We have a Thanksgiving tradition at my parent's house. In the afternoon, around 2pm, all the men and I go out to shoot shotguns at clay pigeons. I usually leave the event frustrated because I cannot shoot a shotgun right and I miss almost all the targets. This year I decided I would practice shooting my bow instead. I shot a few arrows when all of the sudden I realized I couldn't see one of my arrows in the bale. Upon further investigation, I found this...
No wonder I couldn't find my other arrow! It was so close to another that it looked like the same arrow. I was pretty proud of my shot. This is the closest I have put two arrows together since I started shooting in October. It isn't a Robin Hood (shooting an arrow into the end of an already shot arrow), but it is the best I have done so far.
My uncle (an awesome bowhunter) helped me out with my shooting form on Thanksgiving, so hopefully great shooting and a deer is in my future! I come from a bowhunting family so there is a lot of pressure to score my first deer!
I have quite a few friends getting married and some have asked me what items I recommend putting on a registry. In the future I am going to start reviewing some of our wedding gifts. We received a lot of great gifts for our wedding. This will give me an excuse to use some of our favorite gifts and share them with everyone! This is the first of "Wyrill Wedding Wins!" Warning: These will be my own views on products and there will be a lot of purple. Let the purple begin!
Jake has been begging me for days to make him some chili. I am not a fan of soup. Like I usually say, "I like to chew my meal, not drink it." Call me weird, but for the most part I only tolerate soup if a crazy amount of cheese is involved. In order to keep my status as Jake's best wife, I made chili to warm him up after his afternoon deer hunt. I decided again today to stay inside versus braving the cold.
Instead of using my usual pan to make chili, I decided to try out my purple 2.75 quart dutch oven. Since it is smaller than the other pot, I figured this would keep me from making too much chili. I made the decision to use the dutch oven from start to finish. I have never used one before so it was a good learning experience.
First I browned the hamburger. The instructions said to coat the bottom of the pan with oil and warm for about two minutes. I was concerned about the amount of liquid in the hamburger at first, so I added a little bit of water. The meat browned up nicely after warming up.
After the meat was browned, I added a can of tomatoes and chili beans. I also added Kroger recipe starters chopped onion, chili powder, and corn. Anyone who really knows Redbeard knows that the way to his heart is with cube steak (made it for lunch), corn, and potatoes. So corn in the chili and baked potatoes on the side.
Here is the final product! Redbeard came by and approved of my surprise. He is excited to have a bowl of chili when he gets back from hunting.
As for the dutch oven, I am impressed! When I make a meal that has ground beef in it I will use this again. I am sure there are people that are going to say, "She has never used a dutch oven?" Yeah, I grew up on grilled cheese, cheeseburgers, and steak. What can I say? I am an extremely picky eater. Now I can say I have used a dutch oven!
As I write this post we are hiding in a row of bales. (Shhhh...don't tell the deer!) We are hoping to get our first good shot together. Redbeard has had a few opportunities to shoot at a deer, but I haven't yet. Of course I need to be a lot closer to the deer than Redbeard.
As you can tell Redbeard was being a little bit grumpy at the time of this picture. For now we stand between the bales and wait. This is a good break for us from my barn quilt block priming and RB's electric fence installation.
After the hunt analysis: Now that we are back inside and reflecting on our hunt, I will tell the stories of the November 14, 2013 bow hunt. It was an exciting experience for me! I had a shot at two does twice. I drew back to shoot one of them the first time and at the same time a truck drove by and they ran away. I was lucky enough to hide behind the bales again and the same deer came right back to the area and I had another shot at her. Unfortunately I shot too low and only gathered a few hairs on the arrow. Better luck next time I guess!
Like I said in
Meet Bowhunter Jessie, I am shooting a Mission by Mathews Craze this year. This morning we went on our first hunt together. We went out again this evening, but had no luck again! There were four does and a buck out this afternoon.
 |
| Redbeard rattling antlers |
 |
| Checking out the landscape |
 |
| Grunt call |
 |
| Our release (We each have one) It hooks on a loop on the bow string. It helps to have a smooth shot. |
 |
| Redbeard and I waiting in the blind |
 |
| Our view for the afternoon |
 |
| Nice sunset as we were walking back to the truck |
Hopefully we will have better luck in the future. I haven't had a chance to shoot yet.
This morning Redbeard and I went on our first bow hunt together. We saw some deer but didn't get a shot.
 |
| I am obviously not wearing my own clothes. Need to ask for camo pants and coat for Christmas! |
Tonight we will try to hunt out of our ground blind. We will see how it goes!
Snapshot #8 - I Have a Fabric Addiction Snapshot #10 - We Are On a Craze-y Mission
Posts
