked back to the spot she shot him, and found great blood with lots of bubbles in it. I told her to go first & would just follow her. He ended up going about 100 yards, but the blood trail was very easy to track. It's a year & a half old buck, but man he had a tank of a body. She got some good practice in dragging a deer up & down all the ridges lol. After seeing the deer the shot was about perfect. We were 18' up in a tree, and he was down in a ravine so even at 23 yards the angle was pretty steep. The arrow went in high on his right side, and came out low on his left side. I couldn't be more proud of this kid. Straight A student, amazing athlete, hard working, caring & respectful, and she's turning into a darn good deer hunter.

Congrats on the doe! Meat in the freezer is a good thing, and you got to enjoy the great outdoors. I have a buddy that hunts up in northern Minnesota, and the wolves are out of control the last few years from what he has been telling me. No doubt that puts a big dent in the whitetail population.

Hope my RT brothers & sisters have a nice Thanksgiving! Since it's a short week for most I thought we would start our check-in thread early this week. We are not traveling for the holiday. Our only plans are to go to the in-laws for turkey dinner tomorrow afternoon. Emma has softball practice on Sunday. Other than that I just plan to get some hunting sprinkled in & try to get Emma on a buck. Maybe sleep in & be a little lazy one day if the rain moves in like they are predicting.