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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide

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Speaker 1: to the fundamentals better dear hunting, presented by first Light,

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Speaker 1: creating proven versatile hunting apparel through the stand Saddler Blind,

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Speaker 1: First Light, Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host

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Speaker 1: Tony Peterson. Hey, everyone, welcome to the Wire to Hunt

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Speaker 1: Foundations podcast, which has brought to you by First Light.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tony Peterson, and today I'm going to

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Speaker 1: talk about shed hunting in a way that will make

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Speaker 1: you a better deer hunter. I'm convinced a lot of

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Speaker 1: us look at hunting kind of I don't know, all wrong.

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Speaker 1: Maybe that's too harsh, but lately it has occurred to

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Speaker 1: me that most things that are difficult, they're just also

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Speaker 1: worth it, but they require a long game approach. This

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Speaker 1: is because we want to be successful at these tacks

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Speaker 1: and that means we need to get better at them.

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Speaker 1: And that holds true for deer hunting in so many ways.

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Speaker 1: One way that we don't really often talk about involves

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Speaker 1: shed hunting. And even if you don't I don't care

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Speaker 1: about putting on the miles in February to find a

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Speaker 1: match set, you should listen. I might be able to

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Speaker 1: change your perspective on this offseason pursuit. I don't like

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Speaker 1: super independent dogs. You know what scratch that I like

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Speaker 1: most dogs as a general rule. What I mean when

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Speaker 1: I say I don't like super independent dogs is that

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Speaker 1: I want my dogs to team up with me and

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Speaker 1: to know it. If that's super unclear, I apologize. The

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Speaker 1: thing is, you know there are dog breeds out there,

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Speaker 1: and certainly individual dogs that work for themselves. This is

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Speaker 1: pretty common in the pointer world. And you know before

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Speaker 1: you fire off angry emails about how do English pointers

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Speaker 1: or gsps are the best dogs ever and flushing dogs

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Speaker 1: are stupid for losers, hear me out. I'm not saying

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Speaker 1: what you should look for in a dog. I'm saying

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Speaker 1: what I like in dogs, and you and I sometimes

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Speaker 1: the listeners forget this. We have different tastes, different standards.

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Speaker 1: I live in grouse and pheasant country. You might live

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Speaker 1: in quail country, or you might live out west where

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Speaker 1: the prairie birds dominate. You might need a dog that

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Speaker 1: ranges four yards out and points cuveies for you. I don't.

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Speaker 1: I like dogs that stay close, dogs that check back

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Speaker 1: often and learn to understand that teamwork, dynamic It's honestly

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Speaker 1: one of my favorite things in the world. And it's

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Speaker 1: easy to think that dogs like well bred labs just

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Speaker 1: know how to do that. They don't. They learn. It

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Speaker 1: starts with pups and socialization. It starts with encouraging eye

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Speaker 1: contact through little training sessions, starts with developing verbal commands

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Speaker 1: and then hand signals. Eventually, it takes so many small

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Speaker 1: lessons in the parks, you know, in the CRP fields,

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Speaker 1: in varying environments. It takes a young lab running off

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Speaker 1: to sniff pheasants a hundred yards from the shotgun and

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Speaker 1: then figuring out it's all alone and that its owner

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Speaker 1: has turned degrees is walking away. It takes patience, a

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Speaker 1: constant eye to the wind direction. Honestly, it just takes

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Speaker 1: a lot of work, but it's so worth it. It's

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Speaker 1: worth it, especially when you have a prime age dog

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Speaker 1: that you don't have to use an e color on,

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Speaker 1: one that you don't need to command hardly at all

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Speaker 1: in the field. When you have that dog, one that

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Speaker 1: understands you're working together and understands what needs to happen

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Speaker 1: for that to occur, it's a beautiful thing. But as

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Speaker 1: I said, it takes a lot of time. You know,

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Speaker 1: actually it really doesn't. Instead, it takes a daily commitment

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Speaker 1: of small amounts of time for like two years, and

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Speaker 1: then after that it's often pretty easy, pretty damn fun.

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Speaker 1: At the start, with a little eight week old pop,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't even seem possible yet that it can certainly

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Speaker 1: come to be where this relationship happens. But over time

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Speaker 1: and through those dreadful teenage years, the positives will develop

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Speaker 1: and you'll start to see so many reasons to be

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Speaker 1: excited for that October pheasant opener. It's just a matter

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Speaker 1: of sticking to it and seeing the whole thing through

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Speaker 1: until it comes together. And you know what else is

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Speaker 1: like that golf? Just kidding, it's deer hunting. Well, actually

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Speaker 1: it's probably golf too, but my experience in that realm

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Speaker 1: is limited, almost entirely too mini golf, and not even

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Speaker 1: very good at that anyway. Getting better at deer hunting

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Speaker 1: takes a long game approach. This is something I've harped

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Speaker 1: on a million times, but that's honestly kind of a

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Speaker 1: throwaway statement. Like no ship, it takes time and energy

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Speaker 1: and dedication, but we often look at that as something

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Speaker 1: that is sol lee tied to scouting or specific hunting techniques,

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Speaker 1: and I think this is really a many armed thing,

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Speaker 1: and one of those arms should involve shed hunting. Now

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Speaker 1: here's the thing, this topic kind of sucks. We know

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Speaker 1: all the rules for shed hunting. You go out, check

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Speaker 1: the food sources, check every fence crossing, and walk the

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Speaker 1: pounded trails and blah blah blah. I shouldn't say that

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Speaker 1: good advice on finding sheds is worth paying attention to

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Speaker 1: because it's pretty fun to find some antlers. They can

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Speaker 1: provide valuable insights into dear behavior too. The thing about

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Speaker 1: information around a pursuit like shed hunting is that our

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Speaker 1: attention spans requires straight to the bullet point types of content.

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Speaker 1: You know, those top three spots to find a shed,

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Speaker 1: the one shed hunting method no one is talking about,

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Speaker 1: but they will be why you suck at finding sheds? Hell,

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Speaker 1: I've written every one of those articles twelve times in

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Speaker 1: my life. If your goal is to walk into the

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Speaker 1: woods without antlers and come back to your truck with antlers,

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Speaker 1: then those articles that information. It's relevant. But we should

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Speaker 1: maybe be looking at shed hunting in a different way

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Speaker 1: if we want to use it to become better as

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Speaker 1: deer hunters. For starters, there really is no such thing

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Speaker 1: as a shed hunt that isn't at least partially a

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Speaker 1: winter scouting session. I believe that even if you shed

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Speaker 1: hunt a place where you could never actually deer hunt. Now,

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Speaker 1: there might seem to be a little disconnect there, but

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Speaker 1: I'm going to dive deep, deep, deep into that topic

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Speaker 1: in the next couple of weeks. So I'll just say this,

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Speaker 1: If you're out there learning about the land, you're winning

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Speaker 1: as a deer hunter. I don't care if that land

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Speaker 1: is land you can hunt all day long or land

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Speaker 1: that you'll never ever hunt. Learning the land it's possibly

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Speaker 1: the biggest step to becoming a stone cold big buck killer.

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Speaker 1: That's a huge bonus, but not the only good reason

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Speaker 1: to shed hunt. I think we need to condition our

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Speaker 1: elves to the long game approach, and shed hunting provides

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Speaker 1: a unique opportunity for that. That might sound crazy, think

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Speaker 1: about it this way. How are any of us ever

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Speaker 1: going to develop the skills to be patient and disciplined

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Speaker 1: over long term unless we commit ourselves to being patient

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Speaker 1: and disciplined over something. And while there are plenty of

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Speaker 1: things in life that are worth it that require boatloads

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Speaker 1: of patients, and I don't know the discipline of a monk.

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Speaker 1: Those things aren't much fun. Right now, I'm trying not

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Speaker 1: to eat sugar, well not right now because I'm recording

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Speaker 1: a podcast, but in my life I'm trying to get

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Speaker 1: rid of most of the junk food. On paper, this

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Speaker 1: should be a breeze for a fellow like me. I'm

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Speaker 1: actually pretty disciplined in a lot of things in life. Hunting, fishing, exercise,

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Speaker 1: stuff like that. Diet should be easy for me, but

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Speaker 1: it's not. It's easier for me to run a thousand

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Speaker 1: miles in a year than it is to give up

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Speaker 1: Reese's peanut butter cups for a few weeks. How is

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Speaker 1: that from messed up? And where I'm really going with

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Speaker 1: this is that we need to commit to real sacrifice

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Speaker 1: to change for the better. One way to do that

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Speaker 1: is to take something that is a mix of fun

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Speaker 1: and work and start there. Something like, oh, I don't know, golf,

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Speaker 1: just kidding, it's shed hunting. I promise that's the last

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Speaker 1: time I'll make that golf joke. Here's how I think

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Speaker 1: looking at shed hunting and going through the winter months

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Speaker 1: as an active shed hunter can help you master long

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Speaker 1: game approaches to other aspects of life and deer hunting.

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Speaker 1: But first I kind of just want to break it down.

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Speaker 1: You have your surface level goal, which is not surprisingly

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Speaker 1: go find smantlers. Without that, it's just a winner scouting

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Speaker 1: mission or just a hike. And that's great, but not

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Speaker 1: what we're talking about. You have shed hunts right now

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Speaker 1: and might be dealing with I don't know, thirty or

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Speaker 1: forty inches of snow. You might be dealing with laid

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Speaker 1: off construction workers walking every trail in the best spot

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Speaker 1: to shed hunt. You might not be serious about shed hunting,

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Speaker 1: so you think maybe you'll go up for a few

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Speaker 1: hours on a Saturday, and that's good enough. What I

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Speaker 1: like to do instead is find as many spots as

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Speaker 1: possible to shed hunt that might have a shed. Now.

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Speaker 1: I have low standards for shed hunting because I just

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Speaker 1: don't have any banging spots where it'll be easy. I

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Speaker 1: know it's gonna average me probably a couple of weeks

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Speaker 1: per shed, but I'm okay with that. I like the

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Speaker 1: idea that as long as I put in the work,

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Speaker 1: I'll find a few. But it's not about just finding antlers.

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Speaker 1: It's about thinking about how you'll put yourself in the

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Speaker 1: best position to find antlers every time you go from

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Speaker 1: now until the time the turkeys are gobbling and the

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Speaker 1: moral start popping. I do this by first just thinking

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Speaker 1: about the conditions where I live here. You know, just

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Speaker 1: south of what feels like the Arctic. Snow is a

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Speaker 1: huge factor, and we've had a lot of snow for

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Speaker 1: months now, and I know there are a ton of

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Speaker 1: antlers out there that are waiting patiently under a foot

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Speaker 1: of power or for me to find them. I also

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Speaker 1: know that my efforts now won't be as productive as

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Speaker 1: March will be, but that my less successful shed hunts

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Speaker 1: now will produce more successful shed hunts when the snow

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Speaker 1: starts to melt. This is where it starts to get

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Speaker 1: a little more like actual hunting. My friends, now, it's different.

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Speaker 1: If you live down south, you don't have to deal

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Speaker 1: with snow, so I want to acknowledge that. But the

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Speaker 1: truth is, in either case, you're kind of teasing your

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Speaker 1: way up to the big drop, which often happens in February,

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Speaker 1: often late February. At some point. If you walk out

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Speaker 1: right now to shed hunt, the goal is to look

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Speaker 1: for sheds, but start to key in on deer concentrations,

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Speaker 1: those spots where you might find an antler now, but

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Speaker 1: we'll probably find one later. This is kind of like

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Speaker 1: hunting during the October lull and spotting a good buck

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Speaker 1: staging deep in a creek bottom. He might be pretty

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Speaker 1: tough to get close to now, but you have some

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Speaker 1: intel to work with when Halloween gets a little close, sir,

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Speaker 1: and he might grow a little more careless or moving

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Speaker 1: a little earlier. So you didn't shoot him, but you

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Speaker 1: saw him. That's a huge wind walking through I don't know,

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Speaker 1: five or six miles of winter woods to find a

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Speaker 1: shed that you don't find. That's a win too if

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Speaker 1: you're paying attention, because you can ask yourself where are

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Speaker 1: the deer concentrations and you're gonna start to find them,

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Speaker 1: But then you can say, why are the deer concentrations

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Speaker 1: where they are now? This is something that I love

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Speaker 1: about shed hunting. It shows me where deer are right now.

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Speaker 1: Then I get to decide the why behind it, and

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Speaker 1: I get it. Sometimes it's simple. Sometimes they are betted

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Speaker 1: right off of the pitcorn field and they're in survival

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Speaker 1: mode on private ground. But sometimes they are tucked away

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Speaker 1: in a cattail slu on public where the north wind

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Speaker 1: can't really reach them. Finding that concentration, whether there's a

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Speaker 1: pile of antlers there or not, is a win. Sometimes

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Speaker 1: when you're shed hunting, you find a pounded trail that

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Speaker 1: a low spot in the CRP field. Now ask yourself

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Speaker 1: why they are and not right up on top that

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Speaker 1: should be obvious. But if it's not, they're staying out

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Speaker 1: of view. They do this a lot, and it's a

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Speaker 1: trait that you can exploit. While you're shed hunting and

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Speaker 1: maybe finding sheds, you should also be thinking about these

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Speaker 1: concentrations and how that might tie into your fall hunting,

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Speaker 1: but also how's it going to tie into your later

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Speaker 1: shed hunts. I kind of think of this in terms

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Speaker 1: of routes. If I walked a certain spot or a

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Speaker 1: ridge top, a trail and a swamp today, I'm probably

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Speaker 1: not gonna walk it next week. I'm going to alter

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Speaker 1: my travels to cover new ground. But that short term thinking,

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Speaker 1: if the beds are there, or the sign of some

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Speaker 1: sort is there, I'll put it in the later pile.

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Speaker 1: I know I'm coming back because even though certain spots

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Speaker 1: should have some antlers now they might not. But I'm

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Speaker 1: betting they will later, and I want to know if

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Speaker 1: I'm right or if I'm wrong. It's also important to

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Speaker 1: pay attentions to the patterns of behavior. What if you

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Speaker 1: have a few spots you like to shed hunt, and

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Speaker 1: while they are pretty different on paper, when you're out

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Speaker 1: there you realize that the deer seemed to I'll be

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Speaker 1: betting on certain hillsides that catch some real mid day sun.

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Speaker 1: That means when the shed hunting should be really good,

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Speaker 1: you have an entire pattern to work with, regardless of

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Speaker 1: the individual spots you shed hunt. Recognizing patterns to dear

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Speaker 1: behavior that transcends specific locations is one of the things

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Speaker 1: that separates the deer killers from the deer watchers. It

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Speaker 1: is so important, and you can work that muscle right

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Speaker 1: now while looking for a few antlers, and you should

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Speaker 1: or another way to look at this to say, you

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Speaker 1: have about I don't know, two months of shed hunting left.

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Speaker 1: If you shed hunt once a week, that's eight times

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Speaker 1: to get in the woods and learn about where the

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Speaker 1: deer are and the antler should be. That's also a

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Speaker 1: good amount of time to learn that any given shed

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Speaker 1: hunt isn't as important as what you put in for

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Speaker 1: the whole shed season. So you go out and you

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Speaker 1: blank today, big deal. Maybe you found a spot where

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Speaker 1: a bunch of here betting and a bunch of shed

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Speaker 1: hunters aren't walking. That's a win. It'll pay off at

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Speaker 1: some point, even if it's way after St. Patty's Day,

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Speaker 1: before you see that sweet sweet sight of times poking

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Speaker 1: up through the snow or last falls leaf litter. Maybe

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Speaker 1: you'll blank the first five times you go, but then

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Speaker 1: you find one. Sounds a little bit like actual hunting,

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Speaker 1: doesn't it. And what makes it even more so is

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Speaker 1: if you develop a plan to make the season worthwhile

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Speaker 1: in a cumulative way, where every trip into the woods

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Speaker 1: is a learning experience that should feed the greater task

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Speaker 1: of picking up some extra decorations for the old man

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Speaker 1: cave or the she shed. Are you starting to see

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Speaker 1: the implications of a long game approach here? I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure it's fun to go into some killer property

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Speaker 1: and find a bunch of antlers, but does that really

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Speaker 1: make you a better deer hunter? Maybe? But I know

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Speaker 1: that shed hunting for several weeks, while paying attention to

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Speaker 1: the conditions and factoring in what should be good today

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Speaker 1: or what should be good in a month is a

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Speaker 1: better bet for leveling up at the whole white tail thing.

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Speaker 1: Of course, you have to be aware of that overarching goal,

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Speaker 1: you know, because it's pretty easy to walk the same

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Speaker 1: trails and glass the same fields and fall into predictable

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Speaker 1: routines that yield predictable results, which again sounds a little

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Speaker 1: like the funk a lot of us deal with in

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Speaker 1: our regular deer season. Break out of those habits. Condition

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Speaker 1: yourself to break out of those habits and think about

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Speaker 1: this stuff not as an immediate return on your investment today,

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Speaker 1: but an attempt to build the real wealth that is

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Speaker 1: a lot of deer knowledge over a longer time frame,

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Speaker 1: and also find as men places is possible to shed hunt.

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Speaker 1: Like I said in the beginning, doesn't matter if you

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Speaker 1: can actually deer hunt there or not. The effort to

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Speaker 1: find spots will sharpen that a bit, which doesn't hurt

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Speaker 1: in the fall, and it will expose you to different environments,

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Speaker 1: different places to think about your approach and to plan

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Speaker 1: around what the deer doing now and what they'll be

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Speaker 1: doing for several weeks. Lastly, there's one more thing that

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Speaker 1: you should try to become a better deer hunter that

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Speaker 1: is still possible in shed season Gulf. I know, I'm sorry.

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Speaker 1: I can't help myself. If you feel bad for my

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Speaker 1: wife and the limited amount of friends I have, I

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Speaker 1: get it. Those feelings are definitely grounded in reality. Play

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Speaker 1: the long game, my friends, think about shed hunting not

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Speaker 1: solely as an act to find some antlers, but as

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Speaker 1: a pursuit that can take you through a couple of

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Speaker 1: months of the off season, which can help you hone

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Speaker 1: your skills when it comes to life's tasks. That might

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Speaker 1: include everything from arrowing a public land but uck to

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Speaker 1: not eating an entire bag of Twizzlers in a single

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Speaker 1: sitting just because you have the appetite and self control

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Speaker 1: of a toddler. That's it for this week, my friends.

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Speaker 1: The next two weeks I'm going to cover the topic

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Speaker 1: of learning the land, I mean really learning the land

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Speaker 1: and how that is the best skill you can develop

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Speaker 1: to being a good deer hunter, no matter whether you

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Speaker 1: carry a bow or a rifle or a crossboard or

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Speaker 1: whatever into the woods. So tune in for those I'm

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Speaker 1: Tony Peterson. This spend a Wire to Hunt Foundations podcast

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Speaker 1: which has brought to you by First Light. As always,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening and if you want

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Speaker 1: more white tail content, feel free to head over to

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Speaker 1: the metator dot com slash wired for plenty of deer

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Speaker 1: hunting articles, and you can visit our wire to Hunt

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Speaker 1: YouTube channel to view our latest how to videos