Up and Adam Adventures

On my last week of elk hunting in Wyoming, I was able to take along a brand new set of binoculars from Brunton. There's no better place to test the clarity, durability and functionality of optics than on a western big game hunt. I was able to use these binocs in a variety of light and weather conditions.  Having grown up in Wyoming, I have been aware of the Wyoming-based Brunton Group for some time, but honestly it wasn't until I met up with Cody Winward from Brunton at a show in Raleigh, NC that I really started to find out what the company was about. Brunton makes excellent optics for hunting, but also navigation tools, solar power equipment, lighting, and a host of other products. In addition, their sister company Primus provides top-notch camping and adventure gear. Both of these are companies that have been around a long time and are committed to making quality gear for the adventurer and hunter. The binoculars I have are the Eterna 11x45 in Mossy Oak Trees...

Man, there's nothing like the feeling of getting the monkey off your back. After misses, near-misses, and just not getting anything on the ground, I was finally able to relax a little about my season after an awesome morning of hunting with my buddy Roger Flynn. "Movement up on the hill" was the first text Roger sent me. Without responding I stuck my phone back in my jacket and looked up the hill. Out stands are a few hundred yards apart, but we both have a view of the same hill, just different angles. Out of nowhere, a doe had appeared. I raised my rifle and watched her through the scope, waiting for a shot opportunity. I felt my phone vibrating as Roger sent me more texts, but I didn't check my phone. Next thing I heard the crack of his .243. The deer I had been watching never flinched. I pulled out my phone and he had several deer come out in front of him, so he picked out a doe and shot her. At the shot, one of the deer came toward my stand. She passed me ...

I had just got out of the truck and started to get my gear together when I heard the bugle of a bull elk on the ridge behind me.  "He's right there!" I whispered to my dad as I hurriedly threw on my pack and grabbed my bow. It wasn't quite daylight yet so I used the cover of darkness to work my way up the hill to try and get into position, cow-calling as I went. As day started to break and I approached the clearing where I was sure the bull was, he was nowhere to be found. My gut instinct told me he was working his way down the ridge, so I took off through the timber, still cow-calling and hoping for a response.  I came to another clearing, and heard him bugle just on the other side of it. I scrambled to find some cover to set up in, and had no sooner got settled when he came out of the timber headed straight toward me, bugling like crazy. At about 60 yards away, he turned and began walking parallel to the timber patch I was in the edge of. He had been ex...

After a long review period, the Michigan Natural Resource Commission announced the approval of a wolf harvest in the state's Upper Peninsula. The goal is to harvest 43 wolves from an estimated population of 658 animals. The state has established 3 wolf management units, with different harvest totals in each, and the season will from November 15 to December 31, or until the total harvest quota is met. They will be issuing 1200 wolf tags that cost $100 for residents and $500 for non-residents with a limit of one wolf per hunter, per year. Firearms and archery hunting methods are legal. I've posted before about my views on wolf management. And while I don't feel they need to be eliminated like they were many years ago, a comprehensive management plan, like the one Michigan is adopting, that involves hunters is a step in the right direction.

We had a plan. The plan was to go back to the exact spot I had several close calls with good bulls last year. This year I knew the pattern. I knew the location. All I had to do was hike up the mountain and stick an arrow in a bull. As my dad and I were driving toward Dubois, WY on Saturday evening, we began to smell smoke. The closer we got, we began to see smoke a ways off the highway to the north. Knowing the smoke was in the general direction of my hunting area gave me an uneasy feeling as we neared the turnoff to Horse Creek. Sure enough, as it began to get dark and we drove farther, you could see the orange glow of a raging fire in the sky. A forest ranger stopped us to inform us that the road was being closed. The fire had started the day before and grown from 4 acres to 400 in no time. It wasn't burning in the area I intended to hunt, but was closing in on the road, and homes and ranches in the area. Evacuations were in progress. So with some disbelief that a f...

While at the World Deer Expo in Birmingham, AL a few weeks ago, I met Ken Stewart, the innovator of a new product in scent control that I believe may be a big hit in the outdoor industry. The product is called Body Guard 360 and it's made by Herd Guard. Body Guard 360 is a scent eliminator that also repels ticks, chiggers and fleas. This makes it handy not only for big game hunting, but also for turkey hunting in the spring, or anytime you're out in the woods. The product is sold in a concentrated form that you add water to. In it's concentrated form, it's extremely lightweight, which makes it great for traveling. 

I was recently honored to be featured in this testimonial video from HuntingGPSMaps.com . If you haven't checked out their products, you're missing out on a valuable tool. HuntingGPSMaps not only allows you to scout your hunting grounds from afar the way I do, but also helps you find property boundaries and other info that can be key on your hunt. Check them out!

Tradition has been, at least in the past few years, for major bow manufacturers to release their new bows in January corresponding with the ATA, though several manufacturers have been pushing that date earlier and earlier into the hunting season. Several of the major manufacturers 2013 offerings were available during the 2012 hunting season. Bowtech was one of few who held the release of their new flagship bow, the Experience, until the ATA show. This year, they introduced a new bow in July, which is pretty radical by archery industry standards. The Carbon Knight, with its carbon riser and limb pockets, represents a new direction for Bowtech, and also a few new innovations for carbon bows in general. Hoyt's Carbon Matrix and Element bows have been the only viable forays into carbon risers. High Country produced some carbon bows a few years back with limited success. The Knight features carbon limb pockets as well, and Bowtech has shaved the weight of this bow down ...

Hunting GPS Maps is giving a way a new Garmin Oregon 600 GPS!  All purchases made through their website during the month of June will be automatically entered to win this GPS. More purchases will only increase your odds.  After your purchase, like their page on Facebook if you haven’t already to get an extra entry. Hurry, the contest ends June 30!

My posting has slowed down over the last month or so, but I've still been enjoying the outdoors. Turkey season has finished up here in Georgia, so other than hogs and coyotes, there isn't much to hunt right now. I have been doing some fishing though, and also getting back into fly fishing. North Georgia is full of some great trout fishing and I might a well take advantage of it! I'm also going to be doing some bow fishing hopefully as the water continues to warm up. I've been shooting my bow as much as I can, and I'm just about ready to pick up some new arrows. I'm planning to use Easton Injexions this season. There are a lot more broadhead companies making heads for the Deep Six inserts so I've got some options there. Hurry up September!

I recently had one of those "learning experiences" that I had read about and thought "they just need to pay better attention." Well, I let the credit card I had on file with GoDaddy.com expire, and to make things worse I didn't have current contact info on file. So when my card expired before my domain registration renewal, GoDaddy had no way to contact me to update my card. In the time of the 5 days from the time my domain expired until I figured it all out, a "squatter" had picked up my name and registered it. After looking into buying my own domain name back, I decided to just get a new domain. So as of now, my blog has officially become "Up and Adam Adventures." I'll be making some changes to the logo and all that stuff. It kind of stinks to have to start over and regain some of the traffic I had with my previous name, but I have definitely learned my lesson here!

I was super excited to get a pair of Under Armour's new Droptine hunting boots to review before they are available on the market. I was actually in the market for a new pair of hunting boots in the 400 gram insulation range where these boots fall. That seems to be about the perfect insulation level for me for hunting elk and deer in the high country in late September Nd October. My first impression of the boots is they seem well made, and fairly light weight compared to similar hunting boots I have owned and worn. They feature Realtree's new Xtra pattern and 400 grams of Primaloft insulation. The weather is warming quickly here in Georgia but we've still had some cool mornings in the mountains. So I decided to head to the mountains to chase some turkeys and give the new boots a rest drive. Turkey hunting in the Cohutta Wilderness is much like elk hunting the Rockies, with steep mountains, seemingly endless logging roads and cool nights and mornings. After ...

A week ago I read an article in Petersen's Bowhunting magazine titled "Bow & Go Gobblers" that addressed hunting turkeys with archery tackle without a ground blind. Prior to reading the article, that was something that seemed far to difficult to me to even try. But the way the article broke down the tactics it started to seem a lot like archery elk hunting. So two days later while chasing turkeys in the Cohutta Wilderness of North Georgia (which is also much like elk hunting) I decided to give it a try. I had hunted with a shotgun the two days prior and been on a few birds but couldn't get a shot. The evening before, I found a nice clearing about a 30 minute hike from the truck. Sure enough, I spooked a bird off it as I eased into the open. After a quick scout around the edges I knew where to be the next morning. Through the clearing were several good size trees and I started to think about the article I'd read. The real challenge in Bow & Go ...

The perks of hunting in the north Georgia mountains...awesome views!

A while back I traded my Hoyt Maxxis for a 2012 Bowtech Insanity CPX. After setting up the new bow with my trusty Spot Hogg sight, QAD rest and Doinker stabilizer, I took it out to a 3D range for a test drive. It didn’t take long to realize that it’s a shooter. My first bow was a Hoyt ViperTec, a 2004 model. I spent countless hours shooting that thing and it served very well as an introductory tool to the wonderful world of archery. From that first bow, I was a Hoyt “fan boy.” To me, Hoyt bows just felt right, and I saw no reason to change. I shot a few other bows, but none of them impressed me enough to leave my beloved Hoyts. Hoyts aren’t the fastest, but I grouped pretty good, and took a few animals and a 3D trophy plaque with a Hoyt in hand. After shooting a Bowtech Insanity CPXL at an archery shop, I began to feel like I could up my game by shooting a faster bow. Before you think I’ve jumped on the speed bandwagon, I want to clear things up a bit. I have a 27” draw len...

A few weeks ago I had an eye-opening experience. For one thing, I was invited on my first coon hunt by my buddy Nate Greene in North Carolina. As a bonus, we would go to a coon hunting show as well. The first night we were supposed to hunt, we got rained out. A storm moved in a lot sooner than it was supposed to and it foiled our plans. Early the next morning, though, Nate and I met up with a few other guys, Chuck Melton, Austin Andrews and Mitchell Bass, and headed toward the show. The "show" turned out to be the 40th Annual Southeastern Treeing Walker Days in Salisbury, NC. This turned out to be a bigger deal than I initially have it credit for! There were plenty of coon dogs for sale, contests and all sorts of coon hunting gear. And the gear was a lot more specialized than I imagined. Head lamps, briar-proof clothing, dog boxes, GPS tracking collars and hip waders by many brands were available. Later on when we went hunting, the briar-proof gear made perfect sen...

Trail cams have been a real game changer in the area of scouting for deer, turkey and other big game. Over the past few years the market has exploded with new cameras and new technology far superior to cameras of the past. These modern cameras take great quality photos and can really give you a sneak peek at the critters roaming around your hunting land when you're not there. Big Game Treestands debuted their EyeCon camera line last year, and the Black Widow model is garnering lots of attention for it's best-in-class features. The other models are the Storm, which features a built-in viewing screen, and the no-frills QuickShot. Features of the Black Widow: - Thin, low-profile design - Completely undetectable flash - Daytime: 1.3 - 5.0 MP photos; Nighttime: 1.3 MP photos - Flash range: 50" (40' night range) - Color in daytime; monochrome at night - 1.2-second trigger speed - Takes 15, 30, or 300-second videos (30 fps) - Backlit LED screen - Time, date, an...

Last week I attended the National Wild Turkey Federation Convention in Nashville, TN. The event took place at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and it was my first time to visit Nashville since the week before the flood of 2010. The Opryland resort has been rebuilt as good or better than it was before an was an awesome venue for the show. The convention included calling contests, taxidermy contests, drawings, raffles and concerts, providing something for just about everyone. Over the two days I was there I was able to meet several hunting celebrities like Mark and Terry Drury, country singer Chuck Wicks, a host of turkey call and gear makers, outfitters and regular folks alike. Some of my favorite mounts from the taxidermy competition... I was also able to finally meet several people that I had previously only been friends with through Facebook and Twitter and all of them were as genuine as they seemed trough the Internet. There is nothing better than getting ...