10 Minutes With Mark Kenyon

On this episode of the Nine Finger Chronicles, Dan talks with Mark Kenyon of Wired To Hunt for exactly 10 minutes. Dan brings the heat and asks Mark several rapid fire questions about his style of hunting. Question topics include favorite terrain features, calling strategy, and things he can't stand about Tony Peterson. This a quick episode that can be easily digested on the way to work or on the toilet, either way, this is a fun episode. Enjoy and share!

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another very important episode of the Nine Finger Chronicles podcast. And today we have guest, very special guest, mark [00:01:00] Canyon of Wired hunt of meat eater. You guys know him. You guys love him. And today, his schedule is so busy, he could only allow me 10 minutes of his time for this month.

And I had to take it. This guy's so full of knowledge. I had to take it. And so in this episode, you're going to hear. A rapid fire set of questions cuz I wanted to get as many questions in as I possibly could, and I ask him questions like favorite terrain features to hunt. I ask him his calling strategy.

And finally, mark gets the opportunity to make fun of Tony Peterson because Tony Peterson throws mark under the bus on just about every episode that he's on. And now it's finally Mark's opportunity. To talk some major shit on Tony Peterson. So you guys got to listen to that. Now this is a to 10 minute episode or 10 minutes of recording.

10 minutes and [00:02:00] eight seconds to be exact. There is a halftime where I give Mark A. Little break, and then it's right back into the grilling. Of Mark Kenyon. So that's what today's episode is about. Hopefully you guys enjoy it because this episode is so quick. I'm just gonna tell you some brands I want you to check out.

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If you're looking for a line of optics that are built tough, vortex optics.com, check out their v i p warranty. HuntStand. It's that time of year where we all need to be eess scouting and there's no better way to do that than on HuntStand. And then last but not least, the Woodman's Pal. [00:03:00] If you want to carry a machete with you, I'd be very careful of where.

These days where you carry a machete with you or a some kind of habitat tool like chopping down sticks and chopping down shooting lanes or cutting down vines, things like that. I can definitely see this on my hip as we get closer into tree stand setting season and trail camera maintenance season.

Woodmans pal.com. It's made in America, so it's badass there. Those are the commercials. And now, ladies and gentlemen, what you've really been waiting for 10 minutes with Mark Kenyon. 3, 2, 1. Ladies and gentlemen, on the phone with me today, Mr. Mark Kenon. Mark, what's up dude? 

[00:03:49] Mark Kenyon: Oh, I'm doing pretty good, man.

Glad to be here. Glad we're chatting. 

[00:03:52] Dan Johnson: Awesome. So I had a guy drop, drop me today and say oh dude, I can't record. I got and then he [00:04:00] gave me his excuse, which whatever is what it is. And so I'm, and we had something scheduled today, and so I'm like, you know what? A while ago, I had a, this is a while ago, and I had a a conversation with you and it was 12 minutes with Mark Kenyon.

Do you remember that? Yeah. Okay. We're shaving two minutes off of this episode, so we're gonna, we're gonna call it 10 minutes with Mark Kenyon. I feel like that's 

[00:04:27] Mark Kenyon: a lot of pressure to be concise. 

[00:04:29] Dan Johnson: Yeah. You're a professional. You should be able to handle it by now. You're 

[00:04:33] Mark Kenyon: giving me a lot of credit.

I don't know if many people have called me a professional before. 

[00:04:36] Dan Johnson: Our last the conversation that we had, and I'm gonna I'm gonna point everybody to the Wired to hunt who's listening to this. We just got off of a real conversation about the last 10 years of Wired to hunt and and how Mark and I started the podcast and the whole, how it got started, how we're different, how we're the same as far as hunting and stuff.

So go listen to that. But [00:05:00] just by the fact you've done something for longer than 10 years tells me you're somewhat good at it and it's you're just automatically a professional at that point. 

[00:05:11] Mark Kenyon: Okay. By that standard, I will accept your 

[00:05:14] Dan Johnson: okay. But I am gonna try to railroad you and make you look bad.

[00:05:20] Mark Kenyon: No, I won't expect any list in. I've been doing that to you for 10 years, so I guess 

[00:05:24] Dan Johnson: And that's easy. That's easy. 

[00:05:29] Mark Kenyon: All right so we're gonna go from talking about the last 10 years to our next 10 minutes. 

[00:05:33] Dan Johnson: 10 minutes, exactly. Time is relative, right? We've you've seen the Avengers movies, haven't you? 

[00:05:39] Mark Kenyon: I have.

Yes. And you are right. Yeah. All 

[00:05:40] Dan Johnson: All right. So what got we're just I can't tell you. It's just off. It's gonna be off the hip, but I 

[00:05:47] Mark Kenyon: Do you have a list of questions or No. Are you literally just like random things would 

[00:05:50] Dan Johnson: pop in your head? That's how, that's territory. The only thing I know how to do, if I'm prepared for this, it would just, it would turn to shit and people wouldn't listen to it cuz it would go [00:06:00] boring.

But look, here it is. Okay. Okay. 

[00:06:04] Mark Kenyon: All right. Will you cut me off? Will you cut me off? Like mid talking point at 10 minutes? 

[00:06:08] Dan Johnson: I'll give you, I'll give you overtime. I will put, give you an overtime buffer. If it goes over that you'll shame. You'll be shaming me though. I will shame you. Yes. Okay. Instantly.

That's fair. Instantly. Okay. When I hit this button, it's on. You ready? Yeah, I'm ready.

Mark Canyon. All right. What is your favorite terrain feature to hunt? 

[00:06:33] Mark Kenyon: Give me a good, simple funnel. Okay. That's between two relatively open areas with a timber type funnel, some kind of brush or timber. And I'm telling you that not just because that's a good place to hunt, like we all know that.

Yeah. Funnels are good places to hunt during the rot. They can be good places to hunt early any time of year if it's a funnel that connects food to bedding, that kind of thing. But why I like that specific kind of thing where it's timber with openings on the other side [00:07:00] is that I really like to see. Yeah, like I really like high visibility.

So gimme a little timbered pinch point in a grassy area in Iowa or Kansas or Nebraska, or North Dakota or South Dakota or Eastern Montana where I can glass from a distance. And if it's not working right now, maybe I see something in the distance that I can adjust to. Yeah, that's just fun. So it's effective and fun for my style of hunting, so that's why I picked that one.

Okay. 

[00:07:25] Dan Johnson: What time of year would be ideal for that, what you just described? Yeah. Give 

[00:07:31] Mark Kenyon: me first week of November. They're cruising. They're on the move. Yeah. You can still make adjustments. They're not locked down yet. It's not full blown chaos. Yep. It's, but it's still better 

[00:07:43] Dan Johnson: than usual. Okay. Bucks coming through.

You can pick one ble grunt rattle snort wes to get a buck's attention to come in. What are you doing, snort? We snort Wes aggressive. Yeah. Explain. 

[00:07:59] Mark Kenyon: Yeah.[00:08:00] You're only allowing me to pick one. Yep. So if you let me pick more, I would always, I always start with a grunt. Yep. And then I'll get like a slightly more aggressive grunt if I hadn't got his attention yet.

And then I will use the snort we last. But if I can only choose one, I want the snort wes, because I can adjust my volume of that. But usually, like you, it's either gonna work or it's not. Yeah. And it's that I don't know. It's that killing shot at the end. With a grunt.

It just, it, it might just not be loud enough. It might not be aggressive enough to turn him. It's just a little bit it's not aggressive enough, so I'm gonna throw a hail run or a Hail Mary at him, and it's either gonna work or it's not. And that's all right. It's gonna gimme the volume to reach out there though.

And if it's a mature buck, which is usually what I'm after. You got a pretty darn good chance in a lot of places that can be enough to piss 'em off and turn 'em around. So I've had a lot of situations where that was the thing that g that got on the camp. Okay. 

[00:08:52] Dan Johnson: Keep coming. Favorite state to hunt outside of your home?

State of Michigan?[00:09:00] 

[00:09:00] Mark Kenyon: It's gonna be like a prairie state. Okay. I really I love the Great Plains. Yeah. So North Dakota, Nebraska Eastern Montana. I realize that's more in one state, but give me a great Plains state. Yeah, I 

[00:09:13] Dan Johnson: love it. Cuz that's my favorite as well. All right. On this podcast, Tony Peterson throws low blows at you on a random on a regular basis.

Okay. Say one bad thing about Tony Peterson. 

[00:09:27] Mark Kenyon: He is like a little schoolgirl. Okay. When you get him alone, okay? So what you do, he, he tries to put on this front, on the podcast that he's like this tough, know-it-all, kinda really good deer hunter. But if you give him outside of that situation, For example, for work on a number of times, we've had to share a tent for work trips.

We've had to like share hotel room before for trips to Montana and he just wants to sit and gossip and blather on about little girly topics for hours and hours. He is a 12 year old schoolgirl. 

[00:09:59] Dan Johnson: [00:10:00] Okay. All right. Moment of truth, big buck is within shooting range. Talk to me about your shot process.

[00:10:08] Mark Kenyon: Yeah. I think in that moment when that big buffs come in, I'm thinking about a few things. First I'm thinking about is when can I, draw back? When can I make any final adjustments I need to make? Hopefully I'm in position already before he's in range. But if not, you're thinking through, okay, when can I make that movement?

When can I draw back? When, where and when can I get the shot itself? So I'm thinking through, where's the opening? Where's the tree that he's gonna step behind, whatever it might be. So hopefully all that stuff's figured out as soon as he's behind that tree or that bush or whatever. Now I'm drawing back and I'm going through, several steps in my process where I say something just as I'm drawing because these are these kinds of phrases that I'm trying to tie to a physical action so that I stay in control of my shot.

Basically. Think of it as like speed bumps on the road. When I'm not in control of my shot, I'm just like speeding down the road. But [00:11:00] if I have these little steps, it's like a speed bump that reminds me to slow down. Then another one comes slow down. So I draw back, I say, no matter what, I'm gonna do this right.

I draw back in, I draw back, I get locked in. Then under pressure here, I'm forgetting what my next one. Drop it on there. So I just drop the pin right behind the vitals, and then as soon as I'm locked in, I let it sit there for a breath or two. And then as soon as everything's ready, that's, here we go.

And then when I say, here we go, that activates my shoulders to then pull back through. So it says three step, three phrases that gimme those speed bumps to keep me in that moment. And then just pull until it releases. That's the shot process. 

[00:11:40] Dan Johnson: All right. We have half time now. All right.

So I hit pause. We are five minutes and 43 seconds into this high speed interview. How are you feeling so far? 

[00:11:52] Mark Kenyon: It goes really fast. Yeah, it does. It feels like I, I can't believe that we're already more than halfway through. I'm feeling okay. I feel like I, I stumbled a bit there. I forgot one of my [00:12:00] steps.

Yep. So the pressure's getting to me. Yep. I feel 

[00:12:02] Dan Johnson: so, so as an interviewer, You handled that really well. You identified you had a brain fart, but then you overcame it. 

[00:12:11] Mark Kenyon: Thank you. I I need as much of this cheering on as I can possibly get Dan. So please. More of that. And then I'll also tell you that just talking about like that funnel and talking about Prairie States gave me like a little adrenaline boost. Oh, okay. So I'm exci, I'm like, I was envision envisioning, like I was picturing these places. Yes. And that got me excited. Okay. So I'm feeling good in that regard. All right. 

[00:12:33] Dan Johnson: I gotta think here. My, my next question. I believe I have it. And are you ready to continue?

Yeah. Ready? All 

[00:12:44] Mark Kenyon: right. Here we go. You're such a weirdo. You're such a weirdo. You're welcome.

[00:12:53] Dan Johnson: All right and we're starting right now, late October [00:13:00] or late Nov November. You can't hunt the rut, but it has to be post RU or pre rut. What are you choosing? Give me late October. Why? 

[00:13:09] Mark Kenyon: I love that time of year. Because the Bucks, testosterone is RA rising. Rising. It's like almost to the bursting point.

So they're really fired up, but the dough aren't quite there yet. So you've got bucks almost as good as it gets. Not quite there, but almost as good as it gets for buck movement. But they're still in their zone. They're still on their home turf. They're not chaotically going all over the place. They're not traveling crazy far distances, but they're moving more in daylight.

So I really like. Figuring out deer in their home area. And this is that time period when that knowledge comes in very useful. Plus they are just a little bit more active during daylight. So it's a sweet spot to see 'em mature deer on their feet, but in a way that like your previous knowledge can 

[00:13:52] Dan Johnson: inform.

Okay, now non-white tail species, favorite non-white tail species to hunt.[00:14:00] 

Gotta be elk. Elk explain. 

[00:14:06] Mark Kenyon: It's just like the, when it's on it is the most incredible hunting experience I've ever had. Yeah. Like when you were around running screaming elk, nothing compares. Yeah. Nothing. Yeah. That has been the most like adrenaline filled, wild hunting experience of my life.

Plus it's usually in beautiful wild country. So that's a huge plus. Huge time investment, resource investment, physical investment, all that kind of stuff. So it's not easy to do or pull off. And as a out-of-state hunter, success rates are usually pretty low, so you gotta be in it for the experience.

Yep. You and I saw we went out there and didn't want, I don't think we heard any bugling, so we didn't get any of that. But if you can learn to appreciate the experience for itself, like the journey and all that, then you can, Still have fun, even though that special thing only happens once in a while.

[00:14:53] Dan Johnson: Species, you have not hunted yet, but is on your bucket list that you want to go hunt [00:15:00] Moose. Moose. Me too. Dude. Now explain your mo explain your dream moose hunt. 

[00:15:08] Mark Kenyon: So I think the dream moose hunt is a flow trip. Yes. In Alaska. Yes. So you're seeing new terrain all the time. You're on the water, so you're also fishing a bunch.

And then you have the opportunity to, be encountering bears, be encountering wolves. So I feel like it's twofold. It's one, I think it's one of your best opportunities to get like a very quintessentially Alaskan adventure. And then also a great way to get a moose out of there. You float it out there.

So it's the moose and the experience plus the fishing naturally fits into it, I think makes it a dream 

[00:15:42] Dan Johnson: trip. Okay. Lot of episodes on the Wired Hunt podcast. Name someone who you have interviewed that really resignated with you and you were just like, man, that I just love talking with that guy.

Oh 

[00:15:59] Mark Kenyon: [00:16:00] man, this is hard cause there's so many one minute. Shoot. 

[00:16:05] Dan Johnson: Yeah. 50 seconds. 

[00:16:07] Mark Kenyon: How is this the hardest one? Thinking back? I, it is cliche but I always like talking to Mark Drew. Yep. Everyone likes Mark Drew, but I just, his brain works the way mine does. Like very nerdy, very A lot of analysis. So even though like his hunting situation is wildly different than mine.

Yeah. Like I don't own any of that land. I have none of those resources that he has. I still really relate to his thought process. And so every time we talk I just feel like I'm talking to a smarter, better deer hunting version of myself, but we're on the same wavelength, so that resonates.

I always enjoy Donny Vincent's philosophical views on hunting. I always enjoy that. And you, Dan, you and I, when we vibe in our stupid BS sessions, that has for 10 years now been a highlight. 

[00:16:54] Dan Johnson: Hey, this was good. You only went over and. And I won't even say you [00:17:00] went over, but the buffer time here is eight second, 8.33 seconds.

That's pretty good. All right. That's pretty good. That's, I'm gonna say I had a lot to do with it because of the questions I asked, but your answers hit home and they were perfect. So that's ladies and gentlemen. That was 10 minutes with Mark Kenyon. All right. I feel like I wish I had a studio audience.

I wish I had a studio audience. 

[00:17:26] Mark Kenyon: The next version of this podcast, 10, 10 years from now, Dan, when you've made it to the next level of success and you're doing this in front of that big crew or big crowd, 

[00:17:35] Dan Johnson: that would be next level. And so in 10 years, if I ever do have an audience, it's probably gonna be at a bar called the Black Squirrel, and there will be like three guys there who.

We're there already. They just happened to hunt and they're just like okay, who are these guys? What's going on here? Bonus sign me up. Bonus question. Any plans to change the mustache and go back to a goatee or [00:18:00] what are we thinking here? I. 

[00:18:02] Mark Kenyon: Probably not goatee. Okay. My I can say that with strong confidence because my wife like vehemently hates the goatee.

Okay. So she's basically said, if I go back to the goatee she's leaving too. Okay. Fair enough. I would guess for the short term mustache, if I were to change it might be just like barefaced someday. 

[00:18:20] Dan Johnson: You can't do that though. You look too young. 

[00:18:22] Mark Kenyon: See, that's what I've always said. And so I believe that's the 

[00:18:25] Dan Johnson: case.

The rookie of the year 

[00:18:26] Mark Kenyon: comes back. The rookie of the year comes up. My wife seems to think that I have an older face now. She thinks I'm aging. Okay. And that I could do it, but but I agree with you. Okay. So for now, the stash will stay. There 

[00:18:36] Dan Johnson: you go. Mr. Mark Canyon, man, I really appreciate you taking time to do this and man, we'll talk to you when we talk to you.

[00:18:43] Mark Kenyon: Yeah, man, it was fun. Thanks for having me. 

[00:18:46] Dan Johnson: And there you go, ladies and gentlemen, another episode in the books. Hopefully the last 10 minutes and eight seconds have been beneficial. Have been entertaining, have been educational and you guys tune in for [00:19:00] another episode, maybe not with Mark Canyon, or maybe with Mark Canyon.

Either way, thanks for taking time outta your day to listen. Huge shout out to tethered wasps. Vortex HuntStand in the Woodman's Pal. Please go out and support the companies that support this podcast. And last but not least, let's all try to have positive energy, good vibes in good vibes out, and we'll talk to you next time.

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