If you head to your local sporting good store you will soon be awash in a sea of camo. There are your huge companies  who market to serious hunters as well as making trendy fashion duds, like Realtree and Mossy Oak, and there are a few smaller companies also, but the one that has really caught my eye lately is Elusion Camo. THIS is some cool CAMO!

I see many of them each year at SHOT Show and  many different companies send me press releases when they launch things through the rest of the year. I like most of them in one way or another,(except that one with the naked girl profiles which is just tacky) but I was REALLY excited when I found Elusion Camo on Facebook. I was curious enough to contact the developer and genius behind the brand. What he told me made me really sit back and take notice.

Lee Dufresne owner of Elusion and the man behind the creative process, said he wanted to generate  better camo patterns that had the ability to blend in naturally. “Our camouflage is by far the most advanced camo to ever be released.”

Lee went on to say, “For the past few decades we have seen camouflage evolve from the basic woodland patterns to the more intricate and artistic renderings of outdoor-scape and  settings yet none of the patterns were derived with natural colors and generally stand out like a black blob past ten yards.

Skeptical and having heard it all before, I had him send me a unit in the Forest Ghost pattern so I could see for myself how well it worked.  I put it on went outside and stood by a big tree and had my son take a look. He was totally impressed.  A fierce and highly successful hunter,  Tony  saw the value of this camo and wanted a unit for himself. What was REALLY interesting was the fact that no matter where I stood I blended in, whether blending in to tree bark or appearing as a tree against a green background.

Elusion...NOT your grandfathers CAMO!

My husband Jerry came home a few minutes later and also had some great things to say. A hunter his whole life, he has worn just about every other brand and pattern one time or another, but he quickly saw the difference in Elusion.  I now know what I am getting my guys for Christmas!

OK, so I am impressed, but what makes Elusion so good?

Elusion utilizes true high definition images, incorporating a patent pending sublimating process  to create a linear, non-repetitive, highly natural camouflage pattern.  “HUH, Lee can you ‘splain?”

Elusion camo is a unique correlation of true HD images developed into the fabrics. Our patterns can’t be printed as they are too detailed and require a specialized process to even be applied to fabrics. With Elusion camo the fact that w use natural images and colors makes the pattern not invisible, but not distinguishable by a game animal or bird as a hunter in regular old camo, due to  the absflection ability to adjust itself into any habitat. Absflection is defined at the ability to absorb and reflect light the same way as in nature.

Mr. Dufresne has been creating and perfecting this technology for over 16 years and has launched 11 patterns so far with the newest being the Winter Dawn pattern which is amazing!

One of the things I appreciate most about Elusion Camo is the dedication to being a 100% made in America product, made by Americans.

I see a new tide sweeping across the great camo sea, and it’s name is Elusion!

Elusion Camo; real to life patterns for real to life hunters!

If you are an outdoor clothing manufacturer and would like more information to acquire licensing to use Elusion Camo patterns contact:

Lee D DufresnePresident / CEOElusion Camo LLC, 1100 North Branch St. Bennington, VT 05201

When I came over the hill to the Boulder Rifle and Pistol  Club in Boulder City, I was excited about what I saw! Many of the major firearm makers in the world were represented and this is a huge range compared to what I am used to.  I love to shoot and firing big guns is always a big treat for me.

I met up with Rick and Georgette Wood good friends, owners of  GSS Competition and fellow gun enthusiasts. Georgette and I danced around in circles hugging while Rick let us get it out of our system.  Then they showed me my taxi, a new XTO Electric Bad Boy Buggy! Sweet!

We shot up the hill to the Bad Boy Buggy booth where I learned a little about these nifty vehicles. They are super quiet and strong. I asked to drive the buggy and we went on a little trip with the representative… it was FUN! WAHOO! I went up a hill, over creek beds and in a few minutes I was thinking of how to snag one to take home.

Bad Boy Buggy, should be named Glad Girl Buggy!

Then we went to the Kriss/Sphinx booth up on the hill. I was so impressed with the pistols I saw there but got REALLY excited when I saw the KRISS Super V Vector CRB/SO .45 ACP. Now THIS was a fun looking weapon! Georgette and I spoke to the range officer and asked if we could shoot it. He showed us the fundamentals and let us take a practice shot, then two and then we got to open it up and let it go! Yeeee HAWWWW what fun! I could have stayed in that booth all day but there was a line, so we walked down to the lunch tent and had a nice meal.

Shooting the Kriss.45 acp.

Safari Club International Foundation had a raffle going for a KrissVector, CRB/SO .45 ACP Carbine that would benefit SCIF Mission programs. We all purchased tickets and continued on to another interesting spot at the range,  Heckler & Koch. This was a great booth and we shot up quite a few rounds on their guns.

I was able to connect again with Vickie Gardner of Alpen Optics who is always a treat!  Alpen has launched some really nice new rifle scopes and a compact spotting scope, I think I must have!

Alpen Optics compact scope!

As the day drew to a close, Georgette and I were visiting with Vickie and Georgette’s husband Rick went over to watch the raffle drawing. As we were chatting, Rick started waving to us and said that he won the gun. We were sure he was joking. He became very animated so we went over to where he was hopping around waving a piece of paper and he wasn’t joking! Rick really DID win the gun! WOW.

I was a tiny bit envious (and I wasn’t the only one) but so happy that Rick had won! At the booth we took some photos of  Rick holding the gun and then he had to give it back so that it would be sent properly to him.

Rick Wood, a happy happy man!

The 2011 Media Day at the Range came to a close and we all boarded the shuttle buses back to the Vegas hotels. What a great day!

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Mama's first buck

Mama’s first buck…at Church!

I finally got to the place in my bow shooting practice where I had the confidence to hunt a deer with my amazing new Darton Pro 3500 SD bow. I have been practicing for months and lost a couple of my super cool Victory V Force arrows in the weeds where I hope I can find them after the frost, but I felt comfortable enough to actually go hunting.

During archery deer season, I went out every morning and  sat in the tree stand hoping  at first for a BIG buck to walk by, then wishing  a medium buck would walk by and then, well hoping to spot anything legal to shoot!

I had never experienced life in a tree stand and it is super cool! It took me a little bit to get settled and get my harness strap long enough to enable me to sit on the seat and not just dangle above it,  but soon I was  happily waiting for it to get light enough to shoot the ginormous buck that would soon walk by.

I was privy to watching nature waking up as never before.  The first day I was so well camouflaged in my stunning cozy Prois, that two birds right above me were comfortable enough to relieve themselves right on my head! Wow I thought, hunting is so much fun…

I was able to watch three young raccoons irritate their mother with their morning antics and get chewed out. I am sure they were really grateful for an audience to their shame, but I was eavesdropping on their little lives and well, didn’t ask for their permission.  Mama raccoon soon had everyone ready for their day and they scooted down the tree across from me to whatever chores needed to be done.

It was also  fall turkey season, and I kept hearing turkeys in the field just past me. I decided that since the season was almost over and since I hadn’t heard or seen any toms, I would not go buy a turkey tag. Of course that was a dumb move because one morning I sat watching a coyote approximately 50 yards away from me stalk a bunch of turkeys. He was intent on getting breakfast and I thought to myself, if I had a coyote call of some sort I could save the turkeys he was watching from a grizzly death.  I would be the turkey savior! I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a turkey without a tag,  and if I couldn’t have one neither could that mangy coyote!

I had no call but started to whistle, sounding like what I imagined  a distressed critter would sound like . Darn if that coyote came over to me!! He must have thought I was a woodland freak of nature, but he came over nonetheless. He left his breakfast quest to see what was dying a horrific scary death  in the bushes.  Of course I couldn’t get a shot off because he was on my far right side and my bow was pointing left. I slowly attempted to move my bow in his direction and he disappeared.  I felt good anyway that I had saved the turkeys for another day.  When things settled down a bitI heard a rustling in the bushes and then what to my wondering eyes should appear? Fifteen turkeys including 2 really nice toms. RIGHT UNDER MY TREESTAND! If I  had a tag I could have taken a wonderful turkey. Note to self, get a turkey tag next year during deer season.

The season was almost over and it was Sunday. I had one more day to hunt a deer, but since I had not seen one at all, I decided to go to church. We were going to try to find a deer later that day so I would have one more chance to get a deer. I  got dressed in nice dress jeans, a dress shirt and high heeled boots. I put my hair up and wore nice sparkly earrings. I sprayed my favorite perfume on and off we all went just like any other Sunday.

We were all sitting in the service and Jerry went to help serve communion. He came back and told me that someone said there was a wounded buck in the bushes behind the church. Our church is in the country with trees and fields all around.  I quietly told him that I could tag it if it was really wounded. I, like most hunters am not afraid of an animal dying a quick death but HATE having an animal suffer,there is a big difference to me. Jerry didn’t say anything about what he was going to do just then so I just sat back to let him deal with it. I had no idea just how injured the animal was; if  the buck was running around with a scraped up knee or was really badly injured.

I didn’t hear from him for a while and thought maybe the men in the church just took care of  it. The service was still going on and our preacher was doing a great job. I got curious though, and went outside, just as Jerry came back in to the parking lot. Jerry had gone home quickly to get my bow.

He told me that the buck was laying by the old trailer parked behind the church and if  I wanted to I could shoot it and tag it.  I felt awful that that poor thing was suffering in the heat. What was amazing to me was a bear or coyotes had not killed it although we had no way of knowing just how long it had been there. I knew that I wanted to end its suffering and that is what I was focused on.

I got my bow out of the case and got ready to shoot. I didn’t want to scare the buck and have it  run off, so I very carefully crept around the trailer and looked for him. He was laying in the trees with his head mostly behind a bush so I couldn’t see his antlers. I truly didn’t care how big they were I just wanted to end his pain. I walked to within  20 feet of him and raised my bow. Jerry said to shoot at the leaf that was laying over the spot I should hit. I took aim and shot, shearing the leaf in half and making a perfect shot trough his lungs. He jerked a little and put his right foot out and died.

I was very relieved that that beautiful animal  didn’t hurt anymore.  I took a deep breath and walked back to the truck and put my bow away. The kids were still in church with everyone so Jerry told me to go back into church and wait for it to end. He and a couple of guys loaded the buck in the back of the truck for me, and took him home.

I went back in to church, sat down and finished the service. I have no idea what the preacher said or what the songs were after that. I was a little shaken up and somewhat dazed. I only remembered seeing the deer’s rack for a second and knew he was of the legal size to shoot. I have never shot an animal with a bow and was amazed at how clean and fast it went. I am sure the buck never knew what happened.

After church I took the kids home and told them what happened. When we got home Jerry had the buck all taken care of. He determined that the buck had been wounded most likely  by a car. He was pretty well bruised up and battered and had lain there for several days. The kids were thrilled for me to have gotten a buck and he had a great thick , broad 4X2  rack in velvet which amazed me.

Everyone asked if I wanted the head mounted and so forth. I felt weird thinking of this first buck as a trophy. To me he was not an animal that I tracked and hunted in the woods that had a fighting chance with it’s quiet cunning and wisdom of the woods. This was a gorgeous animal that had suffered. Someone had hit him with a car and left him to die a slow painful death and I didn’t feel that it was something to celebrate, so I just had Jerry do a panel mount with his antlers.

I am proud of my buck and that God gave me the ability to take a bad situation and make it turn out good.

Now I will be glad when the “You know you are a redneck” comments die down!

Copyright © 2010 by Anne Vinnola

 So you are heading out for a gorgeous day of turkey hunting. Are you prepared for having your turkey mounted by a taxidermist? Many turkey hunters don’t go past the kill part of their planning, they assume they are just going for the meat and are not prepared when a trophy walks into shooting view.

Turkeys are impressive mounted in a home. Here are some tips to help you get your turkey to the taxidermist in the best shape for a beautiful showpiece for your home or office.

Hopefully you have checked out the taxidermists in your area months before hunting season. Not every taxidermist is good at birds. Birds and fish are some of the more difficult specimens to do well. Look carefully at the turkeys in the taxidermy shop you visit. Balance is very important in a turkey mount. Does the bird appear to be ready to fall over or stumble sideways or does it look right for the position it is in? You as a hunter have a pretty good idea of how a turkey should look.

When aiming at your bird, try to wait for a shot that will not damage the fan. This seems obvious but many hunters get busy watching the tail feathers and shoot holes right through their trophy; sort of like hunters watching the racks on large bucks. The head can be replaced if necessary, but the tail feathers are harder to match.

Get over to your bird right away after you have shot it. You will want to prevent any possible thrashing around that may get the turkey dirty or harm the feathers. 

 Carry the bird by the legs not the neck. Keep it out of the dirt and weeds and if it is still bleeding place cotton or paper towels into the mouth to stop the blood flow.

Cool your turkey completely.  NEVER place a warm bird in a plastic bag, cooler or other tightly sealed container. Put it into a cool shady place with a breeze, opening up the wings and legs a bit if possible until it s thoroughly cooled.  

Decide what you want to do with your bird. Do you want a full body mount or just a fan display?  Full body turkeys are very impressive and showy and one you are going to have mounted in a full body mount really should be kept intact until you get it to the taxidermist; but you can free the breast meat only to use it if you follow these steps.

1.  Weigh the bird, so the taxidermist will know what size body to place back into the bird.

2. Place the bird on its back on a clean surface and find the line on the breast just under the beard, where there aren’t any feathers and begin your incision; cutting just deep enough to cut through the skin.

3. Cut with your clean knife facing up downward toward the vent being careful not to cut feathers. Stop your incision just above the vent. 

4. With your fingers and gently work the skin away from the breast working your way toward the back.

5. With a sharp knife remove the breast meat only from the carcass and set aside.

6. Place damp paper towels into the bird and place into a bag, keeping it dry and cool.

7. Take it to the taxidermist immediately or freeze it.

 If you will need to ship your turkey or haul it far then take some cardboard to wrap around the tail feathers or to sandwich the tail feathers, to keep them from becoming bent or frayed.

Save the spurs and the beard of your turkey and if you like the shotgun shell or arrow used to kill the bird also. A fan mounted with the beard is beautiful and the spurs are also a fun bragging piece.

When looking for a place in your home to display your bird, be sure there is no direct heat source such as a fireplace or furnace vent close by or anyway for dogs to get at it.

 Wild Turkey and Rice Soup

 Two turkey breasts cut into bite sized pieces.

3-4 stocks of celery chopped,

1 small can water chestnuts chopped

One small onion chopped

1 box or 3 cans of chicken broth

1 tbs. parsley

½ tsp. sage or poultry seasoning

½ tsp. rosemary

1 tsp black pepper

Dash salt

1 cup wild rice or wild rice blend

Dried cranberries, sliced onion and chopped walnuts for garnish

________________________________________________________________

Saute’ turkey breast, celery and onion together until the celery and onion are transparent and the turkey slightly browned.

Add broth, parsley, sage or poultry seasoning,rosemary, pepper, salt and rice and simmer until rice is tender.

Just before serving add chopped water chestnuts. 

Serve in large bowls with dried cranberries, chopped walnuts and green onions as garnish.

Tell us what you think! Do you like the recipe and how can you use this field care info? 

Copyright © 2009 Anne Vinnola

Frequently our taxidermy studio resembles an old time feed store, with friendly, excited people hanging around telling their hunting stories, photos and sharing bits of wisdom. Hunters are proud of their animals and love to show them off. Each animal  coming in the door is a trophy to someone , be it the first spike shot by a young hunter, or a three inch trout caught by someone’s granddaughter.   Several times each hunting season an animal is brought in to the shop that stops everyone in their tracks.  The hunter and staff members are pretty sure they have a “trophy book” animal and everyone gathers around to see. 

 As a Master Measurer for Safari Club International, my husband Jerry is asked to score many gorgeous animals.    Saying you have an animal that made a trophy record book is a great reward, but is it necessary?   

To some people, keeping track of scores is only a way for people to boast about their kill, adding proof that “mine is bigger than yours.”  While crowing over a big kill can be a really nice piece of the puzzle, there is much more involved in record keeping and to the clubs in charge of classifying the animals. Trophy record books are used extensively for conservation purposes; a tool used by state and federal wildlife agencies alike.   Herd size, condition, and range and habitat stability over several years can be tracked and managed with the aid of these records.

  Finding out which book your animal qualities for can be more complicated and breaking down the different scoring methods, qualifications and philosophies gets really tricky

Safari Club International, Boone and Crockett, Pope and Young are some of the most recognized trophy record keeping clubs in the United States today.  There are smaller organizations in most states with some of the different clubs such as fishing clubs and turkey clubs.

Safari Club International is an organization dedicated to the protection of hunters and hunting all over the world, their main focus is conservation, and protecting our hunting heritage through hunting legislation, and chapter involvement at the community level. SCI hosts the most comprehensive record keeping system worldwide and recognizes all aspects of an animal stating that size matters as much as or perhaps more than perfection.  SCI recognizes animals taken with a rifle, bow, handgun, or muzzleloader.  There are categories for both free range and estate or high-fence harvested animals.    SCI has two types of measurer; official scorer and master scorer.  For most trophies, official scoring is all that is required. If an animal may potentially be a top ten contender, it has to go through a drying period and be rescored by a master measurer. 

The Boone and Crockett Club was established in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt along with several other influential men of his time and has a rich and fascinating history. Through conservation efforts they saved Yellowstone Park and set fair chase guidelines that are still in practice today. President Roosevelt understood the need to conserve and manage our rapidly vanishing wildlife while at the same time preserving our right to hunt.  The Boone and Crockett trophy record book is dedicated to firearm harvested North American game.  The system places emphasis on the symmetry of a rack and penalizes portions of the rack that are non-symmetrical resulting in  well-matched trophies placing higher than mismatched trophies of comparable size. 

Pope and Young Club was founded in 1961 and named after pioneer bowhunters Dr. Saxton Pope and Arthur Young.  Pope and Young with their scoring patterned after Boone and Crockett is dedicated specifically to the archery enthusiast.

 Animals deemed trophy book animals are those which have made the minimum score to qualify for a particular record keeping organization. These minimum numbers are usually posted online.   A certified measurer for your club will also have this information.  Getting an initial measurement on your own helps you know if you are close to the minimum requirements. Usually there are printable measuring instructions on the club websites.   Contact the organization you wish to be recorded with to have them give you the name of a measurer in your area. 

            Most often you will need to be a member of the organization in question in order to have your animal considered for a trophy record book.  Membership may be included in your registration fee if you are not yet a member.   Most of these organizations have implemented record keeping as a service to their patrons.

The hunter needs to take several good field pictures of the animal and rack from different angles. 

            Remember a trophy is in the eye of the beholder and all harvested animals are important.  Just because it doesn’t “make book” doesn’t mean it is not something to be extremely proud of.   A well worn book of snapshots depicting sensational hunting trips is every bit as important, if not more so than making a record book entry.  Record books change every 3 years or so, but fond memories never do.

Each of the aforementioned organizations recognizes that our best conservation efforts are in the lessons we teach to our children and grandchildren through positive hunting experiences. 

Jerry and Anne Vinnola are the owners of the  Big Timber South Taxidermy Studio  in Canon City, Colorado, and The Colorado Institute of Taxidermy Training, Inc.  Please feel free visit www.Coloradotaxidermyschool.com  call 1-800-733-6936 for information about becoming a professional taxidermist or to have custom taxidermy done.

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