2015 was a pretty exciting year for me in the field filled with new experiences and opportunities. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago, when I stopped to think about it all. It was almost overwhelming reflecting back on everything, which is what I intend on doing here. Being relatively new to the hunting lifestyle(3 years), means a lot of things happened to me for the first time. The deeper and deeper that I dive into this, the more things that I want to experience someday and the things that I do get a chance to experience, seem to create new traditions that I can’t wait to take part in the following year. There were way to many firsts that happened during 2015 to list here, but I would like to take the time to reflect on the major ones.
This was an amazing experience with a lot of years of build up. I have been bowhunting now for 3 years and, until this past January, had not harvested an animal with my bow. It happened so fast, that I honestly didn’t even know if my arrow had hit the javelina. That was until I found the first blood ever shed by way of my arrow. My love for bowhunting skyrocketed more than I could imagine after this happened.
Bears are a special animal to me and I might go as far as to say that they are one of the reasons why I am where I am in hunting. They have kept me out in the field more than any other animal and in doing so have given me the opportunity to not only learn more about them, but to learn about those other animals like deer and elk. Bears are what really made me OBSESSED. When I went on my first bear hunt 3 years ago, I was hooked for life. We saw one bear on that trip, but that is all that it took to grab me.
Going through the experience of taking my first bear this past October was probably the most rewarding hunt I have been on thus far. Every year, my love for bear hunting grows and this year it grew a whole lot more. My brother and I created a tradition that we won’t soon miss out on.
If you told me a little over a year ago, when I started Dialed In Hunter, that in a year I was going to have an article published and be on the cover of Bear Hunting Magazine, I probably would have laughed at you. That’s what happened though and I still can’t believe it. One of my goals this year was to get an article published and it was fulfilled tenfold. Over the past year, I have really grown to love writing and you don’t know how much it means to me to have you guys and gals reading my stuff and responding in a positive way. I am extremely grateful for that, so from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU.
Ah, the first deer. Something that had eluded me since I was a boy. This is one of those things that I feel like I need to do every year now. The monster coues buck of my dreams wasn’t the ending of this hunt, but I couldn’t be happier with the buck that I took. I fine first deer and EXCELLENT table fair. For my brother and I, this hunt was more of a celebration for us. A celebration that our dad was still with us after a scary medical situation and hasty operation. We didn’t know if dad was even going to be able to come on this hunt in an area that has become a home away from home for us. He pulled through though and we were able to make some awesome memories once again.
2015 is just coming to a close and with that another year of hunting in the books. It’s time to set new goals and shed empty weight from the previous year. Do what you can to reach these goals everyday. Whether you are shooting one arrow a day or shooting 50 arrows a day, hammering the gym, and scouting your butt off, all of these things bring you one step closer to your hunting feats. I have 3 major goals this year with hunting. Arrow my first deer, arrow my first bear, and arrow my first elk. Preparation has already begun. What are your goals for 2016?
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