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

Looking for Elk Sheds

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

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!!

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

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

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.