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Inventors an Endangered Species
Years ago when we formed A-Way Hunting Products our whole product line consisted of just a few turkey calls until we invented a new type of deer call, The BOWGRUNTER. During these early learning years we discovered very few of the major box store chains were interested in a one product company, but after adding two more of our own inventions, SCENT WEB and TURKEY WRAPS to our product line we were finally noticed by these same chain stores. We began to see large orders from them for our products. The learning curve here was that it was almost impossible for an inventor with one product, or even a small company, to gain interest from chain stores.
It would get worse, and it didn’t bode well for either. Now flash forward to the turmoil in today’s hunting market where big box store mergers and acquisitions by outside investors of non- hunting type companies have effectively squeezed out small companies, and thus inventors. They choose instead, to “One stop shop” from only the biggest suppliers. It was because of these negative factors that we decided to form a new company, “A-Way Outdoors Invention Consulting and Submissions”. Knowing the intricate workings of the system and many of the brand managers, we knew that we could help inventors, and the key to our success was tied to the brand managers, who would be under pressure from investors to produce new products. Becoming the liaison between these Brand Managers and our inventors everyone would benefit, and that’s exactly what happened after I had written an article for a major national magazine about our new company. A few sentences in that article caught everyone’s attention, “After 27 years in this industry, who don’t we know and who doesn’t know of us?” This statement ignited a firestorm of interest from both brand managers and potential inventors alike. In this past year alone we have closed deals for our inventors worth several hundred thousand dollars, and have two huge offers on the table today awaiting acceptance from our inventors.
We and our inventors had filled a niche in an industry that was desperately lacking. Click here for more info https://awayhunting.com/invention-consulting/
NOW AVAILABLE SYNTHETIC AND REAL URINE SCENTS
DESIRE and SMART SCRAPE (made from REAL doe urines) are now available made only with SYNTHETICS.
All deer urines ARE created equal, despite claims made by marketers. Most companies in this industry probably buy the urine from the same supplier. None have responded to the many complaints from deer hunters about deer urine freezing in cold weather and becoming ineffective at critical times. A-Way Hunting Products has solved this problem by creating new proprietary technology that has secret ingredients which not only heightens a buck’s sense of curiosity but, directly resolves the freezing problem. Our urines are from certified CWD negative farms.
“Path of Least Resistance Leads to Success”
Last year we noticed a dramatic drop in buck sightings at one of our most productive blind locations. Three of my grandchildren hunt from Shadow Hunter blinds mounted on 8′ platforms so of course these blinds are not easily relocated. The problem? One of our most productive blinds which had produced several big bucks over the last few years became less productive when for no apparent reason the deer totally changed their travel pattern? In the past the deer used to cross in front of this blind for a short cut to one of our Imperial Whitetail Clover food plots. Alarmingly, the deer began to follow the trail for another 100 yards further before crossing over into the food plot. This would have been no problem for a gun hunter, but all three blinds happened to be situated in our “bow only zones”. Our first thought was to use obstructions to alter the deer’s travel route, but soon learned this tactic was unmanageable due to the unusual structure of the land. Now that our deer season was over we had plenty of time to figure out a solution. When we visited this farm in March to frost seed one of our clover fields there was enough snow on the ground to reveal that the deer were still using the far run. It was now apparent that the deer had no intentions of switching back without intervention from us. Although Greg and I are seminar speakers on both deer and turkey, and travel the country giving seminars, we don’t always have all of the answers. But we are humble enough to seek out professionals who do have the answers, such as wildlife biologists when questioning deer or turkey behavior, or in this instance we called on Steve Scott of the Whitetail Institute for his expertise because part of our plan called for a variety of fall plantings. We did know that deer can be very lazy at times and will always take the path of least resistance, such as a mowed trail. We had been using this tactic for many years, successfully I may add. We even mow trails leading to our tree stands (and blinds) for quiet entry. When the time came in late summer for our fall plantings the deer runs were completely covered by 3 feet of brush and weeds, you could faintly see that the deer runs were being somewhat in use. Our first order of business was to encourage the deer to use a mowed trail (riding mower) directly from the food plot crossing in front of the blind and all the way to the trail that the deer were traveling on. We then used chain saws to cut a path through the fallen trees and removed every single branch from the trail, we believe in spoiling our deer. Last, we made a mock scrape midway between the food plot and the main deer run and hung a dripper over the scrape. Deer are curious, they heard all of the commotion and now they will come at night to investigate what we were doing and they will also be attracted to our secret scent. This secret scent is not so secret anymore because I exposed it to the many readers of this magazine and at countless seminars, but for the few who don’t know, here it is. Since deer urines are useless during this time frame what other choices does a hunter have to attract deer in what is basically summer, you really don’t have a choice, so we invented a formulation, mix 1 cup ammonia, 1 cup kosher salt, and ¼ cup husk fiber (husk fiber could be found in the pharmacy section in WalMart, get their brand) in a gallon jug and fill with water. It makes gallons for about $10.00. Use a sprayer to spray either on a real scrape or a mock scrape along with the licking branch for your initial contact. Once the deer have responded position a dripper above the scrape, this should last for a few weeks before it needs a refill. But by that time deer will be conditioned to use that trail. Even though deer are unable to reason as we know it, they will know a short cut when they see one. We now turned our attention to our food plot to further entice/bribe the deer with a variety of three tender food sources found in one location. Since we wanted two fall plantings in a single food plot connecting with our existing clover field Steve recommended that we plant Imperial Whitetail Oats Plus and Imperial Whitetail Winter Peas Plus. Not only did Steve tell me what works best for our situation, he also advised us how to plant the seeds since each called for a different depth. We tilled a strip 25 yards wide and about 300 yards long through our Clover field in an overlapping manner in order to benefit one of the other blinds as well. We soon discovered that our strategy worked to perfection, the deer started using the trail in front of the blind on a regular basis to reach the tender shoots. The good old days were back. Michigan’s bow season kicks in on October 1st , Greg and I would start the hunt then, but we viewed it more as a scouting tool. Of course if a big buck stepped out we would take him, but we normally don’t get serious until the pre- rut/rut time frames. That’s also the time when we begin the hunt for the grand kids. Between school sports and activities none have much free time, so we try to utilize their limited time productively. As it turned out all three of them successfully shot deer with their crossbows, and all had great opportunities at bucks. Once the grand kids returned home our hunt began in earnest. Although we own or lease several farms in three Southern Michigan Counties with all having food plots this farm seemed to be most promising as witnessed by trail cameras and sightings. Greg decided to hunt the blind that we had resurrected from the dead because of the renewed strong activity in that area, would you believe Greg shot a beautiful buck on the first evening he hunted there when the buck nonchalantly came walking down the mowed trail heading toward the food plot. I spent a few days on another farm hunting a certain nocturnal buck, but to no avail. Soon after I had to head home to drive my wife to the airport and baby sit the kids. The kids are 4 dogs, three are rescue dogs and one of them was truly a rescued dog when we virtually rescued her by the skin of her teeth, she was to be euthanized within 24 hours when I found out about her, she’s 11 years old and she wanted to live. As I moped around the house for a few days a brilliant idea came to mind, why don’t I take the kids hunting? After reviewing several cameras on the different farms I decided the best course of action was to hunt the blind Greg had shot his buck in because of the unbelievable number of deer captured on camera crossing in front of that blind, drawn in like a magnet by that fantastic food plot no doubt. It didn’t take long before I lost count after 31 deer had passed by, that’s how many deer were using that run. A movement to my right caught my eye. It was an unusual animal who at first I thought was a goat. Astonishingly the realization came to me that it was a Piebald doe, the first I have seen in the wild after more than 50 years of hunting. She was sneaking behind me, what a thrilling moment this was as I took pictures of her. All of a sudden her ears shot forward, something had her full attention. I follow her gaze with my binoculars and was shocked to see a shooter buck standing broadside directly behind my blind at no more than 30 yards away. What a historic moment this was, here was a wonder of nature and she was telling me that a buck was sneaking behind me, how’s that for luck.
Path Of Least Resistance
Greg’s Success
Piebald Doe
Fred’s Success
Fred and Greg Abbas are the owners of A-Way Hunting Products and A-Way Outdoors Invention Consulting and Submission Service.
(989) 435-3879
Whitetail Institute of North America
(800) 688-3030
Summit Outdoors, LLC
(888) 446-4868
15 Year Old Girl Shoots Big Buck”
Well, Alyssa isn’t just any 15 year old girl when it comes to deer hunting experience, she is my oldest granddaughter and has been tagging along with us ever since she could walk. In fact, her dad Greg and I often referred to her as “The human sponge”, in reference to her desire to learn everything we knew about deer hunting, and she learned well. Last year I wrote an article in the Woods-N-Waters News about a compromise I made with my three grandchildren who had a desire to deer hunt, two of them wanted us to allow them to carry their smart phones on the hunt. Truth is, there were a few big problems that Greg and I had to overcome. For instance, none had the strength yet to pull a bow with the poundage needed for an ethical kill, plus they claimed that they could sit still in a tree stand, even with their smart phones, we rather doubted that.. The solution ? We bought each one of them a 5’x5′ Shadow Hunter Crossbow blind, and put crossbows in each of their hands. This would give them the safety we worried about, while giving them the independence all teenagers believe they should have. Now they could text, play their games, and hunt, all without missing a beat. In time, as they grow older and acquire more experience and skill they then can choose the style of hunting that best suits them. All three had shot deer that year from their Shadow Hunter blinds, a proud moment for all of us. We hunt in three Southern Michigan counties, and on several different leases. Last May we took delivery of two more Shadow hunter blinds for the farms that didn’t have any blinds on them (and will be taking delivery of two more this year). We asked each of our young hunters if they were happy with their blind’s location, or if any of them wanted to change blind locations, or even to hunt on a different farm. Two of the younger ones elected to hunt their same blinds. Alyssa, with three beautiful racked bucks under her belt elected to try a different farm. We all felt that the deer were starting to change their travel patterns in her area and that it would be beneficial in the long run to let things cool down. This will be a smart move because things like that will happen occasionly when deer no longer feel secure traveling in certain areas, for whatever reasons. We all studied the plat maps, aerial photographs and Topographical maps of the new lease that didn’t have any blinds on it.. With the plat maps we wanted to see the exact farm’s boundary lines, the aerial photographs will show us probable bedding areas, food plots , and funnels. The topographical maps will show changes in elevations and the structure of the land, and how the big bucks are most apt to utilize these structures to their advantage in their travels. After the three of us discussed different options and suggestions, it would ultimately be Alyssa’s final decision to chose the blind’s location. As it turned out her choice was outstanding. The blind would be situated where a beautiful highly active funnel plays out to disperse the deer in many directions, thus giving the deer freedom of choice without fear of ambush.Further, behind her chosen blind’s location is a ridge with several high producing White Oak trees and above the ridge is a 2 acre food plot planted with the Whitetail Institute’s Chicory Plus. Alyssa had actually chosen the absolutely most productive spot on the whole farm. Here’s why, not only did this spot allow the deer unobstructive travels to their nearby bedding areas, it gave them freedom of unobstructive movement to a variety of constant food sources as well, but wisely and most importantly Alyssa, weather knowlingly or not used the funnel to it’s fullest potential. The vast majority of experienced deer hunters, and I mean professional hunters as well, would mistakenly have chosen a pinch point somewhere in the funnel to hunt. That may work for a year or two on big bucks, but at some point the word will get out. I asked Alyssa why she had chosen this particular spot? Her response was spot on, “because they have everything they need here”, meaning what drew the deer to this particular area will continue to do so for many years to come. We placed her new Shadow Hunter blind exactly where she wanted it. The rut was nearing and the chase phase was in full swing. Greg and Alyssa had sprayed “She Heat” on several deer runs and mock scrapes to hopefully stop a buck in shooting range. A lone doe walked up to one of the scrapes,seemingly mesmerized by it, her tail twitching rapidly back and forth. Of course that got Greg and Alyssa’s full attention when all of a sudden Alyssa spotted the big buck comming out of the funnel, and he was making a beeline straight for the doe. But before anyone could react the buck chased the doe completly out of sight. Crestfallen, Alyssa turning to her Dad could only say, “wow”, when miraculously the doe having made a full circle was returning to the spot and the buck wasn’t too far behind her. This time Alyssa had her crossbow out the window and was ready. As soon as the buck came into range Greg grunted to stop him, and the rest is history.
NEW Deadly Tactic…Cluster Scrapes and Scent Confusion
New Deadly Tactic… “Cluster Scrapes and Scent Confusion”
By Fred Abbas
Out of all of our deer hunting tactics nothing has performed so consistently as mock scrapes, they have proven to be our single most productive tactic year in and year out. Consider this, mock scrapes are absolutely the only means a hunter has in which to communicate directly with a buck. How else can you personally ask a buck a question, and get an answer? Scrapes and licking branches are simply a form of communication between deer and bucks are capable of using them the year round, and they do. Once a mock scrape has been opened and expanded every single visiting buck will tell you exactly which trail he is using to get to the scrapes, he will tell you how big he is by the size of the tracks he leaves behind, and he will also tell you how heavy he is by how deep he sinks into the earth, he will even tell you exactly where his secret bedding area is located.Who better to ask a question than to one posed directly to a buck himself, and get an unbiased truthful answer, and you will get an answer. All of our mock scrapes on each of our farms start out small, about 10” around and we apply as many as 10 on each farm starting as early as a month before the season opens, even sooner on new leases. By starting our scrapes so early it offers us the opportunity to learn many things about a buck, and at the same time we are actually conditioning him into a habit that may cost him later on. Since there are very few useful deer attractants to choose from during this early time frame we had to actually invent our own knowing that deer urine’s are totally meaningless in late summer and early fall. Recently we changed our original formulation when we discovered one that seemed to be more appealing to deer, and yes, I will divulge this new formulation at my seminars as well. Once you begin a scrape and the deer expand it you should continue applying scent (usually about once per week )until either the hunt ends or the season ends. That may require gallons of scent and is one of the main reasons why we had to invent our own. The different ingredients for this formulation can be purchased at Walt Marts for about $10.00 and you will be able to make many gallons of scent at home. Within one week you will know if a particular scrape is worthy of your time. Notice how a buck can communicate with you, if a scrape receives no activity the buck has spoken, he said (through my interpretation), I don’t like the area you chose and I won’t be back. If the scrape expands the buck is talking to you again and telling you that he likes this spot and WILL return. Eventually every single scrape that continues to expand will become a full blown scrape where the messages between deer begin to flow via urine’s, gland secretions, and saliva onto the licking branches and into the scrapes, especially during the pre- rut/rut time frame. Once the process of local buck participation escalates bucks from the surrounding farms will be drawn to these scrapes to add their opinions as well.. A very busy and exciting time for all, bucks and hunters alike.. Despite the bucks answering all of our questions over time they are unable to tell us about their true antler size. Now is the time to find out who is who by setting out our trail cameras before we place our stands. Up to this point the only thing that we really had no control over was when a buck would visit a scrape, if he’s coming at night, which is usually the case, it does a hunter very little good. Witness the many trail camera pictures posted by hunters, the vast majority are taken at night. If ever there was a problem needing a solution, it was this one, and we intended to do something about it. We needed to find a way to neutralize and then exploit this type of situation, it was a big problem for all deer hunters who use deer attractant scents. As inventors we firmly believe that there is a solution to every problem. In our search seeking a solution the first thing we looked into was a deer’s life cycle, which revolves around food, water, safety, and reproduction for answers, and found nothing there that could offer us a solution for that particular problem. We then looked into every hunting tactic that we had used to exploit one weakness or another of a buck’s that worked for us over the years. Finally one old tactic virtually jumped right out at us, CURIOSITY, we knew immediately that we were on to something that may draw a nocturnal buck into a scrape during day light. In the past we had used curiosity successfully many times in other situations, and we even considered it to be a buck’s weakness that was exploitable. We knew that we needed to invent something extraordinary, and after much trial and error we did, when we developed and patented the world’s strongest deer attractant scents, “She Heat” and “She-Duction” along with them being so powerful that they are able to last several days on site through rain or snow without the hunter having to return to refreshen the scrape. The stronger the scent, the stronger the attraction. We even removed the often fatal hunter self-contamination factor by removing the need to handle cotton balls and other scent hanging devices. The theory behind the theory was that by creating such powerful scents a nocturnal buck, or any buck for that matter, would more than likely keep visiting the scrape which in turn could lead him into making a mistake by lingering too long on site and getting caught in day light. Truthfully speaking, no matter how skillful the hunter, he will never shoot a trophy size buck unless the buck himself makes a mistake. It seemed like a sound idea and it did have strong merit, but we felt that the usual scent application on a single scrape probably wouldn’t be enough to arouse a nocturnal buck’s sense of curiosity high enough to do what we wanted him to do. We needed to find a way to draw a much higher level of curiosity out of a buck and basically confuse him enough as to keep him in the area longer. The idea of cluster scrapes was born, and now we just needed to find the right buck to test it on. As the bow season progressed we were seeing a lot of different bucks, some really nice bucks too, all coming into the scrape areas. Just before the rut I rotated on to one of our newer leases in Jackson County. We knew that there were a couple of dandy bucks on this farm, we even captured a few night pictures of them working our scrapes. The first scrape I visited astounded me by the buck’s sheer aggressive nature, he delivered a strong message to all by destroying big branches on a bush and a tree, pawing dirt everywhere, followed by him working my scrape and then him making a new scrape mere feet away from my scrape, a rather strong territorial message. We had pulled our cameras prior to this time but knew that this buck had to be a big one by the damaging signs that he left behind. His strong message plainly stated that he was the dominant boss buck around here and that he would hang around for any challengers, and I totally believed him. Since the rut was right around the corner my fear was that he would be drawn out of the area by some hot doe. Now would be the time to try our “cluster scrapes” theory in an attempt to force this nocturnal buck to make the mistake I needed. My answer to him came in the form of multiple mock scrapes surrounding his scrape. I used DIFFERENT powerful scents in each of the scrapes to confuse him and to heighten his sense of curiosity much beyond normal in an effort to stall his return to his bedding area until after daylight. His challenge had been answered, now it was his move. Most hunters make a critical mistake by using a single scent throughout the season not realizing that it is purely curiosity that draws a buck in the majority of cases and one scent rarely keeps his interest for long. I then back tracked his tracks showing the trail that the buck used to get to the scrape and the same trail he used to return. I set my stand at an interception point down the trail about 75 yards away from the scrapes. The very next morning just before day break I could see a huge form working the scrapes and grunting softly, he spent considerable time at each scrape, going from one scrape to the other, never once did he lift his head to look around. It was most gratifying to witness the intensity of his concentration while he attempted to decipher the messages in each scrape, especially since he had just put his seal of approval on an untested new tactic. This buck was doing exactly what I had hoped he would do… he was following a script that I had written. Unwittingly he had allowed daylight to creep in on him. He had a big wide and high rack, but what really grabbed my attention was his perfectly matching brow tines, they must have been at least a foot long. I was having trouble controlling my breathing and my heart wasn’t doing much better. In an effort to gain control I looked away from the buck, when I looked back I was astounded to discover that he was in the center of my shooting lane sniffing the scent (She Heat) that I had put there to stop him exactly where I wanted him to stop. I couldn’t believe what had just happened, then when reality set in my hunting instinct took over. The buck was now standing broadside to me, his attention totally riveted on the scent, I slowly drew my Mathews bow aiming right behind the shoulder and released. I clearly saw the arrow slice through the big buck with a double lung shot. Soon after, the hunt turned into a family affair once word got out via radio. Both granddaughters, Alyssa and Kaitlyn took up the blood trail while my son Greg and I and my brother Allie climbed to higher ground to scan for the buck with binoculars. We spotted the downed buck about 75 yards in front of the girls who were painstakingly following the specks of blood, one drop at a time. Their concentration was so amazing that neither noticed that the buck was directly in front of Kaitlyn. We could see she was about to trip over the buck if she didn’t look up. We had to laugh when a few seconds later Kaitlyn finally discovered the buck was mere inches in front of her, she screamed so loud we imagined every buck in the country ran for the border…. She had found my buck. We followed the jubilant girls to the fallen buck. It was a great ending to a thrilling hunt of a majestic animal that would leave our family with a lifetime of cherished memories, what more could one ask for.
Editor
Fred and Greg turned a love of hunting into a successful business with their inventive minds forming A-Way Hunting Products and A-Way Outdoors television. In an effort to give something back to the hunting community they have created a new business, “Invention Consulting” where they are able to help struggling inventors reach their dreams without falling into the usual money pitfalls along with avoiding the high costs of doing business with mold makers and manufacturers in a very competitive industry. This highly knowledgeable duo will thoroughly walk you through the whole process from A to Z.
If you’re a new or a diehard deer hunter looking for fresh ideas and new tactics, you don’t want to miss Fred’s highly informative seminar.
A-Way Hunting Products
(989) 435-3879
Whitetail institute
(800) 688-3030
Crossbows, Blinds, and Grandchildren
By Fred Abbas
There was a time for many years when I was infatuated with big bucks. My son Greg and I probably hunted every big buck state in the country over the past 15 years. But we never bothered to register or measure any of our out of state trophy bucks in Pope & Young or Boone & Crockett, or any other record books. Nor did we write stories about them. Not so with our Michigan bucks though, we absolutely cherish our hunts here. We registered every Michigan trophy buck in Commemorative Bucks of Michigan… here’s why. Michigan is not known for big bucks, nor will Michigan ever be a destination for out of state trophy hunters, like say, Ohio, Kansas, Illinois, or Iowa, to name a few states. In Michigan big bucks are few and far between, and are extremely hard to locate and even harder yet to hunt, but that’s exactly why we love hunting Michigan, big bucks here are truly an enjoyable challenge. Each year we receive countless invitations from Michigan land owners to hunt their private grounds and farms, some big and some small parcels, these offers are almost always accompanied by trail camera pictures of big bucks. Some of these offers even come with detailed maps of the buck’s movements, every single one of the land owners invariably wants to share their knowledge of the buck’s whereabouts with us . We respectfully decline all invitations simply because to us the challenge of locating the buck and the enjoyment of the hunt would have been compromised, and besides, while we appreciate the offers we really don’t need, or encourage outside help. As the grandchildren started to show interest in hunting my mind set totally changed. Now instead of hunting alone on different farms and harboring long held secret tactics I now find joy in teaching them. No, I’m not giving up hunting big bucks, I’m just hunting them less. The two granddaughters are 14 years old. Kaitlyn, (my brother Allie’s granddaughter) has a little hunting experience and Alyssa (Greg’s daughter) has vast experience because she has been tagging along with us since she was a child. Her capacity to learn is boundless, so far she has taken 4 bucks. Michael who is 12 years old (my youngest son Freddy’s son), also has been tagging along with us for years, but this would be his first hunt. None of the kids hunt with a bow because none of them could pull the poundage needed for an ethical kill. Lucky for them though, It just so happened that Horton had sent us three crossbows and they were still in their boxes gathering dust in our store room. Greg and I have been sponsored by Mathews for many years and neither of us had any experience with a crossbow at the time. When we sighted them in for the kids we were extremely impressed by their accuracy. Ironically when we saw the growing popularity of crossbows, especially with rifle hunters we actually invented the “Dual Grunter” deer call because of them. In time and much practice we felt confidant that the kids were ready for the hunt. Like most kids today, they all have smart phones which of course takes up the majority of their time, playing games, texting, and such. We knew that this could pose a problem in a tree stand for the inexperienced. It was a dilemma that needed to be dealt with. Probably ( almost) every hunter under 50 spends time using their smart phones while in their tree stands, but the older hunters are much more disciplined and were more apt to maintain their focus on the hunt while multi- tasking. Rather than offering the kids an ultimatum banning smart phones on the hunt we offered them a compromise, just as the Michigan DNR had to do when they realized that today’s youth were losing interest in hunting in general, especially deer hunting , and wisely relented by lowering the age for hunting and allowing the use of crossbows. Our solution ? We bought each one, made in Michigan, Shadow Hunter blinds. We now felt secure that they could stay safe, be comfortable, and gain their independence if they wished to hunt alone, and still play their games on their smart phones, and whatever else they do with them.. As they grow older and acquire more experience and skill they then can choose the style of hunting that best suits them. During our out of state business travels we began to notice that more and more hunters in the Midwest and Northeast were trending toward blind hunting and it has created a host of companies now building blinds, but none could compare in quality to the Shadow Hunter blind. Shadow Hunter ( Summit Outdoors) produces several different style blinds but our choice was the 5′ x 5′ Crossbow blinds. Greg and I absolutely love these 100% maintenance free blinds. Since these blinds are designed to be more or less stationary, we carefully set each blind out months before the season to give deer time to get used to them. Notice the strategic location of each blind. One blind was positioned between a huge bedding area and a large food plot planted with Imperial Whitetail Clover, (we can’t say enough about the amazing drawing power of this particular clover, and it lasts for up to 5 years). The second blind was positioned near a cluster of white Oak trees and a small isolated food plot planted with the Whitetail Institute’s Chicory Plus which includes Whitetail clover. The third blind was situated near a well used river crossing, just below a ridge topped with acorns, along with another small food plot planted with Alfa-Rack, which has a mixture of Forage Chicory. The common denominator in all three locations are the variety of food sources, which gives each blind equal opportunities. Deer are like people, they have different personalities and they have different food preferences. But they all have one thing in common, all deer love a variety of foods. By giving them choices the deer will rotate from one food source to another. It wasn’t only the deer who rotated, the kids did as well. If one were to become successful then another has their choice to hunt that blind’s location. They also have a choice to shoot a doe (without fawns), or a buck. Like most school age kids their hunting time is severely limited, especially since all three are involved in after school sports. Alyssa is also involved in horse racing competitions which further afforded her even less time for hunting. Because of these limitations Greg and I would do the scouting for them, but that would be the extent of our involvement. All three were taught shot placement, the importance of wind direction, how to, and when to use deer calls and deer attractant scents, along with using range finders, even setting out yardage markers. They were given the opportunity to use their own skills once the hunt started, and they were given a choice if they wanted someone to hunt with them. Wisely, all three choose to have a parent or grand parent to hunt with them. Since Alyssa had seniority, she had the hottest blind location, and it didn’t disappoint her. Even before day light Greg and Alyssa could see the outlines of deer parading from the food plot toward the bedding area, all of them having to pass in front of the blind. As shooting light rapidly approached they could see a nice racked buck making his way from the food plot, he was using a trail that would put him on her 30 yard marker. Earlier Alyssa had sprayed “She-Duction” on each of the deer runs in hopes of stopping deer exactly where it would give her the best shot, and that’s exactly what happened. The moment the buck hit the scent line it was as though Alyssa was reeling him in. The buck ended up over the scent with his head down sniffing the powerful scent while standing perfectly broadside, totally oblivious of his surroundings. Greg whispered to Alyssa, asking her which cross-hairs are you using? She whispered, the second one, it was her 30 yard pin. Moments later I got the call that I was hoping for, Greg said Alyssa hit a nice buck, it won’t go far, come on over. Believe it or not, this blind is only 75 yards from our camp and I was there to congratulate her in mere minutes. I was thrilled to witness this success two more times before this amazing day was over. At lunch Kaitlyn drew the longer straw and despite seeing numerous deer at her blind, (but out of range) she chose to hunt Alyssa’s blind for the evening hunt, and she wasn’t particular what she shot for her first deer. Barely one hour into the evening hunt Freddy radioed that Michael had shot his first deer and it was a nice buck, and that they would stay in the blind until after the evening hunt. Just before dusk Kaitlyn spotted a big doe coming out of the bedding area traveling down the exact 30 yard trail that Alyssa’s buck had taken and astonishingly the doe stopped to sniff the scent that Alyssa had sprayed there in the morning. I soon got the call from my brother Allie, ( who was more excited than Kaitlyn) that Kaitlyn had shot her first deer, a doe. This worked out perfectly, now I could take the quad and pick up both deer at one time. After all the hugs and congratulations, the elation came to a screeching halt when the kids were each handed a knife. Truly a day that will live on in their memories forever, and ours as well.
Kaitlyn’s 1st Deer
Alyssa’s 4th Buck
Michael’s 1st Buck
Editor’s note:
Fred happens to be Michigan’s # 1 top ranking trophy hunter with 56 Michigan trophy bucks in the record books of Commemorative Bucks Of Michigan, Pope & Young, Buckmasters and Long Hunter Society. Fred also is the inventor of the famous “BowGrunter” and “Dual Grunter” deer calls, along with “Scent Web”the worlds most powerful deer attractant scents. Fred and Greg are joint owners of A-Way Hunting Products and A-way Outdoors Invention Consulting, and are long time contributors to Woods-N-Waters New
A-Way Hunting Products Shadow Hunter Blinds
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Fred’s 2013 Bow Buck
We were aware of this buck for about 3 weeks. He had been working one of our mock scrapes (She Heat). About a week and a half ago I had an 8 pointer come into the scrape and a few minutes later a bigger 9 pointer came in with ears laid back shuffling side ways in an effort to intimidate the smaller buck, I had no intentions of shooting either buck, and possibly blow my chances with the 12 pointer. The smaller buck yielded but didn’t want to leave, both deer stood in the bushes about 15 yards from the scrape. All of a sudden both bucks came to full attention, I followed their gaze, it was the big buck and he was coming right toward me with little caution. I felt so confidant that I would get a shot that I took a picture of him. The big buck winded the other two bucks and immediately gave chase. There went my buck, it was only 3:15 PM. Greg and his daughter Alyssa came down to the camp a few days later after getting my report for Alyssa’s hunt.. Greg and Alyssa would hunt the scrape stand, I decided to hunt a different stand on the edge of one of our food plots planted with Imperial Whitetail clover because there was a lot of doe activity here. As fate would have it I didn’t have long to wait, I spotted several does feeding toward me and a few minutes later I spotted the big buck following the does at a distance. The does angled perfectly in front of me at 30 yards, the big buck took the same angle. I ranged him at 37 yards then drew my bow, aimed, and let loose. I clearly saw the arrow slice through him and could see heavy bleeding as he ran. Ironically the buck had staged 80 yards in front of Greg and Alyssa’s stand for at least 25 minutes before he decided to follow the does into the clover field. Greg and Alyssa witnessed the whole scene. Once word got out via radio it turned into a family affair, Greg and Alyssa came over to help track, then my brother Allie and his granddaughter Caitlyn came over and we all went tracking. Had I not seen the hit I would have felt very uncomfortable with the sparse drops of blood that we were finding. Experience told me this this buck was running all out until he died some 200 yards from the point of impact, thus the reason for the small blood drops. As I followed the blood drops everyone else was scanning the woods ahead for a body, and that’s exactly what happened when Greg said there he is just before Caitlyn did. Everybody in our family who was there that day played some type of roll during this hunt and recovery of such a beautiful animal, making lasting memories for all of us.
A Solution to Every Bow Hunter’s Problem
By Fred Abbas
When we set about inventing hunting aides, especially for deer hunters, we looked at the weaknesses of the prey vs the weaknesses of the hunter. In the case of a bow hunter we wanted to eliminate the probable mistakes the hunter is most apt to make under certain conditions, and that included us as well, in which he or she had no control. Then we focused on a deer’s sense of curiosity along with his social structure and viewed these as weaknesses that needed to be exploited. Deer are much more vocal than most hunters would believe, but for the most part they are soft and subtle 95% of the time. Back in the 70’s every deer call on the market was designed strictly for gun hunters, and unfortunately they still are today. These calls were too loud, their reeds froze when moisture got on the them in cold weather and they took a lot of air to activate them, making it hard for the hunter to control the volume, but worse they were designed only for the rut time frame with their deep and loud grunts. Being bow hunters who spent quite a bit of time afield we were hearing something quite different coming from the deer themselves, than what we were buying at the local sporting goods store. The first thing we needed to do was to duplicate that soft social grunt that we were constantly hearing, it took months to accomplish because we were working on 4 different tones, fawn, doe, buck, and dominant buck. Next we looked at the bow hunter, we knew that he would become almost helpless at the most critical stage of the hunt once both hands were on his bow, especially at full draw, of course he could always make a noise with his mouth, or whistle to stop a deer. The problem we had with that was the hunter would invariably put himself in a do or die situation, along with giving his position away, with absolutely no hope of bringing a deer into a more favorable position. We felt that a hunter could have more control over the situation, any situation, if he could control the volume needed for the changing situations. For instance, the hunter could call very softly to a deer behind a bush or tree, he would be able to create curiosity in the buck and get him to step out, or louder if needed to stop a deer. Every hunter must turn their head into the direction of their draw and that’s exactly where we mounted the call on their shoulder area. The small tube slipped into their mouth and they simply inhaled to activate the call, the call body was designed to face backwards because we discovered that deer will almost always lose both their sense of depth and height at the same time. They will look in your direction, but always on ground level as long as you never call when they are facing you. This deer call became famously known as the “Bowgrunter”, and to this day is the only 100% hands free patented social deer call in the world.
“Crossbows”
A few years ago crossbows exploded on the scene when many states began to loosen and lift the restrictions that held crossbow use in check when they realized how much revenue they were losing on declining license sales. We also realized that a healthy crossbow user was most apt to be a gun hunter who simply wanted to extend his season and had little or no experience with bow hunting. Actually 60% of all deer hunters were gun hunters, which meant that if these hunters owned a deer call it would be a hand held tube type call, and of course they would not be familiar with the “Bowgrunter” simply because of it’s name. Most of these new crossbow hunters had a problem that they probably didn’t know existed, namely by being up close and personal they couldn’t move as much as they did while gun hunting and their tube type calls were obsolete and too loud for this type situation, thus hindering their own success ratio. We viewed this as a problem that definitely needed a solution. The thought occurred to us, could we create a cross between our 100% hands free deer call such as the “Bowgrunter” into a tube type hand held deer call to be used during the gun season ? Would that call be able to cater to the needs of a bow hunter then turn around and cater to the needs of a gun hunter, which are totally different needs, basically merging two calls into one ? Mind you, this had never been done before, but that’s exactly what happened when we developed a removable mouth piece and lanyard that fit on the “Bowgrunter”, a new deer call had been born called the “Dual Grunter”. Which by the way is fast becoming our top selling deer call, especially our camo covered version .
There is a solution to every problem and if we find it you will be able to buy it! GOOD LUCK ON YOUR NEXT HUNT!!
Greg Abbas and his daughter, Alyssa, with Alyssa’s first buck.
I HAVE AN IDEA!!!
By Tracy Breen
If you are a hunter or angler, at some point in your life you have probably had an idea for a hunting or fishing-related product that you thought would sell well. Often your idea of a lifetime never becomes more than an idea. What if your product idea could make you money? What if your new game call, gun case or fishing lure could do well in the market place? You will never know unless you put your best foot forward and try to bring your idea or product to market.
Greg Abbas from A-Way Hunting Products knows a lot about bringing products to market. Greg spends his days developing and selling hunting products to box stores, pro shops and mom-and-pop retailers. He knows what it takes to bring a product from “just an idea” to the finished product and every stage along the way.
Over the past several years, Greg has helped many people bring their products to market. Greg knows how the bumps in the road discourage many people from designing and marketing their product. Greg can help you overcome the bumps in the road.
Greg offers a unique invention consulting service. He specializes in helping people who want to bring an outdoor product to market develop a game plan. He won’t likely buy your idea or make it for you, but he will help point you in the right direction and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
Do you have an idea you think could make money in the outdoor market? Look at the testimonial below. If that inspires you, give Greg Abbas a call and schedule an appointment. Greg is an inventor who specializes in bringing outdoor products to market.
“I’ve been a successful business owner for more than twenty years yet struggled for three years getting my product from concept to store shelf. I was not learning the ropes; I was trying to just find the ropes.
One evening while enjoying the A-Way Hunting Television Show, I saw Greg’s invention consulting commercial and jotted down the telephone number. It sat on my desk for months while I continued to waste time and money.
Before finally deciding to contact Greg, I had the luxury of calling a few friends from the outdoor industry. I was pleased to learn of Greg’s outstanding reputation among his peers. I was amazed to learn his consult fee was among the smallest fees I had spent to date. Greg took his time and explained the entire process in very plain terms from concept through manufacturing to marketing at retail. I will soon have a product launch because of Greg’s help.
Save your money looking for the ropes. Instead, contact Greg. He is an industry insider, inventor, entrepreneur, and most importantly a good Christian family man. He will guide your dream of outdoor product invention to reality.”
~ Rod Debias – Self-Inflating gun and bow cases