SPEAKER_01: 0:31

We have a lot of trip over at a great kick off.

SPEAKER_05: 0:39

All right, everybody. Welcome back to Field Notes 4. We're back. We got a special guest with us. We got Mr. Kyle over there. Uh absolute killer. And I can't wait to hear his story that uh he's about to tell us. Uh, we got Squatch back, Frank's back, Connor is back. Unfortunately, Connor had a little car trouble last week and and couldn't make it. But I'll tell you, everyone started off hot with week one, and then week two kind of cooled down. Thank God Kyle killed something because like week two was kind of looking a little a little depressing for everybody. And for us personally, and for Boondocks, and then also in the in the hunting competition, I was like, damn, like week one, and like we were on this like high, and then it was just like it just dropped. And um it's been an interesting one. Uh boys, how's everyone doing? Good, good, good, man. Good, good, good.

SPEAKER_06: 1:39

Well, ready to get go ahead, Connor.

SPEAKER_07: 1:42

I was just saying ready to get back in the stand.

SPEAKER_05: 1:44

So yeah, I just I just left the woods and I'm itching to go back. I unfortunately got to go to the city tomorrow to take Bianca out for her birthday celebration thing. So I'm kind of sitting tomorrow out, but the rest of the week looks shaping up to be real freaking good, at least for us here in Jersey, and I imagine upstate New York and everything like that. But uh before we get to to Kyle and everything like that, New York is what a few days away. Squatch to let it let us know how excited you've been watching everybody else getting on action while you've just been sitting and and just waiting. You I know you got I think one bear hunt in and everything like that, but it it's way different when it's when it's go time and everyone is posting and everyone's out in the woods.

SPEAKER_01: 2:30

Yeah, I know, Mike, you're you're definitely right. Uh, you know, watching trail cameras all summer, finding bucks that I want to get after, seeing you know, some really good shooters, um, you know, day in, day out, which is awesome. I'm really happy. And you know, I did get out to do a bear hunt. It was like 85 degrees that day out in the afternoon, and it just wasn't happening. And I said, you know what, I got other things to accomplish. I gotta get some stuff together, do finish up some modern ends work and stuff. And I put the bear hunting to the side, and uh, dude, we're right around, you know, countdown has begun. I'm I'm stoked, man. I I woke up two o'clock in the morning and I'm like, yeah, let's go. And I'm like, uh, it's not opening day yet, man. Gotta calm down. And then I'm thinking of where I'm gonna put my stand, how I'm gonna go in. Am I gonna bring the e-bike? Am I gonna do this? Am I gonna do that? And then today I sent you guys the pictures. I was I was setting up my my saddle set up um in a really good area that I've had you know a lot of good pictures of some bucks in. And um, I picked the tree out and I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna get I'm gonna go down there. I took the e-bike in. If you guys haven't gotten an e-bike yet, save up your coins and and get yourself one. It's pretty badass, man. It it really saves you time, it's quiet. Um, you know, you can pack in, it's got a rack on the back and stuff. I I threw my uh my backpack on with all my gear, went in there, whoop, found a tree, and uh I was in back, jumped on the bike and beat feet out of there, and I didn't make no noise. It was nice and quiet. So I'm excited, man. I'm I'm probably not gonna sleep good tonight. Definitely tomorrow night. It's always I'm like a kid on Christmas morning, man. I'm just I'm I'm so amped to go. And you know, I I just I love the hunt, I love the relaxation, but I'm also anxious to share the kill when I do get something with everybody out there, and um, you know, gonna try to get some good footage this year. And I'm just pumped, man. But you know, enough about me. You guys know I'm a psychopath when it comes to deer hunting, you know.

SPEAKER_05: 4:49

I I can't remember if we went over this last year. I don't know if anyone else watched you, you probably know best. Why the hell does New York start in the middle of the week? Like, have you like has that something that's always been going on for New York or something like that? Like, what's the reason behind that?

SPEAKER_01: 5:07

Well, what happened was Mike bow season for as long as I can remember when I was growing up, always started October 15th. Okay, then they changed Monday openers for rifle to a Saturday, so people didn't have to take a Monday off. That was their reasoning. Uh then they came out with giving us more time for bow seasons, so they just made it okay, start October, October 1st, like a lot of other states, and they said that's it, you know. And we have an early season for Doe, and you can use anything rifle, muzzle loader, crossbow, and bow. Um, it's it was the last couple weeks back, but myself personally, I know I understand. I know you guys got to earn a buck, you know, in Jersey. I get all that. I don't like to ruin my spots where my my breeder does are because where I hunt a lot is bedding grounds and transition areas. So it I I uh and it's hot, I don't really have a cooler or anything to hang my deer in. I I could probably ask one of the local apple farmers if it was all right if I could hang a deer, but I don't like to impose on people, and I just don't like the rush to have to cut a deer up. I kind of like to let my deer hang a little bit, but I don't know why. I they just they just said October 1st is the start of deer season. But when you got a seasoned veteran like me, I've been working a bunch of years, so I got a lot of time in, I got a lot of vacation time. I max my vacation time out, I gotta use it. So uh I'm off from the first October to the 14th for this uh for this beginning spell of the bow season. And when you know the rut starts really firing up, if I haven't gotten anything by then, I'll be taking some more time off to get out there. Love it. Love it, love it, man. Excited, though, boys. I'm really excited.

SPEAKER_05: 7:04

I listen, I I don't blame you. I think like I don't know, and you know, for us jersey guys, and I guess also for Connor out in Wisconsin, like I think I don't know if we take for granted, like we get to start so goddamn early. Like, I couldn't imagine having to wait till like October 1st or something like that. Like, I'm now so accustomed, just like, all right, September hits, and you know, now with Delaware, it's like, all right, we go down to Delaware, so like we start September 1st, and then it's like, okay, then we have New Jersey starting to open like the second week of September. Like that itch and that build of just like waiting until October, and it's like, all right, like I just want to get out there, I just want to get out there for you, Squatch. Like, that's it's kind of like all right, that's kind of like it's a normal thing, but for us here, it's like, man, waiting till October would be like, I don't know, be I don't know. I I feel weird about it.

SPEAKER_07: 7:59

I'd actually, you know, they've it's always been uh usually my birthday weekend, you know, right around September 14th through the 16th or 17th every year, you know, depending on the calendar. But um I actually honestly would not be opposed in Wisconsin, you know, like Iowa, you know, doesn't open postseason until October 1st. Yeah. Um and I like the you know, Mike said earlier, you got to be out there whether it's you know 85 plus or not. Um, you know, you're not gonna get anything sitting on your ass at home. But um, you know, right now, like the the first, you know, three weeks, you know, right around October 25th is like when go time is here, you know, when there's that that first possible go going into Esther's. Um, but I usually like the first four weeks of the season, I'm only hunting the fringes. I don't go into um the timber on the farm, not a single ounce until the 25th of October. Because I think I've told you guys before, like on my buddy's farm, um, it's every single stand on that property. Um, there is, it's it's really tough to access. And, you know, I'm trying to, you know, just do my best to not educate um a couple of big shooters that are on, I mean, and God, even the does. Um, look how damn smart, you know, the mamas are. So we'll see. You know, it's kind of like what I do. Um, what I'm kind of concerned about with how damn dry it's been here in the Midwest, I'm already starting to see a ton of the farmers pulling corn beans out. Um, I'm just hoping the property um, you know, that I bow hunt on that it's one of the last. Um the guy who elases out the um his egg fields to, it's one of the last. So typically it's mid-November before they pull the corn out. But it's kind of nice because it does a natural funnel around a couple of my rug stands. So I can only hope that they let, you know, if it does stay dry, that they let that corn just get as dry as possible, you know, so they're obviously not having to spend the money on fuel to drain the corn.

SPEAKER_05: 10:15

So mostly so hopefully. Uh uh, you gotta love corn standing in in November. Like I love that.

SPEAKER_07: 10:25

Yeah, I did uh last year. I'll never forget I had um it wasn't one of the shooters, but it was just cool to your point, Mike, about standing corn during the rut. Um, I hit the can call literally like five minutes after first light, and it wasn't 90 seconds, and I could hear a buck in the corn grunting coming right to me, and then he skirted out around the edge of the corn, and you know, it wasn't one of the hit listers, but yeah, it's sweet when you can hear him in there coming, especially first first light when it's you know still pretty calm.

SPEAKER_05: 11:02

Definitely so definitely agree with that, but um now we we before we we finish off and everything get get to the rest of stuff, we gotta know Kyle, my guy, you girl. So, first of all, congratulations, all right? I know this is something that since we've been you know friends, and you know, now I think Kyle and I Snapchat almost every single day, each other. And like I I know, you know, you're you've been putting in the work, and you've always been telling me about you know, these out-of-state hunts, these out of state hunts, like you know, you're you're you're you're waiting and you're you're gonna get one done, and and it's been but how how long's it been since you've been on the out-of-state grind and finally connected on one? Ten years. But it's by choice. Wow.

SPEAKER_02: 11:55

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, yeah. So it started 10 years ago. Start going to Ohio and Illinois and Kentucky, New York, you know. But so early on, I set the bar like I'm gonna shoot a book, I'm not shooting a book, I'm not shooting off with the bush. And then I was like, all right, 150. That is what I want to shoot. I'm gonna shoot 150 out of state, not take anything less. Everybody has their goals, everybody has their own, you know. In the last 10 years, I probably passed more 130, 140, 145 in here than 99.9% of the people I know. But that was my choice. So um eating that tag, eating all the money, driving out there, driving home, feeding myself all nine yards. I ate all of that because I was so determined on that goal. Fast forward to this year. Um the honor in me kind of just like myself to the wayside and the killer needed to come out. And being four kids work, I need to capitalize on every single opportunity. So we had four or five bucks on camera. I said, you know what? Anyone these years show up, they're getting. And you know, I as much as I was like the thought was like, oh, like I could have done it six years ago, I could have done it seven years ago, but I didn't. So it was just so bittersweet to finally shoot, and the way the whole hunt played out was just I even said it without when I was messing around with my GoPro, and I like I was sitting there, I'm like, this is fucking stupid. This isn't even like, this isn't even what I would normally do. Like, dude, I'm telling you, I walk so far down to this blind, this elevated blind, I forgot it was a quilted, like thermal elevated blind in the middle of a bottom with no shade, sun beating on it all day, lobster flying everywhere. I crack the door open, it's about 110 degrees in there. I'm already dripping sweat walking in there because it was like 80 degrees. I get in there, contemplating life. I finally get one or two windows open because I don't want all my scent to go out. I'm sitting there, I put my head down, the sweat is pouring off my face onto the floor. I take my boots off, I take my pants off, and I'm sitting there in my underwear and a black t-shirt. And like, like that's how hot I was.

SPEAKER_05: 15:06

Let me let me tell you, Kyle sent me a Snapchat. I think the I think the day before, I think, yeah, the the day before you killed that deer. And like I and I was I was in the woods, so like I I don't think I had my headphones in at the point. And I like you were talking in the in the in the video, and I was like, shit, I was like, I missed something important. Like Kyle definitely said something like funny or shit. He's doing something like ridiculously stupid. So I like I went and I clicked the replay, put, popped my my headphone in, and he just all the first thing I hear is it's so fucking hot, my balls are stuck to my thigh. And then he goes, he goes, Yeah, I'm sitting in a thermal blind right now. He goes, What the hell's wrong with? I'm like, dude, what I was like, I was dying just being in in Jersey, just like no blind, no, no nothing. Like, I'm I'm in, I'm fully drenched, it was humid as shit down here in in Jersey and everything like that. I'm like, I was contemplating life, so like I was thinking, like, oh, what the fuck am I complaining about? Because Kyle is literally a madman right now in a sauna, basically, just dying, but uh and like I was trying to make light of a situation, like, yeah, we know we're back again, you know, eye opener, let me not kill a fucking deer.

SPEAKER_02: 16:24

And then, like I said, I had the GoPro on, I was talking to GoPro, and I'm like, like, look at me, I look like a jackass right now. Like, and I was just like talking aloud to myself and trying to like, I don't know, somehow motivate myself that like listen, it's gonna happen. And I sit here and I'm like, I was like, yeah, I can't even fucking see where the deer coming from. So I gotta keep the windows up because I'm sweating so bad. I don't want my set to go out. I was like, the deer just be right in front of me. I'm not gonna know what to do. I got my the boot, my boots are off, my pants are off, and like I was like, you watch tonight, something stupid, it's gonna happen tonight, just because that's what that would be my luck. Dude, sure as shit, I'm sitting there, and oh, and it's a rolling like computer chair in the blind. So every time like you turn, it squeaks, like it's so bad. So I look all the way up this drainage, and it's it's it's all golden rock behind me. It's it's the property has three big hills that go down with a drainage in between. Yeah, there's cattle, the cattle on this side. I'm like on a knoll, the bait is in front of me, and then there's a cedar thicket. Like, I don't know, it's probably like I want to say like 250 yards wide by like a hundred yards long. It's not big at all, but it is tora every year with scrapes, tora. So I'm in the middle of all of this, and I look out the window and I see something moving, and I thought it was one of the brown cows. I put my bios up and it was like, fuck. I'm like, oh shit. So I'm trying to put my pants on, and I'm sitting here, really, and I'm sitting here and I'm like, I gotta get my fucking pants on, I got my boots off, I'm sweating. Here it goes again. My ball's still stuck to my leg because it's so fucking hot in here. But I finally get dressed again, and I'm watching, I'm looking, I'm like, oh, it's it's uh one of the small eights. He circles all the way around, and then he comes in, and then I have like my camera, because I had the one window open, I had it open on a diagonal, so then I could shoot at like the V part of it, but my camera was still recording up higher, so everything was you know tight. So I'm filming him, screwing around. I'm like, I'm looking, I'm looking, and uh all of a sudden, oh wait, no, hang on. So backtrack when I first get to the farm, I go through the gate, and the gate, like I said, the gate is on top of the hill. I get to the gate, I'm walking. I just I am within 50 yards of my truck. I'm walking the property line, and there's two rows of hay bales that just been cut, and there's uh the cow, uh the cattle fence line, electric fences running right between them. I am 50 yards from my truck. I reach behind to grab my GoPro because I was gonna film myself walking in. All of a sudden, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. The fence starts shaking like crazy. I'm like, I kid you not, out of the air, this buck come jumping out because he was bedded in between the hay bales. Oh wow. Oh wow, hop to the ground, I roll over against the hay bale and I stand up in between it, and I put my biomes up and I see him running. I'm like, oh fuck, that's one of the shooters. So he he goes down, he stops, doesn't see me, doesn't look anything, then he dives off to the hill. So at that point, I'm like, yo, I gotta get to the blind. So he was going to that little cedar patch behind me, and I knew that he was gonna cut through there and then wrap around in front of me. So fast forward, I'm filming this eight, I see it though, and then uh I was thinking of that buck, and I kept on like peeking out behind me, peeking out behind me, and I look, I I thought he was gonna come down the side by side trail on the edge of the fence, and I'm like, I was back and I see two bucks in the pile, and I'm like, wait, I fucking put my buttons up. Sure enough, it was that year that I jumped up and split G2 at the top, and I'm like, no way. I turn my GoPro on, I'm still filming, and I turned the GoPro on, but I didn't press record. So I found that out after the fact, which I was pissed off about. But so I got everything set, everything's ready to go. I draw back, and my bow hits the camera out of the way. I'm like, now I'm like mid-draw, I'm like stuck, I'm like put the bow down. Luckily, the deer didn't they didn't do anything. I put the camera back on the bow. Or I put the camera back on the book, and then uh I drew back. I was fucking shaking. I didn't even listen, like I didn't pull up, I didn't upload anything yet to my computer. I literally just got home like two hours ago. Um, I want to hear in the video if you can hear my bow shaking or anything shaking, my leg shaking. So I was fucking shaking. And I don't normally get like that, but this was a long time coming, and I was just like, I'm doing it. Shoot the deer, jumps, runs, and one of the uh like creep ditches is next to me, like 25 yards, runs right to that, boom piles up. I'm like, I just smoke this deer. Oh my god. And then it dawned on me like I was still filming, or I turn around and I press uh record on the GoPro quick, and I just kept on saying, Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. And I like I was saying, Oh my god, more than I normally would because I was trying not to curse, like I was trying to like, oh my god, in my head, I'm like, fuck it, I'm trying to like maintain my composure. I couldn't call my wife, I'm freaking out, and then meet me. I was FaceTime her, and then we washed the footage together, and I'm looking at the shot, I hit dead middle, low. I'm like, okay, I don't know. That's what I first saw on the head, and I was like, the way that he reacted, it was almost like I hit him right heart liver, but like it looked back farther. So I was like, let me just chill out for a minute. Wait like 20 minutes, and I go down to get the arrow, soaked in blood. I look, or blood on the golden rod, and I'm like, Well, I don't hear anything, I'm just gonna walk around this little path of golden rods because he's gonna be right there. So I'm creeping behind it or around it, and I see his head, and his head's up. But it's like getting a little like wonky, and I'm like, all right. So I kneel down and uh he didn't see me, thank God. So I kneel down, I watch about a couple minutes, and then all of a sudden he stands up and I'm like and he walks that drainage up like 15 yards into the thicket, and it's really small, it's like 10 yards long, where it's like some brush and shrubs, and it's like maybe 10 yards wide at that. He goes into there, and at this point it's getting dark, and like I can kind of see his ass in a little bit, but like he kind of like went out of sight. So I backed out, and uh one of my one of my really good buddies, Zach, who does uh drone deer recovery, and I called Zach, and uh I'm like yo, we think you he's like bro, you fucking waited 10 years to shoot a deer, don't go back into the morning. I'm like, yeah? He's like, yeah. The amount of deer that he's tracked last year and people doing dumb shit, and he's like, You didn't you didn't just drive seven, eight hours, you didn't wait 10 years to do it, just back out, dude. Trust me, back out. So long night, we get back to the we get back to the farm uh seven o'clock the next morning. Zach was like two minutes ahead of us. He got to the farm. He found the deer within 15 seconds.

SPEAKER_04: 24:50

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02: 24:53

I've just pulled in and he's like, yo, I found your deer already. I'm like, fuck, dude.

SPEAKER_04: 24:57

Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_06: 25:00

Was he pretty close, Kyle, to where you last saw him? Was that was he pretty close to where you last saw him when you backed out?

SPEAKER_02: 25:06

Well, when I lost sight of him, he was actually going up into the next field of golden rods, and from when I last saw him to where he batted up, I think it was like eight yards. He was nice, but here's a kicker. We find this deer with the drone. One of the other shooters was standing within like 50 yards of him, like just looking up in front of the drone. I'm like, oh my god, jeez. So we walk down there, and we're like pinpointing it on the drone, like where this deer is. But when you're down in the golden rods and it's chest fucking high, and you're like, oh shit, maybe we should have kept the drone up a little bit longer until we found it. So we were walking around for like 10 minutes trying to find this deer. Finally find the deer, and I go to pick him up, and he is limber as can be. Whoa, guaranteed within two fucking hours of us being there. I would say probably less than that. Yeah, it was a freak thing. I mean, when I was gutting him, demolished the liver, demolished it. One of the blades hit the stomach, but it didn't get like any intestines or anything, and there was no like like it didn't like protrude out of the stomach or anything like that. Like it was just it was just very, very, very weird. Like, I took my time gutting this thing, and we were like trying to figure out like how the hell did this deer stay alive that long? Like, he was demolished. So I was like, man, like thank God we we backed out. Thank God I I called Zach. I mean, we would have found him almost instantly, but knowing that that deer was up all night, which was good because I mean it got down to like mid-50s at night, so meat was fine. Um it was just like I I I there's and I always said this, I'll always let deer lay just because I I I hate losing gear. I think in my lifetime I've lost probably two deer, and it wrecked me. I mean, I was so distraught over it. I hate doing it, I hate leaving, you know, I hate leaving gear overnight. Some situations you just gotta suck it the fuck up and let them die. That's what I have to do now.

SPEAKER_05: 27:53

Yeah, you hate you hate leaving deer, and I I think that anyone would agree, you hate leaving deer overnight, but you hate losing them way more and and pushing them and and not retrieving them at all. And I I think every hunter uh has experiences, and still me to this day, like after I shoot a deer, like you're just so pumped up with all this adrenaline, everything, especially a big buck. Like, you want to know right away, like oh yeah, you want to go hands on that deer, confirm everything like that. Like, you know, it's one of the toughest things is to leave a deer to back out and do the actual probably smart decision. And I wonder, just like if you look at a like take take a statistic of how many people do not wait and actually bump deer and lose them just because they just didn't sit and wait and give it that extra, even if even waiting overnight, like when it without doubt, like if you're not 100% sure, just like and you know, Kyle, you're you're I listen, I give you tons of credit because like one that's one thing that I love about filming is like you now get to go back and and look at things and and make judgment calls. And you know, we we did it with Frank's deer and everything like that um last year. But um, yeah, if you if you don't do that or you don't call somebody who you know who's experienced that in in that situation, everything like that, you're gonna just bump a lot of deer. And that sounds like a deer that if you would have just pushed, you probably you would have found him, but then also never would have probably found him.

SPEAKER_02: 29:32

So the where where I shot him and where he died, like it was all literally within 35 yards, 45 yards from the park. Wow, which is actually dead middle of this 250 acres in Ohio. If your deer crosses property line, that of the other landowner can say, No, fuck off, you're not gonna get a deer.

SPEAKER_04: 29:56

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_02: 29:57

That's how Ohio is so. I was like, you know what? On the hind side of everything, um obviously it sucks you have to make that call, but you gotta wait them out. But everything leading up to that, the way the deer moved, the sound, fucking piled up 25 yards, everything led me to believe that I smoked this deer. If I didn't have it on camera, I wouldn't have been skeptical, and I would have got right down immediately and walked up to that deer. So it it's it's a relief, obviously, that uh you know we got him, but it was just really eye-opening that shot this deer at just after seven o'clock at night, and we went and picked him 12 hours later, and he just died with a destroyed liver. Like I said, it cut the stomach a little bit, but it's not like it didn't hit intestines, it didn't hit anything else, like it was just it was just so bizarre. I I'm I'm like I shot him with a with a beast, and I was like thinking, and I'll I'll talk to Zach about it. I'm like, what if like that broadhead went in and like it went in like straight up and down, right? So let's say it went straight up and down, or like canter a little bit where it blew through the liver, but like the back of the blade sliced the stomach a little bit, you know what I mean? Because like broadhead, it isn't like spinning inside of the deer much, you know what I mean? So it's like like what maybe it it was just enough of this way or that way to you know, yeah. So it was it was absolutely bizarre. Actually, hang on, let me see if I can tell you guys because I got it.

SPEAKER_01: 32:03

I have the uh deer are just absolutely just when they have the will, when they have the will to live, they live. They they're they're incredible animals.

SPEAKER_05: 32:12

Did anyone see it was on Instagram? I should I should have what's the face but there was it was a buck with a broken leg. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 32:23

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 32:33

Oh yeah, yep. Yep. Did you hear like a thud when you hit him? Yeah, yeah. Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_03: 32:43

Yeah, there, yeah, yeah. That's definitely liver. Oh yeah. Yep, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01: 32:49

You're like right between that back diaphragm wall, it's like where the liver the liver starts right there.

SPEAKER_05: 32:58

And I'm guessing you are so you were sitting, you're sitting to the left of your camera, right? Yeah, that's good footage though, man. Yep, heck yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 33:11

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05: 33:12

But uh yeah, look without the so without the video, if I was uh I think everyone who you know, all of us here, you're thinking you smoked that deer. Like in a hundred percent, what you said it's like I thought I smoked that deer, without you going back, like honestly, at a blink first, like, all right, that deer's dead. Like that that looked that looked like a and it was still a really good shot, but it looked like so quick, so your your brain processes the way it processes things, like you would anyone would have been like, oh, that deer is and then also you're you're on the ground, like you said you're in a you're in an elevated blind, yeah. Elevated blind. Elevated blind, well, which which helps too, but you know, um it's man, that that's one of those things I would again you saw him fall and everything like that.

SPEAKER_02: 34:03

Yeah, I mean that I feel like I definitely um I like I was shaping like a fucking leaf. And where the window was there's a you know a tall bow window, but there's a support in the blind you know, post to post. So you can unscrew that and slide it down a little bit while I was having a hard time get the right side down a little bit. It was down enough. I got the left side down a little bit more. Had I liked it a little bit lower, yeah. But when I shot, I was so like straight up and kind of like I had a lot of uh a lot of pressure on my feet, like on my toes to try to make sure that I was straight and as tall as possible to make sure that I wasn't gonna nick the blind. That like played in my leg for a second, so like I was on the deer, I looked down and I looked at my arrow, and I'm like, now we're good. And I went back and then I shot quick. And then I was like, I'll split second, I was like, because it was loud in the blind. I'm like, quick. I'm like, did I fucking hit anything? Like, I don't think I hit anything, which I didn't take off, but it was just like I think what threw me off was me shaking and the fact that like I was so focused on I was getting ready for the shot, and then like I looked down, checked my elevation of you know where my hand was, where the arrow was gonna come out of the line. Like, I thought about that for a second, then I went back into it.

SPEAKER_05: 35:31

If I was just, you know, didn't worry about that, I think you know, I I I would have made a little bit better of a shot, but and that that's the prime example of what I tell everybody, and I I've caught myself doing it when when you're a hundred percent focused and not thinking of anything else, your shots are like, but the minute for quick split second decision while you're bow hunting, and you just like you you you think of something else, or you gotta check something, or I feel like a lot of that causes a lot of shots to not go where where they need to be. It's a game of inches when we bow hunt. That's why I think a lot of us is so obsessed with bow hunting because you everything has to be perfect. And if your mind is not there, or you're you're for whatever, you know, just right there, you had to to stop, think. You know, I'm playing that back in my head of like the the times like in my situations where I've had to my bad shots or and when I haven't recovered gear is been when I for a split second like have to adjust something or do something different, and I get out of that mindset and of that just natural flow, and then you get back into it, and just sometimes it's that's just how it how it works. But the most important thing is you found them, you know what I mean. That that's the most important thing there, too. And I mean, not only that, I mean you you uh like you said, you you got four kids, you got a damn whole army of of children. Um you you just got the new house. Uh Brie killed a a doe last week, right? Uh was that last week?

SPEAKER_02: 37:12

I think that or the week before.

SPEAKER_05: 37:14

Brie killed a killed a doe, something, and then you killed two, you know, spot and spot and stalk and everything like that, you know, shaping up to a hell of a year. I've I've been waiting. Listen, if anyone doesn't know who Kyle, right? Listen, listen, I I gotta when it comes to turkeys, oh god, when it comes to turkeys and it comes to killing big buck since I've known you, you've done a phenomenal job. Listen, four kids ain't easy, you know. The the boys over there, I I I don't have a kid yet, so I can't talk, but you know, Frank has one, and you know, he's always telling me that it is it's it's tough. So with four, I I give you some credit. Maybe it was the stash too that that helped you out there. Maybe I maybe all just take the beard and just go for just go for the stash. I couldn't imagine squatch without a beard since I've since I've had that long beard.

SPEAKER_01: 38:16

It ain't happening. You'll never see me without it.

SPEAKER_05: 38:21

But uh, all jokes aside, I mean, listen, it's it's a pleasure to get to, you know, see you kill one. And the minute I got that snapshot, I was like, oh fuck. I I knew already what what the hell happened. I was like, oh I I I knew it.

SPEAKER_02: 38:38

Yeah, I was um, I was just I was so distraught after it, and like I I I I got out of the blind and it was like a little platform, and I was just standing there for a second, and I was just like and like I was lost in it, like the sun was setting, and like for like a solid 30 minutes, or not 30 minutes, 30 seconds, like I literally sat there and I was just like like this is what it's about. I was chasing a number on a rack. That's all I wanted to want to fix it, but at the end of the day, like I said, I I got so lost in that not that it's a bad thing, but at this point of time in my life, I just I was like so content on you know what, just fucking break the ice, just break the ice, get that monkey off your back, you know, still a lot of season left. I mean when I came home before, I was like, so um now that I tagged out in Ohio, I was like, don't even fucking think about it. So no, no, no, no, no. No, but I want to go.

SPEAKER_05: 40:12

Yeah, you gotta get Bree get Bree a buck. I I'm pretty sure she'll say yes.

SPEAKER_02: 40:17

She will kill a buck tomorrow.

SPEAKER_07: 40:21

All right. Where in Illinois, Kyle? Are you going like the Golden Triangle, like Pike County?

SPEAKER_02: 40:28

Or no, so there's a guy, uh his name's Brandon, uh, Brandon Swain. I hung up with him uh two years ago, three years ago. Um I just been keep having kids, so I haven't been able to get back while we out there. Um it's just west of Springfield, and like kind of I wouldn't say really north. It's kind of like west of Springfield and like maybe down a little bit. I think it uh Jacksonville, Jacksonville, okay, I think that's where it's um, yeah, amazing fucking properties. I tell you what, my best day, my best hunt I think I've ever had was in Illinois. November, I forget the date, dude, but it was 30 mile an hour winds, it was like 20 degrees, and I've never seen a rot activity like that. I've ever seen in my entire life. Never. It was absolutely he showed me a picture of this 160 that was running around, and that 160 come barrel on ass down the side of the edge of the cornfield right by me with half his fucking rack broken off, and it wasn't like a few days prior. And I'm like, what broke that? So I was I was fighting the cold, I was against a tree with every ounce of clothing I have, and I'm like holding on to the tree, not trying to get blown out. But I there was just it was absolute mayhem, and I didn't bring my camera out that morning because it was so cold. I'm like, I'm not gonna sit here and film this, but sure shit. I wish I freaking did. Because it was like some shit that you see in Iowa, like, dude, it was unbelievable. And to this day, that was probably my favorite hunt I've ever been on. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_05: 42:18

So when we all go on to Iowa, when we go on to Illinois, let's put the trip right now. I'll go.

SPEAKER_04: 42:26

I know you will.

SPEAKER_02: 42:28

I got a couple buddies that run a lot in Illinois. They live in Illinois on a lot of state lane. They do really well. Really, really well.

SPEAKER_05: 42:36

It is a place I want to get to eventually. Next year we're going to Wisconsin. I've already gotten that and decided. We're going to Wisconsin next year. Um, I got I think two more years for Iowa. Um and then yeah, I want to get Ohio. I keep putting I don't know why I keep putting Ohio off. Like out of all, that's probably the the next one I really should be going to because Ohio is not really that far from us. Obviously, Kyle freaking drives there constantly. So you drove what you when'd you leave?

SPEAKER_02: 43:10

So went to work Friday. Left work like 5 30, 6 o'clock. Got home. Well, Thursday night I packed, believe or not, and I never do that. I packed Thursday. Had everything in the garage ready to go. Friday, uh worked, got home about 7, 7:30. Um hung out the kids for a little bit, put them to bed. I probably left my house about 10. I'd say around 10 o'clock at lunch. And then uh I drove all the way to the farm. I got there at 5 o'clock, 5.05. I pulled in. Um sat in my truck for a little bit, and then uh I wanted a glass at the bottom uh first thing in the morning. Like all the bucks were there when I was sitting in my truck. I mean it's I made all the way to dark. But I was watching what box were there, and right before it started getting light is when they moved off the camera. So I wanted to see where they were going. So I stood up on uh my uh jack on the back of the truck, and uh I was just glossing for like two and a half hours in the morning. And I really wanted to see and understand like, are they going up this cut, are they going up this cut, are they staying low, or are they going in the woods? I really wanted to see because I wanted a second option to where like if I sat in the blind Saturday night, like if it didn't work out or the wind, whatever, like I wanted to be able to say, okay, I'm gonna take a saddle and I'm gonna go over here. And it's very hard to hang a stand on that property because there's not a lot of thick or big trees. There are some, but just the way the property is, it's not ideal. So I wanted to have a backup plan if things didn't work out the first day. Um but I saw a couple years, but like I said, that golden rod is so tall, dude. You have year walking 25 yards next year, you would have no idea. That's how tall that shit is, you know.

SPEAKER_05: 45:19

Yeah. I believe it. And that's how down Delaware, that's how the beans were. The beans were so high this year that you couldn't see anything in them. They got so much rain earlier in the in the summer and everything like that. That that stuff was all like most of it was all up to like try our chest and everything like that. Um, when we're down there. But uh yeah, it was it was incredible. I don't I don't think I've ever seen beans that that high ever um in my life, but um yeah, no, phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. So now what so Bree Bree's heading out tomorrow? Yeah. Oh boy, she had it out in the morning or evening hunt?

SPEAKER_04: 46:03

Uh evening hunt.

SPEAKER_05: 46:05

Evening hunt? Yeah, I can't wait. Can't wait to see that Snapchat.

SPEAKER_02: 46:11

It's so funny because like I'm logged in like right now to all of our Ohio cameras, and the one walk that my buddy was hunting uh the last two days, he's going hunting two days this past weekend. And he the deer didn't come in, and I'm like, he didn't come in the first night, and he was every day for 12 days straight. And opening that he didn't come in. I'm like, yo, fucking watch you walk in. I'm telling you, he watched you walk in. You think so, you think so? I'm like, I fucking know so. I do don't go 12 fucking days, 6 30 on the dot, he's coming in to eat for 12 days straight, and you walk in there, he doesn't come in. I'm like, he's watching it, and uh sure as shit, he was fucking in there tonight at 6 30.

SPEAKER_05: 46:54

And yeah, isn't that how that's that's how that works? Yep, wow. Oh but well boys, we we'll we'll go a few more. Anyone we got squatch heading out on Wednesday. Frank, how's it going for you? You we haven't been able to talk to you. You got your got your dough out the way and everything like that. How's how's the season shaping for you?

SPEAKER_03: 47:21

Yeah, finally got my dough out of the way. Um it's been slow for me, man. You know, over the summer it was I kind of noticed it was not how it normally is. So I was like, all right, well, you know, still plenty of time, there's lots of food, and uh but believe it or not, man, it's just been I haven't had the same quality beer, or even as many beer as I did last year on camera. And they just they've been really slow, man. Like I could have gone out tonight, and I didn't I didn't even bother going because there's just every time I go out, I see like the same, usually like around the same group, you know, a few a few smaller bucks, and um there's like a group of like six or seven does, and that's it. I seen probably this year, I've probably seen about two shooters. One was consistent until probably about I would say three and a half weeks ago, and I got one picture of them since then, and that was like at 10 o'clock at night, and that's it. Um not sure what's really going on. I mean, I've I've talked to some of the other some of the other neighbors, they're they're kind of saying the same thing. Um even like even not only with air, even goes to like the bears too. I had a shit ton of bears last year, and even this year, like I had a shit ton come, you know, all summer long, and then all now, nothing. Like the woods just completely died out, and I've been you know moving around, try you know, I got I think um I think I'm running six mole trees in there, bouncing around, just trying to get on them, trying to find out what the hell's there, and they're just not there. Like, I don't know what it is or what changed. Um but I'll I'll figure it out. But um to your state land. What was that?

SPEAKER_05: 49:36

You thinking about going to your state? Is it state land?

SPEAKER_03: 49:40

Uh federal land, yeah. I believe it or not. Like, um I was I'm literally considering doing it for now and kind of just kind of sitting back and watching, and you know, I'll still put bait out, you know, and stuff and just kind of watch it from there, but I just don't know what the hell happened. I'll be honest with you.

SPEAKER_05: 50:03

I'll tell you, I kind of have the same same thing going on um compared to last year. I think I've only had like two or three shooters this year compared to last year. That was like felt like almost every damn buck I saw was a shooter. Yeah, yep, literally. Um, but a big part for me, I think I know one, is last year was almost all corn with uh maybe one or two bean fields put in. This year it's all all beans, one cornfield. Okay, and the private properties around are all corn, and I just think they're all on the the other properties. I think they're they're staying in the in those cornfields and everything like that. Yeah, yeah. I mean they they don't have to move far to get the food, and they got the cover, they don't have to at all, and honestly, some of the spots is some of the spots are they don't really even have to to cross into to the beans, or they can just wait till till night or anything like that to to cross over. I've I've gotten a few glimpses here and there. So my thought of last year, it was early season is when you needed to hunt those big bucks. By the time the rut came, 90% of them gone and disappeared. Now, my hope is this year, especially once these privates cut the corn, that they'll move in more during the rut. I mean, there's still tons of does. Um, so really looking forward to that. But I'm also gonna be spending a bunch of time, I think, also up in um my West Jersey spot, one of my um my zone nine spot. Um, I got a really good shooter up there that it has a split row and also it looks like a kicker too. So I have deployed now two or three cameras, and I'm trying to find exactly kind of where he's going. Um I got a buddy who's a who's uh awarded and everything like that, and he lets me park at his his house and walk in so I don't have to trek like the mile to two miles, and if I wanted to to park where I'm supposed to park and everything like that, so it's easy access. Um I've kind of let it, I'm not rushing because I'm really the only one on this ridge. Um, I'm probably really uh I think I'm gonna hit it probably this week because the mornings look like it's gonna, I think because they're gonna be in the high 40s or or low 50s for for us and everything like that. So I'm probably gonna hit it there. A lot of acorns are are flying, are are dropping. Anyone who knows, you know, our West Jersey is acorn flats out the ass, and it's uh it's difficult when all of them are dropping at the at the same time, which always seems to be the case as they're always dropping at the same time.

SPEAKER_02: 53:09

Um I thought I had a wear uh a hard opening day, and I was like stalking through the woods. I kept on getting a hit in the head on the shit so early.

SPEAKER_05: 53:19

Dude, it was crazy. Yeah, same. Um it wasn't acorns, it was like this bigger, I think it was uh I can't remember what it was, but it's hard as shit.

SPEAKER_01: 53:29

Big and green.

SPEAKER_05: 53:33

Oh, yeah, those things are fucking hurt. And every time I would hear it coming down, I would cover up like this. I didn't want to get like that outer.

SPEAKER_07: 53:45

I was I was talking to Quentin this morning because we're going out to Jason's in Ohio in a couple weeks. And uh that's the exact thing he said to me. You know, here in Wisconsin, we're pretty much, you know, the the white oak, they love that over the red oak. Yeah, um, they'll eat those later, but the the white oak typically fall first around here. But he told me, he's like, dude, he's like, I'm not bullshitting you. He's like, you literally need to bring a hard hat with you with how those acorns are falling in Ohio.

SPEAKER_04: 54:14

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 54:15

It's I don't know for for Kyle and and Frank here, like I like we have, I mean, I've found a bunch of whites, but there's just it seems like so many more reds, yeah. At least maybe in my area. Um, like you'll I'll find whites like here and there, but it's like the reds dominate at least the area that I'm in, which is good. And that ridge is mostly, I'd say majority of it is reds, and then one or two other um different types of oaks, which yet again, I don't want to pressure it because that is gonna be such a I think a hot spot uh later in in the year when the whites, when the whites are all gone and everything like that, and they're gonna be eating those reds, especially on the early forecast. Looks like it is going to be hopefully a cold, snowy winter. Yeah, finally. So that is going to hopefully play a huge factor. Um, so I'm I'm looking forward to that. You know, that late October, I've already found some rubs, already found some scrapes, and then you know, for all you guys here too, this this is something I was talking to one of our guys, Zach, uh, earlier, and I've noticed like in these droughts, and I'm not saying that we're we're really in a drought, but you know, it hasn't rained too too much. We had some rain the other day, but last year I didn't have nearly as many deer scraping because it was so dry and the ground wasn't there was no moisture in the ground. Versus I'm hoping this year we we get a little more rain, um here and there and everything like that, so you can get those more scrapes. I was going off all way more rubs last year than I would normally go just because of how damn dry it is. And you know, for Connor, for for you in the mid, I know you get like the Midwest is really getting hit with a drought and everything like that. Um, you know, something that you're you're talking about earlier, and I wonder if that's something that you've seen too. Like I noticed I noticed that last year, there just wasn't as many scrapes, and deer weren't really scraping as much just because of the drought. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 56:32

Um I'd say it was a little bullf last year. I mean, we had, I don't know, I don't want to say I would less rubs than than normal, but uh when I was retrieving my buck last year, um we had a couple, but I swear to God, I mean, I one of my posts today, I poked my fist in front of it, and I mean this thing was huge and absolutely just thrashed. Um, but this year, like I the the video I posted today of that my uh number one, and he's got all the junk you know on his G2s and whatnot, he was doing some scrapes and starting to hit it pretty hard. Um but I don't know. I I last year, this year, I think on my cameras, I think I'm seeing the activity at this, you know, uh mock scrapes is definitely greater than it was last year at this time. Yeah, they were they were rough last year.

SPEAKER_05: 57:32

Last year I had a struggle with with mock scrapes. Um I think it probably is just so damn dry that like you know, they it you need a little bit of moisture to get that scent, like, you know, my belief and you know the the stuff that I've seen is you need at least a little bit of of that moisture into the ground for that for that scent and and everything like that. Um, but it hopefully this year it's better.

SPEAKER_07: 58:01

Yeah, we're actually, as I was saying, with how dry it's been and the corn, and like I said, a lot of the farmers starting to pull clean the fields out. My buddy and I were talking about trying to, you know, because usually on the trail cams, we'll see obviously when the combine gets there, but we were thinking this year asking them in this uh kind of where a funnel is on the west side of the farm, we can pay the farmer three, four hundred bucks if he'll leave a few patches of corn in. Because man, once that once that comes down, um, because to the north of my buddy's farm, uh, there's 3,000 acres and it's all public. Um, and to your point earlier, Mike, like once, you know, once that food is gone, and if you don't get on the bucks early or have them patterned, that farm, it's like they're gone. And so it's like you're you're going on stands, you know, playing the wind for the right set. But uh that's what happens every year there. And I think I told you before on one of the last podcasts, um, it's weird how this farmer does it. He doesn't chisel plow the field. Um, they switch every year. So it's corn this year and beans next year. And you know, I don't know how it is out, you know, out east, but the way they are in the Midwest here, the second the beans have any yellowing, they're they don't touch that shit until you know late season. Once you know the corn's gone, they've picked the fields. And the way this combine, I mean, he literally chops the whole thing. Normally you'll see a lot of the cornfields when they go through, there's still tons of silage, you know, a lot of corn left over that you know came out of the combine. It's not like this on this property. So it's like I'm just praying to God that it holds true, that they don't still don't pick it till late. Because if the food's not there, I'm in trouble.

SPEAKER_05: 59:57

Or I I would agree so far. For for us here in East and on the East Coast, like you know, the last two years I've been hunting a lot of beans and fields, just you know, one of the new areas that that I've been in going to Delaware. Um so the dough's like so today I was I was hunting the just because I've noticed like I haven't really focused on on a buck yet. I'm still trying trying to find like a really good one so I could start deploying like a lot of my like I I'll start to move them like crazy and everything like that till I you know I can find like a really good buck and then pattern them. But you know, my mission is to get at least two to three does, maybe even four, before the middle of October down. Like that that's my goal, right? So I've been on does, which is crazy to say, like, people are like, oh, like how have you not killed does? Like, I've I've been hunting them in bean fields, so you know, every single day I'm I've been on boat on does, but you know, there you know, I had it, I had a couple that were like 40, 60 yards away, and 40 is like, all right, I can do, but just wasn't, I just had no shooting length, right? So it's just that thing. But tonight I was basically set the at edge of you know the woods, beans to my right, all woods to to my left, and usually they come out the woods into the beans. The bucks are gone, like they are not hitting the beans. I finally had a shooter on on beans last night, and I think he was really just cruising. I don't think he was that's not where he is. Um, but the dough, if you're looking for meat and everything like that, they use that a lot. And today I noticed, like, all right, like I know where these does come from. I got in extra early because they usually go out into the to the beans around like four o'clock. So I got in at three setup. To my knowledge, they were in the middle of the beans, bedded the whole entire time. Like they stayed in the beans, and they're the beans are high, yet again. We got a lot of it, wasn't as it's not as high as Delaware, but with the summer, it's really good for cover. And so they've been actually bedded down, and they were eating uh beans and everything like that tonight, and everything like that, and it's it's turned. Like, I was even thinking, like, damn, like, is it even worth hunting? But I want to continue to do it because now I'm slowly gonna get to, you know, but I'm looking for it for me, and I want to shoot my I want to shoot three to four does this year. That's a big goal of mine. Um, and I don't want to do it really over corn. So like shooting one out the beans, you know, of getting a new spot every single day and going to a new. And listen, I've I don't think I've been, I think three hunts so far this year, I've actually used three of my sticks. Like you guys, you know, and in the group chat, like almost almost all my hunts have only been maybe with one stick or even no stick up where I just put the you know the the platform and I just boom and that's how high am. Um and it's been a lot of fun, and it's a huge, it's been a huge challenge. But those beans for does, they're still utilizing it, at least what what I've seen. The bucks, not at all. I have yet to see a buck um in those beans, and they've moved and kind of like you were saying, like I don't want to push yet into those woods. Um, I still think it's a little too early. Um, if one's up and he comes through cruising, um, and I also there's a huge part of me, and I was talking to yet again Zach today. Um I kind of want to keep my buck tag for black bear season. Um, you know, it's a lot of fun, you know, chasing bears, but also like if we decide to hunt a scrape in in the morning or something like that, bears and something that I've noticed, bears do check scrapes, and they're always cruising through scrapes and everything like that. So it kind of gives us that option of during bear week, we could shoot anything, you know. We could shoot a bear, we could shoot a doe, and we could shoot a buck. And yes, if a if a buck or a hitless, you know, one of my shooters pops out or uh whatever, up until then, am I gonna shoot it a hundred percent? And I'm gonna be happy as shit about it. But there is a part of me that also kind of wants to keep my buck tag for bear season and just have a like because we're gonna be at camp and everything like that, and it's a no-holds bar where we just kind of want to just like shoot everything, like bear, doe, buck, like we would like to take it all, and it was really fun last year, and that's kind of like my I I don't like I like being tagged out already for for certain reasons, but also like I don't know. I I just I just love chasing deer in October, and when you're tagged out in Jersey, and I'm you know, Kyle and Frank for for us, it's like when you tag out that early, you don't get to chase bucks through the whole entire basic October. And for us, permit season is not till November 1st this year. Um, and you know, people are probably like, why the hell are you complaining? It's like I'm not complaining. I just I'll take a buck if he if he pops up. Like I would have taken a buck the f opening day if if we were allowed to, you know, right? That first morning, don't get me wrong, but chasing deer in October is just like, I don't know. I just I just love it. I'm I'm obsessed with chasing deer in in October, and tagging out is great, but you miss October too, and you know, yeah, I I don't know, I find it a lot of fun. Like that's it's the fall time.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:56

Yeah, if I if I could add something real quick, Mike, you know, I'm I'm hearing a couple of you guys talking about your homebody deer you've been watching, and then all of a sudden now it's starting to mellow out, you're not seeing them. Let me explain a couple of things, and this is my take on it, and what I've noticed over the years, especially where I hunt with a high food source of orchards, bedding areas, and stuff like that. So, what happens is right now we got a moon that's just starting to come up and rise in the evening, okay? That's causing deer to go into a feeding pattern about mid-afternoon through your 4:30, 5 o'clock times. There's they're gonna be out in the fields feeding, they're gonna be feeding on stuff. Also, now the days are getting shorter, your daylight is shorter, it's triggering uh the hormones in the bucks to start gearing up into their pre-rup mode. Okay, so what takes place is natural selection. God doesn't let uh animals inbreed, He puts something into their brain that tells them you need to move on away from your flock and go find fresh doughs that are not of you and prepare. So why your cameras are slowing down and why you're not seeing your homebody buck is because he's trying to start pleging, he's looking around, he's building scraps, he's setting up his territory to breed. He knows it's on the it's on the horizon, it's coming. So, yes, he's gonna satellite off of where he normally is to breed different those that are not in his family group, but certain days you gotta remember he's gonna come back to what he knows, he may come back to the food, so don't lose hope. And I'm starting to see it on my cameras. Uh you know, I've got a buck coming through, or another buck coming through, and then two or three days goes by, I don't see him, and then he shows up again. So, what it's telling me is he's trying to naturally select a different group of doe family that he may have been following all summer. That's his kin. He might be and he can't breed those dough. He knows that. And these shorter days are triggering the hormones, and you're getting a change in the pattern now from your summertime patterns to your fall winter pattern, and that's why you're starting to notice. Gee, I'm not seeing that buck every day, or gee, I don't know where he went. Shift some stuff around, play some different stuff up, and go to what you know as far as dough bedding areas. When that when that time starts happening, don't worry about food plots, don't worry about this and that. Those dough bedding areas, and if you can get on a dough, and if you follow up, like you know, uh uh Brandon Barlow, who he talks a lot about watching your dough times every year, time, time again. Those does are gonna come into their estrus in October. Some does are gonna come to their estrus in November. These older bucks, your five and a half-year-old bucks that we're looking for, they noticed by the book, they didn't get that old for nothing. So when you see a deer start to disappear, it's a mature buck. There's a reason you may have to shift, you may have to move a little bit. He's trying to get away from his family herd, he's trying to figure out who he's gonna naturally select to breed first and what dough is gonna come in. And doe, just like women, they spot or they pre whatever does do that, and a buck can find that a buck will know he can smell that on the ground, and he'll take those endorphins, and he knows that dough went that way, so he's gonna follow and he's gonna keep tracking her, knowing that she went in and she's starting to come in their estra cycle. And that buck being a dominant buck, if he's big enough, he can defend that area, he'll get on that dough. And if you're lucky you're in the right place at the right time, it's good. And don't get discouraged. Just because you were watching a certain buck, that's might be a great buck. Last year, what happened to me was I had three select eight-pointers as I was after. Okay, all of a sudden I went to Ohio and a 10-pointer moved in with a drop time. I never saw that buck in my life. I never saw him, I don't know where the hell he came from. But why? Because he's trying to do the natural selection thing, not breed his own flock to come into another deer's territory and breed a doe that's not of his blood. So it can work for you too. It may upset you because you're not seeing the ones you were seeing, but keep in the back of your mind, keep your setups good, stay close to betting. And a new buck that's looking for the same thing, the one that left on you. He's looking, you may cut you may get him. It's it's just a little thing.

SPEAKER_05: 1:10:44

I agree with that. I've I've heard that a few times, and I I definitely do believe it. Um, you know, that's something that I've taken into consideration over the last couple of years, and you know, that's and that's a part of another reason why, many reasons. Uh, you know, and I I hate to bring this up again, but it's another reason why I hate the the whole earn a buck thing, you know, because you, you know, you are on those bucks early and before they break off, especially like if they're still in velvet and everything like that, like they're still with you know, basically their their family and everything like that, you know what I mean? And you have them pattern. Um, but it it's that's a that's the other exciting thing that like I love so much and why I also like yet again. I I'll take whatever I can get, but also getting not filling my buck tag yet. It's like I'm waiting, like I can't wait to see. Like, you know, that buck that uh that I saw the other day. Um, I was on my trap. That's a that's a new buck that I've never seen before, and I think I know exactly where he came from. Um, unfortunately, he came from private. Um, you know, but I do believe that he will be back in that area because that's not his core area. And the those does over there, those are breeding does that he would he would go for. Um, you know, and then also like another thing, you know, I found one of one of um, I don't think I I don't know. I I got his I got his head, so he's he's a nice buck. I don't know if he would have been certainly a a shooter, um but I did find one of my bucks dead um earlier in the week and everything like that. Um I don't I don't think so. I did not see like he was consistently on between two cameras, and he never looked, and usually like they start to look sick because they you know, and stuff like that. He never looked like that. I truly believe, and also part of it's because I have yet to see other deer dead, and I've followed the river as far as I can go. Um that I do think somebody shot him and just couldn't couldn't find him. Um and that's what I I hope to believe. You know what I mean? Obviously, like until I find evidence of more deer, which thank God so far, knock on wood, I have not, um, because that is a that is a little worry of of mine, of course, all of us here, EHD, CWD, all these it's it's a worry. It's in every outdoorsman's you know head. Um but I I do think that um that he was shot probably opening day or opening weekend, not recovered. I think I have an idea of who shot him. Um not many people hunt where where I hunt, but I I do have a he was consistent daylighting constantly. And man, he was going to be a stud. And I think he was a he was a good buck this year. And you know, if I would have gotten the shakes when he showed up, I probably would have shot him. Like I I do have my hands on on him. Um, like I do have his his head and everything like that. I ended up taking it um after later in the week when everything did its job, nature did it did its course. Um they still have to call the the DNR, like I mean honestly, probably, but like not like I I did not. Um it's and I and I was thinking that too. I was like, oh, you know, because I I grabbed and I was holding, I was like, well, what if I run into a what's face and he's like, hey, like, you know what I mean? How can I really prove that this wasn't a deer that I that I shot? But you know, I would apply make it like listen, here's all my video evidence that I did not shoot this deer, like, you know, this isn't. Um, but I'm actually gonna give it to our guy, Zach. Zach just got home from taxidermy school. Um, he went for the weekend in upstate New York and everything like that. Um, so I'm gonna let him do a year amount on it. Um clean it just just for him to get um some experience and just have him do it. So that's kind of a big reason why I grabbed it and everything like that. So he can he can work on it. Um, but it it's I hate finding deer. Like I really do, whether it's a dough, button buck, like it could be anything. I I do hate finding deer, but it is also the natural it it's there's nothing that we can do about it. Um, beautiful buck, and something that you know, before I don't want to get this too long, but um, you know, what I noticed his his antlers were dark, and you know, I remember when Squash was telling me last year, well, if they're very white, they're betting. You kind of can figure out where they're betting. No, they're gonna be betting where somewhere where they're getting a lot of sunlight. Well, yeah, for for the first time, this deer that I've he was not, he was very dark, kind of that chocolatey antlers. So he was betting somewhere probably in the in the thick and everything like that. And I was like, wow, like you know, that's something that Squatch told me last year, and now that's something that stuck stuck with me. Where now that I know, like when I'm looking at these deer, that's one of the other things that I'm looking at is are does it have a light rack or does it have a dark rack? Yeah, that's all you know, and that's something that for everyone who's listening, that could help you break down of you can kind of cross off where these deer are kind of betting, you know, if by just looking at the color of of the rack and everything like that. So um exciting things, boys. Where yeah, September's over, October is here. It's it's going by too fast. I I see um I see Frank's got a Steelers shirt on.

SPEAKER_03: 1:17:13

Yes, sir. Finally winning some games this year.

SPEAKER_07: 1:17:19

Holy cow, that that touchdown Metcalf had yesterday, man. He turned the burners on. Holy shit.

SPEAKER_03: 1:17:24

Yeah, he did. Yep. Yep. He's a he's a big man. Yeah, absolutely. Man, yeah, he's jacked.

SPEAKER_05: 1:17:34

I pick him up usually every year for for my fantasy league. Unfortunately, I couldn't get him this year, but um, Connor, what football fan are you?

SPEAKER_07: 1:17:42

Hey, I stick to my shitty team since I was born and raised in Illinois. So my my Bears actually hung on yesterday. The first half, I don't know if you guys saw any of that. It was the most I mean, it was so Chicago Bears. Um, but yeah, the uh second half squeaked out uh touchdown to go up in the Raiders, and then their def I mean their defense was insane yesterday. They had three intercept three picks in the first half.

SPEAKER_05: 1:18:13

Um they should just let that they should just let I mean I love Geno Smith. Like I'm a fan of his, but they should have just let uh what is that Jeffrey or whatever his name, they should have just let him run the ball, which which they did. I think he got three touchdowns, and they should have just kept on just feeding him the ball a hundred times.

SPEAKER_07: 1:18:31

Let him let him just go. Yeah, well, and then Mason Crossy, I mean, he was just absolutely out of his mind yesterday.

SPEAKER_05: 1:18:39

But yeah, like I'm not gonna lie, hey, I'm not gonna lie, you get a little more tattoos. You kind of look you guys kind of look alike a little bit.

SPEAKER_07: 1:18:49

I'm working on it. You guys know uh uh DK's dad, his old man played uh his entire career for the Bears. He was a technical. No, I didn't know that. Terrence McKenna. Yeah. Well, that's that's something he wasn't that good.

SPEAKER_06: 1:19:11

That's something only a Bears fan would know.

SPEAKER_07: 1:19:13

Yeah. True, very true, very true. Yeah, I was hoping uh somehow the Dallas was gonna pull that out against the Pack last night, but yeah. Parson Parsons on that last play. Like, holy cow.

SPEAKER_05: 1:19:27

Yeah, I could talk about listen, it's football time, it's football, hockey, and hunting season. Like, that's the only thing I would be talking about for the next probably six to nine months. Is is that's it. Squatch, you you a big foot, you a big sports guy. I feel like you're just a like a like when you when I think about squatch, I just think about just like an outdoorsman. So, like, I don't know if you're like a sports guy or anything like that. Like, I just picture you as our like our go-to outdoorsman, rugged, got the beard.

SPEAKER_01: 1:19:55

Um, you know, any questions that we have like I actually made a living logging, yes. So I you are correct on that. There we there we go. Um I I played football in school, of course. I'm built like a brick shit house. Um, I was a squad center and nose guard tackle. I I I had a good good upbringing with with football, but I I don't watch it. My uncles are all big into it, and you know, growing up is like, really, guys, you know, we're here for Christmas, and you guys got a damn football game on it. You know, how about you talk to each other for five minutes? But I I I'll watch like the Super Bowl. I'll I'm not a big sports guy, man. I the big the closest thing I got to, I was in a NASCAR for a bunch of years. Then Dale Earnhardt got killed, so I went for Dale Jr. And then Dale Jr. couldn't drive like his dad, and I I just stopped. I I I'm I got more time into just the outdoors. I I I hunt, I fish, you know, I'm on Predators all winter. So no, I'm not really a big sports guy. I don't I don't really get into it. If if I'm hanging out with you guys, drinking a beer and having some food, and you guys got a game on, yeah, I'll I'll watch it. But no, you you're you're on the right track. Um I'm the outdoorsy guy, just you know, it's always been the what I've done, you know. It's it's it's what I love.

SPEAKER_05: 1:21:27

No, like I I listen, I love I love hockey, like it's number one to me. Hunting is right right there with with with hockey, and then like football's just below there. If I was younger and nobody introduced me or somebody inter like my family grew up in the outdoors, but like if I started hunting at a young age, and yet again, who knows? Like, you you just never know. I don't think I would have been the hockey player that I was growing up if hunting was like if that's what I I had to share hockey and and hunting, you know. I yet again, it's my number one sport. I think it's the one of the it's the best sport. Um, I I love it right now. I'm watching the TV short TV show. If anyone knows, it's called Shortsy. Um my god, it's fuck you, Shortsy. It's a bunch of beauties from Canada. Yeah, I I love it, right? That yeah, it gets me fired up, but there is nothing like hunting. I and we talk about it a lot, and when it comes to sports, I don't think there's anything, I don't care what level of sports you play, whatever you win, and I imagine, yes, winning the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup, it's it's amazing. Don't get me wrong, man. Making millions and millions of dollars is phenomenal, of course, right? Yeah, but there is nothing like a big buck, a big bear, yeah, a moose carrot, like even a doe, a doe gets me fired up. The doe I killed this year, I you would have thought I killed the 150 or 160, by the way. The way I was reacting, like, yep, you know, being 10-15 yards eye to eye with the black bear, or like you listen, I don't care who you are, you could be, you know, the baddest person in sports. There is nothing like being in the outdoors, and I I will I will happily say that any day of of the week. I just I don't know, like I I was out today and I got a little frustrated because I I want to kill a like I want more meat, I want to shoot more, like that's a goal. Yep, and things didn't work out. I saw deer, they didn't come out like exactly where I thought they were gonna be, but then I look up and it was cloud, it was cloudy the whole entire day, and then it cleared up, and you just see this cotton candy, yep, pinkish orange sunset, and it was one of the most beautiful views, I think. Honestly, and I'm like, that is why I don't care. I was frustrated before, but then I saw that, and I was like, that right there is worth it all. Just sitting here since three o'clock, that was worth it. Yep. How many people get to see that? You look at New Jersey, less than one percent. You know, I don't know what the hunting numbers are in New Jersey or in Wisconsin and New York, uh, but in New Jersey it's less than one percent. So less than one percent of people get to like, oh yeah, like I'm driving home. I get to see that. No, it's way different when you're in the woods and you're and you're in uh you know the outdoors and you're sitting in a in a stand or a blind and you just look up and you just see the horizon, and you know, there's deer out in the field, or you know, there's geese or ducks flying, and it's like yeah, this is this is a whole different this is a whole different thing.

SPEAKER_01: 1:25:12

Yeah, you know, I look at it as a time to reflect, a time to slow down, a time to just breathe. And if a great you know, warrior buck comes in and he's gives you a good shot. I mean, that's just the icing on the cake. But you know, guys, you know, I say this all the time the older you get, you don't know how much time you got, you don't know how much more you can climb these trees and how much more you can do it. And I'm telling you, I feel it a lot more every year. I feel a little bit more, a little bit more. I'm still a bull, I can manage, but it's not as easy. I mean, you know, you you could go into the wood store three stands up, be back home, and go split firewood till dark or whatever. Now I'm lucky if I get the stand up, you know, and I'm like, yeah, you know, I'm just saying, but you you gotta pace yourself, and you'll you'll see as you the older you get. I go like a crazy all year. You know, I did a big job this summer. It took me you know a month really to complete. Uh and the only thing that was on my mind was I can't wait to be done, it's gonna be fall soon, uh, and I can get in the woods and just uh just be me and just detune and take in all the sights and just feel the different temperatures, and you know how it is, right? You get it in your stand at like two in the afternoon, and the sun's just hitting on you, making you nice and warm, and there's a slight breeze blowing, and you just kind of like you're not sleeping, but you're kind of like just dozing and you're looking around, and then you hear something. That I mean, I need that, man. I need that. I need I I gotta have it. It's one of those things, and you know, until you actually experience it, if you're not a hunter, you wouldn't get it. But uh I need to I need that regrouping, and also it's all also about the camaraderie. When somebody calls you and says, Hey, I need help, or you know, hey, what are you doing? You want to get together? It's that thing, it's that bond, and you know what, and then it's the shows afterwards, the stuff that we can we share with each other, we teach, and and we pass stuff on to people who are listening. It's all big ball wax, it just comes together and it makes it all worth it. And like I said, the older you get, when you start slowing down, you look and you look back, it really makes a lot more sense, and it it has more of a purposeful, purposeful meaning to just slow down and enjoy nature.

SPEAKER_07: 1:27:49

Yeah, yeah, and that's you know, for myself, I I couldn't agree with y'all more. Um, you know, back in the day, I mean, like Mike, obviously I did not play the year level of hockey buddy, but you know, football and hockey were my passion since I was a kid, you know. So, you know, I was heavy into weightlifting for a long time. That was my escape from the grind, you know, well before I had a family. Um and now uh sort of like really just put to your point, Squatch, about life, you know, being too short and not knowing how much time, you know, we all have left on this planet. Like, and you know, many times, like you know, you were saying earlier, Mike, you know, I've sat in the stand and gotten frustrated. And it's like, man, I'm tired of like you're excited for all the stuff you see on social media. Some of these people are just shooting absolute slobs, and it's just like you know, not everybody, you know, has the opportunity to have family land or you know, come from money, and you've got hundreds and hundreds of acres. It's just not reality for most of us. But like sitting in the stand and those times when I've gotten pretty down on myself and pissed, and it's just like, God, did I screw this up? Like, as you know, I've educated this buck or whatever, you know, it's gotta, I can't even believe it. It's gonna be three years um this year, right before Christmas. You know, I lost my dad to pancreatic cancer. And um at times like, you know, it one of the last things I said, you know, is like I wanted to get one of these big bucks and hoping he's you know smiling down on me just to make him proud one more time, you know. And but sitting in the stand, it's like just like you know, last weekend. It was, it was, I mean, I shouldn't say shitty night. It was the ability to be doing what we love is awesome. So it's like right there. I had to stop myself. It sucks because I didn't shoot anything. I didn't see a deer that night. However, I look at, you know, kind of what my family situation and what happened with my old man, and yeah, to be able to sit there and be like, you know, so many people have it so much. Worse, you know, we're we're blessed, we're healthy, we have you know kids and spouses and whatnot. And uh, you know, I remember thinking to myself, like, this sucks. I didn't shoot anything tonight, but you know what? I get to go home in 20 minutes and I get to walk in the door and see my wife and my girls, and it's just you know, the whole hunting thing and the stories we all tell, like like you guys are saying, people who just you know, you you want them to become part of it, but unless you're doing what we do out in the woods, like you can have somebody who's really interested to hear your story, but they they don't they truly don't get it until they do what we do. So yeah, it's just like every hunt is a blessing, and you know, just being able to get up that tree and get out of it safely and come home, you know, to your loved ones. Uh so yeah, I just I'm starting to shake. I can't wait, you know, for the rut.

SPEAKER_05: 1:30:56

Um, that button that that thing is a stud. Um thick it his mass of is thick.

SPEAKER_07: 1:31:07

Yeah, he's got stickers all over the place, a big body. Um, so we'll see. We'll see. I I got another video right after that one where he actually was working, and that's where I've got uh Gerard stuff on there, that pre-orbital, whatever, and he was just destroying that scrape uh early this morning. So we'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_05: 1:31:31

The the I would say my if I was to get one product from from Gerard, and I I love them all, and it's a very the pre-orbital has become my favorite hands down, and it's actually something I gotta I gotta text them because I because I don't always carry gloves, like I even though I'm hospital, I should always have gloves, but like I have the gel right now, and sometimes I just don't have my gloves with me, and I don't want to touch it with and not because I whatever, I just don't want to. I'm trying to minimize human scent, so I don't want to take it and so I need the spray because that is something that no matter what I can carry on me, and if I need us to make a mock scrape, or if I find a scrape that that's something I can boom spray real quick, boom. The pre-orbital has become uh hands down my go-to favorite. If I was to get only one thing, it would be definitely the pre-orbital. Um, it's become something that of how much I've noticed deer, uh all deer use. Um, and not only everyone thinks it's always everything that's hanging up here. I should you gotta get everything, even the small little stuff down there, spray, make it look authentic. And that's why I think something something people struggle with is with their mock scrapes, is they don't make it authentic. Yeah, you know, so I get it as everywhere I can. Anything that I think a deer is gonna rub up on, that's what I'm hitting the the pre-orbital with.

SPEAKER_07: 1:33:07

Um that's the other thing I've noticed with that, and I you know, I've got the gel and the spray up there. Um, with all the other, you know, before I connected with Gerard and you know, started repping his brand and everything with all the other things that tried over the years. Like the one of the biggest things, not only one is it, I mean, like you said, Mike, that pre-orbital is so potent. If you get just the right thing of wind, I mean, it is strong, so you can only imagine how far that scent carries for a whitetail to to be able to pick up on it. This shit blows right back in my face, and I'm like, oh, it's a time. Yeah, but the the other thing that I think is most impressive, and I've told Gerard on the phone, is and I remember him telling me when I got my first like rack rope, and you know, he sent me the paste, and uh and same thing he said, he's like, dude, make sure you've got some surgical gloves on you, yeah. And uh, but my point like it's crazy how many rains when it actually freaking does rain here in Wisconsin, but how many storms or whatever it can go through, and you can clearly tell that they still are picking up on that on the ground and on you know your licking branch or whatever.

SPEAKER_05: 1:34:28

So that's that's the advantage, that's the advantage of the pace, and that's why I do carry it with me. It's just something that like I need to remember that like I just need to carry gloves with me as as and I do, I have it in my kill, my kill bag, and everything like that, but like it's something that I need to start remembering of like if I need the pace, especially if the forecast says rain, like I need I need to bring gloves with me so I can use the pace instead of the spray because the spray you spray it and then it's gonna rain, and then uh it's like all right, like I need to go back out there versus, and that's something I don't want to do, and not because like I just want to spend as less time in certain spots as as I could, and the pace is definitely going to to help with that.

SPEAKER_07: 1:35:17

Yeah, it's almost like the little bit of moisture actually reactivates it. Yes, it is kind of what it seems like.

SPEAKER_05: 1:35:24

So definitely agree, but boys, we got I mean we could go on forever, and we have like I am I'm so good to go. I I gotta work tomorrow. Listen, I'm it's it's interesting. Like right now, I am living the bachelor life because Bianca's on vacation right now for her birthday, and she comes home tomorrow. So the last couple nights, I've been home alone. I've been staying up till like one, two o'clock in the morning, just doing like bachelor's stuff. So, like, I got no one texting me right now. Get off the DM podcast, like we'll come to bed. So, like, if I if it was up to me, I'd be going until for another hour or two. So, we gotta end this here. It's really the the field notes are only supposed to be an hour the most. We're at an hour 35. We all work tomorrow. I've had a few drinks. I am I'm I'm I'm ready to go. Boys, I'll see you guys in the in the next week. We'll probably stick to the to the Mondays recording. Um, it's what we did last year and everything like that. But I am looking forward to seeing Squatch finally back out in the Deer Woods. Yeah, me too. Looking for forward to Connor getting his first deer as a as a member of of Boondocks I mean and Zach too. Looking forward to that too as well. Looking for uh forward to to Frank getting on on some more stuff and everything like that. I brother, listen, I I know after the year you had last year, it's like why is it going? But be patient, it is going to happen. I think I think you will I think you'll catch fire and everything like that. Bear season is right around the corner. We hope to have the Wisconsin guys with us next year for for bear season. We hope to be in Wisconsin next year, but let's not get too ahead of ourselves. We're gonna be starting to to plan the our our game dinner and everything like that. I'll be talking to Bianca in the next coming weeks, and we'll be planning our our our third annual wild game dinner. Um, looking forward to that. But until then, boys, everyone, I hope you guys enjoyed this episode, and we'll see you guys next time.

SPEAKER_06: 1:37:32

Sounds good.