deerman,
You are welcome. I really appreciate your comments. The painting you are referring to is "November Frost-Whitetail".
When I did the painting I figured I was taking a marketing gamble. I thought some serious bowhunters would understand and appreciate the painting but I was afraid that much of the general public would not. I actually did the painting largely for myself because I love bowhunting and studying big bucks so much and I wanted to create something to rekindle the emotion in the 'off season'. (I think this site does the same thing, by the way, and that is why it is so popular-keep up the great work Tony!)
Surprisingly even people who think the buck is eating the branch and don't know anything about whitetail behavior still loved the piece. In fact, the limited edition print has gone from an issue price of $80 to a secondary market price of $2-3,000! Shows you how good I am at predicting the popularity of a print.
ironwood,
My 'old timers' disease gets worse and worse and I can't remember which post I was referring to at the time.
I do know that one of the things you do that I think is great is the example you set for getting the next generation into hunting and the outdoors. Taking the kids out can be difficult in today's busy society but many of my fondest memories are of times when I've shared the outdoors with family and friends. I also think we owe it to the sport and to the resource to pass along the interest to the next generation.
Tonight I'm excited because my son is home from ISU and tomorrow we are going down to work on the farm and in the evening, get out the bows again and try to do some qdm (shoot old does). I love to hunt old bucks but there is also a lot of satisfaction in harvest smart old does. It also improves the sex ratio of the herd and I know a family with lots of kids that will appreciate the meat.
I appreciate your final comment. I don't know Jack Palu personally but I have known Mike Sieve for years. In fact we spent several weeks together in South Africa and Namibia bowhunting and shooting reference material (between 7,000 and 8,000 slides each). We had lots of time to talk and whitetail management was one of the topics. Mike has gone to a great deal of trouble to try to improve whitetail management in Minnesota. If he can accomplish his goals deer hunters will have another state in which to pursue big bucks. Those who want to help can get more info at
www.blufflandwhitetails.org. They are on the right track and can certainly use the support. They get mine every year.
