1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:05,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,879 Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, presented by first Light, 3 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind. 4 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:18,600 Speaker 1: First Light, Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host 5 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: Tony Peterson. 6 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 2: Hey, everyone, welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundation's podcast, 7 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 2: which is brought to you by first Light. I'm your host, 8 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:26,439 Speaker 2: Tony Peterson, and today I'm going to talk about the 9 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 2: deer that change us and why those encounters matter so much. 10 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 2: I've been thinking about this topic for a while, and 11 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 2: it was during a January dough hunt with one of 12 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 2: my daughters where I got hit upside the head with 13 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 2: the reality that some deer just changes Some deer encounters 14 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 2: just change the arc of our hunting. I hadn't figured 15 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 2: out why it really matters or what to say about 16 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:50,319 Speaker 2: it before then, but sometimes the pieces just fall into 17 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 2: place and the picture becomes so much clearer. So what 18 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about now are the moments with 19 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 2: deer that alter the course of me as a hunter, 20 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 2: and why you should think about this stuff too, because 21 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 2: there's something important to be learned from this thought exercise 22 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 2: that will make you a better hunter. My daughter and 23 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:14,199 Speaker 2: I walked across a mostly snowless wheat field in southwest 24 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:17,560 Speaker 2: Wisconsin in the middle of January. Our destination was a 25 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,840 Speaker 2: redneck blind on a clover plot that was situated on 26 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:23,479 Speaker 2: the top of a bluff above the Mississippi River Valley. 27 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:26,320 Speaker 2: You'd really have a hard time drawing up sort of 28 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 2: dreamier deer country than that. I think there is one 29 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,319 Speaker 2: hell of an important education to be had in the outdoors. 30 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:34,760 Speaker 2: So I had pulled her out of school that day 31 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:36,399 Speaker 2: to try to get her on a dough or two 32 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 2: before the clock ran out on the late season there. 33 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 2: And when we crested the rise and the plot came 34 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:43,760 Speaker 2: into view, I realized we were about to spook a 35 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 2: whole herd of them. It didn't matter that they all 36 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 2: ran off, because I knew that a bunch of them 37 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 2: would probably come back. The deer density there and that 38 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 2: part of the state is real high, and they are 39 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 2: the kind of babysat deer that shake off getting spooked 40 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 2: pretty easily. To me. It was most meat mission where 41 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 2: I expected a specific outcome that I really don't expect 42 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 2: on most of my hunts. We settled into the blind 43 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 2: opened up one of the windows and my daughter practiced 44 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 2: aiming with her crossbow. She had a buck tag and 45 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 2: a dough tag, but the goal was just a good 46 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,920 Speaker 2: shot on a dough now. Naturally, the first year to 47 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 2: show up were bucks, a button buck and a little 48 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 2: five pointer. I texted my buddy to gauge his interest 49 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 2: in her shooting the buck, and he gave her the 50 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 2: green light, but I also knew that it would probably 51 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 2: be better if she just shot a dough. Well, the 52 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 2: bucks made the decision for us anyway, when they spooked. Later, 53 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 2: a whole bunch of doughs came out and they got 54 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 2: super close to shooting range, and then all spooked from 55 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 2: something that we just didn't understand. Later, the floodgates opened 56 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 2: and we had probably about fifteen of them munching on 57 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 2: the clover and heading our way. It was truly candy 58 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 2: land hunting and honestly, just not really my thing. But 59 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 2: she didn't know that, and after only seeing a handful 60 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:58,919 Speaker 2: of deer all season in northern Wisconsin and our hunts 61 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,360 Speaker 2: in Minnesota, she was just enjoying every second of being 62 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,800 Speaker 2: snowed in with deer. We were two feet apart, having 63 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 2: a totally different experience now. When we finally had a 64 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 2: mature dough feed into her range, I gave her the 65 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:15,079 Speaker 2: thumbs up and watched as she made an absolutely perfect 66 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 2: shot that cleared the field except for four doughs that 67 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 2: didn't seem to have the best survival instincts. I managed 68 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 2: to get the crossbow cocked again, but they were far 69 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 2: enough to the side of the blind that she couldn't shoot. 70 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 2: So she looked at me and she said, you should 71 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:30,720 Speaker 2: shoot them. It really hadn't occurred to me to do that, 72 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 2: mostly because I was in the guide mindset, but I 73 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 2: thought it'd be really nice to cap off our season 74 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 2: with two more doughs from a property where the deer 75 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 2: could stand a little thinning than just the one that 76 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 2: we already had shot. The dough spooked, and I didn't 77 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 2: really care. We had done what we set out to do, 78 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:47,119 Speaker 2: and that's about all you can ask out of any hunt. 79 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 2: She was bummed, and it occurred to me how different 80 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 2: the experience was for her than me. So when a 81 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 2: lone dough popped up literally out of nowhere at twenty 82 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 2: yards and practically begged me to shoot her, my daughter 83 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 2: looked at me and she said, Dad, you have to. 84 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 2: So Dad did, and that dough died maybe twenty yards 85 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 2: from her dough. She was ecstatic, and she said, other 86 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 2: than the buck we decoyed in last year together, that 87 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 2: was the coolest hunt she's ever had. Now that kind 88 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 2: of floored me, honestly. But she doesn't know the same 89 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 2: challenge as I know, and she isn't wired the same 90 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 2: way I am. And quite honestly, what I want out 91 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 2: of a hunt and what she wants out of a 92 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 2: hunt are just different. That deer, or I should say 93 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 2: those deer. They didn't represent any real hunting challenge to me, 94 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:35,040 Speaker 2: but to her it was incredible. And I'll say this 95 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 2: before I looked like too much of an asshole. The 96 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,159 Speaker 2: whole trip down there to my buddies was so fun 97 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 2: with her. We made some cheeseburgers that night, watched a 98 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:46,600 Speaker 2: few hunting shows on TV, and spent the next day butchering. 99 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 2: On the way home, we stopped at her favorite fast 100 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 2: food place, which is Arbi's, where they couldn't have screwed 101 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 2: up our order anymore if they tried, But that didn't matter. 102 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 2: It was a good weekend for her and for me. 103 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 2: Even if we got vastly different things out of it. 104 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 2: The deer she shot and the deer she watched me 105 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 2: shoot will change her forever. Now you might be thinking that, well, 106 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:11,159 Speaker 2: no shit, man, when you kill a deer, it's a 107 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:13,359 Speaker 2: good thing and it changes you for the better. But 108 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:15,919 Speaker 2: that's not where I want to go with this episode. 109 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 2: I think about the deer encounters I've had throughout my 110 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 2: career that put me in a different space and help 111 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:24,200 Speaker 2: me level up my skills, or made me take blood 112 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:28,240 Speaker 2: tracking more seriously, or made me feel like absolute shit 113 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 2: as a human and as a hunter. I think about how, 114 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:34,359 Speaker 2: in a matter of two seasons I killed two different 115 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 2: doughs in Minnesota because someone else bumped them directly to me. 116 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:40,960 Speaker 2: One was a farmer on an ATV that put a 117 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:43,720 Speaker 2: doll right in my lap, and another was a woodcock 118 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 2: hunter on public land here in the Cities that pushed 119 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:49,159 Speaker 2: a trio of doughs from nearly out of rifle range 120 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:52,320 Speaker 2: to twenty five yards out in broadside, which made me 121 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:55,040 Speaker 2: think about how often I think of someone else messing 122 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 2: up my hunts, but never about how they might actually 123 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 2: do me a favor. About the first time I really 124 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,360 Speaker 2: patterned any deer with trail cameras, and how the first 125 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:07,159 Speaker 2: morning I hunted acrossing in a swamp here in central 126 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 2: Minnesota and I saw a specific dough coming that had 127 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:14,039 Speaker 2: been like clockwork on my camera, it all sort of 128 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:18,359 Speaker 2: became clearer that this tool that was mostly an interesting 129 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 2: novelty to me up to that point, could actually be 130 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:25,479 Speaker 2: much more. You see, we think it's the big bucks 131 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 2: we killed it matter the most, that changes the most. 132 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 2: But I don't think so, at least not always. There 133 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:34,679 Speaker 2: is a tendency to be dismissive about DOES in general, 134 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:38,360 Speaker 2: often because the biggest trophy hunters out there have places 135 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 2: where killing DOES is like going to the grocery store. 136 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:43,279 Speaker 2: But for a lot of us, it's not so simple, 137 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 2: and it's not so easy. I've talked about this a 138 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:49,479 Speaker 2: few times, but back in twenty seventeen, I spent six 139 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 2: days in northern Wisconsin hunting the big woods with a 140 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 2: buck and a dough tag in my pocket during what 141 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 2: should have been somewhat of a chase fest. Well, you 142 00:06:57,680 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 2: don't get much of a chase fest where there aren't 143 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 2: very many deep but I did manage to see a 144 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:05,279 Speaker 2: handful of bucks and doze every dough that got anywhere 145 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:07,839 Speaker 2: near me busted me, and it started to give me 146 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 2: kind of a complex. I couldn't get it done with 147 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 2: quite a bit of time and a lot of whatever 148 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 2: it is that helps me get it done in other places. 149 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,000 Speaker 2: So when I sat down on my second to last night, 150 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 2: twenty yards from a pounded trail on the edge of 151 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 2: a public land creek bottom, and I finally heard the 152 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 2: footfalls of deer coming, I drew the instant I saw 153 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 2: a flash of brown in the brush. That old doe 154 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 2: walked out, looked right at me, and was about to 155 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 2: spook when I shot. She was more of a challenge 156 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 2: than most of the big Bucks I've killed, and it 157 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 2: was a good reminder to me that how we present 158 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 2: hunting to the masses is rarely a true view of 159 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 2: what it is actually like out there. For most folks. 160 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:54,160 Speaker 2: It's not always the deer you kill that change us either. 161 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 2: We all have the ones we missed that haunt us. 162 00:07:57,760 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 2: Adam Moore just wrote a piece for the Mediatter Dot 163 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 2: about this, which highlights some of our crew's biggest white 164 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:08,360 Speaker 2: tail misses. They involve, as I'm sure you'd expect, shooting 165 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 2: at big Bucks. Mostly missing big Bucks sucks a lot, 166 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 2: But what that teaches us usually is that we have 167 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:19,600 Speaker 2: buck fever and we just don't want to admit it. Now, 168 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 2: I know that's not all that newsworthy. There are other 169 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 2: misses or times when you get caught drawing that sting 170 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 2: just as much, and that can change you as a hunter. 171 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 2: There are times when you don't shoot that do as well. 172 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 2: One of those deer that taught me a real valuable 173 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:47,760 Speaker 2: lesson was a nice two and a half year old 174 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:50,440 Speaker 2: eight pointer that was as big as any deer I 175 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:53,000 Speaker 2: had shot at that time in my life. I was 176 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 2: in a stand in a poplar tree when he walked 177 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 2: by during an early morning sit in October. I didn't 178 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:03,240 Speaker 2: draw or shoot, even though I wanted to kill him badly. 179 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 2: But I was sitting there with a recurve in my hand, 180 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 2: and the year before I had killed a doe in 181 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 2: a very similar buck with it. But the year before 182 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 2: I shot a lot, and by that I mean a lot. 183 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,200 Speaker 2: I was prepared for that season with that trad bow, 184 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 2: and the results showed it, but I hadn't practiced enough 185 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:25,440 Speaker 2: the following season, so when that buck walked through, I 186 00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 2: was terrified to shoot because I expected to screw it. Up. 187 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 2: That is not a good way to go about the 188 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 2: whole hunting thing. But that buck arcing into and out 189 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,719 Speaker 2: of my life, and the feeling that I hadn't done 190 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:41,319 Speaker 2: enough to be confident in a totally doable shot situation 191 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 2: stuck with me in a way that gives me anxiety 192 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:48,679 Speaker 2: to write about even now. Nearly two decades later, when 193 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:51,240 Speaker 2: I first got into the hunting industry and the free 194 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 2: gear started to show up and the invites to media 195 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:56,719 Speaker 2: hunts started coming in, I didn't know anything about how 196 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:59,880 Speaker 2: most of the industry really operated. The first white tail 197 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 2: and I did for work was in Texas, and it 198 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,200 Speaker 2: was so easy that I could scarcely believe it. I'm 199 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 2: not saying it wasn't fun, because it was. I saw 200 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:10,599 Speaker 2: more bucks and more rod activity in one sit that 201 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,480 Speaker 2: I'd seen in an entire season back home. But the 202 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 2: buck I killed meant really nothing to me, and worse, 203 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:19,200 Speaker 2: it made me realize how many deer were killed like 204 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 2: that by people who hadn't worked for them to present 205 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:24,400 Speaker 2: the image that they really knew what they were doing 206 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,680 Speaker 2: with hunting. Maybe that sounds too harsh, but that first 207 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:30,320 Speaker 2: Texas buck I killed, and the others that I saw 208 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:33,200 Speaker 2: come back to camp and Dusty side by sides made 209 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 2: me realize that the whispers I heard from the audience 210 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 2: were justified. We were doing things that were easy and 211 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 2: yet presenting them as something else. It sparks something in 212 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:44,720 Speaker 2: me that still burns to this day, and I owe 213 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:48,160 Speaker 2: that to those tiny bodied, big racked Texas deer that 214 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:50,680 Speaker 2: knew nothing other than to go right to the feeder 215 00:10:50,679 --> 00:10:53,680 Speaker 2: when it turned on. The deer we encounter teach us 216 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 2: a lot, and if we are open to their lessons, 217 00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 2: we can become better hunters, not just in the skill department, 218 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 2: although that's undeniably true, but also when it comes to 219 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 2: our personal ethics. There is nothing that says you have 220 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 2: to blood trail deer until you're brain dead from exhaustion 221 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:13,600 Speaker 2: and staring at the leaves for the tiniest, slightest little 222 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 2: pin prick of blood that tells you he or she 223 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:18,760 Speaker 2: went this way or that way. You can give it 224 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,800 Speaker 2: a half assed quick grid search the minute things get tough, 225 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 2: and you're not gonna get arrested. It's not like that. 226 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:27,880 Speaker 2: Just like you can take the shot when it's a 227 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 2: half a minute before legal shooting light ends and maybe 228 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:34,319 Speaker 2: it'll work out. But maybe it won't. No one's gonna 229 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 2: stop you, and no one will really care. But if 230 00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:39,960 Speaker 2: you find yourself looking at an arrow covered in gut 231 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 2: material when you know you have to go to work 232 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 2: in the morning, that almost dark shot takes on a 233 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:48,960 Speaker 2: different feel, and that can change how you operate from 234 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 2: here until it's time to hang up your bow forever. 235 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,520 Speaker 2: Sometimes it's just the deer we see do something that 236 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 2: challenges our thoughts to change us. I've watched fawns hide 237 00:11:58,559 --> 00:12:01,160 Speaker 2: in the grass while dogs and people walk by, and 238 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:04,400 Speaker 2: they've always made me think about how often mature deer 239 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:07,200 Speaker 2: must do that to me and other hunters. Does that 240 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,240 Speaker 2: change how I hunt? I don't know. Probably not, but 241 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:12,520 Speaker 2: it makes me think about this stuff more. So, maybe 242 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 2: it doesn't. I don't even know it. The bucks that 243 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:18,560 Speaker 2: we encounter pheasant hunting almost always teach me something about 244 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:21,080 Speaker 2: how important cover is to them and how much of 245 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 2: a survival mechanism it is to tuck themselves away into 246 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:29,000 Speaker 2: that good wind blocking geothermal cover and then sit so 247 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:31,680 Speaker 2: tight you would bet real good money they aren't there. 248 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:33,920 Speaker 2: And then when you and your buddies and the dogs 249 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:36,679 Speaker 2: are about thirty yards past, you hear them get up 250 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:39,640 Speaker 2: and run like greyhounds out behind you. There are some 251 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 2: lessons there that will probably would help me if I 252 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 2: was more of a bed hunter, but maybe they help 253 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:47,920 Speaker 2: me anyway. I know it doesn't hurt us to learn 254 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:50,720 Speaker 2: about the quarry we hunt, and those lessons carry a 255 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 2: hell of a lot more weight than a series of 256 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:56,920 Speaker 2: trail camera photos usually do. But there are lessons obvious 257 00:12:57,520 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 2: and not so obvious in that type of scouting too. 258 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:03,319 Speaker 2: This will come as no surprise to anyone who regularly 259 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:06,200 Speaker 2: listens to this show that I sometimes don't know where 260 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:09,040 Speaker 2: I'm going with these episodes, and the aha moment just 261 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:13,520 Speaker 2: hits me in time with this one. The biggest takeaway 262 00:13:13,559 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 2: I can give you is a parallel to something I 263 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:18,720 Speaker 2: talk about a lot. If you do the same thing 264 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:21,680 Speaker 2: over and over, you might kill deer, but you won't 265 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:24,520 Speaker 2: learn about hunting nearly as much. To many of us, 266 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:27,520 Speaker 2: that doesn't matter at all, and that's good enough. But 267 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:29,640 Speaker 2: if you want to get better, if you want to 268 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 2: meet up with the deer that might teach you something real, valuable, 269 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,600 Speaker 2: you often have to do something a tiny bit outside 270 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:39,560 Speaker 2: of your comfort zone. The obvious route is to travel 271 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:41,440 Speaker 2: to hunt, but I'm not going to talk about that here. 272 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:43,480 Speaker 2: You know how I feel about that and why I 273 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,439 Speaker 2: think it's valuable. Instead, I think it's better to look 274 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 2: at the year ahead and try to identify those opportunities 275 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 2: in which you can meet the deer where they'll be 276 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:55,320 Speaker 2: in a way that you normally wouldn't If you only 277 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 2: ever run cameras to scout, you might want to get 278 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:01,280 Speaker 2: out the summer and glass hunt the big woods up north, 279 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:03,280 Speaker 2: or you're a Southern white tail hunter down in the 280 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 2: swampy grounds in Louisiana or Florida, Alabama, wherever you might 281 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,520 Speaker 2: not have easy fields to glass, then trail cameras are 282 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:13,120 Speaker 2: probably a big part of your process, but so should 283 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 2: winter scouting be, and just walking through the woods at 284 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 2: any point in the air. If you always sit the 285 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:20,880 Speaker 2: same three tree stands all fall across your fingers that 286 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 2: a buck will come by, you have so many options 287 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:25,640 Speaker 2: to learn something about the deer and encounter them in 288 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 2: a different way. One of the main reasons I push 289 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 2: this point is because I don't think most of us 290 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:34,280 Speaker 2: understand how well the deer actually pattern us. Now. I 291 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 2: know that's a cliche, but as a rabid pheasant hunter, 292 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 2: something struck me this year while following my labs around 293 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 2: the cattails. Pheasants are masters at patterning most hunters. This 294 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 2: tiny brain disco chicken of a bird that spent most 295 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 2: of its evolutionary journey in China, of all places, completely 296 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 2: understands where the hunting pressure originates from and how it's 297 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,480 Speaker 2: going to proceed through their home turf, and those pheasants 298 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 2: react accordingly to survive. You think deer don't do that better, 299 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:09,520 Speaker 2: I promise you that they do, and they do it 300 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 2: to the same level, which might seem crazy until you 301 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,800 Speaker 2: realize the winning result is just them surviving and avoiding us, 302 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:18,280 Speaker 2: and whether it's a rooster who does that or one 303 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:21,360 Speaker 2: hundred and forty inch buck, that result is them winning 304 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 2: and us not making a plan to sit in a 305 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 2: ground blind or still hunt, or find a new property 306 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 2: that comes with a whole new set of riddles to 307 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:32,640 Speaker 2: figure out, or traveling across state lines the first time 308 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 2: to wade into unfamiliar habitat will eventually expose you to 309 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:39,200 Speaker 2: the deer that will take what you think you know, 310 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 2: squat right over it, and piss away. If you're a 311 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,200 Speaker 2: student of the game, that lesson will stick and it 312 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,360 Speaker 2: will usher you into some new phase of hunting and 313 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:52,120 Speaker 2: of being a better hunter. Not only is that a 314 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 2: good way to get better at killing deer, but is 315 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 2: probably the most overlooked and easiest way to learn to 316 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:01,400 Speaker 2: enjoy the whole thing just a little bit more. So 317 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 2: think about that and think about coming back next week, 318 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 2: because I'm gonna talk about stress, which is something we're 319 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:08,200 Speaker 2: all dealing with in our lives right now, but I'm 320 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 2: gonna relate it to deer hunting and how we can 321 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:14,800 Speaker 2: help ourselves relax a little and enjoy hunting more throughout 322 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:18,840 Speaker 2: the year. That's it. I'm Tony Peterson. This has been 323 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 2: the Wire to Hunt Foundations podcast, which is brought to 324 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:25,000 Speaker 2: you by First Light. I want to say thank you. 325 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:28,360 Speaker 2: I do this every week because I mean it. All 326 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:31,480 Speaker 2: of your support, all your loyalty. You know, when I'm 327 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:34,280 Speaker 2: at a shields somewhere and I see somebody in a 328 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 2: beargreas hat or a meat eater's shirt, whatever's it truly 329 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:39,400 Speaker 2: means the world to us that you guys show up 330 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,240 Speaker 2: and you support us and we're all kind of on 331 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 2: the same team together. So thank you for that. If 332 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 2: you want some more content, you know, maybe you want 333 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 2: to watch a video of I don't know, clay hunting 334 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 2: mountain goats, maybe Steve hunting something somewhere, mark, whatever the 335 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 2: meeteater dot com has you covered. While you're there, you'll 336 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:02,720 Speaker 2: see a ton of art articles, recipes, and have access 337 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 2: to our whole network of podcasts where there is a 338 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:08,960 Speaker 2: ton hours and hours and hours of stuff you can 339 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 2: listen to, whether on your drive to and from work, 340 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:14,159 Speaker 2: maybe taking a little road trip to scout somewhere, or 341 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,040 Speaker 2: whatever the mediator dot com has you covered.