Hunting was introduced to me while I was dating Ken. I listend to the sweet stories of him growing up; the bonding moments between dad and son. The encounters with wilderness, and animals seemed so exciting! We got married and I quickly learned all about the specific seasons when you can hunt, and the "tags" you need for certain birds or animals. And after four years of marriage, I got tried of being "left behind," and he got tired of missing me, so we decided that I should come along. Although I didn't get my hunting licence (next year), I was able to be out in the woods, see some of those much talked about animals, and have some awesome bonding time. Ken's take on it: He was ecstatic to have the two things he loved most in one place (although several times he did mistake me for one of the guys all dressed up in my camouflage outfit lol), see picture insert... but my modeling pose before we left had to include a girly belt :) So here's to our 2011 Deer Hunting Trip. Marble Mountain Wilderness, CA (about a hour south of the OR boarder).
The guys, planning their hunt for the next day. From left to right; Rich, Mark (my father-in-law), Ken, Greg (Brother-in-law), and Nate their good friend growing up
Take 2, they missed a spot :)
Ken at the camp all ready to go! Granted we were the only ones out there, it was beautiful to say the least, and a bit scary having no water or bathrooms
Mountain cattle. Yeah, one morning I didn't have my glasses on and thought the black blob was a HUGE bear! I pulled out my airhorn, shot gun, and bear spray... then I put my glasses on and realized it had a tail :) boy, was I relieved
The amazing views!
Had to take a picture... does a bear go potty in the woods? You betcha!
Found a cow bone... gross!
We staked out a great spot... here's Ken ready with his rifle. We were so quite and camouflaged, that a small squirrel ran right under Ken's leg and smack into my knee. I wasn't so quite though :) the lil' thing scarred me lol!
The black blob, kinda dot in the middle is one of the bears we saw about 400 yards away. In this spot we also saw a 200 lb black bear, 25 yards away - but I wasn't fast enough with the camera.
Back at the camp
Hunt outing # 4 (don't know if "outing" is the correct term, but it's the 4th time they went out :). Ken telling his dad where we saw the bears the night before and where he should go
Walking through the aspen grove we saw two more bears, a little dense = a lot scary! But so beautiful!
Notice the bear claws going up the tree? Many of the trees in this grove were like that, some even to the very top!
Second hunting spot. Where's Waldo, I mean Ken? :)
Me starting to get bored :)
Another bear! This time a lot closer, 20 yards!
He did not see us until Ken yelled "Hey Bear!" He perked his ears up (kinda cute), turned and ran the other way so fast he started to role down the hill!
Here I am looking for more bears... We were on a deer hunting trip, but I did not see any! Ken saw about 5 does, female deers, but you can not shoot them. We were even lucky to see the 6 bears we saw. Several of the guys we went with did not even see any of the animals. I guess you could say I was the only one that "shot" anything with my camera :)
Us heading back in the dark... and looking cute all matchy in our camo :)
The meadows were full of streams
My cute husband, ahemmm, I mean my manly husband with all his gear
Our camp spot, my back is to our tent
The group. From left to right: Greg, Bruce, Nate, me, Ken (minus Rich and Mark still out hunting).
Nate, Greg, Me, and Ken
Nate, Greg, Ken
One of the views as we were heading back down the mountain...
There was a crazy rain storm the night before, so all the guys got out to figure the best away around the mud. Greg has his gun, just in-case he saw the one last deer :)
Bottom of the mountain, looking up - we were in those mountains!
We got back to Nate's house in Yreka and that was the only deer I saw :) Amazing how camouflage it was!
Overall it was an amazing trip. Although no one shot anything (Okay by me, but they were bummed), it was fun to have some great quality time in God's beautiful creation.
Back in Redding, CA. We visited the salmon fish hatchery, a childhood favorite of Ken's - look at them "fly"
