Sereena Thompson Nature's Paint

Yeah, so we're just getting ready to launch mid-July, beginning of August. And it's actually kind of a funny story my business partner and I, we were hunting together last year and all we did was complain about our face paint and how we couldn't it off and how it irritated our skin. And so kinda after the season we just, "Hey, we're gonna, let's try to make our own."

And so it just kind of started from there and we just kept going and trying different formulas and now we finally feel like we've got it kind of honed in to where not only we can benefit but there's so many other people out there who have had the same concerns that we do that can benefit from it too. And so it's easy on, it's easy off which is awesome if you've worn any other of the competitive brands lots of the cheaper ones are super hard to get off of your skin. And when you're like me and you're wearing it multiple days in a row, you put it on, you wipe maybe half of it off and then the next thing you're putting more on and more on and it irritates your skin.

And so really with Nature's Paint

And so really with Nature's Paint, we really focus on making it good for sensitive skin, making it all natural so there's not any of the harmful paraffin's and chemicals that really can irritate your face.

But when you chat with other ladies and you chat about hunting, where's the conversation go? A lot of the conversations lately, I helped with the 2016 Northwest Ladies Hunting Camp and so what that is, is we help a lot of ladies who maybe don't have the support at home to get into hunting so we really help them. And so those conversations lately have just been kind of how to hunt and tactics and what do you do and what equipment do you have to have and things like that.

So I really got into hunters ed, kind of like I said before, I have two little kids, three and four and I'm really, my husband and I are really trying to teach them and I really enjoyed it.

Hey, I kinda wanted to get into the hunter's education instructor program here in Oregon

And so I was like, "." And so I, with the way that things are going in the world I feel like hunter safety and gun safety is really an important part and so anything I can do to help teach kids, women, any adults that are looking to even just have just a little bit of what is a gun, what's the trigger, what's an action. If I can teach anything like that I feel like it will just help make the world a better place.

Nope, so I just for quite awhile I wasn't super fit and so I just one day I decided that where I hunt it really does a big part in being successful or not. I can't hunt elk out of the truck where I hunt. We backpack way into the back country.

Last weekend we were setting up trail cams and we would put all of our packs on and we hiked in a good three miles and then by the time we come back out it's a six to eight mile round trip just checking our trail cams. And the terrain is rugged so really to be successful and not be fatigued it's really important to be [inaudible 00:13:49]. So I worked on myself, I got myself in excellent shape and then I really wanted to help other people.

I got myself in excellent shape and then I really wanted to help other people.

And so now on a daily basis I help others who are looking to get Fit 2 Hunt, I help them get started with nutrition and exercises and where they can start to getting in shape so that they can have the most successful hunt. I recently just teamed up with MTN Ops and so I do incorporate their products into kind of my nutrition plan and things that way.

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Paige Darden MyTopo Huntress

Paige Darden MyTopo Huntress Paige is one of my hunt sponsors. She so graciously has helped me with maps when I'm writing for gohunt.com and sheet maps and other maps and she's been a great partner for Whitetail Rendezvous so Paige, shout out to you and mytopo.com for helping me out, helping this guy out and that's why I wanted to have Paige on the show today folks, because she's got a lot of great information no matter where you are in North America, Topo Maps can help. Paige Darden MyTopo Huntress

My Topo's just become sort of a go-to place for getting your hunting maps

My Topo's just become sort of a go-to place for getting your hunting maps. We have topos, aerials, satellite, hybrid maps which is a topo overlay-ed on an aerial, and the savvy hunters call us up when they figure out where they want to go and order a map that focuses in on the area they're gonna hunt. If you've drawn a tag you can get a GMU map any of the states in the western areas where you have the GMU units, you can just literally call us up or go onto our website and order a map of that entire GMU unit. Paige Darden MyTopo Huntress

In the eastern states most people hunt on a Wildlife Management Area, they're state game lands, public areas all of those we have on our website listed. We have a couple hundred for every state and you can literally go in and those public hunting lands are already custom centered on a map, couple of clicks away you add it to your shopping cart and two or three days later you got it in your hot hands. Paige Darden MyTopo Huntress

Well, I tell ya I learned a lot from a guy name Brad Winke who's, or Bill Winke who's a great hunter out of Iowa I believe. And we used to have a great service with him that it got so popular we had to stop doing it. We couldn't keep up with the demand. What he would do is people would say here's the hundred acres that I hunt and tell me how to strategize this hunt. And we would provide the map and he'd provide the strategy, just being an expert hunter. But what he would do is show people how to figure out how game would travel through the land. Paige Darden MyTopo Huntress

what he would do is show people how to figure out how game would travel through the land.

You can look at the topo map and just like us, game is pretty lazy. They'll take the path of least resistance. So you can figure out how they're gonna get to their food sources, their water sources by taking the path of least resistance and ideally that offers a little bit of...sorry, we've got a train coming through it sounds like, but usually they will take the easiest path to get to their food and water as long as it provides a little cover.

When you're hunting a smaller property you want to be careful not to let 'em know you're there. So how you enter the property is super important, based on the wind direction and that kind of thing. So you want to be able to get into a property from all different sides of the property based on the wind direction that day. So he would talk to 'em about, he would write up that kind of strategy.

You also want to know their food sources. Where are the trees with the nuts and berries that the game's gonna gravitate towards. Where are the likely bedding areas. All of those kinds of things if you can figure out by studying a map beforehand, it can sure, of course you have to do some on ground scouting as well, hopefully before the season starts. But all of that information kind of comes alive on a map.

What is the benefit of My Topo versus Google Earth?

Paige: Well absolutely, Google Earth is a great resource. We never discourage anybody from doing anything they can to stay sound and to help them be more successful. But My Topo also has a great free browsing service. If you just go to mytopo.com you'll see where it says online maps is one of ...

Bob & Bruce Co-Founders say Thanks

To our 51,100 listeners who have downloaded our show on iTunes, the over 225 show quests and close to 30,000 followers on social media.

Bob & Bruce Co-Founders say Thanks

THANK YOU for getting us started on our journey building the Whitetail Nation across North America.

Each of you are part of our journey.

Bob & Bruce Co-Founders say Thanks

We say Thank You!

Whitetail Rendezvous “Listen- Learn & Succeed”

Whitetail Rendezvous “Listen- Learn & Succeed” Join host Bruce Hutcheon with Co-Founder Bob Roark, as he joins with his guests from across North America to talk about white-tail deer and lessons learned tips and techniques, stories the traditions of hunting, women in the outdoors and mentoring the youth. Bob & Bruce Co-Founders say Thanks

Whitetail Rendezvous vision is to educate collaborate and communicate with whitetail hunters across North America.

Let’s spend a minute or two sharing why Whitetail rendezvous was created.

I retired about four years ago and began spending more and more days hunting whitetails. I quickly realized that while traveling cross county to the Midwest from my home in Colorado I had hours of windshield time to get Whitetail smart. How the heck was I going to connect to audio information?

Answer, podcasts off my smart phone. Quickly I realized that while there were some good whitetail focused podcasts out there I just was not getting the info I wanted. Returning from last fall’s hunts I spent time listening to many different podcast forums and gained a lot of knowledge about podcasts.

I sure had a lot to learn about the how, what, why and when of producing value based content on a consistent basis for those with a passion for Whitetails. I knew that if I wanted to great focused information, useful strategies, new techniques and ideas on how it’s done right so would thousands of others.

The work really began when my good friend, Bob Roark said he was interested in the project and wanted to help bring it to life. Phew, was I glad about that for hundreds of reasons. He helped me develop the foundation of Whitetail Rendezvous. From an idea the project morphed into a passion to a build whitetail community that shares “great stuff” with guys & gals just like you.

Well as the song goes We have just begun...stay tuned all years long as we bring new guests with new content, teaching videos, whitetail insights, eBooks and introduce our Endorsed Partner program.

Marti Davis Afield

Marti Davis grew up in southwest Missouri in a family that hunted and spent time together outdoors. She started hunting herself in her mid 20’s after Jimmy, her husband, introduced her to deer hunting.

She and Jimmy still reside in Willard, the same small hometown they were both raised in; along with Maggie, their mini dachshund.

Hunting and the outdoors isn’t just a past time for Marti, it’s her lifestyle and her passion. She enjoys hunting, trapping, fishing, scouting, working on food plots, riding an ATV and even brush hogging — although it’s not at the top of her “favorites” list.

Besides her home state of Missouri, Marti has traveled to hunt in Tennessee, Idaho, Kansas, Arkansas, Illinois, Montana, Colorado and New Mexico. She has taken whitetail deer, turkey, black bear, elk and antelope. She also hunts small game, traps and hunt predators and occasionally hunts waterfowl. Whatever season, is open, she’s up for it.

Hunting and the outdoors isn’t just a past time for Marti, it’s her lifestyle and her passion

Last season, I can't have any complaints about last season. I hunted the usual, hunted here around home in southwest Missouri, I live in Willard and I do some hunting here locally. Which we're not known for big deer, big whitetails, but there's some whitetails here to get me by until I get over into my hunts in southern Illinois where the big boys are. So mid-November, actually November 15th it was opening weekend of our Missouri rifle season here at home and I'd actually overslept that morning.

I'm going to tell on myself here. I overslept that morning and didn't get out, and when I did finally get up I just took my time, got some stuff done around the house and went out later in the morning and got up on a tripod stand overlooking a food plot area and before I climbed up in the tripod stand I went ahead and set a buck decoy out in the middle of that where this decoy could actually be seen from all four directions from this field here.

There's little gaps along the edge of this field where the decoy could be seen from the neighboring fields and properties and midday I haven't seen much because it's November 15th, midday, not a lot of traffic through the day but I was seeing a little bit, and all of a sudden I had a three and a half-year-old buck coming into the food plot and he started posturing and stomping and got all furred up and he was heading right for that decoy.

And I haven't hunted a lot with decoys

And I haven't hunted a lot with decoys, I haven't had a lot of experience with 'em but the few times that I have I've usually had a buck posture and take notice of the decoy. A few times it's also ran deer off but it was also younger deer that was running off so that's really not a problem with me.

Here at home, this is the first buck, I haven't harvested a buck in Missouri it had been six years since I harvested a buck here in Missouri. Mainly because I'm trying to let 'em get older and quality deer management can let the bucks mature which is hard to do here in southern Missouri. More times than not a two and a half year old deer jumps a fence goes on a neighboring property you're going to hear a gunshot.

So it's hard to do. But I still that's what I want to do so that's what I do. So I've harvested does off this property for this past several years and I've had opportunities to shoot younger bucks and passed 'em up and it finally paid off this year he wasn't a real mature deer but he was three and a half, four and a half years old, which for this part of the country is an older deer, unfortunately.

A lot of guys say, "Oh I can't shoot an older buck," but no, not when you keep shooting them when they're a year and a half, two and a half year olds.

Robin Gassett serves Veterans great hunts

Robin and Ellen Gassett - He is a veteran of the US Army and was trained as a crew chief/door gunner on a UH-1 Huey helicopter serving from 1967-1972. Ellen is a retired US Postal Service Postmaster since 2003.

After living all our lives in Georgia they decided to retire to a farm in North Central Ky and supplemented their retirement with outfitting for deer and turkey.

Robin is a very experienced hunter and guide of almost 50 yrs. taking most of the big game animals in N America except sheep. Robin Gassett serves Veterans great hunts

My first hunter was my younger brother

My first hunter was my younger brother, who was also an Army veteran, diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and given 8-12 months to live. He was the first hunter to take a deer from the farm. It was a nice 15 pt. buck.

He passed away a short time later. Next we had a young man with Spina Bifida ask to come hunting.

He was 14 yrs. old and confined to a wheelchair. It took a while but we got him his turkey and the look on his face was unbelievable. Needless to say he didn’t pay for the hunt. Robin Gassett serves Veterans great hunts

These experiences led me to realize how fortunate I was to have had the hunting adventures and success that I have had and how others with disabilities might have not. My attention also turned to returning soldiers that have been wounded and the terminally Ill.

Why couldn’t we provide hunting opportunities to these hunters

Why couldn’t we provide hunting opportunities to these hunters? As their medical expenses are usually high and money is low why couldn’t we do it for free? So we became Licking River Outfitters, Inc., a non-profit 501(3)(c) operation. Fully 100% of all donations go to help fund LRO hunting trips. We have no payroll.

During 2013 we took over 100 people hunting of which 75 or more were wounded soldiers, others were disabled or youth. And All Were Free!!!

We are now in our 9th year of operation and I still haven’t killed a turkey in Ky on our farm. But I have called many in to meet their maker at the hands of a wounded soldier, or disabled hunter. What could be better than that?

This has become my passion and is a 365 day a year job as our 600-acre farm

This has become my passion and is a 365 day a year job as our 600-acre farm is totally managed for trophy deer and turkey and provides both food and lodging. We could not provide these services as we do without the sponsorship and help of our partners both locally and nationally. The public is always invited to come and see firsthand how our operation works. We just ask that you call first so we will have meals prepared for you also.

we want to improve our services to our Veterans

Now with all that being said we want to improve our services to our Veterans while increasing the number attending by at least 50%. This will take funding. If you or anyone you know would like to help us by donating, you can go to our website www.lickingriveroutfitters.com and use PayPal or just send a check. Thank you in advance.

Robin Gassett CEO Licking River Outfitters 784 Moores Mill Rd , Cynthiana, KY 41031 lickingriveroutfitters.com [email protected] (770)-894-9600

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Mark Boardman markets Vortex Optics

Mark Boardman markets Vortex Optics, Dan and Margie Hamilton, the original and current owners, moved to Middleton, WI in 1986 and started a small outdoor retail store. The business was started on the belief that if you focused on the customers and helped them achieve their goals with fast, friendly, personalized service that the bottom line would take care of itself.

The business grew and evolved over time and in 2002 Vortex Optics was established. Starting with Dan and Margie and now over 100 American team members strong, we work diligently day in and day out to give you the best products and service in the optics industry. Mark Boardman markets Vortex Optics

Vortex has signed on as a hunt sponsor for my upcoming sheep hunt. Thank you Vortex Optics.

All of our products are designed, engineered, pre-inspected

All of our products are designed, engineered, pre-inspected and serviced in our modern facility to ensure you receive the best products and service for your hard earned dollar. We have dealers located throughout the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, South Africa, Australia and elsewhere. We attend all major trade shows in the hunting, tactical and birding/observation markets. Mark Boardman markets Vortex Optics

People - The Customer is King.

We not only believe this to be true, but we actually follow through on it. This means we treat you—our dealers and customers—like royalty. We care about you and the smallest of details, both before and long after the sale. If you ever have a problem with one of our products, then we make that our problem—no questions asked. Years ago, we started our business with the intention of being in it for the long haul and we have no intention of changing our strategy. Just take a look at our unconditional and unlimited VIP Warranty and you will see what we mean.

Products - enjoy the best in optical performance

Offering you the finest in rugged optics comes about by paying attention to detail in every aspect of our business. We are fanatics about doing things right. This way you can have the utmost confidence in our products—all worry cast aside. We are constantly listening to you for feedback and ideas on new products and innovative features so you can appreciate and enjoy the best in optical performance.

Promises - Say what we mean and mean what we say.

At Vortex you have our pledge to uncommon excellence and dedication in every aspect of our business. Keeping our promises to you is not only good business; it's the right thing to do.

Rather than go on about “Us” and how long we’ve been in business and how great we are, we focus on you, what you need, what you want, what’s important to you—because that’s what makes us tick.

People, Products and Promises—three magical words that say why it’s all about you and why ... “Vortex is the Force of Optics.”

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Jeff Tucker hunts T-5 Ranch

Well it's just another really good friend of mine named Mark Grupe, Jeff Tucker hunts T-5 Ranch, and he and I decided to start a podcast just for shits and giggles and fun and we essentially, it's Hunitn for the truth is what we call it and as far our, you may get some wisdom out of it I'm still not sure yet, the jury's still out. We've got about four episodes.

But really the whole gist of it is, is just having a conversation about the things that we love to do and work in. He's a bowman and I'm a bowman and I do traditional and he does modern bowyer and so we constantly are trying to master our craft with that and we may end up talking about the political scene today. I think our last episode we were discussing people being attacked by bison on Yellowstone and why there's no longer any common sense in the world. Jeff Tucker hunts T-5 Ranch

there's no longer any common sense in the world.

Well I'm starting, the older I get I believe that there's common sense and I believe that there's sense, and those varying levels of knowledge it's obvious with over, I think, 250 million visitors a year is what they get, and it's not a petting zoo. And I think there's truly a generation of people who are not necessarily ignorant but just not savvy to what they're literally looking at or stepping into.

Because their backgrounds are obviously gonna be varied. And if you haven't grown up around wild animals and you see this park as your own personal petting zoo and it's time to go sit down and take a selfie with a bison then you really have a lot of, well rather a lack of knowledge that should allow you to survive the park. But it is, I think it's a lot of just, for lack of a better word, ignorance and lack of experience with what it is the area they're setting into.

And it just recently somebody was taking a selfie with a bison and if you can't see that that thing outweighs you and that it's really fast and full of muscle and big and it's got these things called pointy horns, I don't understand why anybody want to walk up to one.

what distance is your shot and I do believe that you can make the shot...

Oh yeah, no definitely getting downrange and yeah, I think that's the thing too is how many feet per second are you traveling and what distance is your shot and I do believe that...my only issue is this, in the modern realm which I shoot, I've [inaudible 00:13:38] I used to I tend to use it when I've got a target that I know is a really good harvest, let's just say I'm going trophy, and I know that I'm going to be looking at maybe a 35er or better yard shot on this just because the wily buck not wanting to come in.

And I love having the technology but the thing I have not been able to get my head around and this is nothing against the manufacturers out there or sponsors or what have you, but there's not a mechanical broadhead that I can be a fan of at this moment.

I always, and it's just me, I always worry about failure of that broadhead versus I still have packages because I buy things in bulk, I still have packages of old 125 grain satellite broadheads, but it's a fixed broadhead and when it goes through both on a longbow or a compound, it's gonna make a one inch hole all the way through it. And so I tend to fall back just a little bit more of the old methods when it comes to the physical broadhead itself, I want it to be fixed, I want it to be a big cutting surface, and I just don't feel like I ever have to worry about that versus with the mechanical. And I've used 'em and I've had failure on 'em and that causes me some serious pause.

This is just my second year to be involved.

This is just my second year to be involved. I've gone out to the auction the last couple of years here in Brownwood and they do an incredible job in Brownwood, Texas representing Buckmasters.

Donnelle Johnson owner HuntData

I'm pretty passionate about encouraging women and children, Donnelle Johnson owner HuntData, that they can go into the great outdoors and encounter all that has been created for us, and there's a lot of ways to get equipped so that you can have the right tools and make sure you do that correctly.

But it can start with just a camera or whatever your favorite hobby is it doesn't have to be hunting. But for me, it started with photography and it turned into hunting and I loved playing a lot of different sports growing up so it was just another adventure for me to get involved in the outdoors and it helps me stay in shape and all of the above and encounter some great beauty that awaits us outdoors. Donnelle Johnson owner HuntData

passionate about encouraging women and children that they can go into the great outdoors

I can recommend two social media pages. One's a social media page it's called Step Up Step Out, and actually, Lisa and I are a part of that. Lisa's one my partners here in our hunting business but we actually mentored two groups of young ladies last on turkey hunts. Donnelle Johnson owner HuntData

We also mentored two different groups we took a bunch of women on a pheasant hunt. So that particular page is called Step Up Step Out and that is here in Colorado but also, like here in Colorado Parks and Wildlife has a program for the youths and if they will go through that program get on their website and Google the youth portion of that, my daughter was a part of this five years ago where they had mentors set up there at Parks and Wildlife that you'll apply for that process...and my husband and I actually do hunt but we went ahead and had our daughter go through the program because they have access to a lot of private ranches and so it actually increases the odds of the kids having a successful hunt, so.

Donnelle Johnson is a hunter, Donnelle Johnson owner HuntData, fisherwoman, CPA, and a musician. She grew up in Oklahoma fishing with her Dad and vacationing in Colorado. She also lived in Texas and Alaska where she developed a love for salmon fishing, outdoor photography, and the mountains. Donnelle Johnson owner HuntData

Donnelle Johnson owner HuntData, fisherwoman, CPA, and a musician

There is a way to hunt smarter and I'll just use my own story. I started in 95, we started a business called HuntData. We started collecting the statistics and preference points and a lot of people, I've done hunting shows for over 25 years and guys'll laugh at me and say, "I don't need a computer or I don't need statistics." However, they do indicate where you're more successful areas are and so my story was the first three years that I started, I started hunting in 95 and my first three years we went to the place where my husband, his boss had taken him. Because like we were talking about earlier, how do you get started?

Well sometimes if you know somebody that is a good way to get started but he kept taking us to the same unit and I had a bull tag and I kept seeing these same 12 elk and the way I knew is one had a radio collar on her. So I was seeing the same 12 elk and I hunted hard for two weeks. When I do something I give it everything I have. And so I just decided to use our own program where I took up and in the meantime, I started applying for points in the draw in April. And I always encourage people to do that as well. Some people say, "Well, I don't need points right now" and usually, you don't want the points until you want the points if that makes sense. Let's say five years from now you say, "Oh, I'd like to do a limited hunt" but you haven't been applying so you have nothing.

There is a way to hunt smarter and I'll just use my own story

But if you've been applying every year in April whether you want to use them or not, you're just putting money in the bank so to speak,...

Mike Wilson Hunts West Virginia Mountains

Mike Wilson Hunts West Virginia Mountains. So let's just jump into, excuse me, Mountaineer Outdoorsman and you mentioned there were some changes in the past year and so let's talk about the changes and about whitetails and your staff and let's just have at it.

Mike: All righty. Yeah, just like anything, anybody that runs a team or owns a team, you have changes and you learn as you go. We celebrated out third year anniversary on January and just between the last time we talked we've had some changes in staff and some people's moved up and we've added staff, lost staff. But in particular, we actually have expanded outside of West Virginia. Mike Wilson Hunts West Virginia Mountains

I know we're the Mountaineer Outdoorsman and our logo's the state of West Virginia, but my main goal is just for everybody to share what they do. Share what they love to do in the outdoors whether it be hunting, fishing, riding four-wheeler s whatever, we're not just strictly hunting. Mike Wilson Hunts West Virginia Mountains

Mountaineer Outdoorsman

But our biggest step was a gentleman named Chris Stivers, out of Illinois, he had started following me on Instagram, and following us on Facebook for quite awhile, and it's one of them deals where you just click with somebody and even though it was over the internet, that somebody grew on me and was straightforward and honest and blunt and one day, I just said, "You know what? How would you like to be a part of the team?" And he joined on and this team has just flourished with him. He's become my right-hand man. He's over helping run the staff and stuff like that and he brings a trapping to the team and he's a total leader, so we a lot of people seems to enjoy that part of the aspect that he brings to the team, catching big mud turtles that I probably wouldn't poke with a broom.

Bruce: Okay, You gotta explain to me because I don't know anything about mud turtles or anything. So what's that all about?

Mike: He goes out and he was actually a chef and he has now turned part of his passion into taking wild game and making awesome meals out of them and he scavenges for wild asparagus, morel mushrooms, what some people call Molly moochers, but what he does is, one of his favorite things to eat is the mud turtles. And he goes out and he's got a hole that finds and he finds some monsters. I don't think I've ever seen mud turtles that big in my life. But he just recently done a video that I'm doing my first ever hand in editing a video of how you clean a mud turtle. And a lot of people doesn't know and they'll fix it wrong and not like it, and he talks a little bit on how to prepare it, and one of the main things that a lot of people don't know is you gotta let a mud turtle sit. They're like shrimp, you know how they got that vein in them they gotta clean out? Mud turtles are about the same way. And the best way to clean them out is to put them in a tank of clean water for about two weeks and they clean their self out. And then you process it and you fix it up.

Bruce: Wow, that's interesting. Say we got a lot of listeners that say well I want to be on somebody's pro staff or field staff or get involved. You hit on something I think that's real important. And you said, "You just hit it off," with Chris. What does that look like, or what does that feel like or can you explain it to the listeners who've said, "Gee, I'd like to get involved in something like that. How does that work?

this is the end of my third year, and I'm one of the founding members

Mike: Like I said, this is the end of my third year, and I'm one of the founding members, unfortunately, our other founder, he stepped away from the team for personal issues and stuff like that, no problems, but after three years, unfortunately, you grow a tough skin.

Nancy Jo Adams & Richard Holt Life in Camo Media

Nancy Jo Adams. I grew up an avid competitive equestrian spending every possible moment in the outdoors–usually well into the evening. I didn’t opt for the easy road–I didn’t have a trainer or hired hands to clean my stalls, train and groom my horses. I did the work myself; all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly. I rode and trained my own horses. I was as haggard as my horses were when I shut the barn light every evening headed for the shower. With owning athlete horses came hardships, ups and downs, injuries and even the death of some. Leaving you to deal with broken dreams and empty stalls. Nancy Jo Adams

instilled a strong belief of perseverance in me

The responsibility and dedication that came with competitively showing horses instilled a strong belief of perseverance in me. It was this perseverance that got me through a divorce when I turned 30, having to sell all my horses and disposing of the only thing that I knew for 20 years, picking up the pieces in a city and state where I had no relatives or friends that were not associated with horse shows, enrolling in college for the first time in my life at the age of 31, three college degrees completed by Spring 2006; only to be hit with the death of my Father in July of 2006. Nancy Jo Adams

I was left with nothing to do with my idle time

At that point, I was left with nothing to do with my idle time. It was this boring lull that led me to answer “yes” to a question that virtually changed my life in a matter of minutes. It was around 3:00 p.m. December 26, 2006 and I was sitting at home on the couch in my den when my husband, Richard, came in and asked me if I wanted to go sit with him in a shooting house on a green field. I looked at him, just about to say no when he said, “we won’t be out there but a couple of hours.” I figured, “What the heck? I am not going to do anything but sit on this couch until time to cook supper anyways. Maybe now I won’t have to cook, we will go into town and eat.” Nancy Jo Adams

That day is one that I will remember for the rest of my life…

So I donned a pair of hand-me-down hunting pants, a spare camouflage jacket my husband had, a green Henley that I found in the closet, a fleece face mask, gloves too big for me and my Timberland hiking boots; I was a sight, no doubt. We were on our way to the shooting house and I didn’t have a clue what to expect. That day is one that I will remember for the rest of my life…for that day is what started this passion I now possess that keeps me challenging myself, researching, and writing about anything and everything hunting related. That day is the first time I ever shot a rifle, harvesting my first buck; a nice, 8-point whitetail.

For this I have my husband, Richard, to thank for his unselfishness of allowing me to get a glimpse of his favorite sport.

Please subscribe, rate and review each @WhitetailRendez podcast at http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1032967565