A Great Start to a New Year.

This has been a great year so far. I have been working hard at losing weight and getting in to better shape. I head to the gym every morning before work and get a good 2 hour work out in. That treadmill kicks my butt. I  have also been shooting as much as I can. Coming up on March 9-10 is the San Gabriel Big Horn Sheep survey. Me and 5-6 of my buddies will heaed out to find the majestic mountain sheep. Plus we can scope new area for deer hunting. So it is a win win. I am excited to get out and see how good of shape I am really in. The last trip of deer season was a tough one. I was beat hiking out. Now this year I want to be like our hunting partner Brandon. He files up and down those hills. I have been hitting the incline hard to make sure I am in 100% better shape than year (not round). I also just found out my girlfriend and I will be haveing a baby boy. So add a new hunter to the list.

TRI-TIP Anyone?

Over the weekend was the Yearly Tri-Tip Cookoff at Glory Days. We had 10 pitmasters all gunning for the bragging rights of best Tri-Tip for the year. Of course a little side wager was in order but thats just for the cooks. I changed up my Tri-tip this year doing a little different marinade and dry rub. I just brought down the the little weber this year and I left my offset at the house, partly because I can't load it up by myself and I was lazy. All in all I did great, I took 3rd place moving up 2 spots from last year. Maybe my little Weber is on to something. The best for me was Dick and his son enjoy piece after piece of my tri-tip. My dad and Sue made it out to join in and get some free tri-tip. Once again it was great to see everyone and make some new friends. There will be a Rib off this year and a chance at pork shoulder. I cant wait, nothing better than a good day in the sun cooking up some good cuts of meat.

A New Year and a New Me

To say I let myself go at the end of 2012 would be an understatement. I hurt my knee mid way through the year putting my training on hold. I figured instead of hurting myself more, I would take it easy and only get out when I hunted. With good neighbors and warm days all the way till mid December I had now problem have a few man soda's while talking to my neighbors in the garage. All the beer, candy and sweet snacsk added up to a decent weight gain. So now with the new year comes a new me.

First to quote one of my hunting mentors Cameron Hanes, "Be Better Today Than Yesterday and Better Tomorrow Than Today." If you think about it, that is a great way to think. I see to many people start out the new year with weight loss goals that are out of reach. They end up burning themselves out in a month or so. You need to start with waht you can handle. I started the new year walking a mile or 2 a day. I a week I felt better and was able to bump up to 3 miles. I know I can go out and hike 10 miles. I did this hunting season and not on flat ground. The next day I did not want to do any physical exercise. With that being said I was able to walk 4 miles yesterday in under an hour. Pretty good for only going about a week. So as long as I can be better than yesterday I am doing alright.

Asfor hunting this past year, I ended the season with nothing. No deer or bear, I still have a month or so on the bobcats but I dont see much time in the near future. So tag soup it was. I am not that discouraged though. The last hunt of our season I was albe to put on my first stalk and close the gap from 200 yards down to 80. At that point the wind changed and blew my stalk. It was a great feeling, knowing just 80 below me were 5 deer. 20-30 yards more and I could have sealed the deal. So now on to next season. The training has begun and its time to get ready to pack out my deer for next season. Stay tuned for a better Bum'n with a Stick and String.