Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 556: Foundations - The Sound of Settling

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Ep. 556: Foundations - The Sound of Settling · 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, and now your host,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Tony Peterson. Hey everyone, welcome to the Wire to Hunt
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Foundations podcast, which is brought to you by First Light.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: This week's episode is all about the little ways we
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: settle with our summertime shooting sessions and how that can
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: cost us big time when the hunting season rolls around. Listen,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: it's the end of July and if you're not shooting
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: somewhat regularly, you should be back in the spring. I
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: dropped a couple of episodes on target shooting with some
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: wisdom on how to make the most of your sessions,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and I really kind of hope he started shooting back
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: there in the spring. But if you didn't, you better
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: get to the range now. And you should also pay
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: attention into your gear, whether you're a bow hunter or
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: a gun hunter both, because there are a million different
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: ways we settle that can cost us when the actual
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: season opens up and it's time to go hunting. One
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: of the things I love about elk hunting it's just
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: the downtime throughout the day. I know that sounds weird,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: but since I've never done anything but public land over
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the counter elk hunts. I've never gotten into one of
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: those dreamy situations where the elk are just bugling all
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: day and going absolutely nuts. My hunts and probably yours,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: if you've ever been lucky enough to elk hunt, they
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: just contain a lot of dead hours. And even if
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: you hunt the last week of the season when temperature
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: should be cooler, this is almost a guarantee you're gonna
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: hit those dry spells. And if you're hunting with a
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: partner like I, usually you tend to shrug off your
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: pack somewhere in the shade, pull out your pocket rocket
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: to boil some water for coffee, and you just shoot
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the ship while waiting for something to happen. During one
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: of these sessions in my elk hunting partner, Tyler started
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: telling me stories about his first hunts. He told me
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: about bear encounters, his lack of skills, and an elk
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: he missed because he was using three different weights of arrows.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: He didn't know any better at the time, so he
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: filled his quiver up with whatever arrows he could get
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: his hands on, and he just went hunting. Now, considering
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: he's one of the most gear obsessed bow hunters. I
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: know now it's safe to say he learned from his mistakes,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: but not before it cost him some opportunities. Maybe it's
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: different today with all the information available, but I also
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: remember those older days pretty well. I hunted for years
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: with arrows that were probably not spined correctly. They're probably
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: not the right length, and they're probably tipped with broadheads
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: of different weights. While any of those things alone might,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: and I do mean might, cost you an animal, certainly
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: not a guarantee. Bow Hunting is a game of little details,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: and to an extent, so is gun hunting. If you
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: don't show up everything that is within your power, you'll
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: have deer slip right through your fingers. And those losses
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: sting the most, at least in my mind, they do
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: because they're preventable, and there is no better time than
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: now to address some of those things, long before the
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: summer shooting sessions are over and the actual season is
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: upon us. So let's take archery ammo our arrows as
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: a first example, at least before we get into bullets.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: For all you bow hunters, ask yourself, are you shooting
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: a properly spined arrow? I hope so, because if not,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: you're in trouble. An improperly spined arrow is either going
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: to be too stiff or not stiff enough for your setup,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: and it's going to wreak havoc on your accuracy. You
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: might not notice if you only practice at twenty yards
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: with a paper plate tacked to your target, but if
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: you try for any level of precision, you might. And
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: if you try to shoot broadheads, even mechanicals, you'll probably notice.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: If you shoot fixed blade heads you almost definitely will.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Now i'd argue, although I could lose this argument, the
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: proper spine is more important than your individual arrow brand choice.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: What I mean by that is, if you spend big
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: money to buy the new, greatest, I don't know, micro
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: diameter arrows, you can, but they aren't spined for your setup,
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  Speaker 1: You'd be better off with a dozen that costs a
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: quarter of the high end AMMO, but is spine correctly. Now,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: what you tip your arrows with matters too. I'm not
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: going to dive into front of center and some of
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: the more technical stuff here, but I'll say the grain
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: scale is a pretty good investment cheap two. Understanding why
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: you might need it, it's important I like knowing exactly
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: how much my arrows way, and I like knowing that
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: my field points way exactly or damn near exactly the
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: same as my broadheads. You pull out a handful of
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: field points that range from five grains to your arrows
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: won't behave all that different, uh probably, but it will
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: give you a skewed view of your point of impact,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: especially if you only shoot a hundred grain heads, which
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: is by far the most common weight these days. Also,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: as a life pro tip, if you do have an
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: archery tackle box with a bunch of broadheads in it,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: always close it up and keep it out of reach.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: I had an open tackle box with a bunch of
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: broadheads in my office one time, and I was leaning
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: back in my office chair talking on the phone when
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: that chair flat out exploded on me. I instinctively put
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: my hand out to catch myself, and it went right
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: into a box with like seventies three different broadheads in it.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: It was an absolute miracle that I didn't need stitches
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: or surgery, but it also made me think about a
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: little kid tripping over it and made me realize I
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: should probably be a little safer with that stuff anyway.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Consistency in your gear is a very good thing, because
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: we strive to be as consistent as possible with our
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: shooting form and shot execution for these reasons. Now, if
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: your practice heads weighs three different weights but your broadheads don't,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: you've got some inconsistency there. It might not treat you
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: very well. When the buck of ten lifetime stops at
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: forty two yards and you think I can thread the
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: needle and get this one, and your gun hunters, you're
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: not off the hook either. I don't know how many
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: times a relative or some other acquaintance has told me
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: about buying a box of shells right before the deer opener. Sure,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: they'll say they sighted in their rifle at the old
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: quarry a few weeks ago, but they used old Ammo
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: and wanted to make sure they had some heavy hitting
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: stuff for those big Northwoods bucks or whatever off those
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: bucks happened to cruise by it Like fifty yards, switching
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: from a hundred forty grain bullets to hundred eighty grain
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: bullets might not matter a whole lot, But what about
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: when he's two fifty yards out in a clear cut
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: trying to sniff a doze butt and now you drop
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: is ten inches instead of six. We might feel the
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: need to settle for whatever we can get our hands
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: on in the current AMMO market. But if you do
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: hunt with what you practice with, please, whether you're gun
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: hunter bow hunt, I also think it's imperative to use
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: a range finder as religiously as possible. Now. I know
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: there are sometimes in the woods where the action happens
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: real fast and you don't have time to pop a reading,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: but most of the time you have more time than
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: you think. Bow Hunters out west are probably the most
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: consistent with this, and white tail bow hunters through at
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: the Midwest in the East probably pretty consistent. But if
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: that's a crutch you use to know exactly where to aim,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: then you should lean on it a lot. This is
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: one of the reasons why I don't like going to
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: shooting ranges too often. Many often have targets set up
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: in exactly ten yard increments, or if they have a
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: walk through course, there will be a sign with specific yardage. Now,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with shooting at these courses, but it's
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: also a good idea to shoot where you don't know
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the range and you have to use your range funter
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: to tell you every time you knock an arrow. This
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: does two things. It gets in the habit of always
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: using it, and it helps you estimate range better when
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: you don't have the chance to use it. Don't settle
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: for guessing when you don't need to. And this goes
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: for rifle hunting too, And I honestly think a range
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: finder is a hell of a lot more important to shotgun,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: rifle and muzzle or hunters than we give it credit for. Now.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: I know that the margin of error is a little
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: smaller when you're working with controlled explosions and lead spinning
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: its way through rifle barrels. But think about every rifle
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: range you've ever been to. There will be shaded benches
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: with targets at a hundred yards, two hundred yards, maybe
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: three hundred yards, might be some in the middle distances
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: at fifty yard increments as well. Maybe you hold your
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: two seventy dead on at a hundred yards and it
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: hits I don't know, four inches low at two hundred,
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  Speaker 1: maybe it hits ten or twelve inches low at three hundred.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: So you shoot half a box of shells and you
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: think to yourself, I don't know, if he's within three
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: football fields, he's dead. Then you go out to your
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: favorite ladder stand on the power line on opening morning.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: At first, ladies ups out nervously and you think to yourself,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know, he can't be more than a fifty yards.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: You hold a smidge high and you let her rip,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: But then you see belly hair blow up and he
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: runs off. When you get down to look for blood,
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  Speaker 1: you realize he was big, bigger than you've ever seen
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: while hunting, and he was a hell of a lot
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  Speaker 1: farther away than you guessed. This type of thing happens
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: all the time because we settle for good enough when
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: we could just use some of the tools at our
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: disposal to be far more accurate and confident in our
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: shooting out in the field. And we do this a
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: lot of other ways, too, in ways that transcend bow
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: or gun hunting to just the general hunting experience. Take comfort.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: For example, when we are shopping for new camel or
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: even a seat cushion, we often think about price. First.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: I get that, I really do, but then we also
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: think camel patterns. We think a lot of things about ourselves,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: like I don't know, well, this mid layer jacket is
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: way cheaper than the heavy duty cold weather one, and
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty tough, so I can handle a lot of cold.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: So I think, let's go with it, or you think, hell,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: I'm a super tough guy who doesn't get too miserable anywhere.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: I don't need an extra layer of padding on that
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: old ladder stand. I can sit all day on metal
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: and not have to worry about it. You know. Then
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: November rolls around, and it's with it. The temperatures drop
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: and the wind picks up out of the north, and
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: it might be perfect rut weather, but it's also not
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: great weather for being seventeen feet up in a tree
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: for hours on end while the cold wind blows right
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: in your face and that mid layer jacket, or not
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: having a good seat cushion. You know, that's a different
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: kind of thing there. It's not so much fun, not
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: so comfortable. Now. I'm not saying you need to drop
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: serious coinage for high end camera to kill deer, but
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: when it comes to settling for good enough, sometimes mother
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Nature says not on my watch. And when you're moving
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: around him miserable and prone to calling a hunt hours
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: before you have to, you're gonna kill fewer deer. You're
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: gonna have us fun. This is kind of like pain tolerance.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Ask anyone who works in the medical profession what the
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: average person rates their pain tolerance on in the one
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: to tend scale. Most people respond with a really high number,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: quickly followed by the disclaimer that I have a really
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: high threshold for pain. But they don't understand the assignment
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: because they aren't doubled over bawling their eyes out and
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: praying to a merciful God to take them from this
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: earth and relieve them of their agony. They are sitting
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: there calm as a cucumber, overestimating their ability to handle pain.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: They're not out of ten. This is just like what
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: we often do when we think about deer hunting conditions,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: and we're not actually out in those deer hunting conditions.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: And I know this might sound a little crazy too,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: but I think if we settle on the little stuff
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: like inconsistent weights of our bullets or field points, we'll
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: start to settle in other ways, like I don't know
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: how many cameras we run, or whether we go glass
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: for white tails once a week or once per month,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: or whether we put up three stands in the preseason
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: instead of six. In that way, I think all of
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: this stuff, like most of the things in life, is
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: a good, slow, gradual progression towards being better. If you
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: make the decision to weigh your field points and screw
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: them into arrows that are spine correctly, you're gonna be
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: better off and you're gonna have more fun shooting. Then
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: you might not settle for a few practice sessions throughout
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: the summer, but instead get a little more disciplined on
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: the quality and quantity of your sessions. And if you
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: do that, you'll be looking forward to that first bucket
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: of the season walking right into your shooting lane because
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: you're gonna believe that you're gonna kill him instead of
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: looking forward to the encounter because it's cool to have
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: a buck that close, but also being somewhere in the
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: range of a little nervous you'll screw up to being
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: totally afraid of having to take the shot, because what
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: if you do screw up and then you have to
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: tell your buddies again that you whift big or worse.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: It's time to talk some fresh batteries into the flashlights
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: and go on another wild goose chase, blood trailing adventure
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: that it will always end with the predictable platitudes like
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: I don't know, who knows, maybe he'll make it, or
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: the coyotes have to eat too, or some other way
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: we make ourselves feel better while masking the truth with
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: great a bullshite. Maybe if you don't settle at this
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: time of year when you're at the range, you won't
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: settle for a good enough shooting lane or a good
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: enough entrance route when you know damn well you're engaged
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: in a fun game of self sabotage where you'll make
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: way too much noise on the way in opening morning,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: or you'll watch the woods wake up with the rising sun,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: only to realize that you have one so so shooting lane. Now,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: there in times in life where settling is okay. Just
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: for an example, the other day, we went out to
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: eat and I asked for a diet coke and they
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: brought me a doctor pepper instead, and I thought, what
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the hell, it's pretty delicious, more delicious than a diet
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: coke actually, And even though I settled for a full
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: gr soda like a I don't know, real housewife of
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: somewhere I guess or something, I'm really not that big
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: of a prima donna. I could have said something, but
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: I didn't. I don't care that much. You can settle
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: in other ways too. Some people settle for a spouse
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: because they think the viable mate market is mostly tapped
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: out for them. I don't really recommend that because that's
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: kind of a big one and reminds me of something
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: I read the other day. It was a story about
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: dad jokes, I think, but anyway, the author said that
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: his father always referred to his mother as his first wife,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: even though they are currently married and have no plans
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: to serve her the papers and look for a second one.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: I've been using that on my wife too, and she
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: hates it, but I think it's hilarious. You don't want
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: to settle for a spouse or a pediatrist when you
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: really need an optometrist. And you don't want to settle
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: for too many little things in your pursuit to become
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: a better hunter. If you can control it, you should
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: try to control it. A good way to look at
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: this is to think about summer shooting sessions. What are
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: the ways to encourage better accuracy? How do they change
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: from the range to the field. Is there a way
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: to bridge that gap or ensure that they won't change
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: when you go from the backyard to the tree tops
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: in your new saddle. Is there a way where you
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: can be a little more disciplined so you know exactly
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: what range you're shooting at, no matter whether you're just
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: punching paper or trying to deflate lungs. What are the
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: little ways you cannot settle for good enough, but instead
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: up for exactly what you need or exactly what you
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: should be doing. Now, if you start to flush some
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: of those things out, they're gonna snowball in a positive direction.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: If you don't believe that, just pay attention to some
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: of the best hunters out there, those public land hunters
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: who just get it done wherever they go. They're not
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: settling a whole lot. They don't settle when they're e scouting,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: hanging stands, shooting in the summer, choosing when to take
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: a shot, you name it. They don't settle for good enough,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Because when you're dealing with a game of infinite variables
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: in the most important of tiny details, one little thing
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: that isn't up to park and set off cascading failures
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: that ultimately ends up with a buck living another day
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: and not them taking grip and grin photos. So, my friends,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: be careful what you settle for, because good enough in
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: the white tailed woods isn't usually that good. That's it
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: for this week, my white tail loving friends. I'm Tony
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Peterson and this has been the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: which is brought to you by First Light. If you
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: haven't gotten enough white tail goodness your your white tail
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: fixed on this podcast and the regular wire to Hunt podcast,
• 16:34
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• 16:36
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• 16:38
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• 16:41
  Speaker 1: the latest and greatest articles that we dropped every week
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: from myself market a whole bunch of white tail slayers,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: and as always, thank you, thank you, thank you so
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: much for listening for your support. We really appreciate it.