Interview Series - Chad Lathrop

Since the season is getting close and I have covered everything from preseason practice to food plot preparation to treestand setups, I thought my fellow bowhunters would benefit from hearing what some hunting and archery professionals do to get ready for the season, how they got started, and learn some new tips and tricks.  There are some fun questions as well!

Chad with bow in hand

Bones n' Broadheads first victim is Chad Lathrop.  Chad is an avid bowhunter and lives outside of the small southern Iowa town of Albia (Chad refers to Albia as "God's Country"). 

Chad works full-time at Muddy Outdoors just outside of Albia where he does sales and customer support for Muddy treestands, harnesses, and camera arms.  Chad is also on the prostaff for Midwest Whitetail where he provides some top-notch hunts for the Main Show.  Hope

                                   you enjoy the interview with Chad! 

Bones n' Broadheads (BnB):  How did you get started in the outdoor industry?

Chad Lathrop (CL): To be honest, I just kind of fell into it.  A close family friend of ours made the decision to start a treestand company (Muddy Outdoors) and at the time I was graduating from high school.  They needed somebody to travel to tradeshows, so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for me to get my foot in the door.  Four years later, I am still here and I love my job.  I now work in sales and marketing at the Muddy Outdoors headquarters in Albia, IA.

BnB:  What is it like having to balance working full time for Muddy and getting in the stand hunting and filming?

CL:  Fortunately, by the time deer season rolls around, things start to slow down here at Muddy.  Customers have already made their treestand purchases for the season and everyone is out hunting.  Because of this, I get to spend quite a bit of time in the stand.  However, because we are busy during the summer, it is very tough to have time to hang stands and plant food plots.  There have been numerous occasions this year where I have planted food plots in the middle of the night.

BnB:  What setup are you shooting this year?

CL:  Hoyt Carbon Element.  I am using all Fuse accessories and Easton Full Metal Jacket arrows

Hoyt Carbon Element

 

 BnB:  What do you look for when you go into the timber to set a stand?  What is your thought process?

CL:   I use shed season to do most of my scouting because I can walk through the entire farm to look for the best land features and not have to worry about distrubing the area during the months leading up to season.  From there, I  think about access and wind advantage.  Being able to get to and hunt the stand without alerting deer is important.  Once I find the best locations based off these two factors, I find the best tree in the location and hunt there.  After hunting the stand a few times, I use my observations and fine tune the location.

BnB:  Any tips or tricks for getting a big mature whitetail on the ground?

CL:  Hunt hard and hunt often. 

BnB:  What is your most memorable hunt and why?

CL:  Last year I killed an 8-point in Missouri.  This is my biggest bow kill to date.  My buddy, Louie Clouse was in the tree filming me and got great footage of the entire hunt.  I found the match set of his sheds the season before.  The combination of these things made this hunt my most memorable.

Chad's 2010 Missouri Bow kill

You can watch Chad's hunt by clicking here.

BnB:  How many days a year do you spend hunting whitetails?  How many days a year do you spend preparing for deer season?

CL:  A lot......most would say that my buddies and I are nuts!

BnB:  On Midwest Whitetail, you hunt a lot on the Muddy Ranch.  Explain what the Muddy Ranch is.

CL:  The Muddy Ranch is a 2,100 acre, fair chase farm in Missouri that is owned by the owner of Muddy Outdoors.  Mike Valliere, Travis & Tyson Patten, and myself manage the farm and prepare it for the season.  In return, we get rights to hunt the ranch.  It is an awesome deal for us!  Muddy also brings some of their top sales people out each year to hunt the farm as a way to pay thanks for their hard work.  Hopefully, there are more great hunts to come from the farm this season.

Chad with a set of BIG antlers from the Muddy Ranch

BnB:  Any sneak peek on new 2012 Muddy products? 

CL:  You will have to wait and see!

BnB:  I am sure all the young ladies that read this blog want to know, is your Facebook status "single" or "in a relationship"?

CL:  "In a relationship". 

BnB:  For those of us that film or would like to start filming, what camera setup do you recommend?

CL:  A great camera to start with is the Canon GL2.  That seems to be what a lot of guys are starting with.  The GL2 is cost effective and easy to operate.  This camera works well on the Muddy Outfitter Camera Arm and the Manfrotto 701 fluid head.  With this setup you will have professional grade footage without a professional budget.

Canon GL2

BnB:  How is your hit list shaping up for this year?  Any giants?

CL:  I have numerous old, mature bucks that I have some history with that are showing up on camera.  I would be happy to shoot anyone of these bucks.  I don't have anything that is super high scoring, but when November roles around, there is always a chance that a monster will show up.

BnB:  What do you do to relax when you're not in the timber?

CL:  I enjoy watching sports and spending time at the lake.

I hope you enjoyed the interview with Chad.  He has a ton of whitetail and bowhunting knowledge!

The next interview will be with Boyd Mathes of Buck Hollow Sports in Pella, IA.  Boyd is a bow setup wizard.  He is on BowTech's Pro Staff and is a very accomplished target archer and bowhunter.  Boyd will be answering questions on bow setup, managing an archery pro shop, and hunting.  If you would like to submit a question to ask Boyd, please comment on this blog post.

Muddyhunter