Looking Through the Lens at Realtree’s Early Days

Return with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. Realtree camo was new, ball caps were full-crowned, Realtree Outdoors aired on TNN, Realtree’s Monster Bucks video series was in its infancy, and my old friend Bill Jordan’s hair really was naturally dark brown. And my beard and hair were still red.

When I first saw Realtree camo, I was a professional wildlife biologist who had grown up hunting whitetails and specialized in white-tailed deer research and management. I wanted to learn more. At the time, I was on staff with several outdoors and hunting publications as a whitetail columnist and hunting editor. And I had launched my wildlife consulting company about the same time Bill designed and developed Realtree camo. Our paths seemed to be intertwined thereafter.

GEORGIA MEMORIES

When Bill started taking writers on hunts in Georgia to publicize and promote his new camo, I received an invitation. Interestingly, I had grown up essentially between Columbus, Texas, and LaGrange, Texas, on FM 109. Arriving in camp, I quickly realized we were between Columbus, Georgia, and LaGrange, Georgia, on Road 109. It had to be fate. I figured there had to be more to me being there than simply coincidence.

I did not take a deer during that first Realtree hunt, but I spent time with Bill and David Blanton, who filmed for Bill. We told hunting stories and just visited. I quickly realized both were men of integrity and great character.

The next year, I returned to Georgia for another Realtree writer hunt and shot a nice 8-point with a T/C Contender handgun. On that hunt, I became fascinated by the many color phases of the local fox squirrels. I also learned that Eastern coyotes loved doe-in-heat scent, which had I applied to cotton balls and put in plastic 35mm film canisters. A coyote appeared, and searched out and ate every one of the scent-laden canisters I had put out, including one he had to climb up a ladder to reach. Realtree might still have footage of that.

During early hunts in Georgia, Bill, David and I spent considerable time talking about hunting in Texas. I soon got the Realtree crew an invitation to hunt the 40,000-acre Encinitas Ranch in deep southern Texas. I oversaw the ranch’s wildlife management program and got Bill Whitfield to take over the ranch’s hunting program. With my assistance, Whitfield set up many hunts for Bill, David and their guests on several iconic and soon-to-be-famous Texas properties, including the Timmons, Perlitz and Encinitas ranches.

OFF TO TEXAS

The first year on the Encinitas was a blast, hunting with Bill, David, and several writers and buyers. Writers who attended those early Realtree hunts were a who’s-who of outdoors journalists.

Realtree soon started filming popular hunting videos and television shows, and I was invited to assist with some of those projects. During most hunts, David was my cameraman. That was before Michael Waddell started working for Realtree. When Michael came onboard, he was often my cameraman.

Many of the Realtree’s early filmed hunts took place on the Encinitas Ranch in Texas.

During the first hunt on the Encinitas, hunters took several nice bucks. David and I rattled in and filmed many. Interestingly, Bud Walton, of Walmart fame, had leased the quail hunting on the Encinitas. It seemed that regardless of where Bill hunted on the expansive 40,000-acre ranch, Bud would show up at the same area, release his bird dogs and start hunting quail. Partly because of the large volume of Realtree camo he sold to Walmart, Bill would do nothing more than wave to Bud and smile! That pattern repeated itself many times.

The third year at the Encinitas, Bill used a full-body whitetail doe decoy and wanted to outfit it with movement. He fastened the tail from a recently killed doe to the decoy’s backside. Using a fishing rod and reel, he attached monofilament line to the tail. When a buck entered the field, Bill could wiggle the rod and make the decoy’s tail move. He further doused the decoy in doe-in-heat scent and set it up 40 yards from his hide.

Bill not been sitting very long when an amorous buck appeared and spotted the doe decoy. Bill wagged the fishing rod to wiggle the decoy’s tail. The buck strode toward the fake. When the deer sidled up to the decoy, however, he got tangled in the monofilament. The fight was on. Thankfully, the buck broke the line before Bill got him reeled in.

FLYING OBJECTS

The Encinitas Ranch held thousands of Rio Grande turkeys. I knew of several roosts on the ranch that had well more than 500 birds. To say spring turkey hunting there was second to none was an understatement. Come Texas’ spring turkey season, Bill and the Realtree crew would show up, ready to hunt.

During one hunt, I was paired with Michael. We let the other hunters in camp go wherever the guides decided to take them. Then Michael and I headed to an area where I had seen a couple of extremely long-bearded toms, in the distant southeastern corner of the ranch.

We settled in, Michael doing the calling. I chambered a No. 5 shotshell into my new turkey shotgun. Several gobblers responded and started our way. I was certain a gobbler with an extremely long beard — approaching 14 inches — was coming. Michael moved and set up farther behind me, where he could get the approaching gobbler and me in the same frame.

Soon, the long-bearded gobbler walked out of the brush in full strut, spitting and drumming, his iridescence flaming. Beautiful. I remained motionless. The gobbler put on a tremendous show for the camera. Then Michael started purring, which he had said beforehand was the signal to shoot.

When the gobbler turned its tail toward me, I cautiously pushed the safety to fire. Then as he pirouetted, exposing his head and neck, I pulled the trigger.

Nothing. Not even a click. The gobbler again turned its tail toward me. As quietly as possible, I ejected the shell and replaced it with a fresh round. Again, I aimed at the gobbler’s neck and pulled the trigger. Nothing. I repeated that again without being detected when the turkey faced away. I squeezed the trigger a third time. Again, nothing.

Then I ejected the shell, left the action open, grabbed the shotgun like a baseball bat and threw it at the gobbler, almost hitting him. Michael started laughing. Finally, the gobbler decided something was wrong and departed.

I turned toward Michael, who was lying on his back, hooting with laugher. When he slowed a bit, he said, “Well, I’ll give you this. You did almost hit him with the shotgun.”

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OLD CALICO

Also during that hunt, David was filming Bill on another part of the ranch; a huge pasture with a bad-tempered calico Beefmaster bull. That pasture also held a lot of turkeys. David and Bill knew about the bull and had been warned that they should immediately run to a vehicle or crawl up a tree if the bull showed up. Failing to do so would result in personal injury.

Bill and David were working a gobbler, which was coming their way. Just then, David looked to the far left. The calico bull was running toward them at top speed. “Bill, calico bull!” David hollered as he took off running toward the nearest and tallest mesquite tree. I’m not sure who got to the tree first, but Bill climbed higher than David.

The bull circled the tree. Then, Bill realized they had left the camera and tripod where the bull could destroy both. The calico bellowed and pawed the ground, sending dirt all over the camera and tripod.

Bill said, “David, you need to go get the camera before the bull decides to stomp it into the ground.” David replied, “Bill, that’s not my camera, it’s yours. You want the camera, you go get it.”

No amount of urging could get David out of the tree. And Bill had no desire to leave, either.

Luckily, the ranch owner and I happened to drive through that pasture, and we spotted David and Bill in the top reaches of the mesquite tree. We drove their way and chased the bull away. Thankfully, the bull had cared more about keeping the duo treed than destroying tripod and camera.

Ah, the early Realtree memories.

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