First deer. Part 1

My first deer




It all started when my now ex boyfriend got in the way of my hunting prows. Needless to say, I put my hunting before boys, and James was gone, sooner than he anticipated.

Although, I was fifteen years old at the time, I am insanely close with my parents, and both of them are involved in my hunting activities. My father always accompanies me, while my mother manages the businesses and does a phenomenal job in scrap booking. She creates photo albums, and videos.

It all started with my dad and I driving down towards the edge of Colorado, in my dad’s beat up, old 84 Toyota. Many men are proud of their new supped up vehicles, while my dad is proud of his rust and 470,000 miles on it, and the top speed of fifty five miles per hour. Needless to say, we counted every semi that passed us on the high way.

After a five hour drive, which should have been three hours, we arrived at our destination.

We quickly changed out of our blue jeans, and into our camouflage, and started looking into four the beloved whitetail deer. As soon as we feasted our eyes on wheat fields, rivers, and groves of trees, we spotted a heard, and quickly evaluated the bucks. There weren’t any shooters, but it was a good sign to see that many bucks.

As we were walking by a grove of trees, and four feet tall grass, we spotted a shiny ivory antlers, from the look of it, he looked like a nice wide and tall whitetail. As soon as we quit gasping, my soon to be buck disappeared, amongst the grass and trees. We kept an eye on that area of where he was and did not see him again.

We continued to keep our spirits high, and kept looking for other deer. To our dismay, we did not see any more monster whitetails, and I knew our only option was to go for the buck we saw earlier.

Merry Chrsitmas!

I seriously do not get why people in big stores cannot say, Merry Christmas. Instead, they are forced to say happy holidays. That's fine and all, but Christmas is a time to celebrate Jesus' birth. Therefore I am going to say Merry Christmas, that is why we are out spending thousands of dollars on gifts, to celebrate the birth of our savior.

Black Bear part 2

While we were getting my set up, my bear went down the hill. Glen quickly got his’ distressed fawn call out and called the boar back. My soon to be black bear came roaring up the hill! He put his two front feet on a stump and was furiously looking for the so called fawn. Just two hundred yards away from one of the predators that we humans fear most, Glen then said, “Take BOOOOOM him!” He was so surprised when I shot that quickly, that later on he informed me he jumped, even though he knew I was going to shoot. I shot perfectly, right in the boar’s chest. Staying on him, I watched the boar run down the hill, and then he disappeared into the deep thicket. With a few “atta girls” and a couple deep breaths, we proceeded down the mountain. Trying to settle our excitement, going down the mountain, we took our time, carefully looking for blood and tracks.


Finally, after fifteen minutes of searching, we spotted blood! Thirty yards later, there was my boar lying down, stone cold! Then the real excitement picked up! I killed my first bear! After an hour of taking pictures and celebrating, it was time to cape him out! Being a young female sure did not slow me down; I quickly earned my name in hunting camp by becoming one of the guy’s. I grabbed my skinning knife, and began skinning my Black bear, and taking away the meat that we would eat for dinner. While most people think bear is fowl tasting, I find it quite delicious, and I am raised to eat everything I kill, therefore I am not just a “horns” hunter, I take every valuable piece home with me. In addition to taking the meat back, I also believe in packing out each and every animal I harvest. As I loaded my bear skull, hide, and meat into my backpack, the guy’s helped me get it on, and also included their comments, about how I should not be this crazy of a girl. To all the women who are game to try the outdoors: we can do anything we set our mind’s to! Just because of our gender, and or size, we are not incapable; we just need to prove ourselves that we can accomplish anything. We can do the “impossible”.

I want to thank Glen Venus, the guides, and his family! It was a trip to remember! Thank you for all that you did. Not only was the hospitality unbelievable, the hunt was extraordinary!



Contact Info:

Outfitter: Glen Venus, Trophy Guide Outfitters

Phone: 250-923-4288



Gun Manufacture’s: I received my .260 Remington from my father’s pawnshop. Grandpa’s Pawn and Gun (second highest volume gun dealer in the state of Colorado)

Phone: 303-772-7952



Hunting clothes: Sitka Gear

Website: www.Sitkagear.com

Black Bear Story, part one

“Hold it! We’ve got a bear down there!” hollered my Dad from the back of the truck.

        It all started when my family and I went to British Columbia, to attend the annual Guide Outfitters Association of British Columbia. I was accepting an award that my sister had received two years prior. Within getting the award, there was also an auction full of hunts. My Dad, who was left in the ballroom, unsupervised, bought this black bear hunt, for the two of us, on Vancouver Island.

        Several weeks later, I found my self in a Chevrolet, driving logging roads, looking for anything black that moved, and singing along to every country song on the radio. It was beautiful, luscious, rugged country. With the ocean just a few miles away from us, we were on what most people would consider paradise. We had both: the ocean, and the mountains! How could anything get better!

        After several days of stalking “almost shooters” we came across my boar. We were driving at a brisk speed, right by this meadow that dips down into green grass and new trees. My dad had spotted the bear and asked our guide, Glen, to clarify if he was a shooter. While Glen was scoping him out (looking for the signs of a big boar, I was getting ready. I put two shells in my .260 and slammed the bolt down and put the safety on. Then Glen, trying to hide his excitement, said, “this is the boar we’ve been looking for, let’s get him!” I quickly became situated on Glen’s shooting sticks, but to my dismay, there were branches in the way. I then positioned myself in the back of the Chevy and got as steady as I could.

A Sunday well spent :)

God's country is absolutely fantastic! Today, is a day that is going to be spent with my family. We plan on going to Estes Park and go on a couple of hiukes and then I am going to go truck shopping! Or should I say looking!  -Sara Brandenburg

Future events

Hello all! I'm sorry I have been away for the last few weeks. My family and I took a little vacation to Kauai, which in my eyes, was absolute paradise! Kauai was unlike any other place I have ever been. It was filled with lush tropics, the ocean, amazing food, and great people! While we were enjoying the sunshine and eighty degree weather, Colorado was in the middle of a snowstorm. I'm glad I missed that. Now, I am busy trying to plan my future conventions. This year, I am going to be presenting my "sheep mountain", which is all four of my sheep for my Grand Slam on this mountain, at Grand Slam Club Ovis, Wild Sheep, SCI, and possibly other conventions. I am going to be giving speeches about being a youth hunter, and becoming the youngest woman in the world to get my Grand Slam. I will also be attending the 54th Annual Weatherby Dinner, in Reno. I want to make a differernce in the hunting community. I want to convey to the world that we can all do it. Even though, the majority of hnters are male, it doesn't mean we women can not go out there and do it too. We can! Thank you! -Sara Brandenburg

Believing

Anyone can tell you, you cannot do something but it is up to you to prove them wrong. Weather, you are a young female trying to make it in a man's sport, a single mother, or a human trying to get on the right track and follow God, everyone get's this speech. I am a firm believer in Christ and I always fall back on the phrase that one of my middle school teachers said: " you can do anything in Christ Jesus." To this day, I continue to say this to myself, on the volleyball court, on the soccer field, and on the side of the mountain. Special mesage to all you bloggers out there: you can do anything you want, you just have to work for it. Life isn't easy, but its doable. My next goal, is to be the youngest female in the world to get my Super Ten with a rifle and bow. Here I go!
      

Another Big Adventure!

Well,  I am off hunting again! But this time, instead of sheep, I am going after the beloved pronghorn antelope in windy Wyoming. If I can get this animal this will be my first ever with a bow! Wish me luck and I will write as soon as I am back! Cheers!! -Sara

Something other then hunting

Well, here is something you girls and maybe boys can relate too, yes, something other then hunting! I just started my second year of highschool volleyball and let me tell you, it comes very close to hunting! They are tied! I love the game even though I am one of the smallest-shortest girls on the team, I give it everything I can. The only hard thing I have to overcome besides the six foot opponents, is blocking. I cannot for the life of me block! I can't even touch the top of the net. But tomorrow is our first scrimage, against four other school's and we should do very good. If you wouldn't mind keeping me in your prayers for our games i would sure appericate it! Thanks! -Sara Brandenburg

Finished my Grand Slam!

Hi there, my name is Sara Brandenburg. I am new at this blogging thing, so bear with me. Just last week, I got the privledge to go to the Yukon with my daddy to go hunting. For about a year, I have been working on a hunting goal called the Grand Slam. It's the four North American wild sheep: Dall, Stone, Rocky Mountain Bighorn, and Desert Bighorn. Once one has gotten all four he/she must register with Grand Slam Club Ovis and Wild Sheep to record how old he/she is, how long it took them to do it ect. The woman who held this record before me, was thirty two and I acheieved this goal when I was fifteen.
      The Yukon is one of the prettiest places I have ever been too. It is filled with God's creatures and unbelieveable colors. Including killer sunsets and sunrises. It is truely unbelieveable! My guides, my dad, and I were hunting for a total of twleve days but we were lucky enough to fill my tag on the fifth day! It was a beautiful day, full of mid afternoon thunderstorms, which was fine with me because after walking thirty some miles with a sixty five pound on my hundred pound body you begin to sweat...lots! Anyway, we started hiking at eight a.m. and finally took a rest around one p.m. After hiking ten miles we made camp and decided to go spotting so we climbed to the top of this mountain and just as I was pulling out my spotting scope, my guides spotted six rams. And I quote, "Sara, one of those rams is an absolute TOAD! He's a monster!" After I caught my heart from almost falling out of my throat, we raced down the mountain, and when I say raced I mean we were literally running down this mountain back to camp. Meanwhile, one of the little rams spotted us and spooked the whole heard. They took off and from the looks of it they weren't coming back. As soon as my guide, Dustin Roe, say dissapointment consume my face, he decided to go spotting for them. Instead of going back where we were we went the other way to get on top of the mountains and maybe find my herd again. After five hours of hiking ans glassing, my guide spotted them again! In the exact same spot! We once again, raced down the mountain and grabbed everything we needed and headed up the other one. We checked our watches and it was eight p.m. we had three hours to get this sheep and shatter the world record. With this in mind, I hiked like i have never hiked before. Finally, we reached nine hundred yards and could see them feeding up the next draw. We climbed some cliffs and reached 325 yards and I got ready. I steadied myself and tried to hold back my fear of missing and tried to become still but my heart was beating so fast I was shaking. As my ram became into my sight, I put my crosshairs right behind his left sholder and gently squeezed the trigger. Boom one shot and I had just completed the Grand Slam and shattered a world record. Keep reading my blog for more hunting stories!

Off Hunting!

Sara is off hunting for two weeks and will be starting her blog upon her return.  Check back because I am sure she will have a lot to say about her hunt.

Thanks for visiting and come back!