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!