Sledding

 Today we had James and Grace from church over to sled and play games.  I think fun was had by all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

These pictures were taken before we went to The Christmas Eve Service at church.

         Christmas Day

 Brandon trying on one of his NorthFace Jackets.

                                                        Brandon got a .22 bolt action rifle

                                                       We got an XBOX 360 for the family

                             Shadow waiting on Fred to get her present open for her so she could eat one.



Winter Wonderland

 Here are some pics we took on the way home from work one day.  This is frost on the trees.

This is our house.

Glamour Shot

Video of Brandon in Virginia City this past summer

I ran across this video and thought everyone would like to see..

More hunting

I was off today so I got up early and rode into the mountains. Since my elk tag has been filled (and the freezer too), I could only shoot a deer. I was mostly scouting for some elk for some friends who will be going in with me on Saturday.

 Stubby wanted to stop and have his picture taken by the sign:

 Here is a buck that I saw but didn't want to shoot.

 Here is part of a herd of about 40 elk that had bedded down on a ridge about a mile away. When I started walking they spooked and ran off. hard to believe they would run from something a mile away and on another mountain but I don't know what else would have caused it. There were at least three bulls in the herd.

Photo Gallery Added

Under the web cam picture, there is a new link to a photo gallery. We will put photos there from time to time.

Webcam is back!

When we got our new computer a while back, we couldn't use our webcamera with it so it has been down for a long time.

We now have a new one. When you click on the link (left side of this page), it opens the last three photos taken and cycles between them.

This camera is wireless which means we should be able to move it around to different areas to make things more interesting.

From time to time it will not be showing recent photos. Sometimes we will be using the camera for other things so it will just be showing older ones.

First day of elk rifle season

Got an elk!

I rode in to the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness on Stubby yesterday morning about 2 hours before daylight. I tied him up about halfway up a mountain and hiked to the top in the dark. It was just about shooting light when I heard a bull bugling not too far away. I started moving that direction and after a short distance, I saw a spike bull at about 50 yards. Can't shoot spikes though. He moved on so I was able to ease over to the right side of the narrow ridge I was walking on and continue. Just a short distance further and I came to a saddle (dip) in the ridge and I could see several cow elk grazing on the other side. I ranged them at 175 yards. I heard the bull bugle again just below my line of sight so I moved ahead to a small rock outcropping and set my backpack down for a rest. The bull fed up the hill into the open and I took the shot.

He should be a 6x6 but two brow tines were missing.

Sawmill bed extension

This weekend it was pretty hot (80s) so I stayed home and worked on the sawmill. I added a home made 6' extension. Now it can cut over 23'.

Shed, Logs and a Bear

I finished up the shed a few weeks ago.

We also got a new load of logs delivered. These are a little bigger than the last one. Shadow really loves climbing up on the pile!



I've also been out bowhunting quite a bit lately. I missed a bull elk this week. I went out again on Friday and got a black bear. That was the tenth bear I have seen this month. There are no berries this year so they are really travelling around looking for food.

Hunting Season - Week 1

I went down to Cabin Creek again this year. Bill (our pastor) and I hunted 3 days. On the first day we didn't see any elk but did hear them bugling. Some were within 200 yards of us in the timber.

On the second day, I spotted 3 bull elk feeding up high on the mountain side. They were about a mile away. I trotted over there on the horse as fast as I could. On my way there, I rode by a big Grizzly Bear in a meadow. He stood up on his hind legs and looked at me trotting by. He looked very suprised- I guess he had never seen someone trotting on a horse before- so he turned and ran.

I made it over to the elk, tied up the horse and tried to get as close as I could.

I managed to get within about 60 yards but the wind swirled or they saw me so they spooked a little and ran away a short distance. I tried to circle around and get in front of them again. I was walking by a clump of trees and I heard a big crashing noise in there and figured I must have spooked another elk out of there. I bugled with my elk call and out stepped Grizzly Bear #2 at 50 yards! I got my bear spray out as he started walking toward me. I got a short video of him running away after I yelled at him:

I moved on around to where I thought the elk were and decided to sit down and wait until the evening to see if they would come out again. After a few hours of sitting there, I looked over and there were 3 more Grizzly bears coming out of the timber- a sow and two medium size cubs. They were about 200 yards away. I watched the cubs chasing after birds and digging in the dirt. After awhile they started moving in my direction so I headed on out of there.

We had some snow that evening. The next morning, we got up and spotted 6 bulls up on the mountain about 1/4 mile away. We sneaked in on them but they spooked when I was about 60 yards away.

In three days of hunting, I saw 2 bull moose, 5 grizzly bears, 9 bull elk and 52 mountain goats!

Shed and garage wire

This weekend Terry and I got a few things done around the place. Fall weather will be here soon.

I spent most of the day putting in a 100 amp service wire underground from the house to the garage. Before, we just had a temporary wire strung up in the air.

We are building a new shed to replace the old one in the front. Terry put stain on it today. It still needs a roof.

I sawed the lumber out of about 6 logs.

Grand Teton, Wyoming Part 2

The blue line represents Signal Mountain Road that we rode our bikes up.

Brandon posin' on a break from riding up the mountain.

Finally!

We made it!

There was a fire but not near too near us. This is part of the group that was fighting the fire.

Look carefully and you can see a baby moose in the middle of the pic.

Here is the Mama.

Here is Brandon at the beginning of our 5 mile ride up Signal Mountain Road.

Here I am at the start.

Brandon, Fred and Shadow at the Jenny Lake Dam.

Snakes at the beginning of the trail to Two Ocean Lake.

A Bull Moose

Reading about the Cathedral Fire

This is the cable for the aerial tram in Jackson Hole.

A Paraglider - that will be me on our next trip here.

An old homestead