Killbuck, Ohio’s Ben Rising works in logging, chases trophy whitetails every other waking minute.
From coast to coast, north to south, Blocker Outdoors hunting apparel is the choice of hard-working hunters. Known for their high quality and real-world price tags, Blocker Outdoors apparel is kind of like your favorite Friday night case of beer. You don’t have to feel bad about the cost and you know exactly what you’re going to get time after time. No surprises.
With more than 40-years of experience in the hunting apparel scene, Blocker Outdoors has been helping hunters get closer to game, stay comfortable, and experience more success from day 1. New for 2024, Blocker is proud to introduce a swath of new apparel for all seasons and terrains.
To give you a personal look at some of this apparel, we talked with Killbuck, Ohio-based Ben Rising, a 40-something who’s spent his life working hard hand-logging Appalachian hardwoods while chasing monster bucks every waking opportunity.
While Rising grew up on a farm and pursued that life for a few years out of high school, it was logging—and archery whitetail hunting—that he fell in love with.
Background: Logging, Dirt, & Trophy Whitetails
“I’ve been logging since I was 16 and started my own logging business in 2000. I work with a sawmill and manage three crews. Besides hunting, timber is all I know how to do,” says Rising.
Rising says that countless hours in the woods logging—and having to understand forestry—have helped him become the deer hunter he is today. While Rising has killed deer with shotguns and muzzleloaders, 99% of Rising’s hunting is done with the bow.
As far as the whitetail season progression, Rising starts hunting Kentucky in September, typically chasing velvet bucks. Then, in early October, he sticks around his home parts of Ohio, drifting westward into Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa, as the weeks progress—depending on the tags he draws.
Over the years, Rising has gotten into the video side of whitetail hunting, filming for Drury Outdoors starting back in 2001—which he did until forming Whitetail Edge.
“I was wearing Blocker back when we first started, so I’ve been in the gear for years and have always loved it. Fast-forward to 2014 and I started Whitetail Edge TV on my own. I really wanted to do my own online show, but never dreamed it would grow into what it’s become. Now I’m known as the kind of guy who picks out a specific deer and pursues that animal through the kill. I don’t want to brag, but I’ve killed 17 deer over 173-inches with a bow – and two that scored in the 200’s.”
Besides working for Drury Outdoors, and running his own digital outlet, Whitetail Edge TV, Ben Rising may look familiar from appearances on the Team 200 show, Bone Collector, and other media outlets, both digital and TV.
What Rising Plans To Wear Early Season
“I like to go light during the early season. The last thing you want is to get hot. I also like Blocker’s S3 microbial technology, which I helps a lot to keep your sweat and odor to a minimum,” says Rising.
“This coming season I’ll be wearing the Blocker Knockout Series apparel, which features carbon scent control. As September progresses into October and November, I’ll wear the New Blocker Shield Solstice wear. Scent control is my thing, so I’m excited to utilize Blocker’s scent technologies this season,” adds Rising.
Rising says he’s eager to wear Blocker’s proprietary Mossy Oak Terra Outland this early season. “Obviously, I’m a big fan of Mossy Oak Bottomland and DNA. They’re good patterns that just work. I’m expecting the same with the new Terra Outland.”
As of this week, Rising has been busy fertilizing food plots and taking care of various tracts of hunting land.
“I'm a big land manager. I love land, and I love to do stuff on the ground. I just started buying some of my own dirt over the past few years. For a long time, I was limited to public land and some private land that friends allowed me to hunt. So, I’ve always hunted like the average guy, but it got to a point where my wife and I decided to take a chance, bite off a piece, then we sold that land and made a few bucks, and then turned around and bought a bigger piece,” continues Rising.
“The Knockout is going to get a lot of play. Same for the Blocker Silent Tech Series. They’re both good for early season hunting. Not only is the apparel comfortable and features carbon-based scent control, at the price a fella just can’t go wrong,” says Rising.
The other thing Rising likes is that the Blocker brand has never strayed from its core mission to provide quality hunting apparel.
“In a lot of ways, they kind of started this whole modern camouflage business. At the same time, they were active in supporting hunting rights and also doing a lot for conservation efforts. I respect that.”
