DIXIE DEER CLASSIC 2012

This is going to be a post that sounds like the speech at a NASCAR victory lane. We'd like to thank all the sponsors who made this possible. Actually, the only thanks we need to give is to God who provided all for us.

Next, we'd like to thank our Brothers in Christ from Heart of a Sportsman who provided over 5000 video's of The Record Book that were given out during the show. Each famous hunter gives his testimony while putting on a great hunt.

It was a tough race, there was a lot of traffic that we had to negotiate, but we stayed off the wall and were able to give out the video's, tracts which lead people to Christ and a nice muzzleloader to a lucky winner from Wilksboro.





Our booth was busy from start to end. Some wanted a video, some wanted to register for the gun and others to talk about who we are and what we do. What was most encouraging was that many people gladly accepted the tracts, even after reading them and knowing that it was about salvation. God surely touched their hearts to listen to his message. We just showed up as the pit crew to help with the race.


Many thanks go out to those who came and gave of their time to man the booth with a cheerful heart, especially the twin PT Barnum's (Ed Strickland and Mike Hayes) who like energizer bunny's kept going and going by constantly attracting folks from the aisles like nobody's business.




Also, there were plenty of distractions that I'll put in for the hunters to salivate over.


All in all it was a successful show and we hope that the Angels rejoiced in heaven that new souls were saved.

Catfishin' with Mike Nichols

Ever since we won the second Ironman Catfish Tournament, Mike Nichols has it wired....See for yourself. Play the video's to see some really good fish.

John Green's First Hunt With His Son

I took my then 7-year old son deer hunting for the first time on 10/4/10. We were in a buddy stand in a hunt club in Warren County. (Importantly, we both were wearing anti-fall harnesses and had an emergency plan.)

After two hours of seeing nothing, Daniel laid on the grunt tube near 7 p.m. (about 15 minutes before dark). A few minutes later, we heard the deer in the attached photo walking towards us. I finally saw the deer about 12-15 yards away. Daniel covered his ears, and I fired my muzzleloader. The deer went about 15 yards, dropping about 5 yards from the firebreak/dirt road.

We took the buck to Pearce's Processing for processing. We ate the meat throughout the rest of 2010 and well into 2011. I put the antlers on a plaque, and Daniel even had them scored at the 2011 Dixie Deer Classic. Daniel has the antlers and the certificate in his room.

This was Daniel's first hunt, and he was thrilled! It was a day I hope I never forget.

Mike Nichols Gets His First Turkey, With a Little Help

Mike Hayes and I went to game lands one Saturday looking to get a turkey. It was a cool crisp morning and as the sun came up we heard a gobble off in the distance. After a mad dash to get set up on the bird we found out someone else was working that same bird. So we left to try another spot. We found a nice spot on the end of a road between two fields, so we set some decoys and waited. Hayes claimed I had dozed off, not true just checking the back of my eyelids for cracks. When out of nowhere two gobblers came beside us and made a bee line for the decoys. Hayes is saying shoot! shoot! I drew my gun pulled the trigger .... Nothing , had the safety on. Tried again and bam there he is. What a blessing it was to have this experience with a long time friend and most of all a brother in Christ!

The First Gun Project Done in My Gun Shop

Pete Valentine has worked in and around guns and gun shops all his life. At Colonial Outdoors, he is one of our go to guys for rebuilding or refinishing a gun (among other things). In addition, he has a sharpening business.

Here is a project that you'll find both interesting and different from a hunting or fishing story.

Enjoy!

This is the first gun project done in my little shop.

The story started when I visited a gun shop in Fuquay and spotted a Remington 514 single shot .22 rifle on the floor behind the counter.

The poor little rifle was about as ugly as it could get. The stock was painted black, the front sight was broken, the metal was rusty brown, and the trigger was limp and function-less.

I felt kinda sorry for the poor thing and made a ridiculous offer to buy it. They accepted my offer, so I filled out the paper and brought it home.

I had almost finished building my shop, (Man-Cave), so I started refinishing the 514 right away.

The first step was to remove the stock and strip the black paint off. To my amazement, the stock was made of "A" grade black walnut.

It was a rich brown with distinct vertical fiddle-back stripes from tip to butt.

The stock only required about three hours of actual work to bring to factory new. The metal took many days and lots of polishing and rust-bluing

to bring it back.

I found an original front sight that was in my toolchest for decades just waiting for such a time as this. I repaired the trigger system and tested everything to make sure it was functional and safe.

When finished I gave the "new" 514 to my wife who suggested we go to the range soon to test it out. She loves the rifle, and shoots it well.

So far we have fired about 500 rounds through it and made adjustments to the extractor. It now works as good as it looks.

Novembers Trophy Buck

The mornings dawned, clear and cool on November 1^st, 2011. Thousands of tiny diamond-like droplets still cling to the colorful autumn foliage from a hard rain the night before.

I had taken the day off from work with the express purpose of trying to get a shot at a nice buck. By daylight I had my Summit climbing stand situated overlooking an old logging road in the woods near the Cape Fear River in Harnett County, North Carolina.

Noticing a scrape nearby, I freshened it up by sprinkling some doe in heat lure in it. Then I walked about 30 yards down my shooting lane and made an artificial scrape and doctored it generously with some “Tink Stink”

By 9:00 AM I still hadn’t seen one single deer! The squirrels scampering around kept me from getting totally bored.

I stood to stretch my legs and check out the woods behind my stand back toward the creek. Suddenly about 70 yards away I caught a glimpse of a big deer passing between two trees. Immediately on full alert, I scanned the thick woods for more movement! There it was again a big body moving quickly through the thick stuff up the hill by my stand. I thought I caught a brief flash of another in the morning sun then it disappeared. All was quiet, leaving me wondering if I had just imagined all that.

Disappointed and determined to make something happen I begin to make several series of loud doe bleats and buck grunts. I sat looking and listening for about ten minutes when down the shooting lane appeared a big doe or so I thought until I put my scope on it. I realize then it had antlers! As it began walking toward me down the shooting lane I realized it was a “shooter buck” with at least eight points! By now I began to get nervous and mentally told myself to calm down. The buck walked straight to my false scrape and put his nose to the dirt and stood sniffing. Already standing with the safety off on my Rouger 30-06 I watched him at thirty yards through the scope, waiting for him to turn broadside. Fearing he might lift his head, see me and bolt suddenly, I settled the cross hares on his neck where it joins his shoulders and squeezed the trigger. He dropped to the ground like a sack of hammers right on top of the false scrape, kicked a few times and expired! Needless to say, I was excited when I found he was a respectable nine point about sixteen inches wide and weighing approximately 185 lbs. Even with the help of several friends I had a tough time getting him out of the woods.

God said; “Every animal of the forest is Mine…I know every bird in the mountains and the creatures of the field are Mine.” Psalm 50:10-11

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him” Psalm 34:8

By Ted McKinney

Big Bodied Buck: By Chris Crum

On December 27^th I drove toward my tree stand with hopes of getting a big bodied buck that had been visiting the area for about three weeks. The trail cam pictures showed that he should be showing back up in the evening any day now. I was heading in a little later then I would have liked, but it had been raining all day and the rain suit that I was hoping to hunt with this season was stolen from the porch after it was delivered. Part of the reason I bought it was because I recently learned how much the deer move during a rainy day. The previous day I sat on stand and only saw one doe, that didn’t come within bow range. I put on my gear and headed to the deer stand. Just before I got there I bumped the big buck. I thought, “Wow he is bigger then he looked in the pictures. My hunt is ruined, but at least I got to see him.” I decided to hunt the stand anyway. The deer would either return or I would get nothing like the previous hunt. After ascending the tree and attaching my safety harness, I put my fanny pack around a branch, but when I let go it fell all the way to ground making a loud unnatural sound as it hit the ground. “Well, if the buck isn’t completely spooked, this should do it”, I thought. If he didn’t see me climb the tree the first time, I am going to give him another chance. Before I descended to retrieve my fanny pack, I remembered some past hunts where everything seemed to go wrong, but ended on a positive note. After finally getting settled in the stand, there was a strong wind gust that just caused the tree stand to sway back and forth with the top of tree. I thought it would be best if I stayed seated. At a minimum I wanted to make it back home safe.

This hunt was starting to remind me of life. There are circumstances that happen to us, some of which are completely out of our control and some could be because of bad decisions. It is important for us to keep God at the forefront of our minds. Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and continue striving forward. Without this, we can easily let current circumstances or things in our past drag us down, get us discouraged and cause us to loose sight of the plan that God has for us.

I didn’t know if the deer was coming back, but I knew I wouldn’t get him sitting at home. I didn’t know if the Lord would let me harvest that deer; I also didn’t realize that there were more things that wouldn’t go quite right before the hunt came to a close. As I sat in the stand I continued to brace myself when the wind picked up. Eventually it started getting darker as the sun disappeared. I decided to make the most of it and just remain as motionless as possible until quitting time. I was about to check my watch when I heard the leaves crunch. “That must be a deer”, I thought as I reached slowly for my bow. With my bow in hand I looked down to see the deer broadside at about 12 yards. Big body, several points sticking up… it must be him. I started to concentrate on the shot. The front leg was not forward, but I didn’t have much time. I drew back aimed and released in a matter of seconds. He did the “mule kick” and took off. I started shaking. After an hour I started to look for him, but I didn’t find the blood I was hoping for. I went back to eat some dinner and brought my girlfriend back with me to find the deer. She spotted him before I did, but he was lying down with his head up. I couldn’t believe it. There were at least 5 large puddles of blood, it had been over 3 hours and he is still alive. I was not sure where I hit him, but I knew it wasn’t a good shot. We backed out and I decided to come back in the morning. In the morning I found where he was bedded, but he wasn’t there. I made a big circle as my girlfriend went along the path the deer might have traveled. As I made it back around to the deer stand I saw him lying not far from the stand. He had made a big circle before succumbing to the wound. After arriving late, spooking the deer, dropping my fanny pack, gusty wind and a poor shot, the Lord still allowed me to recover the deer. Lord help us to keep our eyes fixed on You and not on the circumstances of this life that could shift us away from Your plan. Help us to live a life for Your glory. Help us to finish well, as we look forward to being with You in Your kingdom.