Built For Muddy Boots

SPEAKER_01 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.

Season Start And Early Whiffs

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Alright, everyone, welcome back to Field Notes 3 from the Garden State Outdoors and Podcast. Boys, we're back. Quentin, welcome, brother. Thank you for having me back. Of course, man. Like uh it's it's always a fun time when we get you on. How's uh how's everything going?

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Oh, it's going good. Uh the beginning of this season has been really rocky, but it's turning around.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Yeah, I mean it's was it rocky due to other stuff or the hunting season things haven't has it been a tough hunting season or a rocky hunting season or just more work stuff and personal stuff and things like that?

SPEAKER_00 1:27

No, it's it's been probably the best start I've ever had to a deer season ever. Um for the beginning part of the season, so we started on September 12th here in Wisconsin, and opening morning I was covered up in deer. I had seven deer in, three bucks, and four does, and I missed a doug at 18 yards. So, well, let's re let's rewind that. So my dad and I went to Kentucky for opening weekend of archery season there. Okay, yeah, how was that? I hot, very hot, and I ended up getting triggers on my arms and my legs.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Oh, the worst.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Oh, yeah. And like here, here in Wisconsin, we really don't have triggers. I've gotten them in the past, but just like a few here and there, but like I had them around my legs, uh, around my ankles, I had them up my arms on the backside of my arms. So I just like was scratching, and I look like I was someone on drugs, like it was rough.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

I'll tell you, um I've only gotten I've only gotten them, I think, once or twice down in down in Delaware. Um, they're not, yeah, like I it's a I don't know if like how often people get them here. Like I don't think it's like that. And I don't want to miss mistake what I'm saying, but like you know I mean, like it's not something like and same thing with you, like yeah, in Wisconsin you've maybe gotten them like once or twice or a little bit here and there, but like Kentucky or Delaware, whatever that early season's usually super hot and and things like I it's just probably the better condition for it for them and everything like that.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Yep. So I ended up you know getting the triggers, whatever, and I hunted with Jason, my buddy, and we went to he told me about a spot. I was unsure of kind of how to get to it, so he went with me the that more the next morning. Had a big dough come in, and I get to about halfway through my draw cycle, and I must have brushed my thumb button up against my cheek, and I sent that arrow about 900 miles above her back, and I couldn't stop laughing because I was like, what the heck just happened? You know, like okay, it's early, you know, whatever, it's getting all the jitters out now, you know, whatever else like that. So I died laughing in the tree because it was just comical, and then the hunting was slow. Um, in Kentucky, just with the heat. Jason did end up getting a pretty nice velvet puck, but it just was hot, and then uh fast forward to Wisconsin opening weekend, covered up in deer, missed the dough.

Saddle Setup And Surprise Misses

SPEAKER_00 4:31

So I laughed about that one because it was like, you know, it is what it is. All clean missus, though, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Like that's the thing, like all clean, you know.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

All clean, all clean misses, no like hair anywhere, no like actual impact. So it's it it's good that you know I miss, right? Like I missed and I didn't wound these deer. So I gave that spot a break, and I went to another spot, had an encounter with one of my hit lister bucks. Uh he's a big heavy eight-point, and I saw him, and instead of him coming 10 more yards, he dipped off into the woods. So I wasn't able to get the shot that I wanted on him. So it got me that just like fired me up, and I wanted to make a move. It was really aggressive for early season. I made a move to where all these deer came from. So I'm sitting there and I had another buck that was like borderline. I needed to see him in person to make the judgment if I was gonna shoot him or not. Mike, I have this hunt on video, I miss him at nine yards. Oh, I have it on video. Yeah, I did the same thing, so I'm new to the saddle hunting, and I'm not making excuses whatsoever. I think being in the saddle, I'm drawing my bow differently instead of how I usually do it. I think I'm I'm like drawing away from myself and bringing my shot into me, okay, and my bow and string into me instead of you know just being set how I usually do it, and I'm brushing my thumb, my release button, the thumb button up against my cheek or something in this area, and I'm releasing the arrow like way too early. Way yeah, okay. I miss I miss him by like a quarter of an inch, which I'm you know, it's not a uh I didn't hit him, no blood, no hair, no nothing. So it was just a clean miss. Well, I you know, now I was irritated because it's like three deer, like back to back, like three weeks in a row almost. It was like, and it was just like really aggravating to where I'm like, why am I even in the woods right now? Like, I need to like regroup or something, yeah. And I finally on the next week put up I got a pattern together on some pretty big dough, and I ultimately was able to finally connect with a perfect shot on a quartering away dough, and even that was just a mess trying to track. I used a fixed head and I love them, but you just don't get a blood trail from the fixed heads like you do a mechanical. Yeah, the broad head performed perfectly. I was shooting the rec fx fours, it was perfect. Like when she did bleed, she bled good, but it wasn't the amount that you get with their HXP2s or XP2s. So I was just like, Oh my gosh, like tracking this deer now, I'm like borderline, not possibly gonna find her because she decided to duck off into um dog wood and briar patches where I was crawling and getting stabbed and whatnot. And the walnut trees are dropping walnuts, probably the size of the size of baseballs, so they're coming down, so you're dodging them. Well, in the process of dodging the walnuts and everything, she ends up was she was only bedded maybe a hundred yards from my tree, so I ultimately ended up bumping her, and then I had to let her lay, and then I ended up finding her, but it was it was a textbook shot, went in the back two ribs, and it came out perfect inch or two behind that offside shoulder. This textbook shot, it just she was able to plug that hole up and she blew it internally.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Which is which is like kind of like and and I've seen it listen, I've seen it with mechanicals too, as well. Like I've had with with the severs like big holes where it pushes the insides out and it still will plug up the hole, so it's not only a a fixed head blade thing. It I have seen it with with um mechanicals, but you know, yet again though, you're you're usually getting just better blood, you know, trails with a a mechanical, but you know, the the whole plugging that that's that's a part of it, and unfortunately, it does happen.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Yep. Well, and that was like what happened with the eight point from last year. I hit him, he was eight yards from me too, and I hit him, and I thought I hit him further back than what I actually did, but I actually made a really good shot. But he was so close that he was taking the full like kinetic energy from the bow that when the X the HX the rec HXP2 hit him, it like sliced him open like six six inches, and everything, like you said, spilled out. Yeah, so I had good blood in the uh beginning, but then I lost it shortly after because now he's plugged up and whatever else. I ultimately lost that deer to the coyotes, but I was able to recover him.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think I remember where we we talked about that and everything like that, um as well. And yeah, it's it's it's just one of those things.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Yep.

Fixed Blades Blood Trails And Tracking

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Um this year's just been a real big learning curve all over again. I feel like a rookie.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

How how are you how are you liking you know the move to the saddle? I mean, yet again, like it it is a different of a of a learning curve. You have to re I wanna I don't want to say readjust your shot, but you kind of have to learn how to how to draw like you normally would now in a in a different position, kind of.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Yeah, so I'm just gonna start off where basically I I used to talk mad crap about saddle hunting, you know. All my buddies that you know that had them, I called them the diaper boys, you know, and I finally broke down. I broke down last fall because I just I have a bad back, and I broke down and I spent the money on a setup, and I tried it out at my buddy's house, and I I fell in love with it. And now this year, just I I sold all my stands, I bought all new saddle equipment for this year. I spent a bunch of money, and I'm gonna tell you right now, I was dead wrong about saddles. It is probably by far, if you get it once you get comfortable with it and you get everything set and you kind of do have the same routine, it is by far one of the most comfortable things that I have ever sat in. Like just the way it like it hugs your hips and everything, and you can adjust your bridge and you how high you have your tether on the tree, and I can get it to release a lot of the pressure out of my lower back, so I'm able to actually sit way longer than I could out of a tree stand.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

No, I it's it and it's it's one of those things. Like, I I think there's just there's just so many options, and yet again, like I always I I've been talking highly about saddles for the last I don't know five, six years, but like I I think what you can do and what you can give a uh get away with in a saddle just far exceeds like like anything else. Um, and then like some people like, oh, they're not like yes, there's certain times where all day sits, like I'm not always fully comfortable, but I think it's way still way more comfortable than a tree stand um and stuff like that. But I like how you can just adjust, you know, and you can keep if you like are in one position a little too long, you can you can adjust so it gives you know maybe your hips some relief or maybe your your lower back or your upper back or or whatever the case it gives, and it especially helps gonna help you out big time with with your back and and everything like that as well.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Mm-hmm.

Why Saddles Win On Public

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Yep, yeah, the the whole transition from you know, I grew up hunting out of ladder stands and I and hang-ons and climbers, and you know, looking back at it, it's like hunting public land mainly now, and I used a climber for many, many years. It's like, how the hell was I lugging that damn thing all around the woods? You know, it's like damn, I really wanted to work out, I guess, you know.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

But those those things are under listen, I'll tell you one of the most comfortable things to hunt in, but the biggest pain in the ass to lug around and was not quiet, at least the one that I had. I had the summit series, so like it's like that kind of like that mesh, um, kind of like the mesh like seat where you just literally sink into, but it's all like metal and loud and noisy and like heavy, and it's like what yeah, what the hell were we doing lugging these these giant things around?

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Yep, yeah, because I ran a summit. Well, before I even ran a summit, my grandpa, when I farmed with my grandpa, he paid me, he bought me a as a payment, he bought me a field and stream climber, solid metal, 30 pounds. You know, I was young when I hit he got it for me, so it was easier to carry. And then, as the older you got, you're like, damn, this thing's heavy. So then I transitioned from that and I went into a summit open shot. I absolutely love that thing. That thing was phenomenal. Then from the open shot, I transitioned into the summit viper SD. It was the speed lock one where instead of pulling the the lock system down, that one had the actual like triggers and you could pull it and move it, and you could adjust it from the tree and stuff. I loved it because you it didn't have the mesh seat, but it had like the cushion seat, and you could adjust how far in you could sink into and hang there. Super comfortable, absolutely loved it, but again, you're still hauling around a 20-pound stand, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Yeah, yeah, that's it's just not worth it.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Yeah, and I mean, you know, especially like how I hunt now, I hunt 99% of the time I'm on public land, so like the the key thing is to always be mobile, and the less gear you and the less gear you bring in, the more yeah opportunities you have or the wide range that you can go and actually sit. Yeah, you're not limited.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

I I think also like I I will say if I was to ever and I do eventually want to get a climber just to like shoot, you know, some, you know, every once in a while maybe shoot a deer, but you can't like I would use it like if I'm sitting, if I'm not walking far in, or I'm sitting an open spot or a field ed or something like that. Like, I don't know, you I don't know how people bring it into thickets and and and some thick, nasty stuff. Like you you just you can't, you you just can't, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Yeah, I've brought my climbers into some nasty stuff. I I harvested a lot of D Roda, all my climbers doing that, but man, it it was a workout and a half.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

No, I I can I can only believe it, but um yeah, I mean, so for for you, you you know you you got your dough and everything like

Weather Swings And Food Shifts

SPEAKER_01 16:55

that this year. Like what are what is what are you seeing right now in in Wisconsin? The weather is probably the best it's really been in in years, really actually fall like conditions way earlier, and now we're even getting close to like I don't know, so cold where it seems like winter conditions is as well. But you know, what's the the update that you're seeing in your area of of Wisconsin?

SPEAKER_00 17:23

So, like I'm in the southeastern part of Wisconsin, and our trees are just starting to get like the maples are just starting to turn yellow, some are red, but mainly a lot of them are starting to turn yellow. We still have a lot of green um in the area, and then it's funny. So, like I've been traveling to the western side of the state, there is a clear divide between the southeastern part, and when you start getting into that western side and even more northern Wisconsin, too. Um, most of the state is actually full peak colors right now for leaf changing, and in it, it's crazy because like where I hunt on the western side, the woods is like yellow, orange, red, a little bit of green, but it and all the leaves are falling, and I'm like, hot damn, I don't remember ever having this early of a of a leaf change. Um, but as far as like weather, we've been pretty consistently cooler at night, and then kind of heating back up in the day, like low mid to upper 60s, lower 70s. Now, like this weekend, we have the youth hunt coming in. Um the the the weather's actually picking back up and it's gonna be damn near 80 again. So it's like wow, yeah. So we're we're getting like a uh a false fall almost in a way, so it it's it's actually put a real big damper on deer movement. I've also noticed too, because like the beans almost seem like they turned yellow and then brown almost really quick. So the beans are coming off, and cornfields are coming off, but they usually come off around this time anyway. But it's just crazy, and then like certain parts of the state, acorns are dropping at different times, like right now, here in southeastern Wisconsin. A lot of the oaks are dropping now, so the deer really focusing on them white acorns. So a lot of I'm running nine cell cameras, and I have like no deer hardly ever. Whereas like a couple weeks ago, it was constant deer, like in the mornings, at night, sometimes in the middle of the day.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

So I've seen a big drop in that too. And it it's that's kind of crazy, too, of how different because we've been getting hammered with the acorns, like they've been dropping now for a while, and they always like I feel like the last you know, three or four years, like the acorn crop has been just out of control. Um, but you typically see it like, yeah, already in September, like, and you guys are just starting yours, but ours is has already been here and they're they're still dropping it and and everything like that. And then same with the full foliage. Like I go up to a couple of my spots in the west, and it's like you're looking around, it's like the all the colors are already there, and then where where we are and some of the other starts, more central and south zones, like yeah, you're starting to see it, but it's green, and it's crazy, just like I don't know, for us, like how a 30 30-minute drive, there's just two different types of you know, the vegetations at two different, completely different types of seasons, it it kind of looks like yeah, that's how it is here too.

SPEAKER_00 20:57

It's that's pretty crazy, you know how it's all been going.

EHD Pressure And Tough Choices

SPEAKER_00 21:02

And we've we've been hit real hard with EHD um this summer, so it's it's wiped out a pretty good amount of deer. Um my one camera that I had where EHD is real heavy. Um, I've seen a significant drop in deer movement. Um I have the same like four-does that come through all the time. Um so yeah, we're battling that and everything else.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

So that's that's rough. The only the only good thing is your deer that survive become immune. And I believe I'm pretty sure they do pass it down to their their offspring and everything like that. So that's as the only if you're looking at some type of positive out of the the terrible uh news of EHD is probably it's probably that like that. That's that's the only Good good thing there that you got. Um, you know, and so what do you have to kind of prepare like EHD? It's hitting some of your spots. What does that do for you to change? Like, are you not really focusing too much on on spots like that? It's tough because it's public, so just because you do it doesn't mean everybody else is doing unless the state, you know, steps and everything like that. So how do you kind of handle that that whole EHD thing?

SPEAKER_00 22:31

So the piece that I hunt, I didn't I haven't like really walked it to like actually see just because how the property works. It's a the section that I hunt is only 33 acres, and a lot of the deer kind of bed in the center of the property, so I haven't wanted to like push in there to like see if there's any deer, like dead deer from EHD. Um, I don't smell anything when I go out there, so I think that's kind of a really good tall tell sign that it didn't hit there as bad as what other pieces have gotten hit. Um I I know the biggest adjustment for me is um just being more selective on what deer I'm gonna shoot. Um so like the does that have funds this year, they'll probably get a pass. Or if I start to see a bigger push of deer moving back in or whatever the case may be, I might take out a couple more than I um planned on it. But right now, there's only one doug that I honestly I have on my hit list in in this spot, and she's yeah, I've seen her every time I've gone out. It's just she's old, so she knows something's up, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She just won't come in. But I haven't, you know, it's it's kind of I don't know. I don't really deal with people on that piece until gun season, so I think I don't have anything really to worry about right there.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I I get that, I get that. All right. Well that that's good then. Um, you know, that's that's kind of like always always reassuring for for sure. Um I don't know. EHD is one of those things that's you you hate the words, you know what I mean? Like you just yeah, I it's I and and you know, I don't I don't want to jinx stuff or anything like that, but it's it's it's different, and you know, I knock on wood because I haven't, you know, here we've been fortunate enough, like you don't hear too much of CWD, you know what I mean? Um, and so the the the boogie man type of thing that that we get is HD. And you know, you hear about that every every single year, like, oh my god, like, you know, is this gonna be a bad EHD year? Like, you know, you find a you find a dead deer, you know, randomly, and you're like, oh my god, like you just think like, all right, well, I wasn't hit by a car, it has to be like EHD. You know what I mean? Like, um and that's always like a always a worry, I think, in in the in the white tail woods, you know, is your area getting hit with with something like that and everything like that. But um, you know, so what uh what uh what's your hit list look like?

Hit List Bucks And October Windows

SPEAKER_01 25:41

What what are the bucks we're chasing here?

SPEAKER_00 25:44

Um there's a buck that I'm actually kind of worried about. He is in the area that is affected by EHD, so it has me worried. He is a main frame nine with a split G2 to make him a 10. He's probably one pushing 160s, possibly low 170s. Um, I've been chasing him now for this, it'll be the third year, so I'm hoping he's kind of in his routine of what he's done the last few years. Otherwise, I have uh heavy eight. He's doesn't have necessarily really tall tines, he's like a really respectable buck. He's just really heavy and really, really fat, so he'd be a good one to take just because of the the meat aspect of it, and he's mature. Um, I've got there's another buck. He's an eight-point, he is a determination when I if I ever see him on hoof, he's like borderline something that I want to try and harvest this year. There's another buck that runs with them. I think they're identical basically. Their antlers are the exact same, same swooping, same everything. It's just the other buck body is bigger, and he always, whenever I get him on camera, he always looks pissed off. So he's he's like one of the bucks that I I'm really trying to get after, but he's he's flirting the line of coming in five minutes after shooting light, and five minutes before shooting light. He's right there, and it's like you know, the other morning I was gonna get after him, but then I decided to go to the western side of the state, and that deer shooting was 624, he showed up at 619. And I'm like, golly, like I wouldn't have been able to shoot him because it's like it's it the part where he's at, the canopy's really thick, so the light doesn't get in there until about 20 minutes after in the shooting light before you can actually get a good grasp on the area, but other than that, a lot of my deer have have kind of moved off that I had high hopes for, so it's kind of uh whatever comes in, and if it trips my trigger, really, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Is is your do you get a lot of you know bucks coming in during you know, probably in the next you'd say like two weeks, like you know, where things really start heating up and stuff like that, yeah. And you you get you get a lot of bucks coming in and out and stuff like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

So and I would say I think what what's today's the sixth or the seventh. So I would say the sixth, okay. So I'd probably say probably in that two-week time frame, I'll probably in some of my spots where I don't have buck movement per se right now, it'll start to turn around here because it seems like it's falling into a pattern that I've noticed over the years where they don't start moving until that middle of October time frame. Yeah, and then like that 24th, 25th of October, that's when things really start to heat up in like my areas.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Yeah, that sounds about right. I mean, uh, you know, things are things are about to kick off yeah, here in the next couple of weeks, and that's that's what I keep telling my you

Wind Calls Aggressive Moves And Regret

SPEAKER_01 29:26

know myself. So like you know, everyone for for my weekly update and stuff like that. Like I switched spots, um, that split towel split brow buck disappeared. Um and so I went and sat in an observation sit and almost killed a two good bucks. I mean, I had two really good bucks come out and they made it all the way to me. And at the last like 50 yards where they had to get to me, they're on the right trail, they stopped and maybe went 10-15 yards left, and then they came out and they worked like right behind me. Um and it's it's just crazy like how the game works of just like what made them decide to just you know I mean, like, and yeah, yet again, like it I don't think they caught my wind or anything like that. Obviously, they I don't think they still would have came in and and did what they did and everything like that, but like you they were on a straight line and then went left, and you know, there was a trail coming right through where I needed them to come, and they just decided not to to get that trail. And then um, and then I you know Sunday you you can't hunt there and everything like that, so I didn't get back out to it on Monday and got real aggressive, um, and got myself into a killer spot, didn't like my wind too much. My wind was supposed to be blowing northwest and it was more west north, and then seemed like a with a little hint of like south was being thrown in there, um, which is where the deer were coming from and bedding and everything like that. But saw a bunch of deer, and of course, no shooters, a couple bucks, bunch of does, and then I was like, all right, like I'm covered up with deer, like shooting lights over, I can't move. Let me wait a little bit. I think I waited like five, 10 minutes, and then I'm like, all right, like I really I could barely see. Let me get down, and I start getting down, and I just see movement out the corner of my eye, like hitting a trail, and then the white butt of you know, the white tail. And I don't know if it was one of the bucks. I it could have been a doe, it could have been a smaller buck, could have, you know what I mean? It could have been been them, but I was like mid and the deer heard me, ran into the woods, started blowing at me, you know, you know, the the usual crap and and everything like that, and then went out this morning and you know, saw a whole bunch of does, um, and then got down, scouted, and was trying to to put spot and stock on and ran into a couple smaller bucks and stuff like that. So it's you know, it's the puzzle, it's what we do. It's you know, and it you know, I had to tell myself like you know, I just enjoy the the the sunrise, like you know what I mean, and just just enjoy this and enjoy every moment of of it and everything like that. And you know, sometimes all of us, you know, kind of take, I think sometimes get so fixated on on chasing, you know, the these animals and everything like that that we stop and we don't think to be like wow, we get to actually do this, you know, on a consistent basis. Or on a weekend or or whenever you can, and it it's yeah, you know, it's it's truly amazing.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

Yeah, for me, like I was really fixated on after I missed those first three gear of this season. I was really fixated on trying to get almost what you would say, like redemption almost in a way, change my luck. And so I really fixated on it, and I put a lot of pressure on myself, and I'd get so close, and they would do like how you said they took a different trail and whatever else.

Wolf Encounters And The Mental Game

SPEAKER_00 33:29

You're like, it's literally a game of inches, and that's what gets you hooked because it's like like Monday morning, I didn't go to work, I hunted because it was 33 degrees, made the three-hour trek to my western side uh uh piece of public that I hunt, and I had a group of does come through. Did they always do the same thing? And I know it, and I don't know for whatever reason. Like when I hunted there Saturday morning, I ended up seeing a possible, I think it was a wolf, but I'm not sure. Oh boy, yeah, it it yeah, it looked pretty wolfy, it was big, and I think he hung around all weekend just because they when they came in, they were pretty on edge already, and the wind was hitting me in the face, and they were walking with the wind, so I'm like, Oh, you're not smelling me, but they just kind of like were looking off in the direction of like the area where I mainly see yeah, the wolves and stuff come from, they were looking off that way, and they got pretty spooky, so you know it's it's literally game of inches, and it's like you know, if you act like this in another month or so when we have gun season come in, yeah. I ain't gotta worry about having you get into bow range, I'll just end up taking you with the rifle. So it's like you know, I'll redeem myself one way or the other, but just being able to like chase the animals and being able to like get that animal within a certain range is just something about it, is just like this is awesome. You get hooked and you you gotta you gotta keep doing it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

I I agree with you. I I I I do big time. I think um there's nothing like bow hunting, but man, you and the wolves, you and the wolves, I gotta I gotta say, you know, I mean it it's I I love hearing about your wolf encounters when you when you see them, you know what I mean. I it's yeah, I am thankful I don't have to deal with that. Um you know it's a it's a whole different it's a whole different ball game and and everything like

Bear Season Talk And Wrap Up

SPEAKER_01 35:40

that. Um you know our our Jersey our our bear our predator here our we start our bear season uh on Monday. Um so we're we're looking forward to that. We're getting we're getting uh you know revved up. Hopefully, you know, one of the years you can you make it down here for for Jersey bear season and and everything like that. Um have you have you been uh have you been seeing any bears and and stuff like that?

SPEAKER_00 36:06

Uh every once in a while I will have a bear come through my area on the western side. He's a pretty good bear, he's probably 350 plus. He's just a really all around stout bear. So, like next year, um I'm gonna fire up one of my baits later in the summer, probably around end of July, early August. Um, my dad's gonna end up drawing a bear tag here in Wisconsin in 2028. And I was gonna draw in 2028 as well, but then I'm like, you know what? Let me just focus on my dad and get my dad spots figured out and everything like that. And yeah, you know, if my my dad has luck, then I know okay, well, I'm gonna continue with these baits, but I'm not gonna use these baits, so it'll kind of almost give me an advantage for 2029 when I draw my tag, kind of give me a better intel for it. Um, but other than that, I mean I like even like this year for bear harvest, it was kind of a uh a good harvest from what it sounds like, and other people are saying it's bad. Um, not a lot of people were seeing bears, like my cousin, he had a tag, one of my good buddies had a tag, and they didn't see any bears for the span of bear season. Uh that wraps up here next week, Monday or Tuesday, I believe. Um we have a month, a month. It usually starts the the Wednesday after Labor Day weekend or after Labor Day, so it's that Wednesday, and then it runs for a month, so it's usually the like the first full weekend of October is when it's usually done. So you get like a solid month.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

That's nice, that's gotta be nice. That's that's nice to get a month. We know we only get six days and then another six days um in in December. But by then, like I you know, if you get a cold or snowy winter, you know, maybe you know, you're not getting much, you know. I mean, still even with by then, like it's it's just a it's a different ball game. Like I, you know, this time of the year is kind of the best to chase bears and and everything like that. They're the most active. They are also looking to put on a lot of weight. Um, so you know, it it's it's definitely a fun time, but um yeah, but um, brother, I mean it it's it's been great getting to to talk to you and catch you on for this this week's wrap-up, but you know, we'll definitely have to get you back on, and hopefully, you know, with with you killing one of one of those bucks and and everything like that, it's it's always a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Yep, always fun being on here. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

Of course, man, you know, and you know, I I can't wait to to see what else you do. And you know, like I said, like you know, I I definitely hope, you know, a big buck down or a lot of does or or whatever the case is, and you know, you you get the um you know the whole saddle thing with you know you you shooting and everything like that. You know, once once it clicks, you like you'll you'll be completely fine and and you know it's it's it's gonna be fun. Can't wait to hear about it.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Yeah, can't wait to share it with you.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Definitely, definitely. But all right, everyone, we hope you guys enjoyed this episode. Week three wrap-up for hunting season is in the books. Week four is hopefully gonna have a big buck down. I will tell you, one of the guys did shoot one, and unfortunately, we didn't recover one of the field staff guys. Uh, one of the new field staff guys. I'm not gonna get into that story yet. If they come on, I'll I'll let you let them tell that story, and then you know, fair seasons right around the corner, and we got two guys also going out to uh Colorado, Colorado next week to chase some elk. So things should really be heating up, and hopefully we have a bunch of good stories for you coming up. But we hope you guys enjoyed this episode. If you not are not following Quentin already, make sure you go check out Full Draw Pursuit on Instagram and it will be on the link below. If you do not have can't find it, it will be right down there for you. Till next time, we will see you guys.