Back After The Long Break

SPEAKER_01 0:02

This is the Garden State Outdoors and Podcast. 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, we are back. Sorry, it's been a while since we've recorded anything. It's been a while, honestly, since we've dropped an episode. This is the longest in six years that I've gone without dropping the episode, but we are back. We are back with our field notes segment, which means weekly updates from all the team members and everything like that. Um, real excited to have hunting season back in into action. Um we are we're finally here. So that thank god. Almost there. Well, yes, almost first. I think you and I think a few other guys are still on that almost. I think you so you're starting this weekend. I still think we have some guys that are not starting until October 1st. I think all the Wisconsin. So for South, and South is usually um you usually see the states start a lot earlier. Why is it Alabama August 1st?

SPEAKER_02 1:42

So uh I'm not sure. So it's October 1st, so they're in Alabama, but they get to hunt later. So their rut, like in southern Alabama where I hunt at, their rut isn't until January. Mind you, you look at Florida, we have four different zones. So we have a section like the panhandle isn't open until later, but South Florida, they've been hunting in freaking banana hammocks because they've been hunting since like July. So those guys are out there just fighting the 110-degree

When Seasons Open Depends On Latitude

SPEAKER_02 2:10

you know heat index, and they've been hunting down South Florida for a couple weeks now.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Have you done that any of your years? Hunted in that like that early?

SPEAKER_02 2:18

No, is it so the well I hunt all summer for pigs? The problem with South Florida is there's not all most of the public land down there is all in the quota system, and so I've yet to be able to get down there. They have what they call like a Florida slam, and I've always thought about trying to do it one year, moving my quota permits and trying to get those and kill like all different types of the Florida bucks. Um, but yeah, most of it down there is private, um, private or quota hunt. And I'll be honest, that's my uh brownie point season.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Okay. Yeah, makes sense. Makes sense. Yep. Yeah, yeah. And that's why you're you're I think what we're talking in in the chat the other day, and we're like, oh yeah, like it's opening day, and you're like, you're like, nope, uh, I think you went on vacation. You guys went on vacation.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

I think I took my wife on a cruise for her birthday, and we got back on Monday. So uh we had our daughter's birthday is the first of September, and then Callie's birthday was last weekend, and it was not a huge birthday, but it was a big enough birthday. Um, and it's brownie points for hunting season for one, for two, it's like, hey, one of these years, I'm not gonna be here for your birthday because I'm gonna go chase elk. So that might be next year. I don't know, we'll see. So I feel like if I did it up this year, I can, you know, hopefully go hunt elk one year on a birthday. Yeah, you know how women are birthdays are yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Listen, I I get it. It's my my fiance, her birthday's coming up literally on Tuesday, and it's uh I'm pretty thankful where it's not like at least it's always after opening, you know, opening weekend and everything. It's two weeks after opening weekend and everything like that. It's not also during that main part of like October, November. You know what I mean? The time where you don't really want to miss. Oh, when's when's your wife, Greg?

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Uh November 5th.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Ohdy, I'd be I'd be in the in the doghouse and no no no no no.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

October. Oh no, no, I'm sorry, October 5th, October 5th. Yeah, it's like right, it's like just as the okay, it's still early enough in October. Yeah, it's still kind of like okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Yeah, this morning, it was actually the last two days have been like in the morning, it's been like 76, and I've got to work, and I'm just like, that's what I need. It's not 112 degrees. Like, we it's been brutal here, man. It's like this shirt I'm wearing now, drenched. Like, just I and I I'm not a big sweater. I'm like, I've had to like come out of the woods, change my shirts. Like, I'm like drinking water. I it's been bad, like electrolytes the whole nine, just in the tree, just like oh god, like it's it's been rough here, man. It's but a lot of guys have been going out like at five o'clock and like staying until like eight.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

So yeah, it's crazy how different the south is, and you know, like year

Heat, Humidity, And Relentless Bugs

SPEAKER_01 5:20

you're like, yeah, it's in the 70s, and like I think the other day was in 50 something for us. Goodness gracious, which is like a beautiful morning. I think tomorrow's high is December here. It's supposed to be 67. I think tomorrow's high is like the predictions of like tomorrow's high is supposed to be 67, which is really cool for like that. Doesn't usually typically happen in in a September and everything like that. But um, you know, it was and and what we were talking about off camera before is you know, last or yeah, last week was Delaware's open opening week, and I got a glimpse of what it's like hunting in the south. And I'll tell you, I really want to know. I was so miserable, and you just couldn't get comfortable. And the bugs, these were the biggest mosquitoes I've ever ever seen. I've been yes, covered, covered in in mosquitoes and just bugs and couldn't get comfortable. Every little movement, you're just drained, like it's it, it was rough. So, like, yeah, you say like I don't know how much how much for you guys, and yeah, for for you, Greg, it's even worse because you know, yeah, you're bald. Like, at least I have some hair where you know I mean, like, I I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

I got bats back there, like I yeah, they're not for show. Like, it's rough.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Yeah, it's bad. Sounds just like they're like little hummingbird, blood sucking hummingbirds, or like little mini pterodactyls just running around the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Yeah, bats with wings, they just come out and they're just like and it's it's like they just don't stop, and it's it's bad when you gotta run two thermocells at once and you're still like trying not to make any movement, right?

SPEAKER_02 7:12

Yeah, it's like they're waiting, they're just waiting, just staring at you, like I had a uh buddy of mine, I put we were hunting a piece of public, and he wanted to go hunt with me. I was like, All right, let's go. And I put him in a food plot, like on the outskirts of a food plot, and then I kept going all the way down, and I was hunting right on the edge of the of the intercoastal waterway. Um, and I look over and I could swear I see him moving, and so I grabbed my binoculars and I look, and this dude is just in the standard of these numbers, and I'm like, bro, you're never gonna shoot anything. And he's like, I didn't bring my thermocell, these things are literally about to take me away.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Yeah, it's repelling, man.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

I was like, Man, come on now. I think I killed, I don't know, I don't even know how many, and we were sleeping the first night. We slept in a tent, and then the second night, oh my god, before we knew that a storm was coming, me and uh Zach were like, All right, we're just gonna sleep in the in the trucks like tonight, and everything like that makes it just so much simpler. We get out on of our hunt and we go to meet one of our one of our buddies, Andrew. He uh runs the uh Die Hard page. And because we're all down Delaware and everything, it's like a tradition every single year that all of us are down there, and all of a sudden, like the wind finally starts blowing, and you're you look in the sky, we're like, Oh, we're about to get hit with the storm, and then

Delaware Storm Chaos At Camp

SPEAKER_01 8:35

all the alerts are going off, and tornado warnings and everything like that. So me and Zach drive back to camp, it just downpours, and my tent had flipped over and was just full completely flooded. They I moved everything that was important out already and was already in the truck because I already planned on sleeping in the truck. But if I didn't, oh my god, I would have been so screwed. But the south, like and I can only imagine the storms get worse, the humidity gets worse the farther you go, the bugs get worse. Then you guys have all the spiders and the snakes and everything like that. Like, yeah, the spiders.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

That's how I know it's a new area. Yeah, that's how I know it's a new area when I'm just like the spider webs.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Like I just stick my bow out, and I just walk forward. I got an area that like this deer travel all the time, and there's it's tall grass on this side, and this side there's pines, and every single day you go through, you go in there for a morning hunt and you walk out, you're like going through a freaking spider web. And it's funny, that's how I know it's I've put cameras up kind of down the area, and you can tell if a deer's recently gone by because there's no spiderwebs. You're walking through and you don't hear a single spider web, you're like, deer's been through here. Yeah, I know it. A deer's been through here. It's a small little tiny, you know, small little tiny walk walkway that I created. Yeah, you can tell.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Couldn't imagine, but um, Greg, so for you, what would what was the start of the season like? What I know it was hot, it was humid, it's kicking your butt the humidity and everything like that. But how's it going so far? Have you seen any motivated man?

SPEAKER_00 10:25

I think for me, I always have these like grandiose ideas, and it just goes highs and lows, and a lot of the areas are have been burned. So I've scouted them, and they're like, Oh, it's closed down. You're like, Well, fuck, where do I go? Um, and we've had some some gnarly weather here, so a lot of the um there's branch, there's all kinds of stuff just in the road, so it's just kind of like all right, let me let me re-gear. So that's been kind of like just my own way of like motivating myself, and

Scouting Setbacks And Aider Failure

SPEAKER_00 10:55

then you know, the other day I was using my one stick and my eight or broke, and it was just like, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

Were you on it? Yeah, sorry, my camera's going off, my multi is going off. So I checked it and I heard that.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

When I tell you, when I tell you, I I had and I I was at the bottom of the stick, so I'm like, okay, cool. And I'm tall, so you know, I'll put it pretty high, and I'm like, all right, here I go. And I step and I just swing, and I just like everything went into slow motion where I'm like, oh, and then it was just like oh, I was so I was so mad. And what kind of aider is it? It was just an am still guy, just a normal, just hanging on my one stick, like and I normally rock a uh which one single or double? Uh double, a double. I normally do a double just because like it makes no sense anything after that, um, at least for me. And yeah, that happened, and I was just like, this can't be sweating to death, like it's been uh sweating to death, almost died. Yeah, so it's like because it's you don't ever think about it until it just like gives out, and you're just like and it's like so.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Greg, I'll say the uh the the aiders, and and I love them, and I love the am still guy. Like, I've had him on the show, I've been using his products for a very long time. Um but obviously, especially on a step, at least I can say mine. Like I run B sticks, those those sticks are they seem so sharp. So after a few years, of course, like everything else, just the wear and tear. I did the same thing last year. First step went and I knew I knew they're gonna break, and I kept seeing them. I'm like, uh, like I can get another hunt out of them, I can get another hunt out of them. You know, I mean, I'm only using it on the first on the on my first step, so like I'm not gonna really fall or anything like that. And yeah, they finally broke, but it's isn't it scary? I last year, I've I've told it on the show before, but last year I was and I I hunt, I hang and hunt, so and I pick a lot of really unique, crazy trees because I like the trees that have the foliage and you know, branches everywhere where I can just get in and conceal myself and everything like that. And this tree was like awkward, like slanted like this way. And I remember trying to put the stick correctly, and it was on an angle. And I remember I tried jumping up and I slipped right off the stick, fell. My pants got caught on the my top stick. They ripped a hole through my three layers. I ended up cut I yay, I cut, I cut my freaking, I cut my sack. Um thank god I didn't cut like it was a situation where I could have just ripped myself completely open. I would have freaking bled out freaking in the woods and everything like that. Like, yeah, it was it was one of my it was probably my second scariest moment. Um and it it's like you never like it. You said you never think it's gonna happen, or like it's it's always this thing, like and it goes in slow motion, and it did happen in slow motion, and I was it it was yeah, it was a real crazy situation last year. Like I almost, yeah, almost uh ripped everything open and just like and I was on one stick and I was just so no more like I'll still get into like weird trees, but I got I I'm just gonna I don't know be I guess a little more cautious now when I when I do it. Pull out your inner Tarzan when it's like this. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Yeah, I switched to the um I still have like the like the AM steel um style aiders on my sticks, which I don't really use that much anymore, but now I use pretty much just a one stick. Yeah, and I've switched to the webbed ones, and it has been awesome. Like using this little like plush and play thing has been nice.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

That's what I got.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Um because it drops down and then you can just like it but it keeps it clean, yeah, which is really nice. And then what I like about the webbed ones is a lot of times these little center pieces are a lot thicker, so you don't have to worry about when you step on it, and then sometimes when you step on like the am steel ones, then all of a sudden that little piece of hose goes in instead of out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you're trying to find it on the tree. So these ones are being nice to have.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

So you're both one stick guys, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:33

So you both are I'm a mixture between one stick and then I still have the old school, as I showed you guys in the group chat, uh uh alone wolf, uh hand clamber. Those are those are my those are those are what I go with.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

So yeah, yeah. It just depends for me. Normally on my public land hunts, I'm taking the one step. Um, because there's so many times where I've gone because I'm short, I'm the exact opposite of Greg. I use all three of those steps, and like I'm at Greg's head by the time I get to the top. Um,

One-Stick Setup Tips And Safety

SPEAKER_02 16:05

so sometimes even getting to that third one's a a tough, a tough situation for me. I'm sitting there trying to put it them all up. Um, but on my other sticks, I'll use the other ones. But there's so many times when you're hunting those weird style trees on public land, especially if it's like your first time you've ever been there, that I tote four sticks in and then I use two of them or three of them, and I don't need to get up, and I'm like, man, I just toted an extra three pounds for absolutely nothing.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Yeah. Uh I I might have to look into the to the one stick method. I mean, I run I run my three B sticks with double eighters, and they were before they had two, so they're the longer ones. I know now they no longer sell the the ones that that we use. Um both uh me and Zach use the same one of the Zachs that you guys haven't met yet. Um we use the same B sticks and everything like that, and they're hands down the best. And honestly, most of my hunts have been out of just one stick, and I put one stick in one platform.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

I would say if you haven't one stick, just practice. Like if you know someone who has one, check it out because they're all about the same, like it's really like same weight, it's really kind of like which how you want to customize it. But once you do it a couple times, it's like it's not bad. I mean, the repellent is probably the cleanup is probably for me and the get down. Because when I had four sticks, you know, you're you're you're tethered and you're just like searching with your one leg down, you're like, ah, okay, you know, that deep breath with that thing, I'm just like, I I just fall down, whoa, down to the ground, like like uh G.I. Joe. I'm just like down on the ground, I pull one rope, I like that, and it pops down.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

So my biggest thing with one stick is I'll say this you have to commit to it. Because the first time I did it, I was obviously down here, I was sweating my butt off. I was like, this is the stupidest thing. I don't understand why anybody would ever do this. This is absolutely silly, this is dumb, doesn't make any sense. And now, like, if it's not a preset that I have like on my lease, I'm using that, and now I won't use anything other than that because I just I force myself. It's kind of like saddle hunting the first time you do it, anyway. Sure, like this is uncomfortable. But I told myself, like, well, you know, I went to the saddle, same thing as I did when I went to the one stick. It's like I and the same thing with filming, like it's so easy to leave your filming correctment at home. Oh my god, yes. If you tell yourself, I'm bringing my filming, I'm not gonna sit one freaking time this year without bringing my camera equipment, it's good because then once you do it once, you're like, man, that was so easy, and then you don't do it the next time, and then you don't do it the next time, and it's the same thing with saddle hunting, period. And then it's the same thing with a one stick. If you force yourself to do it five or six, seven times in a hunting situation, you're like, Oh man, all right, that's actually kind of cool. It kind of actually worked out well. You just got to commit to it.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

I I think um, at least for for the filming aspect of setting up, once you set up, do it the first time, it it does, it gets easier and easier. And it's like, all right, that's not that bad. The hardest part about self-filming is actually self-filming, you know what I mean? And if you're running, and I know Greg, I know you're running multiple cameras, I'm running multiple cameras. Um, I imagine you're, you know, Chris, you're you're running multiple cameras, and yeah, so I'm running three as well. Um, you know what I mean? And yesterday I got my overhead camera, one of my overhead cameras, I got that on film of my PO, kind of like my POV, the ones that you guys saw. My main camera, I had it on the deer, but I didn't realize it's just slipped down a little bit, so you actually just get the feet and you hear you hear the impact and everything like that. And then I was able to get the camera like on her and everything like that, and then the one camera because where the I had deer also behind me, so I have also another overhead camera. Um, I just did not dare to get that one on because of deer, uh dough was already blowing behind me.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

What kind of overhead camera do you have?

SPEAKER_01 20:12

So I run uh my Sony A6100 is my over.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Okay, I just literally right above me. Old Fateful to Insta360. This is the old one.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

I want one of those.

Self-Filming Systems And Camera Rabbit Holes

SPEAKER_01 20:25

I I do want an insta, I I want uh DJI's uh 360 camera. I was gonna get it this year, but I decided not to because I don't need uh Bianca killing me right now. Um, you know what I mean? I've I've spent a lot of money on cameras. Um, probably I've spent more money on cameras in the last two years than I probably have on hunting equipment in the last couple years. Um once you get into the cameras and everyone can I I can can probably agree to this, you know. Chris, probably from you got your first camera, and Greg, you got it just opens up a whole different world, and you just start going down the ramp rabbit hole of all right, let me get this, let me get this. This is gonna make so like the 360 makes things so much easier because you have the building. So much easier so much, and it's a great um b-roll camera. Yeah, I mean, I always talk about B-roll cameras, the D any DJI GoPro, um, you know, the the 360 cams, those are phenomenal B-roll cameras. And when you're filming and you're trying to create hunts and everything like that, your B-roll is extremely important.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

That's what makes that what makes or breaks a video, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:37

100%. Like some one of my favorite shows to watch right now, and I I do love the hunting public, but it has been replaced by uh latitude show grit. Your b roll is is yeah, yeah. Um freaking some some of the best, and it is, you know, and they're not like it's not like they're out there drilling 160, 170, 180 inch. year. You know what I mean? It's you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Well it seems like guys you want to go hunt with, right? Like, cutting up with each other, kind of like what we all do, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Well I've I've had Derek, I've had Derek on the show way, way like my first year he was on the show. That's awesome. Great, great, great guy. I I would like to get out I would like to get Alex obviously on on the show. And you know that that would be pretty damn cool to to get them on. Yeah. Everything like that.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

But um yeah it's funny talking about cameras that video where it's kind of like I you can kind of see me pulling back and see I love that one for the other day. So that's um that's a DJI action three and then the DIY bow hunter I think they might have changed their name um they have a little thing that just goes right onto your it like goes over your uh bridge and then you just screw it in and then I set that one up to a wide angle because I don't like that's one of the things I don't like about action cameras when they're set to wide angle. So I like on the DJI you can set it wide or not. So I set that one at wide and that picture looks like it's from way up here. I mean that camera's right here next to my face.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

That's cool.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

And it's nice because when you're moving around the tree like if you're if you're trying to move around the tree it stays there and stays with you. So you don't have to worry about it. Um that was like my biggest thing with filming and I know we're kind of getting off track of what no no no I I love talking about like I was talking about like what what's going on in the woods but is um I switched from like a regular like video camera um from a AX11 to a Sony a mirrorless and I was like man it was I couldn't use remote anymore and it was a huge learning curve that first year and I was like screw it I'm going back to a regular radio regular video camera but it's so much lighter so much easier to bring and I was like that's the plus side of 4K like get a decent lens put it 4K put that joker all the way out and I don't really have to worry about getting a kill shot dead on because you can always at 4K you can always bring it in in post production and still get really good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

So I have a tendency to find it'll stay real wide um so I can see a big area and then worse comes worse in post production you can you can zoom it in in that way um so this is my main camera now love it my handy cam love it this is like my main camera um because and so this used to be my main camera with my lens this is the A66100 um this used to be my main camera I switched to this for self-filming solely because what I do a lot is when I see deer I actually take take it off and I'm able to grab it and record and it stabilizes beautifully and the zoom you know I mean unless I decide to get a $2000 lens is amazing on this what is it what is that called I can look at it um this one is uh the A643 I think I will a hundred percent be able to tell you later um but and then this is the camera that's usually overhead or something like or I do a lot of my a lot of my b-roll of you know I'll take and I'll film stuff and and everything like that. I love this camera uh but I agree like I love a mirrorless camera. If they're one of they are the best but I will say they're not the best in my opinion for self-film it's hard just because there's a lot harder into it. Yep. Yeah yeah if yeah if I am gonna film somebody and I'm solely gonna fill somebody I'm gonna bring this you know I mean because that's one of the only things you're focusing on.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

That's one of the reasons I went with the Z V E10. So it's the ZV E1 but I went with the Z V E10 because the body is really light. Yep and I feel I know myself well enough like that was my entry level mirrorless camera. I knew I wanted an A7 III or the new A7 IV because the new A7 IV is sweet. It's also the same software as the A7 as the Z V E 10. So I was like it's a really great opportunity for me to learn it. It's a very light body so that way whenever I decide to upgrade to the A7 IV I now have that ZBE 10 which is same quality same everything super easy and I can use that as my third angle and have an epic third angle camera along with my new camera. So it's kind of like all right what can I buy now that like I know I will still use later yeah and that's the reason I went with the ZBE10 in that aspect because like I think I bought an open box at uh Best Buy for like 600 bucks. Yeah and then I bought a decent lens I bought a camera and I think it's 28 to 200 but it's a full frame lens so you take that 28 to 200 and a full frame you put it on the ZBE 10 which is a ASPC camera and it's like it's like 50 to 300. Right. Yeah which is nice for really all the hunting shots it's not it's horrible for interviews like self-interview it's absolutely horrible but get one with the DJI action three and action fours those are incredible for ease to use great for interviews great for b-roll great for everything that's what I use um I've even been seeing a lot of people use that one that's like the new GoPro the new DJI that's like the stick. Yeah I want that one so I've I've seen that in action all he's hunting with that's like no he has a couple hundred thousand followers on YouTube and that's all he's using this year.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

I I I want one I don't know how he would zoom with it like I don't know but like I well once again it's 4k right so you can you can go in four times in post production and he's he makes some great stuff um and that's all he's using this year I'm like for for real it's a really really good camera I've never like I I've seen it up close in personal at weddings and stuff like that. I've had my eye on that for for a while and then I even had my eye on crazy enough metaglasses right because I do especially during hold on especially during like not during hunting but during the off season because I am doing so much with my hands when it comes to setting up cameras and walking in and stuff like that. Sometimes I really just don't feel like going like this. If I that's when I usually need my hands the most is during the off season when I am you know doing all different types of stuff how about this a big reason I wanted the meta glasses is duck hunting or yeah yeah turkey hunting like you take those and you're not worried about moving all everything around especially that's another one right because ducks are so hard to film

New Jersey Earn-A-Buck Doe Down

SPEAKER_01 29:05

like a good duck hunt.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

You're right and those things do really good for those so I've actually I've thought about it and then I've thought myself out of it and then I talk myself into it and then I talk myself out of it.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

And so yeah I have them me me too I'm I'm on the same boat. I'm probably not gonna get like the only way I'll get them if somebody gifts them to me. Yeah yeah I mean like I hope you're listening um but um so we'll we'll go we'll get back on track I'll you know everyone last night I uh I killed I killed the dough in Jersey you have to earn your buck for all our Jersey people or for everyone who who knows us and and has been following us for a while you know our season the biggest pressure I feel is during this time of the year because you can have your buck pattern to kill that morning and it does not matter you have to kill your doe first um and it's a huge oh we lost Greg. We lost Greg. It seemed like he was messing with this stuff so he'll probably be back on yeah um and I'll I'll tell you it's been it's been a grind. It has definitely been a definitely been a grind. I've been on deer um the only day I haven't seen deer I think was opening morning which I knew was a possibility I wasn't gonna see one um and then the next that evening just bucks and on so forth and so forth until finally yesterday like just deer galore. Bunch of deer came out had deer blowing at me and they stepped out and I had literally a tiny tiny window like I took a picture and I think the window was probably like this big just shoot through ranged at 40 quartering away drew back and I just sent it and I like the minute I released I was like yeah it's I knew it was that's hard to be I will tell people and it's I've been talking about this for at least four to five years now in my opinion there is no better or no deadlier shot than a quartering away shot I think it is it's my favorite shot probably to to kill a deer like yes broadside yada yada yada but you know what I've had way more mess ups with broadside shots than I have had with quartering away shots I think only one time knock on wood one time you know I mean and I think that was more on my it was more me than than anything else is why I messed up my my one of my quartering away shots I broke the wrist significantly less room more room for error because like if you're inch back inch forward cording away I always imagine like there's a balloon in the middle and you just need to pop that freaking balloon.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

But if you get a straight broadset side shot there's so many other things that go into your head you're like okay I can't go back can't go forward because Lord forbid that should're there. And you get scared of the shoulder so you start running it a little bit further backwards and then now you're like now you're in the freaking you know you're lucky to hit a liver shot. Yeah and so a lot of times that quartering away shot is a little bit more room for room for like an error you know what I mean at a couple inches right couple inches left yeah you know you're still good to go.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Yeah yeah it's not me to like my focus is like I'll stare at the leg and I'll just like crawl up and I breathe and I'm like boom and as that that that like peak point that's where I'm like okay now I can release now if I'm on or off then you know it's what it is but at least I have like a a vocal point because if I don't do that you know my nerves will get get the best of me.

SPEAKER_02 33:02

Yeah I'm still like it's funny as I've gotten older I feel like I've gotten better at like controlling my me too me too my buck fever. Now don't get wrong it still pumps. I get a dough in front of me and I'm like you know what I mean but I feel like I've been able to like calm down like I will literally pull my head like if I'm looking and I catch myself like starting to move a little bit I will literally turn my head away and like take a deep breath or like hum a song in my head and then come back and then it's like so as I do that it's like whoosa yeah I think what what helps me especially in that situation is when I the last two or three bucks that I've killed it's happened quick.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Like you know one was fighting and I just heard them fighting and this buck just came in and you didn't like I didn't have time to think I'm like all right I gotta grab my boat like you know I mean I didn't have time to think of the like the deer and like what was going to happen. And last year Buck came in he's switching sides on me and I was trying to get filmed and getting everything set up and I'll never forget like he would switch to this side and then he would switch to this side so I kept going back and forth and like my brain just was like yes I my buck fever came after like the shakes and the everything but in that moment I am trying to figure out how I can best kill this this deer and ended up shooting him you know five yards quartering away and it was it it's it doesn't hit you till after and I feel like yes the older I've gotten and it's not it's not that it's not like that feeling has gone away. You've just learned to all right cope with it and maybe take some more deep breaths but man winter bow last year this buck was a hundred yards away and he was there for like 20 minutes and he was slowly coming in and it got me so I was like we're like I'd rather you just come out of nowhere and I have 30 seconds to pull back to doing yes when you when you when you anticipate it and everything like that I mean yeah you make it you get that like my stomach just like like am I dying like I always have to ask like heart attack right here. Am I dying like what's going on?

SPEAKER_02 35:17

Yeah oh but love love love we uh we got we got season starting on Saturday so super excited for it we uh woods not too long ago got some spots checked make sure everything's good to go I got some uh I got a plethora of doughs in Florida we can only kill two so right now if anybody wants to come to Florida kill a dough especially during archery season holler at me um because I am just I'm ate up with those right now I finally it's weird it it's starting to it's interesting to see what's happening um this year I feel like they came out of velvet a little bit earlier so a lot of times the big boys are still holding on to velvet until first of September I didn't have a single buck in velvet after mid-August so they popped out a little bit early um do you notice that they drop they drop their antlers early uh sometimes they do it's weird I'll have antl I'll have deer in January that are dropping horns

Florida Deer Movement Shifts On Camera

SPEAKER_02 36:10

and I have deer in during turkey season that have freshly dropped so it's kind of all over the place we really have like you know everybody a lot of times they have like two ruts but our rut is so crazy in Florida I feel like it's you get like for us where we're at it's October 16th and then it's like every 28 days boom it's coming it's coming it's coming there's more plus there's so many does right there's so many to breed with the dough to buck population ratio that we got but it's been interesting to see like our trail cameras over the last few weeks over really the last week week and a half in my doe groups are starting to split up so my doe group that had seven eight does in it they're starting to split off a little bit which has been interesting to see so I have a group coming to one area pretty regularly it's a doe with her fawns. Now the does that were with that group that didn't have fawns are now coming up to another spot about four or five hundred yards away and the bucks are really starting to start moving around a little bit I didn't have a single buck on camera all really pretty much all summer um which I'm it's weird. The years where I don't have a lot of bucks in the summer end up being really good hunting seasons and vice versa. And so those go groups are starting to split up some which is which is cool because we're also starting to see bucks come in that hadn't been there before. And even though it's we're you know we're still a month away from from our real peak right here, I saw a buck last night on camera at one spot at eight o'clock he was in another spot about 200 yards away at nine about an hour later and then I caught him on a complete other side of the property probably half a mile away at one o'clock at night and then he was back at the first camera at four o'clock. And he was just I don't know if he's just obviously they're not pushing does yet you know they're starting to get get to see I think they're starting to mess around with each other a little bit to see yeah breaking out their bachelor groups seeing who's going to run areas and I think that right now they're just paying attention like keeping tabs on the dough groups especially since they're starting to separate I noticed where he was at was the areas that they're all where he's never been on camera before as spots where those doe groups kind of move to um and so I think he's just now starting to pop off and like not really interested in them but just trying to keep tabs on where they are. Keep it cool to see just that change of that deer movement in the last week. And we had a little bit of a front come through not a cold front by any means but it did drop a couple degrees um and it's been cool to kind of see like all of a sudden I was like man I guess I'm just shooting does this year. No bucks I don't have a single buck on camera and we had four different bucks on camera last night. They were all shooters right we have a bunch of small guys a bunch of real young six points um but it was cool to kind of all of a sudden like bucks started showing up and I was like oh my gosh what's going on now I'm like trying to figure out what to do season starts in two days and I'm like where to go you know so uh I'm trusting my gut and I'm going with the same decision on Saturday that I chose last week. Love it. That's what I'm freaking doing. Because I get my head start thinking about too much. Yeah yeah me me too I got one butt and uh about four stands to sit. So I'm like you know I gotta pick one. So I'm gonna hunt one in the morning one in the afternoon when's gonna be perfect for all of them. I'm looking forward to it um keep it simple too that's yeah Saturday is the only day I can hunt uh this weekend unless I can slip out Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

Um and I'll honestly it's probably the only time I'll be able to go to lease until mid-October which with work so I gotta make this weekend count for me that's for sure yeah for sure definitely definitely well we we got one bit of time you have worked it go ahead Greg sorry I didn't hear you what'd you say Greg can you can you hear me are you talking I see your lips moving but I can't make out the words oh that's why I got off early I can I can hear you Mike okay all right so I've dropped twice because both times I dropped uh I couldn't hear you guys at all hmm I wonder I I don't know if it's it's my connection yet again I'm dog sitting so I'm not in my normal normal place so I have have no idea if it if it's me and affecting like I don't know it's all good I can I can drop off guys if I can't if you can hear him then it's all good.

SPEAKER_02 40:28

Can you hear him no I can't hear him oh man but he can hear but he can hear you guys hold on it's all good give me one second that means it's Mike it's gotta be Mike if you can hear me and you can't hear Mike it's him because I can hear you I can hear all you three it's all good.

SPEAKER_00 40:43

I don't want to kill the flow of the show we're gonna fix this.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Mike's gonna fix it. Mr fix it over here anyways he was talking over you so he was wondering he was just gonna let you keep going with what you were saying.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

Oh now he's gone I'm sure he'll be back still recording he's gone so that's good.

Connection Issues And Weekly Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_00 41:10

Yeah I guess I guess it's I guess it's us until he hops back in I don't know what happened.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

Oh oh yeah if if I can you hear me now I can Greg can you still not hear me no it's all good I'll I'll drop off I don't like well we'll we'll we'll save it then we'll we'll save it for next time uh let him know that we'll save for next time and then he said we'll save it for next time and then we'll end the show here tonight. We'll just end the show it could easily just be my connection of of where I am I don't know yeah I was about to say you're not in your normal office but then yeah no that's the new spot. Dog no dog sitting uh so um but all right everyone we hope you guys enjoyed this episode week one of Field Notes is is in the books we will back be back next week hopefully Chris can get one down this this weekend and and everything go for two going for two hopefully you can get two down this weekend some more deer can can start hitting the ground usually once we get one on the team things really start rolling so you know hopefully we have more action next week to talk to you guys but thank you everyone for joining Chris I'll talk to you next week appreciate you guys y'all be good