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November 20, 2009
November Gallery
Posted: Athletes Hunt
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- Posted in In the Field
November 19, 2009
2009 World Goose Calling Championship
Posted: Kelley Powers
A big congratulation goes out to all the winning callers at the World Goose Calling Championship and the Easton Waterfowl Festival. The turnout was outstanding and the calling was some of the best that I have heard. Next year mark your calenders for the second weekend of Nov as then will be the World Goose Calling Champion of Champions (which is only held once every five years). Congrats again to all the winners.

World Goose Calling Championship
1. Robbie Iverson
2. Wade Walling
3. Kile Jones
4. Mitch Hughes
5. Eric Strand

World Live Goose Calling Championship

1. Scott Threinen
2. Hunter Grounds
3. Robbie Iverson
4. Forrest Carpenter
5. Josh Neuwiller

Jr. World Goose Calling Championship

1. Michael Ritter
2. Jamie Avedon
3. Thomas Bryce
4. Ryan Wilson
5. Austin Przybylski

World Live Duck Calling Championship

1. Kent Cullum
2. Trevor Shanahan
3. Brett Crowe
4. Mitch Hughes
5. Robbie Iverson

Mason-Dixon Duck Calling Championship

1. Jason Howard
2. Kent Cullum
3. Forrest Carpenter
4. Scott Bauswell
5. Derek Foote

Jr. Mason-Dixon Duck Calling Championship

1. Jamie Avedon
2. Austin Przybylski
3. Greg Hubbell
4. Bobby Spivey
5. Grier Wakefield

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November 15, 2009
The UA Generation Goes Hunting
Posted: Cameron Hanes

My two sons, Tanner, age 16, and Truett, age 12, have seemingly grown up with Under Armour. Over the years they have experienced some good success in the field on really tough western hunts. I think having higher quality gear than I had growing up has played a huge role in their success. They have both hunted in extreme conditions, where if not for UA’s superior fabric and hardcore construction they simply couldn’t have been in the field as long as they were or hunted as rugged and unforgiving country has they have. Comfort is one thing, but survival is another. Getting cold and wet, when exhaustingly tired puts you at risk.

Last year on his Hell’s Canyon elk hunt, Tanner was everything I mentioned, cold and wet (it was raining and windy), we were in deep, 8 or 9 miles from the trailhead, and he was tired after having played in a Friday night football game from which we drove clear a cross the state of Oregon and packed in deep to base camp at first light Saturday morning without sleeping even one minute. Season ended on Sunday so we had two days to find him a backcountry bull. That’s a lot to ask. We got soaked that first day, got back to camp at about 10 at night, woke up early the next morning, headed out and he killed his first bull elk. That hunt would have broke many of men, but as a 15 year old he got it done. I think if not for UA gear, he would have been battling hypothermia on this early November hunt and instead of downing his first bull elk, he would have been struggling to stay warm.

Truett, this past spring, on a tough rugged spring bear hunt relied on Under Armour gear as well. Again we were in deep, putting on many miles each day trying to find him a bear. The morning’s were cold, that first day we were in snowshoes, then the afternoons were hot. As soon as the sun dropped, temps dropped dramatically. In such conditions you must have clothing that helps regulate your body temp. In the old days, you would just pile on a bunch of whatever you had, cotton, wool, flannel. You would usually be freezing, then get hot and sweat while hiking the mountains, where of course your clothes would get sweaty and wet, which meant when you stopped you’d freeze again. On Truett’s hunt our UA gear acted as a thermostat almost, keeping us warm when it was cool and cool when it was hot. This allowed us to be at our best the entire hunt and we needed to be. Truett killed his bear the very last evening of his bust-your-butt week long backcountry hunt.

And then, just yesterday, Tanner got it done yet again on a tough backcountry hunt in the snow. After a long, uphill four mile hike we found a nice 4×4 blacktail buck. Tanner made a great shot on him and tagged his best blacktail buck to date in the steep mountains of western Oregon. This wasn’t an easy hunt in any regard. Getting to where this buck lived was tough enough. And then, back there, once the animal hits the ground it gets tougher yet. We broke the buck down, quartered him up, and loaded one heavy packframe with deer meat. The other pack hauled all of our gear and off the hill we came. Two tough, quad crushing hours later we were at the truck. Having UA’s best gear made this hunt a relatively enjoyable experience as opposed to a miserable one, which is how I came up. Yup, instead of old-school misery, me and Tanner had the best father and son day I can remember!

Yes, the Under Armour generation is a lucky lot….UA is helping legions of young hunters achieve their hunting dreams. Keep hunting hard, Cam

Cameron R. Hanes
www.cameronhanes.com
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- Posted in In the Field
Iowa 2009
Posted: Cameron Hanes

Lots of time in the stand pays off. On almost all my hunts, which typically take place in the rugged mountains, my edge is pushing hard, enduring pain and getting it done in the face of great hardship. On this hunt, for Midwest whitetail there is only so much pushing a guy can do. To earn my edge my plan was to simply spend as much time in the treestand as I could. As the saying goes, “You can’t kill from the couch.” Instead of heading back to camp at midday, I opted to stay in the tree from dark to dark, 12 hours a day.

Bill Jackson was filming my hunt for Ralph and Vicki’s Archer’s Choice TV show and luckily he was as committed as I was to achieving our goal…arrowing a bomber Iowa whitetail.

In the end, after passing up a number of marginal, Pope & Young bucks, rattling in a bunch of bucks as well as spending many of idle hours overlooking a sweet looking creek bottom that rutting bucks like to cruise looking for hot does….I earned the chance I’d wait for.

On day four of my hunt, as Bill filmed, I arrowed a big, gnarly-antlered buck at 30 yards on the button. Patience paid off. My first Midwest whitetail and a good one at that. Look for the hunt to air on Archer’s Choice which run on Outdoor Channel.

Keep hunting hard!!! Cam
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- Posted in In the Field
November 11, 2009
Missouri Whitetail Hunt
Posted: Whitney Isenhart
I started my 2009 archery season in Missouri. I arrived to temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s, way to hot for the deer to be moving.  I saw a lot of nice bucks but they were always in the soybeans at 200 yards.  Every time they got up to change positions and layback down again they were taunting me. Then on the second day of my hunt the acorns started dropping. The deer then quickly changed from their summer pattern to feeding on acorns. With a bumper crop of acorns we simply could not pattern the deer with white oaks dropping acorns everywhere.

Shortly after returning home I received a call from Hunt Masters Lodge in Missouri inviting me down to hunt and a second chance! This time it would be November and the start of the rut.  When I arrived I was very excited, as the rut is a fun time to be in the woods. The first morning I saw a small buck chasing a doe.  Hopefully the big bucks will be out moving as the rut turns to full swing, I thought. I was happy to see the deer moving, my spirits were high with anticipation for what might lie ahead.

After lunch we checked the wind and headed for a different stand one that offered a food plot just off a bedding area.  The stand was in a strip of woods between a CRP and a food plot.  It was about 30 yards to each field edge. If the plan came together the deer would be coming from across either field. With the rut in swing I would rely on the doe estrus scent I brought. So I sprayed it on a wick and hung it on a limb.

The wind was blowing from the northwest into the food plot to my right. I thought if anything comes from the woods beyond the food plot and gets a whiff of the deer scent I put out I might have a chance.  I also thought if I get one that starts drifting down wind from me it would camouflage my scent enough to confuse the deer and give me a shot. The night seemed long until I saw my first deer. It didn’t take long for the food plot to fill up with deer. Shorty there after everything in the field stopped and looked back. Sure enough out stepped the heavy horned bruiser that was now slowly working my direction.

The wind swirled and the tall tined giant could smell the deer estrus scent I had put out. As the big eleven pointer made his way over to my side of the field. He was drifting down wind and now knew something was up. He was between the crotch of a tree just on the woodline when he stopped only showing his vitals. He had his nose in the air and was really checking the wind as his nose was telling him something was not quite right. Not only was he picking up my scent, he could smell the doe estrus that was causing him confusion. This was the edge I needed as it made him pause long enough to give me a shot.  I drew back and released the arrow. He took off and not 50 yards from where he was hit he dropped with the camera rolling. Finally!

Check out my hunt next season on Hunt Masters TV on the Outdoor Channel.
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- Posted in In the Field