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20081028 Tuesday October 28, 2008

Great Weekend in Montana After the Software Summit last week, I sped down I-70 towards Denver. I made it to DIA with no time to spare. I had to run from the train to the gate, where the lady told me she'd been calling my name for the last 5 minutes. The fact I made the flight was a nice beginning to a wonderful weekend with my Dad in Montana.

It's been awhile since I've been to The Cabin in the fall. The Tamarack's were dressed in yellow and the sun warmed the land the entire weekend. It was cold at night, but we had my Grandma's ol' wood cookstove to keep us warm.

Hunting was a blast.

I haven't done it since I was a kid and I have memories of boredom. This time was different. My Dad and I basically trounced around the woods at the ol' homestead (120 acres) for hours on end with guns in our hands. What's not to like about that? Anytime outside of hunting season, people would think you're crazy and you'd probably believe them! Besides hunting and target practice, I got to hear a lot of stories from my Dad, explore all 4 corners of our property, chop wood, haul water and create super-hot saunas.

On Sunday, my Dad spotted a doe on our front-road and got a shot off, but missed. 20 minutes later, I got a chance at the same deer when she poked her head out from behind a tree 30 feet away from me. Unfortunately, I had a .30-06 strapped to my shoulder and couldn't get in position fast enough. After she ran off, we hunted her for a couple hours. We saw her a few more times, but didn't have any success.

The best part is we still had a ton of fun. One thing's for sure: I'll be at The Cabin during hunting season from now on. :-) Posted in General at Oct 28 2008, 11:45:01 PM MDT 7 Comments

Comments:

I don't think that poor deer had any fun at all.

Posted by Alex on October 29, 2008 at 06:02 AM MDT #

A shot shouldn't be taken unless a kill is a sure thing.

Posted by Ryan on October 29, 2008 at 07:26 AM MDT #

I don't know much about hunting (being a Brit) but I thought the idea was you only shoot when you're sure of a clean kill, rather than take pot-shots that might allow the poor critter to run off injured and possibly die a slow painful death.

Posted by David on October 29, 2008 at 07:31 AM MDT #

@Alex - it was jumping around a lot and wagging its tail. It looked like it was having fun to me. ;-)

@Ryan and @David - I agree with you. However, many hunters will tell you that it's not always that clean. Sometimes you wound the animal and have to track it for hours. Might be sad or immoral from an outsiders perspective, but for someone who's family almost dies on a Montana road when a deer jumps out in front of them, it's not so bad.

Posted by Matt Raible on October 29, 2008 at 07:42 AM MDT #

Matt's being too nice. It's a frickin deer people. They're like rats. Shoot at the damn thing.

Posted by Country on October 29, 2008 at 10:07 AM MDT #

@Matt - Speaking as a hunter, if you take a shot and don't even hit the animal, then you had no business pulling the trigger.

Posted by Ryan on October 29, 2008 at 04:44 PM MDT #

Hunting is hunting. Sometimes you shoot and kill and others you miss. Whatever the outcome you pulled the trigger and thats what its all about. Deer are like rabbits in the Swan Valley - kill one and two more take its place. I'll take a leg off one for ya Matt. ;-)

Posted by Owen on November 21, 2008 at 08:49 AM MST #

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Matt Raible is a Web Architect who enjoys developing applications with open source technologies. Contact me for rates.
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