Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Honeymoon at the Farm

After the wedding, Kristen and Leo had a quick trip to the Bahamas and then decided to extend their honeymoon with a trip to the farm for deer hunting.  They made it in time for a couple days of bowhunting followed by the Ohio Bonus Gun Weekend.

Here's Kristen sighting in her bow.  We later found that her sights were loose so it's probably a good thing that she didn't get a shot at a buck.
Leo making some adjustments which were needed.  His 3rd pin was sending them way over target.  In the Spring, I may find a few arrows in the grass.
My bow was shooting great on field points.  I tried a couple broadheads and they were hitting about 8" to the right.  Not sure why that was but I made the adjustment.
My Mom gave me a set of tableware with classic game scenes on them.  It was an early Christmas present.
Eric noticed a recipe in the Wall Street Journal for a quail salad with pears.  We gave it a try and it was really good.
Kristen leaving the ladder stand one morning.
Here's Leo showing Kristen the way in one morning.
Here's what didn't happen while we were there - a nice buck under the stand during daylight.
Sunrise one morning.
No luck during bow hunting but Leo took this nice doe during the gun weekend.  She ended up weighing 120 pounds after field dressing.
Field dressing in process with help from Dave.  He joined us for the weekend.
The gut pile - normally the coyotes don't let this last long.
Leo butchers his own deer.
Here's a few of the "walk by's" on the trail cameras. 



A fox made a visit one evening.
I also took a doe.  She weighed 115 pounds.  There were three 4 point bucks in the field but I was waiting for a bigger one.  I finally ran out of light and took this doe,
The deer have pretty well picked the food plots.  This is some brassica eated down to the stems. 
Poop of the week - this one appears to be classic coyote - full of fur.
As usual, there are rubs everywhere.  I happen to sit down beside this one for a mid-day hunt. 
Following are some of the bucks that showed up on camera but that we couldn't find during gun season.  I did see several of them in the fields during bow hunting.  I think our activity during bow season drove them nocturnal by the time gun weekend happened.










And, finally, a few more of the "drive-by's" from the game cameras.


I probably have a few more bow hunts left and there's a 4 day black powder season in January.  Still looking for that big buck.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Thanksgiving and Ohio Gun Season

I bet you were expecting to see hunting pictures in this post. Ha - fooled you. 

My niece, Kristen, decided to get married in the Florida Keys on December 2 - which happens to be the Friday of Ohio gun season for deer.  This was especially painful since Kristen is normally my deer hunting buddy.  But we wish her the best and turned her wedding plans into an extended holiday where we enjoyed Thanksgiving in Naples with family, went diving with our kids at Hawk's Cay, and attended the wedding festivities in Islamorada. Here's some photo highlights of what I did instead of deer hunting.
 Joan on the beach in Naples.
Thanksgiving at my big sister Sue's place with Mom and Dad.

Joan and I getting into "island mode".

 Eric's wife, Jeni, completed her diving certification at Hawk's Cay and joined us for some recreational dives.

Doug, Amy, Jeni and Eric

Doug did the dolphin encounter.



Rehearsal dinner with the bride-to-be.
 The wedding day - ceremony on the beach.


The wedding party - barefoot on the beach.

The bride arrived by boat.

The cermony was close to sunset. 
Leo - the groom.
Kristen - the bride.
The bride and her Mom.
Key lime pie for wedding cake - naturally. 
Same couple - different time.

Is this really the same girl as in the wedding dress?
During the trip, we were in search of the perfect family photo for the Christmas card.
Someone decided to shop for tee shirts while others were scuba diving.
Multiple attempts were made at multiple locations.
None of them were "just right".
This is just a small sampling of the poses over multiple days.
Everyone was very cooperative and in the holiday spirit.
But it did drive some to drink.
Others handled the performance anxiety a little differently.
But I think that we all survived...