It’s Friday and I was lucky enough to have it off.  After my other obligations this week, Jeff and I finally got to sneak out to the propery and check the one trail cam we have up.  Got lucky too. 

We caught the little guy you see at the start of the post making his way through the spot.  Also caught this momma and her child a couple of times.  I’m not sure what she was doing, having her kid out past midnight, but I guess something good must have been going on:).\

I also have this picture, and if anyone can shed some light on it, I would love to know.  What is wrong with this doe’s neck??  Is that a normal thing? Is it just a pigment problem?  Thought it was kinda strange, so if any of you know what that it is do share.

I left the camera up in the same spot.  I think I will leave it there at least for another week, and then I’m going to move it back by my stand location for awhile.  I am so addicted to this cam thing.  It is so much fun. 

Note–I also added all the trail cam pictures I have so far to the photo album page.  Go check them out they are under the hunting section.

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After this week, and everything my family has been through(for those who haven’t heard yet click here.), I hadn’t really had time to think about certain things that I would miss. To be honest I had kind of forgotten about hunting until last night.

My cousin, Corrin, who was featured in this post I wrote, was asking me if I wanted to shoot our bows this weekend. Shoot? Well of course I want to shoot. Then I got to thinking about a post I did a few weeks back that told about our new 3D course we setup and how I would love to be shooting that this weekend(click here if you missed that post). The problem with that is this. The 3D course doesn’t exist anymore. Another thing that the tornado decided to scoop up and toss clear across the county. Then I started digging through the website and found the old pictures from that post and started comparing them to the pictures from recently. Wow! It is amazing the power of these storms.

The picture on the left is of the course in it’s good times, and the picture on the right was that same area last Friday. Unbelievable what destruction these things can do. We did find certain parts of our 3D targets we invested in, but couldn’t even come up with one complete deer to shoot at. Bummer. With only a few weeks left we all have to get back to shooting whenever we are able to.

So Corrin and I ,and everyone else who shoots with us, will have to just settle for shooting at our block targets at my parents house.. A minor inconvenience, if you compare it to what my cousins are going through. I still have a house, my health, and all my personal belongings. I just wish that we could shoot the course one more time! Oh well.

One last note…..we did find my cousin’s bow in the mess. It appears to still be in good shape. I am going to go through it tomorrow and clean it up, wax the string, and give it a good once over. A little light shining through this mess. I drew it back last night and everything appears to be okay. Hopefully he can whack a deer with it this year!!!

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It might be that I’m too much of a dog lover. I was looking through the outdoor pressroom site, and came across this story about a hero dog who saved his family from some burglars who were attempting to rob them. I honestly love stories like this. I don’t love the fact that someone got robbed, but I do love the fact that a dog is so loyal that they will risk everything to protect their family. I mean where else do you find loyalty like that?

Here is the part where I start to get ticked. The dog was found, still alive, with a pocket knife wound to his neck. He was then left there in the garage, where thank god his owner, Christine Ladd, found him. So these two gentleman leave this dog for dead and go on their way, only to be caught later and admit that they did in fact stab the dog. The owners, and rightfully so, decide that they do want to press cruelty charges against these two individuals. My big problem is that this charge is probably only a misdemeanor. Seriously??? Only a misdemeanor????

I know a few of you out there are probably going to give me the “it’s only a dog speech”. Well, I just don’t agree with that. A dog trying to attack a child, that is one thing, and I wouldn’t hesitate to put him down and take care of that problem, but for someone to purposely try to kill a family pet so that they may rob or harm the homeowner(s), and they are only charged with a misdemeanor. I say that is rubbish. I may be partial here, because like I say I am a huge dog lover and have one of my own, but I just don’t think the punishment fits the crime. Now don’t think I’m screaming murder charges here because I don’t think a dog’s life can be compared to a humans, but I think the punishment is not stiff enough.

My only hope is that, God forbid, something like that happen to me and my family, that are dog will be just as loyal in saving us and our home. I would pray that he would make out as well as Jake. What a good dog!!!

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Just a quick little note while I have a second. Really haven’t had time to do anything outdoorsy in the past few days. Well, of course, unless you consider tornado clean-up outdoorsy. I guess it could be considered that based on the simple fact that it does take place outdoors.

That has been taking up most of my time this week. Every night we are out helping with what we can. Hopefully we will have a good portion done by this weekend. Then we will be able to get out, do some fishing, some bow shooting, and check the trail cam. I’ll keep ya posted.

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I had scheduled posts for this weekend because the wife and I were suppose to be camping at a work campout.  Well plans changed on Friday, that is for sure.  We live in the southern part of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and had an F3 tornado that came through Friday afternoon.  This tornado passed only about 2 miles north of my home and completely destroyed two of my cousin’s houses.  Everyone is okay though and that is the most important part.  I have never saw destruction like this however.  It is completely amazing what these things can do.

For those of you who don’t know, we just don’t get tornadoes in Michigan.  I mean, we do, but normally  they are very small and don’t last long. This one however, was different. 

So, the camping trip got cancelled, and we spent the entire weekend helping clean up and trying to salvage what we could of their belongings.  I am completely exhausted too.  It has been non-stop from Friday night on.

I am happy to say that we got a lot of stuff done this weekend and we will continue to clean this week.  Hopefully, I am never involved in anything like this again.

Just makes you thankful for what you have.  I cannot say enough either, about how many family, friends, and people, who showed up to help.  Nothing better than seeing the National Guard trucks pulling in to help out and their helicopters patrolling overhead.  Inspite of the devastation and everything that everyone went through, it was nice to see people banding together to help one another out.  Very cool.   

I am glad to say too, that everyone is okay.  Even the dog and the cat.

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