Shannon Lee is not just you ordinary outdoors woman. Raising kids and keeping up with her beloved husband Travis Lee, she also keeps up with goats on their farm. Another good thing about Shannon is that she not only keeps up with her own kids but everyone else kids too in school. See she is a wonderful school teacher and enjoys her students. Maybe this years woman of the year for 2012 is none other than a teacher of the year for all of us here at Hello Hunting.

Shannon, It has been a real honor to get to know you and Travis!

Shannon is from Wing, AL and enjoys bass fishing with her husband and also enjoys time with her kids doing outdoor activities such as squirrel, deer, and turkey hunting. She is one of our writers and pro staff members here at Hello Hunting also. Rite before I started writing this article I sent her a message of Facebook letting her know that I had her a very big surprise. So Shannon, here is your surprise and I want to wish you a very happy Mothers day to come.

A mother like Shannon is a one in a million in my book. I hope that she will hang around for a long time on the pro staff here and keep us heading in the rite direction with my grammar on all my writing. She is truly a great friend and a great impression on the outdoors. I just wish we had more women like her to look up to. Congratulations on being named 2012 woman of the year here at Hello Hunting and keep up all your hard work and the rewards will be even greater!

Letters to God:

The name of the movie was called Letters to God. Some of you may have already seen it and for the ones that have not seen it I suggest that you buy it or rent it and watch it. It will make you cry, but it will make you think as many of these type of movies do. It may even change your life in more ways than none. I write this article to reach out and say this.

Dear God,
Lead me and guide me and the ones around me. Help me teach others the way you have taught me through the letter that I write here. I hope others will read it and learn from it the same way that I too have learned. Rather it be through your will of being in the great outdoors or sitting at home watching a movie. You give me so much for a reason and you take away what is meant to be taken away. Sometimes we as humans do not understand why something does not go our way. They must not go our way because it is not your will for it to be that way. Easter has come and gone and your son Jesus has died on the cross for my sins, and he has risen.

Thanks!
Shannon Wood

This is my letter to my almighty God above. After reading this I hope it has touched you and you too write a letter to God. It is God who has given us all that we have here on earth. Now isn’t about time we give a little back?

As time catches up with us at the end of the day some of us never say thank you God for letting us see all I have seen one more time. There are some of us who lay our heads down at night and pray to our heavenly father up above and say the few words that we have in our heads. God has given us so much as I have said this on many occasions in the past. Once working as a 4-H agent for Auburn University I tried to tell the young one’s that I had time to spend with to thank God for what we have. In a certain way I had to pass this on to the younger generation without saying anything about God.

There is hardly prayer in schools anymore but we can still find ways to teach Gods word through mother nature. Explain to the young of who made it and why he made it the way he did. I went to a private school in high school where prayer was allowed. Even on Friday nights at local football games all we have is maybe a silent time but yet no loud spoken out prayer. God does not choose you over me nor me over you but looks at us as his children and as equals. Yet there are the one’s that just don’t care what happens or how it happens.

We should look at life in many ways on a daily basis. Should we do it? Why don’t we do it? Why did we do it? Why did Jesus die on that cross? He died for our sins and took our sins because he loved us so much. Who killed Jesus? We did if you think about it. Our heavenly father gave us so much to learn and see. So from now on when you sit on that creek bank or by that big oak tree waiting on that one lonesome gobbler to come in just think for sixty seconds at who made everything around you and gave you that one more day to see it all. It was God! He done it all because he cared for you and me! It was all his creation and none other! So say a prayer the next time just to say “God Thank You!”

He has given me a son that will soon be ten years old. I am so proud of my son and knowing that he loves God makes me even prouder than any man could be. Do you ever sit in that deer stand on cold winter mornings and stare out into the woods and say a simple prayer to God for allowing you to be there. Do you carry your Bible to the stand while you hunt or to the creek bank while you fish. We do the things we do for a reason. I have read on a many of magazines back covers some of the ads from Mossy Oak. Their slogans or their catch phrases that catches our eyes paint a whole picture in our minds. I can see why Toxey Haas is so proud of his company and how it has grown.

It all begin with a fistful of dirt

These are the words that you read or have heard. How do we not know that this is how God reached out and said to Toxey Haas and said take this and go and build. A christian man from Mississippi takes a fistful of dirt and turns into what we see today as a leader in the Camo industry. I have written on Mossy Oak in the past and the obsession that they carry and have for the great outdoors. We should be thankful for what we have and some of us do and there are still some of us who don’t.

I see Mossy Oak as not just a company owned and created by one man and his family but a company that has been placed here on earth by God himself for a reason. Back on June 24, 2011 my younger brother turned 21 years old. His young wife gave him something that she worked so hard to get. She gave him a present that will lead him and guide him on a day-to-day basis. She went to our local Bass Pro Shops and purchased a Bible that its cover had the pattern of Mossy Oak. Outdoor men and women now have a Bible from Mossy Oak! A number one brand in camouflage brings enthusiasm for the outdoors together with the passion for God’s Word. “It’s not a passion. It’s an obsession.” Enjoy all of God’s creation while reading God’s Word!

Me and my son have this little prayer that we came up with and one that we say before bed time each night on the weekends that I have him.

Dear Lord bless this day, and bless us the turkey hunter way.

We call it the turkey hunters prayer. Even though I am into turkey hunting a little more than deer hunting or fishing I still find time while on the stand to ask God to lead me and guide me in the right direction. Rather or not I harvest a game animal I am still glad to say I live to see it one more day. Take Gods words and let them bless you and help guide you on a day-to-day basis. You want regret ever just sitting down and reading just one line from Gods book. It will lead you and guide you all you have to do is grab one up and read. Our Lord blesses us for reading, listening, and sharing his word. God Bless!

Genesis 1:20-25
20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Toxey Haas of Mossy Oak talks about Conversation. Watch the Video:

The Boone and Crockett club has placed high standards on being able to record a whitetail deer into their books. Even though there are record book bucks taken somewhere either in the U.S. or Canada each year. Pope & Young has also done the same. Safari Club International known as (SCI) has their on way of measuring trophy deer.  But do you really know what makes big antlers on deer. Is it the protein? How about the genetics of the deer? Can it be you have big deer on your property or you don’t have them? A lot of these same questions are asked each year and the same responses come out for the answers.

I have been a member in the past of several different types of hunting clubs. Some having more restrictions than the others. One club says only eight point or better. Another says six point outside the ears or better. But not one single club that I have ever been in said the deer has to be four or five years old before you can shoot it. Even though a daily protein level of 16% to 18% for a whitetail buck is needed 365 days a year it still is not enough. The genes of a buck also comes to mind when playing the antler growing game. But it too is still not enough.

A whitetail buck dose need all these or some of these things to grow but the one thing we all seem to leave out is their age. Now here is where the fun part comes into play. Say you are in this club that says you can only shoot an 8 point or better. You are hunting by yourself on a cool winter evening and a small 4.5 year old basket racked 9 point that want even score a thing walks out into the green field one hour before dark. You then study this 9 point a bit before you start to pull the trigger. Ten minutes later a 7 point walks out but is a 2.5 year old deer, that’s antlers would score in the 130′s. Which one would you shoot? Tempting isn’t it!

We should really think before we pull the trigger now days. That is if you want to grow big antlers. If the big antler thing isn’t your style then a older doe would be just fine for a little meat in the freezer. The doe harvesting should and can be a factor playing role in growing mature bucks. Too many does means less high quality food for the younger bucks. This also means that it might as well take five times longer to grow him compared to a buck that get’s high quality food year round somewhere else. Even though you do not have thousands of acres of land you can still manage and grow large antler deer on your property.

I have the chance each year to pay $16 and hunt 12,000 acres close too and around the Alabama River that holds plenty of big antler bucks. This land is in fact all public hunting ground and the hunting possibilities  here are as simple as buying your Alabama state licenses and a (WMA) wildlife management licenses. Even though that I also have 100 acres here and there that I also hunt the public land is still there for me to hunt when I may feel that I have put too much pressure on my own land. There are restrictions on the public land such as bow hunting only areas and only limited to certain two day hunts here and there for gun use.

But we all can take the rite measures if we make a plan and stick to it. To most of us sticking to the plan can sometimes be the hard part if we get to that point of thinking that is may be impossible to do where we hunt. Neighbors can also help with your program by trying it themselves. In fact they may already have a plan but may not be exactly what you may be searching for. So the best thing for you to do in this case is to stick to your plan and allow your neighbors to see with time at the large rack bucks that you harvest. Let them walk and watch them grow. Another good idea to comparing your property to your neighbors is to try and make your property the best place that a deer may want to spend his time during day and night time hours. So the next time you wish to grow a large rack deer remember just one thing. You are the one the make the deciding factor of pulling the trigger!

Good Luck!

There are some ladies that just stand out in the outdoor industry of today. We have crowned a woman of the year for Hello Hunting in the past and now it is getting to be that time once again. I am sorry that we do not have any awards as far as a plaque to give to these ladies but they have done so much for our outdoor world already. So this is our way to give back to all our outdoor ladies and outdoor moms that have raised us to be perfectly good gentlemen.

Our first Hello Hunting Woman of the year was elected in August of 2010 and her name is Nancy Joe Adams a resident of Montgomery,AL. It is now time to recognize another woman in the outdoors for doing such a great deed. Keli Van Cleave has done so much in the great outdoors and is a lead member of Pink Outdoors. This sweet lady has no trouble calling Colorado home. She loves the outdoors just as much as the next woman out there. We only seeing her going further and further up the pole to reach her goal at the top.

Prois Hunting sent her to the Reno Cabela’s to participate in the first Cabela’s Boomtown charity shoot.  It was a picturesque setting in the Nevada mountains.  She stated it was awesome to see 145 participants the first day and over 55 on a Sunday. There were approximately 60 female participants and many of those being children.  She thought since she was representing Prois, she should change her arrow holder to match her beautiful Prois bag to be more of an Urban 3-D fashionist.  She couldn’t believe the women who wanted to follow her Prois purse idea! Turned out now that it has grown and is even getting bigger with more time.

The bag shown here are just a few of the things that you can get from keli. She has worked so hard to get to where she has come at this point in her life. We at Hello hunting hope to wish her many more journey’s into the field in the future. It is people like her that show all of us men what real outdoor women are all about. The fact that she also works well with young women and kids in getting them involved in the outdoors just means that much more to the outdoor industry. So we at Hello Hunting would like to say congratulations to this years 2011 Hello Hunting Woman of the Year. Keli Van Cleave!

I have always enjoyed the outdoors yet it has always been within the sports industry. I am a huge baseball and softball fan. The occassional football has also been known to catch my attention from time to time. Yet, I am finding myself looking into a new area of the outdoors. The direction tends to be leaning more toward the hunting aspect of the outdoors.This has happened to me over the last year. I met someone who is a HUGE outdoors man and when I say huge I mean HUGE!!!!

I think sometimes if he could marry the outdoors he would. But I have come to except this part of him and find myself wanting to explore this interest of his and see what is so fasinating about it. I have kind of observed from the outside in over the last year and have decided that this next year I am going to try to get more involved.

My first step to coming more involved came with my first Coon hunt. I had always looked at coon hunting as something of an old westerns how. Not something that people in the modern day still do. But boy have I been proven wrong. There always seems to be a group of a half dozen or more that seem to find their way to my house when they decide to go Coon huntin’. So a cool Friday night in February I find myself say those magical words, “Alright I will try coon hunting with ya’ll but I can tell you now I won’t like it.”

As we prepare to head out I look around. I find myself surround by my boyfriend, his 9 year old son, his younger brother and his wife, one of their cousins and his wife, and yet another cousin. As everyone stands out in the backyard putting on their boots we talk about where they want to set the “dogs” loose. I say dogs loosely since there seems to only be one full grown dog in the bunch. I see that we will be taking along with us three pups that are along on the hunt for some training.

Everyone is discussing the pictures that were taken of all the coons this past week on the game camera and where they were located. Once our hunting area is decided, we load up on the trucks and the four wheeler and head out. We head down the trail behind our house that leads to the food plots and hunting land.

We get no further than about 2 to 2 1/2 football fields distance from our house. We have a small watering hole that they have decided to use as our starting point. Since I am riding the four wheeler I see everyone climb out of the trucks to set the dogs loose. My first thought is how are they ever going to keep up with these dogs as dark as it is. So as four of them set out with the dogs and flash lights, I stay on the four wheeler with one of the cousins and the 9 year old son. We listen for a little while without hearing anything out of any of the dogs.

Finally after about 15 or 20 minutes we hear our first dog cut loose. After moving the four wheeler 3 or 4 times to get us closer we find ourselves on the fence row on the backside of the property. We sit and just listen to the dog barking until it sounds like he has finally treed the coon. At this point everyone is shining their flashlights up into the tree.

No one can seem to find the coon. I had stayed back on the four wheeler and could see the coons eyes flash everytime someones light slid over him. After a few more minutes everyone was able to find the coon and were spot lighting him.

Now this is where the real learning experience came in. Crazy me thought, ok so we bring the dog to tree the coon then this is where the human will step in and kill the coon. Oh boy was I ever wrong. Apparently the idea of coon hunting is not for the humans to kill the coon but to injure the coon enough that it will start backing down the tree and eventually fall out so that the dog or dogs can do the actualy killing. After several shots from a 22 and everyone throwing things into the tree the coon finally starts backing down the tree and then begins to fall out. This is where I see the funniest sight ever. I see grown men and women start running. I am standing away from the tree with the 9 year old and have no idea what is about to happen until I see his father come running at us and almost run us over while trying to get away from the coon.

Once we recover from the stampede, I realize that the dog has killed the coon and is now being checked out by his owner for any bite marks. The pups are now being shown the coon and allowed to play with it to make them want to get one themselves. The coon is loaded up on the front of the four wheeler like a prized trophy to be taken to the house.

As coon hunting is now come to an end at our house, because the land is being prepared for turkey season, I have found that I kind of like the coon hunting thing. It is something that I will try again in the future to see if it was a one time fluke or if it is really something that I could come to enjoy. So for now I just sit and listen to all the turkey talk and try to take it all in so that I will somewhat be prepared for my first turkey hunt that I am sure I will be taken on this year. I guess 2011 is going to be the year for trying new things.

I have chosen these ladies to write because their writing to me is good in my means of what I call good. It does not take a lot to write in the Outdoor style form only practice makes perfect. I am by no means the best writer in the world. On several occasions I have had people tell me I write like I speak, or should I say talk. I have had people tell me on many occasions that they enjoy what I have written in the past.

I have had the pleasure of getting to know and I have only spoken with her one time on the phone. You may wonder her name and I will get to that in a second. At the time of me writing this article I have yet to meet her but only have spoken to her online through Facebook. She has brought to my attention by her writing skill through her blog. Her name is Nancy Joe Adams a resident of Montgomery,AL.

If you would like you can check out her blog and some of her articles here at Shenanigans From the Field, and also at women outdoor news. She is also known as the Guru Huntress at women outdoor news. Once you ever meet someone like her you will never forget. All I can say to all the other women in the great outdoors  such as Tiffany Lakosky and Brenda Valentine is that we have a new woman in the outdoors.

Mrs. Nancy has worked hard to get where she is in life. Working hard in today’s outdoor industry is what it takes to get yourself to the top. And one day we may just see her at the top. Outdoor Women have made such a great impression on today’s great outdoors. There are beginning to be more and more women out there that enjoy the time with their family in the field.

Nancy is happily married and loves spending time with her family and also enjoys her time in the great outdoors. She had told me the her and her husband enjoy filming their hunts that they share together. Filming your  hunts with your family and friends will bring you the memories you once shared together back. These memories will last a life time and remind you of the good times that you may have shared.

” Family, Friends, and the Outdoors “

This is what the Outdoor Industry should be all about. Things change in life on a day-to-day basis and we take things in life for wrong turns sometimes. These are times that we say we never forget but we do. We raise our children to be home bodies and we don’t even see it. Kids today just don’t see the imagination that they could have just by spending a little time outdoors. We allow them to sit in front of an Xbox or a PlayStation and enjoy what ever game it is they play.

Women pay a very large role in life in the household and we don’t give them credit that they deserve. They lead our kids into the right direction and shows them rite from wrong. We should be happy that we have hunting and fishing women out there that enjoy the same outdoor activity that we enjoy.

” Outdoor Women have given us so much. Isn’t it about time we give them a little back. “

Thank you Mrs. Nancy for being one of America’s Outdoor Women.

Take time now to check all your gear such as bows, arrows, guns, and even scopes for your rifle. Now is also a good time to practice shooting weather it may be a gun or bow. Shooting at a target now will get you set for when that first game pokes it’s head out. Check all food sources now and scout to see what deer maybe eating. There will be a chance that some of this food source will still be available for opening day in the southern regions such as Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.

Go into the woods now and start by trimming some shooting lanes for your bow setup. We all hate the times that when a deer steps into shooting range and then we don’t have the shot due to a tree limb blocking the shot. These shots for a trophy buck only come once in a lifetime for most average hunter’s. I have had great success in the past at harvesting a doe for some early season deer meat.

Most of the hunters in Alabama will be on the road to their hunting grounds around Labor Day weekend. They use this time to plant fall food plots, or at least start preparing the ground works of bush-hogging and plowing of the dirt. I think that a lot of hunters mess up here by planting to early. I good idea would be to wait until just a few weekends later maybe in September some time. This will allow your deer to finish off any summer time forge they may be able to find.

Once you have taken the time plan what you are going to plant, make sure that you can allow 10 to 15 days for a spraying process such as round-up on and around the food plots. This will allow you plenty of time to plant things such as chicory and clover and you will not have other late summer grasses competing for fertilizer or lime that you lay out. Keeping unwanted grasses out will allow you with a more beautiful food plot for your deer.

If you have planted corn and still have it standing then leave it this way. Standing beans and corn will allow deer and turkey cover in the fall and also will help you see more in the winter as they come in to search for these foods. Based on your corn field size try mowing strips into it 10 to 25 yards wide and plow and spread winter foods where you have mowed. Most people like to mow the entire field down and when they do this deer and turkey loose this food in the extreme cold days of winter.

I hope these few steps will help you on opening day like they have done for me and my friends in the past. Stay on the right road and you can’t go wrong for being on the wrong road to success. Planting to early can cost you mainly because the deer and turkey eat them up to fast. I have heard people say my food plots look like crap. What these food plots look like are as if someone has took a lawn mower to it. So start getting ready now for opening day.

Have a plan ready when all of hunting seasons have come to an end. In the South people seem to be tired a lot more in February than they were back in September of the previous year. There was the planting that took place for the fall and winter. Making sure that you had a special food plot to hunt over. Cold months rolled around and we hunted for deer, fall turkey, and even got our tails wet trying to shoot ducks. Which of course th duck thing is nothing that I have ever done but wouldn’t mind giving it a try one of these days. So after my deer season ends in January I get very tired of dragging and cleaning deer. So at this point it’s resting first while sitting on the sofa tuning in one of my favorite box calls getting ready for spring time turkey.

In Alabama I look forward to the spring for a mature gobbler. Then I also look forward to all the spring time planting that will need to be done. I would like to say that I’m a farmer but just not cows and horses but for my turkey and deer. So now I will carry you through a few steps to get yourself into farming shape for you too can be a farmer for wildlife of your choice.

Step 1. Look for land if you don’t already have any for the next season. Not only do I turkey hunt and plant in the spring but always on the lookout for new land to hunt for the next deer season.

Step 2. Plowing for the spring and getting ready is a must in my book. This is the time i will take to turn over old soil and create new. My existing food plots will require fertilizer, and lime if needed. A prescribed burn will also help before the plowing process in order to kill and wipe away dead grasses so the plowing will become more easy. Plus a burning stage will bring forth turkeys to feed on any roasted dead bugs that may be in the area.

Step 3. Building new stands for the new season and placing them out well ahead of time will also help you in more ways than one. I also will build and place in new feeding stations for deer. This will keep the deer around longer in order for you to hopefully find sheds or see new born fawns in the earl summer months. Feeding grains to deer and turkey is against the law in some states but in Alabama you can feed as long as you don’t hunt over it. By me feeding things like corn or deer pellets this will allow me to find and see what bucks have survived the last season.

Step 4. By step 4 it’s spring time and most of the plowing and planting has already been done. This is the scouting process and watching it grow process. With those of you that don’t have tons of land I suggest that you get yourself a game camera and place it out over a feeding station. Also at this point if you have not already put out minerals this would be a great time to do it for the bucks have already lost their antlers. I can also get in some last minute turkey hunting at this time as well.

So the next time all of your seasons come to an end get back out there and start over. The farming for wildlife  trends never end. It is like a cattle ranch and just keep growing. Great rewards will come with time and effort if you the hunter or outdoorsman just keep at it. Good luck this upcoming year with your own wildlife farm no matter how big or small it may be.