Kyle Lamore - ...If it Weren't for Bad Luck...

Well…October is slowly slipping away and one of our goals for this year was to finally put down a good deer in October. To accomplish this, we tried incorporating several deep timber Biologic food plots this year….well, the Reconyx camera was stolen, along with the stands and ladder stick, so… needless to say it has been a bust. The clock is quickly ticking towards November and with only two hunts left..…no big buck has yet to meet the Rage. However, we have seen and encountered more big deer this October than ever before. I think Jared Lurk said it best one time with “When filming, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and at the worst possible time.” The following examples have occurred since season has begun!

1. The month started at Hadley Creek and we saw a ton of deer, shot a doe, but just couldn’t seem to find a buck that would meet the new 140” minimum. We even had an ancient buck come to within 30 yards that would have been in deep trouble back home, but had to give him a pass because he didn’t have quite enough inches on his head.

2. We have been watching a deer that we nicknamed “Redemption” since mid summer. We have tons and tons of pics of this deer and finally laid eyes on him Oct. 19 at only 22 yards from the stand. However, JJ called me off of him b/c it was very low light for the camera and so he got a pass without an arrow released.

3. Saturday, Oct. 25th was the first time we had hunted our new lease in the morning. Well, the morning was full of fog and drizzle, since an inch of rain had fallen the night before. Things started out rather slow, but by mid-morning we had several does moving in. I was filming them and trying to decide if JJ was going to shoot one when my camera starting flashing “CONDENSATION DETECTED”… the words any cameraman detests having pop up!! I told him not to shoot when he tells me big buck coming, a big nine pointer then follows the does right by our stand at 26 yards broadside. JJ’s asks me what is going on, while I currently have a doe staring at me from under the stand b/c the tape is being ejected in and out of the camera. I had to return the favor as he did a week earlier and call him off of the beast b/c the camera couldn’t boot up. Ten minutes later, the camera is working fine…go figure!!

So...we are trying to close the deal of one of these bucks in the near future and hoping our black cloud leaves us alone for a while! Good luck this fall to all!

Kyle

John O'Dell - What a Month!

Well the month of September 2008 turned out to be a great month! Although Dave and I did not have any luck on our short trip out west (2 days) to Sherman Creek Outfitters, we did have a couple of close encounters. I had a 170” Mule deer buck in velvet at 10 yards but he came in directly behind the rock blind I was hiding in and I could not get turned around for the shot. Then Dave had a great encounter with a black bear at 10 yards on the ground but opted to pass the shot as Joe had some pictures of a monster bear that he though was 400 lbs plus! We plan to head back out to hunt with Joe and Jodi in December as Joe has a number of great deer on camera. Hopefully we’ll have better luck then.

The reason our hunt was cut short is that Suzy and I were expecting a new addition to the family. If I would have missed the birth of my child I am pretty sure I would be living with Joe and Jodi permanently. Luckily for me baby O’Dell waited to arrive on the morning of Saturday the 13th of September. Macy Elizabeth O’Dell was born 8 lbs 4 oz 21.5”. My son Jacob had the quote of the day when she was born as he said when asked what he thought about his new baby sister “Well I kind of wanted a brother but at least we got something”! J Mom and baby are doing great! Dad is tired from lack of sleep!



One week after Macy’s arrival my lovely wife was gracious enough to let me fly to St. Louis for our Drury Outdoors annual fall meeting. At the meeting we review upcoming titles and themes for the DVD’s and TV shows. We also have the opportunity to view new products from our wonderful sponsors and we have the opportunity to spend time as team members swapping hunting stories and just having a great time together. The weekend culminates with the annual awards banquet. It is an incredible atmosphere where we get to see highlights from the hunts our teams captured from the previous hunting season. There is always some good humor mixed in from some of the bloopers from the season and this year was special in that we celebrated Drury Outdoors upcoming 20th year anniversary! (Congratulations again Mark and Terry!) Having been on the team for 15 of those years it doesn’t seem possible that so much time has passed. I guess that is why they say time flies when you are having fun! During the awards show there are also different categories were team members are recognized amongst their peers for outstanding production. The pinnacle of these awards is the “Producer of the Year”. The competition for this category has become intense and realistically could go to several teams. This year however I was extremely fortunate to be the recipient of this prestigious award. It was an awesome feeling to win but it was equally enjoyable to celebrate with all of my good friends and Drury Team Members. I only wish Suzy could have been there as well but she was home taking care of Macy Elizabeth.



Well October has finally arrived and as usual Dave and I can’t wait to get in the deer stand! We have several pictures of some giant bucks on our Reconyx camera. Amy will up to bat first with early season muzzleloader in Iowa (Suzy is taking the year off due to Macy’s feeding schedule) and then Dave and I will get after it with PSE’s in hand. Hopefully my next updates will be on the journal page with some big bucks down.

Safe Hunting!

John

Mark & Terry Drury - Busy Few Weeks!

What a busy past couple of weeks we have had at Drury Outdoors! We had our annual Shoot To Thrill Award Show at the end of September where all of our Teams come in from across the country to celebrate the past years accomplishments and to look ahead to the upcoming year.

We not only celebrated a great year in which we harvested over 100 whitetails on film, but we also looked forward to 2009 and our 20th Year Anniversary as a company! We had some special guest appearances and John O'Dell walked away the big winner with the coveted 2008 Producer of the Year Award!

This past week we were at Hadley Creek Outfitters in Pike County Illinois filming for our upcoming year of Dream Season TV titled REDEMPTION! We assembled an electric cast of characters from seasons past. The weather was great at Hadley and we had some wonderful encounters. Team Missouri - Chris and Jeff Propst - even ended the week perfectly by Chris harvesting the only buck of the trip.



Not to mention the great shooting competition that was involved! We can't give too many of the details away, but here is a pic to help hold you over until next summer :)

As if all of this wasn't enough....we had the esteemed photographer Michael Engelmeyer from Great Outdoors Studios in to shoot our custom built "I Shot It With My PSE" grand prize giveaway Bike for the 2009 TV Season! Man oh man, he shot some outstanding pics and truly is a talented photographer. Here are a couple sample shots of his work this weekend.



For more info on how you can sign up and submit an entry to be apart of next years "I Shot It With My PSE" on Bow Madness Season 2 click here.

Good luck this fall and remember to always be safe out there! -Mark & Terry Drury