Over the past few years, I have become sort of a backpack nerd.  This is pretty funny to me, because when I first really jumped into hunting, I really didn’t see the need to have one.  The first backpack I owned was a 2300 cubic inch day pack.  I loved that pack until I actually killed something and realized that I had no room in there to haul meat.  I was also starting to grow an interest in backpack hunting.  From there, I jumped to an Eberlestock Just One pack.  Right off of the bat I was impressed with it, but started experiencing some pains in my hips whenever I would wear it.  It is one tough pack and can handle anything you throw at it, but it just wasn’t for me.  So, the search began!

Joshua Kirchner

Here in Arizona, all of us hunters look forward to the end of July/early August.  Why?  This is when we find out if we have drawn the deer tags that we are hoping for through Arizona’s lottery system.  Myself and my family had not been drawn since 2013, so the anticipation of the results was just plain cage rattling.  During the 2013 season, I had found an area that would soon become a second home for me.  The amount of bucks that I saw left me awestruck.  I can remember calling my dad every night telling him things like, “I saw 11 big bucks today,” or “I had shot opportunities at 7 bucks tonight.”  Never in all of the years that we went deer hunting had we seen things like that or had those types of opportunities.

Joshua Kirchner