Red Bluff Lodge

March Madness

For us, March is not about basketball - rather, it is all about turkeys. Beginning March 1st all of the male members of our household and staff get rather antsy, start dragging out progidous amounts of camoflauge clothing, and blowing increasingly irritating calls on wingbones, box calls, diaphragms...

When the 15th actually rolls around, it is truly a relief to be able to push them out of the door (and to lock it behind them....for a few hours, anyway).

Thank heavens that we struck gold on that first day. All of the pent-up anticipation was relieved, and life became much more bearable:

Dustin "Gotta Go' Horn scored early on the morning of the 15th - good thing, because he never seems to have the time to stay longer than about 18 hours or so. Must be nice to be so in demand....

 See the relief on Jim's face? Those long days full of turkey calling and gear arrangement are worth it!

2009 Season Wrapup

Greeting from the new decade! Last year was nothing if not interesting....we're so lucky to have such wonderful and loyal clients. The economy certainly made us all refocus; we've always been dedicated to providing an escape for our hunters from their daily stresses and fast paced lives. This year that became more important than ever.

While our hunting volume was down by a good 20%, we couldn't be more thankful for the 80% that kept us going - it was pure kismet that sent us alligator season this year to plug some gaps and keep the engine running.  Our outlook remains positive as we all take a deep breath and look forward to a strong 2010!

Our deer harvest statistics:

• Total: 268 deer
• Bucks: 173
• Adult Bucks: 57
• Bucks over 15" antler spread - 21
• Antlerless deer: 95

We also harvested 69 hogs, 14 turkeys and 17 alligators.

We're working on our new brochure and on picking out pictures to enlarge for our show booth. Here are a couple favorites so far:

Mark Allison (NC) got this (almost) albino wild hog in the middle of December. While we regularly shoot hogs with white spots, and sometime a couple of white hooves, this is the first to be almost completely white. He was just a thickly haired as a black hog, but the hair was super pale. Let's call him Marilyn (not Mark, the hog)!

Here's a happy family from New York! Aaron Lagassee got this great buck on his last morning hunt, and I'm not sure who's happier - Aaron or his dad. Hmmm, the brother doesn't look QUITE as tickled...just kidding, they all were SO fun to have in camp and had a great hunt.

For my last shot, I just had to put Stumpy back in. This picture was the one to best show his size. What an adventure for all of us to start taking customers alligator hunting this year! And Jim truly earned the nickname "Captain Hook" on a certain September night....

Here's wishing all of you a great year! Come see us in Harrisburg, PA the first two weekends in February, or in Suffern, NY the first weekend in March! 

New Photo Album Added

We've begun to build our current season's deer photo album. Check it out to the right: 2009 Deer Harvest. It currently has pictures from the August hunts. The pics are all named with the date of the hunt and the hunters name. Click on each pic to see an enlargement. We'll add more months over the next few days. Enjoy!

BUSY Weekends!

What a whirlwind it has been here for the last two weeks! We've had a great time; with lots of shot opportunities for our hunters.

See if you can guess what the faces below have in common:

                      

                        

The 'racing stripes' on some of their faces may have tipped you off; each of these hunters are pictured here after shooting either their first deer at all, or their first buck! They all did so in the last 10 days here at Red Bluff. We have the most fun bringing hunters into the 'club'. Congratulations to all!

Here are some more photo highlights of our last 10 days:

Jim Roberts poses here with a buck he took during the morning hunt on September 22nd.

Becky Smith and her proud father Craig pose here with the two animals she took the same night! During the evening hunt on  September 23rd, she got a nice hog and a 8-point as well.

The night Becky shot her double, we also had Rick Miller take a nice buck and Jim Roberts take a nice rack buck as well.

Keith Danner got a double on the evening of September 24th. His group, which inclued his father and brother, had some good luck on their trip:

Ryan Danner got this buck during his morning hunt on September 22nd.

In an effort not to be too long-winded in any one post, I'll stop here and post again tomorrow! Coming up: hunting results from 9/25-9/29.

See, we told you it was the socks....

Lookee here, the power of pink for John K.:

Not 2 hours after he put his special "camo" on under his clothes, just look what he got:

Looks like Tiana's had a good influence on his hunting ability!

We've had a VERY busy weekend here. Since Friday night, when we reopened for buck/doe season, our hunters have taken 56 shots, and have harvested 46 animals! Here is a look at what they got:

The NY trio of Ingersoll, Gleason and Voltz (I know, sounds like a law firm, huh?) really scored big with the hogs. Between them, they took home 7 after their 3 day hunt.  Suuu-ey!

Last night, Becky scored a double with a very nice hog and an 8-point deer. She was, as she told Jim, 'Loving Life'! Also, Jim Roberts got an 8 point as well as Rick Miller. Good night!

On the night we reopened, our hunters took 12 shots that resulted in 10 animals (7 deer, 2 hogs).  Here is Ryan, Phil and Keith Danner with John K.'s 'pink' buck. Also scoring was Trevor Moore, below:

Trevor Moore poses here with his mother Raquel. He was lucky enough to get his first two deer (a doe and a buck) on the same night. As you can see, she bloodied him up pretty good as a reward. Welcome to the club, Trevor!

On the evening of the 20th, both Mike "Pepsi" Metzgar and Rick Miller got a double. Way to go!

Keep checking for more hunting results.

Velvet Season Wraps Up

Our 2008 velvet buck season wrapped up Labor Day weekend. Here are some highlights:

Adam Garlick (PA) poses here with his first buck - he shot it on August 27th. Adam came to Red Bluff with the Kostukovich family. Here's Tiana Kostukovich with her buck, taken on August 30th. For a full review of their hunting trip, check out our photo albums.

We're pretty sure that the pink socks are what gives Tiana her good luck. Maybe we should buy a pair for John K!

Also here for the Labor Day weekend hunt was Rich Warner and his family. Rich was lucky enough to get a shot at this hog:

Stay tuned for results of our doe season opening weekend - September 19th!

Raindrops keep falling on the Lodge....

Tropical Storm Fay has been very generous with her moisture here this week. While we appreciate the dip in temperature, ENOUGH ALREADY! The rain did pause long enough for our hunters to have some luck:

Ralph Fuller got this really nice boar on the evening of August 21. It weighed 235 pounds, which is a whopper! Great tusks also.

Clayton Colston (GA) got his very first buck last night while sitting with his father, Wendell. Now both of Wendell's sons have gotten their first bucks here at Red Bluff!

Mitchell Williams (NY) got his first hog last night. The piggies played hide-and-seek with us all summer (mostly hide) but have graciously come out again this deer season. An oink of thanks goes out to the hog gods.

The Watson family (FL) pose here with Tyler's spike, taken last night also.

This morning, Hank Williams (NY) got this nice hog:

It weighed 140 pounds, and had a nice set of tusks as well. Looks like the rain has slacked up a bit, so let's get back in the woods.....

Opening Weekend Wrapup

Now that Monday is here and the dust has cleared, we thought we'd put out a little rundown of the season so far. Since the opening hunt on Friday evening, our hunters have taken 35 shots, for a total of 20 animals; 13 deer and 7 hogs. Now we've got a few days of rest before we get another big group in on Friday.

Here are some photo highlights:

Jack, Melissa and Matthew Morgan pose here with Matthew's first deer, a nice 8-point velvet buck. It had a 12.25" spread. Melissa also scored with this spike on the same morning hunt from another stand. Maybe if Jack hadn't slept in, he could have helped the Morgan family to a trifecta!

Amanda Perryman (FL) got blessed by the deer gods with this nice 10-point on August 16th. She was hunting in a stand very close to the lodge - a favorite with our kids because they can ride to it on the golf cart and because it overlooks a pond that frequently houses an alligator or two. Ashley (our 10 year old) acted as Amanda's guide Saturday night and was thrilled when she heard her shot. We had to persuade her to wait for nightfall before going to pick her up. In this picture Amanda is joined by her brother Andrew. Bet the DZ girls back at University of Florida will get a kick out of this!

Andy Crumpton (SC) scored with this 4-point during the morning hunt on Sunday. For a look at more animals taken by our hunter, check out our photo albums in the sidebar on this page. Click on 2008 deer harvest or 2008 hog harvest.

Happy Hunting!

First Night Fun

As always, we had great fun on our opening night. Our hunters were lucky enough to get shots at both hogs and deer. Here are some of the highlights:

Bob Straup (SC) got this nice 7 point, and also scored a double by taking a hog:

Apparently, the luck was with the fathers last night, as you can see below:

Al Rapp (NY) poses here with his son, Jacob. They came down for an early season hunt before Coach Al's football season starts.

Leroy Cockrell (SC) came for a hunt with his son-in-law, Jason, and was lucky enough to take his first ever hog!

After a strenuous night's hunt, there is nothing better than a little nap - ably illustrated here:

Hopefully, he'll wake rested and refreshed - ready for another hunt!

Kickin' Back with a Pork Slap!

Our new favorite brand of beer - Pork Slap - brought a father/daughter duo some luck on their March hunt. (Note: Pork Slap is brewed by Butternuts Beer and Ale, New York)

Donna Waliky shows us her hog secret - if you look closely, you can see the little pink piggies doing double high fives on the can. She got this hog on the evening of March 6th.

Here are Donna and her father, Dick, with a hog taken on March 3rd.

We also had a corporate group here that night - Bolivia Lumber Company - that had some luck:

Fred Garner got this great hog on March 6th - he always has great luck with us!

Rounding out the evening, Reed Garner got this coyote while hunting down along the river.