The Legends of the Fall

Eric Hale

Eric Hale lives with his wife, Sharon and daughter, Alexis in Galax, Virginia. He currently works as a Probation & Parole Officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Eric has been proudly serving as a volunteer firefighter for the City of Galax, Virginia for 12 years. The Galax Fire Department was established in 1912 and is one of the largest volunteer fire departments in the country. Eric believes highly in devoting and serving his community. He serves with some of the most talented fire fighters in the country. As proud as he may be of his accomplishments, there is an un-filling drive that demands more; hard core hunting.

Simply stated, hunting is a way of life for Eric. He grew up with an understanding of the traditional values that the sport provides in this life. Eric states that hunting fulfills a tremendous part of his soul. There is no doubt that hunting has played a tremendous role in the shaping of the man he is today.

Eric began hunting at the early age of five. He reflected on cold days in the New River, hunting waterfowl with his dad. No doubt, that is where he cut his teeth as a hunter. His first successful harvest came out of an old barn in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, at the age of ten. Eric and his dad stacked several bails of hay in the loft to steady the aim of his 270. Thirty minutes before dark he had taken his first buck, a nice young 5 pointer. Eric’s dad had blessed him one of the best gifts in life, the gift of hunting. It was the beginning of a way of life.

Eric began reading any and all articles pertaining to the whitetail world. Several years later, once hunting videos hit the market he realized that there was more to offer in the sport. Eric dreamed of one day hunting big whitetails. After several successful gun hunts, he decided to up the game. It was time to pick up the archery tackle.

Eric will never forget his first evening bow-hunt. He was sitting in a tree stand on a white oak flat when a young spike showed up. Laughing, Eric fired five different arrows at the buck and never cut a hair. He was forever hooked, and five years later shot his first wall-hanger with his bow.

The game was on. As the walls in his den began to fill, his passion for the sport grew. Eric later met his good hunting buddy and partner, Chris Ward, through work. He admits that he had never met anyone into hunting whitetails as much as himself, until then. The two-man wrecking crew immediately began chasing big bucks and tag-teaming them. Eric said that once a particular deer was under their skin, one of them were usually fortunate enough to put a tag on him.

In the fall of 2002, the tandem took their love of the sport to the next level in the form of professional videography. Eric admitted that filming a quality hunt was one of the hardest things they had ever attempted. It made harvesting a mature buck twice as difficult if not almost impossible. However, succeed they did. In seven seasons of filming, they have harvested 29 bucks on video and hope to make that many many more.

Hunting and videoing mature whitetails is now a way of life for Eric. He says that he is truly blessed to have this deep desire and will continue the tradition of deer hunting until the day the good Lord takes him home. The whitetail…A true legend among us.