Freezing, family, fun. Waking up at 5:30 in the morning for 3 days straight is always a struggle but once I’m up I’m not falling back asleep. The 10-minute drive feels more like 30 and the short walk to my stand in the light powdery snow feels like forever. Sitting in my blinds nothing in sight on my phone to pass the time, my fingers start feeling like they're going to fall off, so I have to put my gloves back on and just watch. The sound of something falling from a tree or a squirrel running is as loud as fireworks. 

After sitting out there for 4-6 hours I finally get to go back to the house and warm up, listen to everyone's stories, and eat a big lunch. Then we all just relax watch some tv and take naps and get ready to go back out in 2 hours. Around 1:00 pm everybody starts getting ready to go back out.

Going out for the second time during the day is always much better. Time seems to go much faster, and it always seems to feel warmer even though sometimes it does not. The drive out there goes very quickly and the walk to my stand goes much quicker. Then I'm back to just sitting there. Going on my phone until my fingers go numb and then just sit there looking around at 1,000 trees. Heard about 10 loud, bangs, and gunshots in the distance, wondering whether or not its someone in my family. Once the sun goes down are it's dark out it's time to head back home.

When we get back my grandpa and his brother will have a whole dinner ready to go. We all eat and then just talk for a while, some nights the adults will go out to bars, and my cousins and I will just stay back and watch a movie. Then we all go to bed early so we can get up and do it all again the next day.

Sitting, freezing then I hear crunch crunch the sound of a deer stepping on the leaves. My heart starts racing with excitement and nervousness. I grab your gun and find it in my scope take a deep breath and pull the trigger BANG! The deer runs off and I see it fall. I get out of my blind and go look at the deer. Seeing it lay there fills me with excitement. Calling my dad to get him to come over and gut it and then I have to drag it all the way back to the truck which feels like the longest walk of my life. Pulling an extra 150lbs and going up and down hills around trees and branches all the way back.

Once the weekend is over and it's time to leave we clean up the house and pack up our stuff and start our long 4-and-a-half-hour drive home. It’s always a fun weekend even if I don’t get any deer, just being able to spend time with my family is very fun.