Kevin has spent his entire life in the outdoors. He has hunted and trapped throughout the United States and Canada. He has a love for deer hunting, turkey hunting, trapping, predator calling and along with all of these activities he manufacturers Kishel's Scents & Lures. And if you don't find him doing all of the above he conducts numerous seminars on hunting, trapping and predator calling.
Picture taken
in the hills of New York
2004
Kishel's Scents
& Lures Welcomes Team Harvest Moon to Our Pro Staff
Ken White: Elma, NY - 2005
This Iowa giant was arrowed using ProShield and Goldenrod Cover
Scent. With over half a dozen Pope & Young bucks to his credit, Ken has
been hunting for over 30 years. As CEO of Team Harvest Moon, he takes
any opportunity he can to enter the field chasing monster
whitetails.
Nicholas DeSocio: Auburn, NY - 2005
•
As the youngest member of our
pro-staff, Nicholas is a welcomed addition. As our poster child this
year for the ATA show in Indianapolis, Nicholas is shown here with a
great New York State buck. The buck scored 143” P&Y, with it’s massive
body and main beams, this buck would have made any of us smile. This
buck circled the tree three times before falling to DeSocio’s arrow.
Mike Oropallo: Auburn, NY - 2005
•
More commonly know as "Orp", Michael poses
here with his first B & C buck which scored 178". With a little
help from his hunting partners, Orp was able to position himself
perfectly for this monster. Kishel's Pro-Shield along with
Kishel's Golden Rod Cover Scent helped him stay tight to this buck for a
22 yard shot.
Mike Oropallo took this nice Ocellated Turkeywith a bow
Mexico - 2006.
Rick Willower:
Geneva, NY - 2005
•Rick is
another great addition to our team. His tenacity and love of hunting
have kept him in the field for years. Showing off this P&Y buck he shot
at 18 yards, Rick has the most accurate arrow of all the members.
Scott Willower: St. Augustine, FL - 2005
•
Scott is the first pro-staff member to
arrow a B&C buck. He was able to creep into this buck’s key travel
corridor and set up. This mid-west giant scored 184” on the Boone
& Crocket charts. Nick named the “sniper brothers”, Scott
and Rick are two more great additions to our team.
Tom Willower: Geneva, NY - 2005
• Tom is the only taxidermist on the staff and he does an excellent job with
all our whitetails. Tom arrowed this B&C monster while hunting with Kishel's
Doe-Estrus Urine in New York. The buck had 20 scorable points. This was Tom’s
first B&C buck.
Dean Broeker: Detroit,
MI - 2005
•
Dean is the “master” of monster buck hunting. Seen here with his
170” Boone & Crockett buck. Dean spends more time afield each season
searching and locating his monster buck for fall than any other hunter I
know. With countless monster bucks to his credit, arming him with
Kishel’s products each year just isn’t fair.......
Jim DeSocio: Auburn,
NY - 2005
• As a
seasoned veteran of the team, Jim has brought much experience to his
“quick learning” younger members. Jim has more P&Y bucks than any
other team member. Jim arrowed this monster buck while following a
doe with the “Texas heart shot”. His outdoors experience and
knowledge is priceless.
B Faynor:
NY - 2006
P DiLallo: NY - 2006
Van Simmons
My name is
Van Simmons. I have been happily married to my wife for 15 years. Wehave been blessed with 3 beautiful daughters whom, I love to take hunting
with me.
I have lived in
Tennessee most of my life so I grew up around a lot of outdoorsmen. I went
hunting as a kid but didn’t get passionate about hunting until the first
Christmas with my wife. She bought me my first bow, one that had not been
borrowed or handed down. Since then I wake up thinking about hunting and go to
bed thinking about hunting.
I feel it is a gift from God that
allows us to enjoy the great outdoors and his magnificent creation. His
blessings are poured out into my life as I am privileged to travel across North
America and Canada to pursue some of my dreams and passions. I am also on the
Mothwing Camoflauge Prostaff which allows me to meet a lot of individuals with
the same passion for hunting that I have. I do believe and practice trophy
management. Through this I have been blessed to have harvested numerous Pope and
Young animals. However, it’s not just the size of the rack or number of points,
but also, the hunt and who you were with and how you were able to influence
their lives, and they yours.
This
passion has sparked other hobbies as well. I started doing taxidermy work a few
years ago. So I get to spend a lot of time in the off season looking at trophies
that others have been blessed to have harvested.
Best Regard, Van Simmons
LEW
SAUDERS
The year was 1960 when the
minimum wage was $1.00, and the year that I turned 12. That was when it all
started. The “it” for me was the beginning of my hunting career. Along the way,
God has blessed me with many opportunities to enjoy his creation. The first few
years my father concentrated on teaching me the “ins and outs” of Pennsylvania
hunting. That first year carrying a .410 shotgun and harvesting a beautiful male
pheasant in an Amishman’s field east of Lancaster was
the highlight of my season. In
the following years, I progressed into whitetail and
turkey hunting. Unfortunately, my father passed away in 1967, but he had ignited
a passion within me that still burns today. While I have hunted with most
weapons, my passion has revolved around archery gear, first with a recurve, then
a compound and now a crossbow.
The hunting is my passion, but the most important "thing" in
my life is my family. I have a son and daughter who are both married and
they have blessed Carolyn, my wife of 40 years, and myself with four wonderful
grandchildren. While the grandchildren are a little too young to hunt,
they are getting into fishing. I hope to be able to equip all of them with
their first bow and .22 rifle.
My hunting experiences have led me through a number of eastern, southern and
western states, as well as several Canadian provinces after turkey, waterfowl,
whitetails, antelope, mule deer, elk and bear. One of the most challenging
but yet rewarding hunting opportunities that I have had was a trip to Alaska to
hung caribou and brown bear. If you go to Alaska to hunt, ther are several
things to remember. One take at least 2 good rain suits, because it rains
most of the time. Two, make sure that you are prepared to take care of yourself
just in case something happens to your guide. Three, you are not at the top of
the food chain, those bears with the 5" claws take the top spot. It is hard to
imagine the excitement that you feel when and 800 pound brown bear is walking
along a narrow lake shore and getting closer to you with every step. I
wish each of you sometime could have the opportunity to experience how that
feels.
In the past few years, I have had the opportunity to bow and crossbow
hunt in South Africa. As a North American hunter, we have all learned to
recognize the North American animals. What an interesting experience it is to
suddenly need to learn a whole continent of new animals. Things like a zebra, a
red hartebeest, a blue wildebeest, a kudu, an impala, a nayala and
so on. If you ever get a chance to go, do not even
think twice about it. Do it
When I am not hunting, I have been involved in teaching the bowhunter education class in Pennsylvania for the past 20 or so. My
specialty in the class is to teach tree stand safety. I am on
the pro-staff for Summit Tree Stands, so
talking about hunting safety from 16 feet up seems to come naturally. If you
hunt from a tree stand, please wear a full body harness and use a safety rope
from the time you leave the ground until you return to the ground. If you do not
know how to do this, please contact me and I will be most happy to show you how
to do it. A few years ago, arthritis in my shoulders forced me to move from a
compound to crossbow. I have been fortunate to have joined Ten Point Crossbows
as a pro-staffer. This gives me the opportunity to spread the word on how to
safety hunt with a crossbow, and to dispel some of the myths that exist
concerning crossbows.
I am looking forward to helping Kevin promote the Kishel's
line of scents. Many people have discovered the effectiveness of the Kishel's
products, and I am going to spread the word to as many as I can. When you find a
product that is at the top of its category and actually performs as the
manufacturer claims, it is a pleasure to use it and promote it. Kishel's
products are in this category
So, good luck to you in the next hunting season, whenever that is for you. Shoot
straight, hunt safely and introduce a young person to your passion.
Johnny Kennedy took this
Axis buck at 48 yards
in Texas using Golden Rod Cover Scent.
Johnny Kennedy
- 2005 - Louisiana
Kevin ... I used a bottle of Golden Rod
Cover Scent and had as many as 8 deer under my stand with
north wind dead in their face and never smelled me. That made it too
bad for the one in the picture.
Johnny Kennedy
Nikon
Sport Optics - Archery Prostaff Manager
-
Louisiana --
Johnny is from Louisiana and is involved in many archery related activities.
He is the ProStaff Manager for Nikon Sport Optics, a staff writer for Women
Bowhunters, a Professional Archery Range Designer, A.S.A. Lifetime Member,
Senior Pro A.S.A. / IDO Circuits for 7 years and a Level 2 AA Instructor.
When he is not busy with all of this Johnny is a Elk and Mule Deer Guide and has
instructed over 7500 kids in schools on hunting over the last 2 years.
Johnny won 4th
place overall in the IBO Southern Triple Crown and
with that came a New 4 Wheeler - 2006.
2007 Season for Greg
Yarbrough
Buck
was taken during the rut in Southeastern Pa. He was lured in with
Buckthrasher I. A 20 yard shot took him down. He's a nine point
roughly 150" and weighed in over 200 lbs. The Golden Rod cover scent
kept him from detecting my scent.
2007 Trapping Season
Kevin .... I gotta tell you,
your products are just
down right amazing. What an awesome day on the trap line today. With
just a small line out right now, I took 7-red fox, I opossum and a
big boar raccoon. The Triple Dig-it and Crossbreed Call are just
kicking some royal butt. My catch percentage is running about 30%.
As one of your pro staffers I couldn't be happier that I made the
switch to Kishel's products.The
success truly is in the bottle and I'm looking forward to many more
successful days on the line. Thanks for offering such outstanding
products. I'll have some pictures on the way.
Kevin, today
is probably the most awesome day of my trapping career. I caught my first
coyote today. This is significant not only because it is my first, but
because they are rare in the area where I live. It is a big beautiful
female. I caught her on
Triple-Dig-It.
Thanks for the awesome products. Like I said ....
Kishel's Rules!! - Greg Yarbrough
- November 2005
“Did somebody say Kishel’s”
Well this big boy must have heard it because he came right in on
Doe Passion.
With Kishel’s deer lure it just doesn’t get any better!
Greg Yarbrough - 8 Point
2006 - Taken in PA
Greg
Yarbrough
--
Pennsylvania --
Greg's
2008-2009 Season Comments:
Kevin, I hope all is well and I hope you had a great season this past
year. Our trapping season is still open for a couple weeks but I have concluded
my season at this time. Kevin, it has been an awesome season to say the least.The success I am having with all of your products I have been using just
keeps getting better and better. I think the more a hunter/trapper uses a
Product line, they become more aware of the effectiveness of the products and
the various ways of effectively using the products. I have never been this
pleased with any other product line.
The trapping season was nothing less than incredible for me this year. I run a
modest sized line each year and for the amount of set locations I operated, I
enjoyed a 30% average throughout my season. There were some days my catch was as
high as 50% and one day in particular I had a catch at every single farm. On
that day I had 14 farms set up and caught 7 red fox, 3 raccoon, 1 coyote and 3
opossums....... an animal at each farm.
On my canine line I used Triple Digit and Trigger exclusively in the first
portion of the season, then switched to Crossbreed Call for a change up. Things
ran pretty much 50/50 with the Triple Digit and Trigger which told me that the
two are a deadly combination. I use two sets at every location. I lure the set
on the left with Trigger and the set on the right with Triple Digit. There's
just no deadlier combination. As things began to slow up a bit, the crossbreed
call started filling up the sets again.
I ran fewer traps than I usually do on my water line this year. The success on
big boar coons in my land sets was so good, I put more effort into the land
sets. The water line did however produce very well with coon mink and muskrats.
I feel I had a very rewarding trapping season overall.
In summary, I think my my group did very well using and promoting the company
products this year. We did very well doing our part in field testing another
outstanding Kishel's deer hunting product and provided some nice photos and
testimonials, that , combined with some nice catch and location photos on the
trap line, and our usual sharing of success stories with countless other
sportsmen, made for a great year promoting the Kishel's line of quality hunting
and trapping products.
I hope you are pleased with my pro staff efforts from this past season. I take
great pride in using Kishel's products and sharing the product with others. I
have seen many success stories unfold as a result of other hunters and trappers
using Kishel's products for the first time. I'm sure I'll never know just how
far our efforts in promoting the product really go. On the way home from our
opening day deer hunt this past year, we stopped at a restaurant for dinner and
attracted quite a mass of hunters who saw our deer on the rack on the back of
the truck. It was a great opportunity to share our testimony about the new
Spiked Deer Urine and other Kishel's products. We'll never know how far our
words will reach as a result of just that one of many other encounters with
other Sportsmen. The neat thing is, the proof was right there for all to see and
we were more than glad to tell them why we have the kind of success we have.
I hope God blesses the Kishel's company in the same manner the companies
products have blessed countless sportsmen all over the country.
Greg Yarbrough is the executive producer for Brandywine River Productions. Brandywine is a Pennsylvania based video production company and is a leader in the industry of outdoor video productions. Greg has produced 10 top selling video productions over the last 10 years featuring archery hunting for white-tailed deer in several states in the north and south east.
Greg has accomplished sponsorships with a number of companies such as Golden Eagle Archery, Browning Archery, Easton Aluminum, Lacrosse Footwear, Rocky Mountain Broad heads, ASAT Camo,Wildlife Research Center, Thunderwood Game Calls, and more. Greg also served on the advisory staff for Arrow Adventure Magazine and is an accomplished outdoor writer and photographer. Greg has been featured in numerous newspaper and magazine articles and has made several television appearances on outdoor programs. As a trapper, Greg has been putting fur on the stretcher for over 25 years taking Raccoon, Fox, Mink and Muskrats. Greg brings 24 years of deer hunting and trapping experience to the Kishel's Pro Staff.
Personal comments: "When I head out on the trap line or climb into my favorite deer stand, I like to have a number of options to put fur on the stretcher and horns on the wall. When it comes to bait and lure products, I want the best I can get my hands on. I look foreword to a successful upcoming year using Kishel's complete line of products for all of my hunting, trapping and photography needs".
NewYork -
2003
Montana -
2005
Jeff Rettig
--
Pennsylvania --
Jeff is a Hunter, Trapper and Fly Fisherman.
Jeff
operates the website
for Kishel's Scent & Lures, Inc.
As long as I can remember I
have been involved in the outdoors either camping, hunting for small game, Fly
-fishing for trout and ultimately the pursuit for Whitetail Deer and Turkeys.
There was a big learning curve for me as I had no other family members involved
in the outdoors and that has fueled my passion for the outdoors even more. I
became a licensed guide for NY in 1999, focusing on Archery and Muzzleloading
hunts as well as Fly-fishing so that I would be able to help others with their
passion for the outdoors.
My guiding career has lead
me to become a Thompson Center Pro Staff Member and a staff shooter for Mathews
, as well as being involved with Orvis and Simms on there guide programs on the
fly-fishing side. Working with Bristol Hills Outfitters has given me the ability
to learn a lot about habitat management as we have worked closely with products
from the Whitetail Institute on our own property. I have applied this knowledge
and consulted with other land owners to help them develop a proper plot
management plane for there own land for increased enjoyment.
Except for my family there
is nothing that gives me such great joy as being in the outdoors. I am blessed
to have a very understanding wife, who puts up with my addiction for the
outdoors, and 2 daughters 12 and 10, and a son 3, who are well on there way to
becoming stewards for this great sport as they are able to see that there are
more things to do than play video games for entertainment .
I have enclosed a few
pictures as both deer were harvested using Buck Thrasher II and coming from
fields of Whitetail Institute Chicory Plus.
2005 - New York
Owen Haers
I have been in
the outdoor industry since 1995 working as a videographer for Kishel's Scents &
Lures, KITS Turkey Calls, Skyline Hunting the Horizon and Ron Tussels' True
Woods Outdoors. I am presently on Pro Staff for Kishel’s Scents & Lures, KITS
turkey calls and Skyline Camouflage.
Working
for these great companies has opened many
opportunities for me. I have traveled throughout the majority of the U.S. and
Canada - hunting, trapping and videoing many species of game animals. I have
been from Maine hunting sea ducks to Colorado hunting elk, from Manitoba on
black bear hunts to Oklahoma turkey hunting, mostly as self guided hunts. Most
of my younger years was spent hunting in the state of Wyoming, where I harvested
many trophy antelope, mule deer and a few nice whitetails. Still, one of my
favorite seasons to remember is the
muzzleloader season in New York,
when I harvested one of the state’s biggest muzzleloader bucks on record: gross
scoring just over 170.
In 2003 I
became a Licensed Guide in North Dakota, working for Harvey Biber of North
Dakota Outfitters, spending most of October out of state. With very little time
for scouting I always manage to get out long enough to fill my freezer thanks to
Kishel's products.
Since the
passing of my father in 2002 the fear of losing my knowledge and skill of
trapping has pushed me back into the fields and water where I followed my dad as
child. It was hard to get back in the groove after not running a trap line for
at least 11 years, but with the guidance and encouragement of Kevin and a few
bottles of Kishel's scent products I got the job done.
2009 Buck - Canada
Todd took this bear using
Kishel's Bear Scent with a
bow.
This 375 - 400 pound bear in Ontario, Canada was 6' 4" from nose to tail.
Todd brings in a wealth of experience and knowledge of the outdoors. Having spent the better part of his young life in the woods, Todd knows first hand that a quality scent can make the difference between success and failure. He has hunted numerous states around the country with bow in hand with success.
Todd also serves as pro staff for Primos Hunting Calls, PMI Cover Systems, scores for The Northeast Big Buck Club, is a staff writer for The New York sporting Journal and writes numerous other hunting articles, conducts various seminars and in store events. In addition he has 9 Pope and Young Bucks and 1 Boone and Crockett under his belt thus far.
In Memory of Eric York - May 2, 1970 - November
2, 2007 Wildlife biologist Eric York
died on Friday November 2nd, 2007 at his residence in the Grand Canyon.
From Erick York - I started hunting and trapping while growing up on a small farm in western Massachusetts. I received a B.S. in Wildlife Management from the University of Maine and a M.S. in Wildlife Conservation from the University of Massachusetts. While at college I began trapping for research studies and since then I have captured and studied a wide variety of species from around the world. Most of my work involves capture of small carnivores for radio-telemetry studies. Here in the States I have studied fishers, martens, coyotes, and lynx in the Northeast and coyotes, bobcats, gray foxes and badgers in the Southwest, where I am currently working. Recently I have been fortunate enough to travel to different countries to capture different carnivores for biological studies. I have been to Nepal to catch fishing cats and civets and to 3 regions of Chile to catch South American foxes and small wildcats. Overall my work has allowed me to capture 20 species of carnivores on 3 continents. Though I do not get a chance to trap recreationally much, I still enjoy trapping to harvest fur when I can. When I'm not working and traveling I enjoy hunting in whatever areas I'm working in or back on the farm in Massachusetts.
This message was received from Eric York on 6/15/03: ..........
Hi Kevin ..... Just thought I would drop you a line to say hi and give you an update. I'm still in southern California looking for mountain lions. Unfortunately, I spend a lot more time looking than catching. We still have only two lions collared in the Santa Monica Mountains, and after covering the area pretty well over the last year, I think these may be the only 2 left in the mountains. I have just moved my trap line north of the 101 freeway for the first time and have found sign of a female lion there. I'm putting all my effort into catching her now. But with the large area she covers it may be a while before she gets back to my traps. This July / August I will be heading to the Grand Canyon to catch mountain lions on the South Rim. Hopefully there will be more cats to be had there than here. After that I will head back to California hopefully find more cats somewhere. There is a short article on our project at:
2004 -
Kevin ..
I'm still busy out west working with mountain lion,both in Arizona and in southern California. I'm slowlygetting sample sizes up to where we are finding outsome interesting things. In southern California we are learning how the largecats are surviving in and amongst all the people thatlive and recreate there. All with rarely be seen ordetected. They really can be elusive even in a verydeveloped landscape. I'm sure they see and hear peopleand pets every day and the still just eat deer. Thelions in our study don't bother the people at all,unlike some other cats not to far from ourstudy area.
In Arizona we are learning how
they use the rim of theGrand Canyon and surrounding
areas. We seeing a lot ofmovement of young cats (as
expected). One younger maletraveled about 70 miles
south to the Flagstaff areaandtook up residency
there. There are plenty of deerand elk to prey on
throughout the area.These two studies keep me
pretty busy but I had sometime to hunt a bit this
year and made it back toAlaska to get a caribou and
got some time to shoot anice 2 x 3 blacktail in
southern California. I haveattached some photos of them.
Hope you are well, and trapping and hunting seasons
have been good to you. ..... Eric
2005 California
Blacktail This
Blacktail was shot at about8000 feet in the southern Sierras. Not a bad deer forthat area. After packing him out 2 miles and down 2000feet I was glad he was not any bigger.
Hope your fall is going well also .... Eric
2006 -
I did shoot a small fork-horn in
California
Chile: Culpeo fox, South American gray fox, Darwin's fox, guigna, hognosed skunk.
Nepal: Fishing cat, small Indian civet, palm civet, Indian mongoose.
Pakistan: Snow Leopards
2002 -
I'm still in Southern California. I have started working on catching
mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains. The big cats are in
the same areas as the coyote/bobcat work I have done here. As with
the smaller species they are having to adapt to the freeways, houses
and people here. It is really interesting seeing where they go. The few we have radio-collared travel in and around the houses and roads without a problem, often hanging around unseen right outside of the estates in Malibu. It exciting to catch a lion, we are using foot snares, its a little trickier drugging a 140 pound (and very angry) cat than it is a 30 pound bobcat or lynx.
2003 -
Hi Kevin ..... Just wanted to send a few photos of our latest California lion. Caught him last week just in time to head to the Grand Canyon this week to start work. He's a small (85 pounds), young male, that already has traveled a long way from where we caught him. It will be interesting to track his movements in and around the urban areas where he lives. Will send more photos from the grand canyon. ...
2006 -
Well this has
been a busy year. Lots of mountain lion work both in California and
in Arizona. I moved to Arizona and now am based at the Grand Canyon
to head the mountain lion study there. I'm also involved in a
bighorn sheep study along the Colorado River in the Canyon.
This
fall I also got to do some coyote trapping for research in southern
California. As with some other states footholds have been banned
there but I was able to use snares for capture work. I still used
my favorite Kishel's lures to draw the
coyotes through fence lines, and down trails where I had snares
hung. Coy
Dog II and Triple Dig-it
were very effective at bring coyotes off of roads and into the
snares.
My biggest
adventure this year came with a trip to Pakistan to catch and
collar snow leopards
for the International Snow Leopard Trust. I spent 6 weeks in
Northwest Pakistan (Chitral Gol National Park) setting snares to
radio-collar snow leopards to learn movements and biology of these
big cats. The work was at the western end of the Himalayas, just
south of the Hindu Kush Range, we worked at 6500-10,000 feet but the
mountains ranged up to 21,000 feet there. Very steep country. Lots
of snow this time of year. It was a great place to work.
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