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MIZZOU players going to the NFL

Sheldon Richardson, New York Jets (No. 13 pick)

Zaviar Gooden, Tennessee Titans (No. 97 pick)

T.J. Moe, New England Patriots (free agent deal)

Kendial Lawrence, Dallas Cowboys (free agent deal)

Elvis Fisher, New England Patriots (free agent deal)

Brad Madison, Kansas City Chiefs (free agent deal)

Kenronte Walker, Cleveland Browns (free agent deal)

Kip Edwards, Buffalo Bills (free agent deal)

Jared McGriff-Culver, Oakland Raiders (tryout)

Speacial Ground

              Do you have a special place you hunt, not because the hunting good but because that area has a special meaning to you? I do and I will tell you why. Where I hunt has been hunted by my family since before I was born. Its public land and a national forest. The game there has years that they are plentiful and some years it is not. Some years there are many hunters in the woods; other years there are few. Most years we shoot one or two, sometimes three but other years we don’t even see any. So you ask why you would hunt the same land year after year when it’s not plentiful and you’re not shooting monsters by managing the land. 
                This is why; my family has hunted this land longer then I have been alive and my grandpa actually lost his life in a camper due to carbon monoxide poisoning in a camper in the same place we camp every year. There is a really good chance that someone in my family has walked the same trails that I am and there is a good chance that that the deer I shoot is related to the deer my grandpa has shot.
                When I’m scouting I look at the lay of the land, the trails and the sign I see and I follow it. There are times that I hear a little voice that tells me to check out an area that I normally wouldn’t have looked at. I have started listening to the little voice and it has brought me success. To me that little voice is my grandpa helping and showing me he’s with me in the woods as I pursue the amazing whitetail that he loved to hunt so much. 
                When I do shoot a deer, to me it’s a sign from my grandpa that he’s watching over me. I don’t know how many times something has told me to look in a direction that I wouldn’t expect the deer to come from and there he was and I get my shot and fill my tag. Some people might say you’re just lucky or that you did it just because. There is a reason I looked somewhere I would have never looked there is a reason I saw looked; in a direction that I would have never thought a deer would come from. That reason is because someone is watching over me and guiding me on my hunt. That someone is my grandpa and he is the one still teaching me how to hunt, even though I never got to hunt with him a day in my life in person.
What about you? What’s your story?

Tying a D-Loop

        Have you ever broken your D-Loop on your bow sting? If so that will put a huge damper on your hunt or even just your day of shooting. Here is how you can tie a new one and carry on with what you were doing. Tying a D-Loop Be sure to melt both ends.
This tip was brought to you by BigDogz

Paper tuning!

       Do you need to tune you bow? Do you know how your arrow is impacting your target? The cheap home way to do this is to paper tune your bow. With a little work your bow will be striking the target perfect and you will have clean shooting. It would be a good idea to make sure your bow is tuned and stays tuned in. So here is how you paper tune your bow try it out all the instructions are here. 

         The image on the top left indicates a low tear following the point of the arrow. Corrections would be either to lower the brass nock or loop on the string or raise the position of the rest launcher. In some cases the timing of the cams my need adjusting so the cams are in sync on a 2 cam system.  
        On the top right, the shot arrow indicates a high tear at the point! Corrections would be to raise the brass nock or loop on the string or lower the rest launcher, also again the timing of the 2 cam system my need adjusted to be in sync. 
        The lower corner. The arrow point indicates a right tear following the point! Now it gets interesting because the rest may need to be moved to right. If you keep moving the rest to the right and the tear isn't changing! It could be a week spine arrow, try adding or lowering point weight to see if the tear changes. The bow may have to be yoked tuned as well Buy twisting or untwisting one or the other side of the Y cable to correct limb and or cam lean.
        The lower right indicates a left tear at the point! Corrections would be moving the rest to the left and or a stiff spine arrow in which one would follow the same corrections as a right tear! By adding or lowering point weight and or yoke tuning at the Y of the buss cable.
This tip was brought to you by BigDogz

Draw Length

Have you ever wanted to get into Bow hunting or shooting but have known idea were to start? Well here is a tip on figuring out what the correct draw length is for you. To figure a correct draw length for a bow with a release aid, Take your total wing span, fingertip to fingertip and divide by 2.5. This is where to start and this tip was brought to you by BigDogz

Turkey hunting public land

        Most hunters dread and fear the idea of turkey hunting on public land. The thing with that is there is plenty of game on public land but there are lots of hunters to go with it. if you deer hunt on public land you have most likely thought you heard a deer walking up on you before you saw what it was and then you see it and there it is a nice long beard within range. Why not hunt turkey on public land? 
        It’s just like I say for deer hunting public land you have to separate yourself from the rest of the hunters. On most public land there are tons of fields that go un noticed and un touched deep in the heart of the forest. Most hunters are lazy and don’t stray to far from the road. If your hunting a national forest or a large track of land find the ridges that you don’t see from the road or that is far from the road. One of my favorite deer hunting spots and a place I have seen tons of thunder birds is a ridge that every hunter drives right by and you can’t tell there is a ridge there its hidden by the trees and other ridges unless you have a topo map you wouldn’t know it was there. It’s not a big long ridge it’s a honey hole that the game run to when the pressure heats up. 
        If your hunting public land you probably have a plan set up on what you’re going to do but that’s not enough. When you pull in to the parking spot and there are ten or fifteen trucks already parked there is a good chance that spot you picked and had a plan for is already taken. That’s why you need a backup plan and a backup for your back up. Plan on getting away from the big fields near the road, everyone knows about them so there will be late hunters walking in on you. Stay away from the ridges that are right on the road. Get off the beaten path and head deep into the woods.
        If you can manage to have a partner that can call have them sit up about 60 yards behind you. Especially on public land that the turkeys have been hunted hard year in and year out. The reason for this is that that long beard will probably come in and hang up out of range. If your partner is good when the long beard hangs up he will move back further hen are vocal as they feed so its common. A hen normally comes to the long beard if he is in range so as your partner moves the gobbler will come in and should give you a shot.
        The entire time your hunting you need to be scouting to if you bust a flock pay attention to where they were and the trails they took they will use them again. Use you’re locating calls and remember were you hear the gobbles come from so that next time you know to start your hunt closer to them. Scouting should never stop and there is that chance you will find that honey hole that no one knows about.
        Change up your calls anyone relatively speaking can use a box call and I’m sure the long beards will catch on. Use all the tools in your bag use your slate and mouth calls or homemade wing bone calls for that matter. The goal of calling is to sound natural and match the calls of the birds around you. If they birds are using the notes you use three notes. If that long beard has hooked up with a hen call with more enthusiasm than her and make him want you. Mix up your calls don’t stick to one call.
        The more work you put in and the harder the hunt is the more rewarding the turkey you take will be weather is a record, average, or a jake the work you put in for him makes him the trophy. There will be obstacles to face and overcome its part of it. With lease land being more expensive by the year and not having privet land to hunt public land is the place to be.

Turkey hunting tips for spring

Scouting
                When your scouting go to places were you have seen gobblers or were others have told you they have seen them. Look for dropping feathers and scratching. Roost sites I will go more into that in the next tip. Dusting sites and tracks in the soft dirt or mud. A gobbler track is around 3 ½ inches or the size of a magnum turkey load.

Roost
                You want to know where that gobbler is roosting down to the tree and limb he is on. Use a locater call like an owl-hoot to get that thunder chicken to gobble and give away his roost. Get within 50 yards so you can pick the tree and try and predict where he will fly down.
                When you’re moving in to the roost stealth is your best friend a turkey can see very well and you don’t want him flying off before you can set up. You want to be real close to his roost so you are the first thing he hears and the closest thing to him when he fly’s down.

Calling
                You want to call aggressively and make his ears bleed. Turkeys are extremely vocal they call to develop a pecking order and they are working on it every day continuously. Make sure you call loud with lots of feeling. Take a wink with you and flap it like the hen flew down in the morning and move leaves when you’re doing feeding calls. Make it seem like its real using decoys will bring that gobbler in closer if you do it right.

Move on
                Run and gun works it’s tried and true if you’re not working a roosted bird. Run the ridges stop and call often for about ten minutes if you don’t hear a response move on about 200 yards at a time and stop again and call for about ten minutes. When you get a response bring that gobbler in with aggressive hen calling or a few gobbles.

Equipment
                Know your gear your gun is most important. Spend time on the range every load and choke is different. When the time comes and the gobbler is within 20 yards you have no excuse for not tagging him because of gear!

Barnett Ghost 350

        Well as most of you know I hunt with a crossbow and here in Missouri you have to have a permit to use a crossbow during bow season. I use a crossbow due to an injury that happened in Iraq to my left wrist. Well I purchased a Barnett Ghost 350 over the weekend and took it out shooting. I don’t do numbers but I will tell you a little about my experience with this crossbow.
        This crossbow is the smoothest shooting crossbow I have ever shot. I have owned three the Ghost 350 is the smoothest and quietest shooting crossbow I have used so far. It has a 3x32 illuminated scope on it and I have a rope cocker for it. This crossbow is fast practically no recoil and very accurate. The first time I shot three bolts and every one was touching so I had to start aiming at other spots with every bolt. The scope is very clear and easy to adjust my only complaint is that the scope adjustments are 1 click is ¼ inch at 100 yards but when you get it adjusted you’re good and it didn’t take long to get it figured out.

 I have a rope cocker for it and it took the 175lb pull down to the point it was easy to cock at a few positions sitting standing and from a tree stand platform all were very easy and I will feel safe cocking it from my tree stand. 
        I bought a crossbow target 2 years ago and I will have to buy a new one my other two crossbows shot just fine into it and I never buried the fletching into the target but with this ghost I was burring fletching’s almost every shot. This crossbow shoots very hard by the book with the bolts and field tips that I received with the bow its shooting over 160 feet per second.
        The ghost is very comfortable when you shoulder it and very user friendly I shot probably 100 bolts in one siting and had no problems the anti-dry fire function built into this ghost worked incredibly well it won’t even shoot it the bolt is in just not all the way. It also has thumb/finger guards so you don’t accidently get your fingers hit by the string and injured.
        I love this Barnett Ghost 350 and will be using it this year turkey hunting and I can’t wait to use it in the field I will be using the crossbow for many years to come. I purchased this Barnett Ghost 350 at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield Missouri the guys behind the counter put it together and sighted it in getting it close. They really knew what they were doing they were able to answer all my questions and after talking to them for a bit I found out a little about them they were all great guys and I enjoyed talking with them. I will be doing business with them again. If you head up there and need to talk bows ask for Cody let him know Hillbilly Huntin sent you his way. Tell Cody The Hillbilly says thanks and I love my Barnett Ghost 350!

M-I-Z-Z-O-U updates

        As you all have figured out I’m a huge M-I-Z-Z-O-U fan mostly football so I will be putting thoughts about the season and random updates on here as I have them. 

        On the top of the list is in Sheldon Richardson, picked by the JETS for the 13th overall pick in the 2013 NFL draft. 

        Next would be that Zaviar Gooden was picked in the 3rd round by the Tennessee Titans as the 97th overall pick in the 2013 NFL draft.

         Last but most relevant to the tigers 2013 football season would be the quarterback battle. James Franklin will be listed No. 1 followed by redshirt freshman Maty Mauk and redshirt sophomore Corbin Berkstresser after the spring practices and scrimmages ended with the black and gold game Franklin held off the competition so far and still has the number 1 spot as quarterback!

Ramblings

Well again I am behind on articles big surprise since it is turkey season. Work has been crazy and life is hectic but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Crazy things are happening in the world these days and we all have lots of people to keep in our prayers. Remember to pray for our troops on top of all of that. Well here we are going in to day two of heavy rains. The rivers are filling and the ponds are rising it is starting out as a good year of rain. The mineral lick I put out has hoof prints in it and there are some large does and a lot of fawns and young deer visiting it I’m excited to see what happens when the bucks start visiting it. I have been doing work to were I’m planning on hunting this deer season little by little every trip. By deer season it will be cleaned up and I will have good shooting lanes. Sorry about the rambling I would just like to keep you up to date on what I’m doing I should have new articles soon.

Black And Gold Game

The Missouri Tigers football spring game is today. Let’s hope we have a better season then we did last year and let’s go TIGERS M-I-Z-Z-O-U!!!

Spring Turkey hunt #1

        Well Missouri spring turkey season is here The Hillbilly (me) made it out the first two days. This season I’m hunting public land with my crossbow (Barnett Ghost 350 Muzzy 3 blade 100 grain broad heads). The first day I was wearing my ghillie suit the second day I wore my mossy oak classic camouflage. 
        On the first day out I found myself down a long ridge set up on a glade sitting on a rock between some ciders. I had turkey gobbling all around me and one was close behind me I was looking for him and turned to check my decoy that was set up about 20 yards in front of me. Something behind it just didn’t look right. I took a closer look and it was a coyote crawling toward my decoy. This was a mature coyote almost all white and a little yellow on its ears. I tried turning on my camera and hitting record. Before I got it recording the coyote had jumped and taken out the decoy knocking it about 20 feet. The coyote freaked out and spun around in a circle fell down yelped and ran off it was very funny seeing its reaction. 
        I re set my decoy and started calling again. After about 10 minutes I had 3 hens come up to my decoy when I started recording I couldn’t tell if I was on the hens or not and I wasn’t I didn’t realize this until 2 had walked off and one was in the process I did get some short footage of her.
        The next day I stayed above the glade on the ridge and had gobblers all around me. None came in for me to see or get footage of but I did get him gobbling and answering my calls for a few minutes the gobblers were all around me the only problem was that the hens were down in the holler off the side of the ridge. When they started calling the gobblers flew off down to the bottoms. It was good to get them gobblers answering my calls on film and hopefully I will get the gobbler on film next week when I head out.
        I may take one day and instead of hunting stay behind the camera to film a friend’s hunt but who knows we will see what happens and maybe we can pull off a double. Have a wonderful day and good luck this season.

Processing your gobbler!

        Now that you have your turkey tagged and home it’s time to processes your turkey so you can freeze or cook him. If you have never done this here are instructions on processing your turkey.

Plucking- If you’re like me you like your turkey to be moist and juicy. If that’s what you like you need to keep the skin on the turkey this is how you do it. To do this you have to pluck the feathers out yes it will be messy and more time consuming but the end result will be better. Plucking a turkey is just like plucking a chicken. Grab the feathers as close to the skin as you can and pull out small amounts at a time until your turkey is bald.

Skinning- Doing this can be faster but you can’t cook it the same as you do with the plucking method. This is how you skin a turkey.

Hang the turkey up by both feet about chest level and the feet should be 12 inches apart.

To save the bread you need to do it now. Grab the beard as close to the body as you can give it a half to full twist and pull it should come right out.

At this time you can remove the fan. You remove the fan by cutting the skin away from the tail and the fan will remove easily.

To cut the wings cut them at the second joint in the wing.

Now the skinning processes start at the tail. Grab the skin at the tail and start pulling down work the skin around the wing and then continue pulling down to the neck.

Cut of the neck at the skin line the neck head and feathers will all come off together.

Not open the body cavity and remove all the guts and make sure to get all the pieces of the lung from the back bone it will spoil quickly so get it out as fast as you can.

Now remove the legs cut them off at the second joint your turkey is ready to be cooked or frozen. If you’re going to freeze him double bag it and make sure it’s as airtight as possible.

Check back in the next few days and we will be posting some amazing turkey recipes.

Rifle and Bow patches

It was pointed out to me how do other hunters no what you have killed with a rifle and what you have killed with a bow? Now you can distinguish between the two by putting the certain patches together. There is now a rifle patch and a bow patch here is an example of what you can do.

Long Beard patch

With spring turkey season right around the corner (Monday here in Missouri) I realized I didn’t have a turkey patch and with only being able to kill long beards during the fall hunt I had nothing for that. Well I do know so if you are privileged enough to get a long beard this fall make sure to order this patch to show your success in the field.

Newest member to the Hillbilly Staff

        Guys our new staff member and competitive bow shooter goes by BigDogz he calls New York his home state. BigDogz started bow hunting at an age of 14 years old and fishing at a younger age than that. When times were tough for his Mother, sister and him he would hunt and fish to provide for them. His father left them when he was 3. He cut wood with an axe starting at 7 years old so they would have heat for the winter as well. It wasn’t a great set of circumstances but they made it through the hard times. BigDogz graduated from high school in 1989 and then went into the military at age 19. He Served 8 years in the U.S Army and defended our country well.
        After the Military BigDogz worked at numerous places and after years of working his way to the top a great opportunity came his way. Nestle Purina Pet Care gave him a carrier in Dry Foods and he embraced it. Great company.
        BidDogz and his wife have been married for almost 20 years and have a son who is 13 years old. BigDogz and his son live, breath, sleep hunting and archery. They travel when able to shoot at National archery competitions as well as supporting their local clubs. 
        He enjoys and is a perfectionist when it comes to archery as well as the mechanics of it. he works on his own equipment / assembly, tuning, arrows etc. he is one of those guys where it’s just not good enough yet and continues to micro adjust his equipment until it meets his standards.
        He currently promotes Epilepsy Awareness as much as he can. As well as Podium Plus Bowstrings (truly the best strings he has ever used), Robin Hood Videos and Stabilizers (great people ), Alpen Opics, Loc Outdoorz, Truball/Axcel sights, Easton arrows, Hoyt archery, and Now HillBilly Huntin. As well as his very own BigDogz, this represents all of their beautiful Labrador Retrievers past and present. Archery is a passion of his; he lives life to the fullest and shoots straight. He loves every moment that he is shooting. 
        Make sure to say hi and show your Hillbilly Huntin side and give him props and show your friendly side. Let’s make him feel welcome in the Hillbilly Huntin community!

April is a New Month!

        Sorry there have been so few articles posted lately been working on a lot these past few weeks but I’m going to make it up to you all. I hope everyone had a great Easter and was able to spend time with friends and family and that the weather was nice to you that you got to spend some time in the outdoors.
        With turkey season here in Missouri starting next Monday I’m going to stray from my typical deer hunting articles and this month will mostly be talking turkey hunting. They are a gift from god put here on earth for us to enjoy. This month will have some product reviews and turkey recipes for you all to try out on your thunder chickens. 
        By the end of the month I should have the Hillbilly Huntin patches ready so shoot me a comment or message if you want one there will be a limited amount this month since I don’t know how many people want one. If you let me know how many you want I will make sure you get them but for you all who don’t place an order I can’t promise how many will be available.
        This is a first for Hillbilly Huntin we are going to have a fellow Hillbilly Huntin member supporting and showing there Hillbilly Huntin pride at competitive bow shooting competitions. I will be introducing you all to him sometime this month.
        Just like every day and every month when you see a veteran or military member tip your hat to them tell them thank you and let them know that you support our men and women in uniform. They do a job that many have no idea what they do but they keep us safe and make sure when we fall asleep at night that we know they keep us safe so we can sleep well with our family’s with a roof over our heads they are the shepherds that watch over the herd always keep them in your prays and be thankful they are standing guard watching over us. It takes a special person to do the job they do.

Mouth calls

PURR- Short, rapid bursts of air from your chest will produce this high-pitched call. To make this call, form your lips as if making the "UR" sound.-purr - ththth... (People purr with their lips holding your lips together so that they rattle and short bursts of air come through. Doing this will make your lips tingle make sure to hold the call to the top of your mouth the entire time.)

YELP- Make your lips in the form of an "O" when your making this call. Drop your jaw to adjust the sound. Try and say cheey yolk (drop your jaw on the second word)

CUT- Keep your lips together when starting this call as if pronouncing the letter "P", then form your lips to pronounce the silent letter "U" as if saying "chuck chuck chuck".

KEE-KEE- As if you’re pronouncing the "EE" sound.

Cackle - Chuck (also sharp like a cut but in a regular sequence starting slow, quickly speeding up and then slowing down again slowly, about 12 to 15 notes total.) 

Cluck - puck (starting with lips closed and allowing the air to pop your lips open)

Put - puck (same as cluck but sharper.)

Whine - cccccct (steady soft air across the reeds cut of at the end)

Patches

        So speaking of patches we are going to have a few new ones this year and I’m going to tell you about them. We will have the normal “Hillbilly Hunting patch” we will have a “Hillbilly Huntin Deer Camp 2013 patch” a “Buck patch” this will be an antler on a patch that is the same shape as the Hillbilly Huntin logo the antler will be black a “Doe patch” it will be lick the buck patch but it will have a hoof print instead of an antler. We will also have a “First Deer patch”.
        You can put them on a jacket, coat, or shirt and collect as many as you earn. It will create and conversation in your camp and will be a way to show off your hunting record. We will be adding more and more patches every year. If you have and patch request or ideas let us know and we will work on creating them. We are in the process of creating some for turkeys and other animals.

If you want to order a patch click the brown button below and let me know what patch and how many patches you want. If you have a suggestion for a patch or a comment to help improve the patches click the orange button and let me know your comment or suggestion.

Order Patch

Comment or Suggestion