Attendee Information

 

2027 Whitetail Workshop dates: March 20&21-2027 and April 3&4-2027

John’s Whitetail Workshops are 2-day events with Saturday being in the woods from 8:30 am until around 4:00 pm. From 4:30 to 6:30 pm there will be a saddle presentation for those that want to attend it. On Sunday there will be a 6-hour back-and-forth seminar in the Outback seminar room of Michigan’s largest independent sporting goods store, and all the chairs are comfortable padded, swivel office chairs. On Sunday John will have an extensive amount of his personal hunting and scouting gear and pretty much everything he uses for every aspect of bowhunting in the room. John will also perform some sparring and call sequences during the seminar. His minivan is parked outside the door with his ScentLok exterior garments and layering garments if anyone is interested in seeing how he stores them.

On Sunday he will also have his recently published books titled “Ultimate Guide to DIY Bucks” available which is a 3-volume series of instructional deer hunting books that cover every topic of deer hunting. Signed books are currently available on John’s website at: www.deer-john.net . Books are also available at: www.Tethrd.com/DIYbucks and on Amazon. Audio and eBooks are available on Amazon and Spotify and John narrated the audiobooks. John’s previous 3 books “Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails”, “Precision Bowhunting”, and “Bowhunting Whitetails the Eberhart Way” are also available on John’s website and on Amazon.

The Saturday in-the-woods workshop will be held near Edmore, Michigan and the Sunday workshop seminars will be held just north of Clare, Michigan (both in central Michigan).

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What are Whitetail Workshops about

Whether you’re hunting public land, free walk on, knock-on-doors for free permission, family owned, leased or managed property, or you travel hunt; attending Eberhart’s Whitetail Workshop will provide the insights to make you a serious threat to any buck you pursue.

Eberhart’s Whitetail Workshops are NOT land management workshops as those types of shops can cost up to $3,000 per day and typically the instructors have never hunted anything but managed for big bucks’ properties and don’t know the first thing about hunting heavily pressured public and free permission properties.

These are instructional workshops for hunters with the desire to learn how and what to do to put themselves on the best bucks that any property they ever hunt has to offer.

Why John Eberhart for a workshop? John has exclusively hunted on open to hunting public lands, free walk-on, and knock on doors for free permission properties his entire life. In 60 seasons John has scouted over 37 parcels of public land and has hunted 23 of them. The public lands he didn’t hunt did not have the adequate security cover requirements for daytime movements by mature bucks in heavily pressured areas, so after scouting, John chose not to waste his time hunting them. Not all properties are conducive to daytime mature buck movements, and he will go over that topic in detail.

John has hunted many dozens of knock-on-doors for free permission properties in Michigan (Michigan is the most heavily bowhunted state in the country with 350,000+ bowhunters) and on all of them the property owners also let other hunters that asked, hunt as well. 35 of the bucks he’s taken are in the Michigan record book and they were taken from 21 different properties in 11 different counties. He’s taken bucks from 15 of the 23 parcels of public land he’s hunted in Michigan including a state record in 1981.

In 1991 John quit gun hunting and in 1997 began bowhunting out-of-state during Michigan’s gun season and to date has taken 22 bucks that qualify for the P&Y record book on his 25 weeklong trips and they came from 16 different properties in 6 different states (Missouri, Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois) and they were also taken on public, free walk on (WOH), or on free permission properties.

Knowing what to look for when scouting and how to set up on it and hunt it correctly had a lot to do with his 88 percent success rate on properties that he’d never set foot on prior to hunting them (pre-scouting trips were never taken).

The reason John has hunted so many knock-on doors for free permission properties is because once he gets permission, eventually relatives or friends of the property owner want to hunt and John is out, or most frequently nowadays, it gets leased out. Loss of permission has been expedited when John takes a good buck off the property and the property owner shows the picture around, then relatives and friends come out of the woodwork to hunt it and John is out.

There are thousands of hunters across the country that have several record class bucks due to hunting in states or counties with antler point restriction areas, or hunting on; archery only public lands, large private or leased managed for big buck properties, large family properties with minimal pressure, pay to hunt ranches, limited access suburban properties, and in the lightly hunted Midwestern big buck states that have many mature bucks with minimal hunting pressure. While it’s awesome if you have the resources to take advantage of those great opportunities, most hunters don’t.

What separates John’s accomplishment of having taken 59 record book bucks (37 from Michigan and 22 from out-of-state) from any other whitetail bow hunter in the country is that 100% of his hunting has exclusively been on public, free walk-on, cold calling for free permission, and knock-on-doors for free permission properties. He’s never owned, leased, hunted a managed property, hunted a relative’s property, or paid a dime to hunt anywhere and doesn’t hunt over bait, and has never hunted from a box-blind, or over a food plot.

Some hunters have spent tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars on hunting properties and leases and most hunters annually spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on; upgrading their hunting equipment, buying new gadgets and gear, bait, seed for food plots, planting equipment, tree stands, etc. with the thought process that it will make them more successful, and most frequently, that can’t be farther from the truth. Having the best equipment money can buy or even owning or leasing superior hunting ground is irrelevant if your hunting skills and strategies don’t offer you the opportunity to take advantage of them.

Scouting, location preparation, practicing, hunting, and traveling to hunt all consume much of the limited free time many hunters have, especially those with kids and families. Free time has value and utilizing it to its fullest potential should always be the goal.

No matter the property you hunt, spending time on-stand in locations not well-suited for daytime mature buck activity should never be an acceptable strategy or plan. Making this one-time investment will offer the information to assure you’re hunting in the right types of locations, they’re prepared properly, you have appropriate entry and exit routes, and your seasonal and daily timing for each location is well thought out. After all, doesn’t it get a bit old receiving motion camera pictures of bucks you’d like to kill and showing those pictures around, instead of being able to kill them and show pictures of you with your hands wrapped around the buck’s antlers?

At the end of each Saturday in-field workshop, for those that want to stick around there will be a 2-hour session on how to properly prepare a tree and sit and hunt from a saddle. John and his sons Jon and Joe will have their saddles and between them they have 130 seasons of saddle hunting experience. In fact, of John’s 59 book bucks, 49 of them were taken from a saddle plus numerous other bucks and does.

At the saddle event there will be several saddles, models of climbing sticks, and platforms and rings of steps to try. There will be 3 trees set up (only several feet off the ground) with differing sticks, screw in steps, strap-on steps, and platforms. There are so many misleading YouTube instructional videos out there where the hunter doesn’t know what they are doing, or they are only taking advantage of a portion of the features and opportunities that hunting from a saddle offers. Using a saddle is simple and you don’t have to be a gymnast or super physically fit to do so. A saddle is simply a killing tool that anyone of any age can easily use to up their kill opportunities big time when used correctly, which is what the saddle segment is for.

So, consider taking advantage of John’s experience, knowledge, and kill credentials by utilizing your scouting and hunting time to its fullest potential by attending an Eberhart’s Whitetail Workshop

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Signing up for one of only two 2027 Whitetail Workshop weekends

2027 Whitetail Workshop dates: March 20&21-2027 and April 3&4-2027

The cost to attend a Workshop is $750 per attendee, and travel, lodging and meals are not included.

The cost for attendees under the age of 16 is $375 and they must be accompanied by a parent or guardian over the age of 18.

Each Workshop will be limited to about 15 hunters.

Credit cards are not accepted.

Checks or money orders must be received in order to sign up for a workshop and shops are filled on a first pay, first on the list case, and once the attendee limit is reached, that specific workshop weekend will be full and any prospective attendee inquiry that has not paid will have to choose from the remaining workshop dates if they still want to attend a workshop.

There are no refunds, but you can change your paid attendee date.

Before signing up and sending a check, please send an email to John at: deerjohn51@gmail.com with the workshop dates you want to attend so he can verify and reply if that workshop still has openings.

When sending a check please put the dates you will be attending in the lower left memo portion of the check and add a note with your cell number and email address and John will send you an email once your payment is received and will request an acknowledgement back from you.

Make checks payable to, and send them to:

John Eberhart
1219 Queensway Dr.
Weidman, Mi. 48893

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For those that are considering signing up, here is an itinerary of what to expect and an attendee document will be emailed to you once you have signed up.

Jay’s Sporting Goods is the largest independent hunt/fish/camp sporting goods retailer in Michigan and on the Friday afternoon before each workshop, at their front desk there will be a 15% discount voucher for every attendee, and you will need to show your ID to get them. Vouchers will be good from Friday prior to the respective workshop dates and run through the following Thursday (1 week) and can be used for in-store or on-line purchases (for those that fly in) throughout that period. Jay’s is a full-line hunt, fish, camp, and casual wear retailer that carries everything you could possibly need for hunting. Discount vouchers will not apply to the purchases of firearms and electronics but will be good on bows, optics, canoes, cases, tackle, stands and saddles, arrows, broadheads, and almost everything else in Jay’s 70,000 sq. foot Clare retail store. John also has about 70 deer heads hanging in the store in different places (his 7 biggest ones are at home).

Travel, hotel and what to bring for Workshops:

Before we go afield on Day 1, all attendees will be required to sign a waiver of liability form and attendees under the age of 18 will also be required to have a parent or guardian sign their waiver.

Listed below is where Saturday in-field and Sunday seminar days will take place.

*Saturday will be the in-field day, and you should be there no later than 8:20 am.

The property is located at:

8877 N. Derby Rd. – Six Lakes, Michigan 48886

Some attendees using their cell phone GPS’s have had issues finding 8877 N. Derby Rd. on Saturday mornings whereas the attendees using vehicle GPSs haven’t, so you will receive printed directions in case you get lost in the vicinity.

Please call John’s cell at 989-429-7970 if you have problems locating the property and please park in front of the white barn on the west side of Derby Rd.

On Saturday, wear whatever is comfortable for that time of year, and it is recommended to check the weather report. Bring a pair of walking boots and depending on the amount of rain or winter runoff we have; you may need to bring a pair of knee-high rubber or neoprene hunting boots. You may consider bringing a change of clothes for lunch in case it rains in the morning. Bring a light rain suit if the weather calls for it as we will continue no matter what the weather. If you want to take pictures or film, that’s fine.

We will visit over a dozen pre-set locations and go over every detail at each concerning why; this location, this tree, this height, this number of shooting lanes, this entry and exit route, such a large tree, etc. We will discuss; location preparation, tools used, the best seasonal timing for each location, whether it’s a morning, midday, evening or an any time of day location, scent control, flashlights, how to properly enter and exit each location, how to properly set up in the tree, how to hunt at a destination location without getting picked, and how to hunt and take advantage of standing corn.

We will cover tactics like sparring, rattling, calling, decoys, vocal matting to stop a buck in his tracks for a standing shot, scents, the non-use of scents when hunting destination locations, use of reflective tacks and ties, types of trees, security cover and how mature bucks use it, hunting the wind, morning thermal drafts, evening cooling drafts, swirling winds, parking your vehicle without interfering with deer movements, different climbing apparatuses, shot angles, practicing, bedding areas, transition corridors, preferred mast, and try to cover whatever questions are asked.

Either John, Jon or Joe will get into some of the prepared trees with their modified saddles and as previously mentioned, later in the afternoon they will have 3 trees set up to show how a saddle is properly used and will allow anyone to try whatever system they want.

John has exclusively hunted from a saddle since 1981, and Jon and Joe combined have 84 years of saddle hunting experience for a total of 130 seasons of saddle experience and they will show how the saddle process works in comparison to conventional metal stands and this will lend to some serious thought-provoking discussion for the hunters that are using conventional stands. If you use a saddle, bring it along as they would like to see how you use it and maybe offer some pointers.

There will be a break for lunch around noon, and we will come back after lunch and continue until around 4:00 pm or however long it takes. There will be no scheduled ending time, and John will answer all questions within reason as long as they don’t pertain to a personal piece of property.

*Sunday will be in the Outback seminar room at Jay’s Sporting Goods just north of Clare from 8:30 am until 3:30 pm (store closes at 4) with a break around noon for lunch (we typically order a few pizzas).

Jay’s Sporting Goods – 8800 S. Clare Ave. – Clare, Michigan 48167 – Ph: 989-386-3475

The classroom day will be an in-depth seminar on absolutely everything that has anything to do with killing mature bucks and there will be time for Q&A. John’s scouting and location preparation gear will be in the room as well as some of his plat books, maps and notebooks from hunting out of state and several of his old notepads with handwritten diagrams of hunting locations on the properties he’s hunted over the past 50 seasons. Of course, OnX is what John mostly uses now. The older archaic items are not to be confused with “look at me, I’m really good”, but rather as examples of the detail required that aided him to be consistently successful for so many years.

For those staying in Clare on Friday night, Jay’s Sporting Goods is just 1 mile north of town if you want to get your voucher and buy anything, and they have everything.

Closest Airports:
-Gerald Ford-Grand Rapids airport is about 2 hours from Clare and 1 hour and 20 minutes from Edmore.
-Lansing Airports is about 1 hour and 20 minutes from Clare and 1 hour and 30 minutes from Edmore.
-Midland-Bay City-Saginaw (MBS) airport is about 45 minutes from Clare and about 1 hour and 20 minutes from Edmore.
-Bishop airport in Flint is about 1 hour and 45 minutes from Clare and 1 hour and 50 minutes from Edmore.

If coming in on Friday afternoon, you have 3 options.

Option 1: Book a hotel in Clare for Friday and Saturday night.

Clare hotel: Doherty Hotel (my preference) – 989-386-344, there are several other hotels in Clare.

From Clare on Saturday morning (day 1) it will take about 1 hour and 10 minutes to get to Six Lakes where the in/field property is located, so if staying in Clare on Friday night you will have to leave by 7:00 am to get to the in-field property on time.

Option 2: If driving in from the south on Friday you can pre-book at one of the 2 hotels in Edmore, which are 10 minutes from the workshop property in Six Lakes on Saturday.

Edmore hotels: Maxfield’s Inn (my preference) – 866-550-8838, Edmore Inn (not as nice) – 989-427-5163.

If staying in Edmore on Friday night you may want to check out on Saturday morning before heading to the property as you may want to pre-book a room in Clare for Saturday night at one of the hotels listed above so you are closer to Jay’s Sporting Goods. There are also more restaurants in Clare to choose from.

Option 3: Weidman KOA Holiday is a family campground located halfway between the in/field day location and the 2nd day location at Jay’s, and they rent daily campsites with electric hook-ups and water for trailers or for tents. There are 8 showers in the campground, several bathrooms, and a small general store.

Weidman KOA Holiday campground phone number is: 989-506-8005 and reservations are: 800-562-5897

If this sounds confusing or you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call John at: 989-644-6067, e-mail him at: deerjohn51@gmail.com, or try his cell at: 989-429-7970