Hunting Property Prep

Unlike last year when Derek was hunting on public land, this year he access to some property.  Through a friend at church, he has a little spot of land to work. :)  He took our lawn mower out there in the heat of summer (105º+) and cleared a spot.

Then planted a small food plot to help attract the deer.

 

Since he has access year round, he was able to do that prep and hang a tree stand before the season started.  Miles was with him this day and took this photo.

That was before Miles found this...which he thought was way cooler than Daddy climbing trees.

He sent this picture to the rest of us at home...oh so proud!

Sidenote: Poor Miles gets poison ivy every time he goes out there! 

But the boys really like to go "help" Daddy.

so.much.mud.

Derek likes to get them involved in the process however he can.
Starting pretty young. :)


One day, we all went along.
Can you tell my boys' hearts are happy when 'free and in the wild'?  ha.


They really love to explore and it's fun that they have the opportunity.


Speaking of opportunity, we're always on the look out for Bigfoot when in the woods.


And we make everyone pull their weight.


They often get sidetracked though and do things like balance sticks on their heads.


...or just eat sticks.

I guess it's time for his snack.

And then his brother's snack.

They really do like to help.  They sowed a few extra seeds around the food plot before we headed home.

Another benefit to not hunting public land is that Derek can set up trail cameras and see what's going on when he's not there.   A few deer have shown up to get their photo taken!

Derek was pretty excited to get out there in the stand when the season started! Bow season starts October 1st and goes through the middle of January... Derek hasn't brought a deer home yet, but there is still plenty of time.  The weather has been unseasonably warm, so the deer may be up moving around during the night instead of during shooting light.

Still, he's been out there as much as he can sneak away. (He's still really busy at work too!) He even took the big boys out one morning to sit in the ground blind with him. 

They didn't see much though.  I'm sure it has nothing to do with boys that think they're being quiet, when actually their peanut butter cracker wrapper woke every deer within earshot!  Ha ha!

They still enjoy the hunt.

Miles went alone with Daddy one afternoon.

You can probably guess from his selfie game, that the wild game were quiet yet again.

Here deer, here deer, here deer....
We could really use some meat in the freezer!