I am so sore...

My first backpack hunting trip in about a decade and a half came off yesterday without many hitches. No carribou were harmed in the making of this blog but thats why they call it hunting. My size 12 boots carried my butt up a 6000 ft moutain with a loaded day pack and oversize rifle just fine and despite the lack of game had a wonderful time. I picked an area that only the suicidal and law breaking would dare take an ATV into and didn't hear a single motor the whole time.

I had some time to ponder while I was trekking around in some pristine wilderness "why exactly do I feel the need to hunt?" I didn't exactly grow up a hunter but I did grow up in a rural community with a tradition of hunting. Maybe its the experience. Maybe its the desire to be an active participant in nature. Maybe its the desire to fit in. Who knows but the need to hunt is deep, powerful and unexplainable. It is a "roaring in the blood" to quote someone I can't remember at this moment...

While I was up there roaming around on foot looking for carribou and visiting my Stone Age psyche I had some time to ponder the simplicity of hunting and how complicated it all seems these days. A visit to the local Sportsman Warehouse reveals that for a lot of guys hunting the best sale price on new camo and camp gear may be the closest these folks get to hunting all year.
My endeavor is to simplify my equipment to a meager backpack and a rifle. And thats when I went hunting with Tim...