As a waterfowler, all the knowledge I have obtained has always come from someone else. Well, maybe with the exception of what not to do, that all was self taught. Fun stuff like, testing water depth with a new gun, or trying to substitute toilet paper with willow leaves (Not durable, let me tell you). But all the things that make me a half way decent wing shot today I learned from someone else. My Dad taught me that it was always good to have a durable thermos for those cold mornings, and if you didn’t have a durable thermos, to have a pretty decent cup and a buddy with a durable thermos. When I first picked up a call, my Uncle told me that he could put some pitch into it and with just a little of my Uncle’s “pitch”, my call was sinking in the decoys. Obviously trying to tell me something, I figured it was time I find a new sound.

My search led me to the local outdoors store that wasn’t bigger than my family’s garage. There selection was some what small but I figured I would still have a look. The only duck call on the shelf was one made by someone I have never heard of, Buck Gardner was the name and the call was Fowl Mouth. Naturally, I did what any duck hunter does and ripped the call right out of the package and blew on the call quietly enough so the person behind the counter didn’t scowled me for calling or laugh at my terrible rendition of a mallard hen. Even with that mouse squawk push of air, a distinct “quack” came out of the call. I was amazed, I actually produced a sound that closely resembled something from the waterfowl species. All that afternoon and night I blew that call until I figured out what would get me by the next morning in the blind. Just a few quacks and some chuckling would hopefully keep my call dry and out of the decoys.

Over time I began to learn more about who Buck Gardner was and realized what a big name he was in waterfowling. A Champion of Champions world class duck caller, Buck has been helping green horns like my previous self break into the sport of waterfowling for decades. Anxious to know more about him, I recently was able to ask him a few questions about himself and his work...

Where did you originally grow up?
[Buck Gardner] I grew up in Aubrey , AR. Just outside of Marianna.

Where was your first duck hunt?
[Buck Gardner] I hunted with my Dad in the Warrior Bottoms about 3 miles SE of Aubrey.

What made you decide to make your own calls?
[Buck Gardner] I just wanted to see if I could make a call sound like I wanted it to.

What is your favorite Buck Gardner call?
[Buck Gardner] BuckBrush Acrylic single reed.

What do you like most about your job?
[Buck Gardner] Getting Kids started hunting.

What impact do you hope to have on future waterfowlers?
[Buck Gardner] I want to encourage them to be good ambassadors for our sport so that we can all keep going afield. I also want them to pass along this privilege to the next generation and not to forget and take their old Dad’s hunting when they grow up.

Where do you see Buck Gardner calls going?
[Buck Gardner] I hope we will continue to grow in the Waterfowl business and also be able to grow more into a full line call company having a complete line of deer, turkey and predator calls. We want to continue to innovate in the area of instructional media.

If you would like any information on Buck Gardner or Buck Gardner Calls, please visit his website: www.buckgardner.com

Posted by T. Fanning at 09:00 AM | Permalink

This past Friday was the opening day of the shotgun season in Illinois. I’m not real big on gun hunting, but I do like to go out and shoot some does. I would much rather take a buck with my bow. If a monster whitetail presented itself, I probably couldn’t resist taking him, but it would have to be a true giant.

My buddy and I planned to hunt different ends of a 150 acre farm and there were going to be 4 others hunting this farm with us. Along with those four, are more than a dozen others who hunt the same block of timber, just on other owners ground. Conditions were perfect for whitetails, it was right around 30 degrees, clear, and calm winds. I hunted the downwind side of a bedding area in a pine thicket. Adjacent to both the bed and the stand of pines was a wheat field. As soon as I settled in the stand, a dog started barking in the direction of the bed. Shortly after, a deer walked right under me and into the wheat field. I couldn’t tell what it was because it was well over an hour before first light. During shotgun season, I like to get to my stand a couple hours before light in hopes that other late arriving hunters will push deer to me at first light. For the next couple hours, I saw nothing. Finally at 8 am, 4 does walked out of the bedding area and walked a trail that skirts the edge of the field. They walked past me at 40 yards. I was lucky enough to shoot the first two. I dropped the lead one, and put a great double lung shot on the second, she ran 30 yards and piled up. I ended my shotgun season quickly and did some good for the herd. I knew that these would probably be some of the only does taken off this property because of the mentality of the other hunters around.

My buddy was set up deep in the woods and saw deer the entire morning. Shortly after he settled in, two small bucks fought below him. He ended up seeing a monster 8 point buck that came in behind him. Unfortunately he didn’t see him until it was too late. He was watching four younger bucks dog a hot doe in front of him. After they had passed, he stood up to stretch. When he did, the big guy saw him and ran. In total he saw 35 deer, ten of which were bucks. The majority was 1.5, but he did let a nice 2.5 year old 10 and an 8 walk. He ended up shooting a small 7 point that had been wounded earlier in the morning.

Two other hunters that were with us shot 2.5 year old whitetail bucks. One was an 8 and the other a 9. They would have been great deer next year. We’ve tried all year to get people to pass younger deer so we can all start seeing good bucks, but have been unsuccessful so far. They were both really happy with the deer, and if that’s the case, then that’s all that matters. Between the other 4 hunters and myself we saw close to 60 deer. Four of which were definite trophies. It was a great morning full of chasing and rutting activity. I would say the chasing was definitely in full swing.

I decided to film for my buddy on Friday afternoon since I was tagged out. We were running behind and headed out a little later than we wanted too. As we were walking in, not 50 yards from where we had planned on sitting, we saw a 170+ in. monster whitetail with a big 6 point. Had we been there by 1pm like we had planned, chances are he would have had a chance at the giant buck. We still ended up sitting in that spot and saw 6 does the rest of the afternoon, but the booner never showed himself again.

Posted by B. Hagemeier at 07:00 AM | Permalink

Friday marked the end of the bear hunting season in Virginia. This was my first hunting season that I focused more on killing my first bear, than chasing big whitetails. After a good buddy killed a 382 pound bear on our property last year I decided I was going to attempt that feat this year.

The bear season started last February for me. My father and I, along with help from friends, cleared two new fields on our property in Virginia. The goal was to put the only corn fields in for miles around. I spent an entire week in the spring plowing, disking, removing roots and rocks, in preparation for planting. The results were outstanding. In a matter of 4 months we turned a forested bottom land into a lush corn field. As the summer months passed on I got hundreds of trail cam pictures of numerous bear frequenting our corn fields. There was one problem, the bears ate all the corn off the fields by early September and bear season was a month away! Having changed my strategy I focused my attention on the heavy mast crop of acorns we had this year. Needless to say I spent many hours perched in the oak flats hoping for a bear to wander in. After many days in the woods I saw a great deal of deer and turkeys, but no bear. It wasn’t until last week when the muzzeloading season for bear opened that I saw the bear I was after. We estimate this bear to be over 400 lbs and possibly make the B&C book. The only problem was, I was sitting on the wrong end of the corn field, and was not about to attempt the 250 yard shot. So I sat in the tree watching, realizing that my chance at a bear this season was quickly ending. I reflected on the many lessons I learned while chasing the elusive bear. For starters I will plan to hit the oak flats earlier next year, and search out ones that are hidden deep in the timber. We are also planning to get a higher percentage of the fields planted in corn this year, being as it was the first time the land had been plowed in over 100 years, we hope each year will get better and better. Another goal is to fertilize specific oak trees that I noticed had a healthy crop of acorns in an effort to make them the preferred tree of game. All in all I had fun with the challenge of bear hunting and feel completely satisfied with my efforts despite not having taken a bear. But so goes bowhunting, if it was easy I probably wouldn’t be so in love with it. The one unfortunate part is that I’m left with only a week of good bowhunting before Maryland gun season opens. Stay tuned, I’ll be chasin them hard this week!

Posted by E. Jones at 10:00 AM | Permalink

Of course the name Mitch Rompola has come up every year on message boards everywhere since that famous November 13th 1998. Most everyone has seen the pictures of the “Potential World Record Whitetail” taken on this day. The controversy that surrounds Mitch Rompola, and this famous whitetail is unreal. I for one, loved the story and to read about all the “it’s a fake” theories, ect. Well I came across this video the other day, I don’t know much about it, other then it says that it is Mitch Rompola narrating and filming the recovery of this famous deer. I find it very hard to believe that someone could film, and have pictures of this deer if it was a fake. I know this is brought up every year, but I’d really like to know what the real story is, and if this deer is real, and is hanging on his wall, I think it deserves the credit. Click the link below to check out the Video and stop by the message board and chime in on the thread in the “Deer Hunting” Forum.

Original Link : Mitch Rompola's big buck Uploaded by: stevejohnson

Posted by S. Johnson at 11:00 AM | Permalink

This was going to be an evening in the whitetail woods to remember. My computerized scouting almost seemed to pay off already as I slipped down into the new found funnel that was littered with rubs, and a few scrapes. I tried not to get too close to the dirt trail as a walked through and the excitement of the evening to come was almost too much to take.

As I crept through to the other side of the funnel, so as to use the wind to my advantage I quickly located the perfect tree for my climbing treestand and was quietly perched 25ft in the air just before 3pm. I hadn’t been in the tree for 2 minutes when I hear a branch break in front of me. I quickly grab for my release and get an arrow knocked. I am far from being settled in, but this deer wasn’t waiting, he was headed right for the funnel, and 10 yards by my treestand setup. As the whitetail steps out from under the beech tree I quickly start the guesstimate the size of his rack. Good main beams, about an inch outside his ears on width, G2’s, G3’s and brow-tines, all of which are a little on the short side, light on mass, dark in color; and all this inside 5 seconds, not too bad. I quickly am able to decide this is a great 8 pointer, but about a year shy of what I am really looking for. I decide not to take the shot as he steps into my lane at 10 yards, I had time to get a great look at him and I really hope he can make it through the season. The potential of this buck is awesome, if everyone else hunting the area can do the same and let him walk, next year he’ll be a great whitetail for sure.
That evening while sitting in a brand new treestand location, I watched as 3 different 8 pointers pass by, along with 2 other smaller bucks and 4 does. This is one hot funnel for whitetails, but I don’t feel as though I have seen all the whitetail bucks traveling it. I will be perched in that stand location waiting on a giant whitetail again in the near future, and I’ll keep you posted on exactly what happens.

Posted by S. Johnson at 11:00 PM | Permalink

As I entered my treestand on Saturday morning, there was a cold light mist falling. I was hunting the downwind edge of a known whitetail bedding area. A cold front had moved through the night before and temperatures were nearly 35 degrees cooler than just 12 hours ago. I settled into my treestand nearly an hour before legal shooting light and about a half hour after getting set up, I heard movement to the southwest on the edge of the food plots.

I could see a deer, but couldn’t tell much else because it was nearly 50 yards away and it was still pitch black. I watched as he headed through the middle of the plot. When he reached my shooting lane at 30 yards, I could see a bright white mess of bone high above his head. With every step he took, he let out a low, short grunt. I couldn’t tell how many points or even begin to guess on a score, I just knew he was big and was a definite shooter. As the whitetail walked off to the north, I began to wonder what I could do to get him back. A few minutes after he disappeared, I let a couple grunt out of my grunt tube. Shortly there after, he came back towards the south. This time, he was a mere 15 yards from my location. I grunted as entered my lane. He stopped at just the right time. I drew back, hit my anchor, and looked for my pin. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough light to make the shot. I could have forced one on him, but with a whitetail deer of that caliber, I didn’t want to force anything or risk wounding him. As he walked off, I looked at my watch, and it was exactly a half hour before sunrise. In Illinois, this is when legal light starts, but with a thick blanket of clouds, it was a little darker than normal. After the sky started to brighten some more, I went through a series of rattles, grunts, and snort-wheezes, but was unsuccessful in luring the giant whitetail back into bow range. The rest of the hunt was filled with snowflakes and an empty stand of woods. The snow made for a beautiful sit that morning, but one more win for the whitetails and I returned home unsuccessful.

Posted by B. Hagemeier at 10:00 PM | Permalink

On the evening of November 5, I went out to a stand location I have been hunting actively all year. It is located near a food source. Well there is a whitetail buck that I estimate to be about a 145-150 class brute. I have been looking for this buck all season long. I have had pictures of him on my trail cameras from the first week I put them out in August until I took them out 2 weeks ago.

Well I hadn’t seen a deer all evening which is kind of unusual this time of year, but 5 minutes until last shooting light I heard the footsteps faintly coming my way. It was 5-7 steps then silence for a few minutes which seemed like an eternity. I had an instinct for some reason it was a big buck. I sat and waited and about 15 minutes after last shooting light I could see a silhouette. The body on this deer looked big from what I could tell. The buck was probably 30 yards away, when he turned broadside and every inch he turned the faster my heart began beating. Since it was after legal shooting light and I am not the type of hunter to just begin slinging arrows in hopes of hitting a deer, I could only watch. I couldn’t live with myself if I had wounded him and never found this buck. I just saw his white rack glowing in dark, I sat there for another 15 minutes waiting for him to leave. I was so close but yet so far on this nice 145-class Pope and Young whitetail buck. Its only a matter of time, things are heating up here I have seen bucks chasing hard these last few days. I will be in the stand every chance that I get for about the next month, in hopes of having this whitetail on the wall by next fall.

Posted by T. Briggs at 09:00 PM | Permalink

This is supposed to be the time of year when the whitetail woods are full of booners chasing does and deer all over the woods and hunting is at it's peak. Such was not the case this weekend where I was hunting.

Friday morning dawned cold and clear. It was the coldest morning of the hunting season so far. Temperatures dipped below the 20 degree mark and winds were calm. With temps that cold this time of year, I just new I was in for a good hunt. As I entered my stand well before daybreak, I noticed a large blob in the field. It was too hard to make out at the time, but as the woods began to awaken I was able to make out what it was. Not 100 yards from my stand sat a tractor and disc. The stand is easily seen from the field. The farmer that farms this ground can not stand that I get to hunt it. He was part of a crew of hunters who poached a nice 8 pointer, I had been watching for 3 years, from the road last shotgun season. I was able to watch the whole incident unfold from my stand last December. This was only the beginning of my run ins with him. Needless to say, I didn’t see a thing while in the stand. I did notice that the scrape I was set up on had been worked recently. While slowly hunting my way out, I did watch an up and coming 10 pt. chase a doe through the pasture. I watched them for probably 10 minutes, but the closest they got was 100 yards.

That afternoon I decided on hunting the other side of the farm to get away from the tractor. As I approached my stand, I could see the corn field had been disced. I’ve hunted this farm for five years and they always no-till beans in the spring. They have never worked the stalks in the fall. With that food source gone, I didn’t see a whitetail deer.

Saturday, I decided to sleep in a little bit and head out on a mid-morning hunting trip. With the full moon on Sunday, I thought maybe I would catch some mid-day movement. I was settled in at 9:30 AM. Six hours into the hunt, the farmer shows up again. He pulls into the field and hops in his tractor, worked in the corn field for a half hour, and then decided to stop. He left the tractor in the corn field and walked through the timber to his truck and left. About an hour later, he shows back up. He let his truck idle for almost a half hour on the side of the field then someone got out of his truck and went to the tractor. The truck left, and tractor started up again. The tractor went back and forth through the field until 530 when it was too dark for me to see. Just as I left, he made the last pass in the field and left.

By this point, I was so furious; I decided to not go hunting on Sunday. I figured I would let things settle down an extra day before I came back for next weekends hunting trip. I went out just before noon to check and move trail cameras. The scrape I had set up my infrared camera on is getting worked over pretty hard. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to turn the camera on. Just one thing to add to a great weekend of hunting, Not!. I went over to my food plots to check them and they are still getting used heavily by the local whitetails. I’m sure activity in them will be on the increase since the large corn field is gone. I planted some sorghum on the edge of the plot for added security this summer. Well I guess the farmer didn’t like it being next to the lane, so he mowed it off. He also cut the brush on the other side of the lane the deer like to bed in, as well as an overgrown drainage ditch that connects this timber with another. These moves will majorly effect all my hunting locations, bedding areas and whitetail movements for the rest of the year.

At a time when deer hunting is supposed to be at its best, I had my worst weekend of hunting ever. Nearly 20 hours in stand without seeing a deer. Hopefully he will stay out of there this week and things will return to normal. I’ve got one more weekend before shotgun season when the whitetail hunting really gets turned up.

Posted by B. Hagemeier at 10:00 AM | Permalink

2006 Election: What it means to you and your Hunting

As a hunter, you might think that this 2006 congressional election has little to do with you and hunting. But in fact, there are a few issues that can affect you directly. To make a better choice next week at the polls, here’s what you need to know:

CPR: The nation’s current craze with bio-fuel may threaten decades of work done to preserve wildlife. The Conservation Reserve Program sets aside millions of acres that act as natural habitat for the surrounding fish and wildlife. If our government puts biofuels in the front interest above CPR a large portion of that land will be lost in the pursuit of fuel alternatives. Make sure your political candidate supports actions in the Farm Bill, which state that fish and wildlife concerns will remain part of biofuel program planning.

Public Ground: Already scarce, public hunting ground can use any support it can get. Organizations like the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership have offered a program that could help public hunting land stay available. The program, Open Fields, offers federal funding to make private hunting ground open to the public. Several similar other programs have already been successful in 12 other states. Open Fields will be presented inside the Farm Bill under the conservation section. While the bill will probably pass, we should still make sure our politicians support the entire bill-including the Open Fields program.

Energy: Several new regulations, including 2005's Energy Bill, have taken away many regulations Land Development would have to abide by to protect wildlife habitat while persuing energy development. However, even more recent court decisions have helped preserve wildlife by ordering developers to return to old regulations. Even though these laws are in tact now, the current push for energy reform my have Congress writing new rules to fit their development. See if your candidates agree that energy developers should comply with fish and wildlife protections.

Hopefully these ideas have given you something new to think about before you vote next week. When you cast your ballot, simply ask yourself, will this person protect my right to continue hunting? So many hunters feel that the government and all it’s key players are a foreign subject to their life. However, our continuous involvement in politics will insure a guaranteed future for our pursuit of the hunting and the great outdoors.

Posted by T. Fanning at 10:00 AM | Permalink