Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

Out in the mountains, there isn't much that scares you. At least, not that you eventually survive. So today, on this festive day of frightening, nothing out there scared me. At all. At first I was feeling left out. I mean, all my friends are enjoying trick-or-treating, haunted houses, parties, or something else that provides potential of being frightening to some degree, and here I am, waiting for an elk to prance out into the meadow. But, fear not! Something scary did happen today! And it was the first time I had the pleasure of experience this scare.

I heard Dad singing in the shower.

Yep, we all took showers tonight, and Dad was obviously in a festive mood (must be Halloween), and kept singing different songs while showering. Why did we all have to shower tonight, you ask? Well I'll tell you.

Today we brought out the big guns.


Of course, this isn't the one we were on. I wish. But it gets the point across. So, at 7 this morning we all loaded up 3 of these (6 of us, 2 each) and set out through the mountains. Now, understand this - it hasn't rained here for a few weeks, and the roads through the mountains are not paved. Enter dust. Lots and lots of dust.

That is why Dad was taking a shower tonight. And singing. And scaring me. (Hahaha, I put scarring first. Hopefully that didn't happen...)

Back to hunting. Today we got to cross out a few more tiles on our Mountain Wildlife Bingo cards. In addition to a couple more deer we found, we can cross of moose (our guide and his girlfriend saw one), 4 elk (nearly ran Ben & Dad over in the dark, hence the hunt continues), and a dozen wild turkeys (nearly ran Grandpa and me over while we were hiding in a thicket). Why is it that we keep finding animals that we could hunt if only they were in season! I mean, come one, what are the chances that 12 fat, wild turkeys could run, literally, right into us sitting there?!? Food for thought...

So, we didn't get an elk yet, but we will continue tomorrow. Once again with the ATVs, which allow us to cover much more ground. In order to cut down on dust in our eyes, Ben and I (who were the designated drivers today, and will be till we leave) got driving goggles that look absolutely hideous. Tomorrow I'll post pictures. As for now, these will have to do.

Dad & Ben walking around a meadow; Dad gazing into the depths of a mountain stream...

It was colder today, so I dressed warmer :)

Yeah, yeah, sometimes you get bored.

Me, upset that we haven't found anything yet; Ben being patient; Smokey, who doesn't really give a hoot either way.

5 comments:

Kristi said...

Hunting seems like such an... exciting.... pastime.

Anonymous said...

Ouch, I have decided to be offended by your comment. I didn't know that you didn't count me as a friend. I mean, after all, you knew my plans for the week didn't include any holiday fun or scare... unless you count taking a russian literature test, preparing for an o-chem test, preparing for a molecular bio test, and driving to vegas to support your brother in his college lacrosse endeavors as being scary and festive. Yup that was my Halloween holiday festivites. You at least were in the wilderness with autumn leaves and carved a pumpkin.

Anonymous said...

By the way, I think you have a major typo (unless I'm a moron, that is). I mean, what did you mean by, "we can cross of moose"? Maybe "we can cross OFF moose" or maybe we caME Across A moose" hmm, or maybe something stranger, like "in addition to a couple more deer, we found WEAKEN(ed) Gross of moose" Is that some ingredient for some devilish brew or concoction?

Ashley Bybee Stepp said...

I like your photos. How did you do them in that format?

Dad said...

My singing is bad?!?!

You should hear yourself warming up. Some sort of mating call? I think that's why we saw the moose.