Exo Journal — Mindset

To say that I was excited would be an understatement of epic proportions. Having grown up reading stories of adventure in Alaska, it was hard for me to comprehend that I was getting to undertake an Alaskan adventure for myself. Although I had been talking about an Alaskan Caribou hunt for years, I wouldn't believe that it was happening until I stepped foot on the vast Alaskan wilderness. Now, on the other side of the adventure, I wanted to share the five most impactful lessons that I learned from this trip. If you want to hear more about the hunting...

In the heat of the moment, critical decision making is difficult. We typically don't think straight in those situations and would often benefit from listening to that little voice of instinct, instead of over-analyzing. Looking back to times I tried to analyze deeply, it turns out I was wrong more often than not. My instinct though? Dead on the money.

Remembering back years ago when I really took the plunge into the deep pool that is hunting makes me laugh. I used to think hunting was just this thing that only happened in the Fall. Not worrying about stuff like my shooting until a month or so before a hunt was fairly common practice. Scouting was also a thing that never crossed my mind. When I truly wanted to progress as a hunter though, everything changed.

If you have spent any time on extended hunts — backcountry or not — you have experienced the grind. All of us go through it from time to time; some of us deal with it better than others. Those that can endure it have a chance to fill their tags on the last day. Those that surrender to the grind will never know what could have been.