I used to think that I was a pretty selfish person.  In the past I have lied to those that I love, manipulated them and disrespected them with the intention of getting something that I want.  And while many people would agree with me that these are indeed acts of selfishness, I have come to realize that they are more acts of fear and cowardice.

Over the past few months I have had the opportunity to witness a true act of selfishness and that is the act of forgiveness.  

If you think about it, the ability to forgive someone, including yourself, is one of the most selfish acts there is.  You don’t forgive someone for their benefit, you forgive them for your own.  You forgive them so you can have closure, peace and to begin the process of moving on.  All of those things only benefit the person doing the forgiving. 

The difference with forgiveness is that it is an act of selfishness that is born out of courage, compassion and love.  That is why it is so hard to do. Most people lack those traits when times are at their worst.  They act out of anger or fear which results in pain to those they feel have betrayed them.  

And since most people have never experienced what it is like when times really are at their worst, not only can they not understand someone who has the ability to forgive, they cannot understand when that person has the courage to take that forgiveness to the next level.  And like most things that people do not understand, this next level of forgiveness will be met with doubt, it will be questioned and rejected.   

But, I say it should be celebrated, it should be encouraged and above all else, it should be supported.  

To the people who have made the choice to forgive, rest assured, you are not crazy.  And to those that have accepted that forgiveness and who are also willing to move to the next level, you are not crazy either.  You are the examples that the rest of us need to live up to.  I can only ask of you both to continue to act from a place of courage, compassion and love.

To those that doubt or act out of anger, shame on you.  Shame on you for not embracing the people who are leaving themselves vulnerable and taking a chance on trusting again. Shame on you for not accepting someone who is clearly a braver person then you will ever be.

Most of my life I have lacked any level of courage.  I have acted mostly out of fear and anger.  But, I have been shown a shining example of what love and forgiveness are really about.  I can only hope that it someday brings me the courage I need to forgive those that have wronged me……or even to forgive myself. 

Shoot Straight

Doug

When Nate and I first set up this blog, we set it up with the purpose of sharing our experiences with hunting, food and booze with the occasional post about our families.  However, lately something has seem to really set me off and I felt the need to rant about it.  I have never publicly ranted on any subject, so you will have to bear with me….

I have been seeing tweets and facebook posts about how “We don’t need a special day to celebrate our love, it should be every day” or “If you need a special day to celebrate it, something is wrong with your relationship”.  Or, one of my personal favorites, “Its a manufactured holiday to sell greeting cards and candy.” And I all do when I see things like that is shake my head.

My wife and I have been married for almost 14 years and been together for 16 1/2.  We have three beautiful kids, 8, 4 and 11 months.  The 8 and 4 year olds are starting to have after school/daycare activities and the 11 month old, is well, 11 months old (those of you who have raised kids know what I mean by that).  So, our lives are pretty busy.  We are also working our asses off to try and support this family and there are times when we barely get by paying the bills. Now, please, before I go any further, this is not a “woe is me” rant. I know that there are plenty of families out there that are larger and a lot busier than we are. And a lot of families that are a lot worse off than we are financially.  So please, don’t go there. 

I am simply saying that even after 14 years and with three kids, Nikki and I are still trying to figure out our daily lives.  Today is February 14th, we put our heads down, look up and it is July 1st.  We do not have the time or the means to “celebrate our love” on random days throughout the year, we just don’t.  

So you will have to excuse me if I actually look forward to Valentine’s Day.  Simply for the fact that it might actually force my wife and I to stop, take a breath and take some time to enjoy our relationship together.  And for those of you that ask, “Well, don’t you do that already?” and the simple answer is, no.  We can’t afford to.  If you have busy families and can take the time an money to go out for special dinners and have quality time just the two of you, good on you.  You are a helluva lot better parents and couple than we are.

I may be taking this too personally, but I feel as though those of you that spit on Valentine’s Day for the reasons above are not only spitting on the day, but on couples like Nikki and I too.  Yes, some of us need a manufactured holiday to stop and take some time.  Excuse the fuck out of me. If you don’t like the holiday, don’t celebrate it, but don’t look down on us that do.  If your relationship is so perfect that you have the time and means to celebrate it with special occasions with regular frequency, more power to you.  Don’t shit on me or my wife if we choose to take the time on Valentine’s Day to celebrate our relationship.  No, it is not the ONLY day we do it, but it sure as hell can be one of the days that we do.

In case you are wondering, my wife IS one of the people that thinks celebrating today is pointless.  She is in the “I don’t need a special day to celebrate our relationship” camp.  

All I am saying is, no, it doesn’t have to be the ONLY day, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be one of the days.  Especially since they seem to be few and far between for some of us.

Happy Fuckin’ Valentine’s Day

Doug

Sorry we haven’t written in a while.  I would give you all kinds of reasons, but we all know all they would be is excuses, so why bother.  So I picked up this beer because I am interested in anything Irish that has alcohol in it.  I brought the beer home and was excited to give it a try…then I took a closer look at the label. Brewed in Latrobe, PA.  Now that it an of itself doesn’t mean anything, but I had a feeling that it meant that this beer wasn’t as craft or unique as I thought.  

Unfortunately when I tried to find out more about it, I found very few actual details. From what I can find the best description is from John’s Bier Blog: 

Background:There seems to be a multitude of credits and confusion on who actually brews this beer. There is no doubt that brewer is licensed by McSorley’s of NYC but it seems like it was farmed out to Pabst Brewing Company who farmed it out to one of their subsidiaries. The bottle say’s McSorley’s Brewery, Latrobe PA. So from that I would assume the old Rolling Rock brewery that was bought out by Pabst. Rate beer claims it is brewed by Lion Brewery, Inc. in Woodridge, Illinois. Beer Advocate claims it is Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

So lets get to the review.

First impressions….eh

Maybe my disappointment with finding out that the beer isn’t what I would call a true craft beer has tainted my review, but I found the beer just…okay.

It tasted good, it had a good aroma to it, it was smooth and easy to drink and no after taste, but there just wasn’t anything distinguishable about it.  It was a bit sweet at first and it finished dry, but there wasn’t anything that really jumped out at me about the beer.  

So we have had our first so-so beer of our limited library of reviews.

I promise to do a much better job of writing more frequently.  If nothing else, just because I want to start drinking more beer again.

See you in the woods.

Shoot Straight!

Doug

    You never really know what you are getting yourself into when you try something new, in a new place, with some new people.  I did that this past September, and it was an adventure I will never forget.  Sounds a bit cliche’, so let me explain what I mean.  I could give you a day by day account of the hunt, but that would be like every other blogger out there.  Instead, I want to tell you the story as I remember it, for good and bad.  Let me grab a fresh glass of whiskey and I’ll get started.  (Tonight’s drink of choice is Jim Beam’s Devil’s Cut.)

     I’ll always remember the first day.  Why?  Rain.  Rained the whole day, never stopped.  We hunted the heavy timber somewhere in northern New Mexico.  I can’t really tell you where, but it was Area 52.  It was green, greener than I thought it would be.  I saw a number of Mule Deer that day.  It struck me as odd how large they looked.  Having hunted Minnesota Whitetails all my life, I figured mulies would be the same size, but they appeared so much larger.  Maybe it was the awe factor, or the excitement of fulfilling a dream of seeing them in the wild.  Either way, it rained.  In fact, it rained on Day 2 as well.  I can’t recall exactly where were on Day 2 either, but it was beautiful scenery, rain, more rain. 

    This is where the days start to get fuzzy.  We were up early, really early (4:30am), up late, like 10:30 or 11pm, if I remember correctly, mental fatigue was a factor.  We probably hiked between 8-12 miles a day, some a bit more, some a bit less, so physical fatigue was a factor too.  We hunted the Cruces Basin the next few days.  The first morning in The Basin, I remember taking the hike down the entry hiking trail, coming to the bottom, taking a left and getting up on that first saddle.  It was breathtaking.

Having never been to country like this, I was awestruck.  The first place we hunted, was pretty.  Heavy timber dominated, so all I really got was the green Canyons and mountains.  Don’t get me wrong, they were awesome, just not what I was expecting.  The Cruces Basin was amazing to me.  It was so big and open.  The desert type landscape was what I was expecting, what I was hoping for.  After all, New Mexico is arid.  We would spend the next few days in the Cruces Basin.  I would get a Cow at 35 yards and pass on her.  She peeked behind her, looking for something.  I passed and hoped a Bull would appear.  He did, he just never presented an opportunity.  I would come across 2 more Bulls, in the Basin.  They were always in situations where I was not ready or they didn’t present a shot.  That is OK, though.  There is more to a hunt than filling a tag. Well, that is for me anyway.  You see, this hunt wasn’t about filling a tag, flingin’ an arrow, or anything like that.  It was about the adventure, the experience, the geography, the climate, the people, the camp and the fact that I have never done anything like this before.  But I digress….

    We spent a few days in The Basin.  I can’t recall how many exactly, but a few for sure.  I saw the springs, the meadows, the canyons and one spectacular sunset.  This one was one the last evening, and the Thunderhead is rolling in on me.  As awesome as it was, I realized that if it broke loose on top of me, I was screwed, so I beat-feet back to the truck and were out of there.

    The Basin is special to me.  At long last, after years of trying, I finally felt alone.  Not the Alone that you feel when you watch a scary movie by yourself, or when you have the house to yourself because the rest of the family is out and about.  No…  I mean alone.  The alone you long for in bad traffic.  The Alone you yearn for when the mall is crowded, or the grocery store is busy.  That feeling that no matter who honks, calls, yells, or whistles, you won’t hear it.  That Alone that means no radios, TV’s, alarm clocks, emails, or text messages.  Nothing.  It is you and all the wonderment that surrounds you.  Take it or leave it.  And eventually, we leave.  We have to.  I had a great time in the Basin.  (If you want all the stories, you’ll have to catch me out, or something, and ask me.  There is just too much to put here.)

    After Floundering around the Basin for a few days, my hunt is just about ready to end.  Time is running out and have really only had one good chance at an Elk.  So for the last evening and morning, I hired a guide.  Shane Dixon is the man that was tasked with getting me in front of an Elk.  Shane and I went over my expectations before we left and I let him know that I was open to shooting cow or Bull.  The afternoon was fruitless, but that is OK.  We saw some pretty country, a magnificent sunset, and Moo Cows.  What more could you want?  The next morning however, was magic.  We basically closed the truck door and a bull was bugling.  We chased him a bit, calling and answering.  It was incredible.  Unfortunately, the bull was heading away from us and was not willing to stop.  We bagged it on that end and went back to where we started.  It was not more than 10 minutes and we had another pair of bulls answering to Shane.  Yes, you read it, two bulls were in the mix this time.  They were hot too.  Shane would barely get the bugle call from his lips and the other two bulls were calling back.  It was amazing.  We got to the bulls within 100-150 yards and then chance took a step in.  Two coyotes broke into the area and the bulls spooked and bolted.  Gone, done, that was it.  Game over.  We tried to chase them down, but we couldn’t.  Shane was disappointed that we didn’t get an elk, but I had a great time he was a great guide.  I wanted him to be my buddy, take me out hunting, and have a good time.  He did that.  He didn’t let me down. 

    The question is to a lot of folks is…  “Was your hunt successful?”  My answer is a resounding “YES!”  It was fun.  We met great people at camp.  From the guys from Michigan, to the guy from San Fran.  We laughed.  We ate great food.  Ericka can flat out cook.  I know I wrote about it earlier, but I have to say, she can seriously cook.  The landscape was unbelievable.  The animals were incredible.  The work was tough.  I was tired a lot.  I learned a ton about Elk.  It was just an awesome experience all the way around.  Were there good times?  Yep.  Were there bad times?  Yep.  Was I ever scared?  Yep.  I even got turned around once and almost lost.  I knew where I was, just couldn’t see enough to get to where I wanted to be.  However, I now know why so many people go out west and do this.  If I could do this again tomorrow, I would. There is really no way for me to get into every detail of this adventure without writing an entire book.  I encourage you to stop me and ask me about this trip.  I’d love to shore more of it with you.

    I want to leave anyone who reads this with one last picture.  The hunter is not me, and he shall remain nameless, but it is taken in The Cruces Basin and he was a party member.  It really sums up how this hunt was.  Kiowa Hunting Services did a great job on their Self-Guided package.  If you ever get the chance, do this, go.  You won’t regret it.

Shoot Straight,

Nate

Here are some pics from my Metro Hunt and the first deer I have ever taken with a bow.

So, November 4th-6th was the second weekend of my Metro Bow hunt at Fish Creek.  If you remember from my first weekend, I had three different combinations of stand locations for each morning and afternoon.  That was not the case for this weekend.

For the second weekend, I had one stand location morning and afternoon for all three days.  Turns out that one of the hunters that was chosen for Fish Creek was not hunting on the second weekend, so I got his area.  

First weekend I moved around section 6.  Well, this weekend I had section 3.  I was now on the top of that 120 foot bluff side I described in the 1st weekend post instead of in the creek bottom below, however, I would still have what I call a “small bluff side” to deal with, but more on that later.  

One thing that I didn’t mention in the 1st weekend post was the hill that the hunters had to climb to get to the land on top.  Now, I am fat and out of shape so take this with a grain of salt, but that hill was a bitch to climb.  It was about 200 feet long on a pretty steep angle.  It is marked in the image with a green line as to approximately where it was.  It was a combination of dirt and gravel so getting good footing was hard to do.  Needless to say I biffed it a few times climbing up and down.  Luckily only my pride was bruised.

There are a few things I want to point out about the image.  You will notice that I have drawn two brown lines.  These are there to help you understand were two very steep changes in the land were.  The brown line to the NW on the map shows you where the ridge line of that 120 foot bluff side is.  You can kind of see how the image is darker which indicates were the steep drop is.  The brown line between the green and blue star shows you where the ridge line for the “small bluff side” is.  This smaller bluff was about 50 feet high and the ridge line was about 50 yards from where my stand would be.  

So Thursday came and it was time to hang our stands.  Thanks to my buddy Nate, the other half of The Shoot Straight Guys, I was able to hang a hanging stand instead of using my climber. 

Now, remember that each of the hunters was assigned a section and this time I had section 3.  Section 4 was next to me directly to my SW.  Unfortunately there is only one decent stand location in 4 and it butts up against the border between section 3 and 4 (shown by the blue star).  This put the stand for section 4 on top of that small bluff I described earlier and prevented me from putting my stand up there as well.  So, on the advice of my coordinator, I put my stand on the edge of the open field and below the small bluff.  This is indicated by the green star.  This ended up being a very good thing and very bad thing.

If you look at my stand location, you see a cluster of white trees to the NW.  In this area the land slanted down from the bluff and down from the open field creating natural funnel that I figured the deer would use to get from the rest of section 3 to the open field.  To the SE of my stand where the brown line is was dead fall that would also funnel the deer out into the open field.  All of this was indicated by at least three game trails that went from the woods into the open field near my stand.  It all forms what I call a natural pinch point for the deer to use.

So, now you have a feel for where my stand was and why I picked it…on to the hunt.

Friday

Let me ask you this…when you are deer hunting what is probably the single most important factor you should check when hanging a stand?  The wind, right?  Well, guess who didn’t check the wind on the Thursday before he hung his stand.  THIS GUY!  All I checked was for temp and precipitation.  It was going to be highs in the low 50’s and dry for all three days.  I saw that it was going to be windy, but I didn’t check the direction.  Turns out the wind was from the S or SSE on Friday and Saturday.  Now look at the map and see where I put my stand.   Where is the wind going to blow my scent?  Right up that natural funnel where the deer would be coming from.  Joy.

But, I had not choice, I hung my stand and had to hunt from it.  

But before I could hunt, I had to climb that hill.  Man that sucked.  I climbed up and got to my tree, bent over to drop my backpack and almost passed out.  Seriously.  I got all woozy and had to sit down and compose myself.  Climbing into a stand 15 feet off the ground is not something you should do when woozy.

But needless to say, I recovered and got up on stand.  Got everything set, was pulling my bow up and right as it was getting to the platform, the rope gave way and my bow crashed to the ground.  Man was I pissed.  Now I had to climb all the way back down, re-tie it and climb up.  Not to mention the fact that I may have broken something on my bow.  Luckily that was not the case as everything was just fine.  So, I climb back up and as I go to transfer from my ladder to the stand I hear this, slow, casual crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch of leaves behind me.  I turn around to see four legs and a white tail walking slowly away from me. I thought “Shit”.  Granted, it was too early for a shot and the deer was clearly not spooked, but not the way I wanted to start the hunt.  

Saw nothing during the day and when the end of the day came, I got down off stand a tad early because I am not a big fan of climbing down off stand in the dark.  Of course, what do I see when I am on the ground?  A deer on the other side of that open field.  So I quick nock and an arrow and grunt. The deer hears me an begins to work my way.  Unfortunately I lost the deer in the grass in the field so I took a step or two to get a better look only to have the deer come up along the edge of the woods behind me, get spooked and run off.  Perfect ending to the perfect day.

Saturday

Same weather, nothing really happened until about 4:00.  That is when I looked up to the ridge line of the small bluff in front of me.  The sun was coming down and shining right in my face, but I see the outline of a deer head silhouetted.  Then the head moved and I see a big, thick 8 pt rack.  He stepped closer to the edge of the bluff and I got a pretty good view of him.  But, he was too far away, above me  and never came down the bluff to present a shot.  This is why my stand location was a bad thing as I was looking up at the deer and even if he presented a good sight picture, I never would have been able to take a shot.  But needless to say it was cool to see a deer that big in the woods.

Sunday

Well, the day was going to start out better than the others as the wind was going to shift from the S-SSE to the SSW which means my scent was now going to be blown out over the open field instead of down that funnel.  

So around 9:00 some clouds roll in.  Nate texts me and reminds me this is a good thing as deer tend to move more in overcast skies.  Low and behold a little later I look across to the ridge line of that small bluff and there was a nice doe followed by a small buck about 20 yards behind her.  So I slowly get my bow and wait.  

She was slowly feeding and either didn’t know or didn’t care I was there.  She moved from my right to my left and followed that ridge line I have drawn on the image.  To the south of my stand where that ridge line comes to the open field is covered in dead fall so I lost both the doe and buck as they fed around me.  I am now facing SSE looking to see where they are going to come out.  To my surprise they followed the treeline back north right behind my stand.  The doe took a path into the field that put her out of bow range, but the buck took a path that gave me a broadside shot at 26 yards and I took it.  I saw the arrow hit the deer and he took off into the open field.  But about 20 seconds later, he crashed to the ground.  MY FIRST BOW KILL!

Turns out I hit the deer a little high and a little far back, but the Rage 2 blade did its job and didn’t let that deer get too far.  

Now the fun part, I waited on stand for a few hours per instructions from my coordinator, but it finally came time to gut the deer and drag it out…down that frickin hill.  Man that sucked.  Have I mentioned how much I hate that hill?

So we eventually get the deer out to my truck and I eventually make my way back to my tree stand where I sit down to have snack and try an cool off.  I am now on my third pair of socks for the day due to how hot I was getting going to and from my stand.  

I get into my stand about 2:00 and sit down to relax.  Not much happens until about 4:30 when I look to my left into that dead fall and see a doe in this tiny opening.  So, I slowly grab my bow and begin to wait her out hoping she comes down.  But, instead she beds down in the brush.  So I put my bow down and wait.  Then about 10 minutes later I hear this growling from beyond the doe.  It almost sounded fake, but it was just like those growling calls they make.  As I am looking for where the growling is coming from, I see a flash of the doe getting up a moving towards me.  At first she seems like she is going to work her way back across that ridge line that the other doe and buck were on.  But instead she pauses and when she does this fork horn buck pushes her down the small bluff and directly at my stand.  Luckily I was able to get my bow drawn before she came under my stand.  It was so cool.  Just like on those hunting shows, she was directly under my feet.  So there I am at full draw waiting for her to present a shot.  She starts to walk directly away from me, so I take a quick glance to make sure that the buck isn’t spooked by me aiming my bow and that is when she turned.  

And I shot.  

It was about 10 yards and a perfect quartering away presentation.  I hit her a little high on her back, but I was aiming at her off shoulder so I knew it was a good hit.  Funny thing is though,  the arrow completely passed through and took a 90 degree turn to my left.  I thought, “What the hell was that?”  Now, as soon as the arrow hit her she took off.  I have never seed a deer run that fast.  She took off NNW towards the ridge line of the big bluff.  It’s 5:06 and legal shooting light was 5:25.  So it was going to be dark soon.  

I got off stand and waited for my coordinator to show up.  He asked me to find my arrow, which like I said was 10 yards to the left of where I hit the deer.  I let him know I found it, but he thought I found the deer, not the arrow.  He didn’t provide any other direction so I am sitting there waiting for instruction on if I should start tracking.  He and the other four hunters in area 1 show up at my stand and it is pitch black.  At that point we realize the miscommunication about what was found and start tracking.  It has been about an hour and a half since I shot the deer.  

Well, it turns out both the entry and exit wounds were high, so there was little blood to follow.  Five of us tracked it for over an hour.  Turns out she not only took off toward the big bluff, but she went down it and followed a contour in the bluff that went down towards the creek.  You can see it as that funnel shape I drew with the brown lines.  Good news is the guys I was hunting with were really great guys.  They helped me get my stand down as well as track the deer.  We found it near the creek bottom.  I gutted it and four of the five of us got our gear and the deer out of the woods.

When I skinned the deer I discovered that my arrow ricocheted off of the deer’s front left leg and that is what sent the arrow 10 yards to the left.  There was enough energy after passing through the deer to send that arrow another 10 yards.  

I have to say I am thoroughly impressed with my bow and the broad heads I used.  Having never shot a deer before I wasn’t sure how effective it was going to be.  Two complete pass-throughs with 8 broken ribs and two recovered deer I would have to say is pretty darn effective.

So that is my story about my first Metro Bow hunt and my first and second bow kills.  I am definitely applying for a metro hunt in the future.  Hopefully there will be plenty more stories like this in the future.

See you in the woods!

Shoot Straight!

Doug

So my wife calls me while I was out getting pizza for the family and she asks me to get some beer for beer bread.  Now, normally I wouldn’t waste really good beer on beer bread, but I thought, she only needs two beers and this might be a good opportunity to try a new beer while also giving the beer bread a unique flavor.  

Since the last two beers I “reviewed” were ales, I wanted to try something different and a little out of my comfort zone.  I am usually not into porter style beers, but this one is from River Falls, WI, so I thought I would give it a try.

From the Rush River website, here is the description of Lost Arrow Porter:

Dark as night and very complex, this tasty Porter is a real gem. Lighter in alcohol than many expect, this beer is incredibly smooth and has really grown into a crowd-pleaser.

and from the packaging:

This beer is black as coffee.  Surprisingly soft on the palate, this rich dark ale goes down like silk.  Chocolate and Black Patent malts provide a roasted palate which is balanced by careful hopping to create a very quaffable beer.  

Now for the review…

First off, the aroma has a very yeasty tinge to it.  Not sure if that is good or bad.  And they weren’t kidding about being dark.  I held my glass up to a light and the beer was still opaque.  They were also right about it being soft on the palate as I found it very easy to drink.  Surprisingly to me, this beer had a very light flavor and no aftertaste at all and in fact it clears the palate pretty quickly.  I would think that being an incredibly dark beer it would have a bold rich flavor, but that tells you what I know about beer.  

One thing that I am not too particularly fond of is that it has a bit of a coffee taste to it.  I am one of those people that never acquired a taste for coffee, however, it is not so overpowering that it is ruining the beer for me.  

Overall, I would have to say that this is an okay beer.  I actually find the lack of bold flavor and the fact that it clears so quickly kinda disappointing, but it is not like it is a bad beer or anything.

See you in the woods!

Shoot Straight.

Doug

So if you remember from my first beer review, I have a tendency to like sweeter tasting beer, so for my second beer I stuck with the same formula.  This time it was a double dark abbey ale from the Abbey of Grimbergen, a brewery in Belgium (http://www.grimbergenbier.be).  I would copy and paste a description of the beer from their website, but the text is either in Dutch or French and I don’t speak either.  Some would say that I don’t even speak English, but that is for another post.

The description of the beer on the carton is:

Grimbergen Double is a rich, dark burgundy ale with a white head.  Double has undergone two fermentations, which gives this ale a chocolaty, toffee taste with a brandy like finish.  

So when I first picked up the beer, I was a little skeptical as I have seen beers labeled “Irish Lagers” only to look at the label closer and see that it is actually made in Colorado…*cough* Killian’s *cough*

But when I did a little digging on Grimbergen and the beer, I was pleased to find out that this really is brewed in Belgium and was originally brewed in an abbey.

So, in a funny way, that actually upped my impression of the beer before I even had any.

Now, to the review….

I poured the beer into a mug to get a good feel for the aroma which I would describe as light and almost cappuccino like.  My wife actually described the smell as tiramisu like.

I would describe the flavor as full flavored but certainly not overpowering and would say that it is very easy to drink.  And while there are definitely sweet undertones with the beer, I am not sure as I would describe them as chocolaty or toffee like.  I definitely tasted the brandy flavor at the end though.  There was no after-taste, which is a major plus, so all-in-all, I liked this beer.  

Only drawbacks that I see are that the bottles are 11.2 ounces and the six pack cost $14.  

So, overall this is a pretty good beer, but not necessarily one that I would stock on a regular basis due to quantity and cost.

See you in the woods!

Shoot straight!

Doug

So this past weekend I participated in the first of two weekends for my metro hunt.  

It was a pretty unique experience.  It all started early last week when my hunt coordinator called me and asked for my preference in sections.  I told him that since I was an alternate I understood that I really didn’t have much of a say as to where I was assigned.  So I told him I would like section 2 or 6.  I ended up with 6.  In this graphic, a rough outline of section 6 is in green.

The interesting part about this section is that while it appears to be a rather large section, most of it is what I would call bluff side.  There is a very narrow strip on the top of the bluff (right along that patch of little field in the middle of the image) that has a game trail that the deer use and there is the creek bottom, but in between is almost sheer bluff-side that is probably 120 feet high. There are some ridges that run from the top of the bluff to the creek bottom that are not quite as steep, but steep enough that I would not climb them.

When I scouted the area my coordinator told me that the deer like to stay on top of the bluff so that is the only part of section 6 that I scouted.  

Flash forward to last Thursday when it was time to hang our stands.  I chatted with my coordinator and he suggested that I hang my stand down on the creek bottom as the deer frequently use the ridges that run from the top of the bluff to the creek bottom as escape routes.  Well, with 6 other hunters in the area, I figured this would be a good strategy so I decided to hang my stand where the red star is.  

Friday Hunt

So the first day of the hunt comes.  I knew it would be a tough hunt because the night before there were clear skies and a bright moon.  Strike one.  

I get to the hunting site and we as a group have a small meeting just to discuss some of the rules that our coordinator has during the hunt.  For example, he wants us to stay on stand the first three hours and the last three hours of the day.  

So I get out to my stand and start climbing.  It is a climbing stand and for the first time since I started using it, I was able to get up the tree at a pretty steady pace quietly and efficiently.  I was pretty proud of myself.  

Once the sun came up though, I realized I had a problem.  I picked a tree that didn’t have any cover in front of it.  In other words, I was completely exposed and any deer coming by would see me draw my bow and get spooked.  Strike two. But, since I needed to be on stand for three hours, there was nothing I could do.  I decided that if a deer did come by that I would wait until they pass me and draw for a quartering away shot and hope that would work.  

Then after about 2 hours on stand the wind started…and didn’t let up for the rest of the day.  There were gusts up to 29 mph.  Strike three.

The only deer I saw was at the end of the coordinators drag line shot by the hunter closest to me.  His stand is represented by the red triangle on the map.

So, at the end of the day, I get off stand and meet up with the rest of the hunters.  Turns out, that deer that my coordinator was dragging was the only one shot by our entire group of 12.  So that at least made me feel a little better about seeing zip.  I spoke to my coordinator more about my stand and he suggested that I follow the creek bottom all the way around toward the eastern border of the park.  

Now, since I hadn’t scouted any of this part of the land I was kinda nervous about getting that far out of my area.  But, I had to trust my coordinator as he has hunted this area a heck of a lot more than I have.  

Saturday Hunt

So come Saturday morning, I started out in the same stand I had on Friday….with the same conditions and the same result.

However, I did take the advice of my coordinator and changed stands for the afternoon hunt.  However, since I was nervous about where to go since I had not scouted the area, I did not go far enough.   I ended up on the top of a bluff with houses at my back and a little too close to the other hunter near me.  This spot is represented by the blue star.

Needless to say, I was blanked again, but due to the clear skies at night and wind during the day, so was everyone else.

The good news is, I spoke with my coordinator again and got more clarification on where to go for an afternoon stand the next day.

Sunday Hunt

So Sunday morning comes and immediately things are different.  Half of the hunters didn’t show up.  So this changed where I wanted to hunt.  Secondly, I brought my ground blind so that it is easier for me to move from site to site. 

I decided that it would be best for me to start on top of the bluff like I had originally scouted.  So I set up my ground blind about where the green star is on the map.  Then in the afternoon, I would follow the creek around and go to the far east end of the property where my coordinator suggested.  This is represented by the orange star on the map.

This is a good place for the deer to cross the creek as they follow the tree line behind the houses south into the county property.  I also have good view of a trail along the creek in front of me.  

Again, I was blanked as the clear skies at night, windy daytime conditions and lack of hunters really made things difficult. The deer just weren’t moving.

What did come out of it though was a much better understanding of where I am going to hunt on the second weekend.  I think that starting on top of the bluffs in the morning then working my way around to the far east is going to be a pretty good combination. 

I’ll give another report after the second weekend.  Hopefully it will include pics of my first ever bow kill.

See you in the woods!

Shoot Straight!

Doug

Doug here!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to join Nate on his NM Elk hunt, but believe me, I wish I could have.  He shared a few stories over a couple of beers and it sounded like a great time.

What is great though is that while I did not get to partake in that new experience, I get to have one of my own.

Back in 1995 the Metro Bowhunter’s Resource Base (MBRB)  (http://mbrb.org/mbrb/index.htm) was formed by several archery groups here in the Twin Cities.  According to their website:

“The MBRB’s purpose is to demonstrate archery’s effectiveness as a deer management tool and to convey a positive image of bowhunting while providing additional bowhunting opportunities to urban bowhunters.”

Seeing as how I live in a metro area and did not grow up in this state, I do not have access to land that “my family has hunted for years” so I look for every opportunity I can to get out bow hunting.  So this year I signed up to be listed on the MBRB.  The best part about the MBRB is that they work very closely with local park and rec departments to set-up and maintain hunts.  So that means they do not let just any person hunt. 

Hunters are required to complete a bow hunter education course, show their proficiency with a bow at an approved dealer, and attend an orientation meeting for each hunt they are chosen for.  There may also be unique requirements for each hunt including, but not limited to, background checks. 

While the MBRB lists quite a few hunts, I figured since I was new to the listing I wasn’t going to be drawn to hunt this year.  Well, lo and behold I was, not once, but twice.  Unfortunately for one of the hunts I was out of town for the orientation, so I do not get to participate.  But, I was able to make to the orientation for the second hunt.  Without giving too many details on the hunt, it is located in the SE metro region of the Twin Cities.  Here is the view with Google Maps doing my best to remove any distinguishing land marks.

The orientation meeting was as I expected.  I found out a little more about the rules and expectations for the hunt and got to meet my hunt coordinator.  He seems like a real cool guy.  Very much a no B.S. kind of guy which is exactly what I would expect for someone organizing a hunt like this.

At the orientation I also found out how they organize the hunt.  There are going to be 12 of us on the hunt and each of us will be assigned a specific area that we call our own.  Our coordinator divided the area above into two main sections (north and south) with each main section further divided into 6 more sections.  At the end of our meeting, he had each of us choose between the north and south sections.  I chose the north section.

I am super excited about this hunt and look forward to what the experience will be like.  This weekend I will be doing some scouting and trying to find stand areas in each of the six sections as I did not know which section I will be assigned.  

Shoot Straight

Doug