I’m not a gear influencer. I’m just a guy from Southeast Minnesota who’s been in the field long enough to know what actually holds up.
My name is Jake Calloway. I grew up in the bluff country of SE Minnesota, the kind of place where you’re either hunting, fishing, or thinking about hunting and fishing. I shot my first whitetail in a hardwood draw off a ridgeline I could walk to from my back door. I caught my first wild brown trout on a Driftless spring creek when I was young enough that I didn’t know how special that place was yet. I know now.
I’ve been deer hunting these hills and coulees for over 15 years. I’ve been wading Driftless Area streams, the Root River system, the Whitewater, the spring creeks out of Preston and Rushford, for just as long. I ice fish when the ice is right, duck hunt when the migration moves through, and I have strong opinions about work boots that most people would probably find excessive.
MidwestOutdoorLife.com exists because I got tired of reading gear recommendations written by people who clearly never used the gear, or if they did, they used it somewhere that has nothing to do with where I live and hunt and fish.
What This Site Is
This is a gear recommendation site for Midwest outdoorsmen. Specifically the kind who:
- Hunt whitetails in the timber and corn country of the Upper Midwest, not the wide-open lodges you see on TV
- Fish the Driftless, spring creeks, limestone streams, wild trout that spook easy and water you have to earn access to
- Work outside or spend enough time outside that their gear gets genuinely tested, not just worn on a weekend
- Buy one good thing instead of five cheap things, and expect it to last
I write about boots, waders, fishing rods, trail cameras, rifle scopes, and everything else that ends up on your body or in your hands when you’re out there. I try to be straight about what’s worth the money and what isn’t.
On Affiliate Links
MidwestOutdoorLife.com earns a small commission when you buy through links on this site, at no added cost to you. That’s how the lights stay on.
This does not change what I recommend. I’ve written negative things about products that have affiliate programs and recommended products that don’t. The only question I ask when I’m writing is: would I tell a buddy to buy this? If the answer is no, I won’t recommend it regardless of what it pays.
Every article on this site includes a disclosure when affiliate links are present. That’s not just a legal requirement, it’s basic honesty, and I think you deserve to know how this works.
Why Southeast Minnesota Specifically
There’s a lot of outdoor content on the internet. Almost none of it is written for where I live.
The Driftless Area is one of the most unique landscapes in North America, unglaciated limestone hill country, cold spring creeks, wild trout in a state most people associate with walleye and bass. The whitetail hunting in SE Minnesota is underrated. What works in Kansas or Georgia or the Pacific Northwest doesn’t always translate.
I write for the guy who hunts public land in the bluffs, wades a stream that’s 38 degrees in May, and needs boots that will survive both.
That’s a specific person. If that’s you, you’re in the right place.
Get In Touch
I read every email. I don’t always respond fast, especially in October and November, but I do get back to people.
If you have a question about gear, a recommendation request, a correction on something I got wrong, or just want to talk about the Driftless, reach out.
Jake Calloway is the founder and primary writer at MidwestOutdoorLife.com. All opinions are his own. Affiliate disclosure: This site earns commissions from qualifying purchases through affiliate links. See our full [Affiliate Disclosure] for details.