Q: Tell us all about yourself, first off. How did you get into hunting and fishing and what are your earliest hunting memories?

Although I grew up in central Kentucky, I wasn’t a hunter as a kid. My parents and I had cattle and horses. The first time I even saw a deer near my home was when I was 16. I didn’t start actually hunting until I was in my early 20s. A buddy of mine at the police department where I worked came up with the idea. We didn’t have a clue what we were doing and a camera crew should’ve been with to film a comedy show.

I stuck with it and after I had harvested a few deer, I decided to switch exclusively to archery equipment. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else in the fall now!

I did grow up fishing in farm ponds, mostly catfish and bluegill. Quite frankly, that was a little slow for me or maybe the reward isn’t as big? But in the end, I don’t have the time to take on another hobby, because anything I do, it's FULL TILT, and I simply can’t do anything half-cocked. It’s gotta be all or nothing!

Q: What's your favorite weapon for a hunt?

100% - just a bow. Although I did start out hunting with rifles and muzzleloaders, I have gone to exclusively archery gear for the last decade. It’s more of a challenge because typically your shots are within 30 yards. Part of the fun of the hunt is also me seeing how close I can get to the deer while remaining undetected.

My thinking is that if I use a rifle and shoot a deer at 200-400 yards, that animal will never even know I existed. But at 30 yards, stand placement, sounds and scent all come into play. Obviously, there are some hunts that are extremely tough with a bow, but it has just become my style of hunting.

Q: What specific things are on your list when you're preparing for hunting season?

Preparation is key for hunting. Scouting and looking for sign in the woods is a lot of fun. I study the topography of the areas where I will be hunting and the surrounding areas. I plant food plots (beans, turnips, oats, wheat, corn) for the deer and other wildlife. Trail cameras have come a long way in the last 10 years and do a fantastic job of letting you track what’s moving through and at what times.

Shooting my bow is really important to me. The goal is to always make an ethical shot. It’s hunting and it’s violent, there is no way around that. So, the practice I do ensures that when I take that shot, every effort has been put into making sure its the best shot I can take, the placement is accurate and the animal dies quickly.

Q: Where's the most exotic place you've gone hunting or fishing?

Montana! For a Midwest boy, going out west was awesome! The mountains and terrain are absolutely gorgeous. I have been hunting there twice for antelope with archery equipment. I was able to harvest a solid antelope on public land this past fall and spread awareness about state and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) ground too. BLM land in recent years has become subject to debate with the government trying to take away some public lands. I believe we are all public land owners, whether we are hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, or enjoying national/state parks. In a nutshell, public lands should stay in public hands.

Q: What's Arrow Wild TV and who would want to watch it?

Arrow Wild TV is a photography/media content company that has a web show. Instead of the traditional hunting shows that are on cable networks, we do more “real time” as the season unfolds. We show the shed season.

Note: Deer shed, or drop, their antlers each year and it’s like an Easter egg hunt to try and find them. It’s especially cool when it’s a deer you’re familiar with or with whom you’ve had some history.

We try to educate a little, show the ups/downs, the effort and the conservation side of hunting in lieu of just the harvesting side of hunting. The entire year as a whole is much more involved and intimate than most people who are unfamiliar with hunting would expect.

Q: If you could travel anywhere on Earth for your next adventure, where would you head?

I would have to say Alaska, New Zealand, Russia! Moose, Bear, Red Stag! I could go on and on. But there is so much of North America that I want to see and experience, I think I will stick to that for a while. Finances also keep me in the lower 48. So much of where/what I do is driven by this… I don’t have a fear of dying, that part went away during my 15 years as a police officer. I only have a genuine fear of dying before I accomplish everything I want to see and do.

Q: What's your favorite Nite Ize product and why?

My favorite Nite Ize products are the flashlights, mainly headlamps, the Steelie line, and CamJam straps. I’m very active and always on the go, so to see where I’m going when it’s dark, and with social media work/maps on my phone, a Steelie to throw my phone onto and keep rolling, it’s all really important. Cinching down equipment and camera tripods so they aren’t rattling around is a plus too, and I think that’s the Nite Ize secret sauce, solving problems, one small gadget at a time.

Q: “Solving problems, one gadget at a time.” Very nice. What else do you want to share?

I have gained so much from hunting and met so many great, passionate people that I wanted to give back. I reached out to my local DNR (Department of Natural Resources) officer and became an Iowa Hunter Safety Instructor. It has been so awesome to teach safety to new hunters and, to steal a line from my DNR buddy, we are staying to teach about incidents too.

Accidents happen and can’t be avoided. But incidents can! So, if we can teach the importance of wearing a harness when climbing into trees and teaching gun safety to hunters young and old, then maybe we can prevent these incidents from happening.

I also have organized some donations to Quality Deer Management Association by designing a shirt I sold through Arrow Wild TV. The shirt said “#conservation / because simply buying a license isn’t enough” I gave 100% of the profits of the sales to the QDMA. What’s the old saying? Leave it better than you found it. That’s what I try to do every day, even if it’s just walking the public lands and picking up trash, or teaching hunter safety to groups.

Q: Great stuff. Thanks. How do people find you online if they want to follow your adventures?

Whether you’re a pro golfer or a weekend duffer, there’s just something compelling about hitting a little white ball onto the green and then rolling it into the hole. But golf isn’t the same game your grandpa played: Club technology has improved dramatically and even golf balls are carefully engineered for maximum loft and distance. Golf bags, scoring systems, tools to analyze the lie of the shot and distance to the green, they’re all new and can be darn helpful in the quest to better your game.

Modern golfers also end up accumulating lots of gear, which means that there’s an inherent challenge for every player: how to keep it all neat and organized? That’s where Nite Ize can help with a wide range of products perfect for golfers, whether you’re on the links every day or just once or twice a month when you can fit it into your busy schedule.

One of the most helpful tools is a device that’s all too easy to lose: a pen. Sure, you can keep score with your smartphone, but it’s so nice to just turn off that pesky digital leash and enjoy a few rounds with your friends. Enter the Inka® Key Chain Pen. It’s perfect for every outdoor activity with its compact size, reliable ink system, and keychain-style loop that can be easily attached to a golf bag. Smart golfers also have a second hooked to their keys, because if you’re landing those double eagles, you definitely want to be keeping score!

Nite Ize has a lot of other useful gear for the inveterate golfer. S-Biners® are a splendid way to attach bigger items to your golf bag - like your golf towel or that white flag you want to wave when you’re ready to surrender to the green! - and Gear Ties® can ensure that your golf bag stays put in the back your car en route too.

If you like to save money on greens fees by golfing early into the evening, a few Glowsticks and a Radiant® 3-in-1 LED Flashlight can help you keep track of all your gear. Or get an early start on the post-game festivities as you’re heading back after getting an eagle on the 18th hole.

The best Nite Ize product for most golfers, however, is one that is all about practicality: the Traveler™ Drink Holster. After all, who wants to spend a day on the golf course without some sort of refreshment along the way?

However you play golf and whatever level of gear you have, Nite Ize can enhance your time on the course with our wide variety of different solutions. Check them out, you’ll be improving your game in no time!

Growing up in Southern California, many of my best childhood memories are tied to being at the beach. Whether it was Santa Monica beach, if we wanted to be down by the pier, or Zuma and Malibu beaches, which were the two just down the canyon from our neighborhood.

If you’ve never grown up near a beach community, you don’t know that high schools have designated lifeguard stations, too. On Zuma beach, my local high school had our station and it was a fun way both to find friends and avoid the kids from the rival cross-town school.

While we occasionally just lay on our towels and listened to music on our boom boxes, mostly everyone was up and about, walking around, playing football, body surfing, splashing in the water, or swimming. Hands down one of the most popular activities, though, was throwing a flying disc back and forth. For hours and hours.

Back then, flying discs were just lumps of plastic without much going for them. So we all had a stack in our cars, so that the loss of a disc in the surf wasn’t going to stop the show. Still, once the sun started to set, that game was over because you can’t play when you can’t see the disc zipping towards you!

That’s why the Flashflight from Nite Ize is so incredibly fun: It’s a well balanced and easy to throw flying disc that lights up, making it perfect for nighttime play! For those of you that measure discs by weight, it’s a 185g disc, so it’s got some heft to it. This means you can throw it further and catch it easily as it has a nice, deep lip.

But it’s the colors that make the Flashflight so darn fun. When I headed out to the street one evening with my kids to try out the color-changing Disc-O Flashflight, we all instantly became fans of this great flying disc. You can watch it transition from one color of the rainbow to another, even as it’s zipping from person to person.

The tech is also a lot more sophisticated than it appears at first glance: the Flashflight is built around a patented LED and fiber optic system that makes the light-up disc look somewhat like a psychedelic jellyfish. It’s also quite durable - skittering along the road didn’t ding or scratch up the disc - and it’s also water resistant and floats!

Where was this when I was on the beach every day? My kids have been playing with the Flashflight quite a bit and now are insistent that it travel with them to Hawaii for their summer vacation. There’s no doubt about it, the Flashflight will be absolutely perfect for play on the beach once one of those glorious Hawaiian sunsets wrap up.

It feels like yesterday that I watched my oldest son exit the bus as a second grader for the last time, while I explained to my five-year-old son that he was still a whole summer away from starting kindergarten.

“That’s, like, a year away!”

And in kid time, he’s right. But in adult time, summer goes by in seconds. I must have blinked a little too fast, because it's already time to shift from sunscreen and summer camps to books and backpacks. Transitions are hard for kids and adults alike, but here are solutions that help my family get back to school smoothly (while retaining some semblance of sanity).

MOOOOOOOM, WHERE IS MY…

Children’s ability to learn is almost as impressive as their ability to forget, which makes S-Biners a lifesaver for keeping easy-to-lose items secure and accessible. With a variety of colorful clippable solutions that can be connected to backpacks, gym bags, lunch boxes, water bottles and more, S-Biners keep the chaos (relatively) under control.

FORGET FIDGET SPINNERS

Kids are programmed to keep their minds and bodies active. By keeping a handful of brightly colored Gear Ties stored in their backpacks, kids can use them for everything from fixing broken lunch box handles to sculpting Gear Ties into their favorite creatures. Our new Gear Tie Key Ring is both fun and functional, offering busy bodies a perfect way to fidget quietly.

Sometimes fixing a lunch box is a lot easier than convincing a five-year-old that his Twilight lunch box (don't ask) isn't the best lunch box ever.

BIKE FOR BETTER GRADES

A recent Danish study that followed 20,000 school-aged kids determined that bicycling to school impacts concentration more than eating a healthy breakfast. Outfitting bikes with SpokeLit Disc-O Select and See'ems for side visibility provides safety through fun and colorful lights kids love. For walkers and riders, magnetic TagLits are super bright and easily attach to bags, jackets and more.

FAMILY TIME, FUN TIME

After sitting in school all day, kids need to move their bodies—a feat made more difficult by shorter days. Closing out each day tossing around the Flashflight Jr. orplaying catch (with or without Fido) is a great way to combine family time with fun time.

GOODNIGHT MOON

When it’s time to crawl into bed, the BugLit makes for a perfect reading light that kids can enjoy while they rest up and get ready to do it all over again the next day.

As with any new sport, playing disc golf for the first time can be a little intimidating, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t be fun. Whether your friends invited you out for a round, or you decided to try it yourself, I’d like to say, “Congratulations, and welcome to the most laid back intense sport you'll ever play!"

“What is disc golf?” you ask. Disc golf is very similar to traditional golf. However, the game is played with a flying disc rather than a ball and clubs. The object of the game is to complete each hole in as few strokes (throws) as possible. Play begins when a player throws a disc from a tee area towards a hole (disc golf basket). The player then makes each consecutive throw from the spot where their throw landed until they have successfully thrown the disc into the hole. A round of disc golf is typically 9 or 18 holes.

Disc golf is a fun, low cost sport that just about anyone can play. All you need are a few discs and a basket, and you’re in business. With new courses popping across the country, there’s likely to be one near you, and it may even be free to play as many city parks are have courses open to the public. If you’re looking for a place to play, then check out thecourse directory map on the Professional Disc Golf Association's website by clicking here.

Disclaimer--I’m no pro. I’d hardly even consider myself a “good” amateur player. But I have learned a few things playing disc golf over the past few years that I wish I had known when I got started. If you’re new to the game, or thinking about playing for the first time, then here are six tips to help get you started from an average Joe. For those seasoned players, let this blog post be a reminder of what your first days on the course were like and please share any additional tips you have in the comments below.

Be Patient—Embrace your status as the “new guy/gal”. You’re not going to be the best player on the course, and that’s okay. Relax, and laugh at yourself when the disc goes nowhere near where you intended to throw it. Just have fun and do your best. The best players in the world were beginners once and even they still throw their discs into trees, lakes and other obstructions now and again.

Keep It Simple—One of the first things you’ll notice is other players carrying golf bags with 20+ discs in them. You don’t need all that. If you can’t throw one disc well, then what good is a whole bag of discs going to do? My recommendation is to purchase a driver, a mid-range and a putter when you get started. Then, go to a field and practice throwing them. Yes, practice. It’s important to get a basic feel for how to throw the discs and the different flight characteristics of each. Chances are pretty good that one of those discs will feel, and fly, a lot better for you than the others. That’s the one you should play with the most when you get started. There’s nothing wrong with throwing only one disc during a round. As you develop your skills then consider adding more discs to your game.

Learn to Throw Forehand and Backhand—Now that you’ve decided to practice throwing, there are two types of throws you should learn first. The forehand and backhand. Why these? Because their flightpaths are entirely different and you may be better at throwing one way versus the other. By better, I mean more accurate and able to throw a further distance. For the right-handed player, a backhand throw will fade to the left at the end of its flight path where a forehanded throw will fade to the right (this is opposite for lefties). By learning how to throw each of these, you’ll be able to navigate around trees and other obstacles to get your disc closer to the basket.

Play the Course—Intuitively we all start out playing by thinking that we should throw directly at the basket, but what if there is a tree in the way? Instead of thinking about getting closer to the basket, try thinking about how you can set yourself up for having a clear shot at the basket on your next throw. Throwing a shorter shot to a clearing that gives you a clear second shot at the basket will be better than a longer throw that’s behind a bush. Seems simple, but it’s one of the easiest things to overlook when you’re playing.

Go with Experienced Players—The disc golf course is a judgement free zone, especially for the “noob”. We were all noobs once too, and we want you to love the game like we do. Playing with people that are better than you will help you to develop your own strategy, skills, and may also give you some inspiration to practice and get better. And, don’t be afraid to ask questions. I will caution you, however. Disc golfers love to give advice coaching to noobs. Be receptive and open to what they want to teach you, but decide for yourself which techniques work best for you. If you really want to hone in on certain techniques, then do a quick search on YouTube as there are a lot of technique videos online that you can learn from. Or, tune in to the live broadcasts of the Disc Golf Pro Tour and learn from the pros.

Have Fun—I can’t emphasize this enough. Have fun! Once you develop your basic skills, then you can think about shooting a low score. Until then, celebrate your good shots, laugh and learn from your bad shots, and play in a variety of places with a variety of people. One of my most memorable rounds of disc golf when I first got started was playing at night with a group of friends. Playing at night helps you to relax and focus on the fundamentals as you’re not able to see the obstacles that may be in your way and you can concentrate solely on throwing the disc. Some of my most memorable shots have come at night when I had no idea what I was throwing at, and instead let the disc fly with purpose towards the glowing basket.

I hope that you’ve learned something from my tips, and that you’ve realized that disc golf is about having a good time. At least, that’s what the game means to me. It’s a low cost sport that just about anyone can play, and that doesn’t take a lot of time to learn. If you’re a disc golfer and think there’s something else beginners should know, then please add your own tip to the comments below.

Now, get out there and play some disc!

If you’re ready to start playing disc golf, or are looking for some new discs to add to your bag, then check out the Flashflight LED Disc Golf discs. Check out the discs here.

Thoughts on Innovation, the Nite Ize way.

We have over 400 innovative problem/solution based products that appeal to anyone who has ever faced a daily frustration and found that perfect product to solve their problem. Whether you are into the latest tech products, love to walk your dog, enjoy hunting & fishing, biking with your family, or just love a helpful gadget, we hope that you will find a Nite Ize product that makes your life easier, safer and more fun – night and day! We love to share stories & ideas with our friends and customers. Enjoy!