On the day our son Brody was born, Jon held him in the hospital room with a dream in his heart. He already knew he loved his son, and he thought of all the things they would do together one day. The one thing he was looking forward to most was taking his son hunting for the very first time. Jon and Dave, Erica’s dad, have been hunting buddies since before we were married. They’ve gone off on hunt after hunt together, just the two of them. Each time, Jon has been patiently waiting for the day Brody would be old enough to come along. So when the opportunity to go with Dave on an elk hunt on a private 20,000+ acre ranch in New Mexico came about, Jon pounced on the opportunity to not only go along, but bring the entire family and fulfill that dream of hunting with Brody!
When we arrived at the ranch, we felt like we had just gotten a glimpse of heaven. The sprawling land was full of pine trees and low cedars with golden grass that stretched as far as we could see. Our family of four and Erica’s parents all stayed in the cutest little bunk house! Brody and Paislee thought that the bunk beds were the most amazing thing they had ever seen! Oh and the food…the entire time we feasted on meal after meal tirelessly prepared by Carole, the ranch owner’s wife. She didn’t just prepare meals. She went all out with full spreads for every. single. meal. It was amazing!
Jon and Brody woke up early the next morning to head out for the hunt with Dave. It was a dream come true for Jon, being able to show Brody the ropes and focus on his experience while helping Dave with the hunt. Within the first 10 minutes of the hunt, we saw over 150 head of elk jumping over the barbed wire fences! Brody was amazed by the shear number of them, and all he could say was, ‘WOAH!’ Later that morning, we had filled Dave’s elk tag with a beautiful harvest. Brody was a little less excited about the ‘work’ after harvesting an animal, but we know he will grow into it! 🙂
The next morning, Erica took a turn and went out with her dad to help another hunter on the ranch fill her tag. Erica had heard all of our stories of seeing herds of hundreds of elk on the ranch, but had yet to see a single animal! That morning, in the sub-freezing temperatures, the sun started rising over the open meadow making the frost covered golden grass glow with light! While she couldn’t help but think of how gorgeous photos would look in that moment, she also had the chance to see over 50 elk running through the meadow! All of the hunters at the ranch filled their tags, and it was a great harvest!
And if the hunting wasn’t enough of an experience for everyone, we also got to live the cowboy life for the afternoon! The ranch is an active cattle ranch with hundreds of head of cattle. They had recently received a shipment of cows that had been purchased at an auction. The cows needed to be tagged, branded, and relocated to open pasture where they would free range! We got to participate in the hard work and make some amazing memories as a family! It certainly is a completely different lifestyle than we are used to, but the experience was incredible and one we definitely won’t forget!
We left a little more tired physically than when we had arrived. But we also left with full hearts, relaxed minds, and a huge appreciation for all of God’s creation! From the beautiful land we explored to the mighty elk that He provided for sustenance, we were amazed!
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