Boondocks Hunting Podcast
Welcome to the home of the Boondocks Hunting Podcast Family — where real stories, raw experiences, and the outdoor lifestyle come together.
This is your hub for everything Boondocks Hunting, featuring our shows:
The Garden State Outdoorsmen Podcast, Chase the Unknown, and Echoes of the Hunt: Behind the Hunt — a deeper dive behind the story of the hunters.
From New Jersey whitetail woods to out-of-state adventures, we dive deep into hunting, fishing, conservation, and the mindset that drives it all. Join us as we break down tactics, share unfiltered stories from the field, bring on incredible guests, and showcase the passion behind the pursuit.
Whether you're a seasoned hunter or just getting started, you're part of the family here.
Tune in… and get ready to Chase the Unknown.
Boondocks Hunting Podcast
Path from City Kid to Outdoor Entrepreneur: Rack Getter 10 Year Anniversary
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From the crackling flames of a Newark fire station to the whispering pines of the great outdoors, Gerard Suchelli's journey is nothing short of extraordinary. With Racketer Scents and Lures , he's carved a name in the hunting and fishing world, and as we sit down with him, we uncover the tale of a city kid turned entrepreneur. Over a decade, Gerard's built an arsenal of over 50 scents, all the while navigating the shifting tides of regulations and consumer needs. As we celebrate friendships and the bonds forged in nature's embrace, it's clear that these aren't just scents; they're the lifeblood of a community united by the wild.
Venturing further, we explore the intricate dance of innovation and tradition in the world of hunting. Gerard's insights on creating wildlife trapping products, adapting to new hunting practices, and the essential role of mentorship paint a picture of an industry in flux but anchored by its respect for the environment. This dialogue is a blend of personal anecdotes of growth—like starting anew at 53—and the collective challenge we face in sustaining our cherished outdoor heritage against the backdrop of dwindling hunter numbers and ever-changing laws.
Wrapping up this masterclass, Gerard leaves us with pearls of wisdom on breaking into the outdoor business space. For those with a spark for entrepreneurship and a love for nature's splendor, he shares the significance of mentorship, the courage to innovate, and the power of staying true to one's passion. Whether you're a seasoned hunter, a newcomer, or somewhere in between, this episode promises a wealth of knowledge that transcends the mere thrill of the hunt—it's a blueprint for thriving amidst the great tapestry of the natural world.
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10 Years in Business
Speaker 2Welcome back to Garden State Outdoors and Podcast presented by Boondocks Hunting . I'm your host , mike Nitro .
Speaker 3I'm Peyton Smith .
Speaker 4I'm Frank Mishika .
Speaker 2Gee , you're more than welcome to . You can introduce yourself . We can give you introduction .
Speaker 5Everyone knows you are at this point , but I am Gerard Suchelli and I'm the owner of Racket or Sense here in New Jersey .
Speaker 2I was going to give you this big introduction , but everyone knows who you are . You are an absolute , first of all , just friend , just in general , just an absolute great friend . Yeah , I appreciate it . You're more than anything . Is that Before ? Yeah , before we get into anything else , you know you're really great throughout the years . You know the friendship is definitely just grown and grown and grown and I definitely want to . I appreciate the hell out of you and everything that you've done for us over here . And you know , whenever we it's funny because you know no one else like in the community yeah , I'm close with a lot of people , but not like no one really in big companies , you know , and there's time where it's personal work it's like , hey , you hear something , you give me a call . You know , sometimes we just sit and talk , we'll , you know , we'll text , we'll just give each other quick call , stuff like that , and you know , I really appreciate that . But if there's anyone listen that does not know who you are , you know , do you give them a quick rundown on on everything ?
Speaker 5Like you said , gerard Suchelli , I live in Hunterdon County . I grew up in North , I became a North fireman . I did was a North fireman for 25 years . About four or five years before I retired . I knew I needed to get into something and it turned into a scent company .
Speaker 5I've been hunting and fishing in New Jersey since 1983 , when I first got my bow license . Obviously I was fishing years before that and I was , you know , with my family , you know , doing bird hunts and deer hunts and stuff , before I even had a license . But once 83 came , bow hunting just kind of took over . I had an older cousin who was three years older than me , four years older than me , eddie Ponzi , and he he was big into hunting , obviously through four years before me and it just was a big thing in my family . So I was lucky enough that I grew up in the biggest city in New Jersey and at the same time I was able to keep myself out of trouble . A lot of times I was hunting and fishing with my family . It saved me in a lot of instances that went on . You know , I grew up in a crazy area and wild times and hunting was was my release from a city kid from a big city kid and that's what I was . I was , you know , came from a big city and big city had to offer and I had the best of both worlds of the kid . But later on in life , like I said , I went to the Marine Corps , became a fireman as I was leaving the fire department , you know , I knew I had a few years left .
Speaker 5I started Racketer Sents and you know it started from two products and it's kind of just blossomed into over 50 products and obviously from deer products to turkey products , bear products . And you know now I'm into trout stuff and hopefully I'll be getting into some saltwater activity stuff and fluke stuff . And you know things that I like to do . I'm a deer hunter , I'm a trout fisherman , I'm a fluke fisherman , that's what I do . So those are things that I like to really get heavily involved in and I've been in business 10 years . I've been in business 10 years . You know it started kind of in 2014 and it spread through 2015 when I changed the name of the company , from when I was started with my cousin Eddie and my buddy Joey and February of 2015 , it became Racketer Sents . I had found the logo and kind of worked out a name and it kind of stuck . And you know I'm the upwards ever since . Ever since when it comes to lures .
Speaker 5Obviously it took a big change here in New Jersey with the synthetic part of things . So for years probably four or five years prior to us switching over I had some guys in Virginia that were on my team and they were like , look , we can only use synthetics . So I had , when I had , you know , got them on the team , I had like six months to get synthetics ready for Virginia untested products . So I've been really working hard in Virginia for the last few years and then all of a sudden New Jersey switched and once they switched I was already ready to go because I had the relationship with the guys in Virginia . So you know , the companies blossomed , like you know , even into synthetics .
Speaker 5But I do everything . I'm into minerals and you know salt licks and deer feeds and just about everything else . But having guys like you might , throughout the years probably seven , eight years , I know you it's been , you know , fantastic . The relationships blossomed from a friend , from a customer to basically a good friend and I've always appreciated the relationship . And now you know these guys and meeting these guys in this particular way . Hopefully I'll get to meet this more person and do a few more things with you guys also , but I appreciate the friendship and you've been . You know nothing but a constant help for my business and obviously a friend personal relationship . So it's appreciated .
Speaker 2Thank you , thank you , and I appreciate that as well . You know so . Like you said , 10 years how . Like when you sit back and when you remember when you first started it to now , like when you hit that 10 year milestone , like what's the first thing you've done , what's the first thing that's going through your head .
Speaker 5It's , it's you know . You feel a sense of accomplishment . There's no doubt I'm 53 . I'm not getting younger , obviously . I have two sons One fish is , one hunts but they're both so involved in football they don't get as much as they could , as much as they would like to . So hopefully , at some point down the road they'll take over the business , or I'll bring them up through the business and maybe eventually they'll take over the business .
Speaker 5I didn't know it would last 10 years . I didn't know I would get into from just Deer Lord to other things . It just progressed . And you know , from having hunted for so many years , this is my 40th year hunting in New Jersey , though hunting . So for me I remember where it came from . Before there was cameras , before we had releases . You know there was . You know just nothing there . It was just basically hunting trails and you know the way you were taught , you know , by my grandfather and my uncles and stuff like that .
Speaker 5So a lot of the ideas that I'm actually using now came from stuff from 30 and 35 years ago that I remembered that I'm trying to implement things that companies did back then , before it was popular , before it was , you know , such . We were so infested with so many scent companies and attracting companies and feed companies , and you know . So I'm remembering things that people have done then and then I'm adding my own twist to them and just bringing them out . And you know , for most guys guys like you know , you guys may not remember some of the stuff , but a lot of the stuff I'm doing now has been either done before 30 years ago or I'm just adding my twist into it to make it different from what it was from back then . And obviously nowadays we have so much more knowledge with you know , with just the social media aspect of it and then obviously your Google's and all the other information sites . We have to learn more about white tails . Even if you're not an expert . It's easy to learn about white tails nowadays where you you know a book was informative , but then you always turn it to your hunting magazines and that's informative . But there's only so much you could get from those . Now the information and then your own study is readily available , the information and you can get out there in the field and do it yourself . So a lot of the stuff I'm doing , I'm out there , I'm testing now this time of the year messing around with them , which is a great time of the year to mess around with them .
Speaker 5I got into some trapping stuff this year which is pretty unique For me . I had never trapped before . So a good friend of mine , lester , from Healers and Hunterton County also his page on Instagram I'll show him a little shout out he was back to fishing , great guy . He got into doing it and I got into doing it with him a little bit and we've done really well . We took a five fox , a couple of opossum , bunch of raccoons and got two coyotes . So things have been going good with that and I'm going to start dabbling a little bit more into trapping products also . That's definitely a spot where I am definitely going . I'm getting more into it . I'm getting a big kick out of it and it just keeps you in touch with your own properties that you hunt . You learn a lot about them , even when it comes to deer hunting .
Speaker 2I agree with that .
Speaker 3I think that's super important . We talk about the deer all the time as the meso predators , like your raccoons , your opossums , your foxes , your coyotes super out of control , and I think a big part of that and there's been some studies done that say that's largely attributed to not fur prices being down and people not traveling anymore . So I think it's really important to manage those resources that just aren't getting managed today .
Speaker 5I think that the more the population has overgrown at least in my area in the Flemington area of New Jersey with coyotes , it's definitely overgrown . So getting involved in this is definitely something that I'm going out open and they shop and I'm seeing more coyotes than deer . There's something wrong at that point . So that's why I kind of got into this . I shot a couple of coyotes last year and that we took a couple more out and some of the guys across the street took a couple . So just got to keep that balance , that check in there and keep them that low , because it definitely helps out the turkey population also , and I'm a big turkey guy .
Speaker 5I make my own calls and I've got a good friend of mine who does the wooden calls for me , but as the mouth calls , I make all myself now . So that's something that I really like and I really like the turkey hunt . It's tough juggling my time because I like the trout fish . It's kind of the same time , but definitely I like doing both . But this coyote thing , this trap and stuff , I hope it comes back . I hope it just get more interested in it because it's definitely fun and you learn a lot more from the land just being out there and studying the areas and what goes on with coyotes , why the deer don't frequent certain areas because of coyote movement , et cetera . It gets really interesting .
Speaker 3Yeah , that's really cool . Part of my goal is to become a well-rounded outdoorsman . I don't consider myself a deer guy or just a turkey guy or waterfowl guy or bass fishing guy . I like all those things and I'd like to be and kind of understand , be able to do all of them . Obviously , you're not going to be a master , kind of like a master of none , so I think that is really cool , that you're learning how all those things kind of work together . So you have found that it makes you a better deer hunter . What other ways , I guess , has it helped you , like in other areas like learning trapping ?
Speaker 5Well , you know it sent themselves I mean humans sent and how sensitive the animals are to it . And really I mean , look , you can do so much and to keep your scent down , and we all know there's a million products on the market . Some work great , some don't work good , some are in the middle . And I still always , will always be one of the believers that , yeah , you could suppress it as much as you can , but you'll never take it all away . And when you start messing around with coyotes and foxes on a one-on-one basis , where you're walking up to areas that you're trying to trap them , you start to really learn what that scent does and how it affects them . And you also have to figure out ways to get around that .
Speaker 5And that's where the fun comes in . It's like a puzzle , you know , you put it together . It's like a chess game and that's what really makes it interesting and that makes you coming back for more . It's definitely something that I this particular year and now that we got the snowfall , this is a great time to go and , you know , look for traps and stuff like that . So tomorrow I'm definitely jumping out in the woods , I'm definitely going to be walking around , checking some trap sites and definitely looking to find some other new areas that I could put some sets out and stuff like that .
Trapping and Hunting Challenges and Insights
Speaker 2So , with you know you starting this , basically this next chapter , and getting into a new form of product and everything like that , what were you know you're doing it alongside with you know , someone you know and who knows the trade , and everything like that . But for you , what is ? Are you kind of taking a seat back and you know , really listening to everything that he's saying , doing your own research , everything like that ? Then you get to go out into the field . Now you're learning even more . But what are what have been some of the difficulties ? You know that you can even share . You know that it's been with creating a new product like this on a whole new avenue .
Speaker 5What's , what's unique is that my friend Lester , who who's doing it with me also , he's only doing this a year , he's learning and we're learning together so that you don't we don't really have any super experienced guy , but we've already done well . So it's like , okay , we're doing something right . And again , you got to remember well how many , how many of each animal is held in that particular area . And then once you trap them out , you know , do you move ? You know , there there's certain things that we're talking to other trappers and and other guys that are in New Jersey that trap and they're giving us some pointers and some information and on how long you should keep sets in certain areas and moving them from point A to B .
Speaker 5And you know , using the snow obviously is a big thing , especially if you're out west , it's a big thing . I've hunted a lot out west over the years so you know I noticed snow is a big thing . So you just kind of implement some of those things into New Jersey and they work . You know , using creep beds is a big thing . They hang close to creep beds and obviously thickets and you know they're , they're , they're a predatory animal . So you know they're , they're looking to hide but also find a place where they could get you know , get a meal .
Speaker 3So it's obviously that it's definitely interesting .
Speaker 5It's very interesting and I'm learning more . So , you know , probably in a year from now , when we have another or however long it is , and we have another podcast together , I'll be able to give you so much more information in this particular area because I'm learning as I go and I , you know it's at 53 years old . You know you don't always take it , you know you don't always think you know everything , but you think you know everything and then when you get out , you realize what you don't know and that's it's really cool . It's really cool . It opens , it runs your horizons on , on on just other products and what I could do .
Speaker 5Even when it comes to deer , there's certain things that you know you can mess around with coyotes , with deer , there's certain glands and things that you can switch around . It's , it's unique , it's it's something that I think , if a deer hunter gets involved with it , that he'll appreciate what goes on and understand more about white tails because of of the trap and aspect . It's like if you're wrestling and you're a wrestler and you play football , you wrestle so hard that by the time football season comes , you're way ahead of everyone else , and I seen that with my own sons . So I definitely , you know , believe that that's , that's something , so just being out there a little bit more , and then you know you trap it . Season will come to an end and you know you'll see that . And then the season will come to an end and before you know it , turkey season .
Speaker 3Yeah , yeah , it's like yeah .
Speaker 5Even , even at my age . I love to run and gun , so I'm calling , I'm , you know , running a hundred yards , calling and moving around , and you know I love it , it's , it's it's what makes it fun .
Speaker 4Absolutely .
Speaker 3Yeah , yeah , obviously , like that trapping community is really small in New Jersey . Like , how do you like , what advice would you give to somebody like looking to get into it , cause that's like that's got to have a free eye . I'm looking to get into it . So this is all my that's got to be a high barrier to entry .
Speaker 5You've got to get in hold of the New Jersey Trappers Association . There are some great guys throughout that , that area of , you know , of expertise , A lot of guys that are willing to teach guys , a lot of guys willing to talk and teach and enjoy this type of conversation , whether it's one on one , you know , out to lunch or or in this setting . They just love it . They love it because they don't , like you said , it's a small community . It's maybe 5% of the hunters , maybe less than that .
Speaker 3Yeah , like hunters is a small population , you know , and hunters need to bring people hunting . So I'm sure that's the recruitment thing it's like . So , hunter , if you need to bring your friends hunting , cause , we need to build that hunter population back up . You know , trappers really need to be bringing like they really have their cause . That's even smaller .
Speaker 5I remember maybe , maybe 15 years ago , maybe it's around that there was 58,000 bull hunters in New Jersey . That is 45 . Where do we lose 13, ? You know ? Where do we lose 13,000 people from ? I mean it's it where where's you know ? Where are we going with this ? Where are we going with this ? This is the week . We need to get hunters involved .
Speaker 2You know , you know what you guys ?
Speaker 5do with the podcast alone . Go live on social media a lot . It's noticed because people see that . And there's , there's , there's a group of young kids out there from Sussex to Cape May . You know that that hunt fish , but we're losing more than we're gaining . So yeah , yeah .
Speaker 4What my ?
Speaker 5personal view is I'm a , I'm a city kid , I come from the biggest city . You need to plug this into the cities more . They need to start teaching this in schools . They need to stay , you know , hey , listen , you're not going to get it , you know , in certain schools , but where you actually could show a kid a different way of life . And I was lucky enough to have that , because even my friends were like you know , they never hunted a fish and they always looked at me , you know , like where's he today ? He's fishing with his grandfather , you know . So I always had that out again . But I think they need to implement this into some of the schools because , you know , pennsylvania , pennsylvania , they're teaching it in schools . They got days off for opening day , I mean , and things like that , where it's like it's like a national holiday in some states where here it's like , you know , it's kind of frowned upon . You got people like , hey , honest with the parents and all other kinds of stuff .
Speaker 2Which you know before . You know and you said , like the interstate , that's what hurt so much . When American Mike got , you know where he , where he left and you know when he had the whole thing . Because the Mike does a great job bringing new people into , bringing people from you know , jersey City , bringing a whole different ethnic group into hunting and as you look at it , he's got like his whole entire family , friends , everything like that . That's what they do . They all come out , whether they like or they are supporting him . They're supporting hunting , they support our show , they support what we do . They're cooking all the game meat . Yes , yes .
Speaker 5I love to see what other you know nationalities do with Fennison and game meats and what their preparation is . That's a great area that Mike gets involved in . You know I'm friends with him on Facebook personally , so I get to see what you know , his family members and what he's cooking and stuff like that and I get a kick out of it . I always watch it . It's really interesting to me to see how because you never know . You know I have my way of making X , y and Z and he does , and you know I'm Italian so I'm implementing some Italian style things into it . And then he's Guy and E's from Ghana . I mean , what do they do ? So you get a good chance to see different you know nationalities and what they do with game meats , because I'm always interested in food . I mean I love it .
Speaker 2Let me tell you they can cook , they can they throw down in the kitchen like no other . You know , yet again , you know they got their their own thing going over there . You know their dad , mom , sister and these calientes , lunch , dinner and stuff like that which I've had his dad's cooking top notch . Just the way they use the spices and everything like that , like you're never going to be disappointed because it's something new . Just the flavor that they're just bringing , like that right there , just gets people into the outdoors like oh my God , like I would never have known , like dear tastes as good or squirrel tastes as good or bear tastes as good , and like now they're . They want to know more . Now they want to get into , you know , hunting or fishing , and I , you know , I applaud him 100% because he does that better than , I think , almost anyone out there . He does it just at the top of the game . So you know , big shout out to American Mike , you know .
Speaker 2And another thing that I want to talk about , gerard , is we haven't gotten the chance to talk about it . We've talked about on the phone and everything , but you brought it up . The bear season came back . Now a lot , a lot of problems with that , especially the first year . It was announced that it was coming back and then you know , they took it away from us , and then you also got hit pretty , pretty hard as well on a very unfortunate event .
Impact of Hunting Restrictions on Business
Speaker 5Yeah , you know they when they also discouraged a lot of people from coming out this year from other states to come and hunt , which is probably why they didn't hit their numbers . You know they wanted to have over 600 bears and they didn't take that . You know you discouraged a lot of people after you had a lot of guys last year . You know brooms for rent . You know getting ready to come out here buying all kinds of product and then you stop it and then okay , well , we're going to start it again . I mean it . Just you know guys lost days that they took off from and guys can't take off from work as easy as they used to be . Maybe , especially right now in these times are not great times . So you know you screwed guys last year . You screwed them and now you didn't get everybody back is why you didn't take your numbers . That's definitely part of it . That's definitely part of it . Yeah , I made so much product last year thinking I was going to do that , but in all the stores and you know a quarter of it was bought , you know so that I lost a lot of money . Now , yeah , tax wise , I can , I can write that off which you got to use what they give you , but still it's . They were really , it's really good product and I hate to waste it like that , but that's where I got hit . But now , reflecting to this year , well , that total did know 180 . Now when on the other side , I sold 75% of what I put out there I was selling it in Pennsylvania , you know to , which was good because I got a bunch of stores out there . So that really worked out well and that contributed obviously to a positive season . It definitely contributed . And before we had stopped the bear hunt , you know that was increasing every year for me and products that I was making and people that were buying it , and whether it be a lease donut product or another type of one , you know feed product for bears , whatever it was it was , you know the sales were going up , up and up until they stopped it . So when it stopped , you know business like mine got hit . I lost 25% of my business because I relied on the bear hunt at that point . So that really hurt a business like mine .
Speaker 5And then the next year you turn around and you hit us with a synthetic . Well , I told you you know he wasn't in the conversation , but I was already ahead of the game because I had worked with a bunch of guys in Virginia , you know , with synthetic products that I was making for them . So I hit the ground running but you know you go to a complete change . It definitely hurts your business , it definitely changes things . So now we're now going to be three years removed from the start of you know , you know synthetics and you know I've made better products every year .
Speaker 5This year quote on right I made some really good stuff and I've learned to , you know , juggle some stuff with synthetics , especially in New Jersey , because the deer in Virginia are definitely different from the deer in New Jersey . There's a definitely difference and when you make a product that works in Virginia and then you use it in New Jersey and it's not working maybe the way that you would want it to , you have to implement some other things to change it . So that I definitely learned over the last couple of years and this year was a really successful year in a synthetic area in New Jersey .
Speaker 2You know that's . It's something I also love . You know that you do with this is you're always changing , you're always adapting , you're always trying new things . It could be like the the wackiest Combination , but you're gonna try it because you know what out in the deer woods , you know there's . So you , there's so many different smells going on . There's so many different . You know all yearns don't smell the same . Or you know the products and everything . None of it all smells the same . You know it's . It's . It's something really unique . You know everything that that you've been doing it's . You're always changing the game , always Trying to find the new way and to adjust . And , like you said earlier , you know you're either finding Something back in the day from 30 years ago and bringing it back , or you're making your own adjustments and everything like that . You know , and it's been been great . Especially , you know we even even talked about the mox grapes yet too , as well .
Speaker 5Well , all that product , yeah , the the rap ropes , like that's something that I just my wife brought home something and I looked at it and I'm like , oh , I can make something really cool that looks like that . And then I just started looking for components and then before you know what , I had Two balls on a piece of rope . You know , we're a really cool hanging . You know Special clamp that holds on really well just a better made product than just a piece of rope that just sits there . It's something that a guy look at and go , oh , you know , and it worked better than I would have thought it would have worked , because I got so many pictures in videos of it . Work it , you know .
Speaker 5So I Wasn't sure how guys would understand , but I think with social media nowadays and there's a lot of information when it comes to the ropes and the vines and all that , it's easy for guys to catch on on how to Rather than you know . But I , you know a couple of videos I made and a couple of videos that other people made definitely helped Get that out there . But again , it's just an idea . I've had products where I thought would take off and just people just didn't buy it or you know , so there's always bumps in the road , but you have to be try to be innovative .
Speaker 5This is definitely a business where innovation and when you're just by yourself and you know , I'm not no engineer I Group of the biggest city , as we talked about in New Jersey , I was a fireman for 25 years it's not like I have a bunch of engineers , you know , around a table and we're , you know , just spitball and thinking of great things to make . It's just me , you know . So you and I'm going against an industry that's Huge . So I'm , you know , I'm a really small fish in a really big pond and , yeah , you just got to come up with new things like the drip bags .
Speaker 5The drip bags were oh , love them , Love them 30 years ago but they weren't done the way that I did them , yeah . And then I added my own twist and they wanted to be in a Huge like . I probably sold 700 of them . That's you know , and it's just the product that I thought of that I remember Somebody had made years before , and then I just kind of improved on it and I put my own twist on it and my own sense on it and it was really a hit . So now I implemented and I make them like a mineral drip instead of a salt , which is which I , which I Love , you know .
Speaker 2So I get last long , you don't ? You don't always , unless you're having a drought . You don't have to always constantly go out there , so it's better also you put a camera on there and you can stay out for a while and not get your scent and everything like that in there . And you're going to have when it rains and stuff like that , you're going to have Mineral drop . It's gonna liquefy and just drip right down to the ground and we , you know , first , if you haven't seen , go check out , you know , racketers page , go check out our page . You'll see these deer just going crazy and some of the holes that they're creating Because that water is just dripping right into the ground , is just soaking up in the ground . I'm a huge fan of the . You know when you came out with it and Came out with the salt igniter first and then my , my mineral one , I think Just finished you like not too long ago , yeah yeah , you had the first mineral one that I made .
Speaker 5Yeah , one to try last at a very long time , well , very long time that last six months anymore and your and the salt lick igniter bag leaves a last in the woods six months or longer . Who makes anything that last six months ? No one , they don't , not a . The only thing that'll last six months or longer is a salt block . That's 30 pounds that'll sit there for a year . That's the only thing . There's no one that makes anything that lasts that long .
Speaker 5And listen , at the end of the day , yeah , I have a business , I have to make money , but at the end of the day , if you make great products and you make stuff that lasts and the hunter which I'm a hunter is giving another hunter a really good product that comes from his heart , that he knows works really , works really well , guys will like it . They'll support you , they'll buy the product and you're giving them . I could put my head on the pillow and go to go to sleep at night with a clear head , because I'm selling really good stuff , not stuff that's just you know I'm gonna last three weeks .
Speaker 5Yeah , you know I'm doing the best that I can as a small business and , you know , maybe from the outside in , from the outside , it may look like a bigger business . I'm in involved ten years . I my page was taken down for whatever reason from Instagram . I could go through that for hours . I never got anywhere to get my 37,000 people back and I probably you know bought 7,000 of them and paid , but I had to start a new page and I only got it up to just under 2100 , which is perfectly fine , because my business at this point is really what social media numbers are .
Speaker 5It's already embedded into people that've been around a lot of time and they know that I make a good product . And you know , listen , you're you're gonna have people that like it or don't , or people that prefer other companies or your company , and that's just the way it is . You know you have people that are team members and whatever , but I make really good products . I put a lot of time and effort into making these products and for ten years I'm in business . Obviously people think so , so I'm enjoying what I'm doing . It's been a big change from being a fireman and trying to do it to just being retired and doing it , but now I'm able to put a lot more time into everything that I'm doing , you know . So that's what's important , and I just feel like I could say I could go go to sleep at night with a clear head , knowing that I'm making good stuff for guys and when they get it they're getting the best that I could do .
Speaker 3Yeah , I mean this was my first year using your stuff and I said that like you have to come up with your own . You're not an engineer . I am an engineer and I'm very impressed with like a lot of the stuff that you come up with . You know it is hard . You know , especially this industry it does innovate so fast . You know I work in another industry that they also innovates very , very quickly . And the honey .
Speaker 3The only other one besides you know that one I think would be the hunting industry , the hunting and fishing , the outdoors . It seems like every year , you know , just with like fishing electronics . I remember back in like the early 2000s you would see like okay , we got you know kind of the lab view , the avion , the aquatic camera . You drop down right and like ice fishing Right , and then you'd have side imaging and side image being is huge right . And then you get the 360 imaging and now you have like 360 live imaging . So it's like and that was all in like a span of like 15 years as industry does to really , really fast stuff . So it's really cool that you can come out with with products over and over again , and now you're getting into trapping and and they're like it's obviously it's like very different , like making a sense that I lure , making like bear spray , then make going and making a turkey diaphragm call . So those are cool laterals . That I think is really really awesome that you're making and I , you know I haven't been a scent guy before
Effective Scent Products for Hunting
Speaker 3Growing up .
Speaker 3We just in a . I grew up in a state where it's legal to use the real stuff , so we just spray , getting tree stand spray count can a buck Bob . It wasn't really any anything strategic like that . But then this year I got in Bear Haunting . I picked up the first time I started using your products and I was like the donut spray and yeah .
Speaker 3And I wouldn't have killed my bear if it wasn't for that . You know , I was sold . After that I was down , dead downwind . I thought he was gonna come from a thicket below in this swamp and come up to the food source and I was sitting kind of where five trails Would meet and he ended up . So I set up , you know , upwind of the thick or downwind of the Thicket , and he came from above me , down Wind blowing straight to him .
Speaker 3But you know , when I got into the tree stand I'd get on the ground like in the saddle , I'd spray a bunch of trees around and then I'd get up and miss , just put that scent in the air every so often . And he came , nose in the air , just soaking it up right to my tree and he kind of came to a crossroads when there was a field of staining corn that he'd been eating and been on and he's just like and he you could see him Like , do I go straight towards a donut smell , or I hang a left and go towards the corn , and that's when I ended up sticking him with an arrow . And then he was kind of like in the analysis paralysis , trying to figure out what he wanted for lunch . But yeah , I mean , he was all in on it and I was sold . After that I was like wow , this stuff , this is yeah , and and that's the spray like I have like a sweet version of it .
Speaker 5Where it's , it's more like a squirt bottle and that . Yeah , that's what it was .
Speaker 3Yeah , it was like a breeze . No , no , no . So he doesn't know pain , so he does . Well , you had the spray he does have a whole other version .
Speaker 2I don't think we didn't get any of them this year , but I had them . There's a sin of the cinnamon one . Oh my god , it's a little different , you know , it's a little .
Speaker 5Yeah , it's a little like a juice . Yes , yeah , yeah cool Gord it all over every . I mean I make it in it for dear to a lot of guys like it , because you know if it's , if it's like you know they're hot and cold , cold weather , it don't freeze .
Speaker 3So it's an alternative to the spray .
Speaker 5So if you can hunt where it spray , you know , then you could just use the sprays and the last long time . This this is like a sweet squirt and it'll last a lot longer , but it won't freeze in the winter time where you like . If you left it in the truck , you you're not going to make it to the tree stand and it's going to be sprained . You can most likely Just have to leave that out of your scenario . That day it's going to freeze , but the squirt bottle alleviates that . It's . It's won't ever freeze . It's . I put it in minus 10 and it never even gets . It just gets cold . That's it so . So yeah , it's just as good of a product , but if somebody's hunting it cold weather it won't freeze . It's a great product .
Speaker 5But yeah , the please don't it was was a what's been a bigger hit before we lost the season was the Oreo . That was the biggest , oh yeah yeah .
Speaker 5I kind of pushed glaze don't a little bit more in the stores where I was just making more of it as much as I was making the Oreo , and people are buying the glaze donut now first , before the Oreo . So so last year I didn't promote it but this year I'll promote it , I'll start pushing it . I started working with the wind send company a couple years ago , actually did the COVID year and that went great and I didn't expand too much with them into into this year . But I'm going to do that next year where I'm making an Oreo cookie version for the wind sent units . You know they're gracious enough to pretty much do anything that I want to . You know what sense and lawyers they trust me enough and you know they're a big company . You know again , they got engineers and everybody working for them so they love what I'm doing . So the relationship with them is golden . So this year I'm definitely going to do a bear product .
Speaker 3But is that like the aerosol thing ? It's like a stick and it's kind of like the ozonics , where it kind of sprays whatever like oil you put into it .
Speaker 5No , that's the user . The one cent unit , that it's like a feet .
Speaker 3Oh , okay .
Speaker 5Yeah , the button and it beeps out . You know , so you can control when it comes out .
Speaker 3Yeah , it's like a like a central oils diffuser , that like yeah , basically that's yeah okay you know , and it works really .
Speaker 5I'm adding it to the bear line because they , you know we obviously are going to need another bear hunt , no doubt . Yeah , I just hope that you know they kind of keep this going because you let it go too long and it gets out of , it , gets crazy guys and Sussex . You know , I feel for you guys up there because you know they got bears running wild and you're trying to deer hunt and it's just . It's horrible for some of the guys .
Speaker 3I couldn't get away from them . This year I had a staggering amount of bear encounters like just , like I wouldn't believe , like just almost , I think you talked about seeing more coyotes and deer . I feel like I might even seen more more bears and deer this year .
Speaker 5Yeah , see that's . I don't have that problem , but I got the coyote problem , but I don't have the bear problem . You know , out here at hundred we don't have the bears , but definitely we got to keep them in check . So I'm hoping that they continue this . And there's no , oh , we're gonna drop a year and start it up again . I mean , you just need a bear . You have to have one . You have too many people in New Jersey at this point not to yeah , okay .
Speaker 2Steve , I know you had a question , oh .
Speaker 1I was gonna say this was also my first year using your product and thank you , it was and it was . It was fantastic . It was great . Use the nuts up and hot the trot and had a lot of great success with the ruts up early , say , probably first week of October , through the rut , and I had him coming in on that consistently , kind of just would spray it on licking branch and then , you know , make a mock scrape , and it was great for inventory and had a lot , of , a lot of success , a lot of success with it .
Speaker 5So that was really awesome that that
Baiting Regulations and Traditional Bowhunting
Speaker 5and I'll . I'll be honest you know a lot of guys are . You know they use whatever they want . I I'm big on the ruts up . I use the ruts up , especially now , whether I use it in the synthetic form or if I'm in Pennsylvania we're have permission to hunt . You know I'll use the regular one out there . I use ruts up a lot . I use that more than anything else that I do . Even more than I make mock scrapes , I use the ruts up a lot . That's definitely one of my favorites .
Speaker 1I was gonna ask you to . So we down here in South Jersey . There are some Unique public land situations there there , what are called preserves , and their own basically by the conservatory , new Jersey Conservatory , their land that's been donated by , say , audubon Society and things like that , and they only allow deer hunting . Well , just this past year they actually Outlaw baiting in those preserves . It's the first time , and all the time that you know , you've ever been able to hunt there . My question is do you know if , in those kind of situations , your drip bags whether it's the regular , because it seems like you have two different types , the mineral and the other one are those legal ? Do you know to use in those ?
Speaker 5situations . Well , here's the deal if they eliminated baiting , they eliminated baiting during your season , so offseason you could do whatever you want you could . But I would say if they eliminated baiting for hunting , then you could probably bait offseason Right use mineral . But that would be a fine line and you'd have to call them and kind of ask you know is , is that what you do ? Now ? I hunt on the New Jersey Conservation Foundation . They own , I don't know , 30,000 acres around in the state , maybe a little less , but it's in that vicinity and they have not changed anything . But again , like you said , you can only deer hunt there . So that's all that they allow also , but they haven't changed the baiting aspect of things . So I don't know specifically about what maybe we could talk later on about that .
Speaker 5And you could go further into that conversation . I could probably help you in that area . But again , I don't know what particular one that you hunt on , but ours , the New Jersey Conservation Foundation . They didn't change it and I've been on their property 20 years . I got like 200 acres of that . I hung on their property and they allow it still . They don't allow you to hunt out of ground blinds and they don't interest anything else but dear no ground blinds . I listen when you get a good piece of ground that you just don't do anything , that's gonna piss anybody off .
Speaker 5So I Self , I'm not a big ground hunt , ground , blind hunter anyway , so it really doesn't affect me , but my cousin loves it . So you know what we ? What we were able to do was we wanted to get in the properties that surrounded the conservation foundation . So we hunt on those properties and you could put a blind up , we can hunt turkeys and we could still get the animals that are coming off those properties . So we were lucky enough to do that . And then my cousin wanted to buy in like a 14-acre piece that was close by so we're like relatively in the same area . We see a lot of the same deer . You know we're lucky with that . But we picked up a small farm and he lets us do whatever we want and that's like Two properties over . So we're able to do to get , call a lot of turkeys off the conservation property .
Speaker 5Oh , wow no but they haven't changed the you know the baiting part of it . But if they said baiting , baiting is baiting when you're yeah you're hitting with minerals here . You know you're you're more helping them out . I don't really think that that's considered baiting , but it's a fine line .
Speaker 1It's a fine line yeah . I just didn't know if you had any experience in that in that way like , yeah , I would , it's all interpretation .
Speaker 3Yeah , yeah , I imagine you called different wardens . You get different answers to .
Speaker 1Well , I'm being private ground . You know you be holding to the laws and regulations of hunting , but they own the land . They essentially , at the end of the day , can tell you to go scratch If you're you know , and you get kicked off .
Speaker 5So , yeah , and you gotta play , you gotta play it .
Speaker 5You gotta play their game and all you guys know you get kicked off a property . There's another guy here tomorrow , there's a guys in line that are waiting to take your spot for those properties , so you got to do it , whether it's the owner or whether it's the people that run it . I , I , I do a lot of like Posting for them offseason . I'll do a lot of like they they have a certain muscle that they look they have a . They they try to buy properties that have waterways , they try to protect the waterways , so they they're always concerned about Muscles in the water and what's going on .
Speaker 5So I'm either taking pictures offseason you know I'm retired so I'm able to get out there whenever I want and help them out . So I got a really good rapport with them and I had worked with them for five years prior to starting the company , which I realized , okay , I'm gonna retire in ten years , I'm doing this five . I want to make my life easier , I want to keep doing this . So I wanted to start in the business and you know I'm in ten years now . So that's kind of what led me to another thing that led me because I didn't want to do what I was doing for them , or I didn't want to go working at Home Depot when I left the fire department .
Speaker 4Yeah , another thing that .
Speaker 5Doing something with something that I love , like even this year . Like I haven't shot , you know , a traditional bow , probably since I'm 15 or 16 , but I went out and I bought one . I'm waiting for it to come in now and I'm gonna get into some traditional next year . And you know , mike knows my cousin Eddie , and he knows he's big enough and he loves it . So now I'm kind of reverting into that . So again , bringing stuff back from years ago it's and for me , with my business , it's definitely something I've done . I'm challenging to do it now at 53 . I definitely want to try and take a deer with the comp with the traditional bow .
Speaker 1So there's so many people I know that are getting to trad and I have a friend right now . I got a friend right now I just got reacquainted with and he shoots trad and he's like so , so when you're gonna get a trad bow and I'm like next year , I can't do that this year because I want I get into something . I'm full bore and and I don't have time for it , I just don't , but I want to and we're gonna get there .
Speaker 5Yeah . I'm looking forward to messing around . Just waiting for my bow to come in , I ordered a new one and who'd you go with it ?
Speaker 5It gets it . I think it's called the Satorra . I'm not correct . It's all black . It's really cool , looking nice . It's 40 . I think it's a 40 , 40 pound , 40 pound draw . I didn't want to go with the 50 . My cousin recommended to not to go with the 50 . I got some shoulder issues from the fire department . Carry those things back is a perfect . My shoulders are definitely not great , so you know this is this is something that I really have to work hard off season to make sure I'm , you know , proficient at it . But it's gonna be cool . I'm looking forward to this .
Speaker 3Oh , Daily sends yeah yeah , that's gonna be a lot of work , but that's eventually . That's on the bucket list too .
Speaker 2It is on , it is on the bucket , I think it's . I think you know . However , whichever way you start out hunting , you know Usually most people don't they'll move to compound . Maybe they'll go crossbow then compound bow . But I think you know if you're a true bow hunter , the trad bow is kind of like that's . That's the ultimate goal I think I'm most most serious bow hunters have is like getting a deer down With the trad bow and then it just probably is gonna spiral from there because the next one is shooting a bear with the trad bow .
Speaker 5So like I feel like it would be a great like training to only all , even if you didn't really want to hunt with the trad bow .
Speaker 3Just like the muscle memory and the discipline . I just feel like if you practice in the offseason with the trad bow and then , like the last couple months before the season starts , you switch back to the compound bow , you're like muscle discipline is would just be so much better and it would translate so well to the compound bow .
Discussion on Bow Hunting and Scents
Speaker 3You know , and when I was young we started off on , you know .
Speaker 5Traditional bow . That's what our grandfather started myself , my and my cousin off on and we used it for quite a long time . And then , you know , we obviously moved on into the compound bows . But uh , you know , then you bring into crossbows which , hey , listen , for me I don't , I don't care if you hit , you , throw a rock and kill them , as long as you're using my products . You know , I promote all guys , because you got guys that are sick and stuff , that you know are older , that just can't draw bows or hunt that way anymore . I , I applaud it . I don't think that there's anything wrong with it . Yeah , guys have a problem with it . I don't , because I don't need a tracking company . I need guys to use a track . That's whether using a crossbow or a toyota , I really care .
Speaker 5But but definitely for me , I did it long ago when I was younger and my cousin started doing it and just seeing his pictures with it in the dam tree it got me creased . I'm like now I gotta do it , I gotta do this , I gotta get into this and you know , I think you took a notice you're doing it it's .
Speaker 5It's like I just challenge myself at this point now . You know I've taken some good bucks over the years . I've had a shot so many deer . I've had a lot of fun doing it . But as I'm starting to get older , I'm starting to want to challenge myself . It's not about how many or how big , it's more of Challenging myself . That's definitely something that , as you get older , you tend to to want to do , and this is definitely part of that , definitely part of that . That's awesome . Yeah , absolutely . Question for you , I hope .
Speaker 1I see you , steve , with that too soon . Yeah , absolutely . Question for you going back to your ropes and all that Do you find the guys are running those all year long for inventory , for Kind of like signpost , you know Scrapes and all that like what's what's going on , what's kind of been prevalent for that ?
Speaker 5Well , we'll start that with this preorbital gland you can use all year long . So you can run a rope all year long , but you have to be prepared as a hunter to know what range those deer are moving in . It's you know . You have to know where they are , so you may be following them around with the rope , but you can , you can use it all year long . Your preorbital gland is a complete natural product . Whether it's synthetic or whether it's real , it's a very non invasive . It's just something that they naturally do all season long , so it's nothing that would would bother them throughout the year . It's something that that I would say . Yeah , I would . I would tell everyone hey , if you want to do it , do it . If it's what you're into getting pictures and and messing around with them at corners of fields where they may be going in early in the morning or coming out at night and you want them to hit it and great , a lot of guys over the you know called I'll use these ropes throughout the year . I've seen guys use the vines throughout the year . I've seen guys that don't put it up until the rut and it's really just up to the hunter . It's the first year I'm selling them , so I'm curious to see what guys are going to do with them over the next few months before the season starts again . I'm curious to see if I'll get some pictures and some guys using them . Um , I made I don't honestly I don't know how many and I got a pretty decent amount Sold out of the stores and I sold a ton of them online and I got a pretty decent amount of them back . So I don't have to make as many next year because I was making them all by hand and , believe me , after making 10 , 15 , 20 of them , it was got a little crazy . I'm building up calluses and there is . I didn't even have no , I had in my head . So I'm hoping to see guys use them more and more .
Speaker 5But for me myself and I'm totally honest about it I don't . I don't get into making mock scrapes in July or baiting in July or even into August . I don't really like to start making mock scrapes until a week before the season . I don't want to get that invasive with my white tails until later , closer towards when I'm hunting . That's how I do it . Not everybody does that and that's perfectly fine . That's just you know , perfectly fine . Um , I don't , I won't bait anything until again week before the season . If I'm baiting in a certain spot and if I know I don't rut hunt I don't want to get into a lot of the season and if I know I don't rut hunt in the same area as I bait hunt . You know I do different things in different spots . Um , I definitely have areas where I I just rut hunt and that's been always successful for me .
Speaker 5Um , and I'll use that ruts up a lot of the times , especially in october . October it's a big month for bucklore but a lot of guys in august are using bucklore . My stuff is pretty much set up for rut bucklore . Now I can . I can . If a guy orders bucklore early on in the season , a lot of times I'll shoot him a text and say , hey , um , do you want it , ruddy , is this for later on or is this for now ? And if it's for now , I'm going to make a may early season bucklore basically , where it has some things taken out . And if it's , if it's synthetic , it's a little easier to deal with and it would be , you know , because I put less glands in it or or different urine in it than I would if it's uh , later in the season , but october's a great time to use that .
Speaker 5So , getting back and obviously to the ropes , I've seen companies I don't know how many companies making them and versions of them and all kinds of different things of them . So I would assume guys are messing around with them all year . I'm curious to see if I'll get some pictures of guys using them , but for me I'm not out there using them right now . I won't start using them again until a week before the season . That's just because that's when I start making mock scrapes . Um , if I pick up a new piece of property , I'll probably make them in august Just to try out and see what I could get Without meeting it . And then you know , here's another big thing and this goes across the board for guys that date Less is more . So if you're baiting a spot , don't make mock scrapes in those areas , those deer . What what has happened here in new jersey is is interesting .
Speaker 5Um , once we started baiting and they started allow baiting and you got into many years of baiting , the deer now use those bait sites as scent check spots , which is basically a big mox grate , that's all it is . They come there . They'll come to a bait site , smell it and keep going , because there's so much whitetail activity there and so much scent that if you put a mox grate next to it , you're not telling them anything different Other than there's deer here . They already know that because they could smell that . That's the same when it comes to acorn patches . You know whet oak acorn patches or areas that they're feeding .
Speaker 5If you're putting it in an area where they are consistently and there's no baiting going on , that's really what you want to do . Or maybe just even cornfield and stuff like that . That's a great way . I 10 guys when they're like , oh , they're not hitting the rope , they're walking right by it . I'm like , well , you put it by where you bait , and they're like , yeah , technically , most of the time that's the issue . Most of the time that's the issue because it's really becomes . You're not telling them anything else other than there's deer here . So if you're baiting the spot , you know that you're attracting deer from all over your area to that one spot , so they're going to scent check it . That's basically just a big mock spring . That's all that is . That's what it is .
Speaker 3I feel like a really good point .
Speaker 1I feel like that's the most valuable New Jersey piece of information that I've heard this past year .
Speaker 5Yeah , because that's what it is and you know in the scent business .
Speaker 5I should know this . You know this is my thing and I've noticed because I've hunted in Jersey for 40 years . So I've seen the complete change of the animal and the animals progression and the animals change to what we do to them . You know , whether it's building a house in their core area or , you know , riding ATVs through a property or baiting , baiting has definitely changed the way bucks react to certain areas and they're avoiding of that area . So if you're baiting through September and you're still baiting in the same area , maybe mid November or early November , technically those bucks already know that you're there .
Speaker 5You know I've had a cousin of mine bait a spot bait a thousand times , get a thousand times pictures at the same deer at night , never during the day , and I wind up killing the deer two 300 yards away with no bait around . And that wasn't that he was my cousin top , but that's definitely happened and I basically used his bait site of where not to be and to be on another travel pattern where there was no bait and that's what made me kill a nice buck and that's the big key right there .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's not hunting the actual bait .
Speaker 5You guys , my neighbor and properties guys are hunting the same spot that they're baiting and they're doing all this kind of stuff . Bounce off what they're doing . Don't use any bait on an area that may border their area and most likely you run into that big buck that user both getting pictures of . That's because , again , they're just using those sites as scent checking sites . Now listen , all deer get hungry . So is the occasional big buck coming into a pile of bait . Yeah , absolutely . Guys get lucky and deer get hungry . So it is what it is .
Speaker 5But I would definitely steer guys away from making mock scrapes around bait sites . Put your mock scrapes in areas that you don't date hunt . That's where you're gonna get . That's where they're most effective and early season , like September , there'll be scrapes around . Like I have a great white oak acorn spot that I hunt every year . I kill a deer every year at it . 10 yards from there you'll find scrapes all around it , but not in the core area but around it . The same thing . If I so that's where I would have to go , maybe 15 , 20 , 30 yards away from those bait sites to have them start hitting mock scrapes .
Speaker 5But what happens is the guys get to a point where . Not that they're lazy , but they think more is better . So let's bait it here . We'll put out mock scrapes , we're guaranteed . And it just doesn't work that way always . And it works less and less that way as you get closer to the rut . Cause , yeah , if you got picture of a decent buck and you get one picture of this buck at your bait site and then he's gone , he was just sent checking it . That's all he was doing . That's all he was doing .
Speaker 1So you would be the biggest buck that I was the biggest buck that I was following this year . I only saw him coming on bait during the day when he was locked down with his doe . Every other time I had him on on cam was when I just put bait out and he came and he found it that next morning and I never saw him again . So that connects the dots big time for me . That makes total sense .
Speaker 5And here's another thing . You just hit it right on the head . I've now noticed that if you bait , say , 12 o'clock in the afternoon , hunt that night , hunt that night . Your best chance to get him is right after you bait . There's no doubt that . I mean I could get my cousin Eddie out here right now and he'll tell you the same thing . That is the best time to get him is right after you bait . We have so many pictures of putting out my rack feeding Hanser and by 3.34 o'clock you're there . And then you'll hunt the next night and the next night and they won't be there and you'll have pictures of them at different times of the evening if that first chance is the same night you bait .
Speaker 5So there are a lot of guys you know , you know days later to worry about getting there . Now you're actually you're defeating the purpose .
Speaker 1Yeah . Yeah , I learned the hard way so many times this season . Oh yeah , listen .
Speaker 5No matter what . That's the fun of it . It's just fun . It's a chess game , it's a puzzle and every year you come back for more . You miss them , you wound them , you kill them . The whole thing is just great . I'm just lucky enough to have a business that allows me to do what I love to do . That's definitely for me where it is . I'm just really . I feel really blessed at this point 10 years involved in doing this and I've progressed into 30 stores and made all these products and , like I said , I put my head on the pillow at night with a clear head , known that I make good products for guys and that's one of the things about the business that definitely is satisfying but learning a lot and , like you guys , never maybe heard that version of anybody saying that it's a mox grape and that's really what it becomes that you have adapted to what we do to them .
Speaker 4No , absolutely , cause I even I think the one time I had made a mox grape and actually you messaged me on Instagram was like , hey , like , why don't you try this one's better ? Cause I was struggling , especially like with mox grapes . I struggle for some reason , and you're like , hey , like , do this different . And I found that it definitely helped me a lot , and not a lot of companies would say that just hey , you know , use this and the deer will call me or work , but you actually go that extra mile to be like , hey , like , this is not working , try this . This is what works best for me . I even did that with the ruts up too , and I think I messaged you and you're like , hey , like , give me a call and I'll tell you exactly how to use it . And that was huge for me and I appreciate that , cause it helped tremendously . I've seen some of the biggest bucks that they didn't get close , but it was definitely , you know , it was definitely really helpful , so I appreciate .
Speaker 5I thank you .
Busy Life of Hunting and Fishing
Speaker 5Believe me when I tell you Mike I've said this to Mike a thousand times everyone is important . Everyone is important , especially in the hunting industry , because the more time you spend with one person , even if they're not successful , it's appreciative . They understand they're not spending their money and not knowing what to do with it and I make myself readily available . Mike knows this . I make myself available , whether it be having a guy at my house to speak to , to pick up product or whatever it may be , to meet in a guy at a place to try and explain it or give him product , whatever it may be , I try to make myself readily available for guys throughout the country . It's this has been going on a long time , you know so 10 years . I'm doing it .
Speaker 5I have a lot of experience on how to deal with hunters . Hunters are different than the regular person and you have to give that extra TLC per person and it's worth it , because guys like yourself had a little bit more success than you were having and it changed the way he thinks about maybe a cent . We're using lures , because if you're not , if you don't do that and he has this negative feeling towards it , well then he's not going to buy a lure anymore , definitely not going to buy mine , you know . So you have to do this . It's something that's a must in my especially in my business , I think , because it's a funny business , because it's a not everybody does it . It's a fine line of how it works . When to use the products . There's always a different version from every other company on how to , so I always have to . You always have to be able to get out there and give people your information and that's one of the areas where , not that I struggled .
Speaker 5But I've done the Pennsylvania show , I've done the New Jersey show , I've done a ton of other smaller shows . I've been out there and being out there definitely gets people to know you and you get to talk to people and you get to shake their hand and you get to explain if they've used the product in the past and what was the pros and cons and back and forth , and those shows are definitely beneficial . So I need to eventually get back into those in the near future . I've been just so riled up with doing other things and making new products and my kids playing in sports and all this other kind of stuff that I just haven't had the time to be get more involved , as I want to . So I'm going to make it my thing to do more definitely next year , probably going to do the suffering show next year . See what goes on .
Speaker 5I have a couple of other smaller ones planned , one in May and then one further down in June . They're mostly bo shoots , but you definitely have to give that TLC to guys and I'm glad I talked to Frank about it , because obviously you were a little bit more successful and that's a big part of what I do is definitely speaking to guys and I'll get a ton of guys to order stuff through the year and I'll have to call some guys up and say listen , this is not what you want this time of year . This is just like I'd love to sell it to you , but it's just not that time of year . I had guys buy the drip bags after September and I was just listening .
Speaker 5This is just not the product for you right now . If you want it , I'll send it to you , but don't use it until February , don't use it until March and then put it out there and forget about it . You can put a camera over it and go back and just check it every once in a while and it'll be great , but that's something that you have to do in this business because you want people to come back and that's important . And I've said like I've said to Mike a thousand times everybody's important , everybody's important .
Speaker 2Yeah , no , I agree . But before we wrap this up , you got another deer season's coming to an end . It'll be by the time this drops , it'll be on the last day , but you roll right into trout season , turkey season . You said you want to get into the some saltwater stuff as well . So you get a small little break not really much because the kids got lacrosse and everything like that . But for your next upcoming busy time of the year , like , what are you looking for with the trout ? What are your expectations with trout season , turkey season and everything like that ?
Speaker 5Well , when I first started it was just meant for a deer season and I didn't like the way it was going because you had such a downtime and I didn't have any other products . It was just deer product , just lures , and then obviously you turn it to a track and it's in cover sense , but it's still just the hunting season . So what I didn't know at the time and what I turned it into now is it's a full year season . But once you start getting into the stores at the end of the year like I do a lot of consignment , I do most of my shops of consignment Most guys don't pay me , they'll pay me at the end of the year . So I have to , at the end of the year , visit every single shop , see what sold , what didn't receive my payments and all that kind of stuff . That when you're in 29 stores you have to visit 29 people , schedule 29 days in three different states and you have to visit them and you have to make conversation and you have to talk about your product and see how it did and how they liked it , et cetera , et cetera . And if it didn't do well , why ? So that's what I just got done doing . So , as the season .
Speaker 5Most of the guys have been hunting all January . I've been doing this January into February . It's getting that at the end . Now I'm making trout stuff and turkey stuff and that'll roll right into that . But also with that , what you guys don't see is on the backend . Now I have to make minerals and drip bags and I have to get these all back into 29 stores . So it's a complete circle revolving door . It never stops . It never stops . So I'm right now I just had like a week break where I've been just not doing much , just on the phone and sending some emails and pick up another store and stuff like that . But I've just kind of been a little lagging even on social media , just trying to relax a little bit , because you're running four social media sites and you're trying to come up with new stuff and you're making new stuff and you're visiting stores and you're trying to . It's a complete full-time job . It's a full-time business , it's a full-time job and my wife will help me with certain stuff , my sons will help me with certain stuff , but for the most part it's me . So it's never stopped . So now I'm gonna get into doing more fishing stuff , doing some more bait stuff with trout and definitely getting into more fluke fishing .
Speaker 5I grew up with a grandfather who hunted and fished . He hunted all over Hunterdon County and Stokes Forest and he fished all down the Jersey Shore . One of his brothers had a boat , his other brother had a motor , so all we ever did was crabbing down the shore , trout fishing in Hunterdon County or we're fluke fishing or blue fishing or striper fishing . So I grew up in that complete total environment . So I wanted to make it an all-year business . Well , I did that , probably a little bit better than I should have at this point , because now I'm gonna jump into the salt water stuff and the trapping stuff , which now there is no time off . It is one roll right into the other , right into the other .
Speaker 5And to try and make content for social media that consistent for so many different types of animals and fish and to make it interesting is the hardest thing , especially when you're doing it yourself , because it's not always what everybody wants to see . But I do it as best I can and I just keep pushing forward and grinding , and grinding and grinding and 10 years later I'm still here and I'm having a ball with it and guys like yourself in the podcast and doing this with me . I really appreciate this . It gives me a chance to talk and it gives me a platform to speak on and it gives me a way to interact with guys that I normally wouldn't see , including yourselves and the three of you guys I never met personally , but I got a chance to meet you here and hopefully I get a chance to meet you as in person at some point , especially if you're trout fishing . You wanna get out ? Let's go .
Speaker 3But other than that , I am trying to learn .
Speaker 5Yeah , it's definitely something that , at this point for me , never stops . It never stops . And then you wanna add in kids sports you wanna add in football season and lacrosse season .
Speaker 1There's no time yeah just no time .
Speaker 5There's just no time .
Speaker 2None at all . But listen , as long as it's fun and this is all it's fun and it's exciting . It's new stuff this is doing this has been a blast and I can only imagine what it's like been for you for the last 10 years Like it's an absolute must be an absolute whirlwind , but it is an absolute amazing products and we're so excited to see what's in store and what's to come and I'm really looking forward to some of the stuff to you that you haven't released yet . But now I'm really looking into this trapping stuff and it is , like we said earlier , something I really wanna get into and now that you're getting into it and now you're making product , now it's gonna make it a lot easier for me to all .
Speaker 2Right , gerard knows , okay , let me go talk to him and let me do this and do that , and it's going to make hopefully , it's gonna hopefully bring trapping back and I think it's going to be a very , very valuable thing if we can bring trapping back . If you look at it , the five of us right here we start trapping . I know American Mike wants to start trapping . That's already . Let's push the trapping business and everything like that . Like , hey , this is something that we kinda gotta do get the coyote numbers down , get those nest predators down . There's too many damn raccoons out there .
Speaker 2The land needs to . It really does so . It's great to see Guys , you got any more questions .
Speaker 3Yeah , I got one more
Breaking Into Outdoor Business Space Advice
Speaker 3. So I'm somebody that's also looking to , I guess , kind of break into the business space in terms of outdoors as well . I'm starting like my own engineering kind of consulting company mechanical engineering consulting company yeah , absolutely . And so I wanna kind of merge my passions and you're somebody that's running successful business in kind of the outdoor space . What would be the biggest piece of advice that you would give to someone like me just starting out or anybody else trying to break into that space ? Pick my brain , no shit .
Speaker 5Pick my brain . I can give you information that'll help you from 30 years from now when it comes to this business and when it comes to people , hunters and just in general . I can give you so many different pointers and I'd love to do that . So anytime you need me , feel free to get my number from Mike and call me , and however long it takes or many times around the phone , I'll definitely give you information that will definitely help you get where you wanna go and definitely have a good conversation with you about what you can do . That may be new in different areas . I just have ideas . Listen , for whatever reason , I'm creative with this .
Speaker 5My mother was really creative . My aunt , her sister , was really creative and I get I like my aunt that passed . I'll try and make it quick . She was really involved in a lot of baking and stuff like that . Well , a lot of things when she passed she gave to me and a lot of those things that she was using to bake with I'm incorporating into my products . So how baking has to do with hunting where would you put that together ?
Speaker 5But there's things in it that do so . These are areas where I can show you that'll give you different information into different things and plus my own ideas . I just run with shit . It just you just start to think of things and then you trial and error , trial and error , trial and error and then just see where it winds up . Some things take off , some things don't . But that definitely can help you with that for sure . Just gotta pick my brain . It's definitely a thing that only people that are not that only people are in the industry . But when you get people that have been around it for a while , like 10 years , it definitely gives you a way to point someone in the direction .
Speaker 3Yeah , yeah , no , I mean , having good mentorship is really important . Shout out Mike Z Wrights has given me a lot of great business at .
Speaker 4Alson .
Speaker 3He's somebody else that's like in the business and then outdoor space and , yeah , there's a lot of value in finding good mentors . And it's like Mike was mentioning trapping finding good mentors and trapping and my dad I was fortunate enough was a good mentor in hunting . Yeah , it's really valuable . So , yeah , I think that is a good tip is find somebody that can point you in the right direction and you know cause . Yeah , we all like to figure out things on our own , but if somebody can just give you a pointer , that's gonna save you six months of trial and error you take that advice yeah absolutely Listen .
Speaker 5That's and listen . There's nothing wrong with guys like myself giving back . That's part of it , giving back , that's a big part of it , and this is a way for me to give back . So if there's anything I can give you any information that you don't know , that maybe it'll help you . Hey , I'm happy to do it . I'm happy to do it .
Speaker 5I know things that sell what doesn't sell , what people look for what don't look for , and I observe when I go in stores what stuff is not on the shelf and what stuff is more left on the shelf , which is what really led me into this whole trapping thing . Wasn't just my friend there wasn't just me wanting to get into it because of the scent company , it was that I kept going to Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania stores were selling trapping supplies and they had so much trapping supplies on their shelves . While I'm taking my stuff off the shelf for deer hunting , they're increasing what they're putting on the shelves for trapping . So that clicked in my head , because I'm going to so many Pennsylvania stores and there's so much trapping stuff , and I would say to them you guys get that much trapping business . Oh , it didn't even start yet . Wait , this is going to get crazy . I'm like , oh really . So that's like a light bulb going off in my head .
Speaker 5Hello , you know what's going on . You got to get a problem . That's what's definitely got the ball rolling , because I'm like , well , you know , I want it to be an all year long business . Well , here you go . Here's part of it . It just just extend you through March into , you know , trout and turkey season . So that's another thing that has definitely helped me . And because I go into so many stores and you see so many different people and you run into so many different personalities , you get to learn a lot , Get to learn a lot and one thing about it that I could tell you this .
Speaker 5This is the honest truth . Social media is a great way to get your name out there . Get people to buy products off a website , but the money's in the stores . Remember that the money's in the stores . The more stores , the more money it's guaranteed .
Speaker 2Guaranteed Makes sense . That makes great sense . Well , guys , it's been an absolute pleasure . We hope everyone enjoyed this episode . Jorard , thank you so much for coming on . Luis , still got to get the episode with you and your cousin . That will be coming soon .
Speaker 5Yeah , you guys got to . Definitely you should get on the six of us and do that . You guys will get a kick , because me and him just once we start going .
Speaker 2We can , we can , we'll set it up . It's not a fellow comedy act . Yeah , we'll set it up this summer . We'll get that done . You know everyone . If you haven't already , please go check out Racketter . Listen . Absolutely . These are products that all of us here , you know we can definitely vouch for . It's what we all use , you know , and if you got any questions , like he said multiple times already in this episode , just reach out . You know he's going to answer everything like that , and we hope you guys enjoyed this episode and we'll see you guys next time .
