To stand around fails to rattle this local hunter

"Where would you like to sit and talk?" I asked as I stood in the office of H.M. Gebhardt Building and Remodeling in New Springfield.
Howard Gebhardt quickly looked around, "Sit? Oh. ... Uh. ... You sit. I'll stand."
I chuckled as I pushed the one-and-only chair aside, and responded, "We'll both stand."
It's not that Howard's office is too small for an additional chair or two, indeed, an entire table could likely fit. But the company Howard entertains on a daily basis in his office doesn't require seating. They prefer to hang around; a stiff-neck sort of crew.
And they were all staring intensely at me.
A mounted black bear was on the floor by the desk, its mouth half-open as if in the midst of a roar. The walls were covered with mounted deer heads, their antlers nearly touching the ceiling. A few mounted fish adorned the walls as well. In the corner, taking up much of the space in the room, was a life-size mount of a piebald deer.
"A piebald is a white tail deer with characteristics of an albino," Howard explained. From the tone of his voice, I could tell, this was a special prize.
Was that a skunk?Well, not quite
"I was sitting up in my tree stand," he began to recount the hunting story. "I saw something moving below me. I thought it was a skunk -- all I could see was the white stripe down its back. It was so well camouflaged."
When he realized it was a deer, he pulled back on his bow and arrow and shot it.
Howard has been hunting his whole life. He remembers that as a young boy, 11 or 12 years old, hunting pheasant and ducks in the woods of New Springfield. He bought his first shotgun with the money he made working at a dairy farm.
"I think I made 80 cents an hour," he said.
Howard, 45, shot his first deer when he was 15.
"Deer hunting took over all my hunting," he says. He has traveled far and wide in search of the animal. And he has found great success.
He is a member of theBuckeye Big Bucks Club
Howard is a member of the Buckeye Big Bucks Club, an organization that recognizes trophy hunters. Three of Howard's deer have been recognized as Big Bucks. All three adorn the walls of his office. The certificates recognizing their greatness are still in the envelopes, however. Along with chairs, there is no room for frivolous paper awards on Howard's walls.
"That's not why I hunt," he says earnestly.
Standing in his carpentry shop, taking notes on a sawhorse, it is clear why Howard hunts (if his office isn't evidence enough): He loves it.
It is Howard's love of this sport that is now turning the sport into a business for him.
For years, Howard has called deer to his tree stand by hitting two deer antlers together.
"When two bucks fight, it draws other bucks," Howard explains the effect he creates with the antlers.
But Howard has missed many deer trying to lay down the antlers and grab his bow. Deer are very sensitive to movement.
Putting solutionto work for him
After years of considering this problem, Howard came up with a solution four years ago. But it wasn't until this past year that he was able to make his vision a reality.
"I have had many nights of frustration. It's been a roller-coaster ride," Howard says, recounting the hours he has spent in his carpentry shop working on prototypes.
Today, Howard's one-handed deer rattler is being massed produced by a local company and sold at several local sporting goods stores. He has had rave reviews at hunting shows and will be featured in the November edition of Ohio Valley Outdoors. Several big sporting goods chains are looking at the invention as well.
For Howard, the most exciting thing about his invention is that he finally has a deer rattler that works -- and he has a 10-point buck to prove it.
No doubt, it will be hanging around in his office soon, where anyone is welcome to stand and look at it.
gwhite@vindy.com