Hook & Barrel

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018

ROBERTSON

Family Holiday Take your seat at the Duck Dynasty dinner table

The

INVISIBLE MAN Learning the sweet science of camouflage

POW! Get to know Rob Riggle, one of the funniest men in America

NEVER BURN OUT Midland

is back in the studio and sounding better than ever

HOLIDAY Gift Guide

WIN a safari in

Africa!

Valued at $10,000!

Stand a chance of winning a hunting safari* in South Africa by entering our lucky draw competition. To be entered, all you have to do is order and make down payment for any shield, shoulder or full mount from

Taxidermy America

t u o h t i w romise p m o

c

Tel.: 832 698 9801 info@taxidermyamerica.com www.taxidermyamerica.com

between July and December 31, 2018, open to new and existing clients!

Winner to be drawn at Dallas Safari Club 2019. *Ts&Cs apply: goo.gl/6Q9jHi

*includes lodging, airport transfer to and from Port Elizabeth Airport, all meals & drinks, professional hunter, tracker & skinning facilities, trophy preparation, hunting licenses, and taxidermy of 4 trophies. The hunt will include 1x warthog, 1x wildebeest, 1x impala, 1x fallow deer.

NB: The prize does not include any international or domestic flights, cost of extra animals hunted, shipping on taxidermy, any other expenses.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

VOLUME ONE, ISSUE THREE

42 48 54

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018

THE COLONEL OF COMEDY From bootcamp to the silver screen, actor Rob Riggle's unique path to comedy powerhouse is a story like no other by robert wilonsky

BIG-DOLLAR BIRDS

The wild world of duck decoys and the people who spend megabucks to collect these unusual pieces of art by crai s. bower

ECHOES OF A NOBLE TRADITION The centuries-old traditions of Native Americans in the American Southwest by carlton stowers

GIFT GUIDE 09 HOLIDAY The perfect gifts for the modern

TRIP 32 FIELD Learn the art of guiding whitetail hunts

GOOD GRUB 18 Duck Dynasty stars invite us into their home

SKILLS 36 NEW The science behind camouflage and how one

LIBERATION 22 LIBATION Count down the 12 days of Christmas

40 Q&A Keep your beard game strong this No-shave

TUNES 24 NEW Country band Midland finds acceptance

TROPHY ROOM 60 THE SHE Outdoors spokeswoman Courtney Smith

outdoorsman and woman

in scenic Colorado by charlie smith

for the family's holiday traditions and treats by josh grimm

with these brews by shika hershel

in their humble roots by pete freedman

company looks to nature for inspiration by ajia meux

November with the Bearded Bastard by meg neal

dishes on what got her into hunting and her love of the outdoors by jacquelyne froeber

AND LEGENDS 28 MAPS Seven spots to celebrate the holidays, Bavarian-style by tyler hicks

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06 EDITOR'S NOTE

64 GREAT OUTDOORS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

John Radzwilla DIRECTOR OF SALES

Natalie Radzwilla

LOGISTICS COORDINATOR

Gary Paparella

EDITORIAL OFFICE

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CONTACT THE EDITOR editor@hookandbarrel.com

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PRESIDENT/CEO

Kimberly Ferrante GROUP PUBLISHER

Adam Pitluk

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

David Halloran COPY EDITOR

Becky Williams ABOUT MIDWEST LUXURY PUBLISHING Midwest Luxury Publishing is a full-service communications outfit made up of industry experts. We are your turnkey provider for all your communications and publishing needs.

CONTACT THE PUBLISHER

info@midwestluxurypublishing.com midwestluxurypublishing.com 972.378.4845

All material is strictly copyright protected and all rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission of the copyright holder. All prices and data are correct at the time of publication. Opinions expressed in Hook & Barrel are not necessarily those of Midwest Luxury Publishing, and Midwest Luxury Publishing does not accept responsibility for advertising content. Any images supplied are at the owner’s risk and are the property of the owner.

Printed in the USA

ON THE COVER Photographer: Kate Haus Groomer: Seana Gorlick Wardrobe: Bass Pro Shops redhead collared sweater for men charcoal/rooibos; $50 redhead authentic jeans for men dark rinse; $40

bass pro shops canada buffalo plaid cap $13

PHOTO KATE HAUS

redhead grizzly fleece jacket for men charcoal; $13

HOOKANDBARREL.COM | @HOOKANDBARRELMAG | 03

DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS ...far from the bustle of the cities, a 20,000 acre oasis exists along the fringes of the Hill Country.

The AC Ranch, 60 miles southeast of San Angelo, is the getaway destination for those seeking to connect with the outdoors without leaving behind the comforts of home. Fully furnished rooms, gourmet meals and a clubhouse like no other are just a few of the amenities that make the AC Ranch stand out from the others. Unparalleled hunting ranging from Native Whitetail to Upland Birds and Turkey to Exotics are what put the ranch in your scope. While visiting AC Ranch, don’t miss out on an array of shooting sports, including fully automatic rifles and clay pigeons. But the pièce de résistance is the 2.5 mile dirt track where guests can get behind the wheel of a trophy truck.

acranchtx.com

THE ONLY PLACE TO HUNT • SHOOT • DRIVE A TROPHY TRUCK Call 325.227.8611 to book for the 2018/2019 season

ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME DRIVING EXPERIENCE ...behind the wheel of a 500 horsepower “Baja desert racing class” trophy truck. AC Ranch and Driven Dynamic have teamed up, pushing the envelope of adventure-based “experiential” vacation destinations. Much more than just a simple low-speed off-road tour, our exclusive driving and riding experiences provide adrenaline, performance and the safety of a professional Baja desert racing trophy truck. Contact us now for limited availability.

C O N T R I B U T O R S

crai s. bower

scott chambers

pete freedman

jacquelyne froeber

Seattle-based Crai S. Bower contributes scores of articles and images annually to over 25 publications. He also adds creative direction and writes content for numerous companies and travel destinations. He is featured in "The Seattle 100 — Voices that Matter."

Scott Chambers is an illustrator from London whose hand-drawn illustrations have been used by clients including Ford, Nokia, Channel 4 and newsstand regulars GQ and Arena magazines.

A fan of physical mediums, he uses pencils, crayons and paint to produce his work.

Pete Freedman is the founder, editor and president of the online Dallas culture publication Central Track. He is a former music editor of the Dallas Observer, and his work has been published in Deadspin, LA Weekly and Spin magazine, among other major publications.

Jacquelyne Froeber is an award-winning editor and luxury-travel consultant originally from Detroit.

Her work has appeared in numerous shelter and lifestyle publications, including Coastal Living, Midwest Living and Celebrated Living magazines.

Josh Grimm, PhD, is an associate professor in the Manship School of Mass Communication at LSU, where he teaches journalism and mass communication courses. He has a master’s degree from UT Austin and a doctorate from the University of Iowa.

dr. josh grimm

kate haus

reed j. kenney

ajia meux

Reed Kenney is a Dallas-based freelance photographer with a specialty in capturing the beauty of the culinary world for local publications, including D Magazine. When not behind the camera, he can be found hanging out with his pug, Captain.

Ajia Meux is an Oakland, California, native by way of Washington, D.C. She is a freelance writer and her work has been featured in The Dallas Morning News.

She can wordsmith just about any topic, but her focus is culture writing.

dr. shika hershel

tyler hicks

Kate Haus is a Los Angeles-based photographer and has been in the field for over 10 years. She has photographed numerous celebrities, politicians and public figures for several publications, including Forbes, People, Entertainment Tonight and more.

Shika Hershel, PhD, is a freelance editor and writer based in Frisco, Texas. She previously worked as a staff reporter for Renegade magazine, where she wrote cover stories on Maya Angelou and Carlos Mencia.

Tyler Hicks is a freelance writer from Austin, Texas.

He currently resides in Dallas, where he can most likely be found reading with (or to) his four dogs or writing at the closest coffee shop.

joe murray

meg neal

charlie smith

carlton stowers

robert wilonsky

Joe Murray is a writer and editor who has won numerous awards for investigative reporting. A New York native, he has worked in Cleveland and Miami, and has traveled the globe for various newspaper and magazine stories for many international outlets.

Meg Neal is a freelance journalist and Brooklyn expat living in the Hudson Valley.

She is a contributing editor at Atlas Obscura and writes about history for Popular Mechanics. In a former life, she was managing editor of Vice’s Motherboard and Gizmodo.

Charlie Smith is a freelance writer and reporter in Fort Worth, Texas. He has written for several publications on a variety of topics, including real estate, restaurants, travel and nightlife.

In his free time, he travels extensively.

Carlton Stowers is the author of 40 books, has twice won the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Allan Poe Award in the Best Fact Crime category, and is a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame. He was a finalist in the Texas Institute of Letters’ Best First Fiction.

Robert Wilonsky is an award-winning journalist who has profiled numerous celebrities over the years.

Pass celebrity profiles have included Olivia Munn, Andy Samberg and Shaun White, among many others. He is the city columnist for The Dallas Morning News.

HOOKANDBARREL.COM | @HOOKANDBARRELMAG | 05

A

L E T T E R

F R O M

T H E

E D I T O R

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PHOTO EMMA GILBERT

Share your adventures with us by posting your memories (when you get home … ) and tag us on Instagram: @hookandbarrelmag. We may just regram your post on our page.

’Tis the Season We are staring down the barrel of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Being raised in a home where my mother began the holiday countdown on December 26th (yes, she’s that lady), the importance of family tradition was instilled in me from a very young age. From the belt-busting Thanksgiving dinner to our Polish tradition of breaking bread around the table on Christmas Eve to the heated debates after dinner with family fueled by too much eggnog (or in Mom’s case, scotch), I look forward to every moment.

We are also being greeted by the other most wonderful time of year: whitetail, turkey and duck hunting seasons. Men and women take to the woods to hunt down their trophy and oftentimes the meat for their holiday meals. Children sit in the blind to take their first deer and to carry on a tradition that they can pass down to their kids. As they sit in wait, they daydream about the gifts under the Christmas tree and warm meals with loved ones, only to be interrupted by the perfect shot. Hopefully.

In this issue of Hook & Barrel, we talk with actor Rob Riggle and discuss his time in the service and giving back to veterans. We are welcomed into the Duck Dynasty family’s home to learn about their family traditions, new and old. And we catch up with the award-winning country band, Midland, in the studio as they work

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on their new album. To top it off, what’s Christmas without a few great gifts? Check out our holiday gift guide for ideas for him, her and the kids.

The holidays are about quality time, thankfulness and celebration. This year, I am thankful for our readers, my extremely talented team of editors and photographers, the men and women who fought for our freedoms, the great outdoors that give us all so much joy, my family, my wonderful wife, and most important, the reason for the season, Jesus Christ, who was born to this earth to bless us all.

This truly is one of the most wonderful times of the year.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, y’all.

John Radzwilla editor-in-chief

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HOME PROTECTION

FIELD PROTECTION

DUAL COVERAGE STARTING AT 90

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Holiday Gift Guide The perfect gifts for the modern outdoorsman and woman

5.11 Tactical Operator Axe $160; 511tactical.com Designed exclusively with Kyle Lamb of Viking Tactics®, the VTAC® Operator Axe is the axe that gets the job done, and features a hammer pry bar, wrench, sockets, metric and standard markings and hex wrench openings.

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A KÜHL WINTER FOR HIM Stetson Crushable felt hat

Kühl Revel 1/4 zip

$84; stetson.com

$85; kuhl.com

This Stetson hat is constructed of crushable wool felt and features a pinch front crown, interior dri-lex sweatband and leather hat band.

The KÜHL REVEL™ 1/4 ZIP shown in SHALE features the remarkably soft KASHMIRA performance fleece.

Provides superior warmth, wicking, and quick-dry properties while also resisting pet hair and lint. Available in 9 colors.

Kühl Kollusion jacket $169; kuhl.com The KÜHL KOLLUSION™ JACKET shown in TEAK features a water-resistant / breathable fabric with a polyurethane coating and synthetic wax. This cotton/polyester/nylon blend provides durable yet lightweight protection for three seasons and can be layered with fleece for winter wear.

The built-in stowaway hood provides an extra layer of protection when you need it and rolls into the collar when you don't. Available in 6 colors.

Kühl Rydr pant $79; kuhl.com The KÜHL RYDR™ PANT shown in DARK ALLOY is cut from combed Cotton Euro Twill. The fabric has been slightly brushed for a softer feel, but tough durability remains. Available in 15 colors and 5 different styles.

FOR HER Stetson 6x Carson

Alexo Athletica The Signature Pant

$245; stetson.com

$99; alexoathletica.com

This fashionable Stetson hat is constructed with the quality and care you would expect from 150 years of hat making. This 6X felt hat keeps you warm and stylish. Features a luxury braided leather hat band.

Alexo leggings comfortably lift you up, suck you in and smooth you out while allowing you to carry all of your essentials in one of the nine pockets.

With three designated areas designed to hold a self defense tool of choice, from a firearm (up to 23 oz. loaded or less) to a blade, mace, taser or any other tool, you can now stay safe and stylish and carry with confidence.

Kühl Flight jacket $169; kuhl.com KÜHL FLIGHT™ JACKET shown in RAVEN features 100% premium, mid-weight Italian fleece for softness and outstanding performance. The two-toned threads add richness to this beautiful fleece. Available in 6 colors.

5.11 Tactical Blaze Wrap $30; 511tactical.com This oversized, lightweight Blaze Wrap is perfect for cooler weather. Use it to add style to your outfit or to protect your head and neck from the sun or cold winds.

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STOCKING STUFFERS Groove Life Silicon Rings

Costa Pescador Blue Mirror + side shields

$35; groovelife.com use promo code hb10 for 10% off

$269; costasunglasses.com The Costa Polarized Pescador larger sized frame will bring out the fisherman in you. Worn with or without removable side shields for more coverage, the classic styling performs on or off the water. Costa's Pescador is part of the new Untangled Collection, a line of sunglasses made from 100 percent recycled fishing nets, each featuring mineral glass polarized lenses, recycled aluminum Costa logos, PLUS foam recyclable temple and nose pads, and a unique tumbled finish. These frames are designed to be fully recyclable.

Groove Life has exclusively partnered with Kryptek to produce a ring for sportsmen and tactical enthusiasts alike. These rings are tough, lowprofile and come with an unlimited Lifetime Warranty. Offered in Kryptek Highlander, Typhon, Altitude and Raid patterns.

Costa May in Shiny Tiger Cowrie with Green Mirror 580G

The Bearded Bastard Woodsman Starter Kit $20; thebeardedbastard.com This pack will give you the tools you need to learn to take care of your beard. This awesome woodsman pack encapsulates all of your needs into one compact tin. It’s a great addition to any dopp kit or go bag.

The Bearded Bastard Woodsman Beard Balm $24; thebeardedbastard.com The Woodsman Beard Balm has all the nourishing oils you'll find in our trademark beard oil, but with natural beeswax, cocoa butter and lanolin additives to help with control.

$269; costasunglasses.com The Costa May is a medium to large fit, refined square lens shaped women's acetate frame that comes in four ocean-inspired colors. Constructed with Mazzucchelli acetate, a renewable, non-petroleum, plantbased material and features Costa's patented 580 lens technology. The sunglasses feature a custom corewire, visible inside the frame arm, with a topographical pattern.

The Bearded Bastard Woodsman Beard Oil $20; thebeardedbastard.com The original Woodsman Beard Oil is made of the finest natural ingredients for facial hair, bringing a brilliant luster to your beard and mustache.

Hardy Facepaint 3-pack facepaint $12; hardyfacepaint.com Hardy Facepaint is a ZERO grease water-based face paint that is truly smudge-proof, water and sweat resistant, easy to use and will not clog pores. It is easy to remove with no harsh scrubbing or leftover residue.

It is made in the USA using skin-safe ingredients.

Hunter's Kloak Gen 2 Kloak Mister $50; hunterskloak.com The Hunter’s Kloak Mister delivers a powerful advantage to any hunter by offering guaranteed fresh scent at timed intervals throughout the entire hunt. Whether using it with one of the Hunter’s Kloak concealment scents or luring deer, hogs or bear to your area with an attractant scent, the mister raises the odds of a successful harvest.

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5.11 Tactical Double Duty Tactical 1.0 Pen $40; 511tactical.com The Double Duty Tactical 1.0 Pen is the toughest pen on the planet. Both a premium-quality writing implement and a last-ditch defensive tool, the Double Duty Tactical 1.0 Pen is equally at home writing a note or for self-defense.

UNDER THE TREE Traxxas The Traxxas Slash $246; traxxas.com The Traxxas Slash is the ultimate radio controlled (R/C) truck. Modeled after full-scale short course race trucks, Slash brings the action home for fender-to-fender fun for the entire family. Slash is battery powered and reaches speeds over 30mph, thanks to the hightorque motor and included high-output 8.4-volt battery.

1st Defence 19" coaster w/ pet bed $85; 1stdefenceindustries.com Comfortable 19" Pet Bed that fits perfectly atop a strong and durable 19" flat plastic coaster designed to trap, monitor and immobilize crawling pests before they are able to access your pet's bed and/or your pet.

models: Mason, 10; Campbell, 8; Dusty, 2 For booking info contact info@ midwestluxurypublishing.com

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A MERRY KRYPTEK CHRISTMAS

FOR HIM

Kryptek Spartan Logo Hat shown in Highlander

Kryptek Cirius Down Vest shown in Highlander

$25; kryptek.com

$140; kryptek.com

Full Kryptek Camouflage with tonal Kryptek Spartan Logo Helmet in the front, and sewn Kryptek logo Patch on back. Available in 5 patterns.

This New Super Warm Down Vest provides backcountry hunters with a packable insulation layer for added warmth during long periods of stationary activities. These down vests use Kryptek Defender down insulation, which is specifically designed to provide lightweight, exceptional warmth even in damp conditions. They even pack into their own pocket for easy storage. Available in 2 patterns.

Kryptek Hyperion Long Sleeve Crew shown in Highlander $50; kryptek.com The Hyperion long sleeve crew “birds eye” pullover provides superior thermo regulation with extremely generous ventilation. Fast-drying and lightweight, the Hyperion is ideal for early season environments. Designed for mild-to-hot conditions. Added STEALTH SCENT CONTROL, which incorporates antimicrobial technology and moisture-wicking to reduce odors and pull sweat off the skin to help dry faster. Available in 7 patterns.

Kryptek Dalibor III Pant shown in Highlander $190; kryptek.com Versatile, practical and durable construction make the Dalibor one of Kryptek's best active-pant offerings.

Designed to be layered according to the temperature and your level of exertion, this exceptionally constructed pant is ideal for cool-to-cold conditions and was field-tested for over two years in the Alaskan wilderness.

FOR HER Kryptek Hera Down Jacket shown in Highlander

Kryptek Valhalla II shirt

$200; kryptek.com

Simple, functional — perfect for the minimalist outdoorsman. The Valhalla long sleeve crew's lightweight and breathable synthetic materials give you the flexibility you need to conquer most spring, summer and early fall conditions. Designed for high exertion in warm-to-mild conditions. Reinforced shoulders and our new Cooling yarn technology in the body will make these shirts your new go-to favorites.

This New Super Warm Down Jacket provides backcountry hunters with a packable insulation layer for added warmth during long periods of stationary activities. These down jackets use Kryptek Defender down insulation, which is specifically designed to provide lightweight, exceptional warmth even in damp conditions. They even pack into their own pocket for easy storage. Available in 2 colors.

Kryptek Artemis Vest shown in Highlander $120; kryptek.com Keep in warmth around your core. This hybrid designed vest uses synthetic insulation with fleece stretch side panels to adapt to your activity level with the right amount of breathability and warmth. The 100-gram polyester insulation keeps you warm. DWR for water resistance and windproof materials and construction lock out cold breezes. Available in 2 colors.

$90; kryptek.com

Kryptek Dalibor II Pant shown in Highlander $190; kryptek.com Versatile, practical and durable construction make the Dalibor one of Kryptek’s best active pant offerings.

Designed to be layered according to the temperature and your level of exertion, this exceptionally constructed pant is ideal for cool-to-cold conditions and was field-tested for over two years in the Alaskan wilderness

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GIFTS FOR ALL

Killer Gear Turkey Fan $100; killergear.com The Turkey Fan is the first and only decoy designed for onthe-move, proactive “fanning method” style of turkey hunting.

It is designed to trigger the aggressive, territorial response of a dominant tom. Take your next hunt from a game of yards to a game of inches.

Yeti Panga Pack 28 $300; yeti.com The Panga™ Backpack is an airtight backpack design. Its ergonomic DryHaul™ Shoulder Straps offer extra carrying comfort, while the removable chest straps and waist belt provide added stability and security while you trek. And no need to carry it over your head while you wade or blink an eye if left out in the rain, because it's 100% waterproof.

Gatr Coolers GATR 70 $425; gatrcoolers.com The GATR 70 with wheels is perfect for your next party.

Load it up for a day full of activities and use the oversized off-road wheels to bring the party through any terrain!

Comfortably pack 48 water bottles plus ice. Price includes a cutting board divider, a color matching sticker and free ground shipping to the lower 48. Also available, the 30 oz. camp cup; $25.

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Fire Disc FireDisc 36” Deep Fireman Red and Ultimate Cooking Weapon $400 and $35; firedisccookers.com A modern, high-performance version of an authentic plow disc cooker, FireDisc is built to last and designed to easily take down for travel. FireDisc fires up fast, cooks virtually anything, seasons like a cast-iron skillet and cleans up quickly with just water. Available in a deep or shallow cooking disc, tall or short cooking stand, and red or black colors.

Killer Gear Jake Fan $140; killergear.com Dramatically increase your odds of harvesting a bird by using the Jake Fan as a traditional stationary decoy or a run-and-gun fanning decoy all in one, to trigger the territorial response of a dominant tom against an adolescent Jake.

Orca Coolers Realtree Max 5 Backpack Cooler $269; orcacoolers.com The ORCA Pod in Realtree Max 5 camouflauge is for the outdoor enthusiast. The Pod’s padded shoulder straps and cross-chest adjustable T-strap allow for ultimate comfort when carrying up to 59.5 pounds. Molle webbing is sewn onto the Pod’s outer walls for the ability to store more outdoor necessities.

Solo Stove Bonfire $349; solostove.com Solo Stove Bonfire is unlike any other fire pit you’ve ever seen.

The double-wall design allows for hot air to pump out the top vents, creating a nearly smokeless fire.

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“We’ll be starting our own traditions … we’ll just do them in Texas.”

– jep robertson

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G O O D

G R U B

Meet the

Robertsons

The Duck Dynasty stars may have left Louisiana, but their tradition of holiday feasts continues in Texas story by josh grimm

W

henever possible, Jessica and Jep Robertson like to be with their family in the kitchen of their Austin home.

“Food and family are two of the most important things in our lives besides our faith,” Jessica says. “We want to teach our kids how to serve others, and good food is such a centerpiece for that.”

It can get a bit crowded with five kids, but for them, food and family have always gone hand-in-hand.

“Growing up, our family philosophy was, ‘We might not have much money, but we’re gonna eat good,’” Jep says. “That was a tradition instilled by my grandparents, which was passed down from their grandparents.”

Jessica grew up with a similar appreciation. “Every Sunday, we’d go to my grandmother's and have a huge breakfast before church,” she recalls. “Coming into the Robertson family, it was just so much like my family growing up.”

For the extended Robertson family back in Louisiana, hunting and holidays fuse into one long season that basically starts late in November and finishes up around the end of December. It’s kicked off with a huge meal the day before Thanksgiving, where family members and friends gather for a feast. The turnout for Robertson family events is usually pretty high — Jep’s first cousin Jon Gimber says that growing up, “we could play full games of football with substitutions.”

Typically, for the gathering that Wednesday before Thanksgiving, about 50 to 60 people show up. This means meal prep usually

starts that morning with Jon deep-frying turkeys, and usually not just for that night’s meal.

“Folks will come up and ask, ‘Since you’re frying turkeys, do you mind frying me up one for tomorrow?’” Jon says.

That comes as no surprise to Jep, who says no one fries a better turkey than his cousin.

“If you’re smart, you stand around Jon when he’s carving it up,” Jep says. “If you snack on some crackling turkey skin, you’ll usually get a little full just from that.”

Snacking is a smart move — it’s best to sneak a bite of a favorite dish before it’s time to eat because it might be gone before you can get a helping. “By the time we get to the official meal, we’ve normally dusted off one of Kay’s homemade sweet potato pies,” Jon laughs.

More people arrive throughout the day, each bringing their contribution to the meal. Everyone makes whatever they feel comfortable making — “We don’t want anyone getting over their skis,” Jon says. By the time everyone sits down to eat, there are four or five deep-fried turkeys, 10 or 12 pies, and a slew of sides to go around.

The first time Jep brought Jessica to the table, she had a look on her face that said, “Good grief, how are we gonna eat all this?” he recalls. “Sure enough, by the end of the night, it was all gone.”

However, this past November, Jessica and Jep didn’t make it back to the bayou.

“Last year’s Thanksgiving feast was the first I’ve probably missed HOOKANDBARREL.COM | @HOOKANDBARRELMAG | 19

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Robertson Family Favorites Kay’s Christmas Cookies • 4 cups all purpose flour • 1 tsp cream of tartar • 1/2 tsp baking soda • 1/4 tsp salt • 2 sticks butter — softened • 1 cup vegetable oil • 1 cup granulated sugar • Red, green, gold or white sanding sugar for dipping • 1 cup powdered sugar • 2 eggs • 1 tsp vanilla extract • In medium bowl, stir together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. In large bowl with mixer, beat butter, oil and sugars until smooth and creamy. Add eggs then vanilla — beating until blended.

• Gradually add the flour to mixture until all is combined fully.

Dough should be light and fluffy.

• Spoon into balls, and dip in the sanding sugars for colors.

• Press so they are 1/4” thick.

• Bake at 350 until the edges are golden brown, 8-10 minutes — let them cool on sheets for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Cajun-Fried Turkey • 12 oz yellow mustard • Small container of Phil’s Zesty • 14 lb turkey • 3 gallons of peanut oil • Mix together to make a paste. Rub the outside and inside of the turkey completely.

• Fry in enough oil to completely cover the bird with feet sticking up. We use a crawfish pot outside. Fry the turkey for 4 minutes a pound at 350.

• Let cool for 20 minutes before slicing.

since I’ve been alive,” Jep says.

When Jessica and Jep moved to Austin in 2017 to open their food truck, Jep’s Southern Roots, it meant that there would be some changes.

Since they couldn’t be in Louisiana for the annual November feast, Jessica’s family came down to Austin for the holiday, but about a week before that, Jep and Jessica had their own celebration. They invited five couples over for their first “Friendsgiving.”

Jep prepared a sous vide turkey — cooked 18 hours for maximum moistness — and Jessica baked a delicious banana liqueur cake.

“It was a lot of fun,” Jessica says. “We’re hoping to make it a tradition.”

The two also teamed up with four other couples to form a “supper club,” where each month one couple is responsible for cooking the entire meal — appetizers to desserts — for the rest of the club. They’re all foodies, so it’s a chance for everyone to showcase their specialties.

Jessica said the idea behind the supper club is a simple one: “We’re all so busy, and relationships take effort and work. So, we said, ‘Let’s sign a contract [not an actual

contract] to get together once a month for one year.’”

So far, the supper club has met twice, and the results have been impressive. Last month’s menu was Italian, complete with homemade pasta, lasagna noodles infused with fresh basil, acorn squash, and homemade sourdough bread. Jessica and Jep are up next, and they are excited to finalize their meal plan.

“I’m going full country,” Jep exclaimed.

This likely means breaking out his tried and true chicken pot pie recipe with lots of sides, including collard greens and his wife’s deviled eggs. For dessert, Jessica is thinking about making apple turnovers from scratch with homemade ice cream.

Despite the amount of preparation that goes into such a meal, Jessica said it’s really not stressful. “Honestly, I get excited about it,” she says. “I would sign up to host every one of them if I could.”

Jep admits that they’ll miss the holidays, such as Labor Day cookouts and birthday get-togethers at Willie’s. “But we’ll be starting our own traditions too,” he says. “We’ll just do them in Texas.”

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L I B E R A T I O N

The 12 Beers of Christmas These ales don’t care if you are naughty or nice: They just want you to drink them

story by shika hershel | photography by david halloran

bitter sisters brewing company

lakewood brewing co.

hopfusion ale works

Addison, TX; bittersistersbrewery.com

Garland, TX; lakewoodbrewing.com

Fort Worth, TX; hopfusionaleworks.com

Bitter Sisters is a family owned craft brewery in Addison, Texas. Bitter Sisters features Barrel Aged Knock Out Irish Red (6) — a traditional punched-up ale with a perfect balance of bready, toffee-like flavors of malt, mixed with a bitterness of English hops and pairs nicely with a rich chocolate cake or bread pudding.

With enticing bold flavors from Lakewood Brewing Co., The Temptress (3) is complete seduction in a glass. Curvy in all the right places, this Imperial Milk Stout pours a thick milk chocolate head. Chocolate and caramel malt give this lager a rich and complex body. Sweet and savory pairings with The Temptress beer includes robust bleu cheese, dark chocolate, and pecan pie.

Located in Southside Fort Worth, HopFusion Ale Works’ Coco Añejo (8) is a Coconut Milk Stout with hints of roasted hazelnut, dark chocolate toffee and roasted coconut. Their Feisty Blonde (7) Honey Vanilla Blonde is a golden ale combined with deeply aromatic orange blossom honey with a touch of Mexican vanilla and brown sugar to round out the smooth finish.

903 brewers

Sherman, TX; 903brewers.com

The Wonderland of Milk and Honey (1) is a stout set free from the restraint of traditional style guidelines. It is a local honey stout brewed with roasted malt and lactose for smoothness. The base of this beer is made with local honey from Crouse, a North Texas source for premium raw honey. The local honey from Crouse Honey gives the stout a light crispness with a hint of sweetness, pairing keenly with smoked turkey or hot cocoa.

3 nations brewing co.

Farmers Branch, TX; 3nationsbrewing.com

Aiming to change the status quo and determined to create something uncommon, 3 Nations Brewing Co. uses unique blends of spicy hops, malt, water and yeast. The term “3 Nations” pays homage to the greatest beer countries in the world: Germany, England and Belgium. The piercing aroma is the focal point of the brewery. 3 Nations' bestselling taproom beer, Royal Blood (12), is a refreshing, unique flavor with a big orange aroma and sweet finish.

A brewery favorite is GPA (11) (German Pale Ale), an American twist on German altbier. American hops are used to brew this kolsch-like ale, adding a blast of citrus and passion fruit aromas with a bitterness that pale ales are known for.

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buffalo bayou brewing Co.

coop ale works

Houston, TX; buffbrew.com

Oklahoma City, OK; coopaleworks.com

Just seven years ago, the future home of Buffalo Bayou was a neglected warehouse when founder and owner Rassul Zarinfar started the brewery. Now, it will be opening a three-story, 28,000-square-foot facility capable of brewing 10 times faster. Buffalo Bayou’s very own Secessionist Series features Ginger Stout (4), which is brewed with cinnamon, nutmeg, and notes of clove and ginger as an ode to gingerbread cookies.

The Territorial Reserve Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout (5) spends more than three months in bourbon barrels aging to maturity at Coop Ale Works in Oklahoma City. With the sweet flavor of oak and whiskey, as well as the bold flavors of dark chocolate and caramel, this stout is brewed with nine malt varieties. A decadent dessert of tart fresh mixed berries would bring out some of the subtler notes in this beer.

big bend brewing co.

rabbit hole brewing

Alpine, TX; bigbendbrewing.com

Justin, TX; rabbitholebrewing.com

In the backyard of Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Brewing Co. shares the spirit of Texas with the occasional domestic import, combining the packed flavors of Mexican lagers. The Tejas Negras (9) is a Mexican-style amber lager with bold caramel-like malt flavors.

This seasonal lager has delicate aromas of spicy hops that pair naturally with burgers, pub food and Texas chili. Big Bend Brewing Co.’s own National Park Hefeweize (10) n won the World Beer Cup Gold Medal in 2018. The Hefeweizen embodies a gold-medal spritzy wheat flavor that challenges taste buds with notes of banana and clove.

Located along the northwest corridor of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Justin, Texas, Rabbit Hole Brewing is a craft brewery focused on bringing underrepresented classic beer styles to North Texas. Rabbit Hole features Hole Lang Syne (2), a Belgian Golden Strong Ale brewed with raspberries and blackberries best paired to celebrate New Year’s Eve with the one you love. This golden ale is characterized by a delicate malt flavor, noble hops and a complex combination of fruit esters and spicy phenolic derived from a historic Belgian yeast strain.

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Ain't No Reason to Stop The world opened up to the country band Midland once its members stopped reaching for celebrity and focused on their humble upbringings story by pete freedman | photography by reed j. kenney

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ameron Duddy can’t help but laugh.

“Look at Mark right now!” the bassist for the breakout country music act Midland says, cutting himself off from the rant he was just on to draw attention to whatever it is that Midland lead singer Mark Wystrach is doing.

I have to remind Duddy that we’re conducting this interview over the phone.

“Well, he's having a moment,” Duddy says, speaking on his cell from Washington Dulles International Airport during a layover on the way to play a festival in Zurich, Switzerland. “He's trying to pay his tab because we're about to board our flight. And he's just flailing!”

Just a week before this call, it was announced that Midland had been nominated for three honors at the 2018 Country Music Association Awards — New Artist of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year and Single of the Year, for the band’s breakthrough hit song “Drinkin’ Problem,” a ’90s country-sounding song that’s so good it just might convince you to skip rehab. And you can bet that the Midland fellas were on cloud nine upon hearing the news of those noms, feeling pretty darn good about themselves and the fact that the whole country music industry clearly has its eyes on the band’s every move.

But at the airport bar, just like any other schlubs, the band members — even after winning the rival Academy of Country Music Awards’ Best New Vocal Group title earlier this year and earning two Grammy nods a year ago — still can’t get the bartender to pay them any mind.

Nope, no one else cares about their soon-to-be-boarding flight.

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They’ll get their bills right after the person who asked before them, thankyouverymuch.

So, sure: Duddy laughs. But it’s only because life has a way of humbling you and bringing you back down to earth.

That’s something the Midland boys know well. For years, all three of the band’s members — Wystrach, Duddy and lead guitarist Jess Carson — each strove for the kind of fame and success they’re now enjoying. The strong-jawlined Wystrach had some real success as a male model, working on campaigns for the likes of French fashion house Dior. Aspiring filmmaker Duddy also

Cameron Duddy, Mark Wystrach and Jess Carson (from left) hang out in a South Austin studio after a long day of recording.

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“In short order: Families, fishing and hunting — that's exactly it, as our priorities go.”

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accomplished an impressive amount, working as the music video director of pop star Bruno Mars' hit "24K Magic," which was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award and won a BET award. Carson, meanwhile, toiled away in the anonymity of various bands that never got off the ground, although his musician bona fides can be empirically proven these days. (Carson is the only member of the band with a solo songwriting credit — for “Cashin’ Check Country” — on the band’s debut On The Rocks LP. All other songs on that album feature not just the trio, but any number of additional songwriters.)

No matter their pasts, there’s no denying that the Midland gang never individually reached the heights they have since coming together about four years ago. Indeed, this impending trip to Switzerland, Wystrach declares in the same phone call, isn’t the band’s first high-profile run through Europe: “We went to Europe this past spring for the very first time,” he says. “We did about eight or nine shows in Ireland, Scotland, England and Germany — and we were also in Amsterdam. All the shows were sold out.”

But to hear any one of the fashionable and highly stylized trio’s members tell it, it’s now clear to them that country music was always bound to be what would launch their celebrity. For all three members, the genre was just an omnipresent part of their upbringing.

Carson says country music was all around him as he grew up working on a Christmas tree farm in rural Oregon: “There was a large part of my life where I thought that's what I was going to do — that I was going to be a farmer,” he says. “Growing up around that, country music is really the genre. Music and country music are kind of inseparable. So it was just always around, and I just absorbed ’80s and ’90s country from just being on the farm and living in a

town that was 3,000 people and had one stoplight.”

The Los Angeles-based Duddy thinks an interest in country songwriting seeped into his soul through his lifelong love of nature. “Fly fishing is one of my passions — even though I did just get skunked in Bozeman last week,” he says. “And country is just the perfect music for being outdoors.”

Wystrach, meanwhile, thinks his fate as a country musician was sealed when his parents bought a honky tonk south of Tucson, Arizona, called The Steak Out while he was still in the womb — an establishment, he notes, that his family owns to this day. Midland’s lead vocalist recalls a younger time in his life: “We would be there as a family from Friday to Saturday to Sunday, just every night. And this was a pretty wild time! This was before cellphones, before the internet and all that stuff. So this was a real gathering spot, a place for all these people to come to be entertained and to be inspired and to lose themselves from all their troubles and worries.”

Midland’s members uniformly agree that once they decided to focus their music, those character-shaping memories connected with audiences. And not just audiences here in the States, but those awaiting them on the other side of this flight to Europe they’re trying to board.

It’d just be nice, Duddy says, if the band could do a better job of fitting the pasts that shaped their present into their increasingly cluttered future.

“If we can figure out a way to see our families more, that would be really nice,” he says just before hanging up and hustling toward the band’s now-departing flight. “In short order: Families, fishing and hunting — that's exactly it, as our priorities go. Although I would like to say that fishing is hunting — just for the record. And yes, I want that in print.”

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L E G E N D S

Prost to a German-Style Christmas These seven Texas and Missouri destinations are guaranteed to make your season bright story by tyler hicks | illustration by scott chambers

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he Midwest and South are steeped in German history, none more so than Texas and Missouri. And if there’s one thing we have in common with our German ancestors — apart from a love of savory sausage — it’s a love of Christmas. From Fredericksburg to Cole Camp, here are seven places worth a trek this winter.

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missouri Hermann Hermann is the perfect destination for Christmas lovers in the Midwest. The city hosts a classic European Christmas market, a lantern parade and a 19th-century German Christmas dinner at the historic Pommer-Gentner, where revelers enjoy traditional treats while learning German Christmas customs.

Cole Camp Cole Camp is a small town with big history. Many residents still speak German, and the local choir honors that history with an annual Christmas concert with songs sung entirely in German. This Missouri enclave of German heritage hosts its own Christkindlmarkt, a tree-lighting festival and the annual Christbaumfest and Craft Show celebrating Cole Camp’s creativity and German heritage.

Dutzow Dutzow’s local Blumenhof Winery is a German-inspired staple that has been wetting whistles for over three decades. Blumenhof hosts the annual Kristkindl Market in Merry Olde Dutzow, a German Christmas market featuring locally made gifts and crafts alongside wicked wine sales guaranteed to get you in the holiday spirit.

5 texas New Braunfels This classic German town kicks off the holiday season with Christkindlmarkt, a German-inspired market replete with revelry, delicious beer, German music and dancing. And forget the North Pole — New Braunfels is home to the glorious Santa’s Ranch and The Greatest Light Display in Texas, two can’tmiss attractions open November 3 through January 1, 2019. Ranch revelers can enjoy the display of over 1.5 million Christmas lights while sipping cocoa and munching kettle corn.

Fredericksburg Fredericksburg and nearby Luckenbach offer endless fun festivities, including outdoor ice skating and Christmas-themed tours of the Wine Country. The town lights a 26-foottall German Christmas pyramid each year, a creation inspired by German woodworkers' intricate craftsmanship that may be the inspiration for our modern-day Christmas trees.

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Gruene Gruene has its own brand of Santa: a jolly old fellow named Cowboy Kringle. Countless kids and families take photos and make merry memories with Cowboy Kringle each year at the town’s 2-month-long Market Days.

Over 100 vendors pack the downtown streets, offering great Gruene goodies perfect for gifts and spreading good cheer. To make matters merrier, a series of Christmas concerts are held each year at the historic Gruene Hall.

Weimar Weimar rings in the holiday season with its annual Down Home celebration, a downtown extravaganza where shops stay open late and the town enjoys a lighted parade at night.

Celebrate the season Texas- and German-style as holiday lights illuminate the brilliant Texas skyline enveloping this tiny Texas town.

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Call Us: 817-439-8998

from field to table.

www.cinnamoncreekranch.com

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Training Day How Colorado Outdoor Adventure Guide School is helping to elevate the art of the hunt story by charlie smith | photography by brandon dobbs

A class makes its way to look out upon the Battlement Mesa.

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Two mule deer bucks cross paths with the group.

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hen you walk into your physician’s office, you immediately look at the diploma on the wall and assess the credentials of your doctor. If you are looking for the Ivy League of guide schools, you go to Colorado Outdoor Adventure Guide School. Located in Mesa, Colorado, and operating for almost 25 years, the school is one of the foremost hunting guide education outfits in the nation, helping to usher in a new generation of trackers and tacticians. Offering elite, white-glove hunting services for the upscale hunting crowd, Jeff Miner, the company’s director of education, is especially excited these days: Whitetail season is upon us, and their signature two-week whitetail course is leading the herd.

The school offers various areas of concentration, and the whitetail course is the first and only of its kind in the country. A formidable challenge that teaches budding guidesmen how to take advantage of the season’s offerings, students become well-equipped to lead a comprehensive hunting experience in the field. The detailed curriculum focuses on whitetail deer as well as other seasonal fauna such as rocky mountain elk, black bear, turkey, gamebirds and waterfowl.

Students learn the intricacies of food plots (planted areas cultivated with deer-friendly greens) and scoring deer by size and age as they

hone their skills in herd management, nutrition and conservation.

To that end, the academy’s lessons ready to enroll? are not just about the hunt. “In the Check out the school’s website at guideschool.com whitetail course,” explains Miner, “we for class options and details focus on herd management, aging or call (970) 268-5205. The deer, scoring deer and making sure school is located 45 minutes the animal is in the right age classififrom the Grand Junction cation to reach its genetic potential.” airport, where you’ll be met by the school’s concierge.

There are three factors involved in All meals are included and raising good deer: genetics, nutrition served family-style in the and age. Herders learn how to allow main dining room. deer to reach their potential naturally — an age range between 5 and 7 — so that herd members are not quite yet fully grown. This allows for prime antler count, and skeletal and muscular composition. Staying at the forefront of an industry that is becoming increasingly science-centric, Miner says, “we talk breeding structure of deer, which is becoming big in the Southern states: artificial insemination and embryo transferring.”

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Land navigation instructor Sam Monohan goes over a map with the class.

The school trains trackers in eastern Colorado for whitetail bucks, but it’s not just locals who are seeking out the school. “We have whitetail students from all over the country, from New York, Ohio, Georgia, the Carolinas, Nebraska, Texas, and all the way to Alaska.”

Most of the school’s educational offerings are two weeks in length, allowing for intensive and in-depth study for participants.

Two of their most popular courses, aside from the whitetail engagement, are the “basic” and “pro” directives, designed as industry introductions for those wanting a well-rounded approach to guiding.

Prospective students can choose between these general intensities, or, along with the whitetail-centric curriculum, they can choose to specialize in various topics depending on the time of year, including fly fishing and horsemanship in the spring and summer. Other courses focus on winter game and their newest offering, safari and exotic game.

With up to 12 students per class, participants receive lots of handson experience. The school, which accepts students age 18 and older, has seen increased interest among veterans, something that Miner attributes to the special relationship between members of the military and the outdoors. “As a veteran myself,” he says, “it’s especially rewarding as an educator to see our veteran community not only benefit but thrive. To see what the outdoors can do for those with PTSD and anxiety issues, we are proud to be able to offer this opportunity for them, and the 9/11 GI Bill can pay for educational expenses.”

The school is VA-approved and Vocational Rehabilitation funds are accepted. Miner hopes to increase awareness of the school among veterans and the options available to them.

Ensuring an education that caters to the instruction of how to best entertain the high-end clientele that is typically attracted to 34 | @HOOKANDBARRELMAG | HOOKANDBARREL.COM

field and stream recreation, the school teaches students the art of hospitality. This includes cooking fine meals in the field to guarantee a memorable experience. Dinners are cooked via open campfires, smokers and dutch ovens, from steak and turkey to rack of lamb and ham replete with all the trimmings. And the final exam brings everything full circle with students interacting with clients, putting into practice all they have learned.

The work doesn’t stop after the courses are over. Far from it: The school engages with outfitters across the editor's pick country to aid in their students’ employHave you noticed the ment placement, and Miner is proud growing censorship on to note that some outfitters choose to social media platforms of work with the school exclusively. The your hunting and firearm related posts? Switch to school has helped place students in YUDU. YUDU was started hunting and fishing guide positions, at with a simple idea: Give wildlife and ski resorts, and at ranches people who love the and camps. outdoors the freedom to connect. Just like the others, “At the end of our courses,” says you determine not only the Miner, “our students will be proficient in content you post, but who every aspect of the season, being able sees your posts and which to offer their guests a comprehensive posts you see. With YUDU, experience from superb hunting and the values you teach at home and the topics you scouting techniques in the field to prodiscuss with friends can be viding an upscale evening entertainshared openly without the ment concierge, including dinner and rants and reprisals from drink that sends their clients away havstrangers. What do YUDU? ing a truly unique experience from start yuduoutdoors.com to finish.”

clockwise from left:

Soon-to-be guides use binoculars to "glass" a hillside; four students bugle for elk at sunset; the group has its first experience leading a pack-string of animals they packed themselves.

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How mathematical principles can win the concealment game story by ajia meux

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n the crowded camouflage industry, different brands that specialize in particular hunting niches provide consumers an array of camo patterns to choose from. Most claim to be the best, offering hyperrealistic patterns (i.e., seasonal colors, environmental contrasts, foliage, etc.) that deliver exceptional concealment and help hunters obtain a competitive advantage over their prey.

But with so many patterns to choose from, what should consumers consider before making their purchase?

In 2010, former Army Staff Sgt. Joe Skinner became curious about the science behind camouflage patterns. Besides having to wear camo every day he developed an interest in how it tricks the brain, driven by military rumblings about camo's effectiveness. After a conversation with an Army buddy from high school who mused about how difficult it was to hide in the dry, arid and semi-arid conditions of the Middle East in the Army-issued Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP), Skinner’s curiosity soon turned into an obsession. His goal was to understand the logic behind camo pattern effectiveness. “[UCP] didn’t break up the human outline very well,” Skinner says.

“Step one is figuring out how to break up the human form to start to confuse the brain. Step two is to figure out how you can dissolve [the human form] into the surroundings.”

Skinner highlighted a combination of factors that contributed to the ineffectiveness of UCP, including the color palette and the universality. “If you’re going to camouflage yourself and it’s supposed to be universal, you have to pick shapes and colors that work in such a broad variety of scenarios, including weather conditions, regions of the world and climatic zones,” he says. “They were trying to pick 38 | @HOOKANDBARRELMAG | HOOKANDBARREL.COM

one thing so it saved money, and they arbitrarily picked the colors.”

On a hunting trip in 2010, Skinner stumbled on an idea that would use mathematical theory to support the logic of camo patterns specifically for hunters.

“I was sitting in the tree stand, looking across this field. I was looking at the trees and thought, ‘That kind of looks like a fractal.’ ” A fractal is a complex, never-ending pattern created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop.

Nature is full of fractals, and they can be found in leaves, trees, branches and rivers. Skinner found that it is not just fractal math that makes nature look the way it does, but a combination of fractal and chaos theory, or the science of surprises and the unpredictable. “Chaos is the principal that accounts for all the irregularities — all these variables that knock [something] off course.” He wanted to implement these ideas into a camo design that allowed him to control and grow a pattern the way nature grows, allowing for the dissolution of the human form into the environment.

In 2012, Skinner, along with three other partners, formed Veil Camo, which specializes in pattern development and licensing using camouflage theory, chaos and fractal theories, vision and perception, and controlled color. Instead of the hyperrealistic, brand-focused patterns and powerful marketing campaigns, the goal was to create a pattern that considered research and science.

Skinner and his team hired a wildlife biologist who spent six months aggregating research on the visual perceptions of the most commonly hunted animals in the United States and North America.

From this research, they determined that secondary to breaking up

Joe Skinner studies natural patterns in the field and in his studio to create effective camouflage.

the human form, a significant factor for consideration in pattern development is what animals see.

For example, deer, a species whose visual perceptions have been studied for years, are red-green colorblind and primarily see in shades of yellows and blues, as well as down the UV spectrum due to the lack of a UV filter in their eyes. If you’re a hunter, breaking up clothing with contrast is more likely to help. For fly fishermen, trout are able to see more colors than human beings. Since their eyes and the water act as lenses, camo pattern colors and shapes should take into account the water distortion.

The goal is to combine the species’ color perception with the chaos and fractal theories. “If you’re specifically going after whitetailed deer in a mainly deciduous or mixed forest, you would want to wear something that would first break up the human outline in an irregular way,” Skinner says. The pattern would have textures derived from the natural environment, or new disruptions in textures and colors would be created that would work across different species of trees.

In the end, consumers looking for the best gear with the best pattern should do their research. The most important question to consider when exploring camo gear is: “Will this pattern be the most appropriate for my type of environment?” Research-based camo patterns will take into consideration three major factors: the species being hunted, the method of hunting and the hunting environment.

Choosing patterns based on this combination of factors provides consumers a competitive edge over their prey. veilcamo.com

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Inglorious Bearded Bastards

The experts explain what it takes to maintain perfectly coiffed face cabbage story by meg neal | photography by reed j. kenney

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aking a whiff of The Bearded Bastard’s signature Woodsman Beard Oil is like taking a deep breath in the middle of a lush cedar forest. The company specializes in scented beard oils and balms made by hand in Austin, Texas, a town where “no matter what, you walk in any office, you’re gonna find a guy or multiple guys with beards or mustaches,” says The Bearded Bastard’s Casey McKenna, a longtime Austinite who rocks a short but thick beard. McKenna talked with Hook & Barrel about the do’s and don’ts of men’s grooming. This bastard knows how to tame your mane.

what celebrity do you think has the most a+ beard?

Oh man, so I’m a pretty intense sports nerd so I always go athlete.

But if we’re talking like Hollywood A-listers, let me think. Brad Pitt at times had a pretty cool beard. Leonardo [DiCaprio] had a pretty cool beard. Even Christian Bale had some pretty awesome beards in his day. How about Prince Harry rocking the beard at the royal wedding? That’s a pretty sick beard.

so what are people constantly messing up when it comes to beard care?

Biggest mistake people make is they wash their beard too often.

Washing your beard should be maybe twice a week, max three times a week. And you’ll want to use a natural shampoo; you don’t want to use something harsh and full of chemicals because it’ll strip the natural oils away from your beard and it’ll dry out your face. If you get flakes, and you get itchy, you end up shaving the beard.

what is beard oil anyway, and what is beard balm, and what’s the difference?

There are two different types of oils inside beard oil: There are carrier oils and there are essential oils. Carrier oils are the oils that are going to help keep your skin healthy, keep your skin moisturized, add those things that you’re stripping when you wash your face or beard. Essential oils are going to be your scented oils, the ones that actually smell.

On the flip side of things, beard balm is going to have all of those great oils in it, but we add solids like cocoa butter, shea butter, lanolin and beeswax to one, solidify, and two, when you use it on your face, they’ll give you a slight hold to keep any of those stray hairs away.

what advice would you give someone who wants to grow a giant santa claus beard?

Get a good barber. That’s the number one tip I would give. Besides getting a good barber, it’s going to take a lot of time, so just be patient. how long has your beard been growing?

I’ve had a beard for the last six years, but my beard is probably not even a full inch long. I keep it very close to the face. One, I feel like at this length I have the most confidence in myself and my outward appearance, and two, my girlfriend would appreciate it staying this way as well. speaking of which, how about softness? what do you need to do to pass the kiss test?

So when it comes to softening up your beard, you want to use the beard oils. You hop out of the shower, you leave your beard damp, you pat it dry. You don’t want to take that towel and rub it on your face because you’ll just create static, and you’ll fill your beard with all that static electricity, and that’s not good for anything. You take the oil and go against the grain and work it in. Then after that, you go ahead and take the beard balm, which acts like a natural detangler, a natural softener.

it’s a bold move.

Bold move, bro.

what does your own routine look like?

My personal routine, I prefer beard balm. I’ll just hop out of the shower, use a little beard balm, brush it through, and then I’m on my way out the door. that’s so Austin.

no-shave november Every year in November, men around the world let their facial hair grow wild to raise awareness for men’s health. To help the cause, you can join The Bearded Bastard’s Movember team and make a donation through the website. “No-shave November is about more than not shaving your beard or mustache—that’s number one,” says Casey. “And number two, if you’re going to participate, just educate yourself on what you need to do to take care of your beard.” thebeardedbastard.com

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The Colonel of Comedy Most comics don’t begin their career in the Marines.

Then again, Rob Riggle is not most comics. story by robert wilonsky | photography by kate haus

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I I know two lieutenant colonels in the United States Marine Corps — my younger brother, stationed in North Carolina, and Rob Riggle, the guy perhaps best known for shouting “POW!” at Will Ferrell in Step Brothers. My brother I know a little better than Riggle, to whom I’ve only spoken once, for this story.

But they are not so different from all appearances: They are big men, imposing, able to fill a room just by peeking into it. They are loud, too, at least in public, the sound of their voices seemingly registering somewhere between 120 and 140 decibels — the sound of jet fighters passing overhead. And they are, when no one is looking, kind and quiet. It’s almost as though the noise they make in public — the jokes they tell, the laughs they get — is a diversion, so no one pays attention to the good they do in private.

In previous interviews, for instance, Rob Riggle has made almost no mention of his work with a foundation out of Bozeman, Montana, called Warriors and Quiet Waters, founded five decades ago by a retired Marine colonel and pilot named Eric Hastings who had returned home from Vietnam traumatized by the horrors of what he had seen and heard. Hastings found solace in the water, casting flies into the river – into the quiet.

But on this day, Riggle mentions his affiliation with the foundation, for which he delivered a keynote address in the spring.

Because, he says, “it's a wonderful program, and it's been beneficial, I think, for a lot of our wounded veterans and our veterans that suffer from PTSD. I was up there in June fishing with them. I enjoy the outdoors. It's just work and family, and it's hard to get out a lot, but when given the opportunity, I will definitely try to get out.”

His parents have a lake house in Missouri; when Riggle can, he

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takes his son out there to learn fishing tricks passed down from his grandfather.

“My son, he loves the experience he has with his grandfather — and with me,” Riggle says in that tone of voice all men have when speaking of their fathers and sons. He is a funny man onscreen, but off he is like every great comic who doesn’t need to be on to prove his worth.

And he has friends who live in Wyoming and Idaho who likewise enjoy a day on the water, casting and kibitzing — the real pleasure of the day, whether it’s fishing or golfing or playing poker.

“When you get together at the end of the day and you cook up the fish, or you have a beer and you talk about the one that got away, or you talk about the great fish that you caught,” he says, “it's just a wonderful opportunity to connect with friends. Or potential friends.”

But Warriors and Quiet Waters is special. Because Riggle, too, was a warrior. Still is, actually. There is no such thing as an ex-Marine.

That military background has always been the thing that separated him from his peers — the Upright Citizens, the Human Giants, the Not Ready For Primetime Players on Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show correspondents, the Will Ferrells and Channing Tatums with whom he has appeared. They always seemed a little … softer than Riggle.

No one else could have gone to Iraq for Jon Stewart. And no one else could have “managed to offend two cultures at once by wailing in fake Hebrew at the Great Wall of China,” Rolling Stone once wrote when ranking Riggle 19th among The Daily Show’s best correspondents (which feels a little low).

The Louisville, Kentucky, native joined the Marines in the spring

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“I just consider myself very fortunate that I live in a place where you can have more than one dream and you can pursue both of them.”

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of 1990, when he was a 19-year-old at the University of Kansas and working on getting his pilot’s license. He says he signed up because he wanted to know if he had what it took to be a Marine. And because “I wanted to serve.”

That simple.

He joined up to become a pilot but balked at the long commitment the military demands of its flyboys. He has said it would have interfered with his hopes of becoming a comedian. So he left flight school to join public affairs. His was no desk job, though; he was no phone jockey setting up interviews. He was dispatched to faraway war zones.

“I had an intention to serve, and I did,” he says. “I probably stayed longer than I thought I was going to, to be honest. But I also had an intention to pursue comedy and acting at some point. I just consider myself very fortunate that I live in a place where you can have more than one dream and you can pursue both of them.”

He retired from the Corps in 2013, but for a long time his two lives were intertwined — sometimes comically so.

Riggle moved to New York in the late 1990s to study comedy. He had no idea where to begin — probably, he figured, at one of those below-ground cellars that stand newbies against brick walls. He found just the place: Comic Strip Live on 2nd Avenue.

“They were fine people,” Riggle recalls. “It's nothing against them, but they were, ‘We do three jokes per minute — setup, punch; setup, punch; setup punch — and that's how we do comedy.’”

But that wasn’t how Riggle did comedy. He was more of an Eddie Murphy man — Delirious, especially, which was more storytelling than stand-up. But he gave it a shot. And, the way he remembers it, he did OK — people laughed, which was, after all, the point.

“But I remember hating the experience,” he says. “I felt like I made 46 | @HOOKANDBARRELMAG | HOOKANDBARREL.COM

Riggle with Paul Scheer in Rob Riggle's Ski Master Academy; co-starring alongside Kevin Hart in Night School (below)

PHOTOS SONY CRACKLE; NBCUNIVERSAL

a big mistake, because I gave up flying in the Marine Corps to pursue comedy. I was like, ‘Aw, man, I made a big mistake.’”

At which point a friend told him to find the Upright Citizens Brigade, whish had just moved to Manhattan from Chicago and was putting on a regular Sunday night show called ASSSSCAT. At that time, the UCB consisted of Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh, Matt Besser and Ian Roberts — the Beatles of the new wave of improv comics. Or maybe the Talking Heads.

“So I went down, and I watched the show, and at that moment when I saw it ...” He pauses. “I always equate it to The Blues Brothers when John Belushi was at the Triple Rock Baptist Church and got hit with the beam of light from God, that's what I equate it to. That's what I felt like. I felt like, ‘Holy cow, this is it. This is what I wanna do.

This is what I've been searching for.’

“So I went up to those guys after that show and I said, ‘How do I sign up? Do you teach classes? How do I get involved?’”

They told him: Sign up for classes, that easy. And so he did. And they taught him, the original members, among them the future star of Parks and Recreation. He took all the classes, all the levels — twice. He began performing. He ran lights. He even taught some. Anything it took to stick around the UCB and the other like-minded comics floating around the scene back then. He was like a young Bob Dylan in Greenwich Village in 1961, soaking up the sound to find his own voice.

He eventually wound up getting the Big Gigs, SNL and The Daily Show — the first in 2004; the latter, two years later. When he was still in the Marine Reserves.

“I would go from 30 Rock, go from rehearsal on Saturday Night Live, over to 46th and Lexington and do drills during the middle of the week,” Riggle says. “When I was on The Daily Show, on the weekend I would go to JFK Airport, fly to Los Angeles, rent a car, drive down to San Diego to Miramar and go to Command and Staff College on the weekend. Then I'd take the red-eye back Sunday night, land Monday morning at JFK and go straight from the airport to the office at The Daily Show, and I did that for two years.”

That ended a decade ago, after which followed the movies (21

Jump Street, The Hangover, The Other Guys) and the TV shows (almost every funny one of the last decade, from The Simpsons to Key & Peele). And now he has his own, on Sony’s Crackle channel: Rob Riggle’s Ski Master Academy.

He plays himself. A much louder version of himself, who does and says all the bad things Rob Riggle would never do or say in real life.

Because the real Rob Riggle is kind and quiet.

“It's cathartic,” Riggle says. “That's a great way to put it, because it's fun. Most people are not allowed to be obnoxious, nor should you be. And you're not allowed to be a jerk, and you're not allowed to say things that are tacky or over the top. You're not allowed to do these things, and nor should you be allowed to do them, but if you're given the opportunity to do it, have fun with it. Don't hold back. Go for it.”

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the interesting world

Guyette & Deeter decoy auction firm sold this malard hen and drake for an astounding $1.1 million last summer.

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of duck decoys

and the people

who collect them story by crai s. bower

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THE INDIGENOUS CULTURES first enticed ducks and geese to approach decoys woven from nearby reeds and grasses. Neither they nor the generations of artists who’ve followed could ever have anticipated how decoy collecting would become a high-stakes game with extraordinary prices and obsessive collectors. These weathered wooden duck decoys may sound quaint, but this past summer, Guyette & Deeter decoy auction firm sold an antique mallard hen and drake for $1,144,600.

The pair were carved by the legendary Caines Brothers of Georgetown, South Carolina. Thought to have resided on South Island, South Carolina, these mallards may well have been hunted by President Grover Cleveland, a frequent visitor. Prior to the sale they were owned for 90 years by the Yawkey Family, former owners of the Boston Red Sox. Tom Yawkey’s bequest established the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center Heritage Preserve on South Island. In a sense, the mallards’ migration was complete.

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This Canada goose, sold by Copley Fine Art Auctions, fetched a hefty price of $810,000.

clockwise from top:

Craftsmen like Patrick Godin and Spencer Tinkham have continued the tradition of hand-carving pieces; Tinkham styled a 27-inch seagull to look aged; Godin's immacualte attention to detail can be seen on this preening pintail drake.

Also this past summer, Copley Fine Art Auctions sold a Canada goose by an unknown carver for $810,000, the third-highest price paid for a single bird. What set this bird apart, according to Copley’s decoy specialist Colin McNair, himself the son of a famous carver, was a combination of exceptional characteristics.

“This goose was extremely rare, compared well with contemporaneous decoys and, while carved by an unknown craftsman, that maker had made a distinct number of birds,” McNair says. “It also has great authenticity and provenance, or record of ownership, having been held by a renowned collector. We looked at X-rays and the materials used, to give us some clues, so it looks like it was made back before 1880, based on nails in the piece. The fact that the head was removable only added to its allure.”

The first person to look at a decoy and see it as folk art was Joel Barber more than 100 years ago. In 1935, he published Wild Fowl Decoys, giving artistic merit to the utilitarian objects. In 1965, decoy expert William J. Mackey Jr. published American Bird Decoys and Adele Earnest published The Art of the Decoy: American Bird Carvings, further legitimizing the folk art form. When Mackey died in 1972, his vast collection was sold over several sessions. The “Mackey Auctions” established the waterfowl decoy collecting market.

Colin McNair carved his first decoy — a ruddy duck — when merely a child in his father’s workshop. Jon Deeter, co-owner of Guyette & Deeter Decoy Auction Firm, received his first decoy as a present from his wife, who brought it home from her dad’s collection. He describes the duck, a bufflehead covered with several coats of oil paint, as an old workhorse from the St. Lawrence River region of New York. He became hooked on collecting.

He joined the newly named Guyette & Deeter in 2010. The auction house has sold $180 million in decoys and other folk art since its founding in 1984. Specializing in vintage wooden duck decoys, it auctions $7 million to $10 million worth of items annually. “The market for vintage decoys is very strong,” Deeter says, “It represents what we call the ‘Other Season’ for many outdoorsmen, the rest of the year after the hunting season closes. Duck hunting may last 60 days, but decoy collecting allows you to hit the same synapses of your brain because it keeps you in the same genre of what you enjoy. You can still learn and ‘hunt’ preferred decoys for your collection.”

As popular as decoy collecting has become, Deeter advises novices to refrain from jumping in right away, but rather to read up on the subject or give him a call. “The last thing I am going to say to a new collector is to go out and buy some decoys at one of our three auctions,” he cautions. “You have to get your disciplines down, perhaps focus on the region where you grew up or where you like to hunt. I also recommend you find a mentor, somebody who can help you really understand this.”

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“You have to get your disciplines down, perhaps focus on the region where you grew up or where you like to hunt.”

– jon deeter

Not surprisingly, Deeter, who likens duck decoy collecting to that of wine, greatly enjoys working with new collectors. Guyette & Deeter will coach a client on why and how to build a collection. (One of their favorite new collectors is Dallas Cowboys physician Dan Cooper — see sidebar.) Clients, he says, are not only drawn to vintage decoys but are increasingly interested in contemporary carvers.

Given his talent, it’s entirely possible that 26-year-old Spencer Tinkham’s efforts may one day fetch millions, though it’s doubtful such thoughts have ever entered his mind as he carves in his workshop, where he also posts how-to videos to his YouTube channel.

When he was 8 years old, Tinkham’s beloved grandfather covertly gave him a pocketknife for his birthday. He was already obsessed with waterfowl, having ventured out on the pier near his family’s northern Virginia home to draw in rafts of canvasback and “black heads” (greater scaup) with his bread handouts. Considered too young to hunt waterfowl with his grandfather and father, Tinkham began carving wood in the primitive shapes of the local ducks that migrate and winter on the Chesapeake Bay. “It was how I connected with waterfowl,” he recalls. “I was already thinking about decoys down the road. My grandfather passed away from cancer the following year after giving me my knife, so it was also a way to maintain our connection.”

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An elder drake carved

by Colin McNair in 2006 (left); a golden plover rig (opposite) that set an auction record for contemporary decoy created

by Mark McNair, Colin's father.

Origin stories for duck decoy carvers are as fascinating as the tales of any artist in any genre. They often share an early love of birds and they inevitably come from hunting families who live near key waterfowl migration routes, be they the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes or Midwest Flyways, among others. The duck decoy has existed almost as long as there have been ducks. The community of carvers and collectors is remarkable: Spend time with a carver, a collector or auctioneer and you quickly learn they all know each other on a first-name basis.

Patrick Godin, a multiple World Shooting Rig Champion carver based near Long Point Bay, Ontario, is very aware of Spencer Tinkham’s emerging work. Growing up, Tinkham used the many contests and exhibitions as his classroom, peppering well-established carvers like Godin with questions about technique, from tool use to paint types. Following the advice from one expert, he now

makes his own paints using oils and pigments. Godin says the congeniality among artists remains the finest virtue of his profession.

“There are lots of fields of art where people are very secretive,” Godin says. “Decoy carvers are willing to share what they do, how they do it and their philosophy. When I started, we had a real intense passion for the bird and we just developed our own methods of doing things. There were about four of us at the time who chose to make a living at duck decoys and bird carvings, everything fell into place just right for us. Thirty years later, it’s the only job I’ve ever had. Spencer represents the new generation and will go far. He has that combination of a fine artist’s eye and great touch.”

Jon Deeter also admires Tinkham’s growth as a carver. Colin McNair’s appreciation goes even further: A Spencer Tinkham commission sits on his desk in his Boston office.

a novice collector’s story “I have the bug,” admits Dr. Dan Cooper, who, when he isn’t hunting decoys, spends his time as an orthopedic surgeon at his clinic and on the Dallas Cowboys' sideline as head team physician. “I find collecting very fun, quite studious and yes, a little competitive.”

Cooper says there is a history of surgeons collecting and even carving. To illustrate his point, he references a mallard drake paperweight that resides on his desk. The piece was carved

by Webb Hill, a pediatrician in the 1930s who began carving to earn extra money to pay his medical staff during the Great Depression.

“Every time I look at this paperweight, I am connecting to medical and carving history,” says the surgeon, who began collecting just five years ago and favors “gunning decoys” from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when sportsmen carved at night and hunted waterfowl by day to make ends meet.

“On many nights, after getting slammed all day solving the world’s problems, I sit at my desk and study these decoys, like my favorite, an Albert Lang preening black duck. Carved in the 1850s, it still floats and contains shot that could have come from the gun of Ulysses S. Grant.”

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Echoes of a

Noble Tradition Native Americans and the mystique of wild turkey hunting story by carlton stowers | illustration by scott chambers

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Hunting means I get to take a weekend trip filled with hiking, camping, sightseeing and spending quality time with my father. Every time we go out it is a different experience. I learn a lot about myself, and we share our life stories. We learn from each other.

— from an essay by elijah (eli) santiago

PHOTO COURTESY GUY TILLETT/NATIONAL WILD TURKEY FEDERATION

T

he first snowfall had come early to Arizona’s White Mountain Apache Reservation, lending a quiet stillness to that early Thanksgiving morning in 2010.

Though the arrival of four inches of powdery white had covered the meadows and weighted the branches of the surrounding pines, it was familiar terrain for 32-year-old Eli Santiago. He was home, back in the world he had grown up in, where he had attended Fort Lutheran Mission School with other Native American children and fished, hunted, snowboarded and hiked through the Salt River Canyon and along the base of the sacred Mount Baldy.

Santiago had taken leave of the reservation after his high school graduation to pursue a degree at Arizona State University, then began a successful career as a tool engineer for Mesa-based Boeing.

Yet the call of the land of his upbringing, with its miles of winding

streams filled with trout and wildlife habitats where elk, antelope, mountain goats and deer roam, still whispers a gentle welcome.

Accompanied by his father, Irvin, and armed with a 20-gauge shotgun handed down to him by his grandfather, Santiago was in pursuit of prey that had eluded him on previous hunts. His target on that crisp November morning was a wild turkey, the bird that, like no other, has held cultural and spiritual significance since the days of his Native American forefathers.

On that gray morning, the tracks of the birds in the otherwise undisturbed snow promised to make achieving his goal more certain.

“We followed the tracks for a quarter of a mile before seeing a flock of about 30 gobblers and hens 300 yards away,” Santiago recalls. “We stalked them for about 45 minutes, then my dad began using his caller [that imitated the sound of a turkey hen]. In time, they began heading toward us.”

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I am truly blessed to be able to enjoy a passion I look forward to every year. It’s all about the journey. After eight years, I am still hunting and wanting to have the same feeling every year. We hunters know that feeling when we are out there. It keeps calling us back.

— eli santiago

In the legend and folklore of Native Americans, the wild turkey has long served as a symbol of everything from pride and fertility to a source of high fashion. When brave in battle, warriors were awarded a feather for their efforts, a spiritual gift signifying the untamed wildness of the Earth. In addition to providing food, the proud and elusive birds offered a variety of uses in bygone days.

Their wing bones were dried and fashioned into hunting whistles, their feathers stabilized arrows and were featured on ceremonial clothing and headdresses. The Creek tribe originated a ceremonial Turkey Dance that mimicked the noble bird’s movements, performing it as an homage to its mystical powers.

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PHOTOS COURTESY ELI SANTIAGO

Then, however, something out of the ordinary occurred. Suddenly, the birds were running toward the hunters, as if being pursued by some predator. As they neared, they took flight, soaring 10 to 15 feet in the air. When one of the gobblers flew overhead, Santiago fired his shotgun skyward, bringing down his first turkey.

Afterward, he proudly posed for photographs taken by his dad, the turkey’s tail feathers fanned across one shoulder. Then they headed home to prepare the bird for the family’s Thanksgiving meal.

Though he had worn camouflage instead of buckskin, and despite the fact that his weapon was a shotgun rather than a handmade bow, Santiago had, in a sense, united the past and present of a spiritual Native American tradition.

Eli Santiago (far left) and his father, Irvin, enjoy a winter turkey hunt on the White Mountain Apache Reservation

in increasing numbers, and it is a traditional part of their annual Thanksgiving celebration, just as it was back in 1621, when their ancestors shared that first historic meal with the newly arrived Pilgrims.

Seldom, however, are there tales of a fast-dimming past, and few history lessons are passed along. The echoes, though they remain, have grown faint. And with that notion there is a loss.

There are, however, modern-day exceptions.

In the northeast corner of New Mexico, on the remote Zuni Pueblo reservation, the wild turkey and its sacred plumage remain deeply embedded in the tribe’s culture and religion. Feathers, many donated by the National Wild Turkey Federation, are used in prayer offerings and the preparation of ceremonial costumes.

Though the reservation’s Fish and Wildlife Department director, Nelson Luna, oversees an ongoing program for the restoration of the wild turkey and its habitats, it is unlawful to hunt the sacred bird on Zuni Pueblo land.

“Here,” says Luna, who has spent his entire life on the reservation, “we are lucky to have retained our knowledge of the spiritual importance of our wildlife. It continues to be passed along from generation to generation, from grandfathers to fathers, fathers to sons.”

Such is the manner by which history and tradition survive.

It was said the wild turkey even had the ability to predict oncoming rains. For many tribes, the plaintive whooping cry of the male turkey gave birth to the long-ago war cries that signaled calls to battle.

Tribesmen regularly cleared away trees so there might be more open meadowlands for the turkeys to graze in and nest. Says National Wild Turkey Federation spokesman Matt Lindler, “Native Americans would do controlled forest burns to create new habitats for the turkeys.”

Such were the stories and mythology passed along by tribal elders for decades. Today, however, they have all but gone silent.

Many modern-day Native Americans — like Eli Santiago — admit to knowing little specifics of the spiritual reverence their ancestors had for the wild turkey. On the roughly 300 present-day reservations throughout the nation, turkey hunting remains a thriving tradition but its basis, its spiritual beginnings, its unbridled appreciation for the prey, have become the lonely province of faded history.

Now, resident hunters abide by tribal hunting regulations and seasons that mirror those of state and national wildlife authorities.

Increasingly popular are sponsored hunts where, for a fee, non-Native American hunters are welcomed onto reservations. Decorative turkey feathers are sold online and in craft shops, catering to those with no real interest in hunting and little, if any, knowledge of Native American heritage.

“There are tribal traditions still acknowledged,” Santiago says. “For instance, it is tradition that one not hunt during his spouse’s pregnancy.” In the months before his 2-year-old son, Liam was born, Santiago obediently curtailed his outdoor activities. “But, no, I must admit I have heard little about the history associated with the wild turkey.”

It is an admission made by many of today’s Native American gamesmen and women. They hunt the wild turkey on reservations

It is a peaceful time, the sounds of the wind blowing through the pine trees, the smell of the forest and ever-changing scenery. It’s a little oasis. I cherish those times with my father. Sometimes I freeze the moments, trying to absorb every detail so they stay in my memory.

— eli santiago

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NAME

Courtney Smith AGE

31

HOMETOWN

Fayetteville, AR INSTAGRAM

@sportswomancourtney 60 | @HOOKANDBARRELMAG | HOOKANDBARREL.COM

T H E

T R O P H Y

R O O M

You Had Me at

Shock Gobble Sorority-girl-turned-professional-sportswoman Courtney Smith talks turkey and why squirrel should be on your holiday menu this year story by jacquelyne froeber

C

ourtney Smith is a real-life testament to the adage that it’s never too late to follow your dreams. Growing up in Arkansas, Courtney loved the outdoors but never hunted a day in her life until her mid-20s. Then a turkey hunt changed everything.

She was hooked. Courtney began documenting her journey on Instagram as a resource for women and quickly garnered some 122,000 followers — including Bass Pro Shops — then left her desk job for the thrill of the hunt. Today, she is a full-time hunter, amateur angler and spokesperson for the outdoor industry. She works with various companies including Volquartsen, Beretta and Federal Ammunition, and you may see her in a Bass Pro near you representing the SHE Outdoor apparel line. “They are putting up new signage in stores and I am on it!” Courtney says. “It’s the most surreal and humbling feeling.” you didn’t start hunting until your mid-20s. what sparked the interest?

I’ve always loved the outdoors. Growing up, I was very much a tomboy and always with my dad fishing. We didn’t hunt but we did go hiking, camping and waterskiing on Beaver Lake in Arkansas.

My [now] husband knew how much I loved to be outdoors, so I started hunting with him [five years ago] and just observing. He would ask if I wanted to shoot a deer and I would say no — it seemed too easy — but then we started turkey hunting and that’s what really got me — the gobble first thing in the morning. And the challenge! They are like the smartest/dumbest bird you can hunt.

It’s frustrating! You’re always wondering how is this little tiny brain outsmarting me?

so a turkey is like the elon musk of the bird world?

They can see really well. So if anything is off, they can sense it. And if they are not being vocal, you can’t really find them because they are so elusive. So you have to get into the woods and pattern them almost like deer, and then once you find where they are, you have to sneak into the woods really early in the morning when it’s dark, and a lot of times we will use a crow call or an owl call — some sort of locator call — and that makes them shock gobble. Then you’ll run after them and try to get closer, and you have to be super still and quiet. They are just wary birds. Their whole life goal is just to survive. And they are only vocal during their mating season, so a lot of times our season will open up and they already started mating, so that makes it challenging because they are done being vocal. But they are fun because they are challenging. Like chess. You can set things up and do things differently. It’s like cat and mouse.

More of a run-and-gun situation versus sitting in one stand all day.

You’re actively going after these birds. your husband got you into hunting. any advice for men looking to get their ladies out there?

Turkey hunting is a good place to start. It’s vocal, so they hear something, and you can talk. You don’t have to worry about scent — because turkey can’t smell like a deer can — and they are pretty but they are ugly. And typically people don’t mind shooting something like a turkey versus, say, a cute little deer. You’re like that is just ugly enough that it’s OK that I shot it.

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“It’s the greatest feeling to have women reach out with their own outdoor success stories.” what else do you hunt?

I will hunt whatever is in season. That’s why my brand is called @sportswomancourtney because I just want to be outdoors, and it doesn’t really matter to me what we are doing — I just want to be out there. In the summer, we fish for flounder, trout and bass, and in fall we hunt dove, crows, coyotes and squirrel. sorry — did you say squirrel?

I never thought I would say that I eat squirrel, but last year I tried it and it was actually good. So it’s true: I’ve eaten squirrel and I like it. squirrel is the filet mignon of critters.

It’s like a chicken wing. You just keep the legs and the bottom part — there’s not a ton of meat — and put them in the fryer and it literally tastes just like a chicken wing. We actually had a friend of ours tell us that in college they were at their fraternity house and one of the guys shot a squirrel, and they were cooking up wings for sorority girls and one of the guys served the squirrel and the girl didn’t know it. She said it was the best chicken she’s ever had in her life. we will take your word for it. speaking of sorority life, how does a self-proclaimed "basic sorority girl" become a skilled outdoorswoman?

It’s so bizarre to me that I am even doing this. I didn’t hunt all my life and people who knew me in college are like ‘Who are you?!’ But I’ve always known that I like to be outside. This is just another side of that. It’s authentic. My husband and I rarely buy meat at the grocery store. Ultimately we’ve lived off what we’ve harvested for the past four years. We do it to fill our freezer. And that’s why we hunt whatever is in season. let's say you are rushing sigma beta sportswoman today. what outdoorsy skill sets you apart from the other candidates?

I can build a hell of a fire. I’ve done it before with some sorority sisters when we were hiking, and it is a very important trait, especially if no one else knows how to do it. you also love fishing: what is your most impressive catch?

Not sure about a catch, but last year I went flounder fishing with my husband and out-fished him. That never happens! if we had a boat and named it after you, what would it be?

[Laughs] Spirit Squad. I know it sounds dorky, but part of my job is bringing a positive attitude to the team, and they gave me the title “head of the spirit squad.” let's play "would you rather: hook & barrel edition." hunt with nascar star martin truex jr. (cover story from the first issue) or fish with quarterback colt mccoy (second issue)?

I have to go with Martin. He’s part of the [Bass Pro] family!

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with 122,000 followers on instagram, how has social media enhanced your life as an outdoor enthusiast?

It’s been a platform for me to have a voice and share my message of empowering women and break the cookie-cutter idea of what a hunter is. I turned to social media to document something I loved doing — not sponsored and completely authentic — and it took off.

It wasn’t the social norm to see a woman hunting, and if they did hunt, you couldn’t be pretty doing it. I wanted to prove that wrong, and it’s the greatest feeling to have women reach out with their own outdoor success stories. what is your advice for young women who are interested in hunting/fishing but don't know how to get started?

I’ll take you with me! Or I encourage women to go to a local range or class to see what you’re interested in as far as a firearm. I recommend a low-caliber .22 — not a lot of recoil and it’s not as loud. And how you dress is important. If you wear the wrong gear, you’re going to be miserable. That’s the best thing about the SHE Outdoor line. They didn’t just shrink it and pink it — they tailor the clothing for a woman’s body. You can have the proper equipment and still look cute. unfortunately, the zombie apocalypse is upon us, but we have time for one more question. before we turn, you get to choose one of the fierce women from the walking dead to help you survive. do you pick carol, michonne or maggie?

Who has the swords? michonne.

Definitely Michonne. Or can I pick the mother of dragons from Game of Thrones? She is incredible. If you think about it, the show is actually really empowering for women. grrrrrrrhhhhhhh [zombie for good point].

MADE IN THE U.S.A.

The 12” Sna-Koil pro-style snake is so close to the real thing it’s scary. A true snake shape, the Sna-Koil’s lifelike profile slithers through weed lines and over matted vegetation producing heart thumping strikes. Fish weighted, Tex-posed, Carolina or Drop Shot.

Its unique coiling action triggers strikes from stubborn fish when others can’t.

Available in 6 realistic colors.

Compact and durable, the PT-7’s aerodynamic body casts like a bullet and skips into tight places where others can’t.

3 inches in length and 5/8 oz., this soft plastic minesweeper detonates explosive strikes like no other topwater on the market today. Lunker largemouth bass to saltwater redfish, snook and seatrout find its “walk-the-dog” action simply irresistible. Pre-rigged with a single premium 7/0 EWG hook, it keeps the big fish on where standard trebles fail.

Available in 12 realistic colors.

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G R E A T

O U T D O O R S

O Christmas Shrub story by joe murray | illustration by scott fett

I

live in Southern California, home of really good burritos, crystals to align your chakras — which I think is something served at Starbucks with whipped cream and cinnamon — and environmental regulations galore.

But in my cholesterol-clogged heart, I am a Midwesterner, which means I was raised to revere as art of the highest order National Lampoon’s Vacation film series, in which Chevy Chase did very dad things in the ‘80s.

Which means that I have always thought that every father had a responsibility to chop down the biggest pine tree in a wild forest for Christmas, like Clark Griswold did in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Turns out the legality of such action is, let’s say, in question. However, my wife and I had our first child last winter, and as many a Chicago politician has concluded, laws are meant to be broken.

Here’s the layout of the heist. Presumably, in neighboring Nevada, you can chop down any tree as long as you leave a few crisp hundreds for the forest pit bosses. But California is like its own country, fortified by checkpoints where they question you about foreign vegetation you may be bringing in, and I suspect a giant uprooted tree strapped to the roof of my car may attract scrutiny.

So it must be a California tree. I briefly consider chopping down a Joshua tree — the Dr. Seuss-looking growth protected and worshipped in psychedelic corners of the desert — but decide against spending the rest of my life in a maximum-security federal prison.

For the same reason, I quickly decide I’m not chopping down a giant pine either. However, SoCal is home to long stretches of desolate highway, lined by scraggly little trees baking in the hot sun.

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“If you’ve ever weathered a newborn, you know that bizarre is quickly accepted as the new normal, and any development that does not threaten your family’s immediate safety is probably best ignored.”

One night at dusk, my car — not even a hybrid, so you can imagine how popular I am out here — throws up a cloud of dust as I skid to a stop next to one such little tree. I have a hacksaw. It requires one hack.

My wife doesn’t question me bringing home a shrub and adorning it with ornaments. If you’ve ever weathered a newborn, you know that bizarre is quickly accepted as the new normal, and any development that does not threaten your family’s immediate safety is probably best ignored.

I can’t say I’ll do this every year, particularly since following the publication of this article the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is likely to have a black helicopter tailing my movements. But for now, there’s nothing more festive than basking in the majesty of nature in my living room — after clearing the old Skittles bag from its branches, of course.

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