Water Resistant Lessons

My dad started a thing with me sometime around the junior high or early high school years. That thing was, “You should learn something new every day.”

It will not surprise you to learn that he was a professor at a University at this time.

So just about every day, typically at the dinner table, he would ask me, “What did you learn today?”

And I learned quickly that a grunt followed by, “Nothing.” was the incorrect answer because it was much easier to learn something than to hear his playful tirade about how important it was to always be learning.

And wouldn’t you know it? Learning something new everyday stuck. Nice parenting, Pops!

A great place to learn new things is on any outdoor adventure. I love scouting trips because a) its an excuse to be in the woods, and b) you learn new things that can help you fill tags.

My very first archery elk hunt was a non-stop learning adventure. Mainly because I really didn’t know ANYTHING about what I was doing.

The first couple of days things were warm and dry. I saw a few elk but no close encounters. Then one evening the rain started. And it rained all night. And again into the morning. And it totally changed the elk behavior.

I would go on to fill my first archery elk tag that morning. I might tell that story in more detail here some other time.

I was leaned up against a tree listening to elk bugle all around me in the pouring rain and marveling at the difference between my “water proof” pants and my “water resistant” jacket.

From shoulders to waistline, I was absolutely soaked. From the waistline down, dry as a bone.

Learned something new that day about gear manufacturing!