WEBVTT - Ep. 390: Deer Stories - Dropping Bows and Dropping Bucks 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:07.640 It's mid November and the white tail rud is in 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:10.559 full swing. You kind of just have to be there 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:13.640 to understand. But a buck walking through timber a glow 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:18.279 with fallen leaves is rare. It's a fleeting moment and 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:21.239 it impacts the hunter at a deep level. I don't 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:24.119 want to over romanticize it, but the experiences that we 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:29.040 have in wild places are often significant highlights in our lives, 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:33.400 and these stories on this episode celebrate these moments of 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:37.960 engagement with wild places and the moments we have with 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.320 our friends. A lot of these stories are funny, and 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:44.720 we're stacking them in like Cordwood this fall because the 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.400 stories just keep getting better. This is our third Deer 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.160 Stories episode. On this episode, a lot of stuff seems 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:54.800 to be falling out of trees, and again, once again, 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:58.160 a few people get thrown under the bus, and as always, 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:01.960 some really big deer get killed. But something's really special. 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:03.280 This week we will hear. 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:06.200 From one of our living members of the Bear Grease 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.560 Hall of Fame, and I really doubt that you're gonna 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:14.360 want to miss this one. And very soon First Lights 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.720 Black Friday sales will be coming up. It's one of 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.240 the best times of the year to buy gear from 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:23.800 any of the meat eater companies. And don't forget about 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.520 the live tour tickets in Birmingham, Nashville, Memphis, Dallas, and Austin. 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.600 And if you're hoping to come to Fedville, you're out 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.800 of luck. Fedbele Arkansas has sold out. Thank you all 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:35.120 so much for the support. 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:40.160 A third brother pulls up, has nothing to do with 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.800 the shooting, drags the deer over there to his truck, 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:47.400 waller's it around, gets it in his truck, shuts the 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:51.360 tailgate and leaves with the stinking deer. And he wasn't 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:54.160 even in on the shooting. And these first two brothers 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:56.640 are still standing. Their fighting took it. 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:09.880 My name is Klay Nukem and this is the Bear 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:14.919 Grease Podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.639 for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:21.360 story of Americans who lived their. 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:22.800 Lives close to the land. 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:29.200 Presented by FHF Gear, American made, purpose built hunting and 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:32.720 fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged as the 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:44.800 place as we explore. Our first story is unique because 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.760 it's being told while the buck that we're talking about 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:51.080 is still hanging in a tree within sight of our fire. 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:53.840 Just last week, I had the privilege of being in 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:58.440 camp with my friend Jason Kaylor from Telephone, Texas when 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:00.560 he killed a dandy buck on a place that we 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:04.480 hunt in Oklahoma. To set the scene, he's hunting at 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:07.320 the foot of a big timbered ridge. Above him is 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:11.120 thick timber and below him is open range land for cattle. 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:13.919 He's kind of like hunting on the edge open rangeland 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:17.440 and big timber. He's hunting a trail system coming off 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:21.399 into the ridge into that open stuff. Jason's gonna get 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:21.919 us rolling. 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:26.720 Well, you know, we're here in Oklahoma and it's the 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.720 it's perfect rout time and coming in the root, and 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.600 it's been hot weather, and you know, just been hopping 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:37.200 around saddle hunting, and like I told you, when we 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:40.680 was easing down the road, there clays, these trails coming 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:43.240 coming on here. I just want to hang by one. 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:47.080 And I kind of spotted a little red oak tree 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:48.800 when we was easing down through there. 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:51.120 And when I left. 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:52.720 Here today, I was like, I'm gonna go hang in 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:56.880 that red oak tree. And I'd gotten aggravated this morning. 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:00.400 I'd climbed up in a set, and I got this 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.000 little you know, I don't know what it is, but 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:05.440 it's kind of like a fishing reel, and your boat 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:08.160 stays down on the ground and when you get up 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.760 in your tree, you crank it up. You crank it 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.800 up there where it goes. Well, it got twisted up 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:18.240 and got knotted up, and my bowl was hung halfway 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:20.000 in the middle, and I couldn't get my bow up, 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:22.400 so I ended up having to pull it up. Well 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:24.599 after the hunt this morning, I fought with it. So 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.159 I decided I'm just going to hang my bow on 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:29.320 my back, and I've got this thing that goes over 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:29.840 the cams. 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:31.160 It's like a string protector. 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.320 So I just throwed it over my back and I 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.640 get my steps, my first step set, and I start 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.719 climbing my tree and I'm standing on my third step 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.600 and I'm taking my fourth one off and getting it 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:48.080 started on the tree and I hear I hear something 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:49.240 coming down the ridge. 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:53.440 It's probably like two fifty two fifty five three o'clock. 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:58.960 And I've got my third step set and I'm standing 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:01.479 on the top of it and I'm hanging my fourth one. 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:05.000 Don't have my platform nothing, and I hear I hear 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:10.880 a deer walking, and I'm like, you know, I grabbed 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.840 my bowl and I just hooked my step with that. 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.200 I don't know what that cord is called, but anyways, 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:18.599 I just hooked my step of that cord and I 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:20.680 grabbed my bow off my back and I take the 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:22.240 cover off of it and I lay it on the 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:24.600 limb and a knocking air and there's a there's a 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:28.520 yearling comes out from on the fence and she kind 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:30.960 of runs out there and she stops down there about 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:34.760 sixty yards below my tree, come right out that trail 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.680 that I'd set up on, and I thought, man, I said, 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.920 dang Ireland. I said, ain't you know, I've never seen 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:45.040 a buck chase Yerland, so I didn't know. Anyways, I 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:48.000 just kept sitting there and then I heard another deer coming. Well, 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:51.040 in my mind, I thought, I bet it's another yearling 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:55.920 or it's a dough her mama, you know, coming with her. Well, 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:59.640 it stops it, don't it don't continue on it don't 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.680 keep it stops And I was like, yeah, I bet 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:06.760 that's it. Mama, just looking survey in the area. And 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.799 I almost put my bow back up and went ahead climbing. 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:12.479 I thought, no, I don't want a bugger, no deer. 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.680 I'm just gonna stand here as uncomfortable as it is. 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:17.760 You know, I don't even have my teather or nothing 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:20.640 on that. It's got my lineman on my saddle, and 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:24.160 I'm standing on that little roong of the step. And 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:28.479 not just a second after I do that, this buck 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.920 just darts under the fence, same trail that yearling come 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:36.800 out of. But he stops about halfway between the yearling 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.719 and the fence, which is I know, rangefinding or range 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:42.919 finders in my bag. I don't have nothing ready, but 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:45.880 I always wear my I've been caught too many times 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:47.080 not having my release on. 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:48.479 I always have my release on. 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.760 So you know, if you've hunted white tails long enough, 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.440 you just kind of have, for lack of matter words, 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:56.640 I call it the while factor. 0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:57.400 You know. 0:06:57.480 --> 0:06:59.560 You you see there and you're like, oh, that's a 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:01.440 good deal, Oh that's a nice dear, Oh that's a 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:05.599 you know whatever. But when he ran under that fence, 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.680 it happened really fast. But I was like wow, So 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:11.840 I just draw back and I guess him at forty 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:15.160 yards and I shoot him. And it happened so fast. 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:19.240 That it didn't really have time to sink in. I 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.320 shoot him, and he turns and he runs and he 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:24.680 hops back up, hops the fence and runs back up 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:25.200 on the hill. 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.280 And I put my bow this tree. I'm in. 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:31.760 I need to saw two limbs to finish climbing to 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:35.600 where I want to get, And so I laid my 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.720 bow on this limb. I laid my bow on that limb, 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:42.800 and I got so much buck favor I'm shaking. So 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.680 I just sat down until I felt my saddle all 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.440 get tight. And when my saddle all got good and tight, 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:50.680 I just wrapped my legs around the tree and bare 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:52.520 hugged the tree with my legs and just kind of 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:53.360 laid back. 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:55.960 Like I was in a recliner. And I was like, man, 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:56.840 what I just do? 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.680 It's pretty hard to get me super excited, but that 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:02.600 deer got me super excited. 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:03.600 What did I just do? 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.560 I didn't realize how big I how big he was, 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:11.320 so I really thought that he was a clean ten. 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:13.920 I didn't realize that he was a five by six. 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.120 I didn't realize he was a main trame eleven point. 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:19.440 I didn't think he was as big as he is. 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.120 You know, I was I was thinking I'd probably killed 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:26.880 one hundred and forty ish type deer. He ended up 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:29.720 scoring right now, you know, growth scoring one point fifty 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:34.720 five and six eighths. But today's been a today's been 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.080 an awesome day. It's been a been a good. 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.280 Day at dear camp. I think tomorrow is gonna be better. 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:43.000 Jason says he'd never set in that trie if it 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:46.000 wasn't for the mobility of his tree saddle set up, 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.360 and that redoak probably wasn't much more than ten inches 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:53.960 at the base. Later in the episode, We're gonna hear 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:58.760 from two other very recent fresh hunts. But I asked 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:02.520 Jason if he had any other good deer stories, and 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:06.080 like any good hunter, he did so. 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:12.760 About twelve years ago, I was hunting a place in 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:16.960 southern Oklahoma. I was setting in my stand one day 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.080 and it was a perfect day. It was high pressure 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:23.480 and the weather was cool, and had a big deer 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:27.880 come in, which ended up being my biggest deer with 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.880 a boat to date, still one hundred and seventy two 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:35.120 inch deer, and he stopped out there at thirty yards. 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:39.280 He's actually thirty two yard shot. Anyways, I drew my 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:41.960 bow back I walked myself through my hall, my steps, 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:46.720 you know, my anchor point and everything at my age, 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:48.839 and as long as I've been bow hunting, I think 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:50.800 I should be over that, but I still have to 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:55.760 walk myself through it. And I shoot the deer and 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:57.679 I make a really good shot on him. I can 0:09:57.720 --> 0:09:59.840 tell it's a double lung shot. And the deer breaks 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:06.000 off running and he runs through a little old persimmon thicket. 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:07.920 And he stops in a perfect open spot. 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.840 And at this time, you know, I'm an eighty yard 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.439 shooter all day long. I practice all the time at 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:16.800 eighty yards. And he stops and I rangeing him and 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:21.320 he's about seventy two yards standing in this thicket, and 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:23.800 I'm like, well, I'm gonna shoot him again, and he's 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:25.960 just standing there, blood running out of him, but he's 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:29.400 just standing there. So I I reach over and I 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:31.079 get another air out. 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:32.520 And while I'm getting the. 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.439 Area out of my quiver, I realize that I'm using 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:40.439 both hands to do this, and I'm like, where's my boat? 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:43.680 And I look and I have dropped my bow. 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.400 I don't shoot a wrist strap, and I guess for 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:51.320 not having torque and being drawn back, I shoot open handed, 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:56.040 and I guess when I shot that, I just let 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:59.640 my bowl fall. I didn't grip my bowl. I walked 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.920 myself off through the process. So good Luckily the deer 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:05.800 died right there. He expired out there where he was standing. 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.920 But my bow was laying on the ground and I 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:12.239 was sitting there looking at it, thinking did the limbs explode? 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:13.360 Did a bend to kim? 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:16.319 I don't know how it landed because I didn't even 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:20.079 know I dropped it. So I had a trail camera 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:22.760 set up there, and I have a picture of the 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:26.480 deer and all of his points, no broke off, nothing. 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:29.120 I shoot the deer and when I get to him, 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:31.679 he had seven inches of a flyer broke off of 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:36.080 a two and we never did find it. I have 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.000 the picture seconds before I shot him, and I have 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:44.000 pictures of him minutes after I recovered him, and he 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:46.320 has it in the pictures from the trail camera, and 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.200 he does not have it when I recover it. Never 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:51.120 could find it, have no idea where it was. 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.880 He dropped his bow out of the stand and didn't 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:59.520 even know it. That is a new one on me, Jason. 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.920 But one thing I've learned about this guy. That's faux 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:07.520 show is that he's killing some big deer with that bow. 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:13.840 Our next story is from my friend Dustin Craig. Dustin's dad, 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.559 Dale Craig told one of the best stories ever told 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:20.160 on the Beargrease deer stories when he told about calling 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.800 in a big buck with a rolling apple. But this 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.079 one is a little more personal and it comes from 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:31.000 Dustin because it involves none other than my father, Gary 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:34.319 Believer Nukem. And if you've never heard us mention it, 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.840 my dad likes to tinker with gear. As a matter 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.520 of fact, they called him tinker Bell at the bow 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:45.719 shop back when I was a kid. This is Dustin's story. 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:52.439 Dustin Craig from Western Arkansas, and this is my deer story. 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:58.280 So this started out about two months ago. A buddy 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:02.880 of mine and bought a bunch of hunting gear from 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:07.240 from Gary Believer Nukelem. And he was showing me all 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:10.240 this stuff, and you could tell Gary really took care 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.000 of his stuff. And he'd also tell that he liked 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:16.760 to tinker with things because everything had extras on it 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.720 or had been taped up so it'd be quiet and 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:25.160 all this. So I got a saddle and I've never 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:29.720 saddle hunted before. And I took this saddle out a 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.600 couple of times and used it just with a with 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:36.320 a hang on stand. I'd climbed the tree and just 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.680 use it my hang on stand. Well, I didn't have 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.440 a platform or any climbing stack, so my buddy told me, 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:45.440 he said, hey, I've got some you can you can borrow. 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.160 And I said, okay, I'll come by and get them. 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:51.760 So I got them, and uh, the morning was real 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:57.080 cold and uh, just beautiful morning and uh so I 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:01.280 got out there and it was it was breaking daylight 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:04.440 when I got to the tree. So I put put 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:09.600 my first stick up and climbed up it. Then put 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.680 my second stick up, and I couldn't go very high 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:16.040 in the tree because it forked. I was probably only 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:19.400 ten foot off the ground. And I get the platform 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:21.320 and I go to put it up, and I've never 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:25.160 put this thing up before, never used it. And I'm 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:27.400 looking at it, and I say, man, this thing looks wrong. 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:32.520 There's something about this. It's not right. So I put 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.200 the rope around the tree. It I can't get it 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:37.680 sucked up tight to the tree. It's kind of hanging 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:40.480 a little bit. And so I wrapped the rope around 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.800 it again, around the tree and around the platform, and 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:45.880 I can get it pulled up pretty tight, but it's 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:49.440 still not right. And anyway, I was like, oh, I'll 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:52.560 make it work. And I climb up in this platform 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:55.800 and it's pretty shaky, and I'm like, oh, I can 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.360 I can do I can. I can make it work. 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:02.040 So I'm setting in the tree in my saddle, standing 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.560 on this platform. I'd been there about three hours. It 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:08.320 hadn't seen anything yet, and it was getting to be 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:12.680 about nine o'clock in the morning. And all of a sudden, 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:16.640 I hear the rope on the platform like start squeaking, 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.320 and I looked down. I was like, what is going on? 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:23.720 And all of a sudden snap the platform falls out 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:26.600 of the tree. I fall down. Of course, the saddle 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:29.520 catches me. I run into the tree about knock my 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:33.360 bow out of the tree, and I'm scrambling around trying 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.840 to gather myself. Had finally there's a knot on the tree. 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:40.480 I can stand up on that knot, get myself pulled 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:43.120 up against the tree, and get my lineman's belt out 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.200 and get it around the tree and get tied off, 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:50.600 and I can step down to the platform, and I'm 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:54.120 pretty pretty mad at this point, and I grabbed my 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:58.560 bow and I just tied not. I don't even know 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:01.000 what kind of knought it was. And I start lowering 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:05.080 that bow down and it gets to the ground and 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:07.800 I turn and look up and here comes a dough 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:12.640 and a good eight point right behind her. And I'm 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:16.600 standing there on my top step, bows on the ground, 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.080 mad and so I'm trying to pull my bow back 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:22.040 up and I get it back up to me, and 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.880 I'm trying to untie this knot that I tied, and 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:28.960 I'm looking at the buck and he comes in ten 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:33.320 yards right behind the tree, and I'm fiddling with this 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:39.400 knot if he's walking to the right of me, and 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:42.280 it gets pretty thick over there. So I'm untying this 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:45.560 knot and I thought, well, I'm going to stop him. 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:47.720 Maybe he'll stay there long enough till I'll get this 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:50.840 nott and done and get an aero knot. So I 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.680 grun at him and he don't even pay me any attention. 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.480 He's focused on that dough. And I finally get the 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.840 knot untied, get an arrow knot have to twist around. 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:03.440 By that time, he had stepped just off in the brush. 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:05.679 So I get my grint and I get the grunting 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:09.080 on him, and grunting and grunting. He doesn't pay me 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.399 any attention and he goes off. I'd lose track of 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.400 him where he goes. It's real thick where he went, 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:20.400 And of course I was upset. I start looking at 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:27.000 this platform. Well, apparently at some point, Gary believe Nukem, 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:33.080 I had taken the stick off the platform and added 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:36.320 a piece to it, And when he put it back together, 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:43.639 he put the platform on upside down, so the button 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.280 part that you would tie your tie the rope to 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.199 that goes around the tree was beneath the platform. That 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:51.480 was what was causing it to kick back on me. 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:54.359 And that piece that he had added on was a 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:59.960 was a prout, a two inch flat piece of aluminum, 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:02.960 and he had it all taped up, but it was 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:07.560 sharp as a knife, and me standing up there moving 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:10.320 around for two three hours, it had worn through that 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.480 tape and then got into my rope and worn through 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:15.640 the rope and cut the rope and caused me to 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:19.560 lose not get a shot at this good buck, the 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.160 biggest buck I would have killed with the bow so far. 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:25.680 So I'd say all that to say, it's not really 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:30.040 Gary's fault, but it's mine, because you know, you should 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:32.959 always try out your gear, use your gear before you 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:36.040 get into the field. And that's a big lesson that 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:39.480 I learned, and I already knew it, but let's make 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:45.640 sure from now on, I'm gonna check my gear, Dustin. 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.480 I have never fallen out of a tree on account 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:52.399 of my dad's tinkering, but it's not entirely surprising that 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:56.560 someone did. That was funny, and at some point we're 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.560 gonna have to get a rebuttal from the believer himself, 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:02.000 because I figure he's got something to say about it. 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:04.720 But I am sorry that you didn't get that buck. 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:10.760 Our next story, though, is from Deeping the Ozarks, from 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.440 a veteran woodsman and whitetail hunter and squirrel dog man 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:19.560 named Gary Farmer. This story highlights the unique characters that 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:24.920 we sometimes find ourselves hunting with and all their quirks. 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:29.960 There was four, four or five of those guys. There 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.080 were brothers, and they want me to go deer hunting 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:35.680 with them, and we ran dogs. This is back when 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:40.680 we ran ran dogs. And anyhow, I had a pair 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:44.440 of young walker dogs, just young. So I went with 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.199 these guys and they all had they had beagles, and 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:51.080 we turned their beagles loose and we walked them. And 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:53.680 they had walked them around the ridge and all this, 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:57.479 and we ran deer and I can't even remember we 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:02.040 killed one that day or not, but anyhow, they lost 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:05.840 finally lost all their dogs. Whenever you get after a 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:08.800 deer out here on these mountains, they'll go to the river. 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:12.520 A lot of times they go to the river. And 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:14.399 they all went to the river on them and they 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.640 didn't have any more dogs to jump a deer with. 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:21.160 And I had these young walker dogs. Well, they didn't 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:25.240 have any faith in my dogs, really, but they said, well, Gary, 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:28.160 you can take yours around that old brushy ridge over 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:31.160 there and walk them around through there and see if 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:35.320 you can flush something out. And I said, I won't 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:38.320 have to walk, man, I said, you tell me where 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:43.040 you want the tailgate dropped. They'll go find something. So 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.560 we go over there. I dropped my tailgate. Now those 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:50.240 young dogs had round through there, and it wasn't five minutes. 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:54.200 They went to trailer and then they jumped all these 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:57.359 brothers and some of their uncles. They were all ganged 0:20:57.440 --> 0:20:59.680 up around the trucks. Didn't have a bit of faith 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:03.920 in my dogs. When those dogs jumped the deer, they 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:10.320 went to scattering like quail vehicles going everywhere. Well, I 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:13.719 heard my dogs go take the deer back and go 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:17.919 down a gap head towards the river. So I jumped 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:21.800 in the truck and I went down to drove to 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:26.560 the river and got down there. Two of these brothers 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:29.960 were there. One of them had missed the deer crossing 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:33.320 the bottom. The deer was kind of up under a bluff, 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:36.480 and there's a gap around the hill. But the deer 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:39.400 had missed the gap, actually, and he's going around under 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:43.800 that bluff on this steep bank. Two brothers standing there 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:47.760 shooting at it. I shot at it. It wads up 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:52.720 and it's steep. It just slides all the way nearly 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:57.520 down to us. Okay, these two brothers they get in 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:00.359 a fight. I killed it, the other than he says, 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:03.880 I killed it. Well, they get into it. I let 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:07.520 them fight for a little bit, and I said, what 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:10.960 about me? I said, did ever dawn on you that 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:15.000 I could have killed the deer? I said, I might 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:17.719 have killed this deer, And I said, I went up 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:21.359 there and I peeled the hair back, and I was 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:24.639 using the twenty two two fifty they were using like 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:27.480 thirty thirty and thirty ought six. I said, be real 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:28.880 easy to tell by the bullet hole. 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:30.160 I said, you. 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:31.040 Was have her out. 0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:33.919 I didn't kill the deer, I said, my bullet's not 0:22:34.040 --> 0:22:38.880 any A third brother pulls up down there, runs up there, 0:22:39.520 --> 0:22:43.040 has nothing to do with the shooting, drags the deer 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:46.639 over there to his truck, wallers it around, gets it 0:22:46.680 --> 0:22:49.560 in his truck, shuts the tailgate, and leaves with the 0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:53.080 stinking deer. And he wasn't even in on the shooting. 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:59.120 And these first two brothers are still standing their fighting. 0:23:03.359 --> 0:23:10.360 Yeah, nice bug. That was funny. 0:23:11.200 --> 0:23:13.879 Gary has one of those laughs that makes it hard 0:23:13.960 --> 0:23:16.480 not to laugh along with him when you hear it. 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:19.080 And we still don't know what happened to that buck 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:24.120 or how the brothers sorted it out. Our next story 0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:27.200 is unique and it's close to home for me. It's 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:30.760 told by none other the nineteen year old baron John 0:23:30.840 --> 0:23:33.560 knukemb And it's about the biggest buck that he has 0:23:33.680 --> 0:23:38.399 ever killed, which just happened on November tenth, twenty twenty five. 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:43.640 Like Jason's first story. This one is fresh. 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:47.000 This is a dear story about the biggest buck that 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:49.359 I have ever killed, and it is so fresh that 0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:51.800 the antlers I'm holding my hands right now still have 0:23:52.480 --> 0:23:54.880 meat on them. I'm going to give you a little 0:23:54.880 --> 0:23:59.880 bit of context for this year. Whenever I was younger, 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:04.560 my dad he would hunt this area and he hunted 0:24:04.640 --> 0:24:08.000 three deer that were over one fifty in the first 0:24:08.000 --> 0:24:10.320 couple of years that he hunted it, and he killed 0:24:10.359 --> 0:24:15.320 one of them. And after that the big deer kind 0:24:15.320 --> 0:24:18.639 of seemed to tail off until about ten years later, 0:24:18.880 --> 0:24:22.400 whenever I first started to bowhunt, this big buck came 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:24.000 on the scene that we called Jody. 0:24:24.520 --> 0:24:27.119 We called him Jody because of a David allen Coe song. 0:24:27.320 --> 0:24:31.040 Jody like a melody, and if you listen to the lyrics, 0:24:30.840 --> 0:24:34.080 it's pretty much perfect for a big buck. We first 0:24:34.160 --> 0:24:35.760 got a picture of him whenever he was three and 0:24:35.760 --> 0:24:38.240 a half and he had this giant kicker coming off 0:24:38.240 --> 0:24:42.320 as G two. And the next year he exploded into 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:46.360 a probably one hundred and fifty inch year and then 0:24:46.440 --> 0:24:48.720 whenever he was five and a half he exploded into 0:24:48.760 --> 0:24:53.919 a just an enormous buck, a mainframe eleven kickers everywhere. 0:24:54.200 --> 0:24:56.359 We heard some rumors about him getting killed, but we 0:24:56.440 --> 0:24:59.159 really don't know what happened to him. But we go 0:24:59.240 --> 0:25:01.080 a couple of years, the biggest deer that we see 0:25:01.119 --> 0:25:04.720 are these little basket racked eight points, maybe every now 0:25:04.760 --> 0:25:06.160 and then a three and a half year old deer, 0:25:06.760 --> 0:25:10.080 And so I started hunting public land pretty hard and 0:25:10.640 --> 0:25:13.600 kind of fall in love with that. This year, we 0:25:13.640 --> 0:25:16.760 got access to a new section of private land right 0:25:16.800 --> 0:25:18.680 there in the area that was just this big, thick, 0:25:18.920 --> 0:25:23.159 overgrown thicket. We had a camera just kind of for 0:25:23.200 --> 0:25:24.879 the sake of having a camera out there, just to 0:25:24.880 --> 0:25:27.480 see what was going on, and for the first month 0:25:27.480 --> 0:25:30.480 of season, we didn't see we didn't have much on it. 0:25:31.200 --> 0:25:36.440 And November third, we get a picture of a ten 0:25:36.520 --> 0:25:39.600 point is all we could tell. But he was super heavy, 0:25:40.520 --> 0:25:44.000 and so that got us excited because all of a 0:25:44.040 --> 0:25:46.520 sudden we had, you know, a nice buck to chase, 0:25:46.840 --> 0:25:52.240 and we started getting more pictures of him and we 0:25:52.280 --> 0:25:55.399 realized he's way bigger than we thought. The more pictures 0:25:55.440 --> 0:25:57.400 we get of him, we kind of look at him, 0:25:57.720 --> 0:26:00.560 we realized he was probably well I asked him it was. 0:26:00.600 --> 0:26:02.960 He was one hundred and forty eight inch dear and 0:26:03.000 --> 0:26:05.000 he had the two big kickers coming off of his 0:26:05.119 --> 0:26:09.920 G twos. So we hunt him hard last week and 0:26:10.680 --> 0:26:13.760 don't see him, but he comes in at night and 0:26:13.800 --> 0:26:17.160 we'd see pictures of him just crossing through this property. 0:26:17.359 --> 0:26:19.000 I had a deer camp this weekend, and so I 0:26:19.040 --> 0:26:21.639 wasn't able to hunt him. But the day after the 0:26:21.680 --> 0:26:23.600 deer camp, there's a big cold front got down to 0:26:23.680 --> 0:26:27.479 twenty three degrees, and so that morning I went and 0:26:27.560 --> 0:26:29.920 I sat a field with the six y five creed more. 0:26:30.560 --> 0:26:33.119 I kept seeing it. There were doze busting out of 0:26:33.160 --> 0:26:35.320 this property. And this property is just thick as can be. 0:26:35.680 --> 0:26:37.239 I mean, there's almost no way to hunt it other 0:26:37.320 --> 0:26:43.000 than just the edges. And so I hunt till about noon, 0:26:44.040 --> 0:26:46.320 and I had something to go do in town. I 0:26:46.400 --> 0:26:48.560 come back, get a little bit of a late start 0:26:48.680 --> 0:26:53.240 out there by about three, and I set up on 0:26:53.280 --> 0:26:55.399 the far side of this field. I went over there 0:26:55.440 --> 0:26:58.320 and I got a really solid rest where I could 0:26:58.320 --> 0:27:02.800 shoot prone across this field and God set up to 0:27:02.800 --> 0:27:06.760 where I felt really good to four hundred and I 0:27:06.800 --> 0:27:10.360 don't see any deer until about thirty minutes before daylight, 0:27:11.400 --> 0:27:13.760 and six doves come out the bottom corner of it, 0:27:13.800 --> 0:27:16.840 and they start to circle way down to my right 0:27:16.920 --> 0:27:19.280 until eventually I just lose sight of them and some timber. 0:27:20.160 --> 0:27:23.040 I keep sitting there and I kind of hear something 0:27:23.119 --> 0:27:26.359 back behind me up the mountain. So basically behind me 0:27:26.920 --> 0:27:29.520 there's timber. In front of me, there's four hundred yards 0:27:29.560 --> 0:27:33.000 of field, and I'm sitting next to a giant. 0:27:32.520 --> 0:27:34.720 White oak that has a little cedar right at the base. 0:27:35.280 --> 0:27:37.240 And I just thought, you know, a deer could come 0:27:37.240 --> 0:27:39.680 in from behind there, and I could tell it wasn't 0:27:39.680 --> 0:27:41.440 an acre, and could tell it wasn't a squirrel, and 0:27:41.480 --> 0:27:43.240 I actually thought, that's probably a deer up there. 0:27:43.840 --> 0:27:45.239 I just didn't think too much about it. 0:27:46.200 --> 0:27:49.119 Well, about ten minutes later, with twenty minutes of shooting 0:27:49.160 --> 0:27:55.200 light left, I hear behind me and I could tell 0:27:55.560 --> 0:27:58.480 those deer were about to come, and I was like, well, 0:27:58.800 --> 0:28:01.080 i'd better get set up just in case when they 0:28:01.080 --> 0:28:04.399 pop out. And so I get my gun and I 0:28:04.560 --> 0:28:07.080 just get I push myself into this wide up tree 0:28:07.119 --> 0:28:11.360 as hard as I could, and these does come over 0:28:11.400 --> 0:28:13.880 the hill, you know, whenever I first see him, they're 0:28:13.880 --> 0:28:14.800 like ten yards from me. 0:28:15.040 --> 0:28:15.960 But I didn't see that buck. 0:28:16.000 --> 0:28:18.919 So I put my hat bill over my face, and 0:28:19.000 --> 0:28:21.919 I just sunk into that tree and just tried so 0:28:22.000 --> 0:28:23.840 hard to imagine I was just a rock. 0:28:24.400 --> 0:28:26.560 And hope that they wouldn't spook. 0:28:27.480 --> 0:28:29.960 And so they come into the edge of this field 0:28:30.040 --> 0:28:34.080 and they're all eating, I mean literally probably within five 0:28:34.160 --> 0:28:36.879 yards of me, and I was, you know, I was like, dang, 0:28:36.880 --> 0:28:38.960 that big buck. He's gonna come in from behind me 0:28:39.200 --> 0:28:41.160 over across that field. And I'm over here trying not 0:28:41.200 --> 0:28:44.880 to spook these does. And I sit there, sit there, 0:28:44.960 --> 0:28:49.400 sit there, and eventually my calve he gets so tired, 0:28:49.400 --> 0:28:52.480 and it's starting to cramp, and my arms from holding 0:28:52.480 --> 0:28:54.600 that gun up started to get tired, and my hands 0:28:54.600 --> 0:28:57.880 were freezing because I didn't have gloves, and I was like, 0:28:57.920 --> 0:28:59.640 am I about to have to spook these does? Because 0:28:59.640 --> 0:29:02.560 I can't hold this position? And about the time I 0:29:02.600 --> 0:29:05.600 was thinking that, from up on the mountain, I hear 0:29:05.840 --> 0:29:12.800 where I heard that noise earlier here, and I. 0:29:12.720 --> 0:29:14.960 Was like, holy spokes, this might be it. 0:29:15.840 --> 0:29:20.360 Up where I heard that grunt is it's kind of skylined, 0:29:20.760 --> 0:29:25.120 and the sunset was real pretty that day, and I 0:29:25.160 --> 0:29:28.120 could just see a deer coming down that and he 0:29:28.240 --> 0:29:31.120 stops and I can see his brow ties and they're 0:29:31.200 --> 0:29:34.120 kind of were curved outward, and I was like, that 0:29:34.280 --> 0:29:37.800 looks like that looks like him. So I keep waiting, 0:29:39.000 --> 0:29:41.960 and he comes down the mountain, grunting the whole way, 0:29:42.920 --> 0:29:44.920 and finally I get a glimpse of his rack in 0:29:45.000 --> 0:29:47.520 the silhouette and I could see these two big kickers, 0:29:47.560 --> 0:29:50.400 and I could see his crab claws out front, and 0:29:50.480 --> 0:29:53.440 I realized that this was him and he is in range. 0:29:53.960 --> 0:29:55.760 But the issue is I can't get my gun up 0:29:55.760 --> 0:29:59.680 because there's six dos around me. And then I'm also like, well, crap, 0:29:59.720 --> 0:30:01.320 I had this gun set up for a four hundred 0:30:01.400 --> 0:30:04.360 yard shot. I'm zoomed all the way in turrets set 0:30:04.400 --> 0:30:06.480 for a four hundred yard shot, and I was like, 0:30:06.520 --> 0:30:08.480 this is about to be a twenty five yard shot. 0:30:09.240 --> 0:30:11.600 While as just slowly. 0:30:11.160 --> 0:30:13.640 As I can, I move my hand off the pistol 0:30:13.640 --> 0:30:18.040 grip with that sig and I pushed the magnification all 0:30:18.040 --> 0:30:20.560 the way out, and then I was just like, I'm 0:30:20.920 --> 0:30:24.440 just gonna have to aim for his heart, like real low, 0:30:24.920 --> 0:30:27.120 five inches low from where I want to hit, because 0:30:27.120 --> 0:30:28.760 there's no way I'm gonna be able to turn that 0:30:28.840 --> 0:30:32.920 turret before without those dose. Seeing he gets twenty five 0:30:33.000 --> 0:30:36.880 yards from me, and I flick that safety and that 0:30:36.920 --> 0:30:40.600 buck walks right behind some trees and right he's about 0:30:40.600 --> 0:30:42.160 to go, I move my gun a little, and he 0:30:42.200 --> 0:30:45.840 stops and looks down at me, and I freeze, and 0:30:45.880 --> 0:30:48.920 then he goes back to doing what he's doing. I 0:30:48.960 --> 0:30:52.160 get my scope up and I can see his head 0:30:52.200 --> 0:30:55.479 pop out from behind these trees, and I mean, there 0:30:55.560 --> 0:30:57.000 was just no doubt it was him. And this is 0:30:57.040 --> 0:31:00.640 the biggest buck I'd ever even seen while hunting. And 0:31:01.640 --> 0:31:04.440 he takes a step out with his left foot. I 0:31:04.480 --> 0:31:07.400 could see a little sliver of his vitals. I almost 0:31:07.440 --> 0:31:09.520 pulled the trigger, but decide to wait. He takes a 0:31:09.520 --> 0:31:12.760 step with his right and then steps uphill with his left, 0:31:12.920 --> 0:31:16.160 opening up his whole side, and I just put it 0:31:16.240 --> 0:31:19.360 right above where the white meets the brown, and I 0:31:19.520 --> 0:31:23.200 squeezed the trigger and I hear these does run from 0:31:23.200 --> 0:31:26.120 behind me, but I don't hear anything up the mountain, 0:31:26.800 --> 0:31:29.680 and I was just like, oh my gosh, did that 0:31:29.880 --> 0:31:32.560 just happen? And I jack another shell in, and I mean, 0:31:32.600 --> 0:31:35.840 it's like five minutes to legal shooting light, so I 0:31:35.880 --> 0:31:38.360 can't see anything, but I just knew I didn't hear 0:31:38.400 --> 0:31:41.360 a deer running and so I'd run up there and 0:31:41.800 --> 0:31:43.960 whenever I get up there, he's laying on the ground dead. 0:31:44.760 --> 0:31:46.080 I mean, it was just it was just one of 0:31:46.080 --> 0:31:49.200 those moments. I mean, anyone who's killed, I mean, not 0:31:49.240 --> 0:31:51.040 even a big buck, but just like a deer that's 0:31:51.120 --> 0:31:54.280 really special to him, Like there's it's it's it's impossible 0:31:54.280 --> 0:31:56.160 to describe, but if you know that feeling, you know 0:31:56.200 --> 0:31:58.120 that feeling. And whenever I walked up to the buck, 0:31:58.720 --> 0:32:01.360 I mean, I thank God for because I just knew, 0:32:02.240 --> 0:32:04.000 I mean just the way that that all worked out, 0:32:04.840 --> 0:32:08.520 that this was absolutely not on my own efforts, and 0:32:08.960 --> 0:32:12.000 I put my hands on the deer and just kind 0:32:12.000 --> 0:32:15.560 of like recognize the moment for what it was. 0:32:15.640 --> 0:32:18.800 I mean, called my dad and the first thing he said, 0:32:18.800 --> 0:32:19.960 I don't know how he could tell, but. 0:32:19.920 --> 0:32:23.200 He just goes, did you get him? And I said, 0:32:23.240 --> 0:32:26.200 I got him? And I mean, it's still hard to believe. 0:32:26.960 --> 0:32:29.720 The deer that I've been used to hunting, the biggest 0:32:29.720 --> 0:32:33.440 you'll see is maybe one thirty this year net scored 0:32:33.640 --> 0:32:34.840 or gross scored. 0:32:34.640 --> 0:32:35.920 One fifty four and a half. 0:32:36.480 --> 0:32:38.640 Oh and here's the craziest part of the story is 0:32:39.280 --> 0:32:41.320 the big deer we chased four years ago that we 0:32:41.360 --> 0:32:47.600 called Jody. This year is undeniably Jody's offspring. Whenever you 0:32:47.600 --> 0:32:49.600 put the two pictures up side by side, you would 0:32:49.640 --> 0:32:52.440 almost think it was the same, dear, and so we 0:32:52.560 --> 0:32:56.640 named this one Jody two. But this was my first 0:32:57.480 --> 0:33:02.200 truly big buck, and it is still kind of hard 0:33:02.200 --> 0:33:02.560 for me to. 0:33:02.560 --> 0:33:08.080 Believe that was some good hunting bear John. And what 0:33:08.120 --> 0:33:12.120 I'm most proud of is that he killed a much, 0:33:12.280 --> 0:33:15.520 much smaller buck on public land a few days before 0:33:16.040 --> 0:33:20.480 and was ecstatic about that one and recognize its value 0:33:20.680 --> 0:33:24.160 almost equal to the big one. I was in Oklahoma 0:33:24.200 --> 0:33:26.560 hunting when he killed that buck, and I drove straight 0:33:26.720 --> 0:33:29.560 home after his call. There was no way I was 0:33:29.600 --> 0:33:32.120 gonna miss getting to see Bear's buck in the flesh 0:33:32.160 --> 0:33:35.160 and miss the celebration. When I got home and we 0:33:35.200 --> 0:33:37.600 saw the buck, I told him, let's just let the 0:33:37.680 --> 0:33:40.200 deer hang overnight in the barn and we'll skin it 0:33:40.200 --> 0:33:43.280 in the morning. You only get so many hours in 0:33:43.320 --> 0:33:47.600 a lifetime to really enjoy success in these special moments. 0:33:48.200 --> 0:33:50.880 As much as we seek after these big deer, the 0:33:50.960 --> 0:33:54.480 times that we actually see them alive on the hoof 0:33:54.880 --> 0:33:58.840 usually just add up to minutes in the lifetime, and 0:33:59.160 --> 0:34:01.600 after you kill one, I just kind of wanted to 0:34:01.600 --> 0:34:07.880 soak it in and we did. Our next story is 0:34:07.960 --> 0:34:12.080 pretty unique. Bar Neukom would like to introduce us to 0:34:12.120 --> 0:34:16.279 his friend Weston Taylor, who is riding high on a 0:34:16.280 --> 0:34:17.400 good streak of hunting. 0:34:18.920 --> 0:34:20.440 So I've grown up with Weston. 0:34:20.960 --> 0:34:24.719 He was one of my first hunt buddies, and I've 0:34:24.719 --> 0:34:26.920 been going to his deer camp since I was maybe 0:34:26.960 --> 0:34:31.440 thirteen or fourteen, and We've done a lot of hunting together, 0:34:31.560 --> 0:34:34.080 squirrel hunting, deer hunting, even some bear hunting. 0:34:34.560 --> 0:34:35.800 But for some. 0:34:35.719 --> 0:34:41.520 Context, Weston he drives a nineteen ninety three single cab 0:34:42.000 --> 0:34:44.680 Chevrolet pickup that I think has a hole rusted in 0:34:44.680 --> 0:34:46.640 the muffler, so it has a little. 0:34:46.480 --> 0:34:47.520 Bit of a growl to it. 0:34:48.200 --> 0:34:51.840 And Weston will drive that thing around in the woods. 0:34:51.880 --> 0:34:53.200 He hunts mostly public land. 0:34:53.280 --> 0:34:53.719 His whole life. 0:34:53.760 --> 0:34:56.560 He's under public land, and you'll hear that thing coming 0:34:56.640 --> 0:34:59.680 for miles away and you'll know that Weston's coming back 0:34:59.680 --> 0:35:00.000 to camp. 0:35:00.680 --> 0:35:00.799 Well. 0:35:00.880 --> 0:35:04.200 Yeah, and he used to have a giant eagle like 0:35:04.480 --> 0:35:08.120 sticker or on the on the rear glass, this giant eagle. 0:35:08.239 --> 0:35:10.399 So anyway, it was quite the rig. 0:35:11.200 --> 0:35:15.960 Here is Weston. He's also known as the Eagle amongst 0:35:16.000 --> 0:35:16.600 his friends. 0:35:18.000 --> 0:35:21.800 Well, I'm Weston Taylor. I've been hunting with my dad 0:35:22.320 --> 0:35:26.240 since I was about four eighteen years old and killed 0:35:26.360 --> 0:35:27.040 nineteen year. 0:35:32.520 --> 0:35:36.279 This year before deer season, my buddies and I we 0:35:36.280 --> 0:35:38.880 were sitting around, Weston being one of them, and you know, 0:35:39.040 --> 0:35:41.680 we were talking about like, you know, I'll probably won't 0:35:41.719 --> 0:35:43.319 shoot anything under two and a half and. 0:35:43.800 --> 0:35:46.239 Try and save my tags for the rut, and. 0:35:46.280 --> 0:35:50.200 Weston goes, he goes, you know, I don't think I've 0:35:50.239 --> 0:35:53.880 ever passed a deer in my life, and we were 0:35:53.920 --> 0:35:56.479 all just like, what, like, how do you not pass 0:35:56.520 --> 0:35:56.879 a deer? 0:36:01.080 --> 0:36:05.640 So the Eagle has never purposefully let a single deer 0:36:05.880 --> 0:36:08.560 walk past him. I wanted to ask him if this 0:36:08.719 --> 0:36:10.279 is true, that. 0:36:10.320 --> 0:36:13.640 Is correct, that is correct. Yeah, it just never really 0:36:13.640 --> 0:36:16.560 happened growing up. It's just like I never seen anybody 0:36:16.560 --> 0:36:16.839 do it. 0:36:16.920 --> 0:36:17.560 I never. 0:36:19.520 --> 0:36:21.719 It was never really talked about. And also it's like 0:36:22.920 --> 0:36:25.799 where are we hunted, Like if the deer like walk past, 0:36:25.840 --> 0:36:27.400 you might be the one dear you see all season. 0:36:27.440 --> 0:36:30.080 So it's kind of like, I mean, take your chances, 0:36:30.120 --> 0:36:33.560 and I mean I mean I did try to pass 0:36:33.600 --> 0:36:35.440 the deer one time, but it like it kind of 0:36:35.520 --> 0:36:37.640 lingered a little too long and I was like, ah, 0:36:37.840 --> 0:36:40.879 I don't know, took a shot at it. But yeah, 0:36:40.880 --> 0:36:43.840 it's like every time a deer pot walks past me, 0:36:44.080 --> 0:36:47.480 like it seems like I just kind of black out 0:36:47.520 --> 0:36:50.359 and just like sometimes it's just sometimes there's a dead deer, 0:36:50.400 --> 0:36:52.520 sometimes they're not. It kind of depends on the situation, 0:36:52.640 --> 0:36:55.640 you know, either miss or skin into deer, and it's like, 0:36:55.680 --> 0:36:58.960 oh uh, yeah, it's just kind of like anything that 0:36:59.000 --> 0:37:01.480 walks in front of me, I get about us amped up, 0:37:01.640 --> 0:37:03.920 Like any deer, I get amped up. 0:37:04.160 --> 0:37:06.279 And yeah, that's what I mean. 0:37:06.280 --> 0:37:07.960 It is kind of like feels like I'm just kind 0:37:08.000 --> 0:37:09.880 of like whatever happens happens, Like I just kind of 0:37:09.960 --> 0:37:11.839 go into problem lotis seems like but. 0:37:13.960 --> 0:37:14.840 Purely instinctual. 0:37:19.040 --> 0:37:22.719 Another interesting fact about Weston is that he's killed more 0:37:22.840 --> 0:37:25.600 three points than anybody I have ever met in my life. 0:37:26.239 --> 0:37:28.879 I don't know how he I mean, like almost every 0:37:28.920 --> 0:37:32.600 little buck that he shoots has three points, which I've 0:37:32.800 --> 0:37:35.239 recently heard a term for that called a spork. It's 0:37:35.239 --> 0:37:37.680 not a spike, it's not a fork, it's a spork. 0:37:38.080 --> 0:37:42.600 Weston has killed an unbelievable amount of sparks. And anyway, 0:37:43.239 --> 0:37:46.480 Weston is a He's a great guy. Anyone who meets 0:37:46.560 --> 0:37:50.359 him really likes him. Good hunter, but he has one 0:37:50.360 --> 0:37:53.000 of the most unbelievable streaks I've ever heard of in 0:37:53.000 --> 0:37:57.520 my life of eighteen years deer hunting hard, never once 0:37:57.600 --> 0:37:58.239 past the deer. 0:38:01.920 --> 0:38:05.240 I'd like to give a big salute to Weston Taylor 0:38:05.320 --> 0:38:08.520 the Eagle for carrying on the tradition of the American 0:38:08.600 --> 0:38:12.360 meat hunter. Weston's dad is Matt Taylor, who spoke on 0:38:12.400 --> 0:38:16.000 the last episode about their deer camp. These guys have 0:38:16.080 --> 0:38:19.839 a rich history and hunting, and Matt has taught all 0:38:19.880 --> 0:38:21.960 of his kids to be ethical hunters. 0:38:22.480 --> 0:38:23.799 And these guys. 0:38:23.480 --> 0:38:28.239 Take wild game meat incredibly serious. They live off of it, 0:38:28.680 --> 0:38:36.360 and they love it. Our next story is from my 0:38:36.480 --> 0:38:40.759 good friend Shane Auman. Shane is an incredible whitetail hunter 0:38:41.080 --> 0:38:44.600 and actually had multiple videos on Primetime Bucks back in 0:38:44.640 --> 0:38:49.120 the early two thousands. Shane shot professional archery for years 0:38:49.200 --> 0:38:53.120 and was sponsored by Matthews for fifteen years. He's not 0:38:53.200 --> 0:38:58.680 an amateur, and that's why this story is so good, all. 0:38:58.640 --> 0:39:04.000 Right, Shane, I'm Alpine, Arkansas, born and raised in Boone County, 0:39:04.080 --> 0:39:07.920 just as Clay likes to discuss and talk about this 0:39:08.320 --> 0:39:11.400 typical redneck hillbilly that likes to deer hunt, mainly with 0:39:11.400 --> 0:39:16.640 a bow. But in twenty fourteen, I'd come across and 0:39:16.719 --> 0:39:19.399 got information of a pretty nice deer, had a piece 0:39:19.440 --> 0:39:21.239 of property I could hunt on. But the neighbors had 0:39:21.239 --> 0:39:25.080 been talking about seeing a really good deer and I 0:39:25.120 --> 0:39:26.920 had got word of it, and they's talking to me 0:39:26.960 --> 0:39:28.400 about it, and they none of those are none of 0:39:28.400 --> 0:39:30.680 those guys as bow hunters. They are all gun hunters 0:39:30.719 --> 0:39:34.239 and don't hunt till you know, mid November. So I'd 0:39:34.280 --> 0:39:39.120 got to trying to find or get pictures of the deer. 0:39:39.160 --> 0:39:41.759 So I started, you know, had cameras out like everybody does. 0:39:41.800 --> 0:39:46.080 And this is you know, mid Septembers about you know, 0:39:46.120 --> 0:39:48.440 it's probably the second week of October or so started 0:39:48.440 --> 0:39:52.440 getting a few, seeing a few more bucks right on scrapes, 0:39:52.480 --> 0:39:56.160 and then a really good one did show up, you know, 0:39:56.280 --> 0:39:59.319 really really nice nine pointer five before with a lot 0:39:59.360 --> 0:39:59.880 of trash on. 0:40:00.040 --> 0:40:01.400 He's on his right side. 0:40:02.360 --> 0:40:05.400 So anyway, the way I like to hunt, goat standing 0:40:05.480 --> 0:40:08.120 on my back, you know, never stays anywhere more than 0:40:08.160 --> 0:40:10.399 a couple of times. So that's what I was doing 0:40:10.480 --> 0:40:12.760 the whole the whole time. You know, I'd get pictures 0:40:12.800 --> 0:40:14.840 of a deer on a field edge, and I'd be 0:40:14.880 --> 0:40:17.520 looking for any areas where they're starting to scrape for 0:40:17.600 --> 0:40:20.000 white oaks they's feeding on, trying to get horned in 0:40:20.040 --> 0:40:25.440 on doughs, knowing it's just clockwork around home. You know, 0:40:25.800 --> 0:40:31.200 time muzzloder season opens, that's right before Halloween. There's always 0:40:31.239 --> 0:40:33.719 going to be some bucks at home, just breeding dose. 0:40:33.760 --> 0:40:36.279 I mean, that's just bottom line. I mean it has 0:40:36.360 --> 0:40:38.240 been that way for as long as I can remember. 0:40:39.400 --> 0:40:43.080 So anyway, i'd i'd been hunting the deer, hadn't seen him, 0:40:43.239 --> 0:40:47.760 seeing lots of activity. I mean, it had been storming, raining, 0:40:48.520 --> 0:40:52.080 coal front blew in. It was just perfect north wind. 0:40:52.840 --> 0:40:54.959 So I had a I had a place in mind 0:40:55.000 --> 0:40:57.000 I'd been wanting to sit that I thought needed to 0:40:57.040 --> 0:40:58.040 be north wind. 0:40:58.640 --> 0:40:59.800 And it's at the head of a holler. 0:41:00.239 --> 0:41:02.920 And this this holler where this holler cuts in right 0:41:03.080 --> 0:41:05.479 makes you know, really good flat on the ridge comes 0:41:05.880 --> 0:41:10.319 rolls around old growed up field home place, just one 0:41:10.360 --> 0:41:14.319 of those bucky looking places and a few scattered white 0:41:14.320 --> 0:41:16.520 oaks in it, and you know, some precimmons. I mean, 0:41:16.560 --> 0:41:20.520 just just place you ought to see deer messing around, 0:41:21.560 --> 0:41:24.800 walked in, stand on my back, found a tree and 0:41:24.840 --> 0:41:26.919 as I'm standing there looking I could see I could 0:41:26.920 --> 0:41:30.080 see several you know, big horn bushes and a few 0:41:30.120 --> 0:41:32.319 scrapes around here and there. So oh yeah, I'm just 0:41:32.360 --> 0:41:35.839 going to get in this particular tree. So I got 0:41:35.880 --> 0:41:38.640 crawled up in it. I pulled my bow up, hang 0:41:38.760 --> 0:41:41.879 my bow up on my hangar, had everything ready to go, 0:41:42.000 --> 0:41:45.080 looking around, and there was one little limb come out 0:41:45.080 --> 0:41:46.319 in front of me here, and I thought, well, I 0:41:46.320 --> 0:41:49.560 need to I'll just snap that off. Well, I on 0:41:49.640 --> 0:41:52.600 the end of my platform, just reach out there, snap 0:41:52.719 --> 0:41:57.400 that limb off. And somehow my safety line on my 0:41:57.840 --> 0:42:01.000 harness hooked my bow and I didn't really realize it, 0:42:01.040 --> 0:42:03.680 and I turned around messing around looking at some other stuff, 0:42:03.719 --> 0:42:04.920 just getting everything situated. 0:42:05.160 --> 0:42:05.960 Knocked my bow off. 0:42:06.000 --> 0:42:09.080 The hook lands on the ground, you knowin I was 0:42:09.160 --> 0:42:12.680 like fifteen foot wasn't super high this cedar bush there. 0:42:12.719 --> 0:42:14.120 I mean no, I didn't think much about it. 0:42:14.120 --> 0:42:17.279 I mean I didn't hit very hard. So I crawled down. 0:42:17.560 --> 0:42:19.720 I get to my bow, go back up the tree, 0:42:20.920 --> 0:42:23.120 pull it up. Look it over and then nothing looks 0:42:23.200 --> 0:42:26.040 out ordinary. I mean nothing, I mean, everything looks fine. 0:42:26.040 --> 0:42:26.960 I mean I. 0:42:26.719 --> 0:42:27.560 Everything looks good. 0:42:28.280 --> 0:42:30.240 Pulled the bow and blah blah blah. 0:42:30.760 --> 0:42:32.480 So I sitting there thinking about it, you know, and 0:42:32.520 --> 0:42:34.800 I had I had three arrows in my quiver, which 0:42:35.080 --> 0:42:38.440 is mistake number one. You've got a six arrow quiver. 0:42:38.560 --> 0:42:40.840 You need all three arrow you know, all your arrows 0:42:40.840 --> 0:42:43.240 in your quiver. But I shot a couple of coyoats 0:42:43.360 --> 0:42:46.360 like a couple of days before, you know, something like 0:42:46.520 --> 0:42:48.520 you know, and didn't didn't take time to put them. 0:42:48.360 --> 0:42:51.000 Back in, which still no excuse. 0:42:51.400 --> 0:42:53.080 But in my mind I kept thinking, well, how to 0:42:53.080 --> 0:42:55.359 shoot my bow at that leaf over there, so just 0:42:55.400 --> 0:42:56.040 double checking. 0:42:57.680 --> 0:43:00.120 No, that's not good either, there's no need doing that. 0:43:00.120 --> 0:43:00.600 That's just a. 0:43:00.560 --> 0:43:04.080 Waste, you know, waste air, brake era or whatever. Anyhow, 0:43:04.680 --> 0:43:07.279 sat there dwelled on that, finally decided it's all right. 0:43:08.080 --> 0:43:10.840 But the other kicker to that is something I've always 0:43:11.040 --> 0:43:12.439 had with me, always. 0:43:12.160 --> 0:43:12.799 Carry with me. 0:43:13.239 --> 0:43:16.319 I'd have a little bag that I keep watered up 0:43:16.320 --> 0:43:19.080 in my fanny pack or in my cargo pockets, on 0:43:19.080 --> 0:43:22.520 my hunting pants or whatever that has an extra knock 0:43:23.000 --> 0:43:27.120 a field point and a broad head wrench, so absolutely 0:43:27.400 --> 0:43:28.759 no problem to check the bow. 0:43:29.400 --> 0:43:31.080 But anyway did not. 0:43:32.760 --> 0:43:37.400 So anyway, continue on. We're like thirty minutes before dark everything, 0:43:37.400 --> 0:43:40.640 you know, just the prime time. No deer had filtered through. 0:43:41.560 --> 0:43:46.799 And then I thought I heard a grunt. Well then 0:43:47.320 --> 0:43:50.080 I kept really fixated over and watching it, and about 0:43:50.080 --> 0:43:54.080 that time, coming through old broom sage, I see it 0:43:54.200 --> 0:43:55.759 a dou will coming and she is just kind of 0:43:55.800 --> 0:43:58.960 skirting along and buck pushing her. Well, as soon as 0:43:59.000 --> 0:44:01.520 I seen the buck, I mean, no, he's a good one, 0:44:01.640 --> 0:44:04.560 you know, I got ready, getting ready. Then it's the 0:44:04.600 --> 0:44:07.520 deer I had seen and had pictures of. He comes 0:44:07.520 --> 0:44:12.440 in pushing that dough and gets thirty yards broadside just stops. 0:44:12.760 --> 0:44:16.600 He's standing there, jacking around in a scrape and paw 0:44:16.680 --> 0:44:19.560 on the ground and mean this this is yeah, this 0:44:19.719 --> 0:44:22.799 is it. So I got drawed anchored, and I aimed 0:44:22.840 --> 0:44:24.480 on him, and I went and that shot broke. I 0:44:24.480 --> 0:44:26.200 mean there was no doubt in my mind that deer 0:44:26.280 --> 0:44:29.920 was dead. I mean there was zeroed outs except when 0:44:29.920 --> 0:44:32.719 I seen the era go about two foot over him 0:44:33.160 --> 0:44:35.680 and to you know, right went shot way high into 0:44:35.760 --> 0:44:40.600 the right. Well, I knew exactly you know, well that 0:44:40.680 --> 0:44:43.560 wasn't that wasn't me, and that wasn't my bow's fault. 0:44:43.600 --> 0:44:45.680 That was all because I knocked it off and didn't 0:44:45.760 --> 0:44:49.799 check it. So anyway, I deer run off. 0:44:49.800 --> 0:44:52.160 You know, he had no idea what happened in the dough. 0:44:52.239 --> 0:44:54.000 She's went the other way, And I thought, well, I'll 0:44:54.000 --> 0:44:56.080 go ahead and get down right quick, try not to 0:44:56.200 --> 0:44:59.480 booger anything else, and got over aarraw was clean, thank god, 0:44:59.600 --> 0:45:02.759 I mean didn't didn't foul shooting him, didn't gut shoot him, know, 0:45:02.800 --> 0:45:07.920 nothing like that. So anyhow, he gathered up my stuff 0:45:08.000 --> 0:45:10.719 and pouted all the way back to the. 0:45:10.680 --> 0:45:13.120 Truck and got to my house. 0:45:13.880 --> 0:45:16.560 So I've I've always had a place at my house 0:45:16.560 --> 0:45:19.520 where I could shoot, even you know, after dark. I've 0:45:19.520 --> 0:45:21.440 got to had a big outside light in my target 0:45:21.480 --> 0:45:24.440 so I could shoot twenty yards pretty easy. So I've 0:45:25.080 --> 0:45:28.279 opened the door, flipped the lights on, shot the bow, 0:45:28.560 --> 0:45:32.200 and yeah, it was like you know, at twenty yards, 0:45:32.880 --> 0:45:37.600 like a foot to the right and eighteen inches high. Anyway, 0:45:38.040 --> 0:45:41.080 eventually messed around looking at everything I could tell my sight. 0:45:41.360 --> 0:45:44.319 I could see where it had bent. Should have caught it, 0:45:44.520 --> 0:45:46.440 but anyway, I didn't. 0:45:46.160 --> 0:45:49.080 To add more insult to the injury that one of 0:45:49.080 --> 0:45:52.040 the neighbors kills a big deer and he's one hundred 0:45:52.040 --> 0:45:54.000 and fifty seven inch deer. I mean, you can't ask 0:45:54.120 --> 0:45:56.920 for a better and it's the deer. Yeah, I mean, 0:45:56.960 --> 0:45:59.000 I've got picture here. He is a nyeu pointer, you know, 0:45:59.000 --> 0:46:03.320 on the same trash on the right. I mean, just unbelievable, nice, 0:46:03.680 --> 0:46:06.080 super nice. Can't ask for a better deer for you know, 0:46:06.840 --> 0:46:10.239 full out acron deer. This ain't no food plots, nothing there. 0:46:10.239 --> 0:46:13.040 I mean, it's just an all out mountain acron deer. 0:46:13.040 --> 0:46:14.640 And I mean it's one of them. It's just a 0:46:14.680 --> 0:46:17.320 freak and a rarity that you see. 0:46:17.560 --> 0:46:23.279 But anyway, of all the stories that Shane Aumand could 0:46:23.320 --> 0:46:27.200 have told, I appreciate that he told that one. Shane's 0:46:27.239 --> 0:46:29.879 as good a white tail hunter and archery shooter as 0:46:29.920 --> 0:46:33.040 they make, and he told us about the one that 0:46:33.080 --> 0:46:38.000 got away when he did something stupid. For our final story, 0:46:38.120 --> 0:46:42.040 we've saved the best for last. And it's not really 0:46:42.080 --> 0:46:45.480 that it's the best story, even though it's an incredible story. 0:46:46.080 --> 0:46:50.040 It's really more about the unique person telling the story. 0:46:50.080 --> 0:46:53.040 This is one of the few living Bear Grease Hall 0:46:53.120 --> 0:46:57.960 of Fame members my dear friend James Lawrence. Below his 0:46:58.160 --> 0:47:03.200 name on the Hall of Fame placa, it says Arkansas backwoodsman. 0:47:04.000 --> 0:47:07.880 That's a good description of James. And this story is 0:47:07.920 --> 0:47:12.200 about a buck that he killed just a few days ago. 0:47:12.680 --> 0:47:15.480 This hunt. The last two or three years, and maybe 0:47:15.520 --> 0:47:20.080 longer than that, I've still hunted that area. And it 0:47:20.120 --> 0:47:23.240 seems like all the sign that I was finding still hunting, 0:47:23.760 --> 0:47:28.479 whether it be scrapes, trails, signed just tracks for seeing deer, 0:47:29.400 --> 0:47:34.080 it all led to this holly tree. And that holly 0:47:34.160 --> 0:47:37.560 tree is probably seventy yards from where my blind's at. 0:47:39.200 --> 0:47:43.839 But my blind was the traffic of the deer, and 0:47:44.000 --> 0:47:46.839 I've put up cameras and the traffic of the deer 0:47:46.920 --> 0:47:50.359 is all coming from that holly tree. This one's about 0:47:50.440 --> 0:47:54.600 sixty yards from where I've got my blind. This hunt, 0:47:55.640 --> 0:47:59.360 I've had two good bucks that I've hunting. When of 0:47:59.440 --> 0:48:02.040 them's a just a long time eight point and the 0:48:02.080 --> 0:48:06.480 other one's it's a six or six. But uh, the 0:48:06.520 --> 0:48:09.719 t fours has broke. I mean you still got cauntible point, 0:48:10.600 --> 0:48:15.880 nice boat. But I was in my blind and I 0:48:15.920 --> 0:48:21.080 picked up this movement just the edge of vision be 0:48:21.160 --> 0:48:23.120 where I see in the brush. I could see movement 0:48:23.160 --> 0:48:27.480 and see deer and the shape that I come up with, 0:48:27.600 --> 0:48:31.120 I mean was watching. I finally focused in on it 0:48:31.160 --> 0:48:34.279 and it was a deer standing and he stood. I mean, 0:48:34.320 --> 0:48:36.319 he's been standing there for a long time. And this 0:48:36.360 --> 0:48:38.359 don't make any sense for a white tailed deer, deer 0:48:38.360 --> 0:48:41.520 in the rut, when there's deer over twenty yards from 0:48:41.640 --> 0:48:46.239 him or thirty and him's standing in their broadside. I 0:48:46.280 --> 0:48:50.360 had the bright idea of maybe a grunting with a 0:48:50.400 --> 0:48:53.480 grunt call. Had a grunt call in my backpack that 0:48:53.560 --> 0:48:57.240 I've carried for I don't know, many many many years. 0:48:58.000 --> 0:49:03.799 Uh it's to me, it works better, sounds better. But 0:49:04.560 --> 0:49:08.160 one day I got caught without it out of my backpack. 0:49:09.200 --> 0:49:13.520 I lift it in my coat and my backpack, but 0:49:13.640 --> 0:49:16.560 at in it, so I didn't have my backpack. So 0:49:16.640 --> 0:49:20.000 as soon as I could after that, I bought a 0:49:20.040 --> 0:49:23.560 grunt call. All it does it just looked like the 0:49:23.600 --> 0:49:28.759 one I had, which was a nighting hail. Anyway, I 0:49:28.800 --> 0:49:32.480 thought I would grunt to him because I seen movement, 0:49:32.680 --> 0:49:37.600 and I used two calls to grunt hurt, you know, 0:49:37.800 --> 0:49:41.040 just not enough. I figured to could hear it it's 0:49:41.080 --> 0:49:45.319 really to call too loud or too much. The deer 0:49:45.719 --> 0:49:50.400 turned a little bit, but it didn't move. I mean 0:49:50.440 --> 0:49:55.360 this this deer stood there forever. The deer turned, and 0:49:55.400 --> 0:49:57.600 this other deer was still out here. I mean I 0:49:57.640 --> 0:49:59.799 could see them, but I mean, if they were bucks, 0:49:59.840 --> 0:50:01.440 I and it took a shot at them because I 0:50:01.440 --> 0:50:05.920 could just see their legs, and that deer kind of 0:50:05.960 --> 0:50:08.600 turned and went out and looked straight at me. And 0:50:08.719 --> 0:50:12.640 when he did, all I seen was that horns come 0:50:12.680 --> 0:50:16.520 out and the head and neck, and I thought, oh 0:50:16.960 --> 0:50:19.880 my word, you know, but there's nothing I could do 0:50:19.880 --> 0:50:27.920 about it. He didn't come in. I grinded maybe three times, 0:50:27.960 --> 0:50:31.680 just one note. This drunk, he slipped out on me. 0:50:31.760 --> 0:50:34.239 I guess I could just see movement. And then I 0:50:34.239 --> 0:50:36.959 didn't see the deer, but the other deer, I didn't 0:50:36.960 --> 0:50:40.080 see them, just see them kind of moveing went out 0:50:40.080 --> 0:50:45.600 of sight. So he did notice the factor pick up 0:50:45.760 --> 0:50:49.040 the grunt. So I would do just a low grunt, 0:50:49.600 --> 0:50:55.000 probably thirty minutes apart, just one note hurt. An hour later, 0:50:55.600 --> 0:51:01.200 I was drinking just once low, and here this buck 0:51:01.360 --> 0:51:07.160 appeared ten yards away walking. But that buck come to 0:51:07.239 --> 0:51:13.480 my grunt. I grabbed my rifle come up, got cross 0:51:13.480 --> 0:51:18.880 hairs and hair. I towardst it off. The deer went bawn, 0:51:20.520 --> 0:51:22.640 so I unse uped it out and the deer was 0:51:22.680 --> 0:51:25.799 trying to get up. So I put him down. And 0:51:25.920 --> 0:51:28.200 it turned out it was the twelve point that I 0:51:28.400 --> 0:51:30.399 had pictures of, you. 0:51:30.360 --> 0:51:30.680 Know, So. 0:51:32.160 --> 0:51:34.759 Patted myself on the back tickle to death, counted the 0:51:34.800 --> 0:51:38.719 point six by six. I looked at the where did 0:51:38.760 --> 0:51:42.840 I hit him? All I done was just clipped to 0:51:42.920 --> 0:51:45.880 his back. It didn't even bring blood, It just burnt, 0:51:46.520 --> 0:51:51.640 I guess the backbone, and I jar There was a 0:51:51.640 --> 0:51:54.160 matter of just seconds that deer would have got up 0:51:54.160 --> 0:51:57.680 and run off. Scared me to death. When I actually 0:51:57.760 --> 0:51:59.920 seen I thought he was down and I just had 0:52:00.000 --> 0:52:02.759 to finish him off. The second one, the one that 0:52:02.840 --> 0:52:04.600 killed him, he was fixing to get up and go, 0:52:07.760 --> 0:52:11.239 But that positively was a grunt call brought him in. 0:52:17.760 --> 0:52:20.680 The stories we bring back from wild places can't be 0:52:20.800 --> 0:52:24.880 bought with money, They can't be replicated, and they enrich 0:52:24.960 --> 0:52:30.920 our lives with something intangible, something primitive, something that only 0:52:31.000 --> 0:52:35.000 comes from engagement with the wild. It's only in the 0:52:35.040 --> 0:52:38.360 mind of the hunter that the imagery of the hunt 0:52:38.760 --> 0:52:42.440 can be replayed, and our words bring it all to 0:52:42.560 --> 0:52:46.400 life inside of a story, when it's expressed into something 0:52:46.440 --> 0:52:50.560 that's truly magical and can be shared with others. I'm 0:52:50.640 --> 0:52:53.320 kind of sad that our Dear Stories episodes are coming 0:52:53.360 --> 0:52:56.600 to an end this year, but I look forward to 0:52:56.719 --> 0:53:01.440 making more stories in the future. I cannot thank you 0:53:01.560 --> 0:53:04.759 enough for listening to Bear Grease this country life in 0:53:04.840 --> 0:53:09.960 the Backwoods University. Keep the wild places wild because that's 0:53:09.960 --> 0:53:10.719 where the bears live.