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

J.J. Kolesar - "NOT AGAIN!!!!"

Well, if you have followed Drury Outdoors at all you may have heard us say more than once that “we are on a new lease.” Unfortunately it has happened again, but hopefully we can maintain this one for long-term period. It is not that we get kicked off or anything, but situations like land auctions, outbidding (money), outfitters, and insurance scares, make it a difficult time to wrap up the type of property we and maybe even you would ultimately like to have. However, after 3 county plat books, 43 no’s, 2 maybe’s, and 1 we will see, we final broke into pay dirt. We have been on the hunt for better ground for the last 3 and half months and just now feel as if we have found where it is we want to be. We feel though we have found a piece that will hopefully lead us down a more successful road and hope that we can bring you some fun and exciting hunting action.
If you find yourself in a similar situation here are a few ways to make it easier and not feel so depressed about the rejection that you will probably face. These were some of the aspects we feel will help your cause:


1) Choose to make 3 calls/trips a day! (Simple, but not overwhelming, not as depressing or frustrating, but doing diligence is the only way to discovery)
2) Find someone in common with the landowner (“Kind of like the Kevin Bacon Game, if you know what I am saying”)
3) Have an answer for any question the landowner may ask:
a) Insurance, # of people, typical season, etc.
b) Know what it is you want, alleviates problems in the future that could cost you your opportunity.
c) Expectations of both you and him!
4) Most importantly, BE HONEST & COMPLETE ON YOUR INTENTIONS, stones left unturned could come back to haunt you!

This brings us to our Blog topic of the early spring. Now that we have acquired a new tract we are in the process of breaking down what is taking place on the farm. We have not set foot on the tract, but in all honesty, didn’t have the choice. We had to pull the trigger and hope that the reputation of the ground treats us right. Without having set foot on it, we have been eagerly studying the buckview program within Reconyx’s new software. With the tools we are able to highlight what we think the deer would do, and identify spots that we believe should be good. Needless to say, we are excited to compare our computer notes to those of the real landscape. With this being said, we at Drury Outdoors would love to hear more about how you break down your new tract and any tricks of trade from which you have benefited, and we will also share what we have done in the past that has led us to some of our mild success on green ground. Good Luck Shed Hunting and we look forward to hearing from you.

Kyle and JJ

Matt Bullins - Endless Beginnings

I’m not sure which is worse for an avid hunter, the anticipation and excitement that the upcoming season is just around the corner or the bittersweet taste of the final chapter of an ongoing season. However you may take it, there is no worse feeling than both. The problem lies hidden in the fact that most serious hunter’s season never actually begins or ends. It’s simply a full time job on top of another full time job, added to life’s treasures such as family, friends, and other obligations and duties. The point being that it’s truly an endless beginning.

As Jason and I made our way to Tara Wildlife in late January 2011, we realized that this season was approaching its end. However, without much despair, we found ourselves pondering and strategizing for the upcoming season. It’s hard to believe that we had more or less already planned our upcoming seasons hunting schedule nearly nine months ahead of time. One of our goals was not only to hunt several of the same states as this season, but to try to add new adventures in different states to the upcoming slate.

Without doubt, this has been one of the most promising and successful seasons of our lives, but we had high hopes for the years to be. Looking back and taking note of where we had ventured and what states we had hunted, we began to highlight each and became rather fixated or stunned of the opportunities we had this year. After tallying the results, it was apparent that we had traveled through most of the south and Midwest and had the privilege of hunting ten different states throughout.

With the hopes of having lady luck by our sides throughout the upcoming season and during the 2011 DNR license lotteries, who knows, we may be able to add such states as Iowa, Colorado, and more to our highlighted maps of great fortune. It’s hard to believe that the timeless effort of chasing whitetails just recently passed and it’s only a short time until everyone will be checking websites and waiting impatiently to find out where and when they will be hunting during the upcoming season. It just seems to never end or grow old and that’s perfectly fine with us.

Safe Travels,

Matt Bullins

Bart Goins - Seasons End

I saw the last white tail flicker off into the distance as darkness slowly rolled in. I have watched countless sunsets from this particular stand, but this one would be different. The disappearing sun had brought an end to what is now last years whitetail season. This is always a weird time for me because for the last five months of my life I had been in the woods day in and day out. As a deer hunter, you just get in this routine everyday to suit up and hit the deer stand. As I sat there many thoughts ran through my head. My twelfth season as a whitetail deer hunter had come to an end. But this season was definitely a life-changing season for me.

The ride home from the farm brought somewhat of an empty feeling … knowing that I wouldn’t be returning to the farm to actually hunt deer for a grueling eight months. It seems like such a long season and towards the end your almost ready for a break … but not an eight-month break. There is a drive there that never gets filled. No matter how many times you go or how many deer you kill. That’s what separates me from a lot of “hunters” today. It’s a madness ….a sickness for real! This season was different for big brother and I. This season was special in the fact that my brother and I were apart of the Dream Season Workin’ Man Cast. So that meant an end to being on Dream Season as well. As I thought more about the season … I was overwhelmed with a sense of satisfaction and completeness. I had given it my all and hunted my tail off. I traveled more than 3500 miles with hunting seven states. I made the most of every opportunity that was given to me this season. I had introduced new people to the sport that I love so much. I had also learned more things about the animal and myself. I had watched more sunrises and sunsets than I care to remember … and loved every minute of it. I definitely grew as a hunter and an outdoorsman.

As I look back on the season, one of the greatest things was the people that I had met. Every year I meet great people in deer camp … but this year was the best. I feel like I have made a few new best friends for life. The type of people I could call on anytime, anywhere for help. There is no telling how many times I had gut aches from laughing so hard with some of the new people I met this season. I’m certain I wont remember every single deer I saw from a stand … but I will remember the people that I was blessed to get to meet. There was also one experience in particular from the season that I will never forget as well. I am so grateful that I got to be apart of the Catch A Dream Banquet at Tara. Its not everyday you get to see something like this and it literally blessed my heart to the core. Makes you realize really how blessed and fortunate you are.

The next few days will consist of me putting the hunting gear up for the year and finish logging tapes for the Dream Season editors. One of the greatest things about being an outdoor videographer is that you get to go back and relive all the memories of the previous season. For many previous seasons in that matter. Everything that happened to us this past season is documented on video … both good and bad. I can’t wait to see how Dream Season 8: Workin’ Man turns out. I would like to thank each of you who took the chance to get to know my brother and I this season. Thanks to all of you that HELPED our cause in one way or another. I know I have said it before, but I will say it again … Thanks to Drury Outdoors for giving the two Bama boys a chance. Blair and I truly were blessed this season, and for that I am grateful. Even though next deer season is several months away, turkey season for us is a mere 6 weeks away. Lets get ready to bust some heads boys’! Roll Tide , over and out!
-Bart