I remember sitting on the side of a cliff with my brother, being mad at myself on the third day of our hunt. We had just picked up a bear that morning with our glass and I chose to not try to close the distance with my bow. Instead, I caught myself just overthinking the situation. This led to a bunch of time wasted. That was at 7:30 a.m. At 10:30 a.m., I indeed picked the bear back up with my binoculars. It happened again though, and I didn’t act. Excuses rolled through my head about why I shouldn’t try to make that stalk. “The bear is not going to be there when I get over there. I don’t want to waste time going on a blind stalk.” Before I knew it, we were heading back to the truck, dreaming of the fantastic breakfast we would have in town the next morning. The whole time in doing so, I was frustrated. Frustrated that I didn’t at least TRY to make something happen.
This post is sponsored by Everywhere Agency on behalf of FoodSaver®; however all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
Some of my fondest memories are from my childhood. These special times are what shaped me into the person that I am today. We are so impressionable as youngsters, and I will forever be grateful to my Father for bestowing a life in the outdoors on me. As far back as I can remember, he was taking me fishing and hunting. It was here that I learned a great deal about what hard work gets you. In order to achieve great results, I needed to put in great effort. All the while, truly appreciating what was in front of me, and the landscapes that I called home. Preserving these memories has become something incredibly important to me over the years, as is preserving our riches from these trips. I’m not talking about money, no. I’m referring to that precious organic free range protein that we are so fortunate to acquire through our great efforts. I’ve been preserving said protein through vacuum sealing for years and have full faith in its effectiveness. The GameSaver® Big Game™ Vacuum Sealing System fits that bill and here’s why.
As I sit here and write this, we are landed in the month of May. Turkey season is upon us, spring bear seasons have gone, and more are to come. I’m actually going through spring bear withdrawals over here myself. That’s besides the point though. Even with spring seasons in full effect, I know most of us have our eyes fixated on the coming fall. You know, when a lot of us go missing for a bit or “get sick” and can’t go to work? Things really pop off here in Arizona during the month of August. From that point until the end of January, there is just a lot of hunting to be done. Spending all of that time in the field, you get to know yourself pretty good out there in the quiet. Your strengths and weaknesses are magnified on these excursions.
This is going to be a different kind of post than you have become accustomed to here on Dialed in Hunter. This is just me reaching out to you, and from the bottom of my heart, telling you thank you. You are indeed reading my 100th blog post. The thought of that makes my head spin. I remember back when there were less than 5 and how it felt like I was writing to an empty room. That room has filled up quite a bit over the years and I can’t tell you how grateful I am for the support you’ve all given me. It has been a joy for me conversing with you, sharing my stories, and even inspiring some of you to get out there and chase your hunting dreams. That right there, has really become the biggest reward for me. So, thank you.
Living a life that is rich in health and fitness is becoming way more common practice in this day and age. More and more folks are caring about what they put into their bodies and the long term effects of neglecting their health. For me, this all boils down to fear. I am simply fearful of not being able to do the things that I love for as long as possible. As many of you know, that is bowhunting the backcountry. In light of that, I started watching what I ate as well as working out on a regular basis. Longevity is what we are striving for here. So, when I heard that someone was coming out with health conscious meals for the backcountry, I was thrilled. Meals that were made with real food from the real world. As someone who lives mostly off of wild game, this was extremely appealing to me. Heather’s Choice meals for adventuring had my attention and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a few to try out.
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.
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