Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide
Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, presented by first Light,
Speaker 1: creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind.
Speaker 1: First Light, Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host
Speaker 1: Tony Peterson.
Speaker 2: Hey, everyone, welcome to the Wire to Hunt Foundation's podcast,
Speaker 2: which is brought to you by first Light. I'm your host,
Speaker 2: Tony Peterson, and this episode is all about how to
Speaker 2: know if your hunting standards are set wrong. Well, it's
Speaker 2: that time a year again when everybody starts sharing pictures
Speaker 2: of giant velvet box and starts talking about hitlisters, and
Speaker 2: on and on. The world of white tails tends to
Speaker 2: take I don't know, a nice little breather during Turkey
Speaker 2: season and then you know about through June, but once
Speaker 2: we get past the midpoint of the summer, it seems
Speaker 2: like it's just pedal to the old whitetail metal. This
Speaker 2: is also a time when a lot of hunters decide
Speaker 2: what their standards are for the upcoming season, both with
Speaker 2: deer and any Western trips they might take. And I
Speaker 2: think a lot of us get this wrong for a
Speaker 2: lot of reasons and I have a few ideas on
Speaker 2: how to keep your standards in line with your hunting reality,
Speaker 2: which is what I plan to talk about right now.
Speaker 2: A few years ago, my brother in law and I
Speaker 2: got into a boat and headed out onto a lake
Speaker 2: in north central Minnesota. It was pouring rain, and our
Speaker 2: goal was just to catch some walleyes. Now, most of
Speaker 2: you probably know that I'm not much of a walleye guy.
Speaker 2: I don't really understand chasing a fish that bites with
Speaker 2: a timid little tap tap tap and fights like it
Speaker 2: has never been to the gym. Ever, I prefer sportier fish,
Speaker 2: if I'm putting it very nicely, I don't mind fishing
Speaker 2: for walleyes if I have someone who wants some filets,
Speaker 2: and that was what we had going on that day.
Speaker 2: It also just happened to be a miserable early June day.
Speaker 2: But my brother in law and I both have young kids,
Speaker 2: so we take any chance we can to go out
Speaker 2: on the water, even if we know we're going to
Speaker 2: get soaked. Well, no one told the walleyes that day
Speaker 2: that it was crappy because they were eating. I mean,
Speaker 2: we ran out all of our bait and we brought
Speaker 2: in a limited piece, which on the lake we were
Speaker 2: fishing on isn't really all that easy. We also happened
Speaker 2: to see a bunch of other people out, mostly in
Speaker 2: really nice deep V type of boats, trying to catch
Speaker 2: the same walleyes in the same rain. Later we learned
Speaker 2: that there was a walleye tournament going on on the lake,
Speaker 2: and the results of that tournament showed us that we'd
Speaker 2: have been right there in the money and potentially in
Speaker 2: the running to take home a trophy for our man caves.
Speaker 2: My brother in law commented on that multiple times, saying
Speaker 2: we should have been in the tournament. I mean he
Speaker 2: actually regretted that we weren't. But we weren't, and so
Speaker 2: we didn't have the same rules. We got to go
Speaker 2: out on the water when we wanted to, We got
Speaker 2: to leave when we wanted to. We weren't subject to
Speaker 2: a schedule that would lead to disqualification if we didn't
Speaker 2: stick to it. We didn't have to launch from a
Speaker 2: specific spot in a specific order and potentially erase another
Speaker 2: boat to our best location. We weren't in the tournament,
Speaker 2: so our day on the water didn't really compare. It
Speaker 2: was just a good day of fishing and I've run
Speaker 2: across a hell of a lot of people who fishes
Speaker 2: specific lake their whole lives, probably because I live in
Speaker 2: a state where everybody has a cabin on a lake somewhere.
Speaker 2: Those people think they'd be able to beat the best
Speaker 2: tournament fishermen in the country on their lakes. And the
Speaker 2: reason is their lake is their lake, and who's going
Speaker 2: to know it better than them? Except that's pure silliness.
Speaker 2: The pros are a pros for a reason, and they'll
Speaker 2: whoop up on most average fishermen, even when those average
Speaker 2: fishermen have four decades of experience on a specific lake
Speaker 2: or river or reservoir. They're just better overall, and that
Speaker 2: shows over time. It just does. Now, that doesn't stop
Speaker 2: a lot of folks from fantasizing about winning fishing tournaments
Speaker 2: on their home lake, or worse, actually believing that they would.
Speaker 2: This is because they won't actually go out and test
Speaker 2: their beliefs in actual competition. Reality doesn't have to meet fantasy,
Speaker 2: and that's a comfortable spot to live in. A similar
Speaker 2: thing happens with a lot of hunters, except that when
Speaker 2: you hunt, reality is going to meet your fantasy over
Speaker 2: and over and over again. Every season until you're dead.
Speaker 2: Hunters set their standards by whatever whims and inputs are
Speaker 2: available than they actually go hunting. When they do, their
Speaker 2: standards often prove to be a bit too lofty, but
Speaker 2: maybe not in the ways you're thinking. Now. Sure you
Speaker 2: know someone with two years of experience setting his sights
Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty class buck or nothing, Or someone
Speaker 2: who has logged some serious couch time for a few
Speaker 2: decades who decided that he's going to only shoot three
Speaker 2: hundred inch or bigger bulls in Colorado and over the
Speaker 2: counter unit. Those are both pretty easy examples of people
Speaker 2: who are inclined to outdrive their hunting headlights, so to speak.
Speaker 2: But it's usually not that egregious, and it's not as
Speaker 2: simple as deciding on a class of animal and then
Speaker 2: just sticking to it. It's about whether you're enjoying the
Speaker 2: hunt and feel good about the challenge you've set for yourself.
Speaker 2: This is tricky, and it gets worse because we often
Speaker 2: take one example of our hunting and import the standards
Speaker 2: from that hunting into other endeavors. The easiest way to
Speaker 2: look at this is to take someone who has a
Speaker 2: sweet white tail spot close to their home This person
Speaker 2: might not have much trouble encountering a few one forties
Speaker 2: or one fifties over the season and always gets a
Speaker 2: shot or two if he puts in the standtime in
Speaker 2: late October or early November. That same hunter on the
Speaker 2: road on a public land hunt, for example, would be
Speaker 2: wise to understand and acknowledge the advantages of his home
Speaker 2: state property, but most of us don't quite get that
Speaker 2: until we hit the road. The same goes for adopting
Speaker 2: standards based on hunting industry perceptions. The elk world is
Speaker 2: ripe with this, and I think it sucks. Unless if
Speaker 2: you're in a premier unit or have paid really really
Speaker 2: good money for a landowner tag or outfitted hunt, you're
Speaker 2: most likely in for a rude awakening on an elk hunt,
Speaker 2: especially if you're not all that experience in mountain hunting
Speaker 2: for elk. The truth is, getting any elk into shooting
Speaker 2: range in a lot of situations is so difficult. Never
Speaker 2: mind that you've watched three hundred and thirty inch bulls
Speaker 2: march across open meadows while bugling their heads off on
Speaker 2: YouTube shows for years and on network TV and DVDs
Speaker 2: before that. Sure easy elker out there, but they are
Speaker 2: expensive and probably not available to most of us. So
Speaker 2: if you hear someone say something like, I don't know,
Speaker 2: we let a bunch of two fifties and two sixties
Speaker 2: go while waiting on a good one, you're hearing someone
Speaker 2: who is either full of shit or hunting someplace that's
Speaker 2: real good. If you see people carrying elk quarters over
Speaker 2: their shoulder in a perfectly lit social media image, you
Speaker 2: can rest assured that the elk is dead by a
Speaker 2: side by side and the price tag on its head
Speaker 2: might get you a full year of tuition at a
Speaker 2: state universe. And the white tail world is full of
Speaker 2: this stuff too, And I don't really need to dive
Speaker 2: into this because I've covered it a ton. No game
Speaker 2: animal is easier to hack, and no game animal is
Speaker 2: easier to produce larger specimens with than our good old
Speaker 2: buddy the whitetail. This leads to a skewed view of
Speaker 2: the whole thing and convinces a lot of folks that
Speaker 2: the whole thing is generally easier than it is. That's
Speaker 2: a trap, though. The truth is we are all on
Speaker 2: our own hunting journey and it doesn't matter at all
Speaker 2: if the most popular whitetail hunter in the country happens
Speaker 2: to own four thousand acres of deer ground in Middle America,
Speaker 2: or if the most popular Western hunting personality is spend
Speaker 2: a couple hundred thousand dollars a season to kill big,
Speaker 2: unpressured bowls. What matters is how you hunt and what
Speaker 2: would mean something to you, What challenges you set for
Speaker 2: yourself as we lead into the season, and how they
Speaker 2: make you feel when you succeed and when you fall
Speaker 2: flat on your face and fail. Let me give you
Speaker 2: an example from my life. As I record this, I'm
Speaker 2: waiting to see what tags I'll end up with for
Speaker 2: the season. I know all that I have a bear
Speaker 2: tag for Wisconsin, and I'm kind of a shitty bear hunter,
Speaker 2: so my standards are probably going to be an illegal yogi.
Speaker 2: This goes from my daughter as well, and she'll get
Speaker 2: first crack at them. There's no real reason for me
Speaker 2: to trophy hunt bears when I'm not very good at
Speaker 2: the whole thing and probably won't have a ton of
Speaker 2: time to do it. I just want to enjoy the
Speaker 2: process and give myself a chance at success.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I'm also hoping to get down to Nebraska for an
Speaker 2: early season velvet hunt on public land for white tails.
Speaker 2: That hunt will probably be anything two and a half
Speaker 2: years or older that gives me a good shot is
Speaker 2: on the menu. Of course, that might change if I
Speaker 2: get down there and the deer plentiful, or more likely
Speaker 2: the hunters are plentiful. I might adjust my standards up
Speaker 2: or down, depending on a ton of variables. Hell, it
Speaker 2: might rain for a few days and destroy my water
Speaker 2: hole plan. That might be enough to get me to
Speaker 2: adjust what would make me happy. Now, if the conditions
Speaker 2: are hot as hell and the pressure isn't absurd, my
Speaker 2: standards might go up because that favors the possible of
Speaker 2: having a mature buck come into a tank or a pond.
Speaker 2: In that case, the young bucks are safe now. On
Speaker 2: the other end of the spectrum, I've got northern Wisconsin.
Speaker 2: I haven't had them too much time in the last
Speaker 2: two seasons to hunt the big woods, and I miss
Speaker 2: it a lot. I miss it so much that I'm
Speaker 2: going to hunt public land in a place with low
Speaker 2: deer numbers and high hunter numbers instead of going to
Speaker 2: southwestern Wisconsin to hunt private land where there are fewer
Speaker 2: deer hunters and a ton of deer, including a high
Speaker 2: percentage of big bucks. It sounds dumb, I know, but
Speaker 2: I don't care about putting myself in a spot to
Speaker 2: have the best chance to kill big deer because I
Speaker 2: just want to hunt certain places, and one of those
Speaker 2: places of the big Woods and my standards there, They're
Speaker 2: going to start awful small and could stay that way
Speaker 2: depending on the action. The big Woods is often pretty
Speaker 2: stingy in my experience, so there might not be an
Speaker 2: antler buck that is safe in my vicinity. But that'll
Speaker 2: depend on my scouting and how much time I'm going
Speaker 2: to get to hunt, and what I feel like when
Speaker 2: some deer do walk down the trail pass one of
Speaker 2: my setups. I'm also at a place where I don't
Speaker 2: feel like I have a lot to prove. You might
Speaker 2: not be there yet, and that's important to acknowledge. You
Speaker 2: might use that as a motivator to set high standards
Speaker 2: and then chase them all season. Now. I know that
Speaker 2: sounds like I'm being negative, but I'm not. Drive is important,
Speaker 2: and it leads to discipline and patience and sometimes the
Speaker 2: kind of success that brings you to a new level
Speaker 2: as a hunter and as a human. That's a good thing.
Speaker 2: Some people thrive on big challenges and it lifts them up.
Speaker 2: Others meet a big challenge and it treats them like
Speaker 2: a sucker punch to the old schnas their eyes start
Speaker 2: to water, their lips start to quiver, and they slouch
Speaker 2: their way home while muttering under their breath about how
Speaker 2: stupid life is. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but people are individuals,
Speaker 2: and what drives someone to be better might not be
Speaker 2: what drives you to be better. Or what some people
Speaker 2: enjoy others might view as pure torture. The high standards
Speaker 2: that cause one person to scout more and hunt harder
Speaker 2: might cause another to stay home and rake leaves since
Speaker 2: it's nearly unachievable and therefore not really worth it. So
Speaker 2: what kind of person are you? Be? Honest or better? Yet?
Speaker 2: What kind of person are you? On each kind of
Speaker 2: hunt you might do? Do you like the season long
Speaker 2: challenge of targeting a rare age class of buck in
Speaker 2: your woods? Or maybe a hunt a southern state with
Speaker 2: a stupid long rifle season and not a destination food
Speaker 2: source in sight, and you're only on public land and
Speaker 2: you need to target any illegal deer. Maybe you've only
Speaker 2: aired a few deer, and while your ego wants big
Speaker 2: bucks and nothing else, your experience and skill level and
Speaker 2: time available and hunting situation says that does and young
Speaker 2: bucks are probably a much more realistic goal, and they're
Speaker 2: still challenging. Maybe you're like me, and for some reason,
Speaker 2: every dear you see looks delicious and makes you kind
Speaker 2: of want to shoot it, and you can't really describe why.
Speaker 2: Maybe you just love the feeling of settling your pin
Speaker 2: and watching your fletching disappear into hide and ribs and vitals.
Speaker 2: If that's the case, maybe your goal should involve some
Speaker 2: antler list dear, maybe several. If you're a big fan
Speaker 2: of venison, what you set your standards at, whether we're
Speaker 2: talking white tails or elk or antelope or whatever, it's
Speaker 2: up to you. It's your journey, and it's not over
Speaker 2: just when you settle on the exact type of animal
Speaker 2: that would provide an amazing challenge but also a realistic
Speaker 2: chance for you to succeed. It goes beyond that, because
Speaker 2: this stuff is mostly a moving target. My friends, the
Speaker 2: standards you set five years ago will probably be different
Speaker 2: today for several reasons. You've grown and changed as a hunter.
Speaker 2: Somehow that's a given. But maybe you've moved to a
Speaker 2: new city or a new state and that's a big change.
Speaker 2: Maybe five years ago you didn't have any kids and
Speaker 2: you had lots of time, and now you have two little,
Speaker 2: adorable twin girls who demand a lot of your time,
Speaker 2: and you have to be back home during some of
Speaker 2: the best parts of the season for dance recitals and
Speaker 2: trigger treating or whatever. Should your hunting standards stay the
Speaker 2: same when your life is vastly different. I don't think so.
Speaker 2: I think you should do your best to set some
Speaker 2: goals it will work for you right now, and then
Speaker 2: you should reflect on how well you did not at hunting,
Speaker 2: although that's important too, but on how well you set
Speaker 2: your specific goals and then how well you followed through
Speaker 2: on trying to meet them. Maybe you really regret not
Speaker 2: shooting that cow elk on day one year hunt. Maybe
Speaker 2: that basket rack six pointer feeding in the beans on
Speaker 2: opening night who gave you a stupid easy shot and
Speaker 2: was full of delicious venison was your best chance you
Speaker 2: had to fill a tag all season. Does it bother
Speaker 2: you that you let him walk? Do you feel good
Speaker 2: about your decisions? The key here is honesty with yourself.
Speaker 2: If it didn't nag at you at all to do
Speaker 2: what you did, then your standard's probably pretty spot on.
Speaker 2: If you didn't have much fun hunting and you regret
Speaker 2: a lot of your decisions, it's probably time to recalibrate.
Speaker 2: A lot of times this happens because we set our
Speaker 2: standards just too damn high, and that can suck the
Speaker 2: fun right out of this whole thing. Or real quick
Speaker 2: only you can decide if this is true in your
Speaker 2: case or not. If it is, it's time to figure
Speaker 2: something better out. If you don't like eating tags, or
Speaker 2: you don't feel you have enough time to be a
Speaker 2: real trophy hunter, or you just don't have it in
Speaker 2: your heart to pass up a young buck even though
Speaker 2: you feel social pressure to do so, it's time to
Speaker 2: be real. It's time to decide for yourself what to
Speaker 2: do and why to do it now. I know some
Speaker 2: of this stuff really doesn't become relevant until the season opens,
Speaker 2: or I don't know, sometimes when you're halfway through the season,
Speaker 2: but it's worthwhile to think about it now. As the
Speaker 2: bucks really start to show their racks and the western
Speaker 2: hunt plans all kind of start to come together. Now
Speaker 2: is as good of time as any to start the
Speaker 2: process of thinking about yourself as a hunter in an
Speaker 2: honest way and decide what it'll take for you to
Speaker 2: get to a spot where you'll look back on this
Speaker 2: season with fond memories and not the sting of regret,
Speaker 2: which I might add can be from taking the easy
Speaker 2: way out and not challenging yourself at all. If you've
Speaker 2: shot one hundred and twelve year and a half old
Speaker 2: bucks on opening weekend and they just don't really do
Speaker 2: it for you anymore, I don't know, it might be
Speaker 2: time to go from sixty inches to one hundred inches.
Speaker 2: Sometimes we rebel against trophy hunting so much that we
Speaker 2: put ourselves in a position where there isn't much of
Speaker 2: a challenge at all. And while some folks love that
Speaker 2: and that's great, others don't and they might not even
Speaker 2: realize it. So again, let me say this, hunting is
Speaker 2: your journey, yours alone. Figure out what you want out
Speaker 2: of it, and then work toward that goal. Do this
Speaker 2: in spite of what everyone else in the hunting community
Speaker 2: seems to be doing, because their journey doesn't matter to
Speaker 2: you at all. And I mean that it doesn't matter
Speaker 2: at all, who does what with their hunting season Because
Speaker 2: you're on your own and that's the way it should be.
Speaker 2: Embrace it and enjoy it, and come back next week
Speaker 2: because I'm going to talk about how to really break
Speaker 2: down on an ambush site to understand how to hunt
Speaker 2: it most effectively. That's it for this week. I'm Tony Peterson.
Speaker 2: This has been the Wire to Hunt Foundation's podcast, which
Speaker 2: is brought to you by first Light. First Light happens
Speaker 2: to be making some really killer stuff right now, like
Speaker 2: their Trace lineup. So if you're out there sweating your
Speaker 2: apple bag off while scouting deer, hanging stands or doing whatever,
Speaker 2: maybe dropping some cameras out there, check out the Trace lineup.
Speaker 2: So breatheable, so lightweight, awesome. Hot Weather cameo. As always.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for listening to the podcast and
Speaker 2: for all your support. I can't tell you how much
Speaker 2: we all appreciate it here at meat Eater. And if
Speaker 2: you haven't got enough hunting content in your life, head
Speaker 2: on over to the medeater dot com and you can
Speaker 2: check out all kinds of video series one off videos.
Speaker 2: You can read tons of articles about every kind of
Speaker 2: facet of the outdoors that you can possibly imagine, and
Speaker 2: of course we have so much white tail content there
Speaker 2: as well.