April 5 & 6
Our first local competition was this weekend! The kids and I ventured out Saturday morning to start our weekend. Three rounds of 15 targets each on the Saturday and 2 rounds of 15 targets each on Sunday. Unfortunately Kyle ended up having to work and missed out.
Saturday:
It was a warm day with intermittent clouds in the sky. We arrived out at the range at 11:00, a little later then I was hoping but we still had plenty of time to get our rounds done. We did a couple practice rounds at the bags before heading off on our rounds. We started with C loop because it tends to be a little easier walking and I figured it would get the kids warmed up for the other two loops. They both did good and had fun. The weather was a little bi-polar, it was nice and sunny then we got rained on, then it hailed, then back to rain, then sun and it just kept doing that on and off the whole day. I scored a 110/150 and Pheonix scored a 41/150. After we were done C loop we stopped to have some lunch then we made our way to A loop.
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Eating lunch- Easton was apparently a pirate
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| mommies 10x |
It was a little better, we both scored better even though having to climb a few more hills and is a slightly more demanding hike for them then C. I scored a 125/150 and Pheonix got 46/150. We made our way to B loop as soon as we were done A. This loop has always been notorious for being difficult. It is a more demanding hike and usually the shots are much harder. I found that the shots were not as difficult for me as they were in previous years but course was more difficult to walk for the kids than in previous years. One area in particular had me grinding my teeth and swearing under my breath. They had a stone sheep set up on the side of a steep hill that had a pond at the bottom. For me it was nothing, but for the kids, dangerous. Easton froze up and I had to carry him across the hill then have him sit down so I could help Pheonix get across to her peg. After, I just had them sit while i crossed over to get our arrows then had to help one at a time get to the top of the hill. After that Easton was done, he was scared of any hill we came to and was tired; and this was only #4 on the course. It wasn't a fun loop this last one so I decided that this was the loop we would cut out even though it was our best scoring loop, 126/150 for me and 48/150 for Pheonix.
Sunday:
We got out at 9:30 and was walking our first loop by 10 so we made it out in decent time. They shut down the courses at 2:30 on the last day. The weather was much nicer! Sunshine and blue skies but windy. We started with A loop. The kids were not as well behaved as yesterday but they did alright on this loop. It went quick and I scored 126/150 and Pheonix scored 51/150. We stopped and had lunch after that loop and Pheonix wanted to try out her new release we had bought her. Currently she shoots her bow bare with fingers. We had some time so I said OK and we went over to the bags so she could practice. It took her a little bit to get the hang of it but she after a few shoots she did. She was just a little out of control with it so I told her she wasn't going to use it on the course because she needed more practice and we were needing to get going on our last round. She pouted but listened. We made our way to C loop and apparently so was everyone else. The loop took us twice as long as it did yesterday and both kids were starting to get tired and whiny. By the end of C loop my nerves were frazzled haha. But I did score a 131/150 and Pheonix scored 48/150 so Sunday was our best shooting days even though we were all tired. I was able to hand in our score cards at 2:00. I ended up placing 2nd in the Women's Bowhunter Release class and Pheonix placed 4th in the Mini Cubs (8 yrs and under).
It was a successful weekend and our next shoot is April 19 & 20. But we will only be going to that one if Kyle has it off because it is a 2.5 hr drive!
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She was very happy when she
got an 8 and mommy got a 0 |
Nikita
After shooting all day on Saturday we went home to have a late lunch/early dinner and Kyle threw out the idea to go for an evening bear hunt. Just somewhere close to home. So we packed up the kids and rifles into the jeep after our meal and took off. Once we got up to the area we decided on we just slowly trucked along. No one had been up the road in the last few days which made it nice to know we were the first up there. As we came around a corner Kyle slammed on the breaks and there was a massive bear. At first Kyle thought it was a color phase black bear, but when he stopped and turned you couldn't miss that he was a grizzly bear. He jumped off the road only 20 yrds off the road and stopped to watch us. We sat and watched him as he slowly made his way up the hill away from us. He was a very healthy bear. Nice color, glossy coat and good weight. Once he was out of sight we continued on. Only about a km away we seen a big health cow moose. She didn't give us a chance to get a look at her, she ran and didn't stop. We continued on. After seeing the grizzly I wasn't feeling very optimistic in seeing a black bear.We went for about another hour and we seen a young bull moose. Then around the next bend in the next clearing Kyle stops and tells me to get out. Confused i grab my rifle and jump out. He points down the hill in the clearing and leaves with to park the jeep. I look down and at the bottom of the clearing is a black bear. Lounging in the green grass, munching away. While I was trying to decide how to rest my gun, Kyle already had his rifle down with the bipod. So I asked to use his since it was already set up. I laid down with his 7mag and got lined up. Squeezed the trigger and it rolled down the hill. I was so excited and so was Pheonix and Easton. Kyle went down to make sure it was ok to take the kids to see it. It was a very steep climb. I had to carry Easton down and help Pheonix. After we started to skin it we remembered there was a grizzly in the area. So Kyle told me to take Easton back up to the jeep and keep and eye out for any more bears and Pheonix wanted to stay and help. I packed Easton back up the hill because it was too steep for him to climb. Once Kyle and Pheonix started making their way up I buckled Easton up in the jeep with the heat on (he was cold) I walked over to help Pheonix. She did really good climbing the steep hill all on hands and feet. As I was walking over to them I heard a loud crashing in the bush above us. We all stopped and watched. I didn't see anything but Kyle seen two figures take off, wolves. So we quickly got Pheonix and my bear loaded in the jeep and speed off towards home. 
We enjoy our archery and go to all the local shows (providing work schedule works out) . Kyle is the VP of the local club here and we both help do set up and take down of the shoots. Pheonix also loves setting up and taking down as well. 
