Ever since I was a kid, I have been a dreamer. Always lost in my own thoughts and drifting away into Neverland, not always at the most appropriate of times. I could sit through an entire class in school and not retain a bit of information because, my mind was simply elsewhere. The same would happen with books. Chapters might fly by and I couldn’t tell you what happened in the story. My imagination was wide open and that was encouraged heavily by my Mother. She always told me to chase my dreams and that I could do anything. Because, of that, I’ve never thought that anything was unattainable. If I wanted something, all I needed to do was give it my everything, and I knew that I would eventually get it. Fast forward 20 years and I’m still dreaming.
Since I was a young boy, I have watched how different walks of life deal with struggle. From elementary school to the mountains, there is a breaking point that people have. The point in which they decide to quit and throw in the towel on said activity. In school it was kids training there butts off to make a certain athletic team. When they didn’t make it, some would quit the activity all together. Others however, were more invigorated and trained even harder than before. What is that? How are some so motivated that struggle motivates them even more? I certainly don’t think it is something that you can teach, but I do think it is something that can be learned. So, how can you learn something that can’t be taught?
Growing up I was always a pretty diligent planner. Uncertainty was not something I welcomed into my life often. I can remember sitting with my friends talking out our entire day before it unfolded. Where we were going to eat and what time. Who’s house we would end up at and when. What video games we would play when we got there. It brought me comfort knowing what I was going to do. I was never a “go with the flow” type of person. Not knowing what laid in front of me made me feel like a chicken running around without a head. No direction for me was no bueno. The same approach would be taken with hunting. Little did I know, hunting would be the very thing that would make me start to relax more and “go with the flow.”
Every time I start out in something new, there always seems to be a tinge of feeling overwhelmed. I think it’s natural. In the beginning of a new endeavor, you don’t know your backside from your elbow. The longer down the road you go, the more impossible that very endeavor can seem. How much defeat can one endure before wanting to throw in the towel? Bowhunting is all too perfect of an example of this and I am sure you might have felt this way from time to time. The key to all of this in my opinion though is perspective. It’s how you look at it. Is what you experienced a failure or is it part of something much bigger? It is the Evolution of a Bowhunter and we are all part of it.
I’ve talked in the past about hunters oftentimes being hermits and living in their own world. We chat among ourselves, preaching to the choir in our little circles, but don’t extend much past that. In doing so, we generally don’t get any blow back from our beliefs. The stories we tell to each other are spoken of openly between us. There is no, “watch what you say” mentality when we do this. We don’t have to worry about how we posed a deer for a photo or if there was blood on our hands. When we tell tales of a bad shot we made and how the animal suffered a lot longer than we would have liked, you aren’t met with disgust. Your fellow hunter gives you remorse. More times than not, they know exactly how that feels and can sympathize. That is us though. Not everyone has this outlook.
The thought to increase the draw weight on my bow when I was younger was not one that ran across my mind often. In fact, I was pretty stuck on never raising my poundage above 60 pounds. As I went farther down the road that is bowhunting though, I quickly decided that it was something I wanted to look into. Why? Well, for one I would be able to deliver more kinetic energy downrange, which would result in better penetration. As an avid bowhunter, I always hope for a complete pass through on animals and this would aid in that. Another reason was specifically for longer range shots. This would increase my arrow speed. Increasing draw weight would close the gaps between my pins, which would give me the ability to shoot even farther than before. That is something I’ve really began to love over the years. Watching my arrow sail into its mark from 100 yards is a great feeling.
After just coming off of my last hunting season until spring, I find myself reflecting on the past year. This is when I look back and reevaluate my goal setting. Did I have any gear that I wasn’t exactly happy with? Did any weaknesses stick out? How about my actual hunts? What did I do wrong in the field that I could work on for the future? For me, it is an ever evolving process. I am always looking for the next best piece of gear or new hunting spot. Just when I am happy with how something works for me, I end up trying to figure out something better. My Dad has always told me, “don’t ever think you’ve got it all sewn up.” There is always room for improvement. Where do you go from there though?
Since I dove down the rabbit hole that is my hunting blog and creating content in general, a constant question that lands itself in my inbox is how one goes about starting to do these things. The simple answer to this is to take a page out of Nike’s book and “JUST DO IT.” However, there can be quite a few moving pieces in that question. For instance, what kind of content do you want to create? Do you want to help people out and be a resource for folks? Are you looking to tell your own story and inspire others? Is your cup of tea video or writing? These, along with others, are all questions that need to be answered before diving down the rabbit hole I mentioned earlier.
It wasn’t until my late teen years, when bowhunting entered my life. Even then, it was just a sprinkle of time during the year. My Dad and I would go out for a few days in Dec/Jan, followed by talks of missing our rifles. This bowhunting stuff was hard and we knew it. Whether it was one thing or another, something would always happen to thwart our chances of wrapping our tags. Fast forward to present day and I am still telling tales of how I ALMOST killed a buck. Over the past 5 years of bowhunting hard, I have been fortunate to fill a few tags, but it didn’t come easy. Perhaps, that is why I am so drawn to it.
Here is a brief overview of the tent I have been running on my backcountry adventures over the past year. It is the Nemo Hornet 2P backpacking tent. Super cool tent. Lightweight, durable, packable, and has a simple design. You can check it out at www.nemoequipment.com. If you have any questions, lets have them!
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