Birchell Family: Spike Only Elk Tag... NOT FOR AJ!

Friday the Nyberg's, Garn, and us headed South down and East bound! We left around noon, and after a LONG drive we arrived at camp at about five. We got camp all ready, and the boys went to get wood and do a little scouting. I put together some tin foil dinners, and got them cooking. The boys got back with all sorts of goofy stories about coyote attacks. Our dinner was best described as crispy. We ate, put the babies to bed, and hung out by the camp fire. It was freezing! After a long night Friday the boys were up early to get the hunt over with. They walked into the roadless area right at day light, and were lucky enough to run into a huge herd of elk. Jake said it was awesome! The elk were fighting and bugling. There were a few spikes that they were lucky enough to shoot. Garn shot the first one. It didn't run far. The herd took off after Garn's shot, but two bulls stayed back and fought. They had to chase the bulls off. Jake shot the next one and it took off! It went into a hole that Jake wasn't to excited about. He and Derrik took off after the blood trail when Derrik saw another spike. He shot it and it took off. Ironically, it ran right to Jake's. Luckily for the boys they were in a rough hole, but the two were dead within 30 feet of each other. While the boys were hunting Josie and I slept in with the babies, hung out at camp, and went for a drive. We were visiting about Teen Mom when the boys pulled in. I gave Jake the thumbs up or down sign and he gave me a thumb down. I said that's a HUGE smile for somebody who didn't kill anything. They got out and said "no luck". They were covered in blood, and Josie and I were not easy to trick! We cooked some breakfast and decided we would all hike in to see Garn's elk. Brilee and Addy rode the horses in with their Dad's and they loved it! I think the Dad's were pretty happy about it too. The boys took off to get Jake and Derrik's elk out and Josie and I turned around to walk back to the trucks. It wasn't a long or hard hike, but it wasn't just a walk in the park either. I packed Brilee and Josie had Addy. Brilee decided to fall asleep on the way out, and she was snoring so loud! We got back to camp thinking the boys wouldn't be to far behind us. Well, they were! I was sure something had gone wrong. They got back after dark and said it just took a long time. Garn took off and we hung out by the fire again. We were all exhausted and so we went to bed pretty early. The girl's didn't sleep in as long Sunday morning, and so we went for a drive to look for elk. We found a big herd and saw some nice deer. Then it was time to pack up camp and make the LONG drive home. Brilee and I slept most of the drive home (lucky me, I caught a nasty cold down there). I am so glad we went! It was so much fun. The babies did so well. Poor Addy was teething and feeling sicky, but she did so well. Brilee LOVES Addy and spent the whole time asking to hold her and hitting her. I don't know what to do to get her to stop hitting. Sorry Addy!!!!!! Brilee loves camping and being outside. She is definitely going to miss camping in the next seven months. We are so glad we went down there, and we are for sure going back next year!

We wanted Garn to pull our horses home, but we couldn't get Garn's fifth wheel ball out of his truck. Jake spent a long time hammering under the truck, and they all used a lot of brain effort to figure out how to fix it. We finally gave up, and they decided we would have to make the four hour drive back. DIN DING DING! Josie finally had the idea of a century... Garn would drive our truck home!