Colt's Two Dears

Colt's deer hunt ran for 2 weeks.  The Monday before the end of the hunt he took River Silver Summer and Mommy out to see the deer.  We had a such a fun time looking hard to spot the deer.  We didn't see very many in the morning, but in the afternoon/evening just before dark we saw deer after deer after deer!  It was awesome!  

The girls had fun rolling down the window and watching for big puddles to splash through.  

Singing, talking, laughing

We ate some jerky on our ride and the girls decided they wanted to get a deer to make our very own jerky.

Hollow Tree

There is a cliff here with big boulders all the way down.  We stopped and threw rocks down and listened to them jump and bump all the way down.  Friendly chipmunk that would eat potato chips also lives here.

While waiting for Daddy to glass and track deer we found:

TONS of pretty wildflowers

Smiles

Frowns

Butterflies

And MUD!

SQUISHY MUD!  

Just right for little fingers, toes, legs, arms, faces....

River LOVED going out so much to find deer that she really wanted to get one with Daddy.

She wanted to make that jerky!

I was excited for her to go, but unsure how it would go for her when the deer was actually shot.

She has a very tender spirit and life is sacred - we hunt to enjoy the hunt, enjoy each others company, and use the meat.  

She very much enjoyed her time with Dad and they had candy, sang, talked and hiked.  She would pick wildflowers and pretty rocks while he glassed and stalked deer.  They helped get vehicles unstuck from the deep mud, and even got themselves unstuck!  She was a trooper to gather up sagebrush and build a road to drive the truck out of the mud on.  They even had an adventure backing up the truck to the trailer to pull it out in the dark.  This is a difficult feat for Mommy and Daddy to do.  She stuck with all the hiking and long hours.  The last day of the hunt Colt decided to forgo the big buck to get some jerky for River.  

They found a buck and and Daddy shot it.  River kept asking "Is it time to go yet?"  They needed to wait in case he was just injured for the deer to bed down.  River followed the blood trail and came upon the buck.  She was so happy to have got the buck.  She helped Daddy gut out the deer - what an amazing experience to talk about all of the organs and how they function, what they look like and what they do for us.  Biology and Anatomy are a testament to me that there is a God.  Everything works so well and goes hand in hand to bring life - even the cycle of life - meat is protein which our bodies utilize for muscle and energy.  

But enough chat:  On to the HUNT! 

When it came time to take him to the truck Daddy asked if she would carry the bow/arrows.  No WAY!  She wanted to help drag the deer!

We made excellent Jerky!

The whole family helped marinate and put in the drying racks.  

We decided a girl that loves hunting so much and is such a great trooper needed her own camo:

She got boots, Camo Overalls, camo hat and Camo coat for the Elk hunt.

River wrote a note to Daddy with the quote:  "Camo, It's like coming home"

Unfortunately:  it was extremely foggy on their elk hunt - could not see much of anything.

Fortunately:  River and Daddy were there - nothing can get these two down - laughing, talking, making the best of it, they had a great time even though they didn't see any elk.  

Daddy brought River back after a few days and returned the next Monday to hunt.  Under protest River returned to school.  Daddy sent us pictures that night to show the elk he got!  River wore full camo the next day to school in celebration!

Thank you Colt!  What an amazing Daddy to take a little girl along on his hunts!

Huntin's in the blood

Silver and Daddy at "Muley Crazy" 

Silver just can't wait until she is old enough to join Daddy too :)