During opening day for Ohio whitetail archery 2020 season, I was super stoked and excited to get back to hunting. Just like everyone else, this is almost a national holiday for me. I remember vividly weeks prior, setting up my only treestand in a location where I knew deer would be.

The early opening morning came, woke up, and got ready to head out to hunt. When I arrived at my local public hunting grounds, I got out of the truck, gathered all my gear, turned on my flashlight, and headed straight into the woods.

Walking through the cool breeze, dense fog, and seeing your headlamp light refract off of the water molecules in the air, there is nothing like it. You know its opening day.

As I got closer to my treestand, the excitement amplified. " ITS HUNTING SEASON BABY ", my mind raced with those exact words. Your senses are heightened. You can feel the primal energy coursing through your veins. I could see my tree in the distance and was coming up on it rapidly. Nothing was going to stop me from getting to that tree.

As I got to my tree, something was off. Quickly I realized, my lifeline wasn't there. It always hangs at ground level for me to hook in. Thats how I always done it. There has never been an issue of it missing from the years prior. As I slowly looked up the tree with a twisted stomach, everything was gone. Except for one thing, my green raggedy tree tether with a rusted oval shape steel carabiner to hook in with my safety harness. 

All I did, was stand there and almost throw up. I sat there in disbelief. I wasn't comprehending what was happening. Now mind you, I have had things stolen from me and never was really bothered, but when it came to my hunting and the gear I need to hunt, it hit different. Soul crushing if you will. 

You see at the time, the reason it hurt so much was because not only did I have no money to get another stand and a lifeline, but those items were sentimental to me. Just knowing for a fact, I wasn't going to get to hunt from a tree for a while didn't sit with me well.

As I slowly walked out of the woods completely defeated, demoralized, and felt taken advantage of, I uttered a few words.

" I will never allow a fucking thief to steal my hunting equipment ever again"

• Prepared my one and only tree stand before 2020 deer opener
• Realized my stand and other gear was stolen on opening day
• Vowed I would never allow someone to steal my hunting stuff ever again

Many people know, at the current time of this blog, I run a landscaping business in central Ohio. The following year of having my equipment stolen, I have been running a landscaping business in my local community and started to really build a known service-based business. With that, comes with some money I was able to spend. 

During that summer, I was watching a bunch of Youtube videos of hunting as I normally do. Like many people do, we all get excited as hunting season starts to approach. We like to watch a bunch of YouTube of hunting tactics, shows, gear reviews, etc. Somehow, I discovered a YouTube channel called " Hunting Public ". At the time and even to this day, they have amassed a ton of popularity of their awesome storytelling, and practical tips with setups to show us all for free. 

As I was watching them, they were hunting from a thing called a hunting saddle. When I saw what a hunting saddle was capable of, I was completely blown away. Not only did this catch my attention right away, but this seemed to be the exact solution I was looking for to prevent thieves stealing my stuff. You mean to tell me; I can hunt on public land with a system that is extremely lightweight and is packable? I took the bait. Hook, line, and sinker.

As I dove headfirst into researching, I finally made up my mind exactly what I wanted to get. I wanted all American products that were a quality investment and looked nice. So, I made a call to my local outfitter store, they told me the options and headed down there that day to purchase the gear. I remember first seeing all the gear that they had, I was blown away again. I was like a little kid in a candy shop. I set my eyes on what I wanted, through everything in a cart, and went up to the register to cash out. It was a lot of money for me, so I honestly didn't take it lightly. But in my eyes, it was worth it. I wanted to hunt again that year, I needed the gear to do so, and I wanted something I can pack out with and not leave in the woods.

As I rushed home, I just couldn't wait to open up all the packaging and check out what I just got. After a painful 30 minutes of driving, I finally made it home. I rushed inside with everything I just bought, grabbed the hunting saddle box, and ripped it open. As soon as I laid my eyes on the saddle for the first time, it wasn't excitement, happiness, or bliss. It was something completely different. I saw that saddle for the first time, held it up in the air, and literally said out loud " I CAN MAKE THIS SADDLE! ".  I was kind of shocked what a saddle looked like in person, and truly believed I could replicate the same concept but make it my own with a sewing machine. But nonetheless, I fell in love. 

After that for weeks, I climbed trees with that saddle, used it for arborist tree work, practiced shooting out of it, everything you could think of, I was doing it every day. I remember vividly, one day, I wanted to see how the stitching patterns worked on one of the rope bags that came with the saddle kit I bought.

I remember inspecting the pouch, and to my disappointment, I saw the infamous tag " Made in China "

To say I was pissed was an understatement. I felt sick, robbed, lied to. I thought what I purchased was all American made hunting gear. I called the store that I purchased the gear from, and asked why the pouch had a tag saying it was made in China. They told me, only the saddle was sewn in America. They told me they didn't even know if the saddle incorporated American material, all they known was that the only piece of gear that was tied to America in some sort of way was the saddle. 

That was my breaking point, I was now dead set on making American made hunting gear.

• Discovered Saddle Hunting from YouTube
• Went out and bought my first ever saddle kit
• Found out that American made doesn't really mean American Made

I spent that year hunting with that saddle setup. I took notes on what I liked, what I didn't like, what improvements needed to be made, and how I could make a better product.

The following year, sometime in May of 2023, I purchased a home model singer sewing machine off of Amazon. Also, I bought a ton of different materials I wanted to sew with off of the internet. On June 1st of 2023, that was the day I received my first ever sewer machine and material. From that very day of getting the machine and materials, I sort of put my landscaping business on the back burner and dove headfirst into sewing. 

With a lot of frustrations, researching, and 12+ hour days everyday, I finally came up with my first ever saddle, and the rest is history.

In my eyes, American made hunting gear entails one thing. American only. That means, only American material and American Labor. If you are going to call yourself American made, that's what it should be. This also means all of your products should be American only as well.

Now I understand nuances such as buckles. You can't find certain plastic buckles made in America. There isn't anyone that makes them. If they do, they don't have the resources to mass produce on a scale that would make sense.

Also, another factor, government contracts. When the war in Ukraine kicked off, I was not able to get ahold of American made YKK zippers. I called my rep, and he said there will be a shortage due to USA paying for a contract for YKK to supply zippers for the war effort.

Other than that, we don't compromise.

What entails American Made Hunting Gear?

• American produced material
• Sewing labor in America
• Combining American materials with an American workforce to produce " American Made "

American made hunting gear is here to stay. With the many companies that are following suit, and the increase demand for it, I believe this will be a booming sector of business in the years to come. Not only does American made hunting gear make you proud when you produce it, but it also makes you proud to use the gear. It's a symbol of freedom. A symbol of true discipline and fortitude. Thats what America is all about. 

It connects people in a way that isn't possible with overseas manufacturing. I'm not saying overseas manufacturing is bad, but you are proud when the American people are a part of something great 100% of the time.

• American made hunting gear is here to stay
• A growing sector in business
• American manufacturing connects people in a way overseas manufacturing can't

This story is one of the coolest stories I get to tell. It is amazing what has led up to us creating BullPath, why we created it, and how it was done. A lot of knowledge and lessons were learned along the way, and how quickly our mindset has changed once we learned the ins and outs of manufacturing. We are still working to learn as much as we can and trying our best to produce the best American made hunting gear possible.

The best part is, I've totally accepted the fact that I want to devote the rest of my life not only creating the best American made hunting gear, but keep building what has been built, and to pass on the knowledge later on in life.

The coolest part of this story is learning what American made hunting gear is, what American made truly means, how American Only porduced is the way forward, and how it connects all of us here back at home. 

If you have found any value in this story, all I ask is to share it. Thank you.