About me - Self Profile

You know a little about me so far from my profile and this blog.  I mentioned in a previous post that I didn't grow up with hunting nor did I ever imagine that I'd be blogging about it on the internet.  But hunting isn't my only interest.  My true love is technology.

I've grown up with technology my entire life.  The first experience with technology that I can remember is when I was 2yrs old (1982) and playing my Aunt and Uncles Atari 2600.  From that point I was hooked.



When I was 5 years old my dad bought me my first computer from Radio Shack.  It was a Tandy Color Computer 2 and I used it to play games and write programs in BASIC out of the book.  How many 5 year olds are programming even today?  None that I know of.  I literally grew up geek.  And my computer was rocking with 64K memory.  By today's standard you could barely open up one program on 64K memory.  By comparison most computers come with ~4,000,000K today and the next default is going to be 8 million K.



The CoCo 2 really set me on the path.  Throughout elementary, middle, and high school I was always involved with anything computers.  If the computers at school broke, you didn't call Josten's (the consultant at the time) you asked Brett to stop by after school.

Technology evolved into a career for me as well.  My first job at age 15 was providing computer support at Yale New Haven Hospital.  From there I moved to New Haven Savings Bank which became New Alliance, which is now First Niagra.  Some of the systems I worked on there over 11 years ago are still in place.  After studying at UConn I landed a job as an Onsite Systems Engineer for Dell, and finally 5 years ago moved back to UConn to work as a System Admin and Project Lead in the Procurement Department.

If you were to search for me on Google or Bing and cross-reference me with Dell or UConn you'd find a lot of information related to some of the committees and projects that I've worked on.  The most common hit being my involvement in the SLG, or Software Licensing Group, at UConn.  You know all those Dell computers you see on campus, or all that software that students get for free (like Symantec Antivirus) or near free???  SLG is responsible for that.  In fact I've been of the opinion that SLG has probably been one of the most successful and influential committees at UConn.

Some of the other hits you'll see are my involvement:

• In the Univ of CT Professional Employees Association (UCPEA).  That's the union for all the professional staff at UConn.
• The development of the ATA Tool.  A system we use for delegating signature authority for financial transactions at UConn.
• The Technology Implementers Group (TIG) - A group of IT people from all over UConn that get together on a monthly basis to discuss tech topics affecting the University, and to showcase IT projects that we've implemented that have benefited our individual areas

My life isn't 100% tech and hunting though.  I also find time for my lovely wife and 3 cats which demand attention.  My wife is actually jealous that I'm able to go to school.  She loves school and wants to go back and get a second masters.  I think I'm okay with doing the part time thing for now.  The cats could care less. :-)

Other than that I try to find time to hang out with friends, watch football, and kick back and have a few beers.   I ski in the winter, hike and fish in the summer/fall and overall really just love life experiences. I love to cook and try new flavors.  I also love to travel, most recently visiting Greece, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Malta, and Sicily.  Spain and Japan are next on the list of places I want to go, but I guess I'll have to settle for exotic locations like Baltimore, MD around Thanksgiving.  

Atop Alta Mtn in Salt Lake City, UT

Inside the Roman Colosseum

It's getting dark early

As a hunter one of the things you really have to watch are the sunrise and sunset times.  In CT legal hunting hours are from 1/2 hour before sunrise to sunset.  I noticed today, when I ran out of time to mow my lawn, that it really has started to get dark much earlier than normal.  A week from last Saturday I was out and "legal hours" ended at 7:00.  Now we're down to sunset being at 6:30.  Once we return to standard time we'll "fall back" another hour and sunset will be closer to 5:30 and slowing rolling back even further until we'll all be getting out of work when its dark.  Kind of depressing, but with the earlier hours comes colder temperatures.  And that means more opportunity for whitetail...and skiing if you're into that.  I guess some conflicts are a good thing.

A new season - whitetail 2011

Archery Season, that's bow and arrow for all you city slickers, has been open for a little over a week and a half and it's already been an eventful year.  Prior to the opening of the season I spend a few days here and there scouting the areas that I commonly hunt for any sign of deer in the area.  Scouting for deer is one of those skills that you really develop over time.  This being only my 4th season, I'm still honing in my skills.  Typically when scouting you go out and look for things like tracks, droppings, rubs, and anything else that would let you know a whitetail is in the area.  Because the deer aren't under any pressure (predators or hunters) during the summertime they typically keep to the same routine and stick to familar bedding and feeding areas.  This means that to really be successful during the early archery season you have to be right on the deer.  You need to know where they're eating and sleeping so you can be prepared for them.

Much to my surprise, there has been a lot of deer activity in the areas that I frequent.  Not only did I see lots of sign, but I had a few deer sightings as well.  I was careful though not to let them know I'm there.  Instead I sat back and watched their actions, see where they liked to enter and exit the area, and noted them on my iPhone.

The iPhone has been quite handy in hunting whitetail.  I use an app called GPSKit which lets me drop pins on a google map which mark things like spots I think would be good for a treestand, or places that I noticed a large rub or scrape.  In addition, this app has helped guide me in pitch black, right to the tree I wanted to climb, and just recently out of the woods after tracking a deer into unfamilar territory.  I highly recommend it or something similar if you have a smartphone and plan on hunting.  Maps and compasses are great, but when you're lost and in pitch black conditions, you want to find your way out quick.

After scouting for a few days I selected some areas that would be good for potential treestands.  Because I hunt on State property, I use a climbing stand which I carry in with me every time.  Some people like to put stands out in the woods and leave them there, but I can't see spending $75 on something that might get stolen if discovered.  The climber also affords some other benefits which I like.  1. I can climb a tree as high as I like as long as the tree doesn't have any branches in the way.  The higher you are the less likely the deer will smell you (Typically the first and only thing they need to do to take off).  2nd.  Call it A-D-D, but I like variety and the climber gives me just that.  If I'm out in a location all morning long, sometimes I'll decide to switch it up a bit.  With the climber, I just climb down, find another location, and climb back up.  The climber I use is the Summit Viper Ultra which I bought at Cabelas.  The only disadvantage with the climber is the fact that it weighs 23lbs and you have to carry it in along with all your other gear.

Speaking of gear, I have a lot of it and it seems like I grow my collection every year.  There are two kinds of hunters.  Ones that use a very small set of gear and that's how they've been doing it for years.  And others that have every kind of gadget you can think of.  I'd like to say I'm in the first group, but I've been mostly in the second lately.  I've got headlamps, deer calls, deer scents and all other types of things.  But really the key when you have all this stuff is using it properly, and not using it in excess which I'll sure I'll discuss in a later post.

Wrapping up....I've got a lot of hunting in this year and the season has already started.  I went out opening weekend, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Sept. 15th - 17th.  And I've already gotten some good looks at some whitetail.  This weekend was supposed to be a rainout, but mother nature decided to cooperate, unfortunately I made up my mind that I wasn't going to go out so I didn't prepare.  I don't think I missed out on anything however.  It was really hot and humid out and deer are mammals just like us.  And if you were outside in the heat you would probably not do much but sit in the shade and keep cool.  If the deer aren't moving around, it's not really conducive to hunting anyway.