Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 544: Foundations - You Do You

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Ep. 544: Foundations - You Do You · 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 dear hunting, and now your host,
0:11
Speaker 1: Tony Peterson. Welcome to the Wire to Hunt Foundations podcast,
0:15
Speaker 1: which was brought to you by First Light. I'm your host,
0:17
Speaker 1: Tony Peterson, and today we're going to talk about the
0:20
Speaker 1: first year of this podcast, the next year this podcast,
0:24
Speaker 1: and what it means to you as a deer hunt.
0:37
Speaker 1: I know it's hard to believe the full year has
0:41
Speaker 1: passed since it dropped the first episode of this Foundation's podcast.
0:45
Speaker 1: That's fifty two weeks of white tail talk, roughly a
0:48
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty thousand written word to go. The whole
0:51
Speaker 1: thing started with a bunch of shows about scouting, and
0:55
Speaker 1: then we moved on to hunting Technics, The Winner, scouting,
0:57
Speaker 1: and some random offseason stuff and now here we are
1:01
Speaker 1: full freaking circle. And I'm happy you're here with me
1:04
Speaker 1: today because I want to talk about you and our
1:07
Speaker 1: future together and how we are going to tackle this
1:10
Speaker 1: dear problem as a team. The next year is going
1:24
Speaker 1: to be different, my friends. While the last year was
1:27
Speaker 1: loosely a chronological week by week breakdown of different deer activities,
1:32
Speaker 1: you should be considering. This year won't be quite like that.
1:36
Speaker 1: It's gonna be all about the stuff we never really
1:38
Speaker 1: got into last year, and I'm going to cover a
1:41
Speaker 1: wide range of topics in the next fifty two episodes,
1:44
Speaker 1: from I don't know blood trailing to the ethics of
1:46
Speaker 1: certain kind of hunting to really understanding Dear sign hunting
1:50
Speaker 1: in the rain and so on. This year is going
1:52
Speaker 1: to be fun. But before that, I really want to
1:56
Speaker 1: talk about you. This last year has kind of been
2:00
Speaker 1: all about me, talking strategies and styles and aspects of
2:03
Speaker 1: hunting that should have helped you kill some more, Dear,
2:06
Speaker 1: should help you kill some more, Dear, I guess I
2:08
Speaker 1: should say. But the dirty little secret in all of
2:11
Speaker 1: this is that it's really on you. It really is.
2:16
Speaker 1: I've got a role in this, maybe, I guess, just
2:18
Speaker 1: like other people in the hunting industry that you listen
2:21
Speaker 1: to or read or watch or whatever do as well.
2:24
Speaker 1: But we don't really need to get into that yet.
2:26
Speaker 1: We need to get into your relationship with hunting and
2:29
Speaker 1: how it affects your success. Because no matter what I say,
2:32
Speaker 1: or what the Jury Brothers do on their show, or
2:35
Speaker 1: what you read about white tails and white tail hunting,
2:37
Speaker 1: the decisions you make are yours and years alone. You
2:42
Speaker 1: can't become a significantly better hunter through osmosis, unfortunately. I mean,
2:47
Speaker 1: if you could, Mark would have bucks on his walls
2:51
Speaker 1: and you'd have to hunt with a rock just to
2:53
Speaker 1: challenge himself. But he doesn't need to do that because
2:57
Speaker 1: hunting is still pretty challenging for him, despite the fact
2:59
Speaker 1: that he has access to the most successful white tail
3:02
Speaker 1: hunters in the world and has racked up more hours
3:05
Speaker 1: of conversation on the topic than just about anyone out there,
3:09
Speaker 1: and he hunts a lot. What really kills big Bucks
3:13
Speaker 1: is experience and confidence, at least if you don't have
3:16
Speaker 1: a ton of money or a really good spot. In fact,
3:19
Speaker 1: not only does experience and confidence kill big Bucks, it
3:22
Speaker 1: also helps you enjoy hunting more. It's more fun to
3:25
Speaker 1: not be paralyzed by the second guessing, or to scroll
3:29
Speaker 1: through the Graham during the season only see every other
3:31
Speaker 1: person in your feed post in grip and griend photos
3:33
Speaker 1: with Bucks, you couldn't even dream of shooting. And I've
3:37
Speaker 1: said it's many times before, but enjoyment of hunting will
3:41
Speaker 1: lead you to hunt better. So you're probably thinking, all right, well,
3:44
Speaker 1: where the hell, are you going with this, dude? A
3:47
Speaker 1: settle down. You're starting to sound like my bride. Just
3:49
Speaker 1: let me get there. That's where I'm going with this
3:52
Speaker 1: is that I actually have faith in you. I truly do.
3:56
Speaker 1: I believe that people are capable of great things, just
3:59
Speaker 1: as they're capable of consistently killing deer that make them happy.
4:04
Speaker 1: I think that you've got this, and I want to
4:06
Speaker 1: tell you why. It's because this is not as hard
4:10
Speaker 1: as you think it is. Now Listen, I'm functionally a dipshit,
4:15
Speaker 1: and I killed deer, including big bucks, fairly frequently. And
4:20
Speaker 1: if you think I'm being falsely humble, here, let me
4:23
Speaker 1: give you a few examples. One time I rear ended
4:27
Speaker 1: a lady and her daughter who were on their way
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Speaker 1: to church because I was eating a muffin and some
4:31
Speaker 1: of it broke onto my shirt while we were stopped
4:33
Speaker 1: at a red light. When all the other traffic started
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Speaker 1: to go, I was still thinking about the crumbs from
4:38
Speaker 1: that muffin, and I drove right into the car ahead
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Speaker 1: of me. It was the only time I ever got
4:42
Speaker 1: a speeding ticket for going like three miles per hour.
4:44
Speaker 1: In fact, I might be the only person to ever
4:47
Speaker 1: get a speeding ticket for going as fast as a
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Speaker 1: slow turtle. Another time, I went to load my boat
4:53
Speaker 1: on a trailer and I didn't pull up the trolling motor. Now,
4:56
Speaker 1: it's a bass boat, so you have to powerloaded by
4:58
Speaker 1: driving right up on the trailer. But when your trolley
5:01
Speaker 1: motor is in the way, it doesn't work very well.
5:04
Speaker 1: And buying a new expensive trolley motor because of a
5:06
Speaker 1: bone head move like that sucks, but it teaches you
5:09
Speaker 1: a valuable lesson um. Another time, I stepped on a
5:13
Speaker 1: moving treadmill in a full gym, which still haunts me.
5:17
Speaker 1: And I mean I think about that moment at least
5:19
Speaker 1: ten times a day every day, and I have no doubts.
5:23
Speaker 1: If I'm lucky enough to get really old, I'll probably
5:25
Speaker 1: still be thinking about that stupid moment when I stepped
5:28
Speaker 1: on a moving treadmill in a full gym. Uh last March,
5:32
Speaker 1: I was fishing in Florida and I snapped an expensive
5:35
Speaker 1: travel rod on a tie down cleat on a dock,
5:38
Speaker 1: only to lose a different expensive rod the next night
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Speaker 1: by not paying attention when a baff and top catfish
5:43
Speaker 1: took off with my bait. That little series of idiocy
5:47
Speaker 1: there cost me nearly six d dollars in fishing gear
5:50
Speaker 1: in two days, and it was nobody's fault on my own.
5:54
Speaker 1: In fact, I still have a mullet spine stuck in
5:56
Speaker 1: my pointer finger from that trip, from another stupid move
6:00
Speaker 1: that I'm still suffering from months later. I've missed so
6:05
Speaker 1: many deer it's it's kind of hard to believe. I
6:08
Speaker 1: trip randomly quite often. Twice as an adult. I've shipped
6:12
Speaker 1: my pants in situations where you definitely don't want to
6:15
Speaker 1: shoot your pants. And I still kill deer quite often,
6:21
Speaker 1: so often in fact, that people pay me to talk
6:23
Speaker 1: about it, which is really bizarre. But my point is,
6:28
Speaker 1: if I can do this, you can do this. You
6:32
Speaker 1: have the skills, the curiosity, the dedication to make this happen.
6:37
Speaker 1: But you've got to remember that it takes time. It
6:40
Speaker 1: takes time to be consistently successful, and there really aren't
6:44
Speaker 1: any shortcuts. You can't send me a d M or
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Speaker 1: some other hunter who you think holds the real secrets
6:49
Speaker 1: to deer hunting success and asked them to look at
6:52
Speaker 1: a mappier farm and tell you where to hang a stand,
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Speaker 1: and then bam, you're gonna kill big bucks. You can't
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Speaker 1: visit a forum or read an article and uddently clear
7:00
Speaker 1: the hurdle that has been keeping you from frequently filling tags.
7:04
Speaker 1: Now you can glean some ideas from that stuff and
7:07
Speaker 1: maybe put some advice to practical use, which is a
7:10
Speaker 1: good thing. But even so, that's you doing it, that's
7:14
Speaker 1: you taking the time to make something happen. That's yours.
7:19
Speaker 1: You get out there more and you'll get better, you'll
7:22
Speaker 1: have more fun, and you'll develop more confidence. But do
7:25
Speaker 1: it at your own pace, at your own comfort level,
7:27
Speaker 1: and accept the fact that it will take seasons upon
7:31
Speaker 1: seasons to become happier with your day to day performance
7:34
Speaker 1: throughout the fall. Now, listen, I know this sounds like
7:38
Speaker 1: raw rab bs, but it's not. I've got two buddies
7:43
Speaker 1: who I hunt with quite a bit that have come
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Speaker 1: so far in ten years that it blows my mind.
7:47
Speaker 1: And I know ten years is a long time, but
7:49
Speaker 1: in a way, it's really not. Both of them got
7:52
Speaker 1: into bow hunting at about the same time serious bow
7:55
Speaker 1: hunting anyway, and both of them took very different paths
7:58
Speaker 1: through their career so far, but they both started out
8:01
Speaker 1: hunting any type of deer not very well. I might
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Speaker 1: add killing those or little Box was a real challenge
8:07
Speaker 1: for both of them. Even though they were full grown
8:10
Speaker 1: adult men by the time they really started hunting hard,
8:13
Speaker 1: what they had going for them was an awful lot
8:15
Speaker 1: of desire to be in the woods. They liked scouting,
8:18
Speaker 1: they liked hunting, and they were game for at least
8:21
Speaker 1: one trippy year they made it happen. That meant that
8:24
Speaker 1: they were getting valuable home field experience on private farms,
8:29
Speaker 1: but that they were also heading out on the road
8:31
Speaker 1: to hunt with me on public land in various states.
8:34
Speaker 1: They hunted white tilles, obviously, but they also hunted Western
8:38
Speaker 1: game whenever they got the chance, and small game in
8:40
Speaker 1: turkeys and whatever was open. They hunted when they could hunt.
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Speaker 1: Whatever they could hunt. They stacked up some meaningful experience
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Speaker 1: throughout the years, and while they randomly would kill stuff
8:52
Speaker 1: in those early years, it took them i don't know,
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Speaker 1: maybe seven or eight years before they started putting it
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Speaker 1: all together, and I mean really putting it all together.
9:00
Speaker 1: And now when we travel, I'm not surprised at all
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Speaker 1: when either one of them kills a good one at home.
9:06
Speaker 1: It's damn near a given that throughout the season, at
9:09
Speaker 1: some point I'll get a text or a phone call
9:11
Speaker 1: telling me that their tag is filled and it's time
9:13
Speaker 1: to call the taxidermist. It's honestly so impressive because not
9:17
Speaker 1: that long ago, neither one of them could hit a
9:19
Speaker 1: deer to save his life. I got to watch them
9:22
Speaker 1: go through the starvation years and emerge out the other
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Speaker 1: side as good hunters, and I feel like some of
9:28
Speaker 1: you might be stuck in those early years as well,
9:30
Speaker 1: or maybe stuck in third gear where you can kill
9:32
Speaker 1: some deer, but the big bucks really ellude you. Listen,
9:36
Speaker 1: everyone moves at their own pace, so sometimes it's a
9:39
Speaker 1: matter of struggling through the lean years. I think everybody
9:42
Speaker 1: pretty much goes through them, and that sucks, just like
9:46
Speaker 1: it sucks to be a twenty year old right now,
9:48
Speaker 1: or honestly, just about any time in history where you
9:51
Speaker 1: see what the world could offer you, but you broke,
9:55
Speaker 1: depressed and unsure what to do with yourself, and honestly
9:57
Speaker 1: not feeling too peachy about this whole adulting. For most people,
10:02
Speaker 1: there are just phases of life that kind of suck.
10:05
Speaker 1: And while it's a little comfort to hear that from
10:07
Speaker 1: some stranger, it's true. And the same goes for hunting.
10:12
Speaker 1: It rarely starts out easy, and if it does, it
10:15
Speaker 1: won't mean anything to you in the long run. To
10:18
Speaker 1: gamify hunting or to shortcut the whole thing if you
10:21
Speaker 1: have the means, it's a great way to find success
10:25
Speaker 1: but not really enjoy it a whole lot. It's a
10:27
Speaker 1: great way to minimize this gift we have, and that's
10:31
Speaker 1: certainly future generations probably won't. So you know what I
10:35
Speaker 1: want you to do. I want you to treat this
10:37
Speaker 1: year like it's your chance to level up somehow. Set
10:41
Speaker 1: some goals, achievable goals that will make you put in
10:46
Speaker 1: the extra time you need to put in a little
10:49
Speaker 1: bit of extra effort, and don't set them around big bucks.
10:53
Speaker 1: Well I guess you can, but don't solely focus on
10:57
Speaker 1: a goal like that and saying something, well, I've I've
11:01
Speaker 1: killed a buck that scores a hundred and five inches now,
11:03
Speaker 1: so I really want one that is bigger. I mean,
11:05
Speaker 1: that's fine, but you're selling the whole thing pretty short
11:08
Speaker 1: if that's the sole focus. I look at it a
11:11
Speaker 1: different way. I set goals based around a few different
11:14
Speaker 1: things I want to tell you about, just to kind
11:16
Speaker 1: of give you some ideas. The first goal for me now,
11:19
Speaker 1: which is more important than trophies when I wasn't always
11:23
Speaker 1: that way, believe me, but it's it's where I'm at now,
11:25
Speaker 1: is to fill the freezer. I go into the season
11:28
Speaker 1: and I want five to seven deer because I know
11:33
Speaker 1: that my family can eat that all and I probably
11:35
Speaker 1: won't run out or have to ration venison. I love
11:38
Speaker 1: that feeling. It's a big one, but it's doable because
11:41
Speaker 1: I know a hund a bunch of states and get
11:43
Speaker 1: enough antlerless tags and have zero qualms about lowering my
11:47
Speaker 1: standards to make it happen. But along with that goal,
11:51
Speaker 1: my main objective is to take five to seven good
11:55
Speaker 1: shots to get those deer in my freezer. Now, actually
11:58
Speaker 1: I said that wrong. It's to make, not take make
12:02
Speaker 1: five to seven good shots. If it takes me six
12:05
Speaker 1: dear to fill the freezer, I want six double lung
12:08
Speaker 1: or heart shots in my rear view mirror. That's my goal.
12:12
Speaker 1: I want six short, easy to follow blood trails that
12:16
Speaker 1: make me feel like I did a good job as
12:17
Speaker 1: a hunter. I don't want those marginal hits got's liver spine.
12:23
Speaker 1: I don't want them. I don't want missus. I want
12:26
Speaker 1: to draw my bow every time and know that my
12:29
Speaker 1: arrow is gonna go where it's supposed to go. And
12:32
Speaker 1: if it doesn't, and it often doesn't, then I know
12:34
Speaker 1: I've got work to do, but it's something I will
12:37
Speaker 1: work on. So what will your goals be? Are you
12:41
Speaker 1: dead set on getting your first dear or maybe your
12:44
Speaker 1: first buck, maybe your first pope and young buck, your
12:47
Speaker 1: first two dear season? How about the kind of shots
12:51
Speaker 1: you'll plan to take and make? What about how frequently
12:56
Speaker 1: you'll hunt? Do you have a goal to hunt x
12:58
Speaker 1: amount of days every week regard as a weather that's
13:01
Speaker 1: a good one. I don't use that goal anymore because
13:04
Speaker 1: I don't need it. I hunt when I can always.
13:07
Speaker 1: Do you do you remember last season? Did you take
13:11
Speaker 1: days off because it was too hot or too cold,
13:14
Speaker 1: or too rainy or too whatever. Maybe don't do that
13:17
Speaker 1: this year. Maybe motivate yourself to hunt when you don't
13:19
Speaker 1: want to hunt, just like you would make yourself go
13:22
Speaker 1: for a run even though you don't want to, because
13:24
Speaker 1: very few people ever actually want to go for a run.
13:28
Speaker 1: Maybe you're going to take a trip this year and
13:30
Speaker 1: hunt somewhere else. What are your goals around that trip?
13:33
Speaker 1: Kill A big one? Kill a little one, just enjoy
13:36
Speaker 1: some time in a new place. How are you going
13:39
Speaker 1: to make this stuff happen? That's maybe the most important
13:42
Speaker 1: part of this because that's on you. What are you
13:45
Speaker 1: gonna do to make sure you get the most out
13:47
Speaker 1: of the summer scouting window and then this season that's
13:50
Speaker 1: what matters. And remember again, it's on you. Hunting is
13:56
Speaker 1: a personal thing, and even though we have good friends
13:58
Speaker 1: who hunt, or at least most of us do, it's
14:01
Speaker 1: still an activity mostly done in private. This is probably
14:06
Speaker 1: the best point to wrap this episode on because I
14:09
Speaker 1: really believe it. I say this often on podcast, and
14:12
Speaker 1: it's always good for a laugh if I'm giving a
14:15
Speaker 1: dear seminar somewhere, But no one really cares about what
14:18
Speaker 1: you shoot. They really don't. Now, your wife might pretend
14:22
Speaker 1: she does, a few co workers might think it's kind
14:24
Speaker 1: of cool one way or another, and you might be
14:26
Speaker 1: blessed to have a few good hunting buddies who actually
14:28
Speaker 1: kind of do care. But it's not going to make
14:30
Speaker 1: or break anyone's day. If you finally arrow that hundred
14:33
Speaker 1: and fifty inch or you've been after or if you
14:35
Speaker 1: eat tag soup. For the seventeen season, in a row.
14:38
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter to anyone but you. It really really
14:41
Speaker 1: doesn't as a matter to your Instagram followers, or your
14:44
Speaker 1: Facebook friends, or the strangers on your favorite hunting form
14:48
Speaker 1: that you like to visit. It wouldn't change their lives
14:50
Speaker 1: one iota if you filled your tag or not. Now
14:55
Speaker 1: I want to reiterate this because I really want to
14:57
Speaker 1: drive this point home. Hunt for yourself. Do not apologize
15:02
Speaker 1: to anyone for doing this legally in a way that
15:04
Speaker 1: makes you happy. Your time in the woods is yours,
15:07
Speaker 1: and it's important. The decision on when to shoot or
15:10
Speaker 1: what to shoot, that's really important too, but only to you.
15:14
Speaker 1: And I don't know. I guess I suppose the deer
15:16
Speaker 1: but they don't really get to say in it. Well
15:18
Speaker 1: sometimes they do, but you get my meaning. This is
15:22
Speaker 1: your time and your passion, your hobby or whatever own it.
15:26
Speaker 1: Treat it like something that matters to you, because it does,
15:29
Speaker 1: and just get out there. Set some goals. Forget about
15:33
Speaker 1: what other people think about deer hunting or big bucks
15:36
Speaker 1: or who should shoot what, and you do you make
15:39
Speaker 1: your decisions, hunt your way, follow your hearts. My friends,
15:44
Speaker 1: and I know this sounds like a bullshit pepper rally,
15:46
Speaker 1: but it's not. The key to happiness might not exist
15:49
Speaker 1: seventeen feet up a tree, or it might at that
15:52
Speaker 1: time in the woods watching nature do what nature does.
15:55
Speaker 1: That's good for the soul. My friends, try to leave
15:57
Speaker 1: as much excess baggage behind as you can. You go
16:00
Speaker 1: there and just try to learn how to enjoy it.
16:03
Speaker 1: And lastly, remember that everyone is in the same boat.
16:07
Speaker 1: If you want to go on Instagram and small buck
16:08
Speaker 1: shame a stranger, don't. Don't be a dick. It's not
16:12
Speaker 1: that hard. Try to be happy for people's success, because
16:15
Speaker 1: as weird as this, maybe we need other folks out
16:18
Speaker 1: there enjoying the world of a white tale and advocating
16:21
Speaker 1: on our behalf. Even if they just killed the buck
16:23
Speaker 1: you've been watching for three years, or they happen to
16:26
Speaker 1: kill a forky every year when you desperately want them
16:29
Speaker 1: to let them go so they can grow, Just do
16:31
Speaker 1: you and try to love every second of it, because
16:34
Speaker 1: the ability to go out and hunt these magnificent creatures,
16:36
Speaker 1: it is a gift that we won't have forever. Now.
16:41
Speaker 1: I know I've been like a poorly qualified life coach
16:43
Speaker 1: in Therapist the last few episodes, but I got one
16:46
Speaker 1: more in me. Next week, I'm gonna get vulnerable and
16:49
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you about the decisions I've made in
16:51
Speaker 1: my life that made me a way, way better hunter.
16:55
Speaker 1: And it's probably not what you're expecting to hear, but
16:57
Speaker 1: you should listen in. There might be a lesson in
16:59
Speaker 1: it for every one of us. That's it for this show,
17:04
Speaker 1: my fellow dear addicts. I'm Tony Peterson, and this has
17:06
Speaker 1: been the Wire to Hunt Foundations podcast, which is brought
17:09
Speaker 1: to you by First Light. As always, all of us
17:12
Speaker 1: here at Meat Eater truly thank you for your support.
17:14
Speaker 1: It means the world to us. And if you want
17:16
Speaker 1: more white tail content, please do not hesitate to head
17:19
Speaker 1: on over to our Wire to Hunt YouTube channel or
17:22
Speaker 1: visit the mediator dot com slash wire