Editor’s Note: Trent Cole has been playing outside linebacker and defensive end for the Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team for the past 9 years, after attending the University of Cincinnati. In 2014, Cole starts his tenth season with the Eagles. Cole also has a TV show called “Blitz TV.” When the defensive coach calls for a blitz, and the linebackers charge the offensive line of the opposing team, they have only one thought in their minds to, “Sack the quarterback.” When Cole is producing a show for “Blitz TV,” he’s on the same type of mission and has the same enthusiasm and determination as he has when he’s trying to blitz a quarterback. But instead of wearing his Philadelphia Eagles uniform on “Blitz TV,” he’s wearing his outdoor uniform – Mossy Oak camouflage.
I started playing football in the third grade, so I have played football and hunted all my life. I’m often asked, “Trent, how do you play football, go hunting and have an outdoor TV show?” Football takes up an awful lot of time. If you’re going to have time for other interests, you have to balance your time between all your activities. However, I’m not only a professional football player. I am a professional hunter too, and I take both sports very seriously. As a professional football player in the NFL, football requires my best 365 days per year. As a professional hunter, hunting takes up 365 days per year also. So, when I am not playing football, I want to be in the outdoors. I love being in the outdoors and enjoying what God has given us – the woods, the waters, the mountains and the valleys.
When I’m asked to tell about my favorite hunt, I am at a loss for words, because every hunt has been memorable. I have enjoyed every hunt, and classifying one as my favorite hunt is hard. I have taken bear, whitetails and turkeys. The one animal that I want to harvest with my bow is an elk. I love to watch elk hunting shows on television. There are so many similarities between elk hunting and turkey hunting. I think this is one of the reasons I really want to take an elk with my bow. Both the elk and the turkey require the hunter to locate them, either by calling to them, and then hearing the turkey gobble or the elk bugle. Next you have to use your woodsmanship to get close to them. Finally, you have to call them to within bow range. In both football and hunting, I like challenges. Often, just getting to a place where you can call an elk can be a challenge. As I’ve said earlier, I like to camp as well as hunt. I would really like to go on an elk hunt where I could hike, pack in, set-up camp and then try to find an elk.
For more information on Trent Cole and “Blitz TV,” go to www.coleoutdoors.com.
Trent Cole of the Philadelphia Eagles Discusses the 2014 Super Bowl, Bowhunting and Mossy Oak
