Battle of the B.O.W. Opening Weekend

Team HuntingLife.com Date-9/12 and 9/13

Opening Weekend Opening morning and the weather was not what we had hoped for. Temps on Saturday morning were in the 60’s and 100% humidity. Terri Lee was hunting and since Kale was working Joe Sharp took over the filming.

Oma and Opa picked up Tali Friday night, (she was not happy) so we could head out early in the a.m. Tom is working so he can’t watch her. Joe and Amy had supper with us and I took my last shots with the bow from the garage rooftop. Everything is ready. All my clothes have been washed in scent killing laundry soap and placed into a tub with cedar and pine boughs, even my underwear and socks. I am going all out after that big buck.

 4:20 the alarm goes off and I am not ready to get up. 2 nights without sleep, due to excitement, had me dragging. 4:25 I am out of bed and into the shower. We are going to be chasing after a big buck that we have seen on the trail cams, but not this a.m. We are doing a trial run at the apple tree stand. The big buck has been coming in early evening and we do not want to spook him but I do want to get some jitters and bugs worked out. We see two small bucks and a doe as we thought we would.

I head over to pick up Tali and go home for some much needed rest and later a change of babysitters. Auntie Nicky picks up Tali at 4:00 p.m. Tom will get Tali back after work and meet me back at home, after hunting. Into the shower again, as it is so hot and I am so sweaty I have to become scent free again. Joe picks me up at 4:30 so we can head into the stand early. It is so still and muggy.

We take the wheeler in at 5:00 and bait the stand like we did the night before. We have been running the wheeler in every night at 5:00 for 2 weeks picking up trail cam pictures trying to pattern this buck. We are hoping to get the deer used to the wheeler noise also. Joe returns the wheeler to a remote spot while I get set up. We get settled in sweat pouring off of us.

Around 6:00 we have a visit from a pesky bear. We have only seen him in here once on the cameras and he picks tonight to show up. He does not want to leave. It is getting closer to the time we have been patterning our buck and we want him out of there. We start throwing rocks from our Grab-it bag. We put it in the stand earlier just in case something like this would happen. We never hit the bear but Joe almost took me out as his rock ricocheted and nearly hit me in the head! lol. He should have had that on camera.

Joe finally decided he was going to get down and chase the bear out. (I was going to film because I knew this was going to be good!) When he stood up to get out of the stand, the bear finally walked away. He was not happy he huffed and puffed as he sauntered off.

Nothing more came in and we headed out at dark, planning to return the following morning. When I arrived home, supper was waiting for me. I have an awesome husband!

9/13-My husband Tom is home this morning so no need for babysitter. Joe picks me up at 5:15 again. We head into the stand in the dark. Not much happening this morning. We think the bear has changed the dynamics of things. Weather is still very humid and warm. We pull the trail cam pictures and head home to review. We want to know how long it was before the big buck returned last time, after the bear raid. He had been back the following day. That was good news and we were hoping he will make an appearance tonight.

I Head back home for family time, a nap and another shower.

 5:00 p.m. Joe and I head back to the stand again. Same routine. Joe drops me off and ditches the wheeler. We get settled in. It is probably close to 80 degrees just slightly less humid than last night. The air is very still though, no breeze. Around 6:00 we have a small doe come into the bait pile. She hangs around for a short time.

 We can hear something coming in from behind us and circling around. Through the limbs I can see the deer and I get a glimpse of horn. My heart begins to race slightly. If the pattern we have seen is true, the 9 pt will come in, followed by the big buck. He finally steps out head down and I can see it is the 9 pt. He looks up directly at us. We don’t move a muscle.

The mosquitoes are biting my cheek and back of my neck but I know I cannot move. I know I am not going to take this one but if we spook this him, the big one will not show up for sure. He continues to look at us and then moves back into the woods and comes around at a new angle. At one point I thought it was the big buck coming in and my heart was jumping out of my chest. I took some long, silent deep breathes to try and compose myself. Then it felt like my heart totally stopped. I thought maybe I had had a heart attack and just hadn’t fallen over yet.

The deer kept staging for quite some time, coming in part way and then retreating. He finally departed, and it was pretty dark in the woods by now. We never spooked him and I don’t think he knew we were there. I didn’t realize until I talked to Joe that it was the 9pt all along. The big buck didn’t come in and we will not be back to hunt there for a few days. We will be checking the trail camera, though to see what he is up to and work on a plan from there. Later in the week I will be filming Kale. Stay tuned for more!

Remember to join us on www.wisconsinoutdoorsnetwork.com!

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Battle of the B.O.W. joins the Sportsman’s Channel on Dec. 29th 2009

Well it is finally official. The “Battle of the B.O.W.” contest on www.Wisconsinoutdoorsnetwork.com will be aired on the Sportsman’s Channel in Dec 29th at 7:30 p.m. CT. We will be filming our hunts starting Saturday the 12th of Sept. up to the start of the rifle season in November.

10 teams from Wisconsin will share their stories and hunts for 13 wks. Fans will be asked to vote for the Team they like the best on www.Wisconsinoutdoorsnetwork.com.

Terri Lee Pocernich of CampWildGirls.com and Kale Williamson will be representing “Team HuntingLife.com”. Both are on the HuntingLife Pro Staff and looking forward to battling it out with a great group of guys and 1 other gal.

Hunting season will be a little different having 2 people in the stand this year. We have been working hard to get all of the stands into the trees. We have done a lot of scouting and think we are on to some great bucks.

The show will air on Tuesday nights at 8:30, Friday mornings at 6:00 and Sunday nights at 4:30 ET. Please join us on our journey through the “Battle of the B.O.W.” I’m sure it will be quite entertaining!

Próis Pro, Kirstie Pike goes on a Gator Quest!

Próis Hunting Apparel owner, Kirstie Pike, writes about her GatorQuest

Air Sickness and Air Boats…what’s a girl to do?

Gator Quest…day 1! We flew into New Orleans late last night following a vomit inducing flight from Gunnison to Denver…ok, didn’t really vomit, but wished I had. As with typical travel days, we experienced near homicidal frustration with all proveyors of transportation. So- did you realize that you can be charged $30 for a 10 minute taxi ride by a non-English speaking cabbie who does not use a meter? Nether did we. As well, upon our late night check-in to a rather sketchy hotel- I got the unique opportunity of visualizing a cockroach that was literally the size of a mouse…need I mention my dismay that the hotel room smelled of Raid.

It was all absolutely worth it! We arrived in Springfield around noon, at which time we teamed up with Chad and Dana Wall of Gatortrax tv. We had the unique opportunity of touring their gator farm which is nothing short of amazing. Within a couple of hours, we found ourselves on Tickfaw River in an airboat cruising deep into the swamps. As a homegrown Colorado girl, I found myself utterly slack jawed at the beauty of the swamps. Cypress trees, Spanish moss, lilly pads and lush folliage thickly surrounded us. The airboats can go ANYWHERE, and we quickly learned that Chad was NOT kidding when he said they can cross dry land…they can! We also had an interesting experience involving a boat, a trailer and near capsizing…I’d love to divulge the facts but I was pinky-sworn to secrecy.

We hit the hunt at 6am tomorrow and we’re ready to roll! I wonder if I can find Starbucks on the way…

I have to say, when I accepted Chad and Dana Wall (of Gatortrax TV) to head down to the swamplands of Louisiana, I was more than just a little intrigued.  Being from Colorado, I had all sorts of images in my head of what the swamps and gator hunting would be like.  Of course, my primal fear of bugs came to mind.  Oh, and my fear of snakes.  Can’t forget about murkey water, leaches and aligators (which I have learned ARE the top of the food chain in the swamps).  OK, and let’s face it…who HASN’T seen the movie, ‘Deliverance’?  I came to  Louisiana equipped with all sorts of cliche’d propoganda in my head..

As we set out in the morning, I was taken by the absolute beauty of the surroundings.  The cypress trees, spanish moss, saw grass and lillies were beautiful.  As well, there is a unique slant of the sun at sunrise through the swampland that casts an unparalleled.  I had never really heard the sound of bullfrogs in the caucophony of noise that comes from everywhere.  Now, the only way I can really explain it is this…if you have ever ridden the African Queen boat ride at Disneyland and recognized the canned jungle noises along the lazy river…well, now you got it!  OK, but as Chad and Dana will attest, despite my appreciation for the beauty of the swamps, I may have still reacted like a school girl in response to the baseball size grasshoppers that seemed to have quite an affinity for the boat. 

Ahh, but what about the hunting?  All I can say is that it was a thrilling experience!  Day 2 provided us with numerous gators.  I am heartily humbled by the difficulty of the hunt in terms of hitting a very, very small killzone.  Slight deviation in any direction will result in bullet placement into the animals inpenetratable armor.  As well, only a very small fraction of the animal’s head will surface which may or may not provide a shot to the hunter.  Clearly, there is a reason why these pre-historic animals have survived for millions of years!  Chad, a 5th generation Springfieldian who has hunted these waters since he was a child, spent endless hours teaching us the patterns and habits of the aligators.  We encountered a number of gators, but after some heavy rains and a 45 minute staredown with a sizable gator, I was able to get a kill with my CVA muzzleloader! 

We ended the day with 3 gators and a cantankerous boat motor that threatened to strand us in the water.  We made it safely to the landing (as we knew we would) and beat a hasty retreat to the ladies room as we determined that under NO circumstances would we venture off to take care of business in the swamps. 

Day 2 of the GatorQuest started out just as early as day 1…We launched out to another gorgeous sunrise as we ventured out to the swamps.  I was still utterly awestricken at the beauty of the area.  I have to also admit that I was more than just a little bit excited that we didn’t have Gigantor the Grasshopper and his closest friends on the boat this day! 

Today was action packed and we spotted numerous animals.  I must admit that it took me some time to differentiate the splashes of jumping fish vs. movement of gators.  More than once I performed a spastic bout of arm waving and finger pointing at jumping fish that I was certain was a passing gator.  After two days of this, Chad and Dana just ignored my fits to save me the embarrassment. 

Jennifer got on the first animal of the day and pulled a nice gator.  He was pulled aboard and we moved on for the next gator…or jumping fish depending on who you ask.  We set about the various waterways and it was my pledge to not drink a sip of water today for fear of having to go to the bathroom.  Chock that up to another valuable lesson learned.  As the day drew to a close we pulled in some nice gators and headed out to beat the heat.  Jennifer and I discovered a long lost love in Springfield, Louisiana…Strawberry Slurpees!  Giddy with anticipation (and some pretty severe dehydration!) we indulged not once, but twice in these delectable treats!  OK…so they weren’t as good as we remembered, but hey… who couldn’t get excited about a frozen treat chock full of high-fructose corn syrup! 

Our experience was awesome as was the company of the Walls.  We look forward to another adventure with Chad and Dana…maybe in Colorado…if we can cure Dana’s fear of Mountain Lions.  If you ask me, they aren’t nearly as scary as leaches and ginormous grasshoppers!  Until then…bring on the GOAT!

Do me a favor.  Check out www.gatortraxtv.com to find out more about Chad and Dana Wall and their tv show, Gatortrax Outdoors.  All fair chase, all fun!  Oh…and did I mention they are quite entertaining as well!?

Original Post found at www.Proishunting.com

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