Show Notes
This week’s episode the guys sit down to cover Paul’s 2023 success in the woods. Paul is our resident bird brained turkey fiend but this fall, he put a lot of time, effort and work into getting it done on a beautiful Ohio Whitetail. Paul will cover the ins and outs of the hunt, how he navigated new property, and put all the pieces together.
The beginning of the show is coming to you from the UP of the state up north. South of Heaven, is just nort of da bridge. The guys are joined by Bobby of Wicked North, and Justin of Blackgate hunting cameras to talk about expectations of the season opener in Michigan. The terrain up here isn’t much like Ohio, but a challenge is always accepted .
Good luck if you are out in the woods this week! Please tag us or share with us photos of your success on GoWild and Instagram. Be Safe
Show Transcript
That was funny.
He did that to us during a show one time. Some of our listeners, like we know, don't have access to that at all. Oh, because, yeah. There it goes! There could be times when he's loud and you're low. We're
here at Deer Camp. Are we, did you hit record? Hang on, are we doing something? Yeah, oh yeah. We hit record, we're 23 seconds into it. We were laughing. It was too much fun. I had to start it. Let's
see. All the good stuff happen before you hit record. Making fun of Glenn. Look at him. How sweaty is he?
Sweaty Glenn. You want some cookies?
He looks good. Dude, who made the cookies?
His wife, Morgan. Morgan, thanks for making the cookies. They're delicious. Yeah, Deer Camp Volume 2. We are at Drummond Island. Yeah. Would that be considered hotspotting? Until people were [00:01:00] around? I don't think you're supposed to do
that.
It doesn't matter when this comes out. It is an
island. There we go, we're on island.
You have to lower that. Yeah.
We're gonna lose people real fast. Real quick, let's get through the partners. Yeah, we're gonna make it quick. Go wild, time to go wild dot com. Yep, time to go wild
dot com. Check out the new version of our website, the02podcast. com. Check out our shop. Click on shop. Our holler shop is live.
It's live. It's live. Check it out. So all of the stuff that, that you're looking for on go wild. You can also get
on our website. Do you want to give a quick background on that just so people understand?
Yeah. So hauler commerce is just a program that go wild has started that we have the ability to sell the products that we use, the products that go wild sells products that everyone uses.
So yeah, just go to our website. It's just like any other transaction that you would have on, on, on go wild, but you can just run it [00:02:00] through. The02podcast.
com. Click on shop. And we'll highlight like some of the stuff that we like and brands that we like and that kind of stuff. But so I guess the question when you're sitting there trying to figure out where you're gonna buy something from, if you like our show and you are going to buy something anyways and you want to support us in some capacity you can buy it on there.
The catalog on our website is. It's like what you would find at BassProShops. com or BassPro. com. It's the same. Hundreds and
hundreds of items. Yeah. Tons of stuff. But it does, helps us in the long run. Anywho, yeah, so that was a partnership thing there through GoWild, right? Half Rack, who's also available on GoWild and
the
O2Podcast.
com, and the O2Podcast. com is if you go to their website though, Ohio Outdoors 15, save 15%. That's right. We got all kinds of half rack stuff running around this cabin. Meat lugs, hopefully we'll be filling those up. Meat slings. As we record this, it's the night before opening day. Night
before opener, here in the state of Michigan.
It's the night before opening day. The closing of [00:03:00] Grouse. The closing of Grouse.
It's like you're writing this poem. We've been talking about trying to shoot a drum line on Grouse for months. Months. And we saw a bunch of them this morning. Scout for deer. Didn't see any of them actually grouse hunting.
Nope. Not a one. No. But. Take
two. Anywho. Also we've got with us is Justin from Blackgate. Yo. He's here with us. Royalty.
Royalty King. Man drives like. Blackgatehunting. com.
Hunting gear right? Blackgatehunting. com. That's why I got Paul around here. I meant to say something when I came in. You'd give me crap for that because I'm terrible?
Yeah, I always say BlackgateHunting.
com and then you're like BlackgateHuntingProducts the name is BlackgateHuntingProducts but it's BlackgateHunting. com Gotcha. O2 Podcasts save 10 percent on cameras which we've got a bunch of R4G lights Yep. It's not RG4. It's R4G. We'll get in trouble with Trademark for that.[00:04:00]
I was back to that whole conversation that I was listening to. I went back and listened to that
the other day. That was a good one. That was fun.
Deploy those cameras, hopefully. And get some pictures, dude. Love 'em. Lots of fun stuff up here, not just deer and raccoons. There's bigger and battery wolves.
Do we need to get some, we need to get some wolves
on them. That'd be sweet's. We do, we got video. We need to get some wolves on the blockade. Actually, I have it on our four
G with me yeah. Really? Yeah. Yeah. We'll, , Glen's got a pack of five or four wolves
that he, yeah, it was pretty sweet.
Just natural born. Glenn, how you feeling, man? Are you going to fall into the fire pit over there? You okay, Glenn? He's doing alright. Yeah, he is. He's snarking. Riding the lightning. Is that what we're going to call it? Yeah.
Yeah, he's having a good one. He's
warming up his knee right now. He's going to get that trick knee warmed up by the fire.
He's ready to climb a tree tomorrow. Someone take a video of that. We'll put that on the podcast. Instagram. It's like he's pondering.
Midwest gun
[00:05:00] works. Dot com. Check him out. Ohio Outdoors five. Save yourself 5%. What else?
X Vision. Get some X Vision stuff sitting around here. Glenn
and I were playing around with one of those X Vision thermals last night or this morning.
You could put your hand. Is that what you guys were doing? Yes, you can put your hand on the fireplace like the rocks on the fireplace here and you can see your hand print Yeah, they're so cool, man
Timber
ninja. Oh, man, the code is Ohio. We'll get you free shipping but ready to Put that ledge to work
tomorrow timber ninja plays into
Our story today. It does quite a bit the episode that we're going to recap though is It's
going to be a quick intro. We got stuff to do.
Yeah, quick intro, but the we're talking to Paul Campbell, the greatest deer slayer in all of the O2 podcast community.
Stop it. The Paul will [00:06:00] give us a story here about Big buck. Big buck I killed. Oh
man. Yeah, November 4th, 5th, last Saturday. That was awesome. Check out the website. Yeah, it's on there. Let's
see, some news information. ODNR to celebrate Native American Heritage Month with some special programming. You can find out more information about that at OhioDNR.
gov. oUr friends over at the BHA are doing their pint night. Big event. It's pint night in Cleveland at Butcher and Brewer.
Yup. That's what it's called. Butcher and Brewer.
And they're gonna do meat eater trivia. And I believe the winner, so you'll be able to participate at this pint night event, but the winner gets to go on and actually participate in trivia at the meat eater live event that's December 13th.
That's pretty cool. The...
You gonna go to that, Justin?
I think I might because they were at the BHA event.[00:07:00]
So we got the Ohio BHA chapter, Saturday, November 25th, same day as the game. Suck it, Glenn.
Suck it long and suck it hard.
See you see that? That's connection right there with
some trivia. Yeah, you sign stealing yooper bastards. Jim Harbaugh, we can make fun of him all
day. We can do that here at Safe Space.
6 p. m. it says
and it's going to be a great event. Check out Ohio. We're just Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and then click on events. You'll see it.
Yep. Check out their Facebook page, Instagram page.
If
you need more information, hit us up. We'll get you pointed in the right direction. Thanks to those guys.
Henry and Tony and we're on the board for holding the
event together. Jameson. ODNR to celebrate the H2Ohio Wetland Project along the Mohican River Watershed.
I was just at Mohican River Watershed over the weekend. You
were. Let's see. This is the probably the one that we always are looking for that I just got so we've got some numbers [00:08:00] on Harvest so far this year for the state of Ohio now.
This is gonna be Through Sunday, November 5th. This show will release What like the 16th? So it's a little bit behind and I'm sure a lot of deer went down during the rut, but
Our archery hunters have taken fifty one thousand three hundred and sixty deer Through Sunday, November 5th, okay? The average bow harvest for the first weekend of November over the past three years was fifty thousand nine Hundred and thirty nine So That's the average over three years last year we had only taken forty eight thousand five hundred and seventy seven so Numbers are up from last year by about 3, 000 deer.
And we're above the average for the past 3
years. Does it have the top 3 counties in there? Oh, we got top 10 counties. Top [00:09:00] 10 counties? Alright. Number 10, Carroll. Yep. Number 9, Guernsey. Okay. Number 8, Muskingum. Surprising, you guys normally hire. Pick it
up. Pick it up. I don't know what number we're at, but then Knox.
That's
7. 7. Six old licking. Oh, there we go. Oh, what?
Licking.
Licking. That's where we live. We live in Licking
County. Licking? Yeah, we account for three of those deer. Interesting. Actually, I don't know if yours was in there yet, but Trumbull, Ashtabula, what kind are you in?
I'm in Summit,
but properties up there in
Ashtabula.
Okay, Ashtabula's up there, homes. Number two, Tuscarawas.
Oh, man. Yeah, I keep going. Which means number one is. Of course. Cushockton. Cushockton. Always. Every year, man. Cushockton County, number one county in the state of Ohio. Really? Some deer killing maniacs. Yeah, but they're big down there, [00:10:00] man. They are. Big deer?
There's some big deer down there. Really? Tuscaroras County, we have to say, Terrible tragedy in our home county. Today. In Lincoln County today. Seven kids so far have died in that accident, 15 kids hurt, I mean it's just terrible, man, so we, was it a school bus, right? It was a school bus, yeah. School bus and a semi crash Tuscaroras High School.
Tuskee Valley, I believe is the name of the high school yeah. Tragic. We hate hearing that, so our hearts go out to you guys, absolutely.
baCk to the deer numbers, the so through, so far this year of the harvest, It's like 25, 908 that were antlered, 25, 452 antlerless, so we're about 50 50 on that.
I don't know, there's some more numbers in here, but yep, OhioDNR. gov for that. And I think that's all I got on the news side of things. Anything else, Paul, that you can think of? [00:11:00]
Sorry, I'm eating a cookie. I thought, I think I'd be more professional about this. He saw me. He saw me doing this.
Bobby, why don't you talk about Wicked North? Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, throw me into the what do you want to know? What is it? I love them. The kill kits, man. Yeah. If we talk about them, I use them during turkey season, the turkey kill kits. Love them. Everything that you need to clean an animal, tag an animal, process an animal, got meat bags.
All in one nice little package. They're legit, man. They're super handy for Turkey hunting, for deer hunting. Yeah. The head poop in the
woods. Got blood containment in there so it keeps all the blood off of you off your vehicle, your gear and whatnot. Yeah. And we're actually
Our big game kit.
We're gonna make a 2.0 version. We're adding a couple of fun things into that for next year too. Nice. Good deal, man. . Can't wait to see it. And some pretty cool. Lifestyle gear.
Yeah, we got some swag and hats and shirts, hoodies, stickers, and stuff like that.
Yeah. A door just opened on its own.
It's some [00:12:00] weird stuff going on. It's really weird. You guys haven't watched the movie Escanaba in the moonlight? It's that. Oh, yeah. It's a good one. I think we're done. I think we're done. You guys
don't. What's Justin doing? You talk about Blackgate? You went out today. You said you sat in the woods for a second with your archery equipment.
Yeah, tried
to get a little bit in
before
gun opening
us or tomorrow and you just came from Illinois. Yeah. It was
pretty hot. Wasn't wasn't a great. It was fun
time, but
didn't I ended up not tagging anything, but so I figured,
Get here before or get
out in the woods before we hit gun opener.
Illinois to land of the Giants. Yeah. Yeah. There's some, there was some big
deer down there, man.
Just where I was at. I thought the giants were from New York. Come on. But where I was at down there in Illinois, the
sizing, right? So there was a minimum restriction where
I was at. So [00:13:00] ended up not getting anything, but went out today though.
Did you see some deer? Yeah. In Illinois? Oh yeah. Yeah. Tons of deer.
Yeah. Yeah. You're like, yeah, that's the biggest deer I've seen. I could kill,
and I got a pass. That's crazy, man. Because of the distance. No, just because of the restrictions. Restrictions. That, that, where I was at. On that property.
Yeah. Yep. They like to grow big deer
down there.
And then today, went out, hung up in a tree
for a little bit, and,
Seen a couple, two
spikes, and,
A doe, so it was good. It's always fun seeing. On public. Yeah. And your first time here,
right? Yeah. First time up in Michigan. And I know you, you had a tough time when you pulled in like I did when I pulled in last year.
Because as you pull into this area with the cabins and stuff, there's just like resident deer hanging out.
Unbelievable. There's a deer right outside the window at the moment. Eating apples. Actually it was standing back there waiting for Paul. To feed it something. She saw Paul get up and [00:14:00] she thought
here comes my child.
And when I showed up, actually you had to leave her to come get me at the gate. Yeah, we
were throwing her carrots and apples. She ran
at it like a dog to a tennis ball. She would probably come in this door. The deer up here are absolutely unbelievable. The doe, in the residential
area. I can't say for
a fact that the deer in the woods are not like that.
No, they're not. They're half the size. Half the size and super skinny. Yeah, throw in half a ladder. But it didn't
work.
Oh, man. I'm ready. I'm ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow's going to be a hell of a time. We'll record
another one here as the week goes on, and hopefully we've got some success to get back to.
there. I hope everybody enjoyed the show this week. The dot Oh two dot podcast on Instagram. Oh, two podcasts on go wild. If you
want to leave us reviews, shop, check out the new holler shop, anything that you need to buy. We haven't had a review in a
long time. That would be really cool. That would be cool.
Somebody else throw a review up there. Everybody wins with reviews. Always. Yeah. It doesn't hurt. There's good [00:15:00] reviews, but you can keep those to yourself. So anyways good luck everybody throughout the woods and we'll talk to you next week.
Let's go. You're a big weekend.
My turkey friend. I know. Got his little, got his rut stash. It looks so good. I,
What day was it that I texted the, we have a go wild group chat. Bonner Stabilizers Incorporated. I don't know. I think it was like maybe Tuesday, Monday or Tuesday. I was like, did you guys realize that rut stash is a thing?
It's are we doing this? Jacob had one fired up. Derek always has one Brad said he couldn't, he popped one out yesterday. Ruts dash. Yeah. It was great. Guess what?
Guess what? I will not be doing. Ruts dash. I don't know, man. No, do it.
Nope. So I thought so I shaved my beard off for those of you listening into the [00:16:00] ruts dash and.
The first day, like I just sent like just those, I was sending these stupid videos, updates, ruts dash updates to the group text and they're not meant for social media. You're never going to see them, but they were funny. They're just dumb. And, it worked, man. Old rustage
worked. Where do we want to start with this story?
Let's go back from the beginning. Alright. So you were produced from your mother's loins. Yes. Mother's
loins. 41 years ago. Came out at turkey hunter.
No. The go into the season so everybody knows, this, and you said it in your post the other day, this isn't your first passion and that's fine.
But you've embraced it lately. You blamed me. Yeah. For
some of it I do. But I've texted you a couple times, like months. You've ruined me, man. You've
been a public land hunter
for my entire hunting career,
correct? Yeah. And I don't know, I guess technically this was private land, but it was the
It's open to, so the landowner lets other people hunt on his property.
[00:17:00] He's got like a substantial amount of land in Licking County. And so he allows other people to hunt the, so I'm not the only person that has access to this chunk of property. And so there's multiple parcels to this property and. Just so when I get access to it, I started to notice that people, the other folks that like to hunt it, we're accessing the area with hardwoods.
That's, and so where I've been hunting all year was this huge ag field beans. It's half beans, half corn. And then there's a strip of woods all the way around it and it borders on the, so I guess it would be on the Western or the Eastern edge of this property is a ridge and the ridge goes up and it's all other properties, other parcels that no one, I don't, I don't have access to it.
And not a lot of woods on this property. So there's a little tiny like bog in the middle of it. Just scrubby trees, tons of bedding area. Learn that.[00:18:00] And then there's just like a, that
area is probably not
farmable. It's not, yeah, that's not farmed. There's a little, a ditch that runs through the middle of this property.
And then there was, sorry, I thought I saw a deer walking through your backyard. I might have, I don't know, keep an eye out on it. So there's a little ditch that runs through Dude, there's a deer out there.
Like, where, like far out?
No, okay, I guess it's those damn, it's that damn frilly grass, whatever the hell it is. Don't cut this out, this is fun. We're
recording
from my kitchen table. Yeah, from, yeah, from your kitchen table. So like the first, so yeah, so there's this ditch that runs through and it's an old like bog, like peat bog beautiful soil, man, like some of the best soil.
It's like the first time I walk out there, I like pick a handful up and smell it. I'm like, Oh my God, it's just the best dirt you can ask to grow crops on. And so there's these two little spots on this property. It's probably this [00:19:00] field is, I think it's like 125 acres, right? And so there's these two little like brushy area.
There are some it's funny because in these areas, there's either four foot cottonwoods or like the tiniest little scrubby brushy trees possible. And so there's this ditch that runs all the way down the one property. And the ditch is probably like four foot deep all the way up to
eight foot, two feet above my head. And so when I, the first time I walk in there, it's usually just scrape, rub, scrape, rub every 15 feet. There's a scrape and a rub and keep in mind like this ditch, these trees.
What
can you find it on here so I can look at it? Oh yeah. That's Spartan Forge. So I don't know. You'll have to zoom out. I just want to look at it while you're talking.
Can I just send you an on X man? Yeah. I'll send you the. I'll send the coordinates. Here you go. I'll just text you. So there's, [00:20:00] dude, there's like the first time I walk out there, I'm like, man, there's sign freaking everywhere.
But there's nowhere good to in my mind, there's nowhere good to, to set up. And so I I said, I set some sticks on. Like the hardwood, land that everyone loves. And I put a camera up, I had permission to set stands and set cameras. whIch fortunately I was one of the few people that the landowner gave permission to do that.
And so I never hunted, I hunted like opening day, I hunted that, that hardwood area, and I just kept going back to that ag field. Cause I'm like, the corn is up first part of the year. I'm like, dude, there's so much sign there. There's a lot of deer here. So the farmer, this is where you shot it.
That's where I was hanging up. That's my saddle. And so the farmer calls he knows my wife. They sit on the board together. He, so he calls my wife said, Hey, tell Paul that corn's half off. And so I go out that night and as I'm pulling into the park, he's pulling out in his combine.[00:21:00]
So we chat for a little bit to go in and months. I see probably 50 deer. What night was this? This is early. So this was probably like like the third week, October. So like October 20th, we'll just say corn's coming off. Prices were high. He wanted to get it out. And so I take a shot at a doe miss her.
She came in right behind me, two fonts, take a shot on one of the fonts or the, or one of the other does. And Miss. But it was cool, man. So I know like at that point, I know that I've got the stand location that I picked, so I picked, I'm right at the corner of this little probably what acre and a half, one acre just pond wet drainage area with big old cottonwoods all around it.
And I find this Elm tree and it's got three branches coming off of it for three trunks coming off of it. And so I'm set, I set up, I set my sticks and platform in this Elm tree. And, um, so first day, that first time rolls through and then I, and I'm I don't hunt much just because of work.
And I get out there a couple more times [00:22:00] before November 4th when I shoot this deer and I start to see like more, like I start to figure out where the deer are coming in, like at night. When they're coming in, I'm, I've hunted a couple early morning. I start to I'm just observing I hear real deer hunters, Dan Johnson and Mark.
And they talk about observation sits all the time. Like I did probably 10 observation sets where I had like absolutely no expectations of shooting a deer. I was just, I just knew that I was in the deer. I knew I'd picked a good spot. I'm watching how, they're interacting with the land or interacting with the wind.
And I started to see a couple of bucks far off, at like last light, I see him coming out. And so fast forward to, it would have been the day of the rut stash would have been, I want to say it was like November 1st, Thursday. No, it'd have been Thursday, November 2nd. Doesn't matter.
I'm out in that tree and I see what I believe is this deer that I shot on Saturday. I [00:23:00] see him he comes out of the field right at right at last, the last hour of shooting light. And he's, he is right on a doe. And so I just, I, it was funny, I pull up, I see these little brown dots coming through the cut or the beans.
And I pulled my binoculars. Beans are on or off? Beans are on. And it's funny because a small doe, it's fine, like they're just barely above the beans. And so I, I see the, I see these dots coming through and I pull my binoculars up. They're probably 250, 300 yards away from me. And I look at the doe first and she's standing up and I look to the other one and this deer is like standing.
Standing like below his head's down, he's feeding and I'm going to tell you exactly what I said. So this deer lifts his head up and I'm like, holy shit, like out loud. It like, he was way bigger than I didn't expect a deer to that big to pop up. I totally caught me off guard.
I'm like, oh my God. And I, like they start walking towards me and And I've just over [00:24:00] hunting, man. Like I've learned that when, like when those emotions come, like the shake, I just get them out of the way, right? Whether it's deer or Turkey, if I've got a while to wait, I just let the, I let the shakes come and then when it's game time, like I just through experience, I've learned to just shut that off.
That's
huge. And I agree with you because. And I, one of the games I play is the faster I can find them, the better, right? It's not that like snap judgment, am I going to shoot it? Am I not going to shoot it? Where am I going to shoot it at? Like it gives you time to process how they're moving through and really think about it.
And I know for me going through those motions is, it's huge,
man. And like when I was younger, I would I would see like a big deer okay. Here we go. And then I wouldn't look at it because I wouldn't want to get nervous now that I've gotten older and I've been through it a lot more dude, I watched him the entire time, right?
Because I know that I have time to process all those emotions, all those thoughts. And so I'm thinking, and this is where I like. You can't teach experience. And I'm just like watching these deer and [00:25:00] I'm like, okay, man, the winds here. I'm just like, like playing out, like what could happen. And it's funny.
So in that Elm tree that I've been sitting on all year, there's a spot to my right. It's just like this perfect window, man. And I'm just like, I keep looking at this spot and I'm like. This is where it needs to go down. And I'm hoping that, those deer are going to, that does just going to come and bed.
So I've learned that there's that little tiny area in the middle of the field. It is smack dab in the middle of the field. You can see it's in front of like where where I was sitting. I've learned that they love to bed in there and then they also come in and they'll bed in the area that I'm in.
And so I'm thinking like man, if she comes into bed where I'm at I'm going to have, I might have a shot at this deer. So they come in and she cuts towards that area in the middle, goes right across the field and she gets about 40 yards away from that buck. And he and at this point there, I don't know, 125, 150 yards away from me.
And so he starts to [00:26:00] go in there and I'm like, you know what, man, I'm like, I'm not, I'm going to treat this like a hend up. Gobbler, right? In my mind, always taking it back. Yeah. So I'm like, man, I got these rattling antlers from Mike to bowl to performance that day. I'm like, I'm going to try these out.
So I start like making, I grunt at this deer and I, and he doesn't do, he doesn't even look. And it was like, it was pretty windy that day. Like we're talking like 25 mile an hour, Yeah. Wind that day. And so I he just can't hear it. So I'm like, I'm going to rattle just to see what happens.
And he stops and looks at me and just goes right back to feeding towards that doe. Man, the
rattling and grunting and all that kind of stuff, even the snort wheeze.
I don't know what to think about that. So I snort wheezed at him and he would look up and I could see like the, his fur just like bristling, but he just didn't, he didn't care.
And so he was going back. Going back to this doe to this bedding area, and I'm just like, I just want to see what can happen at this point. So I'm like rattling like super aggressive and he turns and like starts coming back [00:27:00] towards me. I'm like, hell yeah. And then just, dude, they don't get this big by being dumb.
The wind was in my face. So he cuts probably 80 yards in front of me, goes all the way across this bean field, which is it's 200 yards across this bean field, hits the wood lot. And I can see him in the woods. He goes down behind me, gets into the wind behind me and cuts into the field and comes out and stops about 70 yards.
He's got the wind in his face and just stands there and looks so he can see what's going on. So he can see what's going on. And I know at this point, like he's not coming in and I am. I just let the shakes come because I'm like, dude, if he does come, I got to, I just got to get all this energy out.
I need all these nerves out and do my foots bounce in. I'm hanging on that saddle, dude. I'm like, like death gripping this thing, just just get it out. And it was so awesome watching him, man. And so he never winded me. That wind was, it is like dead on to where I'm at.
And it's taken you this path and he's just if he would have come in, he would have hit it eventually, [00:28:00] but like four or five does come into this field. And he turns around and at that point, like I'm like, I'm not doing anything else. I'm like, I know, so I know I didn't have a camera out there.
It was funny, the reason that I didn't have a camera, I was talking to Henry from BHA and he sent me a picture of a deer that he was chasing a couple of years ago. I too, I was 200 inch deer and he never, he only had it on camera. He never saw it. And then it just disappeared over the years and it died or someone killed it.
And he was like, man, I just stopped. I stopped running cameras because I didn't want to know what was out there. And so that's I took that I know that there's deer here. I just don't, I don't want to, I don't get, I didn't care. I know that if I was in the right spot, the right time is all going to come together.
So that deer, he walks off that day. And I,
on that note, like for, especially somebody like us, we are not Dan Jones. We're not hunting booners.
Speak for yourself. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
But I think it does ruin you because if there's a bigger one out there, you might pass something that.[00:29:00]
99 percent of the time you're going to take, right? Cause in the back of your mind, you're like, I know there's a big one out here. Yeah, dude, you may never ever see that bigger one. That bigger one's there because he can't show up on camera. And we'll talk about that on my side of things, but he's that he's there or he's been through there.
It doesn't mean he's anywhere close,
right? He may
never see that ever. And it could totally ruin
you. And and that's, and I, so I'm actually glad that I talked to Henry about that. Because that solidified, because I was going to I was going to go put some black gate cameras out there on some of those scrapes.
And I, after talking to him, I was like, I don't care, man. Like I just want to, I just want to hunt, man. I know that there are deer in this area. I've got a good stand. I know what went, it was funny. I like, I actually skipped a couple of days hunting because that stand, like that location, I need a South wind or Southwest wind, anything else.
It's not going to work. And so fortunately we've had some of those cool, we get, do you think a North
Northeast wind would work on that?
It probably would, but it's not what we get, but yeah, it, yeah, it probably would, cause I did hunt it one day and had an East wind because it's [00:30:00] still left like a huge section of that field where they're at, like wide open, but the best is like a dead South wind or Southwest wind which when I hung that stand, it was funny.
I was just like, if we get real cold during the run, like it's. And it's all North Northwest wind, like it's gonna, I'm gonna have to move all of my stuff, which is fine. So that, it was funny that, that day he takes off and so the very next day I come out, I had a couple of days off that I could get out, we had a it was 24 degrees, it was cold.
And I texted you I pull into the parking spot and there are beans on, and then there's. Dude I pull in, there's a good buck, not him, but a good buck and a doe, they were bed literally ten feet off of the... Off the drive to park and I pull in and before I could shut my lights off, I see deer just run and I opened my door and there's freaking does blowing everywhere and it was a full moon and so I looked down into the cut corn that like where I'm going and [00:31:00] they're just deer everywhere and I told and I texted you, you were up.
I think you were hunting. I was like, I don't even know what to do. So I didn't even go out to my stand. I just sat like I got down in that ditch where those rubs are in those scrapes. And I was like, man if there's something in the field, like if I see a buck, I could probably just grunt them in or whatever.
But I was like, so I was so nervous about going out to that field and blowing those deer out. Like, why do it? Cause they're not going to come back. And you and I were talking about it and you were like, dude I'm going in there every time, blow them out and because there's going to be more deer.
So that, that hunt was a waste. And so I took a day off. I had to go to Pennsylvania for work. And so Saturday comes back and I wake up and I'm not feeling good, man. That was the first thing. Like I just, I had like some congestion. I just didn't feel good. And but it was like my one day to hunt for the weekend.
And my wife, God love her. I told her like these this weekend, I'm going to, I'm going to hunt. It's going to be, the deer hunt is going to be [00:32:00] good. Do we need to put him outside? I don't chant months. He wants to get in on the conversation here. So I get up, I go out beautiful morning, nice and cool.
And I, I pull in and I open my door, I get out of my truck and I get there super early. Daylight, like sunrise is like eight Oh two. I get there at six. I've got a five minute walk into the woods. Like I can, when I park. Where I park I can see my truck from my stand, right? So I do not have which is a luxury man that I'm not used to Soon and I just but I just wanted to get up there because I knew I'm like man I'm just a blow these deer out like after the day before I'm like, there's gonna be Some nonsense to deal with so I get there and like I open my door I don't close it.
It's still open and I start walking back to the back of my truck to get my stuff out Freaking deer blowing everywhere. I'm like, you know what? I don't care and I heard multiple deer blowing I could hear him running through the [00:33:00] beans And so I just get my stuff loaded up. I'm I just make it, dude, I take the path of least resistance at this point, there's no, in my mind, there's no reason to, because before I would walk all the way down and come up and use the wind.
I'm like, dude, I just blew everything out of here. So I walk right down the grass, right up. I didn't see or hear anything else. I get set up in that stand. And I've been using this pursuit platform, which is, I really like it. It's super light. It's plastic, but I've got bigger feet who makes it pursuit is the name of it.
And so there, I think they're out of Indiana or something. You can find them on, on, on Instagram. They make, it's a neat product. And, but it is it's funny because I've learned once I got that, that I'm like, I like to lean and it's definitely made for leaning. Cause it's angled, which I love, but I also like to stand up and just reset everything.
So I've learned throughout all these hunts, like some of these hunts, I've sat for seven or eight hours and I get out of that thing and I'm like, Oh [00:34:00] man, because I can't stand up in it. And so I learned, like I took two sticks and I put them next to that platform and that's how I just I get that tether as close to that tree as I can.
And so I was thinking about that. I was going in, I'm like, man. By the time to, it's six o'clock by the time daylight gets here, I'm going to have to two hours is about my lean. And then I just got to stand up and I was like, man, I got it. So it was funny that morning I was hugging that tree. I had that, that tether all the way up so that I was standing on the tree.
And so it was like a half moon, not a cloud in the sky. And within five minutes of being in that tree, I see deer coming in from the other. Like months is right. There's those deer didn't hear those, those deer blown. I, so I see does coming into the field and just dead calm, just that, that and it was, so I threw some milkweed fluff and it just would hit, man.
I'm like, it might be all right. And so it's seven, I looked at my phone at 7, 15, 7, 10, 7, 15. I [00:35:00] can hear scraping in the leaves. And I can hear, cause there's no noise, there's no road noise, I mean it's just dead calm, like I can hear, I'm like, this is clearly a buck, and I don't know what buck I have no idea what this, it could be, I, dude, I've seen this little fork horn a hundred times this year, and it could be him, I have no idea, and so it's just working my way and, I've got, half hour, whatever your third, 20 minutes before, before first light or for first shot.
And so I see a dough come out, right? Just like. Brush line. She comes out. Just straight in front of me. And so throughout the year, excuse me, I've been taking yardage markers like I'm just like one of them that she walked out with this pile of corn stove or whatever. That's 26 yards.
And so she walked out. So I knew she was 26 yards because she walked like right around it. And I'm like, Oh man, like in my mind, I'm like, this is going to be sweet. Yep. [00:36:00] And it was like four minutes later because I looked at my phone. It was 7 19. I see my bug. I see him walk out from that. Like he hit that scrape line all the way down.
He walks out and he's like doing that stiff legged walk and he puts his head down and looks at her and dude, she turns around immediately and goes right back. And there's this, so there's this bog and then there's a strip of just like real thick brush. And then there's this tree. I don't know what kind of tree it is.
All the leaves are off, but it's there's a lot of open space under there. And so they yeah. They go right to that and dude, I could see movement, but like I could hear a ton of noise and I'm pretty sure that he bred that dough and this is 25 yards from me, man. And so I can just see I can see movement.
Why all this is going on because I'm looking through my binoculars and because it just absorbs all that light and they sit down. They just do. They do their business and they sit down and I can see them, I can see [00:37:00] the white on their butts. And then I can see their heads moving because there's a lot of brush in between, but I can see, and they're just right there.
And so I'm hanging in that saddle. I've got this big quote unquote shooter buck 20, 25, 30 yards from me with a doe. And I'm like, I don't have to make this happen. This is going to happen. All you have to do is not screw it up. And so just, that's it. I told myself, I'm like sit still.
Don't make noise. I moved one time. It's cause I heard something running through the beans, like real close to me. And so I moved my head and it was a rabbit and that's all. And, but it was like, I thought it was like another buck coming in and he was right there, but it was just a rabbit out running around.
And so I just looked, I just locked my body, man. And so I let my tether out a little bit because when I'm up so close to the tree, like I don't have enough room to move. And so I look and it's finally it's finally shooting light and they're still there. shooting line, they're still there. And then that doe walks [00:38:00] out and I'm like, this is gonna be it.
But like where she's at is on my right side. So it was going to be like a really hard shot. And so he finally comes out and she was working away from me towards that damn little. Area man, the little bedding area and so I this is the point where I'm like He's he is obviously it up because he just bread this dough like it's time dead calm.
I grunted him He's about 30 yards and dude, he stops and whips around and is looking at me And I'm like, Oh boy, at this point, like I am so focused on killing this deer, like the shakes, the emotions gone, dude, absolutely gone. That feeling I'm like laser focused, dude. I wish I could have a picture of what my face looks like.
Cause I have no idea. I'm probably like, like an idiot, but I was just, dude, I was zoned in, man. I'm like I'm killing this deer. If I get a chance. And he turns [00:39:00] around and starts walking away again. I'm like, he bastard, like this deer, just like he's still at about 30, still about 30. And he turned around and starts walking.
And so I had this, it's a Woodhaven intimidator is the call and I take it out and I do, and I don't, I'm not a deer hunter, man. I don't know what like aggressive vocalizations. I know like the snort wheeze is aggressive. I thought in my mind, I was like, don't snort wheeze. It seemed like a little too much.
Yeah. So like in the Turkey woods, man, like there's. Too aggressive. There's too much calling. So I'm like, dude, I just need to. So I hit him with these two little, and dude, he whipped around stiff legged full run back. And I'm like, Oh shit. I'm like, this is it. So I grabbed my bow like real slow and I'm watching him and he's half running, but he's real stiff.
And I'm like, If he comes straight, what am I going to do? Because he's he's in that little stretch, like where he could walk, there's a scrape and a rub. That's funny. It's just popped up in the last week, right under, five feet from my stand. So there he's been in [00:40:00] there.
I'm like, man, if he comes straight in, what am I going to do? I'm just going to have to let this deer walk in behind me. He's going to smell me when he's that close. But on the corner of that lot that I'm on, I've got these three big cottonwoods. And he comes out and he goes around those cottonwoods and I drew back because that's like my screen the whole time.
Like I've been able to get away with movement all year because of those trees. And I pull back and I get anchored and I'm watching him. I'm doing this motion for you, but people listening. Like I'm anchored and I'm watching him over my string come over and he's going to go right to that spot that I've been looking at all year.
I'm like, this is where a deer needs to die. And he comes in. And I stop him getting a little, it was funny. I wish I had video. Cause I felt like it was like one of those because there was, I do, it was, I was jacked up and I wasn't, I was rock steady, man. And dude, I let it fly.
And how far away was he at this [00:41:00] point? Dude, 15 yards, 15 yards. And I heard the impact and he didn't run. And so I'm like, I know that I hit him and he didn't run. And he he's jumps up. And as soon as I hit him, he like, he's pulling his back leg. I'm punching. Yeah. And he's just his whole body is like flexing and I'm like, hell yeah.
And so I take my phone out because I know that this deer is going to die. I know that I just, I thought I hit him in the heart. I didn't foreshadow here a little bit, but so I'm like filming. I send that, that video to you guys and he walks, what's right. So I didn't go 20.
It was probably 23 yards into the beans, the blood everywhere and just like he's full pass. And let's
talk about the arrow set up. So you had your serious arrows, but then you switched over to a sever.
Yeah I put a sever and not because, yeah, not because I just I've seen a lot of people have been using those.
They did a really good job in the Ashby boat testing which is something that I put a [00:42:00] lot of stock into. Like they're well made broad
heads. And intriguing to me as well, because my biggest complaint on the single bevel stuff is not having
a blood trail. Yeah. And Troy Fowler will tell you like dead deer don't run.
This deer did not run like he not. Once did he run and, I, so I'm not like, I'm not a proficient archer, so I'm, in my mind, I'm like, if, if I can use something like a broadhead that like, that is durable, it's got the hits that heavy, bone threshold and all that, and it gives you the big, it gives you the big holes like why not use it?
And so I heard a lot of really good things about those broadheads. So I bought three of them. aNd I still have my tough heads. In my quiver and, um, but I just wanted that, like just for insurance purposes, right? Because I'm not a good shot at this point. I don't think I am, but so I, I hit him and he runs dude.
And he's pulling that back leg up and you can see, I can just watch [00:43:00] it and I'm just losing my mind, dude. I'm cause I know that this deer is done and I didn't know that it was going to be that fast. Dude he topples over. In the beans and then there's a video on instagram ago while we're where he just he falls over And I, he, from the time that I shot him to the time I watched him, like after I took that video, I put my phone away and it was just total silence, man.
I was just watching him, dude. I was absorbing like everything was happy. It was less than two minutes that deer stopped moving. He was dead. The fact that
you were cognizant enough to pull your phone out to record that was amazing.
I think someone else said that too. And I was like, man, I don't know if it was just that I was just like, when I saw him, like the way that he reacted.
Like I don't even think he knew that he got shot because I knew that I didn't miss because dude I heard it I mean it dude it was so close and that bow so fast and I hit him and so he I actually hit him Back and he was like when he came in he quartered quartering [00:44:00] away He was quartering away But I had like he was so close and I was I had leaned back in my saddle I had such a good angle it went in It hit that femoral artery in the rear, went over his intestines, like under his spine or over his spine and then just absolutely decim I sent you that picture of his lungs and it just punched through his lungs.
Yeah. And it, dude, it just absolutely just It went the distance on that deer. Oh, it went the distance. And, and it was funny because I hit, I You know, if I hadn't seen him drop and I got that arrow, I'd have been like, oh man, I like this deer is going to run for a hundred miles because there was fat on it and blood.
And then you'd look up, like it gets, I get to the arrow and there's also a video of that online. There, there's blood everywhere. I showed you like I FaceTime, it was insane. But I watched him fall, man. And I'm like, I can't believe this happened. It was, like, it was unbelievable, man.
And so I, my phone was away. I was [00:45:00] just there. Can I just,
yeah, you sent the video. I got the raw footage.
Yeah. Yeah. And when you posted it
online, you put music or whatever.
Oh, I muted it. Yeah. That's a, that's for our group, man. I
have to tell, cause it's like, there's this, I got, first of all, I was asleep.
That was was a Saturday morning and I had my kids and it was like I'm sleeping in this morning and I get, I wake up to Paul's phone call and I missed it. And then I see the text and I pulled a video up and it's this deer wobbling and then crashing and I just, 20 yards from my stand, I hear the vocals or the sound on it.
He's
Ruttstache, baby! Yeah, the Ruttstache! Ruttstache! Yeah, I'd given life to the Ruttstache over the week in the videos. Talking about it tingling and shit like that. And so I was just like, Ruttstache, my ass. All I gotta do was just to cap it off. It was funny. And, but it was like, So I took that video and then like I'm watching him and then all of the like humor and just cause I was [00:46:00] just, man, I was so excited at that moment, but it was just, I don't know, man I've learned to over the years you kill more stuff, right?
Like I, I've learned like my place in the process of killing animals and death, right? Like I've become not numb to it, but I've it's bittersweet, man. And if it's not bittersweet for you. I like, I don't know why it's not I don't want to bash him but for me, it's always bittersweet and like with turkeys and you haven't experienced this yet, but when you shoot them and you go up to them, they're flopping and you're looking at them, you're holding their heads are like super vibrant, man, red, white, and blue.
There's a ton of colors, still a little bit of life left in them. And then it's it's if you pay attention, if you watch it, like you can watch the life literally just fade out of their heads. The colors don't become as vibrant. There's no blood. Like it just. And so that's something that I've come to really appreciate with turkeys.
And it's it's very it's very quick. We're talking like 60 seconds, it's gone. And so like with this deer, like I, I told you, and it was funny. I talked to Justin Ross and he really helped me frame this [00:47:00] up in my mind. But The turkey hunting has always been very personal for me and it's more and we're not going to get into it, but it's the, the one thing that like really that I love is like the interactions and I've gotten to the point where it's just I'm in love with the process of turkey hunting.
I'm in love with the physical part of it, running through the woods and the calling and all these things, like the interactions. I love watching the turkeys like interact and display and gobble at me. That's what I love about it. And so talking to Justin Ross, like the deer that I killed, like I got to watch him just be a deer, I got to watch, I got to hear him scrape, I was in his bedroom the entire year and I didn't even really, I didn't know it I saw him the day, two days before, I got to see, I got to see him breed a doe, I got to see him just Posture to this dough and it all worked out for him.
I got to watch him breed. I got to watch him feed. I had to watch him do all these things. Then I got to I get to interject myself into his day with the calling and then the rattling the day before and just watch how he works, man. So I have like [00:48:00] experience with this deer, every other deer that I've ever shot.
It's always Oh, there's a deer. Boom. Either with a gun or that's it. There's a deer. I'm gonna shoot this deer and that's it. And like this one was, it was like a very personal intense hunt, it was two of them, two, two of them really close together with the rattling on Thursday and then shooting them on Saturday.
Man I like I get it why bow hunting is like, people love it. And, like in the Turkey world, we talk about doing the right way, hunting turkeys the right way. That's a really popular phrase, and I hunted that deer the right way, and I don't mean like the weapon, but just
just watching them move around and watching them like be a deer and And you played the
chess match, right? I played the chess match. And you didn't just happen to wander into the woods and set up and have a deer walking in front of you. You worked that property. You worked, from the beginning you found it and you got access to it and you saw how other people were hunting it.
And the whole
puzzle Changed my way of hunting. Came together, [00:49:00] right?
And that's something I think hunting in general, there's different things. Like I love a good deer drive, but that's not the same game that you're playing. Yeah. That's pushing deer up and getting things move and, um, and deer camp like that.
That's one way to do it. But when you get the, putting all these pieces together and having a magical morning like that, man, and it was unbelievable. It was cold enough. It was just, it
was perfect. It was man. It absolutely was. And I just, I told you, I sat there for probably 45 minutes to an hour just watching other deer run around and I kept looking at him and just just letting it soak in, man.
Like it was awesome. That was an unbelievable morning. And, so I finally climb out on my tree stand with a saddle and, I go up to the arrow first. I want to see what it looked like first off. And it was wild. Like I, during that, the hour sit there, I pulled up my binoculars and.
bEcause I've looked at that spot so many times, it took me less than a [00:50:00] five seconds to find that arrow with my binoculars because I've just been staring at that spot, like drawn back, fake drawn back, with my hands, practicing like this is it and the fact that like it happened right there just makes it even better, right?
I walked right up to it, and I was just like, man, it's so cool. Earlier in the day, yeah. After I was hurting the stand, one of the, one of the property owners or someone cross the field up the ridge. I could see him coming down the ridge, like climbing.
I like, I watched him come down the ridge and I watched the red light go up the tree stand. And so I'm like, I'm. I'm pretty sure like he could see me in the field and he was, and so I get down and I look to my left and there's another really nice buck and a doe and this buck is chasing this doe across the field and my wind is going that they don't even care at this point.
And so those deer go up into that Ridge and I can hear the sky rattling. So I hope he got on one, but so I just, I didn't need [00:51:00] to blood trail him. I just did because why not, man? And and it's more fun when you know, the result of the, yeah, man. Yeah. Cause I, like from where he was at, I could see his antlers stick.
Like I, it's so close he was, but I just followed the blood trail and I was just like, and I didn't take a video of the blood. I should have, I think I showed you on a FaceTime call, but I was just like, Oh my God, this is amazing. So I didn't have my phone out. I wanted to like, live in that moment, man.
I took a video of the arrow and then I just walked the blood trail and walked up to him and it was cool, man, because. Like all the other deer I've killed, any deer that you kill is good, man. Doesn't matter what the size is. I'm gonna be honest with you. It was nice walking up to a really big deer.
You're not gonna lie. I was just like, wow oh my God. And so I was looking at the, just comparing pictures to all the other deer, in the past. I'm like, dude, this is wild, man. This is this is a big, mature white tailed buck. [00:52:00] Yeah, man. Good mass. Just beautiful. And talking to Justin Ross, it was neat.
Cause I walk up and I'm like, I'm losing my mind, and talking to Justin, I'm like, dude, there, there are guys out there that like, like this deer and he's right on the one forties, wouldn't have shot just cause he's not big enough, and I'm like the fact that this deer did all of the things that you could ask in a deer hunt.
He did it like just makes it awesome. And the fact that he was like big makes it even like even crazy. It's just and so I, I get them out of the beans and yeah, like that shot, that was the first thing I'm like, I don't. I feel like if I would have been using and who knows, like a single bevel or a muzzy or whatever it is I feel like that expandable I feel like it really helped me out in that situation just because of where like where it, it went in and what's wild is I didn't realize that he was like at that position, I didn't realize he was that far out, but I did it worked. and it was as ethical and as humane as you could possibly ask for. It was as quick [00:53:00] as a rifle shot to the heart. Yep. But so I, I said get 'em out, and I'm gutting him. And dude, I opened 'em up and I don't know if this is 'cause of a liver shot or a a a lung shot, but I open 'em up and I open like that, zip 'em up, and I get into that like layer, where and all what's left of his air just comes out and it comes out of his nose.
And so it sounded like he exhaled one last time. He was just like, and dude, it stopped me dead. My tracks. And I just sat there and I just looked at him. I'm just like, touched him. It was just one of those it's that intense moment, man. It was just like, you just hear the last bit of breath come out of them.
And that was it, man. Awesome. It was, I, the landowner, I called him and one of the other guys that I know real well that hunts there, which I didn't know that we've known each other for about two years now. And I, he would always tell me about this place that he hunts out and, Lincoln County and he's a Lincoln County resident.
And then I realized just through the doctor or the landowner [00:54:00] telling me stories that. He was talking about this because I've heard the same stories from someone else, right? So I this is, a month or two ago. I call him like And so I sent him a picture of that deer and he was pheasant hunting he called me and he's Oh my god, man.
That's amazing. So landowner helps like I get him drug out a little bit which The landowner. He's like mid seventies kind of guy that, 40 years ago would've just picked up a freaking pickup truck by himself, so he gets there and I got this huge deer that I'm trying to get in the back of the truck, and thank God I've lost weight and have exercised the last couple years.
Because I had I took my tether where my linemen were open and wrapped around the shoulders, and I'm in the front of the truck. And the landowners got the legs and I'm just like, like lifting this up, dude, as hard as I can in my back, my butt muscles hurt like crazy the next day. But it was neat, man.
And a couple of days before that I, so I get them loaded up and I'm heading out and get some good pictures, [00:55:00] some good videos. And that's something that I've never done in the past, but with with turkey season. com, a guy that's been helping us run. He's you have to take pictures of stuff, man.
He's you have to care about it. And so I took some, what I thought were cool videos and pictures of them. And so you get them loaded up and a couple of days before I had been out at performance archery, talking to Mike DeBold and I bought those rattling antlers and I asked him, I said, anyone bring any good deer in?
He's man, people don't bring deer in here anymore. And so he told me, actually, he told me about Zach, hopefully you're listening and Zach, we can get him on, right? He shot a freaking pig. He was like, yeah, this guy this guy shot a real nice double drop down. I'm like, Oh yeah, Zach, you listen to the show.
He said, how do you know? I'm like, I just told you, he sent us the picture and he, and, but he didn't even see that. And he's no one brings deer in anymore. So Mike's shop is like maybe a mile from where I turn off of. the road to go. And so I drove down and I open the door and he's on the phone and I wave him out.
I park right in front of him. [00:56:00] He's his eyes get real big. He's did you get one? I'm like, yeah. And so he comes out dude. And he had just a big old smile on his face, man. I hope it made his day, but man, we talked for 10 minutes. And then, and my wife, I'm going to throw her into the bus.
She yeah. She's been running her mouth, dude, about me just being a woodsman and a nature photographer and not killing anything. I'm like, dude, how many deer I killed a bunch of deer last year. I killed a bunch of turkeys this year. What do you mean? And she's just, running her mouth.
Just poking the bear. Dude, that's it, man. She just knows how to get under my skin. Her and the girls were leaving to go to an event. I'm like... Don't leave. You freaking stay right where you're at. This is you're looking at this deer. And so she waits, man. And we can go there and the girls love it.
And there's a picture where both of them, they're going to a princess party. And so both of them were dressed up in their princess outfits. And the youngest daughter she is she's got a blood loss, dude. She's gonna be a hunter. Wild child. The oldest one doesn't care.
Like she sees that deer and she's literally . [00:57:00] And my youngest one, she's, so I've got this deer. She's what's behind there? And she like, reaches up and lifts the flap of skin out. And the other one, the biggest one's just and the youngest one's like trying to put her hand in there.
I saved the heart for you. And I was like, do you want to see a heart? And she's holding it and it's in a bag and she's like squeezing it. And but man, they were just, they were loving it to the neighbors, saw it and came over. And then there's a some of our friends, they live a couple of houses down.
They've got a young boy that, that I've given him some turkey calls and he's really expressing interest in hunting. And so his dad is dude, will you just take us hunting? Just so I called them like, Hey, stop by, come see this deer. Cause I want his son to see. And he was just like, Oh my God.
Like he was in love, man. He thought it was the coolest thing. Yeah. And it was neat. So I get them loaded up and I took him to a place. Meat processing and out and Amity outside of Frederick town, Mike, the bold recommended to him. And so I stopped to get gas and [00:58:00] I'm still on all my hunting clothes at this point, dude, mission accomplished.
I don't care about getting, so I stopped to get gas and get something to drink and I walk out and there's this guy, his name's Chris lives in Reynoldsburg, Chris, hope you're listening. He's in full Under Armour camo. So I'm like, this guy's been deer hunting. I'm like, you get anything? He's Oh yeah, I almost touched a doe out of my ground blind.
And I like, what about you? And so it ended up being like it ended up being like a huge hunting douche flex. I didn't mean for it to be like this much of a flex, but and so I hit the button to lift up the tailgate on my Tahoe and just do this. Buck is right there doing this rack is just huge. And he's Oh my God.
And so four other people at the gas station all saw this deer dude. And so they all come running over and they're looking at the deer and I'm puffed up at this. But I'm like, I'm just going to, yeah. And
so I go to the processor and there's this guy there and. It comes out and he's do you get one? I'm like, yeah, same thing. Did I open that door? And he's oh my [00:59:00] God. And I'm like help me get this. I've got him in this jet sled. So I, he helps me pull them out. And then, so that time, like a couple more hunters come up and they're, they've got a buck and it's a good, but it's like a real wide six point, like it was a cool looking deer and they're like, Oh man, look at that thing, all these guys standing around taxidermist come out, comes out or not taxidermist, the process comes.
Oh, there's a big one. And dude, my head couldn't get any bigger. Like I was, dude, I was loving every minute of it. I'm not going to lie. That was great, man. That's it. Good. That's my 2023 off the Schneid
and yeah. Now you can just go out and get some doughs.
That's it
man. Yep. Then we'll go to
time off.
Yeah, we'll go. We're going to Michigan here. Man. Next week. Next. This, a week from today. Yep. We'll be headed north. Congratulations, my friend. Thank you. Deserved. I was shitty that you couldn't come out and see this deer. I wanted you to see him in all of his glory. I was like, damn, that CrossFit competition.
I should have just flexed all over your competition and drove out to the gym. You should have. That
[01:00:00] would have been, that would have been fabulous. I would have loved it. Hang on. Let me hold this weight real
quick. He was just so big, man. And what was, it was funny. Chris J texted me later and was like, dude, great deer, man.
And I just I just, he had just seen the video of him tumbling over. And so I sent him the, it's actually like the best picture of the landowner took it, the head on picture of me holding him. And he did, he pointed this out to me. He's dude, I love all the white around his eye. And he's got he's just got, he does, he's got like a lot of like more white than normal around his eyes.
Getting it mounted? Oh, absolutely. Good. As she's how much is that going to cost? I'm like, don't worry about it. Does it matter? She's I just want to know. I got a plan. I'm like, okay, like probably like between 600 and a thousand dollars. I don't know. Merry Christmas, Paul. Exactly, man.
So that's it, man. That's, and so it was funny, man. One of my friends just texted and he's did you get that? Did you get that deer scored? And so I did a little and this is not I'm not, [01:01:00] so this plus or minus 10, right? I don't know, but so I did all the measurements and so it was the gross was one 39 and six eights.
And then the I guess the final, whatever that the net was one 37. That's big. It's a bit of a young deer. Good deer. I wanted that Buckeye big buck and but who knows, man? II was pretty conservative. I didn't want to like it. He might be bigger. Yeah, II just watched a YouTube video to score this deer.
That's it man. That's the story of my buck and
congratulations my friend that on
the Michigan. Yeah on to Michigan. Huh.
