The Big Five (Hunting Story)

  As the days before my scheduled hunting trip passed, the anticipation kept building. We had a small list of "hit-list" bucks and at the top of that list was a mature buck that we called The Forkhorn (aka the Big Five). We all agreed that this buck had a "kill on-site" policy, so much so, it became competitive as to who could get him first. But as season goes, we all went many sits without seeing any sign of him.

  Then the day finally came! The day I had looked forward to all month, November 13, 2014, the day my vacation began and I got to drive the eight hours north to my Georgia hunting lease. I drove straight through and by the time I got there, it was 2:00am, so now I had a decision to make; either unpack and set up camp and get less than two hours of sleep, or sleep in the truck and get about four hours asleep and set up camp the next day after the hunt. So the best idea seemed to get the most sleep I could and deal with camp after my hunt.

  As luck would have it, I woke up on time, but was so tired I was dragging. With sunrise being at 6:30am and fast approaching, I unloaded the four wheeler, unpacked my camo, and got dressed. By the time I got all my gear together, completely dressed out, and got on the four wheeler to leave camp, it was 6:33am! Needless to say I was late! I floored that Honda as fast as I could safely go, and tried my hardest to get to the stand as quickly as possible.

  When I got to the edge of the field, I had a very pressing feeling that there were already deer out on the field. The field was already harvested so it was nothing but dirt, but the feeling was there, so I stepped to the edge of the field and glassed the edge where there were usually deer and like a ghost, there he was the Big Five! I instantly dropped to my knee, grabbed my shooting sticks, and went to find him in the scope of my Browning X-bolt 7mm. As I was looking through the scope, my shooting sticks started to collapse, but I was able to confirm it was, in fact, him. I grabbed my range finder, and  saw that he was over 325 yards out, but I saw he was appearing to scan the field for does, so I grabbed my grunt call and hit it three short times. What happened next was by far the coolest thing I had ever seen! He began sprinting at me full speed, behind him was a big cloud of dust, I had never had a deer run towards me as fast as he did. As he began to close the distance, I grabbed my range finder again, he was at 177 yards, broadside, and had slowed to a trot. He began to bow up, hair raised on his back, head hung low, and ears laid back; it was clear he was not happy about having a second buck in the area.

  I put the crosshairs behind his shoulder, took a deep breath and slowly squeezed the trigger. In the scope I saw him lurch forward and his front leg come up off the ground as he disappeared off the field. Feeling I made a good shot, I walked to where he went in, found blood, dropped my shooting sticks to mark the area, and headed the rest of the way to my tree stand. As I was sitting in the stand, I kept hearing a thump, followed by the shuffling of leaves. I looked over, and once my eyes adjusted, through the brush I could see my buck taking his final kicks. Once I felt he had passed, I jumped down out of the stand and went to retrieve my buck. 

  He had such a huge body that I was very excited to put him up on the scale, I was also very excited to see that he was a partial piebald! He had white hooves with white socks, and a double white patch! Once I got him loaded and back to camp, I then realized where my priorities lie. I had a phenomenal buck on the ground and no place to put him. So after I got the camp all set up and put him on the scale I was surprised to see he weighed in at 220lbs! 

  When I got him back from the taxidermist, I decided that just for laughs, I would score him. Once again this buck shocked me with a gross score of 115 7/8"! To this day, he remains my absolute favorite buck, and every time I look at him up on the wall, I go back to that day, when a short series of grunts, landed me my oldest, and heaviest buck to date.

-Chris Johnson

Adapt and Overcome

  Hey everyone! And thank you for visiting Johnson Outdoors! Today I'm going to talk about adapting to new changes and learning new ways to overcome any obstacles that may be in your way.

  For those readers that are new to my little blog, or for those that didn't already know, I am active duty military (U.S. Coast Guard), but I'm doing everything I can to follow my dream of making a name for myself in the outdoor industry. One of the ways I'm doing that is by, not only writing in this blog, but also trying to film my hunts throughout the country and taking advantage of every opportunity I'm afforded.
  When I transfer to a new unit, I get a small say in where I go; it's called a "dream sheet". With this "dream sheet" I am given a list of billets (jobs) that are open for the position I hold, then you get to list those from the places you want most, to those you want the least. When choosing my billet, I think about not only the unit and what that might be like, but also where it's located and what sort of hunting and fishing opportunities I may be afforded there. These past couple months I've been doing just that, I got transferred from South Florida, where I'm from, to Northern Illinois. Huge change right?

Fishing
  My biggest adjustment came with figuring out what type of freshwater fish were up here and how to target them. Luckily for me, I'm stationed with a friend that's grown up fishing the Great Lakes, so I was able to learn a lot from him. Unlike South Florida fishing, here, its mostly panfish and catfish that get targeted so small hooks and nightcrawlers or leeches get the best results. First time out we ended up with six channel cats, so its safe to say that i think I'll be just fine with fishing up here.

Hunting
  It's a huge difference hunting up here compared to down south, the regulations are vastly different and I'm still getting used to learning how everything is up here. Only way to learn is to get out there and try right? So I've gotten all my licenses, and since Illinois is a primarily bowhunting state, there are a good amount of public land areas that allow bowhunting only, I've looked up the different public land areas around me and what they require to hunt them. I've also applied for a couple firearm permits so should I not be successful with the bow, I can still try with my shotgun which will also be a new experience for me. So stay tuned for any updates on how my season goes up here.

Overcoming Obstacles
  So as anyone trying to get into this industry knows, it takes a ton of blood, sweat, and tears. And over these past few years, I can tell you there are more tears than anything else, but if you're willing to put in the work and not give up, there are plenty of opportunities out there! This past weekend I had a fantastic opportunity to meet some of the biggest names in the hunting industry at Deer Fest. I got to talk with Lee and Tiffany Lakosky, Pat and Nicole Reeve, and Kip Campbell! I've looked up to these people my whole life and getting the chance to meet and talk hunting with them was by far the coolest thing I could have ask for.

  I had been getting a little discouraged, my initial excitement of moving to the land of giants had been dashed by my frustration of trying to figure out the regulations for the area. I hadn't given up on pursuing my dream, but it definitely fell on the back burner for a little while. Talking with Pat, Lee, Tiffany and Kip re-ignited that passion, and since this weekend, I feel as if I have a fire lit under me. Pat had noticed my Scent Crusher hat and we began to talk about how I held a Field-Staff position for them, he asked who all I was on with, and when I said Dead Ringer, he cracked this big grin and said "ohhh we like them too!" It was awesome, I had dreamed of being able to rub elbows with these people and here I had one standing in front of me smiling! I'll never forget what he told me, it almost brings tears of joy to my eyes as I'm writing this. He told me, "You're doing everything right, you've gotten on with some great companies. You know, we've been at this for 30 years, just keep doing what you're doing, and I guarantee you'll make it [in this industry]" I could barely contain my emotions, all the hard work, all the rejection, the advertising that seemed to fall on deaf ears, it all was finally coming together. After I took a picture with the Reeves and thanked them for everything, I  got to meet Kip Campbell. I had always wanted to meet Kip, from watching his show, to the commercials, just everything about him on TV made me think that he was definitely someone I would want to be around, and I'm happy to say that he is the most genuine person I have ever met. We talked about the commercials, the show, and overall about how many people in the industry (and out of the industry) aren't as they seem, I won't name drop. but his experiences kind of opened my eyes to how big some of the egos in the industry are, and it was very nice to see he was not one of those people.

So, what was taken away from this? There are many genuine people in the industry, and even though you always hear that, it's nice to see the truth behind it. I've looked up to these people so much and to see that they truly live up to their name and are genuinely great people. It puts things into perspective that as long as you stay yourself and remain humble, there is a spot for you in this industry. And even though I held these men and women in high regards before, now, I have gained even more respect for them and everything they've accomplished.

-Chris Johnson