The Watering Hole's 2011 Big Buck and Bull Contest.

[fatrooster]

We had another great year at our contest and I'd like to thank all of you people for the support we recieved to put this event on. I especially like to thank all of our sponsors and would like to urge all of you to give them your bussiness. They are donating to our contest and giving to the community so please give it back. Again, as stated in another post, I apologise for not having our intercom system in working order but we didn't know that it was out of service until the last minute. There were a few things I would have liked to share with the crowd but it just wasn't feasible. And most important, congratulations to every single person who filled thier tag and thanks for entering our contest. Congrats to the winners and to everybody who did not win because its not all about winning a contest but instead it is about getting together and sharing a sport that we all love, hunting.
Preparation started on Friday, the day before the contest. Kyle Lawhorn and Art Taylor were up cooking the food on the Barbie and I was setting up the big tent with a group of volunteers. Everything came together and before we knew it Saturday had arrived. The bucks and bulls came in and the measurers were busy.
Bucks on the rack.

Bulls on the sidewalk.

The salesman was busy selling T-shirts and hoody sweatshirts.

Thanks to our sponsors and ticket sales we had a lot of good door prizes. Heres Jack Constable, the founder of our Big Buck Contest, and fatrooster eyeballing the prizes.

 

[fatrooster]

The day started off slow but soon the bar started filling up with people.

The food was great as always thanks to our cooks.

On the day of the contest we are allowed to have kids in the bar and the pool table belongs to them.

And now its time to meet the winners of the contest. In the adult archery category we have Marcus Burnell as the first place winner and he was on cloud nine. He told me that this was his first archery season and the first buck he had ever shot an arrow at. His smile tells you how happy he was.

Second place winner in the archery category was Ronnie Jordan with a nice velvet buck.

 

[fatrooster]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-05-12 AT 00:35AM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Jan-05-12 AT 00:32?AM (MST)

Then we go to the rifle category with the first place winner being Ralph Bettancourt. Ralph told me that he has been hunting mule deer for many years and has helped other people take some nice deer but a trophy muley has always evaded him. Finally he got his chance at a very good buck and here it is. Congrats Ralph, its been a long time coming.

The second place winner is Brandi Bettancourt who is Ralphs daughter-in-law who was only 1/4 inch away from tying for first place. Cool buck!

Third place winner is Paul Downs, sandsavage here on MM, who has also been a winner in another contest two years ago. I'm sorry to say that we just lost Paul a few days ago in an ATV accident. I'm grateful to have had the chance to have known him and to have had him be a part of our contest. Thanks Paul for your contributions to the hunting community. To see the story about Paul's hunt go here. http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/DCForumID6/22222.html

 

[fatrooster]

Next we go to the Big Bull category and our first place winner is Jesse Hoover. Great Bull Jesse and congrats. The guy standing behind Jesse is Shawn Monson and is the new owner on The Watering Hole. He's a great guy and plans on continuing the Big Buck and Bull Contest and my family and I plan on helping him with it for as long as he wants to keep it going. Thanks Shawn for keeping the tradition. Once again Jesse, great bull. And quit shed hunting in my spot! Just kidding, ha ha.

Second place Bull is John Boykin. I met John and his wife at one of our contest several years ago and they are some of the nicest people I've ever met. Sweet bull John!

Next we have our third place winner Brendon Williams. Brendon is quite the hunter and has for the last two years taken two great trophy bucks and took them with archery tackle. And this year he got one kickace bull. Great job Brendon, I take my hat off to you.

Next we have a prize for the smallest buck in the contest and the winner for the second year in a row is Robbie Hood. Robbie gets a small drinking mug and gets to use it to drink free beer for one full year. But don't think he can only shoot small deer. Several years ago he won the largest buck in the contest. Good job Robbie and I feel sorry for Shawn the new bar owner. He's gonna go broke giving you free beer for the year, ha ha.

 

[fatrooster]

Now for the youth category. Youth are allowed to hunt all three seasons, archery, muzzleloader and rifle. Therefore they are all grouped into one category. Our first place winner is James Kelly who took this awesome buck. Look at that drop tine!

Second place winner is Dylan Kite. We had a problem with the first and second place bucks because they tied for first place. Even after remeasuring them they still tied. So we took some mass measurements and the winner only won by 2/8 of an inch. Congrats to both James and Dylan with two great bucks! Here's Dylan's buck.

Third place winner is Westin Warrick with this nice buck.

Wow, thats a big kid! Thats because its not Westin. Westin had to leave the contest and go to a wrestling match and Uncle Justin, aka Uncle Giggles, had to step up and accept Westin's prize. Congrats Westin, great buck. Justin, the next time you try to impersonate a kid you need to shave a little closer. And one more thing, whats so funny???? Lol.
Lastly we had a prize for the youth's smallest buck which was a Marlin semi automatic 22 rifle and was won by Zachery Daniels. Unfortunately we did not get his picture. Maybe Chris Elegonte, his Dad, can post a picture for us.

 

[fatrooster]

Here are some random pictures.
Some of the neighborhood hoodlums.

Here is Kelly who has helped us serve food the last few years. Thanks Kelly.

One of our many sponsors.

The bartenders working thier hineys off. Thanks guys, you never get the credit you deserve for the work you do during this contest.

Jesse Hoover who recieved a all you can drink Biggest Bull drink mug good for one year.

Brandi Bettancourt with the Ladies Biggest Buck drink mug good for one year.

Ralph Bettancourt with the biggest big buck overall drink mug good for one year.

This is a picture of one of last years big bull drink mug winners Gregg Fox drinking his last free beer. Drink up Bud!

The last picture is of you people in the crowd. Thanks for coming and I hope to see you all next year. fatrooster.

 

[ShowThemToMe]

Nice Job Fat Banty!

Looks like some Fun goin down!


Hot Dog,Hot Damn,I love this Ameri-can

 

[kingfish]

Looks like fun....


Government doesn't fix anything and has spent trillions proving it!!!
Let's face it...After Monday and Tuesday, even the calender says WTF!

 

[YukonDall]

FATROOSTER WAY TO GO WITH ANOTHER GREAT EVENT, I WOULD LOVE TO GO SOMETIME.......MAYBE WHEN I DRAW. FEEL BADLY ABOUT PAUL, MAY HE RIP ......LOSING GOOD PEOPLE REALLY HURTS......TAKE CARE.....YD.

 

[ELKOHUNTER]

Thanks for puting the pictures up buddy! Good times.

 

[fatrooster]

Sorry it took so long to get them posted. I've been a pretty busy man lately. ELKOHUNTER, thanks for your help fixing the electrical stuff at that guys house. fatrooster.

 

[Giggles77]

Ha Ha Fatrooster. I thought I shaved close enough to be disguised as a 13 year old kid. I even tried talking in a squeaky voice. Great contest. Had a good time. I've been getting people from out of town to come join the fun. I'll be there next year.(clean shaven)

Happy Hunting,
Giggles

 

[ARCHERYBUG]

Good job Drew! Can't wait until next years.

 

[STITZEL]

Some nice deer but who is the goofy guy in all the buck pictures on the right.... strange lookin fella?

 

[ELKOHUNTER]

>Sorry it took so long to
>get them posted. I've been
>a pretty busy man lately.
>ELKOHUNTER, thanks for your help
>fixing the electrical stuff at
>that guys house. fatrooster.


Tenis fouris good buddy.

 

[nvguy2]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-07-12 AT 04:37PM (MST)[p]www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/5943taylors_bithday_2011_069.jpg



Here is Zach's first buck( smallest youth buck). I gotta tell you guys something. We hunted all 3 weapons this year. It was difficult with him being at his dad's in California for the 1st half of the bowhunt and having football every saturday after. But, we hunted and he had shots with his bow and my muzzy and we had some awesome stalks. We only had the first 2 weekends of rifle and the 1st one we had snow. I knew my brother and I could get him a bigger one, but Zach just wanted a buck. I let him make the choice and I tell you, he was sooo excited. Made me sit back and think about when I was a kid and size was not the only thing on my mind. I totally agree with trophy hunting, but wanted to share this with you. Size din't matter to him. A huge thanks to fatrooster. If not for him, Zach wouldn't have won the rifle. He was pretty happy.

 

[nvguy2]

Hope this photo uploaded. All I show is the red X in the box in the top left corner. I have seen this on other posts, but can't open. Can someone let me know what this means and if this pic uploaded properly. Thanks

 

[fatrooster]

Chris send it to me at [email protected] and I'll try to get it posted. fatrooster.

 

[nvguy2]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-08-12 AT 09:52AM (MST)[p]http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/7628taylors_bithday_2011_069.jpg will try again. Did same thing with not all the text. Maybe that's why. Don't know.

 

[treedagain]

very nice 1st deer

 

[fatrooster]

Nice first buck. I really like the picture in the snow. Thanks for posting it Chris. fatrooster.

 

[takeahike]

This was the first time i was able to attend the contest and i had an awesome time! I can only imagine the amount of running around it took to get all the prizes and everything set up. I will be back next year!

As for shed hunting.....well if i dont get my house finished you wont have to worry about me...but if i do make it out ill let you and daisy tag along drew!

 

[fatrooster]

takeahike, I'm glad you came and had a good time. And if I do see you shed hunting I'd be glad to tag along. fatrooster.

 

[ShedOholic]

Fatrooster - Great job by you all as always.......look forward to contest every year. I know you guys hate having to be defending yourselves every year with the sore losers, cry babies, un appreciative, don't have a clue etc's but I know that you all know you have way more supporters than not. Next year just don't give them so much ink save it for your supporters.
Feels like bone picking time.....

 

[fatrooster]

Shedaholic, I understand and feel what you are saying. The people who won, did so fair and square and I kinda hate to see people disrespect thier winnings and thier accomplishments especially when it comes to the kids. Maybe I am being too nice to those people but I honestly do want each and every person to enjoy themselves. We've been reminded several times how we like to say its about the youth. Well youth can be used in singular or plural and in this case its plural. Its not about one kid but many kids.
Shedaholic, thanks for the support and kind words. Hope to see you out in the hills shed hunting. And if not, at next years contest. fatrooster.

 

[BigSurArcher]

Congrats to all the hunters, and great work Drew! As you know, my dad and I came over from CA and hunted NV this year. Wish it was closer, I would have loved to attend to share stories and meet some new folks. I still plan on taking you up on that cold one next time I'm over that way! Keep up the great work. It means more to those kids than they realize right now.

www.bowhuntingetc.blogspot.com

 

[DougW]

fatrooster-looks like a great time was had by all; where is the waterin' hole?

 

[fatrooster]

BigSurArcher, I've got that cold one waiting for you whenever you come back.
DougW, the Watering Hole is located in Spring Creek accross the street from the Koury's gas station/scoreboard casino/ace hardware shopping center. We have it every December. Come on by during our next contest. fatrooster.

 

[ELKOHUNTER]

>BigSurArcher, I've got that cold one
>waiting for you whenever you
>come back.
> DougW, the Watering Hole is
>located in Spring Creek accross
>the street from the Koury's
>gas station/scoreboard casino/ace hardware shopping
>center. We have it every
>December. Come on by during
>our next contest. fatrooster.


Aka the "Aspen shoppig center" Spring Valley PKWY & Spring Valley Ct