By Josh Smith

“The Struggle”

As the 2018 whitetail season draws to a close and I take a few weeks to reflect before scouting begins, I find myself at a crossroad. Close encounters with quality bucks and a pair of empty post-season hands leave an unsatisfied hunger to burn for nine months, while the overwhelming sense of pride from the experience of my first team sit with my two young sons wells up in my eyes almost daily. There is much to digest from the last few months in order to both lock in a plan for next year, and to embrace the changes as I define the husband, father, and hunter that I am determined to be. 

By Alex Comstock

Earlier this fall, while I was in North Dakota on an early season hunt, through some friends I got word of a giant buck that was shot not too far from where I was hunting. Then, I saw photos, and let me tell you, giant is an understatement. Not too long, after, it just so happened that Jessy Langowski, the father of the hunter who shot this buck followed WhitetailDNA and sent me a message. And that eventually led to this story being shared here of how young Jace Langowski was able to send an arrow through a 190 class velvet whitetail at the age of 13.

By Alex Comstock 

This story is another one that was written years ago, this one being created after fall of 2015. Just as my other story I shared earlier this week, this one was never published anywhere, and I now wanted to share it with you, as there are valuable lessons I believe that can be taken from it. And with that, I hope you enjoy the story of this public land hunt from a few years ago...

By Alex Comstock 

The following story you are about to read was written four years ago, by the 19 year old version of myself. This was a story I wrote but never did anything with, and I wanted to share it with you today. It details the hunt for a doe in 2014, and some of the lessons I had to endure while learning when to pass deer. It's an important lesson, and that's why I wanted to share it with you today. Releasing an arrow at a deer should never be taken lightly and is a big decision every time you make it. Sometimes the best decision to make, is to not take the shot at all...

By Alex Comstock 

This past weekend signaled the end of my shed hunting for the year as I took a last minute day trip out to North Dakota and was able to scoop up a couple antlers. Now that shed hunting is over, I wanted to take a look back at the last few months through some photos, and show you how my shed hunting went this year. 

By Alex Comstock 

Do you remember the day you got hooked on deer hunting? I mean that moment you realized hunting could change your life? I still vividly remember that day, and it was the first time I took a deer's life. I remember when time almost seemed to stand still and it was as if everything in that second changed, and it put me on the path that I'm on today. Ever since that October day in 2010, I became a bowhunter. A whitetail fanatic. And that will never change. Today, I wanted to run you through the evening that I became hooked and how it changed my life forever. 

By Alex Comstock

As I sat and scrolled through trail camera pictures last night of the buck I hunted the past two years, Kobe, I felt a bit of remorse. Ever since Kobe was harvested by another hunter in November, I've questioned everything I did in the pursuit of hunting him. Even though I hold absolutely no grudge towards the guy that got him and am truly happy for him, I just felt so connected to that deer, I knew it was going to take time to get over it. If you need to get caught up on the story of Kobe, you can ready my last journal entry about him here. I knew I couldn't write a full reflection and what I learned while hunting the deer right after it happened, so I've taken time to put a lot of thought into it, and the following is what I've come up with as it pertains to what Kobe taught a young bowhunter. 

By Alex Comstock 

Here's an idea - buy a school bus, completely rebuild it, and then use it as a public land hunting machine to travel the country in. Well it's currently being done by Sam Soholt, and it's pretty awesome. I was fortunate enough to be in Sam's neck of the woods this past summer, and was able to swing by and check out his bus that he converted into a mobile hunting camp, and let me tell you, it's pretty remarkable. Now that he's been using it to travel the country hunting, filming, and photographing hunts, I wanted to get a full synophis on how the bus came to be, and his year so far using it. Enjoy our Q&A below!

By Alex Comstock 

2017 is officially out the window, and a new year is upon us. I have no idea what 2018 may present, but I can't wait to see what the next year entails. This is a common time of the year to write about reflection, goals, hopes, resolutions, etc. and I'll touch on all of that soon. But today, I wanted to take you on my hunting journey this past year through a series of photos, and reflect on it that way. There were a lot of great memories, and no words can quite explain what you get from a few photos.