Mission Antelope

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

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.

2011 Shed Season

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!

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

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'

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

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