Michael Jones is 8 years old and has been at three of the Kicking Bear events and has found that the outdoors is a lot of fun. He has also picked up a new nickname, NBK, over an incident that happened in regard to a toad.

Here is Michael's story about shed antler hunting:

I went shed antler hunting two times this year with Ray Howell. The first time we went looking, we were in Minnesota. The snow was really deep and we had to use snowshoes. This was the first time I had ever tried walking in snowshoes and after I got used to them, I thought it was fun.

We saw lots of deer in the woods and more standing right underneath some apple trees just a short way from a road. I was sitting with him and I told him to be quiet and not to move because we would scare the deer away. He almost started to laugh when I said that because he usually would say this to me.

The second time we went out to look for more antlers, we took his yellow Lab Buck with us and we went to Iowa. Ray gave me one of his jackets to wear over mine so that I wouldn't get cold. It was very big on me, but I didn't get cold one time!

While we were walking and looking around, he told me to follow a different deer trail that was close to where he was. He thought it was better for us to look in two different directions because then we would have a better chance of finding antlers.

As I was walking down this other trail, I saw rubbings on the trees and then I saw an antler under one of the trees. I was so excited that I started bouncing up and down and yelling for Ray.

After that excitement, he said we should try a different area so we decided to go up on top of a high hill where there were lots of logs. When we got there, he pointed out a trail for me to follow. The trail he pointed out was a well-used deer trail and I walked down it while he walked in another direction on a trail that was much smaller. I walked just a little bit and was going to go back and follow him but then I spotted another deer antler. I got really excited again and almost said the "s" word but instead I said, "Holy smoley"! What a fun day I had in the woods!

By Michael Jones