As Vermonters we have a lot to be proud of; most would agree as a state we have a reputation for scenic beauty, cheese and syrup. What you probably don't know is that a couple of guys from the Poultney area are doing us proud bow-hunting whitetails in the Midwest. Performance Outdoors has a growing reputation for some of the best trophy deer hunting available anywhere with truly amazing success rates for P&Y animals.

The brainchild of 30-year-old identical twins Jacob and Justin Roach, Performance Outdoors, headquartered in Pike county Illinois and now in its 5th season, hosts between 80 and 100 hunters each fall. Their clientele is the obsessively serious bow hunter and some of the biggest whitetails in the country are being taken with amazing regularity on their 10,000 acres of prime lease land. Their success in the outfitting business is not about luck but a unique combination of entrepreneurial skill, love and respect for deer and deer hunting, and home grown Yankee ingenuity.

Growing up on a farm in Middletown Springs, Jake and Justin are themselves products of traditional Vermont values derived from their rural upbringing. They started hunting at age 10 sharing a single shot .410. They each got their fist deer at age 12 and since age 16 have traveled all across the country to bow hunt whitetails. Being "dyed-in-the-wool" Vermont kids, their other passion was ski racing. They both attended Killington Mountain School and went on to graduate from UVM with business degrees.

"Our first trip was a birthday present. Mom and Dad wanted to do something special when we turned 16 and for us, that meant it would involve hunting." That first hunt in Wyoming planted a seed in the two boys and as they got older they traveled every fall in search of trophy bucks. "Even while we were in college, we would get permission from professors to be absent a week or more so we could go hunt somewhere. We used to call it; 'Cruising for Whitetails'." They agree that their interest in hunting maybe genetic. "Our Dad started us early on hunting and being a farm family in those days it was permissible for all four of us Roach boys to take the first week of deer season off. In some ways its only natural that today we are making a living at hunting deer."

Both boys had a passion for whitetails, they read all the deer hunting magazines, hunted every day they could during the fall and were generally pre-occupied with it on a year round basis. "From our research and personal experience we knew almost from the start that the biggest whitetails were coming out of the Midwest. As time went on we became somewhat obsessed with the idea of finding the absolute best deer hunting spot in America." It was a couple of years after college, while traveling back home from Colorado, that Jake stopped off in Pike county Illinois and bought himself a $500 farm hunt. "I saw some good bucks on that hunt and was very impressed with what was obviously exceptional whitetail habitat. What affected me more than anything however, was the day I walked up on a pickup truck parked on the side of the road and when I looked in the back I found myself staring at not one, but two of the biggest whitetail bucks I had ever seen. I was pretty sure at that point that this little corner of Illinois was special."

Growing up in the computer age, both Jake and Justin are well schooled in applying technology to sort out answers to complex questions. Using the internet as their research medium they began to scrutinize the "golden triangle" as they refer to it. In general geographic terms, the area is comprised of west central Illinois, southeastern Iowa and northeastern Missouri. "We downloaded satellite imagery and aerial photographs of the region, spent hours pouring over topographical maps and with the cooperation of local farmers in the area, spent considerable time in the field. What they discovered was "sweet".

"If you look at deer as a crop, than the secret is to discover where the right combination of elements exist to grow the biggest, hardiest members of the species. Environment is important but not exclusively. This area we were honing in on had perfect habitat, ample food sources, and compared to Vermont relatively mild winters. But what we discovered is that it also had natural genetics within the deer population. When 2 ½ year old bucks typically have 8 to 10 points and score over 130 Pope and Young, there is more to it than habitat." Believing they had identified the right territory, they set about talking to farmers about lease arrangements. Although viewed with some skepticism at first, the two Vermonters won the trust of several substantial landowners and Performance Outdoors began to take shape.

"The first year we hosted hunters was 1998. We had 19 clients and shot 6 good bucks with nearly everyone having opportunities. Jump-starting our reputation was the fact that one of those deer turned out to be the biggest bow shot deer in Illinois that season scoring 208 P&Y." Last season 90% of their clients had opportunities at book animals and more than half took home trophies.

The outfit's consistency is the result of careful game management and the continuing use of technology to identify and locate trophy deer areas. According to the brothers, of equal importance is the quality of the guides the outfit employs. "We started out using local guides believing their knowledge of the territory and the nuances of the local deer population would be an asset." The theory didn't work well. "We never really came across anybody that had the same skill levels or understanding of game movement that we grew up learning at home. So we ended up hiring guides from Vermont and importing them to the Midwest for the 6-week season. Without our quality Vermont guide team headed up by big Ron Beayon of Fairhaven, we would not be consistently shooting the quality animals that we are getting known for."

Performance Outdoors offers fully guided hunt packages currently priced at $2195. for 6-days. Clients are asked to shoot only large racked 2-½ year old or better bucks. Hunters are also encouraged to shoot a doe to help maintain productive buck doe ratios. The outfit now leases over 10,000 acres in 3 states, hunting separate territories managed from their network of "micro camps". Because of draw requirements most booking is done 10 to 12 months in advance with as much as 60% of their business being repeats from previous seasons.

Jake and Justin are quick to admit that the success of Performance Outdoors has everything to do with their Vermont deer hunting roots.