Two Camo Princesses and our Prince Charming: Beaver Turkey Hunt

The last Saturday in April we loaded up the campers and headed down to Beaver to turkey hunt. Jimmy (Chris's step dad)'s mom Grandma Marilyn and her husband Walter live in Beaver city.. just west of the road we turn up. They were nice enough to let us stop and fill our campers with water before we headed up the canyon so we didnt have to carry all that weight down. We visited with them for a while and then headed up to camp. We always camp in the same spot and thankfully it was open!

There were deer and elk tracks all over

We got in Saturday and everything set up just before a storm started rolling in.

I went for a little hike around camp

Saw a TON of rabbits

Dad had bought a new bow and it came in the day before we left. He hurried and set it up that morning and then adjusted it in camp.

The boys bow tuning

Kennedy and her chair to watch tv in

The next morning it was biscuits and gravy

Its also the same morning the horrible wind storm was hitting northern Utah. We went up to the 'phone booth' and learned we lost our trampoline (totally destroyed and blown into the neighbors orchard) our carport had moved and thankfully didn't damage my car.. Chris had so many windows broken at work and complete disasters and pretty much the entire time we were gone Willard Fire Dept was SLAMMED with calls... and the mean while we were enjoying the sunny wind free weather.

We all headed into Beaver Pawn to explore for a few hours and found a few things we needed! When we got back to camp we loaded up the side by side and wheeler and went exploring around camp Phil and Chris hadnt been there before.

Then we hiked my blind into where I wanted to set it up at

Dad made a river crossing for mom

She didnt stand a chance....

It is just so pretty down there!

We never were hurting for food the whole time. Our lunch buffet

Mom also hit a jake but wasnt able to stop it not far from camp. Those were the only birds shot at all trip!

and another storm rolled in

We ate all the meals in our camper since we had the most room. It felt so nice to be the gathering place camper for everyone now that we finally had one big enough! Dad cooked up two fatties in the can cooker then bbq'd them on the grill. They were amazing!

Monday morning was the opener of the hunt. We started out the morning with Chris, K and I in the blind. We had turkeys gobbling EVERYWHERE around us. We just couldnt get any to come into our decoys. Chris finally went and wandered up the hill from us. Dad missed a shot with his bow that morning.

Me and my hunting buddy

We found a TON of burn areas all over that we assumed were started by lightening.

Kennedys job was to carry the toilet paper, snacks and waters.

This was her hideout at camp

Dad making fried potatoes for breakfast

Todd sent us with his cell booster so we could get out and have cell service. We blew a fuse in it and had to run into town to try and find one.. it proved a lot harder than we thought and we stopped at almost 10 different types of stores! Then we saw this store and HAD to stop. Chris and I both got T-shirts from there ha! Apparently they were sued over their name (go figure) because there is one in Colorado and they have to change their name so we figured we better get a tshirt and picture to remember this 'historical' site hahah

K and I spent a lot of time in the blind. I was DETERMINED to get a turkey with my bow.

This is how she spent her time... its a rough life. Then she would wake up and have some snacks and go back to sleep.

One afternoon her and I were in the blind and got hit by a horrible hail storm. It was MISERABLE. Chris was out hiking around. He took cover under a cedar and waited for the storm to break some then headed for our blind.

We did a lot of exploring around. Enough that the whole trip we burned 2 tanks of fuel in our side by side. One night we found a herd of elk about 700 yards away. We didnt want to get too close and spook them. This is the best I could get through my binoculars.

One morning I was sitting in the blind looking for birds and Kennedy was snoring. The next thing I know I can hear some crashing outside the blind and a herd of 8 elk are standing there not even 20 yards from me. This is looking out my blind window

We did a lot of hiking together. Usually someone stayed in camp and Kennedy stayed there too playing in the camper.

One afternoon Kennedy, Phil, Chris and I loaded up in the side by side and went exploring on a trail dad had told us about. It connected into the Piute Side trail. It was an amazing ride! We were in about every type of country! We saw SO MANY DEER.. like 60 at least.. a TON of rabbits..and no turkeys haha

Over looking Beaver Canyon and the river

They had a ton of railing projects

Part of the Piute Side Trail

All the deer and elk have lost their antlers and they are starting to grow back. This guy had his little nubbies just starting.

We took a trail that pretty much put us the top of this mountain until we had too much snow

It was this thick with trees all over Beaver

This deer was hiding in the trees from us. He was a whole 10 yards maybe. He was playing the "if I cant see you then you cant see me game" Chris had even shot a rabbit and he stayed right there.

Our ride went for a good 4 hours almost. When we got back to camp there still was light so I went for a little hike. It was so warm and sunny I was dying in a tshirt and pants. I found Lost Spring lol

They have dozens of springs all over that are fenced off and piped.

The next day after a morning hike I went for an adventure by myself.

Kennedy picked flowers for the camper. She was so proud of herself because she remember to pick the roots too so that they would grow. She added soil and water even :)

One afternoon while everyone was napping Chris and I took the garbage up the road to the dumpsters and decided to keep going. Our side by side is street legal and can be driven on roads under 45mph. We figured we'd head up Beaver Canyon and see where that took us.

What an absolute GORGEOUS drive!! I couldn't believe it.

Winding roads just kept going further and further into the mountains. You can see the road below us

and then it got colder and colder and we started seeing more snow

and the next thing we know were at a ski resort!

We were freezing by the time we got to the ski resort so we stopped and bundled up.

After here we turned around and headed back down the canyon.

Freaking cold!!!

We spent a lot of time hunting. We saw rabbits, deer, elk, hen turkeys but didnt hardly see any toms. Chris and I saw ONE at the close of the hunt one night already roosted in a tree. You cannot shoot a turkey out of a tree or while its roosting. Its illegal. So we left that night and came back the next morning hoping he was still there but he wasnt! Just all his girlfriends.