Here Comes The Bride... …and the groom and the rest of the wedding party! And they’re coming to Harpole’s Heartland Lodge for the perfect destination wedding location! I’ll be honest – I’ve never been to a wedding at the lodge and I sometimes think that had Dan and I learned a... Read the full story

Upland Bird Hunting? Let’s Get Ready, Now is the Time! Another bird hunting season has come and gone. We are in hot and dry mode here in the Midwest and are really in need of several good soaking rains. Will we get moisture? Only Mother Nature knows. None-the-less now is the time to begin getting ready fo... Read the full story

Win Two Nights in a Luxury Suite! Win two nights in a Luxury Suite for two people! Along with two hours of activities of your choice each! (Horses, ATV, Sporting Clays) AND you will also receive a pair of Stl Cardinal Tickets behind home plate! To Enter ‘Like’ our Facebook page and com... Read the full story

Creek Bottom Bucks We have all heard of river and creak bottom bucks. We’ve heard the “big” bucks like to hang out in these drainages. Or we often talk about deer crossing creeks in certain spots and setting up our ambush spot somewhere on either side of the creek. But what... Read the full story

Raging Rivers WaterPark - It's Cool When It's Hot!! On Saturday, Dan and I took part in a family tradition that began approximately 14 years ago – but this tradition included FOUR generations of my family – ranging in age from eight-months to 71 years of age! Believe it or not, we made our annual visit to... Read the full story

Win Cardinal vs Cub Tickets Tickets- 2 seats behind home plate in section 251 (Private Redbird Club). The Redbird Club has an upscale air conditioned private concession area that can only be used by Redbird Club fans. These seats are protected with an overhang in case of inclement w... Read the full story

Food Plot Maintenance As the drought of 2012 continues across much of the country so does the demise of many of our wildlife food plots. No matter what type of food you have planted this year the excessive heat and lack of precipitation is going to have a negative impact. So... Read the full story

Birthday Journey Adventure Well here it is another hot day and it is 100 already with a high supposed to get to 105. Sure glad tomorrow is going to only be in the mid 80s. After a marvelous breakfast with enough food to feed all their horses too, we decided to take a rolling picnic... Read the full story

Scouting Illinois Whitetail in the Heat of the Summer No rain and in the 90’s along with triple digits on the thermometer through the end of May, June and July makes it’s tough to get out there and scout whitetails. The best way I have found to scout deer during hot summer months, is from the inside a truc... Read the full story

Our Weekend Getaway is Just Two Months Away!! As Dan & I celebrated the July 4th holiday with some very good friends, I realized that our weekend getaway at Harpole’s Heartland Lodge is just two months away – and I can hardly wait. Our wedding anniversary is September 4 – we will have been married 1... Read the full story

Wild Blackberries are at Their Peak! Well it’s that time of the year for picking wild blackberries! At Heartland Lodge we have many places to pick and harvest these flavorful blackberries as it is the right time of the year for them to be ripe. Many of our guests take advantage of the hundre... Read the full story

Scouting Whitetails From a Bike The first thing you think of when scouting whitetails is not using a bike. I am not talking about a motorcycle but a bike that has peddles. Those who know me know that I like racing in triathlons and part of my training is riding the rolling hills of Pike... Read the full story

Free Hunt Giveaway on Facebook Win a Four Night Three Day Archery Hunt! To Enter "Like" our Facebook page and comment "Win a Whitetail Hunt" on the give-away post. Good luck! Make sure you 'share' with your friends and get 5 bonus entries! (Also ‘like’ all our Facebook posts to make su... Read the full story