To say the past few week of bear hunting have been some I won’t forget in a very long time.  Being passionate about what I do for a living and allowing other to experience what I do led me to really strive to seek those with dreams out.  I had the opportunity to hunt with a young cancer survivor and my father on an Alberta bear hunt that honestly I will never forget.  Lets start first with Dalton.

Dalton at the young age of 11 was diagnosed with a form of bone cancer.  His will to beat his disease and survive cancer at a young age truly inspired me.  Now with a prosthetic leg, he was wanting to go on a hunt.  I was contacted by his family on how he would love to meet me and someday do a hunt with me.  It took me all of 2 seconds to put in place a time and date to do this hunt.  With some help from some amazing sponsors like ScentBlocker and Tenzing, the call to the family was made.  I had it worked out to do an all expense paid hunt in Northern Alberta to hunt bears with True North Outfitters.  Dalton not having a clue on what was about to happen I made my way to Fernie British Columbia.  With help from the family, the surprise was sprung and Dalton was in a state of shock.

Now where does my Dad come into play.  Well my father had never harvested a bear and at the young age of 60, I figured it was his time.  In telling Dad what I was doing, he wanted to be a part of it.  I know my fathers love for helping I knew this would be a hunt he wouldn’t forget.  He didn’t realize he would be able to hunt until my Mom and I told him he was hunting too.  Like a kid in a candy store, he was off shooting the Carbon Express Crossbow every night getting ready for his first bear hunt with me.

After a long drive, Dalton, Dad, Mark , Scott and I made it to bear camp.  We were greeted by Jeff Downing and also a father/son duo from Ohio.  Bill Macek and his son Nathan were in camp.  I had hunted with Bill in Ohio and when the heard of the story, he wanted to be a part too.  After getting our gear ready we were all off to hunt.  Bill, Nathan, Dalton and Dad had never harvested bears, so there were about to be a lot of firsts for these guys.  Dalton was saying how he would love to see a blonde phased black bear.  I explained to him that they are really rare and hard to find, but if all the stars aligned, he might get to see one.

Dalton’s hunt started with him, Mark and Scott getting to the site.  Expectations were high to see bears, but what they found was only what I and Dalton had dreamed about for him.  They weren’t in the stand 3 minutes and out from the brush comes a beautiful blonde phased bear.  Yes you read this right, a blonde bear.  Dalton was so excited he almost jumped out of the blind.   Within seconds the bear was at the bait and his 7mm o8 ring in the Alberta forest.  Bear down and what a bear he had.  I don’t know who was more excited out of the three, but all I know is there were a lot of hugs and tears flowing from all.

Dad and I were about 5 miles down from them not knowing all this had gone on.  As Dad and I sat in the stand our excitement level was over the top.  Knowing how bad Dad wanted to see and harvest a bear, we were both on pins and needles.   About 2 hours into it, I hear a noise coming toward us.  As I looked back, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  It was a giant!  I looked at Dad and said don’t move.  Dad in his calm self said “is it a big one?”  Without hesitation I said “Dad its a giant, please don’t move.”   The bear was literally under the stand smelling the ladder.  Dad this whole time couldn’t see the bear.   As he went to the bait, I looked over and the shacks began.  We were both shaking like leave in the wind.   After what seemed like hours, the bear was in position for Dad to make the shot.   With a steady aim, the bolt was shot and Dad made the perfect shot.  We both screamed like little kids and then the tears flew.  My father had harvested the largest bear he had ever seen.  A 7 foot plus monarch.  Words can not express the level of excitement and pride I had in my father.

With two bears on the ground and both not knowing what had happened, we all finally made it back to camp.  To know that both tagged their first bears, and both wanting the types bears harvest, obviously someone from above was blessing this hunt.

I am so proud of both for putting the hammer down on 2 amazing bears.  The week of hunting went as good as you could have imagined.  I was able to harvest a 6′6 bear with my Dad in stand with me, Bill harvested his first bear, and Nathan harvested his first two.  What an unbelievable week with friends and family.  This is why I do this show, is to let others experience the great outdoors and live dreams.  I can guarantee you this, none of us will forget this week ever.

Special thanks to True North Outfitter, Scent Blocker, Tenzing, Trophy Taker and Carbon Express for making everyones dreams become reality.  You are amazing companies, and even more amazing friends!

Opening day of turkey season was one I won’t forget soon.  After calling in a bunch of Jakes for Darrell, we decided to head out and call it a morning.  With the weather turning bad, Darrell decided to stay home that evening and not go out.  During this time, I get home and I am swarmed by my girls wanting to know how it went.  Told them turkeys were there, but no good toms to shoot.  In an instant, my two youngest asked if they could go.  Without hesitation, I said yep, lets get ready.  Two hours later we were on the road heading back to the blind.  As we get all our gear in the blind, the excitement level was over the top.  Sitting for the first two hours with nothing happening the mood started to change.  All of us were getting cold and I looked at them and said we should hang for another 15 minutes and if nothing comes into the field we should leave.  They both agreed and the plan was made.  I don’t know if it was luck or just destiny, but 5 minutes later, two big toms came into the field.  I looked over and both girls eyes were the size of watermelons.  The game was on.  After a little calling, the birds were coming in on a dime.  Jaidyn was saying shoot daddy shoot.  I was trying to explain to them both what was happening with the turkeys in front of us, plus trying to run the camera.  I don’t believe our eyes ever were off the birds.  After about 15 minutes in front of us the time had come to make the shot.  As I drew my Hoyt back, both girls held their breath.  As the arrow was released and hit its mark I honestly don’t know who was more excited.  With cheers of joy we had our turkey on the ground.  Both my girls were so excited to get spend time in the blind with me and to have a turkey on the ground to boot.  Man what an amazing hunt.  They both dove out of the blind and had there hands on him before I could blink and eye.  Amazing footage, but even more amazing time with my girls.  Thanks Jaidyn and Tailyr for hanging with me and sharing great moments in the field.  That is what its about, spending time with your kids in the woods!!

John, Anthony and I had an amazing time in North Dakota.  Our trip was planned to do a little pheasant hunting and then do some goose hunting.  After a 14 hours drive, we finally made it to our destination.   To say the least we were all a little sore and ready to get out in the prairie and do some pheasant hunting.  After a quick stop at Fish and Game, we were off.  We were hunting with Kristi Lee, aka Kamo Kristi, and her hunting partner Dennis.  When it was all said and done, the SDO crew had 8 pheasant on the ground and some amazing film to go with it.  The following days the weather was flat out horrible.  The wind was blowing from 50 to 60 mph.  We pheasant hunted the next day and limited out before the rain actually hit.  Good thing, because when it rains in North Dakota, it rains.  So we headed out and decided that we needed to do a little goose hunting since the weather was perfect for this kind of hunt.  Anthony hooked us up with a buddy of his and we were able to get on some geese and put 8 of them on the ground along with 5 ducks.  What a great way to kill some time until the weather got better then limit out on geese.  Special thanks to Kristi Lee and Dennis for inviting us to North Dakota and showing us an unbelievable time pheasant hunting.

Man I apologize about not being more up to date on our blogs.  I promise in the future I will be better at getting some of this stuff done.  SO with that said, our fall season has been really good.  Lucas took his wife Tiffany out to try and get her first archery elk harvest.  Needless to say, she did just that.  Lets go back a bit and fill you in on the story.

First Tiffany drew a limited area elk tag in Montana.  One a lot of us would love to draw.  After she got word we ordered her up her new Hoyt Vector 32 in the Vixen model and she began to shoot.  It didn’t take long and she was bulls eyeing everything.  SO with her confidence at an all time high, she knew she was ready to make the shot.  But was she ready to deal with the metal aspect of elk hunting.  We all know when a big bull comes in, your heart and nerves are tested.  Last year, she tried her and came close a couple times, so she had a good feeling of what the nerves feels like.

The day finally came and they were off.  After an opening day of scouting it was time to hunt.  Now I am not going to tell you the whole story, because I want you to see it unfold on TV, but I will tell you that they picked the right spot.  With several big bulls screaming, it was only a matter of time before the big boy would come around.  Finally, the bull they were looking for decided to come challenge Lucas.  With the bull closing fast, Tiffany drew her Hoyt back and without a word, let the Carbon Express Meat Missile go.  Monster bull on the ground and I think it will go down as one of the largest bulls ever taken by a female on national television.  Great ending to and amazing family hunt.  Make sure you tune in to see this hunt unfold.  Congrats Tiff for taking this monster bull, public land on your own!!

To say I was extremely excited to be able to head to Washington state for the first time on a hunting trip is an understatement.  I have always wanted to and my opportunity to do so was now.  I was heading over to hunt with Chris Fourtrack of Fourtrack Hunting Adventures for turkeys. Chris and I are going to be hunting this fall for elk, but he was telling me how many turkeys he has in his area and that I should head over for a hunt.  I kept getting game camera pictures of some amazing toms, so I couldn’t refuse the offer.

After driving over, we went out to dinner to discuss our game plan for the morning.  He had a particular field with a couple big toms he wanted to try out first.  So as my alarm went off in my room at 2:30 am, my mind started thinking of the pictures I saw from the night before.  We headed out and were in the ground blind right before first light.

As the morning began to light up the field in front of us, we could start to hear the toms gobbling in the trees.  We could hear at least 5 toms in all directions.  All of a sudden I looked to my left and I could see a small tom in the field.  He was coming in on a dime.  All of a sudden he held up about 25 yards from my Double Header Decoys.  I thought it was strange, so I let out a few soft clucks, and all he did was gobble and turn away.  Chris and I looked at one another with disbelief.  Then it dawned on me that there must be a really dominate tom in the area.  Sure enough, I could hear some drumming behind the blind.  Chris and I were on high alert.  All of a sudden, I could see him.  He was 10 yards to my left.  He was huge, at least a 10 inch beard.  There was no doubt he was going to the decoys.  Bypassing my hen decoy, and straight to the tom, this big boy was mad.  He began to beat my decoy up so badly that all I could see feathers flying off both birds.  As I drew my Hoyt back to try and make a clean head shot, the bird gave me a shot.  8 yard and my arrow was on off.  The tom took off running and with confusion in the blind, we both looked at each other and wondered what in the world just happened.   After looking at the footage, you could clearly see the shot was on the mark.  So we got out of the blind and headed in the direction where the bird had disappeared.   There he was, Washington turkey on the ground, and the cool thing was, it was only a 45 minute hunt.  Chris was right, this area is loaded with turkeys.  You know I will be back with the crew next year for more turkey action.  Special thanks to Chris for inviting me down and I am stoked about our upcoming elk hunt this fall.

When you are thinking about a hunting trip and the thoughts of being able to see 400 plus pound spring black bears usually doesn’t have a second thought.  But when you go to where the SDO crew goes every spring, your thoughts run wild with excitement.  This spring Lucas, Scott and I headed back up to hunt with our good friend Brad at Amyot Lake Outfitters.  I was going up to try and find old pumpkin head, a 500 pound bear that we had been after last year.   He had been seen a couple times so at the start of my hunt, I new I would be baiting the areas he was in to see if we could get a glimpse of this bear.

The first few days we filmed a few fans of our show harvest amazing bears and it was now our turn.  Lucas and Scott headed out to hunt a tree stand where we had trail cam pics of a monster black.  I was baiting and trying to find pumpkin head.  What is about happen to us all is one we will never forget.  Could we harvest two 400 plus pound bears, near the same time frame, 27 miles apart and not know we each did it?

Lucas and Scott are sitting watching a sow and cub feed off the bait, they notice she is really nervous and with a quick bark, her and her cub were off like you had shot at them.  All of a sudden, Scott taps Lucas on the shoulder and says there is a big bear.  As the bear begins to come to the bait, both of the guys know this was a huge bear.  Thinking it will go in the high 300 pound range and a 20 inch skull, Lucas readies himself for the shot.  The bear after several minutes of roaming around finally gave him the shot he was looking for.  A quartering away 20 yard shot.  In the blink of an eye, the arrow was off and right on the money.  The bear takes off and goes 80 yards and hits the dirt.  With both guys shacking with excitement, they each know this is a big bear.  They slowly make there way over to it and it is bigger then they thought.  The bear was 6′5 feet and weighed 400 pounds with a 20 inch skull.

I am off wondering how the guys are doing, when all of a sudden I see a bear coming across a 2 track road next to the bait we are walking into.  I looked at my guide and was like did you see the size of that bear.  Without hesitation, we took off and raced back to the truck to grab my bow and the camera.  After a quick film lesson, we were off.  Spot and stalk bear hunting, just how I like it.  After about a mile of walking in a grid pattern, I heard a sound coming threw the bush.  It was a small black bear, looking back towards a big timber patch.  I looked at Lawrence and said we need to head over there.   As I slowly approached, I could see in the timber and there he was, big red.  I could not believe we finally found this bear.  In really looking at him, there was no doubt in my mind I was going to try and harvest him.  I have never seen a bear of this size other then pumpkin head and this bear was cinnamon color.  After a few failed attempts at getting close, the old bruiser finally made his mistake.  He lays down in an opening where I can get close enough for a clean shot.  I told Lawrence to stay still and film from in front of the bear while I tried to get into a good window to shoot from to the side of the bear.  After about 10 minutes trying to find my opening, I finally found a 3X3 inch shooting gap.  12 yards from the largest bear I have ever seen and now it was the moment of truth.  With a quick prayer my arrow was off and I had my bear.  After a little mental breakdown I finally got my composure to really realize what we just did.  To spot and stalk a true giant is something that Lawrence and I will never forget.  The bear is over 7 ft and weighed in at 440 pounds with a skull over 21 inches.  I will never forget this hunt!

As all of us regrouped we all were wondering how the others were doing.  It wasn’t till Lawrence and I headed back over to where Lucas and Scott were at we all knew that both crews shot bears, and both crews got bears in the 400 pound range.  What an unbelievable hunt and one none of us will forget any time soon.  Silent Draw Outdoors, busting monster bruins, you got to love it!!!

I have never been in the ground blind and have an amazing red phased turkey come to my decoys.  But I did on this trip.  Darrell and I were turkey hunting in NW Montana for eastern turkeys, and what we experienced was something we both won’t forget.  It started off with a bunch of toms and jakes at the end of this field.  As we got ready to figure out where we were going to step up the ground blind, I noticed the turkeys walking along the fence our way.  So we hurried up and set the decoys out and popped the ground blind up.  About 3 hours later, here they come, 3 jakes and this tom.  As we started to film, I notice something really strange, they turkey was all cooper colored.  I thought it was a freak so I told Darrell if  he comes all the way in I was going to take him.  Sure enough the jakes made a be line right to the decoys and the hunt was on.  They are gobbling and strutting around the tom decoy when I finally got my shot.  Carbon Express meat missile right through him and it was all over.  Turkey of a life time.  The show will be amazing and I can’t wait for you all to see it on our 2013 shows on Sportsman Channel.