My Choice

MY Choice

I made a decision not to shoot. I thought, I can’t do this, I’m afraid. And I truly was.

A few months ago at the end March, my Dad took my sister and I to the shooting range along with his friend and his kids. We went there to practice for turkey season.

My Dad had recently bought us a new gun; to be exact it is a Tristar Semi-Auto 20-gauge. Brand new. I was so excited that my Dad had gotten that for us, I was ready to practice for turkey season.

When we got to the range I let my Dad shoot first. So he did. He said he loved it. My sister shot next, then the pressure was on, I didn’t want to shoot.
I sat down on the bench table thing that held the gun up, and my Dad handed me the gun. I said, “I can’t see over the gun.” But really I was stalling. My Dad put a bag of something under the barrel and said that I could shoot when I was ready. But I was never ready, I handed my Dad the gun and said, “I can’t, I’m sorry.”
I was upset because I felt like I had to, I felt that my Dad would be disappointed in me if I didn’t, then the pressure worsened.

But my Dad wasn’t disappointed in me, no Dad should be upset with their child if that child doesn’t want to shoot the gun.

I had decided on my own that I was going to wait to shoot that gun until next turkey season. That’s right, I decided on my own. For now I am practicing with my bow to go deer hunting in the fall so I am still target shooting!

So to anybody out there that feels like they have to shoot a gun in order to please somebody, when really, they don’t want to, they shouldn’t be afraid to say, “No” or “I’m not ready.” But never should anybody feel like they’re forced to.
I made a choice not to shoot, nobody was mad at me and nobody was disappointed. It was MY CHOICE. ☺

By : Mindy


Note from "Dad" - I can't tell you how proud it made me that my daughter was comfortable and strong enough in our relationship that she could make a decision like that. Even if she decides that she never wants to shoot I know she loves spending time in the woods with her dad and I couldn't ask for anything that makes me happier! Mindy, You Rock. I'll always be there to support you.

Bear Tracks

Bear Tracks

My family and I were camping up north at Harrisville State Park. I really love going up there, and just camping, the only thing that bugs me are the bugs themselves, they always get into our trailer-camper and stay on the ceiling, and I HATE BUGS! So anyways, my mom, dad, my sister, and I were looking at the activities that were scheduled for that day, there was one that said, Bear Scouting, so my dad and I went to it. There the presenter brought a fawns hoof, a bear foot, bear crud, and I think she brought a beehive. The lady told us a lot of information like, when a doe leaves her fawn in the morning to look for food, the bears come and eat the fawn! She also told us that at the campground, there have been sightings of bears in the dumpsters! After we were told all the information, the lady took us out in the woods to look for old dens that the bears had hibernated in, and she had some people look for bear poop. All the people ever found was skunk crud. I had fun and I think that my dad did to, and I guess we learned something too.

By Mindy

"The Call"

The Call

He he! I laughed at something my sister had said when my moms cell phone rang.
“SHHHHHHHHH” she said, “ Hello?? Oh, hi.” It was my dad. Then I heard my mom say WOW! Then she handed the phone to me, hello? “ Hi Sport, my dad said. (Sport is my nickname) Guess what?”
“What?” I replied.
“ I got a 9- Point this morning!”
“NO!”
“Yes!”
“ I don’t believe you!”
So since I didn’t believe my dad, he had to have one of his buddy’s that he was talking to tell me the truth. “ Mindy, your Dad, really did get a 9-Point!” His friend said. So I was like “Okay” My dad then came back on the phone and said, “Do you believe me now?” “Uhuh” Then I gave the phone back to my mom. She was really happy for him and she actually said that my dad should get it mounted because he was never going to get another deer again! My sister and I were laughing and so was my dad, even though my mom denies ever saying it! And so that was the call!

Info
Day: November 15, 2007(opening day in Michigan)
Time: 9:00 AM
Gun Type: Tikka T3 300 WSM
Location: North of Hale
Points: 9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Excitement level: 9.5!
Weather: Cold & Windy

By: Mindy

My First Duck Hunt

It was September 15th, 5:30 am in the morning about 52 degrees out side. I was shaking with excitement as I was getting all of our stuff in the boat wondering to myself if I would have any luck. It felt like it was forever until we finally got in the truck to head to the lake. When we got to the boat launch there was no one there, we backed the boat into the freezing cold water. I could here motors running out on the lake as my dad parked the truck.
The wind off the lake was waking me up, I was getting pumped! As dad got in the boat I threw the tie off rope into the boat. I jumped into the boat and was ready to push off, we started the motor and we took off to the other end of the lake. As we putted across the lake we saw close to 2,000 seagulls!!! The spot we were setting up on was a little point, a perfect little spot to tuck up into in behind a downed tree. I don’t know why but I felt like I was a fish.

BOOM!!!.....Splash, "yes"

The point was a spot were the ducks bolt around it and catch you off guard, watching the sun come up was a cool sight to see with birds flying across it. The first ducks that we saw were across the lake, but then we had some coming towards us. They turned to the left and went to the cove behind us. I finally called two ducks in to our decoy spread!!! They were pintails but I could not get a shot off because the decoys were to the right of us. Then one flew from the right to the left! BOOM!!!.....Splash, "yes" I shouted with joy! I was so happy my first duck hunt and first duck. My dad was so proud of me, we went out to get it and I picked it up and raised it above my head. This will be one thing I will remember for the rest of my life!

By: Mike Adams

High Jump!

In late October, my dad took me out hunting with him. I was so happy because I love going out in the woods with him. Just enjoying nature and smelling the fresh air and seeing what’s around me! I had my own stand almost directly across from my dads tree, but one of the best parts of sitting up there was that when I looked down there were beautiful purple flowers and they looked like they were glistening when the sun hit them. I just couldn’t resist, I had to take a picture of them with my camera.
Then a little while after that, 2 doe came running in from the swamp, and I watched them, and they came across a log and they jumped it. I didn’t know that deer could jump that high. I was really excited because the older doe was huge!!!!!!! Then I realized that it was doe with her older fawn. The fawn didn’t have her spots, but I could tell that she was quite young. The older doe looked around and came back to her fawn and then they bounded out of our sight.
Later on when the sun was setting I was playing my Nintendo DS Lite. I didn’t realize that my dad was trying to get my attention, it took him a couple of times of whistling before he got my attention. So I looked up and there were 10-15 turkeys just casually walking through the woods. I thought wow! So I got out my camera and tried to take a picture, but something spooked them and they ran off.
So I never got a picture of those turkeys, but I sure had a great experience, but that’s no surprise, I always have good experiences when I go out in the woods with my dad!
By: Mindy

The Catch Of The Day!

On one of my past fishing trips a few years back, in a small inland lake around southern Michigan, I was fishing with my Grandpa and Grandma on their pontoon boat. I was having a lot of fun fishing off their boat because pontoon boats are so big and I didn’t have to worry about hooking someone. Well anyways nobody had caught anything yet so we decided to head to a new spot, so we did.
At the new spot my sister had gotten some small nibbles, but caught nothing. So on one cast, I felt a tug. I told my Grandpa and when he came over my rod had started bending quite far, and I had a rather small rod. So then my Grandpa said, “Its just weeds” he probably thought that because the “Thing” wasn’t fighting back. So as I reeled it in it gave another small tug. Then my Grandpa was like, “It’s a fish! No… its weeds! It’s a fish! No! It’s weeds! What is it??”
So as I was reeling it in, it went under the boat, that’s when my Grandpa finally realized that it was a fish!
It finally happened, I reeled it all the way in. And it was far by the biggest fish I had ever caught or seen!!! It was 18 inches long, probably about 6 pounds or so, and was a bass!! My Grandma wanted to take a picture of it with me, but since I was little, I didn’t want to hold it. So my Grandpa had to hold it for me. After a couple of pictures we threw the fish back into the lake and I was so happy that I had caught the fish!
After that we moved the pontoon boat to a new location and my sister caught a few small fish and so did my Grandpa. But no one caught a fish as big as mine! Which is why my fish was declared the catch of the day!
I have never caught a fish as big since. So that’s probably why I still remember that very day. I also might remember because my Grandparents had the picture on their fridge for a while. But I will never forget my catch of the day.
BY: MINDY!!!!