How I spent my Saturday

Yes, I know this sounds like some kind of Monday morning, second grade book report style question, but it's not, I swear. It's actually just a few pictures of, well, what else would you do with a foot and a half of fresh snow outside? No, I don't ski or snowboard, that just normally ends in painful evenings and weekends. So have you guessed it yet?

That's right, we made a snow man...

Say "Hi!" to Bow.

That's right, Bow got his name because I used a broken arrow for his nose.
The name was a joint effort between Cassie and I

That's right, I got a picture of Cassie in her camo!! She's still wearing those
dumb Uggs, but I'll take what I can get.

But I think this was the best picture of the day.
L to R: Cassie, Justin, Buster, Bow

Sometimes it's the small things, like taking time to build a snow man, that can make memories that last forever. I didn't see one person who saw it, not have a huge smile on their face. Plus it's always nice to spend a little extra time with Cassie, considering she doesn't see me much from October through December due to Deer Season. Haha. She's a great sport about my hunting, fishing, and outdoors addictions and even joins in for a good part of them. So you might be see more of her in some post once the weather warms up and we start fishing more!

Number 1 on the Hit List..

This buck has had our (Jay and myself) attention for the past two years. Last year he was #2 on our list, but went nocturnal once season came in and never showed himself again until last this past summer and boy, did he grow. This buck was referred to as "Little Brow" due to fact that in 2009, the other buck it traveled with had a very similar rack, but the main distinction between the two was the difference in the brow tines. "Big Brow" was taken in 2009 on the opening morning of Rifle Season by a distant relative, you can't win them all I guess, but this was disappointing to see our #1 taken out from under using see as he was taken in between Jay's and my tree stand. But after that I still managed to harvest a nice 7-point that same morning, and we had hope that "Little Brow" would make to next year.

Now to fast forward to this year, we had been getting pictures of a 130" class 10-point that had all the same characteristics and "Little Brow" did, he was alive and growing rapidly. The excitement for this year only grew as the season grew closer, no one else had said anything about him still being around, he was going to be ours. Well at the very least we just wanted to see him in person, then the thoughts of what would be look like if he grew one more year, well we won't get to find that out. No, we didn't get him, neither did anyone that we hunt with on a regular basis. He was harvested by a friend of the property owner adjacent to us by Jay's tree stand. Yes, we were saddened by the news that the buck we had been chasing the last two years was dead, but shortly after that I was happy. Weird, I know, that I was happy that someone else had taken him, no. I was happy because, he was taken in the bottom corner were our properties join together, he was at least a 3 1/2 year old deer, and had great growth and potential. I was happy because, we had him pinpointed to an area and were correct, we just couldn't control exactly when he was going to be there, and I was also happy for the future of that mountain with the side of that rack, I'm sure he has some offspring running around. Here's to the future and joy of hunting for years to come.

None other than "Little Brow" himself.

Annual Romney Apple Trip

Well it was about that time of year, no not time to start shooting my bow (that should be done year around, if at all possible), it was time to head to Romney, WV. You may ask why I'm excited about this, well this has become a tradition, not one of mine but one I got invited to join. One of my best friends, Jay, and his family and friends always make a pilgrimage to the apple orchard of Romney for deer apples around the middle of September.

I will start by saying, in West Virginia it is legal to feed deer, this is different in every state and even different in different parts of states, so make sure to check your regulations throughly, but this is mainly a personal choice to feed or not to feed, given it is legal. Now after the Public Service Announcement, back to the story. This is normally an early morning adventure with a caravan of pick-ups with trailers in tow, heading out in search of apples, not that we don't know where we're going, but that just made it sound more majesty (haha). This may sounds like a yearly chore for some people, but this is our unofficial count down starter to bow season (this trip normally takes place within a month of bow season starting). The ride to get the apples consists of everything and anything you can imagine hearing around a campfire at deer camp. Roughly three-fourths of the way there is the only pit-stop, just enough time to refuel, unload all the coffee that was consumed on the ride, and then to fill up the coffee mugs, again. Only a little while later are we were all pulling into the orchard, lining the trucks up to get filled with crates of apples. While the trucks and trailer are getting loaded, half of the guys standing around looking and laugh at how much each others trucks are squatting due to the apples and the other half of us are inside the shop filling our order from home for eating and baking apples.Once everyone pays for their goodies and piles back into the trucks, the voyage back begins, albeit a much slow venture. Now is time to start eating the apples and discussing who's going to take the biggest deer, where everyone is going to be hunting opening morning, and what the rest of the day has in store.

As we close in on our destination back home, the caravan starts to break off one by one, then it's our turn. Now we're back at Jay's house, but with a load of apples that needs to be unloaded and bagged; that's where all the fun begins, not really, but it still an interesting time to say the least. After the apples are bagged and put away or loaded into my Jeep, it's time to head home and put out some apples in front of the trail camera. Just another way, another tradition to make the memories of hunting and the great outdoors special.

-Justin

P.S. - Jay and I are actually talking about making a trip up there later this month to get another load of apples, hopefully if that happens I'll remember my camera to take some pictures for everyone to see.

Stop and Smell the Roses - It's More than a Flower

As I sat behind my parents house over the this past labor day weekend, cooking s'mores over the campfire, with my cousins and aunt, who were visiting from suburban Washington, D.C. and my parents, we began to reflect on what we had done that day. To myself, this was an semi-average day consisting of  walking around a rural, river valley town, going to check trail cameras, exploring the area around my tree stand, showing Austin and Avery (my two younger cousin who were visiting) the wonders of what a little green shoot of sassafras can taste like, a trip to the river to wade in and skip rocks, and a night cap of a campfire and s'mores. To us, lucky enough to grow up in this great mountain state, this doesn't sound like such a far fetched day. But to those two elementary aged children this was a new wild and wonderful world of amazement and adventure. As the recap continued, there was a sense of awe from my aunt, who visits western Maryland on skiing trips and is familiar with the area, over the past days events. The amazement she was showing took me back to some degree. Who would have thought that a simple day in what I considered an ordinary day could have such an impact on someone. 


After the s'mores were eaten, the fire had smoldered out, and the young ones were tucked into bed, it began to hit me that the life I lead in the mountains might not be that ordinary. But for those of you that live and breath the outdoors know what I'm referring to, but those series of events have helped me remember a saying, or more so a motto to live by that my grandfather taught me at a very young age. This is something that I've thought, back then, could be mastered in a childhood, but now as an adult have come to realize that this is something you will never fully grasp, even in a lifetime. That motto is to, "stop and smell the roses." Such a simple little line, something you may have even heard a few times throughout your life, but I beg you to heed this advice. Whether you are hunting, fishing, going for a hike, camping, or even just skipping stones across the river, "Stop and smell the rose" for a while. Life will be there, yet the experience that you will take in, just those few extra moments with the people around you or even by yourself will make memories that will last a lifetime. As for where I learned this; It would have been just another hike with my grandfather, but a quarter of the way into the hike we reached the first bench on our way up the mountain, overlooking a one of the West Virginia valleys that Route 50 runs though, and he told me just stop for a moment. I did, but with a dumbfounded look on my face for sure, I asked him "Why?", knowing that he wasn't tired or in need of a break. And right then, at the ripe ol' age of six, I learned one the most valuable life lessons to date, that I still try to achieve to this day, "...just stop and smell the roses for a while. This trip isn't about getting from start to finish, but about taking everything in along the way." That trip, right then, became a memory that will last a lifetime, just a matter of 30 seconds of explanation and few moments of "stopping and smelling" has left an impression me, my life, and my views for eternity.