Speaker 1: 0:00

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Speaker 3: 1:07

I'm the squad leader.

Speaker 4: 1:10

I'm.

Speaker 1: 1:10

Steve, it's been so long since we've been all together that we do not know how to do our introductions anymore. So from now on, when the whole crew's on, I think we'll just go obviously me. Uh, we can go frank, we can go steve, we can go we. You know we'll go the order that you join the team. So it'd be obviously me payton. Was it steve before frank? I really don't, I can't remember. I think I think it was the same time.

Speaker 1: 1:42

I think it's frank first you guys could rock papers to shoot whatever you guys want to do. And then the box you. You know you'll come in last, but you're the best, or last baby, yeah, everyone do we want? To try that again. No, no, we're, we're just gonna leave it.

Speaker 1: 1:58

I you know, I think everyone's gonna be laughing at us this is raw and real raw, raw, no, no, no cuts on this one, but we're here for field notes three, which I'm really excited for because we have all, for the most part, had a taste of out-of-state hunts. Um, you know I I just posted on instagram today, on the account listen we just got the season jersey, has yet to even open up and we've been in three separate states hunting uh, the earliest, I think, for for almost everyone squatch, have you done any early season hunting before your state has opened up in the past? Yeah, okay, all right. So the squatch has experience with that? I don't, uh, and I don't think anyone else does, correct, nope, nope. So we heard my story now, before we dive into the rest of the guys hunt.

Speaker 1: 2:56

Peyton, you haven't really been on in a. You know you've been busy with the new job and everything like that. You know peyton is our busiest guy without kids on on the team. His availability is very. You know he's taking care of a one-eyed dog over there too as well, so you know a lot on his book.

Speaker 2: 3:16

But there's a lot going on.

Speaker 1: 3:19

I gave the folks a little bit of breakdown how our opening day kind of went. But for you I mean you were the one that really suffered the, the, the consequences and the mishaps on on the first hundred year down in delaware.

Speaker 2: 3:34

So you want to give the people out there your your side of the story yeah, we started off really low and uh, it was only up from there so far. So that was the the the good. There was a lot of rust to shake off, um so out the morning went down and I'd gone down like a week or two before found out a spot that I wanted to sit the opening morning, just because you know it's going in a little bit blind. I just had like some spots at some mock scrape set up that, um, I just you know I'll sit there until like nine o'clock and then ies set up that. Um, I just you know I'll sit there until like nine o'clock and then I'll get down and then I'll move. And I figured the action would be better in the evening watching deer come out of the um, coming out into these ag fields. But so I just picked a spot kind of between bed and food that I could get into. It's like minimal impact and because a lot of the spots you'd have to walk through the fields, um, like from the access to to the honnable trees, so obviously you know when they're in the fields at night you don't want to do that. So this is like the only spot that I found that you could kind of get directly from the access, uh, without bumping any deer.

Speaker 2: 4:34

So got settled in, got turned around on my tree, you know, as usual, took the wrong turn in the dark, and you know they immediately were like all right, we're a little rusty. Get up in the tree, uh, get set up. Phone ringer is broken and it's all messed up. For some reason it's like you're making phones making sounds it's never made before. So I'm like all right, great, well, we'll keep hanging there.

Speaker 2: 5:01

Then the sun finally comes up and the tree I'm in is covered in poison ivy that I'd climbed in the dark. So I was like, great, probably should have turned the flashlight on, at least you know. But whatever, anything, anything of it, just climbed it. So you know, on the tail end of that right now. But you know, so it was a short, uneventful hunt. Didn't see anything. I don't know if that was just because of my stomping around, getting turned around, my phone ringer going off, or if that was just not the spot I thought it was, so it's hard to tell. But um, so, needless to say, I'm giving that spot a long rest before I consider going back there. But um, then went to go meet up with mike and andrew, and uh, my truck overheats so well, no, oh wait you're.

Speaker 1: 5:45

You're forgetting the whole your your pins.

Speaker 2: 5:47

Yeah, I did forget about something else. It was horrible. Yeah, then I'm. I'm walking out, there's a doe kind of like bumps and runs up the trail and stops, um, and I go to draw, um to to kind of shoot because I was kind of still hunting my way out, so like a soft bump, um, and then ran out to like 40 yards. I go to draw and I looked through my peep site my 20 and 30 pins are broken off my site.

Speaker 2: 6:14

So I was like, all right, nice, very broken, very broken, like snapped off, like um, like the fiber optic is broken and it's just kind of the base where they meet the site left. So I pull over. Uh, we me and Mike get to a spot where you can shoot. I move, I market with a knife. I moved my 20 pin to where, or I moved my 40 pin to where my 20 was, in my third, my 50 to where my 30 was. I always carry a target with me, shoot where, like you know, I market exactly where the stopping point was.

Speaker 2: 6:43

So I was already like 90 sure, and then we shot like a, you know, a couple dozen, or maybe not a couple dozen, but didn't need much, it was on right away. So like, all right, well, I'm back in this. You know, I'm not not that huge of a loss. It was a pretty quick fix and I don't really like taking super four shot shots anyway, um, so um, and I had another. I have another site already, so it's just a matter of like screwing them on and off and getting it tuned in. But yeah, and then I go, drive down to the next spot. My truck overheats, there's no coolant in it pour every ounce of water that I have in the in the reservoir, and then you know, go get antifreeze, and then we hunt the evening and yeah, fourteen hundred dollars later is a new water pump and new thermostat housing and some other stuff.

Speaker 2: 7:27

So, oh yeah, that was day one, but then I made a really good. You know, I had a really good hunt that evening. Actually, you know, it kind of slowed down after that. The, the shit storm kind of subsided. I'm in the eye of it right now.

Speaker 2: 7:46

I guess you know there's always the other side, I guess, um, but it uh, made a good ground setup. Haven't hung on the ground in a while. You know, that's something I wanted to get into. This season was like don't, I think sometimes last year I was getting up in the tree just because I had the saddle with me. So I think it's like showing a reserve and making the best setup, not and sometimes that's not up in a tree. So that's. You know, learned a lot in Delaware this year. Made good grounds, learned a lot about making good ground setups.

Speaker 2: 8:13

You know, this ground set that I made I didn't, you know, cut any brush or anything I just kind of was like, well, they'll step out of this hole in the marsh, this trail, and they'll step out, they'll be at 10 yards and I'll shoot. I guess what I didn't really like, what didn't like compute in my mind, was like what if the first thing that steps out it's not a shooter buck? And if it steps out and they're in a group, um you know what if it's not a legal deer? So, and that's exactly what happened. I was like there's big tracks and monsters gonna come out. It's like 5 30. I hear like just crashing in the marsh behind me. They come right down the trail. Perfect, it was three spikes and I was like okay, well, you know and then

Speaker 2: 8:52

you know you're in that bubble, you're in that kill zone. So they can't, you know. So they have that sixth sense. Regardless of whether my wind was, they were at 10 yards. So you know, three deer at 10 yards. There's no matter how good the wind is, no matter how good your hide is, how good your camo is, it's. It's hard to hang out like that for that long. So they kind of boogered off and left.

Speaker 2: 9:13

Um, had a bunch of deer work by pass that trail, you know. Last light, you know got blown at. You know I had does walking to me a doe that I didn't see downwind, you know blows. And then they all scatter, you know. But it was good hunt, you know saw, went down day two wasn't going to. You know I was gonna wait the truck out but then just poured whatever antifreeze I had in, went and bought more and then just kind of we're driving with the slow leak before I got it fixed and thankful I did that it's all a really big buck in the field. You didn't get a shot at it, but it was just not on the X at that time. But yeah, it was a good early season experience. Shaked the rust off and I think there was a whole lot came off. Probably not all gone, but there's a large portion at least. But yeah, it was a good couple days.

Speaker 2: 10:07

Got down there friday, uh, last week, um, again after work, made a good ground setup. You know, learn from that mistake. You know cup. You know I didn't cut brush, but like kind of like pick the spot with the most brush. It was like bending it around me. Um, you know pulling some grass and sticking that in. You know kind of where it's. It's kind of moving the trees around trying to give yourself an overhang, setting up so that the sun's behind you. Uh, when you can, um, it's uh, yeah, and it just ended up working out great.

Speaker 2: 10:39

Had a fawn in front of me at seven yards for like 20 minutes and you know that setup was, was bulletproof, so something had come out. It would have 20 minutes and you know that setup was, was bulletproof, so something had come out. It would have been good but you know, just wasn't in the cards that night. So new jersey opens up in two days from now, yeah, so, or three days from now, rather so, hopefully fill the freezer opening morning. Got some good spots picked out, um, you know spots that have been glassing for a while, where I think you know I see does coming by on the mulchery cams, not running a ton of cameras, but just the one that I do run. I usually get pictures every night or morning, so and that's another spot where you can kind of sneak in behind the ag field. So that's kind of what I've got going on right now. I just got a picture right now, so they're they're a little before that, just at the tail end of shooting light.

Speaker 2: 11:31

So, yeah, hopefully that tag gets filled day one yeah, and it's on to some of the bigger bucks I have on camera in there that seem to have disappeared from that ag field.

Speaker 2: 11:41

It's just like I've noticed that too, with that red oaks drop and I think that they're a lot of pushing back and there's a lot of people going in setting up their stands. You know people putting out corn piles, putting cameras and it's, you know all, all on the fringe of this soybean field. So I think they're just kind of like done with it. You know, um, even like before the season pressure, I think he's already pushed a lot of these big bucks out of it. Now that they're going hard horned, um, they can get into some of the thicker, nastier swamps back in there and some of those briars that initially would have hurt them. So I think, you know, I'm gonna start looking for fresh rubs once I get my doe out of the way. Look for fresh rubs, go to some of those oak flats I've got marked and and kind of think that they might be hanging around there, that kind of pre-rut.

Speaker 1: 12:27

Yeah, I definitely agree, and you know anyone out there. I mean, this is going to be a a annual trip really for us. I mean, at least I can definitely speak for myself and I, you know I've already talked to Peyton about it and I know Peyton I think now plans on doing a muzzleloader hunt there too, because they opened up muzzleloader, I think, in october and everything like that. Like it's actually like a phenomenal state to hunt um delaware. It's way more, uh, beautiful than I really thought it was going to be, not saying like I didn't think it was going to be beautiful or anything, but I wasn't expecting what I saw from everything like that. So it's on the plans for us.

Speaker 1: 13:12

But you know, and then I need to hear about Maryland, because that is another state, steve, that you know I've had a lot of interest in. I know Peyton's from Maryland, you know I've had a lot of interest in. I know Peyton's from Maryland. The fact that you had what you had and there was no one really else hunting just blew my mind, because Peyton was like, oh, there's not much land and everything like that. I don't know if he's just in a completely different area than you and everything like that, so tell us a little bit about your experience and how the hunt went for you over there.

Speaker 4: 13:48

Yeah, for sure. Uh, can I? Can I start out with how this trip even started?

Speaker 4: 13:52

yeah so this is a crazy story, right? So I had a lone wolf custom gear 0.75 stand that I was looking to sell, put in a marketplace so that I could pick up a hybrid Ranger. Uh, cause that's what I really wanted, put it online. I had a bunch of different people, you know, blow ball me on. It Finally had a decent offer and it wind up being this new friend.

Speaker 4: 14:18

Now, aj and um, I met him in the parking lot up there at what was it? A Vincent town diner, and we wound up talking for like an hour in the parking lot and before I left, he's like, dude, like you're a cool guy, he's like you should come down to deer camp down in Maryland this year. I'm like what? He's like, yeah, we go down for the opening week every year. He's like you should totally come, like oh okay, and so I I kind of I don't want to say I didn't think anything at first I was intrigued, and then we kind of talked more and more and got more familiar on a regular basis. I wound up going out and shooting a 3d course with him out in PA. That's where he's, that's where he lives now, this wife and family, and lo and behold, the time with you know, whittled away until that opening week and we wound up going down there and it was a real, it was a really amazing time. To be honest no-transcript so it was.

Speaker 4: 16:11

It was, it was, uh, not the most intelligent way to go about doing a hunt like this, and I only say that because I left at 2 am on friday and drove down and hunted that morning and we basically met up after that because when I got into the parking lot, I was the only person, uh, one of the uh one of the public areas down there I don't know if it's actually a WMA, but it's one of the state grounds and so it's 1200 acres. There's a lot of ag through there. There was pretty much I think it was almost completely beans, and I got down there in the morning. I just I was completely blown away. I got there about probably 30 minutes before first light and I was the only. Not only was I the only car in there when I got there, I was the only car still there when I got out of the woods. So either people knew something I didn't or people just aren't into hunting early down there, uh, on opening day. So I got in there and I rode into the spot that I had kind of picked out. It was on the backside of an ag field coming up from the marsh and it was a nice. It was a nice contour, ridgeline, heavy, you know, very heavily packed. Again some intel from my buddy AJ who had been through there. And I hung there in the morning, basically gray light, until about nine o'clock, didn't see anything, but it was a super clutch spot, perfectly between the contour and marsh and coming into this one ag field, and it was just felt really good to be back in the saddle for the first time in seven months. Um, so that was, that was really awesome.

Speaker 4: 17:46

Fast forward to the evening where we went out for our first evening hunt. We went into the very back of these fields and you know, another thing too is my buddy AJ had gone down previously and he just had like 17, 18, monster, like just awesome, 120, 130, maybe even 140 class deer in these bean fields. And you know the, the consensus was well, you know, maybe one or two of them will hang around and but these, these fields are massive, I mean, and the deer could come out anywhere, you know. So you're, you're, you know, unless you get some real solid Intel. You're kind of guessing at it and and for the most part that's kind of what we were doing. Um, so I got a little bit turned around. They had so it was my buddy, aj and uh paid in who were there and they were. They kind of had some other spots.

Speaker 4: 18:45

I tried to, I tried to sit this one area on the bean field that you couldn't get in to go any deeper because it was their bedding area, that was for sure. But I couldn't even find a tree that I could hang on on the field edge, you know, and it was just crazy. Like I tried and tried, I went up like two different trees. I just couldn't get any clearance to even shoot into the field. And the craziest part about that is I wound up leaving that area and walking all the way back to another ag field where I saw that buck that I sent you the video of, and. But my buddies told me later they're like it's really a shame that you couldn't have found a tree to be in, because there was a 120, 125 inch eight that was right in front of where you were that whole evening. And like I'm like you gotta be kidding me Like this is ridiculous. So but whatever, that was fine.

Speaker 4: 19:38

Uh, fast forward to the again to the next morning. We, we got up at like 4.00 AM, got out there there at 5, got set up and I wound up going and sitting, uh, hanging on that same edge right where that eight point was, uh, the night before and um, had a doe come out. That was about it, didn't see anything else. Uh, it was still a great morning. And then we finished it off the last night, the last hunt.

Speaker 4: 20:07

Later that night I went into this backfield where we had scouted and seen really good deer in this north middle bean field. Yeah, I was so excited about it because I got in there to scout. I found an awesome setup great trails, great sign, everything and set up in this tree. And at 545, I hear the rumble of a car, of a truck coming through and I'm like we're all texting each other. My buddy goes what in the hell is a pickup truck doing in the middle of this state ground? Like I don't know, I have no idea. So we later on find out that Maryland, I guess, allows universal handicap disabled tags and you can get a key to the gate to drive back in to these fields to hunt. And so, whoever it was, they came out.

Speaker 4: 21:05

There were two guys and at 545, I had old crossbow guy walk down the field, right in the middle of the field where I was. He's going back and forth, walking back and forth and back and forth. I whistled to him several times. Either he was hard of hearing or he ignored me. Long story short, he finally winds up walking down 100 yards, like 107 yards. I range found him and the middle between the two fields. So you had your north, your middle and your sorry your right and left bean fields the north, on the north side of this, the state ground, and so he walks down the right side 100 yards, sits in I don't even know it wasn't even any cover but sits down in there. His whole complete torso, from his waist up, is exposed. He's snacking away. He's standing up every 15 minutes glassing the fields. He takes a piss at one time At one point, you know, he falls asleep.

Speaker 4: 22:13

It was, it was, it was a cacophony. I'm like this is my last night and this was like my solid chance at at having some really good action in this field. From what we had seen the night before. You know some, some sixes, some eights, um, lots of does. And you know. So the and the best part of it was I'm sitting there, I'm like why don't I just get down and move? But then I'm sitting there thinking where am I going to go, like I'm going to create just as much havoc as he did coming in here, right? And so I waited out and I think, all right, well, maybe, maybe at least I can catch something on the way out before it sees him. I still have some shots back into the woods on the approach.

Speaker 4: 22:55

And sure enough, I had a doe come in and she skirted the entire field edge and behind all these vines and I didn't see her until she was literally five yards from me and she came and she was about to head out and she saw him and she stopped and I was like, man, if I can just get this one doe, if she, if she just goes out or go somewhere else, if we can, if I could just get her clear, just get her clear, man, maybe some other deer will come out, maybe this guy will move, maybe maybe he'll fall asleep, fall over I. I don't know, there's got to be, there's got to be an upside to this somehow. And so she comes out, she sees him, she's just dead trained on him for like a good 10 minutes and finally she's had enough and she blows and she runs out and that was basically the end of the night. Um, you know, the the only upside of it was my buddy, aj, who was there. He, you know, he is a traditional bow hunter, but he also brought his wife's raven crossbow because at that point he was like, listen man, my wife's on me, I just, I just gotta get some meat in the freezer. So he went out and he sat on the field edge on the south side with the raven and he actually wound up taking a four point in velvet at 85 yards with a crossbow. So that was, I mean, in my opinion, say what you will about crossbows. But I was kind of like, well, that's pretty cool, you know, if you're gonna use a crossbow, like if you want to shoot a, shoot a buck. That far, like that. That was pretty cool. So, you know, he dressed the deer and after it was all said and done, we went and talked to the two guys in the truck and, uh, we asked them if they would give us a ride back the two miles back instead of dragging the deer all the way back there. So that kind of made the end of the night worth it.

Speaker 4: 24:43

But, uh, on, on the whole, um, without getting too long winded, you know, I, I had kind of posted something, uh, the last night of the of the hunt and and it was like, on the whole success, right, what is success to us? And people talk about what success is to them all the time. And but I, I, I thought about it more and more and I was like all right, was this trip a success for me, even without filling a tag or bringing any meat home? Was it still success? Yes, it was still a success, 100%.

Speaker 4: 25:16

Just being out there, just just having a wife who is supportive, encouraging of me going out and pursuing I mean that's, that's the whole thing, wild Pines Pursuit, just the ability to go pursue this passion, like that's a success even in and of itself. And so couple that with the fact that we did four hunts in a 72 hour period on eight hours of sleep, so which was stupid, I mean, really, if I had it to do over again, like if we go next year, I'm going down the night before, like driving in the afternoon. Get some rest, get up, because I was, I was done by the end of the first night and we got like five hours of sleep and a good meal. That was the other thing Definitely wasn't hydrating or eating enough and kind of was able to bounce back, but still, on the whole, not the again it gets you along with it.

Speaker 4: 26:15

Yeah, you got to build that muscle.

Speaker 2: 26:16

Right, there's no way to make that easier. You just got to build that muscle. No, it's, it's, it's true, and that's the other thing too, a lot of out of state hunts, especially during turkey season, and they just especially like you get to day three or four. There's nothing you can drink or eat to make that better.

Speaker 4: 26:33

No, no, oh, it's it definitely is, you're right. I mean, and for me that was the other cool part of it was like really pushing myself in that way, which I've never hunted that many times in a 48 hour period, I've never, I've never done that many hangs. So you know, that was awesome in and of itself. The other part was you guys know that we've kind of been doing, you know, this 90 days out challenge thing and they've definitely been trying to mold myself and get myself into shape and all that. I went with two guys that happened to be active duty, uh, and active duty reserve, and these guys are jacked, they're not seals, but they're not, they're Rangers. They're like they're not far off. You know what I mean. And so it's like to be able to keep up with them for that time period and to do the miles and the client. You know the hikes and everything and and just put it in like to me that was success, so I was really excited about it. I'm completely jazzed about doing another trip like this in the future. Um and um. Yeah, like I said, I the whole the whole thing was just got me revving. Man, it was, it was a great start. You know, I feel like.

Speaker 4: 27:45

I feel like, obviously, going into this weekend, you know, just like Peyton said, you have got some, got some good deer on on camera. Hopefully we can fill that tag and earn a buck and be ready to pursue whatever comes next. But, um, you know, it's nice to have that kind of get those, as you say. You know, knock the rust off before our new jersey opener starts. So I say on the whole, man, it was a great experience and I think you guys would love maryland too. It's absolutely just like delaware, it's absolutely gorgeous and it's a very, very cool area where we're at down there in southern maryland yeah, definitely, you know it's uh, it's a uh, it's a few things that like just success.

Speaker 1: 28:32

Like you said, it's way more than just just killing. I mean everything that we do and I mean this. This is a part of, you know, our, our slogan here where you know what, chase the unknown and everything from what we did. So what you did to you know, I know squatch and and, uh, frank out there, you know, yeah, they, they went out and scouted it maybe once, twice. You know they put a camera out there, but you know there's just this is a brand new piece and just so much unknown into what.

Speaker 1: 29:04

What we did, uh, start the season, that I think I mean me personally, and two hunts. I was at 29 deer, um, you know, and then added, you know, with the third hunt the other day, um, you know, I went down, I think I added like seven more deer to that sit. I mean, there's just so much land too that I just had to go with what I knew. I wanted to hunt a different, completely different area, but then I was. I have one chance right now to to kill a deer. You know, I don't know when I'm gonna be back, probably not until october, unless you know, fingers crossed, I get a doe down, opening day and just get a buck down. And I I told bianca and she was cool with it like it's like if I tag out in jersey, I'm heading back down to delaware and I'm going to try to tag out down there, um, but absolutely it's, it's, it's absolutely remarkable and I mean I had so much fun.

Speaker 1: 29:59

I thought it not only like the hunting was great, it's nice and you break off a lot of that rust and everything like, which is very much needed, you know. But man, just being down there, get to, like you know, we're constantly building Intel, whether it's in season, out of season, like you know, I knew, like Frank said. Oh, like you know, you found a lot of new areas, a lot of good bucks and everything like that the other night. But you know I get to go scout a piece that's maybe 30 minutes from my house and if I wanted to go every single day, I can go every single day and go and go scout. You know what I mean. I mean I think I've already scouted like new areas, like 10, 15, 20 times already and able to drop cameras, also where we are in delaware, just the whole state, I believe. You know pain. You can correct me if I'm wrong. You're not allowed to use trail cameras unless it's private land. Um, so you know that's yep.

Speaker 2: 31:04

No baiting on state land either.

Speaker 1: 31:06

No baiting. No, no cell cameras, which honestly I love and don't get me wrong, I don't want them to take away my cameras because I mean I love using cameras. I just sent you guys a, a video in the chat of a buck that just hit my, hit my cam today. I mean that's a? Uh, that's, that's one of the the shooters that I'm after. But you know just to kind of do that and it's just like you have no idea what's going to step out, where they're going to step out. You got these bigger fields.

Speaker 1: 31:36

You know we're hunting more land that we're not used to with ags or especially up here in north jersey. It's up close and tight with just woods and ridges and everything like that and saddles you. You know you got maybe five yards of visibility right now just how much thick, nasty stuff you're going through versus. You know out there it's just completely different and you can't even get into some of the woods because you know deer are bedded somewhere right in there. So you can't even get into some of the woods because you know deer are bedded somewhere right in there, so you can't make too much noise. That's why Peyton went, also one.

Speaker 1: 32:06

The trees weren't good enough. But also that's why you make a, a ground setup and everything like that, just because you're a little nervous to to step foot into that small patch of woods because you know there's a, there's deer bedded right in there. But, um, boys, uh, I I know, for the squash and frank, you guys can, can uh, duo this I I know it wasn't the same thing, um, for us, but it's still a. It's amazing to get out, you know, I know, frank, for for you first real shot at the saddle, um, you know, and it's just always nice getting out and kind of, you know, stretching your legs with with the hunting uh season. So what was your guys experience, uh, like in in upstate new york for your the first bear hunt of the year you want to go first?

Speaker 3: 32:54

squat, you want me to go first?

Speaker 5: 32:57

I'll go, it's no problem. Good, yeah, it started out a couple of months ago, actually back during turkey season, when Frank and I were up in that piece of property. We, we walked around quite a bit up there, got the feel for the land, saw some good ridges and stuff up there, some good topography, and we decided, you know, later on we should get some cameras up there. And, uh, we decided, you know, later on we should get some cameras up there. Uh, he put a camera, mike, uh, put a camera up there. Um, not a lot of action though. Um, unfortunately, I don't know if it has to do with the pressure of people hiking in there a lot, because there's a lot of a lot of people, a lot of foot traffic in there. Um, I mean, there's adequate deer sign, you know, know, but we walked into that place at least three times, you know, through before season started for bear, and you would think you'd kick a deer up or something. And we didn't even kick a deer up out of there, which is kind of unusual. Um, you know, I've had places that turn on later, though. I, I mean, sometimes a place is just good in a rut time, or, um, it could be the food pattern where they are right now, maybe their summer pattern. They're not up on that ridge yet. I mean it's it's classic deer country, it's it's rolling ridges and you know there's just hardwoods everywhere, there's there's outcroppings and you know, I mean it's just looks like killer land for bear and deer. And we did get pictures of bear up there. Frank, you know, had had pictures of bear one time and in neighboring, you know surrounding neighborhoods not too far from there, they're getting pictures of bears. So I mean bears move constantly.

Speaker 5: 34:41

Um, we took a shot, we went up there. We said we'll give it hell. I sat on the ground. Uh, I was about three benches down from Frank. Frank was up at the highest point and uh, he had a saddle. I, I was still waiting for mine to come in the mail, which I did get all my stuff, was still waiting for mine to come in the mail, which I did get all my stuff.

Speaker 5: 35:05

And um, you know it was, it was cool. You know it's how I hunt up in the catskills a lot and uh, you know, up through ridges and stuff like that. So I just set up that way, uh, kept the wind in my favor and we sat there. We sat there at almost about 10, 30, 11 o'clock. He said what do you want to do? I said let's beat feet, we're not seeing anything. So which was okay, though. I mean, you know, it was a beautiful morning. We were originally going to go to backtrack a little bit. We were originally going to go Saturday, but it was hot, it was humid, it was rainy, it was thunderstorms.

Speaker 3: 35:38

And I told Frank, I said I said call me, I was going to go. I'm like come on.

Speaker 5: 35:44

Yeah, yeah, no, you know we. I told him. I said I don't want to be the party pooper but man, if you're, if you're watching the weather, whenever you got a big pattern that swings down in a huge temperature difference, you guys all know it's usually the best time to go out. After whatever you're going for deer bear fish and whatever it's a huge temperature swing, I said let's just do it Sunday, it's going to be a better day. It just wasn't in the cards. But I'm not giving up really, on the place, I'll give it another shot.

Speaker 5: 36:21

I feel like you know we, we're in the right area. If, if they're gonna be there, we're definitely in the right area. I mean there's rocks flipped over up there from them looking for grubs. I mean there's, there's a lot of sign. But just like you're in there moving around, the bears are the same damn way. You know they're constantly moving. They're, they're always on their feet. They're going here, they're going there and they're looking for food and you know they travel a lot. So it's hard to hit a moving target.

Speaker 5: 36:49

Um, you know what's happened to me? I've gone in blind places. I was fortunate enough. I went into a spot totally blind. Never hunted there, uh, except for one other time and shot a bear that morning, but only because the bear was just moving through. It wasn't anything like I patterned anything out. I was just in the right place at the right time and I think that's what we were kind of hoping for on Sunday, but it just didn't happen. But hey, it's a beautiful morning, it was nice weather, I got to share time with my brother and you know it was nice. We went, got to share time with my brother, it was nice. We went back to his house. I had breakfast and stuff. His wife was kind enough to make breakfast for us and put up with our bull crap for a little while. Any cookies?

Speaker 3: 37:32

No cookies today.

Speaker 5: 37:33

Oh, man, it was a good time, it was definitely a good time. Go ahead, frankie, frankie, tell them your son.

Speaker 3: 37:43

No, yeah. So basically as soon as we got there on Sunday morning I got there before Squatch, I was waiting for him and I pull up and I see Like there was one car and there was like two separate parking lots. So there was one car there. I'm like, alright, not too bad. I pull in and on the top Parking. So there's one car there. I'm like, all right, not too bad. I pull in and on the top parking lot there, there was one truck there. I'm like all right, so that's not bad.

Speaker 3: 38:07

There's two guys in there. One guy actually had a trad bow with them and another guy had a shotgun. They were from jersey and they were like oh, I was like hey, like where are you guys going? You know, just so I don't mess you guys up like this is my first time, like it don't matter where I go. They're like, oh, okay, we're gonna go up up this, this huge ridge, and there's like two fields up there actually mike knows where it is.

Speaker 3: 38:33

We scouted it too. And, um, I was like all right. I was like so you know, we're gonna go the other way. They're like yeah, they're like hey, hey, have you ever deer hunted here before? I was like no, and the one guy goes to me, he goes, yeah, he goes, you can't. He was on opening weekend. He's like you can't even park in here. There's that many cars here. I'm like really, he's like, yeah, he goes. I guess it's because people just want to come out and shoot a doe. He goes, he was. You can't even pull in here. If you don't get here super early, you're not getting a spot to park. I'm like, wow, so um, yeah, then squatch got there. We, we came up with a game plan and you know we walked. We walked in probably about like 5, 30, right, squatch?

Speaker 3: 39:20

I want to think yeah, it was around 5 30 and uh, man, I was like and it was such a cool morning. I was like man I'm glad we didn't do this yesterday because I have my backpack with the saddle. We were I dying. I was like man, you want to talk about ruts? Man, I thought I had this in the bag, but I mean, I was just.

Speaker 1: 39:40

Someone didn't do the 90 days out challenge.

Speaker 3: 39:44

Probably not. I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. But yeah, I found this beautiful spot. I was in between where my camera was up on this ridge. I was probably I want to say maybe 70 yards from where my camera was and being, um, when we had previously scouted it, we found like, um, there's like a huge oak flat and there's like, um, I don't know if it's, I wouldn't call it swamp, but there's like a little like pond and stuff on the top of it. So I was like, all right, like this is, this is a killer spot.

Speaker 3: 40:20

But I only went in my saddle, I only went, I think, like 10 or 12 feet, because I try to go higher, but you couldn't see nothing. So I actually dropped down lower and I'm like I don't know why I want to go super high, like I got I got the gun, like I literally have a rifle, so I don't have to go that high. So I dropped down a little bit and, um, yeah, I mean it was like I said, it was beautiful spot. I I had. I mean I thought I was gonna have a good chance of seeing something there, whether it been a deer, anything. I saw buck rubs, but uh, that was pretty much about it. And, um, while I was sitting up there in my saddle I was like wow, like I kind of went for it. So this is my first year in the saddle, this is my actually first time in the saddle and I'm here with a high powered rifle. I was like I really went for it, huh.

Speaker 3: 41:13

But uh, yeah, I mean overall it was a good morning, like scott said. We got back to my house, had some breakfast and we went over what like um, as far as like we thought, and that's actually how it got brought up, we're like wow, like we scouted this a couple times and we never kicked up a deer. Yeah, so, like that kind of puzzled us a little bit because actually when we were walking out me, me and squat saw some we're like you know, actually squat saw at first he was like what's that? And it looked like a coyote at first and it was. It was somebody's dog, some lady boy, this dog comes running through. We we're like holy shit, man, that could have been bad, that would have been really bad.

Speaker 5: 42:03

I started to grab for the sling to slide the gun off my shoulder because, I thought it was a decent sized coyote and then I was like my eyes went, no, no, the tail's wagging, it's not a coyote. And I was like, yeah, okay. And then I realized how close we were coming out from grabbing the camera to the main trail and everything clicked and I was like, nope, nope yeah and I looked at frank and I was like that would have been a mess.

Speaker 5: 42:29

And he's like yeah yeah man, I said, but you know, I never even shouldered it, I was grabbing this thing. I told him to stop because you know it's, it's a whole new world when you get into somewhere where they hike and do different stuff like that. And you got to remember, you gotta you gotta triple check everything, you gotta look and you gotta look beyond and you gotta make sure of your target. But the initial movement and what I saw coming through the brush, I told him, I said stop and he goes. Well, I said stop, don't move.

Speaker 3: 43:02

And I said what is it?

Speaker 5: 43:04

He thought it was a bear and I said it's a freaking. I said oh no, it's somebody's dog. And you know, we, like I said it wasn't even a close call, but it was getting to be a close call. And uh, you know, but that's why you got to be careful, you got to triple check yourself, no matter what, where you are, when you're in there. And you know it was a it was a good point what we, what we went through.

Speaker 5: 43:29

But um, yeah, it was, it was it was. We drove out of there and like not even a half a mile down the road there's three deer like near this driveway in somebody's lawn. And I said, frankie, did you see the deer there? And he goes. Yeah, I said I told you they're down low. I just think there's some farms around there. I really, really think they're just concentrating on the farm fields and stuff right now. It's a good food source for them. I don't think they're. They're like dying for the acorns right this second over there anyway, but uh no could have it could

Speaker 1: 44:03

have you know I could have a lot to do with it. I I think they'll be in there at some point. I mean, did, did you ask? Is the hunting, pressure, archery or gun related?

Speaker 1: 44:13

opening day he said gun related yeah, that makes sense, because I I am still very interested in hunting that piece for for bow and I think they are going to be in there at at some point, and I think some point soon, especially now that they're starting to turn hard horn. Uh, you know, if those fields are hunted by other hunters, they're definitely going to be in there sooner than than later. I think what? When does the deer season open up in in new york for for bow? Uh?

Speaker 5: 44:43

october, 1st yep all right.

Speaker 1: 44:45

So I'm, I'm gonna tell you, are we? I mean I'm down to go go out october 1st, uh, and go give it a shot, um, but um, you know guys, real quick, you know we're gonna get another episode out. We're gonna do a special one for for opening day, for you know all the jersey guys squawks. You're more than welcome to to join. It's going to be all jersey guys and everything like that, since our opener is is going to be saturday. But who else is ready for it? Like deer season is like it's here already because we've been already hunting and stuff like that, but like it hasn't felt fully like deer season yet. But now that saturday is really go time, like this has all been pre-season for us, like I still put that in the pre-season, like, yeah, we're going out and hunting, but this is just has all been pre-season for us. Like I still put that in the pre-season, like, yeah, we're going out and hunting, but this is just, like you know, pre-season.

Speaker 1: 45:39

Regular season is really starting this saturday and it's like I feel it, you know every everything's ready to go. I've got a few hunts under the belt. Everyone here has gotten at least a hunt under their belts. Ethan is heading out tomorrow to colorado for some elk, so we'll be getting him when he gets back and and his updates on on the field notes and everything like that. So that's going to be. We're going to be four states by the time the opener starts on on saturday. Five states, five, five states with jersey, new york, maryland, uh, delaware and colorado.

Speaker 1: 46:17

On the the day of the, the, the season starts and then it's. It's only going to be. We're going to be in pa at some point and everything like that. So I'm excited for the season. It's already really gotten started. But you know I I'm like a little kid again and like it feels like christmas all over again. Um, guys, any last words before before we get off and you know, because we'll be on in another, we might do it tomorrow or or friday. Um, if you guys can't join on, send us, send me a quick video, anyone else who's listening, if you want to contribute. We're doing a special episode where, if you want to film yourself and you can send it over to to me and everything like that, give us a quick five to ten minute story of your favorite opening day morning or opening day hunt that you can remember whether it's from a kid, you're growing up whenever. What is your favorite memory of opening day? Um, so send it over if you want to be featured in our episode.

Speaker 4: 47:20

Any last words, guys I will say real quick um, it was funny because when payton was saying that he had issues with, uh had issues with his site after my first hunt, we did some shooting later that afternoon and I I have no idea how it happened, because I was absolutely lights out from 20 to 60 yards and been practicing a lot, obviously and getting dialed in and when I went to shoot I was a good five inches off from 20 to 40 yards when I was shooting. I have no, still have no idea what the heck happened to my site, but I had to fully macro, adjust it on the elevation in order to get it right and redial it in while I was there. I still I have no idea what happened. So, yeah, I just really glad I got that figured out before the Saturday as well.

Speaker 1: 48:16

Yeah, and that's what everyone always tells you too. Like, especially when you're traveling, stuff like that Always shoot the bow. Just just in case you know, with Peyton's bow issue, I actually was able to shoot my bow, and and things like that. It's just just an extra precaution, especially while you're, while you're traveling. Um, the truck is definitely full compared to what it would be when you're just hunting jersey or something like that. Um, I will say that. And man steve, I don't know if you had well, you didn't really eat or do much, but I ate so much fast food going, like Like I had Wendy's, I had McDonald's, I had McDonald's the other night.

Speaker 3: 48:56

Like there goes a 90 day challenge.

Speaker 4: 49:00

Here's the crazy thing. So my and my wife knows, because she's going to hear this and I didn't even talk about it but I ate more. I mean it was like Chick-fil-A and stuff like that, At least, if I mean it's, it's all fast food, right, but more fast food and broke the whole 90 day challenge. You know diet more than I had. And the craziest thing was, even though we were doing absolutely crazy miles and exhausted, when I got back I don't know if it was water retention or inflammation or whatever it was, but it was like I gained five pounds over that weekend. Makes no sense. And like three days later I'm back to the weight that I was before I went on the trip, but still I'm like this. None of that makes sense.

Speaker 1: 49:41

So it was. It was the salty food from from Chick-fil-A.

Speaker 4: 49:45

Probably.

Speaker 5: 49:46

That's what threw your bowl off. You were five pounds heavier, which made your arrow drop.

Speaker 4: 49:51

Absolutely no, you're right, squash, and that's that's what it was like. I felt like someone added 30 grains to the tip of my arrow and that's exactly what it was like. It was so weird. It's like am I shooting 150 grain again? Like what's going on?

Speaker 5: 50:03

here. Oh man, at least you got it figured out, yeah yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1: 50:08

Um, so everyone, I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. We will see you guys in three days for the opening season episode. Nothing else to say after that. You know, I hope there's a lot of deer that hit the ground. I know, squatch, you got to wait a little longer. I mean you could always come to Jersey if you really want to bow hunt.

Speaker 1: 50:34

I'll be off Saturday, sunday, monday and Tuesday. Thank you, so I'll be out. I know Frank will probably be out, I know Steve will. I know your schedule is crazy right now in the moment. I imagine Peyton will be out, but same thing, crazy schedule. But for the most part, I know I'll be out for four days and I think American Mike is off for the whole entire week. I think he took off the whole entire week, so he is going to be. I mean he, he sent me his, his schedule of all the. I mean this guy's is guiding people like left and right during during the first week of the season. So, um, you know, so he's going to be available, everything like that. So, anyone else, if you need any help, listen, give us a call, give us a text, if you need anything, you know we'll be there. You know the best that we can to help you guys and you know we'll see you guys next time.