Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 1062: Foundations - How to Find, Scout, and Hunt Bachelor Groups

Transcript

Ep. 1062: Foundations - How to Find, Scout, and Hunt Bachelor Groups · Wired To Hunt Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, presented by first Light,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: First Light, Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Tony Peterson.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Hi, everyone, welcome to the Wire to Hunt Foundation's podcast,
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: which is brought to you by first Light. I'm arouse
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Tony Peterson, and today's episode is all about finding bachelor groups,
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: watching them, learning about them, and eventually hunting them. It's
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: the time of year when a lot of us are
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: starting to get very excited and very nervous about whether
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: the bucks we've been paying attention to are going to
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: stick to their patterns throughout the fall. Some do, some don't,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: and it's always a crapshoot whether that opening night sit
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: will be awesome or a letdown. But it's not totally
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: up to chance. And that's what I really want to
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: talk about right now, So buckle up and listen real
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: good if you want to have your best chance possible
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: of tagging a big one in the early season. I
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: have a buddy who got divorced a couple of years ago,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: and he did what a lot of guys would do
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: in his situation, which was hit the dating apps and
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: play the field. Think of that what you will, But
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: he told me some stories while we were elk hunting
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: that were pretty interesting. He said that pretty much every
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: woman he matched with mentioned that their favorite photo of
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: his on his dating profile was of him packing out
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: a bull elk. He then went on to explain that
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: pretty much every woman he ended up going on a
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: date with said that the dating pool was full of
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: dudes who don't really work out in the game a lot,
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: and they don't really do well manly stuff. Their words,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: not mine, guys, But it's interesting given the research coming
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: out lately on testosterone levels in young men, Several large
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: studies show results that in recent decades, lower testosterone levels
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: are very common throughout the US, Europe, and parts of Asia.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Now there is enough variance in the test results and
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: the testing methods to question the research some, but it
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: points to a trend that science is working to prove
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: more conclusively. There is also the reality that feeling sluggish
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: or not you know, very energetic or basically not too
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: keen to grab life by the coin person squeeze real
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: hard can be attributed to a lot of things that
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: aren't low tea. Obesity, poor sleep, lack of physical activity,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: shitty diets, medications and substance abuse and stress can all
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: induce low tea like symptoms. It's somewhat of a mystery yet,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: but the lab coats are working on it. And if
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: there is one thing that lower testosterone does, it's that
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: it pumps the brakes on a lot of what makes
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: men do manned stuff. I don't mean shoot elk here,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: but really more like rage at having to fix something
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: that someone in their family broke because they never listen,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: and for some reason you never have the right tools,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: so you have to go to the hardware store when
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: all you really wanted to do today was maybe catch
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: a few large mouth and relax a little since, you know,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: work this week's been a total biz natcho, You know
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: what I mean. Testosterone is a blessing and a curse,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: and in the dear world, it plays a big role
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: in what's going on with the bucks right now, which
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: is well summertime mode, summertime survival. I guess the bucks
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: are out there. They're all bachelored up, and research into
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: bachelor groups has turned up somewhat of an interesting finding
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: that they are relatively stable out there. Their boy groups
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: are stable consist of individuals who get along pretty well,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: you know, until eventually they won't, which we'll talk about later.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Bachelor groups are an adaptive strategy that provides several survival benefits.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: The easiest one to understand is that the more eyes, ears,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: and noses in a group, the less likely a predator
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: is to slip in and chomp someone. Bucks live solitary
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: lives much of the fall, and that means they have
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: to devote more energy to staying alive. Summer. Bucks don't
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: have to do that quite as aggressively because there's a
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: built in safety net when there are four or five
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: more deer around you at all times. That might not
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: sound like a huge benefit, but consider how many calories
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: professional chess players burn just by thinking. Our brains do
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: a lot of work, and so do bucks brains, and
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: they don't have to worry about quite as much right
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: now through basically predator detection, so they are able to
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: stock up energy more efficiently. And that's not nothing, but
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: there are more benefits. One of the theories about this
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: involves younger Bucks getting to hang with older bucks now
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: deer don't consciously teach each other anything, just like old
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: bird dogs don't teach puppies anything intentionally. But you can't argue,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: at least very well that there isn't a benefit to
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: a young dog spending time in the field with a
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: seasoned veteran. The same rules apply to bucks. There is
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: also the reality that in the summer food is more
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: available than any other time of the year. In the fall,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: a buck that gets too close to another buck and
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: a cornfield might very well get challenged to a fight.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Guarding resources as natural as hierarchies are, and when the
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: food is abundant, the risk of someone taking too many
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: calories from you is just gone. That means the survival
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: benefit of grouping up can exist without the risk of
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: paying for it later by having not packed on enough pounds.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Of course, bucks and their priorities shift over time, and
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: what life does is figure out how to best leave
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: some extra life in its wake via its bloodline. Having
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: four of your buddies around when you're looking at the
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: hottest dough in the herd is the opposite of that,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: and so when the velvet goes, so does the brotherly
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: love for the most part. But until then you can
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: count on the bucks hanging with their buddies, and you
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: can count on them doing something that they just don't
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: do throughout much of the fall, which is be very predictable.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: If you challenge me to kill one forty anywhere and
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: told me I could either scout them in the summer
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: and hunt them the first week of the season, or
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: scout them throughout the fall and hunt them during the rut,
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: I'd pick the early season every single time. There would
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: be no question in my mind. Honestly. Look, I love
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the rut and all it entails, but there is nothing
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: about deer hunting I love more than scouting a bachelor
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: group and trying to put a plan together to kill
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: one of its members on opening night, or at least
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: in the first few days of the season. I really
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: believe that's the best opportunity for awful lot of hunters,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: and the reason that they don't take it is because
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: the rut gets so much love and the early season,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: with its hot weather and bugs, just isn't as appealing
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: to a lot of hunters. I get that, but I
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: like when a plan comes together and I get to
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: shoot big deer. But here's the deal. It's easier than
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: a lot of things in deer hunting, but far from easy.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Most of us at this point of the year have
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: cameras out and we have some bucks located. This is
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: the easy part. Maybe you've been out glassing too, and
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: if you have, you get bonus points because you're doing
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: better than most hunters these days. Finding that bachelor group
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: is one thing, but putting a pattern on it is
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: something else. They can be very consistent, for sure, but
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: the most consistent bachelor groups will still do inconsistent things,
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: and that will only increase as the season gets closer.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: Now you might have the only bean field in the
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: section and so that might not happen, or you might
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: haunt a pivot alfalfa field out west, and the deer
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: literally have no better options, but for most folks they do.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: I have a camera up on a private piece of
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: ground in northern Wisconsin right now that has an alfalfa
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: field on it. It's the only alfalfa field for a
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: couple of miles. Predictably, there's a bachelor group on it.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: The leader of the group is a really really nice
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: eight pointer and he has several buddies. They're solid deer
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: for that area. They were like clockwork at one point
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: in July for days and days. Then we got really
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: really hot weather and they became like, well whatever. The
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: opposite the clockwork is they have water everywhere, so I
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: don't think that's it. I don't know where they went.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: I just know that my cameras went dead and they
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: didn't stop feeding, because deer don't really do that for
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: a week at a time. This reality points to something
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: that I think a lot of folks miss when putting
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: a pattern on a bachelor group. You're hedging your bets,
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: but you need backup plans. Cold fronts, warmfronts, wonky unexpected
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: wind directions, and a host of other factors can throw
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: deer off of a pattern real fast. In fact, the
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: bucks that are on my buddy's place are most likely
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: to get thrown off by him in the days leading
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: up to the opener. One of his sons has a
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: bear tag over there, which opens up before the deer season,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: so that property will go from no humans messing around
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: to a lot of humans messing around and four wheelers
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: driving around in the presence of people in the woods
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: where the deer might be betting, and well, just enough stuff
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: to get those bucks off of their pattern. This is
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: my number one concern when I try to pattern bachelor
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: groups on public land, because I know without question the
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: amount of people in the woods will increase as the
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: season opener gets closer. You might think, well, I hunt private,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: and I'm the only one with a key to the gate,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: so I'm really not worried about that. You might be
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: right in that confidence, but those bucks might also bet
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: on the neighbors or feed a couple of nights a
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: week somewhere else, and the presence of hunters and those
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: other spots might affect your place. It might help you
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: where it might hurt you. But I know that in
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: my experience, when more people are in the woods with me,
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: it rarely does mean a lot of favors. But that's
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: a later problem. Right now, you have to find those
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: bucks and figure out what they're doing. This is a
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: big one. And while it's pretty easy to get confirmation
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: that a bachelor group is using a spot, it's not
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: enough to know that they are just sometimes using a
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: field corner. You need more info than that bucks off
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: and enter fields from different trails based on the wind direction.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: That's pretty good information to have when you're setting up
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: to actually hunt them. If it's going to be a
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: million degrees, they'll often enter on the shady side first.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: That's good information to have if you're setting up for
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: them and it's going to be hot, which is real
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: common in the early season. Bucks often hit the field
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: and then go back into the woods to browse, and
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: then hit the field again. What they are doing in
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: the woods is really important to know, and that's a
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: great job for trail cameras to figure out. Bucks also
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: often follow pretty specific routes through fields. They often have,
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: you know, destinations in mind, and they sort of all
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: flow the same direction. Knowing this gives you more ambush options,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: which is really important. Instead of pinning your hopes on
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: you know, putting a tree stand in one corner of
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: the field and then looking at the forecast for opening
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: day only to realize the wind sucks for your stand,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: you have options. And speaking of options, the times when
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: I've killed early season bucks that I have patterned, it's
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: almost always been because I found a couple of spots
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: they frequented, not just one point where they walked out
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: into a field. In fact, I think the most underrated
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: thing you can do for an early season hunt is
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: figure out how to kill those same bucks in the morning,
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: at least try it. Some foods say situations aren't conducive
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: to evening hunting without a really high blowout factor, but
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: slipping in to catch those bucks coming back through in
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: the morning can be a different story. The basic strategy
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: is to find an evening spot they like to feed
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: in and then set up there. But if that doesn't work,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: you're out of luck, and we'll keep pushing it. Learning
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: more about what they really like to do beyond to
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: eat some beans in the early season is a good idea.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: There's no substitute for glassing actual bachelor groups, which I
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: know I've talked about a lot, but I really believe
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: is the key. Trail cameras are great to confirm your
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: suspicions and lead you down new paths of discovery on
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: the bucks, but the glassing is what tells you where
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: to set up, who does what when they get into
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: the open, and where they come from and where they
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: go you know how you can actually move in and
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: kill them. It's the way to get the highest odds
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: of success possible, and it works, but you have to
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: put in the work without getting busted, and you have
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: to understand that you all always need to think about
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: what you're going to do if the bachelor group just
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: decides enough is enough and they break up before or
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: during your first chances to hunt them. How I look
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: at this is basically like this. If I have done
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: my homework on some Bucks and they start to break up,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: I know the clock is ticking, but that I can
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: still hunt them pretty much like I would if they
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: were still together. The biggest Bucks will often stick to
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: the pattern for a little while because they're going to
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: command the best spots at the dinner table, the places
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: they've usually been choosing to feed in the summer. If
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: you get my drift, you might only get a cracker
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: two at them, but if you put in the preseason work,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: that might be all you need. And it's also true
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: that if you take your best swing and it doesn't
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: result in a blood trail, it's very likely to result
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: in a sighting. Bring your binos, of course, and pay
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: real close attention. The bucks all individually might still be
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: using that food source or getting a drink at the
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: same pond in the woods before they go to bed,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: but they don't maybe use them so brazenly in daylight.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: You might only catch a glimpse of the biggest dude
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: in the bachelor group coming out in the far corner
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: of the field at dark. That sucks, but it's also
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: good motivation to get your happy ass over there the
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: next night and set up for him. Or maybe your
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: bachelor group blows up on you. But you see some
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: doze and fawns feeding on the first of the acorn
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: drop on the edge of the field, and now you
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: think maybe your bachelor group just shifted its feeding patterns
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: to take advantage of that back in the woods food
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: source before they head out into the open to feed
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: after dark. Hunting whitetails has just take constant quest to
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: make educated guesses upon educated guesses until something hits an
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: awful lot of the bigger deer I've killed in the
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: first week of the season in North Dakota or South
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Dakota or Wisconsin or Minnesota or Nebraska or wherever have
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: been not on my first sit but my second. I
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: often think I have them dialed, only to see them
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: doing something a little bit different on the first day
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: that forces me to change my plan for the second day.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: I'm often only off by a little bit when you're
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: bow hunting, that's enough. The key is to be open
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: to that possibility and have a whole bunch of data
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: from the preseason to help guide you through the new situation.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: The worst thing you can do is hunt the same
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: stand twice and then call it a lost cause and
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: then pat yourself on the back for getting out of
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: the woods for several weeks until it's almost Halloween. Think
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: about what the bucks are doing beyond what you can
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: absolutely know about where they feed, Like where are they
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: betting in the woods or in a grassy swale in
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: the middle of the field. Is that likely to change
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: as the season gets closer? And if it does, how
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: will you relocate them? Where do they get some water?
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: This is a big one, and it's real important if
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: you don't hunt where there are awesome summertime in early
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: fall food sources. I'd much much rather have a bachelor
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: group visiting a water hole in the cover a couple
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: times a week over a bachelor group hitting a field
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: edge almost every night. If I'm being honest, that water
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: pattern just isn't likely to delaminate the way a field
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: edge pattern can. Think about that about the trails those
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: bucks are likely to take to get to the neighbors,
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: or what exact fence crossing they'll probably take in the
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: morning when they come back from wherever, and think about
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: safely glassing for them as much as you possibly can
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: as the season looms ever closer. When they shed their
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: velvet and that testosterone starts to ramp up, they might
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: not follow the summertime pattern anymore, but they won't become
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: total ghosts. They'll still eat and drink and travel. And
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: while it's nice to glass for a full month in July,
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: that might not give you as much actionable intel as
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: glassing the three nights before the opener. Just make damn
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: sure you don't spook them, because that might be the
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: end of all that hard work and put those deer
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: on a path that doesn't lead by your highest odds.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: Stand think about that, Think about coming back next week,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: because I'm going to drop some more deer knowledge as
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: we get ever closer to that most wonderful time of
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: the year when we can all stop talking about this
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: stuff and actually get out there and hunt some deer.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: That's it for this week. I'm Tony Peter and this
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: has been the Wire to Hunt Foundations podcast. As always,
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: thank you so much for your support. If you need
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: some more hunting content, whether you want to watch a film,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: maybe you want to listen to some podcasts, Maybe I
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: want to read how to article about how to catch
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: the trout or shoot a fish, not shoot a fish, well,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: maybe shoot a fish or catch some fish, or maybe
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: you just want some conservation news. Whatever the medeater dot
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: com has you covered. We drop new content literally every
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: single day of the year. I say that, I don't
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: know if that's true, but we drop a lot almost
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: every day of the year. Go check it out and
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: thank you for all your support.