Putting In The Time

Over the past several years I have truly been blessed with the opportunities to harvest some great animals.  I must admit, when I first started hunting as a young man I thought it was all about walking around and getting lucky.  I can’t count how many times I’ve been skunked using this method of hunting.

Now that I am older and wiser, I realize that hunting is so much more than getting lucky.  The truth is that the hunt begins long before the hunting season even gets started.

Personally, I have spent hundreds of hours checking trail cameras, scouting new areas, and also scouting the areas that I have hunted before.  Even if I have hunted in a certain area in the past, a lot of things can change in betweenseasons.  Game trails, food sources, and even bedding areas can change.  A few years back one of my favorite hunting spots was destroyed by a wildfire.  The fire was devastating to the natural habitat and a lot of things changed.  The hunting area was closed to the public, giving the land and animals time to re-grow and recover.  During this time there were many changes to the food sources, the bedding areas, and even new game trails.   The 2015 hunting season is the first year that this area will be reopened to the public in over three years.  During this time span, there hasn’t been any pressure on the deer population and the land has begun to recover from the devastation.

If I wish to have the most successful opportunity to harvest a nice buck, then I need to put in the time and start scouting the area.  By nature I am an outdoors kind of guy and in addition to hunting some of the other things I enjoy doing are camping, hiking, mountain biking, fishing, and even just exploring.  These activities are perfect in preparing for the upcoming deer season.   When I am out doing these activities, I am also looking around for deer signs and ultimately thinking, “Could this be the spot where I harvest my monster buck this year?”

I believe that the key to a successful hunting season is preparation.  As I have mentioned before, the hunt begins long before the season even arrives.  Two years ago I wanted to check out a new location for hunting so I started doing my research.  I called the Department of Fish and Game, “Googled” information on the hunting area, read articles and blogs about the location, studied maps then went to scout it out.  I even left a few trail cameras in the area (yes, this was public land so I had to hide the cameras so no one would steal them).

The truth is that I may not always be successful. However, I know that if I do my homework and put in some time, my chances of success increases tremendously.

When it comes to my walk with Jesus, I like to think of it like I do hunting.  I know that might sound weird, and maybe even a little off, but the truth is that if I want a great relationship with the Lord, then I need to be willing to put in quality time.  “Am I doing what it takes to build my relationship with Christ?” “Am I putting in the effort?”  The truth is, if I want a strong relationship with Jesus the only person who can do anything about it is me.

Written by,

Pastor Kevin Ratliff

Give Me Sundays

I started attending the Foothills Church in 1994 with my Wife Pam and our two young Daughters. Pam and I had been serving the Lord since 1984, so I had thought that I was fully committed in my relationship with the Lord.

My Father, Wife and I started our business together in 1987 and I had been working Monday’s through Saturday’s and Sundays before church since we opened the doors. I had been a dedicated Husband and Father providing for my Family and had thought that I had earned some down time, so the Lord couldn’t possibly object to me missing a Sunday now and then to go blow off some steam and pursue my passion of hunting and shooting. If you can call “now and then”, missing more Sundays then I was attending during the Waterfowl, Upland Game Bird and Big Game seasons? The only guilt i was feeling, was the fact that Pam was attending church with our two little girls without me, but it obviously didn’t bother me enough to be a good example to my two impressionable little girls. Proverbs 22:16 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”

Our Pastor, who is a good friend as well as being a Good Pastor, made mention of my poor attendance one Sunday. He approached me after service and made a few concrete statements that rocked my spiritual world. He ask me to consider my Wife and Daughters and the fact that they were attending services without me, that I was to be an example to my Daughters as well a partner in my faith to Pam. He also mentioned how that, when I do attend services and I sit in the front row as we did, and I worship with my hands raised high, that I am an example to other men, and that I have a responsibility to them. Mathew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”

Well, you might have thought that I would have been convicted in my spirit by those truthful words from my Pastor, my friend. Instead, I made excuses about how hard I worked and how much I deserved to be excused from such responsibilities and how he didn’t understand my situation. In other words, I made every excuse to justify my actions or lack there of. I left church that day very angry with Pastor and specifically with God. I drove home by myself after church that day, because I had come to church straight from work that morning and Pam and the girls came together in Pam’s car. So I was all alone on my drive home, and I was having a major hissy fit over what was said to me. I dared to begin talking back to the Lord, and began to list all the sacrifices i had been making and how deserving I was to receive an exemption, because of the time I needed to myself to go hunt. The drive home is about ten minutes, but that wasn’t enough time for me to give the Lord a mouthful, so I continued to drive until i was flat out of things to say and the energy to say them. Just then, when I had been silent for a few minutes and realized that I should be getting home, the Holy Spirit spoke to me as clear as day, maybe not in an audible voice, but there was no doubt in my heart and my mind that it was God. He said, “You give Me Sundays, and I’ll give you all the hunting you can imagine” And although I knew with all my heart this statement was from the Lord God, I had trouble wrapping my head around it. I was self employed, If I committed to Sundays, then when could I possibly have time to hunt? Saturdays were the busiest day of the week and we couldn’t afford the overtime to pay a Manager to fill in for me, our business would have to have an immediate increase in sales to be able to justify paying the overtime. On top of that, I would have to find a manager that was willing to work six days and that I could trust to handle my responsibilities on the weekends. The Lord knows, that what I do could not possibly be done by anyone else, Yea Right! Can you say control freak? I approached my second in command and asked him if he would be interested, it was as if the Lord had already prepped him for the question, he was all for it!! I began to practice my faith then and there and wrote my first labor schedule with my first Saturday off.

I began hunting on Saturdays and attending services I was usually missing on Sundays, this was working out just fine, and the increase in business that God new that we needed was more than covering the overtime. The Lord was solid on his promise. Saturdays were not only a better day to hunt, but I could now ask friends from church to come along. When it was in-between seasons I was getting groups of guys together to go to the range to shoot rifles or hit the trap range or sporting clay course. It was great avenue for fellowship and when friends from church brought their friends that weren’t in a church, the Foothills became an option for them. After a year of this type of fellowship going on between men in the church and it bringing other men and their families to the Foothills, Pastor then suggested putting together an organized event, and that’s how Hunters for Christ got started. Romans 8:28″And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

We’ve been holding organized shooting events and preserve hunts now for the past 17 years. Along with all the fellowship that goes on at these events, guys and families go on all types of wild game hunts together in many different states, and hit the trap and sporting clay courses as well as the rifles and pistol ranges together. Through it all the “Good News” has been spread and shared and many have been lead to the Lord through the fellowship that is the result of these events. I am so thankful that I attend a church where I have a Pastor and a friend that had the courage and that loved me enough to challenge my faith. James 1:3 “Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

Written by,
ProStaff, and HFC Founder, Gian Rossini

When The Gobbling Stops

Over the years, as a pastor, father, husband, and hunter I’ve learned that the best things in life come to those who wait.  Now, with that being said, this concept of having patience isn’t something new to anybody, but it has been something the Lord has been teaching me a lot of these past few months.

This 2015 spring turkey season was no exception however, it has been one for the books. I truly feel blessed to have harvested all three of my turkeys this year with my bow. I wish I could say it was easy, but each hunt proved to be difficult in its own way. On one of the hunts I made what I thought was a perfect shot right in the center of the wing only to find out that it wasn’t a kill shot. I tracked the bird for a few hours just to end up kicking it up and pushing it further into the thick brush. I ended up having to go to work, but returned eight hours later with my pointer. I figured my bird dog could find anything, and as luck would have it, she found my wounded bird in a matter of minutes. However, it was still alive and running. Fortunately for me, my pointer loves fast food and she made quick work in stopping the turkey long enough for me to catch it.  Fun hunt, but not easy.

It doesn’t get much better then getting up early in the morning and walking through the woods, just as the sun rises,  hearing the sounds of those big Toms gobbling across, and throughout the canyons.  The anticipation that at any moment you might see a long bearded Tom pop it’s head over the hill so you can take the shot that you have been waiting for all year long only to have it all taken away.

When suddenly all the gobbling stops, I start questioning myself. ”Did I do everything right? Did I call too much or not enough? Was I making too much noise? Did my calls sound like a turkey or a chicken?”  Either way, the gobbling has stopped. Now what? The only thing you can trust in is that you have done all that you could do leading up to this point and hoping that all of those annoying turkey calling instructional CD’s paid off.  However, even knowing that you did all that you could still leaves the next part of the hunt uncertain, to say the least.

Anyone who has ever hunted turkeys knows that the gobbling of a turkey starts at the roost and stops when the Jake or Tom finds what they are looking for. Usually that’s the rest of their flock. You might still hear a cluck or a purr or even a gobble from time to time but it won’t be anything like what you hear at first light.

Now you’re at this quiet point in your hunt with not turkey in sight. You can either pack it up and call it a day, or you can wait it out hoping and praying that a turkey you want to shoot heard your desperate call or maybe even saw your decoys from across the canyon and are on their way.

I will be the first to admit that I’ve called it quits many times at this point. But, in hunting the name of the game is patience. There have been many times in my life that I’ve become tired of being patient and I’ve either quit or tried to make something out of nothing. I must say that this hardly ever turns out to be good for anybody.

Most people don’t like to wait on anything. We often get frustrated waiting.  Waiting behind a slow car, for our coffee to be made or even for our phone to charge. We usually want results right away.  This mindset often carries over into our spiritual life.  James 1:4 tells us, “But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfectly and fully developed, lacking in nothing.” When I look back at all the times in my life that I had to wait for something, I can honestly say that the Lord was teaching me something.  In most cases my waiting was teaching me to be more dependent on God which usually also revealed my true motives for wanting something.

David writes in Psalms 46:10, ”Be still and know that I am God.”  I think, at the end of the day, this is the key.  Knowing who you put your trust in, then being ok with the results of trusting in that person and being willing to wait for the outcome.  The question is, “Who are you putting your trust in?”  Is it in God, who holds the whole world in His hands? Is it trusting in yourself, who certainly doesn’t have all the answers?  Or even in others, who will most likely let you down?

Going back to those turkeys….just because they’ve stopped gobbling doesn’t mean that they’re not on their way. So, be patient and trust in the process.  While you are waiting enjoy those you are with and the beauty around you because you are blessed.

Written by,

Pastor Kevin Ratliff

Hunting Alviso

The Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek both end at Alviso, emptying into the Bay through Alviso Slough and Mud Slough. Alviso is the lowest point in the San Francisco Bay Area at 13 ft. below sea level. In my experience, hunting Alviso is all about the tides. Most of my best hunts this past year were during the outgoing tide. In some spots it is better to hunt at the lower end of the tide, especially when the tide is under a plus two (which means the tide is 2 feet above sea level). This is beneficial because the birds come out of the ponds when the water is receding and move to other areas. There are some areas that the birds do travel during incoming tide. Be very careful during lower tides because there are some very shallow areas that you could get stuck in the mud.

Alviso has several different places that can be good hunting.  It can be tricky due to the fact that the birds move around often. Most of the hunting is pass shooting, but there are some areas that ducks will work into your decoys.  In most areas I don’t use decoys. If you happen to setup in the wrong area and the birds are flying about a hundred yards away. It is easier to make those small moves if you don’t have decoys in the water.

Another thing about Alviso is there are different types of birds found in different areas of the slough. There are a lot of Spoonies and Scaup, but if you move around and explore there are many other varieties of birds. Just this past season I shot several Mallards, Wigeon, Sprig, Canvasback, Teal, Gadwal, Goldeneye, Bufflehead, and Honkers.

Two of my most memorable hunts this last year was with Pro Staff member Kevin Ratliff, and my really good friend Dan Boyle. On this hunt we shot 3 Honkers, 10 Wigeon, 2 Green wing Teal, and 1 drake Mallard. There were many other opportunities that we failed to capitalize on, but we still had an amazing time enjoying God’s creation, and spending time with good friends.

The other memorable hunt was with Pro Staff member Rick Tonkin. On this day we shot 7 Honkers, 2 Mallards, 1 Canvasback, 1 Goldeneye, 1 Wigeon and 3 Spoonies. It was a great hunt and we both had a BLAST!!

As much as I enjoy hunting waterfowl, I enjoy taking others out and spending time with them. In this past last year I was blessed to be a part of 6 different hunter’s in getting their first honker. I truly feel honored that God has allowed me to share my passion with other believers doing what I love.

If you get the opportunity to hunt the Alviso Slough I would recommend that you bring several boxes of shells. There’s a good chance that you might use them all.

Written by,

Pro Staff: Gary Wright

My Eye Is On The Lord

“I can do all this through Him who gives me strength”
Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

In the spring of 2012 I began shooting my bow more often, with the specific purpose of getting ready for the upcoming deer season in California. The waterfowl and upland game bird seasons had ended, so I put the shotgun away and began to focus on getting my archery skills back into shape. Rifle season wasn’t far off either, but anyone that shoots a bow knows, getting muscle memory back takes a bit of shooting. Not that shooting a rifle accurately doesn’t take some preparation, but it does come a bit more naturally than a lay off from archery.

I had not had a great upland and waterfowl season shooting my shotgun, I had more misses than I would like, and that wasn’t normal for me. I had a heck of time trying to figure out why I had been shooting so poorly, I didn’t stress much over it at the time though, I figured I always had next season. The excitement of starting another archery season for deer, turkey, and hogs was my distraction. Besides I could always hit the sporting clay course to work on my shot gunning issues during the summer.

After about two or three days of shooting on my archery range, I began to get frustrated with my poor shooting. I was shooting less then OK, I was having trouble with the clarity of my pins and the targets down range, they seemed to all blur together and shooting tight groups wasn’t even close to happening yet. I don’t wear prescription glasses, but at 56 I used over the counter 125 cheaters to read with. I thought it was just a matter of another year older and needing that pair of cheaters to sort out my pins and maybe even the targets, but the fact that it was only an issue with my right eye was kind of weird. My good buddy and hunting partner Rene Vargas, suggested that I should see an Optometrist and maybe look into a single contact for my right eye.

I took Rene’s advice and went to see about getting that right eye checked. After several appointments with Optometrists, Ophthalmologist and Surgeons over a 4 week period, the diagnosis wasn’t very good. I had a condition which was developing, that in laymen’s terms is called Macular Pucker. This is where the membrane in the eye ball detaches from the retina, supposedly the retina reacts to this as an injury and it tries to heal itself. By doing so, scar tissue grows over and in the V shape of the retina causing blurred and distorted vision. That information threw me for major loop, especially as the condition continued to get worse over the period of time that this whole process of appointments was going on.

There was a surgery that could be performed, but it was one that was not recommended, because the chance of any real improvement was very slight and actually had as much of a chance of making things worse. I am a right handed shooter/ hunter, I need my right eye, so the surgery took place a month later per my request; I was willing to try anything. Well it didn’t improve, and after the healing process, the vision in that eye got even worse. What was God doing here? Why was this happening to me? He blesses me with the inspiration and support to start a hunting and shooting ministry (Hunters for Christ) and now I’m losing the sight in my dominate eye? I honestly spent the next 6 months feeling sorry for myself and spent a lot of unproductive down time asking God why? Instead of asking Him, how do you want to use me and this situation to glorify you?

Well, with some great support, encouragement and prayer from family and friends, I got up off my back side and got started left handed shooting. I sold my right handed bows and bought a couple left hander’s. Started hitting the rifle range and shooting my right handed bolt action rifles left handed, and began hitting the clay courses and shooting my shotguns left handed as well. The bow took a few months of conditioning the muscles on the left side and getting the level bubble in the center, but now two years later, I’m honestly 95% the shooter I was right handed and have taken a few turkeys and hogs left handed thus far. The rifle shooting has come along pretty well, except for the bolt cycling from the opposite side, but that is even getting to feel pretty natural now. I would say I’m about 98% with the rifle left handed and I took my first animal left handed last year. I harvested a hog on the run at 80 yards, the hog was the one running by the way. That shot boosted my confidence along with about 2,000 rounds with my 17 HMR at ground squirrels. The left handed shot gunning was a real challenge though. I had been hunting/shooting since I was 10 years old, mounting a shotgun on my right shoulder for 46 years was a natural movement, left handed was no such luck. Finally this last waterfowl season, after the 50th time of mounting the butt of that 12 gauge on my left collar bone, I said “that’s it!!!!” or something that meant pretty much the same thing, I changed back to right handed then and there and decided I would take my chances trying to shoot right with a dominant left eye. After a season of shooting that way for the first time in my life, it’s coming along pretty well and I am very encouraged about next season’s waterfowl and upland game seasons. I still have to shotgun for turkey left handed though, but that just makes my hunting style a little unique.

I look back at it all now, losing my sight in my dominant right eye. I think of the pity party I had and being angry with the Lord about the whole ordeal and being confused, but I can say with all my heart, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I grew closer to the Lord in that two year period than I had in the past 10 years. I matured as a Christian and matured as a man. I now know that with God anything is possible, Matthew 19:26 “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”. I have an awesome encouraging testimony to share and an awesome foundation in which to witness with. Sure, I struggle with reading and it can be a challenge driving at night sometimes, because one eye does all the work and the other can distract and disorient me if I’m tired, but God gives me wisdom in those times of when to rest. In regards to Hunting and shooting, I haven’t missed a beat. I’m firing on all cylinders. Point me to the range and tell me where we’re hunting and I’m all over it, and I’m good at it again.
Psalm 27:1 “Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; whom shall I be afraid? God has been my strength, through His word and through His promises and Grace along with great encouragement from my Wife and Daughters and my friends and my church, I’m not only continuing to enjoy my passion of the Hunting and Shooting sports, I’m flourishing in it and so is the ministry that He has blessed me with.

My eye is on the Lord!
God Bless and happy Hunting and Shooting
Gian