Underground in MO.. 2007 Avery Pro-Staff Hunt

**David Rearick** · #1 01-30-2008, 07:32 AM

DATE: December 19th and 20th, 2008

LOCATION: Eastern Missouri

WEATHER: Cloudy

TEMPERATURE: 40’s

WIND: Mild to Non-Existent

EQUIPMENT USED: Avery® Fleece Skull Cap, Avery® Field Staff Cotton Cap, Avery® Fleece Calling Gloves, Avery® Neoprene Hand Warmer, Avery® Finisher Blind Bag, GHG® OS Mallard, Canvasback, and Shoveler Decoys

HUNTERS: Avery® Pro-Staffers Greg Owens, Tyson Keller, David Rearick, and Avery® Pro-Staff Relations Manager Rob Jepson

Pro Staff Hunt 2007-

Back in January 2007, Jeff Coates, Doug Steinke, Greg Owens, Tyson Keller, and I were informed that as the Top-5 Pro-Staffers based on a 2006 incentive program, that we had been awarded with a hunting trip courtesy of Avery Outdoors. Now jump ahead to November of 2007. After many discussions and e-mails, a date was set and we were all, minus Coates and Steinke who couldn’t make the trip this year, booked to fly in into Memphis for a meet and greet and then we were heading to Curtis Allen Adventures in MO.

After a decent flight and on time arrival to Memphis, I found the group waiting for me in baggage claim, as the others had arrived before me. We gathered up my luggage and headed to the parking garage. Rob said he lives by the motto “Go Big or Go Home” and he didn’t let us down. While I thought we were looking for a van in the parking garage, I was surprised to see a miniature Tour Bus towering over the rest of the vehicles. Now this bad boy didn’t have spinners or a moon roof, but it did have beepers to inform you of close objects and traction control to allow you to “smoke” the tires, if that was your game. Rob started things off right by utilizing the features of our luxury short bus and didn’t even use his rearview mirror, as we backed out of the garage. Not only were we going on a free trip, we were traveling in style and it showed…

After arriving in Memphis, we met most of the staff and grabbed a quick bite to eat; cold pasta, chicken, and sweet tea (the leftovers of the previous day’s Christmas lunch for the office, provided by the Avery® Pro-Staff). After some more introductions, a quick tour, and an inventory of new KW-1 garb and gear, we loaded the bus and headed to our hunting grounds for the next few days. After a two drive full of Redtail Hawks, Tales of Falconry, and other interesting tidbits, we arrived at Walmart to get our licenses. Lucky for us, Owens had forgotten his hunter safety card and after some quick thinking to get evidence that he had taken the course and Tyson’s quick talking, we were all set and on our way to Lambert’s Café, “The 2nd greatest place to pig out according to the Food Network” or so told by Tyson. Beeping, I mean backing the van into the parking spot, we locked the doors and headed in to see just what the hype was all about. Upon arrival, biscuits were being thrown across the room and multiple roaming men with buckets of food circled the tables. Much to our surprise, each of us ordered the chicken fried steak, although only a few got the “rooster cut” and we sat back and ate biscuits and drank from our enormous Lambert’s cups. When the food arrived, I had darn near already tapped out, but Tyson performed an eating display and mashed his dinner down to the last bite, like it was nothing. The rest of us opted for doggie bags and left with our tails firmly tucked between our legs.

After arriving at camp, we organized gear for the morning, talked to our guides, and then headed to bed. In order to keep the “team” aspect firm, we slept in bunk beds in the same room and for some reason, Owens and Jepson took the bottoms, while Tyson and I climbed to the top. The next morning, I awoke to the sounds of a flying chicken alarm clock, just as it hit me in the head. All of us aside from one unmentioned, had gotten very little sleep the night before. In many cases the anticipation of a good hunt can keep even a tired person awake, but even with our wicked anticipation that was not the reason we were left sleepless and groggy in the AM.

After a quick gathering in the kitchen to check assignments, we were headed off to the pit blind we would call home for the morning. After taking a ride in a very serious mud truck, we hooked to the tow boat filled with decoys and headed across the flooded rice. Now I am always a little quick on the gun and I asked Owens “why are we towing the boat from the back of the boat, it would go a lot easier across the water, if it was tied from the front” and he quickly replied “because the rope isn’t tied to the front”. That Owens is a quick one I thought to myself, as we hopped off the truck and hauled our gear to the levee, but I quickly forgot about it and started pitching decoys from the boat.

Quickly, LST was upon us and we began to work the birds that presented themselves and take only good clean close shots. Our guides had told us sunny skies and wind would make the day happen, but the forecast was the exact opposite. Throughout the morning, we only let one bird get away un-scathed from a group of three and felt petty good with what we had scratched down. With the lack of wind, even our best attempts at a KillerWeed jerk cord could not get the ducks into the decoys. After a lull in the action, it was “picture time” and our models for the morning began strutting their stuff across the levee. It became quickly apparent that the height difference of Owens and Jepson looked more like a youth hunt than two adults walking side by side, so Rob being the kind person that he is, decided to walk in the “sippee” hole next to Owens to make him feel bigger. With noontime quickly approaching and a lot of pictures still to take, we decided to pack up and head for the lodge.

After a couple triple cheeseburgers and a stop for some soft drinks at the local convenience store, we headed off in search of rice or another appropriate Enviro to photograph KW-1 in. It wasn’t long until Rob had us lost in the backwoods and we had to turn around and head for the hard road. After some quick thinking with ever dropping sunlight, we found the spot and began to take as many pictures as we could, to get our task completed before darkness fell.

That night after some excellent food at the lodge and a shower, we enjoyed a little music by Keith Allen and then headed to bed. After a much better night in terms of sleep, we awoke to the alarm clock and got ready for the mornings hunt. Tyson was no where to be found and after a little search and rescue, I found him asleep in the lodge on the couch. He awoke and thanked Rob for a good night’s sleep and got ready, then we all gathered back in the kitchen for our morning assignments. Today’s weather was not any better than the day before, in fact it was forecasted to be dramatically worse. Regardless we were still hopeful that things would work out and we headed out to the same pit to give it another go.

After setting out the decoys and not listening to Owens about how he felt the wind was blowing, the wind switched even more and the wind almost was in our face. The dark clouds, thunder and lightning ahead of us did not look very promising either, but we buckled down. After having the birds continually work from behind us, right before the rain hit, we spun the decoys and pit top around and got the wind at our back. The change definitely made a difference in working the birds and we scratched out a few more before the rain just became too intense and we had to leave to ensure we would catch all of our flights.

Although the weather wasn’t good for hunting, we managed to take a few birds, get our pictures in, and have a great time with the conditions we were dealt. As we pulled out of the lodge we decided to stop for a few bags of burgers and hit the pavement in our 1 Ton Mini-Van and headed back to Memphis to catch all of our flights.