1
00:00:01,240 --> 00:00:05,120
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide

2
00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,920
Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, presented by first Light,

3
00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:13,560
Speaker 1: creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind.

4
00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:18,680
Speaker 1: First Light, Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host

5
00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:19,919
Speaker 1: Tony Peterson.

6
00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,240
Speaker 2: Hey everyone, welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundation's podcast,

7
00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:25,160
Speaker 2: which is brought to you by first Light. I'm your host,

8
00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:28,240
Speaker 2: Tony Peterson, and today's episode is all about stress and

9
00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:30,520
Speaker 2: how it relates to deer hunting and what we can

10
00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:35,199
Speaker 2: all do to relax a little bit. This morning, I

11
00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:37,560
Speaker 2: went to the gym after dropping the girls off at school.

12
00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:40,240
Speaker 2: Throughout my lifting session, I talked to two of my

13
00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:44,080
Speaker 2: gym buddies. Both of them were stressed out to the max.

14
00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:47,320
Speaker 2: One of them a woman whose son just got his

15
00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:51,199
Speaker 2: license has already racked up a speeding ticket and hit

16
00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,520
Speaker 2: a deer in his short time behind the wheel. The

17
00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,560
Speaker 2: other buddy, coincidentally, is a canine police officer here in

18
00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,560
Speaker 2: the Twin Cities, which, as you can imagine, with a

19
00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,480
Speaker 2: lot of stress, and he was running on no sleep

20
00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:05,679
Speaker 2: and started telling me about how his squad car keeps

21
00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,319
Speaker 2: breaking down and a couple other things. In his life

22
00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:11,480
Speaker 2: that we're driving him a little nuts. Stresses everywhere, and

23
00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:14,759
Speaker 2: we are all subjecting ourselves to more stressful news by

24
00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:18,160
Speaker 2: the day. This affects our lives, and it affects our

25
00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:20,840
Speaker 2: deer hunting success and enjoyment, which is what this episode

26
00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:32,959
Speaker 2: is all about. People often conflaint stress with anxiety, and

27
00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:35,640
Speaker 2: although they really kind of walk hand in hand, they

28
00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,120
Speaker 2: aren't the same things. Stress is a response to something

29
00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,440
Speaker 2: that happens externally, say when you pull up to your

30
00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:45,600
Speaker 2: favorite little public land honeyhole and see three trucks park

31
00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:51,080
Speaker 2: there already. Anxiety is all about the internal, say, sitting

32
00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,080
Speaker 2: on stand and hearing a stick crack and suddenly losing

33
00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:56,400
Speaker 2: your shit because you're worried about missing the big buck

34
00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,440
Speaker 2: that is just about to come down the trail. Neither

35
00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,720
Speaker 2: are much fun, and both are pretty much standard issue

36
00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:08,240
Speaker 2: human emotions. Stress often triggers the body's flight or fight response,

37
00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:11,799
Speaker 2: which developed when we all faced real danger throughout our lives.

38
00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:14,720
Speaker 2: A consequence of feeling this way is that the brain

39
00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,000
Speaker 2: will say that it's time to dump some serious adrenaline

40
00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:20,400
Speaker 2: into the bloodstream now, cue the speeding heart rate, a

41
00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:23,720
Speaker 2: burst of energy which actually doesn't usually feel that good

42
00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:25,880
Speaker 2: unless you really need it, and then you know a

43
00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:29,320
Speaker 2: whole bunch of other physiological changes. Way back when we

44
00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,240
Speaker 2: needed this response to avoid getting eaten by I don't know,

45
00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,800
Speaker 2: short face bears and other predators, this system evolved to

46
00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:39,800
Speaker 2: return to normal once the threat was gone. Pretty simple, really,

47
00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,720
Speaker 2: not one point. We did need to suddenly be stronger

48
00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:46,600
Speaker 2: and more energetic and more acutely aware of our surroundings

49
00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:50,240
Speaker 2: while toggling between running the hell away from something or

50
00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,000
Speaker 2: fighting to the death or a draw. But you can't

51
00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:56,440
Speaker 2: stay in that state forever for obvious reasons. But when

52
00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:59,160
Speaker 2: we need it, it's there for us. The problem is

53
00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:02,639
Speaker 2: that now a lot of us have chronic stress. We

54
00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:06,600
Speaker 2: live in a generally heightened state, and we consume NonStop

55
00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:10,560
Speaker 2: bullshit on our phones designed to anger us. We have

56
00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:14,040
Speaker 2: too much access to other people, too many people trying

57
00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:16,799
Speaker 2: to profit off of our anger and attention, and it's

58
00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:21,000
Speaker 2: really really not good for us. Chronic stress can lead

59
00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:25,200
Speaker 2: to all kinds of bad stuff, like certain cancers, chronic pain, fatigue,

60
00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:28,960
Speaker 2: heart disease, sleep disorders, depression, obesity, and a whole list

61
00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:30,760
Speaker 2: of other stuff that I don't need to tell you

62
00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:33,960
Speaker 2: about because I'm sure you get the idea. The biggest

63
00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:40,160
Speaker 2: stressors in our lives are usually our jobs, our relationships, money, family, health, politics,

64
00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:42,840
Speaker 2: or the general state of the world, as we are

65
00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:46,520
Speaker 2: told by those pesky folks who want to profit off

66
00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,400
Speaker 2: of our anger and attention. So what do we do

67
00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:52,320
Speaker 2: to de stress? Tell you what I used to do.

68
00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:54,320
Speaker 2: I used to go sit in a tree stand and

69
00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:56,760
Speaker 2: wait for a deer to walk by. If it wasn't

70
00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:00,440
Speaker 2: deer season, I'd scout. If I didn't scout, I'd fish

71
00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,760
Speaker 2: for trout or bass, or do something in nature. I'll

72
00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:07,680
Speaker 2: bet since you're listening to this, you have similar coping mechanisms.

73
00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:11,880
Speaker 2: But here's the problem with deer hunting these days. One

74
00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:16,560
Speaker 2: of the biggest contributors to our stress lives in our pocket,

75
00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:19,040
Speaker 2: and we are all addicted to it. I don't know

76
00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,080
Speaker 2: about you, but I'm having a harder and harder time

77
00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:25,200
Speaker 2: enjoying deer hunting the last few seasons because it's so

78
00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,719
Speaker 2: hard to unpluck. I'm convinced that's one of the reasons

79
00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,080
Speaker 2: I love certain kinds of fishing and upland hunting so much.

80
00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:35,919
Speaker 2: There's no way to do either without giving yourself to

81
00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,560
Speaker 2: the pursuit there isn't idle time to go on Instagram

82
00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:42,880
Speaker 2: or Reddit or whatever and consume mental junk food. Deer

83
00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:46,680
Speaker 2: hunting not so much. What's worse is that when you're

84
00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:48,600
Speaker 2: not shooting one hundred and forty inch bucks and are

85
00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:52,000
Speaker 2: instead staring at your phone while squirrels play grab ass

86
00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:54,520
Speaker 2: around your stand and you're not even in the same

87
00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,800
Speaker 2: section as a buck that big, you can see NonStop

88
00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:00,240
Speaker 2: pictures and videos of people with deer that side in

89
00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:02,719
Speaker 2: bigger hell. You don't have to try that hard to

90
00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,520
Speaker 2: see seven year olds with bigger taxidermy bills than you'll

91
00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:10,200
Speaker 2: ever have. That's kind of a compounding problem, and it sucks. Now.

92
00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:12,400
Speaker 2: I don't know how to help you with your phone

93
00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:14,560
Speaker 2: addiction because I don't really know how to help myself

94
00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,200
Speaker 2: with that problem. I think in fifty or one hundred

95
00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:18,840
Speaker 2: years we might look back at this like it was

96
00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:23,400
Speaker 2: a species altering mistake that really caused some downstream problems.

97
00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:27,000
Speaker 2: But until then, there are ways to de stress your

98
00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,559
Speaker 2: deer hunting and make it so you enjoy things much

99
00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,640
Speaker 2: more this season. The easiest way to do this is

100
00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:35,160
Speaker 2: to look at what stresses you out or what is

101
00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,440
Speaker 2: giving you anxiety about this year and this season, and

102
00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:41,240
Speaker 2: then think about what you can do about it. I'll

103
00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:43,160
Speaker 2: give you an example from my life that I've been

104
00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:45,840
Speaker 2: thinking about quite a bit. I've had stress in the

105
00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:48,800
Speaker 2: last few years about not hunting enough the way I want.

106
00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,400
Speaker 2: That way is going to just some random public somewhere

107
00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:54,560
Speaker 2: and just trying to figure out some deer with some

108
00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,719
Speaker 2: low standards in my heart and a full quiver hanging

109
00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,800
Speaker 2: from my pack. So this year I'm going someplace new.

110
00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,479
Speaker 2: I just applied for a Kansas Turkey tag recently to

111
00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:08,360
Speaker 2: facilitate this. Without that tag, I'm less likely to go

112
00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,679
Speaker 2: back down there and scout. The less I scout somewhere,

113
00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:14,880
Speaker 2: the less I'll find that it'll just beg me to

114
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,920
Speaker 2: go hunt someplace. So I just did it, and I'm

115
00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,680
Speaker 2: also researching other states as a backup, which I've talked

116
00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:24,640
Speaker 2: about in the last couple episodes. I also have anxiety

117
00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:27,240
Speaker 2: over the spot I found in northern Wisconsin last year

118
00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:30,320
Speaker 2: that was absolutely covered in buck sign. I'm worried I

119
00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,240
Speaker 2: won't scout it enough, and when I go to hunt

120
00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:35,800
Speaker 2: there this fall, I'll revert to the spots I know

121
00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:38,279
Speaker 2: I can probably see a deer, but not go to

122
00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:41,640
Speaker 2: where I believe a big one will walk by. That's

123
00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:45,080
Speaker 2: a dumb thing to worry about now, But I know myself.

124
00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:47,760
Speaker 2: There's going to be a million basketball tournaments on the

125
00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:50,400
Speaker 2: weekends for the girls, and they have softball coming up,

126
00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:53,280
Speaker 2: and I'll have work trips and there'll be other distractions,

127
00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:55,960
Speaker 2: and suddenly it'll be September and I'll realize I didn't

128
00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:58,719
Speaker 2: do what I needed to. That's going to stress me out.

129
00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:01,720
Speaker 2: So my plan is figure out how to get over there,

130
00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:04,880
Speaker 2: maybe once every other month until the season starts, and

131
00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:08,520
Speaker 2: just get my bearings, just learn it better so that

132
00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:10,360
Speaker 2: when fall does come and I walk in with a

133
00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:12,800
Speaker 2: Camo diaper on and some stick strapped to my pack,

134
00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:14,880
Speaker 2: I can just saddle up in a tree and feel

135
00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,880
Speaker 2: good about it. Another thing that has given me a

136
00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:20,920
Speaker 2: lot of stress the last several seasons is not hunting

137
00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:24,640
Speaker 2: a farm I really love. In southeastern Minnesota, there are

138
00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:28,200
Speaker 2: some properties that just have a special feel, the ones

139
00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:30,600
Speaker 2: you've hunted a long time and have served not only

140
00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:32,720
Speaker 2: as a jumping off point for a good sit some

141
00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:37,440
Speaker 2: random October evening, but absolutely tether your mind to something

142
00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:41,720
Speaker 2: positive throughout the year. I think we forget about this part,

143
00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:43,760
Speaker 2: but the woods. In our time out there where the

144
00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:47,120
Speaker 2: deer live, isn't just a mission to kill something. It's

145
00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:50,520
Speaker 2: about getting away from life's bs. And that's one of

146
00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:53,480
Speaker 2: the reasons I hate the messaging that to be a

147
00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:56,800
Speaker 2: good deer hunter you have to leave everything alone until

148
00:07:56,800 --> 00:07:59,160
Speaker 2: the conditions are right. So you do that and you

149
00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,679
Speaker 2: kill a big one, that's awesome, But the opportunity cost

150
00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:05,200
Speaker 2: on that strategy is that you stayed out of the

151
00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:09,000
Speaker 2: woods a whole bunch, which is not nothing. That farm

152
00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:12,240
Speaker 2: in southeastern Minnesota is where I grew up hunting. That's

153
00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:15,120
Speaker 2: where I spent so much time with my dad, just

154
00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,120
Speaker 2: learning deer and turkeys and squirrels and bunnies and whatever.

155
00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,360
Speaker 2: It's a place that speaks to me and something that,

156
00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,920
Speaker 2: as I get older, carries more and more weight. I

157
00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:27,280
Speaker 2: get the same feeling walking into the woods there as

158
00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:29,280
Speaker 2: I do when I step up to a trout stream

159
00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:31,920
Speaker 2: in the bluff somewhere and look at the water and

160
00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:34,480
Speaker 2: try to read just where they'll be laying, and I

161
00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:36,760
Speaker 2: listen to the sound of that water, and I can

162
00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:40,040
Speaker 2: smell the limestone as it hits me and reminds me

163
00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,440
Speaker 2: of about a million hours spent on the same kind

164
00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,880
Speaker 2: of water. When when I was growing up, my buddies

165
00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:48,880
Speaker 2: and I almost always had something to do because we

166
00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,040
Speaker 2: could almost always get to water like that, whether we

167
00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:54,920
Speaker 2: had to walk or ride our bikes or later drive

168
00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:58,840
Speaker 2: a little ways. Those places are a natural remedy to

169
00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:01,800
Speaker 2: stress if we fail facilitate the right kind of visit,

170
00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:04,400
Speaker 2: if we carve out a little time to be there

171
00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:18,280
Speaker 2: when we need to be. I'm reminded now of something

172
00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:20,559
Speaker 2: I'm trying to do, which sounds dumb to a lot

173
00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:23,440
Speaker 2: of people, but I don't care. I'm trying to learn

174
00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:25,600
Speaker 2: how to meditate, and I can tell you that if

175
00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,200
Speaker 2: you think you have a relatively calm mind, you should

176
00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,600
Speaker 2: give that a shot. It's like a gunfight during a

177
00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:34,719
Speaker 2: coke fueled party at a disco in my brain. When

178
00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:38,240
Speaker 2: I try to push the thoughts out, one tactic people

179
00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:41,680
Speaker 2: try to do is envision a rock periscoping out of

180
00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:45,600
Speaker 2: a river. Your thoughts are the water moving around it,

181
00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:49,079
Speaker 2: and the rock is your focal point. Got to forget

182
00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:52,080
Speaker 2: everything else, But I can, because when I try to

183
00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,240
Speaker 2: imagine that rock, my mind immediately goes to the water

184
00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:58,000
Speaker 2: and the eddy behind it, and then I think about fishing,

185
00:09:58,240 --> 00:09:59,920
Speaker 2: and then how I don't get to fish as much

186
00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:03,400
Speaker 2: I want, and the whole spell is broken. Our brains

187
00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:05,720
Speaker 2: are a work in progress, but we should be working

188
00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:09,600
Speaker 2: on them. With deer hunting. This means more than just

189
00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:12,400
Speaker 2: getting to the woods because you like the woods, or

190
00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:15,040
Speaker 2: sitting in a certain stand because you like that certain stand.

191
00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:18,640
Speaker 2: Like think about your setups, for example, is there anything

192
00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:20,920
Speaker 2: that stresses you out about your setups that you could

193
00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:25,319
Speaker 2: remedy well before the season? Maybe your box, blind windows foga,

194
00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,320
Speaker 2: what's the remedy or you know, the chair that you

195
00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,760
Speaker 2: use in there is just as super squeaky, and you

196
00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:33,960
Speaker 2: know ahead of time that you could fix both, but

197
00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:36,400
Speaker 2: you don't. That's a stressor and it takes away from

198
00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:39,720
Speaker 2: the experience. The same goes for you know, not chriming,

199
00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:42,440
Speaker 2: proper shooting lanes, or entrance or exit routes. Is there

200
00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:44,960
Speaker 2: anything more stressful than saving a stand for the pre

201
00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:46,959
Speaker 2: rut and then taking a day off of work to

202
00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,079
Speaker 2: slip in there? Only sound like a herd of elephants

203
00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,160
Speaker 2: trumpet through the woods while deer snort their disapproval all

204
00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:55,760
Speaker 2: around you. Maybe you do get to your stand just fine,

205
00:10:56,240 --> 00:10:59,680
Speaker 2: but the sticks you used can't handle the smooth bark

206
00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:03,319
Speaker 2: of a poplar tree, and so they squeak super loudly

207
00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:06,280
Speaker 2: in a cold, calm morning. As you climb your way

208
00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:08,880
Speaker 2: up or when you get into your stand, you look

209
00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:11,199
Speaker 2: around and realize that the most likely approach to you

210
00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:15,080
Speaker 2: that the deer is probably going to take is eye

211
00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:17,559
Speaker 2: level on a hillside, and they are definitely going to

212
00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:21,280
Speaker 2: bust you. Not only do those things give you anxiety

213
00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:23,719
Speaker 2: as you think about them throughout the year, but they

214
00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:26,800
Speaker 2: stress you out when you actually experience them in real life.

215
00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:31,080
Speaker 2: That sucks, and it makes deer hunting less fun. Let's

216
00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:33,959
Speaker 2: look at another example. A lot of us have anxiety

217
00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,640
Speaker 2: about hunting simply because we feel we are supposed to

218
00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:40,360
Speaker 2: kill a mature buck. The judgment we expect to receive

219
00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:44,719
Speaker 2: if we don't gives us anxiety. It's palpable. Part of

220
00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:46,800
Speaker 2: this is that there are just a lot of shitheads

221
00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:48,760
Speaker 2: in our ranks who will make you feel bad for

222
00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:52,320
Speaker 2: shooting a deer. They feel you shouldn't shoot, But really

223
00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:54,200
Speaker 2: what they want to do is feel superior to you.

224
00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:56,880
Speaker 2: It's not about the deer, it's about them finding a

225
00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,800
Speaker 2: reason to be better than you. That's a real source

226
00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,080
Speaker 2: of anxiety for a lot of us. But you know

227
00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:04,400
Speaker 2: how I'm trying to look at it these days. I

228
00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,719
Speaker 2: look at it like how my daughters get stressed out

229
00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:11,200
Speaker 2: about basketball. They won't take a shot they should because

230
00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:14,400
Speaker 2: they're worried they'll miss, or if they do airball a shot,

231
00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,040
Speaker 2: they'll perseverate on it to the point that it will

232
00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:19,800
Speaker 2: affect their play. But at the end of a day

233
00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:23,400
Speaker 2: of tournaments where they'll have played three games, I always

234
00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:27,040
Speaker 2: ask them if they remember every mistake their teammates made.

235
00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:29,840
Speaker 2: They're going to remember a few because it's fresh, and

236
00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:32,680
Speaker 2: there'll be some big ones, but when the games are over,

237
00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:35,959
Speaker 2: they don't really care. Then I'll ask them if they

238
00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,240
Speaker 2: remember any from a weekend before or two weeks before.

239
00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,560
Speaker 2: They usually won't because it's not that important to them

240
00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:46,160
Speaker 2: to remember someone else's mistakes. They don't really register with

241
00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:49,079
Speaker 2: other people a whole lot. They stick with us personally,

242
00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:51,360
Speaker 2: and when it comes to shooting a deer, you want

243
00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:54,480
Speaker 2: to shoot. Sure, some people might make a comment on

244
00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:57,680
Speaker 2: your social feed that sucks, but those folks are going

245
00:12:57,679 --> 00:13:00,600
Speaker 2: home to be miserable and stressed out themselves any and

246
00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:03,880
Speaker 2: they probably don't kill a lot of mature bucks. By

247
00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:07,080
Speaker 2: the way, they aren't thinking about you because they don't

248
00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,920
Speaker 2: care about you and your buck. That stress is self induced,

249
00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:14,120
Speaker 2: and of course we could all be better about that,

250
00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,000
Speaker 2: but a lot of us won't. It also doesn't matter

251
00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:19,559
Speaker 2: if you have anxiety because you really want to shoot

252
00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:21,520
Speaker 2: two year old bucks when it feels like everyone is

253
00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:25,160
Speaker 2: preaching five year old bucks, shoot that freaking two year old.

254
00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:29,920
Speaker 2: I bet your life actually only gets better because of it. Now,

255
00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:31,520
Speaker 2: I know I push that point a lot, but I

256
00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,160
Speaker 2: think it's important. I think it's really important for us

257
00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:36,640
Speaker 2: to keep finding reasons to love this stuff and to

258
00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:38,760
Speaker 2: keep coming back to the woods, even when the deer

259
00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,920
Speaker 2: kick our asses most of the time. I think one

260
00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:43,720
Speaker 2: of the best ways to do this is by looking

261
00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:45,720
Speaker 2: at what bothers us and figuring out what we can

262
00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,079
Speaker 2: do about it. Now, this is where it gets a

263
00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,200
Speaker 2: little tricky with deer hunting, or really life in general.

264
00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:54,200
Speaker 2: We want to find the source of our problems and

265
00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:57,120
Speaker 2: have someone to blame. We want to believe the Fish

266
00:13:57,160 --> 00:13:59,320
Speaker 2: and Game Department plant a bunch of wolves in our

267
00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:02,480
Speaker 2: backyard and killed the deer off because they are anti

268
00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,880
Speaker 2: hunters at heart. Now, even if that were true, what

269
00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:09,000
Speaker 2: could you do about it? You know, why the deer

270
00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:11,959
Speaker 2: aren't gone, and you certainly can't shoot down those black

271
00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:14,600
Speaker 2: helicopters at night that are dropping off all the wolves.

272
00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:17,760
Speaker 2: We want to blame the person who gives us permission

273
00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:20,440
Speaker 2: to hunt but limits us to certain days or types

274
00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:23,240
Speaker 2: of deer, or something like that. We want to blame

275
00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:25,400
Speaker 2: the non residents for killing all the bucks on public

276
00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:27,800
Speaker 2: land before they have a chance to mature. When if

277
00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:30,040
Speaker 2: we got off of our lazy asses and scouted a

278
00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:32,240
Speaker 2: hunt and we'd see there's plenty of deer out there.

279
00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:35,480
Speaker 2: We want to set fire to the rich guy who

280
00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:38,080
Speaker 2: clearly inherited a fortune from his grandpa and bought the

281
00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:40,520
Speaker 2: farm we used to hunt. But we can't do that,

282
00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:43,800
Speaker 2: and we just need to figure out what's next. There

283
00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:46,800
Speaker 2: are things we can't change, things we don't have control

284
00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:49,800
Speaker 2: over that are just beyond us. I mean, they matter,

285
00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:52,720
Speaker 2: but they kind of don't. Forget about them when it

286
00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:55,960
Speaker 2: comes to deer hunting, What can you do to de stress,

287
00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:59,280
Speaker 2: relax and have a better time in the woods. How

288
00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:02,400
Speaker 2: can you do something about having a better, more enjoyable

289
00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:06,200
Speaker 2: season this year? When it's February, Bet there's something. I

290
00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:08,160
Speaker 2: bet that something will take you into the woods to

291
00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:11,840
Speaker 2: scout or just find some sheds something, and I bet

292
00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:13,960
Speaker 2: not only will that help you out this coming season

293
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,880
Speaker 2: to be a little more zen, but it'll also make

294
00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:20,320
Speaker 2: you feel better. Now. There isn't anything good that's going

295
00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:22,720
Speaker 2: to come out of doing nothing, because that's a breeding

296
00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,360
Speaker 2: ground for anxiety and eventually stress, and the downstream effect

297
00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:28,360
Speaker 2: of that is going to be that deer hunting probably

298
00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:31,360
Speaker 2: won't be what you need it to be, and who

299
00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:34,600
Speaker 2: wants that? I don't, But I also know this stuff

300
00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:37,840
Speaker 2: is hard, but it doesn't require a wholesale change in

301
00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:40,600
Speaker 2: your action. In your activity. You don't have to go

302
00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:43,280
Speaker 2: from no winter scouting to putting on dozens of miles

303
00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:46,160
Speaker 2: every day while dropping a billion way points on on

304
00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:50,240
Speaker 2: X just more than you did before. Is usually going

305
00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:52,840
Speaker 2: to suffice. Just try to do enough to make yourself

306
00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,080
Speaker 2: feel better about your prospects this season and maybe take

307
00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:58,360
Speaker 2: the edge off of life a little bit. Right now,

308
00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:00,880
Speaker 2: you know that Monday is going to come around and

309
00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:02,800
Speaker 2: your boss is still going to be a huge pain

310
00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:05,280
Speaker 2: in the ass, and the usual stressors are going to

311
00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:08,760
Speaker 2: be there, but they don't have to invade your hunting life,

312
00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:13,120
Speaker 2: and better yet, you can use your wiring as a hunter,

313
00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:16,720
Speaker 2: your call to be outdoors to your advantage to help

314
00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:21,320
Speaker 2: mitigate the rest of life stress. That's what hunting really

315
00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:25,040
Speaker 2: does for us, or at least it certainly can, but

316
00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:26,800
Speaker 2: it will never be that if we don't work on

317
00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:29,320
Speaker 2: it a bit, which is exactly what we can do

318
00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:31,720
Speaker 2: right now as we settle into the off season. So

319
00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,600
Speaker 2: think about that, think about coming back next week because

320
00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:36,960
Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about Chad Antlers and what they

321
00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:39,320
Speaker 2: teach us and why you better get out there right

322
00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:43,200
Speaker 2: now and see if you can find a couple. That's

323
00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:45,160
Speaker 2: it for this week. I'm Tony Peterson. This has been

324
00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:48,520
Speaker 2: the Wire to Hunt Foundation's podcast. I know it's the

325
00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:51,280
Speaker 2: off season and it kind of sucks. We really appreciate

326
00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:53,880
Speaker 2: you showing up and listening to some of our podcasts

327
00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,280
Speaker 2: or checking out our videos. If you're not aware yet,

328
00:16:57,560 --> 00:16:59,440
Speaker 2: you can go over to the medeater dot com and

329
00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:04,720
Speaker 2: find tons and tons of content, articles, recipes, podcasts. You know.

330
00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:06,840
Speaker 2: You can go listen to Clay's Bear Grease, or check

331
00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:10,440
Speaker 2: out Brent Reeves This Country Life, which is an awesome show.

332
00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:13,800
Speaker 2: You can watch a ton of videos there. We drop

333
00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:17,080
Speaker 2: new films probably every week. Good stuff there at the

334
00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:19,919
Speaker 2: meadeater dot com and again, thank you so much for

335
00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,639
Speaker 2: your support. We would be nothing without you, so we

336
00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:23,720
Speaker 2: truly appreciate that