My first hunting trip.

As some of you may know, I left on a hunting trip 2 thursdays ago. I took off on a plane to the great state of Minnesota where I stayed with my great uncle and talked about the good times we had in Canada. The next day, my dad and I drove around 4 hours down to Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin to meet up with my grandpa, cousin, and cousin's fiance at the hunting ground. We hiked around for awhile and got acquainted with our stands while they gave us the rundown.

The next day, we woke up at 4 a.m., had breakfast and then headed out to the hunting grounds. We walked up to our stand in complete darkness, got situated and waited. That is probably the worst part about it. Sitting up in a mini bench attached to a tree, 10 feet up in the air, staring at trees for hours is boring. The view is amazing and all, but seriously, there is only so much you can take.

Around 10 a.m., it finally became worth it. We suddenly heard a shot ring out from the other side of the hunting grounds. My dad correctly identified it as the crack of my Grandpa's .35 lever action. I turned to see my dad staring down the shooting lane off to my right. Right after that, you could hear the deer running through the forest. I turned to see my dad aiming down the shooting lane. As I shifted to face the lane, the deer finally appeared. A group of around 7 or so deer suddenly stopped in middle of our lane.

The first 3 in the group stood still, staring directly at us. The rest were totally oblivious to the cross-hairs hovering over their hearts. Without hesitation I pulled the trigger. My dad fired at his deer almost exactly at the same time. The deer scattered at that moment. I tracked my deer as it was in flight and fired an "eff you" shot after it. Apparently it wasn't necessary.

Probably the greatest part of the whole hunt was seeing my deer topple over 20 or so feet from where I shot it. We found the blood trail and followed it for kicks to where my deer lay. We found it in a break of trees with a nice clean wound right behind his front leg. Right in the heart. We found the blood trail for my dad's deer and found that one a good ways off. His was a lot bigger than mine.

We ended up going hunting another 2 days but didn't see any other deer. So we got lucky just seeing that group. All in all, out of the 5 guys on the trip, we only filled 3 tags. 2 of which were from the city slickers! So it was an awesome trip and I'm pretty much psyched that I brought something down my first time.

We don't really have many pictures of the deer, but we do have some video of me getting elbow deep in one of them! I figured nobody would want to see that.

West Bank Story

Today in one of my religion classes, my professor showed us this little 20 or so minute long video called West Bank story. We are studying Jew and Muslim relations in class right now, so he thought it was kind of fitting, even though it was funny. I thought some of you guys might enjoy it as much as I did.



If you don't already know, relations between Muslim Palestinians and Jews have been strained for ages. Both sides have been committing all sorts of atrocities. each side, of course, feels justified and it almost feels like there is no end to the violence in sight. I'm hopeful that a resolution will be reached in the future, however. I know there are people on both sides who are working for peace.

Confirmation that I'm a trouble maker.

I have a tendency to get into trouble. Usually, I get into more trouble when I'm partnered with one of my familiar cohorts however, I do get into some big trouble on my own from time to time. I think today counts as one of those days.

After Church today, I had decided to meet up with my buddy Paddy and his sickly sister over at H. Salts for some good fish and chips and chicken strips. On the way there, I happen to be verbally harassed by a student leaning out of the window of his sister's car. Not being one to let a show of disrespect slide, I brought out my handy dandy air powered, foam nerf ball firing cannon of destruction. I chose to use the most harmless looking one for good reason. So as they passed, I lobbed a small green foam ball across the street at them. I hit them of course. It was awful gratifying. So I carried on with my business being satisfied and fully prepared for an equally satisfying meal.

I got to H. Salts without incident. No trouble there. I ordered my meal and sat down to eat and chit chat with Paddy and his sister. Good times were had. Now, while I'm in the process of eating my 3rd chicken strip, 2 cops casually stroll through the door. They lean against the trash cans and ask who's truck that is out front. I ask if they were talking about the white truck. They were not. That's when I caught a glimpse of the two squad cars surrounding my vehicle.

I told them it was my car and asked what the problem was. One continues to casually recline against the trash receptacle as her partner approaches to turn on the intimidation. I'm kind of surprised I kept my cool. He inquires as to my business with the car I shot at. Of course I'm a little surprised, but I tell them straight up that I knew them and it was a nerf gun. As soon as the word nerf gun left my lips, the other officer rolled her eyes and radioed dispatch. Apparently someone had called me in and possibly tailed me. I apologized of course, and they made sure I would never do it again. As they walked out, the third officer who was hanging outside the doors looked a little disappointed. I guess they expected me to put up a fight. No doubt they could tell I was Italian.

Of course more good times were had, as well as joking about how smoothly and speedily the Downey Police department pulled 2 squad cars to respond to a foam related drive-by. I didn't know Downey cops took that seriously. I guess I'll have to be careful when I nerf in Downey.

In case you all were wondering, this is what I choose to use when I do a drive-by: