MARC
ANTHONY

Non-Typical Hunter

Pike County to Cook County in 24 hours

Mon, May 21, 2012

Leaving my home at 4:30 am. on Friday morning, I didn’t wake up on my way to Pike County until I saw some deer in a field right after the sun came up. I was on my way to the annual Round table event in Barry, IL. It’s a 3 day event for media personnel and manufacturers to sit down and review what’s new for the upcoming season. I was only able to stay for one day, but one day was better than none. Even though many of the products are repeats from last year, there were some new and innovative products that will be in the markets this coming season.

Having some of these new or improved products in hand, I can say I was really impressed with the newly improved trail camera technology. As many of you already know, I’m a Reconyx fan mainly because of their quality and performance. I’m not a fan of their price tag! BUT, you usually get what you pay for, so take that into consideration. This year may be different though! Several of the manufacturers are getting pretty close to Reconyx’s quality without the elevated price. When I’m finished with my review, I’ll post those results. I think you’ll be pretty happy to see that performance, quality and price are coming closer together.

I had the chance to examine new Elk calls, sun glasses that record video, new broadheads, clothing, and all sorts of hunting gear. In fact, I’ll have tested more hunting gear this year than I have in the last two combined. I’ll have all of these reviews on video, so they’ll be easier to understand too! I’ll be uploading at least three videos a week on my website (in addition to posting many of them here), so I hope you find them useful.

I was with Curt Wells of Bowhunter magazine for some time on Friday and we discussed some new ideas (and some old one’s), so expect an article in the November issue (October release) on some detailed scouting tips! I’ll put in some great pictures that will be very descriptive and hopefully easy to understand. In fact, I’m now starting my scouting procedures, so I should have some images in chronological order for the article. I’m now seeing bucks with nice bases beginning to form, so the process begins!

Leaving Pike County friday evening, I arrived in Cook County just several hours later for the Chicago area Jiu Jitsu tournament that my son Drake competed in. Can you say “Burnt out to the max”? After 6 hours of watching people beat the daylights of of each other, we were able to make the drive back home. On a personal note; Drake took first place in his division and even put one guy to sleep in 19 seconds. If you want to see the video, here it is:

I would like to mention this sport is awesome for today’s youth! It’s not all about beating people up, but rather bringing kids and adults together. Many of these people at this event were the younger generation with hard lives and no mentors. They have a tight bond and their comradery for each other is superior, even though they compete with each other. It’s much like bow hunting without the competition!

 

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Products tested

Tue, May 15, 2012

What does a guy like me do on the off season, other than scout for deer? I test hunting products!

Lately, the UPS man has made almost daily deliveries to my testing site bringing me tons of stuff for me to test. So I’ve been testing them. I’m testing some really useful stuff this year, which makes it even more enjoyable. I’ll be posting all of them on my website of http://www.marcanthonyoutdoors.com as not to bore anyone here, but I will post some of them here for the next few weeks just to bring some of these products to your attention. I hope you find them useful!

 

 

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Is it really time to lower the poundage?

Thu, April 26, 2012

Re-posted from Marc Anthony Outdoors.

You hear it quite often, “Yeah, I pull 70 lbs.”, then an echo in the back, “I pull 80”. I think to myself, OK you’re all studs . Having said that, I did pull 70 lbs. with my bow, most of my life until the last 3 years where I dropped down to 65. It’s all about the smooth draw and not about the poundage and if I have to drop down to 55 lbs., I will if that’s what it takes. Let’s face it; 40 lbs. will kill a deer!

I never been a real speed freak when it comes to my bow. I could care less about the fastest claim on the market, as that’s mostly a gimmick anyway, but I do like enough speed to offset a deer jumping the string, if possible. With the inevitable aging comes weakness, and because I love the outdoors so much, I had to make a decision to either get in shape or to drop more poundage from my bow (and select my terrain better when hunting). After thinking about it for some time, I thought; that’s insane! How can I select better terrain if that’s where my opportunities take me? But memories of me getting back into the gym a few years ago was enough to put me into a deep depression. Oh, the suffering, the pain, the small gains for all of that work, etc! I came to the conclusion that I’ll never be 20 years old again and to just do what I can and try to make it work.

Never being a quitter, I wasn’t happy with that synopsis either. Then one day, I was talking to my son Drake as he was on his way out the door for his Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu training at the Peoria Athletic Club, stating the fact that I was contemplating a return to the gym, but wasn’t sure if I could endure all that pain for so little gain. After a brief conversation, we decided to hit the gym as a team. He explained to me that there is now more over-the-counter supplements then there was 20-30 years ago. Back then, a person either took amino acids and protein, or took steroids. I never took steroids and am glad I made that decision years ago!

Now they have supplements that practically work as well as steroids that are completely safe when used as directed and offer the same positive muscular results. What that means for the older generation is we now have a pseudo “fountain of youth”, when used in combination with weight training. Being the skeptic that I am, I shunned the idea of being scammed into buying some miracle powder that will make everything alright, but ultimately caved-in and tried some of these new supplements. Being a product tester, I guess I can now add one more to the list of tried and trued products that work!

My favorites: Creatine powder stacked with protein and L-arginine. The Creatine powder works wonders because it offers nearly immediate recovery from strained muscles when lifting. It provides water to your muscles preventing a break down and fatigue. It works so well, I now do 4 sets of nearly all upper and lower work outs in the same day! That’s a huge improvement from struggling with 3 sets of the uppers only (and with less exercises and weight). Something even more amazing is the fact that I started my new workout routine in the first week of January and have now broken every weight lifting record record from when I was in my twenties! To me, that’s amazing and uplifting! My new goal is to be in the 300 lb. club by the end of summer.

The L-arginine is an amino acid that is needed for muscle growth, as so is protein. Amino acids are found in meat BTW. These are all simple and easy to find supplements. I get mine at the local Walmart or online, whichever is the easiest for me at the time. I should mention that they recommend the creatine to be rotated every 6 weeks or so for effectiveness but also offer kre-alkalyn, which is buffered creatine with no rotation needed.

When I was growing up, people used to think that a person in his/her 50’s was a stone’s throw from the grave. Today’s 50’s is yesterday’s 30’s! There are now more people in their 50’s and 60’s who kick some royal butt, if you know what I mean! If you think not, check out YouTube for some videos caught while some old guy is puttin’ the hurtin’ on some young dude.

My point to this is two fold:

First, don’t throw the towel in just because of age! And second, if you love hunting as much as I do, get yourself in shape! With today’s supplements and some great workouts, expect to enjoy life more. If you still can’t seem to get it together, look for a workout partner. Having a partner makes a huge difference too! Working out with my 19 year old son and his friends, really keeps the pressure on me not to quit! Besides, you can’t quit in front of these guys, it would just kill your pride, and you can’t show that side EVER if you want any respect!

In summary, don’t always rush to adjust your equipment to offset your diminishing physical abilities. If you have to, by all means do it! Do what it takes to keep a smooth draw. But if you need some extra zip in your life (and aren’t just ready to give up on hunting rough ground), get back into the gym and push forward! Never quit!

If you have anything to contribute to this story for the benefit of health or strength, let’s hear it!

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