The Kid
When you're 8 year old says "Dad I want to go hunting" you're left with two simple answers: yes or no. Having grown up in Northern Michigan bow hunting private land with my dad, the easy answer was "YES!". Forgetting that 20+ years earlier I outgrew my bow, put hunting on the backburner, went to college, got married, moved away to the burbs... the reality was I didn't have a clue how I was going to make this happen. But you're not going to let a kid down and I wanted him to have the same memories as me someday.
The Bow
Thankfully the day-job took me past a shop frequently and the team at Long Range Archery in Holland, MI got me taken care of. Within one session I realized how much I missed this. The mental detachment from all of life's daily demands quickly faded with the first arrow sent down range.
Public Land
Wow this is hard... when you only grow up knowing the same blind in the same field and what time the deer show up life is so easy. I had zero clue where to go, how to find sign, and how to get my gear in and out of the woods. Thankfully I've done adventure races for years so packing and carrying the gear was actually the easy part for me. Hub blind, tri-pod chair, & gumption. I got this right? Right...?
