By applying in United States Outfitters licensing service hunters across the country have the chance to draw tags in public hunting areas that have unbelievable trophy potential. This is the same service that the realtree team has depended on for years to assure the opportunity to hunt big elk.

Realtree pro-staffer Michael Waddell was one of the lucky individuals who drew an archery tag for the 2000 fall hunting season in the Valle Vidal of New Mexico. The Valle Vidal is national forest land that is made up of 100,000 acres of prime elk hunting real estate. Once a hunter draws this prestigious tag he will never be eligible to draw it again, so this hunt to Michael was no doubt going to be a hunt of lifetime from the get go.

When Michael and cameraman David Hoffart met up with U.S.O. guide Rick Baily in Taos, New Mexico for the ride on to the Valle Vidal hunting area September 12, it didn’t take long for the talk to set in on all the bull elk that were showing up in the meadows just before night fall. Rick explained how the bugling had been slow, primarily because of the extremely hot and dry weather that had been tormenting the southwest. “All of the action is probably going to be early in the morning and late in the afternoon.” Rick explained. “The Bulls have been bugling, but not a lot. I would expect ever day of the hunt to get better as the rut starts to heat up.”

The camp set up to lodge the hunting party was made up of Boy Scout tents that were all clean and cozy. A large tent was set to serve as the mess hall and also a gathering spot for the hunters to tell their hunting stories. After eating the traditional U.S.O. first afternoon meal of bar-b-que brisket the group settled in for the night to rest up for what was expected to be a week long of covering a lot of ground on foot as well as horseback.

The first morning of the hunt Rick guided Michael to the top of a mountain ridge that had been logged. There was a light frost on the ground and the distant bugling of bulls gathering cows could be heard down toward the valleys below. It didn’t take long before the realtree camera started to run tape on elk. After stalking closer to some bugling elk, Michael pointed out two bulls standing on a side ridge lightly sparring with each other, but neither bull were shooters so the hunting party kept moving on. By around two hours after daylight the elk activity had basically diminished and the trio of hunters headed back to the truck which was now around six miles away. Satisfied with encountering plenty of nice bulls included one that would score in the 330’s, Michael anticipated with optimistic thoughts of what a hunt this was going to be.

The next few days were absolutely awesome. There were to many close encounters to even count. Another U.S.O. client showed up in camp who had also drew a Valle Vidal tag. The plan was for Rick to start guiding him and U.S.O. legend Griz Montoya was to start hunting with Michael and Hoffart. The action stayed constant with rutting bulls working to cow calls. One big 5×5 came on a run bugling the whole way across a meadow. The lovesick bull literally came within 6 yards of Michael before he was spooked by a change in the wind before Michael had a chance to draw his bow.

One evening Michael had two different 300 class or better bulls coming to a call, but on both setups the constantly changing wind thermals alerted the elk and ruined any chance for success. “I do not know if I have ever been so frustrated with the wind. It never stayed consistent and the one thing you can not fool on an elk is his nose.” Michael said.

As the hunt rolled on fatigue started to set in. Getting up at 3:45 am every morning, riding 4 to 5 miles on horseback back into the mountains and then walking another 5 to 6 miles were really making the hunters move slowly. But by the 5th day of the hunt, Michael still had very optimistic hopes of filling his tag as he found himself standing on top of a ridge with bulls screaming in all directions. Griz was calling behind him promising the vocal bulls every thing that they wanted to hear, and in no time there were two bulls standing at 20 yards, but neither were what Michael was looking for.

Finally at 8:00 am, Griz’s cow call was cut short by an eager bugle. Quickly Michael got into position and Hoffart started viding his surroundings. Griz intensified his cow calling and it was apparent that the bull was closing ground, getting nearer by the minute.

Michael could hear the pounding of hooves just before the bull appeared coming down an old logging road. Once in, with the realtree camera rolling the 6×6 bellowed out a piercing bugle at a distance of 40 yards. After telling the whole mountain that he was the boss the bull carried on his walk toward the sound of the cow call. When the bull went behind a bush, Michael brought his bow to dull draw. The bull stepped out into a clearing at a distance of 34 yards and Michael squeezed off a perfect double lung hit and the bull traveled only about 70 yards before going down.

“I knew when I drew this tag it was going to be a treat, but I never come close to imagining the experience was going to be this good. Words can not explain how much fun this hunt was. The only sad thing about it is that I will never be able to hunt the Valle Vidal again, but you can bet I will be back to video on it in the future.”

When the hunt was all said and done Waddell’s hunt had been successfully caught on tape for an on going production of Monster Bulls 3 that will be available the summer of 2001, and Michael’s elk assured his family plenty of tasty elk steak for the next year.

Anytime you find yourself in the deer woods there is one thing that can be predictable. You can never guess what mother nature will deal you as far as weather conditions. Other elements that can effect a hunt is things like dogs running deer, vine cutters cutting vines in the area you just hung a stand, or even the deer you are hunting losing his horns early.

The 2000 deer season proved to yield some pretty amazing scenarios that effected the out come of our productions.

Early in the year in Wyoming even though we had some tremendous success we were greeted with a very dry country side and it seemed there was a forest fire around every corner. At times we would find our selves nervous sitting on a stand watching a bellowing smoke cloud miles away. “ It is kind of wild watching a fire way off burning while hunting and the whole time you find yourself thinking. I hope the wind don’t change and bring it toward me.” David Blanton commented after the hunt.

Later in Novemeber we returned to the Black Hills area in Wyoming and the weather conditions were as different as night and day. A blizzard hit in the middle of the hunt bringing 60 mile and hour winds and feet of snow. This made it simply impossible to even get to the blinds much less sit in them. “There was a big part of my hunting ground that I just could not get to this past hunting season. The deer were there but the severe weather disrupted all the patterns that I had on the bucks that I had been scouting.” Jeff Smith of Seven J outfitters stated about the 2000 season.

None the less the Team realtree cameras captured some unbelievable footage from Wyoming this past fall.

When we arrived the first week in November at Riversbend in Kentucky to hunt, Bill Jordan and I were shocked to see the mercury at 80 degrees F. It was so frustrating fighting off the heat and believe it are not the mesquitoes walking to and from our stands. You could see huge rubs and scrapes that big bucks had laid down all along the 11,000 available acres we had to hunt. The deer however had gone almost completely nocturnal due to the hot temperatures. We did not hardly turn the cameras on the whole week from the lack of deer movement.

After talking with Mark Doerner, the hunting coordinater, I set up a date to return to the Kentucky hunting ground the first week in January.

When I returned in Jan. I was happy to see that the weather was much cooler and that a solid blanket of snow covered the country side. Mark informed me that the deer movement had been tremendous. “ The deer have been hitting these cut corn fields hard. I really think we will be able to get a line on a good buck and get one before the weeks out. I have seen a 150 class ten pointer every day for the last five evening coming through a funnel area. We will go tomorrow and put some blinds there.” Mark told me on arrival to KY.

So hang the stands we did and see deer we did. However as I noticed a big body deer coming toward our position, I anticipated the rack of the deer to become apparent. As the deer got closer I could see two bloody holes where horns had once been. The buck had already lost his horns. I was shocked to find as the week progressed 10 different bucks come by our blinds hornless. Finally we found one big buck in the 160’s who still had headgear. We hung stands only to be greeted with a group of workers to first evening of our sit hired by the timber company to cut vines away from the mature trees. This pressure in the area totally run all of the deer to a different part of the farm. We did finally get on some good bucks in a great area, but before I could fill my tag the trip come to an end. I will be back to this area next fall and hopefully a little luck will come with me.

The list goes on and on: Like the huge buck that got away from Bill Jordan in Kansas after he hit a piece of barb wire with his arrow on the cattle fence that the deer was behind. Later, at the end of the season Bill was on his way back to hunt him, when Larry Konrade, a USO guide, called to inform Bill that he had already dropped his horns. The deer grossed out after guessing at the spread to be around the 193 mark.

Are ask David Blanton how it feels when you have a 190 class muledeer at 20 yards waiting for him to clear a bush, and then the wind changes sending the deer crashing down through the woods after smelling human scent. This happened to him while hunting in Alberta, Canada.

The 2000 fall had its ups and downs and there is no doubt the good outweighed the bad when the season was said and done.

But there was a lot of time spent in treestands looking at nothing, but open spaces and seeing the trees grow. There were plenty of cold feet and hands along with emotions that were shattered after days of hunting never even catching a glimpse of that anticipated monster buck.

One thing is for sure, we look forward to showing every one the good times and the bad on our newest video production that will be released this summer. Monster Bucks 9 is on the way.

IT was so cold my teeth even hurt. The temperature was –30F and it was way out of the comfort zone for a 21 year old Georgia boy. The slowly falling snowflakes resembled party glitter falling from the sky, but this was no party. I was sitting 25ft above the ground in a climax treestand trying to think of something warm and cozy to help pass the ever so slowly passing time. The only recreation my tired mind could find was to watch the crust of frost building bigger and bigger on Bill Jordan’s toboggan. We were hunting the Northern Saskatchewan brush country, and we had been at it for 13 straight days from daylight to dark. During that time I had reflected back on all of my lifetime of memories, from riding bikes as a kid, to my first date. I had relived every home run I had ever hit in baseball, and re-shot every deer and turkey I had ever killed up until this point. The most inconvenient thing to this reflecting was, that I had played back all of my memories of my life by the 6th day, so by now on the 13th day (excluding Sundays which in Canada is a no hunting day) I was seriously thinking about reconsidering my newly earned job as a realtree cameraman.

I stared out through the Canadian wilderness in hopes of seeing some movement. Bill and I had only seen 13 deer up to this point, and that was not for the day. It was for the whole trip, and two of these deer were those we had seen hung on the skinning pole back at camp. From our stand sight we could see around a 100 yards to the north down a shooting lane that had been cut through the thick brush. In the other directions our sight was limited to about 40 yards. The area we were hunting was littered with plenty of deer sign with scrapes, rubs, and trails all around us, but the deer were simply not moving. We had three other cameramen in camp trying to capture footage and hunts for our Realtree Outdoors television show and Monster Buck’s video series. Each of these cameramen had a hunter with them to do the shooting if a shooter buck showed himself. The hunters on the trip were Greg Olsen, a former Atlanta Braves catcher, Steve Bartkoski, former Atlanta Falcon quarterback, and Joe Drake, one our Realtree Pro-Staffers, and so far no one had gotten a shot at a good buck or even seen one for that matter.

It was now just after 12:00 noon and I quietly went for my sack lunch which consisted of four things that were all frozen harder than $5.00 worth of jaw-breakers—a moose meat sandwich, cheese crackers, a piece of carrot cake, and a five alive citrus drink. Boy oh Boy, times just don’t get any better than this. Just before I attempted to chip my tooth on my sandwich, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye—OH! God bless America, it was a deer, and a buck at that. I didn’t have to motion to Bill; he had already seen him and was going for his gun just in case it was a shooter. I got my camera focused on the buck through the thick brush and I could see it was a nice 130 class 8 point. Slowly the buck made his way closer to one of our shooting lanes. The reality of just seeing a deer was enough to almost bring a tear of joy to my eye, but this was still not the kind of buck we were looking for.

After taping the buck for several minutes I was very happy for at least having the opportunity to get some decent footage. Carefully, the buck worked his way through the maze of mangled brush as he made his exit from our area, and just before the 8point got out of sight I caught a glimpse of another rack on the other side of him. Now this buck appeared to be a lot larger than our first visitor and when he steped out into an opening he quickly confirmed my thought to be true. His gnarly rack had 9 points and a lot of mass to it. I could tell by his body size and posture that it was a mature deer and the best news of all he was heading in the same way the 8 pointer was going out. This meant if he kept coming Bill would get a 60 to 70 yard shot. I glanced over at Bill and he gave me a wink to let me know the safety was coming off. The buck looked to be in the high 140’s to low 150’s and before I knew it he was in our laps. My breathing began to increase causing my viewfinder on my camera to start to frost up. I knew it was time to earn my money, and I desperately fought off my nerves and concentrated on keeping the buck framed up and in focus while remaining steady as I possibly could. I felt good with the video I had gotten and on my signal, Bill squeezed the trigger on his Remignton 280 sending a Federal trophy bonded bullet through the brutes’ boilermaker. Within seconds I could hear the deer go down, and slowly the frozen Canadian wilderness went back to its eerie silence.

I could not believe it, after spending 13 days freezing our bottoms off, 10 minutes of one day turned everything around. It was the break we were looking for, and it was all over. We had captured what we needed. We had a television show and an awesome hunt for Monster Bucks IV. The rest of the week we shot interviews, opens, and closes for our show on TNN and even though Bill and I had a slight turn for the good. The rest of the group never got a shot or even saw a shooter buck.

In total with 4 cameras rolling all with hunters on the other side of them, we had probably 15 to 20 minutes of usable deer footage and one good kill. The total time we spent in the bush was 16 days. The result an awesome show for Realtree Outdoors, and 8 men ready for phsciatric treatment, including one 21 year old country boy from Georgia who on his first trip to Canada realized the reality of outdoor productions.

REALITY
When one watches a Realtree Outdoor production, whether it is an episode on Realtree Outdoors or on one of our video’s, it is natural to assume that there are critters under every tree in the areas we hunt, and that getting awesome footage comes easy to us. This assumption is far from the truth, however. Sure every now and then things come together in a fairly easy manner. On the particular trip I talked about earlier, it took 16 days of hunting to produce a quality television show. We have also had a few trips where in three days; we would have burned enough videotape to produce two television shows. But in reality it would blow most people’s mind if they knew how much time and effort is put into just one of our productions, much less a whole show season. Hours upon hours and days on end we spend in the field freezing or sweating our bottoms off trying to produce the most quality outdoor entertainment possible. It is true that every place we hunt has great potential, but potential does not mean it is canned or a slam-dunk. The word “potential” means so much when your hunting big game or trying to hunt record class animals. For instance, you can’t kill a monster buck in a particular area if there are no monster bucks living in the area your hunting—this is a very simple equation, and is the one we live by.

David Blanton is the executive producer at Realtree and one of his main jobs is to constantly research areas in North America for quality hunting. Obviously big whitetails are his number one focus. Once David has convinced himself that a particular area or outfitter might have the “potential” we are looking for, we will then go on what we call a feeler hunt just to check everything out. When one of these hunts pans out it can be outstanding. A good example of one that did is up in northeast Montana on the Milk River. David had been talking to good friend David Morris, who is co-owner of North American Whitetail Magazine, and he had expressed to David Blanton how it would be in our best interest to check out this part of the country for our videos. So taking a chance David set up a hunt with some local farmers, and an outfitter who had some property that they would allow us hunt on, and when our hunt started that year in late October we all were simply amazed at all the big bucks that we saw. We went on to video David Morris taking a 150-class 10 point and Bill Jordan missing one of the biggest deer he has ever seen. The Milk River in Montana to this day is still continuing to produce awesome hunts and bucks for the Realtree cameras. This was one of those feeler hunts that turned out to be a success, and by now through the exposure on our videos and television show it is all hunters’ dream to have an opportunity to hunt there. These successful hunts are the ones that show up on the productions, but it is the not so successful hunts that do not. So what the viewers see is the highlights and the good times of one particular hunt.

Looking for a quality hunt
Hunting across North America for whitetails, the biggest thing that I have realized is that a trophy buck is always relative to where you are hunting. I grew up and was introduced to deer hunting in the state of Georgia. Through my years as a hunter I have had the chance to take some good bucks in the Peach State, but comparing other parts of North America to my southern hunting ground would be like comparing apples to oranges. Certain areas across North America can offer different potential, as far as trophy whitetails are concerned. For instance, a Georgia hunter who has shot plenty of 120 inch 8 pointers, and still dreaming of shooting a 150 class deer is no different than a Texas hunter who has taken several 150 class bucks and is hoping for a 180 class deer. A local Kansas hunter might not even bring up his binoculars to look at a buck that most Pennsylvania hunters would give their left arm to shoot. Again, a trophy deer is always relative to where you are hunting and this is why an outdoorsman who is looking for his dream buck should be aware of where this deer could possibly be living.

In our productions we try to show viewers not only the deer in a particular area, but also the geography and how to attack it in a hunting situation. Not everyone would enjoy sitting in a shooting house in South Texas with the hot sun glaring down looking down a long sendero in hopes of seeing a whopper buck. Likewise, some hunters could not fathom hunting Canada. Sitting daylight to dark in sub zero temperatures could drive a lot of whitetail enthusiast to the nut house. So, far all these reasons if you are looking for a hunt of lifetime, the proper research should be done to ensure a quality hunt. Do not ever take anything for granted or any leaf unturned. Always know exactly what you are looking for in a hunt. Not only what kind of buck that might satisfy your desires, but also the conditions and the environment that you would like to hunt him in.

One thing to remember and not lose focus on is that a mature whitetail buck is one of the most elusive and wary of all big game animals. There is never a guarantee when hunting under fair chase conditions. All you can ever do is try and put yourself in an area that holds candidates that suit your fancy. From there on out it is all in the hands of you, Mother Nature, and a little luck.

Until then rest assured that we here at Realtree Outdoor productions will continue to research and try to find the best Monster bucks hot spots all across North America. Where ever your dreams and thoughts of big bucks takes you, we wish you the best always.

Success in a hunting camp is not always measured by what the kill tally is at the end of the hunt, but more so on how much fun you may have had with the people there.

However if the deer are moving and the camp is made up of people you sincerely enjoy being around, you are then in for a treat.

This was exactly the case in Northeast Montana October 22-27. Marking the fourth trip made to this whitetail fantasyland the Realtree Team was eager to keep the streak alive of wrapping our Montana tags around trophy buck racks.

Comedian-Jeff Foxworthy, Lohman and Realtree prostaffer-Ricky Joe Bishop, and Advantage camouflage pro-staffer Jay Gregory were on the roster to hunt while John Tate, Steve Finch, and myself would man the Realtree cameras.

** LET THE HUNT BEGIN

It was the opening week of the Montana rifle season. Our four hour trip from Billings MT to Terry and Donna Korman’s house where we to lodge and eat gave evidence that all of the hunters in the area knew of the opener as we passed four will drive pickups with ATV and camping gear on the back the whole way.

Jeff was not with us but was going to be picked up later that afternoon in Glasgow, MT because of an earlier commitment in another state that morning. Unfortunately, we did not expect him to get to the Milk River in time to make the afternoon hunt; however everyone else would.

After arriving at camp and being greeted by Donna and Terry, who I now call my parents in MT., Ricky and Jay along with John and Steve quickly grabbed their gear and headed for the woods.

I went ahead got my camera gear together while awaiting for the arrival of Jeff. The plan was for Jeff and I to go to a vantage point that we call the rock in hopes to get a glimpse of a big nine pointer that had been seen several times in one of the alfalfa fields on the river’s edge.

Jeff finally arrived about three o’clock and quickly we put our plan to action and on the way out I grabbed my camera while Jeff picked-up his trusty 300 win mag just in case we caught a lucky break. Little did we know how crucial a decision this would prove to be.

Slipping up to the vantage point we were blown away by all the deer that had already made it out in to the field feasting on alfalfa. We felt good about staying away from the river bottom field because if we had tried to get to our stands we would have run all of the deer to the next state. So we settled in for a night of glassing in hopes to spot the monster nine pointer. After a few minutes of looking I was sure that the big buck was not yet in the area that I had seen him in a few weeks prior. They were several other bucks that would push the 140 mark but it was apparent that the Emerson buck was not there. (Emerson was the name that Jeff gave this particular deer after I sent him a copy of some footage that we had shot of the buck earlier in Sept. —Jeff said, “Em are some big horns on that deer”.)

Knowing that the farmer had planted a small section of corn in a slough that was directly below us around 150 yards, I decided to take a peek. When I did my heart about leaped out of my chest. The huge nine was standing in the middle of the corn flexing his muscles to another buck. “Get your gun” I quickly whispered to Jeff as I went for my camera that thankfully sat on my tripod ready to go. “Is he close enough to shoot” Jeff stuttered. “Yes” is about the only word my brain could think up. Anticipation and buck fever made it hard for me to talk in full sentences.

Finally, I zoomed in on the brute and started videoing the buck and just about the time Jeff was ready to pull the trigger, the buck went behind some limbs as he headed toward the alfalfa field to the west of us. The backs of our throat remained tight while we watched the buck go into the alfalfa keeping limbs in between us and him making a shot impossible.

For thirty minutes the buck stayed in the field then just like he had entered he made his way back toward the plot of corn only stopping once to work a scrape, which made for some awesome footage. I whispered to Jeff “this is it, we are going to get our chance tonight”. “Tell me when”, Jeff replied “I have got a good steady bead on him”. At a distance of approx. 150 yards Jeff squeezed the trigger and made a perfect shot. The monster only went about 60 yards before going down.

I could not believe what had just happened. We had no intentions of hunting. We were going to use the late evening to get ready for the week the lied ahead, but now thanks to good luck our hunt was over.

When we approached the buck it took awhile for either of us to mumble a word. The buck was unbelievable. He was a main frame eight pointer with a kicker point of his left G-2 tine which gave him nine points. Later we put the tape on Jeff’s deer and he scored 168 B&C points. Just as an eight pointer he grosses 164 B&C if you take away the 4-inch kicker point.

I felt complete satisfaction. This was a buck that we had seen on a couple of different occasions during bow season, but his pattern was so un-predictiable that we never got him close enough to take with archery gear. However this time the bucks personality of being un-predictable had got him in trouble. I had never expected to see him in the plot of corn. This area was over a half mile from where we had been seeing him. It just goes to show that there are deer gods looking over us, and what better person than Foxworthy to take this giant. He grew up hunting in the rolling hardwoods of north Georgia and since his lucky break of becoming one of the country’s most sought after comedians, he had not had to chance to hunt as much as he had before. All of his child hood dreams of taking a monster buck now lay at his feet on this cool Montana evening as we both sat and stared at this freakish looking buck. To make the situation even sweeter, I had captured it all on tape through the lens of the Realtree camera for the whole world to see.

Jeff welcome back to the world of hunting and Congratulations!

Be sure to tune in next week to hear how the rest of the camp did. Bill Jordan also stops by camp for a few days. So tune in and hear the details!

When the Realtree crew and cameras showed up at the Cullen Ranch in Quinland Texas they were swept away by the scenery of the landscape and the unbelievable hunting lodge that laid before them. Unlike the southern part of the state this section of Texas had plenty of hardwoods and fields that resembles what one might find in the mid-west.

The Cullen ranch has been known for years for its fantastic bird hunting and relaxing camp atmosphere. People from all across the country visit the ranch to either enjoy top-notch hunting or some just come simply to unwind from the strain of every day life. On the Cullen’s visitor list you can find everyone from Hollywood movie stars to everyday people. In recent years not only has the bird hunting become better and better but so has the whitetail herd, and with this the Realtree team looked forward to the opportunity to search out the prime real estate for Monster Bucks.

Michael Waddell and Jay Gregory were scheduled to be the hunters while veteran Realtree cameramen John Tate and Chad Sanders would be looking through the viewfinders. Jay serves as a member of the Advantage pro-staff and also is the host of The Wild Outdoors seen on the Outdoor Channel. Jay has a reputation of putting some bruiser whitetails on the ground with archery gear and on this trip Jay planned to stick with the bow and arrow. Michael on the other hand brought along his trusty Knight in line muzzleloader to do the job.

On the first day of hunting the two hunters found themselves comfortable set up in tripod stands in good funnel areas. Michael’s stand was set in between to thick broom sage fields (similar to CRP fields found in the mid-west) while in the middle was a finger of hardwoods littered with rubs and scrapes. Jay’s stand was on the edge of a large oat field looking down on a hardwood flat also riddled with similar buck sign. With the rut just getting ready to kick in Michael and Jay hoped to get a shot at a mature buck out looking for does.

After a sit of about three hours Michael had seen no deer and with a hard North wind blowing in his face the conditions were miserable, but soon movement caught Michael’s attention. Looking through the Simmons bino’s Michael could see what he had been looking for all morning, a large set of antlers coming down the woodline on the edge of the sage field. As the buck closed the distance his rack became more apparent. He had long tines with main beam came way out and turn down toward the ground, and to put icing on the cake Michael could see a couple of kicker points off the main beams. Michael’s breathing and heart rate intensified as the buck alertly made a V-line to his stand position. Bringing the Knight Muzzleloader up cautiously, Michael settled his sights behind the bucks front shoulder and slowly began to squeeze the trigger. The big whitetail was now standing only 30 yards away, and suddenly the explosion of Michael’s smoke pole broke the silence. The hit was good and the big buck only went only 30 yards before piling up on camera. Michael’s trophy later scored out at 158 B&C points with only a 13 inch inside spread.

Jay saw several good bucks that day and throughout the entire week. Two huge 8pt bucks had closed in to within bow range on two different occasions to inspect Jay’s rattling sequence, but when Jay’s shot was presented it was not good for the camera. (Sometimes hunting with the camera can be frustrating). On a bright note for Jay however he did shoot an awesome boar hog that weighed in the 250lb range while cameraman Chad Sanders caught the spot and stalk on tape.

Back in camp the Realtree crew had a chance to relax and trade hunting stories in the outdoor hot tub that was located on the side of the lodge. I guess you can say the only negative to the whole trip is that everyone gained about 10 pounds from all the good eating. The Cullen Ranch with is fine hunting, awesome accommodations and staff showed Team Realtree what Texas hospitality was all about. Thanks to the Cullen Ranch for an awesome experience.