CHASING TECHNOLOGY
It wasn’t but a generation ago that a hunter could go to his local hardware store pick up a lever action 30-30 or convert an old Mauser 98 by bending the bolt down as to not snag it on brush, grab some B.D.U.s from the local Army Surplus store and take to the woods to hunt down meat for his family. If you were a bow hunter you might carve your own bows from wooden staves or choose from the few bows that were available from small Archery companies that were just starting to introduce the compound bow to the public and wear your wool outfits that you had for the cold weather already. Fast forward to today, custom rifles costing into the thousands, archery equipment made to be efficient enough to shoot a hundred yards, and clothing that costs more than the rifles, most hunters used to hunt with. So why as hunters do you we feel the need to have the newest and greatest products on the market? Because we need it!
Yes, I said need it! It is not simply a matter of want, it is a deep seated feeling that we need it! Just think back to hunting season, there was more than likely a situation that came up, and you thought to yourself man if I had “this” I could have tagged out. Maybe it’s a brighter or higher power scope, maybe it was a flatter shooting gun, maybe it was a faster or quieter bow, or GPS, or warmer clothes, better boots, or maybe it was just as simple as a better flashlight. What ever it was at some point you as a hunter as said “man if I only had that thing-a-mabob that I saw in the catalog I wouldn’t be eating tag soup.” Or would you? It is a fact technology has changed our lives, but has it changed it for the better or just made things more convenient?
So, what is the most high tech, important piece of equipment any hunter can own? It’s amazing! But it can’t be found in any catalog, website, or hunting store. It’s…… You! The latest and greatest hunting technology doesn’t mean crap if you aren’t at your best. Hard work, determination, and ingenuity will bring success in the woods much more constantly than any new fangled piece of equipment money can buy. Your mind and body doesn’t get a team of R & D engineers redesigning it every year or an ad campaign on T.V. telling you why you need the new version of it, but none of those things will ever matter if your mindset isn’t at it’s best. We can tell ourselves all day long that we didn’t fill our tags this year because we didn’t have the greatest equipment, but if we think about it we will find something that we did wrong that kept us from filling the freezer.
So, the next time you blame a failed hunt on a piece of equipment, think about it honestly and you will realize that the piece of equipment you need to work on is yourself. Now if you would excuse me I just got my new First Lite ASAT Kanab pants from EvoOutdoors and I know these things are going to help me fill at least three tags this year!