In life I feel like there is little a son can do to repay his debt to his father. This year I was given the opportunity to try and repay that debt in some way when my Dad drew an elk tag in our home state of Arizona after nine years of applying.

He quickly began shooting his bow as much as he could and walking/hiking to get in the best shape he could before his hunt started. Unfortunately I was busy all summer in New Mexico preparing for our season over there, which didn’t allow me to spend any time in my Dad’s unit scouting. However, I had some solid knowledge of the unit from guiding elk hunts in it years previous and wasn’t worried. To help prepare for my Dad’s hunt in one way this summer I made a deal with him. We both agreed to cut out all drinks other than water until he killed a bull. We started this in late May and both stuck to it and didn’t cheat!