Speaker 1: Welcome to Wired to Hunts rutt Fresh Radio, bringing you
Speaker 1: the latest reports from the white Tail Woods and now
Speaker 1: your hosts, Casey Smith Tyler Jones. This is RUT Fresh
Speaker 1: Radio powered by Vortex. I'm your host Tyler Jones, and
Speaker 1: this week we're talking about how changing weather patterns can
Speaker 1: bring killer success this time of year. We have some
Speaker 1: phone guys on the phone right now that I don't
Speaker 1: want to do it in the normal way for some reason.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure why. But we've got Mark Kenyon, I've
Speaker 1: got Casey Smith, and we're all in three different places
Speaker 1: this week across the US. Mark, where are you at? Actually, well,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm still at home in Michigan, but leaving here
Speaker 1: shortly for Ido for my first white tail hunt of
Speaker 1: the year. So just hectically frantically packing and prepping and
Speaker 1: trying to make sure I forget as few of things
Speaker 1: as possible. I know there'll be something, but hopefully not
Speaker 1: my bow or released at least about grizzly spray man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know what my spots that I'm hunting this year.
Speaker 1: Hopefully there should not be grizzlies. If plan A comes together,
Speaker 1: we will not need bear spray. If I have to
Speaker 1: fall down the plan C or D, then I'm in
Speaker 1: you know, all sorts of trouble, and bears will be
Speaker 1: not the only thing on the list. Do you do
Speaker 1: you forego like the tree stand snacks when you're in
Speaker 1: grizzly country. No, I don't forego. I don't forego snacks,
Speaker 1: but I do forego nose jam because that's like just
Speaker 1: putting like a bakery at the base of your tree
Speaker 1: stand and asking for bears to come in. Non. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So does it really smell really good? Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: have you not smell that was jammer? Is it like
Speaker 1: make you hungry the whole time? I swear it's a goodness.
Speaker 1: It smells like a vanilla cookie or something. It's like
Speaker 1: it's just a really delightful cookie cake factory kind of smell,
Speaker 1: and it is strong, and no doubt about it, it
Speaker 1: bring a bear in in a hurt. Could you not
Speaker 1: do that with like a tide pod, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Not eat it, but uh put it in
Speaker 1: you know, the wash and just make your stuff smell
Speaker 1: really good and some noses. Yeah, I think that that
Speaker 1: would be a great idea in certain parts of the country.
Speaker 1: Maybe not, maybe not some of these spots. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: that's good man. I I'm glad to know you're a
Speaker 1: very careful guy in grizzly country. Actually have a guy
Speaker 1: goes to my church that has ah. He lived in
Speaker 1: Alaska for some time, and I was talking to him
Speaker 1: yesterday about things and a greater Yellowstone trip and uh
Speaker 1: we um he he was like kind of a little
Speaker 1: bit making fun of our um, you know, strategies there
Speaker 1: with how careful we were. He's like, I guess we
Speaker 1: just get used to him. It's probably better safe than sorry,
Speaker 1: you know. So he's like, I'm gonna let you borrow
Speaker 1: a gun next time, though, because nine millimeter is not enough.
Speaker 1: So I don't know until you've tested it on a
Speaker 1: grizzly Can you really say that though? Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1: It's it's all just hypothetical, hoping and wishing until the
Speaker 1: that's the real stuff. It's yeah, yeah, for real. So, Ksey,
Speaker 1: you are down south or southwest out in Arizona. Are
Speaker 1: you still in Arizona right now? I'm still in Arizona. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Flag Staff is where we stayed to night if we
Speaker 1: left the mountains, And uh, it's a it's pretty place here, man.
Speaker 1: I very much enjoy getting to hunt ill Can not
Speaker 1: Ingriasly country, so I not do that as much as
Speaker 1: I can. Mark Casey used to say that black bear
Speaker 1: is just an oversized cannon man, So I agree with that.
Speaker 1: You just kick him in the nose and not go on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that they're pretty darn harmless once you uh spend a
Speaker 1: little time around it. But I think I was telling
Speaker 1: you Tyler the other day that growing up in Michigan,
Speaker 1: black bears were kind of uh exotic, I guess. And
Speaker 1: so when we would go up north and black bears
Speaker 1: started showing the back up around like our deer camp
Speaker 1: and stuff, my family was like very on edge about it,
Speaker 1: Like if you were going to go to the bathroom
Speaker 1: like fifty yards away from the cabin or something, they'd
Speaker 1: make sure you bring your gun. And now I looked
Speaker 1: back on that and think it's hilarious because we were
Speaker 1: so on edge about black beards. But yeah, now they're
Speaker 1: just they're just big raccoons, and uh, we're like a
Speaker 1: black like a black lab almost in my eyes in
Speaker 1: many cases, so they're uh, they're much less intimidating than
Speaker 1: their cousins. L West the first time I ever went,
Speaker 1: or not the first time, I probably the third time
Speaker 1: only l cutting. My dad would pull me out of
Speaker 1: school when I was a kid and we'd go and
Speaker 1: it was pretty awesome. But um, that's probably ten and
Speaker 1: I was pretty prete got about bears kind of like that,
Speaker 1: just because you know, Texan, I ain't never seen a bear,
Speaker 1: you know. And so somehow another I end up at
Speaker 1: camp midday by myself. I think they want to go
Speaker 1: get water or something, and I heard something outside the
Speaker 1: camp outside of the tent, and dude, I was freaking out.
Speaker 1: And finally, like after a fifteen minutes, I had the
Speaker 1: courage to stick my head out the window and it
Speaker 1: was just a trash bag who's flopping in the breeze.
Speaker 1: Some serious tricks that can. Man, it's cool being here though,
Speaker 1: and like there's a lot of the you know, the oaks.
Speaker 1: I don't think Monterey oaks. I don't really know what
Speaker 1: it is that there are these you know, mountain wide
Speaker 1: oaks over here. But um, you'd be walking around and
Speaker 1: you'll see like trees with busted branches and stuff. You know,
Speaker 1: you can tell like a black bear probably fell out
Speaker 1: that tree trying to get oh man, I was just
Speaker 1: gonna say, Um, speaking of being out there hunting elk,
Speaker 1: there's been some elk hunting success within the Wired hunt
Speaker 1: family this past week. Because I think you got an
Speaker 1: update Casey and Tony Peterson killed bull last week too.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's been shared on here yet, so
Speaker 1: hopefully Tony will share that story with us one of
Speaker 1: these days. Um, but that was pretty sweet. He killed
Speaker 1: a bull in Colorado, So that's one one bit of
Speaker 1: good news Casey, You've got more. Yeah. So I actually
Speaker 1: shot a cow yesterday, which was pretty awesome. First cow
Speaker 1: I shot. I shot a few bulls, but I, um,
Speaker 1: just where are the wise out there? Um? When you
Speaker 1: go to do tag applications in certain states, pay attention
Speaker 1: to what you're doing. Don't do it hastily, don't do
Speaker 1: it on a phone. Uh So, A long story short,
Speaker 1: I ended up with a cow tag cow only tag
Speaker 1: in Arizona, and for about three or four hours I
Speaker 1: was real sad, and then after that I got hot
Speaker 1: and by the time we got here, I was stoked
Speaker 1: about it. And it was actually pretty cool because it
Speaker 1: was a challenging hunt because I had to hunt differently
Speaker 1: than I ever have. I'm a pretty aggressive bugler, just
Speaker 1: chase them down, tope guy when it comes to elk hunting,
Speaker 1: And um, that doesn't work too good with cows. So
Speaker 1: I had to work on my stalking, had to work
Speaker 1: on a lot more strategy as opposed to just like
Speaker 1: going in there and blowing them up kind of thing,
Speaker 1: you know. And uh, it was fun and UH got
Speaker 1: to Uh it was the third day of season, but
Speaker 1: the second full day of hunting that we had, and uh,
Speaker 1: I was blessed to shoot a cow about three cords
Speaker 1: of mile from the road, all downhill, pack out and
Speaker 1: had uh four guys including me. We didn't even have
Speaker 1: to go back in, just grabbed all the meat, fluttered
Speaker 1: up on packs and hit the road man. So we've
Speaker 1: got coolers full of delicious elk meat ready to start
Speaker 1: the season. You couldn't write it up much better than that,
Speaker 1: I know, dude, I'm telling you, like, uh, it was
Speaker 1: pretty sick. I we actually called these cows in with
Speaker 1: cow calls and uh, I'll try to not make this
Speaker 1: too long, but this ow came in and gave me
Speaker 1: like a thirty yard frontal and I was looking at
Speaker 1: her and I was like, you know, not like that
Speaker 1: ain't as big as a bull. I don't know about
Speaker 1: taking a thirty yard frontal woman's cow right here. So
Speaker 1: I decided elected to pass because there was more elpra
Speaker 1: behind your kind of pushing her was like, well, she's
Speaker 1: gonna keep moving. So she uh goes to a ninety
Speaker 1: to the left and I draw. When she goes behind
Speaker 1: a tree, she still freaks out. It's super quiet. I
Speaker 1: guess she heard me moving her. Maybe the other cow
Speaker 1: saw me or something. I don't know. But then she
Speaker 1: like did a half moon out to an unknown range
Speaker 1: and I was like, m perfect quarter away. Stopped her
Speaker 1: with a cow call, and I knew about how far
Speaker 1: she was. I knew she was somewhere around forty. So
Speaker 1: I put my thirty at a twenty and thirty pin
Speaker 1: and I put my thirty at her spine and let
Speaker 1: it fly in. I couldn't have put a dot on
Speaker 1: the cow better as to where I hit her, and
Speaker 1: uh like Sidney five yard track job, and she piled up.
Speaker 1: It was. It was awesome, man. I just it's so
Speaker 1: great because I've had some blood trails not go super great.
Speaker 1: You know, if you hunt enough, that's gonna happen right
Speaker 1: in this past summer shot a hog that would just
Speaker 1: absolutely smoke city, and I was experimenting with some broadhead stuff.
Speaker 1: I was using a smaller single bevel um just because
Speaker 1: I feel like if we talk about things, I should
Speaker 1: use them as opposed to just make inferences and trash
Speaker 1: things that when I you know, I have never put
Speaker 1: it to use, you know what I mean? So and uh,
Speaker 1: that didn't work out well. I had pretty pretty good
Speaker 1: blood trail and lost the pig. So ever since then,
Speaker 1: if the blood, you know, if I don't see the
Speaker 1: animal fall, I'm pretty nervous. And uh had some guys
Speaker 1: with me who are kind of uplifting and saying, oh,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be good man, everything's fine, And sure enough
Speaker 1: it was great. That's that's terrific. Correct, Thanks man. I'll
Speaker 1: save you some steaks from whenever you come down and hunting. Laughs.
Speaker 1: We cast some milkstakes. I like that. I do, hate does,
Speaker 1: but he does. And last night at like twelve thirty,
Speaker 1: I am, which for us at home, it's two thirty. Uh,
Speaker 1: Arizona's weird time zones, so like we're two hours behind Central.
Speaker 1: We're like on you know, Pacific time. Right now or whatever.
Speaker 1: So we uh, we've been very pacific. Yeah, very very pacific.
Speaker 1: Whenever we talk about our times around here, the horrible joke. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's give back to some serious talk. Mark, Uh what
Speaker 1: is me lasting? So? Uh? Mark? The forecast for Idaho
Speaker 1: is it? Have you pumped or you just kind of
Speaker 1: like ho hum about it? Yeah? Man, it's it's good. Um.
Speaker 1: We we are thankful that we change the dates from
Speaker 1: what we usually do because in the past past couple
Speaker 1: of years we've been hunting up there, Me and Hilliard
Speaker 1: have been going and hunting that first week of the season,
Speaker 1: and this year, that first week out there was like
Speaker 1: ninety nine hundred degrees hundred one degrees, like screaming hot. Um.
Speaker 1: But that weather changed over the last few days. Cold
Speaker 1: front has moved through and it looks like there's gonna
Speaker 1: be some some rain actually hitting while we're traveling out there,
Speaker 1: and then right when we get there that day, the
Speaker 1: rain is gonna be kind of petering out and then stopping.
Speaker 1: And so it's kind of a at least if I
Speaker 1: could write it up, that's about as good of a
Speaker 1: situation as I could ask for. The cold front comes
Speaker 1: through a bunch of rain, and then it's raining like
Speaker 1: the day you get there, so I can do a
Speaker 1: little scouting, or I can slip into where I want
Speaker 1: to hunt silently and perfect that first day and then
Speaker 1: it stops. And I think any time you get that
Speaker 1: first day or two after a several day rain event,
Speaker 1: they just seem to really really get after as far
Speaker 1: as movement. So so I'm feeling good. I'm feeling great.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be the highest are only going to be
Speaker 1: in the lowest sixties, um, and then the mornings are
Speaker 1: gonna be down to the like thirties and forties. So
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be it's gonna feel a fall,
Speaker 1: you know all, and uh, we're we're pretty stoked about it.
Speaker 1: I don't know, you know, there's a bunch of moving
Speaker 1: parts as far as um, you know, how the hunting
Speaker 1: is going to be. Outside of that, there's there's been
Speaker 1: some other new details come to light from some folks.
Speaker 1: I've no down there as far as far as some
Speaker 1: weird things going on. There was like some new hunting
Speaker 1: pressure that I heard from another person. And there is
Speaker 1: a house I guess that was built right on the
Speaker 1: edge of some of the public land that we've been hunting. Uh,
Speaker 1: that I guess is right where the deer usually going feed.
Speaker 1: And now there's gonna be a house there. So you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if our plan a is gonna work
Speaker 1: out there, um, but weather will be good and we'll
Speaker 1: be you know, staying on our toes and get that
Speaker 1: grizzly spray out frisky with that. That's right, man, they
Speaker 1: were gonna be hungry for Michigan. But I'm still feeling good.
Speaker 1: I'm still gonna say, like my my, uh my predictions
Speaker 1: for the upcoming week in the Western United States. I
Speaker 1: think should be pretty decent with that weather. We've hunted.
Speaker 1: The opener and some of those you know early so
Speaker 1: September one top openers quite a bit, and it's just
Speaker 1: like a popular thing to do. But I'm always cute
Speaker 1: used because it's like people just don't watch it on
Speaker 1: for the next three weeks and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: everybody's pumped about October, right uh. And I've always kind
Speaker 1: of thought that maybe there's like a really nice little
Speaker 1: cushion right in there where the lids are kind of empty.
Speaker 1: There's some seasons that are open more acrons are falling
Speaker 1: depending on where you're at, you know, like do you
Speaker 1: feel like it's actually just advantageous to be hunting mid
Speaker 1: September as opposed to trying to hunt opener and you
Speaker 1: know outside of weather conditions. Well, you know that that's
Speaker 1: exactly why we're doing this. That's that's the exact theory
Speaker 1: that we're testing. So we've had problems the last couple
Speaker 1: of years. Was like tons of guys, lots and lots
Speaker 1: and lots of people out there that first week, um,
Speaker 1: and we decide, you know what, let's just you know,
Speaker 1: let's just see if later in the month, if that
Speaker 1: pressure goes down, because you know, the opening day excitements
Speaker 1: faded off and people that were traveling from out of
Speaker 1: town or off doing other things. They're chasing elk or something.
Speaker 1: So we're hoping that these deer will be um, not
Speaker 1: quite as boogered up as they wore those first couple
Speaker 1: of times, and and we'll find out, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe that will there will still be this like residual
Speaker 1: pressure that's impacting the deer and you know, there's still
Speaker 1: gonna be way back deep in the cover and not
Speaker 1: moving in daylight. And maybe we'll just be bummed out
Speaker 1: because we didn't get that first night of good hunting
Speaker 1: like you get on opening day. Or maybe we'll get
Speaker 1: there and these deer kind of comfortable again and it's cooler,
Speaker 1: and there's not nineteen other Yahoo's driving around, Um, so
Speaker 1: I don't know the other in there, so you're meitting
Speaker 1: to being in Yahoo yourself and then you're all self.
Speaker 1: Oh and you know, I think the cold weather is
Speaker 1: is definitely going to be a key factor that helps
Speaker 1: you guys have a good hunt if you do which
Speaker 1: I think you guys it looks like are setting up
Speaker 1: to do that. Um, we've seen within our guests this week. Um,
Speaker 1: and you guys will see that there are there's definitely
Speaker 1: a motif of cold weather and good success and those
Speaker 1: play out A lot of them are A couple of
Speaker 1: these are kind of Western type states too, So if
Speaker 1: that helps you kind of hype Mark, We've got Ron
Speaker 1: Stoddard in Nebraska. We've got Parker McDonald who was actually
Speaker 1: in Kentucky and slopped a couple of those, if you
Speaker 1: can imagine that. Uh yeah. Eric Alba's from Milk River
Speaker 1: Outfitters up in Montana, which is pretty close there to Idaho, uh,
Speaker 1: and then Brandon Nating from the breaking point UH there
Speaker 1: in North Dakota. All of them saw really really good
Speaker 1: movement with colder weather patterns or cold fronts in the
Speaker 1: first couple of weeks here and in September. So hopefully
Speaker 1: that plays out in the second their third week here
Speaker 1: coming up for you guys, and UH, I'll be checking
Speaker 1: in with you and Mr Hilliard as we go. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm excited to listen to these because it'll be it
Speaker 1: sounds like very relevant intel for us as we kick
Speaker 1: out our hunt. And uh, and I gotta say, even
Speaker 1: here in Michigan, we we had a front hit over
Speaker 1: the last couple of days and it just blew up
Speaker 1: the movement to you know, just just so you would
Speaker 1: expect it to. UM, cameras lit on fire the field
Speaker 1: that I can see from my house and from driving around,
Speaker 1: lots and lots of deer out feeding as soon as
Speaker 1: the rain passed through. UM. One of the bucks, like
Speaker 1: the Number one buck. I'm really hoping to get a
Speaker 1: crack at Michigan. He was daylight the last two days
Speaker 1: on a camera of mine. So they're they're out and
Speaker 1: about and UM, you know, I was gonna say hunting
Speaker 1: season on open, but we actually just had a youth
Speaker 1: season open the last the last two days, and and
Speaker 1: I was seeing a whole lot of successful hunters. So
Speaker 1: I think, um, if your season is open just about anywhere,
Speaker 1: if you've got that system coming through or has just
Speaker 1: passed through, it's uh, it's good news absolutely all right
Speaker 1: now on the phone, we've got Brannan nating from the
Speaker 1: breaking point. You guys have been breaking some records out
Speaker 1: in North Dakota right now. You guys are tearing it up, man,
Speaker 1: what's going on. We've had an exceptional start to the season.
Speaker 1: Were kicked it off up in North Dakota. Of the
Speaker 1: season opened last Friday there, Labor Day weekend, and we
Speaker 1: were blessed with great weather for for opening weekend. Um,
Speaker 1: some stantial cold front Kempter dropped when switched out of
Speaker 1: the northwest, and we just we had great deer movements
Speaker 1: and we had a lot of guys in camp and
Speaker 1: and just took advantage of the the cold front. And
Speaker 1: we're blessed the Knox and deer down sure thing. Man.
Speaker 1: So when you talk about a cold front um and
Speaker 1: a great cod front, that is what what kind of
Speaker 1: tempts are we looking at, like what is the change
Speaker 1: in temperature from what it was to what it ended
Speaker 1: up being. Yeah, So the week prior to season up
Speaker 1: in North Dakota, UH, temperatures were pretty steady in the
Speaker 1: mid to upper eighties. UM, nighttime mos in the mid
Speaker 1: sixties and UH opening day and actually the first three
Speaker 1: days of the season, I don't think the highs even
Speaker 1: hits seventies. So we were talking daytime highs were you know,
Speaker 1: probably fifteen fifteen twenty degrees cooler and over time or
Speaker 1: overnight lows were you know, from sixty five down into
Speaker 1: the forty so you know, twenty degree temperature drop. Um,
Speaker 1: and it was it was huge the deal or the
Speaker 1: deer we're loving it. Yeah, So is that when you
Speaker 1: say the deer were loving it or do you mean
Speaker 1: like the bucks were coming out in daylight or they
Speaker 1: were coming out earlier, or they were just moving more
Speaker 1: period or what do you think? So, Yeah, we run
Speaker 1: a lot of all cameras up there to monitor deer movement.
Speaker 1: And that week prior to season, when the temperatures were
Speaker 1: in the eighties, like I mentioned, um, it was it
Speaker 1: was a lot of last light movement. The deer. They
Speaker 1: obviously still move and feed and do all that stuff,
Speaker 1: but you know they didn't tend to do it a
Speaker 1: little bit later when it's that warm out and when
Speaker 1: those temperatures dropped, we were seeing similar movement you know,
Speaker 1: an hour or even after almost two hours before uh dark,
Speaker 1: and uh it just makes it a lot easier obviously
Speaker 1: in morning. Um, we do not out there. This is uh,
Speaker 1: this is my eleventh season hunting up in North Dakota,
Speaker 1: and I think we've probably hunted mornings less than a
Speaker 1: handful of times, simply because just how the land lays
Speaker 1: out out there. Uh, it's flat and the deer can
Speaker 1: see forever, and if they're out in the fields, it's
Speaker 1: near impossible to get in on them and get into
Speaker 1: a tree. So we we just sad not to hunt mornings.
Speaker 1: I feel like it gives us better success rates in
Speaker 1: the afternoons. So yeah, we we sleep in and hunt
Speaker 1: the afternoon going early season. Yeah do you so do
Speaker 1: you feel like that? Um you kind of have a
Speaker 1: handle on where the deer betting or like, do you
Speaker 1: ever I guess do you ever get um, does it
Speaker 1: ever get weird to you when a good cold front
Speaker 1: comes in? Do you ever feel like when you're going
Speaker 1: in in the evening you might uh walk in somewhere
Speaker 1: that the buck is up on his feet at the
Speaker 1: time you're walking in, or do they are they pretty
Speaker 1: much shut down and bedded until the last couple of
Speaker 1: hours of daylight. I wouldn't say that. I feel like
Speaker 1: deer get up throughout the day, you know, four or
Speaker 1: five times and just kind of feed close by to
Speaker 1: where they're betting. Um. Most of the country that we're
Speaker 1: hunt in North Dakota's cattail country, So these deer are
Speaker 1: living in the slews um by the cover of the
Speaker 1: cat tails, and I mean, it's it's insane. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you've ever been into the cattail marches in
Speaker 1: North Dakota, but piece these cat tails are twelve the
Speaker 1: fifteen feet tall, Like it's it's a jungle in there,
Speaker 1: and uh, those deer just absolutely disappear in there. And
Speaker 1: it's it's no question why they live in there and
Speaker 1: feel safe in there. Nothing can get to them. Uh
Speaker 1: So I'm not necessarily worried about, you know, walking in. Obviously,
Speaker 1: when a cold front hits, we like to be in
Speaker 1: the tree, you know, maybe an hour or two earlier
Speaker 1: than we would if a cold front head and it
Speaker 1: um you know, if it's warmer, whether we won't get
Speaker 1: in the tree until, you know, two hours before sunset.
Speaker 1: If a cold front HiT's, we might you know, get
Speaker 1: in there an hour or two earlier than that, just
Speaker 1: because we're expecting and hoping for early movements. So I'm
Speaker 1: assuming they're just betting in those cattail marshes, And so
Speaker 1: are you, like, are you hunting betting? What do you
Speaker 1: consider it that you're hunting betting or that you're hunting
Speaker 1: those deer as they're moving out to agg fields. We
Speaker 1: so in the part of North Dakota that we hunt,
Speaker 1: it is legal to feet deer, So we are when
Speaker 1: we're looking at an area, we are trying to find
Speaker 1: bedding and we're trying to find a good food source.
Speaker 1: Early season, typically we're looking for soybeans, alfalfa, or sunflowers.
Speaker 1: Um corns get too, but corn typically doesn't seem to
Speaker 1: be as effective until the countar gets closer to October.
Speaker 1: Um the early season, we're kind of targeting beans, alfalfa,
Speaker 1: and sunflowers, and we we dump food in between. You know,
Speaker 1: where we're expecting deer to bed in slews and head
Speaker 1: out to these datallite fields, you know, these big food sources,
Speaker 1: and we're trying to intercept them. We're trying to get
Speaker 1: them to come past us before they head out, you know,
Speaker 1: to the main food source. Sure, that's cool, man, that's
Speaker 1: a I'm from Texas, so that that is not an
Speaker 1: abnormal or an alien thing to me at all, to
Speaker 1: feed dear. I know there's a lot of people I know,
Speaker 1: even Mark you know, is from Michigan, and it's it's weird,
Speaker 1: I'm sure for him and many other people that listen.
Speaker 1: But it's a good on you man that you're you're
Speaker 1: very transparent and admit that, because that is something that
Speaker 1: sometimes people I like to rage about that never have
Speaker 1: any experience in that. So it's not as easy as
Speaker 1: one might think to kill a deer, even though you've
Speaker 1: got food on the ground that you've put. No, Absolutely,
Speaker 1: there's a lot there's a lot more to it than
Speaker 1: just you know, dumping food on the ground. It's a
Speaker 1: lot of it is is location, you know, putting those
Speaker 1: in the right spots where you got you know, where
Speaker 1: a mature deer is gonna feel safe coming there in
Speaker 1: the daylight, and you know, just putting it between you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty methodical, you know when you come down
Speaker 1: and think about it, trying to get it close enough
Speaker 1: to his bed, but far enough you know from the food.
Speaker 1: So so he's got to get up and move and
Speaker 1: you know, show himself in the daylight. It's really no
Speaker 1: different than you know, somebody putting in a water hole.
Speaker 1: It's the same draw. I mean, they got water everywhere
Speaker 1: they look out in North Dakota, and you know in
Speaker 1: these in these lose so I mean it's no different
Speaker 1: than somebody in Iowa or Kansas or Ohio or something,
Speaker 1: you know, installing a water hole, and they're probably that's
Speaker 1: essentially what we're doing. We're just putting something to make
Speaker 1: those deer swing past us in wide open country on
Speaker 1: their way to opig food sures. That's right, man. I'm
Speaker 1: not like necessarily a big ted Nugent fan, but I
Speaker 1: heard him say one time. So you're telling me I
Speaker 1: can't take the corn from this field and put it
Speaker 1: over here to kill a deer. That is like legally
Speaker 1: within my means and uh, you know bag limits. So
Speaker 1: it is a good point, man. It's like you know
Speaker 1: what we were created as a supreme being here and
Speaker 1: uh we we get, uh, we get as long as
Speaker 1: we stay within the bag limits, you know, then that's
Speaker 1: that's what the bag limits are created for, is to
Speaker 1: keep us from over harvesting. So anyway, cool deal. Uh,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you you're admitting that and and not admitting that,
Speaker 1: but talking about it because it's something that doesn't get
Speaker 1: talked about enough. Now you talked about how uh the
Speaker 1: cold fronts bringing in a northwest wind? Is that important too?
Speaker 1: Is that just something to say? Is that explains that
Speaker 1: is the cold front for you? Or are you saying
Speaker 1: that you guys prepare for cold fronts and that you
Speaker 1: try to be in areas where co fronts are therefore
Speaker 1: your stand locations and that kind of thing are picked
Speaker 1: out due to those northwest winds. Yeah. So when we're
Speaker 1: scouting and uh kind of picking out standing locations and
Speaker 1: whatnot and where we're running our cameras, we try to
Speaker 1: uh we try to have you know, pretty much options
Speaker 1: for every wind direction, um, whether it's north or southeast
Speaker 1: or west. And predominantly when those cold fronts hit the
Speaker 1: first day or two is usually a northwest. UM. So
Speaker 1: most of our spots um we try to set up
Speaker 1: for a northwest, but on the other side of that
Speaker 1: usually and it was perfect example is opening weekend we had.
Speaker 1: So the season opened on Friday, and we had northwest
Speaker 1: Friday night, Saturday night, and then Sunday night the wind
Speaker 1: switched to the south. And I'm kind of a Mark
Speaker 1: dury nerd and that guy is insane, And I listened
Speaker 1: to a lot of stuff. You know that he puts
Speaker 1: out in the knowledge that he shares is just through
Speaker 1: the roof. If you're not paying attention to him, you're
Speaker 1: missing out. But he says, you know, those northwest winds
Speaker 1: are great, he goes, but the first south wind after
Speaker 1: a few days in north winds is just as good.
Speaker 1: And on day three of the the season, sure enough, that
Speaker 1: wind switched to south where we had spots that we've
Speaker 1: been sitting on the first two days because we couldn't
Speaker 1: get in them on the northwest. Went in there on
Speaker 1: the south and and kill one of the biggest day
Speaker 1: that we shot all week up there on that first
Speaker 1: south wind. And I've noticed that a wind switch after
Speaker 1: you know, a few days of you know, if it's
Speaker 1: a north wind for three days and then a south
Speaker 1: or if it's a south wind for a whole week
Speaker 1: and then it switches to north like it's it seems
Speaker 1: when that that wind does a three switch, that's when
Speaker 1: those deer off because you know, they just where they're
Speaker 1: betting and where they're feeding, like everything's new to them
Speaker 1: for that day there, you know, trying to figure stuff
Speaker 1: out a little bit earlier what it is. Well, it
Speaker 1: seems like when that win degree switch, it just gets
Speaker 1: those deer on their freeze. Yeah, yeah, man, I agree.
Speaker 1: That's uh, you know, I think it's it's a changing
Speaker 1: condition thing. You know, anytime you can see some sort
Speaker 1: of a changing condition, there's a chance that something changes
Speaker 1: in that that deer's life for in his daily habits.
Speaker 1: You know, it's kind of like, uh, you know, you
Speaker 1: may working nine to five and you go to work
Speaker 1: every day for six weeks or six months or whatever,
Speaker 1: and then uh, you're like, oh, now it's time for
Speaker 1: me to go to vacation and things are different, and
Speaker 1: like you just have more excitement and you're and you're
Speaker 1: ready to go and you're packing. You're doing different things
Speaker 1: in your life. And I think it's similar to a
Speaker 1: deer where it's like, you know, you get a bunch
Speaker 1: of days of South's and fairly warm weather, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, the north comes in. More than anything,
Speaker 1: it's just a change, you know what I mean. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm sure the cold weather and everything helps too, but
Speaker 1: you know, it's like it's just something that that makes
Speaker 1: things different in his world. So, um, dude, I appreciate
Speaker 1: you hopping on. Now, as far as the deer movement
Speaker 1: goes in the last week for North Dakota, what do
Speaker 1: you rate that as on scale of one to ten?
Speaker 1: Opening weekend? The first three days I would have rated it,
Speaker 1: I mean, damn near a nine. I mean it was
Speaker 1: it was good. It could have been better, but it was.
Speaker 1: It was damn good. And then after the first three
Speaker 1: days it dropped. It was we we stuck it out.
Speaker 1: We had, you know, the guys that tagged out. We
Speaker 1: had three guys taging out the first three days that
Speaker 1: first weekend of the season. I would damn near rated
Speaker 1: a nine. It was about as much as you could
Speaker 1: ask for for early season. Um. You know, getting that
Speaker 1: cold front and the wind switches were just ideal. So
Speaker 1: that was the nine. And then after that, I would
Speaker 1: it dropped significantly. Um. Most of the guys tagged out
Speaker 1: and headed out for work, but being Aaron continued to hunt.
Speaker 1: But the temperatures climbed back into the eighties and deer,
Speaker 1: the deer movement just dropped back off again, and we
Speaker 1: we grinded for the next four days. I think it
Speaker 1: was four or five days, and then we finally got
Speaker 1: another cold front and Aaron ended up killing on the
Speaker 1: second cold front. Um, so it went from a nine
Speaker 1: down to probably a three or four and right back
Speaker 1: up to you know, in that eighth to nine range
Speaker 1: when another cool front came through. So very weather depending,
Speaker 1: it seems like, um okay, so going forward here, um
Speaker 1: and the next week. I don't know if you've looked
Speaker 1: at weather or anything like that, but assuming that weather
Speaker 1: is very important, how do you rank from a scale
Speaker 1: of one to ten, the deer movement and what you
Speaker 1: assume it will be in the next week. Well, I'm
Speaker 1: kind of I'm sitting on hold right now, kind of
Speaker 1: piste off, to be honest, because Aaron, the guy that
Speaker 1: runs around in films with me all fall um, he
Speaker 1: got some in the jury duty back home in Wisconsin,
Speaker 1: and so we had to come back to Wisconsin last
Speaker 1: night and he was supposed to have jury duty this morning.
Speaker 1: While he found out late last night that the jury
Speaker 1: duty was resolved, the case was closed. So now we're
Speaker 1: stuck and there is another cold front hitting in North
Speaker 1: Dakota tomorrow and we're gonna miss it. Um, but we're
Speaker 1: gonna we got we got some other plans this week.
Speaker 1: We kind of gotta make a big loop um and
Speaker 1: get a bunch of cameras out in a few other
Speaker 1: states to get ready for later in the fall. But
Speaker 1: if you're in North Dakota, uh, tomorrow to yeah, Tuesday
Speaker 1: is gonna be a good day. And then it looks
Speaker 1: like another cold front is gonna hit um Friday. UM,
Speaker 1: not as big as cold front, but I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a good one. And I know a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of states are coming into season here.
Speaker 1: I know Kansas um early muzzloader, and I believe archery
Speaker 1: just came in today, and I know Wisconsin opens uh
Speaker 1: this weekend. Uh. It looks like so the weekend back
Speaker 1: in like the Midwest is gonna be on a little
Speaker 1: bit on the warmer side. But I'm noticing in the
Speaker 1: long term forecast around like there's gonna be a really
Speaker 1: good drop coming, So that second week this season might
Speaker 1: might be pretty good. You might want to burn a
Speaker 1: day of vacation. It's awesome, dude. Let me tell you this.
Speaker 1: In Texas, it's pretty much always hot this time of year,
Speaker 1: So I mean, anywhere is better than here this time
Speaker 1: of year usually. But to be honest, we did have
Speaker 1: a we had my my kids had dropped off of
Speaker 1: school this morning and they were like, it's freezing outside.
Speaker 1: It was sixty one this morning and they were freezing cold.
Speaker 1: So uh, I guess you could call that a cold front. Man.
Speaker 1: We'll take it, you know, or whatever it. Man, Brennan,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you hopping on and doing this, man, And
Speaker 1: and you guys had m a killer year so far. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I hope the best for you going forward.
Speaker 1: What's the what's the best way for somebody to connect?
Speaker 1: Do you see what you got going on? Check out
Speaker 1: some of those Velvet Deer and early season dear, you've
Speaker 1: been shooting absolutely no we got You can check out
Speaker 1: our Facebook page it's just at the breaking point, and
Speaker 1: then on Instagram our handle is at the point TV
Speaker 1: and you can find us. Probably the best way to
Speaker 1: find us is on YouTube. Just searched the Breaking Point
Speaker 1: TV and we are dropping our ninth season on YouTube
Speaker 1: right now, and fourteen brand new episodes will be released
Speaker 1: on YouTube throughout the fall. That's all our content from
Speaker 1: last year. And at the same time, we do a
Speaker 1: semi live series where we dropped a new episode every
Speaker 1: Sunday throughout the entire year. UM opening again. Action from
Speaker 1: last week actually just dropped last night on the channel,
Speaker 1: so you can see one of the velvet deer we
Speaker 1: killed opening day, UM actually on the on the channel already.
Speaker 1: And then you're actually doing a live series this fall
Speaker 1: where during the rut for six weeks, once a week
Speaker 1: we're gonna have live units in the field and uh,
Speaker 1: every Saturday, we're gonna do a broadcast where we've got
Speaker 1: three or four live units in the field across the
Speaker 1: Midwest and actually have live streaming hunting action from the tree.
Speaker 1: That's awesome, man, Well, busy, busy. I appreciate what you
Speaker 1: guys do and how hard you guys work at it. Man,
Speaker 1: you guys put on a great, great show, and uh,
Speaker 1: hopefully we'll talk to you again soon this year with
Speaker 1: some more big Buck news downs. Good Man, I appreciate
Speaker 1: you reaching out to me. All right on the phone
Speaker 1: right now, I've got Eric Albas He's from Milk River
Speaker 1: Outfitters up in Montana. Man, you guys have a pretty
Speaker 1: uh I guess you could say famous outfit up There's
Speaker 1: been a lot of TV show hosts and that kind
Speaker 1: of thing that have been in and out over the years,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of how I knew about you guys. Um, Eric,
Speaker 1: how's everything going? First of all, Man, Hey, everything's going great.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Sure, no
Speaker 1: big deal, man, thanks for coming on. Um. I wanted
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about white tails. I think
Speaker 1: this is something you guys are uh know a lot about.
Speaker 1: You get to you get to see a lot of
Speaker 1: white tails up there in that country from what I understand,
Speaker 1: and um, I just kind of wanted to see this
Speaker 1: time of year what you guys are focusing on. It
Speaker 1: looks like to me that you're looking at al fal
Speaker 1: fa fields and stuff like that a lot. But is
Speaker 1: there any other is are there any of their pieces
Speaker 1: of the puzzle that you're thinking about this time of
Speaker 1: year when you go out to hunt white tails? Yeah,
Speaker 1: there are a few, you know, we we were very
Speaker 1: fortunate and blessed to live in a place where the
Speaker 1: white tail deer actually moved from. We can watch moving
Speaker 1: from the first of September into November. We see deer
Speaker 1: and watch deer watch bucks every day, and we're one
Speaker 1: of the few places in the country that you can
Speaker 1: actually see buck movement in that mid the late September
Speaker 1: to early October time. We still seabucks moving today that
Speaker 1: edward mainly concentrating on feet patterns. Uh. Alfalfa is great.
Speaker 1: If you have to get lucky and have a barley
Speaker 1: field nearby, they're hitting barley green as well, and it
Speaker 1: just it makes it for a fairly easy hunt because
Speaker 1: the deer paturnable and predictable enough. Sometimes the big deer
Speaker 1: are a little more sporadic in their movements. They'll be
Speaker 1: they'll be moving field field at times, just checking things out,
Speaker 1: getting ready for the rut to start, even this early really,
Speaker 1: so they're kind of as soon as the velvet comes
Speaker 1: off there thinking about it. Huh, they're starting to think
Speaker 1: about it. We see someone the bigger deer as soon
Speaker 1: as the velvet comes off, we'll go no nocturnal for
Speaker 1: several days and then they'll show up on a different field,
Speaker 1: maybe a half mile away, and then to send a
Speaker 1: work on a rotation, the two to three day rotations.
Speaker 1: So as far as like in a if you're thinking,
Speaker 1: I'm going to go out for an evening to hunt
Speaker 1: white tails and there's been a buck coming in the
Speaker 1: last two nights here, would you expect that that buck
Speaker 1: would show up if he did early in the in
Speaker 1: the in the evening, or typically later. Because for me,
Speaker 1: growing up at least, I always think of the big
Speaker 1: buck coming out at last light or whatever. But is
Speaker 1: that the case with you? With where you're at there,
Speaker 1: here's a little different, you know, you can I try
Speaker 1: to get everybody on stand by two o'clock in the
Speaker 1: afternoon because you just you never know. We've had we've
Speaker 1: had big deer show up here this week, even out
Speaker 1: of the blue. I mean like at three thirty four o'clock,
Speaker 1: come out and feel, eat a little bit, go back
Speaker 1: and then come out again closer to dark and eat
Speaker 1: it more more time. M hmm. Do you ever see
Speaker 1: like just straight up midday movement, uh to come out
Speaker 1: and eat um this time of year. I've seen the
Speaker 1: deer this time year, even just laid down in the
Speaker 1: alpha alpha fields because our deer don't get pressured ray
Speaker 1: and that makes them really difficult willing to go back
Speaker 1: into the brush bay down. Yeah, oh yeah. Patterns are
Speaker 1: are part of what makes it easier. I love going
Speaker 1: in in the evenings normally because for me, especially if
Speaker 1: I'm hunting public or something like that, I I don't see,
Speaker 1: you know, any deer. If I walking in the field,
Speaker 1: I know, I'm pretty good until I get you know,
Speaker 1: set up usually because this dear gonna hang back and
Speaker 1: so I I totally understand what you're saying there. Um, now,
Speaker 1: as far as uh, as far as like your weather
Speaker 1: patterns lately, have you have you guys experienced any drought,
Speaker 1: any cooler temps, any hotter temps. What's it been like there?
Speaker 1: We've been We've been in another severe drought up here
Speaker 1: in northeast. Wantta, I'm the groundshoppers, correct, they say. Um,
Speaker 1: the first week of season, we experienced some temperatures in
Speaker 1: the hunters and triple digits. Um. Now it's cooled off
Speaker 1: a little bit for us. Um we're looking at the
Speaker 1: daytime the last days and mid the upper seven these
Speaker 1: lower eighties and now Monday we're gonna be nineties again.
Speaker 1: But the guys have still been seeing good deer movement
Speaker 1: and and sporadically seeing those good bucks show up. Mm hmmmm. Okay.
Speaker 1: So as far as have you guys had any any
Speaker 1: success on what til this year so far? Yeah, we've
Speaker 1: we've taken we've taken a couple and we've had a
Speaker 1: couple of misses. And we've had a couple of deer
Speaker 1: that had blood drawn on him that it wasn't fatal.
Speaker 1: So the guys were still hunting. So we still got
Speaker 1: three or four hunters out here for the next couple
Speaker 1: of it, and everything seems to be going well. They're
Speaker 1: seeing enough buck when to keep everybody happy. Sure, sure, Okay,
Speaker 1: So as far as deer movement goes the last week,
Speaker 1: what would you rank it on a scale of one
Speaker 1: to ten, I'd puttered about a six or seven. Okay.
Speaker 1: I've had guys seeing you know, anywhere from six deer
Speaker 1: to night. M hm wow, man, that's awesome. So going forward,
Speaker 1: is there a way to beat sixty to a hundred
Speaker 1: deer a night or is it gonna be about the
Speaker 1: same next week it's gonna be It's gonna stay pretty consistent.
Speaker 1: Even through this full moon. They were seeing good numbers
Speaker 1: of a mature box and uh, those bonds. It was
Speaker 1: just the mature box that we're a little more sporadic.
Speaker 1: You know. They'd see one, see one of the good
Speaker 1: ones to night, and then they'd be two nights later
Speaker 1: before they see him again. Hm. Well, awesome man, Eric.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you a lot coming on the show and
Speaker 1: doing this with us. Um, give me a quick plug.
Speaker 1: Where where's the best place to find out what you
Speaker 1: guys are doing? The best place to track us out
Speaker 1: is www dot Melk River Outfitters dot com. Awesome man, Well,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. We'll talk to you soon. All right,
Speaker 1: Thank you and have a good day. M Now on
Speaker 1: the phone. Parker McDonald from Southern Ground Hunting. Some of
Speaker 1: you guys are probably pretty familiar with him. He is
Speaker 1: a doe slocking full dude. What's been going on? Man?
Speaker 1: That's right, dude, those are not safe around you. I
Speaker 1: will say that for sure. No man, especially early season,
Speaker 1: well I mean early season, middle season, in late season.
Speaker 1: I could all come up with a good excuse. Yeah, oh,
Speaker 1: but early season. I just like to me, there's like
Speaker 1: not a better practice on a light target. Yeah, dude,
Speaker 1: I mean the only time they're safe is out of season,
Speaker 1: right mostly, Yeah, depending on what what vehicle you're driving
Speaker 1: and how distracted you are, right yeah, I mean I've
Speaker 1: been known to swerve to try to hit them. Dude.
Speaker 1: That's the thing like down here, and uh, you're from
Speaker 1: You're actually from Texas, right, You're from the my hood,
Speaker 1: right yeah? So, um, the like down in the hill country, man,
Speaker 1: there's so many deer and they're little. They're like tiny
Speaker 1: little deer, you know, and uh, everybody down there has
Speaker 1: like a ranch hand, which if people don't know what
Speaker 1: that is, it's like a girl guard, big, you know,
Speaker 1: heavy duty one because like it's not like it's not
Speaker 1: at all like when like if you'll hit a deer.
Speaker 1: It's when you'll hit a deer and they just the
Speaker 1: grand they're like they're the ranch hands. Don't even get
Speaker 1: bent because it's deer so small. You know. It's but
Speaker 1: just reminded me of that you're you're kind of one
Speaker 1: of those boys, you know, Like some of them guys
Speaker 1: down there, i'd say probably high school to college age. Uh,
Speaker 1: they kind of use that ranch hand as an excuse
Speaker 1: to swerve to hit a deer, like you said. So, Uh, dude,
Speaker 1: you've been in Kentucky for like a week straight, right, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we were here. I'm actually driving home right now, back
Speaker 1: to Alabama. Are you sad? What's that? Are you sad
Speaker 1: to be driving home? Oh? Man, I've actually I'm really
Speaker 1: excited to be going home. It was a it was
Speaker 1: a fun week. Uh it was you know, the weather
Speaker 1: was good. Usually I just get my butt beat down
Speaker 1: the whole time. It's hot as mosquitoes and ticks and
Speaker 1: poison ivy and I just my my motto for this
Speaker 1: week was hunt dumb, because it always seems like that's
Speaker 1: the guys who kills buck kill bucks. Yeah, man, and
Speaker 1: see what you're saying about me? Yeah, no, Um, definitely not.
Speaker 1: I've been out here. I've been hunting this early season
Speaker 1: UM opener in Kentucky several years. And I I mean
Speaker 1: I I you know, like a lot of people that
Speaker 1: probably listen to this podcast, and and like you are, Tyler,
Speaker 1: you and Casey. I'm very analytical about how I set
Speaker 1: up and going in by water and doing all this stuff.
Speaker 1: And then you come back to camp and the guys
Speaker 1: who have ducks are the guys that said, yeah, we
Speaker 1: just went in and set over beans next to the
Speaker 1: parking area. I'm telling you, dude, that's the truth. And
Speaker 1: so I thought. My dad came this time and and
Speaker 1: I told him. I was like, we're just gonna hunt dumb.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have fun. We're gonna hunt dumb and just
Speaker 1: enjoy it. And and so that's what we did. I'm
Speaker 1: going home actually feeling kind of like kind of refreshed,
Speaker 1: you know, not up, which is good. That's a good
Speaker 1: way to start to see it. Yeah, for sure, man,
Speaker 1: that's you know, that's a good actually a pretty interesting
Speaker 1: thought there. It's just if you hunt dumb, in other words,
Speaker 1: you don't think too hard about where you're going and
Speaker 1: just go and hunt and get out in the woods.
Speaker 1: You're kind of doing like you're taking pressure off, right
Speaker 1: because now the way that the hunt goes is not
Speaker 1: doesn't make you feel like, um, that you're a bad
Speaker 1: hunter because you didn't put a whole lot of effort
Speaker 1: into it, and at the same time, like you're you're
Speaker 1: that lack of pressure just allows you to have more fun.
Speaker 1: And of course, I know, especially October, late October comes around,
Speaker 1: I know you're gonna be just like we we are
Speaker 1: and all these people that listen is like, will be
Speaker 1: analyzing and trying to figure out exactly where those deer are.
Speaker 1: But in an early season situation with your dad around me,
Speaker 1: and like, that's a that's a great idea, man. So
Speaker 1: with that though, you had a couple of chances at
Speaker 1: bucks right that, Uh, you know, I guess we're dumb
Speaker 1: enough to be in the spot that you were in. Well,
Speaker 1: so when I say I hunt dumb, like, I still
Speaker 1: used the water. I bought a boat this year. I'll
Speaker 1: always use the kayak. That'll where you about a boat
Speaker 1: this year? And um, a couple of the hunts, you know,
Speaker 1: for a few of the hunts, I took the boat
Speaker 1: out and went and hunted the same spots I normally
Speaker 1: do that I kind of historically have opportunity in. And
Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you, man, we had some of
Speaker 1: the best weather that I could possibly ask for us
Speaker 1: for early September hunt, but the deer just weren't do
Speaker 1: and what they normally do. Um, for whatever reason, I
Speaker 1: don't know, if the bucks were shedding velvet early and
Speaker 1: the kind of get them off of that summer pattern. Um,
Speaker 1: but the opening day is the only uh, the only
Speaker 1: shooter buck opportunities that I had. I had. I saw
Speaker 1: one in the in the morning. First thing, Um, I
Speaker 1: had some squirrel hunters kind of spooking in my direction.
Speaker 1: I just didn't have a shot. And then that evening,
Speaker 1: I think it was the same buck, but I had
Speaker 1: him at Corenty Yards and I was fiddle hearting with
Speaker 1: my camera. I should be hardcorn on opening day, so
Speaker 1: you know, they kind of start splitting up and going
Speaker 1: into those their their fall range, um, getting off of
Speaker 1: the beans and out of their bachelor groups and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. And so it was just a tough week, man.
Speaker 1: And it was typically like last year on this particular place,
Speaker 1: this this w m A, there was twelve bucks that
Speaker 1: were killed on opening day and here put out a
Speaker 1: report that there was only one buck that was killed
Speaker 1: from Saturday through through Monday. Wow, one buck in three
Speaker 1: days with a ton of people there, and so you know,
Speaker 1: that was pretty clear to me that the deer were
Speaker 1: just not doing what they normally do. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if it was because it was unseasonably cool, Um,
Speaker 1: it could have been something with the moon phase. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't put a whole lot of stuff that most
Speaker 1: of the time. But I mean my mind could be
Speaker 1: changed after what Sure, Yeah, that's part man, that's part
Speaker 1: of being a good deer hunter. Two. You're right, there
Speaker 1: is that. But your mind can be changed. I think
Speaker 1: you know to to to be able to go. These
Speaker 1: are the things I believe in when it comes to
Speaker 1: deer hunting. But but if you, you know, plead your
Speaker 1: case and it's plausible and it's logical, like, then I'm
Speaker 1: willing to listen to it and potentially try it and
Speaker 1: if it works for me, then maybe be a believer,
Speaker 1: you know. So yeah, so what's ahead? Um, like where
Speaker 1: I'm at in Alabama and and probably very similar to
Speaker 1: what the public areas that you guys hunt in Texas. Um,
Speaker 1: you have to be analytical, man, you have to be
Speaker 1: like hardcore. You've got to find the unpressured are unpressured
Speaker 1: areas and um, and and think about things the thing
Speaker 1: about Kentucky and and these kind of more Midwestern type
Speaker 1: states where you have a lot of farmland, the deer
Speaker 1: just doing completely different things. And so, um, that's why
Speaker 1: I like hunting, this opener is because I mean I
Speaker 1: have some of the best opportunities I've ever gotten in
Speaker 1: my life hunting the Kentucky opener, because the velvet bucks
Speaker 1: are just kind of doing there. Like I said, people
Speaker 1: are who are killing them are hunting two yards from
Speaker 1: the parking area in a in a bean field that
Speaker 1: you can see from the road, you know, and like,
Speaker 1: um can actually have those opportunities at mature deer uh
Speaker 1: in that scenario. And and in fact, most of the
Speaker 1: people I talked to this week that saw bucks, we're
Speaker 1: seeing them in the bean fields. And I saw I
Speaker 1: saw a pile of small bucks, you know, year and
Speaker 1: a half old deer. Um. But as far as just
Speaker 1: like you know, the only buck that I saw that
Speaker 1: actually had like an eight point or better rack was
Speaker 1: that opening day. Yeah, So what are they usually doing?
Speaker 1: What what patterns were you hunting them on starting out
Speaker 1: that you thought they would be using. Well, usually there's
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure on the place. And so what
Speaker 1: I find is is these deers, it's part of the
Speaker 1: reason why I use water accesses. They'll go back to
Speaker 1: the ridge, the ridges in the back of the property
Speaker 1: close to the water and and it really funnels the
Speaker 1: deer that are getting pressure. Do you have dove hunters
Speaker 1: and squirrel hunters and deer hunters out there all at
Speaker 1: the same time and been all these deer back to
Speaker 1: the back corners. And so if you have a boat,
Speaker 1: you know that's part of That's really where I spend
Speaker 1: most of my time is in those very far back
Speaker 1: corners using the boat, and I literally might walk, you know,
Speaker 1: a hundred yards from my boat and it just I
Speaker 1: always seem to get it and and then corresponding, um,
Speaker 1: finding those funnels that kind of lead to two beans
Speaker 1: has always been pretty productive. Mm hmm. But the beans
Speaker 1: this yere, we're very green, so you would think the
Speaker 1: deer would still be hitting them pretty hard. Uh, But
Speaker 1: I set over being several times and I I didn't
Speaker 1: see much. I really didn't see a whole lot of deer.
Speaker 1: Does does that be betted in there? Um in those
Speaker 1: bean fields? And that can make it pretty tough to
Speaker 1: even get a shot when the deer are all betted
Speaker 1: in the beans kind of bed out in the middle
Speaker 1: of the bean field, so you can even you set
Speaker 1: up and you know, get up high and you see them,
Speaker 1: but there untouchable. You can't get out there with them.
Speaker 1: Um hm. I typically try to out hunt honestly, rut
Speaker 1: funnels kind of seems to be where I have the
Speaker 1: most opportunity at um in these early season hunts, just
Speaker 1: because of the pressure, the deer are running back to
Speaker 1: those using those same funnels and running back to that
Speaker 1: security cover. Yeah, are you are you seeing um? Do
Speaker 1: you feel like you see more of deer movement this
Speaker 1: time of year in a pressure situation like this in
Speaker 1: the morning or the evening. Um this trip, this trip,
Speaker 1: by far, I saw more deer activity in the mornings.
Speaker 1: And the changing point for me right then was or
Speaker 1: for this one was I was getting in the middle
Speaker 1: of the betting, like right smack dab in the middle
Speaker 1: of one of the dose that I shot was about
Speaker 1: to lay down when I shot her. UM, which is
Speaker 1: gonna be the thick, thick cover around those bean fields.
Speaker 1: And a lot of times out here like Kentucky, a
Speaker 1: lot of places in Kentucky, a lot of places in
Speaker 1: the Midwest are gonna have like crp with like sycamore
Speaker 1: sapling type blocks that are right next to the beans
Speaker 1: are like it's almost like a buffer strip between the
Speaker 1: woods in the in the bean fields. And I was
Speaker 1: finding that if I would get as close to those
Speaker 1: that CRP sycamore junks. That was where I was gonna
Speaker 1: see deer, and your shot opportunities weren't weren't gonna be
Speaker 1: uh plentiful because it's so thick in there. But you're
Speaker 1: at least gonna have a chance. Uh, I see here.
Speaker 1: And And in fact, most of the deer that I
Speaker 1: uh most most mornings going in at four thirty in
Speaker 1: the morning, Almost every morning I walked up on bedded deer.
Speaker 1: They were just already bedded down before the sun came up. Hm.
Speaker 1: And so I think that was kind of what was
Speaker 1: going on. And the bucks, you know, I I just
Speaker 1: I think they were bedded down. I don't think they
Speaker 1: were getting up at all during the daylight. Not much.
Speaker 1: Do you do you if you're in that situation, do
Speaker 1: you ever take a morning off or do you always
Speaker 1: try to find a place to hunt in the morning. Um,
Speaker 1: we took. We took one morning off this trip. I
Speaker 1: typically do not. Uh. The only reason I took a
Speaker 1: morning off is because most of the time in the
Speaker 1: mornings is when I'm going out and I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go and hunt a spot where I feel
Speaker 1: confident I could shoot a dough. Um. And in the evenings,
Speaker 1: these evenings is where I kind of go and try
Speaker 1: to try to hunt for a buck. But um, after
Speaker 1: I shot the first dough, I took off that next
Speaker 1: morning was like, I mean, the only thing I'd be
Speaker 1: going to hunt right now is a dough more than likely. Um.
Speaker 1: But every once in a while, man, I actually got
Speaker 1: my two years ago, I got my opportunity and I
Speaker 1: missed uh there that probably would have went close to
Speaker 1: one fifty um. And it was a morning hunt at
Speaker 1: like ten thirty in the morning. But I find on
Speaker 1: these early season hunts, if you'll, if you will really
Speaker 1: watch that wind direction, because the wind can be so
Speaker 1: variable this time of year. Um. A lot of times
Speaker 1: if you can be up in a tree when the
Speaker 1: wind direction changes or when it forecasted to change, a
Speaker 1: lot of times you'll find those bucks adjusting to their
Speaker 1: adjusting their bed to another spot that's more favorable for
Speaker 1: that wind. Um. You know. So like that particular morning, Uh,
Speaker 1: the wind changed that like ten o'clock, and sure enough
Speaker 1: I was set up to where I thought a buck
Speaker 1: would be coming through to go to a different bedding
Speaker 1: area for that wind. And that's what happened. It happened
Speaker 1: almost like two a t in it. It doesn't happen
Speaker 1: like like that a lot, Like usually your ideas suck.
Speaker 1: But it just kind of happened to work. And maybe
Speaker 1: it didn't work. Maybe I just maybe it was just
Speaker 1: you know, a coincidence. But um, that's those are of
Speaker 1: times when I think that you can start getting like
Speaker 1: putting the puzzle pieces together for these early season hunts, um,
Speaker 1: to give yourself the highest odds of of getting a
Speaker 1: shot opportunity at buck mm hmm. Man, it sounds uh,
Speaker 1: it sounds like there's a lot of variables this time
Speaker 1: of year. I know that. And um, and so with that, Um,
Speaker 1: the one thing that a guy can always look forward
Speaker 1: to is basically better weather, new week, new moon, all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. Um, different variables, right that that
Speaker 1: can potentially help in a situation where he's struggling to
Speaker 1: find bucks currently. So with that, on a scale of
Speaker 1: one to ten, and tell me, why what do you
Speaker 1: expect dear movement to be like in the next week. Well,
Speaker 1: there's the one variable that I think changes a lot
Speaker 1: in farm country is when they start cutting the corn.
Speaker 1: And last night, uh, yesterday afternoon and they started cutting
Speaker 1: corn on this w m A. And I think for
Speaker 1: anybody who is going to be hunting this coming week,
Speaker 1: they're cutting corn. A lot of those deer I think
Speaker 1: are living in those corn fields, and um, when they're
Speaker 1: standing and they're cutting it right now, and if you
Speaker 1: can get close to some fresh cut corn, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of bucks are gonna die this week because
Speaker 1: of that one factor. Um, it forces them to get
Speaker 1: up and move from the place they've been, the places
Speaker 1: that they've been living and having security cover and kind
Speaker 1: of being untouchable out in the middle of those corn fields.
Speaker 1: And I have a lot of friends who are coming
Speaker 1: up this week, and when I sent them, when I
Speaker 1: sent them a picture of the combines out in the
Speaker 1: corn field, everybody got excited because that's a that's that
Speaker 1: can be like a game changing factor on this farm
Speaker 1: country stuff. M hm, cool man, that's exciting. That's definitely
Speaker 1: something a good variable to look forward to. Man, it's
Speaker 1: something that takes a big swath of cover out of
Speaker 1: the equation and puts a bunch of food in front
Speaker 1: of you know, where deer normally eat. So I think
Speaker 1: if I had to put a number on it, I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna go from about a one or two
Speaker 1: that we experienced this week too, probably a six or
Speaker 1: seven because it's happened before where they've cut it really
Speaker 1: really early while we've been there for the opener, and
Speaker 1: as soon as they cut it, man, you start seeing
Speaker 1: deer just piling into that corn field, and part of
Speaker 1: it feels like it should be a crime because there's
Speaker 1: just piles of corn out there in front of Hey,
Speaker 1: Texas bro, we know all about it. Yeah, yeah, it
Speaker 1: feels normal to me. That's right. That's right, man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's all about it's all relative. Man. So that's cool, dude. Well, um,
Speaker 1: so I guess with that, that's exciting. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: people can watch your stuff on you too. I can
Speaker 1: hear your podcasts. Give me a quick rundown of where
Speaker 1: they can find this kind of stuff, man, Yeah, so YouTube,
Speaker 1: it's a southern ground hunting. Just search that. Um. If
Speaker 1: you see a chubby bearded guy with a bunch of
Speaker 1: tattoos and uh, he's in a kayak or a boat,
Speaker 1: that's probably me. We're gonna see the dose being slocked
Speaker 1: from this hunt, absolutely yes, sir. And then uh and
Speaker 1: then you go to the podcast. It's a part of
Speaker 1: the Sportsman's Empire podcast network. Uh and just you know,
Speaker 1: you can search Southern Ground Hunting and you'll find it
Speaker 1: there as well. Cool man. Um, there's some other more
Speaker 1: associated stuff that you're gonna be doing coming out soon.
Speaker 1: I think I don't know how much I can reveal
Speaker 1: about that, but I'm excited to see that. Um. And
Speaker 1: then also, Um, Parker is a dose slacker, but he
Speaker 1: kills a lot of bucks too, so I don't want
Speaker 1: that too. I don't want that to be a diss
Speaker 1: by any means. He just shoots a lot of deer.
Speaker 1: So it's definitely worth going checking out. Thanks for coming
Speaker 1: on the show giving us run down to Kentucky, Man,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure we will be talking to you later
Speaker 1: on this year. Absolutely, Thanks Tyler for having me on.
Speaker 1: All right now, on the phone, we've got Ron Stoddard.
Speaker 1: He's from Nebraska. Ron. What's happening, dude? What's up man?
Speaker 1: How's it going? It's going great, dude. I Um, we
Speaker 1: got some pretty good weather coming in here. We've got
Speaker 1: like a lot lower lows and we're hitting the dew
Speaker 1: point a lot more often, which is good for us
Speaker 1: because we've been kind of dry and um, you know,
Speaker 1: helps keep some moisture around the ground. So that's good
Speaker 1: and then just feels like deer season, which I know,
Speaker 1: uh feels the same for you right now, because uh,
Speaker 1: you shot a pretty good buck recently. Man is the
Speaker 1: eight point? It's a ten point ten point? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: saw pictures uh last night of it. Man, it looked
Speaker 1: like he was he had come out of elvit just recently, right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he uh was probably just coming out of elvet that
Speaker 1: day when I shot him. Um, he was bedded down
Speaker 1: in a CRP field on off the edge of a
Speaker 1: bean field, and it actually was the first year I
Speaker 1: saw that night. And he came into about eight yards
Speaker 1: and I shot him, and he went about thirty yards
Speaker 1: and I was able to recover him. Dude, I love
Speaker 1: making shots like under fifteen yards. It's like you almost
Speaker 1: don't even have to aim, you know. No, it was
Speaker 1: definitely pretty cut and dry, and yeah that's cool. Man.
Speaker 1: He was actually right off the edge of a bean field,
Speaker 1: and I had the perfect lend and had a twenty
Speaker 1: twenty degree temperature drop that day, so it was almost
Speaker 1: like he read the script, you know, sure was that?
Speaker 1: So that what that deer was like his destination that
Speaker 1: night was the beans. Yeah, so he was. So it's
Speaker 1: just a really tiny piece of property, like maybe ten
Speaker 1: acres and it's right in between a big CRP field
Speaker 1: and a bean field and it comes right down into
Speaker 1: a funnel. And I've always seen deer in there, and
Speaker 1: this deer actually I've had him on camera for five
Speaker 1: years so and he's never really been like a huge deer,
Speaker 1: huge deer, but he kind of meant a lot to
Speaker 1: me and it was super fun hunt dude. I had
Speaker 1: a similar deer like that in Kansas a few years back.
Speaker 1: Like when I shot that deeries seven, I assumed he
Speaker 1: was seven and a half when we picked him up. Uh,
Speaker 1: I thought he was three. So I had about five
Speaker 1: years of time with him. And it's the same way
Speaker 1: like he was like a I don't know when I
Speaker 1: when I shot him, he's probably like upper one forties
Speaker 1: type deer. And he was never he was like always
Speaker 1: probably one thirty to upper one forties. He never he
Speaker 1: never like grew much. It always looked the same every
Speaker 1: year as a ten point every single year mainframe, you know.
Speaker 1: And but it's just cool like that, um when you
Speaker 1: can grow history with a deer like that and really
Speaker 1: just kind of like more than anything, kind of grow
Speaker 1: more massive and just look older every year, and you're
Speaker 1: just finally like, man, you know what, that's a cool
Speaker 1: deer right there, you know. And the really important thing
Speaker 1: about this deer was he was kind of named after
Speaker 1: an old boss. He was a goofy deer when he
Speaker 1: was really young, and uh, named after my boss, joking
Speaker 1: around and but come to come to fruition, Uh my boss.
Speaker 1: That boss actually ended up passing away like a year
Speaker 1: later from a heart attack. And I've hunted that property
Speaker 1: ever since. And so it's kind of kind of bitter
Speaker 1: sweet when I was able to end the chapter with
Speaker 1: that deer. Sure do to understand that the sentiment that
Speaker 1: we have in white tails, in white tail hunting sometimes
Speaker 1: it's just like the best part of it, you know
Speaker 1: that it was almost like the Lord was watching over
Speaker 1: that day, because, like I said, it was perfect. The
Speaker 1: wind was coming right on the funnel of this and
Speaker 1: that was literally the first dear I saw on the
Speaker 1: only deer I saw the whole day. Mm hmmmm, Man,
Speaker 1: that's cool. And it was like I feel that way too. Man.
Speaker 1: It was like seven o'clock when he came out. Man,
Speaker 1: So it's such I don't know those moments, man, Like
Speaker 1: we get to shoot maybe a couple of deer years
Speaker 1: sometimes and it's just like when that happens, man, it's
Speaker 1: just like you said, it just feels like such a blessing. Man.
Speaker 1: It's a cool thing. But anyway, let's let's talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about how, um like, why you decided to
Speaker 1: hunt that deer, because I'm kind of interested. You talked
Speaker 1: about a temperature drop there. Is that what brought you
Speaker 1: out into the woods? Um? Do you normally wait for
Speaker 1: a temperature drop this time of year? Are you just
Speaker 1: hunting hard no matter what, trying to find a place
Speaker 1: to scratch one out? Um right now? Like this year,
Speaker 1: I would hunt pretty hard on betting areas and stuff,
Speaker 1: but it's been so dry this year that most of
Speaker 1: our dear movement has been after dark. So yeah, that's
Speaker 1: exactly what brought me out of the woods. I've actually
Speaker 1: been chasing mule deer for that reason because the white
Speaker 1: tail has been predominantly nocturnal, and I uh had or
Speaker 1: that twenty degree temperature drop and I just said, heck,
Speaker 1: might as well go sit in this to day and
Speaker 1: and it I'll just kind of kind of unfolded perfectly.
Speaker 1: So we were you on a like a field edge,
Speaker 1: on the edge of the beans when you shot him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So there's just this little teeny strip of timber that's
Speaker 1: it's literally a triangle like a funnel that brings all
Speaker 1: the deer through it right to the beans out of
Speaker 1: the c r P and yep, and they all end
Speaker 1: up in the beans. They either come back in there
Speaker 1: through there in the morning and then back out there
Speaker 1: through the night. Cool. Well, let let me ask you this, dude.
Speaker 1: Can those deer Can those deer see a road or
Speaker 1: people on a road from from where they end up
Speaker 1: in the field there. Yeah, they actually have to cross
Speaker 1: a road in between the trees and the being field
Speaker 1: to get there, and there's only about three yards away. Man.
Speaker 1: So basically those those deer will still come out in
Speaker 1: daylight this time of year, despite having to cross the
Speaker 1: road and or being like a visual uh spot towards
Speaker 1: a road. Ninety per cent of the time they won't, man.
Speaker 1: And that's why it was kind of almost bitter sweet,
Speaker 1: because I didn't expect anything to happen and run, I
Speaker 1: just you know, I knew that there was a good
Speaker 1: chance because of the temperature, job then maybe it would
Speaker 1: get him up on his feet, And I sure did. Man,
Speaker 1: that's awesome, dude, that's it's so cool. So as far
Speaker 1: as like betting areas go, uh that if you're you know, say,
Speaker 1: on a normal year, you said you would probably be
Speaker 1: hunting closer to betting areas and stuff this time of year,
Speaker 1: Can you talk about that a little bit, like what
Speaker 1: you're set up usually looks like, and what you kind
Speaker 1: of prefer and how how to get in there and
Speaker 1: when you know, all the different kind of tactical things
Speaker 1: involved around that. Yeah, so usually earlier in the year
Speaker 1: were only predominantly hunting evening hunts, just because all the
Speaker 1: betting areas are like off open fields, like little teeny
Speaker 1: thickets that are maybe one two acres at the most,
Speaker 1: and you can't really get into them in the mornings
Speaker 1: because all the year out in the egg fields of course,
Speaker 1: so you get you gotta sneak in there and the
Speaker 1: evenings while they're sitting on their bed and I just
Speaker 1: kind of hope they come out at last light or
Speaker 1: whatever because you and yeah, okay, mostly on the edge
Speaker 1: of the soybean fields this time of year until that
Speaker 1: last green soybean field, uh turns over, and then they'll
Speaker 1: be headed towards the corn. But and then and that's
Speaker 1: kind of a whole another ball game, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Yeah, yeah, for sure. So, um, would you
Speaker 1: say that you seem to think that this was kind
Speaker 1: of a providential experience where this buck walked by you
Speaker 1: that day. It kind of seemed like you weren't expecting much.
Speaker 1: What would you say the deer activity has been like
Speaker 1: in the past week or so, Scaling one to ten,
Speaker 1: I would say probably a four during daylight, three, three
Speaker 1: or four during daylight, just because I mean we've had
Speaker 1: highs and three the last four days. So but coming
Speaker 1: up it's probably gonna be you know, six or seven
Speaker 1: because we're gonna have a thirty degree temperature drop this
Speaker 1: evening into some rain, into some real foggy morning tomorrow morning,
Speaker 1: and more rain tomorrow morning. All Right, dude, that's what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. Cool weather this time of year. My
Speaker 1: next starts swelling. I'm not like a scrape, I'm telling you, dude. Yeah,
Speaker 1: starting to feel like your season. It's getting the blood boiling. Man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's cool. Hey, lets let me ask one more question. Um,
Speaker 1: how do you feel about runs is? That is an
Speaker 1: odd question, But I do not like runsas really I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm not a Midwestern born boy. Actually, I'm raised in
Speaker 1: saw Lake City, Utah. So really, do you ever do
Speaker 1: any fly fishing out there? I've done a little bit.
Speaker 1: I moved out of there when I was fourteen fifteen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it wasn't really the best situation, so I was never
Speaker 1: really got to do all the lot of that stuff
Speaker 1: till I moved out to Nebraska. So sure, well, I, um,
Speaker 1: I've had a few runs is in there. They are
Speaker 1: fast food type runs is. I don't know if like
Speaker 1: the the homemade ones are better or not, but I'm
Speaker 1: sure they are. Um, but yeah, the the fast food ones,
Speaker 1: I did the Southwestern flavor, and I gotta say I
Speaker 1: liked it pretty good. Man. It's it's it's a treat
Speaker 1: because we get pretty bogged down with burgers and fries
Speaker 1: on the road, you know. So uh, I'll definitely take
Speaker 1: something like that when I get it. But I'm I'm
Speaker 1: actually a little bit surprised to hear you just don't
Speaker 1: like the runs of man. I think it's more just
Speaker 1: living in a little town. I've eaten everything that's here
Speaker 1: so many times. You know what I mean. I guess well,
Speaker 1: I like to cook my own meals and me too,
Speaker 1: me too, man. Well, I appreciate the information. Man. I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to uh being in Nebraska at some point myself,
Speaker 1: especially with your report here of it, to being in
Speaker 1: a pretty good dear movement coming up. So uh, thanks
Speaker 1: for taking the time, run, and we'll be talking to
Speaker 1: you sometime soon. Man, Thank you, man. Big congrats to
Speaker 1: these fellows that were able to punch tags this week.
Speaker 1: I hope any of you listening out there are able
Speaker 1: to use the info from them to make some success
Speaker 1: of your own this week. Like was mentioned last week,
Speaker 1: Hunter's velvet buck video from Tennessee has released on the
Speaker 1: Element YouTube channel, and Mark's first episode of his new
Speaker 1: Deer Country series has released on the meat eat channel
Speaker 1: as well. Also, early teal seasons have begun to open
Speaker 1: across the states, So if you're needing to make some
Speaker 1: room in the freezer with last year's waterfowl, the Meat
Speaker 1: Eater website has a new goose stew recipe that will
Speaker 1: help you turn tough, dark meat into pass me more
Speaker 1: of that gravy. Lastly, remember stay fresh. This has been
Speaker 1: rot Fresh Radio