Great Members = Great Site!

[OneCam]

It's late Saturday night and I’m literally worn down from today’s events but I can't sleep until I pass along my thoughts.

During the first two days of the Iowa Deer Classic my memories are not of the many huge bucks that are on display (in fact I haven't spent any time downstairs at the displays). Instead my memories are filled with the many great members I've had the pleasure to visit with.

Experience, knowledge, success, ethics, conservation and great personalities are all strong key traits for members on our site. Oh I almost forgot to mention, the OBSESSION for Iowa Whitetails.

So when I so often here members commending me for doing "a great job on the site", I really should be commending you.

Thank you! Great members like you, make "OUR" site a GREAT SITE! If you are one of the many out there that have yet to register and you have these same qualities I urge you to also become a proud member of Iowawhitetail.com.

Now I can go to sleep. Look forward to seeing you at the Classic Sunday.

OneCam

 

[Old Buck]

It's early Sunday morning. I've just finished day two of the deer classic then finished up at the IBA banquet/auction. One day to go!

I've been having a great time meeting many of the Iowa Whitetailers, passing out shirts, telling and listening to stories and enjoying being a whitetail fanatic in Iowa.

I sure appreciate all Onecam and others have done to make this such a fun site.

Hope those of you who haven't made it so far can be there tomorrow (later today actually).

Old Buck

 

[moosehunter]

Got back from the Classic last night and I'm still in awe of all the nice deer taken every year in Iowa. This is still the best place to hunt whitetails hands down as far as I'm concerned.
But I take home some memories and thoughts of friends from this site that that I'll always have in the back of my mind.
OneCam, as busy as you were, taking a few minutes to talk everytime we bumped into each other. Old Buck, I don't think there was anyone that had a line of people waiting to talk to them longer than Larry (cept for Nugent). I bet everyone walked away thinking "he sure seems like a nice guy". Muddy, I enjoyed listening to your funny hunting stories friday night over a beer. Kansan, I don't know how you find all those sheds but as soon as I find one I'll let you know. IronWood, your son didn't look all that old, why is he so much taller than you? M350, Next time I make it to Lansing/New Albin area I'll make a piont to stop and see you. Waukon1, did you stand by your buck all weekend?

trper, on my way home there was an officer on 35 on the side of the road asking for help with his clinometer. He said something about a donut getting stuck.
Then there's them 2 clowns from Springfield, Headaddict and Rackgear, or something like that.

I wish I could have spent 1 more night there. I really do think you may be on to something with the clinometer. And Hatchet, what's that old saying, "you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family"

Just teasin' fellas...............
I know I left some people out but I'm doing this at work so I better get off this puter before I get busted. Anyway, a great classic and I had a great time...........

 

[ironwood]

moosehunter, I'll have you know he's adopted(not) and that's the last I want to hear about it.

This has been the best classic so far for us and the diference was all of you Iowawhitetailers that we had a chance to meet.

 

[trper]

Ditto, I to also enjoyed meeting the guys. Had a great time Fri night after the show. Larry I am sorry if I talked your ear off!!! You would have thought we would have been talking deer but instead we talked politics and the upcoming liberation of Iraq. That's what happens when your an x military brat and a staunch conservative republican. As everyone has said you really take the time to listen to everyone with such a busy schedule at the classic. Wish we would have had more time to talk to others that night but we also spent time stuffing food in our mouths. One cam thanks for all your hard work. Your a super guy!. What a fun time the last three days at the Classic and the IBA banquet. Hate to go back to work. Nice to be back home with the family. Sorry I missed you Tony if you made it over. Gobble, Gobble.

 

[bjkpharmd]

Onecam- thanks for thinking that the people here make the site great but you should accept the credit that is due. You got off your duff & created a place for us to loaf, BS, share ideas, jokes, & enjoy. Thanks for starting this site.

 

[OneCam]

I appreciate your comments. Now the Classic is over I'm already starting to plan a 2nd annual IW rendezvous to reunite the group again later this spring. I can't wait, last years rendezvous was a great time.

While we are saying our thanks I also think there are a few other individuals that deserve much of the credit for this site;

Of coarse the Founder of IW Tony Hough/TLH/Iowawhitetail - Tony started it all!
(so if there is ever a class action because of the addiction this site causes, he's your man)

We also have a great service provider in SCCI . Thanks Randy!

Last but no least I wanted to mention IAdroptine - he was literally one of our first members - Mike (our senior shed hunting consultant) has been promoting and moderating our our site from day 1. Great Job Mike!

Thanks again,
OneCam

 

[Old Buck]

So many great people to meet and talk to and so little time!

My fantasy (well one of them any way) is that it would be great to sit around a campfire after a hard days hunt and trade ideas, philosophies and stories with many of the fascinating people I had only a few minutes with this weekend.

BW, good observation. I've got a great team. They know that I'm pretty well worthless and accept that my role is to talk to hunters while they run the show. I couldn't function without them.

trpr, you didn't talk my ear off. Remember, I was the one asking all the questions. I really enjoyed hearing your perspective on the world. As a veteran I really appreciate what our law enforcement people, conservation officers, firemen, military and so on are doing to protect our rights and freedom. A lot of people put a lot on the line for this country and I fly the flag with great pride.

moosehead, thanks. That's the same thing I was thinking about most of the people I got to talk to. I hope we get to share a campfire and beverage some day.

Old Buck

 

[Shovelbuck]

Wow! Where do I start?One Cam, Thanks for just being the friendly person that you are. Camoman it was nice meeting you, too bad we didn't get to visit more. Ironwood and family, it was nice visiting with you again. Thanks for steering me in the right direction to my truck. Muddy, too bad we didn't get to visit more but maybe this spring. You seem to be a heck of a fun guy. Hatchet, it was good to meet you too. Maybe next time we meet we can discuss your family ties. What can I say about Rackaddict and Headgear? All kidding and joking aside you guys did a super job on the shirts and hats! My shirt fits great! Incase you didn't notice that's no easy task! AlkaneyGrandslam, I know I spelled that wrong. It was nice meeting you too. Buckwheat, for some reason I pictured you as being younger. M350, I didn't get a chance to meet you. I stood in front of your booth several times but you were allways busy. Maybe another time. And Old buck, You are an inspiration. Seeing your work up close instead of pics on the internet is wonderful. Thanks for the kind words and taking the time to visit a little. It will be great when friends say... look at that great painting. And I can say...Yeh, I know him! Oh I'll never forget Old Gene. When you said you knew of a good place to eat that you'd take us to I figured this will be a short trip. WRONG! Damn, guy, we could hardly keep up with you. I know I'm probably forgeting people and I'm sorry if I did. All of you made my son and I feel very welcome. I'm allready making plans for the spring get together.

 

[BW]

Sorry I did not get to meet more of you. I stopped by Old Buck's retreat and said hello and ran into Cornfed while I was there.

I have to give you folks that spend the whole weekend and attend the IBA Banquet to boot a lot of credit for perserverance.

Old Buck, watching your Gallery Team work together to see to the public's needs was very impressive. Your display stood out above the rest. And you took time to support Iowawhitetail.com as well.

It was a lot of fun just meeting and talking to the people who where there.

 

[Rackaddict]

I had a blast meeting everyone at the Classic. Let's see, if I can remember everyone. Muddy was the first one I ran into. Then Ironwood with his boys Madison B&C and T-T-TurdyPointBuck. Up we went to Old Bucks booth to drop off the t-shirts and hats and ran into Limbchicken. I Met One Cam, Shovelbuck and Old Gene, who by the way will take you on a skywalk adventure for a burger (I really thought we were gonna get mugged

) Moosehunter and CamoMan, IADroptine, Tineseeker, Allamakee Grand Slam, Woody, J 502, Buckwheat, Bowman, Arrow Flinger, oh and M350, how could I forget him, I was worn out after watching him put that blind up and down so many times!

Let's see, there was Ruddbow and Kansan, who is now my shed hunting hero. Guy's I know his secret. He has a team of trained squirrels that sniff his sheds out for him.

I met another member but now I can't remember who it was. You stopped and asked us where to get a shirt and we were down by the Lone Wolf tree stand display. Sorry I've forgotten your name, but I thought you were a real nice guy, I do remember that much! ( I think I suffered some drain bamage from the cold and wind chill out shed hunting this morning......it was "freakin' freezing Mr. Bigglesworth!"

I know there are others I met that I have forgot to mention, but I can honestly say that it was a pleasure to meet and visit with each one of you. Thanks for a fun weekend!

"Rackaddict"

 

[IAdroptine]

OneCam, what can I say. Thanks you for making this the best darn deer site of then all, keep up the good work.

IAdroptine

 

[jharrell]

Had a great time at the classic. I enjoyed meeting you all. Wish I could have met you Tony, but maybe next time. One Cam, you do a great job and I look forward to talking to you in the future.

 

[Blaster]

One Cam. Did you guys have a booth? I looked all over for it both days, and never found it. I still enjoyed Old Bucks booth, but didn't get to meet him. Maybe next time.

 

[kbgibby]

Had a chance to talk briefly with Old Buck and it was great to meet the guy behind all those wonderful images! Unfortunately, I could only spend a couple of hours there and fighting my way through the crowds, I didn't have a chance to meet anyone else ... saw a couple of shirts but the guys got swallowed up in the sea of camo!!!

While the Classic is a good show, it still takes a back seat to this site! Stopping in here is like having our own Classic, 24/7/365. Thank you OneCam and the rest who give us all a place to hang out!

Threebeards

 

[bowmaker]

We couldn't get to the Classic until Sunday morning. Had a 2 1/2 hour drive to get there by 9:00. Then we hurried in to see Stan Potts and enjoyed that quite a bit. By the time he finished we had time to look at the mounts in the hall for a few minnets and then went back in to see Alex Rutledge. My wife enjoyed him because she can relate more to turkeys because she hears them a lot in the spring. It was 12:00 by the time we got upstairs and it was so crowded that you could have passed gas and 10 guys would have gotten red faced. We did stop for a bit to talk to Old Buck and get a hat and pay for a membership. He said he had met lots of members over the last days. When we kind of got pushed away by the crowd my wife said, " boy he was a really nice guy and I really like those canvas prints." We made a complete round and I didn't see another Whitetail hat anywhere and was a little disappointed. We had to leave then so I didn't get to hear Ted Nugent, but reading some of the posts here it seems there are mixed reviews. Wheather we aggree or not I will say he believes in what he says and at least he is trying to make things better for hunters, which is a lot more than most of us are doing.

While we enjoyed the Classic there were several things that I missed. Two years ago there was a 3D shoot that was fun to watch and there was a group from IBA, I think, making bows and with a place for kids to shoot. Last year there was a Dart system set up that was fun to watch also. Some of these things may have been there this year and I just missed them. What I did see was lots of outfitters trying to sell hunts. I understand why they were there and respect that, but I would hate to see the Classic turn into just another sports show with row after row of outfitters hawking their hunts.

At the end of his talk Mr Rutledge did something I really respected. He brought all the kids up front and recognized them, and told them that they didn't have to shoot the biggest buck or the best turkey to enjoy hunting and to be successful. I know I preach about this too much but I think this is THE most important idea we can pass on to young hunters. Have fun and enjoy your hunting. I know these kids don't spend much money at these events but I think there should be activities for them. These young people are the most important thing for the future of hunting, way more important than huge Iowa bucks. Lets not loose sight of that and squeeze them out. End of serman.

Thanks to the administrators for making this a neat place to exchange views, and thanks to Old Buck for his role collecting funds to help keep it going. Good job everyone!