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.
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.
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!
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.
Food in the backcountry is one of those things that can both lift your spirit and your performance. Having a nice hot meal at the end of a long day just plain makes me feel better. When I might be feeling discouraged in the middle of the day, a cup of coffee just has a way of improving my overall mood. For that reason, I think it is important to not just throw a bunch of random stuff in a bag and call it good. You need to know how much food to bring, what food to bring, and you need to actually like what you are planning to eat. Backpack hunting is a strenuous game that demands refueling, so it is our job to do just that.
The 2017 Fall hunting season is dangling out ahead of us and is nearly in reach. Some of us, myself included, have already started doing the necessary homework to try and ensure our best chances of success. Burning holes with our eyes into our maps, working on our shooting, and buying new gear. For some of you, this might be your first season jumping into the world that is backcountry hunting. Let me say, I am excited for you! It’s a whole new look on things when you have camp on your back and bow in hand.
Over my years of black bear hunting there is a consistent theme that wafts its way past my ears every now and then. On multiple occasions, after posting a successful bear hunting photo, folks have asked me, “Why did you shoot a bear? You can’t eat bear.” This leaves me puzzled every time I hear it. Their surprise after I tell them I eat bear a few times a week never gets old though. So, with this piece, I want to lay that question to rest.
It seems that every backpack hunt or backpacking trip I go on, I am trying to figure out how to lighten the weight of my pack. There was a time when I would bring things just to bring them, and quite honestly, I probably still do it some. Over the years though, I’ve gotten more comfortable and in tune with my gear to really start realizing what I need and what I don’t need. I quiver when I hear guys carrying 70-80 pounds of gear into the backcountry. If you want to do that, that is totally fine, but I just don’t, especially when I am planning on hauling out loads of fresh meat. Now, I am by no means a backcountry minimalist and for sure enjoy some creature comforts. Here are some things though that I have learned and ways that I have been able to cut down the weight of my pack.
If you’ve spent any great deal of time looking into new gear for your backpack hunting endeavors, I’d be hard pressed if you didn’t cringe a little bit every now and again at the prices of some of these items. I know I used to do it a ton, when I was first looking into this stuff. Why in the world would someone spend $500 on a sleeping bag?! That’s more than my truck payment! $800 on a tent? “NO FRIGGIN WAY,” I’d tell myself. The fact of the matter is though, if you want to be an ultralight backpack hunter and have good reliable gear, you are eventually gonna pony up the dough here and there on certain items. The more we get into something, the more we care about the gear that goes along with said something. When I started, anything was “good enough.” Now, that I’ve had more experience, I care a lot more about the functionality of my gear, because of previous gear failures as well as knowing what I need out of that gear. I don’t want to be 5 miles + into a wilderness, only to realize that my tent broke or that my rain gear isn’t quite as “waterproof” as it was advertised to be. With that being said, I think that there are some areas where you can definitely avoid the huge price tags and still have an enjoyable experience, especially if you’re new to all of this.
Alright, so it’s been awhile since we’ve chatted about one of my favorite kinds of media to consume and that’s podcasts. I thought I’d put together a list of what I am looking forward to listening to in 2017. These aren’t in any particular order, so if a podcast is at the bottom of the list, that doesn’t mean that I like that show the least, it just means it’s at the bottom. Most of the podcasts I listen to focus on all things western hunting, so that is what you are going to see here. I will include two sections to this. Podcasts that have been constants in my library and then I will follow that with newer podcasts that I have just recently started listening to. Let’s go.
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