Facing Setbacks | How to Stay Motivated When it all Goes Wrong

Facing Setbacks | How to Stay Motivated When it all Goes Wrong

I’m pretty sure everyone is facing less than ideal circumstances right now. There’s a global pandemic (that’s only picking up speed where I live), the country seems as if it’s never been more divided, oh…and just for fun…half of my state is on fire (including one of my favorite deer spots). But, one of the things I love about hunting (and the reason I recommend it to every dude who isn’t a militant vegan) is that it helps prepare us for this kind of stuff. I mean, there isn’t a specific lesson learned in the field that prepares you for Coronavirus or looting in the streets, but hunting builds grit like few other things I’ve found. And grit is what we need in a big way right now.

Are You Actually Ready to Hunt? | Making Sure You're On Target

Are You Actually Ready to Hunt? | Making Sure You're On Target

But, I find the online research and shopping is the easy part…it’s fun for a gear-junky like me to spend hours on a laptop researching the minute details of every piece of hunting gear. The hard part is having the discipline to spend the time making sure you and your gear are as prepared as possible for the hunt. I’m talking range time, target practice, testing your gear before you’re out in the field trying to beat an incoming hailstorm…this is the stuff that’s harder to do. The temptation is to leave your rifle in the safe or bow in the closet, pull it out a couple weeks before season to check the zero, and then hit the hills. Honestly, I think that’s a recipe for disaster, and that’s because I’m smack-dab in the middle of that disaster right now…

Fighting Cabin Fever | Maintaining Your Sanity

Fighting Cabin Fever | Maintaining Your Sanity

While all of that sounds good in theory (and I had hoped I would experience something similar during this time), sometimes it’s just not possible. Maybe like me, your work-world has been totally upended and you’re trying to figure out a completely new paradigm (making it nearly impossible to take time off). Maybe like me, you’re feeling the extra parenting load with kids home from school, and the thought of bailing on your wife for a few days to go hunting just seems cruel. Or maybe like me, your Jeep broke down three weeks ago because of the bear curse you’re under, and it’s still not back from the shop yet…leaving you pretty much stuck at home even if work and family would allow you to get away. (I realize that last one was really specific, so perhaps that’s just me). The real question is this: How can we fight off cabin fever and maintain some connection to the outdoors, even if the situation we’re currently in makes a long trip into the wilderness impossible?

Weightlifting Gear | What do I Really Need for Strength Training?

Weightlifting Gear | What do I Really Need for Strength Training?

Once you decide you’re going to get in shape or put on some muscle, you’d think that it’s a simple matter of a gym membership and some self-discipline. And while at it’s most basic form that is true, there’s also a whole world of extra gear you’ll suddenly discover is available to the new weightlifter. Just start poking around strength training or powerlifting sites, and you’ll see a never-ending supply of gear these beasts are using: shoes, belts, wraps, full body suits, etc. It’s pretty easy to look at these guys and the massive weight they’re moving and think, “I’m not nearly that strong. I’d like to be that strong. Maybe all the stuff that guy is wearing is the secret.”

Chairs for the Outdoors | Caring for your Keister while Glassing

Chairs for the Outdoors | Caring for your Keister while Glassing

The point is this: I’ve tried every conceivable sitting configuration, and still have yet to find the perfect solution. I’ve searched for the perfect log, the flattest rock, I’ve brought portable chairs along for the ride, and of course I’ve spent plenty of time sitting in the dirt. Eventually, my back, butt, or some other random body part will start aching, and I’ll have to change the situation. I’ve even been known to re-set my extra-tall tripod just so I can glass standing up for a while. So, what is the best option?

Vortex Optics Warranty | Is it REALLY that Good?

Vortex Optics Warranty | Is it REALLY that Good?

As the winter hunts came to a close here in AZ, I had two different pieces of Vortex glass that I had been procrastinating getting repaired. So, while I was a couple months away from my next hunting adventure, I decided to put that Vortex warranty to the test. I boxed up my rifle scope and binoculars, shipped them off to Vortex headquarters, and immediately felt naked (it’s a weird feeling to suddenly have two of your primary hunting tools out of your possession). But, here I sit just a few weeks later with all my glass back safely, and let me tell you just a couple reasons I’m now a Vortex guy for life…

Building a Budget Home Gym | How to Stay In Shape AND At Home

Building a Budget Home Gym | How to Stay In Shape AND At Home

For years I lived the standard gym life. Roll in on the way to work, wait for open squat racks and benches, get cleaned up and ready in the locker room (surrounded by overly confident older gentlemen), and a day or two later repeat the whole process. Don’t even get me started on what January in the gym is like…a flood of New Year’s Resolutions pour through that door and make everything I just mentioned that much harder. So, during those years I continually dreamt of a home gym, but the potential price tag kept it feeling impossibly out of reach. I discovered that a highly effective home gym is actually well within reach for the average budget. In fact, the basics can cost little more than a year’s worth of gym dues (which, by the way, you won’t be paying anymore). So, if you’ve ever dreamt of leaving the globo-gym and working out in the comfort and privacy of your own home, here’s how to do it…

Backpacking Basics | How to Get Started

Backpacking Basics | How to Get Started

Now, whether you’re a hunter or not, there are massive benefits to backpacking. You get to head into wilderness and roadless areas that often you can only get to on foot or horseback. The beauty and solitude that can be found back there, and the general sense of accomplishment of pushing yourself to get back where not just anyone can get to is incredible! If you’re a hunter, you get to find less pressured animals and face less competition when you get way back into the wilderness. So, if you’ve ever considered backpacking but feel too overwhelmed to give it a shot, let’s break down the basics…

Making the Most of the Off-Season | How to Hunt All Year Long

Making the Most of the Off-Season | How to Hunt All Year Long

If you’re a standard big game hunter, the early spring is probably a down time for you…at least it is for me. Fall gets so much if our time, energy, and day dreaming. Then February rolls around, and compared to the anticipation and general awesomeness of the past five months, there’s just not much going on. So we have a choice: slip into a depressive coma until Fall rolls around again, or find ways to make the most of this down time and set ourselves up for an even better Fall this upcoming year. Personally, I’ve done both in the past, and this year I’m committed to going guns blazing like never before during the Spring and Summer months.

Making a Bad Shot | How to Deal with Losing an Animal

Making a Bad Shot | How to Deal with Losing an Animal

I double-checked my range, and drew my bow as one of the pigs started moving into the clearing next to the bush. Time stood still, my brain could think of nothing besides this pig, and I settled the pin on his vitals and let the arrow fly. There was a sound of impact and chaos all around the bush as the several pigs in the mix darted around trying to figure out what happened. Somehow, I had the presence of mind to knock another arrow as I saw the pig I had just shot at (couldn’t tell if he was hit or not) re-emerge on the other side of the bush in the open standing broadside. I didn’t have time to reach for the range-finder, so I drew back, intentionally thought through all the steps of my shot sequence, and let a second arrow fly.