J.J. Kolesar - Bittersweet Find!

Well, it was opening day (Oct. 1st) for Illinois, and everything was going according to plan! Kyle and I hunted that morning and saw a 140" 10 point working a bean field until 830 into the morning. We guessed him to be the same deer we were getting daylight pics of on our Reconyx cameras largely because of his bleach white rack. He quickly became public enemy #1 due to his risky movements. We watched the deer enter into the northern side of the same block of timber we were sitting. We made a quick decision to "Turkey Hunt" this deer and try to put him to bed. We knew that the evening may produce a repeat occurrence, so we decided to hang a set in hopes to catch the daylight mover on his way back out to the bean field. We crawled into our new set and I had just finished hanging my bow up when Kyle said "there he is", and sure enough he was on his way out to stage up before dusk. So much so, that the big boy decided to bed down in some CRP about 40 yards from our set. One problem, once he sat down in the grass, no shots were available. So it became a waiting game. As sunset rapidly approached our opening day dream was about to become reality. We watched him stand up and offer the only shot he was going to give us. At 40 yds., I picked a spot just above a piece of grass in front of him and let the arrow fly. The deer quickly lifted his head and started his turn when my 2-blade Rage found its mark, however, the penetration of the arrow wasn't much to be desired. I felt I hit the front shoulder and was immediately questioning whether or not we would find the buck considering we watched him saunter away. However, Kyle still felt strongly that I might have hit high off shoulder. Well, fast forward to a below-average blood trail, a crazy un-trained blood dog, and 6 hours of diligent grid walking and we were staring at Buck Sadness. However, each haunting day that passed our most visible buck never crossed the path of one of our numerous Reconyx cameras. This was our best clue that quite possibly I had killed the buck. Kyle proved his theory correct when we were shed hunting on Feb. 19th and found my buck 20 yards from where we had ended our grid search through the thick briars and autumn olive. I can officially say I owe my partner big time on this one and am thankful that he stumbled across his final bed in the middle of a timber thicket. After some crucial phone calls to the IDNR I was able to claim my harvest. Not exactly how I envisioned laying my hands on this deer, but it is one I will humbly accept…Bittersweet moment to say the least! Below I have posted steps to help you if you run into this situation shed hunting. Good Luck Everyone!

STEPS FOR TAGGING A LOST DEER, or DISCOVERING A DEAD DEER

1) Leave carcass/remains in tact at location discovered, if possible take a picture of this undisturbed setting, as this will quicken your overall tagging process

2) Call the State Police; they will put you in contact with the appropriate Conservation Office or Officer in your region/If possible Fill out Salvage Tag or Road Kill Form online provided by your state's DNR

3) Meet with or formally speak with your local Conservation Officer to discuss proper protocol for your state, and also to receive a Salvage Tag if necessary. In Illinois, more than likely this will be the case.

4) Receive Salvage tag issued by your state, and claim your deer

5) This would be the correct process for a road kill or skull find as well, whether you shot the deer or not.

6) Enjoy the Confidence of maintaining the integrity of your state's conservation, as they are always looking in the best interest of the animal.

Jeff Lindsey - New Season. New Goals

    For a brief moment, it appears the dog days of summer are behind us. In has been one of the hottest and driest summers I can ever remember. We have been hit with a small drought but nothing that compares to what everyone out west or in the deep south has had to endure. The crops have taken a small setback but I do believe I feel a touch of fall in the air. That change of air is just enough to make a big smile come on my face . The Reconyx cameras are working overtime to give us a summer inventory, some familiar faces have shown up and it's going to be a fun November. 

    This fall I have 2 main goals that doesn't involve any of the familiar faces Reconyx has let me know about. The first one is to get my wife Ashley a deer with her bow, her PSE Chaos is firing darts and her confidence is growing by the week. The first doe that gets within 30 yards of her is going to get some carbon flung her way! My second goal is to shoot a mature doe with my recurve bow. I have been shooting it almost a full year now but have yet to take it afield. That will change this October. 

    Fall will be here in no time and its all down hill from there. Celebrate the upcoming season, have fun and most of all be safe. Happy blood trails. - Jeff

Aaron Bennett - Busy Summer!

Well, this has definitely been one of the busiest summers of my life! Between planning for a wedding and trying to learn a new hunting lease, time has been flying by faster than I ever imagined it would. My fiancée Jessica, and I have been busy preparing for our September 3^rd wedding date all summer, while I have been running Reconyx cameras and hanging stands on the side. I've always heard that wedding planning was stressful, but now I know why---it interferes with summer scouting! Ha, just joking sweetheart!! 

Anyways, this year I hooked up with Matt Robinson from the Hunting Lease Network ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nationalhuntingleases.com" www.nationalhuntingleases.com) in search of a good piece of ground to lease for the upcoming deer season. He directed me to several farms to look at, and man, they were all smokin' hot farms! Finally, I settled on the one that would suit my needs the best and put in my bid. I won the bid and the lease became mine for the year! The unique thing about this particular tract is that the aerial photo of this farm is very deceiving. It didn't look like much, and I wasn't even going to go look at it but Matt told me I should check it out. He said a couple of other people went to look at it and never even got off the gravel because it didn't look like there was enough timber to hunt. I love to walk farms, so Jessica and I put our boots on and walked every inch of the farm and discovered TONS of deer sign! Needless to say, I am glad those other guys never got out of their truck!

The Reconyx pics have been rolling in and they look very promising! I just hope the big shooters that live on this farm decide to hang around long enough to have a bad encounter with a Rage broadhead!!!

If you are still in search of a good piece of ground to hunt this fall I would highly recommend checking out the Hunting Lease Network, they have hundreds of farms and the representatives are very knowledgeable! Good luck and stay safe! - Aaron

Joe Shults - H.O.O.A.H.

The Pine Mountain Longbeards Chapters Wounded Warriors /
Wheeling Sportsman annual hunt was held in Campbell County
Tennessee again this year. I have been looking forward to
this hunt all year. Last year I was introduced to a program
called H.O.O.A.H (Healing Outside Of A Hospital). This
program is one of the finest and most needed programs that I
have ever had a pleasure of being a part of. After spending
2 years of quality time in blinds with 2 warriors and
hearing their stories of battle, pain and recovery I have
seen why this program is needed and how this program is
helping ! Last year I had the honor and pleasure of hunting
with Corpl. Catlin Mixon and this year it was RET. SGT.
Leroy White III. Both of these brave soldiers have fought
proudly to protect us and this great land! For that I am
grateful and proud of these fine soldiers.

The Pine Mountain Longbeards Chapter of the National Wild
Turkey Federation and C.O.R.A are the host of this event and
do an excellent job in doing so. It takes a lot of hard work
and organizational skills to put together such a event and
for that I salute these great organization's!

This year we were surprised with a visit from an Army
Apache helicopter. It was truly an awesome sight ! What a
piece of machinery it was. All the kids got to get there
pictures taken in it. I would like to give a special thanks
to Mike Trentham for taking those photos and helping get the
Apache there for this event!

Last year I met Leroy briefly but this year I got to get
to know him and hunt with him. He is not only a decorated
soldier but a really nice man and a true outdoorsman. While
we were hunting and Leroy was telling us of his war
encounters it would make the hair stand up on the back of
your neck ! With his many injuries and exposure to chemical
warfare he is lucky to still be with us. Leroy was telling
us about the H.O.O.A.H. program and what it has done for him
and that let us know real fast what a great program that
this is.

The morning hunt was a slow hunt with not a lot of
action. After the morning hunt we went in for lunch and all
the midday events that where planned. Around 2:30 we went
back out for the evening hunt. It really got hot with the
temperature reaching 81. We were not complaining since last
year it rained the whole weekend. After a few hours Leroy
spotted a bird coming into the food plot as I raised the
camera and zoomed in there were actually 4 birds and all
gobblers! As two of them spotted the Feather Flex decoys
they had to come in for a closer look. Big mistake!! As
Leroy got into position the gobbler gave him a perfect shot
I gave him the signal to take him and he wasted no time. The
gobbler dropped like a rock and the hunt was over! Leroy
was so excited and it was his biggest bird to date! It was
also the biggest bird taken during the hunt!

It was an honor to get to hunt with Leroy and once again
I feel like I have made a friend for life! I also got an
invitation to The White House for dinner! It just happens
to be in Savannah, Tennessee. When I go it will be proudest
I have will have ever felt as I walked through the door of
an true American hero! -Joe

John O'Dell - Spring Break

So I had to take a break from turkey hunting to take the family on our annual trip to Fort Myers Beach FL for spring break. My kids school spring break was late this year due to Easter being so late. Even though I was going to miss a few days in the spring woods I was really looking forward to this trip as we always have a blast on the beach looking for shells, swimming in the ocean, just relaxing on the beach, and fishing.

This year in particular was a great year for fishing! Jacob was up early with me every morning by 5:00AM to hit the beach. He had two goals for the trip this year. 1) He wanted to catch a big redfish and 2) he wanted to catch a shark. Early in the trip he was rewarded for waking up early by catching a big Fort Myers Beach redfish. Also by trips end we had hooked and lost several sharks (one giant that almost spooled our line off the reel) and on the second to last day lady luck shinned our way and he caught a nice bonnet head shark. Not to be outdone by little brother Madison got in on the great fishing action as well and caught the biggest speckled sea trout of the trip and the only pompano.

All in all it was a very relaxing trip for the whole family and I can’t wait to do it all again next spring!

Later this month Dave and I are headed to Saskatchewan for Bow Madness to hunt with Black Bear Island Lodge www.blackbearisland.com for my first ever spring bear adventure so stay tuned to the DOD journal to see how we do!

Ben Rising - The Looong Off Season

For anyone who is a die hard hunter like I am, Feb through April can be a long haul. Deer season came to an end and the wait for Turkey season began.

We have had a tough winter here in Ohio which included one crazy snow/ice storm which turned into a massive flooding that trapped most of us in our homes for a day or two. The flood waters preceded and eventually we were able to find routes to get into town. But it made for one crazy week. The pic that I have included is at a downtown intersection.

The great part of all that flooding was the fact that it meant all the snow had melted and the shed hunting could begin. We found several nice ones and I was able to include my oldest 3 boys in our search. Of course with boys there age it became a competition to see who could find the most. We found our fair share this spring including a match set from a 12pt I had my wife trying to hunt at the end of the season. He was wounded from a neighboring hunter and we weren’t sure if he would make it so we were tried to get in on him to “see how bad he was”. We never did see him while hunting, but finding his sheds let us know that he at least made it through the winter. Our biggest downfall this shed hunting season was finding Mule. He’s the big one I was after in the beginning of deer season. I watched this deer for quite a while and had TONS of trail photos. BUT he just dropped off the map 2 weeks into the season. I had assumed he must of traveled off our farm and someone else had the fortunate luck of harvesting him. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case and I can honestly say I wish it had been that way. I just happened to be driving past the farm and a shine caught my eye in the woods. Of course I pulled off and took a harder look. My heart sank! How I never noticed him in that patch of woods before is beyond me, I must have drove past it a thousand times. There lay Mule locked with another buck. We have never seen the other buck before, but he was a nice one also. I have heard plenty of stories and seen several pics of deer that have come to a horrible death like this before, I just wish that I never had to find one like this. The DruryOutdoors.com Inner Circle has a Kodak video of me finding these deer in March. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it out.

Shed hunting is over and we are now finding other things to keep us occupied. Hawkins Lumber Co and Wolf Creek Outfitters put together an ATV benefit this past weekend for a very good friend and family member Clem Sours. He became ill this past Oct and ended up with a blood infection. As an end result he had to have a leg amputated, but oh so lucky to be alive!!! This benefit was to help raise money to cover the cost of a prosthetic leg. We had an ATV ride, LOTS of food, DJ, and silent auction and reg auction that were all donated items. We also raffled tickets off for a new ATV and drew a winner (pic included of Clem Sours, Rick Hawkins, Paul from Valley ATV with the winner-Dane Donely). It’s amazing how many people pulled through in a small community to donate items for the auctions, food, and paper items. All of this went on for 2 days. I’m not sure about Sunday but I do know that we had over 130 ATV’s going through over 40 miles of rugged, muddy, rocky climbing trails. It was a blast!! Check out the Inner Circle for new videos that I am sending in of us getting MUDDY!

I would like to say a special THANK YOU to Drury Outdoors for donating several items for this benefit. You guys are great and we couldn’t thank you enough for what you did! I ended up being the auctioneer at this event (not quite sure how that happened…I sure wasn’t expecting to have to do it, they just handed me the mic and said go ahead and start J) But I can say that your "Giant Whitetails" book was one of the highest bid items. Thanks again from ALL of us!!


Well, last but not least my final bit of my blog I’d like to announce that my family is expecting a new addition to our family. NO, we are not having any more kids LOL. At the time I wasn’t so sure if it would be a good idea or not, but my 13yr old son started reading Where The Red Fern Grows a few months ago. Naturally, he has been begging me for a coon dog ever since. Lucky for him, I grew up coon hunting and it was one of my deepest passions. If you would have told me 15yrs ago that I wouldn’t have a coon dog now, I would of laughed in your face. I lived for coon hunting. Unfortunately, having a large family like ours, owning a logging business, deer hunting, turkey hunting and coon hunting…something had to give. I started working with Drury’s and it just came to the point where I didn’t have the time for my dog like he deserved (if you have ever heard of Timber Cutter the red tick English- he was mine originally) so I sold him. Once I sat Jarod down and we discussed just how much dedication and work he will have to put into this dog, and he agreed to keep up his end of the deal, we got to looking for a pup. We are keeping our fingers crossed, but I’m pretty sure that we have a 14 month old lined up that should be arriving in a few weeks. Not quite sure who is most excited, Jarrod or me, though I have to say that I am ecstatic to see him carry on a tradition that I grew up with. Nothing better than spending your teen yrs in the woods with a dog. I also have to mention that I don’t think Feb-April will be such a drag anymore. Look for a new blog soon!

Ben

Steve Coon - Kids Hunting For A Cure

LongBeard Madness 17 starts off in a special way for 2011! Comstock and I were invited to Huntingdon Tennessee for a special event “Kids Hunting For A Cure”. So after talking to Comstock we didn’t waste any time packing our equipment and gear to be part of a great event on behalf of Drury Outdoors.


After we were packed and loaded it was off to the great state of Tennessee for this Turkey Extravaganza! Once our feet hit the ground it was time to do the leg work. After meeting the landowner and him showing us the property lines it was time to scout. So after the morning lacked the early morning gobbling that we had hoped for, it was time to put our thinking caps on and to take to the timber even though we were new to this Tennessee dirt but also the short time we had to scout. We knew we had to be on the money to make this hunt successful for the hunter we were taking the following day.


So during our scouting mission we located two great spots. One being in the timber and one at the edge of a pretty food plot in a cut corn field. At the time we set up both blinds and we decided if it was raining we would hunt the field if not, it would be the timber set.

Now it was back to the convention center to meet our hunter and what a great young man he was Mr. Ty McClain. So after a meet and greet at the convention center it was off to the McClain’s residence for a restless night of sleep! So as all turkey hunters know prior to opening day it’s tuff to sleep! Oh yea! it was real tuff for Comstock because he put so much thought on where to hunt the next morning.

Now 4:00 a.m. the alarm clock sounds off and it’s off to the timber set, no rain at this time but once we were set up, are morning turns into a 45 minute rain. So as we sit in the blind did we make the right choice? But then the rain stops and we have two longheads gobbling in our face. So once they hit the ground one of the birds made his way to Comstock’s calling and Ty’s Thompson Center! So at that please check out Drury’s Inner Circle along with the Drury’s Journal for further on this great hunt and for the great cause!! -Coon Dog