Perhaps the greatest part of going hunting is sharing the outdoor world with your friends. The backcountry is a place to be shared and attacked as a unit. The weeks before the season opener where you and your compadres gather around maps and decide where you’re going to go; the early mornings where everyone crawls
Every year, hunters toil at their day jobs and count down the days until autumn begins, visualizing and planning their backcountry hunting camp, hidden far from civilization. They imagine where they’ll go and how they’ll set it up, even going so far as to begin pinning promising spots on Google Earth while scanning outdoor sites
When it comes to getting your gear together for a backcountry hunt, tents, sleeping bags, and packs get all the glory. The humble sleeping pad is usually an afterthought, or is even excluded altogether in a show of faux toughness. The reality is, a high-quality sleeping pad is essential for getting the performance you expect
My becoming-a-man moment happened when my dad told me at the ripe age of 10 that I was old enough to go with him on his annual camping trip. The men in my family had a longstanding tradition of going on a week-long camping trip to Cow’s Creek, outside of Pierre, South Dakota. Some of
