Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 865: Foundations - How to be More Realistic with Your Deer Goals
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide
- 0:05Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, presented by first Light,
- 0:09Speaker 1: creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind.
- 0:14Speaker 1: First Light Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host
- 0:19Speaker 1: Tony Peterson.
- 0:20Speaker 2: Hey everyone, welcome to the Wire to Hunt Foundation's podcast,
- 0:22Speaker 2: which is brought to you by first Light. I'm your host,
- 0:24Speaker 2: Tony Peterson, and today is all about how you can
- 0:27Speaker 2: set yourself up for a good year of white tail
- 0:29Speaker 2: hunting by setting the right goals. Look, I know it's cliche,
- 0:36Speaker 2: it probably seems kind of stupid, but it's a new
- 0:39Speaker 2: year and there might be might be a new you
- 0:42Speaker 2: going forward or not. It's really up to you. The
- 0:45Speaker 2: thing is, there is a tangible benefit to setting goals.
- 0:48Speaker 2: This goes for every aspect of life, and it doesn't
- 0:50Speaker 2: have to be something you get shoved down your throat
- 0:53Speaker 2: by Instagram influencers or Special Forces operators shaming you for
- 0:56Speaker 2: not being a total badass every second of your existence.
- 1:00Speaker 2: It can be a simpler deal. It can be just
- 1:02Speaker 2: really good for your hunting and for your hunting mental
- 1:04Speaker 2: health as well. I know you're sick of hearing about
- 1:11Speaker 2: goal setting, and I get it. I'm not going to
- 1:14Speaker 2: talk about the usual shit here, because you already know
- 1:17Speaker 2: you should set goals to lose weight, make more money,
- 1:19Speaker 2: and climb Mount Everest by the time you're thirty or whatever.
- 1:23Speaker 2: I think this topic kind of sucks because it's been
- 1:26Speaker 2: taken over by people who are either wired differently from
- 1:28Speaker 2: most folks, or have more free time than most folks,
- 1:32Speaker 2: or have more money than most folks. A lot of
- 1:35Speaker 2: them have all three. I also think this is a
- 1:39Speaker 2: topic that can open the door to being a preachy,
- 1:41Speaker 2: self righteous kind of prick too, and as easy as
- 1:44Speaker 2: it is for me to fall into that trap, I
- 1:46Speaker 2: don't want to. I want to talk about realistic hunting
- 1:49Speaker 2: and realistic goals and how to use them to enjoy
- 1:52Speaker 2: your time in the White Tail Woods more. Now, goals
- 1:55Speaker 2: can be great or they can be not so great.
- 2:00Speaker 2: Might work a job where your company is owned by
- 2:02Speaker 2: a private equity firm that exists solely to flip companies.
- 2:06Speaker 2: Their goals are to make the company appear like it's
- 2:09Speaker 2: a growth machine and that it will be more and
- 2:11Speaker 2: more profitable over the next several years. If you have
- 2:14Speaker 2: a lot of equity in that company, or are set
- 2:16Speaker 2: for some type of big payout when it sells. Those
- 2:19Speaker 2: goals might seem totally just and wonderful. But if you're
- 2:23Speaker 2: one of the lower level employees who gets laid off
- 2:26Speaker 2: to make the bottom line look better, or you're a
- 2:28Speaker 2: surviving employee who has to do your job and that
- 2:32Speaker 2: other person's job for no extra pay, the goals over
- 2:35Speaker 2: your head aren't so great. Maybe your goal at the
- 2:40Speaker 2: healthcare company you work for is to deny a certain
- 2:42Speaker 2: amount of claims per day or week or quarter, while
- 2:45Speaker 2: your customers have the goal to just beat cancer and
- 2:48Speaker 2: not bankrupt themselves in the process, or maybe just get
- 2:51Speaker 2: their child in the type of wheelchair that will help
- 2:53Speaker 2: them be more mobile and live some semblance of a
- 2:56Speaker 2: normal life. On both sides of that e the people
- 3:01Speaker 2: have vastly different goals that require vastly different outcomes. This
- 3:07Speaker 2: is a nuanced thing, and as someone who makes his
- 3:10Speaker 2: living off of a pursuit that an awful lot of
- 3:12Speaker 2: people view as a sacred pastime that shouldn't be overly
- 3:16Speaker 2: corrupted by NonStop commercialization, I get it. Believe me, I
- 3:22Speaker 2: get it. I think this is a very nuanced topic,
- 3:25Speaker 2: and I don't want to dwell on all of the
- 3:28Speaker 2: negative stuff. I want to focus on the positives and
- 3:30Speaker 2: in that realm. Setting goals for yourself has some real
- 3:34Speaker 2: tangible psychological benefits for starters. It has been proven that
- 3:40Speaker 2: setting goals pushes people to be more persistent and to
- 3:44Speaker 2: focus more. This comes partially from a higher level of
- 3:47Speaker 2: intrinsic motivation, and motivation is generally always good, my friends.
- 3:53Speaker 2: Another aspect of setting goals that I think is super
- 3:56Speaker 2: important is that it has been proven to heighten test enjoyment.
- 4:01Speaker 2: There are other benefits, but I think this one matters
- 4:03Speaker 2: the most. In hunting, think about it this way. Maybe
- 4:07Speaker 2: you own a little property, or you lease a property
- 4:10Speaker 2: where you have some autonomy, or you hunt Gramma's farm
- 4:13Speaker 2: and have free rain over the whole thing. A simple
- 4:16Speaker 2: goal like hm, planting a dozen apple trees in the
- 4:19Speaker 2: spring is great because if you make that goal, it'll
- 4:23Speaker 2: motivate you to research trees. That part is more fun
- 4:27Speaker 2: than it sounds like, because suddenly you realize there's a
- 4:30Speaker 2: lot to learn about planting in a certain zone versus
- 4:33Speaker 2: a different one, and which trees will survive your winters
- 4:36Speaker 2: and which ones won't. You'll learn about the kinds of
- 4:38Speaker 2: trees that produce the kinds of apples that doer really like,
- 4:42Speaker 2: or maybe some other trees that produce the kinds of
- 4:44Speaker 2: crab apples that grouse or turkeys really like. I think
- 4:47Speaker 2: the secret sauce to a better life is to keep
- 4:49Speaker 2: learning new stuff and to be interested in things. This
- 4:53Speaker 2: is an easy way to keep going along that kind
- 4:55Speaker 2: of path, but it's only just the beginning. You're gonna
- 4:59Speaker 2: have to find a nursery to tell you the kinds
- 5:00Speaker 2: of trees that you want for your property. Then you
- 5:03Speaker 2: have to decide if you need to cage them so
- 5:05Speaker 2: the bears are deer don't destroy them. All of this
- 5:07Speaker 2: stuff is just steps toward a goal, but it's so
- 5:10Speaker 2: much more when the trees come in and you go
- 5:13Speaker 2: out and you plant them, you can watch your progress
- 5:16Speaker 2: in real time. I grew up in a farming community,
- 5:19Speaker 2: and while I drove a few tractors for brief periods
- 5:22Speaker 2: of time in my younger days, I mostly did grunt
- 5:25Speaker 2: work on farms, like hanging and cleaning out grain silos.
- 5:29Speaker 2: The farmers who planted the fields and chisel plowed the
- 5:31Speaker 2: fields and harvested the crops from the fields. They work
- 5:34Speaker 2: their asses off, but also many times I heard them
- 5:38Speaker 2: say that they really enjoyed the process of seeing how
- 5:41Speaker 2: much progress they can make you during spring or fall
- 5:44Speaker 2: field work. If you've ever watched someone combine a cornfield,
- 5:48Speaker 2: you can probably relate to that task. Enjoyment is important,
- 5:52Speaker 2: and setting the simple goal of adding a dozen apple
- 5:55Speaker 2: trees to your ground can not only help you kill
- 5:58Speaker 2: some deer in the future, it can help you enjoy
- 6:01Speaker 2: the world of deer right now or soon. Anyway, this
- 6:05Speaker 2: probably seems like forehead slapping, simple stuff, but it's not.
- 6:10Speaker 2: We often screw up our goals or just don't understand
- 6:13Speaker 2: what good ones really are. Take the most common goal
- 6:16Speaker 2: in our space, which is I want to shoot a
- 6:19Speaker 2: certain size of buck. Maybe it's a number that just
- 6:22Speaker 2: appeals to you, like I don't know, one hundred and
- 6:24Speaker 2: thirty or one hundred and forty inches, Or maybe it's
- 6:26Speaker 2: based on your past success, like well, I shot a
- 6:29Speaker 2: certain size buck last year and he was my biggest one,
- 6:33Speaker 2: so I want an even bigger one this year. Look,
- 6:36Speaker 2: those are great, but what do they really mean? For
- 6:40Speaker 2: most of us? They mean that we want to hunt
- 6:42Speaker 2: exactly the same way as we always have and we
- 6:45Speaker 2: just want a bigger deer to walk down the trail
- 6:48Speaker 2: than what usually does, and we want to shoot that
- 6:50Speaker 2: deer and we want to post pictures of it on Facebook.
- 6:53Speaker 2: But if that goal doesn't really get you to do
- 6:55Speaker 2: anything different, is it a good one? Maybe? I mean,
- 7:00Speaker 2: I guess even little changes happen, Like if you're used
- 7:03Speaker 2: to shooting the first buck that comes down the trail
- 7:06Speaker 2: and now you're going to pass that deer for a
- 7:08Speaker 2: bigger one, that's different. It's not a bad thing. But
- 7:11Speaker 2: if the goal is just to kill a bigger deer
- 7:13Speaker 2: than usual, but it doesn't prompt any action on your part,
- 7:17Speaker 2: is it a good goal? I don't think so. I
- 7:20Speaker 2: think the best deer hunting goals are the ones that
- 7:22Speaker 2: keep us accountable to some type of task throughout the year,
- 7:26Speaker 2: and not just something that comes into play the moment
- 7:29Speaker 2: we sit our butts down in a stand for the
- 7:31Speaker 2: first time all season. An easy to understand goal here
- 7:35Speaker 2: that no one will do is to try to kill
- 7:38Speaker 2: your first dear with a traditional bow. If you've never
- 7:40Speaker 2: tried that, I can promise you that you'll shoot more
- 7:43Speaker 2: than you ever have, or you'll regret it a hell
- 7:45Speaker 2: of a lot by the time the season comes. It's
- 7:47Speaker 2: a goal that will keep you honest at the range
- 7:49Speaker 2: in the off season and will push you to focus
- 7:52Speaker 2: your efforts on earning close shots on deer throughout the season.
- 7:56Speaker 2: I've only spent two years of over thirty with a
- 7:59Speaker 2: trad bow in my hand, and I can tell you
- 8:01Speaker 2: that those years stuck with me in a way that
- 8:04Speaker 2: just never goes away. That was a goal that kept
- 8:06Speaker 2: me working towards something, and it was fun, and it
- 8:09Speaker 2: was frustrating, and it was unbelievably rewarding when it worked out. Now,
- 8:23Speaker 2: let's take a different goal, something like killing your first
- 8:27Speaker 2: year on public land. Imagine what that will do for
- 8:30Speaker 2: you throughout the year. It'll likely get you to winter
- 8:34Speaker 2: in summer scout more, which is always a good thing. Honestly,
- 8:38Speaker 2: any reason to scout more is like a cheat code
- 8:41Speaker 2: to becoming a better deer hunter and also just enjoying
- 8:44Speaker 2: your time in the woods more. But you also might
- 8:47Speaker 2: need to learn how to really use I don't know,
- 8:49Speaker 2: like a mobile tree stand system or a saddle system.
- 8:53Speaker 2: Maybe it'll get you on X a hell of a
- 8:55Speaker 2: lot more so that you really figure out that digital
- 8:58Speaker 2: scouting game. Maybe it'll take you out of state for
- 9:01Speaker 2: the first time, which will create an opportunity to learn
- 9:04Speaker 2: a whole bunch of stuff about hunting that you're just
- 9:06Speaker 2: not going to get by hunting close to home on
- 9:08Speaker 2: a familiar property. I want to switch gears now and
- 9:12Speaker 2: try to be a little more realistic, because there's a
- 9:15Speaker 2: thing that happens this time of year. People set big
- 9:18Speaker 2: goals and then they don't see them through, and then
- 9:22Speaker 2: they fall to the wayside, and we just revert to
- 9:24Speaker 2: our old ways. If you don't believe that, go join
- 9:28Speaker 2: a gym right now. New Year's deals are all the
- 9:32Speaker 2: raged to boost gym memberships because they know we are
- 9:35Speaker 2: all a little heavier than we were when we started
- 9:37Speaker 2: the holidays, and we are all a little more depressed
- 9:39Speaker 2: than usual since a lot of us haven't seen the
- 9:41Speaker 2: sun since December. And really, why would we set up
- 9:45Speaker 2: most work days so that in the winter we go
- 9:47Speaker 2: to work in the dark and come home in the dark,
- 9:50Speaker 2: with the only available hours of daylight sold to some
- 9:53Speaker 2: company that looks at us purely as a number. But
- 9:55Speaker 2: that's how it is. So we join a gym and
- 9:58Speaker 2: decide we are going to finally get sext as hell
- 10:00Speaker 2: and bring ourselves back to our fighting weights and blah
- 10:03Speaker 2: blah blah. If you do this and you stick it
- 10:06Speaker 2: out until about Turkey season, you're definitely going to notice something.
- 10:10Speaker 2: The crowds really start to thin out by about March.
- 10:14Speaker 2: The enthusiasm for those big fitness goals and lifestyle changes
- 10:19Speaker 2: just dies on the vine over time because they are
- 10:22Speaker 2: difficult goals to achieve and most of us aren't cut
- 10:26Speaker 2: out for them. Those folks would have been better off
- 10:30Speaker 2: never ever stepping on a scale and never joining a
- 10:34Speaker 2: spin class, and instead just setting very realistic goals that
- 10:39Speaker 2: won't make them dead sexy in a month, but will
- 10:42Speaker 2: make them feel slightly better about themselves over the course
- 10:46Speaker 2: of say three or four months. So instead of saying
- 10:49Speaker 2: I want to lose forty pounds and that's it, it's
- 10:52Speaker 2: better to say, well, I can only bench press one
- 10:55Speaker 2: hundred pounds right now, but by March, I want to
- 10:58Speaker 2: be at one hundred and twenty. That's not a big ask,
- 11:01Speaker 2: It's doable and is a real measure of progress for
- 11:05Speaker 2: real people. It's simple, straightforward, and will allow you to
- 11:10Speaker 2: feel good when you throw extra five pounders on each
- 11:13Speaker 2: side and eventually a ten pounder on each side. To
- 11:17Speaker 2: most people, if you told them that goal, they'd look
- 11:21Speaker 2: at you like you just said you wanted to finally
- 11:23Speaker 2: kill a spike, because you've only ever shot button bucks
- 11:25Speaker 2: in your life. But the truth is it's your journey
- 11:28Speaker 2: and your goal, and if you achieve it, which you
- 11:31Speaker 2: probably will because it's realistic, then you're going to want
- 11:34Speaker 2: another goal. What's next one hundred and forty pounds? Great,
- 11:38Speaker 2: that's going to keep you moving in the right direction.
- 11:41Speaker 2: This is the thing about goals, too, It's that things
- 11:44Speaker 2: aren't over when you accomplish them. There's a movement out
- 11:47Speaker 2: there called FIRE, which stands for financial independence Retire Early.
- 11:52Speaker 2: It's where usually high earners, but not always, say they
- 11:56Speaker 2: want to meet some crazy retirement goal at a young age,
- 11:59Speaker 2: and they scrimp and save and they sacrifice and they
- 12:02Speaker 2: obsess over investing to meet that goal. But a lot
- 12:05Speaker 2: of the folks who suddenly find themselves there at that
- 12:08Speaker 2: finish line realize that they are sort of loss being
- 12:12Speaker 2: able to retire at thirty five with a couple million
- 12:14Speaker 2: dollars in the bank. The goal itself was the end
- 12:17Speaker 2: of the quest, but life doesn't end. Then we're not
- 12:20Speaker 2: living in a movie or a video game, so you
- 12:22Speaker 2: have to ask yourself what's next, and they struggle with
- 12:25Speaker 2: that since that whole idea was such a big part
- 12:29Speaker 2: of their existence. This is why I like goals like
- 12:32Speaker 2: I'm gonna plant twelve new apple trees on my land
- 12:35Speaker 2: this spring, because inevitably you'll realize that you're gonna want
- 12:38Speaker 2: to hunt those apple trees, or maybe while you're out
- 12:42Speaker 2: there planting them, you realize that a little kill plot
- 12:44Speaker 2: on the corner of your land would be great for
- 12:46Speaker 2: when we get a random south or east wind during
- 12:49Speaker 2: late October or throughout the rut. There's next year's goal
- 12:52Speaker 2: right there. Or maybe it's something slightly different, like cleaning
- 12:56Speaker 2: out the shooting lanes for your rifle hunts at deer
- 12:59Speaker 2: Camp up norm or maybe just fixing the window on
- 13:02Speaker 2: the shack that always lets the mosquitos in whatever find
- 13:05Speaker 2: something to work toward, and then write those goals down.
- 13:10Speaker 2: I know that sounds dumb, and if you told me
- 13:12Speaker 2: to do it ten years ago, I would have told
- 13:14Speaker 2: you to go kick rocks in the street. But I'm
- 13:16Speaker 2: older now and maybe it's just my bad memory from
- 13:19Speaker 2: so many years of pickling my brain with whiskey and
- 13:21Speaker 2: poor decisions. But when I write something down, it's just
- 13:24Speaker 2: harder for me to ignore. I do this every Monday.
- 13:27Speaker 2: When I sit at my stupid desk and I think
- 13:29Speaker 2: about the stupid work I have to do for the week,
- 13:32Speaker 2: I also write down all of the stupid life stuff
- 13:34Speaker 2: I have to do, like renew my license tabs, or
- 13:37Speaker 2: get new tires for my truck, or get the sled
- 13:39Speaker 2: out of the backyard pond that the old blonde buzzkill
- 13:41Speaker 2: has been bitching about for months. When things are written down,
- 13:45Speaker 2: they hold us accountable. That's important. And maybe you're thinking, well,
- 13:50Speaker 2: what do I do, Grab a notepad and pen and
- 13:52Speaker 2: write shoot one one hundred and fifty inch buck and
- 13:56Speaker 2: then I wait eleven months to hopefully cross it off. Nope,
- 14:00Speaker 2: that would be dumb, and I'm a little offended you
- 14:02Speaker 2: even asked. Instead, think about what you could do this
- 14:05Speaker 2: month that would help you achieve that goal. Is it
- 14:10Speaker 2: clearing out your entrance and exit trails? Great, write that down.
- 14:14Speaker 2: Is it scouting the river bottom on the public land
- 14:17Speaker 2: you really like to hunt, but in a way where
- 14:19Speaker 2: it takes you to a few of the areas you
- 14:20Speaker 2: don't really go, but you suspect big Bucks might use
- 14:24Speaker 2: great write that down. Maybe you fall apart at the
- 14:28Speaker 2: shot because you're not confident enough in your shooting. Fine,
- 14:32Speaker 2: how many eras a week do you need to shoot
- 14:34Speaker 2: to be better this year than you were last year.
- 14:36Speaker 2: Write down a weekly goal, then hit that goal. I
- 14:41Speaker 2: know this sounds dumb, but the thing about being a
- 14:43Speaker 2: successful hunter who really enjoys the whole process is well
- 14:47Speaker 2: engaging in the whole process with some gusto. I know
- 14:51Speaker 2: I say this all the time, but it's because I
- 14:53Speaker 2: believe it. A guy like A and D May could
- 14:55Speaker 2: explain to you exactly how he kills big Bucks with
- 14:57Speaker 2: scary consistency, But that's not going to make you a
- 15:00Speaker 2: whole lot better as a hunter. That's on you. Now,
- 15:04Speaker 2: if you scouted with the same discipline as him, we're
- 15:07Speaker 2: talking about something different. That action matters, and it's how
- 15:12Speaker 2: you find big deer and eventually kill some of them. Now,
- 15:16Speaker 2: if you were as concerned with a perfectly tuned bow
- 15:18Speaker 2: and arrows and accuracy as him, and you went through
- 15:21Speaker 2: the steps to get there, you'd be a better hunter
- 15:23Speaker 2: who had more fun out in the field. We are
- 15:27Speaker 2: obsessed with trying to shortcut the process, because the process
- 15:30Speaker 2: is hard, but the reality is that the process is
- 15:33Speaker 2: what makes it so damn fun and rewarding the process
- 15:37Speaker 2: is a big thing, and setting a goal around just
- 15:40Speaker 2: killing a good deer doesn't acknowledge that fact, and it
- 15:43Speaker 2: has to be acknowledged. One of the best ways to
- 15:46Speaker 2: do that is to start to just piece it out
- 15:49Speaker 2: so that you look at what you want to get
- 15:51Speaker 2: out of hunting this year, and you take those pieces
- 15:54Speaker 2: that are there, and you look at the ones you
- 15:56Speaker 2: could work on to make that goal happen. It has
- 16:00Speaker 2: to be about taking what you currently do and trying
- 16:02Speaker 2: to make parts of that a little better, or finding
- 16:05Speaker 2: something that's just a little offshoot to what you currently
- 16:07Speaker 2: do and working on that. That's kind of really it.
- 16:11Speaker 2: You don't need huge overarching goals because they don't really
- 16:15Speaker 2: stick anyway. A goal to win or scout for a
- 16:18Speaker 2: few hours each week or every other week is probably
- 16:21Speaker 2: more impactful to most of us than deciding it's booner
- 16:25Speaker 2: or bust this year. And that's it. So what are
- 16:28Speaker 2: your goals going to be? I'll give you a few
- 16:30Speaker 2: of mine. This winter, I'm going to expand a little
- 16:33Speaker 2: kill plot on my Wisconsin ground so that I can
- 16:36Speaker 2: hunt more wind directions with my daughters because we have
- 16:39Speaker 2: limited time to hunt together, and often when we do
- 16:42Speaker 2: have time, the wind doesn't blow just from the north
- 16:45Speaker 2: or west. I'm also going to hunt a new state
- 16:47Speaker 2: this year. I don't know which one yet, but I
- 16:50Speaker 2: just want to see some new ground and keep getting
- 16:52Speaker 2: in on this non resident thing before it's too late.
- 16:55Speaker 2: I haven't decided for sure yet either, but I do
- 16:58Speaker 2: want to try to take my dog on a real
- 17:01Speaker 2: hunting trip somewhere for something. Might be turkeys, might be antelope,
- 17:05Speaker 2: but it will be something. That's what I have so far.
- 17:09Speaker 2: I'm sure there'll be more, and I haven't broken those
- 17:11Speaker 2: goals down yet, but I'm going to. So think about
- 17:14Speaker 2: your goals, think about ways to keep yourself out there
- 17:17Speaker 2: and doing your thing in the woods. Make it real
- 17:20Speaker 2: by writing it down, and come back next week because
- 17:23Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about how unfair life is, but
- 17:26Speaker 2: that shouldn't matter to us as deer hunters. That's it
- 17:30Speaker 2: for this week. I'm Tony Peterson. This has been the
- 17:32Speaker 2: Wired to Hunt Foundation's podcast, which is brought to you
- 17:35Speaker 2: by First Light. As always, thank you so much for listening.
- 17:38Speaker 2: For all your support. If you want more white tail
- 17:41Speaker 2: content or just hunting content in general, head on over
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