DirtNap Gear Field Staff

I am proud to have been selected as a field staff member for DirtNap Gear broad heads. If you have never checked them out, do yourself a favor and go to dirtnapgear.com or click the logo at the top of my blog and check out what they have to offer. You can choose either a single or double bevel head that come with a modular weight system, giving you a 100 grain head without the module or a 125 grain with. They also have a Deep Six head, and for you traditional guys they have a HD head that comes in at 150 grains or 175 grains with the module for that added weight up front.

Hunters rifle deer hunt

Hunter was able to get his first deer this year! He may not be a monster but I am one of the proudest dads ever! He made a great shot from 250 yds. and I had forgot to crank his scope up from 2 power from when we had been hunting elk in the thick timber. The buck didn't go far, but we had a hard pack out. It was all up hill and took us one and half hours to get him up to the ranger. Now he thinks that maybe he will hold out for something bigger next year. Congrats Hunter!

Hunters rifle elk hunt

Hunter and I got out for the rifle elk hunt here in Utah. The night before the hunt we had seen at least 30 elk, with four of those being branch antlered bulls. We hunted hard for the two weekends that we had to hunt, but was never able to find a bull for him to shoot. This was one of the best hunts I have been on though. I love to be able to spend time in the field with my son, and try and teach him the things that I learned from my dad when we were out on my first hunts. Hunter is developing into a great hunter, and can out hike most people (including me) when it comes to covering ground looking for animals. We had a great time together and I look forward to many more hunts with him!

2014 Archery Elk

Had a great time on the archery elk hunt this year. The first few weeks were more or less scouting trips, as I have hunted this area for many years and know where the elk usually are.

This was camp this year during our hunts, I just purchased it and was glad I did. When the nights got cold it was great to be able to load the stove up and stay nice and warm

Jim and I took the last week of the hunt off and had a blast chasing bugling bulls.

The bulls were active rutting that last week, and the scenery was great as well with the leaves just starting to change

I was able to get a shot at this bull the third to the last day of our hunt. Unfortunately I didn't make the shot that I would have liked and was unable to find the bull during our hunt. One week later I was back in the area grid searching for five hours and still could not locate him. I hit my knees and prayed for any sign that may lead me to him. Before I could get up I could hear Ravens. They were flying in the air and landed about 200 yds from me. I took off on a dead run, and followed them right to my bull. He had gone a half mile from where I shot him. After two more weeks the Fish and Game finally let me go retrieve my antlers.

My oldest girl has caught the fishing bug! I took her out to see if we could catch a few smallies, and she ended up out fishing her dad. Had to teach her how to cast and she took it from there. Love to see the kids learn some conservation with catch and release.

Spring Turkey in Utah 2014

One of my favorite times of year is the spring Turkey hunt. This hunt gives me something to do in the spring that is a blast, but a very hard hunt where I hunt. These birds are at high altitude and there are not a lot of birds around. Try as I might I could not find a longbeard, I finally shot this jake one snowy morning after I had passed up 8 other jakes. Thank goodness for My Core4Element clothes, especially the elevation vest a good friend loaned me, it was a lifesaver when the temps were cold waiting for birds to fly out of the roost or to come to the call.

3-D Shoot at Royal Rutt

Attended the 2nd annual 3-D shoot at Royal Rutt Outfitters again. This is one of the best shoots there is. The terrain is steep and will make you work up a sweat to get to the targets. Royal Rutt puts on a great shoot with lunch and great prizes.