A Kentucky Wonder | Outdoor Life

By Travis Faulkner

Anyone who has ever picked up a bow or climbed into a treestand has dreamed about running into an absolute monster during deer season. All of us have envisioned a bruiser with heavy mass and super long tines. Unfortunately, for many hunters this type of buck only shows up during an occasional dream or distracting thought. However, sometimes things just magically fall into place and a distant dream suddenly becomes a reality. This is exactly what happened to a young hunter named Michaella Monroe during Kentucky’s 2009 youth season. Monroe was able to come face to face with a buck that would make any veteran deer hunter’s heart skip a few beats. This young lady kept her cool and was able to drop the hammer on a jaw-dropping giant that would green score around 230. How is that for jumpstarting your season?  Click link below for full story.

via A Kentucky Wonder | Outdoor Life.

The Great Outdoors: Tree lovers should explore the Ky. seedling program – Bowling Green Daily News

By GEORDON T. HOWELL

Late last winter, a large white bag arrived on the front doorstep of my friend’s home. For weeks, the two of us had waited for the slightly muddied bag to appear, and when it did show up we were quite impressed.Months before, my buddy had caught wind of a seedling program offered by our own Kentucky Division of Forestry, and the bag contained what was soon to become a wind break and privacy screen for his new home’s backyard. For a price that would generally only cover the cost of a single pine tree at a retail nursery, he purchased and had delivered more than 100 white pine seedlings.Once we completed the project in his yard, we wandered and sprinkled our own farms with pines for days to come and still had trees left over in the giant white bundle. This was my first experience with the Forestry Division’s seedling program, and all summer I’ve looked forward to filling out my own order form for this season’s seedling delivery.Two state-operated nurseries in Marshall and Morgan counties annually supply the millions of one- and two-year old seedlings to homeowners and landowners looking to supplement or decorate their acreage and yards. The young trees are beginning their dormancy period with the first frosts of autumn, and in the coming months workers will begin pulling the seedlings from their bed and placing them in cold storage until the small trees are shipped out across the state after the first of the year.However, time is of the essence for those of us wanting to secure some saplings, because certain kinds of trees quickly sell out each year long before deliveries start. Now’s the time for interested individuals to visit www.forestry.ky.gov or call 800 866-0555 to place their orders before the pickings become slim.As stated earlier, the prices are extremely reasonable. Bundles of 10 trees average around $30 delivered, and large bundles of 100-plus trees cost around $50 after shipping costs. Several dozen varieties of trees are available – dogwoods, ash, birch, hickory and black cherry just to name a few. To keep costs down while ensuring a wide assortment of wildlife friendly trees, a handful of friends and I are splitting several 100-tree bags of persimmon, nuttall oak and sawtooth oak to plant around our hunting properties.Individually we will all have plenty of “gamey” trees with very little invested in the venture, aside from a bit of legwork during a portion of the calendar when cabin fever is at its absolute worst. In the wake of January’s ice storm, I suspect the seedling program will benefit Kentucky’s woodlands now more than ever because of the massive destruction some counties sustained once the weather broke.While nature can generally take care of itself when given the proper time, we can certainly find reason to lend a helping hand in this aftermath to give our forests a head start on the road to recovery. Additionally, it is also beneficial to have some genetic diversity among our native trees. Even if you already boast some good white oaks or yellow poplars on the back 40, introducing some “new blood,” so to speak, will only help ensure better quality in the long run.Check out the options for Kentucky Division of Forestry Seedling Program, get together with some friends or neighbors and take a step to improve one of our finest natural resources.— Geordon T. Howell is outdoors columnist for the Daily News. He may be reached by e-mailing highbrasshowell@yahoo.com.

via Bowling Green Daily News.

1st NASP® World Tournament is History…

1st NASP® World Tournament is History…
Have You Seen the Ocean?
By: Roy Grimes
President, NASP®

In 2001, during the 6-month planning phase of the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP®) one of the items on our wish list was to attract ‘Disney’ as a partner. We felt if NASP® could attract the interest of Disney that would be a sign of the program’s success. During the winter of 2008 Kevin Stay at Mathews was contacted by a Disney official, Greg Waldron with a question about his hunting bow. Of course no one can talk to Kevin, our NASP® Vice-President for more than a few minutes before they will hear about the program. Greg was impressed with NASP®’s popularity and it’s Mission to help student. A few months later this encounter resulted in a meeting at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports®.

During our first planning meeting we agreed to design a NASP® range at Disney’s Wilderness Resort, train Disney cast members to present NASP®-style archery lessons, and develop a 100 minute archery lesson for resort guests. We also began discussions about establishing a NASP® tournament at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports® complex.

A bit more than a year later we announced, at the 2009 NASP® National tournament in Louisville, Kentucky, that Disney and NASP® would join forces to conduct NASP®’s first world tournament. This was only 5 months notice for schools that might like to participate and only weeks remained in most states’ school year to make plans, raise travel money, and keep teams practicing over the summer. NASP® also had to develop an on-line registration system to allow teams to register, select flight times, and pay registration fees. Registration for the tournament opened two days after Labor Day in September and closed on September 23. NASP® offered partial travel grants to teams in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada to help them make the trip.

The first NASP® World Tournament was conducted indoors at the new Josten’s Center on October 9th and 10th at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports® complex. A total of 609 archery students from 18 states and Saskatchewan participated in the 2-day event. The most heavily represented grade levels at the tournament were grades 5th and 6th. There were even 3, 3rd grade students competing, with special written permission from their Principals to ’shoot up’. Proving once again that NASP® is an important co-gender activity, 44% of the participants were female.

Many of the student archers, coaches, teachers, and parents reported having a terrific time at this first NASP® World Tournament. Carly Hedden, an 8th grade participant said, ‘It was an honor to be invited to compete with top Archers around the world. She said that participating in such a hi-profile event and visiting Disney were ‘…dreams come true for me.’ Carly’s mother, Susan commented that, ‘NASP® Archery teaches discipline and sportsmanship in a positive environment which are principles that I want my child to learn and live by.’

Disney was a terrific host of the event helping to set-up and tear down, providing a facility coordinator, first aid, and ushers throughout the tournament. Of course the first aid station was the least active place in the building because of archery’s terrific safety record! Nearly all the young archers were among the 4,565 students that participated in the 2009 NASP® National Tournament held in May, 2009. Several of the students and their parents including Kevin, Cindy, and Cody Able from Lawrenceburg, KY were very impressed with the quality of the Disney facilities and the ‘niceness’ of the Disney cast members. It was obvious this tournament-inspired trip to Disney World® was a huge hit with many of the students, many of which had never been out-of-state, on an airplane, visited Disney before, and for those who drove over to Daytona Beach, had never seen the ocean. Teacher, Eric Sowers at the Providence School in Nicholasville, KY reported, ‘Our kids loved the shooting facility and the professionalism. The tournament site had them in awe. You should have seen their faces when they saw the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. They truly had a once in a lifetime experience.’ Nathan Parcell of Brandenburg, Kentucky enjoyed meeting archers from around the country he has become acquainted with and to make new archer friends.

As is NASP®’s norm awards were presented to the top three teams in the elementary, middle, and high school divisions. Again, as is NASP®’s standard, every archer used the same bow (without sights, stabilizers, or release aids), the same arrow, and shot 15 arrows at both 10 and 15 meters. Individual awards were presented to 1st-5th placing boys AND girls in 4, 5, and 6th grades and the middle school and high school divisions. The overall boy and girl champions posted identical scores of 293 (out of 300). The young lady World Champion was Kentucky’s Danielle Reddick from Trigg county High School. Two young men achieved identical scores of 293. However, Alabama’s Joshua Clarke was beat out by Michigan’s Steven Schram for overall top male archer in the World, based upon a higher number of ‘bulls-eyes’. Six young archers were involved in a fast-paced, tie-breaking ’shoot-off’ immediately preceding the awards ceremony. The 1st placing teams in each division and individual winners are listed below.

* 1st Place Elementary Team – Eagle Mountain Magnet – Batesville, AR
* 1st Place Middle School Team – Anderson County Middle School – Lawrenceburg, KY
* 1st Place High School Team – Meade County High School – Brandenburg, KY
* 1st Place 4th Grade Female – Riley Patton, Loganville, GA
* 1st Place 4th Grade Male – Jonathan Gallagher, Nancy, KY
* 1st Place 5th Grade Female – Kattie Raphun, Irvington, AL
* 1st Place 5th Grade Male – Jordan Campbell, Adairville, KY
* 1st Place 6th Grade Female – Sarah Shipley, Cadiz, KY
* 1st Place 6th Grade Male – Cameron Peyton, Lawrenceburg, KY
* 1st Place Middle School Female – Shaye Patterson, Cadiz, KY
* 1st Place Middle School Male – Steven Schram, Bark River, MI
* 1st Place High School Female – Danielle Reddick, Cadiz, KY

• 1st Place High School Male – Joshua Clarke, Irvington, AL

More than 300 trophies, plaques, and medals were awarded to the students. Additionally, thanks to the generosity of several NASP® supporters, some winners received bows from Mathews Archery, arrows and repair kits from Easton Technical Products, targets from Morrell Manufacturing, and bow cases from the Genesis Outlet. One of the most hotly contested awards at NASP® tournaments are the ‘Spirit Awards’ presented to one school in each of the three divisions. This award, a resin Bald Eagle, is presented to teams judged by a committee of volunteers for showing terrific enthusiasm, sportsmanship, and school spirit. Teams that win these awards usually dress in special archery ‘uniforms’, sing, change, and carry their school’s banner. It is always fun to see how the kids ’spirit-up’ whenever an official-looking NASP® person walks by their team carrying a clipboard! One of most spirited teams wore the new NASP® uniform shirt made by EOTAC. The elementary division was won by Indiana’s Hayden Elementary, their 2nd year to take home the eagle. Kentucky’s Anderson County Middle and Meade County High Schools were spirited, great sports, and colorful enough to also win Spirit Awards.

Nearly forty states and provinces will conduct annual tournaments among their NASP® schools this coming January-April in 2010. While vying for terrific prizes and notoriety among their peers, they also will be competing to see who will be among nearly 6,000 students at the NASP® national tournament scheduled for May 7th & 8th in Louisville, Kentucky. See you there!

Complete results and pictures of this first NASP® World Tournament can be found at NASP®’s web site: www.archeryintheschools.org

By: Roy Grimes
President, NASP

Kentucky Fall Turkey Hunting 2009

By Kentuckyhunter

This past Sunday was a nice cool morning in the mid 40’s with calm winds which made it a perfect day to take a drive out to my uncle’s place in Robertson County, Kentucky and make an attempt at bagging a bird. Running on only a few hours of sleep and some take out coffee, I headed down the back roads in the dark trying to find a radio station not featuring fire and brimstone and settled on a Chicago sports station. I pulled up into the driveway of the old abandoned house on his farm and stepped out to see a few meteors arching across the dark sky. Donning my turkey vest, I took a few minutes to freshen up the surface of my friction calls. Into the game pouch of my vest I slipped my folding blind which I hoped to later use to create a camouflage fence around my position. I loaded my 870 twelve gauge with no. 6 Heavy-Shot 3” loads, grabbed a hen decoy, slipped the strap of my seat around my neck, and stepped into the woods.

Carefully I picked my way down the overgrown trail in the dim light of the stars. We haven’t had much time to do maintenance on the trails and numerous trees had blown over and saplings had sprung up everywhere. Resting every few feet, I paused to blow my owl call in order to solicit a gobble and possibly locate where the turkeys were roosting. I have had great luck finding turkeys on the ridge I was walking. You can read about me spooking a huge gobbler from this ridge during last year’s archery season in a previous blog post. Just as I was able to start seeing the tops of the trees and a few squirrels jumping from limb to limb, I reached the spot where I thought the turkeys would be roosted. My plan was to get in among the birds and spook them in all directions so that I might call them back to my location. The birds had not read the script (or perhaps they had!), and no birds were roosted on the ridge.

I slowly made my way down hill, making a few yelps on my slate call. I recently picked up a new Derby City striker. It is made of old growth maple which is over 500 years old. The tone quality of this striker is truly amazing. The company makes their calls and strikers in the off hours of a musical instrument factory using high quality instrument grade woods. I don’t have any of their calls, but this new striker makes all of my friction calls sound great. Far in the distance I could hear a couple of gobbles, so I headed down a creek at the base of the hill toward the sound. I reached a spot where another creek merged with the creek I had been traveling along as well as the convergence of several ridges. I again made a few yelps and purrs, and was rewarded with distant yelps from some hens which seemed to come from the back property line. I headed up a ridge that went off at an angle from where the sound seemed to come from so that I could attempt to circle around the turkeys and not come directly at them. I fitted my mask to my face and slipped on my gloves so as to be invisible as possible to their sharp eyes.

Reaching the crest of the ridge I looked into a large hayfield surrounded by timber and scanned it for any movement. Again, I made a few yelps and heard turkeys yelping back below in the woods to my right as well as yelps to my far left in the deeper woods. My plan was to move between these two groups of turkeys and try to stir them up with a few calls so as to bring them together with me in the middle hopefully ready to take a shot. The damp ground and wet leaves made my steps nearly silent, but a deer smelled me and blew out of the woods in front of me. Hoping for the best, I continued on my path to bisect the two flocks of turkeys when a sharp yelp stopped me in my tracks. Slowly, I dropped my decoy and eased my seat from around my neck and set it next to an oak tree. This tree had on main stump with several smaller trunks coming from the center. I flipped down the cushion on my vest and sat down. I scanned the woods looking for the source of the yelp and directly in front of me across a small ravine was a large black turkey with its neck stretched out looking for whoever was making the footsteps in the woods. The bird seemed to be right at the edge of my gun range as I slowly raised the shotgun to my cheek. I should have checked the yardage with my range finder, but I was so busted that I was afraid that the movement would spook the already alert bird. I took careful aim and squeezed off the shot. The bird flopped and then got back up and half flew and half ran into some thick cover. Racking another shell, I flipped on the safety and took off across the ravine and lost sight of the bird. I picked my way through the thickly spaced sapling and heard the bird flapping ahead. Reaching a small opening, the bird raised its head and started to run. I let loose another shot and the bird was thankfully done.

As I struggled to make my way back through the brush, I finally reached the spot where I had shot the bird. He had a nice thick rope of a beard, but its spurs were less than an inch. I estimate that in the spring he would have been a two year old bird. With the deed done, I reached into my vest to make note of the yardage–63 yards! It was definitely a marginal shot with a 12 gauge and probably not one I would have taken if I had checked the distance first. I think it is important for guys to admit when they do something wrong, and this is definitely one of those times. There is no way I should have taken that shot and I am very lucky I was able to track down the gobbler. I am going to chalk it up to experience and hopefully I will do the right thing next time around. In the meantime, I can’t wait to make up a pot of turkey chili this week!

Kentucky Afield Outdoors: Modern Gun Deer Season Looks Promising If Weather Cooperates

Frankfort, Ky. – A cool, wet summer followed by an even cooler and wetter fall makes excellent conditions for deer breeding and produces lots of deer foods and cover. Whether this bounty makes for good hunting on the Nov. 14 opening day of modern gun deer season remains to be seen.“It could be challenging to hunt them,” said Tina Brunjes, big game program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Deer are fat and happy this year. Fat, happy deer don’t move as much.”If Kentucky receives cold, dry weather on opening weekend, the hunting should be productive. “I am expecting an average modern gun season for this year,” Brunjes explained. “The archery harvest has been very average this year, not bad, not great, just average. I expect gun season to be about the same. It is weather dependent as always. Clear and cold weather would be the ideal situation. ”Average hunting sounds like a negative, but it isn’t in Kentucky. “Our average years are still good,” said David Yancy, deer biologist for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “Although we were down a little from last year, we still had one of the better October muzzleloader seasons we’ve ever had in the last several years.”This year, hunters took 7,215 deer during the Oct. 17-18 early muzzleloader season. Last year, Kentucky hunters reported taking 8,384 deer during the same season. The total harvest this year so far is about 18,000 deer.Soft mast, such as wild berries and tree fruits, abounds this year in the woods as a result of the rain, but the acorn crop is spotty across the state.“The acorn crop is all over the place this year,” Brunjes explained. “It is totally localized; it’s farm to farm. No area of the state is one way or another. I don’t know if it was the ice storm, a late freeze or wet weather, but acorns this year are highly variable.”If you have acorns on the farm or public area you plan to hunt, expect good hunting. Brunjes said deer gorge on acorns and devour food plots as the weather cools. “They think less about food and more about breeding as the season wears onward,” she said.The Bluegrass Region the state’s deer harvest so far this year, with nearly 7,000 deer taken. The Green River Region produced the second most deer taken, with nearly 3,600 reported.Hunters looking for large, mature bucks during this gun season should concentrate their efforts where does female deer lounge. Does like areas that provide food and protection from the elements such as creek bottoms, draws or a brushy gulch.“Hunters should also target deer travel routes during modern gun season,” Brunjes said. “Deer are moving in November. Saddles, draws, ridgelines and logging roads all should be productive. Where you would walk, the deer walk. When you are scouting any area, think about how you would get from point A to point B. That is where the deer trails are located.”Hunting during modern gun deer season will improve if we can avoid a repeat of what we’ve had nearly all year: cold and wet weather. “That kind of weather keeps hunters out of the woods,” Brunjes said.Modern gun deer season opens Nov. 14 statewide and closes Nov. 29 in Zones 1 and 2, and on Nov. 23 in Zones 3 and 4. Consult the “2009-2010 Kentucky Hunting and Trapping Guide”, available wherever hunting licenses are sold, for more details on deer hunting in Kentucky.

via Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources – Kentucky Afield Outdoors: Modern Gun Deer Season Looks Promising If Weather Cooperates.

Thirty-two point buck downed in Ripley hunt by South Haven, Minn., archer | StarTribune.com

By Dennis Anderson

Scott O’Konek, 29, of South Haven, Minn., near St. Cloud shoots his Matthews bow about 300 days a year. So perhaps he was deserving Oct. 15 at Camp Ripley when a 32-point non-typical whitetail presented itself near his bow stand.

O’Konek has hunted Ripley five times previously, but never killed a buck there.

His wife, Susan, was in a nearby stand when O’Konek went to full draw, holding that position for about a minute.

“Bow hunting is something my wife and I do together,” he said.

The big buck, which field-dressed at 192 pounds, was quartering away when O’Konek took his 44-yard shot. The buck was estimated by the Department of Natural Resources to be about 5 years old. It fell shortly after being arrowed.

“It was a clear shot,” O’Konek said. “There weren’t any trees in the way.”

O’Konek was hunting from a tree stand. He figures the buck was bedded down nearby before he saw it about 9 a.m.

“I had always wanted to hunt that part of Ripley, but there were too many people there before,” he said, without being more specific about where he hunted.

O’Konek and his wife pulled an ice fishing house to the military installation and camped in it.

“Bow hunting is more of a lifestyle for my wife and me than a sport,” he said. “We hold a weekly 3-D shoot at our place for friends. Between 12 and 20 of us get together. We shoot a lot.”

O’Konek has mounted two previous deer, both 10-pointers. This will be the third buck he has mounted in four years.

The 32-pointer was dragged about 200 yards to a nearby road by the O’Koneks.

“It was the day I’ve dreamed about since I was little,” he said.

via Thirty-two point buck downed in Ripley hunt by South Haven, Minn., archer | StarTribune.com.