Early Season Goals

In this episode of the Whitetail Experience Podcast, Byron recaps his first hunts of the year and his goals for the 2023 season. He kicks things off with a discussion about  blowing his chance at a velvet buck and hunting in the heat.

The second half of the podcast Byron goes over goals and thoughts for the 2023 season.  Some guys are changing some gear.  Others are working to get more ground to hunt.

Topics also discussed:

-hunting pressure

-camping and hunting

-early season scouting 

-stick bow life 

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

[00:00:00] Alright, this is the Whitetail Experience podcast coming to you hot on a Friday. I got a fresh cup of joe here. I'm two in and I'm gonna be going 90 miles an hour I think after this, but we got a garage podcast coming in your ear holes after a little quick update here because I have done some hunting.

I have done some screwing up and there are a lot of people in the woods, so I'll fill you in on all that jazz, but I appreciate you guys listening. I appreciate the Patreon members who are joining that team and... Contributing at a level and I try to give some Undisclosed details, maybe some editing tips, maybe some additional thoughts and details on what I'm pursuing what's going on behind the scenes And yeah, appreciate that community try to give away do the giveaways on there as well But let's get to some early season out of state bow hunting so I made the drive good ways never been there before and Go to pull into the place 5 a.

m. In the dark And I see [00:01:00] six does crossing the road and I'm like, noted. Drive a little farther, couple more, like I think a pair. And so I'm like, sweet, we got deer. Good to see that always positive. And this is a cooler day and it is two warming days essentially to start the season off.

We're like, I don't know if anybody spent time here across the Midwest or the upper half of the U. S. Like we had a stretch there in late August that was just pleasant. And then this weekend of opening bow hunting. 90 degree, back to back days, limited wind movement, I mean it was just a scorcher. A couple deer, throw in a dart here in the dark, and go in, and I'm working, let's see here, it was a couple up downs to get in there.

And, coming through this like bottomy type area, and I find an oak. And a little bit of tracks, trails going on, another oak. And I'm coming around this point and I'm like this is probably where I want to be at least to start my morning. My thought was, let's hunt here for [00:02:00] an hour or so. And if I want to, if the sun comes up and it looks like crap, I got the stick bow, I'll go, Comanche mode.

and maybe poke around for 60 yards and come across something better than the original set. Sun comes up, I what's going on and where I can see and what I can shoot, but I go to get this cool video shot and literally my camera that was like, I thought on my new fluid head was probably not very good on the fluid head.

I don't know if I'd only got one lip like locked into place and the other side was not, but anyways this thing dive bombs. Drops eight foot because I sat low. off a rock into a standing puddle and this is the only standing puddle within 40 50 yards of the creek that I can see up and down like it was basically a dry creek bank But this like one area under my stand now true I did sit there thinking oh if a deer wants water like this is yeah I got water pause for a swig and a tear of coffee

So I get down pull the camera out Set it below the base of my tree and climb back up in my stand because it's like prime time [00:03:00] And then the camera like wakes up and goes like B rareohupbzzhhhh Like the lens is trying to do it's it's trying to function. I'm like, swearing at it, because I'm like if there's a deer within 15 yards It's like a low wind day, like under 5, like they can definitely hear this.

So then I got to get down out of my stand again and Pull the battery out and I'm like, this thing just sabotaged my whole hunt. Poke around for a little bit, find some oaks, eat some turkeys, whatever not a crazy thing. No, I, when I drove in, in the dark, there was a shit ton of people and parking and, oh man, I have, it was 70 80 percent of what a gun season opener would be and I'm like, this is, I get bow hunting and public land is the trends, but I think that is showing I need to buy a piece at this point because it is, whoo, there's some people out there.

And I did notice a lot of mobile hunting gear on everybody this year. It seems just, people I'm running into, even if they have some muddy, or hawk, or whatever they've got some [00:04:00] sort of, climbers are even there it's definitely noticeable that people are stepping up their mobile hunting game.

Midday, I go back to where I saw the deer cross the road in the dark, and I'm doing the drive, and on X, and I tell you what, driving and on exing is dangerous. Hands down. They think texting and driving is dangerous, on exing and driving, definitely an issue on the roads for hunters. End up pulling into the this piece, there's some other guys there, and I'm I don't want to go in there, but there's a lot of room, I'll, I'm going back and forth.

Do some midday scout night, and... Nothing looked great. I did find fresh droppings and I said, okay, this might be a decent starting point for the evening. Go back, set camp up, and go back in there for an evening hunt, hotter than Satan's a hole. And, no deer movement until the last 30 minutes, saw two does, I don't know where they came from, how they got there, they just popped out at 50 yards.

And my thought was... I think, instead of throwing another dart, like I found some [00:05:00] deer, I did jump a deer too on the way in, I should say that. And so I'm like, okay. And I found a scrape that was opened up. The oaks in this particular hillside were falling, but not as good as where I was in the morning.

But I had piles of deer shit on this like little section, I had an edge, I had... A scrape that wasn't terribly far away. It was like, and I saw jumped a deer, so it's okay, I think I'd be foolish not to hunt here. So the evening comes and goes, and I get, I actually decide I'm going to leave the stand.

And I tell you what, I hunted with the two stick, the Comanche bow, two sticks, and the aiders, and man, I got 15 foot on this second sit. It was nice. Also, it was nice for I was sitting both days, I sat like midday, one stick high, or eight foot off the ground ish, and I, because I had that built in double step aider, I could literally just put one stick on the tree.

and get the stand up. And so it was a very quick, easy process. I was a huge fan of that going on. Pause for a swig and a tear of coffee.[00:06:00]

You know what? I've been doing, we're gonna go on a semi tangent here. I've been doing some intermittent fasting where I don't put milk in my coffee on a couple days and I don't either. Lunch is my first meal of the day or I try and push a late lunch or even sometimes I've done a couple 24 hour like dinner to dinner type fast And when I don't have the coffee or when I don't have the milk in the coffee I definitely notice like it's not as like warm and fuzzy feeling going like it's just not as comforting.

It's not as good It's not as hitting what I need at that time if you will. All right back to the hunt so I go in there in the morning stupid early and this is where I do notice like the small stand difference where I got the really small stand, and in the dark, your spatial awareness, your foot awareness on the platform is not as good.

And I noticed that this is definitely a smaller tree stand than what I've run in the last couple years. Now, I loved it when I was scouting around hunting with it even evening hunts. Didn't necessarily feel [00:07:00] too tight up there with a size 11 boot. But, here in the dark, I'm like... Okay, if I go for a morning hunt, I might grab the slightly bigger stand if I'm going to be in the dark for 45 minutes to an hour before a legal shooting.

And, sun comes up, and I hear some blowing, and it's 7 15 it's legal, and you can see with your human eye Hundreds of yards in the woods. I look behind me and I see a deer coming up perfectly like perpendicular No paralleling this edge Probably gonna pass by the stand within 20 yards Not sure if they're gonna take like the 15 yard trail, maybe a 25 there's a few It's got such a distance to cover, it can go anywhere still.

But I'm grabbing the bow, my heart is elevated because I am fulson on a doe, I am fulson on a racked buck, and it gets to about 25 and I can hear something. I look up and here's two dudes in headlamps coming in into legal. [00:08:00] And I'm just like, oh no. And this deer is definitely starting to pick up that something's going on up top.

And I do discover it's got spikes, and it's got 4 inch velvet spikes, and so at this point I'm not shooting it. Although, my heart I was ready. I went into kill mode excitement. But the headlamps, obviously, the deer ends up spooking, I capture that on video. I will put this on YouTube, FYI.

And so you can check that out for sure. Scatters down the hill. I flagged the two hunters down. I put my red headlamp on to signal them so I don't have to shout as much. Somewhat petite in my head. I think about this public land rule of if. Trucks are at the trailhead and you are there after sunrise.

You may not be permitted in until two hours after sunrise. I think that would be, I think that'd be a good thing, right? If you're not early, sayonara. You got to go to an empty parking lot. Pause for us Wiggins.

I think that was my chance or that was [00:09:00] the opportunity. I elect to hunt for the next hour or so, but 30 minutes later, I look up and I can see a deer coming my way at about 40 yards, and I don't know what it is, I see a tree that it's going to pass behind, and the trail it's on is headed to 7 yards, but I've got like this maple cluster, and I'm like debating on how I could shoot it, maybe I take the gap a little earlier, before it gets behind this, anyways, I stand up when it's head goes behind a tree, solid, get the bow, get turned, And now I can see it's a rack.

And if I had to put an inch mark on it, let's call it 100 inches plus or minus. Like solid, I can't remember, 8 or 10. But a little better frame. And it does what deer do. Bucks do it especially. Like it's unsure, it's a little more open there. It stands there for 2 minutes, 25 ish yards now. And I'm just like, oh man, like I'm worked up, like I am tickers running, I'm an elevated heart rate, I'm worked up.[00:10:00]

I tell myself I gotta calm down, I gotta not look at him. I got my hand on my bow, so that's good. I thought I pushed record on the GoPro that's on the bow, but I, maybe I double punched it. I didn't watch for the screen to change, so that's a learning lesson there, but, I see him stand there for two minutes.

Finally he flicks his tail and he takes a few more steps and he's like straight on to me. Oh no, I should say this people talk about, oh I could have killed him. At two times at 25 yards, he turns his head away from me. He's slightly above me on the hill. But twice, he licks his backside with, taking his eyes in the complete opposite direction.

But he's 25 yards, so that is not a stick bow shot for me. But in a compound, I would have drawn and just laser beamed him. Cause he's eye level with me. He's... He's not like a downward angle shot like his vitals are there to take so at this point He works to this dead tree and starts rubbing his fuzz and I can remember saying dude.

Do not rub your velvet off I'm trying to [00:11:00] shoot you in velvet and Then he goes left and he's probably 18 ish yards and there's a pretty good gap and I saw it late And I go to move and draw and this effing deer looks right at me and runs like no pause looks Identifies within a half a second and bounds away.

Now he's out there at 3540. The game is over. My chance is ruined. And what did I learn, there was low wind. I do think he knew I just think sometimes they pick up that 6th sense and I think I beat it. But I rushed once he turned broadside. Maybe my movement was way more erratic and not slow at that point.

I think if I had drawn the bow slowly I could have got it back. The other option would be to play it out. So he's 18 yards and now he went to go downhill now true He could have skirted back out to 25 yards based on Some maple foliage that was 12 foot off the ground like he could and that the oak was maybe angled away But then [00:12:00] he also might have popped out at 7 or 8 yards Coin flip there on what I should have done.

Should I have maybe Should I have drawn slow and taken the first shot I had, or should I have played it out to potentially get an even greater opportunity, but bottom line, yeah, learned a few things there, knocked the dust off, a couple debacles, I sat low by water late in the day, and I'll tell you what, I had full intentions of whacking a squirrel with the stick bow, but every squirrel I saw was still running around in the treetops, I don't think there was very many nuts on the ground for them to Them squirrels.

And I noticed this too. The deer, if you're hunting timber in September, that's before any of the leaves drop. And, the woods were quiet, like the deer I ended up seeing and moving, I was all visual based. It was never I heard something, turned and looked, and here's a deer. I don't know, it was just something I picked up on while hunting.

Hey, I can't hear these deer, and hey, all these squirrels are up in the air for the most part. A couple things you just learn from being in the woods, but this particular podcast, [00:13:00] GarageCast with everybody if you listened to the last episode on a little more gear talk, this one's a little more goals, expectations, changes just a good BS sesh.

Guys got a little loose. We had some garage beers flowing, some twisted teas, and yeah, it was a good, it was a good time for sure. Appreciate you guys listening. Enjoy the pod. All right, Whitetail Experience podcast, GarageCast. This is going to be part two. We're going to cut the first segment and use that as a different day.

This is probably going to go out a different week. We got the full crowd, minus Dave. We're in the garage, so if you hear some extra noise somebody may rip by on a motorcycle, a dog may puke in the corner. It's just part of it. Andy may puke in the corner. Andy may puke. We're a couple of Twisted Tees in.

Two tall boy Twisted Tees. And a little guy, like 4D. What's your favorite Twisted Tee? Probably the raspberry. See, I like the half and half. Like the Honor Palmer, the lemonade. Yeah, I'm half and half myself. Oh, I like the raspberry than that rock, that bomb pop, but they took the raspberry [00:14:00] out and replaced it with the bomb pop.

So that's some bullshit. Dustin, you in or out on Twisted T's? I don't like tea. Twisted T's are good. Twisted T you're in? Yeah. And you, Rick, you, surprising me. What's that? You're in on Twisted Teeth. Yeah, on, on, when I'm off a diet. Yeah, when you're eating dirty. Do you know they make a light?

Do you know they make a light? Oh, it's good. It's really good. It's 4 percent versus the others are 5 and then they got that blue razz that's like 8. I haven't seen that yet. Yeah, that's at the gas station right up the way. Oh, I'll be stopping there. The light's really good though. This new little, I've been on this diet now for like maybe 10 months.

Cleaning it up slowly as I go. I used to do bodybuilding, so I'm pretty familiar with how my body loses the weight and how it reacts. And I'm telling you, getting old sucks. I'm fighting 40. Or hashtag fight 40. Fight 40. It's definitely not as easy as it was. Because I could get shredded in 13 weeks and now it's I need to diet a little slower so it lasts longer.

But [00:15:00] I really think, like I was telling Austin last week, I think this is going to be a new life journey for me. I think it's just the... The direction I want to take myself, stay away from sugar, because once, now that I haven't had sugar and the stuff that I used to like, I don't crave it anymore. Now I crave steak, I crave chicken.

Yeah, like the only dirty eating I eat is beer. Yeah. And then, don't get me wrong, I like pizza, but yeah, like I used to like a donut every now and then. Yeah. I don't crave sweets hardly at all. But I do like beer. Yeah. Or, I like catching little buzz, I like drinking some beers, I like tinkering around with my hunting stuff and drinking beer.

I was a bad midnight snacker. Okay. Okay? Cause I had a little chihuahua and he liked to get up and pee in the middle of the night. So I'd have to let him out, it'd be one a, one a. m. And I'd stop by the fridge, give him a little piece of cheese and I'd, get me a spoonful of peanut butter or, something, I'm a sucker for those sugar wafers. Oh yeah. Pink ones. Oh man. I like a [00:16:00] childhood comfort food for me is those pink sugar wafers, man. I take one of them, go back up, go back to bed, and it's like a couple years of doing that, it catches up to you. Yeah. So what's the main reason you're going on a diet for?

I honestly just, I got away from looking how I wanted to look in the mirror, man. And it's not really I take pictures and stuff on Instagram just cause I'm proud of myself. But really, I want to look good brushing my teeth in the morning. I want to like who I see in the mirror in the morning when I brush my teeth.

I don't want to look at me like, oh, that's a piece of shit. What are you doing with yourself? Cause I have a few family members and if they're listening, sorry guys, but you let yourself go, your health is going down the hill. And it sucks. And I, me being your family member, now I have to deal with it.

A lot of times we do. Our family gets in bad health because of their bad decisions. I don't want to, the people behind me, I don't want to put them in that situation. So I'm trying to live a better, healthier life for everybody around me. And I feel It's going to project onto my friends as well.

Just me and you, we have a push up [00:17:00] competition going between the two of us. I don't think anybody's heard about that. Me and Byron. We just push each other. Yeah. You're like, hey, I'm trying to do 100 push ups as fast as I can. And I remember, I was like, alright I'll try. We did the same thing with the cold the ice.

Ice blunts. Ice blunts. With Tom. Yeah. Yeah, we're like let's buy them and try it. Exactly. And I think, Byron, you're getting under two minutes now with your 100 push ups. Yeah. That shit is solid. Yeah. And I was pretty quick myself with a hundred pushups, but Byron I was like, Byron, I don't think I can get any better.

And I looked up the world records. He looked up the world record. A guy got 140 pushups in a minute. In a minute. Oh gosh. And it's like, all right, I got some work to do. . But he but I said, I was like, Rick, like you're probably in the top, like 1% of pushup guys for fast long pushups. Yeah, it's just if I go out and run miles okay.

I might, run some sub six miles, but like for me to run like a four it's, I would have to, I don't even know that would be in the cards. Yeah. A sub six miles is going to outrun 99 percent of people in the world. Yeah. I'll [00:18:00] guarantee it. But yeah, so this podcast, we wanted to shoot like 25 minute BS about like goals, expectations, anything we're doing new, anything we want to change, any focus points.

But, this'll probably air, I might be hunting, you might be on a western trip, this'll probably air mid December, er, September, we're recording this mid August. Yeah. But I think we go around, we got the full slate of guys here, let's just go goals, expectations, thoughts, bullshit about what we wanna do this year.

Zoe, you're gonna kick it off, my man. Oh, alright my biggest thing, I just wanna get back in the woods, you know what I like, I feel like... Family has, I've put myself on the back burner, just personally. Yeah. Just like the things I've wanted to do. Do you have a number of days you want to hit in the woods?

I would hit ten. I think ten's realistic. Because you've been zero for two years. A hundred percent zero. And didn't you shoot that buck the year before? Yeah. And you hunted [00:19:00] hard that year. Yeah. That was a lot of mornings, a lot of evenings. Where'd you shoot the buck at? This place. Yeah. Was you with him?

We had a debacle. We had two bucks come in. Yeah. I was looking at this buck 50, 60 yards up the hill. One came in right behind, we were in a giant tree. This is the worst part about hunting in a big tree. Your cameraman and your dude can't be on the same thing. All of a sudden I hear a ting. And I look over and Zoe's full draw the wrong side of the tree from the buck I'm trying to like debate on calling.

And I'm like, his cam's backwards. I'm caperman. What? It's a totally different deer, right? Totally different deer. So I look over and his bow is literally pointing 180 degrees to the deer, the buck I'm watching. And we'd seen two or three deer that morning. It was on fire. The woods were on fire. And, I'm like, what is he pointing the wrong way for?

And he smacks this 120 inch, like two and a half like deer, but it runs away. It's just full tines. I'm like, Zo just smoked a 130 [00:20:00] inch buck? Yeah. And we were pumped as shit. First buck. First buck. And then watching it fall? Yeah, it fell like 50 yards. Oh, did it? Nice. Could see it from the stands just wobbling.

Yeah. Under the log, wobble. It was cool. And I even asked him, I was like, you on it? He said yeah. Yeah, I'm videoing the deer up the hill. And all of a sudden I hear the ting of the backstop, and I look over and it's Buzz 180. What is he doing? I guess he'd come like direct, and it was a giant tree, right?

So I couldn't see fully what he could see. It doesn't matter. Deer's dead. Yeah. And you got it Euro mounted professionally it's sweet. That's cool. So you went and get in the woods ten times? Ten times. I think that's a good number. I think, start of season to end or... With a heavy influence on the rut.

Yeah, heavy influence. Probably six, five to six. Four. Are you are you staying on the weekends? Are you going to take the day off of work? So right now I used all my PTO. Okay. If there's a holiday in there, I'll go ahead and take that. I think I get Thanksgiving off this year, Christmas. So I'll be doing that.[00:21:00]

Cool. Shooting the first rack buck anything. Doe? Yeah. Doe. Anything but a fluff? Anything but a fluff. And even then, they might watch out. I'm just trying to get anything. So I just get some kills under my belt. Got Yeah. Hunt your moms if you

get a south wind on the jump spot. Did a little bit of maintenance there. Clear up a few of the lanes and see how that goes. You gonna tackle some bigwoods with me? Yeah. Yeah, Zo and I rewind five years ago, early Whitetail experience we hunted a decent amount together where, let's go hunt this piece, and we might meet for a little bit, and then we go hunt just separate areas, or we both go down a trailhead together, or start into a hillside together, but that's fun.

Yeah. Even just the... You know the bonding that you do like with your friends, that's what this is about. Oh, that's the best part. Meeting out at the tailgate, hey look what I got here. Just even calling each other on your drive home oh hey I saw this stuff.

Yeah. That's super cool. [00:22:00] Yeah, Byron was the first guy that I called when I shot my buck last year, man. I about fell out of a tree stand talking to him. I was like, I don't even know what I said. It was insane though, dude. I was like, man, I was just so pumped, dude. It was the best feeling because it had been a couple years since I was able to do that, man.

The worst thing is though is when you call somebody who you think is a buddy and they don't pick up. So it's so funny when, like, when you watch your phone in the fall. Like one we mostly know when each other's hunting. Yeah. I'll text Andy on a Saturday. He'll be like going hunting. Let's say it's October 17th.

Maybe I got a kid dude. I'll be like, Andy, text me or call me. If you don't shoot something so then I can drink a beer or whatever and watch a football game because I might have to come recover. I can't be five years in and be like, Andy, I can't come help. Can't drive. Can't drive. Yeah, dude, I love the camaraderie aspect of the fall.

The calls, the texts, I've seen this, or look at this buck I got on cam. I love that shit. Dustin, what about you, man? Goals, [00:23:00] expectations, thoughts on the year? So I'm going to try and get back to hunting out of state later. I'm going to try and hunt Indiana again this year. I haven't done that in two years, at least two years, maybe even three.

I focus mainly on Ohio. Really want to shoot a doe early again. It's always a goal of mine. Early season, whack a doe, get it out of the way. Get that kill under my belt for later in the year when that big buck walks in. Early. Got one kill in my belt. I'm gonna scout a couple new pieces.

I'm hoping to just find something on any of those pieces, honestly. Do you think hunting a new piece or going in year two where you already got information, you already got a season under your belt I feel like if I'm sitting here coaching, I'm like, dude, I don't know you're starting from grounds level zero, but you already got a year of experience over here.

So I will still hunt my old piece, I guess not the old piece, but the piece I hunted last year. I just probably won't hunt as much. That hour and a half commute, it's got to be a lot. Like [00:24:00] everybody, you drive an hour and a half, come November, it's like, fuck, I really want to get out of bed and do this.

I'm trying, I'm focusing on a couple pieces closer, that way I can hunt those and then drive that long, drive if need be. Yeah, if those others are shit. Yeah, you can abandon. But yeah, anytime you can shorten the drive, I get it. So yeah, I'm trying to shorten the drive a couple, or just cut a couple, closer pieces.

Really want to get the kids out. My son's been asking me for three years now to go. I might just take him, sit by the house. Obviously, my daughter killed a good one a few years ago. I want to get her back out to, she missed the doe last year. To get her back out there, get her back in there.

That way she's not losing interest. I really, just hunt as much as I can. Yeah. The kids, you got them a crossbow to hunt with? Yeah. Okay, that's nice. Your daughter messed with a gun. Yeah, she messed with a gun. I remember it. What'd she kill the stud with? She with the 350 Legend. Yeah. She had a gun during youth season here in Ohio.

Do you, you do, you also take the 350? I do. Do you have a different stock? I did. [00:25:00] I took the 350 when I had a private piece. S going public. I carried last year when we did our Yeah. Meetup. I carried the three 50 in the morning. Yeah. And it fucking sucked. I Why? And no. I'm saying just the simple, it's a bold action.

Yeah. So I'm not used to bold actions that lift, straight wall white rifles being newer in Ohio, I'm used to that pump. So if I shoot, I gotta try and figure out how to rack another shell. So I'm just not used to the gun yet. Yeah. Put you on blast. You missed one last year. I did. I did. What did you miss it though, or what?

It was the one that Ben shot. Ben shot. Yeah it was. I was thinking when we did the drive when I killed, but no, it was the one that Ben shot. Okay. I just crested this hill, they dropped me off to go sit, and I just crested this hill. Cause that was the A spot to be. I don't know if you knew that on that drive.

Gotcha. I thought whoever was going to kill a nice one was going to be on that A spot. Yeah, I walked about 75 yards and heard a gunshot from my side. Quit? Yeah, because that particular spot I feel like, if you, that whole hillside, [00:26:00] I feel like that's the spot to be at. Gotcha. If the deer drop low, I feel like they end up there.

And if they do run high, there's still a chance they end up there just based on how well they work out. I can see when I stand there, you can just see how the hill rolls down that way. It looks like you need just natural flow. Drive one, I felt like it was a crap shoot if anybody shoots something.

Yeah, I, that was, that, I carried the 350 for that drive. And it was just, I don't know, it's good, it's scoped. I felt pulling up trying to shoot quick, I wasn't going to get it scoped. So that's why I tossed the 350 in the truck and just went with the open sight 12 gauge. You see they got a 400 legend now.

Yeah. If that sticks around, I might look heavy at that because I don't have the 870 rifle barrel for my 870. And Brody's gonna need a gun. And like I know like Mossberg and a few of the manufacturers make a 350 with like adjustable stocks. Yeah. But yes, no, I don't weed. So it's the same.

It's a Carbon or not carbon, but a what am I looking for here? Composite? [00:27:00] Composite stock, yes. Okay. But she shoots out of a bog pod. Yeah. Really, she's just resting the gun on her shoulder. Yeah. She's not, she doesn't have to hold it much. That's nice. The guns are heavy for kids. They are, yeah.

Crossbows are heavy for kids. I said crossbows. She shoots crossbows or eight? She's seven. Yeah, she's little too, right? She killed the, she killed that buck when she was five. Yeah. That was her first year. Like for the listening audience, like a heavy thirties, right? Yeah, 145. Looks like 6 and a half inch baseball.

Yeah, the pitcher, she looked tiny behind that thing. Yeah. Yeah, 145 is what scored. Yeah, and you didn't try, dude. You went to the opposite end of the farm. Yeah. I remember him listening to the story you did not try and set her up on a deer. You were hunting the opposite end, and here he comes. Yeah this buck had just showed up a week prior to youth season.

And the other guy that's hunting that farm said, Hey, I've got a small buck coming into the corn pile over here, bring her over here, in case you can hunt my blind. Yeah. Yep. Went over there, sat up, and 7. 30 in the morning, this buck comes strolling in. [00:28:00] And I couldn't tell her no.

What are you going to do, move over? She was sleeping. It had only been daylight for maybe 30 minutes. And she was sleeping, so I had to wake her up. I contemplated not waking her up. I can't not wake her up. I can't not wake her up. That was a good one. Was that during youth season? Youth season. I don't remember what season, I do remember she killed though.

Yeah, with you season is usually here in Ohio, like the third week in November? Yeah, right before. Yeah. Second, third week in November. Yeah. Big A, goals, thoughts, expectations? Obviously, main goal is to shoot a buck. One, I'm gonna go 130's plus. I had a big eight last year on camera. But it'd be nice to kill if we made it.

The hook buck that was on camera. He's actually on our Instagram scraping. You got a video of him It's like back to back like a kind of flip flop. Yeah, if he made it he'd be a good one But this [00:29:00] is a goal like I've thought about the last couple years maybe out of left field I want to kill a deer with each weapon My longbow, which I don't shoot that much.

I need to shoot it longbow compound crossbow I would need to get a new string on it inside of the end and then shotgun and muzzleloader. All in the same year? All in the same year. What is that? Five, six deer? Five deer. So you gotta go to different counties. Yep. You gotta kill a buck with one of the vertical bows.

All on film, right? All on film. Yeah, we'll see. Man. But five different weapons, I don't know. It'd be cool to do. Yeah. Just to do it. Obviously guns are gonna be a lot more easier and shot. Yeah. Shotgun, muzz loader. So my hunting crossbo. Yeah. Five, five. Good. My hunting mentor, a guy who got me introduced was Gary Yer and they called it the Penta kill season.

And he killed a buck with a a compound like November. Yeah. And the rest of us still had [00:30:00] tags and he kept hunting and he killed a deer killed a dove with a cross bed and then killed two dos with a muzzle leader that year. And he almost yeah, he almost got four different weapons same year. And That is cool.

I thought about it last year, but but the crossbow is like not a big deal to me. No, you could toss that one aside in LA. I have a crossbow from 2007 Horton Summit 150. You're talking 30 yard max range. I could get you I can I tell you my cousin's got an old wooden Crossbow with wooden limbs and It's actually, dude, it looks like a, it looks like a medieval, it's a medieval dude, and the trigger is metal and it hangs down about that low and you almost have to use two fingers to shoot this thing.

Dude, I'd be impressed if you killed one with that. Yeah, but, they're, my crossbow was different. No, take the crossbow out, put your hand gun. I would always like, yeah, Hank, I would be sick to get you either a wheel gun or I got a 1911. That's [00:31:00] what is it? Five, five inch barrel. And it's got to be X number of calibers.

You got a five inch barrel. 1911. I do. That's right. I think you can use 10 millimeter, right? 10 millimeter. If you get a five inch barrel, I think you're going to have a lot of mines. You got the same one day pass. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. It's too small. Yeah. You got a five inch barrel. I do got a five inch, dude, it's fucking accurate.

Like me and the stick bow in the 1911 about got the same range. Like it's 15, 20 yards. Like I've hit some, I got that steel plate out back. Yeah. I've stepped back like 15, 20 yards with it and hit it. And I'm like, I could kill a deer with this thing. Yeah. Yeah. It'd just be cool you

got some repeat hit blisters. Coming back to the stand life instead of the stick bow. Yes. No. Yes. I need to, it's a, that's another thing too. Like I have it and I just need to get, I need to shoot it. Cause last year you went stick bow late season. Late season. Yeah. Did you, I shot about, I don't know, 50 times in my basement [00:32:00] for a few days and then went out and hunted with it.

And I had one at, 12 yards coming in, but I had a little the Osmo accident on my head and I didn't think it stuck out, but I took a selfie and you could definitely see it sticking out. So just that skimmer. Yep. You put a piece of tape over the I did this year. I, if I have it on my head, it's going to be camo.

Oh yeah, dude. No, like I, I think you got, like I have a mount and I put a big old piece of tape over that red blinky glider cause I'm like sabotage, but it was a, it was snow on the ground. You're talking, it was probably ten yards away and I was sitting in some brush and it was a clearing to my left and she came right there and was like, it was crazy.

Like I was, adrenaline was pumping. Because you're talking twelve yards. Yeah. I was 100 percent confident I could hit the deer. Yeah. And then as she seen me. Yeah, like a stick bow, like I feel like once you pick it up, you can shoot ten yards. Yeah. You shoot a little bit. You shoot 10 yards, but like 15, 20 is probably a different ballgame.

Oh, yeah, for sure. Okay, but it was crazy [00:33:00] seeing them that close. Yeah, I seen a lot of deer that evening too and just a couple of them was close, but they didn't, they seen me. It was on the ground too, so it was a little different. All right, anything else? I don't think so. Hopefully, yeah, I shoot a big one this year.

We'll see. Big one like Rick's. Big one like Rick's. Rick! You're up. You got the western trick. Oh yeah. You killed a mega giant last year. You got a lot to live up to, don't you? Okay break it down. Expectations. Goals. What do you got? For going out west, I have very low standards of, I, my, I just want to hear an L.

I want to hear it. I've watched so many YouTube videos of these bugling bulls and just they're ripping and roaring. That's what I want to experience. I want to hear that out in the wild and then, Of course, my, I want to shoot a legal bull. I don't want anything special, it's got to be a legal bull.

If it comes down in the last couple days, me and Dave's discussed we will kill a cow if we have to. Just to bring on some meat and guarantee something in the [00:34:00] freezer. Okay, Dave and I we call his buddy Wade, who's killed a couple of deer. Yeah, Wade went with us to the bow shoot. I talked to him. Okay.

Do you have a a range from the truck that you would shoot a cow? Wade and I said, if you're over two miles, we ain't shooting no cows. Dave was like, I'll shoot a cow five miles back! Yeah, I'm hoping Dave don't do that because I'm with him. I'll be the one suffering for that one. But I'm with you about two, two and a half miles.

It shouldn't be no problem killing a cow. Because we got three guys to pack out. It depends on... So that's gonna, that's gonna be a big difference. That's gonna be the game changer, I think, is the three, the third man. We're going to load him up good because he's young. Should be one trip. One trip out. One trip out, I hope. Possibly. I hope. Yeah. I hope. Me and Dave was talking about that. But yeah okay, so that's for the elk trip. Whitetail this year there's a part of me that's let's try to do better than last year, but realistically speaking, you don't come across a booner every year, that's a very rare thing.

Would I like to do that? Yes, absolutely. I can't wait to check my [00:35:00] cams, see if I got one on film. That would be sweet. Let me ask, let me throw some numbers at you. Yeah. You shootin a Pope and Young November 5th. 125 8 point comes in. I don't think I'm below 130, 10 or an 8? Because that is a totally different frame.

Yeah, I mean if I get a killer 8. Five and a half, six inch base, he's 125 as an eight, would you shoot him November 8th? Smoked. Smoked. Absolutely. Because I want to get it on film this year. I got that painted arrow. I think that's going to allow the camera and bow to be in my hand at the same exact time.

I got the cell phone attachment. It's going to be a big deal this year. I have to get it to kill on film because last year is just I left that thing in the truck and it was because I got burned. I burnt myself out on these hot days. I was out there in the 80 degree weather all day hunts, burnt myself out.

This year is not going to be that if I'm. If I'm sweating in the tree, I'm going to get down, scout around a little bit, pick another tree, get back up. [00:36:00] Okay. Do you have a sliding bar scale? Like 120 inch 8 point November 28th, about to be gun season. Oh yeah, I don't like hunting much after gun season with a bow.

I will try to take, my standards will come down the closer it gets to gun season. Wide buck, big brows, do you have a trigger point? If something walks in and he's on the swinger line but he's got to act. I like those heavy dark chocolate rags. Dark chocolate rags? That's my weak spot. Okay. That's obviously you're going out west.

How's your preparation for Whitetail change at all? Man, I've actually had, I haven't really focused on Whitetail this summer. Yeah, that's how we both. At all. It's been a hundred percent, like learning how to bugle, learning how to elk call. I'm good with a diaphragm, but it's, I'm telling you, it's a different beast learning how to elk call with a diaphragm in your mouth.

Okay. Yeah. three, four weeks. And you're a good turkey caller too. Yeah, I actually do have the oak coals down. But there's like moments where like I'll hit it wrong and I'm not confident in it. It's almost like your stick bow. Like [00:37:00] I could hit it one morning and it would sound great. Then the next morning, what was that?

It's it's I just knowing that I put that thing in my mouth and it hits dead every time. I don't have that yet. I did get an external call that I'm solid on 100%. But yeah, dude, just focus on health, making sure I got all the gear that's needed. We got first aid kits we have to prep.

Our daily snacks, are we going to be warm? Are we going to be sweating our asses off? Do I got rain gear? Is it going to rain? I don't know. It's just what elevation are we going to be at? How do I have to train for this? You can't prepare for everything, but since I have a, I know how to hunt deer, they're always going to be here.

It's like riding a bike. So focus is on elk right now until I get back. Yeah, it's not a bad play. That's not a bad play. And that is the plus minus game of having a Western trip. Yep. At least you got an excuse for not being prepared. Yeah, so no. You've eliminated the diamond. I [00:38:00] still can push it out.

No, but your kids are key activity here. Yeah, they are. So dude I got this like window gap right now. When my kids are like four years older. I'm gonna be like, dude, yeah. I'm coaching fucking fall soccer. Yeah. That's what I'm at. That's gonna happen. Daughter played rec softball this year.

She wants to play travel softball next year. Kiss your turkey season goodbye. Hey, I'm not that much of a turkey hunter. Yeah. But you know what I'm saying? Yeah, exactly. Point of life. Kiss shit season goodbye. There you go. Yeah. Yeah, I almost don't want to, I almost want to take people with me turkey hunting now instead of hunting by myself because I get more out of it.

Yeah. Just being the caller. I like that more. I was about to have you call for me. A hundred percent. I want to call the turkey in for people rather than shoot it because I don't even Turkey meat has a certain thing in it that gives me migraines. Really? Yeah I forget what it's called, but it has a certain enzyme in there, and I suffer from chronic migraines, and it's [00:39:00] been related to every time I eat turkey meat.

Ah. Even turkey lunch meat, turkey breast, turkey anything. Oh, that's the thing. It's horrible. Yeah. So I give all my turkey meat to Austin. He eats it all. He was just gone. He wasn't. I won't let it go to waste. I always give it to somebody, but it's like just kill them one and just it's fun, but I love calling them in for people, man.

And I'm hoping I get that same high for Elkhund. Cause I think it's just gonna be like, you're calling in a turkey, but it's 600, 800 pounds, which is gonna be awesome. I can't wait. I'm so pumped, man. Are you going to shoot a doe? Any harvester MD, DNR? Never really big into killing does.

I guess if I, because we're a hunt, we're lucky to see many deer, so I almost feel like I'm hurting the population if I kill a doe. Like there might be one or two does in the area. If I kill those two does what are the bucks going to chase? What am I going to look forward to?

I look forward to that single though, coming running through with the three bucks [00:40:00] behind her. I look forward to that. If I don't have that, what do I got to look forward to? Yep. That's it. How about you Byron? What's your goals? Yes. Ooh, goals. I'm supposed to go on this September hunt.

Barring, I don't know, my kids could act up or get like the plague or something. Like I might not, then I don't go because I only got like a two day window. I don't know. Are you for sure going? I'd like to. It's a 80, 90 percent. It's on my son's birthday weekend. Yeah. Yeah. Wife.

Count me out. Yeah. Wife has cleared it. Oh, there you go. But dude, Wednesday, the kids could have the plague and I, oh yeah. Yeah. As far as I, dude, I gotta shoot a doe minimum this year. Just cause freezers are empty. I like to pass a lot of those. You gotta throw some pizza in there, right? No, not right now. Yeah, like I, at minimum, I'd really like to shoot a deer with a stick. Gonna give greatness a chance. The nine out of ten would be like fucking October 22nd, cold front, shoot a nice buck on a scrape at 12 yards with a stick.

That would be the ideal. And then... I could kick back really I [00:41:00] may, I could hunt out of state then if I wanted to hunt some additional runt hunts. On this early season hunt you're going on, you hunt a percent stick or you may pick up the compound on the third day? It's not even oh I'm going to take the compound in case I like break the limb of that stick boat in the door.

But second day you're going to still stick boat. Oh, stick boat, unless I've seen a booner run across the road. Yeah. I'm taking the stick. You still got two cameras in that place. I got four. I got so winded I couldn't pull them. Dave, you opened the door and fell out of the truck. I was like, oh he's hammer driving.

Story for another day. I went to retrieve cameras and the day before Dave Ebright, March Madness. Yeah, that was a good time. Fireball. Oh, fireball. Fireball. They even sneak you with those damn fireballs, baby. Oh, he runs? Oh, yeah, hit the slide you want. Just don't drink it. I fucking put it in my back pocket.

I find it when I get home to take my pants off. It's come on, dude. But yeah that trip, I'll shoot any deer. Any deer comes in the stick bow range. I'm [00:42:00] slanging an arrow. It'd be ideal to obviously shoot the buck and great news for the stick. But even if that don't happen, I'm picking up the compound November 1.

I'd like to kill a solid buck here let's just call it Pope and Young, 8 point, or like mid 30s, 10, whatever. Public private don't matter, maybe my small piece has a couple nice bucks. Yep. I got that G3 buck I've had history with, fuckin got his match set behind me, speaking for a day since he ain't here, cause I know he would ask you, you've killed four...

120, Pope and Young bucks, would you, are you going to pass the 130 this year? Or shoot it? No, shoot it. Because I didn't kill last year. Yeah. That's my thing. It's last year I pushed the envelope, maybe on class where I was chasing a little higher, but it just it didn't align so I want to kill something this year.

I'm sorry. I just, I want to kill something. Yeah. And then next year go full stick bow or maybe a higher class or whatever but no, I, I want to fucking kill a buck this year. So yeah, if I kill a buck with any sort of archery equipment, great. I have thought about taking the 1911 for gun season.

Trying to shoot a doe [00:43:00] at 15 yards with up a handgun. How far from the truck are you shooting a doe? I need to learn this. Nah, okay. About a mile back. Yeah, with the stick it's open. It's a little more open. It depends how big the hills are. Oof. I almost think any day with a stick I might just let it rip.

Class of buck with a stick bow or compound, it's different. It's probably like a ten inch difference. But it's not... I don't want to walk up on a spindly ish, he's got to trip the trigger. Because that's the thing, I can just put the stick on the... If it's... October 12th. I was going to say October 17th.

October 12th. 100 inch runs by. Assuming he's not 20 inches wide, like I'll probably pass him. Yeah. That's not, yeah, 125 at any point that's a little heavier, a little wider comes in, and it's like October 25th, I probably would kill him. Yeah. But yeah, like 115 inch spindle ear, average 8 10 point [00:44:00] with medium inch brows, like I'll pass that deer.

Yeah. Definitely. Yardage, yards are different, 10 yards, you're for sure shooting a 115, 100 inch. No, I probably won't shoot him. Yeah. He's got to trip the trigger. Just cause he's 10 yards, don't matter. Cause I can shoot a doe at 10 yards. Yeah. And still get the rush, but yeah and then early season here I'm velvet hunting potentially a four pointer doesn't trip the trigger, but a vel but like a rack buck.

Oh, for sure. A rack buck gets the trigger going he can be 80 inches, if he's like a four by four, he's dying. In velvet, yeah, definitely. Yeah, cause I'm gonna never kill a velvet buck. Oh, yeah, 100%. Yeah. Yep. That's where I'm at. Like I said, too I have, I've been shooting the hang gun a little bit this summer a touch more, it'd be fuckin sweet to shoot a doe with a hand. Yeah. And that 1911 I love 1911s. I've had a crush on them since fuckin Saving Private Ryan came out. Yeah. Yeah. Tank killers. Yeah. Tom Hanks on the roof. Yeah, it was four years ago, man, I had that he had a Smith Wesson [00:45:00] 626, I believe, or 629, all chrome.

Like six and a half inch barrel long dirty hairy gun. Like a 44 mag big silver scope on it to match, but we never did get to hunt with it But it was gonna be sweet to shoot one with that. Yeah So the guys that introduced me to hunting back in the day They had a 44 mag Smith Wesson and then he had the 500 that came out.

Yeah Both them had killed some deer not killing like giant bucks, but they would like They wanted to shoot deer with some handgun. They were a little bit more gun guys. And so they would occasionally take their big fucking 44 mag with a four x scope on the top. Yeah. And Tim killed one with a handgun.

I don't think Gary ever did. I think he missed a few. But you, are you talking Gary? The dude from Apache? No. Different Gary. Okay. Different Gary. But you think about shooting a deer with a hand or. I was thinking about this. There's probably less people that have killed a big buck with a handgun than any other weapon.

Yep. Yeah,[00:46:00]

I would think even more, traditional hunters have killed bigger bucks because they've had a longer season. Yeah. Is there a magazine capacity on the handguns? Yeah, that's another question. It's a 3DNR. It's not a magazine. Yeah, I was just wondering that. Could you just a straight old rifle.

But do you have to have a plug in your... No, there's no plug. But I can only load three. Oh, you can only load three. Goddamn! I was you going to be dumping a magazine? Oh! Yeah! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! With the straight old rifles in Ohio, they did away with the plug restriction. But you can only load... Okay.

That's the shotgun, right? Yeah. You don't have to have your plug in the shotgun. You don't have to have a plug in. You don't have to have a plug. I've been breaking number two pencils for years. Yeah. I still have a plug in mine. Yeah, I think there's one in mine. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Yeah. But I still have a plug in my shotgun, but yeah, you can only load three. I don't follow gun laws because I don't hunt with a gun. That's right. That was me. I didn't, for years for years, that's how I started hunting. I hunted with guns growing up. I hunted during gun season. That [00:47:00] was it.

Basically. I got into archery and. My quiver can hold six. There you go. That's my quiver. There you go. You got a six arrow quiver? Yeah. Alright. I think I got a four on both of them. I got that red line what is, what'd you call it? The red line? RL1. RL1, I think it is. RL1 with this. I like it. That's nice.

Dude, it's nice. It fits tight on the bow. That's the RL2 because it holds a little more and it's got two points of contact. Yeah. I'm a kind of a one point of contact guy. Really? I like to be fast draw my girl on these things. Hahahaha Yeah. What I got a tight spot that's got one and, yeah, fallout. I'm not a fan, I had a tight spot and sold it before you know it.

Yeah. Literally bought it for a hundred fifty dollars. I got a... Oh, they're expensive. I got cheap apex gear or some shit like that. I had a nice quiver and it broke. That's what I the one I had was a... I don't know, 50 to 80 octane, which is made by Bowtech, quiver. It's got magnetic, or magnets up in the head.[00:48:00]

And it's a one one finger quiver. But it's held my, I lost one arrow. Out of the eight years I've used it. Yeah, I think my... But now I'm running the the RL 3. I like it a lot. I had a nice, I think a boning quiver. Yeah. The, piece that slides into the, I guess the... The holder snapped off and it wouldn't attach to my bow anymore, when you tree stand hunt, do you keep the quiver on or off? No, I take it off. Off. Off. See, I always run the bow holder on the tree stand itself, so I have to take it off. Oh, okay. We're here lately, not bad. Last couple years. Does anybody like me write anything on your fletchings, like any meaningful...

Now, the day when I had my first kid, Jackson, I wrote... Maybe the day he was born or something on maybe his initials. That's cool. I literally killed And I think we all have killed the years that we've had kids. Yeah, that's cool Oh shit, you didn't kill last year. No every I didn't kill last year, but you broke the curse I broke the curse, but the year I had my first [00:49:00] boy.

Yeah, every year I've had a kid I've killed him. So you've killed. I always think of something meaningful when I write it on my arrows. Yeah, every time. The only thing I write I haven't, I didn't do it last year As I'm shootin throughout the summer, and I haven't shot at all this summer, but as I'm shootin I'll notice what arrow's flyin the best and I'll just, I'll put a one on that one.

Yeah, mark it. That way I know. Yeah. Mark it. A lot of guys in World War II and World War I and stuff, they used to write, their family members names and stuff on the bombs and that was like a up your ass kind of thing in the war. I'm gonna have to do that. Dude, that's what I like doin it, man.

It's special. It's a little thing. I didn't do it last year. I'll do it this year. Yeah, give it a shot, man. Tomorrow I'm gonna do it. Write my name on the arrow. I will. Hopefully. So I take my I take my quiver off when I bow hunt most of the time, because there's times where you got like other trees and you need that extra like two, three inches to like swing that bow in there.

So I like a quiver that's got like a hook or something built into the top. And now I [00:50:00] put a gear tie on my bag and I generally just attach it like, with the gear tie so I don't have to screw something else into the tree. Yeah. Yep. I like that a lot. Yeah, all them redline clippers have a hook attachment, I guess you could say.

Hang, hanging on something. Yeah. Boys, I think this was a solid two, two pie test. Yeah. It was a shootin we all got together in the B. S. A 25 minute short one turned into a long one. I think we spent a little over 25 there. Ah, it is what it is. That'll be alright. Motorcycles, right on time. Right on time.

Garage cast. I'm gonna drink a couple of beers. What are you drinking? I had a couple Miller Lights after this. No garage beers? No, I did have one earlier. I took one. What did you think of the garage beer? It's good. It's a little different. It's a little heavier flavor, I feel like, than the Miller.

Yeah, for sure. I like it a lot though. That's good. Alright, Team Hard Earned Bucks, we are out. What are you drinking, Rick?

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