TerynItUp
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There is one day of the year, every year, that my wife loathes. When NM releases it's big game draw results. On one hand she knows full well that we will either be spending a considerable amount of money and an even more considerable amount of time if we are successful, while on the other hand, she knows that I am going to be a mopey baby for about 10 days if we are not successful. Last year, you might as well have called me Eeyore. Between my dad, my wife, and I we completely struck out on every single big game draw in NM. However, while I usually quickly move on and focus on work and my career and impatiently wait until the next year, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. I purchased an OTC bear tag for the archery season in the mountains closest to my home. While my brother would be chasing deer with his bow, I would patiently sit in a blind and wait for a bear to step out. My luck turned quickly. After three days in the blind I finally arrowed my first bear. I was by myself at the time and was so shocked/excited/surprised that I failed to capture the moment in a way that did it justice. My wife and I enjoyed the fruits of that harvest in the form of smoked sausage and chorizo for several months.
My luck continued when I happened upon a surprise antelope hunt in October. I had never hunted antelope and on the first morning I was beyond fortunate when I connected with a buck flirting with 80? (will get him measured when the taxi is done with him).
7 months prior I was Debbie Downer when I was unsuccessful in the draws and now I was sitting on cloud 9 with a very successful season under my belt.
Well my luck in 2016 has rolled right into 2017. While I only drew one of seven hunts I applied for in NM, it is an archery elk tag in the woods that first breathed life into my hunting soul. To top it off, my dad, the man responsible for passing all of this on to me, also drew the same hunt. The good news continued coming in when I saw that my wife drew her first elk tag, a late season cow tag Thanksgiving weekend. We quickly burned through the bear and antelope meat over the winter and their currently remains only a dozen pounds or so of ground elk and venison in my freezer. I can now understand the phrase recently coined as a ?meat crisis.? The opportunity to recharge our freezer has created quite the buzz in our household.
There remained one last puzzle piece to determine how our fall would shape up, Colorado deer results. As soon as the backdoor was opened up, I peeked in to see what I could see. 591 codes for my brother and I, but no dice for our old man. Visions of block necked bucks with their noses trailing hot does quickly filled my mind and the budget spreadsheet in front of me faded to black. I was certain my brother would draw our first choice but I was unsure about my dad and I as we were one point behind what guarantees a tag. When June 1st came, I couldn't have been more pleased to see that my older brother and I would both be chasing grey ghosts on a 4th season rifle hunt.
2017, cheers to you! Time to prepare.
Hunt Hard. Shoot Straight. Kill Clean. Apologize to No One.
There is one day of the year, every year, that my wife loathes. When NM releases it's big game draw results. On one hand she knows full well that we will either be spending a considerable amount of money and an even more considerable amount of time if we are successful, while on the other hand, she knows that I am going to be a mopey baby for about 10 days if we are not successful. Last year, you might as well have called me Eeyore. Between my dad, my wife, and I we completely struck out on every single big game draw in NM. However, while I usually quickly move on and focus on work and my career and impatiently wait until the next year, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. I purchased an OTC bear tag for the archery season in the mountains closest to my home. While my brother would be chasing deer with his bow, I would patiently sit in a blind and wait for a bear to step out. My luck turned quickly. After three days in the blind I finally arrowed my first bear. I was by myself at the time and was so shocked/excited/surprised that I failed to capture the moment in a way that did it justice. My wife and I enjoyed the fruits of that harvest in the form of smoked sausage and chorizo for several months.
My luck continued when I happened upon a surprise antelope hunt in October. I had never hunted antelope and on the first morning I was beyond fortunate when I connected with a buck flirting with 80? (will get him measured when the taxi is done with him).
7 months prior I was Debbie Downer when I was unsuccessful in the draws and now I was sitting on cloud 9 with a very successful season under my belt.
Well my luck in 2016 has rolled right into 2017. While I only drew one of seven hunts I applied for in NM, it is an archery elk tag in the woods that first breathed life into my hunting soul. To top it off, my dad, the man responsible for passing all of this on to me, also drew the same hunt. The good news continued coming in when I saw that my wife drew her first elk tag, a late season cow tag Thanksgiving weekend. We quickly burned through the bear and antelope meat over the winter and their currently remains only a dozen pounds or so of ground elk and venison in my freezer. I can now understand the phrase recently coined as a ?meat crisis.? The opportunity to recharge our freezer has created quite the buzz in our household.
There remained one last puzzle piece to determine how our fall would shape up, Colorado deer results. As soon as the backdoor was opened up, I peeked in to see what I could see. 591 codes for my brother and I, but no dice for our old man. Visions of block necked bucks with their noses trailing hot does quickly filled my mind and the budget spreadsheet in front of me faded to black. I was certain my brother would draw our first choice but I was unsure about my dad and I as we were one point behind what guarantees a tag. When June 1st came, I couldn't have been more pleased to see that my older brother and I would both be chasing grey ghosts on a 4th season rifle hunt.
2017, cheers to you! Time to prepare.
Hunt Hard. Shoot Straight. Kill Clean. Apologize to No One.