Antler Up Report

Hey everyone, welcome to the Antler Up Podcast!

On this week's episode I was joined by Chris Weist. Chris was on the show back in July and we hit it off. In that episode we discussed how Chris likes to head to Maryland for some early hunts to knock the dust off and prepare for the season. The start to the year has already been a good one for both Chris and I. We discussed some of the encounters that he already has had and the one I had in Maryland as well. Chris shares his plans to hunt the rest of September and his goals leading into October.  

With these Antler Up Report episodes, I am hoping to produce these on a bi-weekly schedule and are going to be quick and to the point. I plan on giving updates from myself and other hunters to give you real time information and stories. So, if you are interested in coming on the show or would like to hear from someone please feel free to send me a message! Tune in and listen to some stories and a fun conversation with Chris!  

Thanks again for all the support and best of luck out there and Antler Up!

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Jeremy Dinsmore: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Antler Up Report. This is the place where you will hear from hunters discussing real time, in the moment tactics and stories. Tune in. Enjoy. And Antler Up.

What's up everybody. We're back and we're doing something new, something that has been on the docket of mine for the last three and a half plus years of having the antler up podcast, and that's doing a quick little recap of what's going on, what is happening, what's next in the field. I guess you could say during the season.

And I'm joined by the other line by a good friend of mine, Chris Weiss. Chris has been on the show already. This one. It is going to be technically episode a little quick one too, but he'll, you'll hear another full one when we [00:01:00] get into some scrapes and hearing how Chris, you plan on smashing a couple of big bucks here in multiple States and duty right now, you're actually driving back from a Maryland hunt.

So what's going on, dude?

Chris Weist: Yeah, man, just headed home from a evening hunt. As far as the season goes, man, it's been a good one already. I think I've seen eight bucks in the last six days and I've seen I think eight bucks and maybe three does. So that's the ratio I want to keep heading in that direction.

Jeremy Dinsmore: That is the ratio you want, dude, you've already had some like really good stories to tell just from the first week and a half and that most people, some people have all year. It seems like just here in Pennsylvania. Just real quick. You've been down Maryland. Obviously last year, you've killed a couple of different bucks in three different States.

You have four and three different States, Maryland, Ohio, and PA this year, same States, adding West Virginia to the mix of that. And. Already got you, you let an arrow go, but the buck is going to live, which is [00:02:00] not the outcome that you were hoping for, but in the grand scheme of things, run us through your, what's been happening in the woods, just because it's been eventful.

It's, obviously you're posting on your stories, you're finding that hot sign you're in it. And I'm anxious to, to hear some of the stories already that they've encountered.

Chris Weist: Yeah, definitely, man. So I'll just run you through what's happened since day one. I'll try not to go too deep into detail so we can keep it short.

So season open, not this past Friday, but the Friday before I sat on the outskirts that first morning because I had a camera. I wanted to check, didn't want to bust up my best spot right off the bat. So I got that first shit out of the way and the second morning I dove into some fresh shine And dude, I had a great second day I i've seen a popin young type beer and about a hundred inch Beer with it and then a 400 pound black bear behind that so it was a very eventful morning those deer were maybe like 25 yards.

They were within shooting range, but as everybody knows with [00:03:00] the early season in the foliage, they were adjusting some stuff where I couldn't get a shot off. So after that the whole black bear thing, man, I had five or six black bears move in to this area. I had been scouting all summer and it's due because there was a guy baiting on the public.

I abandoned that area just a little bit. And it threw a wrench into my plan. So I started to just go woodsmanship and get into some new areas and do some scouting and just with hopes That spot would calm. I hunted Sunday. It was uneventful.

And then Monday, Tuesday, I took off. Tuesday, I went down and did some scouting. And Tuesday I found two really good spots. Real fresh scrapes. I think I found eight or nine scrapes Tuesday that were fresh from that morning. And I knew that we were going to have a cold front coming in. I think that was Thursday morning.

The one scrape I actually decided to hunt Wednesday. I went in Wednesday, hunted over the scrape, and I had two small bucks and a [00:04:00] doe come in, and just the way they came in, and the way I accessed, and the way the wind flows through that spot, it was just a perfect setup, everything laid out really good, and I knew if I spent a couple days on that scrape, I'd probably have an encounter, and Thursday morning, when that cold front come through, I had four bucks come in, and the last two bucks that came in were two shooters, And the buck come in 16 yards and I was broadside and to be honest, man, you'd said I'd let an arrow fly that situation, I was got really rushed.

It was a kind of a situation where I didn't have a lot of time to shoot. And with a traditional bow, I have a, I got a sequence. I always put myself through to make, and you know what, I just didn't do that. That was on me. I made a bad shot. I hit that deer in the backstraps and we tracked him, found the arrow like 600 yards away.

No blood. There was no gut matter on the arrow. [00:05:00] It was just fatty like meaty blood on it. Not a lot of blood. So obviously, that deer is going to live and he'll just have a scar. Maybe get a

Jeremy Dinsmore: chance, maybe get a chance to crack at him again. You never know. Yeah if

Chris Weist: I was him, I wouldn't come back to that area.

But since then, man I got a couple sits in and I, I haven't seen nothing, but I'm still on really good sign. I know tonight I was texting you, I was on a really hot featry, which is actually something different. And I think this is good because, there's the acorns are falling. There's a lot of red oaks falling and there's a lot of chestnut oaks falling.

The lights are starting to drop, but they're not like if you would stand under one. They're not raining yet, but there's still some, here and there. But I found this chestnut tree. There's three chestnut trees and they're just raining chestnuts. And under this chestnut tree, it's all padded down.

There's scat. The [00:06:00] chestnuts are broken up in half and you can see where they've been feeding. There's scrapes all around that tree. I did sit that tree tonight and didn't see anything, which was really surprising because I sat through about three hours of rain. And it the rain died the last hour and usually, it's, it was cool.

The rain just stopped. I'd have thought I was so sure I was going to see deer but nothing showed up. So I threw a cell camera up on that, but that might tell me that maybe somebody has pulled around in there a little bit because when a virgin sit like that, man, I really expected to see some deer, but it's mountain country. You're not going to see deer every set either, so I'm hoping the cell camera tells me what's in the area and then I'll just go from there, man. I'll just probably keep putting boots on the ground and just using the workmanship.

Jeremy Dinsmore: The one aspect that you said that I find really important and it's a key thing that a lot of people have been harping on the podcast in the last couple of years.

And, I think I know for [00:07:00] one, I've taken it for granted and that's the access, right? Like, how are you getting in there undetected? And you were just saying. Earlier from that Wednesday hunt, when you had a couple bucks in dough and all that stuff, your access was primo, right? You had the good win.

And that was even my situation from a couple of weekends ago for that opening weekend on that Saturday. And dude, when you were sending me those messages tonight, as far as the sign you were getting into the rain. And when I texted you, I was like, I think that rain was letting up. I was hoping that you were going to send me a text like, Hey either I'm going to be.

Late and what we could record tomorrow because I've whacked a buck or. Or I already whacked a buck and we're good to go for tonight. I was hoping it was going to be one of those two conversations be just because man, I, something about the rain, I just love it. And that was the encounter that I had. And it's tough.

Like you even alluded to earlier in your. When you had that shot opportunity, how tough it is right now with the [00:08:00] foliage. Man, it is tough. Like you might only have one little window, no matter what style of hunting you are doing, a tree stand, a saddle, you might only have that one little window and if that deer doesn't come through there, you're screwed.

Chris Weist: Yep. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I was actually, like I said, I was only about. 10 yards off man. If I was like 10 yards closer I probably would have got a shot at that token young type deer on that second day

Jeremy Dinsmore: Yeah, so what's next for you as far as Maryland goes as far as getting ready for PA I know even next week like Ohio is going is about the Ramp up here.

So what's on your like next to do list or this upcoming week?

Chris Weist: Yeah. Right now, my all my focus is on Maryland. And then I'll probably only Maryland until B. A. Opens and then I'll be done with Maryland unless I go back for the muzzle litter season mid october. But Pennsylvania, I already have an idea where I'm going to be at.

I think maybe the day before [00:09:00] season, I'll tiptoe in and just maybe check a camera or two just to get an idea like what area I need to be in. But as you already know, I have some really good deer on camera here and I have all those spots scouted and have an idea of where I need to be.

And then now I'm just going to check some cards and then use my woodsman ship to hunt that fresh sign and go off of that. As far as Ohio, I think I am, I'm staying back for the opener in Ohio. But I am going to go down the second weekend and just get a weekend hunt in. To to check some cameras and make sure everything's squared up and then the next weekend I'll actually be in Ohio for 11 days from the 14th through like 22nd.

Oh nice.

Jeremy Dinsmore: Yeah, Chris I don't know what right now like I told you more honey do lists one more day I think I have in me maybe a day and a half but man for like you said for PA it's going to be It's going to be coming up quick. And like you said, I'll be checking some cameras here this week after school [00:10:00] and getting after and seeing what the first couple game plan days are going to be for me as well.

Chris Weist: Yeah. And it's right around the corner and it's going to hit us before we even know it.

Jeremy Dinsmore: I know. I just hope, man, like all the work that we put into. And I what have I, what I have encountered in Maryland is any indication of what this upcoming year could. Hold for us, or at least, as far as, encountering fun hunts, man I'm excited for that command. What else you been up to?

Chris Weist: Not a whole lot, man. Right now, since season is in I'm pretty much solid pound hunting and going to work.

Last week when I was hunting I was, I left Tuesday morning and didn't go back home until Saturday night.

Jeremy Dinsmore: I just, what's the best way to sleep in the truck? .

Chris Weist: I go down and flip the seat back, go to bed, and then I wake up and drive to work and come back and do it again all week long.[00:11:00]

Jeremy Dinsmore: I'm sure that's a reward that feels good of sleeping in the truck and driving down and back and forth.

Obviously you're not too far from the border, which is nice for you, but man, it's, it gets tiring. It's it's already your rut cation, but doing it during the middle of the week with the going down to Maryland.

Chris Weist: Yeah, definitely, man. The grand scheme of things. It's like with the buck encounter and letting an arrow fly, man, stuff doesn't always work out like you think it will.

And I think one thing that, I want to throw out there is you can always look at the downside. I talked to a few guys and a few guys that I talked to are always very uplifting and help me look at the bright side. If you think about it, with all the woodsmanship scouting I did on that scrape I got in I seen it was the one I needed to be on, I picked my tree for the wind, I picked my access to come in a way that nobody else would, and I put myself in there, man, that buck come in 15, 16 yards, like that was my opportunity, that could [00:12:00] have been done and over with right there, and maybe, I didn't make the shot, but as far as the scouting part, It worked, you gave yourself, you know what I

Jeremy Dinsmore: needed to do at work.

Yep. You put yourself in the game and that's the aspect that I beat myself up for that for opening weekend as well. I had that encounter with that buck. And, luckily, like you said, I talked to some really good friends, uplifting and encouragement. And, they were just saying basically the same thing.

Listen, dude, you've never been there. You never stepped foot there. You scouted, you found what you needed to, you're in the right position. And it just. The buck came from a different angle that you were anticipating with the weather and everything like that. And by the point in time, he hit your ground set and looked up a, he saw you, he bolted.

I put myself in that opportunity and to be fair last year, as far as a buck counters have gone, man, that was a. That was the, one of the better bucks that I had in encounters with last year was just, a couple, which was great on October 29th. But as far as, right [00:13:00] now, man, that was awesome.

I've never been this early where I could say I had an encounter with a buck and that's, I'm really happy with the way that went and way that played out. And, it just motivates me, gives me more confidence heading into this season. And I'm sure that's the same thing that you're going through right now as well.

Oh,

Chris Weist: absolutely. And like we talked about earlier even months ago we were saying about how, I go to Maryland just to get myself ready, you know what I mean? And all this, all my scouting I did over the summer and post season and throwing out into the mix now and tell myself where I need to be as far as the movementship, like it, it all comes together and you find out like, Hey, like this work, I need to, yeah.

They're trying to find how I can repeat this and in multiple locations and put yourself in the game and have an opportunity

Jeremy Dinsmore: Put yourself in the game, man. I like it. All right, Chris. Man, I appreciate you coming on What's your outlook for this upcoming week? What are you hoping for?

Chris Weist: I think I'm gonna get back on that scrape where I shot that buck at least one or [00:14:00] two more six because there is Multiple bucks hitting that and I'm hoping this rain that came in washed it away a little bit I haven't been in there since The day I tracked him, so I'm going to give it.

For five days and I'm going to try to get back in there and shoot another one

Jeremy Dinsmore: heck. Yeah, dude I know something's gonna happen. So I appreciate you best of luck to you Can't wait to see that success and we'll chat soon. All right, everybody. I hope you enjoy this one we'll see you next week on Wednesday and Appreciate you Chris for coming on man.

We'll see you next week. Everybody antler up Thanks for

Chris Weist: 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 antlerupoutdoors. com. If you enjoyed this episode, go leave a review and subscribe for next week's episode.

Until then, Antler Up.

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