Editors Note: O’Neil Williams Host of O’Neill Outside  shown on the Versus Channel and Co-Host of CVA’s Muzzleloading Basics, O’Neill tells us about a Whitetail hunt that took place in Georgia this season.

My cameraman, Jeff Alligood, and I had been the stand since 1:00 P and, after a short nap which seemed like an hour but had been only 10 minutes or so, we were simply covered in Whitetails.   The stand was in the middle of a pasture with white oaks scattered about dropping their bounty.   The pasture was only about 100 yards wide but spread out to over 180 yards south and north.   I was equipped with a 50 caliber CVA  APEX making the three shooter bucks at the southern end out of range.  

November 16th, 67 degrees and 35 whitetails and nothing to harvest.  Yet.

The very kind land owner, Roddy Sturdivant, lets me tape a show here each fall.   We see many animals and, occasionally, a genuine shooter.   I’ve been hunting here eight years and, by way of being selective, only taken one buck but many does.  You can’t eat antlers.  Anyway, Roddy had spotted an elegant 8-pointer a couple of days before our arrival and, judging his age at 5 or maybe 6 and a 150+ inch antler growth, he told me to lay off that one if he dropped by.

Well, the other two eights remained out of range for my muzzleloader but, I know you can guess, the one he’d warned me about showed up about 5P and made a spectacle of himself chasing the does to and fro.  Jeff and I exited the stand about dark thirty and slipped out.

My grandson, Travis, is in college on Tuesdays so I’d invited him to come over on Wednesday for a hunt.   Knowing the likelihood of a long shot, he picked his Optima Elite with a 270 barrel.   No short range for him.   Travis, with Jeff on camera, took their positions in the same stand in the middle of the long, narrow pasture under the oaks.  O’Neill was relegated to a smaller field about a half mile away.

No sooner than they began to see the grey morning show up, the majestic eight, Roddy had warned us about ambled under the oaks and stood proud and bold.  Other bucks and several does migrated in to sample the food source.   At 8A the story changed when a mature 12 pointer appeared in the midst.   As he sniffed around and attempted to gather a doe into submission, Travis’s CVA Optima Elite barked and 70 yards away the 12 became this year’s trophy.

Editors Note: Tony & Angie Walker, Hosts and Producers of The American Way TV show on the Pursuit Channel. The American Way is a complete high energy outdoor adventure ride, that is home to all you working class, blue collar outdoor junkies. Tony tells us about his daughter Breeann’s success with the CVA Wolf.
 
When it comes to the Walker family the glue that holds us all together is our love of the outdoors and especially the excitement of matching wits with Midwestern whitetails . It is a year round adventure for us , we are either hunting whitetails or managing our place to prepare for the following season … This heritage has been passed down thru generations of our family and it has been one of our greatest joys to share this love of the outdoors with our children ! Angie and I introduced all of the kids to hunting at an early age , taking them to the blinds with us when we had to carry them on our shoulders , And none has been more eager to embrace her heritage than our youngest child Breeann ! A lot of great hours spent in the blinds over the years watching deer and playing with Barbie dolls and coloring books . The last 3 seasons have been tough for Bree , she learned that hunting is about patience and that we don’t always get a buck , even when you do the right things and put your time in ….. So although she had managed to take some does, her 1st buck had to this season eluded her ! Deer season here at the Walker place really starts taking shape in July when the trail camera pictures start coming in and nobody was more excited than Bree when we started seeing a great crop of big bucks . This was all the motivation she needed to take her CVA Wolf and spend the summer putting countless rounds thru it to make sure she would be ready when her moment came …..Well that moment came at last , this past opening weekend of Indiana’s firearms season ! The 1st day of season was crazy , lots of bucks running and chasing does and the rut was kicking in , but unfortunately for all the bucks we had seen, none ever gave Bree a clean shot ! As day two arrived Angie and I decided that we would take a ground blind and set it up in a fence row where we had caught a pattern , deer were crossing in a low spot and heading to one of our Tecomate food plots and we were fairly certain that this could be Bree’s big day … after a couple hours of sitting the deer started moving but to our disappointment they were using another crossing a couple hundred yards from our blind ! At this point Bree was starting to give Angie and I the LOOK ! You know the one that says , ( I thought you two said I would see a buck here !! LOL!! ) And fortunately for us shortly afterwards he appeared …. He slipped up on us as so often they do and chaos ruled the blind as we were trying to adjust the shooting sticks , cameras and get this beautiful buck stopped and turned for a safe broadside shot ! After what seemed like an eternity , Breeann’s journey towards her first buck ended with a perfect shot and her buck on the ground !!! For those of you who have not shared the excitement of seeing your child harvest their first animal , to see the tears of joy and to know the next generation is molded and on their way we can only tell you it’s one of the greatest moments you can ever share with your children !! So the youngest member of the Walker family is on her way , and we can only hope that down the road , the Lord willing she will be passing this heritage on to her children …. The glue just got stronger for the Walker family and the best is yet to come, Congratulations Bree on a great buck !!!!!

Editors Note: Roger Raglin is the Host of “Roger Raglin Outdoors” shown on the Outdoor channel. Roger and his son Josh head out every fall in search of “ Creating memories that money just can’t buy”. Today Roger tells us about a Moose he took down in Maine with his CVA Accura.

I could hear him coming.  There was no doubt about it.  It sounded like a locomotive boiling through the timber.  Limbs snapping and cracking  – trees smashing to the ground.  I’d never heard anything quite like it and it was headed straight my direction.  There wasn’t anything I could do about it either accept get ready for the inevitable.   It was the sound that only North America’s largest land animal could make.  A huge mature moose was making his way through the dense forest to where I was standing.  He was coming in a hurry and with a purpose in mind.  The really funny thing about was – it’s exactly what I’d been waiting for and wanting to happen for about 20 years.

     This was my second trip to Maine for moose and my third try for a big bull.  I’d hunted Alaska nearly 20 years ago and 13 years ago had drawn one of these coveted Maine moose permits.  On both of those trips I’d missed the opportunity to have one of these 1000 pound behemoths respond to and come charging into a call.  It was looking like this trip was going to end up the same way.
 
     I was hunting in Pete Brown’s camp, owner of Extreme Dimension Wildlife Calls.  Pete’s Phantom Calls are without question the standard by which other electronic calls are judged, especially his moose calls.  If you’re a moose hunter in the Northeast, you’ve either tried or are currently using one of Pete’s Phantom moose calls.  They are simply the best.  But regardless of the call or animal mother nature and the timing of the rut really need to be working in your favor in order for you to have the kind of success you’re looking for.  This fall the weather had been fairly warm and when the first moose season opened bulls simply were not responding to calls.  To put it in a nutshell, the hunting had been really slow.

     I was elated in July when I found out that I had once again drawn a Maine moose permit.  This year’s moose hunt was really quite different from my last hunt.  Since my first visit to Maine in 1997 new laws had been passed that basically had stopped most of the clear cutting (which created great browsing habitat for moose).  Back in the late 90’s with large blocks of clear cuts everywhere, there were moose everywhere as well.  Now with selective cutting taking place, the moose seem to be much more dispersed.  They seemed to be living in deeper timber as well.  You now have to work a lot harder than before.  We had been working hard I can tell you that.  It was the fourth day of my six day hunt.  But in reality it was probably the final day since we had a major front moving in calling for heaving rain.  You can hunt in rain.  You can’t run a camera in rain.  You can but the end results is total disaster.  No tapes.  No footage.  No camera -  that will ever work again.
 
     It was mid-morning and I’d about given up.  No, I had given up on that AM’s hunt.  Pete’s dad, Mell, was running the call.  I was set up in front of him about 15 yards.  As the ‘estrus cow’ call was echoing through the air my mind began to wander and I was thinking about a hot breakfast and the drive back to Oklahoma.  I knew it was going to be a long one.  Suddenly Mell called my name and pointed to his right looking down a long but narrow opening in the woods.  I didn’t see anything but Mell held his hands up spreading them wide apart shaking his head up and down. 
     “Get ready a big one just crossed,” he whispered. 
      I knew from the look in Mell’s eyes it was a shooter.  I thought to myself get ready.  I am ready.  But I wasn’t.  I really don’t know what I was thinking.  I really don’t know what I was expecting.  I could only see about 20 yards in front of me and it was still really thick brush at that.  I’ve been in some pretty hairy situations over the years including shooting a 50″ cape buffalo in Africa at 10 yards with my muzzleloader.  But I’m not sure that buffalo ever knew we were even there.  This moose probably didn’t either.  But I could see that buffalo walk in from 150 yards out.  I couldn’t see this moose.  I could only hear him.  And buddy he was worked up and he seemed to get more worked up the closer he got.  And the closer he got the more worked up I was getting.

     I just told myself relax and pick a spot to shoot when he appears.  As the big bull grunted and move closer you could tell he was slowing down.  Things finally got quiet. The only thing you could hear was my heart pounding.   It got quiet because he was standing in a thicket right in front of me at 25 yards.  I had my CVA  muzzleloader resting on a pair of Vanguard shooting sticks.  I suddenly heard my cameraman say, “I can’t see him.  I can’t find him.”
     I looked over my gun and he was there starring right at us.  He looked as big as a house. 
     “He’s right there,”  I whispered pointing slightly to my right.
     “I can’t see him,”  the cameraman relied. 
     I knew we were in trouble and this party was about to end with something terrible floating in the punch bowl.  I knew I couldn’t fire my cameraman.  It was my 21 year old son, Josh. 
      “Son.  He’s standing right there in front of us,”  I tried to say as calmly as possible. 
     “Got him,”  Josh whispered. 
      My head fell back onto my CVA and I quickly snapped off my one and only shot -  Capow!!!!!    That muzzleloader roared and that big bull lunged out of that thicket to within about 15 yards of us turned and crashed back into the timber and vanished through that cloud of smoke. 
     I was shaking all over more than anywhere else. My son finally lowered the camera and was shaking his head.  It scared me at first.
     “No, I got it dad don’t worry.”
      He got it all right.  And I got my wish of 20 years.  I got to experience a real true blue – ‘I’m a big bull moose and I’m going to come charging into a call’ sequence.  It was worth the wait.   The trail job was short.  The 1000 pound bruiser had only gone about 70 yards into the timber before pilling up.  That CVA Accura muzzleloader did it’s job to perfection.  He wasn’t a monster racked bull but he was still a very good representative for a Northeastern American moose.  I couldn’t have been happier.  Now several months later all I can say is – I can still hear him coming.

Editors Note: Craig Jamison is one Cabelas Pro Staffers and Co-host Cabela’s Ultimate Adventures on the Outdoor Channel . Craig Tells us about a Whitetail Deer hunt using his CVA Accura.

I started this trip out a little worried.  It was my first muzzle loader hunt and I was flying into Detroit International Airport only a few weeks after the bomb scare they had there last December. I was headed to Ohio to hunt with a friend that I had met about 6 years ago in my home state of Wyoming and I had never flown with a muzzle loader.  Thanks to the CVA website I was able to read about what to do and not to do on my trip back to the Midwest.

    I was picked up by my friend, Scott Sharpe, and we headed to Cabela’s to pick up our White Hots, primers and a few other necessities for the cold weather we were about to endure.  Scott had informed me that we would have a little bit of a drive to get to the area we were going to, but I had no idea that we would be getting up at 3:30 AM to get to our stand before daylight. It felt like I flew into Detroit, spent the night in Ohio and by the time we reached the stand we were in Kentucky! OK, maybe not quite that bad, but it couldn’t have been far off.

    That opening morning of muzzle loader season brought a beautiful snow that only God could produce and we were late getting in the stand because of slick roads and 2 hours of driving.  It was so cold and I had on so many layers of clothes that when we reached the stand and got seated I was sweating like crazy so I removed my hat and within 10 minutes my hair was frozen!  We were prepared though, with Cabela’s heavy bibs and coat and a trusty CVA Accura hanging next to me, we sat for a few hours that morning watching about 25 deer meander through the woods past us. Finally my stomach told me to get down and find the nearest place to eat. After returning from lunch it was about 2 in the afternoon and I was not ready to go sit in 10 degree weather with a 0 degree wind chill, but you can’t shoot a buck sitting in Wendy’s eating chili.

    On our way back to the stand that afternoon I had a feeling we would see deer moving simply because that time of year, early January, deer tend to feed all day.  Sure enough as soon as we entered the woods I could see deer moving away from us that we had spooked. My heart sank.  I started looking through my scope just to see what they were and there was a shooter buck waving at us, saying “Goodbye”.  My heart sank even further.  I decided to use my scope and scan the woods real quick to see if I was missing anything and there he was. Another group of deer, that I had not seen was moving towards us and there was a buck in there that about made me lose that chili I had just eaten at Wendy’s. I turned to Scott and said BIG BUCK!  We crouched behind some down timber and waited. They were moving right to us and must not have seen those deer that we spooked leaving the country.  Scott finally was able to pick him out in the thick timber with the camera and I had the shot at 40 yards. I am thinking to myself, does this really happen, can you really sneak up on a deer to 40 yards on the ground walking to your stand and get a shot!  Well it did and that Accura released the ole Powerbelt bullet and he didn’t run 50 yards. As I approached him, he kept growing.  I couldn’t really tell how big he was when I shot but I knew he was good. After putting a tape on him I had taken my first animal with a muzzle loader and he scored 160″.

Editors Note: O’Neil Williams Host of O’Neil Outside and Co-Host of CVA’s Muzzleloading Basics shares his experience hunting Oklahoma Whitetails.

 I am very fortunate to be able to hunt in Oklahoma during the muzzleloading season which lasts for 10 days in October, fortunate also to have Roddy Sturdivant as a hunting friend.  He has hunting rights to 10,000+ acres near a little town in northwest Oklahoma called Camargo which has a population of about 200.

Roddy has installed a few food plots, automatic protein and corn feeders and stand locations across the rolling hills and has made a significant difference in the deer herd in the past four years he has been managing the land for whitetails.

The tops of the hills are covered in sage brush and grass and are dotted by cedar trees.  In various locations up pops a natural gas well.  In the canyons and valleys where a little water flows, the cotton wood trees prevail and provide roosts for the Rio Grande Turkey populations which are considerable.

Anyway, last Thursday, October 28th, I walked to what is called the ‘gas line’ stand.  This position faces a food plot of young wheat, is crossed by trails in and out and provides an up-wind location with the sun at the hunter’s back.  It was ideal for the that afternoon’s hunt.

I was using my new CVA APEX 50 caliber with 100 grains of Hodgdon White Hots and a 295 PowerBelt Copper Clad 50 caliber bullet.   This is my very favorite combination for whitetails.

I didn’t have long to ‘scout’ but did look for evidence of activity along a dry creek and stand of cottonwoods downwind from where I wanted to hunt.   The small trees were rubbed, the overhead branches broken and skinned and the ground scraped in many locations along the trails.  No deer were spooked out of their afternoon snooze so I felt confident that deer were in the area and might visit the food plots nearby in the late afternoon.

It worked.  I was in the stand by 4:30 in the afternoon anticipating a sunset about 7:00, and began seeing a few does and a couple of spikes drift in by 6:00.  Funny isn’t it that if you’ll watch the deer within your sight, they will often warn you about a visit upcoming from a buck.  Yes, indeed, at 6:30 the food plot residents raised their heads, pitched ears forward and focused off to my left.  He was arriving.

The area ruler slowly ambled in and received every animal’s attention and without giving a nod to any one or any thing, made his way into the center of the food plot.  Holding his head low and sampling the leafy offerings, he positioned to me a perfect shot at 110 yards. 

He had eight scoreable points, 16 and ½ inch inside spread and weighed 217 pounds.  Oklahoma Whitetail Deer are big.