Deer Hunting with Full Draw Outfitters

Most hunters would agree that hunting is not just about catching the biggest bear, buck, doe, or other animals. Professional bowhunter Fred Eichler talks about his passion for bowhunting and why he uses traditional bows for his escapades. For him, hunting is both an adventure and a mission. With adventure and building bonds as his goals, Fred shares his worst and most memorable hunting experiences in interesting areas across America. He stresses out that if you want to learn more about hunting, you can always take advantage of social media which is the best space for knowledge sharing and learn from other hunters.

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Deer Hunting with Full Draw Outfitters – Fred Eichler

I’m with Fred Eichler. Fred is an icon in the industry. He’s one of the funniest guys that you’ll ever meet. He’s like that whether he’s packing out an elk, loading hay or just hanging out. Fred was the first one in 2009 to take the Super Slam. That’s all 29 big game animals with his recurve. Fred, welcome.

Thanks, Bruce, it’s good to be here.

I want to start off with how did you begin your quest? It goes back to your hunting tradition from your family, wherever that came from. You’ve done some things that a lot of people are dreaming and are still on their bucket list. How did that all come together?

I did come by hunting through my family, both my father and my grandfather were outdoorsmen. Just like Michele, my wife, her father started Muzzy Broadheads. Her dad was an outdoorsman, as well. Everything I did I wanted to do in the outdoors. One of my first jobs was working in an archery shop, then I worked for Bear Archery. I took a job managing an archery shop in Fort Collins, Colorado for a while called Arrow Dynamics. I worked for a great guy there named Jim Widmier. I was actually working for Jim when I heard that Chuck Adams had completed the Super Slam. Like a lot of bowhunters back then, I think that was the late ‘80s, I was like, “What is the Super Slam?” I started researching it and it was everything, all these animals.

I was like, “That is cool.” At the time I was shooting my recurve a lot and I thought, “I wonder if I’m physically and mentally tough enough and a good enough shot to try and harvest all the species of North America. Wouldn’t that be a cool goal?” I was making about $19,000 a year managing an archery shop and I was making a few extra thousand during the winter months selling coyote, bobcat and pine marten furs, so that goal was very unattainable in my mind. I thought, “The only way I know to do things is work hard, try and save my money, and maybe go on one hunt a year for different species.” That’s what I started doing.

I shared a small one-bedroom apartment with my friend. It was like camping out because he had a cot on one side of the little room and I had a cot on the other side of the little room, but we would save all our money and spend it on hunting. My goal was to experience different things. I would definitely say that Fred Bear and Chuck Adams were large influences in that because I wanted to experience what they did. To me just like Fred Bear, it was never about the biggest animal, it was more about the experience. Seeing the different places, meeting the different people. The goal to me was to at least see all 29 species.

You talk about traveling. I call it the journey of the hunt. Many times when we’re working, I did most of my travel hunting when I was working. You just throw it into five days. I remember I flew up to DC in five days. I took a mountain goat and a wolf all in a five-day hunt, which was nuts. We were running and gunning. I had an outfitter, he was so good. We packed up, we reached a trail on a horse, and we were gone. He said, “We’re going to come back when we get done or time runs out.” Audience, we’ve got Fred here and he’s got great stories and everything, but he says something. It’s about the journey. He learned that through Fred Bear with his journal. He wrote about the places and the people that he went with, the campfires and everything surrounding the hunt. The hunt is a big part of it.

Fred Bear’s Field Notes were amazing. He did an amazing job of telling a story.

We’re fortunate enough to be able to have that information. Talking about traditional bowhunting, I know you hunt with everything, but what’s so special about a stick and a string?

It feels more natural. To be perfectly honest, some guys are like, “It’s a traditional bow and that’s such a great feeling.” It is a great feeling, but in a lot of cases a traditional bow is a more efficient bow to have. I’d be fibbing if I said, “I shoot a traditional bow strictly because it’s more of a challenge.” I don’t think that. In a lot of hunting situations, a traditional bow is actually giving me an advantage. I’m trying to go with an easier bow in a lot of cases. The fact that I can draw and shoot fast, it’s quieter. I don’t have to rely on as much technology. It’s a lot of fun. I gravitate to the traditional bow because it gives me an advantage in a lot of different hunting situations. I do like the way it feels. I like everything about it. I like that it’s my own strength pulling it all the way back. I don’t have a problem, and I also shoot compounds, pistols, rifles, muzzleloaders and everything. There is definitely an allure to the longbow and the recurve in a lot of situations, especially in most situations where animals are harvested 25 yards and under. I think you have an advantage with a traditional bow.

Let’s unpack that a little bit, an advantage. The audience here, they’re buying Bowtech, Mathews or any of the top-flight great brands out there. They are compounds. I had a guy when I first started bowhunting who said, “Just get a stick and a string. Get a longbow, get a recurve, and learn how to shoot first. Move on from there.” That’s what he did. I never killed anything with a bow, but I became proficient at 20, 25 yards. I think that’s taking from what you said, that little word of wisdom that everybody should at least learn how to instinctive shoot. Your thoughts?

When my dad taught me to shoot a rifle, the first thing I learned on was a muzzleloader. A BB gun first, and then the muzzleloader. Dad was like, “I want you to understand about the cap and the flash that goes into the powder charge and that creates the explosion that pushes the projectile out the barrel and the rifling.” A muzzleloader was a great way to learn about how a firearm works. With archery equipment, I do think it’s nice and all of our kids started with longbows and recurves, and they could go their own way. If they wanted to still shoot the traditional bow, a compound or a rifle, whatever they wanted to do. All of them like us jump seasons. During the archery season, they may use the bows and then jump into the rifles. For me, it’s such a fun way to shoot. I tend to shoot more arrows when I’m shooting with a traditional bow because it’s a little slower and my arrow isn’t going to skip off into the bushes 100 yards. It’s just something about it that feels a little more natural and it’s a good way to start.

With traditional bows, you can draw and shoot faster and quieter. Share on X

One thing I want to add, you probably realize this. The last time I did some research with Pope & Young, the average shot distance for a whitetail was 26 yards. Those are large bucks obviously that are 125 or over, but the average distance was 26.2 yards, or whatever it was. It was right in there. That’s perfect traditional range. A lot of people think archery is, “I’ve got to be ready for that 40 or 50-yard shot.” To me, archery is a lot about that close-range shot and trying to overcome the animals’ hearing, sight, smell, and getting them in that close range and making a good shot. That lends itself a lot of times to traditional archery if somebody chooses to shoot that.

Readers, tabulate your own kills on whitetails and see how far they are. Give it some thought. That’s going to roll right into what I wanted to talk to you about, preseason prep. Food plots are going in and treestands are being looked at and they’re cleaning up their shooting lanes and all that. Give us some advice for the whitetail hunters out there for preseason prep.

One of the things I do is I run trail cameras 24/7 all year. It costs a little money on the SD cards and stuff. Cameras aren’t cheap but it’s worth it to me to have trail cameras in the field 365 days a year because I can see when the whitetails are dropping their antlers and when they’re growing their antlers. I can see where the bucks are tending to hang out, which trails they’re using, how they’re getting back and forth, whether there’s agriculture planted or not, bedding areas that some they use all year. One thing that I like to do for preseason, which is all season, whether it’s on or off is I run trail cameras all year.

I’ve tried to be super cognizant of scent when I can. I try to go in and check those trail cameras in the middle of the day when hopefully the sun will dissipate my scent by that evening when most of the animals are bedded down. I’m also cognizant of when I go in there to grab the trail camera card. I do like doing a lot of long-range glassing. I’ll set up a spotting scope, binoculars. Not only here in the west where we can watch whitetails sometimes from a mile away, but even when I’m out east. I may be hunting Georgia. If I can watch a field or watch a power line cut without being intrusive on the animals before season, I’ll sit back and do a lot of watching. I try and learn and figure out as much as I can from a distance before I get in and introduce my smell, unnatural noise, and things like that to the whitetails’ environment.

You’re talking about 24/7 trail cameras. Are they for elk, mule deer or everything? How does that work?

I use it for absolutely everything. Especially here in Southern Colorado where I’m at and where you’re at, we’ve got a unique situation here because we’ve got whitetail, mule deer, elk, bear, mount lion, antelope, and turkey within a fifteen-minute drive. Of course, the whitetails tend to hang near the waterways, the river bottoms, creek bottoms, but I will specifically set up cameras. A lot of times I’ll catch multiple species, but I’ll have certain cameras set up and I’ll go, “I’m trying to watch whitetails with this trail camera.” I’ll set a Stealth Cam up over here and this one is more for watching elk because it’s in an area that the elk utilize a lot. Even though I’ll have them set up for different species here in Colorado a lot, I will generally try and focus on specific species. Out east sometimes I’ll set up on waterholes to see when are the antelope coming in to drink water, what am I looking at for bucks or for does? I will literally utilize them all year for all kinds of different species.

The takeaway, one, whether you’ve got a 40 or you’re hunting multiple states, there’s a way to do it to keep tabs on what’s happening with your game.

It’s the same on public land. I still hunt and guide a lot of public lands, as well. There are 1.3 million acres of wilderness area. We still hunt not only state wildlife areas, but wilderness areas. It’s the same thing. Sadly, and it breaks my heart that a hunter or an outdoorsman would ever steal from another one, but I tend to hide trail cameras. If I’ve got a Stealth Camera that’s on public land or wilderness area, I’ll try and stash it where people can’t see it very well. You can certainly take advantage of those on public land areas no matter where you’re hunting. You know how it is when you’re sitting in one treestand or ground blind, I’m always thinking, “I wonder what’s going on over the hill,” or “I know I should be in that other treestand, I just know it.” Sometimes I’m like, “Maybe I should have put them over here.” The nice thing about a trail cam is then you can pull that trail camera card and go, “I should have been over there,” or “No, I was in the best spot I could have been.” I like it for that reason.

We’re going to tune up our bows, or our rifles in preseason prep on the whitetails. What other things should we be doing to get ready? What should we be doing out here to make sure we’re ready for day one of our hunting season?

It’s been browbeaten and you’ve heard the expression “Don’t beat a dead horse.” I tell guys, “You don’t have to be a marathon runner.” Some people make it sound like you have to be in absolutely amazing shape to hunt elk. I think it’s important to be in as good a shape as you can be because it’s going to make the hunt more relaxing. My dad guides elk hunters and he’s 71-years-old. You don’t have to be this fitness guru to go out and enjoy an elk hunt, but it’s important to be in good shape as you can be. I also think this has been gone over a bunch is equipment. Make sure you’ve got equipment that’s lightweight, durable, and is stuff that you actually need. I see a lot of guys every year going with either too much stuff or not enough. Lightweight rain gear, just things to make myself more comfortable in the field are extremely important.

Knowing my realistic range, there are all kinds of things we can take advantage of technology-wise. Rangefinder, to make sure I know the exact range. With a bow, whether you’re shooting a recurve, a compound, knowing the yardage can be a very valuable thing, even more so if you’re using a compound with pins. Even as fast as bows are, if you misjudge yardage by four to five yards, you’re going to miss that animal’s vital zone and maybe even completely miss the animal. Rangefinders are important. Making sure they’re matching up with what you’re shooting. For rifles or muzzleloaders, as an outfitter, I see guys that over-gun themselves. They come out elk hunting and, “I bought a brand new .338.” I’m like, “What are you doing? You’re from Michigan. Why don’t you just bring that same .257 Roberts or .243 or .30-06 or .270?” Whatever it is that you shot the majority of your deer with that’s accurate, that you’re not flinching, bring that. I tell guys my friends have never lost an elk and they shoot a .257 Roberts a bunch. They all started because it’s their grandfather’s gun and that’s what they all shot their first elk with. I’m like, “Shoot whatever you’re comfortable with.”

Also, know your effective range. It’s tempting sometimes because everybody wants to be successful to put a limitation on yourself. I try and tell myself when I’m hunting this and I also try and preach it to my clients when they come out. Whether it’s with a rifle, a muzzleloader, a crossbow, a recurve, a compound, a handgun, whatever you’re hunting with, pick the yardage that you know you’re comfortable with and stick to it. I think when mistakes in the field happen or when somebody, unfortunately, loses an animal, a lot of times it’s because we’re trying to stretch that like, “There’s that elk, there’s that bull I want or that cow elk that I want for steaks to the table.” I try and limit myself to that comfortable range and I try and ask my clients to do the same thing.

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Since you are an outfitter with Fulldraw Outfitters, you own that very successful operation. You can go to Fred’s website and check that out. What do you do with a guy that comes in with somebody from Gunwerks or Best of the West gun? He thinks he can shoot that far. I’m not trying to open a can of worms, but there are guys out there and ladies just because they went and spent the money for that type of gun, they think they can reach out and touch somebody. How do you handle that as the chief ramrod for the outfitter?

Me and all my guys have dealt with that situation at one time or another. There is a huge difference between shooting a target and shooting an animal. Every person is different. I’ve seen guys that couldn’t consistently shoot at 50 yards with a rifle. I’ve seen guys that could consistently shoot at 350 yards, and further range on steel plates. The biggest thing to me is an animal can move, an animal can take a step. No matter how good of a rifle shooter you are, trying to go upwind can be extremely difficult. One thing that we have almost everybody do is shoot before they go out hunting, whether that’s an archery client, a muzzleloader client or a rifle client. A lot of times a little realism of, “Here’s the distance that you should be shooting at.” Fortunately, we’re the final say. We’ve pulled guys off animals that it was too windy and we didn’t want them to shoot even 250 yards.

It’s such an individual thing that I have no problem telling somebody, “That’s too far to shoot.” We also added a wounding policy that it’s at our discretion because it discourages people to take shots that they don’t think they can successfully make. That’s helped us out instead of guys, “I’m going to give it a try.” We say, “No, we’re not just going to give it a try. This is going to be the shot that we’re going to take and we’re going to make a successful shot.” We have actually a very low wounding rate here and I think a lot of it’s because me and my guys put some limitations on guys. Even if they can shoot farther, we want them to be as close as we can be.

Tell us about Fulldraw Outfitters, your TV show, and where we can find you on social media.

We’ve got a fan page on Facebook, Fred Eichler – Fan Page. We’re also on Instagram, Twitter. We’ve got a show. Basically, what we’ve done, is we’re combining Predator Nation where we show and teach people how to skin properly or how to call in all kinds of different predators and Easton Bowhunting. It’s where we try and show people tips on bowhunting, whether it’s a recurve or a compound, whatever you’re shooting. We’re combing those shows into a show called Everything Eichler. It’s going to be airing on Sportsman’s Channel for four times a week. We’re excited for that.

Fulldraw Outfitting?

The outfitting business, it’s Fulldraw Outfitters. We’ve been guiding clients on a little bit of everything, whitetail, mule deer, elk, bear, mountain lion, turkey. That’s almost all in Southern Colorado. We’re permitted on about 1.3 million acres of wilderness area, and we leased quite a few ranches. It’s a combination of private land and public land. We have a good time. We work hard and we make a lot of friends all over the country, which is a fun part of it. We stayed busy, but that’s what makes it fun. 70% to 80% of our guys are repeat clients every year and that makes it fun because some of my best friends I’ve met through the Outfitting business. That makes it great. As you know, Bruce, the hunting industry is an awesome industry and a lot of good people are in it.

Fred, going back, you’ve got story after story. What’s one of the highlights and what’s one of the ones that maybe you learn your hardest lesson?

Some of the highlights for me, I’ve been seeing and meeting people from all over the country. I’m a big fan of people that enjoy doing what I do. If you’re an outdoorsman, it doesn’t even matter if you’re a mountain biker, mountain climber, a hunter or a fisherman. People like that I can relate to and I enjoy spending time with people like that because our stories are similar. I hate to lump it in one group, but to me, outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen seem to be better people. They’re more respectful. They seem to appreciate the natural world that we live in as opposed to the artificial one that man has made. The highlight for me has been meeting some great people and seeing some amazing country. That’s really a blast for me. The downsides to me of traveling and doing some of the hunts I’ve done is I’ve had some close calls, some scary things that have happened that I puckered up a little bit. I’ve been charged by brown bears, grizzlies, leopards. An alligator bit me in the knee in Florida. That was no fun. I’ve had a few crazy things that have happened as well. I had a pilot crash, a plane one time in Alaska. We were stranded in the Alaska Range. The search and rescue came in and got us. I’ve had some crazy adventures, both fun ones and some that were a little scary, but there’s been more than one time. I couldn’t have got a grease BB because I had a serious fracture.

Tell us about Alaska, obviously, you walked away from that small plane and Alaskan wind and all that goofy stuff. What happened there?

Those bush pilots are some of the best pilots in the world, but they fly in the absolute worst conditions. Those guys fly in conditions that a commercial airline would go, “No, we’re not even taking down the runway in this kind of weather.” Because of the weather they fly in, it’s extremely dangerous. I had a friend of mine that we were moose hunting. He left us in the field. They head back. He flew back and didn’t come back. We found out that he had crashed his plane. He vibrated off on takeoff or one of the guys who forgot to put it back on, but as he was flying, the gas was siphoning right out of his wing. By the time, he realized that he went down and crashed. He was in critical condition and couldn’t even tell anybody where we were. That was a pretty scary situation.

I’ve had a few times where planes have hit runways and spun out. I’ve been in all kinds of crazy situations with boats. I had a boat flip with me on a trip with Dwight Schuh the editor of Bowhunter Magazine one time. I almost drowned from that one. We were stranded. Those guys didn’t have a radio. Fortunately, some native guys that were up there hunting ended up coming down the river, spotted us, helped us out and got us out of there. It’s always an adventure. There are things that can happen. You don’t hunt in your backyard. It’s one of those things I tell people to always try and be as prepared as you can. That’s all you could do, but don’t let the fear of something happen prevent you from having some great adventures.

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When you and Dwight lift then you had to hangout, build a fire, and do all that whole stuff.

He was funny because Dwight was in camp when the boat flipped. We were supposed to be back in the middle of the day and Dwight had no idea at the time we had flipped. He said, “Fred, when you guys didn’t show up that night I got excited because I thought maybe he must have shot a bear and they’re still out taking care of it.” He said when he woke up the next morning and we weren’t back, he knew there was an issue. There have been a couple of crazy ones, but that’s always fun. I don’t know a hunter or an outdoorsman that doesn’t have a story or situation whether it was ice breaking or a time where they maybe got a little turned around on an elk hunt or almost had a security situation in a treestand or climbing up the steps.

Some people are hesitant. I’ve been fortunate. You’ve been fortunate. Our friends have been fortunate to go out and mix it up and make it back. I was referring to the kid named Christopher James up in Calgary. As a high schooler, he broke his C2 and he didn’t know what he was going to do. Getting into hunting he realized, he could get back and mix it up even though he had something come against him. Adversity is what makes us stronger. As a hunter, I know you’ve seen guys that either will make or break the hunt, not because anything else except that they just won’t push them through. Let’s talk about the mental process, that adversity when we face it. Every hunt I’ve been on had been that moment, “Are you going to quit? Are you going to continue?” You might not say it but you’re right there. Talk to me about that.

People in general, I think we’re softer than we used to be. Michele’s mother took up bowhunting at 75-years-old. She had been a rifle hunter, but she wanted to bow hunt and she was out turkey hunting with us and I’m like, “I’ve got a few aches and pains. How many does she have that she’s still getting out there turkey hunting?” A lot of it is that mental toughness of, “I may be cold, uncomfortable, hot, but I’m going to put that next foot in front of me.” In society, people are very quick to quit. I’ve had guys say, “I can’t make it up this mountain.” You can, just take a break, then you’re going to take another step and we’ll make it up there. I think that adversity and pushing yourself makes you a better person, man, woman or child when you push yourself both physically and mentally. For me, almost anything pushes me mentally. I’m not good at math. There are a lot of things that push me. My wife would tell you that I push myself mentally every day.

We all got strengths and weaknesses. When you’re hunting Kansas, you’re hunting out of state whitetail. How does that work? Are you going with outfitters? Are you going with friends or DIY? Tell me about your hunts and how you get set up. A lot of people send me emails all the time saying, “Bruce, I want to go to X and hunt.” What’s your best advice? How do you do it? Why should you do it? Should you hire an outfitter? Can you do it on public land? All those questions that you get.

I love going on outfitted hunts. A lot of times I’ll tell guys, “If you don’t have the time, but you can afford it, an outfitter is a great way to save yourselves time.” If you don’t have enough time to do all the research, hang the stance, set up the ground blinds, glass for weeks on end and see what the animals are doing, an outfitter is a great way to go. A lot of outfitters have semi-guided or non-guided hunts as well. I’ve done them all. I’ve paid guys a lot less money just to have them say, “Fred, I’ve put in the research and here’s a piece of property in Kansas or Illinois that I have at least that there are good whitetails on. You may have to hang your own stance, but here’s the property that you can go check out.” They’ve done some of that foot traffic. I’ve also gone totally blind in the areas and hunted public land and harvested whitetails. There are advantages and disadvantages to all of it. It’s all fun, but when I do hunt public land, I try and get as far away from people as I can. I don’t think people sadly on public land are as polite as they were back in my dad’s day maybe. There was a certain amount of respect whether you were duck hunting, people not setting putting decoy spread ten feet from you.

It’s the same thing with whitetails, the guys hanging treestands right next to you. Although I think most outdoorsmen are great and respect each other, sadly, some people weren’t raised with that kind of respect and it has to be taught. They have to learn it. When I’m researching public land to go on, I literally will take. I use a lot of those Google maps or I’ll talk to local game wardens and biologists and I’ll try and find access points. I’ll try and get as far away from people as I can. I’ll also look at agriculture, bedding areas, CRP, dip boarders, areas that whitetails may be bedding in. Part of the fun to me is like that chess game, figuring out where you may find the animals.

If you look at a big chunk of property, there will be places where the animals are, there will be places where there are not very many. I enjoyed that chess game aspect of it. I would tell guys, “Technology, I take advantage of it.” I also take advantage of talking to local wildlife biologists and game wardens. I’ve had a lot of success talking to guys and saying, “Out of the three management areas in your area, which one would you suggest I go to whitetail hunt?” We’re paying their salaries. Basically, game wardens and wildlife biologist, they worked for the public. Most of them are good about giving you some information. Pope & Young is another good source of information. You can look at your after trophy animals. You can look and see where most of the trophy animals are coming from in this state or this region. I try and research as much as I can before I go to an area hunting. If I go with an outfitter, I may also call a game warden in the area and makes sure he’s a good outfitter.

I also ask for the names of guys that aren’t successful when I go with an outfitter. Every outfitter has that prepared lists of guys that had the best trip ever with them. That guy’s going to go, “This outfitter is the best thing since sliced bread.” I also think it’s good to have a list from an outfitter you’re thinking of going with of guys that weren’t successful. If you get a good recommendation from a guy that went out, maybe paid his hard-earned money to go on a hunt and didn’t harvest an animal, but he says, “I had a great hunt. The guy was prepared. He had treestands or ground blinds in the right area. I saw the animals but I didn’t harvest one because maybe the weather was bad. It just wasn’t the peak of the rut or they weren’t hitting the agriculture or whatever the reason was.” If those unsuccessful guys have a good reference for that outfitter, that’s probably the outfitter I’m interested in going in. It boils down to nothing’s easy. I was watching a commercial, “Lose twenty pounds with this thing you put around your waist and it jiggles your muscles and the weight comes right off.” You’ve got to work on things. Hunting’s the exact same way. If you put in the research, whether it’s on the computer or making phone calls or wearing out a little boot leather, I think you’re going to be more successful.

You and your friends are working in Fort Collins and not making a lot of money, but you said, “I can do this.” I have people, they’ll call me and they’ll say, “Bruce, sheep hunt is $40,000 or more, a moose hunt is $15,000 or more, this hunt that much.” Some of your elk hunts are worth $7,000. It isn’t cheap. I know a couple of guys and places, its $6,500 out in Kansas for a five-day hunt. It’s expensive, but just as you did it all 29. You didn’t do it with a lot of money. I know you’ve earned your money.

I did a lot of self-guided hunts. I did self-guided hunts for caribou, moose, Sitka black-tailed deer and a lot of hunts. Just like I was talking about doing the research. You could say I saved money. My wife would still say I spent some. It only costs $1,000. By doing the research, going out and doing self-guided moose, caribou, Sitka blacktail. Self-guided for a lot of different species, I did save myself a lot of money putting in for the draws. There are some great hunting opportunities. You brought up an absolutely great point there. Cheap hunts are getting out of hand. When I did a lot of those hunts, they were half what they’re charging out. At the same time, I’ve drawn bighorn sheep tags in Colorado. I’ve drawn elk and mule deer tags in Utah and different states. By playing that draw game, you can go on a lot of great hunts on public land for a fraction of the cost of some of the big guided hunts. I encourage guys to do what I did, which was save their pennies and go ahead and experience some of the self-guided hunts on public land. I’ve shot self-guided moose in Wyoming and Colorado because I drew the tag and it was a lot less money than going on a guided hunt.

The takeaway is set your goals. Fred had a goal and then he figured out how to get to it. It took him a while. It didn’t happen overnight and it wasn’t just writing checks. I notice some people out there, some of you readers can write checks and good because you’re working hard, you write your check and you’d go and do the hunt. 90% of us can’t do that. You have to work through the process. I’ve been fortunate to take a few big game animals in my life, but that’s okay. I’ve done a lot of other things that didn’t have anything to do with hunting. I fish a lot of different places. It’s all by choice. I liked how Fred said it and maybe we’ll hit this for a moment. We’re all outdoors people. We’re on common ground. Everybody reading this, we all have common ground. Throw away the job title and checkbook. We’re hunters, hikers or people who are using the same land. Your thoughts?

It is crucial to continue growing hunting as a sport and introduce it to the younger generation. Share on X

I agree. That’s where the respect comes in. I’ve hunted public land where I saw somebody else and I cut him a wide bird. We’re all on the common ground, even hunters helping hunters. I think there are a lot of disadvantages to social media, but there are also advantages to some of the social media. Some of the advantages that I’ve seen are guys trading hunts. Guys being able to contact guys in different areas and getting advice. I’ve seen some beautiful things happen because of social media where people can act and help each other out. One guy says, “I’m working my 8 to 5 and don’t have the money. I’ve got a family. I can’t afford to go out and buy a guided hunt in Illinois or Kansas, but I’ve always wanted to try and harvest a deer in that state,” and another hunter will help them out. “Here’s a great area to go. Maybe I can trade you out.” We’re all outdoorsman. It’s all about sharing your knowledge, your resources, what you’ve learned. I’ve learned a lot from people and it’s made me a better hunter. That’s one of the reasons I’m still willing to try and help anybody that I can, whether it’s through advice, tell them where to go or I encourage them to go on public land. There are still some great opportunities in the best country in the world to take advantage of hunting from Florida to Alaska on state and federal lands.

You’re throwing the Canadian provinces, they’re pretty easy to get into to hunt and to fish. All North America, it’s all the Serengeti to me. Let’s talk about Michele. She grew up in a hunting family with her dad creating Muzzy. Through Michele, talk about women in the outdoors and how that’s exploded.

I’ve heard her talked to groups of women and say that the way she was raised up, she never looked at herself any differently. Her dad took her hunting and she thought every little girl hunted. She was a minority as far as that was concerned because her dad raised her to do everything her brother did, whether it was fishing, hunting or bowhunting, that’s just what she did. Women make some of the best hunters because they don’t have that whole ego thing that guys do. They’ll listen, they learn. Women make great shots. We’ve taken a lot of fathers with their daughters, young ladies that come out here hunting. We’ve got a young lady here in the camp that wants to go shoot shotguns. I think it’s important to continue growing our sport. Sadly, the age of hunters seems to be getting older and not younger. That’s something I’d like to see reversed.

I’d like to see more people getting out there, but as opportunity shrink, as it gets more expensive, it’s tougher and tougher. That’s why I’d like to see it push towards even more people and more land set aside where the opportunities are there for everybody and for more people. I think it’s very important, not only for the outdoorsman, but I also think for the strength of our youth, for them going out and seeing what the real world is about. The food doesn’t necessarily come wrapped in cellophane in the grocery store. I have no problem with somebody that wants to go buy a hamburger or a steak at the store, but understand by doing that, you’re paying somebody to kill your animal for you. Hunters just like to harvest their own animal and watch it go from field to table and take care of that themselves.

I think it’s important that everybody sees that art of putting the meat on the table. To your point, women, kids, I love seeing them get into the sport. I’d like to see even more of it. My wife is passionate about it as anybody I know. That whole utilizing the animal all the way through is super important. It’s a great thing for families to do. My wife said when we go to a baseball game, we’re watching one of the boys play a game. When it’s hunting, the whole family’s involved. It’s a sport. It’s a way of life that the whole family’s a part of whether we’re shooting frog or whether we’re going squirrel hunting. My wife has always made a big point of thanking whichever boy harvested the squirrel that we ate that night, elk, deer, rabbit or the fish, whatever it was saying, “Thanks, Jeff or Seth or Trent for harvesting the frogs because you were having frog legs for dinner.” As a family sport, it’s better than almost anything else because most families would go to watch sports. They’re not all active disciplines in it whereas hunting, fishing and things like that, the whole family can do it.

Where does your enthusiasm come from? This guy is the real deal. People said, “He’s doing that for the film and tripping out the film and stuff.” The people that I’ve known who know you, they go, “No, the guy’s crazy.” You’re up in the middle of nowhere and you’ve killed your hundred whatever. It’s just as exciting as you’re killing your first squirrel. That’s something to behold. That’s a rare thing, Fred.

The boys would say I’m super high energy. I embarrass them a lot. I embarrass myself sometimes, but I love what I’m doing. Whatever I’m after, I put 100% all the time because I genuinely enjoy being out there. I’ve had some great people, mentors, my dad always gets excited. He’s 71 and he was guiding elk hunters with us and guys were blown away. They were like, “Your dad just pops up in the morning and he’s singing a song.” He’d be there every morning. I came from a dad that was excited about life out there, fishing and hunting and you emulate or a lot of that rubs off on you. My kids are pretty excited about hunting. My wife gets excited. I try to be happy when I can. They say, “You make your attitude.” I try to always have a good attitude when I can.

You were at shows. Shows are a grind if you’re in sow season. There you are with a big smile and a handshake. That’s impressive.

I’m meeting great people that love to do what I do. I wouldn’t be that way if I was at a democratic convention.

Fred Eichler, it’s been a joy. I’ve looked forward to this for a long time. It’s been fun to connect with you.

I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been great. Bruce, thanks for what you do being an outdoor communicator. It’s great for people to know the enthusiasm from people that love the outdoors. I appreciate what you do, sir.

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I’m happy to have Dave Barrett on the show next. Dave has Pro Talk TV. Also, he’s on Carbon TV with In A Rut. Dave is a conservationist at his heart and at his core. He’s all about hunting recruitment and getting people involved of all ages, men, women, kids, it doesn’t matter. He’s interested in reaching out people to get them outdoors. It’d be all nice if they were hunting, but fishing walks, utilizing the outdoors. That’s the biggest thing that we have challenging us in the hunting communities is we’re not replacing ourselves. We can do that with our family, but we’re going to have to start reaching out outside our family. Not only teaching them and taking them on a hunt, putting them in the stand and watching them shoot their first turkey or a deer but getting involved 365 days a year, what it means to be a deer hunter. I know you’re sure going to like Dave Barrett with Pro Talk Outdoors on the next episode of Whitetail Rendezvous.

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about Fred Eichler

Fred Eichler is a man of personal achievement. His passion for bowhunting has taken him all over the world in pursuit of his next adventure. Fred truly believes that any animal with a bow is a trophy. His personal quest to complete the North American Super Slam with a recurve bow reflects that state of mind.

In mid-August of 2009, Fred harvested a cow Tule Elk to become the first to take all 29 North American big game animals with a recurve bow and complete the Super Slam. Fred has been fortunate enough to share his love and enthusiasm of the sport with fellow bowhunters across the country through his television shows and personal appearances.

If you ever run across Fred in the woods or at your local bow shop you’ll be greeted with a big smile and friendly handshake. Bowhunting is more than a passion for him, it’s a way of life.