WEBVTT - Ep. 1042: Foundations - How Whitetail Antlers Came To Be and Why We Love Them So Much

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide

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<v Speaker 1>to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, presented by first Light,

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<v Speaker 1>creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind.

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<v Speaker 1>First Light Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host

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<v Speaker 1>Tony Peterson.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey everyone, welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundation's podcast,

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<v Speaker 2>which is brought to you by first Light. I'm your host,

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<v Speaker 2>Tony Peterson. In today's episode is all about all of

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<v Speaker 2>those bucks out there that are just starting to grow

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<v Speaker 2>their new sets of antlers and how amazing that really is,

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<v Speaker 2>and also why we just love antlers. I had two

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<v Speaker 2>experiences with antlers recently that reminded me how cool they

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<v Speaker 2>really are. One involved finding a shed from last season

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<v Speaker 2>on a little property I own, which is the first

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<v Speaker 2>antler I've ever found on any ground I've owned, which

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<v Speaker 2>covers a fifteen year time span now. The other was

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<v Speaker 2>a video of a young buck that already has a

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<v Speaker 2>tar get on his back from one of my daughters.

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<v Speaker 2>Antlers are just fascinating, and honestly, we kind of take

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<v Speaker 2>it for granted how they come to be and what

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<v Speaker 2>they really mean. That seems confusing, don't worry, because I'm

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<v Speaker 2>gonna break it down right now. I'm at the stage

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<v Speaker 2>of my hunting career where I'm just done with shoulder mounts.

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<v Speaker 2>For a long time, you know, having a set of

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<v Speaker 2>antlers on the wall meant a lot to me, and

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<v Speaker 2>having a buck dead that was worthy of a trip

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<v Speaker 2>to the tax at Ermis meant even more to me.

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<v Speaker 2>But at some point, about five or six years ago,

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<v Speaker 2>I just realized I don't need any more shoulder mounts.

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<v Speaker 2>The truth about it is that I kind of realized

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<v Speaker 2>no one really cares about them but me, and at

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<v Speaker 2>some point I'll be dead and no one will care

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<v Speaker 2>about them at all. I don't regret mounting deer in

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<v Speaker 2>the past, and still have plenty of antlers around that

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<v Speaker 2>remind me of some of my most exciting and rewarding

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<v Speaker 2>times in the outdoors. I'm just at the point now

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<v Speaker 2>where I'd rather take my tax at Army money and

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<v Speaker 2>dump it into my retirement accounts or use it to

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<v Speaker 2>take my daughter's fishing somewhere. I guess I'm more into

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<v Speaker 2>like experiences now.

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<v Speaker 3>That's just me.

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<v Speaker 2>I am still wildly interested in antlers in general. I

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<v Speaker 2>freaking love shed hunting, and I love hunting deer, and

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<v Speaker 2>I've never been pissed, not once in my life, to

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<v Speaker 2>see a buck of any size walking down the trail

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<v Speaker 2>toward me. I'm guessing you feel the same way if

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<v Speaker 2>you're devoting any of your time listening to me drone

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<v Speaker 2>on and on about deer. But do you really know

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<v Speaker 2>the story of antlers. It's pretty wild, and it starts

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<v Speaker 2>somewhere around twenty to twenty five million years ago when

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<v Speaker 2>the deer family Serve a Day appeared on the scene.

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<v Speaker 2>This was a time when new mammals started to replace

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<v Speaker 2>the ones that didn't quite survive the Oligasine epoch, and

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<v Speaker 2>newcomers besides the deer, ancestors to hit the landscape include

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<v Speaker 2>the first hyenas and the first weasels. It's pretty easy

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<v Speaker 2>to understand how evolution would eventually settle on large canine teeth,

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<v Speaker 2>for example, like you might find tucked inside of a

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<v Speaker 2>lion's mouth. And it's not really a stretch to think

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<v Speaker 2>about teeth becoming, you know, a bigigger and bigger weapon,

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<v Speaker 2>as well as some sort of defensive signal, which means,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, you can think about a walrus here.

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<v Speaker 3>But antlers, it's kind of an unusual one.

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<v Speaker 2>Luckily for us and the deer, some of the earliest

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<v Speaker 2>critters in the lineage had bony skull outgrowths. This is

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<v Speaker 2>important because evolution tends to work better when the only

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<v Speaker 2>change it needs just involves a structure that already exists,

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<v Speaker 2>instead of coming up with a whole new weapon system.

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<v Speaker 2>Over time, birds and animals and probably fish and who

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<v Speaker 2>knows what else often have ornamental appendages or plumages that

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<v Speaker 2>help with mate selection. This seems to be the primary

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<v Speaker 2>driver behind deer eventually growing larger and more branching sets

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<v Speaker 2>of bone on their foreheads, but being strapped with the

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<v Speaker 2>baddest weapons in the forest doesn't likely count as the

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<v Speaker 2>sole reason modern antlers came to be. We all know

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<v Speaker 2>males compete with other males for the ladies, and the

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<v Speaker 2>winners of fights just generally get to pass along their

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<v Speaker 2>genes more than the losers. That's evolution in a nutshell,

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<v Speaker 2>but it doesn't tell the whole story of antlers. The

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<v Speaker 2>bucks with big antlers, the one who meets the buck

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<v Speaker 2>with small antlers might never have to risk his eyesight

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<v Speaker 2>or his life to prove how bad as he is.

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<v Speaker 2>Think about it, if you had to duel with someone

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<v Speaker 2>you know, like an old timey duel. I don't know

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<v Speaker 2>why you would want to, but bear with me here.

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<v Speaker 2>If you were given a I don't know, let's say

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<v Speaker 2>a single shot thirty two caliber pistol and the dude

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<v Speaker 2>you were supposed to duel with was handed a semi

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<v Speaker 2>ato twelve gage stuff to the gills with tungsten turkey loads,

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<v Speaker 2>you might just decide to no show for the duel

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<v Speaker 2>that day. This is the goal with almost all species

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<v Speaker 2>out there, maybe all of them, you know, which is

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<v Speaker 2>to pass on your jeans a lot while having to

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<v Speaker 2>take on as little risk as possible. This has a

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<v Speaker 2>further advantage which is tied to something called the handicap principle. Essentially,

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<v Speaker 2>a big set of antlers comes with a large biological cost,

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<v Speaker 2>and all of those doze out there looking at at

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<v Speaker 2>Bucks all day to decide which ones to lock down with.

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<v Speaker 2>They see that giant set of antlers and realize that

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<v Speaker 2>that is a deer that has resources to spare. He's

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<v Speaker 2>doing so well that he can devote extra resources to

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<v Speaker 2>extravagant headgear. I mean, why do you think just about

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<v Speaker 2>every one of us wants to make more money and

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<v Speaker 2>a secretly kind of pissed when we meet someone who

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<v Speaker 2>has a huge property and awesome vehicles in a giant

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<v Speaker 2>house and seemingly unlimited funds. Or maybe a better way

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<v Speaker 2>to put this is, you know, we as a society

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<v Speaker 2>have kind of just decided all billionaires are evil, except

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<v Speaker 2>I guess Taylor Swift. But we don't talk about how

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<v Speaker 2>we'd all definitely not turned down a billion dollars if

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<v Speaker 2>it was offered to us, and yes, our lives would

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<v Speaker 2>change to resemble the upper class more than we'd care

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<v Speaker 2>to admit, because when you have crazy amount of resources,

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<v Speaker 2>we have a crazy amount of high value options in life. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>you could say that the buck equivalent of having you know, say,

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<v Speaker 2>one hundred billion dollars to your name, would be having

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<v Speaker 2>six hundred inches a bone on top of your head.

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<v Speaker 2>But those don't exist, and the closest we get are

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<v Speaker 2>farm deer that are not what nature intended and never.

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<v Speaker 3>Probably will be.

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<v Speaker 2>But real bucks don't get to that size, and that's

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<v Speaker 2>because natural selection and sexual selection pull in opposite directions.

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<v Speaker 2>Maybe the does would choose that six hundred inch buck

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<v Speaker 2>every time because well, maybe they're shallow and they can't

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<v Speaker 2>see the good characteristics of your average spike buck with

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<v Speaker 2>a great personality. But the truth is, evolution tends to

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<v Speaker 2>settle where the survival costs aren't totally out of balance

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<v Speaker 2>with reproductive benefits. In other words, at some point, antler's

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<v Speaker 2>got big enough to do all of the jobs necessary,

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<v Speaker 2>but not so big as to cause a higher likelihood

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<v Speaker 2>of death to the owner. If you can't run through

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<v Speaker 2>the woods or hold your head up for more than

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<v Speaker 2>a few minutes at a time because you have two

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<v Speaker 2>tree trunks sprouting from your noggin, the wolves and the

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<v Speaker 2>coyotes and whoever else are going to figure that out

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<v Speaker 2>real quickly, and they're going to eat you. Antlers are cool,

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<v Speaker 2>way beyond on what I've talked about so far, though,

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<v Speaker 2>as I mentioned in the intro, I recently found a

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<v Speaker 2>shed off a two year old buck in northern Wisconsin.

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<v Speaker 2>That part of the whole thing is fascinating too, and

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<v Speaker 2>it's what differentiates antlers from horns, which don't fall off

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<v Speaker 2>and regenerate every year. We all know that once the

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<v Speaker 2>rut winds down and the whole deer fervor grinds nearly

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<v Speaker 2>to a halt, that a buck's testosterone levels drop like

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<v Speaker 2>the temperature. In response to this, they develop specialized cells

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<v Speaker 2>that help dissolve the bone at the pedicle until both

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<v Speaker 2>sides fall off. Why might you ask, Well, antlers are

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<v Speaker 2>expensive to deer, a big buck, you know, run down

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<v Speaker 2>from the rut, and who doesn't really need to display

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<v Speaker 2>his male prowess any longer doesn't need to carry around

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<v Speaker 2>a bunch of extra weight on his head. It's kind

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<v Speaker 2>of as simple as that, and an easy way to

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<v Speaker 2>understand it for any of us.

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<v Speaker 3>Just carry around some extra weight. You don't have to

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<v Speaker 3>strap a.

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<v Speaker 2>Dumb belt to your forehead here to understand this, although

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<v Speaker 2>if you do, please send me photos of your attempts. Really,

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<v Speaker 2>just pick up something heavy and carry it around for

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<v Speaker 2>a while, and then maybe, I don't know, climb a

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<v Speaker 2>couple flights of stairs while carrying it, or go for

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<v Speaker 2>a long walk, hell, maybe a swim, maybe a run.

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<v Speaker 2>This is the thing that a lot of people don't

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<v Speaker 2>seem to understand that today about weight loss and the

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<v Speaker 2>general condition of our bodies, we think we all have

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<v Speaker 2>a pretty sweet beach body, except for maybe a few

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<v Speaker 2>extra stubborn pounds. But even fifteen extra pounds is a

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<v Speaker 2>lot when you make the decision to carry it around voluntarily.

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<v Speaker 2>And if you ever go to the gym and grab

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<v Speaker 2>like a forty five pound plate carry that sucker around,

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<v Speaker 2>you realize pretty quickly how much you don't want to

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<v Speaker 2>carry that kind of weight around.

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<v Speaker 3>When it's a part of your body.

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<v Speaker 2>You're going to do a lot of extra work while

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<v Speaker 2>doing the things you do every day, and that comes

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<v Speaker 2>at a cost of having to rest more, eat more,

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<v Speaker 2>and you know, just potential injury. It's really no different

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<v Speaker 2>for deer. But this discussion doesn't end when the antlers

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<v Speaker 2>hit the dirt, you know, and the turkeys start to gobble,

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<v Speaker 2>because those bucks need a new set of antlers, and

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<v Speaker 2>it doesn't take long before they start growing.

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<v Speaker 3>And this part's truly wild.

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<v Speaker 2>It all starts with the amount of daylight out there,

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<v Speaker 2>just like so many transitions in nature, you know, as

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<v Speaker 2>this sets off a hormonal shift in a buck's body,

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<v Speaker 2>and the very first thing to happen, you know, include

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<v Speaker 2>the formation of cartilage like tissue and blood vessels and

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<v Speaker 2>then stem cells which rapidly divide. This all happens at

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<v Speaker 2>the pedicles. What will eventually become bone doesn't start that way.

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<v Speaker 2>It's living tissue as the very first beginnings of antlers grow.

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<v Speaker 2>We all know they start out covered in velvet. But

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<v Speaker 2>what is velvet besides a cool, hairy like covering on

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<v Speaker 2>antlers that actually looks really sweet on a mount if

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<v Speaker 2>you're lucky enough to shoot one, you know, in the

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<v Speaker 2>earth season that hasn't stripped yet. Velvet is actually a

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<v Speaker 2>specialized kind of skin which contains a highly dense network

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<v Speaker 2>of blood vessels. It's covered in hair, and it's full

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<v Speaker 2>of nerves. What velvet does is a lot for starters.

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<v Speaker 2>It delivers oxygen to fuel all that rapid growth. It

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<v Speaker 2>also supplies minerals like calcium, protein, magnesium, and phosphorus, which

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<v Speaker 2>bucks get from crops forbes, lugumes, and well nearly any

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<v Speaker 2>kind of fresh vegetation. That last one is important because,

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<v Speaker 2>like I said, antlers are expensive to grow and the

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<v Speaker 2>only season when the nutrients are easily available, while the

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<v Speaker 2>opportunity to also be kind of lazy and not waste

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<v Speaker 2>a bunch of energy happens in the late spring and

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<v Speaker 2>throughout the summer. Velvet is essentially the supply line to

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<v Speaker 2>the antlers when they are in the growth stage, and

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<v Speaker 2>while most of us will never see it, velvet is

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<v Speaker 2>absolutely full of blood. This is because antlers demand a

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<v Speaker 2>lot and the delivery mechanism can't have any downtime. Researchers

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<v Speaker 2>have measured antler growth of up to three centimeters per day,

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<v Speaker 2>which might not sound like a lot, but it's pretty

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<v Speaker 2>hard to find a mammal that can grow bone faster.

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<v Speaker 2>The thing is, all of that summer growth happens just

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<v Speaker 2>crazy fast, But so does the moment bucks go from

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<v Speaker 2>velvet to truly hard antlered. I've hunted early season bucks

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<v Speaker 2>a whole bunch of different states where you have a

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<v Speaker 2>legitimate shot at killing a velvet deer, and it always

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<v Speaker 2>blows my mind how I can watch a buck in

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<v Speaker 2>the morning that is fully in velvet and then see

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<v Speaker 2>him in the evening and he'll be totally stripped. The

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<v Speaker 2>whole thing happens fast, and it basically involves the cartilage

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<v Speaker 2>framework that allows blood vessels to invade deeper tissues, and

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<v Speaker 2>then along the way, bone producing cells called osteoplasts deposit

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<v Speaker 2>minerals throughout the antlers, which is when calcium and phosphorus

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<v Speaker 2>harden the whole structure and dense bone replaces soft tissue.

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<v Speaker 2>And when that's complete, which up here where I live,

0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:04.480
<v Speaker 2>and very likely where you live. Happens in about the

0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.000
<v Speaker 2>first ten days of September. The buck strip off their

0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:10.040
<v Speaker 2>velvet and they revealed their new headgear. Now, that's perfect

0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.559
<v Speaker 2>world stuff, which doesn't always exist in nature. Antler growth

0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.720
<v Speaker 2>isn't always a resounding success, and it can vary a

0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:19.000
<v Speaker 2>hell of a lot due to a variety of reasons.

0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.319
<v Speaker 2>An injury to a deer's pedicle can cause this. Now

0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:24.560
<v Speaker 2>you don't see this very often, but once in a

0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:26.720
<v Speaker 2>while you'll see a buck that has an antler that just,

0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.200
<v Speaker 2>you know, colors way outside the lines. I missed a

0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:32.839
<v Speaker 2>buck like this one time on some public land here

0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:35.240
<v Speaker 2>in the Twin Cities. He was a deer that had

0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:38.480
<v Speaker 2>a nice four point side, but the other side his

0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:40.880
<v Speaker 2>main beam drooped all the way down and kind of

0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.240
<v Speaker 2>looped around his chin. Now, if you look at an

0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:47.040
<v Speaker 2>old school NFL helmet, or you know, a more modern

0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.680
<v Speaker 2>NFL Kickers helmet, you can kind of get the gist

0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.520
<v Speaker 2>of what I mean. He wasn't a giant, but when

0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:55.560
<v Speaker 2>he walked out and I saw what he was working with,

0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.920
<v Speaker 2>I immediately shot right over his back. Antlers can also

0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.760
<v Speaker 2>get pretty wonky if they get injured during the growth stage.

0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:06.160
<v Speaker 2>I don't know if this is true, and it could

0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:08.600
<v Speaker 2>be due to factors like heat or maybe bugs, but

0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.160
<v Speaker 2>I often see bucks betting in the summer in grassy

0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:13.960
<v Speaker 2>swales in places that you just don't really expect them.

0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:16.559
<v Speaker 2>A lot of times I wonder if that's a protective

0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:20.480
<v Speaker 2>measure when their antlers are particularly prone to injury. Now,

0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:24.880
<v Speaker 2>hormonal abnormalities are another contributor to antlers not doing what

0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.160
<v Speaker 2>we expect them to do. We forget this about animals

0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.120
<v Speaker 2>in general, but a lot of the weird shit humans

0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:34.000
<v Speaker 2>have wrong with them can also be found in nature too,

0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:37.000
<v Speaker 2>we just aren't aware of it. This is also kind

0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:38.760
<v Speaker 2>of tied to the idea that we can age dear

0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:41.080
<v Speaker 2>on the hoof by just looking at them, which drives

0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:44.440
<v Speaker 2>me crazy. We just don't consider the array of genetics

0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:47.800
<v Speaker 2>responsible for body shape and size and really only think

0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:50.600
<v Speaker 2>about genetics and how they relate to antlers. But deer

0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:55.679
<v Speaker 2>bodies outside and inside are wildly variable, and sometimes those

0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:59.000
<v Speaker 2>variables aren't great for signaling proper growth of new antlers.

0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:04.040
<v Speaker 2>Nutritional stress is another one. Where I hunt in northern Wisconsin,

0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:06.240
<v Speaker 2>the big bucks are as big as the big bucks

0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:09.199
<v Speaker 2>get pretty much anywhere, but the young bucks are often

0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:11.040
<v Speaker 2>a hell of a lot smaller than they are in

0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:14.480
<v Speaker 2>southern Minnesota, or in Iowa, or in Illinois, or in Kansas.

0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:15.559
<v Speaker 3>Or Missouri, or take your pick.

0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:21.160
<v Speaker 2>Long winners, shorter growing seasons, less agriculture. All that stuff

0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:23.680
<v Speaker 2>works in concert to produce smaller antlers and the deer

0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.080
<v Speaker 2>that are least likely to have access to any of

0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.320
<v Speaker 2>the good resources. I remember seeing one of my uncle's

0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:31.680
<v Speaker 2>trophy rooms when I was growing up. It was just

0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.360
<v Speaker 2>amazed that's how small a lot of the bucks were.

0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:37.640
<v Speaker 2>But that was because I only had access to southern

0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.760
<v Speaker 2>Minnesota deer and had never spent any real time around

0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:42.800
<v Speaker 2>the deer that could have walked to Canada within a

0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:45.840
<v Speaker 2>day or two and not hardly even stressed about it.

0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.080
<v Speaker 2>A healthy deer is a deer with a variety of

0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.080
<v Speaker 2>good nutritional options, and those are the deer that can

0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:56.040
<v Speaker 2>devote more resources to growing headgear. It's one of the

0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:58.680
<v Speaker 2>reasons so many of the big time TV hunters have

0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:02.080
<v Speaker 2>really tightly managed its properties. It's not just to keep

0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.120
<v Speaker 2>big bucks around and keep other people out, but to

0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.080
<v Speaker 2>keep as many bucks around as long as possible and

0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:11.680
<v Speaker 2>give them all as stress free of a life as possible.

0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.280
<v Speaker 2>Stress just doesn't favor giant antlers, and if that stress

0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.480
<v Speaker 2>involves not getting a whole lot to eat, it only

0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:21.040
<v Speaker 2>gets worse. This is sort of an abstract concept because

0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:23.440
<v Speaker 2>we can't see it happen in real time, kind of

0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:27.160
<v Speaker 2>like evolution. But one thing that has been absolutely fascinating

0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:29.360
<v Speaker 2>to me about where I live is that the last

0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:32.680
<v Speaker 2>three winners have been very mild. Our turkeys have been

0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:36.040
<v Speaker 2>consistently heavy the last couple springs, our baths seem to

0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:38.240
<v Speaker 2>be heavier, and the deer seem to be doing just

0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:40.400
<v Speaker 2>fine with antlers, even in the areas I hunt where

0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:42.680
<v Speaker 2>I might run into more wolves than white tails.

0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:43.520
<v Speaker 3>I don't know.

0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:47.240
<v Speaker 2>I just think, honestly, antlers are cool, and we aren't

0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.280
<v Speaker 2>the only people to believe that. For tens of thousands

0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:54.359
<v Speaker 2>of years, humans have used antlers in architecture, art, rituals.

0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:58.160
<v Speaker 2>Antlers have been involved in human culture for a long

0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:02.160
<v Speaker 2>long time and have often been viewed as a status

0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:07.480
<v Speaker 2>of hunting success or fertility, a connection to the spiritual world.

0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:11.520
<v Speaker 2>They're sometimes used as a symbol of strengths. Headdresses with

0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:13.880
<v Speaker 2>antlers on them have been found dating back to at

0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:18.840
<v Speaker 2>least eleven thousand years ago. Cave art often depicts antlered

0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:23.960
<v Speaker 2>animals with highly exaggerated headgear, and often part human part

0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:28.800
<v Speaker 2>animal depictions where antlers are very prominent. Siberian and Eurasian

0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:32.800
<v Speaker 2>cultures use them in ceremonies and shamanic traditions. Indigenous North

0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:36.280
<v Speaker 2>American cultures use them as tools, decorative objects, and more.

0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:40.120
<v Speaker 2>We've been displaying antlers and ogling over them for a

0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:43.480
<v Speaker 2>long time and probably will for a hell of a

0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.680
<v Speaker 2>lot longer. At least I hope we do, because I

0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.640
<v Speaker 2>think that even though we've sort of fetishized Big Bucks

0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.000
<v Speaker 2>to the point where it's gotten a little weird out there,

0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:54.360
<v Speaker 2>the truth is that a lot of us are connected

0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:56.960
<v Speaker 2>to antlers and the animals that grow them, not just

0:16:57.040 --> 0:16:59.600
<v Speaker 2>because we like having something to do during a couple

0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:03.000
<v Speaker 2>of week in DS in September and October, November December,

0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:06.840
<v Speaker 2>but because they represent something pretty amazing in nature and

0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:11.120
<v Speaker 2>are in some ways a tether from our modern selves

0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:14.400
<v Speaker 2>to those that walk the land. Long before it would

0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.720
<v Speaker 2>become a pastime to hunt, but was instead one of

0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:21.119
<v Speaker 2>the primary ways to not only see another sunset, but

0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:25.600
<v Speaker 2>to get the opportunity to pass on our genes as well.

0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:27.919
<v Speaker 2>That's it for this week. I'm Tony Peterson. This has

0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:30.119
<v Speaker 2>been the Wire to Hunt Foundations podcast. Thank you so

0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.280
<v Speaker 2>much for listening. If you need some more hunting content,

0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:36.119
<v Speaker 2>maybe some phishing content, head on over to the mediater

0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:40.000
<v Speaker 2>dot com. We drop new articles, you know how to articles,

0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.280
<v Speaker 2>conservation articles, the latest news in the outdoors type articles.

0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:45.720
<v Speaker 2>We drop new podcasts. We have a ton of great

0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.680
<v Speaker 2>podcasts on this network. We drop new films all the time,

0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:51.119
<v Speaker 2>just tons of new content. Go check it out at the

0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:54.359
<v Speaker 2>mediator dot com and once again, thank you for your support.