Deer Hunting Success

I will warn you right now, there are photos in this post that some might consider graphic.  If you are one of those, read no further.

Last deer season was a bust. A total bust.  I got sick a few days into firearm deer season, and then proceeded to spend weeks upon weeks coughing and weak. Which meant I sat in the woods maybe five times and shot zero deer.  DH hunted heavily, but kept waiting for that big buck to come into his sights. It never did. Then in late doe season, he saw no does.  So, he shot zero deer.  It's been a long year without venison in the freezer.

This deer season, however, is a vast improvement (and it's not over yet!).  Opening day of firearm season, we were both up early and in the trees.

dawn's early light: blue woods

We'd had quite a bit of snow earlier in the week, and even though temperatures were rising, the snow was still about five inches deep on the ground.  Perfect for spotting deer in the woods.

Other than the neighbor to our south, no one got a shot off on opening morning.  Lucky neighbor, he took a nice buck.

Our afternoon hunt was much more successful than our morning had been.  And I do have to say, I love snow for tracking.  Makes things so much easier, especially in the near dark.

such bright red in the gloom

blood on side of snow, on top of fallen tree that buck jumped over

Landing point, on other side of tree

I can't even begin to express how happy I was.  My very first set of horns (seven points!!), and fresh venison!

tenderloins for breakfast

nice 7pt buck

We were back at it the next day (although I do have to confess that I slept in, since I had a deer hanging).  DH always checks his trail cam on Saturday mornings, so he brought the SD card from it in with him after the morning hunt.  On it, we were surprised to see a picture of my buck, only about a half hour before it made the fatal mistake of walking my way.

The afternoon was sunny, beautiful for sitting in a tree in the last hours of the day.  I only saw deer from a distance, and birds close up.

Red bellied wood pecker

 

blue jay

Apparently I looked enough like a tree that the birds were comfortable getting up close and personal.  I had a tufted titmouse nearly land on my head!  No pictures of that, obviously.

Do I look like a tree?

Golden hour; 

when the woods light up as the sun approaches the horizon at the end of the day.

DH, however, was the successful hunter that afternoon.  He got a nice six point buck that was kind enough to just curl up and die practically right underneath his stand.  No tracking necessary.

Two days into firearm season, and we've got meat to last for months!  Of course, there were many hours that went into processing that meat and getting it into the freezer as the outdoor temperatures rose and melted off all the snow. I meant to keep track of how many pounds of what cuts we harvested, but I lost count.  I do know that my deer yielded 65 pounds of meat, because I insisted DH weigh it after it was deboned and before tossing it in with the meat from his deer for the final processing.

Venison burger to last for months!

Estimate of 40 pounds from the two deer.

Since day 3 of season, it's been hit and miss with getting to the woods.  The weather has been spotty, I've been back to work, and DH didn't hunt as much as he had wanted during his final week of 'vacation' (in which he had to attend to some business affairs via internet and conference calls at our dining room table).  The times we have been out, we've seen deer, but not been able to get a shot off.  Either too far away, too much brush between us, or in my case, one came directly under me.  Literally, I had to look through my feet and the grating on the stand in order to see it.  It was a button buck, so I just took pictures and let it keep walking.

Hello, little boy

Over my shoulder, behind my tree.

Sunset

We're hoping to get one more deer.  That would be nice; it would mean lean red meat to last most of a year for us.

From Stretch Limo to Sports Car

That's the analogy a friend of mine used when, in late August, I bought a horse.  This was a few weeks after the California Horse (all 18 hands of him) shipped out to Oregon, where his owner's parents retired him to their farm.  I went from riding that tall, huge bodied horse to riding my new horse: a 15.2 hand Arabian.  Shorter, more compact, and yes, the new horse does steer and handle a whole lot zippier.  Kind of like a sports car with a tight suspension.

I was going to post here about him a whole lot sooner, but, honestly, life threw me a curve right about that time. Literally the same afternoon as I handed over a wad of cash for this new horse, DD2 got her job offer in Alaska.  So, while I was excited to be a horse owner again, that kind of took a back seat to moving DD2.

But, I'm writing about it now!

He's a cute little guy.  A nice bay, with no markings other than two hind socks. 

I say "little guy" because I've been riding larger horses (primarily Holsteiners) for most of the last 20 years.  In actuality, at 15.2hh, he's a "big" Arabian.  Which is lucky for him, because with his height and well sprung barrel, he takes up my leg really well.  I had thought--for decades--that I was too tall for Arabs and wouldn't be able to go back to owning and riding them.  The first horse I ever owned was an Arabian, and they hold a special place in my heart.

At 10 years old, he's had the last four or five years fairly easy, not being ridden much.  Prior to that, he had a pretty great show career in the Arabian Hunter Pleasure division.  But, for the most part, he's a 10 year old with low miles, and no health problems.  He also has great bloodlines, being Bay El Bey++ on top and *Bask++ on bottom, with a couples lines back to Raffles in there too. Which I think is neat, because my half-Arab gelding, The Old Man, that lived to be 34 was also a Raffles descendant.

This horse was in partial training (2 rides a week) with a friend of mine this summer, a tune up really, as his owner thinking of selling him because he was 'too reactive' for her, when I came to hear about him.  At that time, I didn't think I was in the market to purchase, and I inquired about a lease.  The owner wasn't open to that, so I put the horse out of my mind.  For two months. Until the day the California Horse shipped out, and I happened to respond to a Facebook post my friend had about something different.  She called me later that day, to discuss what I'd messaged her about on FB, and happened to mention that she still had this horse and really thought he had dressage potential and that I wouldn't find him 'too reactive' at all.

Curious, I set up a day and time to go look at him, not really thinking a) he'd be big enough for me, or b) he'd really have dressage suitable movement. The majority of Arab trots are notoriously not dressage-like.  Unfortunately (or fortunately?) for me, I saw a lot of potential in his movement as my friend rode him for me to watch, and, when I climbed into the saddle, I did not feel like I was on a tiny horse with my feet dragging the ground. Nor did I feel like he was dangerously reactive, more like deliciously responsive to the slightest aids.

I didn't think I could swing the needed finances for a purchase right then, so I didn't make an offer.  But, I also couldn't stop thinking about the horse.  A week later, I asked if I might be able to take another test ride on him, and what she thought the owner's bottom line (price-wise) might be.

After the second ride, I was hooked.  I still had to figure out financing, but I had a couple of ideas. 

Well, it came to pass that less than another week later, I was handing over money for a 10 year old Arabian gelding and his custom fit dressage saddle his owner had bought because she felt more secure in it than she did in an all purpose saddle.   Win-win for me, as I hadn't been sure if my old County Competitor I'd used on the Mare (my 16.1 1/2 Holsteiner mare) would fit this new, smaller, horse.  His saddle not only fit him perfectly, but it was the exact size I normally ride in.

So far, I have not had any regrets in buying this new guy (who really needs a nickname for this blog).  He's been fun to work with, is catching on pretty quickly to the dressage stuff I'm trying to teach him--number one of which is contact with the bit! Our first rides were kind of comical as I'm riding with these reins that feel so long and floppy to me, yet he's thinking I'm touching his mouth way too much and he's doing a great camel impersonation--head straight up, mouth open--any time I get anywhere close to using the bit.  Now that we've had a couple of months together, and are settling into a regular riding schedule, he's less of a camel, our reins are slowly getting shorter, and he's brave enough to actually touch the bit (a giant, fat, snaffle that couldn't harm a fly) instead of shrink away from anything resembling contact.  I'm excited to see where we are come Spring; I'm entertaining thoughts of hitting the show ring at Training Level with him in 2020.

Yarn Along: November

Another month has flown by, and it's time to join Ginny over at Small Things for the monthly Yarn Along post.

I have finished (except for sewing on the buttons) Toad's Little Shore Cardigan that he'll be getting for Christmas.  In the photo below, it's missing the neck band and button bands, but that's because the instructions have you block the body and sleeves before picking up stitches for those three parts.  I assure you, it's a complete sweater now.

You can also see K3's sweater and my pickle shawl being blocked at the same time. And yes, I do use foam alphabet blocks as my blocking board.  One price, two uses: plaything for the grandkids and blocking board for me.  Gotta love frugality.  (I even bought them on clearance several years ago).

In the past month I also cast on a pair of socks for DD2, to keep her feet warm up there in Alaska.  They will go in her Christmas box to be mailed up in about a month. Using the tree chart from the Christmas Eve socks pattern, I'm adapting this pair to be shifting rows of snow-laden trees on an endless night background of deep blue.  The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Glimmer in Peacock and Frost.  I chose it for these socks because the sparkle in the yarn gives the glittery crystalline ambiance I am going for in these custom for Alaska winter socks.

Meanwhile, once I bound off Toad's sweater, I cast on the garter rib neckband of a 6-12 month size Harvest sweater for Rascal.  So far, I'm about half done with that neckband.  Being such a tiny sweater, I plan to have it finished before the next yarn along. For that, I am using some Encore  from my stash in worsted weight light blue.

This past month I've read just two books: Gone Missing by Linda Castillo (thoroughly hooked on this mystery/suspense author!) and What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman.