Success!!!! And the winner is....

Maddie hiding in the bushes

So finally after many attempts, Erik has managed to get his first elk! We went up to Carrizozo. I'll give you a brief recap of the events.

Night 1: We're all sleeping when I wake up and think our chairs are on fire. I smelled burning rubber and I thought what else could it be but our chairs. I look up but I don't see any orange outside. Well, I'll go back to sleep, I think. Then someone says a skunk sprayed. My allergies went crazy. It was so horrible. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't stop sneezing, and my nose was running. Apparently, I'm allergic to skunks.

Night 2: Mr. Skunky returns. I was so exhausted from the previous night's lack of sleep I didn't hear anything at all. Until some yells, "There's something in the food." My first thought was a bear. "I think it's that skunk, again," someone says. So, Erik got up and knocked on the door. Then he opened it and saw the skunk run off. Apparently, skunks enjoy Doritos and bread, but are not fans of tortillas.

The following day Erik and Rolf went off early to hunt. Erik returns about 8:30 or 9:00 by himself and says, "Dad twisted his knee, again." Not funny. Then he says not really. I shot an elk we need the 4-wheeler. Erik shot the elk and it headed up into the trees and they couldn't find it. So they wanted to take Fanci (the miniature Schnauzer) to track the elk. We had to load up to take the truck and the 4 wheeler. We got to the top and Wolfie says, "What about my shoes?" I swear I could kill that kid. I started ranting about hating shoes. Because I really do. How hard is it to keep track of them? Why would you leave anywhere without your shoes? I do not understand this. We had to hike a mile through the brush to get to the spot where Erik shot the elk. So Wolfie had to ride the 4-wheeler. I was a nervous wreck because it's rough terrain. We finally get to the spot where they shot the elk. Rolf takes Fanci up towards the trees and Kelli decides to look around the bottom of the hill, where she finds the elk. Somehow it went up into the trees and back down without anyone noticing. So basically, Rolf and Erik searched for over an hour and the elk was about 75-100 feet from where they shot it.

So now, we have like 400lbs of meat. We took it to get processed. It better be good because we're going to have to eat it anyway. If it works out, I won't need to buy meat for another year.

All in all, we had a fun time. I'm glad Erik finally got something.

Also, as promised, the winner of the layout contest is......Senika! Congratulations! I will email you the information. Thanks, everyone who participated. I really truly appreciate it. Everyone have a wonderful day!