Lessons from my First Hunt | 3 Things "Everybody" Knows (But I Didn't)

Lessons from my First Hunt | 3 Things "Everybody" Knows (But I Didn't)

The sun came up, the hours started to tick by, and I didn’t see anything. After a while, the fact that I had been up since 4:00 started to catch up with me, and I could feel my head starting to droop. Eventually, I straight-up fell asleep. I’m not sure how long I was out, but I remember being suddenly awakened by the loudest, most hair-raising sound I had ever heard in the woods…a giant bull elk bugled directly behind me. I snapped awake, and slowly turned my head to see a bull and five cows standing less than 10 yards from my blind. The adrenaline dumped into my veins, my heart-rate went through the roof, and I remember thinking, “holy crap…this is about to happen!”

How to be a Great Dad | 3 Simple Tips

How to be a Great Dad | 3 Simple Tips

Dads need to know how they can win, and I firmly believe if you can be consistent in these three areas, you will absolutely win the fatherhood game. You’ll have bad days, your kids will have bad days, there will probably still be an unfortunate goth phase around 14…but ultimately your kids will have that stable foundation only a dad can offer that will help them turn into the functional adults we all hope and pray they will become (you know, so they can finally move out of your house). Okay, enough jibber-jabber…let’s go!

Planning a Colorado Elk Hunt - Part 3

Planning a Colorado Elk Hunt - Part 3

I can’t believe how fast time flies! I decided over five months ago that I was heading to CO for an Over the Counter Archery Elk Hunt, and it felt like I had all the time in the world. Now, I am just a couple weeks out from hitting the trail in a brand new wilderness in an unfamiliar state chasing these magnificent creatures that I haven’t hunted in two years…the mixture of excitement and trepidation is hard to describe (it’s like the night before your wedding day…if you feared you might fall off a mountain or utterly fail at getting married). If you have also been trying to get yourself prepped for a brand new hunting adventure (whether out of state or in your own backyard), then what should you be focused on in these final weeks leading up to the big hunt?

Elite Ritual Bow Review | Is it Really the World's Most Shootable Bow?

Elite Ritual Bow Review | Is it Really the World's Most Shootable Bow?

The question of the day is about the Ritual from Elite Archery…is it really as shootable as they claim? According to Elite, the Ritual is the culmination of every piece of ground-breaking bow technology they’ve ever developed…all crammed into one, magnificent compound bow. That’s quite a claim, if you ask me! But, I recently had the opportunity to form a relationship with Elite, and to get myself into a brand new Ritual 33. But, does it live up to the hype???

Is goHUNT Worth It? | Thoughts from my Free Trial

Is goHUNT Worth It? | Thoughts from my Free Trial

If you’ve paid any attention to the world of Western Big Game Hunting lately, then you’ve surely heard of GoHunt. This is the subscription service that gives you access to buckets of information for any state you could want to hunt in the West…draw odds, trophy potential, success rates…how they pull all these stats together is the greatest blend of hardcore hunting and number-crunching nerdery I’ve ever seen! Well, GoHunt is currently offering a 30-Day free trial! So, I’ve been playing around with “The Insider” for a couple weeks now, and here is my take on the situation…

Hunting Backup Plans | When Your First Choice is Literally on Fire

Hunting Backup Plans | When Your First Choice is Literally on Fire

All pre-season I have poured all my scouting efforts into roughly a couple square miles of National Forest. And then it happened…lightning struck…literally! A fire broke out in that area, and the powers-that-be decided to let it do its thing as a controlled burn. Now, that’s a great call for the long-term health of the area, and I’m sure in a year or two I will be right by the edges of those burns as they should attract deer and elk like moths to…well…to a flame. However, it left me panicking (not just because my game cams are still in there, hopefully not getting burnt to crisps), but I realized that if the whole area goes up in flames or isn’t re-opened in a month, I have absolutely ZERO other spots scouted for deer season.

How to Hunt When You’re Stuck Working

How to Hunt When You’re Stuck Working

Almost all of us who are hunters also maintain some sort of full-time job…it’s how we afford to be able to go and hunt in the first place (and…you know…feed our children and stuff). But, every hunter knows that when we’re at work, we’d almost always rather be hunting. Even if you genuinely enjoy what you do for a living (as I do), hunting just gets deep in your soul and takes over most of your mental free time. But, if you can’t put in as much time as you’d want at the range, scouting, or dialing in your gear, how can you keep the ball moving forward without getting fired?

How to Manage Anxiety | 3 Simple Tips

How to Manage Anxiety | 3 Simple Tips

Anxiety sucks! Okay, that’s an overgeneralization. The kind of anxiety that’s hard-wired into our human existence as a means of survival, that’s a good thing (preventing us from walking down dark alleys and whatnot). But, the kind of anxiety that is a rising epidemic in our modern society – the kind that lingers and builds and we can’t seem to shake even when there’s no logical reason to be filled with anxiety – that part sucks!  And as men, by in large, we suffer from it in silence.

Spot Hogg Wiseguy Archery Release | Gear Review

Spot Hogg Wiseguy Archery Release | Gear Review

For the last six years, I have continued shooting the same budget release I bought when I first started bowhunting. I’ve upgraded my bow three times since then, but never stopped to really consider if my inexpensive Cabela’s brand release might be negatively impacting my accuracy. But, once you start looking into higher-end releases, the sticker-shock can scare you back to your old release in a hurry. Is it really worth it to drop well-north of $100 (minimum) for a high-quality release? In the case of the Spot Hogg Wiseguy…ABSOLUTELY!

How to Get Your Little Ones Involved in Hunting | 4 Tips for Kids in the Outdoors

How to Get Your Little Ones Involved in Hunting | 4 Tips for Kids in the Outdoors

My middle child (the 6-year-old) has been all about hunting for years. He is constantly asking when he can go, if he can come with me, when we’ll go scouting…the kid just wants to be in the outdoors. Now, as a squirrelly boy who can’t sit still through a single meal, he’s not exactly ready to come out on a hunt just yet. But, a few weeks ago the whole family headed up to the woods for some much-needed R&R, and I made a plan to take Gibson out with me to hang a couple game cameras one morning. We both had a terrific time out there together, and here are the 4 things I believe I did right to make this a success…