Blood Brothers Outdoors Season Reports

Midday Success in Wisconsin!

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:56:38 -0600

Well, success came my way Saturday at 12:30 pm when I shot this
bruiser in Wisconsin. I had several days of miserable, wet, windy
weather, but I stuck it out and fortunately was in my stand when this
guy came past mid-day. He's a 4 and a half year old that had given my
buddy Shawn a really close encounter in early season. I haven't put a
tape to him yet...story and details to come. Good luck everyone!

Ahh November!

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:47:13 -0500

Most of us are in the woods as much as possible these days. I have
several friends that were enroute for their out of state hunts today.
Me, well I'm working today. I have a funeral to attend early next
week that has thrown a wrench in my plans to hunt Buffalo County this
weekend. But I'll be there mid-week and hopefully in time for the
next cold snap. The bears eluded me this fall. I'm itching to whack
something... Good luck everyone!

Obama Does NOT Support 2nd Amendment

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:02:57 -0500

Please read this letter from someone with direct experience with Obama:
Obama Does Not Support Right to Bear Arms - Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson Issues Open Letter to Nation's Sportsmen Regarding Obama's History in the Illinois Senate

Ashley and Cody D'Acquisto Score in Illinois

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:17:15 -0500

Ashley and Cody D'Acquisto recently killed these two great bucks
while bowhunting in Illinois. I'm told Ashley's grosses 181" and
Cody's 160". Congrats!!

No Blood Yet

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:20:08 -0500

The bears are whuppin' us this fall so far. Dan and Lee recently returned
empty-handed from a second try for bear in Minnesota, as did I last weekend
after going hunting four straight nights in the UP for bear and not seeing a
single bear. They were not hitting some of the baits and remain nocturnal at
the others. I'll be heading up in another week for one final go at it.

In the deer woods, I missed a golden opportunity on a nice buck this past
week because of work! I saw a nice 8 point, about a 125-130" 3.5 year old,
which is a nice buck around my parts of Michigan here, on my way to work. I
glassed him for several minutes and knew right where he was headed to bed. I
just KNEW he'd be back out in the evening in a certain spot I've regularly
seen them return to in the evening. But as work and luck would have it, I
got caught up in a meeting until 6:30pm and wasn't able to scoot out early,
hang a stand and kill this buck. Sure enough, when I passed by the area at
7pm, there he was, feeding contently right where I would have been
setup....so it goes.... I setup for a morning sit at midnight that night.
Overnight rains helped the setup but I don't think helped the buck stay on a
pattern. I saw a small buck in the morning was all.

Now it's Saturday night and I just returned from a scouting mission. I saw
the buck again! I'll be setting up on him tomorrow evening....we'll see how
it goes this time! More to come. Get out in the woods whenever you can blood
brothers....

Recent Article in Kalamazoo Gazette

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:56:34 -0500

The Sunday (September 20th) issue of the Kalamazoo Gazette featured a nice article on us and how we got started. You can read it here.

Bear Hunt - Day 3

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:17:25 -0500

Finally got to see a bear on my 3rd evening of the hunt. I had a
small bear come in to the bait. Got nice video footage of him.
Nothing big. The hunt continues.

Recent Deer Mounts by Jarrod

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:08:21 -0500

A few pictures of a couple more mounts I just finished.

Rainy Day 2 of Bear Season

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 06:37:16 -0500

Day two in the books and still no bears sighted. Last evening's hunt
was a wet one. It rained hard for pretty much my entire evening sit.
All the baits were hit though so I'm giving it one more evening sit
before heading to Wisconsin to deer hunt the opener. North winds
predicted today and south winds predicted Saturday so any glassing in
Wisconsin tonight would likely be irrelevant for Saturday's
action...so it'll be a late night drive to get there in time for a
morning doe hunt. More to come.

Bear 1 Jarrod Zero

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:16:59 -0500

Day one of Michigan's bear season is in the books. No bears sighted.
I think I had one coming in after shooting light but can't confirm.
The woods were dead silent and I definitely heard something walking in.

It's great to be back in the UP this week. We have some great
looking, really remote stand sites...makes me feel like I'm in
northern Alberta or something. There are lots of bears around but a
few of our baits have gone cold in the past couple days. I'll be
hunting tonight and possibly tomorrow and then heading to Buffalo
County for the deer opener Saturday.

Marsh Bucks DVD Available at Gander Mountain and Fleet Farm

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:42:19 -0500

Those of you who don't wish to purchase off the internet or by check
can now buy our video in some major stores! Gander Mountain and Fleet
Farm will be carrying our Marsh Bucks DVD in 9 of their stores
throughout Wisconsin. Be sure to ask for them if you don't see them.

Bear Season's Almost Here!

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:08:28 -0500

Dan and Lee are leaving today for their Minnesota bear hunt, so I'm
wishing them luck. Dan's wishing that he gets charged on the
trip...then it'll be complete.

I drew my bear tag here in Michigan this fall and will be hunting the
Upper Peninsula starting September 10th in the Gwinn unit. Jeff
DeBacker of Superior Game Ranch has some great bears around his area
and has been running some baits for me. I sent him up one of my
Predator trail cameras recently to get some pictures of what's been
coming in. Jeff says the bears are tearing things up! I'll post some
pictures when we get some. Only a couple weeks left and then on to
Wisconsin for the bow opener!

Field & Stream September Issue

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:04:17 -0500

We have a small mention in the new September issue of Field & Stream.
It has a jumping buck on the cover. Page W13, part of the whitetail
handbook section.

Bowhunter Magazine Whitetail Issue - Front Cover Mention!

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:02:39 -0500

I received word this morning that our feature article in Bowhunter
magazine has just hit the stands and there's a mention of it on the
cover! It's the special whitetail issue that they release every fall.
We're looking forward to seeing it and hope you all enjoy it. Thanks
for your continued support.

Recent Taxidermy - Andrae's 2007 Bucks

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:38:59 -0500

Here are some photos of the two bucks I finished for Andrae (D'Acquisto) of
his 2007 Illinois bucks.

Articles to Look For

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:55:47 -0500

We've recently been featured in an article for Bowhunting World. Check out the August issue.

Bowhunter Magazine is doing a feature on us for the October Whitetail Special, so we're excited to see that too.

Dan just got a great article on hunting public land in Wisconsin published in the magazine "Hunting the North".

My brother and I were just published in The Huntin' Fool's August issue for our Arizona elk hunt in 2007. They used several of the great photos I took on that trip and my brother John wrote a great article. If I can get their permission, I'll post a few pictures of the article, but you can read abou the entire trip and see photos in one of my older Season Reports from September of 2007.

Also watch for a small blurb about us in an upcoming issue of Field & Stream.

Maestro eLearning Update - The "C" Word

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:48:25 -0500

My partner, friend and president of Maestro, Josh Little, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer a few weeks ago now. There are many unknowns yet, but Josh did have his thyroid removed this past Wednesday, and he's home recovering nicely so far. The coming weeks and months will be a challenge as his body copes without thyroid hormone and then undergoes radiation treatments and as we run the business without our president. The news so far has been positive, but it just doesn't come fast enough. It seems to take forever for doctors to give accurate diagnoses. Please say an extra prayer for Josh and his family. I'll post updates when I have them.

Josh has a blog he posts updates to at: http://project-cancer.blogspot.com/

Bull Elk Taxidermy Project Part 4

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 09:33:04 -0500

Here's my brother's elk in his final resting place...the basement trophy
room.

Bull Elk Taxidermy Project Part 3

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 09:31:02 -0500

All done!

Bull Elk Taxidermy Project Part 2

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 09:34:24 -0500

Photos coming soon. I've got the elk mounted now and it's drying nicely.

Supreme Court Gets One Right - Strikes Down DC Gun Ban!

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:31:18 -0500

My brother pointed this one out to me today. Praise the Lord, they got one right!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,372041,00.html

Bull Elk Taxidermy Project Part 1

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:32:22 -0500

My newest project is mounting the giant bull elk my brother shot last
fall with me in Arizona. I'm making the antlers detachable so it'll
make it down to his basement. It's an open-mouth bugling pose. I had
to customize the head position for antler clearance and because of
the form size. More to come soon.

New Whitetail Addictions Site Launched

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:14:19 -0500

One of my latest projects has been a complete re-vamp of the Whitetail Addictions website. Check it out at http://www.lonewolftv.com and let me know your thoughts. I've added a dynamic News and Reports area which will keep users up to date on all the big bucks the guys are chasing throughout the season. It has the ability to accept posts directly from email and cell phones so this should lead to some great participation and content. Look for the new 2008 episodes to start very soon on Direct TV's Pursuit Channel.

Backyard Fawn

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:00:25 -0500

Had a couple visitors in my yard today!

Spring Update

jarrod@bloodbro.com (Jarrod Erdody, Dan Infalt, Lee Gatzke) — Wed, 21 May 2008 07:37:17 -0500

I've been more of a stranger than ever to our site as of late and just thought I would fill ya'll in on the reasons for that. For those that don't know, last August I finally "quit my day job". That's right, I gave up a 6 year stint at a well paying, stable, secure, flexible job with Stryker a global leader in the medical device market. I had been Stryker's in-house creative guy, making training videos, print materials, websites, and more. I learned a lot while there and it was in all honesty a great gig, but something was missing.

Over my years at Stryker, I met Josh Little. Josh is a brilliant educator, trainer, and salesman. He and I used to speak at length over lunch about "the future" and what it held for us. Josh and I worked together on an elearning initiative at Stryker. Well, Josh 95%, and me 5%. I basically just counseled Josh on the creative side of various agencies he was looking into as an elearning provider for Stryker. Josh could not find the right provider and thought that starting an elearning company with the right talent base could be just the thing to spawn his entrepreneurial dreams.

With his division moving to Dallas and his new position being out of his real passion of education, in April of 2007, Josh made the leap. He quit Stryker. He started Maestro eLearning with a goal of being the world class eLearning provider that he could never find while at Stryker. Josh's initial direction with Maestro was different than it is now, and I had my second child due in May anyway, so I had no reason to pull the plug on my income security just yet.

In July of last summer, I lost one of my very best friends, Jeremy Gordon, to a motorcycle accident. This only further cemented my inclination to move on from Stryker to bigger and better things. Life is short. We only get one chance at it and if I didn't do something about my unsettling situation while I could, I'd forever regret it. However, I knew I wouldn't leave Stryker just to go "work for the man" somewhere else.

Josh and I continued to talk. I did some contract work for him to help him out as he got things rolling a bit. In August, Josh offered me a share of ownership in Maestro. I would come on board and run the creative "wing" of the business. At that same time we also brought on Jim Bertolina as our VP of business development. Jim was another colleague of ours from Stryker. He has a PHD in medical physics and would bring even more medical expertise to Maestro. A few months later we brought a long-time friend and colleague of Josh's on as another partner and our VP of Sales. Jen Randall had been in sales at Johnson & Johnson for the past eight years or so and was just tearing it up there. We knew if anyone could help our cause in sales and fight through the long sales process involved with corporate elearning, it would be Jen.

These last several months have been tough. Little to no pay, scraping by off savings, LONG hours, watching every penny, and fighting to build a list of clients and a work process to keep them happy. We worked remotely from our home offices and gathered at Panera Bread (free Wireless internet) as needed for face to face meetings. This past February we hired our first full time employee. In March, we hired our second, then third, then fired our second. Stakes rose as we now had to make sure we could always pay our employees before any of us.

We quickly were reaching the point where home offices and Panera gatherings weren't cutting it. On April 1st, we moved into an office on the west side of Kalamazoo. We're now almost two months settled into our new office space. I have three designers working full time for me. We have another full time sales rep and also three instructional designers. Things are looking up but the work load is arduous. I haven't set foot in the woods yet to hunt turkeys this spring. It was all I could do to scout a few potential whitetail spots this spring. We see the big picture and are confident this company will eventually give us the financial freedom and time with our families and other passions that we originally quit our day jobs for, but until then, it is nose to the grindstone. I promise more hunting related reports ahead, but just wanted ya'll to know what I've been up to.

Jarrod