Eric and Jeni Visit for Joan's Birthday

Eric and Jeni drove Friday night from Chicago and arrived at 2:45am Saturday at the farm.  It was Joan's birthday this weekend so it was nice of them to come visit.  I hunted Saturday morning while they slept in a little bit.  Then we had breakfast and started on a few chores.

 Eric and I hung the miniblinds in the room addition while Jeni and Joan looked at the proofs of the wedding pictures.  Eric brought his fancy new digital camera that he got for his honeymoon in New Zealand.  The pictures in this post were all taken by Eric.

On Sunday, Joan, Eric and I were sitting in this same spot looking at honeymoon photos when a monster buck walked across the field outside this window.  I had just been hunting there one hour earlier.

 Creigh, Eric's best man, and his wife Pam came out for the day on Saturday.  Creigh brought his new bow so we did a little target shooting.  Pam was very helpful dispursing arrows to Creigh.

My shooting was pretty random in spite of this perfect form.  I don't think that you're supposed to shoot them in the ham.

 The form really doesn't look that bad - maybe I need new technology.

In this series, Eric caught Creigh at full draw...

...then right at release...

..and as the arrow flies.

 This shot is pretty amazing as the arrow just left the bow.

 Tandem target shooting.

Those are all Creighs shots in the heart of that target.  He also shot at the other block when it got too crowded around the heart of the deer.

Pam is his style coach.  She usually gave him technical advise on his form.

Leo, Eric and Jeni's dog, was always ready to retrieve an arrow if necessary.

He wasn't quite fast enough to catch one in flight.

This little stick bug was just another model for Eric and his new camera.

In the afternoon, I suited up and headed out to a stand to hunt until sundown.

Eric and Creigh went for a walk in the woods while Jeni and Pam baked cookies.  The guys eventually ended up checking out the high-rise hunting stand.

Here's Creigh up at the top where you can see for a mile or so.

Sundown behind the barn from the highrise stand.

On Sunday morning, Eric, Jeni and I took Sydney and Leo for a walk in the woods.

 As long as we were out there, I did a little trail maintenance.  Usually, I just drive over this kind of stuff with the atv's or Rangers.

Leo and Sydney just ran circles out in front of us and they flushed a few does.

 I might be passing on some of my woods-wisdom here...

Sydney had a great time busting through the woods.  I had a short line on her in case I needed to grab her.

This is where they probably found some good critter poop. 

Leo playing king of the mountain.

Coming out of the woods on the way back to the barn.

I stopped on the way in to put a little shim under one of the trailcams.

Poor Chloe didn't get to come on the walk.  She stayed in the cabin with Joan.

Eric and I sighted in the muzzleloaders and then they got on the road for the drive back to Chicago.  It was great to have the company for Joan's birthday.  We also got to see the wedding proofs, the honeymoon photos, and Pam & Creigh.