I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that stopped by last week to wish my mom/hunting mentor a happy retirement. I am also glad that so many people enjoyed reading one of our classic family stories!

And thanks to all of her coworkers, the party was a huge success as well. I truly enjoyed getting to meet everyone that she works with and talks about, and I can’t thank them for giving my mom such a wonderful sendoff.

It was held at Whitey’s fish camp in Orange Park, so there was a ton of great seafood. It was fried, but my mom was roasted. She has worked with her company/state-funded agency for 18 years, so her friends and coworkers really know her. And boy did they let her have it about everything from being tight with the budget (her job) to accidentally showing up on a Saturday (Friday to her) and being upset that no one else had come to work!

They also sent her off with some very nice gifts in appreciation for all of her years of hard work. The gifts included a HUGE basket of books and books on tape (she loves to listen while on the road), a rocking chair to sit with her grandboys and a giant flat-screen TV (so the boys can watch big buck videos in style when she babysits).

Of course, since my mom loves to tell stories about me, they were also not surprised that I was late for the party. However for once it wasn’t my fault. We had to sit on I95 for over an hour watching firefighters use the jaws of life to cut some accident victims out of their truck and then load them in to the lifeflight helicopter. But while that did put us behind, all of the action did keep the kid’s from getting restless during our wait and give them something to talk about. (fortunately the news said that everyone survived)

And Matt did hit the nail on the head when he commented that he hoped that my mom didn’t read my blog since it said that we were going down to surprise her. She, just like my wife, hardly ever reads it since she has to hear about all of my adventures anyway, so I didn’t think anything about putting that info up. However she “accidentally” clicked on my blog that morning, so she did know we were coming… but she says that it didn’t take anything away from us making the trip down.

As for us, we made it back home and are all now recovering from getting sick. The kids picked up something last week from daycare, and it has made its way through everyone including me. I did nothing all weekend but rest, and unfortunately I am still trying to shake it. I believe I will survive, but I hate being sick.

Please check back again tomorrow for some more important updates on us that I have.

Jeff

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Amy and I are often asked what we do for fun living so far out in the country. And just importantly, people want to know how we entertain the kids with “nothing” to do out here.

Well, when you live in the country, there is always something to do, you just have to enjoy that type of lifestyle. And as you know from reading, we watch the wildlife. We watch them from the stand, from the many country roads and even from our house.

This is a picture of Bo and Will watching a doe in our backyard out of the window of my home office last night. She has just dropped a couple of fawns, so she was in need of some of our corn to help her milk production. And she was willing to deal with just about any type of disturbance to get a full stomach! Our boys not only fought over who had a better view, but the “baby” kept hitting the window while going “pow, pow, deer”. Now normally that would have sent her packing, but I guess she was hungry enough to put up with it last night.

And not only is watching the deer in our backyard fun, but it also shows me how well they know their environment. We have several big dogs in the yard, and they hate squirrels. So they are always guarding the corn to keep it safe from those fuzzy-tailed rats; yet, the deer always know when they are not paying attention and that it is safe for them to slip out and grab a bite…

This makes me ask, “Do you still think they don’t know when you are on your stand?”

Jeff

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I think of myself as a real hunter. As a matter of fact, I think of myself of a real good hunter. However my older son seems to have much more of the mindset of a true hunter than even I do. He thinks of nothing else anymore. To say that he is obsessed with hunting would be an understatement.

While he still watches cartoons and kid’s videos like Cars, Babe, Open Season and Bambi, anymore he is more likely to ask to watch a big buck video from Realtree or a coyote hunting video from World Hunting Group (his absolute favorite). And while we did not allow him to even have a toy gun until just recently, he now has several including one that is a friend’s muzzleloader stock with a dowel attached as a barrel. He carries these around at all times and even sleeps with them! He is also constantly “shooting” big bucks, mama does, coyotes and hogs; he also carries around his giant stuffed animal Easter bunny and shows it off as his “trophy” rabbit.

However, if all of that wasn’t enough, Amy and I are now considering an intervention to bring him back to childhood after the following exchange on Friday when we were headed fishing. We had stopped at our local bait shop, and Amy had run in to get some weights and crickets. I turned around in our van to speak to the kids and keep them from getting restless. I thought I would tell them about a couple of wild hogs that I had gotten to play with over at a friends (he had them in a pen)

Me: ” Boys, Dada saw a couple of big hogs the other day.”

Bo: “Let’s go shoot them!”

Me: “Bo, we don’t always have to shoot the animals. Sometimes it is just nice to watch them.”

Bo: “Yea, then we shoot them!”

Me: “Yes son, but sometimes it is fun to just watch them walking through the woods”

Bo: “That’s right. We have to let them walk until we have a clean shot, then we shoot them!”

I tried several more times to get my point across, but it was totally lost on a young man determined to get his first kill under his belt. Bo even told me that I could not shoot any more hogs since it was his turn…

Like the hunter’s wife, I am now in counseling!

Disclaimer: While our boys are obsessed with hunting, I don’t want any one to think that we are neglecting other important subjects like learning. Bo Hunt is 3.5 years old and knows all of his letters and numbers, and is even starting to read! Will Hunt is about to turn 2, and he also knows all of his letters, shapes, colors and most of his numbers. They are truly some incredibly smart young men, they just happen to love what dada does and want to be just like him. I could not be more proud!

I also want to let everyone know that my posting has been a little off due to being VERY busy making some important changes to our lives. I will be posting about them over the next few days, and I look forward to sharing these developments with you.

Jeff

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

We spent the morning yesterday at a friend’s pond… and what do you know, we actually caught some fish for a change. And while we certainly didn’t break any records with our two bass, we had a great time in the outdoors with the boys.

My wife Amy set the record for the day with her 2 pounder. I followed that catch up with my monster 1 pounder. Fortunately the kids think that every fish/animal is a trophy (which they truly are), so they were very impressed. We then practiced QBM (quality bass management) and let them go.

On my end, I am almost caught up on a ton of work that I have been trying to get out, so I am looking for a big week of blogging starting back on Monday.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Thanks for reading.

Jeff

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

We took the day off yesterday to have a little fun fishing with the boys at the Webb Center here in Garnett. It’s just too bad that you can’t eat fun, because we sure didn’t catch any fish!

However that wasn’t really the point. The objective of the day was to get outside, hike around the woods and enjoy the beautiful lowcountry. And what self-respecting fish would come to Bo’s pole when he is stomping on the dock, throwing sticks in the water by his bobber and yelling with excitement every time a ripple moved it like a biting fish would? But the boys had a great time running back and forth on the dock while pointing out all of the birds flying around. Bo also wanted to take a few pictures with my “special” camera, and that is his image of Bluff Lake below.

When they finally ran out of energy, we loaded up the van and cruised some of Webb’s back roads checking out all of it’s beauty. The neat looking old oak stump with the amazing flowers growing out of it was just one of the many of the sights you can encounter on the 26,000 acres that makes up Webb, Palachucola and Hamilton Ridge.

We then headed home to spend the rest of the day in the yard picking up sticks and burning them in our fire pit - truly a redneck’s favorite past time!

We are having our QDMA’s deer management workshop tomorrow at Webb, so I will have a full recap of the educational event on Monday. I will also get back to work on some of the other promised posts by then as well. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Jeff

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I wanted to wish all of the mother’s out there a very Happy Mother’s Day.

And the picture to the right is the cover of the card that I created for my wife last year for Mother’s Day… but I think that the reward has gone up since then!

Jeff

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

As some of you may know, my wife and two boys are out in California for 3 weeks visiting her grandparents. They are having a wonderful time, but I must admit that I am having withdrawals without them. The house is sooooo quiet, and I don’t have anyone here to beg me to take them hoggin’ every other minute. Nor do I get to hear about what a great hunter I am while we look at my mounts or watch big buck videos.

Luckily for the boys, Amy’s grandfather set up a bunch of archery animal targets in their backyard in CA so that they could take their toy guns and stalk them. I understand that activity has been a huge hit. And they also have cable out there (we do not), so they have been able to watch some of the outdoor channels that have hunting on. And when I call, Bo makes sure and tell me all about it.

They are finally coming home next week, and while I have enjoyed some peace and quiet as well as caught up on many needed photo projects, I am sooo ready for them too. I miss going hiking, arrowhead hunting and hoggin’ with them. I also miss all of the funny things that Bo says, and now that “baby” (Will) is starting to talk, all of the funny things that he is saying.

And a great post yesterday by The Hunters Wife about the crazy things kids say made me remember one of our most hilarious episodes here at the house. I thought I would share it with those that didn’t see my story/comment on her site…

For the most part, my wife and I keep the language very pure around here, but we all make mistakes sometimes. Unfortunately the boys pick up on anything that has some strong inflection on it, and then they want to repeat it.A while back, our oldest boy heard my wife say “Jesus Christ” about something, and then he just started saying it over and over. My wife said, “Bo, momma made a mistake when she said that, now you please stop saying that. Your grandparents would be very disappointed to hear you say that!”

Bo looked right at her and says, “Well damn!”

We are now all working on our language. And counseling starts soon… Hurry home family!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I just wanted to show everyone the pink jeep that my mom bought the boys at a yard sale a few weeks ago. We have been meaning to get some spray paint to do up a custom camo job on it, but just haven’t gotten to it. However it really doesn’t seem to matter to our two boys. They think it is the greatest invention EVER. And now all they want to do is tool around the yard.

Before the jeep, they would be outside for hours running here and there, pushing their plastic lawn mowers or pulling their wagons. But not now… those toys are for babies. And they are big boys that need to go muddin’. So while big brother drives, baby supervises, babbles on the CB and points out any mud hole worth rooting through.

And since I will be hunting out of my Toyota Corolla for turkey season (my big jeep is still out of commission), I was thinking of asking the boys to guide me. Because if my boys are man enough to hunt out of the pink Jeep, so am I!

Now maybe I need to order some of the new pink camo that NorCal Cazadora has been showcasing…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I hate to say it, but our boys have gone to the hogs.

As most of my readers know, we have been trapping hogs the last few weeks and having quite a lot of fun including our two boys in it. However the experience has now taken over Bo’s mind. He no longer wants to do anything but go and check the hog trap, or as he calls it “hoggin”, as in “let’s go hoggin, dada”. Also, he doesn’t want to talk about anything but hoggin.

“How was school today, Bo?” I ask.

“Let’s go hoggin” he replies. “There’s another HHHOOOGGG in the trap. And I need to shoooot him.”

“No boy, we had to pull the trap because of turkey season”, I say.

“No, there’s another hog in the trap. We have to go take care of him and make him in to meat”, he says.

and on and on. That is the sum of all conversations in our house now. And yesterday, he looked over at our rat terrier sunning on the floor and said, “the hog is dead. Let’s skin him, make him in to meat and eat him!”.

He then chased the dog in to his box (wire cage kennel that he sleeps in, and it does look just like the hog trap) and began shooting him with his toy gun. I had to admit it did look just like me “taking care” of the trapped hogs.

Also, the other night during bath time, he got a big mouth full of water and spit it on me. I couldn’t believe it and promptly gave him a small smack…

“What are you doing?” I exclaimed. “Have you gone crazy”

“No dada. Your a hog, and I was trying to wash all of the bugs and ants off of you. That is what you do with mean, dirty hogs.”

My wife and I cracked up. When he helped me skin that last hog, that is what I had told him we do with dirty hogs! Couldn’t exactly blame him, now could I.

Luckily turkey season starts this coming Saturday, so maybe I can get a big gobbler and take his mind off of the HOGS. However I have a feeling that our conversations will then sound like this…

“Dada, let’s go shoot a big gobbler! I hear one now”.

“Boy, turkeys are really hard to kill. And you don’t sit still very well. Maybe we can go next season.”

“Dada, you are the best hunter in the whole world. You can do it!”

Well, if nothing else, kids are the best ego boosters in the world. I guess we had better go check the trap even if there is nothing in it…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Amy said that the kids needed to get out of the house for a while yesterday, so what better way to create some family fun than to go and check the hog trap on the Jericho tract. I doubted that anything would be in there for at least a few more days, but low and behold there was a 140 pound sow waiting when we arrived.

This was the perfect opportunity for the boys to see a big, mean hog - ALIVE! And they thought it was the coolest thing ever. I then dispatched the hog so that they could see its big teeth, gnarly feet and coarse coat up close. Bo also wanted to shoot it with HIS gun too.

We then spent some time looking for arrowheads until the rain came. After that it was time to head home for dinner… But of course that was difficult since Bo could not eat for talking about the big, mean hog!

Unfortunately it is pouring down rain today, so we are just hanging out inside. Hope everyone has a great weekend! And don’t forget to check back for a couple of new posts I am working on…

Jeff

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!