Robin Hood and Little John

 In January Olen applied for an elk tag just like he does every year. Except for this year instead of a rifle, he decided to mix it up and applied for an archery tag.

It's a raffle drawing here in Arizona. You mail in your selection of what areas of the state you would like to hunt in along with your money and your name goes in the pot for the draw. If you don’t get drawn you get your money back and earn a “point”. One point for every year entered, but not drawn. The more points you have the more pity the Game and Fish Gods have for you and you're more likely to get drawn next time. Olen only applies for the best areas of the state, known as “trophy” areas that yield the biggest bulls (or bucks if we’re talking about deer season) so he rarely gets drawn because every other hopeful hunter puts his (or her?) name in for the same areas. He wrote the check, sealed the envelope with a kiss, and probably said a little prayer.

His dreams came true the day the draw results were in and his name was on the list. It cost him all 14 points, but he’s got his trophy hunt at last. He tried to convince me when he got the tag just how amazing it was (“Love, this is the hunt of a lifetime!” Riiiight.) but I’ve gotten used to our little game of sending off the money and then getting it back when he wasn’t drawn. It wasn’t until one week after the results were announced that we started getting letters, pamphlets, magazines, DVDs, and brochures from hunting guides and different outfitters trying to entice Olen (and his tag) into choosing them to take him on his hunt “of a lifetime” that I began to understand that Olen’s excitement might actually be legit.

If you know anything about how Arizona is divided into hunting units, then you must be awesome. I don’t know anything about how Arizona is divided into hunting units, but I do know that it is divided, so I’ve got that going for me. (I’m still learning; it’s only been nine years but who’s counting.) Well, Olen’s hunt is in Unit 9 around Flagstaff. It’s one of the Premier Hunting Areas of the world for elk and has been showcased on hunting shows and the National Geographic channel. I guess it’s kind of a big deal.

Olen looked at all his mail but he's already got his hunt set up with our good friends and their guide company, Arizona Mossback Outdoors. Olen has even got himself a small army of friends and brothers coming along on his hunt just to lend moral support.

For the last few weeks, Olen has been dusting off his bow skills and preparing for his September hunt. He’s taken Porter with him the last couple of times to the Usery Pass archery range and we girls were beginning to feel a little left out so we went as a family yesterday evening to see what all the fuss was about. I already knew Olen has good aim but so does Porter. It made my heart melt to watch Olen teach Porter the proper stance and safety techniques and then see them celebrate the straight shot into the target together.

The sun was going down telling the nocturnal things that live in the desert to wake up. All kinds of noises began to come from the bushes and creek beds and started to worry London. She has never stayed so close before! I gathered a few ripe prickly pear fruits for fun and Daisy hung out in her stroller and watched us all from on high.