The Everyday Hunter

I've known about Barry and Gene Wensel for years, and they had even heard of me (more recently) through a mutual friend, Jim Riggle. We  finally met at the Eastern Traditional Archery Rendezvous at Denton Hill (Coudersport, PA), July 24, 2010.  Here we are with their "brother of the bow" Mike Mitten. I'm working on a new article for North American Whitetail about a new scouting strategy. They were kind enough to talk to me about how they use it. Gene (in the red shirt) had just read my article on the Benoit brothers and thought it was great. These guys are the real deal -- and you'll be reading more about them from me. 

In the green checked jackets are Ron Hachey and Pierre Roy, my guides at P. R. Guides in New Brunswick. They offer a great bear hunt, and one I'll be returning to as soon as possible. 

I don't watch much on the Outdoor Channel. But I do watch Ralph and Vickie Cianciarulo on their program "Archer's Choice  whenever I get the chance. They're fun-loving, down- to-earth people. We spotted each other outside the archery arena at the Eastern Sport Show.

Here's Jerry Peterson, owner of Woods Wise calls. I told him he had a great logo. (Like mine, it features an antler and a turkey tail feather. Apparently great minds think alike!) Jerry has a great new deer call he's named the Super Hot Ma-Mah -- comes with a DVD. It's all rubber so it's silent and flexible, and it makes great contact calls and hot doe bleats. It uses two reeds -- one when you inhale and the other when you exhale.

With Rob Keck in his office at the National Wild Turkey Federation headquarters, June 2007, when he was Executive Director of the NWTF. 

At the 2010 Eastern Sport Show in Harrisburg, I sat down with Shane and Lanny Benoit, pictured here. The year before, I met Lanny and Lane at the show, and spent the entire evening with them at the place they were staying. I've written about the Benoits for North American Whitetail magazine (August 2010.) The Benoit family, starting with their father Larry, has been famous for their deer tracking skills since the 1970s. Shane carries his EverydayHunter.com knife clipped to his pocket. (Photo by Jim Riggle.)

Here, Lanny Benoit and I are discussing the Benoit philosophy of deer hunting for my article about the Benoit family in North American Whitetail. (Thanks to Harvey Bauer for this photo.)

With Nathan DeGroot, custom turkey call maker (There's No End Calls) from New York. Nathan called this gobbler off posted property in the last few minutes of a hunt. In this photo I'm wearing BuckThorn Camo.

Here's Jim Riggle with two racks -- both were in very the same issue of North American Whitetail where I published the story of his big Forest County, PA non-typical bruiser (NAW, December 2007 special issue Awesome Antlers 7). The mounted rack is a disputed world record -- disputed because of a scoring disagreement on whether the G-3 points are typical or non-typical. The wide rack Jim is holding comes from one of the two bucks in that issue called "The Minnesota Twins." Click here to enlarge photo.