Big Buck B.S. Session

In this episode, Dan Johnson and Jeremy Dinsmore discuss the challenges of balancing hunting with family and work responsibilities. They share personal stories and insights about being busy parents and how it affects their hunting pursuits. They also talk about the importance of setting up trail cameras and mock scrapes to gather information about deer movement and behavior. The conversation highlights the anticipation and excitement of the upcoming hunting season. In this conversation, Jeremy and Dan discuss their experiences with trail cameras and the challenges of predicting deer behavior. They talk about the difficulty of hunting older age whitetail bucks and the importance of understanding their patterns. They also discuss the impact of changing food sources and betting areas on deer movement. The conversation touches on the trend of being too mobile while hunting and the importance of patience and staying in one spot. They also talk about the correlation between rain and deer antler growth. Finally, they discuss the challenges of running a hunting podcast and the importance of content quality over social media following.

Takeaways:

• Balancing hunting with family and work responsibilities can be challenging, but it's important to prioritize and make time for both.
• Setting up trail cameras and mock scrapes can provide valuable information about deer movement and behavior.
• The period between August and October is a crucial time for scouting and preparing for the upcoming hunting season.
• Deer rely on scent communication, so creating scent stations like mock scrapes can attract and hold their attention.
• The anticipation and excitement of the hunting season can make all the hard work and sacrifices worthwhile. Predicting the behavior of older age whitetail bucks is as difficult as knowing what you will do in the next minute.
• Changing food sources and betting areas can greatly impact deer movement.
• Being too mobile while hunting can be detrimental, and it's important to have patience and stay in one spot.
• There is a correlation between consistent rain throughout the summer and larger deer antlers.
• Content quality is more important than social media following in the hunting podcast industry.

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Dan Johnson (00:00.799)
All right, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the nine finger Chronicles podcast. I'm your host Dan Johnson. And today we're talking with Jeremy Dinsmore from the antler up podcast again. I like this guy scheduled during the summertime because his schedule is he doesn't really have a schedule, just kind of like me, right? Where, but then obviously you're a school teacher. So as soon as school is kicked back in, it's a little harder to get ahold of you, but welcome back again, my

Jeremy (00:20.791)
Yep.

Jeremy (00:29.4)
Dude, it's always a pleasure, Dan. It's always exciting because the one aspect of my day that I always look forward to is chatting with somebody regarding hunting of some sort or form or fashion. So this is always a great pleasure,

Dan Johnson (00:38.629)
Hehehehehe

Dan Johnson (00:42.983)
I love it. love it. Okay. So you started to unpack a lot of things, while before we started recording and I was going to say, dude, we got to stop, stop. Let's talk about it. I want to hear what, and I quote the last week and a half has been the busiest I have ever been in my entire life. We need to unpack that and talk about that. What's that mean?

Jeremy (01:09.964)
So I want to actually kind of go back to the days of Dan Johnson on the wire to hunt podcast and I remember vividly one time when you and and mark were discussing things and I always felt relatable to to an extent of When you guys when mark was just having his kids, right? And you get and obviously you already had had a couple at the time you guys like just

BS, catch up with life, talk about family stuff, talk about what's going on with hunting. And I always used to laugh because when Mark would be like, I know one wants to hear, hear about the kids and all that stuff. But I always felt like that was sometimes the most relatable aspect of that show because of certain topics that you guys would get into or Mark would get into with whatever guests. So long story short, people that, that maybe listened to the Antler podcast or have heard me before, like currently Dan, I have a 10 year old daughter.

Dan Johnson (01:55.545)
Yep.

Jeremy (02:06.346)
going into fifth grade, have a soon to be seven month old baby that we never thought could happen. So with that being said, this past week and a half, my daughter is wrapping up her last week of play practice where she's like one of the main leads into it. So practice is smack dab in the middle of the day at five o 'clock till seven. Sometimes now we're going to go into eight last night and end up being eight 30, all that type of stuff. And I'm watching the baby and I'm trying to also

be a good husband, be a good dad, try to also get my personal things done for myself selfishly, but also then some commitments of to, you know, maybe some companies I'm doing side work for or something along those lines. So it's been a lot, man. It's been not enough hours and you you could sit there and say, get up at 3 a and all that type of stuff, but man, I'd at least like two hours of sleep, three hours of sleep.

Dan Johnson (03:01.014)
my Lord. I can remember when I first started all of this and I said to myself, okay, I'm gonna do a podcast. I'm gonna have a blog and I wanted to get my foot in the door. And so I started this whole thing when I was, when I had a brand new baby girl, right? Let's see, she's going on, she just turned 11.

I think she just turned 11. she's getting ready to go into sixth grade, believe it or not. my God. Like saying it out loud blows my mind. It just blows my mind. And so I, I am, I'm sitting there and at the time it was a desk that a secondhand desk with a brand new computer on it. And I would sit there at when my daughter would go to bed, I would sit there from eight to one, one, two o 'clock in the morning.

get up at six or get up at five thirty six o 'clock the next morning, go into work, work from six to three or whatever the case would be. Try to work out and then go and and then get back home, be dad and husband until my daughter was in bed. And then. And that was just that cycle until. 2018, when I was able to start doing this full time,

Jeremy (04:21.412)
Mm -hmm.

Dan Johnson (04:24.624)
If you go back and listen to the, I would say the first three or three to five years of the Nine Finger Chronicles podcast, in a lot of those episodes, you can hear my wife yelling at the kids in the background of a lot of those podcasts, because my studio was downstairs. And then I redid this loft above my garage. this is the...

the corporate headquarters or the sportsman's empire is in this little like 70 square foot room that I've dubbed, you know, my recording studio. So I, dude, I know how you feel. You're wanting to follow a passion. You're wanting to do something special, but then you're also like, I gotta be dad. I gotta be husband. I gotta, I gotta work at some point too. So dude, I feel you, man.

Jeremy (05:02.426)
Mm -hmm.

Jeremy (05:12.123)
Mm -hmm.

Jeremy (05:16.154)
Right. And, and cause the other last week when we were supposed to record, I was like, yeah, we're good. And the morning was good. Baby was doing okay. And then all of a sudden she did not nap. And, it just, my wife was getting really stressed about, know, she has a, unfortunately it always seems like when there's an event of something where I have something that I either am committed to, you know, it could be the one thing all summer.

Dan Johnson (05:28.142)
I'm like, I'm gonna get you.

Jeremy (05:43.556)
Right, we're both, her and I are both teachers. It's that one event that's, so like coming up is that mobile expo that's been held in Michigan down south. There's one in PA coming up here. So I'm working with Tether, right? I do work with those guys for the last couple years and so I'm working this event for them and I told my wife like in May, hey, I'm doing this event. Like, okay, you got it. Well, her and her girlfriends, because we don't have a lot of friends here close to us.

Dan Johnson (05:52.857)
Mm.

Jeremy (06:11.557)
So all her girlfriends, they mapped out a date, a weekend to get together. Fortunately, they're coming here to kind of that state college region to make it easier on my wife. Guess what weekend it is, Dan? Yep. So it's like, so it's just, so she's stressed trying to get the baby to sleep and get on a good routine for her parents so my in -laws could watch her and all that fun stuff. And so that way she could go off and do her thing. I could go off and do my thing.

So that day, man, when we were supposed to record, like I said, things were going good and all of a sudden it was like a frigging fire hose went off and it was just chaos. That's when I was like, dude, I'm so, what sucks though is that like, mean, fortunate enough for you and you know, I right now in this, this for me in that summertime, like how you, do have that little bit of flexibility, but man, like I had somebody ask me that's on the network that has recently joined. like, when, when can we record? was like, dude, honestly, please wait till next week until.

Until my my daughter's wrapping up that play because then I'll have a better I won't have to think about who's picking her up and all that type of stuff. So it's crazy, man It's and then on top of it. I'm like dang white tail seasons right around the corner

Dan Johnson (07:23.377)
my God, I'm so behind. I am so behind, dude. Hey, are your, so my parents, my dad, my mom and my stepdad, they're all three retired. All right. And so if we need somebody in a bind, I can call my mom or my dad. Hey, can you take the boys for a weekend? Or can you take Ava or all three kids or whatever? Can you take them for a night or two? They like, I'm so lucky. Like

I can make that happen. Are your parents retired yet or in -laws?

Jeremy (07:55.371)
So my parents are not, my in -laws, my father -in -law is, my mother -in -law is soon to be here in the next couple months. we're very lucky, man, because with the baby, just with, during the school day, he watches her and then my oldest, she's able to picked up and brought home after school, all that good stuff. So we're fortunate enough that we do not have to pay for childcare. And like you said, if we're in a bind, in a pinch,

we're gonna be able to do that. like, felt like, you know, to kind of wrap that up, I felt like yesterday was a really good, hopefully example of what could be the next couple weeks for this event that my wife's gonna go on and I'm going to do because yesterday my wife stayed at Nora's first like dress rehearsal, full thing, was a longer practice for her and I came downstairs

I don't know if you noticed, but behind me I painted my walls just to give it little new flair, all that stuff for the podcast and for some other things I got going on. And I was with the baby and I got her to bed by myself in the inner crib too with the bottle. I sent my wife a text message with just the goat emoji. And I was like, that's me right now. I'm the goat. so she came home and dude, she lasted a while and all that fun stuff. I told her, was like, see, it is doable. I think your parents will be good.

It's just, you know, we just got to work through and push through it. So it's just tough, man, because you have those. mean, I think you'd kind of be an asshole if you didn't have some sort of like weird emotion about your kids, like thinking like, man, am I doing the right thing? Do you know what mean? Like if you just don't give a shit and do all that stuff, man, that's, I don't know. That's so there's times where don't get me wrong. I get psychotic and I really, I've always been that way. go when I'm,

Dan Johnson (09:38.894)
Yeah.

Jeremy (09:50.975)
If I have a passion about something, it's all or nothing for me. So I have to try to really reel it in and balance it because that's the tough thing. And I'll fight with those feelings, no doubt.

Dan Johnson (10:03.81)
Yeah, I don't know why I'm thinking about this right now, but just from like a parenting standpoint, I look back at this while you were talking, this this memory popped into my head about what it's like to be a parent. Right. And so my wife, this was with Ava, my daughter, first kid. We ended up going, you know, we got to the hospital.

You know, wife was in labor for a while. We had the baby, you know, in the hospital. We felt very comfortable. We got the bait. We got her in the car seat. We got her in the car. We're driving home. You know, the first day at home was a little adjustment, but not too, not too much. And then, you know, you had to have this thing where it was a piece of paper and you had to track if they peed their diaper, if they pooped their diaper.

like track their bowel movements and things like that. So, you know, if they're getting enough food or whatever. And my God, the first day. So we go home, spend sleep over. She, you know, my wife at the time was breastfeeding breastfeeds my daughter. there's a wet diaper. And this is when I knew life was never going to be the same again. We had a changing table in this brand new painted blue.

wall, you know, this it was like this pretty little girly bedroom that we had spent so much time putting together later on the changing table. I took her diaper off. I'm getting ready to change it. And she shit this stream of black tar. I mean, you remember the very first couple of diapers, right? And it's like these it's black. It's black shit. And it just sticky and it

Jeremy (11:45.1)
I remember. Yep.

Jeremy (11:51.515)
Sticky.

Dan Johnson (11:54.542)
I mean, distributed on like a four foot strip across our wall. And at that moment I go, hold on. Like the rest of this is not going to be any type of cakewalk. Right. And that, that until we painted it, when my son took my youngest son took over that room until we painted it. and he was in, he was, gray.

that stain was on that wall. We cleaned it up, but it stained the paint and it was there for a handful of years. So I could look at that and then I just kind of a reminder. It's like, it's never going to be easy. Like parenting is never going to be easy. There's going to be periods where the surface is calm and things like that. But, but no matter what happens, there's, there's turbulence coming and you have to be ready for it. And then you add a second kid and then you add a third kid and you're like,

Jeremy (12:46.691)
No doubt.

Dan Johnson (12:51.45)
Then there's days like what I've had all the past, I don't know, month, I would say, where my head isn't even on my body. I feel like I am outside of my body looking down at my household. It's crazy, man.

Jeremy (13:04.801)
Yep, know dude. Well and the one aspect I was talking to my really good friend He just recently had his first and I just said to him I was like, you know the the aspect of of all this of The way I grew as an individual the past year and evolved as a hunter and all that fun stuff I was like, you know what I was like, it's really going

continue on like for this upcoming year that I think for me that like my goal is just to continue to make smarter decisions and really push forward and make those sits count. And you know I mean? And make those opportunities when I do have the time to be in the woods to not just putz around and not do a hopeful type of ordeal. It's, you know what I mean? Like I want to, know, if there's a day where I'm, limited on time or something along those lines and it just doesn't look

where I need to be, I'm just going to continue pushing and walking and scout. You know I mean? Like that's the aspect of like in years past, I know for a fact, I would have been like, that tree looks good at it. That trail looks beaten down enough or whatever. I'm going to just sit here just to sit here and say I hunted, right? And how many more times, those times I'd come home and my wife would be like, so what'd you see? I'd be like, or whatever. And she'd like, why are you going out? You know I mean? So I want to maximize that. mean, last year I was

Very lucky where it was like my first four hunts, I killed four deer and you know, it just kept, it was a fun, just year like that. So it's, I know that's not gonna be the case this year, but how could I make it somewhat of a 5 % chance that I could make it like that same year? You know I mean?

Dan Johnson (14:37.355)
Yeah, yeah, I feel you, man. I feel you. Before we get into deer though, I have to finish up one final thought with this whole parenting thing. And so you have two kids now, all right? I have one, or excuse me, I have three kids, Jesus. I have three kids now. And my neighbor across the street, they have four daughters, right? My neighbor to the, would be the west of me has two.

Jeremy (14:48.632)
Yep.

Dan Johnson (15:05.06)
He has three kids, two younger ones, one's in high school. And then we got multiple kids sprinkled throughout the street. And we have, you know, like all these, we know all these families with multiple kids. This is where I have to, this is the hardest thing for me to hold my tongue, is when I have a conversation with someone or you hear people talk about how busy their life is without kids.

or with one kid and I'm like, I know I've said this before on this podcast. Like I just envision myself choking those people because I get so far like, yeah. Yeah. Here's my favorite. Here's my favorite. dude. know exactly what you, what you mean, man. My dogs are, but I'm so busy with my dogs. like, are you kidding me? I can't kick my kid when it shits in the house.

Jeremy (15:53.601)
Bye.

Jeremy (15:57.163)
Mm -hmm.

Dan Johnson (16:01.082)
Right. can't put my kid in a cage when I leave town or go to the grocery store. Right. It's like, you have no idea. You have no idea, as far as busy and you know, maybe you choose that. Maybe you don't choose that, whatever the case is. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm, I'm, fired up now. Like, like, I'm sorry. I'm so busy with what I got three kids, man. They fight all day long. I got to break it up. Right. And maybe it's, maybe it's how I parent maybe.

Jeremy (16:16.151)
All right. Yep, yep.

Dan Johnson (16:29.753)
Maybe that's part of it, but if you don't have kids, your life is not busy, man. I'm sorry. Your life's not busy.

Jeremy (16:34.742)
Yeah, I agree with you and the other tough thing is for me like how you mentioned all your neighbors and the surrounding I'm sure like the you know, your Your kids have the opportunity to play with with those other ones and for for me like where I live on our street Like there's no one else like my daughter So there's times where it's like I'm her only play friend because our girlfriend that lives, you know, very close But not in our vicinity. It's like dang, you

Dan Johnson (16:45.251)
Mm -hmm.

Jeremy (17:01.375)
Trust me, I love doing all that stuff, but it's like that's where again, it's that dad moment comes in where, Hey, I can't record because I have to be with my daughter and which I would much she's number one priority and my wife is and all that fun stuff. But it's like, that's where, you know, it's, it's pulling back to curtain a little bit. Like we're humans, man. Like we're, we're, we're our first and foremost that providing for our family and you know, how could we be the best, best husband, the best father, all that stuff, you know, all that good stuff.

Dan Johnson (17:13.421)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jeremy (17:29.834)
you know, it gets overlooked, I think. I think it's an aspect that a lot of people maybe aren't comfortable talking about, but it's like, man, it is what it is. It's life. And you just have to embrace it and push through. Again, what my buddy kept saying when we talking, he's just like, you just got to deal with it. And it's not like a bad, I got to deal with it. It's just, you just got to make it work and enjoy

Dan Johnson (17:54.41)
Yeah. Yeah, that's a fact. Speaking of making it work. This past Thursday, I finally got the opportunity to go to my furthest farm away and set up trail cameras. OK. But I had to take my youngest son with me. And he was kind of hesitant to go at first. He would rather stayed home of all my kids. He's probably the least into hunting right now. He's only six.

I don't blame him. He says he wants to go do fun things with me, but I had to bribe him with Dairy Queen in order to get him to go. Anyway, so usually this farm is mowed down in the, and the grass is baled into big bales and they take them off somewhere. It wasn't when we went. So we got there. It's 90 degrees. I mean, it's 85 degrees. It's not too bad in the shade actually, but in the sun it's, you know, it's pretty hot.

Jeremy (18:29.524)
Mm -hmm.

Dan Johnson (18:51.452)
Of course, I made him wear long sleeves. I made him wear long pants, tennis shoes and a hat. And I put, you know, the long sleeve shirt on him. And so I had these these delusions of grandeur where I was going to go there. I was going to get everything I needed set up. I brought tree stands, I bought brought climbing sticks. I brought tethered platform, that carbon fiber one. That's bad ass, by the way. But.

I had like, I'm gonna set up a tree stand in this badass rut funnel. I'm gonna put a platform here so I can sneak in or at least get the sticks up so I can sneak in on the right wind. And I had to carry him. Like if the trail camera was on the field edge, great. I made a couple mock scrapes. I did a whole, you know, I was able to put all my trail cameras up that I wanted, but I didn't get my sticks up. I didn't get the stand up.

I got one, there was a branch that was bothering me this season on a stand that I hunt on an east wind or a lake location that I hunt on the east wind. So I chopped this huge branch down and then I had everywhere I went, I had to carry him on my shoulders because the grass was not mowed and it was about chest high. So he was struggling to walk through it. So I had him up here and

I don't know if I'm out of shape, which I know I am, but he had, like, I had to walk up these gentle hills and cross these dried out crick beds and things. And my heart was about ready to explode out of my chest because it's 90 degrees outside. carrying, I'm carrying like 45 pounds around my neck with my youngest son. I have to hold him. I have to balance. And then at the same time, he's holding a trail camera that, and,

a trail camera and maybe a pack of batteries or something that I'm making them hold these dropping them all the time. so I got my trail cameras out, but I didn't get anything else done on that farm, which is OK, because I feel like I can get the rest done. But the mission was halfway accomplished with the trail cameras getting out. And I've already started receiving new picks. I've sent some of them to you. And so at least on that farm, the furthest away one,

Jeremy (21:11.257)
Yup.

Dan Johnson (21:16.831)
I have my footprint has been implemented like I part of my strategy for the year is complete. Now it's just a matter of going down and making sure batteries are worked or to be honest with you, I don't even think I'm going to get down there until until October until it's game time. So.

Jeremy (21:19.801)
Mm -hmm.

Jeremy (21:31.7)
Until you hunt. -hmm. Yeah. It's funny. dude, I could only imagine if had someone there like filming that whole like trip, like I could see you like just throwing your son off, like like barreling him like on your side and just like cue the circus music. Like, do do do do do do do.

Dan Johnson (21:44.844)
yeah. Yeah. And of course, you know, he he touches a plant, a thistle plant, and he gets those like black dots, the tips of those thistles in his palm. He has beggars lice all over his pants. And he's just like, Dad, help. You know, I don't want to move. He felt very uncomfortable. So finally, I was just like, OK, I know I'm not going to be able to go in and set this tree.

Jeremy (21:57.557)
Mm -hmm.

Jeremy (22:05.372)
Yeah.

Dan Johnson (22:12.927)
you know, these tree stands up or these climbing sticks up. I'm just going to cut my losses. So I kept the truck running. I kept him in the truck. I made him put his shorts and his other t -shirt back on. I just tried to get him comfortable. In this one bottom, we have this iPad that's connected to a an iPad that's connected to like phone service. So it's like a cell phone, but it's iPad so he can watch YouTube and things. Of course, there's no there's no

service down in this bottom. So he can't, can't do that. So he's just sitting in the car and just basically staying cool while I'm going out back and forth. And then every five minutes from a six year old, Hey, are we ready to get dairy queen yet? Can we have dairy queen? Can we go? What time are we leaving? And I'm just like, my, cause originally I was thinking about camping there, but getting into that whole thing. dude, it was, it was a bit of a nightmare, but like I said,

Jeremy (22:41.9)
service.

Dan Johnson (23:12.182)
I got my trail cameras out and I'm starting to get pictures which made me start forgetting about everything from everything that happened

Jeremy (23:19.306)
Yeah, that's Dude, it's so I don't know what your wife's sense of humor is like, but mine hers is I think she's funny, but she definitely doesn't have my sense of humor for certain things. So the other day, my daughter and I were doing something and it was something archery related. I was I I needed to lengthen her draw length. Just you know, she likes to shoot with me once in a while and all that type of stuff. And she was kind of like doing that thing to like, like when we.

Dan Johnson (23:30.15)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Jeremy (23:45.93)
I was like, yo, listen, you say one more complaining thing. I was like, you just, you're to pull landscape and duty, you know, pulling the whole like happy Gilmore line. My wife was like, don't why, why do you, I was like, listen, it's from a movie, like chill out, man. know, but no, man, it's it, you know, the importance though, like you said, of getting at least that little bit done on your furthest away, you know, that's, that's what I did the next day. I went up to New York and I was able to put out a camera too, and kind of spend, spend a couple hours up there. And, you know, I was in.

Dan Johnson (23:50.963)
hahahaha

Dan Johnson (23:56.794)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I feel ya.

Jeremy (24:14.695)
Vehicle longer than I was actually on the property and everything along those lines But it was getting there because like you said then I won't get up there until I actually hunted again in sometime late October so And that picture I sent you that's from that as well. So that was you know that that works out good because You know, we'll see what what's going on because I think Here in the next couple weeks and where I normally hunt here in the state of Pennsylvania. That will

That's usually when I get excited here in the next couple of weeks in August. Like I said, in years past, it's just the summer location. It's just not where the bucks are. so you, you know, as a hunter, you're getting all nervous and like, is there anything around? honestly, man, it's, it's funny to see how, you know, that, that whole, I've heard the jury guys talk about it where

August 18th through the 24th, whatever you're going to see this buck all of sudden appear on your summer trail camera. And then you'll have that opportunity. Maybe you'll run into them in that during the rut or late October. And that's honestly damn been the case for my dad and I, last like three, four years. it's, so I, I get excited. It sucks for me. Cause I'm like, man, I'm going back to work. But then I'm like, okay, who's, who's going to be showing up on those cameras. So it's, it's, we're getting

Dan Johnson (25:31.265)
So you're saying that like bucks that currently aren't on your property make some kind of excursion around that timeframe. They show up on your trail cameras and then they also show up on your trail cameras at some point in November. So basically they're showing up now, your farm isn't their core area and then they're showing up after all the does on their farm are bred, they take an excursion to your property.

Jeremy (26:01.074)
Yeah, pretty much. mean, that's, I mean, well, it's cool because a couple of years ago, my dad killed a really funky seven point, high and tight and everything like that. And we had a, I have velvet pictures of, of him from that August 22nd timeframe ish and he killed him that, that's that first Sunday that we were able to hunt in the state of PA that would have been like that, what the like 14th, 15th ish time timeframe in November. he killed.

kill that buck that day. So it was kind of cool because I mean, the mountain that we hunt and know along those lines, it's, it's a prime doe bedding area. And that's, that's fine by us. Like we kind of know that late October, November timeframe that they will show up. It's just a matter of, of just putting in the time there. And that's, know, as a, as a younger hunter and as I was, I have evolved through this, I mean, it would be like any chance I could get out, go in October 5th, whatever it be. And it just wasn't.

I would see little dinks, you know I mean? just, or caliber of bucks that I'm just not going to shoot at that point in time. And, you know, then it would be a couple of weeks later. So I've learned to be patient. I've learned to, that's where I've enjoyed going out of state or I've enjoyed just, you know, where is a heavily populated deer spot that I could go hunt and maybe, you know, just put myself in a higher odds opportunity. And

That's what the game plan was last year and it worked out and that's going to be the game plan this year to kind of keep building upon.

Dan Johnson (27:29.316)
Yeah, man. So kind of going back to like getting trail camera pictures and things like that. I had a guy reach out to me through Instagram yesterday it was and he's like, man, I'm just getting pictures of does. I want to move my trail cameras and things like that. And I want to I want to make sure that, you know, there's bucks to hunt and things like that. I'm just like, dude. Yes, big deer are fun.

to have cameras, you know, pictures of, especially this time of year, their velvet looks awesome. The pictures I sent you and things like that. But did you know that the does drive the breeding season? And so you are in the money spot, my friend, where the does are at the bucks are going to come. Right. That velvet strips off and it starts then it starts. They're jockeying for position when they get hard horned. That first I'm going to say.

Jeremy (28:13.877)
Exactly.

Dan Johnson (28:27.885)
People don't probably see it because they're not as in, there's no cameras, there's not a ton of trail cameras out in September, but I'll tell you this, there is a jockeying for position in September

Bucks will be finding out who the baddest boy is. And that's through fighting, that's through age, that's through intimidation, that's through creation of sign, rub, scrapes, all that stuff happens nocturnally probably in September, right? And so then as the season goes through, have overlapping core areas is where you start to see the Bucks fight each other. But going back to this guy's concern, I was just like, dude.

Jeremy (28:46.919)
Mm -hmm.

Dan Johnson (29:12.788)
Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. you like if you if you want a cool picture to post on Instagram or to share with your buddies by all means go do it. Move your trail camera. But right now, if you're getting consistent footage or dope pictures, I would be happy with that because I know that eventually the boys are going to come to play. So.

Jeremy (29:13.136)
You're in it. Yep.

Jeremy (29:36.089)
Yeah, I'm that's where I saw you post about it today actually about your the mock scrapes and everything like that. That is my favorite thing. I mean, I get more jazzed up when I set up a mock scrape quote unquote out of season where the does maybe young bucks, all that type of stuff are just pounding at it because they're just laying on the scent. They're about to take it over. You know what mean? Like, and then at that point in time, you don't have to touch it. You just.

You just let it let it be what it is and touch it up whenever you need need be I guess but it's not something that you have to do all the time like how you mentioned about if you're not able to You know bait or do any type of mineral or anything along those lines? I mean that is the number one I think Where if you want to get pictures or that's where you want to get some sort of? Inventory man if you learn to craft I say craft, but if you learn how

You know, really get a good mimic of a natural, good scrape going and it's in a great area of, of foot traffic for these white tail. Man, that has been a, a big learning curve. for me, the last couple of years, I've speaking of a personal experience just because again, man, that's their Facebook, right? That's where they're communicating. That's where they're doing all that stuff. And the more dough that hit it to me, the better because they're going to be biting those branches. then boom, later down in the year, as the year comes, like you said to

say this guy had it set up over a mock scrape or something like that, those deer are just gonna come sniff that and check in on those does and all that stuff as the season gets closer.

Dan Johnson (31:04.859)
Fact, So that mock scrape that you're talking about, here's what I did. Just so everybody knows, I get a lot of questions about mock scrapes, like, how do you set your mock scrapes up? It's very simple. I don't do a ton of work. The most work I do is getting a camera in front of it to the point where there's not a lot of grass. So I weed eat, I'll cut some branches, I'll make a nice opening so that there can be a clean picture.

But outside of that, take that wheat. I use the Ropa Dope kit from Code Blue Scents. There's several other ones out there. This is what I've had the most luck with. And then what I do is I take this wheat eater with me. And I take the wheat eater and I make a scrape in the dirt. So I'll cut the grass down all the way to the dirt.

It exposes the dirt. gives them something. And then I don't really do too much with that scrape, right? Because here's what I've found is that deer are coming to just check that smell. They're not necessarily coming to implement their own scent on that. You see that closer to the October, late October timeframe.

when they start laying a ton of sign right before the breeding season, you'll start to see that open up a little bit. But a majority, and when I say majority, I'm saying 90 % of deer are coming to that with their nose. They check it and that's it. Right? So all they're doing is checking it. And that right there is huge for as far as you pair that with a camera, right? Cause if not, can, you can walk by that and you can go, well, nothing's hit this.

nothing's hit this scrape. You know what? You're right, but they have checked the licking branch. And I have another trail camera on a crick crossing. And on this crick crossing, there is a small little dead branch that hangs not necessarily over the trail, but right next to the trail. And every single deer that crosses that crick puts its nose up to that stick and rubs its face on it. Doe,

Dan Johnson (33:20.554)
old bucks, young bucks, all of them do that. And so I've noticed now that I want to make sure that that stick is in that crossing because whether they cross the creek or whether they hug the dude, they're laying scent. And so I got lucky finding that one. But I also take a little bit of that pre -orbital gel and I put it on the tip of that stick. And it's kind of like a licking branch at that point. It's just a scent location for them to come in, sniff around. I get them on camera.

Jeremy (33:44.198)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Dan Johnson (33:50.322)
and now I have the data that I need.

Jeremy (33:52.358)
Yep, yep. Those little natural ones like that, like you just mentioned are when you could find that one, my gosh, that is one that if you have one camera to really just like to put out or to try to get information on, that is the key because like you said, Dan, where I killed a buck and a doe in the same, you know, location last year here in PA, it was that I found this funnel where there was like one little trail through these little rock pieces over.

going up this little ridge and right there there was a crushed licking branch. I mean, just absolutely destroyed. And I knew it didn't have that much life on it, but above it, it had a stronger branch to it. And I was like, man, I don't really use rope, but I always carry rope with me. I just haven't had a lot of good success here locally with using the rope kind of for mock scrapes. I was like, you know what? This is going to, I want to keep this spot alive because it was just destroyed.

So I hung a rope there. Like you said, man, it was because it's a natural pinch point like funnel where these deer are going through. As soon as they come up over that, that ridge, boom, that's the first thing they see all the time. I have, have, I've actually have two cameras there. have one where it takes video and I have one where it takes pictures coming from a different angle, just to see if anything's coming from the opposite side, basically through a thicket and same thing. Both, both cameras are picking up deer all the

hitting at that rope and like you said, just playing with it. Just rubbing their face all through it and then boom, up they go and kind of, or down they go whichever way their food is at the time. it's those natural ones, my gosh, I can't, if you have one camera always in your bag to like just in case you find something as you're out hunting, that is the bread and butter.

Dan Johnson (35:43.735)
Yeah, agree, agree. Again, they're not like there's no scrape underneath of this particular one that I'm talking about. It's just a sent post type of deal. And same with like rubs. I've seen those come up to rubs and rub their face and nose and mouth and eyes on rubs as well. And so young bucks do that, too. And they like just imagine like

Knowing what you can see and what you can't see you can see a scrape in a licking branch You can see a rub right very noticeable signs, but there are so many other scent stations For these animals that they they use and how they communicate that you don't even see so when you have the ability to Find that let's say you're in the tree stand and you're like, my god every single deer that has walked by this dead tree or little stump

has licked on it or done something, that might be a great opportunity to put a trail camera up on it. Yeah, yep, yep. And so when did you get your trail cameras out this year?

Jeremy (36:47.456)
doubt. I agree.

Jeremy (36:53.084)
got majority of them up for here locally. I got them up in May. and then New York was just this past week and then Ohio, I still have yet to get a chance to go to. then in the Northeast part of Pennsylvania, my dad and I, did that a couple of weeks ago. So early July, we did that. but again, that those, those were just to set them, forget about them until October, let, let the deer do what the deer do.

That you know, I that historical timeframe is usually right around that 18th of October that's when you could start seeing the more activity more of checking these The the natural scrapes that we found and the kind of the natural You know Travel routes of these deer that we've kind of honed in on the last couple years up there So it's you know, that's all we really do and it's a matter of like my dad and I we explore explore to

hearts of the mountain a little bit, just to put a little bit more pieces of the puzzle together because that one, that buck that I sent that video, Dan, mean, my dad and I, we've been trying to get him for the last couple of years now. And I, two years ago, I set out cameras in certain locations to find this deer. And this is where like predicting the behavior of an older age whitetail buck is as difficult as it is honestly to know what I'm going to do in the next minute. I mean, it is the guys

that figure it out great, but I think a little bit more luck falls into that than anything else. And obviously you're like, I'm talking to big mountain whitetail bucks that just have thousands upon thousands of acres to roam. Not, know I mean? That's where this buck is. And he hit seven different cameras after finally checking after like two years, finally getting up there this past year and all that stuff just because of life and everything else.

He, this buck was on every single one of our cameras that I specifically put out the last few years of try to find him. And he's, he's there all different times. It's not like there's any rhyme or reason. need to, what I really need to do is dive in deep, go into historical kind of wind and, you know, look at the weather and all that type of stuff. I mean, he'll hit this side of the bottom of the mountain that morning. And then maybe later on the next day he's up top and then he's on the other side of the mountain that we have cameras on. He's just, I mean, we know he loops.

Jeremy (39:17.042)
That we know. It's just being in that right spot at the right time. But it is, it's kind of neat to see though that I specifically put these cameras in certain locations to find them and I did. It's just a matter of now, okay, let's find them while it actually matters.

Dan Johnson (39:33.374)
Yeah. And the other thing about this time of year that I think people get frustrated with, because I feel like I've gotten frustrated with this in the past. And this kind of is an extension from the message that I got from the guy who said, I don't have any bucks. And that is like. Things are going to change. Food sources are going to change. betting areas are going to change right now. The property that I hunt down

Jeremy (39:53.46)
Yup.

Dan Johnson (40:01.947)
is loaded with deer and why is that? It's because of vegetation. The stem count is higher to the, you know, like, like there's way more vegetation, way more scrub brushes, low, low type of vegetation. October hits, November hits, that is all gone. Okay. And, and yes, it still holds good, good amount of deer. With that said,

things are changing. And so I used to get a picture of a big buck on trail camera, like one of the ones that I've sent you. And I'm just like, giant, giant. I can't wait to see him in the fall. And then you realize like, I didn't see him in the fall. That's because he left when he stripped his velvet or there's this some kind of shift. And that's probably a dead horse that I continue to beat is that a lot of people, it's easy.

to get summer pictures of giant deer if you really want to put like mineral out. Like Iowa, I get to put mineral out. So some of these allow me to get really, really, really good high volume pictures and things like that. But for me, I've had to learn to be patient because those velvet pictures don't mean anything to me because there's gonna be a shift at some point throughout the year.

Jeremy (41:18.534)
Yeah. Yeah. I agree with you. My hardest thing that I had trouble with a couple of years ago, and this, I coined this, as a, as a win for the season because I got on some pretty good deer that year. And it was that late September, early October timeframe. I kind of scouted a new area and I had a good deer showing up and these deer actually stayed. And I mean, they, they're,

They were a couple of them were studs, but it was that early October. I remember going in and thinking, man, like the cameras telling me they're coming very close to last light or first light, all that type of stuff. if I get this wind, I could sneak in there and try it, right? And I did. And I saw some deer, I didn't see like these specific bucks, all that type of stuff.

Later in the year I did, I had an encounter with one, one got bumped to me and along those lines. But going back to the cameras were telling me in that September, I just remember being like, when is, when are they going? Like, is it like October? You know what I mean? Like I know there's no magic date, but the fact that these deer stayed, I mean, the pressure was pretty low, all that type of stuff. But I mean, all summer again, I, I, I got them maybe end of August and a couple all through September and they stayed

a little bit of October and then it went nocturnal for a little bit. just think things shifted. Like you said, the food and that's the other aspect that then it's okay. You got to get in there and figure that out. Like you can't rely on that camera because it's just in one fixed location. And that's the aspect I think a lot of people pigeonhole themselves with is that. And it's like, okay, if you've been getting picture, picture, picture, picture, video, whatever it be. And then you go in there and it's dead, right? Or your camera goes dead.

Well, that just means something is a break in the chain there. go, like that's where I've learned to get in there, figure out, walk these little bit of trails and figure things out a little bit and see what you see. that's been that building that woodsmanship has been critical in that aspect of things, just because those cameras could only tell you so much. But that end of September, early October timeframe, if you have that chance, I mean, why not give that a shot if you can?

Dan Johnson (43:39.34)
Yeah, that's fact. The other thing that I've been thinking about and our friend Byron Horton, you know Byron?

Jeremy (43:47.394)
Mm -hmm. Yep.

Dan Johnson (43:48.106)
Right. Okay. So Byron put out a post on his Instagram. I believe it was Instagram or YouTube or something like that recently about trends that people have started following throughout the years, like the trend to go public and the trend to go mobile and the trend to like whatever the case is, like heavy arrows. You know, there's, so many trends, right? And then you see the market kind of adjust to whatever trends people are talking about. And the cool thing

about that is I've I've have fallen guilty for a couple of those and the thing that I want to say probably hurt me the most was the mobile game. Right. Once I started being mobile, I was in it. Right. First time in best time and I started seeing deer I'd never seen before. I started having opportunities that I would never that I'd never had before. But there was a time when I became too mobile.

and I was going in for an evening hunt and I was out somewhere different the morning hunt and I was going back and forth. Well, what I learned was obviously deer have different paths and cycles that they go on and that for me, I guess you would say a terrain feature is just like just because the deer is not there doesn't show up when you're there or you don't have them on trail camera for three days doesn't mean that he's

that that spot's not good, right? And so, and this is how I have kind of molded my strategy within the year. And that's just terrain. Like good terrain is good terrain. A good bedding area is a good bedding area. Now, yes, you can go in there and do something to F it all up real bad, right? But at the same time, if you're smart about it, you can sit spots.

Jeremy (45:19.524)
Mm -hmm.

Jeremy (45:27.033)
Mm -hmm.

Jeremy (45:36.147)
Right. Right.

Dan Johnson (45:41.861)
more than one, two, three times. If you have great access, could, there's a couple stands that I will hunt as long as it takes now because it is on a, got water access or I have, I can ride a bike close to it or I can, you know, I have just the perfect access route.

And you can hunt those stands with the right wind as many times as you need to if the deer travel, like the deer movement is in front of you and their access route is, don't know, however you want to take that. But I just feel like mobile, being mobile is great, but being too mobile could kill a guy.

Jeremy (46:17.066)
my gosh, yeah. I, like you said, you fall victim to that. I mean, I remember at times I was up in a tree and this is even more so I said, I probably get a little bit more antsy when it's like rifle season, when I could walk around and do stuff anyway, all that type of stuff. But I remember like as a kid growing up and hunting that same mountain with my dad and dark to dark, right? And it would be so boring, but man, sometimes you'd wake up like from a snooze or something, there'd be 20 deer in front of you and it's like you whack one, whatever.

And then now I just think back to a couple of years ago, I'm I'd be have my saddle platform. I'd have like one or two sticks. So not getting up too high. And I was like, then if it's dead, I could just walk around and poke around and go set up somewhere else. I remember one day then I was in like five different trees and I was like, what the hell am I doing? You know what I mean? It was, it was so dumb when all I probably needed to do was just sit somewhere. Like you said, in a pinch point in a funnel where I know these deer

Dan Johnson (47:05.492)
Exactly.

Dan Johnson (47:11.529)
Mm

Jeremy (47:15.751)
And years pass have always come by, it's like, nope, something's on my shoulder telling me, get down and go pick another new spot. This is dead here. It's so dumb. Like you said, just, that's the one aspect where I'm so glad that I could sit there and even now rely on a friend just to put me in my place a little bit. If I start second guessing myself and having that voice go, could just, dude, just sit there. You got this man. it's...

Dan Johnson (47:24.373)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jeremy (47:40.262)
Yeah, but it can be detrimental and do. Bo martonic had talked, has talked about that before too. Like when he was obviously with his East Meese West podcast and talking to all these guys, their mobile gear set up. And that's the other thing, man. Like you have to do what works for you and, in your situation and all that stuff, because Bo has said, man, I felt victim to that. was too mobile, you know, and you're sitting, you know, you could sit there and listen and say, what, does that mean? And just like we said, you're just, you

You're not giving yourself enough time in a spot that you know is a good location.

Dan Johnson (48:14.577)
Yeah, and I'll say this is I definitely learned. Here's how I learned that and that is.

I went in and I hunted, I got a deer on trail camera, right? This was before cell cams. And so I went in and I started to do this thing where I would go into an area where I knew I had a trail camera. I would set up, I would hunt and while I'm in there, I would also check my trail camera, all right? So I would check it and the deer, you know, is coming through. There's a buck coming through there every handful of days. Let's say four out of every 10 days he's coming in there. So, you know, my goal,

I say to myself, okay, deer's coming in here, now we gotta go in here and we're gonna figure this out. And you hunt there a couple times. Well, that's how I learned to be less mobile. because before I was doing that, I was going in, no deer, boom, no deer, boom. Sign's great. I wasn't listening to the sign. I wasn't looking

fresh deer tracks, I wasn't looking at, I was only looking at the surrounding, like what kind of deer I saw while I was in that tree stand. And as we know, that, you know, when most of us are hunting this late October, November rut timeframe, deer are not doing what they were doing the pre, like they're taking long ways. They're following does into new properties. They're, you know,

going out of their way to lay more scent, right? They're up on their feet, their core area expands during this timeframe. And so it took me a while to just be like, dude, what are you doing? You're wasting so much time trying to be mobile. Asterisks.

Dan Johnson (50:00.917)
right, asterisks with that because there's plenty of time where it was first time in, best time in, right? I made a post about that a while ago where I got data that the deer were in that area. There was even a couple of times where I bumped a deer and I said to myself, OK, where do I think he's going to go? And then I went to that area, shot him, killed him. Right. And so but there is that you got it. You got it

There you gotta give places a chance and one hunt is not a chance, right? One hunt is is is basically saying luck. I need luck now, right? Scouting terrain sign all that it kind of is a ball of information, but if you only hunt an area one time, you're doing really good areas of this just you know, this service. You're hoping yeah. Yeah, yep, which in a way we can.

Jeremy (50:53.337)
Yeah, you're hoping at that

Dan Johnson (51:00.436)
Like, isn't it all kind of hoping?

Jeremy (51:02.603)
Yeah. And that's like, you're all hoping you're all, it's all a little bit of luck. Like I forget who I was. heard that mantra. know like, here in PA Johnny Stewart, he talks about, hate like, he hates the good luck thing. He's like, you know, he, cause he does all that stuff, but man, I'm, I'm like the total opposite. It's like you, you have the, you, you have the sign that you want to hunt in all that stuff. You're in that good location. Now you just, you know, you're right. You know, you're, you're in a good spot. Now you just need

Dan Johnson (51:15.231)
yeah.

Jeremy (51:29.494)
Little bit of luck that's gonna allow that deer to get there cuz then if he shows you up and you're that lucky Now it's on you to admit to execute right like now there because there's still a million other things that could go wrong That you have control over at that point in time. So now it's like don't mess that

Dan Johnson (51:45.866)
Yeah. And so you said, good luck. He hates it when people say good luck. I hate it when people say you deserved that. Right. I don't, I don't ever, ever, ever say, and I don't know, maybe it was the way I was raised or something like that, but I never say, dude, you deserved it because that's the biggest crock of shit that there is in, anything anybody has ever said. You know, you, you deserved it. You, no, no, no, you earned

Right? And sometimes there's a little luck involved. Right? You earned that deer. How did you earn that deer? It could be something as simple as being in a tree stand. It could be something as complex as changing the habitat on the surface. I mean, it could be, you know, could be the summer scouting and that's how you earn all that stuff. Luck sometimes happens and you still earned it. But man, I'll tell you this. I hate it when people say, dude, you deserve, you deserved

No, didn't. No, I didn't. I earned it. It's almost like insult to me. So. Yeah, what's the it's raining right now here in Iowa? What's the rain situation where you're

Jeremy (52:46.722)
and I should. Yeah, yeah, I get that. 100%.

Jeremy (52:56.86)
It's I think this week we get a little bit here in PA dude. It's been a drought Earlier was that thunder your way or my way? I don't even know Yeah, yeah, I think it was but yeah, it's it's been very very dry so I'm anxious to see because a couple years ago it was pretty I want to say like middle August all of sudden we got pounded with rain and

Dan Johnson (53:04.199)
I think it sounded like it was on your end.

Jeremy (53:24.523)
It's anxious. I'm anxious to see what that does because of some of the, the food, you know I mean? That what the, especially for where I hunt mainly back at home in Northeast, like the Oaks and, some of the shrubbery and some of the little water holes that I know of and everything like that. Well, my dad and I walked it, it was like bone dry. was like, dang, like usually there's some, something a little bit, but I mean, it's been these Creek crossings and everything like that is just drier than.

Dan Johnson (53:49.452)
Yeah, I was just looking at the radar here. We got another big storm kind of coming through the area. it, it blows my mind. There is definitely a correlation between amount of rain and I don't mean flood type rain, but consistent rain throughout an entire summer. Dude, I'm telling you right now, there's been a couple of years where I believe it was 2007. No.

I it was 2008 or something like that where the previous year, first year on the farm that I have now been hunting for ever now. And it wasn't just average deer, right? The next year, that summer, we had a very good average snowfall. We had really good wet spring, not like flood, but even though 2008 was the year of the big floods in Iowa.

down where I was hunting, it wasn't too terribly bad, but there was consistent rain all summer long. This year in spring, there has been consistent rain all summer long. And I am definitely seeing a correlation between rain and giant antlers, right? my God, dude, I have some good deer on trail camera this year already within the past, since this past Thursday. I know that when I get trail cameras out, my gut tells me on my other farm that I'm gonna see some really good deer there.

as well too. And so the year was last year, the year before something like that here in Iowa, we had severe drought, you know, corn stalks were starting or leaves were starting to curl in on each other. And the antlers weren't that big, man. I mean, they were certain farms have good genetics and good deer anyway. But if you want to put a little juice on them, right, make them on steroids, get them that

Jeremy (55:17.444)
Thanks.

Jeremy (55:27.984)
Mm -hmm.

Dan Johnson (55:46.383)
Holy cow and that's the guy the mule deer hunters out West say the same thing like dude I know that if there's a really wet Spring and summer that I'm gonna be chasing some big mule deer out out West so Yeah, yep. Yep. So you got any? Returning customers that you are excited are showing back up or that you hope show back

Jeremy (55:50.726)
Yep.

Jeremy (55:58.374)
Yeah, it's awesome.

Jeremy (56:10.816)
that just honestly that there's, we had a couple kind of up and comers, no doubt last year towards that end of October, November timeframe. after I already killed, killed a buck back at home and my dad, my dad had a, he hit one last year. was a pretty decent one. luckily he, he survived. made it and, but that real, the real big one, we usually don't know until September.

and we didn't hear of anything of anybody killing him or or, just anything regarding news of a really big mountain deer. So, fingers crossed that he made it through the winter and man, I'll it's going to be tough because I never said I would designate a season chasing one buck, especially in that area, just because it's so big, but man, I, I for sure as heck is, I'm going to give, some specific time to try to, to

get a chance at him because since we've known about him, my dad has missed two opportunities with him. I've had no opportunities at him. so it's kind of one of those, ghosts in my, in, in, in my, you know, pain in my ass a little bit. So I'm trying to, I just want to get an opportunity at him. I just want to see him. and that's, other than some, some pictures.

Dan Johnson (57:34.105)
Yeah, I feel you. is a... So on the farms that I hunt, like one farm I do not have trail cameras up yet, the other one I do. That farm right now, there's three deer that I feel like I would shoot if they came by. One is a big nine pointer, just a big cage on him. If I had to put a guess on him, I'm maybe like that high 140s, low 150s.

as a nine pointer and that's pretty good. I got a 12 pointer, the picture that I showed you. I don't know anything about him unless he is a deer that just blew up this year from last year. We didn't have any 12 pointers or even 11 pointers on the farm last year. And then we got this three year old. Like his body is not mature, but he is a 16 pointer. And what I mean 16, I'm saying he's

15 inches 14 inches inside spread, but he's got junk He's got like a eye guard that kind of comes down. It's like a I guess it would be like a flyer off the front of his Main beam right and he's got all these little extra points all over so I think he's like a 16 pointer right now And he's a gorgeous deer and he's that deer where you just hope He doesn't you don't see him. I don't want him to come in when I rattle. I don't want him to

Jeremy (58:44.643)
Main brain.

Jeremy (58:57.443)
Mm -hmm.

Dan Johnson (59:00.959)
come into a grunt, but if he shows up, do you know how hard it will be? Because he's still a stud deer. I'm guessing he's gonna score again in that 150 range with all that junk. He's got off that flyer that comes off his brow, he's got another little drop down that goes along the side of his face and creates this golf ball size formation off that antler too, and he's a stud.

Jeremy (59:27.303)
Mm -hmm.

Dan Johnson (59:30.505)
like and you get another year on him and who knows what this year will be. But with that said, like if he comes by, dude, I'm going to shoot him. I think I'm going to shoot him. Right. And there's so much so much that has to happen when things like when things like that go down. Who knows if he's going to be there. This is one of those things where it's like, yeah, try not to get too fired up off your summer pictures. But if he sticks around, man.

Jeremy (59:40.563)
Right.

Jeremy (59:49.683)
hypothetically as we're, yeah.

Dan Johnson (59:58.099)
I might shoot a three -year -old this year Like how do you pass that stuff up when you don't own property? Right. He's he's a deer that will look great on my wall next to all my other deer Is he gonna be this big mature buck that everybody talks about including myself? No, he'll be a three -year -old but he's a big three -year -old

Jeremy (01:00:04.402)
Mm -hmm.

Jeremy (01:00:17.639)
Yeah, he's yeah, he's very unique. What do you how are you liking those new reveals?

Dan Johnson (01:00:24.217)
That's a good question, Here's the deal with those cameras. I am the kind of guy who all I really want is one thing. I just want myself, my cell camera or my trail camera to take pictures. want, I don't need them to be like reprintable. I don't need them to be too terribly high definition. All I want is trail cameras that take pictures. And if it's a cell cam,

I want trail cameras that take pictures and then send them to me. Okay. That's all I want. and I want set up to be easy. Cause in the past, like, I don't know about you, but some of the setups that you had to do where you had to like with the SIM cards and back in the day where you had to enter in like 24 digit numbers into the camera to match the SIM card. And then like this whole process now with these reveals, man,

The only thing that I do is you take them out of the box, you download the app, you hit add camera, you scan the QR code, you hit apply all to the settings, and then your camera. See, I had an issue with the first one I tried to set up where it wasn't working or something was happening, but what I did was I shut the camera off thinking it was already done and it wasn't sending pictures.

but there's this small amount of time where it has to connect to the service. And that probably takes three minutes or something like that to find service. then, so you leave your trail camera on. But after that, after I figured it out that I needed to leave it on a little bit longer, because I do, I did all of them in my house before I took them out. my God, dude. It's so easy now. It's so like setting up a trail camera. And here's the thing. If you...

Jeremy (01:02:08.912)
Yeah.

Dan Johnson (01:02:16.724)
If you do it right, this dude, I, I set up eight cameras in 10 minutes, something like that. Dude. It's so easy. So slick.

Jeremy (01:02:25.733)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, the one aspect that you said that I think is very underestimated is setting up your camera at home before you go out. don't know how many times I've either been with friends, my dad, and like they get to the tree and they're like, all right, let me, let me activate this thing. I'm like, what, what do mean activated right now? Like it just, that blows my mind. I like test it before beforehand at least, you know what I mean?

Dan Johnson (01:02:44.509)
Yeah.

Dan Johnson (01:02:50.801)
Yeah, yeah. And the cool thing about especially the reveal cameras is that I've heard nothing but good things about them from people, but I'm also a huge skeptic because there are people who, I don't know, maybe they're tale writers, maybe they're trying to get something, maybe they're trying to get, mean, shit, even with me, right? I get paid by reveal to talk about their cameras, but you're always a little skeptical about signing a deal with a partner, especially

a tool like trail cameras that I use very heavily in my approach to deer hunting. And when I finally got up to use them, now I can comfortably say that they're awesome trail cameras. Now, while we're on the case of trail cameras, I was thinking about this today. Have you ever used the Cuddy Back Cuddy Link system? No.

Jeremy (01:03:44.685)
That I have not. I have a couple of that do use them though, so.

Dan Johnson (01:03:48.829)
Yeah, yeah. So those are frustrating to set up. The technology is awesome, right? Those were a little frustra like I had to actually call a buddy who's used them before and just be like, listen, I need help setting these up. I'm missing something here. I'm following the instructions, but I'm missing something. He walked me through. But the cool thing about this is I wish that technology could be in more cameras like the reveal. This is a wishlist type thing.

because you get the quality of a reveal with that technology in it, game's over, dude. You can start putting trail cameras anywhere you want now. You don't need service anymore. Holy cow, and you can do that with the Cuddy Link system, but it's still a little frustrating to set up. But the technology is awesome, because I was getting trail camera pictures or cell cam pictures before in areas that I had never gotten cell cam pictures before, right? And so, yeah, that's awesome, but.

that tech that they have a patent on it and if they if they could sell that patent or another company could take their already awesome trail cameras and apply that technology to them through some kind of licensing agreement dude game over for whoever does

Jeremy (01:05:04.367)
Yeah, I'm with you on that one. Yeah, I have one of those new, just the regular 3 .0s at the New York property. And I had that one set up over a mock scrape and I got some lithium batteries in it just because of it being farther away, a couple hours away. I wanted to make sure that it would do what it needs to do for a long period of time. And I'm pretty frigging impressed. I'll say

Dan Johnson (01:05:30.355)
yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And so I got them out now on one of the farms. I'm collecting information. I'm getting, you know, does and box on trail camera and, I'm starting the process of putting the pieces of the puzzle together. You know, I create folders every year for, you know, pre like summer in summer and then in season, right? So what deer around in the summer, what deer around in the season? that way I can.

cross -reference them and get just just like I always like to look back at deer throughout the years and just be like is this him could this be him the deer that I have on camera right now could be I'm not I'm not a hundred percent positive there is one deer though that I hope I mean I hope shows up last year he was probably in that low 170s high 160s he had short tines

Jeremy (01:06:08.597)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Dan Johnson (01:06:27.111)
but except for his brow tines. And I'm guessing they were somewhere around that eight inch mark, eight inch, nine inch split brow tines on each side, mass on the main beams. He was a mainframe, mainframe 10, but with the junk, he was, would have been a 12. And so dude, he was gigantic, gigantic body. And the last two years I've had him show up in velvet and then one time throughout

one time throughout the season, but usually nocturnal. Like he comes in from somewhere else, checks the area, comes back out late season. I got a picture of him this past year, but only one. And so I would love to see something with that deer. Then last year, while I'm in the stand, gonna guess, and I can't remember if it was before I shot my buck or after I shot my buck, but there was a timeframe.

where there was a day evening hunt where I climbed up the tree and I'm watching all these deer kind of do their thing. And then across the neighboring property onto a third property, I saw top seven biggest deer in my life. He was a gigantic, think he was a 10 clean 10 pointer, probably pushing two. I mean, he was gigantic. Maybe he was a 12 if he had something on his base, but it was kind of dark.

But he did that. You could tell on the side from the side profile of him. He was huge. And then he turned and walked away the opposite direction. And like we're I'm guessing twenty four or five inches inside spread. And so who knows if that deer is dead or he's alive. I heard that a giant got hit off of a road in that area. So who knows? Who knows, man? Who knows?

Jeremy (01:08:22.923)
Okay, that's always tough.

Dan Johnson (01:08:26.142)
Yeah, yeah, but dude, I am excited. Right now it's just this whole year has been work, man. It's just like we just added what two new podcasts to the network that are up now. I got two more in the hopper that are getting ready to go. I'm still looking for that host for the How to Hunt Deer podcast. And so I'm still looking for all these things. I got people reaching out to me every day saying, hey, dude, I want I want

join the network or I want to take over a feed that maybe isn't being used right now and so I've just been in trying to grow the network but at some point that's gonna stop and I got to turn into kill mode at some point

Jeremy (01:09:08.286)
Yeah, yeah, dude, it's tough, man. That's like I've always said to you, man. I appreciate all your hard work because it's a lot, man. It's not easy. Like, that's the other aspect too, man. Like a lot of people think like even what we're doing right now, like, yeah, we're sitting here, we're bullshit and we're having a good time. talking, but to sustain that, you know I mean? Like it's not easy. It really isn't to continue on. And I mean, it's easy to just put something out, but it's not easy

Dan Johnson (01:09:13.717)
no no yeah yeah

Dan Johnson (01:09:27.285)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Yep.

Jeremy (01:09:36.605)
hopefully put out some good, meaningful content and setting things up with good people and that share similar values, all that

Dan Johnson (01:09:45.193)
Yeah, and I'll say this, That's a good point. But this is something I don't know if this is arrogance talking or confidence, but there are a lot of hunting podcasts on the market. And in this world, the better you are at social media, the better that you will do. This network may not be the greatest at social media, which that's going to change here pretty soon. But we are we have

I'll put the content that comes out of the network above, or like, I'll put it up there with any other group of people. And I've been guilty of this in the past. Once social media started becoming really popular, I used to look at someone and go, well, they got, they got X number of followers. They must be pretty good. No, they're good at social media. That's why they have a high number of people that doesn't have any type of reflection on how

good they are at what they're talking about or if they're knowledgeable about what they're talking about. And the thing that really sticks out to me and take this with a grain of salt, but like John Teeter with Whitetail Landscapes podcast here on the network and Mitchell Shirk with the Pennsylvania Woodsman podcast, those two guys and John, because he actually has a Habitat podcast are

the most knowledgeable habitat Improvement consultant land trees vegetation stem count fertilizers food plots like those two guys are the most knowledgeable people that I have ever talked to in my entire tenure as in the hunting and they're not getting the credit that is due for them because

they don't have a huge social media following, but I will put anything any day of the week, their knowledge base against anybody else in the habitat game or the food flight game or whatever, you know, habitat management, deer management type of thing. I'd put it up against them any day of the week. And those guys, yeah, those guys are so smart. And, and the, people who really know habitat management say that, dude, these guys are the best in the game.

Jeremy (01:11:58.372)
two grave individuals too.

Dan Johnson (01:12:10.273)
They're the best period in the game, but just because they don't have a huge social media following. And it's not just that it's everything. Right. There's guys who are smarter than me and better at deer hunting than me and are more knowledgeable about deer, deer behavior and deer hunting than me who have way less. And I love it. Like I love talking to those people because it's a, it's a breath of fresh air on any type of content.

because they're not known. Nobody knows them because they don't give a shit about social media. And meanwhile, you have guys out there creating content just for social media, which, and I don't want to stir the pot here, but it's just regurgitated information from either something that they've learned from somebody else or that everybody else already knows about. So that's just me on a soap box right there.

Jeremy (01:13:04.193)
You're not wrong Dan, you're not wrong man. mean dude I've been you know, just kind of like you said like not This isn't tooting a horn. I've said since day one man. I don't understand the social media thing. I enjoy creating Videos I enjoy doing all that stuff. I thoroughly do when I have the time to do it just because it's a it's an outlet, right? It's it's another outlet I've always enjoyed that tech stuff as a kid and everything along those lines, but even even you know,

Dan Johnson (01:13:07.37)
Yeah.

Jeremy (01:13:32.384)
Social media I felt victim to that years ago where it's like man. They have x amount of followers They must be this or like whatever like that man. I'm still at four thousand some followers, which is I never thought I would see a thousand So i'm so happy i'm so like i'm not i'm not talking down that but it's like i've been i've been 236 episodes straight man and it's you know, it doesn't matter what my instagram total is what I care about is trying

get this educational platform out there where I could talk to the use of the world, the Mitch's of the world, John Teeters of the world and bring fun things and have those fun conversations where hopefully someone gets something out of it. That's the principle of my podcast with it. that's again, the Instagram, all that stuff. It doesn't mean anything, man. It's a great avenue for networking, you could kind of say, but it's not the measuring stick of if you're a good

Dan Johnson (01:14:29.445)
Yep. Here's an idea. We join the Illuminati and all of our problems are solved. Just think about it. I don't need a yes or no right now, but maybe we join the Illuminati.

Jeremy (01:14:35.134)
Yeah.

Dan Johnson (01:14:43.596)
But now I have to go research what the Illuminati is. hey, Jeremy Dinsmore, Antler Out Podcast, dude. Thank you very much for taking time out of your day to do this, man. dude, keep sending me pics of the deer you get on cam.

Jeremy (01:14:46.208)
Yeah.

Jeremy (01:14:58.004)
We'll do same in.

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