outdoor sport, hiking gearThe world of hunting is a new one for me. I grew up in a rural part of America where there were plenty of pickup trucks with gun racks but I never did more than shoot at targets. Plenty of people were hunters though and many times I’d see them driving up into the woods while offloading my dirt bike from a truck bed. My friend invited me to go deer hunting with him a few weeks ago. This seemed like a great chance to see what this outdoor sport is all about. I’ve never felt that hunting is an inhumane act as long as the catch is used. My buddy has a butcher who will cure and prepare pretty much any meat delivered. The morning we went on the hunt was hazy. Classic June gloom. With us was a .22 caliber rifle I wielded around for fun and he had a scoped.308. Unlike other outdoor sports, this one is all about stealth.

You wouldn’t expect to find a beach volleyball game quiet just as you would not yell when hunting deer. With rifles strapped on our backs, he grabbed a hiking gear backpack and we set off for the top of a ridge seen out in the distance. Hiking gear transitions perfectly for hunting. Without my hiking gear, especially the shoes, tracking deer would have been much more difficult. We followed a well-traveled trail to a ridgeline where my buddy stopped.

Unzipping his backpack, he pulled out a Bushnell Trophy 20-60 x 65mm Waterproof Spotting Scope and placed it on a flat rock before sprawling into the prone position. This was the first time he had used this scope since buying it at KE Active Lifestyle at http://kayserenterprises.ispeedway.com/. The little drizzle we faced mid-morning was not problem for this scope because it is waterproof.

We sat on this ridge for a solid 30 minutes until my buddy got really excited. He rolled over and told me to look. In the eyepiece, he had spotted three large deer waking thought a clearing at least 500 yards away maybe more. This is when the outdoor sport gets really exciting. As he checked his rifle, I kept an eye on the deer. He tossed me a walkie and told me to spot for him while he moved in closer. As he traversed down the hillside, I kept an eye on the deer movement and reported the location. Like all outdoor sports, this one is best with teamwork. With a crack that sent birds in the air, I witnessed my first hunting kill.