24/7 Pro Staff

About Our Experts

     
Shawn Scott   Shawn Scott ,owner of Heartland Whitetails L.L.C. in Illinois, is a licensed outfitter, guide, and taxidermist.  He has had an interest in the outdoors and hunting all of his life.  Growing up in the heart of Illinois, he has always enjoyed deer and turkey hunting.  He knows the type of mature whitetails that can be acquired in Illinois.  Shawn has over 29 years of bow hunting experience and has successfully harvested 5 Boone & Crockett, as well as numerous Pope & Young bucks.  With his experience, he has achieved skills to be in the best position to bag the big one.  He knows what to look for when choosing a stand location.  He looks for scrapes and uses the wind to his advantage.  Over the years, he’s acquired tracking skills to find the trophy.  Not only does Shawn enjoy hunting with a bow, but he also enjoys hunting during shot gun and muzzleloader seasons.

As an outfitter, Shawn has dedicated himself to helping others obtain the opportunity of a Midwest monster buck.  He believes everyone should have a chance to experience a legendary whitetail hunt in Illinois.  Shawn truly is devoted to whitetail deer hunting.

Shawn can be reached at hunt@heartlandwhitetails.com.

Heartland Whitetails, LLC is a family-owned and operated outfitter with prime hunting ground in west central Illinois. Our properties have an abundance of wildlife displaying nature at its best with a large number of whitetail deer and turkeys. Our hunting ground consists of over 9,800 acres located in Warren, Fulton, Knox, and Pike counties.  These counties are some of the best hunting counties in Illinois. There are biologic perennials for spring/summer and Buck forage oats for fall with plenty of agricultural ground including corn, beans, and good alfalfa for food plots on a lot of these properties.  In addition, there are grassy hills, creek bottoms, thickets, and heavy wooded timber for bedding and travel corridors. This habitat provides the cover and food supply for producing big, healthy deer with increasing body weight and massive antlers, plus is excellent habitat for lots of turkeys, ensuring you a great hunting experience for a hunt of a lifetime.

Bruce Ryan   Bruce Ryan is a registered West Virginia guide and outfitter, and has been offering guided hunts in the Monongahela National Forest of North Central West Virginia, for the past 10 years. He grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he chased Keystone whitetails for much of his life. Bruce attended Edinboro University and received a degree in Biology. He and his wife Nancy, moved to Elkins, West Virginia in 1997, where he has spent the last 10 years pursuing his passion for Whitetails in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains. He is an expert in hunting big woods, wilderness Whitetail deer and black bear, and he often uses his string of horses to access remote back country.

For the past decade, Bruce has worked with leading manufacturers in the hunting industry, where he has broadened his Whitetail knowledge by setting up, and attending Outdoor Writer Camps at premier Whitetail destinations throughout North America. He is presently working as a marketing specialist for many companies in the archery and shooting sports industry.
Bowhunting with his beloved recurve bows, is truly his passion in life. He killed his first Whitetail deer at age 15 with a Bear Grizzly bow and Cedar arrow. Today the Recurve bow is still his choice in equipment. He has harvested Deer, Black Bears, Antelope, Mule Deer , Elk, Wild Hogs ,Turkey, and numerous small game species, all with traditional equipment.

Bruce is a highly sought after seminar speaker, where he offers sessions on “Advanced Whitetail strategies” geared towards the serious Whitetail hunter. He presently writes for Bowhunting.net , And his photos can be seen in many of the leading hunting and outdoor publications and periodicals. Bruce Ryan can be contacted at brucewtu@wildblue.net

John Kasun   John Kasun is an active outdoor writer, photographer and seminar speaker and is a member of both the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association and The Outdoor Writers Association of America.

While John is active in all aspects of the outdoors he specializes in hunting whitetail with bow and muzzleloader. John takes his hunting seriously and to date has taken over 100 whitetail with the bow. John is both a skilled bow technician and an accomplished target shooter who believes attention to detail is the key to hunting success. He readily shares his knowledge with his readers and seminar audiences in clear simple easy to understand terms based upon his personal in the field experience.

John’s wife Sandy has been his lifelong companion in the outdoors and is in her own right is an accomplished bowhunter with over 50 whitetails to her credit. Sharing the outdoors with his wife gives John’s writing a unique perspective that is inclusive of everyone interested in the outdoors regardless of sex or age.

John's articles and photographs have appeared in various outdoor publications and as Business Editor for ArrowTrade magazine John as the opportunity to work closely with many of the key manufacturers within the hunting and archery industry. John is a regular contributor and columnist for numerous publications and his work has appeared in publications such as: ArrowTrade, Pennsylvania Sportsmen, New York Outdoor Times, West Virginia Outdoor Times, Ohio Outdoor Times, Pennsylvania Outdoor Times, Pennsylvania Outdoor News, Keystone Sportsman, Pennsylvania Game News, New England Outdoor Times, Wheelin' Sportsmen, Westsylvania, The Paper Horse, Muzzleloader, Muzzle Blast, Centre Daily Times, Johnstown Tribune Democrat, and the Altoona Mirror to mention just a few.

In addition to his successful writing career John is also an excellent seminar speaker having presented programs at clubs, organizations and sports shows throughout the northeast. One of his most popular seminars entitled, "Tracking Whitetail" focuses on the recovery of whitetail after the shot and is the subject of a book on which he is presently working. John can be reached at kasun@atlanticbb.com.

John Kasun   Sandy Kasun is an outstanding bowhunter with over 50 whitetails to her credit. A former champion tournament archer Sandy held numerous local, state, regional and national titles during her shooting career. Sandy is an awarding wining photographer whose photos are often used to support her husband’s John’s features which appear in a variety of outdoor publications.

Sandy is not only an outstanding shot with bow and muzzleloader but a knowledgeable outdoors woman who enjoys upland bird hunting with her beloved Springer Spaniel. Sandy is a passionate bowhunter who is a fanatic when it comes to detail making sure everything about her equipment and her hunting setup is perfect every time she heads to the field.

Sandy is not only an excellent bowhunter but an outstanding tracker as well. She has eagerly shared her skills with other women when she instructed “archery”, “bowhunting” and “tracking whitetail” classes for the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s, “Becoming an Outdoors Woman program”.

Sandy can be reached at kasun@atlanticbb.net