“You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy hunting gear and that’s kind of the same thing.” Anonymous

One of the largest barriers for getting into hunting is buying the RIGHT equipment. The choices are daunting with a plethora of brands and equipment types. As you go further down the rabbit hole, buying gear becomes a drug. A lot of new hunters either can’t afford all of the equipment, or they buy way too much trash. Aron Snyder, owner of Kifaru International, once said, “Either you are poor and tough, or you are rich and comfortable.” This is a perfect analogy for the types of hunting gear you should get. Cheaper gear often means more weight in the pack, and you have gear that doesn’t stand up to the elements. Expensive items weigh less and can take a beating. If you hear someone say, “This is the BEST,” be skeptical. These “Hunters” are often sponsored or are uninitiated.

So where do you start?

If your budget is tight, there are 3 items you should consider spending most of your budget on. First you need to buy a solid pair of footwear. Second, you need to find a pack that is comfortably fitted to your body type. Third, invest in a solid pair of optics. Let’s dig into boots first.

A bad pair of boots will take you out of hunt far quicker than anything else. You will find yourself walking into a hunting spot and immediately want to return to the truck because of a growing blister. Investing in a great pair of boots will take you further afield for a longer duration.

Be wary of people who say, “These are the best boots ever. Buy them!” The best boots ever are the best boots for YOU. Find recommendations from folks who spend a lot of time in the field and then go try them on. I have learned this lesson the hard way. Once, I bought a pair of boots online that were highly recommended. The moment I put them on, I knew they were too narrow for my fat Fred Flintstone feet. I convinced myself that I would break them in before season. I did a lot of day hiking and thought this would be enough for the coming September. I did not test them continuously over multiple days. When hunting, I often spend days, back-to-back, hunting. Over the course of a hunting trip my feet swell up. I was on this gnarly elk hunt, where I was hiking about 17 miles a day. I was on my hike in on a particular hunt and about the 2-mile mark, I started getting a really bad hot spot on my heel. Being the good Marine that I am, I endured through. As light began to fade, I began the long egress out of the woods. I got about 100 yards into my hike back and my foot began to burn. The blister had rubbed raw, and the pain was intense. I spent 8 miles limping back in agony.

That pain is burned deeply into my memory, and I learned a valuable lesson. NEVER AGAIN, will I buy boots without trying them on and testing them over consecutive days. After trying on many boots that fit and adapt to my hunting scenarios, I have found a boot that I love Keen’s Durand 2 Waterproof Boot https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/keen-durand-ii-mid-waterproof-hiking-boots-for-men?ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=Shop%7CGeneric%7CAllProducts%7CHigh%7CSSCCatchAll&gclid=Cj0KCQiA09eQBhCxARIsAAYRiykytAPEp9fUu66X9MR0nxagq0VWs3DvFR4VduMq1PDpwDlhBvEQHoIaAoqgEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds. Pairing these boots with a pair of soles that have been made from the mold of my feet have also been a great for my lower back, Sheep Feet https://sheepfeetoutdoors.com/ .

Now that our feet are taken care of, we need to focus on a great pack and frame that will not wear out your shoulders, back, and hips. There are many packs to choose from, and brands have done a great job of marketing their packs. No matter how cool they may look, a bad pack will quickly ruin your hunt. Once again I reference back to my time in the Marine Corps. During Boot Camp, we went on a 3-day excursion called the Crucible. We hiked over 52 miles, completed numerous assault courses, lived off of 2 hours of sleep a night, ate 1 MRE a day, and hiked a monstrous hill called the Reaper. Standing proud at the top of the Reaper, my drill instructor handed me the Eagle Globe and Anchor. After a 6-mile hike back to the barracks, we dropped our packs off, a corpsman evaluated our injuries from the last 3 days. Besides half dollar sized blisters on my feet, blood was soaking my t shirt from sores on my back from where the pack was digging into my back.

Over the last few years of hunting, I have been using a few different packs. From Wilderness Pack Specialties, I have been using their Big Horn pack with their Kodiak Frame. The pack holds a significant amount of weight and can take a beating. The design is super simple. With 3,000 cubic inches of pack, the Big Horn comes with some sweet features. The frame has a slot for a water bladder, the pack expands away from the frame to carry meat in between the pack and frame, an integrated rifle/bow carrier flap that can fold in when not in use, and a orange flap that folds out. Over the years I used this pack for deer hunting, waterfowl hunting, and 2-day camping trips. I didn’t like how there isn’t multiple small compartments in this pack, but I bought a pack pouch that worked well with my setup. Wilderness Pack Specialties is an amazing veteran owned company. Their customer service is responsive and fantastic. I busted a seam on the pack from heavy use and poor care. I sent it into them, and they repaired it at no cost. Another issue with the pack is the straps don’t have any stays, there are very limited internal compartments for organization, and it has a very blocky look to it. Despite these minor imperfections, this pack is built tough. https://www.wildernesspacks.net/hunting-packs-bags

Recently, I moved to Kifaru’s 44 Mag pack with their Duplex Lite Frame. Kifaru does a great job of designing and testing intuitive packs. The 44 Mag is setup internally for a lot of organization, the company uses American quality products, and is rigorously tested in the backcountry. The 44 Mag also allows you to carry a lot more items to extend your time in the field with its massive 4,750 cubic inches of space. The bag is lighter than the Big Horn and is extremely comfortable. It has zippered side pockets, which are perfect for storing spotting scopes and a tripod. There are multiple access points to the bag.. If you have gear at the bottom that want to get to without emptying it, there are access points all over. It comes with compression straps and stays that keeps you from getting hung up when hiking through thick brush. On top of this, you can store an entire camp in the bag. You don’t have to hang anything outside of the pack.

One draw back to this pack is that it takes a lot of testing to find the adjustments that makes the pack comfortable. On the flip side, this does allow this pack to be comfortable for the majority of users. Kifaru does have a bunch of videos on YouTube that demonstrate how to set the pack to your dimensions. Their website asks a wide range of questions when you purchase to make sure they set the pack to a close estimate of your body type. Even though this bag comes at a hefty price tag, the company does utilize Affirm so that you can make payments over time. This lets consumers with lower income access a high-end pack. Kifaru also offers many accessories for the pack so that you can adjust it to multiple different types of hunting/hiking scenarios. https://kifaru.net/store/packs/multi-day-packs/44-mag/

Now that we have taken care of our feet and backs, lets take a look at enhancing your capabilities in spotting game. First and foremost, you need a solid pair of binos. If you are hunting in dense vegetation you will not need as much power. A pair of 10 x 42 binos should be plenty. The best company on the market is Swarovski. They are also the most expensive. If you cannot afford their price point, Vortex provides a middle of the road product. You do not need a high-powered scope when hunting thick timber. Most of my hunts occur in the open high deserts.

After discovering spot and stalk hunting, it will be rare for me to hunt timbered land. I like to watch my game from very long distances and wait for the animals to make a mistake before I close the distance. I carry both a spotting scope and strong binos. In doing so, I pay a heavy price in carrying a lot of weight and emptying the bank account. I run the Vortex Razor UHD 10×42 Binos and Swarovski TS-80 Spotting Scope with 20×60 eye piece. If you don’t want to run a spotting scope in wide open terrain, I recommend using a very strong bino, such as a 15 x 56. The problem with these is that they are heavy and wear you out over time if you are using them as much as you are supposed to.

When hunting, you should be constantly checking your surroundings. Even if you are in thick timber, you should use binos to peer through brush by alternating the focus. This allows you peer into thick areas, allowing for you to catch horns or the straight back of an animal. You may be asking why you should spend so much on optics. If you don’t buy the best optics, you will get headaches from peering through glass all day and miss details that would lead you to a big buck. You will also struggle in low light conditions if you do not fork out the dineros for the RIGHT optic. If you hunt deer, you are most likely going to be hunting in low light. That is the time the animals are up and feeding. Cheap optics cannot handle low light conditions, and you will leave a lot of opportunities on the table with cheap gear. https://www.swarovskioptik.com/us/en/birding/products/spotting-scopes https://vortexoptics.com/binoculars/razor-uhd-binoculars.html

As you go deeper down the hunting gear rabbit hole, you will find many ways to spend your hard earned money on new hunting toys. The best piece of advice that I can give is, “Buy only gear you will use and buy quality.” Your pack gets heavy quick. After each hunting trip, reevaluate the items in your bag and remove the items you don’t use. Below is a list of other items in my pack.

First Aid:

• AAA Batteries
• Meloxicam
• Amox Clav
• Moleskin
• 4″ Hemostatic Control Bandage
• Sterile Skin Staple
• Emergency Water Pouch
• Electrolyte Drink Mix, Kiwi Pineapple
• Tourniquet
• Epi Pen
• Athletic Tape
• 3 Litter Water Pouch

Camp Equipment:

• Agile Air Pad (Foam Pad)
• Trestles Elite Eco 20 Degrees F Sleeping Bag
• Utility Tarp
• 400 Lumen Head Lamp
• Solar Power Bank 30000mAh Portable Solar Charger
• Waterproof Matches
• 100 ft 750 lb Paracord
• Electrolyte Drink Mix, Strawberry
• Instant Coffee
• Peanut Butta Protein Bar
• Tin Coffee Cup
• Electrolyte Drink Mix, Kiwi Pineapple
• Water Heater
• Mini Propane Tank
• Plastic Spoon
• Breakfast Skillet MRE
• Chicken Alfredo MRE
• 1 gal Ziplock Bags
• Regular Trash Bag
• Constructor Trash Bag
• Solar Rechargeable Camp Light
• Baby Wipes, unscented

Gear	Company	QTY
44 Mag w/ Duplex Lite Frame	Kifaru	1
Big Horn w/ Zodiac Frame	Wilderness Pack Specialties	1
Kodiak Cub Max- Gen L Bino Harness	Alaska Guide Creations	1
Bow Sling	T and K Hunting Gear	1
Gaiters	T and K Hunting Gear	1
Durand 2 Waterproof Boot	Keen	1
Carbon Reinforced Orthopedic Soles	Sheep Feet	1
Ambit 3 Peak GPS Watch	Suunto	1
Radio/Walkie Talkie	Baofeng	1
Pack Bow Carrier	Bow Spider	1
Agile Air Pad, Air Foam	Alps Mountaineering	1
Trestles Elite Eco 20 Degrees F Sleeping Bag	Marmot	1
Utility Tarp	Alps Outdoorz	1
Makalu Walking Sticks	Leki	1
TS-80 Spotting Scope with 20×60 eye piece	Swarovski Optik	1
Scope Cover	Phone Skope	1
Razor UHD 10×42 Binos	Vortex	1
RX-Full Draw 3 Range Finder	Leupold	1
Lens Wipe	Swarovski Optik	1
Veo 2 Carbon Tripod	Vanguard	1
Spotter/Phone Adapter	Novagrade	1
Game Cam Card Reader	HME	1
400 Lumen Head Lamp	Black Diamond	1
Solar Power Bank 30000mAh Portable Solar Charger	KLL	1
Phone USB	Samsung	1
Micro USB adapter	Unknown	1
Broadhead and Knife Sharpener	Lansky	1
3.5 Razor Lite Game Knife	Outdoor Edge	1
3.0 Razor Lite EDC Game Knife	Outdoor Edge	1
3.5 Replacement Blades	Outdoor Edge	6
3.0 Replacement Blades	Outdoor Edge	3
Powder Wind Checker	Ambush	2
Wind Floaters, long range fibers	Phaze 03	2
Waterproof Matches	Unknown	22
125g Cut on Contact Broadhead Single Bevel replacements	Iron Will	3
Bow Repair Kit ( allen wrench multi tool, wax, glue, fletching, D Loops)	Mixed Brands	1
100 ft 750 lb Paracord	Tough Grid	1
Kevlar Lined Padded Gloves	Black Hawk	1
Rubber Coated Sneaky Socks	Skinners	1
Coyote Call The Third Degree	Primos	1
Electrolyte Drink Mix, Strawberry	Liquid I.V.	4
Instant Coffee	Black Riffle Coffee	5
Peanut Butta Protein Bar	Honey Stinger	4
Hand Warmer	Survivor Series	2
Camo Face Paint Brown, Black, Green w/ mirror	Nature’s Paint	3
Tag holder	Crazy Elk	1
Carabiners	Outmate	2
6 inch Rubber Flex Cord	Eddie Bauer	1
3 Liter Water Bag	HydraPak	1
2 Liter Force Water Reserve w/ hose	HydraPak	1
Tin Coffee Cup	Libra Coffee	1
Organizer Pack Lrg	Kifaru	1
AAA Batteries	Kirkland	9
Meloxicam	Unknown	20
Amox Clav	Unknown	20
Moleskin	Dr. Scholls	8
4″ Hemostatic Control Bandage	EverOne	1
Sterile Skin Staple	AHS	1
Emergency Water Pouch	Sawyer	1
Electrolyte Drink Mix, Kiwi Pineapple	WA	2
Tourniquet	My Medic	1
Epi Pen	Unknown	1
Athletic Tape	Johnson & Johnson	1
Water Heater	Jetboil	1
Mini Propane Tank	Jetboil	1
Plastic Spoon	GSI Outdoors	1
Breakfast Skillet MRE	Peak Refuel	1
Chicken Alfredo MRE	Peak Refuel	1
1 gal Ziplock Bags	Ziplock	10
Regular Trash Bag	Glad	1
Constructor Trash Bag	Unknown	1
Solar Rechargeable Camp Light	HybridLight	1
Kill Kit (Game Bags, Gloves, Orange Marker Tape, Bone Saw)	Black Ovis	1
BodyWipes, Unscented	Dude Wipes	18
Screw-on water filter	Sawyer	1
Fleece Pull Over	Kryptek	1

Mule Deer Season 2020

“Deep in the guts of most men is buried the involuntary response to the hunter’s horn, a prickle of the nape hairs, an acceleration of the pulse, an atavistic memory of his fathers.” — Robert Ruark

The days leading up to September are some of the longest days in my life. A restlessness churns in my chest as I count down the days. Work becomes intolerable, sleep an annoyance, and conversations turn to dribble. This irksome feeling consumes me throughout the year. I try to distract myself with archery practice and broadhead tuning to no avail. I make the mistake of watching hunting shows and reading hunting books, which only serves to stoke my fire. Cabin fever saturates every cell.

The pressure expands in my chest as each day of the calendar is crossed off. A few nights before opening day, hunting gear is sorted, packed, and rechecked. The pack gets emptied over and over. During the course of the next few days, I check in with my hunting buddies. The best of us has already been in the field for a week, scouting out prime locations. We utilize an Instagram group chat to share pictures of bucks, discuss meeting locations, and our plans for opening day.

Finally, the day before opening has arrived. Bosses have received excuses, the wife has received her kisses. My anticipation explodes into the gas pedal in a mad dash for the sage hills of mule deer country.

This year is the first time I have been hunting in this location. In all honesty, this is the first time I have been bow hunting, outside of turkey, in over 15 years. One of the hardest parts of hunting is finding a location with animals. It takes an untold amount of time to scout out a location. Limited knowledge about the habitat of the animals and available time to conduct scouting in the off season has hurt me in past seasons. Every season, I would find a piece of public land and walk the land, hoping to get lucky. Connecting with a group of veteran hunters has led to a substantial increase in my success rate. Their shared hunting knowledge and experience has greatly contributed to my ability to hunt deer. I have accrued a lot of hours “Still Hunting” and “Ambush Hunting” deer through the rainforests of the PNW, but “Spot and Stalk Hunting” in open, rolling hills was not a tool in my quiver. I have watched a hours of YouTube videos, listened to countless podcasts, but those are poor substitutes for hard earned experience. When you lack experience, find a good hunting partner(s) and learn as much as you can. I had been searching for a hunting partner for a long time, but it wasn’t until Hipster Jesus walked into my corporate gig that I had found a group of guys that enjoys hunting as much as I do. (See my article Cubicle to Creation)

With a few hours until sunset, I pulled down a dusty road gravel road that wound down into the river base. My buddies had dropped a pin on the OnX Hunt app to meet up. The location was at a dead end dirt road. The guys popped cold ones as we waited for the rest of the dead end to fill with dusty trucks. With a couple hours before sunset, we had all gathered. The guys paired off and made plans to hit their separate locations. I was a little prideful and didn’t ask to join anyone. We made sure we were on the same frequencies on our radios, shared our locations with where we were going, and dispersed.

Following the coordinates on my OnX, I took my wife’s once white jeep down another dusty road. Finding good pullout, I strapped my pack on, grabbed my bow, and began the long uphill walk through thick sage brush and rim rock. On top of a plateau there is a 40-yard bowl that dips slightly out of the wind. Just above the bowl, there is a wind buffeted precipice looming over rolling hills, a winding creek, and sky lit on fire by the setting sun. Tucking myself into the hill I glassed the hillsides and the valley looking for a Mule deer walking out for its evening dinner. Focusing on a spot with bright neon grass, a nice 4-point deer suddenly appeared. I watched him as the sun dipped towards the horizon. He slowly fed into the dying dusk. With just enough daylight left, I snuck back into my bowl to setup camp. With the sleeping bag shoved into the bivy sack, I lit up my Jetboil to prep my Mountain House MRE. Breakfast for dinner is how I run when I hunt. After a full stomach, I snuggled up into my sleeping system and tried to close my eyes as I obsessed over the 4-point deer that I watched mere minutes ago. Just as my eyes began to close, a lone coyote howls in the distance.

Only minutes later another one yips closer to my camp. Soon it is followed by 12 other coyotes slowly moving towards my safety bowl. This is the first time I have ever camped by myself, and a cold chill is now running my spine. Hours go by with coyotes surrounding my bowl. Slowly reaching into my pack, I pulled out my pistol. All night I lay awake, waiting for the mangy mutts to attack. With an hour before first light, the dogs moved off. After a nerve racking night, it was a relief to get up and begin my vigil on the precipice. After hours of watching the neon grass, I concluded that the deer was not making a reappearance. I decide to move locations. As I walked around the hilltop, 100 yards away from where I was camped, a couple of 3-point deer jumped out of their beds. I quickly dropped my pack, loaded an arrow, and snuck up to the hillside where they walked off. About 60 yards away, they had stopped and were looking back at me. I slowly raised my bow, drew back, and let my pins settle on the bigger buck’s vitals. I pulled the trigger on my release, and the arrow went sailing over its back. They quickly bounded away. I forgot to cut the distance due to the steep angle of the hill. I should have aimed for the deer at 30 yards. The deer started circling, and I could see their intended path. I quickly grabbed my gear and sprinted across the hilltop to cut them off.

Setting up in a rock outcropping, I patiently waited for them to come by. On their meandering path, they had picked up a couple of does. The does walked up a draw, 10 yards away from my location. My heart was beating out of my chest as I anticipated the bucks following. The minutes ticked by. Just as those bucks were due, a road hunter drove by. They stopped and glassed the area where the deer were at. They then proceeded to park next to my vehicle and slam their doors as they quickly moved to intercept the deer. They walked up and across the ridgeline, sky lining themselves. The deer changed their course and bounded away. I was furious with the hunters. Their inconsiderate and lazy hunting had caused my opportunity to vanish. No deer for me the first day, but it was an amazing adventure. After texting my hunting partners, “Carbon in the air” I hiked out to meet them. We all decided to head back to the same location the next night to see if we could turn those deer up again. Our trip back was doomed from the beginning.

One of the guys in the group had been drinking heavily and on the hike in, he passed out. He fell down, pulled his burlap sack out of his pack and covered himself for a nap. While the rest of our group carried on hiking to the bowl, one of my buddies ran him back into town. By the time we got camp setup, dark had already settled, and we tucked in for a good night of sleep with a lot less harassment from coyotes. The next day we didn’t see any legal bucks despite covering lots of ground. After a slow day of hunting, we regrouped in town and came up with a new plan.

First, we all made a trip down to a river to take a bath, there is nothing like a group a grown men in their underwear laughing, splashing, and lathering up with soap. (No wives/girl friends were betrayed in the making of this hunting trip)

Over the course of the next few days, we saw a few bucks but only one of us sealed the deal. As one of my buddies was driving out to his hunting spot, a nice 4-point buck stepped out with mere minutes before dark. Randomly, he called a buddy and asked what he should do. “Shoot It”, the guy on the phone shouted. He killed the deer with an excellent shot.

The next day I was able to partner up with my friend Arye, and we sat on a hillside glassing for deer. Early into the morning I spotted a nice buck. We glassed him for a while but lost him in the sage and the rolling hills. We relocated positions and found him again. Hiding in an outcropping of rocks, we waited for him and his dink buddy to bed for their second time. It was about 11 am, and sun was already beating down at 85 degrees. We had to move quickly because other hunters were moving in on our location. We found a shrub tree, 200 yards away, took our packs and boots off, and began stalking in. I mimicked every move my buddy was making. After crawling, bending, and kneeling over 150 yards, we setup behind a nob where we thought the deer were bedded. Looking under the tree they were supposed to be bedded under, we saw empty beds. 500 yards away the other hunters were casually walking across the open. Again, I was furious. As I was raving to Arye about how inconsiderate they were, he quietly pointed out that we had snuck into the wrong location and the deer were sitting under a tree 75 yards away.

I was slightly exposed, while Arye was hidden perfectly behind tall grass. He crawled into 40 yards. Making hand gestures, I told him that I was going to backtrack and come up behind the deer, using the curve of the hill to hide my approach. I snuck into 60 yards but couldn’t get an angle. I crept into 40 yards, then 30 yards, yet still couldn’t shoot them in their bed. Finally, I crept into 20 yards and sat on a rock to wait for them to stand. The sun was scorching, and my buddy was over in the grass sipping on his water. I forgot to bring my water, and my tongue was clinging to the roof of my mouth. My head was beginning to swim and knew I had to make something happen. I signaled that I was going to stand the deer up. Loudly, I bleated at the deer. The dink immediately stood up and bolted. The legal buck stood and looked in my location. I was already drawn and as soon as his head turned, I took the opportunity. The shot broke perfect. As the deer ran off, I glassed him up and saw my arrow sticking out the other side of him through his vitals. At 90 yards his hind legs dropped then he jumped up and ran off into gnarled trees. We decided to hike out, grab the game cart, and come back to get him. We followed his blood trail for hours in the sun. We could not find him. We spent hours looking for him in the sun, causing me a heat stroke. It was not meant to be.

Dejected and heart broken, we plodded back to the truck. To this day, I am convinced that those other hunters took the deer, but my friend doesn’t agree. Recapping later that night with Arye, he pointed out that I should have waited for the buck to stand up naturally. He said that if we had waited, the buck would have stood up broadside to him, giving him a perfect shot. I not only lost a deer, but I had ruined an opportunity for my friend. To this day I feel horrible about that stalk.

After taking a day or two off, I went back to the field with my buddy Dallas who had already notched his tag. After recounting the loss of the deer, he told me that next time I can’t pressure the deer to stand. I must sit and “Sizzle like bacon” waiting for the deer to naturally stand. With his words in my head, we headed back into the field. We found a few legal bucks but no opportunity to approach them. At one point we spooked a herd of deer, and I sprinted to cut off the herd from running onto private land. We watched them for hours as they grazed. After dropping into a very deep gully and cresting on the other side, we lost them. We spent an hour trying to turn them up. Dallas circled behind a group of trees to push deer towards me, and I waited quietly for something to move.

After what felt like an eternity, Dallas popped out of the trees with his hands over his head, mouthing, “BIG BUCK.” I snuck into his location in a group of trees and saw the buck bedded at the edge of a tree line. Taking my boots off, I made a big circle to approach the bedded buck. The stalk was long and a couple times I was dropped by cactus stabbing through my socks. Thinking the buck was bedded 20 yards into the tree line, I snuck into 5 yards of trees. Looking up, I could see the deer right at the edge, 5 yards away. I froze and waited for the deer to go back to sleep. Inch by inch I snuck behind a brush, re-approached the deer to get an angle broadside. At 15 yards, I sat behind tall grass and began to sizzle like bacon. After 30 minutes of waiting and does walking by at 3 yards, the buck stood up and began feeding. With a 4-foot window through the brush, I drew back and released the arrow, a perfect shot. The woods exploded with deer running everywhere. The wounded deer, with head hanging, walked out of the trees at 50 yards. I put another shot in him. He jumped and disappeared into a small grouping of trees. I walked over to where he was bedded to find my first arrow. Looking up through the trees, I could see Dallas lift his hands, asking what happened. I looked down and saw my arrow covered in blood. After giving a solid Tiger Woods’ fist pump, my buddy came over. I relayed to him the stalk and after waiting for a small period, we began the search for the buck. Within 60 yards, we found the deer piled up. I DID IT! My first deer with a bow was down. After a few soul crushing days, I was now riding an incredible high. From that moment, I have been hooked with Mule Deer hunting.

With this adventure cemented permanently in my memories, my passion for hunting has grown into a full-blown addiction. Each and every year, I look forward to the day I can get back out in the field to chase these majestic animals. The older I get, the more I value each of these experiences and realize that one day my body will not be able to keep up with passion burning in my chest. I dread the day my body quits before my obsession does.

By Travis Tweet

Hunting has evolved drastically since your grandpa was tromping around the woods with his 30.06, red flannel shirt, and denim jeans. His story board was made of polaroid pictures pasted in a binder. The only traps he was worried about was his beaver trap line being pilfered by a bobcat. Nowadays, hunters have to worry about Thirst Traps, trolls commenting on their grip and grins, and influencers pushing a piece of gear that they don’t even like. Businesses now have to navigate the troubled waters of social media along with the rest of us. On the other hand for the first time in history, small businesses are able to reach large swaths of people through clever content creation and partnering with influencers, field staff, and pro staff contributors. I had the opportunity to ask a few questions with a couple of business owners, Zach from Duck Dens and Tyler from T and K Hunting Gear, conservationist and non-for-profit head, Ryan Off the Grid with High Point Adventures, and Influencer/Field Staffer, Chris from High Range Hunting.

Heads up before going any further; There will be cussing in this article because I will be directly quoting veterans, and we don’t sensor ourselves very well.

Honesty time, when I first jumped back into hunting, social media played no part in my hunting experience. I didn’t realize that there was a massive hunting community sneaking around social media. Hunting has and will always be for me a shared experience with friends and family. I started using Instagram after a conversation with a good friend while hunting for turkey. He was wearing a hat from 1 v 1 Hunting. It was slick. I asked where he got it from. He said a buddy of his who ran 1v1 Hunting Outfitter in Kansas, had hooked him up. I hit him up on IG, and he sent one my way. I thought this was the coolest thing ever, and I wanted to collect more (I am a hat whore). The only way I was going to do that was to grow my IG following. I started using, posting, and tagging posts on Instagram for free gear. I didn’t hunt for IG, but I IG’d for hunting swag. That initial perspective changed over time. As I began sifting through IG I saw Thirst Traps and posers posting pictures in skimpy attire and pushing products. Looking through their pictures, it became evident that they didn’t kill critters in quantity, and they jumped from brand to brand with no sense of loyalty to the brands. I made a commitment to myself, that I wouldn’t post with a product unless I believed in it.

As you stare at more posts, it is easy to see that there is a lot of hunter-on-hunter bashing. I don’t know how many times I see first kills, and trolls make fun of them for shooting a dink. Everyone has a beginning, and we should commit ourselves as hunters to bring each other up. This was my next commitment I made to myself as I used the gram. I originally looked at businesses on IG as potential sponsors for freebies that I liked, without thinking about the size of the company and their available budget for marketing (I have a MBA and have owned businesses). It wasn’t until I started following T&K Hunting did I connect the dots that there are thousands of small businesses scraping by utilizing social media as their only means to market their products. I am sorry, and I should know better. Take a couple minutes to look through T&K’s posts, you will quickly see how small their profit margins are to provide quality, Made in America gear. This being said, I still work on growing my following, because I would love to one day be able to build a career in the outdoors full time and share memories and lessons with others. I like to promote products that I love using, such as Kryptek camo and PSE archery equipment. I use it to immortalize sweet pictures of Grip n Grins. Come see me, Matt Rinella!

Social media is where I keep my polaroids. If you can’t show the successes and trials that come with hunting, we will never grow the hunting community and preserve our rights. I am not the only hunter who feels this way.

Tyler is a master of marketing for his company, T&K Hunting, on social media. I am beyond grateful for Tyler taking the time from his growing business to relay to me his opinions on his social media. He wages war daily with pricks who degrade his prices and spends time teaching trolls why American Made is pricier but worth the cost. While he handles freebie begging “Influencers” with contempt, this business owner treats his customers and his workers with care far better than any other company that I have seen. I posed the below questions to him, and these are his unadulterated responses.

How has Social Media played a part in your growing business? “It has allowed us to target our specific customer demographic, which tends to be the working-class outdoorsman. Our customer base demands high quality products that are Made in the USA, so being able to educate large amounts of people is imperative to our success. Social pages have allowed us to increase brand awareness, customer acquisition, and helps us connect with our customer base to determine product demand.”

If you could magically change any aspect of Social Media, what would it be and why? “Stop glorifying bad behavior within the hunting community. We have many young people entering the hunting world based on who and what they follow on social media. It seems the more stupid and outrageous your photo or video is…the more exposure it gets. Nobody should be putting dead animals in their mouths. Period.” 

Do influencers add any benefit to your business? “It depends on what type of influencer you are talking about. There are two kinds. One, which happens to be the majority, are people that have no business influencing anybody. They have little to no experience, lack valuable knowledge, and are only getting recognition because of their looks or who they know. The second type of influencer is someone who has substantial experience in their trade, vast knowledge, and influences people to make them better. The first one doesn’t do a damn thing for us. The second does.”

What is one thing that influencers do that really turns business owners off? “Again, there are two kinds. The ones that have no business influencing typically ask for free product, or believe the business owes them something. The business doesn’t owe people like this anything. The second type of influencer will pay for product because they like it and want to wear it. When they talk about it to their followers, it is not a sales pitch for money. It is genuine and not total BS. Many businesses don’t care about being genuine though, so that’s why you see more of the crap influencers in the spot light. I personally won’t bother to work with someone if they are not in the order list. How can I support you if you don’t support me?”

What is the worst thing you have seen an influencer do? “Poaching. Breaking the law in order to stroke your ego on social media seems to be a trend. No amount of likes or follows is worth an animal being taken illegally. If you don’t agree, you don’t hunt for the same reasons I do.”

Do Hunting Influencers provide a net good for the hunting community or a net bad? How so? “A majority of influencers contribute little to the hunting community. In fact, a good majority are in it for themselves. It’s all about ego and money. I pose this question. If social media didn’t exist, would they still be in the hunting community? Again, there are some folks with large followings that are good for hunting. But until companies stop supporting the BS, there will always be the ones that have no business being a “influencer”.”

Is there a message that you want to convey to your customers and others in the hunting community? “Educate yourself on who you support and do business with. Your hard-earned money directly supports whatever and whomever that business or organization works with and supports financially.”

Tyler makes a lot of excellent points and his point on posting bad behavior really resonates with me. I am sick and tired of people demonstrating hunters in a bad light. I get that we as hunters are stoked about killing an animal but to disrespect that kill only makes hunters look like uncaring dolts.

After a superb Sand Hill Crane hunt, I was able to sit with Zach and Miles from Duck Dens and Stump Blinds. We had a great conversation about their perspective on the relationship between business and social media. They conveyed a multitude of poignant points about their frustrations with influencers. I have had the pleasure of hanging out with Zach, his family, Miles, and Nick. When I think of solid caring folk who love to hunt, their names pop up immediately. They know how to have a great time, support veterans, and they care deeply about producing quality duck dens and blinds.

I followed up with Zach for further clarification of his points. This is what he had to say, “Social media has been huge in growing our business and (building) awareness of our products. In my opinion the key to social media is using it as a means to connect with people from all over. If you are showing a product and not the people behind the company, it’s hard for people to want to be part of your growth.” His intent is not only to show his products, but people behind the production of these products. Although social media has played a part in their success, it hasn’t been all sunshine and daisies.

I asked Zach if there was anything he would change. He said, “Authenticity. So much of social media and influencer marketing isn’t Authentic. People desire a real connection and seeing other real people. We’ve had minimal success with “influencers”, but we’ve had a lot of success from “Non-Influencers”, customers, and friends. When a happy customer shares a success or use of our product, that actually makes a huge impact. It validates the product and the business with Authenticity.” He believes Influencers push too hard on quantity of views and not quality of engagements. He thinks that influencers need to find products and companies that they align with and then “Support the crap out of them. When it’s time for me to big game hunt out west, T&K will have 100% of my business. For 2 reasons, we think similarly about business, and they only build rugged bad ass products.” I concur with Zach. Any time he wants to come out West with me, we can try our best to destroy my T&K gaiters.

Zach finished with saying, “Through social media, I have met some awesome people and gotten to experience friendships and hunts that would have been impossible without it. I believe the key to social media is to be social and create real relationships through it.” Amen Brother! Through social media, I have met some fantastic people, one of them being Ryan from the NPO High Point Adventures.

I met Ryan Off the Grid for the first time in person on a turkey hunt. We had a bunch of laughs, and he retaught me the rule of never judging a book by its cover. He is a sweetheart! One night around a campfire he recounted a story where he was able to take a severely wounded veteran on a deer hunt.

The vet had received massive injuries in combat and wasn’t able to walk or see very clear. This veteran believed his hunting days were over and most would have agreed. Ryan, on the other hand, told the universe to hold his beer. He and his team got the veteran deep into the snowy woods. As Ryan and the veteran’s dad hid in a blind behind the vet, a Booner whitetail showed up. Through an app connected to the scope, they talked the vet though putting the crosshairs on the deer.

BOOM! He pulled the trigger and the deer dropped dead. They ran up to congratulate the veteran, but there was a lot of dust in the air which caused watery eyes. Standing next to this massive deer, Ryan showed the universe and all its shitty circumstances that he would move heaven and earth to bring life to the veterans who thought life had left them behind. Ryan’s diligent work in the outdoors and his ability to stack bodies made him an easy choice to learn more about hunting and social media.

I asked Ryan about social media, and he answered from his rich and varied experience in the field. He relayed, “Social media is a vital part in the success of all of the NPO’s I work with to put on veteran hunting events. The content from these events help gets the word out to the other veterans as to what we are doing, to network with other outfitters to secure future outings, and reaches the general public to help with funding and awareness.”

He did say that he has a problem with censorship and the shadow manipulation of algorithms that hinders his ability to reach like-minded individuals in the hunting community. He is convinced that influencers do bring value to the businesses they represent. He has seen outfitter’s engagements go up by “600,000%”. Yes, you read that right. In his opinion, the same concept can be applied to companies who are endorsed by influencers who put product placement in their content of successful hunts, although product placement can be overdone. “If you are throwing things in people’s faces over and over, you’re coming off as a sellout and inauthentic. Posting yourself “Practicing” your Accubow on a fishing boat is as pathetic as Will Farrell’s mocking pitch of Big Red in Talladega Nights.”

Ryan thinks that a lot of people are putting out trash content, but he is seeing a change in focus towards traditions, camaraderie, ethics, and conservation. The one thing he wants people to hear is, “Tell people why we hunt and don’t make it a measuring contest. Less pile pics and more smile pics.”  I loved Ryan’s perspective, and he has a walk that backs his talk. Not to let Ryan outdo him, Chris had relevant opinions on the matter.

Chris, like Ryan, has a strong resume of helping veterans get out into the woods. My experience with waterfowl was very limited before meeting Chris. He has gone out of his way to help me learn the ins and outs of waterfowl hunting, from working a call to setting up in right location. He has even dropped me pins on quality hunts. If you don’t know how incredible that is, you haven’t been hunting long enough.

He emphasized that social media does a great job of bringing people and companies together. In his opinion, “Social media has a few great positives when it comes to working with NPO’s. The ability to network and communicate allows for opportunities to be shared with others who would never have a chance to hunt. It allows for NPO’s to highlight companies that support the mission of helping veterans and provides a source for people to go back and relive their experiences through videos and photos.

Chris does wish that he could change the “Need for Attention” or the “Witness Me” mentality. Along with Zach, he is convinced that large scale influencers are not bringing value to companies. In his opinion the model has proven ineffective. He holds that a hunter with 400 bought in followers are more likely to sell products then large-scale influencer. He believes the hunters putting in work and reviewing products, have a greater influence on their audience. He says, “He is pissed off that (influencers) think people give a shit about them. Most people following them are paid for or bot accounts or some sad old dude who just follows because they are attractive. The women who pose in bikinis with hunting gear and utilize their enhanced body parts to try and “sell something” takes away from the badass women who actually get out and do it and don’t do it for the gram.”

Chris believes that a large part of “Hunting Influencers” offer nothing to hunting. He thinks they are there for themselves because when a conservation issue comes up, they are silent. He says the proof is in our current situation with all the hunting bands that are coming up. He hasn’t seen any of the “big influencers” say shit about it. “It’s the smaller pages of true hunters that are voicing the issues and spreading the word.”

His message to hunters on social media is, “Stop judging other hunter’s trophies. Not everyone is going to kill a 150’ deer or a 300’ bull. It’s about the experience and who are we to judge someone else’s kill. Get out there and enjoy your time and if the experience catches your fancy, they need to shoot and be happy. Don’t post ‘Not the biggest but…’ Don’t degrade the animal that was good enough in the moment for you to kill.” I agree Chris. Too many hunters criticize their own kill. I think hunters downplay their kills, because they are inundated with massive trophies across social media.

There were a lot of amazing points made by these guys, and I come away from this with a deeper conviction that hunters have a responsibility when we post in social media. With the advent of technology, our ability to reach and influence people demands that we represent hunting in light that will help us preserve our traditions, unite people and businesses, and teach new hunters about our ethical responsibilities.

By Travis Tweet

There are many dangers that come with Adult-Onset Hunting. They appear in the forms of: an obsession that your beautiful wonderful intelligent wife is not prepared for, the initial cost of buying gear, and then rebuying more gear after you learned the first was atrocious. The least is confronting your inadequacies both mental and physical. The best way to counter these dangers is to find a group of likeminded individuals who can guide you through all the blowdowns that hunting brings.

Que hipster Jesus. The first time I saw him, I was sitting at my desk reviewing row after row of financial data in my little cubicle. Kellen walked in, long and gangly, hair flowing like Fabio. He had that bright red lanyard hanging out of his pocket, one that every Marine gets from their local recruiter. If you have ever seen The Walking Dead, you’d immediately recognize him as a doppelganger to the character, Jesus. From the jump, I recognized him as a Marine brother, skillfully disguised behind his long hair, carefree attitude, and random stretch sessions on the work floor. We quickly connected over our military stories, joy for hunting podcasts, and a menagerie of other experiences. On the background of his laptop, was a picture of him with a turkey.

He held the turkey up in victory, with a sh!% eating grin plastered across his face, and a bow draped over his shoulder. He told me that he shot the turkey near his family’s property on a tiny grass runway airport. He had spotted turkeys coming down from the timbered hills behind the runway to eat the seeds and insects on the runway. The Thunder Chickens had to feel comfortable due to the wide-open spaces and unobstructed visibility. From experience, I can tell you that archery hunting gobblers here is like playing a video game on Legendary mode . To get a shot at the turkeys with his bow, he laid down on the runway and stayed prone for hours as the flock slowly fed towards him. Inch by agonizing inch they came into range. He sat up and drew his massive bow. Once his pins settled, he sent the arrow on its deadly arc. Next thing you know, the flock erupts in a cacophony of gobbles and feathers went flying everywhere. As the pterodactyls scattered, one was left thrashing on the ground. Kellen ran over and bashed the turkey, trying to humanely dispatch the beast. Upon further investigation, he notices that his arrow had sliced the turkey’s legs. He missed the body of the birds, but he was lucky enough to clip its pencil-like legs. That’s hunting, long periods of waiting in uncomfortable positions, taking a shot in an awkward position, a small dash of luck, and copious amounts of chaos. Usually, we see on Instagram a perfect picture of a hunt. The problem with social media is that we never get to see the chaos, nor are we ever shown an animal in pain being finished off.

His story had me entranced, and it enflamed an ember of passion for hunting that had somewhat diminished since my time in the Marines. I pestered him with questions about archery and hunting. He told me about of group friends that he hunted with and shot archery with on weekends. It was a group of veterans that got together to rib on each other, hunt, and hang out.

Many veterans leave military service and often find that they struggle to readapt to the civilian world. Most miss the sense of brotherhood in the military. Along with mental health issues, this is a major factor why 22 veterans commit suicide a day. There are a few very good non-for-profits that help vets, using the hunting community as a source to fight the high suicide rates (See: High Point Adventures, Idaho Backcountry Veterans, The Fallen Outdoors). We often don’t blend well with others because we are not PC, and there is nothing off-limits when it comes to busting balls. At that time in my life, I was experiencing this lack of community. As Kellen talked about his relationship with his hunting buddies, I yearned (I’m going to pay for that word) for such an experience. Every part of me wanted to join the group. In answer to an unspoken prayer, Kellen asked me if I would like to join them shooting at the archery range. I said yes. I hope my former boss never reads this, but I looked for bows on Google at work for hours on end. I didn’t know what I was looking for. I made the mistake that a lot of people do, I went to Bass Pro. I bought one of those packaged deals: Bow, release, arrows, sights. The bowtech at the counter was barely able to shave, but he helped set it up as best as he could. It had been over a decade since I had used a bow, and my first bow was rusting away in my father’s barn, along with any skills I had developed as a young man.

From the start, shooting my bow with Arye, Dallas, and Kellen on the courses at Skookum Archery range was a blast. I was terrible. The guys out shot me every time we went out, but I am very competitive. I would inundate them with questions on how to shoot, what arrows to use, how to fletch my arrows, arrow weight, what release to use, and a myriad of other questions. I would show up to the archery range an hour or two before the others to practice my form or dial in my bow. I forget which one told me to watch John Dudley’s School of Nock on YouTube, but I watched them all and quickly started learning how to improve my form. I began to improve and started challenging the best shooters in the group. To this day they would say, “We have created a monster.” We’d tease each other and the guys made fun of each other about things that happened to them last deer camp. I’d grown up road hunting deer in thick timbered forests, the opportunity to hunt in the high desert seemed like a new and interesting challenge. Despite my anticipation, there was a lot of archery practice and gear to buy before I could.

Arye introduced me to the Kifaru podcast. Aron Snyder and Frank Peralta host the podcast, and they have both been on thousands of hunts. Aron is a master at archery hunting Mule deer and is hilarious. In a lot of their episodes, they talk about tactics and gear. I inhaled their stories like a drowning man inhales oxygen. Slowly, I began to acquire gear based on their recommendations. Hunting is not a cheap pursuit, especially in the beginning. I did quickly learn that boots and glass (binoculars and spotting scopes) are pieces of equipment that you should never skimp on. Like a bow, boots should only be bought after you have tested a range of options. Your feet are one of your most important assets on a hunt, and if you don’t take care of them, you will quickly be out of the hunt. I knew this from my time in the Marine Corps, but I didn’t know about all the amazing options in the civilian world. During this time, I lost my job. Covid was just ramping up in the US, and companies were laying off people in swaths. In hindsight this was fantastic for me. Spring was around the corner, and I was about to receive my first invitation to the Spring Legion, avid turkey hunters.

The Air Force was restricting its personnel from working, therefore Arye had plenty of time to hunt turkeys too. A buddy of his, Joe Exotic (Not the Tiger King), had said that there were flocks running around his neighbor’s property and asked if we wanted to come chase them too. Without hesitation we said yes. Over the course the next few months, we spent a lot of time trying to shoot turkeys with our bows. That first weekend was pure chaos.

Day one, we pulled to far into a field and buried our truck in mud up to the base boards. We spent hours trying to get it out using old fence posts, large branches, and digging on our hands and knees. The truck would not budge. We asked Joe to go ask a neighbor for help. He found this old war Vet who lived on the property over. Mr. Bumfuk (Yes, that is his real name) brought over his old Power Wagon and pulled us free. We thanked him with a case of Keystone. The next day Arye, Joe, and I spent all morning calling to what we thought was turkeys. This was our first time hunting them, and we did not realize that we had been calling Pheasants. It wasn’t until Arye heard one right behind him, turned, and saw the pheasant standing there that we realized our mistake. Joe walked all over the property, getting close, but never closing the deal.  I spent all day in the sun, sitting in a sage bush.

We had a good laugh that night around the fire with some good bourbon and cigars in hand. We joked about Bumfuk and calling pheasants until the early hours of the morning. Suffice it to say, we did not shoot anything that weekend. Turkeys are quick, sharp eyed, and have hearing as good as your mom does when she knows your causing trouble 3 rooms away. We had learned a great deal and developed a plan to reattack them the next weekend.

On our next trip, we had an improvement in our hunt. We got close to a few turkeys and called them in. Arye was across a draw, and I was hiding behind my bush on a hillside above. We hiked out to our spots before light and settled for the day. First thing in the morning, the woods lit up with turkeys gobbling as they left their roosts. I had one reporting back to me, every time I scratched away on my pot call. Just as shooting light came, I spotted a jake coming right at me in that awkward fast trot of theirs. It got to what I thought was 20 yards away. As soon as its head went behind a bush, I drew back. It stepped out, and I let fly. My arrow went flying over its back, and it took off like a waddling dart. Later I re-ranged the distance, and it was only 13 yards.

As the morning wore on, Arye began to have birds respond to his call. I sat quietly as I listened to their chirps and gobbles. Finally, I heard a loud “THUMP” and then see a turkey run up the sage covered hill. I quickly ran over to where Arye was and asked him what happened. He was using those large guillotine broadheads that are used to cut a turkey’s head off. As it turns out, he hadn’t sighted his bow with those broadheads, and his arrow dropped low. The turkey stood there, chest out, and the arrow bounced off his chest with hardly a displaced feather. The turkeys survived another day.

The next day we tromped out to our spots to try our tricks again. The day started with an eruption of turkey gobbles and then quickly quieted. Later that evening, the turkeys began coming back in to jump in their roosts. Joe and Arye were setup to intercept as the flock moved in. Mayhem ensued. Through trees I captured glances of Joe running around, bow drawn, and I hear “Thwack Thwack Thwack Thwack Thwack Thwack”. I cleared the trees and there was Joe standing there surrounded by arrows sticking up out of the ground, as he picked up a dead turkey by its legs. He emptied is quiver in pursuit of his query, but he was able to nab one. Over the next few weekends, Arye was able to shoot one with his bow, and I could never close the deal with my bow.

After weekends of frustration, I decided to bust out my shotgun as Spring Turkey season began to wind down. We moved our hunt to an orchard, and after one day of hunting with the shotgun I was able to take my first turkey. Over the course of the next couple days, I was able to fill my other tags. I got a jake and, accidentally, a hen. I spotted a small flock of turkeys moving in on my hiding location. One had a small beard sticking out of its chest. I thought it was a small jake. It was standing just clear of the turkeys. The bird dropped, and so did my head. As I ran up to finish the bird off, I didn’t see a beard. I thought I had killed an illegal bird. I took the bird back to camp and hung it from a tree branch. As I rubbed my hands over the bird, I noticed a tiny bump. I pulled the feathers back, and there under its feathers was the tiniest beard. It was a legal bird, one of those rare, confused hens with a beard. I am not sure if it identified as she, he, or them; but I was relieved and grateful. Although it wasn’t illegal, it did earn me the nickname “Hen Cutter” with the boys. After many weekends spent hunting, Spring was over, and I had a new moniker.

There is an aspect every married adult-onset hunter should consider when developing an addiction to hunting. You should be very aware of how your new obsession will affect your partner. If hunting is already a large part of your life, any new partner can expect that hunting plays a large part in your life and is a drain on your time. On the other hand, if you are deep into a relationship beforehand, you need to have a serious conversation about your new passion. My wife, thankfully, has been extremely patient with my affair called hunting. After many conversations with her, she has relayed the frustrations that come with me disappearing for days/weeks at a time. How hard it is to not know where I am or be able to talk to me for days on end (Something that has been helpful with this has been a GPS texting device, Zoleo). This was my first time spending a great deal of time hunting, and we were learning how to cope with this new entity in our marriage. While she was thinking about spending more time together, I began daydreaming of September and chasing deer.

By Travis Tweet

“Deep breath, hands steady, and eyes on the target.” Papa Carey (Grrr)

Life’s current often drags us far and fast from our headwaters, yet that source will power us and guide us through winding turns, timber backlogs, and long droughts. Never forget your source, no matter, it will never forget you.

My family went fishing every year on the winding Snake River. We would camp for a week or two, living out of a tent and an old beige Toyota Van. There are videos floating around of my family, 5 of us stuffed into a dented van, dragging an old drift boat stuffed to the brim with faded blue coolers, fishing tackle, and an old family tent that smelt like farts and mildew. These trips claim a place in my heart, rooting me to them and them to me. Almost every year, one family member or another would join us, from cousins to uncles and quite often Papa Grrr with Grandma Jackie. We didn’t have much, but we had our family fishing trips every summer.

My sister would be tucked away in a corner of camp with a book, peering at her pages through large, brimmed reading glasses. Papa was often seen pulling her from her books. My parents would be chasing my devious little brother around camp, trying to keep him from drowning in the river or getting run over by a passing truck. He would be grinning from ear to ear, missing most of his front teeth, as he  caused mayhem. Sometimes, Papa Grrr and I would be sitting on riverbank nearby, having a conversation about anything and everything under blue sky. His unadulterated love for nature and family was so obvious that at 5 years old, I could feel it. His love for God’s Creation is what started this obsession in my family. First, he infected my mother and in turn my father caught the bug. From there on, this pathogen burned throughout my family, consuming, and invigorating us all to the core.

Fishing was only one part of our outdoor adventures. During the Spring, Grammy and Mom would take us out mushroom hunting for morels in the Blue Mountains. I can still smell those pine forests and that campfire smell wafting in the warm breeze from recent forest fires. We would see flocks of turkey, deer, and a menagerie of other wildlife. One of our fondest memories is from watching a fox and a deer playing in a field full of wildflowers.

As my brother and I grew, Dad and Papa introduced us to shooting rifles and practicing archery. There is nothing like taking a 30.06 punch to your 10-year-old shoulder or getting slapped on the wrist by a bow string. We hadn’t started hunting yet, but those skills were adding up.  

Dad started us on archery hunting, must likely because he was nervous letting my little brother loose, running around in the woods with a rifle. He may have grown his front teeth in, but he had yet to grow out of his high energy antics. I still have that first bow that my dad bought me. He took my brother and I to a Big 5 going out of business. The entire store looked like it was hit by a hurricane, but there were 2 cheap identical Bear bows hanging in the corner with two trigger releases. Dad bought them on the spot. I felt on top of the world. I was going to be Robin Hood and shoot apples off people’s heads. That weekend, dad took us to a local Archery Pro shop. A gnarled old man helped us get our draw length set and hooked us up with an array of needed gear, along with uncut arrows. We were off to range. To the intelligent and amazing reader (yes this is pandering), Please Do Not follow this process. This process is filled with dusty unused bows and loads of frustrations. You will lose hundreds of arrows, countless hours of trying to sight in your bow, hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars of rebuying the right archery gear to shoot accurately.

Those first months at the range were frustrating. We missed a lot. I mean, we missed so much that we put Wayne Gretzky’s quote to test. We missed a 100% of the shots that we did take. Eventually, we got dialed in and were able to go from the flat range to the courses at our local Archery Club. Those days on the course were fantastic. As a young teen, I felt like I could compete professionally. As a ”Grown Man” looking back, I didn’t have a shot. We spent many weekends, getting ready to hunt.

Before I go further, I want to give my dad credit. He was raised as a city boy in the suburbs of Seattle. He was/is an excellent golfer. To the best of my knowledge, he didn’t do a great deal of hunting as a kid, but as an adult he developed an intense and genuine love for being in the outdoors (especially fishing).

Those first hunts he took us on were trips that were near our home. He’d wake us up around 3 am and drive us out to the woods. We spend hours traveling forests roads looking for deer. Once in a while, we get out of the truck and look over a clear cut with a pair of old binoculars. My brother and I would argue consistently over who would get to use them next. We’d also argue about who gets to sit in the front seat, amongst a plethora of other trivial items. My dad was extremely patient on these trips. In general, my dad had a strong temper. It was never abusive, but it simmered near the surface. This temper is a disease that runs rampant in my family, and to this day I struggle with it. There was something about the outdoors that soothed dad’s nature and mine as well.

He demonstrated the same patience while fishing with us. He could sit there, with my brother on one side and me on the other. He’d be fixing a rat’s nest caused by me in one moment. In the next he’d be dealing with a snag my brother caused because he reeled in after he was told not to. Dad spent more time fixing our lines then actually fishing. Meanwhile, my mother would move down the shoreline to get away from our ruckus. Who’d blame her? I would have done the same. I digress. Those early days of hunting were filled with road hunting and lack of deer sightings.

On one of these road hunts, we saw a deer about 40 yards off the road. Dad drove the truck about 60 yards down the road and instructed me to get out and stalk up to the deer. I was over the moon. My hands were shaking, and my heart was beating so hard, I could hear it. There is no doubt that deer could hear it to. Dad told my brother to stay in the truck because he was in the backseat. Now that front seat made a high-pitched squeal whenever you lifted it to get out, and we all were aware of it. I quietly got out and snuck 80 yards to where the deer was feeding. I quietly got to spot that was about 20 or so yards away. Everything was perfect. The deer didn’t know I was there. Dad was back at the truck glassing my approach. I remember thinking I was going to make him proud as I drew back on my bow. I got to my anchor point, the pins settled perfectly on the deer’s vitals, and just as I get ready to trigger the release, I hear a loud “ SQUEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL” coming from the truck. The deer bounds off before I could shoot. Looking back, I see my brother climbing out of the truck.

I was furious! I ground tuned my bow so hard it bounced off the ground. Running back to the truck, I began screaming at my brother. He was about to earn a black eye. It was certain. As the sun rises and sets, he was going to get it. My voice was hoarse and my eyes were bloodshot, and before I could cover the distance, Dad intercepted me. He calmed me down from a raging storm to a simmering inferno. I don’t know if I talked to my brother the rest of the trip or even the week.

I still give him grief about that deer. Over our teens, we were never able to close the deal. There were many hunting adventures over those years. My brother got hypothermia in snowstorm, we got lost a time or too in the age before OnX, and we had many blisters from chasing deer up and down hills through thick timber. As we grew up and started our own hunting adventures, my brother was the first to kill a deer. To this day it burns, but as I write this, it occurs to me, that maybe he just wanted to be a part of the hunt. Maybe he just wanted to watch his older brother get his first deer. For the first time, I feel a little sorry that I screamed at him. Just a little. After a bit of self-reflection, this intensity for the hunt has been a large part of who I am as a hunter. The willingness to endure years of not seeing an animal, to sit quietly on a hillside and glass for untold hours, and to endure harsh heat and biting cold has all stemmed for this intense focus and tenacity for hunting. That perseverance has led more to my recent years of success then any other factor, outside of mentors and friends who are willing to put up with me. I love hunting, but often it hasn’t loved me back.

The first time that I killed a deer disabused me of how I thought the hunt should play out. It was supposed to be this glorious hunt, like one from the annals of Native American History. Bow in hand, I would be stalking a massive Black Tail buck deep in the big timbered forests. He would evade me in the morning as the mist burned off from the morning sun. I would patiently follow his tracks in the dark soil to find him bedded under a great mossy pine tree. After digging in and waiting patiently, I’d catch him getting up to feed and place a brilliant shot into his Golden Triangle. I’d run up to him full of joy and pride to find that he had quietly and quickly passed away within 10 yards of where I shot him. He’d be this big dark horned buck with a rack so wide I could sit on it. Unfortunately and fortunately, hunting hardly goes the way you plan.

The first time I killed a deer, I was wearing a dress shirt; slacks, and dress shoes. The one thing I had learned from years of hunting was to always have your weapon nearby during season. The wife and I were getting back from a nice night out on the town. We were pulling into my parent’s driveway of their 13 acre property, last light was moments away. Underneath a young pear tree 60 yards away, was a forked horn Black Tail. I turned off the car and pulled my 30.30 Marlin lever action out of the trunk. The whole time my wife with tears streaming down her face is screaming, “Don’t shoot it. Don’t shoot it.” Heart pounding and with my Papa’s words in my ears “Deep Breath, hands steady, and eyes on the target”, I put the rifle on the hood of my car, settled the sights on its lungs, and pulled the trigger. The moment was finally here. A decade of hunting, and I was going to kill my first deer.

The cowboy gun kicked, and the deer jumped. It ran 30 yards towards me and toppled over in my parent’s garden. It flopped and heaved, trying desperately to breath to stand to run away. My heart sank and my gut started tumbling. I felt so guilty, so disheartened, and ashamed. My heart broke over the pain the animal was going through. After multiple failed attempts, I was able to put the animal out of its misery. The wife and I went inside the house to change. She helped me drag the carcass to the barn where we spent a good deal of time of watching YouTube videos on how to dress a deer. She was in Medical School that year. Her curiosity from working with cadavers spilled over and she became very involved with dressing the animal. We spent 6 hours dressing, hanging, and skinning the deer. A lot of lessons were learned that night. By the end of the ordeal, a sense of gratitude and timid joy had replaced those horrible emotions I first felt when I took that deer’s life. Later the pride would come, as I watched my family cook and eat the meat.

There are detractors that would say that the new age hunters talk about “Field to Table” too much. We should talk about that feeling that comes with processing and providing for your loved ones. Hunters should tell the story of providing and sustaining lives from their hard work. This is a story most can relate to, empathize with, or at the least sympathize with. A story that began with our creation as a species. Hunters should never neglect to tell their early stories. Social Media often shows the success that comes from years of hunting, while neglecting the early experiences.

A superb hunter is only made by a litany of failures in the field. Watching YouTube, listening to podcasts, and reading articles can only teach you so much. Those lessons disappear as soon as an animal steps out in front of you. The permanent skills are earned from experience. They are visible in the crow’s feet on your eyes from peering into a glare. You can feel those skills engrained in the roughness on the back of your heels. These skills will not flee when a big buck steps out at 20 yards. They will guide your instincts, settle your hands, and connect you closer to your family.

By Travis Tweet