Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Podcast, your guide to
Speaker 1: the whitetail woods, presented by First Light, creating proven versatile
Speaker 1: hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind. First Light
Speaker 1: Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host, Mark Kenyon.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Podcast. This week on
Speaker 2: the show, I'm joined by Kyle McClellan of the Adventure
Speaker 2: Chasing YouTube channel to kick off our Whitetail Adventure series
Speaker 2: as we discuss floating rivers for whitetails. All right, welcome
Speaker 2: back to the Wired to Hunt Podcast, brought to you
Speaker 2: by First Light and their Camo for Conservation initiative. Every
Speaker 2: purchase you make of First Light's gear in the Specter
Speaker 2: Camel pattern, which is their white tail pattern, a portion
Speaker 2: of those proceeds go back to the National Deer Association
Speaker 2: to help them with their mission to protect the future
Speaker 2: of deer and deer hunting here in America. Good stuff,
Speaker 2: and today's episode, in my humble opinion, is some good
Speaker 2: stuff too. We are kicking off a new series. This
Speaker 2: is our Whitetail Adventure series in which we are going
Speaker 2: to explore the many different ways that we can add diversity, excitement,
Speaker 2: and adventure into our whitetail hunts. I think that we
Speaker 2: have experienced something over the last ten to twenty years
Speaker 2: here in the whitetail world, and I think it has
Speaker 2: maybe been by virtue of the influence of media and
Speaker 2: social media, but I think that the experience of white
Speaker 2: tail hunting in many ways has tightened.
Speaker 3: And narrowed more and more and more.
Speaker 2: Into a very kind of specific way of doing things.
Speaker 2: There's you know, a lot of folks that want to
Speaker 2: hunt their manicured private land farms that you're managed whitetail
Speaker 2: mecca with box blinds and food plots and all that stuff,
Speaker 2: and that's great. And then you've also got some folks
Speaker 2: that are hunting public land and they're going in on
Speaker 2: their day trips, running gun with their sticks in their saddle,
Speaker 2: and that's great too. But a lot of folks, I
Speaker 2: think are falling into a rut. They're falling into like
Speaker 2: this is the way I do it, this is the
Speaker 2: only way I do it. And maybe it's because they
Speaker 2: see someone on YouTube, or they listen to a podcast,
Speaker 2: or they've read the articles and this is the way.
Speaker 2: But as we talked about a week or two ago
Speaker 2: with you know, Steve Magnus when we discussed how there
Speaker 2: are some risks to getting stuck in your ways, to narrowing,
Speaker 2: to specializing too much, there are also huge benefits to
Speaker 2: broadening your horizon, to adding new experiences, to exploring new
Speaker 2: ways of doing things, to spicing it up. And I
Speaker 2: think that's something that at least I personally have felt
Speaker 2: like I need. I've definitely fallen into a little bit
Speaker 2: of a rut with how I hunt, and have been
Speaker 2: of course really focused on, you know, achieving my personal
Speaker 2: goal killing a.
Speaker 3: Mature bock or this specific deer, whatever it is.
Speaker 2: And that's all good and well sometimes, but I have
Speaker 2: definitely had the feeling lately, and I know other people
Speaker 2: have expressed this to me too, that a good old
Speaker 2: adventure would be a hell of a palette cleanser. And
Speaker 2: so this month on the show, we're going to speak
Speaker 2: to a number of different people about ways we can
Speaker 2: do that, different adventures that you can have while also
Speaker 2: chasing your favorite big game animal. Because a white tailed
Speaker 2: deer hunt doesn't just have to be sitting on a farm.
Speaker 2: Shooting a deer in a cornfield doesn't just have to
Speaker 2: be slipping in with sticks and stand you into the
Speaker 2: two hundred acre public land spot for an evening hunt
Speaker 2: and then going back home. You can have a big
Speaker 2: wild experience chasing white tails that's not just reserved for
Speaker 2: people out west going on elk hunts or sheep hunts,
Speaker 2: or going up to Alaska or Canada for caribou or moose.
Speaker 2: You can have a wild adventure with white tails. And
Speaker 2: that's what I'm hoping I can convince all of us
Speaker 2: of over the course of this series, and hopefully we
Speaker 2: can get expired with new ideas, new techniques and ways
Speaker 2: to really broaden our whitetail experience and bring home some
Speaker 2: really exciting stories as a result of it all. So,
Speaker 2: with all that said, that's the plan for the month.
Speaker 2: And our first guest in this series is a guy
Speaker 2: named Kyle McClelland he is a fishing guide. He is
Speaker 2: a lifelong outdoor adventurer, hunter, angler, and a creator over
Speaker 2: on YouTube now at the adventure Chasing YouTube channel, and
Speaker 2: it was his YouTube channel where I first discovered him.
Speaker 2: He's got these great videos showcasing long river floats, all
Speaker 2: sorts of adventures all over the place, but in particular
Speaker 2: he's doing river floats for white tails, and it looks
Speaker 2: like he's just having an absolute blast along the way.
Speaker 2: He's seeing deer fishing, having great camping, you know, adventures too,
Speaker 2: So it just looks like a very well rounded fun
Speaker 2: experience and he's bringing home meat as well, so it's
Speaker 2: a win win across the board. Good stuff. So my
Speaker 2: hope today with my conversation with Kyle is to better understanding,
Speaker 2: you know, why adventure is important to him, how he's
Speaker 2: been adding that to his hunting experiences. And then specifically,
Speaker 2: you know the logistics of you know, picking out a
Speaker 2: place to hunt, picking a river system that could be productive,
Speaker 2: what kind of boats work well for this, What kind
Speaker 2: of camping gear do you need? What kind of hunting
Speaker 2: gear do you need? How do you feed yourself out there?
Speaker 2: What kinds of techniques work bets? Should you hunt while
Speaker 2: you're floating, should you pull over and you know, slip
Speaker 2: around and hunting the ground? Should you bring sticks and stand?
Speaker 2: You know, what's the right way to do this or
Speaker 2: at least what's the way that he's found to be successful.
Speaker 3: So that's our plan.
Speaker 2: We discuss high level planning, We discuss in the weed
Speaker 2: tactics and some fun stuff along the way as well.
Speaker 2: So without further ado, I say we should get to
Speaker 2: my chat with Kyle. Here we go, all right with
Speaker 2: me now on the line, I've got Kyle McClelland Kyle
Speaker 2: welcome to the show.
Speaker 4: Thank you for having me, Mark, and welcome everybody who's
Speaker 4: tuning in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I appreciate you, appreciate you being here with me.
Speaker 3: And I gotta say your your approach to things.
Speaker 2: I guess from what I can see with your YouTube
Speaker 2: channel and everything, that has struck a chord with me
Speaker 2: because it seems like what you value in a hunt
Speaker 2: and a wilderness experience is very much what I have
Speaker 2: sensed that I personally need more of right now. So
Speaker 2: we're kicking off this series here on this podcast kind
Speaker 2: of exploring different ways to bring adventure back into our
Speaker 2: hunting lives, especially whitetail hunting. I think for a lot
Speaker 2: of white tail hunters, you know, the standard whitetail approach
Speaker 2: and something that I have, you know, fallen to a
Speaker 2: lot is you've got your farm and you you know,
Speaker 2: try to find your big bucks and you go and
Speaker 2: you sit these stands you've meticulously worked to make a
Speaker 2: great deer hunting spot and and that's kind of all
Speaker 2: you do, but you've got a very different approach a
Speaker 2: lot of times, it seems like and I got to ask,
Speaker 2: from like the from the thirty thousand foot overview perspective,
Speaker 2: why is adventure important to you? And what would you
Speaker 2: or how would you define adventure?
Speaker 4: Well, I would say adventure is important to me because
Speaker 4: I love all aspects of the outdoors and you know,
Speaker 4: going on river float hunts or camping overnight backpacking trips
Speaker 4: like I've been doing. Yeah, it's such a great way
Speaker 4: to incorporate that, whether it's cooking, exploring, enjoying the scenery.
Speaker 4: You can, you know, do some fishing if you'd like,
Speaker 4: do some hunting. There's so much that the outdoors in
Speaker 4: Michigan provides and that's successible to us and we're very,
Speaker 4: very grateful and fortunate to have this. So, yeah, the
Speaker 4: opportunities and the potentials, and that's what means a lot
Speaker 4: the most to me is the adventure and just enjoying
Speaker 4: the overall outdoor experience.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So how did this start for you?
Speaker 1: Did you?
Speaker 2: I mean, were your hunts and fishing trips and things
Speaker 2: like this from an early age or did you kind
Speaker 2: of build up to this point when you realized, Hey,
Speaker 2: I want to have a broader experience. I want bigger,
Speaker 2: wilder experiences. Like, what was that evolution for you?
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I've been in the outdoors my entire life.
Speaker 4: I grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and I lived
Speaker 4: up there until about the end of high school, and
Speaker 4: then I always had a dream to start a charter
Speaker 4: fishing business, so I moved down to the Lower Peninsula,
Speaker 4: Michigan and that's where I started that. But now I'm
Speaker 4: in a place where, Yeah, I've been creating content and
Speaker 4: I haven't had a lot of time throughout my adult
Speaker 4: life to really hunt. And now that I'm in a
Speaker 4: place where I can devote more time to it, and
Speaker 4: I've slowed down on the charter fishing now and directing
Speaker 4: my focus more to creating content. Yeah, I'm very grateful
Speaker 4: to be able to get back into the sport and
Speaker 4: I've been learning a ton and just been able to
Speaker 4: go on some pretty awesome adventures the last couple of years.
Speaker 2: So, the best adventure of your life, what would that be?
Speaker 2: What would you if you have a slap a label
Speaker 2: on the best or most memorable outdoor adventure what did
Speaker 2: that look like?
Speaker 4: Well, if I had to pick one, I'll pick one
Speaker 4: locally here this past summer on Ale Royal. I went
Speaker 4: out to Ile Royal two different times this past summer.
Speaker 4: I spent my first trip, I was out solo for
Speaker 4: seven days, and then I did another twelve day trip.
Speaker 4: And I have to say that was probably the most meaningful,
Speaker 4: well rounded, positive outdoor experience that I've had, Probably my
Speaker 4: favorite if I had to say, but it's so hard
Speaker 4: because I've been fortunate been able to travel to a
Speaker 4: lot of places and see a lot of beautiful countries.
Speaker 4: So I would say that's probably my top one right now.
Speaker 3: Though, So what what made it so great?
Speaker 2: You mentioned? You mentioned is well rounded? What does that
Speaker 2: mean in your view? And what makes I mean? I
Speaker 2: understand Isle Royal is a dramatic wild landscape. But but
Speaker 2: but I asked this because I imagine there are people out
Speaker 2: there who maybe have not done these kinds of things. Yeah,
Speaker 2: trying to figure out who who maybe feel like that
Speaker 2: that hole in them that they need to fill and
Speaker 2: they feel like, man, something wild, some kind of a
Speaker 2: venture would do it.
Speaker 3: But how do I do that?
Speaker 2: And what's the kind of thing I'm looking for and
Speaker 2: what does success look like with that kind of trip.
Speaker 2: So for you, with that Ile Royal trip, I'm curious
Speaker 2: you know what that looked like for you? What made
Speaker 2: it a success? What made it so well routed and special?
Speaker 4: So I probably have to say just the overall environment
Speaker 4: and culture out there. It's an environment like nowhere I've
Speaker 4: ever experience because it's essentially going out there is essentially
Speaker 4: a filter, right, So you're to go out there, you
Speaker 4: have to be well organized, well planned. Everything has to
Speaker 4: be thought through, and you have to want to be there,
Speaker 4: like it has to be in your heart. And if
Speaker 4: you go out there and it's not, then you're probably
Speaker 4: not going to have the best experience. But the people
Speaker 4: you meet out there is second to none. You know,
Speaker 4: you don't have any cell phone service, So that's something
Speaker 4: to be said in this day and age as it
Speaker 4: is so just being able to go out there, connect
Speaker 4: with nature, connect with other people on a genuine level
Speaker 4: where you don't have the noise of you know, politics
Speaker 4: or phone, social media, whatever it may be. You can
Speaker 4: just focus on just nature and just disconnect yourself. And
Speaker 4: the scenery is second to none. The fishing is beautiful, obviously,
Speaker 4: you can't hunt out there, but I did. I hunted myself.
Speaker 4: You could with a camera, you could hunt moose, wolves,
Speaker 4: and I did that. You know, I batpacked into some places.
Speaker 4: I did some tracking with moose, and I was able
Speaker 4: to I was able to spend a night with a
Speaker 4: wolf pack one night. So I've had some amazing experiences
Speaker 4: out there. And like I said, the scenery is just
Speaker 4: second to none, and there are just so many different
Speaker 4: aspects of the outdoors that you can enjoy and experience
Speaker 4: out there, whether it's picking berries, hiking, canoeing, taking your
Speaker 4: own boat, your personal watercraft. If you want a hardcore
Speaker 4: fishing adventure, you can do that. If you want a
Speaker 4: well rounded hiking exploring adventure, you can do that as well.
Speaker 4: So the options are endless. And yeah, the community and
Speaker 4: the culture out there. People everybody is just so friendly,
Speaker 4: willing to help you out. And it's a unique experience
Speaker 4: to be at one of those campsites out there, because
Speaker 4: you know, there are designated campsites, and when you reach
Speaker 4: one of these places, there are multiple other people there.
Speaker 4: Usually sometimes it can be busy. Sometimes there's nobody there,
Speaker 4: but I've met some of the I've met some of
Speaker 4: the coolest people in my life there and I've built
Speaker 4: some of the most meaningful relationship to me from my
Speaker 4: past trips out there this summer, so definitely looking forward
Speaker 4: to getting back out there and can't wait for future trips.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it looks looks amazing. My dad has told me
Speaker 2: stories about his trip. He took one trip there when
Speaker 2: he was a young man, and he's wanted to get
Speaker 2: back ever since. And so that's on the Bucke list
Speaker 2: that we need to get there someday together. And so
Speaker 2: so yeah, I'm envious that you get to spend two lengthy,
Speaker 2: you know, deep.
Speaker 3: Trips out there. It looks spectacular.
Speaker 2: On the on the white tail side though, what originally
Speaker 2: caught my eye with you is is it seems like
Speaker 2: YouTube is feeding your videos all over the place right now.
Speaker 2: They're really giving you a good algorithm boost because it
Speaker 2: keeps on popping up on my feed. And so I
Speaker 2: noticed your white tail hunts from a boat floating down
Speaker 2: rivers chasing deer that way.
Speaker 3: How did that come about?
Speaker 4: Yeah, So, you know, I've always had the idea, and
Speaker 4: it's always something that you hear about out or I
Speaker 4: would hear about from you know folks who have been
Speaker 4: around a lot longer than me. It's just kind of
Speaker 4: one of those old tails, you know, floating down the
Speaker 4: river for me and the up anyways hunting that way,
Speaker 4: and so to be able to do it the last
Speaker 4: couple of years has been it's been an awesome experience.
Speaker 4: And for me personally, I was, like I said, I
Speaker 4: was a full time charter fishing captain on the rivers
Speaker 4: here in northwest Michigan, and it just kind of connected.
Speaker 4: Like I'd be out on the river on floatboat trips
Speaker 4: in my drift boat every single day and then I'd
Speaker 4: have a day off and I would see nice bucks
Speaker 4: here and there. So I just decided I'd try to
Speaker 4: do a float hunt see what would happen. And it went. Well,
Speaker 4: it's gone. It's gone well. Over the years, I've been
Speaker 4: learning a lot, I've been successful, and yeah, it's it's
Speaker 4: been an awesome experience.
Speaker 3: So what's the appeal? Like?
Speaker 2: Why why hunt deer with a boat floating down a river?
Speaker 2: What what makes that so special?
Speaker 4: For me? It's the adventure and for me, I get
Speaker 4: little stir crazy hunting out of a blind To be honest,
Speaker 4: it's something I do enjoy in something I do do,
Speaker 4: but it's nice to have that. It's nice to have
Speaker 4: a break and be able to mix it up and
Speaker 4: you can go, you can hunt with another person. The
Speaker 4: river's beautiful, The scenery is always beautiful on the river.
Speaker 4: So you have that aspect. If you want to take
Speaker 4: a break and cook lunch, you can do that. You know,
Speaker 4: you can you know, you can talk and at times
Speaker 4: you can talk and be social. And so I think
Speaker 4: that aspect for me is yeah, just mostly the well
Speaker 4: rounded adventure aspect is what means the most to me
Speaker 4: with float hunting.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I've actually been thinking strongly about trying a
Speaker 2: trip like this myself. I've I've started kind of thinking
Speaker 2: about earlier this year, just kind of realizing that I
Speaker 2: need to need to switch up my white tail program.
Speaker 2: And I thought there's been kind of three different avenues
Speaker 2: I've thought the most about.
Speaker 3: One has been doing a float down a river. One
Speaker 3: has been doing like.
Speaker 2: A boundary water or style, you know, going in on
Speaker 2: a lake with a canoe and portaging from place to place.
Speaker 2: And then one has been just doing like a backpacking
Speaker 2: white tail hunt and finding somewhere you could backpack into
Speaker 2: and live off your back in that kind of way.
Speaker 2: But your videos have definitely been one of those things
Speaker 2: that's reminded me of the appeal of being on the
Speaker 2: river and being a big fly fisherman myself. The opportunity
Speaker 2: to possibly pair those two things together is awfully appealing.
Speaker 2: I can see that being a really nice way to
Speaker 2: spend a few days. So that said selfishly, as I'm
Speaker 2: considering planning something like this, I've got a lot of
Speaker 2: logistic related questions for you. So one of the first
Speaker 2: things I've wondered about is just how much thought you've
Speaker 2: given to time of year for this kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Is have you been pretty tight to a certain part
Speaker 2: of the year. Is there a certain part of the
Speaker 2: season that you think makes the most sense to do
Speaker 2: this kind of thing any considerations from a timing perspective.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely so. Obviously, in Michigan, our Rifles season is
Speaker 4: November fifteenth to the end of the month, and then
Speaker 4: we have muzzle out season after that, So I would
Speaker 4: definitely recommend going at one of those two in one
Speaker 4: of those two timeframes. Obviously, with the Bowl here, the
Speaker 4: opportunities are just going to be greatly reduced, and float
Speaker 4: hunting is a difficult style of hunting. You have to
Speaker 4: be constantly focused. You always have to be focused, you
Speaker 4: always have to be ready, and you always have to
Speaker 4: be in high spirits as well, because as soon as
Speaker 4: you get flustered where something might not be going your way,
Speaker 4: or you have other people or whatever conditions aren't working out,
Speaker 4: that's usually when the opportunity happens. So you know, it's
Speaker 4: you just have to be and you constantly have to
Speaker 4: be aware, and it's just a test of your senses really,
Speaker 4: because when you're floating down river, and the best time
Speaker 4: to flow hunt is after a snow for sure. If
Speaker 4: you can hit it the day after a snow, that
Speaker 4: is the best time because not only will it help
Speaker 4: you pick out the deer, but can also see fresh
Speaker 4: tracks and it just gives away a lot of their
Speaker 4: sign you know that leads to them. So that's definitely
Speaker 4: the best time if you can hit it hit a
Speaker 4: float hunt right after a fresh snow. You can be
Speaker 4: successful at other times. Obviously, as you probably saw my videos,
Speaker 4: it can be tough though, as I've experienced some tough
Speaker 4: hunting this past year with warmer temperatures, high pressured areas,
Speaker 4: and no snow. When the deer just really hunkered down
Speaker 4: in the thick brush and you're just looking for a
Speaker 4: needle in a haystack as you float down. Like I said,
Speaker 4: if you have snow, they're easier to pick out. But
Speaker 4: if you don't, I mean, you know how they get
Speaker 4: you know, once they get pressured. A lot of times
Speaker 4: you'll float right by them thirty forty yards and they
Speaker 4: won't even budge, or you'll just see a tip of
Speaker 4: their ear, or it can be it can be tricky.
Speaker 2: So yeah, So so one of the things I've been
Speaker 2: curious about it is the hunting pressure thing have you
Speaker 2: found on these on these river systems? Is there you know,
Speaker 2: has there been other hunting pressure, other other people doing
Speaker 2: this same kind of thing as you? And then secondly,
Speaker 2: does the fishing pressure impact them general recreational pressure, how
Speaker 2: have you seen have you seen this to be a
Speaker 2: thing that is getting you away from pressure or are
Speaker 2: you dealing with a lot of it still?
Speaker 4: Both so you can definitely have you know, secluded. I've
Speaker 4: had trips where I've gone out for several days having
Speaker 4: saw a single person. But I've also had trips where
Speaker 4: I go out and I'll see multiple people in the
Speaker 4: same day, and just like with a lot of things
Speaker 4: in the outdoors, you know, deer adapt and they catch on.
Speaker 4: So you know, once that little bit of pressure seems
Speaker 4: to happen in an area, it can definitely take an
Speaker 4: effect on the hunting. They just they seem to bump
Speaker 4: off the river a little bit. They're far more aware,
Speaker 4: and your odds of just catching one down feeding or
Speaker 4: you know, coming down and just hanging out with the
Speaker 4: dough by the river is just greatly reduced. So it's
Speaker 4: definitely tricky, but it is nice because you can if
Speaker 4: you do have the adventurous aspect to things where you're
Speaker 4: not just specifically worried about harvesting a big buck and
Speaker 4: you're more here towards an adventure and trying somewhere new
Speaker 4: and pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone can really
Speaker 4: lead you to some fantastic places and experiences and just
Speaker 4: really surprise you. So I think that's what I've found.
Speaker 4: My most successful trips, you know, with duck hunting or
Speaker 4: white tail have been where I've just kind of you know,
Speaker 4: got on a map, found a section or river that
Speaker 4: I never tried before, and just like, hey, we're going
Speaker 4: to go do this and just go do it. You know.
Speaker 4: Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't, but that's what
Speaker 4: makes it fun and entertaining. I guess.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I don't want to know anything about specific locations. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but I am curious about that process you just described,
Speaker 2: like looking at a map and finding somewhere new and
Speaker 2: figuring out hand to go do.
Speaker 3: A trip there.
Speaker 2: Like what are you looking for as far as you know,
Speaker 2: signs that yes, this could be a good spot for
Speaker 2: our float hunt?
Speaker 3: How do you pick a spot? How like?
Speaker 2: What are you thinking about as far as logistics, as
Speaker 2: far as length, as far as you know, will this
Speaker 2: have deer? Will it not have deer? Or will this
Speaker 2: be a good adventure? Will it not be a good adventure?
Speaker 2: There's got to be a lot that goes into making
Speaker 2: that decision.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely there is, you know, and it just
Speaker 4: so to start, I guess it. I break it down
Speaker 4: for how many days I have, and I've been able
Speaker 4: to kind of just through fishing mostly been able to
Speaker 4: judge how far I can drift a river in a day,
Speaker 4: So that way it kind of helps me a little bit.
Speaker 4: But at the same time, it can be tough. I
Speaker 4: always would recom I would recommend giving yourself an extra
Speaker 4: day or two. Then you probably you know, expect, just
Speaker 4: because the unexpected typically tends to happen. But yeah, well
Speaker 4: I ran out of my train.
Speaker 3: You're good, You're good.
Speaker 2: You were just explaining, you were explaining the way, like
Speaker 2: the ways you're picking a specific river or a section
Speaker 2: of river to flow. And yes, you know, my question
Speaker 2: was around, you know, how do you determine what's a
Speaker 2: good stretch or what's a good area, because there has
Speaker 2: to be at least when I would think about it,
Speaker 2: I would be maybe over analyzing a thousand different things
Speaker 2: trying to figure out, you know, is this a good
Speaker 2: spot to hunt? Is this a good spot to flow?
Speaker 2: Is there going to be camping?
Speaker 3: There?
Speaker 2: Is there gonna be enough public land? Where will I camp?
Speaker 2: Is there good fishing? How do I get in? Where
Speaker 2: am I going to get out? It just as seems
Speaker 2: to be so many criteria to weigh.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and obviously number one is finding a section of
Speaker 4: river with plenty of public property. For me personally, I
Speaker 4: just use ONYX. That's all I use in It seems
Speaker 4: to work fine as far as finding public land, And
Speaker 4: then you can start getting into the details of different
Speaker 4: train types, the type, the time of year you're hunting.
Speaker 4: You know, maybe if you're hunting with some more snow
Speaker 4: on the ground, you want maybe more dense cedar swamp
Speaker 4: kind of area, or you know, it's nice to mix
Speaker 4: in some high oak ridges with a good food source.
Speaker 4: So yeah, you can really, I mean, as you know,
Speaker 4: with hunting, you can break things down into any level
Speaker 4: you want. So I find myself just staring at onyx
Speaker 4: and for endless hours a lot of times before I
Speaker 4: head out. But yeah, but until you get out there
Speaker 4: and put boots on the ground, you know, that's when
Speaker 4: you really for me anyways, really learn the train that
Speaker 4: you're hunting and and you really find a lot of
Speaker 4: those little, you know, hidden kept secrets that you can
Speaker 4: put in your memory bank of just because a lot
Speaker 4: of times from what I found is you'll have you'll
Speaker 4: float along section a river, but it'll be that same
Speaker 4: little section for whatever reason that's kind of holding the deer.
Speaker 4: And then you can, you know, for future trips go
Speaker 4: back and kind of plan on that spot as being
Speaker 4: productive or you know, where to be aware and we're
Speaker 4: not to be aware, but yeah, and I guess that's
Speaker 4: what I look at is one stay land where the
Speaker 4: most public land is. Then to look at different train
Speaker 4: features I like, you know, I like a lot of areas,
Speaker 4: especially after a snow down by the river with heavy
Speaker 4: seedars usually in that type of forest after a snow,
Speaker 4: you can pick them out pretty good when they're beded
Speaker 4: up under the trees. Or if you float through a
Speaker 4: section with some nice big oak ridges, you can glass
Speaker 4: as you float down and you can catch them up
Speaker 4: feeding a lot of times, you know. Or you get
Speaker 4: by some of that thick bedding area as well, and
Speaker 4: you can catch a buck with the dough down by
Speaker 4: the river too. So I think, yeah, that's that's what
Speaker 4: I look for personally, I guess.
Speaker 2: All right, So how about your method of going down
Speaker 2: the river. I've seen you using just a standard drift boat.
Speaker 2: I think I've seen you in a jetboat. I've seen
Speaker 2: you do some trips with a canoe. What's your take
Speaker 2: on what the best rig is for a white tail
Speaker 2: float hunt? Well, or pros and cons of the various options.
Speaker 4: Probably my favorite or a white tail hunt, My favorite
Speaker 4: is my stealth craft drift boat. I have a fifteen
Speaker 4: foot skiff drift boat. It's a stealth craft and that
Speaker 4: boat is really nice. You can portage it. I have
Speaker 4: an ATV wench on the front so I can portage
Speaker 4: it if I need. It's stable, super stable, easy to row,
Speaker 4: so you have always have a nice stable shooting platform,
Speaker 4: which is huge because, like I said, you have to
Speaker 4: be constantly aware, constantly ready, so sometimes the opportunity, the
Speaker 4: opportunity doesn't present in the most ideal place. So that's huge.
Speaker 4: That's really nice. The boat travels well. I can load
Speaker 4: it down, I can load my gear up in it,
Speaker 4: take an excessive amount of gear if I plan to
Speaker 4: be out there for a longer time. And yeah, that
Speaker 4: is my preferred system of travel, I suppose and method.
Speaker 4: But with whatever, you can use whatever you have, as
Speaker 4: I've shown as well. You know, you can use a
Speaker 4: canoe if that's all you have, or you can use
Speaker 4: a jet boat, you can use a rowboat. You can
Speaker 4: use whatever you want. Really just making it work, I guess.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, okay, other important gear you're going out there,
Speaker 2: I know for usually not always, but usually multiple days
Speaker 2: at a time camping out there, You've got your standard
Speaker 2: deer hunting stuff. We'll just assume like that's a given.
Speaker 2: You're going to have your rifle, your your basic necessities
Speaker 2: from a hunting perspective, Can you walk me through some
Speaker 2: of the things as far as gear that are unique
Speaker 2: to this kind of hunt.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And that's the biggest thing, is preparation and just
Speaker 4: having two of the essentials. And it depends. I guess
Speaker 4: it gets down to if you're going to go out
Speaker 4: for just a single day or if you're going to
Speaker 4: go out for multiple days. I always like to have
Speaker 4: two of the essentials. I spend an excessive amount of time.
Speaker 4: I spend an excessive amount of time preparing, planning, and organizing.
Speaker 4: If you're not well organized and well planned and everything's
Speaker 4: thought through, then it's going to lead to a challenge
Speaker 4: more of a challenging experience and you're going to face difficulties.
Speaker 4: So that is definitely something to prioritize as organization and planning.
Speaker 4: So with that being said, I like to have I
Speaker 4: like to confine things. If I'm going out for a trip,
Speaker 4: I like to confine things in a few different dry bags.
Speaker 4: You know, I'll maybe say I'll have two or three
Speaker 4: different dry bags. I'll have one dry bag with you know,
Speaker 4: say my hunting essentials, you know, first aid kit that
Speaker 4: sort of thing, another bag with clothing, another bag with
Speaker 4: you know, food, a food bag filled up. So yeah,
Speaker 4: just having the uh, I guess might have to edit out.
Speaker 3: No, you're a kid. Give give me the give me
Speaker 3: the camping give me the camping gear program.
Speaker 2: It seems like from what I've seen, I feel like
Speaker 2: I've seen you using kind of like a wall tent
Speaker 2: style with a stove in there sometimes. But can you
Speaker 2: walk me through what you'd like to use and why
Speaker 2: you like to do it that way?
Speaker 4: Yep. So if I have the room in the space
Speaker 4: and I plan to be out for an extended amount
Speaker 4: of time, having the wall tent is very nice because
Speaker 4: at the end of the day you can have a
Speaker 4: hot fire, warm up, dry your clothes out if you
Speaker 4: get wet. But a lot of times I don't have
Speaker 4: that luxury, especially if I'm floating in a canoe. So
Speaker 4: I'll bring, you know, a two person just a batpacking tent,
Speaker 4: and you know that that works well too. So especially
Speaker 4: if you're floating through an area where it's not as
Speaker 4: easy to set up a camp and you're in a
Speaker 4: tight spot. You know, I can throw that batpacking tent
Speaker 4: up pretty much anywhere and call home for the night.
Speaker 4: So just having those options, I guess, and using whatever
Speaker 4: your circumstance in your situation, it's best, you know what's
Speaker 4: best for your circumstance in your situation.
Speaker 2: So everyone who camps a lot, especially like backpackers or
Speaker 2: you know, doing float trips, anything like this, I feel
Speaker 2: like we've all got a little camping hack or two,
Speaker 2: or a little idiosyncrasy, some little thing that we do
Speaker 2: that just makes life a little nicer, little easier out
Speaker 2: there in the in the field. Is there any little
Speaker 2: thing you do that makes your camp just a little
Speaker 2: bit nicer or a little more convenient, or something you've
Speaker 2: picked up over the years that's a little bit unique
Speaker 2: to you?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I mean, you know, pretty I'd say a
Speaker 4: lot of the things I do are probably unique and
Speaker 4: not off the book. I just you know, go with
Speaker 4: the flow and came up with my own systems. So
Speaker 4: it's kind of hard to pinpoint a specific one not
Speaker 4: being out there right now.
Speaker 2: But yeah, gosh, well, what about here's another thing if
Speaker 2: while you're thinking about that, is there any weird piece
Speaker 2: of gear that you bring? Has there been like an
Speaker 2: item that you've learned over the years, is really nice
Speaker 2: to have that most people wouldn't think about when planning
Speaker 2: this kind of trip. Is there something that over the
Speaker 2: years you've just realized, like, oh man, that ends up
Speaker 2: coming clutch.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean there are definitely little things that are
Speaker 4: escaping my memory right now. But I think one of
Speaker 4: the most important things is just having dry bags and
Speaker 4: making sure you can keep all your gear dry, especially
Speaker 4: the essentials, your sleeping bag, you clothes, you know that. Obviously,
Speaker 4: that's just something to really prioritize and make important, especially
Speaker 4: if you're going out for overnight canoeing trips and into
Speaker 4: the back country. So yeah, I guess i'd have to
Speaker 4: think about that. I have little things.
Speaker 2: But yeah, so you being on the river, like you said,
Speaker 2: there's a high potential for getting wet.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Do you have any hack for getting stuff dry other
Speaker 2: than just having that wall tent with the stove in there.
Speaker 2: Do you have any elaborate close line systems or anything
Speaker 2: you figured out to get stuff dry fast if you
Speaker 2: fall in or get a wet boot or anything of that.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Absolutely, I definitely, I definitely bring clothes line clothes lines,
Speaker 4: you know, if I have to dry things out over
Speaker 4: fire or if I have to dry things out in
Speaker 4: the wind and pull off on a nice sunny when
Speaker 4: you day. That's very important because if you find yourself
Speaker 4: in a wet and comfortable situation on day two of
Speaker 4: a four day float, it's gonna make for gonna make
Speaker 4: for a miserable trip. So you have to be prepared
Speaker 4: and yeah, just expect unexpected and just be ready for
Speaker 4: problems and obstacles because they're surely get You're gonna face
Speaker 4: them at some point. So just going into it with
Speaker 4: the right mindset and just embracing that, I guess is
Speaker 4: important in my eyes.
Speaker 2: On a lot of like backpacking hunts have done the past,
Speaker 2: and just not even just hunts, but just backpacking trips
Speaker 2: in general. I'm generally a minimalist when it comes to clothing.
Speaker 2: I'll usually just have like one outfit what I'm wearing
Speaker 2: hiking in there, and then I'm wearing that the whole time,
Speaker 2: and then maybe like an extra like a puffy jacket
Speaker 2: or whatever.
Speaker 3: It is like that.
Speaker 2: But with a hunt like this where there's that risk
Speaker 2: of getting wet, do you bring extra sets of clothes
Speaker 2: because of that? Do you do you do anything on
Speaker 2: that to account for that?
Speaker 4: Absolutely? I always you know, like I said, I'd try
Speaker 4: to have two of everything, So I'll always have a
Speaker 4: secure set of clothes in a dry bag that I
Speaker 4: just don't touch. I stash it in the boat, just
Speaker 4: doesn't get touched. It's just kind of for an emergency.
Speaker 4: Same with a blanket or a sleeping bag. Yes, that's
Speaker 4: very important. It's very important, especially when you're floating during
Speaker 4: the cold months and you're dealing with snow or sleep
Speaker 4: heavy rains, because yeah, you can find yourself in a
Speaker 4: dangerous situation if you're not well prepared.
Speaker 3: For sure.
Speaker 2: As far as heat, you mentioned a stove. Do you
Speaker 2: bring a buddy heater or any other things to help
Speaker 2: with heat on one of those cold weather hunts.
Speaker 4: Yeah, sure, if I'm able to, And it just depends
Speaker 4: on the hunt I'm going on. I guess at times
Speaker 4: I do. At times I don't, you know. Sometimes I
Speaker 4: just rough it and if I have my sleeping bag
Speaker 4: and can warm up a warm bottle of water at night,
Speaker 4: that's all I need. But at other times it is
Speaker 4: if I have the luxury and the option to bring
Speaker 4: a buddy heater, it's really nice to have one, especially
Speaker 4: if you get a childer in the day. Was you're
Speaker 4: floating downstream, you can turn it on and warm up
Speaker 4: your hands or warm up your feet. It's nice to
Speaker 4: put in your tent as well. In my small batpacking tent,
Speaker 4: it's not practical because the tent's so small, so it's
Speaker 4: not practical in that sense. So but yeah, if I'm
Speaker 4: bringing the wall tent, and if I have my drift boat,
Speaker 4: if I have the luxury in the space to bring
Speaker 4: a buddy heater, absolutely same with the woodstove, if I
Speaker 4: can bring that. It's always nice to have off fire
Speaker 4: at night. But sometimes the adventure that you plan just
Speaker 4: doesn't you know, you don't have that option, so just
Speaker 4: kind of go with the flow of wherever we're hunting.
Speaker 2: So, all right, food, what's the food program for most
Speaker 2: of these hunts? Do you have a system that you
Speaker 2: like to stick to. Does it get changed up based
Speaker 2: on the length of time and where you're at. What's
Speaker 2: your recommendation on that front?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Food, So if you've watched my videos, you know
Speaker 4: I usually like to pack quite a bit of food,
Speaker 4: and I like to bring fresh food as well. So
Speaker 4: for me personally, I like to bring a cooler if
Speaker 4: I'm able to and load it down with some food.
Speaker 4: You know, I'll bring some backstrap or you know, some
Speaker 4: bring a steak or some potatoes and eggs and bacon,
Speaker 4: you know, throw down on some breakfast and food at times,
Speaker 4: because I think that's important, you know, especially if you're
Speaker 4: on long trips. It's just taking the time to just
Speaker 4: stop sometimes because I find myself always getting so involved
Speaker 4: and caught up into just the pursuit of a fish
Speaker 4: or a deer or whatever I'm hunting at the time.
Speaker 4: So it's nice to just slow down and have a
Speaker 4: nice meal on the river sometimes, and that is important
Speaker 4: in my aspect, in my eyes for what I've been
Speaker 4: doing anyway, So yeah, I'll bring some of that. But
Speaker 4: also if I'm not able to where it's getting warm
Speaker 4: during the day and I'm not able and I'm on
Speaker 4: an extended trip where I'm not able to keep food cold,
Speaker 4: I'll always bring, you know, mountain house meals or corn beef,
Speaker 4: hash spam, just some backups just in case I was
Speaker 4: able to find myself out there for longer than I anticipated,
Speaker 4: or sometimes that's all you can bring if I go
Speaker 4: on long trips. So yeah, if I'm able to, I'll
Speaker 4: bring fresh produce, bring some fresh meat. But like I said,
Speaker 4: it just comes down to the trip you're going on
Speaker 4: as well, and not every trip you're able to do that.
Speaker 2: So you mentioned liking to throw down for a good
Speaker 2: breakfast sometimes, so I've seen I've seen a few where
Speaker 2: you'll have a good breakfast and get a late start
Speaker 2: to the hunt. And that kind of brings me to
Speaker 2: the hunting side of all this. I'm curious what the
Speaker 2: typical hunting day looks like for one of these river flows,
Speaker 2: because I could see I could see a lot of
Speaker 2: ways going about this, and a lot of reasons to
Speaker 2: go different ways. I think I've seen some videos where
Speaker 2: you're up and at it early and it's dark and
Speaker 2: you're getting to a spot and want to get anchored
Speaker 2: in the dark and then head out to hunt on
Speaker 2: the land. I've seen other times where you've said, well,
Speaker 2: I wanted to wait till it is light enough that
Speaker 2: I could see while I float along and looking for deer.
Speaker 2: So what's what's your typical day and why might you choose,
Speaker 2: you know, an early start versus a late starter or
Speaker 2: anything like that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So if I think if I'm if I'm going
Speaker 4: into a section of woods that I know, I'll get
Speaker 4: out early, and then I'll put myself in those places
Speaker 4: where I'm anticipating seeing deer first thing in the morning,
Speaker 4: whether it's be a food source or an active scrapeline
Speaker 4: something like that, I'll put myself in one of those
Speaker 4: situations first thing. But if I'm floating an area that
Speaker 4: I've never hunted before, never been in, which honestly, if
Speaker 4: you've watched my videos, that's usually what I like to
Speaker 4: do is just take on the adventure and float and
Speaker 4: explore new areas I've never been. So if I'm in
Speaker 4: that situation, then I like to let a little bit
Speaker 4: of light come through where I can just analyze the forest.
Speaker 4: I'm not skipping over things. I can analyze the forest.
Speaker 4: I can slow down, and I can just take my time.
Speaker 4: And I think that's really important because if you get
Speaker 4: in a rush, especially if you're in areas or I
Speaker 4: find myself doing this, I can preach it all I want,
Speaker 4: but I find myself doing this more times than you'd think,
Speaker 4: just biting off a hunk too big, where you get
Speaker 4: yourself too caught up in a too big of a
Speaker 4: world where you don't know where to slow down and
Speaker 4: what to pay attention to and what to focus on. So, yeah,
Speaker 4: it just depends where I'm hunting. I suppose if I'm
Speaker 4: in an area, like I said, that I'm familiar with
Speaker 4: and I know where I want to be, I'll get
Speaker 4: out there first thing in the morning. But if i'm not,
Speaker 4: let you know, just half hour a daylight come in
Speaker 4: where I can start to scan the forest. And being
Speaker 4: a content creator and filming these adventure videos, you know,
Speaker 4: sometimes I get to do what I love, but sometimes
Speaker 4: you do have to prioritize the filming a little bit,
Speaker 4: and sometimes that takes up a lot of times. So
Speaker 4: it give me tough to get out there first thing,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 3: Trust me, I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what about you know, making the decision on whether
Speaker 2: to float and hunt versus park and walk around or
Speaker 2: hunt somewhere planted on the ground. I've seen you do
Speaker 2: both on that front. How do you go about deciding
Speaker 2: which of those are going to do?
Speaker 4: So, yeah, I pretty much just go with the flow
Speaker 4: for the day when I start off for the day.
Speaker 4: So say, if I'm starting off on a float, I
Speaker 4: start floating down, I'm the first person down the river.
Speaker 4: I'm seeing deer, seeing activity, then I'm going to keep
Speaker 4: rolling it. You know, if things are going good, I'm
Speaker 4: going to keep it going. But if I get out,
Speaker 4: say I'm out floating for a couple hours, i pull
Speaker 4: off for a few minutes, I get passed by another boat,
Speaker 4: somebody else is floating down, or I'm seeing a lot
Speaker 4: of traffic on the river, then I'm going to kind
Speaker 4: of and I'm not, you know, not being successful. Then
Speaker 4: I'm going to start scheming up some other ideas here where,
Speaker 4: say I float down, see some nice deer sign, see
Speaker 4: some rubs, a nice ridge, a good food source. Maybe
Speaker 4: I'm gonna go sit on a ridge for the afternoon.
Speaker 4: Mix it up a little bit. Or if you have
Speaker 4: snow on the ground and I see a fresh set
Speaker 4: of tracks that I know that was just made, you
Speaker 4: could track the deer or you could you have options,
Speaker 4: you know. And one thing I've been starting to do
Speaker 4: as well. And one thing I've really learned is with
Speaker 4: this style of hunting is being patient as well. Like
Speaker 4: it's and it's hard because when you're floating down river,
Speaker 4: usually opportunities are coming at a snap of a finger.
Speaker 4: You have a split second to see the deer. A
Speaker 4: lot of times it's a running shot or picking out
Speaker 4: an ethical shot, you know, and just making sure that
Speaker 4: you take a clean shot. It's it can be tough.
Speaker 4: So what I've learned is a lot of times if
Speaker 4: you've you're floating down, you see a deer that you'd
Speaker 4: like to harvest or like to have a chance at,
Speaker 4: or if you've seen a seeing opportunity, just keep floating
Speaker 4: and I keep my anchor where it's quiet to let down.
Speaker 4: I'll pay attention to the wind direction. I'll like to
Speaker 4: get the wind in my face. So if I see
Speaker 4: if I see a deer beded up, I'll keep floating down.
Speaker 4: I'll float around. Usually the river makes big bend, so
Speaker 4: I'll keep floating around the big bend. I'll get on
Speaker 4: the far side, maybe a half mile down. I'll slip
Speaker 4: out the anchor. I'll have the anchor or. I can
Speaker 4: just slip it out. Then I can get up on
Speaker 4: a little ridge and start still hunting my way that
Speaker 4: way and just taking my time. Get the wind in
Speaker 4: your face and you go really slow, and usually you'd
Speaker 4: be surprised you can. You do it right, you can
Speaker 4: have an opportunity. And obviously it's not an easy style
Speaker 4: and you're gonna have a lot of learning experiences along
Speaker 4: the way. But it's like that with anything though, So
Speaker 4: it's it's exhilarating to say the least.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, so that was one of the things I
Speaker 2: was curious about was going to be. You know, is
Speaker 2: it is you is the best way to be to
Speaker 2: go past them, which which kind of would be the
Speaker 2: assumption because I would assume if you try to anchor.
Speaker 3: Right away, they'd be like on it and running out
Speaker 3: of there.
Speaker 2: But it seems like sometimes you have had opportunities where
Speaker 2: like the deer is there in front of you and
Speaker 2: you're able to actually get a shot while you're kind
Speaker 2: of floating by or close to that kind of situation.
Speaker 3: Does that occasionally happen?
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what you hope for. You know, in the
Speaker 4: perfect world, you're gonna come around the corner and there's
Speaker 4: gonna be a nice buck standing with the dough right
Speaker 4: there in the brush. You know, all is good, But
Speaker 4: usually it doesn't work that way. But you do have
Speaker 4: your opportunities. So that's just it comes down to one
Speaker 4: of those things, like I said earlier, you know, just
Speaker 4: always being ready, always being aware, and just always being
Speaker 4: ready for that opportunity because you never know when it's
Speaker 4: going to present, and being able to make it happen too,
Speaker 4: you know, or putting yourself in the position to make
Speaker 4: it happen things aren't in your favor per se as well.
Speaker 4: So yeah, in a perfect world, you know, every shot
Speaker 4: would be like that, but sometimes you just got to
Speaker 4: try different things and push yourself outside of your comfort zone.
Speaker 4: And that's really where I what I experienced this year
Speaker 4: is on my float hunt. I set off a few
Speaker 4: days after rifle season, which is an ideal because at
Speaker 4: that point the deer pressure, but this year it was
Speaker 4: warm force as well. So my first few days I
Speaker 4: wasn't successful. I didn't see many deer. I saw a
Speaker 4: few couple of small bucks, but not a lot, you know,
Speaker 4: not what I was really hoping for. So then I
Speaker 4: just started trying some different things. I started still hunting.
Speaker 4: I started you know, looking for food source and getting
Speaker 4: up on ridges and you know, just and if you
Speaker 4: just keep throwing stuff at the wall, sooner or later,
Speaker 4: something's going to stick, you know. So that's kind kind
Speaker 4: of where I came from with that, and it's been
Speaker 4: beneficial and I've really learned a lot this year.
Speaker 2: So how you talked about the necessity of just being
Speaker 2: ready and you know when it happens.
Speaker 3: What do you do to make sure that you are
Speaker 3: as ready as possible?
Speaker 2: Because I imagine there's a lot to There's a lot
Speaker 2: to handle in those moments, because you are trying to
Speaker 2: navigate down a river and I know a lot of
Speaker 2: these rivers, there's lots lots of wines and bends, and
Speaker 2: there's you know, trees hanging out in them, and there's all.
Speaker 3: Sorts of stuff.
Speaker 2: So you have to navigate the river while also trying
Speaker 2: to be watching for deer, and then if a deer
Speaker 2: does happen to show up, then you are, I'm sure,
Speaker 2: trying to figure out where's my gun, how do I
Speaker 2: get a shot, or how do I see the deer,
Speaker 2: or how do I make sure I have time to
Speaker 2: do this before I have to navigate the boat around
Speaker 2: this obstacle or whatever. You must have some kind of
Speaker 2: system of where you put things or how you do things,
Speaker 2: or how you have it set up so that you
Speaker 2: can handle that moment as best as possible.
Speaker 3: What do you recommend on that front?
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's a lot going on out there, yes, and
Speaker 4: you have to be ready, and you have to make
Speaker 4: sure that I think the most important thing is being
Speaker 4: well organized, having the boat well organized, and just being
Speaker 4: aware and having a good space where you can operate
Speaker 4: in case you have to shuffle a little bit to
Speaker 4: make a shot, you have to roll, pull back, get
Speaker 4: on the oars quick. Just having everything ready and prepared
Speaker 4: and thought through, I think is the most important thing.
Speaker 4: And it's safety too. I don't know if I've touched
Speaker 4: on this yet, but yeah, safety as well, and that's
Speaker 4: being organized and prepared. That's really feeds into the safety
Speaker 4: aspect too, because when you're on these floats, you know, often,
Speaker 4: like you said, you have a lot of fast corners,
Speaker 4: you have a lot of little riffley areas, little rapids,
Speaker 4: you know, and if you're not constantly on your game
Speaker 4: and constantly prioritizing safety, there's a lot that can go wrong.
Speaker 4: So just that's very important.
Speaker 3: So have you had anything else? Have you had anything
Speaker 3: go sideways?
Speaker 4: Yeah, anything goes sideways, yet not little.
Speaker 2: But I mean, like, have you had anything go wrong
Speaker 2: in one of these trips where something got got away
Speaker 2: from you, or you were looking at a deer and
Speaker 2: you hit a snag or or anything like that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, nothing crazy, nothing, nothing dangerous, nothing, but
Speaker 4: it's I've been through a lot. I can and even
Speaker 4: I could, you know for the people who fish with
Speaker 4: me and know, yeah, I've found myself in some interesting
Speaker 4: situations over the years, and I've learned a lot from him.
Speaker 4: So it's just, yeah, always being prepared and always being
Speaker 4: ready and prioritizing safety. I guess.
Speaker 2: All right, So back to a hunt scenario, you're floating
Speaker 2: down the river. You mentioned snare at number one, which
Speaker 2: is you're floating down the river and there's a nice
Speaker 2: buck right in the edge with a dough and he's
Speaker 2: standing there like an idiot, and you have time to
Speaker 2: grab your gun and get a shot. That's beautiful. Sounds
Speaker 2: pretty rare, but if it happens, awesome.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: There's scenario number two, which is you're floating down the
Speaker 2: river and you see a deer and you just keep
Speaker 2: on floating right past it since there's not a good
Speaker 2: easy shot opportunity, and you get hidden somewhere, you anchor,
Speaker 2: you slip up, still hunt, get a shot. How about
Speaker 2: snare number three, which is you're floating down the river,
Speaker 2: you see a deer and before you can do anything
Speaker 2: that deer bulger's out of there, you see it run away?
Speaker 2: How do you what do you do in that scenario?
Speaker 4: That's tough too, You know that that's a tough scenario,
Speaker 4: especially when you're hunting in a lot of the areas
Speaker 4: I am where it's just big, big woods, and a
Speaker 4: lot of times those deer catch on dee and they're
Speaker 4: just gone. You know, you can always try a lot
Speaker 4: of times, you know, if I do see that, I'll
Speaker 4: go downstream, maybe float downstream a half mile mile anchor up.
Speaker 4: Take my time, you know, make you know, just take
Speaker 4: my time, let the forest settle down, and then maybe
Speaker 4: I'll try to still hunt back through there. But it
Speaker 4: just depends on the deer. I guess if I float
Speaker 4: by the deer and I catch them beded up and
Speaker 4: you know, I don't have a shot, but I don't
Speaker 4: spook them, then you know, I'll get right on them.
Speaker 4: But if he happens to spook out of that general area,
Speaker 4: then maybe I'll give it some time and go back in.
Speaker 4: But that's a really tough scenario though, especially where you know,
Speaker 4: I typically find myself hunting and really big woods, So
Speaker 4: a lot of times those deer get spooked and they're
Speaker 4: just get gone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what does the you know, I guess I asked
Speaker 2: this earlier.
Speaker 3: It comes to the mornings, but throughout the rest of
Speaker 3: the day.
Speaker 2: I mean, are you are you hunting pretty well in
Speaker 2: the morning and the evenings and in the middle of
Speaker 2: the day giving yourself some time to relax. I could
Speaker 2: see myself being tempted to want to fish through the
Speaker 2: middle of the day.
Speaker 3: How do you balance that out? Do you do you
Speaker 3: do one or the other?
Speaker 2: Or are you constantly hunting the whole time and just
Speaker 2: occasionally like I remember seeing one video where you were
Speaker 2: passing through private land and so you took time to
Speaker 2: fish while you were passing through private land. But does
Speaker 2: that you know, what does it look like if you've
Speaker 2: just got public everywhere and you could hunt all day,
Speaker 2: and you could have your gun at the ready all day,
Speaker 2: but at the same time, you've got steelhead or brown
Speaker 2: trout or whatever around you, or maybe you're doing this
Speaker 2: down south and you've got bass you could be fishing too.
Speaker 2: How do you approach balancing all that and what your
Speaker 2: day looks like?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I guess it Just like I said, you know,
Speaker 4: it just kind of I just go with the flow.
Speaker 4: You know, if I'm if, I typically always try to
Speaker 4: make time for a launchers, for some sort of a
Speaker 4: break middle of the day. But a lot of times,
Speaker 4: you know, especially where I'm at northern Michigan, you know,
Speaker 4: if you have a big snowstorm coming through, you can
Speaker 4: have or you have the right weather, you can have
Speaker 4: deer moving all day long, or you can catch a
Speaker 4: buck chase and a dolt. You never know what time
Speaker 4: of day, so it just depends. It just really depends,
Speaker 4: you know, And there are so many other options and
Speaker 4: possibilities you can do in the outdoors, so it is nice,
Speaker 4: you know, if you wanted to take a cast and
Speaker 4: do some fishing for a little bit and kind of
Speaker 4: reset yourself, so you have that option. But yeah, it
Speaker 4: just I just go with the flow, honestly, Mark, If
Speaker 4: I'm going out in the morning, if I know where
Speaker 4: I'm at, I know the train, I know where some
Speaker 4: good food sources are, where I kind of predict to
Speaker 4: see deer, I'll get out there early. I'm floating throughout
Speaker 4: the day. Not much is going on at this point,
Speaker 4: you know, mid morning, haven't saw anything in quite some time.
Speaker 4: I'll take a break, you know, take a break for
Speaker 4: a couple hours. But then sometimes you catch yourself on
Speaker 4: these long I've caught myself on these long trips where
Speaker 4: I have to keep pushing throughout the day too to
Speaker 4: meet my goals. So just I always find myself planning
Speaker 4: and thinking through these adventures to a t what I think.
Speaker 4: But until you put yourself out there and the elements,
Speaker 4: you know, it's really hard to know what to expect
Speaker 4: on that trip, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I love you keep saying to just go
Speaker 2: with the flow, and that is to any longtime listeners listening,
Speaker 2: they know that that is something that I struggle to
Speaker 2: do because I am like the the planner to a
Speaker 2: te of everything. So what you're telling me is something
Speaker 2: that I know I should do more of. And so
Speaker 2: maybe I just need to hang out with you more
Speaker 2: often and learn to absorb your go with the flow
Speaker 2: vibes so I can pick that up and put that
Speaker 2: into practice, because yes, I imagine that's a pretty good
Speaker 2: way to go about things. And maybe what makes an
Speaker 2: adventure what it is to some degree is the fact
Speaker 2: that it doesn't have to be pre planned to the minute,
Speaker 2: that you sometimes take what the adventure gives you and
Speaker 2: that's sometimes the most beautiful thing of it, all.
Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, absolutely, And everybody's different, you know, but yeah,
Speaker 4: for me, that's uh, yeah, that works for me.
Speaker 2: So, yeah, you alluded earlier to a couple of different
Speaker 2: features or things that you'll look for, and I just
Speaker 2: wanted to circle back to that to make sure we
Speaker 2: covered off on that. When you're floating a river, or
Speaker 2: when you're looking at the maps ahead of time and
Speaker 2: you're trying to plan your day, are there any other
Speaker 2: specific you know, habitat features or some kind of topography
Speaker 2: that you've learned tracts deer or funnels deer in a
Speaker 2: certain way that you kind of circle on the map
Speaker 2: or key in on your mind or throw a pin
Speaker 2: on Onyx is like, hey, I got to make sure
Speaker 2: to check this out. Hey, I got to slow down here.
Speaker 2: Hey maybe this is a spy. Should get out, get
Speaker 2: out of the boat and sit for a couple hours.
Speaker 2: Are there any of those key things that folks should
Speaker 2: be looking for?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Absolutely. You know, if you're floating, and you know,
Speaker 4: if you can pick out a nice section where or
Speaker 4: not just even floating, but in general, I guess if
Speaker 4: you can pick out a nice ridge with some oaks.
Speaker 4: You know, if you get some nice white oaks. For me,
Speaker 4: that's what I personally find most of the success around
Speaker 4: in the woods that I hunt. If you can find
Speaker 4: that with some thick bedding area nearby, and then if
Speaker 4: you can find some nice benches or saddles on that ridge,
Speaker 4: you know, that's a great spot, especially for bucks to
Speaker 4: be traveling and trying to pick up a hot dough.
Speaker 4: So yeah, and a bench is pretty much, you know,
Speaker 4: just where a ridge kind of comes down, flattens out,
Speaker 4: comes back down, and you know, and I've been learning
Speaker 4: a ton these last couple of years. You know, like
Speaker 4: I said, I haven't had a lot of time to
Speaker 4: hunt throughout my adult life until these last couple of years.
Speaker 4: So these are all things. And that's kind of what
Speaker 4: I portray my videos to my viewers as well, is
Speaker 4: you know, you're coming along with me for my learning
Speaker 4: experiences and for the whole experience. It's you know, we're
Speaker 4: gonna learn and we're gonna do this together, so I
Speaker 4: think and I think people connect with that. So yeah,
Speaker 4: just so I got off on a tangent again, You're fine.
Speaker 2: I think that's uh. I think that's that's that's The
Speaker 2: great thing about an adventure is that so much of
Speaker 2: it is unknown. And and I think that's why this
Speaker 2: whole idea of trying new things, going new places, widening
Speaker 2: the aperture of what a white tail hunt can be
Speaker 2: is so appealing because so much of the typical white
Speaker 2: tail hunting culture these days is you know everything you know.
Speaker 2: I've got places I hunt where I know for years
Speaker 2: and years and years exactly where the deer come from.
Speaker 2: And there's some spots where I have, you know, changed
Speaker 2: the habitat in such a way to even further influence
Speaker 2: deer do exactly what I think they should do, or
Speaker 2: what when they do something, when they when when I
Speaker 2: want them, or how they want them to do. So
Speaker 2: what you're describing is the complete opposite of that, which
Speaker 2: is I think very refreshing and uh and I can
Speaker 2: I can see the appeal to it. Now, Let's say
Speaker 2: that you've this, You have loaded down the river, you
Speaker 2: have gone hard on big breakfasts, you have dabbled this
Speaker 2: and fishing throughout. You have avoided getting too wet, and
Speaker 2: if you did get wet, you had a good dryer
Speaker 2: set up so you could stay warm and be comfortable
Speaker 2: all of this happens. You go with the flow and
Speaker 2: you shoot a deer. You successfully put a tag on
Speaker 2: a deer on the river, How have you found work's.
Speaker 3: Best to get that deer out of there?
Speaker 2: Are you typically gutting it and putting the whole thing
Speaker 2: in the boat and floating it out. Have you ever
Speaker 2: tried quartering it anything like that? What's your best practice there?
Speaker 4: Yeah? So for me personally, you know, I haven't. I
Speaker 4: guess it depends on the situation. You know. I shot
Speaker 4: one this year where it fell off the top of
Speaker 4: a ridge and went in the river. So I just
Speaker 4: kind of tied her up and got her in the
Speaker 4: boat I can. Then I took her out gut her,
Speaker 4: you know, after I was done hunting that evening. But typically,
Speaker 4: if I have the time and you know things are looking,
Speaker 4: you know, going in a good direction, I'll like to
Speaker 4: take my time and gut the deer right then and there,
Speaker 4: get it taken care of, and then yeah, if you
Speaker 4: can hang it out, hang her up at night, that's
Speaker 4: the best thing to do. And you know, maybe in
Speaker 4: some scenarios quartering the deer out would be the best
Speaker 4: thing to do, But typically I'll just I don't know.
Speaker 4: I'll just maybe hang them up at night, or I'll
Speaker 4: just put them in the front of the boat until
Speaker 4: I get done with my trip. So that seems to
Speaker 4: work well.
Speaker 2: Have you gotten any crazy looks from other folks on
Speaker 2: the river while floating down with a dead deer in
Speaker 2: your boat?
Speaker 4: Oh? Yeah, for sure, especially especially in areas you know,
Speaker 4: where there's yeah other outdoor recreation besides just hunting, you know,
Speaker 4: So it's yeah, it can be funny sometimes, for sure.
Speaker 2: All right, final kind of topic here, just being someone
Speaker 2: who values adventure in the way that you do chasing adventure,
Speaker 2: I guess it's adventure.
Speaker 3: Chasing would be the title of the YouTube channel.
Speaker 2: But what things have you found to be important when
Speaker 2: it comes to bring adventure to your life. If someone's
Speaker 2: listening and they just want to add they want to
Speaker 2: have a more adventurous life, or they want some other
Speaker 2: suggestions of ways to do this, do you have anything
Speaker 2: else to add?
Speaker 4: Don't be afraid to push yourself outside of your comfort zone.
Speaker 4: Always try to push yourself outside of your comfort zone.
Speaker 4: I think that's been one of the biggest things for me,
Speaker 4: because you never know how things are going to turn out.
Speaker 4: You never know who you're going to meet. You never
Speaker 4: know what door is going to open. So just being
Speaker 4: open minded for one, being apt to try new things,
Speaker 4: try different tactics, try new experiences in just yeah, pushing
Speaker 4: yourself outside of your comfort zone. I think it's been
Speaker 4: the biggest thing for me being not being afraid to
Speaker 4: try new things and yeah, go places where you might
Speaker 4: not typically see yourself. And that's led to some of
Speaker 4: my most meaningful and enjoyable experiences. Absolutely, And you know
Speaker 4: what's been kind of nice what I've kind of learned
Speaker 4: myself through creating content, just how it's worked out is
Speaker 4: it's kind of slowed me down a little bit when
Speaker 4: I go out on these adventures and I have to
Speaker 4: just prioritize filming and little things because you know, before,
Speaker 4: I mean, I did this stuff long before I did
Speaker 4: YouTube too, and these kind of adventures, and I'd always
Speaker 4: find myself and always such a rush or you know,
Speaker 4: or not taking the time to just take a deep
Speaker 4: breath and appreciate and enjoy the scenery and more that
Speaker 4: the outdoors has to offer than just the big buck
Speaker 4: or the big fish or you know. So I think
Speaker 4: that's really what has meant a lot to me too,
Speaker 4: is just making sure you prioritize time on these trips
Speaker 4: to just slow down and just you know, enjoy the
Speaker 4: trip for what it is, because you can't always go
Speaker 4: into these adventures. I'm you can't go in with expectations like, oh,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna shoot a big bucker, I'm gonna catch this
Speaker 4: big fish. You just you can't because it's not realistic.
Speaker 4: And if you set your expectations that high, then you're gonna,
Speaker 4: you know, be disappointed. But if you don't and you
Speaker 4: just go in with it with an open mind and
Speaker 4: I'm gonna do this, and my goal for this is
Speaker 4: just to complete the adventure, and who knows what can happen,
Speaker 4: and then you just are surprised, you know, and just
Speaker 4: things happen and just things work out. They seem to
Speaker 4: work out.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think that's that's a great philosophy.
Speaker 2: What's uh, what's the next way that you plan to
Speaker 2: push yourself outside of the comfort zone. What's the the
Speaker 2: dream trip or the next big adventure where you are
Speaker 2: gonna try to spread your wings and fly into a
Speaker 2: new place.
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna get into some uh yeah, I'm just
Speaker 4: gonna get into more I'm going to keep getting into
Speaker 4: more remote backpacking, camping, big adventures like I started doing
Speaker 4: this last year, like the Ale Royal and that sort
Speaker 4: of thing, going to remote places, maybe doing some fly ins,
Speaker 4: you know, getting dropped off and maybe doing some whitewater
Speaker 4: raft some whitewater rivers. And I want to get a
Speaker 4: pack raft and do a lot of portaging through real
Speaker 4: remote places. So just keep moving. And I'm just planning
Speaker 4: to keep moving in that direction and just keep you know,
Speaker 4: building my skills and just learning more and more. And
Speaker 4: that's what I always preach in my videos that I post,
Speaker 4: you know, is like I try to anyways, like most
Speaker 4: of the time I'm not going down areas where I've
Speaker 4: fished or I've been, Like I try to show adapting, overcoming,
Speaker 4: figuring things out the challenges and I could, you know,
Speaker 4: So I think I think that's a big part of
Speaker 4: the adventure, is uh yeah, just being open minded and
Speaker 4: ready for whatever can happen.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I like it all right.
Speaker 2: So if folks want to check out your videos or
Speaker 2: anything else where where can folks go to connect with
Speaker 2: you or to watch your content or to you know,
Speaker 2: if there's anything else you want to plug let us know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Adventure Chasing on YouTube. You can look it up.
Speaker 4: Just Adventure Chasing, simple name, and you'll see my content.
Speaker 4: It's fishing, hunting, camping, and exploring the outdoors. Done mostly
Speaker 4: Michigan content. Started to do Alaska, did a few videos
Speaker 4: in Alaska this past year. I've done some other videos
Speaker 4: from other places, but as my channel, I've been building
Speaker 4: my channel. I've been trying to focus on, you know,
Speaker 4: Michigan content, and that's where my audience is primarily based.
Speaker 4: So but as I keep growing, I'll keep expanding.
Speaker 3: So very cool, awesome, Kyle. Well, I've been enjoying it.
Speaker 2: Keep up the good work, and thanks so much for
Speaker 2: sharing this list today.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you, Mark. It's been a pleasure. Thank you.
Speaker 2: All right, and that's gonna do it our first episode
Speaker 2: in our White Tail Ensure series.
Speaker 3: Hope you guys enjoyed this one.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you tuning in, and until next time, stay wired
Speaker 2: to Hunt.