Archive for November, 2005
What would it be like to come across a truly magnificent bull elk during the archery elk hunt? That is what Rob Titus was looking for while hunting in Montana last year. However, what he found was already dead. Rob was archery hunting when he came across this dead elk. What a find. Rob contacting me the first of this year to tell me about his great find. He ended up tagging the bull and got the antlers officially scored.
The antlers measure 397 3/8 net typical. However, Rob faxed me his score sheet and after looking at the measurements, he also scores over 400 net as a non-typical. The antlers have 4 1/8-inches of abnormal points. This caused extra deductions to the net typical score. However, by scoring it as a non-typical and adding the 4 1/8-inches you would be looking at a 405 5/8 net non-typical bull.
Yesterday, Rob just emailed me another photo of this great set of antlers. Nice Pickup Rob, and thanks for sharing.
These are the antlers that Rob Titus found in 2004 while bowhunting in Montana. This picture shows that antlers at the Boone & Crockett offices in Montana.
November 29th, 2005
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I was at my in-laws house for Thanksgiving and that evening we were downstairs watching the NBA game on TNT. My wife was upstairs with her sister watching something else when she yelled down to turn the channel. Sure enough, there was Ted Nugent on CNBC. The show was called The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. I’ll have to admit, I have never watched this show before, but Donny was interviewing Ted. It was a great interview. Of course the interviewer really put the heat on gun control, hunting, safety, etc.
However, just like Ted does best he really put together some great arguments and it was very intertaining. Ted’s wife also was with Ted during the interview and can really hold her own. They are quite the couple. It was brought up that the Nuge may run for governor of Michigan in 2010?
One question that was brought up that I thought was very interesting was when the interviewer was talking about gun safety and all of the deaths that occur each year to young kids. Ted noted that gun locks are fine, but the best safety for guns is education. He also said that he believed that probably 90% of the kids that are killed each year due to firearms is mostly attributed to crime, drugs, gangs, etc. Not all of the others reason that everyone would like to blame it on.
Ted writes for our Hunting Illustrated Magazine in the Nuge Factor column and is one of our more popular columns in the mag. The reason for this, and the reason we get so much feedback about the Nuge Factor, is because people do appreciate Ted’s honesty, but also the knowledge and the way he can handle the anti-hunting groups with good combacks and facts to back it up. Many people know what they believe in, but have a difficult time putting it in words. That is why so many of us appreciate what Ted does to help the cause. He is a great abassador not only to hunting, gun rights, and our freedom in general, but for families and parental responsibility in teaching our kids.
I hope some of you had a chance to watch the program as well.
November 26th, 2005
I don’t think anything would get done around here if there was not a deadline. Right now we are in the middle of wrapping up another issue of Hunting Illustrated. As we franticly do some last minute changes and updates so we can all enjoy a good Thanksgiving weekend, I just wanted to let everyone know what we have in store. We have put together an incredible cover story that is going to blow everyone away. What a story! You have heard about it in the news a while back and is a pretty unfortunate thing that has happened. We will give you all of the details and the full story. You will not find this anywhere else but Hunting Illustrated.
Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving! Those of you who have a coveted rut hunt and will be hunting instead of eating turkey, good luck.
November 23rd, 2005
Every year we hear it. “There was a 40-inch mule deer taken.” How rare that is. Last year there were at least two mule deer that stretched the tape to 40-inches wide. What an accomplishment. However, like most things, the rumors of a legit 40 inch mule deer usually go away in the wind or turn out to be much less.
I remember a couple of years ago I traveled to an older man’s home to take pictures of his 40-inch mule deer. As soon as I saw it I knew it wasn’t even close. It was a 30-inch buck. I took a couple of photos anyway just to not make him feel bad.
The last few weeks there has been rumors of a 40-inch mule deer being taken here in Utah. The crazy thing about it is that it was taken right in our back yard so to speak during the general season hunt. We first got word from our local Fish and Game Officer telling he saw a 40-inch mule deer come off the mountain. Then, things started getting crazy as we started talking with people who actually saw the buck and measured it themselves. Reports came in that it was a 36-inch mule deer. Another 35-inches. But then more verifying that it was in fact 40-inches wide.
Aparently an older man that was not a local went up the canyon in his car and then hunted along a dirt road. He came across this buck and shot it. He was driving down the canyon with this buck hanging in the back trunk of his car! When he stopped at a local gas station, someone stopped and measuring it at 40-inches. He then proceeded to a local auto shop to get some air in his tires. There the autoshop owner measured it at 40-inches wide. He said that the buck was a willow-horned 4×5 that had just one kicker on the one side. It was basically a very wide typical-framed mule deer, but carried very little mass.
The hunter then proceeded out of town and through the canyon. Another person spotted this great buck in the trunk and following him some ways down the canyon until he stopped again at a quick stop gas station. This person measured it at 36-inches wide. The funny thing is, even though all of these people saw the buck in the trunk of this car and measured it, they did not go to the trouble of getting a name or where this guy was from. We are guessing that he might be a resident hunter from Utah County or Salt Lake City.
Now the question arises…did anyone see this buck before it was shot? There are some hard core hunters around this area and many landowners who know the hills pretty good. Why haven’t we heard about this buck until now? So far we have heard of one sighting prior to the rifle season. Surprisingly, not many really knew this wide buck was around.
Anyone who knows any information about this buck, drop us a line….the mystery 40-inch buck continues.
November 19th, 2005
Yesterday we were going on one of our test rides with the new 2006 Polaris Sportsman 500. You will find the full test in our upcoming issue of Hunting Illustrated. The beauty of doing some good ATV riding during the month of November is being out in the hills during the rut. As I was doing a couple of jumps I looked down into a meadow and sure enough there was a pretty dandy buck hot and heavy over a doe.
We were able to get within about 10 yards of this buck as he was chasing a doe. Not a bad buck for being on public land in an over-the-counter-tag area. Sure does make your test riding a little more enjoyable when you get to see some good wildlife along the way.
November 17th, 2005
I came across this news bit today and couldn’t believe what had happened. Well, actually I could. Apprently a 22-year-old man died in a suspected wolf attack in northern Saskatchewan last week. The autopsy showed he may have been killed by animals and there were reports of wolf tracks around his dead body.
Here is the link to the full news story.
November 16th, 2005
Got some great news today. Just found out that Hunting Illustrated, official publication of King’s Outdoor World, has been approved and picked up by Safeway. Safeway is a major supermarket chain with stores across the U.S. It will probably take an issue or two before this finally takes affect and the magazine starts showing up on Safeway newsstands.
Hunting Illustrated continues to build in popularity and recognition and more and more newsstand locations are accpeting us. Why? Quality. Content. And it is continuing to grow and improve each and every year. Hunting Illustrated is getting noticed!
November 16th, 2005
On the road with Todd Munford - Factory Rep - King’s Outdoor World
Texas Shadow Showroom Tour
October 26th through November 5th 2005
I departed from home base (Mt. Pleasant, Utah) on Wednesday afternoon October 26th. My destination was Fredericksburg, Texas where I would be a part of the Grand Opening of Hartcraft Taxidermy and Guide Service. Terry Hartcraft and his wife Sheryl are super people and met me at the front door of their new facility on Friday afternoon October 28th (1400 Miles later). The Grand Opening was awesome. I had our showroom parked right out in front and had people in and out of the trailer all day looking at and purchasing our camo.
Todd with Terry Hartcraft and his family in front of the King’s Tour Trailer parked out front of Hartcraft Taxidermy in Fredricksburg, Texas
The response to our trailer is wonderful. People can look at, try on and feel our complete camo line. Terry’s new facility was amazing as well. His new showroom combined with our ShadowShowroom provided a fun day for many people. We even had free hotdogs and sausages going on the grill and some country tunes in the background from the exterior speakers of our trailer.
Sunday afternoon, things were winding down and Terry asked me if I would like to go whitetail hunting. Texas hunting is a whole new ball game, but I have been transformed from my obsession with big mulies and big bulls. We headed out to one of Terry’s leases where he had a ground blind set up in a great location paralleling a winter wheat field that the deer loved to feed into. We got in the ground blind. I was hunting with Jeff Scott, one of Terry’s main guides. Man these guys know their stuff. We used a masking cover scent. It was skunk and it was strong, but after seeing the deer and how close they came to our blind we needed all the help we could get.
We had three bucks work into us. They were about 18 to 20 yards out. I pulled back three different times but a smaller buck kept getting behind the seven point I was after. Finally I let an arrow fly. Good hit, but back a little. We left the buck for a couple of hours. We tracked blood for two hours and finally found him. He went into a small cattle pond and laid down in it to cool off and was floating in the pond. Thanks to the great tracking abilities of Terry and his guides the buck is down. My first whitetail buck. I love to hunt.
Left to right: Todd Munford, Terry Hartcraft, Hunter Hartcraft and Jeff Scott with Todd’s first whitetail buck taken in Texas
I left Fredericksburg on Monday morning en route to Katy, Texas to meet with some dealers. I got caught in an amazing thunderstorm in Katy. I had to sit it out before I left Monday night. My destination was Tyler, Texas where I was going to meet with Jamie and Bryan, owners of Bucks and Ducks in Tyler. Texas is a monster state, almost a country in itself. You can’t just go around the block to get somewhere. On my way to Tyler I stopped to fuel up in Jewitt, Texas. Jewitt is a very small town. Before I left the gas station I enjoyed meeting many of the towns people who stopped to look in the trailer. Two hours later I departed being very grateful that the people in Jewitt would be wearing Desert Shadow on the up and coming deer hunt. Thanks for your support.
I spent the day at Bucks and Ducks having a lot of their customers come out to the trailer to see our product line. I left Tyler Texas at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday night and headed for San Angelo, Texas to visit The Outdoorsman and Adobe Hunting Camp, two of our first dealers in Texas. I arrived in San Angelo at 2:00 am on Wednesday morning. I spent the day with Neil Grant, the owner of The Outdoorsman in San Angelo. I was treated to a neat experience as Neil took me to his house to see his pet calf elk that was hanging out with his family until it gets big enough to release. Its mom left it when it was a few weeks old.
I left The Outdoorsman at 4:00 p.m. and met up with Skipper Duncan. He owns and operates Adobe Lodge And Hunting Camp. What an experience. I actually took the trailer right out to his hunting camp where he had eight hunters from Georgia there. We trimmed some mesquite branches at his entrance so the top of the trailer would clear. When I got there the hunters were out in their stands. Skipper told me that there would be a helicopter landing at camp shortly. The son of one of the hunters was transporting a medical helicopter from El Paso and was going to surprise his dad by stopping at camp. It landed 40 feet from my rig.
The hunters came in with some nice bucks that eve. I was treated to a nice meal of whitetail shoulder and potatoes. All of the hunters came out and purchased camo and visited in my trailer. That night Skipper approached me and asked if I would like to hunt a doe whitetail in the morning. He has managed ranches and they are allotted so many doe tags each year for management purposes. I had already purchased my non resident license to hunt in Fredericksburg, so I said sure, twist my arm. The guys took me out to the stand site that night so I knew how to get there the next morning. Thursday morning I woke up at 5:30 and hopped in an old corn hauling truck that Skipper had ready for me and I ventured out to my stand. The stand was a ladder stand 25 feet in the air.
Todd with his pretty Texas management doe
wearing King’s Desert Shadow Camo
First light came and the wind was terrible for me. Every deer coming in busted me cause of my scent. Finally a doe walked right beneath me and into clearing in front of me. I pulled back and let an arrow fly. I made a good shot as my arrow had gone right through her and was covered with good blood. She busted out of there. I sat in the stand for about half-hour, after which I climbed down and called my wife on my cell phone. I wanted her to be a part of my Texas whitetail experience by tracking the deer with me via Verizon service. No blood for 100 yards. Finally I got to an old road and there she was. I loaded her up in the old corn truck and took her back to camp. Dave “The Skinner” Gonzales an employee of Skipper’s had her skinned, cut and wrapped in 30 minutes, tops! Skippers place was great and response to our camo was fantastic, with Desert Shadow now being worn in Georgia.
Thursday night I headed out and was determined to make it to Uvalde, Texas where I was going to spend the next two days at Oasis Outback. This is a wonderful store on Highway 90, which is a main thoroughfare to South Texas. The opener of the Texas rifle season was Saturday November 5th and I looked forward to meeting a lot of hunters and friends. I made it to Uvalde Thursday night. The next morning I was greeted by Randy Klein (owner) and Bob Porter (manager) of Oasis Outback. What a wonderful store they have. It reminded me of a mini Cabela’s. They have done a wonderful job putting it together and I was so proud to have our camo represented in this store
It was a great day Friday with many people coming in and out of showroom trailer. It was nice to meet so many great people. My buddy Lori McDonald, who is a buyer, and the smile of Oasis coordinated with me Friday and Saturday to order and satisfy the needs of all the customers we were working with. We had some good tunes cranking on the outdoor speakers of trailer and enjoyed the neat atmosphere that was at the store Friday and Saturday. I was sad to leave but I missed my wife and kids, so it made it easier leaving these great people and this great State. I left Uvalde at 2:00 p.m. Saturday and made it to Trinidad, Co at 4:00 am Sunday morning. I was really missing my wife Laudi and kids by this time. After a small three-hour catnap I left Trinidad at 9:00 am. I arrived in Mt. Pleasant, Utah at 10:00 p.m. where I was greeted by Laudi and my girls. Whitetail backstrap on the menu for Monday night!
Great Trip. I thank all those who support King’s Outdoor World and our ShadowCamo line. Good people meeting good people. We love to hunt!
Todd Munford
Factory Rep - King’s Outdoor World
November 15th, 2005
If you haven’t seen the post yet, I added a new featured story on our main site from our current issue of Hunting Illustrated. This is a great story of Josh Epperson having a chance to video a bull in the summer of 2003 that would be eventually taken by Nick Franklin later in September. The elk became the official new Pope and Young world record non-typical scoring 442 0/8 net P&Y. Josh ended up finding the sheds to the bull that year as well.
To see more pics and read the whole story about Josh’s adventures pursuing this bull, Click Here.
November 12th, 2005
Bad news for all of us. Yes, this affects all of us. Yesterday voters of San Fransisco approved Proposition H. More about Proposition H can be found on this earlier post. The NRA is challenging with a lawsuit to try and overturn this new ruling. Here is the official reply from the NRA.
NRA to File Lawsuit Challenging San Francisco Gun Ban
Yesterday the voters of San Francisco, California voted to strip you of your gun rights.
They approved Proposition H, a measure banning the lawful possession, sale and manufacture of handguns and ammunition within city limits. They also banned the transfer of all rifles and shotguns, even among family members.
The effect of the measure is local but its supporters are sending a message across America that voters want to support gun bans at the ballot box. And they are hoping to spread that message to a politician near you.
If they are successful, they will spark a national feeding frenzy in the elite media, spreading the lie that there is no political support for our Second Amendment rights. And some local, state and federal lawmakers will believe them.
We have no intention of standing idly by while the anti-gun lobby tries to build momentum for gun ban measures in other communities.
No, we intend to strike down this ill-advised, clearly illegal and unconstitutional measure - before it spreads like wildfire. I hope we can count on your help.
In response to the passage of Proposition H, NRA is filing suit today to stop this unconstitutional ban.
This gun ban scheme not only violates federal constitutional guarantees, but also the California statute that gives the state sole authority to regulate firearms. But the outcome of any court proceeding is far from guaranteed.
We are bringing the finest legal minds and constitutional authorities to bear, and we will incur sizeable legal fees and expenses. But the defense of our Second Amendment rights demands no less. We will borrow the money if we have to…but we will fight this ban until freedom prevails.
Will you stand with us by making a one-time, online, secure contribution to help fund our legal battle? Please click here to make your secure, online contribution by credit card right now. Your donation of $100, $50, or $25 will replenish our financial firepower to ensure that we have the resources to fight this battle in the California courts and across the nation.
We will not stand idly by while the enemies of freedom conspire to undo our constitutionally guaranteed Second Amendment rights. Your help in this most urgent matter is deeply appreciated.
Sincerely,
Chris W. Cox
Executive Director, NRA-ILA
November 9th, 2005
Previous Posts
