Man Trip

Jed decided that he and Connor needed to go on a "man trip" into the mountains this last week. So they took off towards Kite Canyon in the Pleasant Valley area and Stoddard Creek for a couple of days. This was a different trip, however, because now that Connor is a little older, Jed decided to rough it and make it more of a "survival trip." There was no tent and little food brought in. What you hiked in on your back is what you had for the whole trip.

Stoddard Creek Huntley Trail - nice views!

They hiked into the mountains for several miles and were determined to shoot a squirrel or rabbit sometime during their trip. The first morning they woke up to two does looking at them. Cool. They did end up shooting a squirrel the second day and ate it for dinner that night. They both said it was really nasty, so their first bite was their last. Jed said it tasted like cat meat - stringy, gummy, and disgusting. I asked him how he knew that. He replied that he was fed some cat meat on his mission but didn't know until after he had just ate it. So, Jed and Connor took pictures of the squirrel through the whole be-heading and gutting process...laughing at the thought of Aubrey's reaction to the pictures. Of course later when Aubrey was looking through the pictures with the family and came across the dead squirrel, she got mad, left the room, and slammed her bedroom door. Needless to say, that is just the reaction Connor knew she would have and laughed. Poor Aubrey...so many brothers to put up with and a dad that likes to hunt.

****WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES AHEAD! *** I did put a few photos of the squirrel but not the real nasty gutted ones (even those grossed me out)...still, if you are not sure you want to see a be-headed squirrel don't scroll down near the bottom. Connor joked about having the squirrel head mounted to his wall just like you do when you shoot a deer. I laughed at the thought of that, funny funny.

Jed named this area "Minnie's Meadows" after me because we camped close to this spot during the first year of our marriage and I loved the beauty of it. I told him it would be a perfect place to put a cabin and just live there, it was so pretty.
Jed and Connor made this night shelter out of branches - I thought it looked quite cozy. They did a good job; I'm sure Connor really enjoyed making it.

Ok, so not every moment was completey enjoyable...after hiking several miles with a heavy pack they started feeling it. They both came home a bit sore, Connor bounced back much quicker than Jed did.

****DEAD SQUIRREL PICTURES****

Be-headed squirrel.

Yummy! Yummy! Squirrel meat for dinner tonight!

Look Aubrey - a dead squirrel that I'm going to eat! It just doesn't look that good to me, definately not a fat, plump squirrel. They should of just shot one from my mom's backyard - those ones are definately well fed.

Nice - Jed put the squirrel tail on the antenna of the car.