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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for

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Speaker 1: deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host,

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Speaker 1: Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host, Mark Kenyan, this episode number three and three

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Speaker 1: and saying the show, we are analyzing a series of

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Speaker 1: stories for you in which we'll hear from four hunters

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Speaker 1: about five hunts with three bucks killed, two tags left unpunched,

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Speaker 1: and a whole bunch of lessons learned. All right, welcome

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Speaker 1: to the Wired don podcast, brought to you by on X.

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Speaker 1: We're here today to talk about several hunts. We've got

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Speaker 1: four people on the show total, but at different times.

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Speaker 1: Right now it's me and Dan, and then a little

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Speaker 1: bit later will be me and Tony Peterson, and then

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Speaker 1: a little bit later will be me and Andy May.

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Speaker 1: And we all have been out hunting this month so far,

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Speaker 1: and some of us have had success, some of us

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Speaker 1: did not. I want us to break down these four

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Speaker 1: sets of hunts and what went right, what went wrong,

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Speaker 1: and what we can learn from them. So first up,

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Speaker 1: I got nine fingered wonder Dan Johnson here from fresh

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Speaker 1: off of the Colorado Hunt. UM, I want to hear

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Speaker 1: about what's what's you know, how they went? We haven't

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Speaker 1: got talk. I mean we texted a little bit around it,

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Speaker 1: but we haven't actually got talk. So I haven't even

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Speaker 1: like texted you in a while right now, since your

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Speaker 1: last day of the hunt? Right, how is the how's

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Speaker 1: the fam doing? First and foremost fans? Good? I have

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Speaker 1: some news on that front, by the way, which which

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Speaker 1: you don't know. Uh, we had our ultrasound and baby

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Speaker 1: number two is another boy, so we got another another

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Speaker 1: pack of boys over here. So Knox and Mac will

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Speaker 1: have a couple of buddies here in Michigan. Yeah. I

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Speaker 1: hope that they're just as ornery as my kids, just

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Speaker 1: so you know, Like I don't know why, but I

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Speaker 1: just envision your children being very polite, me being very

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Speaker 1: you know. Okay, it's time to go to bed. Yes, father,

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Speaker 1: I will go to bed, and they go to bed

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Speaker 1: like for me, I have to get out like the

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Speaker 1: hog taser and like get them into their rooms. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: My my son already keeps his hands folded neatly behind

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Speaker 1: his back. He carries he balances a book on his head,

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Speaker 1: and then he walked slowly and quietly to bed, puts

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Speaker 1: himself to sleep, and then sets an alarm. Yeah, not

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Speaker 1: what my kids do. I'll tell you what. It's so funny,

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Speaker 1: Like every month, probably at least once a month, I

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Speaker 1: find myself Yeah, Dan was right about this, the Dan.

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Speaker 1: It's been funny seeing all these things come to fruition

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Speaker 1: that you warned me about for years. So yeah, it'll

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Speaker 1: be it'll be a whole new adventure with the second

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Speaker 1: one coming. And it would have been you know, I

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Speaker 1: just was hoping for a healthy, happy baby, but having

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Speaker 1: another boy. You know, I always wanted a brother growing up.

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Speaker 1: So it's kind of cool to know that Ever will

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Speaker 1: have a brother and they'll be able to you know,

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Speaker 1: adventure of the world together and be best friends and

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Speaker 1: worst enemies and you know all that brother stuff. So

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Speaker 1: I'm excited sister Ever getting like big fights, you know,

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Speaker 1: not super bad. There was a like we're great, we're kids.

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Speaker 1: And then when I was in like late junior high

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Speaker 1: and she was just about to start junior high, we

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Speaker 1: had a period where I was like just like an

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Speaker 1: asshole to her. Um just I knew how to push

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Speaker 1: her buttons to really irritate her all the time, and

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Speaker 1: I got a lot of joy out of that. So

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Speaker 1: that was that was a period I just I found

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Speaker 1: it really funny to make her cry and we're like

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Speaker 1: driving to school or whatever, because I knew I could

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Speaker 1: like but she'd get mad at the stupidest thing that

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Speaker 1: I was breathing too loud, or I was eating my

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Speaker 1: food too loud or stuff like that, and so of

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Speaker 1: course I saw opportunity there and milked it. So right,

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Speaker 1: one of the biggest fights that me and my brother

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Speaker 1: ever got in was, I don't know, did you ever

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Speaker 1: have a sega growing up? I never? Well, yes I

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Speaker 1: had the sega. Was there a dream something? Um that

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Speaker 1: was the Nintendo Dreamcast or something like that, Right, yes,

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Speaker 1: I had. That was the first one I got, and

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Speaker 1: then it was gotcha. Okay, Well, anyway, me and my brother, um,

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Speaker 1: he's closer to your age than he than to me.

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Speaker 1: My brothers like five years younger than me. So we

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Speaker 1: would play college football on the sega, and he was

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Speaker 1: always better than me. But I didn't want to ever

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Speaker 1: have my record show on the stats on the game.

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Speaker 1: So with like one or two seconds left, if I

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Speaker 1: was ever down, I would kick the I would I

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Speaker 1: would kick the plug in out of the wall so

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Speaker 1: that stat would never show up. And he would get

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Speaker 1: so mad, like he would charge me and try to

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Speaker 1: fight me. That's great. Yeah, it's like when I play

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Speaker 1: Xbox of my when he was like a ten year

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Speaker 1: old my nephew, that's what he would do. And so

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Speaker 1: that's eighteen year old Dan did well. That was like

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Speaker 1: that was earlier. I mean by the time I graduated,

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Speaker 1: by the time I graduated high school, I think the

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Speaker 1: first PlayStation was out maybe or maybe my first year

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Speaker 1: in college. Anyway, Yeah, we've gotten some knockdown, drag out

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Speaker 1: fights over Bill Walsh's college football siblings. Good times, good times. Um, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's funny. That was a piece of news, the family

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Speaker 1: piece of news. And then there's a whole other, big

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Speaker 1: piece of news that I want to talk to you about.

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Speaker 1: Um that I don't know if we should lead with

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Speaker 1: us or if we should dive into your hunt? What

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Speaker 1: what are you most passionate about right now? Dan, Like,

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Speaker 1: do you just need to release the story of your

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Speaker 1: Colorado el hunt and your thoughts and your frustrations or

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Speaker 1: do you want to simmer on that while hearing a

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Speaker 1: little story from me and then get into it. Where's

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Speaker 1: your where's that your emotional state? This is completely up

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Speaker 1: to you, because the more I simmer, the more raw

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Speaker 1: the actual Colorado trip and my thoughts on um, all

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Speaker 1: the other stuff that kind of goes along with it

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Speaker 1: while flipping through Instagram and Facebook will come out. So

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Speaker 1: we can have uh a somewhat censored version, or we

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Speaker 1: can get like the Eddie Murphy raw uh raw type

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Speaker 1: addition to share your story. Okay, I want Eddie Murphy.

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Speaker 1: I want Eddie Murphy, so so share a mark. Alright,

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Speaker 1: So um, we'll talk about my North Dakota public land

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Speaker 1: hunt maybe after your outcome. But I do need to

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Speaker 1: talk a little bit because on the last episode of

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Speaker 1: the podcast, I shared an announcement, but you and I

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Speaker 1: have not talked about this yet because I'm waiting to

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Speaker 1: talk about it an air. So as maybe you saw

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Speaker 1: on social media, we dropped a new project here that

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Speaker 1: I'm working on with media in which we bought a farm. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and I haven't got to tell you about this because

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Speaker 1: we've been keeping a pretty hush hush and working on

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Speaker 1: this thing behind the scenes. But all of the bullshit

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Speaker 1: I've been doing this summer when I was talking about

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Speaker 1: being frustrated, this thing is not working. This thing is

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Speaker 1: not working this is breaking, this is failing. It was

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Speaker 1: mostly all happening on this new place that we are

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Speaker 1: trying to trying to use like a showcase for private

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Speaker 1: land conservation and small land management and stuff like that,

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Speaker 1: and it's been kind of a disaster. But I haven't

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Speaker 1: been able to fully share that with you and and

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Speaker 1: articulate why it's even more stressful. So so now it's

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Speaker 1: this huge weight off my shoulders that you know, we

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Speaker 1: have this sixty four acres of land here in Michigan

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Speaker 1: that we are trying to turn to a cool little

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Speaker 1: hunting property. But we are also trying to use as

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Speaker 1: like a as an education tool or almost even like

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Speaker 1: an inspiration tool to show like, hey, we can do

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Speaker 1: some really cool things for the local area, for the

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Speaker 1: local wildlife, for the water and the soil. There's a

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Speaker 1: lot more you can do than just try to shoot

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Speaker 1: boone and cracker bucks on it. Um. So it's like

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Speaker 1: an exciting project that I'm excited for and and it's

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Speaker 1: been fun. But man, there have already been some epic

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Speaker 1: fail stories Dan that I haven't got to fully flesh out.

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Speaker 1: So it's just it's exciting that it's out there, and um,

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Speaker 1: there's gonna be much more to come on that front.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna have to You're gonna have to if ever

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Speaker 1: you decide to fulfill and act. What's the word to

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Speaker 1: to to God, I'm having a brain fart here. If

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Speaker 1: you ever decided to come to Michigan like you promised

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Speaker 1: you would, you're gonna have to come and check this

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Speaker 1: place out. Okay, I will. It's uh, it's maybe not

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Speaker 1: gonna impress you from a buck standpoint. Um, up to

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Speaker 1: this point, Dan, I still I don't know if there's

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Speaker 1: gonna be anything like serious for me to ut out there.

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Speaker 1: It's not. It's not looking good right now. So if

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Speaker 1: I have to knock on a door to get permission

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Speaker 1: to that piece, is that you? Or is that Ronella? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: You know, go knock on Ronilla's door? Um, yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: it's gonna be a challenge. I thought. You know, I

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Speaker 1: looked at a whole lot of things when we are

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Speaker 1: going through this process of trying to find this property

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Speaker 1: and trying to find the right little piece that would

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Speaker 1: you know, both be a great hunting property but then

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Speaker 1: also have the potential to experiment with a lot of

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Speaker 1: these things. Um, and I think it has that but

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Speaker 1: right now on the deer side, like we are struggling.

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Speaker 1: I don't have anything decent on trail camera yet. Um. Now,

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Speaker 1: to be fair, we've been out there filming stuff like

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Speaker 1: a ton, so that has not helped them. Sure, But

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Speaker 1: moral of the story is hunting season opens and like

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Speaker 1: a week and a half or something like that, and

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Speaker 1: it's little unnerving. I don't know what we're gonna have there,

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Speaker 1: So it might be a real slow Michigan season for

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Speaker 1: me if if half of my hunts or whatever are

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Speaker 1: are out there and if it's not improving, well, you

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Speaker 1: had the guys from Landing Legacy on right. Those guys

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Speaker 1: are some hardcore habitat experts. I'm going to say. Now,

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Speaker 1: one thing from following along on their podcast that you

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Speaker 1: learn is that this there's no overnight solution to increasing

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Speaker 1: like quality deer on your property overnight, and this is

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Speaker 1: this is something that takes potentially years to accomplish. It's

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Speaker 1: definitely a long term project, that's for sure. And UM,

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Speaker 1: and I really like their philosophy on land management in

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Speaker 1: general and the definitely taking a lot of things that

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Speaker 1: they talk about into account as we're thinking through this.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think they're one of the few resources

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Speaker 1: out there these days in the deer hunting world that

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Speaker 1: they're doing a really nice job of looking at this holistically,

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Speaker 1: you know, not just big bucks there. I love the

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Speaker 1: fact they talk about pollinators and they talk about native ecosystems,

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Speaker 1: and they talk about everything upland birds, dear, the whole,

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Speaker 1: the whole gambit. So, um, so I might even try

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Speaker 1: to I haven't asked them this, but I might try

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Speaker 1: to see a thing come out and take a look

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Speaker 1: at the property someday and share the thoughts and knock

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Speaker 1: out some some cool content while we're at it too.

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Speaker 1: So they'll they seem to be a good fit for

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Speaker 1: what we're trying to trying to achieve here. Absolutely smart,

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Speaker 1: smart guys. Yeah, so that's that's the farm news. Um,

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Speaker 1: you can win a hunt. You want to win a

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Speaker 1: hunt to come on with me? So I was I

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Speaker 1: was thinking about this, you know, like you guys were

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Speaker 1: talking about, Hey, you could win a hunt with Mark

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Speaker 1: kennyon and just do you Ronella or whatever, And I'm

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Speaker 1: just like, um, like, been there done? How bad does

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Speaker 1: your hunting situation have to be in order to apply

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Speaker 1: for this hunt? When you just admitted that there's hardly

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Speaker 1: any deer were shooting on this part. It's hey, that

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Speaker 1: hunt's gonna happen next season, so it's gonna be really

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Speaker 1: good bye then, yes, so yeah, it's all about you know,

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Speaker 1: if if we got this thing and it was loaded

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Speaker 1: with big box rough out the gate, then where do

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Speaker 1: we have to go from there? Right right, there's there's

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Speaker 1: no story if that's the case. So I would just

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Speaker 1: want to win the hunt so I could see you

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Speaker 1: in person again. And how like you're slowly becoming a

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Speaker 1: man every time I see a picture. Every time I

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Speaker 1: see a picture of you, your goatee just looks better

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Speaker 1: and better and better. Well, you know, I just keep

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Speaker 1: on rubbing rog gain and pixie dust on it every

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Speaker 1: morning when I wake up, so better be amen. Uh yeah,

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Speaker 1: So so that's that's my Michigan private land stuff. Still

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Speaker 1: knocking out a bunch of public land stuff this year,

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Speaker 1: and I know you are too. So let's let's get

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Speaker 1: into our hunt breakdown. I guess, of sorts, we'll start

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Speaker 1: with our two hunts. We'll move on to the other guys.

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Speaker 1: You had big Colorado elk hunt You've been talking about

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Speaker 1: all year, You've been dreaming about all year, been working

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Speaker 1: your tail off leading up to it all year. Um,

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Speaker 1: before we hear the step by step play by play

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Speaker 1: of it, Just what is your what like when you

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Speaker 1: get back, When you got back from the trip and

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Speaker 1: your wife was like, well, how did it go? Like

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Speaker 1: what was your initial like vomit of how you were

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Speaker 1: feeling about this thing? Yeah? Man, I'll tell you what.

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Speaker 1: You go into every one of these trips knowing that

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Speaker 1: the odds are stacked against you. Right in that particular unit.

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Speaker 1: I think the success rate on and this this is

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Speaker 1: a whole that is guns and archery combined and public

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Speaker 1: and private combined, the average is in eleven percent success rate. Now,

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Speaker 1: if I had to guess where we were hunting, you

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Speaker 1: cut that success rate in half and I would put

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Speaker 1: it at about five of a success rate based off

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Speaker 1: the terrain we were hunting, the the the part of

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Speaker 1: the unit that we were hunting, and just all the

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Speaker 1: combination things. Uh, the odds are just waste act against us. Right.

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Speaker 1: So you look at something like that and based off

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Speaker 1: statistics and odds, which I'm you know, I'm a numbers

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Speaker 1: kind of guy. You you almost come to the realization

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Speaker 1: that based off those stats you're not going to kill

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Speaker 1: an elk for you know, you're gonna kill one elk

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Speaker 1: every ten years, right, and so at that point it

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Speaker 1: kind of just the statistics alone take a load off

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Speaker 1: your shoulders and you can enjoy the experience a little

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Speaker 1: bit more. And yes, you're focused on going out and

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Speaker 1: trying to kill an elk, but at the same time,

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Speaker 1: you're you're you're working hard, but you kind of you

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Speaker 1: kind of understand that you know it's it's probably not

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Speaker 1: gonna happen, but regardless, you work hard. So what does

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Speaker 1: that mean? That? That means that when I got home,

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Speaker 1: my wife said, how is your trip? Um? I said,

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Speaker 1: it was tough, but I had fun. That's that's what

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Speaker 1: I That's what I said. Okay, that that that is

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Speaker 1: a good way to wrap a hunt. If you can

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Speaker 1: have that attitude at the end of an outcome, that's

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Speaker 1: that's that's pretty good. If you're gonna come home without

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Speaker 1: killing something, that's about the best you could ask for.

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Speaker 1: I love like, I love going hiking, and someday my

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Speaker 1: goal is to like hike some fourteen ers out in Colorado.

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Speaker 1: But so we did a lot of hiking on this trip,

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Speaker 1: and we got to experience some really cool things like

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Speaker 1: these views at eleven thousand five feet eleven thousand, I

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Speaker 1: think the highest we got one day was eleven six right,

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Speaker 1: and the elk were still above us. Yeah, so we

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Speaker 1: were we were up pretty high. And when you get

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Speaker 1: that high, you can see a long waist off some

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Speaker 1: of these um off some of these mountains, and just

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Speaker 1: sitting there eating your snack or your lunch what looking

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Speaker 1: at these views, you just kind of forget about what

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Speaker 1: you're actually there to do, and you're just you just

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Speaker 1: become this sponge of energy. I don't know. This is

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Speaker 1: kind of some hippie talk, but I love it when

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Speaker 1: you get hippie. Yeah, I know, but but like you

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Speaker 1: just all the stress in life just kind of goes away.

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Speaker 1: You don't even realize what you're doing anymore. You're just

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Speaker 1: kind of staring off your You're you're able to the vision.

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Speaker 1: You have just become so much more crisp and you

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Speaker 1: can see the details in nature as opposed to you know,

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Speaker 1: right now, I'm doing this podcast. Later on, I gotta

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Speaker 1: do some work. I look out my window, I see

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Speaker 1: a tree. But when you're up there and you get

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Speaker 1: the time to slow down and observe. You don't just

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Speaker 1: see a tree. You see the leaves, you see the branches,

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Speaker 1: you see the bark, you see the bird that's living

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Speaker 1: in it, you see the grass that's growing up around it.

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Speaker 1: You you see the whole picture, but in much more detail. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and and then and then another thing that I know

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Speaker 1: you and I have talked about this in the past

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Speaker 1: when recounting other adventures. But another thing I like about

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Speaker 1: that kind of landscape when you get up into a

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Speaker 1: big wild place like that, especially when you get up high,

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Speaker 1: is you really realize how small you are, Like the Sale,

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Speaker 1: the scale of everything is just so vast when you

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Speaker 1: can see miles and miles and miles and miles and

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Speaker 1: and you're just this tiny, little insignificant dot in a

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Speaker 1: massive ball of life and rock and dirt and trees,

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Speaker 1: and that is that's a huge That's a I don't know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's a special thing to experience. So I absolutely

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Speaker 1: know what you're talking about up there. And then people

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Speaker 1: some people really like the feeling of being big and

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Speaker 1: in charge and and having power. Like for me, I

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Speaker 1: almost enjoy the opposite feeling when what unprofessional I forgot

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Speaker 1: to rookie move but anyway, like just feeling like you're nothing,

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Speaker 1: I get off. I get off on that. Man, I

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Speaker 1: don't know, it's something amazing. And I gotta believe that

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Speaker 1: not only does a big mountain landscape make you feel powerless,

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Speaker 1: but probably elk in general do too, as they often

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Speaker 1: don't follow our plans, right, right, is that the story

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Speaker 1: of what happened on this hunt? Did that just not

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Speaker 1: turn out the way that you guys had seen in

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Speaker 1: previous years. So last year, every day was cold enough

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Speaker 1: to where we would come in and it was it

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Speaker 1: rained a little bit more throughout the hunt. So last year, um,

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Speaker 1: we were cold and we were wet, so we'd come in,

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Speaker 1: we dry our clothes, we'd start a fire, we'd warm up.

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Speaker 1: This year, we didn't even need a fire, right, It

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Speaker 1: wasn't it wasn't cold there. It rained once a day maybe, um,

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Speaker 1: while we were out, but then you know, by the

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Speaker 1: time we got back to the cabin, we uh, you know,

336
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Speaker 1: it was hot. It was warm throughout the day. We'd

337
00:18:57,119 --> 00:18:59,639
Speaker 1: go out and we'd do an evening hunt and you know,

338
00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:05,600
Speaker 1: just warm. So I think, what what happened? And I'll

339
00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:08,119
Speaker 1: walk through the first day here of the hunt and

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Speaker 1: then the rest of the you know, four or five

341
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Speaker 1: days is kind of just one big giant day. So

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Speaker 1: I'll we wake up the first day of the hunt.

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Speaker 1: You know you're excited, right, I had all this energy.

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Speaker 1: I'm just like, oh man, we're gonna hear a bugle today.

345
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Speaker 1: It's gonna be awesome. Me, my buddy Ryan, and my

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Speaker 1: new friend John uh walk out of the cabin walk

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Speaker 1: you know, we're we're We started at about ten to Okay,

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Speaker 1: can I ask you one thing before you wrap this

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Speaker 1: or before you get going to the first day? How

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Speaker 1: long had Ryan been hunting before this? Yeah? Right, So

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Speaker 1: he'd been hunting a whole week and he wasn't in

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Speaker 1: a cabin. He was in a tent, right. And was

353
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Speaker 1: he hunting the same area or a different area? Um?

354
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Speaker 1: He was. He wasn't hunting the exact same area, but

355
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Speaker 1: he was hunting. I would say, you know that there's

356
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Speaker 1: a million acres of public land in this area. It's huge.

357
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Speaker 1: So he was hunting about two miles west of where

358
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Speaker 1: we're at on day on my day one different yeah,

359
00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:08,280
Speaker 1: different elk. He had an encounter him and a guy

360
00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:12,800
Speaker 1: shot the same elk, but like they never found it. Yeah,

361
00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:17,280
Speaker 1: which yeah, which sucks. So um, they had a couple

362
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Speaker 1: encounters for two days, but then they experienced the same

363
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:24,280
Speaker 1: thing that I'm about to talk about, right, But but anyway,

364
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Speaker 1: so day one, right, get out of the cabin. Um

365
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Speaker 1: this year, we waited just a little bit longer. We

366
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Speaker 1: weren't tromping through this deadfall in pitch black dark with

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Speaker 1: our head lamps right we were. Um, we waited a

368
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Speaker 1: little bit for a little bit of light just so

369
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Speaker 1: it was easier maneuvering, and I think that really helped

370
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Speaker 1: us get to our place faster. Right, So it's almost

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Speaker 1: like we arrived at the same time that we would

372
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Speaker 1: have last year, because last year it took us longer.

373
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Speaker 1: But this year, because of we had more light, we

374
00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:56,720
Speaker 1: were able to navigate this. So we dropped down to

375
00:20:56,800 --> 00:21:02,080
Speaker 1: about ten thousand into a creek. We walk up this

376
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Speaker 1: creek about three quarters of a mile maybe a mile,

377
00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:09,120
Speaker 1: and then we get out of the creek. So we're

378
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,399
Speaker 1: talking about from the time we leave the cabin to

379
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Speaker 1: the time we get out of the creek is about

380
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Speaker 1: an hour. Then we have to climb up a real

381
00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:21,679
Speaker 1: big bench, so it's almost like straight up, just probably

382
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,360
Speaker 1: a hundred feet straight up just to get to the

383
00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:28,840
Speaker 1: place where we can start calling these these benches and

384
00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:32,239
Speaker 1: and these avalanche shoots and these meadows that are up

385
00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:36,639
Speaker 1: there where they typically hang out. So we set up

386
00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:40,840
Speaker 1: just kind of a fact, My buddy Ryan had a

387
00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:44,840
Speaker 1: watch and on this watch a calculated calorie loss calories

388
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:49,000
Speaker 1: burned based off heart rate, and so every day that

389
00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:51,720
Speaker 1: we walk there, you know, you're forcing yourself to eat breakfast,

390
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:54,720
Speaker 1: so you have some start to the day. You're burning

391
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:58,960
Speaker 1: five d seven hundred calories just on the hike up

392
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:04,000
Speaker 1: two where we start calling. And so that just kind

393
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,480
Speaker 1: of of an idea of the terrain and how brutal

394
00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:10,159
Speaker 1: some of these hikes can be, just to just to

395
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:15,399
Speaker 1: start hunting. So we get in position, we make a

396
00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:19,399
Speaker 1: couple of calls, nothing answers. Um, we're starting off with

397
00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:24,439
Speaker 1: some very light cow calling. We start off with maybe

398
00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:27,000
Speaker 1: one bugle, and then we work our way a little

399
00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:29,919
Speaker 1: closer to the meadow. We set up and boom, we

400
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:34,240
Speaker 1: hear a bugle. A bull, a bull bugling probably about

401
00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:38,359
Speaker 1: three yards away from us. So we're like, what we

402
00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:40,800
Speaker 1: learned last year was you go straight to them, you

403
00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,880
Speaker 1: set up, you get in their face, and that's kind

404
00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:47,800
Speaker 1: of how we found success last year and how Ryan

405
00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:49,919
Speaker 1: and John had success earlier in the week. Right, you

406
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,439
Speaker 1: get up into where they're at and you make it

407
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:56,719
Speaker 1: feel like there's another bull encroaching on their territory and

408
00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:58,800
Speaker 1: this is what's this is what's worked for us. Right,

409
00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:03,560
Speaker 1: So we move in slowly, bugle again. He bugles back,

410
00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,160
Speaker 1: he starts to chuckle, and he's going back and forth

411
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:10,320
Speaker 1: with us. We get close and then we're probably a

412
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:15,879
Speaker 1: hundred yards too yards set up away from this bowl,

413
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,919
Speaker 1: but he's straight up onto another bench that's above us,

414
00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:25,200
Speaker 1: probably fet above us, right, So he's got the advantage.

415
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:27,439
Speaker 1: We have the wind, but he's got the advantage as

416
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:31,639
Speaker 1: far as terrain. Right, it's still the morning and the

417
00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,080
Speaker 1: the wind, the thermals are coming down out of the

418
00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:37,440
Speaker 1: off the mountain, and I get a chance to look

419
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:39,959
Speaker 1: at him, and this is the biggest bowl that I

420
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:44,439
Speaker 1: have ever seen. I'm not gonna say like on TV,

421
00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:48,000
Speaker 1: but he was giant. I would put him and I'm

422
00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:52,520
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about Elk, but I'm just comparing

423
00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:54,920
Speaker 1: him to what my buddy Adam shot a couple of

424
00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:58,760
Speaker 1: years ago, and his bowl was three twelve. You could

425
00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:02,199
Speaker 1: have set that ball inside of this bull's rack. So

426
00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:05,399
Speaker 1: we're talking about like I'm gonna say, somewhere around a

427
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:09,560
Speaker 1: three fifty class bowl, which is gigantic. He had big

428
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:13,119
Speaker 1: whale tails. His body is what was so impressive to me.

429
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:18,679
Speaker 1: He had that typical two tone elk look right where

430
00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:21,320
Speaker 1: like the front of him is this dark brown and

431
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:23,800
Speaker 1: then the back end of him is kind of this

432
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:29,640
Speaker 1: lighter tannish color. Right, just an absolutely gorgeous animal. Uh.

433
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,160
Speaker 1: He turned sideways and his his beams just go all

434
00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:36,000
Speaker 1: the way back, all the way back to his hind legs.

435
00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:40,639
Speaker 1: I mean, just this very impressive bull. And he starts

436
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:44,719
Speaker 1: going crazy, right, He's just bugling and chuckling, and and

437
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:47,520
Speaker 1: then we're working in on him. We set up and

438
00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:49,640
Speaker 1: we think like there was a period of time where

439
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 1: I thought he was coming down right towards me, so

440
00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,120
Speaker 1: I was getting fired up, and then all of a sudden,

441
00:24:56,480 --> 00:25:00,359
Speaker 1: he just shuts off, and so we're like, so we

442
00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:04,520
Speaker 1: wait there probably another thirty minutes just to kind of observe.

443
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,200
Speaker 1: These guys. Come back over to where I'm at because

444
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:12,560
Speaker 1: I was flanking hard to the right and we see

445
00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,240
Speaker 1: this meadow and I said, okay, if me and the

446
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:17,880
Speaker 1: guys started talking, Okay, well, here he is, let's follow

447
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,119
Speaker 1: the terrain. Let's try to get above him before the

448
00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:22,160
Speaker 1: wind switches, because it was a bright and sunny day

449
00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:25,320
Speaker 1: and um, you know, we we needed to get above

450
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,360
Speaker 1: him before the wind switch so then we could call

451
00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,040
Speaker 1: back down and work our way down to him. So

452
00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:33,960
Speaker 1: we come out of this little thicket and we're now

453
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:36,359
Speaker 1: at the bottom of this avalanche shoot. It's like a

454
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:40,399
Speaker 1: meadow slash avalanche shoot from this past year. Huge avalanches

455
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:44,040
Speaker 1: were all over there because of the snow, and so

456
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,199
Speaker 1: we start working our way up, winds blowing right in

457
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:48,960
Speaker 1: her face, working our way up, and I look up

458
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,640
Speaker 1: into a shoot and there's another bowl, a smaller one,

459
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,679
Speaker 1: but I feel like these guys were all kind of

460
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,680
Speaker 1: in the same gang, and not too far from where

461
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:04,360
Speaker 1: we saw the big dog. So we we're climbing up

462
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:06,359
Speaker 1: look at him and I said, okay, we gotta go

463
00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 1: in case he sees us. He's probably yards away. But

464
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:18,560
Speaker 1: but straight up this this smaller avalanche shoot with a

465
00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:21,040
Speaker 1: whole bunch of grass that they could eat, and some

466
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,560
Speaker 1: pine trees were well, long story short, they're betting up

467
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:28,239
Speaker 1: in there. So we flank around. We go up this

468
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,919
Speaker 1: this another shoot that paralleled it. We start calling a

469
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,719
Speaker 1: little bit nothing, nothing, nothing, And so we work our

470
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,440
Speaker 1: way back down. And as we're working our way back down,

471
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:42,879
Speaker 1: we see three, three or four cows pop out of

472
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,840
Speaker 1: that original shoot that we were that we saw this

473
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,800
Speaker 1: bull in and they run out. So I'm thinking to myself,

474
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:53,119
Speaker 1: maybe the bull went out first because while we were

475
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:56,800
Speaker 1: climbing we couldn't see him, or maybe he's still up

476
00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:01,920
Speaker 1: there but left the opposite way. So we climbed back down.

477
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:05,520
Speaker 1: We I think we we had we stopped for a

478
00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:09,159
Speaker 1: snack at about like eleven three or eleven four, you know,

479
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:14,159
Speaker 1: really high up there, and come back down and we're like, okay,

480
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,480
Speaker 1: well when this wind switches and starts going up, uh,

481
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:19,879
Speaker 1: we'll just we'll just sit here and we'll glass and

482
00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:24,240
Speaker 1: maybe they'll they'll work their way through. Well, this is now,

483
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:29,480
Speaker 1: this now becomes the story of the entire entire week. Right.

484
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:35,639
Speaker 1: We had this is a a north facing slope of

485
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,040
Speaker 1: the mountain Range. Okay, so we're on the we're on

486
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:40,880
Speaker 1: the north facing slope. We had a north front come

487
00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 1: coming in that week, so the wind was predominantly out

488
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:48,760
Speaker 1: of the north, which was fighting the down wind thermals

489
00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:53,080
Speaker 1: in the morning. So I'm sitting there, we're glassing, and

490
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:57,480
Speaker 1: I'm watching this piece of fuzz come off this drainage.

491
00:27:57,520 --> 00:27:59,440
Speaker 1: It must have been a tree that had like little

492
00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,600
Speaker 1: seeds on it or something, and it just comes floating

493
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:08,760
Speaker 1: all the way down the mountain and connects at the

494
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,000
Speaker 1: bottom of this drainage that we were in to the

495
00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:13,720
Speaker 1: shoots that we're going up to where the elk were.

496
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:17,400
Speaker 1: And I watched this. I watched this piece of fuzz

497
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:19,719
Speaker 1: float all the way down to where these shoots and

498
00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 1: then it takes a hard right and go straight up

499
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:26,600
Speaker 1: that shoot. So I turned around to the two guys

500
00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:28,639
Speaker 1: that we were with, I go, hey, guys, I just

501
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:32,560
Speaker 1: watched this. These elk, no we're here, and they're not responding.

502
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:34,959
Speaker 1: They caught our scent. They're either gone or they're just

503
00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,440
Speaker 1: done right. They're not gonna respond to it, especially when

504
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:42,400
Speaker 1: they're getting a huge nose full of us. So the

505
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:44,880
Speaker 1: reason that they were there is because they could just

506
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 1: smell everything in the area. I mean, the wind was

507
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:51,520
Speaker 1: just going crazy, and to be honest, that was the

508
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:58,680
Speaker 1: story of the entire hunt. Right we were fighting shifting winds,

509
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,280
Speaker 1: the thermals were consistent last year, the thermals were up,

510
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:06,080
Speaker 1: they were coming down. At ten thirty, ten o'clock, they

511
00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:08,240
Speaker 1: would switch and go straight up. And that is the

512
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:12,040
Speaker 1: That's what it did every single day this year. Well,

513
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:14,760
Speaker 1: there's one morning it was still somewhat dark out, the

514
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:17,960
Speaker 1: wind was coming down off the mountain. I'm I'm gonna

515
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 1: go sit out of wallow or climb up so I

516
00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,280
Speaker 1: could glass this bottom of this meadow. But at about

517
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:26,600
Speaker 1: seven o'clock the wind shifted and started coming back up

518
00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 1: because the prevailing wind was pushing those thermals, the downward

519
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:37,480
Speaker 1: downward thermals away, and so you couldn't even you couldn't

520
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:39,920
Speaker 1: fight it. You couldn't. You couldn't fight these winds because

521
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 1: it was just like a pendulum, just whoop up and

522
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:45,800
Speaker 1: down all day, up and down. There was no consistent

523
00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 1: wind all day long, and it's hard to set up

524
00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:51,320
Speaker 1: on an elk or try to get into a calling

525
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:56,360
Speaker 1: sequence um when you know when you're fighting that. And

526
00:29:56,520 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 1: there was a full moon that week too, so it's

527
00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:06,120
Speaker 1: almost like the the odds were stacked against us. Inconsistent winds,

528
00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:11,000
Speaker 1: hot weather, and a full moon. Just it just seemed

529
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:16,040
Speaker 1: like they were quiet. The quiet and very high, so

530
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:22,160
Speaker 1: they got your wind after that encounter, And what happened

531
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,480
Speaker 1: the rest of the trip though, did you ever see

532
00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:27,320
Speaker 1: out here him again? Nope. We didn't see another elk.

533
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:31,320
Speaker 1: We didn't hear another elk. Um. We we found some

534
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 1: fresh sign, we found some good bed like good betting areas,

535
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:38,800
Speaker 1: um in some different meadows. We hiked up to different

536
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:43,320
Speaker 1: parts of the mountain, you know, searching this this vast

537
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:50,080
Speaker 1: expanse of uh Land and they were quiet. Um. My

538
00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:53,480
Speaker 1: buddy Adam and his brother uh they peeled off a

539
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:56,560
Speaker 1: different day and they had an encounter with three uh,

540
00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:59,040
Speaker 1: five by five or six by fives, I can't remember.

541
00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:01,640
Speaker 1: Three or six by sixes came out of this one

542
00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:06,720
Speaker 1: little thicket and a guy drew on them. But I

543
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:08,920
Speaker 1: think that was more of hey, we got we happened

544
00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:11,760
Speaker 1: to just get straight lucky on being here. They came

545
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:14,320
Speaker 1: in dead quiet, there was no bugling or anything. And

546
00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:17,160
Speaker 1: that was an evening hunt. So they saw some bowls

547
00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:22,320
Speaker 1: but didn't get an opportunity on them. And I mean,

548
00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:24,480
Speaker 1: I wish I had some more. I mean I saw

549
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,200
Speaker 1: two bear dens. That was kind of cool. Didn't see

550
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:30,360
Speaker 1: a bear, but saw two bear dens. Um, I saw

551
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:36,680
Speaker 1: these gigantic avalanche paths that where the avalanche broke away

552
00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:41,160
Speaker 1: from the mountain, it just flattened like hundreds of acres

553
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:45,600
Speaker 1: of trees. Um. But as far as the hunt was concerned,

554
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:47,960
Speaker 1: it just became a hiking expedition at that point. You know.

555
00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:50,440
Speaker 1: So did you have like a plan B. Did you

556
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:54,600
Speaker 1: have like a another area you considered moving to, or

557
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:56,720
Speaker 1: or was it like this is our spot and we

558
00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:01,120
Speaker 1: gotta I don't know, was there any alters? Yeah, we moved,

559
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:03,640
Speaker 1: I mean we moved around. We went to that place

560
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:07,120
Speaker 1: two miles west. We went to different, you know, two

561
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:12,680
Speaker 1: different drainages within that big so like there's there's one

562
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:16,400
Speaker 1: big drainage and off these drainage there's several small drainages.

563
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 1: So we worked all those right, and then we would

564
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:21,480
Speaker 1: head west and we would go high and then we

565
00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:25,120
Speaker 1: would work some lows. But so I had guys hitting

566
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:28,480
Speaker 1: me up on Instagram and they're just like, man, we're

567
00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:30,520
Speaker 1: out in the same unit as you are, and there

568
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:35,719
Speaker 1: is nothing happening, like nothing, So it's very hard to

569
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:39,480
Speaker 1: call in number one in this this dark timber deadfall.

570
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:42,360
Speaker 1: You can get in there and you can try to

571
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:48,080
Speaker 1: sit and quietly call him in, But you can't call

572
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:50,640
Speaker 1: him in if this wind is swirling all the time.

573
00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:54,120
Speaker 1: There there's no way that you can set up on

574
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,280
Speaker 1: an animal like that that relies on its nose for

575
00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:01,960
Speaker 1: survival when the wind is one minute blowing towards them,

576
00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,240
Speaker 1: one minute blowing away, and then it's left and then

577
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:09,520
Speaker 1: it's right. It was just it was nasty. Yeah, that's frustrating.

578
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:15,280
Speaker 1: Was there was there anything then, like in your post mortem,

579
00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:18,719
Speaker 1: like when you're hunt ended, you're driving home and you're like,

580
00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:20,840
Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure you're like me, and you're stewing

581
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:22,560
Speaker 1: on it to some degree. At some point in that

582
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:25,640
Speaker 1: drive you were thinking there, what happened? Was there anything

583
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:27,480
Speaker 1: that you look back on, or like, man, I wish

584
00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,000
Speaker 1: I did this differently, or I wish I hadn't done that,

585
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:32,320
Speaker 1: or like, was there a mistake or something you could

586
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:34,200
Speaker 1: point to that you would have changed if you could.

587
00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:39,800
Speaker 1: You know, not really, And I'll tell you why. It's

588
00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:44,200
Speaker 1: because this wind. You know, of all the things that

589
00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:47,560
Speaker 1: you can control, I could control my physical fitness, I

590
00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:50,280
Speaker 1: can control where I hike and how far I hike

591
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:55,760
Speaker 1: in but I cannot control the wind. And when the

592
00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:58,880
Speaker 1: wind is like you're just at the mercy of nature

593
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:03,160
Speaker 1: at that point, right, I feel like I prepared good

594
00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:05,920
Speaker 1: for this hunt. We we did everything we could to

595
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:08,759
Speaker 1: put ourselves in position. I mean we were dropping out

596
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:13,080
Speaker 1: of one drainage, going over peaks, and I think the

597
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:17,920
Speaker 1: highest we got was probably eleven five or six maybe

598
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:22,000
Speaker 1: one day where we dropped down into this creek went

599
00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:25,040
Speaker 1: almost straight up the other way. I mean, if people

600
00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:27,320
Speaker 1: want to go look at the pictures on my Instagram

601
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:30,879
Speaker 1: page to see how steep of terrain we were we

602
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:32,640
Speaker 1: were at. I mean we were damn near to tree

603
00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:38,239
Speaker 1: line some days and just and I'm telling you the

604
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:41,560
Speaker 1: hiking was brutal. But we did everything that I feel

605
00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:45,120
Speaker 1: we could to put ourselves in position. But when that

606
00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:49,000
Speaker 1: end position where you're calling is just swirling with wind

607
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:51,680
Speaker 1: and they're not responding, I mean we weren't even hearing

608
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:58,080
Speaker 1: bugles several miles away. So yeah, that's that's not only

609
00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:02,400
Speaker 1: is that just hard to hunt coming from knowing that experience,

610
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:05,319
Speaker 1: it's also just very disheartening because a big part of

611
00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:08,040
Speaker 1: what you dream about and look forward to when you're

612
00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:10,280
Speaker 1: thinking about an elk hunt. Tell me if you're different,

613
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:12,120
Speaker 1: but for me, like so much of what you're excited

614
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:14,239
Speaker 1: about is to hear the bugle, Like that's the thing,

615
00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:16,160
Speaker 1: is to like be out there in the woods and

616
00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:18,719
Speaker 1: hear these bugles and be chasing them down. And when

617
00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:21,320
Speaker 1: that's not happening, and when it's just a quiet hiking trip,

618
00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:24,759
Speaker 1: just because the expectations are so off that itself can

619
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:28,279
Speaker 1: like kind of put a real damper on things. Um like,

620
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:30,480
Speaker 1: dang it, I really wish they were talking. Why aren't

621
00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:32,880
Speaker 1: they talking? God was neither one? Like, I'm sure that

622
00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:35,480
Speaker 1: was popping in your head like it does too. Yeah, yeah,

623
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:38,600
Speaker 1: I mean if we heard one bugle at least that

624
00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:42,120
Speaker 1: would allow us to go out and think of a

625
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:45,359
Speaker 1: strategy to try to, you know, intercept that bowl. But

626
00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:47,839
Speaker 1: we didn't tell I tell you, I take it back.

627
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:49,640
Speaker 1: There is one thing that I wish I would have

628
00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:51,960
Speaker 1: done different, and that was that first encounter on that

629
00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,480
Speaker 1: first day. We knew where this elk was for about

630
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:59,080
Speaker 1: thirty minutes, right, we had this this thirty minute exchange

631
00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:03,920
Speaker 1: with him. I didn't do it because I didn't want

632
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,719
Speaker 1: to screw up the other two guys that were in

633
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,839
Speaker 1: my group. But if I wish I would have just

634
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:13,560
Speaker 1: flanked even harder and went up the mountain and cut

635
00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:17,160
Speaker 1: cut off, cut him off silent, and then let those

636
00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:19,920
Speaker 1: guys continue to call. And maybe he would have went

637
00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:22,120
Speaker 1: down to them, or maybe he would have done what

638
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:25,600
Speaker 1: he did and went somewhere else, But at least I

639
00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:28,200
Speaker 1: would have been up at his same level to where

640
00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:30,080
Speaker 1: maybe I could have got a shot at him, or

641
00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:33,160
Speaker 1: I could have did like a soft cow call and

642
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:38,080
Speaker 1: change his mind to come maybe back to my direction. Right,

643
00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:41,480
Speaker 1: so put him in the middle of us. And I

644
00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:44,520
Speaker 1: didn't do that because I didn't wanna. I couldn't communicate

645
00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:47,720
Speaker 1: with the other guys because I was probably seventy yards

646
00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:50,759
Speaker 1: away from where they're at eight yards away, and I

647
00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 1: didn't want to. Um, I don't know blow an opportunity

648
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:56,880
Speaker 1: that these guys have been working at real hard all

649
00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:00,719
Speaker 1: week as well. So uh, if I would that ever

650
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:03,880
Speaker 1: happened again, I probably would have just snuck in to

651
00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:08,080
Speaker 1: his level and maybe tried to backdoor him while he's

652
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:12,239
Speaker 1: focused on their calling. But at the same time, there

653
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:14,719
Speaker 1: was another bowl up there, There was another cow up there.

654
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:18,840
Speaker 1: So what I've learned is you have to be aggressive,

655
00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:21,960
Speaker 1: but aggressive can bite you if you're not, if you

656
00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:24,759
Speaker 1: if you're a little bit too aggressive. Yeah, I mean

657
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:26,800
Speaker 1: it's just like white tail hunting, right, Like there's a

658
00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:30,560
Speaker 1: there's a fine line in between being aggressive and being

659
00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:33,080
Speaker 1: too passive, and you need to know how to strike

660
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:35,040
Speaker 1: that balancing act and when to push it one way

661
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:37,919
Speaker 1: or the other. And I'm sure that's something and I've

662
00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:40,720
Speaker 1: I've experienced it too when it comes to elk hunting.

663
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:43,000
Speaker 1: You that that whole balancing act is something you have

664
00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:47,880
Speaker 1: to relearn when moving from white tail's elk, right, And

665
00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:51,399
Speaker 1: that's the thing, I mean, you can't glass. I picked

666
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:54,440
Speaker 1: up my binoculars two times in in five days. That

667
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:58,120
Speaker 1: was it. Just so it's so thick, it's it's dead,

668
00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:02,000
Speaker 1: it's it's dark, timber, dead, all with a couple of shoots,

669
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:05,000
Speaker 1: and you don't necessarily I wasn't looking to pick out

670
00:38:05,120 --> 00:38:08,680
Speaker 1: a specific bowl. I was gonna shoot any legal elk,

671
00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:13,319
Speaker 1: cow calf. You know a bowl that had I think

672
00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:16,440
Speaker 1: it's a four by four or it's a four by

673
00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:21,719
Speaker 1: four or it had like eight inch brows, right, so

674
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:23,480
Speaker 1: it could have been a spike with eight inch brows.

675
00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:27,800
Speaker 1: Those are illegal animal. I was gonna shoot the first

676
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:32,920
Speaker 1: legal animal that stepped out and never got never got that,

677
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:39,320
Speaker 1: do you feel like you're physical prep was on point,

678
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,919
Speaker 1: you know, I think it was. Um, I was still

679
00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:45,799
Speaker 1: the caboose out of the trip, out of the out

680
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:49,279
Speaker 1: of the group. Right, every train needs a caboose, right.

681
00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:51,160
Speaker 1: I was a couple of steps. I mean, these guys

682
00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:55,240
Speaker 1: were out here to uh you know, six days before

683
00:38:55,239 --> 00:38:57,600
Speaker 1: I even showed up, So they had already been acclimated.

684
00:38:57,640 --> 00:38:59,640
Speaker 1: They'd already you know, they're getting used to it. They're

685
00:38:59,719 --> 00:39:03,160
Speaker 1: they're legs or um. You know. For for me, it

686
00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:06,600
Speaker 1: was the first three days, three and a half days,

687
00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:10,759
Speaker 1: my legs were toast. But then day five hit and

688
00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:13,320
Speaker 1: it's just the last day of the hunt. I felt

689
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:15,839
Speaker 1: like a mountain goat. I felt really good climbing up

690
00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:18,920
Speaker 1: and down the mountains. Uh. I was recovering quickly. My

691
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:24,959
Speaker 1: legs weren't tired. But uh, you know that altitude still

692
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:28,080
Speaker 1: gets you, right, and uh, I didn't get I didn't.

693
00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:32,360
Speaker 1: I was recovering quickly. It's just you can't beat the mountain.

694
00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:34,399
Speaker 1: You can't beat the mountain man. You can't beat the

695
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:39,080
Speaker 1: air at that at that elevation. Yeah. Yeah, that's uh,

696
00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:41,759
Speaker 1: that is always a big challenge every time you take

697
00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:44,640
Speaker 1: on a hunt like that. But I think the cool

698
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:49,360
Speaker 1: thing about this was I don't know how you act,

699
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,320
Speaker 1: but you get nervous almost before this. Hunt's like driving

700
00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:54,439
Speaker 1: out there, I was nervous. I was just like, oh man,

701
00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:57,560
Speaker 1: this is gonna suck. This is gonna this is gonna suck.

702
00:39:57,719 --> 00:39:59,800
Speaker 1: It's on my legs are gonna be toast. I'm gonna

703
00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:02,520
Speaker 1: be breathing heavy. But what that did mentally to me

704
00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:08,799
Speaker 1: was it was preparing my body for the worst possible conditions.

705
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,400
Speaker 1: So when I actually got out there, it still sucked,

706
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:13,879
Speaker 1: but it it sucked less compared to what my mind

707
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:16,680
Speaker 1: was telling my body was going to happen to it right.

708
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:21,279
Speaker 1: So but but overall, man, like I said, I can't

709
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,759
Speaker 1: complain because I don't get to see those views. I

710
00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:27,799
Speaker 1: don't get to experience that every single year or every day.

711
00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:31,759
Speaker 1: And I was happy with what happened. I got to

712
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:34,400
Speaker 1: see some good friends, I got to, you know, go

713
00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:36,560
Speaker 1: hike in the mountain. I got to chase elk and

714
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:38,560
Speaker 1: I got to at least here a couple of bugles

715
00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:42,400
Speaker 1: here some chuckles. The only thing that this has me

716
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:48,399
Speaker 1: thinking about is I'm not to the point where I'm

717
00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:54,319
Speaker 1: only after a a bull. I'm after an elk. So

718
00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:58,920
Speaker 1: this terrain that we're hunting at is brutal. It's I

719
00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:01,480
Speaker 1: mean it is. It's thick. When you're when you're having

720
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:06,040
Speaker 1: to climb over three or four tree stacked on top

721
00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:08,839
Speaker 1: of each other type of dead fall, and you're doing

722
00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:11,040
Speaker 1: that while trying to hike, I mean, it is. It's

723
00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:13,759
Speaker 1: not it's not cool, it's it sucks. So it has

724
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:18,440
Speaker 1: me thinking about if I put this same amount of

725
00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:22,000
Speaker 1: energy in in a different unit or a different state,

726
00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:27,880
Speaker 1: or a different area or whatever, will that increase my

727
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:30,319
Speaker 1: odds of getting an elk? Like maybe a little bit

728
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:33,640
Speaker 1: less terrain, but I put in the same amount of energy,

729
00:41:33,840 --> 00:41:36,279
Speaker 1: will it? Will it? I don't know. It has me

730
00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:39,840
Speaker 1: thinking about things like maybe this area in this unit

731
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:42,480
Speaker 1: isn't the best unit I need to be in right now,

732
00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:46,960
Speaker 1: because yeah, there's some big bulls out there, but I

733
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:49,520
Speaker 1: don't care about the big bulls. I want to kill

734
00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:54,799
Speaker 1: an elk. And when an elk is already feet above

735
00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:57,600
Speaker 1: you every morning, I got no problem hiking that. But

736
00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:02,040
Speaker 1: then when you're hiking over deadfall and you're you know,

737
00:42:02,239 --> 00:42:05,680
Speaker 1: it's just like every step you take to get higher

738
00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:08,640
Speaker 1: puts them at it an advantage because it's almost like

739
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:11,920
Speaker 1: they know you're coming. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe we

740
00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:14,239
Speaker 1: need to return to our old spot in uh in

741
00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:17,359
Speaker 1: Idaho where there was there were elk the terrain. I mean,

742
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:20,440
Speaker 1: it's challenging in a different way, but at least I'm

743
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:22,799
Speaker 1: assuming based on what you're talking about Colorado comparing that

744
00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:26,960
Speaker 1: to this one. Um, I don't know. I've been, I've been.

745
00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:29,080
Speaker 1: I've been thinking that same question though. It's like, Okay,

746
00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:30,799
Speaker 1: I want to elkhoun again. Do I go back to

747
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:33,839
Speaker 1: the old faithful spot or do I keep exploring new

748
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:37,720
Speaker 1: areas and trying to find something that that's better. Um,

749
00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:40,239
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know. The answer is now

750
00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:43,320
Speaker 1: you you uh, you talked about going Eddie Murphy. You

751
00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:46,760
Speaker 1: haven't gone Eddie Murphy. You see you seem so calm

752
00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:50,480
Speaker 1: and placid and a piece with how your hunt went. Uh,

753
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:53,920
Speaker 1: where's the rage? What are you angry about? Did you

754
00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:57,279
Speaker 1: come down? This is? This is? This is you know

755
00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:01,279
Speaker 1: we all have kind of hip side of us, right,

756
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:03,480
Speaker 1: we also we all kind of have this little asshole

757
00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:07,359
Speaker 1: side of us, right. I mean maybe you don't. Yeah,

758
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:11,840
Speaker 1: I know, I know I do. I'm like so and

759
00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:14,400
Speaker 1: I know you get people get bone envy, right, you

760
00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:18,319
Speaker 1: get envy. You're flipping through Instagram. You're you're looking at

761
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:22,080
Speaker 1: the success other people have had, and I'm I don't

762
00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:27,640
Speaker 1: know who who I'm following or not necessarily, but you know, I'm, Oh,

763
00:43:27,680 --> 00:43:30,720
Speaker 1: my god, this guy slammed a giant bowl. That's awesome.

764
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:33,000
Speaker 1: And then I'm I'm I start to read the story

765
00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:36,839
Speaker 1: right of the text in the Instagram post, I'm like, oh,

766
00:43:36,920 --> 00:43:40,520
Speaker 1: this bowl, you know, huge shout out to this outfitter

767
00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:44,800
Speaker 1: or this guy's service, and I'm just like, I busted

768
00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:49,960
Speaker 1: my fucking balls physically and mentally for five straight days

769
00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:53,719
Speaker 1: and didn't I saw I had the closest in elk

770
00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:59,680
Speaker 1: was to me was seventy eight yards, right, And so

771
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:02,279
Speaker 1: the asshole part of means like, well, I'm gonna I'm

772
00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:07,480
Speaker 1: gonna justify to myself why I didn't get this done,

773
00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:10,239
Speaker 1: you know, like I don't know, just just just being

774
00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:13,560
Speaker 1: a creep, I guess. So I go to the outfitter

775
00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:17,279
Speaker 1: that I go to their website and I see that

776
00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:19,839
Speaker 1: this these people killed an elk and they also killed

777
00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:22,319
Speaker 1: a mule deer while they're out there, right, I think

778
00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:25,480
Speaker 1: they might have taken away two mule deer actually, and

779
00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:30,520
Speaker 1: so a mule deer hunt cost like thirteen or fourteen

780
00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:33,600
Speaker 1: thousand dollars and elk hunt was more like seventeen or

781
00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:37,799
Speaker 1: eighteen thousand dollars. So just for those two people to

782
00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:40,280
Speaker 1: harvest this buck, and I don't know what their business

783
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:45,080
Speaker 1: dealings were, but it would have cost me or anybody

784
00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:47,279
Speaker 1: listening to go to that outfit ter. It would have

785
00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:51,399
Speaker 1: cost them thirty thousand dollars to kill one mule deer

786
00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:54,440
Speaker 1: and one elk or not even kill, but just go

787
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:59,319
Speaker 1: on that hunt thirty thousand dollars. And you know the

788
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:01,960
Speaker 1: people that do do that, that go on that. Now,

789
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:04,000
Speaker 1: I don't want to say those people because I don't

790
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:07,799
Speaker 1: want to generalize too much, but it's reasonable to think, like,

791
00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:10,879
Speaker 1: if TV personality goes and does that kind of hunt,

792
00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:14,960
Speaker 1: they're probably also the TV personality that's booked seven more

793
00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:17,520
Speaker 1: hunts like that across the rest of the country for

794
00:45:17,600 --> 00:45:21,120
Speaker 1: other stuff too. So imagine that time seven right, right.

795
00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:25,160
Speaker 1: So now you're looking at right and I'm sure they

796
00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:28,080
Speaker 1: flex their their popularity muscle, right and they say, well,

797
00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:30,600
Speaker 1: hey man, this will do this. Will you give me

798
00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:35,719
Speaker 1: these hunts and I'll promote your your company wherever I

799
00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:39,000
Speaker 1: go this year or whatever. Right, so maybe they get

800
00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:42,839
Speaker 1: an additional you know, some selections because of what they do.

801
00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:45,200
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what we do, right, So that's where

802
00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:48,960
Speaker 1: I become a hypocrite, is um, I don't know, I

803
00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:54,280
Speaker 1: just it's it really, it's really hard for me to

804
00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:58,839
Speaker 1: congratulate someone when yeah, they probably still had to get

805
00:45:58,840 --> 00:46:01,200
Speaker 1: out of a truck and walk to this. But it's

806
00:46:01,239 --> 00:46:05,160
Speaker 1: like it's everything set up. They have people watching these

807
00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:08,359
Speaker 1: elk all year round. They have people watching these mudle there.

808
00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:11,399
Speaker 1: They already knew when these people came into camp where

809
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:13,600
Speaker 1: they were going to go, what animal they were going

810
00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:18,120
Speaker 1: to go target. And um, again, this is me just

811
00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:20,879
Speaker 1: being a prick, you know, bitch and bitching about this.

812
00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:24,880
Speaker 1: But uh so whenever I see a guy on public

813
00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:27,920
Speaker 1: land who gets it done just like what I was doing,

814
00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:31,600
Speaker 1: kudos to them, man, because they're I know, they're grinding

815
00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:35,759
Speaker 1: just like I'm grinding. And uh, you know, if you're

816
00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:38,279
Speaker 1: you know, an East Coast guy or you actually live

817
00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:43,040
Speaker 1: out west, I don't know. It's just I I lose

818
00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:47,239
Speaker 1: any type of interest. You know, it's about experience and

819
00:46:47,239 --> 00:46:50,520
Speaker 1: it's about the story. So as soon as I hear

820
00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:56,919
Speaker 1: that that in their story that we had to use

821
00:46:57,560 --> 00:47:03,240
Speaker 1: this service then, and I and it cost it would

822
00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:07,600
Speaker 1: cost me this much money to have to go experience

823
00:47:07,640 --> 00:47:10,520
Speaker 1: what they experienced. I lose interest in it. And I say,

824
00:47:10,560 --> 00:47:13,680
Speaker 1: I can't relate to that. And I just I don't

825
00:47:13,719 --> 00:47:18,680
Speaker 1: even care anymore. Yeah, man, And and I will just

826
00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:24,279
Speaker 1: add without even commenting or critiquing what the other people

827
00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:26,920
Speaker 1: that you know choosing to do that, it just to

828
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:30,000
Speaker 1: me seems like it wouldn't be it wouldn't be the

829
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:33,040
Speaker 1: experience that it wouldn't be the same experience. The experience

830
00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:35,960
Speaker 1: that you had even without killing bull, I would argue,

831
00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:40,800
Speaker 1: is a richer, more fulfilling experience even than those folks

832
00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:43,879
Speaker 1: that did shoot one right now, not I don't want

833
00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:47,719
Speaker 1: to you know, this isn't a blanket statement, but um,

834
00:47:48,120 --> 00:47:50,239
Speaker 1: keep on. I'm always gonna want to just keep on

835
00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:52,279
Speaker 1: grinding doing it on your own, because I think when

836
00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:54,960
Speaker 1: it does, every once in a while come together, it's

837
00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:59,680
Speaker 1: just that much more powerful. Right. And here's where it

838
00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:03,600
Speaker 1: because him like you start to walk this gray line

839
00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:06,120
Speaker 1: at some point because I hunt public land or I

840
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:09,919
Speaker 1: hunt private ground in Iowa. But I'm knock on the door,

841
00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:13,760
Speaker 1: I get permission. Right now, if I go out west

842
00:48:14,480 --> 00:48:17,600
Speaker 1: and I get permission on a piece of property, Let's say,

843
00:48:17,719 --> 00:48:20,719
Speaker 1: do I become a hypocrite at that point because you know,

844
00:48:20,800 --> 00:48:24,200
Speaker 1: I'm not not necessarily paying for a guide service, or

845
00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:27,560
Speaker 1: I'm not necessarily paying for something. Let's say I pay

846
00:48:27,600 --> 00:48:29,560
Speaker 1: a trust pass fee because a lot of places out

847
00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:31,320
Speaker 1: west say, yeah, you can hunt my property, but you

848
00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:35,040
Speaker 1: gotta pay me a trust passing fee to to go

849
00:48:35,080 --> 00:48:37,080
Speaker 1: out there. I don't care what you shoot, but you're

850
00:48:37,080 --> 00:48:39,120
Speaker 1: gonna pay to be on my property. Is that the

851
00:48:39,160 --> 00:48:43,120
Speaker 1: same thing or is it different? You know, I don't know.

852
00:48:43,200 --> 00:48:44,879
Speaker 1: I don't even think we need to like be trying

853
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:47,920
Speaker 1: to like rank order. What's the most way, you know,

854
00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:50,960
Speaker 1: like who are my brain? But I would say, like

855
00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:54,000
Speaker 1: I at least for what I'm interested in, I'm always

856
00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:56,000
Speaker 1: going to I don't care if it's public or private,

857
00:48:56,120 --> 00:49:00,440
Speaker 1: if it's if it's whatever. But I'm all always going

858
00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:02,919
Speaker 1: to just want to do it myself. Like I don't

859
00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:04,799
Speaker 1: care where it is. I just want to be the

860
00:49:04,840 --> 00:49:07,440
Speaker 1: person doing it. I just don't like the idea of

861
00:49:07,520 --> 00:49:09,600
Speaker 1: someone else tell me, oh, you gotta hunt here, or

862
00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:11,880
Speaker 1: I put the stand here, hunt this, or we know

863
00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:14,360
Speaker 1: the bucks here, go there. I just want to figure

864
00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:17,200
Speaker 1: it out myself. That's for me. That's what I get

865
00:49:17,239 --> 00:49:20,000
Speaker 1: the enjoyment out of, and I get the fulfillment after

866
00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:23,480
Speaker 1: having completed a hunt, whether it's successful or not. I

867
00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:26,239
Speaker 1: just want to do it. I want to struggle through it.

868
00:49:26,600 --> 00:49:30,160
Speaker 1: I wanted to be a challenge. I wanted to that

869
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:33,480
Speaker 1: is the experience that I don't know for me, it's

870
00:49:33,560 --> 00:49:37,360
Speaker 1: just you need that struggle and like that work to

871
00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:41,279
Speaker 1: make it a real experience. Right. And the more I

872
00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:44,160
Speaker 1: get into this style of hunting, right because this I

873
00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:47,640
Speaker 1: got this South Dakota muliteer hunt coming up, the less

874
00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:52,239
Speaker 1: I give a ship about any type of antlers, any

875
00:49:52,280 --> 00:49:55,319
Speaker 1: type of antlers. I don't know. I I think that

876
00:49:55,360 --> 00:49:58,960
Speaker 1: the hunting community as a whole has been brainwashed over

877
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:03,520
Speaker 1: the years to think that in some way, shape or form,

878
00:50:03,680 --> 00:50:08,040
Speaker 1: antler size matters in some for some reason. Don't get

879
00:50:08,080 --> 00:50:11,319
Speaker 1: me wrong, Mark, I'll be the first to admit I

880
00:50:11,360 --> 00:50:16,040
Speaker 1: like big bucks, like big ailer bucks. They're rare. But

881
00:50:16,080 --> 00:50:18,800
Speaker 1: at the same time, I don't give a ship about

882
00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:21,680
Speaker 1: a score. I don't give a ship about you know,

883
00:50:21,880 --> 00:50:24,160
Speaker 1: like if a if a guy goes out and he

884
00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:28,319
Speaker 1: kills a spike buck. Dude, kudos to that guy who

885
00:50:28,360 --> 00:50:31,560
Speaker 1: went out and harvested the meat off that animal. He

886
00:50:31,600 --> 00:50:34,759
Speaker 1: went out, he had fun. It's just I don't know, man,

887
00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:37,000
Speaker 1: I just see it every day now. It's like the

888
00:50:37,040 --> 00:50:40,440
Speaker 1: more I get into the Instagram and the more I

889
00:50:40,480 --> 00:50:44,759
Speaker 1: get into the business of the hunting industry, it's just

890
00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:51,960
Speaker 1: it's almost like it's poison here. You I so much more,

891
00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:54,960
Speaker 1: at least for myself. It's it's coming down to like

892
00:50:55,000 --> 00:50:57,959
Speaker 1: the experience I want and so are you having fun

893
00:50:58,040 --> 00:51:00,799
Speaker 1: or not? Yeah? Like are you having fun? Like setting goals?

894
00:51:00,840 --> 00:51:03,640
Speaker 1: I love having goals, so you know, like here on

895
00:51:03,680 --> 00:51:06,120
Speaker 1: a Michigan property, I'm hunting. You know, my goal is

896
00:51:06,160 --> 00:51:08,000
Speaker 1: I'd like to wait out for an older buck, but

897
00:51:08,239 --> 00:51:10,279
Speaker 1: I'm looking at age. I really want to shoot a

898
00:51:10,280 --> 00:51:12,400
Speaker 1: four year old. Like that's the challenge and the experience

899
00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:13,920
Speaker 1: I'm pushing for. But then I'm gonna go up to

900
00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:17,960
Speaker 1: Minnesota on a public land canoe and hunt and I'll

901
00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:20,120
Speaker 1: shoot a spike or whatever is legal, Like i will

902
00:51:20,120 --> 00:51:22,880
Speaker 1: shoot the first legal deer I see up there because

903
00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:25,920
Speaker 1: I'm looking for an experience up there that you know,

904
00:51:25,960 --> 00:51:28,600
Speaker 1: it's very different from the experience I could get in Michigan,

905
00:51:28,600 --> 00:51:30,520
Speaker 1: which is very different than experience if I had drawn

906
00:51:30,560 --> 00:51:33,080
Speaker 1: Iowa tag next year. You know, maybe I'll be super

907
00:51:33,080 --> 00:51:34,600
Speaker 1: picky next year an now, because it's the one time

908
00:51:34,600 --> 00:51:36,480
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hunt Iowa in five years and I want

909
00:51:36,520 --> 00:51:42,480
Speaker 1: to extend and fully you know, experience that. So I

910
00:51:42,840 --> 00:51:45,399
Speaker 1: think we get too hung up. But I'm right there

911
00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:48,799
Speaker 1: with you, Like I'm just as guilty as sometimes. You know,

912
00:51:48,880 --> 00:51:50,680
Speaker 1: you see a big buck and you get excited about it.

913
00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:52,640
Speaker 1: I mean we can talk about that here in a minute.

914
00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:56,279
Speaker 1: Like my North Dakota hunt, I very much saw a

915
00:51:56,360 --> 00:51:58,800
Speaker 1: big buck and got my heart set on it and

916
00:51:59,080 --> 00:52:00,840
Speaker 1: you know, made a this aasion that maybe it was

917
00:52:00,880 --> 00:52:05,640
Speaker 1: a mistake because of that. Yeah. Um, So I don't

918
00:52:05,640 --> 00:52:09,000
Speaker 1: think there's anything wrong to like, like you said, like appreciate,

919
00:52:09,520 --> 00:52:12,560
Speaker 1: get excited about have fun looking at and chasing them

920
00:52:12,680 --> 00:52:15,560
Speaker 1: and dreaming about big bucks. But it's I mean, we've

921
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:18,359
Speaker 1: for years on the podcast, we've talked about this. It's

922
00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:20,359
Speaker 1: just like you can't let it go too far, right,

923
00:52:20,440 --> 00:52:24,400
Speaker 1: you can't let that become a poison. Yeah. I have

924
00:52:24,560 --> 00:52:27,440
Speaker 1: one last thing to say about this Colorado trip, tell me,

925
00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:31,759
Speaker 1: and it is I got to experience this with my

926
00:52:31,880 --> 00:52:37,520
Speaker 1: dad and he we drove. When I told him about

927
00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:39,120
Speaker 1: this Colorado trip and that we were staying in the

928
00:52:39,239 --> 00:52:41,640
Speaker 1: cabin and all this stuff, he goes, may mind if

929
00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:45,480
Speaker 1: I tag along? He's retired, and I said absolutely, So

930
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:48,000
Speaker 1: he drove out with me. We shared the responsibilities of

931
00:52:48,080 --> 00:52:52,279
Speaker 1: driving out right. We um just get to experience this

932
00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:55,320
Speaker 1: crazy hail storm coming out of Denver where it sounded

933
00:52:55,360 --> 00:52:58,360
Speaker 1: like his truck was getting shot at. The hail was

934
00:52:58,440 --> 00:53:00,680
Speaker 1: like the size of all you know, a little bit

935
00:53:00,719 --> 00:53:02,359
Speaker 1: smaller than a golf ball, a little bit bigger than

936
00:53:02,360 --> 00:53:05,879
Speaker 1: a marble. He came and he stayed at camp for

937
00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:09,359
Speaker 1: two days, uh, two nights, and he was the camp

938
00:53:09,440 --> 00:53:12,880
Speaker 1: cook for the group of guys that was there. Yeah.

939
00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:15,840
Speaker 1: He then he got to go do some experience some

940
00:53:15,920 --> 00:53:17,799
Speaker 1: things that he hadn't done in his life. While I

941
00:53:17,880 --> 00:53:20,640
Speaker 1: was hunting, he went to maceon Verde and checked out

942
00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:23,960
Speaker 1: the cliff dwellings down there from the ancient Native American

943
00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:27,200
Speaker 1: civilization that was down there. Um. He went to Arches

944
00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:31,120
Speaker 1: National Park and he got to see the you know,

945
00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:35,600
Speaker 1: the stone configurations there, and then you know, he got

946
00:53:35,600 --> 00:53:37,719
Speaker 1: to go meet a high school buddy that he hadn't

947
00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:40,840
Speaker 1: seen in a while on on the way back to Nebraska.

948
00:53:41,239 --> 00:53:45,760
Speaker 1: So and just experiencing this with him, and my dad's

949
00:53:45,800 --> 00:53:49,120
Speaker 1: not necessarily he's not a hunter or he's an outdoors

950
00:53:49,120 --> 00:53:52,760
Speaker 1: but he loves to camp and hike and stuff. But

951
00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:56,720
Speaker 1: I don't know, I just I I loved that part

952
00:53:56,880 --> 00:53:59,680
Speaker 1: of the trip more than just about anything else. That

953
00:53:59,840 --> 00:54:01,960
Speaker 1: is really really cool. To be able to share that

954
00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:06,320
Speaker 1: with him. It's awesome. Yea. Yeah, So let's talk about

955
00:54:06,320 --> 00:54:13,000
Speaker 1: you now, buddy, about North Dakota. Yeah, further right, No, solo,

956
00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:17,719
Speaker 1: further solo, solo, Yeah, solo. So drove out at the

957
00:54:17,800 --> 00:54:20,760
Speaker 1: end of August, solo. It's about a two day trip

958
00:54:20,800 --> 00:54:25,080
Speaker 1: out there. It's like nineteen or so hours, um. And

959
00:54:25,120 --> 00:54:26,799
Speaker 1: so I left in time to be able to get

960
00:54:26,840 --> 00:54:29,680
Speaker 1: there the night before the season opened to try to

961
00:54:29,680 --> 00:54:34,080
Speaker 1: do a little scouting. Yeah. So, I I had hunted,

962
00:54:34,480 --> 00:54:36,839
Speaker 1: sort of hunted this place once before. We talked about

963
00:54:36,920 --> 00:54:40,239
Speaker 1: last year, Like I showed up after Josh had been

964
00:54:40,239 --> 00:54:43,279
Speaker 1: there hunting for like four days, and I showed up

965
00:54:43,320 --> 00:54:46,000
Speaker 1: and scouted one night in one morning, and based off

966
00:54:46,040 --> 00:54:48,200
Speaker 1: what Josh had been seeing and what I saw during

967
00:54:48,239 --> 00:54:51,320
Speaker 1: that day of scouting, I decided we should pull the

968
00:54:51,360 --> 00:54:54,000
Speaker 1: plug and go somewhere else. So that's my only hunting experience.

969
00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:56,399
Speaker 1: Here's basically glassing a night in the morning and then

970
00:54:56,400 --> 00:54:59,800
Speaker 1: we spot. Yes, we shed hunted and scouted one spring.

971
00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:04,800
Speaker 1: So I came into this with a couple pockets picked

972
00:55:04,800 --> 00:55:08,600
Speaker 1: out that I thought would be worth exploring, and um,

973
00:55:08,400 --> 00:55:11,640
Speaker 1: I'm worth hunting, and I wanted to. You know, this

974
00:55:11,680 --> 00:55:13,120
Speaker 1: is an area you can get up high and you

975
00:55:13,160 --> 00:55:15,520
Speaker 1: can glass down on these river bottoms and you can

976
00:55:15,320 --> 00:55:16,960
Speaker 1: you can see a lot, or at least you think

977
00:55:16,960 --> 00:55:18,920
Speaker 1: you should be able to see a lot. So I

978
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:21,880
Speaker 1: got there the first night, went to the first pocket

979
00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:25,200
Speaker 1: I've hiked into this big bluff on top of bluff,

980
00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:27,680
Speaker 1: looked down into this bowl alongside of a river with

981
00:55:27,719 --> 00:55:29,959
Speaker 1: a bunch of cedars and cover in there. It looks great,

982
00:55:30,040 --> 00:55:32,279
Speaker 1: and I saw a decent number deer. I saw more

983
00:55:32,320 --> 00:55:34,560
Speaker 1: deer that night than I saw all of the scouting

984
00:55:34,680 --> 00:55:36,200
Speaker 1: that I had been out there the year before, so

985
00:55:36,239 --> 00:55:38,160
Speaker 1: I was feeling pretty good about it. I was excited,

986
00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:41,440
Speaker 1: but I didn't see like a mature buck. So for

987
00:55:41,480 --> 00:55:43,640
Speaker 1: the next morning, opening morning, I thought, all right, I'm

988
00:55:43,640 --> 00:55:45,720
Speaker 1: gonna move to another area, another one of the spots

989
00:55:45,760 --> 00:55:48,080
Speaker 1: I had picked out. I'll glass that in the morning,

990
00:55:48,200 --> 00:55:49,719
Speaker 1: just see if that's any better, and then i'll be

991
00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:52,680
Speaker 1: I'll know that I've seen these two areas, I can

992
00:55:52,719 --> 00:55:55,359
Speaker 1: pick whichever seems like more promising and then hunt opening night.

993
00:55:56,520 --> 00:55:59,960
Speaker 1: So the next morning, I'm up on a different bluff

994
00:56:00,200 --> 00:56:04,080
Speaker 1: several miles away from this original spot and seeing deer,

995
00:56:04,200 --> 00:56:06,279
Speaker 1: seeing deer, and then I don't know, like an hour

996
00:56:06,320 --> 00:56:10,239
Speaker 1: and a half, maybe after daylight, I spot like a

997
00:56:10,320 --> 00:56:13,600
Speaker 1: deer silhouetted in a strip of cottonwood trees, and I

998
00:56:13,680 --> 00:56:16,000
Speaker 1: zoom in with a spotting scope and I see it's

999
00:56:16,000 --> 00:56:18,120
Speaker 1: a good buck. Like it's a really good buck. Definite

1000
00:56:18,160 --> 00:56:24,000
Speaker 1: shooter um, definite mature buck, big tight, tall, ten pointer,

1001
00:56:24,640 --> 00:56:28,480
Speaker 1: still in full velvet um. I don't know, one forties,

1002
00:56:28,719 --> 00:56:33,040
Speaker 1: maybe high one forties. Awesome. I mean like just everything

1003
00:56:33,080 --> 00:56:37,560
Speaker 1: was like amazing public lam buck. Yeah, so I'm really excited.

1004
00:56:37,600 --> 00:56:39,879
Speaker 1: I watched him for I don't know, half hour. He's

1005
00:56:39,960 --> 00:56:42,520
Speaker 1: kind of milling around this little area and then walks

1006
00:56:42,560 --> 00:56:45,800
Speaker 1: off and beds down. So right away I'm like, okay,

1007
00:56:45,960 --> 00:56:48,000
Speaker 1: I this is this is where I'm hunting. I'm gonna

1008
00:56:48,040 --> 00:56:50,000
Speaker 1: try to kill that buck like I found a target.

1009
00:56:50,160 --> 00:56:53,160
Speaker 1: That's all I needed. And uh now it's just about

1010
00:56:53,160 --> 00:56:54,839
Speaker 1: playing this game, trying to get this buck. And I'm

1011
00:56:54,840 --> 00:56:57,440
Speaker 1: looking at Onyx though, and I see he has betted

1012
00:56:57,520 --> 00:57:01,120
Speaker 1: on private land. There is a it'll strip, a private

1013
00:57:01,160 --> 00:57:03,200
Speaker 1: that went into the middle of this public and his

1014
00:57:03,320 --> 00:57:05,880
Speaker 1: little tree line that he's better than just so happens

1015
00:57:05,920 --> 00:57:09,520
Speaker 1: to be in that strip of private public land butts

1016
00:57:09,600 --> 00:57:13,400
Speaker 1: up to like yards of him on either side. But

1017
00:57:13,520 --> 00:57:16,080
Speaker 1: there's like a hundred and fifty two yard wide strip

1018
00:57:16,120 --> 00:57:18,760
Speaker 1: that he's in that I can't hunt. So that's where

1019
00:57:18,760 --> 00:57:22,680
Speaker 1: I'm at the first evening. So that was the morning

1020
00:57:23,520 --> 00:57:27,160
Speaker 1: I'm you know, shot my bow, got all organized, got

1021
00:57:27,160 --> 00:57:29,480
Speaker 1: all cleaned up, got ready for that first evening hunt.

1022
00:57:30,280 --> 00:57:33,640
Speaker 1: Slipped down into the river bottom, trekked in through a river,

1023
00:57:33,680 --> 00:57:35,640
Speaker 1: across the river, follow the river for a way, is

1024
00:57:35,680 --> 00:57:37,880
Speaker 1: hopped up, and then just slowly worked my way. And

1025
00:57:37,880 --> 00:57:40,000
Speaker 1: my game plan was based off the wind. The wind

1026
00:57:40,040 --> 00:57:47,160
Speaker 1: was blowing from the betting area to the to the north.

1027
00:57:47,200 --> 00:57:50,919
Speaker 1: It was like a southerly wind. And I basically said, okay,

1028
00:57:50,920 --> 00:57:53,520
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna. Yeah, I can't get right on him,

1029
00:57:53,600 --> 00:57:55,360
Speaker 1: so I'm just gonna get as close as I possibly

1030
00:57:55,400 --> 00:57:57,480
Speaker 1: can with the wind being safe, and watch how he

1031
00:57:57,520 --> 00:58:00,320
Speaker 1: comes out of there, and then hopefully like, Okay, I'm

1032
00:58:00,320 --> 00:58:02,480
Speaker 1: gonna see how he comes out of there. I assumed

1033
00:58:02,520 --> 00:58:04,960
Speaker 1: he'd becoming the way he came from in the morning

1034
00:58:05,520 --> 00:58:07,480
Speaker 1: going that way, but I couldn't, like I couldn't get

1035
00:58:07,560 --> 00:58:10,080
Speaker 1: on the intersept path because of the private land, so

1036
00:58:10,520 --> 00:58:13,200
Speaker 1: I couldn't hunt him doing exactly what he did that morning.

1037
00:58:13,400 --> 00:58:15,760
Speaker 1: So I thought the best case scenarioly watch get a

1038
00:58:15,800 --> 00:58:18,800
Speaker 1: better idea of how he leaves here just in the morning.

1039
00:58:20,040 --> 00:58:22,280
Speaker 1: So I get set up, climb up into a tree

1040
00:58:22,360 --> 00:58:23,680
Speaker 1: that gets me as close as I think I can

1041
00:58:23,720 --> 00:58:26,000
Speaker 1: get without him seeing me. Because basically this is like

1042
00:58:26,080 --> 00:58:31,240
Speaker 1: relatively open grassy stuff with these little strips of cotton woods,

1043
00:58:31,520 --> 00:58:33,240
Speaker 1: and he was in one strip of cotton woods and

1044
00:58:33,240 --> 00:58:36,160
Speaker 1: I'm in then there's then an open grassy meadow and

1045
00:58:36,160 --> 00:58:37,880
Speaker 1: then another strip of cotton woods. So I got to

1046
00:58:37,960 --> 00:58:40,720
Speaker 1: that other strip of cotton woods. I didn't want to

1047
00:58:40,720 --> 00:58:42,520
Speaker 1: get to the very outside edge of it because I

1048
00:58:42,520 --> 00:58:45,000
Speaker 1: was afraid if he was just better there watching, he

1049
00:58:45,040 --> 00:58:47,520
Speaker 1: could see me. So I tried to keep just enough

1050
00:58:47,520 --> 00:58:49,760
Speaker 1: covering the way, and I actually almost crawled up to

1051
00:58:49,840 --> 00:58:53,280
Speaker 1: this tree, got up in the tree, and I'm up there,

1052
00:58:53,280 --> 00:58:56,400
Speaker 1: and I realized there's way more there's there's one set

1053
00:58:56,400 --> 00:58:57,880
Speaker 1: of trees in front of me, and I just could

1054
00:58:57,920 --> 00:59:00,640
Speaker 1: not see where he was betted well enough from there.

1055
00:59:00,760 --> 00:59:02,480
Speaker 1: I just I wouldn't be able to see right where

1056
00:59:02,520 --> 00:59:03,960
Speaker 1: here is better. I could see one side of it

1057
00:59:03,960 --> 00:59:05,800
Speaker 1: if he came out that way, but if he stood

1058
00:59:05,840 --> 00:59:07,840
Speaker 1: up and headed directly the opposite direction, I would never

1059
00:59:07,840 --> 00:59:10,440
Speaker 1: know it. So I'm all set, though I'm sitting up

1060
00:59:10,440 --> 00:59:12,440
Speaker 1: there them for five minutes, I'm like, oh my god,

1061
00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:14,240
Speaker 1: Like it really looked like it was gonna be a

1062
00:59:14,280 --> 00:59:18,560
Speaker 1: lot better than this, and it's not. It wasn't even.

1063
00:59:18,600 --> 00:59:21,560
Speaker 1: It was just like, I'm having a hard time remember

1064
00:59:21,680 --> 00:59:23,880
Speaker 1: exactly why I thought this about would work. But I

1065
00:59:23,920 --> 00:59:25,800
Speaker 1: think maybe I thought I could get higher, maybe to

1066
00:59:25,840 --> 00:59:27,560
Speaker 1: get above. Like there's one tree in front of a

1067
00:59:27,600 --> 00:59:30,200
Speaker 1: small shrubby tree that I thought i'd be able see

1068
00:59:30,240 --> 00:59:34,160
Speaker 1: through or passed. And it definitely wasn't too high, if anything,

1069
00:59:34,160 --> 00:59:36,200
Speaker 1: that was too low, and I didn't have enough another

1070
00:59:36,240 --> 00:59:39,160
Speaker 1: climbing stick. So for whatever reason, I just could not

1071
00:59:39,240 --> 00:59:41,680
Speaker 1: see this angle I need well enough. So after a

1072
00:59:41,720 --> 00:59:43,960
Speaker 1: couple of minutes, I decided, you know what, forget it.

1073
00:59:44,040 --> 00:59:46,080
Speaker 1: What's the point of being here if I can't see

1074
00:59:46,120 --> 00:59:49,640
Speaker 1: that spot. So I pulled everything down, got back on

1075
00:59:49,680 --> 00:59:51,320
Speaker 1: the ground, and was going to move up to one

1076
00:59:51,320 --> 00:59:52,840
Speaker 1: more tree. And then I realized, you know what, I

1077
00:59:52,840 --> 00:59:56,880
Speaker 1: can actually see best just right from the ground. Um,

1078
00:59:56,920 --> 00:59:58,720
Speaker 1: and all I really care about. I don't really think

1079
00:59:58,760 --> 01:00:00,680
Speaker 1: I'm gonna kill that buck here to I really just

1080
01:00:00,720 --> 01:00:03,040
Speaker 1: need to observe, like this is more scouting session with

1081
01:00:03,160 --> 01:00:05,640
Speaker 1: hopefully an opportunity. I got lucky, but really just gotta

1082
01:00:05,640 --> 01:00:08,360
Speaker 1: be seeing it. So I found a little knob of

1083
01:00:08,400 --> 01:00:10,800
Speaker 1: grass and some shrubs on either side, and I tucked

1084
01:00:10,840 --> 01:00:12,800
Speaker 1: myself into this tall grass with a shrub on either

1085
01:00:12,840 --> 01:00:15,240
Speaker 1: side and behind me, and just got hunkered down the ground.

1086
01:00:15,560 --> 01:00:18,200
Speaker 1: Great spot I could. I was able because there was

1087
01:00:18,280 --> 01:00:20,840
Speaker 1: this knob, I was shelt. I could crawl up to

1088
01:00:20,920 --> 01:00:23,400
Speaker 1: it from behind it, and if that buck was you know,

1089
01:00:23,440 --> 01:00:25,600
Speaker 1: eight yards away in front of me, he'd never see me.

1090
01:00:26,400 --> 01:00:28,320
Speaker 1: And then I could just stay right behind that knob.

1091
01:00:28,360 --> 01:00:31,360
Speaker 1: But I can slowly rise up and see everything. So

1092
01:00:31,400 --> 01:00:33,800
Speaker 1: that's my scenario. Wins great. I can see a great area.

1093
01:00:34,280 --> 01:00:37,360
Speaker 1: I know exactly where this buck was betted. UM and

1094
01:00:37,440 --> 01:00:39,800
Speaker 1: I set up for the evening, sat there, sat there,

1095
01:00:39,880 --> 01:00:44,520
Speaker 1: saw Dolan Phon come out and she leaves. If you imagine,

1096
01:00:44,560 --> 01:00:46,560
Speaker 1: like I've talked to these two strips of cotton words,

1097
01:00:46,600 --> 01:00:49,760
Speaker 1: there's a strip of trees that he's in, and then

1098
01:00:50,280 --> 01:00:53,000
Speaker 1: my strip of trees kind of meets at a V

1099
01:00:53,360 --> 01:00:55,360
Speaker 1: at the bottom. And in that v where those two

1100
01:00:55,400 --> 01:00:57,680
Speaker 1: strips of cotton woods come together is like a grove

1101
01:00:57,760 --> 01:01:01,160
Speaker 1: of aspen trees and shrubs and a real little thicket area.

1102
01:01:01,720 --> 01:01:04,000
Speaker 1: So these deer are all popping out of that. So

1103
01:01:04,120 --> 01:01:06,440
Speaker 1: don't A fond pops out of that, enters the meadow

1104
01:01:06,520 --> 01:01:09,640
Speaker 1: in between me and him, and runs across the meadow

1105
01:01:09,760 --> 01:01:11,720
Speaker 1: right at me, stops right in front of me, like

1106
01:01:11,800 --> 01:01:14,680
Speaker 1: thirty yards and then kind of feed on some kind

1107
01:01:14,720 --> 01:01:17,320
Speaker 1: of forbe that's in front of me about thirty yards.

1108
01:01:17,360 --> 01:01:19,200
Speaker 1: So Dolan Fond does that, and then a little buck

1109
01:01:19,240 --> 01:01:21,360
Speaker 1: does that, and then another small buck does I'm like,

1110
01:01:21,360 --> 01:01:23,840
Speaker 1: oh man, all these deer leaving this betting here and

1111
01:01:23,880 --> 01:01:27,960
Speaker 1: coming right to me. Um. And when I say, it

1112
01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:31,520
Speaker 1: was probably between thirty and forty yards away. Um. And

1113
01:01:31,560 --> 01:01:35,080
Speaker 1: then here comes a buck like running right at me,

1114
01:01:35,840 --> 01:01:40,600
Speaker 1: and I look at him. I'm thinking decent buck. And

1115
01:01:40,600 --> 01:01:42,800
Speaker 1: then I'm thinking, is it the big buck? And that's no,

1116
01:01:42,960 --> 01:01:45,320
Speaker 1: it's not. It's a small eight pointer. So then I,

1117
01:01:45,680 --> 01:01:48,280
Speaker 1: you know, I let myself down and it's okay. What's

1118
01:01:48,280 --> 01:01:50,520
Speaker 1: behind him? Is that big buck coming? Like this is?

1119
01:01:50,600 --> 01:01:52,640
Speaker 1: This has gotta be a big batchelor group. That's gotta

1120
01:01:52,680 --> 01:01:55,040
Speaker 1: be the guy. So this eight pointer runs in front

1121
01:01:55,040 --> 01:01:57,360
Speaker 1: of me, stops like thirty five yards, starts feeding. He's

1122
01:01:57,400 --> 01:02:01,240
Speaker 1: in really tall grass, like up to his head. Um.

1123
01:02:01,360 --> 01:02:03,200
Speaker 1: I can still see him, like I said, probably thirty

1124
01:02:03,280 --> 01:02:05,320
Speaker 1: five yards or so. But I'm just watching for the

1125
01:02:05,360 --> 01:02:07,520
Speaker 1: other ten point, not watching, watching, look at the eight.

1126
01:02:07,520 --> 01:02:09,800
Speaker 1: He's still there, watching for the ten, watching the ten.

1127
01:02:10,480 --> 01:02:14,800
Speaker 1: Look at the eighth. My god, that's not a bad buck. Um, Paul,

1128
01:02:14,840 --> 01:02:16,880
Speaker 1: I'm bin occulus. I'm looking at him, like jeez, he

1129
01:02:16,920 --> 01:02:20,200
Speaker 1: looks like he's probably three or four. Um. I turned

1130
01:02:20,200 --> 01:02:21,680
Speaker 1: back look for the ten, and I look back at

1131
01:02:21,680 --> 01:02:24,200
Speaker 1: the eight and like, man, I probably shoot that buck

1132
01:02:24,200 --> 01:02:25,800
Speaker 1: any other time. And I look back for the ten,

1133
01:02:25,880 --> 01:02:27,160
Speaker 1: and I look at the eight and like, should I

1134
01:02:27,160 --> 01:02:29,240
Speaker 1: try to shoot this buck? Like he's in range? If

1135
01:02:29,240 --> 01:02:31,520
Speaker 1: I stood up, it took a couple of steps around

1136
01:02:31,520 --> 01:02:34,880
Speaker 1: the shrub. I could probably get a shot at him, um,

1137
01:02:34,960 --> 01:02:38,800
Speaker 1: and then look back for the other buck. And then

1138
01:02:38,840 --> 01:02:40,160
Speaker 1: I just kind of saw, you know what, it's the

1139
01:02:40,240 --> 01:02:43,080
Speaker 1: very first night of the hunt. It's there's still like

1140
01:02:43,120 --> 01:02:45,160
Speaker 1: an hour and a half a day like left. I'm

1141
01:02:45,280 --> 01:02:47,560
Speaker 1: right here. This buck should be standing up any minute

1142
01:02:47,560 --> 01:02:50,480
Speaker 1: now and coming my way. Um, we're coming somewhere. Then

1143
01:02:50,480 --> 01:02:52,760
Speaker 1: I can adjust. So I decided not to try to

1144
01:02:52,760 --> 01:02:55,240
Speaker 1: shoot this nice eight point. He was a nice eight point,

1145
01:02:55,360 --> 01:02:58,240
Speaker 1: like really he'd be he'd be a good public lamb

1146
01:02:58,240 --> 01:03:00,800
Speaker 1: buck any other day shows not to try shoot them.

1147
01:03:01,720 --> 01:03:04,120
Speaker 1: Wait out the rest of the night. Another couple of

1148
01:03:04,160 --> 01:03:06,920
Speaker 1: hunters show up. Now they're above me, up on the hillside,

1149
01:03:06,960 --> 01:03:10,760
Speaker 1: but their glass in the same area I'm glassing, and uh.

1150
01:03:10,880 --> 01:03:13,600
Speaker 1: Then they disappearedly move off somewhere else. But there's another

1151
01:03:13,600 --> 01:03:15,640
Speaker 1: couple of hunters in the zone now, and I'm like, crap,

1152
01:03:15,640 --> 01:03:18,800
Speaker 1: are they gonna spook this buck? What's gonna happen? Fast forward,

1153
01:03:18,800 --> 01:03:21,720
Speaker 1: though I don't know what happened. The Big ten never

1154
01:03:21,760 --> 01:03:24,640
Speaker 1: showed up. The Big eight walked away, and I saw

1155
01:03:24,680 --> 01:03:27,000
Speaker 1: no other deer. And that was my first day of

1156
01:03:27,000 --> 01:03:28,400
Speaker 1: the hunt. I saw the Big ten in the morning,

1157
01:03:28,440 --> 01:03:31,400
Speaker 1: saw a nice eight in the evening. Uh passed on

1158
01:03:31,480 --> 01:03:36,760
Speaker 1: him now kind of like your hunt. The next four

1159
01:03:36,840 --> 01:03:40,240
Speaker 1: days all were kind of like one big day. From

1160
01:03:40,280 --> 01:03:45,520
Speaker 1: that point on, I was just bouncing as the wind changed.

1161
01:03:45,600 --> 01:03:48,120
Speaker 1: I would try to hunt around this zone where these

1162
01:03:48,120 --> 01:03:51,240
Speaker 1: two bucks came out of as wind would allow, and

1163
01:03:52,000 --> 01:03:55,240
Speaker 1: they just nothing. I never saw the good bucks again.

1164
01:03:55,320 --> 01:03:57,960
Speaker 1: I saw a couple of deer here and there, little bucks,

1165
01:03:58,000 --> 01:03:59,720
Speaker 1: you know, passed on little year and a half old,

1166
01:03:59,760 --> 01:04:03,080
Speaker 1: little two and a half year old, some does um,

1167
01:04:03,120 --> 01:04:05,240
Speaker 1: But never could see a decent buck again. After that

1168
01:04:05,280 --> 01:04:08,280
Speaker 1: point I was working a river inside great access. I

1169
01:04:08,280 --> 01:04:10,720
Speaker 1: would walk into the river and literally walk for an

1170
01:04:10,720 --> 01:04:13,520
Speaker 1: hour and a half following a riverbed in the water,

1171
01:04:13,720 --> 01:04:15,640
Speaker 1: and then just hop up a bank, climb into a

1172
01:04:15,680 --> 01:04:17,280
Speaker 1: tree right there. I mean I had a really good

1173
01:04:17,280 --> 01:04:20,160
Speaker 1: in and out um, a good wind like I don't

1174
01:04:20,200 --> 01:04:23,200
Speaker 1: think I was busting these deer and there was just

1175
01:04:23,200 --> 01:04:25,520
Speaker 1: just could not find him again. So I don't know

1176
01:04:26,400 --> 01:04:28,640
Speaker 1: if those other hunters were in there in this basin

1177
01:04:28,720 --> 01:04:32,200
Speaker 1: with me hunting too and had spooked the deer, if

1178
01:04:32,360 --> 01:04:34,640
Speaker 1: if they caught my scent, or if they had walked

1179
01:04:34,640 --> 01:04:36,920
Speaker 1: past me past war I've been walking and caught my

1180
01:04:37,160 --> 01:04:39,680
Speaker 1: caught my scent or what. I don't know, But the

1181
01:04:39,680 --> 01:04:41,440
Speaker 1: next couple of days I could not find him again.

1182
01:04:41,640 --> 01:04:44,480
Speaker 1: I in the mornings since I wasn't on them. I

1183
01:04:44,840 --> 01:04:48,640
Speaker 1: just glassed in the morning from observation spots, couldn't find them.

1184
01:04:49,240 --> 01:04:52,560
Speaker 1: I eventually on day four went over to a plan

1185
01:04:52,680 --> 01:04:56,280
Speaker 1: B went back to that other spot I scouted hunted there,

1186
01:04:56,600 --> 01:04:58,680
Speaker 1: found that there was another couple of guys camped out

1187
01:04:58,760 --> 01:05:01,040
Speaker 1: hunting that zone to one day. To get to that

1188
01:05:01,080 --> 01:05:04,560
Speaker 1: spot took me a two hour hike to get into it. Yeah,

1189
01:05:05,280 --> 01:05:07,160
Speaker 1: the longest hi I've ever taken. In It wasn't like

1190
01:05:07,280 --> 01:05:09,840
Speaker 1: distance as it wasn't two hours long as far as

1191
01:05:09,880 --> 01:05:12,600
Speaker 1: like it wasn't walking full speed for two hours, but

1192
01:05:12,720 --> 01:05:14,400
Speaker 1: it was the fact that you'd get into the river

1193
01:05:14,800 --> 01:05:17,720
Speaker 1: and I had to slowly wade through the river forever

1194
01:05:17,880 --> 01:05:20,680
Speaker 1: to try to get to the spot without spooking deer. Um.

1195
01:05:20,960 --> 01:05:23,560
Speaker 1: That was very demoralizing when I saw only one deer

1196
01:05:23,800 --> 01:05:28,800
Speaker 1: that whole night for like two seconds. Um. And so

1197
01:05:28,840 --> 01:05:32,640
Speaker 1: I moved, moved, pivoted around, you know, for five days

1198
01:05:32,760 --> 01:05:35,600
Speaker 1: and just could not find a single good deer again.

1199
01:05:35,680 --> 01:05:38,840
Speaker 1: Could not establish any kind of pattern like these deer

1200
01:05:39,280 --> 01:05:41,400
Speaker 1: it's it's much thicker than it looks from up high.

1201
01:05:41,440 --> 01:05:42,640
Speaker 1: From up high, it looks like, oh, it should be

1202
01:05:42,680 --> 01:05:44,600
Speaker 1: pretty open, But when you get down at ground level,

1203
01:05:45,000 --> 01:05:46,800
Speaker 1: the covers all the way up to the top of

1204
01:05:46,800 --> 01:05:50,520
Speaker 1: the deer's heads. In many cases, um, there's not a

1205
01:05:50,560 --> 01:05:54,360
Speaker 1: ton of deer. There's no established food source, just kind

1206
01:05:54,400 --> 01:05:56,960
Speaker 1: of betting everywhere. So like every deer I did see,

1207
01:05:57,440 --> 01:05:59,360
Speaker 1: you'd see it pop up and it would kind of

1208
01:05:59,600 --> 01:06:02,160
Speaker 1: miller round and then just move off in a random direction.

1209
01:06:02,240 --> 01:06:06,040
Speaker 1: There was never like an establishment. Okay, these deer betted

1210
01:06:06,080 --> 01:06:08,680
Speaker 1: in this little pocket, and they leave that pocket and

1211
01:06:08,680 --> 01:06:11,200
Speaker 1: they head west towards the food source. No, it was

1212
01:06:11,240 --> 01:06:13,520
Speaker 1: like one deer come out from the pocket and he'd

1213
01:06:13,520 --> 01:06:16,320
Speaker 1: head west. Then I'd see another deer pop out like

1214
01:06:16,480 --> 01:06:18,920
Speaker 1: behind me from some other random little patch of grass,

1215
01:06:18,920 --> 01:06:21,400
Speaker 1: and he'd head north. And then I'd see one other

1216
01:06:21,440 --> 01:06:24,560
Speaker 1: deer pop off from the river an hour later, and

1217
01:06:24,600 --> 01:06:27,439
Speaker 1: he'd head south. And that was the case for five days.

1218
01:06:27,440 --> 01:06:29,880
Speaker 1: You'd see like two dear day. They do different things,

1219
01:06:30,560 --> 01:06:33,080
Speaker 1: and they're just never ended up being something I could

1220
01:06:33,160 --> 01:06:35,840
Speaker 1: key in on. There was no pattern, there was no consistency.

1221
01:06:36,160 --> 01:06:38,240
Speaker 1: Wasn't like the herd had a pattern. It was almost

1222
01:06:38,280 --> 01:06:41,600
Speaker 1: like individual deer at that point had their own pattern. Yeah,

1223
01:06:41,680 --> 01:06:43,600
Speaker 1: and and it was there was just never anything I

1224
01:06:43,600 --> 01:06:45,600
Speaker 1: can latch onto and never say that one of those

1225
01:06:45,600 --> 01:06:48,440
Speaker 1: good bucks again. And so by the time it got

1226
01:06:48,520 --> 01:06:51,920
Speaker 1: to day five, it's been four days about seeing the

1227
01:06:51,960 --> 01:06:56,000
Speaker 1: decent buck um. I had one other plan c pocket

1228
01:06:56,120 --> 01:06:58,360
Speaker 1: that I thought I was gonna hunt, and there end

1229
01:06:58,480 --> 01:07:00,560
Speaker 1: up being other hunters there too. I saw truck driving

1230
01:07:00,560 --> 01:07:02,600
Speaker 1: in and out, So now I'm thinking, man, does it

1231
01:07:02,720 --> 01:07:04,960
Speaker 1: even make sense to try to even go fiddle around

1232
01:07:04,960 --> 01:07:10,680
Speaker 1: with that? And then checking with a wife here that

1233
01:07:10,840 --> 01:07:13,960
Speaker 1: Everett's sick and not feeling good, She's not getting work done,

1234
01:07:15,240 --> 01:07:17,360
Speaker 1: that's not going well, and I'm sitting here thinking, man,

1235
01:07:17,360 --> 01:07:19,640
Speaker 1: I have nothing to work with. My next plan for

1236
01:07:19,640 --> 01:07:21,640
Speaker 1: this next ton is I'm just gonna go in and

1237
01:07:21,680 --> 01:07:23,560
Speaker 1: like still hunt. I was thinking at this point maybe

1238
01:07:23,600 --> 01:07:25,600
Speaker 1: I should just walk around and try to bump something

1239
01:07:25,640 --> 01:07:28,720
Speaker 1: get lucky, or go to way completely different area, like

1240
01:07:28,760 --> 01:07:31,080
Speaker 1: pull up camp and drive an hour and go somewhere

1241
01:07:31,080 --> 01:07:33,880
Speaker 1: completely different where the ideas I was considering for the

1242
01:07:33,960 --> 01:07:37,960
Speaker 1: last day. So I had this really stressful like hour

1243
01:07:38,000 --> 01:07:39,720
Speaker 1: in my truck where I'm thinking, like back and forth.

1244
01:07:39,720 --> 01:07:41,840
Speaker 1: What should I do? Do I stick it out as

1245
01:07:41,880 --> 01:07:44,600
Speaker 1: long as I originally thought I should another day, try

1246
01:07:44,680 --> 01:07:48,000
Speaker 1: something off the wall, and just like keep trying because

1247
01:07:48,200 --> 01:07:51,400
Speaker 1: I hate the idea of packing up and leaving. On

1248
01:07:51,440 --> 01:07:53,320
Speaker 1: the other side of me, I'm thinking, man, you had

1249
01:07:53,360 --> 01:07:55,640
Speaker 1: two days of travel, get out here, You've hunted five days.

1250
01:07:55,680 --> 01:07:57,560
Speaker 1: You've got another two days of travel. That's being away

1251
01:07:57,600 --> 01:08:00,560
Speaker 1: from the family for nine days. You have no real

1252
01:08:00,880 --> 01:08:03,000
Speaker 1: hopes of killing something. It'd be just a blind it

1253
01:08:03,000 --> 01:08:05,560
Speaker 1: would be simply just persevering because you want to persevere.

1254
01:08:05,640 --> 01:08:07,600
Speaker 1: It's not like you really, really really think you're gonna

1255
01:08:07,640 --> 01:08:10,400
Speaker 1: get it done. And so I had like this back

1256
01:08:10,400 --> 01:08:13,480
Speaker 1: and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and I

1257
01:08:13,560 --> 01:08:16,760
Speaker 1: ended up designing to go home shows trying to get

1258
01:08:16,760 --> 01:08:20,680
Speaker 1: back for family. But I, to be honest, like I

1259
01:08:20,720 --> 01:08:23,519
Speaker 1: had I felt crappy about that. I feel probably crappy

1260
01:08:23,520 --> 01:08:26,000
Speaker 1: about either decision I made, But I felt like, am

1261
01:08:26,000 --> 01:08:27,880
Speaker 1: I giving up on the hunt and my quitting on

1262
01:08:27,920 --> 01:08:30,639
Speaker 1: this before I should like I need to push through

1263
01:08:30,640 --> 01:08:32,439
Speaker 1: the advert. If I pushed through it and hunted that

1264
01:08:32,479 --> 01:08:35,360
Speaker 1: one more day maybe would have came together. And so

1265
01:08:35,400 --> 01:08:37,040
Speaker 1: the whole drive home I was like back and forth,

1266
01:08:37,040 --> 01:08:39,559
Speaker 1: back and forth, Like on one side, I felt good,

1267
01:08:39,560 --> 01:08:41,840
Speaker 1: like you're prioritizing my family and getting back and it's

1268
01:08:41,840 --> 01:08:44,240
Speaker 1: already a long hunt. Didn't feel like a long hunt

1269
01:08:44,280 --> 01:08:46,439
Speaker 1: because I didn't get to hunt that much, but the

1270
01:08:46,520 --> 01:08:49,840
Speaker 1: travel made it so long. Um. And I just like

1271
01:08:50,080 --> 01:08:51,960
Speaker 1: I just felt like the place beat me again. And

1272
01:08:52,000 --> 01:08:53,559
Speaker 1: the biggest thing is like I felt the place beat

1273
01:08:53,600 --> 01:08:55,040
Speaker 1: me last time because I couldn't figure it out and

1274
01:08:55,120 --> 01:08:57,600
Speaker 1: Josh couldn't figure it out. I really believed that I

1275
01:08:57,640 --> 01:09:00,040
Speaker 1: could figure it out this time and it and it

1276
01:09:00,080 --> 01:09:04,360
Speaker 1: didn't happen. Um. So that was like my conundrum, my

1277
01:09:04,360 --> 01:09:06,280
Speaker 1: conundrum coming out of this hunt. I had two things

1278
01:09:06,320 --> 01:09:10,360
Speaker 1: to like question marks or or lessons learned or debates,

1279
01:09:10,400 --> 01:09:14,479
Speaker 1: internal debates. The one debate was the decision at the end,

1280
01:09:14,520 --> 01:09:16,120
Speaker 1: like the decision of pack of camp. It it's like

1281
01:09:16,160 --> 01:09:18,720
Speaker 1: this decision between I always talked about the importance of

1282
01:09:18,720 --> 01:09:21,040
Speaker 1: pushing through the adversity and keeping at it. You want

1283
01:09:21,040 --> 01:09:22,559
Speaker 1: to leave it all on the field, That's something I

1284
01:09:22,600 --> 01:09:25,120
Speaker 1: really believe in. And and so one part of me said,

1285
01:09:25,160 --> 01:09:28,960
Speaker 1: like you kind of bailed, like you didn't, you didn't

1286
01:09:28,960 --> 01:09:30,599
Speaker 1: go to the very end. The fact lady wasn't quite

1287
01:09:30,600 --> 01:09:32,920
Speaker 1: seeing you could have stayed another half day or three

1288
01:09:33,000 --> 01:09:35,519
Speaker 1: cours of a day or whatever. So one part of

1289
01:09:35,560 --> 01:09:38,800
Speaker 1: me says, like, dang it, Mark. The other side of

1290
01:09:38,840 --> 01:09:42,920
Speaker 1: me says, no, you put your family through this. You

1291
01:09:42,960 --> 01:09:45,240
Speaker 1: know it was the right decision. Even though it didn't

1292
01:09:45,240 --> 01:09:46,840
Speaker 1: turn out from a hunt standpoint, You made the right

1293
01:09:46,880 --> 01:09:49,439
Speaker 1: decision to get back and help your wife and and

1294
01:09:49,520 --> 01:09:52,120
Speaker 1: all of that. So that was like a thing that

1295
01:09:52,160 --> 01:09:54,880
Speaker 1: I kept debating about in my head, my two sides

1296
01:09:54,880 --> 01:09:56,679
Speaker 1: of the family side of me and on the hunter

1297
01:09:56,760 --> 01:10:00,080
Speaker 1: side of me, and and and I think ultimately it

1298
01:10:00,120 --> 01:10:02,120
Speaker 1: was the right decision because I do need to prioritize

1299
01:10:02,160 --> 01:10:04,000
Speaker 1: my family that I'm glad I did that. I'm glad

1300
01:10:04,000 --> 01:10:05,679
Speaker 1: I came home. I'm glad I was able to help out.

1301
01:10:06,000 --> 01:10:07,720
Speaker 1: But then there was the other side of me, like

1302
01:10:07,760 --> 01:10:09,639
Speaker 1: the hunter side of me, it was like, damn it, Mark,

1303
01:10:10,479 --> 01:10:12,800
Speaker 1: you didn't leave one. I feel he left ninety six

1304
01:10:12,920 --> 01:10:14,960
Speaker 1: or whatever it was. And so that still had that

1305
01:10:15,000 --> 01:10:18,439
Speaker 1: little whispering down in my head. That was my canundra

1306
01:10:18,560 --> 01:10:21,960
Speaker 1: number one. And then my conundrum number two was the

1307
01:10:22,000 --> 01:10:25,840
Speaker 1: first night hunt I've never had. This happened before, where

1308
01:10:25,840 --> 01:10:27,360
Speaker 1: you get a shot at a deer on the first

1309
01:10:27,439 --> 01:10:30,000
Speaker 1: night of a hunt and you're left with that dreaded

1310
01:10:30,040 --> 01:10:32,640
Speaker 1: situation where you're like, do you pass on something on

1311
01:10:32,680 --> 01:10:35,240
Speaker 1: the first night that you would shoot in the last day.

1312
01:10:35,520 --> 01:10:37,439
Speaker 1: And it happened to me this time. I passed on

1313
01:10:37,439 --> 01:10:39,880
Speaker 1: a buck that I would have shot the last day.

1314
01:10:40,160 --> 01:10:42,679
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't know if I'm happy about

1315
01:10:42,680 --> 01:10:44,840
Speaker 1: there or not. If I part of me says, I

1316
01:10:44,840 --> 01:10:46,600
Speaker 1: wish i'd shot it now looking back, because then I

1317
01:10:46,600 --> 01:10:48,600
Speaker 1: would have had that buck, and you know, would have

1318
01:10:48,600 --> 01:10:50,920
Speaker 1: had a successful public land hunt and it could have

1319
01:10:51,479 --> 01:10:53,400
Speaker 1: you know, I kind of did figure it out. I

1320
01:10:53,439 --> 01:10:55,040
Speaker 1: guess it was a little bit lucky or it was

1321
01:10:55,080 --> 01:10:58,240
Speaker 1: a good hunt whatever. Um. But then part of me says,

1322
01:10:58,280 --> 01:11:00,559
Speaker 1: it was the first night you didn't know was coming.

1323
01:11:00,800 --> 01:11:03,200
Speaker 1: You know, you wanted to have the full experience out here.

1324
01:11:03,280 --> 01:11:05,840
Speaker 1: You knew there was a really good, definitely mature ten

1325
01:11:05,920 --> 01:11:08,680
Speaker 1: point buck that you know, you want to see what

1326
01:11:08,960 --> 01:11:11,200
Speaker 1: what might have been possible. And so those are the

1327
01:11:11,240 --> 01:11:13,559
Speaker 1: two things. On that drive home, we're bouncing back and

1328
01:11:13,600 --> 01:11:17,800
Speaker 1: forth my head over and over and over again. UM.

1329
01:11:17,840 --> 01:11:21,599
Speaker 1: I think that with any out of state hunt, when

1330
01:11:21,600 --> 01:11:24,519
Speaker 1: you're hunting a time frame, the end of the hunt

1331
01:11:24,600 --> 01:11:28,120
Speaker 1: there's this window, right, it's like a gray area. Right,

1332
01:11:28,120 --> 01:11:33,120
Speaker 1: It's like there is the back end of that window,

1333
01:11:33,280 --> 01:11:37,080
Speaker 1: which is I cannot hunt any time past this because

1334
01:11:37,120 --> 01:11:41,040
Speaker 1: if I cute something past this, then I have to

1335
01:11:41,080 --> 01:11:42,760
Speaker 1: process it, I have to clean it, and it's just

1336
01:11:42,800 --> 01:11:44,880
Speaker 1: gonna take an entire another day for me to get home.

1337
01:11:45,320 --> 01:11:48,519
Speaker 1: And then at the beginning of that window is the

1338
01:11:48,880 --> 01:11:52,120
Speaker 1: is this man, is it even worth me staying here

1339
01:11:52,120 --> 01:11:54,919
Speaker 1: anymore because the conditions are bad or there's no animals,

1340
01:11:55,120 --> 01:11:57,360
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So there's this window at

1341
01:11:57,360 --> 01:11:59,439
Speaker 1: the tail end of every out of state hunt that

1342
01:11:59,680 --> 01:12:04,280
Speaker 1: really almost tricks us, I feel, because I probably could

1343
01:12:04,320 --> 01:12:09,160
Speaker 1: have hunted another another evening, potentially another morning, but the

1344
01:12:09,200 --> 01:12:13,479
Speaker 1: weather conditions were gonna do the same exact thing that

1345
01:12:13,520 --> 01:12:17,920
Speaker 1: they were doing the previous five days, right, So um,

1346
01:12:17,960 --> 01:12:20,360
Speaker 1: I backed down. I got home. Right, It sounds like

1347
01:12:20,439 --> 01:12:25,040
Speaker 1: you did. You did something similar. It's just you know

1348
01:12:25,560 --> 01:12:29,760
Speaker 1: more than anybody else that the weather, the weather conditions

1349
01:12:30,240 --> 01:12:34,000
Speaker 1: dictate more than anything, whether or not some of these

1350
01:12:34,120 --> 01:12:37,760
Speaker 1: or in time of year, right, the movement. Right, So

1351
01:12:37,960 --> 01:12:40,880
Speaker 1: if it's hot as balls and these deer aren't moving

1352
01:12:40,920 --> 01:12:44,360
Speaker 1: until thirty minutes before light, or you can't find them.

1353
01:12:44,520 --> 01:12:48,000
Speaker 1: What's what's to say that they're going to do that

1354
01:12:48,080 --> 01:12:49,759
Speaker 1: on the fifth day or the sixth day of the hunt,

1355
01:12:49,880 --> 01:12:53,400
Speaker 1: when you you know you could get home. Uh. I'm

1356
01:12:53,479 --> 01:12:57,439
Speaker 1: all about reading that the scenario and making a decision

1357
01:12:57,479 --> 01:13:00,479
Speaker 1: based off that. And I think that for me in

1358
01:13:00,520 --> 01:13:03,479
Speaker 1: the elk hunt, Uh, we decided to leave because it

1359
01:13:03,560 --> 01:13:04,880
Speaker 1: was just going to be more of the same for

1360
01:13:04,920 --> 01:13:08,960
Speaker 1: the next day or two. And you did the same

1361
01:13:09,000 --> 01:13:10,920
Speaker 1: thing because it was more more of the same. Now,

1362
01:13:11,000 --> 01:13:14,720
Speaker 1: anything can happen at any time in hunting, right, It's

1363
01:13:14,760 --> 01:13:18,479
Speaker 1: just that you at that point it would be less

1364
01:13:18,479 --> 01:13:22,080
Speaker 1: strategy and skill and more luck. Yeah. So do you

1365
01:13:22,120 --> 01:13:25,400
Speaker 1: think I made the right decision? Oh? Absolutely absolutely, I

1366
01:13:25,400 --> 01:13:27,800
Speaker 1: think you did. Now what about the buck the first night?

1367
01:13:28,040 --> 01:13:31,880
Speaker 1: Did you see by chance the Instagram story or the picture? Yeah?

1368
01:13:31,920 --> 01:13:34,479
Speaker 1: I saw it, great deer um, And that's why I

1369
01:13:34,520 --> 01:13:36,880
Speaker 1: said to you, I didn't know he was kind of

1370
01:13:36,920 --> 01:13:41,639
Speaker 1: bouncing back and forth between private and public. Yeah, you're

1371
01:13:41,640 --> 01:13:44,280
Speaker 1: talking of the original one I spotted, Yeah, the one

1372
01:13:44,320 --> 01:13:47,960
Speaker 1: that you set up originally for right, yea, just that strip.

1373
01:13:48,000 --> 01:13:50,559
Speaker 1: I mean it's a narrow strip that fingered into the

1374
01:13:50,640 --> 01:13:52,600
Speaker 1: larger trunk of public and he just happened to be

1375
01:13:52,600 --> 01:13:54,880
Speaker 1: in that little strip, um. And so I was right

1376
01:13:54,920 --> 01:13:57,760
Speaker 1: on the edge of it. Um. See when I when

1377
01:13:57,800 --> 01:14:00,800
Speaker 1: I heard that story, I didn't know who was but

1378
01:14:00,800 --> 01:14:04,360
Speaker 1: button up against private So I was like, dude, you

1379
01:14:04,360 --> 01:14:07,560
Speaker 1: you have to go in there and make an aggressive

1380
01:14:07,600 --> 01:14:11,720
Speaker 1: move on him right now. Um. And but you know,

1381
01:14:11,840 --> 01:14:14,439
Speaker 1: when you you know that there's that scenario, he was

1382
01:14:14,479 --> 01:14:16,400
Speaker 1: on private ground, you didn't have access to it. There's

1383
01:14:16,400 --> 01:14:18,000
Speaker 1: nothing you could do about it. You did the best

1384
01:14:18,000 --> 01:14:21,000
Speaker 1: thing that you could other than that. It's just like

1385
01:14:22,080 --> 01:14:24,479
Speaker 1: when when you're hunting a piece of property that you

1386
01:14:24,760 --> 01:14:28,720
Speaker 1: really don't know where you're you're kind of learning about, um,

1387
01:14:28,880 --> 01:14:31,720
Speaker 1: especially when you have limited time. I'm I'm the kind

1388
01:14:31,720 --> 01:14:35,400
Speaker 1: of guys like dude, just be aggressive, um and try

1389
01:14:35,439 --> 01:14:38,000
Speaker 1: to try to get the job done, like as soon

1390
01:14:38,040 --> 01:14:40,439
Speaker 1: as humanly possible. Because as we we talked about on

1391
01:14:40,479 --> 01:14:43,160
Speaker 1: this podcast all the time, first time in best time

1392
01:14:43,160 --> 01:14:52,200
Speaker 1: in Oh yeah, So would you have shot that a pointer? Probably? Yeah? Probably? Um.

1393
01:14:52,320 --> 01:14:55,519
Speaker 1: It just depends, man, because you can be people can

1394
01:14:55,560 --> 01:15:00,000
Speaker 1: become blinded almost and I was blinded for like seven

1395
01:15:00,080 --> 01:15:02,080
Speaker 1: years when I was chasing that ship wreck buck right

1396
01:15:02,240 --> 01:15:05,920
Speaker 1: or five years or whatever. You become blinded that the

1397
01:15:06,040 --> 01:15:10,040
Speaker 1: end goal is something and you're willing to do whatever

1398
01:15:10,040 --> 01:15:12,360
Speaker 1: it takes to get to that end goal. And whether

1399
01:15:12,400 --> 01:15:15,000
Speaker 1: it's oh man, the rut is cracking here, I just

1400
01:15:15,160 --> 01:15:18,160
Speaker 1: know I'm gonna see this I've seen or not necessarily

1401
01:15:18,200 --> 01:15:21,200
Speaker 1: the rut, just like dear movement in general. Right You're

1402
01:15:21,280 --> 01:15:24,799
Speaker 1: you're seeing tons of good sign you're seeing dear movement,

1403
01:15:24,840 --> 01:15:26,920
Speaker 1: You're seeing all those things, and then it just shuts

1404
01:15:26,960 --> 01:15:29,519
Speaker 1: off and then you all you're left with his questions

1405
01:15:29,640 --> 01:15:31,479
Speaker 1: whether or not you made the right decision or not.

1406
01:15:32,040 --> 01:15:36,400
Speaker 1: When when it's hard for anybody to determine what what's

1407
01:15:36,400 --> 01:15:39,400
Speaker 1: going to happen in the next minute or five minutes

1408
01:15:39,520 --> 01:15:45,840
Speaker 1: or five days, you know, it's it's funny though, right, Like,

1409
01:15:45,920 --> 01:15:48,040
Speaker 1: there's like the end goal you want, so it's like, yeah,

1410
01:15:48,080 --> 01:15:51,120
Speaker 1: I want to kill mature buck. That's the goal. Let's say,

1411
01:15:51,520 --> 01:15:53,360
Speaker 1: and I could have killed that buck and he was

1412
01:15:53,400 --> 01:15:54,960
Speaker 1: probably three or four, and I could have said I

1413
01:15:55,040 --> 01:15:57,280
Speaker 1: killed mature buck, and I could have left there achieving

1414
01:15:57,320 --> 01:15:59,600
Speaker 1: my goal. But at the same time, back to what

1415
01:15:59,640 --> 01:16:02,120
Speaker 1: we were talking about earlier, this isn't necessarily like I

1416
01:16:02,120 --> 01:16:04,519
Speaker 1: wouldn't have necessarily stated this as the goal on the front.

1417
01:16:04,600 --> 01:16:07,000
Speaker 1: But when I think about it, my goal is also

1418
01:16:07,080 --> 01:16:12,240
Speaker 1: to have a certain experience, and like killing a buck

1419
01:16:12,240 --> 01:16:14,360
Speaker 1: on the very first hunt, like an hour into the

1420
01:16:14,439 --> 01:16:16,840
Speaker 1: very first hunt out there, I think would be like

1421
01:16:16,880 --> 01:16:19,360
Speaker 1: a little bit of a disappointing experience to like, well,

1422
01:16:19,360 --> 01:16:21,080
Speaker 1: now what do I do? Like I came all the

1423
01:16:21,120 --> 01:16:22,799
Speaker 1: way out here. I didn't I didn't have to do anything.

1424
01:16:22,840 --> 01:16:25,360
Speaker 1: I just watched a couple of times and walked in

1425
01:16:25,439 --> 01:16:26,960
Speaker 1: here an hour and killed a buck, and now I'm

1426
01:16:26,960 --> 01:16:28,559
Speaker 1: gonna turn and go home. I probably would have been

1427
01:16:28,560 --> 01:16:32,120
Speaker 1: a little disappointed, and to degree was stoked I killed

1428
01:16:32,120 --> 01:16:34,000
Speaker 1: the buck. I got the buck, but it would have

1429
01:16:34,040 --> 01:16:38,080
Speaker 1: also felt a little bit hollow in some way, maybe

1430
01:16:38,800 --> 01:16:41,160
Speaker 1: like what I really want is what I really wanted?

1431
01:16:41,280 --> 01:16:43,200
Speaker 1: Was I wanted a hunt for four days and on

1432
01:16:43,240 --> 01:16:46,080
Speaker 1: the fourth night, after going back and forth, you figure

1433
01:16:46,120 --> 01:16:47,800
Speaker 1: it out and you kill your buck four days in

1434
01:16:47,920 --> 01:16:49,519
Speaker 1: or five days or whatever. It's like, that's what I

1435
01:16:49,600 --> 01:16:53,960
Speaker 1: really want. Let's say the ideal scenario. Um So somehow

1436
01:16:54,000 --> 01:16:57,400
Speaker 1: I got. I got the end outcome that I wanted,

1437
01:16:57,439 --> 01:17:00,320
Speaker 1: but it arrived before the experience I wanted because they

1438
01:17:00,320 --> 01:17:02,840
Speaker 1: didn't match up. I didn't take advantage of it. And

1439
01:17:02,880 --> 01:17:05,439
Speaker 1: now I'm left wondering, like I got the experience, I

1440
01:17:05,479 --> 01:17:07,240
Speaker 1: got the five days of grinding it out and trying

1441
01:17:07,240 --> 01:17:09,800
Speaker 1: to figure out I just didn't get the the end

1442
01:17:09,800 --> 01:17:13,040
Speaker 1: outcome that was given me too soon. It's a weird thing.

1443
01:17:13,160 --> 01:17:15,479
Speaker 1: I've never I've never had that happen. You always here

1444
01:17:15,520 --> 01:17:18,120
Speaker 1: about it happen, But is the first time I've experienced that.

1445
01:17:18,200 --> 01:17:22,920
Speaker 1: And I still don't know, you know what, um, what

1446
01:17:23,120 --> 01:17:25,439
Speaker 1: the right call for me would have been. I made

1447
01:17:25,479 --> 01:17:28,360
Speaker 1: the call I made, so yeah, It's it's funny on

1448
01:17:28,400 --> 01:17:32,000
Speaker 1: a scenario like that. It has me thinking of are

1449
01:17:32,080 --> 01:17:36,360
Speaker 1: we like, are we really hunters? Because I think of

1450
01:17:36,400 --> 01:17:39,920
Speaker 1: a hunter as a bobcat or a mountain lion or

1451
01:17:39,960 --> 01:17:42,000
Speaker 1: a lion or something like that, right, and they don't

1452
01:17:42,000 --> 01:17:44,519
Speaker 1: give a shit about anything except I'm gonna feed myself

1453
01:17:45,120 --> 01:17:48,840
Speaker 1: with that. And here we are out in nature with

1454
01:17:48,880 --> 01:17:51,439
Speaker 1: our bows saying, okay, you get the past tonight. But

1455
01:17:51,760 --> 01:17:52,960
Speaker 1: you know, at the end of the week, if you

1456
01:17:53,040 --> 01:17:55,439
Speaker 1: come by again, I'm gonna kill you. Or hey, hey, hey,

1457
01:17:55,520 --> 01:17:58,479
Speaker 1: dog group, you know you're lucky this time. You know

1458
01:17:58,479 --> 01:18:02,519
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna shoot you this time. I just almost, yeah,

1459
01:18:02,560 --> 01:18:07,200
Speaker 1: I almost feel like I'm moving away from like I'm

1460
01:18:07,200 --> 01:18:09,960
Speaker 1: still gonna go out and try to shoot some mature

1461
01:18:10,000 --> 01:18:12,679
Speaker 1: deer or you know something with some good amimers whatever.

1462
01:18:13,320 --> 01:18:17,000
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I feel like I want

1463
01:18:17,040 --> 01:18:21,679
Speaker 1: to become this like ultimate predator, like this guy down

1464
01:18:21,680 --> 01:18:25,600
Speaker 1: in Louisiana who has killed like eight hundred deer in

1465
01:18:25,680 --> 01:18:29,000
Speaker 1: his life, Like he doesn't care about maturity. He just

1466
01:18:29,040 --> 01:18:33,280
Speaker 1: shoots deer. Yeah, I mean it's a fine line. It's

1467
01:18:33,320 --> 01:18:39,639
Speaker 1: like like we of course we want to have kill

1468
01:18:39,760 --> 01:18:43,439
Speaker 1: the animal, get the meat. But if all we care

1469
01:18:43,479 --> 01:18:45,160
Speaker 1: about is just killing ship, then we could just go

1470
01:18:45,200 --> 01:18:47,679
Speaker 1: to the farm and like put a bolt through Coyle's

1471
01:18:47,720 --> 01:18:50,920
Speaker 1: head fifty times a year or whatever. You know? Did that?

1472
01:18:50,960 --> 01:18:55,519
Speaker 1: Like the meat is is once you like, once you

1473
01:18:55,560 --> 01:18:57,439
Speaker 1: fill and once you put enough meat in the freezer

1474
01:18:57,479 --> 01:19:00,160
Speaker 1: to feed your family. Um, And you know you can

1475
01:19:00,200 --> 01:19:03,120
Speaker 1: do that every year by killing a few does um

1476
01:19:03,479 --> 01:19:05,840
Speaker 1: like the only reason to hunt in a different way.

1477
01:19:05,880 --> 01:19:08,719
Speaker 1: Then if you've established you've got the baseline, it's then okay,

1478
01:19:08,760 --> 01:19:10,240
Speaker 1: I want my meat, but I want my meat to

1479
01:19:10,280 --> 01:19:13,479
Speaker 1: have a deeper experience attached to it. And and that's

1480
01:19:13,520 --> 01:19:17,040
Speaker 1: the thing is the experience, yea, And my experience is

1481
01:19:17,040 --> 01:19:20,000
Speaker 1: different than everybody else's experience in your experience and whatever,

1482
01:19:20,840 --> 01:19:22,880
Speaker 1: and everyone's got different thoughts on what they want the

1483
01:19:22,880 --> 01:19:25,160
Speaker 1: experience to be and how it impacts them and how

1484
01:19:25,160 --> 01:19:27,280
Speaker 1: they go about it. And I guess, you know, it's

1485
01:19:27,400 --> 01:19:30,000
Speaker 1: like you said, it's different for everyone, and and that's

1486
01:19:30,040 --> 01:19:32,960
Speaker 1: what you know makes this sole hunting thing kind of cool.

1487
01:19:33,000 --> 01:19:36,920
Speaker 1: I guess. So I don't know, that is what happened

1488
01:19:36,960 --> 01:19:41,280
Speaker 1: to me, That is what happened to you. Um, listening

1489
01:19:41,280 --> 01:19:44,840
Speaker 1: to your story, having processed my story, UM, there's a

1490
01:19:44,840 --> 01:19:47,439
Speaker 1: few things already that that that kind of stand out

1491
01:19:47,479 --> 01:19:51,040
Speaker 1: to me as takeaways. What I want to do next

1492
01:19:52,360 --> 01:19:55,200
Speaker 1: is I want to chat with Tony and chat with

1493
01:19:55,280 --> 01:19:57,720
Speaker 1: Andy here how their hunts went and they had the

1494
01:19:57,760 --> 01:20:01,320
Speaker 1: experience with the exclamation point at the end, and I'm

1495
01:20:01,360 --> 01:20:03,920
Speaker 1: interested to hear what we can take from those two

1496
01:20:04,000 --> 01:20:05,840
Speaker 1: hunts and then kind of compare all the notes. So

1497
01:20:05,880 --> 01:20:08,599
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do at the end of this is kind

1498
01:20:08,600 --> 01:20:12,040
Speaker 1: of do a post mortem of our four hunts and

1499
01:20:12,080 --> 01:20:14,439
Speaker 1: what the big takeaway one or two things. If there's

1500
01:20:14,439 --> 01:20:17,840
Speaker 1: like a common common moral of the story from everything here,

1501
01:20:18,120 --> 01:20:20,599
Speaker 1: I'm gonna see if I can unpackage that, and we'll

1502
01:20:20,640 --> 01:20:22,360
Speaker 1: wrap up the episode of that. So, do you have

1503
01:20:22,400 --> 01:20:24,400
Speaker 1: any final thing you want to leave with Dan before

1504
01:20:24,560 --> 01:20:26,840
Speaker 1: before I cut to that. Yeah, I wish you would

1505
01:20:26,880 --> 01:20:29,759
Speaker 1: do this in two different podcasts because it really sucks

1506
01:20:30,080 --> 01:20:33,720
Speaker 1: being on the same podcast with Andy May who's like

1507
01:20:33,720 --> 01:20:36,559
Speaker 1: like Mr Automatic, Like the guy goes into any piece

1508
01:20:36,560 --> 01:20:39,360
Speaker 1: of property and kills something, you know what I mean. Like,

1509
01:20:39,640 --> 01:20:43,200
Speaker 1: and then there's Hey, Dan Johnson, he looks at flowers

1510
01:20:43,240 --> 01:20:46,760
Speaker 1: and oh cool a bear den. You know nobody gave

1511
01:20:47,040 --> 01:20:49,640
Speaker 1: Nobody gives a ship, right. Well, you know what they

1512
01:20:49,680 --> 01:20:51,960
Speaker 1: say is that if you're in if you're the smartest

1513
01:20:52,280 --> 01:20:55,240
Speaker 1: person in the room, you're in the wrong room. So

1514
01:20:55,400 --> 01:20:56,920
Speaker 1: I think they can apply to like, if you're the

1515
01:20:56,920 --> 01:20:58,800
Speaker 1: best hunter on the podcast, you should be on a

1516
01:20:58,840 --> 01:21:02,040
Speaker 1: different podcast. You need to surround ourselves with better hunters

1517
01:21:02,439 --> 01:21:05,160
Speaker 1: to push us Dan. That's that's what we're trying to

1518
01:21:05,200 --> 01:21:07,920
Speaker 1: do here. So so I feel good about that I'm

1519
01:21:07,960 --> 01:21:11,120
Speaker 1: in the same boat as you. All right, So now

1520
01:21:11,160 --> 01:21:16,000
Speaker 1: we are going to transition to the successful side of

1521
01:21:16,000 --> 01:21:20,479
Speaker 1: this podcast, and the first very successful hunter that I

1522
01:21:20,520 --> 01:21:24,759
Speaker 1: want to chat with here is Tony Peterson. Tony, welcome

1523
01:21:24,800 --> 01:21:28,240
Speaker 1: back to the podcast. Thanks for having me, buddy. I

1524
01:21:28,280 --> 01:21:32,240
Speaker 1: love the fact that we're able to talk relatively frequently now, um,

1525
01:21:32,280 --> 01:21:34,720
Speaker 1: increasingly more this time of year, because every time it

1526
01:21:34,760 --> 01:21:36,639
Speaker 1: seems like I get on the phone with it, you've

1527
01:21:36,640 --> 01:21:41,519
Speaker 1: got another buck on the ground. So we're we're counting

1528
01:21:41,560 --> 01:21:45,840
Speaker 1: on you, Tony, to show us how to get it done,

1529
01:21:45,880 --> 01:21:48,400
Speaker 1: because we just heard from myself and Dan, who both

1530
01:21:48,880 --> 01:21:51,479
Speaker 1: did not fill a tag on our September hunts. You,

1531
01:21:51,560 --> 01:21:53,880
Speaker 1: on the other hand, have filled enough tags for the

1532
01:21:53,960 --> 01:21:57,760
Speaker 1: both of us. Um, you killed the buck Nebraska, right

1533
01:21:57,800 --> 01:22:01,160
Speaker 1: and then just recently minnesot It was that opening day

1534
01:22:01,160 --> 01:22:07,000
Speaker 1: in Minnesota, the second of this season. They were both perfect.

1535
01:22:07,360 --> 01:22:12,240
Speaker 1: So let's start in Nebraska. This was public land, I think,

1536
01:22:12,400 --> 01:22:14,400
Speaker 1: can you can you set us up, like, what was

1537
01:22:14,479 --> 01:22:17,040
Speaker 1: your thought process going into it, how did you prep

1538
01:22:17,080 --> 01:22:18,840
Speaker 1: for that hunting, and how did it all end up

1539
01:22:18,880 --> 01:22:24,080
Speaker 1: going down? Sure? Man, So with Nebraska, you know, I

1540
01:22:24,120 --> 01:22:27,000
Speaker 1: found this spot that I hunted two years ago turkey hunting,

1541
01:22:27,040 --> 01:22:29,839
Speaker 1: and we just we ended up just we were driving

1542
01:22:29,840 --> 01:22:33,200
Speaker 1: on through and saw a couple of birds on this property,

1543
01:22:33,680 --> 01:22:36,160
Speaker 1: turned around, started hunting it. You know, I saw some

1544
01:22:36,240 --> 01:22:38,559
Speaker 1: deer sign until this spring, a buddy and I went

1545
01:22:38,600 --> 01:22:41,599
Speaker 1: down there to turkey hunt again and get a better

1546
01:22:41,640 --> 01:22:44,920
Speaker 1: feel for the properties that were there and found some

1547
01:22:45,000 --> 01:22:48,640
Speaker 1: stuff and found some really nice cattle tanks and you know,

1548
01:22:48,760 --> 01:22:52,320
Speaker 1: water hole situations, and so I was kind of banking

1549
01:22:52,360 --> 01:22:55,840
Speaker 1: on that for you know, I was down there the

1550
01:22:55,960 --> 01:22:58,040
Speaker 1: last couple of days of August and then into the

1551
01:22:58,120 --> 01:23:00,560
Speaker 1: first first of the September or so, you know, the

1552
01:23:00,600 --> 01:23:02,960
Speaker 1: first of the day of the season, and so you know,

1553
01:23:03,000 --> 01:23:04,920
Speaker 1: you're kind of banking on it. Me in ninety degrees

1554
01:23:04,960 --> 01:23:10,080
Speaker 1: every day, I wasn't banking on you know, typhoons all

1555
01:23:10,120 --> 01:23:15,679
Speaker 1: summer long, putting water everywhere. And it changed the entire pattern.

1556
01:23:15,720 --> 01:23:17,639
Speaker 1: I mean, I I had talked to a buddy who

1557
01:23:17,640 --> 01:23:19,920
Speaker 1: lives down in southern Nebraska before we went, and I

1558
01:23:20,000 --> 01:23:22,960
Speaker 1: knew the water program was probably a no go. But

1559
01:23:23,040 --> 01:23:26,120
Speaker 1: after getting down there to scout for two days, I

1560
01:23:26,240 --> 01:23:29,080
Speaker 1: realized it was going to be food or nothing. And

1561
01:23:29,120 --> 01:23:31,400
Speaker 1: so it was it was a matter of switching gears

1562
01:23:31,439 --> 01:23:33,400
Speaker 1: from my primary plan to back up. And you know

1563
01:23:33,400 --> 01:23:35,840
Speaker 1: it's you're you're talking the beginning of September, you're gonna

1564
01:23:35,840 --> 01:23:39,320
Speaker 1: be talking food anyway. I mean, it's such a such

1565
01:23:39,320 --> 01:23:42,479
Speaker 1: a driver that time of year, and I just happened

1566
01:23:42,479 --> 01:23:45,360
Speaker 1: to I do there was a one tucked away field

1567
01:23:45,360 --> 01:23:47,599
Speaker 1: on a walk in ranch down there that had good

1568
01:23:47,640 --> 01:23:50,680
Speaker 1: potential if it was gonna be beans or alfalfa. And

1569
01:23:50,720 --> 01:23:53,000
Speaker 1: as soon as we got there at lasted, there was beans.

1570
01:23:53,600 --> 01:23:57,719
Speaker 1: And so I knew, you know, you've got several hundred

1571
01:23:57,760 --> 01:24:00,560
Speaker 1: acres with no food on it, you know, no destination

1572
01:24:00,640 --> 01:24:03,759
Speaker 1: food sources, and then you've got this bean field tucked

1573
01:24:03,760 --> 01:24:05,719
Speaker 1: in there. You knew there's gonna be deer coming in there,

1574
01:24:06,240 --> 01:24:08,280
Speaker 1: and so that was kind of what kicked off our

1575
01:24:08,360 --> 01:24:13,519
Speaker 1: strategy down in Nebraska. So you found the beans, and

1576
01:24:13,720 --> 01:24:16,200
Speaker 1: you mentioned something that was interesting me, how you showed

1577
01:24:16,240 --> 01:24:19,160
Speaker 1: up in late August and the opener wasn't until one

1578
01:24:20,760 --> 01:24:26,960
Speaker 1: September one. So we got um two fold days. So

1579
01:24:28,000 --> 01:24:31,920
Speaker 1: I knew I would have preferred a couple more, and

1580
01:24:31,960 --> 01:24:34,920
Speaker 1: I just couldn't swing it. But we had two fold

1581
01:24:35,000 --> 01:24:38,519
Speaker 1: days to you know, glass mornings, glass evenings, and then

1582
01:24:38,600 --> 01:24:40,400
Speaker 1: hike in the spots in the middle of the day.

1583
01:24:40,640 --> 01:24:42,439
Speaker 1: And if you kind of divide and conquer like my

1584
01:24:42,439 --> 01:24:45,040
Speaker 1: buddy and I did, you can you can figure a

1585
01:24:45,120 --> 01:24:48,519
Speaker 1: lot of stuff out. And so we we did that.

1586
01:24:48,640 --> 01:24:52,040
Speaker 1: And I mean that you know you talked about unsuccessful hunts.

1587
01:24:52,040 --> 01:24:56,440
Speaker 1: I mean so much of that scouting is just eliminating

1588
01:24:56,800 --> 01:25:00,000
Speaker 1: places you're not gonna hunt, you know. I mean that's

1589
01:25:00,000 --> 01:25:01,840
Speaker 1: everybody since you walk in and you figured out, okay,

1590
01:25:01,840 --> 01:25:03,920
Speaker 1: well I was on on X, I found this spot

1591
01:25:04,040 --> 01:25:05,960
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be money, and you walk in there,

1592
01:25:06,040 --> 01:25:10,599
Speaker 1: and for me, probably I don't know, sixty or seventy

1593
01:25:10,640 --> 01:25:12,920
Speaker 1: percent of time, it's just not right for some reason.

1594
01:25:13,360 --> 01:25:15,360
Speaker 1: And so it's it's just a matter of seeing a

1595
01:25:15,400 --> 01:25:17,599
Speaker 1: lot of those spots to market, going Okay, this one's

1596
01:25:17,640 --> 01:25:19,840
Speaker 1: no good, this one's no good, this one's got potential,

1597
01:25:20,280 --> 01:25:23,679
Speaker 1: and we just we got lucky getting to that beating

1598
01:25:23,760 --> 01:25:26,839
Speaker 1: field before anyone else. And we found one other spot

1599
01:25:27,080 --> 01:25:29,840
Speaker 1: that I had turkey hunted. When we we walked in there,

1600
01:25:29,840 --> 01:25:31,680
Speaker 1: there was a fresh stand and the camera there that

1601
01:25:31,720 --> 01:25:34,840
Speaker 1: somebody had driven in. But we also had a like

1602
01:25:34,880 --> 01:25:37,120
Speaker 1: a hundred thirty five in ten point across the trail

1603
01:25:37,160 --> 01:25:38,920
Speaker 1: in front of us and just beat away while we

1604
01:25:38,920 --> 01:25:40,599
Speaker 1: were walking out at ten in the morning, So our

1605
01:25:40,640 --> 01:25:44,760
Speaker 1: backup spot, even though there was somebody using it, somebody

1606
01:25:44,760 --> 01:25:47,760
Speaker 1: had been in there recently. I mean, we had, you know,

1607
01:25:48,040 --> 01:25:50,479
Speaker 1: seventy five yards away. We had visual confirmation of a

1608
01:25:50,520 --> 01:25:53,720
Speaker 1: great public land here in that spot. So we did

1609
01:25:53,760 --> 01:25:57,120
Speaker 1: have you know, the scouting paid off. We did find

1610
01:25:57,160 --> 01:25:58,559
Speaker 1: what we needed, but we looked at a lot of

1611
01:25:58,560 --> 01:26:03,160
Speaker 1: stuff that was not good. And was it so you

1612
01:26:03,160 --> 01:26:05,639
Speaker 1: you located the spot that was best. Were there any

1613
01:26:05,720 --> 01:26:10,120
Speaker 1: challenges with actually executing the kill itself or was it

1614
01:26:10,200 --> 01:26:14,960
Speaker 1: kind of just textbook at that point? Um. The challenge

1615
01:26:15,120 --> 01:26:17,559
Speaker 1: was the amount of brain that they had down there.

1616
01:26:17,600 --> 01:26:21,920
Speaker 1: Everything was so tall that you're you would look at

1617
01:26:23,160 --> 01:26:25,559
Speaker 1: a chunk of ground and you'd think, okay, well, you know,

1618
01:26:25,720 --> 01:26:28,280
Speaker 1: if I hung a stand in that grove oaks or something,

1619
01:26:28,800 --> 01:26:30,360
Speaker 1: you know, I can see a long ways and I

1620
01:26:30,360 --> 01:26:32,200
Speaker 1: can shoot, and then you walk out into it, you know,

1621
01:26:32,200 --> 01:26:34,280
Speaker 1: and I'm I'm six too, and I would walk out

1622
01:26:34,320 --> 01:26:36,320
Speaker 1: into that stuff and in some places to be over

1623
01:26:36,360 --> 01:26:38,840
Speaker 1: my head. And then when I was glass in that

1624
01:26:38,920 --> 01:26:41,120
Speaker 1: bean field because I glass the beans for two nights,

1625
01:26:41,840 --> 01:26:44,320
Speaker 1: those deer would walk out and if they were in

1626
01:26:44,439 --> 01:26:47,640
Speaker 1: even like a slight depression or if they had their

1627
01:26:47,640 --> 01:26:50,800
Speaker 1: head down and eating, they disappeared, so you couldn't see them.

1628
01:26:50,840 --> 01:26:54,000
Speaker 1: And so I never I couldn't like I couldn't see

1629
01:26:54,040 --> 01:26:57,280
Speaker 1: the spot we killed in, but I could see some

1630
01:26:57,439 --> 01:26:59,880
Speaker 1: of the some of the places they were coming in

1631
01:27:00,040 --> 01:27:03,080
Speaker 1: to get there, and so I never I never actually

1632
01:27:03,160 --> 01:27:06,880
Speaker 1: got to like lay eyes on the spot I killed

1633
01:27:06,920 --> 01:27:09,479
Speaker 1: my buck and my buddy killed this buck. Until I

1634
01:27:09,560 --> 01:27:13,519
Speaker 1: walked in there knowing that the deer were gravitating there

1635
01:27:13,560 --> 01:27:15,120
Speaker 1: and knowing that it was kind of one of those

1636
01:27:15,240 --> 01:27:18,519
Speaker 1: parts of the field that was closest to the best woods,

1637
01:27:18,560 --> 01:27:21,040
Speaker 1: and it kind of fell away, so it was it

1638
01:27:21,120 --> 01:27:24,479
Speaker 1: just wasn't visible. You just knew like that was the corner.

1639
01:27:24,520 --> 01:27:26,439
Speaker 1: And I did see the big one that my buddy killed.

1640
01:27:26,479 --> 01:27:28,960
Speaker 1: I watched him go in there twice, and so I

1641
01:27:29,040 --> 01:27:31,680
Speaker 1: knew that there were deer gravitating towards that spot that

1642
01:27:31,720 --> 01:27:34,920
Speaker 1: we couldn't see. And was there anything about the tree

1643
01:27:34,960 --> 01:27:37,040
Speaker 1: that you ended up picking at that point, Like you

1644
01:27:37,120 --> 01:27:38,800
Speaker 1: knew there was the right corner to being, but when

1645
01:27:38,800 --> 01:27:41,240
Speaker 1: you had actually had to make the decision of where

1646
01:27:41,240 --> 01:27:43,000
Speaker 1: exactly you were going to hunt, why did you pick

1647
01:27:43,080 --> 01:27:46,519
Speaker 1: that tree? Was just the only option? Um? So when

1648
01:27:46,520 --> 01:27:48,880
Speaker 1: I when I went in there opening night, I went

1649
01:27:48,880 --> 01:27:51,360
Speaker 1: in way early. And I should say this, you know,

1650
01:27:51,400 --> 01:27:53,080
Speaker 1: we when I was glass in there. When I was

1651
01:27:53,120 --> 01:27:55,599
Speaker 1: going in the second night, two guys from Michigan drove

1652
01:27:55,680 --> 01:27:57,960
Speaker 1: in and stopped and talk to me, and they were

1653
01:27:58,000 --> 01:28:00,840
Speaker 1: super nice, and they said, and we want to hunt

1654
01:28:00,840 --> 01:28:02,640
Speaker 1: in there too, but if you're in there, we'll just

1655
01:28:02,680 --> 01:28:04,880
Speaker 1: wait till you're gone. And so they went to hundred

1656
01:28:04,960 --> 01:28:07,200
Speaker 1: other stuff. It didn't go in until we tagged out,

1657
01:28:07,320 --> 01:28:09,640
Speaker 1: which was awesome because you know, it's public land. They

1658
01:28:09,680 --> 01:28:12,519
Speaker 1: could have went in there. But when I went in

1659
01:28:12,560 --> 01:28:14,519
Speaker 1: opening night, I went in early and it was hot.

1660
01:28:14,520 --> 01:28:19,160
Speaker 1: It was eighty degrees, real strong south wind blowing, and

1661
01:28:19,240 --> 01:28:22,240
Speaker 1: I got to the spot I kind of snuck into

1662
01:28:22,280 --> 01:28:25,080
Speaker 1: where I knew I wanted to set up. Uh. I

1663
01:28:25,120 --> 01:28:27,720
Speaker 1: could see that there was the fence was down in

1664
01:28:27,800 --> 01:28:31,880
Speaker 1: a specific spot there, and it was pounded going through

1665
01:28:31,880 --> 01:28:34,640
Speaker 1: that crossing, and so I started looking around for a

1666
01:28:34,680 --> 01:28:36,360
Speaker 1: tree there, and there was a couple of little ones,

1667
01:28:36,400 --> 01:28:38,320
Speaker 1: but they were right on top of that crossing. And

1668
01:28:38,360 --> 01:28:41,719
Speaker 1: then there was one that was about thirty yards away

1669
01:28:42,000 --> 01:28:44,479
Speaker 1: but would give you a real good shot in the beans.

1670
01:28:45,080 --> 01:28:47,720
Speaker 1: And that one had tons of cover. It was a

1671
01:28:47,800 --> 01:28:51,360
Speaker 1: multi trunk, multi limb, and but it was set up well.

1672
01:28:51,479 --> 01:28:54,400
Speaker 1: So that was it was just it was a gift

1673
01:28:54,479 --> 01:28:59,519
Speaker 1: to have a good tree in that spot. So you

1674
01:28:59,600 --> 01:29:02,759
Speaker 1: got the tree. You If I remember, and I can't remember,

1675
01:29:02,960 --> 01:29:05,839
Speaker 1: if I heard this in in your chat with Spencer

1676
01:29:05,880 --> 01:29:08,160
Speaker 1: and Refresh Radio, or if it's just you met, you

1677
01:29:08,200 --> 01:29:11,280
Speaker 1: and I talking individually. But as you were getting set

1678
01:29:11,360 --> 01:29:13,519
Speaker 1: up in that tree, your bucks showed up feeding the

1679
01:29:13,520 --> 01:29:17,080
Speaker 1: beans as you were actually getting set up, right, Yeah,

1680
01:29:17,280 --> 01:29:20,280
Speaker 1: so I should tell the whole story about getting set up.

1681
01:29:21,600 --> 01:29:25,000
Speaker 1: I uh, you know, I took this this tree and

1682
01:29:25,040 --> 01:29:27,679
Speaker 1: I'm using uh, you know, climbing sticks and a little

1683
01:29:27,720 --> 01:29:31,280
Speaker 1: lightweight stand, and it's my first sit of the year,

1684
01:29:31,360 --> 01:29:32,759
Speaker 1: you know, and you know how that is. It feels

1685
01:29:32,800 --> 01:29:35,120
Speaker 1: like you're kind of like relearning what you're doing even

1686
01:29:35,120 --> 01:29:39,639
Speaker 1: though you got Yeah, you always forget something. He screw up.

1687
01:29:39,720 --> 01:29:43,960
Speaker 1: So I'm you know, I get my first two sticks on,

1688
01:29:44,080 --> 01:29:45,760
Speaker 1: and I'm kind of hooking the third one on in

1689
01:29:45,800 --> 01:29:49,160
Speaker 1: the way I wanted to face the stand. Uh. It's

1690
01:29:49,280 --> 01:29:52,439
Speaker 1: like I gotta be a little killful with the sticks

1691
01:29:52,479 --> 01:29:54,880
Speaker 1: the way I mound them, because you know, they weren't

1692
01:29:54,920 --> 01:29:58,519
Speaker 1: they weren't blocking in great and so I knew when

1693
01:29:58,520 --> 01:30:01,080
Speaker 1: I stepped on it, I knew right away I screwed up.

1694
01:30:01,080 --> 01:30:04,040
Speaker 1: And I had my lineman felt around the tree, and

1695
01:30:04,240 --> 01:30:07,160
Speaker 1: I slipped off that lineman spelt and it just instinctively

1696
01:30:07,200 --> 01:30:09,479
Speaker 1: grabbed the tree trunk with my arms because I was

1697
01:30:09,520 --> 01:30:13,960
Speaker 1: reaching around it anyway, and I ended up, um, you know,

1698
01:30:14,000 --> 01:30:15,960
Speaker 1: my lineman's belt caught me. So I ended up only

1699
01:30:16,000 --> 01:30:19,880
Speaker 1: falling like six or eight inches, but I had a

1700
01:30:19,920 --> 01:30:23,240
Speaker 1: big bruise on my arm I had. I had bruises

1701
01:30:23,280 --> 01:30:26,439
Speaker 1: where I actually grabbed my right arm with my left

1702
01:30:26,479 --> 01:30:29,160
Speaker 1: hand so hard that I left the hand print bruise

1703
01:30:29,240 --> 01:30:34,880
Speaker 1: on my arm. Yeah, just just a dumb move on

1704
01:30:35,040 --> 01:30:37,360
Speaker 1: my part. But you know, the safety gear saved me.

1705
01:30:37,760 --> 01:30:41,320
Speaker 1: And so anyway I do that, I get myself, you know,

1706
01:30:41,920 --> 01:30:45,160
Speaker 1: really situated, and I hang the stand and I was

1707
01:30:45,200 --> 01:30:48,240
Speaker 1: using a little millennium and they have a kin for

1708
01:30:48,280 --> 01:30:51,240
Speaker 1: the seat that that holds the seat in place, you know,

1709
01:30:51,360 --> 01:30:52,880
Speaker 1: so you can you can fold it down out of

1710
01:30:52,880 --> 01:30:54,559
Speaker 1: the way when you're transporting it, but when you get

1711
01:30:54,600 --> 01:30:55,920
Speaker 1: in the tree, you gotta put that in there to

1712
01:30:56,000 --> 01:30:58,000
Speaker 1: hold it up. Well, I get up in the tree

1713
01:30:58,080 --> 01:31:01,040
Speaker 1: and then my kin's gone. So I'm like, now I've

1714
01:31:01,040 --> 01:31:04,360
Speaker 1: got to seek that's worthless, and so I'm like trying

1715
01:31:04,360 --> 01:31:06,559
Speaker 1: to use my So I get a life line up

1716
01:31:06,720 --> 01:31:09,760
Speaker 1: and I get always safety stuff squared away. So then

1717
01:31:09,760 --> 01:31:11,639
Speaker 1: I had my linement. Felt like well, maybe I'll loot

1718
01:31:11,680 --> 01:31:14,559
Speaker 1: my lineman felt through this tree and around the trunk

1719
01:31:14,560 --> 01:31:16,320
Speaker 1: and try to support it because I'm like, I got

1720
01:31:16,400 --> 01:31:20,880
Speaker 1: five hours still dark, and I'm like messing around with this.

1721
01:31:21,120 --> 01:31:23,240
Speaker 1: And I looked behind me in fifty two yards away

1722
01:31:23,280 --> 01:31:24,960
Speaker 1: of the beet field. It's a ten point of feeding

1723
01:31:25,439 --> 01:31:28,599
Speaker 1: full velvet, and I go, oh, Like I looked down

1724
01:31:28,640 --> 01:31:30,920
Speaker 1: my bows on the ground. I don't have like an

1725
01:31:30,960 --> 01:31:34,439
Speaker 1: honest way to sit down, and so I'm like, I

1726
01:31:34,479 --> 01:31:36,920
Speaker 1: gotta I gotta get to that bow. And so I

1727
01:31:36,960 --> 01:31:38,960
Speaker 1: climbed down the tree. And what helped me was it

1728
01:31:39,000 --> 01:31:44,000
Speaker 1: was super windy. It was probably winds and I just

1729
01:31:44,080 --> 01:31:45,760
Speaker 1: had a ton of cover around that tree. So I

1730
01:31:46,280 --> 01:31:49,800
Speaker 1: shimmy down the steps and hooked up my tow rope

1731
01:31:49,800 --> 01:31:52,559
Speaker 1: to my bow, shimmy back up while he was feeding there,

1732
01:31:53,280 --> 01:31:55,920
Speaker 1: and he couldn't hear me. It was way too windy,

1733
01:31:55,920 --> 01:31:57,240
Speaker 1: and if he looked in the woods, I was in

1734
01:31:57,280 --> 01:31:59,719
Speaker 1: the middle of just a bunch of blowing branches and stuff.

1735
01:32:00,160 --> 01:32:03,200
Speaker 1: And so I got back into the stand, pulled my

1736
01:32:03,280 --> 01:32:05,960
Speaker 1: bow up, you know, got him ranged again, and you know,

1737
01:32:06,000 --> 01:32:09,080
Speaker 1: too far away. So I'm like, he's gonna walk, He's

1738
01:32:09,080 --> 01:32:10,639
Speaker 1: gonna walk, right down that road and give me a

1739
01:32:10,640 --> 01:32:15,200
Speaker 1: phenomenal shot, and he betted down. So then I'm like, Okay,

1740
01:32:15,240 --> 01:32:17,639
Speaker 1: now I can't see him, but I know he's there,

1741
01:32:17,720 --> 01:32:19,960
Speaker 1: and I have time to actually get myself situated. So

1742
01:32:20,000 --> 01:32:22,160
Speaker 1: I figured out my seat I had. I had an

1743
01:32:22,160 --> 01:32:25,360
Speaker 1: old bow hook in the bottom of my pack, and

1744
01:32:25,400 --> 01:32:27,000
Speaker 1: I could frown that through the seat so I could

1745
01:32:27,040 --> 01:32:29,120
Speaker 1: actually support the seat and sit down. And then I

1746
01:32:29,120 --> 01:32:33,400
Speaker 1: got situated, and in that process, another buck stood up

1747
01:32:33,400 --> 01:32:35,559
Speaker 1: out of the beans and started seating a similar sized

1748
01:32:35,640 --> 01:32:39,479
Speaker 1: eight pointer. And so I'm like these deer with with

1749
01:32:39,520 --> 01:32:41,720
Speaker 1: the bugs that were down there because of the mosquitoes,

1750
01:32:42,560 --> 01:32:44,280
Speaker 1: I think they were just like, we're gonna live in

1751
01:32:44,280 --> 01:32:46,800
Speaker 1: this bean field, and if we're here, nobody can see

1752
01:32:46,840 --> 01:32:48,880
Speaker 1: us in this corner, less are on top of us,

1753
01:32:49,240 --> 01:32:51,759
Speaker 1: and that winds blowing all the way across this wide

1754
01:32:51,760 --> 01:32:54,840
Speaker 1: open field and pushing all those mosquitoes off of them.

1755
01:32:54,880 --> 01:32:56,439
Speaker 1: So I think that that was one of those little

1756
01:32:56,439 --> 01:32:58,800
Speaker 1: micro climate deals where those bucks were just like, this

1757
01:32:58,880 --> 01:33:02,200
Speaker 1: is the best place for me to be right now, man,

1758
01:33:03,080 --> 01:33:09,679
Speaker 1: And then you got your shot. The next day. Sorry,

1759
01:33:09,760 --> 01:33:12,360
Speaker 1: we're going to continue, Yeah, So I should I should say,

1760
01:33:12,439 --> 01:33:15,640
Speaker 1: you know, he he got up and bedded down a

1761
01:33:15,680 --> 01:33:18,880
Speaker 1: couple more times, and then I got my shot as

1762
01:33:18,920 --> 01:33:21,599
Speaker 1: he as he worked his way closer, and then I

1763
01:33:21,640 --> 01:33:24,360
Speaker 1: sent my buddy, I got out quit and then sent

1764
01:33:24,439 --> 01:33:27,280
Speaker 1: my body in the next day because it was there

1765
01:33:27,360 --> 01:33:30,280
Speaker 1: was still lots of potential there. Yeah, So what did

1766
01:33:30,320 --> 01:33:34,800
Speaker 1: that next day's hunt? How did that play out? Did

1767
01:33:34,800 --> 01:33:36,719
Speaker 1: a play out just like you were thinking the original

1768
01:33:36,800 --> 01:33:38,839
Speaker 1: night was gonna going to based off of the scouting

1769
01:33:38,840 --> 01:33:43,320
Speaker 1: you had. Um, it went different than I expected and

1770
01:33:43,400 --> 01:33:46,360
Speaker 1: better than I expected. Um. He you know, it was

1771
01:33:46,400 --> 01:33:50,880
Speaker 1: hot in ninety degrees, miserable hot conditions when he went in,

1772
01:33:51,479 --> 01:33:53,360
Speaker 1: and he didn't have any early movement, but he had

1773
01:33:53,360 --> 01:33:56,320
Speaker 1: a buck come in, uh, you know later in the

1774
01:33:56,400 --> 01:33:59,400
Speaker 1: evening when the shadows we're getting there. That was he

1775
01:33:59,560 --> 01:34:02,040
Speaker 1: thought was like a close to pope and young type

1776
01:34:02,120 --> 01:34:05,360
Speaker 1: eight pointer, really nice buck, and he was trying to

1777
01:34:05,400 --> 01:34:07,240
Speaker 1: get a shot at that buck. It worked its way

1778
01:34:07,240 --> 01:34:10,440
Speaker 1: down the beans, but it was like she hs outside

1779
01:34:10,439 --> 01:34:13,800
Speaker 1: his range he felt comfortable with. And so as he

1780
01:34:13,960 --> 01:34:16,960
Speaker 1: was trying, you know, wondering if this buck is going

1781
01:34:17,000 --> 01:34:20,040
Speaker 1: to get there, he saw he saw a different buck

1782
01:34:20,080 --> 01:34:22,880
Speaker 1: come out on that trail through the down sense and

1783
01:34:22,920 --> 01:34:25,040
Speaker 1: so he switched gears. He said, I'm gonna shoot that one.

1784
01:34:25,080 --> 01:34:26,960
Speaker 1: That one walked out and it was that big one

1785
01:34:27,000 --> 01:34:28,600
Speaker 1: that I'd go after the last two nights, And it

1786
01:34:28,680 --> 01:34:31,559
Speaker 1: came right down the bean row the edge of the

1787
01:34:31,600 --> 01:34:36,160
Speaker 1: beans at twenty yards and he stumped it. Wow. So

1788
01:34:36,240 --> 01:34:39,640
Speaker 1: do you do you think now, having like two bucks

1789
01:34:39,640 --> 01:34:42,400
Speaker 1: into the first two nights of the season on this

1790
01:34:42,520 --> 01:34:46,520
Speaker 1: public land, do as as I listened to your story,

1791
01:34:46,760 --> 01:34:49,640
Speaker 1: if I were to pick what I what seems to

1792
01:34:49,680 --> 01:34:51,720
Speaker 1: be like the most important thing you guys did, right,

1793
01:34:52,120 --> 01:34:54,960
Speaker 1: my guests would be that it is the fact that

1794
01:34:55,000 --> 01:34:57,840
Speaker 1: you had the scouting. It was the having looked at

1795
01:34:57,840 --> 01:35:00,760
Speaker 1: this area earlier in the year and then showing up

1796
01:35:00,760 --> 01:35:04,400
Speaker 1: several days early glass and glassing glassing, picked the right

1797
01:35:04,479 --> 01:35:07,080
Speaker 1: spot and winning then killed. Is that right? Or do

1798
01:35:07,120 --> 01:35:10,160
Speaker 1: you think there was some other crux of the hunt? No?

1799
01:35:10,320 --> 01:35:13,160
Speaker 1: That was it. I mean I I had pinned my

1800
01:35:13,240 --> 01:35:17,600
Speaker 1: hopes on some areas that were unhuntable, and I had

1801
01:35:18,240 --> 01:35:23,320
Speaker 1: really got high hopes over this different walking ranch I found,

1802
01:35:23,560 --> 01:35:25,880
Speaker 1: and we spent some time on that scouting in a

1803
01:35:25,920 --> 01:35:28,680
Speaker 1: midday and it was worthless. There was there weren't any

1804
01:35:28,720 --> 01:35:32,960
Speaker 1: deer in there, and so being able to glass for

1805
01:35:33,080 --> 01:35:35,840
Speaker 1: two nights on that bean field. Put us on those deer.

1806
01:35:35,880 --> 01:35:38,479
Speaker 1: And you know that buck that you know I killed

1807
01:35:38,479 --> 01:35:40,920
Speaker 1: a good one. That buck my body killed was awesome,

1808
01:35:41,400 --> 01:35:43,000
Speaker 1: you know. You know I watched that deer going there

1809
01:35:43,000 --> 01:35:45,600
Speaker 1: two nights in a row, and that buck I I

1810
01:35:45,640 --> 01:35:47,400
Speaker 1: scored it when I was home here in Minnesota a

1811
01:35:47,439 --> 01:35:50,320
Speaker 1: little bit ago. That was a hundred deer, you know,

1812
01:35:50,400 --> 01:35:55,800
Speaker 1: I mean on public triple Brow time like special. And

1813
01:35:56,040 --> 01:35:58,679
Speaker 1: all it was was we we saw him in there

1814
01:35:59,200 --> 01:36:01,960
Speaker 1: coming into a certain corner of that field, and we

1815
01:36:01,960 --> 01:36:04,559
Speaker 1: were the first ones in there. You know, I'm sure

1816
01:36:04,600 --> 01:36:06,160
Speaker 1: if you went down there now and try to play

1817
01:36:06,200 --> 01:36:10,200
Speaker 1: that program, it would be too late. Yeah. So so

1818
01:36:10,240 --> 01:36:12,840
Speaker 1: fast forward a week or whatever it was. We can

1819
01:36:12,920 --> 01:36:16,880
Speaker 1: have two weeks from then to Minnesota. It's opening day

1820
01:36:16,880 --> 01:36:21,640
Speaker 1: in Minnesota and you going for hunt. Now, in the

1821
01:36:21,680 --> 01:36:23,240
Speaker 1: case of the public land, you shot a couple of

1822
01:36:23,280 --> 01:36:27,320
Speaker 1: days earlier, you glassed. What did you're scouting entail leading

1823
01:36:27,439 --> 01:36:32,920
Speaker 1: up to the opener in Minnesota? Oh? Man, um, you

1824
01:36:32,960 --> 01:36:35,200
Speaker 1: know some random weekends all summer long. This is this

1825
01:36:35,240 --> 01:36:37,519
Speaker 1: is a private dairy farm that I have permission to hunt.

1826
01:36:38,240 --> 01:36:41,200
Speaker 1: Uh and it's it gets a lot of traffic, but

1827
01:36:41,280 --> 01:36:43,559
Speaker 1: it's it's a cool place. And you know, I went

1828
01:36:43,640 --> 01:36:45,960
Speaker 1: down there. I try to make it down there like

1829
01:36:46,040 --> 01:36:48,719
Speaker 1: once a month to hang stand the glass and check cameras.

1830
01:36:48,720 --> 01:36:52,120
Speaker 1: And that's like my traditional you know. I can hang

1831
01:36:52,240 --> 01:36:54,759
Speaker 1: stand the trim shooting lanes and I can run cameras

1832
01:36:54,840 --> 01:36:57,000
Speaker 1: and and do the whole thing. And that's that's like

1833
01:36:57,040 --> 01:37:00,240
Speaker 1: the place I have to do the entire process. It's

1834
01:37:00,280 --> 01:37:03,360
Speaker 1: different on public, you know. And so I had stands

1835
01:37:03,479 --> 01:37:06,280
Speaker 1: up and I had a plan in mind, and I

1836
01:37:06,280 --> 01:37:08,120
Speaker 1: had a buck that I really want the case, which

1837
01:37:08,160 --> 01:37:11,360
Speaker 1: is I think he's a legit typical booner in there,

1838
01:37:11,640 --> 01:37:15,240
Speaker 1: and I went after him opening morning, uh in in

1839
01:37:15,360 --> 01:37:17,519
Speaker 1: kind of a it's kind of a year long or

1840
01:37:17,520 --> 01:37:20,559
Speaker 1: a season long pinch point where a washout is on

1841
01:37:20,600 --> 01:37:22,719
Speaker 1: the hillside, and I thought he might be in there,

1842
01:37:23,280 --> 01:37:25,760
Speaker 1: and I got in there super early. And it's the

1843
01:37:26,520 --> 01:37:28,879
Speaker 1: entrance route that I made to get in there follows

1844
01:37:29,000 --> 01:37:33,120
Speaker 1: this washout and it's like American Ninja bow hunter going

1845
01:37:33,160 --> 01:37:36,679
Speaker 1: down through there. It's wet rocks and hugs and it's

1846
01:37:36,720 --> 01:37:40,080
Speaker 1: like to not fall down. Getting in there is a

1847
01:37:40,160 --> 01:37:42,920
Speaker 1: huge wind. And I got in there and got set up.

1848
01:37:42,960 --> 01:37:45,519
Speaker 1: It was awesome conditions were right when he was right,

1849
01:37:46,120 --> 01:37:49,240
Speaker 1: And at like seven thirty in the morning, I heard

1850
01:37:49,360 --> 01:37:52,519
Speaker 1: voices in the woods, and I'm going, what is how

1851
01:37:52,680 --> 01:37:54,960
Speaker 1: is it possible that I can hear somebody in here?

1852
01:37:55,320 --> 01:37:57,080
Speaker 1: And then I heard a chainsaw fire up like a

1853
01:37:57,120 --> 01:38:00,599
Speaker 1: hundred fifty yards away from me, and so my hunt

1854
01:38:00,640 --> 01:38:03,920
Speaker 1: got blown up there because they were between what me

1855
01:38:04,080 --> 01:38:06,759
Speaker 1: and what I expected the deer to come from, and

1856
01:38:06,920 --> 01:38:09,439
Speaker 1: there was no deer coming through there. So I bailed

1857
01:38:10,320 --> 01:38:12,960
Speaker 1: made my plan from the evening, and in the process

1858
01:38:13,040 --> 01:38:15,320
Speaker 1: I entered to talking to another bow hunter on the farm,

1859
01:38:15,520 --> 01:38:18,200
Speaker 1: which took out one spot I could hunt it. And

1860
01:38:18,240 --> 01:38:20,640
Speaker 1: then I saw a Facebook post from this girl I

1861
01:38:20,680 --> 01:38:23,680
Speaker 1: graduated with her husband with a hunting their squirrel hung

1862
01:38:23,800 --> 01:38:27,599
Speaker 1: with their kid. They were so that's the other end

1863
01:38:27,680 --> 01:38:30,680
Speaker 1: where that bonner was living. And so I'm like, all right,

1864
01:38:31,160 --> 01:38:32,720
Speaker 1: you know, I mean that's just how it is. Well,

1865
01:38:32,720 --> 01:38:36,360
Speaker 1: you don't have control of it, so yeah, the standard

1866
01:38:36,400 --> 01:38:39,639
Speaker 1: I kind of had limited options. After the scorel hunters

1867
01:38:39,680 --> 01:38:42,519
Speaker 1: and the other bow hunter and the woodcutters, I had

1868
01:38:42,600 --> 01:38:46,639
Speaker 1: hung one uh one field that stand and another part

1869
01:38:46,680 --> 01:38:49,840
Speaker 1: of the farm where you know there's usually some good books.

1870
01:38:50,479 --> 01:38:52,559
Speaker 1: At some point in the season and usually they back

1871
01:38:52,640 --> 01:38:55,000
Speaker 1: up in there and that in the woods when it's

1872
01:38:55,080 --> 01:38:57,280
Speaker 1: they go hard antlers. I figured somebody would be in

1873
01:38:57,320 --> 01:39:00,160
Speaker 1: there that was good size, and so I, you know,

1874
01:39:00,240 --> 01:39:02,560
Speaker 1: it was partially I had limited options because of the

1875
01:39:02,600 --> 01:39:06,360
Speaker 1: other intrusions by people, and partially because the conditions were right,

1876
01:39:06,439 --> 01:39:10,240
Speaker 1: you know, the wind again with south southwest smoking, same

1877
01:39:10,400 --> 01:39:12,720
Speaker 1: kind of conditions as Nebraska, but they were they were

1878
01:39:12,800 --> 01:39:15,920
Speaker 1: good for that stand that that was intentional, and so

1879
01:39:16,080 --> 01:39:21,160
Speaker 1: I went in there early opening night. Uh, just just

1880
01:39:21,520 --> 01:39:24,160
Speaker 1: partially because it was all mostly what I had going on,

1881
01:39:24,360 --> 01:39:26,720
Speaker 1: and because I knew there would be something in there,

1882
01:39:27,160 --> 01:39:30,720
Speaker 1: and you know, dear started moving pretty early. Had one

1883
01:39:31,479 --> 01:39:34,160
Speaker 1: solid three year old type buck come out feed with

1884
01:39:34,240 --> 01:39:38,400
Speaker 1: some does, and everything was like real it was feeling

1885
01:39:38,680 --> 01:39:42,240
Speaker 1: really good. And then I heard a side by side

1886
01:39:42,320 --> 01:39:47,559
Speaker 1: on the minimum maintenance road going real slow and probably

1887
01:39:47,760 --> 01:39:49,880
Speaker 1: you know the roads by five yards in the stand.

1888
01:39:49,960 --> 01:39:52,040
Speaker 1: I can't see it, but I can cure it. And

1889
01:39:52,160 --> 01:39:55,040
Speaker 1: those deer that they were in the field at that time,

1890
01:39:55,080 --> 01:39:58,240
Speaker 1: they heard that side by side and they all bolted

1891
01:39:58,280 --> 01:40:00,960
Speaker 1: out of the field and so at at you know,

1892
01:40:01,840 --> 01:40:04,760
Speaker 1: this was probably about a half hour till the end

1893
01:40:04,800 --> 01:40:07,720
Speaker 1: of the legal shooting light. The whole elf helfone field

1894
01:40:07,760 --> 01:40:10,720
Speaker 1: cleared out, and I'm sitting here, going, man, what's going

1895
01:40:10,760 --> 01:40:13,280
Speaker 1: on up here? Whether here's these here this spooky on

1896
01:40:13,479 --> 01:40:16,040
Speaker 1: opening nights and I don't I don't know if somebody's

1897
01:40:16,040 --> 01:40:19,720
Speaker 1: been shining in there or you know, off road or what.

1898
01:40:20,600 --> 01:40:23,840
Speaker 1: So you know, either way, you know, what are you

1899
01:40:23,840 --> 01:40:25,479
Speaker 1: gonna do? So I'm sitting there and it's still a

1900
01:40:25,520 --> 01:40:28,400
Speaker 1: half hour left, and I had had one bill come

1901
01:40:28,439 --> 01:40:31,040
Speaker 1: out of the trail that I was really hoping they'd follow,

1902
01:40:31,040 --> 01:40:33,320
Speaker 1: because it takes some eighteen yards around that stand and

1903
01:40:33,360 --> 01:40:36,479
Speaker 1: it dumps him into the field in just a perfect spot.

1904
01:40:36,920 --> 01:40:39,280
Speaker 1: And I was sitting there and heard something behind me

1905
01:40:39,360 --> 01:40:41,280
Speaker 1: and had three little raccoons go by, and I was

1906
01:40:41,320 --> 01:40:43,840
Speaker 1: watching them, but I heard something else and I'm like, man,

1907
01:40:43,840 --> 01:40:46,760
Speaker 1: I wonder if that's another raccoon. And I looked back

1908
01:40:46,840 --> 01:40:49,000
Speaker 1: and I saw this rack going to the brush or

1909
01:40:49,080 --> 01:40:53,160
Speaker 1: this this antler times and as soon as the buck cleared,

1910
01:40:53,479 --> 01:40:55,599
Speaker 1: you know, the trail twenty yards away, and I got

1911
01:40:55,640 --> 01:40:57,560
Speaker 1: a good look at him on like, oh man, I

1912
01:40:57,680 --> 01:40:59,559
Speaker 1: know what dear this is. And if he comes out,

1913
01:40:59,680 --> 01:41:04,320
Speaker 1: he's can be eighteen yards broadside and he's worth filling

1914
01:41:04,360 --> 01:41:06,599
Speaker 1: my tag opening night, and that's exactly what he did.

1915
01:41:06,720 --> 01:41:09,400
Speaker 1: And he walked out and it was just like a gift.

1916
01:41:09,520 --> 01:41:13,880
Speaker 1: It was just a beautiful shot opportunity. What do you

1917
01:41:13,920 --> 01:41:15,679
Speaker 1: think he's doing? I mean, he was heading out to feed,

1918
01:41:15,760 --> 01:41:18,160
Speaker 1: But why did he come through there? Do you think? Like?

1919
01:41:18,320 --> 01:41:21,400
Speaker 1: What made that be the spot? On the spot? So

1920
01:41:22,000 --> 01:41:25,920
Speaker 1: there's a behind me and there's a sort of an

1921
01:41:25,960 --> 01:41:29,800
Speaker 1: oak flat, and then there's there's an old fence throw

1922
01:41:29,920 --> 01:41:33,559
Speaker 1: through the woods and just two ridges that they liked

1923
01:41:33,600 --> 01:41:36,080
Speaker 1: to bet on. It's it's just thicker. It's kind of this,

1924
01:41:36,920 --> 01:41:38,639
Speaker 1: you know. I guess you can call it a soft

1925
01:41:38,840 --> 01:41:41,160
Speaker 1: edge in there between two types of cover, like the

1926
01:41:41,240 --> 01:41:44,000
Speaker 1: more open oak flats and a little more brushy stuff.

1927
01:41:44,520 --> 01:41:48,040
Speaker 1: And so somebody big usually claims that spot, and so

1928
01:41:48,560 --> 01:41:52,880
Speaker 1: the closest route to play the wind in their favor

1929
01:41:53,080 --> 01:41:55,040
Speaker 1: and get to the field is out of that trail.

1930
01:41:55,479 --> 01:41:57,840
Speaker 1: So he just you know, when he went hard antler

1931
01:41:57,840 --> 01:42:00,200
Speaker 1: and he backed up into that spot started betting there,

1932
01:42:00,240 --> 01:42:01,880
Speaker 1: and it was opening night, so he just came out

1933
01:42:01,880 --> 01:42:04,160
Speaker 1: a little bit early instead of waiting for it to

1934
01:42:04,200 --> 01:42:06,800
Speaker 1: get dark, and he just that that that was just

1935
01:42:06,960 --> 01:42:11,880
Speaker 1: like the perfect field that gimme on opening night. You know,

1936
01:42:12,040 --> 01:42:14,400
Speaker 1: like even the same thing in Nebraska, if it would

1937
01:42:14,400 --> 01:42:17,240
Speaker 1: have been I wouldn't set that stand a week later,

1938
01:42:17,360 --> 01:42:19,320
Speaker 1: probably because I know people would have been in there

1939
01:42:19,680 --> 01:42:22,920
Speaker 1: and that beer is probably not going to make that mistake. Yeah,

1940
01:42:23,400 --> 01:42:26,600
Speaker 1: it's interesting both of these situations, your Nebraska hunt and

1941
01:42:26,880 --> 01:42:31,360
Speaker 1: your Minnesota hunt. It was you saw these bucks using

1942
01:42:31,360 --> 01:42:34,120
Speaker 1: a food source with long distance observation, and then you

1943
01:42:34,280 --> 01:42:37,360
Speaker 1: hunted the very first time you could in there, and

1944
01:42:37,439 --> 01:42:39,439
Speaker 1: they made that mistake on the first night. I mean,

1945
01:42:39,680 --> 01:42:41,720
Speaker 1: is the moral of the story for you as you're

1946
01:42:41,720 --> 01:42:45,000
Speaker 1: looking back on these two hunts simply that the value

1947
01:42:45,000 --> 01:42:48,719
Speaker 1: of long distance observation and then striking before hunting pressure

1948
01:42:48,800 --> 01:42:52,680
Speaker 1: changes things. Is that the takeaway here it's a big one, man.

1949
01:42:52,920 --> 01:42:55,880
Speaker 1: You know, there's there's so much value to that long

1950
01:42:56,000 --> 01:42:58,160
Speaker 1: range scouting if you get away with it. But you know,

1951
01:42:58,360 --> 01:43:01,840
Speaker 1: I think my takeaway for it, or a different takeaway,

1952
01:43:02,200 --> 01:43:06,519
Speaker 1: would just be that the scouting gives you options and

1953
01:43:06,760 --> 01:43:08,639
Speaker 1: if you you know, if you pin your hopes down

1954
01:43:08,760 --> 01:43:11,439
Speaker 1: one stand or one setup, or one food plot or

1955
01:43:11,920 --> 01:43:15,160
Speaker 1: one idea, you know, if you're hunting places with lots

1956
01:43:15,200 --> 01:43:17,600
Speaker 1: of people and so many variables, that are out of

1957
01:43:17,640 --> 01:43:20,559
Speaker 1: your control. You're you're gonna like Plan A is gonna

1958
01:43:20,600 --> 01:43:22,960
Speaker 1: blow up, Plan b's gonna blow up, like you gotta have,

1959
01:43:23,560 --> 01:43:26,120
Speaker 1: you gotta have some good options to fall back on,

1960
01:43:26,280 --> 01:43:28,200
Speaker 1: so you don't push a dead program or you don't

1961
01:43:28,320 --> 01:43:31,719
Speaker 1: just not go. And so I think I think the scouting,

1962
01:43:31,920 --> 01:43:34,080
Speaker 1: you know, it obviously plays into ways you should be

1963
01:43:34,160 --> 01:43:36,400
Speaker 1: and when you should be there, but it also just

1964
01:43:36,520 --> 01:43:39,639
Speaker 1: gives you more places to be. And I just think

1965
01:43:39,680 --> 01:43:42,680
Speaker 1: that matters a lot. Yeah, that's a great point, and

1966
01:43:42,760 --> 01:43:44,680
Speaker 1: that that was the situation I guess with both of

1967
01:43:44,720 --> 01:43:49,120
Speaker 1: those two hunts as well. So interesting how such similar

1968
01:43:49,160 --> 01:43:53,160
Speaker 1: situations could play out in in very separate states, in

1969
01:43:53,400 --> 01:43:56,320
Speaker 1: in unique ways in their own right, but with such

1970
01:43:56,400 --> 01:43:59,160
Speaker 1: similar court truths, and you're able to take advantage of it.

1971
01:43:59,439 --> 01:44:02,120
Speaker 1: So I think we can all take something away from

1972
01:44:02,160 --> 01:44:06,120
Speaker 1: that and learn from those experiences. Um, I hope, So,

1973
01:44:06,840 --> 01:44:09,720
Speaker 1: I hope you're gonna You're gonna continue the trend. And

1974
01:44:09,880 --> 01:44:14,720
Speaker 1: in three p here with a kill in in Colorado. Man,

1975
01:44:14,960 --> 01:44:18,000
Speaker 1: I am going into Colorado with low standard and I

1976
01:44:18,120 --> 01:44:20,080
Speaker 1: have an either sex out take, and I have a

1977
01:44:20,160 --> 01:44:24,519
Speaker 1: bear tag, and I have a small game take. I

1978
01:44:24,800 --> 01:44:28,600
Speaker 1: fully intend to try to take advantage of every opportunity

1979
01:44:28,640 --> 01:44:31,439
Speaker 1: that I'm given and to come away so Colorado with

1980
01:44:31,600 --> 01:44:33,400
Speaker 1: some kind of meat at the back of my truck.

1981
01:44:33,840 --> 01:44:36,479
Speaker 1: So I hope, so, I hope so too. And I

1982
01:44:36,560 --> 01:44:39,240
Speaker 1: hope some of the some of your good juju and

1983
01:44:39,400 --> 01:44:41,680
Speaker 1: you're you're smart hunting will rub off on me and

1984
01:44:41,800 --> 01:44:44,880
Speaker 1: help me get my season back on track after tough

1985
01:44:45,200 --> 01:44:49,439
Speaker 1: September hunt. So thank you Tony for for sharing. Thank

1986
01:44:49,520 --> 01:44:50,920
Speaker 1: you man, you just got you gotta come to North

1987
01:44:50,960 --> 01:44:53,800
Speaker 1: Dakota with me. Then, I know your your timing keeps on,

1988
01:44:54,080 --> 01:44:55,720
Speaker 1: it keeps on not lining up with mind. But I

1989
01:44:55,800 --> 01:44:57,719
Speaker 1: need to get out there. It sounds like it sounds

1990
01:44:57,720 --> 01:45:00,160
Speaker 1: like a little different time of year and make a difference. Uh,

1991
01:45:00,960 --> 01:45:03,559
Speaker 1: it would give you a different respective. But there's always

1992
01:45:03,640 --> 01:45:06,560
Speaker 1: so much going on out there that you just part of.

1993
01:45:06,600 --> 01:45:09,479
Speaker 1: This is just a lot, man, it is. And I yeah,

1994
01:45:09,520 --> 01:45:12,080
Speaker 1: I mean, as folks just heard me describe a little

1995
01:45:12,120 --> 01:45:13,880
Speaker 1: while ago, and as you and I talked about the

1996
01:45:13,960 --> 01:45:16,519
Speaker 1: phone a week or two ago. You know, I had

1997
01:45:16,600 --> 01:45:19,960
Speaker 1: my chance at a great buck and I just got greedy.

1998
01:45:20,400 --> 01:45:24,160
Speaker 1: So that's a lesson to be learned, I guess to it.

1999
01:45:25,320 --> 01:45:28,120
Speaker 1: It does all right, man, we'll drive safe and I

2000
01:45:28,200 --> 01:45:32,040
Speaker 1: can't wait to hear how it goes awesome smart. All right,

2001
01:45:32,160 --> 01:45:37,080
Speaker 1: So now we are here with Andy May and Andy,

2002
01:45:37,400 --> 01:45:42,320
Speaker 1: you wrapped up in early September hunt in Kentucky successfully.

2003
01:45:42,880 --> 01:45:44,400
Speaker 1: So what I'm hoping you can do here to help

2004
01:45:44,479 --> 01:45:46,479
Speaker 1: kind of round out what we've done in this episode

2005
01:45:46,520 --> 01:45:49,160
Speaker 1: so far is kind of here the cliff notes of

2006
01:45:49,200 --> 01:45:52,120
Speaker 1: your hunt, how it ended up going down, and and

2007
01:45:52,160 --> 01:45:53,519
Speaker 1: then I want to spend some time in the back

2008
01:45:53,640 --> 01:45:56,560
Speaker 1: end breaking down like your big takeaway from this what

2009
01:45:56,640 --> 01:45:59,280
Speaker 1: the crux of the hunt was. But I guess first

2010
01:46:00,160 --> 01:46:04,559
Speaker 1: me through real fast, how this Kentucky hunt came together? Okay, um,

2011
01:46:05,720 --> 01:46:10,759
Speaker 1: I actually was not planning on taking a early September

2012
01:46:10,840 --> 01:46:14,559
Speaker 1: hunt this year. That that time of year has quickly

2013
01:46:14,640 --> 01:46:17,519
Speaker 1: become like one of my favorite times to hunt. But

2014
01:46:17,920 --> 01:46:21,440
Speaker 1: this year I had an elk hunt planned in late September,

2015
01:46:22,520 --> 01:46:25,880
Speaker 1: and I just wasn't going to try to squeeze an

2016
01:46:25,920 --> 01:46:29,840
Speaker 1: early season uh September hunting. It just seemed like too

2017
01:46:29,960 --> 01:46:34,840
Speaker 1: much going on. But some things came together and I

2018
01:46:35,040 --> 01:46:39,080
Speaker 1: had a lead and made a couple of phone calls

2019
01:46:39,400 --> 01:46:44,800
Speaker 1: and I got permission to hunt a small I don't know,

2020
01:46:45,080 --> 01:46:50,599
Speaker 1: medium sized piece of private land. UM on the map,

2021
01:46:50,920 --> 01:46:54,120
Speaker 1: it looked very interesting because it was near town um

2022
01:46:55,080 --> 01:46:57,840
Speaker 1: kind of you know, sort of suburban style, but it

2023
01:46:57,920 --> 01:47:02,160
Speaker 1: was a decent sized piece for being near a town. Um.

2024
01:47:02,439 --> 01:47:05,200
Speaker 1: It clearly had some crops, had a river bottom through it,

2025
01:47:05,800 --> 01:47:07,919
Speaker 1: and it just looked like it had a ton of potential.

2026
01:47:08,240 --> 01:47:13,360
Speaker 1: And I decided last minute. It was it was a

2027
01:47:13,479 --> 01:47:17,400
Speaker 1: Wednesday evening that I decided, you know what, I'm gonna

2028
01:47:17,439 --> 01:47:20,160
Speaker 1: go do this for the weekend. Um, I only could

2029
01:47:20,240 --> 01:47:23,160
Speaker 1: squeeze in the weekend, and the opener was on a Saturday,

2030
01:47:24,000 --> 01:47:26,920
Speaker 1: and I just decided to go for it. So I

2031
01:47:27,000 --> 01:47:32,880
Speaker 1: made the decision Wednesday night, left Thursday UM and drove,

2032
01:47:33,360 --> 01:47:36,320
Speaker 1: you know, drove straight through to get there Thursday evening

2033
01:47:36,400 --> 01:47:40,639
Speaker 1: and glass and my my plan was to just long

2034
01:47:40,760 --> 01:47:45,280
Speaker 1: range scout this property and just lay eyes on a shooter.

2035
01:47:45,960 --> 01:47:47,680
Speaker 1: That was the goal. You know, if I knew if

2036
01:47:47,680 --> 01:47:50,640
Speaker 1: I could just lay eyes on a shooter, then I

2037
01:47:50,720 --> 01:47:53,880
Speaker 1: had a chance. And you know, that's always a long shot.

2038
01:47:53,960 --> 01:47:58,560
Speaker 1: But it's a good part of Kentucky, great genetics. Not

2039
01:47:58,880 --> 01:48:02,360
Speaker 1: that particularly how to find decent books. That time of year,

2040
01:48:02,439 --> 01:48:07,760
Speaker 1: they're pretty active, especially if you got some some good food,

2041
01:48:07,840 --> 01:48:12,160
Speaker 1: which this place did, and the pressure was relatively low.

2042
01:48:12,240 --> 01:48:15,600
Speaker 1: There were some hunters around, but this isn't like a

2043
01:48:15,720 --> 01:48:18,479
Speaker 1: highly pressured public land piece. It's a you know, it

2044
01:48:18,600 --> 01:48:22,800
Speaker 1: was a private piece and relatively low pressure. So the

2045
01:48:22,880 --> 01:48:26,200
Speaker 1: animals were pretty relaxed, as they are that time of

2046
01:48:26,280 --> 01:48:31,120
Speaker 1: year anyway. So UM, I'll just jump into you know

2047
01:48:31,240 --> 01:48:34,519
Speaker 1: how that first night of scouting went. UM. I set

2048
01:48:34,600 --> 01:48:37,120
Speaker 1: up the spotting scope and I glassed. I got I

2049
01:48:37,200 --> 01:48:40,400
Speaker 1: got on a high spot and I was able to

2050
01:48:40,479 --> 01:48:45,120
Speaker 1: glass this giant river bottom in a really big bean field,

2051
01:48:46,439 --> 01:48:49,280
Speaker 1: and I felt really good about the spot, except for

2052
01:48:49,920 --> 01:48:53,360
Speaker 1: my the number one spot that jumped out on me

2053
01:48:53,600 --> 01:48:57,720
Speaker 1: on the map that I wanted to scout in glass. Um,

2054
01:48:57,960 --> 01:48:59,840
Speaker 1: I couldn't see from the spot and the reason that

2055
01:49:00,000 --> 01:49:04,599
Speaker 1: spot jumped out to me was was were t two reasons. Um,

2056
01:49:05,040 --> 01:49:07,879
Speaker 1: it looked like the best type of betting or security

2057
01:49:07,920 --> 01:49:10,320
Speaker 1: cover was down in that part of the river bottom.

2058
01:49:11,080 --> 01:49:13,600
Speaker 1: It was a little wider, there were some points and

2059
01:49:13,720 --> 01:49:16,719
Speaker 1: some low spots in the field, and I just couldn't

2060
01:49:16,720 --> 01:49:21,400
Speaker 1: see it from that vantish point, but I could see

2061
01:49:22,360 --> 01:49:24,640
Speaker 1: the property from where I was, and I, you know,

2062
01:49:24,720 --> 01:49:28,320
Speaker 1: I just went with it that night. Two days before

2063
01:49:28,360 --> 01:49:32,400
Speaker 1: the season, I glassed a couple of bucks like a

2064
01:49:32,439 --> 01:49:35,559
Speaker 1: year and a half year old deer and a dough

2065
01:49:35,640 --> 01:49:39,800
Speaker 1: and a fawn. So it didn't pan out like I hoped.

2066
01:49:41,280 --> 01:49:45,000
Speaker 1: So the next morning did the same thing, glass from

2067
01:49:45,479 --> 01:49:47,719
Speaker 1: the same spot, and I did see a small bachelor

2068
01:49:47,760 --> 01:49:50,800
Speaker 1: group of bucks, probably two year old deer, you know,

2069
01:49:50,960 --> 01:49:54,679
Speaker 1: hundred inches to one fifteen type. It's dear, nice dear,

2070
01:49:55,120 --> 01:49:58,040
Speaker 1: but not really what I was looking for. And then

2071
01:49:58,520 --> 01:50:03,000
Speaker 1: I for for Friday. Uh. For Friday evening, I was

2072
01:50:03,120 --> 01:50:05,280
Speaker 1: kind of up in the air what I wanted to do.

2073
01:50:05,880 --> 01:50:08,840
Speaker 1: I was contemplating driving an hour or two an area

2074
01:50:08,880 --> 01:50:12,000
Speaker 1: that I hunted before that I know quite well, um,

2075
01:50:12,640 --> 01:50:15,360
Speaker 1: and just trying that. And then the other part of

2076
01:50:15,400 --> 01:50:21,080
Speaker 1: me was trying to decide is it worth maneuvering and

2077
01:50:21,200 --> 01:50:24,679
Speaker 1: glassing that last five of this property that I couldn't

2078
01:50:24,720 --> 01:50:27,360
Speaker 1: see from the previous Spanish point and in my opinion

2079
01:50:28,120 --> 01:50:31,640
Speaker 1: on the map look to be like the best. So

2080
01:50:31,880 --> 01:50:38,080
Speaker 1: I decided to just stick it out, and I basically, uh,

2081
01:50:39,040 --> 01:50:44,080
Speaker 1: I forego all the property, and I set up just

2082
01:50:44,280 --> 01:50:47,160
Speaker 1: so I could see that low spot that five left

2083
01:50:47,240 --> 01:50:49,960
Speaker 1: of the beans and that thicker part of the river bottom,

2084
01:50:50,600 --> 01:50:53,080
Speaker 1: and I set up for the evening and had some

2085
01:50:53,200 --> 01:50:55,519
Speaker 1: deer come out, had a really cool encounter. I was

2086
01:50:55,680 --> 01:50:57,479
Speaker 1: just set up in the beans, I like tucked down

2087
01:50:57,520 --> 01:51:00,559
Speaker 1: in the beans. They were about waist high, and two

2088
01:51:01,240 --> 01:51:03,280
Speaker 1: young bucks, probably a year and a half year old,

2089
01:51:03,360 --> 01:51:06,000
Speaker 1: came out and they ended up coming within like seven

2090
01:51:06,120 --> 01:51:08,280
Speaker 1: yards of me in the beans. I got some really

2091
01:51:08,320 --> 01:51:10,559
Speaker 1: neat video and they had no idea. I was there

2092
01:51:11,680 --> 01:51:15,320
Speaker 1: and right before dark, well about probably about twenty five

2093
01:51:15,320 --> 01:51:18,080
Speaker 1: minutes before dark, I see two deer come out of

2094
01:51:18,520 --> 01:51:20,680
Speaker 1: this point that comes out into the field right out

2095
01:51:20,720 --> 01:51:24,439
Speaker 1: of that river bottom and a glass and it's two

2096
01:51:24,479 --> 01:51:27,400
Speaker 1: good bucks, two shooters, the one in the back a

2097
01:51:27,479 --> 01:51:30,320
Speaker 1: little bit bigger than the one in front. And that's all.

2098
01:51:30,680 --> 01:51:32,519
Speaker 1: That's all I wanted to see. I wanted to lay eyes.

2099
01:51:32,640 --> 01:51:36,040
Speaker 1: Now I had something to go off of. Um they

2100
01:51:36,240 --> 01:51:38,840
Speaker 1: were kind of working my way, so I just hunched

2101
01:51:38,880 --> 01:51:40,439
Speaker 1: down and I got the heck out of there. I

2102
01:51:40,520 --> 01:51:43,360
Speaker 1: didn't bother too much with with videoing or anything like that.

2103
01:51:43,439 --> 01:51:47,880
Speaker 1: I just wanted to get out undetected. So that goes

2104
01:51:48,600 --> 01:51:52,720
Speaker 1: that takes us to opening evening and I went in

2105
01:51:52,920 --> 01:51:57,240
Speaker 1: with the saddle and it was kind of you know,

2106
01:51:57,360 --> 01:51:59,680
Speaker 1: sneaking my way in. I knew kind of roughly where

2107
01:51:59,720 --> 01:52:01,200
Speaker 1: I want to set up, but I just didn't have

2108
01:52:01,320 --> 01:52:05,720
Speaker 1: the tree picked out, and wind was a little if

2109
01:52:05,880 --> 01:52:10,679
Speaker 1: he I guess you could say it was not perfect

2110
01:52:10,800 --> 01:52:13,759
Speaker 1: for me, but it wasn't what I would say dead wrong.

2111
01:52:14,240 --> 01:52:16,280
Speaker 1: It was kind of like a just off wind, which

2112
01:52:18,120 --> 01:52:21,320
Speaker 1: is something that I do often, you know, when I'm

2113
01:52:21,360 --> 01:52:26,200
Speaker 1: being I guess a little more aggressive, and on this hunt,

2114
01:52:26,240 --> 01:52:28,360
Speaker 1: because it was such a short term hunt two days,

2115
01:52:29,240 --> 01:52:33,280
Speaker 1: I was definitely leaning on that more aggressive side. Um

2116
01:52:33,800 --> 01:52:36,920
Speaker 1: So you know, if if I had five days to

2117
01:52:37,000 --> 01:52:39,960
Speaker 1: hunt here, truthfully, I probably wouldn't have pushed it that

2118
01:52:40,080 --> 01:52:44,600
Speaker 1: first evening because Sunday's forecast was the perfect wind, but

2119
01:52:44,840 --> 01:52:46,680
Speaker 1: I try, you know, I decided to roll with it

2120
01:52:47,560 --> 01:52:51,080
Speaker 1: and I found a tree that was perfect, and judging

2121
01:52:51,160 --> 01:52:54,600
Speaker 1: by the travel line of these two bucks, you know

2122
01:52:54,680 --> 01:52:57,360
Speaker 1: they would have came within forty yards of this tree

2123
01:52:58,960 --> 01:53:01,639
Speaker 1: the night before. I felt pretty good about the city.

2124
01:53:01,760 --> 01:53:04,960
Speaker 1: If the wind would hold true and I got up there,

2125
01:53:05,200 --> 01:53:08,200
Speaker 1: it was it was really hot, really humid, just swept

2126
01:53:08,280 --> 01:53:12,439
Speaker 1: my butt off, and the wind was decent. It wasn't great,

2127
01:53:12,479 --> 01:53:14,439
Speaker 1: but it wasn't decent. I should be able to shoot

2128
01:53:14,479 --> 01:53:16,360
Speaker 1: these deer if they come out before they win me

2129
01:53:17,160 --> 01:53:20,880
Speaker 1: well about an hour into the hunter. So as you know,

2130
01:53:21,120 --> 01:53:23,600
Speaker 1: it starts kind of switching back and forth. You know,

2131
01:53:23,680 --> 01:53:25,840
Speaker 1: it doesn't always blow from the north. It's you know,

2132
01:53:25,920 --> 01:53:30,720
Speaker 1: it's a little northeast, it's a little northwest. And then

2133
01:53:30,840 --> 01:53:33,439
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you know it, it gets a

2134
01:53:33,520 --> 01:53:35,360
Speaker 1: couple of times through the night where it's just blowing

2135
01:53:35,439 --> 01:53:38,439
Speaker 1: me dead right into their bedding area and I'm within

2136
01:53:39,360 --> 01:53:42,120
Speaker 1: I'm within a hundred and ten yards maybe a hundred

2137
01:53:42,200 --> 01:53:45,759
Speaker 1: yards of where these where I think these deer are betted.

2138
01:53:47,120 --> 01:53:49,560
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, man, that's not good. So

2139
01:53:50,000 --> 01:53:53,000
Speaker 1: maybe once maybe you can get away with that. Um

2140
01:53:53,160 --> 01:53:55,640
Speaker 1: you know, I thought maybe maybe it missed them. But

2141
01:53:55,760 --> 01:53:58,000
Speaker 1: then you know, two or three more times throughout the night,

2142
01:53:58,520 --> 01:54:00,680
Speaker 1: it just keeps blowing right in there, and I'm like,

2143
01:54:00,880 --> 01:54:04,720
Speaker 1: this is this is not good. So, needless to say,

2144
01:54:04,760 --> 01:54:07,120
Speaker 1: they didn't show up that first night, and I kind

2145
01:54:07,160 --> 01:54:10,519
Speaker 1: of thought I shot myself in the foot with with

2146
01:54:10,720 --> 01:54:17,160
Speaker 1: that first hunt. So but knowing what I know about Kentucky,

2147
01:54:17,479 --> 01:54:20,960
Speaker 1: I've hunted their early season and their opener several times now.

2148
01:54:22,400 --> 01:54:25,320
Speaker 1: It's low pressure, you know, even in the even in

2149
01:54:25,400 --> 01:54:27,400
Speaker 1: the public land I've hunted down there. To me, it's

2150
01:54:27,640 --> 01:54:31,040
Speaker 1: it's really really low pressure that time of year. Now

2151
01:54:31,120 --> 01:54:33,280
Speaker 1: they might think it's higher, but it's just not high

2152
01:54:33,480 --> 01:54:36,920
Speaker 1: compared to what I'm used to. And even in this

2153
01:54:37,040 --> 01:54:39,240
Speaker 1: scenario on the piece of private, it was really low.

2154
01:54:39,440 --> 01:54:43,520
Speaker 1: So I felt like there's a there's a good chance

2155
01:54:43,640 --> 01:54:47,600
Speaker 1: that I didn't screw things up completely. And I looked

2156
01:54:47,760 --> 01:54:51,000
Speaker 1: poured over the map, and I was really going back

2157
01:54:51,040 --> 01:54:52,760
Speaker 1: and forth, and I want to sit in the same tree,

2158
01:54:53,400 --> 01:54:56,120
Speaker 1: or don't want to adjust, and that the two the

2159
01:54:56,200 --> 01:54:59,520
Speaker 1: two adjustments that I was considering was moving closer to

2160
01:54:59,600 --> 01:55:05,080
Speaker 1: the betting area, which probably eight times out of ten

2161
01:55:05,400 --> 01:55:08,400
Speaker 1: is something I would do. But given this set up

2162
01:55:08,840 --> 01:55:11,560
Speaker 1: in the way I thought these deer were betting on

2163
01:55:11,720 --> 01:55:15,160
Speaker 1: this point, I didn't feel like that was a really

2164
01:55:15,200 --> 01:55:18,440
Speaker 1: good option because if I moved closer, I literally have

2165
01:55:18,640 --> 01:55:22,280
Speaker 1: to I have to go across the beans and kind

2166
01:55:22,320 --> 01:55:25,720
Speaker 1: of get into that point. And the way dear bed

2167
01:55:26,440 --> 01:55:30,000
Speaker 1: often in farm country is when the wind is at

2168
01:55:30,000 --> 01:55:32,560
Speaker 1: their back, they will they will face the feeding area.

2169
01:55:32,880 --> 01:55:35,720
Speaker 1: So you know, vegetation was high. There's a chance I

2170
01:55:35,800 --> 01:55:38,720
Speaker 1: could have got in there. It's really thick. There's a

2171
01:55:38,840 --> 01:55:40,800
Speaker 1: chance I could have got in there, maybe got up

2172
01:55:41,040 --> 01:55:45,000
Speaker 1: set up undetected. They couldn't see clearly out into the

2173
01:55:45,080 --> 01:55:47,600
Speaker 1: beans just because of all the tangle on the vegetation.

2174
01:55:47,760 --> 01:55:50,600
Speaker 1: But it was really really risky. They could have been.

2175
01:55:50,880 --> 01:55:53,720
Speaker 1: They could have been bedded, you know, twenty yards inside,

2176
01:55:53,840 --> 01:55:56,200
Speaker 1: or they could have been bedded seventy yards inside. But

2177
01:55:56,280 --> 01:55:58,360
Speaker 1: I knew there was a general area where they were

2178
01:55:59,040 --> 01:56:03,840
Speaker 1: and it just like a way too you know, risky situation.

2179
01:56:04,040 --> 01:56:08,120
Speaker 1: So what I did was I said, Okay, what are

2180
01:56:08,240 --> 01:56:11,720
Speaker 1: what's my other option? My other option is to kind

2181
01:56:11,720 --> 01:56:14,680
Speaker 1: of hunt on the pattern. Then I saw that night

2182
01:56:14,720 --> 01:56:17,840
Speaker 1: before the opener, but I did think that they were

2183
01:56:17,920 --> 01:56:22,640
Speaker 1: going to adjust, and I felt like they got, you know,

2184
01:56:22,880 --> 01:56:26,280
Speaker 1: several nose full of my scent the night before. I

2185
01:56:26,400 --> 01:56:28,320
Speaker 1: just didn't feel confident that we're going to go by

2186
01:56:28,400 --> 01:56:30,640
Speaker 1: the tree that I was in. So what I did

2187
01:56:30,840 --> 01:56:33,080
Speaker 1: was I knew where they were going, I knew the

2188
01:56:33,160 --> 01:56:36,560
Speaker 1: direction they wanted to go, and I just rolled the dice,

2189
01:56:36,640 --> 01:56:38,720
Speaker 1: hoping that they would still move before dark. But what

2190
01:56:38,840 --> 01:56:42,400
Speaker 1: I did is I actually moved farther away. And I

2191
01:56:42,480 --> 01:56:44,440
Speaker 1: know I've told this to a couple of people and

2192
01:56:44,440 --> 01:56:46,760
Speaker 1: they're like, what you move farther away. Well, I moved

2193
01:56:46,800 --> 01:56:52,280
Speaker 1: farther away, um in anticipation, anticipation that they would skirt

2194
01:56:52,400 --> 01:56:55,880
Speaker 1: the tree that I was in before, so I knew

2195
01:56:55,920 --> 01:56:58,400
Speaker 1: the direction and the travel they wanted to go. I

2196
01:56:58,560 --> 01:57:01,160
Speaker 1: moved farther down the line so that if they took

2197
01:57:01,240 --> 01:57:05,560
Speaker 1: that same sort of angle but skirted that tree, eventually,

2198
01:57:05,960 --> 01:57:08,280
Speaker 1: if they moved far enough before dark, they would still

2199
01:57:08,880 --> 01:57:12,360
Speaker 1: get to where I was. Does that make sense? It does,

2200
01:57:12,800 --> 01:57:16,480
Speaker 1: But it also does seem like a decent leap, like

2201
01:57:16,560 --> 01:57:18,560
Speaker 1: a leap of faith, to think like that they'll come

2202
01:57:18,600 --> 01:57:21,400
Speaker 1: out again and then that yes, they'll skirt it, but

2203
01:57:21,480 --> 01:57:24,880
Speaker 1: they'll make it far enough, even though they have previously

2204
01:57:25,040 --> 01:57:28,520
Speaker 1: had humans scent now in their nose, but to believe

2205
01:57:28,520 --> 01:57:30,440
Speaker 1: they would skirt that edge and still make it to

2206
01:57:30,440 --> 01:57:34,240
Speaker 1: you during daylight. So what I'm wondering is what percent,

2207
01:57:34,720 --> 01:57:36,600
Speaker 1: like how confident were you in this? Did you go

2208
01:57:36,720 --> 01:57:39,000
Speaker 1: in there thinking, well, is the best idea I've got

2209
01:57:39,120 --> 01:57:42,640
Speaker 1: but probably chance or ten percent chance? Or you're do

2210
01:57:42,640 --> 01:57:46,000
Speaker 1: you going thinking this is going to happen? No? I

2211
01:57:46,040 --> 01:57:48,760
Speaker 1: would say I definitely didn't think it was gonna happen.

2212
01:57:49,320 --> 01:57:52,520
Speaker 1: So you and I and a lot of listeners out

2213
01:57:52,560 --> 01:57:55,320
Speaker 1: here that hunt, you know, higher pressure deer. That's the

2214
01:57:55,400 --> 01:57:58,720
Speaker 1: way we think. We know we typically only get one chance,

2215
01:57:58,920 --> 01:58:01,560
Speaker 1: and if they get they get your scent, it's usually over.

2216
01:58:02,000 --> 01:58:04,520
Speaker 1: You're usually not going to kill him in that location again,

2217
01:58:04,800 --> 01:58:07,360
Speaker 1: So we we know that we have to make that

2218
01:58:07,520 --> 01:58:11,120
Speaker 1: first time count. This isn't that scenario. And a lot

2219
01:58:11,200 --> 01:58:13,400
Speaker 1: of times I hunt out of state, it's not that scenario.

2220
01:58:13,640 --> 01:58:16,880
Speaker 1: You you can often get more than one chance, but

2221
01:58:17,000 --> 01:58:19,240
Speaker 1: they may adjust. Now I'm not saying you can get

2222
01:58:19,560 --> 01:58:21,600
Speaker 1: eight chances, but you might be able to get to

2223
01:58:22,560 --> 01:58:25,240
Speaker 1: and um. So when I adjusted, it was it was

2224
01:58:25,520 --> 01:58:29,720
Speaker 1: I literally sitting in the same tree. I I got

2225
01:58:29,840 --> 01:58:31,440
Speaker 1: rid of that option. I just didn't think that was

2226
01:58:31,480 --> 01:58:33,600
Speaker 1: going to pan out because I just felt like they

2227
01:58:33,720 --> 01:58:38,160
Speaker 1: knew something of danger was there and just going off

2228
01:58:38,840 --> 01:58:41,520
Speaker 1: you know, past hunts and past experiences. I just didn't.

2229
01:58:42,040 --> 01:58:43,640
Speaker 1: I felt like I could have seen them from there,

2230
01:58:43,760 --> 01:58:45,720
Speaker 1: but I felt like they were gonna skirt me. So

2231
01:58:45,880 --> 01:58:50,480
Speaker 1: my two choices were moving tight to betting, or move

2232
01:58:50,600 --> 01:58:54,280
Speaker 1: farther away down their travel route, you know, on the

2233
01:58:54,320 --> 01:58:56,400
Speaker 1: way to where they were going. They were heading towards

2234
01:58:56,440 --> 01:58:59,400
Speaker 1: this river crossing to some some other crop fields. They

2235
01:58:59,440 --> 01:59:01,120
Speaker 1: were kind of just browsing through the beans when I

2236
01:59:01,160 --> 01:59:03,840
Speaker 1: saw him moving at a fairly decent you know clip,

2237
01:59:05,040 --> 01:59:07,720
Speaker 1: So I just choose the ladder, and I would say, yeah,

2238
01:59:07,840 --> 01:59:12,360
Speaker 1: probably roughly. I thought for sure i'd see them maybe

2239
01:59:12,400 --> 01:59:14,440
Speaker 1: at last light. Will they get to me? That's the

2240
01:59:14,640 --> 01:59:17,080
Speaker 1: that's the the question. So I was left with those

2241
01:59:17,160 --> 01:59:20,920
Speaker 1: two options, and I chose not to skewed in tight

2242
01:59:20,960 --> 01:59:24,280
Speaker 1: to the bedding because I had a pretty darn good

2243
01:59:24,320 --> 01:59:27,160
Speaker 1: idea where they were, and I knew I couldn't get

2244
01:59:27,320 --> 01:59:29,880
Speaker 1: I really couldn't get any closer without busting him. I was,

2245
01:59:30,520 --> 01:59:34,400
Speaker 1: I was sure of that. So I I guess I

2246
01:59:34,480 --> 01:59:38,280
Speaker 1: took the lesser of two evils and hoped for the best.

2247
01:59:39,080 --> 01:59:42,080
Speaker 1: So you got up in your tree, what happened? Yep?

2248
01:59:42,200 --> 01:59:46,480
Speaker 1: So I get up in my tree and wind is perfect.

2249
01:59:46,800 --> 01:59:49,320
Speaker 1: Things are, things are looking good, things are feeling good.

2250
01:59:50,080 --> 01:59:53,440
Speaker 1: And you know, these dear the day before season, moved

2251
01:59:53,520 --> 01:59:58,840
Speaker 1: twenty minutes before dark for last shooting light. The day

2252
01:59:59,600 --> 02:00:02,280
Speaker 1: of the opener, they got a whiff of me. So

2253
02:00:02,400 --> 02:00:07,320
Speaker 1: I'm expecting last minute shooting and then I'm sitting there

2254
02:00:07,400 --> 02:00:09,600
Speaker 1: kind of just you know, be impatient. Some deer starting

2255
02:00:09,600 --> 02:00:11,920
Speaker 1: to kind of filter out in the beans, and all

2256
02:00:11,920 --> 02:00:15,840
Speaker 1: of a sudden I look up and these two these

2257
02:00:15,880 --> 02:00:18,960
Speaker 1: two bucks, these same two bucks are exiting the betting

2258
02:00:19,040 --> 02:00:24,400
Speaker 1: area about an hour before dark, so even earlier, which

2259
02:00:24,440 --> 02:00:28,280
Speaker 1: which shocked me. But they did exactly what I anticipated.

2260
02:00:28,360 --> 02:00:31,280
Speaker 1: They didn't come off that point, off the tip of

2261
02:00:31,360 --> 02:00:36,480
Speaker 1: the point. They came off fifty yards away from the

2262
02:00:36,560 --> 02:00:38,680
Speaker 1: tip of the point, still out of the point, but

2263
02:00:38,960 --> 02:00:43,440
Speaker 1: fifty yards further from where I was set up the

2264
02:00:43,560 --> 02:00:49,920
Speaker 1: night before, totally skirting that original stand location. And I

2265
02:00:49,960 --> 02:00:52,120
Speaker 1: could tell that they were on alert because they came

2266
02:00:52,160 --> 02:00:56,080
Speaker 1: out and they spent that first five ten minutes staring

2267
02:00:56,160 --> 02:00:58,360
Speaker 1: over in that direction of the old tree, so they

2268
02:00:58,480 --> 02:01:01,360
Speaker 1: knew I was there, they knew I had been there.

2269
02:01:01,720 --> 02:01:04,680
Speaker 1: But they adjusted and they still came out. It's still

2270
02:01:04,760 --> 02:01:11,080
Speaker 1: an early season, early September pattern, unrelaxed, unpressured deer, and

2271
02:01:11,840 --> 02:01:16,360
Speaker 1: you know, a September early September deer are far different

2272
02:01:16,440 --> 02:01:21,840
Speaker 1: than our opener October one. They act completely different. You know,

2273
02:01:21,880 --> 02:01:25,720
Speaker 1: they're still a bachelor groups, they're still deer moving uh,

2274
02:01:25,920 --> 02:01:29,960
Speaker 1: you know, very early into um. The food sources and

2275
02:01:30,040 --> 02:01:33,440
Speaker 1: the deer just feel more comfortable moving when they're in

2276
02:01:33,520 --> 02:01:35,840
Speaker 1: groups and when when other deer are out in the

2277
02:01:35,880 --> 02:01:40,320
Speaker 1: food source already unbothered. And that's what I think happened here.

2278
02:01:40,640 --> 02:01:43,480
Speaker 1: There were several deer already out in the beans, unbothered.

2279
02:01:44,560 --> 02:01:47,800
Speaker 1: These deer popped up, they came out and there they're

2280
02:01:47,880 --> 02:01:50,200
Speaker 1: kind of looking in that direction of the old tree.

2281
02:01:51,120 --> 02:01:53,400
Speaker 1: And after I don't know about ten minutes, they just

2282
02:01:53,760 --> 02:01:57,919
Speaker 1: forgot about it, start munching on the beans and slowly

2283
02:01:58,000 --> 02:02:00,840
Speaker 1: start making their way right in my direction. And I

2284
02:02:00,960 --> 02:02:02,800
Speaker 1: was like, Oh my gosh, this is actually gonna happen.

2285
02:02:02,880 --> 02:02:05,120
Speaker 1: I knew right then I was going to get a

2286
02:02:05,160 --> 02:02:08,960
Speaker 1: crack at this as long as the wind held true. Yeah,

2287
02:02:09,080 --> 02:02:12,480
Speaker 1: it was. It was pretty wild. And like I said,

2288
02:02:12,680 --> 02:02:15,040
Speaker 1: I told the story to some friends and I was like,

2289
02:02:15,240 --> 02:02:18,839
Speaker 1: what you did? What? But but I hopefully I explained

2290
02:02:18,880 --> 02:02:22,240
Speaker 1: it in a way that the listeners can understand why

2291
02:02:22,360 --> 02:02:24,960
Speaker 1: I made that choice. And I'm not saying I knew

2292
02:02:25,040 --> 02:02:28,040
Speaker 1: this was the right choice. I felt super confident. I didn't.

2293
02:02:28,120 --> 02:02:32,720
Speaker 1: I just I made the less risky choice. Yeah. So

2294
02:02:33,080 --> 02:02:35,360
Speaker 1: when you look at this, and I guess your story

2295
02:02:35,480 --> 02:02:36,960
Speaker 1: ends when you get a shot at a great buck

2296
02:02:37,040 --> 02:02:39,800
Speaker 1: and you killed a nice ten pointer. Um, when you

2297
02:02:39,880 --> 02:02:42,040
Speaker 1: look back on it, what do you think was the

2298
02:02:42,200 --> 02:02:45,480
Speaker 1: crux of this or your big takeaway. Was it the

2299
02:02:45,600 --> 02:02:50,320
Speaker 1: fact that you observed, observed, observed until you saw what

2300
02:02:50,400 --> 02:02:54,120
Speaker 1: you need and then struck um, Or was it that

2301
02:02:54,320 --> 02:02:56,960
Speaker 1: you struck and then it wasn't quite right and you

2302
02:02:57,040 --> 02:03:00,080
Speaker 1: knew how to adjust? Or like where's your where's your that?

2303
02:03:00,160 --> 02:03:02,200
Speaker 1: When you try to analyze, like what came over this

2304
02:03:02,360 --> 02:03:05,680
Speaker 1: and what you take from it? Yeah, probably a couple

2305
02:03:05,680 --> 02:03:09,240
Speaker 1: of things, um exactly that you know. One thing is

2306
02:03:10,440 --> 02:03:14,720
Speaker 1: again early September. These deer are a different animal. If

2307
02:03:14,800 --> 02:03:17,440
Speaker 1: you can lay your eyes on a shooter, you have

2308
02:03:17,560 --> 02:03:19,480
Speaker 1: a really good chance. And if you're in a state

2309
02:03:19,560 --> 02:03:23,800
Speaker 1: like Kentucky or maybe a slightly lower pressure state where

2310
02:03:23,840 --> 02:03:26,760
Speaker 1: you got that early September opener, you can be really

2311
02:03:26,840 --> 02:03:31,000
Speaker 1: aggressive and you can move in on these deer. Um

2312
02:03:31,120 --> 02:03:35,000
Speaker 1: there their ultra relaxed. They're usually hitting the crop fields

2313
02:03:35,120 --> 02:03:38,160
Speaker 1: really hard, easy to pattern. The tricky part is just

2314
02:03:38,320 --> 02:03:40,520
Speaker 1: finding a good one to go after. And that's where

2315
02:03:40,560 --> 02:03:45,320
Speaker 1: I got lucky and and luckily um on my glassing.

2316
02:03:45,920 --> 02:03:49,680
Speaker 1: You know, instead of walking away after I observed of

2317
02:03:49,720 --> 02:03:53,760
Speaker 1: the property and didn't see a shooter, I zoned in

2318
02:03:53,880 --> 02:03:56,600
Speaker 1: on that five percent of the property that looked to

2319
02:03:56,760 --> 02:03:59,720
Speaker 1: be really good and looked to be like it had

2320
02:03:59,720 --> 02:04:02,800
Speaker 1: the spetting, the lowest point in the field where a

2321
02:04:02,880 --> 02:04:04,880
Speaker 1: lot of times these big geer like to enter, and

2322
02:04:04,960 --> 02:04:07,880
Speaker 1: that's exactly where they came out. So I would say

2323
02:04:07,920 --> 02:04:11,480
Speaker 1: that would be one. And yeah, you know that that

2324
02:04:11,640 --> 02:04:14,960
Speaker 1: time of year, Um, if you're in type of farm

2325
02:04:15,080 --> 02:04:18,960
Speaker 1: country or or maybe more like western plains, the play,

2326
02:04:19,320 --> 02:04:22,320
Speaker 1: in my opinion, is to sit back in glass. I

2327
02:04:22,400 --> 02:04:24,960
Speaker 1: had I devoted four days to this hunt, but only

2328
02:04:25,080 --> 02:04:28,360
Speaker 1: two days to hunt. I devoted those first two days

2329
02:04:28,400 --> 02:04:32,160
Speaker 1: to just scout, and and that that that if I

2330
02:04:32,240 --> 02:04:34,640
Speaker 1: if I didn't do that, then I'm then I'm just

2331
02:04:34,680 --> 02:04:38,160
Speaker 1: playing that guessing game. Yeah, I can probably pick out

2332
02:04:38,200 --> 02:04:40,200
Speaker 1: on a map. Yeah, this looks like the best spot.

2333
02:04:40,280 --> 02:04:42,280
Speaker 1: This is the low spot. This is probably where a

2334
02:04:42,320 --> 02:04:43,800
Speaker 1: good one pop out, but I don't know if a

2335
02:04:43,800 --> 02:04:47,360
Speaker 1: good one is there. So that that time of year,

2336
02:04:47,440 --> 02:04:50,600
Speaker 1: that that scouting, that glassing in that type of habitat,

2337
02:04:50,680 --> 02:04:53,880
Speaker 1: that type of country I think is hugely important. I'd

2338
02:04:53,920 --> 02:04:56,920
Speaker 1: rather do that three days in hunt one. You know,

2339
02:04:57,080 --> 02:05:00,680
Speaker 1: It's definitely something that every year I try more and

2340
02:05:00,760 --> 02:05:02,880
Speaker 1: more of that type of this type of hunt. I'm

2341
02:05:03,000 --> 02:05:08,080
Speaker 1: learning that the importance of that scouting, like you said,

2342
02:05:08,320 --> 02:05:10,560
Speaker 1: matters almost more in the actual hunt itself. The intel

2343
02:05:10,840 --> 02:05:14,600
Speaker 1: get informed than strike. That's right. And then one more

2344
02:05:14,680 --> 02:05:19,320
Speaker 1: thing too, you know, I I take a lot of

2345
02:05:19,400 --> 02:05:23,120
Speaker 1: these two to four day trips. I've been on the

2346
02:05:23,200 --> 02:05:25,920
Speaker 1: podcast enough. Everybody knows I don't get vacation time. I

2347
02:05:25,960 --> 02:05:29,280
Speaker 1: work at a school. Um, So what I do is

2348
02:05:29,560 --> 02:05:32,160
Speaker 1: I often take weekend trips or a long weekend like

2349
02:05:32,200 --> 02:05:34,560
Speaker 1: a Friday, Saturday, Sunday something like that, and just drive

2350
02:05:34,600 --> 02:05:39,160
Speaker 1: all night. And a lot of guys, I don't think

2351
02:05:39,200 --> 02:05:42,680
Speaker 1: that that's worth it, and I understand that, like you know,

2352
02:05:42,840 --> 02:05:45,520
Speaker 1: we all have in our mind that the hunts should

2353
02:05:45,520 --> 02:05:47,520
Speaker 1: be a week you know, five days, seven days, that

2354
02:05:47,560 --> 02:05:49,840
Speaker 1: should be your hunt. Well, I've never been able to

2355
02:05:49,920 --> 02:05:52,600
Speaker 1: do that. Um It's always been the kind of that

2356
02:05:52,680 --> 02:05:57,240
Speaker 1: weekend warrior type type hunt for me. But what I

2357
02:05:57,640 --> 02:06:01,960
Speaker 1: what I tell guys is it's totally worth it, because yeah,

2358
02:06:02,000 --> 02:06:04,000
Speaker 1: you mightn't be able to hunt two or three days,

2359
02:06:04,080 --> 02:06:05,800
Speaker 1: but if you do that two or three years in

2360
02:06:05,840 --> 02:06:08,640
Speaker 1: a row, that's a seven to nine day hunt. It's

2361
02:06:08,680 --> 02:06:11,760
Speaker 1: just spread out, and not only that, you're learning the

2362
02:06:11,880 --> 02:06:14,720
Speaker 1: area better. So every year you go back to that

2363
02:06:14,920 --> 02:06:17,520
Speaker 1: state or that type of habitat or or even maybe

2364
02:06:17,600 --> 02:06:21,240
Speaker 1: that property. You're learning it more and more, you're becoming

2365
02:06:21,320 --> 02:06:26,320
Speaker 1: more efficient, and also on those short hunts, I I

2366
02:06:26,440 --> 02:06:29,040
Speaker 1: think it's really kind of shaped my style to be

2367
02:06:30,000 --> 02:06:33,080
Speaker 1: more aggressive and to be more attentive and to pick

2368
02:06:33,120 --> 02:06:37,440
Speaker 1: out the exact kill spot rather than if I have

2369
02:06:37,840 --> 02:06:41,320
Speaker 1: five days to seven days to ten days, you know,

2370
02:06:41,440 --> 02:06:43,200
Speaker 1: I might kind of roll the dice. I might sit

2371
02:06:43,280 --> 02:06:45,720
Speaker 1: here for an observation sid or I might you know,

2372
02:06:45,880 --> 02:06:47,800
Speaker 1: I might sit the spot. I don't have a percent

2373
02:06:47,880 --> 02:06:51,560
Speaker 1: confidence in, but it looks decent. It. I think it

2374
02:06:51,680 --> 02:06:58,000
Speaker 1: just really uh helps you form an aggressive but thoughtful

2375
02:06:58,080 --> 02:07:01,000
Speaker 1: type type of approach to get it done in such

2376
02:07:01,000 --> 02:07:03,840
Speaker 1: a short time. And I'm not saying that you can

2377
02:07:03,920 --> 02:07:06,960
Speaker 1: go and kill five year six year old bucks every

2378
02:07:07,000 --> 02:07:09,120
Speaker 1: time on these trips, but I've been really successful on

2379
02:07:09,240 --> 02:07:13,040
Speaker 1: two I mean on on some three four and an

2380
02:07:13,080 --> 02:07:16,800
Speaker 1: occasionally even older bus than that, so it could definitely

2381
02:07:16,840 --> 02:07:19,480
Speaker 1: can be done. I definitely tell guys, you know, if

2382
02:07:19,560 --> 02:07:21,520
Speaker 1: you have the time to do it, go do it,

2383
02:07:21,800 --> 02:07:24,960
Speaker 1: because you're only it's only going to help you improve

2384
02:07:25,480 --> 02:07:27,520
Speaker 1: as a hunter. And I think a lot of guys

2385
02:07:27,560 --> 02:07:30,320
Speaker 1: out there like you like me, that's our goal. We

2386
02:07:30,440 --> 02:07:32,360
Speaker 1: just want to improve. We want to continue to grow

2387
02:07:32,920 --> 02:07:36,400
Speaker 1: and become better hunters. And those short trips, you know,

2388
02:07:36,480 --> 02:07:39,600
Speaker 1: they're not always successful, but I never, I never once

2389
02:07:39,640 --> 02:07:42,520
Speaker 1: have regretted one, even you know, driving all night, driving

2390
02:07:42,520 --> 02:07:45,960
Speaker 1: all night back I came, I drove all night Sunday

2391
02:07:46,040 --> 02:07:48,040
Speaker 1: night and was back to work Monday morning, and I

2392
02:07:48,120 --> 02:07:50,960
Speaker 1: was dog tired, But man, I had a blast deer

2393
02:07:51,040 --> 02:07:53,240
Speaker 1: or not, and I didn't regret it. Yeah, And I

2394
02:07:53,280 --> 02:07:56,520
Speaker 1: think you made a great point about even though their

2395
02:07:56,560 --> 02:07:59,560
Speaker 1: short trips, taking like making sure you soak every bit

2396
02:07:59,640 --> 02:08:03,600
Speaker 1: out of it with that learning experience. And it's kind

2397
02:08:03,640 --> 02:08:05,480
Speaker 1: of like the more the whole moral of the story

2398
02:08:05,520 --> 02:08:07,920
Speaker 1: of this whole podcast we've done with you know, before

2399
02:08:07,960 --> 02:08:10,200
Speaker 1: you we talked to Tony Peterson, we talked to Dan

2400
02:08:10,560 --> 02:08:13,320
Speaker 1: and then I all three of us now you we've

2401
02:08:13,400 --> 02:08:15,760
Speaker 1: kind of done a post mortem on each of our hunts.

2402
02:08:15,880 --> 02:08:17,880
Speaker 1: And we we had the hunt, but it's not enough

2403
02:08:17,960 --> 02:08:19,120
Speaker 1: just to have the hunt, and then you need to

2404
02:08:19,120 --> 02:08:20,920
Speaker 1: take a little time. Maybe it's on the drive home,

2405
02:08:21,040 --> 02:08:23,600
Speaker 1: maybe it's the next night, maybe it's you know, with

2406
02:08:23,720 --> 02:08:27,640
Speaker 1: a buddy talk through what happened, what did I do right?

2407
02:08:27,760 --> 02:08:29,800
Speaker 1: What do I do wrong? What can I learn from this?

2408
02:08:30,040 --> 02:08:34,080
Speaker 1: And I just think like that little step, that final step,

2409
02:08:34,520 --> 02:08:36,400
Speaker 1: can make a big difference. It's so easy to just

2410
02:08:36,520 --> 02:08:39,080
Speaker 1: like continue on with life and life just flies by,

2411
02:08:39,160 --> 02:08:41,360
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden it's, you know, weeks and

2412
02:08:41,440 --> 02:08:43,760
Speaker 1: months later, and you never really stood on it a

2413
02:08:43,840 --> 02:08:46,840
Speaker 1: little bit, taking this time to just I know you

2414
02:08:47,000 --> 02:08:48,560
Speaker 1: do this. You look at your journals and you look

2415
02:08:48,560 --> 02:08:50,880
Speaker 1: at the numbers. You look at Yeah, I know you're

2416
02:08:50,880 --> 02:08:53,680
Speaker 1: a thinker on these things and think back and replay

2417
02:08:53,840 --> 02:08:56,080
Speaker 1: and try to figure out why things happened and why

2418
02:08:56,160 --> 02:08:58,600
Speaker 1: this worked or why it didn't. And uh, I think

2419
02:08:58,640 --> 02:09:00,480
Speaker 1: that's why you're able to have this us now. And

2420
02:09:00,560 --> 02:09:03,280
Speaker 1: it's I think it's uh. I think it's a good

2421
02:09:04,000 --> 02:09:05,960
Speaker 1: This isn't the ultimate lesson that I thought we'd be

2422
02:09:06,120 --> 02:09:07,840
Speaker 1: learning from this podcast, but I think it kind of

2423
02:09:08,040 --> 02:09:13,560
Speaker 1: is do this, think about this break down your buddies, hunts,

2424
02:09:13,720 --> 02:09:17,200
Speaker 1: think about theirs. That's kind of the magic, I think,

2425
02:09:17,720 --> 02:09:20,680
Speaker 1: at least from my perspective, is figuring out how to

2426
02:09:21,160 --> 02:09:23,640
Speaker 1: get the most I've ever experienced and learned from it,

2427
02:09:24,040 --> 02:09:26,880
Speaker 1: figure out more for the next time. So thank you

2428
02:09:26,960 --> 02:09:29,080
Speaker 1: Andy for helping us do that. And taking a little

2429
02:09:29,120 --> 02:09:31,200
Speaker 1: time here. I know we went longer than we originally

2430
02:09:31,240 --> 02:09:37,080
Speaker 1: talked about doing. So always always really helpful stuff. Alright, man,

2431
02:09:37,160 --> 02:09:41,480
Speaker 1: no problem, my pleasure. All right. So you've heard a

2432
02:09:41,520 --> 02:09:44,280
Speaker 1: whole lot here so far. You had the story of

2433
02:09:44,360 --> 02:09:47,760
Speaker 1: Dan's outcome, you had the story of my North Dakota hunt.

2434
02:09:48,400 --> 02:09:51,800
Speaker 1: You had Tony's couple hunts over there in Nebraska and Minnesota,

2435
02:09:51,880 --> 02:09:54,200
Speaker 1: and finally we wrapped it up with Andy down in Kentucky.

2436
02:09:55,600 --> 02:09:58,520
Speaker 1: A lot of distance covered here, but if I had

2437
02:09:58,640 --> 02:10:02,600
Speaker 1: to sit back and drilled down to a couple core things.

2438
02:10:02,880 --> 02:10:04,880
Speaker 1: It's a little bit harder on Dan's hunt because it

2439
02:10:04,960 --> 02:10:07,000
Speaker 1: was an elk hunt, but I can still even find

2440
02:10:07,080 --> 02:10:11,280
Speaker 1: something in coming here. The big things drilled down to

2441
02:10:11,320 --> 02:10:16,320
Speaker 1: two points, I think Number one the importance of scouting,

2442
02:10:16,560 --> 02:10:20,480
Speaker 1: in particular watching deer from afar, watching animals from a far,

2443
02:10:20,640 --> 02:10:24,240
Speaker 1: long distance observation. We talked about it right there at

2444
02:10:24,240 --> 02:10:26,200
Speaker 1: the end of Andy, and we talked about for sure

2445
02:10:26,240 --> 02:10:28,080
Speaker 1: with Tony, and I of course is doing it in

2446
02:10:28,120 --> 02:10:33,480
Speaker 1: North Dakota. It's so much better in most cases to watch,

2447
02:10:34,040 --> 02:10:37,160
Speaker 1: to learn, to become informed before you go diving in

2448
02:10:37,280 --> 02:10:39,280
Speaker 1: trying to hunt those deer, right away. This can be

2449
02:10:39,320 --> 02:10:42,120
Speaker 1: applicable in early September. This could be as applicable in

2450
02:10:42,200 --> 02:10:45,560
Speaker 1: mid October. Many times of the year, Getting the info

2451
02:10:45,760 --> 02:10:48,480
Speaker 1: first and then striking is better than diving right in,

2452
02:10:48,560 --> 02:10:50,440
Speaker 1: because if you go in there without knowing what you're doing,

2453
02:10:50,800 --> 02:10:53,120
Speaker 1: you can blow a place up real quick. Now, of course,

2454
02:10:53,200 --> 02:10:55,280
Speaker 1: this is gonna work better in certain situations like pre

2455
02:10:55,480 --> 02:10:58,440
Speaker 1: opening day, like it was for Tony, like it was

2456
02:10:58,600 --> 02:11:01,800
Speaker 1: for Andy. You can see a deer doing something in

2457
02:11:01,920 --> 02:11:04,240
Speaker 1: his is you know, bed to feed pattern that he's

2458
02:11:04,240 --> 02:11:06,640
Speaker 1: doing pre hunting season that first night, you've got a

2459
02:11:06,720 --> 02:11:08,640
Speaker 1: great chance to take advantage of it. So in the

2460
02:11:08,720 --> 02:11:11,440
Speaker 1: case of folks that still have hunting seasons opening October one,

2461
02:11:12,040 --> 02:11:14,160
Speaker 1: you can still take advantage of this. These deer are

2462
02:11:14,200 --> 02:11:16,600
Speaker 1: still relatively on a bed to feed pattern. It might

2463
02:11:16,680 --> 02:11:18,760
Speaker 1: not be the same thing they're doing the summer, but

2464
02:11:18,880 --> 02:11:20,680
Speaker 1: you can take advantage of what they're doing right now

2465
02:11:20,840 --> 02:11:24,080
Speaker 1: if you can watch them afar and then strike now

2466
02:11:24,440 --> 02:11:28,480
Speaker 1: fast forward into late October, things will be different, of course,

2467
02:11:28,840 --> 02:11:31,120
Speaker 1: but still there's something to be said about watching. If

2468
02:11:31,160 --> 02:11:33,440
Speaker 1: you already don't have some kind of great intel, if

2469
02:11:33,440 --> 02:11:35,240
Speaker 1: you don't have trail camera patriots telling you what to

2470
02:11:35,280 --> 02:11:38,240
Speaker 1: do if you don't have historical knowledge of the area

2471
02:11:38,720 --> 02:11:40,400
Speaker 1: and you know that at certain times of the year

2472
02:11:40,400 --> 02:11:42,040
Speaker 1: you need to be at this little spot. If you

2473
02:11:42,120 --> 02:11:45,200
Speaker 1: don't have that, if you're going in blind somewhere, really

2474
02:11:45,480 --> 02:11:48,200
Speaker 1: you need to consider the idea of observation stands. Of course,

2475
02:11:48,560 --> 02:11:51,160
Speaker 1: certain terrain types, certain regions aren't going to give you

2476
02:11:51,240 --> 02:11:53,720
Speaker 1: good sight lines. But if you can find some way

2477
02:11:53,760 --> 02:11:56,800
Speaker 1: to work from the outside in many, many times, that

2478
02:11:56,960 --> 02:11:58,440
Speaker 1: is a smart way to do it. That is a

2479
02:11:58,520 --> 02:12:02,360
Speaker 1: big takeaway from this converse station here for me today. Secondly,

2480
02:12:03,000 --> 02:12:07,120
Speaker 1: I think everybody here had to pivot. Everyone came into

2481
02:12:07,400 --> 02:12:10,720
Speaker 1: their hunts with some certain set of ideas. Whether it

2482
02:12:10,960 --> 02:12:13,120
Speaker 1: was you know, Andy thinking he was going to see

2483
02:12:13,160 --> 02:12:16,160
Speaker 1: bucks on the beans right away and then moving in,

2484
02:12:16,560 --> 02:12:18,200
Speaker 1: and then he screwed it up, and then he had

2485
02:12:18,240 --> 02:12:19,920
Speaker 1: to pivot off of that original idea. He thought he

2486
02:12:19,960 --> 02:12:22,080
Speaker 1: could set up right there by that betting area, and

2487
02:12:22,160 --> 02:12:24,240
Speaker 1: the wind messed him up. The next day. He could

2488
02:12:24,280 --> 02:12:25,960
Speaker 1: have done one of two things. He could have went

2489
02:12:26,120 --> 02:12:27,720
Speaker 1: right back to what he had done before, that's the

2490
02:12:27,760 --> 02:12:31,440
Speaker 1: easy option, or you could pivot and adjust. He took

2491
02:12:31,480 --> 02:12:34,880
Speaker 1: a look at what the impact was and adjusted moved

2492
02:12:34,880 --> 02:12:36,840
Speaker 1: in a different direction than most people would have and

2493
02:12:36,920 --> 02:12:40,280
Speaker 1: he killed a buck. Look at Tony. He headed into

2494
02:12:40,360 --> 02:12:42,760
Speaker 1: his main spot. He thought he was gonna shoot one

2495
02:12:42,760 --> 02:12:44,840
Speaker 1: of the biggest box of his life, and then there's

2496
02:12:44,840 --> 02:12:47,920
Speaker 1: some guys in there moen or not, mowing, cutting down

2497
02:12:48,000 --> 02:12:50,280
Speaker 1: trees and stuff. He had to pivot, He had to adjust.

2498
02:12:50,320 --> 02:12:52,560
Speaker 1: He had to have a plan B that he could

2499
02:12:52,600 --> 02:12:54,360
Speaker 1: fall back on. He had to have a plan see,

2500
02:12:54,400 --> 02:12:57,840
Speaker 1: because the squirrel hunting thing messings up further. In my case,

2501
02:12:58,200 --> 02:13:00,920
Speaker 1: I had it into an area. Now you know, my

2502
02:13:01,040 --> 02:13:03,360
Speaker 1: hunt didn't have the happy ending that others had. But

2503
02:13:03,480 --> 02:13:07,440
Speaker 1: I had three different chunks located with options. Ended up

2504
02:13:07,480 --> 02:13:09,240
Speaker 1: being that one of them had other guys hunting. It

2505
02:13:09,640 --> 02:13:11,640
Speaker 1: went to the other option there was someone else hunting

2506
02:13:11,680 --> 02:13:13,840
Speaker 1: that one too. Fell back on the one and that's

2507
02:13:13,840 --> 02:13:15,320
Speaker 1: where I found those bucks. And I No, I didn't

2508
02:13:15,400 --> 02:13:17,320
Speaker 1: kill one, but I could have killed one that first night.

2509
02:13:18,160 --> 02:13:19,800
Speaker 1: I do think there's a little bit of that pivot

2510
02:13:19,880 --> 02:13:21,840
Speaker 1: option there. Now, maybe I could have done an even

2511
02:13:21,920 --> 02:13:23,800
Speaker 1: better job of that. Maybe I should have had a

2512
02:13:23,800 --> 02:13:26,400
Speaker 1: spot number four and a spot number five, and maybe

2513
02:13:26,480 --> 02:13:28,360
Speaker 1: I should have moved to one of those new regions

2514
02:13:28,400 --> 02:13:31,480
Speaker 1: sooner after things have gotten so tough. I still have

2515
02:13:31,600 --> 02:13:34,440
Speaker 1: lots to learn, but I do think having that plan

2516
02:13:34,640 --> 02:13:37,560
Speaker 1: be in place is so important. Same thing with Dan.

2517
02:13:37,760 --> 02:13:41,000
Speaker 1: They hunted that first area, realized it wasn't happening. He

2518
02:13:41,120 --> 02:13:43,200
Speaker 1: moved across to another base and moved a couple of

2519
02:13:43,240 --> 02:13:45,840
Speaker 1: miles to the west. If you go into a hunt,

2520
02:13:46,080 --> 02:13:49,040
Speaker 1: whether it's locally where you hunt you know every month

2521
02:13:49,120 --> 02:13:51,480
Speaker 1: of the season, or if it's a trip, if you

2522
02:13:51,560 --> 02:13:54,040
Speaker 1: go into it was just one idea, one game plan,

2523
02:13:54,840 --> 02:13:56,920
Speaker 1: you're gonna be left hung out to dry as soon

2524
02:13:57,000 --> 02:13:59,840
Speaker 1: as something goes wrong because inevitably a will I mean

2525
02:14:00,160 --> 02:14:02,320
Speaker 1: nine times out of ten, what you want to have

2526
02:14:02,480 --> 02:14:05,880
Speaker 1: happened will not happen flawlessly. There's gonna be some kind

2527
02:14:05,920 --> 02:14:08,840
Speaker 1: of wrench thrown into your plan. So you need to

2528
02:14:08,920 --> 02:14:11,240
Speaker 1: plan for that. Go into your hunts, go into your

2529
02:14:11,320 --> 02:14:15,040
Speaker 1: season assuming that option A probably is gonna get messed up,

2530
02:14:15,320 --> 02:14:17,440
Speaker 1: so you better have a plan B. And really you

2531
02:14:17,520 --> 02:14:18,800
Speaker 1: need to have a plan C, in the plan D

2532
02:14:18,920 --> 02:14:21,440
Speaker 1: and a plan E. Try to account for all these

2533
02:14:21,480 --> 02:14:23,800
Speaker 1: different possibilities, because the better you think about it now,

2534
02:14:24,520 --> 02:14:26,480
Speaker 1: the better you'll be able to handle that situation in

2535
02:14:26,560 --> 02:14:29,080
Speaker 1: the moment and in the moment. That's when stuff is tough,

2536
02:14:29,480 --> 02:14:31,360
Speaker 1: if you're trying to figure it all out brand new

2537
02:14:31,440 --> 02:14:33,840
Speaker 1: ideas in the moment, with the stress of the fact

2538
02:14:33,920 --> 02:14:35,840
Speaker 1: that you've got you know, two hours left a daylight,

2539
02:14:36,480 --> 02:14:38,360
Speaker 1: or with the fact that you've got one day left

2540
02:14:38,400 --> 02:14:40,320
Speaker 1: to your hunt and you're sitting there, crap, what am

2541
02:14:40,320 --> 02:14:43,000
Speaker 1: I gonna do? That's when mistakes get made. That's when

2542
02:14:43,040 --> 02:14:45,360
Speaker 1: frustration flares up. That's when hunts get quit on early.

2543
02:14:45,960 --> 02:14:47,760
Speaker 1: But if you've got a plan B, R, C R

2544
02:14:47,840 --> 02:14:51,040
Speaker 1: D already ready, that's already been vetted, that's already you know,

2545
02:14:51,280 --> 02:14:54,120
Speaker 1: has got some possibilities behind it, you can quickly then

2546
02:14:54,240 --> 02:14:56,920
Speaker 1: flip the switch say Okay, this isn't happening, moving to

2547
02:14:57,000 --> 02:15:01,520
Speaker 1: Plan B, execute on it. That right there, that extra

2548
02:15:01,600 --> 02:15:03,960
Speaker 1: four thought you put in maybe a month beforehand or

2549
02:15:03,960 --> 02:15:06,920
Speaker 1: a week beforehand, that can make all the difference. So

2550
02:15:07,800 --> 02:15:11,160
Speaker 1: a couple things for you to think about here over

2551
02:15:11,200 --> 02:15:13,160
Speaker 1: the weekend and coming into the next week. I hope

2552
02:15:13,200 --> 02:15:15,840
Speaker 1: this is interesting. Hope by listening to all these different

2553
02:15:15,880 --> 02:15:18,000
Speaker 1: stories and yeah, there's some bs and some bologna and

2554
02:15:18,080 --> 02:15:19,960
Speaker 1: some fun in there too, But I do hope you're

2555
02:15:19,960 --> 02:15:22,000
Speaker 1: able to take something from each one of our stories,

2556
02:15:22,160 --> 02:15:25,480
Speaker 1: both the successes and the failures that can help you

2557
02:15:25,920 --> 02:15:28,680
Speaker 1: in your hunt's coming up here and Jay's for a

2558
02:15:28,720 --> 02:15:30,520
Speaker 1: lot of us in the coming days, if not weeks.

2559
02:15:30,760 --> 02:15:34,120
Speaker 1: It is upon us. Hunting season is here. That is

2560
02:15:35,320 --> 02:15:37,720
Speaker 1: that's music to my ears. I know that I mentioned

2561
02:15:37,760 --> 02:15:39,720
Speaker 1: this with Dan a couple of episodes ago, but just

2562
02:15:39,800 --> 02:15:42,920
Speaker 1: a reminder from both he and I are two pieces

2563
02:15:42,960 --> 02:15:44,640
Speaker 1: of advice to you that were true then and they're

2564
02:15:44,680 --> 02:15:47,520
Speaker 1: just as true now as Number one, have fun and

2565
02:15:47,640 --> 02:15:50,560
Speaker 1: number two, when the going gets tough, keep on pushing

2566
02:15:50,640 --> 02:15:53,080
Speaker 1: through it, fall back on plan B or C or D,

2567
02:15:53,160 --> 02:15:55,840
Speaker 1: and just keep on getting after because that's type too fun.

2568
02:15:56,000 --> 02:15:58,360
Speaker 1: And when you push through it, when you make it happen,

2569
02:15:58,480 --> 02:16:00,600
Speaker 1: or when you at least have that feeling fulfillment that

2570
02:16:00,680 --> 02:16:02,320
Speaker 1: you tried hard and you gave it everything you have,

2571
02:16:03,160 --> 02:16:07,600
Speaker 1: that's an amazing feeling too. So just a couple quick

2572
02:16:07,840 --> 02:16:11,200
Speaker 1: reminders before we shut this down. Number one, the Back

2573
02:16:11,320 --> 02:16:14,440
Speaker 1: forty Project has launched. Our first episode of the series

2574
02:16:14,600 --> 02:16:16,880
Speaker 1: is up. It's online for you to watch. You can

2575
02:16:16,960 --> 02:16:19,000
Speaker 1: check it out at the meat Eator YouTube channel, or

2576
02:16:19,000 --> 02:16:21,840
Speaker 1: if you go to the meat eater dot com you

2577
02:16:21,880 --> 02:16:24,320
Speaker 1: will see the page for the back forty. You can

2578
02:16:24,360 --> 02:16:26,880
Speaker 1: go there, you can watch the video, you can see

2579
02:16:26,920 --> 02:16:30,400
Speaker 1: other content articles, how to videos, see maps the property,

2580
02:16:30,920 --> 02:16:33,560
Speaker 1: check it all out, follow along on social media of

2581
02:16:33,640 --> 02:16:36,000
Speaker 1: course as well, and if you want to win that hunt.

2582
02:16:36,080 --> 02:16:37,520
Speaker 1: If you want to win a hunt to join me

2583
02:16:37,600 --> 02:16:39,880
Speaker 1: and Steven hunt on the back forty, go to the

2584
02:16:40,160 --> 02:16:46,600
Speaker 1: meat eater dot com slash win a hunt. And finally, last,

2585
02:16:46,680 --> 02:16:48,920
Speaker 1: if not least, we haven't asked for us in a while,

2586
02:16:49,120 --> 02:16:50,880
Speaker 1: but if you're enjoying this podcast, and if you've got

2587
02:16:51,000 --> 02:16:54,480
Speaker 1: thirty extra seconds, going over to Apple, iTunes or the

2588
02:16:54,600 --> 02:16:57,560
Speaker 1: podcast app leave a rating or review for this podcast.

2589
02:16:57,640 --> 02:17:00,880
Speaker 1: It's a huge help. We have been just blessed with

2590
02:17:00,959 --> 02:17:03,880
Speaker 1: so many great supporters and I appreciate that very much.

2591
02:17:04,200 --> 02:17:07,440
Speaker 1: So thank you in advance, and until next time, stay

2592
02:17:08,240 --> 02:17:13,720
Speaker 1: wired to her. H