I am going to go ahead and say that “Backcountry Hunting” is the cool thing to do right now. Rightfully so! I think it is pretty cool myself! The ultimate, most hardcore hunt right? A truly wild experience, living out of nothing more than what is in your backpack. The promise of adventure coupled with the anxiety of the unknown. You see it all over social media about how more and more folks are getting into backpack hunting. I personally think it is great. Good on them for wanting to take on such a demanding endeavor. This desire is oftentimes paired with a sudden need to start hitting the gym. If you have ever backpack hunted, you know why. Again, I love hearing this. People bettering their lives and pushing their limits in the name of hunting. In a world where more and more folks are glued to the couch instead of outside, this is definitely a plus in my book.
Something that I have grown to look forward to every year is the coming of new products from various companies in the hunting industry. I am always so eager to see what these folks have been cooking up and how the new additions might fit into my gear list. Our gear has come a long way in the last 10 years and somehow it just keeps progressing. Look at bows 5 years ago, or technical clothing. We have come leaps and bounds in that time. Just when I think that nothing else can be improved, a company like First Lite crushes my assumptions with their 2017 line of clothing. One of the products that I am especially jacked up on is their new Sawtooth Hybrid Jacket and that is what we will be diving into today.
When I was a kid, I always wanted a little brother. I remember asking my parents for one throughout my childhood. No matter how much I asked though, it just didn’t happen. That was until one morning when I was 12 years old. Just about to head out of the door to go to school, my parents gave me the news that I would indeed be having a little brother. That morning, as I swung on the swing set with my best friend, we chatted about how awesome it was going to be, me having a little brother. We talked about the things we would teach him as he got older. We looked way into the future and gazed at the days we would share a campfire together. It’s hard to believe that was almost 20 years ago.
Fall hunting seasons are just getting kicked off and it is an exciting time of year, to say the least. The very moments we have been dreaming about and training for all year are about to present themselves. Maybe, we will capitalize on them and maybe we won’t. Time will deliver us that truth when it sees fit. That time I spend away from home usually wears me down pretty good mentally. While I do enjoy the disconnect of TV, social media, cell phones, and just people, I can’t help but get struck with a bit of homesick. I think it is necessary to feel this though.
Earlier this year, I decided that I wanted to start looking at smaller, more lightweight options, in terms of backcountry gear. I feel like I say this to myself every time I set off for a new adventure. As the saying goes, “ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain.” Right off of the bat, I thought of my cook set. Not necessarily for the weight(although less can’t hurt), but for the size. The one I have been using is rather bulky and takes up more room than I’d care for in my pack. So, my goal was to find something that was efficient, lightweight, and more compact. I looked at a ton of different options and finally landed on the Optimus Crux Lite stove.
The term “OTC Tags” is one that is growing more popular everyday in the hunting community. For those of you that don’t know what that stands for, it means “over the counter.” It is getting increasingly harder to draw tags through lottery systems. I don’t think it is going to start heading in the other direction anytime soon. We spend a ton of money every year on bows, clothing, optics, you name it. Hours and hours are spent at the range shooting our rifles and sighting in our archery equipment. For a lot of folks, myself included, it is disheartening when you invest so much time and money into something, only to be told you can’t go hunting this season. Not going hunting is just not an option on the table in my house. This is why I focus most of my attention on OTC tags.
As an avid bowhunter, the anticipation of Fall is enough to drive someone mad. It seems like last Fall came and went faster than ever. Unlike the time of year coming and going, the experiences I had are still fresh as rain. So fresh, that I find myself thinking about them daily. It feels like just last week I was on my first elk hunt in the backcountry of Colorado. That was something special I got to share with my brother and will be talking about with him well into old age. We experienced a lot of firsts on that trip. Some of them being our first out of state hunt, longest backpack hunt, and first bull elk we’ve ever called in. This hunt left a mark and instilled an addiction in both of us for backcountry elk hunting and just elk hunting in general really.
The next area I am going to cover on backcountry hunting is water and water filtration. You cannot get through a backpack hunt without water, so this is not something to turn your nose up at.
When I was a kid, I remember longing to drink straight from a creek or other wild body of water. Like hunting for your own food, it was one of those things that captivated me. I loved adventure movies that took place in the mountains and watched folks more than once, reach down into a stream with cupped hands, bring that ice cold mountain water up to their mouths, and drink it in. Man, I wanted to do that! Eventually, my wild dreams would come true!
“Never say never.” We’ve all heard that a time or two. I remember especially hearing this phrase as a kid. Maybe it would come up during a rough football game on T.V. Our team would be losing with very little time left and I would hear my Dad say, “never say never.” Most times the obvious would happen, but sometimes they’d end up pulling through and winning. You just don’t know how something is going to play out, unless you see it through. I think this phrase translates perfectly into hunting.
I feel like the only way for me to tell you why you need to consider hunting with a bow, is to tell you how I got hooked on it myself. Let us begin!
It wasn’t until around 15 years of age that the bow ended up snuggling its way into my life. It did so for the simple fact that my dad was sick and tired of not drawing rifle deer tags here in Arizona(We ended up moving out here from New York when I was 9). Archery deer tags in AZ can be purchased “over the counter.” That was something that we definitely wanted to get our hands on the following season. So, we bought some bows and started practicing religiously in the backyard. It was pretty cool shooting a bow for the first time. I remember thinking how hard it was to pull the string back and come to full draw. I also remember being amazed when I let the arrow go. The flight of the arrow captured my attention.
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