My Grandson, Michael "Ethan" Kelly

Ethan just took on a new assignment at Ft. Bragg/Pope AFB in North Carolina last week.  

He wanted to go hunting again before he left to joined the Air Force last October but never got the chance.  Hopefully, if he comes home for Christmas he can head to the woods and get him a deer.  

Be safe Grandson and I love you very much!   Gran Gran

Pictures of Ethan that I took when he was a little boy while I was babysitting him and his baby sister, Lucy.  

One day, I told Ethan to go and throw himself into the flowers...

...and these are the cute pictures I got.

Graduation From Air Force Boot Camp

My Grandson, Michael "Ethan" Kelly graduated from boot camp on yesterday, December 1, 2012 at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, TX and will fly out tomorrow, December 3 to Fort Lee, Virginia for Tech training. 

To a little boy, not so long ago, that I took hunting and now he has graduated from Raymond High School and joined the Air Force in the last five months.  I am so proud of him and wish him well in his career in the Air Force.  My daughters, Debra, (his Mom), Kathy (his Aunt) and granddaughter, Lucy (his sister) and Sonya (his cousin) went to his graduation and took a lot of pictures and videos.  The family wishes him well and may God be with him and keep him safe from harm until his tour is over. 

Hunting With Ethan, My Grandson!

My handsome grandson, Michael "Ethan" Ramson Kelly.

I took this picture of a shadow of a deer stand around 4:00 p.m. on a November day in 2006, just after deer season opened for a youth hunt.  I had my grandson, Ethan, and we were hunting at my deer camp, Jasper Bottom Hunting Club, Claiborne County, MS.  We had a fun day hunting and he used my .270 Ruger Featherweight.  Sorry to say that this picture was the only thing shot that day!

I also submitted this picture to The Vicksburg Post in December and it was published in the paper on Sunday, January 14, 2007.  Readers can submit photos of interest to the paper via e-mail.  I was so excited to see it!

Before we started our hunt, I let him shoot my .270 rifle and as you can see, he centered a coke can.  He was so proud!  He will make a great hunter one day!  I have three grandson's and a step-grandson that are hunters now and I'm so proud of them all and will be posting their successful hunts on this blog.  

Update No. 1 - Ethan shot a doe while hunting with his step-grandfather two years ago in Hinds County and I have not received the picture yet.  I hope to someday and will post it on my blog.  

Update No. 2 - I finally got the picture from his Grandmother Jane.  So happy to see him get a nice doe with his step-grandfather, Charles Ivey.

Ethan recently joined the Air Force and will graduate on May 22, 2012, at the Mississippi Coliseum from Raymond High School.  I am so proud of my grandson and I wish him the very best and will keep him in my prayers for his new calling in life.  Congratulations Ethan!  I love you, Gran Gran

Bob Coming To Pick Me Up!

I was hunting on Jerry Dykes (now deceased) deer stand on the bar near the MS River and was waiting for Bob to come and pick me up.  I love this picture that I took with my camera of him coming to get me in our suburban back in the late 80's or early 90's.  We were hunting on Kings Point Island at Brown's Point Hunting Club at the time.  I have a lot of wonderful memories of our hunting adventures at this deer camp.  It was one of my favorite camps to go to and at the time we belonged to three camps.  Brown's Point is still an active camp but we no longer belong because of the fees being so high and got out about 15 years ago.  Greg, my step-son, is still a member of the camp.  In October of 2010, Bob and I revisited the camp together and was a very emotional and great trip.  Recently, Bob and Greg got to hunt together and it was a good father/son hunt even though they did not get a deer.  They did see deer but was too far away for a good shot.

Deer Story

Here I am back in the early 90's telling Fred Harris (deceased) about my deer that I shot.  I believe on this particular hunt he let me shoot his doe for meat.  He was a very special hunting friend and the nicest guy you would ever want to meet and is sadly missed.

Finding and Dragging a Doe!

Bob shot this doe in the late evening at Homewood Hunting Club in Claiborne County back in 2005 in Mike's Patch.  It was so dark and we could not find any blood so we had to get up early the next morning and go back to the camp to look for it.  Bob showed me approximately where it went in at the far right and I headed towards the left. I walked in about 100 or so yards and thought I saw something that looked like a deer laying by a log across a ravine.  I was able to walk around to it and when I got closer, it looked real small and started dragging this deer out of the woods...the more I dragged the heavier it got and the bigger it got.  Trying to get around a ravine and back, going around trees, brush, etc.  I yelled to Bob that I had found it and got it almost to the edge of the field where part of a tree had fallen down blocking the way but was able to get over it with his help.  (Bob had a stroke back in 1995 and he tends to drag his right leg and gets tangled up in the brush and may fall)  That is why I had to go in and help him find the deer.  We were so lucky that a coyote had not gotten to it overnight.  We got the 4-wheeler as close as we could to the deer and it took us three tries but we finally got it up on the wheeler.  Got back to the camp, weighed and was almost 120 lbs.  Yikes!  You should have seen us trying to load it into our 2005 Ford Focus car trunk...it was crazy but lots of fun!

Bob harvested two more deer and got another one that got eaten up by a coyote.  My hunting was not good that season.  Two deer (on separate hunts) showed up as I was peeing and another one I shot at the Ceder Tree Stand.  Got down and found blood and tagged where it went into the woods.  Had to pick up Bob at another stand on the 4-wheeler and was getting late so we decided to wait till the next morning.  On the way back to the camp we picked up my grandson, Carl, to help track and find my deer.  As luck would have it  - we did find it but had been eaten on possibly by the same coyote.  The two stands are close together even though you had to go back towards the camp and then head in another direction to get to Mike's Patch where Bob had hunted.   Most of the time the other hunters would help us since they knew his condition but we also hunted during the weekdays.  

Bob in 2005 with his 120lb. doe.

My Shadow On Deerstand

This is a picture I took a few years ago while I was still in a hunting camp in Claiborne County called, Jasper Bottom.  Unfortunately, after 25 years of hunting there, I had to get out of my camp because the fees went up so high.  I now hunt where ever I get invited.  This weekend is opening weekend for rifle season and I plan to hunt on my granddaughter's family land south of town.  The stand I am in above will be the one I will hunt out of.  We had it moved a couple of years ago to its new site.  I hunted out of it last season but did not see anything.  Hopefully, this weekend I will see and possibly get a deer.  I want to wish everyone that's already hunting or will soon be hunting to be safe and obey the laws of hunting in our great outdoors!

Showing Dad My First Deer

Here I am at my sister's home showing off my first deer to my Dad.  He was so proud of me that "opening day" of rifle season back in 1986.  He even thanked Bob, my future husband, for taking the time to teach me how to hunt.  The following November he died.

    

Admiring my very first deer a 6 point buck!    

My Shadow on a Tree

This picture of me with my shadow on a tree was most likely taken back in 1986-87 hunting season.  I had just started hunting and this was an evening shot.  My stand was near the Big Black River and as the sun was setting I noticed my shadow on a tree near me and took this picture.  I now use it as a logo on my blog called, Marian's Hunting Stories, etc., etc., etc.  It is amazing that you can take one picture and get so many compliments on it throughout the years.  I like it because it's different and a reminder of my early hunting days.  I was in my mid-forties at the time and enjoying hunts at Jasper Bottom Hunting Club in Claiborne County, Mississippi.  Two years ago I had to pull out of my hunting club after 25 years because the fees had gone up.  I really miss hunting there and it's sad that I don't have a deer camp to call my very own anymore.  It is a blessing that my husband and I get invited by friends and family to hunt at their camp or on their land.  I'm wishing all hunters in our great wild outdoors a very successful 2011-2012 hunting season.  Be safe!

My Third 8 pt. Buck

Showing off my 3rd 8 pt. from the back of our Toyota Tacoma at my daughter's home.

My 8 pt. on the back of the 4-wheeler at Homewood Hunting Club in Claiborne County.

I shot my 3rd 8 pt. in January 2003 at Homewood Hunting Club in Claiborne County.  I was hunting Mike's Patch and it was getting late in the evening when I noticed a buck walking out in the far right corner. I could not believe that their was another buck further behind him and they were looking straight at me.  I watched them get closer and closer and decided to shoot the first one that walked out.  The second one had a higher rack but this one to me had a wider rack.  When I shot he just stood there and finally took off into the woods.  The other buck stood there for about 20 seconds and took off back into the woods.  I waited about 20 minutes and made my way tracking the blood and found my buck no more than 30 yards into the woods.  I walked back to my stand and got my 4-wheeler and headed back towards camp to wait for Bob and the hunters to come in.  I needed help in getting my deer out.  I was so happy to get another 8 pt., and hopefully one day I will get another buck...maybe a bigger one! 

Me in a Tripod at Brown's Point Hunting Club

My husband, Bob, took this picture of me in a tripod on Kings Point Island, at Brown's Point Hunting Club (Anderson-Tully land) back in the late 80's.  This was George Joy's stand near the MS River.  I remember taking a beautiful picture of a sunrise from this stand and gave it to George.  I wished I had it now to show you how beautiful it was.  

Also, I don't know if it was this particular day or another hunt on this stand that I left my rifle on the floor of the stand and climbed down to use the bathroom.  Would you believe a doe just politely walked no more than 30 yards from me, looked at me and kept walking across the road.  She knew what she was doing!  I have never left my gun on the floor of a tripod since.  It taught me a good lesson.  

The orange hat that I'm wearing is one that I chose because I never knew another lady hunter back 25 years ago until I met, Margie Brown, at Jasper Bottom Hunting Club.  Her and her husband leased the  Anderson-Tully land in Claiborne County that we hunted on.  She wore a hat like this one and I wanted to be just like her.  I still have my orange hat and cherish it to this day.  I will most likely leave it to my daughter, Kathy, who is an avid hunter.