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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for

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Speaker 1: deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host,

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Speaker 1: Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host, Mark Kenyan. This is episode number two hundred

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Speaker 1: and sixty, and today I'm joined by Spencer new Heart

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Speaker 1: for a bonus Christmas episode to discuss the conclusion of

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Speaker 1: his season long hunt for a special South Dakota buck.

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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought

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Speaker 1: to you by Onyx and surprise, we are back for

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Speaker 1: an episode. I told you last week that it was

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Speaker 1: going to be our last episode of two thousand eighteen,

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Speaker 1: but decided to give you a little bonus here, like

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Speaker 1: like a little bonus Christmas gift. I suppose. Um, I

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Speaker 1: was thinking, you know, I don't have anything better to do,

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Speaker 1: and I imagine there's probably some people that just got

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Speaker 1: done with Christmas. They're tired, they had a lot of

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Speaker 1: turkey or a lot of ham. Maybe they're you know,

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Speaker 1: families great, but maybe they've had a little bit too

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Speaker 1: much family. So maybe maybe a few of you are

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Speaker 1: out there you had to find a little time to

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Speaker 1: get away from the Christmas chaos. You want to just

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Speaker 1: kind of hide in the closet or the back room

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Speaker 1: and you needed something to take your mind off of

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Speaker 1: maybe your crazy aunt or off of the sev different

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Speaker 1: toys you've had to put together over the last week.

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Speaker 1: So so I figured we would try to help you

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Speaker 1: guys out, if that's you, UM, with a little bit

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Speaker 1: of deer hunt and talk here to wrap up the year.

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Speaker 1: And what's nice is that we have a really good

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Speaker 1: occasion to celebrate here as well, because in addition to

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Speaker 1: myself today in the episode, we've got the baritone from

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Speaker 1: South Dakota along with us Spencer new Hearth and Uh Spence.

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Speaker 1: You've been on the podcast while you've been on helping

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Speaker 1: us with the RUT Radio for for three years now

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Speaker 1: and then you've been kind of hopping under the main

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Speaker 1: episodes more and more and more. And this year, Um,

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Speaker 1: in particular, we really kind of dove into little bits

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Speaker 1: and pieces of your season. You know, before the season started,

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Speaker 1: you me and Dan kind of broke down our thoughts

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Speaker 1: and our goals. Dan even named one of your bucks, um,

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Speaker 1: so there was there was this beginning of a story

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Speaker 1: for you. And then each week on RUT Radio we

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Speaker 1: kind of have heard just little bits and pieces. Um,

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Speaker 1: but we haven't gotten like an all inclusive, um, comprehensive

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Speaker 1: look at what you did this year. And I think

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Speaker 1: I think it deserves to be looked at now because

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Speaker 1: that buck that Dan named for you, which then we

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Speaker 1: renamed that buck met his maker recently, and that's a

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Speaker 1: story I want to hear, Spencer. So, UM, I guess

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Speaker 1: I should have said marry Christmas first, Spensor, But merry

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Speaker 1: Christmas and then can we talk about this buck? We

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Speaker 1: can marry Christmas to you as well? Mark. Are you excited?

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Speaker 1: Am I excited to talk about Dan? Well? Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: mean are you? Are you? Are you happy? Are described

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Speaker 1: to me? Just your your mood right now post everything

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Speaker 1: that's happened for you this season? Yeah, I'm I'm very happy. Um,

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Speaker 1: still riding the high of killing that book. It was

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Speaker 1: less than a week ago now that it happened. But

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Speaker 1: I did not think he was going to happen for

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Speaker 1: that year, and so I was pleasantly surprised to kill

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Speaker 1: a buck of that caliber and specifically him. So I'm

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Speaker 1: very excited. Yeah, you should be a heck of a deer,

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Speaker 1: heck of a journey. It seems like throughout the season

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Speaker 1: and you know, I don't want to toot our own

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Speaker 1: horn too much this year because next year it might

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Speaker 1: go horribly, horribly wrong. But this year, between between you

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Speaker 1: and me and Dan, we didn't do too bad. We

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Speaker 1: managed to put a few on the ground. And kind

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Speaker 1: of cool that, Um, the buck you talked about at

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Speaker 1: the beginning of the year you got and um, unfortunately

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Speaker 1: buck I was talking about the beginning year disappeared. But

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Speaker 1: you know, things weren't weren't too bad the way they were. So, UM,

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Speaker 1: I'm thinking maybe we just get right into hearing this

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Speaker 1: story because other than the fact that my pantry flooded

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Speaker 1: today because the wash drain is plugged up, so I've

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Speaker 1: got a flooded room. Um, other than that, there's nothing

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Speaker 1: too else exciting that I have to share. UM, So

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Speaker 1: I think we should just dive right in from the

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Speaker 1: beginning and work all the way through. Yeah, so the

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Speaker 1: story of my pursuit for Dan goes all the way

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Speaker 1: back to the spring, and South Dakota traditionally has had

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Speaker 1: an opener that landed on like the fourth Saturday of September,

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Speaker 1: the three or fourth Saturday, So typically it would fall

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Speaker 1: around like September four or or twenty first whatever somewhere

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Speaker 1: in there, UM, and and with that the deer were

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Speaker 1: normally out of their summer patterns. So I was never

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Speaker 1: super pumped for our opener this year in South Dakota, though,

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Speaker 1: UM by an overwhelming vote, they moved the opener to

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Speaker 1: September one to match a lot of our neighboring states

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Speaker 1: like North Dakota, UM, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana. So that was

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Speaker 1: really exciting, and that gave me something else to look

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Speaker 1: forward to for the season. So with that, a lot

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Speaker 1: of my properties set up pretty well for like an

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Speaker 1: early early September hunt, in that I had had a

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Speaker 1: lot of fields that were green beans this year, soybeans

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Speaker 1: this year, excuse me, UM. So I was really excited,

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Speaker 1: and more than normal. I was doing a lot of

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Speaker 1: summer prep. I was putting up a lot of trail

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Speaker 1: cameras UM, doing that kind of thing, hoping to kill

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Speaker 1: a velvet buck. Normally I don't do much of that

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Speaker 1: because all of the intel that I get, UM, you know,

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Speaker 1: from June, July, August, it's irrelevant by the time we

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Speaker 1: get to late September, because those bucks are gone UM

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Speaker 1: or they're off of their summer patterns. They are now nocturnal,

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Speaker 1: not now nocturnal, it doesn't matter. So this year I

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Speaker 1: was really excited for the September one opener. Uh, in

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Speaker 1: my preseason scouting mirrored that, and so I was getting

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Speaker 1: cams up, um, you know, much earlier than I normally

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Speaker 1: would like in June UM, and starting to take my

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Speaker 1: my summer scouting and my summer tree stand, worked my

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Speaker 1: summer chores a little bit more seriously. So this goes

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Speaker 1: back to mid June was when I got the first

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Speaker 1: picture of Dan. I think it was in the middle

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Speaker 1: of the night. Um, it was hard to tell that

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Speaker 1: he was like going to turn into what he turned into.

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Speaker 1: But when he was in a picture, when he was

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Speaker 1: in the same frame its other velvet bucks at that

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Speaker 1: same you know development of velvet, you could tell he

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Speaker 1: was going to be big. So I was immediately excited. Um.

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Speaker 1: But it didn't necessarily mean that this buck was going

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Speaker 1: to become a regular. But as we got into July

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Speaker 1: and August he did. There were some cases where I'd

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Speaker 1: be getting him on camera like morning and evening in

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Speaker 1: daylight for like two days in a row. And so

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Speaker 1: as we talked about then on the August episode with

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Speaker 1: me you further, Dan, Uh, you know, when we're talking

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Speaker 1: about our goals and stuff, I said my goals to

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Speaker 1: kill a velvet buck, and I thought if I was

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Speaker 1: going to kill a velvet buck, it would be Dan.

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Speaker 1: That was not the case. Now now I want to

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Speaker 1: want to hit pause here for a second. And not

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Speaker 1: only was this the first year that you got to

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Speaker 1: hunt a buck or at least try to hunt on

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Speaker 1: buck that would still be in velvet um. But back

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Speaker 1: to that podcast episode you mentioned on that one when

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Speaker 1: we talked about our goals, we all so you know,

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Speaker 1: also forced upon you the idea of naming a buck.

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Speaker 1: Dan Johnson named your buck Forrest, after your favorite movie,

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Speaker 1: Forrest Gump. We later changed that to Lieutenant Dan, because

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Speaker 1: obviously you should have named it Dan. So this was

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Speaker 1: the first year that you, at least as far as

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Speaker 1: I know, um, kind of had a buck like this

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Speaker 1: that you were actively hunting, that you were kind of

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Speaker 1: talking about other people, that other people knew about and

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Speaker 1: they knew about by name. So there's always a little bit,

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Speaker 1: at least for me, there's like some different level of

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Speaker 1: I don't know what it is, pressure or or energy

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Speaker 1: or tension around the hunt, like that when you're after

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Speaker 1: one specific deer and you're thinking about that one specific

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Speaker 1: deer so much. Now I know there's there's other deer

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Speaker 1: around here you were you would have shot too. But

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Speaker 1: did the slightly different significance to this one change anything

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Speaker 1: for you as far as how you hunted or the

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Speaker 1: enjoyment you got out of the hunt, hunt, or maybe

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Speaker 1: some stress or anything like that. Uh, it was definitely different. UM.

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Speaker 1: I think the biggest reflection of that was like my

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Speaker 1: early season, since you know, I haunted like nine out

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Speaker 1: of the first ten days of September trying to kill

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Speaker 1: that buck because I knew he was around. I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure that naming him changed that, but because I knew

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Speaker 1: he was there and I had a chance at him,

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Speaker 1: I haunted a lot harder than I normally would at

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Speaker 1: the beginning of this season. But speaking to like us,

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Speaker 1: naming that buck, that's something that I don't do. UM.

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Speaker 1: I think I've named like one buck ever previous to

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Speaker 1: that in the decade that I've been bow hunting. UM,

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Speaker 1: I'm just not really interested in it. If I name

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Speaker 1: it here, there's like there's an implication that I'm only

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Speaker 1: targeting that buck, or there's like an implication that it's

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Speaker 1: even realistic that I would kill that buck. I know

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Speaker 1: a lot of guys who like, we'll get a picture

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Speaker 1: of one big deer in the middle of the night, uh,

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Speaker 1: in early November, and then they name that deer and

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Speaker 1: then they tell everyone, Yeah, I'm hunting this deer and

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Speaker 1: they give him a name. Um, and that's just that's

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Speaker 1: not something I'm interested in doing. Uh, you know, like

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Speaker 1: I said it, it would imply that I'm actually just

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Speaker 1: like slowly targeting this year. And then there's the added

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Speaker 1: pressure to it, uh and some other things. And then

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Speaker 1: I also have a really hard time tracking deer like

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Speaker 1: within the same season or even season after season because um,

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Speaker 1: you know, like we talked about on the August episode,

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Speaker 1: there's like a few times that the deck gets reshuffled. Um,

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Speaker 1: like in South Dakota here. One is when harvest happens.

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Speaker 1: Another one is when pheasant season happens that pushes a

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Speaker 1: bunch of year around. Another time is in rifle season happens.

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Speaker 1: So uh, it's really really rare for me to find

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Speaker 1: a deer in June and then you know, have a

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Speaker 1: history with him that goes like five months later or whatever.

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Speaker 1: All the way into December. So that's just another reason

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Speaker 1: that I'm not somebody who's really named de year before.

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Speaker 1: But you're you're implying that you, regardless of the naming,

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Speaker 1: that's a convenience thing or having fun with a thing,

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Speaker 1: and that's fine for not into that. But then you're

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Speaker 1: talking about the fact that you don't want to target

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Speaker 1: specific deer. But that's yeah, I kind of did this year.

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Speaker 1: So what did this like confirm that you don't like

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Speaker 1: doing that or do you feel differently now? Uh, I

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Speaker 1: still wasn't targeting this specific deer. If you know, when

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Speaker 1: I was archery hunting, if a different inch buck would

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Speaker 1: have walked by and have shot him. When I was

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Speaker 1: rifle hunting, I did a sit that was specifically for Dan.

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Speaker 1: I didn't kill him. My next sit was a sit

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Speaker 1: that was not specifically for Dan ended up killing like

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Speaker 1: a hundred forty inch buck. Then, uh, my muzzleloader sits.

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Speaker 1: You know, that tag was good for the entire month

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Speaker 1: of December. I didn't kill him until December one. I

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Speaker 1: probably had over twenty sits in during that period. Probab

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Speaker 1: behalf of those were for Dan and the other half

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Speaker 1: we're just for other dear, So I didn't over pressure Dan. Um,

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Speaker 1: So I wouldn't say I was specifically targeting that buck,

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Speaker 1: because if that was the case, that I specifically getting

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Speaker 1: that buck, I wouldn't have killed a single other dear

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Speaker 1: until uh, you know, five days ago. Do you think

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Speaker 1: you would have killed Dan earlier? No? No, I don't

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Speaker 1: think I would have killed him earlier. What I'm just

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Speaker 1: saying is, when I had that rifle tag back in November,

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Speaker 1: I shot a different book, and had I been holding

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Speaker 1: out for Dan, I would not have shot that buck

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Speaker 1: fair enough. So, so we're getting up. Maybe we're getting

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Speaker 1: ahead of ourselves though, um so, so taken back to

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Speaker 1: in September, and I guess this is all good context

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Speaker 1: though too, because this does paint the picture a little

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Speaker 1: bit better for someone going into you know, your season

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Speaker 1: here that this buck was, when you knew of this

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Speaker 1: buck was when you wanted to hunt, but you were

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Speaker 1: very um, what's the word all inclusive with what you

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Speaker 1: would you sounds like he wasn't It sounds like he

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Speaker 1: did not weigh heavily in your mind like deer that

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Speaker 1: I hunt do. Yeah, yeah, I think that's a fair

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Speaker 1: way to put it. Like I was I was very

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Speaker 1: aware of Dan. Um. I did some sins that were

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Speaker 1: specifically four Dan, but overall my season was never about

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Speaker 1: killing Dan. You know another thing that might be an

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Speaker 1: interesting point or a point differentiation is it sounds like

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Speaker 1: you've got other deer to hunt, right it sounds like

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Speaker 1: a lot of different deer to hunt, while you know,

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Speaker 1: like in the main spot of hunt closest to my

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Speaker 1: house that's like a nine acre property, is only other ever,

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Speaker 1: like one deer, So by default that becomes like the

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Speaker 1: one deer that I'm hunting. How many different shooters would

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Speaker 1: you say this year that you had on the property,

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Speaker 1: because this is a pretty big property, right, um, that

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Speaker 1: you would have shot maybe or that either got pictures

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Speaker 1: ever saw or something like that. Why hunt a mixture

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Speaker 1: of private in public? I haunt like three or four

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Speaker 1: different private pieces that none of them are over all

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Speaker 1: very big, um and they're all you know, blessed than

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Speaker 1: a hundred acres or so, and they are shared with

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Speaker 1: other people. And then I also haunt some public ground. Um.

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Speaker 1: So in a in a year's time, I'll usually have

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Speaker 1: you know, a number of different shooters that that I'm

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Speaker 1: interested in. And so that's definitely part of it as

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Speaker 1: well is that I'm not forced to just target a

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Speaker 1: single mature buck. If I find a single mature buck,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm not against Like, I have no problem

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Speaker 1: when people like set out to kill a specific dear

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Speaker 1: like you did with holy Field. Um. I get that,

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Speaker 1: and there's a lot of excitement on that. It's just

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Speaker 1: at my point in hunting, Um, I'm you know, willing

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Speaker 1: to kill like any duck that walks by. So and

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Speaker 1: I have that opportunity here in South Dakota. Like I said,

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Speaker 1: it's it's not uncommon for you know, me to have

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Speaker 1: a half dozen bucks, you know, in a year that

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Speaker 1: I'm interested in killing, rather than maybe just one. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And we've never really talked about this before. Um, But

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Speaker 1: so does anything else go into your decision to target

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Speaker 1: a buck other than just you want a hundred thirties

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Speaker 1: so much buck? Or do do you do you look

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Speaker 1: at or care about age or experiences with that deer

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Speaker 1: or anything else? Um? Yeah, I don't know about neither

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Speaker 1: one of those things. No, Um, Because like I said before,

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Speaker 1: I have a really hard time tracking a deer throughout

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Speaker 1: the season. There's plenty of deer that I kill that

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Speaker 1: I've never seen before, and so it is a quick

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Speaker 1: decision that I'm going to kill that deer. Um. So

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Speaker 1: as far as it goes with having history with a

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Speaker 1: buck or knowing that dear's age, no, that there's not

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Speaker 1: a lot of that that goes into it. For me,

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Speaker 1: I see a deer and if I get excited about him, um,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna kill him. That's that's basically what it is.

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Speaker 1: And that that's because, like I said, I hunt a

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Speaker 1: lot of small fractured properties that I don't get a

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Speaker 1: chance to like follow a buck year after year, Whereas

285
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Speaker 1: if I had, you know, a thousand acres is a

286
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Speaker 1: consecutive you know, good deer hunting ground, that wouldn't be

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Speaker 1: the case. I could find a bucking in June almost

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Speaker 1: every year and follow him all the way until winter. Yeah. Okay,

289
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Speaker 1: so so so let's dive right back into it then.

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Speaker 1: So all this is good to understand your mindset. You

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Speaker 1: went into September the first nine ten days you kind

292
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Speaker 1: of did spend more time trying to kill this buck.

293
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Speaker 1: Didn't work out. Um, walk me through then kind of

294
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Speaker 1: what happened from there, because if I remember right, you

295
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Speaker 1: you were kind of hunting around a little bit there

296
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Speaker 1: was that I think you flooded out a property or

297
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Speaker 1: something so you couldn't hunt him as much, and you

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Speaker 1: started kind of expanding your range out from there, right, yeah,

299
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Speaker 1: or at least September, I was targeting that deer, but

300
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Speaker 1: we had a whole bunch of rain. It rained, like

301
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Speaker 1: I don't know full out of the first ten days,

302
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Speaker 1: and where I hunted is at the end of like

303
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Speaker 1: a minimal maintenance dirt road, and so I literally could

304
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Speaker 1: not get back to the property even if I wanted to.

305
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Speaker 1: I could have, I guess, parked my pick up, like,

306
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Speaker 1: you know, three miles away and walked in there, but

307
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Speaker 1: I just didn't think it was worth it. And at

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Speaker 1: that point in early September, I was starting to see

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Speaker 1: Dan less and less frequently, and so once that didn't

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Speaker 1: happen in those first ten days, um, I kind of

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Speaker 1: thought it was over with for him, maybe until the rout,

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Speaker 1: And so, you know, the beginning of September didn't happen.

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Speaker 1: After that is when I expanded out and I started

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Speaker 1: hunting like my three or four other spots and kind

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Speaker 1: of forgot about Dan, hoping that maybe during the rout

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Speaker 1: he would show up again. So the rest of September

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Speaker 1: and October UM were just like a normal archery hunting

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Speaker 1: season for me. Sometimes I was in the area that

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Speaker 1: Dan was present, um, but I laid. I did actually

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Speaker 1: lay eyes on him one time, and that was October.

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Speaker 1: He was about two hundred yards away UM. I saw

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Speaker 1: him get out of his bed with another buck, and

323
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Speaker 1: they never got closer to me than a few hundred yards.

324
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Speaker 1: But that hunt was important because I saw where Dan

325
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Speaker 1: was betting, and what I learned from that was that

326
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Speaker 1: he was way away in one corner of my property

327
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Speaker 1: that I could not get to without pretty much busting him.

328
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Speaker 1: If I would have had access from some of the

329
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Speaker 1: neighbor's ground, which I tried to get and failed, that

330
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Speaker 1: would have made a difference. I would have been able to,

331
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Speaker 1: you know, have a different entrance and exit when trying

332
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Speaker 1: to kill him. But because of deep before that property

333
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Speaker 1: he was, I just didn't think it was realistic. And

334
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Speaker 1: so that was October fift and after that is when

335
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Speaker 1: I kind of seriously moved on from trying to kill

336
00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:40,080
Speaker 1: him because I didn't think it was practical to just

337
00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,200
Speaker 1: target him. And you know, after that sighting and a

338
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Speaker 1: little bit before that sighting, all of October, I was

339
00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,280
Speaker 1: maybe getting him on camera h like once a week,

340
00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:52,919
Speaker 1: not usually during daylight. And so he was like betting

341
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Speaker 1: on my property and frequently frequenting uh, my property, but

342
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Speaker 1: not enough for me to to just sit around and

343
00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,120
Speaker 1: wait for him to mess up. And and were you

344
00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:08,840
Speaker 1: actively to sounds like but it sounds like there wasn't

345
00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,159
Speaker 1: like the desire to try to zero in on it

346
00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,160
Speaker 1: or to like push it, to like get closer or

347
00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:19,240
Speaker 1: pattern him in any particular way because of because of

348
00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,159
Speaker 1: a you had other options or was it be just

349
00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,080
Speaker 1: because of where you thought he was that it would

350
00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:25,080
Speaker 1: just be too hard to risk you to do that

351
00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:28,960
Speaker 1: or what were your thoughts there? Yeah, other options? Um,

352
00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:31,280
Speaker 1: And because of the corner of the property that he

353
00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:34,000
Speaker 1: was bedded in, I was worried that if I pushed

354
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Speaker 1: him out of there, then he would just be gone

355
00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:38,639
Speaker 1: for good. Then my odds of killing him would go

356
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:42,200
Speaker 1: from like a ten percent chance to a one percent chance.

357
00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:44,879
Speaker 1: And so it just didn't seem worth it to me to,

358
00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,560
Speaker 1: you know, get in there that deep into his little

359
00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:51,800
Speaker 1: hidie hole and push him out of there. What was

360
00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,320
Speaker 1: that hoidy hole? Like, like, what was this area that

361
00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:58,160
Speaker 1: a mature buck in South Dakota would call home. So

362
00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:04,480
Speaker 1: this was a bunch of really thick, plump thickets, UM,

363
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:09,240
Speaker 1: kind of like on the high side of a creek.

364
00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:11,320
Speaker 1: And so there was there a creek that runs through

365
00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:14,359
Speaker 1: the property and there was a pretty steep cut bank

366
00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:16,560
Speaker 1: that he was on top of that cut bank, like

367
00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,960
Speaker 1: on the flatter surface, um and then in the middle

368
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,320
Speaker 1: of a bunch of plump thickets. And so I got

369
00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:26,080
Speaker 1: to I knew there were there were deer that bedded

370
00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:27,879
Speaker 1: in that area, and it's always kind of been a

371
00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:31,679
Speaker 1: sanctuary for them. UM. Kind of forced and by choice,

372
00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:33,960
Speaker 1: because like I said, it's it's super hard to access

373
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Speaker 1: um to kill something. And because I, you know, I

374
00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:41,400
Speaker 1: knew that he was betting over there, then I kind

375
00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:47,120
Speaker 1: of stayed out even more. And so October was speaking

376
00:20:47,119 --> 00:20:50,119
Speaker 1: of him during the season. After that, I hunt had

377
00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:52,080
Speaker 1: a few more times for him. UM. I made a

378
00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,359
Speaker 1: trip to western South Dakota, and late October when I

379
00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,720
Speaker 1: got back, he was on one of my cameras again

380
00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:00,359
Speaker 1: like ten yards in front of all of one of

381
00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:04,280
Speaker 1: my tree stands, hitting his scrape and he was kind

382
00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:09,240
Speaker 1: of starting to make those I don't know, reckless walkabouts

383
00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:12,200
Speaker 1: that they do in October, and so I was getting

384
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,080
Speaker 1: him on camera a few more times in late October

385
00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:17,679
Speaker 1: and early November, but I was never in the right

386
00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:19,520
Speaker 1: place at the right time. And we got to like,

387
00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:23,720
Speaker 1: I think it was November eight or ninth, and I

388
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:26,959
Speaker 1: knew Um, as a lot of bucks do, that he

389
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:31,040
Speaker 1: was probably soon going to like abandon his core area

390
00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,760
Speaker 1: and abandon those patterns that he has, if he had

391
00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:38,359
Speaker 1: not done it already, because of you know, as they

392
00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:40,520
Speaker 1: do during the rout, they'll they'll move around all day

393
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:42,280
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, you can just lose a

394
00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:44,400
Speaker 1: buck for good or have a new buck show up

395
00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,840
Speaker 1: for good, kind of like Frank did for you. And

396
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:50,800
Speaker 1: so we got to that November eight, and it was

397
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,560
Speaker 1: I just hunted that morning, and I decided I was

398
00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,040
Speaker 1: going to go walk into Dan's betting area just to

399
00:21:56,119 --> 00:21:58,320
Speaker 1: see what it was like. And I was okay if

400
00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:01,639
Speaker 1: I pushed him out of there, because uh, you know,

401
00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:05,879
Speaker 1: with the peak of the rut just about to hit us,

402
00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:07,840
Speaker 1: I figured that was as good a time if any

403
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,840
Speaker 1: to UM. I guess Spook came out of there because

404
00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:14,679
Speaker 1: he was probably going to leave anyway. And so I

405
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:18,200
Speaker 1: went walking in there and sure enough, like fifty yards

406
00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:19,679
Speaker 1: in front of me, as I'm trying to crawl through

407
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:21,720
Speaker 1: these plump thickets, he stands up and it was a

408
00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,280
Speaker 1: hundred percent him. I put my binos on him, and

409
00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:26,280
Speaker 1: he turned and looked, and he busted out of there

410
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:28,720
Speaker 1: and it was over with. And then I got to

411
00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:32,920
Speaker 1: like really really investigate his betting area. And you once

412
00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:35,040
Speaker 1: I got in there, you could just smell like a

413
00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:37,399
Speaker 1: running buck was in there. He was with another bucket

414
00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:39,840
Speaker 1: as well, um, and he was just full of robs

415
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:42,679
Speaker 1: and scrapes. Uh. And you could see why he was

416
00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:45,600
Speaker 1: so comfortable in there. And it also confirmed for me

417
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,359
Speaker 1: why I wasn't able to hunt him there. Uh. It

418
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:50,639
Speaker 1: was just so loud with those plump thickets trying to

419
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,639
Speaker 1: get in there, and the topography uh windsworld really bad

420
00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:57,920
Speaker 1: that trying to approach from any direction just would not work.

421
00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:00,600
Speaker 1: And so I learned a lot from that. Even though

422
00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:02,480
Speaker 1: I bumped him out of there, and I was okay

423
00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,520
Speaker 1: with it, like I said, because uh, you know, it

424
00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:09,600
Speaker 1: was about to be November nine November, he was probably

425
00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:14,879
Speaker 1: going to you know, leave my property anyway at that point. Interesting,

426
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:20,359
Speaker 1: so I saw wors better. A lot of people when

427
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:22,760
Speaker 1: they bump a buck out of its bad. I think

428
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:24,760
Speaker 1: there's you know, try to take advantage of that and

429
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:27,000
Speaker 1: try like the old bumping dump technique where you say,

430
00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:28,480
Speaker 1: all right, I spooked him out of here, but I

431
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,919
Speaker 1: know exactly where he was betted, and they tried setting

432
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,520
Speaker 1: up like right over it. We're very close to it,

433
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:35,600
Speaker 1: and hope it maybe he'll come back one more time.

434
00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:38,439
Speaker 1: Did you try anything like that or think about that? Um?

435
00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:41,960
Speaker 1: Or if not, what did you do? Yeah? I considered it,

436
00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:45,080
Speaker 1: and um that was when I tried to get permission

437
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:49,520
Speaker 1: again to access you know, from the neighboring properties, and

438
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,239
Speaker 1: it didn't work out, and so I just thought at

439
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,320
Speaker 1: that point, Uh, I'm just gonna stay out of here,

440
00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:59,359
Speaker 1: because um, this is important context to it. I had

441
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:03,200
Speaker 1: a rifle egg that was opening about ten days from then,

442
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,359
Speaker 1: and with that rifle tag, I would be able to

443
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:08,960
Speaker 1: set up, you know a few hundred yards away, and

444
00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:11,560
Speaker 1: if he was still using that betting area, I'd be

445
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,480
Speaker 1: able to kill him from there, rather than having to

446
00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:17,600
Speaker 1: be right on top of him in his bedroom. Uh,

447
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:19,439
Speaker 1: you know, set up to try to kill him at

448
00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:22,520
Speaker 1: at twelve yards or whatever. So because I had that

449
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:26,159
Speaker 1: rifle tag, coming up and I could make some safer

450
00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:29,119
Speaker 1: setups for him. Um. That was another reason that I

451
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,959
Speaker 1: decided not to come back and try to kill him

452
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,960
Speaker 1: with my bow in that spot. Yeah. That definitely. That

453
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:37,120
Speaker 1: definitely helps know you can reach out there a little

454
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,359
Speaker 1: bit soon. UM. Did you have any worries were there

455
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,200
Speaker 1: any other guys or girls around their hunting that we're

456
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:45,800
Speaker 1: hunting this deer too, or we're close enough that they

457
00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:47,720
Speaker 1: could have or did you have to worry about that

458
00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:52,480
Speaker 1: kind of influence? Yeah? Um, And I learned this after

459
00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:54,960
Speaker 1: I killed him. There's some public ground in the area,

460
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,680
Speaker 1: um that gets hunted quite a bit, and there was

461
00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:00,280
Speaker 1: a few different guys on there who had paid extus

462
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:02,200
Speaker 1: of the deer just in the middle of the night.

463
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:04,920
Speaker 1: I don't think they were serious threats to kill him

464
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:07,760
Speaker 1: because of uh, you know how far away from his

465
00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:10,920
Speaker 1: betting that was, but they were aware of him. Um.

466
00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:14,880
Speaker 1: And then where he was betting. He was using three

467
00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:20,080
Speaker 1: different properties regularly, My property and then the two properties

468
00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:22,560
Speaker 1: that butt up against this corner, and both of those

469
00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:26,280
Speaker 1: properties have multiple rifle hunters. Nobody bow hunts them, but

470
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:29,679
Speaker 1: there are multiple rifle hunters. So I definitely had a

471
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:34,000
Speaker 1: fear that you know, come rifle season, nobody in in

472
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:37,359
Speaker 1: our deer hunting neighborhood would turn down that buck if

473
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,600
Speaker 1: given the chance to kill him. And so, um, I

474
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:44,640
Speaker 1: wasn't super confident that he would make it through rifle season. Yeah.

475
00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:48,000
Speaker 1: So okay, So given that context, then you've got other

476
00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,920
Speaker 1: rifle hunters all around, but you also think you could

477
00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:54,440
Speaker 1: get a shot at him during rifle season. What what

478
00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 1: was your strategy once he went into that period? So

479
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:04,000
Speaker 1: we got to UH rifle season, and like my UH

480
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,199
Speaker 1: strategy for rifle hunting is I always set up at

481
00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 1: the highest spot that I can or where I have

482
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:12,439
Speaker 1: the best where I have the best bandage point, and

483
00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:14,400
Speaker 1: then if I see something I don't want to go after,

484
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:17,399
Speaker 1: it could be eight hundred yards away or four hundred

485
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:20,720
Speaker 1: yards away or whatever, um, then I will approach it

486
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:26,000
Speaker 1: um try to get a shot. And that is always

487
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,560
Speaker 1: been really successful for me, is to just get high,

488
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:30,439
Speaker 1: see a bunch of or find something I want to

489
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,159
Speaker 1: go after, and then go after it. And so that

490
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,359
Speaker 1: was my strategy to for hunting. Dan on opening morning

491
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:38,840
Speaker 1: got to a really high spot was set up about

492
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,280
Speaker 1: from his betting area that I could see like the

493
00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:45,240
Speaker 1: entire plump thicket. If he came in there from any direction,

494
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:48,000
Speaker 1: I would know, and then I could get closer UM

495
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,159
Speaker 1: and try to get a shot at him. So opening morning,

496
00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:53,399
Speaker 1: that's what I did, and I never saw him. He

497
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,800
Speaker 1: never came into that betting area. And at that point

498
00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:02,000
Speaker 1: it was mid November. The act date was like November

499
00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:06,439
Speaker 1: November seventeenth, I believe, And so that was you know,

500
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,480
Speaker 1: like I spoke to before, the deck kind of gets

501
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,520
Speaker 1: reshuffled at that point because bucks lose their minds and

502
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:15,760
Speaker 1: they started, you know, changing up where they're betting. And

503
00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:18,159
Speaker 1: you know, a deer that you followed all year can

504
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:20,120
Speaker 1: all of a sudden just disappear. And so I thought

505
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:23,120
Speaker 1: that's what happened with Dan. So opening morning, I did

506
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 1: not see him. Opening night, I set up in a

507
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,280
Speaker 1: different area, and about five minutes into my haunted doll

508
00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:36,280
Speaker 1: came running by with like a hunter and in four

509
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:39,679
Speaker 1: by four following him, following the doll, and I shot

510
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:41,760
Speaker 1: that buck with my rifle and I put my rifle

511
00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:43,720
Speaker 1: tag on it. Uh, And I was super choked about

512
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:45,439
Speaker 1: that deer. It was a deer that I had a

513
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:49,879
Speaker 1: little bit of history with. Um. Coincidentally, a lot of

514
00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:51,920
Speaker 1: the pictures that I had of him were when he

515
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:56,520
Speaker 1: was with Dan, So, uh, there was a connection there, um.

516
00:27:56,600 --> 00:27:59,440
Speaker 1: And that was then my rifle season. I tagged out

517
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,280
Speaker 1: opening that the opening day of rifle season on a

518
00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:05,480
Speaker 1: different book, and so I didn't really give myself a

519
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,399
Speaker 1: chance to uh target Dan more than that. And it

520
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:10,280
Speaker 1: kind of goes back to what we talked about how

521
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:13,160
Speaker 1: you know, I was aware of Dan and it influenced

522
00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:16,480
Speaker 1: some of my hunts, but overall my goal was never to,

523
00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:20,359
Speaker 1: you know, make my season about just killing Dan. So

524
00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:23,840
Speaker 1: you kill this buck now you're still have an archery

525
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:28,000
Speaker 1: tag though, Um, and you went to Kentucky, Like, what's

526
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,080
Speaker 1: the fact because you told us about the Kentucky hunt?

527
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:34,880
Speaker 1: You kill another deer somewhere? Um? Can you fast forward

528
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,320
Speaker 1: us from that point to when you next really started

529
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:41,040
Speaker 1: thinking about Dan again? Yeah, So we brought this up

530
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,640
Speaker 1: on the radio before. I had a muzzleloader tag for

531
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 1: South Dakota. That is hard to draw. It took me

532
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:49,440
Speaker 1: like nine points to draw it. And with that muzzler tag,

533
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:52,080
Speaker 1: it's good for the entire month of December, it's good

534
00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:54,600
Speaker 1: for the entire state. And so I kind of looked

535
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,800
Speaker 1: at that is my next chance to kill Dan if

536
00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,880
Speaker 1: Dan was still around, and so December one came, and

537
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,320
Speaker 1: from there up until the twenty one, which is when

538
00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,680
Speaker 1: I killed him, I had probably haunted between twenty and

539
00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:12,840
Speaker 1: twenty five times in the mornings and evenings, um, and

540
00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:16,160
Speaker 1: about half of those sits were specifically for Dan, and

541
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:20,360
Speaker 1: the other half were just to kill any buck. Because

542
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:22,880
Speaker 1: this property is not big enough for me to put

543
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: all my time and energy into just killing Dan. Um.

544
00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:28,800
Speaker 1: I couldn't do that. Otherwise I would have haunted, you know,

545
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:34,840
Speaker 1: straight times for Dan. And so during that time, I

546
00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:37,440
Speaker 1: thought I laid my eyes on Dan at one point

547
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:41,120
Speaker 1: on like December six, but I just couldn't get close enough.

548
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 1: Our muzzleloader season, the regulation is open sites or one

549
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:50,200
Speaker 1: power scope, and so with that your effective ranges like

550
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:54,160
Speaker 1: hundred yards. Basically, Um, if you've never shot open sites

551
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:58,120
Speaker 1: with the muzzleloader through one power scope, uh, it's really tough.

552
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,320
Speaker 1: And so it had Uh it kind of changed my

553
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:04,360
Speaker 1: hunting sun as well, because, like I said before, when

554
00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:06,440
Speaker 1: I rifle hunt, I would just get to a high spot.

555
00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 1: If I see something five yards away, I can move

556
00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,600
Speaker 1: into position and kill it. But as I learned with

557
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,000
Speaker 1: this muzzleloader tag you know, all of a sudden, these

558
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:15,680
Speaker 1: deer grouped up and there in the groups of like

559
00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:18,240
Speaker 1: twenty and so there's forty different eyeballs. If you see

560
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:21,160
Speaker 1: something you want to go after, that's not necessarily a

561
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:25,560
Speaker 1: done deal because you have to you know, approach one buck,

562
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:30,280
Speaker 1: but when he is hanging out with like nineteen other deer,

563
00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:32,640
Speaker 1: and so that makes it really tough trying to get

564
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 1: with him in one hundred yards to make that shot.

565
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:36,360
Speaker 1: And this is something I talked about with you, Mark

566
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:40,360
Speaker 1: that it really uh changed how I had to, you know,

567
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:44,000
Speaker 1: try to fill this tag. Yeah, because you were saying,

568
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:46,320
Speaker 1: like you usually hunt one of two ways. Either hunt

569
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:47,920
Speaker 1: the way you just describe, which is like your rifle

570
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,960
Speaker 1: hunting style or your bow hunting in which you're setting

571
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 1: up for you know, twenty yard shots or thirty yard

572
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,080
Speaker 1: shots or ten yard shots whatever it is, um from

573
00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:57,920
Speaker 1: a tree stand. So you have there's like two different

574
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,440
Speaker 1: ways you typically hunt. And the muzzle loader option though,

575
00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:05,200
Speaker 1: was kind of this weird in between area. UM. So

576
00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:06,880
Speaker 1: you told me at first you kind of approached it

577
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:09,360
Speaker 1: as as the rifle hunt, and then you very quickly realized,

578
00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:11,880
Speaker 1: as you just described, there are certain challenges that aren't

579
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,880
Speaker 1: going to make that work. So then the next thing

580
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:16,800
Speaker 1: I heard from you, you said that you were going

581
00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,480
Speaker 1: to start approaching a little bit more like a bow hunt. Again,

582
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:21,480
Speaker 1: is that what you end up doing or what did you?

583
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,200
Speaker 1: Uh So, I still didn't want to limit myself to

584
00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:26,880
Speaker 1: the point of being in a tree stand where I

585
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:29,520
Speaker 1: only had lanes that I could shoot two thirty yards

586
00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:32,720
Speaker 1: or whatever. I felt that would be too limiting for me. UM.

587
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,360
Speaker 1: And so what I started doing was I almost was

588
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:39,240
Speaker 1: only hunting evenings at this point, and I was setting

589
00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,560
Speaker 1: up on field edgies in a ground blind UM where

590
00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:45,560
Speaker 1: if something came out of you know where I thought

591
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:48,280
Speaker 1: they would enter the field, I would have between a

592
00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:53,240
Speaker 1: you know, se and two yards shot somewhere in there.

593
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,640
Speaker 1: And so that that all changed for me about mid December,

594
00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:01,880
Speaker 1: when I made the switch to haunting that style. What happened?

595
00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:06,320
Speaker 1: Uh So at this point I didn't really know if

596
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:08,480
Speaker 1: Dan was even around. I had pulled a lot of

597
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:11,480
Speaker 1: my trailer cameras UM. The one siding I had had,

598
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:13,840
Speaker 1: the one siding I had of him was way back

599
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:17,120
Speaker 1: in early December. UM, and then I had to take off.

600
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:18,840
Speaker 1: I was gone for a week by the time I

601
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,680
Speaker 1: came back, a lot of things had changed, where there

602
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:23,719
Speaker 1: was no longer snow on the ground. We had some

603
00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:26,520
Speaker 1: like a stretch of really warm days that all of

604
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:29,680
Speaker 1: a sudden the deer were not forced to like be

605
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:35,080
Speaker 1: up in cut beans and cut corn anymore. And so

606
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:41,040
Speaker 1: my uh goals or like I I moved the field

607
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 1: goal pulse again in that at this point I was

608
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:47,200
Speaker 1: willing to kill like anything over ten inches all of

609
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:51,120
Speaker 1: a sudden because the clock was taking um. Things were

610
00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:53,160
Speaker 1: not in my favor as far as me seeing many

611
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:58,680
Speaker 1: mature bucks or like having uh great late season properties

612
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:02,800
Speaker 1: to to target them off, and so like going into

613
00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:06,560
Speaker 1: the night that I killed that dear Dan. It was December.

614
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,000
Speaker 1: I had set up in my ground blind on a

615
00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:13,280
Speaker 1: field edge of cut beans with kind of a questionable wind,

616
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:16,160
Speaker 1: and I was doing that again because the clock was

617
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:20,120
Speaker 1: taking um and my goals had kind of changed. I

618
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:22,080
Speaker 1: was willing to shoot a buck that maybe it wasn't

619
00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:26,200
Speaker 1: even a mature buck anymore. And that evening, with about

620
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:29,880
Speaker 1: thirty minutes of daylight left from behind me, I see

621
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:33,280
Speaker 1: a buck coming to the field and he was limping

622
00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:37,240
Speaker 1: really badly. UM, and I pulled up my binos on him,

623
00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:39,000
Speaker 1: and I saw that it was a big five by five,

624
00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:42,320
Speaker 1: and gially like I was like, I'm gonna shoot this year.

625
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:45,000
Speaker 1: I didn't even have time to but I didn't really

626
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 1: take the time to investigate and confirm that it was

627
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:51,680
Speaker 1: Dan because I didn't care. It was a mature buck. Um.

628
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:53,080
Speaker 1: It was one of the bigger ones that I had

629
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:57,880
Speaker 1: seen this year, and it was actually looking like he

630
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:01,520
Speaker 1: would be within muzloader range. Oh, it was no doubt

631
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:03,600
Speaker 1: about it. I was going to kill this year given

632
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,680
Speaker 1: the chance. And he limped in from probably like two

633
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:10,800
Speaker 1: d fifty yards to a hundred and thirty yards, and

634
00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:13,319
Speaker 1: that was where I decided I was going to pull

635
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,399
Speaker 1: the trigger. I would have liked to been a little

636
00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:16,920
Speaker 1: bit closer, and I think he would have came a

637
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:19,080
Speaker 1: little bit closer, but the wind was starting to shift

638
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:23,480
Speaker 1: again that pretty soon he was going to be having

639
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:27,040
Speaker 1: my sent conen right in his face. And so I

640
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:29,680
Speaker 1: shot him at a hundred thirty yards and he dropped

641
00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:33,160
Speaker 1: in his tracks and I got up to him and

642
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:35,800
Speaker 1: he only had one antler on his head at that point,

643
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,359
Speaker 1: where the whole time that I had been watching him

644
00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:40,239
Speaker 1: for like this five or ten minutes that he was

645
00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:42,279
Speaker 1: hanging out in the field. He had two antlers, but

646
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:46,040
Speaker 1: not too far away, just like three ft away, was

647
00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:50,879
Speaker 1: laying his other handler crazy. Yeah, And I still at

648
00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,319
Speaker 1: that point did not even know it was Dan. I

649
00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 1: was just looking at him and like Dan's number one

650
00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:59,040
Speaker 1: feature was he spread, And so when he dropped that

651
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:03,880
Speaker 1: other antler, I could tell like how big he really was. Um.

652
00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:07,160
Speaker 1: And Dan also had a split brow that at this

653
00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:09,280
Speaker 1: point he had broken off, and so that was another

654
00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:12,239
Speaker 1: reason that immediately I didn't think this was Dan. He

655
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,160
Speaker 1: was missing the split brow. I couldn't tell how wide

656
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:18,040
Speaker 1: he was, and so I just thought I killed a

657
00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:23,719
Speaker 1: good mature buck until I started investigating a little bit more. So, Well, yeah,

658
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:27,040
Speaker 1: so you grabbed the other antler, you stick it on

659
00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:28,759
Speaker 1: his head to try to see what the steer would

660
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:31,120
Speaker 1: have looked like, Well, what did you think when you

661
00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:35,440
Speaker 1: finally realized this who this deer was. Yeah, I was like, oh,

662
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:38,160
Speaker 1: this is a giant. I think this is Dan. And

663
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:42,080
Speaker 1: he also had um like these really far back set

664
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:44,560
Speaker 1: g two's that a few other bucks that I've seen

665
00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 1: this year have And then that's something that seems to

666
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:49,520
Speaker 1: kind of be and like our gene pool is those

667
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:52,880
Speaker 1: way setback G twos and with that and the spread,

668
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:54,960
Speaker 1: I'm like this, this has to be him. And so

669
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:56,799
Speaker 1: I started looking at the brows a little bit more

670
00:35:56,840 --> 00:35:59,360
Speaker 1: and I could see where he broke off that split

671
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:03,120
Speaker 1: brow tie. Um and then like that was when like

672
00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:05,680
Speaker 1: the buck fever, I guess kind of got me. I

673
00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:10,319
Speaker 1: started shaking because that was when I realized that I

674
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:14,040
Speaker 1: had just killed Dan. Okay, before we go any further,

675
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:16,640
Speaker 1: I want to take a quick second here to thank

676
00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:20,360
Speaker 1: our friends over at white Tail Properties and to plug

677
00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:22,640
Speaker 1: one of their land beat videos. And this one's actually

678
00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:26,320
Speaker 1: from last spring, but it's becoming very relevant again because

679
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:29,560
Speaker 1: most of our hunting seasons are just about to wrap up.

680
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 1: And what happens right after hunting season ends is that

681
00:36:32,719 --> 00:36:37,080
Speaker 1: postseason scouting begins, and that's what this video is all about.

682
00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:40,240
Speaker 1: So going over to the white Tail Properties YouTube channel,

683
00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:42,239
Speaker 1: make sure you're subscribed to that. They've got lots of

684
00:36:42,239 --> 00:36:45,160
Speaker 1: good videos there, but this one in particular is called

685
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:49,080
Speaker 1: post Season Scouting, very simple title, and my buddy Alex

686
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:51,640
Speaker 1: actually walks through some great advice when it comes to

687
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:53,800
Speaker 1: this kind of stuff. So check that one out, highly

688
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:56,680
Speaker 1: recommend it and um, as the new year, begins, I

689
00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:58,560
Speaker 1: surely will be getting out there in the woods. Hopefully

690
00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:00,960
Speaker 1: we'll be too, because there's a lot to learn at

691
00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:03,360
Speaker 1: this time of year. And speaking of learning, if you

692
00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:05,840
Speaker 1: do want to learn more about White Tailed Properties, you

693
00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:08,640
Speaker 1: can head on over to white Tail Properties dot com

694
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:11,799
Speaker 1: to see lots of interesting things there too. Now back

695
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:15,280
Speaker 1: to the show, So, I mean, do that feel again?

696
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:17,440
Speaker 1: I go back to I keep on trying to understand

697
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:23,200
Speaker 1: your mindset around you know, your your target choices here.

698
00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:25,680
Speaker 1: Did it feel any differently than having killed this dearly?

699
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 1: It sounds like when you realize what dear this was,

700
00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:31,160
Speaker 1: your emotions change. You said buck fever hit then, So

701
00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:34,120
Speaker 1: why did it feel different? Then? Was it? Was it

702
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:38,480
Speaker 1: feel Was it more special in some way because of

703
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:41,080
Speaker 1: this fact that you knew the deer or something? Or no,

704
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:43,800
Speaker 1: it was just like while this is a giant, Uh

705
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:46,840
Speaker 1: yeah it was. It was definitely more special. Um. I

706
00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:51,360
Speaker 1: mean this is like one of you know, my favorite

707
00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,279
Speaker 1: haunting moments I've ever had, because like the story of

708
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:57,440
Speaker 1: him goes all the way back until June, and so

709
00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:00,960
Speaker 1: I can only feel difference than had this just been

710
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:04,880
Speaker 1: another deer that I hadn't ever seen before? So that

711
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 1: was really exciting to me. Um, But again because of

712
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:12,759
Speaker 1: the properties that I hunt and UM, like how how

713
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 1: some of those pieces of ground set up. It's just

714
00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:17,800
Speaker 1: really really hard for me to to set my sides

715
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:20,360
Speaker 1: on one buck from the summer and try to follow

716
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:23,120
Speaker 1: him all through the year. Um, I would consider Dan

717
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:27,040
Speaker 1: to be an anomaly for me. And so, like, if

718
00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:29,080
Speaker 1: you're wondering if this changes how I'm going to hunt

719
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,560
Speaker 1: in the future, No, I don't think so. This this

720
00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:34,920
Speaker 1: was definitely more special, um. And and you know, I

721
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:38,680
Speaker 1: loved every minute of the pursuit that lasted like five

722
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,560
Speaker 1: or six months. But I don't think it's going to

723
00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:46,040
Speaker 1: change like how I hunt in the future. Okay, Now,

724
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:49,440
Speaker 1: outside of that, outside of like the fact this is

725
00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:51,360
Speaker 1: that first buck you've been able to kind of follow

726
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:53,120
Speaker 1: over a month's long period of time and get a

727
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:57,520
Speaker 1: shot at Um, did anything else about this hunt stand

728
00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:00,520
Speaker 1: out to you now afterwards as as like a a

729
00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:03,560
Speaker 1: learning moment or some kind of takeaway lesson coming out

730
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:05,640
Speaker 1: of the two thousand and eighteen season, whether that's in

731
00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:08,239
Speaker 1: relation to the hunt for Dan or or anything else.

732
00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:11,160
Speaker 1: I guess this year, Um, what do you think that'd be?

733
00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:16,080
Speaker 1: Um Man, I don't know, like like you had said

734
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:20,040
Speaker 1: with Frank, like just because that dear had huge head gear,

735
00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:23,160
Speaker 1: it didn't really change like how you were hunting. It

736
00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:27,360
Speaker 1: just so happened that, you know, Frank had massive antlers

737
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:29,719
Speaker 1: on his head, and so that's kind of the same

738
00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:33,480
Speaker 1: case with Dan. I'm not sure that I come away

739
00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:36,800
Speaker 1: with like any I don't feel like I did anything

740
00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:41,120
Speaker 1: different really, Um two that got me to this point

741
00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:45,719
Speaker 1: where I killed that deer five days ago. Um Yeah,

742
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:48,640
Speaker 1: I'm not sure there's like one really big takeaway from me.

743
00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:51,839
Speaker 1: I think I'm largely like the same hunter that I

744
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:56,640
Speaker 1: was in seventeen as I was in eighteen. I don't

745
00:39:56,640 --> 00:40:00,600
Speaker 1: think there was like naha moment that I made at

746
00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:02,200
Speaker 1: this point where I was able to kill that deer.

747
00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:06,600
Speaker 1: Outside of that deer. Looking at your entire season, is

748
00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:11,440
Speaker 1: there anything that you're gonna do differently next year because

749
00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:13,640
Speaker 1: of something that happened this year, whether it was Dan

750
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:15,319
Speaker 1: or any of the other box or any of your

751
00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,759
Speaker 1: other hunts or any of your other trips. Was there

752
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:19,560
Speaker 1: anything that happened this year that you're saying, you know,

753
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:21,720
Speaker 1: next year because of this thing that happened, or because

754
00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:24,760
Speaker 1: of that thing I learned, or because of this, Aha,

755
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:28,680
Speaker 1: whatever can you can you envision anything next year that

756
00:40:28,719 --> 00:40:33,480
Speaker 1: you're a tweak at all? Um, I think I needed

757
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:37,000
Speaker 1: to get better with my running gun setups. That's something

758
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:40,960
Speaker 1: that I recently added to my to my arsenal, But

759
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:43,480
Speaker 1: it's something that I need to get better and more

760
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:46,840
Speaker 1: comfortable with. Because had I done that and I was

761
00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:49,800
Speaker 1: more willing to do some of these running gun setups,

762
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:51,640
Speaker 1: I think I would have had a chance at killing

763
00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:55,799
Speaker 1: Dan maybe in late October, um, because I was like

764
00:40:55,920 --> 00:41:00,120
Speaker 1: sometimes getting information that was just you know, a a

765
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:02,120
Speaker 1: old or something. If I would check a camera and

766
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:05,080
Speaker 1: see that he had been on there. Um. You know,

767
00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:07,880
Speaker 1: if I was more fluent with my running gun setups,

768
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:10,640
Speaker 1: I think I maybe would have had a better chance

769
00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:12,480
Speaker 1: at killing him or maybe maybe like when I kicked

770
00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:16,040
Speaker 1: him out of the bed um in in you know,

771
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:19,839
Speaker 1: early November. If I'd be more confident that I can

772
00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:21,960
Speaker 1: get in there and set up like in the dark

773
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:25,239
Speaker 1: for example, before daylight, or set up and know that

774
00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:28,919
Speaker 1: I'm going to be really quiet and not bust anything. Um,

775
00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:31,560
Speaker 1: I think that would have been like a game changer

776
00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:34,719
Speaker 1: for me. And so I guess that's something that I

777
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:37,239
Speaker 1: kind of realized I need to get better at is

778
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:40,040
Speaker 1: doing those hanging hunts. Yeah, it's good. That's a good point.

779
00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:42,600
Speaker 1: That definitely is a great tool to have in the chest,

780
00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:46,279
Speaker 1: no doubt about that. Um So, this is this is

781
00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:50,319
Speaker 1: another interesting thing. I just kind of noticed when I

782
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,359
Speaker 1: was thinking about this deer in your hunt. You had

783
00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:57,000
Speaker 1: this er this year, this was currently If I'm wrong,

784
00:41:57,040 --> 00:42:00,319
Speaker 1: but this is the last buck tag that you will

785
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:04,680
Speaker 1: have filled as a South Dakota resident because you are

786
00:42:04,719 --> 00:42:06,600
Speaker 1: moving to Montana. I don't know if this is a

787
00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:08,640
Speaker 1: public thing, and I hopefully don't mind me sharing this,

788
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:14,040
Speaker 1: uh but but I think people probably have noticed. Right

789
00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:15,719
Speaker 1: you're part of the meat eat or team. Now you're

790
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:19,520
Speaker 1: moving to Montana. Um So this is your last residents

791
00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:23,160
Speaker 1: South Dakota hunting season. How does that make you feel?

792
00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:25,600
Speaker 1: Is this like a sad or bitter sweet? Or is

793
00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:27,480
Speaker 1: this like the perfect way to end the year or

794
00:42:27,520 --> 00:42:30,400
Speaker 1: your your period as a resident. Maybe someday will return,

795
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:33,000
Speaker 1: of course, but for the for the short term, where's

796
00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:36,439
Speaker 1: your head and heart at? Um Well, I definitely didn't

797
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:39,720
Speaker 1: want to leave South Dakota. Um I'm leaving South Dakota

798
00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:43,439
Speaker 1: be as I think meat Eater is amazing. I wasn't

799
00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:47,440
Speaker 1: looking to to leave this state because I know, UM,

800
00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:50,120
Speaker 1: like the opportunities that I'm blessed with two hunt here

801
00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:52,879
Speaker 1: for white tails. Like we've talked about before, Mark, there's

802
00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:57,200
Speaker 1: some years where if you play your cards right, you

803
00:42:57,200 --> 00:42:59,720
Speaker 1: can gain the system and end up with like six

804
00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:03,279
Speaker 1: buck tags. And so, Uh, I am leaving to go

805
00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:07,399
Speaker 1: to Montana because I think meat eater is an awesome opportunity.

806
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:11,920
Speaker 1: So I was not like looking forward to losing my

807
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,440
Speaker 1: residency here. You know, it was really bummed about it

808
00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:15,960
Speaker 1: because now all of a sudden, is a nonresident, I

809
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:19,000
Speaker 1: can only get a couple of buck tags, and like

810
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:23,040
Speaker 1: in in my core area of hunting in the southeastern

811
00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:25,600
Speaker 1: corner of the state, it's even harder for a non

812
00:43:25,640 --> 00:43:28,840
Speaker 1: resident to be able to hunt there outside of UH

813
00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:33,320
Speaker 1: with a bow. And so because I am like losing

814
00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:36,080
Speaker 1: my residency, this is the perfect way to go out though,

815
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:40,600
Speaker 1: um hunting up here UM in a different way, you know,

816
00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:43,520
Speaker 1: because I got to see him in June, kill him

817
00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:47,880
Speaker 1: in December with a different weapon being my muzzleloader. UM,

818
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:49,879
Speaker 1: and then just kind of everything else that that went

819
00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:53,560
Speaker 1: into him with him shedding that antler when happened, because

820
00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:55,680
Speaker 1: I have to go out. This is a good way

821
00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:58,320
Speaker 1: for and for that to end. Yeah. Yeah, you couldn't

822
00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:00,360
Speaker 1: write it up much better, I don't think. And and

823
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:03,000
Speaker 1: the good news is that while your story is ending

824
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:06,160
Speaker 1: in South Dakota, I haven't told you yet, yeah, Spencer,

825
00:44:06,239 --> 00:44:08,880
Speaker 1: but I actually have been putting feelers out in southeast

826
00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:12,759
Speaker 1: South Dakota. Got permission on a property. D got killed

827
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:14,640
Speaker 1: there this year and like another like maybe high one

828
00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:17,319
Speaker 1: fifties or one six why ten pointer got killed there.

829
00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:19,520
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna be hunting there next year. I'm really

830
00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:23,120
Speaker 1: excited about it. I think it's gonna be great. I'll

831
00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:27,919
Speaker 1: tell you how it goes. Yeah, yeah, So I will

832
00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:30,400
Speaker 1: be coming back here for sure to to hunt with

833
00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:33,799
Speaker 1: my bow. Um, but you know it won't be the same,

834
00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:37,479
Speaker 1: so I will. Yeah, I'll be back in this area

835
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:39,200
Speaker 1: and into some of the year that I've seen this

836
00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:41,360
Speaker 1: year in the last few years. I'll still get a

837
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,200
Speaker 1: chance to hunt, but rather than it being an entire

838
00:44:44,239 --> 00:44:46,960
Speaker 1: season from September September, it's probably gonna just be like

839
00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:50,960
Speaker 1: a five day stretch in early November. Yeah, that'll be different.

840
00:44:51,200 --> 00:44:54,439
Speaker 1: But I'm sure you'll have all sorts of all sorts

841
00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:57,640
Speaker 1: of cool opportunities coming at you Montana to a hunter

842
00:44:57,680 --> 00:44:59,680
Speaker 1: of paradise. So I'm sure we'll have stories from you

843
00:44:59,760 --> 00:45:03,600
Speaker 1: next year about that. I guess, yeah, yeah, I guess

844
00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:07,640
Speaker 1: I will just say I think I said this already,

845
00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:12,120
Speaker 1: but if not, congratulations Like that is that's an awesome story,

846
00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:14,560
Speaker 1: an awesome buck, and it's been fun to get to

847
00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:17,200
Speaker 1: follow along and to see it all come together this way.

848
00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:21,000
Speaker 1: Is it's just like you said, it's special. Um, I'm

849
00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:24,239
Speaker 1: I'm obviously anyone who's listening to podcast knows that I'm

850
00:45:24,239 --> 00:45:26,560
Speaker 1: a sucker about going all in, or at least kind

851
00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:28,680
Speaker 1: of all in on on these bucks. I really get

852
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:32,040
Speaker 1: charged about figuring out one specific deer and and getting

853
00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:34,120
Speaker 1: to see you dabble in. That was kind of fun

854
00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:39,880
Speaker 1: from the outside. So big congratsman, And um, I guess

855
00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:43,600
Speaker 1: you know that's just popped in my head. I it's

856
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:45,640
Speaker 1: not related to you at all. But speaking of these

857
00:45:45,680 --> 00:45:49,600
Speaker 1: bucks that um that we follow, sometimes a year after year,

858
00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:51,719
Speaker 1: one of the bucks that I was hoping to hunt

859
00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:54,520
Speaker 1: next year got killed. Did you see that? I did

860
00:45:54,520 --> 00:45:57,960
Speaker 1: see that survivor? Yeah, that buck I was calling survivor.

861
00:45:58,040 --> 00:46:00,680
Speaker 1: He was he was a buck last year. I thought

862
00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:03,080
Speaker 1: he was a three year old, um, and so I

863
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:04,680
Speaker 1: was thinking he might be a four year old this year.

864
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:07,200
Speaker 1: It might be a deer out hunt. Um. But once

865
00:46:07,239 --> 00:46:08,880
Speaker 1: he showed up again this year and I started getting

866
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:11,399
Speaker 1: pictures and seeing him, I kind of was like, man,

867
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:13,960
Speaker 1: that he just does not look like he has the

868
00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:15,840
Speaker 1: body size of a four year old. Now, of course,

869
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:20,280
Speaker 1: estimating a deer's age is a it's it's not science.

870
00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:22,920
Speaker 1: It's it's a guestimation as best as possibly can on

871
00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:27,040
Speaker 1: the hoof. Um, taking the factors like body size and history,

872
00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:29,160
Speaker 1: you can sometimes get a decent guest So I don't

873
00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:31,480
Speaker 1: know for sure. But my best guess was that I

874
00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:33,640
Speaker 1: was wrong last year, that he was probably just a

875
00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:35,600
Speaker 1: good looking two year old last year and probably just

876
00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:38,160
Speaker 1: a kind of average looking three year old this year.

877
00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:40,319
Speaker 1: So then I was passing on him this year, hoping

878
00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:44,160
Speaker 1: he'd make it to next year. Now um, and he was.

879
00:46:44,239 --> 00:46:46,640
Speaker 1: He was like that most visible deer like Frank was

880
00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:49,920
Speaker 1: visible for that small period time. And then there's this

881
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:51,680
Speaker 1: buck that I that I called Survivor, and then it's

882
00:46:51,719 --> 00:46:53,319
Speaker 1: one of the tall eight point. Those two were like

883
00:46:53,320 --> 00:46:55,560
Speaker 1: the two three year old that were quite pretty visible

884
00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:59,200
Speaker 1: and kept seeing him, kept getting pictures and got all

885
00:46:59,239 --> 00:47:01,120
Speaker 1: the way through the guns season and got into the

886
00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:03,640
Speaker 1: muzzle over season. I was thinking, man, like, we're right there,

887
00:47:03,719 --> 00:47:06,320
Speaker 1: like they're gonna make it. I'll have to deer, hopefully

888
00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:08,239
Speaker 1: on this this little area I can hunt next year.

889
00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:10,120
Speaker 1: I was really excited about that and starting to like

890
00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:12,640
Speaker 1: maybe get over confident in my head, like usually there's

891
00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:15,400
Speaker 1: only other one. There's only ever one deer that's a

892
00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:19,680
Speaker 1: that's over four, or that's four or older if and

893
00:47:19,719 --> 00:47:21,759
Speaker 1: now I'm thinking, man, I'm gonna have two next year.

894
00:47:21,800 --> 00:47:23,359
Speaker 1: This is gonna be great. And both of those deer

895
00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:26,520
Speaker 1: I've seen for multiple years. And then uh yeah, I

896
00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:28,759
Speaker 1: counted my chickens before they hatched. Because in the last

897
00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:32,960
Speaker 1: day of muzzlo or season, UM survivor got got hit,

898
00:47:33,200 --> 00:47:37,200
Speaker 1: got shot, so he's done. He got shot by a

899
00:47:37,239 --> 00:47:40,719
Speaker 1: neighbor UM who I ended up seeing him on the property.

900
00:47:40,920 --> 00:47:43,239
Speaker 1: Saw he was tracking the deer. Track the deer onto

901
00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:45,839
Speaker 1: the farm. I can hunt UM, And I went out

902
00:47:45,840 --> 00:47:48,880
Speaker 1: there and helped him that next morning, and UM actually

903
00:47:49,520 --> 00:47:53,280
Speaker 1: actually was the one who found him. Um drove around

904
00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:56,520
Speaker 1: the guy who shot him lost blood and so I said, well,

905
00:47:56,840 --> 00:47:58,640
Speaker 1: I know some different betting years that I can just

906
00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:01,520
Speaker 1: go check real quickly, uh and drive a four wheeler

907
00:48:01,560 --> 00:48:04,000
Speaker 1: round some these edges and scope in there a little bit.

908
00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:07,040
Speaker 1: And the first little high cool I went to there

909
00:48:07,040 --> 00:48:10,040
Speaker 1: he was so um yeah it was It was nice

910
00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:12,720
Speaker 1: to be able to be there too, to see what happened,

911
00:48:12,760 --> 00:48:15,920
Speaker 1: you know, because lots of times as these deer you

912
00:48:15,960 --> 00:48:18,400
Speaker 1: see get pictures of and then one year that just

913
00:48:18,440 --> 00:48:20,840
Speaker 1: disappeared like holy Field this year for me, he just

914
00:48:20,920 --> 00:48:22,600
Speaker 1: don't know what happened. So in this case, it was

915
00:48:22,680 --> 00:48:25,200
Speaker 1: nice to know at least you know how the story ended,

916
00:48:25,320 --> 00:48:28,520
Speaker 1: got to got to see him up close, got to uh,

917
00:48:28,719 --> 00:48:30,680
Speaker 1: you know, be a part of someone else having a

918
00:48:30,719 --> 00:48:35,080
Speaker 1: really nice day. So that's the silver lining, I guess. Right.

919
00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:38,960
Speaker 1: So how do you feel then, about going between the

920
00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:42,680
Speaker 1: potential mature bucks. Do you think that leaves you with? Well,

921
00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:44,600
Speaker 1: as far as bucks that are around right now, that

922
00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:47,160
Speaker 1: would leave just one. There's one three year old that

923
00:48:47,239 --> 00:48:50,319
Speaker 1: I think is still alive. Um and I don't even

924
00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:52,600
Speaker 1: know for sure. Last time I got pictures of him

925
00:48:52,680 --> 00:48:57,000
Speaker 1: was probably at least a week ago. Um, so there

926
00:48:57,040 --> 00:48:58,880
Speaker 1: was still a week a muzzlin or season in between

927
00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:02,400
Speaker 1: then and now that he could have got hit somewhere Um,

928
00:49:02,440 --> 00:49:07,080
Speaker 1: but hopefully that one um made it, and I'm certainly

929
00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:08,759
Speaker 1: not gonna shoot him the rest of the year, So

930
00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:12,239
Speaker 1: hopefully he's smart and sticks around and it makes the

931
00:49:12,360 --> 00:49:14,879
Speaker 1: next year, and he'd be cool. Dear Um. I saw

932
00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:16,920
Speaker 1: him quite a bit this year, passed on him the

933
00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:22,200
Speaker 1: night that I shot Frank UM. But you never know

934
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:25,560
Speaker 1: if he's out. You know, holy Field wasn't around this year,

935
00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:28,040
Speaker 1: and Frank showed up. Frank's not gonna be around this year.

936
00:49:28,520 --> 00:49:30,879
Speaker 1: Hopefully some other mature buck, whether it's this tall eight

937
00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:32,759
Speaker 1: pointer that I've been calling Tran and named him after

938
00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:35,440
Speaker 1: a buddy of mine, um or some other buck, kind

939
00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:38,600
Speaker 1: of rolls in um. And if not, I'm I'm working

940
00:49:38,640 --> 00:49:41,040
Speaker 1: on getting permission on some new spots next year and

941
00:49:41,120 --> 00:49:44,960
Speaker 1: kind of diversifying where I can hunt locally, because you know,

942
00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:47,160
Speaker 1: I hunt a bunch of different states, but here locally,

943
00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:49,319
Speaker 1: I've kind of focused a lot in this one little

944
00:49:49,320 --> 00:49:51,759
Speaker 1: tiny spot and then every year kind of dabble in

945
00:49:51,840 --> 00:49:54,960
Speaker 1: some other regions. But I'd like to kind of diversify

946
00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:56,879
Speaker 1: closer in this area so that I can still hunt

947
00:49:56,920 --> 00:50:00,279
Speaker 1: locally but not have just this little, you know, forty

948
00:50:00,320 --> 00:50:02,520
Speaker 1: acre patch. But just have a bunch of places closer

949
00:50:02,520 --> 00:50:05,000
Speaker 1: that I can you know, stay at home, be with

950
00:50:05,080 --> 00:50:07,720
Speaker 1: my family, but then still have a number of options.

951
00:50:07,719 --> 00:50:09,600
Speaker 1: So that's one of my goals going into this year,

952
00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:13,800
Speaker 1: this next year. Um, because you know to what I

953
00:50:13,840 --> 00:50:17,120
Speaker 1: alluded to earlier, it becomes very much like by default,

954
00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:18,640
Speaker 1: the hunt for one deer, because if you don't get

955
00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:20,319
Speaker 1: that deer, if someone else gets that deer, then there's

956
00:50:20,320 --> 00:50:21,680
Speaker 1: nothing but year and a half old and like a

957
00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:28,839
Speaker 1: two year old usually run. So let's see, um. One thing,

958
00:50:29,160 --> 00:50:30,600
Speaker 1: one thing we didn't get to really touch on in

959
00:50:30,640 --> 00:50:33,840
Speaker 1: that story was um like when Dan shed that handlers.

960
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:38,560
Speaker 1: So one thing that determines win deer shed besides like

961
00:50:38,600 --> 00:50:40,879
Speaker 1: photo period, that's the obvious one, you know, that's why

962
00:50:40,920 --> 00:50:44,000
Speaker 1: most of them shed between January and March or whatever.

963
00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:47,080
Speaker 1: But another factor is health. And so if a buck

964
00:50:47,280 --> 00:50:50,080
Speaker 1: is really healthy and he has a great food source

965
00:50:50,239 --> 00:50:53,279
Speaker 1: and it's an easy winter and there's no predators, you

966
00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:55,400
Speaker 1: know that that kind of buck can hold on his

967
00:50:55,440 --> 00:50:58,400
Speaker 1: handlers until like April. I've seen it while turkey hunting,

968
00:50:58,440 --> 00:51:00,920
Speaker 1: you know, deer holding andlers at l a. But on

969
00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:03,359
Speaker 1: the opposite end of the spectrum is if a book

970
00:51:03,640 --> 00:51:06,880
Speaker 1: is not healthy. And so you know, Dan limping in

971
00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:11,000
Speaker 1: was you know obvious that that he was in doing

972
00:51:11,719 --> 00:51:13,759
Speaker 1: very good. And that was why you know when I

973
00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:16,200
Speaker 1: shot him, that one antler popped off from him hitting

974
00:51:16,239 --> 00:51:18,480
Speaker 1: the ground. The next morning I was moving him, I

975
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:21,120
Speaker 1: accidentally popped his other handler off even though I was trying.

976
00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:24,120
Speaker 1: I was trying to be super careful and not tug

977
00:51:24,200 --> 00:51:26,920
Speaker 1: on it or you know, have any sudden movements with it,

978
00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:29,600
Speaker 1: but I just couldn't prevent it. The other one popped

979
00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:33,000
Speaker 1: off the next day. Um, And so he was he

980
00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:36,040
Speaker 1: was limping visibly when I went to got him in

981
00:51:36,200 --> 00:51:40,560
Speaker 1: his one back ham h, he had like a pretty

982
00:51:40,600 --> 00:51:43,880
Speaker 1: bad wound um to the point where there was like

983
00:51:44,280 --> 00:51:48,560
Speaker 1: just a little bit of intestines sticking out. Um. Yeah,

984
00:51:48,600 --> 00:51:51,719
Speaker 1: he was. He was blind in one eye that I realized,

985
00:51:51,840 --> 00:51:55,239
Speaker 1: you know after I had shot him. Uh. His he

986
00:51:55,400 --> 00:51:58,440
Speaker 1: hardly had any fat on him at all. Um, Like

987
00:51:58,560 --> 00:52:02,520
Speaker 1: you could see his his backbone, uh you know, while

988
00:52:02,680 --> 00:52:04,600
Speaker 1: right after I killed him, like you could run your

989
00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:08,920
Speaker 1: hand along his backbone and feel every vertebrae. When I

990
00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:11,879
Speaker 1: skinned him, like I said, he was super super lean

991
00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:15,560
Speaker 1: when his body was hanging there and he was skinned

992
00:52:15,560 --> 00:52:18,279
Speaker 1: out and kept out. You would have thought it was

993
00:52:18,320 --> 00:52:22,160
Speaker 1: a doe hanging there because his neck was so small

994
00:52:22,239 --> 00:52:24,640
Speaker 1: and not what you used to with the mature buck. Now,

995
00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:26,640
Speaker 1: I don't think this was like a you know, some

996
00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:29,320
Speaker 1: grandfather out there walking around. I think this is probably

997
00:52:29,360 --> 00:52:31,040
Speaker 1: like a five and a half year old buck. But

998
00:52:31,360 --> 00:52:34,280
Speaker 1: some other deer in the area like really really messed

999
00:52:34,360 --> 00:52:39,279
Speaker 1: him up in the rut and that was why I

1000
00:52:39,320 --> 00:52:42,319
Speaker 1: think that was another reason that I was able to

1001
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:46,520
Speaker 1: like get a chance on him into December, because a

1002
00:52:46,520 --> 00:52:49,520
Speaker 1: lot of those deer will leave during the rut um

1003
00:52:49,960 --> 00:52:52,480
Speaker 1: and then it just stay wherever they wound up at.

1004
00:52:52,680 --> 00:52:55,319
Speaker 1: But I think another buck like really messed him up,

1005
00:52:55,360 --> 00:52:58,359
Speaker 1: and then he felt comfortable there and that was one

1006
00:52:58,360 --> 00:53:00,400
Speaker 1: of the reasons that he hung around and was able

1007
00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:02,560
Speaker 1: to you know, kill him what I did. And I

1008
00:53:02,640 --> 00:53:04,400
Speaker 1: don't think that he would have made it through the

1009
00:53:04,440 --> 00:53:07,719
Speaker 1: winter either. Um. You know, whether it was infection that

1010
00:53:07,760 --> 00:53:11,400
Speaker 1: would have got him because that backham was so uh

1011
00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:14,839
Speaker 1: you know, Gord or you know, if coyotes in the area,

1012
00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:18,120
Speaker 1: because he was not as mobile as as a mature

1013
00:53:18,160 --> 00:53:22,000
Speaker 1: buck should be. Yeah, yea, that's um. I wonder if

1014
00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:24,279
Speaker 1: that was also something that led to him, you know,

1015
00:53:24,560 --> 00:53:27,839
Speaker 1: being killable on that food source during daylight. You see

1016
00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:30,040
Speaker 1: a lot of times those bucks that are struggling, they

1017
00:53:30,120 --> 00:53:33,000
Speaker 1: just become so much more dependent on being on that

1018
00:53:33,040 --> 00:53:35,839
Speaker 1: food all the time as they're trying to refuel. Um,

1019
00:53:35,880 --> 00:53:38,319
Speaker 1: the bed really close they come on. I've seen there

1020
00:53:38,360 --> 00:53:40,200
Speaker 1: was a buck this year that same way. He was

1021
00:53:40,239 --> 00:53:42,879
Speaker 1: injured and he was just out in the food all

1022
00:53:42,920 --> 00:53:46,479
Speaker 1: the time. Um, he was betting in the food source.

1023
00:53:46,480 --> 00:53:47,920
Speaker 1: He was gumping around and he would just lay right

1024
00:53:47,960 --> 00:53:49,960
Speaker 1: in the middle of a cut being field and just

1025
00:53:50,520 --> 00:53:55,040
Speaker 1: be out there. Uh. And unfortunately he wasn't hurt so bad.

1026
00:53:55,200 --> 00:53:57,120
Speaker 1: I've kept kept watching him trying to see, you know,

1027
00:53:57,160 --> 00:53:58,960
Speaker 1: what situation was going to be, and he was getting

1028
00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:00,520
Speaker 1: better and better and putting on Wait, and by the

1029
00:54:00,600 --> 00:54:03,880
Speaker 1: time we got into the late season, Um, he's moving around,

1030
00:54:04,280 --> 00:54:06,040
Speaker 1: you know, just like any other deer. It looks like

1031
00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:09,680
Speaker 1: he's gonna be fine. So that works out very well

1032
00:54:09,719 --> 00:54:12,600
Speaker 1: though sometimes on it's a buck you're after, and um,

1033
00:54:12,800 --> 00:54:15,360
Speaker 1: he certainly did in this case. So yeah. Yeah, and

1034
00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:19,520
Speaker 1: like all this, you know, mental real estate we invest in,

1035
00:54:19,760 --> 00:54:23,000
Speaker 1: like hunting a mature buck like that, it could just

1036
00:54:23,040 --> 00:54:26,600
Speaker 1: be something completely out of my control and lucky like

1037
00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:29,480
Speaker 1: that that he happened to get messed up by another

1038
00:54:29,520 --> 00:54:32,120
Speaker 1: buck and then he just decided to to not leave

1039
00:54:32,160 --> 00:54:34,120
Speaker 1: the property. And like you said, he was you know,

1040
00:54:34,200 --> 00:54:37,480
Speaker 1: more visible, likely because of it's that I was able

1041
00:54:37,520 --> 00:54:41,200
Speaker 1: to kill him. Yeah, well, you know, I uh we

1042
00:54:41,280 --> 00:54:44,799
Speaker 1: say this often but so cliche, but but luck really

1043
00:54:44,920 --> 00:54:47,480
Speaker 1: is where preparation meets the opportunity. You gotta do all

1044
00:54:47,520 --> 00:54:49,520
Speaker 1: the right things to to be able to take advantage

1045
00:54:49,520 --> 00:54:51,440
Speaker 1: of that luck. And the kind of I feel like

1046
00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:53,520
Speaker 1: it's what happens anytime any one of us kills one.

1047
00:54:53,600 --> 00:54:55,799
Speaker 1: It's luck, right, because there's so many things that can

1048
00:54:55,840 --> 00:54:58,120
Speaker 1: go wrong, so you have to get lucky that some

1049
00:54:58,160 --> 00:55:00,440
Speaker 1: of the things go right. You just need to be

1050
00:55:00,480 --> 00:55:03,560
Speaker 1: doing enough of the other things right that the luck

1051
00:55:03,640 --> 00:55:05,239
Speaker 1: is the final piece of the puzzle and not just

1052
00:55:05,360 --> 00:55:07,040
Speaker 1: one out of ten other pieces that you didn't take

1053
00:55:07,040 --> 00:55:10,759
Speaker 1: care of. So so you certainly did that. That's pretty cool.

1054
00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:13,960
Speaker 1: Interesting of note to your point there about how your

1055
00:55:13,960 --> 00:55:17,680
Speaker 1: buckshed early while I was out there helping this guy

1056
00:55:17,800 --> 00:55:21,720
Speaker 1: track survivor, he stumbled upon a shed, a four point

1057
00:55:21,920 --> 00:55:25,080
Speaker 1: shed um that was real fresh, still blood in the bottom.

1058
00:55:25,120 --> 00:55:27,560
Speaker 1: So some deer over here just shed shed sandler too.

1059
00:55:28,120 --> 00:55:31,040
Speaker 1: And interesting. I think I mentioned this when we did

1060
00:55:31,040 --> 00:55:34,160
Speaker 1: the Frank Store, but it's worth noting again. Frank last

1061
00:55:34,239 --> 00:55:38,320
Speaker 1: year UM shed his antler in January because I saw

1062
00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:42,440
Speaker 1: him on a on a neighboring field with one antler missing.

1063
00:55:42,560 --> 00:55:45,360
Speaker 1: I think it was like January twenty or late January

1064
00:55:45,440 --> 00:55:49,840
Speaker 1: or something like that. UM. So he, interestingly, you know,

1065
00:55:50,160 --> 00:55:52,239
Speaker 1: dropped an antler early last year, and I don't know

1066
00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:54,800
Speaker 1: what that was, UM, what that had to do with anything,

1067
00:55:55,080 --> 00:55:57,560
Speaker 1: or why that happened in his case. UM. He didn't

1068
00:55:57,560 --> 00:56:01,279
Speaker 1: look unhealthy when I saw him last year, UM or

1069
00:56:01,320 --> 00:56:05,520
Speaker 1: injured or anything. But one thing. Now I'm really going

1070
00:56:05,520 --> 00:56:09,960
Speaker 1: off kind of off the rails here. But you know,

1071
00:56:10,000 --> 00:56:12,080
Speaker 1: when you look at that deer, a lot of people

1072
00:56:12,400 --> 00:56:14,960
Speaker 1: noticed that his left side was much stronger than his

1073
00:56:15,080 --> 00:56:19,600
Speaker 1: right side. UM, Like, he had significantly longer times on

1074
00:56:19,719 --> 00:56:22,000
Speaker 1: on that left side than the right. And by significant

1075
00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:25,560
Speaker 1: I mean like a couple inches inch or two maybe. UM.

1076
00:56:25,719 --> 00:56:29,799
Speaker 1: And someone I know from the Quality Management Association reached

1077
00:56:29,840 --> 00:56:31,040
Speaker 1: out to and said, hey, you know, it's kind of

1078
00:56:31,040 --> 00:56:33,560
Speaker 1: interesting how much better of a side he had this

1079
00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:35,960
Speaker 1: year on the left versus the right. Do you know

1080
00:56:36,040 --> 00:56:38,680
Speaker 1: if he got injured at all last year. Um on

1081
00:56:38,840 --> 00:56:41,080
Speaker 1: like the opposite leg, because lots of times you'll see

1082
00:56:41,080 --> 00:56:43,879
Speaker 1: things like that where an injury on the back leg

1083
00:56:43,960 --> 00:56:46,360
Speaker 1: might impact the other side aniler, so the like a

1084
00:56:46,400 --> 00:56:50,040
Speaker 1: back right leg injury oftentimes will impact the left antler

1085
00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:54,359
Speaker 1: um for whatever reason that is. And so I started thinking, well,

1086
00:56:54,400 --> 00:56:56,040
Speaker 1: I don't, I didn't. I hadn't seen him, you know,

1087
00:56:56,040 --> 00:56:57,640
Speaker 1: at all last year other than the one time while

1088
00:56:57,719 --> 00:56:59,840
Speaker 1: hunting in December, and that was so quick I couldn't

1089
00:56:59,840 --> 00:57:02,120
Speaker 1: tell if he was injured. But to what I just

1090
00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:05,680
Speaker 1: told you that January sighting, he dropped earlier, so that

1091
00:57:05,800 --> 00:57:09,080
Speaker 1: might indicate, like you said, either malnutrition or an injury

1092
00:57:09,120 --> 00:57:11,799
Speaker 1: or something. So so maybe that was something going on

1093
00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:14,440
Speaker 1: with him last year, And I don't know if that

1094
00:57:14,480 --> 00:57:16,400
Speaker 1: impacted things in all this year. He seemed healthy as

1095
00:57:16,400 --> 00:57:20,000
Speaker 1: a horse this year. Um but um interesting things to

1096
00:57:20,000 --> 00:57:21,960
Speaker 1: take note, And I don't know. I think this is

1097
00:57:21,960 --> 00:57:25,760
Speaker 1: a really roundabout way of explaining why I got such

1098
00:57:25,760 --> 00:57:27,160
Speaker 1: a kick out of your hunt and why I got

1099
00:57:27,200 --> 00:57:29,240
Speaker 1: such a kick out of this hunt for frank Is.

1100
00:57:29,280 --> 00:57:32,560
Speaker 1: I just love watching these animals, I love learning about

1101
00:57:32,560 --> 00:57:35,120
Speaker 1: these animals, I love like all the little things that

1102
00:57:35,160 --> 00:57:36,920
Speaker 1: go into it. Whether it's with a whole bunch of

1103
00:57:36,920 --> 00:57:39,400
Speaker 1: different new places and new critters, or if it's one

1104
00:57:39,440 --> 00:57:43,080
Speaker 1: little property and one deer. Um just being able to

1105
00:57:43,800 --> 00:57:46,640
Speaker 1: be a part of all these experiences and be out there.

1106
00:57:46,680 --> 00:57:53,920
Speaker 1: And it's for all like the high minded intellectual words

1107
00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:56,800
Speaker 1: or rationale that we like to sometimes talk about, or

1108
00:57:56,840 --> 00:57:59,520
Speaker 1: all the management objectives that we're achieving with hunting this deer,

1109
00:57:59,680 --> 00:58:02,160
Speaker 1: or all conservation wins we get out of it, or

1110
00:58:02,240 --> 00:58:04,960
Speaker 1: all the you know, the sustainability and the great food

1111
00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:07,480
Speaker 1: you get. All those things are amazing. They're all part

1112
00:58:07,520 --> 00:58:09,240
Speaker 1: of it. But you know what, this is just a

1113
00:58:09,240 --> 00:58:12,600
Speaker 1: lot of damn fun sometimes, and uh it's not a

1114
00:58:12,640 --> 00:58:16,160
Speaker 1: bad thing to to to remind ourselves of occasionally, yeah,

1115
00:58:16,400 --> 00:58:19,720
Speaker 1: for sure. And um going back to an episode that

1116
00:58:19,760 --> 00:58:23,200
Speaker 1: you and I recorded in mid September, I made the

1117
00:58:23,400 --> 00:58:27,480
Speaker 1: sports ball analogy that like if my season, if my

1118
00:58:27,520 --> 00:58:29,920
Speaker 1: season was around to golf that back in September I

1119
00:58:29,960 --> 00:58:32,920
Speaker 1: had just heat off or whatever. But now that I

1120
00:58:33,000 --> 00:58:35,720
Speaker 1: just killed and it's at the end of December, I

1121
00:58:35,760 --> 00:58:38,280
Speaker 1: am back at the clubhouse at this point after eighteen

1122
00:58:38,320 --> 00:58:42,240
Speaker 1: good holes and uh, saving on a beer. So that's

1123
00:58:42,240 --> 00:58:44,760
Speaker 1: where I'm at right now, and I think that is

1124
00:58:44,800 --> 00:58:47,120
Speaker 1: where we should wrap up. We should all crack a

1125
00:58:47,120 --> 00:58:51,600
Speaker 1: cold beverage of whatever is legal for you and available,

1126
00:58:51,680 --> 00:58:54,400
Speaker 1: whether that's a Coca cola, a nice glass of milk,

1127
00:58:55,040 --> 00:58:59,840
Speaker 1: or some other frosty beverage, Take a sip, enjoy it,

1128
00:59:00,080 --> 00:59:03,680
Speaker 1: look back on two thousand eighteen. Hopefully everyone else listening

1129
00:59:04,480 --> 00:59:05,960
Speaker 1: had as good of a year as as me and

1130
00:59:05,960 --> 00:59:08,480
Speaker 1: Spencer had. I know it doesn't always happen that way.

1131
00:59:08,560 --> 00:59:11,800
Speaker 1: We both are very fortunate. Spencer, I know I'm pinching myself.

1132
00:59:11,920 --> 00:59:15,840
Speaker 1: You probably are too. And uh, just a thankful, thankful

1133
00:59:15,880 --> 00:59:17,920
Speaker 1: group of hunters here. I think that that are part

1134
00:59:17,960 --> 00:59:20,800
Speaker 1: of Wired Hunt, and I hope everyone listening had a

1135
00:59:20,840 --> 00:59:25,240
Speaker 1: similar year, similar exciting moments, similar lessons learned, and uh,

1136
00:59:25,360 --> 00:59:27,800
Speaker 1: with that, I think we should wrap it up and

1137
00:59:27,960 --> 00:59:31,760
Speaker 1: six years to everyone into two thousand eighteen. So thank

1138
00:59:31,840 --> 00:59:35,440
Speaker 1: you every one. This is truly the last podcast of

1139
00:59:35,480 --> 00:59:39,240
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, So Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and

1140
00:59:39,400 --> 00:59:41,640
Speaker 1: stay Wired to Hunt