WEBVTT - Judging Canadian Whitetails with Steve Schultz 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:04.640 You're listening to the Sportsman's Nation podcast network powered by 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:08.520 Interstate Batteries from your truck to your trail camera. Interstate 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:12.440 Batteries as you covered. Visit your local Interstate Batteries store 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:17.880 today or online at Interstate Batteries dot com. Interstate Batteries 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:32.400 Outrageously Dependable. My name is Clay Nukeleman. I'm the host 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:36.040 of the Bear Hunting Magazine podcast. I'll also be your 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:39.440 host into the world of hunting the icon of North 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:43.960 American wilderness, the bear. We'll talk about tactics, gear, conservation. 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:46.400 Wh will also bring you into some of the wildest 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:53.920 country on the planet. Chasing Battery. Thanks for listening to 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:57.640 the Bear Hunting Magazine Podcast. On this episode, I'm actually 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.600 in the blind hunting on the worth day of a 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.480 six day hunt, and my father in law, Steve Shultz, 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:05.400 is with me. Steve killed a deer on the first 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:10.000 day and he he talked He shares about his decision 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.400 to shoot that deer and also his regret that he 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:14.480 had taken the book so early in the hunt, and 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.080 we talked about what he had learned from this and 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:19.679 how to judge big Canadian white tails. We're the bear 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:24.880 Hunting Magazine podcast. But man, everybody that's hunting bear, including me, 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.720 we're hunting all kind of other critters. And I before 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:31.080 I was a bear hunter, I was a white tail hunter. 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:33.960 I love white tail hunting, and we know that most 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.000 of you do as well, and so we're gonna bringing 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.240 you some white tail content throughout this fall. Hey, check 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:44.280 out the podcast before this, which was our our recording 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:49.120 of Tom Ainsworth, the Outfitter, super neat Guy seventy years old. 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.400 And then the next podcast, which will be releasing a 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.280 few days, I'll talk about the end of my hunt 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:02.920 and what happened with me. Welcome to the Bear Hunting 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:09.119 Magazine Podcast. It is November the onet and we are 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:14.640 in Manitoba. We're in not really central Manitoba. We're about 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:19.240 a third of the way up in western Manitoba, about 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:25.119 sixty miles forty miles from the Saskatchewan border, and as 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.160 we know it, about sixty miles from where Milo Hanson 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:33.000 killer World Record typical white tail in we are. We're 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.040 sitting in a blind right now. It's two o'clock in 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:41.079 the afternoon. We're in what Tom calls the shack. We're 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:43.880 in kind of a building and We're sitting on the 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:48.040 edge of a cut soybean field and we're hunting. So 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:51.520 we're gonna bring this podcast to you throughout this hunt, 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:56.280 and we're gonna talk about a few specific things, but 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.280 we're also going to try to just we're gonna set 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:01.840 the context and we're gonna just talk about how we're 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:06.040 hunting up here and what we're doing. But it is 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.560 first of all, let me just say, I've got my 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:14.639 father in law, Steve Schultz, in the blind with me 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:18.480 right now and he's filming for me. He's also letting 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:21.840 me borrow his muzzleloader, and I'm gonna talk a little 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:26.960 bit about why I'm shooting that muzzleloader. But to begin with, 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.240 let me set the context for why we're hunting here. 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:31.240 This is the fourth day of a sixth day hunt, 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:37.080 and we have Steve killed a deer and he's going 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:41.400 to talk about that. James Lawrence, our other buddy that's here, 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:46.040 killed a deer on the second day, and James killed 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:49.000 his buck on the field that we're sitting in right now. 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:56.080 This field is a cut soybean field. That was it. 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.640 They insured the crop and they made an insure claim 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:04.280 on these soybeans because of elk. So up here in 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:09.440 Manitoba they've got elk, moose, white tail, and they've got 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:15.320 all kinds of critters. The elk destroyed the soybeans in 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:17.719 this field. I don't know how big this field is, Steve, 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:20.680 how big is this field? Oh, this thing probably is 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:24.000 somewhere in the neighborhood of I would say close to 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:30.599 it's big. It's big. It's a it's six yards to 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.279 the very edge that the furthest place, we can see 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:35.400 a six hundred yards and then we've got a three 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:40.880 thirty yards shot one direction. It's big. And so they 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.560 because they made an insurance claim on this field, they 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:48.799 harvested it at a time when when the combine came through, 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:53.359 the beans shattered, as they say. And so there's a 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:56.760 ton of beans on the ground right now in this field, 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:00.559 and the deer hitting it pretty hard. James aren't sitting 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:03.520 here the other night, and he didn't see, you know, 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.800 forty deer in this field. It's more like he probably 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:10.880 saw less than ten. But he saw two mature bucks 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:15.880 and he took one of them. And old James, he says, 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.960 he didn't even look at the other one. He's just 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:24.080 the one gave him a shot and he was like, 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:26.520 that's the one I want. So he didn't even look 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:30.560 at the other one. So now and it he didn't 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:32.840 have much time to make a decision, and this deer 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:35.200 popped out and he was he was like, that's the 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:37.400 one I want to take home, and so he shot it. 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:41.120 And so there's a mystery buck over here. We don't 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:44.400 know how big it is, so we're hoping that it's 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:48.320 a it's a shooter deer. So we are here in 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:54.240 the blind and right now it's half rain, half snow 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:58.680 where we've got a weather change that's coming on and 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:02.000 there's project to be between one and three inches of 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:04.720 snow tonight. It's been warm first day we got here. 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.159 How warm was it, Steve? Do you remember it was 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:11.200 probably uh, probably forty forty one, I think something like that. 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:14.560 It may have even been in the high forties. But 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.640 that first day, because remember I hunted in like a 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:22.880 single layer. I was wearing my first light. Um, yeah, 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:26.880 what was it, Choma something? Yeah, and your Andrew swimming 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:30.240 trunks were on. Yeah, I had my swimming trunks on. 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:34.680 That's right. It was warm for Canada. Uh. So anyway, 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:40.280 the weather is changing it's about thirty three degrees. So Steve, 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.800 last year, this is our second year to hunt with 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:47.240 Tom ains Worth Grandview Outfitting. A little history on Tom. 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:51.120 Tom was a long time bear hunting magazine outfitter, I 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:54.200 mean long time bear hunting outfitter. He sold his bare 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:59.120 business to Todd Wogelmuth of Baldy Mountain Outfitters. So now 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:01.960 what used to be Tom's bear hunting outfit is now 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:07.240 Baldy Mountain Outfitters run by a younger fella, good guy 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:12.360 named named Todd Waldmuth. But Tom kept his deer tags. 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:16.960 So Tom's an outfitter. I think Tom has, like I 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:18.440 don't want to say how many tags he has, I 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:21.680 don't know for sure, a select number of deer tags 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:26.800 that he can sell. And so last year we came 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:31.400 up here, you and I and now Steve. Well, first 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:34.880 of all, Steve, Steve is not just my father in law. 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:39.960 Steve and I have been I mean close for the 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:44.360 last well since we met each other eighteen years ago, 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:50.480 and we've hunted all over, We've served together on our um. 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:54.480 Steve's the senior leader of our church, and so we've 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:56.800 we've anyway, we've got a lot of history together. But 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:59.960 we have a rich history in hunting together and Arkhan's 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.320 saw I mean when Steve's killed a ton of deer 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:06.400 there in northwest Arkansas. We live about as the crow 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:09.640 flies a mile and a half apart, and so we've 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:13.360 done a lot of hunting together half and so last year. 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:17.920 So give a little history of your hunting, Steve, that 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:22.760 will lead us up to come into Manitoba last year. Well, 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:26.920 my I started my hunting background really was up in 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:30.840 upstate New York. I was moved there when I was 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.800 a small My family did when I was a small boy, 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:36.920 and uh, I went through high school there and one 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.120 year of college in upstate New York. That's where I 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:41.840 really got the itch for a white tail deer. As 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:43.960 a matter of fact, that was the big game animal 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:48.520 for New York State. And uh I had I had 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.160 nobody in my family that really hunted my brotherhood a 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.880 little bit, but I didn't. I was the main hunter 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:58.400 of the family. Um in the springtime, when everybody else 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:02.400 was playing either tennis or track or baseball, I was. 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:06.559 I was out fishing or my dad wasn't a hunter. 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:09.880 And uh, but I got the bug one time when 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.920 I shot a groundhog, and when I did that, it 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.120 was like I felt like I found something I really enjoyed. 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:19.440 So growing up there, I always had this quest for 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.600 white tail. Didn't know anything at that time. I'm sixty 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:25.719 six years old now. At that time, back in the 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:30.480 nineteen sixties, there was two magazines primarily maybe three that 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:33.000 would deal dealt with anything to do with hunting outdoor 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:35.839 life of course and field and Stream, and then there 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.720 was another one called for fishing Game, the Glory Days 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:41.120 of Print magazine. It was the Glory Days. There's a 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:44.120 company called Herders. Some of the old timers remember coming 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:46.600 name Herders that you could even buy at that time. 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.439 You could buy handguns and rifles right directly from him 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:51.720 and ship to ship them to your door shipping right. 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:54.040 We're gonna start doing that with Bare Hunting magazine. There 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:59.320 you go. I recommend you do that. And uh so 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:02.480 those were the early years, and that sparked something to me. 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.560 Although I didn't have a mentor, and I really learned 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:07.360 a lot at that time just by trial and air, 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.520 and I'd have to say most of it was there, 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.160 and a whole lot of trials to go along with it. 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:16.840 But then I moved to Florida when I was twenty 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:20.560 one years old and worked worked in Florida and was 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:24.439 there for a number of years, over twenty years I did. 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.280 That's where I really started to learn how to to 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:29.240 white tail hunt. But of course you're not going to 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:31.720 find the white tail near the size of Florida that 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:34.600 you do here in Manitoba or even in Arkansas for 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:38.079 that matter. And but I did have some guys that 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.880 hunted with learned a lot from him and killed quite 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:45.480 a few deer down there and UH. And then of 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:47.960 course through the years, I just started hunting different places. 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:49.800 I traveled a lot, so I think I white tail 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:55.400 hunted somewhere around sixteen or seventeen different states and UH. 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:59.120 And I just would hunt here and there, and when 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.400 I traveled internet slee I hunted some in Australia. UM. 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:06.400 Hunted Africa six or seven times, UM, but most of 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.120 that was with friends. I didn't pay an outfitter. I 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.360 knew people over there. I've been to Africa many many 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:16.600 times where I didn't hunt and UH. But the quest, 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:19.520 and leading up to this trip in Manitoba, the quest 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:23.360 has always been for a larger deer. UM. I've shot 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:25.720 a lot of one in thirty one forty class, dear, 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:30.840 but I've never broken the one park and uh, to me, 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:32.760 that's kind of the holy grail to step up to 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:36.280 another level of deer. Yeah. And so we we planned 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.880 to hunt last year and we hunted here and it 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:41.839 was a It was a great hunt. And white tail 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:45.000 has been even though you, I mean, Steve's taken lots 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:48.280 of African game, He's taken lots of stuff out West, 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:52.320 the little Deer and ante Lope and od Dad and Texas, 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:55.600 just lots of different things. White Tails, you're number one time, Yeah, 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.679 still the number one bear hunted with me in Quebec 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:05.680 and British Columbia, in Arkansas and Arkansas. Yeah, white Tail 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:08.160 to me are still one of the most particularly the 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:10.800 particularly those that make it past the four to five 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:16.920 year range are the most crafty, most most skilled animals 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:20.640 of evasive invading human beings that I've seen. So when 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:22.679 people in Africa asked me would you like to come 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.400 back and shoot something, I say not really, I mean 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:28.960 my dream would be to continue to own Yeah. Honed 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:32.120 it down to one thing, white tail and particularly trying 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:35.440 to find a large white tail. So and I still shoot. 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.600 I mean, um, I've already taken one white tail in 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.160 Arkansas this year that, uh I was I was very 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:45.880 pleased with. But coming up to Manitoba is like stepping 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.920 stepping the game up to a whole another level. Here, 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:52.319 animals are just so much as we know, so much 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:56.600 larger and and the potential for a hundred fifty two 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:05.000 inch of years is increased, increase considerably considerate. But as 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.160 we know, the big ones don't grow on trees and 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:10.720 they don't come easy either. So so last year I 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:14.640 came and uh we had a good, good trip. I 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:17.560 was put on a particular of falfa field and I 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:20.280 think it was the second morning of the hunt. I 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.760 heard some bucks rattling in the corner of the field, 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.920 and probably about two dred yards from me. It was 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:29.319 not light enough to really see. Let me stop, you 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:33.720 right there, you you uh you described those horn solets, 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:37.240 so you can imagine let me even stop, let me 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.080 even go back further than that. Coming to Manitoba, for 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.120 both of us, it's like something we never really thought 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:47.600 would happen. I mean, my upbringing into the white tail 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.920 world was in the nineties. I mean, I was a 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:54.400 twelve year old kid reading North American white tail. You know, 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:56.960 my dad was a white tail hunter in Canada. Was 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.920 like the place to go in the world for big 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:05.959 white tails. And and now years later, really it's the Midwest. 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.800 It's our Kansas, northern Missouri. I mean, it's kind of 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.200 shifted to some degree in terms of where a lot 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:18.280 of the really big deer coming from Kentucky, Wisconsin. But 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.720 but still this is an iconic place to white tails. 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:24.480 So me and you coming up here was like, I mean, 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:28.880 we were like five and fist bumping, a dream come true. 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:32.760 It really was, Yeah, for sure. Yeah, And I think 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:34.640 last year a matter of fact, we were so excited 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:37.000 we drove straight through up here. We drove straight through 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:41.080 from northwest Arkansas. And so that brings us to what 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:44.400 the story you were about to tell about the second 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:46.840 day in the blind, sitting over the south fi Ful field, 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:49.960 and you described to me it was in the dark, 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:52.280 so we're waiting for it to get light, and you 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:57.200 hear just like horns crashing. That was different. It was different. 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:00.960 I mean, we're in north I'm used to having, you know, 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.520 hearing bucks rattling in the woods and normally talking a 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:08.240 hundred probably hundred bucks where they the sound is more 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:11.600 of like a clack clack clack. But I heard these. 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:13.800 I could hear these, dear. I couldn't see him yet, 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:16.160 but I could hear him, and it sounded like someone 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:20.200 taking two by four's and and and bumping them together. 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:23.160 It was more of a deeper residence in the horn, 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:30.120 and I realized, there's something with some something volumes circumference. Yeah, 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:33.480 it's more like a boying boy rather than a clack 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:36.960 clack clack. Well, that broked my interest until the sun 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:39.000 came up and I was able to before they walked 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.600 off the field and went over a hill, I was 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:43.360 able to get a glimpse of both of them. And 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:46.600 one was a big on Eastern count he was a 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:50.640 big eight pointer and on the other one he was 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:54.240 this Eastern counting bear Honey Magazine podcast We go with 0:15:56.200 --> 0:15:59.000 four point he was he was an eight, and the 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:02.160 other one was at ten. And the tin had rich, dark, 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:06.520 dark brown chocolate horns. Oh, just something you do a 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:10.000 dream about. And the eight was no slouch because he 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:13.600 was wider than the tin. But the tin had mass. 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.800 He had good time length. Uh, he had good beam 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:19.760 length on his main beams. And I watched him for 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:22.520 a little while before they got out of range. I 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:24.880 was using her I was using a muzzleloader, but I 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:27.600 didn't I probably had a maximum two hundred yard range 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:30.800 I felt comfortable with at that time with that particular rifle, 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:34.400 so I didn't have a shot early in the morning. 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:37.400 They were they were about two They're about two hundred 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.120 and moving away from when I really got a good 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:44.280 look at the horns. So anyway, he sat there for 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.400 another hour and and what happened was the big ten 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:49.920 point and decided to come back the same way he 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:53.040 went on the field. And I saw him coming back, 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:56.080 and I arranged and came up with a hundred and 0:16:56.120 --> 0:17:00.960 eighty eight yards and put the cross ears, got the 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:04.240 gun out. They got that gun situated correctly, and I 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:06.880 knew where I was going to aim, and I had 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:08.880 the rifle sided in for two hundred as a matter 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:12.840 of fact, and so uh he stopped. He was eighty 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:15.919 eight yards broadside, and I thought, I'm going to fulfill 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.040 the dream of a lifetime. This is it, this is 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:22.960 the moment you've been waiting forty something years for. And 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:27.160 I took the safety off, squeeze that trigger, and all 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:31.360 I heard was the primer go off. Pop. That's all 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:35.240 I heard. And for of course, my mind was expecting 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:39.680 a boom. I was expecting, you know, some recoil and 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:42.560 for a second there, my mind was like frozen as 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:46.960 to what in the world happened here? And so that 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.800 so I was to say I was disappointed would be 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:54.800 an understatement, because there was no way to reload the gun. 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:59.119 I I mean, it just wasn't gonna happen. It pushed 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.080 your bullet like six or eight inches down the barrel. 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:05.000 That's corrected, moved my bullet down the barrel, the bullet out, 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:08.720 couldn't get some powder in, couldn't put more powder in. 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:12.560 I mean, I was stuck only to watch that buck 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:17.400 saunter off the field as if I was never there. 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:19.439 Let's just take a moment of silence right now on 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:26.600 the podcast. Okay, that's good. This is like an iconic 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:29.400 story between Steve and I. We don't we don't tell 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:34.280 it unless reverent ears listen. Yeah, absolutely, hush on the crowd. 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:36.840 I have a feeling we're bringing a few tears to 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:40.359 people's eyes, don't you. People are crying right now. They 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:43.120 probably because they experienced the same thing at one time 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:47.080 or another. But the issue with the with the issue 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:49.359 with the with the rifle was the fact that the 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:53.040 night before the weather had turned cold, and I had 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:55.600 my rifle loaded. I took the primer ound and I 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.480 put the rifle in the truck, and apparently there was 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:02.080 enough heat in the truck that created moisture inside the 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:07.679 chamber because the next day, of course, after having the misfire, 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:12.280 I tried another primer. It still did not fire. I 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.080 was able then to realize that the bullet was right 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:16.520 at the end of the barrel. I took the breech 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:19.919 plug out, pushed everything out, and when I did, the 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:23.280 powder came out of my hand and it was literally 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:27.840 soaking bush. And uh, I'm not shooting black podder. I'm 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:33.000 actually shooting smokeless powder muzzleloader. And uh so I'm shooting 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:37.439 I MR And uh it just came out wet. So 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:41.359 I knew what the problem was, so I vowed bringing 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:43.880 us well. I hunted for four more days last year. 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:47.359 Um I saw one other buck, but just could not 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:49.520 get a shot on him. When I was squeezing the trigger, 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:52.440 he went behind a pine tree and he never came 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:55.679 back out. And I saw your buck. I was not 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:59.000 with you when the gun misfired. The next morning, I 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:01.240 had already killed the du And so the next morning 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:04.600 I went scouting for Steve, sitting in a blind on 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:07.600 the other side of the field, and I had the 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:11.960 the buck that Steve was shooting at, and the eight 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:14.800 point walked within a hundred yards of me, and they 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:17.040 were they were all he said, they were. I mean, 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:22.960 you know, fifty plus ten point, just what we were after. Yeah, 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:26.600 big huge body, big big, huge neck on him. And 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:29.919 of course that added insult to injury. I was because 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:32.959 Clay had taken the video camera that morning and he 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.400 was actually able to record some footage of that buck 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:39.119 for me, and it seemed like it was gonna be 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:40.919 easy after that. I mean, it's like it's just a 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:43.040 matter of time. We'll get back on him. Yeah, and 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:46.320 and he just he just never he just disappeared. I 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:49.280 sat there number more nights and mornings and we never 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:52.200 did see him reappear. And so last year I went 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:55.840 home with an unfilled tag based on that, and that 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:58.720 leads U up to this hunt this year. And of 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:00.800 course Clay took a very nice buck with his bowl 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:05.159 last year here and uh, and that that spurred me 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:08.240 even more, and Uh I decided to come back with 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:12.800 Clay again for a second time, with high hopes, tremendously 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:16.200 high hopes that I might even see that same buck again, 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:21.000 but this year we'd even be bigger. But yeah, anyway, 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:25.800 that led us to come in here talk about what 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:29.800 the caliber of deer that we're hunting here. You know. 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:32.359 So last year we came and basically by the end 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:34.800 of day two I had killed a hundred and fifty 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:38.399 two inch buck with my bow and Steve had shot 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:41.959 at misfired at what we believe was a hundred and 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:46.000 fifty plus buck. Maybe maybe bigger, we don't know those 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:49.960 big ten points with bodies like that, or he could 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:57.160 have been one sixty about as easy. So we were like, Wow, 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:00.600 this is this is the place. This place has got 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:04.960 some big deer. And you know, Tom tom Ainsworth what 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:09.760 a guy. Tom seventy years old and he he has 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:13.959 thousands of acres. That's not an exaggeration that he can 0:22:14.040 --> 0:22:17.480 hunt much of it. He owns big crop land. I 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:20.920 described on the podcast the last podcast that we did. 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:25.680 I mean, this is this is big agg country. I mean, 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:33.399 this is uh where they're growing canola. Soybeans, oats and 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:38.240 wheat and flax and the and the deer eat almost 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:41.960 all of it. Lots of alfalfa too, so it's kind 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:45.640 of it's I would say it's similar to Iowa, except 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:47.720 for the trees are different. There's a lot of spruce 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:51.480 and a lot of poplar, and other than that, I mean, 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:54.040 it would be similar to like hunting somewhere like Iowa, 0:22:54.160 --> 0:22:58.520 except I'm not sure that these there's not more agriculture 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:01.280 here than even in the country of Eyewa. I don't know, 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:04.520 just huge I mean whole sections, you know, six acre 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:07.919 sections that basically don't have trees, and you know, just 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:11.560 along the a single tree along the creeks, maybe somebody, 0:23:11.560 --> 0:23:16.720 I mean big agg and so up here, the deer 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:22.040 densities are not extremely high. That being said, you know, 0:23:22.160 --> 0:23:24.200 you can hunt in the evening and see two or 0:23:24.240 --> 0:23:28.040 three deer, or you know, James has been looking out 0:23:28.080 --> 0:23:30.520 behind Tom's house in South afa Field and seeing thirty 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:33.040 deer at night. So you're seeing dere just about every 0:23:33.040 --> 0:23:38.840 time you sit, for sure. But so we last year 0:23:39.320 --> 0:23:42.280 like we were both gonna come home with er and 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:46.040 that was just phenomenal. The weather was great last year, 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:49.000 or too though high temperature rarely got over thirty two, 0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:52.000 I mean it was it stayed cold the whole time. 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:55.120 The deer really keyed in on the alfalfa, and they 0:23:55.200 --> 0:23:58.800 just don't seem to be this year. And I'm bo hunting, 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:03.080 and the reason ut for me to successfully bow hunt 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:05.080 this property, at least with the knowledge that I have 0:24:05.320 --> 0:24:09.639 right now, I really needed those I needed mature bucks 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:12.800 to be keying in on two alf alfha fields because 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:14.760