Badger Deer Camp - Badger Sportsman Magazine

PACKIN’ IT IN
relaxing. And it’s fun, like with ducks, putting out decoys
and actually tricking them. I just think it’s pretty cool.”
Zombo keeps his bow skills sharp on a deer decoy in
his back yard. When he gets home from work or is bored,
he’ll step outside and take maybe 10 shots from 20 yards
or 40 yards. Occasionally a teammate, sometimes fellow
outside linebacker Clay Matthews, sometimes practicesquad
quarterback Graham Harrell, will come by for some
target work.
Last year Zombo also was in a trap-shooting league at the
Brown County Sportsmen’s Club with former teammate
Nick McDonald. His first time out, Zombo hit only 8 of
25 shots.
“I was devastated,” he said. “The second time I went out
I shot 25-for-25. Got a patch, got my name in the paper.
So I’m actually a pretty good shot.”
“
But when you’re about to
shoot a deer, or even when
ducks are circling over your
head, your heart’s definitely
racing. That’s a cool feeling
just to have your heart
going, you’re excited. A
great feeling.
”
Zombo joked that when his football career is finished,
he’ll probably work at Gander Mountain because he
spends so much free time there as it is. He might not stay
in Green Bay because he wants to live close to his family
in Michigan, but it’s safe to say he’ll have more free time
for his greatest passion outside football. Where else can he
get a thrill that’s anything close to sacking a quarterback?
“Getting a sack is probably the coolest feeling in the
world, just having the whole crowd around you cheering,”
he said. “But when you’re about to shoot a deer, or even
when ducks are circling over your head, your heart’s
definitely racing. That’s a cool feeling just to have your
heart going, you’re excited. A great feeling.”
Best moment in sports other than the NFL: “In
college at Central Michigan, that senior year, being there
five years with the coaches and guys I grew up with, we
were top-25 my senior year and went 12-2- that was just
fun being with my buddies.”
Zombo in his college days at Central Michigan in 2009.
Other top moment in sports was getting to the state
football championship with Stevenson High School in
Sterling Heights, MI.: “We were blown out in state title
game, a guy that’s now one of my best friends from college
(i.e. receiver Bryan Anderson) was on other team. I had
to hear about that for four years that he’d always have one
more ring than me. So when I got the Super Bowl ring I
called him up and said, ‘Now we’ve got the same amount
of rings. And guess what I’ve got?”
On the similarities between football and hunting:
“Experience. Football is a lot of experience and seeing
things over and over. Hunting is the same way. I had a deer
last year come up on my blind, and I made the smallest
sound with my boot on my deer stand and it spooked it
and it jetted away from me. I won’t do that again. Same
thing with football. you make mistakes in your early years
of football, then you master them.”
Pete Dougherty grew up in Madison, went to college at
Wisconsin and the University of Missouri, and has been
working for the Green Bay Press-Gazette since 1987 and
covering the Packers since 1993.
18 ❘ Badger Sportsman ❘ badgersportsman.com ❘ NOVEMBER 2011