Marian's Hunting Stories, etc., etc., etc...: August 2008

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Hurricane Gustav...

According to The Weather Channel today at 2:10 this is where Gustav was located. By this time tomorrow we will be filling the affects of this storm here in our area and there is a possibility of outages. I feel for all the ones that had to flee from their homes. All you can do now is sit and wait and pray.

More of BJ's Pix

Do you see what I see?

Deer prints in the mud!

This is BJ's favorite fishing hole in Port Gibson, MS, in our great outdoors! Charming, Just Charming!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Salina's Bear Hunt

Well back by popular demand, here is my story. I’m a little bummed, but read on and you will know why.

So there I was, heading up the Elliot highway towards our bait. We off loaded the four-wheeler and headed down the trail. My husband drops me off at the road at the base of the trail. I grab my gun and thermaCELL and head on down. My husband heads off to his bait about 4 or 5 miles away. I get to the stand and set things up. I sit and wait. It was about 7 pm. Around 10:30 I start to get a bit antsy. My butt was seriously falling asleep. The rain had started to pour down on me around 8:30 pm and did not let up. I was starting to get a bit cold and wet. Not to mention my butt...

So I decided to stare down at my feet and think about my honeymoon in Hawaii and how warm it was. When all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye (to my left) I see this black object moving. There he is! I got a huge smile on my face and wanted to jump up and do a little dance. I was so stoked! I watched him move towards the bait. He was really skittish. A squirrel jumped out of a tree, and he was ready to run. He went up to the barrel, and grabbed a piece of salmon and ran off. I got my gun ready and scooted myself to the edge of the chair. About 5 minutes later I see him about 60 yards away from me playing around in the brush. Then he disappeared again. About 10 minutes later he showed up again to my left. He was winding in between trees and brush, and he went right underneath the stand. All I thought was WOW, I hope he doesn’t climb up here with me…(although it would make a good hunting story). He decided to come out from underneath me, and headed back to the bait. He stuck his nose in the barrel, and pulled at the fish. I watched him for about 5 minutes before I got a shot. Finally he turned and I got a good shot. He dropped and dropped hard. I thought I had him down for good. I was caught up in the moment, and watched him. (BIG MISTAKE) I should have taken that time to reload. But did I? No! All of a sudden he jumps up and starts to run off. In a panic I reload (or assumed I did) and took another shot. However, my gun did not fire. There was no bullet in the chamber! By the time I got the bullet in the chamber he was long gone in the thick brush.

So I sat up in my tree and pondered waiting for my husband to come and get me. Finally after what seemed to be forever, I see him. I jump down and told him my story. We start to look for my bear. The rain was still pouring down on us, and it was really foggy. We decided to pack up and go home and come back the next day. Hoping for better weather. My husband was sure we would find him.

We didn’t think looking for an unknown bear in that weather was very smart...We were sure he was dead. I think it was a lung shot. But even finding any blood to track was a challenge with the rain washing it away. The next morning we woke up and my husband and a friend head back out to find him.

Later that night, my husband returns with bad news. No bear in sight. I was ready to cry. Not only was this my first bear, but you don't kill an animal and not retrieve it. It’s not right. So I gave a call to fish and game and told them my story. They said I don't have to claim it, and even if we did find it in a few days just to leave him. But still...
It’s bittersweet. I shot my first bear, and can't find him. What a way to end baiting season...

Salina is a friend of mine on MySpace. She is 25 years old and lives in Fairbanks, Alaska, with her hubby who is in the Air Force. Will soon bring you the story of their caribou hunt together where they both harvested one the same day in our great wild outdoors!

Friday, August 29, 2008

A Thought While Hunting

Thursday, August 28, 2008

An Alaskan Huntress

I have a MySpace friend, Salina, and her site is called, "Girls Who Hunt." She posted on her site about going on a bear hunt. I got her permission to tell her story and will post it on Saturday. Salina and her husband live in Fairbanks, Alaska and she told me her husband took the picture below in Delta Alaska last year of a moose eating. Also, that they had just gotten back from a caribou hunt and they both harvested one! Looks like she and her hubby are on a roll! So check back later and read the full story of their hunt together in our great wild outdoors!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

BJ's Pix Down On The Farm

An ominous cloud

The butterfly is resting on the front seat of my dad's friend's Bad Boy Buggy!

Mushroom

Pretty star-like flowers

A duck in the water

Trees all in a row

A flock of geese

Here are some more pictures that BJ took down on his farm in Port Gibson, MS, in our great outdoors! This is a sweetthing!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

While on the Subject of Nuns....

An Italian priest plans to hold a beauty contest for nuns. The Rev. Antonio Rungi tells reporters that Miss Sister 2008 will begin next month on his blog.

"The contestants must be aged between 18 and 40, and can be either full members of an order or novices," The Times of London reports. "Father Rungi said that he expected many who applied to be young, attractive — and non-Italian."

He tells the Associated Press that the photos won't be suggestive. "We are not going to parade nuns in bathing suits," he says. "But being ugly is not a requirement for becoming a nun. External beauty is gift from God, and we mustn't hide it."

Rungi, a theologian and school teacher from the Naples areas, said that visitors to his site will have a month to "vote for the nun they consider a model."

He said the idea was suggested by nuns with whom he works. He hopes there will be dozens of submissions once the site is started. Rungi's blog. Note: Being taught by nuns for twelve years...I don't know what to make of this!

Five Nuns in Town

Sisters Mary Catherine, Maria Theresa, Katherine Marie, Rose Frances & Mary Kathleen left the Convent on a trip to St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and were sight-seeing on a Tuesday in July.

It was hot and humid in town and their traditional garb was making them so uncomfortable, they decided to stop in at Patty McGuire's Pub for a cold soft drink.

Patty had recently added special legs to her bar stools, which were the talk of the fashionable east side neighborhood. All 5 Nuns sat up at the bar and were enjoying their Cokes when Monsignor Riley and Father McGinty entered the bar through the front door. They, too, came for a cold drink when they were shocked and almost fainted at what they saw.