Year in and year out life is filled with lessons. If you’re like me and always striving to be better than yesterday, you pay attention to those lessons. This past 2021 hunting season provided me with more than its fair share of takeaways, just like it should be. Here, I’m going to lay out my biggest lessons learned from the 2021 hunting season. I walked away from it with new perspective, and with any hope, you’ll walk away from this article with the same.
A good sleeping pad can either make your trip or break it. I’ve been on both ends of that, and the break part isn’t fun. Especially, when it’s 10 degrees at night. Picture someone running in place while in their sleeping bag, just trying to conjure up any bit of heat. That was me. Since that particular hunt, I vowed to always have a quality sleeping pad underneath me and ditch the old school foam roll up kind. Almost 10 years later, I’ll say this. Inflatable sleeping pads are the only way to go.
Another year has flown by. It’s crazy how fast the months end up in the rearview mirror sooner than later. You know what they say though. Time flies when you’re having fun, and I’ve had a boat load of it this year. From chasing Arizona coues in January to Idaho elk in September, this year has been jam packed with adventure. Throughout that time, I’ve been fortunate to bring along some remarkable gear. Stuff that has made life easier and some that I just flat out am psyched about. So, in light of that I’m going to run through my top 12 favorite gear items I’ve used throughout 2021. I figure, it’s December, so why not 12 items to reflect the month? Keep in mind most of these did not come out in 2021, but I did in fact use them in 2021. This is going to be a 2 PART series, so stay tuned!
We were young. For the entirety of our friendship, my buddy John and I have shared the wild hills and waters of Arizona together. In our early 20’s John was suddenly captivated by bowhunting and soon after I caught the bug as well. When we first started trying our hands at archery hunting during our OTC deer hunts here, we swore off hunting coues whitetail deer. They were too hard, too jumpy, and way out of our reach given our limited bowhunting skills. Fast forward to present day and I have become obsessed with them. From their cagey nature to their beautiful coats, unique antlers, and second to none tasting meat. Hunting coues deer with a bow and arrow is the ultimate test for a bowhunter. While they are arguably the hardest animal to spot and stalk with a bow in North America, they are not impossible. Here’s a few proven tidbits of info I’ve gathered bowhunting the gray ghost through the years.
Fall in Arizona is one of my favorite times of the year. While most are keyed up on deer hunts around the month of October, I’m thinking bears. The weather is nice, the bears are fat, and it’s just a great time to be out in the hills looking for these big guys. October bear is where I cut my teeth as a bear hunter. It’s where a great deal of my love started for pursuing bears. This past October 2021 was incredible to say the least and I can’t wait to share it with you below. I made a film of this adventure called Endearment – A Bear Hunting Film. It encapsulates everything I love about fall bear hunting here in my home state, hence the name “Endearment.”
We are sitting in the heart of hunting season right now and I hope all of you have been having an amazing season so far. This is the time of year we wait for all through the calendar. Take advantage of it while it’s here!
I recently returned from an incredible fall bear hunt here in my home state of Arizona. From front to back it was a hunt I’ll never forget. Much time was spent alone to my thoughts and a great deal of time was spent with a few folks I wouldn’t trade for the world. And of course it had its fair share of bears. One of which ended up coming home with me.
I’m so excited to announce that the film of this very hunt will be coming out October 30th 2021! The film is called Endearment and it take you along the entirety of my hunt. This is the first long form film I’ve made, so I really hope you enjoy it. Until then, I’ve included a teaser below!
What an exciting time of year! Fall is finally upon us. Hopefully, you’ve got some sweet tags in your pocket and are hitting the hills sooner than later. I’m currently packing for a backcountry archery elk hunt. I cannot wait! September is a special month to be in the mountains. Aside from that, I just wanted to reach out and let you all know that Season 2 of Dialed in Diaries is in FULL SWING over on my Youtube Channel.
I was probably about 12 years old or so. My Dad and I were getting ready to go on a deer hunt here in Arizona and were sitting in the parking lot of the rifle range until it opened. Not too long before that he bought me my first rifle. A 30-30 lever action. On top was a rifle scope I can’t even recall. That was ok though, because we were going hunting. I just had to get this thing sighted in. What I thought would be a quick process ended up not being quick at all and I even got “scoped” in the process. It was that damn scope. Hard to look through, hard to find the right eye relief, and wasn’t “easy on the eye.” Fast forward 20+ years and things are different. Much different. The new Vortex Razor LHT 4.5-22×50 is on another planet when compared to that first nameless scope. I had a chance to test this beast of a scope recently and have some thoughts. Let’s take a closer look at this new Razor LHT from Vortex.
Last year I started a video series on my Youtube Channel called Dialed in Diaries. It was basically a diary in video form that documented all of my hunting adventures. I wanted it to be real and raw, but with a tasteful and polished feel. From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows it’s all there. That series was started in the middle of last year and the response I’ve gotten has been warming. Thank you all that took the time to watch it. 2021 is a new year and will bring new episodes of the series.
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