Well after the close call earlier that morning in Kansas we decided to go get some lunch and come back to the same ground blind we had set up on public land. We got to the stand about 2:30 and got our camera gear set up. With all the turkeys we had heard that morning, we were hoping for a quick afternoon hunt.  Since it had quit raining, Allen decided to put out a hen decoy.We sat for about an hour and waited. Allen got up to stretch his legs. When he leaned down to look out the blind he froze!!  He told us to get ready because there were turkeys less than 30 yards from the blind. Once again we turned the cameras on and sprang into action while Allen eased back down and grabbed his bow!One of the big gobblers saw the decoy and came in for a closer look. It came within 13 yards of the blind and Allen once again drew his bow and let his arrow fly!  He hit his target and he had his second Kansas gobbler on the ground within 24 hours.    Not bad to be hunting with a bow!!!!   

Since the hunt the afternoon before went so well and we only spent 20 minutes in the blind, our guide asked us if we wanted to try hunting some public land for our first official morning hunt!. Of course we were up to the challenge and we went and put up a Double Bull blind in the middle of a CRP field where the Outfitter had been seeing plenty of turkeys.Once day started to break we began to hear 8-10 different gobblers towards the west end of the field and then there was one gobbling to the north of our blind.  Once we heard the turkeys flying off the roost it started to pour down raining and we did not hear any gobbles for an hour.  Just as I had given up on getting a turkey that morning we heard a gobble less than 60 yards behind the blind. Matt and I fired up our cameras and Allen grabbed his bow to get ready for a shot. Due to the rain we had not put out any decoys so we were hoping the gobbler would come in close enough for a bow shot and he did not disappoint us. He came to within 24 yards of our blind. Allen drew his bow back and found his aim point, then he let his arrow fly. But there was a problem!!!!  The arrow lost momentum during it’s flight. When it stuck the turkey we heard a dull THUD and then we watched the turkey fly about 500 yards to the hills. Once landed he hit the ground running!!!!!We later found out that Allen’s arrow had hit some brush before reaching the turkey.  After our failed morning attempt we decided to head out for some lunch and come back to the same location for an afternoon hunt! 

My 2008 turkey season got off to a very quick start with Allen Treadwell and Bass Pro’s 100% Real Hunting! I flew in to Kansas City and arrived at 10:30 in the morning. I was picked up by Treadwell and Matt another cameraman for Bass Pro. Once they picked me up we made the 2 hour journey west to Manhattan, Kansas. Gun season was 2 days off, so we were going to try our luck bow hunting for a couple of days. We stopped for lunch and then went into town where we met our Outfitter. He told us he had been seeing plenty of birds so we all got dressed in our Camo and headed for the Turkey woods. Our guide, Jon, set up a ground blind for us and we started to get nestled in at 3:50. It takes a while to get 2 camera guys situated in a ground blind where everyone has plenty of moving room, but we were doing our best to get settled in when Allen wanted to test his slate call. He struck the slate twice when we heard a gobble less than 40 yards from our blind. Matt and I scrambled to make sure the cameras were ready and here come the turkeys. Two hens came into view first and then the gobbler. When Allen saw the gobbler he drew back and let his arrow fly. The arrow found it’s mark and we were all amazed at how fast our 2008 turkey season had gotten started. I looked at my watch just after he shot the turkey and it was 4:12.It only took us 22 minutes from the time we stepped foot into the stand to the time Allen put the turkey on the ground!!!! Simply Amazing  

A few weeks ago my daughter gave her life to Christ. Today she was baptized. She has made me very proud in her 10 years here with me and I know the good Lord has great things in store for her! Way to go Rachel, Mom and Dad are very proud of you!!!!   

Rebecca, from Bass Pro’s Next Generation, and I went to Winchester, Virginia last Saturday morning for a turkey hunt. Our host was Mr. Jim Clay, the founder of Perfection Turkey Calls.  Rebecca and I went hunting with Mr. Clay last year, but we didn’t have any luck. We saw some birds,  but we just couldn’t get them close enough for a shot.This year Jim wanted to take Rebecca to his “Honey Hole”! He set up a ground blind 3 weeks prior to our arrival and had been keeping an eye on their movement. He had been seeing and hearing plenty of Gobblers and had high hopes of Rebecca being able to get her first turkey.We met him before light last Saturday and headed to the blind. He said he had seen 4 different gobblers around the blind the afternoon before.  We snuck up the mountain in the dark and settled into our blind. Jim put some decoys out and Rebecca and I got settled into the blind. Once Jim finished setting up the decoys he joined us in the blind. We started hearing some gobbles at 5:50. In all we counted 7 different birds that we heard. As the sun started to rise we could see the birds flying off the roost down below us. We had a gobbler close in on the blind, but we never could see him because of the thick brush.We had 3 hens come into the blind, but we never  could get a gobbler to come check out the decoys. Due to Virginia law we had to quit hunting at 12:00. We are planning to get her back in the woods and try to get her a bird this spring! Rebecca and I have had some terrible luck the past 3 years. Hopefully we can get rid of our curse and have some luck in the field thisspring!   This picture below is about the only luck Rebecca and I have had together!  This fish was caught in the Albemarle Sound in Eastern North Carolina.  

Bass Pro Shops has hit the air waves this year with a new format for their hunting show on the Versus Network.  They have gone to 100% Real Hunting!!!! What you see is what you get. There will be no reinactments!!!! You will have one camera focused on the hunter and one camera focused on the animal to give you a real time encounter!!!! 

I was fortunate enough to be in on the ground floor of this concept! Personally I like running the camera that follows the animal. That way I know what’s going on and I get to see all the action. The person that runs the camera that films the hunter is basically in the “dark”. Yes he can see the hunter, but he has no idea how close the animal is and he doesn’t get to see all the action!

Now we are adding another factor into hunting. Yes a hunter and a camera man have to be good to harvest a wild animal, but now we are throwing a third person and sometimes a fourth person in the mix if there is a guide with us. But it’s all in the name of bringing you guys a quality TV show that you will enjoy!!! Check out the show and let me know how you guys like it!!!!

Here’s a link to watch the commercial for the new format!!!

http://www.versus.com/nw/article/mdview/?tf=TonightOnVersus_show.tpl&Limit=1&mt=3&f1=UserDef3&UserDef=true&d1=REAL%20HUNTING

When I’m home between hunting trips I don’t usually go hunting unless it’s with my son. I was stopped Christmas Eve by a friend and he wanted me to take his grandson hunting. The grandfather is not a hunter and he has been getting folks to take the young man hunting. So far he has not been successful in getting a deer.

I took Everett, age 13, hunting the Friday after Christmas. At 5:00 we had two deer come out and decided to take the larger of the two. Everett made a great shot and the tracking wasn’t far, but we did have to go into the swamp to get him out. Boy was he excited when we found that deer and it made me proud to share that hunt with him.

He made me a Thank You card a few days later and I keep it on my work desk. This is one of those hunting moments I don’t think I will never forget. Congrats on your 1st deer Everett!!!!! I hope we can do it again soon!!!!

Well my streak has come to an end in Saskatchewan. I’ve been having an awesome year and knew I would come back empty handed sooner or later. In all it was a long, very cold week. We were hunting near Pierceland, Saskatchewan and we saw plenty of deer. The problem was that they had a large winter kill last year and the deer we were seeing were 2 & 3 year old deer. My hunter was looking for a mature buck.

We had 2 mature bucks show up this week. One came up beside our blind and stopped behind some brush not giving us a shot and the other was a giant 8 pointer that had half of his right main beam broke off.

The best part about the trip is that for the first time in about 3 years I got to share hunt camp with my best friend and fellow videographer Chris Douglas. We put in some long, cold hours but we managed to get in a movie every night trying to wind down. Needless to say we only got about 3 1/2 to 4 hours of sleep a night! By the way, Congrats Chris and getting that fine harvest on film the last day of the hunt!!!!! Boy did we work hard on this hunt!

The worst part of the trip was an hour drive by 4-wheeler (Quad in Canada) to the stand every morning. The warmest morning it was -4 F and the coldest morning was -27 F. Boy do those people have long, cold winters up there. The funny thing is that when I got back to Raleigh Saturday it was 69 degrees. I went through a 96 degree temperature change within 12 hours. Now that’s crazy!

The following are a few photos from the trip:

The Camper Chris & I stayed in

The area I was hunting

Chris & I the last night of the hunt, Can you see the joy in our face!!!!!!!!

Me outside of our ground blind we hunted, Check out the suit and moon boots!

All of the hunters in camp shot except us. Here are a couple of bucks from the hunt!

As much flying that I do I get to meet some interesting people on airplanes and in the airports! On the way back from Edmonton Saturday I had the pleasure to fly out of Edmonton with the famous Eric ”Butterbean” Esch! For those of you that don’t recognize that name, he is a professional Boxer, Kick-boxer and has even made appearances in the WWF and in some movies.

All I can say is he is a great guy and he loves to hunt. He lives down in Jasper, Alabama and tells me that he has an excellent BBQ restaurant called Mr.  Bean BBQ! Just don’t ask to have your picture taken with him, it might make him angry!!!

Well the bags are packed once again and this time I had to pull out the long underwear!!!!! I’m heading to Northern Saskatchewan for a whitetail hunt with Jim Benton and my good friend Chris Douglas. The weather will be very cold, but the reports are that the deer hunting should be the best it’s been in years!!! I will be back next weekend to give you guys the run down of the hunt!

 Have a great week!