Welcome Josiah Stebbins to Willowpine!

We're excited to announce supporter and friend Josiah Stebbins has joined the Willowpine Outdoors Prostaff! 

Name: Josiah Stebbins

Location: LaSalle County, IL

Position: Willowpine Outdoors Pro-Staff (Deer, Turkey, Trapping)

Favorite Critter to Hunt: The elusive whitetail deer!

Favorite Critter to Trap: Raccoons

Favorite Type of Deer Call: Grunt Call

Favorite Brand of Camo:  Realtree
Favorite Treestand Company: Ol' Man Treestands

What Kind of Bow do you Shoot: Mission Craze

What is your favorite thing about hunting and fishing? 

I enjoy just spending time in the outdoors. I consider every trip into the woods  or onto the water a learning experience.  I am very passionate about getting our youth into the outdoors.  I have begun introducing my daughter to hunting and fishing very early. I began taking her fishing when she was 1 ½.  She now wants to go fishing and hunting any chance she gets. To me that's what it is all about. Without our youth our sport would fade away. Some of the best family traditions have come from spending time in the great outdoors with each other. 

Tell us about your best days in the field for deer and turkey....

Deer: My best day in the field deer hunting has to be the fall of 2012. I had just acquired a new farm in late October. I had no chance to scout the property or run any trail cams, but I went for it. I went in with a climber and set up in an area where I could see just about anything within a 100 yards or so. I saw more deer on that one day than  I had ever seen in my  entire hunting career. I ended up shooting a very mature doe. It’s not the “big buck” story of the century, but it was one of the greatest days I have had in the stand. Since then I have learned how to hunt these woods. I have not harvested a buck on this land as of now, but  they’re in these woods and I have seen plenty, just no shots.

Trapping: I didn't start running trap lines until I began dating my wife in 2008. Her dad has been doing it since he was a young man.  So I decided to give it a shot. Her father and I went out and set 35 traps for a raccoon line. We let the line sit for 24 hours and went back to check it. Little did I know what I was in for. Out of the 35 traps we set, 26 had coons that were just waiting for us to come get them. That year alone we ended up trapping 300 or so coons. I continue to learn everything he knows about trapping to further my knowledge of the sport.

A paragraph or two about how you started in the outdoors, and why you maintain the lifestyle... 

I was introduced into the outdoors when I was around 10 years of age. A family friend was a big bow hunter and I took a trip to the bow shop with him, the rest is history. That Christmas my mother and father bought me my first bow, a Hoyt Magic. The next fall I began hunting behind our house. It wasn’t until I was about 12 or 13 that I harvested my first animal. Ever since then, I have been hooked. 

The reason I maintain the lifestyle of being an outdoors-man is because I live and breathe hunting and fishing.  When I am in the woods or on the water, I feel as though I have become one with nature. I feel like so many people are caught up in the face paced life of America that they forget about the outdoors and what it has to offer. To me hunting and fishing is a way of life. I do it to feed my family, for my own sanity, and because it is a tradition that we continue to pass down generation to generation.  A man who was a giant inspiration to me becoming an outdoorsmen / conservationist had told me “ Teach a kid to hunt  and you’ll never have to hunt for your kid.” I look back now since I have had children of my own and think how true those words are. To me the biggest reason why I maintain the lifestyle is for the future of hunting and fishing, for the future of my kids and their kids.

My goal as an outdoors-man is to harvest any legal game with the old stick and string. I do not gun hunt. Not because I have something against guns, but because I enjoy the challenge of having to get animals in close. I think the closer I can get an animal to me the better job I have done of preparing myself to pursue the animal. There is not an animal that I harvest that I waste. I either eat the meat or skin the animal for its fur. I am going to start documenting my journey and I hope I can share it with anyone who finds it interesting.  

Check out Josiah on  Facebook.