Deer Hunt

So this years deer hunt was a blast! Well all deer hunts are great fun, but this one was ever better! Mainly because this year I actually got a deer! All by myself. You see Mr. Mont Connell here has had some issues with hunting and actually succeeding at it. I've shot 2 big game animals in my 10 or so years hunting. I got my first deer back when I was 16, and an antelope 2 years ago. Those were great hunts, but the deer hunt was starting to get pretty dang frustrating.

So this year the group decided we were gonna try an area that they had tried a few years back when I didn't have a tag that somewhat worked out for them. Man was I not excited about this area lol. Mainly because it was gonna take a 4 mile hike up a mountain to get to this area. Oh did I mention that there was no trail to this area either? So we got all set up and ready to go. The nice thing is the first time they did this hike was at 2 in the morning, this is not something that they wanted to do the second time around. So my boss and I took Friday off and we met up at his house got the group together and headed up the mountain. We got to the parking lot at the base of the mountain and got our packs all ready to go. Looking at this mountain I thought to myself and said what the crap did I just get myself into? This was gonna be all straight up. Crazy! I was reassured that there is a good chance that there will be some good size bucks up this high. So off we went. Man it was a long hike. Took us about 4 hours to get up the mountain and find a decent flat spot to camp in the trees away from the elements. We found a good place set up camp and our beds, which were pine leaves thrown on the ground for a bed cushion and a tarp. Pretty dang awesome. Then we decided to go scout around some. There was a pretty lake off to one side that was surrounded by a huge cliff. Yeah most likely will not be trying to shoot something off that side. We did see a buck down in that valley though. On the side where we were hunting just before nightfall we did see a few dozen deer with a few bucks in the mix. What we were hoping would happen in the morning is that the hunters that were on four wheelers or walking around would push the deer our way up over the top and right down the mountain right past us. From the deer that we had seen running around we were pretty hopeful for the next day. We got back to camp built a small fire and mad dinner and just chilled by the fire till we all got tired enough to sleep. Not much you can do on the top of a mountain at night so we went to bed pretty dang early around 9. Which is no problem since we would be waking up around 530 6 to get ready and set. We were in bear country and I had a pistol with me in my sleeping bag just in case. The guys all had their rifles loaded as well. I've always found it hard to sleep the night before the hunt cause I get way too excited. That night was no exception. I also thought a bear was in camp. Scared the crap out of me. I was awoken by something bumping into my leg then bumping my head. Well bears do that to see what it is and if it's alive or not. So I tried to stay as still as I could, cause I could hear deep breathing and was like well this just made the hunt a lot more interesting.......being attacked by a bear the night before has gotta be some sort of record on the list of crappy stuff to happen to someone while hunting list. I was about ready to look out to see what it was and point my gun and shoot a few rounds, when I realized what it was. I was sleeping next to my friends dad Keith and I was facing him. He moved and hit me and he snores like a beast. So I told him in the morning and we all laughed about it. We got up in the wee hours of the morning and started our hike up to our spots. Gerard and me were going up higher and the other 3 were gonna head straight out and wait by some trees. We got set and within about 20 minutes of the opening day of the hunt we saw our first deer head over the hill. All does. A few minutes later another group came up, the 3rd deer back was a buck! So I tried to get all things ready but we were on a weird angled hill and the deer wouldn't stop moving. So by the time I got ready they were too far away. So we sat for another hour or so looking at does and birds when I heard something rustling in the trees next to me. So I figured I would keep my eye on that spot for a while. Well after about 30 minutes a deer stepped out with it's head down eating some grass. I kept my eye on it seeing as it was only about 50 yards from me. It finally lifted his head to take a look around and it was a buck! A nice 4 point. So I took aim at it to make sure it was and told Gerard to take aim as well. Well that was a huge mistake....I turned around got my sights on him again. He had no clue we were there. I was ready to take my perfect broad side 50 yard shot on a nice buck. Had my finger on the trigger, held my breath, started the pull and the deer fell over. My heart sank. Here I was seconds away from taking the biggest deer I've had a chance to shoot at and I missed my chance. Keith noticed the buck way before we did and was watching it and was worried that it was gonna get away so he took the shot. Which is great! He got a really nice one. I was worried though. That shot was probably heard through the whole canyon and it would be a long time before another group came by. Or so we thought.

After about waiting for another 10 minutes or so and watching Keith make his way to a buck which had fallen down a small cliff, Gerard and I saw two deer come up over the top and stop between two trees. We couldn't tell what they were with our eyes cause they were about 420 yards away so I got set just in case and Gerard took a looksie. All of the sudden I hear they are both bucks! They were both 2 points, but the one in the back was bigger. I was excited! But also pretty dang freaked out. I had never taken any animal from farther then 220 yards. So even though I believed in myself that I could make the shot, I wasn't having my hopes up. The nice thing is that on the way up I told Gerard that I was willing to take any deer, he offered to help if I needed it. So I had him as a back up. This all went through my mind within about 30 seconds. I got ready took the safety off, braced myself, breathed then held it put my finger on the trigger, got the distance and wind and took a shot...................bang! The deer took off and the stopped another 10 feet from where it was. I shot below about and inch. So I put another round in and shot again.......Bang! High I hear...crap! This buck was not getting away. The other 2 point had already taken off was long gone, but for some reason this deer couldn't figure out where the bullets were coming from so he just stood still after running off a few feet. Ok I thought to myself. First shot was low second one was high aim in between those two spots and shoot again. Bang! Thud........That noise is always a great one...and a scary one. We looked at where the buck was and he was no longer there.....Did I hit him? Did I make the 420 yard shot? Gerard confirmed that he also couldn't see the deer. So I put in three more rounds and took off towards where he was. That walk took and seemed like forever! I really had no idea how big he was cause I just saw horns and put my cross-airs on a body. I didn't know if he actually was down, or just wounded and running. I got up to where I thought he would be and there he was just sitting down. I did wound him. Which made me sad. So I got set put in another round and got ready to fire...He saw me got up and tried to run. Bang! Hit, still going, another round bang! He ran a few more feet and fell. The adrenaline and excitement that ran through my body is something I can't describe. When I came up on him I got a view of how big he really was. He was a monster two genetic two point. What does that mean you ask? Well a buck will lose it's antlers after the rut each year. They grow back a few months later and will always grow back different. What was a huge 5 point one year could be a spike the next. It just depends. A genetic buck means that they grow the same points every year but they just get bigger and bigger. Which could actually be a good thing for breeding if the buck was a good size deer, but seeing as this was a two point he was just gonna produce more two points. Which could be cool, but from a hunting perspective not so great. So apparently I was doing justice to the population.

I got up to my buck and poked him with a stick to make sure he was done. I then jumped up in the air and gave the sign that he was done! Ah man I was so happy. Suddenly all that climbing and hiking was worth it and my 7 year stint without a buck was done. I had a huge buck. He was fat and had some really pretty antlers. Keith made his way up and said that was the biggest two point he had ever seen. We got to work boning out the deer and packing him up, then headed over to Keith's animal which was also a big bodied buck. We had tons of meat coming our way. We got back to camp and sat everything down, ate and took a nap. Time came to take the long trek back down and man was I not excited about this part. my pack alone now went from just weighing maybe 30 pounds to almost 90. Going straight downhill with no trail and a huge pack was gonna be killer. The hike only took us an hour and a half but it felt like forever...That thing weighed so much and I have never taken anything like that down a mountain. We got back though and got ready to go. I still couldn't believe I had gotten my deer withing the first maybe 4 hours of the opening day. It was so worth the climb we had to do to get our deer. The group went back up there later in the next week and we ended up filling 8 of 10 tags that we had. It was a great hunt.

Crazyness

They are great days aren't they? This one for some reason hit me pretty good. I was thinking a lot about a lot of different things and I'm pretty sure that those things are still all jumbled up in a huge mess in my brain, but we are gonna try to get them out in a way that makes some sort of sense to me and those of you that read this.

The last couple weeks o so have been interesting ones to say the least. Ever since I got back from Spain they have been this way. Not sure why, but I have been in a more pensive mood then before and these last couple weeks have been good for that with some of the things that have gone down.

I got a text about 3 weeks ago from a friend of mine that directed me in a show almost 2 years ago now. The show that she had gotten cast in was looking for someone to fill in a role and she wanted to know if I wanted in to give it a shot. I can't really ever turn down a role that sounds somewhat interesting, so I went down to UVU where they practice and they had me run a scene with them, so I ran the scene and got the part. My guess is because they just really needed someone to fill in for the part so the show could get going. I know that I am somewhat talented, but I also know I tend to be the guy they just call when they need someone to fill in a spot. I got the script and headed home to look it over. The show was opening in about a week and a half and I need to see exactly what I had just gotten myself into. Well I opened the script and was kinda blown away by the amount of lines I had to memorize, along with a huge monologue that I had to get down pact as well. Needless to say rehearsals kinda went pretty slow and as we got to the moments where we moved to the new stage a lot of us were pretty worried about how the show was going to go. It also rained on us and was freezing cold the whole week, so that was gonna suck. We got to opening night and of course it rained and was butt cold. It was the same on Saturday and Monday nights as well. Surprisingly though the show went really well those days as it did the rest of the run. We had a lot of funny moments and it was a good time. We had some of the usual drama that shows have but all in all it was a pretty good time. Even the writer of the show showed up to a few performances and after one sat us all down and talked to each one of us. Told us what he liked about our performances as an actor and what he liked about how we portrayed his characters.

We had a stake football tournament during this run and it was a blast! Basically it consisted of one day and it was single loss elimination. The rules are kinda lame, no blocking with your hands, no running behind your teammates when you have the ball and lots of other dumb ones. You have to have at least 4 girls on the field at all times and they have to touch the ball at least once in a series of downs. Emails were sent out to all that wanted to play and we had a couple of practices before our games. Friday they played, I couldn't go cause of opening night, and we won. Sounds like that game didn't really matter cause all the teams that loss were there on Saturday as well. We had a really good turnout for the games, I think only one team had more then we did show up. I misses the first game because it was at like 8 in the morning and I wanted to sleep in some. We won that game and advanced on. After you played a game you would wait about an hour and then you would play the next game, so I showed up for the next game and was there the rest of the day. It was a blast! Our girls were amazing! They played so well. We ended up sweeping the whole tournament. We had one game that was pretty close, but other then that we blew everyone away. I guess it helps to have a bunch of players on our team that played football and rugby in high school and college lol. All in all it has been a pretty good last couple weeks.

Conference Weekend

Last time conference went around I was in a pretty bad place. Things just went south with someone really special to me(one sided here) and I kinda didn't really want to do much for conference or even watch it. It had brought a lot of bad memories back to me for some reason.

Well this time around I tried not to think about it too much. I woke up at the butt crack of dawn cause we had football practice and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Met some really cool people and even came away with a knock down and some gashes on my legs. Most of us then headed to our bishops house for breakfast and to watch the first session of conference that morning. I was sitting next to some new friends just talking about each other when I got a text message on my phone. It was from an old friend of mine that was right there with me through a lot of the downs of that last relationship(sorry for those times).... The message just plain and simple said will this conference be better for you then the last one? I was confused for a bit then remembered what she was talking about. So that was kinda my motto for this time around. I was going to make it a better one, as a matter of a fact the best one I have had in a long time.

The day was off to a great start. I didn't stay too long after a few people left cause I had some things to take care of before Priesthood session. So I listened to it in my car on the way home and sat and watched once I got there. I then headed up to Sandy to pic up a few of the things that I needed that day. Ended up picking up a few more things then I needed but it worked out. Went home and set those up as well. Watched the next session or as much of it as I could while I went over lines for my new show. Priesthood session is probably my favorite session out of all of them. The talks seem to always be directed at me. Or at least a few of them do. There was a couple through the whole 2 days that really impacted me. After we ate as a group for priesthood some of us met up and headed down to thanksgiving point for a turn on there haunted mazes and such. Those were way fun. Made some new friends that night too. Sunday was just a relaxing day of going over lines watching conference and learning a thing o two I didn't know before about our savior. Sure do love the guy.

I thought back to what my friend asked Saturday morning and I did have a better conference this time around. The person that took 9 months away from me for nothing was still on my mind but it's more of a why was I with them in the first place kinda thing. I her and her fiance a few weeks ago and they just seemed so awkward to me. She is getting married this week and it just seems like another day to them. Like they don't care. Not sure about you but I want my wedding to be a big event! Anyways, I'm glad things went the way they did this October. I look forward to the rest of the year.

Day 4

Today was a pretty cool day as well. Woke up played games with Javi and headed to Baton for the parque de attracciones...Why it's called the park of attractions and not some cool name I have no idea. When we got there the place looked typical Spain...which is so cool! They have tons of random weird stuff that I love! We got settled in and got on some rides. The rides were all pretty cool but pretty short at the same time. Most of them lasted maybe a minute o less, but they were INSANE! one twisted and turned the whole time we were on it. One takes you straight up and then Shoots you in the air backwards. Loved it. My friend got a little sick so we chilled after that one and then decided to try a water ride...Did I mention that these water rides to everything they possibly can to make sure you leave completely soaking wet? The first one we did takes you right through a water fall at the end..Soaked. The next one drops you 15 feet into a pond...Soaked...But great fun non the less! I was kinda tired the whole day so I got bored pretty quick. The place was way fun though. What always interest me though is how different people here react compared to back in the states. People were taking off their shirst on rides, girls walked around in nothing but a bikinni, which I'm not gonna complain about, although there were a few that should of been approved to wear one before they did........but the people and rules here are so different.

I know I get ready to head home in less then 10 days but sometimes I feel like I'm here on my mission again and have another 2 years to go. mainly because I can't use my phone here o see Melinda, who I miss! Some days I just wanna go home o to a place where I can talk to her o my family. Oh well though, I remember the other night when we were at the ccm and realize welp those guys still have 7 weeks before they even get out of that building then another 21 months after that in Spain, and I feel better...horrible yes, but it works..Being in that building though gave me the feeling of the spirit more then I have anywhere else besides the temple in a long time. I missed that feeling. Being with the missionaries and talking to them after was just great fun. I can't wait till they get to go out and experience what I did for 2 years. Some days I felt just like I did today. I wanted to go home so bad and just be with familiar faces and places. Some days were like the other days of this trip, I loved being there and couldn't wait till the next challenge came my way. Helping the Lord find his lost sheep and letting him take my full self into his life. Hopefully they feel the same way...

Well until tomorrow night! After we go to a city I have never been to before! Super stoked for that!

Day 3

So I now realized that since I have actually been on vacation since last Sunday that this should technically be called day 6. I just don't care to change it...So day 3 it is. Today was a pretty nice easy day actually nothing too bad at all. I woke up around 1 cause I had to meet a friend in Madrid so we could go to a theme park. Well she called me from work and told me that she would prefer to go on Thursday cause she was super tired and didn't want to go today. Which is totally fine with me! Yes I'm on vacation and yes I'm supposed to be doing great awesome things every day, but think about it. It's not like I'm in the states. I'm in Europe. Just going out and sitting on a bench watching people here is fun. People here are quite hilarious actually. So I actually just slept a little bit longer and got up and ate breakfast. Javi came in and we got talking about his girl and how he was in Madrid all morning. His mom and grandma were in the living room watching one of their many favorite t.v. shows, los bandaleros so Javi was actually really bored lol. So I went back into my room to do some homework. Got a good amount done when Javi wanted to play some video games. Which I was cool with cause lets be honest people...the kid looked bored to death and needed to do something. So we played for a couple hours till his the ladies of the house wanted to watch another of their t.v. shows that they watch here every day. Which I was cool with cause I wanted to get some more homework done. So I went back to my room turned on some Home Improvement on the Youtube and watched till about 7. I was meeting a friend in Madrid around 8, so I had to get ready to leave. I asked Monica to come with me cuase if she didn't when the night was over with Jorge I would be wandering around Alcala trying to find my way home. So we took the train and then the bus down to Madrid, Plaza Del Sol to meet up with Jorge. Jorge is a really good friend of mine from a city called Guadalajara...not Mexico...Spain...His city was my second area in Spain on my mission. He has a family and a great wife with now 3 kids. Only one when I was there. We met up went out to eat and had a great time. Had one of my favorite dishes....Paella..love the stuff. Basically awesome rice with great other things. At the end of the night after a good conversation and 2 bowls of icecream, he took me and Monica who went to visit her aunt back to her house. I'm planning on staying with him next Friday night so he can take me to the airport in the morning since no one will be at Monicas place...she is going to Denmark Friday morning and her Mom doesn't really know how to get me there. All in all it was a great trip and tomorrow is the theme park day!

Day 2

Today was a really fun day. I'm still a little wacked out from the time change, it's probably around 7 back home which means its like 2 in the morning here, but because of the time change I can't really sleep well. Last night I slept for a couple hours, woke up, watched some youtube shows and went back to bed and woke up at like one here. It was nice. I got ready ate, caught the bus and went to Avenida de America to meet up with a friend to go see the sights of Madrid. Now most of you are probably thinking you have spent 2 years there, didn't you see all that already? Well yes most of it I have seen, but it was different this time. Before I was a missionary. Everything was planned and most of it all happened on pday. Which meant yeah during the week I would see it but it was on a time limit and so on.

We went to eat first at TGIF Fridays. It was actually a lot better then in the US(I got sick the last time I went in Utah and haven't been since). Then we walked around the city a bit. We went to the Palacio Real which is where the king and queen of Spain used to live. We went to the huge freaking church across the street from there. That was way cool and weird inside. Old churches are pretty cool to see though. Then we got ice cream. After that we went to an egyptian temple. Why in the crap they have a temple from Egypt in Spain I have no idea, but it was pretty cool. We then took off to a park and just chilled. That was one of my favorite parts of the day. We could just go sit down and take it all in! No being rushed no having to stop people to try and talk to them, we just sat and chilled. Which was really nice. Around 8 we grabbed the metro and headed to the CCM which is the MTC that they have here in Spain. It's like a mini Temple Square. They have the temple a stake center and the ccm. We went there to be fake investigators for the missionaries so they could teach us. I was kinda not really wanting to go at first, but when we got there all the memories of when I was in the same place that all the missionaries are now it was great! We had a good time with them and I felt their pain. They were pretty new to Spain and didn't speak very well and it brought back a bunch of memories from when I was there. It was a really neat experience though. It was also awesome that I went there but didn't have to stay! lol I love being able to do what I want here. It makes for an awesome trip.

I've been thinking about home and I hope things are well back there. I miss you all! Especially my critters and that person that is staying in my house for the 2 weeks! Miss you person! lol

First day

Well here I am sitting at my friends house in Alcala De Henares Spain. I finally got everything more or less set up and I'm less freaking out. Lol It's nice to finally be back with a good friend, but I'm not totally sure how I feel being away from home. To be honest it still kinda feels like I'm back serving a mission again and will be here for another 2 years instead of just 2 weeks.





It's late Monday here and my trip here was kinda crazy. My dad took me to the airport around 8 in the morning so I could get everything set up and ready to go with the flights and so on. We had a nice talk about a lot of stuff going on right now. It was actually nice cause it's been so long since we have had one of those. He dropped me off at my gate and I set out on my way. I've decided that I don't really like traveling alone that much anymore. I would really like to have a travel buddy next time I go somewhere thats far far away. I boarded the plane to atlanta and sat next to a guy that was in the army heading out for a tour in Iraq, and a girl that was heading to Germany with her family cause her dad was in the army. She was gonna be there for about 3 years. That brought back memories of the first time I came here and how weird it felt to know that I wouldn't see my family for so long. She was at least with her family which was a plus. There were actually only stopping in Atlanta to get her dog, then heading to Germany. I can honestly say I'm glad I'm not going through that whole process again. I'm only here for a short period of time then I get to go back and be with my family and friends again in a place that is familiar to me. Anyway I found my next gate and since I had a little over 3 hours before I would board I decided to just walk around. It's always a bit of a culture shock when you get out of Utah. Even though I'm the least Utahn Utahn there is out there, sometimes you just forget what it's like outside of the bubble. I sat down at a table just wanting to watch the game that was on and I got asked for my Id multiple times which I always think is funny. They always look at my age and are like no way!





The time finally came for me to leave the U.S. for a couple weeks and I boarded the plane. I sat next to a nice guy from Texas that was taking his family over to visit a brother that he hasn't seen in a long time. We talked it up some about Spain and what we had hoped to do while we are here. His family and him from what it sounded like during our conversation are leaving the same time I do Saturday morning next week. So I'm sure I will be seeing them again when I get ready to go home. The flight over was kinda crazy long. I forgot how bad it was. Luckily I was in a window seat and had some decent leg room for the almost 9 hour flight. I alway love going over the ocean though I remember the first time I came here, when we all saw that it was total darkness outside but yet could see sun in the horizon. It was just as cool this time. I've had my doubts about coming here(I didn't really wanna leave on other trip so soon, but I think that was just the nerves getting to me. We landed and it was on! and by it was on I mean I got lost in a huge airport in a foreign country for almost 3 hours, my ticket said I would be dropped off in terminal 2 so I told my friend that was coming to get me that, that's where I would be. Well they dropped me off in terminal 1, which isn't totally far away but since it was a big place and I had no idea where I was going I did what any boy scout would do and walked around till I got more lost. Finally I was about to break down and just give up, go get a hotel for the night and get some internet so I could let my friend know where I was(my phone doesn't work over here) but I decided I would sit down for a few more minutes and see what happens.

Not ten minutes after I sat down and kept that little prayer in my heart did I find Monica and her brother Javi, well they found me. They had been doing the same thing I was. Walking around trying to find me. It was great fun. We got me a taxi and started heading back to their home in Alcala de Henares where I will be staying for the next 2 weeks. We got there got my bags set up in one of the rooms and was immediately feed by Monica's mom...Who I never actually got he name of, and I'm not sure if I actually ever will lol. She is a really nice lady who sat me down made me eat and then introduced me to the grandma. Who is also awesome. I kinda needed Monica to come home from work, so I could get my internet working, I mean it's nice to be here away from it all, but it's nice to be able to talk to people too. So I pretty much just chilled with the family for a few hours till she got back. She got me all hooked up and I sent some messages out to people on facebook and then we left. We met up with a friend of hers and went and ate some tapas, which is basically just a fancy word for food you get at a bar. It was actually really good! I knew the friend Mariana before when I was here for my mission, but it was a little different this time. I got to give besos which is something I will have to get used to but oh well. After we ate we talked some till she had to leave, Monica and I walked around for a while just talking and trying to figure out what I'm gonna do the rest of my time here. She is leaving on the 16 to go to a conference in Denmark so I will kinda be on my own for a day here. Which isn't too bad at all. It actually looks like I will be spending a lot of the time here with her. Which will be way nice, cause I was worried that I would be by myself a lot. Which I'm ok with, but not totally ok with when I'm in a different country. So I'm happy for that. Then We came home and here I am. Writing about my day.

I'll have to be honest though, I was really looking forward to this trip till the last couple days and especially when I was on the plane. I'm not totally sure why, but I kinda felt like I was leaving a lot behind that I didn't want to at that moment. I haven't really been home much in the last 2 weeks because I went to Florida for work, and then came back for only a week before I took off again to come to Spain. I have a great girlfriend even though I don't really seem to give her the credit for it. I really wish she was here. I miss her tons and it's only the first day. I have my own place now which I really just enjoy sitting there and doing nothing sometimes. It's a nice change from when I was living with a bunch of guys. I really think it comes down to the fact though that having this much time on my hands is really gonna make me think about things I've been thinking about for a while. Things at home, my personal life, work and school. Things I think I came here to get away from, but they have come with me and I'm glad. I also think there is a bit of home sickness. I felt like a missionary again when I first landed and kinda didn't wanna be here. don't get me wrong, I loved my mission, but the idea of being away from my home for another 2 years kinda hit me hard. I'm glad I can now do all the things I couldn't do before. Well it's late and I'm off to bed. I'm gonna try and update every day with new adventures here in this great country that I have learned to love. Buenas noches!