There was a lot of soul searching that I had to do this past two years. I went from hunting three plus times a week during the season to maybe hunting a few days in a season total. I thought I was going to move into a great job within the Hunting and Tactical Industry that was going to allow me to hunt more open doors to great things and it did at time, but it also had the opposite effect at times. Thought I am very thankful for the opportunity to work in the industry in the capacity that I did, I realized that I needed to do it more on my terms and not on the opportunity. Before and during that time I was able to hook up with
Gerber Gear,
Vortex Optics,
Contour Camera,
Tight Spot Quivers, Cajun Archery,
Hot Shot Manufacturing,
Lacrosse Footwear, SKB Cases, Bee Stinger Stabilizers and
Chesebro Rifles and for them I am thankful. Nothing but the best for them all.
Because of the above people the 2012-2013 hunting season was profitable, very much to say the least. I was able to harvest my first pig with my Mathew's bow, and learn a lot about the marketing side of hunting. I came in second during a cooking competition to none other the the great Bill Miller. I did indeed miss a California Mule Deer at 30yrd & the same deer at 90 yards due to a low hanging branch and that was devastating to say the least. I almost gave up hunting because of that. Literally I can replay the whole sequence of event leading up to the even and all I want to do is curl up in the fetal position and give up......but I will not.
Through all of the crap that has taken place over the past two years and how hunting became a job and a push to perform and give results, one thing brought me back to my passion for hunting, my son. Yup, my boy. This year something happened that had never happened to me before, I went hunting for someone else. I was hunting not for a manufacture to have kill pics or a great review, I found that I could hunt for something way more important. My son "The Boy" aka "Chew". I was not hunting to show him how to be successful. mind blowing and life changing.
I found more determination in his love for hunting, which he only reads about or watches on tv, that I had getting paid to do it. He has pure excitement when he sees a buck, duck or quail. I seen pictures, video and possibly another sponsorship deal. This was very evident last weekend in his first over-night hunting trip with me to the Lower Owens Valley for duck last week. Even though he was throwing up all over the back of my truck he was determined to stay and finish out our "Man Trip." It was at the behest of my wife that I made sure to bring the little man home to rest up and live to fight another day. He wanted to hunt, just for the sake of being outside and seeing ducks fall from the sky.
So to my Son, thanks. You saved me from a lifetime of regret and renewed my desire to hunt, film, fly fish and be outside.
Here is his first hunt that we went on a few seasons ago.
Pass'n It On from
Bearded Boar on
Vimeo.
So more on the past year as I remember the good, the bad and the ugly.
But until then shoot straight.
The Bearded Boar.
