Though you'll be seeing the Monster Bucks series in stores soon, we've had several people ask where they can get them now. It's simple, The RealStore. All you have to do is visit www.realtree.com and click on the RealStore (or you can just click on the highlighted link above and it will take you directly to where you can purchase the new videos.)

Thanks for all the feedback on the videos and please continue to keep the comments coming. I'll be posting the rest of the "Realtree Road Trips" schedule on Friday, so stay tuned.

OK boys and girls, here is the 2007 schedule for "Realtree Road Trips." (I'll run the remaining shows in the second post.) We're fired up about this season as Waddell and crew are hitting the road to chase some monster bucks, some mad longbeards and even a few things that you wouldn't expect, like mice. Trust me, you don't want to miss any of these shows.

"Realtree Road Trips" 2007 Show Schedule
Appearing on: The Outdoor Channel
Airtimes: (Sunday 9pm; Sunday 12pm; Monday 12am; Wednesday 6:30pm)
Show Descriptions:

July 2—Montana Deer/Antelope Part 1- Michael and Joel Harris, Realtree Pro Staffer, visit Western Timberline Outfitters with Jammin Krebbs, a new stop for the Road Trips crew. With this area of Montana offering whitetails, mule deer, antelope and even elk, you better be ready for anything. Michael gets the Golden Ticket on this trip, but will he close the coffin or leave it wide open for another day?

July 9—Montana Deer/Antelope Part 2- This is Road Trips first “Trapping Show,” although I promise it’s not the kind of trapping that you would assume. After the camp house floods a couple weeks before the season, the crew decides to stay in a motel about an hour from the hunting ground. The long drive finally gets to Waddell and his cohorts and they decide to clean up the camp house and take their chances on sleeping with the insects and rodents. Oh yeah, there is some great antelope and whitetail hunting as well—we didn’t forget that this is a hunting show!

July 16—Arizona Elk- After 10 years of applying, Waddell has finally drawn the coveted Arizona elk tag in Unit 10. See just how close Waddell can get to his Arizona monarch before dropping the hammer. This show will have the hair on your back standing up…. that’s pretty gross if you have hair on your back!

July 23—Newell Ranch Part 1- A toe-tappin’, knee-slappin’ good time sums up this deer and hog extravaganza at the Newell Ranch in Texas with country music rockers Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. The fun begins when Michael’s bow is misplaced by the airline and it forces him to hunt with the ranch manager’s recurve. Maybe the airline should lose Michael’s compound more often?

July 30—Newell Ranch Part 2- Its the finale of the trip with Blake and Miranda at the Newell Ranch. Blake overcomes his hog addiction and moves on to try and smack one of those horned whitetails. It’s amazing what hunting out of a sleeper cab of a Mack truck can produce… you will just have to see this show to believe the whitetails. Oh yeah, Uncle Ted (Yes, that’s the Nuge) makes an appearance at the ranch and wears out a Realtree Martin guitar… just a bonus feature for an awesome trip!

August 6—Blue Angels Turkey Ride- We join up with two members of The Blue Angels on a north Florida turkey hunt with some hard-headed longbeards. Todd Herbert and Anthony Walley find out just how hard it can be when the turkeys don’t act right in the south, and Michael Waddell finds out just how tough it is to stay awake in a Navy F-18 Blue Angel jet. The Road Trips squad is dedicating this show to Lt. Commander Kevin Davis, who lost his life flying on April 21, 2007.

Don’t forget, you can sign up for reminders on when specific shows will air by clicking on the logo on the calendar.

And as always, let us know which shows you are looking forward to and which shows you'd like to see in the future.

I love weather and The Weather Channel, much to Ginger’s dislike. She will never understand how in the world someone can sit down and actually WATCH The Weather Channel. Now, I have to admit it’s been a little boring around Georgia these days. It’s drier than it’s ever been and there’s no rain in the forecast.

But luckily for me, my job requires that I keep up with the weather all over the country! Isn’t that great! When I explain to Ginger that I have to watch the weather she’ll comment, “But it’s May!”

But she doesn’t understand. I do.

For example, it fires me up to know that Montana and Wyoming are getting lots of rain and have been the entire spring. Why? Big antlers. Out West, the quality of the racks during hunting season are so dependent on the amount of moisture during the winter and spring. And then to make things even better, a couple of good rains during July are just icing on the cake.

Once our hunting season rolls around and we are covering a lot of ground, The Weather Channel becomes even more important.

For example, the single biggest obstacle that I feel we face as whitetail hunters is warmer temperatures. If a crew is scheduled to head to Kansas during the first couple weeks of November and The Weather Channel says that the 10-day forecast is calling for temperatures to be 10-15 degrees warmer than normal, then the chances are really good that deer movement is going to be minimal.

Moon phase, rain and wind don’t affect buck movement as much as “hot” weather, and I can watch The Weather Channel for about 20 minutes and get a good idea of how the upcoming hunts are going to go.

The one thing that I have yet to figure out about The Weather Channel is how often the female anchors are “with child”. What do you think?

John Hafner photo

Here are the final six "Realtree Outdoors" descriptions. I also am posting the show times again as a reminder. I'll be posting the "Realtree Road Trips" descriptions soon, so stay tuned for those as well. Thanks to all you show enthusiasts and Realtree loyalists. We couldn't do it without you! Keep the comments coming on what you are looking forward to watching.

“Realtree Outdoors” will air on ESPN2 on Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. EST, with reruns on Saturday mornings at 6:30 a.m. EST. (Please check your local listings for times in your area.) Don’t forget, you can sign up for reminders on when specific shows will air by clicking on the logo on the calendar.

AUGUST 12, 2007
ALBERTA MONARCHS
Some of the world’s biggest bucks live in Alberta, Canada and that is exactly why Milwaukee Brewers Manager Ned Yost and Realtree’s David Blanton are there this week hunting with Ron Nemecheck of North River Outfitting.
Witness a spectacular hunt in driving snow as Ned takes a 190” whitetail weighing over 300 pounds!

AUGUST 19, 2007
PANHANDLE BUCKS
The wide open country of the North Texas Panhandle can present challenges to any whitetail hunter. This week Realtree’s David Blanton and country music recording star Rhett Akins team up to hunt the Duke Ranch. Blanton is determined to bowhunt throughout the week while Akins relies on his trusty rifle. See how these two entirely different hunting methods prove to be deadly of great bucks.

AUGUST 26, 2007
THE ISLAND ADVENTURE
Need to head somewhere exotic? Well, this week David Blanton heads to Vancouver Island to hunt with bear hunting legend Jim Shockey. “Spot and stalk” is the name of the game and the quarry is world class black bears. You’ll enjoy this “smokepolin” adventure in the middle of gorgeous scenery.

SEPTEMBER 2, 2007
HOMESTYLE HUNTING
There is nothing like hunting close to home and this week, go along with Bill Jordan and his son Tyler for the best in deer and turkey hunting from the Peach State. See Tyler take an awesome Georgia buck as he comes to decoy on a food plot. Also, plenty of gobblin’, struttin’ longbeards headed straight for the cameras.

SEPTEMBER 9, 2007
WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD HUNTERS
It never fails, sometimes things just don’t go as planned. Hours and hours of practice can sometimes lead to the big miss! Often times, the animals just don’t read the script and the best hunting strategies fall apart and are of no use. See things that just don’t show up on television very often.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2007
FOXWORTHY GOES HUNTING
The best-selling comedian of all time, Jeff Foxworthy, has been named Honorary Chairman/ Spokesperson for National Hunting & Fishing Day. His love for hunting is evident on this week’s adventure as Jeff heads to the McKenzie Mountains in Northwest Territories to hunt Dall Sheep. The action is fast-paced and the humor is unforgettable.

Great news, pretty much all of the new hunting shows start airing in July and the remotes will be rocking’! (Along with the TiVos!) I thought you’d be interested to see the lineup of “Realtree Outdoors” that John Tate is currently putting a lot of long hours into as this is typed.

Give me some feedback on which episodes you think will be your favorite? Also, what types of hunting do you NOT like to see on television as much?

“Realtree Outdoors” will air on ESPN2 on Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. EST, with reruns on Saturday mornings at 6:30 a.m. EST. (Please check your local listings for times in your area.) Don’t forget, you can sign up for reminders on when specific shows will air by clicking on the logo on the calendar.

JULY 1, 2007
QUEBEC CARIBOU ADVENTURE-
Join host David Blanton as he takes good friend and fellow bowhunter Gary LeVox, lead singer for Rascal Flatts, to Northern Quebec to stalk giant caribou during the rut. The October weather always throws a kink into the best plans but the hunt ends up a smashing success.

JULY 8, 2007
BLACK HILLS MAGIC-
Realtree’s Bill Jordan and David Blanton share a camp in the legendary Black Hills of Northeast Wyoming. Hunting with famed Seven J Outfitters, Bill is determined to break a nine-year drought. How will Bill handle the pressure? Tune in to find out as this early season bowhunt always supplies lots of encounters with big whitetails.

JULY 15, 2007
WHITETAILS OF THE WEST BUTTE RANCH-
It’s a brand new location for whitetails in Montana for the Realtree Team. Go along with David Blanton and John Tate as they try to figure out big bucks in unknown territory. Learn as the duo develops a surefire strategy that puts two record-book bucks within bow range.

JULY 22, 2007
FATHER/SON HUNT IN SOUTH TEXAS-
It’s back to one of Bill and Tyler Jordan’s favorite hangouts… the brush country of South Texas and the Halff Brothers Ranch. This ranch has produced some incredible bucks in year’s past for Bill. Will it be as good this time around? Watch as Bill and Tyler both bring home bragging-size whitetails.

JULY 29, 2007
HIGH COUNTRY UTAH ELK-
Realtree Founder Bill Jordan and Pro Staffer Brad Harris travel to the scenic but rugged Utah mountains to pursue bugling elk. Watch as the pair battle extreme weather conditions but end up victorious as each hunter fills his tag on awesome bulls coming to the call!

AUGUST 5, 2007
DREAMIN’ OF OSCEOLAS
Mitch Ensor of Kentucky is an inspiration to all that meet him. This hunting fanatic is battling Lou Gehrig’s Disease but still dreams of the day he can go to Florida and call in an Osceola longbeard, the only species of the grand slam he has not taken. Realtree’s David Blanton is proud to take Mitch on his hunt of a lifetime. See how hunting is put into proper prospective during this time with Mitch.

Last Friday I showed up at LaGrange High School to check Harman out early so we could head to Montana for a little late-season turkey hunting. Harman’s schedule had been so hectic during the spring due to soccer and school that we had not had the chance to turkey hunt. We weren’t going to be able to stay that long in Montana, but we were both really excited just to hang out together and spend some time in the woods.

As I stood in the main office signing the check-out sheet, the principal, Steve Cole, came out of his office to wish us luck on the trip. Being a serious turkey chaser himself, we began to discuss (whine about) the results of the Georgia/Alabama seasons.

Steve tells me the turkeys in Georgia were tough but where he hunts in Alabama, the toms really came to the call! I think he was rubbing it in.

“Tell you what I saw the other day,” Cole says. “Mickey McCoy (Alex’s science teacher) and I were in the truck just outside of town and we looked over and there’s this big gobbler just struttin’. Just standing there all puffed up. By himself. I got my call out, rolled down the window and called and that ol’ bird gobbled and just kept struttin’. About that time, three chickens walked out of the brush and that gobbler just followed them, showing off big time!”

I didn’t even laugh. This was serious business.

I looked at Steve and my mind was racing.

Steve continued to laugh. Finally I gave him a courtesy laugh only to amuse him. The entire time I’m beginning to understand exactly why the turkeys were getting tougher to call in. The answer was clear and simple in my mind…We are using the wrong calls.

Does anyone know who makes a good “cockledoodledoo” call?

Photo credit: Stephen Bauer/National Wild Turkey Federation

With turkey season behind us, my thoughts naturally turn to fall and hunting trips. Every year, during the spring and summer months, there’s always one particular hunt that keeps popping up in my head because I am excited about it. There are a lot of different reasons why this takes place each year. It could be a good friend that I’ll get to share camp with, maybe it’s breathtaking scenery I’m looking forward to, or it could be a type of hunt or location that I’ve never been to. But this spring the hunt that keeps posting itself on my brain is a return trip to hunt with Rich Birdcell of Northern Rockies Outfitters (located north of Great Falls, Montana).

Why this hunt? Last year was the first time I hunted with Rich and this particular ranch. It was different than the only other whitetail hunting I’d been exposed to along the Milk River where the land is relatively flat along the river and the cover is strictly cottonwood trees and thickets that buffer the river on each side. When I first saw the lay of the land I knew it was going to be a “different” and more challenging bowhunt because the cover the bucks were bedding down in was steep draws and ravines that sliced into irrigated alfalfa fields. The biggest obstacle was going to be the swirling currents as the bucks made their way to the fields late in the afternoon.

Well, the trip was successful, for more than one reason, and I arrowed a beautiful 141” 10-pointer.

Now here is the reason I can’t wait to get back. Last year, the first afternoon, the rains came and the cameraman and I were forced to sit in a ground blind monitoring the deer movement. We were set up in the middle of the alfalfa field and could not see where they were exiting the cover from. But we saw some awesome bucks as they appeared over a small rise in the field. We counted four bucks that would score over 155 inches. We watched them until dark as they contently fed away from our blind. We never encountered those particular bucks again during the hunt but I know they were using the big, main draw as their bedding area.

Unfortunately, in that scenario, you can’t walk and scout the property because the deer would simply move out of their sanctuaries for the remainder of the hunt, therefore, I am making plans to head out to Montana during June to hang several stands for my October hunt. I will finally have a chance to try to figure out the big, nasty ravine and how the bucks are moving in and out of it as they head out to feed in the afternoons and when they head back into the cover to bed down shortly after daylight. I am pumped about being able to do this!

All I can think about is finding that PERFECT tree! And another reason I can’t wait is that NONE of those big bucks I mentioned earlier were killed last year. They are going to be a year older and I’m sure some will be close to 170 inches!

Tell me what hunt you are excited about or what deer you didn't get a shot at last year that you will be going after this year.

Folks are finally getting copies of the new “Monster Bucks XV” (both volumes) in their hands and we’re starting to hear feedback. Based on the early results, this could be the best overall Monster Bucks ever! There are a lot of avenues out there to get feedback from the hunters who watch new DVD’s, and one of the best ways is to visit any number of chat rooms, including Realtree.com's online community, and pick up the dialogue from there. Of course, companies in the hunting industry who produce hunting DVD’s realize that you’re never going to please everyone!

For example, last year we decided to leave off the annual archery competition (the one that features Michael, Bill, T-Bone, myself, pro-staff members, Jeff Foxworthy [as Willy], and so forth) because some of the feedback indicated that people were tired of the contest. Well, wouldn’t you know it, as soon as “Monster Bucks XIV” hit the shelves it seemed as if all we heard was, “Why didn’t ya’ll do the archery tournament again this year?” So you never know. But one thing that is certain (and it’s human nature), people tend to let you know what they don’t like as opposed to what they like.

So far, the favorites hunts on the DVD are:
1) Sloane and Sydney Reid’s hunt for the big Mississippi 8 pointer – Sloane misses, cries, Sydney dances, kills the buck and gloats!
2) Vicki Cianciarulo’s MONSTER 203” whitetail she takes with her bow and is completely overcome by emotion when she realizes what she’s done! No faking here!
3) My miss (on purpose of course!) of a huge Kansas buck with my bow. Disgusting!

Oh, the archery competition is back and in a way that you would never imagine! Even viewers who really didn’t care much for the more traditional bow and arrow tournaments in the past have admitted how much they’ve enjoyed a “different” type of contest!

Can’t wait to hear what you think, so make sure to post a comment and let me know.

Also, you don’t have to leave your house to get your DVD, just order it from the RealStore.

There’s a lot of excitement around Realtree and it’s because of the new BOWHUNTING ONLY DVD “Nocked 'N Loaded.”

This is something we’ve wanted to offer bowhunters for quite a while and we’re extremely excited about the response it will receive.

“Nocked 'N Loaded” will be available late summer and will be offered ONLY at the RealStore at Realtree.com.

What’s cool about this DVD is that it is not leftover hunts that didn’t make “Monster Bucks XV,” but it’s totally unique footage of some great hunts. It will have some of the most awesome bowhunts you’ve ever seen that a lot of us were begging to put on “Monster Bucks.” You’ll see Bill Winke arrow a 168” buck in Iowa, Lee Lakosky slam a giant 172” buck in Alberta during early bow season, Vicki Cianciarulo show the guys how it's done when she takes a beautiful 145” buck in North Dakota, and many more great hunts. There are 14 fantastic hunts on “Nocked 'N Loaded” but that is only part of the reason to get this new DVD.

T-Bone (Host of "Nocked 'N Loaded") will offer the viewer two different options when it comes to viewing the DVD. (It’s kind of like the books you read as a kid where you got to choose your own path...Pretty cool!) The first will be an option for the novice bowhunter. T-Bone will go through the basics of bowhunting, including choosing the best bow for a beginner. And the second option will be for the advanced bowhunter, with a wide range of tips that will make seasoned archers, well, a little more seasoned. Seriously, there will be some great tips here that will help you understand when to tweak something on your bow and when to leave it alone, and why it works.

In addition, there will be more bonus features than you can say grace over, including some freebies! We’re all excited about this DVD and there will be more info on “Nocked 'N Loaded” as the release date closes in.

Keep checking back to see when sales will begin in the RealStore. There will be plenty of updates on my blog as well as T-Bone’s Blog, which we'll be launching soon!

(I didn’t think I’d ever be writing this one.)
Lucas and I just returned from the Lone Star State with nary a bird! As a matter of fact, we really didn’t even scare one. I wouldn’t be a turkey hunter if I had too many trips like this one. You know, I must be pretty dad-gum secure in myself to admit we took a big-league butt whuppin’ back to Georgia.

As a matter of fact, when I was locking the gate for the last time Sunday morning, I think I faintly heard a Rio holler something to the effect, “Them Easterns ain’t got NOTHING on us!”

Indeed they don’t. For two and a half days, Lucas and I cast call after call with hardly any interest shown. On top of that, every time a gobbler got fired up and ready to play, he’d be way over the fence, the real fence, the property line fence!

But, being the optimist I am, there were valuable lessons for Lucas to learn (Okay, No. 3 is partially for me):
1) If you don’t have permission, don’t even think about it.
2) Hunting doesn’t go your way every time you set foot in the woods.
3) There’s a lot of other ways to have fun with one of your boys when going on a hunting trip, like lettin’ ‘em drive the rental on the ranch roads, catching horny-toads, eating, encountering rattlesnakes, missing school, etc.

Midway through the hunt, I could tell this was going to be a tough one and I was really anxious to see how Lucas was going to handle it. Did he get frustrated? Absolutely. Did he want to quit early? You betcha. But in the end he kept plugging away because, as I explained to him, everybody’s trying their best, bustin’ their tail to try to get a turkey and he can’t be the weak link in the chain.

But a man can only take so much!

During the last night of our hunt a big-time thunderstorm rolled in and set up camp right over our farmhouse. About the time to get up for our last morning hunt, the rain was still coming down in sheets and Lucas and I gladly pulled the sheets back up and crashed for another three hours!
What a hunt!

Unless you’ve been hung up on a gobblin’ turkey for, say, four or five years, you know how big of a deal managing for trophy whitetails has become all across the country. No longer is it just the big ranches in Texas that intensely manage their herds, even the small 300-acre hunting clubs are implementing stricter guidelines for their members as to what can be shot and what can’t be shot. I think all these moves are awesome for improving the quality of the buck population and I’ll be the first to admit that it is much more inviting for me to go out and hunt here in Georgia when I may have a chance at a 140” buck compared to a shot at a 120” buck.

In addition, I believe QDMA (Quality Deer Management Association) is doing an incredible job working with states, counties, landowners and hunting clubs to educate them on how to go about increasing the overall quality of a deer herd.

Now, here is the problem: When counties, like some here in Georgia, pass laws requiring that a buck meet minimum requirements before he is legal to harvest, the first-time youth hunters are the ones that suffer the most.

The county I live in requires that a buck have at least four points on one side of his antlers to be considered “legal.” What about the father who has his 9-year-old son/daughter with him and they’re sitting on the edge of a food plot and a 2½-year-old 6-pointer steps out within easy gun range? This would be the young hunter’s first buck! How do you explain to the child that they can’t shoot because the buck isn’t big enough? What if the buck is a spike? Same deal.

Are there some first-time hunters who would completely understand the reasoning behind the trophy management rules and gladly let the buck walk with hopes of shooting a bigger one? Absolutely!

I’ve argued this point with friends of mine who stand behind the philosophy that, by letting the young bucks walk “we are going to make it more possible for kids to shoot bigger bucks when they get older.”

I agree.

What I don’t agree with is taking the chance of dampening a youngster’s enthusiasm for the sport of hunting by not allowing them to shoot a buck they want because it’s not big enough.

And believe me, in this day and age, we hunters don’t need to miss out on any opportunity to recruit and nurture new hunters into the sport we love, even if it means allowing “first timers” an exception to the rule.

Tell me what your thoughts on this are by commenting.

A special thanks goes to Ralph and Vicki Cianciarulo for the use of the photo.