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Wensel Article

I'm really showing my age here. If I had to guess I'd say it was in the late 1970s or early '80s I wrote an article for BOWHUNTER Magazine about back-tracking whitetails on snow as a learning tool in scouting. The article was nothing special but It was an unheard of learning technique at the time. I'm somewhat embarrassed to say I don't remember the year, no less the issue, no less the title of the piece. I was recently going through tubs of old magazines I had written articles for and realized it was missing. Any time I can't find something I assume it was lost in our storage unit fire in '99. At any rate, if any of you old guys happen to save those old magazine and maybe have a copy of that issue, I'd appreciate an email at: [email protected]. Thank you all. BW

I remember the article Barry, was great info, even backtracked a few times, but don't think I still have the mag anymore, but if I do still have it and run across it, will send it to ya...

Barry,,,,,,,,,,,, I was mentored in N Wis in the early 70's, by a trapper, to teach me to deer hunt. I was 24 at the time. He was spring scouting back then, and loved to back track anytime there was snow...... That old guy knew his stuff..... I hope you find your article, I would like to read it.

Barry,

Maybe Curt Wells can access it in the Bowhunter archives?

Thanks for all you’ve done to teach and give back to bow hunting over the years!

Mark

Barry, I sent you a private message with Jeff Waring’s contact info. He should be able to find the issue. Good luck!

Barry, I don’t have the magazine, but have subscribed to bowhunter since the mid/late 70s. Most likely I read it. Thanks for all the great articles you have written.

I remember reading it but gave away my back issues of Bowhunter when I moved from CO to BC. Many good articles from Barry and Gene!

Don't have it, but I also remember reading it, good read. Bob

Im looking now… if I have it it’s yours…

I did find this right away…lol

Wow Shug that is organized! I usually don’t know where something is from last night much less 45 years ago. Hope you find it for him.

Just give me what I paid for it…$1.25…ha ha.

I’ll drop it in the mail..

Dr. Barry Wensel??

Is that like Dr. Jill Biden?

Sorry Barry, just couldn't resist...

Shug - you're the man!

I'd say Barry has a doctorate in bowhunting! ;-)

Shug- that is impressive..................................bordering on the "obsessive!" : )

You guys should see my sock and underwear draw!!!

Pat… I also came across 1 or 2 from Dr. C. Gene Wensel Maybe G Fred Asbell stole it from Gene?

Bet Shug's got a heck of a Hustler collection, too!

midwest I think he uses something else to besides years to catalog them though.

Pretty cool though that bowsite can take a break from the politics and find something for someone from 40-45 years ago though when needed.

Shug, can you share the year and month of the magazine? I may have it and would love to read the article again. I had read the article in the past and I have benefited from applying the concept. Thank you Barry for sharing the information.

John- I agree- and was betting someone on here could track it down! Bowsite is a great resource!

Thank you guys for all your kind words. We always appreciate hearing that. And I want to especially thank you Mark for being so organized. Guys like you make the rest of us really look bad! You're probably one of those guys who folds his camo too. Ha. Anyway, thanks again.. I owe you since I can't swing the $1.25 right now. A couple months ago I had a guy mention he was reading my book "Once Upon A Tine" for the third time. It's now out of print but it made me realize a lot of people don't mind re-reading a book or watching a classic/favorite movie multiple times. Just for the heck of it, I went through some tubs I had of old magazines I'd kept over the years. I came up with fifty-eight magazine articles I had published since the early '70s. I haven't written as much in the last few years as I did in the early days. Anymore, it seems like I need to be inspired to write because it doesn't come easy for me. But I do like to share my opinions. I can look past the "not so fancy" writing skills if I feel I've planted a seed for someone to nurture and build on. So... I've been considering editing and republishing some of the more popular old pieces I've written over the last almost fifty years into a "new" book. I'd like it to be both entertaining and educational though. I've chosen about two dozen of the old pieces and additionally have written three new opinion/ how-to articles so far, containing not so common whitetail knowledge to be included. After I get everything compiled I'll need to find some young guy to walk me through all the new, high-tech idiosyncrasies of the newer "print-on-demand" formats so we're not forced to order/ pre-pay and store thousands of copies of books like we used to have to. Anyway Shug, if the above ever comes to light #1 off the press goes to you. Thanks again. BW

Barry, I would gladly buy that book. Shug you the man and way more organized than I am.

That’s a great idea Barry , a way to preserve and pass along some of your lifetime a student of whitetails. Thank you

That’s a great idea Barry , a way to preserve and pass along some of your lifetime a student of whitetails. Thank you

That’s a great idea Barry , a way to preserve and pass along some of your lifetime a student of whitetails. Thank you

That’s a great idea Barry , a way to preserve and pass along some of your lifetime a student of whitetails. Thank you

Thank you Wapiti Chaser; Thank you Wapiti Chaser; Thank you Wapiti Chaser; Thank you Wapiti Chaser ! Ha. I couldn't resist. bw

Barry, didn't I remember reading or you saying a few years ago you had old personal cassette recordings of you and Roger Rothhaar talking whitetails from back in the day? Copies of that would be a cool addition to your future book (hint, hint)...8^)

That’s a great idea Barry , a way to preserve and pass along some of your lifetime a student of whitetails. Thank you

That’s a great idea Barry , a way to preserve and pass along some of your lifetime a student of whitetails. Thank you

Barry, I know that you know Bryce Lambley and I would recommend you reach out to him on the self book publishing/printing. I think he does his own.

Zbone: Yes, I really should start a new thread on this subject as I'm torn on how to handle this and would appreciate some feedback. Roger Rothhaar and I started corresponding back in 1971. He lived in Ohio and I lived in Vermont. I was a 27 year old "kid" and he was a few years my senior. Both of us had similar burning desires to learn more about whitetails. You have to realize fifty years ago there was very little information out there on whitetails, which is all common knowledge nowadays. We had personal theories, a lot of which have now been proven fact. In a nutshell, Roger and I corresponded with each other for years via both typed letters and cassette tapes. I have personal letters from him that are 4, 5 and 6 single-spaced typed pages talking about whitetails. Then, because typed letters were so time consuming, we started recording ourselves on cassette recorders for hours talking about our pioneering theories on trophy whitetails. Now the bad news, I kept a bunch of these (years worth) that were lost in our storage unit fire in '99. The good news is I had a few others stored separately, i.e. "one hour-long cassette Roger to Barry 1974" and another hour "Roger to Barry 1976", etc. I also used to document my own personal seasons via cassette tapes at the end of each hunting season. I have my 1982 and '83 season cassettes saved in the same batch as well, plus several other unmarked cassettes. Who knows what's on those? I'm getting carried away. My first question is deciding whether these pioneering whitetail letters and tapes should be shared openly for posterity since they were personal letters/tapes? Or maybe edited? My second concern is the fact the cassettes were recorded on standard cassette/film tapes that are now fifty years old. They would need to be duplicated professionally, if they even can be, without falling apart and lost forever. I think what I need to do is try to have these digitally duplicated professionally in order to have a master copy for posterity and go from there. BW

That would be interesting to listen to. As popular as podcast are these days, I would think at least us hunting 'nerds' that many of us on bowsite are would choose those over another modern podcast. It might be like some of the old Fred Bear video. Terrible quality video by todays standard yet still awesome to watch.

I still have that copy of Bowhunter. That was a great piece of advice. We don’t seem to get enough snow anymore to be able to use it. But I have learned a lot doing that.

Barry you should do it! Petersen's Bowhunting did it with some of dads back page stories. I think it's a great idea. Was going to say I can look through dads office and see if I can find the magazine you are looking for, but it looks like Shug is pretty dang organized in the magazine department! Always good hearing from you.

Darrall Dougherty

Bowhunting Legend^^

Yes, Roger was in my opinion one of the best whitetail hunters to have ever lived. He was a thinker, very intelligent and blessed with a lot of common sense and patience. He understood a lot of the details and pieces of the puzzle many people overlook. And he was generous enough to share his opinions with those who were interested. I recall him telling me, rather than explaining to someone his complete read on whatever subject, he would throw them a partial piece of the puzzle in hopes it would encourage them to form their own opinion and enlighten everyone involved. That right there is a brilliant way of teaching/learning, i.e. teach a man to fish, rather than give him a fish. bw

It don’t get much better than this. Barry, for all of us whitetail nuts please do it. And Darrell, your dads “ back page” articles were the best. Grew up reading those stories and, Barry and Gene’s articles and books. My goodness how fast 50 years has gone by.

Shug, that is so cool that you had that article. I bet someone has told you how crazy you are for saving those for so many years but, they sure came in handy today. Barry, hope you follow thru on your idea. Sounds like a winner for sure.

I think Barry should do this. How awesome would it be to learn from the best. I cannot imagine a better information source

I sure hope this happens. There just isn't much content I like to read these days, but this would surely be something I would buy.

50 years ago I was just a skinny kid trying to build up enough muscle mass to handle shooting a 40# recurve. Was reading everything I could on the subject stumbled upon a few Wenzel articles from magazines Dad brought home. He was a trucker and had a big circle of friends who bowhunted. Fast forward to the 1990s the Wenzel books and videos got me through toughest time of my life with Lymes and a bad divorce. Fast forward to 2020 took my teenager to one of his speaking engagements so my son could hear Barry and get his bow signed. Next week we are going turkey hunting something we only dreamed about in 1971 much less being able to hunt whitetails as they were almost wiped out by successive bad winters. Thank you Barry and Gene for all the memories. Your legacy is intact with people like my son and some of his friends. Again Thank You.

SHUG for the win!!!!!

Keep writing and inspiring Barry!!!

Mark

I wonder who that guy in the vintage article photo is? Nice buck!

Bowhunters are just the best, even guys from Joysy.

Some Small dude in that picture, to make the buck look bigger. Must have been the Dwarf

Barry, pay no mind to the stuck together pages on that magazine Shug is sending you.

"Stuff" happens. It was along time ago........

Ewww

I was a teenager in the 70s..magazines and TV shows were all we had to keep up with the archery world..I imagine I read that article but it's been a long time ago.

Shug's Care-Package arrived here in PERFECT condition yesterday. I appreciate all the feedback and help from you guys getting this located for me. By the way, the faceless skinny guy in the accompanying photo of that article who is bent over starting to field dress that nice buck was my little brother Gene. Thanks again guys. bw

I remember the Old Man having a box of cassettes from sending them back and forth with you, I have no idea what happened to them, last I saw them was before he moved to Iowa, so late 80's maybe? I don't think they made the move to IA. Saw Gene with a watermelon he harvested too. I belive he used a Zwickey Black Diamond broadhead. Still got that picture around here somewhere ;).

R

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