My First Turkey Hunt

my first turkey hunt. March/April 2007

beep.. beep...beep the alarm screamed. tanner came into my bedroom and shook my shoulders. "get up! GET UP!!" slowly I pulled the world into focus. ... what the heck was i doing at 4:30 AM??? oh yeah ...my first turkey hunt!!! I jumped out of bed and was hit with a steely force of cold air. burr!!! I threw on several layers of clothes and bounded down the stairs in 3 steps. now wide awake we start getting ready. a check list ran through my mind that was as long as if I was getting ready to go to a horse show! sweatshirts, wool socks, mugs of coffee, and hot coco, hats, hand warmers, coveralls, shot guns, decoys, calls, permits, we load it all into the old red suburban and cranked’er up. a few nights earlier we seen some turkeys roosting in a grove of trees, so we drive to that area, park the suburban about a 1/2 mile away. loaded down with all sorts of "gear" we walk into the grassy meadow. It was still completely dark but as best as could be done we set up an arrangement of decoys and walked 20 yards off to a few trees. Tanner went and sat about 5-10 yds away from me and I seated my self and tried to get as comfortable as I could sitting at the base of a tree. wide awake I started into the lessening darkness. ever so slowly light seeped into the world. and that is when it got interesting. since we walked in when it was completely dark I had no clue as to what my surroundings looked like. As I started to make out faint outlines of the landscape my mind quickly assessed my position. there was a little ridge about 5 feet in front of me. And something was moving… im positive something was crawling in front of me… stark fear grabbed me… I held my breath and watched… I was sure I had seen the back of a mountain lion pass through the grass… the wind rustled the tall brush, and sent chills down my back. My mind started imagining all sorts of crazy wild things. But I calmed my self down, and told myself to rationalize the situation.. It was just my imagination right???……..I hope!
“deep breaths Lakota” I kept reminding myself! I shifted my thinking towards the big tom I was hoping to get. As it got lighter I was able to make out 3 turkeys not far away! I was so excited! But a minute later embarrassment bombarded my excitement… those were our decoys. Man how stupid can I get? I made a mental note NOT to tell tanner about my “embarrassing moment” he would be sure to laugh his head off. And well… I definitely didn’t want to be the laughing stock for the next week!

Higher and higher the son rose into the beautiful crisp morning. And no sign of any turkeys. Finally tanner got up and it was time to pack up and head out. I was quite disappointed that I didn’t return with a long beard, spurs and fan of a big ol tom. But it had been… very interesting to say in the least! So definitely worth it in the end.

And that is the story of my very first turkey hunt.

today im going out turkey hunting again with Brandon and Taylor. really hope i get one! (2 days ago i about hit several of them with the truck and trailer!!! lol)

Mountain Lion Close To Home

Several Days ago, Brandon and I took our horses out on a ride. we took a different route than normal, and after about 3 miles we decided to turn off the road and go through a field. we followed a creek, and tree line about half a mile or so off the road. and we came to a corner where 2 tree lines met. i seen something strange up in a tree so i road my horse closer to get a look. what i seen shocked me. it was a deer carcas that had been drug up into the tree and eaten. as my gaze droped... i seen many more carcases riped up and strewn around. along with shreaded deer hides, and other small animals. It was extreemly creepy. Brandon and I got the shivers and the goose bumps at the same time so we decided to pick up a canter and just get out of there. When we got back, my dad confirmed our conclusions. it was definitly where a mountain lion feasted. F.R.E.A.K.Y!!!!!!!!!!!! well... i decided i needed to get some pictures of the crime scene so we saddle up early in the morning and road down there again. this time on the way down there i found something else. cat terds. yep. so anyway i started getting pictures of everything. (i had my long lens on so i didnt have to get off sapphy.. but brandon got of grace and took the camera up a little ridge to get some other pictures. so im sitting on sapphire holding graces reins watching brandon... when all the sudden the horses jerk their heads up and look behind me. my stomach knotted up and i whiped my head around in time to catch a glimps of a mountain lion disapearing into some bushes. needless to say i started screeming at brandon, threw the reins to him and we high tailed it outta there. didnt even rein the horses in untill we were about 2 miles away! WOW. so thats the newest news around the pehrson place. heres some of the pictures that i got. oh one more thing i forgot to add. so ya seen the 2 keep out signs? well there were several others all over there. but theres a frequently used pickup trail back to the area. and did i mention that theres speratic trail camera boxes? yeah so our conclusion is that the game and parks is probably protecting them out there. :/ (because a couple of the signs had game and parks symbols on them) the game and parks probably picks up hit deer and stuff and dumps them out there. idk. but yeah :s kinda spooky! cant wait till i can open carry legally! just a few more days!!

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

I recieved this as an e-mail. i know i sent it on to some of yall! but i had to post it on here to! i think its so funny, yet sad. because its pretty much how it is. :\ but read it! you'll like it!


Two Different Versions--Two Different Morals

OLD VERSION -- The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer longbuilding his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold. --MORAL OF THE STORY-- Be responsible for yourself

MODERN VERSION -- The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving. CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, his poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.' ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight. Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper. The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who now terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood.The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it. --MORAL OF THE STORY-- Be careful how you vote in 2010.

The Whipping

hey yall. i know i havent posted much on this blog lately. but i came across this story so i am posting it and i want yall to please read it. it is a great story. and then end tops it all off.

*****

There was a school with a class of students that no teacher had been able to handle. Two or three teachers had been run off from this school in one year by the unruly students.

A young man, just out of college, heard about the class and applied to the school.

The principal asked the young man, 'Do you know what you are asking for? No one else has been able to handle these students. You are just asking for a terrible beating'. After a few moments of silent prayer, the young man looked at the principal and said, 'Sir, with your consent I accept the challenge. Just give me a trial basis.'

The next morning the young man stood before the class. He said to the class, 'Young people, I came here today to conduct school. But I realize

I can't do it by myself. I must have your help.'

One big boy they called Big Tom, in the back of the room whispered to his Buddies, 'I won't need any help. I can lick that little bird all by myself.'

The young teacher told the class that if they were to have school, there would have to be some rules to go by. But he also added that he would allow the students to help make up the rules and that he would list them on the blackboard.

This was certainly different, the students thought!

One young man suggested 'NO STEALING.' Another one shouted 'BE ON TIME FOR CLASS.' Pretty soon they had 10 rules listed on the board.

The Teacher then asked the class what the punishment should be for breaking these rules. 'Rules are no good unless they are enforced', he said. Someone in the class suggested that if the rules were broken, they should receive 10 licks with a rod across their back...with their coat off. The teacher thought that this was pretty harsh, so he asked the class if they would stand by this punishment. The class agreed.

Everything went along pretty good for two or three days.. Then Big Tom came in one day very upset. He declared that someone had stolen his lunch. After talking with the students, they came to the conclusion that little Timmy had stolen Big Tom's lunch.. Someone had seen little Timmy with Big Tom's lunch! The teacher called little Timmy up to the front of the room. Little Timmy admitted he had taken Big Tom's lunch.

So the teacher asked him, 'Do you know the punishment?

Little Timmy nodded that he did. 'You must remove your coat,' the teacher instructed..

The little fellow had come with a great big coat on. Little Timmy said

to the teacher, 'I am guilty and I am willing to take my punishment, but please don't make me take off my coat.'

The teacher reminded little Timmy of the rules and punishments and again told him he must remove his coat and take his punishment like a man. The little fellow started to unbutton that old coat. As he did so, the teacher saw he did not have a shirt on under the coat. And even worse, he saw a frail and bony frame hidden beneath that coat. The teacher asked little Timmy why he had come to school without a shirt on.

Little Timmy replied, 'My daddy's dead and my mother is very poor. I don't have but one shirt, and my mother is washing it today. I wore my big brother's coat so that I could keep warm.'

The young teacher stood and looked at the frail back with the spine protruding against the skin, and his ribs sticking out. He wondered how he could lay a rod on that little back and without even a shirt on.. Still, he knew he must enforce the punishment or the other children would not obey the rules. So he drew back to strike little Timmy. Just then Big Tom stood up and came down the aisle. He asked, 'Is there anything that says that I can't take little Timmy's whipping for him?'

The teacher thought about it and agreed. With that Big Tom ripped his own coat off, then stooped and stood over little Timmy at the desk..

Hesitatingly the teacher began to lay the rod on that big back. But for some strange reason after only five licks that old rod just broke in half. The young teacher buried his face in his hands and began to sob.

He heard a commotion and looked up to find not even one dry eye in the room. Little Timmy had turned and grabbed Big Tom around the neck apologizing to him for stealing his lunch. Little Timmy begged Big Tom to forgive him. He told Big Tom that he would love him till the day he died for taking his whipping for him..

***

Aren't you glad that JESUS took our 'whipping' for us? That HE shed HIS precious blood on Calvary so that you and I can have eternal life in Glory with HIM? We are unworthy of the price HE paid for us, but aren't you glad HE loves us that much?

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when i read that story i just had to thank the Lord for taking MY punishment! i have disobeyed Gods rules. and yet Jesus Christ took my terrible punishment! how unworthy i am of His love! and yet he freely bestows! hope this story was a blessing to you like it was to me!