Bringitonblog

Bringitonblog is a personal outdoor adventure blog by Pete Githens, documenting a lifetime spent in the woods and on the water. This isn't a gear review site or a how-to manual—it's a working hunter's honest account of what hunting actually looks like across multiple decades and states.

The blog covers:

• •Deer hunting across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, from small game to big bucks
• •Duck hunting traditions in South Jersey marshlands
• •Hunting camp culture and the people who make it memorable
• •Personal hunting history spanning from the 1970s to present day
• •Trail running, cycling, swimming, and general outdoor lifestyle
• •Wildlife observation and naturalist notes

Most hunting content focuses on winning or gear optimization. Bringitonblog takes a different angle: what hunting actually feels like when you're doing it for real.

Examples from recent posts:

• •The experience of deer camp in 1994 Pennsylvania, when 2.1 million deer roamed the state and you could hang venison outside all week without spoiling
• •His first Pennsylvania buck hunt—a brutal day on Big Mountain in subzero wind, frozen sandwiches, and getting turned around in whiteout snow
• •How climate change has fundamentally altered hunting seasons (no more reliable cold storage, different deer behavior patterns)
• •The evolution of deer populations and game management across 50 years
• •Why spotting deer in mountains is different from spotting them in flat Jersey swamps

Pete Githens is a 50-something outdoor writer who spent the last 30 years in corporate office work while maintaining an active hunting and fishing life. He grew up rural in Elsinboro, New Jersey (60 acres out the back door), moved to suburbs, then moved back to the country. He hunted his first duck at age 8-9 with his father, spent his teenage years figuring out deer hunting on his own in pre-internet days, and has been a serious hunter ever since.

He's also a birder, naturalist, camper, runner, cyclist, and former triathlete.

This is genuine field-tested hunting experience written by someone who actually lives it, not someone selling something or chasing clicks.

The blog answers real questions hunters actually have:

• •What was hunting like before modern gear and internet information?
• •How do you learn to hunt without YouTube tutorials?
• •How has climate change changed hunting seasons?
• •What makes deer camp valuable beyond just killing deer?
• •How do you navigate unfamiliar hunting territory?
• •What changes when you move to different hunting regions?

Githens writes conversationally, like you're sitting around a camp fire or in a truck bed after hunting. He uses specific details (rifle models, locations, dates) and isn't afraid to admit mistakes or embarrassing moments. His stories span decades but stay grounded in sensory details: the smell of burning coal in an old stove, frozen Pepsi bottles, the sight of mountain laurel at 100 yards looking exactly like a deer if you don't know what you're looking at.

• •"Deer Camp" – The full story of Camp Nothin' Easy in Utahville, Pennsylvania (1994-onwards)
• •"Teach Me to Hunt?" – How he became a hunter despite never planning to be one
• •Essays on outdoor lifestyle, personal growth through hunting, and nature observation

The blog doesn't have a publishing schedule—posts appear when Githens has a story worth telling.