The Will to Hunt

I’m excited to be kicking off 2013 with a clean new website design and lay out. The Will to Hunt really started out almost 2 years ago as just something to do. I didn’t really have plans to make that much of it, it just snowballed. I didn’t realize how much I’d enjoy writing and growing the site and it all just came together through lots of hours of work. So, finally there’s a design that better represents myself and makes a better frame for my writing. That said it’s new and hopefully working properly now. If you find a broken link or something please feel free to let me know by the ‘Contact Me’ page, or if you just feel like sending me a message feel free to do so. I also went with this design to keep things clean. The little orange triangle at the top is a drop down that has some additional features to keep the main page here simple. Now, on to the adventure part!

As I’ve eluded to already I’ve got big plans for 2013 and I’m pretty excited about them. I absolutely love whitetail hunting but locally it’s hardly an adventure. That doesn’t mean it’s not a blast but I guess I’ve done it my whole life and probably take it for granted. I’ve always had dreams of hunting different species and felt I had to leave them just dreams. I got really good at making excuses, often those excuses involved time, money or frivolous obligations. To be clear, I’m not calling parental or spousal duties frivolous. I’m talking about all that other stuff like work! So I’ve stopped making excuses, found ways to make some adventure more affordable and I’m jumping in.

First adventure of the year will be heading to the western part of Virginia for a backpack turkey hunt. There is a ton of public land in the western part of the state and it seemed like a waste to not take advantage of it. I’m still nailing down the plans but we’ll be heading out for a few days to chase turkey and trout from a tent. That’s right, I said we. I’ll be meeting up with my fellow Huntographer Zac! I wasn’t able to meet up with him and Rudy for Huntography this deer season so we’re going to get together to check out some new land and chase some birds. Rudy won’t be making the drive out but we’ll have a good time none the less. Depending on the exact date we’ll definitely be hunting turkey but early in the season you can only hunt turkey until noon. If we go then we’ll be spending the afternoon catching trout. I may have to take up fly fishing just for this trip.

Next is the big adventure. The turkey hunt is kind of a mini practice run for my September Colorado Elk hunt. I’ll be meeting up with Mark from SoleAdventure.com in Missouri and heading west to Colorado on a DIY Elk Hunt! We’ll be hunting an over the counter unit and documenting the prep and hunt on our respective sites as well as over at the Elk Hunter and Western Hunter Magazine Blogs. I’ve been dreaming of chasing elk ever since I was a kid watching them bugle on an episode of Marty Stouffer’s Wild America. Mark and I have been talking about this hunt for close to a year probably. He had already been planning to go for quite a while and when he invited me to tag along I graciously accepted. I can’t wait to really start documenting the prep for the hunt and then eventually sharing the actual hunt. It will definitely be an interesting hunt as neither of us have ever been, plus I’ve never actually met Mark in person. We’ve talked plenty over the last almost 2 years but never face to face. There are so many interesting elements to this hunt, it’s going to be a blast! At this point I’ll be pretty excited to come out unscathed and having seen elk, if either of us kills one it will be just awesome.

Now that all of that is out there, this doesn’t mean the site will be all about elk or backpack hunting. I’ll be posting about those adventures frequently but I’ll still be obsessing over trail cameras, tree stands and bowhunting as a whole! 2013 is going to be a big year and I’m very excited to be kicking it off. What are your plans for 2013? Any special or different hunts planned? Be sure to follow along on Twitter and Facebook or subscribe by e-mail on the right side of the page.