1
00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:05,080
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide

2
00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,920
Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, presented by first Light,

3
00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:13,600
Speaker 1: creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind.

4
00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:18,680
Speaker 1: First Light, Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host

5
00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:19,919
Speaker 1: Tony Peterson.

6
00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:23,200
Speaker 2: Hey, everyone, welcome to the Wire to Hunt Foundation's podcast,

7
00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:25,000
Speaker 2: which is brought to you by First Light. I'm your host,

8
00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:27,880
Speaker 2: Tony Peterson, and today's episode is all about dealing with

9
00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:34,920
Speaker 2: the cold when you're after late season deer If I

10
00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:39,200
Speaker 2: am being honest, and I am this is my least

11
00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:41,640
Speaker 2: favorite time of year to be a deer hunter. Look,

12
00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:43,880
Speaker 2: I do love getting out into the woods and hunting,

13
00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:46,960
Speaker 2: but there are all those roosters out there that I

14
00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:49,600
Speaker 2: want to chase, and there's just the reality that hunting

15
00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:53,720
Speaker 2: in the cold often really really sucks. But that doesn't

16
00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:55,760
Speaker 2: mean it's time to dust the cobwebs off of the

17
00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:58,960
Speaker 2: dog and just forget about deer hunting completely. It just

18
00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:00,920
Speaker 2: means that you have to learn learn to live with

19
00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:03,240
Speaker 2: the coal, which is what I'm going to talk about

20
00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:13,120
Speaker 2: right now. I've noticed something about most of the people

21
00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,880
Speaker 2: who claim to love winter and snow and cold and

22
00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:18,920
Speaker 2: all the dumb things that happen this time of year.

23
00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:23,319
Speaker 2: Most of them don't ever have to spend much time outside.

24
00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:25,560
Speaker 2: My mother in law is one of those people, and

25
00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:28,280
Speaker 2: she will often talk about how wonderful it is to

26
00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:31,039
Speaker 2: get snow and how pretty the world looks to her

27
00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:33,959
Speaker 2: in the winter. But she can also pretty much spend

28
00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:38,040
Speaker 2: all winter laying on the couch watching Netflix too. Talk

29
00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,000
Speaker 2: to oh, I don't know, like a dairy farmer or

30
00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,479
Speaker 2: maybe someone who works in construction, and you might get

31
00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:45,360
Speaker 2: a different reaction out of them since they have to

32
00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:47,000
Speaker 2: go out and work in this shit no matter what.

33
00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:50,360
Speaker 2: There's a parallel to this in the deer hunting space,

34
00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,080
Speaker 2: if you can believe that the folks I know who

35
00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:56,160
Speaker 2: profess an undying love for the late season are also

36
00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,320
Speaker 2: the people who have a very specific kind of hunting situation.

37
00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,680
Speaker 2: I'll give you a hint here. Almost none of them

38
00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,120
Speaker 2: own a saddle, and they'd look like a monkey trying

39
00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:07,400
Speaker 2: to learn quantum physics if they had to try to

40
00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:10,280
Speaker 2: do some kind of mobile setup. They are most likely

41
00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:13,160
Speaker 2: like a friend of a friend of mine, guy who

42
00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:15,600
Speaker 2: talks a lot of shit about being an amazing hunter

43
00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:18,320
Speaker 2: but also has a chunk of private ground in Iowa

44
00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:21,639
Speaker 2: where he leaves several acres of standing beans every season

45
00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:25,000
Speaker 2: around his redneck blind. He'll casually say things like he

46
00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:27,480
Speaker 2: had seventy deer in the field with him during late

47
00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:30,919
Speaker 2: season hunts, and you'll say other things like get this,

48
00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,760
Speaker 2: baiting isn't really hunting, which is an interesting take anyway,

49
00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:38,600
Speaker 2: given the circumstances he sets up for himself to hunt

50
00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,360
Speaker 2: deer when they need calories the most. I'm not going

51
00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:43,440
Speaker 2: to go too deep into that right now, but maybe

52
00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:47,600
Speaker 2: in a different podcast. The truth is, generally speaking, if

53
00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:50,760
Speaker 2: you love the late season, you probably have a super

54
00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,120
Speaker 2: awesome place to hunt. But you might also just like

55
00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,720
Speaker 2: the challenge and the fact that most folks have just

56
00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:59,480
Speaker 2: pretty much given up on the season. There is that

57
00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,320
Speaker 2: reality too, and it's a positive to the late season thing.

58
00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:05,040
Speaker 2: In fact, this goes for private land as well as

59
00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:07,600
Speaker 2: public land in a lot of places. There are some

60
00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,720
Speaker 2: real advantages to late season hunting, or at least there

61
00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:13,600
Speaker 2: can be for all of us, and having the woods

62
00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:17,440
Speaker 2: largely to ourselves is a real advantage. It allows you

63
00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,320
Speaker 2: to mostly work the deer, which is huge when you're

64
00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:23,240
Speaker 2: used to not only working the deer but working all

65
00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,440
Speaker 2: of the other hunters who are also working all of

66
00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,800
Speaker 2: the deer and presumably all of the other hunters including you.

67
00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:32,280
Speaker 2: There are some other advantages too. You can kind of

68
00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:34,399
Speaker 2: forget about a lot of the deer sign that really

69
00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,240
Speaker 2: blows the wind up your skirt in the early season. Now,

70
00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:38,880
Speaker 2: I know there are some guys out there who are

71
00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,800
Speaker 2: still hunting scrapes and they are killing deer on them, probably,

72
00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:45,480
Speaker 2: But you're not going to probably, and I probably won't either,

73
00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:48,440
Speaker 2: because that's not really on my radar at all. Neither

74
00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,520
Speaker 2: are rubs, and I love rubs. I pay attention to them,

75
00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,080
Speaker 2: and they might indicate a thicker area that a late

76
00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:56,880
Speaker 2: season buck could hole up in, But that isn't really

77
00:03:57,120 --> 00:03:59,880
Speaker 2: like a hunting sign. It's like using sign to sort

78
00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:02,520
Speaker 2: of back test your theory about where deer might be.

79
00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:04,760
Speaker 2: But of course you could just look at the cover

80
00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,120
Speaker 2: and make a pretty well educated guess on whether deer

81
00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:10,040
Speaker 2: will be there or not. The sign that matters now

82
00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:14,240
Speaker 2: is tracks where deer walk matters, and it matters a

83
00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:17,240
Speaker 2: lot this time of year. This only gets easier when

84
00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:19,839
Speaker 2: you get snow, But even up here in Canada South

85
00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:21,960
Speaker 2: it feels like snow is harder to come by than

86
00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,440
Speaker 2: it used to be. If you live farther south, you

87
00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,479
Speaker 2: might not ever get that advantage, but you usually do

88
00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:30,760
Speaker 2: get some level of freezing and thawing, and that can

89
00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,560
Speaker 2: be beneficial for looking for tracks and beating down trails.

90
00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:36,919
Speaker 2: This is important because late season hunting usually kind of

91
00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:41,680
Speaker 2: involves starting fresh. The deer after gun season becomes something different,

92
00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:45,240
Speaker 2: and that involves survival mode, but not the way that

93
00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:47,880
Speaker 2: most people think, and not the way it's mostly portrayed

94
00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,839
Speaker 2: in the hunting media. Sure, the private land deer that

95
00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:55,040
Speaker 2: our babysat specifically to be kind of dumb and vulnerable

96
00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,400
Speaker 2: will pile into a food plodder field in a late season,

97
00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,680
Speaker 2: but the deer that get hunt hard usually won't. Their

98
00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:06,120
Speaker 2: survival mode is to move, not a whole lot, and

99
00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,520
Speaker 2: to do whatever moving they will do, mostly in the

100
00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:14,680
Speaker 2: cover and mostly close to darkness. Walking trails out looking

101
00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:18,640
Speaker 2: for heavily tracked up areas can help you pinpoint those spots.

102
00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,599
Speaker 2: It's not easy, but it is fun, and you have

103
00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:24,360
Speaker 2: another advantage when it comes to the late season, although

104
00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:26,760
Speaker 2: this one can work against you, which is that the

105
00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,200
Speaker 2: woods are real open. You know how big of a

106
00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:34,159
Speaker 2: fan I am of watching deer do stuff. Observation is

107
00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:36,120
Speaker 2: the key to an awful lot of the deer I

108
00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:38,640
Speaker 2: end up shooting, and there isn't much of a better

109
00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:42,400
Speaker 2: time to see them than right now. With snow it

110
00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:46,919
Speaker 2: gets even easier, but you have to pay attention. Winter

111
00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:51,160
Speaker 2: white tails are quiet. They aren't chasing around and breaking

112
00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,560
Speaker 2: lots of sticks and making a lot of big, noisy movements.

113
00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:58,960
Speaker 2: They move like battle weary soldiers, which in a way

114
00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:04,680
Speaker 2: they kind of they appear, they go through, they disappear,

115
00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:09,080
Speaker 2: They focus on danger wherever it may be, and mostly

116
00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:12,960
Speaker 2: they take their time. Now, you will see some deer

117
00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,080
Speaker 2: kind of you know, practically run into food sources, but

118
00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:20,000
Speaker 2: that's a rarity and usually involves very specific circumstances. Most

119
00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,599
Speaker 2: of the time they just kind of show up. And

120
00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:24,440
Speaker 2: if they do that one hundred and twenty five yards

121
00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:26,960
Speaker 2: away in the brush, it's better to have your binos

122
00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,320
Speaker 2: on them to see exactly what they do, then to

123
00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:33,840
Speaker 2: suddenly realize they are already halfway out across the cut cornfield. Now,

124
00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:36,600
Speaker 2: I'm sure there are a few other advantages that the

125
00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:40,120
Speaker 2: late season offers, including, you know, allowing you to lower

126
00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:42,560
Speaker 2: your standards solow that even a button buck might get

127
00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:44,719
Speaker 2: you to clip your release to your d loop, but

128
00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:49,160
Speaker 2: mostly it's a matter of finding tracks, watching and then

129
00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:53,640
Speaker 2: doing a decent amount of suffering. That's what really separates

130
00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,080
Speaker 2: the late season killers from the folks who spend most

131
00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:59,120
Speaker 2: of the late season ice fishing or pulling tabs at

132
00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:03,080
Speaker 2: the local watering. Hunting the late season is a matter

133
00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:06,839
Speaker 2: of gauging your willingness to be uncomfortable and then pushing

134
00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:09,960
Speaker 2: that as far as you can. And this starts with

135
00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,400
Speaker 2: our brains. If you can believe that, just like when

136
00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,360
Speaker 2: it comes to all day rut sits confidence in the

137
00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:19,280
Speaker 2: late season matters. If you're going to go out to

138
00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:23,000
Speaker 2: any old favorite stand that is much better in October

139
00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,880
Speaker 2: than at Christmas time, and you have very little faith

140
00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,920
Speaker 2: it'll produce, but you go there because it's easy. Good

141
00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,440
Speaker 2: luck putting in a lot of hours. Confidence in your

142
00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,320
Speaker 2: setup can go so far in getting you out there

143
00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:39,000
Speaker 2: when you need to be and keeping you there for

144
00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:41,480
Speaker 2: as long as you need to be there. This is

145
00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:44,560
Speaker 2: a way bigger component of late season success than most

146
00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:47,800
Speaker 2: people realize. Now, you can cheat this to some extent

147
00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,800
Speaker 2: if you need to. The box blind hunter I shit

148
00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:54,360
Speaker 2: on earlier, well, he has the right idea for comfort.

149
00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:56,800
Speaker 2: If you've never sat in a Redneck or some other

150
00:07:56,840 --> 00:07:59,040
Speaker 2: box blind with a heater running in the late season,

151
00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:02,080
Speaker 2: you don't know how good you can have it. It's

152
00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:04,880
Speaker 2: honestly kind of crazy, how comfortable you can be when

153
00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:06,720
Speaker 2: you have the money and the willingness to haunt that

154
00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:09,480
Speaker 2: certain way. This has become clearer to me as my

155
00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,120
Speaker 2: daughters have started hunting with me. And this might come

156
00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:15,040
Speaker 2: as a surprise to you, but a rail thin ten

157
00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,640
Speaker 2: year old girl doesn't have a huge tolerance for sub

158
00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:22,320
Speaker 2: zero temperatures in long sits. If the wind is blowing

159
00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,240
Speaker 2: at all, forget it unless you can put them in

160
00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:27,600
Speaker 2: a blind and turn on a mister Buddy heater, which

161
00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,400
Speaker 2: is exactly what I do. And do you know what,

162
00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:34,640
Speaker 2: that heater feels pretty dang good to forty four year

163
00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:47,079
Speaker 2: old men too. Maybe you're tough as nails and can

164
00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:49,200
Speaker 2: hang in a saddle all day from dark to dark,

165
00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,800
Speaker 2: to shoot a dough in late December, but most folks can't,

166
00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:55,240
Speaker 2: and most folks wouldn't even try because they know that

167
00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:58,720
Speaker 2: about themselves. Maybe you need a pop up blind, you know,

168
00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:01,360
Speaker 2: brushed into some cedars or something, and maybe you need

169
00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:04,120
Speaker 2: a little extra heat from burning propane to get you through,

170
00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:07,960
Speaker 2: if that's what it takes do that. I don't do

171
00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:10,640
Speaker 2: that in the late season much for one simple reason though.

172
00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:13,439
Speaker 2: I have a hard time getting drawn in a blind

173
00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,040
Speaker 2: during the late season. It seems like the deer are

174
00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:18,800
Speaker 2: always too close, and by the time they move it's

175
00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,880
Speaker 2: often very very calm ount When you have a bundled

176
00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:25,400
Speaker 2: up hunter and a suspicious camo cube and the deer

177
00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:28,840
Speaker 2: are already superjaded from a long season. I found that

178
00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,280
Speaker 2: it's just hard for me to get drawn. I actually

179
00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:34,320
Speaker 2: have way better luck and natural blinds and tree stands

180
00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:37,000
Speaker 2: because the deer seem to be less focused on me

181
00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:39,640
Speaker 2: then and the instead of being in a ground blind,

182
00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:44,640
Speaker 2: so that means I go through handwarmers like crazy. They

183
00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:47,800
Speaker 2: are cheap, so I go pretty deep on them. And

184
00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:50,840
Speaker 2: it's crazy that a mixture of iron, powder, water, salt,

185
00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:55,679
Speaker 2: activated charcoal, and vermiculite can, when it's exposed to oxygen,

186
00:09:56,400 --> 00:10:00,800
Speaker 2: generate an appreciable amount of heat for hours. This chemical

187
00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:03,120
Speaker 2: process is pretty much the same thing that happens when

188
00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:05,599
Speaker 2: iron rusts. We just forced it to happen at a

189
00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:09,320
Speaker 2: much quicker pace so that it gives off heat and man,

190
00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:12,200
Speaker 2: are those things a lifesaver. I buy a lot of them,

191
00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:15,080
Speaker 2: and they are an absolute blessing on late season hunts.

192
00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:18,479
Speaker 2: So is something very hot to drink in a thermos.

193
00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:21,480
Speaker 2: I have a good buddy of mine who is about

194
00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:23,640
Speaker 2: as far behind on the times as you can get,

195
00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:26,880
Speaker 2: who sent me a message during Minnesota's gun season this year.

196
00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:29,560
Speaker 2: He was out with a shotgun in the southeast corner

197
00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,640
Speaker 2: of the state trying to shoot a buck while I

198
00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:34,520
Speaker 2: was across the river here in Wisconsin trying to arrow one.

199
00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:39,520
Speaker 2: It was real cold and real windy, and he mentioned

200
00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:42,040
Speaker 2: that he'd appreciate some hot coffee and some food for

201
00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:44,800
Speaker 2: his sit because he didn't know how long he'd make

202
00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:47,080
Speaker 2: it before he would have to head back to the truck.

203
00:10:47,559 --> 00:10:49,840
Speaker 2: I was like, well, buddy, have I got some good

204
00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:53,160
Speaker 2: news for you, because we've been making food and beverages

205
00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:57,280
Speaker 2: portable for a long long time. I sent him a

206
00:10:57,280 --> 00:10:59,520
Speaker 2: pick of my yetti full of hot coffee and my

207
00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:02,200
Speaker 2: Emerging See candy bag, which is just a bag of

208
00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:04,320
Speaker 2: candy I always have in my pack for those times

209
00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:06,200
Speaker 2: when I need a Reese's peanut butter cup or some

210
00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:08,360
Speaker 2: M and ms to get me through a long dearless

211
00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:11,319
Speaker 2: part of my sit If you don't drink coffee, I

212
00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:13,240
Speaker 2: don't know, because you're some kind of psycho who just

213
00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:16,520
Speaker 2: raw dog's life without caffeine, then maybe your shit out

214
00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,480
Speaker 2: of luck. I just know that there are very few

215
00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:23,280
Speaker 2: things that feel like almost instantly better than when you're

216
00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:25,840
Speaker 2: freezing your little knackers off and then you take a

217
00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:29,320
Speaker 2: swig of hot coffee and feeling it warming your insides up.

218
00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:32,560
Speaker 2: Now you might be thinking, why don't you just layer

219
00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:35,320
Speaker 2: up so you can handle it cheaf Well, that's a

220
00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:39,480
Speaker 2: good point, imaginary listener person. But the truth is there's

221
00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:42,280
Speaker 2: a level to which you can't get past once you've

222
00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:45,360
Speaker 2: been stationary for a long time and it's very cold

223
00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,320
Speaker 2: out now. The right layering system and the right socks

224
00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:51,920
Speaker 2: and boots and hat and whatever, it's all important. But

225
00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:54,880
Speaker 2: you know that if you don't consider that extensively for

226
00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:57,840
Speaker 2: your late season hunts, you're just in trouble. You'll have

227
00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:00,360
Speaker 2: to move too much or just not hunt long enough,

228
00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:03,040
Speaker 2: both of which will pretty much kill your chances. And

229
00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:05,800
Speaker 2: if you do move too much, you might notice something

230
00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:09,080
Speaker 2: else that's very difficult about late season hunting, which is

231
00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:12,760
Speaker 2: managing how much noise you make now. If you watch

232
00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:15,439
Speaker 2: me hunt on any of the shows I've filmed, you'll

233
00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:17,600
Speaker 2: notice one thing about me besides the fact that I

234
00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:20,400
Speaker 2: make a lot of mistakes for someone who is way

235
00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:22,960
Speaker 2: better at hunting than Mark, which is that I don't

236
00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:27,920
Speaker 2: use hoods hardly. Ever. I hate hoods on anything but

237
00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:31,800
Speaker 2: a sweatshirt. And here's why, because I can't hear anything

238
00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:35,280
Speaker 2: to begin with. I've had some guns shot way too

239
00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,600
Speaker 2: close to my ears. I played a lot of loud music,

240
00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:42,280
Speaker 2: and I've been to a ton of concerts. My hearing sucks,

241
00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:45,360
Speaker 2: and hoods make my hearing sucks so much more that

242
00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:49,520
Speaker 2: I cannot stand it, especially in those quiet late season conditions.

243
00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,440
Speaker 2: But hoods also scrape the tree when I move, and

244
00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,760
Speaker 2: I hate that too. It might not seem like that

245
00:12:56,840 --> 00:12:59,439
Speaker 2: big of a deal sitting there in rifle season waiting

246
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:01,720
Speaker 2: on a buck to walk through two hundred yards away,

247
00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:05,400
Speaker 2: but during late season bow hunts, that hood can be

248
00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:07,959
Speaker 2: the difference between getting busted trying to get a shot

249
00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:11,640
Speaker 2: or not. I've also noticed that some of my climbing

250
00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:15,360
Speaker 2: sticks just suck in really cold weather. Some suck on

251
00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:18,520
Speaker 2: all trees and you know, different kinds of bark, while

252
00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:22,080
Speaker 2: some only suck on certain trees with certain kinds of bark. Now,

253
00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:24,920
Speaker 2: if I'm over in northern Wisconsin, for example, I know

254
00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,640
Speaker 2: the paper bark birch trees are mostly off limits for

255
00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:31,360
Speaker 2: my mobile hunts. The steps will squeak and creak, as

256
00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:35,319
Speaker 2: will my stand or my saddle platform. Some ladder stands

257
00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:38,040
Speaker 2: pretty noisy too, especially ladder stands that have been up

258
00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:40,720
Speaker 2: for a few years, and if they have any play

259
00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:43,439
Speaker 2: in the ladder at all, they're gonna make some noise.

260
00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:48,640
Speaker 2: Cold weather means quiet conditions and loud gear. Generally, that's

261
00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:52,120
Speaker 2: a huge consideration. The upside to this is that you

262
00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:55,160
Speaker 2: can leave most of the extra stuff at home. Late

263
00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:57,240
Speaker 2: season hunting is a matter of putting yourself where the

264
00:13:57,280 --> 00:13:59,640
Speaker 2: deer want to be and not doing a bunch of

265
00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:02,520
Speaker 2: call and other shit. This is something I try to

266
00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:04,600
Speaker 2: think about a lot if I go mobile at all,

267
00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:07,120
Speaker 2: because I want to reduce my profile as much as

268
00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:09,839
Speaker 2: possible and just generally not have a bunch of stuff

269
00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:12,400
Speaker 2: to bump into or have to work around. This is

270
00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:14,959
Speaker 2: also why I like to do natural ground blinds when

271
00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,239
Speaker 2: I can, Even though drawing can be a risky proposition,

272
00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:20,760
Speaker 2: I don't have to make a lot of movements that

273
00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:24,480
Speaker 2: could cause noise otherwise. Though now I know I haven't

274
00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:27,560
Speaker 2: painted a very rosy picture of late season hunting. Let

275
00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:29,440
Speaker 2: me give you one last thing that I use to

276
00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:31,520
Speaker 2: keep myself going out there even when I don't want

277
00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:34,880
Speaker 2: to remember earlier in this episode, when I joked about

278
00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:38,280
Speaker 2: lowering your standards to button buck level, that was only

279
00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,480
Speaker 2: kind of sort of a joke. I know my personal

280
00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:43,920
Speaker 2: odds of killing a giant buck in the late season

281
00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:47,480
Speaker 2: are almost zero. I just don't have the spots and

282
00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:49,920
Speaker 2: I'm certainly not going to put in the time. So

283
00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:52,800
Speaker 2: when I go I think about it differently. If I'm

284
00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,840
Speaker 2: in Minnesota, here, it'll be just all about trying to

285
00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,160
Speaker 2: arrow a single dough. That's the goal. Now I'm not

286
00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:01,200
Speaker 2: looking for bucks. I don't have a buck tag left,

287
00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:04,320
Speaker 2: at least for myself. My daughters are a different story.

288
00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:07,280
Speaker 2: But for me, the scouting and the stand prep and

289
00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:09,480
Speaker 2: anything else is all about just getting a dough into

290
00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:13,760
Speaker 2: shooting range. That's fun because it's a doable, realistic goal,

291
00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:17,040
Speaker 2: but it's still challenging. So that works for me now

292
00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:19,680
Speaker 2: over in Wisconsin, at least this year, I still have

293
00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:22,480
Speaker 2: a buck tag, so my goal will be any dough

294
00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:26,160
Speaker 2: or any buck. That's even more fun because it opens

295
00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:29,480
Speaker 2: up the possibility to basically shoot whatever might come through

296
00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:33,080
Speaker 2: the key there is to just get around deer and

297
00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:35,840
Speaker 2: hope it works out. Now, if I set my sights

298
00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:38,280
Speaker 2: on even a two and a half year old or

299
00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:41,600
Speaker 2: older buck over there, I probably wouldn't even go hunting

300
00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:44,720
Speaker 2: because my optimism just doesn't stretch that far. I would

301
00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:47,040
Speaker 2: probably have a better chance of seeing a wolf for

302
00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:49,640
Speaker 2: real than a buck that has been kicking around for

303
00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:52,280
Speaker 2: any length of time. So if you do decide to

304
00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:54,760
Speaker 2: test your metal against late season deer and go frolic

305
00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:57,920
Speaker 2: in the winter wonderland they call home, think about this

306
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,560
Speaker 2: stuff because it matters. What are you out there looking for?

307
00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,520
Speaker 2: What kind of deer would make you happy? But don't

308
00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,400
Speaker 2: stop there. We all know what kind of deer would

309
00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:10,160
Speaker 2: probably make us happy, but the reality is that you

310
00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:12,680
Speaker 2: need to get one within range and it needs to

311
00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:15,600
Speaker 2: be unaware of you. Now, the thought of just killing

312
00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:19,160
Speaker 2: a doe or a little buck changes because academically that

313
00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:21,680
Speaker 2: shouldn't be that tough for a lot of us, But

314
00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:23,600
Speaker 2: when we put it into practice and head out there

315
00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:26,320
Speaker 2: with our bows, it does become a hell of a

316
00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:29,760
Speaker 2: lot tougher than we think. But tough is good. Now. Sure,

317
00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:32,160
Speaker 2: there are guys looking at dozens of deer eating beans

318
00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:34,960
Speaker 2: planted specifically for the deer while they watch an NFL

319
00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:37,520
Speaker 2: game on their phone and wait for a hitlister to

320
00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:40,800
Speaker 2: wander by. But there is also the reality that most

321
00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:42,880
Speaker 2: folks are out of the woods, and the last part

322
00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:46,400
Speaker 2: of the season isn't for the weekend warrior. It's for

323
00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:49,920
Speaker 2: someone who wants to scout, think through the whole process,

324
00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:52,160
Speaker 2: and to try to make it happen even when it

325
00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:54,920
Speaker 2: flat out sucks to be in the woods. That's you,

326
00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:57,160
Speaker 2: and that's what you should do this year before the

327
00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,560
Speaker 2: whole thing ends and you regret not getting after it more.

328
00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:03,240
Speaker 2: That's what I'm gonna do, and I'm going to come

329
00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:05,800
Speaker 2: back next week to talk about going where you don't

330
00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:09,240
Speaker 2: care about deer movement so you can learn all about

331
00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:14,160
Speaker 2: deer movement. That's it for this week. I'm Tony Peterson.

332
00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:16,440
Speaker 2: This has been the Wired to Hunt Foundation's podcast, which

333
00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:19,240
Speaker 2: has brought to you by First Light. I gotta tell you,

334
00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:22,199
Speaker 2: the year's almost up. We've done a ton of sales,

335
00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:24,520
Speaker 2: We've asked a lot out of you guys, and I

336
00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:26,800
Speaker 2: just want to say thank you for sticking around, thank

337
00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:30,639
Speaker 2: you for supporting us. It's been an amazing year. We

338
00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,760
Speaker 2: truly appreciate it here at meat Eater. If you're just

339
00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,040
Speaker 2: kind of like I'm not ready for the season to

340
00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:38,760
Speaker 2: be over, or you need maybe something to fill the

341
00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:42,480
Speaker 2: void when you're driving to Grandma's house for Christmas or whatever,

342
00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:46,600
Speaker 2: the mediater dot com has a ton of podcasts. You

343
00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:49,280
Speaker 2: can go over and listen to Clay's Bear Grease podcast.

344
00:17:49,359 --> 00:17:53,240
Speaker 2: The meat Eater channel has three different shows on it now,

345
00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,600
Speaker 2: the main mediator podcast, mediat Radio, and meat Eater Trivia.

346
00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,480
Speaker 2: Lots of content over there, articles, recipes, maybe you want

347
00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,280
Speaker 2: to cook something for Christmas dinner, whatever. The meat Eater

348
00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:04,880
Speaker 2: dot com has it. Check it out.

349
00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:09,760
Speaker 1: H