Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 683: What Would Steve Sherk Do?

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Ep. 683: What Would Steve Sherk Do? · Wired To Hunt Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your guide to
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the Whitetail woods presented by First Light, creating proven versatile
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind. First Light
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Go farther, Stay Longer, and now your host, Mark Kenyon.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. This week on
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: the show, I'm running Steve Shirk through our what would
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: you Do gauntlet, getting us insight into exactly how we'd
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: handle some of the most challenging deer hunting scenarios. I
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: can throw them all right, and welcome to the Wired
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: to Hunt podcast, brought to you by First Light and
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: our Camel for Conservation initiative. Every piece of First Light
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: gear in our white tail Camel pattern that specter. A
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: percent of each one of those sales is going to
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: go back to the National Deer Association to help with
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: their mission to fight for deer and deer hunters all
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: across the country. Good stuff. So this week on the show,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: we are continuing are what would You Do series, in
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: which we are running our guests during the month of
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: August through a gauntlet of different situations, very specific hypothetical
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: deer hunting scenarios to see how they would deal with them,
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  Speaker 2: what they would be thinking about, what their thought process
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: would be, what they're going to consider, and how they
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: would actually execute on that plan. And today our guest
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: is Steve Shirk. Steve Hale's from the mountains of Pennsylvania,
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  Speaker 2: where he's made a name for himself chasing big woods,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: big mountain bucks across the state's vast public lands. And
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: he's not just doing it successfully for himself, he's also
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: leading dozens of other hunters to success through his outfitting business,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Shirks Guide Service. So in addition to all that, he
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: is also somehow finding time to share his insights through
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: articles he writes for North American Whitetail, all sorts of
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: YouTube videos and podcasts, and plenty of other things too.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: So in short, Steve is a wealth of information and
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: a go to source for expert advice on hunting DIY
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  Speaker 2: public land bucks. Which is why I'm so excited to
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: get to talk to him today and to run him
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  Speaker 2: through the gauntlet. So that's what we're gonna do today.
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  Speaker 2: I've got a lot of interesting questions and scenarios for him,
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  Speaker 2: but before we get into that, I do just want
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: to pause briefly and thank all of you who came
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: out to our Working for Wildlife tour this past weekend
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  Speaker 2: in Missouri. Man, it was awesome. We had a great
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: show on showing. I think it's the word I'm looking
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: for you a great showing or turnout. Maybe it would
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: be the better choice of people who came out to
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: volunteer on this piece of public land there in eastern Missouri.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: It was a really cool event. We did a kind
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: of a diverse array of different things. We were cutting
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  Speaker 2: invasive woody trees out of wetland areas, so we'removing willows
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: and different things are going to crowd out that important
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: wetland habitat in this area. We installed owl purchase for
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: short eared owls, which are an important species of conservation
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  Speaker 2: need I believe out there in Missouri, and these these
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  Speaker 2: owls are coming from across the continent and wintering here
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: in this area. So we installed these different kind of
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: wooden snag purchase. Out in the prairie habitat. We were
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: collecting seeds from some of the native prairie in which
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  Speaker 2: they could use those seeds later for re replanting and
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: restoration of prairie habitat. Elsewhere, we were building wood duck boxes,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: repairing blinds for they've got some pre installed blinds for
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: handicap access on this piece of public land. So there's
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: folks working on that. All sorts of really good things
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  Speaker 2: going on that we're going to improve wildlife habitat or
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  Speaker 2: improve you know, the situation for hunters or other recorators
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: out there, which was just a really cool thing to
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  Speaker 2: be a part of. I think everyone had a really
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  Speaker 2: good time. And after the volunteer day there was a
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: social event in which there was a number of different speakers,
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  Speaker 2: some from the Missouri Department of Conservation, and then myself
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  Speaker 2: I shared a story and talked a little bit about
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  Speaker 2: stewardship and some of my experiences there. So man, great time.
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  Speaker 2: Just wanted to again reiterate how much I appreciate everyone
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  Speaker 2: showing up for that being a part of it. I
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  Speaker 2: hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.
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  Speaker 2: We've got two more events coming up. There's gonna be
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  Speaker 2: one in Mississippi at the end of September, and then
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  Speaker 2: there's one in Kentucky in the middle of October, so
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  Speaker 2: if you're in those regions, stay tuned. More details to come.
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  Speaker 2: Looking forward to meeting plenty more of you having good
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  Speaker 2: time out there and doing something good for wildlife. So
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  Speaker 2: with out of the way, I do think we should
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  Speaker 2: get to our main event today. We've got Steve Shirk,
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  Speaker 2: We've got some really interesting hunting scenarios, we got some
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  Speaker 2: learning to do. Let's get to it all right here
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  Speaker 2: with me now I have got the one and only
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  Speaker 2: Steve Shirk. Welcome to the show.
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  Speaker 3: Steve, Hey, thanks a lot for having me.
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  Speaker 2: I'm glad we're making this happen. You've you've made a
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  Speaker 2: name for yourself in recent years across the whitetail web,
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  Speaker 2: and you've got what seems like a really interesting skill
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  Speaker 2: set in your region, and you're doing it at a
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: really consistent rate with a high quantity of success. And
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: the fact that you also, you know, run a guide
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  Speaker 2: service I think makes you even more interesting maybe than
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: just a guy who hunts for himself, because you've got
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: a whole different level of pressure and a whole different
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: level of data points. I've always thought that outfitters have
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: this really interesting, you know, view of the world because
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: they aren't just observing what they see in the woods themselves.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: They talk to the different people that are hunting with
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  Speaker 2: them every day, every week and you get it must
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: be a boatload of information you're getting in. So it's
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: all that said, I'm counting on you to be like
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  Speaker 2: an absolute banger of a guest for our gauntlet we're
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: gonna go through here today, because because you have the
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: minds of like hundreds of hunters in your head, I'm
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: gonna assume right.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, yeah, I know that you hit the nail on
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  Speaker 3: the head.
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  Speaker 2: So so the gist of what we're doing here is
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: the what would you do? Gauntlet? So I'm gonna run
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: you through a bunch of specific hypothetical hunting scenarios and
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: then you know, I'm looking for you to walk me
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: through how you would handle it, what you would do,
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  Speaker 2: why you would do it, and paint me as much
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: of a picture of that as you can. So do
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: you feel like you were up for that challenge?
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: I'm absolutely ready.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So in the interest of time, then we're not
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: gonna beat around the bush. I do want to know
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: if you've got a big giant buck you're excited about
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: this season, but I'll just let you slip that in
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: at some point through our conversation today, if and when
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: you feel it's appropriate because I want to get us
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: right into the meat and potatoes and stuff. So let
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: me just throw you kind of a softball ish to start.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: I think it'll just warmed up. Given your experience a
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: PA guy who's hunting all sorts of public land out there,
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  Speaker 2: it sounds like you've got a really a really in
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  Speaker 2: depth knowledge of your home turf, of your corner of
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  Speaker 2: the state. You're you're working a lot of land. But
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: what if I did this. What if I picked you
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: up right now and said you had to move out
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  Speaker 2: of Pennsylvania and I'm going to drop you down in
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  Speaker 2: maybe like North Carolina or Tennessee, you know, still kind
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: of that Appalachic kind of big timber mountain stuff, but
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: brand new state, brand new area. And I said, all right,
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  Speaker 2: figure it out. It's late August. You've never stepped foot
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: out here. Walk me through how you would approach your
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: scouting and prep if you had to start from scratch
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: in you know, the National Forest down in Tennessee.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Just one other question too, that is this like
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  Speaker 3: a pre scouting mission weeks ahead of the hunt? Are
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: we talking like coming in five days before the hunt? Yep.
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  Speaker 2: So let's say you are moving end of August. So like,
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  Speaker 2: you know, right right about now when people are listening,
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  Speaker 2: Let's say that's when you show up, and I guess
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  Speaker 2: Tennessee's season though they opened pretty early.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah that's what I was thinking.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so you're going to be, you know, pretty if
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  Speaker 2: not season's on, it's coming up very quickly. And so
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  Speaker 2: so walk me through the prep, the scouting, the prep
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  Speaker 2: or anything that might happen before you actually get out
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  Speaker 2: there with a bow.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. No, that's you know, even though I'm kind of
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  Speaker 3: stuck to my home area, there's so much ground here
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  Speaker 3: that I'm always learning anyways, and you know, I'm a
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  Speaker 3: big boots on the ground type of scouter. I've learned
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  Speaker 3: on public land you kind of have to look for
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  Speaker 3: different things that a lot of people are, you know,
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  Speaker 3: not really willing to put the foot work and the
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  Speaker 3: sweat and equity into to try to stay away from
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  Speaker 3: other hunters and try to find gear and individual bucks
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  Speaker 3: that aren't getting pressured. I also think that a lot
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  Speaker 3: of these bucks are catching on to the trends and
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  Speaker 3: the patterns and what everyone else is doing. There's so
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  Speaker 3: many of these podcasts out there and so much information
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  Speaker 3: that it's like there's always something new every year that
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  Speaker 3: someone like me or another well experienced hunter starts mentioning
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  Speaker 3: that's working for them, and then everyone catches on to that.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm always trying to evolve and do things differently.
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  Speaker 3: So I'd be going into that area looking for overlooked areas,
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  Speaker 3: maybe some more remote stuff hard to access, but I'd
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  Speaker 3: be doing a lot of boots on the ground. Probably
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  Speaker 3: the first thing I'd be looking for is trying to
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  Speaker 3: see what food sources are in the area, is their
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: mass crops. I tend to stay away from clearcuts more
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: than what I used so I used to love hunting clearcuts,
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  Speaker 3: but everybody's hunting them because they're so easy to from
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  Speaker 3: the scouting that you know, once again, it's just another
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: thing you kind of have to adjust to. So I'd
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  Speaker 3: be really spending a lot of time and like you know,
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: these more remote heart accessed areas, uh, looking also for
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  Speaker 3: like you know, high stem count areas. We spend a
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  Speaker 3: lot of time in higher elevations trying to figure out,
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  Speaker 3: you know, some betting areas and just covering ground very thoroughly.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: If it's late August early September, we're probably gonna start
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: to see a little bit of buck sign. I think
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: at that time too, you can catch your buck on
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: a decent daytime feeding pattern. So I'd probably be trying
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: to find somewhere where you know, food and betting was
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: kind of close. Maybe find some hot sign in those areas,
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: but overall, you know, more than anything, I would be
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: looking for those more remote hard to access that way, especially,
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: you know, when you throw hunting pressure in the mix,
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: that completely changes up you know, bucks, his patterns and
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: the way he's going to act. So it's so much
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: easier when you can find a buck that no one
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: knows about, you know, no one's, no one's bothering, and
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: you can catch him doing his usual thing. You know,
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: it's much easier to read his mind and what his
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: next step is going to be. So I think if
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: that answers that question decent enough, or if you want
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: to add on to it, I think That's where I'm at.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: Yes, So so I'm curious, you know, a day of
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: boots on the ground like that, Let's say, does that
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: look like you pick in a chunk and like grid
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: searching everything in that area, or do you go into
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: it with like some high led places on a map
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  Speaker 2: and you're just walking from this place that looks good
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: to this place that looks good to this place. You
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: know what, like how does that actual day usually play out?
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the first thing, I'm really only looking
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: at a map, like the first time picking out an area,
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: and all I really look for anymore is hard to
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  Speaker 3: access or areas that may not have a lot of
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: hiking trails or especially a lot of roads, or you know,
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: somewhere where there's pretty good stretch of ground that you
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: really got to put you know, put the footwork in
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: to get to. I used to not be that way,
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: but like I said, that's what I've had to had
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: to do over the years is you know, things started.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to say that the hunting pressure in
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: my area is getting worse. It's just hunters are getting
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: smarter reading maps and figuring out, you know, where they
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: want to be that you know, I've kind of just
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: banked off of that change and you know, adjusted to it.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: But yeah, just that first time I'm going to look
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: on a map and you know, I'm not looking for
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: much for terrain features right off the bat, or you know,
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: not doing any e scouting where where I can really
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: see what the habitat looks like. I'm just looking for
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: a really hard to get to area, difficult terrain, because
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: almost always that's where you're going to find a really
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: big deer, especially nowadays these you know, it may not
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: be the best habitat or the most perfect ridge to
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: bet on, but his number one need is security and
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: getting away, you know from other hunters. So I'm looking
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: for somewhere like that.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Okay, So if I were to move your start date
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: up from you know, end of August, and instead I
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: said you're not showing up till October, and like it's
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: hunting season, it's one would you still go and do
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: this major boots on the ground cover everything and just
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: like do a rip off the band Aid kind of thing,
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: or would you approach your scouting and intel much more
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: conservatively because you know it's hunting season.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: I think I'd be a little more cautious. It also
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: depends on what stage of October we're talking about. I mean,
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: if it's early October, that's when I'm even more cautious
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: because it really seems like Bucks in my area they
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: really shrink up their home range. Then you know they've
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: just broke up from bachelor groups or solo. They're kind
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: of just in a new world at that time, and
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: they really seem to be really skittish, so I'd be
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: a little bit more careful. Then I'd probably focus more
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: on high elevation betting and see if I can find
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: some hot sign around the edge of those you know,
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: those betting areas and maybe try to catch that gear,
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: you know, more out of evening feed pattern, you know,
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: coming out of that betting area going to a food source.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: But if it's like mid to late October, I'll get
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: a little more aggressive because that's when I start to
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: see Bucks doing what I call the rut shift, where
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: they're kind of breakout of that solo betting feed pattern
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: and they start paying you know, more attention to what
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: does are doing in their you know, in their home range,
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: and they will you know, one day they might bed
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: in one place, one day they might might another because
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: you know they're starting to expand and you know, look around.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: So I don't think you're as intrusive that time of year. Plus, uh,
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: you know, there's a lot of sign popping up in areas,
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: and I think it's a really good time to hunt
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: scrapes and rub lines then, so I think you can
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: be a little more aggressive. At that time, you're just
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: defined hot sign.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's let's play that a little further than So.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Let's imagine you're in there in October doing your scouting,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: and let's say you stumble onto like a no Questions
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: asked big Buck bedroom. You get in there, and all
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: the alarm bells start flashing, like you're like, oh man, like,
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: I'm in it, this is it? What do you do
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: in like in the moments that follow and then leading
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: up to whenever you might hunt it? And I guess
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: I will preface that by saying, could you also describe
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: for me what would you need to see for those
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: kinds of alarm bells to go off? So what would
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: it be that would make you think, oh wow, I'm
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: in a big Buck bedroom in the kind of places hunt?
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: And then what would you do you know? Following that? Yeah,
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: either if I'm scouting or hunting perspective, Yeah, so.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: Most likely I'm probably not going to run into a bed,
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: but I'm going to run into signs. The only reason
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: why I'm probably not going to look for a bed
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: is I don't really want to bump a deer out
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: of his bed at that time. I'm not saying that.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: I do believe that you can bump and instill, you know,
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: dump or whatever they call it, bump and dump, but
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: I really don't want to bump that deer out of
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: that area if I can, so usually what I'll do is,
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: you know, I'll try to get on the fringes of
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: what I think is a betting area, and that's where
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: I tend to find quite a bit of sign I
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: call it like a neutral zone where a buck might
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: have a patch of cover that he's claiming, you know,
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: he's got several beds in, but you'll get a lot
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: of deer activity on that edge. It's kind of like
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: almost like a transition area that you know, deer may
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: not want to go in there and disturb him because
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: they might get their butt kicked, especially a younger buck,
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: but they will, they'll skirt those edges, and that's where
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: that buck's going to throw a lot of that sign
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: out because he's telling other deer, and he's communicating with
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: other deer that that's his area. It's kind of like
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: putting posted signs on the edge of your property, or
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: you know, on your property boundary. That's kind of what
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: that deer is doing. So that's what I'd be looking for,
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: looking for some hot, big sign, you know, on the
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: edges of thick cover high elevations, especially because I've at
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: least in where I'm from, uh probably ninety percent of
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: our buck betting is on the upper third, so that's
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: you know, even though that'd be a new area to me,
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: I would relate my past experiences here and find those
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: high elevation covers. But then I'm also looking for an
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: active scrape on that edge too. What I've found that
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: inside of those betting areas is, you know, a lot
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: of people associate betting is betting only. I find that
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: bucks do a ton of feeding in those betting areas,
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: and even though it might not be their primary food source,
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: it seems like they they don't come out of there
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: as hungry, is what some people think, and they love
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: to work like an active scrape kind of in that
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: neutral zone area. Even though he might be heading to
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: a primary food source, he might also be going to
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: that primary food source just for the fact that he
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: wants to socialize with other deer in his area. See
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: what you know, maybe what competition he has as well,
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: but I've done really well trying to find scrapes on
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: the edge of that betting, especially if it's on a
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: trail and enter an exit trail right on the edge,
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: like that's been a dynamite spot for me in the past.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: That's probably where I would set up. The biggest thing, though,
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: it's going to be in the mountains, is you know,
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: how close do I think I am to where that
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: deer is actually betting? And is the wind going to
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: be consistent or not? So hard in the mountains sometimes
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: to find consistent wind, So that's going to be a
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: big part into it also. But then also sometimes the
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: way I look at it, you know, and even here,
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: because I may get to hunt a few times in
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: the early part of the season and that's it. I
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: do landscaping, so I'm still a little bit busy. Then
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: sometimes I'll just gamble like this is my time to hunt.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: I may have three days, and I might just especially
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: if I was traveling on a hunt, maybe I only
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: have five. If I didn't see the right wind and
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: I felt there was, you know, maybe only one good
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: spot to kill that gear, I may just go in
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: there late, like the last hour when the winds die down.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: That's what I tend to find is right before right
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: before sundown, you'll see a break in the wind and
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of the you know, the
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: activity or air activity is more thermal based than anyways.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: So I might try to find somewhere where I'm on
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: the downhill side of that bedroom and those thermals are
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: starting to drop, but I'd probably be willing to gamble
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: in a short period of time anyways, and you know,
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: see what happens. But I'm looking for the hot sign
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: on the edge of thick cover, especially an active scrape,
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: because that's where that gear is gonna want to before
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: he heads to that primary food source. He's gonna want
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: to see who's been around the fringes of his area.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: So that situation, when you know you're scouting your way through,
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: you come across this edge where it's like gets really thick,
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: and all of a sudden, you's some good rubs, some
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: big scrape. When you see that first good sign where
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: you get the alarm bells and like, oh wow, here
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: we are. Is that as far as you go because
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: you don't want to spook them, so you don't want
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: to go any further. Or do you say, oh wow,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: I think there's probably a buck bedded. You know, this
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: seems like I'm entering a bedroom. Will you do it?
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Will you explore any more of the peripherary to try
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: to figure out where his main entry and exits out,
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: or to see if there is more signed anywhere else? Basically,
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: are you looking for the perfect spot right away? Or
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: do you say, all right, this is good enough. That's
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: all I need to know. I'm stopping now and I'm
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: gonna set up somewhere on here.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: You know, it would depend on if I was going
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: to plan to hunt that area of that day. I say,
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: if it was a day before, I'd probably scout the
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: whole perimeter of the cover just to see. I mean,
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: sometimes you think you found that magic spot, but sometimes
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: the grass is greener, you know, a couple hundred yards
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: away too. So But if I was you know, got
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: in there late. You know, it's two o'clock and you
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: know I found something pretty good and I wanted to
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: hunt that evening, that I would set up right then,
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: you know, if I felt everything was right as far
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: as wind and thermals, and you know, depending also on
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: how much time I had to hunt there but yeah,
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: it's just going to depend on, you know, when I
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: find that sign. But like I said day before, I'm
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: going to scout a little bit thoroughly also too, because
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: it's probably a place I've never scouted ever and I'm
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: just just learning this area. I would then do a
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: little bit of e scouting because I tend to find
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: that bucks like to bed on the edge of elevation drops.
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: So if I, you know, looked on my phone or
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: a map and I was like, well, you know, there's
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: a couple more good shelves up above me, I would
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: prefer to set up within the cover, then on the edge.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: I tend to find a lot of these bucks don't
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: come out of those thickets until after dark. But you'd
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: be amazed how many kind of used that inside edge
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: of like like a staging area. He'll kind of wait till,
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: you know, he'll browse his way out to you know,
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: maybe to where he can see the open woods. It
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: doesn't quite pop out till dark. I would try to
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: push it a little bit if I felt, you know,
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: if you know, if there is a good flat there
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: that I could cut in on and too close to
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: an elevation drop. I thought that deer was going to
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: bet on, I would prefer to set up in the cover.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: You also got to keep noise in mind too, Like
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: you know that deer is also not going to come,
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: you know, if it's like a real you know, thick
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: clear cut or just to thicket, it's so hard to
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: sneak into those spots quietly. Sometimes you have no choice
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: to set up on the edge. But you know, there's
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: so many different factors you've got to you know, you've
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: got to think about and make decisions on that. You know,
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: I think you are a little bit better to back
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: off and maybe hopefully you're within one hundred yards where
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: that deer is laying. But if you think you can
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: sneak another twenty thirty forty yards further, I mean it
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: doesn't sound like much, but telling you just getting in
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: that cover a little bit could be the factor between
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: ever seeing that year and you know, getting an opportunity.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: So if I can sneak in there quietly, I'm going
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: to hunt in that cover. I like it.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: All right. Let's uh, let's take you back home. Let's
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: say you're back on your home turf, and yeah, I
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: guess let me clarify. One thing is it right that
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: you've run more than one hundred and fifty trail cameras
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: on any given year somewhere in that ballpark.
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: Is it true, you mean? Or is it unethical? No?
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: No, not that not an ethics question. I want to
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: make sure you got my numbers right. You've got a
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: lot of games though, right.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, last year I had one hundred and round one
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: hundred and seventy five out last year. And that's just
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: also to get to clarify, that's in about a thirty
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: mile stretch too. It's not like I got seventy cameras
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: on a few square miles, so it's in a big area.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, So with that in mind, you've got one
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: hundred and seventy five some trail cameras scattered across the
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: mountains out there. You've got a plan in place, you've
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: scouted all off season. You're going into the season with
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: a specific set of target bucks maybe you're after. And
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: let's say it's that early ish part of October, so
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: you've got some stuff with regular work going on still,
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: but you do have some spots to hunt, some opportunities.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: And let's say you're about to head in to hunt,
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: and what you find out, though, is just before your
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: big you know swipe you're gonna take it a couple
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: of target bucks. You get a brand new deer showing up,
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: brand new buck you've never seen before, a buck that
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: kind of blows everything else out of the water. So
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: we're going to another level of deer where all of
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: a sudden and he consumes you, and you realize WHOA like,
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: this is a deer that I have to drop everything
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: else to try to get a crack at him, because
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: this would be by far the biggest deer we've ever
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: ever heard of out here. Yeah, how does your trail
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: camera strategy or placement or checking of cameras change in
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: this case where you had stuff everwhere, you had a
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: plan in place, You had your places in specific spots
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: for reasons, but all of a sudden, new buck in
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: a place that maybe you don't have covered terribly Well,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: what do you do now in that situation to figure
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: out this brain of deer in a new set of circumstances.
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, are you saying that maybe I just had a
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: random camera in there and all of a sudden I
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: got a picture of this mega deer.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, let's say you've got one, yep, good.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah. It would depend on the time of day or
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: night when I got a picture of that, dear, and
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: how I would approach you. I mean, if I fits
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: early October and I get a daytime picture of that deer,
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: I'm going to say, like, holy Colin, I'm close to
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: where this geer is betting. If it's a night picture,
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: that's the whole different ballgame. Even though I would say
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: that time of year, you know, they're not covering a
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: ton of ground. That year could be two or three
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: miles away from where it's betting. You know, I'm a
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: huge uh not as far as how trail cam data goes.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: And you know, I try to take every little piece
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: of intel of any photo I get, you know, so
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: you know, yeah, I'll make it. I'll make this the
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: hard harder question and say that, you know, I got
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: a picture this year at midnight and it looks like
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: he's traveling, you know, east to west. I'm thinking, okay,
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: because I you know, if it's in my home range,
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: even though you know, I don't know every square inch,
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: but yet I know I know my woods really really well,
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna I'm gonna try to figure Okay, what was
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: on this year's mind? Where was he coming from? Where
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: was he going? You know, at midnight, he could be
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: doing a lot of different things, but chances are he's
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: thinking food more than anything, primary food source. So I'm watching,
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: you know, is this gear possibly heading towards a primary
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: food source? You know very likely? Or you know, was
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: that dear heading towards water? But I'm trying to put
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: where he's you know, what what was on that deer's mind?
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: Where was he going? And especially the same thing, maybe
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: where he was coming from the direction of travel, Uh
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: is huge for me, and as well as too is
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: maybe paying attention to the weather, the upcoming weather and
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: what that was going to be. A lot of times,
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: you know, in a wind shift or weather front, that
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: gear may go on a little even a little excursion
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: during a weather you know, big weather front that time
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: of year too. But I'm just basically trying to get
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: as much information out of that trail camp photo as
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: I possibly can, and then I will start to make
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: up a game plan from there. If you want to
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: add to that question a little bit, you know, it
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: might it might be better. But like I said, I
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: take every photo. You know, I'm not going to say
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: little Bucks and does. But anytime I get a big
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: deer on camera, night day, it doesn't matter. I'm taking
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: information from that and I'm trying to think what that
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: deer was doing and where that deer was coming from.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: Okay, so you get this photo, you analyze that, You're
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: asking yourself all those questions the next day or the
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: next chance you get when you have the right circumstances
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: to go in there, are you going to do anything
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: to try to put more pieces of the puzzle together?
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: Like will you go and add a bunch of new
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: cameras into that zone to complete the picture, or will
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: you go do some additional on the ground scouting in
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: that zone to try to learn more? Like is there
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: anything like that that you'll do next?
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the the you know, biggest individual deer that I've
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: ever hunted, I've always clustered cameras in those areas. What
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: I found is, you know, especially in the big woods,
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: it's not like these deer on the same path every day. However,
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: you know, there's these little little zones of movement that
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: you you know that you're going to find and taken
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: advantage of, especially closer to daytime hours and early October.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: You know, you might hear a lot of people talk
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: about hotting food sources, but where I'm from, it's all,
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: you know, basically betting, you know, getting as close to
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: that bet as you possibly can. Like I don't find
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: bucks in the daytime unless I'm close to betting, So
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: I'd be clustering cameras, you know, around where I think
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: that deer is betting. But I'd also be real careful
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: on checking them too. When I cluster cameras, I'm usually
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: also trying to bank off of you know, I said
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: it like this and to other people other podcasts look
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: at it like how a baseball defense or baseball field
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: is set up. You got left right, center field, you
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: got the infield, and then you got you know, home plate.
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: I'm going to be using cameras and focusing more these
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: camera checks, like in the outfield of the field versus
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: home plate. I may sneak a camera into where I
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: think I'm going to kill that deer, and that most
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: of that data may be more for the fact that
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: if I don't kill that deer this year, I'm going
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: to learn a lot from that spot. But I try
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: to back off on checking cameras and you know, in
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: spots I don't want to put a lot of intrusion
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: and that you know, want to have less impact on
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: and I try to have more of you know, these
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: these safer intel areas that maybe that deer's coming in
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: at night, but yet I'm still not that far from
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: where he's betting. You know, I would say, like left,
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: right and center field, I'd be trying to play those
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: outer cameras and then based off what I'm seeing on those,
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: I'm trying to bank off of. Okay, can I get
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: a better idea where this deer is coming from a
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: direction to travel and those things, And a lot of
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: times if I see what I want on the outside
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: edge of cluster of cameras, I'll dive in towards home plate,
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: you know, make a move on them.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: All right, So two follow ups. Number One, when you're
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: going to go in season to add new cameras or
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: to check cameras, are you waiting for any particular conditions?
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: So what's what needs to be present, either weather wise
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: or anything like that, time of day whatever to go
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: in and actually do something like that, especially if you're
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: going to push in tighter closer to home plate. And
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: then part two would be for the folks who aren't
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: familiar with your typical trail camera set up, we should
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: probably just cover that off too, Like what are you
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: usually putting these cameras on? Talk to me about how
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: you're doing that and in a way that you think
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: gets to the right intel without you know, spooking deer.
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, most of my inventory comes from creek bottoms
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: because there's hardly any buck betting here in creek bottoms.
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: I mean that's the lowest elevation. Like I said, most
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: of our bucks are bedding in high elevation, so mostly
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: all that activity outside of the rut is at night.
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: So that's where I get a lot of my inventory.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: Especially creek bottoms generally have the main water source. It's
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: a big congregation socializing area. So you know, usually in
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: a good creek bottom, you're gonna have some really good
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: primary scrapes down there that you can get some really
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: good inventory and pretty decent intel. Also, like you know, say,
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: like it's early October, you know probably a lot of
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: times too about you know, eight nine o'clock, mature buck
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: will work its way down in that bottom and if
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: you can find where you got trails coming off hillsides
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: and mountains, and you can start to get an idea
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: where that deer is coming from, you know, just off
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: of the you know how he's entering that scrape or
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: walking that trail. So that's where a lot of my
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: my scouting is or checking cameras. Most of it's done
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: in the creek bottoms because like I said, I have
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: very little impact. But then I'm also I also got
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: cameras further up towards betting, and that's going to be
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: also based on what I'm seeing, you know, down in
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: those creek bottoms. If I'm seeing you know, where this
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: huge buck is, you know, hitting this primary scrape down
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: in this particular spot in this creek bottom three four
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: times a week, coming from this same trail every night.
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm going to know what that ridge is like,
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: you know that that he's coming on. I'm going to
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: know you know where if there may be another secondary
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: food source he's hitting, you know, that might be where
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: I'm going to put a camera midway up. I may
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: hunt that deer midway up or you know especially I'm
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: going to very likely know where that deer's betting. But
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: just because we're talking about you're talking about areas that
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: I know like the back of my hand. But I
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: would be, like I said, be putting a lot of
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: cameras down in creek bottoms where i'd have less intrusion.
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: But then when I start to see something consistent, then
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: I start working my way up up towards betting further
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: based off what I'm seeing on the cameras.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: So you mentioned that baseball diamond shape for the way
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: you're spreading your cameras. I was kind of envisioning that
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: as being like a horizontal baseball diamond and like you're
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: working your way across mountains, But it kind of sounds
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: like maybe it's an upside down? Is it actually that?
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: Usually home plate is like high up the mountain where
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: they're bedding, and then it's and then it widens out
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: going down exactly.
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: Yep, because I sometimes at backfires because home plate is
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: more based on my prediction.
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: However, sometimes too, I've got history with a deer where
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: I really am confident I figured out where he's betting,
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: but I keep that, you know, I'll keep one camera
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: up in near betting anyways, but those other cameras further
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: out towards heading down the ridge and you know, down
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: towards the bottom. That's where I can really get a
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: lot of inventory and intel and have less impact. I'm
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: you know what that deer. Honestly, some people might disagree,
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: but deer mature boxing I bet you would agree. They
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: don't mind human scent and human activity in those nighttime
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: areas because they know humans aren't in there at You know,
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: they they have those areas where they want to feel
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: more secure and that you know, further up into in
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: their betting areas. Those are the areas you got to
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: be more cautious about. But further away where I have
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: these other cameras that I'm getting intel from. That it
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: works out perfect that way, because I can, I can
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: be a little bit more messy. And you know that
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: deer doesn't doesn't even realize that I'm using all those
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: cameras to zero in on them. But yet, you know,
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: I'm not going in those those core areas or those
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: you know, those hot betting areas. I'm basing everything, you know,
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: off of those cameras further back. If that makes sense.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, let's let's jump let's pivot a little bit here.
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: I might come back to cameras because You've got a
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: lot of interesting ideas on the camera front. But let's
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: let's shift a little bit, keep you on your toes.
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: Let's let's imagine you're hunting late October, not like the
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: very end of it, but let's say somewhere between, like
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: the twentieth and the twenty fifth, Okay, and you're hunting
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: close to one of these buck bedrooms. You're you're pushing
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: closer to home plate, and you go in for a hunt.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: You're all set up, things are looking great, conditions are good.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: Last fifteen minutes of daylight. The buck shows up, but
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: he's downwind of view and you see him wind you
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: and turn tail and take off the other direction.
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: What do you do with that situation? From there? Are
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: you going to try to keep hunting that buck? Do
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: you give up on him and go somewhere else the
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: next couple of days? You know, what's what's your thought
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: process and plan for the coming days after that?
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: No, I'd absolutely hunt that buck again, very likely in
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: that general area. However, I would not hunt that deer
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: from the same tree. That's any time I find that
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: deer catching on to me, even if it's uh, you know,
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: other deer that I spook. I'll generally make some slight adjustment,
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: try not to hunt the same tree, just for the
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: fact that, you know, deer start to recognize pretty quickly
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: that they're being hunted, especially on public land. I've even
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: you know, I've left tree stands and trees and you know,
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: and you can just start to see how And even
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: in the guiding business as well. We'll have a client,
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: you know, hunt a spot two three days in a
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: row and start to notice deer skirting around him. But
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: I would definitely hunt that deer again, but I wouldn't
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: hunt it from the same spot. That deer when he
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: comes in next time, We'll probably take a chance and
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: go further out around from where he smelled that human scent.
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: You know, I may I'm set up. You know, you
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: said how many yards away, like fifty or eighty yards
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: or something.
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: Uh, you know, I didn't actually specify how far he was,
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: but if it.
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: Was out of range, I would probably set up closer
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: to where that deer was, thinking that deer is gonna
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: maybe skirt around a little bit further, especially that time
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: of year two right before the rut, you know, it
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: gets real crazy and they start ranging I'm willing to
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: gamble a little bit more because that deer may not
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: be patternable much longer. So you know, I would gamble,
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: but I would probably hunt that deer from a different tree.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: How soon would you go back in there after? Would
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: you go that very next day and make that move?
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: I probably would go right back in the next day
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: if everything seemed right. Usually that time of year as well. Uh,
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: I'm I'm hunting somewhat of a pattern of a buck,
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: you know, maybe you know, an active scrape line or
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: rub line. Then I'm getting a deer on pretty consistently,
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: so it's probably most likely going to be some consistency
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: of a pad where I'm like, I can't afford to
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: miss out on this, because once again, it's it's not
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: gonna last.
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So, speaking of you know, observing deer doing something
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: and making adjustments, let's let's run you through one of
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: my favorite things to beat myself up over the head with.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: And let's put you into November and you're setting in
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: a spot that you don't know super well. Maybe this
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: is one of the first times you've hunted in this
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: little region, but you feel good about it, like you
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: feel like you're in a spot for the right reason,
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: and it's the rut. You're waiting for something to come
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: cruising through or whatever. And you're sitting there in the morning,
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: we'll say an hour or two into your morning sit
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: and you see a shooter buck come moving through, but
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: he's out of range. And then a half hour later
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: you see another buck come through and do the same thing.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: Do you do anything with that intel or do you so?
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: Do you do you move or do you stay where
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: you're at?
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: Absolutely if when you see in the rut two bucks
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: on the same trail, probably nine out of ten times
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: there was a dough that they were following. And I've
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: made the mistake before, and I tell my clients that too.
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: And that's especially why you know we love mobile setups.
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: Is if there's very very unlikely chance you're gonna have
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: two bucks take the same trail for no reason, there's
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: a good chance there's either a hot dough or a
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: dough that's getting pretty close to coming into heat that
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: they were following that trail. Immediately set up and you
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: know somewhere downwind or you know, on a safe spot too,
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: you don't want to be set up, you know, ten
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: yards off of it. Either, but you'd be amazed how
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: many times we've had success doing that, especially that time
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: of year. You don't have to see the dough. That
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: dough could have came by at four am before you
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: got there, but you see something consistent. I also tell
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: my clients, and it's the same strategy myself, Like, if
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: you see anything consistent, you know, eighty yards out, but
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: every deer doing the same thing, multiple deer, I always
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: move because generally there's it's not just random, there's a
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: reason for that. You you know, you're hunting that spot
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: for the first time. You may not realize that you're
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: not quite in the zone of how deer use that area.
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: You know, you're you're kind of observing that area off
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: of that first sit. So any consistencies you see, move
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: on to them as fast as you can. Because especially
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: where I'm from in the big woods, I mean, a
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: good stand here isn't a stand you see a deer
• 41:38
  Speaker 3: from every day anyway. So I mean, if the action's good,
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: get on it, well you can, because it may not
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: be any good there the next day.
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So so let's say, to be really specific, let's
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: say this happened at you know, eight thirty in the
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: morning when you saw that second buck come through, was say,
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: would you literally move, like as soon as that buck
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: gets out of site or would you wait till midday
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: when stuff's slowing down and you feel like there shouldn't
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: be as many deer on their feet and then tear
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: down and reset up. How quickly do you want to
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: make that change?
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: As soon as that buck's out of sight is when
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: I would move. I mean, I would be real careful, listen,
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: watch really good. I might even glass, you know, all
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: around me, just to make sure nothing's coming.
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: But I mean, if you know, if it is a
• 42:23
  Speaker 4: hot dough, it could be a minute or two or
• 42:27
  Speaker 4: I mean, God knows when something is when it especially
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: you know once again, and you know, because I relate
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: to a lot to what we're talking about, big woods
• 42:35
  Speaker 4: and you know, lower deer densities, less doughs.
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: You know, you might have five or six dos in
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: a square mile and one of those doughs comes into heat.
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: Every buck in that area is most likely going to know.
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: So you want to get on that hot route as
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: soon as you can. You can't afford to wait till midday,
• 42:53
  Speaker 3: and you know, hope nothing comes, especially in the rut too,
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: Like there's just as good of a chance of killing
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: buck get noon or two pm in the rout as
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: there is, you know, any other time. So I'm going
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: to jump on that, you know, that sequence and consistency
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: and movement as fast as I can, especially based on
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: my own experiences guiding and hunting, like we've had a
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: lot of success doing that. I highly recommend it.
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: Okay, all right, So then the next thing that might
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: hypothetically happen is going to be another one of those
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: head scratchers or get you stuck there spinning your wheels,
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: which is you go, you tear down your set, you
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: move to this new area, and you get to within
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: the you know spot you think you want to be,
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: and you're stuck trying to pick the right tree. And
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: let's say there is a there's a tree that is
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: in range, and it's gonna set up nicely for you
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: as far as giving you a good easy shot to
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: that trail that you saw those two bucks coming through.
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: Problem with it, though, is that there's a there's two
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: things wrong with this tree. There is a little bit
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: of a trail downwind of it, so there's like a
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: secondary trail kind of downwind. See, you've got like a
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: chance that maybe you know, you're going to have deer
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: come down win. The second thing wrong with it is
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: that it is a bean pole, so it's like straight
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: up there's almost no cover. You might be left out
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: to dry up there. So you could pick the spot
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: that's like the perfect location for the tree as far
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: as being giving the easy shot, but you're not gonna
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: have good cover and there's a chance that maybe there
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: might be some other deer passing down wind. Or you
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: can go and you can kind of move out from
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: that spot, and now you're gonna be forty three forty
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: two yards maybe forty four yards some of that ballpark
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: away from that main trail you saw. But it's a
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: big oak tree with a bunch of cover on it,
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: and now you're downwind of any kind of trail that
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: you saw when you were walking through there. So do
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: you pick the spot that gives you the slam dunk
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: twenty yard shot but it's a little bit riskier for
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: those two reasons, or do you say, I want the
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: safest tree possible and I'm gonna, you know, hope to
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: make this shot work, or call the bucket an extra
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: ten yards or or something like that.
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and about forty yards are a little over. I
• 45:21
  Speaker 3: would rather take the safer route just for the fact that,
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: you know, I would say most archery hunters as well,
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: Like I almost almost feel like, you know, ethical shooting
• 45:34
  Speaker 3: is starting to reach out there more than ever. And
• 45:36
  Speaker 3: I'm not you know, I'm not saying that that I
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: think everyone should be shooting deer fifty sixty seventy yards.
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's to each his own, but you know,
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: a forty forty forty five yard shot is very makeable.
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: I would set up taking the safer tree with a
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: little more cover. I kind of like to stay back anyways,
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: just especially for the fact that even even down wind,
• 46:04
  Speaker 3: you know, or having the wind in your favor, but
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: a deer coming in really close to you, a lot
• 46:08
  Speaker 3: of people don't realize that you kind of have like
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: a zone of scent scattered all around the base of
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: your tree. Anyways, So I like to be thirty forty
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: yards back. I just feel a lot safer. I feel
• 46:19
  Speaker 3: like there's a lot more room, you know, for to
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: make less mistakes or for a deer to catch on
• 46:25
  Speaker 3: to your mistakes. I'm going to take that that that
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: big oak that has to cover forty forty five yards off.
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: I'd rather take a little bit further of a shot
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: than gamble, you know, being too close and that deer
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: catching on to me.
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: Okay, all right, that's a that's a fair choice to make.
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: I think you pass the test.
• 46:47
  Speaker 5: Okay, this one.
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: You've got a spot you're heading into hunt and it's
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: a slam dunk. You feel really strongly about it. You
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: have trial camera intel that backs up your location, and
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: you're heading in with high hopes. But as you head in,
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: let's say it was kind of like a wet day
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: before maybe, so there's a like soft grown. As you're
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: heading in and you're nearing your location, you see fresh
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: boot tracks and you find out someone else has been
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: somewhere around here. Do you go through with your plan
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: or do those fresh boot tracks in your zone make
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: you pivot in any kind of way? What do you do?
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, it would depend if it was just fresh
• 47:42
  Speaker 3: boot tracked. You know, in the mind, I'm probably gonna
• 47:46
  Speaker 3: gamble and hope that maybe somebody's just passed them through.
• 47:49
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 47:49
  Speaker 3: Another thing where I come from, there's a lot of
• 47:52
  Speaker 3: human activity that's even non hunting related, there's a lot
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: of foresters who's biologists. I mean, you name it. So
• 48:00
  Speaker 3: there's a chance that it's not even a hunter. And
• 48:03
  Speaker 3: there's so much area anyways, that and I'm I feel
• 48:07
  Speaker 3: very confident in a lot of my best spots or
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: overlook spots that you know, not to brag, but I
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: don't think a lot of hunters thinking the same things
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: and the same setups as me. Anyways, Now, if Safer
• 48:19
  Speaker 3: snow on the ground and I see boot tracks, I
• 48:21
  Speaker 3: would literally follow those boot tracks aways. Heck, I might
• 48:25
  Speaker 3: even try to catch up with the hunter just to
• 48:27
  Speaker 3: see what they're doing in there, you know, are you
• 48:30
  Speaker 3: are you setting up somewhere or whatever. I would literally
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: do that. I would. I would rather, you know, lose
• 48:35
  Speaker 3: a little bit of hunting time and just figure out
• 48:37
  Speaker 3: what this this hunter is doing then you know, risk anything,
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: But it would it would depend on different scenarios. But
• 48:44
  Speaker 3: if I just see sign of you know, human activity,
• 48:47
  Speaker 3: I'm still gonna hunt that area. It's very common situation.
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: Okay, what about a slight variation of that. What if
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: you're up in the tree waiting on your buck and
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: here comes Jill hunter walking by you, and maybe he
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: doesn't walk right into where you think the core core is,
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: but he walks kind of past you. He waves, then
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: he keeps on going and kind of is cruising along
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: the side of where you were hoping a good deer
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: might come from. Do you bail or do you stick
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: it out?
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: Usually I'll move, but I might not move real far right.
• 49:21
  Speaker 3: I'm real careful about entering my spots with ground scent.
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: A lot of times I'm jay hooking or doing something real,
• 49:31
  Speaker 3: you know, real out of the ordinary, to make sure
• 49:33
  Speaker 3: that if I think deer you know, or working on
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: this particular scrape or whatever, you know, I try to
• 49:38
  Speaker 3: keep my human send off of where the deer are traveling.
• 49:41
  Speaker 3: So you know, if somebody's going through kind of the
• 49:44
  Speaker 3: hot route that I'm hunting they just went through, I'm
• 49:48
  Speaker 3: definitely gonna get down and adjust to it. But good
• 49:51
  Speaker 3: chance I'm not gonna leave the area either. I may,
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: you know, unless that person you know followed that trail
• 49:58
  Speaker 3: and came from that route from to and from one
• 50:01
  Speaker 3: hundred some yards this way hundred some yards that way.
• 50:04
  Speaker 3: You know, I might then leave the whole situation. But
• 50:07
  Speaker 3: chances are I should be able to find somewhere without
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: that fresh ground set and you know, I'm pretty quick
• 50:13
  Speaker 3: about you know, getting set up. I mean I can
• 50:16
  Speaker 3: get out of my train up in another you know,
• 50:19
  Speaker 3: fifteen minutes at the mouse or whatever. So uh, it's
• 50:22
  Speaker 3: really not a huge deal as far as losing time,
• 50:25
  Speaker 3: But it's going to be based on where exactly that
• 50:28
  Speaker 3: hunter came from and where they went, if they left
• 50:31
  Speaker 3: me any room they were adjust or not.
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: Okay. So another thing that you've talked a lot about
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: in the past that I've that I've really found interesting
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: is your you know, really in depth trail camera analyzes
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: you've done, where you've you've looked at trends across you know,
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: your hundreds of cameras and seeing how different dates and
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: different weather systems and things have impacted the dear activities
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: sand camera. And one of the things I've heard you
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: mention a lot is just the impact of those cold fronts,
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: when those cold weather systems come through the trigger that
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: seems to pull for deer. So I'm curious about what
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: you would do when you have the opposite situation. For
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: a lot of us. This past year, we had a
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: hot rut that first, you know, depending where you are
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: in the country for a lot of people's the end
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: of October, first week of November. You know, I was
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: stuck with seven straight days of seventy degrees or more.
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: So let's say it's that you know, last couple of
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: days of October or first you know week of November.
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: And let's say this is your you know, let's say
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: you're not guiding and you have time to hunt during
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: that week and you're stuck with that weather forecast. Does
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: that change your hunting strategy in any kind of way?
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: If so, how If not?
• 51:47
  Speaker 3: Why not? Yeah, it absolutely does it the whole rot.
• 51:53
  Speaker 3: Like you know, people, some people assume that maybe the
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: way I explained it is that these deer don't at all,
• 52:00
  Speaker 3: and that's definitely not the case. Even you know, seventy
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: or degree day or warmer, they're still rutting going on.
• 52:08
  Speaker 3: You know, you can still have success. It's just you know,
• 52:10
  Speaker 3: the chances are a little slimmer when a buck's moving
• 52:12
  Speaker 3: a lot less. There's a couple of different, different, you know,
• 52:17
  Speaker 3: scenarios that seem to work in warm weather. Here people
• 52:21
  Speaker 3: would be surprised. But you know this is even based
• 52:25
  Speaker 3: some off trail camera observations too. Is real hot days
• 52:29
  Speaker 3: like we're finding creek bottoms or really good you know,
• 52:32
  Speaker 3: cruising areas are creek bottoms are you know, usually prettyly
• 52:37
  Speaker 3: heavily loaded with like a lot of evergreen and hemlocks,
• 52:39
  Speaker 3: so it's generally cooler down there. Plus, got a fact
• 52:42
  Speaker 3: you're in that you know, when bucks are are rutting
• 52:45
  Speaker 3: hard and they got those winter coats on, you know,
• 52:47
  Speaker 3: they're thirsty. I would you know, we're definitely focusing more
• 52:52
  Speaker 3: around creek bottoms on those hot days for guiding myself.
• 52:55
  Speaker 3: I'd be keeping that in mind. Another thing, too, is
• 53:00
  Speaker 3: it still seems like there's activity close to betting, which
• 53:02
  Speaker 3: is pretty normal. Seems like a lot of bucks like
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: to you know, bed maybe just two three hundred yards
• 53:09
  Speaker 3: at the most, or more like maybe one hundred yards
• 53:12
  Speaker 3: downwind of dough is dough betting. I'd be focusing more
• 53:15
  Speaker 3: around those dough betting areas. You know, on those warmer days,
• 53:19
  Speaker 3: you just you can't expect it to be like that,
• 53:22
  Speaker 3: that hot all day action. You know, it's a sluggish
• 53:25
  Speaker 3: movement on those warm days. You gotta be a little
• 53:28
  Speaker 3: bit more patient. But you can still have success. I
• 53:33
  Speaker 3: mean we've I'm not going to say we have our
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: best success those days and certainly don't get as excited.
• 53:39
  Speaker 3: But you know, we got paying clients that come in
• 53:42
  Speaker 3: and they can't predict what the weather is going to
• 53:44
  Speaker 3: be a year in advance when they book their hunt.
• 53:47
  Speaker 3: So we've had to come up with ways to still
• 53:50
  Speaker 3: be successful. And like I said, you can still have success,
• 53:53
  Speaker 3: you know, you just got to either set up around
• 53:55
  Speaker 3: betting or like I said, those creek bottoms with a
• 53:58
  Speaker 3: good water source. That's and we've really found to be
• 54:01
  Speaker 3: really good in those hot days during the run.
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So speaking of those kind of sluggish movement days
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: during the rut, like you kind of mentioned, even when
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: conditions are pretty good, it seems like you can certainly
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: have these like great periods of movement and then like
• 54:17
  Speaker 2: really slow days during the run, even though you would think, like, oh,
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: it's the rud it should be incredible. At least, my
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: experience has often been that there'll be these periods of
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: where it's dead, it's either hot, or it's not. So
• 54:28
  Speaker 2: I'm curious if you are in a situation where it's
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: you know, November seventh or eighth, one of those days
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: that a lot of people say is like the best
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: day of the whole hunting season for a lot of people.
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: And you've sat in a location for three days in
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: a row, and I've heard you talk about your three
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: day rule. So if that's something you still do, I
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: would be interested in you explaining that a little bit
• 54:47
  Speaker 2: for folks. But let's say you've done your three day rule.
• 54:51
  Speaker 2: You've sat for three days in the spot. That should
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: be amazing. You feel really confident, but it's been dead.
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: Do you you know, how do you piv it based
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: on that? Or do you for some reason stick it
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: out longer?
• 55:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah? No, I would never you know, three days of
• 55:09
  Speaker 3: dead movement. You know, I'm looking for something else. I'm
• 55:12
  Speaker 3: probably also looking for a completely different type of setup.
• 55:17
  Speaker 3: You know, maybe I was in a creek bottom. Now
• 55:20
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna maybe set up closer to some bedding or
• 55:22
  Speaker 3: a food source, just based on there's probably a good
• 55:27
  Speaker 3: chance too that you know, something changed as well as
• 55:31
  Speaker 3: you know, within their environment. A lot of times too,
• 55:35
  Speaker 3: what I'll do is grid search for a hot dough too.
• 55:38
  Speaker 3: It may not even be you know, trailcam picks that
• 55:42
  Speaker 3: time of year, but if you can get on a
• 55:44
  Speaker 3: hot dough you know around that and that's a pretty
• 55:47
  Speaker 3: good period for those coming in to heat that's sixth, seventh,
• 55:50
  Speaker 3: and eighth, just you know, just trying to be in
• 55:54
  Speaker 3: that zone. That's That's another thing that happens that time
• 55:56
  Speaker 3: of year is you might see a little bit las
• 56:00
  Speaker 3: cruise and at least up my way around that time period.
• 56:03
  Speaker 3: And it's all centralized based on you know, where that
• 56:06
  Speaker 3: that do in that areas you know, coming into heat,
• 56:09
  Speaker 3: that's where all the bucks are going to be. Like
• 56:12
  Speaker 3: I said, but just at least do something different, you know, whatever,
• 56:18
  Speaker 3: you know it may be. You know, you said, even
• 56:21
  Speaker 3: if it was a prime you know, more of a
• 56:22
  Speaker 3: prime weather day and you know, things weren't things still
• 56:26
  Speaker 3: weren't working right. There's a good chance that you know,
• 56:29
  Speaker 3: you just don't have have it figured out. You know,
• 56:32
  Speaker 3: maybe uh, the deer were eating white oaks and they're
• 56:36
  Speaker 3: starting to become pretty thin. Now they're switching the red oaks,
• 56:38
  Speaker 3: or you know, just do something completely different. But definitely,
• 56:42
  Speaker 3: after three days of nothing, I totally recommend it's not
• 56:47
  Speaker 3: just you know, eventually maybe something's going to come through,
• 56:49
  Speaker 3: but you know, you've put a lot of humans, do
• 56:51
  Speaker 3: a lot of intrusion into that particular spot. It's time
• 56:54
  Speaker 3: to to readjust and come up with a new game plan.
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: Now, if it had been just one day or two days, though,
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: would you do you do you still strictly follow that
• 57:03
  Speaker 2: three day rule?
• 57:05
  Speaker 3: No, not always three days. You know sometimes too, you know,
• 57:09
  Speaker 3: I might hunt us plan to hunt a spot for
• 57:12
  Speaker 3: two days because say it's like a travel corridor, cruising area,
• 57:16
  Speaker 3: and I got two real good prime weather days. Like
• 57:18
  Speaker 3: I love to hunt travel corridors, maybe a pinch point
• 57:22
  Speaker 3: or you know, just a past a pack crew, a
• 57:25
  Speaker 3: past cruising route I've had good experience on. But those
• 57:29
  Speaker 3: routes only seem to be used on those prime days.
• 57:33
  Speaker 3: You know, doesn't always matter whether it's November first or
• 57:37
  Speaker 3: the fifteenth. But it just seems like our dearm based
• 57:40
  Speaker 3: on a lot of my research, Like you know, you
• 57:42
  Speaker 3: get what I call thirty thirty weather days when you
• 57:45
  Speaker 3: got at least high tempts in the thirties or better
• 57:49
  Speaker 3: or lower I should say, and low times thirty two
• 57:52
  Speaker 3: or lower. You know, those those travel corridors really really
• 57:57
  Speaker 3: light up. And you can even you know, you can
• 57:59
  Speaker 3: have a camera on a you know, on a travel
• 58:02
  Speaker 3: corridor that you know that has a scrape or maybe
• 58:05
  Speaker 3: even a signpost Roub and it's been pretty dead this year,
• 58:08
  Speaker 3: but most likely you haven't had those prime weather days
• 58:11
  Speaker 3: when these bucks are making those big johnts. I hunt
• 58:14
  Speaker 3: those spots based more on past experiences versus even fresh intel.
• 58:20
  Speaker 3: But sometimes, if you know, if I'm seeing that we
• 58:22
  Speaker 3: only got a couple good, you know, prime days of weather,
• 58:25
  Speaker 3: I'm only gonna hunt that spot twice because we got
• 58:28
  Speaker 3: that warm front coming up. These bucks are gonna get
• 58:30
  Speaker 3: bogged down, and I'm gonna hunt more warmer weather setups,
• 58:33
  Speaker 3: you know. So a lot of it's based on really
• 58:35
  Speaker 3: a lot of our hunting is based on weather, especially
• 58:38
  Speaker 3: temperature as well.
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: That brings to mind another situation. I feel like a
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: lot of the weather conversation helps inform people like when
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: they make their strikes or how aggressive they get with
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: their strikes. Right, there's some folks that will play it
• 58:52
  Speaker 2: really conservatively until you get that good cold weather, then
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: you make a strike you know, deep into the kill zone,
• 58:58
  Speaker 2: and then when it's hotter days, they're going to play
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: it more conservatively. I'm curious though, one of the things
• 59:04
  Speaker 2: that can shift someone's strategy or perspective would be if
• 59:09
  Speaker 2: they knew they weren't the only ones hunting that buck.
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: I think this can be a situation where, you know,
• 59:13
  Speaker 2: folks share a private property to other guys, or if
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: they hunt in a place where there's a lot of
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: hunting pressure, or they hunting public land where it's fair
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: game for everyone. What happens if you've got, you know,
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: a target buck that you're really really interested in, it's
• 59:26
  Speaker 2: on public land, and you've got a plan and you're
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: after him, but then you bump into some other guys
• 59:31
  Speaker 2: at the trailhead and they show you pictures and like, yeah, man,
• 59:33
  Speaker 2: I'm after this deer. And you find out that there's
• 59:36
  Speaker 2: like a guy or two in the zone that's kind
• 59:39
  Speaker 2: of on the same deer. What do you do in
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: that situation? Does that change your strategy? Does that change
• 59:44
  Speaker 2: how aggressive you are or anything at all?
• 59:48
  Speaker 3: I Mean, the good thing is, as I've ran into
• 59:50
  Speaker 3: these guys and a lot of times I may not
• 59:54
  Speaker 3: jump right out and tell them or I'm hunting, but
• 59:57
  Speaker 3: I might. What I'll say is, you know, I just
• 59:59
  Speaker 3: don't want to get your guy's way. I try to
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 3: play dumb. Although if it's a local guy not bragging,
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 3: but he probably knows. Steve shirt's hunting that deer too,
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 3: But I try to play a little dumb and be like,
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 3: you know, not real, you know, familiar with this area. Guys.
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 3: I just want to make sure that you know I'm
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 3: not hunting where you're at, and try to figure out
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 3: what they're doing and you know where they're going, and
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 3: as long as they're doing something different than me, I'm
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 3: going to hunt that deer definitely. I mean, I'll say,
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 3: you know, a lot of the deer I have on camera,
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 3: you know, they're not secrets. It's public land. A lot
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 3: of other people have these deer on camera too. But
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 3: I'm always trying to figure out, you know what, how
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 3: these other people are hunting these deer and you know,
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 3: and go from there. And that's why early on I
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 3: was big about, you know, finding those harder to access
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 3: areas a little bit more remote. It doesn't mean that
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 3: these deer secrets, but you know, a lot of these
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 3: people always or a lot of people say, you know, how, Steve,
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 3: how do you get some a daytime? That's because I'm
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 3: finding deer and I'm learning, dear, you know in these
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 3: areas that nobody's really going. I mean, these bucks, you
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 3: know in the middle of the night. They may go
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 3: several miles from their core area. And a lot of
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 3: these people are getting these bucks at midnight, one two
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 3: in the morning, and then they're going in the woods,
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 3: you know, five hundred yards thinking that bucks there and
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 3: they have no clue. They're two to three miles off. So,
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 3: you know, just trying to figure out what everyone else
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 3: is doing, you know, and staying away from them, because
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 3: if they have a pattern to what they're doing, the
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 3: mature deer has already got them figured out. He'll go
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 3: in that area at night and he's not going to
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 3: be bothered at all, but he's going to stay back,
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 3: you know, quite a way where nobody else has been going,
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 3: and that's going to be the place where I plan
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 3: to hunt.
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: Okay, another camera situation, and this one just kind of
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 2: popped in my mind. But it's a thing that you
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 2: hear about every once in a while. I've I've kind
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 2: of had this kind of thing happen where you've got
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: to buck that you're kind of closing in on and
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: you're getting daylight pictures of him, but every time you
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: go in to hunt, you don't see him, and then
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: the next day you're not in their hunting, and then
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 2: he daylights and the daylights the next day, and then
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 2: you check your camera four days later or you got
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 2: to sell cameras or whatever it is, and you say, oh, shoot,
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 2: he was daylighting, and then he go in and hunt
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: him again, and then you don't see him. But then
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: the next day, when you're not there, he's daylighting. So
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: you get a buck that's day lighting when you're not there,
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: but you can't seem to get on him when you're there.
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: Do you what do you do in that situation? Do
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 2: you think that it's you? Do you think it's just
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 2: luck or happenstance that he happens to just not be
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: shown up on the right days and you just need
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 2: to be there more. How do you approach that?
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 3: I would I would go into that thinking that deer
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 3: was on to me. I wouldn't give up on the deer. I,
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 3: you know, maybe set up a couple hundred yards differently.
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 3: This is something too. I like the question because I've
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 3: had it happened to me several times. It's it starts
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 3: to make sense when every time you're not there, that
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 3: deer's showing up or pretty consistently, And I think that
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 3: happens a lot. You know, you think you might know
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 3: where that deer's betting, and he might also know where
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 3: your stand is, and he's just bedding down wind to
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 3: that every time. He may adjust every time too, just
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 3: to make sure he's down wind to that spot. You know,
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 3: it could easily happen, especially if you've went in there
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 3: pretty often and you know you're you're checking that camera
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 3: quite often. He's got a pretty good idea that Okay,
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 3: there's a hunter, there's there's someone coming in here fairly often,
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 3: and I need to pay attention to this. But the
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 3: good thing is that deer's sticking around. He hasn't disappeared,
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 3: and you just got to go in there and surprise
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 3: him once again. That's why you know I love mobile
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 3: hunting and not so much of a fixed stand person.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 3: Is you want to keep these deer, especially in mature bucks.
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 3: You want to keep them guessing to what you're doing
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 3: as well. Like I said, I don't think you're going
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 3: to have to leave that entire area one hundred two
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 3: three hundred yards of an adjustment. I think that deer
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 3: would be surprised, and I if I'm continuing to get
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 3: pictures of that deer in fact that camera. If that
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 3: deer keeps coming to that camera, I can keep checking
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 3: it every few days too. But then I would bank
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 3: off of what I'm seeing that deer do if he
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 3: is coming from the same direction, or if there's like
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 3: I said before, if there's any bit of consistent knowledge
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 3: you're getting from a deer on your camera, keep using that,
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 3: keep basing your next hunt off of those pictures. So
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 3: I would use that camera as more of an inventory
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 3: or an intel camera, and I'd keep basing my setups
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 3: off of that and keep mixing up my setups too.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 3: Even if I went in there another time and I
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 3: hunted that deer once or twice and didn't see him,
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 3: I would just keep within that area. But I probably
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 3: wouldn't keep hunting the same tree, just keep bouncing around.
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 3: Sooner or later, I think you're going to get in
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 3: front of him.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 2: What if I did this? What if I took all
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: of your trail cameras away and you had zero cameras
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: for this hunting season, how would you kill a buck
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: in that situation? Like, how would your plan change?
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 3: Well? Can I say that I had cameras in the past,
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 3: or I've never had cameras.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 2: You know, I think I'd be more interested in if
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: you never had camera information, because I kind of want
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 2: to see, you know, for someone who I'm imagining there's
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 2: somebody listening right now who maybe only has a couple cameras.
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 2: They can't afford one hundred and fifty cameras, and so
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 2: they're thinking, Man, how does Steve get it done in
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 2: these places? You know, if he didn't have all that information.
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 2: So I'm kind of curious. Let's just go extreme here
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 2: and say you don't have any and maybe this is
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: a newer place, so you just don't have that historical
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 2: information from them. Yeah, what would you do then?
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it it wouldn't be I mean, I'd
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 3: be depressed, don't get me wrong. I'd hate to not
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 3: use cameras. But it would also be kind of exciting too,
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 3: just for the fact that I always know what's in
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 3: the area. So it would be like every time i'd
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 3: be going into a hunt, it'd be like Christmas morning,
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 3: but I'd use all the same things I'm still using now.
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 3: Just you know, i'd be still you know if it
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 3: was uh, you know, I guess it depends on what
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 3: time of year. It would be you know, just similar
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 3: to the answer I gave you before. If it's early October,
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 3: I'm looking for you know, sign on the end edge
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 3: of betting.
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 5: Uh.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 3: If it was more in the rut, I probably focus
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 3: more where I'm seeing dose and still keeping you know,
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 3: out of out of the way other hunters trying to
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 3: find more overlooked areas. Uh. You know, still a lot
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 3: of boots on the ground scouting too. The only thing
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 3: that you know, those cameras are really doing for me
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 3: is really teaching me, you know, about individual bucks. But
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 3: you know, I still have decent woodsman skills. I still
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 3: do a lot of things similar to what a lot
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 3: of other people are doing that you know, aren't running
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 3: trail cameras. But a lot of it's just based on
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 3: time of the year. But you know, I definitely scowed
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 3: heavily and that's what I would do. A lot of
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 3: boots on the ground stuff, and you know, you can
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 3: have success without trail cameras for sure.
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 2: All Right, we're the last phase of the gauntlet, which
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 2: is the rapid fire questions. Okay, I've got I think
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 2: five or six quick questions here. I just need like
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 2: a one word answer. No, explanation allowed, and then I'll
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 2: end it with one last doozy in which you can
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 2: explain yourself. Okay, okay, okay, all right, rapid fire begins.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 2: Would you take a fifty yard shot at a white
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 2: tail with your bow?
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 3: Yes?
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 2: Or no?
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 3: No?
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 2: If you can only have one of these tools for
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 2: the rest of your hunts, for the rest of your life,
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 2: would it be a set of rattling antlers or a
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 2: grunt tube? Grunt tube expandable or fixed blade? Broadheads?
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 3: Fixed blade?
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 2: Should you stop a moving buck before shooting with a bow?
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 3: Yes?
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 2: Does the moon matter to dear? Movement?
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 3: Minimal?
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 2: Okay? If you could only hunt mornings or evenings this
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 2: coming season, which one would you take?
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 3: Can I at least ask what time of year.
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 2: It's for the whole season? The whole season?
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 3: All right?
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 2: Mornings? Okay, all right. So here's the doozy. Let's say
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 2: that I rule the world and I have control over
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 2: your hunting privileges. I'm going to take away your right
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 2: to hunt for the rest of your life unless unless
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 2: you kill a five and a half year old buck
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 2: or older this coming season. The problem is, I'm only
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 2: gonna let you hunt one day and from one location.
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 2: So you have one day and one stand site in
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 2: order to kill a five and a half year old
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 2: buck this year. Tell me the date on the calendar
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 2: you would pick, and then describe to me in as
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 2: much detail as possible your best possible hypothetical stand site
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 2: for this situation for that day.
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 3: Well, does it have to be a specific date or
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 3: could it be a time frame with a weather event,
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 3: or does it just have to be a certain date.
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 2: I would say pick a date, but I'll let you
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 2: be a little loose with the facts. And if you
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 2: want to say, but I want this weather, I'll give
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 2: that to you because I don't want to be too mean, because.
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 3: I do have I like to hunt individual deer, like
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 3: from October fifteenth to close to Halloween before they really
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 3: you know, break out and range. In fact, I have
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 3: several deers several spots picked from that October fifteenth, you know,
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 3: towards end of October period, like you know, but a
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 3: lot of that's gonna be based on weather fronts. But
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 3: the first first weather front we get around mid October,
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 3: I'll explain a couple of these spots. Uh, they're they're
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 3: pretty close to buck betting. They're they're all on active scrapes,
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 3: like I mentioned before on the fringes of buck betting. Uh,
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 3: it's that's a special time of year when I mean
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 3: I call it like scrape season. I'd say that that
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 3: mid to late October period. There's probably no other time
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 3: throughout three hundred and sixty five days a year that
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 3: bucks are working scrapes as much. And you can you
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 3: can kind of pattern bucks on these scrapes. I'm not
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 3: saying they're hitting the same scrape every day. That's when
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 3: I love to use my three day strategy. The most
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 3: you'll have. You know, you'll have scrapes that a buck's
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 3: coming to maybe two to three times a week in
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 3: the daylight, and those are the spots that I'm hunting,
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 3: you know, maybe three afternoons in a row based on
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 3: what I'm seeing on those cameras. If I'm seeing more
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 3: consistency in the morning or evening, I'll base whether I'm
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 3: gonna hunt morning or evening on that year, and I'll
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 3: give it three sits in a row. Then I move
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 3: on to a different gear. But most of my hunting,
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 3: I will say, is based on weather fronts, you know,
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 3: cold fronts especially. I have you know those I don't
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 3: want to say magical spots, but some really good spots
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 3: that I have a lot of confidence in. But instead
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 3: of you know, getting excited and jumping the gun too quick,
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 3: I wait till the time's right, and you know, in
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 3: that I've had most of my success. A lot of
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 3: people are surprised, But from like October eighteenth to Halloween
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 3: is when I've killed most of my bucks. It and
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 3: it's mainly using that strategy, incorporating prime weather, you know,
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 3: on these scrapes and in these on the into these
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 3: betting areas, like that's just been a deadly tactic for me.
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 3: The biggest thing is some years you don't get those
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 3: weather fronts, and you know, you that's what's tough being
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 3: you know a fair weather hunter is you know, it's
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 3: you just you never know. Every year is going to
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 3: be different. You know, it's funny the year before last
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 3: and you know, twenty twenty one, our best stretch of
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 3: activity was November first to like the sixth, twenty twenty two.
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 3: That was the absolute worst time. So you just from
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 3: one year to the next, you don't know. And that
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 3: was mainly based on weathers. So but that's what I
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 3: would be doing. I. In fact, I was just scouting
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 3: the other day what I've been going in like this
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 3: time of year July August, and because I leave cameras
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 3: at these spots year round just for the most part,
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 3: so these bucks are used to the camera as well.
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 3: And I'll go in about this time of year and
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 3: just clear some brush and just make sure everything's clear
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 3: because about this time years when everything in the woods
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 3: is reached like maximum growth, and you'd be surprised. I
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 3: went to cameras the other day and they're just completely
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 3: covered up with the brush and stuff. But I've already
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 3: got all my spots pretty much set up for that
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 3: time period and now it's just a waiting game and
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 3: pray the weather gods are going to work with me
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 3: this October. Man.
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 2: Well, if that was the case and I had your
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 2: hunting privileges on the line, I would be crossing all
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 2: my fingers and toes for you. And with that, Steve,
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 2: you made it through the gauntlet. Thanks for doing that.
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 2: I enjoyed it. Before I let you go, though, can
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 2: you give folks a quick rundown of where they can
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 2: follow along with anything you've got going on how they
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 2: can contact you? About the Guide Service anything else like that.
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you can find me on social media Facebook or Instagram.
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 3: You might be able to see on my shirt here
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 3: it's Shirks Guide Service strk Apostrops. I don't have a
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 3: website anymore. I just it was, you know, it's one
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 3: of those things. I never thought it was going to
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 3: be what it is, and I was getting so many
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 3: phone calls that I just had to find a way
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 3: to cut back. However, this year, I do still have
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 3: some spots. I don't know when you're gonna air this,
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 3: but we do have a few spots, a few openings
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 3: this coming season. So if someone's interested in doing, you know,
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 3: a mountain buck hunt here in northwestern Pa on public land,
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 3: can definitely get a hold of me on Facebook or Instagram.
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 3: And honestly, thanks so much for having me. I was
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 3: honored to get to chat with you. I've been following
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 3: you for years, so this was one of my I
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 3: would say, one a little more challenging podcasts, but probably
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 3: the most fun and I'd be willing to do it
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 3: any other time to say the least awesome.
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 2: Man, Well, hey, right back at you. We'll definitely have
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 2: to stay in touch and I'll be I'll be keeping
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 2: tabs this fall. Hopefully you'll be putting another one or
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 2: two in the truck, and I'm sure you will. So
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 2: good luck and thank you, Steve.
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 3: Thank you, good luck to you as well.
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 2: All right, and that is a wrap. Thank you again
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 2: for showing up for this, listening to this, enjoying this
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 2: with me. I'm rare to go. I'm actually heading out
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 2: right now to hang some trail cameras and do some
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 2: scouting on a new piece. So exciting times all around.
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 2: I will leave you with one more heads up. After
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 2: I finished my conversation with Steve, he did mention that
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 2: he has a couple more openings available with Shirk's Guide
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 2: Service this coming fall in that mid November time period.
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 2: That's the only slot that's open right now. Get a
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 2: hold of him through Facebook, like he mentioned, and you
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 2: might be able to get one of the last couple
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 2: spots available with Shirk's Guide Service. As he heard today,
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 2: Steve is a wealth of information. He's gonna teach you
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 2: some great stuff. He's going to put you in a
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 2: place where you'll have some great opportunities, and I imagine
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 2: it can be a whole lot of fun too. So
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 2: give Steve a shout, and in the meantime, best to
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 2: luck out there. If you were doing some summer scouting,
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 2: some summer preps and habitat work, whatever it is, get
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 2: it done now because the season is just around the
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 2: corner and I cannot wait. So until then, thank you
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 2: and stay wired to hunt.