ESPN Hunting

Willie's a night owl

Growing up as a son of The Duck Commander, I get asked how in the world I ended up deer hunting.

The answer is simple. You can hunt deer successfully in the AFTERNOON. You see, I was born a "non-morning" person. The only time I feel great in the morning is when I stay up all night. I'm just a night owl.

Now, this is all fine and dandy unless you live, breathe, and work in the business of hunting. Last I checked, hunting in the moonlight is frowned upon by game wardens. And yes, those guys who get up on Saturday mornings at 4 a.m. whether they are hunting or not make me sick. When I get up early, I just sit, just sit and stare. I don't know what I am looking at. I don't care. I can stare at the television like its on, even though it is not. I initially look at people I know, like my wife of 17 years, like I don't even know who they are. I look at them like I am not sure if they are even human.

Heck, I'm not even sure if I'm human at these ungodly hours. I need coffee and I need to sit, just sit and stare. Usually 30 minutes will do. And I don't like to talk. I communicate in the early morning hours through low growls and moans. There is always a chatty pants at camp who whistles and wants to spew verbal conversations. Again, I look at this person and wonder if they are human. Now, because we don't just hunt alone in a stand, I usually have a camera in my face when I'm doing it. This creates an even bigger problem. Filming hunts usually requires the person hunting to be exciting and captivating, well, at least using verbal language. This is a problem for me in the a.m.

I have been guilty of wanting my big "stud hoss" to come by in the afternoon. I feel more "on my game" then. Come to think of it, most of my memorable hunts on camera have happened in the afternoon. Remember Buck Commander has only been around for a year or two. I did kill my biggest deer in the morning though, a 160ish Kansas buck a few years back.

One method I find really helps with my particular problem is sleeping in my clothes. I always do this at deer camp and do it about half the time at my own house. I am ready to go face the beautiful outdoors immediately after rising, coffee, sitting, and staring.

Now, it does cause a less satisfying sleep experience, but that is exactly what helps me to get out bed. I don't get under covers either, I don't like to get too comfortable. When I am in my silk pajamas and buried in the covers, it is simply too temping to just keep right on sleeping.

It is amazing how clear thoughts can seem in a deep sleep, thoughts like "these deer are not moving early," and "mid-day is the only way to hunt here." All seemingly clear, well-thought out plans while my eyes are slammed shut. On opening day this past year we had an entire television crew in town and had gone over all the things we wanted to accomplish on opening day. We're talking OPENING DAY. And yes, I had an alarm clock malfunction and yes, I was a bit tardy.

I don't know what was worse for my television producer, the fact that he had a mini-panic attack that I wasn't there or the fact that when he informed my brothers and dad I was not there, they simply said "he's probably still in bed." Oh, they know me too well. Now before you throw the black robe on and start judging my love and passion for hunting, I say save it. I have also missed flights, learned all my negotiating skills from begging college professors to look past my excessive tardies, and once woke up in an empty classroom only to find the class had dismissed an hour earlier. I was facedown in a big ole pool of drool . No, I love to hunt, I just hate to wake up. Most days of hunting season, I overcome this debilitating problem. The thing that makes me overcome is the daybreak of the hunt. I don't care if it's deer, duck, or any critter. I know that game tends to move at daylight.

The morning flurry of ducks is intoxicating. A huge buck stepping gingerly down the trail in front of you as you gain light second by second is unmatched. The second guessing of whether the 10-point was in front of your stand the morning you slept in just makes you put your feet on the floor.

It is the drug the doctor can't prescribe you. Walking in at 9 o'clock and seeing fresh tracks that were not there when you left the day before will destroy you. Yes, the morning breaking through the darkness is the master motivator. If you're going to get the big deer, you have got to move before they move because you sure can't move when you see them. For you guys and gals out there that struggle to balance their love for hunting and sleeping, stay strong and hang in there. Keep reminding yourself critters move at daylight, and waking up early is all worth it when you're eating that deer steak for dinner.

And for all you people who wake up sounding like you could do a voice-over for the local monster truck pull ... SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY ... well, ya'll can just zip it until I get through sitting ... and staring!

What is Buck Commander?

For a few years, folks have asked:

"What is Buck Commander?"

"Who is the Buck Commander?"

That is a hard question. I guess Chipper Jones has already busted out that "he is the Buck Commander!"

Many think it is me since my old man (Phil Robertson) is the Duck Commander and I started Buck Commander. But no one can claim to be The Buck Commander.

The crown is passed around from hunt to hunt, from trip to trip. Some kill a big buck on a trip and think they have it and then alas, another trip and someone else has topped them. The constant jockeying for position is the fun part of it.

As far as "What is Buck Commander?" it is simply our tag line that says "Good ole boys having too much fun!" We set out to capture something simple, show what actually happens in deer camp.

Our camp is much like yours, fun, stories, kills, bragging, ragging, eating, singing. Well, maybe not singing, but you get the point.

One reason our camp is so fun is that most MLB guys have never left the "locker room" mentality. They are like big ole kids. And they happened upon the ultimate "kid" who never grew up, yes, the Boss Hogg.

I am the third son of a family of four boys. I had a dad that was "bigger than life" and a mom who is a storyteller and funny as heck in her own right. I had to go to EXTREMES to stand out. I had to do it since I was like 2, so I'm told. Growing up duck hunting all my life, I had always thought deer hunting was cool but never got much of a chance to go. We all deer hunted early in the year but when the ducks showed up we laid down the rifle and got out the shotguns. And bows? We didn't even think about it.

When I met some MLB players who had seen the Duck Commander DVDs, we got to talking, and they loved to deer hunt. I asked a few of them "why don't we make some deer DVDs?" We don't claim to be "professional" deer hunters, well Chipper does, but he is Chipper. The whole show is like one of these reality shows where you throw a group of guys together from different backgrounds, with different personalities and sit back and watch the chaos that ensues.

In no particular order, here's the crew:

Chipper, the confident, "big-name" guy with an awesome ranch. Heck, I drafted Chipper on my fantasy team back in the 90s.

Duff, the good ole boy from backwoods Mississippi, who made it to the bigs as a pitcher and has hunted deer since he was kid.

Adam, the low-key, laid-back deer assassin. He has a "dream boat" set up in Kansas and is as competitive a guy I have ever met.

Langerhans, the peacemaker who is always ready to go when the call comes. He puts his time in and has the patience to kill the big buck (he still has the biggest buck Buck Commander has ever videoed).

Tom Martin, the rookie of the group. He's the Eager Beaver, not hunted as long as the others, but he can't get enough of it. Whatever is in season, Tombo is hunting it. Tom's love for deer hunting is infectious.

And me, I guess I am the goofy one of the group.

Throw us all in camp with our buddies and watch the fireworks. There is enough ego and testosterone to blow the whole place up. Buck Commander has stood out because it is REAL. You just see it, it is not scripted, you don't have to "cut-away," we don't pay our bills off it. It's just real stuff. And some mad talent: talented shooting, talented camera work, editing, and just talented storytellers.

Our shows include "Here's a tip" by Buck Commander.

I had originally thought of the bit when I thought of everyone giving people "tips" in the hunting world. I thought it would be funny to give some bogus tips like "drink water," or "be sure and hit the deer when you shoot."

After meeting with my production team at Warm Springs and talking with ESPN, the idea of "Here's a Tip" was born. We would mix the bits with the footage we had shot and see how it turned out. I will have to say when I pitched it to ESPN, I got sort of a mouth open look and a "you're gonna do what?" I told them to "trust me, it will turn out OK." And well, you be the judge.

Then there is the Buck Commander ball suit! This was kind of an accident. I had gotten the jersey for a friend of ours Jason Aldean, a big country music singer. He was filming an episode of "Cribs" and we wanted to put a Buck Commander jersey in his house with all his MLB jerseys.

We ordered a large top and had it printed so it would look good in a frame. Well, when we got it in, I threw it on for jokes around the office. It was quite "snug" and I wore it around for the morning as a joke. I thought, "this would be perfect for the 'Here's a Tip.'" I could have it on in all the vignettes and put a baseball spin to them. And whalaa, a costume was formed.

I added some tight-fitting baseball pants and my Under Armour camo cold gear as leggings and that was my suit. I wore that thing all around the Orlando area in spring training. I got a few looks. At a gas station I was asked if I was a professional softball player. For so many of us hunting is our passion. It is what we think about all the time, but we do live in a world where everyone does not think of waking up and going hunting.

At Buck Commander, we want to bring all that together, the hunting and the "real" job and make it entertaining. All of the BC guys have jobs. Now their jobs may be hitting or throwing baseballs, but it is still their jobs.

Hunting is our escape. Yes, even I need to escape from the business of "hunting" and actually go hunting. It is same for every guy out there: You may be an accountant, a construction worker, a banker. But knowing that you and Chipper Jones do the same exact thing when you get done at work is pretty cool.

Chipper may fly in on private plane, you may drive an old beat up truck, but you get to the same place and do the same thing. You miss, he misses, I miss, you hit, I hit, he hits. You brag, he brags. You clean, you eat, and so do we.

It is the spirit of the hunt that brings us all together. The "sport" — I don't like to call it a sport because not too long ago it was survival — or passion is makes us who we are. We are deer hunters, we go out and provide meat for folks to eat.

It is hard to track any wild animal down and lay him on the ground. And let me tell you, it is even harder to capture that on video. When we do, we will put some cool music to it and slow-mo it a time or two and hope you enjoy.

Good luck fellow deer hunters out there. I hope you see the Buck Commander crew and it gets you ready to be out in the woods this fall.