Arizona Wanderings: A Year in Review…

I usually stay away from the introspective look at my blog and stay pretty focused on the hunting and fishing here in Arizona, but it is the season to take a peak at what has been accomplished in 2011.

1. The Arizona Wanderings Shop – With the help of my brother, I was able to launch The Arizona Wanderings Shop and it has been amazing to watch support grow for my hand tied flies, AZW shirts, and my quail hunting e-book. A big thank you to everyone who has purchased gear from the shop and for all of the great reviews and kind words.

2. The Quail Hunting Forum – With a passion for hunting quail, I spent a good amount of time perusing the already established upland forums on the internet and found that most bird hunting sites put most of their focus on pheasants and chukar and generally leave the scraps to the quail hunting guys. In order to change that, I again teamed up with my brother to start the Quail Hunting Forum and give these birds the respect they are due. The response in this first season has been great and the discussions have ranged from firearms to dogs to weekly reports throughout the season. I am really excited to see this resource grow and connect quail hunters across the country.

3. Hunting Gambel’s Quail: A Beginner’s Guide to Hunting Southwestern Birds – In the off season, I wrote a 29 page ebook on the basics of hunting Gambel’s quail. In this book I cover all the essential information that a brand new hunter will need to know before heading into the field to chase these beautiful birds. The ebook has had a great reception with a couple of quality reviews written about it, and for its sale price of 5.99, it’s a steal.
4. The Backcountry Journal – The concept behind The Backcountry Journal is to showcase the written work of new and seasoned outdoor writers. Aside from the established periodicals, there did not seem to be too much in the way of an artistic literary outlet for authors who were just trying to get their foot in the door.

I will say a general thank you to the many people who have supported Arizona Wanderings through word and in deed such as MegaPath (https://www.megapath.com/megapath-reviews/) who has saved me from technical failures in my business, but there are four people who have been instrumental in supporting my humble efforts here at Arizona Wanderings.

The first person I would like to thank is my my brother Joel, from JSumner Designs, who patiently and graciously takes my frantic phone calls and emails and can fix just about any mess I get myself into on the web. He is responsible for the building of the different sites, forums, and storefronts and it never ceases to amaze me to watch his talent grow. The second person is Eric Davis of Hooked Up Films. Eric came down Thanksgiving of 2010 and really encouraged me to start doing something with Arizona Wanderings, and he has been a good friend and mentor ever since. Third, my good friend and fishing partner, Jason Jones has a real talent for design and has helped me out with logos for the different projects I have been working on. Finally, the most important person in my corner is my beautiful wife, who seeks to understand my love for the outdoors. Michelle is always my number one fan and at the same time has a compassionate way of letting me know when I’m straying off course.

Many thanks to all my readers and followers and may 2012 find you breathing the fresh air of the outdoors.