Erik  and Matt Hendrick have been passionate
about the outdoors since they were little.  Erik lives in the  sandstone area where he is employed by Schwans company out of Esko, and Matt lives in Brainerd with his wife Erin and new baby boy Aidan Matthew Hendricks!  Matt is owner of Anton Custom Wood Products out of Crosslake, and he and Erik have been hunting their whole lives. Erik is more about the time they spend together then shooting anything.   They used to get off school on Friday and go hunting pheasants and ducks before their f ootball games that night. Every free second  they had was spent in the outdoors. Above all, bowhunting deer is  Matt and Erik's favorite thing to do, next to spending time with family, especially for Matt and Erin,who on August 13th of this year, had their first child.  Spending time with him has been top priority around Matt's house, and now that the season is upon us, the whitetail drive has Erik and Matt headed for the woods. In the off season, They're constantly thinking about food plots and how to improve  their land for deer.  Both Erik and Matt are strong believers in buck  management on small properties. (Erik: left/Matt:right).

Matt and Erik's 2009 Hit List

The following words are from Matt and Erik.

This year on Midwest Whitetail we'll be hunting all over MN around Backus, Pine River, Sandstone, Paynesville, Brainerd and Glenwood. We also hunt in SE Wisconsin every year on our aunt and uncle’s property. On our land in Sandstone, we've made a rule that every buck that is shot on our property has to go on the wall. This way it keeps us from shooting small bucks. We don't have a set size or age but if it's a trophy for that hunter and they want it for the wall they can shoot it. We believe the trophy is in the eye of the beholder.

"RACK-O-LICIOUS":  This buck is a tall and wide 10 pointer is the most well known buck on our property. We've had him on camera now for 3 yrs. We passed him up when he was a nice 8 pointer at 2 1/2 years old. Last season he was a 9 pointer at 3 1/2. He is the most nocturnal deer we've ever had on camera. Nobody including our nieghbors seen him last year during the day. We only captured him on camera during the day 1 time last year and that was in August. Every photo after that was all at night and we had 5 cameras out. This year he is a absolute giant and we're hoping to be there when he makes his first, only and last mistake. We only have one picture of him so far that isn't that good but it's good to see him back.                                                                                                               2007            

                                2008                                                                                                         2009

"JUNK BUCK": This deer is one we all want to get. We love non-typical deer. He's been hanging around in a bachelor group with a young 8 pt and the buck we call Curley. The thing is we are pretty sure we had him on camera last year as a 3 1/2 year old and he was a beautiful typical 10 point last year. He must've gotten a injury that has caused him to grow this type of a rack. He is now 4 1/2 years old and still a 10 pointer as of now. 
 

"CURLEY": This buck got the name "Curley" because he has a G2 on his right side that curls back. He is a tall and wide 10 pointer and we think he is only a 3 1/2 year old buck. From what we can tell we did not have him on camera last year. We'd love to see him make it another year but he is definetly a shooter for us this year so he has made the hit list for us. We're hoping to have an encounter with him this year.

"MOOSE PADDLES": This is a buck off of a very small chunck of property (only about 20 acres) we will be hunting thanks to our uncle Mark. He also was the one who gave him the name "Moose Paddles". This looks to be about 4 1/2 year old deer. It looks like he will have 12 points and has a lot of character on his wide rack. He also carries his girth through out his main beam which is a plus. We hope he keeps visiting this rye patch.
 

"HIGH TOWER": This buck has been captured on camera with "Moose Paddles" on the same rye patch. Looks like he is a 3 1/2 yr old deer with nice length on his G2's and G3's. He doesn't have much for brow tines but we don't hunt over a feeder in Texas so this is a trophy for us especially when it comes off of a small wood lot. We have no history with these bucks as we just aquired permission to hunt.

Wisconsin Hit List

These are the bucks that we plan to go after when we go to hunt our aunt and uncle's property in SE Wisconsin.

"MR. PERFECT": This is a buck that we will be trying to bag when we are hunting our aunt and uncle's land in Wisconsin.. The reason we call him "Mr. Perfect" is not because of his rack but this picture is just awesome with the purple clouds and sunset. He looks to be a 9pt but his main beams both look like they will "Crab Claw" at the end making him a 11pt. That is very common with the bucks on this property.  My 9 pointer I shot off of here last year had a crab claw on his one side. We don't have any history with "Mr. Perfect" but we're hoping to have some history with him come September.

"MULEY": "Muley" is a very high and wide 9 point that almost resembles a mule deer. It looks like is left G2 is split or he just has a extra point stuck in there. We'd like to get him on camera again to get a better look at him. He is on a property that has been buck managed intensely so we need a better look at him but as of now he looks to be a shooter.