When : June 7th, 2012 at 7:00pm

Where: Bass Pro Shops – Independence, MO

Info:

• $15 Tickets purchased via the HB Store
• Name will then be on Check-in list once ticket is purchased
• Meet and greet with HB Crew
• Sneak peak at Episodes 1 & 3 of Season 5
• D’oeuvres and beverages will be provided
• Gift bag with HB hat and 15% off Bass Pro Coupon
• After Party at PBR Big Sky @ Power & Light District
• Raffle for following prizes:

1. Bowtech Insanity
2. Bushnell Legend Binoculars 10×42
   
3. Bushnell Scout 1000 Rangefinder
   
4. Other HB Sponsored items

LIMITED TICKETS AVAILABLE! Click Here to purchase!

Missouri opens on Monday…can’t wait!

The NCAA Tournament Challenge is back by popular demand! Do you have what it takes to create a winning bracket? It is time to prove it! Join the crew of Heartland Bowhunter and see if you can pick the best NCAA tournament bracket. Signing up is quick and easy. Visit www.espn.com/bracket. Create a bracket. Join the group named Heartland Bowhunter TV. The top three entries will receive prizes. The tournament starts in just a couple of days so sign up soon! NOTE: Each participant is limited to 3 entries. Anyone with more than 3 entries will not be eligible for prizes. Feel free to invite your family and friends!

1st Place – wins a hat, beanie, t-shirt, and 5 DVD combo autographed by the Heartland Bowhunter crew

2nd Place – wins a hat and 5 DVD combo autographed by the Heartland Bowhunter crew

3rd Place – wins a 5 DVD combo autographed by the Heartland Bowhunter crew

Best of Luck!

July 14^th & 15^th, 2012

Lee’s Summit, MO

- Proper Gear

- Basic Manual Camera Settings

- Shot Composition

- Storylining

- Creativity/Originality

- Framing & Focus

- Audio

- 3D Target Shoot

- Tree Stand Setup

- Instructional on how to properly shoot a film

- DSLR Instructional on Video & Photography

- Mock real life hunting situation

• $1000/per person (Group Discount Rates Available)
• 30% Due Upon Booking
• Limited Spots Available
• Food and Lodging Included
• 1 on 1 Instructional with HB Crew
• Discount on Gear From Select Sponsors

*All food will be catered in from V’s Italiano Ristorante (http://www.vsrestaurant.com)

2012 Additions

-       Post-Production instructional from MAMMOTH

-       More on advanced equipment

-       Timelapse Photography

*Email shawn@heartlandbowhunter.com with any Questions or Concerns

Back in March I put in for a New Mexico elk tag with Mike through one of his outfitters. Unfortunately I didn’t draw that tag, but when I saw that I was unsuccessful and shared the news with Mike, he recommended this Arizona hunt. He said it was a tough hunt, but that they had some giant deer. What else is there to be doing in late January anyway?

They hunt was definitely tough…no doubt about that. It was a blast though and was completely different than anything Shawn or I had ever done before. Simply finding the deer in the “sea” of cactus proved extremely difficult. Then, once you found them, the next step was getting on them. When you are watching deer through the spotting scope they don’t look that far, but once you start hiking up the mountain or through the chops, you quickly realize how far away they were.

We did finally get up close to a group with a good buck in it. Unfortunately, once we got to 130 yards we couldn’t get a whole lot closer and the wind swirled….busted!

I don’t know if we will ever get the chance to get back out there and hunt mule deer, but I still dream of the day when I draw an AZ elk tag! Not to mention they have some amazing couse deer hunting. I can’t tell you how many times the guys out in AZ tried to get Shawn and I excited about hunting those little whitetails! …maybe someday guys, maybe someday.

For more information on First Class Outdoors visit http://www.firstclassoutdoors.com/

The winners are listed with the finalists below each category:

Best Hunt Show: Muddy’s Midwest Whitetail with Bill Winke – WINNER Hosted by Bill Winke, Produced by Midwest Whitetail Productions
BackCountry Quest TV
North American Whitetail
Pig Man: The Series
Territories Wild
Whitetail Properties

Best Shoot Show: Guns & Ammo– WINNER Hosted by Craig Boddington, Produced by InterMedia Outdoors
Davidson’s Galley of Guns
Handguns
Personal Defense
Tac TV

Best Fish Show: In-Fisherman – WINNER Hosted by Doug Stange, Produced by InterMedia Outdoors
Addictive Fishing
Flats Class TV
Fly Fishing the World
One More Cast with Shaw Grigsby

Best Combination Show: Brotherhood Outdoors – WINNER Hosted by Tom Ackerman, Produced by Warm Springs Productions 
Beau Knows Outdoors
Coming Home with Greg Stube
G3 Sportsman
Respect Outdoors

Full Draw Award: Heartland Bowhunter – WINNER Hosted by Michael Hunsucker, Produced by Mammoth Media 
Arrow Affliction
Bowhunter TV
Easton Bowhunting
Muzzy Bad to the Bone Bowhunting

Best Show Host: Brian “Pig Man” Quaca with Pigman: The Series – WINNER , Produced by Track Ten Productions
Chris and Casey Keefer – BackCountry Quest TV
Fred Eichler – Easton Bowhunting
Haley & G.O. Heath – Family Traditions
Stan Potts & Gordon Whittington – North American Whitetail 

Best New Series: Hallowed Ground – WINNER Hosted by Joe Sir, Produced by Hallowed Ground Outdoors
A Hunter’s Life
Major League Bowhunter
Nock On TV
The Amateurs

Best Show Intro: The Bear Whisperer– WINNER Hosted by Blaine Anthony, Produced by Nature Productions
BackCountry Quest TV
Pig Man: The Series
RNT-V
The Fowl Life with Chad Belding

Animal of the Year: Whitetail Deer from Whitetail Properties – WINNER Hosted by Dan Perez, Produced by November Studios
A Hunter’s Life (Alaskan Bear)
Easton Bowhunting (Canadian Moose)
Solo Hunters (Big Horn Sheep)
The Zone (Mule Deer)

Fish of the Year: Northern Pike from BackCountry Quest TV – WINNER Hosted by Chris and Casey Keefer. Produced by Rusted Rooster
Fly Rod Chronicles with Curtis Fleming (Peacock Bass)
In-Fisherman (Bull Redfish)
Brotherhood Outdoors (Montauk Stripers)
Fly Fishing the World (Shark)

Shot of the Year: Stone Sheep Shot from Christensen Outdoors – WINNER Hosted by John Mogle, Produced by Christensen Arms
G3 Sportsman (Double Turkey Shot)
High Country with Jason Matzinger (Backcountry Elk Shot)
Long Range Pursuit (Utah Bull Elk Shot)
Territories Wild (Woodland Caribou Shot)

Moment of the Year: Fighting Whitetail Bucks from Savage Outdoors – WINNER Hosted by Mike Stroff and Jammie Satterfield, Produced by Black River Productions
Africa with Craig Boddington and Ivan Carter (Cape Buffalo Charge)
Family Traditions with Haley Heath (Gunner’s First Deer)
On Your Own Adventures (Bull Elk Shot from Close Range)
Where in the World is Colorado Buck? (Casey’s Surprise Hunt)

Sportsman of the Year is presented to our nation’s veterans to commemorate the service and sacrifice they have given us. From our founding to the present, America has been tested time and again, and our democracy — and our love of liberty — has not only survived, but thrived. They exemplify the steadfast courage that demonstrates why our armed forces are second to none and the finest on the planet. Sportsman Channel has asked Tom Taylor, co-founder of Honored America Veterans Afield (HAVA), to accept the Sportsman of the Year award on behalf of our armed forces and our phenomenal veterans.

The HAVA vision is the creation of a small organization of volunteers from the shooting sports industry to facilitate a series of hunting and shooting activities for groups of disabled veterans wherein personal attention of the sponsors and facility operators contributes to the veteran’s sense of joy and accomplishment, and a permanent awareness that marvelous things are possible despite disabling injuries. These veterans have given their full measure of commitment to the preservation of their country’s values, and deserve America’s contribution to their healing process to whatever degree necessary to accomplish physical, mental and cultural rehabilitation.

Typically after rifle season when the rut starts to wind down in Missouri we tend to get somewhat discouraged. This year was a little different though because Shawn and I really busted our tails this summer planting more food than we ever had before. Having several acres of standing crops tends to help put the odds in our favor, especially when the temperatures drop.

After checking cameras on the 8th, I knew exactly where we needed to go that afternoon. We barely had a chance to settle in before deer showed up in the beans and one of them was a shooter that we have quite a bit of history with. “Daddy Fat Sack” was a 4 year old 8pt with an unusually large “manhood”. His issue had caused him to grow a less than desirable rack two years in a row, so this year he made the hitlist.

We have had several encounters with him over the past two seasons, so it was nice to finally close the deal. There is plenty of food left and the weather is just starting to get good, so I have a feeling we have a lot of good hunting to look forward to. Unfortunately for me it will only be doe hunting, but I guess I really can’t complain!

2010

2011

Wake up a 4:30ish and hunt the morning. Mid-Day get down and complete production elements. Hunt the evening. Then return to the lodge to eat dinner, shoot interviews for the challenge, and film results for the challenge. Last we would shoot more production shots if we needed or started to comb through our best shots of the day. This was a long process to try and pick what the judges would like. It usually took a couple of hours. Notice I still haven’t mentioned sleeping yet and this is where it gets interesting. The first 3 days we got maybe 4 hours of sleep each night which isn’t a whole lot in my books! Then things got even more intense the last 4 days of the challenge with teams wanting to win so bad. On average during the last four days of the challenge we got 1.5 hours of sleep. Sometimes more, sometimes less. We pushed ourselves to limits I didn’t think were possible and basically didn’t sleep. We did get a few cat naps in here and there while on the stand but nothing that amounted to anything because the one opportunity we were looking for could happen at any second.

Here’s what happened on the hunt…Clayton hunted the first four days of the challenge with a bow. We saw several shooters but never had an opportunity to let an arrow fly. The last three days of the challenge consisted of gun hunting so I packed in my Poppa’s muzzleloader. My only opportunity occurred on the very last night of the challenge when a big ol’ 8 point decided to run by our tower blind. It was such a relief to get a buck on the last day. It was certainly a week to remember and Clayton and I feel very blessed for the opportunity to hunt with Campbell Illiniois Whitetails and to participate in the Campbell Outdoor Challenge.

Shawn

Needless to say, we were excited for the rut to roll around. Seemed like something magical was in the air the evening of November 3rd. A front had just come through and the wind had died when I got a text from Shawn saying his dad had just shot a buck. I was in the middle of getting my engagement pictures feeling guilty because I only had one thing on my mind…hunting! Clayton and Skyler were also on stand giving me the play by play. It wasn’t too much longer when I got another text from Skyler saying that he too had shot a big one! I couldn’t believe it – two bucks in a matter of about an hour. I couldn’t have been more happy for the guys, but I got to admit I was a little jealous that they were in the stand that night and I wasn’t! Two awesome Missouri bucks!

The next morning I knew exactly where we were going to sit. Shawn and I have a set in the middle of an awesome funnel between two blocks of timber that is a perfect spot for when the bucks start cruising. It wasn’t long after light when we heard some grunting and chasing and then spotted a buck that we call Traveler. He followed the does that skirted the edge of the field and eventually came to 38 yards where I was lucky enough to make a great shot!

If I could have picked one deer to shoot this year, it would have been him. Just a big, mature bully of a buck that we have quite a bit of history with. This particular deer showed up for the first time on my cameras last October (2010) and then disappeared after the rut.

Ty ended up finding his shed on a farm that he hunts several miles away and then getting pictures of him this summer. On opening day he was filming his dad and they actually had an encounter with Traveler, but couldn’t get a shot off.

When October rolled around, I was excited to see if he would show back up on my place since Ty hadn’t seem him and sure enough, when I pulled cards on the 22nd of October I got pictures of him cruising on the end of one of my foodplots. A few days later I got pictures of him again, but this time he was missing the end of his right beam. I knew the rut was right around the corner if he was fighting hard enough to break off his main beam! It was clear that he was establishing his territory and I had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before we could see him from the stand.

Little did I know we would shoot him the first time we did finally see him from the stand. I was so pumped to get on the board with a Missouri buck right before Shawn and I loaded up for Iowa.

Things are rockin up here…look for an update soon!

-Mike