Will takes his first video BUCK!!!

I am an awfully proud dad tonight. My twins had their 8th birthday yesterday. Last Sunday, I took Drew out on KY's youth deer season, and we got blanked. We didn't see a deer. We went to the same spot, and it was much cooler. This is property that Steve Hartley, owner of Steve Hartley's Guide Service (502-803-5899) has been letting us hunt for years, and there are lots of deer. After an hour in the Double Bull blind, our cameraman Mike Hockensmith nudged me and said, "buck...". Will and I looked up the hill and could see a nice little buck standing in the tall weeds about 50-60 yards out. He was really nervous, and stood around checking the area out for 5 minutes. When he looked away or took a step, Will and I slowly got him into position.

He calmed down some, and though we were having a little problem with the sun glaring in the scope and camera, but we got through it, and Will let the TC roll. With the smoke, I didn't know if he hit him as the deer dashed back in the woods. We got out to look as we had an hour or so of light left, and after about 20 yards, we found blood, and Will was able to track him. We found him about 100 yards down the hill all piled up. He hit him in the shoulder quartering to, and it exited out the far hip. I have no idea how the deer went anywhere. We were a happy group. These are the most special hunts I ever go on. Taking the kids out is what hunting is all about, and they are the memories that we will all remember for the rest of our lives. Congrats to Will and thanks to Mike for filming it for us...TH

TH Accepts Post at Bad Boy Buggies

This past week I accepted the Director of Marketing poistion with Bad Boy Buggies in Natchez, MS. I am really excited to go to work with this great organization that makes an incredible product. I spent 4 days this week in MS, and the folks at Bad Boy are super. There are big things on the horizon for BBB, and I feel very fortunate to be a member of the team...

Last minute on the Jicarilla

My annual elk hunt on the Jicarilla Apache Res in NM was tough but great this year. I hunted with my trusty TC muzzleloader and had bulls in range pretty much every day. I was definitely being picky. I saw plenty of 6x6 bulls, but no real mature ones, or ones that were "right".

Everyone in my group was knocking down good bulls, but we kept hunting hard. The first couple of days, the bulls responded well to calling, especially raking a shed on trees. My guide and old friend Larson Panzy called numerous bulls into bow range, and the 2nd day, we had a 6x6 come in to 4 yards. It was great. The 3rd afternoon, I passed up a beautiful 280ish 6x6 out in a sage flat at about 50 yards.

We had more great encounters, and the last day, we got in on 2 6x6's in a knock down, drag out fight. They were in intense battle, and it was a real spectacle. I figured we just weren't going to get one this year because the last afternoon, the temps were 80 and the wind was absolutely brutal.

We decided to sit water, and an hour or so before dark, we heard a distant bugle. After 30 minutes, elk began to emerge from up the draw, and eventually 25 or more cows, calves and spikes were moving toward our waterhole with the bull bugling out of sight. He finally came out herding cows, and I could see he had a huge body. Then I saw he was only a 5x5, but he was very mature, heavy and wide. He was definitely the boss of the area and kept all in line. He worked in and got down in the pond and drank and bugled only 40 yards from me. He was blocked for the camera then, so I waited for him to get out, and the TC hammered him at about 50 yards. Again, he was a 5x5, but he was a great bull in my opinion. Most of the 6x's I saw were smaller than him...last 15 minutes of the hunt, we pulled it out. That is 6 bulls in 6 years on the Jicarilla...Sorry about the photos. Like I said, he was last minute and my camera was in the truck, we had to get him out, and these are the only shots I got. We drove all night just to catch our flights the next day...TH

Back from British Columbia Moose Mt Goat Hunt

I just returned from a great trip to northern British Columbia where I hunted Canada moose and mountain goat on a trip set up for me by Shoshone Wilderness Adventures.

We packed in 25 miles on horseback to a beautiful little valley.

The first day we spotted a mt goat from camp and devised a plan. Here is me in camp pointing out the goat on the ridge.

We rode and hiked for half a day, and had to cross a ridge, a basin and another ridge. Finally we got to about 380 yards of the goat. We were above him, and he was looking out over the valley the other way. Here he is in his bed.

We made a move and got to 270 yards. We had a bad crosswind, but we set up. Rob Snider got his camera set up, and I looked across and there was a snow squall coming in fast. You can see the storm moving in. We looked out the ridge, and it seemed I could get even closer, so Leaf, my guide<>

He was 9.5 years old and had heavy 9.5" horns. I was pretty happy woth th etrophy. 2 minutes after the shot, the snow came in, but moved out just as quickly.

We then switched to moose hunting. We thought the rut would be in full swing, but we hunted for days without seeing a moose, or getting a response to calls. Finally one afternoon, a bull grunted back to our calls. He eventually emerged from the timber on the river bank and started our way. When he was about 150 yards, I hammered him with my TC Endeavor. He went about 15 yards and flipped backwards. The 250 gr Shockwave took out his heart and part of both lungs.

The moose was 51", which is pretty nice for a Canada moose. he was a prime bull at 8 1/2 years old, and a great trophy. We got all of both hunts on HD video, and it is stunning footage.

We had to come back the next day with 3 pack horses to get the bull back to camp.

The next day, we rode back out to the main lodge and then I began my journey home. This was a super hunt, and a mt goat was one of those animals I had dreamed of since I was a kid. The moose was a super bonus. Anyone that gets a chance to hunt a true north wilderness area with no roads, civilization, etc., should try to go. It is the kind of hunt that is few in far between these days, and it is wonderful to hear no road noise, no jets, drink straight from a clean clear river, etc.

Home for a week, and then off to the Jicarilla in NM for elk...TH

New Sponsor on Board for TH Outdoors - PRIMO'S

I just wanted to drop a note on here to let everyone know about an exciting new development for TH Outdoors. Today I came to an agreement with Primo's to promote their quality line of products. I have used their Double Bull blinds for years and had great success with B-mobile this spring, and as of today, I will try to do all I can to promote the hunting calls, accessories, etc. Primo's is definitely a leader in the hunting industry, and I am proud to be officially associated with them.



Thanks to all the great folks at Primo's. I know this will be a great and long lasting relationship.

Back from Bowhunt in Namibia

I just returned from a good bowunt with AR member Roger Coomber and Vieranas Safaris. This was a bow hunt for me and my co-host Steve Gruber hunted with bow and gun. Also my good friend Lee Brit went aloong and bowhunted.

We travelled through London Gatwick via Delta and then transferred to Air Namibia. We had a day in London and went out site seeing. I had never been, and it was a good day, but I have learned that I would rather just travel and get to the hunting destination as quickly as possible. I hate going through JoBurg, but I really didn't like the 14 hour layover.
When we arrived in Windhoek, we got all our bags for 5 people except 1. Steve's cameraman had a bag missing and it took a week for it to be delivered to camp.
Roger picked us up and graciously took me to a store where I could buy a pair of Courtney boots. Thanks Rog! Then the 6-ish hour drive to his hunt area.
We arrived late afternoon and got settled in. Here is the cottage I stayed in.

The next morning, we got up and shot our bows to make sure they were on and so Roger could check our shooting abilities. We headed to the blinds about 10 AM.
My cameraman Mike and Roger discussing the days hunt.
Photo of one of Roger's great bow blinds

Some of you may remember Roger had sent me some trail cam photos before the trip with eland and leopard. Before we went to the blinds, one of the trackers went out and collected cards from the trail cams and we checked them out. The afternoon we arrived, the big herd of eland that were using Roger's area had been in to drink a half hour before dark the day we arrived. It seemed they were coming to drink every 2-3 days. There were 2 big blue bulls. One was the short massive bull I posted photos of before, and another old blue bull that had wider horns but wasn't as worn, or quite as massive. Eland was my number 1 priority as these were free range animals, and I wanted to take one with bow in that situation. I wanted one of the 2 blue bulls or nothing and I decided I would sit that blind for a week waiting on them if I had to.
We saw some gemsbok and young kudu that day, but no eland. That evening, Steve killed a good warthog. I sat the whole next day and saw more kudu, gemsbok and giraffe, but the eland didn't show Steve killed a nice 52" kudu that night and Lee killed a 25 1/2" Red hartabeest that should score in the top 5 with a bow.
Back to the blind for an all day sit on day 3. It was really windy and the action was slow most of the day. About 5 pm, a shadow came across my view from the blind window, and I knew it couldn't be from birds flying around. I got up, and a young bull eland was at 20 yards. He had sneaked right in. My cameraman Mike got on him and asked if I was going to shoot him as he had really nice horns, but I told him "NO - he isn't blue". I heard clicking, and looked out to the right, and whispered, "...but here comes one I will shoot.". It was the old blue bull that had the wider horns. He ambled in, and by then the young bull was drinking. The big bull began to drink broadside, but the young bull was blocking his vitals. I kept watching to see if more animals were headed in, but ultimately none did. Finally after an eternity, the young bull cleared out, and I had the old bull broadside at 19 yards. I drew, settled my pin low and straight up the foreleg, and I let fly. The big bull kicked and jumped, and as he took off, he was less than 40 yards out when his back end started getting away from him. I saw him begin to stumble and within 75 yards, he crashed.
I couldn't believe such a huge animal could go down so quickly from an arrow. I got a complete pass through and had hit him square in the heart. ENTRY

It was getting dark by the time we got out and tried to take photos

So I talked Roger into having him gutted so we could take good photos the next mornning. It was a pain to take him out of the cooler and back out, but it was worth it. The old bull was all blue and almost had no hair from the neck back. he was absolutely huge bodied and his horns were 34 1/2" long and right at 11" at the bases.

With my primary animal down after 3 days and about 32 hours in the blind, I wanted a mt zebra, kudu and gemsbok in that priority though I had permits for everything, and was happy to take any of a variety of animals.
The next day my cameraman Mike shot a medium warthog. He really wanted a pig and a gemsbok.


An hour before dark, a big bunch of red harabeest came in, and after 5 minutes of trying to size them up and judge them, one of the 2 big bulls gave me a shot. I took him through both lungs and the top of the heart, and he went about 60 yards and piled up within sight. He was 24 1/2 inches and really heavy. I am sure no judge of hartabeest, but Roger said he was an excellent bull. Sorry about the photos. It was obviously close to dark, and I couldn't get him cleaned up very well. You can see his mass and length in the 2 photos

The next day, I saw quite a few animals including springbok, warthog, kudu, gemsbok, but no shooter bulls or rams. I did shoot a huge old male baboon that afternoon. He came in first before the whole bunch got in, and I nailed him. All 4 canines were broken, and he was just obviously an ancient old guy

This warthog came in and wallowed in the baboon blood...nasty!

..and we got a closeup look at this secretary bird as well. My buddy Lee killed a big mountain Zebra stallion that day. The following day we went in just at daylight, and to my horror, there was a herd of zebra at the water when we got there, and we spooked them off. We saw a decent amount of animals that morning, but nothing shootable.

About noon, Mike whispered "Zebra" and we all went into serious mode. A single zebra came in close to the water, but kept prancing back and forth very nervous. It wanted to drink, but kept running in and out, throwing its head, staring at the blind, backing out, etc. Roger said it looked like a stallion that had just matured and would be challenging a herd stallion for dominance. It just didn't look to me like it would ever calm down enough to drink. It turned broadside at 30 yards and I told Roger I could take it, but before I could draw, it had dashed out again. I made up my mind, the next shot I got, I was taking as I thought the zebra would eventually bug out. It got to about 30 yards and turned broadside again, but as I drew, it turned. It was quartering away, but I knew I could make the shot. I put the pin behind the shoulder, and let fly. The zebra went about 80 yards and dropped. I got both lungs at 32 yards. The zebra ended up being a big mare, but she will make a beautiful rug, and was the only zebra I got a shot at the whole trip, so I was very pleased. Roger and me with the mt zebra. I had my top 2 animals in the salt, and things were looking up. I shot another big male baboon and a medium warthog the next day. We were winding down on time, and I was getting nervous about kudu and gemsbok. I had seen a lot of young kudus with lots of potential, but only one mature bull, and he didn't look to be quite 50". Here is a beautiful young bull.

The morning of day 8 was incredible. Gemsbok began coming in at 7:35 am, followed by a herd springbok, and then Roger spotted a good kudu bull about 200 yards out. He made a slow arc around or position always staying at 200 yards. He got to the extreme right of our vision, and began feeding. He was watching the animals around the water, and it seemed he didn't want to come in with them there. Then 20 hartabeest came in and got their chaos going. More gemsbok and warthog showed, then 2 ostrich came in. It was the most game we had seen all week, but they were all keeping the 1 animal I wanted away. Finally the kudu disappeared in the brush. I hoped when things calmed down, he would slip in. A few minutes later, 5 young kudu bulls showed up. We watched them for a few minutes, and relaxed. Then from nowhere, the mature bull just stepped into the middle of the young bulls at 25 yards. I got my bow, and he edged up to the water. He was quite nervous, so when he backed up from the water, but was still broadside, I drew and sent an arrow straight through his heart. I wasn't waiting around to give him a chance to leave. He went the farthest of any animal I shot - 150 yards. I was so excited and releived to get him. I hated the thought of a plainsgame hunt with no kudu. It was 8:55AM when I shot him, so it took almost an hour and a half for him to come in.

A mature old gemsbok came in about noon, and we saw she had no calf and didn't appear pregnant, so Mike decided to take her. He double lunged her, and she went about 100 yards. He and I had had a great day and were quite pleased.

Our last day, we decided to hunt about 2 1/2 hours and then finish up a lot of the video work we had to complete and take still photos. We sat and didn't see anything and I then climbed a copy and took some sceenery photos showing what the terrain looked like.

You can see a blind in the middle of this one

...my freind Lee took a mature kudu on the last hour of the hunt, as well as a good mature gemsbok and a baboon. Steve Gruber went on to kill another kudu and gemsbok with a rifle, and he also took the female leopard that I had posted the trail cam pix of. She was old and bare. She came in to 21 yards from the blind at 7:45 AM. Sorry I don't have photos of their trophies yet - as we were all hunting in 3 different directions.
I ended up not seeing a mature gemsbok bull or a big springbok, but we all had a great trip. Roger and his wife Amelia treated us like family, and we really enjoyed them and all the staff. Roger is a very dedicated bowhunter, and he obviously lives for the sport. He is very involved with NAPHA and the government when it comes to bowhunting in Namibia. Thanks so much to Roger and Vieranas Safaris for such an enjoyable time.
We ended up taking 19 animals - 16 with bow and 3 with rifle. We got some excellent footage for Outdoor America that will air next year on Outdoor Channel.
I really enjoyed getting up close and personal and bowhunting these beautiful animals, but I must admit, that I do enjoy spot and stalking with a gun more. I love getting close and I missed covering ground, stalking, seing different terrain all the time, etc. I am very glad I did a bowhunt, as it was so different from my past African experiences. I was fortunate in the fact that all the game animals I took were 1 shot clean bow kills. I did shoot the first baboon again, just to save suffering, but he was mortally wounded and bleeding profusely on the first shot.
All the flights home went smoothly, I even got upgraded to 1st class on the Delta flight from London to Cincy which was great. All baggage made it home, and I got a good night ssleep and don't feel terribly jet lagged. I guess it is time to really start finalizing plans for 2009 DG hunt!

Alberta Bear Bow Hunt

This is going to be sort of long, but here goes...
I was back in northern Alberta hunting with my friends at W&L Guide Service last week. I took 2 great bears last year and couldn't wait to go back

Night #1 - saw 1 bear - many times and though it was a good one, I was watching for one of the absolute monsters they have up there. I took some photos of him and enjoyed the show.

Night #2 - I went to the same stand, and saw the same bear. I estimated him at 6 1/2 feet, so we decided he would be a good back up bear toward the end of the week.

Night #3 - Hunted a new stand and saw 2 small bears and one dandy. The big bear was very wary and made a big loop around the stand using the wind. At 75 yards, he got my wind and was gone. Camp really scored that night. Glenn Gilbert from American Hunter killed 2 - 6 footers, Linda Powell from Remington got a monster 7'8" boar, Mark Nelson from Cabela's killed a 6'3" and John Snow from Outdoor Life killed a 5'9" bear. 5 bears in one night. I was the only one of the group not to score.

Night #4 - I saw the same big bear. He did the same thing and got my wind at 60 yards. Busted again!

Night #5 - I went to a new stand and told John Snow he should go with a gun and try to kill the big bear that kept busting me (the bear didn't show). At about 7:30 - I looked left and spotted a bear coming in about 80 yards out. He cautiously came in, but he did come in. He began to feed, and I let him get settled in. Once relaxed, I waited on the broadside shot, and I nailed him. I shot him with my BowTech 82nd Airborne with a Carbon Express Maxima Hunter and Rage 100 gr 2 blade head. It took both lungs, and he went about 80 yards before piling up. He ended up being a nice 6'8" boar.
Night #6 - Last night, so I decided to go back to my backup bear. My cameraman was in the tree and I was tying my bow to my pull rope, when the cameraguy told me to look. The bear was standing 20 feet away! I scurried up the tree and got settled. He never left, and went and grabbed a piece of meat and took it in a thicket about 30 yards behind the stand. I could hear bones crunching, and I knew he would be back.
A few minutes later, he came back and went to feed on oats in our barrel. There were 3 big trees blocking the camera view, but I could see him. I told the cameraguy that I would move and let him have my spot so he could see the bear, so I climbed out of the stand. He got in my spot and started rolling as I reached the ground. I walked about 5 steps toward the bear (who was facing away) and to the left. I took a deep breath, and the bear heard me and jumped to the side and then turned to face me. He stood up, and I thought what a stupid move I had made. I just stood still, and he dropped back down. When he turned broadside at 16 steps, I drew, and punched one right behind his shoulder. He took off straight away and died in a sprint. The Rage tore a huge hole in him.

He ended up being another boar that was exactly 6'8" like the first. It was pretty exciting shooting him from the ground so close. I don't think I was in any real danger, but it sure got the old heart beating!!

That night Linda shot a beautiful cinnamon bear, and Mark shot a really aggressive 5'8" sow that charged him. She was short, but really bulky.

So ended another great hunt. I am already booked in for early May 2009. I can't wait.

Turkey Season ReCAP

Turkey season is all but over for me. I am hunting tomorrow morning with my dad, and that is it. I didn't hunt nearly as much as usual. Killed the 2 good birds in FL, then went to TX and only got 1 longbeard. It was really tough hunting with little gobbling and a million jakes. It will be great down there next year. I talked to 20+ people who hunted TX, and everyone had a rough hunt. That bird down there is the first gobbler I have ever killed that I didn't get a photo of. I shot him at 7PM and didn't have my camera with me. It was dark when we got back to camp and we went on and cleaned him.

On the KY opener, I went with my buddy Lee Britt about 30 minutes from home. We had a great hunt from the roost, and an hour and 15 minutes after fly down, this nice 2 year-old came all the way into the dekes. I smoked him with the TC.

We got great footage for Outdoor America, and it was a super way to start the KY season. Thanks to Lee for taking me!

A couple days later, I drove to West KY to hunt at TC's Game Trails. Buddies, Neil Sanders, Gregg Ritz, and Alex Rutledge were in camp, and it was a blast. Jason Kidd a friend from KY was guiding there, and he had located some birds for me. We set up the next morning, and 4 toms and a gaggle of hens flew into the field. It took an hour and a half, but two of the longbeards finally came 250 yards across the field and committed. They beat Bmobile to death. One bred my new DSD decoy, went back and kicked Bmobile again, and then went back and bred the DSD again. We had incredible footage, and I shot him right off the deke's back the second time around. Again, he was a nice 2 year-old.

Everyone had a great hunt at Game Trails as you can see from this group photo. The best bird had 5 beards!

The most special hunt of my career was next. On April 26, it was supposed to storm and be nasty. I hadn't been able to take either of my boys all season, and Drew and I decided to go for a couple of hours. My buddy Steve Hartley had a food plot where they had been seeing 4 jakes regularly, and after 2 unsuccesful seasons trying to get the boys a bird, we would have been very happy with a jake.

We got in the blind before daylight and it hadn't rained yet. We expected no gobbling and hoped to get the jakes into the field in the rain. Drew had a baseball game in the afternoon, so we couldn't hunt long.

Long story short - 3 birds gobbled near us at dawn. The 2 close ones worked away, and the farthest one moved in. Soon he gobbled 100 yards out, then after a little light calling, he was at 60 but over a rise. Then I saw his head, and he strutted off and on into range. I told Drew I would call and get his head up and to shoot when it was up. I called, he shot, and Drew had his first gobbler!!!

It was a 20 pound 2 year-old, and neither of us could have been more excited. He made a great shot, and an hour after fly down with lots of gobbling and strutting, our 3 season quest was over. We said a prayer of thanks to the Good Lord, and took the bird home to surprise mom and WIll. I will never forget those hours that morning. They were some of the most precious of my life.

Hopefully we can get dad on a bird tomorrow. I am off to AB for black bears with a bow on Thursday (May 1). SO I will post again around the 10th.

TH