Show Notes
Hey everyone, welcome to episode 200 of the Antler Up Podcast!
On this week's episode I was joined by PA native and straight up awesome hunter Chad Snader. I am thrilled to finally have Chad on the podcast! This is literally like 3 years in the making. A few years back I was trying to possibly do the mid-season episodes, and asked Chad to come on. Plans fell through, but we have kept tabs on each other and over these 3 seasons or so I have watched Chad knock buck after buck down, turkey after turkey and this year he had one helluva week in October. So, we discussed his success from this specific week where he notched his PA bear tag, fall turkey tag and buck tag!
Chad and I have a good conversation during this hour where we get an introduction to who he is, what has helped Chad become more consistent with his success over the years and more. I found Chad to be extremely relatable and I believe you will as well. Just another great hunter from the state of PA that puts in the work and enjoys himself out in the outdoors. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and family. Stay safe in the woods this upcoming rifle season here in PA! Enjoy this fun episode and see you next week!
Thanks again for all the support and best of luck out there and Antler Up!
Check out the Sportsmen's Empire Podcast Network for more relevant outdoor content!
Show Transcript
[00:00:00]
Welcome to the antler up podcast brought to you by tethered the world's best saddle hunting equipment, and we have a fun show for you all today
What's going on? Everybody? Welcome back to the antler up podcast. Holy cow. We are on episode 200 and Man, I really cannot believe this. This is friggin awesome Really excited for this episode and for this week's episode. I was joined by PA native and straight up awesome hunter Chad Snader. I'm thrilled to finally have Chad on the podcast because it's literally been three years in the making to finally have this one recorded.
Just real quick, a few years back, I was trying to possibly do those mid in season episodes back [00:01:00] when we first started and it just became a little too much on my end and asked Chad to come on. Plans obviously fell through, but we kept tabs on each other. And over these last three seasons or so I've watched Chad knock buck after buck down Turkey after Turkey.
And this year he had one hell of a week in October. So we discussed his success from this specific week where he notched his PA bear tag, fall Turkey tag and PA buck tag. Chad and I had a fun conversation during this hour where we get an introduction to who he is and really what has helped Chad overcome or become more consistent with his success over the years.
I found Chad to be extremely relatable and I believe you will
as well.
Just another great hunter from the state of PA that puts in the work and enjoys himself out there. And I hope you all... That are listening have a wonderful thanksgiving with your friends and family this week Stay safe out there in the woods this upcoming rifle season, especially here in pa Enjoy this fun episode and if you like what you [00:02:00] hear, please share it with your friends, your family and keep tabs on everything because we're going to we're going to build upon what we're doing and what's been successful, but also try to change things up a little bit, especially when it starts coming winding down.
So really it would
enjoy your input
of what you would like to hear a certain guests, maybe topics, stuff like that. Again, I just want to say thank you for the support again. And share it with your friends, your family, but also go on iTunes, right up a summary of a review, leave that five star review or also on Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcasts.
And I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, man, thanks for all that support. Be on the lookout. We have a coffee release that we're doing with Ed over at our grounds coffee company, just a limited number of bags. And just, I love coffee. So we wanted to team up. I wanted to support a guy that's just doing some awesome things, trying to build a dream of doing his own thing over there at our grounds coffee company.
So check that out as well. Thanks again, everybody. Enjoy [00:03:00] this episode, Antler Up. Tether is a team of saddle hunting fanatics with a passionate addiction to wide tail hunting. Designing and engineering products to be a more efficient and confident hunter, Tether produces the most mobile, stealthy, and safest elevated hunting gear on the planet.
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You have deer prediction, journaling, and the best maps on any hunting app platform there is. Use code AntlerUp to save 20 percent off your Spartan Forge membership at Spartan Forge. Dot ai. Hey everybody. Before we get into this week's episode, I wanna share some exciting news. The Exodus crew is now launching the Exodus Vault.
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So check it out over at exodusoutdoorgear. com What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the show this week. I'm joined by chad snader out of pennsylvania chad. Welcome to the show,
dude [00:06:00] Thanks, Jeremy, man. It's I'm glad to be on.
Dude, it is a pleasure to have you on. We're just talking about what an asshole I am because it's been three years in the making to finally get you on.
And dude, I am so stoked because since those three years, dude, I've watched you knock down. It seemed like buck after buck, turkey after turkey. And then obviously this year, a bear and a turkey already. And, we're airing, we're recording this one. At the end of October night before Halloween, the 30th and dude, you're already, you're the triple crown King already of Pennsylvania.
Yeah,
dude. It's it's been a crazy, it's been a crazy week for sure. A crazy season too. It's yeah, I can't believe it. Definitely. Definitely a blessed season for me so far.
Oh man, dude, and like we were just saying too, I think it's, I can't wait to hear your perspective on what you do during the off season, like what's really led to your success.
But, before we do all hear about your fun stories about this year, Chad, I guess give us a quick rundown of who you are, where you're [00:07:00] coming from and we could go down some fun rabbit holes. Yeah, dude.
So yeah, Chad Snader. I'm from southeastern Pennsylvania. Grew up in a hunting family.
My dad has hunted in Canada, out west obviously here in Pennsylvania, some other states here. So grew up with him as somebody I looked up to in the hunting space. Also my grandpa hunted, my aunts and uncles hunted. So grew up in a hunting family, married into a hunting family.
So pretty much surrounded by it. Started hunting I think it was the year that they started the Pennsylvania started the mentor program. I believe it was it was my first season. Was able to shoot a first buck that season and. Ever since then, I've been hooked. so Yeah, it's, yeah, it's been a wild ride and hopefully have many more years of hunting seasons to come.
Dude, that
is awesome. So you married into it as well. So something that like not a lot of individuals, especially like when the guys are concerned, like they don't have that a lot of opportunities where you grow up as a [00:08:00] hunter and you're engulfed in that lifestyle. Then luckily. You marry someone that's also the family is involved in, that's awesome.
Good for you, man. And do you have any kids you, I think you have a a
little girl. Yeah, I have a little, I have a little girl. Yeah. She just turned one last month. No, beginning of this month. Yeah. So hopefully she's been surrounded by this for the year of her life. So hopefully she'll be able to take on.
I definitely look forward to taking her out and Getting her in the outdoor space, dude. So
dude, that's awesome. That is fantastic. That's one thing as a dad and my daughter She's nine. So But it's crazy how fast they grow up, but it's just so cool to see the uniqueness that each You know, kid grows up to be and what they're into.
And my daughter loves the fact that I messed up. So don't do what I did where I got her mentor license a couple of years ago, just because she really wanted to. And she liked the idea of it when I probably just should have said, Hey, you're coming hunting, quote unquote, when she should have just, would be sitting in the blind with me or something along those lines.[00:09:00]
And I actually made the dumb mistake of getting her. Her license, even though she wasn't going to be doing anything with it. Because you only get that for three years. So if in a perfect world, I would have waited until what 10. So then she could have done it or 10, basically, or nine, 10, 11, 10, 11, 12.
So yeah, so don't make that same mistake like I did because now I, she has to like gap two years, but but the. The beauty of that is she's still showing interest. She still loves shooting her bow. We've gone on our local 3D course here a couple times this past summer. And, she, over the summer, she was like, Hey dad, it's Tuesday.
We're, why aren't we at the 3D course? I was like, all right, kid let's go. We're doing it. It was like her little Tuesday ritual to do with dad was to go to the 3D course. So we did that all summers. It was a fricking blast.
Dude, that's awesome, man. I love definitely love shooting a bow for sure.
Yeah, dude, man. All right, so just to give other individuals like a rundown, like I said, it's been three years in the making that you and I have been, talking on [00:10:00] Instagram and watching from afar, cheering each other on as far as, seeing What kind of success you're having and dude, over these last three years, I got to say, man, you've been extremely consistent with your success in all facets of hunting, like whether you're doing some bird hunting, whether you're doing obviously white tail hunting, but it, you're what, a couple of years streak going for bucks are concerned as far as archery goes, right?
Yeah, I'm trying to remember I was looking, I was trying to look back. I try to keep like records of the deer I shot and where they were. And we can dive into that too. That's one of my, I don't know, I'm not really a keys to success type of deal, but that's one thing that I do that, that I found that definitely helps.
But yeah, I'm on like a 10 or 12 buck streak. anD I don't know what it is with the bow. I'm trying to remember. There's quite a few with the bow in a row here in Pennsylvania. I guess to start out I have a pretty flexible job. I work construction with my dad. When it comes hunting season we work all year so we can take off and go hunting.
That's a passion that we both, yeah, like I said [00:11:00] before, that we both share and being able to take the time and we got into a little bit here before we started recording to take the time to go out and put your time in the stand is definitely one thing I'm blessed to
do.
That's awesome. And so these last couple of years, man, I'm like, what's been working for you? Because, I can sit here in my shoes today and say okay, yeah, it's been great. I shot five deer in October. I'm super proud of that. And I'm super proud of it because of the work I did. In the post season, right?
In that pre season timeframe, I said to you, I've really focused on the quality of hunt compared to the quantity. Like in years past, I was like, okay, I have to work. I'm going. And it was just like where are you going? I don't know. I'm just going to go here. And I never really had a game plan. And this year I was very strategic on things.
So I just want to know, Chad, like from you, from your perspective, what has worked for you, especially like these last couple where I know you've killed with the bow specifically, and dude, you've killed them pretty early. Like you just
said, like your post season, your pre season [00:12:00] scouting That's definitely one thing that I've put emphasis in boots on the ground and really, the woods change so much throughout the year.
I Love scouting that, early spring time, you can still see trails, you can still see scrapes rubs stick out like, they're shining out there. The whole woods is gray and then you just got this nice, bright rub. So going through, marking a lot of that stuff, and then, as you roll into season, you start rolling with your trail cameras, and um, I don't run a whole ton of cameras on the piece that we're at but being able to look back on historical stuff, and that's one thing, actually, with my buck this year the spot where he was showing up I believe it was, I think it was, like, three nights in a row, and then off and on throughout the beginning of October, then, not in daylight.
He was like middle of the night stuff. But historically that the 24th, the 23rd, 24th, [00:13:00] 25th has been like. A money day for me. I've killed a lot of bucks. I've actually killed a buck four years ago. I killed a buck in that exact same spot, almost the identical time that I killed a buck this year.
And then, organizing all your camera pictures being able to, I don't know, look back, that's one thing I save all my buck pictures. I don't care if it's a, a little forky or if it's a, a one 50, like being able to store those buck pictures and be able to look back and see for me.
Like weather has a lot to do with it, but it soon starts. What I'm noticing is the dates seem to line up almost every year of. Within the day of each other, of being good kill days.
I love that. The Pat, the fact that you just said you store every buck photo and dude, I'm sitting here thinking dang, Jared, like, why aren't you doing a lot?
Like I, I keep a good bit, I would say, but I need to do a better job of. Categorizing them, basically of okay, here's this [00:14:00] timeframe and whatever like that, because there's countless, just like you were you and your dad, I'm sure just go nonstop talking about this stuff. And that's the exact same thing that my dad and I do, and we'll talk about oh yeah, like we've I'm speaking as my dad.
He'll be like, we've had, like at least five, six good ones last year, Jer, like on camera, remember those, hopefully they made it well, if we've kept a running log, like now that you're saying that I'm thinking in my head, if we would have kept a running log and we see certain deer, there's a certain timeframe where things just heat up.
I love, like I said, it's October 30th right now. So it's not going to air for a couple of weeks, but I've been loving to see. Messages online on Instagram or text messages from buddies getting in there saying, sending me a picture of a buck right now, like within the last couple of days, and they're like, haven't seen him since July.
You, you're able to see that and keep tabs on that because when they show up or not, and it's just, I don't know that's really cool. And, so I would say, man, for you, a good piece is being [00:15:00] organized with all that data.
Yeah yeah, and I'm not like running like monster spreadsheets or whatever, but I definitely, have folders for different books and have folders for Different seasons and stuff.
And then also keeping a journal and my dad's done this for years and years. I, he does it on a tablet and I do it on my phone. So there's a generational generation difference there, but keeping a log on your phone. For me, it's the date you sat, where you were, what you seen and it's pretty cool to be able to look back through the years and there again, and being able to see that.
You know what, there are certain days that, that stuff correlates together. Yeah. That are kill days.
To build on that, Chad, are you seeing, like how you said too weather plays a role? I'm even thinking from my personal experience, man, like you said, the... That eight, like that 18 to 23rd, if weather cooperates pretty well.
And as long as pressure is pretty at a bare minimum or low at what that specific time or that specific place. [00:16:00] And over time, if you are able to keep that, like how you said, date dates, certain dates seem to line up to kill really well. Take the guesswork out of building your own arrows for this upcoming season by ordering a custom set of arrows from Exodus Outdoor Gear.
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Yeah. Yeah. And even it's crazy. I've had last year there was a really good two year old that I passed a couple of times.
But the first time I passed him, I was in a certain spot I believe it was like October [00:17:00] 17th or whatever roll around to this year, got trail cameras of them, nice three year old 8 point definitely something I'm going to shoot and actually had an opportunity, went to the spot it was a day later that I seen him the previous year, I believe it was like I think I seen him on the, I was the 16th or 17th and I was there on the 18th or whatever.
So it was a day later, don't you know, the deer shows up within an hour of when I seen them the previous year. I wasn't able to get a shot on them just the way everything worked out. But it was pretty cool to see that deer show back up. And I don't know if it was, is it a freak thing?
I don't think so. I think historical data for me, I guess I, for me, historical data has been something that has killed deer, even if it's not even like the specific deer, in my mind, they're going to, they all have different personalities or whatever. I don't want to go to the weeds too far. Bill and Harry and whatever, all you name your box, but I think deer are deer, and deer are going to do the same thing, especially if you learn your piece, [00:18:00] um, and you have, and you've put time into that piece, you've scouted, and yeah, there's different things that, crops can change, acorns can change having different mass crop or whatever,
but I think deer move through a piece pretty much the same way. Yeah. It's how
I've seen it. When you see that too, Chad, I want to build upon that. What are you seeing as far as like the bedding situation goes? Cause like for me, especially Northeast PA, I see it as like more of a general area.
You know what I mean? Like not a specific bed or this bed, that bed. I think it's more of a specific general area and Buck may bet here and he may not go back to that spot. Like he might be in that vicinity and he might be a couple yards away, but he's not betting in that same bed. That's what I've noticed over the last couple of years.
I know you're, like you said, in that Southeast region of Pennsylvania. What are you seeing as far as that stuff goes? Yeah
I, yeah, echo exactly what you said yeah, he might be using that same [00:19:00] bed. He might even use that same bed maybe once a week. But I would agree that I definitely think like you can narrow it down to a, for me, I could narrow it down to a specific oral patch or a specific, section of thicket or Greenbrier or whatever.
And I'm not one, I'm not one either to yeah, I'll scout during the winter or preseason scout into those bedding areas some, but I'm, I was never one to like, put a camera right on the bed or that type of thing. All I really care about is I know that he's going from A to B.
And I want to be somewhere in the middle.
I like that because that's one of the aspects that I think I've gotten a better job at of looking at that map and if I have a camera say in a transition area or somewhere and I could look at the timestamp and I know it's pretty darn close of looking then at the topo features or somewhere maybe I scouted like you said in the offseason where I don't care about going into [00:20:00] the betting quote unquote area.
And I could look at him like, okay. I know he's this is where either a doe group is betting or where this specific buck is betting because of I'm getting these pictures at a certain time where it's in that transition area. That's what, like you said, that's where I've learned and has grew a lot as a hunter.
I'll tell you what, the one thing that I want to ask you about is what the data. Going back to like last year's buck, like you killed him during, I think in that sweet spot of November when we had, when it seemed like to be really good for everybody, it just seemed like it was tough.
And then it was like that 12, 13 timeframe and everybody was dropping bucks. What was, what played into last year's rut hunting buck kill for you?
Yeah, last year was, I would say last year was probably one of my toughest season mentally, I would say. This wasn't seeing the bucks, on the hoof as much as I thought I was, as in [00:21:00] previous years a lot of like dark activity, midnight activity stuff.
And then actually ended up missing one of my target bucks I believe it was November 1st. Okay. Just like a fluke, it would jump the string 30 yards, that, that spot at 30 yards where He was either gonna, I was either going to smoke them or I was going to miss them, that being said, so mentally draining but knew that I was able to put the time in and for me.
When it comes to killing like a specific buck, I don't chase the whole year after one specific buck, I usually have two or three that I can usually get on at some point in time. bUt when it comes to chasing a specific buck like that, now for me this mid to this late October timeframe for me is the perfect time to do that.
And so I knew as I kept rolling later and later into, into November, it was going to be a lot harder. And the buck I ended up killing was not I hadn't had pictures of him for [00:22:00] uh, it was probably 10 days. I didn't know if he got shot, don't know, had no idea where he was, but I knew that I needed to put some time in a tree.
And it was actually one of those days where the days lined up, but the weather didn't. It was warm and really windy. Made a move midday up against the bedding area and ended up shooting that deer at two o'clock in the afternoon. He was by himself and I believe it was like a 72 degree day or something.
It was the middle of the day. It was hot. What a day that you wouldn't expect a buck like that to be on his feet. But I think he was in between does He was also coming from a water source. So I was man, I gotta get where it's cooler, get where there's more of a canopy, get where it's thicker and also be close to water, but that deer, uh, that deer I had pictures of going all the way back to May and then he just transitioned off and disappeared.
And I think, chasing does that begin in [00:23:00] November time. And that can also work, that can work in your favor too, also, of pulling other bucks in. But that deer was, yeah. Ended up being actually to this day is still my biggest archery buck. So I was, yeah, I was super stoked to be able to put an air on him and and my season like that.
Dude, I'll tell you what I love hearing that the things that you did on a hot day. You still went out after it because man, like you said, deer are going to do, still do deer things. And you're lucky enough that you're in the right spot in that right time. And you're like, Hey, I got to get somewhere where it's a little bit cooler, and by cooler, like you said, it finds some canopy.
I know for me, I'm thinking I got to find some hemlock. That's like my terrain feature that would be one. And like you said, water and dude, looking back at some of the deer you've killed the last couple of years, like you're 20 buck. You're 2022 and even this year's buck, dude, those eight points.
I know you got some kickers on some are just, they look like they're frigging brothers. They're like all [00:24:00] cousins. It's crazy.
Yeah. It's really cool to be able to see that. How sometimes you walk into a guy's shop or whatever, and it's Oh man, I can tell those deer all came from off the same piece or the same area or whatever.
And it's pretty cool that they all have that same. That same gene, yeah, different deer throw different stuff, but it's definitely it's pretty cool.
That's awesome, man. Anything else that you could think of, obviously, like you said, using that data and keeping that journal, anything else that's been really something that you think has really helped you over the last couple of years with the consistency?
Going way back, even when I was younger it seemed every year I would have a, I would have a chance at a really good deer. It was either, either you would screw up on a shot or, I've done that plenty of times, screw up on a shot on a good deer, or it was, I would shoot a different buck and be perfectly happy with the deer that I shot stoked about it, but then you're either Turkey hunting or you're bear [00:25:00] hunting or.
I was either sitting with one of my siblings, or somebody didn't have a buck tag, or was out, doing a little push or something. You always have a chance. It seemed to me like every year, I'd always get a good chance at a buck. And I had a really good buck, I should say. And I don't know, when, I just as a hunter, you kind of transition through different stages.
But, for me, it was like, okay. Maybe I won't shoot that first buck that comes in, you know that, may I let that one go and see what happens. And it seemed that between spending more time in the woods is some of it to capitalizing on those chances that I was able to get.
I Started I don't know, it was maybe 2015, 2013. I started getting into target archery a lot. So for me, shooting tournaments has been the closest thing to putting myself in a big buck situation. Like now I get more nervous shooting a tournament than I do shooting a buck. [00:26:00] Yeah. So brushing up and putting everything in my favor of okay, yeah, you might still screw up on some shots, but the odds are, in my favor a little bit more. I feel like and yeah, and just being patient and I think also scouting too. I've scouted a lot more to put myself in, in, in those situations to get more chances at good bucks. Yeah, I would say, yeah that's just, I don't know. You were talking before about, like how you so consistent or whatever.
I just think that I was trying to think about that question. It's just, I think for me growing as a hunter and just. I don't know. Like I said before, I'm blessed to be able to put a lot of time, a lot of time in the woods. And the more you're out there, the more you're gonna see. And learn the spots that you hunt and yeah, cataloging data like that.
Those are just some of the things and let's be honest, there's a little bit of luck that, that rolls into your hunting season too.
Like you said, how we discussed earlier about being more calculated in your [00:27:00] goals. Like you said depending on what you want to do, my, I had specific goals here for PA and I have some things going on in my, with my family with it and everything like that and all good things is, I don't say that in a negative way.
I say that in a positive way. So I knew for me, it was like, okay, I know I have some really good deer on camera. I wanna be calculated because I have a Maryland tag and I have an Ohio Tech, and I know I would like to do those some point in time of the year again. And it wasn't for me that I was going to say, okay.
The first legal buck that I see in pa, I'm shooting it. I was going to shoot the first one that made me grab my bow and yeah. And my, the day that I killed Mayan, it I shot a dough and then about seven minutes later, this buck came up and I. Initially it was like, no, he give him some time, all that type of stuff.
And then he like looked at me at [00:28:00] one point. So I got a better look. I was like, Oh yeah, he's definitely, he's a mountain buck. I'm like, okay, I'm okay. He's definitely something. And I just range an area and I put a great shot on him. He bounded like one big leap and he just dropped. I'm like, okay. I just killed two deer.
I'd never done that before. This is awesome. I have a chance to do this with my dad again. And. I was tickled pink, man. I know he's a six pointer, but I was like, okay, so now I could go to Maryland. Now I could go to Ohio because now next year I am going to have different goals in Pennsylvania.
Not saying that I want to only hunt a specific buck if this buck survives, but okay, I'm not going to shoot the first 6. 7 point buck maybe like I will have a different goal. You know what I mean? So Yeah, so you learn as you're going and dude for me My goal to get back to this year was to be and I don't want to sound like a dick, but like I wanted to be a killer again, and it just felt right. It felt good. And I was like, okay five sits, five deer [00:29:00] down. Let's go on some more ventures. Let's continue to learn. Let's continue to grow. Dude. That's it.
That's crazy. Being able to like, yeah, first off, I've never pulled a double off like that. So hats off to you.
But being able to, And everybody's situation is different. Everybody's, work schedule and you maybe only got Saturdays to hunt. You have limited time and for you doing your post season scouting and pre season scouting, being really calculated with your moves and going in.
That's, you can't ask for anything better than that. And and back to your goals. It's one of my goals this, like my goal this year was to shoot a three and a half year old. And that's what I did and be able to back, back to back, uh, and that three and a half year old class or older was something that I wanted to set.
But to tell you the truth if there's a buck that comes in front of me that gets me excited what do you, if you don't get excited when you're out anymore, what are you out there for? I'm not here to buck shame anybody. Exactly. You shoot what makes you happy and that's, that's what hunting is.
Everybody can make make it what they want it to be.
Dude. And bow [00:30:00] hunting is freaking hard. lIke you said, dude, like that doe that I got on film, like she was like 29 yards, I think like on the dot, like 29 points, something. And in the tree, I'm like thinking, Oh yeah, that's a chip shot.
But when you, when I replayed it. And I put it on that bottom third and I replayed that video. I was like, Oh my gosh. Like she jumped that string like nuts. I couldn't believe it. And in, in real life, I didn't notice that eight seconds later, hurt or crash knew exactly. Like I walked right to it. A blood trail was unbelievable.
And then I'm watching that film. I'm like, Oh my gosh, if I would have aimed higher, I would have either one Mr or two Spinder, like it was just nuts. Those are things, details that. Man, bow hunting it like when people say it's inches, it literally is no matter the good, the bad, the ugly, like it, so dude, like you said, any kill, especially with the bow, man, I always applaud.
And like, when I say congrats and I share anything along those [00:31:00] lines dude, I truly mean it because like I said, it is not easy. Yeah, I did.
And and did that 30 yard distance for me? That's one of the hardest distances to shoot a deer at they have enough time to react and Yeah, but to me I'd rather shoot a deer at I'd rather shoot a deer at 40 than 30.
Yeah It seems I don't know, I've had, had less, less reaction at 40 than I've had at 30. Every deer I've shot, every deer I've shot at 30 has done something or crawled out of their skin at some
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The one thing that I do want to go back to is mentality. And I want you to maybe talk about I'll frame it here, but I want you to possibly think about how things. Obviously, if this airs right before a rifle season, Chad, like if someone struggles during archery, how are they going to be able to maybe mentally turn it around during rifle season or something along those lines?
But describe what you were going through last year. Like you said, I know you talked about it. You weren't seeing the deer and how that mentally maybe. Made it like what like forced a toll on you last year and how You were not going to go through that again this year And what would you do for gun season basically because I'm sure that's happened to you where archery season did not tag out and then Obviously during rifle season you got a [00:33:00] reset and get going so in a nutshell last year What did you go through and how are you?
What did you do to not deal with that for this year?
yEah, last year just, let, something, if you screw something up for me and, I missed a buck last year, you can't dwell on that for starters, stuff happens and you just got to pick yourself up and start over.
Tomorrow's another day. And just I'm naturally a pretty competitive person, to me, it's not, it sounds funny, but it's almost a game. Okay, deer one this day, you know what, but guess what? Tomorrow it's my turn. And just, don't be, don't get yourself down on stuff.
Put one foot in front of the other and just be able to. I don't know. And to me, and also being patient and not getting discouraged. I know, I'm trying to think, I, Bo Martonic has a line where he talks about, it's like, the rut is, whatever it is, or many it's hours of silence or whatever.
And then just seconds of chaos or something like that. I've heard him talk about [00:34:00] that before. And that's pretty much, you're just looking for that, your season can change in 30 seconds. anD just being not stuck on your phone up a tree, or, being, going in with a mindset to kill, that's the other thing I think that I switched a little bit is okay, yeah, I do, there are some times I'm on limited time or, we got to get something done and you only can get out of anything going with the mindset of okay, I'm here to do a job.
I'm here to kill, not to take the fun out of it. But if you look at it as, I have a job to do and we're going to do it I think for me staying that's one thing that's helped me stay mentally strong. And then as far as the rifle season thing same deal, man. If you can put time in a tree, stuff's going to happen.
And I know rifle season, the pressure goes up significantly. If you can figure out, some escape routes of where those deer go when they get pressured. That's a good key to, to try to get close to that area. And just put your time in the tree.
I know [00:35:00] that's, I know that sounds very cliche because that's, that's what everybody tells you to do. But, those all day sits, I know those all day sits aren't fun, but sometimes that's what you got to do. You never know when you get a cruiser rolling by at one o'clock when everybody else is going back for lunch.
And if that's, I know how the hunting camp thing is like everybody wants to, enjoy, hanging out with everybody and that's part of it too, but for me, being able to put those all day sits in day after day is one thing that's helped too. And I don't, and I don't want to like make it sound like I, I make this I go out all serious or whatever.
Sometimes there's, you know what, sometimes. After a day of work or whatever, I do want to crawl up a tree and just relax. There's, I love being out in the woods and enjoying God's creation. And just being able to sit and relax. But guess what? There's some times where we got to go, we got to go kill some.
Yup.
I like it, man. Let's get a, that'd be a good transition of to this season, man. Cause you have, like I said, you have laid the hammer down already on a turkey, on a buck and on a bear. And you've done it. All in the same week, which [00:36:00] is freaking impressive, man. So I don't know which one, I guess you want to go in order of yeah.
Yeah, we can do that.
Yeah, let's do that. Okay. So I guess the bear was first. There's, I wish I could, I wish I had this long elaborate story about the bear, but I really don't. I guess as everybody knows, if you bear hunted and PA it's a luck thing, it's a chance thing. And I've done the whole.
The whole drive thing, you have a full roster of guys and you're going doing that. And, I've been on, I've been on drives where, yeah, guys have gotten some. But for me, I wanted to do it, I wanted to do it the right way. Actually last spring or two springs ago I headed west to Idaho on a spring bear hunt, spot and stalk in the mountains.
And it was like probably my favorite, Western trip I've been on so far. And ended up missing a bear. So that just made my my pursuit for a bear even higher. And so I knew that, you put your time in, you're going to have, you're going to have a chance at some point in [00:37:00] time.
And so it was it was the 21st the last day of the Pennsylvania inline season for bear. It was really windy. The deer movement was like. I was hunting on top of a ridge and wondering why I was even there. And so I got down thought about going back for lunch, but I'd also.
Prepared to sit. I packed a sandwich or whatever and had some food and extra water and stuff to sit all day with the possibility of doing that. And decided to do, to dive in try to get out of the wind on the north side and tuck down in tight to a bedding area. Took my inline along, did a hanging hunt down in there.
And I had a camera down there that I was actually getting, there was a lot of buck activity So I was really excited to sit in there, but knowing that the wind was going to be You know, it was gusting and all this stuff going on. I know, for me, anything over, anything over 10 mile an hour on a wind, it seems like the deer movement, at least where we're at, seems [00:38:00] to be suppressed pretty good.
So yeah, went in, set my stand, set my sticks got up a tree. I say that, I got up a tree in time to get everything set up, but, and get settled in. But I wasn't able to get bored yet, if and being able to, and so I'm sitting there, it's really windy, couldn't hear a thing, and if you've ever seen a bear walking through the woods, man, they don't make a sound, especially when, I've had it go either way.
Dude, it is so bizarre. It's like also you look up and there's a bear or else I've also had them, where they're just trucking through and it sounds like a whole herd of elephants. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And so I just was sitting there. I looked up and there's a bear at 20 yards coming through the laurel was able to grab my muzzleloader.
And by this time he's gets behind, I was facing the tree. By this time he gets behind my tree and has a right handed shot. He's on the right side of the tree. So I had to do the whole, lean, swing around to the other side. I was right handed shot, it's awkward, you're all twisted up a little bit.
I had my scope backed out at three power.[00:39:00] Was able to follow him through the brush and was able to see, with my scope backed out at three power, was able to see my different openings. Was able to follow him through and squeeze the shot off. Knew right away that I hit him. And going back, we had trail camera pictures of a bear but bears are really hard to judge.
I knew it wasn't a cub but I had no idea what I shot. Was able to call my dad right after the shot and he was, hey dude, I shot a bear, and so we were able to get him, he was, he came down went to the side of the shot, and it ended up, the bear only went 30 yards, and it ended up hard shooting him.
Which was I made a good shot, but he he walked right into that. It was it was a lucky shot, but ended up only going 30 yards. And we walked up to him, this is the first time I've ever walked up to something and been like. Cause I had no idea what I shot. Like a lot of times with the deer, you're like, okay, he's an eight point.
You walk up, he doesn't really change. He's an eight point. Yeah. He might grow or he might shrink a little bit, but this is the first time I've ever [00:40:00] walked up to something and been like, no, now what are we going to do? So he ended up field dressing at 478 pounds. An estimated live weight is like 525 550 somewhere in there.
And so it was just me and him. We were able to get them on a deer cart and be able to, work them out a little bit until the wheels on the deer cart folded over. And then at this point we were able to get a tractor in and be able to put them on the bucket. So from the time that we got to the bear, it was three 30.
And then we ended up, we got him in the back of the truck. I believe at seven 30, I believe. So that whole time we were working at it. So it was quite a chore. He was, he had one ear tag in him. And when I talked to the warden that checked the bear, I was a research bear which is pretty cool.
He wasn't like. Relocated or a trouble bear or anything. So it was a research bear, and they let him go, they caught him in May, and they let him go pretty soon after that. Hopefully I'm getting the biologist's report [00:41:00] from all the research and stuff that they did why they had him there.
So that'll be, I'm looking forward to that. That'll be pretty cool. Sweet,
man. That is really cool. So that's, so that was your first PA bear? That,
yeah, first PA bear, first bear ever. So I was pretty stoked. So went all the way to Idaho to try to shoot a, to try to shoot a bear and just had to stay close to home, yeah, there you
go. Ha. And then the buck came.
Yeah, and so that was on Saturday. Had to regroup a little bit. Sunday, Monday. But there was a cold front hitting On, I believe that was Tuesday morning uh, went back in actually to the same spot where I did the hanging hunt.
Because I had such good buck activity in there, there were scrapes there it was on the edge of a thick laurel bedding area. And a trail crossing where there were bucks cruising back and forth. I was like, I knew if I put my time in there, it's going to be a good spot. At least in the morning anyways.
And then the day started heating up. And decided to make a move. And that's one thing too that I wasn't going to mention [00:42:00] before. It was not being of, talk about putting your time in. And that doesn't mean necessarily just sitting in the same spot for 14 hours a day. That might mean.
You put your time in at a spot and then you make a move, a calculated move, not just bounce around all over the place. So knowing that I had this book nighttime, nighttime pictures of this book, and it seemed like he would be there for, he would be there for two days in a row and then he'd disappear for a day and then he'd be there for two days in a row and disappear for a day.
So I had a little bit of a pattern on him. But was waiting for that first daylight picture. And I didn't have a cell. I don't have, I don't run any cell cams. I run all SD cards. And checked a card at where he was. And he had daylighted Sunday night, I believe at 6 30. He was with a doe and I was like, okay, so he daylighted.
What am I a day late? Should I have been in here Monday? But he wasn't, I didn't have a picture of him Monday. But he was there, he would have been there uh, I think he was there in the middle of the night, Saturday, and then was there Sunday, and he wasn't there [00:43:00] Monday, I was like, okay, I have a feeling that he's gonna show back up so I actually went back had a nap, I'm still recovering from this whole bear ordeal here went back, had a nap got back up a tree, um, I forget what time I got in, but ended up, a doe coming out I was actually talking to my wife at the time while I was up the tree and I was like, oh man, I just had a doe come out, and she knew I was chasing this buck.
And don't you know no sooner did I, text her that, this doe was coming out, I'll talk to you later or whatever. All of a sudden I heard, grunting coming from the laurel onto this green plot and Grab my bow, and this is one thing that, it just comes from experience.
I grabbed my bow, and he was coming on the trail. I seen the deer, didn't know what his headgear was, but pulled my bow back, being ready. You can only let down if it's a deer that you're not looking for, or don't want to shoot. Comes out seen which deer it was. And he ended up trotting right across the food plot and I was able to make a perfect [00:44:00] shot on him.
He only went 50 yards. I seen him fall over. It was just a really cool hunt. And I, that, that was at 430, I believe I shot that deer. So he daylighted. He daylighted, two hours earlier than he did on Sunday. THat
cold front that, that cold front, I know it was more so in the morning.
Do you think that anything like along those lines played a role into that? Or, obviously you heard him grunting and not that, that he's, he's just probably harassing the doe in a way. And man, cause I've said it before around that timeframe. Back at home, I've had, I've been in the tree and I've been like, all I would hear at the bottom are a ridge below me.
I could hear, I'm like, what are you kidding me? What's going on here? And I would do like a soft grunt call, nothing crazy, just another similar noise right back at them. And they'll come up and whether it's a younger deer or a shooter deer that just wouldn't come in range. Like I've had that experience too.
So what, any, what do you think really caused him to daylight that early?[00:45:00]
I honestly think it was partially that doe, the daylight picture I had, he was with a doe I'm not saying that he was, full fledged bedded with her and all that. The doe obviously had some part in it because it just seemed I'm just judging off the pictures and the deer that I've seen, a does a doe, but it seemed it could have been the same doe that he was with.
And just sticking with her, not necessarily, but like you said, pestering her. But yeah, I think the cold front definitely had something to do with it. Cause I don't know why deer would change going from, going from midnight, consistent midnight pictures to all of a sudden daylighting at four 30 also, I think the cold front had something to play with it, but also the dates too, looking back, the 24th, I've killed a buck in the exact same spot.
I kill a five o'clock, I think. It's pretty cool to be able to, those are killer dates. Yeah. The 24th of October for me is a really good day.
Heck yeah, man. And then, so that was what day? That was Tuesday? That was
Tuesday the 24th,
yeah. And then [00:46:00] Saturday when turkey season rolls around, you smack your turkey.
Yeah,
dude, that was crazy. That day, so that was the 28th. And last year that was my best day in the woods as far as... Me too. as bucks. That's crazy. So yeah, like I seen, I think last year I seen seven different bucks on the 28th. jUst running around harassing does same deal. It was a cold front where this, this year was at least where we were is completely opposite.
It was really warm. And I ended up actually seeing before I shot the Turkey, I ended up seeing three different bucks. That morning. So there again, the 28th, uh, the 28th is a really good day that I've seen. But it was ended up sneaking in there. Honestly, I don't know if it was the warm weather, but it sounded like it was May 5th.
There were birds gobbling all over that's first time. I've really had a lot of gobbling action in the fall. I've only ever killed one other full Turkey. And it was a shotgun. It was going to be pretty tricky was up a tree and then decided to make a move, get down out of my [00:47:00] stand and ended up being able to sneak up on this bird.
And he worked his way, worked his way down through and actually pitched off the roost. I got a little bit close and he pitched off the roost and was actually able to shoot him right before he hit the ground. So dude, that is wild. It was, yeah, it wasn't like your typical spring hunt, but I did actually, I was able to call a couple other birds in just not quite in range and knew that this was my last ditch effort.
And I had to try to make something happen. So it was pretty cool. He had a 10 inch beard on him. I think it was my best, yeah, it was bigger than my other fall bird I shot. So it was a crazy experience. And, afterwards the birds were gobbling, the ends were going off. It was just really cool.
I love the fact that you were calculated, again, hearing that with where you were hunting, why you were hunting I took a lot out of that, dude. And now that you've had success obviously last year you killed November 12th, and the year prior it was in October, I believe, and everything along those lines.
What do you do now? What [00:48:00] is your game plan? Are you still going out there scouting around and how do you manage tagging out early?
I actually have a a New York license, so I'm planning on heading up there. Either the end of this week or the following. So being able to have New York pretty close is really cool.
At least for me it's pretty easy to run up there. And on another state pounds in public land. That's one thing I've been, that's really fun is being able to. To, break down some pieces and doing that up there and it's did that public land stuff is it's hard like I've had some success on it, but it's definitely a little bit of a learning curve for me, honestly, but really enjoy, my time up there and being able to put those pieces down.
And then also I'd like to get my wife out. Some here. Hopefully try to catch some of the rut action here in PA. She hasn't been able to hunt too much since our daughter was born, but I'd love to get her out here. Then I have some younger siblings that, that hunt too, so possibly [00:49:00] either sit with them or, helping different buddies out but pretty much.
Right now, the goal is to get my wife out and also head to New York and see if I can tag out on, on, on some deer up there. So
nice, man. Dude, you still got to get another Turkey come spring. Cause you got your spring tags.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Turkey hunting thing. I definitely ate up by that.
So yeah. I got, my two tags here. You got the special spring turkey tag here in Pennsylvania here. So hopefully take out some birds. Last spring was a little rough, but see if we can turn it around and be able to kill some spring birds
too. I appreciate you Chad coming on.
And just after this conversation, you fired me up, dude. I'm looking forward to having you on again in the future. And I wish nothing but the best of luck to you. The rest of the way up in New York and everything else that you have going on. Where could people find you fall along with what you got going on, dude?
Hey
first off, thanks for having me on, man. It was awesome to be able to finally link up and yeah, be able to have a conversation Mainly just Instagram [00:50:00] 97 Chad is my Instagram handle. I'm not really, I'm not really anybody, I love to hunt, love talk hunting and yeah, I just enjoy spending time in the wood.
I love it,
dude. I appreciate it so much. And I'm telling you people go follow Chad along with what he's got going on. Cause the dude's a killer. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I look forward to more if you like what you hear, people. Make sure you're following along with what we got going on with antler up, but definitely go check chat out and we'll see you next week, everybody.
Best of luck to you out there. Antler up.
Thanks for listening to this episode of the antler up podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. Please go check us out on our Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and go wild. And at antler up outdoors. com. If you enjoyed this episode, go leave a review and subscribe for next week's episode until then antler up.
