SPEAKER_07: 0:00

This is the Garden State Outdoors and Podcast built on early alarms, muddy boots, and stories that only the woods can write. New Jersey is one of the most underappreciated states in the outdoors, and little do they know what it really holds. From hard-earned public land deer to waterfowl, predators, and everything in between. This state produces more than people give it credit for. Now let's dial in with the men and women around the state of New Jersey who live this life every day. In New Jersey, excuses don't survive. Only the grinders do. Alright, everyone. Welcome back. It is another week of the Garden State Outdoors in a podcast. It is good to finally have you back, Craig.

SPEAKER_01: 0:49

Like where have you been, sir? Urgent care hospital, you name it, man. I've been there. Jesus. It's a rough, uh, what, rough month? Yeah, bronchitis and pneumonia.

SPEAKER_07: 1:04

That's not a that's not a combo you want. That's a rough one.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10

Yeah, I tried I fight I fought through it, but like before I got sick, um like I still don't sound right.

SPEAKER_00: 1:18

Like my biggest. Yeah. Um, I feel good though. Like I went today and ran five miles and did a bunch of shit, and I feel good. Just like my I don't know if just my voice is different now, but like I went in before I got sick, like I I weigh myself whatever weekly and just keep tabs. And I was at 131. I'm currently at 120 pounds. I lost 11 pounds. I don't need to lose weight. I just I don't need to lose weight. But I'm feeling good. I'm I'm feeling better. Like I'm back, like I just you know, I I don't know, I just my voice still sounds different, and like my strength, you know. I lost a little bit of strength, but I'm back on the hopefully upside now. I'm done being sick.

SPEAKER_07: 2:05

Yeah, well, we hope you're on the men, brother.

SPEAKER_00: 2:10

Yeah, I know I still sound like shit, but like I just I don't know if it's my voice. Like, I like I don't know, like I don't have any nasal problems or any chest problems anymore, but like my voice just fucking feels weird now.

SPEAKER_07: 2:21

Well, at least you're sick after the season and not during the season.

SPEAKER_00: 2:24

Yeah, no shit, because I would I don't if I was sick or not, I still would have been in a stand. I don't fucking care.

SPEAKER_07: 2:30

Um and then you know it it's Mr. Kyle, it's it's been uh it's been I think since October. Whenever you went to Ahio and came back, that was the last time you're on. That was Field Notes 4. Um the last time you're on on. Wow. But look at that back trap. Woo! That thing is looking good. Look at the bar and everything like that. You just you just got that all done, literally, right? You just finished that. I literally just finished it on Sunday.

SPEAKER_03: 3:03

I'm jealous.

SPEAKER_07: 3:06

Is that is that uh you you get uh get a little away from the kids, or they're down there still. Uh I mean down there.

SPEAKER_05: 3:13

Um, but I try to uh you know yesterday. I was down here at three o'clock, watched both football games. I wouldn't leave decompress a little bit, you know.

SPEAKER_07: 3:27

Yeah, yeah, no, no, I definitely get that. Uh Zach, what's up, brother? How much many last week, so we know what you're up to. Mr. Broadstein Ambush, what's up, brother? Feel like we haven't seen you in a while.

SPEAKER_02: 3:41

Yeah, I know. I've just been, you know, trying to relax, working, spending time with the family, catching up on shit that I haven't done around the house and everything, and that's pretty much about it, man.

SPEAKER_07: 3:54

I'm I'm I'm happy that your uh your stream yards working today after that uh struggle fest for you on on the Squatch and Frank show.

SPEAKER_02: 4:04

Yeah, for real, man. I was ready through the laptop across the room.

SPEAKER_07: 4:09

Yeah, no, don't don't blame you at all. Well, boys, let's let's get into it. We're we're just gonna be talking about a whole whole bunch of topics and everything like that. Um, I did say in the last time we were talking about you, Kyle. I can't remember how the topic came up, but some shit happened to one of our guys where I think another hunter or something like did something freaking absolutely crazy, like you know, just hunters being absolute douchebags to to one another and shit like that. Now, I don't know how much you want to talk about your scenario that that you went into. Um, I did and it because it would literally happen right after. And I remember talking on the show, I was like, oh, literally, Kyle went just went through some shit and everything like that. But this is if he wants to, that's his story to tell, not not mine, and everything like that. Do you you you do you feel comfortable sharing that? You know, I know it, I don't know if you want to put in the past or or whatever. Usually you're a fucking type of guy, so no, yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 5:06

I um, you know, obviously everybody gets limited time off and stuff from work, and you know, I can only hunt, you know, a certain amount of days a year, you know, to work, you know, taking care of four kids, and you know, her wanting to go out and everything. So obviously time's limited. Um I went and I've been hunting like a new area and um hunted it the one day, and I'm like, all right, I got like I gotta go over here. And I went over there, and then I saw something I liked over here, and then I went you know a little bit further in, and um I mean I was in the chips, man. It was right smack in the middle of the rut. I had a nice eight, chasing, going like 60 miles an hour, running back and forth all day, and I was just waiting for him to come in. And he finally started coming down the hill, then he bolted again. I'm like, all right, I'm gonna rattle. So I waited like 20 minutes, I started rattling, and meanwhile, it's like 5 30 now. So it's like the last 45 minutes of daylight or five o'clock. It's like the last 45 minutes of daylight, and all of a sudden, like I'm rattling and I start grunting a little bit, and like two minutes go by and I hear horns crack together, and I'm like, oh shit. So I'm like waiting, waiting, waiting, I'm putting the binos up, I'm looking in the direction, and like looking towards where like it was more thick, and next thing I know, I see uh a solid green sweatshirt, a dude with a crossbow slong.

SPEAKER_03: 6:45

Oh yeah, I remember that video.

SPEAKER_05: 6:47

And I'm like, alright. So I I was having uh I was having a bad day um prior to that, and you know, I just get in these funks and whatever, so it was just a real bad day for me. Um and that was just enough for me to just completely tear into this guy, and I tore into him. I mean, I I I I took a video, I started the video when he started walking towards a tree, and I I think I sent it to you, Mike. I think I sent it to you.

SPEAKER_07: 7:20

Yeah, I think you sent it, I think he sent it to all of us in the uh the hunting competition.

SPEAKER_05: 7:25

Yeah, I I I lost my shit. Um, I definitely said things I don't I shouldn't have prior to me starting that video. Not to instigate it, but like dude, it's the last 30 minutes of daylight, and you're gonna come walking through the woods like where's like come on, dude. But then at the at the same time, it's statel, so I can't get mad at it. Like looking at it now, should I react it the way that I reacted? Hell no. Like it's state land, you can come and go as you please. If you blow out my spot, you blow out my spot. It is what it is, you know. I'm not gonna, you know what I mean? Well, because I sat there for nine hours straight, ten hours straight, and then like right when you know it's getting prime time, it's like I got a buck running around, and then this dude pulls like I was just so pissed, man. And um then the fucking the me came out in me per se, and I went right to my truck, and I don't remember if I locked my truck or not, and I don't think that I did. And I opened my door on my truck, and there's a note on my seat on my center console that said, Fuck you, motherfucker, whatever. So I sat in my truck for five on X Facebook, on X Facebook, went through every fucking house that surrounded that property, found the dude, and I went to his I went to his house, I sat outside for a couple minutes, drove away, and then I saw him in the window, so I pulled up again, and then he caught running out of the house. You motherfucking and I'm like, You went in my motherfucking truck. That's why I'm here, is because you went in my truck. Don't tell me that you fucking didn't because you went in my truck. I lock my truck every time. I know for a fact that I forgot to lock my truck, and he's like, Oh, your window was cracked down a little bit. I'm like, really? So even let's just say the window is cracked. You're gonna throw a piece of paper, you're gonna throw it through that little crack, and it's magically gonna flip perfectly centered on my center console. So I'm I'm I didn't step onto the dude's property. I was on his driveway, motherfucking him, and his wife came out, and I look in the picture window, and like I saw a kid come to the window, and I'm like, all right, time the fuck out. If somebody came to my house like this, I would have fucking killed him. So I calmed down. Why the fuck are you here? I'm like, listen, this is a situation. Your husband walked in on me, blah blah blah blah. That's no big deal. The reason why that I'm here right now is because your husband went to my fucking truck. That's why I'm here. Wear an up and down, I didn't fucking go in the truck, blah blah blah blah. Like, whatever, dude. Um, so I I I apologized to her multiple times. Like, listen, like, I apologize. You know, this is this isn't right, but I'm not gonna let somebody just fucking come into my property. Like, that's not right. So we drove. I drove off later that night. The dude found me on Facebook, sent me a long fucking message on Facebook, you motherfucker, blah blah blah, whatever. So I was like, whatever, dude. The next day, um, I ended up reaching out to him. Like, listen, I I was fucking pissed off. You did this, I did this. This is how I reacted, this is why I reacted, and this is what led us to this. We went back and forth for a little while and then exchanging phone numbers and ended up bullshitting after the fact after the fact, like everything's cool with me now. But it was just that situation was was um I definitely said I had I was having a bad day, I definitely overreacted. I told him I am at fault for that. But what I'm not at fault for is you going at my fucking truck, and he still denies it to this day. Whatever, dude. We're not friends, I'll be cordial with you. Just like if you're gonna go hunt over here, shoot me a text, I won't even go over there. Like, there's a million other spots around there, like it's not a aspect of it. Like, dude, I know you did it, just admit you did it. Yo, I did it.

SPEAKER_08: 11:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 11:42

I wouldn't care if you did or didn't, just admit to it, you know what I mean? Which he still hasn't, but whatever.

SPEAKER_07: 11:49

Never will. Yeah, I know. I I think I don't think I don't think he ever will because I mean, yeah, you're saying you crossed, and let me tell you, I think most people would react in that, especially the last 30-35 minutes. You got a buck running all over. Like, I think that's there's a there's a common courtesy when it when it comes to these things. It's an unwritten, at least in my eyes, it's an unwritten rule, right? Especially like when you get down to that prime time area or prime time time, who's walking around unless you're spot and stalking a buck that you have eyes on, right? Yeah, you're really not doing that and you're not ruining someone else's hunt. Now, I don't, and you know, you could correct me if I'm wrong, you know. I imagine he had to, if since he was able to put a note either in your whatever he he says, right? Before entering there, he knew that there was a another hunter somewhere in there. He must have, he must have been parked somewhere right there. He knew no, I wasn't.

SPEAKER_05: 12:55

See, that's the thing. I was parked a mile and a half. I'm almost a mile direction. So he had absolutely zero idea. He told me that he's never seen hunters back there, like it's very like close to his house. Not that it's close to his house, but his property butts up to this piece, and then it goes in like a bar. Um but realistically, from the from from my from a house, I was probably talking over six, seven hundred yards. Like I was far. And you know, from his perspective, he didn't know. He never seen anybody back there. I just happened to be back there, so it was just squash, whatever, you know. I um I like I said, I apologize to him. I would have reacted the same way to somebody motherfucking me, but like you're not gonna like I don't I hate like talking like this, but like you're not gonna say shit to me and then not expect me to do something about it, right?

SPEAKER_03: 13:52

Oh yeah, dude. That's just been like the man rule.

SPEAKER_05: 13:55

Literally like fucking me, me six years ago, lights out, done. I didn't, I lit bro. I literally texted my buddy, I said if you get a fucking domestic call, don't fucking come to it.

SPEAKER_03: 14:10

I'm not even telling this that was and I please tell me he sent a salute emoji.

SPEAKER_05: 14:17

I don't even get like that much anymore. I I try my hardest not to, and I I try not to do like the negative shit, like it really gets to me, and you know, I I I try to, you know, like everybody and you know be cordial with everybody. Like, I got guys on my cameras and stuff. Like, I had two cameras on that property. I think the only two cameras that I ran this year, and like I got guys that walk by, like, I'm not pissed, I'm not like I'm hunting public land, I'm not hunting over cameras, I'm not hunting over bait, I'm not doing this, like I've been hanging hunting all year. Like, dude, I just wanna I just want to go out and hunt, man. Like, I don't want to. I really don't.

SPEAKER_07: 14:57

Yeah. I I think I I think when you when you hunt public, and I love hunting public, not gonna lie, like it it is a whole different challenge. Like, don't get me wrong, is it nice to have private? Of course, like it and but that's you know, at least in my cards, like that's not what I have. You know, you could talk to Frank over there, and he gets to bring the quad and everything like that, and he's acting real bougie over the last couple of years. Um it's it's a different type of grind because you have to deal with everybody else. You know, I I I had a uh at one of my spots, I had a bunch of gun hunters going to do a drive, right? And like, whatever, like you know that's that's happening. It's this time of the year, you it's what you expect, and I and I just love and I found it funny. Like the guy, he just kept flipping flipping me off in the in the camera the whole entire time. I don't know if he knows it's a bit I have it on video mode, right? So he's just walking by just giving me the bird and everything like that. But like there's things that you expect. I I think it does get very frustrating. Um, I think if you're somebody who won doesn't have the time or doesn't have as much time as as they used to, you're on a big buck, you know, you've been grinding the the whole entire season, everything like that, and the last 30 minutes a hunt gets ruined. I mean, we've been there, I've done that. I I'm not gonna lie, I've you know not had my proudest moments when someone ruined my hunt 30 minutes, and I got down out of my tree and and went to confront him, and then you know, some racial slurs were thrown and thrown down, and you know, I thought I was playing hockey again. I dropped the bow, dropped the fucking gloves, and I was I was ready to get I was ready to go. Um, you know what I mean? But um, you know, it's I don't I don't know. We're one, we're men. Um, I'm not gonna lie, like listen, when when things happen and um we just go back to our primal, our primal uh basics, especially when someone is motherfucking you and then you know disrespects you, goes in your car. And you know, Kyle, it was both, I imagine, vice versa, but we all we all do it. I I generally will say we we all fucking do it. Um, you know, but I think there's definitely an unwritten code when it comes to hunting public land um that has to be um abide by. And there's there's people that don't, you know what I mean. I don't go hunting other people's tree stands, and I guarantee you there's there's stands. When I used to run stands, people were hunting in my stands, you know what I mean? It's you know, I'm not gonna do it, but other people do it.

SPEAKER_03: 17:28

Yeah, that's just the nature of the beast when it comes to that stuff. I mean, like I hunt in a military installation all the time, and we all like relatively know each other. It's a smaller community with the hunters, and we just shoot text messages letting each other know like where we're gonna be at, whatnot. Like, there's this one guy this year, never met him before a day in my life. And I'm like, I'm like looking across this field from him, he's like maybe a hundred yards from me, and all I see is just this red arrow just knock just going through the air, and I was like, All right, and I could hear like flack, and I was like, sweet, good for him. And it was like red at dark, too. Like it was something was just set at like it's it's almost like you have two minutes of daylight left to shoot. And so like I walked over there and I see him like looking with his flash like, you want some help, dude? He's like, I would love some help. And it was just like one of those things where it's like this is where hunting is like awesome, like you start building friendships and stuff, but we've only had one guy on this and actually got kicked off the uh off like the hunting program on the base because he was just a dick to everybody.

SPEAKER_07: 18:25

So but you guys have to sign in, right? Um yeah, we guys military base once or twice. So hunted on the military base twice, and we had uh like obviously when they're doing training that certain specific area, you can't go in or anything like that. But you sign in, you get you get to go where whatever's open, I guess, from whoever's not using it for training.

SPEAKER_03: 18:45

Yeah, like they have pre-made stands and stuff, but then there's like bow area only, and that's where it's like you could pretty much go set up your climber, you can set up your your um saddle or whatever. So like that's kind of nice, but you have to stay within 50 yards of a stand. So if you want to take a climber out there or saddle, you can do that as well. So that's that's what's kind of nice about this installation. It is relatively small, like there's no like training areas, like the only training areas is like the range, so like that's that's even better. So there's only like 15 of us that hunt that base, and the base is huge, so yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 19:21

Similar to uh to Picatinny. Um, I tried hunting Picatinny. Uh I looked into it like seven, eight years ago, and there's a wait list. Jesus. All right, yeah, no problem. But then I just never.

SPEAKER_03: 19:39

Yeah, there's there's a military base up here where they have to walk you to your stand, and then you're if you shoot yeah, if you shoot an animal, you can't get out. They have to track it and bring it to you. Oh shit. Like, dude, can you imagine?

SPEAKER_07: 19:53

It's like, oh no, we didn't find it's like are they tracking it? Are they just Dragging it for you too. You might as well be like, listen, they got everything else for me. You might as well drag it for me. They get forward. Oh, okay. Well, they're doing all the work. So yeah, like Kai says, it is a it's like a guided hunt on the military, on the military's expense.

SPEAKER_03: 20:16

Well, so the funny thing is they bring it to the stand and then they have to walk you back while you're either dragging it. They don't help you at the whole takes off. He's like in a gator and he just takes off. And it's just like this is sucks, dude. Oh my god. So yeah, but like, I mean this happens when you're on like a very top, I don't want to say top secret, but like more of like a secret installation because there's like certain certain things like they don't want people to go into because they do allow uh the public to sign up and they allow a certain amount of year after they get vetted and whatnot. But yeah, they they have to walk into your stand, they leave. If you shoot something, you have to tell them they track it, they hook it up to the four-wheeler, or they drag it to your stand and then you have to drag it the rest of the way back, and they're following you and helping you out. So if you're sitting there suffering, they're just uh can you hurry up? I got stuff to go do. Like let me grant it. And you're just like, God, man, I hate you right now.

SPEAKER_07: 21:15

Um now, now boys, I wanted to get into a few topics. Um, Stephanie, uh, especially in the mental game of hunting and you know, your decision making and everything like that. Um, we kind of got a broad of experience here. We got a broad of people in different states and everything like that. Um, so kind of like our roundtable segment without being our official round table segment, um you know one of them when when is it once when is it time to move versus when it's the time to sit tight? I think a lot of people, especially new and even experienced hunters, make this mistake, and you know, sometimes they're a little um too aggressive and or a little too complacent, and they don't they don't do what they they need to do to do to get that that locker or whatever the case is. And this is something like I suffered with for a while, and I've started to finally get it, um, and I've had experien or good success over the last like two or three seasons with picking when to sit tight and then picking when to get aggressive and and move on. Um anyone wanna wanna give a head on this one?

SPEAKER_05: 22:30

I'll I'll I'll say I have like a whole feel, but I want to hear I want to hear, Craig, your thought process per se, for this season of shooting that book.

SPEAKER_07: 22:45

Like how you were set up over here, then you went over here, then you know yeah, yeah, this is a perfect example, actually.

SPEAKER_00: 22:51

Yeah, yeah. So like I this fall I hunted two properties out. Um my in-laws on Craco, then um my brother-in-law bought a piece in the urban over by in the pier by the sheriff's department. And um I just I didn't even have a stand out there because like well, I shouldn't say that. I had a stand out there this past summer, and then they he's putting in a big, huge subdivision in there, and there's just construction workers in and out, people walking the property. The big ditch line that we had that actually gave me cover from not being able to see the assistant living apartments, it was all taken down. Like it's like where I sat, I could see I could see freaking old lady Julie taking a shower in her apartment. That's how wide open it was. So, like I kind of got like I got got a little frustrated, you know, and not with the process because they said obviously it's a business, he's doing his thing. So I took the stand down, went out to Craco, and we were on Craco. I was on Crackle hunting, seeing deer all and seeing all kinds of deer. I mean, small bucks. I had a really good big buck, about 70 yards for me one night. But then I'm like, I'm just gonna go hang a camera on De Pier to see once if these deer don't even care about these construction workers. Because, like the construction workers for me, they're only like 120 yards away if I get pounding pipes in and like digging holes and shit. I'm like, I had deer on camera. I'm like, screw it. I have a lightweight hunt and hang, I'm gonna go hang on to Pierre, let the camera sit, put a mock scrape out, and religiously, I was getting 10 times more daylight movement in De Pier than I was in Krako. So I was like, screw this. I'm like, from Halloween and out, I'm just gonna go sit De Pier and just try it out. I only had one stand in De Pier, but I only hunted it when the wind was right, and I seen deer every single night. And what really got me intrigued was it was that Wednesday, it was the Wednesday before, yeah. It was no, it was the Wednesday the week week before I shot my buck. I was sitting and I had a small buck bumping a doe across the um the ditch line, that the open ditch line there where they put the drainage in and stuff. And I had a big 10 come out through the um the tall grass. That 10 literally walked 45 yards from construction workers and didn't give a shit. And he walked in, he but then the dough didn't come my way, he cut across the ditch line, bumped her about for about 20 minutes in sight. And I'm thinking my head, like, if that deer walked 45 minutes from those guys, and you can hear those guys going, Oh my god, look at that big deer. Like the those deer just didn't they didn't care. So I'm like, my opportunity here is gonna be better than Crackle. So I just stuck it out, and it was that Saturday. I was sitting and I um I had a bunch of deer that Friday night come on camera, and that that big nine come on camera, and I'm like, I'm gonna hunt it. Well, Saturday was so freaking warm, it was like 60 degrees that Saturday, and um I was sitting there texting um the neighbor because um it was the weekend before the gun season here in Wisconsin. I'm like, I got a lot of respect for him. He lets me turkey hunt his property and everything like that. So I was like, dude, at nine o'clock, if you want to go and shoot your dog, I'm gonna get down and go do some family stuff at home, and then I'll come back out and record him on two o'clock. It was hotter than hell, anyways. Well, as I was sitting down texting him, there comes that big nine, mouth wide open. I'm not I'm not ready at all, and I'm like, fuck, I just screwed up my opportunity. Well, like went into the thicket, came 25 yards away, and I missed him, shot right over his back at 25 yards. But um, I didn't get involved. Like, I just I just think myself like, how the hell did I miss? I called Frank that I called Frank and I went over everything. Like, you gotta be kidding me right now. Like, I spent my whole summer, whole fall for this opportunity, and I just ruined everything. After I got off the phone with Frank, I went in my backyard, shot the broad heads dead on. Like, I moved my arm up. I wanted to see where my arrow was gonna go, which was the dumbest thing I could have ever done. Um, I was gonna actually went home then Saturday night, down on myself, whatever. I'm like, screw it up, I'm sleeping long. I'm just gonna I'm done for a little bit. And I'm like, I'm gonna go sit crackle on Sunday morning. Well, I didn't sit cracking crack on Sunday morning because that freaking nine came back four times to hit my scrape Saturday night. And then we had a massive cold drop Sunday, and went to my stand, I'm like, you know what? He didn't blow, he didn't, he just trotted off a little bit. I'm gonna try it again. When that same stand, right at sunrise, more construction workers come out and start pounding away at stuff. I'm like, I'm not worried about it because there's deer there everywhere. And sure shit, and I missed him Saturday morning at 8 30, and Sunday morning at 8 24. I looked up, he's walking right right down the ditch line right where I walk in, and he got two yards under my stand. I drew back and he turned right where I needed him to shot at seven yards. Heck yeah, dude. But um, I guess like I look in like Crackle is a great, great like I've had we had some monsters over there in Crocko, but like it they were all everything over there is so nocturnal, it's insane. And like I'm looking at De Pierre right in the city. I just I I couldn't put it together why I was seeing so many deer in De Pier every day, daylighting in on Krako. We barely step foot in that woods, and they're all nocturnal. So I and Krako's so tough though, because like I don't it the Krako's not like an 80, 80 acre, 120-acre parcel. It's like it's basically a it's a river that runs through it and it's it's a funnel, so it's a travel core for those deer. Um Krako, I've learned over the past years that that is a that is a that's a hot early season property because on both sides of the river, on my on grandma Carol's piece, is either corner beans, then on Frank's side, there's always corn. So early season is if you're gonna shoot a big buck out there right field, you're gonna you're gonna do an early season of cocoa. What not like Napier? I mean, you can sit out there every day and see deer. It's it's it's honestly just it blows my mind. But um, yeah, I just I just put my I just crossed my T's and my eyes, and I just told myself, I'm gonna kill a buck this year and all the time I put in the summer and stuff like that, it's gonna be in De Pier, and I I fucking finally fucking did it.

SPEAKER_07: 29:31

Yeah. Um yeah, I mean any anyone want to go after that. I mean, I I have a direct answer to what you know what I think and everything like that. Um, but I kind of want to hear from from some of the other guys before I go.

SPEAKER_03: 29:47

So for for me, when it came to I was hunting both private and public, but I'm not public. Like I have like my areas that I go to, and like I'm very patient. Like I'm not gonna be aggressive in those areas just because I know there's other hunters in the area. I don't want to change up my game in that area. But now when it comes to private, I have a completely different mindset. Like I can be more aggressive just because there's not so many people around. It's just me and my buddy. He's got 180 acres that we hunt on, so we could go wherever we want at any time. But like if I'm not seeing any type of movement or I would say buck movement within like three to four days, I'm immediately changing the spot up. We have about 12 cameras out, and if we're not seeing it, like we'll change those up very quickly. We'll do mock scrapes and everything that we can just because we're chasing after like bigger bucks compared to like what you're trying to hunt on public. Because sometimes public land bucks, like they're monsters up there, but usually you don't see like the big eight, you'll see like a bigger six, but like not nothing crazy around here. Um like I would say my mindset for public is definitely different than my mindset on than it is for uh private. So I just gotta play patient on public on public. That's that's pretty much like my bit.

SPEAKER_06: 31:06

Yeah, for my for myself, like I I think I told you boys I picked up uh fortunately a couple other small tracks of private property um here in south central Wisconsin this fall. So gonna be sweet saddle hunting those properties and just learning. But the main farm um for our good buddies uh that I bow hunt, as I've told you guys in the past, a really challenging property in that it's got um absolutely shitty access. There's no there's no good way, even with an e-bike, whatever, to get in there, you know, especially early season, predominantly south, you know, southeast winds. If you have any of those at the main farm, it it's just you can't even go out there. Um, so my buddy's got 30 acres of um pillable and then 30 36 acres of timber. And then beyond that, as I've told you all in the past, there's the 3,000 acres of the Cherokee Marsh. And so there's absolute just swamp monsters in there. But for me, it it's been like trial and error over the past six years of to be dead honest, just literally going out there and being willing to fuck up and if you do and get busted, whatever. You know, it's all a process of learning. So you fast forward six years now, the my bull buck this year. You know, I've always been a huge believer of the second um, you know, the cameras show um a doe being harassed, whether you have video going or even just you know, blurry and running through the screen. October 25th, I will not step foot in um the timber on the main farm until the 25th of October. And this year was the third buck that I've shot on October 28th. Um, so the 25th to the 30th has always been my um best bet. I don't know if it's just the property where I am, but like the first you know, 10 days in November, I've always struggled there. So it's like it's been learning for me. I I've screwed up in the past and it sucks. We've all been there, but I've taken something from each one of those moments, and I think it's made me a better hunter because of it. And I even put up a couple of stands this year on the far west side of the property that were only about I don't know, only like 15 yards from my buddies. He's got it like a mile-long gravel driveway that drives out to the farm, and there's just a little kind of pinch point of trees right off the gravel that I that I put a stand there that no one would look at it and think you're ever gonna shoot anything, but I use it there as an observation stand. Uh nights just to go out there. Yeah, I have my bowl, but it's just basically glassing to try to learn what they're doing. And you know, this year's gonna be different. Um, I don't know what the reason is, but because they switch uh the crop every year, they don't do a three-on-three. This year it's gonna be beans, which kind of sucks. But you know, it's gonna be nice having the different properties to uh to get on this year for those south and southeast winds, because uh at the main farm, your best shot at a at a shooter if you've got something patterned is going to be you know the first few weeks of the season. But as uh Craig knows, it's usually fucking uh 80, 85 degrees, usually opening weekend. So real challenging, but it's just uh like I said, trial and error and just learning from past mistakes is just uh I think made me smarter as a hunter. I know to play the winds on the property I'm hunting. And you know, unfortunately, if there's those days where the winds are just not right, I don't have the ability um to go to some of these spots because you know they're gonna they're gonna get educated real quick. So um, but that's you know, in any time just with with my daughters and sports and anything, I'm in a town of 10,000 people, so still pretty small relative to where I grew up. But I'm always just like with work, like trying to network with anyone, and you just never know, you know, asking to pick up a new property. And even I told you guys about that one uh like six-acre um, it's a huge farm, but they only got it, it's basically a draw of like uh five acres of woods. And uh I'm thinking it's gonna be one of those spots this year to where, you know, during the rut or like pre-rut when that first dough is starting to come in destroyed, a ton of corn ag all around the farm, but um you better believe that a big buck is gonna come through there at some point, you know, just at least checking. So uh that's kind of my attack.

SPEAKER_02: 36:11

You know, you know, yeah. So like for me, with hunting the piece of private that I hunt, um since there's two sides of the farm, I usually run, you know, I'm running cameras on both sides. It's almost you know, I kind of just I kind of just follow the action for me. Um you know, but I don't have no problem sitting, you know, in the same spot two or three or four times. It all depends on the situation for me. So if I see, you know, this side of the farm's hot, I'll, you know, I'll usually hunt that side. But if I see this side, that's you know, if the other side's hot, then I I'll kind of hunt that side. But again, it's all situational for me because it is a working farm, so I don't have to worry about messing up too bad. You know, they're used to people seeing people, they're used to people being in there. Um you know, I usually don't tend to get too aggressive in the beginning, probably around like mid to late October, I'll start getting more aggressive with my approach. Um but what I also noticed, uh especially like this year, like basically 95% of my hunts were were out of the um out of the saddle. Um I know who baits around me and who doesn't. I mean, we do bait on the farm. Um but I know who really throws down a lot of bait, and you know, I kind of have an idea like we're you know, we're those big boys hang out, what tickets they do, so I almost kind of you know strateg strategically, you know, get myself to cut them off before they get to where they gotta go. So I mean it it all depends for me. I you know like I said, it's all situational. If I s if the does are hot and I know that I know this side's better than that farm, I'll be you know, I'll be on on one side, but it's it's all situational for me, man.

SPEAKER_07: 38:26

Yeah, yeah. I I'll agree with that. It's pretty situational. Um, you know, if for those who don't know, like I'm uh during the rut, I'm a very aggressive hunter. So what I do during the rut is completely different, but it also depends. Like when we're down in Delaware, we have a limited time, we have limited time. So me, Zach, Peyton, um, Andrew, whoever, whoever we're we're with, we're bouncing around from property to property to property to property. There's so much land to hunt down in Delaware, and there's so many big, like, big bucks just everywhere. So you kinda can't just sit on your thumbs and knees when you only got maybe let's say two days to hunt or three days to hunt, or you know, you know, next year I think our plan is we're gonna go down for the whole freaking week because there's just so much land and we just bounce around, right? Um, but something I I really want to say for this, and this is coming from Zach and Pete, uh, the other Zach and Pete, and they they believe in this hardcore, and I and I think it's perfectly said. I don't know if they got this from somewhere else, they probably did, but you don't leave deer, you don't leave uh you don't leave to go find deer when you're when you have deer, some shit like that, right? You don't leave deer when you're on deer. Um you know, I know it gets frustrating, but if you're getting action over and over and over again, right? And you didn't get busted, you didn't anything like that, there's no issue with sitting in the same tree. I'll do it. I mean, that's where I should. that that giant eight or ten that I shot just too low. Um I sat that tree I think three or four times in a row and I was on the other side for at least two or three hunts and that cornfield was so hot why would I leave? You know I mean there I had nowhere else to go because this was the hot field. The goes were there the young bucks were there and the the big bucks were coming out um as as well and they're responding to to my uh grunts and snort weasel which got them fired up right so why would I leave um so early season usually patient if I'm on deer especially big deer I'm not going anywhere but I will tell you during the run I don't you know I I'm very aggressive and I move around a lot all the cameras are out at that point um just because I'm trying to just get like Connor said I'm trying to get a Joe being chased once it just takes one picture or video where I could see all right cool this spot is hot this year. You know the boys know I got it was great. I went to go pull a camera or put new batteries in a camera I can't remember my camera died and walking in I mean I think encountered like four or five bucks just chasing all over that was the spot to be walked all the way back to the truck grabbed my saddle and everything like that walked all the way back in climbed up in the tree and I think what like two or three hours later I shot um I shot my buck two years ago I was hunting another spot got set up in the tree after doing so much damn work I even had to cut down a little damn tree I was sweating it was warm I I was I was like shit like this took me like an hour and a half to set up right got a picture of two big bucks in the uh the creek bottom was like alright do I stay here or do I go and I made the decision to get down all my stuff hightail it to the truck drive over and climb into the tree and the next morning I I killed my buck. So I think getting aggressive if you have the opportunity to and if you have the land to do it I I full on believe getting aggressive especially during the rut because you can make a lot more mistakes during the rut that's not going to hurt you versus other times in the in the year.

SPEAKER_05: 42:37

What do you got um I'm aggressive all year round I don't got time to fuck around I I I don't have time to to to chase a single deer I don't got time it's not what it used to be and I've been more successful this year than I have ever been in my entire life of not giving a fuck not watching cameras not you know oh well this camera didn't have any pictures on it last night so I'm not gonna go there or you know I had two cameras two one two the third one I really wouldn't even count actually all right so we'll say three cameras on public land never once hunted within probably 150 200 yards of a camera that I had never hunted the same spot twice I hunted the same area never went the same twice I'm always always always always moving if I was gonna hunt in the afternoon I jump over across the road and I'd go and I would scout take a walk what did I bump out okay bumped out deer here pinned it bumped out a buck here pinned it look at this rub scrape blah blah blah here's a tree stand it boom boom boom boom so later on if I have a nice win maybe I'll go sit over you know on this side or wherever the case may be but that was like this year man like I I you know the most recent book that I shot you know I every time I sat this year on public land I didn't I hunt in private in Ohio and then that was really it besides the one I shot uh on my property um all public land and I just wanted to sign there was not a hunt that I went this year without seeing a deer and without deer being like I've had deer within 40 yards of me every single sit I saw bucks I saw does I saw good bucks every single sit but if I saw like I hunted along the river the one night saw really good deer across the river and the next night I went on the other side of the river well I didn't go to where I saw him I circled back around and went like 200 yards away from the river ended up seeing that same buck again coming from where I guessed where he was coming from but like dude I was always on the move man and like the one day um I text my buddy I'm like yo I'm like I'm trying to trying to hunt this afternoon I don't know where I'm gonna go and he's like yo go you know try over here on the land trust I'm like yo I haven't been back there in almost a decade bro like fuck it let's go I left the house at like 1130 12 o'clock uh I got out there walked just the whole edge in and my biggest thing this year was playing the wind I wouldn't hunt an area if the wind was bad I played the wind more than I played anything else ever this entire year I had the wind blowing in my face I walked the property line there's a big field so I knew that there's no deer out there so I hugged the property line walked back zigzagged for a couple minutes trying to figure out exactly where I wanted to be and then I think about if I'm up to the tree can I shoot here can I shoot here blah blah blah ended up picking a tree and that was when I was like let me see how quick I can get up into the tree and it was like being quiet but like taking my time it took me like I think 21 minutes or whatever just to get up get everything situated I hung my bow put the GoPro on uh on my hanger and I was dropping my haul line back down the tree and I happened to look and I see something moving and I put my vinyls and it was that one freaking whack I was like oh shit then he came in I drew on him at 60 so I was not letting him go drew on him at 60 he was quartering to me a little bit I was afraid he was gonna go away I was just gonna center punch him then he started coming towards me and I'm like all right I'm gonna wait but the way the tree was the tree that I sat in it was a flat and then it went up on a hill to another flat I was on the bottom half of that hill when that buck came in when I got him to stop he didn't stop on the flat part he stopped like this so his front two feet were up on like the bank going up and his back feet were still on the flat essentially so when I shot him he was like this so my arrow just grazed underneath and that was a buck that you know I sent the video him walking away um that was a 10 minute hunt at I shot him at 130 in the afternoon or some shit like that. Like it was just so like it went back the next day bumped him out no blood called the neighbor anyway the deer's still alive um but that was just like me like yo the wind is good on this property I haven't been here in over a decade I'm gonna go hunt and that's what I did. And then the buck the last buck that I shot I was walking into a spot never been there before I'm coming out of the field to go down into the woods to this swamp bottom I pinned a spot on the map all the way across the swamp like I'm gonna this is where I want to get into I got the wind in my face I just crested over the hill to go down into the timber and three does blow out and I see a freaking rack going with them. So I set up 75 yards down from exactly where he was bedded down wind down wind of the trail that he took to run away from me three and a half hours later that deer come walking right back up that trail to bed shot him at 20 yards. So for me it wasn't about hunting a specific deer it was not hunting over cameras it was not I put the cameras out just to see what's there like I'm not like I need to see like it didn't matter it was honestly it was something to look at to be honest like what was going on whatever like I said I had dudes on camera you know it's not a big deal to me I just want to see but it was just hunting the wind and being mobile like I had no expectations but I've saw deer I saw great bucks every single time that I've seen and I never sat the same exact spot twice I just that's just something that I didn't do. If I had deer there yeah well you know what I'm gonna back a little bit or I'm gonna go forward a little bit I've never I don't think I honestly like I've hunted the same area but I don't think I have ever hunted within uh I don't think I ever hunted within like three four hundred yards of a spot that I have already hunted.

SPEAKER_07: 49:48

Now not to say that didn't kick me in the ass I would but the best part is that you have no idea you have no like oh man I should have that shit whatever but it didn't matter because I didn't know you know what I mean so I was just hunting the fresh sign I saw what I saw I hunted sold here every single time you know I killed two bucks on public this year in Jersey I I I I can't be you know I can't be mad about that yeah for real and and I I think like what a lot of people need to take from also just this conversation is when you when you do get aggressive or you're gonna hunt this style right I'm gonna tell you it's it's not it's not the easiest thing in the world it it's it's not it does take a lot of commitment it takes like your gear kind of has you need the right gear for it and everything like that and you know and this is this is my opinion um you know and you have to have that mindset like like kind like for me it it hurts to hear like I get so stuck if I like I said if I don't get blown at or my hunt isn't busted I have no issues with getting back in the same tree but I do know of some guys who do the same thing they won't even it like they could have the best sit of their life and they just won't get back in in that same exact tree. And that's like a mindset thing where it's like all right like you really need to push yourself I think more to the to the limits to do a lot more hanging hunt and to constantly move um you know on the warm days and everything like that like I put you know for me personally I put in Miles I know Kyle's always Snapchatting me I know he's constant and he just said he's constantly moving and scouting everything like that. So there's a lot when you're doing it it's a lot of scouting it's a lot just a lot of moving so if you're hunting the morning like I'll do like I'll hunt the morning and then I will move and I will you know I'll go scout but I'm also you know you're still hunting and then you're picking a spot to jump into for the evening. You know if the weather is warm you look you're like you're just it's it's absolutely miserable. You know what I mean? But you're you're just you're moving you're moving and you're constantly moving and I I think listen why it's so successful especially in our areas because a lot of people are not doing that. When a lot of people are there's they're hunting the same spot over and over and over again the same tree stand that they've hunted for forever the same ladder stand which I don't knock that right I I don't listen there's also great success with being patient and we we've seen that with you know with some of our guys and everything like that. But if you are going to hunt that way at least I I think in New Jersey I can't talk about you know Wisconsin or those other states you know a lot of people are not doing a mobile game like like we are and also I think for the most part like for me I just outhunt people and that's what I'm always going to tell people like I know you're gonna get out there once cool I'm gonna try my best to get out there six of the seven days if I really if I really need to like I'll just tell work like oh you know what I'm not coming in or like I'll I'll work like a half day or something like that. You know the coolest spot of where I hunt like there's no hunting on Sundays. Every on WMAs in New Jersey you can hunt on Sundays but on state land you you cannot so I take that Sunday to work from early morning to all the way at night and then I am back to to the hunting grind for the rest of the week. So when everyone is at work and stuff like that that's where I do a lot more a lot of my damage is when people are are at work and stuff like that and I get to go out and into the woods and take take advantage of that.

SPEAKER_05: 53:37

Yeah the biggest thing for me this year was like was getting a whole new saddle set up I mean I had a saddle set up but I just pushed it up a little bit and like that was like the biggest game changer for me um I sold all my XOP stands I sold everything I got rid of everything that literally all I have is a saddle and I think that one of the biggest things that people I guarantee you I can't say I guarantee there might be one person that does this I do it is when I scout I bring my saddle like I wear my saddle and I'll bring a stick with me and if I'm coming up to something real fucking thick I get my saddle out or I get my stick on the tree and sometimes I'll bring two sticks I'll put it on the tree and I'll go up 10 feet and then I'll look and I'm telling you the shit that I spit by just doing that to like guys want to talk oh I'm gonna hunt the edge of a thicket right big thick briar wall right here. Oh this is a perfect transition that you're gonna funnel right along this and go out to wherever right in theory right you get up in the tree and you're looking oh fuck man there's the buck trail 30 yards into the thicket that you never had no idea until you got up into the tree the amount of deer trails that I found that way this year especially in the thickets holy shit and almost every and not almost every single time that I sat on the edge of a thicket and I saw a trail whether it was a doe a spike whatever a deer would walk down the trail that I saw when I scouted and when I went up into the tree and I saw that every single set this year. Every time that should at like like do you think like oh my wind's blowing this blah blah blah blah like I'm gonna whatever you would have no idea like that was even there if you didn't scout it. So then like so let's say all right I'm gonna hunt I'm gonna hunt 30 yards away from the edge of that thicket right where the my wind's dropping behind me my thermals are going down I'm gonna hunt the edge of that right 30 yards in front of me there's a wall of briars in theory yeah and you know what I would I would do that 100% now go up 10 feet in a tree go look on the edge of those briars and just see on how far that that briar patch goes to see what you see from that vantage point you'd like oh fuck I've been I would I didn't let's just say you didn't see anything well you were out of the game because there's a huge fucking trail running right through the middle of it that you had no idea you know so that's definitely something I I I do a lot and I've it has honestly yet to fail me. I've seen deer every single time that I've done that.

SPEAKER_07: 56:47

Yeah no that that's that's that's a good way to look at it because I'll bring the bow you know I mean the only time I will bring my even my saddle gear it's like I'm planning to just stay in and you know get right up but I've never thought to stop at a thicket and actually look climb up and look in and doing you know one or two sticks I mean it goes like that and you know for the guys who don't do it yet or who are going to get into the saddle and once you get comfortable and confident with it it actually becomes such a quick and easy step. You get in real quick you get down real quick and then boom you're done like and you're you're you're on your you're on the move and everything like that. You know and listen also you you may not like damn you really never know what's also in those in those briars yeah you can you know you can see but what if there's a there's a buck in there like I think for me for winner for the winner bow I've been hunting this and this this buck and everything like that and there's a thick air right in front of me and I think I blow him out every single time just entering especially with the snow on the ground the last couple of days before the snowstorm it was real loud and everything like that. Now back to powder saw so I moved back like 20 yards and I saw a bunch of deer today. You know what I mean? And I was like yeah I I definitely blew them out and if I can get up in there earlier and see what's in there or see the exact trails like Kyle's saying like it it definitely will play a big difference I think especially in the in the early season you know or you're getting close to that that pre-rut rut area time too like that's a uh it's gonna be a new one for me I get I guess and make sure I always carry a stick.

SPEAKER_05: 58:29

I like and I I've done this a couple of times I really don't do it that much just because I forget half the time or whatever I should say I'm always on the mood. Like even if like you're hunting a lot of private land too man like if if you're hunting a new private spot or you know it's just a new area whatever the case may be go in there and a thicket um the hardwoods whatever go in there in July August whatever go take some photos take some photos right then go take photos of it in November then go take photos of it when there's snow on the ground and look and and compare the photos you take a picture of a thicket it's a big green blob you don't see shit. Now look at that thicket in November okay you can see through it a little bit now look at it when there's snow on the ground you can see 30 yards into it now by doing that you're painting a picture in your head of okay this is really good cover early season but I will say last week of October all this shit is dead in here so there's really not much cover but there is to a point and then look at it with the snow on the ground because then you can really see like okay you see a thicket but you don't know like in that thicket maybe there's like a little bowl Or a little dip, or something terrain that changes enough to where, like, okay, maybe it goes up higher on this side than it wraps around. Okay, well, maybe the deer might walk around that on the inside of the thicket or whatever the case may be. There's just little tiny things that you can do that will just give you a little bit better of an edge and an understanding. Same thing with this, like you look on the outside of a thicket, you don't see shit. 20 yards into it, like they said, when you go 10 feet up in the tree, yo, there's all berries on in the middle of the thicket that you know all these deer are feeding on, or whatever the case may be. You know what I mean? So that that's just you know, a couple, a few things that I do and I have done in the past that like okay, and now we understand.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:50

Good job, Frank.

SPEAKER_05: 1:00:51

Now we now I understand why these are doing what they're doing in this area.

SPEAKER_03: 1:00:59

So yeah, yeah, let's take with me. Like there's like all these bodies and draws and stuff. Like I know that deer have been traveling down these draws non-stop out here. So I put a step on over drawing. I'm like, dude, like I see a deer every single time. They're probably not a shooter, but like it's just like the fact I'm still seeing movement is great. I don't know what it is about those about these draws here, but like it's insane the amount of movement that you can get through there. Like, we I think I've seen like one night within like two hours of each other, but at least up to like seven or eight demo just walking through there. And I was like, this is a spot. So and like I had that marked like every year I go there and I I at least pull two or three out of there.

SPEAKER_05: 1:01:39

Yeah, look at it too, dude. Like you're you're you're seeing all these deer and shit, and it's like I I get especially this year, I've just been more like laid back, you know, like reserved. Like I've just been more to myself this year.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 1:01:56

And you know, I every time like it's getting dark in a stand, you know, and I'm getting ready to, you know, to drop the bow down. I just kind of like sit there for a second and I'm just like, I outsmart in every motherfucking year that I saw tonight. I outsmart. I won. Well, I didn't, I won. I literally outsmarted. You had no idea. I'm like talking shit. I'm like, you jackass, you walk right by me.

SPEAKER_03: 1:02:24

You're gonna throw a rock at him, like I got you, bitch.

SPEAKER_05: 1:02:28

I put my bow on the ground, and then I hear crack crack and I'm like, fuck. And I was hunting like this, this, this giant deer, and I'm like, fuck, he's right here, god damn it. And I just turn and I look, and if this deer had all of his times, he would have been over 150 inches all fucking his two and his three were snapped off at his main beam, and he had like a four was like this big, and I was just like, and like he was at that point where you're squinting, and like you can't like, is that yeah, yeah, yeah. Just grow a little more 15 yards next to me. So I'm like looking, I'm like, he gets past me now. He's downwind to me. I'm like, fuck. So I like quick took my binos out and I'm looking, and I'm like, that's gonna be a fucking giant next year. Hugging my binos, I'm like, not moving, nothing. And I watched him walk right exactly where I knew he I thought, like you know, the deer would go, and that's exactly what he did. Didn't blow, didn't nothing. And I like I said, it's just the satisfaction of like, yo, I fucking beat you at your own game.

SPEAKER_08: 1:03:44

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 1:03:45

I could have killed you 10 times over, and I fucking did. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_08: 1:03:49

Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 1:03:52

No, I it's a it's so I did that say so. What I do, something, and and I've justin told me he does this all the time, and I was like, Oh, this is kind of smart, especially now, like it being later. Like, I haven't actually drawn my bow back in a deer since probably I was in Delaware in in November. Um, so over the last couple of hunts, every time I see a deer within bow range, I actually go through the motions of like I'm actually going to shoot that deer, you know. And I I I I'm trying not to get you know picked out the tree. I'm I'm slowly drawing back while making sure the thumb is definitely nowhere near the fucking thumb release. Oh, you know, that that is so like that's the one difference. But like in today I had had this um what's shed buck, and I'm like, oh and I I got that instinct too. Once the pin got on it, it's like I had this little voice of like just do it, do it.

SPEAKER_08: 1:04:50

Like you know you had to be over your pull, do it, you know. You're not gonna do it, you're not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_07: 1:04:57

Um and but like that that's something also I was like, and what I realized too is one of the branches up there was actually hitting my bowling. So I was like, all right, cool, like let me let down. I let down, and and I was like, all right, now I know I have to clip the next time I get in, I have to have to clip that. Like, um, you know, I was at the end of the hunt, so I was like, this big bucket, he's he's been playing cat and mouse. So every time I'm there, he doesn't show up. Every time, you know, I'm not there or I'm at hockey, he he shows up and everything like that. But um gotta make sure that that limb is clipped and everything like that, just just in case so you don't have any screw-ups and everything like that moving forward as as well. And that's something I usually do in the early season too, immediately just draw my bow back and to see what you need to do and and everything like that. Just going through them through the motions, um, you know, especially you know, our new guys um for the team who are you know into the saddles and getting getting gonna be saddle hunting and everything like that. Like just go through the motions, go through the summer, go through the motions, um, you know, and it's I'll tell you, it's we hype it up a lot, you know, and I love saddle hunting. It's uh I think every hunt except for maybe one this year or two hunts have been out, haven't been out of the saddle. Um, but like today I was so fucking frustrated. Like I feel so fat in the dam, like because I have to put like, you know, I layer up more than you know, more than usual. And it's like I got these boots, the snow's freaking high up, and I, you know, I'm you know, I could I could get up there in flexibility and everything like that when I'm trying to climb and I snap my double eater um in Delaware. So I've been running without my my eighters and everything like that. So it's been a pain in the freaking ass. But I don't know, like I feel so it saddle hunting was just not working for me today. I almost I knocked my almost knocked my platform off, almost knocked one of my sticks off. I was setting up my camera arm and I looked like a retard for like 30 minutes because I couldn't get the thing to stay, and I was doing it wrong because I and I I was like out of practice, and I'm like, I'm sweating at this point now because I walked in all the freaking snow and I'm getting frustrated, but then the wind is going down. Like, I was like, I'm so freaking over, like, I'm over this. I was like, this is why maybe I should just get a stand and put up a stand for freaking just winter and not try to freaking saddle hunt and everything like that. And when I'm dressed like this, then it's like everything's tighter. I've also gained like 20 pounds since it since you know the holidays and everything like that, just eating shit and drinking and everything like that. So I'm like, fuck, like the the shit is is ridiculous. But early season, you guys are gonna love it early season. You know, you're gonna love it. Just go through the motions, practice. I can't promise it'll be fun in the winter, you know, especially in a lot of snow and everything like that. But early season, mid-season, that rut time, you guys are gonna, you know, who who have it, you're gonna love it. Um, and you're gonna be able to bounce around and and everything like that during the rut, and it opens up so many more opportunities for you. It's not even like it's not even remotely close, and also the time and energy that you're spending setting up is gonna like you can, yeah, you can get into a spot and you need to move you know a hundred yards, and you're gonna be able to do it without a problem. It's like, all right, cool. Now I now I don't have to force myself to sit here. I can actually get up and move, and and and that's like one of the good things. That's how I killed my first doe ever out of the saddle. I was in a tree, didn't like it, got down, took me 15 minutes, and shot her maybe like an hour, an hour and a half later.

SPEAKER_03: 1:08:55

That's why I carry four sticks because like I'll use two on one tree, and if I see something or I just feel something, it's like I need to move, I'll leave those other sticks behind because I have it marked, and then it just only helps me be faster to get into the other tree and get up as fast as possible. And then on my way out, I just go grab them, and that's pretty much it. But like it's all about strategy, like you're you're getting that, and sometimes it's just strategy works, sometimes it doesn't.

SPEAKER_07: 1:09:22

Yeah, some sometimes it's not gonna pay off, you know. Um, I run you know, every I run three sticks. I have the eighters, I have a double eater, and you know, I usually have an extra one just in case I need it. Especially early season, I'm maybe a stick up. Like I I bring the others just in case, but I'm maybe a stick up. Sometimes I'm maybe just on my climbing sticks. I won't even bring up my platform because it's a waste of time for me. Um like, all right, I don't I don't need it. Um, you know, I also invested and I think I talked about this in an other episode, but you know, the uh the foot hooks where you screw into the tree and you climb up and everything. I started using those for a couple of my early season hunts because just to put one and two up just to get a little bit off the ground instead of carrying my my sticks with me, and those worked extremely well. Uh, you know, the only thing I just need to do is I just need to go tape them, and that's it. Uh, I usually everything, every new thing I get, I always run without tape, so I could see what it's like running and how noisy it is, and everything, which is crazy, but I do it, and then I'll tape it usually the next year just to hear the difference and be able to, you know, like, yeah, this shit doesn't this shit doesn't work, or it's actually not that loud and and everything like that. So um boy, I mean we we spent a lot on that on that one topic uh from before. Anyone got any last words? We'll do an official roundtable segment at some point soon. Um, trivia nights coming back. Um the game dinner is March 7th, everyone. Um we are going to be at the Empire State show in February 20th to the 23rd. Um, we plan on bringing our bow shoot back. Um yeah, I think that I think that's all. And you know, we're we're almost done with the season. Hopefully, you know, I had to let Kyle know early that it's the game dinner, and you know, hopefully him and and the family make it and everything like that this year. Uh, we haven't seen I we haven't seen you, we haven't seen you, Kyle, in what three years, I think. This is a bo shoot, the first book. Yeah, yeah, the first the first one. You know, Kyle and I have talked, and fun fact, I love saying this. We've been talking friends now for you probably as long as I've been with Bianca, I think. Right? Long time gotta be at gotta be at this point, and we've met once in person.

SPEAKER_05: 1:11:53

Once that's crazy, once but like, dude, it's like it's like I've known you for like my whole life, and we talk every every single fucking day, whether it's hunting or not hunting, like we just bullshit. It's like you know, it's just it's just so funny. He passes by where I live. I drive by your house on purpose every day.

SPEAKER_07: 1:12:16

He works, he works, he works in my town.

SPEAKER_05: 1:12:20

You think the guy would bring me a coffee one day?

SPEAKER_07: 1:12:22

Gee. You know what's crazy? Like, I've thought about I'm like, I always like, oh shit, I gotta go drive and just drive around until I find Kyle. Like, I know I could just ask you, but I'm like, I just need to fucking just do it one day. And it's every especially in the summer when we actually have time to to do stuff. I gotta go to Target. We have movie night, we gotta go do this. You know, I sacrifice everything for for a hunting season. So with the time, it's like I actually have time for for myself. It's like, oh shit. Like, there's a couple of times, like Kyle's like, Oh yeah, I'm um and it's so so like this is where we're working. I'm like, all right, cool, I'm gonna come by. And then Bianca's like, oh, we're going to the movies. I'm like, shit. All right, Kyle, I'll be over after the movies. And if we get done with the movies, I'm like, I just want to go home.

SPEAKER_05: 1:13:13

Um, your buddy gets us coffee every now and then.

SPEAKER_07: 1:13:16

So yeah, so and and that's another thing. He worked like one of my buddies who's a cop, one of my best friends. Um, yeah, it's like they they know each other and everything like that through work. So it's a small, it's a small freaking world. That's that's for damn sure. Um, you know, and then you know, I'm I'm excited to meet Connor. Connor is officially coming to the game dinner on March 7th. Uh, excited to have the Wisconsin boy. I'm gonna have to you're going getting flying to Newark Airport, right? Yep. Yep. All right, I'll pick you up. Have fun.

SPEAKER_02: 1:13:54

Exactly. You'll know what you're in for.

SPEAKER_06: 1:13:56

Expect the the top hat and the the long black coat on.

SPEAKER_07: 1:14:00

And uh no, I'm I'm actually gonna I'm gonna drive you what Kyle. I should probably just drive him through the hood.

SPEAKER_04: 1:14:07

Dude, don't do that. What you're not about, all right?

SPEAKER_07: 1:14:14

Take her back home before we do any of the hunting stuff activities that you know we go, let's let's let's go see a crackhead real quick. Let's go see this.

SPEAKER_05: 1:14:24

Just look left. One and look right, you'll see the other. Literally. You know what you think crazy because every like every state has their own spots, like own areas, you know what I mean? Like it's so crazy because it's like New Jersey, like it's it's there's it's so diverse across the board with absolutely everything you can possibly imagine. Everything, like oh, you're from Jersey, or like no asshole. I'm from Sussex fucking county. I don't I'm not two and a half hours, two hours away from the shore. What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_07: 1:15:04

And that's everyone. Yep, literally, just like everyone at work goes, Oh, we have bears in New Jersey. Like, oh fuck, but yeah, we have like one of if not number one, like the number two most densely bear populated state. And if you go to Sussex, you could probably throw a rock and your odds of hitting a bear are extremely high. You know, people are like, Oh, well, where do you do this at? Where do you hunt? It's like you do realize there's woods in New Jersey. I like it's not just the beach and the hood in the city. Like, it's like, yeah, we have farm, like we have farmland, we have mountains, we you know, we have marsh, we have like all these different things. You can literally travel the whole state up and down on hunt four or five different terrains in New Jersey. It's absolutely insane. And we have as much as we don't like it, we can shoot seven bucks. Um, and then we have you have unlimited dose, right? You have turkeys. Um I know in you know that's Kyle's thing. Um, you know, down south is crazy for turkeys. We have obviously bears, we have coyotes, fox, bobcats. We have then we have saltwater fishing, we have freshwater fishing, we have waterfowl. Um you know I mean, so we what I think we we one of the things that a lot of people don't have is black ducks, I think. Right? I think that's what it is. It's like a lot of people in other states don't have black ducks.

SPEAKER_05: 1:16:45

Believe it or not, like from an outdoor perspective, um Jersey is kind of like uh what's the word I want to put it? Um it's like one of those sleeper states, but it's like one of those destination states for black bear hunting, for you know, for seed ups, for um definitely not I mean down south turkeys, yeah, because a lot of out-of-state guys go down south, but like, you know, it it there there's some aspects of a you know destination kind of you know hunting here per se. I would say yeah, like you know, I mean you can go to New York and shoot a bear, but like Jersey's bears are just stupid. I have nine different I baited behind the house for my buddy this year, uh baited for four months. Yeah, I know every motherfucking bear that is in this area, and I have nine different bears. And when I told him that, you're like, what? No way. I'm like, dude, I I watch like they're in the back every day, like like yeah, yeah, they don't see that, so you know, they have no idea, you know what I mean? But we there's nine different bears behind my house, you know.

SPEAKER_07: 1:18:05

And that's normally how it is. Every everyone we've talked to who like you know, bear hunt and everything like that, especially in the Sussex area and everything like that, or are worn. You you're running a bait site, you know, and you could even be running a bait site for deer and not even for for for bear and everything like that, and you're probably gonna average four or five bears plus, like usually. Like it's not anything like that's not unnormal. That's like such a it's a it's another Monday, you know. And you know, for people who've who knows how it is and are Wisconsin guys, and obviously we're you know, I want you guys to come out and everything like that for the bear season, so we keep talking up, but like New Jersey does have the capability, right, of promoting this bear hunt where it could be such a money maker for the state, right? Listen, one of the bears I was chasing, its stomach literally touched touches the ground, and that's yet again so normal. I think Kyle, I think Kyle had one on on camera too that uh at least five six hundred pounds, right? You look at like a state like Maine, which is a big bear hunting state, like Maine's known for bear hunting, right? I think like the average like a 200-pound bear is like a giant bear there. That's not a giant bear here in in New Jersey, right? That's probably like it. That's an average. That's a you'd be like, all right, that's an average bear, and it's still a still a big bear, don't get me wrong, but we're talking about bears 300, 400, 5. I think what the uh timber, um those guys that just shot another life outdoors. I think they I think they shot what two 600 pound bears this this year. Oh my god. Two 600 pound bears. Um You know, and that it's it's like, all right, like why I mean we get it, it's a liberal state, but it's like listen, I'm not, I'm not let's face two dollar tag is a two dollar tag for us. Like, don't get me wrong, and it's a two dollar tag, I believe, for out of state hunters too, you know. But that's something like instead of, and I'll I'll say this every freaking podcast, instead of hitting us always with these fines and making New Jersey using all these permits and everything like that. Like, you can easily kick this tag up to 50 to 100 to 150. And I would still here, here's my debit card. Because you, you know, here you go. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_06: 1:20:45

Uh but you guys, you guys get to shoot seven bucks there. I'd be, you know, we only get the one, as Craig knows, during bow and one during gun, but yeah, I'd take a few tags to knock out some of the whack job libs around here.

SPEAKER_08: 1:20:58

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_07: 1:21:03

Um yeah, it's yeah, that that that's forever who's listening.

SPEAKER_06: 1:21:09

Yeah, I just said that.

SPEAKER_07: 1:21:13

Well, yeah, yeah, you missed um Connor. You you missed it for you before you got on, but I was uh I was telling the boys, I was like, I saw I gotta find it because there was on TikTok or some on Twitter, there was a woman that was screaming. She's like, Medic, medic, and she grabbed the fucking flashbang before it went off. Oh, I see that. I guess it went off in her hand, dumb. And it's like, what else did you think was going to happen? Yeah, I see that video today.

SPEAKER_05: 1:21:47

Like, don't blame ice, it's all ice's fault.

SPEAKER_07: 1:21:50

Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, so you know, you know, everyone knows how we feel, and I'd say 99 of our listeners feel the same exact way. So, you know, we we we already know how it is, and and everything like that. And oh, the one bad thing that and I talked about it I think uh two shows ago, is New Jersey. Uh, they just proposed the the freak in that bill to remove three people from our board, yeah. Of I think it's 10 and to put three non-hunters on our our yeah, um, that that would be fucked. Um the model here's the thing once it's three, it's gonna be five, it's gonna be six, it's gonna be seven, and then it will probably be everyone except for like one or two, you know what I mean? So you can't, even though people are like, Oh, well, you know, you still have seven others, majority wins. You can't even let one seat go because once one goes, they all will, they all will fall. And it's any other state, too. It's you know, you guys in Wisconsin, it could doesn't matter, it could be anywhere, you know. Um so it's enough enough rambling. We can we could go on for days.

SPEAKER_05: 1:23:02

Um I many tickets did you sell for the dinner?

SPEAKER_07: 1:23:07

Um, I don't know yet. I don't usually start, I really like the two when I'm two months away. I start really putting out the word and everything like that to give people their their time. Once we get a month away, that's when I like, all right, you need to who's who's actually coming. We're probably we're hoping, listen, I'm really hoping 50. That's that's it would be great 100, but I don't want it too too big. And you know, I explain I explained this on the West last one. Frank agreed, like a lot of the guys, we agree. Like, I don't want it get too big. Um, everyone's like, oh well, that means more money for you. No, but it also means more headache, more food, then food quality goes down to like everyone does love the food and desserts and everything that that we do there, and and everything like that. If I can get to 50 to 100, that that's as big as I want. But if we get to 50, um, we just try to grow every single year. Last year was our biggest. Hopefully, this year will be our next biggest, and everything like that. So we'll um I should be finding out in the next couple weeks who's for sure in. I know Connor here, um, I know Frank and the family. Uh Squatch. What's the day of it?

SPEAKER_05: 1:24:23

March 7th.

SPEAKER_07: 1:24:24

March 7th. I got mostly most of the boondocks guys who are in the area are going are gonna be there. I know American Mike and his family are are going to be there. Um, I think I have a couple family members and and friends coming. Um, I'm waiting for a hear back from Chris and Dave. They're going to make try to make sure they're not working to come. Um, and a couple of but a bunch of the OGs who usually come every single year. Then Gerard will be there. Gerard is going to be our guest speaker. Um, things like that. We have um one of the raffles I can is from Ossio. Uh Asio sent us a a package to to raffle off. Um, so that is definitely going to be one of them. And we are looking at a few other big name things as well. Um to raffle off. No bow this year, but a bow will be coming in the near in the near future, um, as a as a raffle on like that, everything like that over there. So um, yeah, I hope uh hope everyone enjoyed this episode. My boondocks, guys, just stay on, please, uh after. Um and everyone else, I hope you enjoyed this episode. And we'll see you guys next time.