Prepping for Elk

Well the time is getting closer...in just over a week I will be headed West...ELK BEWARE!!! I've put a lot of time in shooting my bow and tinkering with gear over the last 10.5 months of  "off season". In reality the elk merely get a break from me, as I really have no off season. From the time one season closes to the time the next begins I am constantly doing something that will help me with the next seasons hunt. Whether it be working out, studying maps, researching new gear, or doing some shooting there really isn't a down time for me.

This year I've added a lot of new gear to my arsenal (no different than any other year), things like a new Go-Lite tent, Titanium Jetboil, Sawyer water filter, Heli-m bow, new Sitka clothing, a couple new Kifaru packs....and the list goes on. I'm looking forward to doing some good "in the field" reviews.

In the coming days I'll add a few pics of my set-ups, and definitely offer some insight and the conclusion of my hunts! Hunt Hard, Hunt Smart.

DREAMS

Late summer has arrived, the dreams have begun.  I expect that I am not alone with this phenomenon of vivid elk hunting dreams becoming more frequent as I sleep each night.  Distant bugles in my dreams are getting closer as I scramble through the woods in pursuit of the majestic creature that creates them.  Countless different scenarios play-out with each different dream, but they all tend to end similarly with me delivering a perfect shot on a magnificent bull.  Although I’m always a bit disappointed to wake and find that the story is just another dream, I’m also excited to learn that I am one day closer to the real thing.  Bow hunting elk is in my blood.  The act of it charges my soul’s battery, the anticipation of it gives me focus and determination for many of life’s other demands. 

My own personal preparation has been somewhat lacking this year.  Between career obligations, family challenges, and physical injuries I’m just not as prepared as I should be.  My confidence is still quite high as I plan to rely on years of experience instead of the sheer determination of my earlier bow hunting years.  As always,  I have goals for the season:  Help my twelve year-old son have a great muzzleloader hunt and maybe kill a bull, help a friend take his first elk, and continue with a quest to help a great friend finally arrow a 6 x 6 bull (he is a 5 x 5 killing machine!).  Success for me is often defined by helping others with bow hunting elk.   One of the best years I remember was one of the very few that I didn’t kill a bull myself.  It was a great season of rutting action and calling three separate bulls for two friends and my brother.  At season’s end my pack was bloody, my legs were tired, and my satisfaction was sky-high. 

Of course, I would like to also arrow some animals myself.  At the top of the list is a big Muley buck in velvet.  The little one I took last year to finish my Colorado Archery Big 8 leaves much for improvement.  I’m also itching for a bigger bear than the one I took in 2003.  Even with these personal goals at the top of my list, I inevitably will find myself being lured into chasing bugling bulls.  There is something magical about elk and the thrill of bow hunting them.  Nothing else compares; not even close.

Whatever the outcome of the season I will again measure success by the memories created.  In the end, these memories are what fuel our passion for more.  Antlers on the wall are mere reminders for the memories burned into our mind and soul.  Our future dreams may not actually need real experiences to draw from, but it certainly can’t hurt!

Provided by HUD Prostaffer Matt Dorram

Miles of Stone

I apologize in advance for writing a lengthy blog message...

As I was emptying and rearranging the remnants of what's left of Heads Up Decoy in my garage, I couldn't help but reflect on what a big weekend of milestones it was.

On Friday afternoon I had the pleasure of spending the day with my wife as we watched a young lady don a "White Coat" symbolizing her commitment to herself, her fellow doctors, and patients she will serve, not only in the next four years of her medical school training, but in her professional years to follow. There were over 5,000 applications submitted to be a part of the 2012 class at the University of Kansas Medical School...211 were chosen. It started with..."I wonder if I should be a doctor?" to "I can be a doctor." to "Holy crap...I have the opportunity to be a doctor!"

It was a hard road traveled with miles of stone to get to this point that only this young lady can understand. Faith, perseverance, self reliance. Not why me or woe is me. There is certain difficulty ahead. There will be milestones alone the way and miles of stone to travel over to get there.

Thinking back as the stages of  the application process where unfolding, an email notifying many of us that a formal interview was awarded...a milestone in the application process. An interview invite means that there is a very real chance of acceptance. The initial email was filled with thank you's and prayers to all for the support and belief that brought a tear to the eye followed by smiles and laughter when advice for the interview began to roll in. I thought to myself...Who are we to be giving advice to a kid who works harder, is more worldly, more prepared for this moment, and smarter than any of us? I promptly replied, "You'll be great!" And she was.

Not to my surprise, this young lady willing and openly accepted the challenged ahead of her and I look from outside with great pride and emotion of the road traveled for this great accomplishment which is all her own. She worked hard to endure the next 4 years of pain. Monday at 9:00 I am confident she will be up to the challenges ahead. Her faith, work ethic, and conservative values will be more than enough.

So how do you top that? Well, you don't. Today was a day to reflect...and to clean. The garage was still a mess, it was only 800 degrees as the afternoon sun began to beat down into the opened door. I'd been at this for awhile. My thoughts, as they so often do, turn to Heads Up Decoy. The whole reason in the first place for the cleaning was due to Heads Up Decoy. I couldn't help but think about how I got to this point...and the people that have helped me along the way.

What's the big deal anyway. I'm cleaning my garage. What can be so important about that. Well, this week marks a milestone in Heads Up Decoy. I have turned over final assembly and shipping to an outside source to free up time to focus on marketing, sales, customer service, managing the products, and the company with the hopes of taking Heads Up Decoy to new milestones. My garage, like so many others, was the focal point of Heads Up Decoy.

It was early in 2006 that I made a phone call which spurred another phone call. It only takes one person, beside yourself, to believe in you. Let's face it, you can't do it alone. I set an appointment to meet with a gentleman I had never heard of to show him my "rendition" of a big game decoy. My sample consisted of a white sheet with green tracing of an elk head along with a frame that seriously took me weeks to make. I asked if he could sew the decoy around the frame, for which he graciously said. Yeah, we can do that. That was it. I had someone that could sew the decoys.

This photo I took of an elk in a pin was printed to cloth and before I knew it we had a prototype...which did not resemble the original frame, the white sheet, or an elk. But nonetheless it was off to Colorado to begin in September to be the next Primos. The blob, which I called the first decoy, needed some improvements, but it improved enough to spark the interest of the before mentioned gentleman on my next visit.

To this day, I look at Steve Arnsdorf as the signal biggest influence in the success of Heads Up Decoy...and he's never hunted with one. Steve and his company have sewn a couple thousand decoys and every step of the way, Steve has helped me build along the way. He knows that Heads Up Decoy is not going to be his big account, because he wants it to be big for me. Not for him. He works with me as if he's invested in them. Truly selfless and genuine. For Steve, I am truly indebted.

Other notable people are my friends at Employment Connections who work with me and design their workforce on demand for me. I don't know where I'd be without your flexibility and your willingness to morph your services into exactly what I need.

Man, I can remember the first internet sale I made. I almost deleted the notification because I didn't even know what it was. I think I recall saying, "HOLY Sh*T! I think I sold one!" I think it took me 2 hours to process that first order. Since then, I've done substantially better. Throughout all the miles of stones traveled over and milestones accomplished, the product continues to shine, gain ground, and pull me through my mistakes or bad decisions as well as validating my beliefs in its effectiveness. H.U.D is far from a success, but measuring success has been much easier when you see your name in magazines or when people in the industry take you seriously even when at times you doubt everything about yourself.

I have managed to developed and acquired an excellent prostaff. A phenomenal website to highlight my product. Great success in the field with the decoys. Great advertising partners who believe in the products. A US Patent. It has been a great ride up to this point. It has taken tons of help from people from all over the country and world. What continues to drive myself are the people who invest their money in my products and the success they have in the field with them.

I can remember in the beginning, I often said, it's way easier to convince an animal my decoy is real than convincing a person that it works. And with all the success of Heads Up Decoy, we still have our skeptics.

My wife has been and continues to be my hardest sell. Morale victories and recognition has yet to convince her the sacrifices in time, money, the distractions, the irritability, time away, absence even when I physically present..and whatever else I've made her and our family go through, that it's worth it. But as I ease towards new milestones, I can feel what others tell me they feel...great things are coming so I'll keep trekking with a steady pace through the miles of stone building the best decoys on the market one at a time.

Thanks for letting me share my thoughts for the day.

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Anticipation

Click on pics to enlarge and scroll

The spring and summer months find many preparing and gearing up for the coming fall. I find myself thinking and wishing I could spend more time trekking the mountains or scouring the plains for potential Heads Up Decoy victims. Scouting and preparing is an integral part of "today's" hunt. I sometimes hang my pending successes or failures on my summer preparations...which really isn't necessary. But, I'm a competitor and I compete against myself...and in some ways against my fellow bowhunters. Just as I hope everyone arrows the buck or bull of their dreams...I want the same for me. To do that, you have to get yourself ready for the 30 seconds.

The last 2 weekends I've been to the high country of Colorado, buzzed the open country of Kansas, and to the bow doctor to spin test my arrows. Let's face it, scouting and preparation builds confidence...or it can freak you out if you don't find what you want or when your broadhead tipped arrows fly down range all jabberwaulky.

It is certainly rewarding when you've identified a buck or high country basin to later have that animal on the ground or find that basin echoing with rut crazed bugling bulls. Scouting paid off. But, when the hunt turns tough, the buck disappears or that basin is empty, preparation, mental toughness, and drive will ultimately test your true hunting skills and grit. I can think of two seasons where this was never more evident. The 2004 and 2011 archery deer season.

In 2004 was the first year I took my scouting to new levels...and they have never reached that point since. The pending KS whitetail season found me glassing a beautiful velvet 11 point the entire month of July. When the season came upon me, I never saw the buck. I hung 17 different stands. I was anxious, irritable, and basically a basket case. I was questioning my bowhunting ability. Then on Nov 12th, his head appeared over the reeds of the marsh. When I hung the treestand in Sept, I weaved small limbs through the expanded metal. When you do this,  they retain their leaves. I grunted and kicked the limbs to simulate a rutting buck rubbing a tree. It worked just as I envisioned. He closed the distance from 200 yds to 8.

The 2004 bow season wasn't particularly fun for me. Had the season not ended up like that, I am not sure what impression it would have left behind, but I vowed not get too anxious or uptight again...when it happens it happens.

The 2011 season, now well into the Heads Up Decoy era, I found a great rolling pasture peppered with large yuccas secluded from the road and 1/2 mile from the river bottom. I didn't have to scout to know that this pasture would house a mature buck tending a doe in November. The Sunday morning before Thanksgiving week found a large mature whitetail materialize upwind of me as the morning light brightened enough to see movement through the binos. He was obviously preoccupied with a hot doe. It was the first big buck of 2011 that got me fired up. After 90 minutes of crawling, positioning, calling and ultimately decoying that buck in, all that was left was a small pile of hair from the chest of the great buck and a sick feeling in my gut.

I later arrowed a small buck the day after Thanksgiving. I looked back on 2011 as one of my most rewarding. I had never hunted harder or longer. 2011 tested my hunting grit and mental toughness to its limits. The antlers of the buck I killed did not reflect the size of the hunt.

For me, as I anxiously wait in anticipation the opportunity to arrow that big buck or bull, preparation goes beyond scouting. It's getting my mind right. Remembering that it's hunting and that anything can happen.

Good luck this season and Be Mobile...Stay Mobile

Bowhunting with HUD, Mathews, and Hunter

May 2^nd-8^th turkey season was my second hunt of the year here in WI. With a heavy Personal Training workload, a regular job and crappy weather my time was bound to be limited.

I literally had only 1.5 hours on each of the week-day mornings and a couple of half days open on the week-end. With our bird numbers really being hit hard the last few winters I knew my work was cut out for me!

Wednesday morning found rain, wind, and storms going strong….back to bed!

Thursday morning I headed to an area that was a small chunk of private land, close to home. I heard one Tom, several properties away but there was just no way to close the distance with all the private ownership between us.

Friday morning brought more wind, rain and fog and zero gobbles.

3:30 am Saturday morning I put on my Sitka Gear and woke my 9 year old son, Hunter. The truck was already loaded to go and 15 minutes later we were headed north on the 45 minute drive to a large tract of public land. Years past this had been a great area. The last couple of years however have been really tough on turkeys in this area so we weren’t sure what it would be like. Not having any MRI (most recent information) I decided to head in about 5/8 of a mile from the road to a transition area about 400 yards from a roosting area. Our timing was right and just as daylight was breaking; we were getting settled into our Double Bull blind. Within a couple of minutes we heard a Tom gobble in the typical roosting area. With no other birds gobbling, had I been solo, I would have immediately closed the distance with just the bow and the HUD decoy. Having Hunter along, I knew we would need the blind. 3 gobbles and 10 minutes later I made the decision to cut the distance. We quickly broke down our set-up and quietly tried to get closer.

After cutting the distance about 125 yards he gobbled again. At this point, not knowing whether he was on the ground or in the tree, I knew we had to get reset and quickly. Unfortunately even though the whole move took less than 7 minutes we never heard another gobble. I was wondering if we had spooked him or if he had just hit the ground and shut-up.

About 5:45 we spotted a hen feeding about 50 yards out. She spent the next hour within 50 yards just preening and eating. No suitors joined her and she eventually just worked off. By 6:30 Hunter was getting tired and ready to go. It wasn’t long after that he nodded off. Although we weren’t having much action I was confident because I knew there was at least one Tom in the area, plus I knew we were set in a great transition area. With my little man sleeping I knew we had bought a little more time!

About 7:25 I thought I heard two gobbles. I wasn’t sure but if they were gobbles this bird was a long ways off, at least a 1/2 mile to the SE. I still wasn’t sure whether I had heard actual gobbles or just ‘hopeful hearing’. A few minutes later I spotted the second hen of the morning coming from the NE. She was also taking her time preening and feeding, although she did keep moving at a steady pace.

Shortly thereafter a crow-flying overhead a few hundred yards to the NE elicited a shock gobble from a Tom. Pulling out my box call, I gave a few LOUD yelps. As still as the morning was, it allowed the sound to travel and I quickly got a response gobble from him. It was time to wake up Hunter and get this show going!

As Hunter cleared his head, I proceeded to close all the unneeded windows and arrange the blind space to prepare for the encounter! Knowing how the birds worked in this area had really been the key to our success over the last 7-8 years. Hopefully it would play into our hunt again this time.

With things in order it was time to start working him. Every time I yelped, cutt, or purred we got a response that was closer than the prior response. Within minutes of the original gobble he popped over the ridge into view at about 90 yards already strutting. He continued coming slightly SW, strutting in to around 65 yards which is where he hung up. For bowhunting turkeys I always set my decoys within 2-3 yards of the blind. This helps bring them in as close as possible. This is good for gun hunters and great for the bowhunter.

For the next 25 minutes he strutted back and forth, unknowingly keeping the blind between himself and the decoys. Every time I yelped, purred, cut, or scratched the leaves he would gobble or double gobble. It was an amazing show to watch. Unfortunately this area is rather open with all mature trees. It was great for strutting and vision, but he just wasn’t coming any closer without being able to see the counter parts that should be in sight.

There was a big blow down poplar tree obstructing his view some and also holding him up. At this point I knew there were only two options. I could either go silent and hope his curiosity got the best of him or crank it way up and hope he would get fired up and commit. I like to be in control of what the animal is going to do so I decided to go the ‘hot’ route. I knew if this didn’t work he would most likely slow down some and head out to the NW. Hopefully this would still allow us to cut out and circle around and get ahead of him and allow us to work him again.

I started with the box call, then worked in the Imperial Primos plate. (Yep elk call) I was calling hard, loud and frequently. He was going nuts and I could see he was starting to move, still fanning, to the west. When he finally cleared the blind and spotted the hen decoy he stayed in strut but starting doing small circles and finally started moving forward. Before he moved clear of the big dead fall it was plain to see the moment when he spotted the HUD. He locked on, came out of full strut and instantly went into a beard shaking side to side run. Hunter says in a not so quiet tone "Get ready dad, he’s running". I drew my Mathews Heli-m and by the time I was getting locked in he was wide open at 10 yards. I had to squeak out a yelp on the reed and by when he was at 3 yards I released. I had my bird down after some breath holding, a fantastic show and the knowledge that this hunt could not have happened without the HUD Decoy. What an amazing hunt made perfect because I got to share it all with my son.

Making Believers One Turkey At a Time

I still remember when the topic of a Heads UP turkey decoy
was discussed. I was extremely excited about the product,
but i'll openly admit I was a bit skeptical as to whether this
was really going to work. I remember thinking to myself,
"These animals have the sharpest eyes in the woods, are we really going to be able to pull this off?" My questions were
soon answered with results a person could only dream about.
April 2011 marked not only a defining moment for Heads Up
Decoy, but for myself as well. I was filming for owner Garret
Roe and I was fortunate enough to be witness to the first
turkey being killed while using the hud combined with the bowmount. My reaction....SPEECHLESS!
You can only imagine how I felt when it happened again, and again and again. Two weeks into the season we were all tagged out.

After the way the previous spring had treated us, my anxiousness was at an all time high as April 2012 approached. To top it off, I drew a unit 4 turkey tag which allowed me to hunt the same area
that I spend a lot of time in during the fall chasing whitetails. While in a deer stand I've encountered I
don't know how many turkeys and could do nothing but sit and watch and wait for the day when I
was lucky enough to have that piece of paper in my pocket.  

I had planned on leaving around 4 a.m. but this plan came crashing down when I overslept and woke
up around 7:00. I frantically threw all my gear together, hit the road and started thinking strategies. A
few weeks before I had been shed hunting in a different area of the unit and had spotted birds....time
for plan B. I pulled up about 8 o'clock and began the hike down into the bottom, immediately hearing
gobbles. I cautiously eased my way closer to the echoes of fired up toms and stopped about 100
yards away from where I thought the birds were. I still hadn't sighted them but I was also confident
they hadn't seen me. With the decoy secured in the bowmount I knelt down in the middle of ankle
high wheat and let out a hen call. They responded right away. After about ten minutes of talking back
and forth I realized there was a problem. There was another section of wheat on the other side of a
thicket which is impossible to see through, these birds weren't going to budge unless they had some
visual confirmation. I had no sooner decided to make a stalk around the thicket when another gobble
erupted to the east of me. I let out a few yelps and he fired right back. Two toms made their way
down off a hill and onto the wheat, at this time they were approximately 200 yards away and
closing....FAST! They were hugging the edge of
the field but from where I was sitting I could see
them through a small group of trees. When they
cleared the last bend they saw my decoy, let out
two simultaneous gobbles and began an all out
sprint straight at me. I stood my ground and
when the birds hit 20 yards I finally drew my bow, but they kept coming still at a dead out sprint. At
5 yards they finally stopped and my 2" Grim Reaper was on its way. It was 8:30 in the morning of opening day, I had been out here for maybe 30 minutes and I had a tag filled. It doesn't get much better then that!

Another Eventful Turkey Season

For me, another successful spring turkey season has quickly come and gone. It was a particularly warm beginning with March having temperatures one would find in late April. The unusually warm March accelerated the habits of the turkeys and the vegetation growth. One of the best days of the year was opening day of the Kansas spring archery season where Pro Staffer Justin Sherfick and I headed to the field. We had some quick action with Justin face-to-face with 4 charging toms at 10 yards, but a yucca and a gusty crosswind wouldn't allow him to loose and arrow.

Later that morning when it was my turn to tote the deke, we bailed out on a group of birds easing their way through a creek bottom to an open pasture near the road. Justin and I maneuvered our way down the creek where I ascended the bank into the open pasture to show the decoy. I left my call in the truck so I had to hang there silent. I eased up in the direction where we first saw the birds and patiently waited for the birds to work their way out of the bottom. The hens soon emerged and weaved up the subtle slope towards the road with the toms close behind. A landowner, for once, had a timely drive-by and nudged the birds back down the slope which was just what I needed to get the toms fired up with my presence. The two birds came in gobbling and strutting. When I came to full draw, the birds barely flinched. A slight pause to allow the front bird to clear the bird behind and a perfectly placed Grim Reaper made quick work of him.

Evan Williams of Rokslide.com with a KS double

Some of the quick highlights of the season were the many pictures and comments on Facebook we received from successful bowhunters using the Heads Up Tom Turkey Decoy. My oldest brother Steve had some great action and bagged his first turkey ever in open country. Later that day, my brother Steve, after crawling all over God's creation trying to get a bird to charge him, passed and let me try my luck. 45 seconds later my season was done and Steve was in disbelief. However, I was amused.

Since hunting turkeys with a decoy mounted to your bow is not mainstream, we get tons of comments and questions on the how's and why's. There is no one answer to why or how it works and the results vary from not putting any work into a hunt to having to crawl for miles...and sometimes sprint for a hundred yards or so. The key is getting the decoy where the bird can see it and staying behind the fan without getting too impatient and showing your entire head from behind the decoy. Don't pay attention to hens, they will walk right up to you and ask you what you had for breakfast. Hen calling is something I always use to get the birds to come my way or to raise the level of interest. We are always hunting birds we see. Don't get to0 caught up in the science, the technique works often and the more you use it, the more encounters you will have.

Remember, Heads Up Decoys are the most versatile and effective decoys on the market. At times it takes some effort, but the encounters and experiences with these decoys are worth it. Be Mobile...Stay Mobile.