posted by Jim on Nov 30

Todd harvested this guy the first week in October in Recluse, Wyoming. Had him green scored at 87 2/8 net which after the 60 day drying period he will make the all time records with ease.  I just thought we should get a break from all of the whitetail posts and revisit what the team has accomplished during the early big game seasons.  This is quite an accomplishment, so I would like to extend my congratulations to Todd on a great trophy.  The Tikka T-3 in the 25-06 has done it again!

 Great Job!

 Jim

posted by Jim on Nov 28

I don’t know about you, but I am one person who spends money on scents.  Doe urine, estrous urine, and dominant buck urine, are all on the menu when I enter the woods.  You name it.  I have tried it!  One year I spent $138.00 just on urine.  My wife wasn’t too happy, especially when I told her it was no different than her spending the same on expensive perfume.  Needless to say, I cannot write her response.  The bottom line is this.  If you use scents and you spend money on them, then wouldn’t you want to savor every last drop and use them in the most effective way.  I met the guys from Stink Stick a couple of years ago and I was convinced immediately that this product would do just that.

What is a Stink Stick?  It is a product which is simple in nature, but it was designed with a lot of thought and thorough planning to get it where it is today.  Made of durable plastic, the Stink Stick® can withstand the harshest elements hunters endure. Replaceable fiberglass wick ensures extended usage season after season. Tarred hanging line withstands dry rot and mold. Tapered threads on top and bottom keeps scent fresh and inside where it belongs. I throw them in a refrigerator when using fresh Estrous scents, such as, Border Crossings Scents.  One bottle of expensive scent goes a long way when using the Stink sticks.  The best part about it is that when used properly, your clothes and hands wont smell like doe urine because it seals the scent in, very effectively, when stored in the closed position.   One bottle of estrous scent has lasted me 17 days, because you only need to add a drop or two to the stick every time you hunt.   They are available in 3 colors: Shed Brown, Hunter Green, and Blaze orange (great for yardage markers). The Fiberglass wick will not deteriorate nor stiffen up like cotton or felt wicks, making fiberglass wicks the best wicking material on the market.  Another great feature of the stink sticks is the fact that you can replace the wicks at the end of the year and you will be ready for the following season.  Use them for Deer hunting, Bear Hunting and Predator hunting to attract game or mask human scent. 

Try them out and you will be hooked, just like me and the rest of the Hunters Prostaff Team.  They are available in our store, so check them out and stop wasting your scent on the ground and on your clothes!

posted by Jim on Nov 25

With Michigan’s smoke pole season right on top of us its time to break out the coon skin hats and pray for snow. Without a doubt my most favorite time of the year to hunt. The woods seem to take on a somber peacefulness as winter sets in. And some of the biggest smartest bucks are still left out there. Even as times and equipment progress cries of anger and disgust can be heard as ramrods are broken and sheets of plywood are missed by the finicky muzzleloaders. Barrels are over heated, no cleaning between shots, and incorrect sabot size are just a few of the problems hundreds will soon face. Let me give you an instant shortcut with superior products. I first spoke with Dean Parker of Parker Productions Inc. a couple of years back. He is a great guy to B.S with about hunting and other important subjects. After asking what he would shoot out of my setup he assured me he had what I needed. I received a supply of the Ballistic Extreme in both 250 and 275 grains with sabots and ran to the range. His father, in 1989 started out with a new idea for bullets and it grew from there. They offer a bullet for all your muzzle loader needs but I would be testing the race horse with a polymer tip for rapid expansion yet jacketed for maximum weight retention. I just like the way that sounds! Plus they look real cool. I was instantly pleased as I started stacking bullets one on top of another at 100 yards. Nothing is better than an accurate weapon. No more buying 10 different combinations to see what works. Just shove these down and prepare to smile. I have a dozen or more close friends now shooting them mostly in the 250 grain over 100 grains of pellets and they are all shooting the best groups ever. But that’s just the paper testing. What I call a test is shoulder blades and these bullets are the Rage broad heads of bullets. The interior damage is very impressive to say the least and if you get one near the boiler room you will not lose your deer. I shoot high shoulders these days and they lay where I shoot them, and in Michigan they better because the first fence they jump means you can put your gutting knife away. There are a lot of good bullets out there from big name companies for sure but I would like you to try a great bullet from a small family company that genuinely appreciates your business. Give Dean a call at 1-888-892-0706 with any questions as he’s the man and please email me here at the website with your stories and Pics because you are gonna thank me. Now get out there and Parkerize one. Best of luck….Jed the Hunter

posted by Jim on Nov 23

Here is Matt Frehe’s November 6th buck. I went in late to film for him after he was in before light. He really wanted me to try to film the hunt and I told him I didn’t want to risk messing up his hunt by walking in at that time but he wanted me to anyway. It was a spot that I helped set the stand in, so I knew how to get there. I ended up sitting 40 to 50 yards away, as he moved his stand closer to where he was seeing all the deer activity. I filmed this buck come in on a hot doe at 10:00 A.M., then as we were adding some extras for the video, another buck came in on the same trail to catch the doe, and then 15 minutes later, he came crashing back through with her. Matt had to act fast! He shot the buck, which even, caught me off guard, as the doe went past his stand and the buck followed.  Matt was unsure of the shot, but he felt he had made a good hit from the bucks reaction.  Besides, Matt has a lot of faith in his PSE.  We have all been there when the events of a hunt unfold and the bucks don’t seem to follow the same script as they do on most TV shows.   We gave it some time and learned a tough lesson in filming and hunting, as we went in to track the buck 2 hours later and jumped him from a bed in a creek. We had to back out until this morning and we found the buck but not before the coyotes. They had eaten a ton of this deer just overnight, but we did what we could with the pictures. I’ll try to make copies of both this video and my hunt as well. I was glad to be a part of this hunt and this is exactly what Matt was looking for this year. He also got a trail camera picture of this buck from the 25th of October, but didn’t get to check the picture until the night before the hunt. I jokingly told him that he would get a better look at him tomorrow(the 6th) and little did I know that statement would be right.

posted by Jim on Nov 23

It was a cold and misty evening, the sun had just began to fade below the tree line. Suddenly there is excitement on the ground behind me. About 50 yards away stands a 5 point buck staring intensely into the field behind it. I slowly stand up and get my bow ready. After a while it decides it isn’t worth worrying about and starts to wander about. It foolishly walks casually toward my tree. In about 5 minutes it is 30 yards away, grazing…..now is the time! A couple seconds later the deer is crashing into the woods, shot through the heart. I sit and listen until I no longer hear any movement in the woods except for the occasional squirrel or bird.
Hunting is nothing new to me. I have been hunting since I was 12 years old. My dad has been hunting for as long as I can remember and he was the one that got me into archery at a pretty young age and eventually into hunting.My first year I got a 4 point with my bow, my second year a spike with my bow, my third year an 8 point and a doe with the muzzle loader, and now this year a 5 point with my new bow. I can’t wait to get more hunting experiences under my belt.

-Hanna Stewart
Age 15
Parma, Michigan

posted by Jim on Nov 19

Ah the story………..the best part of having the privilege of taking a nice mature buck and retelling your buddies 100 times! Or at least to someone who will listen. First off let me say that for the last 4 years I’ve been filming other folks and have only taken 2 bucks. During our rut here in Michigan I’ve been in other states wishing to be home and it killed me to say the least. If you are lucky enough to hunt the rut every year, close to home or in your backyard you definitely have a tremendous advantage. Also please be aware that I am a hunter. All who pursue game animals with ANY weapon are hunters. United against all who try to end our freedoms to hunt. This buck is no less a magnificent animal because it was shot with a smoke pole. Would I like to sit on my 3 acre alfalfa field surrounded by 50 pumpkins on opening day with my bow????? Not a chance Toto. This is Michigan not a sanctuary. Sorry about the soapbox of justification there guys. But I do feel better. If I here one more group of guys looking at a nice buck and then saying “Oh you shot it with a gun.” slightly disgusted I’m gonna smack somebody. So the rut is still on…..I pass up 6 smaller bucks after not seeing a single deer on the opener but hearing over 150 shots by noon. Another footnote…have you noticed allot less volleys of shots and more single booms as the years go on or is it just me? Our equipment is getting more efficient for sure. So its the weekend, the game is on, who cares, and its raining steady. I,m out of the woods for 1 hour to eat and dry off then right back at it. Nothing till dark then 2 shots ring out from my partner. He calls to say he has missed a giant 20 point non typical and then shot another big buck. I start his way at prime-time to help before its just black out and as I round the corner on his downwind side I peek over a dirt mound to see a shooter standing by a pond looking at a doe walking the other way. He was only 80 yards from my buddy but around a corner of woods. What a time for a camera. He started after the doe and I could see his massive chest jiggle as he walked. Seconds later my gun was on my backpack in the prone position and I was ranging a big oak. I can make this shot. I settled the Mil dot on him and for a brief moment I snapped a mental picture of him in all his glory standing as proud as anything I’ve ever seen. I will never forget that sight……….then I crushed him! If you have never given the Ballistic Extreme bullet from Parker Productions a try let me endorse them above all others. Call Dean at 1-888-892-0706 or the web. When I squeeze the twig….stuff just hits the dirt. Extremely accurate bullets. Thanks Dean. So its a beautiful deer, I’m stoked, the ride home with my buddy is quiet because it appears this is the buck he missed. A little melancholy yet bittersweet if ya know what I mean. Hope you all get a big one this year, and best of luck. And don’t forget to ask yourself every time before you touch the trigger….How far do I want to track this animal…………Jed the Hunter

posted by Jim on Nov 18

Jim,
Here’s the story and a few pics of my ‘07 buck. I got to my stand early at about 1:30 P.M. It was a good thing because the vegetation in front of my stand was a little thicker than I thought it would be for this time of year. I wasn’t happy with it and moved the stand approximately 20 yards towards the edge of my scrapeline. This still didn’t affect where it was in relation to my mock scrapes. It was actually better. It ended up being a good move because I don’t think I would have gotten the shot from the original position. I moved the stand quietly as the wind was fairly strong early on. I was settled in by 2:15 or so after freshening up my scrapes and I watched the turkeys parade through. Squirrels were everywhere collecting acorns and making me on edge as I tried to pick up the sounds of footsteps all afternoon. I guess I got a bit too relaxed when I finally heard the footsteps at around 5:00. I was shocked when I turned to see that a good buck was
 coming and I hadn’t picked him up earlier. The sun was well away from the horizon and I kicked the camera on as fast as I could. As he went behind a tree I swung the camera arm in front of me and zoomed in to see a beautiful sight as he faced me with his wide rack in the full sun. He approached my furthest mock scrape on the line and tore it up for a brief moment and I hoped he would continue down the line. Unfortunately for me he veered off the path and headed into a CRP/walnut grove with shorter grass. He was heading for a small pocket of timber just short of a late bean food source that has been a magnet all season. I positioned the camera in one of my only good openings that I could have swore was 40 yards. I stopped him perfectly in the middle of it and settled the pin and let it fly. I was shocked to see it hit him a bit higher than anticipated and into his spine. He dropped like a pile of bricks and I put another arrow in his vitals immediately.
 He ended up being only 35 yards after stepping it off. The season was over on my first day of vacation! It is really weird to have the thoughts of second guessing my decision since there was an absolute monster(the one in the trail camera pictures that I had sent you) in the area and given the fact that I had the earlier encounter with him. I know the rut wasn’t in full swing but I had received news from my cousin, who farms the place, that he had a friend that he was letting hunt the place during his week of vacation that starts tomorrow(the 5th). I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get the harvest of this buck on film. I would have shot him any other time and any other place so I had to make the call. The weird part is that I hadn’t even gotten a chance to hunt some of my best stands that I was saving for the rut. Oh well, that’s how the season goes sometimes. This is also a buck that I have a trail camera picture of but it is only one side of his
 rack. I will attach that as well. He was probably the only deer that I had pictures of in this area that I decided I would probably take if given the opportunity. The word is out on the buck that I have trail camera pics of so hopefully he can survive the poachers and live until next season and hopefully I will find his sheds. I was and still am very happy with this decision and I think the video turned out pretty good. Keep me posted and good luck.
Dylan

posted by Jim on Nov 18

My biggest buck with a bow!  I was privileged to hunt with Jim and Elaine Morrow of MJC Archery and Mike Roy of Bear Paw Outfitters, last week in Illinois.  We were invited to hunt on Private Land by my new best friend Dale.  (I am keeping his last name private so he doesn’t lose all of his original best friends.) His property was exceptional and his hospitality was top notch!  Most of all, his attitude about seeing others succeed in harvesting big bucks was unbelievable.  I can honestly say, that his heart was as big as a giant pumpkin, and he did not suffer one bit from what most of us experience, “Big Rack Envy”.  Sigmund Freud was going to write about it but, he died after his first interview with a depressed hunter.  Lets face it.  We have all invited someone to hunt our property and when that “other” person kills a big buck, we can try to act genuinely excited for that”other” person but, in the back of your mind, your saying,”I knew I should have sat that spot”.  Well, Dale was the opposite of what I have been used to experiencing my entire life.  He wanted us to harvest mature bucks and when we did HE WAS GENUINELY EXCITED!  

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