The Garden State Outdoorsmen Podcast
A podcast dedicated to all things outdoors in New Jersey. Presented by Boondocks Hunting.
The Garden State Outdoorsmen Podcast
Dangerous Encounters and Big Game in Wisconsin With Full Draw Pursuit
Join us for an enthralling conversation with Quinton Thryselius, better known as Full Draw Pursuits on Instagram, as he takes us through his incredible hunting and fishing journey starting from his childhood in Green Bay, Wisconsin. You'll hear the captivating tales of his early hunts, such as a memorable youth hunt in South Dakota, and his deep-seated love for deer, spring turkey, waterfall, and black bear hunting. Quinton's passion for the outdoors is intertwined with his surprising sports allegiance to the Chicago Blackhawks, making for a richly layered discussion on family, sports, and the wild.
In this episode, learn about the distinct challenges of deer hunting in Wisconsin, from the state's varied terrains to the recent regulatory changes like the four-year doe hunt ban in the northern regions. We dive into the controversial 2021 wolf hunt, examining its effects on the local predator-prey dynamics and the broader implications for wildlife management. Hear Quinton's gripping stories of close encounters with wolves and mountain lions, which paint a vivid picture of the unpredictable and often dangerous nature of hunting in Wisconsin's diverse habitats.
Finally, we recount high-octane hunting adventures that will keep you on the edge of your seat. From the physical endurance required to drag a deer through dense woods, to the nerve-wracking pursuit of a wounded black bear, Quinton shares the thrills, strategies, and regulations of bear hunting in Wisconsin. Get insights into Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and its impact on hunting practices, and discover Quinton's vision for his ideal hunting property, his dream of sponsorship, and the invaluable experience of hunting with family. This episode is a treasure trove of stories, expert advice, and future aspirations for every hunting enthusiast.
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welcome back to the garden, state outdoors and podcast presented by Boondock Sunning. I'm your host, mike Nitre.
Speaker 1:I'm Frank Mastika.
Speaker 2:And today we got a special one for you guys and I imagine a lot of our listeners know this by now. A lot of you know all of us are really a tight-knit community and you know, when you see one of us at this point it seems like you're hearing about one of the others, whether it's frank, whether it's you know dave chris, you know quentin too, that that came to. So we got, as you, as I already said, his first name, quentin, and I'm gonna try not to butcher I under so much pressure, not to butcher this last name is tricelius close tricelius, tricelius. Jesus christ, the pressure. Once the recording started, that's where the pressure was on and it's like I'm not gonna screw this up. But welcome to the show man. You know you're at. Everyone knows you also on instagram, as you know, full draw pursuit, and then also you just uh started what I'd say like a couple months ago, the full draw report on Instagram.
Speaker 3:Live. Yep, yeah, I started that end of January, early February, I want to say, and I've been doing that pretty much every week on Wednesdays, so that's going pretty good, at least I think it's going good. I can't speak for everybody, but to me it's going pretty good, at least I think it's going good.
Speaker 2:I don't, I can't speak for everybody, but to me it's going good listen, when, when you are, when you're hosting your own show, you're always going to think it's going, you know, in, and I came to realize, like in the beginning, you can't really focus on the numbers. Um, you know, that's on instagram, that's on with the podcast, it's like, yeah, it's nice to have those numbers and you feel like there's an accomplishment when you do get those high numbers. But you know you really got to just do it for the love of it. The interaction with people, you know the, the rewarding part comes, like later, when you know people start to recognize you. People are like, hey, you know I listened to this. Or you know, I found your, your show to be really resourceful and help, whatever the case is, and I think that's the most important part of what we all do here. But you know, like I said, welcome to the show. Why don't you give the listeners out there who don't know you a quick backstory on yourself?
Speaker 3:Yep, so I'm Quinton. I'm on Instagram as Full Draw, Pursuits and Full Draw Report. I'm on Instagram as fulldrawpursuits and fulldrawreport. I was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and I grew up hunting and fishing with my parents and when I was 12, my grandpa had taken me for an out-of-state youth hunt out in South Dakota. So I got to experience some things at a younger age and then from there it kind of just really grew and I got into, you know, deer hunting, spring turkey hunting and eventually I got into waterfalls. So I do a lot of wide variety of things in the fall. In the summer I do fishing, but then my main passions are obviously um waterfall, spring turkey and then white tail deer hunting and then um black bear hunting here in wisconsin yes, yes, yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:The big, the big black bear hunt, which we've talked a bit about on on instagram, which will you know, of course, everyone listened to us. You know we have to talk about that, but um, but before we get to that, are you? Are you? Are you uh? Are you a cheesehead? Are you a packers fan?
Speaker 3:no, I am not. Are you a football guy? Um, I used to be when I was younger, and then when I started getting into, when I was able to take myself hunting, I really stopped watching football, honestly, because on Sundays I was going out to the woods or I was off doing my own thing. So I kind of really got out of it. I'm more of a hockey fan than anything, so there you go.
Speaker 2:There we go, I love it. I, absolutely I'm a big hockey guy. For everyone who doesn't know, by this point, like that's what I grew up doing, um, at a very high, um, very high level. We can, we can say that, um, but what, what's your, what's your hockey team? Then it would be Chicago Blackhawks. All right, I, I, I kind of figured, I kind of figured you gotta be pretty happy, happy with, with bedard.
Speaker 3:Um, you know he's going to be an absolute stud um in the future you know, yeah, I'm like I with being born and raised in green bay. A lot, obviously, a lot of my family is from green bay area. So I grew up around, you know, the green bay packers and whatnot, but then most of my dad's side is from the suburbs of Chicago. So then in the summers and the stuff for like family functions we'd go back to the suburbs of Chicago. So then I was around Chicago Bears. So then, you know, I wanted to be like the cousins, so I cheered for the Bears and then the households were divided because some of the cousins and aunts and uncles were white socks fans and some were cubs fans, so I I had to pick and choose there and then, um, hockey obviously is just blackhawks. So I grew up watching blackhawks hockey from a small age to now so, yeah, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh man, you you've seen some uh impressive things. You know at a young age where you guys were, were the talk of the town. I mean it was nothing but chicago, and at that time I imagine patrick kane taves, duncan keith, you know, you had cory crawford and and then you had marion hosa at one point and everything like that. So, yeah, I mean, good time to be a Chicago fan, that that's for sure. I mean the bears. On the other hand, like it's, it's tough with with Chicago bears, yeah, especially right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like everybody here back home, here in Wisconsin, they're just like, just like. Oh, you know it must suck to be a Bears Fan and I'm like, I don't know, I don't watch the games, so it's like whatever, I just blow it off Because I'm like it don't matter to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now listen, I fully Like I'm a Giants fan, don't get me wrong, but I'm a fantasy football guy, so like when people are like, oh man, that sucks, I'm like Listen as wrong. But I'm a fantasy football guy, so like, when people are like, oh man, that sucks, I'm like listen, as long as my fantasy team's doing well, I don't really care if the Giants win or not, like I just need. If I have a player on the Giants, he just has to do well, I don't care if they win, I don't care if they lose, just make sure they do well.
Speaker 1:When I go to see a game Like, come on, you guys got to win.
Speaker 2:But, like, besides that, like I save that for hockey, but um, no, so that, that that's pretty, that's pretty cool. Um, I feel like you're the. You're the first guy that we've we've had on from, um, the great state of, uh, you know, wisconsin. Yeah, I've heard a lot of good things. I've heard a lot of good things about, about deer hunting out there. So for those who don't really know much about Wisconsin, can you give a little rundown on what's the hunting like?
Speaker 3:So I guess for hunting obviously you have different terrains in Wisconsin. So like where I was hunting the past two years is a mixture of everything that's in northern Wisconsin and then you kind of get into bluff country down in southwestern Wisconsin, so everything kind of changes. But the deer that are we have a lot of deer here in Wisconsin and Wisconsin's usually one of the top running states for, you know, like the big Boone and Crockett, pope and Young bucks, everybody wants to come to Wisconsin to shoot one of them, big deer. And you know I personally I've hunted here my entire life and I have yet to, you know, shoot one of the really nice deer that everybody's after. But there is a lot of egg land and it makes it depending on you know where you're hunting makes it a little bit difficult because there is so much egg, so like you could have a corn field and then a edge row and then you could have a soybean field. So it makes it a little challenging to try and figure out what these deer you know want right now. And um, it's so like season starts September. I want to say it's always usually right around September 16th or that like second or third weekend in September, just depending on how the dates fall, and then it runs all the way until January. Oh, like the 6th or the seventh it's usually the first weekend, the first full weekend in January. So you have three or four months of like just solid deer hunting so you can catch them at the tail end of their summer patterns, going into fall patterns, and then you have your fall patterns and then you've got then your rut and then late season. So, like a lot of guys, we're taking advantage of our early season movement. When a lot of guys are catching the tail end of their seasons, like around us, everybody usually starts around the beginning of October, so we're kind of getting into that. Like here in Wisconsin, we're hitting that right in the middle of their transitioning period.
Speaker 3:So you're, you could possibly take out a really nice velvet buck and I unfortunately missed one. A few years ago I had the nice case of buck fever and he probably would have scored right around 130, 140, nice big old, eight and velvet, and caught me completely off guard. It was like 90 degrees and someone bumped him out of heading and I was not even in my tree 10 minutes and he come running through and he circled around and came back and I missed. I got buck fever, yeah, but it's just that there's so much public I don't even know the exact number but I know like the county that I hunt in back and on the western side has got right around 70,000 acres of public and then there's more public between state and county and then there's other public that butts up to that public from a different county.
Speaker 3:So like there's more public in certain areas than there is private. And then when you get towards the eastern side, where you got bigger, your bigger cities in wisconsin, then you shy away from the public and then you have more private and then you'll have like random little pockets of public and in those private pieces. So it makes it tough to really get on deer. But I know people that just go out sitting in the tree and they end up shooting. You know just a big old buck right away and I'm like I okay, whatever. I don't know how you did it, but it sounds like right about here too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's, you know I I feel like you can get that in any state, but what's the what's the rule that that they just uh put in I? I remember you're talking about it on instagram yeah, so we have in northern Wisconsin.
Speaker 3:The deer herd is very sporadic and they hang out in certain areas because we have those things called wolves and we don't have a management plan, because some Supreme Court judge in California deemed them to be endangered again, so then he had them put back on the list. So we can't harvest the wool or manage the wolf population. So you do see a decline in the deer population. So, like my dad has five acres in northern Wisconsin and he gets the same deer on camera all year long and you drive around and you don't really see a lot of tracks, you don't see the deer numbers like you used to. Our beloved DNR decided that they were going to implement a four-year doe hunt ban in northern Wisconsin. So now I think it's Highway 64 that runs through the center of the state north. You are not allowed to harvest a single doe now for four years to try and bring up that population.
Speaker 3:And I got to thinking about it. Usually everybody that comes from out of state goes to northern Wisconsin, like our friends from Illinois, like all the non-residents there go northern Wisconsin because they have cabins up there. They hunt the public. Well, you bring them in and I think Wisconsin has a very high number for gun hunters per year and now they're only going to shoot bucks. So let's say there's a hundred thousand people north of 64 gun hunting and they can only shoot a buck. And then let's say they all take out a buck, deer herds coming down. You know now there's a hundred thousand less does that.
Speaker 3:Are going to get bred, you know, but do you guys?
Speaker 2:do you guys see a lot of is there? Are there a lot of buck numbers up there, though, but or just just deer numbers are on a just declined regardless, because wolves are gonna get it doesn't really matter what yeah, there's right.
Speaker 3:No, there's, it's all around down. I I would say, um, like my dad has hardly any bucks on camera and if he does, they're like real old and they're a spike um, or they're just a goofy rack, old deer just big body, small rack. Or he's got a three-year-old deer on camera that we've watched for three years now and his spikes are maybe four inches and that's it, and he hasn't gotten any bigger. So it's just, there's not enough. There's not enough egg fields in Northern Wisconsin and there's, you know, not enough food, but then we have that CWD stuff here, so we can't, you know, supplement feed or whatnot.
Speaker 2:But you can put in a food plot yeah, yeah, well, I mean it's you could put in a food plot, as long as you have the property, the people that are hunting on public it's.
Speaker 3:I mean it's very, very tough, um, tough hunting, but um, so, because of a douche in california that affects you guys yeah, it affected the entire country, honestly um he decided that he he didn't feel that the wolf numbers could support a management plan, so he decided to put them back, wanted them put back on the list, and they didn't even think twice about it. And they they did it because here in wisconsin I don't know if you guys heard about it it was a very talked about thing. In 2021, we had our a wolf hunt and they gave out 300 tags. I think they gave out 150 tags to normal residents of wisconsin and then 150 went to tribal and they filled all 300 tags in under 72 hours.
Speaker 2:Okay, yes, I think I think I remember hearing about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah which is incredible, which sparked a huge, huge, yeah, controversy, of course, with you know, with certain people yeah, and in our dnr told us, oh, we don't have the wolf population like we thought we did, and it's like well, we do, we, we certainly do, but yeah well, you kill 372 hours.
Speaker 2:There's no way that you're killing them like that. If you don't have that type of population, come on.
Speaker 1:Let's be real.
Speaker 2:If the number was much lower. It's just so much harder to find them. Wolves are smart. At the end of the day, they are really smart creatures. That just goes to show like they're where there's a lot and you know the the deer population, it's really, it's really hitting and you could see it now, like you know, years later, that it's truly gonna affect you know, wisconsin yeah, and like you can see, when the deer population is up, obviously the harvest numbers are up because there's more deer, obviously.
Speaker 3:And then you can tell when the wolf numbers are up the deer numbers are lower. So then our harvest numbers are lower and they'll just tell you oh, it's because we've had less tags sold and it's like. I don't think so, but okay yeah, I mean it, it's.
Speaker 2:It's something that you know we're gonna be. It's gonna be a challenge for us hunters, you know, for the the rest of time, you know that's yet again why it's another reason why it's so important that we all stay on the same same page and support each other and everything like that. But I mean that's an absolute same shame, because I know Minnesota, they, they got a. You know it's. It's tough hunting up there and you know they have. You know more North you go, the more you have to worry about wolves and everything like that. And just um, have you got? Have you traveled into Michigan yet to hunt at all? Is that ever on the bucket list?
Speaker 3:Um, I, I haven't. No, um, it'd be so easy. My dad lives 25 minutes from the um upper peninsula of michigan. Yeah, so, like I know, I know people that hunt up in the up and it's crazy the stories I hear yeah, I've heard. It's wild the deer numbers that are up there and it's like how you know you got the same predation as we do but you have crazy amounts of deer. Like there's a buddy of mine. We go over to one of his buddy's houses. He's got a cabin up in the upper peninsula and they have so many deer that they actually have. I think they have like 80 acres and there's three people that hunt on the property and they have three cell cameras going but not a single deer is taken. Like when a buck gets on camera he's not anywhere else on any of the property, they only stay in their certain areas. Like they don't have the same deer getting pictures at all three cameras. So it's just how much deer they have in that area.
Speaker 2:That's, that's. That's pretty unique, though that they're, they're not traveling.
Speaker 2:So, like those deer are, they're a little more homebodies, I guess, and they're they're traveling less.
Speaker 2:But that could be due to one cause I know Michigan does have a lot of hunting pressure as well, but that could be because of you know, the predators and everything that they have.
Speaker 2:Maybe you know they, the reason why they're the numbers are so high, because they're not, you know, traveling nearly as far and going into, maybe getting themselves into, situations. They're just staying where they, where they know and they're familiar with and you know they. They work the landscape like you know, like any other animal that we have, and just making sure that they're protect. You know they're picking the right winds, thermals, bedding and everything like that, and you know, staying in the thick instead of you know, traveling, getting all stupid. I mean, I know deer probably get stupid regardless during the rut, but like probably, maybe, just maybe not as stupid as probably you have in other areas where they don't have to worry about. You know predators nearly, especially wolves, like wolves are just known to be. I love wolves, but they are just ruthless hunters that hunt in a pack and they're 10 times worse than coyotes are.
Speaker 3:Well, they say wolves typically run in packs of what four to six typically. Somewhere in there there was a trail camera picture that was floating around Wisconsin. I don't know if it went viral, but it had. They had a picture of 12 wolves in one pack.
Speaker 2:Wow, but it makes sense, though it like it, it, it. They have no natural predators. Like you know, black bears aren't really going to bother them, you know. I know grizzlies and and wolves have have issues with each other and you know other places like the yellowstone and alaska and stuff like that, but wolves are, you know, there there is no natural predator. So, like at one point, like of course, these are going to turn to 12, 14, maybe 20, 24 packs, like what they're just going to die of, of old age or gosh, you know, or they get hit by a car you know, that's, that's really about it or disease you know that too, and like now, now we're starting to see a increase in mountain lion sightings here in wisconsin as well, geez you guys got mountain lions as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah I didn't see, I didn't know that I mean yeah, there was one.
Speaker 3:I know of two confirmed, one being my buddy, my personal friend that I've known since I was a kid. They have one on their property and that one was a female and he showed me a picture and then a few months later she had kittens. And then, um, there was another mountain lion, we think was the tom and he was a couple miles south of my dad's place, and then a mountain lion was just killed this past fall in Buffalo County, wisconsin, kind of over by Chad of 715 Outdoor Nation on Instagram. The mountain lion was shot over by him. There was one on trail camera and spotted in Shawna, wisconsin, only 30 minutes away from green bay. So I mean, we're starting to see, you know, a lot more sightings of them and we're told there's no breeding pair in wisconsin and it's like, yeah, you guys are. Oh, they say that about it.
Speaker 2:They say that about new jersey too. They're like, oh you know there's no confirmed, but like I've heard of stories of two people coming across mountain lions and you know we've talked about another pocket like it makes sense, like you know, mountain lions range their, you know it's just can be like 100 and something miles or whatever. Eventually, just same with the wolves too. Eventually they're, these animals just spread out, like if there is no management for them, there's no hunting them, they're you know their territory is only going to grow because you know they're they're eventually, you know, the young males, gotta they, they gotta you know they want to find their own territory.
Speaker 2:They want to do this, they want to do that. So you know it's, it's, it's that. That's absolutely crazy. So with a population now, if you throw a, a mountain lion population, into that hole like holy cow, you're you're really if they don't change their ways, like wisconsin, I think would is going to be screwed for for deer hunting yeah, and we?
Speaker 3:when was it? Back when sc Walker was governor of Wisconsin, he hired oh, what is his name? Uh, the deer doctor Dr James Kroll. And when they hired him and brought him in to Wisconsin, the deer hunt and the population took a turn for the worse. And if anybody listening loves Dr James Kroll, that's cool, but I can't stand the guy. I don't think his practices are worth a damn and he's really screwed up Wisconsin in my personal opinion.
Speaker 2:Jeez, that's unfortunate. If they ever open up a wolf hunt or if they ever make it legal, or whatever the case is, is that something that you'd be interested in? Obviously for management purposes, everything like that, and same with the mountain, like gosh, forbid a mountain, lion population. Are these these things that you would be interested in doing?
Speaker 3:yeah, for sure. I mean like where I hunt in jackson county, um. Back in last fall november november 15th is actually when I shot my buck that morning. I was actually charged by a wolf that morning and I could just see it just on the other side of the pine tree but it had followed me from where I parked and where I had walked in and it followed alongside me the entire way until I got into the opening and then on my trail and then he ran at me and then when he realized what I was, he kind of stopped and looked at me and then he kind of turned around but then went back just far enough where he was just on the outside of my green light beam on the.
Speaker 3:You know how far it stands out he stayed just on the edge of that and followed me all the way to my tree. I got up my tree and then he howled from up and I was like well, my hunt's done. And then I ended up seeing a really, really nice buck a couple hours later. And then I shot my buck five minutes after. I saw the other one.
Speaker 1:Okay well, that's a crazy hunt.
Speaker 2:Oh, we need to back up for a second. First of all, you didn't have to go home and change your pants or anything after that.
Speaker 3:Like Jesus Christ, like I could like when I got, like you know how, like when you get to the woods, or like you just have that intuition of something's not right or like you get that vibe, even like walking by someone on the street.
Speaker 3:You're like, oh, I don't like you know yeah, I want to shy up like I got out of my car that morning and I parked and I got out and there was like absolutely no wind. It was like it almost slapped me in the face and I'm like it does not feel right out here. I'm like man, it just seems off and I'm like whatever. So I'm getting ready and you know how you kind of freak yourself out because you're thinking about all these different scenarios.
Speaker 3:And you're like I'm freaking myself out, Just breathe. And then you finally calm down. And then you're walking in the woods. And then you finally calm down. And then you're walking in the woods and then all of a sudden I could hear something and I'd stop. And then I couldn't hear it again and I'm like, oh, maybe something like is hanging off my climber and it's grabbing it and like bouncing off, and I'm like, okay, I'm looking, I'm feeling, I'm like I don't feel anything. So I started walking and I could hear it again and I'm like, all right, like okay. And then my heart started beating really fast and I'm like, okay, just breathe. And then all of a sudden I get to the opening and then the pace got quicker and I'm like, oh, that ain't me, and I know for a fact it ain't me because I ain't walking.
Speaker 3:And then I, just out of the corner of my eye, caught movement on the back side of a pine tree and I quick turned my head and I could just see the glint of the eyes coming. And then it stopped in its tracks and I'm just standing there like, oh god, I know what that is, and I it was like five o'clock in the morning, so I'm like not even woken up yet, you know. So now I'm like, oh man, what do I do? And then the wind kind of pushed my scent just enough, like I felt like the slightest breeze. And then it just stopped and looked at me and I'm like, oh, this is it.
Speaker 3:Like, this is it. This is how I'm going out this morning. I'm going to get into a bare-knuckle box fight here in the woods with a wolf. I'm like, here we go. And then it just turned, walked away, and it stood there and looked at me and I'm like, all right, and then I thought it walked away. But then I turned my head a little bit and I could just see it going through the thick stuff alongside me and I'm like, yep, this is how I die.
Speaker 1:Were you? Were you far away from your stand when that happened, or no?
Speaker 3:um, well, I have, from my car to my tree is just under 700 yards and I was probably at the halfway point so I could have turned around and went back to my car, or I just complete the walk and go to my tree and I'm like I'm just going to keep going. Maybe I'll be all right. But then when I got to my tree, I bet you that was the fastest I ever put my climber on the tree without making a noise. I can tell you that I was up that tree and at the 15 foot mark on the tree, all of a sudden I could hear hear the wolf come out of the, the pines where the deer bed, and I could hear him and he come close and then he, you howled and I'm like, thank god, I'm up my tree now.
Speaker 2:I'm staying up here all day, dude that that's absolutely insane and it's it's crazy to like, you know when, when the I imagine when the listeners are listening to us, they're like so you're walking, wolf's walking, stalking, you stop, just like a predator, does they stop? And that? And that's like oh yeah, maybe, okay, maybe it's I'm, I'm doing something wrong, I mean, you know. But then, like that animal knew, once you got to the clearing, it's like all right, whatever is out in front of me, this prey, this potential prey, it's got nowhere to go, it's got nowhere to hide, like it's, you know, just an open field. And then it quickened up its pace and then, thank god, the wind worked and worked in your favor on that one gosh.
Speaker 3:And like the crazy thing is is, in those situations I'm usually like on top of my stuff and I had my, my handgun on my side that morning and I always told myself I'm never going in that woods without my handgun because for instances like that, not once that morning did I ever reach for it. Why, I have no idea. Especially when it ran at me, you know, I I froze, I was like a deer in headlights.
Speaker 2:Well, we talked to um, oh my god, I'm having an absolute uh Carolina Reaper Brandon the other day and he said the same thing, like he carries a gun with him, and he had a mama bear charge at him and he said he didn't even think about like it's just your brain like shuts down and the adrenaline kicks in and you forget that you have it on you and it's like he goes for all those people that you have it on you, you know, and it's like he goes for all those people that say, oh, you should carry a gun, like you know it's got to be.
Speaker 2:Oh well, if I'm in this situation I'm gonna do this and I would do that. He's like, yeah, until until you're in that situation like, listen, your brain, just like we're not used to being charged by by predators, so like our mind isn't thinking like, oh, go grab the gun. It's like, holy shit, what the fuck do I do?
Speaker 3:oh my god, oh my god, like it's freaking out yeah, I I just like completely had like a brain fart that morning and I'm like I just stood there like a deer does when you're coming at them at night with your headlights or your brakes on, and I'm like, oh man. And then, after the whole thing settled down, I got up my tree. I just kind of put my hand on my face like dummy, you had your handgun on your side but I didn't use it. You know, and it's one of them things where you know you're not expecting it, but you kind of know, like I always like how I just say I always tell myself I'm not going in the woods without my handgun. And there was one morning we had a cold front. I got to the woods and I did not have my handgun. I got back, not even second guessing it, I skipped the whole cold front and I went back home because I didn't have my handgun with me. I was like nope, not going in there.
Speaker 2:It's great that your state allows it. First of all, um you know, and it's, it's something.
Speaker 2:If I was, you know, with new jersey, like, okay, you know I can get away with it, not carrying it, you know, yes, we have bears and we do have big bears, but like, for the most part, all right, like somewhere out in maine, you know, canada, wisconsin, now that it seems like you got every damn predator in the books, yeah, california, I wouldn't. When you know california, do you know just what the other day, two, uh, two people were?
Speaker 3:yeah, one was killed by a mountain lion when one got away, or whatever.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, it's like okay, nope, I, uh, I would want to carry a gun and I know california's laws are even stupider than ours so like that's somewhere. Like if I go anywhere that has mountain lions right or wolves, I don't care if I have to break the law.
Speaker 1:Listen I'm gonna, I'm gonna fuck that no way.
Speaker 2:Especially mountain lions like wolves are bad, right, but they're not known for attacking humans as a prey source. Mountain lions, on the other hand, they are yeah, they do not give a rat's ass. They are known for attacking, killing and, you know, eating um people's self, jesus. So what, what else? You got bears, you got wolves, you got you guys got bobcats, lynx, anything like that we've got.
Speaker 3:Um, I actually have pictures of bobcats. I've seen a few. Um, actually this past fall hunting bear hunting with my buddy. We were sitting in the blind and I'm looking and I could just see something coming out of the marsh and I tapped my buddy and I'm like I think there's a bear coming and it comes up and it looks over the log and I'm like, oh, it's a bobcat, never mind, but it was a big cat, like 30 pounds maybe. I mean it was a big.
Speaker 2:They are beautiful.
Speaker 3:They're beautiful yeah I, I think they're really pretty. Um, my dad has a video of a rat or of a bobcat carrying a rabbit through the woods that he just killed, and then so we have bobcats, mountain lions, now wolves, typical coyotes, um, red fox, gray fox, black bears. I think that's it for your main big yeah that's it.
Speaker 2:The only thing you're missing is a grizzly. Yeah.
Speaker 1:If we ever get a grizzly here in Wisconsin, I'm out of there. Jesus, that's one too many, yeah, no wonder.
Speaker 3:I got to know some of the guys that hunt around me and we became really good friends and they're running cameras nonstop and I said if any of you get a picture of a mountain lion, you text me, so that way I can just leave my cameras in the woods and they're donated to the state of wisconsin on public ground, because I'm out of there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no. Um, american mike told a uh, a story on this podcast of wherever they were and they actually saw a mountain lion. And they're like no, this is you know. People like, oh, no, it's a bobcat. It's like no, I know what a bobcat looks like you know this is not no day a bobcat and he never.
Speaker 2:I don't think he ever returned him back there to hunt ever again or or even be out there because it's like nah, like I don't blame them, for you know, if I saw one in person or heard someone that until that thing is shot and confirmed like there is, there is no more, like I guess I gotta find a new hunting spot yeah, I literally saw one like this was years back, like 10 minutes from my house.
Speaker 1:I used to belong to a gun club and they had, uh, probably like a five acre pond and it was way back in the woods but there was, I mean, tremendous bass in there and everything. So I had two docks. I had the front dock, that's like right where you park, and then there was the back dock and that's where all the big ones were. But it was a hell of a walk, so you have to walk around the whole pond to get to it and it was almost like I was fishing and I felt like something was wrong. I turned around and it was probably. It didn't see me, but it was probably about 100, 120 yards away from me. It was a swamp behind me and there was some real thick, nasty stuff. I just caught it, just walking nice and slow, but it didn't even see me. But that was enough. I grabbed all my shit and I was gone. Man, I didn't go fish there again. Actually, I stopped hunting there and fishing.
Speaker 2:I was like nope, I'm done yeah, it's, it's that thing where I I don't, I don't, I'm not saying on here that we have a, a living population like that, but yeah, is there one, maybe two? Um, do they? Do they come through here every once in a while? I, yes, I would, I would 100 percent.
Speaker 2:Uh, agree with that. Especially. You look up, you know where, you know the areas that frank lives and everything like that. Like, yeah, man, you could, you could have, you might even be able to have a good living population and not really know, especially once you get up to that delaware water gap. And you know, I've heard uh things that uh, like the pocono's they would, they would definitely be in like the polka nose or or you know, and so and that's, that's not that far away from us, if you really think about that, that's not far from jersey at all. So like it does make sense. Um, same same, you know, with you guys now, hearing what you and looking at the map too, like it it does make a lot of sense and I feel like you guys, 100 would get a population, a living population, confirmed way before.
Speaker 3:I think we do, just because where you guys live and you know how close you are to their actual, where they actually live because, like, if they come out of minnesota they're coming out of canada, because obviously minnesota, you know, is touching Canada and a little blip of Wisconsin does touch Canada on the Duluth side of the state, so it would be the northwestern side of the state, kind of like Superior Wisconsin. So I'm guessing that's where a lot of them come, or from the upper peninsula of Michigan is where a lot of Cougars come from.
Speaker 2:Yeah, makes sense, um, but you know so. So you ended up shooting a your buck later, which is absolutely insane so you saw. So you saw a really nice buck and then you killed, yes, buck so it was, I don't know.
Speaker 3:I was texting the people and I told them the whole situation of what was going on that morning and like you're out there, you, you've got a lunch pack. They're like, just sit, tell you know you feel comfortable getting down or sit all day. So I was like okay. So after seeing where that wolf come out from and went back in, he was in the deer's bedding area. So I was like man, you know he probably blew everything out. Usually when they're in, I know when the wolves are in there, you know the deer are pretty much gone for at least a week or two weeks. So I was like man, my hunt's probably ruined now. But I'm like it is the rut, you never know what may happen. So I let out a few grunts and doe, um, doe, estrus bleeds. And I could hear something coming from straight in front of me, like right where that wolf was and I'm like man, he's coming back. Like now it's a day, like I'm like now I'm really gonna get to see him. But all of a sudden I caught like brown and I'm like oh, okay. And the way the sun was shining through the woods I could see like a shimmer. Oh, it's a deer, like it looks like a nice deer and this buck is probably one of the biggest bucks I've ever seen in the state of Wisconsin, like while hunting, and just was a tank. He was a mainframe 10 with just stickers and trash off of everything. He had bladed, g2s, g3s and fours like he was just perfect and he had the chocolate rack and he was just like I was just like oh my god, and I'm shaking. I didn't even have my bow in my hand at that time and I finally grabbed my bow and I'm shaking and I'm like breathe. And he come in to 30 yards and he's facing kind of straight at me and there was a hole to his right and I'm like okay, once he hits that hole, I know it's 30. Let him have it. So I pulled back and he just sticks his head into that hole and I'm like here, just as I said, here we go in my head, he turns left and he goes straight away for me, right into the thick stuff and then I watched him kind of walk back the way he come and I'm like that really, that that's how this is gonna go, like I just needed two feet and I would add at least 150, 160 inch, 10, like he was just immaculate.
Speaker 3:And then I switched my. I used one of them, primo rut roars, so I switched to a trophy buck. So I'm like this is the caliber of deer that's in here like man. I sound like a little boy trying to go after someone, you know. So I'm like I switched it to trophy buck and I roared on it and I did a couple doe estrus, bleeds, um, and I'm like all right, that might do the trick. Maybe he didn't, you know, maybe he wants to go after someone that's more mature. And then all of a sudden I hear footsteps coming kind of from the way he he come from and I'm like here he comes back. I'm like yes, here we go, I'm gonna get him this time.
Speaker 3:The eight pointer that I ended up shooting come out and he he's filtering through, he sent check and makes a scrape, eats on some acorns and he comes in and I'm like there's no way he's gonna do the exact same thing that this deer did.
Speaker 3:Well, he kind of filtered in the front of me, kind of wrapped back around, and then he just hits like 20 yards in the thick stuff and just turns and he's going right for that 30 hole and I'm like, oh, this is perfect.
Speaker 3:Sticks his head in the 30 hole and I'm just about to pull back and I catch him turn and I'm like, don't do this to me. Like don't do this, like come on, I'm like there's gonna be two bucks at the same. You know, within five, ten, fifteen minutes of each other you're gonna do the same thing and he turns, but then he kind of turns a little bit more and now he's at 30, 31, but he's a harding hard quartering away angle shot. I'm like I've made this shot before. You're a good shot, make it happen. I pulled back, settled that pin and I let that arrow fly and it. I watched that arrow disappear and come out the other side and I could see, you know him, spraying blood as he's running away and he gets just to where that big buck had stopped to kind of like give me another look. And he got the baby lit, baby falling like just born legs and he's wobbling tail, flickering down. He went.
Speaker 3:You know that's feeling and you know, last year was such a struggle and I called my dad and I called my wife crying because I was like I did it. You know, I took really bad experiences from last fall and I capitalized on that and I'm going to admit, yeah, I cried. I cried for a solid 15 minutes in my tree. I'm like I, you know, I overcame a lot and here I am and now I'm successful and I have a nice buck down. I don't I'm not even worried about what he scores. I have no idea what he scores, probably maybe 100 inches or something.
Speaker 2:So that's about it, but he's good deer yeah, yeah, yeah, he's, he's a good deer, and first of all, your this hunt.
Speaker 3:Your heart must have been like okay, it's time to go home, because I cannot take much more of this stress and adrenaline and your heart went almost to age like 10, 15 years in just one day yeah, yeah, and, like you know, I I took, I took some pictures of them and then I finally came, got myself collected together and I'm getting all my stuff together and I'm like, damn, I gotta drag this dude 700 yards back to the car. Like, oh man, this is gonna suck. I'm by myself, like there's nobody around, like my dad's four hours away. My wife's not gonna come and help me because how the heck do I explain to her where I'm at in the woods to have her come out and help? I'm like, oh man, like this is gonna suck. I was like, maybe my buddy's home. I called him and he goes what's up? I'm like, can you come help drag, and he goes. I'm at. I'm like, can you come help drag, and he goes. I'm at work. I'm like, can you leave work?
Speaker 2:And he goes yeah, I'd been like. So when are you going to?
Speaker 1:be here.
Speaker 3:He goes. Well, yeah, he's like cause we both worked weekend shift and it was a Wednesday and he goes, yeah, I can leave, I'm like perfect. So he told them that he was leaving and he was going to come back and they're like wait, what? Oh, all, right, whatever he comes and helps Drake. It took us, me and him. It took us both two to two and a half hours to get him over the woods. Like it was. It was a drag those are.
Speaker 2:Those are the best but worst moments, because it's like you just want to die. At that point You're like oh my God, I'm so tired. Like this is. You know it's a work, it's a full workout. Like you are drenched in sweat, You're breathing hard, you know your heart rate's up Like oh, my God.
Speaker 2:And we all say OK, you know what Next summer we're just going know what next summer we're just gonna work out, we're gonna do all this cardio, we're gonna, we're gonna practice dragging things out, and then you don't do it, and then it's like god damn it. I did it again, like you've been there cursing the whole time but it's extremely important to get people to to come help, because listen it makes a world.
Speaker 3:So if it took two hours, just you two, just I can only imagine what it'd been by yourself like if it was me, I'd probably still be out there right now, probably dragging them out, because because, like where I hunt, from the first four to five hundred yards you're pretty much you can't see no more than five to ten yards in front of you. So it's thick, it's nasty, you, there were some spots where I'd actually have to crawl through to just continue to go to my spot and I'm now like coming out, now you're dragging out. You know.
Speaker 3:I want to say he was roughly 175, 180 pounds dressed out, so he was well over 200 with everything in them and yeah, you know that dead weight adds a lot, you know, and I had my bow still with me because I wanted pictures with my bow while we were at. We don't he was still where he dropped and I'm like man, this sucks. Like good thing I didn't have my climber with me and all my gear because, like oh, it would have sucked.
Speaker 2:I would have left it all back.
Speaker 1:I'm like fuck it I killed the deer, like I'll just leave that you know, someone takes it like all right at that point.
Speaker 2:Um no, no wonder why that wolf, uh, was, you know, stalking you? You did the fact that it's that thick and you had to get it. You know that that's, that's a prime stalking, like perfect condition to, but also perfect, perfect buck condition and deer condition like that's. It sounds like a real great area yeah it and like.
Speaker 3:So it's all mainly pine. There's random maples and oaks in there and when we were actually walking through we drug them through the bedding area just because it was obviously the easiest way through and there was a lot of sweet fern on the ground. So it was actually about hip high. About hip high. So we figured that these deer when the wolves and coyotes come into the bedding area they actually don't see these deer because when they're laying down it's so thick and it's like on a wolf it might be almost up to the tops of their back, so it's like they're not going to be quiet hopping through that, trying to go after these deer. So that's why we figured a lot of these deer that are in that area are hanging out where they are because just for the fact that the bedding area where they do bed is so thick.
Speaker 2:Makes sense. That makes perfect sense. That's a storybook story right there. That that's one for that. You know, whatever you do, that that's gonna be like. Oh, you're always gonna remember that, like it's, it's gonna be a good one to tell the kids.
Speaker 2:That's for damn sure, yeah, you know, oh man, I'm, I'm, I mean, I'm still kind of speechless, like I don't. I've never heard of someone being stalked by a, a wolf, and then killing, then seeing two studs and then killing one stud, and just like, just a whirlwind, like adventure, um, you know. And so what's it like? Bear hunting up there? You know, you, you, you got all this like are you guys can't bait for for bear either, or can you?
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, we can.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you guys can bait for bear, but not for deer.
Speaker 3:Not for well, depending on what counties you're in determine, if you can bait for deer or not so like if your county, if a deer tested positive for CWD, that was harvested, your county shut down and the adjacent counties are are shut down and then so on and so forth. So like there's only there's 72 counties in wisconsin and 55 of them can't bait, or so are they shut down for good no time period.
Speaker 3:it's like a five-year time period. So if a deer tests positive, you can't bait for five years. And then at five years they say they'll look at opening it back up if there's no spread of CWD. So I said why don't you just stop testing your deer and you don't have to worry about it?
Speaker 2:So one more before we move to bear. I was going to ask the testing, so do you have to bring it in? No, you, so you don't have to bring it in you don't have to.
Speaker 3:They recommend that you do because they want to try and figure out what counties have it.
Speaker 3:But if you look at like the map that they release of where the deer tested positive, is pretty much the whole southern like. So like your hand is wisconsin, so like here's green bay, you know whatever else, but like the whole northern part and like this part of wisconsin is just solid numbers of deer testing positive for CWD. And what they do is when you skin your animal they want you to drop off your deer head into a CWD sample site kiosk that they have set up and then if your deer test positive, see like you leave your, your name, your number and I think your dnr customer number and your authorization harvest number with that head and then you put it in a bag. If it tests positive, they send you, they'll call you, tell you your test results are positive or negative. If they're positive, they take your whole entire deer, so you lose all your meat. But then they give you another tag. Okay, to replenish. At least they do that all right well at least they do that, that's nice yeah.
Speaker 3:So like some guys will end up getting three tags. So like if they shoot a blocky you test positive, they'll give you another buck tag, and then when you buy your gun tag you get another buck tag. So in theory that's kind of hurting your deer herd in a sense, because you're taking you know another one.
Speaker 3:But I always say, you know, they say that CWD can't be transmitted to humans. So I go then what's the point in me testing it? It's, you know, it's in the, it's in the brain. Brain like spinal cord, so like when you get that spinal fluid on your meat is when you could become contaminated. Your meat comes contaminated. So, like my dad and I, if we do all our bone processing, we leave the head on until we have all of our meat off and then we start cutting our bones apart you know.
Speaker 2:I mean that that makes complete sense. Yeah, I don't, I don't know why. Obviously that that'd be pretty cool if you, you know, if you get to ask somebody like, hey, why, why do you guys do this? Like? I imagine they have their reason for it and I think it's probably mirrored like they want to just make sure, like gosh forbid anything you know they're, they don't want to outbreak it, gosh forbid if it turns, you know it can be transmitted to. I know it's really not going to happen, but, like at this point, like gosh knows what it's, it's, it's who knows? Now, at this point, um, but okay, so that that's interesting. We don't, we don't really have to worry about that here in jersey. I don't, I don't know if we've ever had it, let me, let me see if we've ever had cwd in new jersey cwd is um, when um, prions go bad, so like it's in the deer, and when they're prion, it's like cancer.
Speaker 3:Basically, when the cells go bad, then they get it. So it's like you're not, you're not gonna stop it. Really, you're never gonna slow it down either. Because it is, you know it's in it, you carry it, and the thing is is for me, and what seems to not kind of click with them, it seems like, is deer are social animals, so they're licking each other, does lick their fawns. You know other deer lick each other. You know they're eating stuff that they've all gone to the bathroom on, so it's bodily fluids. So it's like, are you going to tell them oh hey, deer, you can't have a rut this year, you can't lick your phones this year. No, they're gonna.
Speaker 3:And they say that the baiting congregates the deer into a small area and whatever. And it's like into a point yes, yes, it does, but also your food plots and egg fields congregate a lot more deer. So you're putting more deer into a food plot that might not be huge, so you got, you know, more deer in a small plot Also look at your community scrapes, look at how many deer hit that and that's all pre-orbital.
Speaker 2:That you know. Pre-orbital is a huge thing for deer, for whitetails. Also, new Jersey has not had a case since 1998. 1997, there were roughly they tested 75,000 or something, not geez, 7,500.
Speaker 2:Not 7,500 7,500 deer were tested for cwd. Um, but yet again, I imagine, like you said, like I, I imagine there probably is. You know, every once in a while I I imagine it just hasn't been. You know we we don't test, you know we don't, we don't go take our deer for for testing or anything like that. So like I wonder you know how many states really are affected? And it's probably like every single one of them. You just don't get the really bad outbreaks.
Speaker 3:Uh, like you do in most states I know a lot of guys that come up here for like that are non-residents. Just drop their deer off because obviously you're not wanting to transport. You know a full body deer now with cwd. If you're a non-resident, you can't go across state lines with a full body deer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we can't either. We're not allowed to either.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So like I'm sure that's where a lot of the cases come from. Or like you know guys, you know obviously non-resident, so they drop off their deer or whatever, and then have it tested and then it comes back that oh, it's tested positive and it's like damn it yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:Um, so the bear talk your, your love for bear hunting. Where did that start from? Like, how'd that happen?
Speaker 3:so when I was little my dad would go up to canada and I've always wanted to go with my dad to Canada and he would do I think he was doing the spring bear hunt and I've always loved bear hunting in general. And then my grandma, she would run bear dogs with her fiance and his group. So then when we were little we'd go up with her to bear camp and the guys would go and run dogs and we'd stay back at camp. You know, my sister and I would stay back at camp, whatever. And then my dad drew a tag for Wisconsin and it kind of really evolved from there where I just liked the whole aspect of having to do the work, like the first time my dad drew he went to an outfitter here in Wisconsin and then, um, uh, I drew a tag some years later.
Speaker 3:It took me 12 years to draw my first tag because of where I was hunting and we did it all ourselves and I think the whole aspect of running my own baits, scouting for my own, you know, bait areas, and then just continuously doing it every week, just continuously doing it every week, and it was like I really enjoy doing it, cause it was kind of like you know, you, that was before cell cameras became like really popular and everything. So you had to go check that bait and you had that bait hit and you're like, oh, I can't wait to get home and see what you know hit, that bait, you know, and, and it was just, I think it was just so exciting knowing that you're baiting for a predator and just having them continuously hit just is what drove me to it. And I eat, sleep and bear hunt. I just, I think about it all the time. I want to do it all the time. You know I, I just love the whole aspect of bear hunting in general.
Speaker 2:I listen, I agree with you. So you come into Jersey, you book your trip. Yet for for Jersey, yeah, we have plenty bears here.
Speaker 3:I would love to. This year would be a little tough to make it out that way, but definitely in the near future I would definitely come out listen, we, we, we, yeah.
Speaker 2:Whenever you let us know, yeah, we'll get you on some bears. Um, it's we. We have a lot of fun like um, you know it's a, it's a fun thing. It's going to be an annual thing for us here. Um, we want to get bigger and bigger every year. Um, you know, pain got his first beer last year. I got my first bear two years ago. Um, frank, you've killed a bear, right yeah, yeah, I think 2011 yep, so we got to get. We got to get frank on on another bear um yeah, we got to get steve his first bear.
Speaker 2:Um, you know american mike, he killed two this year. Um, you know, bear, bear hunting is it's just a whole other thrill. We talk about it all the damn time and everyone knows what time it is right now, um, but if you don't hunt bears this is why we talk about it so much, it is so addicting it is you're hunting an animal that can easily kill you if it wants to. It's a different type of adrenaline run. Um, you know, I do like setting up the like working a bait is piles great and I I love it. That's what I've done for last. Now I'm also going to be doing, um, just natural food, because we're we're now at a hunt over bait in new jersey.
Speaker 2:So for us, I think that sometimes hurt, especially for me. That hurts me because there's so many damn ways that these bears come in, you know, and if you got an area where you're not really like they're not coming in, one or one or two trails, we have to be a hundred. What is a hundred yards off off a bale pile. So, yeah, okay, that's like okay, well, the bear could come this way, this way, this way, this way, this way like and that's what happened this year.
Speaker 2:And like, if you're not picking the exact trail that they're gonna be moving that time, like you're kind of out of luck because like you you can have a bear all the way over there, but we're bow hunting with them. So it's like, right the hell, am I gonna do with that over there?
Speaker 2:like you know, hunting the natural food source is something that I'm gonna key on. That's how um payton got his this year and with you know, some racket or donut, I think he's. Yeah, donuts glazed donut, which is phenomenal, makes you hungry as hell, um it's the it's one of the best smelling scents.
Speaker 2:You know he he has for for bait, um, for bear, but um, that's, that's what we're gonna be doing, but it's, it's. They're so cool when you just see them and just not I'm not even talking about hunting like if you just look at a bear and stop and just look at them, like you just marvel at them because they are so unique and they're so big and you know their fur is so beautiful, you know, and they have all this fat on them and you're like, well, damn, like how the hell can a bear move this quickly? You know how could a bear kill you? And then you know, when you see them up close, or you see their, their claws and everything, it's like, oh well, okay, there, it is like Like you know, there's all that power underneath all that fur and fat is shredded with muscle and they're just absolutely, they're tanks, they're legit tanks on, you know, four legs.
Speaker 1:And they're dead silent too.
Speaker 2:Real quiet, yeah, and that's they're so silent.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I call them the ghost of the woods because, like you'll be sitting there and then all of a sudden, like bam, there's a bear.
Speaker 1:you're like when the hell did you get here? Like the one that snuck up on me last year. He, he was literally like like five to ten yards behind me and I was sitting on the floor facing the opposite direction. I was like it's it's wild.
Speaker 2:You know, I've only actually I've seen a lot of. Obviously I've seen a lot of bears, but majority of them have snuck up where it's like, oh my god, but I've had, I think, two, two, one. I remember it's just because I I was able. He was crossing a field after a wounded deer, so there I saw a whole bunch of deer and then there was finally one that was wounded and it was hobble. I don't know if he got hit by a car or he stepped in like a ditch or whatever and twisted the like bro, what I don't know right, but there's a deer that was hobbling away, you know, maybe five, ten minutes, there, right on its tracks.
Speaker 2:The deer get the deer gave him the slip, but he made his way towards me and that's the only like quiet, just pure quiet.
Speaker 2:Like the only reason why I knew he was coming is because I just saw him from a distance, that's it.
Speaker 2:Even when he walked into and got like 20 yards away, just dead, and he laid down and he just chilled there for a little bit and I was like, alright, well, I'm here for deer, and it's not bear scene, it's like hey, bear, and he literally just turns and looks at me, not a bother in the world, slowly just gets up, adjusts himself, looks back and then it's like okay. He's like, all right, I guess I'll leave now, like you don't really, you're not really scaring me, anything like that. He's like I just, I just want to go, I don't want to be bothered by you. And then another one, this one, he was a bit smaller but he must have been like a you know a teen, because he was just breaking everything and he was. He was rubbing his back against you know trees, and this one was making every damn noise in the woods and wanted to blow my deer hunt noise in the woods and wanted to blow my deer hunt and he was.
Speaker 2:he came over and I was watching him and he's he's rubbing his back and then he broke the little sapling and then, you know, he, he's stretching himself out all you know as high as he can. He's clawing the tree and he's just going through the thick just so loud, but like they could sneak through that thick so quietly too, and just like when they don't want to be detected.
Speaker 3:It's like yeah you'll never know that they're there you know, yeah, so like uh, 2017 is when I drew my first bear tag in wisconsin, and wisconsin's broken up between five or six different zones, so there's zone a, there's zone b, c, d, e, f and g I think, I don't even know. I quit after c because I don't have any other, any other zones, so I don't worry about the other ones, but I mainly hunt b and c, and for B, it was at the time a, 10 to a or it was 11 to a 13 year weight, until you could draw, be eligible to draw a bear tag. So it took me. I started applying when I was 12 and I pulled my first tag at 21 or 22, when I was 21 or 22. And you know, I told my dad. I said we got to make the best of it. It's my first tag. I waited 12 years for this. I'm not being picky on what I shoot, because who knows if I'll ever be able to draw another bear tag until I'm 30. You know, like this is dumb, and so we had two baits going and the one bait it was getting hit, but it wasn't really getting hit. So then I decided, you know, let's kind of shut this one down, we're going to focus on the other one because that one was constantly being hit. So I was like, okay, we'll just keep using this one.
Speaker 3:And our beer seasons in Wisconsin start the first Wednesday after Labor Day weekend. So you have Labor Day weekend and then that first Wednesday is when bear season typically starts in Wisconsin. And I didn't wasn't able to make it out for that Wednesday, but I made it out for Thursday for an hour, hour and a half and we had deer come in and we had a wolf come in that night. And then the next day was Friday and my dad and I got a camping permit for the public woods here in Wisconsin so that way we could park our camper, so we weren't having to drive 45 minutes to an hour to the spot. So we were going to park our camper and then pull it out Sunday after the hunt. Well, that weekend was opening weekend of archery season in Wisconsin. So my dad's like well, we'll just get the camper backed in. You grab your rifle, grab a bag of bait, of bait, go sit till dark and then I'll come and meet you halfway on the trail and we'll get you out of the woods.
Speaker 3:I'm like, okay, so get him backed in, grab my rifle, grab a bag of donuts and I head to the bait. I sit down after I baited. I sat down real quick, loaded the rifle as quiet as I could and I just sat there and it was hot. It was like 85 degrees that night and I was hot. Mosquitoes were tearing me up. Thermosel was still in dad's truck, so obviously that did me a lot.
Speaker 3:And all of a sudden I looked to my left. It was like maybe 30 to 40 minutes after I had sat down. I looked to my left and I looked to my left. It was like maybe 30 to 40 minutes after I had sat down. I looked to my left and I was like looking up a creek, because we were on. I was on the edge of a creek and just on the back side of my bait started a swamp and then it was all open woods, all hardwoods. So I was like you know, we had constant bear movement.
Speaker 3:There were three main trails and they all came from my left and I, just on the one trail I noticed black and I'm like, oh, that's a bear.
Speaker 3:And I kind of sat there and like maybe I didn't see what I saw and all of a sudden it popped out from the other side of the tree and I'm like, oh, it's a bear, and I was sitting on the ground and I couldn't swing that way because of the way we made this blind.
Speaker 3:So I sat on the down log that we made it, that we made it out of, and that bear stood up on the next log and he kind of looked, looked at the bait, kind of looked around, didn't notice me at all, and I'm just sitting on top of this log like like in the wide open, had no idea. I was even there and I touched the first round off out of my odd six and that bear let out like just a noise, and I'm like, oh, my God, I actually hit this thing. Like oh, wow, you know it's like I was shaking really bad and it ran back across the creek and it kind of did a somersault, almost in a way, and it was laying there biting at where I hit it and so it kind of stopped and I'm like I got more shells. I put another round in the chamber and I let one touch off again and it let off another you know noise.
Speaker 3:And I'm like oh my God, like I actually got it again and then it took off it. Just I'm like, oh my god, like I actually got it again and then it took off it. Just I was like that's not what I had in mind, but okay. So my dad calls me and he goes was that you? And I'm like, well, I'm the only one out here with a rifle. So yeah, it's me. And he goes did you get it? And I'm like, yeah, I hit it twice. And he goes, okay, so he comes out and he goes which way did it run? And I told him and we didn't have like hardly any blood. So he's like, maybe you missed it. I'm like, no, I didn't miss it, I know I didn't miss it.
Speaker 3:And it was like droplets here and there. And then all of a sudden you'd find a big pocket, you know on the blood trail, where it just bled really good, and then all of a sudden it would trickle down to a droplet here, droplet there. And at this time, while we were tracking, was about an hour after I had shot it. So like should be enough time for that bear to have expired. And we got back into the thick stuff and all of a sudden it stood up and I'm like, oh, out of instinct, I turned and went behind my dad because dad's protector. And he goes what are you doing? You got the gun, get back in front of me like if it comes at us, like you gotta protect us, that's your job. So it took off into the swamp and my dad's like no, we're gonna back out.
Speaker 3:So we marked last blood and then my buddy come up at like midnight one, one o'clock in the morning. We went to last blood and we went another 50 feet and we could smell like bears have that very distinct wet, dog, musty, just stinky smell and we could smell it and my buddy's like this bear is not dead, he's alive, very much alive. He goes, let's back out, and I'm like man, we're like right here, and he goes, you go that way then and you go deal with a wounded bear and I'll stand back here and watch. I'm like all right, all right, we'll wait till the morning.
Speaker 3:So it was like I didn't sleep that whole entire night because I don't think anybody can. And my dad and I got back in there that morning and not more than 20 feet from where my buddy and I had stopped, that bear was kind of sitting. It had finally died that night and not more than 20 feet from where my buddy and I had stopped. That bear was kind of sitting, it had finally died that night. But it was sitting in a way that it was going to try, had we come up to that log, to lunge towards us and I was like we got lucky, like thank God, I listened to my buddy and not went to that log.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank God I listened to my buddy and not went to the hospital. Yeah, oh, my God, and that's the. That's the one unfortunate side about black bear hunting. I will definitely say, like, if you're looking at a downfall of black browning is when you shoot it and it runs, and if you don't hear the death moan, um, your, your anxiety is just going to be through level. You know, and I talked about in before, um, you know, with with payton and the guys, and you know, I, I think, you know, I think we, we posted on instagram but like, that was the most anxious I've ever been tracking, you know, a bear, and with doing it with archery equipment, it's even more because, like you said, they don't, they don't bleed, you know you're, you're not really following a blood trail that you, that you would be expecting, you know. So if you don't see it go down and die or you don't hear the death mode, it's like, oh shit, now we're gonna go track this thing and I want to keep tracking, but it's like they do.
Speaker 2:They all injured animals set themselves up, especially predators, where they're going to get their back against something and they're going to whatever is coming at them. They're going to be able to defend themselves because you know they're injured and they're trying to survive. You know, and same thing with humans.
Speaker 3:We would do this, the same exact thing too, as well yep, and like I had gotten lucky, because when that bear laid down it was laying in water, so when it did finally um succumb to the wounds, you know it, it actually water actually helped cool that bear off. So I was able to save all of the meat off of that bear, which I was grateful for?
Speaker 2:so that is great. And then I where were the exits before, before you like where, where was? Where were? So? Where'd you when you took a look at it? Where'd you shoot the bear?
Speaker 3:So like the anatomy of a bear, everything obviously sits further back in the bear. It was right on the money, like right in the center, like it took out one lung and it clipped just the top of the heart with the bullet. But not enough, I don't think to really, you know, do enough damage to it, kind of just give it, you know, pain. But I was surprised at how long the bear did you know manage to survive for, and you know I I made like two really good shots on this animal but it just, for whatever reason, didn't go in my favor and it took it a while. But I in the end am grateful that I didn't push the issue that night and push that bear further or come into an you know a bigger issue now where my safety was in jeopardy and so was my buddies. So I think we did everything right.
Speaker 3:But it kind of you know, just knowing that I didn't, you know, take that animal quickly, kind of bothered me so. But you know, in the end it kind of all worked out but you know, like you said you, how are you?
Speaker 2:you put it where it needed to be. It's like, at the end of the day, like these, all these creatures that we hunt, they are, they survive. One thing that they're going to do is they're going to do everything they can to survive. You know, we shoot a human blows out a lung we ain't going nowhere, right?
Speaker 2:but a deer bear, well you, they, they have the will to survive and they're gonna. Their adrenaline also does keep them going for for much the same with us too. But like man, like there, I've I've heard of deer getting shot perfectly and you, you would think like a deer is gonna. Nope, I forget, I can't remember what channel is, what it is, years ago, but I don't know if he was bowhunting, I think he was gun hunting and he put it on like it was a beautiful shot and he was shocked that the deer just ran and they never found it until it showed up on trail camera and you saw the entrance and exit and it's like that that should be a dead deer. Like why the hell is it not? Why is it not dead? You know, you can tell the deer lost weight and it was injured, so they, I think they went back out and you know they, they hunted it again and I think they're able to finally kill it.
Speaker 2:But it was like, yeah, what the hell they? They're always going to surprise us.
Speaker 3:You know, I've had that happen to me on a deer um during guns here in wisconsin in 20, 2018. It was opening day of gun season. It was opening gun season night. I shot a buck at 140, dropped him right in his tracks like he ton of bricks straight down and a doe come run. The doe he was with come running out and I shot her and she toppled over and I I looked back out to where that buck was and there was another deer standing there and I'm like, oh, okay, like I'll get three tonight, you know, shot him, dropped straight down again and I'm like, perfect, go.
Speaker 3:And then my truck wasn't no more than 100 yards for me.
Speaker 3:So I walked all the way back to the truck, grabbed another shell, because I only kept a couple on me and because I, you know, I figured one one and done. And all of a sudden I look out and there's another deer standing there and I got to really looking at it and I'm like, oh damn, it's the same deer that I just shot. And I'm looking at it and I'm like, oh damn, it's the same deer that I just shot and I'm looking at and I'm like, oh damn, he's got two bullet holes in him. I'm like, oh, I shot this deer twice at 140 and he still got up and, you know, walked and he finally he got to the edge and he gave me a broadside shot and I just took him out high shoulder just so that way he'd topple over and I knew he was done. I couldn't believe it how he managed to get up and walk still another 60 yards after being shot already twice and going straight down and getting back up and going another 60 yards and then I had to shoot him again.
Speaker 1:It happened to me upstate with one of my big eights. I seen him about 80 yards in the woods, made a beautiful shot at him. He jumps, you could tell he did like that high mule kick. He ended up running towards me. I was like, oh, this is going to be perfect. He's going to fall right underneath my stand. He literally all of a sudden, when he got out to about 40 yards, he stopped and he just started walking like nothing ever happened. I was like what the fuck? So I ended up. So I put it right on his shoulder.
Speaker 1:This time I saw him hit. I mean totally just broke both front legs, if he I watched him. He ran past me with just his back legs posting them. So I was like, all right, I got him. All of a sudden I look over and I see him. Last spot where I see him go, he, he's standing up. He's just standing there and I was like you gotta be kidding me. So I I end up shooting him one more time and that time he dropped right there, my and I have my uncle calling me like you, okay, like what's going?
Speaker 1:on over there yeah sounds like world war ii is going on almost like I don't want to talk about it. You're not going to believe it anyway. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then. So, then, you, you, you go into 2022, you go the next one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this was an archery bear. Yep, this one was an archery bear. So I had um was applying for zone B again for another 12 years and I'm like you know, screw this, like I missed one year and I'm like, well, I'm gonna be pushed another year. So I was on year four and your prep, your harvest points for Wisconsin, you can transfer them between counties. So like, if you're applying for one county and you're like you know what, screw this, I want to go to a different zone. All you have to do is just the next year when you apply for a harvest point or a preference point, you just specify which county and then you can kind of draw quicker, I guess per se that way. So that's what I was doing. I was applying for Zone B to hunt up by my dad and then I ended up was like you know what? I live in good bear country. I know I was in good bear country just because I kind of know what I'm looking for. Well, I think I know what I'm looking for. But and I got uh, I call it a first year pull for zone c. But it was kind of I had to wait five years to get the tag just because I was applying for a different zone and when I got selected for that tag, I instantly started scouting. Like there was still snow on the ground it was knee high. I'm like, yep, I'm going scouting and I wasn't really impressed with like what I was kind of finding. So I waited until snow melted so I could get around to different spots. And then I found a spot on the back side of a flowage and I was kind of looking at it and everything just spoke to me and it said bear like this is bear country. There's big bears, little bears, there's mass amounts of bears in here. And I was just like I feel like I need to be positioned good enough by the water, but not too close to the water, but just close enough to where you know, on them hot days they're going to want to go from food to water or water to food and then back to bedding or wherever they're hanging out. And we can start baiting here in Wisconsin, starting in mid-April, I want to say, or early April.
Speaker 3:So I started my bait May, like the second week of May, I think, right before my sister's wedding. I'm like I'm putting in a bear bait. So I was like I'm putting in this bear bait and then we're going to go to my sister's wedding. It took five days for them to finally hit the bait after I started it and the first bear that hit, I want to say we kind of estimated it in between four and five hundred pound bear and I was like damn all right, like the first bear that hits, it's a really good one, you know. Damn all right, like the first bear that hits, it's a really good one, you know.
Speaker 3:And so I kept on it every week, kind of figuring out what they liked, you know what they didn't like and I it. It took me a while to figure out what bait they truly, truly liked. And the one day it was a Friday and they demolished the bait like shortly after I baited it. I'm like I really don't want to do it yet, but I'm like I'm gonna go and replenish this bait like Sunday, just so that way, because they wouldn't hit Sunday till Wednesday for whatever reason. I don't know if it was like just the activity on the ATV trails they didn't want to hit or whatever. So I was just like, well, I'll wait. But I'm like, no, I'll just refresh it. On Sunday I refreshed it at noon and I had bears on it like almost instantly and I was like okay, well, so much for replenishing that, because now it's gone today like oh well, but I had I counted roughly 30 different bears coming in from May until about July, so I'm like that's really good for like an active bait site.
Speaker 3:And then July hit and the number probably went from 30 to 15 to 20 and then, once August hit and a lot of the natural stuff started coming into, um, you know, when it was starting to become ripe for the bears to start eating, I went from like 15 to 20 down to like 5 to 10 bears and then those bears were just my local bears and they hit the same days at the same time, no matter what. If it was hot, raining, whatever they were on it pretty much roughly the same time. They were on it pretty much roughly the same time and typically the baits around here that I've noticed go cold like the last two weeks until season starts, because then your acorns start dropping here and then other you know natural foods like blackberries, raspberries, and then like huckleberries, they're coming into the stage where they're ready to be eaten and whatnot, by the animals. So I kind of switched up how I was baiting in August and I was baiting with more, more of proteins, but still using sweets and whatnot. And then season started on Wednesday, after Labor Day weekend and I had a bear hit in the morning, which they hardly ever did Hit in the morning, didn't hit it at night because I hunted that night. So I repunished the bait. Nothing moved that night. Thursday again they hit in the morning, but then they didn't come back at night because it was hot, it was like 90 degrees, I want to say.
Speaker 3:And then, friday, I had the day off and I got to my spot where I parked. And I got to my spot, like where I parked, and my camera notified me that I had a picture and it was a bear man, of course, you know. And they were coming in at eight. And then seven. I'm like, oh well, they'll be in at six, right at shooting light. I'll be in there at five, like I'll get there just in at about five, five, five, thirty and I'll be set and ready to go for six. Nope, he was in there at five. I'm like, well, damn, like. Now here goes my morning hunts.
Speaker 3:I turned around, went home, did some stuff around the house and I was watching the weather and it looked like the temperatures were dropping as the day went on, but not significantly, but enough to where. It was like okay, we might strike up something here. So it was about noon I started getting ready and it was like 90 95 degrees at noon and I'm like man, this is hot, but oh well, I'm gonna go out and bear hunt. So I sat from about 1, 30, 2 o'clock and it was like right at six o'clock I had enough service to check the weather app and the temperature went from at that time was at 80, because it had dropped. It went from 80 to 60. And I was like, perfect, like a bear's going to move now.
Speaker 3:And I had wood ducks behind me on the lake and all of a sudden I could hear something bigger coming in in the water and then all of a sudden it went ploosh and the ducks took off. I'm like, all right, here we go. And I brought up the binoculars and I could see the bear swimming across the lake and I'm like, oh perfect, he's coming in and he's taking his sweet old time. So I'm like, man, hurry up, dude. Like we ain't got a lot of time left here, like half, I think it was like an hour 45 minutes, but I knew they lollygaked coming into the bait and he gets all the water and I can hear him breathing. And then it just went silent from there.
Speaker 3:Like he was 20 yards from me when he got out of the water and I'm like, okay, I should be able to hear him because there was tall grass, couldn't hear the grass, couldn't hear nothing breaking and I'm like, did this bear just seriously go the complete opposite way? Like gets out of the water and just goes the opposite way? I'm just thinking man alive, like what the heck? Like okay, I'm like, if this is how the night goes, I saw one and all of a sudden in one of the pine trees I could just see a hint of black. And I'm like, okay, here he comes, here he comes and he gets into the opening by me and I'm like, oh, okay, that's a really nice bear. And I'm like, okay, all right, gets to about 25 yards in front of me and the wind switched.
Speaker 3:I'm like, no, so in my mind I'm like, how do I do this to where? Because I can't shoot, because it was so thick where he was at, like I could see him perfectly, but to get an arrow through there was impossible. I'm like, hey, you got your spray up here. It was a spearmint spray because as he's standing there smelling and I sprayed the mint spray out in front of me first, so that way it blew that way and I covered myself in mint. That bear's head went straight up. I'm like, well, this is it my hunting.
Speaker 3:That bear spun on a dime and he come right up to the tree and he kind of looked up and I didn't move at all, like I was not moving. I'm like, don't move, he's right here, he might see you if you move. Just treat it like a t-rex, don't move. And that bear settled down. He turned straight away and went right into the log, snapped the log, looked around my phone's vibrating in my pocket because I'm getting pictures. I'm like what? Like, stop vibrating, like he could probably hear this and I don't even give him a chance to hit that log.
Speaker 3:He just turned to go and bump that log and I was using my crossbow and I let it just in the back rib and come out that offside shoulder and he spun a circle and he ran straight back at the tree and I'm like, oh well, well, here we go. He's climbing my tree and now I gotta fight a wounded bear like perfect. Here we go. He hits the ladder to my stand and the stand goes back and forth. I'm like, oh god, and he rolls and he gets up, bounces off a tree and he rolls again. He's five feet from the tree and he death bones right there. He died five feet from my tree and I'm like, oh, no, tracking this time. I know he's down. I watched him go down.
Speaker 3:And then I'm like yes and now I'm like, oh no, like I gotta get this sucker to the boat to get back to the car. Like damn it, now I to do this by myself. I again called my buddy and I'm like, hey, he's like, let me guess you got one. And I'm like, yep, and he goes. Well, I am an hour and a half away from you now and I'm like, oh well, hurry back, cause I got one down.
Speaker 2:But yeah, that that doesn't matter. Get your ass here.
Speaker 3:I but yeah, that that doesn't matter, get your ass here, I'll wait, you know. And then he goes well, did you get down and look at him? And I'm like, no, I ain't got to get down and look at him. He's laying right here and I send him a picture and he goes oh, that's pretty easy then. And I'm like, yeah, so I met him back.
Speaker 3:By the time I got my gear together and back to the car, he was just pulling into the parking lot. So it was like perfect timing anyway. And we go, we load, I get him in the boat and we go back to go get the bear. And I go to flip the bear over and on his chest is a big white chevron patch right in the middle of his chest. And I'm like, yes, like out of all the moments, like, yes, I shot my biggest buck last year. But it was a dream of mine to shoot a bear here in Wisconsin with a big white feed patch. And I had no idea this bear even had a white patch on his chest, didn't even notice it when he would come in. And when I saw that I was like, oh, my wife's gonna be pissed.
Speaker 2:Here comes a taxidermy that dude, you have some of the craziest hunting stories like this is. This has been insane. You've told, so you've told three hunting stories and we're almost filled up the whole entire time with talking about wolves, mountain lions and three hunting stories absolutely insane. Hunting stories took up almost majority of the time. Like geez I, I could only imagine what fishing story is, what your waterfowl stories are going to be like next time we we get you on. Um, yeah, I gotta.
Speaker 2:I got a few quick questions for you um, you know, man, I I said that I'm just going over the stories yet again in my head and it's just like that's insane like us yeah, god um, okay, so what would if you had two weeks time? Money is not an issue. There's no price.
Speaker 3:Dream hunt and where dream hunt would be, um, probably colorado or montana, going after elk in the rut with my bow uh-oh, elk's slowly working its way back up.
Speaker 2:All right, what would? What is your favorite hunting snack?
Speaker 2:oh, little debbie's the first one of the, I think, ever see. I think we they're here, but they're not like I want to say they're the most popular thing here. No, um, I don't. I see them more in pa and like places like that. But like being in jersey, like I'm not saying there's not, like there are little days, but it's not like I don't, you just don't see them, like they're not on for like well, we go to I at least me, I go to quick check a lot. I go to wawa a lot. Like when you walk in there, it's not like in there like I, those are all over the place for us. So it's like okay, where I'm getting my snacks, like they're like I know a lot of people will go to walmart or stuff like that and like they're all over like walmart's and stuff like that. But like for me at least, speaking like I don't, I don't, but they are good. I would say if, if quick check had them, I would definitely, I would definitely be getting some um, typical or non-typical deer.
Speaker 2:Typical, yeah, team typical yeah um if you can, if you can hunt, if you can buy a property anywhere in in the country, which which state would you be picking? Wisconsin, oh so you would pick wisconsin yep, that's pretty cool. What would you do to your your property at wisconsin? What, what would you have like? What is something that that that would you be looking for?
Speaker 2:um, I'd be looking for something that had water on it, like either man-made ponds or a creek or river system um the swamps and hardwoods kind of a mixture now one more with that like because the north and the south, they're so different, like one there's a lot of cwd, the other has a lot more has has wolves and everything like. Where, where would you pick? Like, where would you hunt the north, south, like maybe close to where you live or where you grew up, or where would you look at?
Speaker 3:either, ideally where I was currently living on the western half of the state. Just because it's to me, it's a sleeper on how everybody views wisconsin like there's like the public that I'm hunting. If I could buy that chunk, where I'm actually hunting is has everything that I need to have big bucks Okay.
Speaker 2:That's pretty cool. Yeah, that's it. Listen, I feel the same way. If you could get sponsored by one company out there, what would it be?
Speaker 3:That's a good one. One company, I would say hoyt, there we go.
Speaker 1:Another team, let's go oh, um.
Speaker 2:If you could only hunt one animal, what would it be?
Speaker 3:Black bear.
Speaker 2:I like it.
Speaker 3:Respect that If I could do it every year I would hang up here hunting so fast.
Speaker 2:Professional bear hunter.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:If you only had one week out of the year to hunt, which week would you be picking?
Speaker 3:I feel like that'd be the bear season, right yeah, it would probably be bear season, like my first week in bear hunting I always I kind of figured with your, your first day, yeah, yeah, my the first friday of the season of bear season. If I could pick one day, it'd be that day. I've killed both my bears on the first friday of wisconsin bear season there you go.
Speaker 2:That perfect reason. If you could hunt with um one person, whether they're, whether family, um famous dead alive, can go back to whoever, it doesn't matter. Who would you, who would you want to hunt with? Um my dad dad, what about non-family related?
Speaker 3:non-family would be kip Campbell from Red Arrow TV.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a good one too, I think. I think that's that's. That's all the questions I got got for for today. Quentin, it was an absolute pleasure having you on. I mean, those stories were like I said they were. They were great and we're there. Ladies and gentlemen, gentlemen, there will be a part two. Um, without a doubt, with just quentin himself. Uh, quentin also has worked himself on to coming on. He's got to come on for one of our roundtable segments at at some point as well. Absolutely, um, we, we got to get into a waterfowl. Um, we, we would love to get into some fishing and everything like that with you.
Speaker 2:Um, ice fishing too, because that's something I definitely. Um, I I saw that that you love to get into some fishing and everything like that with you. Ice fishing too, because that's something I definitely. I saw that that you love to do and I've always been here. I would love to do that at some point. It just hasn't gotten cold like that here, which is a pain in the ass. But, yeah, we a lot of things coming forward here. I hope you eventually can make it down. We would love to to make it. It make it up one one time. Uh, hopefully we get an event or something like that where you can make.
Speaker 2:I know you're far away, but you know, hopefully something we can we can, we can work something out, but um, it's been an absolute pleasure. Any last words.
Speaker 3:Um, I just want to say thank you to you both having me on. You know I appreciate the opportunity and I will have to get you both, maybe on the same segment or doing one of you, mike and frank, on your own episodes on full drive report, because you know you just let us know yeah, I I'm making a schedule kind of on the fly, but yeah, I definitely have. I used I used to do.
Speaker 2:I used to do that too, like, um, before I got into. So I started the scheduling how I do it now. Last year because I was like, oh, my god, like this is so like getting everything. I was like you know what, let me, I have already a schedule for for boondocks, hunting, like, and for my personal, like frank could tell you like everything's already like mapped out for us through the year. Um, and I I put in my work schedule, vacation and the guys, they can put in whatever as well, and what I send people is that's just whatever's available. I am available that that at that time. So it doesn't matter if it's the morning, lunch, evening.
Speaker 2:If you put yourself down on that schedule, it's like all right, cool, I know I have to pocket, so I have to work stuff, I work stuff around. You know, obviously if something pops up for me, then it's like all right, I just put it on the schedule. I'd be like you know, or if people have to reschedule, I had to reschedule one tomorrow. Um, we were supposed to have three tomorrow, now we only have two. But you know he was like, hey, I need your schedule. I was like all right, cool, you know I'll take you off, and then here you go. Here's the rest of the dates you can have whatever people like, oh well you know we're really packed.
Speaker 2:I was like, yeah, don't worry. I was like you have from now till, like I think, the week before the season, I typically stop, uh, doing um interviews and we'll just go back to the our updates and everything like that. But listen, it was. It was hell of a pleasure getting you on, like, like I said, and everyone who's listening. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. The link to Quentin's pages are going to be in the bio below. Make sure you go check them out, make sure you go watch his lives. They are great. We do have a great group of guys that that we talk to, that we hunt with or, you know, connect with, soon to be hunting with, and everything like that. So I hope you guys enjoy this episode and we
