Happy Birthday to Doug!

The opening deer hunt fell right on Doug's birthday which is lucky for us and for him! ;) So, Friday night we all went to dinner at Maddox... YUM! Thanks to Jichan for a little family birthday dinner! And then we headed up to the property up Blacksmith to camp out for the morning hunt. Jichan slaved away for a few weeks before, building a simple yet wonderful little cottage for us to sleep in. Inside is room for a soon to be installed toilet, storage area, 2 full-size bunkbeds, and a wood-burning stove that keeps the whole place warm. We brought up Dakota's pack-n-play which fit nicely and me and Doug and Jichan and Marsha slept on the bunks. We all stayed pretty warm and it was pretty comfortable as well. I didn't get much sleep thanks to Doug who is like a kid on Christmas Eve the night before a hunt, so by 6:30am it was about time to just get up anyways. We left Dakota sleeping with Marsha and headed out. A buck snuck up behind us the first 20 minutes we were out, but we didn't see it in time to get it. Later in the day, we saw another buck on the hill from the cottage, but it was running so fast Doug couldn't get his gun loaded in time. We all took afternoon naps and then the boys went out and the girls held down the fort. Right before dark, Doug came back to get me to go take some pictures and about 10 minutes into our journey, we spotted a herd of deer. Sure enough there was a buck! And we got him just before the sun went down! Just a little spike by 2, but one shot took him right out and at least we got one together! We hiked across the gully to get him and I waited while Doug went back for the 4-wheeler and came around to pick us up. Back at camp, we enjoyed a nice camp-fire dinner prepared by Marsha and enjoyed the spectacular stars before packing up and heading home! The only incident we had was Dakota tripped and fell directly into the burning campfire, face first! A frightening moment for sure! But much to our surprise and many thanks for our blessing, neither she nor her clothes suffered any burns! We had a wonderful time and Doug got his birthday deer on opening day! Enjoy some pics....
My hunting birthday man just as the sun was rising...

5 months pregnant and definitely the last time going hunting/hiking this pregnancy!

BEAUTIFUL

All bundled up (it was very cold in the morning)

PUH-lease take me for a ride???

Daddy always gives in....

Grandma Ma (Marsha) is always so fun to play with!




See the speck of orange on the road across the gully? I am standing where the deer is, and that is Doug where he shot from. Nice shot!

Doug coming over the hill in the 4-wheeler to get us!

Love this picture of Dakota and Jichan!