Let the fun begin!

My daughter was lucky enough to draw a control hunt for a trophy deer hunting unit this year in her first year hunting!  I know people that have put in for this unit for years upon years without drawing.  She isn't taking it for granted, she knows how fortunate she is to have drawn this tag.  As luck would have it the 24-hr flu decided to swing it's way through our household the week before opening day.  First my 3-yr old son got it and puked his guts out for, well.....more then 24-hrs, I think it ended up being two days.  Next up was my 6-yr old son who was lucky enough to only get it for the 24-hrs.  No need to stop there, now it's my wife's turn.  She actually doesn't end up puking, but nauseous and uncomfortable could pretty much sum it up.  I've been playing with a cold for the past week or so myself, but it's been manageable.  The day before we are heading up for our hunt my oldest daughter gets a cold.  She is tough as nails so I know when she actually acknowledges that she is sick, then she is really sick.  The next morning she is looking a little better so about mid morning we decide to go ahead and drive down to our hunt area and get at least a half a day in.

We spent the afternoon hiking around and glassing some areas.  If you live in Idaho and have never made it to the Owyhee desert lands, I would suggest you make the trip.  Especially if you live in central or north Idaho, you will be amazed at the scenery.  You will have thought you had just transported to Africa.....that's what it reminds me of, it's amazing.

We didn't see any shooters, but we bumped one small herd of elk out of the mahogany brush, one lonely sage grouse milling around, which is pretty cool because I've never seen one before.  We ran across a lot of sign for them too, so I know where I'm headed next year if we are lucky enough to get a season again.  We ran across one herd of mule deer as we were headed out that had a large 3-pt, and a decent 4-pt in it with at least a 24-in spread.  Considering how dark it was getting making a play for the buck wasn't an option so we let him go and headed out.

We had a good day, saw some game, and some new country.  We'll be back at it this weekend.  She's excited, and so am I.  She's a real trooper and I'm proud of her for giving her all when she's out there.