As soon as my bull hit the ground, I turned to Jackson and Casey and said, “I can’t believe it’s over.”

If you’ve been following along this summer, I wanted to take everyone through the excitement, prep, and anticipation of a true dream hunt. For me, it all began by drawing one of the most premium tags in the West: a September rifle tag in big bull country.

The effect of drawing this tag was a full-blown emotional roller coaster.

In the first few weeks, I literally couldn’t sleep. I’d toss and turn, dream of the hunt, have nightmares about losing my tag, get out of bed to go downstairs and watch YouTube hunting videos, and get caught tuning out my wife as I lay in bed E-scouting.

The next phase was pure anxiety, as a massive summer fire kicked off right in the heart of my unit and immediately threatened the exact spot we planned to hunt. Within a week, the honey-hole was burnt and looked more like the surface of the moon than it did elk paradise.

Finally, I came to full blown detachment, where in the final weeks, I honestly put the entire hunt out of my mind. Now that might surprise some people, so let me break that down.

First, I said all along that I was incredibly spoiled to have a whole crew of killers who immediately raised their hand to go along on this hunt. I joked about them just wanted free PTO to go hunt, and there’s some truth to that, but in any case, I was humbled to have their help. This let me check out a little bit, knowing the guys had a plan that far surpassed any kind of strategy I was going to put together anyway.

Second, I have a job to do, and the reality of this job is that sometimes (a lot of times), it absolutely must come first. I take great pride in being a leader of this team, and as much as I’d like to always reserve elk hunting as the number one spot in my brain, that’s just not the way this job works. I like to say, “Heavy is the Crown”. The summer is always busy for a hunting brand like ours, and the weeks leading up to the hunt were unseasonably heavy.

Finally, I just wanted to enjoy it, and if you’ve paid attention so far, everything I have described was anxiety or stress. I hate to say that, and of course there was a lot of excitement and fun in there, but the reality is that it was stressful waiting 3-4 months with that tag in my pocket. I’ve had this conversation with a lot of accomplished guys in the industry who have had the same experience, whereby the time opening day comes, you’re almost ready for it to be over. I said it all along, but what I was looking forward to most was the experience with the team. Sharing camp, sharing stories, and making memories was the top goal, and I finally decided to quit worrying about the elk and just focus on the guarantee of having a great week in camp.

We ended up spending four days sitting on rocks and glassing more elk than I've ever seen in my life. We watched big heard bulls dog their cows, smaller satellites get whipped and try again and watched a spike go for multiple swims in a pond. Literally swimming.

I'll save the details of opening morning, somewhat because it ended up being straightforward, and also because I hope you'll go enjoy the film that the team worked so hard on.

In all seriousness, please go watch the film to justify making it. Between me and you, I really don't enjoy being in front of the camera these days and having them there made the whole thing feel a bit like a day at work so please help make it worth it and give it a watch!

If you do go watch the film, above all else I think you'll see a group of guys you would have loved to have joined on the mountain. I am so blessed to call our team our team, those who were featured in the film and those who were not. What you see, with a whole gang of people rallying around this hunt, reflects the spirit, culture and unique reality of Eberlestock. We have the best team in the world, made up of guys and gals who are wildly passionate about what we do, and are extremely proud to share it with all of you. The same people you see in camp in this film, is exactly who and how they are if you meet them in person, and I'm beyond proud of this team.

This whole experience will forever be how I remember the summer of 2026. It dominated my life for months, and in the end, it turned out to be everything I had hoped for. I got to live every elk hunters dream, and I got to make the experience exactly what I wanted it to be. On this tag, you could hold out for a true dinosaur of a bull, you could patiently watch elk be elk for a week, or you could show up and punch that tag in about an hour. Or, you could do what I did, and ride the roller coaster for four months, damn near drive your wife insane, invite too many friends along and then let it all be over in the blink of an eye.

In the end, I wouldn't change a thing.

As a final note, I have been overwhelmed with the amount of feedback and response I got from this series over the summer. I can't express how surprised and grateful I was to hear that some people actually enjoyed it, and it tells me that we are doing something right. Our goal recently has been to build community, connect with our people, and share our passion for the things we do with likeminded people. I'm humbled to lead this team and try to be the amazing company you all deserve for us to be. Thank you, on behalf of our entire team. I got to live the elk hunters dream this summer, but I get to live my own dream every day. We couldn't do it without your support.

Get Out There.