It had been a couple of years, but my two youngest kids once again wanted to put in for the Kiabab Antlerless hunt. We put Nicky, Greta, and two of their friends in on one application and they were lucky enough to get drawn. A buddy's son from Tucson also got drawn, so we had 5 kids in our camp with tags. The hunt had some ups and downs, but overall was a blast! In addition to four dads with 5 hunters, I had two other great friends join just for the camping & fun! We ended-up with seven adults and nine kids in our camp. Awesome time!
Like I said, there were ups and downs! First the 'down': On opening morning I was walking in the dark around the front of my pick-up to start it and warm it up. I ended-up tripping over a tent stake, and did a header directly into the front-right wheel well of my pick-up! Got-up to wipe the snow/mud off of myself and found that my left arm wasn't working. Hurt like @%$^%@!!!! Of course I stuck it out and hunted all weekend. Went to the M.D. last Monday, to discover I broke my left shoulder in several places plus 'separated it'! Looks like surgery may be in my near future...... I'll find-out early this week when the surgeon looks at the M.R.I. results.
OK, now to the 'ups'! We had an amazing time on the Kiabab!!! A little sloppy weather on Friday, but that didn't keep us down! Saturday and Sunday were beautiful days! All five kids had their deer by Noon on day two, and we then spent the rest of the time just relaxing, cooking, laughing, etc..... LOTS OF FUN!!
Also, another factoid, there were five deer killed on this hunt and only five shots fired! All junior hunters made great 'one shot' kills on their deer!
A few pics below!
S.
PS: I know that some folks are not fond of this hunt, as they don't want any does/antlerless deer being killed (since it ultimately means less bucks). That being said, it is a GREAT opportunity for a youngster to have a fun hunt with lots of animals seen. We always love it, and I'm glad the kids got drawn.
Greta and Annie on opening morning! Looking at the way Greta is bundled-up, you would think it was -20 degrees!!!
Nick and his deer. He shot it about 20 minutes into opening morning!
Around Noon on opening day we came back to camp for some brunch/breakfast. This is the weather we dealt with on and off for most of the day!
Greta and Annie relaxing and having fun while breakfast was being cooked!
Campfire time! Dutch-oven meals every night!!!
My little sweetie and I with her deer! A little 'button buck' shot on the second morning.
She's learning how to skin!
All five kids and their trophys!