T-Bone's Blog

The Not-So-Sister Biscuit

2008-05-16T05:39:00.000-07:00

The Whisker Biscuit has become very popular in the last few years. It certainly has its place. For beginning archers and young hunters, I recommend the whisker biscuit because of its ease of use and dependability. There are just a few disadvantages to the whisker biscuit: I recommend only shooting vanes with it. Because of the friction it is extremely rough on feather fletchings. If you hunt in the northern states from time to time and there is high moisture with low temperatures, then the rest is apt to freeze, thus affecting arrow flight. However, as a whole, I like the whisker biscuit.

Yours in archery,
Travis

The Georgia Smackdown!

2008-05-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Looks like Ronald and his crew are having a pretty good year in the turkey woods. Here's the email I received from him about a week ago.

T-Bone—
This is my dad Ronny Hulsey,57 with his second bird of the year.The bird was killed April 17 on the same farm in hall county georgia that my turkey, titled Record Turkey previously in your blog, came from.This bird had an 11 3/4 inch beard and 1 inch spurs.This makes the fourth bird that we have killed off of the same 100 acre farm and 12th bird in the past three years.

Bird Down!

2008-05-08T11:33:00.000-07:00

I received this email a few days ago. A great bird and thanks for sharing. Below is info on the bird:

Beard: 9 in

Spurs: 3/4

Weight: 23 lbs

The bird was shot by George Olbert of Northern Cambria in PA it was his first spring gobbler and it sure was a dandy and he is getting a full strut mount of it as well once we get it back we will send a picture of the mount.

Strange Bird

2008-05-06T05:35:00.000-07:00

Check out this photo I received last week. If anyone has the answer, I'll send them a signed hat. Read the email below to see if you have an answer:

Hey guys...I have been asking around and trying to figure out if anyone has ever
seen a gobbler like this. I killed the bird earlier this week...It appears to be
a two year old bird 9-10inch beard, 3/4 spurs, but his wings are solid
white and the rest of the bird appears to be more colorful than any other bird
i've killed before
...Looks really cool when he is strutting....I killed him in the mountains
of VA on National Forest Land and wasn't around anywhere that had tame birds...I
was kinda maybe thinking cross-breeding but there arent any tame birds around
the area...I have heard of blondes or what people call "smokey grays" but the
whole bird is white or gray in that case...Just wondering if yall have seen on
before and wondering how common it is. Check out the picture i attached.

Thanks,
Ryan

Remembering Texas

2008-05-02T06:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a video blog I shot in Texas a while back. If you can recall, I told you a video was coming where we did a whitetail survey by helicopter. This was a very cool experience. Hope you enjoy the video.
Travis

Turkey Tactics: My 2 Cents

2008-05-01T13:25:00.000-07:00

Thanks for posting about your setups and thoughts on hunting turkeys with a bow. Although I do not claim to be an authority on turkeys with a bow, here are my views. Naturally, I think we should always turn our poundage down to get real comfortable drawing in an awkward position and sitting down and pulling slow. Plus, with a turkey you don’t need the speed or the energy for a kill.

Broadheads—in my opinion there are 2 setups for turkeys and there are pros and cons to each. Let's talk about the body shot. The body shot is the most common shot, mainly cause you are aiming at a bigger target and most folks these days are using expandables (which I endorse) but a lot of folks still use fixed and use an ader point or grass hopper behind the head to slow penetration. The con to the body shot is when aiming at the body and a turkey is so round and 3-D that is hard to line up on and determine where his small vitals are. A lot of birds will get lost this way.

Now shooting the head has some appeal. A lot of folks choose not to because the fear that it is too small to hit. But let's look at the pros: You have a highly visable target, and size wise it is the same size as his internal vital organs. And you either hit it and kill it or you have a clean miss. With these new style Guolitine Bheads, it makes for some great video which I am sure you agree.

Good luck on the turkeys
Travis

Attention Please!

2008-04-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

Just wanted you folks to meet a local icon here in west central Georgia. His name is Gorman Riley and he has done many things in his life: college basketball, success in real estate, gym owner, inventor, country rapper,racing a swamp thang (mud vehicle ) but his most noted accomplishment is he is the only guy in Georgia to have a P&Y and B&C recorded kills in the state of Georgia (impressive ) and now he is attempting climbing the ranks on the 3-D archery circuit.

So put your hands together for Gorman Riley.

Travis

The Bird Man!

2008-04-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, wanted to give you some inspiration to go out and shoot ol' gobblero. I took this bird with my good buddy Marc Womack.

And if I can do it, you sure can.

Travis

Out of State?

2008-04-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

We're taking a quick break from our bowhunting tips to talk a little bit about turkeys and turkey hunters. It seems that more and more turkey hunters are traveling to multiple states each year to hunt.

So I wanted to see just how important killing a Grand Slam is to you?

Post a comment so we can see just how everyone feels about this topic and if you are traveling more for turkeys (even though gas is $4.00 a gallon!).

Travis

Drop-away Rests

2008-04-18T05:50:00.000-07:00

Continuing some hardcore details for you serious bowhunters, we're going to be discussing drop-away rests. Drop away rests have become very popular in the past few years. The advantages to shooting a drop away rest are as follows:

Shooting a drop away enables you to have total fletching clearance. With the popularity of small diameter carbon shafts increasing, it is becoming harder to get fletching clearance. With a drop away you are still able to put a lot of helical and/or off-set when fletching your arrows. This, in turn, gives the arrow more spin and steers a broadhead more effectively, thus increasing accuracy. They also provide total capture of the arrow at rest making it very hard to knock off while drawing or sitting in the stand (helps a lot with buck fever).

So, what kind of rest are you shooting?

Yours in archery,
Travis

Archery Time

2008-04-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

As everyone knows, I love bowhunting and the art of making a bow shoot to its potential. Over the next few weeks I'm going to dive into some details of bowhunting and talk about specific parts of the bow and how they operate. Hopefully I'll be interupted with a few turkey pics you send, but looks like the season is not going real well for this group. LOL!

We'll be talking about cams in this blog.

The pros and cons to different types of eccentrics are as follows:

1. Single cams are very popular today. The advantages are: They are quiet with good speed and low vibration. The number one advantage to a one cam is not having to worry about cam synchronization (timing). The disadvantages are when the string stretches, the nocking point moves drastically. Although you don’t have to worry about cam synchronization, if the bus cable stretches, it does change the efficiency of the cam. Finally, with one cam, the bus cable’s serving wears very quickly. It’s just the nature of the beast.

2. When two cam bows are tuned and timed correctly, they are very accurate. However, it is a constant battle to keep them in time and they seem to be noisier than one cams.

3. Cam and a half systems have been extremely popular the last two years. They offer the best of both worlds: Straight nock travel; no timing issues; very quiet; and a very maintenance free set up.

Yours in archery,
Travis

PS-Please comment on the bow you shoot and how you tune your bow. The goal of this blog is to have fun, but to learn something while we're at it.

Turkey Tactics and Bows

2008-04-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

I like the blogs where we interact. Love for ya’ll to respond and tell us what is on your mind. The little contest last week worked well, I think, and we will do more of those in the future.

I want to discuss ways folks bowhunt for turkeys. Bowhunting for turkeys is becoming much more popular these days. And in my opinion taking a turkey with a bow is one of the hardest tasks in bowhunting in the states. It has been said that if the turkey could smell good we would never kill one. The use and popularity of the pop up blind in the last few years have put quite a few more turkeys in the freezer for a lot of folks.

Where to and with what to shoot a turkey? I have my opinions on this but before I give my 2 cents I would like to hear everyone’s views on what type of broadheads you use on turkeys and where do you aim to kill one (the head or the vitals?). Also, what, if any, other tactics work well for you. I look forward to the responses.

Gobble Gobble
Travis

Full-Time Hunter?

2008-04-08T05:54:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this email with everyone because I get asked a lot about what it takes to make a living in the hunting industry. So read Jordan's question and I'll shed some light on the fact after:

Hi my name is Jordan, I am 18 and a senior in high school, and I love bow hunting whitetail and turkey. I been hunting all my life and have a big dream of becoming a pro hunter on tv. When hunting season comes in im out almost every day in the woods. I love calling bucks in with any calls, snort wezz, true talker, and rattol, I like to make them mad during rut. And see big bucks chasing does.
Do you have any tips on helping me achieve my dream when I get out of school. It will help me out a lot,.
Thank you for taking this time to read this,

Ps… I got my first HOYT last week (hoyt avenger) best bow I ever got .. cant wate till I get to turkey hunt with it this year.

Well, making a living as a professional hunter is not easy. Many people have the misconception that because you appear on TV, then that means you hunt all the time; that is just not true. I have a full time job and so do the majority of faces you see on the tube. So Jordan, to try and answer your question, you have to be able to entertain and kill big bucks. Once you prove that, then you have to round up enough money to buy airtime, which usually comes in the form of sponsors. Then you'll have to prove you can turn out 13 episodes a year.

Hunting on camera is so much more than people realize. It's tough and takes a lot of practice. And we all know how difficult it is to kill big bucks.

I hope this helps.
Travis

Bowcast Interview

2008-04-01T05:59:00.001-07:00

I almost forgot to tell you that the Bowcast interview I did last week is now up. Check it out here.

Let me know what you think about it.

Thanks,
Travis

Record Turkey!

2008-04-01T05:51:00.000-07:00

I received this email from Ronny Hulsey yesterday. Check out this Thunder Chicken!

Hey T Bone this is Ronny, 17, Dwaine's friend from the turkey convention. I killed two birds on Saturday March 29th in Hall County Georgia on my grandfathers farm. The biggest turkey had seven beards and scored 131.375 A typical and will be the 13th biggest turkey shot in Georgia in the NWTF record book and 107th in the Nation. The beards total 46 3/8ths inches, spurs were an 1 1/8th inch and an 1 inch. The other beard had a 10 1/2inch beard and inch spurs.

Thanks for sharing Ronny. What a bird to kick off the year. And if anyone else has a bird on the ground, make sure you email to prostaff@realtree.com.

Travis

Bowcast Interview

2008-03-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

I wanted to let you know about something that I'm very excited about. My friends at Bowcast took the the time to call and interview me the other day about bowhunting and just a bunch of random stuff. They will be posting the podcast on their site this Sunday. Check it out when you have a minute.

I'll provide a direct link to it when it's posted. And I haven't received any turkey photos just yet, so I guess the season is going a little slow! But be sure and email me photos when you have time; prostaff@realtree.com

Travis

Easter Basket?

2008-03-24T04:43:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. I wanted to follow up this weekend with a question to those who had the opportunity to hunt turkeys over the past few days. Some of the guys at Realtree had some luck, while others said the birds were henned up and pretty quiet off the roost.

I'd like to get a summary from those who hunted. Post a comment on where you hunted over the weekend and your synopsis of what the birds are doing. And please email me a photo if you were successful. We'll post the birds on the blog! Just email them to prostaff@realtree.com with your name and the state you hunted. And you can give the beard and spur length as well.

Look forward to hearing from you.
Travis

Gobble, Gobble

2008-03-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

Well, looks like we have a winner for the gobbler question. Bowhunter4life was correct with this response:

A wild turkey's beard grows through a featherless oval of skin called a papilla. When a turkey has more than one papilla on it's breast, it can grow multiple beards.

Congratulations and we'll get a hat to you soon.

Turkey season is opening in Georgia next weekend. So how many of you will be in the turkey woods for Easter?

Have a great weekend and you better knock the dust off your calls.

T-Bone

PS-Bowhunter4life: Please send an email to prostaff@realtree.com with your address and I'll get you a signed hat.

Turkey Question

2008-03-11T11:15:00.000-07:00

I recently got an email that I can't answer. So I thought I'd get your help in answering this question: Why do some turkeys have multiple beards and what causes them to have them?

PS-I have some biologist friends who know the answer, but I wanted to see who really knows their turkeys. I'll give the person with the correct answer and autographed Team Realtree hat. How does that sound?

Have at it,
Travis

Blogging Loyalty

2008-03-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

So we shot the archery tournament this weekend for Monster Bucks XVI. Everything went smoothly and it was a beautiful day. We are working on finishing the video over the next few weeks. I'll be posting a few video blogs in the coming days on the shoot.

I also wanted to say thanks to Kristle Oberlander for stopping by at the NWTF Convention. She has been a loyal supporter of my blog and all of Realtree.com since we kicked off this baby.

So thanks to Kristle and the hundreds of other die-hard Realtree.com loyalists out there. Please keep coming back!

More to come!
Travis

Casa de Bone

2008-02-26T13:05:00.000-08:00

The Turner crew is finally in the new crib. I've spent the last week moving furniture and praying that I get to sleep in my new house soon. And it finally happened. Though we still have plenty of unpacking and other stuff to do, we're in! And my indoor range is ready to go, so there will be some blogging about that in the future.

Thanks for all the feedback on the Monster Bucks shoot. We think we have a great idea in mind that everyone will love. So stay tuned!

The shoot is taking place this Saturday, so I'll fill you in on some behind-the-scenes footage next week.

Yours in archery,
T-Bone

Monster Bucks XVI is Coming

2008-02-20T05:15:00.000-08:00

Hey guys-
We will be filming the archery segment for the new Monster Bucks soon. I want to get your opinion on the funky shots you'd like to see on the new DVD. If you haven't seen any of the past Monster Bucks, make sure you buy this one. It has three bucks over 200 inches.

The new one is on the way! So let us know what you want to see!

T-Bone

Thunder Chickens

2008-02-11T05:57:00.000-08:00

We are getting close to turkey season folks. And every year more and more folks are chasing birds with bows. To me, I think it is one of the hardest things to do (kill a turkey with a bow ) maybe because of my size when I go to draw my bow it looks like the whole woods comes alive. Kind of Predator-the-movie like. LOL!!!

Many of you are already aware of some of the new innovations in turkey hunting, but let’s talk about some of the hot stuff. One of the hottest things in the last few years is the pop up blind, in my opinion it is the single biggest reason for more turkeys' death by bow than any other invention. For some reason turkeys don’t mind them, but the con to it is it cuts down on the running and gunning. You have to get the turkey to you. But then we have the full strut decoy, like the Primos B-Mobile, and gobblers can’t stand it. They have to check it out.

Now let's discuss the broadheads in which we will whack the turkeys. One of the neatest broadheads out for turkeys is the Guillotine. With 2 models available, one in 2.5-inch cut and the other 4-inch cut, it is meant to aim for the head and lop it off (makes for great video). The con is it does not fly super well so you need to keep the shots close. Another popular route to go is a very large expandable, say 2-inch cut, to hit the small vitals of the animal. Now for the guys shooting the fixed blades, you should maybe put the grasshopper or adder points behind the head to slow penetration and keep the arrow in the turkey.

It's an exciting time to be in the woods. Oh yeah, another thing, try backing your bow down 8 to 10 pounds so it is easier to handle in cramped quarters.

Come see all of us at the NWTF National Convention in Atlanta Feb. 22-25.

Gobble Gobble
Travis

A Moose?

2008-01-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

Below is a copy of an email I got a few days ago. This thing has to be kin to a moose. Don't you think?

Email read:
An Alberta, Canada native just knocked down a monster whitetail deer about two weeks ago. From what I have been been told this deer is indescribable and kind of resembles the Hole In The Horn buck. It has been green scored at 287 gross and 280 net non-typical B&C.

From what I understand, the kid missed it last year, which they figured the buck was even bigger - pushing the 300-inch mark. Right now that green score puts it as the pending #1 in Alberta and #8 in the world.

What do you think?
Travis "T-Bone" Turner

PS: Heading to the SHOT Show this week. Realtree.com will be making daily updates, so make sure you check out Today's News section of the site. There will also be videos from the show. I'll be back soon.

Weird Story, Big Deer

2008-01-28T05:43:00.000-08:00

You never know what is true or just a big tale when it comes to the rumor mill on the web. Supposedly this guy was coming back from a morning hunt when he saw this buck fighting with a concrete deer! Crazy! The deer then charged the statue and rammed it, knocking it down. As the story goes, the statue fell on the deer and the deer couldn't move. Somewhere along the lines, the deer was shot.
All I know is this is one huge deer. The rumor has it will green score around 230 inches.
If you know anything else on this, post a comment.
I just know it's crazy stuff!
Yours in archery,
T-Bone

PS-There was some Photoshop work done to take some of the blood out. But nothing else was altered.