WEBVTT - Ep. 1058: Foundations - Treestand Setup Mistakes that Could Cost You a Buck

0:00:01.240 --> 0:00:05.080
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide

0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:08.879
<v Speaker 1>to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, presented by first Light,

0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:13.560
<v Speaker 1>creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind.

0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:18.640
<v Speaker 1>First Light, Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host,

0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:19.880
<v Speaker 1>Tony Peterson.

0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:22.320
<v Speaker 2>Hey, everyone, welcome to the Wire to Hunt Foundation's podcast,

0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:23.840
<v Speaker 2>which is brought to you by First Light. I'm rouse

0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.759
<v Speaker 2>Tony Peterson, and this episode is all about hanging stands

0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:34.839
<v Speaker 2>in the preseason and what we often get wrong. We

0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.519
<v Speaker 2>are all experiencing some weird form of time compression where

0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:40.280
<v Speaker 2>the days and weeks and months and years are just

0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.159
<v Speaker 2>all flying by. It literally feels impossible that we are

0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.479
<v Speaker 2>only weeks away from a lot of the early bow

0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:48.519
<v Speaker 2>openers cross country. That means it's time to leave the

0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:52.080
<v Speaker 2>fish alone start thinking about the deer they're scouting, you know,

0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:54.600
<v Speaker 2>of course, but also the work of hanging stands in

0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:56.320
<v Speaker 2>the preseason, which is what I'm going to talk about

0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:59.440
<v Speaker 2>right now, or more specifically, the mistakes we often make

0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.760
<v Speaker 2>while hanging stands in August and then not revisiting them

0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.319
<v Speaker 2>until the fall is firmly upon us and it's too

0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:17.000
<v Speaker 2>late to change anything. When I was growing up, I

0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:21.000
<v Speaker 2>had two dreams. Well, actually I had three. I guess

0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:22.959
<v Speaker 2>when I was really little, I wanted to make pizzas

0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:24.720
<v Speaker 2>for a living, because at some point I saw one

0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:26.720
<v Speaker 2>of those guys who can twirl the pizza doll in

0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.160
<v Speaker 2>the air to get it into a nice pizza shape,

0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:31.080
<v Speaker 2>and I thought that was about as high as a

0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:34.679
<v Speaker 2>fella from a small town in Minnesota could fly career wise. Now,

0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:37.600
<v Speaker 2>if I'm being honest, I achieved that dream pretty early

0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:39.920
<v Speaker 2>in my life. And let me tell you, cooking pizzas

0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:43.360
<v Speaker 2>for a living isn't as glamorous as you might think. Shocking,

0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:45.760
<v Speaker 2>I know. My other two dreams were to become an

0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:49.280
<v Speaker 2>outdoor writer and host a phishing show. I hit the

0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:51.680
<v Speaker 2>outdoor writer thing hard and it worked pretty well for

0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.480
<v Speaker 2>a long time, until people stopped reading magazines and newspapers

0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:58.440
<v Speaker 2>and well reading mostly anything. But the dream of being

0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:01.360
<v Speaker 2>a big time fishing shows just eluded me, no matter

0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:04.520
<v Speaker 2>how much I flirted with it. This year, that all changed,

0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:06.520
<v Speaker 2>and soon you'll get to watch me host a fishing

0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.160
<v Speaker 2>show that I can't really talk about yet. I can

0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:11.120
<v Speaker 2>say that I fished for a lot of different species

0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:12.840
<v Speaker 2>and a lot of different lakes and it was a

0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:16.040
<v Speaker 2>lot of fun and a lot of different types of frustrating,

0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:18.760
<v Speaker 2>as is the case with you know, filming anything in

0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.280
<v Speaker 2>Mother Nature. One of the shows I did put me

0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:23.640
<v Speaker 2>in a musky country, targeting the fish of a whole

0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.480
<v Speaker 2>lot of casts. Now. I caught my first muskie when

0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.360
<v Speaker 2>I was in high school on Dumbell Lake in northern Minnesota.

0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.360
<v Speaker 2>That little thirty inch fish hit a pop bar and

0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:34.839
<v Speaker 2>was a real touch and go fight until he got

0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:37.040
<v Speaker 2>in the net and we marveled at the barring on

0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:39.959
<v Speaker 2>his sides and the reality that one of us had

0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:44.320
<v Speaker 2>actually caught a fish that to that point was pure myth. Later,

0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:47.160
<v Speaker 2>while working out of the in Fisherman office in Brainerd,

0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:50.520
<v Speaker 2>I wet waited the crow Ring River for smallies and

0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:52.600
<v Speaker 2>I was just standing there and wate deep water, you know,

0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:55.680
<v Speaker 2>this tannic, nice water. When a fish flashed at my

0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:58.640
<v Speaker 2>swimming jig. I was in smalling mode, so I thought

0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:00.760
<v Speaker 2>maybe I was onto the state record, but my follow

0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:02.919
<v Speaker 2>up cast showed me that it was something much bigger

0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:06.359
<v Speaker 2>and much toothier. I landed that forty inch musky while

0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:08.240
<v Speaker 2>my buddy swam across the river with his rod in

0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:11.799
<v Speaker 2>his mouth to help me take photos. Since then, I've

0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:14.560
<v Speaker 2>got a few more muskies, largely by accident. And to

0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.400
<v Speaker 2>put it bluntly, I'm not a real musky fisherman in

0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:19.000
<v Speaker 2>kind of the same way that I'm not a real

0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:22.720
<v Speaker 2>duck hunter. I know what both pursuits consist of, but

0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:25.440
<v Speaker 2>I take the easy way out and don't take either

0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:28.680
<v Speaker 2>too seriously. Well, you have to kind of take it

0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:30.920
<v Speaker 2>seriously when you're filming a show dedicated to fishing for

0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:33.960
<v Speaker 2>a certain species like muskies. But I'm not conditioned, you know,

0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:37.080
<v Speaker 2>doing a figure eight on every cast. I'm super distractable

0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:39.920
<v Speaker 2>on the water, And well, I like to catch fish

0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:41.960
<v Speaker 2>more than I like to not catch fish. While trying

0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.360
<v Speaker 2>to catch a trophy fish, I do a poor job

0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:46.440
<v Speaker 2>of being a musky fisherman, even though I did end

0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:48.320
<v Speaker 2>up putting a few in the boat. But when I

0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.040
<v Speaker 2>engage in something like that, I'm reminded of how there

0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:54.440
<v Speaker 2>is sort of a buttoned up best practices kind of

0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:58.080
<v Speaker 2>approach to things that the real diehards engage in, and

0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:00.480
<v Speaker 2>then a whole bunch of levels below that, which can

0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.920
<v Speaker 2>result in success, but generally not the kind of success

0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.320
<v Speaker 2>that the diehard's fine. This exists all over in the

0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:11.360
<v Speaker 2>things we love to do, including you guessed it, golf,

0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:16.880
<v Speaker 2>just kidding, it's deer hunting, and in this case, hanging stands. Now, I,

0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:19.000
<v Speaker 2>like most of us, have some holes in my deer

0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:21.640
<v Speaker 2>hunting game that really bother me. But one area I

0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:25.760
<v Speaker 2>have supreme confidence in is the stand hanging game. I

0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:27.479
<v Speaker 2>don't know how many stands I have hung in my life,

0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:29.040
<v Speaker 2>but I'm going to round up to an even one

0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.640
<v Speaker 2>million here. I honestly love the task. I love reading

0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:35.160
<v Speaker 2>spots and trees and trying to figure out exactly how

0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.000
<v Speaker 2>to get the best setups going and then how to

0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:41.080
<v Speaker 2>access them. And even with all of that backslapping I'm

0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:44.520
<v Speaker 2>given myself, I also have to say this, I screw

0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:46.840
<v Speaker 2>up a lot. And the times that I screw up

0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.719
<v Speaker 2>the most are when I'm setting preseason stands that I

0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.760
<v Speaker 2>won't return to until the season is open. When I

0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.159
<v Speaker 2>walk in and hang a set to hunt, I just

0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.880
<v Speaker 2>tend to get it mostly right or at least more right.

0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:03.360
<v Speaker 2>But when I'm hanging a stand six weeks before the season,

0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:07.360
<v Speaker 2>I often get crucial parts wrong. There are some obvious

0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.640
<v Speaker 2>reasons for this that you should pay attention to, because

0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:11.360
<v Speaker 2>I'll bet you get some of them wrong as well.

0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:14.200
<v Speaker 2>The first one is simply not reading the tree or

0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:17.640
<v Speaker 2>the spot correctly for when you'll actually hunt it. If

0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:20.920
<v Speaker 2>you've never hung a preseason stand, if you've never hung

0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.360
<v Speaker 2>a preseason stan, only to return and, say late October,

0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:27.000
<v Speaker 2>to realize that you stick out worse than I don't

0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:29.360
<v Speaker 2>know someone drowning worms for trout on one of those

0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:32.680
<v Speaker 2>snooty Bozeman trout rivers where mustaches and fish whistles are

0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:34.800
<v Speaker 2>mandatory and you have to hold your rod in your

0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:36.760
<v Speaker 2>mouth for every photo of a twelve inch rainbow to

0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:39.479
<v Speaker 2>let your ninety seven followers know you've caught a fish

0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.760
<v Speaker 2>the hard way, like a real man. Anyway, when the

0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:47.160
<v Speaker 2>leaves come down, that stand sticks out. This only gets

0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:49.320
<v Speaker 2>worse if you're the kind of hunter who faces his

0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:53.080
<v Speaker 2>stand toward the most likely approach. I've said this a

0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:55.400
<v Speaker 2>thousand times, and I suspect this won't be the last time.

0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:58.960
<v Speaker 2>But an easy insurance policy against getting busted is to

0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.440
<v Speaker 2>hang your stands facing away from where the deer going

0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.640
<v Speaker 2>to approach from. Not every tree demands this, though, but

0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:06.560
<v Speaker 2>a lot of them do. And if you have the

0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:09.160
<v Speaker 2>option to shoot around the tree while keeping the trunk

0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.159
<v Speaker 2>between you and the deer. You've just given yourself a

0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.799
<v Speaker 2>real advantage. It's not always necessary in the early season either,

0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.200
<v Speaker 2>but if it can be done, I always do it,

0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:21.359
<v Speaker 2>and I mean always. This point sort of walks in

0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:24.919
<v Speaker 2>lockstep with something else that I see a lot trimming mistakes.

0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:27.960
<v Speaker 2>There are two ways this goes. The first is that

0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:29.760
<v Speaker 2>you get into a tree and you get your stand up,

0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:31.520
<v Speaker 2>and then you use a pole saw to cut a

0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:34.279
<v Speaker 2>lane here and there and there and there, and pretty

0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:36.200
<v Speaker 2>soon you're like, well, I can shoot three hundred and

0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.240
<v Speaker 2>sixty degrees around my stand to every single trail. This

0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:41.320
<v Speaker 2>only gets worse when you have a buddy, you know,

0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.800
<v Speaker 2>with you who can walk around and trim everything up

0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.719
<v Speaker 2>according to your direction. Now, don't get me wrong, cutting

0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.440
<v Speaker 2>lanes is important, but what you cut in August that

0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:51.800
<v Speaker 2>doesn't seem like much will appear to be a lot

0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:54.320
<v Speaker 2>of cutting as the season progresses. You don't want to

0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.039
<v Speaker 2>leave yourself with no cover. And I know this is

0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:00.200
<v Speaker 2>hard to do, but at most ranges we are in

0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.479
<v Speaker 2>white tails. A basketball sized hole is more than enough

0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:07.039
<v Speaker 2>to shoot through. Bigger is not always better, but try

0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.520
<v Speaker 2>to think about how much you'd really need to get

0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:12.320
<v Speaker 2>an ethical shot through and don't go much bigger if

0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:15.280
<v Speaker 2>you don't have to. It's also a good idea to

0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.560
<v Speaker 2>hinge cut limbs instead of fully sawing them off if

0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:21.119
<v Speaker 2>you can use them to hide yourself in any way.

0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.080
<v Speaker 2>The goal is to give yourself the shot opportunities you

0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.559
<v Speaker 2>think you'll need without going overboard and exposing yourself too much.

0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:30.840
<v Speaker 2>Of course, you also have to factor in the under

0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.520
<v Speaker 2>trimming game, which is an easy one to play when

0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:36.000
<v Speaker 2>it's one hundred and four degrees with one hundred percent humidity.

0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.760
<v Speaker 2>The good enough attitude on stand hanging has saved a

0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:41.920
<v Speaker 2>lot of bucks, and a great way to avoid this

0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:43.800
<v Speaker 2>trap is to have that buddy with you who can

0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.840
<v Speaker 2>walk the trails and eyeball you in your stand. If

0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:48.640
<v Speaker 2>you don't have that option and are more of a

0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.400
<v Speaker 2>solo stand hanger, get down and walk all the way

0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:56.160
<v Speaker 2>around your stand and eyeball your setup. How would you

0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:59.600
<v Speaker 2>shoot sitting down or standing up? At each trail and

0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:02.520
<v Speaker 2>needs to be trimmed to open up some of those lanes.

0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:16.440
<v Speaker 2>To take this a step further, let's say you have

0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:19.400
<v Speaker 2>a trail that is twenty yards out. You don't really

0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:21.640
<v Speaker 2>have any good openings to shoot, but you need a couple.

0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:24.280
<v Speaker 2>What I look for in this situation is something that

0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.000
<v Speaker 2>will block a deer's view, like a big old tree

0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:28.960
<v Speaker 2>close to the trail where he has to pass on

0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:32.160
<v Speaker 2>the far side, because when he's back there, I can draw,

0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:35.360
<v Speaker 2>and when he walks out, I can shoot him. Now,

0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:37.559
<v Speaker 2>he might go down the trail one way or he

0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:39.520
<v Speaker 2>might go down the other way. So I want to

0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.360
<v Speaker 2>be able to shoot on both sides of that tree.

0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.520
<v Speaker 2>That's never a bad move. The key is to understand

0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:47.720
<v Speaker 2>why you're cutting those lanes, where you're cutting those lanes,

0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:50.280
<v Speaker 2>and to give yourself a nice little advantage by using

0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:53.439
<v Speaker 2>what's already out there to block his vision and allow

0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:55.640
<v Speaker 2>you to make the biggest movement that you probably need

0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.920
<v Speaker 2>to make. And speaking of big moves in your stand,

0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:01.640
<v Speaker 2>when you hang one, sit in it and get a

0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:04.880
<v Speaker 2>real feel for it, is it crooked at all? Because

0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:08.200
<v Speaker 2>a tiny bit crooked for five minutes in August will

0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.520
<v Speaker 2>feel like the Titanic going down during a five hour

0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:14.560
<v Speaker 2>sit in October. It's so much easier to fine tune

0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.959
<v Speaker 2>them in the preseason when the pressure is weeks away

0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:20.280
<v Speaker 2>than it is when you go in there. During the season,

0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:23.600
<v Speaker 2>and you do not want to be uncomfortable on a

0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:27.880
<v Speaker 2>stand because you'll move more and you'll willingly sit for

0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:32.160
<v Speaker 2>less time. Both of those things will cost you deer eventually.

0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:35.240
<v Speaker 2>Take a look around at the limbs, the lanes and

0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:37.120
<v Speaker 2>what you be dealing with. To draw a bow while

0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:40.880
<v Speaker 2>both sitting and standing, Where would you put your bowhanger

0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:43.240
<v Speaker 2>if you use one? How about where are you going

0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.400
<v Speaker 2>to hang your pack? This is little stuff, but it

0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:48.840
<v Speaker 2>matters the first time you go in, especially if your

0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:52.280
<v Speaker 2>first cit is in the morning. Does your stand shift

0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.880
<v Speaker 2>or squeak at all when you move either one of

0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:58.640
<v Speaker 2>those things now might seem like a non issue, but

0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:00.480
<v Speaker 2>it'll be a different story when it gets it's cold

0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:02.440
<v Speaker 2>and you have one hundred and thirty five inchro walking in.

0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:05.559
<v Speaker 2>Trust me on that one. Make a note on your

0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:09.920
<v Speaker 2>phone what winds would be absolutely perfect, what would be questionable,

0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:13.520
<v Speaker 2>and what would be a for sure no go. This

0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:17.040
<v Speaker 2>one seems obvious, but it's not. We go in, hang

0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.520
<v Speaker 2>a set, tell ourselves as good for a west wind,

0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:21.880
<v Speaker 2>and then we head back to the truck. Then the

0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:24.120
<v Speaker 2>season hits and we get a west wind, but the

0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:26.320
<v Speaker 2>conditions have the deer coming in from somewhere we didn't

0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:29.560
<v Speaker 2>anticipate way back in August, or we now realize that

0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.040
<v Speaker 2>a straight west wind would be fine, but it's always

0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:34.439
<v Speaker 2>got a little, you know, north kicker to it, or

0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:38.000
<v Speaker 2>a south kicker, and we have think that through in

0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:42.120
<v Speaker 2>the moment we have that moment of weighing risk. Do

0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:45.320
<v Speaker 2>you sit with a thin margin? Maybe, but maybe that

0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:47.560
<v Speaker 2>costs you a deer. I don't want to make this

0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:50.720
<v Speaker 2>sound like a neurotic, detail obsessed hunter, because I'm not.

0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:53.280
<v Speaker 2>I've just made a lot of mistakes, and when I

0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:55.480
<v Speaker 2>make those mistakes, I hate myself a little more with

0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:59.400
<v Speaker 2>each one, particularly when I could have easily prevented myself

0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:03.760
<v Speaker 2>from making such dumb mistakes. And of the dumb mistakes

0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:07.040
<v Speaker 2>I've made, the ones that bother me the most are

0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.320
<v Speaker 2>the entrance route mistakes. I've talked about this a lot,

0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:12.240
<v Speaker 2>so I'm gonna skip some of the basics. I'll just

0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:17.280
<v Speaker 2>say this, mark your routes well, trim them well. Imagine

0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.600
<v Speaker 2>walking down them in the dark with a great big

0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:24.840
<v Speaker 2>backpack on while trying to be super quiet, and give

0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.280
<v Speaker 2>yourself a real shot of success by clearing them correctly.

0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:31.200
<v Speaker 2>The key to this is to think about what you

0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:35.079
<v Speaker 2>have to step on, and basically, if it's not bare dirt,

0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:39.200
<v Speaker 2>it's going to be loud. Leaves are an obvious noise maker,

0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:42.680
<v Speaker 2>but sticks and branches and rocks are both loud and

0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:44.440
<v Speaker 2>sound a hell of a lot like a big animal

0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.240
<v Speaker 2>going through the woods. Now, leaves can sound like a

0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.920
<v Speaker 2>lot of things, but squirrels don't crack big sticks, and

0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:54.120
<v Speaker 2>bunnies don't step on rocks and make them clunk hard

0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:59.000
<v Speaker 2>against other rocks. Walking through water is loud, too, but

0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.360
<v Speaker 2>I've come to not care that as much. I don't

0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:03.120
<v Speaker 2>think there's a critter out there that can tell the

0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:05.120
<v Speaker 2>difference between a boot and the water and a hoof.

0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:07.160
<v Speaker 2>But it's also a good idea to go slow and

0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.440
<v Speaker 2>try to stay as quiet as possible. These days, not

0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.559
<v Speaker 2>only do I tack my trails, but I also use

0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.880
<v Speaker 2>my track or feature on ONEX to record my exact route.

0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:19.640
<v Speaker 2>I like this for obvious reasons, but also because it

0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:21.440
<v Speaker 2>shows me how long it takes to walk it. In

0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:24.600
<v Speaker 2>good conditions, I can add in a buffer for it

0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:27.160
<v Speaker 2>being dark and me trying to be quiet and plan

0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:30.400
<v Speaker 2>my hunts a little better. I honestly find myself using

0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:32.520
<v Speaker 2>that feature a lot and if you aren't, you should

0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:35.880
<v Speaker 2>probably check it out. In my experience, it has proven

0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.640
<v Speaker 2>to be useful in small game hunting, upland hunting, and

0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:43.240
<v Speaker 2>definitely during blood trails when things aren't going super well. Now,

0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:45.400
<v Speaker 2>while I'm on the topic of entrance and exit routes,

0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.520
<v Speaker 2>I should say this, The whole route needs to be

0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.360
<v Speaker 2>planned out. This isn't just a point A to B

0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.720
<v Speaker 2>thing where you try to get there quietly. Think about

0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:56.760
<v Speaker 2>what the wind would be like walking in for an

0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:59.760
<v Speaker 2>evening sit, or what you'd have to walk out and

0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:03.760
<v Speaker 2>throw after a hunt. Does your morning route take you

0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.880
<v Speaker 2>super close to the only beanfield on the farm you're

0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:09.800
<v Speaker 2>gonna spook deer. You might need to swing wide and

0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:12.320
<v Speaker 2>take three times as long to get there, but you'll

0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:15.480
<v Speaker 2>get there safely. And then when you plan the route

0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:18.720
<v Speaker 2>close to your stand, think about how you'll approach your stand.

0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.000
<v Speaker 2>You know, I use knee high rubber boots and I

0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:23.959
<v Speaker 2>try to keep my scent signature low. But deer really

0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.560
<v Speaker 2>good at smelling people, and I'd rather not have them

0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.120
<v Speaker 2>have to walk over my entrance trail before they get

0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:33.200
<v Speaker 2>to where I can shoot them. That's just asking for trouble.

0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:35.840
<v Speaker 2>I've hung a lot of stands in my life where

0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.720
<v Speaker 2>I got within, say, I don't know, fifty or seventy

0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:42.000
<v Speaker 2>yards of the stand and then cleared my entrance route

0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:45.240
<v Speaker 2>to sort of loop way around the rest of the

0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:48.960
<v Speaker 2>route might be pretty straightforward, but there are often times

0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:51.440
<v Speaker 2>where I anticipate deer to come from a certain direction,

0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:53.520
<v Speaker 2>and I want them to be able to walk through

0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:56.400
<v Speaker 2>that as far as possible before they have the potential

0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:59.559
<v Speaker 2>to hit my trail. This does one obvious thing and

0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.200
<v Speaker 2>one not so obvious thing. The first is that it

0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.360
<v Speaker 2>keeps them from smelling where I walked when they first

0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.840
<v Speaker 2>get into range. That's huge, honestly. But the second is

0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:10.440
<v Speaker 2>that in a lot of situations, it puts the deer

0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.120
<v Speaker 2>well out of my danger zone. If they do happen

0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:16.320
<v Speaker 2>to smell where I walked, that cagy dough with two

0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.520
<v Speaker 2>fawns might get a whiff of something she doesn't like,

0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:21.200
<v Speaker 2>But I'd rather have her do that when she's fifty

0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:24.360
<v Speaker 2>yards out instead of fifteen, because if she is fifteen,

0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:26.880
<v Speaker 2>she's eventually going to look up, and when she does,

0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:29.120
<v Speaker 2>she's not going to stop looking at me until she

0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.720
<v Speaker 2>blows and blows and clears out the section. If a

0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:33.920
<v Speaker 2>deer is going to get wiggy at all at my presence,

0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:36.920
<v Speaker 2>I really want them as far away as possible. This

0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.360
<v Speaker 2>is one way to do that, but not all spots

0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:42.040
<v Speaker 2>are conducive to that sort of entrance route. Many are,

0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:45.800
<v Speaker 2>especially staging areas, setups or stands on funnels and pinch points.

0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:48.040
<v Speaker 2>The other way to look at this is if there

0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:49.760
<v Speaker 2>is a way to choose a tree next to a

0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:51.880
<v Speaker 2>washout or a gully or something you can use to

0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:54.600
<v Speaker 2>access it. You know, for the last however, many yards

0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:56.760
<v Speaker 2>and it's a kind of thing that deer are very

0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:59.720
<v Speaker 2>unlikely to enter. That's great. It takes a lot of

0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.320
<v Speaker 2>work to hang stands correctly, and you really don't want

0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:04.400
<v Speaker 2>to put in all of that sweat equity only to

0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:06.880
<v Speaker 2>take a lazy approach to actually getting to the stand,

0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:10.240
<v Speaker 2>which could cost you a buck. There are probably a

0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:12.080
<v Speaker 2>million things I'm missing here, but I feel like this

0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:15.000
<v Speaker 2>is a good starting point, especially when you think about

0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:17.280
<v Speaker 2>hang on tree stands, which are generally my go to

0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.600
<v Speaker 2>type of stand for private ground that I can set

0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:24.000
<v Speaker 2>up beforehand. I realize though, that a lot of folks

0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:26.680
<v Speaker 2>are leaning on ladderstands these days, which makes sense and

0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:28.880
<v Speaker 2>is a topic that I plan to dive in on

0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.080
<v Speaker 2>for next week's episode, So come back in a week

0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:33.680
<v Speaker 2>because I'm going to keep talking about how to haunt

0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:37.280
<v Speaker 2>America's favorite game animal. That's it for this show. I'm

0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.000
<v Speaker 2>Tony Peterson. This has been the Wire to Hunt Foundation's podcast,

0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.080
<v Speaker 2>which is brought to you by First Light. As always,

0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:44.120
<v Speaker 2>thank you so much for your support. I can't tell

0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:46.880
<v Speaker 2>you how much we appreciate it. You guys show up

0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:50.040
<v Speaker 2>for us with every project we do is truly incredible.

0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.600
<v Speaker 2>If you need some more mediator content, you know where

0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:56.160
<v Speaker 2>to go. The meediater dot com. New films, new podcasts,

0:15:56.200 --> 0:15:59.560
<v Speaker 2>new articles, news on conservation, whatever, it's all there. Go

0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:01.320
<v Speaker 2>check it out and thank you once again