So, you’ve just about had it!  You have looked through every western hunting magazine that is in existence, watched every hunting show out west, and just can’t take it anymore!  The West is calling.  The Mountains are screaming in your thoughts.  It’s time to go on your first western hunt.

First off, let me say, CONGRATULATIONS, and I am super excited for you!  The world of western hunting is filled with adventure and memories that will last a lifetime.  Be it the views of our vast landscapes or the animals that call them home, they will for sure leave an imprint on you for life.  Going on your first western hunt can be pretty overwhelming though, especially if you are coming from another part of the country.  I am gonna do my best to lay some basic information out for you that you NEED to know.

“Trust your camo.”  I have heard this said many times, but up until recently, it never really resonated with me.  This may sound funny, but I don’t think I have ever really TRUSTED my camouflage.  Not that I didn’t like it, I loved my camo.  I think it was just that though.  I wore it because that is what you were suppose to do………and it looked awesome.  Who doesn’t love camo?  It didn’t change my thoughts on how I stalked animals though.  Honestly, even though I have always worn camo, I really have gone about doing things like I wasn’t wearing camo.  This caused me to maybe be more careful than need be and might have cost me opportunities in the past.

Before I really got bit by the hunting bug, I am probably guilty of saying that I had “No Time to Hunt.”  We say things like this from time to time, whether we are saying we have no time to hunt or we have no time to workout.  The digging for excuses not to take part in said activity starts  right when we realize how hard something can be.  Without the promise of reward, some folks find it hard to justify taking the time to try and create opportunity for themselves.  “There is probably too many people in the hills today.  We are better off staying home.”  “Last time I was out, I didn’t even see a deer.”  Things like this cross our minds from time to time and inevitably cause us to miss out.  The more you let these things affect your decision making, the less you will be in the mountains.  We dream all year about running around the mountains with our bows/rifles or sitting in a blind waiting for that monarch buck to walk by.  The second adversity hits though, discouragement sets in.  Thoughts of a warm bed and home cooked meal gnaw at us like a caged rat.  Adversity is a huge part of hunting though and having the ability to push through is going to keep more meat in your freezer, I promise.

Growing up, I went through many stages and had a multitude of hobbies along the way.  Everything from playing guitar and skateboarding to football, basketball, bowling, and of course, hunting and fishing.  I kept myself busy and was passionate about all of the hobbies I took part in.  I can remember the late nights of playing my guitar until the skin was coming off of my fingers and then continuing to play thereafter.  I can also remember trying to learn certain tricks on my skateboard until I could barely feel my legs.  In the past I have called myself an extremist.  My heart and soul has always bled into the things that I love to do.  My wonderful wife knows this well about me and is a saint for putting up with my “obsessions.”

As technology in the archery industry gets better and better it seems that people are shooting their bows at farther and farther distances.  Traditionally, I myself use a 5-pin multi-pin sight.  My pins are set up for 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 yards.  There is a saying though that says practice at double the yardage that you might be shooting an animal at.  So, where does that leave you when your max distance at an animal is 60 or 70 yards?  I don’t know about you, but I sure as heck don’t have a 120 yard pin in my sight housing.  Not literally at least.  What if I told you that you could in fact get out to those distances without having a toothpick box worth of pins in your sight?  Black Gold has solved this issue with their multi-pin slider sight, The Black Gold Ascent Verdict.

The most used word in archery hunting is probably the word, “ALMOST.”  “I ALMOST filled my tag this evening!”  “The bull walked right instead of left and I ALMOST had him!”  How many times have you heard something along those lines or said it yourself?  I hear it every single season and say it myself every year.  I think this is why I archery hunt though.  It’s the chase.  The journey to the goal.  Every engagement with an animal where you ALMOST are successful holds a lesson.  Another tool in your toolbox and the next stepping stone to your objective.  Even a failed stalk is a successful one.

As most of you have probably guessed it, I am a big fan of the company First Lite and their gear.  First Lite is the makers of high quality hunting clothing and the first to successfully print camo on merino wool.

Ever since I was a kid, I have been going on hunting trips with my dad.  In my teenage years, I would head out with both friends and dad.  There came a point though, when I reached adulthood, where I wanted to spend more and more time in the field.  I wanted to be out there more than just for the annual deer hunt or sporadic quail hunt.  As we grow up our list of responsibilities keep getting bigger though.  This proved difficult in being able to schedule hunting trips with friends and even dad.  So, I had a choice to make.  Either I don’t go out hunting as much or I grab my bow/rifle, put on my backpack, and head out on my own.  I think you can guess what my decision was.

If you have never heard of Target Panic, consider yourself lucky, because that probably means that you haven’t had to deal with it.  Target Panic is when the archer is unable to release an arrow without panicking.  Panicking can take many forms including flinching, not being able to keep the pin held on the bullseye, and not even being able to release the arrow.  Movement is completely normal when aiming your bow, but some people have a hard time accepting this which causes them to panic.  While you are never going to be as still as you would if you put a rifle on a rest, remaining calm throughout the releasing of the arrow is going to have you stacking them in the bullseye.  Target Panic is 100% psychological and, lucky enough, very curable.

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.