Up and Adam Adventures

It only seems like a few months ago that I found out I had one in African safari at the World Deer Expo in Birmingham, AL, but in truth it has been almost 3 years. To say the time has flown by would be a gross understatement. In about five months I will be setting foot on African soil for the very first time. The feelings of excitement and anxiousness keep growing as I prepare for not only my most adventurous hunting trip to date, but also my first time requiring a passport to fly. Over the past 2 1/2 years I have dreamt about and read about the many species of plains game available for me to hunt on this trip and I've narrowed my wish list down to a few species that I feel represent the continent well. Stories and films of other hunters safaris have helped to  fuel my own fire to make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime trip. The timing of the hunt was specifically scheduled around the moon phase and seasonal weather patterns most conducive to bowhunting. I have become even more...

Application season is in full swing in the west and for many it's almost as exciting as hunting season. E-scouting new areas, adding up your preference points and sending off applications allows us to geek out as we plan our upcoming spring and fall hunts. Some of us are even looking at next year already! Understanding each state's draw process and regulations can be very frustrating. The laws and wording vary from state to state and can be confusing. I have spent most of my life in Wyoming and still didn't understand parts of our draw process until this year. If you're looking at hunting out west this year, or anytime in the future, I'm going to share a few resources I've found that may help you out. The first option is completely free. Podcasts have become a valuable tool for outdoorsmen over the past few years. Some are informative and some are just entertaining, but one of my favorite podcasts to gather information from is the Jay Scott Outdoors Podcast ...

I'm very excited to announce the addition of a couple of new companies I will be working with in 2017. These will be in addition to my partnership with Muddy Outdoors and my asscociations with Maven Optics and Kuiu Ultralight hunting through my work with HunterVids. The first is a pro staff position with Feradyne Outdoors. I've been using many of these products for several years, and almost all of my archery kills have been with Rage and Muzzy broadheads, so I'm very excited to be representing these companies. The other brands that this opportunity brings are icing on the cake. Look for written and video reviews on these products over the coming months. I am also now a member of the Bison Coolers Field Staff. High-end coolers have gained a huge market share over the past few years, and with good reason. These types of coolers are especially great for hunters due to their ability to keep ice for days and elminate trips out of the mountains. Bison Coolers are a ...

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Archery Trade Association show again this year, working with Muddy Outdoors. The show was at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, IN and was my first time attending the event at this location. Although reports indicate that attendance was slightly down from last year ( read the article from the ATA here ) the interactions with dealers was great, as was the opportunity to see the new innovative products for 2017.  In addition to the show itself, I was able to attend a groupd workout hosted by Josh and Sarah Bowmar, and it was my first opportunity to meet Brian Call, aka the Gritty Bowmen. If you haven't checked out his podcast and YouTube channel, be sure to do so.

A few months ago, shortly after moving back to Wyoming, I joined Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. BHA is an organization whose main goal is to provide education and action to stop the transfer of public lands in the U.S. into private holdings, thereby preserving the tracts of wilderness set aside by our forefathers, most notably Teddy Roosevelt. I had been aware of BHA for a while, but the reality of the neccessity of such a group has really begun to sink lately by wacthing the slow but sure erosion of our public lands, and the loss of accessibilty to prime hunting and fishing areas. For various political reasons, there has been a massive move to transfer federal public lands into state management. On the surface, this seems like a great idea. "The dang Feds" mishandle almost everything they do, and those politicians in Washington have no idea how to manage our land. Give it to the states and they will do a much better job. The problem that arises is that the states ...

As I plan for my African safari, I was asked to create a wishlist of animals I would like to take. This was more of a challenge than I anticipated because Africa has such a wide variety of animals, and they are all so unique compared to our North American game. Of course this list isn't set in stone but it helps the Professional Hunters plan the hunt around the right locations for particular animals. After quite a bit of thought, research and countless hours searching Google images, I've finally come up with my wishlist. The number one animal on my list is the Impala. To me they embody the best qualities of so many Plains game animals with their beauty and grace. To me, the trip would not be complete without taking one of these. Number two on my list is the ugly little warthog, and honestly, it may really be my number one. These animals are so smart and the behaviors I've read about them make them seem like more of a challenge than most would give them credit...

If you've followed my blog for the last few years, you know that my elk hunting has been a struggle to say the least. I've been archery hunting elk for the last few years and have come up empty handed every year. Some years the hunting was tough, some years I made a lot of mistakes, some years I missed shots, but every year I ate my tag. This year I was able to break the streak. I moved back to Wyoming this year, but wasn't able to draw a tag of any kind. Not wanting to sit out the whole season, I decided to buy an over-the-counter elk tag in Utah. Having never hunted Utah, and with only a couple days to scout, my first days in the field were spent "bowhiking." The bulls weren't bugling at all, so I resorted to looking for sign and trying to find an active wallow. I lucked up and found a couple of wallows a few miles apart that were being hit pretty regularly. I set a trail camera on one of the wallows and got some pics of several smaller bulls, a...