Team Realtree

Re: Line X or Rhino spray in? I have Line-X (18 months) and it has held up great (Still looks new). The only reason why is that I heard Line-X holds up better in the sun. Right now, I would agree. S

Re: Thank You Realtree!!!!!! Thank you Ranger! We appreciate all you do as a member in here and taking out tree rats makes it even better! You are very much appreciated! S

Re: HOLY SNOW! We have been practing and playing baseball for 3 weeks (and in short sleeves). S

Re: Pro-Staffers Very good comments. There were several reasons for posting this. As you all know it has become a huge part of the industry. A lot of folks want to be a "Pro-Staffer" and a lot of folks don't like the whole concept. It does have to do a lot with marketing. It has a lot to do with PR. I like to think of them as what the word "Pro" stands for and that is promotional (not professional). I guess you can consider the ones that make a living doing it professional, but that is a very small minority. The thing folks need to understand is the majority of these guys (and gals) have full time jobs. They don't hunt for a living. If they did, they would have a hard time making ends meet. Either way, whether they do it on the side or are lucky enough to do it full time, it is hard. I've seen enough over the years to know that there is no way I could do it. And that's coming from someone that loves to hunt. Just thought this would make an interesting thread. I enjoyed reading through it. S

Re: Pro-Staffers Good answers. I'm back in after 11 hours down at the Little League park (opening day). I have to leave here shortly and will check back later in the weekend to give you my thoughts. S

Something on another board got me thinking tonight. There are a whole lot of folks that want to be on Pro staffs for lots of companies in the outdoor industry. There are a lot of misconceptions about "Pro-Staffers." I'm going to be away from the computer a good bit this weekend, but would like to leave you with this question(s). What is your definition of a Pro Staffer as far as it relates to the hunting industry? Just curious if folks know what the job entails. Don't go in and flame others. Just post your opinion and lets see what happens. I will come in at a later time and give you mine. S

The 6 months is up and now anyone can go in, register and vote for the overall winner. This puts you in the running for a grand prize also. S http://www.realtree.com/maddog/

Re: ASHAMED OF CURRET POLL I posted it and have been watching it. I expected low numbers but not that low. What folks need to understand is that the internet has made it easy for all of us. Every gov. official has a website or some form of getting opinions to them. Use that link like you do these forums. When something is on your mind and you want your voice heard, email them. As far as not listening, that changes as soon as there are enough folks bringing issues to their attention.

Half of U.S. Hunters Now Live in Family-Friendly States NEWTOWN, Conn.—If you're a parent longing to share big-game hunting with your young son or daughter, your odds of doing so legally in your home state have risen to about 50-50. Nearly half of U.S. hunters—more than ever in modern times—now live in states where they're free to mentor young people into a cherished lifestyle that instills self sufficiency, respect, discipline and stewardship of the outdoors. Plus provides healthful table fare. The other half live in states where that sort of parenting is considered criminal. Lawmakers in Ohio and Pennsylvania recently eliminated legal barriers—minimum age restrictions and coursework mandates—that once prevented some families from hunting together. Those two states now join Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia as safe, family-friendly oases for residents of everywhere else. "They're America's Top 20 states for hunting families to live in and visit," said Doug Painter, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). Painter added, "The new laws in Ohio and Pennsylvania created opportunities for another 10 percent of America's hunters to enjoy our country's greatest outdoor tradition with youngsters. And that's just counting residents of those states. We're predicting that all 20 of today's family-friendly states will become more and more popular destinations for non-resident hunters, too." Across the country, sales of non-resident hunting licenses, tags, stamps and permits have risen 41 percent over the past 10 years. The average hunter now spends $1,638—mostly trip-related expenses—on their sport annually, up 11 percent over the past 10 years. Painter says these statistics show that hunting families today are more mobile than ever, and more willing to spend hard-earned dollars traveling wherever they need to go for a quality hunting experience. A year ago, NSSF partnered with the National Wild Turkey Federation and U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance to launch "Families Afield." The program encourages states to restructure hunting laws to accommodate more family participation. Research shows that states without minimum age restrictions or coursework mandates are more likely to engage youths, maintaining healthy hunting culture, conservation funding and economic benefits in the future. With the success in Ohio and Pennsylvania, Families Afield legislation has now passed in two of three states. The third bill appears stalled in Wisconsin. More state efforts will be launched later this year. To learn more about resident and non-resident hunting license requirements in each state, visit www.wheretohunt.org. The site is one of many service-oriented sites managed by NSSF, a trade association that works to keep hunters and shooters safe and active.

Re: NEW BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations. We went the twin route also. You're life just became instantly busy!

Re: Thanks Scott, Tim, And RealTree..!!! Thank you guys and Tim. And I like how you guys stuck Tim in the back!

Re: \'06 OKlahoma Get Together Shirt Idea Thanks Doc. And may I add that any extras that you all would like to purchase would be at cost. There won't be some kind of profit center going here. S

Re: Man! This is a video of the whole thing. There needs to be a movie made out of this.

If this story doesn't send some chills up your spine, nothing will. It could have already been posted (and in the Sports forums), but I feel like this goes well beyond sports and I want to make sure that it is seen by as many folks as possible: Link

Re: \'06 OKlahoma Get Together Shirt Idea The new front chest idea:

Re: \'06 OKlahoma Get Together Shirt Idea I'm going to let Ryan collect the actual member names, correct spelled forum names and the sizes. I understand he and a couple of you are getting some pricing on these and I will too. With this print on a 100% white cotton T, the price should come down quite a bit. I need to clarify my paying for these. I will pay for the forum members who attend. Any other guests will have to pay for theirs. That's the only way I can control my expenses which comes out of a small discetionary fund I have for things like this in my budget. I would love to pay for it all, but numbers could get up there and I would iike to do something like this for other groups in the future (although I can't always guarantee money being there). On another note. Ryan had some other suggestions for the front left chest print which involved our oval Team Realtree logo with the name of the event underneath. If you would rather see that, it is fine with me. We have a little time to put this together. Thanks guys, S

Here is something I tried this afternoon. There is some tweaking that would need to be done and I'm sure there are some mispellings, but those can be fixed. I told Ryan I went with a white T because they are cooler and they don't demand as much color. Just went with something bright and bold. S

Re: PA Deer Populations Actually, I got it in an industry email and thought it was interesting to pass along in here. I thought it was a cool way to get numbers and the first I had heard of this method. I have seen where out west they do a fly and spot, but that is during the daylight and it's open enough for them to do it. Although it can be near as accurate. Question I have is, are the readings where they can see individual animals or is it just a hot spot? I would think the former because they would have to distinguish between a deer and a bear.

Expanded Aerial Survey Efforts Underway To Better Gauge Deer Populations HARRISBURG -- Governor Edward G. Rendell says Pennsylvania will be able to get a better grasp of the size of its white-tailed deer population now that an infrared camera-equipped plane is flying over more than 500,000 acres of Pennsylvania woodlands. "We are working together to build a better understanding of how to both improve the health of the deer herd and regenerate our forests," Governor Rendell said. "This second round of aerial flights will build on our knowledge of how many deer are currently in our forests, and the number that the habitat can support so we can preserve our hunting heritage, as well as the economic and ecological future of our forestlands." The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Pennsylvania Game Commission have identified more than 505,000 acres of state forest and game lands for flights in 2006 -- more than twice the acreage covered in 2005, the first year of flights. Sections of six state forest districts, seven state Game Lands, and two wildlife management units will be surveyed in aerial flights continuing into early spring. Results will be compared to on-the-ground measures of deer density and habitat conditions to provide a clearer picture of deer browsing impact on the forest ecosystems. "In addition to acreage, the scope of the aerial survey will be broadened to include for the first time private woodlands in McKean County, where sportsmen met with me and requested state assistance," Governor Rendell said. "We will be surveying portions of the Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative, a project between hunters and land managers aimed at improving deer, wildlife habitat and forest management." The survey contract was awarded to Vision Air Research Inc., an Idaho-based independent wildlife research firm. Operating out of University Park Airport, Centre County, the firm's crew and a specially equipped plane will fly over sections of north central Pennsylvania where hunters say there are few deer, and foresters say there is little forest regeneration. Targeted acreage includes the PGC's doe and fawn mortality study areas, as well as portions of the state forestland enrolled in the Game Commission's deer management assistance program allowing hunters to kill additional deer. "Until we have the best consensus around the deer population and habitat destruction, we will be forever locked in a battle of too few versus too many," DCNR Secretary Michael DiBerardinis said. "We are committed to working with the Game Commission and others to build a better understanding of how to both improve the health of the deer herd and restore forest habitat." "It is important to remember that forward-looking infrared data represents those deer sighted on a particular parcel, on a given day and time," said Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe. "It represents the minimum number of deer that may be present and shows grouped deer numbers that are then used to calculate an average per square mile number for an area. "In selecting which state game lands to include in these flights, the agency chose areas with differing sizes, topography, proximity to populated areas and regions," Roe said. "While the data is unable to be used to make deer management decisions across entire wildlife management units, we do believe that this data will help in demonstrating deer dispersion at the time of the flights and provide another source of information to help us understand deer and their activities." To maximize areas surveyed and minimize costs, the Game Commission had requested that flights cover 50 percent sampling of its selected game lands, and an even smaller sampling of the two wildlife management units. The scope and duration of the aerial operation remains dependent on weather conditions and the emergence of spring foliage. Last year 300,000 acres were targeted, but bad weather only allowed for 200,000 acres to be surveyed before leaf cover ended the operation. In the 2005 survey, the highest concentrations of deer were found in the Promised Land area of the Delaware State Forest, Pike County, where 23.69 deer were found per square mile. The second highest whitetail concentration was 20.29 deer per square mile in the Denton Hill area of the Susquehannock State Forest, in Potter County. Lowest concentrations were in the Cedar Run section of Tioga State Forest, Tioga County, 9.64; followed by the southern section of Sproul State Forest, in Clinton County, 10.69. Vision Air Research was founded to specialize in wildlife surveys using advance aerial infrared sensor technology (commonly called forward looking infrared - FLIR). A leader in use of FLIR for wildlife surveys, it has monitored elk, deer, bighorn sheep, moose and sage grouse since 1996. More information can be found at www.visionairresearch.com. State forestland tracts included in the 2005 and 2006 surveys can be found at www.dcnr.state.pa.us (select State Forests).

Re: HEAD-COUNT (THE GREAT CO. ELK HUNT) It was my understanding it was GMU 55 for Oct. 21-29 rifle hunt.

Re: Bigfeet spotted!! Maybe Bigfoot will catch that guy one day beat him senseless and take all that money.

Re: THE GREAT COLORADO ELK HUNT Looks like the Oct. gun hunt is the choice. Count me in if this is the case. Just need to start making arrangements. How many folks are in on this? Will need to get a head count. I like to bring tent door prizes! S

We have gotten an increasing number of emails about all of the sticky/announcements threads here in the lounge. In order to clean it up and make it a little more efficient, I have renamed the Online User's Contest room to "Announcements and Online Contests." This is a room that basically contains sticky threads only and may be better suited for these type topics. This doesn't mean that there can't be discussion in here pertaining to these, but direct folks to that room for more information or sign-ups. This is a test. If it works, fine. If not, we will look for other solutions. Thanks, S **2006 DEER CONTEST SIGN-UP** NORTHEAST SMACKDOWN III SD Realtree forum get-together **THE GREAT COLORADO ELK HUNT (& related links) ******** *******

has officially ran it's course. I have locked the thread. I did not delete it. You can now go in and get about every angle on the topic you want. The deal is that it is time to move on in here. If you want to continue, go to JimmyHouston.com and post it. Speaking personally. What he did was wrong. If what he did was illegal I would think he would be in jail, but none of us know the details. He came in to his site (in the forums) and apologized. I'm not sure what else we can ask of him. Public hangings and whatever some of you are wishing on him are things of the past. Was everything he said the truth? I don't know, you don't know and I suspect we never will. All I know is he has owned up, apologized and it's time to move on. He's paying the price. I will say after working 8 years with Bassmaster Magazine and 10 years with Realtree, I have watched Jimmy do a lot of good for the outdoor industry and hate to see this happen. He made the decision to hunt there and the folks that follow him and have made him successful will dictate his future. Not a bunch of message board posts. If you have a problem with my decision here you can email me directly at [email protected] with comments or concerns. Thanks, S P.S. I won't edit something above because many of you have read the post, but I will correct myself here. As far as him probably being in jail if he did something illegal. That was incorrect. He became state witness and could have, or did break a law if hunting over bait.

Re: Ultimate Hunting Giveaway. Guys we are proud to be a sponsor of this giveaway and those surveys are very important to all of us sponsors. We appreciate you signing up and the potential awards are awesome! Get in there and have a chance of cashing in on some great prizes! S