Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide
Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, and now your
Speaker 1: host Tony Peterson. Hey everyone, welcome to the Wire to
Speaker 1: Hunt Foundations podcast, which has brought to you by First Life.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tony Peterson, and this week's episode is
Speaker 1: all about hunting something other than white tails and why
Speaker 1: that's a good thing for all you deer hunters out there.
Speaker 1: I know, I know, it's too expensive, it's too far,
Speaker 1: you don't have the time, the PTO, you don't have
Speaker 1: any good buddies, we'll make a drive with you, and
Speaker 1: on and on. That's not for everyone to travel to
Speaker 1: the west and hunt. But the good thing is, that's
Speaker 1: not what this episode is about. It's just about hunting
Speaker 1: other stuff, period, not just the glamour critters that demand
Speaker 1: kind of a big commitment. There's a word hold of
Speaker 1: hunting opportunities out there, and you should take advantage of them.
Speaker 1: You know, they're fun in their own right and just
Speaker 1: about everyone will probably make you a little bit better
Speaker 1: of a deer hunter, which is what I'm going to
Speaker 1: tell you about right now. Last summer I dropped a
Speaker 1: whole bunch of these Foundations episodes that were all based
Speaker 1: on scouting, from the scouting to trail cameras to boots
Speaker 1: on the ground, I covered it all. I know you're
Speaker 1: already thinking about getting back into the deer scouting thing,
Speaker 1: and you should be, but let me lay out a
Speaker 1: case for you on that front. Now, Dedicated dear time
Speaker 1: is important. There's there's really no substitute for it. It It
Speaker 1: really isn't. But dedicated dear time takes well dedication and
Speaker 1: I don't know time. Not everyone has tons of both,
Speaker 1: and not everyone wants to put in what it takes
Speaker 1: to nearly nearly guarantee success. And that's okay. There's a
Speaker 1: sneaky way to put in some deer time and level
Speaker 1: up your game and honestly just make your time outdoors
Speaker 1: more fun. Gotta hunt something else now. Earlier this spring,
Speaker 1: I dropped a couple of episodes on how turkey hunting
Speaker 1: can make you a better deer hunter, and I firmly
Speaker 1: believe that. But I also firmly believe that you can
Speaker 1: become a better deer hunter by spending time in a
Speaker 1: duck blind or hunting squirrels with a seventeen or two,
Speaker 1: or by going bear hunting, or yes, taking that trip
Speaker 1: out west to finally chase screaming bowls through the mountains
Speaker 1: while honking NonStop on a hoochie Mama call. This is
Speaker 1: going to seem like a stretch to a lot of people,
Speaker 1: but let me give you a few examples about how
Speaker 1: hunting other critters can help you actually become a better
Speaker 1: deer hunter. But before that, let me say this, deer
Speaker 1: hunting success doesn't come from where a lot of people
Speaker 1: think it does. Sure, it comes from a good spot
Speaker 1: if you're lucky enough to have that advantage, and at
Speaker 1: any given moment throughout the season, it could come from
Speaker 1: something you bought, a call, a decoy, a bottle of dopez.
Speaker 1: At any moment, any one of those things could put
Speaker 1: a buck in your lap, even if mostly they won't.
Speaker 1: And any good encounter teaches you a lot, So I'm
Speaker 1: not minimizing that stuff. Use it, I don't really care.
Speaker 1: But to be better overall, you've got to learn to
Speaker 1: think about why a deer would or wouldn't do something.
Speaker 1: Why is that buck on your kill plot only once
Speaker 1: every three days? Why do you always see does and
Speaker 1: scrappers on some trails but never mature bucks? Why on
Speaker 1: October sixteenth, during a heat wave, did you see the
Speaker 1: biggest buck of the season in a spot where you
Speaker 1: would have been real happy to just see a dope.
Speaker 1: The answer to those questions and many more might be discoverable,
Speaker 1: or they might not. But the more you start to
Speaker 1: ask yourself why, the more you can start narrowing down
Speaker 1: your potential answers. This is a super valuable skill. That's
Speaker 1: some of the best public landbow hunters work real hard
Speaker 1: to sharpen. They do this through whitetail activities, of course,
Speaker 1: but also through experience hunting all the other critters that
Speaker 1: are available in One of these moments smacked me real
Speaker 1: hard in the face. A few years ago, as I
Speaker 1: was scouting out a spot in the mountains for the
Speaker 1: Colorado elk opener. Like it is in many mountain ranges,
Speaker 1: there were stairstep meadows in the lower valleys surrounded by
Speaker 1: benched out black timber. As I walked those meadow edges
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what sign was left by cattle
Speaker 1: and what was left by elk I started noticing rubs
Speaker 1: on the edges of some of the meadows. They were
Speaker 1: facing towards the meadow, which I assume meant that the
Speaker 1: elk were feeding in the lush grass all night and
Speaker 1: then working their way up the mountains in the morning.
Speaker 1: That's pretty simple elk behavior, and became even clear when
Speaker 1: I started walking a rough elk rub line that brought
Speaker 1: me right to a dreamy bench up there in that
Speaker 1: black timber, big ovals of matted vegetation s that some
Speaker 1: bowls have been using the bench for betting. Does that
Speaker 1: sound familiar to all you Bluff country white tail hunters
Speaker 1: or maybe some of you mountain hunters out east in
Speaker 1: southeast somewhere. My question of why are the rubs on
Speaker 1: the edge of the meadow or what does that really mean?
Speaker 1: Ended with a pretty clear picture of a food to
Speaker 1: bed bed to food pattern. If I hadn't lost my
Speaker 1: ship on that trip and shot poorly, it would have
Speaker 1: also ended with me taking grip and grins on opening night.
Speaker 1: That's a different story. Let me give you another example.
Speaker 1: In two thousand and ten, when I was just starting
Speaker 1: to focus super hard on killing public land white tails,
Speaker 1: I had an any deer North Dakota tag in my pocket,
Speaker 1: which was good for meal deer or white tails. Now
Speaker 1: I had some big white tails patterned pretty well, but
Speaker 1: I also had a half a day to kill before
Speaker 1: they'd be in play. So I went looking for meal deer,
Speaker 1: and the one I found, a beautiful velvet hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty class type buck, did what I see very few
Speaker 1: meal deer do in the bad ends. He betted in
Speaker 1: a real stalkable spot. So I took the long way
Speaker 1: around to keep the wind in my favor, and I
Speaker 1: hiked towards a series of pine trees I'd marked so
Speaker 1: I could refined him. Now, if you've never spotted and
Speaker 1: stocked any critters, I suggest you give it a shot
Speaker 1: for this simple reason. That moment when you see them
Speaker 1: and you make your plan, it's almost always followed by
Speaker 1: the execution, which almost always takes your target animal out
Speaker 1: of your visibility. There's such an intense kind of anxious
Speaker 1: feeling that comes with that because you simply don't know
Speaker 1: what he's gonna do as you try to work your
Speaker 1: way in. Well, I had that feeling, that kind of
Speaker 1: nervous feeling as I side held my way across the
Speaker 1: arid landscape as the lunchtime sun really started bacon And
Speaker 1: when I got to my landmark, I took off my
Speaker 1: boots and I started crawling. When peeking over that ridge,
Speaker 1: I saw the velvet tips of his antlers. He was oblivious,
Speaker 1: well within my range and position for a very nice
Speaker 1: shot angle. I had all the time in the world
Speaker 1: to make that shot, and you know what I did.
Speaker 1: I freaking rushed it like a total moron, and I
Speaker 1: shot some hair off his back. I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I probably had hours to take that shot, and I
Speaker 1: rushed it so fast that as I watched that big
Speaker 1: five by five bound off, my first thought was to
Speaker 1: just swan dive off the nearest cliff. Later that evening,
Speaker 1: I had switched to white tails, and I watched as
Speaker 1: a hundred forty and jade point across the river toward me.
Speaker 1: The thought that was going through my mind was, don't
Speaker 1: rush it. Don't rush it, Do not rush it, Antoine,
Speaker 1: let him get here, Please, let him get here. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to tell you I made a perfect shot
Speaker 1: on that buck, because I didn't. It was a much
Speaker 1: better shot than I made on the mule deer, and
Speaker 1: my follow up shot to just end it all was
Speaker 1: one of the best I've ever made my life. Now,
Speaker 1: you don't think of mule deer as great teachers for
Speaker 1: white tail hunting, but there are so many things we
Speaker 1: do on other hunts that do teach us how to
Speaker 1: be better on white tails, because they teach us how
Speaker 1: to be better hunters period. There's more, though, there's a
Speaker 1: little moments too that help you fill up the white
Speaker 1: tailed knowledge box. Maybe four or five years ago, I
Speaker 1: was following my lab around in October in north central Wisconsin.
Speaker 1: We were on the hunt for a few grouse for
Speaker 1: woodcock on a piece of public land, and I'm quite
Speaker 1: fond of for bird hunting. I honestly don't remember if
Speaker 1: we found any birds, even though we probably did, But
Speaker 1: what I do remember is finding a patch of really
Speaker 1: thick brush on a hillside and a ridge top that
Speaker 1: was covered in rubs, and I mean covered in rubs.
Speaker 1: Two weeks later, I came back with a mobile set
Speaker 1: up and started bow hunting around that concentration of rubs.
Speaker 1: The deer didn't make it easy, but I did manage
Speaker 1: to see some little box chasing and I arrowed one
Speaker 1: of the cagius does I've ever put in the freezer.
Speaker 1: It was honestly a pretty great hunt, especially for public land,
Speaker 1: and the genesis for most of it was just a
Speaker 1: chance encounter while looking for some woodcock. Uh, last one
Speaker 1: before I move on. I got tell you one more.
Speaker 1: When I was in college, I was far enough away
Speaker 1: from the ground I usually white tail hunted that I
Speaker 1: focused on public land and just knocking on doors. I
Speaker 1: also trout fished so much it took me an extra
Speaker 1: year to get enough credits to graduate. Well that's my excuse. Anyway,
Speaker 1: there were a lot of other reasons I didn't fly
Speaker 1: through higher education in a normal time frame. Uh. Anyway,
Speaker 1: on one of the streams I fished a lot, I'd
Speaker 1: always take note of all of the crossings in that
Speaker 1: bluff country, the terrain and the water they often conspired
Speaker 1: to create perfect pinch points, and that property was no exception.
Speaker 1: It finally got to me, so I just knocked on
Speaker 1: the door one day after fishing and asked if they
Speaker 1: mind if i'd hunt their place a little bit. And
Speaker 1: the woman who answered the door could not have been nicer,
Speaker 1: and she said yes. So I scrambled back to my place,
Speaker 1: swapped my fishing clothes for camel, and brought a standout
Speaker 1: with me. I hung it over the best looking crossing,
Speaker 1: and I settled in and when a Doe came down
Speaker 1: to drink later that night, I Drew settled in and
Speaker 1: I made a good shot and it was revelatory on
Speaker 1: a few levels at that At that time in my life,
Speaker 1: arrowing any deer was a big, big deal, let alone
Speaker 1: making a really good shot on one. And I eventually
Speaker 1: killed a few deer on that property. That had a
Speaker 1: hell of a lot of fun hunting it, and it
Speaker 1: mostly resulted from trout fishing trips that took me to
Speaker 1: the places where deer also like to live. That stuff
Speaker 1: happens to me a lot because I like hunting a
Speaker 1: lot of different critters, and I like fishing in cool places.
Speaker 1: The question I have now is do you are you
Speaker 1: a ride or die white tail hunter or more of
Speaker 1: an outdoor generalist. I don't really care if you answer
Speaker 1: yes to either of those questions, because it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: whether you only live in breeze white tails or are
Speaker 1: happy to be out chasing whatever is available. You might
Speaker 1: want to think about all the opportunities that are actually
Speaker 1: available to you or not only what they offer in
Speaker 1: and of themselves, but how they can help you become
Speaker 1: a better deer hunter. Let's take that big Western trip
Speaker 1: for example, the scouting, the planning gear, organizing, anticipating all
Speaker 1: the things that can go wrong, and dreaming about the
Speaker 1: things that will go right. It's all going to make
Speaker 1: you a better white tail hunter. It's gonna make you
Speaker 1: want to travel more for your dear adventures too, which
Speaker 1: is a sure fire way to have some fun and
Speaker 1: just force yourself to improve it this stuff. Maybe, like
Speaker 1: I said earlier, you don't have the means to make
Speaker 1: a western trip happen. Fair enough, it's not available for everyone.
Speaker 1: I get that we've got to look closer to home.
Speaker 1: Then what could you do this fall that you used
Speaker 1: to do or are just curious about? Is that sitting
Speaker 1: on the edge of a small beaver pond, waiting on
Speaker 1: a few wood ducks or tealed a swing through. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's just a simple rabbit or squirrel hunt. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: a fall turkey hunt to fill the midday hours in
Speaker 1: between stand time. It honestly doesn't matter that small water
Speaker 1: duck hunt. You're gonna have to scout for it. Most
Speaker 1: likely you might find that you want to sit on
Speaker 1: a little cattail point. But for whatever reason, the birds
Speaker 1: seem to want to swoop in low and landing in
Speaker 1: the other corner of the pond. Is it because they
Speaker 1: just do that or because of the wind direction? Is
Speaker 1: it because the bottom contour is more gradual and there
Speaker 1: are a bunch of saggy acorns in that corner. It's
Speaker 1: time to ask why and then see what you can
Speaker 1: do about finding the answer. The squirrels, are they concentrated
Speaker 1: on hard mass? If so, you know who else probably is?
Speaker 1: Or I don't know. The bunny is living in that
Speaker 1: old homestead that has overgrown and supernarly and full of thorns?
Speaker 1: Do they share that security cover with anyone else? Get
Speaker 1: in there and find out. Now, this might be weird
Speaker 1: timing for this, you know, given the fact that it's
Speaker 1: early summer and all of our hunting is at least
Speaker 1: a couple of months off, But the time to plan
Speaker 1: is now. The time to scout, even for non deer
Speaker 1: related hunts starting right now. Hell, you might just need
Speaker 1: those months to source out a couple of I don't
Speaker 1: know boxes the ammos so you don't have to throw
Speaker 1: rocks at rabbits or grouse this fall. And that's a
Speaker 1: joke sort of. Obviously, If you have the option to
Speaker 1: go west or travel for white tails, you should also
Speaker 1: be planning that right now, and if so, good for you.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have fun, You're gonna get better at hunting.
Speaker 1: Too worthy outcomes any trip. If you're not sitting on
Speaker 1: an elk tag or researching how to get it over
Speaker 1: the counter meldeer tag or antelope tag, don't fret. Most
Speaker 1: hunters aren't. But most white tail hunters aren't also going
Speaker 1: out to hunt a bunch of other critters. Most white
Speaker 1: tail hunters, also, not entirely, not coincidentally, never get a
Speaker 1: whole lot better at this stuff. They do the same
Speaker 1: things from year to year to year to year, and
Speaker 1: they experience not surprisingly very similar year to year results
Speaker 1: for a lot of people. That's good enough, and I'm
Speaker 1: not shipping on that. I'm really not. I don't care
Speaker 1: if people want to put in zero work to fill
Speaker 1: their tags, or if they obsess over it every day
Speaker 1: and devote tons of time and resources to it. I
Speaker 1: do care that the people listening to this podcast and
Speaker 1: reading our articles and watching our videos figure out how
Speaker 1: to have fun out there in the woods and find
Speaker 1: as much meaning and enjoyment out of this white tailed
Speaker 1: challenge as they can. And there are a lot of
Speaker 1: ways to achieve that, and one of them is to
Speaker 1: open up your aperture so you can see a few
Speaker 1: more opportunities. And this is also a great way to
Speaker 1: get yourself to look at more ground, which might be
Speaker 1: the best thing a deer hunter can do. We really
Speaker 1: limit ourselves to spots, and I get it. It's easy,
Speaker 1: it's familiar, just kind of in our nature. And you
Speaker 1: probably don't want to burn through your favorite deer ground
Speaker 1: in late September trying to flush some woodcock, which makes
Speaker 1: a lot of sense in the hierarchy of importance. White
Speaker 1: tails usually hold the top spot, and some little worm
Speaker 1: eating migrators tend to fall pretty low on the list,
Speaker 1: but they also land on public dirt to poke their
Speaker 1: long beaks into the soil and attempts to find some
Speaker 1: slimy breakfast. Maybe you don't have to burn your best
Speaker 1: dear spots to have a little fun wing shooting with
Speaker 1: your pup, or you know, trying to shoot a couple
Speaker 1: of squirrels. Try out one of Steve's recipes. Maybe getting
Speaker 1: away from the ground you've set up for white tail
Speaker 1: and what you think you know so well to wander
Speaker 1: some unfamiliar properties is just what you need. To start
Speaker 1: answering some of the questions you have about the white
Speaker 1: tails that you do think you know so well. Maybe
Speaker 1: on your dear spot, you never go into the swamp,
Speaker 1: because why would you. It's wet, full of mosquitoes and
Speaker 1: there's no way to set a stand in there. But
Speaker 1: the swamp edge on the public land down the road
Speaker 1: might be perfect to find a few woodcocker grouse. And
Speaker 1: when you go there and you walk around without caring
Speaker 1: if you spook any deer, you might learn a thing
Speaker 1: or two about dear. And I can promise you I
Speaker 1: go into a lot of swamps and slews looking for
Speaker 1: critters that are not dear, and I almost inevitably learned
Speaker 1: something about dear. So really that's you know, that's kind
Speaker 1: of my case for this hunt. Some other stuff, my friends,
Speaker 1: big stuff, little stuff. Stuff you gotta travel for stuff
Speaker 1: that's available close to home. Have some fun out there
Speaker 1: in the woods doing non deer hunting hunts, see some
Speaker 1: new ground, do something different. If you do and you
Speaker 1: pay attention, I almost guarantee that you'll find something that
Speaker 1: makes you a little better at figuring out white tails.
Speaker 1: And if not, I don't know. You can always buy
Speaker 1: a new call or a new decoy or I don't know,
Speaker 1: new bottle of the freshest dope on the market and
Speaker 1: see what happens. That's it for this week, my friends,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening. I'm Tony Peterson and
Speaker 1: this has been the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, which
Speaker 1: is brought to you by First Light. I know you
Speaker 1: want more white tailed content, so feel free to head
Speaker 1: on over to our YouTube channel to check out our
Speaker 1: latest videos and visit the meat eater dot com slash
Speaker 1: wired again. That's the meat eater dot com slash wired
Speaker 1: to read our latest articles.