Success in the deer fields and a pheasant season tune-up
It’s always nice to see success from a Wisconsin sportsman using a Wisconsin made product. Scott Heitman is an “On Wisconsin Outdoors” writer and one of our archery-bow hunting consultants. He works at West Town Archery in Brookfield. He’s helped me set up my own Mathews Reezen as I transitioned to a left handed shooter based on my dominant left eye. He thought it was pretty funny the way I shot those first two days.
He’s also supposedly my friend and often bowhunting partner. We both are members of Ojibwa Bowhunters in New Berlin where we practice and I’ve seen him tag deer with a compound from my camera perch high in nearby tree. The deer in the January 2011 cold of the waning Wisconsin season traveled 30 yards after a great hit.
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(Left) Scott Heitman can be seen in this shot rising to take a doe behind him with his bow in January, 2011 near Fond du Lac. (Ellis Photo)
(Above) Scott Heitman with the doe that ran 30 yards after a good hit in January of 2011. |
Scott has evolved in his shooting and hunting to the longbow. Specifically, the RER Longbow made in Merrill, Wisconsin; a company owned by Kevin and Sue TerMaat. I don’t know them but you can contact them at 715-536-3503 or info@rerbows.com.
Scott likes his archery and that means he practices and that means he gets better and better with the longbow. It shows in the field and it shows in the competitive arena. In various Club shoots around Wisconsin, Scott almost without exception finishes in the top five. In the 2013 State Traditional open shoot for longbows and recurves, Heitman finished 8th of approximately 300 archers.
Fast track to the October 2013 deer hunt. Heitman took his RER to family property in Adams County last Saturday and hooked up with son Rich Heitman and nephew Zak Mackin for a weekend of bowhunting. A nice doe wandered too close to Scott’s stand and that, you probably guessed, is not really a smart survival move.
Heitman took this doe last Saturday while hunting with
his Wisconsin-made RER longbow in Adams County.
She too, went just 30 yards.
Keep an eye open for Scott Heitman’s occasional appearance in OWO print issues and online. The November-December issue is in production with features from deer and bear hunting to open water, first-ice and a hardwater search for laketrout on Chequamegon Bay. I think it’s among our best.
I spent an afternoon in the bird field Wednesday, October 16 as a dog handler. Another longtime friend of mine, Lenny Young who used to co-coach girls’ basketball with me when our daughters were in 8th grade, won a four-hunter, 15 bird hunt donated by Wern Valley Sportsmen’s Club of Waukesha in a raffle (Our basketball team by the way went 11-0 and won the New Berlin city championship by telling the girls to do everything the exact opposite of what Lenny and I taught them). Another by-the way, Governor Walker will host his Hunting Season Kick-off at Wern Valley (mail@wernvalley.com) on October 26.
Lenny Young, Randy Young, Tim Kuhl and Jay had an ample amount of enthusiasm for their hunt. But, they didn’t have a bird dog. So, my sister Barb Johnson and her lab Dylan and Micah and I joined the hunters strictly as flushers. The boys went home after four hours in the field with 10 birds in the bag and another half-dozen or so clean misses. Wern Valley birds are wild birds. They frequently hold tight or run long distances before flushing under pressure. It was quite a day for four men who usually don’t have a chance to hunt birds. They hunted safely and shot well.
Jay Stueber, Lenny Young, Tim Kuhl and Randy Young won the Wern Valley pheasant hunt and took full advantage. Nine birds ended up bagged with MVP help from Dylan and Micah.
For Micah and me, it was also a great tune-up for the Wisconsin wild bird season coming up in just two weeks. Judging from the crowing heard during the spring turkey season, wild roosters are a very real possibility in 2013.
We posted this week the usual dose of great stuff from the outdoors. Enjoy your trip around www.onwisconsinoutdoors.com. And thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors. You are so welcome here.
Shoot straight.
Dick Ellis