SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 MUST HAVE GEAR Elevated Camo for Your Treestand PG. 56 PNUMA PNUMA OUTDOORSOUTDOORS PNUMA OUTDOORS Throwing Fly Patterns with CARSON WENTZ PG. 64 BRANTLEY GILBERT Country Music’s Good ol’ Bad Boy PG. 26 GOLD RUSH! Life Nuggets from Discovery’s Hit Show PG. 70 FUTURISTIC Primitive Hunting Weapons! PG. 8 AMERICA’S TOP PICK KEEPS OUR PAST ALIVE MIKE WOLFEHOOKANDBARREL.COM | @HOOKANDBARRELMAG 03 58 DIGGING INTO THE PAST Mike Wolfe of American Pickers is on a lifelong quest to preserve the items, places, and ways of living from forgotten decades. by patti verbanas 64 MONDAY MORNING BIRD HUNTER Carson Wentz scrambles to make time for dogs and ducks. by jim hannaford 70 GOLD RUSH! The life of Tony Beets. by lew freedman TABLE OF CONTENTS SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021VOLUME FOUR, ISSUE FIVE WISDOM The great outdoors. GEAR Welcome to the future of primitive hunting. LEGENDS & LORE Fall’s stories from the past have meaning today. THE RUT Basic instinct. MUST HAVE GEAR Pnuma Outdoors. HOW TO Yes, you can hunt elk on your own. EDITOR’S PICK Signal 11 lures. 06 08 31 51 56 WILD LIFE Timbersports: redefining the modern lumberjack. 45 39 35 EDITOR’S NOTE 04 15 21 26 77 80 CHEERS Big bucks from bourbon. GOOD GRUB Every meal tells a story. JAMMING OUT Rough-and-rowdy Brantley Gilbert grows older and wiser. TROPHY ROOM Photographer and outdoorswoman Jenna Kaye Forbes. LAST LAUGH Friendship has its limits. CAN YOU SPOT THE HOOK & BARREL CRITTER? Each issue, the Critter is hiding somewhere in the table of contents picture. Happy hunting! DEER UNCLE TED ell welcome to the backstrap brotherhood of the mystical flight of the arrow Tim and gang! Don’t you wish you had started long ago? Number one: CongratSalute for responding to your pure predator instincts and unleashing the reasoning predator beast! Perfect! Next, though a boneheaded old buck is a highly desirable target and trophy, never underestimate the joys of any good bowkill, young does included! After all, fun and venison are the ultimate goals on every hunt wouldn’t you say? As far as ambushing a nice buck goes, I can assure you that those of us fortunate enough to get it done, hunt like mad men and never give up. Ultra-sneaky, supreme level of awareness stealth is imperative, not just to get an arrow into a good buck but to read and know the habitat so that we can narrow down our hunting time to their core hangouts. The ultimate bowkill mantra is ultra, ultra-slow, then slow down even more! Kick that predator radar up to DefCon1, and don’t let anything escape your grasp. He is out there! You must penetrate his inner domain undetected, which happens to be borderline impossible! Go for it! Become one with the wind and the spirit, and get that old stag this season! Godspeed, Ted W I feel it brother! Finally, fall is here! I would have never guessed that I would become so addicted to bowhunting deer, but that day my buddies and I saw you shoot that flaming arrow on stage into Saddam Hussein’s chest, we all went out and got our bows and haven’t missed a season since!! Crazy huh? We now understand all your years of raving how exciting it is. But here’s the catch: we kill some does now and then but can’t seem to get a crack at a decent buck! We hunt hard but just can’t put that piece of the puzzle together. I see all you TV guys whackin’ and stackin’ so many great deer! What’s the trick? Happy fall to you Uncle Ted! Have a great season, and good luck. TIM P., MICHIGAN To ask Ted Nugent your question, simply email him at UncleTed@hookandbarrel.com. Maybe you’ll see his response in a future issue! Ted Nugent is an award-winning musician and writer, with numerous best-selling books including Ted, White and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto, God, Guns and Rock ‘n Roll, and Kill It and Grill It. Also, his popular television show, Spirit of the Wild, has aired over 500 episodes. 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. The views and opinions expressed in Hook & Barrel are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the advertisers. Any images supplied are at the owner’s risk and are the property of the Hook & Barrel Magazine. All content is owned in full by Hook & Barrel Magazine. Proudly Printed in America Hook & Barrel is a proud partner in the PrintReleaf program. PrintReleaf guarantees every sheet of paper we consume in the production of our magazine will be reforested. New trees are planted on our behalf in PrintReleaf Certified Reforestation Projects across the globe. Mike Wolfe of American Pickers discovers treasures from our past. Photo courtesy of the History Channel. ON THE COVER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF John J. Radzwilla CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Natalie Radzwilla MANAGING EDITOR Lee M. Hurley CREATIVE DIRECTOR Claire Cormany COPY EDITOR Barry Wise Smith PRODUCTION MANAGER Jill Christiansen OFFICIAL FFL Black-Tie Guns EDITORIAL OFFICE 1012 W. Eldorado Parkway P.O. Box 183 Little Elm, Texas 75068 214.997.1118 hookandbarrel.com CONTACT THE EDITOR editor@hookandbarrel.com FOR ADVERTISING INQUIRIES advertising@hookandbarrel.com EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS Materials to be considered for use in Hook & Barrel Magazine should be emailed to editor@hookandbarrel.com or mailed to editorial office. Not responsible for the loss of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, or other materials. Returns only when accompanied by return postage. We do not recommend sending original photography or artwork. SUBSCRIPTIONS To subscribe or manage your subscription to Hook & Barrel Magazine, visit www.hookandbarrel.com. PH O T O B Y G H O ST C A T P R O D U C T IO N S Combining the latest in camouflage innovations, Pnuma’s Caza Camo utilizes macro shape disruption and micro-texture disruption to distort and disguise the human shape at any distance. Their proprietary pattern excels at creating depth and focal confusion to further obscure you from your prey.HOOKANDBARREL.COM | @HOOKANDBARRELMAG 03 58 DIGGING INTO THE PAST Mike Wolfe of American Pickers is on a lifelong quest to preserve the items, places, and ways of living from forgotten decades. by patti verbanas 64 MONDAY MORNING BIRD HUNTER Carson Wentz scrambles to make time for dogs and ducks. by jim hannaford 70 GOLD RUSH! The life of Tony Beets. by lew freedman TABLE OF CONTENTS SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021VOLUME FOUR, ISSUE FIVE WISDOM The great outdoors. GEAR Welcome to the future of primitive hunting. LEGENDS & LORE Fall’s stories from the past have meaning today. THE RUT Basic instinct. MUST HAVE GEAR Pnuma Outdoors. HOW TO Yes, you can hunt elk on your own. EDITOR’S PICK Signal 11 lures. 06 08 31 51 56 WILD LIFE Timbersports: redefining the modern lumberjack. 45 39 35 EDITOR’S NOTE 04 15 21 26 77 80 CHEERS Big bucks from bourbon. GOOD GRUB Every meal tells a story. JAMMING OUT Rough-and-rowdy Brantley Gilbert grows older and wiser. TROPHY ROOM Photographer and outdoorswoman Jenna Kaye Forbes. LAST LAUGH Friendship has its limits. CAN YOU SPOT THE HOOK & BARREL CRITTER? Each issue, the Critter is hiding somewhere in the table of contents picture. Happy hunting! DEER UNCLE TED ell welcome to the backstrap brotherhood of the mystical flight of the arrow Tim and gang! Don’t you wish you had started long ago? Number one: CongratSalute for responding to your pure predator instincts and unleashing the reasoning predator beast! Perfect! Next, though a boneheaded old buck is a highly desirable target and trophy, never underestimate the joys of any good bowkill, young does included! After all, fun and venison are the ultimate goals on every hunt wouldn’t you say? As far as ambushing a nice buck goes, I can assure you that those of us fortunate enough to get it done, hunt like mad men and never give up. Ultra-sneaky, supreme level of awareness stealth is imperative, not just to get an arrow into a good buck but to read and know the habitat so that we can narrow down our hunting time to their core hangouts. The ultimate bowkill mantra is ultra, ultra-slow, then slow down even more! Kick that predator radar up to DefCon1, and don’t let anything escape your grasp. He is out there! You must penetrate his inner domain undetected, which happens to be borderline impossible! Go for it! Become one with the wind and the spirit, and get that old stag this season! Godspeed, Ted W I feel it brother! Finally, fall is here! I would have never guessed that I would become so addicted to bowhunting deer, but that day my buddies and I saw you shoot that flaming arrow on stage into Saddam Hussein’s chest, we all went out and got our bows and haven’t missed a season since!! Crazy huh? We now understand all your years of raving how exciting it is. But here’s the catch: we kill some does now and then but can’t seem to get a crack at a decent buck! We hunt hard but just can’t put that piece of the puzzle together. I see all you TV guys whackin’ and stackin’ so many great deer! What’s the trick? Happy fall to you Uncle Ted! Have a great season, and good luck. TIM P., MICHIGAN To ask Ted Nugent your question, simply email him at UncleTed@hookandbarrel.com. Maybe you’ll see his response in a future issue! Ted Nugent is an award-winning musician and writer, with numerous best-selling books including Ted, White and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto, God, Guns and Rock ‘n Roll, and Kill It and Grill It. Also, his popular television show, Spirit of the Wild, has aired over 500 episodes. 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. The views and opinions expressed in Hook & Barrel are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the advertisers. Any images supplied are at the owner’s risk and are the property of the Hook & Barrel Magazine. All content is owned in full by Hook & Barrel Magazine. Proudly Printed in America Hook & Barrel is a proud partner in the PrintReleaf program. PrintReleaf guarantees every sheet of paper we consume in the production of our magazine will be reforested. New trees are planted on our behalf in PrintReleaf Certified Reforestation Projects across the globe. Mike Wolfe of American Pickers discovers treasures from our past. Photo courtesy of the History Channel. ON THE COVER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF John J. Radzwilla CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Natalie Radzwilla MANAGING EDITOR Lee M. Hurley CREATIVE DIRECTOR Claire Cormany COPY EDITOR Barry Wise Smith PRODUCTION MANAGER Jill Christiansen OFFICIAL FFL Black-Tie Guns EDITORIAL OFFICE 1012 W. Eldorado Parkway P.O. Box 183 Little Elm, Texas 75068 214.997.1118 hookandbarrel.com CONTACT THE EDITOR editor@hookandbarrel.com FOR ADVERTISING INQUIRIES advertising@hookandbarrel.com EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS Materials to be considered for use in Hook & Barrel Magazine should be emailed to editor@hookandbarrel.com or mailed to editorial office. Not responsible for the loss of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, or other materials. Returns only when accompanied by return postage. We do not recommend sending original photography or artwork. SUBSCRIPTIONS To subscribe or manage your subscription to Hook & Barrel Magazine, visit www.hookandbarrel.com. PH O T O B Y G H O ST C A T P R O D U C T IO N S Combining the latest in camouflage innovations, Pnuma’s Caza Camo utilizes macro shape disruption and micro-texture disruption to distort and disguise the human shape at any distance. Their proprietary pattern excels at creating depth and focal confusion to further obscure you from your prey.04 @HOOKANDBARRELMAG | HOOKANDBARREL.COM EDITOR’S NOTE AD can remember it like yesterday. I was in Mr. Herring’s tenth- grade history class when a teacher from a neighboring classroom frantically ran in and told him to turn on the news. The old-style television fluttered with broken lines of static as our country changed forever. The second plane hit the World Trade Center. I am getting chills just thinking of it. I don’t know if any of us have words for that moment. Terror, anger, sadness, absolute confusion, or just a combo of all of those, perhaps. That moment not only changed our country forever but shaped my generation. I can’t believe it has been 20 years, but it doesn’t matter if it was 100, I will never forget. I dedicate this issue to the victims of that horrific event, the families they left behind, the first responders who selflessly responded and worked until they couldn’t any longer and then dug deeper to keep going, to the men and women of our military who without hesitating took up arms to find the SOBs who did that to us, and the families who lost a son or daughter, brother or sister, mom or dad fighting to bring us justice, and to the fallen, still to this day, as this war drags on. I am not sure quite how I feel about our withdrawal from that sandy hellhole, but I still get angry just thinking about it all. I get it that we aren’t getting anywhere at this point, that politics have gotten in the way of our boys doing their jobs, the costs of fighting, and frankly, that we are now fighting the sons of the terrorists that we killed years ago, but if it was up to me, we’d keep dropping bombs until there wasn’t even a memory left of Al-Qaeda or whatever they are calling themselves now-a-days. The mere mutter of the name Bin Laden would render them the recipient of a 500-pound payload of American firepower. But that is why God never made me to be President. I guess Toby Keith and I will just keep playing “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” as loud as we can, every chance we get. I want to salute Steve Ciasullo, owner of Signal 11 Lures (Editor’s Pick, pg. 35). Steve served the Newark, New Jersey, Fire Department for 26 years and was working when the tragedy occurred. He responded selflessly. “Early the next morning, we had the next crew relieve us, and we piled back into our personal vehicles and drove directly to Ground Zero and worked on our own time for weeks trying to rescue and eventually recover victims,” Ciasullo says. “We only left Ground Zero to go back to work at the firehouse for our shift and then went directly back to New York City. We didn’t go home to our families for quite some time. When I finally went home, I felt so guilty for being at home that I grabbed a few firefighters, and we went back.” To be honest, I am tearing up just typing this. What a hero, patriot, and man dedicated to his fellow countrymen. Do you remember September 12th? I am not sure many of us do. On this 20th Anniversary of 9/11, think hard back to it. It didn’t matter if you were a fan of President Bush or not. We were united. Singularly focused on saving as many as we could and kicking someone’s ass. We donated blood to each other, our American flags still waved proudly even at our lowest moment, and we all held hands at candlelight vigils—we were one nation. Never forget 9/11, but forever hold 9/12 dear, and by God, let’s get back to it. That is their goal remember: United we stand, but divided we fall. God bless America, our first responders, and our military. Freedom will forever ring no matter how hard they try—both foreign and domestic. In Honor of All Those Lost, John J. Radzwilla editor-in-chief Never Forget Remembering 9/11, 20 years later. I Steve Ciasullo, 9/11 first responder, (pictured below, left) responding to the attack on the World Trade Center.06 @HOOKANDBARRELMAG | HOOKANDBARREL.COM DEER CALLING The most common mistake hunters make when calling deer is being too loud. Deer don’t shout at each other, they whisper. A deer hears about 500 times better than you do. What sounds quiet to you is deafening to a deer. Practice whispering when you call. THE HOMESTEADING LIFESTYLE When the leaves start changing and temperatures cool, something stirs deep within the souls of our family. It is an uncontrollable desire that takes over our minds and bodies. It’s time to go hunting. Our family loves hunting. Not for the killing of the game but for all the special moments and memories that come in squirrel woods, dove fields, duck blinds, turkey blinds, and deer stands. It’s a family tradition. Hunting has been an important part of our family. The venison, waterfowl, and other game has nourished our bodies. Time hunting together has nourished our souls. I hope they will always remember those memories and create their own. I have no doubt that our grandkids will all pass their love of hunting on to their kids. Their proud grandpas will be out there with them, just like I was. The family tradition of hunting will continue. I will look down from heaven and smile. Larry’s new book Seasons—Stories of Family, God and the Great Outdoors is available on Amazon Kindle e-reader and in paperback at amazon.com and other online retailers. A PLACE TO HUNT If you’re still trying to find a place to deer hunt, visit a local crop farmer and ask for permission. Crop damage by deer costs farmers over $120 million annually. So, they are more likely to allow you to hunt on their land. The fall air is crisp as I start my journey up the trail. The sun starts peeking over the hills behind me. The curtain is rising, and I’m not in my seat. Finally, I see it. To some people it’s just an old stump where someone cut down a tree a long time ago. To me it’s like an old friend waiting at the end of the trail. I hurriedly remove my backpack, take out my thermos, and pour a cup of coffee. It’s stump-sitting time again. From my stump I see a thin haze over the stream that winds through the valley. There’s a hint of smoke in the air from cabins and homes that dot the landscape. Crows calling to each other on a distant ridge, and a fox squirrel, scurrying through nearby treetops, breaks the silence. AD SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT “Delicious autumn” My very soul is wedded to it and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” GEORGE ELIOT by larry whiteley The great outdoors. WISDOM STUMP SITTING Below, turkeys have flown down from their roost and are feeding in the fields. A doe and her yearling have probably joined them. A buck watches from his hiding place. The kingfisher squawks as he flies through the mist over the creek. He’s fussing at a heron that’s fishing for breakfast. The sun rises higher, and the show begins. The gray of the morning is suddenly changed. My eyes feast upon the fall colors. The blue of the sky and white of the fluffy fall clouds add to the special touch of nature’s painting. In today’s world, stump sitting can be an escape for a little while. Good stump-sitting time only comes once a year—in autumn. Stump sitting helps you forget about work to be done, bills to be paid, and all manner of other worries. They are all washed away by the cleansing action of stump sitting.BROWNING.COMBROWNING.COM 21-BFA-131_MaxusII_II_Print_Ad_8_375x10_875.indd 121-BFA-131_MaxusII_II_Print_Ad_8_375x10_875.indd 14/5/21 8:27 AM4/5/21 8:27 AMNext >

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