Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 284: Prepping Like a Pro for Hunting with Andy May

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Ep. 284: Prepping Like a Pro for Hunting with Andy May · Wired To Hunt Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for
0:06
Speaker 1: deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host,
0:12
Speaker 1: Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm
0:18
Speaker 1: your host, Mark Kenyan. In this episode number two hight
0:21
Speaker 1: four and today in the show, we are exploring how
0:24
Speaker 1: to prepare like a pro for the upcoming hunting season
0:27
Speaker 1: by hearing from expert d I Y bow hunter Andy
0:30
Speaker 1: May on the archery, scouting, stand, site and mental planning
0:35
Speaker 1: preparations he executes each summer. Okay, so real quick, before
0:43
Speaker 1: we get into this discussion, we do need to quickly
0:45
Speaker 1: thank on x for the support of this podcast. On
0:49
Speaker 1: next to the creator of the on X hunt app,
0:51
Speaker 1: which is the mobile mapping tool I use for all
0:54
Speaker 1: of my hunting adventures. I use it all spring and
0:56
Speaker 1: summer as I scout and plan hunting locations, and then
0:58
Speaker 1: I'm using it all fall as I'm hunting and marking
1:01
Speaker 1: various locations, navigating private land and public land boards, all
1:05
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. It's it's almost always in use
1:07
Speaker 1: for me, no matter what time of year, so highly
1:09
Speaker 1: recommend it. Heading over to the mobile app store of
1:12
Speaker 1: your choice or visit on x maps dot com to
1:15
Speaker 1: learn more. All right, welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast,
1:19
Speaker 1: brought to you by on X and today I am
1:22
Speaker 1: sitting here in my home office in person with my
1:26
Speaker 1: buddy Andy May. Andy, thanks for making the drive over here.
1:29
Speaker 1: There had no problem, man, happy to do it. We're
1:32
Speaker 1: gonna try to get out and shoot our bows and
1:33
Speaker 1: do some stuff like that. It's just been raining and
1:35
Speaker 1: crappy as it's been almost for the last three months,
1:39
Speaker 1: so figured this we get opportunity, though, to to chat
1:42
Speaker 1: about some stuff. Um and I thought we could chat
1:45
Speaker 1: about some stuff that's particularly relevant to a little series
1:48
Speaker 1: that I've been running here on the podcast, and I
1:49
Speaker 1: think you've heard some of those episodes right about kind
1:53
Speaker 1: of all the different habits or practices or routines or
1:58
Speaker 1: training regimens that are helped people achieve excellence in other
2:02
Speaker 1: fields and how those things might be able to apply
2:04
Speaker 1: to what we're doing here as hunters. So we study
2:07
Speaker 1: or we talked to a guy who's an Olympic free skier,
2:10
Speaker 1: We talked to an author who's studying these types of
2:12
Speaker 1: things across athletics and business and art and all sorts
2:16
Speaker 1: of things. Um and we're gonna continue to talk to
2:19
Speaker 1: some different people here in the coming weeks. But I
2:21
Speaker 1: thought today we might be able to do a really
2:23
Speaker 1: nice tie in. So take those ideas, tie it into
2:26
Speaker 1: something that's super relevant to deer hunting, which is, how
2:29
Speaker 1: do you take all those things and put them into
2:32
Speaker 1: action in the summer? Right June, right now, we're in
2:34
Speaker 1: like that, at least for me. I don't know how
2:36
Speaker 1: it is for you, but I feel like when you
2:38
Speaker 1: hit to June, it's like the final countdown now lidium
2:41
Speaker 1: to hunting season. For some reason, those three months lead
2:43
Speaker 1: into September seem like, Okay, you better really get your
2:46
Speaker 1: stuff in order. It's it's all about ramping up now
2:49
Speaker 1: towards fall. Do you feel like that, I don't have.
2:51
Speaker 1: There's like an added pressure or something. It's coming. It's here.
2:55
Speaker 1: You can just almost see hunting season. How do you
2:58
Speaker 1: do you ever feel like that once June? Yeah? Totally. Um.
3:01
Speaker 1: I mean I try to I try to stay uh
3:06
Speaker 1: kind of prepared all year long, but I definitely seem
3:11
Speaker 1: to kind of ramp it up towards summer, and um,
3:15
Speaker 1: I guess I guess subconsciously I'm trying to peek, you know,
3:20
Speaker 1: right when hunting season hits you know kind of with
3:22
Speaker 1: everything with with archery, with my just overall preparation, um,
3:28
Speaker 1: you know, physical fitness, all that stuff. So I do
3:31
Speaker 1: try to keep everything kind of um where I want
3:35
Speaker 1: it year round, but I definitely do kind of feel
3:38
Speaker 1: that pressure building and that excitement, and it just kind
3:40
Speaker 1: of focus on trying to peak everything and get everything
3:43
Speaker 1: dialed in, you know, right in time. And you're talking
3:45
Speaker 1: about the excitement. That is definitely a thing too. Sometimes
3:48
Speaker 1: I almost find that I love the anticipation of the
3:51
Speaker 1: months leading up hunting season almost as much as I
3:53
Speaker 1: like the actual hunting season. Like I love getting out
3:56
Speaker 1: there and seeing the bucks in the bean fields. I
3:58
Speaker 1: love you know, shooting out back with your buddies, and
4:00
Speaker 1: I love all that, like checking the trail cameras and
4:03
Speaker 1: just all the excitement and like that, oh what might
4:06
Speaker 1: possibly happen this year? Like those feelings, And that's some
4:08
Speaker 1: of my favorite stuff. Yeah, it's awesome. Like you know,
4:11
Speaker 1: your text text messages with your close groups of friends
4:14
Speaker 1: is like increasing, and we're talking about gear and trips
4:17
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. I mean, I love it. You
4:19
Speaker 1: can't beat that. But but what you mentioned a second
4:21
Speaker 1: ago is why I thought you'd be the right guy
4:24
Speaker 1: I talked to about this because you mentioned that you're
4:26
Speaker 1: trying to be preparing and doing things all year, not
4:29
Speaker 1: just in the summer, but all year long. And and
4:32
Speaker 1: of the people that I know that are close friends
4:35
Speaker 1: and also very very successful hunters, you're one of the
4:38
Speaker 1: best that I've seen of of really following through on
4:41
Speaker 1: the offseason stuff. From everything I've seen and heard from you,
4:44
Speaker 1: it seems like you are quite busy all through the year.
4:47
Speaker 1: You've said numerous times and some of the past conversations
4:50
Speaker 1: we've had, um just off air and on the podcast
4:53
Speaker 1: about how much priority you put on things like scouting
4:56
Speaker 1: and that, and how that's almost more important than the
4:58
Speaker 1: actual hunting sometimes. Uh um. So what I want to
5:01
Speaker 1: do here, which we've not done in the past, is
5:03
Speaker 1: do a really deep dive on what your summer looks like,
5:07
Speaker 1: everything that's going on. So some of the routines, how
5:11
Speaker 1: you're how you're making archery practice, party routine, how you're
5:14
Speaker 1: going about and doing all the different scouting worth that
5:17
Speaker 1: you may or may not be doing this time of year.
5:18
Speaker 1: Whatever final preparations you're doing, prepping locations, preparating access. I
5:23
Speaker 1: don't know doing trail cameras. UM, I don't know a
5:26
Speaker 1: whole lot about what your summer situation looks like. So
5:29
Speaker 1: that's what I'm kind of curious to dive in and
5:31
Speaker 1: see what UM someone like you is doing in these
5:35
Speaker 1: final three months or so before the season. UM. So
5:39
Speaker 1: maybe a good place to start is what you were
5:41
Speaker 1: just doing this past weekend, because you were just at
5:43
Speaker 1: the Total Archer Challenge, right, and we just before we
5:48
Speaker 1: start recording, you said that you actually look at Total
5:51
Speaker 1: Archer Challenge is something that you work towards. So it's
5:55
Speaker 1: not like you were just starting your preparation now for
5:58
Speaker 1: the hunting season. You've been actually preparing for Whole Archer Challenge,
6:01
Speaker 1: which is then probably helping you prepare for hunting season
6:03
Speaker 1: three months from now. What what does that? Why do
6:07
Speaker 1: you look at t C like that? What did the
6:09
Speaker 1: preparation look like? Why was that something that you thought
6:12
Speaker 1: you really wanted to work towards. UM, And maybe even
6:15
Speaker 1: sorry to interrupt you, we should maybe also explain what
6:17
Speaker 1: Total Archer Challenges for people that are familiar. Yeah, the
6:20
Speaker 1: Total Archer Challenge is UM an event that, uh, it's
6:25
Speaker 1: held in several locations. I've only done the one in
6:28
Speaker 1: Michigan just because it's kind of close to home and
6:30
Speaker 1: easy for my friends and I to travel too. But um,
6:34
Speaker 1: it's an event that is designed to kind of mimic
6:38
Speaker 1: UM more of I guess that like an out West
6:42
Speaker 1: type hunting scenario, not not necessarily um every shot. There's
6:47
Speaker 1: plenty of um, you know, shots that we would encounter,
6:51
Speaker 1: you know here in the Midwest, that type of thing,
6:53
Speaker 1: but they make it challenging, um in the fact that, um,
6:59
Speaker 1: you know, the shots are typically longer distance. UM, you
7:04
Speaker 1: know a lot of a lot of shots in that
7:06
Speaker 1: forty two sixty yard range, and you know, of those shots,
7:11
Speaker 1: you're a lot of times you're trying to you know,
7:15
Speaker 1: slip it through an area you know, two three inches
7:18
Speaker 1: wide down range or in the brush where the shadows
7:21
Speaker 1: and the lighting is so bright you really can't make
7:24
Speaker 1: out what you're you know, what you're aiming at. And
7:28
Speaker 1: then some of the harder courses. They it really incorporates
7:31
Speaker 1: some much longer shots with some steep you know steep
7:35
Speaker 1: um declining shots and a lot of like elevation hiking
7:39
Speaker 1: up and down. So it's a it's a cool event
7:42
Speaker 1: that kind of tests your your shooting skill as well
7:47
Speaker 1: as physically, um, you know, it can be somewhat physically demanding. Two.
7:51
Speaker 1: We shot three courses in a day and a half
7:55
Speaker 1: and I think we I can't remember exactly. I think
7:59
Speaker 1: my bod he was tracking. I think we put on
8:01
Speaker 1: like thirteen and a half miles. So you know, it's
8:04
Speaker 1: it's good, um, you know, and it's out. You're out
8:07
Speaker 1: there in the heat, and you know you're you're you're
8:08
Speaker 1: shooting down down range. You got taken the window account. Um,
8:13
Speaker 1: you know, the you know if the targets lower than
8:16
Speaker 1: where you're standing and and you know, cutting that range
8:19
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. So it's not one of those
8:21
Speaker 1: things you're gonna you know, pull your bow out of
8:23
Speaker 1: your bowcase and show up and do well. And some
8:26
Speaker 1: people probably do that though, don't they Oh yeah yeah,
8:29
Speaker 1: maybe don't do well, but they show up and just shoot.
8:31
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I think a lot of people do that. Um.
8:34
Speaker 1: But for me, personally, I just I kind of take
8:36
Speaker 1: it as a just almost like a personal challenge that
8:40
Speaker 1: you know, um, I want to prepare for it and
8:44
Speaker 1: so that I'm shooting very well when I get there,
8:47
Speaker 1: and and my goal is to you know, not miss
8:50
Speaker 1: any shots, and I'm like, you know, I want to
8:51
Speaker 1: put them all on the kill zone. I'm not keeping
8:53
Speaker 1: score or anything. I'm just you know, aiming behind the
8:55
Speaker 1: shoulder like I would in a hunting scenario. But that's
8:58
Speaker 1: like a goal of mine, like I want to go
9:00
Speaker 1: there and do well as a challenge to myself, not
9:02
Speaker 1: to outdo anybody else, but just kind of proved to
9:06
Speaker 1: myself that, um, you know that I can do well
9:09
Speaker 1: there and make some of those challenging shots, and just
9:12
Speaker 1: to kind of improve. That's the main thing. I just
9:14
Speaker 1: I just want to constantly improve. And it's interesting you
9:18
Speaker 1: say that, and it makes me think about and this
9:21
Speaker 1: is probably something I need to tie to my archery practice,
9:24
Speaker 1: because I tie this to like my physical fitness stuff.
9:26
Speaker 1: I am not. I'm just not personally good at being
9:29
Speaker 1: the person who's just gonna get up and get pumped
9:32
Speaker 1: to be working out every day. Just to do it.
9:36
Speaker 1: I typically need to have some kind of goal I'm
9:39
Speaker 1: working towards, like some kind of event or something that's
9:41
Speaker 1: like weighing on me, so that I when I wake
9:44
Speaker 1: up in the morning and it's five thirty in the
9:46
Speaker 1: morning and I don't want to get out of bed,
9:47
Speaker 1: and I think I don't want to go do my run,
9:50
Speaker 1: but then I remember, oh, you got that trip coming up,
9:52
Speaker 1: and if you don't stay to your what you said
9:55
Speaker 1: you're gonna do with this running trying to get in shape,
9:57
Speaker 1: you're gonna get your butt kicked. You have to do
9:59
Speaker 1: it or I know many times I've been coming back
10:02
Speaker 1: to the final stretch of a run and it's the
10:05
Speaker 1: last hundred yards and I'm whooped, and I always try
10:07
Speaker 1: to sprint that last hundred yards, just just push it
10:09
Speaker 1: there at the end, and I've had many times and
10:12
Speaker 1: I can always I still I always imagine the same scenario.
10:14
Speaker 1: It's at the last hundred yards, I'm so exhausted, I
10:16
Speaker 1: just want to stop. And then I had this little
10:18
Speaker 1: conversation in my head as I'm starting to sprint, and like,
10:22
Speaker 1: what are you gonna happen? Whence the last hundred yards
10:24
Speaker 1: And there's an elk at the top of the hill
10:25
Speaker 1: and you have to get there before he goes over
10:27
Speaker 1: the other side. And so I imagine trying to round
10:29
Speaker 1: the hill with my bow and being there to get
10:31
Speaker 1: that elk before he goes to the overside. And that's
10:34
Speaker 1: the kind of stuff that like, help me push through,
10:36
Speaker 1: help me stick to the kinds of things I'm trying
10:39
Speaker 1: to do. Um, it kind of seems like Total Archer
10:42
Speaker 1: Challenge was a thing like that, a little bit for
10:44
Speaker 1: you to have that challenge, that goal to work towards,
10:47
Speaker 1: which then is helping you work towards larger goals. Yeah, totally.
10:50
Speaker 1: It's a I looked at it as a you know,
10:53
Speaker 1: a preparation you know for hunting. For sure. I'm going
10:57
Speaker 1: out west again this year, and you mentioned kind your
11:00
Speaker 1: run and what you're thinking that last hundred yards. Well,
11:02
Speaker 1: I'm going on my first elk hunt, um so. And
11:05
Speaker 1: it's in a it's a in a part of Colorado
11:08
Speaker 1: that what I'm told is the rugged of the rugged,
11:11
Speaker 1: you know. Um, A lot of people avoid it, um
11:14
Speaker 1: just because of it's it's really hard to navigate. But um,
11:18
Speaker 1: I've been doing the same, Like I work out year round,
11:20
Speaker 1: but I've been changing my my workouts and really focusing
11:24
Speaker 1: on that elk hunt coming out because I wanna I
11:28
Speaker 1: want to make sure that, um, you know, my elk
11:32
Speaker 1: muscles are are are good, and that my endurance is good,
11:35
Speaker 1: and you know my cardio and and that I'm able
11:38
Speaker 1: to you know handle weight. So I've changed my workout
11:41
Speaker 1: and be gearing towards that because I feel the same way.
11:45
Speaker 1: I don't want that to be the limiting factor. In fact,
11:48
Speaker 1: I want to make sure, um that I eliminate anything
11:53
Speaker 1: that could possibly uh caused me not to have success.
11:58
Speaker 1: I want to eliminate as much as that as possible.
12:00
Speaker 1: There's already so many variables outside of our control, right,
12:03
Speaker 1: That's right. That's what I'm always trying to remind myself.
12:05
Speaker 1: There's so much they can go wrong, just a nature
12:08
Speaker 1: that nature is gonna throw at me. I better make
12:09
Speaker 1: sure I can control everything I can. That's right. And
12:12
Speaker 1: I can handle if nature throws me something and something
12:15
Speaker 1: goes wrong. I can handle if that. If that bull
12:18
Speaker 1: is coming in and you know he gets down winded
12:21
Speaker 1: me and he outsmarted me or whatever, I can handle.
12:24
Speaker 1: That I can't handle when the mistake falls on my shoulders.
12:27
Speaker 1: That that really hits hard for me, and it always has.
12:31
Speaker 1: Like I take that stuff to heart. It drives me
12:34
Speaker 1: nuts and I literally like it makes me crazy and
12:38
Speaker 1: sick for for months. I mean I will literally fuster
12:43
Speaker 1: over that stuff. And then um, I'll just make sure
12:46
Speaker 1: that that that never happens again, you know, or do
12:49
Speaker 1: what I can to make sure that never happens again.
12:51
Speaker 1: And that's I guess that's kind of how my preparation
12:55
Speaker 1: with hunting, you know, over the last ten fifteen years
12:59
Speaker 1: has always been. And it's just anything that I control
13:03
Speaker 1: or right, that I can control and that I can improve,
13:06
Speaker 1: Like I just I'm motivated to do that. I feel
13:11
Speaker 1: like I owe it to the animals, and it's just
13:14
Speaker 1: something it's actually something I just enjoy doing in general. So,
13:18
Speaker 1: um just trying to improve all those areas to just
13:21
Speaker 1: eliminate mistakes. If I make a mistake, that's fine, it's
13:25
Speaker 1: you use it as like a a learning tool and
13:28
Speaker 1: that's how you improve. But you gotta you gotta identify,
13:31
Speaker 1: admit that you made that mistake, and then do what
13:33
Speaker 1: you need to do to fix it. Yea. So let's
13:36
Speaker 1: pivot back to the archery side. Um so, so, Tarler
13:41
Speaker 1: Total Archery Challenge. Was this one of these different stepping
13:46
Speaker 1: stone challenges to work towards prepare yourself for hunting season.
13:49
Speaker 1: You said you wanted to go into it and get
13:51
Speaker 1: a kill shot on every one of them, did you? Yeah?
13:55
Speaker 1: I this was the actually the first year I've done
13:59
Speaker 1: it three years. Was the first year that I UM
14:03
Speaker 1: missed a target and it was it was a shot
14:09
Speaker 1: at I think it was like a vetted sheep or
14:11
Speaker 1: something up and incline, but about forty yards down range.
14:14
Speaker 1: You had to put it between two trees and maybe
14:17
Speaker 1: three inches apart. And half of my group stepped to
14:20
Speaker 1: the left where it was wide open, and then half
14:22
Speaker 1: of the group stayed right where we were supposed to
14:25
Speaker 1: shoot and tried to snake it through and uh, I
14:29
Speaker 1: pinwheeled the little tree on the left, so it would
14:32
Speaker 1: have went right into the vitals, but I didn't. I
14:34
Speaker 1: didn't make it through the little three inch gap. But
14:36
Speaker 1: other than that, yeah, I was very happy with the
14:38
Speaker 1: way I shot. Um, I mean I was. I was
14:41
Speaker 1: execute my shot well, I felt steady. Um. I put
14:46
Speaker 1: a lot of shots in the ten ring and pretty
14:48
Speaker 1: much all of them in the vitals. Um. So yeah,
14:51
Speaker 1: I was actually really really pleased with the way I shot,
14:55
Speaker 1: the way the bow performed, and you know it, it
14:58
Speaker 1: was just a great time. So what do you do
15:01
Speaker 1: to prepare for something like that? And I guess answer me, this,
15:05
Speaker 1: did your preparation for T A C look dramatically different?
15:08
Speaker 1: Than what your preparation would look like leading into hunting season,
15:11
Speaker 1: whereas the same kind of thing, just you're doing it earlier. Um,
15:16
Speaker 1: it's not dramatically different. I've kind of come into this,
15:20
Speaker 1: um this routine or this method that I do to
15:25
Speaker 1: kind of prepare for a hunting season. Um, so I
15:30
Speaker 1: guess it hasn't It wasn't that different than what I
15:33
Speaker 1: did for the Total Archery Challenge. I think with the
15:34
Speaker 1: Total Archery Challenge, what I what I do is maybe
15:38
Speaker 1: pick up the long distance shooting just a little earlier
15:41
Speaker 1: because I know I'm gonna have some plus yard shots. So, um,
15:47
Speaker 1: you know, once I get my bow shooting the way
15:49
Speaker 1: I wanted it, Um, you know, I went through all
15:52
Speaker 1: you know, the the aero building and the aero configuration,
15:55
Speaker 1: the testing against different things. Once I was confident in that,
16:00
Speaker 1: then I got my mark, my site marks, and then
16:02
Speaker 1: I just basically was shooting sixty two hundred and thirty. Um.
16:08
Speaker 1: So so walk us through what that actually looks like.
16:11
Speaker 1: So how much time are you spending getting all that
16:14
Speaker 1: gear tuned up like that? Is that? When does that begin?
16:17
Speaker 1: When are you doing that stuff? How Like literally talks
16:21
Speaker 1: to the whole thing from the beginning. And then once
16:23
Speaker 1: that's done, what is what's actually happening that you said
16:26
Speaker 1: you're shooting at sixty out to one thirties, that you're
16:28
Speaker 1: doing that every day, is that you're doing once a week.
16:31
Speaker 1: Is that you're doing it twice a day? Talk me
16:33
Speaker 1: through all of that. Okay, So, um, basically what you know,
16:38
Speaker 1: how I start everything is like, I uh, I'm I
16:41
Speaker 1: build my own arrows. So I have found an arrow
16:45
Speaker 1: that works really good for my setup. Um, and that
16:47
Speaker 1: was through a lot of trial and error. So I
16:49
Speaker 1: ordered my shafts uncut, unfleshed, nothing installed. I cut him
16:54
Speaker 1: myself because what I found is like you know, you
16:57
Speaker 1: get them from you know, some archery shops and stuff.
17:00
Speaker 1: If you know, they have them pre cut and they
17:02
Speaker 1: pre flesh, and you get twelve and you weigh them
17:05
Speaker 1: and you might get some that are you know, four
17:07
Speaker 1: or five. I've had as much as ten grains difference
17:09
Speaker 1: between a dozen. So that's just not you know that
17:13
Speaker 1: that the way my mind works that that's not good enough.
17:17
Speaker 1: So I order my shafts, I cut them myself, and
17:20
Speaker 1: then um, the next thing I do is I square
17:23
Speaker 1: both ends. So there's a g five makes a little
17:26
Speaker 1: squaring device. Um just because the saw cuts, it doesn't
17:30
Speaker 1: mean it's perfectly square. So if you're knock or your insert,
17:34
Speaker 1: um you know, isn't sitting flush to the shaft, that's
17:36
Speaker 1: gonna affect your impact. So I make sure both ends
17:39
Speaker 1: are square, and then I go through with my scale
17:42
Speaker 1: and I weigh all the shafts, make sure they're all
17:45
Speaker 1: coming in, um, you know, exactly the same. And that's
17:48
Speaker 1: when I go and I install my um my components.
17:52
Speaker 1: So I use like a fifty five grain stainless steel insert. Um,
17:56
Speaker 1: I weigh all those individually. So just in case I
17:59
Speaker 1: get one that's fifty five or fifty four. Uh, you know,
18:02
Speaker 1: if I have a shaft that's one green lighter, I'll
18:05
Speaker 1: put you know, I'll mix and match to make sure
18:07
Speaker 1: the arrows are as i'm building them. They're weighed the same,
18:10
Speaker 1: they're coming in exactly the same. So I do the
18:13
Speaker 1: same with the same thing with the knox. So um
18:18
Speaker 1: as you know, as I'm building these arrows. Once I
18:20
Speaker 1: get them all built, and they're all ways the same
18:23
Speaker 1: with the knock, the shaft, the insert, and the point
18:27
Speaker 1: and what are you doing? This is this is this
18:29
Speaker 1: different times a year or every year. Do you say,
18:31
Speaker 1: all right, it's March, this is the time to get
18:33
Speaker 1: my arrows ready. Do you have any kind of like
18:35
Speaker 1: routine yearly when this happens, there's just as needed. Usually
18:38
Speaker 1: my my mind focuses back to archery hardcore right when
18:44
Speaker 1: the season ends. So, um, I do a lot of
18:47
Speaker 1: like indoor stuff. Um, you know, I'll go down to
18:50
Speaker 1: like the local archery shop and I'm shooting and I'm
18:53
Speaker 1: and I'm that's this is kind of my time of
18:56
Speaker 1: year to like test things. So Okay, I know, I
18:58
Speaker 1: know my setup last year worked great because I tested
19:01
Speaker 1: things and I went with the best setup I could.
19:04
Speaker 1: Now I'm trying to find can I improve it? What
19:07
Speaker 1: can I do to get better? So? Um, was there
19:10
Speaker 1: anything last year? And Sarah keep interrupting you, but um,
19:14
Speaker 1: so looking back at last season when he got to
19:17
Speaker 1: the season being done January or February, and you're starting
19:20
Speaker 1: to have this conversation with yourself this year two thousand nineteen,
19:23
Speaker 1: was there something that you looked at from last year
19:25
Speaker 1: that I want to change this? Did you have something
19:27
Speaker 1: to do? Yeah? Yeah, and I'll actually get to that. Cool,
19:30
Speaker 1: So I should just shut up and let you know
19:32
Speaker 1: that's okay, it's actually coming. So once I get those
19:35
Speaker 1: bear shafts made, then I then I go to paper
19:37
Speaker 1: with the bear shaft, okay, And what I'm doing is
19:39
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get a perfectly centered circle bullet hole
19:44
Speaker 1: with the bear shaft shout through a piece of paper
19:46
Speaker 1: that's stretched. That's right. This is assuming your bow was
19:49
Speaker 1: already too, And I'm not gonna go through all that.
19:51
Speaker 1: Your bow was tuned perfectly. Um, your aerial spine matches
19:54
Speaker 1: your bow. That's all a prerequisite. That should all be done,
19:58
Speaker 1: you know, that should all be found out and done,
20:00
Speaker 1: you know, before this point. So I shoot through paper
20:04
Speaker 1: and I make sure I'm getting that perfect bullet hole.
20:06
Speaker 1: So I might shoot three and you know, I'm just
20:10
Speaker 1: you know, just the rest a little or just my
20:13
Speaker 1: the spacers on on the Matthews bow there, just to
20:15
Speaker 1: make sure I get perfect arrow flight. So then I'm
20:18
Speaker 1: getting bullet hole bullet hole. Then I grab another shaft
20:20
Speaker 1: and I'm getting a slight left tear. Okay. So then
20:22
Speaker 1: what that means is, you know, every errol is a
20:25
Speaker 1: little different, every knocks a little different. So I rotate it,
20:28
Speaker 1: shoot it again. They call that knock indexing. So I
20:31
Speaker 1: do that, rotate left a quarter a quarter until I
20:35
Speaker 1: get that perfect bullet hole. You make me feel like
20:38
Speaker 1: such a schmuck. Well, I don't do anything. It's okay,
20:41
Speaker 1: that's okay. And and I'm not saying you have to
20:44
Speaker 1: do this. I know a lot of guys that do
20:47
Speaker 1: nothing like this and kill plenty. So this is just
20:51
Speaker 1: this is just what I do. I'm not telling anyone
20:53
Speaker 1: else you need to do it. And I'm not even
20:55
Speaker 1: telling and I'm not even saying it's the right thing
20:57
Speaker 1: to do. It's just what I do. And what I
21:00
Speaker 1: do might change, you know, from year to year. It's
21:03
Speaker 1: kind of morphed into and if anything, it tends to
21:05
Speaker 1: get a little more involved. Um, you know, but sometimes
21:09
Speaker 1: I have to tell myself, you know, enough is enough.
21:11
Speaker 1: You know it's shooting good like you just run with it. So, um,
21:15
Speaker 1: I knock index tim getting the bullet hole with every
21:18
Speaker 1: single shaft. If there's a shaft that I just can't
21:21
Speaker 1: get that bullet hole with, I usually keep that as
21:24
Speaker 1: like a practice shaft. So okay, I got them all
21:26
Speaker 1: shooting perfect bullet hole. I'm mark on the top, like
21:30
Speaker 1: with a little sharpie of silver sharpie where that top is,
21:34
Speaker 1: so so I know when I fletch, I'm gonna fletch it.
21:36
Speaker 1: So that's the top of the arrow, because I know
21:37
Speaker 1: what's coming out of the boat perfectly straight. So then
21:40
Speaker 1: I go and I fletch same thing, weighing each fletching,
21:44
Speaker 1: making sure they all, you know, all dozen, all two
21:46
Speaker 1: dozen arrows end up being exactly the same. And you know,
21:51
Speaker 1: from there, that's when I go out and I that's
21:54
Speaker 1: when I start, you know, sitting in my bow getting
21:56
Speaker 1: my marks. And you asked me if I changed anything
21:58
Speaker 1: from last year, and I did so a big thing.
22:02
Speaker 1: Um you know, in April in May, I was testing
22:06
Speaker 1: errow flight with down range grouping. So I forgot to
22:09
Speaker 1: bring it. I was gonna bring it, but I have
22:11
Speaker 1: this big chart that I do where I shoot. You know,
22:14
Speaker 1: I'll shoot at forty, I'll shoot at eighty. And what
22:17
Speaker 1: I'm doing is I'm shooting three arrow groups and I'm
22:19
Speaker 1: I'm measuring the group. Okay, so I might do this
22:23
Speaker 1: bow to bow like my halon thirty two versus my traverse,
22:26
Speaker 1: just to see which one I'm shooting better. But what
22:30
Speaker 1: I was really focusing on, I did shoot those two
22:32
Speaker 1: bows against each other, but I was also shooting on
22:34
Speaker 1: three flesh versus four fletch. Okay, so what I noticed
22:38
Speaker 1: with uh my, my three frets three fletch last year,
22:43
Speaker 1: I noticed my arrow flight was a little noisier than
22:46
Speaker 1: I wanted. And I was like, okay, I want to
22:47
Speaker 1: I want slightly quieter flight. It wasn't a big deal.
22:50
Speaker 1: I killed, you know, I killed some animals. But I
22:54
Speaker 1: think I can get better. I think I can get
22:55
Speaker 1: the arrow quieter downrange. So I went with a lower
22:59
Speaker 1: profile four flesh so that I was using Um, yeah,
23:03
Speaker 1: I tested those against each other and over I think
23:06
Speaker 1: I shot I don't know, eighty groups, you know, marketing
23:10
Speaker 1: measuring the greatest distance between the two farthest arrows, you know,
23:15
Speaker 1: in my group out of the three arrow group, and
23:18
Speaker 1: it was clear that for me, the four fletched was
23:21
Speaker 1: more accurate than the three. Now we're talking let's say
23:24
Speaker 1: at forty yards, Say my group was um, you know,
23:28
Speaker 1: uh inch and a half with the four flesh and
23:31
Speaker 1: with the three flesh at one point six seven. I
23:34
Speaker 1: mean we're talking splitting hairs here, right. Kind of seems silly,
23:38
Speaker 1: but to me, for me, it's just like, hey, I improved.
23:41
Speaker 1: Remember we talked. We talked about before you grab inches everywhere,
23:45
Speaker 1: and for me that's an inch. And it's also just
23:48
Speaker 1: kind of um helps increase my confidence, like, hey, I'm
23:51
Speaker 1: shooting you know, point one point one inch better. So
23:55
Speaker 1: I don't know, mentally, it's uh, I think it's good
23:58
Speaker 1: for you. Um. So then then what I did is
24:01
Speaker 1: I started using some slow motion video and I was
24:05
Speaker 1: just I wanted to see the errow flight. So now,
24:07
Speaker 1: like with your iPhone or some of these these high
24:09
Speaker 1: end cameras, you can you know, put the camera right
24:12
Speaker 1: behind you shoot that erroow flight and slow motion to
24:15
Speaker 1: actually see what your arrow is going doing down wind.
24:18
Speaker 1: And it was I don't know if you remember, but
24:19
Speaker 1: the spring was really wind. It was hard to find
24:22
Speaker 1: a calm day to shoot. So I was like, still
24:23
Speaker 1: feels like it now, I'm right, so when to hear
24:26
Speaker 1: my Yeah, I remember we were trying to get ready
24:28
Speaker 1: for Total Archer Challenge to get our long range you know,
24:31
Speaker 1: uh marks on it, and it's like we couldn't get
24:33
Speaker 1: a day where it was calm. So with that slow
24:37
Speaker 1: motion photography or video, what I what I noticed was
24:40
Speaker 1: like man, when you shoot in a cross wind, your
24:44
Speaker 1: arrow comes out of the bow and then depending you know,
24:48
Speaker 1: depending on you know where where the winds blowing or
24:50
Speaker 1: which direction your your arrow kicks big time one way
24:55
Speaker 1: or another, depending So if you're getting a right to left,
24:57
Speaker 1: your arrow will kick way knock left out there. And
25:00
Speaker 1: I never realized, I guess I kind of just assumed
25:03
Speaker 1: the arrow would just kind of drift. Well it doesn't.
25:05
Speaker 1: It pulls that back in and pulls the fletching because
25:09
Speaker 1: it's more right. Yeah, And I figured it did that
25:12
Speaker 1: to a point, but I was I couldn't believe how
25:14
Speaker 1: dramatic it was. And I was like, holy smokes, if
25:16
Speaker 1: I hit an animal at that distance where it's at
25:18
Speaker 1: mid kick, like, where's my penetration? So I reached out
25:22
Speaker 1: to I reached out to all these guys. I talked
25:26
Speaker 1: to Tim Gillingham, Uh, you know a bunch of pro shooters,
25:29
Speaker 1: basically because you know these are the guys I feel like,
25:32
Speaker 1: think like me, you know what I mean, like, um,
25:35
Speaker 1: as far as I guess, I prepare a lot like
25:38
Speaker 1: a target shooter. UM. But it just gives me confidence
25:41
Speaker 1: in the deerwoods. So I got to talking about that. Um,
25:46
Speaker 1: and uh, one guy mentioned you know, you know, check
25:50
Speaker 1: check the way of the natural spin of your arrow
25:53
Speaker 1: coming out of the shaft um as a bear shaft.
25:56
Speaker 1: So what you do is you mark the top of
25:58
Speaker 1: your arrow, you know, shoot at you know, three ft,
26:02
Speaker 1: and then look at the target and see where that
26:04
Speaker 1: mark on the top the arrows it to the left,
26:06
Speaker 1: to the right. So for mine, my arrow naturally spins
26:09
Speaker 1: without any fletching to the left. I was fletching to
26:11
Speaker 1: the right. A lot of guys flesh to the right.
26:14
Speaker 1: Not saying you need to switch to the left, but
26:17
Speaker 1: what what that does? And and and it's been verified
26:20
Speaker 1: in like super SloMo video, your arrow that wants to
26:25
Speaker 1: go left will actually come out of the bow going left.
26:28
Speaker 1: And then when you got that right uh that like
26:31
Speaker 1: that right helical, it'll go back to the right. Okay,
26:34
Speaker 1: so you're you're actually getting a reverse and and it
26:38
Speaker 1: happens pretty quick. Now, there's been world record world record
26:42
Speaker 1: shooters that shoot with a right fletch, which I'm sure
26:47
Speaker 1: with our build, I think it's more of like a
26:48
Speaker 1: right hand thing or the way your your your string
26:51
Speaker 1: is twisted. But there's been world record set with guys
26:54
Speaker 1: shooting the opposite of that. So what I found was,
26:57
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, well i'm gonna, I'm gonna. The
27:00
Speaker 1: theory was I'm gonna I was getting some sort of knuckleball.
27:04
Speaker 1: I was trying to minimize that kick. I wanted to
27:06
Speaker 1: get the arrows spinning hard and fast. That makes sense,
27:09
Speaker 1: so more of like I think, like a football spiral, right,
27:12
Speaker 1: a football spiral kind of stabilizes in the wind and
27:15
Speaker 1: it kind of stays tight. And I figured too after
27:18
Speaker 1: talking with Tim, like you know, if I can get
27:21
Speaker 1: that arrow spinning, even if it does kick, you can't
27:23
Speaker 1: get rid of that kick in the cross wind, but
27:25
Speaker 1: it will because it's spinning, it'll it'll go in line quicker.
27:30
Speaker 1: So I wanted to verify it. So I fleshed up,
27:33
Speaker 1: you know, four fletched with the with the left hicle,
27:37
Speaker 1: four fletch with the right helicle, and then I did
27:40
Speaker 1: the same video testing, and so I was shooting multiple
27:44
Speaker 1: arrows down range with the same wind, you know, enough
27:47
Speaker 1: to that I felt it made a difference. But what
27:51
Speaker 1: I found was when I fletched with the left, because
27:53
Speaker 1: my arrow naturally wanted to go there, I wasn't getting
27:55
Speaker 1: that knuckleball down range, so that the kick was left
27:59
Speaker 1: and it's and it brought back in line quicker. So
28:02
Speaker 1: and it was very noticeable on video. Now that might
28:05
Speaker 1: be five ft, it might be ten ft. It's kind
28:07
Speaker 1: of hard to tell, you know, when it's downrange. But
28:09
Speaker 1: it was happening faster because I was getting that that
28:12
Speaker 1: harder spin quicker. It didn't have to reverse. Now, the
28:16
Speaker 1: way that in my mind, the way that translated into
28:18
Speaker 1: hunting is penetration is all about getting the back end
28:22
Speaker 1: of your arrow in line with the front end of
28:24
Speaker 1: your arrow. Right, that's that's what you want. It doesn't
28:27
Speaker 1: matter how heavy your arrow is. If you're if you're
28:30
Speaker 1: coming in and you've got wonky arrow flight and your
28:32
Speaker 1: point hits you know the right, you're knocked to the left.
28:34
Speaker 1: That's gonna eat up your penetration. You know, you can
28:37
Speaker 1: get really good penetration of a light arrow if everything
28:40
Speaker 1: is in line and that that forced the arrow is
28:42
Speaker 1: coming right through the back end. So to me, that
28:47
Speaker 1: was an improvement that I made, you know, and substantial
28:50
Speaker 1: enough that I switched everything to um a four flatch
28:53
Speaker 1: with a left hilticle. And then how did that translate
28:58
Speaker 1: down range? Well, I started and you know, once I
29:00
Speaker 1: did start getting some calm or weather, I started stretching
29:04
Speaker 1: it out, and I noticed that my group started sucking
29:08
Speaker 1: in even more. So I think I was getting less
29:11
Speaker 1: wind drift. Now, um, you know, I I'm real because
29:15
Speaker 1: I've been doing this for a few years. I know
29:17
Speaker 1: what I was shooting last year at the three fletch
29:21
Speaker 1: a little bit higher profile vain. And now you know,
29:24
Speaker 1: I was able to compare those numbers on that sheet
29:27
Speaker 1: with my grouping with the four flets with the left
29:29
Speaker 1: hicle so in it, and it shrunk so again minimal.
29:35
Speaker 1: That's at long distance at twenty thirty yards. You know,
29:39
Speaker 1: the average guy, you know is not gonna see a
29:41
Speaker 1: big difference. I'm not even gonna see a big difference
29:43
Speaker 1: at twenty or thirty yards. But to me, it's an improvement.
29:48
Speaker 1: And and I don't I don't know. I just all
29:51
Speaker 1: year long, like when it's not hunting season, I'm in
29:55
Speaker 1: what can I improve to increase my success in the
29:59
Speaker 1: woods through archery, through staying in shape, through eating healthier,
30:04
Speaker 1: through gear, you know, new gear, switching out gear, gear modifications,
30:09
Speaker 1: anything like that to kind of make my system and
30:12
Speaker 1: my um, make my system more uh, effective and conducive
30:19
Speaker 1: to you know, helping me achieve success. But as far
30:23
Speaker 1: as like the archery thing, like when I look at
30:25
Speaker 1: a lot of my friends and some guys that are
30:28
Speaker 1: just even just acquaintances, there's a couple of things I
30:32
Speaker 1: think stand out like as to why maybe they're not
30:36
Speaker 1: having the success that they want. And one of them,
30:38
Speaker 1: by far, is is just your shooting on animals. And
30:42
Speaker 1: I think it's something that is just you know, everybody
30:47
Speaker 1: knows it's important, but it's just not prioritized high enough.
30:51
Speaker 1: It's just not um And you know, guys are like, well,
30:55
Speaker 1: you know, I could put it, you know in a
30:56
Speaker 1: softball size at thirty yards or baseball size. I mean
30:59
Speaker 1: that to me, that's that's not even close to being
31:04
Speaker 1: as precise as I want to be in the nearwoods. Now,
31:07
Speaker 1: would I be happy with a baseball size at at
31:11
Speaker 1: thirty yards, you know, with a d sixty buck and
31:14
Speaker 1: a cross wind while I'm while I'm you know, angling
31:17
Speaker 1: down out of you know, a tree saddle or something
31:21
Speaker 1: like that. Yeah, But that's why you try to why
31:23
Speaker 1: I try to be so precise in the off season
31:26
Speaker 1: and get that pinpoint accuracy so when I do get
31:29
Speaker 1: those challenging shots. I know I'm gonna be off my
31:31
Speaker 1: forms off. They've got the wind going adrenaline, your muscles
31:36
Speaker 1: are more tense. I know my shot is not gonna
31:39
Speaker 1: be perfect, but because my setup and everything is so
31:44
Speaker 1: precise and the muscle memory that I built all year,
31:47
Speaker 1: my miss is going to be less in an inch
31:50
Speaker 1: or two inches at thirty yards on a big white tail,
31:54
Speaker 1: especially if he's alert. Special if he drops, you know,
31:56
Speaker 1: drops on the shot, that that could result in getting
32:00
Speaker 1: an animal that you wouldn't have. So again, it's just
32:03
Speaker 1: grabbing inches everywhere that you know are gonna kind of
32:07
Speaker 1: help you succeed in the deer wood. So I'm just
32:09
Speaker 1: kind of always looking for those little edges and angles,
32:13
Speaker 1: all right. So first I want to thank our friends
32:16
Speaker 1: at Vortex Optics, as I've been mentioning over the last
32:20
Speaker 1: handful of weeks. I've been using a number of the
32:22
Speaker 1: different products over the last year. Now and right about
32:25
Speaker 1: now it's June, I'm gonna be busting out the spotting
32:28
Speaker 1: scope to start doing some of my long distance observation
32:31
Speaker 1: for white tails out in these bean fields. They're just
32:33
Speaker 1: starting to come up. Those are my favorite things to
32:36
Speaker 1: do last year. Um, there's a bean field across the
32:39
Speaker 1: road from my house and you see lots of deer
32:41
Speaker 1: out there. And so last year I got the Vortex
32:43
Speaker 1: Viper HD spotting scope and I set it up on
32:46
Speaker 1: my front porch and I got a phone scope for it,
32:49
Speaker 1: so you can attach your phone to the spotting scope
32:52
Speaker 1: and then see through it and record through it. And
32:55
Speaker 1: it was just so much fun to have a spotting
32:56
Speaker 1: scope set out there, to be able to see these
32:58
Speaker 1: bucks up close, to get a little bit of cell
32:59
Speaker 1: phone video. Um, just a lot of fun. Not to
33:02
Speaker 1: mention if you've got somewhere you can hunt where you
33:04
Speaker 1: can do this kind of thing, scout from a long distance,
33:07
Speaker 1: you can learn a lot too, especially in the summer,
33:09
Speaker 1: at least getting an inventory and the bucks available. Man
33:12
Speaker 1: high quality spotting scope is a great tool. Had great
33:15
Speaker 1: results of the Viper h D. And then I also
33:18
Speaker 1: used the Razor HD on my Mexican Cuz deer hunt
33:21
Speaker 1: and really enjoyed using that scope as well. So definitely
33:25
Speaker 1: think those are options worth checking out, and you can
33:27
Speaker 1: learn more at Vortex Optics dot com. Yes, you talked
33:31
Speaker 1: about prioritization. This is a conversation that me and Dan
33:34
Speaker 1: had a few weeks ago because we were talking about
33:36
Speaker 1: how it's just like life feels like it's crazy. We
33:39
Speaker 1: both have He's got like seven kids, I've got one,
33:41
Speaker 1: and just seems like you're running around like crazy. There's
33:44
Speaker 1: no time for anything. Business pulling you this way, family
33:47
Speaker 1: pulling you that way. Um, it's really easy to come
33:50
Speaker 1: up with excuses for why you couldn't shoot your boat,
33:53
Speaker 1: or why you didn't get your exercise and for the day,
33:55
Speaker 1: or whatever's on the archery side of things. How do
33:59
Speaker 1: you fitted into your life, Because I know you've got
34:02
Speaker 1: a whole lot going on, you're really busy to how
34:04
Speaker 1: do you make this archery practice a part of your life?
34:08
Speaker 1: How often does that happen? What does that look like
34:09
Speaker 1: in your daily or weekly routine or whatever might be. Yeah,
34:12
Speaker 1: in the wintertime when I really start hitting it hard, Um,
34:16
Speaker 1: I'm I'm kind of I keep things indoors, so I
34:21
Speaker 1: might go down to the archery shop at lunch and shoot. Um.
34:25
Speaker 1: You know, it's usually too cold to shoot outside, like
34:28
Speaker 1: in the morning or anything, but I might go down
34:30
Speaker 1: there at my lunch or right after work or in
34:32
Speaker 1: my basement. I have about fourteen yards I can set up,
34:35
Speaker 1: so I have a bad bag target down there, and
34:37
Speaker 1: I what I do during that time frame as I'm
34:40
Speaker 1: just working on repetition, I'm working on shot execution, um
34:45
Speaker 1: increasing maybe my pin float. You know, I watched the
34:48
Speaker 1: pin on the target and see what it's doing, and
34:50
Speaker 1: then I'll adjust my bow setup or stabilization depending on
34:53
Speaker 1: what that's doing. That's a big one. We can talk
34:55
Speaker 1: about that in a few too. But um So during
34:59
Speaker 1: the those months, I'm shooting, you know, anywhere from four
35:03
Speaker 1: to six days a week, but it might be a
35:05
Speaker 1: very short session or it might be an hour. It
35:08
Speaker 1: just depends. Um, as things get nicer outside, you know,
35:12
Speaker 1: I I have, like I said, I have the bag
35:14
Speaker 1: target in the basement. I got a couple hey bells
35:18
Speaker 1: and a three D target behind the house. Um, and
35:21
Speaker 1: then we go to I go to my buddy, our
35:23
Speaker 1: buddy Tom's out there and Leslie has you know, the
35:25
Speaker 1: big hundred yard grange there. So I mean I'm shooting
35:29
Speaker 1: almost every day. But what I'll do is I'll get
35:32
Speaker 1: up early for work. Um usually that's my gym time,
35:36
Speaker 1: but sometimes I'll I'll get up early, like if it's
35:39
Speaker 1: a you know, say I go to the gym five
35:42
Speaker 1: days a week or something. You know, on those other days,
35:45
Speaker 1: I'll get up early and go outside and shoot before work.
35:49
Speaker 1: You know, it gets light earlier, so I can get it.
35:51
Speaker 1: I can get a good hour and before I need
35:53
Speaker 1: to be to work. So or it might be right
35:55
Speaker 1: after work, or it might be that last thirty minutes
35:58
Speaker 1: a day daylight after you know, every he's in kind
36:01
Speaker 1: of ready for bed and you know it's it's it's
36:04
Speaker 1: and you still got thirty minutes stuff a few yearls.
36:06
Speaker 1: So I try to fit something in almost every day.
36:09
Speaker 1: I'm not perfect. I don't get it every day, but
36:12
Speaker 1: you know I would say I'm five days a week
36:15
Speaker 1: doing something, and I try to mix in you know,
36:18
Speaker 1: a handful of arrows sessions, just try to make everything perfect,
36:22
Speaker 1: five perfect shots with some more longer sessions. And those
36:26
Speaker 1: are the ones where I might be trying to find
36:28
Speaker 1: my marks or it might be testing things against each other. Um.
36:32
Speaker 1: So that's kind of year round. I love archery. I've
36:35
Speaker 1: told you this. I love archery, um nearly as much
36:39
Speaker 1: as hunting. I really do enjoy shooting. Um So, I
36:43
Speaker 1: mean it's not work for me, it's not hard, and
36:47
Speaker 1: I do prioritize it, but it's something that I like.
36:49
Speaker 1: It's almost like a like a stress for lever, like
36:53
Speaker 1: meditation time for me too. I've heard a lot of
36:55
Speaker 1: people say that. I mean, there's a certain level of
36:58
Speaker 1: zen that is required with archery, Like you have to
37:01
Speaker 1: be fully consumed in the moment by it, and it
37:04
Speaker 1: keeps your mind off everything else. I think there's some
37:06
Speaker 1: there's something really mm hmm, that's the right way of described.
37:12
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's powerful or restorative or something,
37:15
Speaker 1: but when you're able to do something that fully consumes
37:17
Speaker 1: you and you're able to lose sight of everything else
37:20
Speaker 1: for half hour or an hour or something, whether it
37:23
Speaker 1: be like archery or another. Thing for me is like
37:25
Speaker 1: fly fishing. When I'm fly fishing and I'm so in
37:27
Speaker 1: the moment of every little thing, all of a sudden
37:29
Speaker 1: four hours past, I'm like whoa, and like you come
37:32
Speaker 1: out of that, like really refreshed in a certain way.
37:34
Speaker 1: So I get that. Um yeah, I totally get that too.
37:37
Speaker 1: With with with archery, it's one of the only times
37:40
Speaker 1: I can sit there and do something and whatever stresses
37:43
Speaker 1: at home or at work or you know, behind me,
37:46
Speaker 1: I just it's like it disappears, you know. But then
37:49
Speaker 1: you know, usually I get a text of someone complaining
37:51
Speaker 1: about something and it's brought right back to reality. But
37:54
Speaker 1: but yeah, that's one of the only things that you know,
37:56
Speaker 1: even when I'm hunting, like, I'll be sitting there and
37:59
Speaker 1: I'll sometimes think about that stuff. But with Archer, I don't.
38:02
Speaker 1: It's funny you mentioned the phone. I've actually just been
38:06
Speaker 1: thinking about this very thing over the last couple of
38:07
Speaker 1: weeks as I've tried to get better with my Archer
38:09
Speaker 1: stuff going on, and I've started to try to take
38:12
Speaker 1: advantage of that like zen quality and allowing myself the
38:18
Speaker 1: space to do that by leaving my phone. So I'm
38:20
Speaker 1: actually purposely leaving my phone in the barn so that
38:23
Speaker 1: I don't get that distraction, because I'm like saying myself,
38:26
Speaker 1: I need this like half hour with nothing else, no thoughts,
38:30
Speaker 1: no nothing. So I leave the phone put on silence
38:32
Speaker 1: i can't hear it, and then I get out back
38:34
Speaker 1: behind the house and do my shooting. And I found
38:37
Speaker 1: more and more like I'm becoming more and more aware
38:39
Speaker 1: of what like a ball and chain my phone is,
38:42
Speaker 1: and how like addicted I am to like checking it
38:45
Speaker 1: for no reason at all, and like I don't know.
38:47
Speaker 1: More and more I'm finding like that I need to
38:50
Speaker 1: just keep it away from me to really have the
38:53
Speaker 1: space and like presence of mind to be the best father.
38:57
Speaker 1: I can be the best shooter, I can be you,
38:59
Speaker 1: or the best right or whatever it is. I'm working
39:01
Speaker 1: on finding more and more that you've got put on silent,
39:03
Speaker 1: put it away for a couple of hours. Um, that's
39:06
Speaker 1: totally not here or there. But well, no, I agree.
39:10
Speaker 1: You know, I find myself to getting a little too
39:12
Speaker 1: attach to that thing sometimes sometimes like it won't even
39:16
Speaker 1: buzz and I'll still look at it. Yeah, you know
39:19
Speaker 1: what I mean. It's almost like a habit. But there's
39:21
Speaker 1: really funny quick story. I was up north a few
39:23
Speaker 1: years ago and we were canoeing on the our kayaking
39:27
Speaker 1: on the Pine River, which is one of Michigan's fastest rivers,
39:30
Speaker 1: and um, you know, I'm pretty experienced kayaker, so one
39:33
Speaker 1: that big a deal. But I opened my dry box.
39:36
Speaker 1: Were coming around this corner there was this big cool dune.
39:38
Speaker 1: I was like, oh man, what a neat picture. So
39:40
Speaker 1: I get my phone out and I snap a picture
39:42
Speaker 1: while this river is moving fast and starts sucking me
39:44
Speaker 1: into this like outside turn, and there's all these like
39:48
Speaker 1: uh pine trees that with like overhanging branches that were
39:52
Speaker 1: like sticking out into the river. And I was like,
39:53
Speaker 1: oh crap, you know, trying to get everything back in
39:55
Speaker 1: the dry box real quick, and I shut it, but
39:57
Speaker 1: I didn't lock it, and I got sucked under the
40:02
Speaker 1: bank there, and all those branches like kind of hit
40:04
Speaker 1: me in the face. And I leaned away, which is
40:06
Speaker 1: not you're supposed to lean towards it. I leaned away,
40:09
Speaker 1: dumped the kayak, lost my oars, lost my phone, lost
40:12
Speaker 1: my camera. Gone. But I was up up north for
40:15
Speaker 1: the next I don't know, four or five days. And
40:18
Speaker 1: it was funny, like I was bummed about the phone,
40:21
Speaker 1: but like it was such a relief, or not a relief.
40:27
Speaker 1: It felt so good not to have the phone, Like
40:29
Speaker 1: I felt completely fine. In fact, I felt better without it.
40:33
Speaker 1: You know, I didn't worry about anything else. I just
40:35
Speaker 1: had fun. I enjoyed, you know, doing what you're doing.
40:37
Speaker 1: I wasn't. I wasn't sour for a minute. Other than
40:39
Speaker 1: that that initial thought of losing my phone. It was
40:42
Speaker 1: like it felt really good. So I've been trying to
40:45
Speaker 1: do that to set my phone down and try to
40:48
Speaker 1: get away from it, and it's a it's a it
40:51
Speaker 1: definitely can suck in. Ye, I'm thinking about doing something
40:55
Speaker 1: like that during hunting season because I've got a weird thing.
40:59
Speaker 1: A lot of people are on their phones other hunt
41:01
Speaker 1: and I do that too. When you get you know,
41:03
Speaker 1: nothing's going on for handful for however long you pull
41:06
Speaker 1: up your phone and look at Instagram or something. Now,
41:08
Speaker 1: I feel a certain obligation to have my phone because
41:10
Speaker 1: a lot of my work is like supposed to be
41:13
Speaker 1: documenting my hunts and stuff. So does the need to
41:14
Speaker 1: have my phone for that. But I think this year
41:16
Speaker 1: I want to try to implement some kind of mandatory
41:20
Speaker 1: like phone away time for like the majority of my hunt.
41:23
Speaker 1: So maybe I'm gonna I haven't quite thought this through,
41:26
Speaker 1: but you know, okay, the first ten minutes when I
41:28
Speaker 1: get there, I can do a bunch of documentation, and
41:29
Speaker 1: then maybe like one other time, in the middle of
41:31
Speaker 1: the hunt, I'll do a bunch of stuff. Otherwise I
41:33
Speaker 1: will put my phone like in a different pocket in
41:35
Speaker 1: my backpack where I can't easily get it. So just
41:38
Speaker 1: like I don't do like the impulse grabbing looks throughout
41:40
Speaker 1: the hunt. I think that would just I think probably
41:43
Speaker 1: lead to a more enjoyable experience and better hunt. So
41:46
Speaker 1: you're not as distracting stuff. But we're way off topic.
41:49
Speaker 1: What I was gonna ask you about the next was
41:52
Speaker 1: she talked about these two different kinds of practice sessions.
41:54
Speaker 1: She talked about like the five perfect arrows, and they
41:56
Speaker 1: talked about the longer hour long. UM, talk to me
41:59
Speaker 1: about what you're actually doing during that time period, because
42:02
Speaker 1: I think a lot of times when we think about
42:04
Speaker 1: getting a practice in, we'll just I don't know, just
42:08
Speaker 1: people just go shoot for however much time they have,
42:10
Speaker 1: and then they go back and they're not really thinking
42:12
Speaker 1: about what they're doing. UM. But a lot of studies
42:15
Speaker 1: have shown and even we had this conversation with Brad
42:17
Speaker 1: staubert Um, the author of a book called Peak Performance,
42:20
Speaker 1: and he had a section within that book where they
42:23
Speaker 1: talked about there's this concept that was popularized UM by
42:27
Speaker 1: Malcolm Gladwell in a book a long time ago called
42:30
Speaker 1: this ten tho hours principal. You've heard about that. Basically,
42:33
Speaker 1: the gist is that research is supposedly shown that it
42:37
Speaker 1: requires something like ten tho hours of practice to become
42:40
Speaker 1: an expert or to become elite in some kind of field. Um.
42:44
Speaker 1: But the key thing there that was often not mentioned
42:47
Speaker 1: within that but was tied to the original study was
42:50
Speaker 1: that it's not just any kind of practice. That's what
42:52
Speaker 1: they called deliberate practice. And it's a really really big
42:56
Speaker 1: difference between just going out there and doing something versus
42:59
Speaker 1: this deliver practice. And how they described deliberate practice was
43:02
Speaker 1: something that was very, um, very thoughtful of what you're
43:06
Speaker 1: doing and why you're doing it, and working towards some
43:08
Speaker 1: specific goal or some specific thing you're trying to work on.
43:11
Speaker 1: So you know, if if you're a basketball player, just
43:14
Speaker 1: going out there and stooding hoops isn't deliberate practice, that's
43:16
Speaker 1: maybe just a little practice. Deliberate practice might be going
43:19
Speaker 1: into and saying, Okay, for the next half hour, I'm
43:21
Speaker 1: going to focus specifically on my free throw form and
43:25
Speaker 1: really focus on getting good follow through and then they
43:27
Speaker 1: hammer that home for a half hour. That kind of stuff.
43:31
Speaker 1: So do you is your practice deliberate in some kind
43:34
Speaker 1: of way? Um? Or what what does that look like
43:36
Speaker 1: for you? Yeah? I call it practicing with practicing with
43:39
Speaker 1: a purpose. So I just um actually did a podcast
43:43
Speaker 1: with a friend not long ago, and and and we
43:45
Speaker 1: were kind of talking about this. But yeah, it for me,
43:49
Speaker 1: it's it's not about it's not a I do enjoy archery,
43:53
Speaker 1: and sometimes I will go out with my buddies, like
43:56
Speaker 1: when we were shooting back out here, I wasn't necessarily
43:58
Speaker 1: working on anything. I was just enjoying company, flinging a fewers.
44:01
Speaker 1: But when I'm on my own, it's almost never like that.
44:05
Speaker 1: It's always I'm always testing or trying to improve on something.
44:10
Speaker 1: Um So, like for instance, when I'm doing my indoor
44:13
Speaker 1: stuff or in the basement, a lot of times I'm
44:15
Speaker 1: working on my shot execution. And we talked about some
44:18
Speaker 1: drills before, you know, and some of the drills that
44:21
Speaker 1: I like to do are you know, drawback close my eyes,
44:26
Speaker 1: you know, real close to the to the bail, so
44:28
Speaker 1: you don't worry about missing. I closed my eyes and
44:30
Speaker 1: I just focus on pulling through the shot. Okay. I
44:33
Speaker 1: try to relax all my muscles, my hand, my shoulders, everything,
44:38
Speaker 1: and then when I'm ready to activate that shot execution,
44:41
Speaker 1: I start pulling straight back. I kind of focus on
44:45
Speaker 1: pulling my elbow straight back, and I'm just trying to
44:49
Speaker 1: ingrain that shot execution so that it's I don't ever
44:52
Speaker 1: have to think about it. It's just automatic. It's not
44:56
Speaker 1: it's not something that um you know, is ever going
44:59
Speaker 1: to cause me an issue in the deer woods. So
45:01
Speaker 1: I even though I've I feel like I've mastered that
45:04
Speaker 1: shot execution, I still work on it because I I've
45:07
Speaker 1: been on the other end of, you know, with target
45:10
Speaker 1: panic and drive by shooting and punching the trigger, and
45:13
Speaker 1: I don't ever want to go back to that um
45:16
Speaker 1: and then or sometimes I'll work on I'll go out
45:19
Speaker 1: on a practice session and I'm working on my pin flow.
45:21
Speaker 1: And what that is is I'm drawing back and I'm
45:24
Speaker 1: focusing and let my breast settle. I'm relaxing my hand,
45:27
Speaker 1: my shoulders, you know, trying to get you know, no
45:30
Speaker 1: muscle involvement. You want at least muscle involvement as possible.
45:34
Speaker 1: And I'll just see what my pin does. Now, is
45:36
Speaker 1: my pin going left to right kind of in a
45:40
Speaker 1: in a figure eight if that, If it's doing that,
45:45
Speaker 1: then I add weight to my stabilizer out front that
45:48
Speaker 1: that minimizes the left to right. Okay. And I got
45:52
Speaker 1: a lot of this information from pro shooters and just
45:54
Speaker 1: talking with guys that I've kind of went down this road.
45:58
Speaker 1: So if your pins doing that, you and add some
46:00
Speaker 1: weight out front. It's it's kind of like, you know,
46:02
Speaker 1: imagine holding a golf club. You hold it by the
46:05
Speaker 1: head and you can whip that that handle real fast.
46:08
Speaker 1: But you hold it by the handle and you try
46:09
Speaker 1: to whip the head where the weight is, it's like harder, right,
46:12
Speaker 1: move slower, so I can slow your your horizontal pin
46:16
Speaker 1: movement down. So maybe your pin is what I have
46:19
Speaker 1: trouble with is my pin likes to drop, so I'll
46:23
Speaker 1: be it'll it'll be there on the bull's eye and
46:25
Speaker 1: drop out and bring it back up and drop out.
46:27
Speaker 1: So on mine with the Matthews bow, and you shoot
46:31
Speaker 1: a Matthews. Matthews bows have a lower grip in the system.
46:35
Speaker 1: They tend to be a little bit top heavy, so uh,
46:38
Speaker 1: they stabilize really well with some some weight below the handle.
46:42
Speaker 1: So I run a rear bar um so if my
46:47
Speaker 1: my pin is going low and dropping out, I add
46:50
Speaker 1: weight to the rear bar and what that does is
46:52
Speaker 1: it helps keep the pin up. So it's just you know,
46:54
Speaker 1: you're adding weight to the back holding your pin up
46:57
Speaker 1: opposite if it's you know, if your pins going up,
47:01
Speaker 1: you know, up out of the target, you would want
47:04
Speaker 1: to add weight to the front or take weight off
47:06
Speaker 1: the bathroom river. So I what I do and what
47:09
Speaker 1: I'm what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to
47:10
Speaker 1: get a bow set up where my pin just wants
47:14
Speaker 1: to sit there. It's like perfectly balanced. When I draw
47:16
Speaker 1: back and I settled my pin, I come to anchor
47:19
Speaker 1: and I settle that it just wants to sit there.
47:21
Speaker 1: And that's not to say it's not moving. It is,
47:23
Speaker 1: but it's minimal. Um. And when we were up at
47:27
Speaker 1: UM the Total Archer Challenge, my buddy, uh, he was
47:31
Speaker 1: having something. He shoots the Matthews too. He has a
47:34
Speaker 1: just a straightforward stabilizer, which is fine. You can definitely
47:37
Speaker 1: use that for hunting and shoot really good. I know
47:39
Speaker 1: people that do it. It's just the Matthews bows I
47:41
Speaker 1: think tend to like a little bit of you know,
47:44
Speaker 1: weight below the handle, just the way they're built. Um.
47:48
Speaker 1: But anyway, he was he was complaining that he couldn't
47:50
Speaker 1: hold his pin steady, and we just kind of got
47:51
Speaker 1: to talking about this a little bit. And so you
47:55
Speaker 1: know when I'm trying to improve my pinfall. That's what
47:57
Speaker 1: I'm doing. I'm tinkering with stabilization, and every bow is different.
48:00
Speaker 1: My traverse is a little different than the tracks that
48:02
Speaker 1: I had. You know, the verdicts might be a little
48:04
Speaker 1: different than the hall on thirty two. And well, what
48:06
Speaker 1: I'm what I'm trying to do is just get that
48:08
Speaker 1: pin to kind of sit there. I don't want to
48:10
Speaker 1: fight the pin. I want the pin to sit there.
48:12
Speaker 1: And if it's moving a little bit, that's fine, but
48:14
Speaker 1: I want it right on the spot. You know. If
48:17
Speaker 1: it's going like this and jittery and I'm fighting, and
48:19
Speaker 1: I feel like that's that's the type of pin movement
48:23
Speaker 1: that creates anxiety anticipation. So you can imagine your aiming
48:26
Speaker 1: at a you know, a mule deer buck foam target
48:30
Speaker 1: at the Total Archery challenge out there that's a hundred
48:32
Speaker 1: yards and your pins, you know, dancing all over the place.
48:35
Speaker 1: It's above the back, it's below the body, it's actually
48:38
Speaker 1: coming off the animal. What's that gonna do. It's gonna
48:41
Speaker 1: make you want to you know, time that shot. Okay,
48:43
Speaker 1: all right, it's it's on the deer, it's off the deer.
48:46
Speaker 1: It's on the deer boom. You know, that's how target
48:48
Speaker 1: panic starts. So you'd be much better off even with
48:53
Speaker 1: all that movement if you just let the pin move
48:56
Speaker 1: and you just executed your shot no matter what the
48:59
Speaker 1: pin was doing. In fact, you'd be better off if
49:01
Speaker 1: you just stared at the spot you wanted to hit.
49:03
Speaker 1: It didn't even care where the pin was. If you
49:06
Speaker 1: just stared at that spot and executed that pins always
49:09
Speaker 1: coming back, So you would be much better off. But
49:11
Speaker 1: to take it to the next level with stabilization, I'm
49:15
Speaker 1: trying to minimize that movement. So I couldn't live with
49:18
Speaker 1: the pin dancing all over the target like that, on
49:20
Speaker 1: and off. You know. I wanted to stay in that
49:22
Speaker 1: vital more of like a slow kind of steady movement.
49:27
Speaker 1: But it's it's it's there, it's not moving, so um.
49:31
Speaker 1: You know that's when I you know, that's why I
49:33
Speaker 1: run a rear bar. Now. You know, if you're hunting
49:38
Speaker 1: elk in Colorado, you know, maybe you know, maybe you
49:41
Speaker 1: don't want to carry all that weight. Your shots are
49:43
Speaker 1: gonna be thirty yards and in you're you know, you're
49:45
Speaker 1: you know, thick blowdown country in Colorado or something. You know,
49:49
Speaker 1: maybe you don't want to carry all that weight. You
49:51
Speaker 1: could take it off. I shoot fine without it. I
49:54
Speaker 1: don't shoot as good long distance. Um, I don't shoot
49:58
Speaker 1: as good close distance either, but it's much less noticeable
50:01
Speaker 1: forty yards and in. You know, you might be just
50:04
Speaker 1: just guessing. If I took that rear buar off and
50:07
Speaker 1: I shot a group at thirty yards, you know, they're
50:10
Speaker 1: they're all going to be right there. But when that's
50:13
Speaker 1: on there and that pin is just steady, I mean,
50:15
Speaker 1: they're slapping them busting arrows. So you know, it might
50:20
Speaker 1: be a little overkill for your typical, you know, tree
50:23
Speaker 1: standing guy. But I also shoot a heavier bow better
50:26
Speaker 1: when I'm nervous, when the adrenaline is pumping that little
50:28
Speaker 1: extra weight. Um. I think that's why I gravitate towards
50:31
Speaker 1: the Matthews bows too. They're just they're a little out
50:33
Speaker 1: on the heavier side, but I shoot him better and
50:36
Speaker 1: they kind of resist that movement and that shakiness. And
50:39
Speaker 1: and then when I add that stabilization and that balance
50:42
Speaker 1: helps it even more. So everything is real calm, even
50:45
Speaker 1: when the adrenaline is pumping and I'm you know, at
50:47
Speaker 1: full drawn a big buck. It's moving, and it's definitely
50:50
Speaker 1: moving more than when I'm shooting in the backyard. But
50:53
Speaker 1: it's very manageable. I don't feel that anxiety or anticipation
50:56
Speaker 1: to make it go. I just run my shot execution
50:59
Speaker 1: and the arrow, you know, hits behind the pin. And
51:01
Speaker 1: that's another thing too, Like, you know, I want my bow.
51:04
Speaker 1: I want a bow that I relate with well meaning.
51:11
Speaker 1: Um I like, I love archery, so I love bows.
51:13
Speaker 1: I love you know, you know, getting a bow tech
51:15
Speaker 1: and setting it up, and you know, a lot of
51:17
Speaker 1: times I'll buy bows use more more of the fact
51:20
Speaker 1: that I'm interested in the camp system and the tuning
51:22
Speaker 1: of it and how it shoots. And some of my buddies,
51:25
Speaker 1: you know, have some of these bowls and they've had
51:27
Speaker 1: me work on them and stuff, so I like to
51:29
Speaker 1: do that. I'll sometimes buy them and then I'll sell them,
51:31
Speaker 1: or sometimes i'll you know, uh, you know, sell them
51:33
Speaker 1: to a buddy or trade them or whatever. Um Like.
51:36
Speaker 1: I get some enjoyment out of that, but I want
51:39
Speaker 1: a bow that just that fits me perfect. And then
51:44
Speaker 1: I've went to some other brands and stuff, and it's
51:46
Speaker 1: just like I just you know, when I say I
51:48
Speaker 1: want a bullet hits behind the pin, Like I can
51:50
Speaker 1: be at eight yards and see that pin on the
51:53
Speaker 1: target and it's floating and I the shot breaks and
51:58
Speaker 1: I could just tell, like what the shot broke? My
52:00
Speaker 1: pin was two inches left of the mark and I
52:05
Speaker 1: and I know that's where the arrow is going to be.
52:08
Speaker 1: But I've had some bowls where I do that and
52:11
Speaker 1: it looks like it's right on the bull's eye. When
52:13
Speaker 1: the shot breaks, boom and I go up there, it's
52:14
Speaker 1: like three inches of left, and I'm like, what the hell?
52:17
Speaker 1: But I think you could become more in tune with that.
52:20
Speaker 1: The more you shoot, the more you tinker with this stuff.
52:22
Speaker 1: But you know, I want a bow that hits behind
52:25
Speaker 1: the pin where that pin is at, and I execute
52:28
Speaker 1: the shot, it's it's there. Or let's say I do
52:30
Speaker 1: make a bad shot. Let's say I'm at full draw
52:32
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh, man, I I kind of rushed
52:34
Speaker 1: through that shot, or you know, or you know whatever,
52:39
Speaker 1: I rushed through it, or I pulled a little harder.
52:42
Speaker 1: You know, I didn't. I was increasing my my back
52:45
Speaker 1: tension and it didn't go when I wanted to. It
52:47
Speaker 1: just it just didn't flow. Well, I want a bowl
52:50
Speaker 1: that I'm still gonna go up there and it's gonna
52:51
Speaker 1: be boom right there in the group, you know. And
52:53
Speaker 1: there's some bows that do that for me and some
52:55
Speaker 1: bows that just don't. And the reason and the way
52:58
Speaker 1: I know that is because I'm I guess I'm so
53:03
Speaker 1: you know, uh specific on like writing down like my
53:07
Speaker 1: group size and my testing and stuff like that. So
53:09
Speaker 1: you know, some of the older bows that I had,
53:11
Speaker 1: like hoits and bo tex and stuff like, I did
53:13
Speaker 1: all a lot of the same stuff, and I'm I'm
53:16
Speaker 1: where I'm at now because it's the best that I
53:18
Speaker 1: found for me, you know. And that might not be
53:20
Speaker 1: the bow for the next guy, um, but you know,
53:24
Speaker 1: that's the I guess. That's kind of the level of
53:26
Speaker 1: the you know, preparation that that I like to do.
53:31
Speaker 1: And it comes back back to another one of those
53:33
Speaker 1: principles of like deliver practices that not only should you
53:35
Speaker 1: have a purpose with your practice, but I also remember
53:38
Speaker 1: reading about the importance of quantifying your success with that
53:41
Speaker 1: practice to finding some way to measure didn't make progress.
53:45
Speaker 1: And you've mentioned over and over different ways you're trying
53:47
Speaker 1: to measure things measure what progress you made, measure the improvement.
53:50
Speaker 1: Measure how well or how are or how worse made
53:53
Speaker 1: you've got in certain things. And I think that has
53:55
Speaker 1: allowed you to find two and keep getting better and
53:57
Speaker 1: better and better. And that's a great That's something I
53:59
Speaker 1: do not do a good job of it all. When
54:01
Speaker 1: it comes to my archery. I'm just out there flaying
54:03
Speaker 1: them and hoping them like do I feel like better
54:05
Speaker 1: about today? I'll come in and wife, Well, how to
54:07
Speaker 1: go like, oh, it's a good day some days like
54:10
Speaker 1: son of a bit. Um. So that's how I measure
54:14
Speaker 1: successes in the first words I say when I come
54:16
Speaker 1: back in the house. But that's probably not the best
54:17
Speaker 1: way to do it. Um. So you're going out there
54:21
Speaker 1: with a purpose. You're each time you're going out there
54:23
Speaker 1: from these sessions, you're thinking about something you're trying to improve. Usually,
54:26
Speaker 1: is there like a typical time frame that you like,
54:30
Speaker 1: is there something? Is it just whatever time you have
54:32
Speaker 1: or do you feel like there's value to making sure
54:36
Speaker 1: that a couple of times a week you do spend
54:37
Speaker 1: an hour because that really builds up your muscle member
54:40
Speaker 1: or something, or is there value? And yeah, I don't
54:43
Speaker 1: know anything like that that you think about or or not.
54:46
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, those longer those longer sessions
54:50
Speaker 1: are important. I feel like the five errol thing, you know,
54:53
Speaker 1: make you go out there and try to make five
54:55
Speaker 1: perfect shots. That's more of like a you're just checking
54:58
Speaker 1: the status right, You're making sure like okay, boom, I
55:02
Speaker 1: got it. You know my form is good. I'm gonna
55:04
Speaker 1: put all the pressure on this first arrow. This is
55:06
Speaker 1: my one shot at you know that big white tail,
55:09
Speaker 1: you know whatever range, and you you know, you put
55:13
Speaker 1: it right where it needs to be. That's a good feeling.
55:15
Speaker 1: You like, you're you don't need ten shots to warm up.
55:18
Speaker 1: You're you're there, You're ready. So I use those short
55:21
Speaker 1: ones more of like a just a check, you know,
55:23
Speaker 1: like a system check. Those longer sessions, whether it's half hour,
55:27
Speaker 1: an hour or two hours or whatever, those are when
55:30
Speaker 1: I try to work on things and you know a
55:33
Speaker 1: couple of things we already talked about, or it might
55:35
Speaker 1: be just you know, getting your site marks. Um. You know,
55:38
Speaker 1: some of those longer distance things, it does take some
55:40
Speaker 1: time to kind of get accurate site marks. And you know,
55:43
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not shooting a hundred yards because I
55:46
Speaker 1: want to shoot at a deer at a hundred yards.
55:47
Speaker 1: It's just for me that longer practice. When I start
55:53
Speaker 1: shooting at that distance, like my hundred yard groups start
55:56
Speaker 1: looking like my old forty yard groups, you know, after
55:59
Speaker 1: a while, And anybody could do that going through you know,
56:03
Speaker 1: some of the same set up, you know, processes that
56:05
Speaker 1: that guys do. But um, it just gives me so
56:08
Speaker 1: much more confidence at those shots that we take at
56:12
Speaker 1: deer in the deerwoods, you know what I mean. It
56:14
Speaker 1: feels they feel like gimmes, you know, And they didn't
56:18
Speaker 1: used to feel like gimmes to me. They used to
56:20
Speaker 1: feel like this could go either way, you know, and
56:24
Speaker 1: it really uh and it reflected like that. I think
56:28
Speaker 1: I was lucky. I did have some a few seasons
56:30
Speaker 1: where I was struggling with target panics so bad, and
56:34
Speaker 1: I did lost multiple animals, but I it came on quick,
56:42
Speaker 1: and I I realized it quick, and I did what
56:46
Speaker 1: I needed to do to fix it quick. So I
56:48
Speaker 1: had a short window where it was causing me big problems.
56:51
Speaker 1: Now the beginning of you know, my archery hunting, I
56:55
Speaker 1: wasn't executing the shot the way I am now, and
56:58
Speaker 1: I wasn't making perfect shots by any means all the time,
57:01
Speaker 1: but I didn't have target panic. I was making kill
57:03
Speaker 1: you know, kill shots. Maybe not perfect, but um, you
57:08
Speaker 1: know it wasn't. It wasn't at the level there are
57:12
Speaker 1: the comfortable the way I feel comfortable with it now,
57:14
Speaker 1: But there was that that short window where what I
57:17
Speaker 1: was what I was really struggling. And I think a
57:19
Speaker 1: lot of guys that kind of end up going this
57:21
Speaker 1: route went through a similar period. You talked to a
57:23
Speaker 1: lot of the pro archers. Look, a lot of them
57:26
Speaker 1: went through a period like this. They love archery, they
57:28
Speaker 1: love it so much, and they start going to yards
57:31
Speaker 1: or whatever, and their pins dancing all over the place,
57:33
Speaker 1: and they start punching the trigger because their anxiety levels high.
57:37
Speaker 1: So a lot of you've talked to a lot of
57:39
Speaker 1: these guys, they have the same sort of story, you know. So,
57:42
Speaker 1: so you mentioned this way one way to improve your
57:45
Speaker 1: confidence and just everything at actual shooting ranges in the
57:50
Speaker 1: field is to stretch it out in practice. So take
57:52
Speaker 1: these really long shots, get good at long shots when
57:54
Speaker 1: you're in your practice sessions, so that thirty and forty
57:56
Speaker 1: yards feels like a gimme. Actually, how they're in the field. Um,
58:01
Speaker 1: are there any other ways you put stress on your
58:04
Speaker 1: situation and practice? So this is something we talked about
58:06
Speaker 1: with David Wise, is he's always trying to find ways
58:09
Speaker 1: to stress his system to practice. I think he called
58:11
Speaker 1: like practicing at the fringes. So even as like a
58:15
Speaker 1: half pipe skier, he would try to practice with the
58:17
Speaker 1: worst case scenarios so that when he was actually out there,
58:20
Speaker 1: you know, uh in you know, in the big stage,
58:23
Speaker 1: on the big stage, no possible scenario could surprise him.
58:28
Speaker 1: So do you do anything? I know something you know
58:31
Speaker 1: people talk about within our world is trying to shoot
58:34
Speaker 1: at different positions, stuff like that. Um, anything along those
58:38
Speaker 1: lines you do to change things up in your practice. Yeah. Absolutely,
58:41
Speaker 1: So all this stuff that I've been talking about so
58:44
Speaker 1: far is pretty much in the backyard calm, wind, perfect,
58:48
Speaker 1: you know, your feet on even ground. You know what
58:51
Speaker 1: I'm trying to do is I'm trying to narrow down
58:53
Speaker 1: my setup to get the most accurate for giving um
58:57
Speaker 1: set up that I can get that I'm most confident. Yeah.
59:00
Speaker 1: Once I once i know I'm gonna roll with something,
59:03
Speaker 1: then I kind of switched modes to like okay, now
59:06
Speaker 1: it's time to prepare for hunting, you know. And that's
59:09
Speaker 1: when I mean, when's the last time you shot a
59:11
Speaker 1: deer standing on flat ground, you know, with no wind
59:14
Speaker 1: from ground level like never? So um, so that's when
59:21
Speaker 1: I start to do some other things like so for instance,
59:24
Speaker 1: like you know, when I went on my antelope, I
59:26
Speaker 1: knew my shots were gonna be the animal upon a
59:28
Speaker 1: few years ago. I knew my shots are gonna be long,
59:30
Speaker 1: and I knew I was probably gonna be on my knees.
59:32
Speaker 1: So I practiced a ton on my knees at you know,
59:35
Speaker 1: a hundred yards, hundred ten yards, you know, hoping that
59:38
Speaker 1: that seventy yard eight yard shot that I was probably
59:40
Speaker 1: gonna get was gonna be I feel easy, you know.
59:44
Speaker 1: So that's how I prepared for that one. Or you know,
59:47
Speaker 1: um a lot of times, you know, I switched nearly
59:50
Speaker 1: all my shooting out of you know, especially when I
59:52
Speaker 1: started using the saddle more or even even when I
59:54
Speaker 1: used the tree stand a lot more angled shots um
59:58
Speaker 1: coming out of trees, you know. Uh, just to I
1:00:02
Speaker 1: practice a ton on flat ground. Now it's time to
1:00:05
Speaker 1: switch modes and start to practice real life shooting scenarios.
1:00:07
Speaker 1: Because I can't shoot the same groups I can at
1:00:10
Speaker 1: eight um you know standing on a tree stand angled
1:00:15
Speaker 1: down that I can on flat ground, you know, with
1:00:17
Speaker 1: no winds. So now it's trying to starting to kind
1:00:20
Speaker 1: of um work on that stuff so that you know
1:00:25
Speaker 1: what you can get away with. You know where your
1:00:29
Speaker 1: you know extremes are where, you know where where you
1:00:31
Speaker 1: should kind of keep your comfort level. Um, if I
1:00:34
Speaker 1: am shooting out back on flat ground, like a lot
1:00:37
Speaker 1: of times, I'll have like these old um tree stumps
1:00:40
Speaker 1: are logs that we cut, and I'll put one foot up,
1:00:43
Speaker 1: you know, and shoot like that. So you know when
1:00:45
Speaker 1: I when I shot um my mule deer last year,
1:00:48
Speaker 1: that's how well I was. Like my my back foot
1:00:50
Speaker 1: was you know, like two ft higher than my bottom foot.
1:00:53
Speaker 1: You know. So just things like that kind of that
1:00:55
Speaker 1: kind of alter your balance and it you know, when
1:00:58
Speaker 1: your form is is really solid and ingrained, you know
1:01:03
Speaker 1: what you doesn't really matter what your lower bodies doing.
1:01:05
Speaker 1: You try to keep from the waist up that same.
1:01:08
Speaker 1: That's my goal is trying to keep that waiste up
1:01:10
Speaker 1: form the same no matter what I'm doing. And there's
1:01:13
Speaker 1: some severe things, severe angles from a tree stand, like
1:01:16
Speaker 1: straight down. Um, you know, there's definitely certain situations where
1:01:20
Speaker 1: that's that's going to be compromised some So you have
1:01:23
Speaker 1: to practice those shots, those really awkward you know, those
1:01:29
Speaker 1: those really tough shots. You do have to practice them
1:01:32
Speaker 1: to see where your arrow hits and how you perform,
1:01:35
Speaker 1: and um, those are really important. So what you talked
1:01:38
Speaker 1: about summer routine. As I get towards when I say,
1:01:42
Speaker 1: you know, I want to kind of peek at the
1:01:43
Speaker 1: you know, right at the beginning of hunting season, that's
1:01:46
Speaker 1: when I start really working on that stuff, this stuff
1:01:49
Speaker 1: testing arrows, you know, ingraining, shot execution, all that stuff
1:01:55
Speaker 1: is gone. We've we've found something we're gonna run with.
1:01:57
Speaker 1: So now we're switching to hunting mode. And what time
1:01:59
Speaker 1: of years that like, are you saying the last couple
1:02:01
Speaker 1: of weeks before hunting season, the last month, last two months? Like,
1:02:04
Speaker 1: when do you really like to be focusing on that
1:02:06
Speaker 1: part of your UM? I would like I would want
1:02:08
Speaker 1: to be doing that kind of stuff at least a
1:02:10
Speaker 1: month before my first hunt, you know, so you know,
1:02:13
Speaker 1: just really kind of switch gears. That's when I switched
1:02:16
Speaker 1: to broadheads. I'm shooting all my my my shots with broadheads.
1:02:19
Speaker 1: All your shots are broadheads the last month. Yeah, I
1:02:22
Speaker 1: mean I might, I might throw if you know, like
1:02:25
Speaker 1: let's I'm not gonna like, you know, burn through packs
1:02:27
Speaker 1: and packs of them. But yeah, i'll shoot. You know,
1:02:30
Speaker 1: I might shoot three broadheads and one field point or
1:02:32
Speaker 1: something like that in a group or something like that,
1:02:34
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But the majority, I want
1:02:37
Speaker 1: to make sure those broadheads or whatever you know, is
1:02:39
Speaker 1: working well with my system, that they're flying well. I
1:02:41
Speaker 1: want to know what they're doing in the wind, or
1:02:43
Speaker 1: they drifted more than my field points, because that's something
1:02:45
Speaker 1: you need to know, especially if you're gonna be hunting
1:02:47
Speaker 1: out west. You know, it's not uncommon to have a
1:02:49
Speaker 1: sixty eight yard shot. It's it's just not And you know,
1:02:54
Speaker 1: if you want to increase your chance of success, you know,
1:02:58
Speaker 1: you can prepare for you know, that type of range
1:03:03
Speaker 1: and be you know, really deadly. But you those are
1:03:06
Speaker 1: things you need to know. You put a broad out
1:03:08
Speaker 1: of the front, you're gonna get more, you know, more
1:03:10
Speaker 1: arrow drifts. So another thing that the total archer challenge
1:03:13
Speaker 1: to like, when you shoot a lot, you you start
1:03:17
Speaker 1: to see and you understand, like what your trajectory is
1:03:20
Speaker 1: doing right. So there were some shots where you know,
1:03:23
Speaker 1: we see you know, a betted MULEI but you know,
1:03:27
Speaker 1: maybe sixty yards out there's a tree that's covering the vitals,
1:03:32
Speaker 1: like there was a there's one in particular, and thinking
1:03:34
Speaker 1: there was a bent over tree, it was right where
1:03:36
Speaker 1: you want to hit your arrow. So what I did
1:03:39
Speaker 1: was I ranged the tree and then I ranged the
1:03:43
Speaker 1: mule's head. The mule it was like an eighty seven.
1:03:45
Speaker 1: So we're all looking at like, oh man, like where
1:03:48
Speaker 1: do we hit? We can like you could aim at
1:03:50
Speaker 1: the butt and just hit foam. That would be the
1:03:51
Speaker 1: safe play. But so because I because I could range
1:03:56
Speaker 1: the sixty and then I could range you know, the
1:03:58
Speaker 1: seven on the mulee. I knew just from shooting so
1:04:02
Speaker 1: much that I know my trajectory is going to miss that.
1:04:05
Speaker 1: So someone that doesn't shoot as much might not they
1:04:08
Speaker 1: might not take that shot, you know, you know, or whatever.
1:04:11
Speaker 1: But I knew, and you know a lot of the
1:04:14
Speaker 1: guys are with our our experience shooters too, and they
1:04:17
Speaker 1: did the same thing. I would put the pin right
1:04:19
Speaker 1: on the tree and just sailed right over, dropped right
1:04:21
Speaker 1: into the vibe. So those are things that you know
1:04:24
Speaker 1: little things that you know may or may not ever
1:04:28
Speaker 1: happen in the woods. But I guess, like you were saying,
1:04:32
Speaker 1: you know, practice and the fringes. I like to prepare
1:04:35
Speaker 1: for all possibilities, you know what I mean. Like if
1:04:38
Speaker 1: if there's if there's a a bowl of a lifetime
1:04:42
Speaker 1: in Colorado and there's a little tiny hole to squeeze
1:04:45
Speaker 1: it through, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna wish it through.
1:04:48
Speaker 1: I want to know that it's going to go through there.
1:04:49
Speaker 1: But if I know it will if I execute a
1:04:51
Speaker 1: good shot, I want to have the confidence to take
1:04:53
Speaker 1: that shot, you know what I mean. I'm not gonna
1:04:56
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna roll the dice and be like, I'm
1:04:58
Speaker 1: not sure if that's the case, I'm not taking the shot.
1:05:00
Speaker 1: But if it's possible, I want to have the confidence
1:05:03
Speaker 1: to do it. Man, it seems like it seems like
1:05:08
Speaker 1: the way to do that is to have the kind
1:05:09
Speaker 1: of system in place. I mean, it makes a lot
1:05:11
Speaker 1: of sense. It works for me, um And like I said,
1:05:15
Speaker 1: the system has morphed. It might be different five years
1:05:18
Speaker 1: from now if we come again, but it works for me.
1:05:21
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying this is what people should do
1:05:24
Speaker 1: you know, I'm definitely not saying that. It's just what
1:05:27
Speaker 1: I do. You know what I mean Now, does this
1:05:29
Speaker 1: level of attention to minutia and preparing for the fringes
1:05:35
Speaker 1: and everything that you apply with your archery preparation in
1:05:40
Speaker 1: the summer, does that translate to other things you're doing
1:05:44
Speaker 1: in the field preparing? So yeah, answer me that, Yeah totally. So,
1:05:49
Speaker 1: you know, I take the same I feel like I
1:05:52
Speaker 1: take the same type of thought process and preparing for
1:05:56
Speaker 1: the hunting season um as I do with with this,
1:06:00
Speaker 1: the same same type of system. Um. You know, I'm
1:06:03
Speaker 1: always trying to find that next book. I'm always trying
1:06:08
Speaker 1: to fine tune setups. I'm always trying to find new
1:06:11
Speaker 1: setups in new areas, scout new ground, try you know. Basically,
1:06:16
Speaker 1: the way I always explain it is I try to
1:06:19
Speaker 1: over prepare so the chances of my of me not
1:06:24
Speaker 1: succeeding or almost zero, Like I would have to be
1:06:27
Speaker 1: really unlucky to not have some success. So I try
1:06:30
Speaker 1: to over prepare, do things. You know, to me, it's
1:06:34
Speaker 1: not to me, it's not over preparing or overboard, It's
1:06:38
Speaker 1: just what I do. But when I when I kind
1:06:40
Speaker 1: of look at you know, other people. UM. And I'm
1:06:44
Speaker 1: sure there's people out there that prepare more than me. UM.
1:06:47
Speaker 1: But it's just what I do, and to me, it
1:06:49
Speaker 1: just it's just feels what I need to do. It's
1:06:52
Speaker 1: what I enjoy to do or enjoy enjoy doing, so
1:06:55
Speaker 1: I make the time to do it. Now. It's a
1:06:58
Speaker 1: lot less than what it used to be so um,
1:07:01
Speaker 1: you know, before before kids and everything. But I still
1:07:05
Speaker 1: prioritize that time. I try to do it in bursts,
1:07:08
Speaker 1: like I spent a lot of time as soon as
1:07:10
Speaker 1: that snow melted. Um, I spent a lot of time.
1:07:14
Speaker 1: I got a lot of scout again. Then UM, I
1:07:16
Speaker 1: went down to Iowa in preparation for this hunt. UM
1:07:21
Speaker 1: scouted two or three new pieces of public all the
1:07:24
Speaker 1: places that uh, you know, all the places we were
1:07:26
Speaker 1: already familiar with, you know, got all the trees marked,
1:07:30
Speaker 1: all the access we I mean, we put on so
1:07:32
Speaker 1: many miles in just a couple of days in preparation
1:07:36
Speaker 1: for this hunt coming up. You know, I'm going during
1:07:39
Speaker 1: the rut. I want to see the rut sign so
1:07:41
Speaker 1: I wouldn't feel like I did what I needed to
1:07:45
Speaker 1: do if I just showed up. I know I could
1:07:47
Speaker 1: do that and still kill something. But it's just I,
1:07:52
Speaker 1: like I said, I want to be prepared and that's
1:07:54
Speaker 1: a big hunt to me. It's important. I've waited years
1:07:57
Speaker 1: for the tag. It's expensive. I want to do what
1:08:00
Speaker 1: I need to do that will, you know, increase my
1:08:03
Speaker 1: chance to success the most. So so when the was
1:08:06
Speaker 1: a scouting I know that you take scouting really seriously. Um,
1:08:10
Speaker 1: you constantly are helping me scout more simply better. Fact,
1:08:13
Speaker 1: I know you're out there scouting and I'm not. It
1:08:14
Speaker 1: might feel bad about it, so it gets me off
1:08:16
Speaker 1: my ascid in the woods. Um, but you mentioned that
1:08:20
Speaker 1: snow melt time period. Right snow comes off, it's probably
1:08:23
Speaker 1: the very best time year to be able to see
1:08:25
Speaker 1: signed from the year before and and nothing's greened up yet.
1:08:28
Speaker 1: But now it's June when we're talking right now, What
1:08:31
Speaker 1: if someone just now is like realizing, oh crap, I
1:08:34
Speaker 1: really do need to get out and do some scouting.
1:08:36
Speaker 1: What is there anything they can accomplish during the summer?
1:08:38
Speaker 1: What are you doing still now during the summer everything
1:08:41
Speaker 1: is green and full. What can you actually accomplish now?
1:08:44
Speaker 1: This is because you know, with you know, a growing
1:08:49
Speaker 1: family and all that stuff. When I said, I had
1:08:51
Speaker 1: to cut some things down. Basically, what I did was
1:08:54
Speaker 1: where I used to scout. You know, if you if
1:08:56
Speaker 1: you saw me twenty two, you know, thirty two those years,
1:09:05
Speaker 1: I was literally I was in the woods trying to
1:09:09
Speaker 1: learn about deer five or six days a week. I
1:09:12
Speaker 1: would literally go right from work and scout, and I
1:09:16
Speaker 1: would do that just about until it was dark. And
1:09:18
Speaker 1: it's just I was completely enthralled in it. It's all
1:09:22
Speaker 1: I wanted to do. UM. And you know, I think
1:09:26
Speaker 1: that kind of created a basis for a lot of um.
1:09:30
Speaker 1: You know what I do now and what I've learned.
1:09:32
Speaker 1: But now that I'm a little busier, UM, I have
1:09:37
Speaker 1: I kind of set specific time frames. So you know,
1:09:40
Speaker 1: in the winter months, when there's snow, like I said,
1:09:42
Speaker 1: I focus on the indoor shooting stuff. I will scout
1:09:45
Speaker 1: some then too, because I do like to see like
1:09:48
Speaker 1: winter habitat, what the deer doing. I look for trails
1:09:51
Speaker 1: in the snow. Okay like that, you know this could
1:09:53
Speaker 1: potentially be um uh you know, uh, if we get
1:09:58
Speaker 1: snow during that late season, this skipped actually be a
1:10:00
Speaker 1: good area. I'm looking for tracks of deer, um, mature buck,
1:10:04
Speaker 1: tracks of maybe deer that survived, um, that sort of thing.
1:10:07
Speaker 1: So then, like I said that, when that snow melt,
1:10:10
Speaker 1: that's when I get in a bunch of my scouting
1:10:12
Speaker 1: and I try to scout every area that I do
1:10:16
Speaker 1: hunt and throwing a handful of new potential areas. And
1:10:19
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to that's more I'm looking for a
1:10:21
Speaker 1: rut sign. I am looking for like buck beds and
1:10:24
Speaker 1: that sort of thing too. I'm always looking for that.
1:10:27
Speaker 1: But um, just everything is so visible then, so then
1:10:30
Speaker 1: get out of that, you get starting. Um, like you know,
1:10:33
Speaker 1: May June July. You know, I kind of focused. I
1:10:38
Speaker 1: focus more on the turkey side of things. I think
1:10:41
Speaker 1: during that time. Um, you know, I don't I don't
1:10:45
Speaker 1: turkey hunt a whole terribly lot, but I really do
1:10:48
Speaker 1: enjoy it. Um. So I think right now, this timeframe,
1:10:52
Speaker 1: right now, that kind of May June July, I probably
1:10:56
Speaker 1: make another switch. But at that time I probably scout well,
1:11:00
Speaker 1: I know, I scout quite a bit less. And that's
1:11:02
Speaker 1: you know, I kind of focus that time more with family,
1:11:05
Speaker 1: do a little turkey hunting with the kids. Um, you know,
1:11:08
Speaker 1: do definitely get my archery in there, but it's kind
1:11:11
Speaker 1: of a slower time for me. And it's a slower
1:11:13
Speaker 1: time because I'm choosing it to be slower. I don't.
1:11:15
Speaker 1: I still think there's plenty of information to find out there. Um,
1:11:19
Speaker 1: but for me personally, it's like, Okay, I can't do
1:11:23
Speaker 1: this all year round like I used to. I need
1:11:25
Speaker 1: to pick windows, so I focus on the windows where
1:11:29
Speaker 1: I think it's most beneficial to me and my style.
1:11:32
Speaker 1: So then, you know, then you get into that July August,
1:11:35
Speaker 1: that's when I start looking more for specific books that
1:11:38
Speaker 1: made it, you know, targets go after, and that's when
1:11:41
Speaker 1: I start kind of planning my fall. Like, Okay, I
1:11:43
Speaker 1: got you know, there's a you know, a new big
1:11:46
Speaker 1: buck over here. He looks at least three and a half.
1:11:48
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know who this there is, you know,
1:11:50
Speaker 1: and I try to keep tabs on him. You know
1:11:53
Speaker 1: what you're actually doing? Uh like keeping tabs? Yeah? So
1:11:57
Speaker 1: like how July August you're you're starting to find these
1:12:00
Speaker 1: deer that you're actually gonna hunt and playing your fall.
1:12:02
Speaker 1: How specifically is that happening? Is that that you are
1:12:04
Speaker 1: going and checking cameras once a week or something and
1:12:07
Speaker 1: removing cameras from property property or do you go and
1:12:10
Speaker 1: sit on these properties at night and watch fields or
1:12:13
Speaker 1: walk me through that first step finding these bucks here
1:12:16
Speaker 1: in a hunt that year in August, I guess I'd
1:12:18
Speaker 1: say all above. I do. UM. I do a lot
1:12:21
Speaker 1: of glassing driving around, UM A lot of times. You know,
1:12:26
Speaker 1: a lot of the areas of hunt. It's not something
1:12:28
Speaker 1: you necessarily see from the road. So I will get
1:12:30
Speaker 1: out and glass that, you know, that last hour. UM.
1:12:35
Speaker 1: And usually you know, I'm focusing on areas that I
1:12:40
Speaker 1: already know something's there. I'm just trying to see what
1:12:43
Speaker 1: he is. You know, did he make it? Is he there?
1:12:46
Speaker 1: What what did he turn into? And I'm trying to
1:12:48
Speaker 1: narrow down those, you know, those few bucks that I'm
1:12:52
Speaker 1: gonna focus on. UM. I definitely do run cameras, especially here.
1:12:56
Speaker 1: I don't do it much out of state. Out of state.
1:12:59
Speaker 1: I focus or on just like you know, kind of
1:13:01
Speaker 1: boots on the ground scouting. And I do still like
1:13:04
Speaker 1: that that aspect of like not knowing what's there. You see,
1:13:09
Speaker 1: you know, a mature bucks in here, but I have
1:13:10
Speaker 1: no idea what he is. I like that and I
1:13:13
Speaker 1: missed that sometimes in Michigan I get very few surprises.
1:13:17
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, because I do. I do
1:13:19
Speaker 1: scout things pretty thoroughly. I mean, every once in a while,
1:13:22
Speaker 1: you know, you'll get like a three year old or something,
1:13:24
Speaker 1: or a four year old pop up, but you're just like, oh,
1:13:26
Speaker 1: where is it? You know who is that, dear? But um,
1:13:29
Speaker 1: I know my areas so well that that doesn't happen
1:13:32
Speaker 1: as much around home. But um, yeah, I'll check camera,
1:13:35
Speaker 1: I'll put cameras out, Um, I'll check them. But during
1:13:40
Speaker 1: the summer months, I change things to uh mainly it
1:13:47
Speaker 1: might be for financial reasons, gas batteries in the camera
1:13:50
Speaker 1: or whatever. I usually do one or maybe two checks
1:13:55
Speaker 1: before the season. That's it. So um, it's I'm not
1:14:00
Speaker 1: I'm not one of those guys. I need to know
1:14:01
Speaker 1: what he's doing in July even August, Like I want
1:14:05
Speaker 1: to know, like I'll pull those cameras and I'll look
1:14:08
Speaker 1: through those pictures and be like, oh, yeah, man, that
1:14:10
Speaker 1: those are sweet. There he is there. But I want
1:14:12
Speaker 1: to know worries at those last few days of September,
1:14:16
Speaker 1: you know, and that's when I there's a lot of
1:14:18
Speaker 1: times where I won't even touch camera til then. Um,
1:14:22
Speaker 1: and I don't necessarily have it exactly where I'm hunting,
1:14:25
Speaker 1: like the the actual location I'll have in a spot
1:14:28
Speaker 1: where I feel like I can still get pictures. Um,
1:14:34
Speaker 1: but I'm not ruining where my actual hunting is. You know,
1:14:38
Speaker 1: my my hunting location, and those spots are usually set
1:14:40
Speaker 1: up and prepared ahead of time because I know the areas,
1:14:45
Speaker 1: I know where the buckbeds are, the ones I found,
1:14:48
Speaker 1: I know the traveler. Else, I have a feeling that
1:14:52
Speaker 1: you know, the buck that's bedded in this this bed,
1:14:56
Speaker 1: you know, we'll we'll feel safe traveling you know this
1:15:00
Speaker 1: distance through this this bit of cover, just because he
1:15:03
Speaker 1: can stay hidden. So it's it's all those little pieces
1:15:06
Speaker 1: that I'm trying to put together in my mind and
1:15:08
Speaker 1: through history of the of the of the area, of
1:15:11
Speaker 1: the property, or history of what that deer has done
1:15:13
Speaker 1: in the past. It's all those little pieces that I'm
1:15:16
Speaker 1: putting together. So the locations are almost always ready and
1:15:21
Speaker 1: prepared ahead of time. UM. I won't say always, because
1:15:28
Speaker 1: I do a lot of running gun into, but a
1:15:30
Speaker 1: lot of those spots I'm familiar with. You know, if
1:15:33
Speaker 1: a buck shows up there, you know a lot of
1:15:37
Speaker 1: times they do, and they bed in the same areas
1:15:39
Speaker 1: that you know they have before, or our mature deer
1:15:42
Speaker 1: have before and use those same type of areas, and
1:15:46
Speaker 1: you know I can if I hunt it right and
1:15:48
Speaker 1: if I wait for the right timing. Um, you know,
1:15:52
Speaker 1: if if a deer shows up on one of those properties,
1:15:54
Speaker 1: I can usually get a crack out of them. So
1:15:56
Speaker 1: let's rewind a little bit though, So you're running cameras,
1:16:00
Speaker 1: but you're not checking them till like September typically, right. Yeah,
1:16:04
Speaker 1: it's very I've I've really toned that back. I used
1:16:06
Speaker 1: to be like the you know, once every two weeks,
1:16:09
Speaker 1: three weeks, even once a month guy, and now I'm not.
1:16:12
Speaker 1: So basically, it's just to determine do I have the
1:16:17
Speaker 1: buck here that I want to hunt? So where do
1:16:20
Speaker 1: you You You mentioned how you're locating cameras in places that
1:16:24
Speaker 1: you can still get pictures, but it's not gonna mess
1:16:25
Speaker 1: up where you're gonna hunt. What are those types of
1:16:28
Speaker 1: locations you put a camera in the summer to get
1:16:30
Speaker 1: that inventory? Yeah, Um, in the summertime, you know, I'm
1:16:33
Speaker 1: looking for you know, apple trees, you know, field edges
1:16:40
Speaker 1: of food sources where they do feed in the summer.
1:16:43
Speaker 1: So a lot of times I like around bean fields, Um,
1:16:47
Speaker 1: you know, I have a typically have a knowledge of
1:16:49
Speaker 1: like where the mature dear bed you know, so like
1:16:53
Speaker 1: let's say they're bedding you know, down this ravine and
1:16:55
Speaker 1: back in this this low marshy area and they're coming
1:16:57
Speaker 1: up the travel the typical travel is up through the
1:17:00
Speaker 1: ravine and then they come into this giant destination bean field.
1:17:03
Speaker 1: So I'll put my camera there a lot of times.
1:17:06
Speaker 1: If there's a um a licking branch or something something
1:17:09
Speaker 1: that kind of just sweetens the spot, I'll put it
1:17:11
Speaker 1: there because deer work licking branches like all year long,
1:17:15
Speaker 1: and it's not gonna be as You're not gonna get
1:17:17
Speaker 1: the as good a pictures that you are, like you know,
1:17:20
Speaker 1: in in mid late October, but you're still gonna it
1:17:24
Speaker 1: concentrates deer and you're gonna get you know, they're they're
1:17:27
Speaker 1: more in uh you know, more in in in groups
1:17:31
Speaker 1: that time of year. So a lot of times I'll
1:17:33
Speaker 1: get pictures there. I focus a lot on water water crossings,
1:17:37
Speaker 1: um it. You know, it just kind of depends, you know,
1:17:40
Speaker 1: a lot of times I'll put them to like if
1:17:43
Speaker 1: if there's a travel area, um, you know, to a
1:17:48
Speaker 1: food source, I'll try I try to put it in
1:17:50
Speaker 1: there on you know a few of the main trails,
1:17:52
Speaker 1: but knowing that you know, the cameras here but and
1:17:56
Speaker 1: the beds over here. But I'm gonna be hunting much
1:17:58
Speaker 1: closer to the bed, you know, because the maturitier is
1:18:01
Speaker 1: not going to be you know, during hunting season, is
1:18:04
Speaker 1: not gonna be getting to where that cameras in daylight,
1:18:07
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't because of my the way I
1:18:09
Speaker 1: set up cameras. I don't get very many daylight pictures.
1:18:13
Speaker 1: And I do that on purpose. I don't really want
1:18:17
Speaker 1: my cameras to be getting daylight pictures if I if
1:18:19
Speaker 1: they are, I should be hunting there, you know, and
1:18:21
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't really like my cameras where I hunt,
1:18:24
Speaker 1: and I know some guys do like some I I
1:18:27
Speaker 1: think I watched a video of um, you know, Jeff
1:18:31
Speaker 1: Sturgis saying that he likes the camera we're in all
1:18:34
Speaker 1: of his tree standing locations. And don't get me wrong,
1:18:37
Speaker 1: like i I'll still just like everything else, I'm always
1:18:41
Speaker 1: trying new things. I'm always testing new things, so you know,
1:18:45
Speaker 1: there are times where I'll try that, but for the
1:18:47
Speaker 1: most part, it just kind of goes against my instinct
1:18:51
Speaker 1: as a hunter, I don't really want intrusion where um,
1:18:56
Speaker 1: you know, where I think I'm gonna get the shot
1:18:58
Speaker 1: I might The scenario where I will say that I
1:19:03
Speaker 1: do put them where I might hunt would be more
1:19:06
Speaker 1: than like a travel corridor, like a rut travel corridor
1:19:10
Speaker 1: during the rut, I think you can get away with
1:19:12
Speaker 1: more um you know, it's much more sensitive when you're
1:19:15
Speaker 1: hunting a book kind of more in his secure areas,
1:19:18
Speaker 1: betting area, you know, where he feels safe. Those are
1:19:21
Speaker 1: the areas I don't want cameras, And that's sort of
1:19:23
Speaker 1: that seems to be where a lot of my kills happen.
1:19:26
Speaker 1: But during the rut, like in a travel route, yeah,
1:19:29
Speaker 1: I would have one there for sure. And then a
1:19:31
Speaker 1: lot of times I'll put cameras in those spots and
1:19:33
Speaker 1: just let them soak all year and just keep it
1:19:36
Speaker 1: as like a learning tool. Is this the spot I
1:19:38
Speaker 1: want to invest some time in? Oh man, look, I'm
1:19:41
Speaker 1: going through these pictures. Late October was on fire. I
1:19:43
Speaker 1: do that a lot with my cameras. So it's more
1:19:46
Speaker 1: for information for years to come, you know, or you
1:19:50
Speaker 1: can eliminate that area, you know, off or whatever. So
1:19:53
Speaker 1: I won't say I don't. I never put them where
1:19:56
Speaker 1: I hunt, But those sensitive areas where I seem to
1:19:59
Speaker 1: kill my oldest year, I don't put cameras there. So,
1:20:02
Speaker 1: speaking of going in or staying out of these sensitive areas,
1:20:06
Speaker 1: what's your cut off period? Like when when does off
1:20:10
Speaker 1: season or maybe maybe it doesn't, maybe you've never had this.
1:20:13
Speaker 1: I don't know. I feel like everyone has a different
1:20:15
Speaker 1: time period when they say, Okay, I shouldn't be going
1:20:18
Speaker 1: back into the cover anymore. I shouldn't be hanging stands anymore,
1:20:21
Speaker 1: I shouldn't be fiddling with cameras anymore, because it's time
1:20:23
Speaker 1: to let it really lay, because hunting season is about
1:20:26
Speaker 1: to company. For me, it's always been at a minimum
1:20:29
Speaker 1: the end of August, like so, once summer's done, September
1:20:32
Speaker 1: is always like leave it untouched and then I'm super
1:20:35
Speaker 1: duper careful the whole rest of the year. But late August,
1:20:37
Speaker 1: you know, lots of times I'm finalizing food plots are
1:20:40
Speaker 1: run around last minute, trying to hang my last dand
1:20:42
Speaker 1: or something. Um when is that for you? Well, the
1:20:51
Speaker 1: the sensitive areas I'm talking about, you know, the when
1:20:55
Speaker 1: I'm looking for you know, like betting areas and areas
1:20:59
Speaker 1: where I'm gon try to ambush a book that's close
1:21:03
Speaker 1: to his like security zone, his secure area. I mean,
1:21:07
Speaker 1: that's all that's all done, like like in early spring,
1:21:12
Speaker 1: you know, when the snow mills. I try to get
1:21:13
Speaker 1: that all done, um, and then I don't really go
1:21:16
Speaker 1: back to those spots, Like I've tried to find all
1:21:19
Speaker 1: that information in a month period with a ton of scouting.
1:21:23
Speaker 1: I try to get that all squared away, and then
1:21:26
Speaker 1: and then I want to stay out of there. Um.
1:21:29
Speaker 1: The other spots, like you know, if I'm looking more
1:21:32
Speaker 1: towards like a rut, you know, a rut type setup
1:21:36
Speaker 1: or something like that, those are the ones that now
1:21:39
Speaker 1: tend to seem like, you know, we're busy. They kind
1:21:42
Speaker 1: of you know, you want to get them done in
1:21:43
Speaker 1: the spring, but now it's like the beginning of summer
1:21:45
Speaker 1: and they're still not done, you know, or there's still
1:21:48
Speaker 1: more spots to to to prep or to to scout out.
1:21:52
Speaker 1: Those are the spots that I don't mind pushing back
1:21:55
Speaker 1: a little bit because November is still a long ways
1:21:58
Speaker 1: away and it's not as sensitive as an area you know. Um,
1:22:03
Speaker 1: But even with those, you know, I'd say i'd say August. Yeah,
1:22:11
Speaker 1: by August, I don't want to be in there, you know,
1:22:13
Speaker 1: I just I I feel like I feel like during
1:22:19
Speaker 1: you know, one I don't know, I get when you
1:22:21
Speaker 1: get that late in the game. I feel like every
1:22:23
Speaker 1: time you go in, I just cringe, you know, it's
1:22:26
Speaker 1: I get that feeling. I'm just I'm just ruining my
1:22:29
Speaker 1: chances here. I'm decreasing my chances. So I like to
1:22:32
Speaker 1: hang back as much as possible and get things done,
1:22:37
Speaker 1: you know, quick and early. Um if I can, but
1:22:40
Speaker 1: you know, you just you can only do what you
1:22:42
Speaker 1: can do. Everybody's super busy, and I'm just like the
1:22:45
Speaker 1: rest of the guys. I find myself, you know, late summer,
1:22:47
Speaker 1: like oh crap, you know, trying to get these But
1:22:49
Speaker 1: I try to prioritize those sensitive areas, those areas where
1:22:53
Speaker 1: I get, you know, of my kills first early in
1:22:58
Speaker 1: the spring, get those done. Those are the more it's important.
1:23:00
Speaker 1: Those are what where those are my bread and butter,
1:23:04
Speaker 1: these other areas, because they're the they're gonna pick up
1:23:07
Speaker 1: later late October, you know, first two weeks in November.
1:23:11
Speaker 1: Those are the ones that I'm okay with getting to
1:23:13
Speaker 1: now or in July or early August, and we need
1:23:17
Speaker 1: to take one more break here to thank our partners
1:23:19
Speaker 1: at White Tailed Properties. And we're just checking out their
1:23:23
Speaker 1: YouTube channel here recently one of the many resources they
1:23:26
Speaker 1: have in addition to lots on their website at white
1:23:29
Speaker 1: Tail Properties dot com, but through YouTube channel, it's got
1:23:32
Speaker 1: this land beat video series and the most recent video
1:23:35
Speaker 1: is all about it. Well. It's really quick example about
1:23:38
Speaker 1: how to develop a bow hunting food plot and showing
1:23:42
Speaker 1: you a specific scenario where this land specialist is trying
1:23:44
Speaker 1: to map out how he's going to break up a
1:23:47
Speaker 1: larger field into two smaller sections using a food plot screen,
1:23:51
Speaker 1: which is something that I've really really recommended, something I
1:23:54
Speaker 1: use a lot. I just spent a whole lot of
1:23:56
Speaker 1: time plantings and food plat screens myself. So check out
1:23:59
Speaker 1: this video. It's on the White Properties YouTube channel. The
1:24:01
Speaker 1: video is called bow Hunting Food Plots, Get Deer within
1:24:04
Speaker 1: bow Range. Quick one helpful to see it and I
1:24:08
Speaker 1: think you can use it as an example of how
1:24:09
Speaker 1: you might be able to do this in your own
1:24:11
Speaker 1: area and how much, um, how is your prep changing
1:24:18
Speaker 1: at all with when I know you you've kind of
1:24:22
Speaker 1: use saddles throughout different periods of your hunting time period.
1:24:25
Speaker 1: But I think you're maybe using saddles a little more
1:24:27
Speaker 1: now than you were for sounds. Seems like you went
1:24:30
Speaker 1: a little bit of like you're using a bunch, and
1:24:31
Speaker 1: you went back to stands a little bit. Now maybe
1:24:33
Speaker 1: you're back to using saddles a little bit. That's kind
1:24:35
Speaker 1: of changing how I think about how I'm going to
1:24:37
Speaker 1: set up some of my farms, because I'm not gonna
1:24:38
Speaker 1: be hanging stands now. So I'm trying to say, Okay,
1:24:42
Speaker 1: I just want to prep a handful of trees. Want
1:24:44
Speaker 1: to prep a bunch of trees. Um, what does your
1:24:47
Speaker 1: preparation look like when you're considering a saddle? Yeah, Um,
1:24:53
Speaker 1: not much different, to be honest with you, because I
1:24:56
Speaker 1: was never the type that like hung stands and left them,
1:25:00
Speaker 1: um every area, every every area I hunt. Uh, other
1:25:06
Speaker 1: people hunt, so there's the competition out there. So I
1:25:09
Speaker 1: was always the guy, you know, bring my stand in,
1:25:12
Speaker 1: take my stand out, um with the saddle. So I'm
1:25:17
Speaker 1: kind of the same way. I do prep um a
1:25:21
Speaker 1: lot of spots. But what I noticed now is like
1:25:26
Speaker 1: is like as I get older and I guess my
1:25:28
Speaker 1: my style and everything kind of gets more dialed in.
1:25:31
Speaker 1: I prepare less. I prepare the spots where I really
1:25:36
Speaker 1: feel like I can kill something, not like, oh this
1:25:38
Speaker 1: might be a good spot, or oh I might be
1:25:40
Speaker 1: able to call a deer in here, or or if
1:25:43
Speaker 1: a buck you know, does come through here, I want
1:25:45
Speaker 1: to have a tree ready to go. A lot of
1:25:48
Speaker 1: those ones I don't do anymore. And if if those
1:25:51
Speaker 1: things pop up, I just do like a run and
1:25:53
Speaker 1: gun type set up. But I make sure, like you know,
1:25:57
Speaker 1: those those spots you come across that you're just like,
1:25:59
Speaker 1: oh man, this this is where the big bucks living. Okay,
1:26:03
Speaker 1: Now where can I hunt him? Where can I get in? Okay,
1:26:06
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be accessing here. You know, I'm gonna need
1:26:09
Speaker 1: this type of wind, Like how close can I get
1:26:11
Speaker 1: to this without him busting me? You know, he can't
1:26:15
Speaker 1: smell me, he can't see me, he can't hear me.
1:26:20
Speaker 1: How close can I get to this spot without without
1:26:23
Speaker 1: any of those things happening? So then what I do is,
1:26:26
Speaker 1: you know, I'll get in there, and I'll look out
1:26:30
Speaker 1: and I'll listen, and I'll try to figure out where
1:26:32
Speaker 1: that is. It might be if it's a little more
1:26:34
Speaker 1: rolling terrain. You know, I might be able to get
1:26:38
Speaker 1: just over a rise or something. If it's real thick,
1:26:40
Speaker 1: I might be able to get in you know, even closer. Um,
1:26:44
Speaker 1: it just depends, and then I gotta take into account
1:26:46
Speaker 1: how how noisy is it? You know this spot I
1:26:49
Speaker 1: can clear out a little bit, or is this spot
1:26:51
Speaker 1: that I'm you know, not allowed to do that? So
1:26:53
Speaker 1: all that, all that stuff comes into account. But I
1:26:55
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time in those locations because I
1:26:57
Speaker 1: want it to be perfect, you know what I mean.
1:27:00
Speaker 1: So you know those ones, Um, those those types of
1:27:07
Speaker 1: scenarios in that type of situation, those are the ones
1:27:10
Speaker 1: that I take the most time with. I prioritize and
1:27:12
Speaker 1: I get those done and out of the way. And
1:27:14
Speaker 1: are you actually getting to do you trim out shooting
1:27:18
Speaker 1: lanes and stuff on those spots? Like do you actually
1:27:20
Speaker 1: you have your perfect tree picked out? Do you put
1:27:22
Speaker 1: pigs in it or anything else? Or is it Hey,
1:27:24
Speaker 1: I'm still gonna bring my saddle and sticks in or something.
1:27:27
Speaker 1: I'll climb up. But what other prep do you do
1:27:30
Speaker 1: that point other than figuring it all out in your head? Yeah? Um,
1:27:35
Speaker 1: so if it's like uh, you know, if it's spot
1:27:38
Speaker 1: that I've been to for you know, an area I've
1:27:40
Speaker 1: been to for years and I kind of know that,
1:27:43
Speaker 1: you know, know the area, and I already have my
1:27:46
Speaker 1: spots kind of picked out that stuff. You know, it
1:27:49
Speaker 1: might be a scenario where I just kind of go in,
1:27:51
Speaker 1: climb up the tree and trim. Um. There's not too
1:27:55
Speaker 1: many spots anymore where I like leave stuff up like
1:27:58
Speaker 1: sticks or pegs or anything like that. I just just
1:28:02
Speaker 1: hasn't worked out for me. So most of that stuff
1:28:05
Speaker 1: I like to kind of be invisible. Um, those those
1:28:09
Speaker 1: spots where I share with other hunters, it's just like
1:28:11
Speaker 1: if I feel like if they know where you're at,
1:28:13
Speaker 1: they just tend to gravitate towards it. So I try
1:28:16
Speaker 1: to leave no trace. Um. But yeah, I'll go in
1:28:19
Speaker 1: those and I'll trim those spots. Um. You know, some
1:28:24
Speaker 1: of the spots, like when we were you know, when
1:28:25
Speaker 1: we're hunting like public land or something, we're not really
1:28:27
Speaker 1: allowed to do much trimming. So you know, those scenarios,
1:28:32
Speaker 1: you just try to work with the best you can.
1:28:34
Speaker 1: But a lot of times, yeah, if it's if it's
1:28:37
Speaker 1: a sensitive area though, if it's close to a um
1:28:40
Speaker 1: you know, in a like a secure zone where that
1:28:42
Speaker 1: buck I think like he'll feel safe. I'll try to
1:28:45
Speaker 1: do as minimal trimming as possible. I don't want to
1:28:48
Speaker 1: make it look like I was there, just you know,
1:28:50
Speaker 1: a few holes. Hopefully I don't have to do too much.
1:28:52
Speaker 1: Hopefully it's not so thick, like you can't get an arrow.
1:28:55
Speaker 1: If it's so thick you can't get an arrows anywhere,
1:28:57
Speaker 1: then I'm I'm getting on the edge of it. You know,
1:29:00
Speaker 1: I'm not going to go in there and create all
1:29:02
Speaker 1: these freaking highways of shooting lanes in there. It's just
1:29:04
Speaker 1: not it's not gonna work out for you. But I'll
1:29:06
Speaker 1: get on the edge of it. And usually if it's
1:29:08
Speaker 1: that thick, the deer will feel comfortable moving through that
1:29:12
Speaker 1: and you might be able to catch him on the edge.
1:29:13
Speaker 1: That's a lot of times I run into that scenario
1:29:16
Speaker 1: where it is so thick in there, it's like, man,
1:29:18
Speaker 1: how like, yeah, you could get up there, but you
1:29:21
Speaker 1: get up you know, fifteen feet, you look down, you
1:29:24
Speaker 1: can't get an arrow in anywhere. And that's where a
1:29:25
Speaker 1: lot of times where those big bucks like to be.
1:29:28
Speaker 1: So if you see that, I don't try to make
1:29:31
Speaker 1: that situation work for me, I get on the edge,
1:29:34
Speaker 1: the edge where I feel like he'll he'll make that mistake,
1:29:37
Speaker 1: and that you know that one day, when the timing
1:29:39
Speaker 1: and everything's perfect, he'll make it to that edge, you know.
1:29:43
Speaker 1: So that's that's kind of what I bank on. But
1:29:45
Speaker 1: then there's those other scenarios where you know, it's just
1:29:49
Speaker 1: the way you can come in on like on a
1:29:52
Speaker 1: low creek or something, and you got the water running
1:29:55
Speaker 1: and it's creating some noise or some windy conditions or something,
1:29:58
Speaker 1: or wet conditions, and you can get like I can
1:30:02
Speaker 1: almost get within bow range of these bucks. Sometimes it
1:30:05
Speaker 1: just depends on the on the terrain in the situation.
1:30:08
Speaker 1: There's some spots like that I've been in that you
1:30:12
Speaker 1: if you can get to that tree and you can
1:30:13
Speaker 1: get up perfectly, you can get up and you can
1:30:14
Speaker 1: actually like see the deer, you know, and that that
1:30:17
Speaker 1: doesn't happen often, but or you know that the that
1:30:20
Speaker 1: beds fifty yards away and it's like, oh man, he's
1:30:23
Speaker 1: not there, he's not there. I guess he's not in
1:30:25
Speaker 1: there tonight, and it's like ten minutes of shooting light,
1:30:27
Speaker 1: you see him stand up, stretch. I mean, that's such
1:30:29
Speaker 1: a cool feeling. UM. So it just it just depends everything.
1:30:34
Speaker 1: You know, Every scenario is a little different. So I
1:30:36
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time in those those areas, UM,
1:30:40
Speaker 1: and I really try to think about all of that.
1:30:43
Speaker 1: How is this going to play out? How could this
1:30:44
Speaker 1: play out? Where are the areas that I you know,
1:30:49
Speaker 1: if I if I come in this way, could he
1:30:50
Speaker 1: could he see me there? Like I'm down in the bed,
1:30:52
Speaker 1: like kneeling down? Could he see me there? You know?
1:30:55
Speaker 1: Then then I'll pick out an access and I might
1:30:58
Speaker 1: walk it, and I'll be like, is this noisy? Can
1:31:00
Speaker 1: I get away with this? Am I gonna need windy
1:31:02
Speaker 1: conditions to do this? Am I gonna need wet? There's
1:31:05
Speaker 1: spots where that I need wet or windy to get in,
1:31:09
Speaker 1: and and and I saved those spots. So if I
1:31:13
Speaker 1: can get thirty or forty of you know, those types
1:31:18
Speaker 1: of locations through you know, sufficient preparation and sufficient you
1:31:24
Speaker 1: know hard work, you know, trying to find those spots
1:31:27
Speaker 1: over years and years, and just keep building on those
1:31:30
Speaker 1: like if you if you, if you prepare to that level,
1:31:34
Speaker 1: how can you not have success? You know what I mean?
1:31:37
Speaker 1: How can I? How can I not? That's why I
1:31:39
Speaker 1: look at it. I'm not going to succeed on everyone.
1:31:42
Speaker 1: You know, that that bucks, that buck is not gonna
1:31:44
Speaker 1: show up. This buck's gonna get killed by another hunter.
1:31:47
Speaker 1: This buck is gonna come out, you know and get
1:31:50
Speaker 1: down wind to me somehow and win me. The wind's
1:31:52
Speaker 1: gonna switch and get me, you know, on this deer,
1:31:54
Speaker 1: but this one I'm gonna get, you know. And and
1:31:58
Speaker 1: then I feel like, you know, the more you kind
1:32:01
Speaker 1: of feel confident in in your system and the more
1:32:05
Speaker 1: experience you have all those like things that can go
1:32:10
Speaker 1: wrong and those scenarios that can go wrong, you almost
1:32:12
Speaker 1: you know, you can almost forstes see them and you
1:32:14
Speaker 1: can really minimize them, you know, Like so I can
1:32:17
Speaker 1: I can get into an area I can see because
1:32:19
Speaker 1: I've made the mistake before. I can see like this
1:32:23
Speaker 1: isn't gonna work. I need to back up. I need to.
1:32:25
Speaker 1: I need to I need to be out a little bit,
1:32:27
Speaker 1: or I need to be a little bit closer, like
1:32:28
Speaker 1: he's not gonna get to me here, or the wind's
1:32:30
Speaker 1: gonna swirl here. This is the perfect Just like you
1:32:33
Speaker 1: know that big that Big nine I killed a couple
1:32:36
Speaker 1: of years ago. I haunted that deer for two years
1:32:39
Speaker 1: in the area where all the signs said I needed
1:32:42
Speaker 1: to be. I had pictures of them there. Um there,
1:32:48
Speaker 1: there was several scrapes. It was. It was a nice
1:32:52
Speaker 1: open area with like tall tall weeds with oak trees
1:32:57
Speaker 1: as this this open area inside of a woods along
1:33:00
Speaker 1: a river bottom and in the surrounding cover was real thick.
1:33:03
Speaker 1: So it's just like, oh man, he's gonna feel great
1:33:05
Speaker 1: coming into this opening. It's perfect. But the wind sworld
1:33:09
Speaker 1: like crazy, and I hunted it and I got up there.
1:33:12
Speaker 1: I'm throwing milk weed and it's like the wind, you know,
1:33:14
Speaker 1: the wind's coming out of the north, but my wood
1:33:16
Speaker 1: milkweeds flying south, Like why maybe it's just switching today.
1:33:20
Speaker 1: So then I come back again. Then you know, a
1:33:22
Speaker 1: couple of weeks later or whatever, it's coming on the
1:33:24
Speaker 1: north boom, it's going back south. Why is it doing that?
1:33:27
Speaker 1: Like is that? What's wrong with this weather man? You
1:33:29
Speaker 1: know what I mean? Like this I have to say
1:33:31
Speaker 1: in north wind, it's not it took it took me
1:33:33
Speaker 1: a while. Like it's swirling here. I'm getting I'm getting
1:33:37
Speaker 1: a swirling effect and it's coming into that opening, shooting
1:33:39
Speaker 1: down and blowing right back. So what did I have
1:33:42
Speaker 1: to do? I had. I figured that out through trial
1:33:45
Speaker 1: and error, and I backed off a hundred yards and
1:33:49
Speaker 1: I ended up killing the deer the first set. And
1:33:51
Speaker 1: there was there was at least two times where that
1:33:54
Speaker 1: deer was coming in um on previous years to that opening,
1:34:00
Speaker 1: and he winded me. And I'm sure of it because
1:34:03
Speaker 1: it came from the same direction. I never did lay
1:34:06
Speaker 1: eyes on him, but he came from that same direction
1:34:09
Speaker 1: out of the bed where I killed him, and he
1:34:11
Speaker 1: came in and it was one of those you know
1:34:14
Speaker 1: when you hear a like a big giant deer like snort,
1:34:18
Speaker 1: it's like it's a different sound. And then you hear
1:34:20
Speaker 1: it bound away and it's like, okay, that's not a
1:34:23
Speaker 1: light deer, a single deer, heavy thump thump. Yeah, gosh,
1:34:29
Speaker 1: it happened to me twice, so and uh, you know,
1:34:32
Speaker 1: it was just that little adjustment. So now you know.
1:34:36
Speaker 1: Now I know if I if I find an opening
1:34:38
Speaker 1: in the woods like that, that looks awesome. I need
1:34:40
Speaker 1: to get up and test what the winds doing, because
1:34:43
Speaker 1: I've already made a mistake. I hunted a deer two
1:34:45
Speaker 1: years in a situation like this and it doesn't work.
1:34:49
Speaker 1: You know, you gotta find Sometimes it's you find that
1:34:52
Speaker 1: perfect tree and it's like, man, this is the tree
1:34:54
Speaker 1: and you're you know, you're checking and seeing what the
1:34:56
Speaker 1: wind's doing. It's just not working for you, and you
1:34:58
Speaker 1: might have to pick that that other tree that's not
1:35:01
Speaker 1: so perfect. But the winds perfect form, you know, so
1:35:06
Speaker 1: so what so so. A lot of what you're discussing there, though,
1:35:09
Speaker 1: comes from having year's worth of experience because you've scouted
1:35:13
Speaker 1: these places so extensively, you've hunted them, you know, some spots.
1:35:16
Speaker 1: What if I threw you into this scenario which a
1:35:19
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of people have been to find
1:35:21
Speaker 1: themselves in it sometime or another. Let's say it's you
1:35:25
Speaker 1: lost your previous places to hunt. You have no other
1:35:27
Speaker 1: places to hunt. You lost permission everywhere. There's no public
1:35:30
Speaker 1: land where you live. Let's say, um, but you get
1:35:33
Speaker 1: permission on a new farm. It's only spy your and hunt.
1:35:36
Speaker 1: Let's say, at least for the sake of this discussion,
1:35:39
Speaker 1: you get permission on a new eighty acre piece. You
1:35:42
Speaker 1: get permission on August one. What do you do if
1:35:46
Speaker 1: you have to start all of your preparation on August
1:35:48
Speaker 1: one for this property, and and and and walk me
1:35:53
Speaker 1: through your mindset, walk me through what you're doing from
1:35:55
Speaker 1: the moment, like you get permission, like your your house,
1:35:59
Speaker 1: you out the permission. Let's say you talked him before
1:36:02
Speaker 1: and then they give you a call and say yep, okay, yeah,
1:36:04
Speaker 1: you got it. Now you know, Okay, now for the
1:36:06
Speaker 1: next thirty days whatever I gotta get ready. Talking me
1:36:10
Speaker 1: through from the very beginning of what you're thinking about,
1:36:12
Speaker 1: what you're looking at, how you're breaking things down to
1:36:15
Speaker 1: then what you actually do once you get into the field,
1:36:18
Speaker 1: and and what you're doing for the next couple of weeks. Okay. Well,
1:36:21
Speaker 1: it's funny because, uh, in two thousand, two thousand and one,
1:36:26
Speaker 1: I had the same exact scenario, um in a farm
1:36:31
Speaker 1: not far from here. Actually I got permission, um it
1:36:36
Speaker 1: was it might even have been it was even later
1:36:39
Speaker 1: than that. It was like September, like mid September, and
1:36:43
Speaker 1: so I had gotten permission immediately got out my Uh
1:36:46
Speaker 1: you know, back then, we didn't have on X. It
1:36:48
Speaker 1: was just you know, like like paper map. I think
1:36:50
Speaker 1: I got down from like the city building in Jackson,
1:36:53
Speaker 1: but I looked at the aerial I just kind of
1:36:56
Speaker 1: got the lay of the land. And from from very
1:36:59
Speaker 1: early on, like I, I have always gravitated towards like
1:37:03
Speaker 1: I think early on, like I I got on nice
1:37:06
Speaker 1: deer because I always went towards the thickest stuff. It
1:37:08
Speaker 1: was just like, Okay, I saw a nice deer come
1:37:10
Speaker 1: out of the thickest stuff, Like I just it just
1:37:13
Speaker 1: made sense to me. Early so, you know, there was
1:37:16
Speaker 1: a um, a river bottom coming through this area, and
1:37:19
Speaker 1: then there was like these little points kind of coming
1:37:22
Speaker 1: off and this this tall mark marsh grass and these
1:37:25
Speaker 1: like these these lone trees kind of like along the
1:37:28
Speaker 1: river bottom, and it's like that was the thickest area.
1:37:30
Speaker 1: Everything else it was like open hardwoods or field. So
1:37:33
Speaker 1: it's just gravitated towards that spot. So I went out
1:37:35
Speaker 1: there just scouting, and I walked into the field that
1:37:40
Speaker 1: was butted up. Right next to that was standing corn,
1:37:43
Speaker 1: and I walked around the I was just walking the
1:37:46
Speaker 1: perimeter of the corn. And then right as I was
1:37:48
Speaker 1: approaching that thick area right off the corn field where
1:37:51
Speaker 1: there was all that marsh grass, and then you go
1:37:54
Speaker 1: a little further and there's all these lone trees along
1:37:56
Speaker 1: this river bottom like in thick tall marsh grass. There's
1:38:01
Speaker 1: there's a couple of sets of big buck tracks coming
1:38:04
Speaker 1: out of that stuff into the standing corner, and I'm like, whoa.
1:38:07
Speaker 1: You know, so I didn't even bother walking into that stuff,
1:38:12
Speaker 1: like it's seasons coming up in like a week, right,
1:38:15
Speaker 1: a week or two. So what I did is I
1:38:17
Speaker 1: backed up and I found the closest tree that I
1:38:20
Speaker 1: could get to where they were entering that field. And
1:38:24
Speaker 1: you know, you know, back then, it was just like
1:38:26
Speaker 1: again like I always felt, thick cover to thick cover
1:38:30
Speaker 1: is good standing corners thick cover, Like I felt like,
1:38:33
Speaker 1: you know, they're coming through here. I feel like I
1:38:35
Speaker 1: got a chance. You know, there's really no other option
1:38:37
Speaker 1: once you get off the corn field, you know, you
1:38:39
Speaker 1: have to get like a ground set up or something.
1:38:41
Speaker 1: So I found the closest tree that I could get
1:38:42
Speaker 1: to that transition, and I sat on October one, and
1:38:48
Speaker 1: I had two at that time, the two biggest Michigan
1:38:52
Speaker 1: Bucks I've ever seen come out together in a boxer group.
1:38:55
Speaker 1: I had my I had my choice between the two,
1:38:58
Speaker 1: both of them over a hundred fifty in yep and
1:39:01
Speaker 1: where exactly so uh well, it was funny is where Uh,
1:39:09
Speaker 1: it was where your buddy Andy helped me with the dogs.
1:39:12
Speaker 1: That yep, that that other books. So um but anyway, UM,
1:39:19
Speaker 1: so the two bucks come out. One was substantially wider
1:39:24
Speaker 1: than the others, like nineteen inches wide. They're both kind
1:39:26
Speaker 1: of similar caliber. I end up shooting the wider one.
1:39:29
Speaker 1: But going back to I guess, going back to your question,
1:39:31
Speaker 1: if I got permission in August, I feel like, August,
1:39:36
Speaker 1: you know, if I wanted to really learn the property,
1:39:41
Speaker 1: I might do like a quick burn through everything. August,
1:39:44
Speaker 1: I think I still think you're okay if you're If
1:39:46
Speaker 1: it was you know, September, September, I think I would
1:39:53
Speaker 1: play it different. But August, I feel like that's, you know,
1:39:56
Speaker 1: early enough that I would probably quickly get a quick
1:39:58
Speaker 1: burn through. I definitely look at the maps and pick
1:40:03
Speaker 1: out like, Okay, this looks like it could be good
1:40:05
Speaker 1: bedding here. Okay, you know we've got a water away here,
1:40:08
Speaker 1: there's some water, there's a nice little pond or you know,
1:40:11
Speaker 1: a drinking hole here. Um, I might do a quick
1:40:14
Speaker 1: burn through the thickest you know areas, just the farm
1:40:17
Speaker 1: in general, and get a quick and so when you stay,
1:40:19
Speaker 1: do a burn through of it. So you mentioned you're
1:40:21
Speaker 1: gonna look at the maps, find a couple of like
1:40:23
Speaker 1: interesting areas, and then when you do this quote unquote
1:40:26
Speaker 1: burn through. Are you saying you're literally gonna like grid
1:40:28
Speaker 1: it or you just gonna go hit like these four
1:40:30
Speaker 1: or five spots of most interest and like I'm actually
1:40:33
Speaker 1: interested in, Like how much do you actually walk? Yeah,
1:40:38
Speaker 1: I would h how focuses that walk? Yeah, I would
1:40:41
Speaker 1: depend on the farm, but I would I would focus
1:40:44
Speaker 1: on the areas of interest. I'm not gonna grid the
1:40:46
Speaker 1: whole farm necessarily. Um. You know, say your typical Michigan farm.
1:40:51
Speaker 1: You know it's gonna have some field, probably some woods,
1:40:53
Speaker 1: maybe some river bottom or marsh or whatever. I'm gonna
1:40:56
Speaker 1: focus on the areas that I know are gonna typically
1:41:00
Speaker 1: hold mature deer and and and most guys nowadays, I think,
1:41:04
Speaker 1: can look at a map and kind of pinpoint some
1:41:06
Speaker 1: of those areas. Um. But for me, even though I'm
1:41:11
Speaker 1: I'm decent at doing that with a map, I'm I'm
1:41:14
Speaker 1: much better getting boots on the ground because when I
1:41:16
Speaker 1: get boots on the ground, there's just things you miss.
1:41:18
Speaker 1: You know, you can get into a good area from
1:41:22
Speaker 1: a map, but once I get on the ground. That's
1:41:25
Speaker 1: when I really kind of see it, and I could
1:41:27
Speaker 1: see how everything kind of plays out in my mind
1:41:29
Speaker 1: and what the deer doing and what what's the caliber
1:41:33
Speaker 1: deer in here? Does this? Does this place hold a
1:41:36
Speaker 1: deer that can get to four or five years old?
1:41:39
Speaker 1: You know that that that whole the whole picture is
1:41:43
Speaker 1: in front of you. And then you know, depending on
1:41:46
Speaker 1: you know, what you see, just kind of you can
1:41:48
Speaker 1: figure things out. But I wouldn't be afraid if it's
1:41:51
Speaker 1: an August kind of doing a speed scout, I guess,
1:41:54
Speaker 1: like through that area, just verifying some some deer sign. Okay, yeah,
1:42:00
Speaker 1: this does look thick, this looks good. Um, you know,
1:42:03
Speaker 1: maybe even you know, if I, if I it was
1:42:06
Speaker 1: one of those situations where I could like hang stands
1:42:09
Speaker 1: or something. I might throw up some stands or or whatever.
1:42:12
Speaker 1: Talking about your average guy that you know might be
1:42:14
Speaker 1: in this situation, um, and just try to get it
1:42:17
Speaker 1: all done like boom really quick and then get out.
1:42:21
Speaker 1: It's not something I would do like, oh, okay, let's
1:42:23
Speaker 1: go scalt it sweet. Let's come back next weekend and
1:42:26
Speaker 1: hang our ladder stands. Cool next week, let's come out
1:42:30
Speaker 1: and you know put our mineral licks in awesome, you
1:42:32
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like that's that's what's gonna burn you.
1:42:35
Speaker 1: But um, especially like that time of year, like um
1:42:41
Speaker 1: bucks are much more laid back, and they're much more
1:42:44
Speaker 1: laid back when they're in the group too. So you
1:42:46
Speaker 1: you you can get away with you know, going through summer.
1:42:50
Speaker 1: Typically there's a lot of activity anyway, um, you know,
1:42:54
Speaker 1: with humans. So I wouldn't be terrified to do that.
1:42:57
Speaker 1: It wouldn't be my favorite thing. I'd still get that cringe,
1:43:00
Speaker 1: but I would do what I needed to do to
1:43:03
Speaker 1: get it done, um very quickly, and then just stay out. Now,
1:43:09
Speaker 1: if we're talking say mid September, like the time frame
1:43:12
Speaker 1: I found myself in, then I'm gonna scout more the edges.
1:43:16
Speaker 1: I'm not going to go into that thick stuff. Now.
1:43:18
Speaker 1: I do exactly what I did that other firm. I'd
1:43:21
Speaker 1: walk the field edges. Okay, Now maybe there's some open woods, Okay,
1:43:25
Speaker 1: I feel comfortable walking in open woods. Okay, now it's
1:43:28
Speaker 1: starting to get thick. Okay, I'm gonna look at my map.
1:43:30
Speaker 1: There's a point here that goes out into this marsh.
1:43:34
Speaker 1: That's definitely gonna be a betting area. So I'm not
1:43:36
Speaker 1: even gonna mess with it. I'm gonna assume that is
1:43:39
Speaker 1: what it looks like, you know. Or here's this island here,
1:43:42
Speaker 1: you know, in this in this marsh with all these
1:43:45
Speaker 1: you know, these kind of like brushy trees, that looks
1:43:48
Speaker 1: like a good betting area. I'm not even gonna verify it.
1:43:51
Speaker 1: It's on the map there, it is. That's pretty straightforward.
1:43:54
Speaker 1: Just kind of walk the edges and walk the fringes,
1:43:57
Speaker 1: and then you know, when I find something in that
1:44:01
Speaker 1: looks like it might be a good set up, it
1:44:03
Speaker 1: might be something I would prep or it might be
1:44:05
Speaker 1: something like, okay, you know, we're a little too close,
1:44:07
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do a run and gun, and I'm gonna
1:44:09
Speaker 1: I'm gonna set it up the first time I hunted,
1:44:12
Speaker 1: you know, and then and then kind of go from there,
1:44:15
Speaker 1: like I've done that in the past two It's it's
1:44:16
Speaker 1: more like a kind of less aggressive. You're learning the property,
1:44:21
Speaker 1: you're just not learning it intimately, and you're gonna learn
1:44:24
Speaker 1: it intimately throughout the season. Does that make sense? That
1:44:26
Speaker 1: makes a lot of sense. I get that. So what
1:44:30
Speaker 1: about the So we we've talked about preparing our archery situation.
1:44:35
Speaker 1: We've talked about preparing actually learning a property and getting
1:44:38
Speaker 1: a hunting plan in place. What else are you prepping
1:44:42
Speaker 1: or taken care of or what kind of rotune do
1:44:44
Speaker 1: you have around the final days before your hunting season starts.
1:44:49
Speaker 1: Maybe it's that last week or the last night or
1:44:51
Speaker 1: whatever it might be for you, What are those things
1:44:53
Speaker 1: that you're doing at the very end, just before it's
1:44:56
Speaker 1: go time. Yeah, those last two weeks, those are are
1:45:00
Speaker 1: really really key for me. That's when I'm trying to
1:45:03
Speaker 1: find the buck that I'm gonna try to kill opening day,
1:45:08
Speaker 1: and there's always one that I'm gonna try to kill
1:45:11
Speaker 1: opening day. And you know, with with all this preparation
1:45:17
Speaker 1: and you know, all the scouting, you kind of narrow down,
1:45:22
Speaker 1: you know, to certain areas that you know, I look for,
1:45:26
Speaker 1: you know, areas that always hold good deer. And then
1:45:31
Speaker 1: I'm also looking for deer that I know that I
1:45:33
Speaker 1: made it and there are locations and I'm also looking
1:45:36
Speaker 1: for deer that I found through scouting. So now I'm
1:45:38
Speaker 1: trying to find a book that's showing some sort of
1:45:41
Speaker 1: weakness coming up to those last couple of days. And
1:45:45
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to be too intrusive. I'm not going
1:45:47
Speaker 1: to go in there and necessarily check a camera. I
1:45:50
Speaker 1: might if the conditions, um, you know, are good. If
1:45:54
Speaker 1: you get a good rain or something and my camera's
1:45:56
Speaker 1: off of where you know, I'm I might do that.
1:45:58
Speaker 1: I might go in there and see like, oh man,
1:46:00
Speaker 1: here's a picture of him an eight half an hour
1:46:02
Speaker 1: before are after dark. Okay. Now I feel I feel confident,
1:46:06
Speaker 1: like I know where he's at because I've scouted. I
1:46:09
Speaker 1: know where the beds are. I feel like I can
1:46:11
Speaker 1: get in. I could run and gun, or maybe I
1:46:14
Speaker 1: already have a tree prep or something, but I feel
1:46:16
Speaker 1: like I can, I can slip in there the conditions
1:46:19
Speaker 1: are right. Um. I usually make some sort of move
1:46:24
Speaker 1: on a deer that first day of the season, and
1:46:26
Speaker 1: and and some of them are like it's clear, like okay,
1:46:29
Speaker 1: this this deer is moving. You know, he's he's he's
1:46:33
Speaker 1: in the area, he's living here. Um, And it feels
1:46:37
Speaker 1: more of like a I won't say a sure thing,
1:46:39
Speaker 1: but like a real confidence is really high. And then
1:46:42
Speaker 1: there's other ones where like, okay, he was here, you
1:46:45
Speaker 1: know I glassed him coming into this field a few
1:46:48
Speaker 1: weeks ago or maybe a week ago, and I haven't
1:46:51
Speaker 1: seen him since I checked the cameras not on there,
1:46:53
Speaker 1: but that might be my best lead. And I've learned
1:46:56
Speaker 1: to never just just because you don't they're not on
1:47:00
Speaker 1: amer or you don't see them coming in the field anymore,
1:47:02
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean they're not there. There's some shifting around
1:47:05
Speaker 1: that goes in that late summer. You know, you'll have
1:47:07
Speaker 1: some deer that stay, some deer that leave, and you
1:47:10
Speaker 1: won't see him again until like December, and then there's
1:47:13
Speaker 1: those those some deer that that come in. But that's
1:47:15
Speaker 1: why that that last week week and a half is
1:47:18
Speaker 1: a really key because by that time they're usually there.
1:47:22
Speaker 1: And so I'm just trying to find that one, that
1:47:26
Speaker 1: one scenario where it looks like, you know, it looks
1:47:30
Speaker 1: like I can get it early season kill and it's
1:47:31
Speaker 1: it's my my favorite time. Um and I've killed quite
1:47:35
Speaker 1: a few deer there. But it's by no means is
1:47:38
Speaker 1: it like you know a thing. It's just that's my
1:47:42
Speaker 1: goal for opening day. I want to be on a buck.
1:47:45
Speaker 1: I want to know where he's at. I want to
1:47:46
Speaker 1: feel I have a real high confidence set up, and
1:47:49
Speaker 1: I feel like if I prepare enough and I you
1:47:52
Speaker 1: know kind of you know, spread my scouting enough and
1:47:56
Speaker 1: and and locate, try to locate enough big deer that
1:48:01
Speaker 1: I can find one or maybe even two that are
1:48:04
Speaker 1: showing some sort of weakness or where I feel like
1:48:07
Speaker 1: I got a chance there. So at that point, like
1:48:10
Speaker 1: so you you've done, You've had your wide net cast
1:48:13
Speaker 1: throughout the summer, and then sometime in late summer early fall,
1:48:17
Speaker 1: you're kind of saying, Okay, here's my five mature bucks,
1:48:20
Speaker 1: or there's ten mature bucks, there's three mature bucks or whatever.
1:48:23
Speaker 1: And then now you're getting to that last week or
1:48:25
Speaker 1: two before the season, do you do you then look
1:48:31
Speaker 1: at the information you have so far and then say, okay,
1:48:33
Speaker 1: all of these five bucks on the various properties that
1:48:36
Speaker 1: can hunt, I think buck number one is going to
1:48:40
Speaker 1: give me the very best chance for the opening night kill.
1:48:42
Speaker 1: And then do you zoom in all of your focus
1:48:45
Speaker 1: just on that one deer then and spend the last
1:48:46
Speaker 1: two weeks doing some glassing they're or doing a couple
1:48:50
Speaker 1: of camera polls or something like, do you focus in
1:48:53
Speaker 1: on that one deer or you still looking at everything
1:48:55
Speaker 1: because you want because your number one October one buck
1:48:59
Speaker 1: might change. Yeah, it usually things start playing out where
1:49:03
Speaker 1: like you know, deer start to spurt, like you know,
1:49:06
Speaker 1: you're you're seeing this buck coming out and you know
1:49:09
Speaker 1: it's like mid September and all of a sudden, like okay,
1:49:11
Speaker 1: he's gone, you know, so he's kind of things start
1:49:15
Speaker 1: falling off, like things start playing out where it just
1:49:18
Speaker 1: kind of narrows him down. And um, you know, there's
1:49:22
Speaker 1: just some some deer. And and to be honest with you,
1:49:25
Speaker 1: a lot of spots I hunt aren't great for early season, um,
1:49:31
Speaker 1: you know, holding a buck early season, but there are
1:49:35
Speaker 1: some I do have some that every year hold a
1:49:38
Speaker 1: good buck. Um, So it's you know, I tend to
1:49:41
Speaker 1: focus on those areas, but I'm also trying to always
1:49:43
Speaker 1: find new areas that are like that. And there's some
1:49:45
Speaker 1: areas that are just literally that first week it is
1:49:47
Speaker 1: like your chance. And if you don't get it done,
1:49:49
Speaker 1: then it's not one of those spots you want to
1:49:51
Speaker 1: wait till the rut because they're gone. The crops come
1:49:53
Speaker 1: out and there's nothing there anymore. It just doesn't it
1:49:56
Speaker 1: doesn't have enough security cover to the deer to feel
1:50:00
Speaker 1: safe and confident there, so they're gone. It's more of
1:50:03
Speaker 1: like a late summer early fall thing. So it's real
1:50:07
Speaker 1: important to recognize that and then capitalize on those spots,
1:50:12
Speaker 1: you know, when they're they're most effective. So I do
1:50:15
Speaker 1: have a handful of areas like that, and I'm constantly
1:50:17
Speaker 1: adding some. So yeah, I'm I'm zeroing in on those.
1:50:22
Speaker 1: Um just this year, there's a there's a new area that, uh,
1:50:26
Speaker 1: it looks like it could just just going by experience,
1:50:30
Speaker 1: it looked like it could be decent early. There's some
1:50:33
Speaker 1: there's some like apple trees on there and they hold
1:50:36
Speaker 1: some water and I'm thinking it might be a good
1:50:38
Speaker 1: thick cover. It could be a really good area for
1:50:40
Speaker 1: a mature deer early season. So there's another spot for
1:50:44
Speaker 1: me to kind of keep tabs on. But it things
1:50:46
Speaker 1: tend to play out, and you kind of your focus
1:50:48
Speaker 1: tends to narrow naturally to like, Okay, this dear is
1:50:51
Speaker 1: doing this, you know, and he's showing up or he's
1:50:55
Speaker 1: showing some regularity, or last year he was you know
1:50:58
Speaker 1: regularly during this time years. So it all kind of,
1:51:02
Speaker 1: you know, it all comes into play. Just tend to
1:51:05
Speaker 1: narrow down. I'm not necessarily just because there's a big giant,
1:51:09
Speaker 1: you know here in Velvet that I'm just gonna be
1:51:13
Speaker 1: ultra focused on that deer. I won't do that because
1:51:16
Speaker 1: you know there's fifty fifty chance that he might go
1:51:19
Speaker 1: somewhere else like that that buck that you helped me track.
1:51:22
Speaker 1: You know, that deer was never there early season. You know,
1:51:26
Speaker 1: he never was. He was. In fact, I've told you this.
1:51:29
Speaker 1: The play was to kill him late season. That's when
1:51:32
Speaker 1: he always came. And so I wasn't even after that deer.
1:51:36
Speaker 1: I was there after a big wide ten point and um,
1:51:41
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, I mean, who knows. You don't call
1:51:43
Speaker 1: it luck, you know, fate whatever, he showed up you know,
1:51:47
Speaker 1: early season. So, um, that's a heck of a buck too. Yeah.
1:51:52
Speaker 1: I wanted to bring him. Yeah, but you know, so
1:51:57
Speaker 1: you know, I tend to just you usually ends up
1:52:00
Speaker 1: being like one or two bucks, and it's Michigan. I mean,
1:52:03
Speaker 1: sometimes it's one. Sometimes it's I've had I've had years
1:52:07
Speaker 1: where I've literally found like two shooters period and then
1:52:12
Speaker 1: other years where it's been like seven or eight, you know,
1:52:15
Speaker 1: and it's just it kind of depends on the year.
1:52:17
Speaker 1: And you know, if it's been a good growing season,
1:52:21
Speaker 1: you know, what what deer have been killed? What haven't.
1:52:24
Speaker 1: You know. It's just you know, like a few years ago,
1:52:27
Speaker 1: every deer that I had on camera that was three
1:52:30
Speaker 1: and a half or older, which was or that I
1:52:34
Speaker 1: had seen which was a lot. There was a lot
1:52:36
Speaker 1: for Michigan with the most I've ever seen. Every single
1:52:38
Speaker 1: one except one was verified killed. Yeah, so we went
1:52:42
Speaker 1: into that next season like, Okay, there's not gonna be
1:52:44
Speaker 1: much around, you know, But then you know, then there's
1:52:47
Speaker 1: years it's like you know, you're you're glass in and
1:52:49
Speaker 1: there's like, man, there's some good bucks there and you
1:52:51
Speaker 1: you know, big tracks here. When I'm scouting, it's like
1:52:54
Speaker 1: then you pull your card and there's a couple of
1:52:56
Speaker 1: shooters you know at this place, in this place, It's like, wow,
1:52:58
Speaker 1: there's a lot of nice deer around, and they tend
1:53:01
Speaker 1: you know, they tend falling off. Pressure increases here, they disappear.
1:53:05
Speaker 1: This deer gets posted, this deer gets killed. You know,
1:53:07
Speaker 1: you know, things happen, it ends up narrowing down, but
1:53:12
Speaker 1: you know, it just kind of depends. But usually that
1:53:14
Speaker 1: that last week I'm usually focused on like one, maybe two, two. Dear,
1:53:19
Speaker 1: you know, what are you doing in those final days
1:53:23
Speaker 1: or weeks As far as preparing other stuff. So other
1:53:26
Speaker 1: than you found your buck or bucks that you're gonna
1:53:28
Speaker 1: target that first night, do you do anything to prep
1:53:31
Speaker 1: your gear? Do you do anything to prepare your your mind?
1:53:34
Speaker 1: I don't know, uh, any any process stuff that's happening
1:53:38
Speaker 1: at home before the season actually begins. Um. I mean
1:53:42
Speaker 1: the gear stuff is just kind of as I can
1:53:45
Speaker 1: do it throughout the year, like here and there. I
1:53:47
Speaker 1: don't I don't necessarily designate a certain time for that. Um.
1:53:52
Speaker 1: You know, I try to get all my equipment quiet.
1:53:55
Speaker 1: I like our real reliable system, so like in my pack,
1:53:58
Speaker 1: you know, everything is always wear you know, has its
1:54:01
Speaker 1: own little pocket or station and it's just everything's where
1:54:05
Speaker 1: I needed to be. I don't want to be fumbling
1:54:07
Speaker 1: around with stuff. You know, what was it that you
1:54:10
Speaker 1: forgot on our Nebraska hunt? Oh yeah, the range that
1:54:13
Speaker 1: was never done that before ever. Yeah, the system got
1:54:18
Speaker 1: messed up with a trip and that came and you
1:54:22
Speaker 1: know it was like I remember too, I remember gathering
1:54:25
Speaker 1: stuff out of the back of your car and it
1:54:26
Speaker 1: was like I had a bag over here, my my
1:54:29
Speaker 1: my backpack over here, and I was like, where where
1:54:31
Speaker 1: is that? Where is everything? Like this is completely messed up,
1:54:35
Speaker 1: and uh, I was wearing a vinyl harness, and I
1:54:41
Speaker 1: had my range finder clipped onto my vinyl harness, and
1:54:44
Speaker 1: I grabbed everything hopped out of your truck, um, and
1:54:50
Speaker 1: didn't grab the vinyal harness. So I didn't have my
1:54:52
Speaker 1: binoculars or that. And and I started walking and I
1:54:56
Speaker 1: get up that first hill and I'm like, oh, you know,
1:54:59
Speaker 1: like grabbing chest. And I turn around and I see
1:55:01
Speaker 1: your car, like your truck going over the hill like
1:55:04
Speaker 1: you know. So I was just like, yeah, I do Uh,
1:55:08
Speaker 1: nothing good was gonna happen that night. But sorry. Back
1:55:11
Speaker 1: to what you're saying about your system. Yeah, the equipment stuff,
1:55:14
Speaker 1: you know, again, just like with everything else, I'm trying
1:55:18
Speaker 1: to improve improve the system. I'm trying to find gear
1:55:22
Speaker 1: that's quieter, gear that's makes you know, it makes things lighter,
1:55:25
Speaker 1: less bulky, it makes me more effective in the woods,
1:55:29
Speaker 1: and um, you know, uh I I I like the
1:55:35
Speaker 1: system I have, so I guess I haven't been changing
1:55:38
Speaker 1: too much. You know. I used to use a lone
1:55:40
Speaker 1: wolf and sticks, which is great. I still have them.
1:55:44
Speaker 1: It's a really nice like mobile type set up, which
1:55:47
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of my hunting is and you know,
1:55:51
Speaker 1: I have gravitated more towards like the tree saddle. Um,
1:55:54
Speaker 1: I had one a long time ago. A Trophy line
1:55:57
Speaker 1: used it for two seasons, killed deer out of it,
1:55:59
Speaker 1: and I'll album it just wasn't real comfortable for me,
1:56:02
Speaker 1: and when I started having my back issues and stuff,
1:56:04
Speaker 1: I just got away from it. Just wasn't comfortable. I
1:56:07
Speaker 1: felt fidgety. There was one hunt in Ohio that I
1:56:10
Speaker 1: was like, I was gonna sit till noon. I was,
1:56:13
Speaker 1: I had till noon to hunt. I was gonna sit
1:56:15
Speaker 1: till noon. It was like November four, and it got
1:56:17
Speaker 1: to ten o'clock and I couldn't stand the pain anymore
1:56:20
Speaker 1: in my hips, and I got down and I was like,
1:56:22
Speaker 1: I can't, I can't. I can't risk not sitting ten
1:56:27
Speaker 1: to twelve during the rut when I have that time
1:56:29
Speaker 1: of elt. So then I went back to the tree stand,
1:56:32
Speaker 1: which you know, definitely wasn't comfortable, but at least I
1:56:35
Speaker 1: could stand, sit, stand, sit, just kind of keep things loose.
1:56:40
Speaker 1: And then, um, you know, and then you know, in
1:56:42
Speaker 1: the past couple of years, all these you know, new
1:56:44
Speaker 1: saddles have come out and they're so much better than
1:56:47
Speaker 1: what they were you know, and I was able to
1:56:50
Speaker 1: tryal one that I really liked, you know, so light, um,
1:56:55
Speaker 1: no bulk to it, and they out with a little backband,
1:57:01
Speaker 1: so I'm able to find really good comfort in it
1:57:03
Speaker 1: too now, so that I kind of got into that
1:57:06
Speaker 1: like mid last season, and then I used that exclusively
1:57:10
Speaker 1: and then that's gonna be my go to this year too.
1:57:12
Speaker 1: It's just it's they're they've made just so much improvements
1:57:15
Speaker 1: on it, so that's a big gear change, but everything
1:57:18
Speaker 1: else is just about getting it quiet, um you know. Um,
1:57:23
Speaker 1: you know, I'm happy with like you know, my clothes
1:57:26
Speaker 1: and boots and that sort of thing. Like sometimes I'll
1:57:28
Speaker 1: try like new boots and that sort of thing, but
1:57:30
Speaker 1: I don't I don't spend a whole lot of energy
1:57:31
Speaker 1: on that. Like everything I have is like pretty freaking quiet.
1:57:34
Speaker 1: And what I like about, you know, having quiet stuff
1:57:37
Speaker 1: and like the saddle with less bulk and everything's like
1:57:40
Speaker 1: I love. I like that I can go into the woods,
1:57:43
Speaker 1: run and gun in a new area and I'm perfectly
1:57:50
Speaker 1: capable and and ready to climb up a tree and
1:57:54
Speaker 1: hunt twenty five ft or I can hunker down on
1:57:57
Speaker 1: the ground and I don't have a stand or or
1:58:00
Speaker 1: anything noisy to worry about. And if I see a
1:58:03
Speaker 1: buck bedded with a dough out there, I can I
1:58:05
Speaker 1: can crawl and stock with him. I mean, I have
1:58:07
Speaker 1: everything I need to do that, Like if I had
1:58:09
Speaker 1: a climbing tree stand or staying with sticks that weighs
1:58:12
Speaker 1: twenty four pounds, you know what I mean. I don't know,
1:58:15
Speaker 1: I just it just really fits my style. So that's
1:58:18
Speaker 1: really been the only big gear change. But I'm I'm
1:58:21
Speaker 1: always trying to like just kind of dial things in
1:58:23
Speaker 1: and just get things quieter, eliminate anything that could go wrong,
1:58:28
Speaker 1: and just have everything really reliable. Like if I want
1:58:30
Speaker 1: my hand saw a boom, I know right where it's at.
1:58:33
Speaker 1: If I want you know, my bottle of water boom,
1:58:35
Speaker 1: I know where it's at. If I want my wind
1:58:36
Speaker 1: checker boom, I know it's in this pocket. Like I
1:58:39
Speaker 1: don't want to be like, you know, digging around and
1:58:41
Speaker 1: my you know, causing extra moving up in the tree stand.
1:58:43
Speaker 1: I want everything to be right where I need it,
1:58:45
Speaker 1: even like the way I hang my bow and everything
1:58:48
Speaker 1: is just so dialed in, it's always the same, you
1:58:50
Speaker 1: know what I mean. I want everything the same. This
1:58:52
Speaker 1: goes right back to what we talked about in a
1:58:54
Speaker 1: lot of these other episodes like this the power and
1:58:58
Speaker 1: like having the set routines and habits because it takes
1:59:02
Speaker 1: it keeps you from having to spend precious energy on
1:59:06
Speaker 1: all these things that just have to get done and
1:59:08
Speaker 1: get done, done, done. If you have a system in
1:59:10
Speaker 1: place that frees your mind up to focus on the
1:59:13
Speaker 1: stuff that you really need to focus on, like how
1:59:15
Speaker 1: to adapt to the changing variables or something brand new
1:59:19
Speaker 1: happens you got fair where's the buck going to be?
1:59:20
Speaker 1: Or how's my playing going to change? Or where should
1:59:22
Speaker 1: be hunting. That kind of stuff is what your brain
1:59:24
Speaker 1: power should be focused on versus twenty different little decisions
1:59:28
Speaker 1: about where to hang my boat and what's going to
1:59:30
Speaker 1: be in my backpack and where's my gear going to
1:59:33
Speaker 1: be in the morning when I wake up to go
1:59:34
Speaker 1: to the truck. Like all having all those things lined
1:59:36
Speaker 1: out the way you do, I think it's just a
1:59:38
Speaker 1: perfect way to eliminate air, find those little inches, let
1:59:42
Speaker 1: you spend your energy and time on the big stuff
1:59:44
Speaker 1: that you know that you have that skill to do,
1:59:47
Speaker 1: and you now get the mental space to do it too. Yeah,
1:59:50
Speaker 1: there's somebody I don't remember who it was, but I
1:59:54
Speaker 1: don't know if I read it in a book or
1:59:55
Speaker 1: online or something, but it was something that I read
1:59:58
Speaker 1: a few years ago, and it said something like, would
2:00:03
Speaker 1: you have a choice to to choose the difficult thing
2:00:05
Speaker 1: or the easy thing? I always choose the difficult thing.
2:00:08
Speaker 1: So I always try to do that now. So like
2:00:13
Speaker 1: if there's a you know, if there's a tree stand
2:00:15
Speaker 1: that's a mile away or this one here that's four
2:00:19
Speaker 1: yards away, I'm gonna choose the one that's a mile away.
2:00:22
Speaker 1: Or you know, like you said, you wake up in
2:00:24
Speaker 1: the morning and you don't feel like going Like I
2:00:27
Speaker 1: have those morning to mornings too. I usually get up
2:00:30
Speaker 1: and go to the gym. I actually do enjoy doing that,
2:00:33
Speaker 1: but like sometimes you just don't feel like doing it.
2:00:35
Speaker 1: But then I'll like, okay, I don't feel like doing it,
2:00:37
Speaker 1: I'm doing it. And now it's just like now it's
2:00:41
Speaker 1: just I always just choose the harder thing, you know
2:00:44
Speaker 1: what I mean. So now it's like it's just kind
2:00:46
Speaker 1: of the way I live. Um, I mean, I'm sure
2:00:49
Speaker 1: I choose the easiest things sometimes, but you know, I
2:00:51
Speaker 1: guess when it comes to this type of stuff, and like,
2:00:54
Speaker 1: you know, being the best I can be in improving
2:00:58
Speaker 1: and hunting and trying to stay in shape and anything
2:01:00
Speaker 1: like that. It's just like, okay, if it's if it's
2:01:03
Speaker 1: the harder thing, that's what I want to do. It's
2:01:05
Speaker 1: usually the best choice. It's just hard to do it. Yeah.
2:01:09
Speaker 1: What and this is where I want to leave things.
2:01:13
Speaker 1: What is going through your mind the last night before
2:01:17
Speaker 1: hunting season opens, your first hunts in the morning, You're
2:01:20
Speaker 1: laying in bed at night, lights are off, it's quiet.
2:01:24
Speaker 1: What are the final things that you're thinking about before
2:01:27
Speaker 1: the hunting season begins. Um. Usually that's a pretty uh
2:01:35
Speaker 1: calm and relaxed time for me, because I know that
2:01:39
Speaker 1: I've done everything I could have done to be prepared. Um,
2:01:43
Speaker 1: there's usually a deer that you know I'm onto that
2:01:46
Speaker 1: I have fairly high confidence in, and having a decent
2:01:50
Speaker 1: hunt the next day. Um, it's usually a very peaceful
2:01:54
Speaker 1: time for me. Um. One thing I do not just
2:01:59
Speaker 1: that day. I actually do this every night unless I
2:02:01
Speaker 1: just kind of fall asleep before I do it. But
2:02:03
Speaker 1: it's kind of I started doing this when I m
2:02:08
Speaker 1: after I kind of got through the target panic thing.
2:02:10
Speaker 1: But I before I go to bed, I'll go through
2:02:13
Speaker 1: one scenario. I'll go through, um, a deer that I've shot,
2:02:20
Speaker 1: a deer that I haven't all right, that I shot
2:02:22
Speaker 1: at and screwed up, and then a completely made up one,
2:02:26
Speaker 1: and I go I closed my eyes and I visualized
2:02:28
Speaker 1: this encounter. So I'll close my eyes and I'll visualize
2:02:31
Speaker 1: a deer that I shot that comes in exactly what
2:02:35
Speaker 1: he's doing, you know, exactly how he did it, and
2:02:37
Speaker 1: I'll come to full draw and I'll settle the pin
2:02:40
Speaker 1: and I'll let it float and I'll just focus on
2:02:42
Speaker 1: executing the shot and making that perfect shot and seeing
2:02:44
Speaker 1: that erraw, you know, disappear right where I wanted to hit.
2:02:48
Speaker 1: So I'll relive those moments that were successful, and then
2:02:53
Speaker 1: i'll do the same thing with one that I screwed
2:02:55
Speaker 1: up on, one that I missed, one that I hit
2:02:57
Speaker 1: and wounded, you know, those ones that really kind of
2:02:59
Speaker 1: eat at you. So I'll replay that exactly how it
2:03:02
Speaker 1: played out, and I'll make that perfect shot again right
2:03:06
Speaker 1: behind the shoulder and see that arrow disappear. And then
2:03:09
Speaker 1: I'll just make up a new one, a brand new one. Um,
2:03:12
Speaker 1: whether it's you know, an elk and antelope and white
2:03:14
Speaker 1: tail or whatever and just and just visualize that. And
2:03:19
Speaker 1: I've been doing that now for I don't know, like
2:03:22
Speaker 1: eight or nine years, and I try to do that
2:03:25
Speaker 1: every night. But um, usually, like you know, before the
2:03:28
Speaker 1: hunting season, Um, you know that night before is this
2:03:31
Speaker 1: like a it's kind of like a kind of rest peaceful.
2:03:36
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm prepared, um, But at the same time, UM,
2:03:42
Speaker 1: excited and you know, it's it's now that I think
2:03:49
Speaker 1: about it's actually it's kind of a it's a peaceful feeling,
2:03:52
Speaker 1: but it's also a bit of an anxious feeling because
2:03:55
Speaker 1: I know the next few months are going to be
2:03:59
Speaker 1: a lot of commitment, a lot of hard work, a
2:04:01
Speaker 1: lot of hours in the stand. It's like a it's
2:04:03
Speaker 1: like a nervous, like anxious kind of excitement. But I
2:04:07
Speaker 1: feel very peaceful and content of my preparation. Preparation. That
2:04:10
Speaker 1: makes sense, It does, absolutely makes sense. I can relate
2:04:13
Speaker 1: to that. And I feel like, listen to all this,
2:04:15
Speaker 1: you know, you prepare like a pro like there's there's
2:04:22
Speaker 1: there's a there's a book, and I haven't read the book,
2:04:24
Speaker 1: but i've read the like the prequel to this book,
2:04:26
Speaker 1: and I've read a lot of things from this person.
2:04:28
Speaker 1: He he talks about going pro with something, how there's
2:04:31
Speaker 1: a difference between having a hobby versus taking something so
2:04:35
Speaker 1: serious as if you were a professional. Let even if
2:04:37
Speaker 1: you're not really a professional. But when you make decisions
2:04:40
Speaker 1: and when you prepare, and when you put the heart
2:04:42
Speaker 1: and soul and commitment into something as if it was
2:04:44
Speaker 1: what you made your living from, that's how people really
2:04:47
Speaker 1: excel at something. And maybe you know, just could be
2:04:50
Speaker 1: something you're really excited and passionate about and you want
2:04:52
Speaker 1: to excel in it, so you make those pro decisions.
2:04:55
Speaker 1: And I think the types of decisions you're making, choosing
2:04:58
Speaker 1: to do the hard things you is gonna be preparing
2:05:00
Speaker 1: all throughout the year, focusing on the minichia, focusing on
2:05:04
Speaker 1: the little steps, quantifying how to get better things. I
2:05:07
Speaker 1: think that's how you prep like a pro, and I
2:05:09
Speaker 1: think it shows obviously with your results. Um So for
2:05:12
Speaker 1: people out there who want to get better at hunting
2:05:15
Speaker 1: or whatever, they don't necessarily need to do all the
2:05:18
Speaker 1: things that you do right. Like you said, like it
2:05:19
Speaker 1: works for you, it might not be for everybody, but
2:05:22
Speaker 1: I think everyone can learn from you with the process.
2:05:27
Speaker 1: You take the level of attention you pay to the
2:05:31
Speaker 1: different steps in that process. I think that's really big takeaway.
2:05:35
Speaker 1: Um and it's helpful for me and encouraging to encouraging
2:05:40
Speaker 1: makes me feel lazy, but it it's inspiring me to
2:05:42
Speaker 1: do better than I do because I feel like I
2:05:43
Speaker 1: do a whole hell a lot. But there's room to
2:05:46
Speaker 1: get better. And uh, it's good to hear from people
2:05:48
Speaker 1: that can can push you. And I think you set
2:05:51
Speaker 1: an example that can push us. So so thanks for
2:05:53
Speaker 1: sharing that. Man. Yeah, there's there's always room to get
2:05:56
Speaker 1: better for everybody. And you know, the worst thing, like
2:05:59
Speaker 1: what I hate seeing two is like guys that are successful,
2:06:02
Speaker 1: you know anything, but let's just kind of focus on
2:06:05
Speaker 1: deer hunting guys that you know, have had years and
2:06:08
Speaker 1: years six success that kind of get stuck in their
2:06:12
Speaker 1: ways and you could tell they're not getting better and
2:06:15
Speaker 1: in fact that sometimes sometimes they see other guys that
2:06:18
Speaker 1: are having success and they like to almost like put
2:06:21
Speaker 1: those guys down because they do it differently. And um man,
2:06:26
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's just really disheartening to see that.
2:06:28
Speaker 1: You know, guys that have like really reached this high
2:06:30
Speaker 1: level is something that they've you know, dedicated, you know,
2:06:33
Speaker 1: their lifetime to only to put down a guy that's
2:06:36
Speaker 1: equally successful, that just does it a little bit different way.
2:06:39
Speaker 1: I just I don't get it um and and my
2:06:42
Speaker 1: goal is just to I just want to continue to learn.
2:06:45
Speaker 1: I don't want I don't want the greatest wall of
2:06:48
Speaker 1: all time. I don't want, you know, a bigger buck
2:06:51
Speaker 1: than you, or a bigger buck than my buddies or
2:06:53
Speaker 1: anybody else. I just I want to continue learning, and
2:06:57
Speaker 1: I want to get the better. It's more of like, uh,
2:07:01
Speaker 1: like a competition with myself, you know, I wanna, I wanna.
2:07:05
Speaker 1: I just want to. I can't. I don't. I don't
2:07:08
Speaker 1: know I would ever feel right just being like, okay,
2:07:11
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm pretty decent at this. We're just
2:07:14
Speaker 1: gonna kind of level it out and go from there
2:07:17
Speaker 1: and just kind of, you know, kill some nice deer
2:07:18
Speaker 1: every year. I don't know. It's just I think some
2:07:21
Speaker 1: people's minds are are made different that they just it
2:07:25
Speaker 1: probably has something to do with what you're passionate about,
2:07:27
Speaker 1: and you know what you love and and for me
2:07:30
Speaker 1: and you, this is certainly it. So it's just like
2:07:32
Speaker 1: we have that that kind of drive to improve. But
2:07:35
Speaker 1: I feel like there's something you can learn from everybody,
2:07:37
Speaker 1: Like I've learned from you, and I've learned from some
2:07:39
Speaker 1: of these guys that I talked about that I've had
2:07:41
Speaker 1: years and year success. I don't ever want to lose that.
2:07:44
Speaker 1: Like you can learn from the guy that killed a
2:07:46
Speaker 1: big buck right down the road. I always want to
2:07:48
Speaker 1: hear that story from the guy that didn't know what
2:07:50
Speaker 1: he's doing, because you're gonna learn something from it, you know.
2:07:54
Speaker 1: And I always take the time to sit down and
2:07:56
Speaker 1: talk to those guys, and there's always bits and pieces
2:07:59
Speaker 1: you can you know, you can take from those that
2:08:01
Speaker 1: you can you know, incorporate into your own knowledge. And uh,
2:08:06
Speaker 1: you know, I think can really help you. I think
2:08:08
Speaker 1: you are spot on with that one. And um, we've
2:08:12
Speaker 1: talked for a long time. I can't believe how long
2:08:14
Speaker 1: we talked. There was there was a lot of good
2:08:16
Speaker 1: stuff in there. So we're gonna wrap it up. Um,
2:08:18
Speaker 1: we'll have to get get you back on here again.
2:08:20
Speaker 1: I know we've got plans to do that. And UM,
2:08:23
Speaker 1: I know we've been talking about some plans. Maybe we
2:08:25
Speaker 1: can try to do a hunt again this fall. Yeah,
2:08:27
Speaker 1: we should. All right, let's talk against him, all right,
2:08:31
Speaker 1: And that's gonna do it. I hope you enjoyed this episode,
2:08:34
Speaker 1: and if you did, if you enjoy what Andy had
2:08:36
Speaker 1: to say. He has a lot more to share, and
2:08:38
Speaker 1: he's been a guest on the podcast several different times
2:08:41
Speaker 1: over the past few years. To go back through the
2:08:43
Speaker 1: wire Dune podcast archives, look up Andy May. He's a
2:08:46
Speaker 1: good friend, a really really good deer hunter, and someone
2:08:49
Speaker 1: who I think has a particular knack for sharing what
2:08:52
Speaker 1: he does and how he does it in a way
2:08:54
Speaker 1: that um that can help people, and that I think
2:08:57
Speaker 1: is is not intimidating. It's easily consumed, which is which
2:09:01
Speaker 1: is why I've learned so much from too. So take
2:09:03
Speaker 1: a look at those other episodes, Enjoy them, Enjoy your weekend,
2:09:06
Speaker 1: enjoy your day, And as we've been talking about, there's
2:09:09
Speaker 1: lots to be doing. So hopefully you're out there in
2:09:11
Speaker 1: the field practicing with your bow or hanging tree stands
2:09:14
Speaker 1: or playing food plots, are doing something to get ready
2:09:16
Speaker 1: for hunting season, because before you know it, it's gonna
2:09:19
Speaker 1: be here. So until then, stay wired to hunt.