Fun day at the Bow Shoot!

So my husband and brother talked me into going to the first bow shoot of the year for the archery club. I have never been to one before so I was a little nervous about what it was going to be like. It was at the local indoor rodeo arena and there were about 20 targets setup at different distances to shoot at.

We got our scorecards and got started with the first target which was about 35 yards out....of course I shoot right over the top of it and my arrows sails to the other end of the arena! That was great fun to have to run down there and get it. Then we moved along to the rest of the targets. Things were going pretty good and I was actually shooting pretty good for not having shot my bow for the last 4 months.

Then things went WAY south! All along I had been getting my arrow set in and waiting for my turn to shoot. BAD idea, don't ever do it! I was visiting with one of our friends and then turned to shoot. I pulled back and my friend said "Don't shoot, you don't have an arrow in!!" But it was too late, my brain had already sent the signal to my finger to pull the release. Dry firing your bow at your first bow shoot is definitely not the way to start off with a great impression with the guys in the archery club! They for sure won't forget me though!!

I was done with about 3 or 4 targets left to shoot because my peep went flying who knows where. Leave it to me to be the entertainment at the shoot. Hopefully I can improve my ratings at the next one!

"Baby Bulls" 2009 - part 2

So the first weekend was very cold, snowy and no elk to be seen. We were hoping for much better luck the 2nd weekend. My sister ended up getting sick so she was done. My dad was told by his doctor that he could go so when my brother Marcus got home they went out on Wednesday to the south end of Mt. Dutton. They had a very long horse ride and saw some elk but didn't get shots at them. He was very tired after that day so he didn't go back out with me and Marcus Thursday.

We got back over there and on the horses early. We were up on top of this big ridge when we stopped to call for a minute. The bulls were talking and lead us right to them but they were a long ways away. We could see at least 3 or 4 spikes in this herd of about 30 - 40. We decided to give it a try but didn't hit anything. The wind was blowing so hard right at us and I would guess they were about 400 to 450 yards away. All we did was scare them over the hill. We got back on the horses and followed. When we finally caught up to them 2 ridges over we did the same thing all over again. In fact we did that ALL DAY LONG. The herd kept splitting and we were following a big bull that had about 15 cows with him. We caught them around 2:30 in a small meadow. The cows kept laying down and their tongues were hanging on the ground, we had them wore clear out. They spooked again and headed back to the north so we followed. They hooked back up with more elk and Marcus could see a spike he started shooting at but missed. We decided at that point to stop and eat some lunch. After we got done we were trying to decide which way to go. He wanted to circle back up around to the top but I thought we should go down around the bottom.

I was glad that he went with my suggestion because we spooked the elk out again. The majority of the herd headed straight up the mountain with the big bull and some of the cows went a different way up the same hill....then there were 2 spikes going down the mountain trying to escape. It was like the herd was trying to distract us so the spikes could disappear. My brother saw them though and said he was going to shoot. I said if there is 2 of them wait for me to get down there so we can shoot together. We both sat down and count of 3 started shooting. We had for sure wounded them and they were just standing on a side hill. We moved closer and Marcus finished his off. He was shooting his brand new 270 and using the new Leupold VX-3 3.5x10x40 B&C scope he bought from my website, www.sneak-a-peek-optics.com. I then did the same and they fell within about 10 yards of each other. WOW! We couldn't contain ourselves. It was such a rush. Since it was around 5:00 that afternoon when we got to them, we then had to get them cleaned out so that we could come back in with help to get them out the next day.  One of the most exciting and exhausting days ever!

There is still more to this story!! Of course we weren't done then!! Stay tuned!

"Baby Bulls" 2009 - Part 1

Since I drew the elk tag in 2007, Utah DWR will not let you put in for a limited entry tag again for five years. I have been putting in for the limited entry deer tags with no luck. I also put in for cow elk and can't seem to draw that tag either. So, instead we decided to go buy the over-the-counter spike only tags and go for a spike bull. It was all planned, we had 7 of us with tags and were ready to go. Myself, my mom and dad, my brother, my brother in law and my sister and her husband. My other sister was 8 months pregnant so she was out on this one. She did go hunt muzzleloader deer in September though. I was very proud of her out hiking and packing that little baby around in her belly. She's a tough one!! 

The hunt started October 3rd and my dad had been having some heart trouble in September so he ended up having to have a stint put in his heart a week before the hunt started. My brother was at work so me and my husband loaded up kids, camp and the horses and headed to the north end of Mt. Dutton to meet my sister. Her husband was at work too so us girls were on our own. My husband stayed at camp with the kids because he had hunted archery elk instead. My dad was so worried that the girls would get lost out on their own but we didn't. We also didn't see a single elk that really windy cold weekend but we had the best horse ride and a lot of fun together. Sometimes that is the best part!