In this episode we take you down south to see if Brent’s cousin can get his first bow kill; Brent takes his 13 yr. old niece on two different hunts; and Jeff and I have one of the most interesting days we’ve ever had in the deer woods.  It’s a unique episode, and one of our favorites so far.

Jeff initially came up with the idea, created a Myspace page (remember Myspace? Oh how times have changed), and that is where SimplyOutdoors initially started. 

After I took a look at the Myspace page, however, and noticed how weird some of the layouts looked, I started looking into creating a new site.

And that is where SimplyOutdoors began.

At first, it was just a means to share a few pictures, to share some stories about our love of the outdoors, and see where it took us.  And as the years passed, I discovered that I really loved to write – and that was really the main focus of the site for a few years.

Underneath the blog, however, was Jeff’s passion for hunting.  And, though it took a little while for it to reach the surface, Jeff’s true goal of having an outdoor website – to share our love of hunting, fishing, and all around being outdoors -has really taken shape in the form of SimplyOutdoors TV.

The last four and half years have been a blast, and we’ve loved sharing our outdoor pursuits with all of you.  And now, being able to share even more of those experiences through your television, and through this new site, is just another dream come true.

SimplyOutdoors.net has definitely morphed throughout the years, and, as you can see with the new site, is definitely more focused on our new approach to sharing our hunting lifestyle with everyone:  through motion picture. 

But the blog is still there, too, the passion for the outdoors is still there, the passion for getting kids involved in the outdoors is still there, and we’re still the same guys who started this site back in 2007.

We can’t wait to share all our upcoming hunts with all of you – in whichever way you choose to enjoy them – and we’re looking forward to everything that is in store for the SimplyOutdoors crew.

We thank each and every one of you for coming along for the ride.

In this episode, the SimplyOutdoors crew chase after some Michigan Whitetails.  And, in case you didn’t know, Michigan Whitetails are some of the hardest hunted deer in the country.  It could be interesting.

Watch along, as Barry, with many of his family members in tow, chases Whitetails in the foothills of Tennessee.  It ends up being a very memorable trip for all involved.

Join the SimplyOutdoors crew, as they head to woods during Michigan’s archery season opener.

Some evidence:

• I never posted a few of the deer that Justin shot.
• I didn’t post anything about Jeff, Barry, Erin, and Josh heading down to the ATA show in Columbus a little over a week ago.
• And I’ve never posted anything about the fact that SimplyOutdoors TV will be airing on the Pursuit Channel starting in January 2013.

I have all kinds of excuses for my neglectfulness – helping the wife tend to a colicky baby, and working on some up and coming website revamping – just to name a few.  But the fact of the matter is that I’ve been a complete slacker when it comes to this blog.  I can’t really deny it.

SimplyOutdoors has a lot of very cool things in the works right now, and though I’ve been a little preoccupied with raising two little girls, and all the responsibilities that go with it, hopefully – very soon – I will be able to put more time back into this blog again, and make it what it used to be – a place to write, to vent, to share ideas, and, most importantly right now, a place to share all of the cool things that are coming down the pipe for the SimplyOutdoors crew.

And…since I’m turning over a new leaf….I might as well share the fact that this weekend, on Saturday, a bunch of us will be at the Huntin’  Time Expo in Grand Rapids.

So, even though, lately, you can’t read many of my ideas and thoughts, you can at least stop by the Proc’s Hunting Buddy booth and say hello.

You have to watch this episode of SimplyOutdoors TV.   Sit back and watch as the SimplyOutdoors’ crew put a few early season doe in the freezer, and as we put a few youth hunters in the right spot at the right time.  It’s probably our best episode yet!

As I was cleaning and reflecting back on the last couple of seasons, I was trying to figure out exactly where I’ve went wrong when it comes to my deer hunting exploits.  I can kill turkeys, catch fish, kill rabbits, and kill geese, but the four-legged swamp donkeys always managed to sneak past me.

Why?

I’ve asked myself that same question, and have managed to come up with a few very logical answers:  I must stink, for one, and my kids always enter this world in October, for another.

Silly kids.  And maybe I should shower more often.

Despite the fact that I think having kids during hunting season is affecting my ability to shoot a deer, I still think that the main cause has to be my stench.  Or maybe I have a deer whistle permanently embedded in my Eucalyptus.  Or maybe deer don’t like the smell of baby vomit and/or baby wipes.

The jury is still out as to which one it is.

You can bet, though, that, in the coming months, some sort of wildlife – turkeys, fish under the ice (if it ever gets any colder than winters in Florida here), and geese – are in a world of trouble.  Because turkeys can’t smell worth a you know what, and geese can’t see baby vomit from that height.

I’ve put one gun away, but I’ve washed, verified that I do not have a turkey whistle in my Eucalyptus, and now I’m ready to pull another gun out of its case and chase after some geese – and then after some turkeys.

I’m ready to head to place where no baby wipes are required, though I will still probably smell like them.

After my miss, it was still only a little after 8am, so Jeff and I decided that we might as well stick it out for a little while and see if any other deer decided they wanted to eat out of his food plot.

And that is when the weirdness started.

As we sat in the blind, reviewing the film footage of my miss, off to my right I heard what sounded like a large clump of snow falling from a tree branch.  As I turned to check out the sound, though, I was astounded to see a deer lying on the ground.  At first, I figured that maybe this deer was the dumbest deer on earth, and that it had actually just bedded not 20yds from our blind.  After another look, however, I knew something wasn’t right, because the deer couldn’t hold its head up and it was making sounds like something was definitely wrong.

WTF?

I immediately started to think that maybe a miracle had happened – that I had actually hit the deer I shot at – and – although the footage really said otherwise – that I hadn’t missed; that this deer made its way back around to us and died within sight of the blind.  Jeff and I knew it was a far-fetched concept, but, since we hadn’t heard any other shots, we thought it might be a possibility.

With the deer in obvious distress, and since we didn’t want the sight of us to push the deer any farther back into the cover, we waited it out for a while.  About forty five minutes later, after hearing a low, weird moan, and after not seeing or hearing any movement, we slowly made our way to the deer – guns at the ready.

What we found was a dead button buck – a very young, underweight button buck, with a completely broken back leg and no evidence of a gunshot.  Bummer.  I had definitely gone from high to low, to high, and then back to low – an emotional roller coaster.

Though it wasn’t the deer I had shot, Jeff and I still felt like we should try to do the right thing; heck, at that moment in time, I was even willing to put a tag on the little guy, gut him out, and be glad to have him in the freezer – whether I killed him or not.  But upon further inspection, it was obvious that he was full of infection and there was just no way we were willing to take that chance; he would, however, make for excellent coyote food, so Jeff and I let him be.

Jeff and I left him and figured we’d allow nature to take its course, all the while wondering if that had really just happened.  It sure made for one hell of a morning, though, and it made it a morning we’ll never forget.

What are the odds that something like that could happen in the first place?

It’s a moment that can only happen in the woods.