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

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

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

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Speaker 1: your host, Mark Kenyan in this episode number two hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty nine, and today in the show, we are

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Speaker 1: breaking down the ridiculously successful two thousand eighteen hunting season

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Speaker 1: had by my friend Andy May, with a goal of

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Speaker 1: helping us all learn how to become more efficient bow hunters. Hey, guys,

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Speaker 1: before we officially kick off the show, I wanted to

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Speaker 1: just share a couple of quick thoughts. I guess as

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Speaker 1: this is our last episode of two thousand eighteen, and

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Speaker 1: this year has been It's been a big one. There.

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Speaker 1: There's been so many changes and new projects and new partnerships,

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Speaker 1: not to mention the changes in my regular life Allah

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Speaker 1: having a baby and all that, and all along the

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Speaker 1: way through all of that, you guys and girls the

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Speaker 1: Wired hunt community have stuck along for the ride, and

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Speaker 1: you followed along, and you've supported me and Wired to Hunt,

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Speaker 1: and you've shared your stories and your feedback and your questions,

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Speaker 1: and it's it's just something that I want you to

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Speaker 1: know that I'm paying attention to and that I'm appreciating

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Speaker 1: so so much. You know, I end each one of

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Speaker 1: these episodes by saying thank you. Hopefully most of you

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Speaker 1: guys are making it to the end and hearing that,

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Speaker 1: but if not, if not, I wanted to make sure

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Speaker 1: to bump this up to the very beginning because it's

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Speaker 1: just that important. You need to hear this. You know,

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Speaker 1: Wired Hunt is nothing without all of you, this community

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Speaker 1: that you all have formed around this white tail hunting lifestyle,

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Speaker 1: and then I've just been lucky enough to be able

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Speaker 1: to serve through Wired Hunt. It is a badass thing.

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Speaker 1: So I want to make sure you all knew that

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Speaker 1: and moving on. As I mentioned, this is also the

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Speaker 1: last episode of the year, so I want to wish

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Speaker 1: you all a very merry Christmas and happy holidays. Hopefully

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Speaker 1: you're gonna be able to get out there and still

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Speaker 1: do some hunting here before the end of the year.

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Speaker 1: Um hopefully have some snow, some cold weather, maybe get

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Speaker 1: a delicious Christmas backstrap on the grill for the holidays,

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Speaker 1: all those good things I hope earn your future. And

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Speaker 1: one other Christmas related thing, little house cleaning item that

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Speaker 1: I guess I should mention here is that we do

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Speaker 1: still have promo on Wired Hunt hats, shirts and details.

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Speaker 1: Just head it over to the meat eater dot com

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Speaker 1: if you're interested. You'll see the store there. You can

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Speaker 1: use the promo code wired at checkout and that's w

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Speaker 1: I R E D. And that is it from me

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Speaker 1: here on the front end. We've got a really interesting

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Speaker 1: episode for you today. Were one of the very best

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Speaker 1: deer hunters that I personally know, and every time that

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Speaker 1: I get him on the podcast, I'm particularly excited because

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Speaker 1: I know that he's gonna have some thoughts and some

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Speaker 1: experiences that are gonna help me and all of you.

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Speaker 1: So let's just get right to it, all right. Welcome

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Speaker 1: to another episode of the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought

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Speaker 1: to you by Onyx, and I'm here today with my

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Speaker 1: good buddy Andy May and uh and Andy's kind of interesting.

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Speaker 1: I was just sitting here thinking about this for like

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Speaker 1: five don't even not five years, but for several years,

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Speaker 1: probably two to three years, I was begging you to

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Speaker 1: come onto the podcast, and you would never do it.

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Speaker 1: And then finally, like we broke the seal last summer,

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Speaker 1: and now all of a sudden, I feel like you're

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Speaker 1: liking it because you keep on accepting my invitations to

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Speaker 1: come back. So I'm glad that you opened up to

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Speaker 1: it a little bit. Yeah, I was very reluctant at first. Um,

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Speaker 1: I actually had, you know, hunting Beast asked me and

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Speaker 1: a couple other people, and it just it was just

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Speaker 1: a little out of my comfort zone. I guess, Um

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Speaker 1: that was the only reason. I was just you know,

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Speaker 1: nervous I'd sound like an idiot, and just I didn't

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Speaker 1: feel like I'd be real interest thing to talk to.

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Speaker 1: But you know, once we did it, it was fine,

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Speaker 1: just like talking you know, with anybody about hunting. So

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Speaker 1: it works. Yeah. Man, the key for me is that

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Speaker 1: I just accepted that I sound like an idiot, and

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Speaker 1: I just just embraced that and move forward. Yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: been the key to my success. Um. So, so you know,

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Speaker 1: we we've had a handful of podcast together now over

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Speaker 1: the last year and a half or so. UM, We've

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Speaker 1: dove into a couple different topics. You were on one

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Speaker 1: of the Q and a podcast with me and Dan.

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Speaker 1: You were on the show obviously where you only broke

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Speaker 1: down on Nebraska hunt together. Um, but but you and

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Speaker 1: we got to talk in the other day when we

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Speaker 1: were covering Frank just about how you had, you know,

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Speaker 1: and like you do every year. You had such an

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Speaker 1: incredible season here in two thousand eighteen, and me and

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Speaker 1: Corey and Further and Dustin we're all kind of standing

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Speaker 1: around like, jeez ol Pete, like, how does he have

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Speaker 1: so much success every single year without like almost no

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Speaker 1: vacation time. Um, It's not like you've got some huge,

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Speaker 1: fancy farm or anything. I mean, you're hunting public land

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Speaker 1: or by permission stuff. You're doing it after work or

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Speaker 1: a little weekends here and there. And somehow this year

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Speaker 1: you killed a mule deer and antelope. Uh, two mature

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Speaker 1: bucks in Michigan and amature buck in Ohio. Um, and

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Speaker 1: that's just kind of the norm for you. You're we

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Speaker 1: kind of on a group text message thread. Me and

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Speaker 1: my buddies just refer to you as like the machine,

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Speaker 1: and we say that very negatively and with a lot

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Speaker 1: of bitterness. So, so, any what I'm what I'm wanting

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Speaker 1: to do today, If you're up for it, um, and

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Speaker 1: if you're not, feel we can just hang it up

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Speaker 1: and we can guards. But if you're if you're down,

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Speaker 1: I kind of wanted to just kind of walk through

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Speaker 1: your season kind of here, kind of use the two

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Speaker 1: thousand eighteen season, I guess as as like this example

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Speaker 1: that maybe the rest of us can learn from and

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Speaker 1: kind of try to break down how you are so

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Speaker 1: damn efficient, how you do this stuff on a pretty

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Speaker 1: short amount of time, well, you know, without a lot

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Speaker 1: of the advantages that some other people might have. UM, so,

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Speaker 1: so yeah, your name is that? Is that a game plan?

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Speaker 1: Yup for? Yeah? Yeah, let's let's go for it, all right? Cool? Um,

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Speaker 1: Before we do go any further, I just gotta say

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Speaker 1: this was a particularly cool year. I feel like because

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Speaker 1: you know, we've we've we've talked for quite a number

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Speaker 1: of years now. You did a couple of podcasts with

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Speaker 1: us in the past, but I feel like we started

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Speaker 1: hanging out a little bit more this year. You've been

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Speaker 1: helping me try to deal with some archery issues I've

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Speaker 1: been having, and then we got to do that hunt together, um,

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Speaker 1: and then I got to help you recover your big

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Speaker 1: Michigan buck, and then you came and help me recover

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Speaker 1: my buck here um in December. It's just been neat

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Speaker 1: to be able to take you know, what was for

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Speaker 1: a long time I felt like a mentorship from Afar.

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Speaker 1: I felt I was trying to learn from you and

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Speaker 1: kind of dig into what you're doing from from a distance,

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Speaker 1: and this year to be able to do that kind

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Speaker 1: of a little bit more um in person, uh, bouncing

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Speaker 1: ideas back and forth your text a lot, I guess

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Speaker 1: without getting too cheesy, I just want to, you know,

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Speaker 1: thank you for that. It's been. It's been really helpful.

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Speaker 1: So it's been cool, Yeah, no problem, it was. It

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Speaker 1: was fun kind of following along um with you, you know,

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Speaker 1: specifically on on the big one here in Michigan and

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Speaker 1: strategizing together. And I really enjoyed that, not to mention,

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Speaker 1: you know, our hunt in Nebraska. So it's been my pleasure. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's been. It's been a good time. So so when

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Speaker 1: I was out in Montana the first week in September,

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Speaker 1: I think, I think this is right crib if I'm

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Speaker 1: wrong from on my dates, but I'm pretty sure when

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Speaker 1: I was out there in Montana chasing whitetails, you were

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Speaker 1: out in Wyoming at the very same time, right, that

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Speaker 1: was when they're going on yep, yep exactly. So you're

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Speaker 1: out there on an antelope and mule deer hunt. You

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Speaker 1: had two tags. Um, well, let's start there. I know

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Speaker 1: we're mostly white tail focused, but I feel like, you know,

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Speaker 1: you just started dabbling into western hunt in the last

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Speaker 1: two years, and and really quickly you've kind of developed

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Speaker 1: a knack for at least as far as antalope and Muley's. Um,

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Speaker 1: can you can you give us the quick overview of

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Speaker 1: of what that trip was like and and how you

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Speaker 1: were able to pull it off on such a quick

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Speaker 1: quick turn on Yeah, UM, well it kind of started,

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Speaker 1: um last year in two thousand seventeen, I went out

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Speaker 1: to that area just on an antelope hunt and was

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Speaker 1: successful out there, went out there with a couple of buddies,

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Speaker 1: and obviously, um, you know, there's an abundance of game

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Speaker 1: out there, so while we were out there, UM, we

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Speaker 1: for sure had our eyes on the white tails and

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Speaker 1: the mule e's and and um, you know, it's considered

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Speaker 1: like a general area or a general region in Wyoming.

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Speaker 1: UM at the time, it didn't take any points to draw,

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Speaker 1: so it's considered more of an opportunity area rather than

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Speaker 1: like a limited entry UM. So you know, it's not

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Speaker 1: an area you go expecting to kill, you know. Boone

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Speaker 1: and Crockett caliber type critters. But everything we saw out there, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, we felt like we felt like it was

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Speaker 1: definitely worth coming back. Um. We had a blast, and

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Speaker 1: we you know, we saw plenty of animals that you know,

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Speaker 1: we would have been happy with. We don't worry too

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Speaker 1: much about size or score. So we UM, we made

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Speaker 1: the plan. Um you know, applied for the antelope tag

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Speaker 1: again and the mule deer tag. So we all went

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Speaker 1: out there, except for one one body. He only did

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Speaker 1: our deer. And we went out there and UM, so

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Speaker 1: we already had a fairly three of us already had

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Speaker 1: a fairly good idea of the lay of the land

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Speaker 1: where the public boundaries were. UM, we were able to

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Speaker 1: call a few landowners out there and UM, you know,

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Speaker 1: pay a trespass fee to the access is UM you know,

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Speaker 1: thousands and thousands of acres of public land because there's

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Speaker 1: specifically in the area we were, and there was a giant,

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Speaker 1: giant chunks of public that's landlocked, and UM, it's unfortunate,

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Speaker 1: but you can't get to it without permission from one

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Speaker 1: of the surrounding UM landowners, and a lot of them

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Speaker 1: aren't real friendly about giving permission. And you know, I

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Speaker 1: want to charge money for it, so we went that route.

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Speaker 1: We found some good deals. Um. So you know, we

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Speaker 1: literally had gosh, you know, more acreage than you could

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Speaker 1: ever dream of hunting, pretty much all to ourselves. Of

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Speaker 1: the pressure was very very low. Um. But um, we

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Speaker 1: got out there a few days before the deer season opened,

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Speaker 1: so antelope opens mid mid August. We got out there

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Speaker 1: the last couple of days of August, and the plan

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Speaker 1: was to antelope hunt for a few days and then

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Speaker 1: you know, kind of switch our focus over to deer.

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Speaker 1: So um, and if I'm right, this was this is

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Speaker 1: a rare situation for you where you actually were able

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Speaker 1: to take a pretty decent amount of time off of work.

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Speaker 1: Because of your job, you don't get to do that

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Speaker 1: too often. But didn't you have like five day days

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Speaker 1: off so you would be able to have a full

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Speaker 1: week and weekends if you need it? Is that right? Yeah? Yeah? Well,

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Speaker 1: I uh, you know, I had some sick time saved up.

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Speaker 1: And we're we do get um, we do get a

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Speaker 1: couple of personal days a year. Um. That's that's considered

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Speaker 1: our our time off. Because you know, I work in

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Speaker 1: a school. Our vacations are you know, spring break, Christmas,

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Speaker 1: break that sort of thing, so we don't get like

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Speaker 1: weeks off, but you can use those personal days, you know,

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Speaker 1: wherever you want. UM, and I just chose to kind

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Speaker 1: of use them all for this trip because it was

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Speaker 1: you know, for me, this is maybe not once in

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Speaker 1: a lifetime, but this was the first time I had

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Speaker 1: ever done anything like this. UM, you know, to this

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Speaker 1: uh this length, I guess did you feel given given that? Um?

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Speaker 1: And started to interrupt you. I mean, you are a

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Speaker 1: very experienced hunter. You've done it a lot when it

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Speaker 1: comes to white tails, but like you said, this is

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Speaker 1: a pretty new thing. You did the antelope deal last year,

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Speaker 1: but this is your first time chasing Muley's only your

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Speaker 1: second time ever in this area at all. Um, coming

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Speaker 1: into the hunt, what did you have a high confidence level?

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Speaker 1: Were you just kind of winging it and hoping it

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Speaker 1: was going to go well? I mean, where was your

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Speaker 1: head at at the beginning of this thing? Yeah? Well,

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Speaker 1: it's funny you say that because I was gonna kind

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Speaker 1: of allude to this later um in the discussion, but

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Speaker 1: I'll mention it now. UM. And I kind of saw

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Speaker 1: it this year because I hunted with you know, I

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Speaker 1: hunted with you. I hunted with three different buddies in Wyoming,

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Speaker 1: and I really see, um, I guess a difference and

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Speaker 1: and maybe the confidence you know, of different hunters. And

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Speaker 1: it's it's not nothing negative. Um. You know, I'm not

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Speaker 1: trying to say any one way is bad or anything,

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Speaker 1: but um, when we were in Wyoming, um, I mean,

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Speaker 1: we were all excited. But after the first few days

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Speaker 1: of kind of driving around and scouting, we saw very

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Speaker 1: few deer, like very few, and you know, guys started

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Speaker 1: to get a little worried. Um, you know, rightly. So

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Speaker 1: it's expensive, expensive, tag time away from the family, and

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Speaker 1: you know, I could see some guys maybe getting a

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Speaker 1: little maybe panicky. You know, I'd say that maybe a

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Speaker 1: little panicky, maybe not enjoying the hunt as much as

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Speaker 1: they could have. I mean they were. We still all

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Speaker 1: had a blast, don't get me wrong, but I just

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Speaker 1: could see that. But inside, I always felt like we

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Speaker 1: would figure it out. We're all good hunters. We just

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Speaker 1: we got the time. We're going to figure out the deer.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna find them. And I mentioned that to a

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Speaker 1: couple of friends. I was like, just don't worry about it.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna We're gonna find them. You know, we're we're

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Speaker 1: the type of guys that go out there and we're hunting,

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Speaker 1: you know, dark to dark, and you know, we're not

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Speaker 1: really stopping to take lunch or rest or naps. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we're full bored the whole time. So I knew it

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Speaker 1: would happen. Confidence, at least on my end of finding

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Speaker 1: mule Deer was was high. I knew we would with time,

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Speaker 1: the same same way in Nebraska. We were a little worried.

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Speaker 1: We're a little like, oh, you know, yeah, low deer numbers,

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Speaker 1: this isn't quite expected. But deep down I felt like

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Speaker 1: we were going to find dear you know, I mean,

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Speaker 1: we know how to do that, so um and then

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Speaker 1: and I felt like we even though in the beginning

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Speaker 1: we were kind of like joking, like kind of darkly

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Speaker 1: joking like oh, this could get rough, you know, there

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Speaker 1: was no negative attitude. That was something that you know,

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Speaker 1: I thought was so important. We had to keep a

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Speaker 1: positive attitude about it and stay stay, stay, keep that

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Speaker 1: that sense of confidence. Otherwise it becomes a self fulfilling

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Speaker 1: prophecy if you don't. Yeah, yeah, so I didn't to

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Speaker 1: answer your question. I guess that was a long way

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Speaker 1: of answering it. But I didn't go there thinking, you know,

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Speaker 1: oh yeah, I'm gonna shoot a good mule deer. But

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Speaker 1: I had full confidence that I was gonna find them,

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Speaker 1: that all of us were going to find them and

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Speaker 1: get into them and have some opportunities, gotcha. And that's

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Speaker 1: the kind of what I figured. I feel like there's

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Speaker 1: some people who I think, I think confidence and in

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Speaker 1: a general hunting skills that can translate from species to species.

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Speaker 1: If there's a certain level of stick tutiveness that I

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Speaker 1: think you have, and that a lot of you know,

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Speaker 1: a lot of other people I talked to have um

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Speaker 1: that they're they're gonna make it happen. They'll figure it out,

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Speaker 1: they're gonna observe, they're gonna try things, and they're gonna

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Speaker 1: keep adjusting and learning um off of whatever mistakes they make.

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Speaker 1: I think that's a real consistent thing I see across

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Speaker 1: the best hunters I know. UM. So, so you head

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Speaker 1: it in there with with a level of confidence that

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Speaker 1: you guys will be able to figure it out. The

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Speaker 1: first few days that was pretty slim pickings. You're not

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Speaker 1: seeing the deer. Where do you go from there? Yeah, Well,

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Speaker 1: the first few days we focused on the antelope. That

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Speaker 1: was a you know that that's one man. I recommend

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Speaker 1: that for everyone to go out and chase the antalope

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Speaker 1: with a bow. UM. Very difficult. Um. You know, they

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Speaker 1: live in an area that's uh, they like the planes.

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Speaker 1: They like to be able to see you know, long distances.

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Speaker 1: So spotting and stock real tricky. And I had my

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Speaker 1: work cut out last year. I got one on my

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Speaker 1: third stock ever. UM. So I was like, oh, hey,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm pretty good at this, but uh, you

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Speaker 1: know this year, you know, I felt like I wasn't

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Speaker 1: so good at I think I had I don't know,

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Speaker 1: gosh ten or twelve you know failed stocks um. And

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Speaker 1: it was just you know, it was just not working

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Speaker 1: out where the antelope were. It wasn't real conducive to

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Speaker 1: getting close and or you know, the real high winds,

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Speaker 1: so the long range shots weren't really you know effective.

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Speaker 1: But you know, I ended up focusing you know on

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Speaker 1: some water. It seemed like it was real dry there,

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Speaker 1: so there's big concentrations near water. Um. And you know,

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Speaker 1: instead of like kind of driving around and looking for

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Speaker 1: good ones, we just started kind of focusing more on

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Speaker 1: those you know, those small areas that had water because

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Speaker 1: there wasn't a lot of it around, and uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: we ended up having some luck. Um. I ended up

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Speaker 1: getting one and at actually two of my buddies um

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Speaker 1: both missed, and then another guy came back during the

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Speaker 1: rifle season ended up getting one. So we went one

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Speaker 1: for one for three, I guess I should say on antelope.

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Speaker 1: So they were tricky this year, they were, they were difficult, um.

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Speaker 1: But then we then we you know, we've changed the

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Speaker 1: focus to meal there and that's what everybody was I

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Speaker 1: guess most excited about because it was our first time

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Speaker 1: and uh, you know, like I said, very few deer

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Speaker 1: um the first few days and I don't gosh, I

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Speaker 1: don't even know if we saw any books, um, but

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Speaker 1: we just started spreading our wings. You know, we're hunting

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Speaker 1: in groups of two for the most part. You know,

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Speaker 1: if two guys went this way on this piece, and

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Speaker 1: two guys went this way and this piece, and opening

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Speaker 1: day came and a buddy of mine, um, a buddy

338
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Speaker 1: of mine justin Actually he ended up hunting this piece

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Speaker 1: of public um all day long, all by himself. I

340
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Speaker 1: don't know how many miles he put on, but it

341
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Speaker 1: was it was some you know, real high tempts and

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Speaker 1: a lot of like open like desert type canyon brutal,

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Speaker 1: brutal conditions, and he ended up getting on right in

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Speaker 1: the I don't know, the last twenty minutes of shooting light.

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Speaker 1: He end up getting a nice two by two. And

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Speaker 1: he even said because the lack of deer sightings, he

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Speaker 1: shot a buck that you know, maybe he wished he

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Speaker 1: would have passed on. He was super happy with it.

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Speaker 1: But because the low deer numbers are you know, having

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Speaker 1: trouble finding dear he you know, he took the shot

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Speaker 1: and made a great shot and he didn't go far.

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Speaker 1: So we started off on a good note. Um, but

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Speaker 1: then we just started, uh you know, doing the glassing

354
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Speaker 1: thing basically, you know, setting up on different vantage points

355
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Speaker 1: and glassing just like you see on you know, the guys,

356
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Speaker 1: the experts, the expert meal deer on YouTube and stuff.

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Speaker 1: We took that approach. Um used glass and tried to

358
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Speaker 1: find you know, a buck that it was worth going after.

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Speaker 1: Um and me specifically. Um. I think it was second

360
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Speaker 1: day of the season. Um glassed up a good one. Uh.

361
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Speaker 1: He you know, I couldn't tell what he was I

362
00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:15,399
Speaker 1: could just tell he was really wide, and you know,

363
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Speaker 1: I was basically I was like, well, you know what,

364
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Speaker 1: let's do it. This in the first stock, first stock

365
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Speaker 1: of my Wyoming trip. And I was so pumped and

366
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Speaker 1: I don't know, kind of a long story of getting

367
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:27,720
Speaker 1: but I crossed a lot of ground, gotten a ditch

368
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Speaker 1: or river bottom ditch, and sneaked through a lot of

369
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Speaker 1: belly crawling. Um the last fifty yards, took my boots

370
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Speaker 1: off and got to within uh, twenty five yards of

371
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Speaker 1: a group I think it was six bucks, and came

372
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Speaker 1: to full draw, popped my head up over the hill

373
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Speaker 1: and um, you know, there he was and I noticed

374
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Speaker 1: he was a three by three probably twenty two inches wide.

375
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Speaker 1: Was just a beautiful buck. But it was the second

376
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Speaker 1: day of the season and I decided to pass. And

377
00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:01,719
Speaker 1: uh had all that on video, which was which was

378
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Speaker 1: pretty cool. Um yeah, so that that was neat and

379
00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:09,119
Speaker 1: I was like, right then, I was just addicted to

380
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Speaker 1: this type of honey. I'm like, this is this is

381
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Speaker 1: the stuff right here, And you know, like I love

382
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Speaker 1: sitting in a tree stand too, and I can you know,

383
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Speaker 1: I love that style of ambush hunting, but this was

384
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Speaker 1: this was different, and I was just I was in

385
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Speaker 1: heaven and I really something I want to do, you know,

386
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Speaker 1: many many more times in the future. For sure. I

387
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Speaker 1: can attest to that, because in Nebraska, at least once

388
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Speaker 1: every day you'd be like, man, I kind of really

389
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Speaker 1: want to get out there and look for some mule there. Yeah,

390
00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:45,639
Speaker 1: I've been bit by the bug. But so anyway, um,

391
00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,560
Speaker 1: you know a lot of you know, cool hunts in between. Um,

392
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Speaker 1: there's this, there's this public peace that. Um we noticed

393
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Speaker 1: actually uh one of my buddies said he was driving

394
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Speaker 1: down the road, you know, back to the cabin, and

395
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:04,960
Speaker 1: he said, man, there's a big beast group of mule

396
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Speaker 1: deer in this field. So we got on the map

397
00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:09,439
Speaker 1: and we looked and they were they had crossed what

398
00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,359
Speaker 1: we figured out what they had come down out of

399
00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,359
Speaker 1: the public and crossed and they were in this this

400
00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:19,760
Speaker 1: rancher's field. So drove by the next day we kind

401
00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:21,879
Speaker 1: of marked where we saw him. So we I just

402
00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:25,439
Speaker 1: made an educated guests like imagine like these you know,

403
00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:30,879
Speaker 1: fairly decent sized mountains, hills, canyons, and then a big

404
00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:34,600
Speaker 1: flat of sage, um, you know for a good I

405
00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:38,720
Speaker 1: don't know, a quarter mile. And I was like, okay,

406
00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:40,359
Speaker 1: if they you know, they're bedded up there and they

407
00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:43,520
Speaker 1: can't they kind of sneak through this this sage somehow.

408
00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:47,119
Speaker 1: So I found like a little low spot, um where

409
00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:49,960
Speaker 1: I assume, like if that, you know, if there was

410
00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:52,800
Speaker 1: gonna be some some bucks coming out of those hills,

411
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:56,200
Speaker 1: they kind of want to stay hidden. So it was

412
00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:58,679
Speaker 1: one of those scenarios where there's no cover. So my

413
00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:02,080
Speaker 1: hunt was big clear on my stomach, like in in

414
00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:06,960
Speaker 1: the sage bushes, and I completely just uh, you know,

415
00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:09,159
Speaker 1: I went with my instinct of where I thought they

416
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:11,240
Speaker 1: would come through, and it ended up being one of

417
00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:14,520
Speaker 1: the coolest hunts because a big parade of bucks came

418
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:19,440
Speaker 1: out of those hills and one just giant, and they

419
00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,239
Speaker 1: came down and they were coming and I was I

420
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:26,800
Speaker 1: was about fifty yards out of range, and I tried

421
00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:30,679
Speaker 1: kind of belly crawling commando crawling over there and and

422
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,960
Speaker 1: getting closer, but I just wasn't able to do it.

423
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Speaker 1: So I ended up hunkering down, letting them pass right

424
00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:42,680
Speaker 1: by me, and then UM just kind of watched where

425
00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:45,600
Speaker 1: they entered the field. So now I knew where to

426
00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,399
Speaker 1: set up how I knew like I saw him do

427
00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,200
Speaker 1: it once. I was like Okay, now, now we can

428
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,600
Speaker 1: get them the next day. So the next day, UM,

429
00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:58,320
Speaker 1: I had a buddy that he had shot and missed.

430
00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:01,560
Speaker 1: The antil open was kind of down and um he

431
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:05,680
Speaker 1: set up on that spot. Actually I walked him. Um,

432
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:10,080
Speaker 1: it was weird. This public is the boundary is fifty

433
00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:14,479
Speaker 1: yards off the road, but you can't you can't cross

434
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:16,720
Speaker 1: onto it there, So you have to you have to

435
00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,439
Speaker 1: go down and perk or park at this access and

436
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,440
Speaker 1: to get where these mule there were coming out of

437
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:25,480
Speaker 1: this hill, it was it was about a I don't know,

438
00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:28,840
Speaker 1: a mile and a quarter. So you gotta go down,

439
00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,359
Speaker 1: park down here and then walk basically along the road

440
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 1: because along the road was private. Um, it was kind

441
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,119
Speaker 1: of a weird setup. But I walked him to the

442
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,119
Speaker 1: spot where those deer had come out of the hills

443
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:44,919
Speaker 1: and walked right through and I said, you know, just

444
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:47,560
Speaker 1: lave lay right here and you know they're they're moving earlier,

445
00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:49,520
Speaker 1: going to see you, and you'll be able to shift

446
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:53,440
Speaker 1: a little bit if you need to. And he hunkered down,

447
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:55,719
Speaker 1: was texting me back and forth, and they ended up

448
00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,240
Speaker 1: coming down and they were they were just off a

449
00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:00,679
Speaker 1: little bit of where they were the night before. But

450
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:02,760
Speaker 1: he ended up getting a shot at the big one

451
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:06,200
Speaker 1: he and he ended up missing. So it's, uh, it's

452
00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:09,760
Speaker 1: kind of a heartbreaker. He had a couple tough two days,

453
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:15,720
Speaker 1: but really a cool, exciting hunt. UM. And then let's see,

454
00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:22,119
Speaker 1: my buck was about twenty I don't know, maybe twenty

455
00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:26,040
Speaker 1: minutes down the road on another piece, and same type

456
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:28,639
Speaker 1: of deal. I got up, you know, set up in

457
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:32,800
Speaker 1: the dark up on the hill, and UM was glassing down.

458
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:35,240
Speaker 1: I was in a spot where I could see three canyons,

459
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:40,560
Speaker 1: and it starts getting daylight and I look on the

460
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:44,720
Speaker 1: opposite side hill and I see two bucks feeding. And

461
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:47,560
Speaker 1: it was really interesting because this area of where we

462
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:51,240
Speaker 1: were at Wyoming, I would call it like desert ish.

463
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:56,600
Speaker 1: It's kind of like desert mule deer, really dry, prairie grass, um,

464
00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:01,480
Speaker 1: you know, very very little green unless it's irrigated. And uh,

465
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:03,720
Speaker 1: on the side hill there was just a little bit

466
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:07,000
Speaker 1: of green just I mean just a little bit of

467
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,040
Speaker 1: green grass like new growth, just a few inches of it.

468
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,320
Speaker 1: And those deer were right on that spot similar to

469
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:16,560
Speaker 1: what we saw in Nebraska, you know. I mean it's

470
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:19,239
Speaker 1: just like that stuff was like a premium there. They

471
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:21,360
Speaker 1: were hitting it like a like a food plot almost

472
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:24,800
Speaker 1: and uh that day, the wind was whipping and I

473
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:28,840
Speaker 1: see him over there, and I'm like, you know, everyone says, okay,

474
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:32,960
Speaker 1: you know, glass him, you know, watch them bed, you know,

475
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:34,480
Speaker 1: and then you can sneak up to them. I'm in

476
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:37,000
Speaker 1: their bed. That's the best way to do it. And

477
00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:38,800
Speaker 1: I was glass at him, and it was like it

478
00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:42,119
Speaker 1: was real windy, and I was just like, man, I

479
00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:44,200
Speaker 1: think I can I think I can get over there now.

480
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:46,040
Speaker 1: I mean it was it was two canyons over so

481
00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:47,600
Speaker 1: it was a good way and I'm I'm in the

482
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:50,800
Speaker 1: wide open. So what I had to do. What I

483
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:52,480
Speaker 1: decided to do, I was going to go after him

484
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:55,280
Speaker 1: right now. I said, I think if I run, I

485
00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:59,840
Speaker 1: can get over there and get shot. So I kind

486
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 1: of belly crawled backwards, you know, keeping my eye on them,

487
00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 1: and snuck around this hill. And then right when I

488
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,919
Speaker 1: was out of you, I just started sprinting and I

489
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,399
Speaker 1: went around my hill and I went way up wind.

490
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,280
Speaker 1: That that was the only risky parties I had to

491
00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:19,520
Speaker 1: go up wind of these deer. The reason I risked

492
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:24,199
Speaker 1: that is two reasons. One it was blowing thirty and

493
00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:27,200
Speaker 1: two I thought if I can get enough up wind,

494
00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:30,600
Speaker 1: I think I'll be safe. So I just sprinted straight

495
00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:34,480
Speaker 1: away from him until I thought I was safe. Then

496
00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:38,359
Speaker 1: I sprinted straight uh to the to the west, and

497
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:41,280
Speaker 1: then I circled back around and they were just on

498
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:43,119
Speaker 1: the side of this I call it a mountain. It

499
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:46,080
Speaker 1: wasn't really a mountain, but you know mountain us to

500
00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:51,240
Speaker 1: us Michigan guys um a big hill. And as I

501
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:55,760
Speaker 1: was sprinting across, I looked and I knew there was

502
00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 1: three humps in this hill, and I knew they were

503
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:01,359
Speaker 1: feeding right under the third hump. So I got on

504
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,119
Speaker 1: the back side of the hill that they were on,

505
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,760
Speaker 1: and then I just started sidehilling it. And you know

506
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,359
Speaker 1: that by now I'm I'm kind of out of breast,

507
00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:11,040
Speaker 1: so I'm slowing down. I'm trying to get my heart

508
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:12,680
Speaker 1: right down because i know there's gonna be a shot

509
00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:18,040
Speaker 1: coming up. And I finally I get to the the

510
00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:19,840
Speaker 1: kind of the base of the hill and I'm counting

511
00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:22,480
Speaker 1: the hump. So I see the first hump, and I'm

512
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:24,800
Speaker 1: going the second hump, and now I'm at the base

513
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:26,800
Speaker 1: of the third hump, and I'm like, okay, he's right there,

514
00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 1: right over this edge. So I peek up kind of

515
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:32,760
Speaker 1: like crawl up to the top and I peeped my

516
00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:37,159
Speaker 1: eyes over and they're both still right there. And uh,

517
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:39,280
Speaker 1: you know, I was thinking, like, you know how they say,

518
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,720
Speaker 1: like you don't have to be like, you know, super

519
00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:46,000
Speaker 1: you know, in super great fitness to to do this

520
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 1: hunting stuff, and you don't. You definitely don't. And I'm

521
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,719
Speaker 1: not saying I'm super fit, but I was thinking, like,

522
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,840
Speaker 1: there's probably a lot of guys that couldn't have done that. Um,

523
00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,600
Speaker 1: you know, I when I did my track, it ended

524
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,359
Speaker 1: up being just under three quarters of a mile that

525
00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:07,119
Speaker 1: I ran. And this was a flat train either, right,

526
00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:09,639
Speaker 1: we're talking to some canyon stuff, right, yeah. Yeah, I

527
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:11,959
Speaker 1: was up and down, up and down, yep, yep. And

528
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,200
Speaker 1: it was just I don't know, the adrenaline was going

529
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:16,840
Speaker 1: and you know what I mean, it just I just

530
00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:19,800
Speaker 1: went for it. But there might have been you know,

531
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:23,040
Speaker 1: I think I think out there, you know, if obviously,

532
00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:25,200
Speaker 1: if you could be in some decent shape, it definitely helps.

533
00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:28,560
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of walking, a lot of hiking. Um,

534
00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:32,080
Speaker 1: you know, when some guys maybe get tired or sore,

535
00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 1: you know, make you want to quit, you know, but um, it. Uh.

536
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:40,320
Speaker 1: It ended up working out. And I got to that spot,

537
00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 1: peeked myles open over the edge and they were right

538
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 1: there feeding. So I ranged him and there was two

539
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:48,960
Speaker 1: and both of them were pretty nice, but I obviously

540
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:52,719
Speaker 1: raised the bigger one, UM, and he was at sixty

541
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:57,200
Speaker 1: one yards and it was it was an interesting setup because,

542
00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:59,240
Speaker 1: like I said, there was some really high winds, but

543
00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,960
Speaker 1: where I was, I was just on the leeward side

544
00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 1: of the hill, so I wasn't feeling any wind, but

545
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:11,280
Speaker 1: they were in the wind, so I kind of forgot

546
00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:13,400
Speaker 1: about the wind and what what it was gonna do

547
00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:17,880
Speaker 1: to the arrow. UM. I drew back and I was,

548
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:21,600
Speaker 1: you know, pretty nervous, but I was, I was, you know,

549
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:25,640
Speaker 1: trying to settle the pin, get steady. Um excited, I guess,

550
00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:28,479
Speaker 1: I should say. And I just let that pin float,

551
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:31,120
Speaker 1: put it right in the pocket there and pulled, you know,

552
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:33,440
Speaker 1: pulled with my back tension until the shot went off.

553
00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:36,680
Speaker 1: Went off. Everything felt perfect, and I just saw that

554
00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:41,520
Speaker 1: arrow start drifting and I ended up hitting him. I

555
00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:45,280
Speaker 1: ended up hitting him about four inches back of where

556
00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:47,320
Speaker 1: I was aiming, and it was all wind drift, I know,

557
00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:49,520
Speaker 1: it was. I actually saw the arrow just kind of drift.

558
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:52,920
Speaker 1: So not a bad shot by any means, but not perfect.

559
00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 1: So I was a little, you know, a little rattled

560
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:59,760
Speaker 1: by that. UM. He took off, ran down the canyon,

561
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:05,200
Speaker 1: and you know, for the next the next three hours

562
00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 1: were like the most intense, um exhilarating, panicking um hunt,

563
00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 1: you know, that part of a hunt that I've ever experienced. UM.

564
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:20,320
Speaker 1: I was hoping that, you know, he was going to

565
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 1: die in that canyon. And I got down on my

566
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,480
Speaker 1: knees and I just started glass in the bottom. And

567
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:27,280
Speaker 1: I don't know, about ten minutes after I shot, I

568
00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:29,960
Speaker 1: see him walking out and I'm like, oh, no, you know.

569
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:32,120
Speaker 1: And then I can see the whole and I'm like, man, gosh,

570
00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:36,240
Speaker 1: it doesn't look that bad, but you know, it's obviously

571
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:39,120
Speaker 1: not perfect. You know. Then I was thinking, liver looked

572
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:40,880
Speaker 1: like a liver, didn't look like guts. It looked like

573
00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,960
Speaker 1: a liver. Shot And he comes out, he beds down,

574
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:50,400
Speaker 1: and I'm glassing him. Over the next couple hours, I'm

575
00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:53,480
Speaker 1: just like, uh, you know, committed to knock taking my

576
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:57,800
Speaker 1: eyes off this this buck. And I'm just down glassing

577
00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:01,080
Speaker 1: him intently, and he gets up four or five times,

578
00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:06,320
Speaker 1: gets up beds gets up again, run, you know, walks

579
00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,120
Speaker 1: thirty you know, thirty yards beds down and keeps doing that,

580
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:12,719
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, he gets up from

581
00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:15,400
Speaker 1: like his fourth or fifth bed and he starts walking

582
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:18,480
Speaker 1: kind of away from me, and he's starting to circle

583
00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,840
Speaker 1: around the mountain. And so he's now he's getting to

584
00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:23,360
Speaker 1: a point where like he's going to get out of you.

585
00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh crap. You know, in between me

586
00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:31,520
Speaker 1: and the edge of that that hill there's probably three canyons,

587
00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:35,200
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh boy, here we go. So as

588
00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:38,200
Speaker 1: soon as he he goes around the corner where I

589
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:40,600
Speaker 1: can't see him, I just start huffing it. I grabbed

590
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:46,880
Speaker 1: my bow. I go down one canyon, up the next, down, up, down, up,

591
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:50,280
Speaker 1: just in time to peek over and see him go

592
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,680
Speaker 1: and bed down again. And it happened one more time.

593
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:55,360
Speaker 1: He ended up getting up one more time and going

594
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:57,320
Speaker 1: around the corner, and again I had to go back

595
00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:00,600
Speaker 1: down to canyon, back up around. It was just there's

596
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 1: just so much emotion, um, and I just it was excitement.

597
00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:11,720
Speaker 1: It was I felt terrible that this deer was suffering. Um,

598
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:13,760
Speaker 1: I knew he was going to die. And now At

599
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:16,160
Speaker 1: this point, I'm thinking, I just want to get an

600
00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:18,720
Speaker 1: arrow in him and and and finish this off, because

601
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,080
Speaker 1: at first I thought he was gonna he was gonna

602
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:25,000
Speaker 1: expire pretty quickly, and you know, he didn't um. So

603
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:27,840
Speaker 1: now I was fully attended on getting another arrow into him.

604
00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 1: And finally he he betted under this big tree, and

605
00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:37,000
Speaker 1: where I was at, I ranged him and he was

606
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,040
Speaker 1: like a hundred and ten yards or something, and I

607
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,720
Speaker 1: was like, oh man. So then I ranged this hill.

608
00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:45,160
Speaker 1: There was this peak between him and I and I

609
00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:49,440
Speaker 1: ranged that and it said I think it was forty

610
00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:53,000
Speaker 1: five from where I was at. And I was like, okay,

611
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 1: if I can get to that peak, you know, and

612
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,120
Speaker 1: he's betted right there, I'm gonna have a shot. So

613
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:02,480
Speaker 1: I snucked down belly crawl or crawled on my hands

614
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:04,120
Speaker 1: and knees kind of up the side. He'll just trying

615
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:06,560
Speaker 1: to be real quiet, and I peeked my head over

616
00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:10,640
Speaker 1: and he's still there, and uh, you know, it's one

617
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:12,880
Speaker 1: of those situations where I just like had to calm

618
00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:15,560
Speaker 1: down and catch my breath. I see him right there,

619
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 1: arranged him, drew back and put the finishing arrow into him,

620
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:23,040
Speaker 1: and he he was done. You know a few seconds

621
00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:27,840
Speaker 1: after that, so it was yeah, it was I mean

622
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:30,800
Speaker 1: I felt like crying, I felt like cheering. It was

623
00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:34,960
Speaker 1: just it was so many different emotions in uh, in

624
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:37,680
Speaker 1: a you know, a couple hours span. Like I was

625
00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:44,600
Speaker 1: just toast. I was, um, so you know, not exactly um,

626
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:46,880
Speaker 1: you know how you wanted to go down, but it

627
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:49,360
Speaker 1: doesn't always go down the way you wanted to, you know.

628
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:53,560
Speaker 1: And I'm glad I was able to glad as I

629
00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:57,320
Speaker 1: was able to finish him off. But yeah, that was

630
00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:03,280
Speaker 1: pretty much pretty much the Wyoming hunt. Um intense, Yeah,

631
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:07,800
Speaker 1: intense and fun and uh, you know the guys I

632
00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:10,279
Speaker 1: were with, that was something that stood out. Just just

633
00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:14,239
Speaker 1: good guys and I really enjoy I really enjoy those

634
00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:17,600
Speaker 1: types of hunts, you know, or maybe not hunting right

635
00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:19,600
Speaker 1: with a guy, but you know, you gotta guys to

636
00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:24,319
Speaker 1: come back to camp too, talk about things and strategize. Yeah,

637
00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:26,600
Speaker 1: I wish I had a situation like that here in Michigan.

638
00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:28,480
Speaker 1: I was just thinking about that today actually, Like I

639
00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:30,520
Speaker 1: love hunting kind of close to home, but at the

640
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:34,560
Speaker 1: same time, I miss that camp camaraderie type element to it.

641
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,000
Speaker 1: I feel like we almost need like a local camp

642
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:40,680
Speaker 1: that during the hunting season, when you're hunting, you don't

643
00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:42,880
Speaker 1: go home to your wife. You go to the camp,

644
00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:45,440
Speaker 1: all your bodies to the camp for a while, at

645
00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:47,279
Speaker 1: least at least a few nights a year or something

646
00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:49,920
Speaker 1: like that. So you can still have that trip type

647
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:54,320
Speaker 1: of social aspect even when you're hunting the local spots.

648
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:58,200
Speaker 1: But that would be fun. But but looking looking back

649
00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:01,600
Speaker 1: on that trip, if you could like pin it down again,

650
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:03,879
Speaker 1: you know, this is your first time ever hunting meal,

651
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:06,320
Speaker 1: do it and you're able to figure it out in

652
00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:08,080
Speaker 1: a handful of days and get it done because you

653
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:10,439
Speaker 1: guys left. You guys left early, right, if I remember right,

654
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:12,839
Speaker 1: We ended up leaving a couple of days early because

655
00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:16,160
Speaker 1: the guy I was with um that we drove down

656
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:20,480
Speaker 1: two vehicles we had both tagged out. So yeah, So

657
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,120
Speaker 1: so what do you think wasn't that, you know, other

658
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:25,399
Speaker 1: than being able to get a good shot, other than

659
00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:29,200
Speaker 1: you'll make the stock and everything. Was there anything that

660
00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:31,960
Speaker 1: you think helped you figure this out so quickly and

661
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:35,520
Speaker 1: on your first meal der hunt killed great buck. Was

662
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:39,040
Speaker 1: it your preparation beforehand or was it the fact that

663
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:41,520
Speaker 1: you well, well, I guess I shouldn't answer. I just

664
00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:45,960
Speaker 1: let you answer. Well, UM, my preparation beforehand was a

665
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:51,480
Speaker 1: ton of map reading. Um. I had marked every water

666
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:57,799
Speaker 1: source within fifty miles over there. Um, So I had

667
00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:03,200
Speaker 1: all that marked. I had probably thirty glassing points marked.

668
00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:05,560
Speaker 1: So I didn't want to go there and be searching

669
00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:08,480
Speaker 1: for this stuff. I wanted to have them marked on

670
00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:13,759
Speaker 1: a map and just go and kind of pick off

671
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:17,920
Speaker 1: those spots one by one. Now, it didn't end up

672
00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:20,920
Speaker 1: happen exactly like that. Um. What we found out was

673
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 1: a lot of these big hills that you see in

674
00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:27,880
Speaker 1: these big giant canyons. You know. I was I was

675
00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:30,279
Speaker 1: thinking in my head, I'd get up on these the

676
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,600
Speaker 1: highest spots possible and glass into these giant canyons, and

677
00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:35,319
Speaker 1: I'd see deer all over, and I picked when and

678
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:38,880
Speaker 1: go after. Well, what I found rather quickly was these

679
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:43,200
Speaker 1: these deer were hiding in actually really small pockets, small

680
00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:47,640
Speaker 1: smaller canyons, canyons that you can't see from the the

681
00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:51,240
Speaker 1: highest peak you have to. It's it's very chopped up land.

682
00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:54,560
Speaker 1: And some of these Uh. In fact, that the little

683
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:57,359
Speaker 1: canyon or the cut that these two bucks were going

684
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,320
Speaker 1: to bed in, I mean, it was really small. All

685
00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:04,399
Speaker 1: I mean, you wouldn't see them unless you were right

686
00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:06,080
Speaker 1: on the hill I was at, you know what I mean.

687
00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:10,920
Speaker 1: So they were still Um, you know, they were still

688
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:13,400
Speaker 1: hiding even though they were out in the open, if

689
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:16,360
Speaker 1: that makes sense. Um, you know they were clearly visible

690
00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:18,279
Speaker 1: from where I was at, but from a road in

691
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:23,480
Speaker 1: no way. UM. So I don't know. I think I

692
00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 1: think we were just able to um find the pattern quick. UM.

693
00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:32,200
Speaker 1: I definitely was prepared with the maps. UM. I knew

694
00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:36,719
Speaker 1: the areas, I knew kind of where I wanted to start. Um,

695
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:40,840
Speaker 1: my shooting was prepared. Um. Would it be fair to

696
00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:44,400
Speaker 1: say that you from from Afar? I feel like something

697
00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:46,719
Speaker 1: that you did here and something the sense that you

698
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:49,080
Speaker 1: do in a lot of your white tones too, is

699
00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:52,080
Speaker 1: that you're not afraid to seek them out, Like you

700
00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:54,560
Speaker 1: don't get stuck. Just okay, this is the bottom to go,

701
00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:56,080
Speaker 1: and I'm just stick it out and hunt there and

702
00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:57,560
Speaker 1: hunt there and hunt there, and you keep doing the

703
00:37:57,560 --> 00:37:59,760
Speaker 1: same thing. It doesn't work. I feel like I always

704
00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:03,080
Speaker 1: hear about you having a plan to start, and then

705
00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:04,919
Speaker 1: if that doesn't work, then you're checking out the next area.

706
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:06,600
Speaker 1: Then you're checking out the next area, then you're checking

707
00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 1: out the next area until you find them, and then

708
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:12,000
Speaker 1: you keep adjusting and adjusting. Um that kind of sounds

709
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:15,000
Speaker 1: like that's what you did in this case. Yeah, that's

710
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:18,279
Speaker 1: that's you described it perfectly. And I guess I was

711
00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:21,799
Speaker 1: trying to find the words there. But yeah, it's more

712
00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:26,480
Speaker 1: of like a systematic approach, um aggressive, but um, you

713
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:29,200
Speaker 1: know this time of year, I really just wanted to

714
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:32,879
Speaker 1: lay eyes on one and then um, you know, kind

715
00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:35,640
Speaker 1: of work on you know, the stocking and get some

716
00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:38,239
Speaker 1: practice in with that. And you know, I was able

717
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,279
Speaker 1: to make it happen on my first two stocks. I

718
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,279
Speaker 1: got within within bow range. But yeah, it's just it's

719
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:50,040
Speaker 1: just I guess, relentless, um looking, you know, like you said,

720
00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:53,759
Speaker 1: going from one potential spot to the next, to the

721
00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:55,840
Speaker 1: next to the next, and not wasting any time. Like

722
00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:58,680
Speaker 1: we knew we were on a short hunt, so we

723
00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:02,920
Speaker 1: really just kind of, you know, went all in on

724
00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:06,600
Speaker 1: this hunt and um, you know their dear Um. You know,

725
00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:09,920
Speaker 1: like I said before, I feel like with enough time

726
00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:12,440
Speaker 1: we can narrow down, we can find them. And then

727
00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:14,640
Speaker 1: it was just a matter of time of finding one

728
00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:18,719
Speaker 1: that we were interested in going after. Yeah, and and

729
00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:22,360
Speaker 1: like I said, then, I feel like you take a

730
00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:26,760
Speaker 1: similar approach to hunting white tails too, especially in Michigan.

731
00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:29,560
Speaker 1: It seems like because I feel like every year you've

732
00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:32,359
Speaker 1: got a whole bunch of different places and then you

733
00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:35,239
Speaker 1: are systematically working your way through those places until you

734
00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:38,480
Speaker 1: find the deer you want to hunt. Ump Rip me

735
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,120
Speaker 1: if I'm wrong on that, but but I think that's true,

736
00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:43,400
Speaker 1: And if so, can you can you tell me how

737
00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:45,279
Speaker 1: you did that this year, because it certainly sounds like

738
00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:49,960
Speaker 1: you did it pretty well. But before we get to that,

739
00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:52,040
Speaker 1: I want take a quick second here to think our

740
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:54,759
Speaker 1: partners at White Tailed Properties and here from one of

741
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:58,800
Speaker 1: their land specialists about some scouting advice that, believe it

742
00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:00,360
Speaker 1: or not, we're all gonna be able to start plying

743
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:03,560
Speaker 1: here pretty soon because the season is almost done. In

744
00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:07,759
Speaker 1: postseason scouting is just ahead of us. This week with

745
00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:10,560
Speaker 1: white Tail Properties, we are joined by Justin Mason, a

746
00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:13,480
Speaker 1: land specialist out of Illinois, and Justin is going to

747
00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:15,200
Speaker 1: be telling us about what are some of his favorite

748
00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:18,560
Speaker 1: scouting strategies for this time of year, And am I

749
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,200
Speaker 1: go to spot at the end of winter has to

750
00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:26,200
Speaker 1: be kind of those thick betting sanctuary areas, um you know,

751
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:30,919
Speaker 1: primarily I'm doing two things late winter, starting to look

752
00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:34,240
Speaker 1: you know, for sheds, but then also trying to figure out,

753
00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:37,279
Speaker 1: you know, if I can nail down specifically more of

754
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:40,800
Speaker 1: the deer pattern travel patterns. So I'll usually go into

755
00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:43,640
Speaker 1: the kind of the south facing slopes up towards the

756
00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:47,400
Speaker 1: top of the ridge, find some of that thicker habitat

757
00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:50,640
Speaker 1: with maybe some locust trees, because oftentimes they'll go to

758
00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:55,160
Speaker 1: those locust pods and feet on them, or honeysuckle, anything

759
00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:57,640
Speaker 1: kind of the thicker the better, so that I can

760
00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:01,279
Speaker 1: really dive into and see how how they're traveling through it,

761
00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:03,839
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, hopefully I can score and pick

762
00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:07,000
Speaker 1: up the shed. If you'd like to learn more and

763
00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:10,000
Speaker 1: to see the properties that Justin currently has listed for sale,

764
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:15,520
Speaker 1: visit white tail properties dot com. Backslash Mason that's m A. S.

765
00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:19,279
Speaker 1: O N. I also want to take a second here

766
00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:22,480
Speaker 1: to thank our partners at Onyx. And I'm actually here

767
00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:26,319
Speaker 1: sitting looking at my Onyx hunt app with my son

768
00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:30,120
Speaker 1: who's eleven months old. He's currently on my lap and

769
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:32,440
Speaker 1: maybe you can hear him. He's touching the phone and

770
00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:35,240
Speaker 1: touching the microphone. He's a big fan of the Onyx

771
00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:37,959
Speaker 1: Hunt app and apparently at this very moment big fan

772
00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:41,920
Speaker 1: of the mic stand. But what we both like about

773
00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:44,960
Speaker 1: this app is that it helps me find quality places

774
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:49,839
Speaker 1: to hunt. I actually was able to shoot a buck

775
00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:52,080
Speaker 1: this year for the first time while having a son

776
00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:55,160
Speaker 1: got to share that moment with him. He got to

777
00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:57,920
Speaker 1: touch that buck, look at the antlers. And I use

778
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:00,759
Speaker 1: the Onyx Hunt app quite often during hunt for that

779
00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:03,759
Speaker 1: deer as I was constantly thinking about where to hunt,

780
00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:05,640
Speaker 1: where the wind was going, where this deer might be,

781
00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:08,719
Speaker 1: and always having the maps available on my phone were

782
00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:13,239
Speaker 1: a huge benefit. So I would definitely recommend checking out

783
00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:17,040
Speaker 1: on x. If you're interested in a mobile hunting map application,

784
00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:19,520
Speaker 1: you can find it over on your mobile app store

785
00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:24,840
Speaker 1: of choice or check out Onyx maps dot com. Yeah,

786
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:32,239
Speaker 1: um with Michigan, Um, I do use that approach. Um,

787
00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:34,879
Speaker 1: you know, I know these I know, I know all

788
00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:39,520
Speaker 1: the areas I hunt really really well, and just like you, um,

789
00:42:39,560 --> 00:42:42,680
Speaker 1: you know the areas that you've hunted for years and years.

790
00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:46,399
Speaker 1: You're a very uh you know, an astute hunter. You

791
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:49,160
Speaker 1: you look at the y on everything and you know,

792
00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:52,080
Speaker 1: why is this happening? When is this happening? And you know,

793
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:55,880
Speaker 1: I start to see trends. I start to see trends

794
00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:58,399
Speaker 1: in certain areas, I start to see trends in certain deer.

795
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:03,239
Speaker 1: So uh, basically what I do is is I kind

796
00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:07,600
Speaker 1: of try to time my hunts um and and time

797
00:43:07,640 --> 00:43:12,239
Speaker 1: my efforts to win those areas or those particular deer

798
00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:18,719
Speaker 1: are most vulnerable. UM. So for instance, like, um, you know,

799
00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:21,960
Speaker 1: there might be I got some spots that are that

800
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:24,439
Speaker 1: tend to be good early season, but during the rut

801
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:27,560
Speaker 1: there's like no deer there, so I focused my time

802
00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:30,080
Speaker 1: there in the early season, and vice versa. I have

803
00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:32,920
Speaker 1: some spots that are just tend to heat up during

804
00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:36,839
Speaker 1: the rut or late October. Um, there's sometimes there's a

805
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:40,879
Speaker 1: certain buck that you know has shown vulnerability the last

806
00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:43,799
Speaker 1: couple of years in late October or you know that

807
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,640
Speaker 1: first week in November, or sometimes it's early season, so

808
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:50,319
Speaker 1: I try to I start to develop a plan like that,

809
00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:54,360
Speaker 1: you know, in all the areas I hunt, UM, and

810
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:57,920
Speaker 1: with that obviously trying to find, you know, a handful

811
00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:00,759
Speaker 1: of deer that I'm interested in going after. UM. It

812
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:03,399
Speaker 1: doesn't always happen like that, but that's I think that's

813
00:44:03,480 --> 00:44:07,839
Speaker 1: kind of why or how I'm able to have consistent

814
00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:12,440
Speaker 1: success and and be efficient like as you say, Um,

815
00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:15,200
Speaker 1: you know I have I know where I want to

816
00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:19,080
Speaker 1: be late October, and it's not just one spot. There

817
00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:22,080
Speaker 1: might be two or three spots. Um, how might be

818
00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:24,239
Speaker 1: more than that? Yeah, I started interrupted. I was going

819
00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:28,319
Speaker 1: to ask how many different quote unquote spots did you

820
00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:30,719
Speaker 1: have like lined up that you could hunt this year?

821
00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:34,440
Speaker 1: And let's just say in Michigan. Um, I'm trying to

822
00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:37,120
Speaker 1: kind of wrap my head around how many different options

823
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:43,440
Speaker 1: you're kind of bouncing around with as possibilities. Yeah, Um,

824
00:44:43,480 --> 00:44:53,400
Speaker 1: there's probably maybe a dozen between like you know, shared permission,

825
00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:57,960
Speaker 1: private land, and some and some public pieces that I

826
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:02,000
Speaker 1: try to uh kind of keep tabs on. I like

827
00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:04,520
Speaker 1: to know what's going on there that I scout regularly

828
00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:08,759
Speaker 1: that I feel uh real confident in what the deer

829
00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:11,479
Speaker 1: herd is like, if there's a good one in there,

830
00:45:11,719 --> 00:45:15,319
Speaker 1: if there's potential for good ones in there. Um, So

831
00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:20,200
Speaker 1: you know, I'm always losing ground. I'm always trying to

832
00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:25,399
Speaker 1: scout new pieces. So it's it's a constant evolution. But um,

833
00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:27,680
Speaker 1: you know I'll throw northern Ohio in there too, because

834
00:45:27,719 --> 00:45:30,600
Speaker 1: I live right near the border. There's a couple areas

835
00:45:30,600 --> 00:45:32,600
Speaker 1: that I hunt down there too, same type of thing.

836
00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:36,520
Speaker 1: I'm really starting to learn patterns. So when a good

837
00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:41,120
Speaker 1: one shows up, Um, you know, when a good one

838
00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:43,680
Speaker 1: shows up on any of these pieces, I'm I'm usually

839
00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:47,680
Speaker 1: I know the spots where I can kill them, and

840
00:45:47,719 --> 00:45:50,520
Speaker 1: I know the time of year that they tend to be,

841
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:54,160
Speaker 1: when those spots tend to heat up. I guess, um

842
00:45:54,200 --> 00:45:57,560
Speaker 1: like like like you said, I don't remember who said it,

843
00:45:57,600 --> 00:46:01,640
Speaker 1: but like knowing your DNA of the farm, was that Drury? Yeah,

844
00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:04,400
Speaker 1: Terry Drewy always talks about that, No knowing the DNA

845
00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:08,560
Speaker 1: your farm, perfect example. Yeah, So it's just kind of

846
00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:14,440
Speaker 1: knowing when that area of the area you're hunting has

847
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:17,680
Speaker 1: the highest potential, and you know, that's when I focus

848
00:46:17,719 --> 00:46:19,520
Speaker 1: my efforts and I don't push it. Now. I might

849
00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:22,440
Speaker 1: try to, you know, do a little scouting here, you know,

850
00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:25,200
Speaker 1: on the outskirts and maybe checking some cameras and doing

851
00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:27,520
Speaker 1: some glassing, and that's what kind of what led to

852
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:31,799
Speaker 1: my my November buck in Michigan this year. But um,

853
00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:35,919
Speaker 1: I really try to just focus my time when it's

854
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:40,279
Speaker 1: most effective in those spots, in those areas, And I

855
00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:42,560
Speaker 1: mean that's really what it comes down to. But then

856
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:48,240
Speaker 1: if there's an individual book that I'm after, there tends

857
00:46:48,280 --> 00:46:51,960
Speaker 1: to be you know, there can be some trends there too. Um.

858
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:55,480
Speaker 1: You know, so it really depends on the situation. Um.

859
00:46:55,520 --> 00:46:59,040
Speaker 1: But that's I think. Once I started really looking at

860
00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:01,759
Speaker 1: that stuff and focusing on that stuff and trying to

861
00:47:03,719 --> 00:47:06,919
Speaker 1: kind of I guess time my hunts when things were

862
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:14,480
Speaker 1: most productive, my success started going up more. Um And

863
00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:17,239
Speaker 1: for anyone listening and started to jump in here. But

864
00:47:17,280 --> 00:47:20,480
Speaker 1: anyone who's listening, if you didn't listen to the podcast

865
00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:23,160
Speaker 1: that me and Andy did off of our Nebraska hunt

866
00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:26,200
Speaker 1: about two months ago or whatever that was, you you

867
00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:27,799
Speaker 1: really should go back and listen to that. I won't

868
00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:31,799
Speaker 1: believe belabor you guys this again. But Andy walked through

869
00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:34,520
Speaker 1: this whole process, the whole process that you use as

870
00:47:34,560 --> 00:47:38,560
Speaker 1: far as journaling all of your hunts, documenting all this information.

871
00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:40,680
Speaker 1: I gotta believe that that's a huge part of the

872
00:47:40,680 --> 00:47:44,520
Speaker 1: reason why you're able to so effectively figure out the

873
00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:46,520
Speaker 1: DNA of each of these different spots. It's because you

874
00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:50,760
Speaker 1: were meticulous about taking note of everything, observing everything, and

875
00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:52,640
Speaker 1: and documenting it so you can go back and look

876
00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:54,560
Speaker 1: and say, oh, well, wow, over the last ten years,

877
00:47:54,680 --> 00:47:57,800
Speaker 1: the last five years. This was a trend on this property,

878
00:47:57,920 --> 00:47:59,880
Speaker 1: and this is a different trend on this other property.

879
00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:02,719
Speaker 1: I mean, all that stuff over half a decade or

880
00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:05,600
Speaker 1: decade can kind of disappear into the nethers of your

881
00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:09,200
Speaker 1: brain if you're not finding a way to actually document it. Um,

882
00:48:09,239 --> 00:48:10,799
Speaker 1: and you do a damn good job of doing it.

883
00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:14,600
Speaker 1: Seems like, yeah, that that definitely helps. And I really

884
00:48:14,640 --> 00:48:17,920
Speaker 1: like looking back at that. And I also have you know,

885
00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:20,720
Speaker 1: I think I've told you before. I for whatever reason,

886
00:48:20,800 --> 00:48:23,600
Speaker 1: I forget what my wife tells me, you know, an

887
00:48:23,600 --> 00:48:27,360
Speaker 1: hour before. But I have really good recall with deer stuff. UM,

888
00:48:27,520 --> 00:48:30,799
Speaker 1: So you know, I do have really good recall. I

889
00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:34,520
Speaker 1: can remember, um. You know, I can remember what this

890
00:48:34,560 --> 00:48:37,640
Speaker 1: book did last year, you know, during this time and

891
00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:40,160
Speaker 1: without having to go back to my notes so much so,

892
00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:44,360
Speaker 1: UM that helps, you know. UM. And another thing too,

893
00:48:44,719 --> 00:48:48,759
Speaker 1: that kind of it was more at least with my

894
00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:52,200
Speaker 1: November book this year and in the Ohio Buck for

895
00:48:52,239 --> 00:48:56,239
Speaker 1: that matter. A lot of the a lot of my

896
00:48:56,360 --> 00:49:04,920
Speaker 1: success happens with finding, um, acting on like recent information,

897
00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:07,680
Speaker 1: like right now, like the current information that I can get,

898
00:49:07,719 --> 00:49:13,359
Speaker 1: whether it's a track, whether it's a sighting. Um, whether

899
00:49:13,400 --> 00:49:18,280
Speaker 1: it's a trail camp picture, uh, an observation, UM, but heaven,

900
00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:22,279
Speaker 1: being able to capitalize on that and move in right

901
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:25,000
Speaker 1: then and there, similar to how you did with Frank,

902
00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:28,040
Speaker 1: you know. I mean he he hung around a little bit,

903
00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:31,239
Speaker 1: but you were able to move in quickly when he

904
00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:32,919
Speaker 1: was there and when he was with that hot dough,

905
00:49:33,120 --> 00:49:36,320
Speaker 1: And I mean you came really close several times to

906
00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:42,920
Speaker 1: get them. UM. But being able to do that, UM,

907
00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:47,359
Speaker 1: and being able to capitalize that by bye bye, being

908
00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:49,840
Speaker 1: able to jump in there right when that sign tells

909
00:49:49,880 --> 00:49:54,839
Speaker 1: you to UM is huge. And I I'm in a

910
00:49:54,880 --> 00:49:58,400
Speaker 1: decent situation around home here because I'm able to scout

911
00:49:58,440 --> 00:50:02,040
Speaker 1: a lot, even though I can't hunt all of time. UM.

912
00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:04,520
Speaker 1: You know, I'll check cameras at lunch, or I'll go

913
00:50:04,600 --> 00:50:07,719
Speaker 1: walk afield edge at lunch and look for tracks. Um.

914
00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:11,120
Speaker 1: I'm scouting constantly. I like to know what the deer

915
00:50:11,120 --> 00:50:14,440
Speaker 1: a doing. I like to know, um, you know, if

916
00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:16,720
Speaker 1: a big buck has showed up. So I'm I'm trying

917
00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:21,960
Speaker 1: as much as I can to to kind of figure

918
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:24,719
Speaker 1: that out as the season goes along, so I can

919
00:50:24,840 --> 00:50:29,320
Speaker 1: capitalize on a moment's notice, you know, glassing before work.

920
00:50:29,600 --> 00:50:31,640
Speaker 1: I'm almost never go to work. I'll get up early

921
00:50:31,719 --> 00:50:35,080
Speaker 1: and I'll go glass um or the days I can't hunt,

922
00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:37,719
Speaker 1: you know, if if nothing's going on, I'll I'll try

923
00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:39,839
Speaker 1: to you know, try to do something that will help

924
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:42,920
Speaker 1: me be successful. But that has been also a big,

925
00:50:43,320 --> 00:50:47,319
Speaker 1: huge help. And you know, just being able to to

926
00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:51,720
Speaker 1: recognize when you need to get in there. And obviously

927
00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:54,040
Speaker 1: you missed some things, but if you look hard enough,

928
00:50:54,040 --> 00:50:57,880
Speaker 1: in your persistent and committed I think you one can

929
00:50:58,120 --> 00:51:00,840
Speaker 1: you know, capitalize on a lot of those situations. Yeah.

930
00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:03,600
Speaker 1: So something that when it comes to this whole, this

931
00:51:03,680 --> 00:51:05,440
Speaker 1: is something I'm trying to get better at. And I

932
00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:07,480
Speaker 1: think for example, this year it worked out for me

933
00:51:07,560 --> 00:51:11,520
Speaker 1: with Frank, um is finding ways to learn about an

934
00:51:11,560 --> 00:51:14,880
Speaker 1: area without impacting that area. So you know, with Frank,

935
00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:16,959
Speaker 1: I just you know, I was fortunate that I could

936
00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:19,960
Speaker 1: easily watch a large, a decent chunk of this property

937
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:21,520
Speaker 1: without needing to go in there and hunt it. So

938
00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:24,600
Speaker 1: I kind of the long distance observation thing, um. But

939
00:51:24,640 --> 00:51:26,799
Speaker 1: I'm always trying to figure out what different spots, you know,

940
00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:29,080
Speaker 1: how can you watch it or learn it, or check

941
00:51:29,160 --> 00:51:32,600
Speaker 1: cameras or do scouting without you know, pressuring those deer,

942
00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:35,080
Speaker 1: and you were telling me, you were telling me. I

943
00:51:35,120 --> 00:51:37,080
Speaker 1: don't think we talked about this on the last podcast,

944
00:51:37,120 --> 00:51:40,080
Speaker 1: but you share with me an example of a of

945
00:51:40,120 --> 00:51:44,319
Speaker 1: a late season buck that you had found last year

946
00:51:44,920 --> 00:51:47,319
Speaker 1: and you almost got a shot at him, I think

947
00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:50,000
Speaker 1: during rifle season or muzzle over season, I can't remember which,

948
00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:52,040
Speaker 1: and then you're hoping he would come back this year

949
00:51:52,040 --> 00:51:53,360
Speaker 1: and you do the same thing. But you were just

950
00:51:53,360 --> 00:51:56,719
Speaker 1: gonna constantly monitor cameras in a in a in a

951
00:51:56,760 --> 00:52:00,279
Speaker 1: spot where you can get to um without spoken though,

952
00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:03,000
Speaker 1: how do you then? This is something I talked to

953
00:52:03,040 --> 00:52:04,359
Speaker 1: a lot of people about. This is kind of one

954
00:52:04,360 --> 00:52:06,319
Speaker 1: of those like seecret sauce things like it's it's the

955
00:52:06,360 --> 00:52:09,920
Speaker 1: silver bullet. How do you keep tabs on recent intel

956
00:52:10,120 --> 00:52:13,400
Speaker 1: without educating the deer? How how does that work? In

957
00:52:13,440 --> 00:52:17,280
Speaker 1: your mind? Yeah, I think it depends on the area.

958
00:52:17,560 --> 00:52:21,440
Speaker 1: You know, obviously, an area that's you know, more chopped

959
00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:23,839
Speaker 1: up and open, Like maybe if there's there there's like

960
00:52:23,880 --> 00:52:28,200
Speaker 1: there's one spot that's pretty close to my work and um,

961
00:52:28,239 --> 00:52:32,320
Speaker 1: you know, I'm able to check cameras there pretty often,

962
00:52:32,560 --> 00:52:34,640
Speaker 1: you know, as often as I like, really, so what

963
00:52:34,640 --> 00:52:37,759
Speaker 1: what I do is I'll check cameras, or I'll go

964
00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:44,399
Speaker 1: walk the perimeter of the crop field and I'll look

965
00:52:44,400 --> 00:52:46,960
Speaker 1: for tracks. I'll check those cameras. But where I'm walking

966
00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:49,359
Speaker 1: and where I'm scouting is not where I hunt. It's

967
00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:52,200
Speaker 1: not where I set up to kill. But I do

968
00:52:52,320 --> 00:52:55,120
Speaker 1: like to get that information. So you know, I might

969
00:52:55,239 --> 00:52:59,000
Speaker 1: check and um, I might check the cameras and there's nothing,

970
00:52:59,800 --> 00:53:02,600
Speaker 1: you know, and then a few days later nothing. But

971
00:53:02,719 --> 00:53:07,520
Speaker 1: these are in areas. Keep in mind again where I

972
00:53:07,560 --> 00:53:09,640
Speaker 1: don't care if I really bump a deer here because

973
00:53:09,680 --> 00:53:12,840
Speaker 1: it's nowhere near where I'm hunting. Um, it's more or

974
00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:14,680
Speaker 1: less I want to know if they're in the area

975
00:53:14,719 --> 00:53:17,719
Speaker 1: because this is where they come. It's usually after dark.

976
00:53:17,840 --> 00:53:21,319
Speaker 1: But if one shows up, then I feel like, you know,

977
00:53:21,600 --> 00:53:23,680
Speaker 1: if one starts using the area, then I feel like

978
00:53:23,719 --> 00:53:26,719
Speaker 1: I know where I can I can get them. So

979
00:53:27,080 --> 00:53:31,440
Speaker 1: that's one example. Um. You know another example, you know,

980
00:53:31,480 --> 00:53:35,440
Speaker 1: there's this other um area hunt that's you know, has

981
00:53:35,480 --> 00:53:38,360
Speaker 1: a big swamp. He can't really you know, tracks, and

982
00:53:38,440 --> 00:53:40,680
Speaker 1: that sort of thing is a little bit harder. So

983
00:53:41,120 --> 00:53:43,080
Speaker 1: I might go in and check a camera, but I'm

984
00:53:43,160 --> 00:53:46,560
Speaker 1: checking it, you know, I'm trying to do it on

985
00:53:46,600 --> 00:53:50,160
Speaker 1: a real I try to check cameras on two situations,

986
00:53:50,239 --> 00:53:55,600
Speaker 1: rain or really windy dry conditions, like so you know,

987
00:53:55,640 --> 00:53:57,239
Speaker 1: if you get a week with no rain and then

988
00:53:57,239 --> 00:54:00,040
Speaker 1: it's real windy, those are really tough conditions to a

989
00:54:00,760 --> 00:54:04,759
Speaker 1: deer descentia on the ground. Um, and you know, just

990
00:54:04,800 --> 00:54:10,400
Speaker 1: the cover, so I use any means necessary. UM, glassing too,

991
00:54:10,480 --> 00:54:12,360
Speaker 1: you know, I use a lot of glassing. So it

992
00:54:12,400 --> 00:54:17,840
Speaker 1: really depends on on that the situation you're in and

993
00:54:18,200 --> 00:54:21,160
Speaker 1: the type of property you're hunting or the type of

994
00:54:21,640 --> 00:54:23,400
Speaker 1: you know, what the covers like on that piece of

995
00:54:23,440 --> 00:54:29,120
Speaker 1: public or whatever. So it really just depends. Um. You know,

996
00:54:29,120 --> 00:54:31,040
Speaker 1: it's kind of a tough there's not not a one

997
00:54:31,120 --> 00:54:34,200
Speaker 1: size fits all for that question. I guess, yeah, no, no,

998
00:54:34,239 --> 00:54:37,000
Speaker 1: there's definitely not. Um. So so then I guess walk

999
00:54:37,120 --> 00:54:39,400
Speaker 1: me through, because you you alluded to a couple of

1000
00:54:39,440 --> 00:54:41,440
Speaker 1: these upcoming hunts where you were doing some of these things.

1001
00:54:41,640 --> 00:54:44,440
Speaker 1: But let's start in mid October, we had this cold

1002
00:54:44,480 --> 00:54:47,200
Speaker 1: front hit. Um, I was all excited about the cold

1003
00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:49,640
Speaker 1: front hitting. It was like October twelfth or something or

1004
00:54:50,440 --> 00:54:53,799
Speaker 1: I don't know, somewhere in that ballpark and uh, one

1005
00:54:53,800 --> 00:54:55,680
Speaker 1: of these nights it was kind of rainy and cold,

1006
00:54:55,800 --> 00:54:58,080
Speaker 1: and I get the text message from you saying you

1007
00:54:58,080 --> 00:55:02,120
Speaker 1: shot a big one. How did that? I'll come to me. Yeah,

1008
00:55:02,160 --> 00:55:04,560
Speaker 1: that was an interesting one because this was a buck

1009
00:55:04,640 --> 00:55:11,120
Speaker 1: that you know, he had some history with. UM. In fact, uh,

1010
00:55:11,160 --> 00:55:15,839
Speaker 1: two years ago. What's really interesting about this book is

1011
00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:19,279
Speaker 1: two years ago. I've only seen him one time and

1012
00:55:19,320 --> 00:55:21,759
Speaker 1: that was two years ago and it was on November four.

1013
00:55:23,160 --> 00:55:26,440
Speaker 1: But where I saw him, he was standing in the

1014
00:55:26,480 --> 00:55:30,160
Speaker 1: exact same spot where I shot him this year. Yeah,

1015
00:55:30,160 --> 00:55:32,919
Speaker 1: which is really interesting and not not the same time

1016
00:55:32,960 --> 00:55:35,200
Speaker 1: of year. Um. You know, this was mid October when

1017
00:55:35,239 --> 00:55:37,040
Speaker 1: I got him, and I saw him during the rut

1018
00:55:37,080 --> 00:55:41,000
Speaker 1: two years ago. Um, but two years ago he also,

1019
00:55:41,800 --> 00:55:43,520
Speaker 1: that's not true. I did see him. I saw him

1020
00:55:43,600 --> 00:55:46,560
Speaker 1: late season also, so he showed up late season again

1021
00:55:47,440 --> 00:55:50,440
Speaker 1: and I had already UM shot a couple of bucks

1022
00:55:50,440 --> 00:55:53,319
Speaker 1: in Michigan and he was a good deer. Then he

1023
00:55:53,360 --> 00:55:57,040
Speaker 1: had you know, the mule deer split and UM, so

1024
00:55:57,400 --> 00:55:59,520
Speaker 1: I decided to let him go and just pray, you

1025
00:55:59,560 --> 00:56:02,200
Speaker 1: know that he wasn't gonna get shot. UM. This area

1026
00:56:02,280 --> 00:56:06,239
Speaker 1: does get quite a bit of pressure around, but I

1027
00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:10,560
Speaker 1: think I think as far as you know, your average

1028
00:56:10,600 --> 00:56:14,040
Speaker 1: Michigan property. There's more guys passing some deer, you know,

1029
00:56:14,080 --> 00:56:16,520
Speaker 1: in this general area. So there tends to be a

1030
00:56:16,520 --> 00:56:18,480
Speaker 1: few that slipped through the cracks and get to that

1031
00:56:18,560 --> 00:56:22,279
Speaker 1: you know, three, four, sometimes even five, you know, Um

1032
00:56:22,360 --> 00:56:25,640
Speaker 1: it's not many, but usually there's you know, maybe one

1033
00:56:25,719 --> 00:56:29,960
Speaker 1: like that. Um. So, anyway, we two years in a

1034
00:56:30,040 --> 00:56:32,920
Speaker 1: row or two years ago, and last year he showed

1035
00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:36,080
Speaker 1: up late season, and so we just kind of my

1036
00:56:36,080 --> 00:56:38,280
Speaker 1: buddy and I just figured that would be the chance,

1037
00:56:38,360 --> 00:56:41,080
Speaker 1: you know, that we we'd have at this book. And

1038
00:56:42,200 --> 00:56:46,280
Speaker 1: on October twelve, on the day you're you're talking about,

1039
00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:48,600
Speaker 1: there was a cold front and some like kind of

1040
00:56:48,680 --> 00:56:53,880
Speaker 1: light rain, real good conditions for deer movement. But you know,

1041
00:56:53,920 --> 00:56:56,279
Speaker 1: if I'm being completely honest, I was in there after

1042
00:56:56,320 --> 00:57:01,520
Speaker 1: a different deer um and was set up the way

1043
00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:05,799
Speaker 1: my my my partner, my buddy was set up in

1044
00:57:05,880 --> 00:57:08,960
Speaker 1: one spot and I was set up in another, and

1045
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:10,759
Speaker 1: we can you know, when we do hunt together, we

1046
00:57:10,760 --> 00:57:13,640
Speaker 1: don't get out as much together as as we used to,

1047
00:57:13,719 --> 00:57:15,520
Speaker 1: but when we do hunt together, it's usually in a

1048
00:57:15,560 --> 00:57:19,480
Speaker 1: strategic way where you know, if the deer does show,

1049
00:57:20,480 --> 00:57:22,000
Speaker 1: there's a really good chance and one of us will

1050
00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:23,640
Speaker 1: get a crack at him. We kind of kind of

1051
00:57:23,920 --> 00:57:28,520
Speaker 1: hunt off each other and try to cover all the bases. So, um,

1052
00:57:28,640 --> 00:57:31,880
Speaker 1: we were actually after a different deer that was had

1053
00:57:31,920 --> 00:57:38,160
Speaker 1: been visible and showing some vulnerability. And you know, out

1054
00:57:38,160 --> 00:57:40,720
Speaker 1: of the blue, I look up, you know, in the rain,

1055
00:57:40,960 --> 00:57:44,720
Speaker 1: and this this buck is standing there, and I immediately

1056
00:57:44,720 --> 00:57:49,120
Speaker 1: know who he is? This spot? Why? Why, why you

1057
00:57:49,160 --> 00:57:53,520
Speaker 1: wanted to be there? Why he was there? Yeah. Um,

1058
00:57:53,560 --> 00:57:59,200
Speaker 1: it's a like a set aside field. Um, really tall

1059
00:57:59,560 --> 00:58:04,320
Speaker 1: we grasses. Um. So it's it's a field where it

1060
00:58:04,440 --> 00:58:09,160
Speaker 1: serves as betting. Um. You know that we routinely see

1061
00:58:09,760 --> 00:58:13,480
Speaker 1: you know, decent books bed in this stuff and in

1062
00:58:13,640 --> 00:58:17,000
Speaker 1: specific spots in that field. I might add, um, you're

1063
00:58:17,040 --> 00:58:21,360
Speaker 1: in and year out, and um, they just feel they

1064
00:58:21,360 --> 00:58:23,800
Speaker 1: feel really comfortable moving through that. If if I could

1065
00:58:23,840 --> 00:58:26,680
Speaker 1: hunt any type of habitat, it would be like set aside,

1066
00:58:26,720 --> 00:58:30,080
Speaker 1: like CRP, like the tall grass stuff. I just love that.

1067
00:58:30,840 --> 00:58:33,600
Speaker 1: And uh, the deers just really seemed to feel comfortable

1068
00:58:33,640 --> 00:58:38,520
Speaker 1: in there. Um. So you know, it's not uncommon for

1069
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:43,080
Speaker 1: you know, especially in October, you know, mid October, late

1070
00:58:43,120 --> 00:58:46,720
Speaker 1: October to have a good good buck betting and one

1071
00:58:46,760 --> 00:58:49,560
Speaker 1: of the beds in this field. Um, I was not

1072
00:58:49,680 --> 00:58:54,600
Speaker 1: expecting that book. Um, but I was expecting this other book,

1073
00:58:54,600 --> 00:59:00,240
Speaker 1: which was a ten point um. And I can't say

1074
00:59:00,320 --> 00:59:03,240
Speaker 1: for sure that buck that I ended up killing came

1075
00:59:03,280 --> 00:59:06,800
Speaker 1: out of the bed um that I that I think

1076
00:59:06,840 --> 00:59:10,920
Speaker 1: he did. Um, but he certainly came from that direction.

1077
00:59:11,160 --> 00:59:15,320
Speaker 1: And and that's a spot where we've routinely seen um,

1078
00:59:15,360 --> 00:59:18,160
Speaker 1: you know, big bucks bed and my buddy Mike has

1079
00:59:18,240 --> 00:59:20,720
Speaker 1: killed one out of there, and I've passed a few

1080
00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:25,120
Speaker 1: out of there, and it's a to describe it. Maybe

1081
00:59:25,120 --> 00:59:27,680
Speaker 1: this will help some listeners. You know, if you got

1082
00:59:27,880 --> 00:59:34,320
Speaker 1: a field, a crp field, um, imagine it's kind of

1083
00:59:34,360 --> 00:59:38,160
Speaker 1: like rolling hills and it all tapers down into one

1084
00:59:38,240 --> 00:59:41,640
Speaker 1: really low spot, and you know, you normally hear about

1085
00:59:42,080 --> 00:59:44,960
Speaker 1: bucks wanting to bed high where they can see well

1086
00:59:45,040 --> 00:59:49,320
Speaker 1: year in and year out. That low spot specifically by

1087
00:59:49,440 --> 00:59:52,640
Speaker 1: there's like a bunch of young saplings in there, but

1088
00:59:52,720 --> 00:59:55,240
Speaker 1: it's the lowest spot in the field, and there's a

1089
00:59:55,280 --> 00:59:59,200
Speaker 1: buck betted there often, especially on a west wind, which

1090
00:59:59,200 --> 01:00:03,720
Speaker 1: it was that day. So it's what what I think

1091
01:00:03,760 --> 01:00:07,560
Speaker 1: they do and what I've seen him do. You know,

1092
01:00:07,840 --> 01:00:11,160
Speaker 1: as you know, darkness approaches, you know, half an hour

1093
01:00:11,200 --> 01:00:14,040
Speaker 1: before light. They they rise out of this bed and

1094
01:00:14,040 --> 01:00:16,800
Speaker 1: they just kind of stand there and they just drinking

1095
01:00:16,960 --> 01:00:21,240
Speaker 1: all those thermals coming down to them, and literally for

1096
01:00:21,440 --> 01:00:25,880
Speaker 1: nearly you know, degrees on a west wind, like, everything's

1097
01:00:25,920 --> 01:00:28,480
Speaker 1: just kind of coming right down to that spot. It's

1098
01:00:28,480 --> 01:00:32,280
Speaker 1: one of those thermal sinks right exactly exactly that comes

1099
01:00:32,400 --> 01:00:35,880
Speaker 1: right down to there. So we we it's not a

1100
01:00:35,920 --> 01:00:40,600
Speaker 1: spot I anticipated, but um, I don't know. It's four

1101
01:00:40,680 --> 01:00:43,640
Speaker 1: or five, maybe six years ago now we uh have

1102
01:00:43,840 --> 01:00:47,360
Speaker 1: videoed a real big buck in there and um my

1103
01:00:47,400 --> 01:00:51,080
Speaker 1: buddy Mike ended up shooting that deer a day or

1104
01:00:51,080 --> 01:00:54,280
Speaker 1: two later. Um. But yeah, it's just a spot that

1105
01:00:54,280 --> 01:00:57,120
Speaker 1: they routinely use and and I think that's why. It

1106
01:00:57,200 --> 01:00:59,480
Speaker 1: just gives them all the advantage of being able to

1107
01:00:59,480 --> 01:01:02,520
Speaker 1: smell the surrounding area everything in that field. And this

1108
01:01:02,600 --> 01:01:07,240
Speaker 1: is a pretty decently high deer density area. So when

1109
01:01:07,240 --> 01:01:10,320
Speaker 1: doles come into that CRP and and move towards the

1110
01:01:10,320 --> 01:01:12,840
Speaker 1: food sources and stuff like, they can smell all that.

1111
01:01:12,880 --> 01:01:14,520
Speaker 1: They can just sit right in that low spot and

1112
01:01:14,840 --> 01:01:17,160
Speaker 1: get all those thermals. So then how do you get

1113
01:01:17,160 --> 01:01:21,760
Speaker 1: away with hunting where you did? So the trick is

1114
01:01:21,800 --> 01:01:26,240
Speaker 1: you need a west wind. Okay, So where I'm at

1115
01:01:26,280 --> 01:01:29,520
Speaker 1: in relation to the where the bed is, I'm almost

1116
01:01:29,920 --> 01:01:35,640
Speaker 1: h perfectly south. Okay. So if there's a west wind,

1117
01:01:36,600 --> 01:01:41,080
Speaker 1: it's blowing me right right, Uh, not even past the bed,

1118
01:01:41,120 --> 01:01:45,200
Speaker 1: It's blowing me behind the bed. Does that make sense? Yeah,

1119
01:01:45,320 --> 01:01:49,080
Speaker 1: So like on a you know, if you were if

1120
01:01:49,120 --> 01:01:51,960
Speaker 1: it was a dead, calm night, that would be more

1121
01:01:51,960 --> 01:01:56,720
Speaker 1: of a risky situation. But anytime there's a west west, northwest,

1122
01:01:56,800 --> 01:02:01,200
Speaker 1: even a northwest, that stands money and just because it's

1123
01:02:01,240 --> 01:02:03,880
Speaker 1: in line, it's almost in line with that bed, it

1124
01:02:04,040 --> 01:02:07,080
Speaker 1: just it blows right behind them, If that makes sense.

1125
01:02:07,440 --> 01:02:11,320
Speaker 1: So you get set up in that, I imagine, tell

1126
01:02:11,360 --> 01:02:13,360
Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong. But did you choose to hunt

1127
01:02:13,440 --> 01:02:16,600
Speaker 1: this property that night because the front came through and

1128
01:02:16,680 --> 01:02:18,840
Speaker 1: you're thinking, man, these are great conditions. I know this

1129
01:02:18,960 --> 01:02:21,280
Speaker 1: is a spot where there's this good buck Tonight's to

1130
01:02:21,360 --> 01:02:23,880
Speaker 1: night to be in there? Or what was the rationale

1131
01:02:23,920 --> 01:02:27,439
Speaker 1: behind making that strike on that day? Yeah? Well that's

1132
01:02:27,480 --> 01:02:32,400
Speaker 1: interesting because this this piece, Um, you know, I hunt

1133
01:02:32,440 --> 01:02:36,400
Speaker 1: it with a friend, um, one of my best buddies.

1134
01:02:36,600 --> 01:02:42,919
Speaker 1: And I don't hunt that place like I normally hunt. Um.

1135
01:02:42,960 --> 01:02:47,520
Speaker 1: I hunt that place very conservatively as does he because

1136
01:02:48,600 --> 01:02:53,840
Speaker 1: we're trying to I guess, uh, you know, I'm not

1137
01:02:53,920 --> 01:02:57,760
Speaker 1: trying to ruin his season by being overly aggressive, and

1138
01:02:58,080 --> 01:03:01,800
Speaker 1: he's trying. That's that's pretty much where he hunts all

1139
01:03:01,800 --> 01:03:06,360
Speaker 1: the time. Um, So we hunt a little more passively,

1140
01:03:06,440 --> 01:03:09,280
Speaker 1: to be honest. We hunt in spots where if the

1141
01:03:09,320 --> 01:03:13,520
Speaker 1: deer are moving well, you know, you can have some success.

1142
01:03:13,840 --> 01:03:17,400
Speaker 1: If they're not moving well, then you know you're you're

1143
01:03:17,440 --> 01:03:21,160
Speaker 1: probably out of the game, if that makes sense. So, um,

1144
01:03:21,600 --> 01:03:24,640
Speaker 1: you know we we we hunted for. We set up

1145
01:03:25,200 --> 01:03:27,720
Speaker 1: spots for longevity. Even though I only hunted, you know,

1146
01:03:27,840 --> 01:03:30,480
Speaker 1: a couple of times a year, it's set up to

1147
01:03:30,640 --> 01:03:33,840
Speaker 1: hunt for to kind of promote longevity of the season.

1148
01:03:33,880 --> 01:03:35,960
Speaker 1: I guess you should say, I guess you could say,

1149
01:03:36,120 --> 01:03:41,120
Speaker 1: but there are certain time frames that we know, you know,

1150
01:03:41,760 --> 01:03:46,480
Speaker 1: these certain spots on this property can heat up, and um,

1151
01:03:46,480 --> 01:03:50,240
Speaker 1: mid October. We've routinely have had good hunts in mid

1152
01:03:50,280 --> 01:03:54,880
Speaker 1: October during cold front. So, yeah, you're exactly right. That's

1153
01:03:54,880 --> 01:03:56,640
Speaker 1: why we were out there that day. There was a

1154
01:03:56,720 --> 01:04:00,120
Speaker 1: you know, a good drop in temperature and you a

1155
01:04:00,240 --> 01:04:03,560
Speaker 1: light light rain and uh, you know, just everything kind

1156
01:04:03,560 --> 01:04:06,640
Speaker 1: of set up for good deer movement. So you're there.

1157
01:04:07,200 --> 01:04:10,760
Speaker 1: He shows up exact same place you saw him two

1158
01:04:10,800 --> 01:04:15,080
Speaker 1: years earlier, Yeah, which was kind of strange. Um literally

1159
01:04:15,200 --> 01:04:17,800
Speaker 1: standing in the same spot. Go in a different direction,

1160
01:04:18,640 --> 01:04:22,200
Speaker 1: but standing in the same spot. Um yep. And he

1161
01:04:22,280 --> 01:04:27,240
Speaker 1: kind of comes in and I think he I almost say,

1162
01:04:27,280 --> 01:04:30,680
Speaker 1: he kind of crusted that hill and he locked onto me,

1163
01:04:31,200 --> 01:04:33,320
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh my god, like how how

1164
01:04:33,360 --> 01:04:35,400
Speaker 1: did he even know? Like how does he know? Like

1165
01:04:35,440 --> 01:04:38,520
Speaker 1: I'm blended in so perfectly, and he just like stared

1166
01:04:38,560 --> 01:04:40,320
Speaker 1: a hole into me, and I was just like, this

1167
01:04:40,400 --> 01:04:43,920
Speaker 1: is I was in such ah because I thought he

1168
01:04:43,960 --> 01:04:46,760
Speaker 1: had busted me and I wasn't moving or doing anything,

1169
01:04:46,760 --> 01:04:49,560
Speaker 1: but he did catch me off guard. I just wasn't expecting,

1170
01:04:50,200 --> 01:04:52,280
Speaker 1: you know, a buck like that to just appear out

1171
01:04:52,280 --> 01:04:54,760
Speaker 1: of nowhere. You weren't like hung out in a tiny

1172
01:04:54,800 --> 01:04:56,720
Speaker 1: tree either, right, This is like a big oak or

1173
01:04:56,720 --> 01:04:59,200
Speaker 1: something like that. Yeah, I'm not sure what kind of

1174
01:04:59,200 --> 01:05:01,400
Speaker 1: tree it is, but it's a big bushy tree, some

1175
01:05:01,640 --> 01:05:04,919
Speaker 1: tons of limbs and branches and stuff. I mean, you're

1176
01:05:05,040 --> 01:05:08,720
Speaker 1: you're tucked in there, tucked in their good And I

1177
01:05:08,760 --> 01:05:12,560
Speaker 1: don't know if he was staring at that because he

1178
01:05:13,960 --> 01:05:16,800
Speaker 1: maybe he had winded a hunter and there before I

1179
01:05:16,840 --> 01:05:20,840
Speaker 1: don't know, but he definitely locked on and I just

1180
01:05:20,920 --> 01:05:24,920
Speaker 1: held still, and I don't know, maybe twenty seconds went by.

1181
01:05:25,200 --> 01:05:27,440
Speaker 1: We were just kind of both stating there, motionless, and

1182
01:05:27,480 --> 01:05:31,200
Speaker 1: then I saw him flickers tail and then I knew.

1183
01:05:31,480 --> 01:05:33,200
Speaker 1: I knew it was I was going to get a shot.

1184
01:05:33,280 --> 01:05:36,400
Speaker 1: So he started walking. That the best feeling too, you know,

1185
01:05:36,440 --> 01:05:39,200
Speaker 1: when when you're when they're locked on, you think you're busted,

1186
01:05:39,240 --> 01:05:41,600
Speaker 1: and then they do that tail flick that just says

1187
01:05:41,680 --> 01:05:45,160
Speaker 1: that just says okay, yeah, I'm all right. Yeah yeah,

1188
01:05:45,240 --> 01:05:47,160
Speaker 1: And if you can just you know, I've been in

1189
01:05:47,200 --> 01:05:50,160
Speaker 1: that situation so many times, you can just hold still

1190
01:05:50,200 --> 01:05:53,160
Speaker 1: and be patient and wait them out. Sometimes it's it's minutes,

1191
01:05:53,320 --> 01:05:56,960
Speaker 1: you know. Sometimes it's ten minutes. Yeah, sometimes it's ten

1192
01:05:57,000 --> 01:06:00,680
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes, that's right. But yeah, it was a relief,

1193
01:06:00,920 --> 01:06:04,800
Speaker 1: to say the least. But then he started walking and

1194
01:06:04,840 --> 01:06:08,080
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, you know, he's in range. Whenever

1195
01:06:08,120 --> 01:06:12,080
Speaker 1: he stops, we're good to go. So he ended up

1196
01:06:12,080 --> 01:06:14,880
Speaker 1: stopping naturally, which is, you know, what I always want,

1197
01:06:15,440 --> 01:06:19,160
Speaker 1: and I drew back and shot and hit him, and

1198
01:06:19,200 --> 01:06:21,440
Speaker 1: he took off, and it was kind of one of

1199
01:06:21,440 --> 01:06:28,120
Speaker 1: those weird deals where you know, I didn't wasn't sure

1200
01:06:28,120 --> 01:06:30,680
Speaker 1: where I hit him, and you know, I was. That's

1201
01:06:30,760 --> 01:06:33,000
Speaker 1: kind of why I called you initially, because I was like,

1202
01:06:33,160 --> 01:06:36,400
Speaker 1: you know, a deer, you know, I was. I was

1203
01:06:36,480 --> 01:06:38,720
Speaker 1: kind of freaked out. It was the deer, the size

1204
01:06:38,760 --> 01:06:41,080
Speaker 1: of the deer, have a little bit of history with

1205
01:06:41,160 --> 01:06:42,720
Speaker 1: and I wasn't sure on the hit, and I was like,

1206
01:06:42,760 --> 01:06:45,040
Speaker 1: I just felt better maybe getting a dog out there.

1207
01:06:46,360 --> 01:06:49,040
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not super confident, to be honest with you,

1208
01:06:49,960 --> 01:06:53,040
Speaker 1: in my tracking skills. I'm I'm red, green, color blind.

1209
01:06:53,080 --> 01:06:57,280
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know that, buddy. So I

1210
01:06:57,320 --> 01:07:00,040
Speaker 1: have a really hard time. I'm getting better at it

1211
01:07:00,120 --> 01:07:02,960
Speaker 1: because I'm I'm starting to get better at other things,

1212
01:07:03,040 --> 01:07:07,200
Speaker 1: seeing other things. Um, but yeah, I usually like to

1213
01:07:07,240 --> 01:07:09,840
Speaker 1: have some couple of friends come out just as back up,

1214
01:07:09,880 --> 01:07:12,560
Speaker 1: and you know, and then and then we have a

1215
01:07:12,640 --> 01:07:16,240
Speaker 1: mutual friend that has a an awesome tracking dog. So

1216
01:07:17,720 --> 01:07:21,479
Speaker 1: I felt it felt more comfortable given the situation, and

1217
01:07:22,720 --> 01:07:25,840
Speaker 1: because it was about to rain, just started raining right

1218
01:07:25,880 --> 01:07:28,760
Speaker 1: after the shot, right, yeah, immediately after the shot, it

1219
01:07:28,800 --> 01:07:31,160
Speaker 1: started coming down and started coming down pretty good too.

1220
01:07:32,280 --> 01:07:35,880
Speaker 1: So yeah, so then we uh, you know, we had

1221
01:07:35,880 --> 01:07:38,200
Speaker 1: her buddy Andy come out with the dog and uh,

1222
01:07:39,000 --> 01:07:41,760
Speaker 1: she's a rock star, she is. Yeah, we had we

1223
01:07:41,800 --> 01:07:46,680
Speaker 1: had definitely had trouble um you know, finding first blood. Um,

1224
01:07:46,720 --> 01:07:49,640
Speaker 1: I don't know that I would have found it. I feel,

1225
01:07:49,680 --> 01:07:53,440
Speaker 1: I feel I for sure would have found the deer eventually.

1226
01:07:54,000 --> 01:07:56,360
Speaker 1: But the way the dog picked it up instantly, it

1227
01:07:56,440 --> 01:08:00,320
Speaker 1: was it was it just felt so good. Yeah, she was.

1228
01:08:00,400 --> 01:08:02,680
Speaker 1: She was on it like in just a matter of minutes.

1229
01:08:02,720 --> 01:08:04,479
Speaker 1: And then she was kind of heading down the hill

1230
01:08:04,560 --> 01:08:07,040
Speaker 1: and we're heading in the direction where of the deer.

1231
01:08:07,680 --> 01:08:10,880
Speaker 1: I was gone. We started down this crest and we

1232
01:08:11,000 --> 01:08:14,240
Speaker 1: look up and we can see my uh nocturnal, my

1233
01:08:14,360 --> 01:08:18,960
Speaker 1: lighted knock glowing in the darkness. And I was like, oh,

1234
01:08:19,320 --> 01:08:23,320
Speaker 1: Like I felt a sense of relief because I knew,

1235
01:08:23,360 --> 01:08:25,280
Speaker 1: I knew I didn't get a pass through. I saw

1236
01:08:25,360 --> 01:08:28,479
Speaker 1: that the arrow actually stay in the deer. But then

1237
01:08:28,520 --> 01:08:29,920
Speaker 1: I thought, well what if you you know, what if

1238
01:08:29,960 --> 01:08:32,559
Speaker 1: you wiggled it out and it's just my arrow? You know.

1239
01:08:32,600 --> 01:08:35,200
Speaker 1: So there was like relief and then panic, and we

1240
01:08:35,280 --> 01:08:37,720
Speaker 1: ended up going up there and in their lay. So

1241
01:08:38,200 --> 01:08:43,280
Speaker 1: it was a really cool moment with U. You know, again,

1242
01:08:43,720 --> 01:08:47,720
Speaker 1: what I lived for just being around friends Um, I

1243
01:08:47,840 --> 01:08:51,000
Speaker 1: just love that, not not just for my recoveries, but

1244
01:08:51,120 --> 01:08:53,439
Speaker 1: for their recoveries to I just I really enjoyed that

1245
01:08:53,479 --> 01:08:56,560
Speaker 1: part of the hunt. Yeah, that is that's a special

1246
01:08:56,640 --> 01:08:58,680
Speaker 1: thing to be a part of. I was. I was

1247
01:08:58,720 --> 01:09:00,280
Speaker 1: really glad to be there, and that was is a

1248
01:09:00,520 --> 01:09:03,519
Speaker 1: really really awesome buck. I don't I don't think you

1249
01:09:03,640 --> 01:09:06,439
Speaker 1: did you've you've done it justice in describing him. Yet.

1250
01:09:06,479 --> 01:09:10,360
Speaker 1: He's a super huge body, big necked. I mean this

1251
01:09:10,439 --> 01:09:12,960
Speaker 1: is October twelve or whatever. He had full blown like

1252
01:09:13,080 --> 01:09:18,920
Speaker 1: rutt neck going on, and a typical eight pointer, right,

1253
01:09:19,400 --> 01:09:22,000
Speaker 1: but just the most mass you could ever ask for

1254
01:09:22,120 --> 01:09:25,280
Speaker 1: on an eight point. He's tight and tall, just tons

1255
01:09:25,280 --> 01:09:28,719
Speaker 1: of mass and then these deep splits on both G twos,

1256
01:09:28,840 --> 01:09:32,880
Speaker 1: right yeah, Yeah, he's got the deep mule deer splits

1257
01:09:32,920 --> 01:09:37,120
Speaker 1: on both G twos, and I mean it's I know

1258
01:09:37,200 --> 01:09:39,880
Speaker 1: there's heavier deer out there, but uh, you know around

1259
01:09:39,920 --> 01:09:41,840
Speaker 1: the bases and that first part of the main being

1260
01:09:41,880 --> 01:09:44,599
Speaker 1: that's the that's the one of the heaviest deer I've

1261
01:09:44,600 --> 01:09:48,920
Speaker 1: ever seen. The masses just insane. But yeah, he's a

1262
01:09:49,000 --> 01:09:51,400
Speaker 1: really cool, like one of a kind deer for sure.

1263
01:09:51,439 --> 01:09:53,280
Speaker 1: He's like one of those ones that you just you know,

1264
01:09:53,360 --> 01:09:57,160
Speaker 1: you'll never shoot one like it. Yeah. Yeah, that's I

1265
01:09:57,240 --> 01:10:01,600
Speaker 1: was blown away by that deer. Its just an awesome buck. Yeah. Um,

1266
01:10:01,920 --> 01:10:04,880
Speaker 1: So you kicked off your Michigan season while there. Now

1267
01:10:05,000 --> 01:10:08,080
Speaker 1: from that point on, we can skip Nebraska. We covered

1268
01:10:08,120 --> 01:10:11,479
Speaker 1: Nebraska already pretty good. Yeah, but walk me through the

1269
01:10:11,520 --> 01:10:14,320
Speaker 1: rest of your Michigan season because you had two more,

1270
01:10:14,680 --> 01:10:19,200
Speaker 1: two more good opportunities, right yeah. Um gosh, it was

1271
01:10:19,400 --> 01:10:25,040
Speaker 1: you know, late October November. I just had some phenomenal hunts.

1272
01:10:25,080 --> 01:10:27,080
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember, but I was texting

1273
01:10:27,120 --> 01:10:31,200
Speaker 1: a multiple times where you know, I was like, every

1274
01:10:31,200 --> 01:10:35,240
Speaker 1: time you hunted, you haven't been awesome. And it was

1275
01:10:35,280 --> 01:10:39,120
Speaker 1: one of those years where what, for whatever reason, call

1276
01:10:39,160 --> 01:10:42,519
Speaker 1: it lock, call it you know, just being dialed in.

1277
01:10:43,560 --> 01:10:47,599
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I was routinely getting on good bucks.

1278
01:10:48,160 --> 01:10:53,439
Speaker 1: It wasn't every hunt, but um, I was routinely having

1279
01:10:53,560 --> 01:10:58,759
Speaker 1: encounters and having close calls, and you know, and they weren't.

1280
01:10:58,800 --> 01:11:00,720
Speaker 1: It's not like these are all in one spot. These

1281
01:11:00,760 --> 01:11:03,639
Speaker 1: were all in different areas. But I was, and what

1282
01:11:03,680 --> 01:11:08,439
Speaker 1: I apologize, were always jumping in on you. But can

1283
01:11:08,479 --> 01:11:11,400
Speaker 1: you tell me, I mean right, you were there was

1284
01:11:11,439 --> 01:11:14,680
Speaker 1: no rut there's no rut vacation. There was no big trip, right.

1285
01:11:14,760 --> 01:11:18,360
Speaker 1: This is you were hunting weekends and then some evenings

1286
01:11:18,360 --> 01:11:21,559
Speaker 1: after work, Is that right? Or what what else were

1287
01:11:21,560 --> 01:11:24,000
Speaker 1: you doing? If that's not the case. Yeah, that's the case.

1288
01:11:24,040 --> 01:11:27,720
Speaker 1: And it's funny because I really haven't hunted much during

1289
01:11:27,760 --> 01:11:31,719
Speaker 1: the rut in Michigan the last few years. I usually

1290
01:11:31,760 --> 01:11:35,040
Speaker 1: that's usually when I try to hunt out of state

1291
01:11:35,120 --> 01:11:39,960
Speaker 1: more um. But this year, because of Wyoming, UM, I

1292
01:11:40,040 --> 01:11:42,599
Speaker 1: was really limited on what I could you know, make

1293
01:11:42,680 --> 01:11:45,400
Speaker 1: work um, you know during the rest of the season.

1294
01:11:45,479 --> 01:11:49,280
Speaker 1: So I was actually kind of excited too to hunt

1295
01:11:49,320 --> 01:11:51,000
Speaker 1: the Rutton Michigan because I knew there were some good

1296
01:11:51,000 --> 01:11:53,559
Speaker 1: ones around and um, you know, I know, I know

1297
01:11:53,680 --> 01:11:56,479
Speaker 1: these areas and uh, I just never give them the

1298
01:11:56,520 --> 01:11:59,840
Speaker 1: time they deserved during November just because I'm I've asked

1299
01:11:59,840 --> 01:12:02,960
Speaker 1: for reasons of hunting new lands and seeing new places

1300
01:12:03,000 --> 01:12:05,240
Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff. But it was kind

1301
01:12:05,240 --> 01:12:10,000
Speaker 1: of cool to hang around home. And yeah, I was

1302
01:12:10,120 --> 01:12:13,080
Speaker 1: really aggressive with my inseason scouting, and that goes back to,

1303
01:12:13,640 --> 01:12:18,439
Speaker 1: you know, to kind of really being tuned into what's

1304
01:12:18,479 --> 01:12:21,400
Speaker 1: going on, um in each area. You know when things

1305
01:12:21,400 --> 01:12:24,559
Speaker 1: are hot and you know, I was Can you describe

1306
01:12:24,560 --> 01:12:26,800
Speaker 1: a couple of specific examples of what you're doing at

1307
01:12:26,800 --> 01:12:29,360
Speaker 1: that time of year that was aggressive in that way? Yeah,

1308
01:12:29,520 --> 01:12:32,679
Speaker 1: just um, I guess, uh, you know, I was really

1309
01:12:32,680 --> 01:12:38,280
Speaker 1: trying to focus in on certain areas when you know

1310
01:12:39,720 --> 01:12:42,599
Speaker 1: where in the past they've been good during that time frame,

1311
01:12:42,960 --> 01:12:45,240
Speaker 1: and it just seemed like I was always on the

1312
01:12:45,280 --> 01:12:48,240
Speaker 1: mark with it this year, or doing a lot of

1313
01:12:48,280 --> 01:12:50,720
Speaker 1: in season scouting. There's a lot of times I had

1314
01:12:50,720 --> 01:12:57,640
Speaker 1: that that mantis saddle and predator platform. I used that

1315
01:12:57,720 --> 01:13:00,320
Speaker 1: this year, and I was just kind of gung hole about,

1316
01:13:00,760 --> 01:13:02,800
Speaker 1: you know, hanging and hunting and being mobile, and so

1317
01:13:02,880 --> 01:13:05,720
Speaker 1: I did. I used that a lot, and it was

1318
01:13:05,760 --> 01:13:08,559
Speaker 1: just really kind of a few a few hunts, just

1319
01:13:08,640 --> 01:13:11,240
Speaker 1: kind of going in and hunting and setting up on

1320
01:13:11,280 --> 01:13:15,160
Speaker 1: hot sign or setting up on the ground still hunting.

1321
01:13:15,479 --> 01:13:17,160
Speaker 1: I mean, I was trying it all. I tried the

1322
01:13:19,439 --> 01:13:22,360
Speaker 1: I had a hunt with a bow mounted decoy UM

1323
01:13:22,560 --> 01:13:25,360
Speaker 1: and had an awesome encounter with that. UM. I was

1324
01:13:25,439 --> 01:13:28,720
Speaker 1: really just being real aggressive because I I already had

1325
01:13:28,720 --> 01:13:31,559
Speaker 1: a buck down and I was like kind of, I guess,

1326
01:13:32,040 --> 01:13:34,280
Speaker 1: shooting for the stars and and just trying to make

1327
01:13:34,320 --> 01:13:38,840
Speaker 1: every hunt, trying to make every hunt count I wanted.

1328
01:13:39,800 --> 01:13:45,479
Speaker 1: I wanted it to be a real UM. I guess

1329
01:13:45,560 --> 01:13:48,679
Speaker 1: dialed in kill set that I felt really confident going

1330
01:13:48,720 --> 01:13:53,240
Speaker 1: in UM that I would have success or I was

1331
01:13:53,280 --> 01:13:55,720
Speaker 1: going to try to make it happen. So that was

1332
01:13:55,800 --> 01:13:59,880
Speaker 1: kind of my strategy. So it's kind of like, would

1333
01:13:59,880 --> 01:14:01,320
Speaker 1: you would it be fair to say than a lot

1334
01:14:01,320 --> 01:14:03,200
Speaker 1: of those cases you were kind of swinging for the

1335
01:14:03,240 --> 01:14:04,880
Speaker 1: fences with each hunt and it was either gonna be

1336
01:14:04,880 --> 01:14:10,599
Speaker 1: a home run or a complete strikeout probably, And would

1337
01:14:10,640 --> 01:14:12,679
Speaker 1: I be right in saying that The reason you can

1338
01:14:12,760 --> 01:14:16,320
Speaker 1: do that was because you had so many other options

1339
01:14:16,320 --> 01:14:18,080
Speaker 1: lined up. So if you swung for the home run

1340
01:14:18,120 --> 01:14:20,960
Speaker 1: on this spot and it didn't work out, it's okay

1341
01:14:21,000 --> 01:14:23,400
Speaker 1: that you blew out this little thicket or whatever because

1342
01:14:23,400 --> 01:14:25,760
Speaker 1: you knew you've got seven other spots you can go

1343
01:14:25,800 --> 01:14:29,200
Speaker 1: and try it to, right. Yeah, yeah, totally. Well you

1344
01:14:29,240 --> 01:14:35,920
Speaker 1: gotta remember too, I you know, I I set up

1345
01:14:36,080 --> 01:14:42,320
Speaker 1: my season ahead of time too. I guess I would

1346
01:14:42,320 --> 01:14:46,200
Speaker 1: never go into a season with having scouted two areas.

1347
01:14:47,360 --> 01:14:49,080
Speaker 1: You know, I would never go into a season of

1348
01:14:49,160 --> 01:14:52,120
Speaker 1: scouted five areas. You know, I'm going to go into

1349
01:14:52,200 --> 01:14:58,080
Speaker 1: each and every season having plan A and A backup,

1350
01:14:58,280 --> 01:15:00,240
Speaker 1: and a backup for that, and a backup for that,

1351
01:15:00,439 --> 01:15:03,719
Speaker 1: a backup for that. And you know, I I enjoy

1352
01:15:03,840 --> 01:15:08,320
Speaker 1: scouting as much as hunting, So I feel like I'm

1353
01:15:08,360 --> 01:15:12,120
Speaker 1: more than prepared. I'm overprepared, if that makes sense, And

1354
01:15:12,160 --> 01:15:14,439
Speaker 1: I would it would, I've said this before. I would

1355
01:15:14,439 --> 01:15:18,880
Speaker 1: have to be extremely unlucky to not at least have

1356
01:15:19,080 --> 01:15:22,880
Speaker 1: some success, because I mean, I I do scout. I

1357
01:15:22,960 --> 01:15:25,760
Speaker 1: scout year round whenever I have free time. That's what

1358
01:15:25,880 --> 01:15:30,240
Speaker 1: I'm doing. I don't do much else. Um, so that

1359
01:15:30,240 --> 01:15:33,040
Speaker 1: that helps a lot. I mean that's huge for me.

1360
01:15:33,120 --> 01:15:35,240
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that's what everybody needs to do

1361
01:15:35,360 --> 01:15:38,760
Speaker 1: or should do. It's just what I do. So so

1362
01:15:39,280 --> 01:15:42,480
Speaker 1: what walk us through? Then? In Michigan, you're you're getting aggressive,

1363
01:15:42,520 --> 01:15:46,320
Speaker 1: you're shooting for the stars on each hunt. Every um,

1364
01:15:47,760 --> 01:15:51,320
Speaker 1: maybe describe the shot you did get or or if

1365
01:15:51,320 --> 01:15:56,800
Speaker 1: you encounters or whatever you want to share on that front. Yeah, well, um, yeah,

1366
01:15:56,840 --> 01:15:59,680
Speaker 1: I'll talk about the November twelve buck. And then I

1367
01:15:59,720 --> 01:16:04,759
Speaker 1: did have a uh two good hunts in northern Ohio

1368
01:16:04,840 --> 01:16:07,360
Speaker 1: during that time frame, two which actually led to my

1369
01:16:07,520 --> 01:16:11,360
Speaker 1: kill in Ohio in late November. But so this the

1370
01:16:11,800 --> 01:16:16,800
Speaker 1: buck I got on November twelve. Again. This this was

1371
01:16:16,840 --> 01:16:18,960
Speaker 1: a buck I knew about as a buck that I

1372
01:16:19,040 --> 01:16:24,360
Speaker 1: had seen in the summer and had had observed. Um,

1373
01:16:24,400 --> 01:16:28,759
Speaker 1: I was able to actually visually find this dear's track

1374
01:16:28,920 --> 01:16:31,080
Speaker 1: after I observed him. I was able to walk the

1375
01:16:31,720 --> 01:16:36,400
Speaker 1: field edge, right, you know, and I like to do that, yeah,

1376
01:16:36,439 --> 01:16:38,400
Speaker 1: this summer. So you saw him in the summer, and

1377
01:16:38,439 --> 01:16:40,519
Speaker 1: then you actually said, Okay, I saw that buck. I

1378
01:16:40,520 --> 01:16:41,800
Speaker 1: want to hunt that buck, so I want to go

1379
01:16:41,840 --> 01:16:45,440
Speaker 1: find this track. You actually did that, ye, I did that. Yeah,

1380
01:16:47,200 --> 01:16:53,519
Speaker 1: any anytime there's a chance to I mean, I'm not

1381
01:16:53,560 --> 01:16:56,240
Speaker 1: gonna I'm not gonna risk at all to go to

1382
01:16:56,360 --> 01:16:59,439
Speaker 1: go look at a track, but if I can, uh,

1383
01:16:59,479 --> 01:17:02,120
Speaker 1: if I can get that piece, that can help me

1384
01:17:02,160 --> 01:17:05,840
Speaker 1: a lot um And I haven't always been able to

1385
01:17:05,880 --> 01:17:08,439
Speaker 1: do that on all my books, but this one in particular,

1386
01:17:08,439 --> 01:17:13,040
Speaker 1: I was able to. Um So, anyway, he had a

1387
01:17:13,120 --> 01:17:16,240
Speaker 1: fairly unique track. I think I posted a picture of

1388
01:17:16,280 --> 01:17:19,720
Speaker 1: this online. But he had one toe that kind of

1389
01:17:19,760 --> 01:17:21,479
Speaker 1: curled over and was a little bit longer than the

1390
01:17:21,479 --> 01:17:25,240
Speaker 1: other one. So just you know, I didn't know at

1391
01:17:25,280 --> 01:17:28,040
Speaker 1: the time that this that would help me um in

1392
01:17:28,160 --> 01:17:31,280
Speaker 1: killing this buck, but it ends up helping me. Um

1393
01:17:31,320 --> 01:17:36,200
Speaker 1: just one of those things. He was not. I knew

1394
01:17:36,200 --> 01:17:37,960
Speaker 1: if I had an opportunity at this year, I would

1395
01:17:37,960 --> 01:17:41,439
Speaker 1: shoot him because he's incredibly unique also, but he was

1396
01:17:41,520 --> 01:17:45,120
Speaker 1: not the book I was, you know, the buck I

1397
01:17:45,200 --> 01:17:48,519
Speaker 1: really wanted. The book I really wanted was a different

1398
01:17:48,600 --> 01:17:50,960
Speaker 1: nine pointer that I told you about on the way

1399
01:17:50,960 --> 01:17:54,800
Speaker 1: to Nebraska. That was. That was the one. But um,

1400
01:17:56,400 --> 01:17:58,560
Speaker 1: I kind of knew, you know, if I if I

1401
01:17:58,600 --> 01:18:01,479
Speaker 1: saw this buck, I wouldn't be able to h you know,

1402
01:18:01,560 --> 01:18:03,320
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be able to hold off because he has

1403
01:18:03,360 --> 01:18:09,000
Speaker 1: a really kind of freakish, you know, goofball um. But anyway,

1404
01:18:09,479 --> 01:18:11,200
Speaker 1: you get you got you gotta describe what the heck

1405
01:18:11,240 --> 01:18:17,720
Speaker 1: that means. Yeah, yeah, okay, So he's got this perfect side, right,

1406
01:18:17,720 --> 01:18:20,200
Speaker 1: he's got this perfect side of five, like a beautiful

1407
01:18:20,280 --> 01:18:25,080
Speaker 1: half of a ten point, and then his his other

1408
01:18:25,160 --> 01:18:29,280
Speaker 1: side of the antler it it has a brow time,

1409
01:18:30,120 --> 01:18:34,000
Speaker 1: and then the main beam starts squiggling up and down,

1410
01:18:34,160 --> 01:18:38,080
Speaker 1: up and down, up and down, almost like a I

1411
01:18:38,120 --> 01:18:40,000
Speaker 1: don't even know how you'd explain it, like a worm,

1412
01:18:40,040 --> 01:18:44,000
Speaker 1: like you know, like a worm all curved up up

1413
01:18:44,000 --> 01:18:46,000
Speaker 1: and down, up and down like a wave almost. But

1414
01:18:46,040 --> 01:18:49,280
Speaker 1: they're all points. So he's got he's got eight on

1415
01:18:49,320 --> 01:18:52,000
Speaker 1: that side, and then he's got at the end of

1416
01:18:52,040 --> 01:18:56,160
Speaker 1: all those little waves he's got he had two big

1417
01:18:56,200 --> 01:18:59,720
Speaker 1: giant hooks. One was like seven inches and then then

1418
01:18:59,720 --> 01:19:01,439
Speaker 1: the one that was still on there he had up

1419
01:19:01,439 --> 01:19:04,439
Speaker 1: breaking one off, but the other one's like nine. So

1420
01:19:04,640 --> 01:19:07,240
Speaker 1: just like I mean, just a freak, you know, just

1421
01:19:07,280 --> 01:19:12,760
Speaker 1: a really strange odd rack. Um. But anyway, I had

1422
01:19:12,800 --> 01:19:16,920
Speaker 1: seen him a couple of times from like observation stands

1423
01:19:16,920 --> 01:19:19,760
Speaker 1: in October, way off, way off where I couldn't He's

1424
01:19:19,800 --> 01:19:25,120
Speaker 1: on peace of private that I can't access, and I

1425
01:19:25,600 --> 01:19:27,639
Speaker 1: was like, man, he is really cool, Like you see

1426
01:19:27,680 --> 01:19:32,720
Speaker 1: him and you just know it's him. And um, So anyway,

1427
01:19:32,760 --> 01:19:36,280
Speaker 1: this is at a spot near my work where I

1428
01:19:36,479 --> 01:19:39,800
Speaker 1: routinely and I don't do this everywhere, so I don't want,

1429
01:19:40,120 --> 01:19:42,160
Speaker 1: you know, the listeners to think this is the way

1430
01:19:42,160 --> 01:19:44,800
Speaker 1: I do things. But this is a spot where I

1431
01:19:44,920 --> 01:19:51,879
Speaker 1: check a camera often every two days, every three days. Um,

1432
01:19:51,920 --> 01:19:55,000
Speaker 1: because it's in a spot where I don't hunt. It's

1433
01:19:55,080 --> 01:19:58,000
Speaker 1: it's in a it's in a an egg on the

1434
01:19:58,280 --> 01:20:01,640
Speaker 1: you know, near an egg field. Um. I'll walk the

1435
01:20:01,720 --> 01:20:03,719
Speaker 1: edge of the egg field and I'll check the camera.

1436
01:20:03,760 --> 01:20:05,479
Speaker 1: I go the same way in the same way out

1437
01:20:05,520 --> 01:20:09,800
Speaker 1: every time, and I just check it often. And all

1438
01:20:09,920 --> 01:20:14,479
Speaker 1: I want to know is when a deer is coming through. Uh.

1439
01:20:14,520 --> 01:20:16,439
Speaker 1: If a deer is going to come through, it's kind

1440
01:20:16,439 --> 01:20:18,920
Speaker 1: of hard to explain come through the cover where I

1441
01:20:18,960 --> 01:20:21,760
Speaker 1: do hunt. This is where they end up. And you're

1442
01:20:21,760 --> 01:20:27,000
Speaker 1: getting these pictures there probably at nighttime, right and you're there. Yeah, Well,

1443
01:20:27,040 --> 01:20:30,080
Speaker 1: I'm mainly looking for the Big Nine, and there's nothing.

1444
01:20:30,240 --> 01:20:33,760
Speaker 1: There's no pictures, there's no tracks. I mean, this is

1445
01:20:33,800 --> 01:20:37,599
Speaker 1: a spot where if there's a big track, it's it's

1446
01:20:37,600 --> 01:20:40,320
Speaker 1: going to be the Big Nine or the only other

1447
01:20:40,360 --> 01:20:43,559
Speaker 1: deer that this head any size was this one. So

1448
01:20:43,600 --> 01:20:46,479
Speaker 1: I was only I was focused on the Big Nine

1449
01:20:46,520 --> 01:20:48,360
Speaker 1: with the back of my mind knowing that this freak

1450
01:20:48,439 --> 01:20:54,200
Speaker 1: is out there somewhere. But between mid October and you know,

1451
01:20:54,320 --> 01:20:59,400
Speaker 1: early November, mid November, I I didn't see that goofball one. Um,

1452
01:21:00,040 --> 01:21:03,800
Speaker 1: I had no pictures, no tracks, nothing. I assumed he

1453
01:21:03,880 --> 01:21:08,120
Speaker 1: got shot because most dear in the series just get shot. Um.

1454
01:21:08,200 --> 01:21:11,599
Speaker 1: But it's still one of those spots where I haven't

1455
01:21:11,600 --> 01:21:14,320
Speaker 1: set up where I checked the camera often. I don't

1456
01:21:14,320 --> 01:21:16,880
Speaker 1: care if I they smell me here because I'm hunting

1457
01:21:16,960 --> 01:21:21,240
Speaker 1: them two yards away. In fact, it doesn't bother me

1458
01:21:21,240 --> 01:21:24,280
Speaker 1: at all. They come at night. This is a spot

1459
01:21:24,280 --> 01:21:30,240
Speaker 1: where they end up at night. So it's November. What

1460
01:21:30,320 --> 01:21:32,200
Speaker 1: day did I go out there? I shot him on

1461
01:21:32,240 --> 01:21:35,559
Speaker 1: the twelve, so it must have been the tenth. I

1462
01:21:35,560 --> 01:21:37,960
Speaker 1: can't remember it was the tenth or the eleventh. But

1463
01:21:38,040 --> 01:21:42,960
Speaker 1: I go out there, check the camera. Yep, midday. I

1464
01:21:43,040 --> 01:21:45,800
Speaker 1: usually do it right at my lunch. Um. There's a

1465
01:21:45,840 --> 01:21:48,479
Speaker 1: couple of spots where I you know, a couple of

1466
01:21:48,479 --> 01:21:52,200
Speaker 1: spots where I'm kind of I'll do some scouting, you know,

1467
01:21:52,240 --> 01:21:56,519
Speaker 1: maybe check a camera, maybe kind of go uh, you know,

1468
01:21:56,960 --> 01:21:59,639
Speaker 1: just I get an hour for lunch. So that there's

1469
01:22:00,000 --> 01:22:02,759
Speaker 1: I'm lucky in the fact that I've got some spots

1470
01:22:02,840 --> 01:22:05,160
Speaker 1: near my work where I can get out and just

1471
01:22:05,280 --> 01:22:10,519
Speaker 1: check some low impact spots like this. And I checked

1472
01:22:10,520 --> 01:22:13,519
Speaker 1: the camera and I didn't have anything on the camera.

1473
01:22:14,400 --> 01:22:16,479
Speaker 1: But on my way back out, like I said, I

1474
01:22:16,520 --> 01:22:19,679
Speaker 1: walked the perimeter of this field, I see a track

1475
01:22:20,720 --> 01:22:23,080
Speaker 1: and it's a big one and I'm like, oh, I

1476
01:22:23,160 --> 01:22:26,040
Speaker 1: hadn't seen one there all year. And I look and

1477
01:22:26,080 --> 01:22:28,840
Speaker 1: it's that track, the one with the curve foot the

1478
01:22:28,960 --> 01:22:31,559
Speaker 1: longer toe than the other, and I was like, man,

1479
01:22:31,600 --> 01:22:34,960
Speaker 1: that's it, that's that freake deer. So I had no

1480
01:22:35,040 --> 01:22:39,840
Speaker 1: idea if it was, you know, I didn't know what time,

1481
01:22:40,080 --> 01:22:42,360
Speaker 1: you know, the day that happened. I assumed at night.

1482
01:22:42,439 --> 01:22:45,519
Speaker 1: This is a spot where, you know, where are these

1483
01:22:45,560 --> 01:22:49,479
Speaker 1: dear bed I can't get close to Okay, I can't

1484
01:22:49,520 --> 01:22:54,040
Speaker 1: hunt it, um, So I'm hunting off of that in

1485
01:22:54,160 --> 01:22:57,320
Speaker 1: some thick cover. But they do come over into this field,

1486
01:22:58,200 --> 01:23:03,400
Speaker 1: but it's usually at night. But the reason I decided

1487
01:23:03,439 --> 01:23:06,439
Speaker 1: to sit, even though I don't I knew he was

1488
01:23:06,479 --> 01:23:09,320
Speaker 1: coming into this area, even though I didn't know when exactly,

1489
01:23:10,600 --> 01:23:13,439
Speaker 1: you know, everything about this told me, you know, if

1490
01:23:13,439 --> 01:23:15,240
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have a chance at him, I'm gonna sit

1491
01:23:15,280 --> 01:23:17,479
Speaker 1: back here at this spot. And I have this spot

1492
01:23:17,560 --> 01:23:20,360
Speaker 1: picked out because it's it funnels down between some train

1493
01:23:20,479 --> 01:23:24,759
Speaker 1: features and some water. So when deer kind of work

1494
01:23:24,800 --> 01:23:27,599
Speaker 1: off this big piece of private and they come through

1495
01:23:27,680 --> 01:23:31,200
Speaker 1: this area and then over to this field, and there's

1496
01:23:31,240 --> 01:23:33,840
Speaker 1: a there's a small doverd over there too. So every

1497
01:23:33,920 --> 01:23:37,240
Speaker 1: year around this time it starts to attract bucks. And

1498
01:23:37,640 --> 01:23:39,599
Speaker 1: this is not an area that usually gets a lot

1499
01:23:39,600 --> 01:23:44,559
Speaker 1: of buck activity, but I've killed one there November four

1500
01:23:45,280 --> 01:23:52,240
Speaker 1: twelve and the fourteen. Um so that that that funnel

1501
01:23:52,240 --> 01:23:54,559
Speaker 1: that I'm talking about is way off this field. It's

1502
01:23:54,640 --> 01:23:58,000
Speaker 1: way back in some really thick security cover. And I

1503
01:23:58,080 --> 01:24:01,040
Speaker 1: come in a completely different way that to hip waiters.

1504
01:24:02,200 --> 01:24:06,000
Speaker 1: So as soon as I saw that track, I was like, Okay,

1505
01:24:06,080 --> 01:24:08,040
Speaker 1: now I gotta start sitting that spot. And I had

1506
01:24:08,080 --> 01:24:13,240
Speaker 1: not sit that spot yet. And in fact, the funny

1507
01:24:13,280 --> 01:24:15,559
Speaker 1: thing is I've killed three bucks out of that stand,

1508
01:24:15,600 --> 01:24:17,760
Speaker 1: and they were all the first time I sat at it.

1509
01:24:19,160 --> 01:24:23,160
Speaker 1: So in the past I had done it more with timing,

1510
01:24:24,160 --> 01:24:26,960
Speaker 1: you know, I sat there in November fourteen because I knew,

1511
01:24:27,960 --> 01:24:31,599
Speaker 1: you know, that time of years is when the bucks

1512
01:24:31,640 --> 01:24:34,080
Speaker 1: tend to start coming through that area because they start

1513
01:24:34,120 --> 01:24:36,040
Speaker 1: to I don't know what it is if that hurt

1514
01:24:36,120 --> 01:24:39,840
Speaker 1: that little doe group there, you know, comes in, you know,

1515
01:24:39,920 --> 01:24:41,479
Speaker 1: if they have a couple of does that come in

1516
01:24:41,600 --> 01:24:43,840
Speaker 1: right at that time or what, But that just always

1517
01:24:43,840 --> 01:24:48,320
Speaker 1: seems to be that kind of November four through is

1518
01:24:48,360 --> 01:24:52,599
Speaker 1: that little window there where that particular spot heats up

1519
01:24:52,760 --> 01:24:58,040
Speaker 1: you can hunt it October, you know, Halloween, nothing, and

1520
01:24:58,080 --> 01:24:59,880
Speaker 1: it's just it's been like that. I don't know why

1521
01:25:00,000 --> 01:25:03,639
Speaker 1: it's just goes back to you know, just knowing knowing

1522
01:25:03,640 --> 01:25:08,800
Speaker 1: your areas, I guess. But anyway, UM, so like I said,

1523
01:25:08,840 --> 01:25:12,479
Speaker 1: you gotta I get into this spot using hip waiters.

1524
01:25:12,479 --> 01:25:15,560
Speaker 1: You gotta walk through basically this high water and you

1525
01:25:15,680 --> 01:25:20,160
Speaker 1: come in way behind all of that cover, so you're

1526
01:25:20,200 --> 01:25:23,880
Speaker 1: coming in kind of the backside. And there's another another

1527
01:25:24,360 --> 01:25:26,360
Speaker 1: couple of people that hunt have hunted up in that

1528
01:25:26,479 --> 01:25:28,519
Speaker 1: field that I was talking about, so that that field

1529
01:25:28,520 --> 01:25:31,160
Speaker 1: gets some pressure so it keeps the deer back in

1530
01:25:31,280 --> 01:25:36,880
Speaker 1: this cover where I was hunting. Um, and I snuck

1531
01:25:36,880 --> 01:25:38,680
Speaker 1: in there and I got up in that spot. I

1532
01:25:38,720 --> 01:25:41,599
Speaker 1: got up in that tree. This was after work, and

1533
01:25:42,640 --> 01:25:45,880
Speaker 1: you know, I was just sitting there and I, I

1534
01:25:45,880 --> 01:25:47,559
Speaker 1: don't know, it was one of those things I was

1535
01:25:48,080 --> 01:25:50,280
Speaker 1: kind of probably daydreaming. I should have seen this buck

1536
01:25:50,320 --> 01:25:53,759
Speaker 1: coming from a long ways away, but I didn't. And uh,

1537
01:25:53,840 --> 01:25:56,080
Speaker 1: I kind of look up and he's like at thirty

1538
01:25:56,120 --> 01:25:58,479
Speaker 1: five yards closing in fast. And this was about thirty

1539
01:25:58,520 --> 01:26:01,800
Speaker 1: minutes of daylight left and I see him and I

1540
01:26:01,840 --> 01:26:03,800
Speaker 1: see that big old hook coming off the one side,

1541
01:26:03,800 --> 01:26:06,160
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh man, there he is. So

1542
01:26:06,520 --> 01:26:11,080
Speaker 1: that that track led me to to sitting that spot

1543
01:26:11,160 --> 01:26:13,920
Speaker 1: for at that time frame. Um, I probably was going

1544
01:26:13,960 --> 01:26:16,400
Speaker 1: to start. You know, I always put in a set

1545
01:26:16,479 --> 01:26:18,760
Speaker 1: or two before the gun season there because it routinely

1546
01:26:19,920 --> 01:26:22,400
Speaker 1: heats up during that time and this year was no different.

1547
01:26:22,439 --> 01:26:25,760
Speaker 1: But I just I just caught his track and that

1548
01:26:25,920 --> 01:26:28,880
Speaker 1: was the deer that I was moving in on. And

1549
01:26:28,880 --> 01:26:31,240
Speaker 1: it's just one of those situations where the terrain and

1550
01:26:31,280 --> 01:26:34,280
Speaker 1: that water they don't have to go through that funnel,

1551
01:26:35,000 --> 01:26:38,479
Speaker 1: but they almost always do. It's just a really it's

1552
01:26:38,520 --> 01:26:40,840
Speaker 1: just a really high percentage spot. If you can just

1553
01:26:40,880 --> 01:26:43,479
Speaker 1: stay out, if you can stay out and wait till

1554
01:26:43,520 --> 01:26:46,439
Speaker 1: the time is right, it's it's just money. But if

1555
01:26:46,479 --> 01:26:50,519
Speaker 1: you is your access an important part of making that

1556
01:26:50,600 --> 01:26:53,080
Speaker 1: spot work too, because I feel like spots that are

1557
01:26:53,080 --> 01:26:55,160
Speaker 1: way back on the cover are so tricky to hunt

1558
01:26:55,320 --> 01:26:57,639
Speaker 1: when you're trying to go in for an afternoon set

1559
01:26:57,840 --> 01:26:59,800
Speaker 1: like that. How'd you pull it off with a blowing

1560
01:26:59,840 --> 01:27:02,680
Speaker 1: every thing out? Yeah? Well, what I do is I

1561
01:27:02,720 --> 01:27:05,880
Speaker 1: go through this this water, this high water. You know,

1562
01:27:06,080 --> 01:27:08,559
Speaker 1: most people I guess that would probably hunt that would

1563
01:27:08,560 --> 01:27:11,519
Speaker 1: go through the bean field and go through the cover

1564
01:27:11,760 --> 01:27:14,080
Speaker 1: and you know, oh there's a funnel that they're going through.

1565
01:27:14,080 --> 01:27:16,919
Speaker 1: A lot of the thick stuff and would would totally

1566
01:27:17,000 --> 01:27:19,640
Speaker 1: bump at least the doe groups out. There's not a

1567
01:27:19,680 --> 01:27:22,640
Speaker 1: lot of there's never any books that've been there, but

1568
01:27:23,040 --> 01:27:25,720
Speaker 1: they would definitely blow out that cover. So where I

1569
01:27:25,800 --> 01:27:30,240
Speaker 1: come in is there's some high water. Um. So you

1570
01:27:30,280 --> 01:27:32,200
Speaker 1: just put on you know, put on some hip waiters

1571
01:27:32,200 --> 01:27:34,120
Speaker 1: and you just kind of slowly go through the water

1572
01:27:34,200 --> 01:27:38,439
Speaker 1: and I come up low and then up kind of

1573
01:27:38,600 --> 01:27:40,640
Speaker 1: up over the terrain feature I was talking about was

1574
01:27:40,640 --> 01:27:43,439
Speaker 1: basically just a little knob or a hill and then

1575
01:27:43,439 --> 01:27:48,120
Speaker 1: I'm I have a tree prepped right there, so you know,

1576
01:27:48,240 --> 01:27:52,960
Speaker 1: I don't I don't know, occasionally bump a deer going in,

1577
01:27:53,160 --> 01:27:56,320
Speaker 1: but very rarely because it's it's it's high water. Usually

1578
01:27:56,320 --> 01:28:00,880
Speaker 1: the deer in that water. So yeah, it's it's a

1579
01:28:01,000 --> 01:28:03,760
Speaker 1: it's a unique spot. Um. And like I said, if

1580
01:28:03,800 --> 01:28:05,840
Speaker 1: you hunt it, you know, if you go in there

1581
01:28:05,840 --> 01:28:10,360
Speaker 1: and you hunt October one in October tenth and and

1582
01:28:10,960 --> 01:28:13,840
Speaker 1: you know you do that, you ruin the spot. You

1583
01:28:13,840 --> 01:28:16,200
Speaker 1: you educate the deer that are living in there, which

1584
01:28:16,240 --> 01:28:20,240
Speaker 1: is a small go herd um. So it's just it's

1585
01:28:20,280 --> 01:28:23,160
Speaker 1: just one of those spots that can really be good

1586
01:28:23,160 --> 01:28:26,280
Speaker 1: if you can be patient. Yeah, and I feel like

1587
01:28:27,000 --> 01:28:30,160
Speaker 1: in past it was either past podcast conversation or maybe

1588
01:28:30,160 --> 01:28:32,840
Speaker 1: an article you've written for word hunt in past years,

1589
01:28:33,720 --> 01:28:36,400
Speaker 1: you alluded to it with this case that the three

1590
01:28:36,520 --> 01:28:38,840
Speaker 1: kills you have in this property were all the first time.

1591
01:28:39,520 --> 01:28:42,240
Speaker 1: And don't you have record of some crazy number of

1592
01:28:42,240 --> 01:28:44,600
Speaker 1: your kills that were first hunt in a stand for

1593
01:28:44,680 --> 01:28:48,920
Speaker 1: the year. Isn't it just a very significant portion of

1594
01:28:49,000 --> 01:28:51,559
Speaker 1: your kills? Yeah, I have to go back and and

1595
01:28:51,680 --> 01:28:55,320
Speaker 1: update because there's been I did have a statu a

1596
01:28:55,360 --> 01:28:57,000
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. I'd have to go back and

1597
01:28:57,000 --> 01:28:59,200
Speaker 1: look at that, but I mean it was over sevent

1598
01:28:59,840 --> 01:29:03,000
Speaker 1: of the time. It's the first sit um. Yeah, so

1599
01:29:03,240 --> 01:29:05,240
Speaker 1: I mean that there's a lot to be said for that.

1600
01:29:06,040 --> 01:29:09,960
Speaker 1: But there are definitely spots out there, and some guys

1601
01:29:09,960 --> 01:29:12,240
Speaker 1: will argue this, but there are definitely spots out there

1602
01:29:12,320 --> 01:29:16,240
Speaker 1: that you can if the access is good and you're

1603
01:29:16,280 --> 01:29:18,720
Speaker 1: not bumping deer, you can you can hunt it repeatedly.

1604
01:29:18,840 --> 01:29:23,519
Speaker 1: It's just it's those spots are kind of rare um

1605
01:29:23,520 --> 01:29:25,920
Speaker 1: and what I what I do in those spots is

1606
01:29:26,040 --> 01:29:29,880
Speaker 1: I try to I try to identify when that area

1607
01:29:30,240 --> 01:29:34,240
Speaker 1: is I have the highest percentage of getting that kill.

1608
01:29:35,160 --> 01:29:37,960
Speaker 1: You know, if it's late October. Okay, fine, if I

1609
01:29:38,000 --> 01:29:41,080
Speaker 1: have really good access, Yeah, if I have the opportunity,

1610
01:29:41,080 --> 01:29:43,200
Speaker 1: I might, I might sit a spot like that three

1611
01:29:43,280 --> 01:29:45,080
Speaker 1: or four times in a row. I've done that before

1612
01:29:45,439 --> 01:29:50,400
Speaker 1: and just really hammer that time frame. Um, you know

1613
01:29:50,400 --> 01:29:53,120
Speaker 1: when it's when it's your chances are best. But those

1614
01:29:53,200 --> 01:29:56,320
Speaker 1: those spots are hard to find. Um. But when you

1615
01:29:56,360 --> 01:30:00,559
Speaker 1: do that, man, they can certainly be uh, they can

1616
01:30:00,640 --> 01:30:03,360
Speaker 1: certainly be really good. Yeah. I feel like one of

1617
01:30:03,400 --> 01:30:06,639
Speaker 1: the of course, you've got to have your wind plan

1618
01:30:06,880 --> 01:30:08,640
Speaker 1: nailed down to get a spot you can hunt over

1619
01:30:08,680 --> 01:30:10,559
Speaker 1: and over and over again. But then also I feel

1620
01:30:10,560 --> 01:30:13,640
Speaker 1: like you need that access and entry or entry and

1621
01:30:13,720 --> 01:30:16,720
Speaker 1: exit nailed So I I have a spot like this

1622
01:30:16,800 --> 01:30:19,800
Speaker 1: where in the past I'd hunted one time and then

1623
01:30:19,840 --> 01:30:21,360
Speaker 1: trying to get out of there, you just blew out

1624
01:30:21,360 --> 01:30:23,120
Speaker 1: all sorts of deer. Every time you go out of there,

1625
01:30:23,120 --> 01:30:25,360
Speaker 1: you're gonna blow out deer because it's right near food sources.

1626
01:30:26,000 --> 01:30:29,400
Speaker 1: M Um. But I finally, this is well documented. I've

1627
01:30:29,400 --> 01:30:31,559
Speaker 1: talked about this many times in the past in the podcast.

1628
01:30:31,600 --> 01:30:34,519
Speaker 1: This is this little area where it killed Frank um

1629
01:30:34,520 --> 01:30:37,400
Speaker 1: where I found out. As long as I get someone

1630
01:30:37,479 --> 01:30:39,920
Speaker 1: to drive through these fields and spook off the deer

1631
01:30:40,400 --> 01:30:41,880
Speaker 1: or pick me up or something like that. If I

1632
01:30:41,920 --> 01:30:45,120
Speaker 1: get that, I can get out of there and deer

1633
01:30:45,160 --> 01:30:47,240
Speaker 1: will be right back at the next day. And so

1634
01:30:47,720 --> 01:30:51,760
Speaker 1: this year the spot I killed Frank, I hunted either that,

1635
01:30:52,040 --> 01:30:54,280
Speaker 1: hunted that ground blind where that I killed him out

1636
01:30:54,320 --> 01:30:59,280
Speaker 1: of I don't know, five times maybe before I shot him,

1637
01:30:59,320 --> 01:31:03,680
Speaker 1: and then to two other stands within you know, like

1638
01:31:03,720 --> 01:31:06,360
Speaker 1: a four acre five acre area. I mean, I hunted

1639
01:31:06,400 --> 01:31:09,760
Speaker 1: that little tiny four acre chunk a bunch. I mean,

1640
01:31:09,880 --> 01:31:12,000
Speaker 1: basically that's all I had, because that's what I kept

1641
01:31:12,000 --> 01:31:13,960
Speaker 1: showing up. And I don't think it could have done

1642
01:31:14,040 --> 01:31:16,400
Speaker 1: that unless I've really been careful of the wind and

1643
01:31:16,439 --> 01:31:21,519
Speaker 1: sent control and everything and then had that exit strategy nailed. Yeah, yeah,

1644
01:31:21,600 --> 01:31:24,680
Speaker 1: you you when when I look at that place, I

1645
01:31:24,680 --> 01:31:27,160
Speaker 1: couldn't believe you were getting away with what you were

1646
01:31:27,680 --> 01:31:31,200
Speaker 1: getting away with. But that's the thing. You know from experience,

1647
01:31:31,240 --> 01:31:33,160
Speaker 1: you know that way better than I do. You know

1648
01:31:33,200 --> 01:31:36,040
Speaker 1: what you can get away with and and and you

1649
01:31:36,080 --> 01:31:40,280
Speaker 1: are also taking some maybe some risks, uh, you know,

1650
01:31:40,360 --> 01:31:44,160
Speaker 1: because because you know, the deer was there and we

1651
01:31:44,200 --> 01:31:45,840
Speaker 1: didn't know how long he was going to be there,

1652
01:31:45,880 --> 01:31:48,639
Speaker 1: and um, he had a history of you know, not

1653
01:31:48,680 --> 01:31:51,640
Speaker 1: being a homebody, so you're maybe taking some risk, but

1654
01:31:51,720 --> 01:31:53,280
Speaker 1: you you know what you can get away with on

1655
01:31:53,320 --> 01:31:55,479
Speaker 1: your farm, and it really paid off. Man. That was

1656
01:31:55,640 --> 01:31:58,479
Speaker 1: that was well done. Yeah, it was funny every time,

1657
01:31:58,600 --> 01:32:00,800
Speaker 1: you know, Just like you said, I I did think

1658
01:32:00,840 --> 01:32:03,479
Speaker 1: that every time I went in there, I was like,

1659
01:32:03,520 --> 01:32:05,719
Speaker 1: oh gosh, I can't believe I'm going back in here again.

1660
01:32:05,760 --> 01:32:07,719
Speaker 1: This is the third time, this is the fourth time,

1661
01:32:07,920 --> 01:32:09,759
Speaker 1: this is the fifth time. So every time I'm thinking,

1662
01:32:10,080 --> 01:32:11,960
Speaker 1: this is the last time I'm gonna get away with this.

1663
01:32:12,360 --> 01:32:13,920
Speaker 1: But I have to do it because this is the

1664
01:32:13,960 --> 01:32:18,320
Speaker 1: only spot has been showing up. And fortunately Um was

1665
01:32:18,360 --> 01:32:20,080
Speaker 1: able to keep getting away with it more and more

1666
01:32:20,160 --> 01:32:24,160
Speaker 1: until finally he slipped up. But but I think when

1667
01:32:24,200 --> 01:32:26,920
Speaker 1: you find those little spots, you gotta really figure out

1668
01:32:26,920 --> 01:32:31,680
Speaker 1: the nuances there that that make them work. Otherwise the

1669
01:32:31,720 --> 01:32:34,960
Speaker 1: time that first set the second set, that's really your

1670
01:32:34,960 --> 01:32:39,040
Speaker 1: golden opportunity. Yeah. Yeah, And I think a lot of times,

1671
01:32:40,080 --> 01:32:44,000
Speaker 1: you know, I got some some guys, I know, some

1672
01:32:44,080 --> 01:32:47,120
Speaker 1: friends you know that that i'd call them hardcore hunters,

1673
01:32:47,160 --> 01:32:49,559
Speaker 1: And you know, I think I think that's where most

1674
01:32:49,560 --> 01:32:52,240
Speaker 1: of the mistakes are made, is just not recognizing that

1675
01:32:52,400 --> 01:32:55,240
Speaker 1: and you know, maybe jumping in a little too soon

1676
01:32:55,439 --> 01:32:58,080
Speaker 1: just because they got the itch to hunt and you know,

1677
01:32:58,120 --> 01:33:01,040
Speaker 1: they got a food plot and you know, or or

1678
01:33:01,120 --> 01:33:04,639
Speaker 1: this is their you know, their family farm or whatever,

1679
01:33:04,720 --> 01:33:07,639
Speaker 1: and they're just kind of going in with no real plan,

1680
01:33:07,920 --> 01:33:12,840
Speaker 1: with no real intel, just to sit. And you know,

1681
01:33:12,880 --> 01:33:15,160
Speaker 1: if if you don't have that preparation or don't gain

1682
01:33:15,200 --> 01:33:18,200
Speaker 1: that knowledge, you know, that intimate knowledge of the areas

1683
01:33:18,200 --> 01:33:20,600
Speaker 1: you're hunting, I feel like you're at a real disadvantage.

1684
01:33:20,600 --> 01:33:22,479
Speaker 1: And it's not easy to do because it does take

1685
01:33:23,920 --> 01:33:27,640
Speaker 1: some commitment and some time to really uh you know,

1686
01:33:27,720 --> 01:33:31,120
Speaker 1: to really learn those, like you said, those nuances of

1687
01:33:30,720 --> 01:33:35,320
Speaker 1: of each area. So um, yeah, it's just you know,

1688
01:33:35,439 --> 01:33:37,680
Speaker 1: it's it's it's a tough thing to to do. It

1689
01:33:38,360 --> 01:33:41,760
Speaker 1: takes time, but man, it just it just pays off huge. Yeah,

1690
01:33:42,280 --> 01:33:45,799
Speaker 1: definitely does so. So speaking then of kind of figuring

1691
01:33:45,800 --> 01:33:48,519
Speaker 1: out the nuances of spots and all that, that kind

1692
01:33:48,520 --> 01:33:51,400
Speaker 1: of transition is nicely I feel like to your Ohio

1693
01:33:52,040 --> 01:33:54,280
Speaker 1: story because this is kind of a situation where you

1694
01:33:54,360 --> 01:33:58,599
Speaker 1: learn something new this year, right, Yeah, yeah, Ohio. This

1695
01:33:58,680 --> 01:34:02,479
Speaker 1: year Ohio's kind of bed my nemesis. Um, you know,

1696
01:34:02,520 --> 01:34:05,960
Speaker 1: you hear about how good Ohio is, and you know,

1697
01:34:06,000 --> 01:34:11,639
Speaker 1: I've that's that's one state I have struggled into consistently. Uh,

1698
01:34:11,680 --> 01:34:14,880
Speaker 1: you know, shoot big bucks in and and I don't hunt.

1699
01:34:14,880 --> 01:34:16,720
Speaker 1: It's nice to hear that makes me feel a bit

1700
01:34:16,800 --> 01:34:22,640
Speaker 1: better somewhere. Yeah, I don't hunt it much. Um, you know,

1701
01:34:22,640 --> 01:34:26,120
Speaker 1: I I rarely hunt it over you know, five or

1702
01:34:26,120 --> 01:34:28,559
Speaker 1: six times a year. That's probably a big part of it.

1703
01:34:28,640 --> 01:34:33,240
Speaker 1: And the area hunt is northwestern Ohio, which is you know,

1704
01:34:33,280 --> 01:34:37,000
Speaker 1: the county I'm in is, and I think the bottom

1705
01:34:37,240 --> 01:34:41,519
Speaker 1: five you know for trophy bucks in Ohio. So it's

1706
01:34:41,560 --> 01:34:45,240
Speaker 1: it's not a real great spot, but it's close to

1707
01:34:45,280 --> 01:34:48,240
Speaker 1: home and gives me another tag and another opportunity. But

1708
01:34:48,920 --> 01:34:52,559
Speaker 1: had some luck there over the years, for sure. Um.

1709
01:34:52,600 --> 01:34:56,559
Speaker 1: And it's consists of a lot of open ground like

1710
01:34:56,640 --> 01:35:02,919
Speaker 1: this is big farming country flat and the cover consists

1711
01:35:02,920 --> 01:35:07,680
Speaker 1: of really small wood lots anywhere from you know, a

1712
01:35:07,720 --> 01:35:10,599
Speaker 1: couple of acres too. You know, if you had one

1713
01:35:10,640 --> 01:35:16,480
Speaker 1: that was like seven to ten acres, that's pretty big one. Um.

1714
01:35:16,520 --> 01:35:21,200
Speaker 1: So it you know it low deer density. Uh, you

1715
01:35:21,240 --> 01:35:24,719
Speaker 1: know that the buck quality I think can be good,

1716
01:35:24,920 --> 01:35:28,320
Speaker 1: but I think the you know, they just don't. A

1717
01:35:28,320 --> 01:35:30,120
Speaker 1: lot of deer don't survive there. They do a lot

1718
01:35:30,120 --> 01:35:31,840
Speaker 1: of deer drives and and there's just not a lot

1719
01:35:31,880 --> 01:35:35,000
Speaker 1: of places for him to hunt. But um, there's a

1720
01:35:35,040 --> 01:35:38,519
Speaker 1: spot I hunt down there. Um, and there's quite a

1721
01:35:38,520 --> 01:35:42,599
Speaker 1: few other people that that hunt in this area. And

1722
01:35:42,760 --> 01:35:49,519
Speaker 1: I'll go back to early November. I was I went

1723
01:35:49,560 --> 01:35:53,280
Speaker 1: out to this spot. There's a nice little funnel there

1724
01:35:53,360 --> 01:35:55,840
Speaker 1: where I've had some luck in the past. I killed

1725
01:35:55,840 --> 01:35:59,439
Speaker 1: the buck there in two thousand and eight, the same funnel,

1726
01:36:00,000 --> 01:36:02,160
Speaker 1: and I went in and I was wearing my gilly

1727
01:36:02,200 --> 01:36:05,280
Speaker 1: suit and I was hunting from the ground, and basically

1728
01:36:05,280 --> 01:36:08,120
Speaker 1: I was just trying to stay mobile. Um. I wanted

1729
01:36:08,160 --> 01:36:12,880
Speaker 1: to kind of, you know, work on some ground hunting.

1730
01:36:12,920 --> 01:36:15,519
Speaker 1: I always try to try to, you know, I like

1731
01:36:15,640 --> 01:36:18,880
Speaker 1: to improve in different areas of my hunting. And I

1732
01:36:18,960 --> 01:36:21,320
Speaker 1: hunted from the ground quite a bit, um, and I

1733
01:36:21,439 --> 01:36:23,000
Speaker 1: like to do that more and more. It seems like

1734
01:36:23,040 --> 01:36:27,320
Speaker 1: I'm on the ground more and more these days. But anyway,

1735
01:36:27,439 --> 01:36:29,960
Speaker 1: I wanted to, you know, just do a lot of

1736
01:36:30,040 --> 01:36:32,840
Speaker 1: still hunting kind of glassing and see what I could

1737
01:36:32,880 --> 01:36:35,760
Speaker 1: come up with. And I knew there was a couple

1738
01:36:35,760 --> 01:36:37,920
Speaker 1: of good ones in the area there was a ten

1739
01:36:38,000 --> 01:36:41,400
Speaker 1: point and an eight point that I almost shot. Almost

1740
01:36:41,400 --> 01:36:43,360
Speaker 1: shot the eight point late October, right when we got

1741
01:36:43,360 --> 01:36:48,360
Speaker 1: back from Nebraska. Um. But the ten point um looks

1742
01:36:48,479 --> 01:36:51,760
Speaker 1: like a probably a probably a three year old buck

1743
01:36:52,080 --> 01:36:55,679
Speaker 1: um if I had to guess, but he was one,

1744
01:36:56,000 --> 01:36:57,519
Speaker 1: you know that I would have looked at hard too.

1745
01:36:57,880 --> 01:37:01,719
Speaker 1: And so anyway, the gist of that hunt was I came,

1746
01:37:02,240 --> 01:37:04,519
Speaker 1: you know, as as prime time was approaching. I was

1747
01:37:04,600 --> 01:37:06,640
Speaker 1: kind of like sneaking through, you know, the edge of

1748
01:37:06,640 --> 01:37:10,680
Speaker 1: this field and down into this cover and I just

1749
01:37:10,760 --> 01:37:13,760
Speaker 1: got tucked into this cover where I could see this

1750
01:37:13,960 --> 01:37:17,040
Speaker 1: real skinny field. I can't see it from the road

1751
01:37:17,040 --> 01:37:19,080
Speaker 1: at all, and there's a low spot and a lot

1752
01:37:19,120 --> 01:37:21,720
Speaker 1: of times, like at dusk, deer will come out into

1753
01:37:21,760 --> 01:37:24,360
Speaker 1: this the skinny field and the slow spot, and I

1754
01:37:24,400 --> 01:37:27,200
Speaker 1: was just kind of working up to that edge, and

1755
01:37:27,240 --> 01:37:29,080
Speaker 1: I was working up to that to that I was

1756
01:37:29,120 --> 01:37:30,600
Speaker 1: just gonna sit the rest of the night because I

1757
01:37:30,600 --> 01:37:36,479
Speaker 1: hadn't seen anything prior. And I'm kind of like hunched over,

1758
01:37:37,080 --> 01:37:39,559
Speaker 1: kind of sneaking down the edge just inside the cover,

1759
01:37:40,360 --> 01:37:42,080
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, I see this deer break

1760
01:37:42,080 --> 01:37:44,040
Speaker 1: into the field and I'm like, oh man, I got

1761
01:37:44,080 --> 01:37:46,800
Speaker 1: down on one knee and I put my glass up

1762
01:37:46,800 --> 01:37:49,080
Speaker 1: and it's that wide tin and I was like, oh man,

1763
01:37:49,120 --> 01:37:54,000
Speaker 1: here he is. He's like angling right towards me, and

1764
01:37:54,040 --> 01:37:55,880
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my gosh, this is really gonna happen.

1765
01:37:55,960 --> 01:37:59,040
Speaker 1: Like I I didn't have other than a picture of this, dear,

1766
01:37:59,120 --> 01:38:02,920
Speaker 1: I didn't know anything out him. I just know during

1767
01:38:02,960 --> 01:38:06,400
Speaker 1: the run there's a few spots where, you know, if

1768
01:38:06,479 --> 01:38:08,639
Speaker 1: deer moving, this is where they tend to go through

1769
01:38:08,680 --> 01:38:11,519
Speaker 1: and through the skinny field on this low spot, they

1770
01:38:11,520 --> 01:38:14,439
Speaker 1: can't be seen from the horizon in any direction, so

1771
01:38:14,479 --> 01:38:17,080
Speaker 1: it's just a real popular spot for them to get

1772
01:38:17,120 --> 01:38:21,840
Speaker 1: from one patch cover to the next. And I'm setting

1773
01:38:21,920 --> 01:38:24,040
Speaker 1: up or I'm setting I'm sitting there and he's kind

1774
01:38:24,040 --> 01:38:27,400
Speaker 1: of angling towards me, working his way into into range.

1775
01:38:27,920 --> 01:38:30,559
Speaker 1: And he stops and he looks back from the way

1776
01:38:30,560 --> 01:38:33,240
Speaker 1: he came. I'm like, oh man, there must be more

1777
01:38:33,280 --> 01:38:35,559
Speaker 1: deer coming or something. And then all of a sudden,

1778
01:38:35,560 --> 01:38:38,560
Speaker 1: he just takes off and I'm like, oh gosh, he

1779
01:38:38,680 --> 01:38:42,320
Speaker 1: like runs right by me, no shot, And then I'm

1780
01:38:42,439 --> 01:38:44,080
Speaker 1: just kind of sitting there like trying to figure out

1781
01:38:44,080 --> 01:38:45,479
Speaker 1: what happened. And then all of a sudden, I see

1782
01:38:45,479 --> 01:38:48,639
Speaker 1: this guy walk out into the field and he's carrying

1783
01:38:48,640 --> 01:38:53,600
Speaker 1: a crossbow and I'm like, he got getting me like serious,

1784
01:38:53,600 --> 01:38:56,200
Speaker 1: like primetime, you know, walking around, And then I thought

1785
01:38:56,240 --> 01:38:57,720
Speaker 1: to myself, I was like, wait a minute, I'm doing

1786
01:38:57,720 --> 01:39:02,120
Speaker 1: the same thing, you know. Yeah, So I couldn't end

1787
01:39:02,240 --> 01:39:03,760
Speaker 1: up talking to the guy. I mean, obviously it w

1788
01:39:03,840 --> 01:39:05,960
Speaker 1: wasn't wasn't mad at him. He didn't know and he

1789
01:39:06,040 --> 01:39:07,720
Speaker 1: was just doing the same thing. He was just out

1790
01:39:07,760 --> 01:39:10,880
Speaker 1: kind of sneaking around, and um, I didn't know he

1791
01:39:10,920 --> 01:39:13,280
Speaker 1: was out there, and he didn't know I was out there.

1792
01:39:13,360 --> 01:39:18,240
Speaker 1: So we exchanged numbers and he uh, he was planning

1793
01:39:18,280 --> 01:39:21,439
Speaker 1: on gun hunting that area with his brother, um, and

1794
01:39:21,439 --> 01:39:24,200
Speaker 1: he just kind of telling me, you know what the

1795
01:39:24,320 --> 01:39:27,479
Speaker 1: what they're plan was and all that. So I actually

1796
01:39:27,520 --> 01:39:29,840
Speaker 1: came out the very next day to set up on

1797
01:39:29,880 --> 01:39:31,960
Speaker 1: that ten point and I was like, okay, he came

1798
01:39:32,000 --> 01:39:36,000
Speaker 1: through here, and this was a long shot. My confidence

1799
01:39:36,000 --> 01:39:38,920
Speaker 1: in this time was was low, but I could hunt

1800
01:39:38,960 --> 01:39:40,479
Speaker 1: and it was the only thing I had really to

1801
01:39:40,520 --> 01:39:44,880
Speaker 1: go on. So I went back about you know, fifty

1802
01:39:44,960 --> 01:39:48,080
Speaker 1: yards where that deer came through the cover, and I

1803
01:39:48,200 --> 01:39:50,840
Speaker 1: set up and I didn't see a deer that night.

1804
01:39:50,920 --> 01:39:54,360
Speaker 1: But I did see his ladder stand. He had a big, giant,

1805
01:39:54,400 --> 01:39:58,519
Speaker 1: elaborate ladder stand, a sent Wick ten yards in front

1806
01:39:58,520 --> 01:40:00,439
Speaker 1: of it, and a pea bottle and the instead of

1807
01:40:00,520 --> 01:40:02,280
Speaker 1: rattling antlers up there, and I was like, oh man,

1808
01:40:02,520 --> 01:40:06,280
Speaker 1: Like I was like, guess you know, I gotta I

1809
01:40:06,320 --> 01:40:09,479
Speaker 1: gotta rethink this area and get out of here. So

1810
01:40:10,760 --> 01:40:15,000
Speaker 1: that hunt was a bust um. And then I don't

1811
01:40:15,000 --> 01:40:21,080
Speaker 1: know if you weeks go by, um the season and

1812
01:40:22,400 --> 01:40:24,360
Speaker 1: where you keeping tabs on this at all? As those

1813
01:40:24,400 --> 01:40:26,360
Speaker 1: few weeks went violent, did you swing down and check

1814
01:40:26,439 --> 01:40:30,040
Speaker 1: cameras or anything at all? Or we just waiting. I

1815
01:40:30,120 --> 01:40:34,960
Speaker 1: checked cameras one time, Um I went and I don't

1816
01:40:35,000 --> 01:40:38,000
Speaker 1: remember exactly the day, but it was it was probably

1817
01:40:38,040 --> 01:40:41,240
Speaker 1: a week or so after hunting was winding down a

1818
01:40:41,240 --> 01:40:44,599
Speaker 1: little bit, you know, Michigan gun season was under way,

1819
01:40:44,800 --> 01:40:47,360
Speaker 1: and um, you know, I was trying to get you know,

1820
01:40:47,400 --> 01:40:49,960
Speaker 1: the kids out and you know, just family stuff, and

1821
01:40:50,040 --> 01:40:52,519
Speaker 1: so hunting was winding down a little bit for me.

1822
01:40:52,600 --> 01:40:57,120
Speaker 1: I still had my Ohio tech, but I, I don't

1823
01:40:57,120 --> 01:41:01,400
Speaker 1: know it was satisfied with my season, but I wanted to, uh,

1824
01:41:01,560 --> 01:41:04,120
Speaker 1: you know, still giving hones stuffort in Ohio because I

1825
01:41:04,200 --> 01:41:07,080
Speaker 1: had some time, um, but I wasn't really planning on

1826
01:41:07,160 --> 01:41:11,400
Speaker 1: gun hunting down there. Um. So anyway, I checked the

1827
01:41:11,479 --> 01:41:13,679
Speaker 1: camera I don't know a week or so after that,

1828
01:41:13,840 --> 01:41:17,360
Speaker 1: and there was nothing on it. So I just end

1829
01:41:17,439 --> 01:41:22,720
Speaker 1: up pulling that camera and didn't hunt for well, I

1830
01:41:22,720 --> 01:41:25,040
Speaker 1: didn't hunt again until the day I went out there,

1831
01:41:25,280 --> 01:41:27,760
Speaker 1: um and end up getting my buck. But I went

1832
01:41:27,800 --> 01:41:32,599
Speaker 1: out on the November and I was gonna basically just

1833
01:41:32,640 --> 01:41:36,400
Speaker 1: go scout. I was gonna put another camera up, and

1834
01:41:36,479 --> 01:41:43,600
Speaker 1: the gun season had started. Ah, I can't remember what

1835
01:41:43,680 --> 01:41:47,799
Speaker 1: day it was. I think it was the six of November.

1836
01:41:47,840 --> 01:41:50,360
Speaker 1: So this is this is gun season had already started here,

1837
01:41:51,200 --> 01:41:55,120
Speaker 1: and this is a spot where Okay, it's a a

1838
01:41:55,240 --> 01:42:00,360
Speaker 1: landowner that lets he pretty much lets anybody hunt if

1839
01:42:00,360 --> 01:42:04,200
Speaker 1: you ask what he's real particular about certain things. He

1840
01:42:04,200 --> 01:42:06,759
Speaker 1: he tells some people they can bow hunt, he tells

1841
01:42:06,800 --> 01:42:09,080
Speaker 1: some people they can gun hunt, and it's just kind

1842
01:42:09,120 --> 01:42:11,200
Speaker 1: of his way to kind of keep control of everything.

1843
01:42:11,280 --> 01:42:15,280
Speaker 1: And quite a few people out there. But usually, uh,

1844
01:42:15,320 --> 01:42:16,760
Speaker 1: you know, I'm one of the guys that's allowed to

1845
01:42:16,800 --> 01:42:19,280
Speaker 1: bow hunt. So even during gun season, I can only

1846
01:42:19,320 --> 01:42:24,200
Speaker 1: bow hunt. But usually during the archery season not too bad,

1847
01:42:24,320 --> 01:42:28,240
Speaker 1: maybe a couple of guys out there. UM. So I

1848
01:42:28,280 --> 01:42:32,040
Speaker 1: was out there scouting UM, and basically my plan was

1849
01:42:32,120 --> 01:42:37,280
Speaker 1: to try to find, you know, some cover an area

1850
01:42:37,320 --> 01:42:40,879
Speaker 1: of of the property where you know, maybe the pressure

1851
01:42:40,920 --> 01:42:43,400
Speaker 1: hadn't been so high I could maybe get into some deer.

1852
01:42:43,400 --> 01:42:46,040
Speaker 1: I was gonna pop a camera up. I didn't have

1853
01:42:46,080 --> 01:42:49,240
Speaker 1: a plan other than just to do some end season

1854
01:42:49,280 --> 01:42:51,600
Speaker 1: scouting and try to find something to go off of.

1855
01:42:52,160 --> 01:42:55,599
Speaker 1: And what I did find out was that these guys

1856
01:42:55,640 --> 01:42:58,080
Speaker 1: had been doing quite a bit of deer drives. And

1857
01:42:58,120 --> 01:43:00,080
Speaker 1: that's the kind of big thing down there during on

1858
01:43:00,200 --> 01:43:04,360
Speaker 1: season deer drives, you know, pretty much every day of

1859
01:43:04,400 --> 01:43:10,000
Speaker 1: the gun season. And I went and kind of scouted

1860
01:43:10,040 --> 01:43:11,880
Speaker 1: some areas where I thought maybe the deer had been

1861
01:43:11,880 --> 01:43:16,639
Speaker 1: pushed into. And I was wasn't seeing much um and

1862
01:43:18,240 --> 01:43:22,800
Speaker 1: pretty much was kinda gonna call it quits on this

1863
01:43:22,800 --> 01:43:25,719
Speaker 1: this particular property and go check out a new area.

1864
01:43:26,439 --> 01:43:29,360
Speaker 1: And I was actually on my way out, on my

1865
01:43:29,400 --> 01:43:32,080
Speaker 1: way out back to the car, so imagine a big

1866
01:43:32,160 --> 01:43:36,479
Speaker 1: rolling hill of cut beans, and I was going walking

1867
01:43:36,520 --> 01:43:39,920
Speaker 1: back and there's this this low spot that kind of

1868
01:43:40,439 --> 01:43:43,920
Speaker 1: I don't know, between two gradual hills, the beans kind

1869
01:43:43,920 --> 01:43:47,240
Speaker 1: of go down to this low spot and that low spot,

1870
01:43:47,360 --> 01:43:49,800
Speaker 1: it's almost like kind of like a little drainage connects

1871
01:43:50,880 --> 01:43:53,920
Speaker 1: the big chunk of cover. When I say big, it's

1872
01:43:53,920 --> 01:43:57,120
Speaker 1: not big, but the thickest chunk of cover where you know,

1873
01:43:57,200 --> 01:43:59,439
Speaker 1: I had the encounter with the ten point where those

1874
01:43:59,439 --> 01:44:02,519
Speaker 1: guys have been doing a lot of their drives. Um,

1875
01:44:02,560 --> 01:44:06,320
Speaker 1: you know that sort of thing. This drainage connects that

1876
01:44:07,680 --> 01:44:11,160
Speaker 1: all the way for about I don't know, about a

1877
01:44:11,200 --> 01:44:15,880
Speaker 1: half mile through open ground, completely open ground, not a

1878
01:44:15,920 --> 01:44:19,160
Speaker 1: tree anywhere, to this little patch of woods right up

1879
01:44:19,160 --> 01:44:22,960
Speaker 1: by the road. And as I hit that low spot,

1880
01:44:23,000 --> 01:44:24,639
Speaker 1: I look and I see running tracks. I could see

1881
01:44:24,640 --> 01:44:26,040
Speaker 1: them from quite a way away. And I get up

1882
01:44:26,040 --> 01:44:28,280
Speaker 1: there and I look, and I'm like, man, these are

1883
01:44:28,280 --> 01:44:32,400
Speaker 1: big tracks. So I don't have any idea what you

1884
01:44:32,439 --> 01:44:34,960
Speaker 1: know what the deer looks like. I hadn't never seen

1885
01:44:35,040 --> 01:44:38,360
Speaker 1: these tracks before. I just they looked fresh. The deer's

1886
01:44:38,439 --> 01:44:40,559
Speaker 1: running and it's heading towards that patch of cover up

1887
01:44:40,560 --> 01:44:43,280
Speaker 1: by the by the road, the wood little wood lot.

1888
01:44:43,880 --> 01:44:46,280
Speaker 1: So I just start walking them. I'm down low, so

1889
01:44:46,479 --> 01:44:50,880
Speaker 1: imagine I'm down low. You know, you can't nothing can

1890
01:44:50,880 --> 01:44:53,360
Speaker 1: be seen when you're down in this little drainage from

1891
01:44:53,520 --> 01:44:56,519
Speaker 1: you know, any road or any surrounding area. It's it's

1892
01:44:56,560 --> 01:44:59,360
Speaker 1: it's low enough where anything could travel down there and

1893
01:44:59,360 --> 01:45:02,880
Speaker 1: not be seen. And uh, I just start following the

1894
01:45:02,880 --> 01:45:07,559
Speaker 1: tracks and i start approaching the wood lot, and I'm like, gosh,

1895
01:45:07,600 --> 01:45:09,040
Speaker 1: I wonder, you know, I wonder if he's in here.

1896
01:45:09,080 --> 01:45:11,240
Speaker 1: And this is a wood lite. I feel embarrassed to say,

1897
01:45:11,280 --> 01:45:16,559
Speaker 1: like I've never even looked at because you can see

1898
01:45:16,560 --> 01:45:20,120
Speaker 1: it from you can see it from the road, and

1899
01:45:20,960 --> 01:45:23,040
Speaker 1: you know those woods that almost look like, you know,

1900
01:45:23,160 --> 01:45:25,280
Speaker 1: like you can see into them, you know, I mean,

1901
01:45:25,320 --> 01:45:29,120
Speaker 1: they're like real wide open, there's no undergrowth. So I

1902
01:45:29,240 --> 01:45:33,120
Speaker 1: just now, it never struck me as an area that

1903
01:45:33,160 --> 01:45:35,599
Speaker 1: a mature deer would ever use, and I don't think

1904
01:45:35,680 --> 01:45:38,639
Speaker 1: it is under normal circumstances. I've seen deer in there.

1905
01:45:38,720 --> 01:45:40,280
Speaker 1: I've seen a couple, like a dough on a fawn

1906
01:45:40,400 --> 01:45:44,639
Speaker 1: pop out of it at dusk um, but I've never

1907
01:45:45,160 --> 01:45:48,439
Speaker 1: even thought about hunting it um, just because of the

1908
01:45:48,560 --> 01:45:53,439
Speaker 1: lack of cover. Um. But there is it's it's kind

1909
01:45:53,439 --> 01:45:56,960
Speaker 1: of like a rolling hill, hardwoods open and then at

1910
01:45:57,000 --> 01:45:59,720
Speaker 1: the very top there is a little thicket there. But

1911
01:45:59,760 --> 01:46:04,040
Speaker 1: it's small, and it's I mean literally next to the road,

1912
01:46:04,320 --> 01:46:06,000
Speaker 1: and then on the other side it's next to like

1913
01:46:06,080 --> 01:46:10,439
Speaker 1: a a small little highway kind of. It's not like

1914
01:46:10,479 --> 01:46:13,160
Speaker 1: a just a little two lane, you know, country highway.

1915
01:46:13,680 --> 01:46:17,599
Speaker 1: So it's like real close to a lot of action.

1916
01:46:18,240 --> 01:46:20,360
Speaker 1: But anyway, I sneak up and I sneak up to

1917
01:46:20,400 --> 01:46:24,000
Speaker 1: this wood lot and I just kinda you come down low,

1918
01:46:24,080 --> 01:46:26,080
Speaker 1: and then you start coming up to the wood lot,

1919
01:46:26,160 --> 01:46:28,880
Speaker 1: so you're low and you're walking up to the edge.

1920
01:46:29,360 --> 01:46:32,960
Speaker 1: And I peek in there and I see a deer

1921
01:46:33,000 --> 01:46:36,639
Speaker 1: in there about sixty yards and walking straight away from me,

1922
01:46:37,800 --> 01:46:40,920
Speaker 1: and all I see was just like giantly wide rack

1923
01:46:42,280 --> 01:46:44,160
Speaker 1: and I immediately dropped to a knee, and I was like,

1924
01:46:44,160 --> 01:46:47,320
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, Like was he just did he just

1925
01:46:47,560 --> 01:46:49,840
Speaker 1: run out of there? Like when I was scouting, I

1926
01:46:49,840 --> 01:46:51,719
Speaker 1: didn't know, or like was it from a deer drive?

1927
01:46:51,760 --> 01:46:53,559
Speaker 1: Has has he been in there? I didn't know. All

1928
01:46:53,600 --> 01:46:56,400
Speaker 1: these things were going through my mind, and I just

1929
01:46:56,439 --> 01:47:01,600
Speaker 1: watched him and he walks down into this ravine. The

1930
01:47:03,040 --> 01:47:05,240
Speaker 1: way this this woods is set up, there's like a

1931
01:47:05,360 --> 01:47:07,000
Speaker 1: ravine that goes in there and then it kind of

1932
01:47:07,040 --> 01:47:10,000
Speaker 1: goes up into this hill to a knob on top

1933
01:47:10,040 --> 01:47:12,639
Speaker 1: where there's a thicket, and I see him walking down

1934
01:47:12,640 --> 01:47:16,960
Speaker 1: into the ravine and I was just I had no bow, nothing,

1935
01:47:17,360 --> 01:47:20,559
Speaker 1: so I was like completely unprepared. I was basically on

1936
01:47:20,560 --> 01:47:22,920
Speaker 1: a scouting mission and that was it. So I just

1937
01:47:23,040 --> 01:47:25,680
Speaker 1: quickly backed out of there and I got to my

1938
01:47:25,760 --> 01:47:30,400
Speaker 1: car and immediately got on my phone. It looked like

1939
01:47:30,760 --> 01:47:32,320
Speaker 1: what the wind was going to be doing the next

1940
01:47:32,680 --> 01:47:36,840
Speaker 1: day or two, and called the wife and figured out

1941
01:47:36,880 --> 01:47:39,000
Speaker 1: what the plan was. And I couldn't get out hunting

1942
01:47:39,520 --> 01:47:43,479
Speaker 1: until twenty nine, which was two days. And I looked

1943
01:47:43,479 --> 01:47:46,519
Speaker 1: at the wind and everything looked good. I think, I

1944
01:47:46,960 --> 01:47:49,400
Speaker 1: it wasn't perfect, but I thought I could. Uh, if

1945
01:47:49,439 --> 01:47:52,519
Speaker 1: he was in there, I thought that I could. I could.

1946
01:47:52,600 --> 01:47:54,680
Speaker 1: If I can get in there without bumping him, I

1947
01:47:54,760 --> 01:47:57,120
Speaker 1: got a chance. I got a really good chance. In fact,

1948
01:47:57,120 --> 01:47:58,800
Speaker 1: I called my buddy Mike, and I said, if he's

1949
01:47:58,800 --> 01:48:01,720
Speaker 1: in there, if he's in there and I can get

1950
01:48:01,760 --> 01:48:03,680
Speaker 1: set up without spooking him, I said, I'm gonna I

1951
01:48:03,800 --> 01:48:07,320
Speaker 1: think I'm gonna shoot him. And uh, I just felt

1952
01:48:07,360 --> 01:48:09,519
Speaker 1: like it's just one of those small woodlots where like

1953
01:48:09,560 --> 01:48:11,600
Speaker 1: if you can get in there, I just where is

1954
01:48:11,640 --> 01:48:14,519
Speaker 1: he gonna go you know, everything around him is is

1955
01:48:14,560 --> 01:48:17,559
Speaker 1: wide open. I just don't see him, you know, go

1956
01:48:17,680 --> 01:48:20,880
Speaker 1: on out in the wide open field and in the

1957
01:48:20,880 --> 01:48:23,240
Speaker 1: middle of a gun season. But the real question was

1958
01:48:23,240 --> 01:48:24,960
Speaker 1: was even gonna be in there? Is he hiding out

1959
01:48:24,960 --> 01:48:27,519
Speaker 1: in there because the gun pressure. That was my that

1960
01:48:27,600 --> 01:48:29,240
Speaker 1: was my instinct, you know, that he was hiding out

1961
01:48:29,240 --> 01:48:30,880
Speaker 1: in their up while it's would he could, he'd be

1962
01:48:30,920 --> 01:48:35,720
Speaker 1: in that type of tiny woodlot. So um, I went

1963
01:48:35,720 --> 01:48:39,479
Speaker 1: in and I set up right. Initially, my plan was

1964
01:48:39,520 --> 01:48:43,280
Speaker 1: I wore I had my saddle on, but my initial

1965
01:48:43,320 --> 01:48:44,880
Speaker 1: thought was I'm not gonna be able to get up

1966
01:48:44,880 --> 01:48:47,679
Speaker 1: into a tree because it's just gonna be too risky.

1967
01:48:47,720 --> 01:48:49,880
Speaker 1: So I was just gonna try to work my way

1968
01:48:49,960 --> 01:48:53,519
Speaker 1: low and that the ravine again, get right under the edge,

1969
01:48:53,560 --> 01:48:56,160
Speaker 1: and then just kind of scoop my way in just

1970
01:48:56,200 --> 01:48:57,960
Speaker 1: a little bit, just so that I could see because

1971
01:48:57,960 --> 01:49:01,240
Speaker 1: it's so wide opening there. But as I got closer

1972
01:49:01,240 --> 01:49:02,880
Speaker 1: and closer, I was like, man, he's not gonna be

1973
01:49:02,920 --> 01:49:04,640
Speaker 1: in this wide open stuff. He's gonna be up in

1974
01:49:04,640 --> 01:49:06,560
Speaker 1: that thicket on the top, especially with the way the

1975
01:49:06,600 --> 01:49:11,839
Speaker 1: wind was blowing. My wind was blowing me towards that direction.

1976
01:49:11,840 --> 01:49:14,600
Speaker 1: But it was kind of like just missing it. And

1977
01:49:14,640 --> 01:49:16,599
Speaker 1: I said, if if he's you know, if he's gonna

1978
01:49:16,640 --> 01:49:18,960
Speaker 1: be like on the leeward side, it's he's gonna be

1979
01:49:19,080 --> 01:49:22,439
Speaker 1: up in that thicket just off the other side. So

1980
01:49:22,680 --> 01:49:24,240
Speaker 1: that's kind of what I banked on. I was just like,

1981
01:49:24,280 --> 01:49:26,800
Speaker 1: you know, if he's in here, that's where he's gonna be,

1982
01:49:27,160 --> 01:49:29,200
Speaker 1: you know. And I kind of I peeked in the

1983
01:49:29,240 --> 01:49:31,240
Speaker 1: woods and you can see. I mean, if there's deer

1984
01:49:31,280 --> 01:49:33,160
Speaker 1: and there the that side of the woods, you can

1985
01:49:33,200 --> 01:49:36,720
Speaker 1: see forever. So I looked glassed all around. I was like,

1986
01:49:36,760 --> 01:49:39,360
Speaker 1: there's nothing. So he's either not in here or he's

1987
01:49:39,439 --> 01:49:41,960
Speaker 1: up in that thicket. So I was able to set

1988
01:49:42,040 --> 01:49:44,960
Speaker 1: up in a tree. I got set up with my sticks,

1989
01:49:45,200 --> 01:49:48,120
Speaker 1: got all set up on the the settle and everything.

1990
01:49:48,520 --> 01:49:53,080
Speaker 1: I felt real good, and I just waited, and you know,

1991
01:49:53,200 --> 01:49:56,000
Speaker 1: nothing happens. Nothing happens. I just keep glassing up of

1992
01:49:56,080 --> 01:49:58,640
Speaker 1: that thicket up there. You can't see. You can just

1993
01:49:58,680 --> 01:50:02,439
Speaker 1: see the edge where it gets and then when I

1994
01:50:02,479 --> 01:50:05,840
Speaker 1: say thick, it's probably about the size of like a

1995
01:50:06,560 --> 01:50:09,040
Speaker 1: square foot house. I mean, it's not big. And then

1996
01:50:09,160 --> 01:50:11,200
Speaker 1: and then it goes down the backside, so there's like

1997
01:50:11,240 --> 01:50:16,120
Speaker 1: a little a little knob there, and I'm sitting and

1998
01:50:16,160 --> 01:50:18,639
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, it's kind of dying down

1999
01:50:18,840 --> 01:50:22,000
Speaker 1: in the evening, and I hear something walking up there.

2000
01:50:23,280 --> 01:50:25,320
Speaker 1: I hear footsteps like in the leaves, and I'm like,

2001
01:50:25,400 --> 01:50:27,840
Speaker 1: oh my gosh. I was like, he's I just setting

2002
01:50:27,880 --> 01:50:30,320
Speaker 1: myself as like he's up there. I can't believe this,

2003
01:50:31,320 --> 01:50:35,280
Speaker 1: you know, It's just it was my adrenaline started just

2004
01:50:35,560 --> 01:50:37,559
Speaker 1: pouring and my heart was going and I was like,

2005
01:50:38,120 --> 01:50:40,559
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, I got really worked up on this diard.

2006
01:50:40,680 --> 01:50:45,000
Speaker 1: I think because it was like such a long shot,

2007
01:50:45,160 --> 01:50:48,599
Speaker 1: you know, and such a unique opportunity. It just I

2008
01:50:48,640 --> 01:50:52,000
Speaker 1: wasn't expecting anything like this during the middle of the

2009
01:50:52,040 --> 01:50:56,160
Speaker 1: Ohio gun season, you know. So I'm sitting there and

2010
01:50:56,200 --> 01:50:58,679
Speaker 1: I hear him moving around, and then all of a sudden,

2011
01:50:58,680 --> 01:51:02,599
Speaker 1: I see his antler's crest and then he starts walking.

2012
01:51:02,720 --> 01:51:04,240
Speaker 1: He comes over the top of the hill, and then

2013
01:51:04,240 --> 01:51:07,000
Speaker 1: he starts walking down to that same ravine I saw

2014
01:51:07,080 --> 01:51:10,040
Speaker 1: him walking down. So he comes down, he kind of

2015
01:51:10,080 --> 01:51:12,920
Speaker 1: side hills down to that ravine. So he's walking the

2016
01:51:13,840 --> 01:51:17,080
Speaker 1: exact opposite way that he was when I first saw

2017
01:51:17,160 --> 01:51:20,960
Speaker 1: him two days prior. And he's coming and I'm I'm

2018
01:51:21,000 --> 01:51:23,240
Speaker 1: like right at the base of that ravine, like just

2019
01:51:23,439 --> 01:51:26,280
Speaker 1: up the other kind of creates a v you know,

2020
01:51:26,320 --> 01:51:28,719
Speaker 1: like one one hill goes down, then there's a ravine

2021
01:51:28,760 --> 01:51:31,040
Speaker 1: and I'm on the other side hill, so I can

2022
01:51:31,080 --> 01:51:35,160
Speaker 1: shoot the ravine and shoot across. And he comes right

2023
01:51:35,200 --> 01:51:38,320
Speaker 1: down and he ends up I don't know, sixteen yards

2024
01:51:38,360 --> 01:51:41,639
Speaker 1: from me, and I shot him and he takes off

2025
01:51:41,720 --> 01:51:44,799
Speaker 1: going back down, back down the ravine and he tumbles

2026
01:51:44,800 --> 01:51:47,200
Speaker 1: over about I don't know, fifty or sixty yards away,

2027
01:51:47,280 --> 01:51:51,800
Speaker 1: and that was it. Yeah, it was. It was incredible

2028
01:51:51,800 --> 01:52:00,679
Speaker 1: in this deer. Uh, he he was run down. He's

2029
01:52:00,680 --> 01:52:03,240
Speaker 1: an old deer. Um. I didn't know what he was

2030
01:52:03,320 --> 01:52:06,040
Speaker 1: at first, but he's an older deer that I have

2031
01:52:06,200 --> 01:52:13,479
Speaker 1: had some pictures of and after talking with unfortunately, uh,

2032
01:52:14,320 --> 01:52:16,400
Speaker 1: the word got out real quick that I had gotten

2033
01:52:16,400 --> 01:52:18,719
Speaker 1: this deer because those other guys were out gun hunting

2034
01:52:18,760 --> 01:52:22,120
Speaker 1: that day and not that I you know, it was

2035
01:52:22,200 --> 01:52:24,800
Speaker 1: intentionally going to try to hide it from anybody, but

2036
01:52:24,880 --> 01:52:28,519
Speaker 1: it just you know, on areas where there's other guys hunting,

2037
01:52:28,520 --> 01:52:32,679
Speaker 1: it's a lot of times that can just lead towards,

2038
01:52:33,080 --> 01:52:35,759
Speaker 1: you know, some bad luck for you. In the future.

2039
01:52:36,160 --> 01:52:39,479
Speaker 1: But yeah, it was just one of those things, right.

2040
01:52:39,520 --> 01:52:42,240
Speaker 1: There was no way around it because I was by myself,

2041
01:52:42,320 --> 01:52:43,960
Speaker 1: and I went up and talked to the landowner, and

2042
01:52:43,960 --> 01:52:46,320
Speaker 1: then those guys were there and they found out that

2043
01:52:46,400 --> 01:52:49,000
Speaker 1: I had shot it, and we all went and got it.

2044
01:52:49,040 --> 01:52:54,960
Speaker 1: And they had had pictures of that deer um from

2045
01:52:54,960 --> 01:52:57,960
Speaker 1: this year and last year. I had pictures of him

2046
01:52:58,040 --> 01:53:00,920
Speaker 1: last year, and one of those, I said, actually shot

2047
01:53:01,000 --> 01:53:03,719
Speaker 1: that buck last year in the neck with a gun.

2048
01:53:04,400 --> 01:53:06,880
Speaker 1: And there's a picture of him that was given to

2049
01:53:06,920 --> 01:53:11,280
Speaker 1: me with a giant wound in his neck. So he's

2050
01:53:11,320 --> 01:53:14,639
Speaker 1: a really cool dear. He's super wide, super long main beams.

2051
01:53:14,680 --> 01:53:16,720
Speaker 1: But man, he was in rough shape. He was in

2052
01:53:16,880 --> 01:53:19,960
Speaker 1: really rough shape, and I think I get the sense

2053
01:53:20,000 --> 01:53:23,880
Speaker 1: that he probably wouldn't have made it. Um. He's his

2054
01:53:23,960 --> 01:53:27,280
Speaker 1: spine was sticking out, his hips were really bony, his

2055
01:53:27,280 --> 01:53:30,280
Speaker 1: his body size looked really run down, like more than

2056
01:53:31,479 --> 01:53:35,000
Speaker 1: more than you would expect, like a a buck that

2057
01:53:35,040 --> 01:53:36,559
Speaker 1: rutted hard, you know what I mean. He looked like

2058
01:53:36,600 --> 01:53:41,760
Speaker 1: he was just really in bad shape. So yeah, man,

2059
01:53:41,880 --> 01:53:47,040
Speaker 1: just crazy crazy hunt. Um. You know, a lot of

2060
01:53:47,120 --> 01:53:51,280
Speaker 1: luck involved there, But um, I'm glad, i I'm glad

2061
01:53:51,320 --> 01:53:54,920
Speaker 1: I didn't give up on Ohio because I was really

2062
01:53:54,920 --> 01:53:56,920
Speaker 1: close to just you know, with all those guys out

2063
01:53:56,920 --> 01:53:58,880
Speaker 1: there and doing deer drives and stuff like, I didn't

2064
01:53:58,920 --> 01:54:01,599
Speaker 1: have a whole lot of confidence in the area, you know. Yeah, Well,

2065
01:54:01,600 --> 01:54:05,040
Speaker 1: well you said this to me back in October when

2066
01:54:05,040 --> 01:54:08,280
Speaker 1: we did our Nebraska podcast, when you said, Uh, it's

2067
01:54:08,360 --> 01:54:10,280
Speaker 1: very humble of you to say that it was luck,

2068
01:54:10,720 --> 01:54:16,400
Speaker 1: but very rarely is that really the case. Usually there's

2069
01:54:16,920 --> 01:54:20,360
Speaker 1: you know, the older dog is what is it? Uh?

2070
01:54:20,600 --> 01:54:24,680
Speaker 1: Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. UM. I think that

2071
01:54:25,240 --> 01:54:27,720
Speaker 1: by doing all the preparation and knowing how to make

2072
01:54:27,720 --> 01:54:29,479
Speaker 1: the right decisions at the right times and how to

2073
01:54:29,560 --> 01:54:32,200
Speaker 1: adjust that that kind of stuff is what allows you

2074
01:54:32,600 --> 01:54:35,920
Speaker 1: to take advantage of luck when it does come your way. UM.

2075
01:54:36,000 --> 01:54:38,960
Speaker 1: So as as I hear you say, kind of walk

2076
01:54:39,160 --> 01:54:41,840
Speaker 1: us through this whole, this whole season of years. Um

2077
01:54:42,920 --> 01:54:44,480
Speaker 1: and when I think about the fact this is not

2078
01:54:44,560 --> 01:54:48,080
Speaker 1: an anomaly. Last year you killed I don't know, three

2079
01:54:48,160 --> 01:54:49,920
Speaker 1: or four bucks, and the year before that you did it.

2080
01:54:49,960 --> 01:54:51,360
Speaker 1: In the year before that you did it, and the

2081
01:54:51,400 --> 01:54:54,440
Speaker 1: year before you did that. Um And and as alluded to,

2082
01:54:54,520 --> 01:54:57,920
Speaker 1: you're always doing this just efficient is the only word

2083
01:54:58,000 --> 01:55:00,280
Speaker 1: I keep coming back to, just more efficiently than anyone

2084
01:55:00,320 --> 01:55:03,680
Speaker 1: I know. Um. And as I'm trying to pick this

2085
01:55:03,760 --> 01:55:06,800
Speaker 1: apart listening to you and from seeing what you're doing

2086
01:55:06,760 --> 01:55:09,040
Speaker 1: in the past, I'm going to try to nail down.

2087
01:55:09,720 --> 01:55:11,280
Speaker 1: Let me give you a couple of things that I

2088
01:55:11,360 --> 01:55:14,680
Speaker 1: think are like my takeaways from trying to learn as

2089
01:55:14,720 --> 01:55:16,960
Speaker 1: much as I can from you, and then you tell

2090
01:55:16,960 --> 01:55:21,480
Speaker 1: me what you would add. Um, it seems like your

2091
01:55:21,560 --> 01:55:24,840
Speaker 1: success and the ability to to achieve so so much

2092
01:55:24,880 --> 01:55:28,880
Speaker 1: hunting success without a big, fancy property, without a whole

2093
01:55:28,880 --> 01:55:31,360
Speaker 1: ton of time, without a bunch of vacation days, is

2094
01:55:31,440 --> 01:55:34,720
Speaker 1: that number one year level of scouting in the off

2095
01:55:34,800 --> 01:55:38,480
Speaker 1: season and in season is just next level. Just more

2096
01:55:39,200 --> 01:55:42,200
Speaker 1: work goes into that than almost anything, probably more than

2097
01:55:43,440 --> 01:55:46,680
Speaker 1: hunters out there. Number two. Part of that preparation, part

2098
01:55:46,680 --> 01:55:48,839
Speaker 1: of that scouting is you have so many different options

2099
01:55:48,840 --> 01:55:52,280
Speaker 1: available that once the hunting season comes, you can cycle

2100
01:55:52,320 --> 01:55:54,200
Speaker 1: through them and you can be in the right spots

2101
01:55:54,240 --> 01:55:56,880
Speaker 1: at the right times based off experience, or you go

2102
01:55:56,920 --> 01:56:00,400
Speaker 1: in there either scouting or observing or thing and then

2103
01:56:00,440 --> 01:56:03,080
Speaker 1: adjusting as you go through, and then you swing for

2104
01:56:03,120 --> 01:56:05,400
Speaker 1: the fence with many, many of your hunts, you're either

2105
01:56:05,800 --> 01:56:09,120
Speaker 1: kind of observing or you're going for the kill, and

2106
01:56:09,160 --> 01:56:10,480
Speaker 1: you know that you can go for that kill, and

2107
01:56:10,480 --> 01:56:12,680
Speaker 1: it can be a high risk hunt because you've got

2108
01:56:12,680 --> 01:56:14,560
Speaker 1: another spot you can go to, and another spot you

2109
01:56:14,600 --> 01:56:16,920
Speaker 1: can go to, and another spot you go to. So

2110
01:56:17,080 --> 01:56:21,920
Speaker 1: because of that, your hunts are disproportionately high odds for

2111
01:56:21,920 --> 01:56:25,880
Speaker 1: success compared to the average guy or girl because you

2112
01:56:25,920 --> 01:56:29,320
Speaker 1: are doing kill sets almost only to the kill sets

2113
01:56:29,320 --> 01:56:31,760
Speaker 1: are learning. Kill sets are learning, and you do that

2114
01:56:31,800 --> 01:56:33,480
Speaker 1: all year round and you don't give up, and then

2115
01:56:33,480 --> 01:56:35,600
Speaker 1: you've gained experience of the years to be able to

2116
01:56:35,640 --> 01:56:38,640
Speaker 1: make the right adjustments when necessary. When I try to

2117
01:56:38,800 --> 01:56:42,080
Speaker 1: drill down at a at a base level, if I'm

2118
01:56:42,120 --> 01:56:45,480
Speaker 1: trying to like oversimplify this, that's how maybe I would

2119
01:56:45,560 --> 01:56:50,040
Speaker 1: paint the Andy May success model. Um, did it get

2120
01:56:50,040 --> 01:56:52,600
Speaker 1: it right? Or what would you add if there's anything

2121
01:56:52,600 --> 01:56:56,640
Speaker 1: else makes you se efficient? I think I think you know.

2122
01:56:56,680 --> 01:56:59,760
Speaker 1: I think that's it. I really do. I think you

2123
01:57:00,000 --> 01:57:06,160
Speaker 1: held it. Um, you know all the scouting, the preparation. Um,

2124
01:57:06,200 --> 01:57:09,920
Speaker 1: you know that's something I enjoy. So to me, that's

2125
01:57:09,960 --> 01:57:14,080
Speaker 1: just normal, and I sometimes forget that. I don't forget.

2126
01:57:14,120 --> 01:57:18,000
Speaker 1: I'm aware of it, but sometimes I don't always I

2127
01:57:18,040 --> 01:57:22,360
Speaker 1: guess think of that. You know, not everybody does that

2128
01:57:22,520 --> 01:57:26,400
Speaker 1: or not everybody does it as much um as I do.

2129
01:57:26,480 --> 01:57:28,720
Speaker 1: And there's certainly are guys that do and some guys

2130
01:57:28,720 --> 01:57:32,720
Speaker 1: that do it more. But that that plays a huge

2131
01:57:32,800 --> 01:57:36,880
Speaker 1: role in uh. And and and probably that's the number

2132
01:57:36,920 --> 01:57:40,520
Speaker 1: one factor is just you know, knowing your area and

2133
01:57:40,560 --> 01:57:46,080
Speaker 1: being prepared and having you know, having like you said,

2134
01:57:46,240 --> 01:57:51,320
Speaker 1: a lot of spots to go. Um, you know, and

2135
01:57:51,320 --> 01:57:53,600
Speaker 1: AND's kind of setting those up, kind of setting the

2136
01:57:54,520 --> 01:57:59,200
Speaker 1: groundwork up for success. Um. And then you know, I

2137
01:57:59,240 --> 01:58:03,200
Speaker 1: always try to two locate you know, four or five

2138
01:58:03,240 --> 01:58:05,760
Speaker 1: bucks if if I'm just talking Michigan and northern Ohio,

2139
01:58:05,840 --> 01:58:10,280
Speaker 1: because I consider that kind of my home ground. Um,

2140
01:58:10,320 --> 01:58:12,600
Speaker 1: you know, I try to locate four or five bucks,

2141
01:58:12,640 --> 01:58:14,800
Speaker 1: the four or five best books I can find. Usually

2142
01:58:14,840 --> 01:58:19,440
Speaker 1: they're the most mature bucks. And you know, um that's

2143
01:58:19,720 --> 01:58:23,080
Speaker 1: those are the ones I tend to focus or uh

2144
01:58:23,120 --> 01:58:25,280
Speaker 1: you know, focus around and try to learn as much

2145
01:58:25,320 --> 01:58:29,080
Speaker 1: as I can. And um, you know, if I only

2146
01:58:29,120 --> 01:58:32,120
Speaker 1: had one or two, uh, you know, I don't think

2147
01:58:32,160 --> 01:58:37,080
Speaker 1: you see as much success. Um. You know, I think

2148
01:58:37,280 --> 01:58:39,680
Speaker 1: our buddy Joe Elsinger said the same thing. I think

2149
01:58:39,680 --> 01:58:41,920
Speaker 1: he takes a similar approach. He tries to find like

2150
01:58:41,960 --> 01:58:46,520
Speaker 1: six or seven bucks to focus on, knowing that he

2151
01:58:46,560 --> 01:58:49,920
Speaker 1: won't be successful on you know, two or three or

2152
01:58:49,960 --> 01:58:54,040
Speaker 1: four of them, but he will be successful on a couple. Um.

2153
01:58:54,120 --> 01:58:56,320
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, I think there's that goes

2154
01:58:56,360 --> 01:58:59,440
Speaker 1: a long way, you know, kind of doing the prep

2155
01:59:00,040 --> 01:59:03,960
Speaker 1: and the groundwork to make sure that your season is

2156
01:59:04,000 --> 01:59:07,160
Speaker 1: set up for success and not going into the season

2157
01:59:07,200 --> 01:59:10,960
Speaker 1: with without a plan, you know, and just hoping that

2158
01:59:11,800 --> 01:59:13,520
Speaker 1: you know, a big one is going to show up,

2159
01:59:14,400 --> 01:59:17,800
Speaker 1: you know, on your spot during the rut or um.

2160
01:59:17,840 --> 01:59:20,000
Speaker 1: You know, I think I think guys would would be

2161
01:59:21,080 --> 01:59:23,720
Speaker 1: I would have a better chance of success having a

2162
01:59:23,760 --> 01:59:26,880
Speaker 1: couple of scenarios set up like that. Um, you know,

2163
01:59:27,000 --> 01:59:31,040
Speaker 1: utilize everything, utilize public knock on doors, you know, do

2164
01:59:31,120 --> 01:59:36,640
Speaker 1: whatever you canada um to kind of set up several

2165
01:59:36,680 --> 01:59:40,120
Speaker 1: of those situations, and then you know, I think I

2166
01:59:40,160 --> 01:59:42,560
Speaker 1: think you'll be able to have more success doing it

2167
01:59:42,600 --> 01:59:46,240
Speaker 1: that way. Yeah, yeah, I know. UM, And we've talked

2168
01:59:46,240 --> 01:59:49,240
Speaker 1: about this in the past, that that I'm self aware

2169
01:59:49,520 --> 01:59:52,480
Speaker 1: enough about myself to be able to recognize that as

2170
01:59:52,480 --> 01:59:54,640
Speaker 1: a spot that I need to improve on. I I

2171
01:59:54,880 --> 01:59:58,120
Speaker 1: have fallen victim to sometimes settling for a couple of

2172
01:59:58,120 --> 02:00:01,360
Speaker 1: spots I know I've got and UM although they're usually

2173
02:00:01,400 --> 02:00:04,440
Speaker 1: pretty decent UM and then I have a few years

2174
02:00:04,520 --> 02:00:07,680
Speaker 1: found myself having that bite me in the butt. So

2175
02:00:08,040 --> 02:00:10,760
Speaker 1: I think that this conversation is just another great reminder

2176
02:00:10,840 --> 02:00:14,120
Speaker 1: for me that this offseason got to keep on ramping

2177
02:00:14,120 --> 02:00:17,040
Speaker 1: it up, keep ramping it up every year, and to

2178
02:00:17,160 --> 02:00:21,280
Speaker 1: your point, always try to have plan for success. I

2179
02:00:21,320 --> 02:00:22,840
Speaker 1: think the way you put it, there is nice plan

2180
02:00:22,960 --> 02:00:26,080
Speaker 1: for have a plan for success that is not asking

2181
02:00:26,120 --> 02:00:28,240
Speaker 1: for luck. You're not depending on luck, You're not depending

2182
02:00:28,280 --> 02:00:31,200
Speaker 1: on it just happening this year. You've got a plan A,

2183
02:00:31,600 --> 02:00:33,440
Speaker 1: and if that doesn't work, there's Plan B. And if

2184
02:00:33,480 --> 02:00:37,200
Speaker 1: that doesn't work, this plan c d E F UM.

2185
02:00:37,240 --> 02:00:39,680
Speaker 1: I think if you want to be consistent, that's the

2186
02:00:39,760 --> 02:00:42,360
Speaker 1: right way to go about it. So Andy Man, I

2187
02:00:42,440 --> 02:00:46,600
Speaker 1: just I'm I'm glad that you um I have been

2188
02:00:46,680 --> 02:00:50,560
Speaker 1: so generous with your time and knowledge and experience because

2189
02:00:50,560 --> 02:00:53,040
Speaker 1: it helped me a lot personally, and I guarantee you

2190
02:00:53,080 --> 02:00:54,760
Speaker 1: it's help. It's helping a lot of people have been

2191
02:00:54,760 --> 02:00:57,000
Speaker 1: listening over the last year and a half two years

2192
02:00:57,080 --> 02:00:59,600
Speaker 1: since UM super being able to start talking here, so

2193
02:00:59,600 --> 02:01:02,800
Speaker 1: so thanks to Andy. Yeah, no problem, man, it's it's fun.

2194
02:01:02,840 --> 02:01:06,200
Speaker 1: I love talking about hunting and get a little more

2195
02:01:06,200 --> 02:01:10,640
Speaker 1: comfortable with it on the podcast. So anytime, anytime you

2196
02:01:10,640 --> 02:01:13,160
Speaker 1: want to talk hunting, I'm I'm game. I think I

2197
02:01:13,200 --> 02:01:15,720
Speaker 1: think you're going to be stuck doing a bunch more

2198
02:01:15,720 --> 02:01:20,480
Speaker 1: because I enjoy these and uh, man, if if if

2199
02:01:20,520 --> 02:01:23,040
Speaker 1: every year, if we hunt together, if our seasons go

2200
02:01:23,080 --> 02:01:24,440
Speaker 1: as well as I did this year, we're gonna have

2201
02:01:24,480 --> 02:01:26,320
Speaker 1: to play a whole lot more hunts together because this

2202
02:01:26,360 --> 02:01:28,720
Speaker 1: is a good year for us. Yeah, no, kidd, And

2203
02:01:28,720 --> 02:01:31,800
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, like, you know, we're talking about

2204
02:01:32,000 --> 02:01:34,680
Speaker 1: you know, my season here, but you had a pretty

2205
02:01:34,720 --> 02:01:38,960
Speaker 1: magical season yourself, So I think you think you're on

2206
02:01:39,040 --> 02:01:41,120
Speaker 1: the right track. Man, for sure, you got it. You

2207
02:01:41,200 --> 02:01:45,680
Speaker 1: gotta good game plan, and I see, let's see good

2208
02:01:45,720 --> 02:01:48,640
Speaker 1: seasons in your future for sure. Yeah. Well, like like

2209
02:01:48,640 --> 02:01:51,240
Speaker 1: like both of us often like to say, you always

2210
02:01:51,240 --> 02:01:54,240
Speaker 1: just gotta keep getting better, right, always learning, always improving,

2211
02:01:54,520 --> 02:01:58,080
Speaker 1: and uh, that's that's my game plan moving forward. So

2212
02:01:58,760 --> 02:02:01,240
Speaker 1: with that, Andy, I'll let to go. Let's talk soon,

2213
02:02:02,080 --> 02:02:05,200
Speaker 1: all right, buddy, thank you, And with that, the only

2214
02:02:05,240 --> 02:02:07,360
Speaker 1: thing I will add just to echo what I mentioned

2215
02:02:07,360 --> 02:02:10,840
Speaker 1: at the top of the show is Merry Christmas, thank

2216
02:02:10,880 --> 02:02:16,480
Speaker 1: you and until next year, stay wired. Tony