My obsession for pursuing long beards through hardwoods and crop fields stretches for miles, literally. Last week I took on a journey that would not only ware the rubber off my tires, but also my insanity. I road-tripped over 14-hours, zooming more than 850-miles to southwestern Nebraska, where I met with my dear friend Chris Vaughn from Adventures Wild ( www.AdvWild.com ). Just for a crack at a ...
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After one of the longest winters in Northern Illinois history it appears that spring is finally here. With the warm temperatures and green grass also comes the end of the 2007/2008 upland hunting season here at Coon Creek Hunt Club. We want to personally thank all of our members and we hope you all enjoyed your hunting at Coon Creek this past year. We are already looking forward to getting the fi ...
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As I set my sights on this young tom way back on opening morning, I knew he wasn't the one I was looking for. I never pulled the trigger.
I did, in fact, find what I was after the following weekend when I spotted a big ol' gobbler on his way to roost one evening.
And over the course of the next 3 weeks, I zeroed in on this big boy. Each time he gave me the slip a ...
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On Friday afternoon, the 11th of April, accompanied by my wife Jan, I headed 133 miles south to Laredo, Texas where we met up with Mexican wildlife biologist Israel Tamez, who transported us across the International Bridge spanning the Rio Grande in order to attend the 20th ANGADI Convention in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. ANGADI is short for the National Diversified Cattlemen (wildlife breeders) Associ ...
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There’s no worse instance then feeling as soggy as Cornflakes saturated in milk for ten minutes. Toss in bitter sweeping gusts, tight-beaked turkeys and you’ve got yourself a clammy situation. I welcome you to my Wisconsin gobbler hunt.
I met up with my good friend Dick Gunther, who specializes in the art and skill of taxidermy. His business is called, Dick’s Whitetail Taxidermy and he’s one ...
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Two giant whitetails from our properties in Zone 9.
We find the date of May 3rd fast approaching once again and it’s now time to start preparing for the first deer license lottery. For the seasoned out of state deer hunter you know how important this time of year is and for the others you’ll soon be on your way to the hunt of a lifetime. With this short window of time, we thought this woul ...
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"It was a blizzard of equipment!" That's how Don Kisky described one of his, and wife Kandi's, preliminary encounters with a big Iowa gobbler. SHE Safari president, Pam Zaitz, myself and Kandi Kisky were at the Kisky farm filming turkey hunts for SHE Safari's new TV show, but we weren't having much luck, at first.
Don and Kandi had a gobbler respond at close range so they bailed out of the Ba ...
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I find myself sitting at my desk writing a field journal for the first time since January 25 th . Trade show season has come and gone, shed season has come and gone, and I’m now in business mode.
I apologize for not writing sooner – but the fact of the matter is that I’ve been busy and have to prioritize business over journals from time to time, at certain times of the year. For basically the ...
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Yelp, yelp, yelp, bang, that’s all it took. The 30 minute turkey hunter became one of our hunters new name tag. It took 20 minutes to walk in and set up, 9 minutes to sit quietly and yelp just 3 times, and 1 minute for the bird to see the decoys, come in and be put to rest by a blanket of lead. “Man, is it always that easy?” asked our turkey hunter this past week. As far as most turkey hunts go, ...
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Turning towards the north, I caught movement in the dense tree line where it gave way to the tawny grass of the clearing I guarded. It was a whitetail buck carefully inspecting the area surrounding the fresh grain that lay in a neat line from the feeder to the old logging road in the middle of the little sward. As the wary animal carefully scrutinized the scene seeking any sign of danger, it ...
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A camera has always been scribbled on my top-ten hunting gear list, just underneath weapon and tag! There’s truly no telling when you may need it, which is why I carry one in my backpack everywhere I go.
A photograph is complex, yet so simple. It’s a shear millisecond in time that’s captured and stored for eternity. A visual document we can look back upon and reminiscence. Whether it’s funny, ...
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My Grandfather, Gene Gabert was born in Aberdeen, Idaho in 1929, one of nine children to German/Russian immigrants David and Emilie Gabert. “Papa Gene” as I call him today, was the youngest sibling in a long line of German Lutheran sod busters that had settled in the river valleys of southern Idaho. Grandpa grew up working in the farm fields from the time he was five years old; it was then that h ...
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The next time I could get out, mainly because I'm at the mercy of finding someone to go with me, was last Saturday afternoon. I met John and his young daughter at the gate around 5:30pm and we set up on the wooded edge on the top part of the field where we saw most of the birds that one evening we scouted.
This time I wanted to test out my B-Mobile tom decoy to see what effect ...
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Hello everyone,
First I want to thank everyone who enjoyed a week of bow hunting here in Montana with us this year. These river bottom whitetail hunts are always a great experience and one of the best bow hunting opportunities in the United States. Here is a quick recap of what happened through our season this past Fall. As I arrived in August I was thoroughly impressed with the number of mat ...
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The hunting season has been over for several months, your equipment has been cleaned and put away and you currently have a bad case of the "winter doldrums". What is a person to do? Well, I strongly suggest that you pack up the entire family and head for the nearest hunting trade show to get back into the thick of things by beginning to prepare for next season. Hunting trade shows take place ...
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The most enchanting experience in the outdoors other than deer hunting is through the means of a camera. Pre-visualizing a perfect moment and capturing it with the touch of a finger is by far one of the most gratifying moments an outdoor photographer can have.
Hunting can be contrasted with photography; the only difference is that the weapon of choice is a camera. You change the way you feel, ...
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Spring is almost here at Heartland Lodge, which in turn leads into turkey season. Cabin fever has definitely set in among the guides. They are biting at the bit to get back out into the woods and chase some long beards.
This past whitetail season here at the lodge was full of firsts. The first time a veteran hunter missed with his slug gun, which he happened to be aiming at a 185” monste ...
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April is already here.. can you believe it!? This past winter has been one of the longest and toughest I've ever endured here in the Midwest. With more than 100" of snow since January first and bitter temperatures even today, the second of April!
The good news however, a longer Spring will mean more shed hunting time before the green-up begins. And with a few bucks still carrying both antlers ...
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Moist breath escaping my nostrils formed billowy, thick clouds that appeared to be white smoke, as a light southerly breeze gently wafted them upwards towards the tops of the leafless trees. An hour before daylight, the mercury had been resting at the below zero as we headed through the snow to our morning stands along south side of the Lamb Wildlife Refuge. The cloudy dense fog created by m ...
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We have been 3 weekends deep into turkey season around here, and finally I saw the first gobblers of the year in my decoy spread. In Fredericksburg in the middle of March, we saw several nice rio grande toms but only passing by. It was still early in the the spring and they weren't interested in any of our decoys or calling at all yet. Then last weekend, I attendended an Outdoor ...
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