Liberty Chesapeakes, a union-owned outfitter near Stafford, Kansas, offers goose hunting in the heart of the central flyway on private land near Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, where millions of geese gather at the peak of migration and remain for much of the winter season. 

Brett Graham, a member of the International Association of Machinists (IAMAW) local lodge 839, runs the outfitter service with his son and gives 100% to ensure that all clients have a safe and enjoyable hunt.  As a supporter of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance, Brett offers a 15% discount on all guide services to USA members. 

My goal for each guest is for them to look at me afterwards and say ‘man that was a blast.’  The experience they get here is more than killing birds - it’s seeing more birds than they’ve ever seen in the sky. - Owner Brett Graham (pictured right)

Guests can expect to see large numbers of Canada geese along with a good number of speckled bellies and the occasional snow goose. Plus, they have the opportunity for early morning duck hunts as an added bonus.

Set-up
Liberty Chesapeakes uses state-of-the-art equipment to achieve the greatest access to optimal feeding grounds and large numbers of birds.  Guests hunt from Avery Migrator or Finisher blinds in harvested corn fields or Avery power hunter layout blinds in winter wheat, depending on the birds’ feeding patterns.  As for decoys, Liberty Chesapeakes uses up to 14 dozen Avery FFD full body and 14 dozen Real Geese silhouettes.

The Season
The season begins November 7^th and runs through the middle of February for Canada geese and early January for White Fronts with a 9-day late season in February.  The weather can be very chilly, but Liberty Chesapeakes is dedicated to helping prepare guests for their trips with up-to-date information on the weather, bird activity and other useful details.

Youth
Liberty Chesapeakes welcomes kids and will go the extra mile to make sure they have a great time in the field.

Reviews          
I went on a guided, father-son goose hunt last year with Liberty Chesapeakes, and it was fantastic.  Brett did a great job of preparing us for the trip - making sure we understood the setup and what kind of birds we would see.  Then he did everything to ensure we had a great experience in the field, taking extra measures to get my boys in the best position to see the birds and to have a great time.  He even brought them hot cocoa. -Bryan Yourdan

I’ve been on three hunts with Liberty Chesapeakes, and we fulfilled our bag limit each time…On our last trip, there was a lot of snow coming down, and birds were landing right on top of us.  It was a once in a lifetime experience. -Mark Piskorski

Contact Information
Brett Graham
316-773-5130
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

 
Additional USA member businesses and outfitters offering discounts will soon be posted on the USA website. 

We’ve all used maps, at one time or another, to get from point A to point B.  Now consider a customized map that marks tree stand locations on your property or pinpoints the exact location of the fishing hole where you caught your biggest stringer.

Thanks to a new partnership between the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance and MyTopo.com, maps will soon take on a whole new meaning in your outdoor pursuits.  With your USA membership, you can now register for a FREE, one-year MyTopo Map Pass digital map subscription, valued at $29.95, and enjoy a 20% discount on all customized maps ordered from MyTopo.com.

"We think the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance is a great new program, and we’re very excited to provide USA members with a comprehensive mapping service and a powerful set of tools to enhance their experience and safety in the outdoors," said Paige Darden, Vice President of MyTopo.com.  "We strongly believe that nobody should enter the backcountry without a true-to-scale, navigation-ready map," said Darden.  "And I believe MyTopo.com is the easiest-to-use mapping service out there." 

Your MyTopo digital map subscription gives you complete access to topographic maps and color aerial imagery for the United States, which you can save, email or print in unlimited numbers.  You can choose your map’s text, symbols, scale and size; upload and download GPS waypoints; measure areas and distances and so much more.

According to Darden, the digital mapping service is a great tool for planning hunting and fishing trips because you can create a map of the area you plan to cover and email it to buddies to get their opinions.    When final travel plans are made, you can print a map for each member of your party as well as someone back home or even a park ranger.  This also works well for Boy Scout troop leaders, hikers and anyone exploring the outdoors. 

"We’re very excited to be able to bring a great partner like MyTopo on board with the USA to bring added value to our members through products and services they can get real use out of in the field or on the water," said Mike d’Oliveira, Deputy Director for the USA.  "We’ve received some really good feedback from members who are looking forward to accessing this Map Pass service, and I think we will see folks taking advantage of the full range of options that MyTopo offers right away."

MyTopo.com has always been driven by and geared toward the needs of non-professional, outdoor enthusiasts.  The company began with two map consultants, one an avid hunter and one an avid hiker.  When they continued to get calls from friends asking for customized maps, they realized they could use their technical skills to produce a unique map product for everyone who loves the outdoors.  They broke the boundaries by going beyond maps that only cover the most popular recreation areas and eliminating the need to buy several topo maps for a single trip.

Now you can design custom maps for all your outdoor needs.  Click HERE to register for your FREE MyTopo digital map subscription from the Deals and Discounts section on the USA website. 

One of the best things about long hours spent waiting for that elusive buck or a tug on your line are the stories you get to share with your pals afterward. Because of this, the USA held a Member Story Contest last month for a chance to win a brand new Beretta AL391 Urika2 Gold 12-gauge shotgun, valued at $1,450.  Stories from union members across the country flooded in and told of first harvests, trophy bucks and memorable moments in the field and on the water. 

The USA thanks all those who shared their unforgettable moments in the contest.  We hope to include many of those stories on the USA website and in the USA e-newsletter in the coming months.  Congratulations to Seth Wilson, a member of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) local L-980, who was drawn as the lucky winner of the Beretta shotgun. Read about Seth and his "Two Big Bucks" below.

My Two Big Bucks
by Seth Wilson 

Having hunted just three years, I’m a rookie in the hunting field. But this past season, I got the chance to kill two great bucks, one of them with my daughter at my side. The second weekend in January 2008, my Father-in-law, his dad and I were on our weekend hunting trip. Saturday morning, we were all out in our favorite hotspots. I had been in the shooting house about 2 hours and hadn’t seen anything. Then, suddenly, a doe stepped out on the road and paused for a moment. I slowly raised my Marlin 30.30 and got her in my sights, but she started to trot away. That’s when the BIG BOY stepped out.

This was the biggest deer I had ever seen while hunting. My heart nearly came out of my chest! But I didn’t have time to get a good shot. I waited for about an hour and a half, and then a doe popped out right in front of my shooting house. I got her in my sights as she came into the field on my left. Suddenly, I saw another head pop out, but this one had a huge rack. It was the same buck I had seen earlier.

"He’s not gonna get away this time," I thought, as I pulled the trigger. He hit the ground, then jumped up and started running. He fell about 20 yards inside the wood line. By the time I got to him, I was jumping through the woods thanking the Good Lord for giving me a second chance at this monster 8-point. He was my first buck and the biggest deer I’ve ever killed, weighing in at 190 pounds.

When I returned home with my trophy, my youngest daughter, Taylor, asked a lot of questions.  She wanted me to take her hunting. Luckily, we had the opportunity to go the following weekend. It was extremely cold, and by the time we were all suited up, Taylor looked like a camouflage marshmallow. On the morning of our last hunt, we decided to try a spot where a doe had been spotted the previous day.

After being in the cold for about an hour, Taylor was ready to head back, but I encouraged her to stay a little longer. I really wanted her to see a deer on this trip. About 10 minutes later, I saw a doe running toward us. I got Taylor’s attention, got the doe in my sights and was about to pull the trigger when a glare from the sun hit the end of my scope. I couldn’t see a thing. After 10 minutes, I looked out the back window and saw a huge rack coming across the cutover. I got Taylor to the window, so she could see it. We were both extremely excited. Only his head was visible, and I couldn’t get a clean shot. We waited as he stepped out and stopped. At 180 yards, it was be the longest shot I’d ever attempted. BANG! I let him have it. Another good 8-point weighing in at 155 pounds, this buck had less mass but a wider rack than the one I took the weekend before.

Taylor got down from the stand to touch and examine the deer.  When we got back, she told everyone the whole story.  Of course, her version was that when I shot the buck "he did a handstand on his nose and flipped over."  She had so much fun and now proudly displays the buck’s tail in her room.

I hope that every sportsman gets an opportunity to spend time with a youngster and teach him or her the responsibilities and respect of being a hunter. I really enjoyed my outdoor adventure with my daughter and look forward to many years of hunting with her in the future.

Sportsmen and sportswomen   with several decades of hunting and fishing under their belts recall the days when finding a place to hunt or fish was as simple as knocking on a landowner’s door and asking permission.  Times have gotten tougher for hunters and anglers as fields and forests give way to subdivisions and shopping centers and more and more "No Hunting" signs appear on private land. 

But the tide may begin to turn thanks to a $4 billion increase in conservation funding and the inclusion of the Open Fields program in the 2008 Farm Bill.  Open Fields has been the signature issue of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP), a coalition of conservation organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions of hunting and fishing.

Open Fields is designed to support voluntary, state-run programs that provide incentives to private landowners who allow public hunting and fishing access on their land. Many states have established such "walk-in" programs, while many others have expressed the desire to create them. An added bonus of many of these types of programs is the fact that landowners who enroll their property are required to manage their land to the optimal conditions for fish and wildlife.

"Open Fields is a winner on all fronts," said TRCP initiative manager Geoff Mullins. "It helps farmers and ranchers by establishing new financial incentives, it helps fish and wildlife by expanding their habitat base and it helps sportsmen by expanding the places where they can hunt and fish." 

"Declining access for sportsmen is a major cause of decline in the numbers of American hunters and anglers," said TRCP President and CEO George Cooper. "This harms rural economies that depend on seasonal influxes of sportsmen, and it harms the entire country when our citizens’ connections to their lands and waters disintegrate.

"We are heartened to see that Congress understands and is addressing those threats," Cooper continued, "and we owe a debt of gratitude to America‘s union sportsmen for helping make this clear to our elected officials. Multiple national unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO joined together to push for Open Fields, as did scores of rank-and-file union members from across the country. These folks have seen the declines in sporting opportunities in their own backyards and have done something about it."

Learn more about Open Fields and other TRCP conservation initiatives at www.TRCP.org