Deep In The Heart Of Texas

Our friend, Alli, flew into Texas for a long weekend visit at the ranch while on the hunt for her first deer.

Alli arrived on a Thursday afternoon and we immediately headed to town to scarf down some Mexican food and enjoy Happy Hour.

Friday morning we packed up the car and headed up to Llano.

We stopped for lunch at the Burger Bar and shared a true to Texas meal:

We ate it ALL. It was yummy! Clearly, eating healthy was not a top priority this weekend.

Friday afternoon/evening Alli's dad and brother joined us followed by our dear friend, Jaran, and her hubby Michael.

We spent Saturday morning walking around the property and snapping these fun pics:

                                                                    Jaran on the rocks

                                                                       Boys. Lovely.

                                                                        Handsome Hubs.

Exploring

Hunting is hard work. Haha. We had late nights catching up and sipping wine, so getting up at 5:45am to hunt was hard!

Jaran and MW

Saturday night Alli shot her first deer (a doe!). She dropped and then got up. We searched and followed her blood trail (we looked like we were on CSI-we looked pretty legit) that night AND the next morning but we never found her. We are fairly certain she jumped the fence and went to the ranch next door. BUMMER!!

We headed back home Sunday afternoon and stopped at Dairy Queen for a sweet treat.

It was an awesome weekend that I hated to see come to an end! I can't wait for Alli's next visit do she can officially shoot and find her first deer AND have pictures to prove it!

I See Antlers Up On The Wall

November 5th 2011 is a day I won't soon forget. I made history...not really, BUT I'm going to live up this moment because I can.

I shot my first BUCK. It was an 8 point and only the 2nd deer I've ever shot! The 2nd gun I've shot, too.

On 11-1-11 I drove up to Llano after class to make sure the timer was working properly on the feeder and to install the trail camera.

Friday the 4th we headed up to the ranch after T got home from work. We hunted Saturday morning and saw some bucks at the feeder, but none big enough too shoot. We decided to check the camera to see what had been visiting the past few days and we had over 500 pictures.

My handsome guide





I immediately noticed this guy visiting daily, named him Bucky, and called him mine.

We hopped back in the blind around 3:30 as we knew he had been visiting daily around 4. Well, at just 3 minutes after 4 guess who walked on up like he owned the joint??? Bucky!!!

My heart started racing, T handed me the rifle, told me to slow down my breathing and relax. I watched him through the scope for a few minutes until I had a clear shot. The next thing I knew I had pulled the trigger and I saw him fall over. He didn't even have a chance to run away. Dropped him!

I couldn't wait to get out of the blind and go se him up close.


This is what we saw when we walked up:



Next we had a photo shoot that looked like this:


















Above you will notice Bucky hanging from the gambrel. I took care of what happened next and practiced my anatomy knowledge and then we took him to the processor. Fresh venison will be hitting our freezer in 2 weeks!


It was a great experience and such a fun, fun day with Trav!! I couldn't have done it without him. He encouraged me and cheered me on!

Bucky might not be the biggest deer, but he's my first buck, a hill country deer that has survived this drought, our ranch isn't huge, and we aren't high fenced...so, with that I think I did pretty good!!

My favorite picture: