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

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

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Speaker 1: creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind.

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

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Speaker 1: Tony Peterson.

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Speaker 2: Hey, everyone, welcome to the Wired Hunt Foundation's podcast, which

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Speaker 2: is brought to you by first Light. I'm your host,

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Speaker 2: Tony Peterson, and today's episode is all about building a

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Speaker 2: rut hunting plan and following through with it. I have

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Speaker 2: a question for all you listeners. Why are you tuning

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Speaker 2: into this podcast this week when you should be in

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Speaker 2: a tree now? Maybe you're listening in the morning on

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Speaker 2: the way to and all day sit And I can

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Speaker 2: forgive you for that, In fact, I encourage it, But

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Speaker 2: otherwise I don't know. This is the week of all weeks.

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Speaker 2: You know, the great equalizer is upon us. The rut

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Speaker 2: is here. Things are bust and loose. It's cold as

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Speaker 2: hell in many places, and if you have time to sit,

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Speaker 2: you better get out there and sit. But don't do

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Speaker 2: it without at least a loose plant. That's what this

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Speaker 2: episode is about. And while it might feel a little

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Speaker 2: late to be talking about some of this stuff. It's

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Speaker 2: not Listen up and you'll see what I mean. I'd say,

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Speaker 2: I don't know. About eight years ago, I figured i'd

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Speaker 2: do something nice for Mother's Day, which also happens to

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Speaker 2: fall right around my anniversary. As a two for gift

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Speaker 2: to my bride. I thought I had to address the

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Speaker 2: dismal landscaping situation in our front yard. So instead of

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Speaker 2: going fishing or turkey hunting, I waited for my wife

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Speaker 2: to load up the girls and head up to the lake.

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Speaker 2: I stayed home and went to one of those giant

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Speaker 2: landscaping businesses with all kinds of rocks and pavers and

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Speaker 2: decorative yard crap. Now our house isn't big, and it's

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Speaker 2: you know, not exactly some kind of architect experiment to

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Speaker 2: three bedrooms foot level, so it's basically a big rectangle.

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Speaker 2: I thought I'd go buy some block to frame in

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Speaker 2: two little rock beds in the front around our front steps,

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Speaker 2: and then you know, spruce them up with some kind

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Speaker 2: of flowers or shrubs or something. And since I did

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Speaker 2: a little bit at a landscaping in my youth, I

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Speaker 2: figured that it would be a simple job. And a

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Speaker 2: lot of things are simple For some people, I don't

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Speaker 2: like using a ratchet strap correctly. For others, those tasks

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Speaker 2: are anything but simple. When I returned home from the

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Speaker 2: first trip to the big shop of blocks and rocks,

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Speaker 2: I framed out the two sections and realized I was

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Speaker 2: short by a lot. No biggie, I just made the

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Speaker 2: round trip back to the shop and swiped the credit

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Speaker 2: card again. When I finally got the blocks truly framed out,

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Speaker 2: I did some quick, terrible math and went back and

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Speaker 2: bought a load of rock to fill the whole thing in.

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Speaker 2: I undershot that by two trips worth, it started to

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Speaker 2: become one of those projects that made me really miss drinking.

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Speaker 2: I finally got blocks and rocks squared away and drove

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Speaker 2: to a giant greenhouse to buy some plants. Now what

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Speaker 2: I know about decorative plants couldn't max out the character

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Speaker 2: length of a tweet, So after seeking some help, I

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Speaker 2: drove home with seven perennials that were destined to be

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Speaker 2: beautiful and produce flowers every year. And after planning them,

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Speaker 2: I stood back to admire my work, which should have

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Speaker 2: been a testosterone heavy moment where I should have been

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Speaker 2: able to feel my manly chest hair growing After the

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Speaker 2: ape task I had just completed became something else, mostly

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Speaker 2: because it looked really bad. I didn't stake out the

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Speaker 2: block so I could follow a truly straight line, and

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Speaker 2: me eyeballing a line of block and getting it right

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Speaker 2: would be about like Kenyon trying to shoot a booner

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Speaker 2: on Michigan public land with a homemade recurve. Not going

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Speaker 2: to happen, my friends. So I basically kind of redid

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Speaker 2: the whole thing and it looked passable but definitely not professional.

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Speaker 2: Any tradesmen listening to this, you're right to smirk or

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Speaker 2: directly talk about me. I deserve it, and I totally

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Speaker 2: get it. I should have had a plan. I should

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Speaker 2: have actually measured things out and figured out the materials

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Speaker 2: I was going to need, and then I should have

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Speaker 2: followed that plan. What I did instead was assume I

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Speaker 2: could do this thing that seems so simple on the

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Speaker 2: surface but actually require some skill, and I dove headlong

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Speaker 2: in without a plan. Now I'm pretty sure you know

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Speaker 2: where I'm going with this. The rut is here, and yes,

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Speaker 2: you should have a plan. Let me start with a

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Speaker 2: part of the plan you should have taken care of

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Speaker 2: a long time ago. But if you didn't. It's okay,

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Speaker 2: you can still address this. Most of the hunters I know,

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Speaker 2: they just kind of set stands and blinds for general

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Speaker 2: deer movement throughout the season and that's what they hunt

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Speaker 2: from September to December or whatever their season framework is.

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Speaker 2: And that can work, but it often doesn't. I think

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Speaker 2: a better bet is to hang rut stands or set

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Speaker 2: out rut blinds. Here's why. If you think that field

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Speaker 2: edge stand you've set a bunch of times is going

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Speaker 2: to be flushed with cruising bucks, it probably won't. You've

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Speaker 2: probably educated some of the bucks and many of the

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Speaker 2: doe to that ambush spot. If the does are onto you,

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Speaker 2: they're not going to drag a buck by. You could

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Speaker 2: still catch a random cruiser because it is still the rut,

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Speaker 2: but the odds are less than if you had different

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Speaker 2: setups to work with. This is a common mistake that

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Speaker 2: hunters make, and they often know it. This is why

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Speaker 2: it's so common to dip into the old bag of tricks.

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Speaker 2: Start rattling or grunting or using a decoay or whatever.

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Speaker 2: The stands they are hunting probably won't naturally funnel a

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Speaker 2: bunch of rut crazy bucks by so they try to

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Speaker 2: spruce them up with some get rich quick products. This

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Speaker 2: is often one of those lipstick on a pig situations.

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Speaker 2: Trust me on this. There are times when sitting a

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Speaker 2: tried and true stand during the rut is plenty good enough.

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Speaker 2: That's up for you to decide. But if you don't

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Speaker 2: have other options, you won't have a choice. And that's

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Speaker 2: no bueno. And you know how I feel about not

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Speaker 2: giving yourself options. It's a bad move and they'll bite

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Speaker 2: you in the ass every time. The truth is, there

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Speaker 2: are some spots that are just rut spots. The pinch

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Speaker 2: points and funnels and terrain traps are the place is

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Speaker 2: to be, the soft edges in the big woods, great

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Speaker 2: places to be, the high spine that bisects a swamp

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Speaker 2: and allows deer to stay mostly dry while cruising through.

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Speaker 2: Great place to be, the place where the river bluff

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Speaker 2: pinches up next to the bank. Well, you get it.

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Speaker 2: You know this stuff. I know you know this. But

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Speaker 2: do you do this? Do you have a setup or

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Speaker 2: a plan to go into a spot like this for

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Speaker 2: the rut? If not, you'd better consider it. I think

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Speaker 2: that we view the rut as a situation where deer

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Speaker 2: could show up anywhere, but mostly lots of deer show

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Speaker 2: up in very specific spots, while few deers show up

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Speaker 2: wherever you want to be on one of those high

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Speaker 2: concentration spots where lots of deer should go. It is

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Speaker 2: that simple. Now, as I lay these words down on

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Speaker 2: a digital tablet, I'm packing up for a trip to

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Speaker 2: North Dakota to hunt for six days. My plan, after

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Speaker 2: almost too much time on on X, is going to

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Speaker 2: be that I'm going to spend some time in three spots.

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Speaker 2: I have three really interesting pinch points marked that should

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Speaker 2: allow for all days sits if the wind cooperates. Now,

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Speaker 2: I know that at least one of those spots will

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Speaker 2: probably have other hunters around because it's public, so I'm

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Speaker 2: not even counting on being able to utilize all three.

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Speaker 2: But they are all three true rut spots. You probably

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Speaker 2: wouldn't sit any of them in September or at least

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Speaker 2: early October, but now you would. My plan is simple.

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Speaker 2: There go hanging hunt where the wind is best and

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Speaker 2: the sign is plentiful. And then comes phase two of

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Speaker 2: the plan. This involves something that we talk about a

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Speaker 2: lot but we don't break down very much, which is

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Speaker 2: just watching deer. I know I've talked about this before,

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Speaker 2: but if you have a buck knows his way through

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Speaker 2: the woods, pay attention to it. I mean, if you

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Speaker 2: don't maybe go golfing or something, because I don't know

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Speaker 2: if bow hunting is the right sport for you. I've

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Speaker 2: said this a lot, but every deer you see during

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Speaker 2: the rut gives you an advantage. Obviously, the buck that

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Speaker 2: crosses the down fence in the woods exactly where you

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Speaker 2: expect him to is great. It's great affirmation for your strategy.

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Speaker 2: But there's a benefit to watch and a buck cross

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Speaker 2: one hundred yards farther down too. Or the dough that

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Speaker 2: walked out into the alfalfa field at three in the

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Speaker 2: afternoon all by herself. What she did today, she might

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Speaker 2: do tomorrow, And you can bet your ass that eventually

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Speaker 2: someone is going to want to give her a little

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Speaker 2: sniff to see if she might swipe right. If you

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Speaker 2: get my drift, the forky that crosses an open field

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Speaker 2: from one point of woods to another, or I don't know,

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Speaker 2: the two year old it travels through the middle of

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Speaker 2: a cat tail slew where you can see a small

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Speaker 2: band of willows. All of that movement tells you something. Now,

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Speaker 2: you might be thinking that these sightings tell you to move,

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Speaker 2: but they don't, at least not always. This is where

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Speaker 2: phase two the rut plan meets an old fork in

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Speaker 2: the road. Remember those get rich Quick products I just

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Speaker 2: made fun of a little bit ago, Well you might

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Speaker 2: need them now if you have a pretty good rut setup.

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Speaker 2: But for some reason, the deer prefer to be seventy

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Speaker 2: five yards away instead of twenty. You have two options.

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Speaker 2: Move to them or try to move them to you.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's nothing more than pulling your

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Speaker 2: set and moving fifty yards to a good tree where

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Speaker 2: the action actually is. This is my go to strategy. First,

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Speaker 2: if I can put myself where the deer like to move,

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Speaker 2: I've damn near won the game. But what if you're

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Speaker 2: on the edge of that cat tail slew and you

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Speaker 2: see that two year old and some other deer using

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Speaker 2: that willow band. But you don't really want to wade

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Speaker 2: in there and try to arrow one from the ground

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Speaker 2: because you're not going to make that happen. In that situation,

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Speaker 2: moving to them just might not be a viable option.

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Speaker 2: You might have to try to get them to come

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Speaker 2: to you. I ran into this I don't know, maybe

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Speaker 2: a dozen years ago in Nebraska during a public land hunt.

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Speaker 2: The bucks kept cruising and chasing through a small patch

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Speaker 2: of pines in the CRP, but wouldn't come to where

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Speaker 2: I could hang a stand. So I eventually used a

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Speaker 2: feeding dough decoy one morning to see if I could

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Speaker 2: get a deer's attention, and it worked. I had to

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Speaker 2: call to him and I had to work him in.

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Speaker 2: But the eight pointer I arrowed that morning he was

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Speaker 2: following the exact script of several other bucks. I saw

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Speaker 2: he wasn't going to come my way, but then he

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Speaker 2: saw a deer, or he thought he saw a deer.

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Speaker 2: Then he heard a deer, or he thought he heard

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Speaker 2: it here. Well, it wasn't much for him to make

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Speaker 2: a little bit of a detour, and it was like

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Speaker 2: November sixth, so he swung in there. If I could

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Speaker 2: have moved to the best patch of seaters there to

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Speaker 2: set up, I would have, but it wasn't an option.

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Speaker 2: So it was time to get a little crafty. This

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Speaker 2: is important, my friends. If you're not right on the

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Speaker 2: sweet spot, but you're close, read the situation. Read it

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Speaker 2: really well, and make note of the wind in other conditions,

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Speaker 2: Ask yourself why they're there and if they are likely

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Speaker 2: to get to you. If you don't think so, ask yourself,

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Speaker 2: what's my best move? Can you really locate to the

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Speaker 2: action with a stand or a saddle, or maybe a

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Speaker 2: natural ground line? If so, do that honestly, don't wait.

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Speaker 2: Just get there and make it happen. But if you can't,

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Speaker 2: which is pretty common, it might be time for a

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Speaker 2: little calling or a decoy or some sense or whatever.

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Speaker 2: Now I need to move on to phase three here

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Speaker 2: of the plan, And it's one that I kind of

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Speaker 2: wish didn't exist, but it just does. It's what to

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Speaker 2: do when you're just not on deer, even though you

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Speaker 2: believe you should be. Just one. Happens to me a lot,

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Speaker 2: and I think it happens to a lot of us,

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Speaker 2: more than we'd care to admit. I'm a firm believer

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Speaker 2: that if I give a spot a full day's sit

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Speaker 2: or one afternoon and then a morning sit and it

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Speaker 2: doesn't produce, I'm probably gonna move. Scratch that, I'm at

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Speaker 2: least going to consider moving. This is just a gut

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Speaker 2: feeling type of thing. But if you believe the terrain

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Speaker 2: is going to feed dear to you, at some point

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Speaker 2: two days of sitting or even three, it just might

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Speaker 2: be necessary, especially if you're in a low deer density area.

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Speaker 2: It's all up to your confidence and faith in the spot,

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Speaker 2: and you have to be real honest with yourself because

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Speaker 2: this is when laziness can weigh in on the decision

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Speaker 2: making process. It's far more work to go looking and

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Speaker 2: try to find deer and the next best setup. In

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Speaker 2: that case, it's much easier to keep sitting the same

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Speaker 2: spot and trying to convince yourself that it's just a

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Speaker 2: matter of time. This is a common mindset and it

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Speaker 2: leaves a lot of tags unfilled. When I hit that

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Speaker 2: moment where I'm just like, it is not happening here

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Speaker 2: for some reason, my first instinct is to move. Unless

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Speaker 2: my options are really limited, you know, like I'm hunting

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Speaker 2: a small property, or the conditions for whatever reason won't

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Speaker 2: allow for a fresh setup. I'm going to go to

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Speaker 2: my next spot. This is kind of where we go

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Speaker 2: back to phase one. If you did your homework, you

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Speaker 2: should have a few other rut spots you believe in.

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Speaker 2: They might not be your number one choice, but you

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Speaker 2: should have faith in them. If the first setup doesn't

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Speaker 2: produce and you have other options, it is just a

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Speaker 2: matter of sitting somewhere else. If you don't have another

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Speaker 2: site prepped and ready to go, don't fret. You can

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Speaker 2: sneak in and scout around for some fresh sign. I

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Speaker 2: like lots of RUPs, and if I can find it,

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Speaker 2: big running tracks on trails in the woods. A spot

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Speaker 2: with both of those that allows me to set up

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Speaker 2: with a good wind. That's pretty much all I need

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Speaker 2: when I don't have other options. Now, before I wrap

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Speaker 2: this up, I just want to say a few things.

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Speaker 2: The first is develop some kind of plan for yourself

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Speaker 2: if you can. I mean that. The second is to

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Speaker 2: understand when you're sabotaging yourself for some reason. This is

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Speaker 2: most common when we decide not to hunt. I know

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Speaker 2: I've said this before, but how many times have you

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Speaker 2: heard someone saying it's just not worth sitting during the

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Speaker 2: rut because it's too hot or too windy or whatever.

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Speaker 2: There's no such thing. Don't make excuses to not hunt.

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Speaker 2: The only thing you'll do is pretend that you're being

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Speaker 2: a wise deer hunter while dumber deer hunters are out

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Speaker 2: enjoying the woods and killing deer. This is maybe the

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Speaker 2: most important part of the whole thing. Get your head

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Speaker 2: ready for a real rut hunt. That's what a plan

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Speaker 2: does for you. You know that that hunt where you're

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Speaker 2: gonna blank and have the wrong wind and wash Hunters

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Speaker 2: walk through the best betting areas, the one where you

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Speaker 2: don't want to wake up and sit all day for

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Speaker 2: another whole day when your bed is warm and cozy

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Speaker 2: and you're a sleepy little bear, get up and go hunt.

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Speaker 2: A plan. Having a good plan, you know that's going

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Speaker 2: to help you with this, Like keep going, keep doing

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Speaker 2: your thing, tell yourself that you're going to find a

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Speaker 2: way to maximize all available time you have, because you

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Speaker 2: know what, for most of us, at least who don't

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Speaker 2: live too far south, it's already damn near over. In

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Speaker 2: a couple weeks, the whole thing will fizzle down into

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Speaker 2: that time of the season when it's just about impossible

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Speaker 2: to see a deer bigger than a four ky. When

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Speaker 2: we hit that point, will you look back on the

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Speaker 2: rut and think about it in a positive way or

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Speaker 2: will it mostly be a reminder of unmet expectations. You

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Speaker 2: don't want that, do you? I know I don't, and

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Speaker 2: I've lived it. Enough to try really hard to make

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Speaker 2: sure it doesn't happen to me. Listen, I still have

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Speaker 2: bad days and bad sits and bad weeks during the rut.

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Speaker 2: I don't think you can get away from that if

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Speaker 2: you hunt anywhere with a decent amount of pressure anyways.

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Speaker 2: But I think you can always grind it out on

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Speaker 2: the promise that a good one will eventually come down

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Speaker 2: the trail, or that you might have one of those

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Speaker 2: magical once per decade mornings where a hot dough brings

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Speaker 2: the whole crew to your feet and the action you

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Speaker 2: witness is so awesome it can erase tons of difficult

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Speaker 2: sits and other bad deer hunts. Make a loose plan

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Speaker 2: based around your existing setups and whatever potential setups you

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Speaker 2: could have in the moment, pay attention to the deer.

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Speaker 2: They'll tell you damn near everything you need to know.

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Speaker 2: And lastly, put in the time. Don't be like your

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Speaker 2: competition and phone it in, but really get out there

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Speaker 2: and log in those hours. You won't regret it, I

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Speaker 2: promise you that. And finally, come back next week because

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Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about gun hunting for deer. Know

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Speaker 2: I've covered this topic a few times, but I got

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Speaker 2: a few things I want to talk about that I

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Speaker 2: haven't covered before, so we can get into given our

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Speaker 2: orange clad brothers and sisters a little bit of love.

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Speaker 2: That's it for this week. I'm Tony Peterson. This has

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Speaker 2: been the Wired to Hunt Foundation's podcast, which is brought

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Speaker 2: to you by First Light. As always, thank you so

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Speaker 2: much for listening and for all of your support. All

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Speaker 2: of us here at meat Eater really really appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: If you want some more deer hunting content, you can

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Speaker 2: head on over to the meat eater dot com and

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Speaker 2: you will see tons of articles, tons of podcasts, videos, series,

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Speaker 2: you name it, and it's not just whitetail content over there.

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Speaker 2: If you want to scratch that elkitch and plan for

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Speaker 2: a hunt next year or whatever, it's all there at

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Speaker 2: themeatheater dot com. Thank you again so much