A Beavers Revenge

Team WildWorks latest excursion. We were attempting to kill some woodducks with our bows for supper. It was one of the coldest mornings we have had, which added to the experience. The vid also proves that a hunt does not always have to end in a kill to be considered a success! We hope you enjoy it!

TALA'S COYOTE

Coyote down Thursday 21, 2010

Isn’t she beautiful? Notice the long K-9’s and how the bottom of it is worn. She was definitely an older yote.
Seeing as how all deer season I have seen more coyotes than deer…I decided to start doing a little predator control of my own. However when I ventured out Thursday it was not to hunt coyote ,but to prepare a place for the weekend. I did have Hank with me just in case I did see something (Ok for those of you who don’t know I named my .243 rifle Hank) . A hunter is always prepared. I slipped on a camo shirt I had worn a few weeks prior to this day while trying to call up a coyote ,which had my mouse squeaker in the front pocket. My rifle pressed against the squeaker at one point, I didn’t think anything of it as I continued looking for the perfect spot to prepare a natural ground blind. About ten minutes passed before I detected movement up at the top of the field. A coyote made her way into the field. She must have heard the squeaker. I knelt down and raised my rifle….she was about 70 yards from me. There was no hesitation as I fired ol’ Hank. She dropped right there in her tracks.
A true trophy indeed. A predator of any sort is a trophy. Like any wildlife species I respect predators a great deal. They are survivors. Numerous times I have encountered the coy coyote while deer hunting…many times witnessing the playful antics of two pups playing as their mom leads the way. Even having an adult coyote within my sights looking directly in his eyes through my scope, which by the way stirs the soul deep within, only to let him walk away. A hunter chooses what he or she feels needs to be harvested or taken. In our hearts we always know without a doubt when the time is right and the animal before us is the one. As hunters we should participate in predator control at some level whether it be predator hunting or even trapping. Each of us doing our part in keeping the balance between predator and prey. Predator hunting is both very challenging and rewarding.

Which brings me to a topic I want to discuss…

PREDATORS and POACHERS both problems my hunting grounds faced this year
I will start with the predators.
First of all let me reinnerate that I have great respect for the predator species.
With this being said I know that predator control certainly has a place in deer management. If your deer numbers are currently low, all possibilities need to be explored before pinpointing the blame on predators. If there is sufficient habitat and food sources are abundant than that’s when you need to start exploring your grounds for sign of excessive predators.
For example, my situation this deer season, I seen as nearly many coyotes deer hunting as I seen deer and coyote scat, an obvious sign was seen throughout the hunting grounds, Both indicating a high number of coyotes on a particular piece of property. I am not placing the blame fully on the coyotes for the lack of deer this year but am placing it as one of the factors. So yes for our hunting land, predator hunting is a definite must this year.
The timing of predator control is equally important. The best time to control coyotes is when their population is at its lowest point of the year. This time usually is a couple months between late winter and early spring before they give birth to their young. This time frame also ties into the deer .Late winter , after the rut, is when most predation occurs on adult bucks. During this time, bucks are recovering from extensive rutting activities and are commonly in their poorest shape of the year. Predator control in early spring also allows fawns to be born with less danger of becoming immediate victims.

Now for the poaching we as a hunting club had to endure this year. Let me make myself clear on this…I HAVE NO RESPECT WHATSOEVER FOR POACHERS.
While looking around about a month ago. I happened to see some tire tracks on an old logging road that adjoins our land. Looking closely at the tire tracks, I didn’t recognize them as being any one from our club as they were too wide and the traction was different. So I walked down the road a good bit and came upon these two bucks someone shot, most likely at night off our land for no other reason except to cut the horns off, leaving the meat to ruin.

Now I am pretty laid back and things slide off of me like water off a ducks back. But when I came up on this I literally felt my blood boiling and if I could have gotten my hands on whoever done this…they would have seen my fightin’ side. Scumbags who kill just to kill and do it illegally just for the horns not even the meat, have no place in the hunting society. We as sportsman and women do our best to uphold a dying tradition and keep preserved the ethics and morals that go along with that tradition, hoping through it all that the next generation will both honor and appreciate it as we do.
These poachers have no care or concern for what is morally right, let alone the laws that come with hunting. And the sad thing is that a lot of these poachers are poaching with their kids tagging along Kids learn from what they see and are around. Without the proper direction they too will hunt without ethics.
All this was reported and hopefully someone will be caught. I know that since July …word has gotten around that poachers have been spotlighting and killing deer etimated of at least 30, within 10 miles of where we hunt.
While we have a good amount of acreage to hunt and manage our deer population as best as we can on our property. Its still makes it challenging and is quite frusterating when the properties adajacent to yours dont share that same mindsight. Sure the 3 buck limit went into effect a few years back to help the quality of the deer. But if poaching is already a problem then most likely the poachers wont abide by that law either. We can just hope as a club our efforts will pay off on our property.
Poaching is becoming more of a problem not only around this area but across the nation. Hopefully some of the harsh covictions we have seen in recent prosecutions of poachers will make someone think twice before breaking the law.

~TALA~

The Wildman Challenge

With the growth of the hunting industry comes many things. Different values, principles, and views. The one thing that will never change is the heart of the matter. The basic underlying purpose for our chosen form of recreation. To go into the wild, hunt, and procure game! We tend to lose focus and take for granted what a gift this act truly is. Tonight I decided to get back to that and killed a squirrel for supper. It has been a long while since I have eaten a squirrel and had forgotten just how good they are! Most of my family passed on trying it, but my youngest boy, scarfed it down like he had not eaten in a week, so the effort was more than worth it.

Tomorrow evening Bill, Kade, and I have decided to start the first WILDMAN challenge. We will be taking one tool for acquiring game. Bow,gun,fishing line,trap or other. We decided to take one luxury item also, lol, don't want to be completely miserable! I have to have my Dr Pepper ya know! We will be heading to the wild and will stay out for one day and night just to REMEMBER.

We will be taking video cameras to share in the adventure. It could be quiet entertaining or very boring depending on how good we are at doing what we love. We shall see. Oh, I think I will carry my lighter, just in case! Let me know if anyone likes this idea and we might have a contest to see who can create the best self-filmed Wildman Challenge.

Putting the Thwack Down - Twice!!!

I was in a rush when I got home, my Gopro Hero had arrived and I needed to hurry and get it set on my headband so I could film our predator hunt before dark. I attached the camera to the front of the elastic headband so that it sits directly above my left eye. I then went to shoot my bow in the backyard to make sure it was going to film what I was shooting at. The camera comes in a HARD plastic housing that has an adjustment screw that sticks out beside the camera just a bit. I pushed record, drew my bow and shot at the target. THWACK!!!! .....Blackout..... I remember thinking, WOW that arrow hit the target very loudly!!! Then I realized that my bowstring, upon release, had caught the little adjustment screw that was sticking out and took the camera with it! The camera returned as fast as it left, when it reached the limit of the elastic band that was keeping it on my head. If you doubt the power of a bow, attach a camera to it and let it whack ya upside the noggin! Not fun and I wont make that mistake again!!!



I looked around, hoping nobody had seen my mishap, regained my composer, and went to pick up Coop who was waiting to go predator hunting. The story has a happy ending and I regained a bit of my pride as we were successful at capturing a bowkill of a greyfox before dark. Coop and I have trying to accomplish this for a couple of years and it finally all fell into place. We set up by a water hole where the wind would carry our scent to the water avoiding any predator's cautious nose. I set the remote caller about 20 yards in front of me, with Coop filming about ten yards behind me. The caller had only been playing the bird in distress sound for a few minutes when a pair of greys came scampering in. I saw the first fox as it cleared a cedar tree less than 15 yards to my right. I drew my bow and the fox caught my movement and high tailed it out of there! The second fox, slightly behind the first had not seen the movement and stop perfectly at 15 yards, trying to figure out why the other had left. I was still at full draw, so I aimed an shot. The fox was hit hard and was dead within seconds. I looked back at Coop, who gave the thumbs up that he had captured the entire event.

I have done my share of predator hunting over the years but this was my first bow killed greyfox. My plan is to make a back quiver out of the pelt. If you want to challenge yourself on your next bowhunt, give predator calling a try. I will post the video as soon as I can, but I have a bad headache right now and I need to find some Tylenol! Team WildWorks, Puttin the Thwack Down!!!

1st GoPro HD field test!

Just got back from my Arizona trip, I had made a hat mount for the GoPro camera to try out while hunting for Javelina. The camera ended up doing pretty well, I need to make an improved mount with less bounce but it definitely provides a cool point of view, and should be good for capturing shots on animals out to 10-15 yards. Unfortunately, I didn't get the camera aimed correctly when i decided to switch to the longbow, and ended up just missing all the shots when I got my Javi (1 miss, then 3 hits- all 8-15 yds). This is just a rough cut sample of the GoPro footage, but I wanted to put it up just to showcase the possibilities of this cool little camera. Will post a completed video in a few weeks with the other great footage we got during the trip, including a Javelina called in to 3 yds and a mountain lion at 25!!!

Tiny B

Sample from Brian Berry on Vimeo.

Wildboars in the blizzard! Part 2

The night was long, I could not sleep very much. As I got up, I went to look out the front door. Faco went out fast, but when he saw the picture, he recoiled back home. What a miserable day!! A foot of snow had fallen, it was still snowing hard, there was more wind than yesterday and the temperature was at least seven bellow zero. I could not imagine how the day would be high on the mountain, but we will discover soon.

It took us to reach the top through the snow, and about half past nine we started tracking. I put a Faco in the track, and did not picked the trail until a piece of field where the wind had been blowing so hard, that the snow was not accumulated. The frozen blood looked good between the little snow that had fallen. But it was just advancing a few meters into the heaths, and immerse ourselves in the snow.

We couldnt see anything at all, and Faco did not know how to continue. The blood was eight inches below the frozen snow, and both the dog and us did not know what to do. Gradually we moved watching the branches of the heaths, but it looked like the storm had erased any sign. It was a disaster!!. I decided to free the dog and walk around to see if we find him. He had seen the direction he took, and with so much blood, he could not be far behind.

The team morale was hanging by a thread. We had been giving rodeos for an hour and nothing. In addition, the boar could be in our feet covered with snow, so the only one who could find it was Faco. The dog was doing circles, but did not seem to find anything special. We were wasting time!!.

So we went back to the last blood and start to literally sweep the mountain in search of blood.

Kneeling on the ground, we started removing the snow with the hands to see if we can find some blood underneath it. And yes! We raised a few feet away from the last blood, a few drops of blood, which stood out from the frozen snow. Were tiny, but at least was something. We swept every meter of the different paths the boar could have chosen, and occasionally a drop of blood got up from the bottom. It's was a Chinese work but at least we were advancing slowly. In an hour and a half we had advanced about 70 meters, it would take more or less, but we encourage to find him sooner or later. By then, we could not felt our fingers , and I had literally frozen pants. Faco also began to warm up, and when he saw us digging into the snow began to put his nose in the bottom. Noticing that much of the blood we where finding, was under his tracks.

We followed our own, until a dry bark from Faco interrupted us. We looked at each other as ..." Did you hear that too? " The blizzard did not allow us to hear the bell of the dog, but the barking was unmistakable. Juanjo remained at the last blood, and I went flying in the direction we had hear him, hoping that he had found the boar.

And so it was, about 70 meters from where we were Faco was bitting the boar. The feeling of joy, satisfaction, cold, exhaustion and pride were merged into a big hug with Juanjo and Faco. We had done it! We sat in the snow, to assimilate and savor the moment, we had made it... It had been all so amazing that little could been said.

Without doubt the worst day of the season was our best day of hunting. An unforgettable cast, that we will remember on many occasions. We had deserve it! Thanks to Juanjo for joining!. And thanks also to Faco,for finding the boar on those conditions. That's my dog!

We just had to go back to the car from the ravine where we were stuck...


Pedro Ampuero

Wildboars in the blizzard!

Had several days of television news announcing the coming of a storm, so in view that the snow had been removed from the last time, I decided to go hunting. Here in Spain in some places hunting with snow is forbidden.

After leaving work in the morning, waiting at home was Faco, my blood tracking dog, with that impatience and nervousness that characterized him. He knows that goes when I go get the bow and backpack, and put them in the car. I left as soon as I could, but because of the weather it took me more than it should. It was a miserable day!!.



At about five o'clock in the afternoon we were ready, and we walked slowly to a bath to put up the blind. I went with Juanjo, that despite the day he could not resist to stay at home. It was a little late, so before entering the site I observed it from a distance, and. .. Movement! I saw the back of a wildboar pass one second between the heaths. I signaled to my partner Juanjo and we drop down.

I put the stuff on the floor and started crawling between some heaths. The boar had disappeared, but probably he was close making sure that everything was clear. I must be careful. At last and after a quarter of an hour, I reached the last heaths. Only had to wait to see if with a little luck, he had not felt me, although with the wind it was doing, it was almost impossible.

The temperature would be about six below zero, and I was not wearing cold clothes in order to dont sweat in the walk, they were in the backpack along with the gloves. The camouflage mask was already frozen. The wait was long, hail was beating down on my face and I could hardly hold the bow with hands frozen.

Finally, after half an hour the boar decideds howed up. It was beautiful, not very big but with good body shapes. I did not hesitate and when he offered me the side, I draw my bow and let go ... Snatch back strong and calm, well.. blizzard! I discussed the move with juanjo, but with the blizzard had not seen the arrow flight.



Given that it was getting dark, and it began to snow hard, we decided to approach to see if we can see blood and track him, because if it snows, we were not going to be able to see nothing the next day. The trail was exaggerated, the Rage had made another good hole. Seeing so much blood, I was confident of finding the boar in a few yards, until about forty yards he got up in front of me. I should have wait!!The trail was so abundant that we were encouraged, but they are very tough animals. Withdrawal.

Only left fingers crossed and pray for having a nice night without snow...

Will continue...

Pedro Ampuero

Hero hd First Look

Here is the Hero HD by GoPro.

Amerind Artifacts

When I was a child, roaming the wilds of central Texas, it was not unusual to stumble across an arrowhead laying on the ground. Always a surprise, as if God was thumping me on the head, "Look here boy, this will give you something to do!", and my mind would immediately start conjuring up a new adventure with my Indian prize!!! Stone points are the oldest man made collectibles and have withstood the test of time. Thousands of years and all of Mother nature, could not erase the past completely. They are now viewed as art, but when made, there purpose being that of sustaining life. All the surface points have for the most part been found. To find one now, you have to dig for them. The Amerind camps, where they were created have been covered by mother nature under layers of dirt and decay. When I do get lucky and find one. My first thought is, "I am the first person to have touched this since the maker, several thousand years before!" My imagination runs wild at all the possibilities involved with my new find. It brings me closer to my wild side, the predator in me. We all have it, it has just been forgotten by most because of the super civilized world in which we now live, but it is still there! We are compelled by instinct to feed our predatory nature, just as the well fed domestic cat still hunts mice, it is driven by instinct. It is a normal, healthy, and important part of who we are as human beings. It is only when this instinct is ignored or pushed aside because of liberal opinions or utter laziness, do problems occur. We now have generations of people that place very little value on life, especially the lives of others, because our society hides from death. Life can only truly be appreciated if we can experience the finality of death. There is only one right way in which this can be done and that is the HUNT. A person that has killed an animal for the purpose of providing sustenance for his body, understands the entire process and has a much deeper appreciation for all living creatures. There is nothing that impacts the soul more than to end the life of another living creature and therefore it must be done for only the right reason. It is a fact that each living thing draws life from the death of other living things. No matter how skewed our society has become, that is how the world turns, like it or not. Those who choose to embrace and take part in that process, are the most well rounded people I have ever met. They are always the most understanding and compassionate of our people because they have dropped blood to this earth not much different than our own and have seen it rise again, they cant forget, it is etched into their soul. The people who ignore our instincts, who put animals on the same level as people, who would rather let someone else provide for them, are the reason we have children killing children without a care, why our prisons are over flowing with atrocities against mankind, why we are at war and will always be, because we forgotten who we are!!! It is time we get off of our asses and start taking care of our own lives by our own hands and in that we will all be better off.

WILDWORKS Photography by RDG

Here are a few photos that RDG (April) has taken over the past few years. Hope y'all enjoy them as much as I do.

2009-2010 Deer Season in the books.

The 2009-2010 deer season finally came to an end on Sunday, January the 3rd and I try to reflect upon the great encounters I was able to witness this past season. It was a tough year for me losing that 120" buck the 2nd weekend of bow season but as luck would have it, I managed to take a decent 8pt the last weekend of bow season on video. I also was able to witness RDG's 1st 8pt that she dropped at over 225 yds.

2009 Archery Buck Final from Kyle Gillmeister on Vimeo.

2009 RDG Buck Final from Kyle Gillmeister on Vimeo.

The 2010-2011 deer season starts now for me, but for most it hibernates until the next bow season, along with memories and unfilled tags. This year I will be in pursuit of new land, and new hunting country ranging from West Texas to Central Texas in high hopes of filming new WILDWORKS for you viewers.

Photography By RDG:



Best of luck!

>>>--- Ghillie ------>

My Next Hunt

This year i will be attempting to self-film all of my bow hunts with the help of GoPro. My first hunt will be in the desert of southwest Texas for the elusive coyote. I consider this predator to be the most difficult to call in and kill with a bow. Self-filming the hunt will make it an even more challenging.

We attempted this hunt last year, but did not complete it. We called in 16 coyotes in the daytime and several within bow range. I just could not make it all come together. We learned a great deal about how to setup for a self-filmed bow shot on a yote coming to the call, so we should have better footage. Check in from time to time and see how we do!

Bullsnake!!!

If you have never had an encounter with a bull snake while traipsing around the wild, it can add some excitement! This snake was the largest I have ever encountered and was over 7 feet long. The bull snake is non poisonous and its defense is to mimic a rattlesnake by flicking its tail in the grass and expelling air by constricting. The sound is so much like that of a rattler, it will make your heart skip!!! This snake weighed over 15 pounds and was over twenty years old! I know because I ask him!

Turkey Season at a Glance

A video of moments captured from spring turkey season. I hope it gets everyone pumped up for the next one!

Our New Sponsor - GoPro

I am very excited about our new sponsor Gopro cameras. Gopro produces the best selling wearable digital cameras for sports. Their camera is perfect for our self-filmed bowhunts and we are excited about the chance to work with them. I have been using the Hero HD model and it is everything they said it would be! Get ready people, GoPro Goes Wild with WildWorks Media!

HAWGLITE - OUR SPONSOR

I wanted to share a post about one of our sponsors, http://www.hawglite.com/, Kelly Garmon is the owner and creator of this great little light that attaches to the stabilzer on a bow. It is perfect for our self-filmed bowhunts and adds very little weight to the setup. Kelly also has several other items that will help out hunters in their pursuits. Check out his site when you can.

I have been hunting and filming hog hunts for many years and I can tell you, the hawglite is the best way for the self-filmed hunter to make the hunt a success. I attach the light to my stabilizer and it has a button that you attach via adhesive, to the handle of your bow, so you can run the light while ready to draw your bow. I also have the camera attached to the bow and this allows complete movement by the hunter while still being able to film and shoot. Give one a try, you wont be dissapointed!!!