A little more about me

Good morning! I thought I would continue to introduce myself so that you guys know a little more about me.

This blog is actually a combination of ideas, a soon to be contributor to this blog, Mitchell (introduction forthcoming) had the idea to film our year in the field this past season. Unfortunately we were not as diligent as we had hoped and as we got deeper in to the season all of that fell by the wayside. It is unfortunate because Mitchell and I had a season for the ages, details of which I am sure we will share as we compare our experiences this season to experiences of our past. In combination with our hopes to film our hunts this past year, I also lost my grandfather, a man that had a significant impact on my views as an outdoors man (another blog post altogether), and I felt it would be beneficial to share the things that I learned from him with others. It took me over a year to get actually creating the blog, but better late than never right?

So, a little back ground information about me. I was raised as a bird hunter, upland birds and ducks to be specific. I was raised to enjoy bird hunting not for my own benefit (although I do thoroughly enjoy it) but rather for the enjoyment of the outdoors, the enjoyment of time with family and friends, and lastly, for the enjoyment of my dog (you will see over the season that I am a Labrador lover).

After graduating from high school in Solon, IA, I attended the University of Iowa and I would be fair to say, I spent more time partying then I did in the woods. I think I maybe went hunting a half dozen times while enjoying the college life... I truly regret this, but I think it has allowed me to appreciate it that much more now.

After college I moved to Ft. Myers, Florida where I fished...constantly, I did not hunt once in the three years that I lived there..... this I do not regret, I love to fish, if I were to do it again though I would take advantage of the many great outdoors opportunities that Florida offers.

Fast forward to March of 2008, I accepted a position at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, IA and made a promise to myself to take advantage of all the great outdoors opportunities that Iowa had to offer that I had been missing out on for the previous 8 years. Specifically I was interested in archery hunting for deer. I inherited an old Browning bow (with a draw length about 5 inches too long!) and started talking to old acquaintances looking for hunting land.

Now here I am, what I believe to be an accomplished archery hunter, (at least as far as deer go, those turkey have given me a run for my money) entering my 5th season and looking to take things another step. After upgrading that Browning to a Bowtech (after missing a couple of deer and realizing I had no idea what I was doing), and then trading the Bowtech in for Mathews, I now find myself looking to expand the challenge. This will be my first season looking to harvest a deer with traditional equipment.

Ok... all of that said, I am sure I left out plenty, and I look forward to going in to more detail in the future, but for now... Iowa's second annual dove season is less than 24 hours away and I hope to share some fun times in the field tomorrow with Mitch, my father, my black Lab Kenna, my fathers yellow Lab Zoey, and of course a few dozen gray rockets. Hopefully my next post is pictures of success as well as me sharing my favorite recipe for dove!

Happy Hunting, be safe

First Post

Ok, this is going to take some time for me to get used to... and I cannot promise much. I am getting ready to embark on something a little new for. I am not one that likes to share my thoughts on a lot of things, I have plenty of them but I tend to keep them to myself. This is going to be a way for me to share my experiences, insights and observations during the 2012 hunting season in Iowa.

I am not sure what this blog will really accomplish, I hope that you the readers enjoy what I have to say. It will not always be useful information, some of it will just be random musing, I think overall I just want to share my love of hunting with  others. I encourage you to comment on my posts, and share your experiences with me.

I promise to post a couple reflective posts as I look back on the past couple of months in preparation for the upcoming season. I will be busy over the next couple of days, and with the Dove season opening in Iowa in a couple of days, I hope my next post is to share some early season success with you all.

Here is to a successful, safe and fulfilling season to everyone, I hope we all get to know each other as we share the excitement of the season.