Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 896: Foundations - The Hunting Secret That No One Wants to Hear

Transcript

Ep. 896: Foundations - The Hunting Secret That No One Wants to Hear · Wired To Hunt Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide
0:05
Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, presented by first Light,
0:09
Speaker 1: creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind.
0:14
Speaker 1: First Light, Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host
0:19
Speaker 1: Tony Peterson.
0:20
Speaker 2: Hey, everyone, welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast,
0:23
Speaker 2: which is brought to you by first Light. I'm your host,
0:25
Speaker 2: Tony Peterson, and today's episode is all about why white
0:28
Speaker 2: tail hunting is kind of like more of a physical
0:31
Speaker 2: endeavor than a lot of folks believe, and what you
0:33
Speaker 2: should do about that if you want to be a
0:35
Speaker 2: better deer hunter.
0:40
Speaker 1: Brilliant.
0:41
Speaker 2: Look, I actually really hate doing this to you, Like
0:44
Speaker 2: I honestly do. I talk a little bit about my workouts,
0:47
Speaker 2: but I don't think there is anything more off putting
0:49
Speaker 2: than someone who pushes that fitness narrative NonStop. Now, I
0:52
Speaker 2: think the guys like Cam Haynes and David Goggin's gonna
0:55
Speaker 2: pass on it because they are definitely like helping a
0:57
Speaker 2: lot of people and that is just their role. But
1:00
Speaker 2: I don't see myself that way for many reasons. But
1:02
Speaker 2: I do think that getting in shape and staying there
1:04
Speaker 2: has probably helped me kill more deer than anything else.
1:06
Speaker 2: And I want to say this before I get going.
1:08
Speaker 2: Even if you have zero desire to run, or lift weights,
1:11
Speaker 2: or eat right or anything like this, I still want
1:13
Speaker 2: you to listen. I think you'll at least have something
1:16
Speaker 2: to consider by the time I wrap this sucker up.
1:22
Speaker 2: In the interest of talking about things that almost no
1:25
Speaker 2: one in this audience is actually interested in, let me
1:28
Speaker 2: start this one with a shallow dive into the life
1:31
Speaker 2: of a guy named Aaron Martin's. If you follow tournament
1:34
Speaker 2: fishing at all, especially for bass, you might know his name,
1:39
Speaker 2: but if not, you probably don't. Martins was a native
1:42
Speaker 2: Californian who made a name for himself fishing Castaic Lake
1:46
Speaker 2: with his mother during some early tournaments. Now he outgrew
1:49
Speaker 2: those team tourneys with Mama Martins to eventually compete in
1:52
Speaker 2: regional bass tournaments, and then he made it to the
1:55
Speaker 2: big leagues, where he fished the Elite Series. His run
1:59
Speaker 2: from nineteen ninety nine to twenty eighteen rivals the biggest
2:03
Speaker 2: names in the game, including Kevin Van Dam, who is
2:06
Speaker 2: considered by many to be the goat. Martin's qualified for
2:10
Speaker 2: and competed in twenty bass Master Classics, which might not
2:14
Speaker 2: sound like much to people who don't follow the sport,
2:16
Speaker 2: but that's like Tom Brady level success. He won nine
2:20
Speaker 2: bass Master tournaments in his career in states like California
2:23
Speaker 2: and Alabama, Maryland, Illinois, and even New York, where on
2:27
Speaker 2: Lake Champlain he made a jump from nineteenth place to
2:30
Speaker 2: first in the final day of competition, which is a
2:33
Speaker 2: move that is almost impossible to make at that level,
2:36
Speaker 2: especially when you're far enough north where you're not going
2:39
Speaker 2: to stumble into a few fish that all individually could
2:42
Speaker 2: tip the scales at double digits. He fished a few
2:45
Speaker 2: other top series and one events in all of them
2:47
Speaker 2: as well. He was the kind of guy who powerfish
2:50
Speaker 2: but also just brought the heat when it was time
2:53
Speaker 2: to downsize and go with finesse presentations. In other words,
2:57
Speaker 2: he was just about as well rounded as they come.
3:00
Speaker 2: But unlike a lot of fishermen, and what a lot
3:03
Speaker 2: of people think about fishermen, he wasn't physically well rounded.
3:08
Speaker 2: He was lean and fit. That was a joke. In
3:12
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen, after taking the bass Master Angler of the
3:15
Speaker 2: Year title, he is quoted in an article about his success,
3:18
Speaker 2: and how he managed to amass much of it by
3:22
Speaker 2: simply saying this, I'm not sure I want to share
3:25
Speaker 2: one of my biggest secrets to my success. I mean,
3:28
Speaker 2: I've tried to help people before with this stuff, but
3:31
Speaker 2: they just ignore it. Exercise and diet are my cornerstones
3:35
Speaker 2: to much of my success. Martin's was a runner with
3:38
Speaker 2: a goal of thirty miles per week in the off
3:40
Speaker 2: season and twenty per week when he was fishing. He'd
3:44
Speaker 2: run after tournaments and during pre fishing days. He'd camp
3:48
Speaker 2: at tournament locations to control his eating and his sleeping,
3:51
Speaker 2: and his results speak for themselves. He did everything right,
3:55
Speaker 2: or at least on paper. He did a whole lot
3:57
Speaker 2: of stuff you should probably do, but he couldn't escape
4:00
Speaker 2: the hands of fate. Three and a half years ago,
4:03
Speaker 2: after a rough battle with brain cancer, he passed away
4:07
Speaker 2: and left his wife and two children alone in the world.
4:10
Speaker 2: His mother is still alive as well, and I can't
4:12
Speaker 2: imagine how much she misses her son and former fishing partner.
4:17
Speaker 2: Now you can look at his story in one of
4:19
Speaker 2: two ways. That he milked his forty nine years for
4:22
Speaker 2: what he could, and he did it in a way
4:24
Speaker 2: that was disciplined and worthy of a hell of a
4:26
Speaker 2: lot of admiration, having flown in the lightest of fishing circles.
4:31
Speaker 2: That's where he is in my mind. But you could
4:33
Speaker 2: also say, well, what did all that running and eating
4:37
Speaker 2: right do for him? Considering all it took was some
4:40
Speaker 2: brain cells to metastasize and set him on a course
4:43
Speaker 2: that no diet or exercise could compete against. Now, this
4:46
Speaker 2: is a fairly common sentiment amongst people who don't want
4:49
Speaker 2: to get in shape. You can always find a story
4:52
Speaker 2: of the marathon runner who had a major chest graber
4:55
Speaker 2: at thirty years old and say, well, if that is
4:57
Speaker 2: an evidence to not exercise, I don't know, oh what is?
5:01
Speaker 2: But that is a feel good coping mechanism that doesn't
5:04
Speaker 2: take into account the reality of being unhealthy and the
5:08
Speaker 2: far more numerous examples of what that can and usually
5:12
Speaker 2: will lead a person to. So here's the thing, because
5:16
Speaker 2: I feel the need to say this again, I don't
5:18
Speaker 2: want to come off as preachy. I'm sick of the
5:21
Speaker 2: fitness world jamming itself down everyone's throat. But I've also
5:25
Speaker 2: realized something about my own hunting in my own life,
5:28
Speaker 2: and that reality is this getting in shape has been
5:31
Speaker 2: probably the biggest benefactor to my hunting success. That is
5:35
Speaker 2: no joke. Allow me to explain, from the time I
5:38
Speaker 2: actually figured out how to kill some deer with a bow,
5:41
Speaker 2: I've always killed some deer with a bow. Those early years,
5:45
Speaker 2: I drank like a fiend, and it didn't really matter
5:48
Speaker 2: because I was young and could look past the hangover
5:50
Speaker 2: to get up at o dark thirty and sit in
5:52
Speaker 2: a stand. Actually, I'm sure it did matter, and then
5:54
Speaker 2: I'm glossing over the times and unhealthy lifestyle cost me
5:57
Speaker 2: a deer, But for that I'm not going to get
5:59
Speaker 2: in anyway. Generally, though, I was a functioning alcoholic from
6:04
Speaker 2: about the time I could drive until I was thirty three.
6:07
Speaker 2: That's a lot of years of addiction, and I paid
6:09
Speaker 2: for it my friends. Hell, I'm still paying for it
6:12
Speaker 2: in ways that I don't really want to get into
6:14
Speaker 2: on this public platform, because that kind of behavior doesn't
6:17
Speaker 2: make you a great partner or a great person, and
6:20
Speaker 2: the people who are closest to you when you're in
6:21
Speaker 2: that stage often have long memories and a low tolerance
6:25
Speaker 2: for your bullshit, and I don't blame them, but that's
6:28
Speaker 2: another story and not what I want to talk about here.
6:31
Speaker 2: Although I will say this, if you do drink a lot,
6:34
Speaker 2: like say at deer camp, because that's what a lot
6:36
Speaker 2: of people do, you're not going to be as good
6:38
Speaker 2: of a hunter than if you don't remember this too.
6:41
Speaker 2: I'm a freedom guy. I think you should be able
6:44
Speaker 2: to shoot heroin between your toes if you want to
6:46
Speaker 2: and you can handle it. Although I don't recommend it.
6:49
Speaker 2: Most people don't need to think about this, and I'm
6:52
Speaker 2: happy for them. I'd also say that being a better
6:55
Speaker 2: deer hunter is about last on the list of reasons
6:57
Speaker 2: to quit drinking. If you need to. If you need to,
7:00
Speaker 2: you should find whatever reason you have to. For me,
7:04
Speaker 2: quitting was like suddenly becoming a different person, and I
7:07
Speaker 2: can promise you I became a much better deer hunter
7:10
Speaker 2: for it. But I also started working out as almost
7:13
Speaker 2: soon as I quit, because if I hadn't, I highly
7:16
Speaker 2: doubt i'd have stayed off the sauce. And let me
7:19
Speaker 2: tell you, if you want to feel like a total
7:21
Speaker 2: fish out of water, abuse your body for about seventeen years,
7:25
Speaker 2: convince yourself you're still in relatively good shape, then take
7:29
Speaker 2: your happy ass to the gym. The first couple of
7:32
Speaker 2: months is just mental torture, not to mention, of course,
7:36
Speaker 2: the physical side of things. Seeing people who look amazing
7:40
Speaker 2: and are confident in a gym setting while you feel
7:43
Speaker 2: like shit and look well kind of like shit really
7:47
Speaker 2: really sucks. But the good news is no one is
7:51
Speaker 2: paying attention to you, and you can just go at
7:53
Speaker 2: your own pace to get better. And that's what I
7:57
Speaker 2: told myself to do. But it took a while to
8:00
Speaker 2: get into the groove, and back then when I did it,
8:03
Speaker 2: it was just all cardio, mostly because I was terrified
8:07
Speaker 2: to go into the weight room. When I finally did
8:09
Speaker 2: venture over there, the first person I met was a
8:12
Speaker 2: completely jack dude with sleeve tats who is a pretty
8:16
Speaker 2: good friend of mine. Now, well, that was not something
8:19
Speaker 2: I saw coming. So what does this have to do
8:21
Speaker 2: with deer hunting? A little bit of nothing and a
8:25
Speaker 2: little bit of everything. Deer Hunting is a game of discipline,
8:30
Speaker 2: and I truly believe that if you can find one
8:33
Speaker 2: aspect of life where you can be disciplined, you will
8:36
Speaker 2: naturally find other avenues to take it. It's a mindset
8:40
Speaker 2: thing that serves a lot of parts of life, but
8:43
Speaker 2: it's also unnecessary to function in modern society, and that's
8:48
Speaker 2: the rub a big one. Take the difference between the
8:52
Speaker 2: perception of the average Western hunter and the perception of
8:55
Speaker 2: the average whitetail hunter. For example, now the Western hunter,
8:59
Speaker 2: he's either tall and lean, you know, the kind of
9:02
Speaker 2: person who can just walk down an elk, or he
9:04
Speaker 2: short and kind of roid it out, often with a
9:07
Speaker 2: shaved head, and who looks like he could yeat a
9:10
Speaker 2: bowl over a two story building. Of course, if you
9:13
Speaker 2: go Western hunting, you soon realize that there are a
9:15
Speaker 2: hell of a lot of dudes out there who aren't
9:17
Speaker 2: going to suddenly get a seven figure contract to model underwear,
9:21
Speaker 2: and that road hunting is way more of a way
9:23
Speaker 2: of life out there than you would expect. On the
9:36
Speaker 2: white tail side, the average perception is one mm not
9:41
Speaker 2: of peak physical specimen, but maybe someone who enjoys downing
9:45
Speaker 2: the occasional case amountain dew and a couple boxes of Twinkies,
9:50
Speaker 2: while generally not spending too much time at the CrossFit gym. Again,
9:55
Speaker 2: we are talking about whole groups of people here, so
9:58
Speaker 2: the stereotypes definitely don't just everyone. But the truth is,
10:02
Speaker 2: when it comes to white tail hunting, being fit isn't
10:05
Speaker 2: really on the radar for most folks, and that's fine.
10:09
Speaker 2: A lot of deer are killed in situations where very
10:12
Speaker 2: very few calories need to be burned. Side by side,
10:16
Speaker 2: box blinds on food plots, and the general nature of
10:19
Speaker 2: managing land don't require someone with a six pack who
10:22
Speaker 2: can run half marathons in well under two hours. But
10:26
Speaker 2: maybe you don't have a side by side or the
10:28
Speaker 2: kind of deer spot where you can even use one. Hell,
10:32
Speaker 2: even if you do, sometimes deer run downhill and pile
10:35
Speaker 2: up at the bottom of a valley, and those deer
10:38
Speaker 2: need to get out somehow. And if you want to
10:40
Speaker 2: get a reality check on your physical fitness, go try
10:43
Speaker 2: to drag even a small deer uphill for a while.
10:46
Speaker 2: You'll learn a thing of two about yourself, just like
10:48
Speaker 2: you do when you walk up on a bowl six
10:50
Speaker 2: miles deep in the back country. The illusions we have
10:54
Speaker 2: about ourselves, and the protective layer of fog our egos
10:58
Speaker 2: off and develop around our brain tends to dissipate pretty
11:02
Speaker 2: quickly in the face of a lot of dead weight
11:04
Speaker 2: out in nature. Somewhere. In fact, every year hunters are
11:09
Speaker 2: found out in the woods, blue in the lips, and
11:11
Speaker 2: deader than easy credit from the exertion of trying to
11:14
Speaker 2: drag a deer. How some of them die just from
11:17
Speaker 2: the excitement of seeing a big buck. What that adrenaline
11:21
Speaker 2: dump does to their tickers. It's not unlike the phenomenon.
11:25
Speaker 2: Well maybe that's not the right word, but I'll use
11:27
Speaker 2: it anyway. Of hotel heart attacks, which is a phrase
11:31
Speaker 2: used to describe when a man, often a middle aged
11:34
Speaker 2: man who hasn't seen the inside of a gym in
11:36
Speaker 2: a few decades, who takes his lady out for anniversary
11:41
Speaker 2: dinner or maybe Valentine's Day, and he eats a big
11:43
Speaker 2: old steak dinner, downs a couple of glasses of Scotch,
11:47
Speaker 2: and head back to the hotel room for a little
11:49
Speaker 2: bit of uh dessert, only to be cut short on
11:53
Speaker 2: his amorous ambitions by a heart that just can't take
11:57
Speaker 2: all that stress. Now, I know I shouldn't be joking
12:00
Speaker 2: about this stuff, because it is serious shit. If you
12:04
Speaker 2: want to live a better life and have a hell
12:06
Speaker 2: of a lot more fun in the woods and in other places,
12:09
Speaker 2: this is truly the way. And like I said earlier,
12:13
Speaker 2: if putting a few more one hundred and fifty inchries
12:15
Speaker 2: on the wall of your man cave as a priority.
12:18
Speaker 2: Then getting in better shape will help you get there.
12:21
Speaker 2: So think about it this way. Can you name a
12:24
Speaker 2: single public land killer who isn't in pretty good shape.
12:30
Speaker 2: I know a whole bunch of people who just get
12:32
Speaker 2: it done in places where the hunting is anything but easy,
12:35
Speaker 2: and they all share that one thing in common, every
12:39
Speaker 2: single one of them. Now, at this point, you're probably
12:42
Speaker 2: either agreeing with me or pissed off at me. That's fine,
12:46
Speaker 2: doesn't make me wrong, but maybe I can soften my
12:48
Speaker 2: delivery a bit. Look at it another way. Go find
12:52
Speaker 2: a way to pick up a forty five pound plate
12:55
Speaker 2: or maybe a forty pound kettlebell, carry it around for
12:58
Speaker 2: a little bit, and tell me if you're having fun. Now,
13:01
Speaker 2: imagine carrying that weight around because it's just a part
13:04
Speaker 2: of your body. Are you likely to saddle up every
13:07
Speaker 2: time you need to or hike deep enough into the
13:10
Speaker 2: national forest to leave the competition behind. Probably not. And
13:15
Speaker 2: maybe you're like, well, I'm carrying around a bit more
13:17
Speaker 2: weight than I should, but definitely not that much. I
13:20
Speaker 2: look at it this way. It takes about thirty five
13:23
Speaker 2: hundred extra calories to gain a pound. If you're carrying
13:26
Speaker 2: around ten extra pounds. My writer math puts that at
13:28
Speaker 2: thirty five thousand extra calories, forty extra pounds is one
13:33
Speaker 2: hundred and forty thousand extra calories. Or to put it
13:37
Speaker 2: in terms that I can relate to the equivalent of
13:40
Speaker 2: eating four hundred medium sized Snickers blizzards from dairy Queen.
13:45
Speaker 2: It's not our metabolism, it's not our family genetics, although
13:48
Speaker 2: that does affect where we store that poundage. It's just
13:51
Speaker 2: what's going in versus what we are burning that sucks.
13:56
Speaker 2: But it's reality. And again, I think getting in shit
14:00
Speaker 2: ap to shoot more deer is stupid, but getting in
14:03
Speaker 2: shape will help you shoot more deer. You'll help you
14:06
Speaker 2: set stands better in the summer, scout more in the winter,
14:09
Speaker 2: drag them out when you're lucky enough to aarrow one
14:13
Speaker 2: of them in the back country, and generally increase your
14:17
Speaker 2: overall enjoyment of the process. You'll want to go more
14:21
Speaker 2: because you'll feel like it. That's about it. So what
14:25
Speaker 2: does this mean. It's up to us as individuals. I
14:29
Speaker 2: know when I started working out, it sucked so much,
14:32
Speaker 2: and now it's just so much a part of my
14:34
Speaker 2: life that I'd be lost without it even the running,
14:38
Speaker 2: which is the only antidepressant I've ever been on that
14:41
Speaker 2: actually works for me in a way that allows me
14:44
Speaker 2: to stay creative and keep up with my job. The
14:47
Speaker 2: whole thing is a baby step process and one that
14:50
Speaker 2: you should look for a few crutches if you need
14:53
Speaker 2: it to help you along. Maybe that's a pre workout
14:56
Speaker 2: that's relatively healthy that just gives you a little jolt
14:59
Speaker 2: before you at the gym or head out to rock
15:01
Speaker 2: around the neighborhood. I've been using a product designed to
15:04
Speaker 2: help college kids focus and study a little more. It's
15:08
Speaker 2: called Study Max, which is made by a company called Panglossian.
15:11
Speaker 2: Because it's just got a hell of a lot of
15:13
Speaker 2: healthy stuff and a little bit of caffeine to get
15:15
Speaker 2: me going. I actually started to take it when I
15:17
Speaker 2: had big deadlines to hit with writing and realized it
15:20
Speaker 2: would probably be a subtle but effective pre workout. And
15:23
Speaker 2: it's great, but there's a lot of great stuff out there.
15:26
Speaker 2: You just want to be careful with supplements in general,
15:29
Speaker 2: just like protein shakes and anything else, but also just
15:32
Speaker 2: got to find a way to go and if that's it,
15:35
Speaker 2: use it. Figure out how to listen to really good
15:38
Speaker 2: podcasts when you do cardio or really good German death metal.
15:41
Speaker 2: If you're going to head into the gym and pick
15:43
Speaker 2: up heavy stuff and put it down to write, earbuds
15:46
Speaker 2: and running shoes go a long way toward facilitating my workouts.
15:49
Speaker 2: As dumb as that sounds, it's simple, but it helps
15:53
Speaker 2: find a routine, set a doable, achievable goal. Just like
15:58
Speaker 2: with deer hunting, you wouldn't start bow hunting on year
16:02
Speaker 2: one and decide it's two hundred inch bucks or nothing,
16:05
Speaker 2: because it will be nothing. You don't have to run
16:08
Speaker 2: a marathon or bench three hundred pounds in the first
16:11
Speaker 2: few months. Figure out your baseline, which will be embarrassing
16:15
Speaker 2: as hell, and then set a goal off of that.
16:19
Speaker 2: It might take you three months to hit a sub
16:21
Speaker 2: thirty minute five k, but who cares, Just hit it.
16:25
Speaker 2: It might take you six months to go from curling
16:27
Speaker 2: twenty pounds to curling thirty five, but who cares. All
16:32
Speaker 2: of that stuff will make you feel a hell of
16:34
Speaker 2: a lot better, and when you're hanging and hunting this fall,
16:37
Speaker 2: you'll feel better. Even then when you get invited to
16:40
Speaker 2: go hunt Western white tails with one of your buddies
16:43
Speaker 2: and know you're going to have to pack them out.
16:44
Speaker 2: If you kill one, you're not going to focus on
16:46
Speaker 2: the negatives talk yourself out of it. You're going to
16:49
Speaker 2: want to go and you won't be scared to hunt
16:51
Speaker 2: where the deer are because if you kill one, you'll
16:53
Speaker 2: be able to get him out. If focusing on fitness
16:57
Speaker 2: can help a guy rack up over three million dollars
17:00
Speaker 2: and winnings while fishing for bass, getting in a little
17:03
Speaker 2: better shape can help any one of us have more
17:06
Speaker 2: productive hunts and enjoy them a hell of a lot more. Now,
17:09
Speaker 2: I know that no one needs to do this to
17:11
Speaker 2: kill more deer, but everyone who does this will likely
17:15
Speaker 2: kill more deer. And we're all looking for an edge
17:17
Speaker 2: in this game because what we're doing is hard. Generally,
17:21
Speaker 2: the stuff that is going to give you a real
17:23
Speaker 2: advantage over the long term isn't something you can buy,
17:27
Speaker 2: but something you can learn to do. Take that for
17:31
Speaker 2: what it's worth, and I promise you I won't do
17:33
Speaker 2: any more preachy shit on fitness for a long long time.
17:37
Speaker 2: So think about it anyway, and think about coming back
17:40
Speaker 2: next week, because I'm going to talk about the other
17:42
Speaker 2: deer that we can maybe hunt, but we should pay
17:46
Speaker 2: attention to because those hunting opportunities are going away. That's it.
17:51
Speaker 2: I'm Tony Peterson and this has been the Wired to
17:54
Speaker 2: Hunt Foundations podcast, which is brought to you by First Light.
17:58
Speaker 2: As I always, thank you so much, thanks for listening
18:00
Speaker 2: and for all your support. We just wrapped up Turkey
18:02
Speaker 2: Week a little bit ago. You guys showed up big time.
18:05
Speaker 2: Not big enough to help me win the Turkey calling contest,
18:08
Speaker 2: but get pretty close anyway, so I really appreciate that.
18:11
Speaker 2: If you want to check out some turkey hunting films,
18:13
Speaker 2: read some articles, just live vicariously a little bit through
18:16
Speaker 2: the Mediator crew, go to the mediatter dot com check
18:19
Speaker 2: it out. There's also just a ton of other entertaining
18:22
Speaker 2: stuff there. But again, thank you so much for your support.