WEBVTT - Ep. 256: Deer Stories - Coyotes, Missed Shots, and Gar Holes 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:08.440 That coyode actually saved me because that deer was he 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:11.840 was really close to a clearcut that's just nearly impenetrable. 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:16.120 And you know, I know that in another hour or so, 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:18.000 I would have gotten down and I would have spooked 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:21.079 that deer and hit where he was hit. Chances are 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:22.720 wouldn't have led a lot, and if he'd got in 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:26.079 that thicket, I may have never found him. But that coyode, 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:29.720 actually I say, it's kyold, it's God, just put him 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:30.800 right back there in my lap. 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:36.720 The time to hunt whitetail deer is officially upon us. 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:41.520 We all know this time as the fall. That name, 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:46.080 that noun, the fall, is so familiar to us, we 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:50.000 might have lost sight of how poetic and simple that 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:54.360 descriptor actually is. In scientific terms, the fall is the 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:58.400 season when the northern hemisphere rotates towards the north pole, 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:02.600 making the days shorter, the weather cooler, and the shadows longer. 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:05.399 At some point a human walked outside and saw a 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:09.440 leaf drop. They saw it fall, and they said, let's 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.959 call this the fall. But to a deer hunter, the 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:17.120 fall is so much more complex. This episode is a 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:21.040 little bit different. We've got an eclectic cast of storytellers. 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:24.360 Some are longer stories, some are short, but I hope 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.600 you can sit back and enjoy each one as they 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.319 come from guar holes to cold snaps, to scopes being 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:33.160 off to deer falling out of the. 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:34.120 Backs of trucks. 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.640 It's fall time, folks, and that's a good enough reason 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:41.160 to celebrate. I really doubt that you're gonna want to 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:46.440 miss this Deer Stories episode. And this is meat Eater's 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:50.400 Whitetail Week, where you can buy more and save more 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:55.360 at first light dot com. First Light has the best 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.000 light tail gear on the market, and this week you 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:03.360 can save on it. And don't forget about those new phelps. 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:07.480 Deer calls the Acorn Pro, which is an inhale exhale 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:10.440 grunt bleat. Let's get to our stories. 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.320 He said he'd push it down and very gently stepped 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.160 across it, just like a man. And see he just 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:22.760 a boy, And I thought, well, yeah, okay, but you 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:24.400 can look at the rack. You can tell the boys 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:24.960 tell its truth. 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.400 My name is Clay Knukelem and this is the Bear 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:43.440 Grease Podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:47.200 for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:51.359 story of Americans who live their lives close to the land, 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:57.600 presented by f HF Gear, American made, purpose built hunting 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:01.160 and fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged as 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:10.679 the places we explore. Man, do I ever love these 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:14.200 dear stories episodes? But last week is gonna be hard 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:18.560 to top. Between Lake's Daddy Doyle story and Mitch's Baron 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:22.639 Buck fiasco, and then Med Palmer's story about the Mississippi 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:26.840 River and how meaningful and tragic that one was, the 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:29.519 bar just keeps getting higher. And I'll tell you one 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:32.200 thing when it comes to storytelling is that you never 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:35.160 want to tell your story after the best story has 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:39.800 already been told. But you also might hear a story, 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.080 and you can kind of show up and have the 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:45.080 best story after you've already heard the players in the field, 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.080 if you know what I mean. Starting us off this 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:52.280 week is my friend from Western Arkansas, Mitch Sykes. 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:54.440 He told the story on the last episode. 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.920 This is a public land hunt that I call the 0:03:59.000 --> 0:03:59.880 Hide and Seek book. 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:10.120 This was in nine, I believe, and my favorite time 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:12.880 of year, and I have more success with quality deer 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:17.800 the first musloading season than any other time. And because 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.920 of work I had to leave opening day of musloading season, 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:23.680 and I was out of town. I was out of 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:27.599 state from nearly the whole week. And Andy Brown he 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.400 was texting me pictures and they were hunting at the 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.360 WMA and having a lot of success, and of course 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.360 I'm out of town, not getting the hunt, just sick, 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:39.280 and I got back to Arkansas. Season opened on a 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:41.719 Saturday and it ended on Sunday, and I got back 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:45.240 Thursday night. So Friday morning, I got up early and 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:47.600 I hadn't got to scout or do anything down at 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:49.719 the WMA, so I just took my climb and stand, 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:51.920 and I knew a few areas down there, and I 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:54.560 knew the deer were moving. So my goal for Saturday 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:56.000 was not to hunt. I was just going to try 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:58.560 to find a place to hunt that weekend and Clay. 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:01.560 I went to every I knew in the WMA, and 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:03.200 I don't know it very well, but I went to 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.800 some spots that historically I had had some success or 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.240 seen deer, and I just couldn't find anything that made 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:11.600 me want to hang a stand. And I never will 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.000 forget the last place I thought I was gonna have 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.880 time to go. I carried my stand in there, came 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:19.760 back to the truck nothing, and I was about to think, 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.080 I'm just gonna hunt around the house tomorrow. But when 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:24.160 I walked back into the road where my truck was parked, 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:25.719 and I threw my stand over in the truck, I 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:27.360 just looked down the road. I was kind of parked 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:29.919 in a straight stretch. Three or four deer were in 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:32.279 the road up there, and they left the road, and 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:35.120 it was right before dark, I mean like twenty minutes 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:37.800 before dark dark, and I got to think, well, maybe 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:40.080 there's some acrons up there falling. I hadn't found acrons. 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:42.159 I hadn't found any bucks signed, I hadn't found anything. 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:44.200 So I walked back down the road there. They were 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:46.360 about one hundred yards from my truck where they were at, 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.120 And when I got there, I could tell there was 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:51.679 white oak acorns in the road. There was deer crossing 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.359 the road, a lot of deer activity right there in 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:56.840 just south of the road. Right there, there was a 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.920 little knob that it wasn't one hundred yards to the 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.040 top of it, but it was just like a cow's face. 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:08.719 It was straight up steep. As I kind of started 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:11.320 walking up that noob, I kept thinking was it everyone 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:12.640 in flat no OWT, what's it going to look like 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:14.080 on top when I get up there? And I finally 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:15.320 got to the top of it, and there was an 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:16.839 old log road run right out the top of that 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.320 little ridge, and there was scrapes like you dream about, 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:22.559 you know, just as big as a hood of a truck, 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:25.479 several scrapes in that old log road, and to this day, 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:28.120 the biggest rub that I've ever seen. There was a 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:30.279 tree about as big as my leg that was rubbed 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:33.040 pretty good up there. And I had went ahead and 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:35.880 took my climber, and I said, this is where I 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.120 need to be. So I kind of backed off on 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:39.800 the north edge of it where I could see out 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:41.839 the top and back down the south side, and I 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:43.640 hung my stand on a white oak tree, and I 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:45.960 went ahead and climbed up it and limbed it out 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:48.400 and just left it there at the base of the tree. 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:51.760 And next morning I got in there to hunt. It 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.320 was probably as foggy as any morning I've ever hunted 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:56.320 in my life. The first time I'd ever been up 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.560 there was the night before. I didn't tack it in 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.440 I thought I can find it. I got there an 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:03.800 hour before daylight, wanting to be in my stand an 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.080 hour before daylight. And I got up there in the fog, 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:08.960 didn't get turned around, but I could not find my stand, 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:11.920 and of course my little headlight it would go three 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:13.520 foot in front of you and it wouldn't even reach 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.040 the ground. It was a foggy I walked around that 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:19.440 top of that ridge, by those scrapes, by that rub 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:24.080 a dozen times, and of course I'm just soaking wet, aggravated, 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:27.320 knowing that I've just messed that spot up. Finally find 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:29.480 my tree stand and get up in it, and I'm 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:31.920 just I'm just sick. I thought, I'm not going to 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.560 see anything. I mean, everything's gonna smell me. And when 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.120 I got up there, it it wasn't real pretty woods. 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.160 It was a lot of little, short, dwarfy post oaks 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:42.920 and briary and I couldn't see good. I mean, I 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:45.600 couldn't really see much past thirty yards in any direction, 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:48.320 but I knew it was in a good spot in boy. 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.480 Just shortly after daylight, I heard something coming from the west, 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:57.280 right out the top of the ridge. And when I 0:07:57.280 --> 0:07:58.800 first seen it, I could tell it was a buck, 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:00.280 but I didn't know if it was one I wanted 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.840 to shoot. He had horns that just from the side. 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:05.160 He didn't look like he had any main beams. But 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:06.440 he kind of got right there in front of me, 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:08.320 and he turned and looked at me. He just his 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:12.239 horns come right back together. But a really nice, real tall, 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.960 tying chocolate horned just an eight point, but a good 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:17.280 deer one I'm gonna shoot. And it was just like 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:18.920 I say, it was just brushy, and I couldn't get 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.360 a good shot. And finally I got him stopped. And 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.200 the deer was not far thirty five forty yards through 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:26.200 a little bit of brush. I guess, maybe more than 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:28.960 I thought. And I shot, and I thought I was 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.559 right on him. I wasn't nervous, and when I shot, 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:34.520 of course, smoke filled the air. I never saw that 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:36.760 deer run off. I never heard him run off. I 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:39.120 thought I had killed him dead right there. So I 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:41.760 reloaded my gun. I waited about thirty minutes, probably, and 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:43.840 I got down and I went over there. I have 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:46.360 no idea what happened, just like I was shooting a blank. 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:48.319 There there was no blood, there was no hair. I 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:50.360 couldn't even tell where the deer had tore up the ground. 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:52.240 I don't know what happened, but I missed the deer 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:55.200 and anyways kind of scourged. So I just went back 0:08:55.240 --> 0:09:06.520 and got in the tree climb back up there, and 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:08.800 I'll never forget. It was about nine pint thirty. I 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:10.960 hear the same thing coming from the west right out 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:13.080 the top of the ridge there, and it sounds like 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.280 it's just just without ceasing, just as far as I 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:20.360 could hear till it got right there, just crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:23.120 I can't explain to you how thick the woods were 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:26.640 right there, but I remember I saw that horizontal movement, 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:28.760 you know how you can see just that movement of 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:32.280 something walking, and it probably stopped twenty five thirty yards 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:34.760 from me fixing to come out where I could had 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.760 a few places to see. It just stopped, and I 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:40.320 remembered that I had seen like a leg or the 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:42.839 body of something, and it wasn't a co old. I 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.400 knew it was a deer, and it just stopped, And 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.079 of course I got turned around there and got ready, 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:49.959 you know, for take a few more steps where I 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:53.040 could see what it was and possibly shoot. And I'm 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.199 going to try to be conservative when I tell you 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:58.280 that I sat there, I would say fifteen minutes, so 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.640 long that I started questioning what I had seen. I'm like, 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.319 could that had been a kita that smelled? Because I 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:05.880 knew I had been all over it. I mean, I 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.320 had walked all over where that deer was at before daylight, 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:10.319 trying to find my stand. You know, was it a hawk? 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.040 Sometimes you'll see a bird, a big hawk or something 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:15.720 that movement. But I'm like, no, I heard that deer 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:17.719 walk in there, but there's no way a deer is 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:19.719 still standing there at fifteen or twenty minutes and not 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:23.880 moved a muscle. About that time, I kind of heard 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:25.959 something back to my right and I looked in there 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:28.560 was a button buck not thirty yards from me. I mean, 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.440 I was thinking, that must be the deer that I 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:33.640 saw walk in here. How did he get down the 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:36.240 mountain thirty yards without me seeing him? And I got thinking, well, 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:38.760 I was so keyed on that area right there where 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:40.959 I saw that deer stop. He might have just made 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:43.600 a little circle and been quiet. I didn't know what 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:46.160 had happened, but I still something made me think there 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:48.600 was a deer there and that button buck he was 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:50.480 feeding on acrons and he come right in there, right 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:52.840 about the base of my tree. And when he did, 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.600 I saw him throw his head up and he was 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:58.439 looking right where I had been looking, and he kind 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:00.640 of he didn't blow, and stopping kind of stomped his 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:02.760 foot of time or two, but he didn't blow, and 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:04.560 he just went right back to feet and when he did, 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:06.920 I heard a twig or something snap right there, So 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.120 of course I kind of got ready again. And when 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:13.080 that deer stepped out, he is about twenty four inches wide. 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:16.640 He is a really nice buck. But that deer had 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:18.600 been that whole time, and I know what it was. 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.400 He smelled me, because before daylight I had been all 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:23.840 over that and I think he probably he smelled me. 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:25.280 I don't know that he knew that I was still there, 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:27.920 but I do believe that that deer had been there 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:31.680 for close to twenty minutes without moving a muscle and 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:34.040 ended up when that button buck was right underneath me, 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:36.640 I guess he felt comfortable and he just walked right 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:38.960 down there in my face and I shot him with 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:40.600 the muzzle loader. And he's one of the better deer 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.320 I've ever killed, the only deer I've ever weighed with 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:45.400 the guts in it. He weighed one hundred ninety four. 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:54.959 Pounds, witnessing the patience of that buck and then out 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:59.680 lasting him without getting busted with something special. I think 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:03.160 big do this a lot, but we usually never know 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:07.120 it because the deer spooks or just disappears, and maybe 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.559 we never even know it was there. They don't get 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.840 old by being dumb. They say it was a good story, Mitch, 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.160 so good we actually may come back to you at the. 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:17.319 End for another story. 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.800 Our next story is told by me and Lake Pickle's friend, 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:26.679 Keith Polk. Keith is one of Lake's turkey hunting mentors 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:28.640 and a long time friend of his. 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:31.080 I've just met Keith in the last couple of years. 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:34.440 Lake's Daddy Dole story is going to be hard to 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:36.319 top Keith, but it's worth a shot. 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:37.439 Here's Keith. 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.040 This story took place in the fall of ninety two 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:45.199 down in Prentice, Mississippi, which is about an hour south 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.640 at Jackson, down in the piney woods. That's where I 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:51.440 was raised and where I learned to hunt and my 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:56.040 appreciation for the outdoors begin. And that particular year, my 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.120 good friend Brad Shivers and I we hunted a lot together. 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:04.800 He had started bow hunting, and this was a two 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:08.040 week primitive weapon season, and in the first two weeks 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:12.920 of December that Mississippi has still has actually and Brad 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.439 would be bow hunting this particular evening and was looking 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:17.880 for a place to see some deer, and so I 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:20.760 sent him across the creek through some hard woods to 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:24.960 a food plot that we seldom hunted, but was often 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:27.600 frequented by, you know, a couple of three four dos. 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.760 And so the cool thing about it was the west 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:33.800 side of the food plot, there's this little scope of 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:37.960 hardwoods that protrude out into a large broom sage field, 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:41.720 and these hardwoods it's some huge cherry bark oak and 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:45.920 white oak timber. So I just I had suggested that Brad, 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:48.080 you know, just go getting nestled up in the roots 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:49.719 of one of those big trees, get where he could 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:53.839 draw his bow and settle in. Well, that evening I 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:56.800 go to pick him up, and it's obvious that he 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:00.360 has seen something or done something I couldn't tell. Man, 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:03.560 he was excited, and so he proceeds to tell me 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:07.000 that just before dark he hears some rustling in the 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:09.400 leaves and he kind of rolls off the tree and 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:13.520 looks behind him, and he gets to watch this big 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.960 mature rack buck, you know, make a scrape and a rub. 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:20.560 He's actually rubbing a sapling and pawing at the ground 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:23.400 and scraping right there. And this is something we hadn't 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:25.560 ever seen. We'd only seen it on a truth video 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:30.680 and we were pretty fired up, and I basically interrogated 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:32.680 bread where'd the deer come from? Where'd the deer go? 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.760 How long did he stay? And we figured that he 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.720 had came and went from this big broom sage field, 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:43.120 which I had totally overlooked. And so I felt like 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:45.160 I told Brian, I felt like I could I had 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.000 a really good chance to kill that deer, you know, 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:49.680 now that we knew where he was coming go. And 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:53.600 so we're right before Christmas, a week or so passed 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:57.360 where we're outside of the primitive weapons season. Now we're 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:01.320 back in the firearm season. And I had gotten an 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:06.280 Amiker dear Thief climbing stand, and this had been my 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:08.000 first hunt with it, and I'm sure I had put 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:09.880 it up in the yard and tested it out. But 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:13.360 after toting that heavy rascal all the way through those 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:15.560 hardwoods and getting on the edge of the broom sage 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.600 fill with it. I find me a nice little water 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:22.720 oak tree and get it on and proceed to climb up. Well, 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:25.680 I didn't take into account the taper of the tree, 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:30.560 and my top portion of my climber is angled down. 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:34.800 You know, it's sloped down pretty severe. So rather than 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.760 doing what I know I should have done and climb 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:40.960 back down and readjusted the tree, I decided I would 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:45.440 just readjust it in the tree. So I do, and 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.520 I loosen the wing nut and take it off and 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:53.120 pull the bolt out and slide the bar. And it's 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:57.480 quite a complicated process to do up in the heights 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:00.240 of a water oak, but I pulled it up off, 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:02.280 or so I thought. I get my bolt in there 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.520 and everything's readjusted, and I go to put the wing 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:08.480 nut on, and I thought I had started it, and 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:10.720 so I just took my finger and was gonna thump 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:14.440 that wing nut to spin it on. And when I 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:19.280 thumped it, I watched in horror as it plummeted to 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.800 the forest floor. And it was just like watching it 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.520 in slow motion. And I didn't take my eyes off 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:26.960 of it, like I knew exactly where it fell in 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:30.880 those leaves. I said, man, I've got to get that nut. 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.200 So I hold the bolt in my left hand and 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:36.160 start down the tree and I'm trying to be as 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:39.920 quiet as possible because I've just got super super high 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:43.640 expectations for this hunt. I just felt really confident. So 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:46.760 I get down, readjust the tree. I did find the 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.080 wing nut, get it back on, climb back up, get 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:52.840 in the tree, grab my pullup rope, start to pull 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:56.680 my rifle up and it's not coming up, and I'm like, 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:57.320 what's going on. 0:16:57.440 --> 0:16:58.560 I look down and there is. 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:04.720 This tiny young holly, like a yo pine holly bush 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:06.439 at the base of my tree, and my pull up 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.120 rope had looped around that tree. And I tugged and 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:13.240 pulled and I just there. Nothing in me wanted to 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:15.680 go back down the tree a second time, but that's 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.320 exactly what I had to do. So I go down 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:23.560 the tree, untangle my pull up rope, get that situated, 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:27.160 climb back up the tree for the second time, and 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:30.679 finally get my gun in my hands. And I almost 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:35.000 left before I climbed back up the second time. I 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:38.399 really had to have a hard conversation with myself to 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:42.159 make myself stay but I did, and I just figured 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:44.480 if nothing else, I'd get a little recont on the 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:48.080 spot and may have to refine you know where I'm 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:51.280 sitting for the next hunt, because I surely didn't think 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:55.119 I would have any success that evening. Well, time clicked on, 0:17:55.320 --> 0:18:00.880 and right before dark something catches my eye and I look, 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:04.400 and instantly I see a deer. I see a rack. 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:08.199 I shoulder my rifle, wait for a clear shot, and 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:11.600 then squeeze a trigger, and it all happened, and under well, 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:16.360 under a minute, I mean it happened fast. The deer turns, 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:18.840 runs and he runs out back in the sage field, 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:22.560 and I see him crash, and I can't believe what 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:23.320 just happened. 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:24.640 I'm stoked. 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:28.040 My first big buck and he's on the ground, and 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:30.480 I really don't know how big he is. No trail 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.600 cameras back then or anything like that. Never previously seen 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:35.520 him in the bread had, but I had not. We 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:38.800 believe it to be the same deer. But I climb down, 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:42.800 slip out there in the broomsage, and man, there he is, 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:46.600 and I have killed a giant. And this is giant 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:50.800 is a relative description, because this deer is all of 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.440 probably one hundred and fifteen hundred and twenty inches a 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:56.800 typical ten point deer. And man, I am stoked, just 0:18:57.440 --> 0:18:59.320 beyond my mind. 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:00.840 I'm fired up, so I'd run. 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:03.800 I'd run back out of the woods, get on my 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:06.399 three wheeler, head back to the house. I get to 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:08.480 the house and my brother is in the yard and 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:10.760 it's not quite dark yet. My brother's in the yard 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.199 talking to family friends named Robbie. Robbie had come to 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:17.480 see my parents. And Robbie was not a hunter and 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.560 h but Robbie was, you know, he knew my brother 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:23.360 and I. When I get out of the truck, I've 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:25.320 not said a word to my brother. We just lock 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:27.680 eyes and he said you did it didn't And I 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.800 said I did. He said how big is he? I said, 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:34.159 he's a monster, And may we start? We just get giddy, 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.439 you know, and fired up, And so we end up 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:40.440 heading back down the creek and Robbie's in between us. 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:43.760 I guess if liking to a kidnapping, because I don't 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:45.600 think he went at his own wheel. We just pushed 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:46.359 him in the truck. 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:48.119 We were so fired up. 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:51.320 But we head to the creek and my little Ford Ranger, 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:55.119 my brother's driving cross the creek bridge, run through the 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:58.399 logging roads, just flying through the logging roads, and we 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:00.760 get to the field edge and and go out there, 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:04.000 and man, I just remember how proud my brother was. 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:07.040 I just I can remember it like it was yesterday. 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:10.280 Just we even got Robbie in on dragging the deer 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:12.840 back into the truck and we loaded the deer up. 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:17.000 And so there's no social media obviously in ninety two. 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.719 But there was a Shell station and that was our 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:23.600 gas station and Prentice and that was our social media. Man. 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:28.240 Everybody typically, especially on a Friday and Saturday night, everybody 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:30.639 ended up at the Shell station around six thirty or 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:34.840