Don’t Leave it to Chance w/ Tyler Wilbur

Hey everyone, welcome to episode 177 of the Antler Up Podcast!

On this week's episode I was joined by PA native Tyler Wilbur.  Tyler and I had a fun conversation about a variety of whitetail topics.  These topics included his success this past year, how that will help him for this upcoming season, learning from Steve Sherk and how his scouting is evolving.  We cover some more topics that I believe will fire you up for this whitetail season! The main topic of this episode is don’t leave anything to chance.  Get out there and scout, prepare by shooting your bow, go over past intel and be ready for when that moment comes!

Kicking this episode off, Tyler introduces himself and what is currently in the works for him.  It was great to get a chance to hear Tyler’s story from learning from his father and now getting a chance to learn from Steve Sherk to hunt the big mountain bucks here in PA.  We get into what specifically Tyler is looking for when scouting and hunting.  We get into the importance of looking into the smaller details to set yourself up for success.  This past season was also a rollercoaster type season for Tyler in that he was after a real good mature buck and had his chance but ultimately missed his opportunity.  We chatted about how he didn’t let this back luck shot tear him down and instead come back from that and kill another great buck.  We get into a heck of a lot more in this episode and hope you enjoy this one!  I appreciate Tyler for coming on and having this conversation with me. Check it out and let us know what you think!  Enjoy this fun episode and see you next week! 

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

Check out the Sportsmen's Empire Podcast Network for more relevant outdoor content!

[00:00:00] You are now listening to the Antler Podcast, brought to you by tethered the world's best saddle hunting equipment, and we got a fun show for you today. What's up everybody? Welcome back to this week's episode, and I was joined by PA Native, Tyler, Wilbur, and Tyler and I had a really fun conversation about a variety of different whitetail topics.

These topics included his success from this past year and how that will help him this upcoming season. Learning from Steve Shirk as well and how his scouting is really evolving. We cover some really cool topics that I believe [00:01:00] will fire you up for this whitetail season. Kicking off this episode, Tyler introduces himself and what is currently in the works for him.

It was really a great opportunity to get a chance to hear Tyler's story from learning from his dad and now getting a chance to learn from Steve Shirk to hunt the big mountain bucks here in Pennsylvania. We get into what specifically Tyler is looking for when scouting and hunting. We get into the importance of looking into smaller details to really set himself up and really you what you could learn to set yourself up for success.

This past season was also a rollercoaster type season for Tyler in that he was after a really good, mature buck and had his chance opportunity, but ultimately missed it. We chatted about how he didn't let this bad luck shot, really tear him down and instead come back from that and kill another great buck here.

We get into a heck of a lot more in this episode and really hope you enjoy it. Really, the take home message is don't leave it to chance. Get out there, scout, prepare, don't leave it to chance for [00:02:00] next year. Appreciate you, Tyler, for coming on. Really hope you enjoy this episode. Everybody. Thanks again for all of your continued support.

Those of you that have had a chance, again to meet that total Archer challenge, it was great to meet you in person. It was great to shake hands. Man it's very humbling and I just wanna say thank you so much and if you'd like what you hear, I'd greatly appreciate it. If you'd go leave that five star review over on iTunes or on Spotify, wherever you listen.

And also if you have a chance on iTunes, go ahead and drop a written review as well. Just. Helps me out some more. So really appreciate it everybody. We got some cool things coming down to pipe for you. Enjoy. Get out there. Shoot your bow, antler up.

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Use code antler up to save 20% off your Smart and Forge membership@spartanforge.ai. Going on everybody, we're back. We're live for another episode of the Antler Up podcast and I'm joined on the other line by PA Native. We got Tyler Wilbur on the line is, did I say that right? Yep. You got it. Hell yeah, man.

I'm cooking lately. I appreciate you taking the [00:04:00] time this evening to, to chat, dude. How are you? I'm doing great, Jeremy. I appreciate you having me on, man. I'm excited for it, dude. I'm excited too. This is this is the time of year where I start getting, I. This is my bad time of year. I like to say in, in a good way because school's done in less than seven days.

And once that's over with, obviously I have my Aunt Loup stuff and my family, but that's when my, my one O c d, my A D H D that I've never been diagnosed with or anything like that. But just stuff that I know and I'll be, it'll be like 10 o'clock at night, I'm lying in bed with just, whatever.

Or even later. And then all of a sudden I'll go total squirrel and I'll come downstairs and I'll just start looking up archery stuff, start shooting my bow, and I'm, yeah then I'm up till three in the morning and my wife the next morning like, why are you so tired? And I'm like I was up again all night last night because archery or deer hunting or whatever, it just, this is that, that bad time of [00:05:00] year for me, when it just consumes me, I feel like, Absolutely agree, man.

It's hard to turn that thing off. Oh, dude it, it is, it's so funny cuz I don't have, I don't, with teaching, I do not have a summer job per se. And so it's literally wake up, think about deer hunting, go to bed, think about deer hunting, and it's bad. This is also when I would used to purchase like a bunch of random impulse buys and then and then I'm like, oh shit, I don't need this. And then I end up selling it. I know. My wife's the same way, she comes home with, there's Amazon boxes on the front doorstep. She gives me the old side eye what'd you order now? Uhhuh. Exactly man. Dude, man what's going on with you?

What's your story? Where are you coming from? And we could go from there. Yeah, absolutely man. Tyler Wilber, I'm from Central Pennsylvania. Got bit by the bug early on was introduced to the outdoors with my dad. Grew up with that traditional Pennsylvania hunting style.

First day of rifle. And just built off of [00:06:00] that starting out early. I was always out in the woods with my dad. We rather it be, trapping or small mouth fishing on a creek. Anything from all, all of that good stuff, man out in the outdoors, I just got bit by the bug early and grew to a passion and after that I think it's a pretty easy takeoff after you get bit by that bug, this time of year right now, I'm really starting to focus and hone in on my buck inventory. I was actually just out here after work today fixing up one of my mock scrapes that I have a camera over. I just think it's such a crucial tool to take inventory this time of year to see what's going on and what Bucks made it, what didn't, but yeah, man, it's, it never stops, like we were saying, it never stops. It's, there, it's sometimes it can be stressful, and the heat of hunting season. It's all about finding that perfect balance [00:07:00] with your home life. Yeah. But it's hard, man. You gotta get out there.

You gotta get after it and stay with it, through the highs and lows of the season. That's in a nutshell, man. That's how I got my start. It's where I'm at. Yeah. Right now, this time of year. Yep. But it's, it never stops. So it's, sorry. No, dude, that's perfect.

And what I want to even go into I, what I find interesting is the more and more people that we talk with if like an individual like yourself, like you said, grew up hunting because of your dad and got out there when you're younger, how has that kind of. Evolve for you as a, as an adult now.

Because, when we were growing up, we took our father's words, hunting words as the gospel. It was like you had to do this. Absolutely. And then, there's times now where I love, like teaching him the old, you can teach an old dog a new trick here and there, what could you think of some funny things that you've have have done over, over the last couple years where you're like, yeah, that's been debunk it. Here's [00:08:00] what we're gonna do now, dad. Yeah. Growing up, like I said, that pa traditional, it's like you just gotta stay in your stand and you're playing off a game of chance.

Really? Yeah. And something I've really started to focus on the last two years, especially this last year, is breaking away from that. Yeah. And Finding, I've never only, I, there, Steve Shirk and I've recently, he has taken me under his wing year.

Really? Yeah. He's really opened my eyes to some things, man. Just fine locating, buck beds is one thing I've never took into consideration or looking for. When I was out in the woods with my dad, it was always like, oh man, there's a big buck rub. Yeah. Oh, there's a nice rub line, and just little pieces to the puzzle and just fine tuning things. And one thing I was makes me laugh is my dad's always so hot and heavy in the woods. Like he's moving a mile a minute, and, I've really found [00:09:00] being with Steve in the woods, it's really slowing things down.

Once you hone into an area where there's some historical sign there, whether it be a scrape or a rub or, anything like that, I'm, right now I'm really slowing things down and dissecting that. And just fine tuning that. I've taken a lot of things into consideration. Something else that I've taken into consideration.

I'm sure pa, big Woods and the ridges and stuff is thermals and Yeah. We are not, thermals and your lee word sizes are ridges and all that. I've been taken into consideration this last year or two. Yeah. And one, like something, dude, one thing that I love what you said, and I do want to, I wanna let you finish, but I want you to, we could talk about it, is how you said don't leave it to chance.

Because Yeah, dude I've fallen victim to that so many times, over the last couple years and what you said, be a little bit more [00:10:00] calculated, right? Be a little bit more calculated with your moves, with your hunt and what you're doing, and have a purpose. And that's the, I think that's just a, even just a stepping stone to the overall puzzle that we're trying to piece together.

Yeah, absolutely agree with that, Jeremy. Something else is, basing that game of chance, how many times in the past have you been sitting in your stand and it's nine o'clock in the morning, you haven't seen a deer in, all day. And it's do I stay here?

And it's something I've really started to do is if I'm not seeing deer, I'm gonna move, but I'm gonna move slow if I have to make an adjustment or say I'm in my stand and I'm seeing deer, a hundred yards out and they're moving consistently through an area. If I'll glass the area, but I'm down and I'm moving if all is clear, Yeah.

Into that set area. But, it's, that's another thing too is just sometimes we f we find ourselves where we freeze up for whatever reason it may be. It's ah, you start having that [00:11:00] second guess, do I get down? Do I risk it? And. I'm going into this here, I'm making moves. And it might not be like so much aggressive, but I'm gonna be more strategic about it.

But not be afraid or reserved, so to speak. Making a move, I think sometimes you just gotta make some things happen. Yeah. It's. Panned out for me, yep. Because when you think about that too it's like going with your gut. And I've said it now countless of times on the podcast where, holy shit, man, if I would've just gone with my dang gut, yeah.

I wouldn't be sitting here saying, oh, man, it was a great year seeing deer. I didn't kill the buck. I was, I really wanted I, I would've at least, I think, would've said I shot, yeah. A hundred percent. Because man, yeah. It's been with friends, family, shit myself and there's been a couple times where it's panned out for me a couple times, like either successfully pulling that tag or at least having great encounters [00:12:00] more times than not Tyler, the times that I've gone with my gut.

It's ended up being better in times when it's I have a gut feeling this is gonna happen, but I'm gonna stick to this, my guns and do this. If I would've gone with my gut, it would've been, it would've been a better situation. Real quick, just to go squirrel. Honestly, dude, I don't know if I've ever told this story now that it's so many months passed.

I I feel okay saying it and licking my wounds, I guess you could say. Right on the story if anybody had listeners have, remember when we had that Sunday hunting weekend and that Saturday, my father and I. Went down to an the public area piece of that's near our private piece that we hunt.

The one buck that I was after had him on camera from frigging September all the way up until this time. Basically. He was just, I knew where he was betting and which way he was coming for. It was just waiting for the right opportunity to get in there because of the access and the wind stuff.

And during that [00:13:00] Saturday I had a some random individual somehow trespassed onto our property that got onto the public because the public is Blocked off, if that makes sense. I don't know really how to explain it. And he just starts yelling yo. Long story short he gets really dang close and he bumps that deer.

And the deer comes from the exactly where I was anticipating him to come from. And I see him. I had that encounter. He was still about 50 yards away. He didn't continue to come in towards me, he worked away. However, my gut was telling me that like we, my dad and I moved spots in the afternoon that evening.

Like we had a couple encounters with smaller bucks. Nothing happened. But, we're talking game planning for Sunday. He said, what do you want to do? And I said, man, I said, part of me, dad, I said, want, really wants to go back down in there, because I do think that Buck could come back. But with this guy coming, who knows what the hell Sunday's gonna be like.

You know what I mean? Because of being with people, knowing that you could hunt this Sunday. Was the guy lost? No idea. Was he [00:14:00] trying to scare deer? I don't, I have no idea what this dude's agenda was. So my gut was telling me to go back in there, but I I didn't, I don't wanna say I listened to my dad, but I just, I forced myself to not go with my gut.

So we're hunting the next day, the next morning, somewhere else in our normal decent spots on our side of the private mountain and ping there goes my cell camera photo and that ba, that bastard runs, would've ran right underneath my tree that I normally got up in, in that area. Oh my God, she's whitetailed Do something fierce to us, don't they?

Oh, Tyler. I'm telling you. And that's what, so with you exactly what you're saying, being more calculated and going with your gut and just trusting your instincts, man. I, yep. I really do, man. I think that's a good written piece. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. Trust your instincts, man. Trust them. Yeah.

Yeah. It's, that kinda is how I killed my butt this year, Jeremy, to be honest with you, I was, I [00:15:00] always take a week off every year around November 7th, whatever, wherever that falls. It's always a week that me and my dad have taken off and I got my tail kicked, this past season I'd.

Made a bad shot on a buck I've been chasing going on six years now. And everything was perfect. My arrow hit a limb and it was a low light setting and it was just one of those things where you get tunnel vision on the target and you don't really look at the fine twigs and arrow deflected hit him high in the shoulder.

Thankfully, he made it. I already have trail camera picks of him, so he's healthy and well. After that week, it was a real long down week came home actually it was that Sunday that we could hunt. The 13th and it was just windy. And, I was like do I go out? I have this local spot right by my house that I hadn't, it's not very big.

It's only eight acres of timber and but there's a good [00:16:00] sign in there, there's consistent deer sign. And I had a trail camera in there and I was getting some smaller bucks and stuff, but I was like, eh, I'll just, something was telling me, get out there and go sit in your stand.

And my wife pushed me out the door. She was like, don't you give up now. Cause I was ready to hang my hat out after that week. I was like, man, I'll just, I'll hang it up for the season. But she was like, get out there and make a move. Don't quit. So I did. I went out there, and my gut was just telling me to sit in this one tree, and I never saw the buck that I had taken this past year on my camera.

And he came in and ended up being my personal best to date. And case in point, man, we went with our gut and it paid off. Yeah. Tenfold. So that, that's a great kind of leadway into this. And we've all been there, man, right? We've all, yeah. Have had those mishaps missed opportunities.

What is, what's, and I know like you said your wife encouraged you to get back on the horse and get out there,[00:17:00] mentally though, or your shop preparation. Are you doing anything to help, psych yourself back up again and reel, reel it in?

Because I, I talked with another friend earlier today. We were talking about how, personally for me, I felt like this year I did a better job of not going full psycho. And right. Especially like when certain deer came in, like that deer I just told you about, like during that encounter, man, a couple seconds after I, I is when I was like, dang and was like really shooken up.

But during the moment, man, I really slowed it down and another, yeah, another encounter about a week and a half prior to that on a deer I should have probably killed. I, it was again, like a minute, 30 seconds to a minute afterwards when I really got sh shaken up about it. Yep. So what process did you do or do you do to don't wanna say, outta sight, outta mind, forget it, but how are you overcoming those tough moments? One thing I like to do is I shoot [00:18:00] four arrows a day. Every day. And I just think it keeps me regular and almost, muscle memory kind of takes over and you go into autopilot when that moment's unfolding.

And I've found it to be very helpful because, let's face it, archery, most of the time it's a one shot game. Yep. And for me, some guys can go out there and fling 20 arrows, do whatever works for you. Me, I keep it pretty simple. I go out, I shoot my quiver every day, and it just keeps everything, I guess everything oiled up, so to speak for when that moment counts the most, it's really one thing that I focus on is my efficiency with my equipment that I'm using.

I think those little things matter the most in a crucial time, I think. Yeah. That's just something I always have done, man. That's something my dad has always told me is, you're gonna take that thing in the woods, you better be good with it, yeah. Yep. Take the guesswork out of building your own arrows for this upcoming season by [00:19:00] ordering a custom set of MMT arrows from Exodus outdoor gear.

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Yeah, that's same here. And the one thing that I think helped me going into this past year was obviously the work that I put into last off season. And I've kicked it up a little bit of a notch as well to push myself to continue to feel good with my shot process. But, I had Greg Litzinger on, and I talked about this on another podcast where he, he talked about where he gets into he flips a switch, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah. He's okay. And he even talks about it when he is driving somewhere. [00:20:00] If he's going to a spot where, maybe he's gonna shoot a dough or not, instead of being like, pre in the moment, he's basically Yeah, in the truck gets out and it's I'm killing a dough today.

If a dough comes through and gives him that shot opportunity, he's go, he's flipping that switch and goes in kill mode. And I try to do that and I constantly, As I was in my saddle this year, constantly went through like anchor bubble. Yeah. And would go through my thing. So then as and I did shoot a dough the technically not opening day, but that next first Saturday and I missed a man. To this day, I still don't understand this shot opportunity. But again, like that shot process, dude, it was the best shot process that I ever had. I remember watching the arrow fly hit her, like still as my bow arm is up and I remember being boom, I drilled her and as soon as she turned and I saw the arrow and I was like, that had no penetration.

It all was like, almost as if it like, bounced [00:21:00] off her. I know it's gonna sound weird, but at the same time I was like, if you take that shot process into a b, your buck opportunity. You're gonna make this shit count now next time. Yeah. You know what I mean? And Yeah, I know that sounds weird, but the, that little minor confidence of that process allowed me to feel confident going forward.

Absolutely. Yeah. I think we learned a lot. As you were saying that too, I get in that zone when I get up in my stand, I start playing out scenarios in my head. Okay, he's gonna come down this way. Or if I I check my wind and Okay, it's going this way. I'm anticipating him maybe to come on the downwind side, getting that positive mental attitude rolling in your mind okay.

It just adds that confidence to that moment, this is everything I trained for. It's one thing I will say when this past year when I did have that opportunity at Big Eight, as soon as I saw him, I was like, I played this scenario in my [00:22:00] mind for six years, and it's, he's on a b beeline right to my tree, and I know this is about to happen.

And it's just like you were saying, Greg Litzinger, you flip that switch and it's just like autopilot takes over and you know that at the end of the day, we're human. We make mistakes. But I feel like, it's how we bounce back from the mistakes and what we can learn from him, 100%. Man, I really love what you just said and I agree fully to you to with that and with you on that, because, he just, You almost gotta just be like, it's either that or get out of the woods. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. I've yep. It's, I look at I'd never wrestler wrestled in in my life like in high school or anything like that, or growing up.

But I love talking to my students that are wrestlers because Yeah. In order for them to be at their weight, they have to beat out, a teammate for that to go wrestle. So it's either put up or shut up. And, yep, that's it. I've adopted that mentality [00:23:00] when walking in, into the whitetail woods when it's, it's go time.

It's, it's serious, it's fun, you enjoy it. But at the same time we're after. After something an animal that has its life and we're trying to perfect all our skill sets so that way we do it in the best way possible, basically. Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. I a hundred percent agree with that. I love what you said, it's the fine tuning of the things, yeah. That, that I think go the longer distance. It's really, and sometimes, my dad will always look at me and he's man, you're too hard on yourself. It's no, you that's not it. It's I hold myself accountable, if Yeah. Like he always instilled in me, you, you make sure it's an ethical shot.

If it's not, you let it walk. And that's just, I always, that's one thing too, is you have a shot opportunity and it could be your personal best. I will let him walk if he's not presenting me the shot, the ethical shot, to say, yep, I'm letting him [00:24:00] walk, cuz. He'll live on to see another day and I can just get right back on him again, yep. What were some some lessons that you're taking away from that buck this past year? You could even go from both of from the behavior that they demonstrated to, wow, they did this coming in and that presented me a shot and the wind, or to my thermals, what kind of takeaways will you be taking into this upcoming season from obviously the missed opportunity and then coming back and harvesting a different buck? Absolutely. I, first things first, gonna make sure I have some shooting lanes. But no, I think for this coming year my focus is gonna be, one thing as Steve really opened my eyes is how these reclusive bucks are and how each buck I've learned has his own kind of personality, so to speak.

And taking that into consideration. I know pretty much I've honed into his core area [00:25:00] now. I just, actually two weeks ago I was up scouting and honed in on this be area that I think he's at. And I clustered some of my cameras to hold Intel. But I think, going forward into this year, something that I can learn from last year's mistake is not taken for granted on knowing what that buck's gonna do.

Because let's face it, sometimes they throw us a monkey wrench. And it's man you think you have him figured out and it's man, why is he doing that? So I guess if what I'm trying to say is, Kind of setting up based off of the intel that I'm gathering. The spot that I saw him in last year was, it was on a bench at the base of this ridge that I, to be honest, when I went in there, I was setting up for a recon.

I just wanted to see what I was doing. I had hung my climber on this tree for, it was at during that overlap bear archery season. Yep. And I had hung my [00:26:00] climber in there and actually the morning before I went in there and had shot him my dad had saw him. Tending a dough on that bench.

And he was headed out that way and he was like, I think you need to go out there and just see if he can get eyes on him. And lo and behold, I had no, intention or I shouldn't say intention, I had no expectations of seeing him that very night, so when that all unfolded, I was just setting up doing a recon sit and he came to 15 yards.

The book that I've been chasing for five years is 15 yards away from me. Yeah. So don't be afraid to get in tight to 'em and really set up, stands have a, don't have just a plan. A Yeah. That's another thing. It's I have a plan A, B, C, and sometimes a d if it allows me those are all the things I'm gonna be taking into consideration with this year going forward.

I like that man. [00:27:00] And one key word that you said, and I feel like it's, it's so simple to. Let things go to the wayside. And one of the things it's oh yeah, this is a bucks or a Deere's core area. Yeah. But in the grand scheme of things, like what we were even saying earlier, like growing up when we were like, oh my gosh, look at this rub line, and is this Bucks core area, how wide does that, is it, does that expand? Does that, is it a mile? Is it two miles? And Yeah, like what you were saying of, when you look at the topo map and you're seeing, okay, here's this type of bench or ridge and, you start getting into this is some thick and nasty stuff and, you, you could maybe branch out and come up with those ideas.

And that's one aspect that I think I've gotten better at this past year. And con continue to piece those puzzles together. And like for you I'm still. I'm still very not good at saying buck let me find these buck betting. And I know like you're saying, talking to Steve and learning from him and and you [00:28:00] get a better understanding of this, what are like when you find a buck bed, what are you.

What are like, when you're slowing that process down, what are you di like when you're standing there looking at your phone and you're maybe typing in some notes, like what are some of the things that could be typed in on, on that when you find that, that buck bed? Some things I'll always take into consideration is when I'm standing there in the bed where, what's the wind doing?

Okay. And, I'll annotate that predominant wind direction. And then I'll pull up the topo and see where this bed's located at on the topo. And that's my, usually that's my starting point is, okay, the wind's going this way, his bed's here. And then what I like to do is I like to get down to his level.

I like to see visually what he's looking at and why he's, Facing, if he's gonna be facing, where there's a, an access trail, where he can see everything coming in or everything going out. And [00:29:00] then what I'll do from there is I'll branch out and I'll look for food sources a in the perimeter.

I'll do a grid search, if you will. In small loops and kind of work outward from that bed and see, okay, here's some brows. I can see that he's hitting some maple shoots, or Greenbriar. And then from there I usually will stage a camera not too close. Like Steve said, you want to be able to check these cameras without putting pressure in there because you can.

He said, you can bump them out of an area and he'll, nine times out of 10, that Buck has not just one bed, he has multiple. Beds. He has multiple escape routes. And that's the process. I'm slowly building. I'm very, I'm a green grasshopper. I tell not to see you all the time. I'm your grasshopper, yep. But, breaking it down you find one thing I love finding buck beds [00:30:00] is a clear cut. I love cuts. I like usually like a five year younger cut. It's, I find it to be easier to find your beds. And with that denser, lower growth, Any tree that kind of sticks out.

One thing I love is looking for hemlocks. That's where up in my cabin we have a clear cut and you can stand at the top of the ridge and I like to get a vantage point over this clear cut and mark the hemlocks in the cut. And I will physically make my way to them and see if there's a bed. And I've found it to be true, man.

They love hemlocks just given the shade, in that thermal cover. They love it. Absolutely love it. They do. Keep 'em cool in the summertime and it's, this time of year, especially if you were to find a hemlock and a cut somewhere you'll probably find some deer hair in it, especially this time of year when they're shedding their coat.

Dude, I find it's like major scrape city too. Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That's [00:31:00] one thing I love is scrapes. I love scrapes. I've really started to incorporate scrapes about two years ago, me and my dad really went off on a tangent of watching a bunch of scrapes. We watched Jeff Sturgis and just a bunch of scrape videos, and how the deer communicate within the herd.

Using the scrapes is just incredible. You learned so much over. I love hanging a camera over a scrape and just. Leaving it up and just seeing what them deer are doing and throughout the year, and I think referring back to historical data on your trail cameras will also help, shrink that guessing game down.

You know what I mean? Oh dude. And that's the importance of, especially when you got a good one, you try to leave that one up all year because when you see these dough hitting it now all summer and a buck and occasional, will hit it from now until then. Yeah. Hell, you might even be lucky.

You hit it in a dominant buck core area like that, that [00:32:00] come fall, then you're gonna get all that action because, that's the one aspect that I love about 'em. And I don't want to jump down that scrape road just yet, because there's some things that I've written down and I, you know what I, while you were talking about the buck betting and, I wrote down here we, you found the buck bed.

Right? And you got down on their level, you're checking things out and Yep. You're checking the win. And then man, find those faint trails. You know what I mean? Yeah. There might be a huge deer trail that, could obviously, might be finding some, a lot of deer shit on or whatever. And then there might be that faint one, and that could be the one that this bucks travel.

And then you might find a little bit of sign, then you're looking at the map and you're like, okay, where's this next destination going to be? Like when you find that's what we're talking about, of putting those pieces of the puzzle together and you could get Yep. Inside that bubble without.

Making too much, disturbance. And I'm assuming that's exactly what Steve and has been trying to teach you and what you're Yeah. What you're talking about. [00:33:00] Absolutely. Yeah. One thing too is oftentimes in a bucked, you, he al, like I said, he always will have an escape route and a lot of times an escape, it'll go to a trail and sometimes the old daisy chain to another bed.

I found that, it might not be close, it could be 75 to a hundred yards, but you eventually, that escape route will go to a trail to get to a different bedding area, so to speak. And. Like you were saying, just finding those faint trails, eventually they're gonna take you to somewhere that you're gonna stumble onto and it's gonna be like, Ooh.

Yeah. Starts to get that real, I like to call it the bucky feeling. It's real Bucky, yep. Absolutely. And dude and you're talking about like the hemlocks and when I said about the scrape city, so this could lead us back into that scrapes, man. Yeah. So it's so funny because I want, I wanna say [00:34:00] now this will be going on year three of my dad and I, running trail cameras on his, getting historical data on either.

Natural scrapes that we find and or ones that we've doctored up. And like when, it's so funny because prior to that I was learning about scrapes, but man, was I doing it completely freaking wrong. Like I was just, I was like, oh, this looks like a cool area. Let me throw up a scrape.

And I was nowhere near a frigging deer trail, like somewhere, it was just in the most random spot, like throwing a dart on a frigging map. You right, as the years go on and you learn about it and my dad's kind of looking at me like I got 10 heads. And finally when I started learning, I was like, dad, this is a monster trail that we always.

Have seen deer on let's throw up with this mock scrape here. This is the perfect tree. It's literally Yeah. On the trail. He was amazed. Just, yeah, like talking now until [00:35:00] nonstop deer dough, Fs yep. Bucks, bears, you name it. Like every animal was out there smelling and getting in on this, and now they take it over.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Like now, like we don't even have to doctor it up like whatsoever. Yeah. That has been the most real I would say the most unique thing because like how we were saying earlier about learning things from our dads, that was non-existent. You know what I mean? It was like, wow. Look at these rubs. Look at these rubs. Like scrapes was like, what the hell's a scrape type of ordeal. Yeah, exactly. Do you know what I mean? Like my, like it wasn't really a thing to, put notes on basically. Or really? Yeah. That's what deer do. They piss in it like, okay, Cole. Yeah.

Mo moving on. Where, whereas now Yeah, exactly. Where now we know that is the central social media hub for all these deer. Absolutely. Yeah. That's a hundred percent man. I can't even. To be honest, this sounds really bad, but three years ago, I really wasn't taking a scrape into consideration Yeah.

When I was hunting, it's, it was [00:36:00] like, man, oh, there's a rub. Oh, that means he's gotta be in here. It's gotta be a big buck coming through here. That's where I'm gonna hang my hat, but man, the scrape world is just, it's a whole rabbit hole in itself, and it's easy to fall into, yep. And I, that's one thing I love about it too. I love scrapes. Like I said, it's pretty much one of my, to. Arsenal thing that I go off of when I'm hunting. Especially in that early October period. And I liked what you said earlier today is how that's like an inventory thing for you and that's what it Yeah.

It's also become a thing for me as well. So talk I guess a little bit about that. Like how are you using that for your inventory, your intel? Maybe how you might a add that, piece of the puzzle to that as well and and go from there with it. Yeah, I've, it's like I said, I've been stu I stumbled onto this whole scrape thing and me and my dad, we just we got on this logging road up in our cabin and, we always would see scrapes there and it was, we [00:37:00] hung a camera over it and it was like, man, sliced bread, like you were saying, you're, you had dough, fawns bucks, hitting it.

And it was like, okay, light bulb went on. Let's start, finding the bedding area. And that's what I do is I like to stage my mock scrapes on the outskirts of a bedding area. I like to find usually an intersection of trails going into that bedding area and setting up my scrapes right there near that intersection.

Cause you're getting two, two birds, one stone, they're coming right to your scrape, yep. And one thing I really like to do, Jeremy, with mine, is I love, I appeal, I want a branch. I usually take, and I'll take a little piece of paraic cord with me. And I mainly like to use something with a lot of leaves, I like to use a lot of beach.

Yeah. That's what I mainly use if it's available. Something that's gonna hold their scent pretty good. And after that I I usually get it started with a [00:38:00] licking branch scent. I'm not big on using scents. My own personal opinion about it is you can't beat anything other than a real actual deer scent, I like to generate 'em with a licking branch scent. A pre orbital scent. And I let 'em go. I don't mess with them. As soon as they start hitting it, I just let it go. Yeah. And let 'em do their thing. But as far as, taking inventory, I think, honing into them bedding areas, you're gonna catch multiple deer profiles coming in there and getting their scent.

And I think as a season, transpires, I think. It almost becomes like this natural thing. For instance, I had, last year I had this dough and she would come in every day. I shit, every day she would come in and this licking branch was like a toy to her. She would stand up on her hin legs and she, I thought, man, you son of a gun.

You [00:39:00] keep breaking my licking branches with her hooves. Yeah. Yep. That just became like a daily ro routine for her and come rut time, she was still there and I was. I was like, she was a mature nanny doe. I was like, man, she's, once she pops, there's gonna be some bucks cruising.

Low and behold, I had another hit list, buck of mine that I named Little Buddies, a nine point, pretty good respectable buck. High one 30 s pa, mountain buck, and he was in there, man every other day he was in there checking that scrape. The problem was, is I had, it wasn't a, I wasn't getting live until that was like one of them cameras that I put.

In that area and just was like, I just want to gain Intel on this area for the following the next year, yep. Going back and look at that, I was like, oh man, if I just would've been in here, a couple days when I was up, actually he was cruising in there in daylight. I was like, man, I was like 300 yards down the ridge from where this was [00:40:00] going on, yeah. So taking that into consideration, I just think scrapes alone are just an awesome tool in the arsenal for us as hunters. And I think there's a lot to learn about.

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I think you are a million percent correct. And man, I think that is going to be your one biggest tool to get that historical data on a piece that, you really wanna learn about, like a spot that, you know what I'm saying? Like a spot where you wanna learn to get the most like you said, just inventory on, on the amount of deer the, whatever specific bucks are in that [00:41:00] area, how they Yep.

How they maneuver around that. Oh, one thing too that I'm with you, especially like now, I do the same thing, try to get that beach and, as many leaves as possible and I'll use some pre orbital stuff. I'll use even like that forehead, gland from buck fever. But man, when I, if I doctor up the ground, I'm just tearing up that, that dirt just to get that dirt smell.

Yeah. Like when I know I. Like one, I don't know what's gone on in my life, I'll be 36, but for some reason my, I could still smell, but it's not as, it's not as strong as it used to be. So yeah. So if when I'm like, wow, that sucker, I could smell that dirt. You know what I'm saying? When it smells really rich like that I'm happy.

And dude I'm making it like a car hood. Like I want Oh yeah. Like how you were saying about like that appearance, I want Yeah. That deer to be walking on that trail or a different trail and be like, whoa, who just made that? And Yeah. And ma work that, maybe break off to that fork in the road to go to on that [00:42:00] trail, to that scrape.

Yep. Absolutely. I think I appeal is everything I want. I want him to come into an area and see that branch swinging. Like he can't resist. He has to go and check it out. And a lot of times, you know what I started doing? I was talking with Troy Pottinger was, having a wind. One thing I that's gonna, oh yeah, I wanna incorporate that, that wind checker in the trail cam that's telling you.

Okay. The wind, that little ribbon's blowing this way. Okay. He's coming into the scrape on this, from this angle on this side. I think that alone is man, that's, that will tell you what that buck's doing when with that wind direction, how he's coming into that area. It's just another piece of the puzzle, like we were saying.

Yep. To add to our tool belt, so to speak. Yeah, no doubt about it. Troy's the demand. Oh my gosh. Yeah, he is man. He's I call him the Godfather when it comes to the scrapes. He's just the scrape guru. He is, man. He's a great dude too. He's also a [00:43:00] a teacher. So that's, kudos. Yeah, kudos to Troy.

But so now, like where're, what does your scouting look like now compared to, are you putting cameras out now or are you still just confirming areas where you maybe want to put out cameras later down the line? What does your scouting now look like? Or that the process, does it build up each month, June, July, August into September?

Or is it the same thing as those months progress? Yeah. This time of year, Jeremy I'm pretty much I'm starting slate Fresh and I'm looking, I'm piecing some of my, historical data that I got from last year and incorporating that into my scouting.

This time of year I'm going into some of those areas that I won't really want to start to fine tune, not necessarily commit to it, but I want to dig in there and dissect some of that. But this time of year right now here in the next couple weeks is when I go in and I'm gonna start getting out those mock scrapes to start [00:44:00] opening the network of communication in the deer herd and trying to pick apart some places and, see if I can start to fine tune some areas.

But, ultimately I always refer back to historical data. And I'll go in, like going into this upcoming weekend, I'm gonna be going and scouting for Memorial Day. I'm gonna be doing some scouting. I got a clear cut. That I'm gonna be scoping out, see if I can locate some beds to a piece of public that's near here to home.

It's always good to have a contingency plan. Yep. And that's been my focus this past year is it's not really hanging up my hat at my cabin. I know I always go and hunt at my cabin, but I want different options cuz I constantly wanna, if it doesn't pan out, the days that I'm up at my cabin, it's a three hour drive from my house, I like being in the game when the season's in.

I do everything I can to get out and into a stand. So always having a contingency plan. And that's [00:45:00] what I'm building off of right now is, fine tuning some of these areas. And really just breaking some of those past areas down a little bit more and fine tuning some things. Yeah.

Then what about during this timeframe as well, like with your trail cameras, are you putting out any now? Do you bring one with you? Unless it's like this this definitely rewards a camera and then Oh yeah this spot. I would like to maybe come back and check it in August to get a little bit of a confirmation, a little bit more.

Like how do you go about that? Just because I, the more and more a couple of my buddies were, doing that a little bit. Like I, there's a couple more pieces that I've been to here locally that I want to bring some cameras with me that I've already scouted, and then there's other places that I want to check out and I want to get back to, and when I get back to it, if it gets the, the fuzzies going, then I'll put up the camera.

But right away I'm, I don't plan on just being like camera. Do you know what I'm saying? So what's what's your game [00:46:00] plan with that? I, so I always carry at least two or three cameras on me. Just because I've had so many past experiences where I'm not looking in a set area.

I'm going to an area that I've e scouted. Yep. And on the way there, I'll pass by like an area that's whoa, I wish I had a camera. I've learned from that mistake. So I try to always keep at least, two or three cameras in my pack when I'm scouting. Just to hang it up and, like you were saying, I do that.

In August. I'm actually the next timeframe when I come back through my wave I'll call it. I'm just going through and doing a sweep. I don't like to put a lot of pressure and unnecessary pressure, sorry. And I, finding those areas, I think I can process of elimination on, okay, there's nothing here, or, okay, there is something here.

All right, now I'm gonna [00:47:00] cluster my cameras in this area. Once I find something I like to cluster my cameras into that area to really fine tune that. You know what I mean? Yeah. So now the buck that you were after last year, that, where I should say the last couple years, that he's living how do you.

How do you go about not going full like moron and just go after him, just go down that rabbit hole of, because what he'll could potentially be. Yeah. What are you, what's your game plan for this upcoming year, for right now? And I know so much could change, but what is your early stages to this this buck basically.

So I've, like I said, a couple weeks ago, I, me and my dad were up doing some scouting while we were Turkey hunting, and I did hang some cameras on an area that I told you I'd honed in on what I believe is his core area. I found several beds that I had staged some cameras on to check.

And that's all I'm gonna be doing. [00:48:00] Especially him and his age. My calculations are correct from when I first saw him to now, it would put him at a nine and a half year old Buck. Who? Tyler. That is a frigging old dude, man. Man. He is, yeah. He, when I first saw him, I believe he was three and a half.

I stud three and a half. And that was 2018. So that's the very least I would say he's at minimum, at least nine and a half. Wow. Which is, a buck like that, whatever he's been doing to allude the hunters at our camp, in our camp we have over 20 members. So he's alluding, all these hunters.

Last year, rifle season. I was caught in the middle of this drive on, cause our ca our cabin's, property borders some public, and these guys are doing a drive and there was 20 guys in this drive. And I was like, oh my gosh he's dying. How did he make it? Yeah. I was like, oh my gosh. I thought I had him [00:49:00] figured out.

I'm in this area and next thing you know, I hear a bunch of hooting and hollering and I heard some shots ring out and I was like, oh my word. I ended up talking to the guys in the drive and there were 20 guys lined up on this ridge, from top to bottom. And they had got, they told me, they were like, yeah, we got two eight points.

And I was like, no, please never tell me he's done. After that, he may, and I'm like, wow, how does a buck like that allude that many eyes, in the woods and not get shot at? It's amazing. And it's, it is, man. It really is. A buck like that, I really tiptoe when I'm getting in tight to his core area.

I don't want to put any pressure if I have to. I, I got these cameras staged according to elevation and off of trails and routes into this bedding area where I found a couple beds. And that's how I'm gonna leave it until I get back up there [00:50:00] probably. It'll probably be end of July.

I'll go through and do a card pull and see what's going on. And then, I'm a, I'm pretty confident, I don't want to say like I'm a hundred percent. Cause if I would be lying, yeah. But I'm pretty confident that, these are gonna be his beds based off of the trail cam data that I had from last year, his travel route into this pretty notorious bedding area.

I'm thinking it, this is such an overlooked area too, which really made the wheels start turning like, nobody hunts here. Yeah. And it just he has total visual of everything going on down below him. He can see any access is just makes perfect sense on a buck that is of that age caliber.

To be here, yep. So that's the strategy going forward with this year, man. It's, I'm excited to see how it pans out. I don't I always get really amped up like a kid on [00:51:00] Christmas morning doing a card pull. I usually I would like to say I'd like to get out at least 15 cameras Okay.

In a season that I just leave out there to do card pulls on. And then I have, my, my five cell cameras that I have for live intel up in the mountains, I'm sure you can agree, cell reception in the mountains isn't always the greatest. No. So I have to stage them accordingly.

So I have a cell signal that, the worst is when you actually get cell service. Then all of a sudden, like it stops and you're like, what? In the flying? You're like, come on. Yeah I just had a signal here. I, so I have a, it's like there's a camera that I have out that, on a piece here where I live and it was when I was scouting back in March.

And the reason why that actually allowed the only reason why I put that up was because I found Like a witch hazel and the whole thing. Tyler, the whole thing around was a scrape. Like it was just, wow. [00:52:00] It was I've never seen anything like it. I was like, wow, this is just completely tore up.

And there was some pretty good, I want, I wouldn't say like crazy beaten down trails, but it, I really like the way the features were, like there was a really good kind of cover that had little small faint trails and then that led out to this like little bit of open, and that's where that witch hazel was.

And then it just the way the train features wore. And I was like, you know what? Put a camera here. I, this could be a good spot for Turkey come spring. Let's just see what happens. And I kid you not a couple days later. Now granted this is still like middle March and I had a buck still holding his full antlers.

Down there. Wow. Yeah, it was crazy. Oh my word. It was crazy. A decent little, it was like a decent little mountain buck. And since then though, the last like month and a half, two months, I've yet to get a camera or a picture because it's like there's no cell surface. Now again, all of a sudden I'm like, son of a gun.

No. Yeah. So sure it's [00:53:00] cloud cover. Sometimes it can be cloud cover. I know. It's either that or the foliage or something, so I have to keep an eye on it. But yeah, dude, that, that's, I'm excited to see what happens for you. I hope you get a frigging crack at him because that what a story, like what a story. Yep. Absolutely. I hope to close the book on the old boy this year. It's definitely. This would definitely be one for the bucks for sure. So here's another kind of question to still about deer. And I know you've gotten a kind of the Turkey bug this past year.

Definitely. As did I, and I feel like there's a lot of what we talked about earlier in this podcast, in this episode that I've talked about it on the recent episode that we did with Aaron Heppler, that there's a lot from my Turkey hunting hunts this past year that I plan on taking in the whitetail woods.

What were some things maybe for you that you could think of that you're like, you know what, this, I like this. Or, you thought about this and you're gonna bring it forward to this upcoming whitetail season. [00:54:00] Yeah. One thing I've really honed in on is in Turkey season is browse. Being, being at ground level. It's, that's one thing. These mountain deer, especially where I'm hunting, they're foragers in the big woods. Yeah. They don't really have a said ag field to go to. So they have to find the food, and them being foragers, it's I've really started to pick up on, tea Berry Greenbrier.

I even have up at my cabin, I've stumbled onto a patch of wild blueberries. Wow. And lo and behold, there were teardrops and deer droppings in 'em. Especially if. The last couple years, we haven't really had good mass crop yields. I don't know how it was out where you're at. Yeah, it's been hit.

Yeah, it's hit or miss here in central pa northeast pa though pH it was nuts the last two years in a good, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It, [00:55:00] we haven't had good mass crops up where I've been, so it's mainly brows that I've been looking for, the white oaks that were dropping and the bears really scarf them up really quick.

And it's, going into that, it's something to take into consideration is little things that I never thought a deer would eat. I've seen evidence of them eating it and it's there's so many brows out there. Anything from, I've seen like a blowdown that comes down and there's green shoots on and they'll just totally kill, like one side, they'll just hammer the one side of the blowdown.

It's man, how did I miss sis my entire hunting career? So Turkey hunting, I've really being on that ground level really focusing on brows and being at that eye level, you can tell how they go through an [00:56:00] area and seeing that, I've hung trail cameras up over that, brow.

I, I've zero hesitation on hanging a trail camera over a good section of brows that I find. And that's one thing that I've been picking Steve's brain about is Hey, What kind of brows should I be poking at, or poking around in anything and everything. Yeah. They're mountain deer.

Yep. As frustrating as that's, as frustrating as it is to get that answer, it's so freaking true, man. You're like, what are you eating? You know what I mean? Like when you look at some of this stuff. Yeah. Even a couple years ago, me and my dad real quick story. We were got done with our morning hunt and we were walking back to the trail head and we came to the trail head and all of a sudden we looked to our left and here's three dough.

And they're just grazing with their heads down and they have no clue. We're standing there. So me and my dad just tucked behind this hemlock and we're watching them and they got to listen. I'm not kidding you, Jeremy. This is probably the [00:57:00] closest I've ever gotten to a deer. Even this dough was probably five feet from me and my dad and never looked up.

And she was eating these, you ever see those fungus? They're like smoke bombs. Yep. She was eating 'em at the base of this tree. She picked every single one from the base of this tree. And as she's eating it, I can see the smoke coming out of her mouth and her nostrils. And I was like, I never knew they ate that.

Like it's, but something in their body. It's telling them you need to eat this, yep. And that's, it's just crazy, man. The stuff that they eat. Tyler, where could people. What we'll do is this, I would love to come back revisit this like right before, maybe even in September, just to Yeah.

Bullshit again. And talk a little bit more about how the summer scouting has gone for you, what you're seeing, and just, your outlook, I guess for that season as more scouting has gone by and everything like that. So if you're interested, man I would love to, to chat with [00:58:00] you even more again on that, but absolutely, dude where could people find you, follow along and see what you got going on?

Yeah, absolutely. You guys can find me on Instagram. Who tags Ty Wilber 59. And Facebook as well. And me and Steve Sherk have that Mountain Buck University going on. Yeah. On our YouTube. We're constantly dropping content and try to drop a video every week, educational video. And that's pretty much it, man.

I, I. Appreciate, you having me on, Jeremy, I've been listening to your podcast for quite some time, and he asked me to come on. I was like, dude, I appreciate it, man. I appreciate the support. And that means a lot to me because I really do really do love talking to people, getting a chance to and I apologize to people if there's things that I, it's oh, I hear you hear a certain tactic or something like that.

But I just love hearing how you attack things, Tyler. Yeah. I, if it's, if I have some Bob on from wherever I just love hearing and I love talking about [00:59:00] whitetail and Yeah. And I, dude, I appreciate the support from you for listening from anybody else that's been listening. Trust me, man.

It, I, it. It really means a lot and absolutely, brother long-winded answer of saying thank you so much for, from you and for everybody else that, that tunes in it, it really means a lot from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate it too. Absolutely, man. I appreciate it. Absolutely, buddy. Dude, thank you so much and for everybody tuning in, thank you for listening.

Go check out Tyler, what he has going on, especially to what he has going on with Steve with the Mountain Buck University stuff. Steve again is one of the most kindest individuals that I've ever had a chance to speak with, but man does he know is stuff. And I, again, another individual that I could just listen to until the cows come up.

Definitely check out the Mountain Buck University and we'll see you next week. Everybody antler up.

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