Yeah Tom, we had a melt, now it is snowing again!!! LOL
Daisy is going to be good to go one of the days..
BD      

DOO-RAGS ARE IN!!!!! they look awesome!

BD          

Only 1 and a half sleeps fellas and I'll be there ! I have not been able to give Cary a hug since last year.I think he deserves a big one.  

YEEEEE HAWWWWW!!!! I'm gettin a TOM-HUG.... just don't tell everybody that thinks you are a mean guy...LOL Remember the man-rule about hugs, no longer than 3 seconds....    

Well, a bunch of the guys landed in last nite, the rest are coming this am..GONNA BE A HOOT!!!!

BD  

Don't tell anyone I gave you a kiss on the cheek when you got your hug BD.
             O.B.B.

I don't think he'll ever tell anyone anything of the sort. In fact it might take a week to get him to talk again. I think your secret is safe.

WELL???!!!!

Okay folks, I will get the ball rolling here...

Friday afternoon, I was done all the set-up and we were waiting on our hunters to arrive. the first one to arrive after a long 7 hour drive was Gary Blackburn aka "northern fisher", we got him in the house , got his gear stowed and commenced to chatting and waiting. Jim Godden , the bowyer for "Mississippi Lake Longbow"was next to roll in, followed by Olaf( Greybeard) and his son Mike.
Next in was Jake H...he was the recipient of a brand new spanky Turkey bow from Mississippi Lake Longbow.60", 50#'s @27; maple core, osage limbs and a Wenge riser..very pretty little bow.( and I didn't forget ya Jake...LOL, you are like family and are here so much, I must have figured you were here already!!!)
Luke and Tim Greer( Seeza) were the next pair to come in.
The basement was filling up with bows and gear pretty quick!

We headed upstairs where some hot black bean soup, shrimp, smoked salmon and other goodies were waiting.
So far 8 of us were here and conversing up a storm, Olaf had a new toy, fresh from Oregon to play with, a DAS master hunter! I was anxious to see that baby. I'm pretty sure the arriving hunters knew whose mailbox to turn at...      
BD      

We stayed up prety late Friday nite by the firepplace, drinkg beverages and talking all things bowhunting.
The next morning we woke and started into the first of a day of large FOOD!, a huge breakfast was served up and the remainder of the guys came rolling in from their long drives.
Tom( Harl), Phil Jestin, Ontario Longbow ( Frank), And Theo Riechart, the inventor of the Journeyman-eclipse broadhead all came in at the same time.
After greeting s and some toy-envy..LOL,
We had some grub and geared up for the hunt.
As we were getting ready Nick ( Patience ) rolled in and proceeded to hurriedly get changed.
We went to the butt and proceeded to fling some arrows of all types and sizes, there was some pretty good shooting going on.

The sun was out and the weather was deemed warm enough to get out there and bust some brush!!
Daisy my beagle was ready but here foot was not quite ready to tackle a full afternoon of busting briars and thorns; not to mention the chance encounter with one of our big northern Coyotes; she would be little match for one of them.

Away we went, bound for an area 10 minutes away that was known for its population of cottontails and thick brush...   :eek:    :eek: ...the snow was hip deep in places, just ask Harl who stepped in a hole and was up to his armpits in snow..LOL!!!
immediately we were into some tracks, and fresh sign. here are a few pics of the fellas getting ready.  

The pic is a bit far away...my daughter took it..LOl here is the rundown
L to R.  Jesse( messinwithsasquatch), Tom ( Harl), Seeza( Tim Greer), Greybeard(Olaf), olaf's son, Mike,Northern fisher( Gary), Theo, Phil, Ontario Longbow(Frank), Jake H, Patience ( Nick), Yours truly, Luke, and Jim Godden, ( missing was Barry Baker who showed up later)

Also missing is Sergio Venneri, who showed up later with a bag of goodies, some Paul Schafer home movies, along with some bear hunt video that Sergio has from his many hunts.

Some of the fellas in front of the house  during a lull in the shooting, also the boys kicking snow to look for the arrow that TOM LOST BY MISSING THE BALE!!! he he he..Tom is a longbow shooter extrodinaire; but his first shot with the DAS was a bit off....LOL

We hit the place we were parking and bailed out ready to go.
The snow was very deep and the brush thick and thorny, just the spot for bunnies! after a few small pushes and lots of sign, we headed to the main area, this spot was brutally thick and almost impossible to get through.
We pushed the bush, and a few minutes in ahead of me lazily hopping away and snubbing his bunny-nose was a real big cottontail...I tried a few times to find room to draw my bow but a 64"longbows was not to be drawn in this stuff...   :mad:    :mad:      All I could do was yell to Gary who was 40 yards away thru the tangle that the bunny was on its way to him.

Getting ready, Ontario Longbow, toting his HH bow; ready for the bunnies, unfortunately, some of the snow would be up to Frank's chest !!!!          

We made the brutal push to the tower that would be our meeting place, the stuff was so thick that some of the guys were slowed to a snail's pace to try to get through, bunny tracks were everywhere, so were coyote tracks..never a good mix for the rabbits who always come out on the short end of the food-chain stick.  
Olaf jumped one on his way out and watched as it hopped away, he wasn't about to shoot across a busy road to his credit; I'm pretty sure the bunny flipped Olaf the bird as it sped away.

Jesse after breaking into a bit of open ground, and Olaf, Nick and Mike taking a break at the tower after the hard slogging drive thru the bush, 2 bunnies were pushed, no shots were made though, this was a blast!!

We were waiting for 3 lost hunters to make thier way out of the jungle...finally we saw Tom, Tim and Luke coming across the field looking very bedraggled and beat-up...time to move to the next spot!