Heads Up Decoy

What's in a Logo.

2012-02-06T00:06:00.000-06:00

Looking back over the last 5 or 6 years Heads Up Decoy has been around, we've come a long way. What has started as a concept has evolved into something much bigger and has exceeded my expectations with versatility and effectiveness. If you have been following Heads Up Decoy, you have witnessed this first hand. But for those that are just seeing us for the first time, what we started with is a concept that has evolved into a system that is the most exciting decoy ever designed.

When I first started the business, my daughter Jessica designed the first logo. Jessica was recently accepted into the University of Kansas Medical School. In many ways, Jessica has been a source of motivation and inspiration for me. This is a kid who epitomizes hard work, perseverance, faith, intelligence, and a thirst to live life like you're supposed too. I am fortunate to have 2 daughters who aren't my own...be my very own. Life and circumstances are very interesting indeed.

When the notion to change the logo came up...I really never thought about changing it...there was some emotional attachment. There is some meaning and reasoning behind the logo as it stands and what it has become. I am a whitetail hunter through and through. That will never change. But, Heads Up Decoy is what it is today because I developed an elk decoy I thought every elk hunter should own. It has since been accompanied by several other designs...including my beloved whitetail.

It's been a long time coming, in some ways pain staking, but I believe I have a new logo which will accompany Heads Up Decoy into the next level and phases of the company. I felt it was important to include similar characteristics as the original and to include an elk since the elk got me into this mess :). The elk is not to alienate anyone...it's just where Heads Up Decoy started and I think an important piece to remember where it all started. I am very happy to introduce the new Heads Up Decoy logo.

Thanks to all of our supporters...my beautiful wife and family most importantly...over the passed several years who have helped Heads Up Decoy get to where we are today and where we will be in the future.

Garrett Roe

Same Decoy...New Tactic

2012-02-01T20:54:00.003-06:00

As some of you know, I've been chasing this little self-inflicted goal of the Colorado Archery Big 8 for a number of years. That is, taking at least one of each native big game species in Colorado with my bow. 2011 found me chasing perhaps the most unique end to this quest of any who have completed it; a mule deer, Colorado's most prolific game species. After some great opportunities on big bucks in the alpine terrain of the central Rockies, I got impatient and took a small buck. I admit it, I'm really an elk hunter at heart and I was feeling the attraction to my favorite elk haunts....shame on me. The not-so-fantastic finish sent me off the alpine and into the aspen groves that my soul calls home; elk bugles were waiting!

I thought the elk rut in Colorado was late in 2010, but 2011 was even later. Many have theories of weather or moon phase affecting the rut timing, but I believe two consecutive years of heavy snow pack pushed the rut to the right a bit more each year. The heavy snow in spring influences cows to hold their calves a bit longer which directly alters their biological clock for reproduction in autumn.

In addition to a new invasion of hunters into my favorite area, the action was slow until the final week of the season. My good friend Bryan and I were keeping our legs fresh in anticipation of a multi-day strike into new terrain for the final week.

As we arrived in the late afternoon to an area we were minimally familiar, there were bulls going crazy in a high mountain basin covered with pine and open parks. We dropped our packs, made a quick plan, and Bryan moved ahead as the shooter. Within five minutes, one of the three close bulls was on his way, like being reeled in on a line! The Heads Up was naturally poised and ready, but this 6 x 6 bull needed no visual to convince him. Everything was text-book perfect...except the shot. Bulls continued to scream into the night as we searched for an arrow or sign of a hit. The arrow was eventually found and it was clean.

The next few days were a blur of close encounters without any good shot opportunities and a miss by me on a real hog. One other particular bull was huge, but he caught us in the open. I couldn't move enough to employ the decoy. Too bad, because this guy was big, pissed-off, and looking for love. He got close enough to know he should see an elk and didn't...game over.

On the second-to-last evening of the season Bryan and I decided that our 6 x 6 or better criteria needed to be modified. The multitude of 5 x 5s we had passed on over the previous 72 hours would now be fair game; meat became the objective. Bryan made a beautiful shot on a freezer filling 5 x 5 and we packed meat until about midnight.

The final day of the season was now upon us as we struggled out of our comfortable beds in the camper. We were simply headed back in to recover our meager camp which had been home the previous three nights, but my bow was in hand and ready if an opportunity presented itself. Halfway to camp a bull was sounding off above us. We pushed ahead almost recklessly and found the bull with two almost separate groups of cows, one near us and one beyond the bull. Bryan stayed back with the Heads Up as I moved forward and intentionally bumped the near cows, scattering them side-hill away from me and the remaining bull.

Instead of attempting to call the bull away from his cows, Bryan and the decoy simply made the bull believe that his cows were still grazing below him. A few gentle cow calls reassured the big bodied guy as he continued to bugle, rake trees, and otherwise attempt to display his stature. With the near cows gone and a content bull ahead, I began my stalk across completely open terrain. Every time the bull looked away or destroyed a sapling, I moved directly at him. He kept looking and listening down the hill and was obviously content that his harem was still in-tact. The other cows in his group had drifted slightly uphill and were no factor to my advance. At about 70 yards, I figured that my luck would run out at any second; hunters don't just waltz-in on bulls in wide-open terrain, right! The bull looked uphill to check on his existing cows and gave me the last sprint opportunity I needed. I hit my knees at what I figured was about 35 yards, knocked an arrow and let it go....right over his back! Utterly disgusted with myself I instinctively knocked another arrow but didn't expect another shot opportunity. The racket created by my missed shot made the bull look uphill where the arrow crashed through the trees. My second shot was perfect (amazing how a nice miss helps calculate distance!). The bull almost ran me over on his death run downhill.

Bryan and I packed meat and our camp until dusk. The season came to a close back at the camper with an amazing alpine glow across the golden aspens and windless sunset. Although we were exhausted we hated the fact that hunting was now eleven months away.

WHAT...am I trying to prove exactly?

2011-11-21T00:29:00.002-06:00

Fall Colors from early November

A question I have asked myself multiple times during the KS archery deer season. It was a discussion with a prostaffer as well. What am I trying to prove exactly? After the first week of November, I had a different answer than I do at this moment.

The whitetail template is sitting in a treestand, low impact, stealth, solitude, and patience...or "time on stand" as it's been said. From a business perspective, is this the way I need to market my product? Another question along the same lines as the first. I would say with honesty, the treestand at times should be in the arsenal. But as the rut kicks in and dominant mature bucks become more active, one should not confuse "sightings" with "encounters". As I write this I may have found my answer.

Waiting for a buck to cruise a bedding area..decoy ready!

Heads Up Decoy is a decoy to use how you want to use it. I know it works from a stand or ground blind. But to separate it from the conventional decoys, it must perform in ways that turn "sightings" into "opportunities". In between a sighting and opportunity, there must be a design and complimentary accessories to get you to your point of engagement. Now, I haven't thought of everything, but darn close.

So today(Sunday Nov 20th)...the one year anniversary of the massive 7 point buck in the milo stalks...I reluctantly crawled out of bed hoping that somewhere in the day there would be 30 seconds that would change my season from close calls...into antlers to pose behind and meat in the freezer.

I checked the wind as I do every morning then mull over my options on the drive. It was off to the pasture...yes pasture...my son and I looked at last march. Some of the photos and insights about this pasture can be found at the following blog link. Scouting New Ground...A New Perspective. I was confident in a consistent wind and based on my last hunt in that pasture...confident I would turn up a big whitetail.

A look to the north of the pasture where I took my position

Low light found me in position and scanning the pasture for movement. It wasn't long before I was able to see a buck in the distance working his way up the fenceline in my general direction. It was not shooting light, but it was enough for me to pick up the movement with my binos. Not being able to truly assess the size of the buck, I decided to move to the ridge closer to his position to get a better look. I found the buck moving off to the east and not worthy of a 1/2 mile pursuit. I felt good about my position and I elected to "hole up". There was a winter wheat field on my north that I was banking on holding a rutting buck and being downwind of the bedding area with plenty of cover, I liked my chances...1/2 mile from any tree that could hold a treestand.

My place of "hiding" the buck came just inside the small far
right upper yucca...30 yards.

It wasn't long after I made my decision to stay put that I spotted movement...downwind of me of course...which has been the story of the year. But luckily not directly downwind and totally unaware of my presence. I glassed up a shooter buck. My initial thought was 170, but as the planning and assessment and the constant glassing persisted, I really didn't know how big he was other than he was a "no doubter". My plan was to be patient because the buck was in no hurry to be anywhere because he was where he wanted to be and he had company. This buck was here well before shooting light and hardly visible from any tree that might be a place to have a treestand.When I spotted the bedded doe there was no doubt in my mind that I needed to be aggressive. His position was workable, but not ideal...I would need some help from God. I belly crawled 100yds down the slope angling to the west getting as much angle in the wind as I could before I ran out of cover that would conceal my movement.

The wind was light, but consistent so I made the decision that if I was going to get a shot, it was going to be done with the buck decoy in the Heads Up Decoy Bowmount. I displayed the buck decoy, grunted and waited...and waited...and waited. After several minutes of staring him down and after he and the doe bedded and rose twice, I took my eye off them to range some yuccas to my south and to my east. When I returned my attention to the buck and doe, they were gone. Did they spook? Where did they go? I didn't see anything and I scanned the pasture to my east rising from my crouched position. I picked up the doe and was anxiously scanning for the buck because she was RIGHT THERE. In fact, I was scared he was already at 10 yards. Well, he wasn't at 10 yards, but he was coming. I was in the comfort zone. He was angling downwind, bristled up, ears pinned back. I drew my bow and place my pin low on the chest behind the shoulder and loosed the arrow before he reached my scent cone only to watch it pass low of my aiming point. The buck bound off with alittle less hair in his arm pit. At 30 yards from my position laid a pile of white chest hair.

Clean

As for me...it's been that kind of year. I've decoyed in more deer to bow range than any year to date. I've had 4 encounters with 4 different shooter bucks. It was only a matter of time before it resulted in a shot. I kept putting myself into the field. Even if I don't tag a buck, I know what I am trying to prove...and that's to continue to give myself opportunities.

I would like to give a shout out to some of the manufactures out there. The type of hunting I have been doing is extremely hard on equipment. My Badlands packs, Hoyt bow, Easton Arrows, Bow Jax stabilizer, Grim Reaper Broadheads, Canon Camera's, and my TruFire Hardcore release...this release is a stalking hunters dream.

My stuff...dekes packed inside.

The season ain't over.

Be mobile...Stay mobile.

Repeat

2011-10-13T22:04:00.000-05:00

October 10 brought a day off school for Dalton and a day for father and son to take to the field for the first Kansas archery deer hunt of 2011. The plan was to do some early season roadside scouting but the fog had us locked down and we were unable to glass any potential hidey holes.

We changed gears and took a chance we could hang an early morning tree stand in an area we’d been seeing a good whitetail. Things didn’t work out to well. We got the stand up but we also ended up getting soaked and spooking the whitetail buck and watching him bound over the early morning horizon.

As we made it back to the vehicle the fog began to break and we spotted good mule deer buck feeding in a drought stunted milo field. We decided to head back home for a change into dry camo and to wait for the wind to come up a bit. We arrived back at the field about 11 am. After about ½ mile walk to swing downwind we were about 300 yards away from where we believed the buck to be. Luckily enough, the buck stood up to stretch, reposition, and feed a little. We watched the larger buck and a yearly for nearly 30 minutes before they bedded back down.

Having them pinpointed, we began our stalk. As we approached the terrace channel we had seen them enter. I spotted the larger buck bedded on the terrace top, his antlers quite visible in drought strickened headless milo. We used the Mule deer doe Heads Up Decoy and crawled our way to within 20 yards of the larger buck and only 10 yards of the yearling buck.

We got comfortable and positioned as I held the decoy in plain few for the bucks to see. Dalton was positioned just to my left. The plan was for Dalton to draw and I would hold the decoy and bleated with my mouth. Hoping for the buck to stand and look. First try the buck only looked our way and couldn’t see the decoy through the milo. After about 30 minutes and a 2nd and 3rd try and my arms cramping from holding the decoy the 4th try worked. I bleated a bit louder and the buck rose up just enough to see the decoy and was on full alert. He stood and within seconds after seeing the decoy you could tell he had relaxed. Dalton is at full draw, shoots and takes the hair off the bucks back. The buck only runs 10 yards and turns back to look at the decoy quartering away at 30 yards. This time Dalton did not miss the mark and the buck tears off and goes out of site after a 250 yard sprint.

A repeat for Dalton, and another successful stalk with the heads up decoy. I am convinced that after the miss, without the heads up decoy, this buck would have been plum out of the country. In the end patience, remaining calm, and trusting in the decoy was all it took to for Dalton to put an arrow in another fine Kansas Mule Deer.

Submitted by Author KH

Sticker Patch Buck

2011-10-11T23:12:00.001-05:00

I am sure there are times when a bowhunter finds himself intrigued with one particular animal not always due to the size of the horns, but something different and related to a personal quest. At least that's where I found myself during the KS antelope season chasing a pronghorn that demonstrated a personality that made him susceptible to the decoy.

Opening morning we watched this buck chase off numerous "toy bucks" when they were mere specs-in-the-distance as my partner, his son, and I weaved our way down a steep draw in the middle of a recently planted winter wheat field. There was a rise in the field where we could show the decoy closer than this buck apparently needed for a reaction. But as luck would have it, a smaller satellite buck began to get our attention and was approaching our position. We still had 400 yards yet to go before we approached the harem master...if you will...so why not. A goat's a goat out here. This buck was a good distraction and as it turns out allowed me to witness one of the longest charges I have ever seen an antelope buck make.

Several failed decoy attempts at this satellite buck yielded a reaction from our targeted buck that had we not been distracted, my partner's son may have gotten run over. Kent and Dalton ran up a draw trying to head off this smaller buck with decoy in hand. The dominate buck had seen the movement and the flash of the white decoy from....at least 600 yards away and came at a hamstring pullin', ankle breakin' sprint directly at them. Tragically, they had no idea what was happening. I witnessed the event from 200 yards away hoping and praying that Kent would turn around. The buck never gave us another chance in that field as he quickly gathered his harem and headed for the sticker patch across the road where he probably is as I am writing this post.

I went in the sticker patch after this buck on 2 occasions. Although I probably scored some toughness points with my partner, I was unable to get close to this buck. The decoying action that first weekend was good. The second weekend not at all. I was able to harvest a small buck that spent his time annoying the "Sticker Patch Buck" on the last morning in an all-or-nothing move to sit in a feeding area next to the sticker patch. Full disclosure here...I did not use the decoy to harvest this buck, but by gosh that decoy was either in my hand, on my bow, or tucked in my shirt as I crawled all over western Kansas those 6 days and there was no way I wasn't going to get a picture with it. In the pics you may see some differences in the decoy. We were experimenting with different size buck decoys...it's ongoing. Please enjoy some of the images from our hunt. Click on picture to enlarge...then use your back button to return.

Kent takin' care of Dalton's stickers

Kent and Dalton making my birthday dinner. Thanks men.

Beginning of a great day

This buck came in to 55 yard, but crosswind was too high

there's a muley buck in there somewhere

Hoyt Maxxis, Easton FMJ's, Grim Reaper Broadheads

Badlands 2200 packed him out

Next year Sticker Patch Buck!

Mission Antelope

2011-08-28T00:50:00.000-05:00

Limited resource+limited access=about 5-10% success rate for the Kansas archery antelope hunter. Although blind hunting may increase your odds...(probably not this year with the abundance of water)...and is a tactic very common and a great way to shoot a pronghorn in the early season pre-rut hunt and even in the height of the rut, it may also be the economical way because in order to locate KS pronghorn you will need to put on the miles with no guarantee of access. The expense of a trip to Wyoming vs a trip to western KS may be a wash. You'll need a few things for KS pronghorn if you choose to hunt from your belly: Gas, maps, luck, gas, and luck.

I was accompanied by my good friend Kent on our scouting trip to locate some goats for the KS early archery season, but today I got a bonus. Kent's son Dalton tagged along. To give you an idea of the driving involved, Dalton was able to get all his AR reading done for the week along with a nap or two as the distance was great and the goats were sparse at best.

Cooped up in the truck all day you get plenty of time to chat. Kent was throwing out some opinions about the Kansas antelope hunt and one statement Kent made that puts things in perspective was "man, if you shoot a goat in Kansas, someone outta get your name put on a plaque and it should go up on a wall somewhere."

It may be an easy assumption that with the increasing popularity of Heads Up Decoy that leasing and or booked hunts would be on the agenda especially in an effort to boost our marketing prowess, but at this point I still prefer to measure my successes and failures under the same conditions as everyone else. I do not place judgement on those that do, it mostly boils down for me to a simple fact that in the grand scope of archery hunting, I am not very accomplished. When the time comes to look back I will feel good about what I've done or not done. So, I look forward to the struggles of a late September Kansas archery antelope hunt with my good friend Kent and his son Dalton. Let's hope they are responding to the decoy and we get an opportunity. Antelope are a beautiful animal and a ton of fun to hunt. I will be optimistic and with some good fortune maybe one of us will slide an arrow through this big boy pictured below. Hunting season has started for many...I wish you all the best of luck. Have a safe and exciting 2011 archery season.

New Bow Mount

2011-06-28T23:55:00.000-05:00

When we traveled around to different commercial shows in the early days of HUD's, the first thing hunters would say about our antelope decoy is: "You should find a way to mount that to your bow." Well, we did. And frankly, the Bow Mount was specifically made with the antelope decoy and turkey decoy in mind. I spent HOURS in the shop working on the design...hours. To the point I finally settled on a design and went with it. It worked, but the numbers didn't...so it was back to the drawing board. I "dumbed" it down to a "V" bracket with the idea that I would mount 2 Tom Turkey decoys side-by-side, but as it turns out...you don't need 2 turkey decoys. If you have been following us, you will be well aware of the deadly turkey decoy we have and its use in the Bow Mount. What has been interesting over the course of the last couple of season is the amount of Bow Mounts we sell with other decoy models...maybe it's because I walked up on a mule deer buck in milo stalks and shot it on film...:-).

The Bow Mount is precisely machined and manufactured with a great deal of accuracy and consistency. We are proud to have been able to reduce the "engineering" to a smaller profile with complete and full functionality as the original design. The Bow Mount is constructed of 100% aluminum. As with the original model, we inserted plastic tubing to slide the decoy handle into. This reduces abrasions on the handle and silence on the shot.

Every Bow Mount is sold with a 5/16 button head bolt and one 1/4" roll pin. The bolt is used to secure the Bow Mount into the end of a stabilizer with a bolt hole at the end. We recommend a stabilizer with a hole in the end for full functionality of the Bow Mount. There are several brands on the market. However, you can place it between a stacker type stabilizer, between stabilizer and bow riser or for you traditional folks...get a Gadget Adapter generally used for bow fishing and bolt the Bow Mount to it.

The roll pin will be tapped into one of the ported holes in the Bow Mount. What you will do is determine what side of the bow the decoy will work on and what you prefer. Then you will see how the decoy will be positioned based on your set up to get the decoy in proper posture with as much "coverage" it will provide you without interfering with your sight window and arrow flight channel. Once you figure that out, tap the roll pin in the Bow Mount and reattach the Bow Mount and fix it securely. I personally find that once I have place the roll pin in the Bow Mount, I do not have to remove it for another decoy...however, fine tuning is always recommended to get as much "coverage" of the bow and yourself as possible.

When you insert the decoy handle into the fully assemble Bow Mount, align the notch of the handle so it will fit around the roll pin. We call this our "Wind Lock" system. This notch in the handle will keep the decoy from spinning in the Bow Mount. Keep in mind that the decoy will flex in the wind. We stumbled into this, but having some flex in the decoy will give you an extra 5+mph wind speed because the decoy absorbs some of the shock of the wind...having a decoy that has no give is bad in the wind. The decoy always works better when your face is in the wind. Practice Practice Practice with the decoy in the Bow Mount to know your limits. Here are some pictures of what the decoy may look like and how it may be attached to the bow. And remember, your Bow Mount investment is great because all our decoys fit in the Bow Mount. Good Luck.

Summertime is Here

2011-06-06T20:36:00.007-05:00

The end of turkey season sparks the end of my bowhunting seasons until September, but that doesn't mean my archery equipment gets put on the shelf. The dog days of summer bring about one of my favorite past times, bowfishing. As a bowhunter you are already equipped with the most important piece of equipment, a bow. The rest of the gear is simple, a reel and fishing arrow, which will only cost you as much as you want to spend, but for beginners hand wound reels or spincast reels designed for bowfishing are a pretty inexpensive way to go. Carp are probably the most sought after fish for bowfishermen and can be found in nearly every body of water in the U.S. They are generally easy to find as they spend lots of time in calm, shallow backwaters of lakes and ponds, and they are fairly easy to sneak up whether you are wading in the water, or in a boat. There are also many other species of fish that are legal bowfishing quarry, but check your state laws first to make sure you know what is legal game and what isn't. So if you are looking for a new hobby, or just a way to break the monotony of those hot summer days, grab your bow and head to the lake to try it for yourself.

2011 Shed Season

2011-05-17T21:05:00.002-05:00

As everything is starting to green up, and new horns are growing, I’m throwing in the towel for the 2011 shed season. This shed season has been by far my best to date, as I collected 78 horns. I was fortunate enough to find several match sets, and at least one horn off of every deer I’d hoped to. I should have several mature deer this year, which are signs that my hard work of putting in food plots and creating cover is starting to pay off. In the next few weeks, I will be putting in my last few food plots, and starting the countdown for the first part of August, so I can start running cameras again.

Piling them up with the HUD!

2011-05-04T20:58:00.012-05:00

As you can see from Garrett's last post, the HUD turkey decoy has been a deadly weapon this spring. It has been the same around our household. My wife, Jerri, started it off killing the first bird with the HUD. The birds were headed to roost and weren't too fired up, but we were able to intercept a nice tom using a creek drainage and the decoy for cover. Jerri was able to arrow this 20 pounder that had 1 1/4" spurs while I held the decoy.

I was proud of Jerri arrowing a great bird without a blind. An accomplishment that many would consider one of the hardest feats to pull off. However, the HUD evens the odds and is very effective. With her on the board I took the opportunity to hook up with Garrett and chase birds. We headed out early and had action immediately. We were moving towards a couple of stutters but decided to stop and call a few times in case they had moved. We were cut off by a couple of gobbles. Within minutes we had several jakes approach our location in the 8" alfalfa field. I have no problem filling a tag with a jake and was already planning what we were going to do for the rest of the day since we had only been hunting for a half hour. Unfortunately I rushed the shot and missed low and watched the jakes run away unharmed. I couldn't believe it!

The wind picked up and we stuggled to find birds for the rest of the morning. I was really kicking myself for missing that bird, but it turned out to be a blessing. We finally found a couple of strutters with some hens in a hay field. We used the creek bottom to get close but ran out of cover and were several hundred yards away from the birds. I crept up the bank with the deke in the bowmount and showed the decoy. The birds immediately spotted the competition and started heading my way. As they neared, they started running. The birds broke into strut when they were 12 yards away. They didn't even flinch when I drew and I took my time this go around. The arrow hit its mark and the bird was down within seconds! Video Link to Matt's bird: HUD at 12 Yards!

I was tagged out in Kansas and had a Friday off so I headed to Nebraska. I spent several hours in the pickup and filled my tag after 10 minutes of hunting. I located a lone tom in a pasture. I tucked in behind a yucca plant and showed the bird the decoy. He came on a string. As he approached he came right at the yucca. I held my ground and he finally cleared the plant when he was 10-15 feet away! I came to full draw and he took a few steps away, but I had time to send an arrow into his vitals. He was less than 5 yards when I shot him. This is becoming a common result when hunting gobblers with the HUD. While quick, it was an awesome hunt!! I am contemplating spending a few more dollars and heading back to Nebraska so I can try to lay down another one.

The KS Turkey Season with Heads Up Decoy

2011-04-15T10:03:00.000-05:00

For myself, the 2011 KS archery turkey season ended on public ground April 13th with another memorable hunt. The short time in the field has been jammed packed with memorable moments, close encounters, and near misses. We have several pro staffers who have filled all their tags and a couple others with one tag to go. But to say the Heads Up Decoy Tom Turkey is a success is an understatement...it's deadly. We've decoyed birds from the blind and from the bowmount at an unheard of ratio. I have said from the beginning that there are decoys on the market more realistic looking than the Heads Up Decoy, but not more versatile and not nearly as fun.

As of now, there have been 5 birds taken with the decoy and the bowmount from 9 yards to 40 yards and 6 birds taken from the blind from 8 yards to 40 yards. These are some of the images from the first 15 days of April.

Keeping the Momentum Rollin'

2011-04-03T21:55:00.001-05:00

It seems like forever since November 20th, 2010 when we decoyed that gnarly whitetail buck in the milo stalks...which was the last time I drew on an animal. March was certainly not marching and I have been getting anxious to get back in the field with the Heads Up Decoy Tom Turkey deke. Opening day success came quickly with Prostaffer Lincoln McClure getting on the board with this new PSE Evo. I, however, had to wait until day 2 of the Kansas spring archery turkey season.

I was accompanied by friend and Heads Up Decoy Prostaffer, David Gillan. David was having bow problems so he graciously volunteered to run the camera. We had a late start due to family obligations so there was no 4 AM wake up call. The weather had been warm, then cold, then warm, then cold, then warm again leading up to opening day. Saturday the 2nd was warm and brutally windy. We honestly...well, I honestly...had little expectations as it was early and I was just happy to be wearing camo and carrying a bow.

It didn't take long to spot a distant group of turkeys feeding in stubble field. We parked the truck and devised a game plan to sneak up from below the flock and display the Heads Up Tom Turkey Decoy and maybe get lucky. As we made our way through the pasture and draws we spooked the cattle feeding nearby and they ran directly through the spot we last saw the flock. Not discouraged, David and I descended back down into an old farmstead to glass a field located in the low land that was surrounded on all sides by 2 small spring feeder creeks. We didn't need the glass to spot another group of turkeys feeding in the field.

I placed the HUD Tom Turkey in the HUD Bowmount and crawled down beyond the field's edge. The wind was having its way with the decoy in the bowmount, but it was the only option. I hid behind the decoy and allowed the wind to provide most of the moment of the the decoy. The flock was undisturbed by my presence as they fed about 150 yards away. However, one particular tom in the flock was not pleased that another tom was strutting his stuff in his field. The tom walked directly into the decoy, followed by 3 other toms. I shot him at 9 yards. This was my first turkey with a bow and it couldn't have been more exciting.

David had the camera rolling throughout the entire sequence and I was equipped with the ContourHD on my hat. Most the "hat cam" footage was of the ground, my hand, and my bow...except for the part when I drew my bow and the turkey enters the screen at point blank range. Click the link at the bottom to view the video.

Special thanks to David Gillan for helping.

Vanderbilt's equipment list: Hoyt Maxxis 31', Easton FMJ's, Grim Reaper 100gr RazorCut Expandables, Irish Setter Boots, King's camo, HS Strutt calls, Pentex Binos. Additional equipment: Badlands Packs, Stromgren Baselayers.

Heads Up Decoy Video Link

Heads Up Decoy Giveaway Blog Drawing

2011-04-01T13:41:00.000-05:00

We thank you for your participation. We have drawn from our first 25 Heads Up Decoy blog followers. Congratulations John Cannon! You are the winner of your choice of a Heads Up Decoy. Please email me with your contact information and what decoy you would like to get at groe@headsupdecoy.com.

We will be drawing again when we reach 50 followers so your chances are still good. Don't forget to keep checking in with us as we go through turkey season here in KS. We will be adding stories, pics, and video as we are in hot pursuit of those crazy gobblers.

Garrett
Heads Up Decoy

Looking for Elk Sheds

2011-03-30T16:50:00.004-05:00

It's that time of year when many of you are looking for whitetail antlers from the bucks you hope to harvest next year. I do the same here in Wyoming with elk antlers.

A bull like the one this came from this spring would be amazing to find this fall.

Sometimes it's all about using snowshoes to get to hard to reach ridges and you never know what the snow has covered up!

Sign Up for a Chance to Win a Decoy

2011-03-25T12:35:00.001-05:00

Heads Up Decoy is looking to significantly expand our social network over the next 2 months, and we want you...to join in. Our goal is to get 1000 Facebook Fans and as many blog followers as we can get by June 1st 2011...100 blog followers would be great.

The Heads Up Decoy blog and Facebook page are far-and-away the best way to keep up with what's going on with Heads Up Decoys. Over the last 6-8 months, the Heads Up Decoy blog blew away our competition...and we continue to do so...with relevant information about the decoys in addition to entertaining stories, pictures, and video.

The Heads Up Decoys are the most versatile decoy on the market and frankly a few sentences in a paragraph on the website cannot begin to touch on some of the things a person can do with them, which makes the blog and Facebook page powerful tools to help you be confident and successful when using the HUD's.

Some topics will be exclusive to one or the other, but what you can expect from the blog and our Facebook page are stories, tips, experiences, pictures, and musings from myself and our impressive Prostaff along with product development updates, and promotional notices.

We currently have 249 Facebook Fans and 12 followers on our blog with about 400-600 pages viewed per month.

The Giveaway Part:

We are going to draw 2 names out of the current 249 Facebook fans and give away a decoy of their choice. At 500, 750, and 1000 Facebook Fans, we will draw 2 new names at each milestone and give away a decoy of their choice up to the point we reach our goal of 1000 fans. If you sign up as a follower on our blog, for every 25 followers, we will draw a name and give away a decoy of their choice up to point we reach our goal of 100 followers.

Thank you for your support.
Garrett Roe,
Owner, Heads Up Decoy

Spring is Upon Us!!

2011-03-16T21:34:00.005-05:00

There have been some extremely nice days lately which have been great for doing some post season scouting, shed hunting, and shooting my bow to get ready for the upcoming spring turkey season as well as 3D.

I will try to post some pictures soon of some of the sheds that we have been finding so far. I hope to hit it hard this weekend, but March Madness will probably slow that down a little.

I am going to keep it short and sweet for now, but want to wish everyone good luck this spring in the woods! Hopefully we will all have some turkey stories to share in the near future. Here is a photo of my wife Jerri's first bird from a couple seasons ago to help get everyone fired up!

Scouting New Ground...A New Perspective

2011-03-12T22:40:00.001-06:00

A couple of the most powerful tools to scouting and hunting whitetails...or muleys...is an updated property map and a cell phone. I've also found that being a bowhunter never hurts either. It's mid March and turkey season is just around the corner. The shed hunting season has been in full swing for most people except me. However, this day was a particularly perfect and mild day so Kaleb Archer accompanied me on a scouting/shed hunting trip to some new territory.

I have turkey hunted a particular unimpressive, but extremely productive, feeder creek in an open pasture for several years now and was totally unaware of the fact the adjacent property was owned or rented by the same individual...duh. This area is far from your prototypical whitetail or turkey terrain. But it really doesn't matter what anyone thinks as "prototypical" because they use the pasture much more than the small strip of cottonwoods following the small creek. Now, what once was a scrubby 'ol rolling pasture with patches of intermediate grass, some dense pockets of yuccas, and mixed in a few deep draws and that is now the type of habitat I have begun to focus my attention on when scouting. Of course, this is post Heads Up Decoy thinking.

The HUD's have totally changed my mind set. In this example, I look at this skinny 500 yard strip of cottonwoods bisecting a 160 acre piece of ground with 1 or 2 treestand possibilities and the HUD's have turned it into 640 acres of opportunity. Mostly because of it's position. You see this piece of ground abuts some of the best "prototypical" river bottom whitetail habitat in the area. 2 miles of contiguous uninterrupted river bottom with 1-2 miles on each side before a public road. There is river bottom that trickles into the property, but it is essentially open with most of the food sources well beyond the security of the river bottom...meaning they will need to use the pasture to get to the food and most likely an area for big bucks to bed up with a hot doe.

So when you are out scouting for turkeys or shed hunting, take a fresh look at your hunting area and I hope you come away with a whole new perspective of ideal whitetail habitat...the Heads Up Decoys can do that for you.

The picture above shows the openness of this area with a small slope in the distance with a pocket of dense yucca...an ideal bedding area for a rutting buck with a hot doe. On a side note, the heart of a yucca makes a great back rest or pillow.

In the back ground you see the property line. We don't hunt on property lines, but you can see the river bottom bend to the right into the pasture.

The take home message is, use every inch of property you can. The Heads Up Decoys can literally take a wheat stubble field with a terrace, a pasture with knee high cover and some terrain, intermediate grass and yuccas with a few slopes, and turn it into a bowhunting memory you will never forget. The picture below gives you some perspective what little cover it takes to come up with a hunt you will never forget. Be Mobile...Stay Mobile.

Kaleb, I had a great time today buddy. I can't wait until you are toting bow and arrow along side me.

Heads Up Pronghorn

2011-02-08T20:26:00.005-06:00

The 2010 Pronghorn season provided some valuable learning points when using the Heads Up Decoy. In a rush to get in the mountains to chase bulls, I ended up taking my buck at a waterhole but thought I'd share a few things that might help others lure in their trophy with the Heads Up Decoy...

While Pronghorn hunting in Colorado, the Heads Up decoy produced a lot of excitement and adrenaline. Keep in mind that all my hunting was well before the Pronghorn rut so the decoy's effectiveness was somewhat diminished, although the reaction I received from bucks was quite encouraging in spite of the early season. I normally utilized spot and stalk tactics in my attempts to close the distance on lone bucks. The Heads Up decoy was always clipped to my hydration pack by using a simple lightweight c-clip. As I low-crawled and closed the distance on these bucks, they nearly always detected my presence prior to reaching bow range, usually around 80 yards (typical for spot and stalk in open country). This is where I employed the HUD, knowing that my traditional stalk was over.

Although the bucks knew something was near, they rarely spooked and became quite curious instead. While staying as low as possible I simply unclipped the decoy, brought it up in front of me, and slid it into the bow mount. Over fifty percent of the bucks actually began getting closer to investigate the newly discovered buck. Often, these bucks would make many approaches before finally leaving the area. Shot opportunities were only hindered by multiple mistakes by me and I'm confident a later season rut hunt would produce even more aggressive responses to the decoy. I can hardly wait to get back out there this season, filling my knee pads with cactus, and decoying in some Pronghorn bucks! This method and species is quickly rising as a favorite of mine. No doubt, the Pronghorn's curiosity can be used against him!

The small size and light weight of the HUD allowed me to combine two styles of hunting into one very effective method. The decoy never hindered my movement while walking, running, or belly crawling across the prairie. I believe that getting close to the Pronghorn before showing the decoy can be very effective and certainly creates excitement; the second those bucks start walking or running in, things happen very quickly.

Best of luck to everyone.

2010 Turkey Season

2011-01-28T01:00:00.011-06:00

I have never had a top-of-the-line bow before and when the Hoyt Maxxis came out in 2010, I pretty much knew it was going to be my next bow. Vanderbilt's is our local pro shop and I was basically all-in with the Maxxis, the Hoyt quiver, and the Hoyt drop away rest. Turkey season was right around the corner and what better way to break in a new bow...and a new turkey decoy.

A turkey decoy had been in the back of my mind since the beginning, but what kind of turkey decoy was the question. When the Heads Up Decoy Bow Mount materialized, it was designed with some really sinister thoughts of pronghorns at point-blank....and turkeys.

The original turkey decoy idea deviated from the integrity of the HUD's and it was time to rethink the turkey decoy concept and redirect. There were some sleepless nights, which isn't unusual for me given I am trying to get a new business off the ground. The first prototype deviated from my partial body concept, the second prototype was too expensive to sell, and the last prototype had one minor...well...major problem, "How to attach a real fan?"

Already into the turkey season, I was scrambling around trying to "rework" the decoy so I could actually get someone to purchase it in the future. I am not exactly sure how it came about, but the thought of cutting the center out of a strutting turkey and attaching a real fan seemed to be...well...doable. I cut out the center of my original prints and laid it on a fan I had and...bah-da-bing...bah-da-boom...there it was. It was go time. The Heads Up Tom Turkey Decoy was born and it was again, designed to be versatile.

My wife and I have 2 older children and 2 younger children and at the time, the youngest, Kori, was practically brand new. Turkey hunting time was limited at best, but one fine day I was able to accomplish what I set out to do with the HUD Tom Turkey. My goal was to smoke a tom with the decoy in the Bow Mount.

I was in the middle of a wide open pasture working a tom and hen when the tom had had enough of my presence. He left his hen and strutted right into me. I was hiding behind the decoy and fan inserted in the HUD Bow Mount. The tom strolled right in and I was able to easily draw my bow, settle, and...well...MISS! I buzzed the tom's head to the left with a Magnus Bullhead. The arrow flew true, but my aim was off. I had mixed emotions. I was totally STOKED that I was able to get a tom close enough to shoot with the decoy in the Bow Mount, but bummed that I missed when he was soooo close. I was trying to film myself and as the tom was approaching, I heard the camera die on me.

The next week found me picking just the right day to leave the day job early. I marinaded in Off bug spray and picked up prostaffer Justin Sherfick's Double Bull blind and camera. I nestled myself on the edge of an alfalfa field where we had seen turkeys spending the afternoon there on a daily basis. It wasn't long when activity began to pick up. Several hens came up and out of a small wooded draw and headed towards the creek to turn up cow pies. One lone tom later appeared and could not resist a look. He amble across the alfalfa field and strutted right into the decoy set. He was beautiful. Rio Grande tom turkeys are really beautiful birds.

I ranged the edge of the field where I assumed my shot would be. He strutted right in to that very spot eyeballing his competition. I settled my pin on his head and WHIFF! I gave the tom a reverse mohawk. I was utterly disappointed. I couldn't believe I missed again. Well, I did get some great footage.

The Heads Up Decoys are an exciting brand of decoys that are extremely effective and versatile. The Tom Turkey decoy is certainly one we will have loads of fun with. We look forward to the 2011 turkey season and hope to get some redemption. We wish everyone great success this turkey season and we hope the HUD's helps you. Please enjoy the footage by clicking the youtube link below.

2010 Turkey Hunt

Heads Up Decoy Tom Turkey Decoy

2011-01-18T00:18:00.001-06:00

Heads Up Decoy is excited to finally introduce our version of a usable and versatile tom turkey decoy. The Heads Up Decoy Tom Turkey Decoy.

Honoring the integrity of our partial body decoy characteristics, the Heads Up Tom Turkey Decoy essentially takes the center circle of a strutting tom and gives it life by sliding a real turkey fan into the "Fan Slot". The "Fan Slot" secures the real turkey fan into anatomical position completing the decoy and adding realism.

As a veteran turkey hunter, I have seen many different turkey decoy set ups...and have used many decoy set ups myself. If a fan with no body can work, then a fan with a partial body will work better. And given the fact that...again...we have designed a hassle free decoy...I believe I have design the ultimate tom turkey decoy that embodies the term "versatility". Realism being obvious, versatility, and above all, usability is something I take great pride in when designing the Heads Up Decoys. I want the Heads Up Decoys to work in conventional settings, and to create opportunities when conventional tactics need to be abandoned and a more aggressive and unconventional application needs to be implemented.

As we have proved through the use of our other decoys, we believe this decoy will result in opportunities when opportunity doesn't seem likely because we have designed the "hassle" out of the decoy as can sometimes be the case with the 3D full bodies. I agree, the 3D Tom decoys look great, but they are pretty much stuck where you put them.

Wanted to touch on a few philosophies on why this ended up being the design. One...pretty much most experienced turkey hunters have chucked out a hen turkey decoy and "offed" a tom or a jake. And, pretty much most experienced turkey hunters have repeated this several times over...and if you haven't...you will. So, we do not include a turkey fan with this decoy. If you have a garage or shed full of fans, and you don't like toting a 3D around, but would like to have a tom or jake decoy...then this is the tom turkey decoy for you.Two...I personally believe that this decoy will be more effective than a 3D just because of the simple fact that you can create opportunities that may not have been available with the use of the other bulkier more cumbersome decoys.

The Heads Up Tom Turkey is very versatile. It is sold with a ground stake extension for conventional set ups, but can be used handheld to add movement if you are belly crawlin in the middle of the wide open. The turkey fan will mask your movement. Important point: The handle angle can change because the "Fan Slot" connections slide on the main support frame so you can use the decoy...or decoys...hint hint...in your Heads Up Decoy Bow Mount. In April 2010, I absolutely blew an opportunity to harvest a turkey with the decoy in the Bow Mount. He came right in and I buzzed his nugget at 20 yards...he would have come closer had I not thought I had him dead to rights. The Contour HD camera would have come in handy that day.

The decoy will be available for shipment beginning of February...or sooner. Thank you for your interest and please enjoy the 1 minute promo video I put together describing the decoy by clicking the link below. I CAN'T WAIT FOR APRIL!

Heads Up Tom Turkey Promo Video

In Pursuit of the Colorado Big 8

2011-01-17T21:51:00.004-06:00

I first picked up a bow in 1997 after moving to Eagle, Colorado. I still shoot that old Jennings; it is the only bow I've ever owned. Somewhere along the way I settled on a goal of completing the Colorado Big 8. This journey is well on its way with the 2010 season contributing another three species to the quest. I was fortunate to take a Pronghorn, a Rocky Mountain Goat, and a Cougar with bow and arrow.

I am a dedicated do-it-yourself bowhunter and take pride in this type of hunting style. I savor the challenges encountered while hunting without "professionals", and often by myself. Although the typical bowhunting season may only last a number of weeks in Autumn, it is certainly a year-round activity. Planning, reading, scouting, and making plans dominates the remainder of the year and helps pass the time until I can again strap on boots and smear camouflage face paint. The 2011 season presents an opportunity to close out my Big 8 adventure. A Mule deer buck is my final target and my Heads Up Decoy will certainly be along for the action.

Elk hunting is my bread-and-butter and I enjoy the elk rut more than any other season. The magic of high alpine meadows and aspen groves filled with bugles is fuel for my soul. I've had the good fortune to take many bulls over the years and a couple of trophies. All of my elk have been killed on public land in over-the-counter (OTC) units of Colorado. These amazing creatures humble me each year and never fail to teach another lesson (or a dozen) along the way. This year's highlight was a particular day in the late bow season when my hunting partner and I spent most of a day among a wild bunch of rut-crazed bulls. There must have been over 15 bulls all hanging out together with only a handful of cows between them. All of the bulls were big enough to command some harem of their own, but they all mingled as one, big, pissed-off family! The bugling action was tremendous and the Heads Up Decoy was making a laughing stock out of many bulls. We called an uncounted number of bulls, passed on some, missed others and had a fantastic day. My partner killed one of the biggest bulls at 12 yards when he came in on a string to my calls and decoy. I've always said that I am a far better hunter than shooter and I proved it once again on this day, shooting high on a second giant bull (probably a blessing anyhow as we already had 800 pounds on the ground to deal with).

My most difficult hunts along the way have been solo hunts for a Rocky Mountain Bighorn ram and Rocky Mountain Goat. The physical and psychological challenge of these hunts was awesome and the terrain was often treacherous. Many moments during these adventures are burned into my memory forever and I can replay them in my mind at will. I look forward to my upcoming high alpine Mulie hunt and expect that it will offer some of the same challenges and hazards.

Best of luck to everyone next season. I look forward to spending a bit more time on the Heads Up blog reading and sharing more stories to pass the spring and summer months. I've made a resolution to get back into top shooting form of years ago; that big velvet buck napping in an alpine meadow may only give me one opportunity to close out my Big 8 quest.

2010 Kansas Season Recap

2010-12-28T20:34:00.005-06:00

I spent the month of November in hot pursuit of a mature Kansas mule deer. I had multiple close encounters with the buck, but ultimately was unable to get the job done. He was killed during rifle season leaving me without a solid plan for the remainder of the season. I am hoping for some luck between now and sun down on the 31st. Regardless of the outcome, I have had a great hunting season. I have posted a story detailing several encounters with the non-typical that haunted my dreams throughout the 2010 season at http://www.sitkaprostaff.com/.

Eastmans Bowhunting Journal Cover Story

2010-12-15T23:42:00.002-06:00

I wanted to recognize and congratulate Heads Up Decoy Pro Staffer, Matt Palmquist, for having his cover story in the 2010 November/December Eastmans Bowhunting Journal.

Heads Up Decoy had an interesting "behind-the-scene" presence in this magazine. Matt being a prostaffer, Corey Jacobsen whose Elk101.com webisodes HUDs sponsors, and "This is my DIY"...submitted by the good friend of Aron Snyder...prostaffer of HUDs...who was along and used the decoy to help harvest that elk. In addition to my standard Gear Give Away recognition.

Congradulations again Matt...that is one awesome animal. Click on the picture below for the full story.

Dreams to Reality

2010-11-21T17:25:00.001-06:00

When I started out, I had a saying on my website's home page..."Starting a New Revolution in Big Game Decoys". Although the saying is no longer visible on the website, the statement lives through my efforts and through those that help me promote my decoys. You see, I knew in my heart there was a way to expand one's opportunities with the proper tools. I think the Heads Up Decoy embodies a tool that provides opportunities never realized before...with opportunities comes success and hopefully moments you will never forget.

My good friend Kent accompanied me Saturday afternoon on November 20th in pursuit of a big whitetail buck. The plan was to head to some property I have access to and hang out in a pasture waiting for a giant whitetail to show himself. We left Kent's house at 1:45PM...ish. Driving to our planned destination, we weaved through the county buzzing by some additional property we could hunt. You see, we know that the big bucks have a tendency to bed up with a hot doe in the pasture ground, basically voiding treestand hunting.

Part of the trip was taking a highway for a couple miles before hitting a final turn on a county road. I was babbling on the phone driving 65mph when Kent tapped my arm and gave me a "whirly bird" signal with his finger to turn around. I hung up and turned around. Kent had spotted a buck in a raggedy cut milo field that a mouse wouldn't hide in. He was bedded with a doe about 300yds off the highway, and he was a shooter.

We bailed out of the truck and planned our attack. We grabbed the Heads Up Whitetail Buck Decoy, the camera, a Bugling Bull Grunt Call, and my bow. The plan of attack was to get down wind and walk at him as far as we could before he spotted us. We walked as one, in unison, with Kent in front with the decoy and camera and me holding on to his coat-tail across a small grass strip, a shin high wheat stubble field, and finally to the last small strip of grass abutting the milo field the buck was in.

Several people have asked me why I made the buck decoy so big. Well, you use big buck decoys to kill big bucks...like the one bedded just ahead of us. The typical western KS wind let us down...it was hardly blowing. Where this buck came from we don't know...maybe it was "Divine Intervention"...cause he was big and he was looking into what little wind there was allowing us to approach him. We gently stepped through 30 yards of milo stubble and closed the distance to 60 yards. Not wanting to disturb his doe bedded on our side, we set up. Kent displayed the Heads Up Decoy and the buck stood up. With a small grunt from the Bugling Bull Dialect Deer Call, the buck approached our position larger than life...ears down, hair out, stiff legged... I ran a Rage broadhead through his cage when he was at 15 yards(aka "toasted him" as you will soon witness)...the time was shortly after 3PM.

I exploded with emotion and energy when the arrow disappeared through the chest of this great animal that I will probably be criticized for. I guess my justification is that I have worked very hard and my family has sacrificed for this moment and I did not restrain myself very well. I hope to refine my on camera performance as I continue with the success of the Heads Up Decoy. I hope you will understand when you see this footage. Please appreciate the fact that my friend Kent and I did something that at the time was a possibility...not a reality and that was to take a mature whitetail buck at eye level with archery equipment in open country...and Kent, being the absolute MAN! captured it on video.

I want to personally thank my good friend Kent Hensley. A side note about Kent, he truly is the best hunter I know. He was holding the Heads Up Decoy when I harvested the first animal taken by my decoy 3 years ago. Now, he was holding a Heads Up Decoy when I harvested the first whitetail buck with the Heads Up Decoy. Kent is a good hunter and a great man. Thank you Kent for helping me prove that you can get away with almost anything using the Heads Up Decoy.

Please click the link below for the video.

Garrett's 2010 Whitetail Buck

"Outdone"

2010-11-07T08:55:00.000-06:00

Referenced in "Chasin Prairie Bucks" there was one more tag to be filled...Dalton's. Dalton out-did Dad in a BIG way. A Father and Son hunt for the ages. This is Dad's version...

"Outdone"

As my 12 year old son, Dalton, jumped off the bus, I asked him, "Do you want to go hunting?" Without much hesitation he said, "Yeah, let's go." Within minutes we were heading down the road to our hunting spot.

The deer were already up and feeding. One of the bucks I had watched through the summer was in a group of a dozen. There were few options for a stalk in the open stubble field so I positioned Dalton in a weedy draw with to hopes that I could gently push them his way by showing myself. One of the does "freaked" out and ran the opposite direction. The rest of the deer followed including the buck.

Having a good idea of where the deer were heading I went back to pick up Dalton. We moved about a 1/2 mile and began our stalk down the draw not knowing if the deer were in there. A few hundred yards later we spotted the deer in a wheat field. They were 400 yards away. We slowly worked down the draw, stopping and glassing the group trying to figure out our next move. Then, for no apparent reason, the "freakout" doe took off again heading back to the first weed draw that Dalton had set up in. It wasn't looking good, but to our amazement, the buck and one doe stayed put in the wheat field. Things were beginning to look better. Now we only had to beat 4 eyes, 4 ears, and 2 noses.

Still 400 yards away, we were running out of light and wind. W had about 45 minutes of shooting time left and a 300 yard crawl to a cedar tree. I am sure we sounded like a herd of elephants in the dry grass as we noticed the doe was focused on the noise we were making moving down the draw.

We took it slow and steady. We managed to get the cedar tree between us and the deer with only a cut milo field to cross before reaching the tree. With the help of the cedar tree blocking our movement, we managed to make it through the milo field, but not to the security of the cedar tree.

Using the decoy, the goal was to make it through 20 yards of dry, noisy grass. Dalton knocked an arrow and I grabbed my range finder. We made it 4 steps when the buck heard our soft steps and stood up looking out way. With the cedar tree still between us and the buck we were still in the game. We moved up the hill as the buck move down the hill towards us. The buck stopped on the edge of the cedar tree staring at the Heads Up Decoy that we were now using for a blind as well as an attractant. To my amazement, the buck continued toward us. Dalton was positioned slightly behind me at full draw. I struggled to get a range, finally got a range. "30 yards", I whispered. The buck took 5 more steps and stopped; he was looking directly at the decoy. Dalton concentrated and shot, sending an 85 grain Magnus Stinger zipping through the bucks ribs and lungs. "You drilled him!" I said. We sprinted towards the top of the hill were the buck had bolted to see him pile up 100 yards away.

We celebrated a our hunt and stalk of a great buck with hugs and congratulation's. We both looked at each other and thank the Lord our God for giving us such a glorious experience, one father and son will relive for many years.

The Heads Up Decoy kept the buck around to allow Dalton this chance at a great Kansas prairie buck.

Dalton's buck is a wide main frame 3 X 4 with a couple of "sticker" points. Its gross green score was an amazing 173 inches...a true giant prairie mule deer.

Great hunt and thank you for sharing your story and pictures. Please click the link below to hear Dalton's story of his hunt.

Dalton's Interview

First Timer!!

2010-11-02T21:06:00.000-05:00

I Spent the weekend hunting with one of my best friends from high school, Jason Weltzin. Jason arrived Thursday night and we were looking forward to getting to catch up and hunt like old times, but also hoped to succeed in Jason tagging his first mule deer. We found a few good bucks right out of the gate, but we ran out of daylight.

After a few failed attempts, we decided to head to a new location Saturday morning. We found a large group of does with multiple bucks strung out along a weedy fenceline between a crop field and a large CRP field. The wind wasn't cooperating because it had all but died, but we watched the deer bed and decided to give it a try. We used the mule deer doe decoy to help cover our approach. As we approached there were multiple small bucks chasing does around the tall grass between us and the target bucks. We slowly made our way towards their location. Every once in a while I would look all around us to make sure that a buck hadn't snuck in behind us. I couldn't believe it when I spotted a mature buck parallel with us about 300 yards away. While Jason sized him up, the buck was extremely nice and bedded down. Jason made the decision to pursue the new buck and the hunt shifted gears. We crawled through the grass using the decoy to shield our movement. The buck had glanced our way a time or two, but paid no attention to us. We held up when we were 40 yards from the bedded buck and decided that was far enough. I think we could have got even closer, but we didn't want to push the envelope. The buck laid his head down for awhile and when he lifted it to stretch I raised the decoy up high. The buck locked onto the doe decoy and stared at us for a minute or so before casually rising from his bed. Jason took that opportunity to draw and the buck stood broadside allowing him time to settle in. Jason made a great shot and had accomplished his goal of tagging his first mule deer! It was an awesome hunt that neither one of us will soon forget!

Chasin Prairie Bucks

2010-11-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

My good friend Kent harvested a great 165 class mule deer buck on Friday Oct 29th. He is gracious enough to share his story. This is what he wrote:

I thought I'd mention some of the successes using the Heads Up Decoy I had from recent 2010 archery hunts. I've been taking the decoy on several hunts this fall. Twice I was able to get my 12 year old son within fifty yards of shooter mule deer, things didn't work out. But getting within 50 yards of a 4 or 5 year old buck, in my opinion, is success.

More recently, I was able to harvest a nice 4 year old mule deer buck. The hunt took place in the AM of October 29th. I found this buck by himself cruisin', "the perfect situation." This was a chance to get the decoy in front of him to come my way, especially during the early phase of the rut. Problem was I needed to quickly get about 300 yards down a draw to position the decoy and myself for a chance to ambush the buck. I hurriedly moved down the draw and had just enough wind to cover any noise I was making. As I approached my position, I looked aheads 70 yards and the buck was too close to get the perfect setup prepared. I quickly stuck the decoy in a clump of fire weed(tumbleweeds) and moved about 5 yards ahead slightly off to the side and got ready for a shot. As the buck got closer moving down the field edge, he either caught me knocking my arrow, saw the decoy, or a combination thereof. After a few minutes of staring my way he relaxed, flicked his tail, and proceeded down the edge of the field. I can't say with 100% certainty he saw the decoy, but if he was looking at me, he had to see the decoy positioned directly behind me. Anyway, as he moved towards me he passed behind a few weeds at about 25 yards and I drew. He kept coming and at 15 yards broadside I softly bleated, he stopped, looked my way and I quickly shot, hitting him just in front of the shoulder. He ran 200 yards, walked a couple hundred more yards, laid down and expired.

As I mentioned, I can't say for 100% certainty that he saw the decoy. I can say there is not another decoy on the market I could have set up that quickly being in that situation, only 70 yards away from the buck. The ease and quietness of carrying, along with the quick set up was no doubt a benefit to the success of this hunt.

Now as this year's rut heats up, I look forward to getting my son back out for a chance to decoy in another Kansas prairie buck.

Great hunt Kent! Thanks for sharing your story and photos. We'll look for Dalton to out-do his dad on one of those Kansas prairie bucks.

The Doe Magnet...

2010-10-29T21:35:00.000-05:00

It appears that I have a doe magnet in my pocket. These whitetail does are making me look like a genius...those of you who know me certainly know that genius would not be one of those words one would associate with me. I took today off and was again scrambling around trying to figure out a plan of action for the morning as my initial plans did not pan out.

I woke up early and was particularly efficient getting my gear together. My plan was to sit in an "island" of huge cottonwood trees that sat on the fringe of a busy travel route. Sitting on the ground was again the plan of action and since I had only threatened at the notion in years passed, I needed to get there early to find the right set up. If I wanted to get to my planned destination any earlier than I did, I would have had to spend the night out there.

There was a stiff SW wind so conditions were perfect for the set up. I placed the decoys behind where I planned on hiding. The buck was about 15yds behind me and the doe decoy was 25 yrds behind. Both decoys were on the edge of the island clearly visiable from a distance.

I managed to have some deer activity which lead a doe and her two fawns in my lap. They would feed and look up at the decoys, but she would not present a shot. Another doe appeared and slowly fed her way in the direction of the Heads Up Decoy. I was trying to film my hunt so there was an extra degree of difficulty trying to get footage and a shot. The second doe walked right into the decoy set and was standing quartering-to at 10yds or less from me. I was at full draw and let her have it. The arrow buried into her chest, entering in front of her shoulder and exiting behind the opposite shoulder. She piled up in about 60 yards. I was very happy.

I managed to capture the draw and shot on camera. This makes 4 does that have come into the decoys that we have been able to harvest. The big bucks will come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peqkzCQdFHw

The Doe Guide Strikes Again

2010-10-25T09:50:00.000-05:00

It appears that I have become a trophy whitetail doe guide. This marks the second weekend in a row that I have been the witness to another doe being harvested.

My brother Jeff joined me for a weekend ground assualt for anything brown and legal to shoot with archery equipment. Saturday morning began with a "bang" as I set the alarm clock wrong. Rather than the standard 4:30am wake up call, I shot out of bed at 6:39am...whoops. It worked out fine, we were able to spot a good muledeer in the area shortly before sun-up for a future day.

As stated previously in the week, our intention was to do some rattling and calling to lure in a buck...which we were unable to accomplish Saturday morning.

Saturday evening found us scrambling around due to a shift in the wind direction that essentially blew our initial plan out of the water. We would later find out that it worked to our advantage. I let my brother make the decision on the particular options that were available to us, and to his credit, was rewarded later in the evening as a big fat whitetail doe walk within 10 yards of him on her way to investigate the Heads Up Decoy 25 yards behind us.

As this was taking place, the light in our hiding spot was dim and I believe she picked up on the flashing red record light on my camera...she went back from where she came giving Jeff a 20 yd, slightly quartering-to shoot which he place perfectly. She expired 60 yards away.

I always enjoy hunting with my brother Jeff. I was lucky that I had him growing up because he is a big reason for my passion for hunting, particularly archery hunting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBcYjkpevEY

Doe Double...Oct 15th

2010-10-20T08:19:00.000-05:00

Due to family and work related obligations, there was no weekend hunt so I took Friday Oct 15th off. I had extended an invitation to my newest prostaffer to meet me for an afternoon/evening hunt for which he graciously accepted. I met Matt shortly after noon. We scouted, hung stands, plotted, and schemed about an evening assault.

The wind was blowing from the SSW at about 10-20mph so I felt that a ground approach in a long narrow strip of cottonwoods may produce some action. This particular strip of cottonwoods snaked its way through picked corn and wheat stubble in a north-south fashion, 5-10 yards wide and about 300 yards long. The cover in the strip was dense enough to hide without the use of a pop-up blind. I placed the whitetail doe decoy and the whitetail buck decoy 20 yards behind our "stand" location. Matt chose the wheat stubble side. I chose the corn stalk side. We waited for deer to begin to move from a nearby bedding area.

Having consumed a sugar free Red Bull at the truck shortly before our sneak in, I was particularly attentive. The 20 mph wind gusts were not enough to keep me from hearing deer moving in a small milo field about 200 yards away:^) Four deer, 2 does and 2 fawns, appeared in the wheat stubble and were making their way towards us. I believe the mature doe had picked up the doe decoy and slowly worked her way towards our location. Matt made a slight weight shift to position himself for a shot for which the doe picked up the movement. The "peek-a-boo" game was on. For roughly 30-45 minutes Matt and I did nothing but blink as the doe stared Matt down, most of the time from less than 5 yds away. Matt was wearing Sitka Opti-Fade camo clothing which blended perfectly with the cottonwood Matt was leaning against making it impossible for her to make out his profile.

We eventually out lasted her and as she finally fed towards the decoys, Matt was able to draw and shoot the other doe standing broadside at 25 yards. She expired within 40yds. At this point, all heck broke loose as the other doe began to blow and stomp her way back in for another look. She moved off to the location where the 1st doe was shot. Matt drew and released another arrow. The 2nd doe also expired within 40 yards. It was a great hunt even though there were no trophy antlers. I was able to capture 47 minutes of footage including both shots. Matt filled both his antlerless tags, and the landowner was pleased. Video will be posted soon.

2010 KS Deer Season

2010-10-08T14:30:00.000-05:00

The 2010 deer season has opened and again finds me scrambling around to find a good buck. The advantage I have is knowing the area. I have hunted this particular area for many years and there are always several good bucks in the area.

I have added some additional prostaff who will be contributing to the blog periodically. We hope to add photos and video.

I would ask that you join our blog to get our updates.

Good luck all and we will keep you posted on what's going on in the field.

GR

Whitetail Buck Decoy

2010-06-16T12:41:00.001-05:00

Introducing the Whitetail Buck by Heads Up Decoy. The Whitetail Buck Decoy has all the same functionality and realism as the Heads Up Decoys that have come before it. With its flexible and detachable antlers, the Whitetail Buck decoy will be the most versatile, portable, and usable Whitetail Decoy on the market. This product will be available August 1st for dealers and online customers. It will retail at $69.99.

I believe this decoy will work in any hunting situation from stand hunting to spot-and-stalk to calling/rattling scenarios anywhere whitetails live from coast to coast.

Antelope Decoy and Bowmount Pictures

2010-06-03T22:47:00.001-05:00

Here is the antelope buck decoy with the bow mount to give you more of a clearer picture of how it works and how it attaches to the bow mount.

March Shed and Scouting Pictures

2010-03-18T22:43:00.000-05:00

Prostaffer David Gillan and I went out looking at a new area to consider for the fall archery season. I am excited to give this place some hunting time. If there was ever a place made for the Heads Up Decoy, this would be the place. Plenty of open country broken by dense brush, subtle rises, and a big chunk of roadless ground.

New Bow

2010-03-06T06:41:00.000-06:00

Made the plunge and purchased a new Hoyt Maxxis, 31". It's the sweetest bow I have shot. Can't wait to put it to use this spring and fall.

2010 Plans

2010-02-21T22:19:00.000-06:00

Spring is on its way...I think. Summer will soon follow and BOOM! Archery season will again be upon us. Between now and then, I will be working on getting back in shape, working on new decoys, and working on improving the Heads Up Decoy market position.

In early January, Heads Up Decoy was in Denver for the International Sportsman's Exposition. Wow, what a show it was. Denver was very good to the Heads Up Decoy. The support was awesome. I hope all of you that purchased my decoys or plan on purchasing them before this coming season have as much success as I have had.

Myself, along with a few others, will be filming our hunts and putting together a DVD using the Heads Up Decoys. We will be working on it starting this spring, through the summer, and obviously the fall archery season. We hope the DVD portrays our season "chasing" animals with as many close encounters as possible. I hope to portray the season that encompasses not only the hunts, but the preparation that goes along with hunting with a bow.

'09 Muley Heads Up Decoy Success

2009-12-06T08:34:00.000-06:00

November 22nd proved to be a very defining moment in the short life of Heads Up Decoy. Sunday morning of the 22nd found us driving and glassing the cut milo fields where we had seen a very large muley buck 2 days before. Long before shooting light we glassed up or binoculated, as I say, some muleys in some fields. As we changed positions we soon found the big boy's buddy and felt he was in close proximity.

My film crew and I spotted a bedded muley buck in the field and managed to get within 100yrds. We waited and flashed the Heads Up Decoy muledeer doe as they would periodically get up and change positions. The doe that was with this buck would block the buck from making his way over to use.

After 4 hours of goofing around with them it was "make-or-break-time" and the muley decoy went in and on the bow mount. Folks, I stood up in the cut milo field using the decoy as a shield and mosied to 30yrds of the buck and doe to deliver what I thought was a fatal heart shot. As the buck stood in the field just out of bow range I decided to nock another arrow and shoot again. I closed the distance again and delivered another shot which proved to be the fatal hit. He was not the big muley we saw a couple of days earlier, but he is certainly respectable.

Ya know, I thought it would be possible with mule deer to walk up on them, but not in the openness of a cut milo field. What a deal...what a deal. I will never forget it.

Your '09 Heads Up Decoy Experience

2009-11-19T09:27:00.000-06:00

Tell us about your 2009 hunting experiences with the Heads Up Decoy

2009-11-16T20:38:00.000-06:00

November 7th-8th

2009-11-09T08:24:00.000-06:00

got busted by several deer on Saturday morn. Crops still in the field. Farmers are working hard. Deer coming from all directions on Sat morn and they all seemed to see us or smell us....frustrated.

Rut activity is starting. Little bucks getting chased off by bigger bucks. Does getting harassed by all the bucks.

Saturday night the 7th. Finally managed to see deer that didn't see us. Made the move on a nice 140ish 8 pt. Got too dark, need to hunt the stands at night and ground in the morning.

Sunday morning...decoyed a mule deer buck in with the whitetail doe decoy broadside at 30 yards and I whifted big time.

Alittle sore from crawling on Saturday. Cactus needles in the hands. Back at work hungry for my next time in the field.

G

'09 Heads Up Decoy-What not to do #2

2009-11-01T22:03:00.000-06:00

Saw a shooter buck today. I was by myself. The wind, on initial check was out of the WSW. I hunted a new area this morning, Nov 1st. None of the milo or corn in the area was cut due to the wet weather pattern we seem to be in. The morning was cool and the wind was about 5-10mph. I took the whitetail doe and mule deer doe Heads Up Decoy with me not know what I might find.

I also took the video camera...big mistake. It was a pain and may have cost me a close encounter.

I saw my first deer running through the pasture towards the timber. I saw that it was a doe. I was suprised that nothing was chasing her based on her actions. Shortly thereafter, I saw what I thought was a shooter whitetail buck. I jockeyed the video camera and my decoy around only to find that I had a snowball's chance in hell of getting the footage I was after. I crawled through the grass and presented the decoy to the buck that was probably about 150-200 yards away. He acknowledged the decoy and immediately headed in my general direction.

My first mistake was taking the video camera. My second mistake was not getting in better positon to draw the deer to me. He was easily able to get downwind of me and the hunt was over. He did manage to come within 60 yards.

Morale of the story, don't try to video on the ground unless you have help. Secondly, get yourself in a favorable position so the deer cannot easily get downwind of you.

However, I was pleased that the buck responded to the decoy.

'09 Heads Up Decoy-What Not to Do #1

2009-11-01T21:41:00.000-06:00

I had turned David and Lincoln on to an area that is loaded with deer, but does not present any traditional whitetail ambush spots...no trees. The terrain is open with thick native grass about knee high to chest high is some places. The deer are easily visible but difficult to get close to. During the rut, the buck will chase does from one end of the field to the other, literally all day long.

We were surveying the area on a mild mid October Sunday morning. The wind was about 10mph from the NNW. We spotted some does moving in our direction on a ridge. We quickly positioned ourselves with David the shooter ahead 40 yards, myself operating the decoy, and Lincoln on the camera. The does acknowledged the decoy but bedded down leaving us wondering what to do. As Lincoln and I discussed our options a good 8 point buck rose from his bed and moved only to bed down a short distance from his original spot. David had no idea the buck was there.

David and I put together a game plan for putting a stock on the bedded buck while Lincoln stayed behind to video from a distance. We belly crawl through grass, yuccas, and cactus to within 47 yards of the bedded buck. I was to hold the decoy up and get the buck to rise drawing his attention while David poked him with the arrow. The wind had layed down some, and I wanted David to try to get closer. The buck spotted David's movement and we didn't get a shot.

Morale of the story, when you have a decoy...use the dang thing. It's to lure in an animal from a distance. We were close enough. We had the cover to use the decoy and to draw the bow, just got too greedy.

Whitetail Bow Kill with Heads Up Decoy '09

2009-11-01T20:48:00.000-06:00

Lincoln and David, newest Heads Up Decoy prostaff members, where on stand last weekend on a cold and windy Sunday evening, 10/25/09. Public land hunt. As I am, they are also meat hunters. We all believe that shooting does is a valuable way, not only to fill your freezer, but also to get good at shooting animals. There is no true way to simulate shooting animals other than to do it. Does offer a great way to sharpen your shooting skills under pressure...and, help thin out the herd in the process. I've enjoyed listening to these two jokers talk about their hunts. They are truly two fine young men who enjoy the sport of archery hunting. They know the animals they see almost to the point of naming them...even the does. One particular doe, whose name is not appropriate for this forum, had busted them on more than one occasion this year. No matter how careful David and Lincoln have been with scent control and wind direction, this particular doe had their number. Notice I said "had". There had been many close encounters with the Heads Up Decoy, but the deal had not yet been closed on anything. This night, however, found them neck deep in deer activity. David and Lincoln positioned the decoy 20 yards from their stand. The Heads Up Decoy could easily be seen from a near by bean field and a well used trail leading from a bedding area to the bean field. It wasn't long before the deer started moving. One doe passed directly by the Heads Up Decoy and their nemesis was following close behind. She smelled the decoy, but was fooled just enough to stop and present a shot. With the wind so high, there was a minor miscommunication between camera man and shooter, but as you can see from the video, David made a perfect shot. The gene pool is going to be alittle lower in this area with this lady being gone. Good job David and Lincoln on a great hunt.

'09 Kansas Antelope Hunt

2009-11-01T15:26:00.000-06:00

Well, the early season Kansas September archery pronghorn hunt is a 9 day frenzy of chasing one antelope buck after another hoping to find a buck in the right frame of mind to charge the Heads Up Decoy to within bow range. For me, it's 40 yards...maybe 50 with the right conditions. I went this year with less than ideal physical condition and I sure felt it after the first day.

Running, crawling, squat-running, and belly crawling seemed to do me in. Did I mention that it rained every day at least once? Our equipment, clothing, and decoys were caked with mud, but I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

The weather was unusually wet and cool leading up to and during our 3-day mission to lure in a Kansas pronghorn. 3 days was all I could muster this year with the new baby here. As it was with many we talked to, the bucks were not exactly interested in chasing off any intruders, but Kent and I hunted hard with encounters we would not have otherwise had without the use of the Heads Up Decoy.

The new products we tested make me excited for the 2010 year. They will enhance my line of decoys and may make the antelope Heads Up Decoy the most popular pronghorn decoy on the market.

I look forward to showing you all some footage of our hunt...but you'll have to wait.