Powered by Team Natural Outdoors http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php Fri, 18 May 2012 18:41:31 -0500 10 http://www.bowlife.com/images/bowlifeforum.png http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22744 Hey guys Im going to be in school up in Jax june 3-18th. I would really like to sling some arrows down range and get up with some of you guys. Is there anything going on in the area between those dates? Thu, 17 May 2012 19:42:51 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22744 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22745
Copied from bowlife.com

1st tourney this year so get them bowfishing rigs ready, and come stick some fish with us.

Entry fee $10 a person

2 to 3 shooters per boat

Big fish $10 entry fee

WHEN~ Saturday, May 19, 2012
TIME~~ 6:30am-2:00pm
WHERE~ Welaka Boat Ramp
Directions~ Take hwy 17 to Satsuma, turn onto County road 309 towards Welaka, then take right on Elm St., boat ramp at end of road.

If you would like to pre-register or have any questions, feel free to contact me at (386)793-7151.]]> Thu, 17 May 2012 20:13:39 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22745 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22748
Bowlife is now almost at 2,500 international followers on Facebook. We are Tweeting from time to time and have over 50 followers there (that is a new practice of sorts and should grow). We are now in "The Shoe Station" who have 17 stores around the panhandle ranging from Florida through Mississippi. Yesterday we just had an incredible meeting with an archery pro shop in Mims, Florida called D&E Outdoors.

We met there Marketing and Advertising guru, Chelsea and the store owner, Freddy. Both are incredible people who love the industry and strive to grow. They not only will be putting Bowlife into their stores, but carrying our apparel to bill fishing tournaments and more than likely some trade shows here in Florida, such as the Big Buck Expo in Lakeland. We will also be partnering with them on their Re-Grand Opening at the end of July and their hunt season kickoff.

There's also word of some other stores interested in carrying Bowlife apparel. Aside from the good news with the retail outlets, Chris and Stephanie have been heavily on the road following the ASA circuit and will be jumping into the IBO circuit as well.

We have shooters, strategic partnerships, international family, stores and a printer/plotter oh-my! Yep, you heard it. Bowlife now designs, prints and cuts stickers, auto decals and sign style graphics. Hats will soon be on the way and the product line keeps expanding. Oh' there is also cool-dry style garments for Bowlife Apparel as well. Did I mention the Bowlife camper/road-office... yep, Chris and Steph now have a home away from home to take onto the road to continue doing more shoots, shows and industry trade shows.

The list goes on and on and I probably still left out a bunch... but I thought I would provide a quick run down of the growth and happenings of the Bowlife Apparel world. After all - It all started right here with each of you!

Why do I write and keep in tune with the pulse... Because the rest of the crew is too busy printing, thinking, designing, road tripping, contacting and selling. They are hard, hard at work and it's been my pleasure to watch both Chris and Stephanie blossom into the world of business management.

I got to see Stephanie analyzing the apparel print jobs of competitor products... they both show so much pride and enthusiasm for making their business and quality THE BEST! Truly incredible to see unfold since the very beginning! Jer, keep spitting out those AWESOME designs... man, people go ga-ga over how cool this stuff looks. NatDad gave his title in the business yesterday to the D&E folks "Whip Cracker", ha, I love it!!!]]> Fri, 18 May 2012 09:36:11 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22748 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22715 Anyone been to Split Oak Firearms? Do they have a good selection? Sat, 12 May 2012 21:24:26 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22715 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22680 Club located in Macclenny/Baker County/FL. 5 minutes from downtown Macclenny, 30 minutes from Jacksonville. With the price of gas, this is a wonderful opportunity to join a nice Non-Alcaholic Still Hunt Club. Lease offers 2,096 acres of land. Good dirt roads. We have 7 Condo Stands and 18 Personal areas, some of which have Condos. The Club is 16 years old. Some members have been in it since the beginning. We are a family style club. Dues this year for New Members will be $1,150.00.

If interested please call one of the officers below for a personal tour of the lease. We have 4 or 5 openings. Dues due at next meeting Saturady, May 5th 2:00 pm. Herb Rodgers V. Pres-904-699-0935 or Ed McCreary-Sec/Tres.-904-294-7396 or David 904-545-9384
]]> Mon, 07 May 2012 17:07:20 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22680 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22674 Sun, 06 May 2012 21:53:36 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22674 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22626 I am upgrading my arrow rest looking at a Rip Cord code red and a QAD ultra rest LD. Anyone with any insight I would love to here it I also have a Trophy Ridge Drop Zone that I have not used in perfect condition I am not sure if the new technology is any better in the above rest. Thanks I currently shoot a whisker biscuit but I am looking for less arrow contact. Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:07:01 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22626 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22607 also what drop away rests do youo think are good?]]> Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:35:50 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22607 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22608 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:57:01 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22608 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22595 RECURVE in my hand! I don't know why but I just could not see shooting them I have killed a bird this year and I just want a nice mature bird with the bow. Is that wrong?...Sorry I had to vent caught a lot of grief from my father and Uncle Vic for not loosing and arrow to complete my bird with traditional gear quest...

Would you have shot?


Oh well tomorrow I try to get Shelly her first bird and as she told me this morning, "A jake would be just fine with her!" lol Happy hunting and good luck!]]> Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:43:48 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22595 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22599
http://jacksonville.craigslist.org/spo/2925963985.html
http://jacksonville.craigslist.org/spo/2967306016.html

Any advice would be great.]]> Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:00:26 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22599 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22600

I turned my head slowly to see a HUGE Otter coming out of the water up toward the blind where my head was about laying on the ground. The Gobblers spotted the Otter too and now we were pinned down from both sides. The Otter kept sniffing the air and moving closer and was no more than 4 feet from my camoed face. Finally to my relief he turned and hit the creek and started walking toward the Gobblers. They did not like that for a minute and slowly started back in the other direction clucking as they went. It was an easy shotgun shot but we were trying to take one with the bow. Finally the Otter disappeared as quickly as he had came but the Gobblers were out of bow range. I tried to call them back but they didn't like that fur creature and wandered on back where they came from. It was game over but a fun hunt none the less! ]]> Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:06:21 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22600 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22571
I feel good about this spot even though it's not a sweet or comfortable as the one I hunted Saturday. I've got to get a chance to draw on this bird sooner or later but I'm running out of time. There are also 5 big Jakes running this area too so I'm not going to be real picky if one of them shows up first. If that happens then I'll call for Chris to get the big boy.

Speaking of Chris....he had a VERY close call today. He went in for a hunt in another area and didn't get started good when he ran into another Big Moccasin. He saw it first and placed a judo tipped arrow through it's head. A little later he was slipping on some turkeys that he had spotted and was using a semi wet creek bottom to crawl up on them...but instead he crawled up on another Big Moccasin that had spotted him and was waiting for Chris to get in range. He was lying coiled with his mouth wide open. Chris came very close to getting hit by the big snake. He killed that one too but then was too nervous to concentrate on stalking through the bush anymore. He finally called the hunt off after not being able to shake the Ebbie Jeebies. We are both switching tactics to try to get on these birds! ]]> Sun, 15 Apr 2012 22:05:44 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22571 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22562
I took some limbs from the trees that grow right in that area and started a "block blind" coming off a BIG GIANT swamp tree that is broken about 7 feet off the ground but hasn't fallen all the way down.....yet. I stuck them in the mud and then filled in the holes with 6 or 8 palmettos. This type of blind only conceals "blocks" you from one direction so you have to be right about which direction the birds are going to approach. I then cleared the leaves and the base of the tree I was going to be sitting up again so when I did draw, it would make no noise. I was in the blind by first light this morning.

I have to cross one creek coming in and even though it's not deep, I have to be cautious crossing in the dark since I can't see what might be lying in there. I would prefer not to have another encounter with an 8 and half foot gator in the dark like I did a few years ago. I don't use a flashlight because if the turkeys are roosting close by, they may see me coming in and it would be game over. I'm pretty good at finding my blind or tree stand in the dark if I trust my instincts. So I set a Strutter Deke standing over a submissive hen deke about 20 yards past my set up so the bird will have to walk by to my left to get to the dekes. Being a right handed shooter, this allows me to draw and shot with minimal movement.

So around 8:30AM I spot a single bird crossing the swamp about 100 or so yards out. It looked like a hen walking but was really too far to be sure. I picked up my Pure Strut Slate and called a few strokes and laid it down and readied my bow. I never touched it again and went totally stealth. I could not see them coming in due to the big tree directly in front of me and when they popped out they were 18 yards from me and closing fast. They (it was two hens) spotted the dekes and walked past me at 8 yards and never knew I was there. They stood around purring at the dekes for a few minutes and I was hoping this would bring a gobbler in. I love having live turkeys in my dekes. They moved on and they only thing that showed after that was a spotted fawn that stood all of about 18 inches tall. It was maybe 18 yards away over my right shoulder. I never did see mama but I'm sure she was there.

Somewhere near 10:00AM, I saw the red head easing through the swamp heading straight for me. He was a Mack Daddy with a rope beard hanging but he was 100 yards out. I called on the slate and did a little yelp on my box call to make sure he knew where to go. I sat them down, readied the bow and waited. He milled around, scratching, feeding, resting, preening totally relaxed but never got any closer than 48 yards, which I didn't know was 48 at the time because in the swamp it looks like 80. But he would not come in. I eased the slate to my lap and purred when I was sure he couldn't see me but he never responded. Not a cluck or a yelp or nothing. I could have easily crawled to the tree in front of me and smoked him with a shotgun....but I bow hunt turkeys most of the time.

I just knew he was gonna come in and was surprised when he started moving away. He just slowly meandered off and it was over. I had been texting with Tony (BuckWild) back and forth since he was hunting up in Hilliard. I was ready to call it a day after the big boy left since it was 10:30. I laid my bow down and started to text Tony to tell him I was slipping out. That's when I heard the cluck. I raised my eyes slowly and there were two red heads looking at me from the other side of the big tree. I froze and didn't move. About then a 3rd bird putted and one of the birds staring at me started to jog off but not really alarmed. I moved so the tree would block me and picked my bow up all in one smooth motion. I stood up and drew but they birds were too far out. There was a total of 5 males in that group and I think they may have been Jakes but they were BIG Jakes if they were. They never spooked hard so I gathered my stuff and slipped out the back way. I'm about to figure this big guy out but he is wearing me down. Great day and I had a ball being so close. ]]> Sat, 14 Apr 2012 20:44:49 -0500 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22562 http://teamnatural.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22550
This morning before daylight I headed into the spot and began calling immediately to try a get my calls heard because I was a LONG LONG way from the roosting area. It was well after 8:00AM when I spotted movement about 150 yards out. I called hoping it wasn't a deer. It wasn't but it wasn't a Gobbler either. I glassed the area and saw a hen homing in on my calling. When she was about 80 yards out, my 2 dekes became visible to her and she broke into a run heading straight to me. I hunkered down behind my palmettos and in a minute she was in the dekes, clucking and scratching around....she wandered into my shooting lane and could see me but did not know what I was. So she came to investigate and was no more than 5 yards from me trying to call me out of the thick brush.

Finally she wandered off and every now and then I would try to call her back to keep a live deke in the set. But soon she disappeared to my south. 15 minutes later she came flying right by my decoys like she had seen the ghost of a coyote. She stopped and looked back behind her and took off again. 70 yards to my north she stopped and started feeding again. I readied for a predator but nothing ever materialized and she eventually disappeared as fast as she had come.

After another hour of calling I was getting ready to call it a day because I still had a full run up to GA when I spotted movement again to the north...the direction she had run. I was pretty sure it was her and picked up my Alpens to glass. This time I saw a bright red head and new it was a gobbler for sure. I called and watched him gobble thru the binocs but could not hear him for some reason. I shifted in the blind and got ready and saw two Gobblers slowly working my way. At 70 yards I could hear them gobbling as they continued in.

I had my strutting Tom deke that I made using a real turkey fan, set up over a submissive hen deke. The two boys came into about 50 yards out and turned away. They were in and out of sight for the next half hour but never really left. I saw one step into the clearing and go into full strut facing away from me. I could not find the second bird. He stood like a statue for more than 5 minutes some 65 to 70 yards out according to the range finder. I took the advantage to call Chris on the cell and counsel with him. Since it looked like the birds were not going to come any closer, I decided to chance a crawl stalk using the tree and his fan to block my approach. If I could get 15 to 18 yards I was going to take the shot. Chris said, "Dad, you can make that shot, you've made it before....just relax, take a deep breath and touch off the shot."

I began my crawl and was only a couple of yards out of the blind when suddenly bird number 2 steps in front of the bird I'm stalking. Both are in full strut and I belly crawl BACKWARDS back into the blind. I barely get covered when I see them both slowly walking my way. They break from full strut and go into semi strut with tail at half mast. That means they are ready for a fight. Of course they have come from exactly the wrong angle that we had built the blind for a shooting land but at least I'm covered. As they near the set they veer off in the wrong direction and it appears they are not happy with the set. I come to a sitting position and draw looking through a tangle of dead limbs trying desperately to find a hole. They turn and start heading off rapidly straight away from me at the worst possible angle. I finally find a hole the size of a grapefruit and lock on the rapidly departing bird. I touch off the release and the arrow finds it's target. The bird lunches forward and then they both break into a full run. As I watch, my bird stumbles and his fan opens wide as he flips forward and disappears from sight.

I am so cramped up and can barely get out of the blind as I walk over in the direction they ran. I see my bird piled up and he is stone dead. I collect my hard earned prize and realize then that he is a Jake....a big Jake but a Jake none the less. But I'm OK with that and couldn't be happier to get this weight off my back. A quick prayer and I collected my stuff and started my long haul back to the truck!

They don't go far with a arrow thru the heart!
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