The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA) national outdoor TV series, Brotherhood Outdoors, takes Chad Keller, a union coal miner from Philippi, West Virginia, to Illinois, for a Thanksgiving Day white-tailed deer hunting adventure. The show airs Sunday, March 9, at 11 a.m. ET, on the Sportsman Channel.
Chad has hunted deer for going on 30 years now, but when Brotherhood Outdoors took him on the all-expense-paid trip, he could hardly believe it.
“It was absolutely the best hunt I have ever experienced,” said Chad, a member of UMWA Local 9909, in Shinnston, West Virginia.
Chad’s personal commitment to conservation and his generous support of several charities and fundraising activities in his community is what caught the attention of the Brotherhood Outdoors’ producers.
It was Chad’s father, also a union coal miner, who passed down a love of the outdoors to him. Chad recently lost his dad, who he calls his lifelong hunting and fishing buddy, to black lung disease. He worked in the mines for more than 40 years.
“Every time I go fishing or hunting, it brings back a flood of memories about all of the fun times I had with my dad,” Chad said.
Chad shares his dad’s commitment to carrying on the tradition, taking his two kids, other children in the family and their friends, fishing and hunting every chance he gets. “It’s our duty and obligation for the sport and the outdoors…to preserve the lessons that were passed down to us from our fathers and grandfathers,” he said.
The episode invites viewers to join Chad, Brotherhood Outdoors co-hosts Julie McQueen and Daniel Lee Martin and a welcoming host family that offers a warm setting for Chad’s first Thanksgiving Day spent away from his family with an invitation to share a bountiful, holiday luncheon in their home. Each year for three years running, Chad had brought home a Thanksgiving buck, and this day, his sights are set on keeping his record.
The excitement of the hunt really kicks in that night, when Chad finds himself breathless, face-to-face with a large buck just 50 yards out. Taking a monster buck is very different from having a shooter buck in your sight, especially when your weapon of choice is a bow and arrow.
“(Bow hunting) requires a lot of time and patience,” said Julie McQueen, co-host of Brotherhood Outdoors. “This hunt was difficult because of the long hours required to sit in the woods, and the weather was brutally cold on a few mornings.”
Tune in to Brotherhood Outdoors Sunday, March 9, at 11 a.m. ET, on the Sportsman Channel.
Brotherhood Outdoors, winner of “Best Combination Show” in the 2011 Sportsman Choice Awards, rewards union sportsmen and women who are committed to preserving North America’s outdoor heritage with a guided trip or the opportunity to show off their guiding skills and local hunting or fishing destinations on national TV.
Presented by Bank of Labor, Brotherhood Outdoors is also sponsored by the following unions, contractors and corporate partners: Buck Knives, Carhartt, Employee Benefit Systems, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, National Electrical Contractors Association, ULLICO and United Association/International Training Fund.
For more information about Brotherhood Outdoors, the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance or Sportsman Channel, visit www.BrotherhoodOutdoors.tv and www.facebook.com/brotherhoodoutdoorstv.
About the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance: The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) is a union-dedicated, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, whose members hunt, fish, shoot and volunteer their skills for conservation. The USA is uniting the union community through conservation to preserve North America’s outdoor heritage. For more information, visit www.unionsportsmen.org or www.facebook.com/unionsportsmen.
About Sportsman Channel: Launched in 2003, Sportsman Channel, and Sportsman HD, is the only television and digital media company fully devoted to sportsmen in the United States, delivering entertaining and educational programming focused exclusively on hunting, shooting and fishing activities. Sportsman Channel reaches more than 32 million U.S. television households and is available in HD. Visit www.thesportsmanchannel.com, follow on Twitter, @SPORTSMANchnl (twitter.com/SPORTSMANchnl) and Like on Facebook, facebook.com/sportsmanchannel