This picture was taken in 2013, opening morning of Montana Archery Season which was, mine and Chris¹s second western archery hunt as a team.  When I see this picture, I vividly remember the ascent that took place prior to it being taken.  I was in my early 40¹s, Chris in his mid 30¹s and for some reason that ascent seemed a lot shorter then, than it does today.

What also is vivid in my memory was, though humble at best, our vision for Montana Dropped Ink and the Brotherhood.

At the time of this picture, Chris and I had about a year of bouncing ideas back and forth regarding the direction of Montana Dropped Ink.

Though not refined yet, our vision was clear, we wanted to, in some way to share our hunting experiences with others.  We wanted a way for our wins and losses afield with regards to the game we hunted, the areas we hunted, the gear we used and most importantly the monies we spent help other outdoorsmen and women better their hunting experiences and possibly help them save monies.

In addition we both had a vision for the future of hunting in general.

Where would it be in 20 or 30 years from now?  Based on the information we both had found the percentage of new hunters was declining as was the percentage of ³old hunters².  In short as the older generation was getting too long in the tooth to go afield anymore the new generations were not stepping up in numbers to fill the loss and, we new, for the future of these sports and our public lands in general we had to find a way to get the youth of today involved and passionate about the true meaning of it all.

Lastly but certainly not least we felt compelled to give back to those who have served our country but, as aforementioned at this time the vision was not quite clear as to how.  Little did we know that in the next couple years it would all become clear to us.