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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, home of the

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Speaker 1: modern white tail hunter and now your host, Mark Kenyon.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Mark Kenyan, and this week on the show, I'm sharing

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Speaker 1: the full story of how I killed my target buck

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Speaker 1: in two and the tactics to help me kill this

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Speaker 1: deer during the late season on a small property. All right,

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Speaker 1: welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you

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Speaker 1: by First Light, and today I'm here with my buddy

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Speaker 1: and partner crime, Mr Tony Peterson for one of my

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Speaker 1: favorite kind of podcast episodes. Uh, this is this is Tony,

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Speaker 1: the kind of episode we call the show boat and

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Speaker 1: gloat episode where I get to talk about every episode. No, man,

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Speaker 1: have you ever listened to me to a podcast? My

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Speaker 1: stories are I missed, I screwed it up, I did

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Speaker 1: this thing, I did that thing. So these are few

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Speaker 1: and far between. I gotta milk them when I get it. Tony, Well,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna make you look like a freaking hero, buddy.

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Speaker 1: That's that's going forward today. We've got a good story, folks,

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Speaker 1: we gotta we've got a success story. Um, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: tell you the story of how I killed my number

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Speaker 1: one target buck, the three year story. Um, I haven't talked,

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Speaker 1: you know, specifics about it as much over the last

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Speaker 1: couple of years, at least about the specific buck. I've

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Speaker 1: kind of vaguely mentioned my number one target buck here

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Speaker 1: and there, um, but I've been kind of saving the

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Speaker 1: details until hopefully, you know, we have this kind of

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Speaker 1: story where I could break it all down. So that's

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Speaker 1: that's the plan. I want to walk you guys through

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Speaker 1: a year by year. Um. You know my encounters of

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Speaker 1: this dear, how I tried to on him, how it

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Speaker 1: all came together here recently, and and this is kind

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Speaker 1: of not just a story podcast, but I'm hoping it

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Speaker 1: can be kind of two things on top of that.

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Speaker 1: It can be a how to deer hunt small properties

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Speaker 1: podcast and it can be a how to kill a

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Speaker 1: deer during the post rout or late season podcast, because

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Speaker 1: there's some tactics on both sides there that I think

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Speaker 1: we can unpack and explore a little bit. Um. So, Tony,

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Speaker 1: my hope for you, my friend, is to kind of,

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Speaker 1: you know, guide me along or press me on certain

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Speaker 1: questions or certain things so we can make this as

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Speaker 1: valuable as possible to people, not just me like rambling,

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Speaker 1: but actually helps some folks. So, uh, that's that's your role, alright, buddy,

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Speaker 1: let's go not So this is the buck I called Jr.

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Speaker 1: And why I call this dear junior because three years

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Speaker 1: ago I was hunting a different buck in this general

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Speaker 1: area and I would this buck are called tram and

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Speaker 1: every once in a while, I'd see a deer with

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Speaker 1: really tall G two is in the tight tall rack

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Speaker 1: moving through the woods, and they, oh, that's him, And

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Speaker 1: then I pulled my binoes and all of a sudden,

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Speaker 1: its oh no, it's it's not it's a it's many me.

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Speaker 1: It's this other buck that looks similar frame wise, you know,

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Speaker 1: at first glance from a long ways away, and then

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Speaker 1: you quickly realize, oh no, it's a younger buck. So

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Speaker 1: I just started referring to this buck as junior because

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Speaker 1: it was kind of like trains junior um. And so that,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's a practical thing for me when I

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Speaker 1: hunt these different small properties here in Michigan, especially that

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Speaker 1: I've hunted for years, I see many of the same

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Speaker 1: bucks year after year, and it's just easier for me

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Speaker 1: to throw a tag on him. So I when I

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Speaker 1: say tag a man name so that I, you know,

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Speaker 1: can talk about him to my friends, to you, to

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Speaker 1: folks and have it all makes sense. So this buck

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Speaker 1: I started calling junior in twenty twenty, and I guessed

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Speaker 1: him to be probably a three year old, you know,

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Speaker 1: based on how I see these, dear girl year after year.

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Speaker 1: He looked like that third class of deer. What do

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Speaker 1: you think he scored? Then? Ah? Not much like one

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Speaker 1: ten Maybe something like that. We should talk about for

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Speaker 1: a second though, because that's a really common sort of

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Speaker 1: antler class to be at three years old. Yeah, like

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Speaker 1: we we talked about this. You know, Midwestern bucks there

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Speaker 1: one forties at three and a half, and there's more

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Speaker 1: of them that are than one. Yeah, definitely, I've that's

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Speaker 1: I would say, like seventy of the three year olds

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Speaker 1: that I hunt in Michigan at least, so that I

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Speaker 1: see in Michigan are in that ballpark like one ten,

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Speaker 1: one one twenty, you know, like a one twenties usually

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Speaker 1: a good three year old around here. Um, I've I've

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Speaker 1: bumped into a handful of like genetic freaks like that.

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Speaker 1: I would say, Oh, like that's a three year old

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Speaker 1: in Iowa kind of buck. But those have been very

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Speaker 1: very rare. Um. So this is a deer that you

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Speaker 1: know that year when I saw him, he was in

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Speaker 1: that like you know, if you're looking at like the

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Speaker 1: herr or like the pool of bucks in your area.

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Speaker 1: You know, on most of these different Michigan spots I hunt,

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Speaker 1: you know, in a good year nowadays, they'll be like

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Speaker 1: one buck that's four or five, um, and then they'll

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Speaker 1: be like a couple of three year olds and then

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Speaker 1: a bunch of year and a half and two and

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Speaker 1: a half year olds, and so in he was like

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Speaker 1: in that second ranked down there was like the one

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Speaker 1: buck that was I think trand would have been five

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Speaker 1: and a half that year, and then there was this

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Speaker 1: buck and one other three year old that year. So

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Speaker 1: this was like in that kind of category of Okay,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep tab zoning. Now I've noticed you, I've

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Speaker 1: see you around. You're recognizable. Now I'm gonna start paying

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Speaker 1: attention a little bit, so you know, I've saved all

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Speaker 1: the pictures I got him. Over the course of the season,

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Speaker 1: saw m a lot had some cool like close encounters

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Speaker 1: with him. Um that you are just fun when you

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Speaker 1: know it's a deer that like Okay, this is a

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Speaker 1: deer that next year, you know it was a four

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Speaker 1: year old, I'll probably be chasing him. So I really

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Speaker 1: like to I really milk those encounters, Like I just

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Speaker 1: get jacked when I see an up and comer buck

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Speaker 1: that I'm hoping some they I'll be hunting. Um. So

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Speaker 1: I had him a couple of times and then Range,

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Speaker 1: you know, took note of where those spots were when

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Speaker 1: he was doing it. Um all, you know, looking forward

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Speaker 1: to the future. Um, hey, can we talk about that

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Speaker 1: for a second. So when you when you talk about

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Speaker 1: that and say, you know, I see this book, and

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Speaker 1: you're maybe in a little bit different position there than

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Speaker 1: some of the people listening, because you you're thinking there's

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Speaker 1: a good chance this dear could be here next year.

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Speaker 1: So you're looking at this deer and what he's doing,

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Speaker 1: and you're like, I'm paying attention to this because this

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Speaker 1: if this dude doesn't get whacked, I'm gonna be hunting

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Speaker 1: him next year. And what he tells me today I

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Speaker 1: can use next season. And I think people look at

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Speaker 1: that and go, well, okay, if you have a spot

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Speaker 1: where you're gonna be able to pass them up and

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Speaker 1: they're gonna come back. But those sightings of dear that

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Speaker 1: age class or two and a half year olds or

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Speaker 1: even even you know scrappers and does when you when

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Speaker 1: you get the chance to really observe them, especially individual

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Speaker 1: deer doing things, it's like such a lesson on what

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Speaker 1: all dear might do. That's that's a really the key point,

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Speaker 1: because even even if he got killed that next year,

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Speaker 1: I still think I could learn things from what he

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Speaker 1: was doing that could apply to the next three and

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Speaker 1: a half or four and a half year old buck

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Speaker 1: that shows up in that area. You know, um So

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Speaker 1: I do. And this is something like we've talked about

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Speaker 1: for years, but I'm always trying to ask why, Like

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Speaker 1: if I see a nice buck doing something, I always

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Speaker 1: been trying to think, Okay, why did he do that?

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Speaker 1: Why did he go from point A to point B?

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Speaker 1: Why did he follow this edge or this low spot

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Speaker 1: or that divd um So, every one of those encounters

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Speaker 1: or observations is going into the memory bank, and and

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to use that to build up this you know,

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Speaker 1: this this pool of information that someday I might pull

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Speaker 1: from um and so that that year, you know, I

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Speaker 1: was I was hunting this one buck but this deer

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Speaker 1: and one other where two like I really paid close

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Speaker 1: attention to, Like every time I saw him, I tried

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Speaker 1: to get my cell phone out and film them just

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Speaker 1: so I could remember where they were and what they're doing.

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Speaker 1: And I took pictures. I you know, started studying their

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Speaker 1: camera pictures even at the end of that season, knowing like,

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Speaker 1: all right, man, next year, I'm gonna be after Junior

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Speaker 1: and Rook is what I was hoping for. And um,

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Speaker 1: you know, I've got a few of these little Michigan

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Speaker 1: spots that I think one thing to what you just

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Speaker 1: brought up is this idea like, well, you know, you're

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Speaker 1: the only way you can hunt the same Bucky year

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Speaker 1: after years, if you've got some huge MAGA property. Um,

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Speaker 1: that's not the case. Like I've got several small properties

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Speaker 1: that hunt here in Michigan that are small. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we're I hunted this buck Jr. This was like thirty

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Speaker 1: five to forty acres. This is not big. Like every

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Speaker 1: single picture and encounter and observation to have with this

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Speaker 1: deer was within like about a thirty acre area. That's it. Um.

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Speaker 1: And I think it's not always going to be like

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Speaker 1: there's gonna be some thirty acre properties that can have

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Speaker 1: a deer like this make it, and there's gonna be

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Speaker 1: some thirty acre properties that can't um because you know,

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Speaker 1: maybe there's more pressure or there's not a safe place.

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Speaker 1: Like in this area, this buck found a whole. There's

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Speaker 1: like two really good little sanctuary safe spots in this

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Speaker 1: area that bucks can get to and survived. There's a

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Speaker 1: swamp that this guy lived in. There's another really cool, brushy,

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Speaker 1: nasty kind of betting zone. It just seems to sucking

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Speaker 1: bucks when the pressure hits up hard. And so I've

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Speaker 1: learned over the years, like on this particular piece where

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Speaker 1: this buck was, there's like a fifty chance, Like if

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Speaker 1: I see a good three year old, or if there's

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Speaker 1: a four year old, there's a good nice buck, there's

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Speaker 1: like a fifty percent chance he might make it to

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Speaker 1: the next year. If I don't shoot him, i'd say

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Speaker 1: give or take. That's about what I've found. Um. So

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Speaker 1: so because of that, I've gotten to the point where

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Speaker 1: now I'm I'm pretty comfortable passing you know, nice three

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Speaker 1: and half year old bucks that you know, eight nine

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Speaker 1: years ago, those are deer I would shoot um. But

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Speaker 1: now I know there's a chance. There's zero percent chance

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Speaker 1: if I shoot him. Um, if I don't shoot them, Uh,

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Speaker 1: there's there's a chance. And and I really enjoy you know,

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Speaker 1: I've I've done a whole lot of different kinds of

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Speaker 1: deer hunting. Done a lot of the public land, wild

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Speaker 1: western adventure kind of stuff. I've I've hunted some big

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Speaker 1: properties by permission. I've haunded a small opertis by permission.

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Speaker 1: I've done leases. Uh. My family has a four d

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Speaker 1: acre farm up in or property up in northern Michigan

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Speaker 1: that's private that we own. I've hunted that, I've kind

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Speaker 1: of got to dip my toes in the water, and

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Speaker 1: a bunch of things. Um, you know, last season with

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Speaker 1: Deer Country, I hunted like wildly different things, Oliver, And

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Speaker 1: I still think that my very favorite is just like

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Speaker 1: hunting a spot where you get to see these dear

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Speaker 1: year after year and just like studying them, learning them,

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Speaker 1: Like you know me, I'm an analytical dude. I just

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Speaker 1: love like studying these critters, like I think deer fascinating.

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Speaker 1: I love studying them, thinking about what they might do,

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Speaker 1: why they might do it, predicting Okay, well they did

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Speaker 1: this that year, they did this last week? What might

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Speaker 1: they do next week or tomorrow? Um. I love just

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Speaker 1: seeing them. I love observing deer. Like one of my

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Speaker 1: favorite things about this area is just like getting out

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Speaker 1: and glassing a glass a ton um because I just

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Speaker 1: love watching deer and it's it's cool that there's spots

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Speaker 1: I can glass and watch deer, but then also helped

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Speaker 1: my future hunts. Um. So so you know, that's that's

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Speaker 1: kind of the foundation of this this hunting story, I

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Speaker 1: guess is that kind of context. Well, And I think

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Speaker 1: there's something worth touching on there because you know, I

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Speaker 1: went from it kind of my deer hunting career I have.

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Speaker 1: I started out with some big properties, like permission based properties,

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Speaker 1: and you know, living in the suburbs here, my opportunities

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Speaker 1: have just shrunk. Like you know, I went from maybe

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Speaker 1: having permission on a farm that's you know, three acres

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Speaker 1: or five acres, to properties like you're talking about. And

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Speaker 1: one of the things that I've learned is when I

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Speaker 1: went into those small properties, I felt like it was

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Speaker 1: just a roll of the dice, like maybe they'll come through,

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Speaker 1: maybe they won't. But it never felt like you have,

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Speaker 1: Like I never felt right away like I had dear

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Speaker 1: to work. Like I was like, Okay, this is the

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Speaker 1: guy who lives here, that buck or whatever. And as

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Speaker 1: I have hunted these more and more and and really

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Speaker 1: run cameras on them and tried to be super careful,

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Speaker 1: you realize that, like, yeah, you're at a disadvantage if

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Speaker 1: you only have thirty acres and somebody else has a thousand.

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Speaker 1: But you can make a lot happen out of just

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Speaker 1: a thirty acre property if you figure it out there

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Speaker 1: there's there's a lot going on there, even if that's

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Speaker 1: one of a deer's you know, overall home range. Like man,

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Speaker 1: if you figure out what they like to do and

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Speaker 1: when they like to do it, and you can be

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Speaker 1: real kind of surgical about when you go in, you

248
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Speaker 1: can make a lot happen out of not much acreage. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it really, It's so true, Like surgical is the right word.

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Speaker 1: You have to be surgical on the small pieces. And

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Speaker 1: you also have to get lucky, like you said, I mean,

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Speaker 1: sometimes you've got a thirty acre piece where they're at,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes it's the third acre piece that there just

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Speaker 1: aren't at um. I mean, like my Ohio story is

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Speaker 1: a perfect example, because I have a thirty acre piece

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Speaker 1: in Ohio that, Um, you know, I had really high

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Speaker 1: hopes for this year, and I've hunted it now like

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Speaker 1: eight days, almost all day, eight days, and I've seen

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Speaker 1: a spike in a doll over the course of that

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Speaker 1: entire period, and um, you know, a few camera pictures

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Speaker 1: of good bucks, but like very very very little activity

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Speaker 1: compared to what I expected there to be. And you're

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Speaker 1: sitting out there hunting and you're like, well, I have

264
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Speaker 1: no other options, Like I don't have I can't go

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Speaker 1: check out this other draw, I can't go to that

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Speaker 1: other point, I can't go explore some other bedding. Are

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Speaker 1: Like I've got one corridor and one betting here and

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Speaker 1: that's it. So you know, you can you win some,

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Speaker 1: you lose some on small properties. So in the best

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Speaker 1: case scenario, have got a bunch of places like that, Um,

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Speaker 1: if you can manage it or have some public that

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Speaker 1: you can fill in your time with or whatever. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm fortunate with with the particular place where

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Speaker 1: this book is that it's you know, there's a small property,

275
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Speaker 1: but it hunts kind of nicely because the way it

276
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Speaker 1: lays out, I kind of have access to two different

277
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Speaker 1: betting areas, and historically there's been a decent buck that

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Speaker 1: lives in each one of those kind of cores. Um

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Speaker 1: And so at least that's that's kind of figured that

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Speaker 1: out over the years. And um, as long as I'm

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Speaker 1: like really careful about when iever go in there after

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Speaker 1: a deer and the one of those two regions, they

283
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Speaker 1: they feel safe there as long as I'm not messing

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Speaker 1: it up, and um or I get unlucky and someone

285
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Speaker 1: else shoots something and goes in there. Whatever. So that's

286
00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:11,040
Speaker 1: that's why this spot has has been productive, and that's

287
00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:15,040
Speaker 1: why this deer lived there. It's um you know, he

288
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Speaker 1: was a three year old here. He roamed a lot,

289
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Speaker 1: a lot. I saw him quite a few times in

290
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Speaker 1: daylight when I was hunting for the other buck. Um.

291
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Speaker 1: Like I mentioned, he had some close calls with them.

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Speaker 1: Kept tabs and I can't tell you that that year

293
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Speaker 1: I noticed like a really big obvious pattern as far

294
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Speaker 1: as what he did, other than the fact that he

295
00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:36,280
Speaker 1: was a homebody, like he lived on this property or

296
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Speaker 1: right next to it, and he was he was kind

297
00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:44,480
Speaker 1: of everywhere. The next year, one last year, he and

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Speaker 1: one other deer that I called Rookie. That year where

299
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Speaker 1: the bucks that I thought I was gonna be after

300
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Speaker 1: I saw them when I went out doing some scouting

301
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Speaker 1: I think in January, so I knew they both made

302
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Speaker 1: it through the season. I was really excited about that, um,

303
00:14:58,000 --> 00:14:59,880
Speaker 1: and you know, said high hopes to see what the

304
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Speaker 1: might turn into. I got pictures of both of them.

305
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Speaker 1: I did a lot of summer glass and I never

306
00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:09,880
Speaker 1: saw either one of them when glassing, but I did

307
00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:13,320
Speaker 1: get pictures of both of them in late August. And

308
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Speaker 1: to the kind of thing I mentioned earlier about like

309
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Speaker 1: how maybe fifty and make it through fifty, don't um?

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Speaker 1: You know, part with that season, Rookie disappeared. He was

311
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Speaker 1: wiped off the face of the earth. He got killed

312
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Speaker 1: by someone or something and he was out. So so

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Speaker 1: Junior became the only deer I was after last year. Um.

314
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Speaker 1: But he was tough to to figure out because Rookie

315
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Speaker 1: was around all of October, and he was he was

316
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Speaker 1: more visible. I saw him a couple of times. I

317
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Speaker 1: got pictures of them here and there. Um, Junior was

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Speaker 1: kind of a ghost. I was. I was struggling to

319
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Speaker 1: see him. He was not as movie. He was not

320
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Speaker 1: as visible as he had been the year before. Which

321
00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:53,200
Speaker 1: you know from three to four that's to be expected. Um,

322
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Speaker 1: but he really took it to another level. I figured, Um,

323
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Speaker 1: and I was kind of confused. I wasn't sure what

324
00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:01,760
Speaker 1: was going on. I was hunting near these betting areas

325
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Speaker 1: that usually like as we moved into October, usually get

326
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Speaker 1: to late October, and if there's bucks that are getting

327
00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:11,240
Speaker 1: ready to check out those hot doors, they're gonna check

328
00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:18,000
Speaker 1: a couple of these spots. Um. And it nothing wasn't getting,

329
00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:20,800
Speaker 1: wasn't getting a whole lot until I started checking some cameras.

330
00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:23,640
Speaker 1: I had some like standard cell not sell camera, standard

331
00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:25,440
Speaker 1: trail cameras that had been back in the back of

332
00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:29,080
Speaker 1: the property that I hadn't gone to at all. Um,

333
00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,280
Speaker 1: because I've been seeing getting some intel on rookie sort

334
00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:35,320
Speaker 1: towards the front of this area like betting area A.

335
00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:37,320
Speaker 1: So I've been hunting a couple of times up there

336
00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:39,960
Speaker 1: in the early season, kind of mid to late October,

337
00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:42,440
Speaker 1: if I'm remembering right. I had a gap between my

338
00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:44,440
Speaker 1: travel so as you know, last year, I was traveling

339
00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:47,600
Speaker 1: all over for deer country, so I had one window

340
00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:52,000
Speaker 1: where I could hunt this Michigan stuff in late October

341
00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,520
Speaker 1: before more travel. So I remember going back like October

342
00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:59,280
Speaker 1: twenty third, fourth, fifth, six, seventh something somewhere in that window,

343
00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:02,160
Speaker 1: and for the first time I decided to slip into

344
00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:06,640
Speaker 1: the back of this this farm and check some cameras there,

345
00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:09,280
Speaker 1: and that kind of opened my eyes to what was

346
00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:14,439
Speaker 1: going on. There was two different cameras back there, and

347
00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:18,679
Speaker 1: Junior was on them a bunch, and I realized, like, okay,

348
00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:22,399
Speaker 1: he has shifted his you know, behavior, from being like

349
00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:25,200
Speaker 1: an all over this property to just betting are b

350
00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:28,159
Speaker 1: kind of deer. So it kind of seemed like Rookie

351
00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:30,439
Speaker 1: had taken ownership as a four year old of this

352
00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:32,280
Speaker 1: one betting area in the front core area and the

353
00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:34,240
Speaker 1: stuff that's arounded that. And now it was seeming like

354
00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:36,840
Speaker 1: Junior was taken up shop in the bottom spot around

355
00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:39,440
Speaker 1: this big swamp, and you know, all of a sudden

356
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:41,240
Speaker 1: saying okay, well here he is. He was. He was

357
00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:43,159
Speaker 1: here in daylight at the end of September, he was

358
00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:46,399
Speaker 1: here in daylight the first week of October. Um, he

359
00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:49,760
Speaker 1: was here in daylight two days ago October or something

360
00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,040
Speaker 1: like that. And now I think, okay, I'm in the game.

361
00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:55,280
Speaker 1: This steer still around, he's huntable, and he's he's in

362
00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:58,399
Speaker 1: this little corner. So I had like a five day

363
00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:00,280
Speaker 1: window before I had to leave for one week in

364
00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:04,440
Speaker 1: November and toss some hunts at it. And I want

365
00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:08,159
Speaker 1: to kind of speak to the overall hunt strategy for

366
00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:11,679
Speaker 1: this property, like generically before I really knew what Junior

367
00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:15,440
Speaker 1: was doing. Um, I do not hunt this area very

368
00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:18,720
Speaker 1: often at all because of the whole small, small property thing,

369
00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,320
Speaker 1: and there is a lot of hunting pressure in the area.

370
00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:25,600
Speaker 1: But it's you know, I've I've got this little sanctuaries,

371
00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:27,760
Speaker 1: two little betting areas that act as sanctuaries that I

372
00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,840
Speaker 1: have access to. There's a neighboring property that's about eight

373
00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:33,000
Speaker 1: acres that doesn't allow hunting at least I don't think

374
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,479
Speaker 1: they do. Um, And so like those things act as

375
00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,280
Speaker 1: a small sanctuary surrounded by lots and lots of pressure

376
00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:41,760
Speaker 1: around me. But I've always thought, you know, I can

377
00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:44,280
Speaker 1: very like that's a benefit for me, but I could

378
00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:48,160
Speaker 1: very quickly erase that benefit if I'm not careful. So

379
00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:50,760
Speaker 1: so surgical is the right way to describe what I

380
00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:54,440
Speaker 1: try to do. I try to, you know, only hunt

381
00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:58,600
Speaker 1: this spot or these spots when I've got you know,

382
00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:01,280
Speaker 1: a good win when I've had a good access or

383
00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,480
Speaker 1: exit opportunity, I don't hunt more. And these are things

384
00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:06,480
Speaker 1: I know that you will think you hate, But like,

385
00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:09,280
Speaker 1: I don't hunt mornings in October out there because it's

386
00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:11,680
Speaker 1: really hard to get into and out of because there's

387
00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:14,520
Speaker 1: there's big open fields close to the road. I just

388
00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:16,919
Speaker 1: can't get in without having to cross some kind of

389
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:21,640
Speaker 1: open field. So I don't hunt those mornings. Well, let's

390
00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:23,720
Speaker 1: talk about that for a second though, because you know,

391
00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:28,000
Speaker 1: from my perspective, I'm what you're doing is the right

392
00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:31,639
Speaker 1: move on a property like that, Like if you if

393
00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:33,760
Speaker 1: you have the chance to save it, you know somebody

394
00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:35,960
Speaker 1: else isn't going to go in there. You're not doing

395
00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,479
Speaker 1: yourself any favors by being the one who puts stupid

396
00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,479
Speaker 1: pressure on them, you know. And and there's a difference,

397
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:43,680
Speaker 1: right because I I look at most of my stuff

398
00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:45,800
Speaker 1: and I go, I just got to be the first

399
00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:48,639
Speaker 1: one in there, Like if that's October tenth or whatever,

400
00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:51,800
Speaker 1: and it's a morning, because that's fleeting because I don't

401
00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:53,240
Speaker 1: know who's going to mess it up if you have

402
00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:56,160
Speaker 1: a chance to save it, and pay real close attention

403
00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,720
Speaker 1: to your access and like and and go in when

404
00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:02,040
Speaker 1: the like all of the odds are in your favor

405
00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,399
Speaker 1: as far as they can be, that's the move. Yeah,

406
00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:07,880
Speaker 1: you know, I mean it's just so situational. Yeah, that's

407
00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:11,240
Speaker 1: that's the key is It's it's circumstanced specific and and

408
00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:13,280
Speaker 1: so in this place, like I know, like it can

409
00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:15,160
Speaker 1: hold deer, It can hold a good buck or two

410
00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:17,600
Speaker 1: as long as you don't blow it. But like you

411
00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:20,480
Speaker 1: can blow it very quickly. And you know, one thing

412
00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:22,640
Speaker 1: I've learned over the years, something I've changed the last

413
00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,640
Speaker 1: few years is I've I've taken that even further when

414
00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:29,560
Speaker 1: it comes to like my evening exits. So I won't

415
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:33,000
Speaker 1: even hunt this property now if the if the crops

416
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,520
Speaker 1: are cut, I won't hunt this property unless I have

417
00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:40,960
Speaker 1: somebody who can drive out and clear the fields for me.

418
00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:43,880
Speaker 1: So if if my wife's available or some other friend

419
00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:47,520
Speaker 1: or family member I can call in a favor on um.

420
00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:49,840
Speaker 1: If if no one is available to do that, and

421
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:51,880
Speaker 1: if the crops are down and deer feeding in it,

422
00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:54,080
Speaker 1: I just won't hunt. I just won't do those evening

423
00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:55,720
Speaker 1: hunts in a spot that I'm going to have to

424
00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:57,640
Speaker 1: blow out the field because I know it just won't work.

425
00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:01,119
Speaker 1: I'd rather, I'd rather miss a good condition and day

426
00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:03,560
Speaker 1: and not blow out the field and then hunt you

427
00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:06,080
Speaker 1: know two days later when I do have that exit strategy,

428
00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:08,359
Speaker 1: because like that exit strategy has been like the game

429
00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:11,560
Speaker 1: changer for this this little section here. If I can

430
00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:13,760
Speaker 1: get someone to drive out on a you know, drive

431
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:16,040
Speaker 1: the truck out through the field or drive a side

432
00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:19,240
Speaker 1: by side or an a TV or whatever is available, um,

433
00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:22,040
Speaker 1: that gets me away with murder. As far as like

434
00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:24,560
Speaker 1: being able to hunt in these places you know several

435
00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:28,320
Speaker 1: times without deer catching on to my exit in the evenings. Um,

436
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:30,960
Speaker 1: So that that's been a that's been a big one

437
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:32,840
Speaker 1: for me. I've I've been able to get away a

438
00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:36,000
Speaker 1: lot more because a lot of this property is is field. Like,

439
00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:38,560
Speaker 1: it's a lot of field edge. There's small small timber fingers,

440
00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:41,760
Speaker 1: and there's one big chunk. There's the swamp, but that's

441
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,560
Speaker 1: like this betting mecha that I pretty much never go into.

442
00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:47,639
Speaker 1: That that's like a sanctuary. So my huntable stuff is

443
00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,920
Speaker 1: all edge and some finger and some grassy stuff. So

444
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,960
Speaker 1: it's it's it's tough from an access perspective if you

445
00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:56,760
Speaker 1: don't have someone who can help you out in that

446
00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:58,800
Speaker 1: kind of way. This year, I did get an e bike,

447
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:01,280
Speaker 1: and I've used at a couple of times when I

448
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:03,760
Speaker 1: couldn't get a ride, and I think that still got

449
00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:06,840
Speaker 1: me away with a little bit more. Um. But man,

450
00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:10,160
Speaker 1: human being walking out across the cut field, or even

451
00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:12,200
Speaker 1: walking down a two track that's back in the timber

452
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:14,920
Speaker 1: a little bit from the field, you know, walking around

453
00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:18,399
Speaker 1: exiting in the evening is just gonna do quick damage

454
00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:21,600
Speaker 1: to a tiny place like this. And I I was

455
00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:23,600
Speaker 1: burned by that a whole lot of years in the

456
00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:25,920
Speaker 1: early years when I was hunting this area and around there.

457
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:30,320
Speaker 1: And I feel like, you know, being again more surgical

458
00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:34,080
Speaker 1: and sacrificing some days. So I might not get as

459
00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:36,359
Speaker 1: much quantity, but I'm getting more quality because of that,

460
00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:40,399
Speaker 1: And um, you know what I think about that, Like

461
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:45,440
Speaker 1: I honestly think that, you know, I'll use an example here.

462
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,520
Speaker 1: Everybody likes to think everybody else is super greedy, you

463
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:51,280
Speaker 1: know what I mean. It's like really easy to overlook

464
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:53,119
Speaker 1: your own greed and be like, oh, those billionaires, they

465
00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:55,439
Speaker 1: should pay more taxes, they should donate more money. But

466
00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:57,560
Speaker 1: we never think like, h are you like, are you

467
00:22:57,560 --> 00:22:59,439
Speaker 1: paying extra taxes? Are you don't even a ton of

468
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:01,399
Speaker 1: money to chair, like it's really easy to sort of

469
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:03,880
Speaker 1: look past your own greed and you're like, we're real

470
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:09,720
Speaker 1: biased towards ourselves, right, And we talk constantly about hunting pressure,

471
00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:12,480
Speaker 1: like I mean, it's it's to me, like that's the

472
00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,320
Speaker 1: number one enemy to your success always. I don't think

473
00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:20,679
Speaker 1: we I don't think most hunters give their own hunting

474
00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:24,280
Speaker 1: pressure enough credit for putting deer down. Like I think

475
00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:26,240
Speaker 1: we know when we burn a spot, we know when

476
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:29,160
Speaker 1: we're kind of being lazy, But I don't think we understand,

477
00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:31,399
Speaker 1: you know, because we're always like, well, it's the other people,

478
00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:33,840
Speaker 1: to other hunters, and yeah, like that happens, you know

479
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:37,040
Speaker 1: you're in public land or whatever. Sure, but the amount

480
00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:39,560
Speaker 1: of pressure we put on them and how quickly, you know,

481
00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:41,440
Speaker 1: if you're in a state with a lot of hunters,

482
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:47,000
Speaker 1: how quickly those deer react to that is incredible. And

483
00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,439
Speaker 1: I just I think, like it's so easy to not

484
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,520
Speaker 1: give your own presence enough credit for putting them down,

485
00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:55,840
Speaker 1: But it's so important to pay attention to that, and

486
00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:59,400
Speaker 1: and you know, be honest with yourself about it, like

487
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,119
Speaker 1: you willing to look in the mirror and confront the

488
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:03,920
Speaker 1: ugly thing in the face and be like, Okay, yeah,

489
00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,080
Speaker 1: you know that was that's probably me. This is probably

490
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,719
Speaker 1: something I caused. It's like you said, it's it's much

491
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:11,960
Speaker 1: easier to pass the blame off on the neighbor or

492
00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:15,800
Speaker 1: bad luck or whatever. Um So, yeah, I was to

493
00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:19,520
Speaker 1: blame for many years of disappearing bucks, probably in this

494
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:23,440
Speaker 1: area because I was wanting to hunt a lot, and

495
00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:25,720
Speaker 1: I just learned, like, I can hunt a lot, but

496
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:27,600
Speaker 1: I can't hunt this place a lot. I've got to

497
00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,959
Speaker 1: hunt other places. Um. I've got to keep this, you know,

498
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:37,320
Speaker 1: relatively careful, real light, um and so and so. Yeah,

499
00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,360
Speaker 1: so I was kind of forced to hunt this property

500
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:44,119
Speaker 1: late or light last year because of my travel. Um. So,

501
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:45,840
Speaker 1: I had like a few swings that took a few

502
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:48,560
Speaker 1: hunts in that early early October window. I think a

503
00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:51,840
Speaker 1: hunt of the first three days and um you like

504
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:55,840
Speaker 1: I said, I saw that buck rookieos after um. And

505
00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:58,120
Speaker 1: then I came back in late October and I think

506
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:00,760
Speaker 1: I had like four or five days or something, three

507
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:02,280
Speaker 1: four days something like that. And that was gonna be

508
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:04,480
Speaker 1: like the extent of my rut hunting because I was

509
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,800
Speaker 1: gone for two weeks traveling November October one in November,

510
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,160
Speaker 1: so I knew, like, basically, this is my rut hunt

511
00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,639
Speaker 1: is this last week of October. So I, you know,

512
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:17,960
Speaker 1: kind of went hard for that period because that was

513
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,719
Speaker 1: my window and I knew that, you know, Junior had

514
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,840
Speaker 1: been super active last year. Of course in late October,

515
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:26,440
Speaker 1: and when I checked those cameras, I realized, Okay, he's

516
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,240
Speaker 1: in this back area by the swamp. He's like refocus

517
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:32,080
Speaker 1: his attention here, So I'm gonna I'm gonna hit it

518
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:34,399
Speaker 1: and see if I can't catch him slipping up a

519
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:38,240
Speaker 1: little bit. So it was standing corn at that point though,

520
00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:41,440
Speaker 1: on the agg fields, so I could hunt kind of

521
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,040
Speaker 1: the edge of the standing corn and the swamp and

522
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 1: then the edge of the standing corn and this like

523
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:50,119
Speaker 1: finger of timber that kind of extends out from that

524
00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,960
Speaker 1: swamp and connects it to another block. And so I

525
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,400
Speaker 1: did a couple of evening hunts like that. I think

526
00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:57,360
Speaker 1: I did a couple of morning hunts on the edge

527
00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:00,640
Speaker 1: of that betting area as well. But the more of

528
00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:03,800
Speaker 1: that stories like never saw him, never, you know, saw

529
00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:07,240
Speaker 1: a whisker of him, and uh, you know, he he

530
00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:09,200
Speaker 1: was just still ghosting. Other than a few of those

531
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:12,440
Speaker 1: daylight pictures. Like I said, like October six, and then

532
00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:14,879
Speaker 1: like the day or two before I showed up to

533
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:17,080
Speaker 1: hunt in late October, he was daylight and that was

534
00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:22,440
Speaker 1: that was it. Um. Now I take off hunting across

535
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 1: the country, YadA, YadA, YadA. And I'm trying to remember

536
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,639
Speaker 1: when this happened. I think it happened after my rutcation.

537
00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:33,359
Speaker 1: I think I got back from rutcation and like the

538
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 1: corn was getting taken down like that day I got

539
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:39,200
Speaker 1: back and I had to leave again for another trip

540
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,000
Speaker 1: in like two days or something. Though, so I knew,

541
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:42,879
Speaker 1: like I don't have much of a window here to hunt,

542
00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:46,199
Speaker 1: but I can try to learn something. So I always

543
00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,080
Speaker 1: like to take advantage of harvest to to kind of

544
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:52,399
Speaker 1: make moves if I need to, And in this case,

545
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:54,199
Speaker 1: with a corn coming down, I thought, man, I can

546
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:56,600
Speaker 1: go move some cameras around and get some cameras. Now

547
00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:59,800
Speaker 1: it's kind of around this place that I think juniors

548
00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:03,119
Speaker 1: live ing and kind of tightened that that throw the

549
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:06,159
Speaker 1: net around that more focused since he didn't seem to

550
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,679
Speaker 1: be showing up at all on the other piece of

551
00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:13,280
Speaker 1: this property. So as that combines working as the corn

552
00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,080
Speaker 1: is coming down, I race out there and I got

553
00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:18,320
Speaker 1: I got some new cell cameras that I hadn't head cells.

554
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:21,640
Speaker 1: I got some cell cameras and put three of them,

555
00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,720
Speaker 1: I think, on the edge of this swamp, and with

556
00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:28,399
Speaker 1: a swamp and corn came together three different spots that

557
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:30,600
Speaker 1: over the years I've seen bucks just always like to

558
00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:32,440
Speaker 1: come in and out of these little like a little

559
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:34,679
Speaker 1: inside corner, like in the bend of the swamp as

560
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,359
Speaker 1: one spot. And then there's a low spot across this

561
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,920
Speaker 1: little finger of field, and they always leave the swamp

562
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,119
Speaker 1: in this low spot and they kind of stay hidden

563
00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:45,280
Speaker 1: down there. I think thermals drop into the low spot.

564
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,960
Speaker 1: They can smell anything, and so that's another place there's

565
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:50,080
Speaker 1: always a good scrape. So I put these cameras on

566
00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:52,760
Speaker 1: those scrapes on the edge of the swamp, bailed out

567
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,560
Speaker 1: of there, let them finish combining, and I took off

568
00:27:55,600 --> 00:28:01,439
Speaker 1: for my next trip. I then get nothing for a while.

569
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:04,000
Speaker 1: I'm not getting any pictures of them. I remember at

570
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,399
Speaker 1: this point I checked another I've done another round of

571
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:10,480
Speaker 1: my trail camera checks of the regular cameras um and

572
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:12,680
Speaker 1: most of these other cameras are all kind of place

573
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:15,040
Speaker 1: in easy places that I can drive my a TV

574
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:18,119
Speaker 1: and check. I don't. I don't check any like interior

575
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:21,679
Speaker 1: trail cameras in this property in season, um unless like

576
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:23,560
Speaker 1: it's next to or on the way from, like a

577
00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:26,119
Speaker 1: hunting location. Otherwise, like the only time I'll check a

578
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:28,119
Speaker 1: camera on this property is if I can drive to

579
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,080
Speaker 1: it um or like I just described, the combines are

580
00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:35,720
Speaker 1: going around. So I checked cameras and nothing in November

581
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:38,320
Speaker 1: at all. I think I had like a November one

582
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,360
Speaker 1: or two picture of him something, but but he kind

583
00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 1: of disappeared. Now I've got these cell cameras out there,

584
00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:46,800
Speaker 1: nothing from him. Nothing from him through the rest of November.

585
00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,960
Speaker 1: I leave it alone all through gun season. Um. You know,

586
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:51,720
Speaker 1: I'm gone for a week of that and then I'm

587
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,680
Speaker 1: home for a week. But again I'm leaving it alone. UM.

588
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 1: I don't like to put a lot of pressure on

589
00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,840
Speaker 1: this property during that peak of guns season because there's

590
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,520
Speaker 1: a much pressure all around it. I'd rather the pressure

591
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:04,360
Speaker 1: be all around me and they kind of hang out

592
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 1: in this little zone that I have soul access to

593
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:09,280
Speaker 1: as a sanctuary, and then I can come back in

594
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:11,560
Speaker 1: there in the later part of the season and hopefully

595
00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,360
Speaker 1: there's a buck or two still alive. And they're not

596
00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:16,840
Speaker 1: as pressured in that specific spot. So that's what I

597
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:19,720
Speaker 1: was gonna do. But I had to go to Alabama

598
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 1: for one of these hunts I was on last year.

599
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 1: So the first week in December, I'm hunting in Alabama.

600
00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:27,720
Speaker 1: I now have these cell cameras that are you know,

601
00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 1: sending me pictures, and I remember, you know, I get

602
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,040
Speaker 1: like I have him send like once a day, and

603
00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:37,760
Speaker 1: so you know, whatever the designated time is that day,

604
00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:39,440
Speaker 1: I was gonna get pictures. Remember, I pulled it up.

605
00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, sweet, check the cameras for the day.

606
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:46,200
Speaker 1: And bam, there he is December three, in daylight, like

607
00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:48,760
Speaker 1: three five in the afternoon, right in the edge of

608
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:51,920
Speaker 1: that swamp, hitting the scrape. Junior was back for the

609
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 1: first time in a month. Um, right there and um

610
00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:58,080
Speaker 1: so I was very exciting to see he was still alive,

611
00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:01,840
Speaker 1: but also frustrating because I couldn't hunt him. Um. And

612
00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:03,920
Speaker 1: this is like the beginning of the Alabama trip, I think.

613
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,480
Speaker 1: And then like two days later I get another picture

614
00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:09,600
Speaker 1: of him, same spot, daylight again. And then two days

615
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:12,800
Speaker 1: later he's about a hundred yards away at another spot,

616
00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,840
Speaker 1: daylight again, and three days later another I think it's

617
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:17,800
Speaker 1: like a day later or something. He daylighted again. He

618
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:22,920
Speaker 1: daylight four times between December third and tent and and

619
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:27,240
Speaker 1: I'm not home for any of it. So you know

620
00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: that's cell cameras are great if you live far away

621
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:31,960
Speaker 1: from your properties or whatever. But if you are far

622
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,520
Speaker 1: away from your property and you're getting this information and

623
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,920
Speaker 1: you're handcuffed and you have no way to get out

624
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:43,720
Speaker 1: and start hunting, it can be frustrating but exciting as well. Yeah,

625
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,239
Speaker 1: so I was just but even though even though you

626
00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:48,520
Speaker 1: can't get on him at that moment because you've got

627
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,120
Speaker 1: other stuff going on, it's just such a valuable intel.

628
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:54,400
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, great, great intel. And um you know, there's

629
00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:59,840
Speaker 1: cell cameras are like a conversation. Like I'm constantly wrestling

630
00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:03,320
Speaker 1: with cell cameras. I'm constantly thinking about like how much

631
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,600
Speaker 1: is too much? How much data? How much is too

632
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:09,600
Speaker 1: much technology? Like I have this internal debate with myself

633
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:13,040
Speaker 1: and you know, cell camera uses a touchy topic even

634
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:15,240
Speaker 1: like within my own mind, I'm trying to like figure

635
00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:17,040
Speaker 1: out what's the way to use this tool in a

636
00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:19,960
Speaker 1: way that helps me but isn't too much. Um, So

637
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,240
Speaker 1: you know, so one thing I do is I set

638
00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:25,840
Speaker 1: so they only get them, you know, on a significant delay. So,

639
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:27,880
Speaker 1: like I've always felt it could be really icky if

640
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 1: I'm hunting or if I'm at the house or something

641
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:31,920
Speaker 1: and then I get a picture like right now that says, oh,

642
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:34,240
Speaker 1: that dear is an X spot and then I could

643
00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,480
Speaker 1: use that real time. That feels like icky for me personally.

644
00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,280
Speaker 1: So I have forced myself not to do that by

645
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:42,880
Speaker 1: putting this twelve or twenty four hour delay on the photos.

646
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:45,640
Speaker 1: That makes me feel a little better about it. Um

647
00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:48,440
Speaker 1: But even that, like I know, some folks view that

648
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:53,160
Speaker 1: is too much technology or too much help. Um So,

649
00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:56,720
Speaker 1: so all that said, like as I'm as I put

650
00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:58,440
Speaker 1: those cell cameras out and I'm using them, I'm getting

651
00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:00,200
Speaker 1: these pictures while I'm in an Albama I mean even

652
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:02,320
Speaker 1: like wrestling with that, Like, man, this is pretty awesome.

653
00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,040
Speaker 1: That can be you know, a thousand miles away and

654
00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:08,440
Speaker 1: get fresh intel and what's happening here. That especially in

655
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:10,520
Speaker 1: a small property like this, like every time you go

656
00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:13,320
Speaker 1: in there to check a standard camera, you are hurting

657
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:15,600
Speaker 1: your chances of seeing that deer in the future, because

658
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:18,600
Speaker 1: like every step you know you place out there is

659
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:21,680
Speaker 1: making an impact um, which is why I like now, I,

660
00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:24,920
Speaker 1: like I said, I do not walk out there check cameras.

661
00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:28,280
Speaker 1: I only will drive out there. Um. I try to

662
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 1: like stay on the A t V when I check

663
00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:32,960
Speaker 1: my cameras or be in the truck and just take

664
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,280
Speaker 1: a step or two out. Like maybe that's more than

665
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 1: I need to be worried about. But it just seems

666
00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:41,360
Speaker 1: like the room for error is really small when there's like, man,

667
00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:43,959
Speaker 1: if he's in this betting era and if he's not

668
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:45,760
Speaker 1: in that betting aear, I have no way to hunt him.

669
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:47,480
Speaker 1: So I can't screw up, you know, the edge of

670
00:32:47,520 --> 00:33:04,000
Speaker 1: that betting here. So that's that's the first week in December.

671
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:08,120
Speaker 1: I get back home and I remember thinking, all right,

672
00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:10,520
Speaker 1: I gotta try and take a couple of stabs at him.

673
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:12,520
Speaker 1: And we had a muzzle out our season open still

674
00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:14,200
Speaker 1: for a few days. I can't remember how many more

675
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:17,040
Speaker 1: days I had after getting back from that trip, but

676
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 1: I had time. I had some number of days, two, three,

677
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,920
Speaker 1: four days, something like that. Um. And so I remember

678
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,760
Speaker 1: like telling my wife, like, hey, you know that Buckham

679
00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:30,960
Speaker 1: after was showing up, you know last week. If we

680
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 1: got the right conditions, I gotta try to take a

681
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,080
Speaker 1: stab or two at him with a gun. Um, I

682
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:37,120
Speaker 1: didn't think that there'd be a strong chance and Bill

683
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:38,959
Speaker 1: get another take at him with the bow at this

684
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:40,600
Speaker 1: point in the season. But with a gun, you know,

685
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:45,040
Speaker 1: maybe I can make it work. So I I waited

686
00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:48,200
Speaker 1: for a wind that would cut across the top of

687
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:50,280
Speaker 1: the swamp, so I don't want to win that's gonna

688
00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:52,920
Speaker 1: blow obviously straight into that swamp. And I can only

689
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:55,320
Speaker 1: access the swamp from the north, so I need to

690
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,320
Speaker 1: make sure I've got like sutherly Ish wins, but ideally

691
00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:01,200
Speaker 1: like easterly or westerly, because if I have a a

692
00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:03,920
Speaker 1: wind that blows from the swamp straight to the north,

693
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:07,600
Speaker 1: it blows out a whole another bedding area region on

694
00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:10,440
Speaker 1: the neighbors, and you know, there's always the chance that

695
00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:12,279
Speaker 1: he might be over there. It's not that far away.

696
00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:14,520
Speaker 1: So there's basically a betting to the north and south,

697
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:17,440
Speaker 1: and I want my wind blowing east to west, right

698
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:19,560
Speaker 1: in between the two. So I've got that you know,

699
00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:25,759
Speaker 1: relatively safe wind um where I can get close. So

700
00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:28,120
Speaker 1: I had two hunts. There ended be in two days

701
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:30,279
Speaker 1: where I had a wind that would work, and you know,

702
00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:35,640
Speaker 1: decent temperatures decent conditions. Um. You know, I noticed from

703
00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 1: those pictures of the days he daylighted, three of those

704
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:42,960
Speaker 1: days he daylighted were like cold, like dropping temperature, cold

705
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,719
Speaker 1: front type days. Um. One of them was actually a

706
00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,480
Speaker 1: warm up day. So I thought, well, if I can

707
00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:50,480
Speaker 1: get like half decent tempts in the right wind, I

708
00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:54,080
Speaker 1: gotta try. The first time I tried for him, didn't

709
00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:56,600
Speaker 1: see him at all, didn't see like if I remember right,

710
00:34:56,640 --> 00:35:00,799
Speaker 1: like very little activity. Um. And the was actually, this

711
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:02,839
Speaker 1: is actually a night where I had to break that

712
00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:04,799
Speaker 1: rule I just told you for whatever reason, I can't

713
00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:09,040
Speaker 1: remember why, um, but I had to slip out by foot.

714
00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:11,399
Speaker 1: And I guess I must have been so desperate for

715
00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:13,920
Speaker 1: him that I you know, I didn't have an exit

716
00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:17,160
Speaker 1: strategy or an exit helper, and I thought, there's a

717
00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:19,200
Speaker 1: little two track where I can walk back through the

718
00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:21,479
Speaker 1: edge of the timber and you know, maybe get away

719
00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:24,080
Speaker 1: with it from the location I hunted that night. So

720
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:26,719
Speaker 1: I had to be going out on foot, and I

721
00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:29,880
Speaker 1: just remember getting very close to the front of the property,

722
00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:32,359
Speaker 1: like I've I've walked a long ways from where I

723
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:35,320
Speaker 1: was hunting and from where I would have expected to

724
00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:37,800
Speaker 1: see him, and I'm kind of in a low spot

725
00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:39,960
Speaker 1: in this little finger of timber, and then there's like

726
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:43,759
Speaker 1: a rise then extends like there's a hill that goes

727
00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:45,360
Speaker 1: up to the edge of the timber and then into

728
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:48,840
Speaker 1: that cut corn field. And I can see a deer

729
00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:52,960
Speaker 1: silhouetted on that hill in the cut corn maybe yards away,

730
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:54,879
Speaker 1: And so I just pulled up the binoes. It's it's

731
00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:57,799
Speaker 1: after dark now, and I pulled the binocular zone in

732
00:35:57,920 --> 00:35:59,800
Speaker 1: like the I guess there must have been some moonlight

733
00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:02,000
Speaker 1: or just because of the silhouette, I could see like

734
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:05,040
Speaker 1: instantly it was him. He was standing there with a

735
00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:10,160
Speaker 1: dough and uh, there he is, like yards away. And

736
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:11,719
Speaker 1: so now I feel like I'm stuck, like I don't

737
00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:13,720
Speaker 1: want to go walk and continue walking in that direction

738
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:16,440
Speaker 1: and bump him. I'm pissed at myself for going and

739
00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:18,200
Speaker 1: hunting on this night when I didn't have a good

740
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:20,960
Speaker 1: way to get out. Um, So I ended up just

741
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 1: sitting down in the dirt for I don't know, like

742
00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:25,200
Speaker 1: half an hour and just kind of waiting around, twidling

743
00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:27,520
Speaker 1: my thumbs, texting my wife said I was gonna be

744
00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:30,520
Speaker 1: late that night, and just waited until they disappeared and

745
00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:33,160
Speaker 1: I hope that they moved off far enough and um,

746
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:35,319
Speaker 1: then I circled out as far away as I could get.

747
00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:39,279
Speaker 1: This is kind of a funny story. As I'm walking out,

748
00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:42,239
Speaker 1: I'm getting close to the road, Um, I see a

749
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:44,759
Speaker 1: deer flag off, like I see a white tail run

750
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:46,640
Speaker 1: off towards the road. And then there's a car coming

751
00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:53,319
Speaker 1: towards this road. And then I hear and I'm like,

752
00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:57,440
Speaker 1: oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, did I

753
00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:01,080
Speaker 1: just spook the buckum after to get hit by a truck?

754
00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:05,000
Speaker 1: I mean, I was like super concerned. So I raced

755
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:07,759
Speaker 1: up to the road and I went down to the

756
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:10,640
Speaker 1: car and I checked with a guy, like asked if

757
00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:12,440
Speaker 1: he was okay and everything, and all the while I'm

758
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:13,880
Speaker 1: trying to look off to the side and trying to

759
00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:16,080
Speaker 1: see the deer he hit, and like trying to suddenly

760
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:19,319
Speaker 1: like get get the information I'm trying to get. You're

761
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:25,160
Speaker 1: like the biggest asshole, good Samaritan exactly. No. I made

762
00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:27,800
Speaker 1: surely he was okay, the car wasn't too badly damaged

763
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:30,239
Speaker 1: and all was fine, And I'm like asking him like

764
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:31,880
Speaker 1: I was trying to talk to him and he was

765
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,799
Speaker 1: being actually weird with me. Um, like I didn't. I

766
00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:37,040
Speaker 1: don't know. I was like, do you need help? Okay,

767
00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:38,719
Speaker 1: he just kind of like was like shaking his head

768
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:42,200
Speaker 1: and then um, and then I saw the deer and

769
00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:44,320
Speaker 1: it was a dope um off on the side of

770
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:46,640
Speaker 1: the road, and he's like, I'm taking the deer. I'm like, okay,

771
00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:48,760
Speaker 1: well you need you need help, And he's just shaking.

772
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:50,520
Speaker 1: She keeps shaking his head and it's like a very

773
00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:52,719
Speaker 1: weird encounter. But maybe he was just shook up after

774
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:57,680
Speaker 1: the whole thing. Who you were, I don't think so Tony,

775
00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:01,200
Speaker 1: definitely not um. But yeah, So that was like a

776
00:38:01,239 --> 00:38:03,400
Speaker 1: scary moment because I thought, for sure I just bumped

777
00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:07,880
Speaker 1: my buck into a truck, but but no. So UM.

778
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:12,480
Speaker 1: That then led to a few days later, I had

779
00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:15,960
Speaker 1: decent conditions, decent wind again, I slipped back to the

780
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:20,560
Speaker 1: edge of the swamp um and last light, he actually

781
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:24,400
Speaker 1: does pop out. But I must have been God. I

782
00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:30,680
Speaker 1: wish I could I what I remember about this encounter.

783
00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:33,960
Speaker 1: I wish I wrote wrote down. I'm doing a hunting

784
00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:36,400
Speaker 1: journal this year where I'm actually writing down the specifics

785
00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:39,680
Speaker 1: of every hunt. Um, not just like I'm writing down

786
00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:41,719
Speaker 1: the conditions. I'm writing down like where I went. I'm

787
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:43,680
Speaker 1: writing down what I see, but I'm also writing down

788
00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:45,720
Speaker 1: like what I did and the decisions I made and stuff,

789
00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:48,120
Speaker 1: just because like I wish I could remember exactly what

790
00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:51,160
Speaker 1: happened in this night, because what I remember is seeing

791
00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:53,200
Speaker 1: him pop out of the swamp, but he hadn't in

792
00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:56,600
Speaker 1: the He headed in the direction away from me and

793
00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:59,160
Speaker 1: I I can't remember if I had a gun or

794
00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:01,279
Speaker 1: if it was now right other bow season, because I

795
00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:04,200
Speaker 1: was considering getting down and trying to stalk in like

796
00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:06,040
Speaker 1: circle up ahead of him and see if I get

797
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:09,000
Speaker 1: ahead him and get a shot at him. Um. I

798
00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:11,400
Speaker 1: think maybe it was with a bow. And back in

799
00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:13,319
Speaker 1: the day I never would have considered doing that, but

800
00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:15,479
Speaker 1: after last year, with all the crazy on the ground stuff,

801
00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:18,880
Speaker 1: I must have been feeling kind of wildly because I

802
00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:21,680
Speaker 1: remember thinking like, if he just slows down and starts feeding,

803
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 1: I might be able to circle and and slip down

804
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:26,399
Speaker 1: and just do something crazy. Like at this point, I've

805
00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:28,200
Speaker 1: been having a really rough season. I was kind of

806
00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:31,480
Speaker 1: willing to do something crazy to try to salvage some

807
00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:34,759
Speaker 1: kind of success. Um, but he just never slowed down.

808
00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:37,800
Speaker 1: He just like marched and uh and just marched straight

809
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:39,759
Speaker 1: down the edge of that swamp and away from me.

810
00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:42,279
Speaker 1: And and that was it. And that was he walked

811
00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:45,719
Speaker 1: out of my life. That was sometime mid you know, December,

812
00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:48,760
Speaker 1: and that was it. I didn't get any more pictures

813
00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:53,480
Speaker 1: of him, didn't see him at all, um until the postseason,

814
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:55,440
Speaker 1: I think what. I was out there doing one of

815
00:39:55,440 --> 00:40:00,000
Speaker 1: my drive bys. I glassed him up one night, I think, um,

816
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:01,840
Speaker 1: and that confirmed that he he at least made it

817
00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:08,920
Speaker 1: through the year. So that's one and with with that

818
00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:11,200
Speaker 1: season in the rear view mirror, I remember thinking, Okay,

819
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:12,839
Speaker 1: once I kind of you know, I was burned out

820
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:15,000
Speaker 1: after last year. But once my mind kind of turned

821
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:18,080
Speaker 1: back to white Tails this summer, I got really excited

822
00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:20,840
Speaker 1: about stuff. I started thinking about this Buck and you know,

823
00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:23,279
Speaker 1: thinking he's probably the guy that's gonna show back up.

824
00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:25,919
Speaker 1: And I think I've got like two windows. I think

825
00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:29,160
Speaker 1: there's gonna be an October window based on what he

826
00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:31,000
Speaker 1: did last year, and I think there's gonna be that

827
00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:34,800
Speaker 1: December window again. Um. You know, there's this this idea

828
00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:38,080
Speaker 1: of like these annual patterns, right that, especially like older Bucks,

829
00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:41,719
Speaker 1: they tend to do certain things at the same time

830
00:40:41,719 --> 00:40:45,359
Speaker 1: of year, year after year. All all other things being equal, Um,

831
00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:47,400
Speaker 1: you can start to see some of these kinds of

832
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:50,560
Speaker 1: tendencies that repeat year after year. Um. And so I

833
00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:52,560
Speaker 1: was counting on two things. I was counting on his

834
00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:56,279
Speaker 1: core area continuing to stay tight to that swamp. And

835
00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:58,479
Speaker 1: then I was hoping that hay i'l had that early

836
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:02,320
Speaker 1: October window, may maybe a moment there in late October

837
00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:04,960
Speaker 1: and then like the first ten twelve days of December

838
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:09,680
Speaker 1: or whatever, like, maybe that'll be a good one. And um,

839
00:41:09,719 --> 00:41:13,279
Speaker 1: so I do some prep work in the summer leading

840
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:15,800
Speaker 1: up to the year. I trimmed out some new trees

841
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:17,400
Speaker 1: that I could hunt and did a little scouting the

842
00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:19,239
Speaker 1: edge of that swamp to try to figure out some

843
00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:23,240
Speaker 1: spots I could hunt around that if he was around again, Um,

844
00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:27,480
Speaker 1: I put cameras along along that edge again. Historically, I

845
00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:31,399
Speaker 1: hadn't actually ran as many cameras around that swamp edge

846
00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:33,680
Speaker 1: as I started now that I knew that Junior was

847
00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:36,200
Speaker 1: in there so much. So now I've got those gaps

848
00:41:36,239 --> 00:41:40,080
Speaker 1: covered well again, this time with cell cameras again. And

849
00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:44,480
Speaker 1: m August he shows back up for the first time.

850
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:48,560
Speaker 1: I get sell pictures of him, and then throughout August

851
00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:51,960
Speaker 1: and September. Um, he was daylighting, he was showing up,

852
00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:57,280
Speaker 1: and you know I was I was excited about that. Um.

853
00:41:57,360 --> 00:41:59,920
Speaker 1: But as I already talked about on a different podcast,

854
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:03,359
Speaker 1: you know, I wanted to target this buck on opening night,

855
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:06,759
Speaker 1: but the wind ended up messing me up and I

856
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 1: had to pivot to a different location to hunt a

857
00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:11,840
Speaker 1: different deer. Um. I just I just couldn't see a

858
00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:14,520
Speaker 1: way I could pull off the wind hunting that swamp

859
00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:17,480
Speaker 1: edge without him winding me with this like northeast wind

860
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:20,279
Speaker 1: that would blow right into where where I thought he'd be.

861
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:22,919
Speaker 1: Like everything he was doing this year in twenty two

862
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:25,200
Speaker 1: was like straight out of the book from what he did.

863
00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:28,840
Speaker 1: Once I like realized he was in that swamp, he

864
00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:32,000
Speaker 1: was popping on the same places. Um, he was coming

865
00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:34,160
Speaker 1: back in the morning like he lived. This is like,

866
00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:37,160
Speaker 1: at least as best as I could tell from like

867
00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:39,319
Speaker 1: the intel, I was able to get into places I

868
00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:41,560
Speaker 1: had access He was in there more than any other

869
00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:45,120
Speaker 1: place I had access to at least. Um. So I

870
00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:47,879
Speaker 1: couldn't hunt him early in October because that wind ended

871
00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:50,040
Speaker 1: up killing a different buck in a different place. So

872
00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:52,799
Speaker 1: now I kind of pull out and I take some

873
00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:55,560
Speaker 1: time to just I took my son out hunting some

874
00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:59,160
Speaker 1: different places, took out some hunters, did some mentored hunts

875
00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:02,879
Speaker 1: on the back forward. UM shot some shot a doh,

876
00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:06,319
Speaker 1: tried to shoot multiple dos, I got one. UM did

877
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:08,920
Speaker 1: some of that kind of stuff until we get too

878
00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:11,560
Speaker 1: late October. We get to late October, and now I'm thinking,

879
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:14,319
Speaker 1: all right, this is that window. I gotta I got

880
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:16,239
Speaker 1: a daylight picture or two of him last year round

881
00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:18,960
Speaker 1: this window. UM, I have to leave again on October

882
00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:21,719
Speaker 1: to go on one of these roccasions. I've got a

883
00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:25,560
Speaker 1: I've got a chance here. So those last like seven

884
00:43:25,640 --> 00:43:32,600
Speaker 1: eight days of October, I hunted two or three times

885
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:38,479
Speaker 1: just inside that swamp, UM, hunting near those little low

886
00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:41,200
Speaker 1: spot and inside corners that I mentioned to you already

887
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:45,600
Speaker 1: from UM, hoping that you know I could catch him

888
00:43:45,640 --> 00:43:49,239
Speaker 1: coming out to feed and or check. Does um you

889
00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:52,480
Speaker 1: know that last week of October? UM, So you know

890
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:56,600
Speaker 1: I picked those nights when I had the best weather conditions.

891
00:43:56,600 --> 00:43:59,719
Speaker 1: So both of those times I can think of two

892
00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:01,640
Speaker 1: space even nights. I think I hunted two nights in

893
00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:03,200
Speaker 1: the edge of the swamp, and then there was a

894
00:44:03,239 --> 00:44:05,279
Speaker 1: third night that I couldn't hunt in the swamp. But

895
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:09,080
Speaker 1: I hunted a finger of timber just acrossed um, like

896
00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:12,120
Speaker 1: eighty yards across from it in another spot because of

897
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:16,480
Speaker 1: the wind. UM. So again I'm hunting this when I've

898
00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:20,160
Speaker 1: got that like a cross that corner cutting wind. And

899
00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:23,080
Speaker 1: then I'm hunting when I had like a combination of

900
00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:28,560
Speaker 1: dropping temperatures and rising barre metric pressure. Um. That just

901
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:30,799
Speaker 1: seems to be like that's like a post front kind

902
00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:32,160
Speaker 1: of thing. You get a front that comes through, it

903
00:44:32,239 --> 00:44:34,400
Speaker 1: changes the weather up a little bit. And at least

904
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:36,920
Speaker 1: most of the time I've seen like that to be

905
00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:39,120
Speaker 1: a pretty good trigger for like a little bit more

906
00:44:39,719 --> 00:44:42,360
Speaker 1: you know, daylight movement or a little bit earlier movement

907
00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:45,520
Speaker 1: from the deer coming out to feed in the evenings. UM.

908
00:44:45,560 --> 00:44:48,080
Speaker 1: And so I did it first night. I remember I

909
00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:49,960
Speaker 1: got on this edge of the swamp. It looked like

910
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:52,040
Speaker 1: awesome and there was ripped up you know, you could

911
00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:54,600
Speaker 1: tell he was in there, slipped in on a very

912
00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:56,320
Speaker 1: It was a cool It was a great day to

913
00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:59,919
Speaker 1: hunt this spot. The trick with hunting his little zone

914
00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:01,839
Speaker 1: here in the swamp is that this is a high

915
00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:06,040
Speaker 1: deer density area and does bed around the edge of

916
00:45:06,040 --> 00:45:08,640
Speaker 1: the swamp in a couple of different places, and there's

917
00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:10,560
Speaker 1: there's a couple of spots that are predictable, but then

918
00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:13,319
Speaker 1: there's like some unpredictable random like a random dough be

919
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:16,040
Speaker 1: here there for once in a while. So anytime I'm

920
00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:20,120
Speaker 1: going to hunt the edge of it, it's it's risky. Um.

921
00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:22,960
Speaker 1: So I decided I would slip in there. I did

922
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:25,560
Speaker 1: not have. I have one pre hung stand on the

923
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:29,480
Speaker 1: edge of that uh swamp, but I didn't have it

924
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:31,480
Speaker 1: wasn't like a spot I wanted to be based on

925
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:33,399
Speaker 1: what I was seeing. So I was going in there

926
00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:35,560
Speaker 1: with my saddle and I was going to kind of

927
00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:38,920
Speaker 1: see where the sign was telling me like, Okay, I

928
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:41,400
Speaker 1: know he historic this come in and out of this

929
00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:44,200
Speaker 1: little corner, and I know the low spots of spot

930
00:45:44,239 --> 00:45:46,040
Speaker 1: where deer come through a lot. But I also want

931
00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:48,000
Speaker 1: to go in there and just kind of read the terrain,

932
00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:50,640
Speaker 1: read the sign and see if there's something that you know,

933
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:52,920
Speaker 1: is there a big fresh scrape somewhere? Is do what

934
00:45:52,960 --> 00:45:54,960
Speaker 1: can I find like the rub line that he's using

935
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:56,560
Speaker 1: this year that pops out of the swamp that maybe

936
00:45:56,640 --> 00:45:59,319
Speaker 1: his thirty yards down from where I would have sat. Um.

937
00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:01,680
Speaker 1: So that was my game plan brought my sticks and saddle.

938
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:04,640
Speaker 1: Very windy day, which is one of the reasons why

939
00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:06,560
Speaker 1: I picked this day to hunt, because it was windy

940
00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:09,000
Speaker 1: in the early afternoon and then for the last hour

941
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:12,480
Speaker 1: of daylight it was gonna tail off. Um, and I

942
00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:14,359
Speaker 1: thought like that would be perfect. I'll have the cover

943
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:15,839
Speaker 1: to get in there and get set up. I can

944
00:46:15,920 --> 00:46:18,319
Speaker 1: kind of poke around just a little bit, find the

945
00:46:18,400 --> 00:46:21,680
Speaker 1: right tree, and then for the last hour of daylight,

946
00:46:21,680 --> 00:46:24,799
Speaker 1: you know, it should be dyna way and um, you know,

947
00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:27,759
Speaker 1: long story short on that. I felt great about it,

948
00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:29,919
Speaker 1: but didn't see him. It's a lot dear, I didn't

949
00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:32,759
Speaker 1: see him. And then I think the following week was

950
00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:37,200
Speaker 1: the next day had similar conditions corner cutting wind, enough

951
00:46:37,239 --> 00:46:39,200
Speaker 1: wind for the setup that I could slip in and

952
00:46:39,239 --> 00:46:42,960
Speaker 1: scout around with my saddle, get set up, and then um,

953
00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:44,759
Speaker 1: you know, be ready for that last hour or two

954
00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:47,680
Speaker 1: when it settled down a little bit. And um, another

955
00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:50,319
Speaker 1: cold late October if you remember, like there were some

956
00:46:50,400 --> 00:46:53,120
Speaker 1: really nice cold days there in late October here in

957
00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:54,920
Speaker 1: the upper Midwest. Um, so I think it was like

958
00:46:55,160 --> 00:46:58,000
Speaker 1: forty or forty one or I don't know, something like that.

959
00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:01,400
Speaker 1: And the time came in on the other edge of

960
00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:04,359
Speaker 1: the swamp and slipped in there a little deeper than

961
00:47:04,360 --> 00:47:06,279
Speaker 1: I usually do. I was kind of feeling like, you know,

962
00:47:06,280 --> 00:47:08,239
Speaker 1: why not be a little more aggressive. I already killed

963
00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:12,280
Speaker 1: one nice Michigan buck. I don't have to kill another one. Um.

964
00:47:12,320 --> 00:47:15,160
Speaker 1: You know I've not. I couldn't figure them out last year.

965
00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:17,680
Speaker 1: Why not swing a little bit harder this year? And

966
00:47:18,680 --> 00:47:21,600
Speaker 1: either it works or I failed spectacularly, but you know

967
00:47:21,719 --> 00:47:24,920
Speaker 1: who cares? So I pushed in deeper into the swamp

968
00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:27,440
Speaker 1: than I usually do, trying to just see, you know,

969
00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:30,160
Speaker 1: see if maybe that would be the ticket to getting

970
00:47:30,200 --> 00:47:32,239
Speaker 1: on him. And I had that wind to to get

971
00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:36,080
Speaker 1: in there, um, and I just like, just you know,

972
00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:40,239
Speaker 1: just I'm just learning, like patients and details and the

973
00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:42,520
Speaker 1: little things just matter a lot. And so it was

974
00:47:42,560 --> 00:47:44,960
Speaker 1: like I did not take a step unless the wind gusted,

975
00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:47,200
Speaker 1: and then it stands still for a minute, and then

976
00:47:47,239 --> 00:47:48,960
Speaker 1: I got a big gust, and I take three steps

977
00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:51,200
Speaker 1: and I stopped and just did that until I was

978
00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:55,480
Speaker 1: able to work my way into the spot found the tree. Um,

979
00:47:55,719 --> 00:47:59,560
Speaker 1: And that night I saw his running buddy. He had

980
00:47:59,600 --> 00:48:02,320
Speaker 1: another nice three year old buck that he'd been you

981
00:48:02,360 --> 00:48:04,320
Speaker 1: know every time I got pictures of him in September

982
00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:06,680
Speaker 1: and October. Um, he was with us three year old

983
00:48:06,920 --> 00:48:10,000
Speaker 1: and I saw him that night, but did not see

984
00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:13,839
Speaker 1: the big guy. And uh, you know, excited to see

985
00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:16,719
Speaker 1: that other one, but the big guy didn't show. And

986
00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:19,879
Speaker 1: now I've got to got to take off for our trip. Um.

987
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:24,480
Speaker 1: So that takes us to November, take off to Nebraska,

988
00:48:24,640 --> 00:48:28,440
Speaker 1: head to Ohio. UM. I got a picture of Junior

989
00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:34,200
Speaker 1: on November six and seven with a dough and then

990
00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:39,279
Speaker 1: I don't get another picture of him for weeks. The

991
00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:44,000
Speaker 1: rut continues on Um, I come back after the one week?

992
00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:46,480
Speaker 1: What do you hold on a second mark? What do

993
00:48:46,520 --> 00:48:49,040
Speaker 1: you think he's doing when he's bailing like that? Do

994
00:48:49,080 --> 00:48:51,799
Speaker 1: you know where you think he is? I don't know.

995
00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:54,200
Speaker 1: And and he did it last year into it this year.

996
00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:57,839
Speaker 1: And I can't put my finger on him because there's

997
00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:00,200
Speaker 1: a lot of doughs in this area. Like he he

998
00:49:00,239 --> 00:49:02,360
Speaker 1: doesn't need to go anywhere else to find does he

999
00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:05,960
Speaker 1: can find? Does in that his main cores, at least

1000
00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:08,160
Speaker 1: the main core that I hunt. Um So, I don't

1001
00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:12,960
Speaker 1: get it. I don't know. Um, I haven't had another

1002
00:49:13,040 --> 00:49:15,799
Speaker 1: buck that I've hunted this area before that, I you know,

1003
00:49:15,840 --> 00:49:19,640
Speaker 1: had had had watched over the years do the same thing. Um,

1004
00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:23,400
Speaker 1: So I I don't know, I've got no good answer.

1005
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:27,160
Speaker 1: I just I asked that because I've I've started seeing

1006
00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:28,600
Speaker 1: that being able to hunt this place that I have

1007
00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:32,399
Speaker 1: in southwestern Wisconsin. Now, you know, last year we had

1008
00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:36,160
Speaker 1: this buck that was really cool and he was so consistent.

1009
00:49:36,200 --> 00:49:37,840
Speaker 1: He was the first year I saw in the place

1010
00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:42,600
Speaker 1: like super consistent. And then he was gone all of

1011
00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:44,560
Speaker 1: the rut. He was there in October, and then last

1012
00:49:44,640 --> 00:49:46,200
Speaker 1: year in the run and so you're like, oh, he's

1013
00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:50,040
Speaker 1: he left to find some does even though there he

1014
00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:54,560
Speaker 1: definitely didn't have to. And then this year because the

1015
00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:57,600
Speaker 1: biggest deer in the place got killed. Last year, he

1016
00:49:57,719 --> 00:50:00,879
Speaker 1: became like the king right like he was living there

1017
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:03,719
Speaker 1: and we didn't have a time. My buddy actually killed

1018
00:50:03,760 --> 00:50:06,640
Speaker 1: him right before Halloween. So we don't know for sure

1019
00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:09,600
Speaker 1: if he would have left or not. But like on paper,

1020
00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:12,440
Speaker 1: you look at that and go, it doesn't make sense,

1021
00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:14,760
Speaker 1: like why would you make an exodus for two weeks

1022
00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:18,960
Speaker 1: or a month here when this property offers you everything

1023
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:21,840
Speaker 1: that you should need. But there's something going on that

1024
00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:24,880
Speaker 1: they're finding somewhere else. And I was just wonder, like

1025
00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:27,000
Speaker 1: you know it would be so hard to figure out

1026
00:50:27,080 --> 00:50:30,360
Speaker 1: unless you had access to these other spots. But why

1027
00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:34,680
Speaker 1: like what, why why would it do that? It's it's

1028
00:50:34,800 --> 00:50:40,600
Speaker 1: so so And I guess that's why this stuff just

1029
00:50:41,360 --> 00:50:44,000
Speaker 1: does it for me because like those questions. I love

1030
00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:45,960
Speaker 1: like wondering and trying to figure out those questions, like

1031
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:49,239
Speaker 1: why does he do that? Why? Why is he? You know,

1032
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:51,480
Speaker 1: why does he show up in early December like clockwork?

1033
00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:55,319
Speaker 1: Why does he? Why did he? He would have been

1034
00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:57,960
Speaker 1: the king of the entire roost, like all the stuff

1035
00:50:57,960 --> 00:50:59,480
Speaker 1: I have access to in this area. He would have

1036
00:50:59,520 --> 00:51:01,759
Speaker 1: been the best oldest buck. But why is he not

1037
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:04,120
Speaker 1: even trying to take over that other swamp or even

1038
00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:06,520
Speaker 1: spending time over there like I've had other years where

1039
00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:08,719
Speaker 1: like a big boy will be all over it. Um?

1040
00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:10,840
Speaker 1: Why does he want to be just in this little

1041
00:51:10,880 --> 00:51:15,440
Speaker 1: southern section? Um? I don't know, but um, but he

1042
00:51:15,560 --> 00:51:19,799
Speaker 1: definitely he had something going on elsewhere. Um. And he

1043
00:51:19,920 --> 00:51:23,440
Speaker 1: wasn't even I had a neighbor. There's a neighbor who

1044
00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:26,200
Speaker 1: has access to a decent sized chunk down in that area,

1045
00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:28,680
Speaker 1: and he wasn't getting pictures of him either. He had

1046
00:51:28,680 --> 00:51:31,520
Speaker 1: disappeared for him as well. So he you know, he

1047
00:51:31,600 --> 00:51:35,080
Speaker 1: traveled somewhere significantly far away. Like it wasn't like he

1048
00:51:35,120 --> 00:51:38,239
Speaker 1: just bumped over next door or something. Um, he he

1049
00:51:38,360 --> 00:51:41,640
Speaker 1: moved elsewhere, and who knows what he was doing or

1050
00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:46,040
Speaker 1: you know, I I have a I have one part

1051
00:51:46,080 --> 00:51:48,399
Speaker 1: of an answer to the question. Maybe for this year,

1052
00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:51,640
Speaker 1: because as the story progresses, there was one new factor

1053
00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:55,000
Speaker 1: added to the story that UM maybe has some influence

1054
00:51:55,040 --> 00:51:59,680
Speaker 1: this year. Maybe not UM, but I guess we should

1055
00:51:59,719 --> 00:52:03,600
Speaker 1: get to So November passes and UM, November passes, and

1056
00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:08,400
Speaker 1: you know, don't get any pictures of him, uh guns season.

1057
00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:12,000
Speaker 1: As I mentioned before, I leave this place alone. UM.

1058
00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:14,680
Speaker 1: So I go up to the Northern Michigan family dear camp,

1059
00:52:14,719 --> 00:52:18,440
Speaker 1: thing have a great time up there. UM come back

1060
00:52:18,680 --> 00:52:23,360
Speaker 1: in late November, and I'm thinking, all right, you know,

1061
00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:25,520
Speaker 1: I might, I might try to take a stab at him.

1062
00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:29,080
Speaker 1: I'm counting on him showing back up anytime now, late November,

1063
00:52:29,160 --> 00:52:32,200
Speaker 1: early December. Like my plan all along was I gotta

1064
00:52:32,280 --> 00:52:36,080
Speaker 1: you know, I gotta hope for that annual pattern. UM.

1065
00:52:36,120 --> 00:52:39,200
Speaker 1: I actually almost deviated off the plan because, like a

1066
00:52:39,239 --> 00:52:43,080
Speaker 1: decent another nice buck started showing up in a totally

1067
00:52:43,120 --> 00:52:45,960
Speaker 1: different area, and I actually went after him a couple

1068
00:52:45,960 --> 00:52:48,600
Speaker 1: of times with my son. Um, I was telling you,

1069
00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:51,040
Speaker 1: I think on via text message. I took my four

1070
00:52:51,120 --> 00:52:52,640
Speaker 1: year old out a couple of times to try to

1071
00:52:53,160 --> 00:52:55,520
Speaker 1: kill another decent buck that was just in a place

1072
00:52:55,560 --> 00:52:58,399
Speaker 1: that might have worked with a kiddo in a blind. Um.

1073
00:52:58,480 --> 00:53:00,960
Speaker 1: So we had fun, but that didn't work out. Um.

1074
00:53:01,040 --> 00:53:03,160
Speaker 1: So it's late November now, and I'm just like I

1075
00:53:03,239 --> 00:53:06,600
Speaker 1: told my wife, I said, all right, when like the

1076
00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:10,360
Speaker 1: first week of December hits like December two, three, whatever,

1077
00:53:10,360 --> 00:53:13,040
Speaker 1: that window ends up being, that's our muzzleloader season, and

1078
00:53:13,040 --> 00:53:15,480
Speaker 1: that's gonna be my last hurrah for buck in Michigan.

1079
00:53:15,560 --> 00:53:18,160
Speaker 1: So I said, like, any day the conditions are right,

1080
00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:21,279
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be hunting this buck, Junior. You're sick of

1081
00:53:21,360 --> 00:53:24,040
Speaker 1: me talking about him, Um, this is my last chance.

1082
00:53:24,080 --> 00:53:26,640
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to get him with the muzzleloader. And

1083
00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:28,799
Speaker 1: if I don't get him, then then I'll be done.

1084
00:53:28,800 --> 00:53:30,560
Speaker 1: I'll just focus on, you know, going on a few

1085
00:53:30,560 --> 00:53:33,520
Speaker 1: times for does and it'll be game over. But this

1086
00:53:33,600 --> 00:53:35,640
Speaker 1: is like he showed up here last year this time frame,

1087
00:53:35,680 --> 00:53:38,799
Speaker 1: I bet he'll do it again. So just just playing on.

1088
00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:41,960
Speaker 1: Let's be very flexible with our schedule. So she's like, okay,

1089
00:53:42,080 --> 00:53:45,480
Speaker 1: she rolls her eyes at me, YadA YadA. Um. And

1090
00:53:45,520 --> 00:53:50,319
Speaker 1: then like November or something, Bam, I get a picture

1091
00:53:50,360 --> 00:53:52,120
Speaker 1: of him back for the first time in about a month.

1092
00:53:52,640 --> 00:53:55,759
Speaker 1: He shows back up, you know, right on schedule. It's

1093
00:53:55,760 --> 00:53:59,640
Speaker 1: a nighttime picture, but he's alive and he's back, so

1094
00:54:00,600 --> 00:54:03,400
Speaker 1: super confidence boost. Really, it was like one of those things.

1095
00:54:03,480 --> 00:54:05,680
Speaker 1: When I got that pictures, a big grin popped up

1096
00:54:05,719 --> 00:54:07,440
Speaker 1: on my face and it's like, all right, man, the

1097
00:54:07,719 --> 00:54:11,880
Speaker 1: annual pattern he showed back up. Um, the hunts on. Basically,

1098
00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:14,920
Speaker 1: that's what I thought then, and uh, and then it

1099
00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:17,120
Speaker 1: was just a matter of figure out when's like the

1100
00:54:17,160 --> 00:54:20,759
Speaker 1: best opportunities to to take that strike because again, like

1101
00:54:21,680 --> 00:54:23,440
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, the same stuff that has been a

1102
00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:26,200
Speaker 1: challenge here in the past is now a challenge in December.

1103
00:54:26,320 --> 00:54:30,000
Speaker 1: So he is in the swamp. It's very hard to

1104
00:54:30,080 --> 00:54:32,279
Speaker 1: hunt to the edge of the swamp because there's all

1105
00:54:32,320 --> 00:54:35,399
Speaker 1: these doughs, especially hard now in the late season because

1106
00:54:35,400 --> 00:54:37,600
Speaker 1: there's like no cover, so like slipping in to get

1107
00:54:37,640 --> 00:54:41,080
Speaker 1: to the edge of the swamp is very very risky. Um.

1108
00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:44,839
Speaker 1: I also know that there's this open cut bean field

1109
00:54:44,880 --> 00:54:47,360
Speaker 1: around the swamp this year and so the whole exit

1110
00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:49,279
Speaker 1: thing is a challenge. There's gonna be a lot of

1111
00:54:49,280 --> 00:54:52,600
Speaker 1: dear feeding out there. So every time I hunt, you know,

1112
00:54:52,719 --> 00:54:57,359
Speaker 1: even with someone driving in to clear the field. Um,

1113
00:54:57,440 --> 00:54:59,080
Speaker 1: you know, that adds up if I do that three

1114
00:54:59,160 --> 00:55:02,480
Speaker 1: or four or five times. So I just I knew, like,

1115
00:55:02,520 --> 00:55:05,480
Speaker 1: all right, I've gotta I've got to pick my moments.

1116
00:55:05,520 --> 00:55:08,400
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have a handful of opportunities to do it,

1117
00:55:08,640 --> 00:55:11,799
Speaker 1: and I've got to pick the right ones. Um. And

1118
00:55:11,880 --> 00:55:15,480
Speaker 1: so I just planned on not even trying to hunt

1119
00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:19,120
Speaker 1: the swamp edge, but hunting this finger of timber that's

1120
00:55:19,160 --> 00:55:21,760
Speaker 1: just across from the swamp edge. It would be about

1121
00:55:23,160 --> 00:55:26,680
Speaker 1: seventy yards. There's like a finger of this field that

1122
00:55:27,320 --> 00:55:30,239
Speaker 1: is in between the timber finger and the swamp. And

1123
00:55:31,160 --> 00:55:33,560
Speaker 1: I can hunt that timber edge, this little finger of

1124
00:55:33,600 --> 00:55:36,720
Speaker 1: timber safely. I can get into that, Like my access

1125
00:55:36,719 --> 00:55:39,440
Speaker 1: in there is bulletproof with like a kind of any

1126
00:55:39,480 --> 00:55:41,400
Speaker 1: of any of these winds that cuts the corner, like

1127
00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:43,800
Speaker 1: I was talking about, anything easterly or westerly that doesn't

1128
00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:46,839
Speaker 1: dump too far down to the south I can get

1129
00:55:46,840 --> 00:55:51,319
Speaker 1: away with and I can get there safely. And you know,

1130
00:55:51,600 --> 00:55:53,960
Speaker 1: if I have a firearm, I can reach out to

1131
00:55:54,000 --> 00:55:57,080
Speaker 1: him at seventy yards or eighty yards and you know,

1132
00:55:57,120 --> 00:56:01,760
Speaker 1: still be in the game. So I went a few

1133
00:56:01,960 --> 00:56:04,799
Speaker 1: like a week ago, and I looked at all of

1134
00:56:04,840 --> 00:56:06,840
Speaker 1: my trail camera pictures again I had of him around

1135
00:56:06,840 --> 00:56:10,960
Speaker 1: the swamp, looked at all the daylight photos I you know,

1136
00:56:11,160 --> 00:56:13,960
Speaker 1: logged all you know, me, all my weird spreadsheet stuff.

1137
00:56:14,400 --> 00:56:16,120
Speaker 1: I like to put all my stuff in there, and

1138
00:56:16,160 --> 00:56:17,600
Speaker 1: I like to look out. Okay, what are the dates

1139
00:56:17,600 --> 00:56:19,600
Speaker 1: he day lighted, What were the wind directions on the

1140
00:56:19,680 --> 00:56:23,520
Speaker 1: days he daylighted, what were the temperatures doing? Um, just

1141
00:56:23,520 --> 00:56:25,640
Speaker 1: trying to see, like is there any other thing I'm missing?

1142
00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:28,120
Speaker 1: Like I'm just trying to better pick. Like if I

1143
00:56:28,160 --> 00:56:31,040
Speaker 1: get three shots at him, I want to make sure

1144
00:56:31,080 --> 00:56:34,839
Speaker 1: I picked the best three days, um, because every one

1145
00:56:34,840 --> 00:56:37,480
Speaker 1: of those days is gonna hurt me a little bit. Um.

1146
00:56:37,600 --> 00:56:39,799
Speaker 1: So So that's what I was trying to do leading

1147
00:56:39,800 --> 00:56:43,319
Speaker 1: into this window. I had been in Ohio. I did

1148
00:56:43,320 --> 00:56:47,160
Speaker 1: it like a three day hunt in Ohio, and I kept,

1149
00:56:47,239 --> 00:56:50,200
Speaker 1: you know, watching the forecast, watching the forecast, and I

1150
00:56:50,239 --> 00:56:56,680
Speaker 1: decided that the third December was like one of those

1151
00:56:57,040 --> 00:57:00,319
Speaker 1: highlight days within that December. You know, sometimes between the

1152
00:57:00,320 --> 00:57:02,279
Speaker 1: second and the eleventh was the window I was looking at,

1153
00:57:02,960 --> 00:57:05,520
Speaker 1: and as the weather was coming together, the third looked

1154
00:57:05,520 --> 00:57:08,720
Speaker 1: like one of those picture perfect things I was talking about.

1155
00:57:09,080 --> 00:57:12,839
Speaker 1: It was big coal front. It was gonna drop more

1156
00:57:12,880 --> 00:57:16,240
Speaker 1: than twenty degrees in a twelve hour span, actually in

1157
00:57:16,280 --> 00:57:18,040
Speaker 1: the morning, so it's gonna be like fifty degrees in

1158
00:57:18,080 --> 00:57:21,000
Speaker 1: the morning, and by the time the afternoon arrived it

1159
00:57:21,040 --> 00:57:25,520
Speaker 1: was gonna be down to it was gonna be very

1160
00:57:25,560 --> 00:57:28,880
Speaker 1: windy overnight and all day, and the wind was gonna

1161
00:57:28,960 --> 00:57:30,800
Speaker 1: die down for the last hour and a half. Again,

1162
00:57:30,840 --> 00:57:33,920
Speaker 1: it was gonna go from like twenty winds to like twelve,

1163
00:57:35,200 --> 00:57:37,800
Speaker 1: So that looks really good. There was gonna be this

1164
00:57:38,080 --> 00:57:43,120
Speaker 1: uh rise, big rise and barre metric pressure and a

1165
00:57:43,200 --> 00:57:46,080
Speaker 1: reduction in cloud cover kind of happening right at that

1166
00:57:46,160 --> 00:57:48,919
Speaker 1: primetime window too, which I don't know about cloud cover

1167
00:57:48,960 --> 00:57:50,600
Speaker 1: as much, but just seems like when you get those

1168
00:57:50,680 --> 00:57:54,959
Speaker 1: high bear metric like bluebird days that are cold, those

1169
00:57:54,960 --> 00:57:56,960
Speaker 1: are just like seem to be like dynamite days for

1170
00:57:57,040 --> 00:58:00,600
Speaker 1: dear to be on their feet. Um. So all those

1171
00:58:00,600 --> 00:58:06,320
Speaker 1: things lined up for December three, and December was the

1172
00:58:06,360 --> 00:58:10,040
Speaker 1: day he showed back up in daylight. Last year. So

1173
00:58:10,520 --> 00:58:14,840
Speaker 1: that led me to the hunt. I drove home from Ohio,

1174
00:58:15,760 --> 00:58:18,400
Speaker 1: I told my wife, Um, you know, I got a

1175
00:58:18,440 --> 00:58:21,920
Speaker 1: hunt December three, and she tells me, well, that's the

1176
00:58:22,000 --> 00:58:24,200
Speaker 1: day that my friends from work are coming over for dinner.

1177
00:58:24,880 --> 00:58:28,640
Speaker 1: And I was like, uh, well, I gotta hunt. This

1178
00:58:28,720 --> 00:58:30,720
Speaker 1: is like the day, this is the day I think

1179
00:58:30,760 --> 00:58:35,280
Speaker 1: it will lappen. Um. So we end up asking her

1180
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:38,600
Speaker 1: friends to come late, to come after dark so that

1181
00:58:38,680 --> 00:58:40,800
Speaker 1: not only can I hunt in time, but I also

1182
00:58:40,960 --> 00:58:43,240
Speaker 1: was able to convince my wife to leave our house

1183
00:58:43,800 --> 00:58:46,360
Speaker 1: and be willing and able to drive out and clear

1184
00:58:46,440 --> 00:58:50,040
Speaker 1: the field on this property if I needed to before

1185
00:58:50,040 --> 00:58:52,160
Speaker 1: a company arrived, because I was like, I can't hunt

1186
00:58:52,240 --> 00:58:54,400
Speaker 1: unless it was like, unless you or somebody else can

1187
00:58:54,440 --> 00:58:56,640
Speaker 1: come out in clear this field, I can't hunt it because,

1188
00:58:56,680 --> 00:58:59,120
Speaker 1: like I know, if I try to walk out, it

1189
00:58:59,120 --> 00:59:01,280
Speaker 1: will ruin any other hunts I have. I have to

1190
00:59:01,320 --> 00:59:03,560
Speaker 1: build hunt and I need somebody to be able to

1191
00:59:03,560 --> 00:59:07,160
Speaker 1: clear this place. And so she's a she's an angel.

1192
00:59:07,240 --> 00:59:12,880
Speaker 1: She agreed to both of those things. And Uh, anyway,

1193
00:59:12,960 --> 00:59:17,520
Speaker 1: so when you get divorced, hopefully hopefully it'll be at

1194
00:59:17,520 --> 00:59:20,000
Speaker 1: the time when like self driving cars are are like

1195
00:59:20,080 --> 00:59:22,360
Speaker 1: so advanced. You could just dial up your truck and

1196
00:59:22,400 --> 00:59:24,640
Speaker 1: have it drive out there on a little track on it.

1197
00:59:24,720 --> 00:59:27,479
Speaker 1: You're like, you'll be able to like show your pin

1198
00:59:27,560 --> 00:59:29,680
Speaker 1: on on X and your car is gonna start up

1199
00:59:29,720 --> 00:59:32,880
Speaker 1: and drive out there and blow that field. Yeah, that's

1200
00:59:33,000 --> 00:59:35,120
Speaker 1: that's one piece of technology I would have to take

1201
00:59:35,160 --> 00:59:38,760
Speaker 1: advantage of because because I will when you get divorced,

1202
00:59:38,760 --> 00:59:44,280
Speaker 1: when she's finally like oh my god. Yeah, man, when

1203
00:59:44,280 --> 00:59:46,200
Speaker 1: I run out of favors, I can call on my

1204
00:59:46,360 --> 00:59:49,120
Speaker 1: local friends and the good will of my wife to

1205
00:59:49,160 --> 00:59:51,000
Speaker 1: do that for me, I will be in trouble, that's

1206
00:59:51,040 --> 00:59:55,440
Speaker 1: for sure. Um, because yeah, this this general area does

1207
00:59:55,480 --> 00:59:59,760
Speaker 1: not set up well for solo exits. So yeah, I

1208
00:59:59,800 --> 01:00:01,800
Speaker 1: got very lucky in this case, and that I got

1209
01:00:01,800 --> 01:00:05,120
Speaker 1: the Yes, I got the green land and those two things. Um.

1210
01:00:05,160 --> 01:00:08,520
Speaker 1: So it was like one of those nights where they're

1211
01:00:08,520 --> 01:00:10,680
Speaker 1: my very favorite times to go hunting. It's like when

1212
01:00:10,720 --> 01:00:14,440
Speaker 1: you've got like the anxious, rumbling, stomach tightness in your

1213
01:00:14,520 --> 01:00:16,440
Speaker 1: chest as you're getting ready to hunt, because it just

1214
01:00:16,480 --> 01:00:21,720
Speaker 1: feels so right, do you know those days so so

1215
01:00:21,960 --> 01:00:24,440
Speaker 1: just just exciting when you when you have like when

1216
01:00:24,440 --> 01:00:26,880
Speaker 1: it's not just a hunt, but it's like a well

1217
01:00:27,560 --> 01:00:30,400
Speaker 1: planned like strike. I don't know, like when you go

1218
01:00:30,440 --> 01:00:32,760
Speaker 1: in there with a lot of confidence. I love that

1219
01:00:32,800 --> 01:00:34,720
Speaker 1: feeling versus when you go out there like just when

1220
01:00:34,760 --> 01:00:37,680
Speaker 1: I sure hope something works out. Um. I really like

1221
01:00:37,760 --> 01:00:40,080
Speaker 1: going in like knowing like it should. You know, I've

1222
01:00:40,080 --> 01:00:42,160
Speaker 1: got a great chance because of A and B and

1223
01:00:42,240 --> 01:00:45,640
Speaker 1: C and D and you know, it's just like dialed.

1224
01:00:46,040 --> 01:00:49,280
Speaker 1: And I felt dialed that night. Um, So I slipped in.

1225
01:00:49,320 --> 01:00:52,560
Speaker 1: I slipped into that finger timber. It's like a low

1226
01:00:52,600 --> 01:00:54,640
Speaker 1: spot inside this little it's like, you know, only like

1227
01:00:54,800 --> 01:00:58,000
Speaker 1: thirty yards forty yard wide finger of timber. I can

1228
01:00:58,040 --> 01:00:59,680
Speaker 1: get down this low spot kind of a ditch, and

1229
01:00:59,680 --> 01:01:02,280
Speaker 1: I can work that way all the way back to

1230
01:01:02,360 --> 01:01:05,680
Speaker 1: be parallel to that swamp. I had a tree stand

1231
01:01:05,920 --> 01:01:09,720
Speaker 1: historically been up there. I thought I'll hunt this tree

1232
01:01:09,720 --> 01:01:13,120
Speaker 1: stand on my first night because I had a west

1233
01:01:13,200 --> 01:01:16,320
Speaker 1: northwest wind which would blow you know, between those two

1234
01:01:16,320 --> 01:01:19,040
Speaker 1: betting areas cut the northern part of the swamp. But

1235
01:01:19,080 --> 01:01:21,880
Speaker 1: I didn't think he was betting in that little corner. Um.

1236
01:01:22,160 --> 01:01:25,000
Speaker 1: I didn't mention this, but in you know, past springs,

1237
01:01:25,560 --> 01:01:27,960
Speaker 1: I have gone into the swamp in the winter and

1238
01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:31,000
Speaker 1: scouted and I found like big solo beds on some

1239
01:01:31,080 --> 01:01:33,120
Speaker 1: humps in that swamp. So I kind of knew the

1240
01:01:33,560 --> 01:01:36,600
Speaker 1: little corner there was, there was a portion within the

1241
01:01:36,600 --> 01:01:38,360
Speaker 1: swamp where if I had to put my money on

1242
01:01:38,400 --> 01:01:40,600
Speaker 1: where he was probably betted when he was in that swamp,

1243
01:01:40,600 --> 01:01:44,120
Speaker 1: he was probably in that little corner. So you know,

1244
01:01:44,120 --> 01:01:46,400
Speaker 1: I had a general assumption of where it is probably

1245
01:01:46,480 --> 01:01:49,160
Speaker 1: safe for my wind to to cut across and where

1246
01:01:49,200 --> 01:01:52,240
Speaker 1: it wouldn't be safer to cut across um. And so

1247
01:01:52,400 --> 01:01:54,880
Speaker 1: you know, with the west northwest wind, I thought, all right,

1248
01:01:54,920 --> 01:01:59,880
Speaker 1: I'll hunt this eastern edge, right, yeah, this eastern edge

1249
01:02:00,120 --> 01:02:02,160
Speaker 1: the first night, and if I don't kill him that

1250
01:02:02,200 --> 01:02:04,440
Speaker 1: first night, I'll come back in and the next day

1251
01:02:04,520 --> 01:02:07,080
Speaker 1: we've got um or like the next good weather day,

1252
01:02:07,120 --> 01:02:08,680
Speaker 1: it looked like it was actually gonna shift to like

1253
01:02:08,720 --> 01:02:11,680
Speaker 1: a northeast east northeast wind, and so I could then

1254
01:02:11,760 --> 01:02:13,880
Speaker 1: hunt further to the west that time and kind of

1255
01:02:13,920 --> 01:02:17,360
Speaker 1: cut across the other side of the swamp um and

1256
01:02:17,400 --> 01:02:20,040
Speaker 1: you know, I'd be able to work different sections of

1257
01:02:20,040 --> 01:02:21,800
Speaker 1: that depending on which you know, which way the wind

1258
01:02:21,840 --> 01:02:24,560
Speaker 1: was blowing and which way he ended up moving, if

1259
01:02:24,600 --> 01:02:26,000
Speaker 1: if you know, he would do all these things, I

1260
01:02:26,000 --> 01:02:29,479
Speaker 1: was hoping he might do. Um. You know, I don't,

1261
01:02:30,680 --> 01:02:33,360
Speaker 1: by no means did I think like the annual pattern

1262
01:02:33,440 --> 01:02:36,840
Speaker 1: thing was guaranteed to repeat. But I definitely thought it

1263
01:02:36,920 --> 01:02:40,400
Speaker 1: was a feather in my cap for like possible confidence,

1264
01:02:40,400 --> 01:02:43,400
Speaker 1: like it was it could happen again. And you know

1265
01:02:43,680 --> 01:02:46,640
Speaker 1: the fact that I had good conditions and last year

1266
01:02:46,680 --> 01:02:50,000
Speaker 1: he had a ten day window of like activity here, um,

1267
01:02:50,320 --> 01:02:52,320
Speaker 1: you know, gave me that hope that it was it

1268
01:02:52,360 --> 01:02:55,560
Speaker 1: was worth taking a few strikes in there. So with

1269
01:02:55,680 --> 01:02:57,760
Speaker 1: those great weather conditions, I figured deer would be on

1270
01:02:57,760 --> 01:02:59,480
Speaker 1: their feet pretty early. So I headed in there at

1271
01:02:59,480 --> 01:03:02,640
Speaker 1: like two o'clock in the afternoon. UM. Slipped in there

1272
01:03:02,640 --> 01:03:06,720
Speaker 1: and got up in the tree, got situated, UM, and

1273
01:03:06,760 --> 01:03:08,800
Speaker 1: like I had just gotten all settled in, Like I

1274
01:03:08,880 --> 01:03:11,520
Speaker 1: just sat down and like had that first moment where

1275
01:03:11,520 --> 01:03:13,040
Speaker 1: it's all set. You take a deep breath. You can't

1276
01:03:13,080 --> 01:03:16,200
Speaker 1: take that first like slow gaze around you, you know.

1277
01:03:17,040 --> 01:03:19,640
Speaker 1: And I gaze over to my right towards the swamp,

1278
01:03:19,800 --> 01:03:22,360
Speaker 1: and I see a flash of movement, and I pulled

1279
01:03:22,400 --> 01:03:28,440
Speaker 1: my binoculars and he's there, like within ten minutes of

1280
01:03:28,480 --> 01:03:32,240
Speaker 1: me getting situated the tree, he's standing there hundred and

1281
01:03:32,280 --> 01:03:36,320
Speaker 1: ten yards away, give or take inside that swamp and

1282
01:03:36,920 --> 01:03:39,520
Speaker 1: just standing there and I just like my jaw just dropped.

1283
01:03:39,520 --> 01:03:42,720
Speaker 1: It's the first time I've seen him this entire year, right,

1284
01:03:42,720 --> 01:03:44,480
Speaker 1: I've gotten pictures of them this year, but never once

1285
01:03:44,560 --> 01:03:46,880
Speaker 1: encountered him at this year. I never saw him when

1286
01:03:46,920 --> 01:03:49,440
Speaker 1: glass in the summer, never observed him, you know, from

1287
01:03:49,440 --> 01:03:52,720
Speaker 1: Afar scouting, never saw any of the other hunts here

1288
01:03:52,760 --> 01:03:55,880
Speaker 1: he is too, I don't know to thirty something like

1289
01:03:55,920 --> 01:03:59,200
Speaker 1: that broad daylight standing in the middle of the swamp,

1290
01:03:59,400 --> 01:04:02,800
Speaker 1: edge of the swamp. Um. So just shock was the

1291
01:04:02,800 --> 01:04:07,200
Speaker 1: first thing I'm feeling. Um part starts beating real fast,

1292
01:04:07,480 --> 01:04:10,960
Speaker 1: pullt my buyos and I'm looking at him, and you know, now,

1293
01:04:11,080 --> 01:04:12,640
Speaker 1: the next thing I think it was, Okay, what's he doing?

1294
01:04:12,720 --> 01:04:15,240
Speaker 1: Like is there anywhere I can get a shot here soon?

1295
01:04:15,240 --> 01:04:17,960
Speaker 1: Because he's he's already kind of arrange. Um, but it's

1296
01:04:17,960 --> 01:04:20,439
Speaker 1: like thick brushing. I'm looking like, is there a gap

1297
01:04:20,480 --> 01:04:22,400
Speaker 1: here as the whole there is there's somewhere I could

1298
01:04:22,400 --> 01:04:25,600
Speaker 1: actually reposition myself to get a shot. Um, And I

1299
01:04:25,680 --> 01:04:28,040
Speaker 1: just I didn't see it. I didn't see any way

1300
01:04:28,040 --> 01:04:30,080
Speaker 1: I could get a shot if you know, in the

1301
01:04:30,120 --> 01:04:33,040
Speaker 1: near future of where he was. But I thought, Man,

1302
01:04:33,680 --> 01:04:36,800
Speaker 1: if he's right here right now, I mean, what's he

1303
01:04:36,800 --> 01:04:38,720
Speaker 1: gonna do. Is he just gonna slowly work out here

1304
01:04:38,760 --> 01:04:41,720
Speaker 1: like super early? I mean last year, that first daylight

1305
01:04:41,760 --> 01:04:44,160
Speaker 1: picture I had of him was three thirty in the afternoon,

1306
01:04:44,160 --> 01:04:47,160
Speaker 1: which is super early because it's getting dark at like five,

1307
01:04:48,280 --> 01:04:50,280
Speaker 1: I don't know, five thirty five or five forty or

1308
01:04:50,320 --> 01:04:54,080
Speaker 1: something like that. So he's out really early. Um, but

1309
01:04:54,160 --> 01:04:56,320
Speaker 1: he did that last year, So who knows, Like I

1310
01:04:56,600 --> 01:04:58,920
Speaker 1: can't explain that. Um, it's not something he ever does

1311
01:04:58,960 --> 01:05:00,880
Speaker 1: any other type of the year. But I don't know,

1312
01:05:01,080 --> 01:05:03,800
Speaker 1: big cold front. Uh, he's wore down from the rut.

1313
01:05:04,320 --> 01:05:06,880
Speaker 1: Maybe he he knows this is his little sanctuary and

1314
01:05:07,000 --> 01:05:10,320
Speaker 1: I'm hardly out there at all in November. Um, maybe

1315
01:05:10,520 --> 01:05:13,600
Speaker 1: he's gonna pop out. So I kind of I grabbed

1316
01:05:13,600 --> 01:05:15,560
Speaker 1: my guns slowly off the side of the tree and

1317
01:05:15,920 --> 01:05:17,959
Speaker 1: kind of get myself positioned, and I'm kind of looking,

1318
01:05:17,960 --> 01:05:19,720
Speaker 1: all right, Well, I need him to maybe walk like

1319
01:05:21,400 --> 01:05:23,640
Speaker 1: fifty yards down until he'd finally be in like a

1320
01:05:23,680 --> 01:05:26,919
Speaker 1: spot I might bela um see him and get a shot.

1321
01:05:26,920 --> 01:05:28,959
Speaker 1: If he stays in the swamp, or maybe he'll pop

1322
01:05:28,960 --> 01:05:31,160
Speaker 1: out into this bean field, this little finger of like

1323
01:05:31,240 --> 01:05:34,240
Speaker 1: seventy yards of beans. Um. But he doesn't do that.

1324
01:05:34,280 --> 01:05:37,120
Speaker 1: He just stands there for like ten minutes, fifteen minutes,

1325
01:05:37,680 --> 01:05:39,880
Speaker 1: twenty minutes. He's just standing there and he looks around

1326
01:05:39,920 --> 01:05:42,720
Speaker 1: and he puts his head down, like licks his back

1327
01:05:42,840 --> 01:05:46,040
Speaker 1: legs and they looks around. He kind of rubs up

1328
01:05:46,040 --> 01:05:49,160
Speaker 1: on trees, takes a nibble. I'm thinking, man, I guess

1329
01:05:49,160 --> 01:05:51,080
Speaker 1: this is what you know mature bucks do, Like they

1330
01:05:51,120 --> 01:05:55,960
Speaker 1: just stand and watch and don't move. Um. And then

1331
01:05:55,960 --> 01:05:59,120
Speaker 1: he takes a step, and then he takes another step,

1332
01:05:59,240 --> 01:06:01,880
Speaker 1: and I'm like, he's kind of walking weird. And then

1333
01:06:01,880 --> 01:06:06,160
Speaker 1: he takes another step, and I realized, like he's limping badly,

1334
01:06:07,000 --> 01:06:08,920
Speaker 1: Like as he starts trying to move, like I'm saying that,

1335
01:06:08,960 --> 01:06:12,040
Speaker 1: he's like struggling to move. And now I'm realizable he's hurt.

1336
01:06:13,320 --> 01:06:16,440
Speaker 1: So he got shot or something. And so he maybe

1337
01:06:16,480 --> 01:06:19,960
Speaker 1: took like five steps, um, five ten steps something like that,

1338
01:06:20,000 --> 01:06:22,000
Speaker 1: and you could see like once he started going, he's

1339
01:06:22,000 --> 01:06:24,880
Speaker 1: got a real significant hitch in his steps. Something's wrong

1340
01:06:24,920 --> 01:06:30,120
Speaker 1: with his back left leg um, and he beds down,

1341
01:06:31,720 --> 01:06:34,000
Speaker 1: so I see I can see him bedded there. He's

1342
01:06:34,040 --> 01:06:37,360
Speaker 1: like a hundred twenty yards something like that, and he's

1343
01:06:37,400 --> 01:06:41,760
Speaker 1: bedded facing directly at me. I can't see like his eyes,

1344
01:06:41,800 --> 01:06:45,400
Speaker 1: like there's like a five inch four inch like sapling

1345
01:06:45,520 --> 01:06:47,880
Speaker 1: right between his eyes, But I can tell like for

1346
01:06:47,920 --> 01:06:50,400
Speaker 1: those antlers popping on either side of this tree. As

1347
01:06:50,440 --> 01:06:52,200
Speaker 1: I'm like shifting around trying to get a better looking

1348
01:06:52,240 --> 01:06:55,440
Speaker 1: I can tell like he's basically facing right at me. Um,

1349
01:06:55,480 --> 01:06:59,280
Speaker 1: it's now sunny, and I'm thinking, all right, what do

1350
01:06:59,360 --> 01:07:02,120
Speaker 1: I do in this scenario? The buck up? And after

1351
01:07:02,280 --> 01:07:06,600
Speaker 1: showed up? He's here, he's in sight, he's in range,

1352
01:07:06,880 --> 01:07:08,640
Speaker 1: but I can't shoot him because of brush in the way,

1353
01:07:08,800 --> 01:07:11,760
Speaker 1: both close to me and close to him, And now

1354
01:07:11,800 --> 01:07:15,920
Speaker 1: he's betted. So I'm thinking, all right, can I somehow

1355
01:07:15,920 --> 01:07:17,520
Speaker 1: get out of the tree and like stalking on him?

1356
01:07:17,520 --> 01:07:19,480
Speaker 1: Like I feel like I gotta take advantage of this

1357
01:07:19,560 --> 01:07:22,560
Speaker 1: opportunity now, especially with him being hurt. Who knows like

1358
01:07:22,560 --> 01:07:25,160
Speaker 1: how bad this injury is. Who knows if I'll ever

1359
01:07:25,200 --> 01:07:27,800
Speaker 1: see him again? Um, I don't know. There's like a

1360
01:07:27,800 --> 01:07:31,400
Speaker 1: thousand questions racing through my head now. Um, so I'm

1361
01:07:31,400 --> 01:07:33,240
Speaker 1: bouncing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

1362
01:07:33,280 --> 01:07:34,360
Speaker 1: Is there any way I can get out of this

1363
01:07:34,400 --> 01:07:36,720
Speaker 1: tree and stalking him, or is that too risky? Should

1364
01:07:36,720 --> 01:07:38,480
Speaker 1: I just stay here and wait and hope that he's

1365
01:07:38,480 --> 01:07:42,720
Speaker 1: eventually gonna get up and come my way. Uh, twenty

1366
01:07:42,760 --> 01:07:47,120
Speaker 1: minutes minutes passes, and I'm debating all this in my head.

1367
01:07:47,120 --> 01:07:48,720
Speaker 1: I decided, like, I just don't see any way I

1368
01:07:48,720 --> 01:07:50,800
Speaker 1: can get out without him seeing me right now. The

1369
01:07:50,840 --> 01:07:53,720
Speaker 1: way he's betted and where my steps coming out of

1370
01:07:53,720 --> 01:07:55,520
Speaker 1: this tree are, I'd have to come down on his

1371
01:07:55,640 --> 01:07:58,080
Speaker 1: side of the tree, so i'd be in like perfect view.

1372
01:07:58,200 --> 01:08:00,240
Speaker 1: Like there's there's branches and stuff in the way, but

1373
01:08:00,800 --> 01:08:02,920
Speaker 1: you know, I can see him, he can see me

1374
01:08:02,960 --> 01:08:04,640
Speaker 1: if I'm moving down that tree. It would be like

1375
01:08:04,680 --> 01:08:07,400
Speaker 1: a very obvious thing. I just couldn't imagine any way

1376
01:08:07,400 --> 01:08:10,680
Speaker 1: that would work out. So I decide, all right, you're

1377
01:08:10,720 --> 01:08:12,880
Speaker 1: just gonna wait it out. You're gonna be patient, don't

1378
01:08:13,160 --> 01:08:16,679
Speaker 1: like act impulsively. Let this play it a little bit longer.

1379
01:08:17,800 --> 01:08:20,519
Speaker 1: So twenty minutes passes. Something like that, he stands up

1380
01:08:20,560 --> 01:08:24,400
Speaker 1: again and takes a step in my direction, kind of

1381
01:08:24,439 --> 01:08:27,519
Speaker 1: angles like he might come out. I reposition, start thinking, Okay,

1382
01:08:27,560 --> 01:08:31,360
Speaker 1: maybe this is gonna happen, getting re excited, takes a

1383
01:08:31,400 --> 01:08:34,920
Speaker 1: step kind of nibbles licks his back leg kind of

1384
01:08:35,800 --> 01:08:39,120
Speaker 1: push his antlers up against the tree. I'm, you know,

1385
01:08:39,720 --> 01:08:44,559
Speaker 1: heart shaken again. And uh then he beds again. So

1386
01:08:44,640 --> 01:08:46,720
Speaker 1: he maybe walked like five yards from where he was before,

1387
01:08:46,800 --> 01:08:50,519
Speaker 1: beds down again, same kind of situation, still thick stuff.

1388
01:08:50,560 --> 01:08:54,400
Speaker 1: I can see him, but you know, no shot. Ah.

1389
01:08:54,400 --> 01:08:57,519
Speaker 1: But now where he's better, he's not facing directly at me.

1390
01:08:57,600 --> 01:09:01,000
Speaker 1: He's now facing kind of like perpendicular to me. So

1391
01:09:01,840 --> 01:09:04,639
Speaker 1: you know by that, I mean like he's if if

1392
01:09:04,680 --> 01:09:09,000
Speaker 1: I'm facing due south, like let me describe, I am

1393
01:09:09,080 --> 01:09:11,439
Speaker 1: due north of him. Okay, so he's in the swamp

1394
01:09:12,760 --> 01:09:15,719
Speaker 1: about twenty yards inside the edge of the swamp. I'm

1395
01:09:15,800 --> 01:09:18,120
Speaker 1: due north of him, like a twenty yards and he

1396
01:09:18,240 --> 01:09:22,280
Speaker 1: is facing due west. And you know, so one eyeball

1397
01:09:22,360 --> 01:09:26,480
Speaker 1: is facing my way. The other eyeball is not facing me. Um,

1398
01:09:26,520 --> 01:09:30,960
Speaker 1: but still like you know, visible um. And so now

1399
01:09:30,960 --> 01:09:33,760
Speaker 1: I'm back to that same debate, like do I do

1400
01:09:33,800 --> 01:09:35,400
Speaker 1: I stay or do I go? Do I stay or

1401
01:09:35,400 --> 01:09:40,680
Speaker 1: do I go? And it's now somewhere in the four

1402
01:09:40,720 --> 01:09:43,360
Speaker 1: o'clock it's like four o'clock ish somewhere in that ballpark,

1403
01:09:44,000 --> 01:09:46,280
Speaker 1: and I remember thinking, like you're you're running out of

1404
01:09:46,320 --> 01:09:48,120
Speaker 1: time to make a move on him. If you want

1405
01:09:48,160 --> 01:09:50,720
Speaker 1: to make a move on him, the sooner you do it,

1406
01:09:50,760 --> 01:09:54,920
Speaker 1: the better, because every minute you let pass is another

1407
01:09:54,960 --> 01:09:56,920
Speaker 1: minute that more dear likely to come out. Right now,

1408
01:09:57,000 --> 01:10:00,120
Speaker 1: there's no other deer out. But I know like spe too,

1409
01:10:00,240 --> 01:10:02,000
Speaker 1: with the conditions, like there's gonna be a pile of

1410
01:10:02,040 --> 01:10:05,320
Speaker 1: deer out feeding here soon. Um. And if there's like

1411
01:10:05,360 --> 01:10:07,519
Speaker 1: fifteen deer out feeding there and you try to crawl

1412
01:10:07,640 --> 01:10:09,599
Speaker 1: this tree and sneak towards him, like you're gonna blow

1413
01:10:09,640 --> 01:10:13,240
Speaker 1: it up and bust him out of here. So if

1414
01:10:13,280 --> 01:10:15,920
Speaker 1: you don't go soon, you might never have the chance

1415
01:10:15,960 --> 01:10:18,559
Speaker 1: to do it. So part of me was saying, like

1416
01:10:18,560 --> 01:10:19,840
Speaker 1: I had to get out of the tree and try

1417
01:10:19,880 --> 01:10:23,240
Speaker 1: to make something happen. Another part of me says, you

1418
01:10:23,240 --> 01:10:26,040
Speaker 1: could do that and totally blow it up. He'll see you.

1419
01:10:26,040 --> 01:10:29,000
Speaker 1: You'll screw it up somehow, and you maybe don't ever,

1420
01:10:29,200 --> 01:10:30,559
Speaker 1: maybe you didn't need to do that all. You could

1421
01:10:30,640 --> 01:10:32,280
Speaker 1: just wait it out. In ten minutes from he's gonna

1422
01:10:32,280 --> 01:10:33,840
Speaker 1: stand up, walk out into the edge of the field

1423
01:10:33,840 --> 01:10:35,080
Speaker 1: and give you a clear shot and it'll be the

1424
01:10:35,080 --> 01:10:39,439
Speaker 1: best thing ever. Um. So that was that was my debate.

1425
01:10:39,640 --> 01:10:42,400
Speaker 1: And the one other thing I had going for me

1426
01:10:42,840 --> 01:10:45,240
Speaker 1: was it was windy still. I still had some like

1427
01:10:45,280 --> 01:10:48,400
Speaker 1: gusting winds. It wasn't died and down yet, but I

1428
01:10:48,479 --> 01:10:50,200
Speaker 1: knew it was going to die down, right because the

1429
01:10:50,200 --> 01:10:52,880
Speaker 1: forecast said, like that last hour it was gonna dip,

1430
01:10:53,080 --> 01:10:56,120
Speaker 1: you know, get down there to a relatively calm you know,

1431
01:10:56,160 --> 01:10:58,280
Speaker 1: ten miles an hour or something like that. So that

1432
01:10:58,320 --> 01:11:00,440
Speaker 1: was another reason why, like, if I don't do it,

1433
01:11:00,439 --> 01:11:03,160
Speaker 1: it's gonna be much harder to do it later. So

1434
01:11:03,200 --> 01:11:06,360
Speaker 1: that's where I'm at. It's like four o'clock something like that.

1435
01:11:06,400 --> 01:11:08,400
Speaker 1: I've got a little over an hour of daylight left.

1436
01:11:08,439 --> 01:11:12,719
Speaker 1: He's better at twenty yards away, kind of quartering, looking,

1437
01:11:12,760 --> 01:11:15,559
Speaker 1: you know, perpendicular to me, and I'm in the tree

1438
01:11:15,920 --> 01:11:32,000
Speaker 1: trying to make a decision. Tony Peterson, what would you

1439
01:11:32,080 --> 01:11:39,280
Speaker 1: do in that situation? Oh? Man, I recently, very very

1440
01:11:39,320 --> 01:11:43,320
Speaker 1: recently ran into this situation of watching two bucks dropped

1441
01:11:43,360 --> 01:11:46,400
Speaker 1: down into a low spot in a field while I

1442
01:11:46,439 --> 01:11:49,479
Speaker 1: was muzzle or hunting, and the clock was ticking, and

1443
01:11:49,720 --> 01:11:53,679
Speaker 1: I crawled out there and got busted by the bigger

1444
01:11:53,720 --> 01:11:56,280
Speaker 1: buck who had broken in a direction I didn't think of,

1445
01:11:56,960 --> 01:12:01,000
Speaker 1: and what so I blew it up and it was

1446
01:12:01,040 --> 01:12:03,240
Speaker 1: like a similar thing that you're talking about, where you're like,

1447
01:12:03,960 --> 01:12:06,760
Speaker 1: there's a chance if I just wait, they're gonna pop out,

1448
01:12:07,200 --> 01:12:10,759
Speaker 1: but there's also, you know, a real chance that it won't.

1449
01:12:10,800 --> 01:12:13,280
Speaker 1: So I gotta make something happen. And I don't know

1450
01:12:13,320 --> 01:12:15,599
Speaker 1: about you, man, but every time I try to make

1451
01:12:15,680 --> 01:12:18,120
Speaker 1: something happen like you're talking about, I feel like I

1452
01:12:18,160 --> 01:12:21,120
Speaker 1: screw it up. I feel like my lane is just

1453
01:12:21,240 --> 01:12:25,360
Speaker 1: sit and wait for him to come to me. Well,

1454
01:12:25,840 --> 01:12:29,479
Speaker 1: even though I don't heed that advice, often is where

1455
01:12:29,479 --> 01:12:32,080
Speaker 1: I'm going. So I don't know. I know the smarter

1456
01:12:32,439 --> 01:12:35,920
Speaker 1: move would probably be to wait him out, but I'm

1457
01:12:35,920 --> 01:12:38,640
Speaker 1: curious to hear where it went. Yeah, so I had

1458
01:12:38,680 --> 01:12:41,800
Speaker 1: all the same you know, those things racing through my mind.

1459
01:12:41,840 --> 01:12:44,120
Speaker 1: I'm thinking through like you said, many times, it's the

1460
01:12:44,160 --> 01:12:46,120
Speaker 1: safer bet to wait it out and let it come

1461
01:12:46,160 --> 01:12:50,439
Speaker 1: to you. But on the flip side, you know there

1462
01:12:50,439 --> 01:12:53,920
Speaker 1: are even like even the very best deer hunters in

1463
01:12:53,960 --> 01:12:57,240
Speaker 1: the very best places only get a handful of like

1464
01:12:57,360 --> 01:13:00,400
Speaker 1: close encounters with like a big mature tart a buck,

1465
01:13:01,040 --> 01:13:03,840
Speaker 1: Like there's only gonna be so many times where our cross,

1466
01:13:03,920 --> 01:13:08,840
Speaker 1: our paths will actually cross. And I'm thinking like this

1467
01:13:08,920 --> 01:13:10,679
Speaker 1: might be the only time I see him all year,

1468
01:13:11,040 --> 01:13:12,920
Speaker 1: and like I can I can sit around and wait,

1469
01:13:13,040 --> 01:13:16,320
Speaker 1: or I can try to capitalize on this. And you know,

1470
01:13:16,600 --> 01:13:19,240
Speaker 1: when the first place he was betted, I thought through

1471
01:13:19,280 --> 01:13:20,800
Speaker 1: all these things, and I thought like, I just can't

1472
01:13:20,880 --> 01:13:23,040
Speaker 1: envision a scenario where I could safely get out of

1473
01:13:23,040 --> 01:13:26,479
Speaker 1: here and and reposition and get a shot. But when

1474
01:13:26,520 --> 01:13:31,040
Speaker 1: he repositioned the second time, I reassessed it all I thought,

1475
01:13:31,560 --> 01:13:35,200
Speaker 1: I do see a possibility, Like I think maybe with

1476
01:13:35,320 --> 01:13:38,439
Speaker 1: where he's at, if I go really, really carefully, I

1477
01:13:38,560 --> 01:13:40,200
Speaker 1: might be able to get out of the tree without

1478
01:13:40,240 --> 01:13:41,560
Speaker 1: him seeing me. And if I can get out of

1479
01:13:41,600 --> 01:13:43,519
Speaker 1: the tree without him seeing me, I felt like there

1480
01:13:43,560 --> 01:13:46,120
Speaker 1: should be a decent chance that I could use that

1481
01:13:46,160 --> 01:13:48,800
Speaker 1: wind to to move and get to a spot I

1482
01:13:48,800 --> 01:13:52,880
Speaker 1: can shoot him. So eventually I decided especially I think

1483
01:13:53,040 --> 01:13:55,519
Speaker 1: him being injured pushed me over the edge, Like I thought, like,

1484
01:13:55,600 --> 01:13:57,240
Speaker 1: I don't know what the injury is, I don't know

1485
01:13:57,360 --> 01:14:00,240
Speaker 1: what's going on, but um, it just felt like it

1486
01:14:00,320 --> 01:14:07,000
Speaker 1: felt like an hour never kind of thing. So I

1487
01:14:07,040 --> 01:14:10,920
Speaker 1: slung the gun over my shoulder and waited until a

1488
01:14:10,960 --> 01:14:14,000
Speaker 1: big gust of wind and I swung my leg around

1489
01:14:14,040 --> 01:14:16,360
Speaker 1: off the tree stamp put on that ladder, and then

1490
01:14:16,400 --> 01:14:19,000
Speaker 1: I hung there and I waited for the next big

1491
01:14:19,040 --> 01:14:21,040
Speaker 1: gust of wind. I took a step down, and then

1492
01:14:21,040 --> 01:14:23,160
Speaker 1: I hung there for a minute, and then I waited

1493
01:14:23,200 --> 01:14:24,719
Speaker 1: for the next big gust to win. I took another

1494
01:14:24,720 --> 01:14:28,160
Speaker 1: step down, waited for twenty seconds, another big gust of wind,

1495
01:14:28,560 --> 01:14:30,800
Speaker 1: took a step. I waited until every time there was

1496
01:14:30,920 --> 01:14:33,880
Speaker 1: a big like tree limb shaking gust of wind, I'd

1497
01:14:33,920 --> 01:14:36,479
Speaker 1: make a slow move and then I wait. And then

1498
01:14:36,520 --> 01:14:38,639
Speaker 1: I did that all the way down to the bottom

1499
01:14:38,640 --> 01:14:41,479
Speaker 1: of the tree, and I could confirm at least like

1500
01:14:42,400 --> 01:14:43,840
Speaker 1: the last time I could see him was when I

1501
01:14:43,840 --> 01:14:45,280
Speaker 1: was about a third of the way down the tree,

1502
01:14:45,320 --> 01:14:47,160
Speaker 1: and I could like just be like, okay, I'm pretty

1503
01:14:47,160 --> 01:14:49,120
Speaker 1: sure those are time Still, I don't think he's boldern

1504
01:14:49,200 --> 01:14:50,920
Speaker 1: So I got down to the bottom of the tree,

1505
01:14:50,920 --> 01:14:52,800
Speaker 1: and I felt confidently. I think I got down without

1506
01:14:52,880 --> 01:14:57,000
Speaker 1: him seeing me. Um. So now I'm you know, d

1507
01:14:57,000 --> 01:14:59,559
Speaker 1: and twenty yards due north of him, I'm in this

1508
01:14:59,560 --> 01:15:02,719
Speaker 1: little thing, your timber. There's like a seventy yard wide

1509
01:15:03,520 --> 01:15:06,240
Speaker 1: field between me and him, and then he's like twenty

1510
01:15:06,320 --> 01:15:13,040
Speaker 1: thirty yards inside of the swamp. He's facing west wind

1511
01:15:13,160 --> 01:15:17,000
Speaker 1: is blowing from the west in his face. So I

1512
01:15:17,120 --> 01:15:18,880
Speaker 1: know that if I need if I'm going to be

1513
01:15:18,880 --> 01:15:21,479
Speaker 1: able get position to somewhere I could see him and

1514
01:15:21,479 --> 01:15:24,040
Speaker 1: get a shot, I need to circle behind him. So

1515
01:15:24,080 --> 01:15:26,679
Speaker 1: I've got to get down wind of him and behind

1516
01:15:26,760 --> 01:15:31,479
Speaker 1: him visually. So I get on my belly well first,

1517
01:15:31,479 --> 01:15:35,200
Speaker 1: when I'm in this finger timber, I'm on my uh fours,

1518
01:15:35,640 --> 01:15:38,640
Speaker 1: So I crawl to the edge of the timber, and like,

1519
01:15:38,680 --> 01:15:40,679
Speaker 1: I crawl a few steps, get up on my knees,

1520
01:15:41,080 --> 01:15:42,960
Speaker 1: trying to glass see if I can see anything, can't

1521
01:15:43,000 --> 01:15:44,760
Speaker 1: see anything. Crawl a little bit more, get back on

1522
01:15:44,800 --> 01:15:48,320
Speaker 1: my knees, glass, can't see anything. Eventually work my way

1523
01:15:48,360 --> 01:15:51,120
Speaker 1: to the edge of the field and there's a very

1524
01:15:51,120 --> 01:15:53,760
Speaker 1: slight rise in the field. So like I'm just a

1525
01:15:53,800 --> 01:15:56,280
Speaker 1: little low and he's just a little low on his side.

1526
01:15:56,640 --> 01:15:58,439
Speaker 1: So I think that kept you know, me from being

1527
01:15:58,479 --> 01:16:00,200
Speaker 1: able to see him and him being able to see me.

1528
01:16:00,760 --> 01:16:03,360
Speaker 1: So I eventually get to the edge. Keep thinking, like anytime,

1529
01:16:03,520 --> 01:16:05,680
Speaker 1: I basically wanted to just see the tips of his

1530
01:16:05,680 --> 01:16:08,200
Speaker 1: antlers and just be a confirmed like exactly where he was,

1531
01:16:08,680 --> 01:16:11,560
Speaker 1: and then I would like shimmy and continue shimmering and

1532
01:16:11,640 --> 01:16:13,800
Speaker 1: it's like just kept checking, kept checking, kept checking, could

1533
01:16:13,840 --> 01:16:17,160
Speaker 1: never spot him. So I get to the edge and

1534
01:16:17,200 --> 01:16:20,080
Speaker 1: now I'm, you know, more concerned about him seeing me.

1535
01:16:20,600 --> 01:16:22,439
Speaker 1: So I belly cross and now I'm just on the belly.

1536
01:16:22,479 --> 01:16:24,760
Speaker 1: I just like put my gun out in front of me,

1537
01:16:24,920 --> 01:16:27,360
Speaker 1: pull myself forward. Put the gun out in front of me,

1538
01:16:27,439 --> 01:16:29,640
Speaker 1: pull myself forward, and I just do that and just

1539
01:16:29,680 --> 01:16:32,840
Speaker 1: like sliding along the edge of the leaves um and

1540
01:16:32,840 --> 01:16:35,679
Speaker 1: again waiting for wind gus too, because now I'm starting

1541
01:16:35,680 --> 01:16:37,400
Speaker 1: to worry, like I'm close enough to him, like if

1542
01:16:37,439 --> 01:16:39,679
Speaker 1: I if I'm not careful, he's gonna hear me too.

1543
01:16:40,680 --> 01:16:44,679
Speaker 1: So over the course of the next half hour, I think,

1544
01:16:45,200 --> 01:16:48,080
Speaker 1: give or take, that's what I do. I'm just belly

1545
01:16:48,120 --> 01:16:51,960
Speaker 1: crawling my way around the edge of this timber and

1546
01:16:52,000 --> 01:16:55,439
Speaker 1: this finger of cut beans, trying to circle downwind of

1547
01:16:55,520 --> 01:16:58,120
Speaker 1: him and down view of him, and trying to circle

1548
01:16:58,200 --> 01:17:01,639
Speaker 1: around basically the way this um this is like a

1549
01:17:01,760 --> 01:17:04,439
Speaker 1: peninsula of a field, and it's gonna end about a

1550
01:17:04,479 --> 01:17:07,880
Speaker 1: hundred yards east of him. It ends, and then like

1551
01:17:07,920 --> 01:17:10,839
Speaker 1: the timber line curves back towards him into the swamp.

1552
01:17:11,400 --> 01:17:13,320
Speaker 1: So I belly curled all the way to the end

1553
01:17:13,320 --> 01:17:15,360
Speaker 1: of that peninsula of the field, staying on the edge

1554
01:17:15,360 --> 01:17:18,000
Speaker 1: of it, I start curling back around. So now I

1555
01:17:18,360 --> 01:17:21,479
Speaker 1: was heading east. Now I'm heading back west. I'm on

1556
01:17:21,640 --> 01:17:24,439
Speaker 1: his side of the field now and every you know,

1557
01:17:24,520 --> 01:17:26,320
Speaker 1: five yards or something, I pop up on aneas and

1558
01:17:26,360 --> 01:17:29,679
Speaker 1: glass can never see him. At one point I saw

1559
01:17:30,000 --> 01:17:32,679
Speaker 1: at one point I heard like shuffling, and I'm thinking, oh,

1560
01:17:32,720 --> 01:17:36,920
Speaker 1: he's up and moving. I can't see him. Maybe another

1561
01:17:37,080 --> 01:17:39,400
Speaker 1: couple of minutes later, I'm up glass and again I

1562
01:17:39,439 --> 01:17:42,080
Speaker 1: see like a flickering white tail in that same generally

1563
01:17:42,080 --> 01:17:45,080
Speaker 1: are And then like my heart drops, I'm like, oh

1564
01:17:45,320 --> 01:17:49,559
Speaker 1: he saw me, he heard me, or another dear spoot.

1565
01:17:49,880 --> 01:17:51,800
Speaker 1: Something happened like the jig's up, Like I just saw

1566
01:17:51,880 --> 01:17:54,479
Speaker 1: a white flickering tail, like not necessarily a running away tail,

1567
01:17:54,520 --> 01:17:56,680
Speaker 1: but like a flagging tail, like like a like a

1568
01:17:56,680 --> 01:18:01,920
Speaker 1: flicking um and it was like moving away. And so

1569
01:18:02,280 --> 01:18:05,679
Speaker 1: now my confidence is dropping very quickly. So I heard

1570
01:18:05,720 --> 01:18:09,880
Speaker 1: this movement. Now I see this flickering tail, like what,

1571
01:18:10,000 --> 01:18:12,680
Speaker 1: you know, what what happened? I can't find him. I

1572
01:18:12,720 --> 01:18:14,320
Speaker 1: swear I should be able to see him by now,

1573
01:18:14,360 --> 01:18:16,320
Speaker 1: Like where I'm at, I thought for sure i'd be

1574
01:18:16,320 --> 01:18:21,240
Speaker 1: able to see his antlers or see something nothing. Um,

1575
01:18:21,240 --> 01:18:25,479
Speaker 1: so I almost gave up, like I almost like he's

1576
01:18:25,520 --> 01:18:29,120
Speaker 1: not there. He he buggered, he's out of there. Um,

1577
01:18:29,160 --> 01:18:31,200
Speaker 1: I'm all the way now on his side, like I

1578
01:18:31,240 --> 01:18:35,200
Speaker 1: gotta be getting really close, like I'm within I don't know,

1579
01:18:35,840 --> 01:18:39,200
Speaker 1: fifty six seventy yards probably where he should be where

1580
01:18:39,200 --> 01:18:41,200
Speaker 1: at least where I left him. But you know, it's

1581
01:18:41,240 --> 01:18:43,000
Speaker 1: been a long time since I climbed out of that

1582
01:18:43,040 --> 01:18:44,960
Speaker 1: tree because I've been going so slow. So I mean

1583
01:18:45,040 --> 01:18:49,400
Speaker 1: it's been half hour, forty minutes, I don't know something

1584
01:18:49,439 --> 01:18:52,160
Speaker 1: like that since I made the decision to come out.

1585
01:18:52,240 --> 01:18:54,240
Speaker 1: So who knows what could happen in that window? Right,

1586
01:18:54,280 --> 01:18:56,200
Speaker 1: And I knew that was on the risks of doing this,

1587
01:18:56,360 --> 01:18:58,679
Speaker 1: is that he might just take off some other direction.

1588
01:18:58,760 --> 01:19:02,040
Speaker 1: I never know it. And you gotta be bumping up

1589
01:19:02,040 --> 01:19:04,519
Speaker 1: on the end of shooting light fairly soon there too, huh.

1590
01:19:04,760 --> 01:19:10,240
Speaker 1: So I still so well, not quite not yet because

1591
01:19:10,280 --> 01:19:13,519
Speaker 1: when I because it's getting shooting light like five forty

1592
01:19:13,680 --> 01:19:16,439
Speaker 1: something or something like that. And I got out of

1593
01:19:16,439 --> 01:19:20,040
Speaker 1: that tree like sometime after four if I remember, So,

1594
01:19:20,160 --> 01:19:22,200
Speaker 1: if if I remember, I think at this point it's

1595
01:19:22,280 --> 01:19:25,040
Speaker 1: like approaching five o'clock is what I think it is,

1596
01:19:25,439 --> 01:19:27,840
Speaker 1: So I've got sometime. But what I am worried about

1597
01:19:27,920 --> 01:19:29,880
Speaker 1: is other deer, Like there's gonna be other deer. And

1598
01:19:29,920 --> 01:19:31,880
Speaker 1: I actually do spot some other deer back in the

1599
01:19:31,880 --> 01:19:34,880
Speaker 1: swamp um and I glassed. I'm like, oh no, that's him,

1600
01:19:34,920 --> 01:19:37,680
Speaker 1: like way back in the swamp, walking away from me.

1601
01:19:37,720 --> 01:19:39,800
Speaker 1: I'm like, god, jeez. But it ended up being some does.

1602
01:19:40,760 --> 01:19:42,920
Speaker 1: But I knew, like anytime now, other deer gotta you

1603
01:19:43,000 --> 01:19:44,680
Speaker 1: gotta believe there's gonna be some deer coming out here

1604
01:19:44,720 --> 01:19:47,160
Speaker 1: to feed, and they're gonna see me on the edge

1605
01:19:47,439 --> 01:19:49,559
Speaker 1: um and blow it out and blow the whole thing.

1606
01:19:49,640 --> 01:19:53,360
Speaker 1: So confidence is quickly waning. I'm worried about these different things.

1607
01:19:53,600 --> 01:19:57,040
Speaker 1: But I remember I kept telling myself, like, you gotta

1608
01:19:57,120 --> 01:20:00,479
Speaker 1: act like he's still there, Like the second you give

1609
01:20:00,560 --> 01:20:03,280
Speaker 1: up on it and stand up and defeat, he'll be

1610
01:20:03,400 --> 01:20:05,559
Speaker 1: right there and run away like you do you. You

1611
01:20:05,680 --> 01:20:08,240
Speaker 1: gotta assume he's there all the way until like you're

1612
01:20:08,240 --> 01:20:09,840
Speaker 1: standing over top of where he thought he was. You

1613
01:20:09,920 --> 01:20:13,040
Speaker 1: gotta act like the game is still on. That's I mean,

1614
01:20:13,080 --> 01:20:16,000
Speaker 1: it's that lesson right there. How many meal deer has

1615
01:20:16,040 --> 01:20:19,040
Speaker 1: that saved? When people crawl into a spot when they're

1616
01:20:19,040 --> 01:20:21,040
Speaker 1: spotting stocking mule deer and they think they're gone and

1617
01:20:21,080 --> 01:20:24,240
Speaker 1: they stand up. Yeah, so I can't speak tommy, I

1618
01:20:24,240 --> 01:20:26,240
Speaker 1: can't speak to it from mule deer. But like I've

1619
01:20:26,640 --> 01:20:28,599
Speaker 1: I've had this happened with turkeys, I've had it happen

1620
01:20:28,640 --> 01:20:31,720
Speaker 1: with white tails. Like I've been burned by making the

1621
01:20:31,760 --> 01:20:35,160
Speaker 1: wrong assumption too many times. So so this time I

1622
01:20:35,160 --> 01:20:38,280
Speaker 1: remember like actively, like drilling in my head like assume

1623
01:20:38,320 --> 01:20:40,840
Speaker 1: he's there, assumings that you gotta just keep operating, like

1624
01:20:40,920 --> 01:20:44,880
Speaker 1: stay stealthy, still, slow down, like just do the thing right,

1625
01:20:45,520 --> 01:20:46,960
Speaker 1: even though it felt like there's no way this is

1626
01:20:46,960 --> 01:20:51,120
Speaker 1: gonna work now. Um So, just after I remember having

1627
01:20:51,160 --> 01:20:54,479
Speaker 1: that thought, I remember taking a couple more crawls forward,

1628
01:20:54,520 --> 01:20:57,120
Speaker 1: get up on the knees again. I'm like right there now,

1629
01:20:57,360 --> 01:21:00,080
Speaker 1: I'm there was there was this big down tree in

1630
01:21:00,120 --> 01:21:01,559
Speaker 1: the edge of the woods, and so that was like

1631
01:21:01,600 --> 01:21:04,400
Speaker 1: my landmark, Like all right, he's just off of that

1632
01:21:04,439 --> 01:21:06,880
Speaker 1: down tree where the root ball is back behind us somewhere.

1633
01:21:06,920 --> 01:21:09,639
Speaker 1: And now I'm like, withinn, I can toss a ball

1634
01:21:09,680 --> 01:21:14,880
Speaker 1: to that tree ball now the down tree root system.

1635
01:21:15,040 --> 01:21:17,400
Speaker 1: So I get up on my knees again, pull my bion.

1636
01:21:17,520 --> 01:21:19,599
Speaker 1: I was glassing in there, like, why can't I see

1637
01:21:19,640 --> 01:21:23,760
Speaker 1: this buck? And then boom antlers right in my right

1638
01:21:23,800 --> 01:21:26,720
Speaker 1: in my glass like walks out right in front of me.

1639
01:21:26,880 --> 01:21:31,959
Speaker 1: He'd been further back behind those trees, steps out, walking

1640
01:21:32,080 --> 01:21:36,360
Speaker 1: like fast. Um, you know, I don't if he's limping

1641
01:21:36,479 --> 01:21:39,960
Speaker 1: consistently step step step, he's like on a mission. Now

1642
01:21:39,960 --> 01:21:42,400
Speaker 1: he walks right out. He's like forty five yards away,

1643
01:21:42,600 --> 01:21:47,200
Speaker 1: fifty yards away and back. But he's behind one layer

1644
01:21:47,240 --> 01:21:50,320
Speaker 1: of trees. So I see him. I'm on my knees

1645
01:21:50,320 --> 01:21:52,400
Speaker 1: on the edge of the field, pull up my shooting

1646
01:21:52,439 --> 01:21:55,120
Speaker 1: stick and gun. I see one gap in the woods.

1647
01:21:55,439 --> 01:21:59,240
Speaker 1: He steps steps, enters the gap. I got map, Matt, Matt,

1648
01:22:00,040 --> 01:22:03,360
Speaker 1: he stops, pull the trigger. He drops in his tracks.

1649
01:22:04,160 --> 01:22:09,000
Speaker 1: I killed you. How fun was that? It was insane? Man,

1650
01:22:09,280 --> 01:22:11,639
Speaker 1: it was insane. It was so much fun. I couldn't

1651
01:22:11,760 --> 01:22:15,559
Speaker 1: believe it. Like, I mean, the emotional roller coaster from

1652
01:22:15,640 --> 01:22:20,400
Speaker 1: like two thirty to five o'clock was so insane, up

1653
01:22:20,439 --> 01:22:23,840
Speaker 1: and down and all around, and um, I mean it

1654
01:22:23,920 --> 01:22:30,000
Speaker 1: was just a wild ride. Um really really nuts, really

1655
01:22:31,120 --> 01:22:35,240
Speaker 1: really nuts. And yeah, walked over there and and he

1656
01:22:35,040 --> 01:22:39,080
Speaker 1: he was dead. Instantly walked over there kind of in shock,

1657
01:22:39,640 --> 01:22:42,000
Speaker 1: and um, you know he was. He was just an

1658
01:22:42,000 --> 01:22:46,160
Speaker 1: awesome buck, a big, big, heavy eight pointer that I've

1659
01:22:46,160 --> 01:22:49,000
Speaker 1: been watching for three years and finally now he was.

1660
01:22:49,200 --> 01:22:51,479
Speaker 1: He was laying there on the ground, and you know

1661
01:22:51,520 --> 01:22:53,880
Speaker 1: it was was curious about the injury. And it was

1662
01:22:53,960 --> 01:22:57,679
Speaker 1: not a shot. It was something happened to his foot,

1663
01:22:57,720 --> 01:23:00,360
Speaker 1: like to his hoof. His hoof was swollen up like

1664
01:23:00,400 --> 01:23:03,760
Speaker 1: a grapefruit, and there was like a wound on the

1665
01:23:03,800 --> 01:23:05,840
Speaker 1: front of the foot, like an open wound on the

1666
01:23:05,880 --> 01:23:09,960
Speaker 1: front of the foot, like almost like I don't even

1667
01:23:10,000 --> 01:23:12,280
Speaker 1: know what could do it. It almost looked like what

1668
01:23:12,439 --> 01:23:14,360
Speaker 1: the foot of an animal might look like they've been

1669
01:23:14,360 --> 01:23:17,479
Speaker 1: stuck in a trap or something. Um. But then also

1670
01:23:17,640 --> 01:23:20,559
Speaker 1: in between his toe pads was like an open wound

1671
01:23:20,680 --> 01:23:25,680
Speaker 1: inside there, like pussing and open almost down to the bone. UM.

1672
01:23:25,720 --> 01:23:27,760
Speaker 1: So something really messed up his foot because he was

1673
01:23:27,840 --> 01:23:32,120
Speaker 1: like gimping along real bad with it. And interestingly, I

1674
01:23:32,160 --> 01:23:34,080
Speaker 1: went back and looked at the last pictures I had

1675
01:23:34,120 --> 01:23:36,200
Speaker 1: of him in November, so I got a picture of

1676
01:23:36,240 --> 01:23:39,000
Speaker 1: him November six, and that was the first picture I

1677
01:23:39,000 --> 01:23:41,800
Speaker 1: had of him with that wound. So I think I

1678
01:23:41,840 --> 01:23:43,639
Speaker 1: had pictures of him and like the first or something

1679
01:23:43,720 --> 01:23:46,040
Speaker 1: or like late October, and his foot looked fine. And

1680
01:23:46,040 --> 01:23:48,400
Speaker 1: then the November six he had his foot wound and

1681
01:23:48,520 --> 01:23:50,360
Speaker 1: I never saw him again until the day I killed him,

1682
01:23:50,400 --> 01:23:55,400
Speaker 1: December three. So I don't know if him disappearing all

1683
01:23:55,439 --> 01:23:58,599
Speaker 1: of November was because of like the annual pattern thing

1684
01:23:58,680 --> 01:24:01,080
Speaker 1: that he did the year before, or if it was

1685
01:24:01,160 --> 01:24:03,639
Speaker 1: like maybe he just maybe he did that, but then

1686
01:24:03,640 --> 01:24:06,840
Speaker 1: it was slowed down by this injury too. I don't know, um,

1687
01:24:06,960 --> 01:24:12,479
Speaker 1: but to the date daylight again December three, um, you know,

1688
01:24:12,840 --> 01:24:17,479
Speaker 1: and where I saw him was within a hundred yards

1689
01:24:17,479 --> 01:24:19,000
Speaker 1: of where I got a picture of him last year

1690
01:24:19,040 --> 01:24:22,320
Speaker 1: on December three, that first time. So I don't know,

1691
01:24:22,439 --> 01:24:26,840
Speaker 1: you know, it could be coincidence, but very very interesting, um,

1692
01:24:27,120 --> 01:24:30,040
Speaker 1: you know that that injury. You know, we we always

1693
01:24:30,120 --> 01:24:31,880
Speaker 1: kind of think when we see a deer limp and

1694
01:24:31,920 --> 01:24:35,639
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, you know, either he got shot or

1695
01:24:35,920 --> 01:24:38,000
Speaker 1: another buck speared him in the ass or something when

1696
01:24:38,040 --> 01:24:40,559
Speaker 1: they were fighting. But you know, you think about the

1697
01:24:40,640 --> 01:24:42,719
Speaker 1: environment they live in, and you know, I run bird

1698
01:24:42,720 --> 01:24:45,280
Speaker 1: dogs out and that stuff all the time. Like there's

1699
01:24:45,320 --> 01:24:48,040
Speaker 1: all kinds of you know, like old Barbower, you know,

1700
01:24:48,160 --> 01:24:51,080
Speaker 1: like a roll old barbower on the ground, or a

1701
01:24:51,160 --> 01:24:54,880
Speaker 1: fence post or just a stick getting like jammed in

1702
01:24:54,920 --> 01:24:56,800
Speaker 1: there wrong, like a lot of times. You know, it's

1703
01:24:56,880 --> 01:24:59,120
Speaker 1: kind of like when people think like, oh, you know

1704
01:24:59,160 --> 01:25:01,520
Speaker 1: you hunt, whether it's I don't sneak that's so dangerous.

1705
01:25:01,800 --> 01:25:03,679
Speaker 1: It's like not as dangerous as climbing in a tree.

1706
01:25:03,760 --> 01:25:05,679
Speaker 1: Like the less sexy stuff is a lot of times

1707
01:25:05,680 --> 01:25:08,200
Speaker 1: what gets you. And I always wonder about that with them,

1708
01:25:08,200 --> 01:25:10,040
Speaker 1: Like they live out there long enough, they're gonna get

1709
01:25:10,120 --> 01:25:13,280
Speaker 1: crazy injuries that aren't going to be like, you know,

1710
01:25:13,360 --> 01:25:14,960
Speaker 1: super cool that they got shot on the end of

1711
01:25:14,960 --> 01:25:17,120
Speaker 1: a drive or got into a fight with a way

1712
01:25:17,160 --> 01:25:19,640
Speaker 1: bigger buck. Like sometimes it's probably just stupid stuff like

1713
01:25:19,640 --> 01:25:22,400
Speaker 1: when we stub our toe, you know, like on the

1714
01:25:22,520 --> 01:25:24,080
Speaker 1: end table in the dark when you're going to bed

1715
01:25:24,200 --> 01:25:27,040
Speaker 1: or something. Right, Yeah, and you know that that's an

1716
01:25:27,040 --> 01:25:30,680
Speaker 1: interesting point, like I don't know what this injury might

1717
01:25:30,720 --> 01:25:32,880
Speaker 1: have done, you know if it went the long haul.

1718
01:25:33,280 --> 01:25:38,040
Speaker 1: Um you know, uh, he was he was struggling like

1719
01:25:38,080 --> 01:25:40,760
Speaker 1: it was just his foot, but like it looked like

1720
01:25:40,920 --> 01:25:44,800
Speaker 1: he was really struggling to move um. And it was

1721
01:25:44,920 --> 01:25:49,519
Speaker 1: like definitely badly infected, like pussing and stuff. So who knows,

1722
01:25:49,600 --> 01:25:51,800
Speaker 1: Like maybe that's maybe he would have been fine and

1723
01:25:51,840 --> 01:25:54,679
Speaker 1: would have been around next year, or maybe that infection

1724
01:25:54,720 --> 01:25:57,000
Speaker 1: would have spread or whatever and that might have taken

1725
01:25:57,080 --> 01:25:59,600
Speaker 1: him out. He was definitely wore down. I don't know

1726
01:25:59,640 --> 01:26:01,360
Speaker 1: if that just because of the rut or if that

1727
01:26:01,400 --> 01:26:04,280
Speaker 1: was because of this slowing him down, but he was

1728
01:26:04,400 --> 01:26:07,400
Speaker 1: definitely worn down body wise from what he looked like

1729
01:26:07,400 --> 01:26:10,720
Speaker 1: in pictures earlier in the year and stuff. Um, So

1730
01:26:12,120 --> 01:26:15,960
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm I'm glad that, you know, glad

1731
01:26:15,960 --> 01:26:17,519
Speaker 1: it all came together. You know it was. There was

1732
01:26:17,600 --> 01:26:20,920
Speaker 1: some there was some luck there, for sure. There were

1733
01:26:20,960 --> 01:26:23,160
Speaker 1: some decisions that worked out there. For sure, there was

1734
01:26:23,880 --> 01:26:27,080
Speaker 1: um something that all kind of brought these things together

1735
01:26:27,160 --> 01:26:29,720
Speaker 1: to make it work out. Um, but it was. It

1736
01:26:29,760 --> 01:26:33,240
Speaker 1: was pretty awesome. So so can I ask you now

1737
01:26:33,280 --> 01:26:36,360
Speaker 1: that you're just killing deer with a gun and are

1738
01:26:36,360 --> 01:26:38,040
Speaker 1: you going to be more like Expenser here? Am I

1739
01:26:38,040 --> 01:26:40,040
Speaker 1: gonna be the only real bow hunter left at Meat Eater?

1740
01:26:40,120 --> 01:26:42,120
Speaker 1: Are we gonna are gonna get back to that? Hey?

1741
01:26:42,200 --> 01:26:45,439
Speaker 1: Then two for three boat, one of the gun I

1742
01:26:45,800 --> 01:26:47,840
Speaker 1: I got, my percentage is still in favor of the

1743
01:26:47,840 --> 01:26:51,720
Speaker 1: bow I would say that as I'm looking at a gun,

1744
01:26:51,760 --> 01:26:53,719
Speaker 1: I'm going to take the hunt deer in like an hour.

1745
01:26:55,200 --> 01:26:58,760
Speaker 1: So I'm just giving you, uh you know, I uh,

1746
01:26:59,240 --> 01:27:01,519
Speaker 1: I love of my bow hunting, but I it is

1747
01:27:01,600 --> 01:27:02,960
Speaker 1: nice to get out with a gun every once in

1748
01:27:03,000 --> 01:27:06,160
Speaker 1: a while, and uh, you know, it opens up possibilities

1749
01:27:06,320 --> 01:27:09,960
Speaker 1: like this fun this. I like, I love bow hunting

1750
01:27:10,000 --> 01:27:13,799
Speaker 1: because of like the forced challenge and intimacy and everything

1751
01:27:13,840 --> 01:27:15,800
Speaker 1: like that, but there is something really cool about the

1752
01:27:16,000 --> 01:27:19,120
Speaker 1: new challenge and possibilities a gun hunt opens up, Like

1753
01:27:20,160 --> 01:27:22,280
Speaker 1: I like this kind of gun hunt. So it wasn't

1754
01:27:22,280 --> 01:27:24,120
Speaker 1: like I was shooting a deer like three yards. It

1755
01:27:24,160 --> 01:27:25,840
Speaker 1: was like I still had to like stalk in on

1756
01:27:25,880 --> 01:27:27,960
Speaker 1: this deer and I killed him like forty five. But

1757
01:27:28,080 --> 01:27:30,840
Speaker 1: I never probably would have even considered trying to pull

1758
01:27:30,880 --> 01:27:33,120
Speaker 1: that out with a bow. Um, but I knew with

1759
01:27:33,240 --> 01:27:35,280
Speaker 1: like the gun and the conditions, like I might be

1760
01:27:35,320 --> 01:27:37,320
Speaker 1: able to sneak in and get there at sixty or

1761
01:27:37,360 --> 01:27:39,600
Speaker 1: seventy or something like that. And I mean it was

1762
01:27:39,680 --> 01:27:42,599
Speaker 1: just it was just fun. It was just really fun.

1763
01:27:42,880 --> 01:27:46,120
Speaker 1: And um, I have a whole Foundations episode coming up

1764
01:27:46,800 --> 01:27:52,040
Speaker 1: ah this week, I think on that very topic of

1765
01:27:52,080 --> 01:27:54,840
Speaker 1: like it's great to be a purist and just be

1766
01:27:54,920 --> 01:27:56,640
Speaker 1: like I'm I'm only hunt with a bow or I

1767
01:27:56,640 --> 01:27:59,360
Speaker 1: only do this or that. But when you when you

1768
01:27:59,400 --> 01:28:02,639
Speaker 1: are probably merely a bow hunter or primarily whatever weapon

1769
01:28:02,720 --> 01:28:05,360
Speaker 1: choice you have, and you switch it up, hey, like

1770
01:28:05,400 --> 01:28:08,799
Speaker 1: you said, it's super fun, but be you learn because

1771
01:28:08,800 --> 01:28:11,960
Speaker 1: you hunt differently, Like you're not just gonna default to

1772
01:28:12,000 --> 01:28:13,680
Speaker 1: what you know you have to do because of a

1773
01:28:13,680 --> 01:28:17,679
Speaker 1: specific weapon. And I think it makes you better for sure.

1774
01:28:18,240 --> 01:28:22,479
Speaker 1: I think there's a loud truth to that. And um yeah,

1775
01:28:22,680 --> 01:28:26,120
Speaker 1: I mean I uh, I will appreciate this buck no

1776
01:28:26,280 --> 01:28:28,720
Speaker 1: less than any other bucket kill with a bow, that's

1777
01:28:28,720 --> 01:28:33,080
Speaker 1: for sure. So um so so three big takeaways for me, Tonium.

1778
01:28:33,120 --> 01:28:35,080
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's anything that you heard here

1779
01:28:35,120 --> 01:28:36,679
Speaker 1: in the story, but for me, like if I'm trying

1780
01:28:36,720 --> 01:28:40,519
Speaker 1: to spell out what led to this success, I think

1781
01:28:40,640 --> 01:28:42,400
Speaker 1: the things we've already touched on, but I just want

1782
01:28:42,439 --> 01:28:45,679
Speaker 1: to kind of put a bow on him here. One

1783
01:28:46,040 --> 01:28:50,519
Speaker 1: was you know, being pretty darn tactical as far as

1784
01:28:50,560 --> 01:28:52,240
Speaker 1: when I go in here and hunt, right. I took

1785
01:28:52,560 --> 01:28:56,280
Speaker 1: a strike in early October. Um, I took a couple

1786
01:28:56,280 --> 01:28:58,680
Speaker 1: of strikes and lay in October, and I left it

1787
01:28:58,720 --> 01:29:03,759
Speaker 1: alone pretty much entire ELI until December. Uh. The reason

1788
01:29:03,800 --> 01:29:06,240
Speaker 1: I did that with confidence is because I was leaning

1789
01:29:06,280 --> 01:29:09,880
Speaker 1: on this like annual pattern. I was gonna, you know,

1790
01:29:10,240 --> 01:29:12,960
Speaker 1: take my trail camera data, take my observations in the

1791
01:29:12,960 --> 01:29:16,280
Speaker 1: past year, and pair that with this historical trend that

1792
01:29:16,280 --> 01:29:18,960
Speaker 1: I was hoping would happen again, and not you know,

1793
01:29:19,040 --> 01:29:20,960
Speaker 1: add any more pressure to this place than I had to,

1794
01:29:21,040 --> 01:29:23,080
Speaker 1: because I know, like handful of hunts in the wrong

1795
01:29:23,160 --> 01:29:24,880
Speaker 1: days and the wrong ways, and I might never see him.

1796
01:29:24,920 --> 01:29:28,240
Speaker 1: So I was you know, being careful and strategic with

1797
01:29:28,280 --> 01:29:31,720
Speaker 1: the timing. I was watching the annual pattern. And then

1798
01:29:31,880 --> 01:29:36,680
Speaker 1: the third thing I did that I think one I

1799
01:29:36,720 --> 01:29:39,479
Speaker 1: think there's a downside to the increasing use of cell

1800
01:29:39,560 --> 01:29:43,600
Speaker 1: cameras now is that it can be really easy to

1801
01:29:43,920 --> 01:29:46,200
Speaker 1: become dependent on them because they are a great tool.

1802
01:29:46,760 --> 01:29:49,960
Speaker 1: They can give you, you you know, much faster intel out

1803
01:29:50,000 --> 01:29:52,960
Speaker 1: there than we used to have. UM, And so there

1804
01:29:53,080 --> 01:29:57,160
Speaker 1: is a tendency to wait for a picture before you

1805
01:29:57,240 --> 01:29:59,560
Speaker 1: go hunted deer. So there might be like, well, you

1806
01:29:59,600 --> 01:30:02,799
Speaker 1: know he's not there. Um, I'm not gonna hunt unless

1807
01:30:02,800 --> 01:30:04,800
Speaker 1: I get like that daylight picture of him or whatever.

1808
01:30:05,320 --> 01:30:07,120
Speaker 1: And like maybe that that that can be a good

1809
01:30:07,120 --> 01:30:11,840
Speaker 1: way proudly to kill deer sometimes. But like camera, you

1810
01:30:11,880 --> 01:30:14,439
Speaker 1: can't depend on cameras. Like cameras only give you this

1811
01:30:14,520 --> 01:30:16,920
Speaker 1: tiny little window of what's going on out there. So

1812
01:30:16,960 --> 01:30:20,360
Speaker 1: even though cell cameras are a great tool, they only

1813
01:30:20,400 --> 01:30:23,360
Speaker 1: give you a glimpse at a very narrow sliver of

1814
01:30:23,400 --> 01:30:25,640
Speaker 1: what's going on in the woods. I mean, if you

1815
01:30:25,680 --> 01:30:27,840
Speaker 1: look at that as gospel truth of what's happening in

1816
01:30:27,880 --> 01:30:30,000
Speaker 1: the woods where you hunt, you are missing out on

1817
01:30:30,600 --> 01:30:34,960
Speaker 1: You're missing the boat, like you're missing what's happening out there. Um,

1818
01:30:35,000 --> 01:30:38,240
Speaker 1: So yeah, they're great, but they're not only that, but

1819
01:30:38,400 --> 01:30:40,559
Speaker 1: you're missing some of the deer that are walking by

1820
01:30:40,600 --> 01:30:43,559
Speaker 1: it right exactly, like right by I mean it's not

1821
01:30:43,600 --> 01:30:45,439
Speaker 1: only is it just giving you a little tiny slice

1822
01:30:45,439 --> 01:30:48,160
Speaker 1: of what's going on out there, which can be super valuable.

1823
01:30:48,400 --> 01:30:54,200
Speaker 1: But even in that slice, you know it's not yep, exactly.

1824
01:30:54,400 --> 01:30:58,840
Speaker 1: And so I remember, um in a conversation with Mark

1825
01:30:58,960 --> 01:31:01,519
Speaker 1: Jury this year, he said something that's stuck with me

1826
01:31:01,640 --> 01:31:04,000
Speaker 1: and that I was telling myself leading into this hunt.

1827
01:31:04,040 --> 01:31:07,840
Speaker 1: He said, Yeah, cell cameras are great, but sometimes you've

1828
01:31:07,840 --> 01:31:10,080
Speaker 1: got to be the camera. You gotta remember that you

1829
01:31:10,120 --> 01:31:12,080
Speaker 1: have to be the camera we can't just always depend

1830
01:31:12,120 --> 01:31:14,360
Speaker 1: on the cameras. You've got to be it. And so

1831
01:31:14,600 --> 01:31:18,080
Speaker 1: that's what I kept telling myself leading into this December window.

1832
01:31:18,400 --> 01:31:20,960
Speaker 1: I remember thinking, like, all right, I believe he's gonna

1833
01:31:20,960 --> 01:31:24,240
Speaker 1: come back. Um, And I could either wait until he

1834
01:31:24,240 --> 01:31:26,360
Speaker 1: shows up in daylight and a camera and then use

1835
01:31:26,439 --> 01:31:30,320
Speaker 1: that as my trigger to go, or I can choose

1836
01:31:30,400 --> 01:31:32,120
Speaker 1: when I think those best days are and trying to

1837
01:31:32,160 --> 01:31:34,400
Speaker 1: predict when he'll first show up, and I decided, like,

1838
01:31:34,439 --> 01:31:36,240
Speaker 1: I gotta be the camera. I'm going to make my

1839
01:31:36,280 --> 01:31:38,960
Speaker 1: own decision based on the conditions and what I know

1840
01:31:39,040 --> 01:31:41,639
Speaker 1: from the past, and I'm gonna be there before he's

1841
01:31:41,680 --> 01:31:44,559
Speaker 1: there and kill him and not wait and wait and

1842
01:31:44,600 --> 01:31:46,280
Speaker 1: wait for him to show up on camera. And maybe

1843
01:31:46,320 --> 01:31:48,880
Speaker 1: he's been all around it leading up to that. And

1844
01:31:48,920 --> 01:31:52,000
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, I had no daylight pictures

1845
01:31:52,000 --> 01:31:54,800
Speaker 1: of him for more than a month leading up to this,

1846
01:31:55,000 --> 01:31:57,599
Speaker 1: So if I had waited, I would have never known

1847
01:31:57,680 --> 01:31:59,760
Speaker 1: he was right there, never would have had a shot.

1848
01:32:00,000 --> 01:32:02,320
Speaker 1: So I think that was another thing that that helped

1849
01:32:02,439 --> 01:32:06,360
Speaker 1: this all come together. Um. And you know, the history

1850
01:32:06,360 --> 01:32:08,479
Speaker 1: I had watching this deer that year prior that all

1851
01:32:08,560 --> 01:32:10,720
Speaker 1: helped me know the right place to be. That all

1852
01:32:10,720 --> 01:32:13,479
Speaker 1: helped me kind of narrow down this this little core area.

1853
01:32:13,920 --> 01:32:16,960
Speaker 1: I mean, like I said, less than thirty acres I

1854
01:32:17,000 --> 01:32:18,800
Speaker 1: was hunting here that he was in, and like the

1855
01:32:18,880 --> 01:32:21,680
Speaker 1: swamp is like less than ten acres or something that

1856
01:32:21,680 --> 01:32:24,880
Speaker 1: I'm hunting around the edge of. So it's, uh, it

1857
01:32:25,000 --> 01:32:26,840
Speaker 1: just kind of got tighter and tighter and tighter until

1858
01:32:26,840 --> 01:32:28,240
Speaker 1: I knew, like, Okay, this is the spot, and I

1859
01:32:28,240 --> 01:32:30,080
Speaker 1: can hunt other places out here, but I'm just not

1860
01:32:30,240 --> 01:32:32,120
Speaker 1: probably not gonna see him there. If if if I'm really

1861
01:32:32,120 --> 01:32:35,360
Speaker 1: going for him, it's it's gotta be like here here here, um.

1862
01:32:35,439 --> 01:32:38,320
Speaker 1: And that slowly came together over the two years. So

1863
01:32:38,360 --> 01:32:40,160
Speaker 1: those those are the things that stand out to me

1864
01:32:40,280 --> 01:32:43,360
Speaker 1: as far as you know, what led to some success here.

1865
01:32:43,400 --> 01:32:44,840
Speaker 1: And I think that you know, a lot of that

1866
01:32:44,920 --> 01:32:47,920
Speaker 1: can be applied to any small property, Like the timing

1867
01:32:48,520 --> 01:32:51,240
Speaker 1: they're leaving it alone unless it's just right, you know,

1868
01:32:51,240 --> 01:32:53,439
Speaker 1: looking at annual patterns to help you be smart about

1869
01:32:53,439 --> 01:32:56,439
Speaker 1: those hunts. Being the camera. That's another thing I think

1870
01:32:56,720 --> 01:32:59,040
Speaker 1: that also applies to the general late season, right. I

1871
01:32:59,040 --> 01:33:01,280
Speaker 1: waited till the late season because of that annual pattern,

1872
01:33:01,320 --> 01:33:04,400
Speaker 1: but also you know, I let it be a sanctuary

1873
01:33:04,479 --> 01:33:06,559
Speaker 1: during gun season. So I think that's a great thing

1874
01:33:06,600 --> 01:33:08,479
Speaker 1: if you have a small property with a lot of

1875
01:33:08,479 --> 01:33:11,160
Speaker 1: pressure around it, if you can kind of let your

1876
01:33:11,160 --> 01:33:13,160
Speaker 1: place be a sanctuary for a few weeks there when

1877
01:33:13,160 --> 01:33:15,759
Speaker 1: everybody else is out, you could have great late season

1878
01:33:15,840 --> 01:33:19,000
Speaker 1: hunting because of that. UM, I was hunting the edge

1879
01:33:19,040 --> 01:33:21,719
Speaker 1: of the best betting next to the most attractive food

1880
01:33:21,720 --> 01:33:25,519
Speaker 1: that I had access to. That's a great late season tactic. UM.

1881
01:33:25,560 --> 01:33:28,599
Speaker 1: And I waited until the right conditions twenty degree cold, front,

1882
01:33:28,960 --> 01:33:31,840
Speaker 1: high beara metric pressure. All that kind of led to

1883
01:33:31,920 --> 01:33:33,720
Speaker 1: the night that you know deer would be on their

1884
01:33:33,760 --> 01:33:36,400
Speaker 1: feet a little bit earlier. So those are those are

1885
01:33:36,400 --> 01:33:39,080
Speaker 1: the things that I think I take away from this. UM,

1886
01:33:39,960 --> 01:33:42,040
Speaker 1: I don't know, is there anything else to you, Tony

1887
01:33:42,160 --> 01:33:44,760
Speaker 1: or questions? Do you have anything? No. I think it's

1888
01:33:44,800 --> 01:33:47,920
Speaker 1: just a good lesson on, you know, playing the playing

1889
01:33:47,920 --> 01:33:50,760
Speaker 1: the long game on a small property in the right way.

1890
01:33:51,040 --> 01:33:52,680
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you did a good job. Man.

1891
01:33:52,720 --> 01:33:58,439
Speaker 1: I think it's cool to just kind of like really

1892
01:33:58,479 --> 01:34:01,960
Speaker 1: put the brakes on you have to, because I just don't.

1893
01:34:02,000 --> 01:34:04,600
Speaker 1: I think it's so easy to not do that, but

1894
01:34:05,120 --> 01:34:07,920
Speaker 1: it's so important when you're dealing with a small property.

1895
01:34:08,000 --> 01:34:10,200
Speaker 1: And and when you're dealing with deer that are just

1896
01:34:10,320 --> 01:34:12,680
Speaker 1: generally in an area where they get hunted hard, where

1897
01:34:12,720 --> 01:34:15,000
Speaker 1: there's a lot of hunting pressure, like you just have

1898
01:34:15,080 --> 01:34:17,439
Speaker 1: to be so aware of what you're putting on them too.

1899
01:34:17,680 --> 01:34:20,040
Speaker 1: I think that's I think it's cool man. Yeah, And

1900
01:34:20,080 --> 01:34:22,719
Speaker 1: I think one thing that should just be mentioned. Um,

1901
01:34:22,840 --> 01:34:25,040
Speaker 1: and we we talked about this, We've we've had some

1902
01:34:25,080 --> 01:34:29,040
Speaker 1: conversation in the past. But you know, I've been pretty

1903
01:34:29,920 --> 01:34:32,840
Speaker 1: tactical and careful with how many times I hunt this piece.

1904
01:34:33,800 --> 01:34:35,800
Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean I haven't been able to hunt

1905
01:34:35,800 --> 01:34:38,559
Speaker 1: a lot still, Right, I just go other places. So

1906
01:34:38,600 --> 01:34:41,120
Speaker 1: I've hunted public land in different places. I've got two

1907
01:34:41,120 --> 01:34:43,240
Speaker 1: other I was hunt a ton, hunt of a ton,

1908
01:34:43,880 --> 01:34:46,240
Speaker 1: just all sorts of different spots. Right. I want to

1909
01:34:46,280 --> 01:34:48,719
Speaker 1: hunt late November, so I went to Ohio. I wanted

1910
01:34:48,720 --> 01:34:50,760
Speaker 1: to hunt mid November during gun season, so I went

1911
01:34:50,760 --> 01:34:52,800
Speaker 1: to northern Michigan. I wanted to hunt the core of

1912
01:34:52,840 --> 01:34:55,880
Speaker 1: the ruts, so I went to this place in that place. Um,

1913
01:34:55,920 --> 01:34:58,479
Speaker 1: you know, there's there's plenty of ways to still have

1914
01:34:58,520 --> 01:35:02,240
Speaker 1: a great fun hunting season full of hunts without messing up,

1915
01:35:02,360 --> 01:35:04,120
Speaker 1: you know, a little piece of private maybe that you

1916
01:35:04,160 --> 01:35:06,960
Speaker 1: do have access to that could you know, be a

1917
01:35:07,000 --> 01:35:09,479
Speaker 1: window of opportunity like this if you played it, you know,

1918
01:35:09,600 --> 01:35:12,479
Speaker 1: kind of short and sweet on what you do. So

1919
01:35:13,439 --> 01:35:14,920
Speaker 1: I don't want to make it sound like if you

1920
01:35:14,960 --> 01:35:17,599
Speaker 1: want to kill deer on small properties that you can

1921
01:35:17,600 --> 01:35:20,680
Speaker 1: never hunt them, that you can never hunt. Um, you

1922
01:35:20,760 --> 01:35:23,320
Speaker 1: can hunt, but just got to be a strategic about

1923
01:35:23,360 --> 01:35:25,559
Speaker 1: when you make those strikes. If you're trying to kill

1924
01:35:25,560 --> 01:35:27,160
Speaker 1: like an old deer like that, and then just spread

1925
01:35:27,200 --> 01:35:29,320
Speaker 1: your hunt out over other places. Go have some fun

1926
01:35:29,400 --> 01:35:32,120
Speaker 1: public land, Go go do some crazy stuff in other places.

1927
01:35:32,560 --> 01:35:36,519
Speaker 1: Get new permission. Um, this certainly doesn't need to limit

1928
01:35:36,560 --> 01:35:41,960
Speaker 1: your experience. Options are your friend. That is the truth.

1929
01:35:42,240 --> 01:35:45,439
Speaker 1: That is the truth. So that's a story, man, it

1930
01:35:45,479 --> 01:35:48,880
Speaker 1: was a fun one. I love it, buddy, well Tony.

1931
01:35:48,920 --> 01:35:52,000
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. Appreciate you coming on here to to

1932
01:35:52,080 --> 01:35:55,400
Speaker 1: hear me out and ask the good questions and help

1933
01:35:55,439 --> 01:35:59,920
Speaker 1: me talk through this one. What's uh? What's this muzzleload

1934
01:36:00,120 --> 01:36:02,160
Speaker 1: story with you? You gonna you're gonna get one down

1935
01:36:02,200 --> 01:36:07,280
Speaker 1: here soon. I don't know, maybe if I can get

1936
01:36:07,280 --> 01:36:10,160
Speaker 1: out there. I actually I'm kind of just doing the

1937
01:36:10,240 --> 01:36:13,000
Speaker 1: muzzleloader thing because I enjoy it, and I haven't picked

1938
01:36:13,080 --> 01:36:14,920
Speaker 1: up a gun in like eight years to hunt deer,

1939
01:36:15,800 --> 01:36:17,840
Speaker 1: and so I'm just having fun with it. But I'm

1940
01:36:17,880 --> 01:36:20,400
Speaker 1: I'm kind of you know, you talk about a thirty

1941
01:36:20,439 --> 01:36:23,680
Speaker 1: acre property that might have some late season potential, uh,

1942
01:36:23,880 --> 01:36:25,920
Speaker 1: one of the properties I own over in Wisconsin. I'm

1943
01:36:25,960 --> 01:36:29,000
Speaker 1: I'm picking up some bucks, you know, in a little

1944
01:36:29,000 --> 01:36:31,480
Speaker 1: corner of that property that made it through the Wisconsin

1945
01:36:31,520 --> 01:36:35,759
Speaker 1: gun season. And there it's basically a pretty nice eight pointer.

1946
01:36:35,840 --> 01:36:38,040
Speaker 1: For there, he's probably like a hundred hundred and five

1947
01:36:38,080 --> 01:36:41,960
Speaker 1: inch deer and then there's a spike, but for there,

1948
01:36:42,479 --> 01:36:45,200
Speaker 1: they're pretty good. And my daughter has a buck tag left.

1949
01:36:46,120 --> 01:36:49,360
Speaker 1: And so I'm kind of like, I'm gonna get through

1950
01:36:49,400 --> 01:36:51,840
Speaker 1: this muzzleloader season here, which by the time this drops

1951
01:36:51,840 --> 01:36:54,280
Speaker 1: will be over, and then I'm gonna go start working

1952
01:36:54,280 --> 01:36:57,120
Speaker 1: on those deer for her because I think the season's over.

1953
01:36:57,200 --> 01:37:00,680
Speaker 1: There is open through part of January, so there's a

1954
01:37:00,800 --> 01:37:03,840
Speaker 1: chance to maybe try to get on these deer and uh,

1955
01:37:04,600 --> 01:37:06,800
Speaker 1: you know, do some kind of over Christmas break type

1956
01:37:06,800 --> 01:37:08,800
Speaker 1: of hunt and get her a chance at a buck

1957
01:37:09,320 --> 01:37:12,200
Speaker 1: when it should you know, theoretically, it'll be really tough,

1958
01:37:12,800 --> 01:37:14,280
Speaker 1: you know, you know, how it is after a gun

1959
01:37:14,320 --> 01:37:16,519
Speaker 1: season blows through there and it's late season and all

1960
01:37:16,560 --> 01:37:20,519
Speaker 1: that stuff. But still I'm I'm as excited for that

1961
01:37:20,600 --> 01:37:22,519
Speaker 1: as I kind of have been for anything this season.

1962
01:37:22,560 --> 01:37:24,400
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be at least really fun

1963
01:37:24,439 --> 01:37:27,920
Speaker 1: to try nice. Well that's a man just having like

1964
01:37:28,000 --> 01:37:30,840
Speaker 1: that hope for something fun in the late scenes, Like

1965
01:37:30,960 --> 01:37:33,200
Speaker 1: basically all I ever asked for for the late seasons,

1966
01:37:33,240 --> 01:37:35,120
Speaker 1: Like just something to get me excited and still be

1967
01:37:35,160 --> 01:37:37,000
Speaker 1: out there. That's that's a pretty good thing to have.

1968
01:37:38,000 --> 01:37:40,719
Speaker 1: Oh dude, it's it's everything. And you know, I show

1969
01:37:40,840 --> 01:37:42,800
Speaker 1: because I have I have a cell camera over there,

1970
01:37:42,800 --> 01:37:45,200
Speaker 1: and I show my little girls those pictures, and of

1971
01:37:45,240 --> 01:37:47,759
Speaker 1: course you know she wants to shoot that that bigger box.

1972
01:37:48,240 --> 01:37:51,040
Speaker 1: But like in my head, there's a spike that moved

1973
01:37:51,080 --> 01:37:54,400
Speaker 1: in there that he might score ten to twelve inches.

1974
01:37:54,520 --> 01:37:57,639
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, uh, but I'm like that deer has

1975
01:37:57,680 --> 01:38:00,439
Speaker 1: no idea he's he's going to be the one who's

1976
01:38:00,560 --> 01:38:02,360
Speaker 1: probably going to be in trouble because I think he

1977
01:38:02,479 --> 01:38:05,000
Speaker 1: just moved in there and he's living there, and you know,

1978
01:38:05,040 --> 01:38:06,600
Speaker 1: we don't have any standards. I mean, if it's a

1979
01:38:06,680 --> 01:38:09,160
Speaker 1: legal buck, she's gonna shoot it. So I'm like, I

1980
01:38:09,200 --> 01:38:11,040
Speaker 1: want to work on that bigger one, but I'm like

1981
01:38:11,080 --> 01:38:13,760
Speaker 1: that backup Buck is probably in real trouble. He's gonna

1982
01:38:13,800 --> 01:38:17,400
Speaker 1: get it, I hope, I hope. So I would love

1983
01:38:17,439 --> 01:38:19,519
Speaker 1: to see either one of them come in and have

1984
01:38:19,680 --> 01:38:21,920
Speaker 1: her have a cool hunt in the snow. You know

1985
01:38:22,320 --> 01:38:25,120
Speaker 1: that would be so cool. Well, I'm gonna wish my

1986
01:38:25,280 --> 01:38:28,000
Speaker 1: wish you luck and cross my fingers and toes for yes. Awesome.

1987
01:38:28,000 --> 01:38:31,080
Speaker 1: Thanks Buddy, all right, Thanks Tony ye, all right, and

1988
01:38:31,120 --> 01:38:34,160
Speaker 1: that's gonna do it for us today. Thank you for listening.

1989
01:38:34,320 --> 01:38:37,080
Speaker 1: I appreciate you found along with this story. It was

1990
01:38:37,080 --> 01:38:40,640
Speaker 1: a fun one to share. I certainly am thankfultle Ill

1991
01:38:40,640 --> 01:38:43,240
Speaker 1: came together like this, and uh, just looking forward to

1992
01:38:44,040 --> 01:38:46,599
Speaker 1: more fun hunts in the future. Getting to know these deer.

1993
01:38:46,640 --> 01:38:50,479
Speaker 1: I just absolutely love studying them, trying to figure out

1994
01:38:50,560 --> 01:38:52,880
Speaker 1: what they do, getting to know him, watching them grow

1995
01:38:52,920 --> 01:38:55,640
Speaker 1: over the years. Uh, it's it's super fun for a

1996
01:38:55,640 --> 01:38:57,880
Speaker 1: white tail and nerd like me, and hopefully for for

1997
01:38:57,920 --> 01:39:00,479
Speaker 1: those of you out there is as well. So with

1998
01:39:00,520 --> 01:39:04,160
Speaker 1: all that said, let's wrap this up. Thank you, good

1999
01:39:04,240 --> 01:39:06,719
Speaker 1: luck out there if you're still hunting, and until next time,

2000
01:39:07,080 --> 01:39:09,120
Speaker 1: stay wired to h.