Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 467: Building a Ground Game for Whitetails with Travis Glassman

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Ep. 467: Building a Ground Game for Whitetails with Travis Glassman · Wired To Hunt Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, home of the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: modern white tail hunter, and now your host Mark Kenyon.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm your host,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Mark Kenyan and tearing the show. We are talking hunting
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: white tails on the ground, natural blinds, ground blind, spotting stock,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: and using a decoy at eye level while moving in
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: with a bowl. All right, welcome to the Wired to
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Hunt podcast, brought to you by First Light, and we've
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: got a extra special episode today because it's it's kind
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: of a two partner. Part two. The main episode, which
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I teased just a second ago, is all about hunting
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: white tails on the ground. It's with Travis Glassman. He
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: is a die hard bow hunter from Kansas who has
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: perfected a number of different techniques for chasing bucks at
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: eye level. He's done it in ground blinds, he's done
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: it in natural blinds, he's done a spotting stock, and
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: he most interestingly does it with a handheld decoy that
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: he uses in front of him to get these bucks
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: to come right in try to beat him up, and
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: then he gets them, uh, gets them with an arrow
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: before they can get him with their antlers. And uh,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: it's really really interesting stuff. So that's that's the main show.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: If you want to learn anything about different ways to
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: get out of the tree on the ground, this one's
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: for you. But before we get to that, I have
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: a special special guest here for our introduction, the one
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: and only nine Fingered Wonder, my brother from another mother,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Dan Johnson's back on the show, Ladies and gentlemen, Dan Uh.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: I'm really glad we're able to make schedules work here
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: in a last minute because we haven't got to catch
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: up in a couple of months now. So thanks for
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: figuring out way to make this work. Hey, I appreciate it, Mark,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: but you forgot to mention one thing about Travis. Not
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: only is he a great white tail hunter. Number one,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: he is a really good guy. And number two, his
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: wife is a slayer as well. She's she's putting some
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: really good deer on the ground. The two of them
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: are deadly due, that's for sure. So yeah, it's gonna
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: be it's gonna be a good podcast. And um with you,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: though not well with you, it's gonna be a good podcast.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I can't get. But what I what I want to
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: do with you, man, is cover off on something that
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: we usually that we have done every single year since
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the beginning of the podcast, which is do an episode
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: where we cover off on our game plan for the year.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: You know, what our goals are, what the hunts are
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: that we're going on, what our hopes are, if there's
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: any deer that we're chasing this year. Uh and and
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: just because of how crazy this year has been, we
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: haven't been able to do a full show, but I
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: thought we could. We could do like an intro conversation
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: about that stuff, so kind of abbreviated. And we're part
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: way into the season already, so no, it's late, but
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: better late than never. I figured, are are you game
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: for that? I'm game for that, But I want to
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: sabotage this podcast for one, like real quick, just for
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: a second. Okay, have you ever been You're from Michigan.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Have you ever been to Grand Haven, Michigan? Hell yeah,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: I love it, so shout out to one of my
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: favorite bars in the that I've been to in the country,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: The Tip Off You Tavern in Grand Haven. Have you
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: ever been there? I've not been there. Oh man. They
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: make one of the most beautiful Jack and Coke's that
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: I have ever drank. And it's really not a Jack
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: and Coke. It's like a Coke and Jack if that
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: makes sense. They're pretty strong. But uh, I don't know.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: I just figured i'd give a shout out to the
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: state of Michigan with I'm looking at their couzy right here.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: That's why I brought this up. Nice. Nice. Yeah. Grand
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Haven was a place that I went a ton growing
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: up because we didn't live too far from that when
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: I was a kid, So that was like the summer
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: spot to go to. But I haven't. I haven't really
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: been back since college probably, so it's been a while.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: So next time I do, though, I'll check it out. Yeah,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: give me a just send me a selfie with at
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: the at the tavern there, all right, Coke and Jack,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: I'll order it jack yep. Absolutely, Oh man, it's not
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: it's not a market damn podcast if there isn't a
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: good alcohol reference somewhere in there. So this is this
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: is appropriate, a hard right turn to something that has
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with your hunting. Um, so how you
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: feeling about one? You've already had a hunt under your belt,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: So I've had a handful. Uh give me like on
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: a one attend scale, like your your sense of how
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: it's going so far, and how you feel about what's
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: coming up? All right, So I'm gonna just say this.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: All right, We've talked about this September shift for a
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: while now, right, We've mentioned it in several podcasts. So
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: knowing about this this shift that happens um, and a
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: lot of that intel referenced is me checking my my
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: trail cameras that are normally on scrapes or field edges
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: or things like that, and then there is a disappearance
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: of all of these these deer, that these bucks that
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: have been around all summer long. Right, there's some kind
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: of shift. So knowing that back in late July early August,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: I went out and I hung trail cameras in the timber,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: in some well used trails, in some like some terrain
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: features that just have good deer travel um down winto
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: some betting areas. And then I went ahead and yesterday
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I broke my own rule I always, you know, stay
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: out until you're getting ready to hunt. I broke that
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: rule just to check trail cameras. And wouldn't you know, um,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: if you would if we would have had this podcast
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: yesterday or the day before, I would have said, man,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: I just there's nothing really there to to get me
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: fired up quite yet. But after yesterday checking these trail
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: cameras and not not only running into really good sign
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: but locating deer on some of those way back in
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: the timber trail cameras that I went and checked, things
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: are looking good for this upcoming year. Nice. All right,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: that's good news. So so give me the give me
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: the Iowa rundown then, So based on what you saw
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: or what you didn't see the summer, but what you're
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: now seeing here in October, do you have any returnees?
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Do you have anyone who's back from last year that's
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: going to be at the top of your list? Yeah?
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: I got one, one four year old? Who is I
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: think it's like an eleven pointer. Um, nothing crazy, And
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you I'll tell you this. You know you
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: heard me talk earlier this year, and I think maybe
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: even last year a little bit about how the number
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: of mature deer just aren't here anymore like they used to.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the changes. I don't know if
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: it's e H D, I don't know if it's pressure whatever.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Last year and this year have just not been the
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: same as previous and with everything that I'm about to say,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: it's still a well below average year for the properties
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: that I hunt, and that includes some of the public
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: that I have trail cameras on as well. So with
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: that said, um, I think I counted this this weekend.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: There's four four I'm guessing four year old. One might
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: be a five year old that um are running around
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: on the farm that I hunted, and I only got
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: to check half the farm. I didn't I wasn't able
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: to get get to the second half of the farm himself. Yeah,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: so that's salad. What's the Yeah, it's the leven pointer
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: that's back. Anything of the others, any anything notable, any
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: of them that are like super frequent or daylight or
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: anyone that you've really got your helps pinned on. Yeah,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: so all of them. Just because I've been back in
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: the timber in the thick areas there, I got daylight
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: pictures of all of them. So the thing about it
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: is is uh knowing like one of them is one
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: of the pictures just kind of random, which makes me
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: feel that the camera is hung close to where he beds.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: It's like a noon on a on a really on
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: a fairly warm day in October. He's up on his feet,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: so maybe he maybe he got jumped, but there's there's
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: been no pressure back there that I can tell. Um,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: maybe maybe a kyote jumped him, maybe he stood up
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: to stretch his legs and you know, walk around for
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: a little bit. I don't know, but um, we have
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: and it's hard to tell. One could be a returning customer.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: He's just a giant hundred fifty class eight pointer with
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: the like a dagger coming out of his base about yeah,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: three or four inches, So he's a big eight pointer. Um,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: that's that's around there. But you know, who knows if
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: he's a return customer not, because you know, it's hard
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: to I'd have to go through and dig on some
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: some cameras. Other than that man just a nice clean
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty class ten and then another hundred and
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: forty five to fifty class rough guests nine pointer who's
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: really wide. But he's the one that might be the
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: uh the five year old. He's got a pretty big body. Sweet,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: So what's the what's the game plan there? Then? Do
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: you have your usual rutcaestion time period that you're gonna
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: save it for, or what's the what's the hunt strategy
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: at high level. Yeah, So Friday of this week, I
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: leave for South Dakota and I'm there for a while
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: and then I'll come back act you know, play catch
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: up at home. It's really hard to get out during
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: the week with the amount of activities that the kids have.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: UM next week, the week after next actually things start
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: to die down and the fall activities start to stop,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: which means that I'll be able to get out on
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the during the second half of the week. So my
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: wife works Mondays and Tuesdays, and of course the weekends. Really,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, the next weekend that I'm gonna be able
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: to hunt is probably a Friday, and the Friday and
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Saturday the October and then I have Halloween on Sunday,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: and then it's from there. It's just kind of game time,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I probably, honestly, I probably
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: won't hunt much the first three days in November, but
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: the closer to that end of the week, um, that's
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: when I'll probably head down to the main farm. Um.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: While I'm up here though, I'll be hunting on the
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: farm that's close to my house, and then some of
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: the public that's in the area. Uh, this late summer,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: me and my son saw a really good hunting fifty
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: ten pointer work in this bean field, so I think
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: he's in the area, And uh, I don't know. Man,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: It's like I really haven't been thinking. I've actually been
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: trying to curb my excitement because I know if I
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: take one step too close, then it's over. And then
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking all I'm doing is thinking about hunting when
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: I need to be focusing on the work on the
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: family before I go crazy and just you know, just disappear. Well,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: do you not do you not feel any temptation after
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: pulling those cameras yesterday and getting daylight pictures of those
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: bucks recently, like knowing that you could slip right back
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: in there where they were daylight and me if they're
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: if they're daylight, what are you waiting for? Yeah? Exactly
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: has that passed? Is flastly your mind? Yeah, it's the
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: first thing that passed through my mind when I saw
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: the picture. I mean just like, oh, hey, this guy's daylight.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: And then I got got a couple other of those
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: those shooter caliber deer are on like I would say,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: forty five minutes before dark, thirty minutes before dark, or
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: even coming back to their bed in daylight. Uh so
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: I would say like thirty minutes after like legal shooting light.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: So they're they're they're moving. It's just what do I
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: want to do. Do I want to go right now
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: and try to get on these deer or I guess
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: what I'm doing is I'm playing the numbers game. Right.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: The hunting is gonna be better in November. There's gonna
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: be more movement in November. Yeah, the chaos of the
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: rut could really screw me, and these deer could just
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: disappear and follow a dough into a different farm or whatever.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: But I would rather stick to the schedule, not throw
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: any curve balls to the wife, then get out and oh,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: isolate where I don't have any problem. She knows that
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: I'm gone, right, It's not something that's surprised, you know, like, hey,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: you mind if I go hunt three days to chase
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: this dear? Because what what what happens is, and I
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: think I think we've all been here before, is we
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: start to hunt too early, and we we go hard,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: you don't get your deer, and now what now You're
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: forced to hunt the right and then towards the end
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: of this time that you've dedicated previously. Then the patient
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: starts to wear off, and then it's just like, hey, uh,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: you know you've been hunting for three weeks now instead
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: of too what's what's going on? You know, like, hey,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: I need some help. And then that patience, you know,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: it's like I don't know, man, it's uh, it happens
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: every single year. Yeah, you gotta walk that tight rope
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: real careful. And you've got these other these other trips.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: So mule deer in Nebraska and mule deer in South Dakota, right, yep,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: I'm done with the mule deer in Uh. Well, actually
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: it was a mule deer white tail hunt because we
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: were hunting mule deer's mule deer in the mornings. They
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: were coming off of they were coming off one chunk
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: of public onto another chunk of public to bed for
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: like thirty minutes in the morning. So you had to
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: catch them as they as they started to come through.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: But then in the evenings, I found a buck bed
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: and I watched this bucks two days in a row,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: stand up out of the same bed. And uh, the
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: first night I went out there was it was just
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: two I was sitting over a green field that was
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: on private. So I was on public, watching the private,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: watching the deer kind of funnel out towards the green field.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: And so that's when I saw that white tail buck
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: stand out of his bed. Then the next night I
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: went right back to the same place, but I closed
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: like a twenty yards on him. I had the wind
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: in my favor. I know he couldn't see me, but
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: I was at like forty yards on the frontal and
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: he was looking right at like right in my direction,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: feeding And I put my heel down and it was
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: windy up top, but down to the bottom it was
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: real quiet, and it was a small twig, but it
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: sounded like someone broke a baseball bat and and it
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: was I mean, I'll tell you, I don't know what's
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: your experience with this spookiness of white tails in the
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: out West. I feel like it's crazy. They're like they
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: don't take they don't take any risks compared to like
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: a Midwest white tail, even even the deer in Michigan
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: when I when I had those encounters in Michigan hung
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: around for just a little bit to kind of like
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: put their nose up and stomp, But the deer out there.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: He didn't see me, he didn't have my wind, he
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: heard a noise, he didn't like he was. He was gone,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: like in ten seconds. There was no no screwing around
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: for them. He must have been having some people bugging
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: him for a while lading up to that. Sounds like
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: he was on edge. I don't know. Everyone tell I
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: see out there is like that. Uh, But I mean
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: I got close. I was like one step away from
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: drawing back on him, and it didn't. He and it
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: was great for Nebraska. Dere's like a pointer. Man. It
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: was a beautiful, beautiful three year old sweet So then
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: going into the South Dakota hunt, what's the what's the
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: goal for that? You had a tough Nebraska hunt that
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: didn't go the way you wanted. I know you last
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: year kind of tough one. So are you gonna shoot anything?
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Are you trying to get a buck? Like? What's where
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: are you at? You know? You know how it goes? Uh?
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: The first the first uh, I say to myself, Oh man,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: the first thing that moves, I'm gonna get it. But
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: I get out there and then I'm just like, all right,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: we're going after a buck for the first couple of days,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: and then the first couple of days go by and
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: I didn't get a you know, no shot opportunities on
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: a buck. And now you're like, okay, it's getting towards
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: it's getting close to the end. I'm gonna go shoot
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: a dough. Well, then the buck shows up the last
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: couple of days. Then you go after the bucks, and
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: then here you are, so last hunt of the entire trip,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: and now you're like, okay, I gotta get something. Now
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: I want to go get the dough. And then the
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: doughs don't show up. So brutal, but that's yeah, you're
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: in a ride with that usual plan that always works
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: so well for us, right oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: probably shoot myself in the foot like I did the
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: last three times I went to South Dakota. But man,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: I just love I love it out there, and I
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: wanted to get I wanted to hunt a different time
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: of year. Like a lot of people go out the
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: first two weeks of you know, to any Western type,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: they try to get the opener um, and I wanted
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: to kind of wait and get closer towards November, so
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: hopefully there might be you know, there might be some
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: kind of additional movement cooler, cooler temps, you know. Um,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I'm just excited for this trip
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: like I always am. I can see why it seems like,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: even though you know it hasn't quite come together yet.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: You guys are always in beautiful country. You've seen some
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: really good deer out there, and know that one year
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: your buddy smashed a dandy, so it's oh, yeah, this
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: is your this is your time yea, hopefully. So is
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: there anything else in your schedule other than that you
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: come back do the Iowa thing? Is that basically the rap? Yeah?
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: I mean unless last year the wife was cool with
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: me going to uh um, South Dakota again in December,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: but that was with only one one trip last year
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: that was only South Dakota. I didn't do anything in September,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: So we'll see. We'll see how happy she is after,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: you know, after right before Christmas or whatever the deal is.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: And I don't know, man, uh, but you know I've
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: been taking care of her, you know, taking her out
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: to dinners and doing those brownie points, you know, doing
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: doing some projects around the house. And uh, I think
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: I think that's completely under like underrated like taking care
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: of the home, like people just to live a normal life.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: And then they it's all of a sudden it's hunting season.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: They don't prepare their family for it, and then it's
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: just chaos at home and then you can't hunt, you know,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: you can't hunt happily. And so I get that. I
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: gotta get that balance right, gotta gotta invest ahead of
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: time in certain way. But I will say one thing,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: all right, So I think it was two thousand and seven, No,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: it would have been sixteen back in the yeah, way back.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: So I had this bottom field and I can't remember.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: I think you might have came down there with me
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: when you shed hunted that farm. It's way down in
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: the bottom and it was there was a corn field
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: the year that you came down to shed hunt it.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: But so what happens was they fertilize it, they plan it,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: and then I think early on it flooded, and I
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: remember this, Yeah, all of the crops died, and um,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: so the fertilizers in the ground, the water goes away,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: the seeds are rotten, it's too wet to replant. And
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: now throughout the summer these weeds have grown to this
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: six foot high ish um type type area, you know,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: like size. And the last time that that happened, that farm,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: that that part of the farm had was stacked with deer,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: like I mean, one of the greatest ruts that I
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: ever had out on that farm. And um, although I
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: did I shot my deer that year up higher on
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: the farm, it's still it's still held a lot of
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: great deer. And so that happened again this summer, and
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: so I'm excited to get back there and uh see what.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: I put two more trail cameras up in that area
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: this you know, uh yesterday, and so when I start
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: the rotation, I'll go check those cameras and kind to
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: see what's going on, and hopefully it's a repeat of
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: the that you know that year. That's great news. Yeah,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: it's exciting. Well, big mule deer in South Dakota, big
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: old giant Iowa. And then you'll somehow convince your wife
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: to let you go back out to Nebraska and you'll
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: kill that whitey. That's my prediction for your year. I'll
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: tell you what if I if I killed a deer
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: in Minnesota, or excuse me, in South Dakota and killed
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: a good one in Iowa. There's no chance I'm going
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: back to South Dakota, Nebraska, because she'd be like, haven't
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: you had enough? You know, like I think you've had enough, Right,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: you've had enough. You've had enough success for this year,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: So fair enough we can dream, right, yeah, right? You know,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: bad we have to happen, Like she'd have to go
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: into a coma for a while for me to go
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: on that. Well, I'm gonna hope it's just a two
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: buck year then for you, buddy, for the sake of
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: year wife. You know, I'm what I'm not saying, like
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: anything bad would happen. Can you hear stories like that
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: right where oh, no, someone slipped into a coma for
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: uh a month and then they popped out of it
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: and they're fine. You hear stories like no, I've never
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: I've never once heard story though, where someone's wife goes
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: into a coma and the husband says, well, I guess
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: it might as well go hunting. Never heard that one, Dan, Well,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: some I mean someone who have to take care of
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: the kids. I might pull them out of school and
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: they might just truck. You're horrible. I'm not horrible. I'm
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: just trying to because technically this is my job, and
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: I think, I think that you know, if this is
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: what she would want you to do right, exactly exactly.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you a question. What saw if one
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: of your great if Further's wife slipped into a coma
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: and he was having a hard time dealing with it,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: wouldn't you say, hey, Further, maybe you should go hunting
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: to relieve your stress. I mean, I might say, go
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: out for a night and I'll hang out at the hospital.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: But I don't know if I would take off like
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: a two week trip or a week long trip to
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: South Dakota. That's too much, let's think about it. She's
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: not going anywhere, so so horrible. Oh man, I'm I
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: hope she never slips into a coma. I really hope
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: that she does not as well, and I know you
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: take good care of her. I know she's a smart
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: lady and healthy lady. So knock on wood, we should
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: be okay. So anyway, it's hunting. Yeah, So wait a second,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: are you, like, where's your level at right now? Because
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: I'm you know, I'm the middle of the road. I'm
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: sitting probably at a five or six for white tails
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: in Iowa. Um, I leave Friday. I'm at probably at
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: nine right now for South Dakota, mule deer. Where are
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: you sitting at for your adventure upcoming adventures? I'm in
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: like a weird place, dan Um. I'm at like a
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: like concerned six, A concerned six. Yeah. So so let
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: me let me paint you the picture of my world
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: this fall. And then we talked about this a little
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: bit offline, but I'll, i'll, I'll spell it all out
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: for everyone. And the really like the reason I have
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: some trepidation is because it's by far the craziest fall
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: I've ever had, Um, And so it's gonna be it's
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: just gonna be tough on the family life and and
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: my sanity as well. So so I did this public
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: land whitetail hunt in Idaho at the beginning of the
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: year that me and Further did together, and uh, you know,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: tough hunt had some close calls, just didn't quite come together.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: But but cool um and then Michigan of course opened
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: up on October one, So I've got that going on.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: And in a second here I can give you some
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: details on on what Darren hunting there and what happened
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: the first couple of days of the season. But the
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: big wild card is that I'm filming two new shows
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: this year, uh that are requiring that I travel a ton.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: So one of these shows, the basic gist, if I
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: were to like oversimplify it, is kind of taken the
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Wired Hunt podcast idea on the road and filming it.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: So the idea here is that I go and I
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: meet with some expert in deer hunting that has like
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: a very specific, unique angle on how they hunt in
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: the unique place they hunt. And I'm gonna go out
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: and visit with this person and spend a day or
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: two with them, basically doing a podcast but in real life,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: so following along with them to learn how they do
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: what they do, asking them why they do this, why
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: is this the spot, why do you use this this
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: this bow? Why do you think about this way? Why
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: is this location right? And go through the whole thing
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: and actually tag along for a hunt with them and
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: break it all down. So try to learn as much
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: as I can dissect their approach, just like what we
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: do here. But then I have to take what I
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: learned over that day and a half and then I
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: need to try to pull off the hunt myself. So
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: now I have to go off on my own taking
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: what I learned from this expert, and I'm in their
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: area now. So there's new country, new spots, new techniques,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: and I have to try to guinea pigott and implement
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: it and try to kill a deer. So that's that's
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: the thing I'm trying to do this fall across six
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: different places for this show this season. Um. And then
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: in between all of that, I'm also filming a different
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: show which is focused on just one single week in Iowa.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Um So I've got that hunt first week in November,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: which will be kind of standard seven days of hunting
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: NonStop in the run. So that's one thing. But then
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: this other show has got a hunt that I just finished.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: I just got home late last night from Washington, d C.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I was chasing Suburban Bucks and Suburban Does with Taylor
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Chamberlain out in the suburbs, which was a very interesting, wild,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: insane trip that I'm gonna have another podcast the details
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: of it, but I'll just tell you it was. It
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: was like nuts. Um So that was a learning experience. Um.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: And then I'm going to Arkansas next week. So in
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: like six days i leave for Arkansas and I'm going
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: to go out there with Clay Newcome, and we're gonna
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: be learning from his one of his like mountain man
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: type mentors, all about how the old school mountain man
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: way of deer hunting from the ground with a muzzle
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: loader out in the mountains, national forests and stuff. Uh.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: So we're gonna take mules back into some random place
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: in Arkansas, live out there for a week and chase
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: deer on the ground like that, and then I'm home
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: for six seven days, and then I take off for
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: that Iowa hunt that I just described, and then I
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: leave immediately from that hunt to go out to Nebraska
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: and go hunt the open country grassland type stuff with
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: a guy named Tony Treach who has perfected kind of
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: a similar thing what Travis is going to talk about
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: today in the podcast, which is killing these deer with
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: a bow on the ground using a decoy. So I'm
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: gonna try that myself now, um. And then I come
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: home for a week, and then I go to Maine
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: and I'm meeting up with Hail Blood and we're gonna
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna learn how to track deer in the snow
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: and try to follow their tracks right to the buck
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: standing there and get a crack at them with a
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: rifle and that's gonna be crazy an interesting. Uh. And
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: then I'm home for a week and then I've got
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: another one that I still tend of this. I can't
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: lay out details, but I think it looks like gonna
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: be going to Alabama for a very interesting hunt in
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: early December, and then in early January going to Wisconsin
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: for another interesting one where we will be taking a
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: unique look and meeting with a unique person out there. Uh,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: kind of putting the lens back on the more common
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: like Midwestern management world of deer hunting, but from an
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: interesting perspective and doing a hunt there. Um So it's
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's just a lot of travel and a
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: lot of like quick hunts. So I've got like a
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: day and a half with these people learning about what
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: they do, and then I have like three three and
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: a half days to try to do it myself. Um.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: So it's exciting, like I'm gonna learn a lot, I'm
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: gonna see a lot of interesting things. But that trepidation is,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: you know, it's gonna be really hard to actually get
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: anything killed in these kinds of situations, and it's it's
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: just gonna be a tough fall from balancing family and
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: travel and all that kind of stuff. So that is
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: that's the that's the crazy I've got staring me in
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: the face right now. Well, I'll ask you this, would
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: you rather you know, obviously you're not really in control
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: of all of the places that you're going. I mean,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: it sounds like if you had your a way, you
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: might spend some more time in some places. So the
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: question I have for you is, would you rather hunt
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: five states at three days at a pop or maybe
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: three two or three states at five to seven days
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: out of pop? I mean, if it was just like
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: to try to kill a good buck, like if I
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: weren't doing the show, and if it was just for
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: like my own goals of killing a good buck, definitely
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: a fewer states, longer period. The trick is that we're
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: you know, trying to get you know, a certain number
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: of episodes, right, and um, that's the trick with it.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: And I don't want to be gone a crazy amount
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: of time because I'm trying to make sure that I'm
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: not always gone. So it's like I need more ideally
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: like more hunting days, but at the same time, I
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: don't want to be away from the family more too.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: So it's it's uh, I think what it's gonna come
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: down to is that I'm I'm gonna be you know,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be targeting big giant bucks, right, It's
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: gonna be more so I'm gonna learn about the style
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: of hunting. And if I can get a crack at
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: a dough, I'll be stoked. If I can get a
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: crack at a two year old buck or three year
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: old buck, I'll be stoked. Um. And I think I'm
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: looking at this fall is much more of a I'm
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: going to learn a ton and hopefully this will be
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: a tool to teach people a lot. And and I'm
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: not gonna get down on myself if I don't shoot
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: a bunch of big old bucks, because that's that's just
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: not the thing I'm going for this year. So it's
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: to be different. Yeah. Well, I hope you find success,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: my friend. And it sounds like you're gonna have some
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: uh some help at least from some quote unquote experts
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: that are gonna help point you in the right direction.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean awesome, awesome people to learn from
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: in person. And I mean it's gonna be really interesting
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: digging into what these people do and how they do it.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: So if nothing else, I'm gonna come out of the
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: season with a totally new perspective having hunted all these
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: different places and all these different ways, uh, which you
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: know is gonna be a good thing in the long run.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: I just don't know what it's gonna mean for how
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: many tags I felt or like if I can roll
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: out of bed on January one and like walk, we'll see.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: But I do think I feel good about the Iowa hunt.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, I've got some stuff that I knocked on
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: doors a number of years ago that I have access
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: to again. Um, I've got a buddy's property. He's gonna
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: let me slip in there if I need to. So
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: there's a couple of spots where I think I can
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: get something. I can get a decent deer in Iowa.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: I'm excited about that. And you know, on the local
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: stuff in Michigan, I've got a couple of good bucks
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: that made it from last year. Um, So I feel
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: even though I won't have a lot of time to
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: put into those, I think, um, maybe just be a
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: little more targeted and hopefully take advantage of you know,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: a lot of historical data on those deer. I've got
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: three bucks from last year, two bucks for sure that
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: I wanted to target this year that I passed last
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: year a bunch. Um. There's this really nice twelve pointer
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: who I believe his four and I was calling him
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year last year, and he's back and
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: been very daylight. And then there's another big eight pointer
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: who I passed a bunch last year. He's back. He's
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: probably like a hundred and thirties something inch eight four
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: year old, which is a really good one for around here.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: I have pictures of him in early September, but I
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: haven't checked pictures of him on a cell camera. I
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: haven't checked any regular cameras. I don't know if he's
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: anywhere else. Um. And then there's this wild card buck.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: There's this short time nine pointer from last year who
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: I thought was to last year, so I assumed he'd
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: be a three year old this year, and then I
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be interested in hunting him. But I've seen him
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: a couple of times now, including opening night and the
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: next day in the morning, and then I saw him
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: again last night. I got out for a little glassing
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: session and some and he looks like a tank. I mean,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: he's not big bodied, he's still he's like, sure, he's
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: a short but very wide nine point, kind of like
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: that wide eight point where I shot in the back
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: forward a couple of years ago. Um, but his body
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: does not like the three year old, So I don't
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: I don't know if he just has an abnormally really
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: big body and he is actually three, or if I
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: misjudged him last year and he was actually three last
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: year and just wasn't very impressive antler wise, so I
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: under sold on him, and then this year he is
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: a big, chunky four year old, and I don't know,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna have a if he comes in and he
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: looks as good up close, I might be very tempted
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: to descend with at him because these pictures I'm getting
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: him on the cell camera and then just kind of
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: seeing him running through a couple of times, he's, uh,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: he looks good. So yeah, so you know, there's there's
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: some exciting stuff. That very first night of the season.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: I gotta sell cam picture of that twelve point of
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Rookie the night before in daylight in one of my spots.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: So I made a move aggressively winning there with a
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: saddle set up on that spot, hoping he come through,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: and he didn't, but he showed up with that short
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: wide nine about a hundred and twenty yards away, And
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: so I saw go by that night, and then the
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: next morning I couldn't hunt, but I could glass, and
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: I watched them go right by that same spot in
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: the morning, back to bed. So the second night of
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: this season, I went in, walked to creak in back
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: behind this thick brushy stuff and got right up in
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: like the edge of where I think they're bed. Had
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: slipped in there, and during a rainstorm climbed up in
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: the tree right where they passed by the night before
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: and that morning, and I was thinking, man, this is
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: it perfect, And then they didn't show, so you know
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: how that goes. Yeah, But so it was a fun
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: first couple of days the hunt of the season, and
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: felt like I was in the game on them. So
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: that was all I've done in Michigan so far. And
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm gonna hunt it all this
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: week because of the fact I'm you know, leaving again
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: so soon, so it might be take this week off
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: and not hunting again until late October for those deer.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: But that's that's what I got here in Michigan. Um,
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: if I don't kill the late October, it's going to
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: be like a late season thing because November is so busy.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: So that's a that's my story. Man. It's gonna be
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: a different kind of year, different kind of goals, hopes
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: and hit lists this year for sure. Yeah. Yeah, Well,
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: I'm sending good vibes your way, man, I do appreciate it.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: I uh, I hope the South Dakota goes well so
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: you don't have to have this really weird situation play out.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: So you can finangle an extra way to get backed
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: on there, Mr Johnson, we found you google searched how
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: to put your wife in a coma. We uh that's illegal? Yeah? Yeah,
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: that that would be one time I'd be okay with
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: the n s A snooping in to make sure you
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: don't go one step too far with your hunting obsession. Hey,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: I got a question for you, um is Rookie of
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: the Year. I have a sweet goatee. See, I knew
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: you'd like this. He's got some interesting facial hair. I
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: wouldn't say it's a sweet gotee like I've got, but
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: he does have like a white patch on his forehead,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: so there's a little something there makes him because that's
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: that's your nickname. I know, I know, I'm and I'm
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: applying it to a buck. So yeah, buddy, I hope
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: you I hope you hit him with the curve. I
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: give him my best shot, and I hope the same
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: for you. Man. Thanks for thanks for hopping on here
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: quick to do this today. I know that folks have
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: been asking where where's the goals, hopes and hitless conversation.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: We need to know what you two are doing. So
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: we did it. It's out there and uh, if anything
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: weird goes down in Iowa, they can point back to
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: this as far as uh, what are they called motive
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: for the crime? And um, it's all out there for
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: the world to see. So we're good now. Now, I
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: definitely can't put my wife into a coma because this
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: this is all like now, it's premeditated. Oh gosh, okay,
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: we we to make it clear Dan Dan Johnson. Dan
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: Johnson would never do anything ill advised. He's a wonderful
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: family man of great dad and husband, and we believe
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: that you have only the best of intentions, right, my friend,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: Only the best intentions, only the best intentions. Well, good
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: luck in South Dakota. And when you get going to Iowa,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: I know you'll be keeping me posted. I can't wait
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: t here. How it goes, same man? All right, And
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: with that all said, let's get into the next phase
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: of this podcast, which is talking ground game for white
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: tails with Travis Glassman. All right, I am here now
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: with Travis Glassman. Travis, welcome to the show. Thank you
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: very much, Mark for having me. I'm I'm excited for
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: this one, as I think probably our listeners should know
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: by now. I can't remember if I've mentioned this or not,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: because my life's crazy these days, but I am heading
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: out to the planes of Nebraska this year and I'm
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: gonna do some ground hunting for white tails with my bow.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: And in preparation for that, I've been digging in and
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: researching different people that have done this and looking into
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: different ways of doing it and exploring all that. And
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: your name was one that kept popping up as a
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: guy that has got this thing nailed down. You figured
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: out how to kill white tails on the ground with
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: the bow, and that's what I want to talk to you. About.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: So my question, first, free Travis, is how did this
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: thing start for you? Because I actually I actually started
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: hunting white tails on the ground with a bow too,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: but it was because my mom wouldn't let her little
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: son marks in the tree stand at the time, so
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: I was forced to be able to ground. Why why
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: did you go to the ground? Is it? Well, I
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: I I won't try to answer for you. How did
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: it begin for you? Okay? So I too, um back,
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: well for back and clear up. When I started bow hunting,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: I was about fifteen years old. I had a I
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: was very lucky to have a buddy who took me
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: along with him and and I didn't even have a bow.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: I went along and him and his dad um hunted
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: a little bit of private some public here in Kansas,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: and they they primarily hunted tree stands. And so I
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: learned to um the whole tree stand game. And you know,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: we don't have as many trees um. I live in
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: the western part of Kansas, so it's a lot of
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: open spaces, but you know, there are trees here and
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: there in in some of the drainages and whatnot, and
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: so we would only always look for those areas to hunt.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: And set up a tree stand. And I've spent a
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: lot of hours in a tree stand myself and always
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: saw a lot of deer, you know, mostly those in
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: young bucks. And UM, wandered always why I never consistently
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: saw mature bucks in those wooded areas. And over the
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: years I just kind of started paying attention and and
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: then I were the turning point was is why I
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: had a buddy take me along and kind of introduced
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: me to um, the running guns, spotting stock kind of
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: decoy game. And and at that point I was hooked
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: on that and and I really started digging in and
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: honing my own way of doing it. And uh and
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: so yes, I mean a couple of different points we
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: can cover, is you know, ground set up as far
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: as ground blind stuff like that. And then also, um,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: how how I approach ground hunting and spotting stock and
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: running gun and whatnot. So, um, you know, to answer
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: your question, you know, I started out tree stand hunting
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: and then I realized real quick that to consistently kill
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: and see the biggest bucks, um, because of our terrain
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: out here, you know, the big bucks like to separate
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: themselves from the bigger herds or the does or the
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: small bucks or whatever they're they're very much you know,
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: to themselves, and and that's how they survived, you know,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: the bigger mature bucks. The only time they're around the
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: other deer from what I've seen, is one at night
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: because they are doing their scent checking and and figuring
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: out when things are getting close to the rut and whatnot.
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: But you know, for the most part, when they're just
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: living their lives, they don't really like to hang out
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: with a lot of other deer. And so during the rut,
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: um I've I've you know, we all find a whole
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: you know, get a whole bunch of trail camera pictures
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: through the night of mature bucks and and coming through
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: all of our tree stand areas, but never or rarely
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: see them during the daytime. And so that's when I
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: started kind of taking a step back. And basically those
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: areas where I hunted all either set up an observation
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: stand to you know, see a lot of country first
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: thing in the morning or last light, and usually you know,
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: you see those mature deer standing up somewhere. It may
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: be you know, a half mile out in the middle
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: of a CRP field or um in in one little
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: tiny patch of brush in a fence line that's way
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: away from everything else, and you realize real quick that
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: they're never going to make it to your tree stand
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: by shooting light or during shooting light. So you know,
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: in those circumstances, you have to go to them in
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: order to kill them. So what I would start doing
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: is figuring out a pattern from an observation stand or
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: sitting up on a hill watching behind a spotting scope
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: for a few days or a few you know, mornings
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: or whatever. So just taking a step back is a
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: huge benefit, and and just being very patient behind your
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: glass and then coming up with a really good game
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: plan and then and then at that point it's really
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: a kind of a natural thing to me, is either
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: you know, one you set up a ground line in
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: a travel corridor that's very near their bedding area or
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: during the rut, you know, say they have a dough
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: that they've found through the night and they've separated off
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: and taken out into these wide open spaces, and uh,
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: of course they're gonna bed those does down and they're
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: going to defend that dough for the whole time that
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: they're breeding them. And when they're satisfied they'll obviously go
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: on to the next but as you know, um, you know,
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: watching observing from a long ways away, watching how these
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: big bucks act, and you hopefully will get to see that.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure the exact time frame that you're going
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: to Nebraska, but okay, well you should see. You know,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: I'm guessing you'll see younger bucks that smell the hot
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: dough and they will be coming in and trying to
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: follow their nose to do what they do. You know,
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: they're they're they're to breed does So hopefully you find
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: a situation where you have a dominant buck bedded down
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: with the dough pinned down, and they you know, they'll
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: stand up randomly, you know, throughout the day and they'll
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: just kind of send checker and make sure that no
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: other bucks are approaching, and then they'll obviously fight to
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: keep that dough. Well, that is the single most important
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: thing to focus on, is as far as killing it
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: big mature buck. And why I say that is take
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: advantage of his high testosterone, his aggressiveness. And I like
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: to use a decoy, and you know, specifically I use
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: heads up decoys just because I'm you know, they're manufactured
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: here close to where I live, and I've become good
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: friends with Garrett. But anyway, I'll take it a buck decoy,
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: and I'll get the wind right and then I'll kind
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: of sneak in within you know, eighty yards or you know,
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: try to get as close as you can, um, and
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: then present that decoy. And because that buck is defending
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: his dough, he is likely going to come and try
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: to defend that dough and he's gonna try to whip
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: your tail, you know. So UM, once I get within
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: that range where I feel like it's it's a good
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: time to present a decoy, UM, I'll do that and
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: then usually just be patient. Um. Reactions are going to
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: be different. You know. Sometimes it is instant where you
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: you better be ready with an aero knock and and
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: everything prepared, because sometimes it happens very quick. And sometimes
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: they'll stand up and they'll look at you and and
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: they'll just kind of, you know, see you, and and
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: as long as you're far enough away, they're okay with that.
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: And and it may be that, you know, eventually when
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: they get up, especially if the dog gets up and
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: and kind of feeds around a little bit, and if
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: she happens to see the decoy and it's curious and
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: kind of starts coming your way. Then he'll you know,
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: start getting aggressive at that point and try to get
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: between you and the dough and and potentially try to come,
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: you know, push you out. And so it happens differently
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: each time. It seems like and uh, but yeah, you
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: just have to be adaptive and behind the decoy and whatnot.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: And we can go into kind of mounting and the
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: decoy and whatnot. So yeah, So so I want to
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: hit pause there because I want to I want to
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: get really deep into how you do this decoy thing.
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: But before we get to that, I want to rewind
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: a little bit more to the beginning and and kind
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: of answer a few questions that I know people are
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: having listening to this, Specifically people that maybe are hunting
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: further to the east or in the Midwest, and they've
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: been told their whole lives that, well, you can't kill
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: a buck on the ground because you're you're at eye
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: level with them, or they're just too spooky, or your
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: wind is gonna be in their face, or it's hard
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: to see stuff, or whatever it might be. There's all
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: these downside to hunting in the ground, and and for
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: a lot of years I was hearing those things too
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: and thinking myself, Man, you gotta be in a tree,
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: you gotta be in a tree. Um. But now you've
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: you've done this and you've been on the ground in blinds,
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: you've been spotting, stalking, you've used decoys, you spent a
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: ton of time on the ground. So when you hear
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: those objections, what do you what do you say to
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: those objections? Is there truth to it? Or is it
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of worry and and concern
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: about nothing? Now there's there's definitely a lot of concern
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: about nothing. And to be real honest with you, I
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: I know that there are people listening who have had
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: that moment where they're sitting in a tree stand and
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: then they see a buck bedded down, you know, locked
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: down with a dough and and they sit there, and
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: they sit there and they think there's about a ten
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: percent chance or less of that dear standing up and
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: walking by. But your your darns, you're gonna put in
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: the time because you you have faith, you have hope. Right,
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: this sounds like two if even in heavily what it
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: areas if you have a small opening to where you
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: can see a dear bedded. You know, if you have
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: any terrain at all to be able to stock closer,
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: especially with having a decoy in front of you, I
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: would highly encourage climbing down as quietly as you can
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: and start the stock and get that decoy presented to
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: that deer, because again, his instinct is to protect what
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: he's got, and by you by him seeing a decoy.
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: And even if you incorporated grunt tube by giving some
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: vocalizations along, so you have you have a sound, and
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: you have a visual with the decoy. Then you have
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: movement with the decoy because you have it in your hand.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: Those three things he will not be able to resist.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna say ninety five percent of the time. Are
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: you going to have situations where something doesn't go quite
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: right or if a doe sees you on your way
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: and bust out and messes up the whole thing. Yes,
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: but the chances of you killing that deer are way
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: way higher than that deer standing up and walking by
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: you in your tree stands. Is my argument, and so
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: I'm going to try it every single time. Obviously, I'm
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: gonna use my hunting instincts to get myself in the
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: right position, make sure the winds right, make sure you
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: don't see any other dear on your way, and I mean,
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: it's it's all those things. But that's how I handle
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: that situation. I encourage people all the time that that
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: don't think that this is an option for them. You know, Oh,
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: it's just too thick. And I understand some people hunt
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: strictly woods and it's extremely difficult, you know, maybe impossible,
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: But if you have any openness at all, don't rule
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: it out, is all I would say. All right, So
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: that seems fair, and think you've convinced me that this
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: is something that could work, you know, in certain spots
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: in Michigan or Mississippi or New York, just as much
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: as it could work in Kansas. You just need to
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: kind of pick your spots in your time's right. So
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: I do want to get into general open country stuff eventually.
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: I do want to get into some of your experiences
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: with ground blinds. But since we're talking about the decoy
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: moving in on them, let's just get into that. Let's
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: cover that in detail. Let's start there. Uh, So you
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: mentioned that use the heads up decoy for people that
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: don't know what that is can you describe specifically, like
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: what this thing is, how it works, because some people
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: probably aren't following you. You're thinking you're carrying a big,
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: twenty pound three D thing out there. Sure, So heads
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: Up decoy is is just a silhouette of a deer.
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: I know some people may know what a silhouette looks like.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: You know, Montana decoy makes like a full body silhouette.
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: But heads Up Decoy made one that's more mobile to
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: where it's only from like the neck up, and it's
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: it's I know when you look at it, um, you're thinking, man,
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: is that is that enough? Is that enough to convince
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: dear that you're a dear? And think about this. You
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: know a lot of times whenever a deer is standing
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: in any sort of cover at all, all you see
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: is the front shoulders up a lot of times. And
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: and at first I was honestly skeptical when I first
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: seen it and started using it. I actually, again luckily
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: had a guy you know, kind of had some good
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: experiences with it before and showed me. And and then
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: once you see it, you have to experience it and
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: understand it, and and yeah, tone to convince yourself that
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: it's the best idea. And so anyway to answer your question,
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: it's heads up decoy is a silhouette showing a dear
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: looking your direction. And uh, they make deer and and
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: antelope and elk and moose and whatever. But anyway, I
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: focus obviously on deer and and we thankfully have the
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: option out here where I live to experience mule deer
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: and white tail hunting, so I use both. But for
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: this talking about white tails, I primarily use the white
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: tail buck decoy, um, just because I take advantage of
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: their aggression towards other bucks. But uh, there are circumstances
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: with mule deer. I like to use a doughe but
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: we can talk about that a later time. So that
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: that is what the heads of decoy is, and I
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: encourage everybody to either search it or you know, you
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: can look at you know, my YouTube channel or the
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: heads of Eco YouTube channel or or whatever you want
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: to do. But yeah, you'll see. How do do you
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: just hand hold it and stick it on the ground
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: or do you use a bow attachment? Ever? Talking about that, sure,
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: so there are different options. Um, they do have a
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: bow mount that you can um screw onto the pork
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: where your stabilizer goes UM. Some stabilizers have a hole
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: on the end of the stabilizer that you can mount
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: it to your stabilizer, or you can remove your stabilizer,
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: UM put this mount in place. UM, or you can
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: kind of put it behind your stabilizer. So you just
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: have to I mean, you just have to play with
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: what works best for you if you want to have
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: it on your bow. Now, if if I was in
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: an area where I knew things were going to happen
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: up close and personal, um, and and there's not a
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: lot of wind, I would not hesitate to put it
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: on my bow just because you know, you kind of
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: have it hanging off to the side. So like say
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: I'm a right handed shooter, UM, it would the decoy
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: would kind of come up and to the left like
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: it's you know, uh, you know, a neck kind of
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: curves up kind of at at agree angle and then
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: obviously the head goes straight up. So any way, I
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: would use that on the left hand side to where
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: when I'm getting ready to draw the bulk of my body,
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: my shoulders are behind that decoy. And then I would,
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: you know, have my decoy in the vertic or my
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: my bow in the vertical position to where I'm ready
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: to draw at any time. Um. But out here where
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: I'm at a lot of times it's pretty windy, and
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: so I choose not to put it on my bow
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: most of the time. So I actually kind of built
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: my own stand or steak. Um. And I know Garrett
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: with heads up is kind of currently working on some
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: different ways to do what I'm doing. Only make a
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: you know, manufactured steak. But anyway, I'll take the bom
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: out and I'll actually bolted to kind of oh like
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: a plastic hot wire fenced steak or something you get
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: from the farm and home store, and it's got kind
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: of a metal steak to it and you can poke
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: it down to the ground. Then it'll you can prevent
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: it from rotating and stuff. So I'll put that down.
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: I'll actually you have to cut those down a little
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: bit and make them about now thirty inches taller, so
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: and then you screw that bomb out to it, and
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: then you can slide that decoy into that bow out
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: and then you can have it. You can just carry
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: it off to your side, just like you know you
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: would a bow or anything. You're just carrying it along
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: and then when it's time to put that thing up.
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: You just you know, put it out in front of
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: you and say you're say you're walking in somewhere, And
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: a lot of times I'll just have it, you know,
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: I'll have my bow in my left hand and the
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: decoy in the right hand already on that steak to
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: where if I'm walking into, say a place where I
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: want to set up to present a decoil, or say
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: I'm walking into a ground blind set up. You know,
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: even if I don't plan on using that decoy for
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: the hunt in the ground blind, I'll have it with
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: me to where I'll just sit it out beside the
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: blind or something, to where if I see a buck
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: bedded down two yards away, I'm out, I'm out of
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: the line and we're going, you know. And so or
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: I like using it just to cover my movement. So
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: if I'm sneaking into a tree, standard ground line. How
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: many times have you had a dough stand up and
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: stare you down and then you you hit a knee
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: and you're like, please, please don't bust me, you know,
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: And so if you have something like that, even even
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: if you're out in the prairie mule there hunting I'll
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: have a dough decoy that I'm carrying to where if
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: I hit a knee of something, if I see something
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: moving or whatever, I'll hit a knee in and have
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: that thing up in front of my face to where
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: a lot of times I get by with it. They
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: dismiss you, and they don't. They just kind of think, okay, well,
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: that's that's what that noise was another deer, you know,
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: and then they'll just kind of work off and you
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: can sneak sneak, you know, the rest of the way
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: in your tree stand. So anyway, Yeah, that's how I
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: use it. Um. I like to have it on that
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: steak just because when I'm working into an area where
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: I want to, you know, kind of set up my
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: perch to present the deek toy again. You know, there's
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: kind of that sweet spot where I feel you don't
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: want to get too close to the deer to present
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: it or when you present it, just because when they
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: stand up, they may be startled that you know, oh
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: there's a deer way too close and that was that
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: was in your face, you know. So I like to
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: kind of have a little softer approach to where I
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: kind of set up a spot around you know, seventy
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: five yards or so, and uh, but anyways, I will
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: stick that thing in the ground and I just kind
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: of hide behind it and kind of clear out the
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: area around me, you know, to where I'm I'm ready
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: to maneuver and shoot on either side of the decoy.
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: And the good thing about having it on that steak
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: is you can kind of reach over and rotate that decoy.
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: So like, as you know, sometimes they'll try to circle
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: down wind and obviously you're you're gonna need to make
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: a decision to make a shot before they completely get
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: down wind, but you can kind of rotate that decoy
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: as they're turning, and you can just kind of rotate
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: your body and the whole decoy set up to where
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: you're always going to be hidden behind it. So that's
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: why I like having hands free. Plus, when you pull
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: your bow back, you know you're you're going to be
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: leaning around the decoy to shoot or whatever, but you're
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: you're completely hands freeing you don't have that thing hanging
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: on your bow. But there are circumstances where I do
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: feel like having it on your bow is really nice
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: because you're always going to be tucked in tight behind
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: that decoy when it's on your bow too, So there's
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: there's give and take to about every circumstance. You know,
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: as you're describing that, one of the things that I
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: am curious about actually actually happens before that whole presentation
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: of the decoy. It's actually the question or the situation
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: of when do you start trying to make your approach,
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: because because I'm we're assuming like we've spotted a buck,
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: we've spotted a buck that you want to shoot, and
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: I guess this is a This is another question. Will
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: you ever make a move on a buck with the
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: decoy like this if he's solo? Or do you only
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: ever used this when he's locked on a dough and
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: it's one of those very specific buck on a dough
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: trying to breed your kind of situations? Will you, well,
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: we chase down a cruising buck or something like that,
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: or is that a lost cause? Now a solo buck
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: is I don't know if I want to say equally
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: is effective? But you have a high percentage that he'll
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: come in and take a look at you and probably
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: challenge you just because what are we focusing on at
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: this time? You know that time of your testosterone, right,
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: So they're very territorial. They want to be the boss
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: at all times. And and they're gonna see that decoy
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: and they're gonna say, this guy is in my area
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: cruising for the dose that I'm cruising for, and and
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna make sure he, you know, gets out of here.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: So that's gonna be the mentality that I have all
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: the time. Now there. I will warn folks there have
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: been times where you know, if if there's a buck
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: buck and and say he's a three or four year
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: old buck, if this, if you approach him with this decoy,
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: you may make him go the other direction, just because
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: that tells you one, he's not the dominant buck in
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: the area. He's probably got his tail whooped already. And
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: but the way I look at it is if if
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: there's a buck that goes the other direction because he's
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: been whooped, is that the deer that I want? You know,
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: I focus on the most mature buck in the area,
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: and and one that's very confident in that. And so
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: that's what I like. You know, do you ever do
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: you ever see young bucks coming in? Because I've seen
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: young bucks coming to regular decoy. So if I want
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: to kill a two year old or even like if
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: I was out there just need to kill a buck
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: of any type to fill a freezer, could I kill
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: one like this? It is not out of the question.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: Ever for any age class of deer to come to
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: a decoy. Are they going to be a little more
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: reluctant or careful? Absolutely, But a lot of times a
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: deer is a deer and their social animals they want
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: to they want to know who it is, and so
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: usually you're gonna have a reaction. They're gonna circle in
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: and scent check or take a look or whatever. So
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: you know, it's not out of the question. But just
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: don't be disappointed if you know, how many times have
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: you grunted or called it a buck and he goes
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: the other direction because he's he's been down that road before,
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: so exactly, So you know, just I was just warning folks,
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: you know, don't be disappointed and say I'll throw throw
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: the deco in the rand. Say this doesn't work, you know,
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: So so I'm wondering also, like when do you know
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: it's time to go? So let's let's imagine when you're
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: you're up glass on a hill. In your case, you're
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: hunting open country, you're up on a hill, you've been glassing,
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: you spot a buck um do you always do you
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: see that buck? And then it's like, go, okay, right now,
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: we gotta get him. Or do you watch a while
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: and try to let them bed or try to get
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: them to slow down, and then once you know where
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: they kind of slowed down, then you try to make
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: a move. Can you walk me through that thought process,
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: because I think that's probably a big fork in the
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: road point for people. It's certainly a big It could
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: make or break the whole deal. And what I tell
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: people is any time they cannot see you say you
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: need to cover ground, and it's just like a spotting
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: stock situation without a decoy, when are you going to
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: make your moot? Well, whenever they can't see you. So
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: if they go into a thicket for a short time,
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: you know you're gonna There's been times where I've ran,
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: I've sprinted, and I've told people with me, I'll prepare
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: and say, okay, listen, they're about to go down in
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: this ravine and as soon as they get out of sight,
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: we're gonna sprint to that next yucka plane. We're going
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: to sprint to that next fence line or whatever it is.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: And so it's chess match and you're you're constantly doing
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: this until you're within that zone where you want to
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: present that decoy and and you have to use your
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: hunting instincts. And there's no magic potion or right answer
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: because every single time your face with something different, obstacles,
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: people driving by. You know, it's just a situation that
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: you just have to make a decision. And do you
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: make the right decision every time? No, But I've gotten
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: to the point now where I've seen I've been through
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: a lot of things that didn't work, and I've learned
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: the lessons the hard way, and I'm my percentage is
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: getting better by the day. You know, Do I have
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: it completely figured out? Never? You know, but but I'm
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: hopefully getting my percentage better each day. So yeah, I
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: mean the answer is try to do your best to
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: hunt without like you're hunting without the decoy, and and
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: get in those positions where you know it's a spot
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: and suck situation. You're going to try to you know,
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: get in there. Now. When I think back to say,
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: someone who tree stand hunts and you know, they see
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: one bedded down or down. And you know a lot
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: of times if you're a tree stand hunting, there's gonna
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: be plenty of cover um and and I would that's
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: a slam dunk to me. Man If I if I'm
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: able to climb down from a tree stand and I
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: have any terrain at all to work in close to
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: that that deer that's betted with a dough or whatever,
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: even betted by himself, I'm going to use whatever terrain
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: I can, you know, to use a drainage to circle around,
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: you know, a little bit, to get on the other
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: side of them, or whatever it is. I mean, So, yeah,
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: I what do you think about this in that scenario?
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: So envisioning trying to do this in you know, further
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: to the east where I was. Let's say I'm tree
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: stand hunting in Michigan and it's you know, November, and
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: I decided, you know what, I'm gonna bring my decoy
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: just in case I get in a scenario like this.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: So I'm up in the tree and then lo and behold,
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: I see a big buck locked on a dough out
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: there a hundred fifty yards in some thick, nasty, weedy
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: stuff off and they bed down and I'm thinking, all right,
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: this is why I brought that decoy. Let's do it.
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: You know, I sneak out of my saddle, I get
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: down to the bottom of the tree, I grab my decoy,
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: and then I all of a sudden realize we'll shoot.
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: I've got a hundred fifty yards between me and him,
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: and I'm in some good bedding cover, so there's probably
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: does around here. There's does bed and there's other deer.
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: Do you worry about spooking all those other deer when
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: you're moving in or do you say, you know what,
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: it's an aggressive move. Some deer are gonna spook. That's
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: okay because when this buck sees this buck that I
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: hold up, he's not going to care about anything else.
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: What's your take on that? Yeah, I would, being that
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: you have the elevated position to you know, I would
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: probably spend a little bit of time analyzing the area,
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: you know, really focusing on Okay, did I see any
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: did I see a dog group work into this area
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: that you know? Can I avoid that area if I
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: get down, Can I can I kind of maybe back
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: out and circle around and avoid that little pocket of
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: does in order to get on the other side. Of
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: that field or in in that other little drainage coming
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: in that it will take me right to where he's
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: bedded or whatever. Obviously, like I said, you still have
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: to make those decisions too, of you know, use your
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: hunter instincts to avoid other deer um. But you know,
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: if if one happens to spook um, if you have
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: that thicket cover, chances are that buck only has one
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: thing on his mind. And unless unless you spook the
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: dough that he's with, you're probably gonna be a pretty
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: good spot because you know you're still in the game
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: because if she doesn't leave, he's not leaving either. And
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: and he's used to you know, the rut is a
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: crazy time and the deer no that deer, you're going
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: to be moving around all over the place, and he
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: has one thing on his mind. He's gonna be locked
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: down on and focusing. He's laser focused on that and
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: that only, and until she stands up, he's not going
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: to stand up. Or if he does stand up, he's
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: gonna send check and read position in bed again. And
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: so if you know, I would just be confident that
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: as long as you put yourself in a position to
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: where you can get to him without messing his dough up,
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: You're gonna be in good shape. Now, Is there ever
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: a situation where you would see a buck you want
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: and you would read the situation is one that you
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: just can't make a plan, Like, is there ever if
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: it's completely still with zero wind, or if he's in
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: the middle of a stubble field and there's zero cover,
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: would you would you always go for it? Is there
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: always a way to make something work? Or are there
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: other things like that that are just Nope, this isn't
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: gonna work. I'm just gonna keep watching and hope he
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: goes somewhere else or something like that. Yeah, I would
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: say that I would try to keep my position in
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: an elevated spot, whether it's a tree stand or on
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: a hill or whatever. And I would if if there
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: was just no way, And I've I've ran into those
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: situations a lot of times, like you know, like a
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: wheat stubble filled or something you know, you only of
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: like eighteen inches tall cover. And he he may be
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: out there for a reason because he's again he can
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: see all other deer approaching and he wants to defend
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: his dough. And I actually had this happen a couple
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: of years ago, and so we you just have to
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: sit and wait. And as you know, like we just mentioned,
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: the rut is a crazy time and if if you're
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: not satisfied with the current situation, wait five minutes. You know,
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: I mean it changes all the time with the rut.
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, how many times have you seen, you know,
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: a hot dog get up and move a hundred yards
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: and lay back down, you know, So just being patient
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: is as long as you're in, as long as you
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: have one in your sights. I would say, just be
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: patient because likely it's likely he's going to move to
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: a position where he's approachable before dark. Okay. So you
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: talked about the fact that when you decide to make
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: that approach, that you're waiting till he can't see you,
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: and you'd like to get within like seventy eight yards
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: if possible, before you even consider presenting the decoy. And
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: we talked about sometimes you gotta run. You gotta cover
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: that distance. Walk me through that point where you get
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: to the you get close enough where you think, okay,
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: I gotta go from covering ground mode to now it's
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: sneak mode. Uh, when do you shift into sneak mode
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: and give me the details like how slow are you going?
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: Are you belly crawling? Are you crawling on all fours? Uh?
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: How do you manage that? And how much? How much
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: do you need to worry about that when you have
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: a decoy versus when you don't, because I imagine that
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: maybe you get away with a little bit more since
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: you're holding that up in front of you. Maybe, uh,
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: talk to me about sneak mode for Travis Glassman. Yeah,
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: so obviously, I, like anybody, I like to cover as
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: much ground on my feet just because it's comfortable. Um.
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: I minimize crawling or even belly crawling as much as possible,
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: but there are times where it's necessary. And you know,
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: I just turned forty and uh still young enough to
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: do it. But each day goes by and it's like,
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: you know, I would prefer to just walk, you know,
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: but anyway, Yeah, I mean I try to get as
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: close as possible to say, say there's a you know,
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: a ground barrier, you know, whether it's a fence line
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: or a weed throw or a terrorist or whatever, and
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: and you're able to get as far as you can, well,
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: then it's then once you get there, your glass and
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: it's like, okay, well here we go. We know that
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: you know, this is it. We've got to either crawling
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: all fours, which is usually what is usually all it
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: takes is just kind of crawling on all fours, and
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: like I said, I'll have my bow and my left
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: hand and the decoy on the steak in my right
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: and it's just kind of like shuffling both pieces of
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: equipment ahead of me and just keep keep crawling as
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: close as you can. And if it's super calm out,
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: obviously you've got to be very careful and you've got
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: to kind of move things out of your way, whether
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: it's moved weeds or you know, just kind of think
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: like a you know, a mountain lion where you're just
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: doing one one arm at a time and you're, you know,
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: you're just sneaking in is is very slow as you
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: can and every little movement that you make has a purpose.
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: And but a lot of times, like I said, I'm
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: thankful because we have some wind and it breaks up
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: the noise and and you're able to kind of get
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: a little more aggressive, and so you're just kind of,
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: you know, the only thing you're worried about is that
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: you're seeing you, So all you've got to do is
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: just keep your your head down and you can just
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: kind of keep shuffling through all the cover and you're
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: just fine. So um, but yeah, I mean, just doing
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: your best to get within that range where you feel
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: like you want him to see that you're a buck
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: that's approaching him. That maybe fifty yards. You know, if
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: you're in thick cover, he may not see you at
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: fifty yards. Um. So every situation is different. And I
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: would say try to present the decoy. I wouldn't I
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: wouldn't go to the extreme of trying to you sneak
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: within twenty yards and just popping up a decoy all
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, you know. And and I you know,
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: there may be points where some of the cover is
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: thick enough that you have to get very close. And
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: that's where I would probably introduce some grunt calls and
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: stuff like that, so you know, he's he's betted down
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: tight and he's in heavy cover, and and I would
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: probably throw some soft grunts and have that decoy already
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: up in front of me or on the stake in
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: front of me, and I'll be clipped on my d
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: loup just ready to pull back if he gets up
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: and starts marching in. If it happens, when it happens,
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: it's usually going to be that he's not stopping. I've
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: never had him sprint and charge, but I have had
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: them lay their ears back, get that glaze overlooking their eyes,
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: and they they are coming. And if you haven't ever
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: experienced it eye to eye, I know a lot of
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: people have seen it happened from a tree stand or
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: whatever it is. You almost can't snap them out of
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: that trance. And a lot of people are like, well,
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: don't they see you behind that decoy? They are so
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: fired up and and angry that I have seriously had
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: to stand up and yell to snap them out of
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: the transit they're in, because I honestly think they don't
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: even look. I think that they're prepared for, um, you know,
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: the other buck to react, and they're just prepared to
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: kind of curl up and just engage in a fight.
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: And yes, you know how, I mean, you know how
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: it is like I don't know if you've been in
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: a position where you're just so angry that something made
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: you just mad, you know, and and it it takes
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: like that's all you're focused on it. It takes a
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: bit to kind of help, you know, get back to
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: thinking normally. So if you're doing this and you have
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: a buck come in that you don't want to shoot,
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: is that what you literally have to do is like
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: stand up and scare him away so that he hasn't
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: charged you. There are times that you have to do
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: something to snap him out of that to get him
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: to move on. Unfortunately. Yes, that's pretty wild. Um. Yes,
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: So so let's let's imagine that you you snuck in,
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: you got within your comfortable range of that you know?
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: Am I right? That seventy five yards is usually like ideal?
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you'll go closer if you have to, But is
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: that like your sweet spot? Yeah? I would say fifty
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: to seventy five is a good range. I mean sometimes
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: you may not be able to get any closer and
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: you have to to present it a little bit further away.
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: So last year, um, I was decoying and filming for
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: my wife's hunt and she was kind of right behind
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: me and I We've done this several times so we've
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: kind of got it down now. But this buck was
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: bedded with a dough in a corn stubble yield, and
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: the closest we could get was like a hundred and
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: fifty yards and the only option that we had is
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: to sit and wait for the situation to get better
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: to where we could get closer, or to just sit
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: down and present the decoy and hope for the best,
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: and which is what we ended up doing, thankfully. The
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: dough actually got up and saw that there was another
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: dear our decoy and just slowly started feeding our direction,
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: just because I think she was curious. She she didn't
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: put her head up on alert. She just looked at us,
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: went back to kind of feeding around, and she just
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: it took like an hour, but she finally made it
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: over our direction. And the buck would stand up and snort,
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: wheeze at us from a hundred and fifty yards and
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: would not come charge. He would not he he had
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: his dough far enough away that he was comfortable. But eventually,
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: when that dough closed the distance, he got between us
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: and the dough just to protect and finally he came
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: into about thirty five yards and the dough I think
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: he kind of like veered the dough away from us,
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: and she kind of started working away, and we knew
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: that was our opportunity because as soon as the doe
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: started leaving, we know he knew he was going to follow.
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: So in that situation, he never did a d commit,
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: but he came. He came to thirty five yards and
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: my wife made a perfect shot and it was great.
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: But I've also seen where you get an aggressive personality
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: and he may he may stand up at a hundred
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: fifty yards and see that decoy and he's coming and
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: he doesn't care if he's leaving as though he's going
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: to run you off. So again, be prepared for about
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: any different situations. So in that case, when you just
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: can't close any more ground, you guys in that case
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: decided to wait it out to present and hope he
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: comes your way. Is there ever a time that you
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: could actually sneak behind that decoy and just walk great
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: towards him, Like, is that Does that ever work? And
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: just just be crawling or walking knowing he sees you,
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: but you're behind the decoy and try to cover close
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: the distance from one to forty or something. Does that ever?
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: So there has been times where I have done that. Um,
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: I would make sure that you have I would I
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: use the rule of thumb. If you have tall enough cover,
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: so like say crp grass that's you know, waist high
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: or something that's going to break up your legs moving
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: too much. Um, that's that's what that's what makes my
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: decision for me, because if they see the deer sticking
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: up above, say crp grass or something that's natural, and
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: they don't mind if you approach them. I would do
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: it in small increments, so I would go twenty yards
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: at a time and hit a knee and just just
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: kind of read the deer and see if you can
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: tell that they're not liking it. You'll be able to
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: They'll be able to tell you that real quick. You'll
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: they'll kind of like put there your is back and
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: kind of turn and start walking a little bit away
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: or whatever. But if they're accepting it, or if they're
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: feeding and not caring, then you can just do you know,
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: ten increments at a time and definitely close that distance
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: and then you may um get close enough that you
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: trigger his aggression to to finally come at you. UM.
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: A couple of years I was probably five or six
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: years ago, we used a mule dear decoy. It it
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: was a dough on this mule dear buck and it
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: was honestly a hell mary. And so there was a
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: mule deer buck with his dose out in a wheat
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: stubble field. Thankfully, the stubble was tall enough that it
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: was doing just what I said, and it was kind
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: of covering our our lower body movement, and we did
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: exactly what you just said. The sun was kind of
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: setting in the west. I mean it was up still,
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: so we were kind of like, you know, really bright,
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: and the sun was on our face and on the decoy.
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: We walked from a quarter of a mile across a flat,
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: open wheat stubble filled and we did what I just said,
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: we would go increments, and we just kept getting closer
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: and closer and closer. And finally, that mule deer, because
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: they're hurt animals. This is a totally different thing from
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: white tails. But he saw a deer approaching and his
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: instinct is, you know, kind of thinking of a hurt animal.
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: He wants to scent check that dough that's approaching, and
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: he wants to see if that dough that hasn't been
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: with him all day is getting close to breed or
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: I've also seen where a mule dear buck will circle
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: his doze similar to like an elk wood and they
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: will push the herd to you two kind of gather
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: you all up and so that it does work to
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: approach with the decoy out in front of you, But
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: I would be careful because it's not high percentage. I
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: have used it in a helm Mary situation. Okay, now
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: it seems like another one of the options you've mentioned
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: in a situation like this where at some point you
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: get as close as you can get or the cover
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: is you know, the cover is blocking you in some
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: way or something, and you've you've said a couple of
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: times that sometimes you'll introduce some calling. Can you give
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: me a little more detail about specifically how loud is
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: it is it always grunts or snort wheels? Do you
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: ever rattle? Do you ever do anything else? Like what's
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: what's the when and how on? On possibly calling? Sure,
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: I would always recommend starting out as soft as you can, um,
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: just enough to get their attention. UM. Most of the time,
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: what I'm trying to do, if if they're not seeing
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: the decoy, UM is just get their attention, get them
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: to stand up, get them to see the decoy, because
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: that is going to be the time where they're going
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: to make that decision whether they're gonna come in or not.
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: So if I feel like I'm in a great position
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: and I don't want to, I don't want to get
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: any closer, but they haven't seen the decoy yet, I'll
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: sit there for a while and let them naturally stand up,
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: because that's going to be the least um impactful as
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 1: far as a potential negative effect. Um, I would let
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: them naturally see it if possible. But if I'm impatient,
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: or something's about to happen, the wind's gonna switch or whatever,
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: I'll force it. I'll try to grunt as soft as
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: they can, give it to them to where it's not
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: you know, intrusive, and uh, let them see that decoy
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: and make that decision on their own whether they want
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: to come in or not. Um snort we'se too obviously,
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: you know. Either one. If if they say they stand
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: up and they are with their dough and they're at
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: eight yards and they don't want to come in, then
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: then I'll do a snort wease and I'll do I'll
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: do a lot of different challenges like that, you know,
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: some some louder grunting or some more snort, weezes or
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: whatever and try to get them angry enough to break away.
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: And so yeah, I mean again, a visual plus the
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: sound of a call, vocalizations, whatever, every single thing you
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: do increase your chances. Rattling is the ever a tool.
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be afraid of it. I normally don't carry
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: any rattles system um when I'm doing this type of
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: run and gun hunting. Um. But it certainly does work,
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: and it certainly does get their attention. And I've obviously
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: we've all seen them react aggressively toward rattling too. So hey,
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: if if you want to try it, if you want to,
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: you know that's something I just haven't spent a whole
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: lot of time. I mean, I've rattled a lot of
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: bucks in from a ground blind or a tree stand. Yes,
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: But um, as far as carrying something on this, you know,
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: spawn stock situation, I normally don't that makes sense, But
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: it would work, Mark, I know it would. I saw
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 1: one time when you were hunting with our fellow pale
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: Jesse Coots, that there was a buck like running in
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: the distance so quickly that you almost had to yell
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: at it to get it to see your decoy. Um.
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: So it really does like sometimes you just got to
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: get their attention somehow, and if they're getting out of
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: there and they still haven't seen you, you kind of
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: gotta get crazy. It seems correct. And and honestly, you know,
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: speaking of Jess, you know, we've spent a little bit
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: of time together hunting and and he's always at who
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: And when he did that, that was something new to
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: me and I was like, man, that actually worked. I mean,
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: and they what it was is they just didn't know
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: what they heard. They didn't associate it at all to
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: a human. It was just just like us making you know,
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: the vamp sound, you know, to try to get him
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: to stop. You know, it just we're doing whatever we
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: can to try to get him to stop. And so
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: he just try to snap him out of their their
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: trance wherever they were headed and get him to stop
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: and look. And that's exactly what happened, because that buck,
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: he was one of those that was aggressive enough that
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 1: he's seen the decoy from two yards and he was
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: coming and and it it's sometimes it happens that easy,
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: and it's fantastic. So yeah, I mean, there's times you
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: gotta do what you gotta do. I love it. I'd
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: love to see that situation unfold someday. So so okay,
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: the next thing I want to drill in a little
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 1: bit further on again something you mentioned, but I want
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: to get some some more insight. Is let's say that
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: buck is is coming in or you've set up, you've called,
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: you've got his attention in one way or another. Um,
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: and you mentioned that you have the option to have
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: in the decoy on the blow, so excuse me on
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: the boat self. But in your case you use a steak.
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: What's the right way to set the steak? Like, what's
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: the right position? And what's the right position for you
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: the hunter? Like? Is it as a right handed shooter,
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: should I always stick in the ground kind of to
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: my left so I can shoot around the right side?
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: Do you do you kneel? Do you? I saw you
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: once laying down almost on your side one time? Um?
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: Do you do you ever? Do you always draw while
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: on your knees right behind the boat or do you
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: ever be like crouch way down and then drawback as
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: you stand up or as you come up onto your knees, Like,
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: give me the specifics on that stuff, because that's I
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: imagine those are very important moments. Yeah, so again learned
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: a lot along the way. And the quick answer, as
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: far as you know, I'm just gonna fast I'll cover
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: everything you just ask, but to fast forward to how
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 1: to draw around the decoy or how to shoot around
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: the decoy, how to draw your bow. The general answer
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: I give people is you do not need to worry
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: near as much as you think you do on how
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: to get your bow back, because again there's been times
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: where I've had to stand up and yell in order
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: to get these deer to snap out of coming into
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: this decoy if I don't want to shoot them, so
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: use that use there. I mean, some deer are going
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: to be very curious. Some deer going to be very careful,
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: and so you have to be a little more careful,
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: but don't be afraid to make a movement to get
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: your bow back. I would try to draw behind the
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: decoy as much as possible if you need to, you know,
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: draw your bow pointing the ground and then lift it
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: up and and anchor and then lean out around the
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 1: decoy to shoot or whatever. I mean. Obviously, still be
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 1: careful as much as possible. But if that deer is
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: coming and you don't feel like you can move at
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: all to get your bow drawn. Understand that if that
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: deer comes in and realizes that something isn't right, they're
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: going to bolt away from you and you will have
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: never drawn your bow. So I would rather make a
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: little bit of movement to get to full draw. And
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: sometimes you know, I've waited till they're at five yards,
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 1: I've drawn when they're going through some cover out there
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: at twenty yards and they're still coming. And you may
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: not shoot till they get to five yards, but at
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: least you're at full draw. And so don't be afraid
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: to get your bow drawn behind that decoy, because what
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: do dear do when they approached them? You're they're gonna move,
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, dear, they're gonna expect movement because you're a dear,
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: you're an animal. You're you're moving around, and they have
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: not associated any danger at all to that decoy, otherwise
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: they wouldn't be coming in the first place. So don't
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: be afraid to do a little bit of movement, especially
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: if you're crouched down behind the decoy. I mean, my
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: wife always asked me when do I draw? When do
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: I draw? Because you know, I'll be kind of guiding her,
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: and she'll be right kind of in my back pocket
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: behind me, and I'll have the decoy in front of
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 1: me and probably running a camera and trying to arrange
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: for and everything else. And she always asked me do
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 1: I draw? Do I draw? And I always say, stay patient,
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: he's coming, You've got plenty of time. And she's she
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: always is worried that she cannot move. And every single time,
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: there's never been one time where she has not been
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: able to get to full draw, get to her anchor position,
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: have plenty of time, and lean out and shoot because
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: they just are bought into your a deer. So don't
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 1: don't let that scare you. I would say, always do
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: what you know, be as careful as you can to
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: get the full draw. Don't try not to stand up
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: and do anything crazy and try to get the full draw,
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: and you know, but try to try to be as
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: sneaky as you can on doing it. But don't be
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: afraid to What I would say is make sure that
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: you take an extra second get to full draw, make
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 1: sure you've got everything lined up, and calmly lean out
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 1: and and get that deer in your sights. And of
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: course adrenaline. It plays a part in every situation like this.
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: You're you're extremely amped up, but make sure you're taking
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: extra time to you know, lean out and is it
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 1: gonna be maybe a different position than you're used to
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 1: as far as shooting your bow. Yeah, probably. You know
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 1: you're you're on your knees leaning out around a decoy,
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 1: and you know, I would recommend shooting like that. You know,
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 1: stick something like that in the ground and lean out
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: around it and shoot. Most of the time, you know
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: your shots are gonna you very close, so you have
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: some flexibility, you know, and so and then the other
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: thing to talk about is a shot position as far
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: as the deer approaching you. You know, some people don't
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: like taking the frontal shot. Some people. You know, there's
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: been times where there's that little sweet spot between the
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 1: front shoulder and say the brisket, right, so there's that pocket.
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: Obviously we aim for behind the shoulder, but there also
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: is a nice little pocket in front of the shoulder
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: if they're quartering to you, if you're at five yards.
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: Some of the most devastating kills I've had has been
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: facing on or quartering too. Now do I recommend taking
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: a facing shot. Never, But if that's all you have,
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: I've seen the quickest kills because it's direct heart shot,
• 1:30:50
  Speaker 1: you know. I mean it's right there, close and personal.
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: So you know, I don't know what to tell you
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: as far as what to expect, but obviously the deer
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 1: going to be approaching you, coming straight it in. Um
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: I would say, try to be as patient as you
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: can if they kind of swing out away a little
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: bit to try to get a broadside, but you know,
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: just be prepared. So what's is there is there a
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: distance when I'm just trying to think, like when do
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: you shoot? Because I gotta believe one thing that's going
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: through at least that's going to be going through my mind,
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 1: is I need to get an arrow in this deer
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: before he kills me. When when is there ever a
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: point when you're like, Okay, I gotta do it now
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: or never? So if he's faced on right now, I
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: better take this shot otherwise he's coming at me. Or
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: so because of that, do you try to take a
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: twenty yard shot before he ever gets to within the
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: zone where you're worried about that? I mean, talk to
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 1: me about that whole decision, because I gotta believe that
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if I find myself in a
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: position where it's maybe not the perfect shot that I'd
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: love to have that great broadside shot. But if I
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: don't do this, it's trouble. What's your mindset on all that?
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: So I would, uh, if a if a buck has
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: committed and he's coming, it's very likely that he's going
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: to come all the way. And you we've seen on
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: TV a lot whenever whenever they get to about five
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 1: yards or so, they almost pause and it's kind of like, Okay,
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: now we're slowing way down and we're ready to charge
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: at any given seconds. So that's like a ticking time bomb,
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: you know, you don't you don't know when that's going
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: to happen. So a lot of times I like to
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: shoot when they're coming in around that ten yard range.
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: That's kind of like when I like to I don't
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 1: really like to let him get inside ten yards too much.
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: I mean, uh, if you watch the video of my
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 1: brothers a couple of years ago, it was like five
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: yards and it was I mean, the arrow barely got
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: out of the bow. Now was that arguably waiting too long? Maybe?
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: But We really didn't have a shot before that because
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 1: he was coming through a lot of thick cover and
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: he we had a little bit of a gap in
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: the weeds about that of into five yard range and
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: that's when he let the air loosen. But anyway, again,
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 1: every situation is different, and I say, always use your
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: instinct and you know, especially keeping yourself safe and if
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 1: you can shoot one at fifteen yards before they get
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: to that five yard danger zone, please do you know
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: type of deal. So so, is there anything more on
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 1: that personal safety side of things that we should cover
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: on this other than shoot as soon as you can
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: and don't let him linger within that five yard zone
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: when he pauses. Anything else, to know, to make sure
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 1: we don't put ourselves in undue harms away obviously, know
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: what seasons are in place. There have been times where
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: and even in the last few years, I know, like
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: Kansas introduced a kind of a later mid October do
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: season and it's just random it gets thrown in during
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: both season. So you know, always be mindful of people
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: being out there with rifles, even if they happen to
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: be you know, even if they're not supposed to be,
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: is what I'm saying. So like, you know, if you're
• 1:34:03
  Speaker 1: if you have some roads in sight and say there's
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 1: a truck sitting up on the hill and watching everything
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: you're doing or whatever, I just be careful. I would
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: probably sit down, take the decoy down, see how the
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: situation is gonna play out, let him, let him move on,
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 1: because you never know when someone's gonna put a gun
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: out the window, you know, I mean, obviously use your
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 1: best judgment, do it, you know, take a pause, do
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: a three sixty, make sure that everything looks okay and
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: you don't see any other hunters and stuff like that.
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 1: Anytime you're holding a decoy, you have a small risk
• 1:34:35
  Speaker 1: that you're taking um. But I've never had a close
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: call um yet, thankfully, and I hope to never. But
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: you know, it's it's like everything, I mean, just like Turkey.
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: You know, Turkey fan hunting. You know you're holding a
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: Turkey fan of course, you know people with the shotgun,
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: you're if you come right in. But you know, everyone
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: just used caution, and it says right on the decoy,
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: use this with caution. There's a reason for it, common sense,
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 1: right yep. What what else is there when it comes
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: to using this? Have we have we missed, like any
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 1: other important aspect of how this goes down or or
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: things you're thinking about? Um am I missing anything? Or
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: do you feel like I know the basics to be
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: able to pull off a hunt like this. I think
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: the basics has been covered, you know. I I know
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: we briefly talked about it. I don't know if people
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: caught it or not. But even if you are ground
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: blind hunting or tree stand hunting, pick one of these
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: up and just sit at the base of the tree,
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: throw a log on top of it, and have it.
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: They're available to where if you see a situation that
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 1: you can climb down and and give yourself a lot
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: better chance of killing that buck, it's there. If you
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: don't have it, then you're sitting there for the rest
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: of the day hoping that deer stands up and the
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 1: dough runs by your tree stand, you know. And so
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 1: I would say, have something like that available, and then
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: you know, try to uh everything, you know, everything is
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: all personal experience. So use these tips, but use your
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 1: personal experiences to help you hone the way that you
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: want to do it. I like the way I do
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: it just because I've been through it all all the
• 1:36:22
  Speaker 1: situations that lend themselves out here in Kansas. Well, if
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 1: I go somewhere else, I'm not going to have as
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 1: much experience with dear behavior, how they how how they
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: work through the terrain that you're hunting, or anything like that.
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 1: And so every situation is a learning experience. And again,
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: do I have it completely figured out? Heck no, I'm
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: learning all the time. So I encourage folks too. You know,
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: you feel free to reach out to me if you
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: have questions. That's fantastic. But at the end of the day,
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: you need to put in the experience. And you know,
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 1: five years down the road, if you start doing this,
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: you're gonna you're gonna have learned a whole bunch. So yeah, well,
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: what about a little bit more on the traditional ground game,
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: which I know you've done plenty with as well, which
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 1: is hunting from ground blinds or natural ground blinds. I
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: know you were hunting a deer a handful of years ago.
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: You you called Big Louis, and I saw you sitting
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: in a tree stand one night for him, and you
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 1: saw him off from the distance, and you realize, you
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: know what, I gotta get on the ground and hunt,
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: you know, from eye level. Can you talk to me
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: just a little bit about what goes through your mind
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: when you're making a decision like that, like when is
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 1: it time to if you were tree stand hunting again
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 1: in a situation like that, and you decide, okay, the
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 1: only way to get to him is on the ground.
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: Walk me through how you think about where to set
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 1: up a ground blind, when to set it up. Is
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: a natural ground blend better than a pop up ground blind?
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: Can you talk to me about where your heads down
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: on that stuff? Sure? Yeah, So I always like to
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: start with an observation stand or position. You know, sometimes
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: tree stands aren't the best for an observation spot. But
• 1:37:58
  Speaker 1: in this case, you're right. I was in a tree
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: stand and and it wasn't a hypercentage area to kill
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 1: this deer, but I knew he was staying in that
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: field and what it was, and that circumstance was. It
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 1: was just when both season started in in Kansas. We
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 1: can hunt during the Muzzlader season, and it's mid September
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: when that opens, but we have to wear orange for
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: all of September until October one. Then wee can then
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 1: the muzzla or seasons over. So in this case. Um,
• 1:38:24
  Speaker 1: I was wearing orange observing in a tree stand this buck,
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 1: which is the biggest buck I've killed. Um, he was
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: stepping out of a standing. Uh we call it cane
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: or or cattle feed. You know. Basically what they do
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 1: eventually is they come in and swath it and rake
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: it and bail it for winter feeding for cattle. And uh,
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: I knew that it was a matter of time that
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: that was going to be swathed and bailed. So I
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: knew once that cover was gone, his pattern was completely
• 1:38:54
  Speaker 1: going to change. So I hung a stand in a
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 1: cedar tree row. So it just got me up, you know,
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: eight to ten feet, just so I could see over
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 1: top of this field. And I seen that, you know,
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: from his neck up. I would see him walk some
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 1: terrace channels to go out to the west edge of
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: this field and he would stay in there until the
• 1:39:13
  Speaker 1: sun set, and then he would walk across an open
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: stubble field to get to another standing cornfield. And he
• 1:39:20
  Speaker 1: just loved that pattern. Now, I watched him do that
• 1:39:25
  Speaker 1: a couple of nights, and so I thought, you know,
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 1: it's time for me to get to the west edge
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 1: of that field where he stands at, you know, and
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: he gave me about ten to fifteen minutes of shooting
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 1: light every day, and you know, and that that's all
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 1: that he gave. So that was the only chance that
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: I had. So there's no way I was going to
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: kill him in that tree stand. So I ended up
• 1:39:47
  Speaker 1: going down on the edge of that field and basically
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: just cut some of the cane around me and just
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 1: kind of tucked myself back off the edge to where
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 1: when he stepped out on the edge of that field,
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 1: when he looked down the edge in both directions, he
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: could not see anything sticking out like a human. And
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 1: so I was back, and so I I seriously had
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: to I was sitting there with six to eight ft
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: tall feed to my back, extremely excited for the moment
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 1: that I would be able to lean forward and look
• 1:40:25
  Speaker 1: either direction. Because he came out in different directions every night.
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: I just kept visualizing in my mind this buck just appearing,
• 1:40:34
  Speaker 1: and and that is exactly what happened. Again. I hunted
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: him for several nights doing this, but I would pick
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: the wrong trail or the wrong exit point every night,
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 1: and finally I think it was, you know, the sixth
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 1: or fifth or sixth night or whatever it was, in
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: a row and he stepped out and within bow range
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: and I ended up ranging him and shooting him, and
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: everything was fantastic. But you know, most of the time,
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 1: I don't have a pattern where a big deer like
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: that is given me a daylight opportunity. But you know,
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: to answer your question, a natural blind is much better.
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: And I will never use a pop up blind if
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 1: I can get away with it, just because it takes
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: some time for them to get used to that. Now,
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 1: if you can set that thing up, you know, in
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 1: the wide open and let them get used to it
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: is just a normal thing. Dear see random things all
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: the time. They see a pickup, they see a fuel trailer,
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: you know from the farmer. They see all of these
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: things that they end up getting used to, uh, you know,
• 1:41:33
  Speaker 1: whatever it may be. And and they're fine with that.
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 1: But if I'm moving in quick, I do not like
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: using anything that's gonna be new to the area. Otherwise,
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: a mature buck like that's gonna be hesitant. Do you
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 1: have any anything you've learned over the years when it
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: comes to finding good spots or or making a good
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 1: spot as far as a natural ground blind, any advice
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: on how to do that the best way. I like
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 1: to use natural um areas of cover, whether it's a
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 1: fence line, because a lot of times, you know, the
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 1: farmers can't get all the way up to the fences. Um.
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: I like to use the natural weeds that are going
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 1: around the fence line. Maybe it's a corner post or
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: something like that. And and you can gather you know,
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 1: a lot of vegetation from the surrounding area and bring
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: it all in and and even that when you make
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 1: a even a small change, you still have to have
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 1: those deer getting used to that. But I always recommend
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: getting out there and doing this well before you're wanting
• 1:42:32
  Speaker 1: to hunt. You know a lot of times, all you know,
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: I just set up a ground line last weekend, and
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 1: it's not going to be very well hidden. But I
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 1: did that with a whole month ahead of me knowing
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: that it's any It's in a natural funnel where deer
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: may move through there during the rut. It's a perfect
• 1:42:51
  Speaker 1: travel corridor for a cruising buck. And and I like
• 1:42:55
  Speaker 1: using the peak of the rut with the decoy situation
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 1: that we've already talked about. But there is that week
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: spot that we all like to hunt in the last,
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 1: you know, last of October, in the first few days
• 1:43:04
  Speaker 1: in November where those big bucks are ready, but they
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 1: haven't found that dough yet. And if I have, you know,
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna be hunting because I just love to hunt.
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 1: And even though I may not have that perfect situation
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 1: where I can go after a deer with the decoy,
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: I like still hunting, you know, a scrape here and there,
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 1: or I like hunting a natural funnel here and there,
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 1: you know, because there is a chance that he will
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: move through. You know, I I'll still hunt just because
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: it's that's what I do. But you know, the chances
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 1: of seeing a big mature buck during daylight is, especially
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: in the wide open country like this is somewhat slim.
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: So what I like about the natural ground blind thing,
• 1:43:44
  Speaker 1: and you you did this exactly with that big Louis hunt,
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 1: is that you there's nothing holding you down from adjusting.
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 1: So you saw him, he came out in a different place.
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: You can make an adjustment the next night. You can
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 1: make an adjustment the next day if you wanted. I mean,
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 1: even with a mobile sticks in a saddle set up
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 1: from a tree, there's still that, you know, work that
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 1: has to go into to pulling your set moving to
• 1:44:07
  Speaker 1: a new one, and that's much less than guys with
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 1: portable I mean, with permanent sets. But when you're natural
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 1: groundblind hunting, you're just you're just gonna go find a
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 1: nice little spot to cozy up into and move some
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 1: branches around, and you can do it, and you can
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 1: make you know, you can make the perfect move, move
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 1: to the perfect spot with zero inhibitions, like nothing that
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: you have to worry about, like, gosh, this is gonna
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 1: be a pain in the butt. No it's not. You're
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 1: just literally gonna walk to the new spot and shift
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 1: things around a little bit and bam, you're going. So
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 1: what I like to do, Mark, and I think this
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 1: would benefit you in Nebraska, is you know you have
• 1:44:41
  Speaker 1: a backpack. I would get a low profile camp chair,
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 1: something that sits low, or I even get the little
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 1: turkey chairs that are they say, only a couple inches
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: off the ground. You know that you can kind of
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 1: lounge back. I'll strap that thing to my pack and
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 1: I won't know where I'm hunting, but when I go in,
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: I know that where the deer have been working, and
• 1:45:02
  Speaker 1: I want to find, you know, an area that's going
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 1: to be put me in a pretty good position, and
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 1: I'll just kind of clear the weeds out of the
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: grass or whatever, and I'll back myself up against the
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: fence post with some weeds in it, or you know
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 1: something like that, and I'll just try to sit crouched
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 1: as low as possible, and like you said, just let
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 1: the deer be the deer and let him move their
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 1: natural way without throwing a ground blind up. And like
• 1:45:25
  Speaker 1: you said, all you gotta do if you need to
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 1: move it, maybe fifty yards, you can grab that chair
• 1:45:31
  Speaker 1: and move on down the fence row or you know,
• 1:45:33
  Speaker 1: wherever you need to be. So I like exactly what
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 1: you just said. What about the the other thing to
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 1: think about when you're hunding the ground And you already
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: talked about this with the decoy, but it's different without
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 1: a decoy is getting drawn getting in position for a
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: shot and getting drawn from a natural ground blind position. Uh,
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 1: can you talk to me about some of the things
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 1: that you're either preparing for ahead of time or thinking
• 1:45:57
  Speaker 1: about in the moment when not having that nice distraction
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: of a decoy. Yeah, that's a tough one, and it's
• 1:46:05
  Speaker 1: if you've done any spotting stock hunting at all um,
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 1: you have to definitely pick your movements very carefully. And
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 1: obviously when a deer's looking away or had his head
• 1:46:16
  Speaker 1: down to eating or anything like that is the time
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 1: where you want to draw and make your move to
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 1: you might need to raise up six inches to shoot
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: or whatever it is. And yeah, I mean, you're when
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: a deer is potentially looking your direction, you're locked down
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 1: and you can't do anything. And you know, I would say,
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 1: don't do anything abrupt do even if you draw your bow,
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 1: practice drawing your bow as slow as you can, you know,
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 1: and and just try try doing that because if they
• 1:46:47
  Speaker 1: happen to be looking away, but maybe they can still
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 1: see you out of your out of their peripheral you can.
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 1: You can get by with it by just slowly getting
• 1:46:56
  Speaker 1: your bow back and getting on target before they you know, jump,
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 1: you know. So yeah, I mean I don't have a
• 1:47:05
  Speaker 1: great answer for you as far as when to draw
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: your bow without a decoy. It's just you have to
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 1: read the deer's body language and try to make your
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 1: best decision on when you can move. Final question, I've
• 1:47:19
  Speaker 1: seen you hunt in crocs. Do you recommend that? I
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 1: am so glad you brought that up, I do not
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 1: recommend this. That was uh the rookie tip of the year,
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 1: meaning don't do what I did. And you know, so
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 1: I'm a guy who, um, I've got a lot of
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 1: things going on. I've got a you know, a busy job.
• 1:47:43
  Speaker 1: I've got three kids at home, as as many folks do.
• 1:47:47
  Speaker 1: They have a lot of things going through their mind.
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 1: And we don't always do the best job of throwing
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: all of our gear in the truck. Now I recommend
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 1: during hunting season, uh, getting all every piece of gear
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 1: in your truck and parking your truck to where whenever
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: it's time to go hunting, you don't really have to
• 1:48:03
  Speaker 1: think too much about, you know, if I have it
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 1: or not. Well, that day, you're right, I did not
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: pack my boots and all I did. All I had
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 1: was crocs too go hunting or to get me from
• 1:48:15
  Speaker 1: you know, my house to the hunting area. And uh, unfortunately,
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 1: when I got out to put on my boots on
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 1: and uh, yeah, my boots aren't there. So I ended
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 1: up hunting that evening and crocs. Thankfully it was during
• 1:48:27
  Speaker 1: that September hunt where it was still like eighty degrees
• 1:48:31
  Speaker 1: and it did not hurt my hunt. Really, I just
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 1: was sitting down in that on the edge of that
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 1: field after Big Louis Um and my crocs. So what's
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 1: nice about those crocs? They have all those holes, so
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 1: they really vented really nicely so your feet wouldn't overheat, right, Yeah,
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 1: I was definitely uh not overheating that night, but the
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: stinch of my feet, you know, was was nicely escaping
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 1: through the holes of the CROs. So Travis, this is
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 1: this is fun, Like I'm just I am excited to
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 1: put this kind of thing into play. Ah, Is there
• 1:49:05
  Speaker 1: is there any final words of advice or final reminders
• 1:49:10
  Speaker 1: or anything you want to leave with people if they're
• 1:49:12
  Speaker 1: considering taking to the ground more often, whether it be
• 1:49:15
  Speaker 1: with a decoy or without anything that we haven't touched on,
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 1: you want to make sure we touch real quick. The
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 1: last comment is get aggressive. It's the rut you if
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 1: you're passive during that time frame and we will we
• 1:49:32
  Speaker 1: all live for November. So get aggressive, whether it's with
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 1: or without a decoy, even if it means get down
• 1:49:40
  Speaker 1: from a tree stand and sneak, sneak to within, you know,
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 1: get get a hundred yards closer. Two a bedded buck
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: with a doe. Your chances are getting greater the closer
• 1:49:52
  Speaker 1: you get, even if it's creating yourself a nice little
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: ground blind that we just talked about, a natural blind
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 1: that's closer to where when they get up, it's likely
• 1:50:00
  Speaker 1: they feed down this little drainy drive beside you or
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 1: whatever it is. Get aggressive because you're you're doing yourself
• 1:50:07
  Speaker 1: a favor by putting the odds more so in your favor. Yeah,
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 1: I love it well. For people that want to follow
• 1:50:14
  Speaker 1: along with with your videos or anything you're doing, where
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 1: can they see where can they learn more? See more
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 1: from you? Travis? You can just simply search Travis Glassman
• 1:50:24
  Speaker 1: on YouTube and I have a personal page there. Um.
• 1:50:28
  Speaker 1: I started that just by you know, just to share
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 1: hunts with buddies and whatnot, because they you know, you
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 1: can tell stories all day long, but they really are
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: able to see it on YouTube? Uh, and then on
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 1: Instagram Travis Underscore Glassman, you can follow along there. I
• 1:50:44
  Speaker 1: post pretty much all my hunting adventures on there. So
• 1:50:48
  Speaker 1: how do have a Facebook page as well? I don't
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: do as much hunting stuff. If I do, if I
• 1:50:52
  Speaker 1: am successful, you'll see a picture on there. But I
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 1: don't do as much you know, story or anything like
• 1:50:57
  Speaker 1: that as I do Instagram. Well, uh, it's great. I've
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 1: really enjoyed watching the videos and falling along with what
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 1: you've got going on. It is Uh, it looks like
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 1: a very fun way to hunt. So I appreciate your sharing,
• 1:51:08
  Speaker 1: your your experience and insight. Sure, I'm honored to be
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 1: on here, Mark, thanks for asking, and I'm always glad
• 1:51:14
  Speaker 1: to help. So if anyone wants to reach out, feel free,
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 1: and and especially you Mark, if you're out in Nebraska
• 1:51:18
  Speaker 1: and need something, I'm not too far away, so give
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 1: me a call and I'll be glad to help you.
• 1:51:23
  Speaker 1: Gotta be careful what you offer. I'm gonna be hitting
• 1:51:25
  Speaker 1: you up soon. Thanks. Don't hesitate, don't hesitate, take care man,
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 1: And that's it today. I hope you enjoyed this special
• 1:51:33
  Speaker 1: two parter with my good old buddy Dan Johnson, longtime
• 1:51:37
  Speaker 1: co host on the show, now the purveyor of Sportsman's
• 1:51:40
  Speaker 1: Nation the Nine Finger Chronicles. Make sure you check out
• 1:51:42
  Speaker 1: all the great stuff he's doing there with his own gig,
• 1:51:45
  Speaker 1: and big thanks to Travis Glassman as well. Fascinating discussion.
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: Can't wait to put this into action out there in Nebraska.
• 1:51:53
  Speaker 1: And uh without all the way. Thank you for listening.
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you coming along for the ride, tuning in
• 1:51:58
  Speaker 1: for this one. Best of luck out there on your
• 1:52:00
  Speaker 1: own hunts, and until next time, stay Wired to Hunt
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 1: m HM.