2014 Deer Season Prep - By Shane

Well it's almost here!! The whitetail deer hunting season in Texas! David and I spent some time on the hunting property preparing for it. That means prepping our stands, fixing the tarp at the camp site, trimming the trails a little, and putting some mineral licks out. The mineral licks are just for nutrition and it helps with antler growth....So they say. :)

My new ladder stand!

Salt lick in front of stand

This year, however, we are taking a different approach. Instead of using feed as an attractant, we are using mock scrapes to pull in bucks. I've been doing a lot of reading and research this off season on how to attract bucks. In this research I've learned a lot about how bucks reacted to the rut and how a lot of GOOD hunters document the bucks on their property. 

Using a mock scrape triggers a dominant buck's territorial instinct and they will try to cover that scrape with their scent. This tells other bucks to back off and stay away from THEIR does. So, when the bucks are scraping your mock scrape snap a picture of them for documentation. It's a very good way to keep track of the deer on your property. 

Mock scrapes are really easy to create too. Big plus for me! The hardest thing about it is being aware of your human scent. You don't want be ruining your scrape with unwanted scent, so scent control is important. 

First, the trick is to find a spot with a licking branch to put above your scrape. This is for the buck to lick and rub his antlers on for marking his scent. Then just find a sturdy stick for scraping the ground. You want to scrape the ground in a V pattern to simulate the way a deer scrapes the ground with it's hooves. Last but not least, saturate the scrap and the licking branch with a scrape scent. We are using Tink's Power Scrape.

The last thing to remember with scrapes is to work them. Meaning, re-scrape with a stick and apply more scent the first day of every hunt. And since David and I usually hunt over the weekends, I'm going to apply more scent at the end of the last hunt too. This will keepem' coming during the week and keep them interested.

My mock scrape and camera set up

 A cool thing about hunting this way is you have to use it during the pre-rut period. Which is bow hunting season in Texas! Hmm.. Hunting whitetail with a bow and arrow? Count me in!

I mounted a camera arm right next to where I'll be sitting in the stand. I also purchased a Velocity Clip to hold my phone in the camera arm. It's a pretty neat product that turns your phone into an action camera, like a GoPro. So stay tuned for some hunting videos and a product review of the Velocity Clip!!

Good luck to all you hunters out there! May the Lord bless us with a great season!

Adventure Readiness Test - By Shane

The year is 2006, Abbie and I had been wanting to take the kids on a family trip. Our first "real" family trip! Little did we know that we were starting something that would have our family hunting adventures forever. I'm very thankful for this moment in our lives. It's our first step towards dreaming big!

We decided we would take the kids to see the NASA Space Center in Houston, TX and then on to Galveston, TX to see the coast. A manageable distance from our home in Dallas and something cool about Texas that we wanted our kids to see. Perfect trial run to test our adventure readiness.

With the car packed to the gills, lists checked and re-checked, and the family in their traveling positions, we headed off to Houston. We were all excited to see the Space Center. I think we were all just excited to go see something new together. At least something that wasn't Dallas...

The first day we went to the Space Center because we just needed to get that done! Did I say that we were excited to see the Space Center. And for good reason! It was pretty cool and probably the highlight of our entire trip. The NASA program is where "Dream Big" really means something. Unbelievable things can be accomplished if you put your heart, mind, and soul into something. Our country did great things in our past. My hope is that we don't lose sight of that and realize it's our time to Dream Big...  Wow, that was kinda deep. Anyway, NASA Space Center/Program..amazing! Astronauts, rockets, computers, moon rocks, mission control, and the space shuttle! Who doesn't like any of that?!

Abbie got to see Mission Control for the first time! If you don't know, Abbie wanted to work for NASA at Mission Control...then she met me and her life took off in a different direction. The path that was her true calling....raising Hill boys (including myself ). Although, her love for NASA came rushing back as we explored the Space Center.

Abbie enjoying playing with the kids at the Space Center

 The kids were just loving the very cool astronaut environment! Cool things to see and experience everywhere! A Hillboy playground...game on!!

Wild and Crazy kids at NASA Space Center

With our time at the Space Center ending, we were sad to leave. Fulfilled and tired we had dinner and headed back to the room. Little did we know Mother Nature had something in store for us by morning. 

We woke to the ringing of our telephone. It was the front desk asking if we were aware that the parking lot was flooded do to the tropical storm that had circled over the Gulf Coast all night. So, I sprang to the window to look at the parking lot. Oh my God... It wasn't just the parking lot, the entire area was flooded. I'm talking like a mini Katrina! I couldn't believe my eyes, we were in trouble if the rain didn't stop. The hotel we were staying at was on high ground and out of flood danger..for now. However, our Expedition "Cheryl" was half way under water. I had to get it to high ground immediately.

Crazy flood in Houston!

After wading through waist deep water I was able to get to the Expedition, start her up, quickly move her to high ground, and let her drain. Ugh, what a way to start day 2 of our trip. Stuck in the hotel waiting for flood waters to recede and our car to dry out. Great! So, we hunkered down and planned a trip to San Antonio. The nearest city not effected by the tropical storm. Galveston was a no go because of the flooding.

Waiting for the flood waters to recede. Look at the old school maps! What are those things?!

 We were able to secure a hotel room in San Antonio and after waiting all day for the waters to recede, we made a break for it. The water was still high in areas, but we were driving a water logged Expedition that could handle a little more! We just needed to get to the Interstate and we were San Antonio bound. Mission accepted!

Wading through high water in "Cheryl" the Expedition

We saw some amazing carnage driving out of the flood zone... Mostly cars abandoned and people carrying everything they could to higher ground.

Everyone was trying to escape the water

 After getting on the Interstate the ground was dry and we were flying to San Antonio. Time to reset the trip and be thankful we were out of there safe.

 Besides, San Antonio is a really cool city to visit! The Alamo and the Riverwalk! Mission accepted!

The Alamo is a very important time in Texas history and worth seeing. What happened there was tragic, but what it sparked in Sam Houston will never be forgotten. We love checking out historic sites, so this was right up our alley.

Locked, Loaded, and ready to Defend the Alamo!!

We also went to the Lone Star Brewery Restaurant and Museum. Another cool place to soak up some Texas style! Something I enjoyed as a kid!

Lone Star Brewery Restaurant and Museum

Of course we had to go to the Wax Museum! I spent some time with Leno and many more creepy waxed celebrities. :) The haunted house section of the museum was being protected by a huge Predator and it was really freaking Abbie and Orry out!

The Wax Museum!!

The River walk in San Antonio is a really neat experience. Probably the biggest tourist attraction in Texas. It's a river running right through the city. The river walk has restaurants, river boat tours, attractions, events, lodging, and just cool people.

The River Boat Tour on the River Walk

 After leaving San Antonio we decided to stop at the drive through Safari! It's a big exotic animal preserve that you can drive through. Pretty awesome! The ostrich was demanding and unafraid.. I thought the zebras were hypnotizing. :)

On Safari!!

This trip taught us that we could improvise, adapt, and overcome disaster and make the best of it. Adventure Readiness Test passed! It also taught us that we can have a LOT of fun together on a family trip! So, shortly after this adventure we were planning our adventure to Colorado. But that's another story...

Check out our pictures from the trip!

Dream Big

The Dream of Colorado - By Shane

The year is 2007 and the dream of taking the family to Colorado is finally coming true. My best friend (and brother-in-law), David, and I have been dreaming about this moment for years. My wife's family are from Denver, CO and they haven't been back to Colorado in a long time. They moved to Texas in the mid-eighties because of work and as time passed the desire to go back just grew. 

Road Trip to Colorado!!

For me personally, it was a life long dream. I had only been to Colorado one other time in my life and it was in passing. The Rocky Mountains seemed so mysterious and majestic. I just wanted to absorb the beauty of something like that. More importantly I wanted my kids to experience it! I had to get there for them, for myself and for Abbie's family. So...for years I wondered how I was going to make that happen.

Well, in order to make that happen I needed to figure out how I was going to house us, feed us, get us there, and how the hell we were going to pay for it. First things first, housing...well that just kind of fell into place. Abbie and I had taken the boys to Galveston and San Antonio in 2006 and to make a long story short, the trip kind of fell apart. Houston flooded while we were there and we had to hightail it to San Antonio, literally. We ended up spending all of our money on hotel and food costs and couldn't do most of the "cool" things to do.

Then just by chance we were walking by the Wyndham Resort "booth" in San Antonio and they snagged us. To be honest, at first I was VERY skeptical. But, after the crap we just endured I was willing to give it a chance. So, we went to the 90 minute sales presentation that turned into an all day affair. It did end up working in our favor though. I hustled a deal for them to give us enough bonus points for us to, you guessed it, go to Colorado!

OK, housing...check. We had enough Wyndham Resort points to rent an entire cabin for an entire week! Which also took care of priority #2, Food! The cabin had an entire kitchen, so we could reduce our food costs by cooking our own meals as much as possible.

Our Wyndham Resort cabin in Pagosa Springs, CO

Now for priority #3, getting us there. Well there was no way we could fly, it was just too expensive. So we would have to drive, but that really didn't bother us. Abbie and I loved the thought of taking our kids on long road trips. What better way to bond and spend time with each other than a 16 hour drive! Oh and I can't forget about David's family..they were coming with us. So, after talking with them they said they were going to drive as well. As it turned out they actually were planning on buying a new car right before the trip. Transportation, check!

Priority #4, well it is really #1...how the hell were we going to pay for it all. I had been working on that priority for about six years by this time. I had decided in 2001 that I needed to make something of myself and find a career that I could make a good living at. To do that I went back to school to get a degree in Software Engineering. Although I had not graduated by 2007 the Lord provided a computer programming job that would propel my career for the next 11 years (as I'm writing this)! By 2007 I was making some pretty good money and David and Dawn were not doing to bad financially as well. So with our bank accounts doing OK, we could afford an upper middle class vacation to Colorado!

Here we come Colorado!!

So there we were, the five of us packed into our Expedition, "Cheryl", driving to Colorado. We couldn't have been more excited! I was really beside myself. I couldn't believe after all of those years of dreaming and talking about going, it was really happening. I couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment...

And the the entire trip was more than we could have ever imagined! The Rockies are beautiful! Everyday we had something planned. Hike, go horseback riding, drive to Silverton for the day, go to the gold mine in Silverton, go 4x4ing to an old gold rush ghost town in Silverton, go hiking again, go trout fishing, go to Mesa Verda and see the indian dwellings carved into the mountain, go play some golf at the resort, and of course...go hiking again! Everything was amazing and we didn't want the memories to end!

I'm so thankful that the good Lord blessed us with our trip to Colorado in 2007. And as we were headed back to our home in Texas, we were thinking how do we get back to Colorado?! :)

Take a look at all the cool pics we took in Colorado and enjoy!

Our amazing trip to Colorado!