Hiking with Guns- First Foray

Jonathan took all of these photos on the first foray up to the ranch on the first weekend of deer season. Nary a deer, but great scenery. As usual!!! 

Jon was intrigued by the odd shapes the trees had. Probably from the winter snows bending them over. 

Steve out in the grasses. 

             
                 

 A sudden storm came up while they were out on Sunday evening. Jon said, 'It looked like it was heading toward the ranch, but it veered off and followed the Umatilla upriver." They were a bit concerned as they watched rain and lightening come towards them, but they didn't get wet and the photos are rather awesome! You can see the layers of clouds and sky and earth.

 Jon got a new scope. He was attempting to photograph a bird thru it. Jon told me, "It {this scope} is a bit more complicated than the last one." The other photos are random pictures  he sent.

 Sunset on Monday night. They didn't get the chance to get out and hunt during the week this year, but there is one last weekend left. Steve is taking the Mercury to the annual Harvest Fair car show and will join Jon later.

Hiking and Hunting-

The first thing they found on their last hike was a super ticked off snake. Jon saw it from the back of the truck and jumped out to grab it. I do wish he was more discriminatory in his snake grabbings, but there you go! This reptile entertained them for quite a while, but it was hunting season, so they finally let him go.
The colors are so beautiful in the fall. I love the different hues of reds and greens and yellows that God put in His world.

This tiny 'X' in the photo above is sort of funny. Jon took more pictures of the land and the foliage before they found another snake.

This one was also not impressed to be a toy, but suddenly Steve stopped and said, "There's a deer over there!" (by the 'X') They realised it was a buck and they were very fortunate the deer did not 'see' them playing with the snake! After a short bit, the shots were fired and God blessed us with dinner!!!

Steve was VERY happy!!! After they took care of it, they heard noises in the tall grass just a few feet from where they were and lo and behold, there were cows. Steve and Jon were thankful the shots did not wander into THAT herd!

Sunset in the hills is always beautiful, but when you are successful, it is even more impressive.

This one was a lot bigger than Jonathan's, even if Jon's did have the larger rack!

Another Hunting Hike

The weather has been dreary, but the colors and scenery are amazing. It appears Jon shot the only buck on all 300 acres--they have seen a lot of does and fawns, but nothing with antlers. They'll show up next weekend, after the season ends.

The upper pond and reflections of the trees.

I love this one- Jon is an amazing photographer!
Steve looking over the ranch. The hills remind us of the time during the flood in Genesis. You can just imagine the water receding from the tops--if you don't agree the flood could change so much so fast, I remind you to think of Mt St Helens. In just minutes valleys were formed and entire trees were washed into lakes where they took up residence on the bottom as if they grew there.

Another favorite photo.

They also saw huge flocks of birds migrating. It took a while, but am pretty sure they are Sand Hill cranes. (he took a few that were blurry, but had more definition in the shape of the silhouette.)

A hunting we will go....

October 1 was a VERY busy day! We started the day by going to a young man's Eagle Ceremony in Pendleton. It was incredibly special and I was so glad I insisted we needed to go. Later on, Steve and Jon went off to the mountains. It was a lovely day. The clouds were puffy, the sky was blue, and the colors of the world were amazing!

Jon took several photos of Steve (as usual) and then they finally got down to business.

Steve called me from the ranch--it was getting dark--and told me the end of their day of hiking was better than the first part. And then he told me Jon got his deer. It was not pretty, but he prevailed! Our one shot, clean kill kid sort of ran away this last year as a youth hunter. Yet, he did manage to bag Bambi's older brother!

I took several other photos after the guys maneuvered it into the shop and around the engine less Bronco. However, they are pretty grisly. Even for a mom who is used to hunting photos! Jon shot it a couple of times. One shot shattered his back leg and also hurt the corresponding leg. Another shot literally creased his belly fur and the final shot was from 10 or 15 yards away. It was definitely a lethal wound....At any rate, Jon's pretty happy. This antler set we are going to keep as horns only. We still haven't taken care of last year's head..which is in the freezer still! European mounts are so messy!!!!!!

Hiking with Guns, continued.

Monday after school. It was just barely 4 o'clock and here he is hiking away into the grass. At 430 I heard two shots. Several minutes later I saw Jon hiking back, almost running. Sans coat, hat, gun, and with a huge grin. Yup, he got a deer!

However, it was a bit of a ways away and in a gully. He did drag it up from where he shot it, but it was still on a hillside. The first photo shows about the location of the kill. (the lighter green bushes near the darker ones by the taller lone bush..kind of in the upper right of the photo.....got that?) He did say it was a 'Forrest Gump shot' and he managed to avoid all the guts. He thinks he is going to write to Remington because their core lok bullets don't expand when they hit bone, they explode. Which did ruin a bit of meat, but not much. They did find one fragment.



The deer was, they think, an older one. Steve says it was a 6 by 4, including the eyegaurds, and the antlers were thick and spiky. The ears on the deer were notched in at least 3 places by what we think were previous fights. It was a pretty big and heavy buck.

This was the first 'knot' made to haul it the rest of the way out of the draw. Things actually went more downhill from there. It didn't take long to get it cleaned out (via cell phone instructions by dad), but the hard part happened when we tried to get it in the truck. We used several methods and ended up calling for dad again. We were planning on meeting him partway and dragged the buck several hundred yards through the grass. However, we hit a snag. Well, more of a ditch than a snag. And since I am the mom, I had to check out what happened and fell in the ditch also. By this time, it was dark. If we had gone 6 feet on either side of the ditch, we would have been fine. But, we didn't.


As you can see, it was a bit of a jarring experience for all involved. The tire is off the ground and the truck was sitting on the bumper and the leaf springs. The driver's door would not open because the cab itself slid forward on the frame. Other than that, they were able to dig it out and it drove home fine. But apparently, getting stuck on the ranch is a Hansell tradition. So, Jon has officially joined the club.

The deer is now hanging and Jon plans on putting this European mount (he wants another one) opposite the one in his room with the coyote tail hanging from its antler. Go Rednecks! We were all pretty sore on Tuesday and my ankle is swollen, but on the whole, it was an eventful afternoon and evening that we will never forget!

Hiking With Guns-Part 1

The scenery was lovely, the weather was amazing, but the deer were scarce. I was told they saw one, but he scented them and was hot footing it elsewhere. It could have been the sounds of WW2 in the hills around them, too! It appeared that everyone was out in force this weekend. It is frustrating to see so many deer and then when you need to see them, they are gone!

Jon did get a coyote. It was sort of cute, he told his dad how he shot it by using Teddy Grahams as markers. That, I think, was one of the key notes of this first part of Hiking with Guns. They REALLY liked Teddy Grahams!