Hunter Profile With Gavin Sodders Of Whitetail Bloodline

This week on the Missouri Woods & Water Podcast the guys get the chance to talk with Gavin Sodders, host of the Whitetail Bloodline Podcast.  We basically just get into Gavins background in hunting and how he attacks whitetails nowadays.  We talk about run and gun preferences for him and how he likes using hang ons over other methods.  We also get into using blinds, bow setups, fixed versus mechanical broadheads, fletchings, and more.  Finally, we talk about Gavins 2023 season so far and plans moving forward.  Make sure to head over and check out Gavins podcast wherever you listen to your shows.  Thanks for listening!

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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Missouri woods and water podcast with your host and Nate, Micah, Nate and Micah, and then we got little man Lawson on here. My. My middle child. How are we doing today, sir? Good. Doing good? Yeah. This is first time for you. Yeah. Do you have any words of wisdom before we get started on what we're about to do?

He out of you. I probably shouldn't say that. He told you before we even started recording. He's dude, don't say bad words. Blossom came on to the show and is burning his father [00:01:00] the second he gets out. I haven't shot a buck this year. Thank you for that. Yes, you have. I shot it an elk and I never found it.

Ah, okay. That's what he's talking about. We've already talked about that song. I thought it was a buck. It was a bull. It was a kind of a buck. It was a bull. So listen, we are doing our intro show or intro to our show today with Gavin Solders. With Whitetail. Bloodline . And Mike had to bring his son Lawson and Lawson's been a trooper for the last hour and a half.

Yep. So we're letting him do the intro with us. So he is our special guest host. That's right. But, we do have Gavin Sodders with S. O. with Whitetail Bloodline. Yeah, and it's just a Hunter Profile sort of thing. We get to know Gavin a little bit more. Yeah. And he talks about his setups, what he does, and he travels all around the country hunting whitetail.

We just get into it with him. He has... Podcast as well. Yep. Yep. Check them out. White Tail Bloodline. It's about an hour long show. We're gonna get into our sponsors. Let's start with Athlon [00:02:00] Optics. Man, that stuff is pretty darn good. You might even say ridiculous. Yeah, ridiculously good.

And I don't know. That's all I can say about it right now. I need to... I'll be signing a gun in very soon. The second I got on here, I roasted my dad. You did. Alright, let's hold on for a second. I need to look into I'm pretty sure they have crossbow. Scopes. Oh, I know. Yeah, they do. I need to get I recently traded my bow for a crossbow for my children.

For the, yeah. Yeah. Not him. Yeah. For Lawson and Brindley. It's just easier to hunt with a crossbow at the property that we have permission on. I need to start looking, maybe getting a crossbow scope. Yep. Yeah. And Midwest Gunworks, you can also put some Athlon optics on top of them.

Use our code Woods Water for 5 percent off. On any order there. Rivers Edge Tree Stands. I actually got a buddy coming by tomorrow or Friday or Saturday to pick up one of my five two man stands that I put together that I haven't put out yet. I'm gonna let him borrow it. [00:03:00] So yeah, me and Amy, I'm hoping Amy's actually gonna go hunting with me Sunday evening.

So we're gonna be in the Yeah, cross your fingers I appreciate the good luck Lucky buck mineral comm check them out on X tree or on X tree stands on X maps use our code MWW 20 for 20 percent off. I've been using mine a lot lately me and my buddy Pat actually used Onyx to drop a pin to me to tell me where to go today.

Not even hunting wise. Just to meet him. No, really that was easy. I mean There's so many different. Yeah, so many different things that you can do with on X. I've said a million times I use it for work every day. Yep. So just one of those things that it's really nice having in your pocket camo fire rotating door of deals Rotating door of deals in the words of Doug from working glass bow hunter Delete your browser history black ovus.

We talked about them in their arrow ID builder on in the show blackgloves. com, use our code MWW10 for [00:04:00] 10 percent off. Reveal cameras, nice cough. Reveal cameras by Tacticam. I went out and refreshed all of our batteries. Appreciate you doing that. And our setups, and actually me and Chase. Chase went with me.

Heck yeah. And... It was it was enjoyable, and we're getting pictures again that we needed, although nothing important. Yeah, we haven't, we've had, I think, one, do you see that one new 8 point though? Real wide, not real tall. Yeah, but he's spindly. Spindly looking, different, but he's just, he's new, I don't know if he's new. Like a chained roll of pink. Sure, yeah. Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what you just said, but hey, we'll move on. Like a wheel. A wheel, yeah, that's smart. Yeah. And Webber Outfitters, webberoutfitters. com. Our buddy, we're wishing our buddy Josh and Adam over there and everybody else a good luck this...

Whitetail season. Yeah, I think they've both gotten does so far. Yep. And obviously they're chasing some horns right now. So hopefully they get something done. And last but not least, morel targets. Yep. Shooting mine the other day. And like I said, got that new crossbow. So me and the [00:05:00] kids will be shooting the shooting the morel targets here pretty soon.

Trying to get that all sighted. Yeah. With the crossbow. So are you gonna shoot the crossbow when we get it? Yeah. Yep. We're just waiting on some bolts to come in, aren't we? Yeah, awesome. Lawson, you gave me a great idea. I think we should do a show with just our kids someday. Do you know how insane that would be?

Yeah, it would be like a hundred kids in one video. We wouldn't do a video. It would just be like this, like we're doing now. Yeah, but we would need way more chairs. We would need, wouldn't we? We would need some chairs. We don't have a few of them. I think it'd be fun though, because I'm gonna be honest with you, Lawson.

You've been the best host I've ever worked with. Even better than your dad. That's not hard. Isn't that awesome? Yes. Okay tell everybody how old you are. Five. And are you in kindergarten? Yes. Yep. I know that. How would I know that you're in kindergarten? Because how old I am. Yeah, and I'm your uncle, yeah. I pick him up a lot of days, [00:06:00] and he gets to tell me about his day, and. Yep, him and Bennett, they're both kindergarten, future hunters in the Missouri woods and water area. So good job. Good job. Yeah. Lawson, I want you to take us out. Okay. You got to repeat after me. This is the Missouri woods and water podcast.

Good job. Awesome, man. See you guys.

All right. With us tonight, we have Gavin Soders, host of The Whitetail Bloodline Podcast. What's up, man? Not much, man. I'm excited. Excited to talk to you guys. Been following you guys for a while. Listening to your podcast. Following around with your content, like what you're doing, and [00:07:00] I appreciate you guys inviting me on.

Yeah, no, no problem, dude. Probably should have done it way before now. Yeah, absolutely. You know how it is. You know how the podcast game is. You're like, oh, I got this on my list, and then a year and a half later, you're like, that's still on my list. I probably should follow through with that. Wait till you get to episode like 200, you're gonna be like, I still have not done this one.

Yeah, I got one that I've been trying to finish for like over a month. Yeah, I understand that. Today's episode, we're just going to do a hunter profile with Gavin. And not really BS because we're going to talk whitetail specific, talk about like his strategies, his tactics, what he likes to do.

Get into different things. We're gonna let the conversation basically go where it's gonna go Which is cool. And but before we do Gavin, why don't you introduce yourself? Tell us about Whitetail Bloodline a little bit what inspired you to start the podcast. It was us. Let's be honest Yeah, I'm sure it was and you know a little bit about where you're from [00:08:00] and you know that sort of stuff Alright, so I'm Gavin Sauter.

I've lived in Indiana most of my life. I'm 29 years old. I was actually born in Utah. Baby of the family. Only lived there for a year. Moved to South Dakota, Indiana. Spent seven years in Virginia. And then came back to Indiana and Second generation bowhunter. Got a dad who started doing it. He was really up with bowhunting.

I think he started in the late 80s and Back when bows were a lot different out west. Chasing mule deer and stuff and We're just lucky. I have a father who just brought me up in the outdoors and always takes me hunting and everything. So I grew up doing that. Grew up doing a lot of bird hunting when we were young.

That's my dad's real passionate, he loves hunting white. Those we really loves Jason from like quail and chuck and stuff. And so I grew up with that and I was a little different, like even at a young age, man, I've been ate up with, especially hunting white tails, but just the outdoors in general, basically my entire life.

I stopped playing like organized sports at probably 11 or 12 because football is my favorite thing. And then football season comes right during deer season [00:09:00] stuff. I stopped doing that and just basically spend every weekend I could out there chasing whitetails, been hunting solo since I was 11.

Killed my first deer at 11 years old, opening day with my dad, he was filming me. The crossbow way back then, and then that Friday, I sat still and shot my first buck, and then ever since then, man, it's been running, gun, chasing, whitetails, but just a little bit about me and like the whitetail bloodline I've always had that dream, just like most people who grew up in the outdoors and hunting, of starting something or being part of the outdoor industry, and just growing up, I've been doing a YouTube and hunting content for roughly 10, 11 years or something like that, started YouTube way back then.

Before it was real popular and the white tailed bloodline, I just wanted to, with social media amping up and taking off like it has the last few years, it started to become a little more feasible and just seeing other guys doing it, I thought, I could definitely do that. I was like started talking to some real close buddies, it started off, I started getting the idea, talking to a few buddies and then I was just trying to [00:10:00] think of a good name, trying to think of a name that would stand out and then, I don't know how it came apart, but the white tailed bloodline came in my mind, looked it up, there was nothing with it.

I was like, that sounds fire to me, and then started talking to my buddies about a podcast, and then, yeah, we started that podcast 2020, I think it was, like, September 29th or October 1st, it was right before our October 1st opener here in Indiana, and... Started doing that and it just basically a bunch of high school buddies We loved deer hunting and just started BSing and three years later still doing it and enjoying it more than ever Such a better name than ours It's a pretty good name.

Not gonna lie. If you've listened to us enough You know that if you listen to us enough, you know that I'm not a fan of our name Yeah, it's grown. It's grown on me, but Nathan wants to be done with it. I don't want to change it Yeah, but yeah, I like the bloodline thing. That's a good one well done.

Man, you've I'm sorry to interrupt. The bloodline is just so multi meaning. It's just The bloodline, like the actual, you're trying to build your genetic [00:11:00] bloodline, like my bloodline, I was brought up in the Hunnic family, the bloodline, and then you shoot a deer, the bloodline, yeah. You can take it wherever you want.

Oh it's nice. And, you know what's you know what's cool about starting a podcast is, I mean your story is just like ours we probably talked about it longer than it took us to start it, cause it's really is, it's pretty freaking easy. You think it's like intimidating, but it's not. As soon as you get it down.

How to edit a show and the equipment to get that. That was the biggest thing is the decision we made on what to buy up front. And I'll never go back on that decision. Like we, we decided to spend money and buy what we were told is the stuff to get instead of like just recording off the computer and I'm that'll be a decision we never regret, but.

Yeah, it's just, it's like super simple and I love that you do the YouTube stuff cause that's something I'll probably I'm good here, but the second you put a camera in my face, am I right? Yeah. It's just hi, my name is Nathan. [00:12:00] I can't talk no more. YouTube is something I'm probably not gonna break into.

This dude can get in front of a camera pretty easily. It just don't bother me. Yeah, but not me. That's just something that we haven't really messed with, and I just don't know if we want to mess with it. Maybe down the road or whatever. It's a big undertaking, it seems yeah, and the way things are going, it seems like, is it, do you ever get your stuff taken down just for content reasons, showing blood or guts or something?

How is that these days? TikTok. I actually just redownloaded my TikTok today.

Action that was getting taken down, so I just got tired of it. I TikToked a bunch of shit to Hunter Haterz. So I was like, why support the Hunter Haterz? And now I'm saying, you still got multiple thousand followers on there and stuff. I might throw a couple of my videos that I've been throwing on Instagram on there.

But, I've been lucky. I come from a pretty conservative family. And on Facebook and stuff, they'll be getting like their little bands and stuff. I've never got a band anywhere. We haven't got I'm [00:13:00] pretty Sorry. Yeah we haven't gotten banned on like Instagram or Facebook either, although we don't currently have a Facebook.

Yeah our Facebook got hacked a while back. Our shit got hacked, but I probably ought to just open a new one and move on with our lives. Something. But Andy's the one that does the TikTok for us or whatever. And I think he's gotten busted for some coyote hunts and stuff like that, but I don't think he puts too much on there anyways.

But it seems like TikTok's definitely a little hardcore than some of the other ones. Yeah, TikTok's funny, too. You can go on my profile, and there's one that's pinned to it of me dragging a deer my buddy shot that went and died in a lake. I'm dragging that out, and it's still got the he shot it with a crossbow it's still got the bolt sticking out of it of me dragging it in my boxers.

In like early November, and that doesn't get taken down, but I have a video of me like walking with my bow, and then that'll get taken down, so I don't know what they're doing over there. I just got one thing to say about the social media conglomerates. Fuck them all. Yeah, I mean it wouldn't, I mean if I'm being honest, it wouldn't bother me a bit if they all went [00:14:00] away, but the only, the nice thing about it is you do get to interact with your listeners.

That's like the thing I like. The rest of it, I'm good. He did a you did a... What's that called? A reel? A reel. A couple weeks ago, and it got 2 million views. And it was hilarious. It was hilarious as shit. I'll give him that. Yeah. But he's just like, how does this, what does certain stuff like blow up and other stuff doesn't and these damn ass algorithms and it's just, I don't know.

We sound like some old men right now. I am an old man. Just complaining cause we don't know what we're doing on it really. Yeah. You're like, where's the button for this one? Yeah, no, I get it. But let's talk, stop talking about that bullshit. Let's talk about. You as a hunter, Mr. Whitetail Bloodline himself, like I want to get back into it, dude You mentioned whenever you were first started talking you killed your first deer by yourself at age 11.

Is that right? I killed I hunted for a few years in Indiana. I want to say I was [00:15:00] hunting like at eight years old No, I actually sat solo a few times back then. I remember sitting solo with one of those old flintlock muzzleloaders But it was opening day in Virginia. I think it's pretty much an October opener as well and shot my first deer.

It was a yearling doe on we'll say October 1st that morning. And then that next Friday, I went out with my brother and sat solo. He sat on one side of the property, I sat on another. And then shot my first buck solo that next Friday, that's pretty impressive. Yeah. I was, I could wipe my own ass back then.

Yeah. No I shot my first deer when I was 15 by myself, solo, didn't know that I was supposed to have a parent or legal guardian with me, but they were definitely were not during statute of limitations. Yeah, it was during youth season or whatever. But yeah, I was 15 and I, and then once I shot it, I was like I don't know what to do now.

So we had to have a buddy, that guy that I was hunting at house, he actually came down and he pretty much filled, dressed it and did all the work for me. So that was pretty nice. But yeah, so doing that at 11 years old, [00:16:00] that's pretty pretty cool. I was using a stomach climber. Everybody used to use, I used a stomach climber for years.

I just sold them last year actually. And yeah, I got, you should see the little selfies of me when I'm probably like 12 years old, sitting in a stomach climber. I've had some sketchy moments with those too, man, the bobbins fall off, and I was a little guy when I was that young, so you had to like fireman carry, go get a big stick, get your stand down, but I've just always been a'ed up with it.

How old are you? 29. I'm 29. Okay, 29. Yeah. Okay. So what what I like, we'll just get into this, the tactic of, how you attack hunting right now, because you and I talked a little bit before Micah got here. You kinda like ground hunting. I'm not saying that's all you do, but how do you mostly attack deer right now?

Is the ground an option for you? Whereas like a lot of people, they won't do it. Like it's just, I'm not gonna sit on the ground for a whitetail. You obviously will, but what is your normal [00:17:00] mode of operation? Yeah, man, like last year, I've hunted on the ground for three, a few times when I was young, man, I was I didn't have the patience I do now, so I'd be sitting in a stand for a few hours and I'm like, I'm gonna go get down and see if I can see something.

I've actually killed quite a few deer doing that. I remember seeing a doe, did a little spot and stalk on her and blew it. And worked around the whole property, big ol field property in Virginia, and I'm like a thousand yards away into a vantage point where I could see her, and she came back, and I ended up sneaking up on her and shooting her with a crossbuck by 14.

And she was standing on the other side of a fence, and it actually hit the fence, it was like one of your square fences, and shot up and dropped her. Oh wow. Freaky shot. Juggler. It was crazy. That was my first spot in stock, but last year I have 27 acres here, family property. It's it's pretty good.

It's gotten better every year. I've been managing it. Luckily, my parents have basically let me have free range on it, do whatever I want. So that's, I've gotten a lot of my knowledge these past 10 years [00:18:00] managing this property. But a lot of the bucks, man, like the bucks are just starting to start coming through this property.

So usually your early season, I want to get out there. If I go hit some public. And there's a piece of public land, and it's just like one of those spots that's the perfect bed to feed transition. And then deer come through at 8. 30, which is nice, because you don't have to go get in your stand.

Four hours or two hours before it gets light, so I would honestly get to the spot right when I could start seeing, I'd walk in and not even use a flashlight, get into that spot. And there was just like a fallen log and it had another broken log, like right in front of me. So it was like, just like a natural blind and dude, the amount of deer I saw right there.

It like, it changed how I hunt forever. Cause I was worried about it. Started following people. You hear them on podcasts and weird, these guys, like the white tail adrenaline guys that do a lot from the ground. So I was listening to them. And Once you start doing it, and even like a two year old buck, I had a few two year old bucks walk like five yards from me and not get spooked, and there's nothing like it, man.

I couldn't imagine actually like drawing on and shooting that deer that close, and it's it's definitely different, but I like it a lot, because I do the [00:19:00] mobile hunting. I use elevator, tree stands, and I basically started going real mobile last year with what I think is mobile, like a climber's mobile, but for me, that's a little too loud to be super mobile.

And, yeah, dude, hunting on the ground, you can just get away with more your scent, depending on where you're at and stuff. You're already low on the ground sometimes it helps that you're scent from a tree stand blowing over them. Dude, I loved it. I probably passed, I don't know, just in that one spot, in that one piece of public, every bit is six or seven.

I feel like groundhunting has a negative connotation in the whitetail world you're a, I don't know, you're crazy if you want to hunt off the ground, and dudes like Zach Ferenbaugh have definitely helped that, because that's basically all he does anymore, but, I, whenever I feel like, oh, I shouldn't be on the ground right now, I go back to what Fred Bear said, and I'm probably going to butcher this, but, what do you say?

Sit down and sit still? Sit down and shut up. Sit down and shut up. Sit still yeah, it's not that it's not that difficult It's [00:20:00] not that big like everybody and we're included in that. We're a podcast so we break down as much as we can break down but it's Play the wind and don't freaking move around.

You know what I'm saying? It's not that hard. And I've had some really cool hunts on the ground. Evil Eddie was a buck that, I wish I could have killed, but he wasn't legal at the time. And, I've had young bucks walk right up to me and have to almost be like, Hello, before they, realize it.

You don't get that same feeling when you're in a tree stand, even if you get deer come right underneath you. It's still different because you almost feel like you're still detached from the what's going on below you. But when you're right there, like you can feel them breathing.

You can, it's just everything's in your face. It's a different rush. It's a different rush, but at the same time, almost every time I'm hunting on the ground when I'm after I'm set up and, letting things settle down and, getting my bearings and everything like that, I almost will always say to myself, it'd be really nice to [00:21:00] be about 10 feet in the air right now so I definitely understand it.

But how have you perfected so you use elevated tree stands, you said so you haven't messed with the saddles yet. Have you? No I went to a bunch of the shows this year, and I sat in them and everything, and I like them, but for me, I've been at a hangover. Yep. We were there too.

Yeah, like I said, we didn't talk too much then, or we probably would've bullshitted for a while. I know, I don't even think, I don't even know if we saw each other or not, but I wish we would've ran into you. But yeah, it's my question is, so this, Micah and I just I haven't even used mine yet, but Micah has a few times.

We started using saddles this year. And I had a running gun set up that was a hang on. It was an XOP Vanish. And then I had some Hawk Helium sticks with daisy chains. And I just, I always, every time I went to use it, I had the tree, the XOP tree stand transport system, so it's like a pack that you had the tree stand set up on, and then I had my bag sitting on [00:22:00] the seat of my tree stand when I would go in.

It's actually one I used last year. I used that same system. I killed my Kentucky buck on public out of that. Okay, so here's, this was my complaint about it. Now I will say, my backpack... I'm sure I didn't I wasn't worried about weight. I just put my shit in the backpack and then I put the backpack on it, and then I bungeed it to the stand, and then I had my four, I used four sticks, because I'm a short dude, and I want to use four.

And so I had, sticks on each side, and those were bungeed. By the time I put everything on there, and then I put the stand on, I felt like I was... Damn near packing an elk out. Like it, it wasn't light. So I found myself like not wanting to do it and just, I'm just gonna go sit on the ground.

How did you perfect your your system? Like how you got in, how you put everything up? To where like you didn't have that thought that I have every time I, put it on was like, this sucks. I don't like this. I just want to go sit on the ground. This seems stupid. Like, [00:23:00] where did, where was that break point for you and did you have those struggles, at first?

And how did you get over them? Yeah. Luckily for me, man we've been using hang ons for crap. I couldn't even tell you since I was probably 13, 14. So it's just been second nature. Those were more of your permanents, that's not going to be wrong. But you're going through the same motions of hanging them.

You're hanging those awkward sticks. And all that, and I ran into that same issue with that don't get me wrong, I ain't got nothing bad to say about that XOP thing. Nah, it's cool, I still got two of them. Yeah, like I said, I killed my first public line buck out of it, but it was pretty heavy. I think the one I had was...

I think it was like 14, 16 pounds. Yeah. The stand was, which that ain't terrible. Then you had the four sticks. I was rocking four sticks. You add my camera gear, my backpack and all that and it does get tiring. That's honestly one of the reasons I started hunting public. The first time I went back there to that spot I was telling you about where I'd sit behind that log, I'd lug that stand back in.

It's not a crazy walk, like quarter mile, maybe close to half mile. And I was just like, yeah, I'm tired of doing this every time. Just setting up, taking down [00:24:00] public land, don't want to get stolen. So I was like, I'm going to start trying to do the ground game. But for me, I wanted something different.

I follow a bunch of guys. I got a bunch of buddies that die hard. The more you're on social media, the more you hear about stuff. And my new Elevate, it's just like night and day. I've been used to hanging in big game tree stands that are, I don't know, 20 pounds or something for so many years. Going to buddies house, helping them hang their stuff.

And it's one I got behind me, right there. That one's weighing 6. 25 pounds. And so when it comes for me, I just feel comfortable doing it. And I'm a little guy, I'm 5'10 I'm pretty limber though. So I can, I argue with my saddle buddies all the time. I can hang my hang on as quick as you can hang your saddle.

And that's just for me doing it for many years. And they got little things that are easier. Elevate sells them, Exapede sells them too. Like belt buckle little loops that you can put your sticks in. Cause I'll get my first two sticks in before I start even climbing up. And then I'll climb up and you'll have your two sticks right up on you.

So you can just, without. She's when I started doing it before I had those, you'd have to get down and grab that stick. Just [00:25:00] cause I wasn't trying to bang metal around. So if you can do that and the guys that are real good at it, they don't ever get down once they start climbing and they get down or they don't get down.

Me, I'm not that diehard about it. Like it's going to take me 10 more steps to drop down and throw my backpack on and stuff. But yeah, man, it's just it's what you're comfortable with. I talk to people all the time. Like most guys are stabbing guys now. And Just cause it's easy, you can go in there, wear your harness, climb up, put your little platform down.

So then I get that, but for me, it's just like self filming and everybody's Oh, it's easier to self film in a saddle. I was like, maybe for you, but I've been doing this self filming for 10 years out of a hang on. So it's just second nature to me. And I'm one of them guys, man. When everybody's doing something, I want to be different.

So everybody's a saddle guy. I'll never be a saddle guy just for that reason. It's just it's like shooting a Matthews. I know Matthews is probably the best bow on the market, definitely, arguably the best bow on the market. But I'll never shoot a Matthews just because everybody I know shoots Matthews.

you want to be different than, yeah, I get that. And I think that's one of the reasons it never stuck with me. Is, [00:26:00] it's just I, and I never did it enough to get good at it. So every time I would go hang in the morning, I'm in the dark. And I'm getting pissed off because dude, I remember the first time I ever ran and, run and gunned with, it wasn't even that XOP at the time, it was a different tree stand I had, I'm like, I want to be in this area, and there was only one tree that was not like a hedge in this, and I'm like, I found it, and at the time I had some muddy pro sticks, I think they are, I still got them, I love those sticks actually, but, they're, They have ropes is what you're using.

You, you, the rope goes around the tree and then it goes through this little cam. And, The ropes are not very long. They're like not super long and I get to this tree that was decent size Not huge and the freaking ropes wouldn't go around the tree So I end up sitting this stand and these sticks right next to the freaking tree and sitting on the ground like That was my hunt that day Then the second [00:27:00] time I end up like doing some research I buy the XOP because it was a little cheaper than like a lone wolf and different stuff at the time And I bought this Hawk Helium Stix and did the daisy chain with a buddy here in Missouri that sells the daisy chain setups.

And I get out to the first time in the dark and I just I get down I go up and down 4 or 5 times. Freaking getting annoyed. One of the sticks kicks out on me when I'm getting down a little bit and then I sit I hang you know Hang the stand. I'm like, all right, I'm good. It's still dark I see a deer comes underneath me right when it's dark and then the Sun comes out and I'm just I'm sitting there going I don't have a single freaking shooting lane here You know you like I'm just like This sucks.

So like my first two experiences didn't go well and so I'm, I started going I'm just going to hunt on the ground because I can move if I need to, or I'm just going to, go back to hanging a bunch of different permanent sets and then I can move to one. And to the next and Mike has helped me with [00:28:00] a lot of those and I think that's the draw for me and him this year with the platforms or not the platform saddles Is their light weight and if something doesn't bother me as far as going in and out with it I'm more likely to use It's when, I'm just like, I got all this extra bullshit on my back for what, and I might not even get in the tree, I don't even know where I'm going right now, I'm in this new property, and I don't even know if there's trees there, and if I get there, can I even see, that sort of stuff, and that's where the saddle has been Interesting for us, and I swear to you, before this year, we were in the same boat as Gavin we were like, nah, we don't need that.

Yeah, what's the hype all about? What's this about? But, and I haven't even, I haven't even used mine yet. But, the idea is good. He's used his a few times. The only thing that I got to say about it, and it's probably just me, I've only done it a few times. I feel like I move around a little bit more than I would in a, [00:29:00] traditional type stand.

Just because I'm swaying, you got that freedom. Like you can like... It's like a dank swing, so you know, you're just sitting up there. And that's probably because I'm not setting it up right. As far as, I don't even know what they call all the stuff, but the one that actually goes around the tree that you hang from, lead rope, whatever.

But, yeah, and then I find that my feet get taut, cause and again, probably me, not setting up right, but I feel like I'm pushing into my feet, like I'm going downhill the whole time, so my feet get a little, Tired or whatever you want to call it. So I've another reason why I'm going to move around a lot.

Maybe it's me, but I don't know. That's one thing, one reason I don't want, I don't want to saddle either. I got a broken ankle. So once I hold pressure on that ankle for a bunch of hours and everybody I say, Oh, you can go sit on your knees or you can sit on your side and stuff. But I'm like, I'd rather just be able to turn around and sit down and get all the pressure completely off of, and it's what [00:30:00] you're comfortable with.

That's what I've talked to people all the time. If you feel comfortable in a saddle, rock the saddle. If you feel comfortable in a hang on, do that. If you're a grounded pound guy, do that. And one thing I try to do is try to be a little versatile because every situation is different, especially when you're going on this public land or something and you get to a spot that you can't hang a tree.

So you just got to go with it. If it's a good spot, it's a good spot. And don't want to just say no, because I can't get a tree in here. Don't get me wrong, I've had those moments where I'm on the ground and I feel more deadly in a tree. But like you were saying earlier, there is something about being on the ground.

It's just because you're both touching the ground at the same time, you just feel connected. Like we the past few years, I've been using blinds a lot recently too, pop up blinds. And I used to be not really against it, but I just never really did it. And I love it now. I got my nephew until the issue, then he shot one November 10th out of one at 30 yards and it's a rush.

Are you doing that on private ground or public ground where you're setting it up that day and then hunting it that day? Cause I've always done it where public. So the state, I go and I set it [00:31:00] up there a few weeks before I hunt. For whatever reason, and it stays out all season long. On private.

On private, not on public. Not on public. I've never taken a blind on public. Yeah, on private, I usually try to find one spot, and I brush it in real good. I went and cut down a bunch of cedars and stuff, because I've learned the more brushed in, the better. And I went and actually moved some cameras up before.

I came home today and there the bucks are starting to rub on the property. That's how you know the rug's starting to heat up because you'll not see a single rub on our property. And there's just one little dappling stretch that's sitting like 10 yards from that blind. And they were tearing that up and a couple scrapes opened up and everything.

But I actually used it on Publix for the first time last year. We went and hunted early, early season Kentucky and it rained on us the whole week. So I was like, dude, we wanna be out there and hunt. So I went and bought a hundred dollars popup line and we went and threw it up and yeah, we didn't see nothing, but we tried it.

Yeah. Yeah, see if you, once again, if you listen to us enough, I don't like blinds. Cause, I don't know, it just does something to me where I like, I don't feel like I'm in the [00:32:00] woods anymore, I feel like I'm watching TV, almost I don't know, it's, I don't know how to explain it, I just, I've never been a fan of them, but, I like to hunt off the ground, right?

So I actually started looking at, and we talked about this our last show, the ghost blind. Have you heard of that? Yep, I've heard about it. Yes, that like mirror blind. Yeah. Yeah. We actually had one of our listeners email us because he doesn't have social media no more. And he emailed us and he's hey, listen, I had one and it got scratched to shit like the first couple times I used it and then it broke.

And, cause that's my biggest hang up on something like it. Like that blinds like 500 bucks. Like minimum. Is it that the mirror one? The mirror, yeah, the ghost blind. It's they're expensive. Yeah, they ain't cheap. And they're big because they fold into like sections. I'm only 5'7 So you fold it into the sections and if you buy the one that's got the extensions on top, it's as tall as me.

Now, it's got like a backpack system, so you could put it on your back when you're walking in. I don't think that would bother me. But, [00:33:00] that, that type of blinds intriguing because it's not like taking away my sentence, senses. It's just in front of me. You know what I'm saying? But, at the same time, Why don't you just use like a A branch?

Not a branch, but, They got those see through Blankets, or whatever you're gonna call them. Like we use for coyote hunting? Yeah. Yeah. Why don't you just do one of those then? That would be... I'd rather... Yeah. Say what you guys have seen the I'm actually partnered up with a company called GI Puck.

It's like a movable blind. It's got like branches of attach and stuff to it that you can attach to like your tripod. And it's got like multiple different attachments and it's got a bunch of different leases and stuff. And I've heard of heard, yeah, I've heard of that. I'm to use for that grounding pound because that one spot I've been talking about where I'm sitting by that log like.

On this way, I'm clear. A deer ain't gonna see me. I got that log there, and then right in front of me, there's a log. But if I could have that little bit more concealment, because that trail where they come up, there's like a natural community scrape sitting right there. That's how I found that spot.

That's just one of those spots. There's deer hitting it all the damn [00:34:00] time. And, yeah, if I had that little more concealment, it works good, man. It's just so versatile, too. That's the coolest thing about it. And it, and it's easy to pack. You can throw all that in your backpack. Oh, nice. What about you, the stand you're using, you use an Elevate tree stand, it weighs six pounds.

Did you do a bunch of research when you bought, like, when you bought that? What are some of the lightest stands out there? Do you, obviously that one. I think that, what is it, the Beast? Ain't that a well known, really light stand, I think? I have no idea. From, it's a Dan, it's a Dan Involves stand.

Dan Involves Company, or whatever. Yeah, your main line of stands right now, off the top of my head, you're going to have your Elevate tree stand American made all through and through. A lot of these mobile tree stands, they are. You got your Lone Wolf. They're, the Lone Wolf and the Elevate are almost like, super comparable.

If you look at the spec, they're almost identical. And then you got the Beast. There's a difference from even the Beast. To the lone wolf, to the elevate, elevate the cheapest out of all of those. And it's basically the [00:35:00] same weight, you know what I'm saying? And it's just who you are and like, what you want to try.

I love to elevate people. I went to ATA, met them. I started talking to them, fell in love with them. And for me, that's real important. Like I could love your company, but if I don't like who owns it, like it's just, it makes a difference. And I want to say that beast, I think it's 700 bucks or something like that.

I know it's, I know it's plus 500, but I don't know exactly. And I'm just like, which for a hang on, none of that's ever bothered me because I'm one of those guys that'll pay for. I'm too cheap. I'm too cheap. I'm a cheap mofo and I ain't spending that much. Sorry. I'll pay for quality stuff if I think it's important to me.

Micah will still be like, nah, I'm gonna go buy the one that weighs 12 pounds and move on with my life. Sorry I'm not a little boy and I can carry a little bit of weight if I have to. Yeah, no. Oh yeah, dude, I'm too tall. That's awesome, man. If I had money, the podcast would be so much better than it is.

My [00:36:00] social media page would be so much better. I haven't even been able to hunt Kentucky yet, just because I ain't got the money, man. Just life hit me hard this year with a bunch of stuff like it happened. Hopefully, I'm gonna get out there soon, but man, I'm blue collar as it comes. If I wouldn't be wearing this cereal right now, if I didn't get partnered up with them just because I'm your typical, I'd go to Walmart rocking once winter hits, you're layering up in some mossy oak and some real trees.

But I talked to Joe Miles he's definitely my top three favorite guys in the industry all around from being a big butt killer, just down to earth, great guy. And yeah, partnering up with him and I love the camel, so I don't know what camel you guys rock, but. It's just, that's who I am, man.

When it comes to the people, I have people ask me about my sponsors and stuff, and like, how'd you get them, blah, blah, blah, but my whole thing is, if I don't truly believe in the product, I'm never gonna be a part of it, and I have to believe in the people behind it as well. Agreed with you, man. That's the way, when we started our podcast, we're like, listen we've gotta only work with stuff that we're gonna use.

Cause, I feel weird saying go what we, our camo company's Huntworth.[00:37:00] I feel weird like saying go wear Huntworth and I'm not wearing it. Or go use Onyx and I'm using HuntStand or some shit like and we've had to like, check ourselves a few times and wait a minute, do we really want to work with this company?

They've blown us off for six months and now all of a sudden they want to talk to us and, is this a fit or are we just trying to... Work with him. You're right. Like it's got to be a fit as well. And, sometimes you don't know it's not a fit till you're in it.

And that is what it is. But okay. I like that. Let's talk about like our gear setup. So you don't shoot a Matthews and neither do we. What do you shoot? He used to, I've never shot a Matthews, but what do you shoot now? Dude, like hopefully I'll upgrade. I've been shooting the same cheap. Like for eight years old PSE stinger.

It was like my second bow ever got I went to buy like a pretty nice bow My dad had that conversation with me. He's like dude, you're growing pretty good You're gonna end up buying a new bow in two or three years eight years later I'm still shooting [00:38:00] this bow, but it's a 350 bass probably shot maybe 400 bow And I'm just, when it comes to bows, I'm different.

For being how diehard I am about whitetail hunting, that's just one thing that comes extremely natural to me, is shooting a bow. I'm not even gonna lie, my first hunt of the year this year, I hadn't shot in two months. I've been busy, not busy enough to not be shooting my bow, but I just know how I am when it comes to shooting, because I've been shooting a bow since, I fell off for a few years, but since I was like five, I remember being in the backyard, dad be slinging arrows, and I'd be Aiming towards the sky like I'm in a medieval movie, sling an arrow, trying to get it 50 yards.

So with me, man, I can walk out with my bow, put the 50 yard pin on there, and I'm gonna zing it. Once I get this knife set up and everything, but right, dude, I still got a Whisker Biscuit. I still rock the good old Whisker Biscuit. That's the type of guy I am. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I've missed a good, a handful of clubs with that bow, but I'm, knock on wood, I ain't missed a buck.

I'm three for three with that bow. You were probably screaming at... the speakers. If you listen to our show when I got a new bow, [00:39:00] because I was the same. I was the same as you. I shot my second bow ever was a 2011 Bowtech assassin, 2010 Bowtech assassin. And I shot that all the way until this year. And then we both got we both got new bows.

And that was one of my hangups is just I shoot good with this bow. I know it. It's light. It's small. It works. It works. It kills. I don't miss with it like all this stuff and I'm gonna go get this new bow because it's new. Yeah. Now, I will say I like it. It's been great but like I've got that Bowtech set up ready to go like it.

Yeah. Waiting in the wings, the first time this elite pisses me off, my bow tech might be back, which I mean, it hasn't, it's been a great bow, but I was the same as you I was, there's a lot of people out there that, the newest bow, they've got to go get the next year's bow or whatever, and I've never understood that, [00:40:00] because if it, like you said, if it ain't broke, no offense, fix it, but that's pretty cool, you are, you were the other version of me until this year, and then I sold out and got a new one, yeah. Dude, this cheap PSD, man, on my mobile set up on that tree stand I was rocking last year. I used to have my bow holder because I was hunting public animals. It was sitting on my seat, so it would be sitting right here to my left side. And I'm sittin there, this is the day before I shot my buck, and my buddy's sittin there filmin me, and I felt somethin brush my elbow, and I thought it was like a stick, so I bump it, not even knowin it was my bow, I bump my bow off.

Out of the tree stand, about 20 feet up, bro. Hits the ground all hard, shoots my arrow in the air like 10 feet, me and my buddy look at each other like... Dude, you don't even have your bow with you. I was like, this hunt's ruined. So I get down all pissed off. I go up to it. The string's all, like, all messed up on my own.

It is something. Super pissed off. I'm like, oh, never mind. All it was, it came off that little loop. Threw it back on the loop. Climbed back in the tree. We were hunting in Kentucky about an hour, a little over an hour away. So by the time we get back after walking half a [00:41:00] mile out of public, I forgot to shoot my bow that night.

I go back there the next morning without shooting it. And then that buck walks by and I stuck him double lunged him. But yeah, I feel like you draw some of these new Matthews or your new, just some of these bows, especially how some people have those sites that stick out that far, they stick out eight, 10, 12 inches. And it would break. Like how that bow didn't break and how it's still shooting good, I don't know. But yeah, I'm excited honestly to get a new bow hopefully next year. I just know it'll make me that much more of a killer because if I can use this cheap bow and I haven't really done anything with it.

Like I put a new sight on and that's the only thing I've done. I put a one pin on it. And other than that it's a bone stock bow, same strength. I've never even twisted a string at all. Holy shit. Oh wow. That would scare me. I don't shoot much. I don't shoot much. In these eight years, I probably shoot less in these eight years than most people shoot in a single season.

Oh, I see what you mean. Yeah. That's the biggest thing. I shoot, we shoot a lot. Now, last season, we, we didn't really, but this summer with that new bow, dude, I bet I... [00:42:00] At the height, and Micah was probably exact same way at the height of shooting. I bet I shot two 50 to 500 a week there for a while.

Yeah, mean two 50 a week, brand new bows getting used to 'em. So you're going, you're gonna, especially if you're not comfortable with them at first. 'cause it takes, once you get a new bow, Yeah, they're nice and stuff, but you still gotta get used to them. I regret I had a Matthew's adrenaline.

I've had one, two, three, four bows in my lifetime. My first one was a PSE fire flight 33, I believe it was. And that thing, I was money with it. For whatever reason, I ended up getting rid of it and I got a Matthew's adrenaline and, single cam, I regret getting rid of that thing to this day, just because I have never shot as good as I did with that bow.

That bow was just perfect. It was just amazing. I felt great. And not just because it was, I could care less if it was [00:43:00] Matthews, PSE, Hoyt, I don't give a crap what brand it is. That bow just really fit me good and I shot good with it. And I forget the point of what I was going with. But yeah, I know I just ruined it, but you started telling your story and I started eating goldfish with me.

When people hear me say that they don't shoot my bow much, like there's not very many people that I know that should do that. They honestly, I probably shouldn't either. I just feel so comfortable with a bow. And with me, my whole thing is I focus and I studied deer so much and I'm putting in the time, especially on public area, where these deer are going to come through on my private.

Same thing, and I'm trying to get these deer within 30 yards, and 30 yards is a chip shot to me. If that deer is I honestly feel more comfortable at that 30 yard range than I even do at 20 for some reason. That's just what I always practice. My target's always sitting at 30 yards. You should definitely shoot your bow.

Don't listen to me and be the guy who doesn't change a string. Blah, blah, blah. Shoot your bow. But for me, it just comes natural. I [00:44:00] think some people are born with like certain things. And I was born to kill. I swear to God, I tell people that all the time. That's what I was put on this earth to do was to be a killer.

And that just comes from years and years of experience, too. I've been archery hunting for however many, 17 years. Something like that. Yeah. Makes sense. Alright, broadheads. Fixed blade, mechanical. What do you shoot? Compound, I'm a big mechanical guy. I shot Rage for years. This is the first year I've switched off the Rage.

I've partnered up with Wreck Broadheads. I'm excited. I haven't shot up through a deer yet. But, I had actually Matt Taggett on the podcast and talked to him. After getting him on the podcast, he sold me right there. Just from everything he was saying, you could tell he was still passionate about it. Like how much work they put into it.

They shoot good. They shoot like a field point. That's their claim. Same as shoots like a field point. I'm shooting the XP. They got three different broadheads right now. Honestly, that's I see a lot of guys that'll get partnered up with a broadhead and stuff. It's the best [00:45:00] broadhead on the world.

I'm like, you've never even shot a deer with it. How do you know it's the best broadhead in the world? Don't get me wrong. I can't say as much good thing about the Rex. Just 'cause I've seen so many people kill it, but until I actually sent it through the pump house, I can't say too much about it, that's how we were in, we're not partnering with any broadhead companies, but I switched to mechanicals two seasons ago last season. Shortly. So there's this dude in Iowa, and you should have him on your show if you never have. His name is John Lusk. Lusk Archery Avengers. He tests Broadheads.

That's all he does. Got a YouTube channel. YouTube channel. Oh yeah, I've seen him. Yep. I've seen YouTube. Yep. Guarantee you if you ever looked up a Broadhead, more than likely his video. It's He will, yeah, he will have done it. And we had him on the show and he was talking about like testing, mechanicals, his process.

And then we asked him, Top five mechanicals and he listed them out and I think he only gave one I don't think he gave that might be I don't remember and there was a company called sever out of Oregon or Washington somewhere And so we looked into them and they're not that expensive. And [00:46:00] so I started shooting them two seasons ago I think it was and Dude, I never shot mechanicals before that.

I've always shot fixed blades and Sighting in I guess you'd call it a mechanical Broadhead is so freaking easy. You really don't even need, don't even need to do it. You just screw it onto the bow. I've never in my life had that because I've always been a guy that buys fixed and then I'll number each one of those broadheads and then I'll marry that broadhead to an arrow.

Based on the way they fly. And I, when I first started shooting fixed blades, it was Slick Trick Standards, and they didn't really ever have issues. They were, you could pretty much screw them on, but, I'm now shooting a broadhead called an, it's, Iron Will Standard, and they're expensive as shit.

But, they're a cut on contact blade, and when you're, so I'm short, I've got a short draw length and a slow arrow, because of it. And [00:47:00] my arrows are, like, what, 265 feet per second, and that's dialed all the way up to almost 70 pounds or whatever I'm at. And that's as fast as I'm gonna get. So I wanted something that cut on contact, so I these iron wheels are definitely high end material, cut on contact.

But, it takes some time to sight them in. Because when you screw them in, if you, unless you fletch the arrow with the broadhead on it, you gotta figure out which way the blade's gonna sit up with your cock vein, and I don't have a four vein arrow, I've got a three vein, which needs to change, but, that's what I'm shooting.

And then you're like, alright, this one works for this arrow, and it just takes it took me probably two weeks to Like my six arrows. These are the six I'm using dude. They're like there's something about the mechanical just Screw it on move on and then when you shoot it like for me The severs are like what 13 bucks a piece something like that 12 13.

Yeah, so like you shoot an animal [00:48:00] with it Trash like I'm not gonna try to like clean that thing up and Andy So Mike and I neither of us have shot one with those severs Correct. I shot an elk and I never found it, with a sever? That was with a sever. Was it? That was a bad shot on my part. It was a bad shot.

Bad shot. Andy shot a whitetail two years ago, a buck, through the shoulder. And that freaking sever went through its front shoulder and poked out the other shoulder on the other side. So it crossed through Bowen both ways as a mechanical. And then that white tail ran 60 yards and was done. Piled up. And I'm like, damn.

Now I understand what they're talking about when they say good materials. And I'll be honest with you, that John Lust dude he... He didn't say much good stuff about Rage, so and he shot Rage for years, right? He said that they put, I think 90 percent of their profits go into marketing, so but it is what it is, but that being said, Rage has probably killed more deer than [00:49:00] any any other broadhead.

I've got the three blade chisel tips for a long time and I shot Spitfires and APs for a while. I've killed, we used to go to these exotic ranches when I was younger, just cause I got some family that aren't like diehard family, but that's just kinda hey, let's go have a broast, let's go kill some boars, let's go kill a fallow.

So I did some testing on stuff like that, and the spitfires, man, I ain't got nothing bad to say about those either. I love them three blade spitfires, they were just like on contact, they would open. I shot that Kentucky buck with that Rage last year. And these wrecks my setup right now my arrow and broadhead setup by far the nicest.

I'm shooting Tenati arrows and Singer fletches, which they're made by the same owners. And then I got that wreck on it, and I haven't slung those into a deer, but me being a cheap guy my entire life, I'd go, I wouldn't buy the cheapest arrow. I'd walk in there and buy a mid level arrow.

I'd never go buy a crazy expensive arrow because I know I'd end up losing some, blah, blah, blah. Now that I'm actually shooting a pretty nice arrow it, it definitely makes a difference. They hit way harder, too. [00:50:00] I was trying to sight in my bow cause I didn't realize how for me, I don't want to pull too much poundage back when I'm shooting a bow cause you see these guys pulling back real hard and it's they're making all that movement.

I want it to be smooth as butter when I'm coming back. And if I can't pull smooth as butter, pulling back too much. So I cranked mine all the way up this year. I was trying to slide it in. I hadn't slided it in so long. I was putting the pin the wrong way. I was blowing through the fence shooting high.

And my old arrow, same fence. My old arrow, I would hit it, and it would go through the fence a little bit. But these things were blowing through, and then the first time I did it, it blew through the fence. Went under my neighbor's car. I was right by the tire. So lucky I didn't hit their tire.

It is a difference, man. Once you get like a nicer setup, it is different just because I'm cheap, man. I grew up like blue collar family. It's just since I was raised and now that I'm getting a little more diehard, I've been getting nicer stuff. But what do you think of this? Definitely. Yeah. What do you think of them Zinger Fletches?

Dude, I love them. They are crazy. They're just, they don't go bad. You can legit shoot your arrow and pull your arrow through the whole target and then[00:51:00] your fletches are still good. We bought some. No, they would give it to us. They did? Yeah no, we bought them. No, we bought them. We were at the Iowa Deer Classic.

Two years ago or whatever. And they were there and we were talking to them. We bought some, but they're still sitting in the package. Yeah. I just haven't messed with them. We get, I get my arrows from black Ovis. They do, they build it for you or whatever. I haven't had any complaints with the way they've been doing it.

So I haven't had a reason to take the fletchings off just to try them out yet. I always pack them with me. Like when I go out West and things like that, I'm like what if something happens and, I need to fletch an arrow real quick then I got them. Cause I've, I have heard great things about them, so do you just put yours on and leave them? Or do you tack them at all? Like I've heard a few people, they'll put a little glue like on the edges or whatever, and, just to seed them in there and other people just leave them where they're at and mark them. How do you do it?

I actually had them make my arrows. It was the first arrows I ever had made. They're custom arrows from Kanati Arrows. Same owners and everything. So they sent me the arrows and I just started [00:52:00] shooting them. Had zero issues with them, man. They got I don't know what it's called. I don't know if the arrow's well enough, but they got that metal collar in the front.

And dude, that makes such a difference, just for yeah, hitting and power, that's a big difference. I love my shoot, just cause I'm still shooting a Whisper Biscuit. I shoot the three blades, they got the four blade bludgings as well, which that's what the majority of people shoot. Yeah, I'm still with you there, I still shoot three blade blazers.

Just because, like you said, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's what I started shooting, never had a problem. Kept shooting them, never had a problem. There is... A part of me that says it would be so much easier to go to a four blade, or four vane aero setup, so that when you're tuning those broadheads, those fixed blades especially, it's just not as hard.

Because you've got, another option right there, and just statistically speaking, those blades should line up with a vane somewhere. At that point I'm pretty sure you just Noctune it, mostly. Yeah. It's more of a Noctune rather [00:53:00] than a... It's a simple deal, yeah. Yeah. One reason I shoot the mechanic is because when I try to shoot six blades out of this bow, just because it ain't no crazy bow, like you can see and hear my arrow just like flying crazy.

I'm like, yep, not doing that. I don't feel like I can go through a mechanical on right now and it's ready to rock. So that was honestly one of my main things about it because I got your diehard buddies that they'll sit there and try to argue with me like, six plays the best. I'm like yeah, I hear you.

If you're hitting that spot, you're aiming at deer's going down at the field point. You know what I mean? To a certain extent. I think that's the what makes you comfortable and shoot where you can hit where you're aiming. And you shouldn't have a problem with whatever you're rocking. There's so many great broadhead companies out there.

There is. There You can say that about pretty much anything in the outdoor world. There's so many great products in every space. That, Camo. You rock an Osseo. Huntworth. Truth be told, I'd rock several brands out there because I like their pattern, I've heard good things about them.

It's [00:54:00] it's just an industry it's a good thing that it's gotten saturated with companies because then they compete with each other and they make better products and they don't, you don't like just get stuck with, the only bow company that is out there. They don't have any any reason to get better if they're the only one.

They don't need to innovate and make you better products because they're the only one. Now you got Matthews, Hoyt Bowtech, Elite, PSE, who else? All these other bow companies that I can't think of at the top of my head out there that are trying to make a better bow than the other dudes.

That's only gonna help us, as the hunters. Same thing with trail cams, like all these trail cam companies. You can't buy a bad bow now. I don't care what bow you buy. If you're buying a bow that's came out the last 2 3 years, it's gonna be a good bow. Yeah. Yep. It's just what matches you. What works for you.

Whatever. I'm not gonna go buy a 34 36 inch axle to axle bow when I'm 5'7 The damn thing will be as tall as [00:55:00] me. Andy. Our resident Sasquatch on our crew is 6'7 yeah, that ain't no problem for him. If he's that big, I know he's big. I don't know if he's 2. I had to ask him the other day, actually.

I think he said he was 6'6 That boy, he ate his greens when he was young or something. God bless. Yeah. The whole family's pretty big. They're all tall. Yeah. And so he would look it'd be weird shooting a little 30 inch bow for him. It almost looked like a toy So yeah me and him obviously are never gonna have similar bows.

Plus he's left handed. Got that against him He's got that. Yeah, he's got a 32 inch draw and he's left handed Like the dude can never he's one of those guys He can never walk into a bow shop and ask to shoot something because they ain't gonna have it Like they ain't gonna have what he needs.

I can pretty much walk in anywhere and be like I want to try that one. Cause I'm a 27 inch draw, which most bows are going to go down to that. And then Mike is right, in the middle. You're you can, I'm like an average 29 inch draw, 70 pounds.

I can pretty much shoot, shoot anything. [00:56:00] But yeah, that's just I don't know. I like to talk about your. Your archery set up with different hunters, just because I don't feel like I've gotten the same answer ever on our show. Yeah. Oh yeah, every second. Some guys, I got somebodies that are just like super, super diehard, shoot all the time and that's just definitely not me.

Yeah okay. Let's talk about deer season. What are you after this year, dude? Okay, anything good on camera? Yeah. I usually dive around quite a bit. This is going to be my last year. I've had this property. I think it's 11 years. I think it's the 11th season. We've had this property in the family and my parents are end up selling it.

They're getting old, man. They they're in their 60s now. It's a pretty big house. So they're trying to downsize. Just it's too much to deal with. So it's gonna be the last year. So I'm putting all my Indiana time here. I'm not going to any other public. I'm yeah. Focusing it all here, and luckily dude I've already talked about it more than I should, so screw it.

I have this buck I call Blade, and I've had history with him since 2015. And had history with him since [00:57:00] 2015. He disappeared for, I think, 5 or 6 years. He's the most infamous buck I've ever chased. I've got daylight pictures of him back in the day. So he's over 8 years old then? Yeah, I'm putting him at 10 or 11, I believe.

I don't have to do math, but yeah, he's a, and he's a hammer he's not just oh, he's a 10 year old and he's old, he's going downhill this buck is a giant 10 year old his body, once we get off here, I'll have to send you guys a text, I don't send too many people up in here, so I've got to And I just know this buck, and like the odds of me killing him are slim to none, just especially because he's disappeared.

I don't even know for a fact that I've had any pictures of him in the last five years. Last year, I didn't run much cameras until basically November, but I never got him there. But I was sitting there filming all my neighbors, and I was glassing all these bucks. They're sitting like this I don't even know what the farmer planted.

Real small field, right off the road. So all the deer were in there. I'd drive by, go into my house, and I'd see them, and I'd say, There's some good bucks. I'm gonna walk down. So I walk down, and I'm filming, and filming these good eight year old, or eight points, and I'm watching everything, and then [00:58:00] out of nowhere, he pops up, and I'm filming him.

That's a giant. And this was when they, before they were getting like, real defined, like he was pretty defined. Ended up filming him again, and as I'm filming him, it like, hit me. I felt he, he's got a really defining kicker off his base. It's like another brow tine almost. That's why I call him Blade.

It just comes off. Really defining point. And if it wasn't for that point, I'd have never thought it was him. I thought I'd have been gone forever, I put two and two together. I'm filming him. I like realized I was like that way because his body's huge. He's standing next to these three and four year olds like dwarfing.

I'm like by far the biggest body buck i've ever seen like I got videos of them. First, I think it was August 2nd, and he's walking by one of my cameras, I got two videos of him, and it's next to me going, just waiting to get swole for the rut, never seen anything like it. He's a mega I had to think right now, I think he's a 13 or 14 point this year, he's a typical 12, he's got kickers off his G2s that match up.

And he's got like some stuff on his bases and that that blade point. But yeah, I got a couple of pictures of him. I'm [00:59:00] that he's my number one. I got some other good bucks. Just, he's a ghost, man. And we punted them for those couple of years that we had history with them. I got an idea. He's a bug.

After we'll exchange phone numbers, you got Texas pictures of blade. We'll text you pictures of Baraka who is in the same boat as blade. He's a ghost right now to us. He's the one I was telling you about that during the summer, we saw him every damn day and now he's just gone. Yep. Yep. By doing that, we will give good juju to the other and that buck will come back manifest.

It will manifest them coming back to each other. Hey I'm I'll tell anything I can, man. I'll manifest everything that buck, because you ain't gotta worry about us. We ain't coming to Indiana to fuck mess with him anyway. Yeah. You ain't coming to Missouri to mess with him. So it's a win-win situation I think.

Yeah, okay, I'm all ears for it. But this buck, I do know that he's a rut buck and a late season buck. So if I'm going to kill this buck, it's going to be November. We've got pictures [01:00:00] of him. He's usually more towards the end. He's usually like the second week of November towards the end when he'd come through the property.

Because we have this one spot right here. Just moved one of my cameras. 'cause I was like, you haven't had a camera on this little spot for a while. And that's like the only spot. I got pictures of him during the Rutt, so I put that camera back there just in case and put a new vine over that scrape.

But dude, he's Omega, I hope he comes through. He, oh dude, I don't even want put a number on him, but I'm saying 180 probably. Damn like he will by far my biggest, like my biggest is right there. He's a 1 58. He'll definitely break Booner, but since he is such a ghost, I don't have much history with him.

I don't know for a fact he's going to come back. I don't know because it's my last year. So I got some other bucks. If they walk by, I'm not going to miss the opportunity. It's 27 acres, small parcel. Yeah. A bunch of the neighbors are starting to hunt. It's that time where the neighbor, he crossbow hunts.

The other guys, a bunch of them gun hunting. It gets crazy when gun season gets here, I got a 10 point, I put him at four last year. So [01:01:00] he's probably a five year old this year. I've gotten one picture of him since season started. It was like 30 minutes before light walking on my property. And I think what he was doing, he was just doing his early season route.

Come and check, see if Susie's there. See if she's still in the area. Cause I'm a big believer in these bucks. Come and check your dough, check your property, make sure what's going on. And then they come back in the rut. So if he comes by, I'm gonna smoke him. He's probably 130 inch. Ten point, got good I guess it'd be like G 4s.

They're pretty small, but he's a shooter in my book. Especially, he's mature, and then I got this other eight point. That if he walks by, he's a tall and tight, thick buck. But, yep, Blade's number, he's number one, man. I can see that. How many tags do you get? I haven't seen that buck. In Indiana, we get one buck tag, and you can kill in my county, you get three does, but then I can go to the county over and kill two or three more does.

I was listening to your show I think it was last week. The dude you had on that was talking about he's a big believer in identifying does. He'll try to like he'll try to find a feature on a doe and [01:02:00] know who she is. Really? Just like we do with bucks. Why though? so that He can figure out their patterns and by figuring out their patterns He can pattern a buck based on what she's doing and like he'll try to figure out when they have their fawns And he can almost like if he knows exactly when the fawn was on the ground because of what she's doing Then he can almost guarantee when she's gonna go into estrus the next year.

And if he knows exactly who that doe is Then, it's just he knows who, what she is he's got one doe, he's got a scar on her body, and another doe's got something on her ear, her tail's black, and he, I don't know if he names them, but yeah, and it's not you think about it, you get all these pictures of does, I don't do shit with them, I just yep, there's some does, good, but they could give you information just like a buck does, I thought that was a really good show what he was saying about that. Yeah, that's genius. He's put stuff into perspective for me because he was one of the first people I sent that blade back. [01:03:00] And I was just like, dude, what do you think about this? Why are you blah, blah, blah? Just because he's, yeah, he's a very methodical guy.

He made me think, I was going to think about shooting some does, but then I was thinking, yeah, my luck. That'd be the one doe that Blade comes here to breed. So I was like, I'll wait until the rut's done. We'll smack these does in late season and everything. But that's basically how I hunt. Me and him are really similar in that way is we hunt does to kill bucks.

That's that's just what we do. We figure out where these does are, like, I don't know if you saw that post I just did where I just posted a bunch of pics off my Kentucky cam and that's, that was my whole goal going in there. It's like finding some real good doe trails because when you find them doe trails and doe bedding areas, them bucks shouldn't be there in a rut.

And that's one of those conversations you either, you love the road or you hate it. And I love it. I'm an equal opportunist hunter. I don't get me wrong. I got my target bucks and I got even shot some target bucks in the rut. But that's, I think that's basically the best way I can put it.

How I hunt is I hunt does kill bugs. Where there's, like I've always said, where there's hoes, there's bros. Dang, always. It don't matter [01:04:00] where you are, doesn't matter what. What species? Where there's the chicks, there will be the dudes. You should have said dicks there, that would have been funnier.

Where there's the chicks, there's gonna be some dicks. There you go. That's funny. Hey Gavin, before we hop off tell everybody how they can find White Tailed Bloodline, check you out on social media, and listen to the show. Yep, you can just search Whitetail Bloodline. It's Whitetail Bloodline on all platforms.

The most frequent posting is on Instagram by far, YouTube, trying to get better. I was doing a good pre season, getting ready for the season for our new segment on there, so I'm on YouTube. You can search the Whitetail Bloodline podcast on Apple, Spotify, basically anywhere you can find the podcast, Whitetail Bloodline.

I'm one of those guys, man, if you ever need anything, reach out to me. I'm here to help people as much as I can. That's one of the reasons I started the Whitetail Bloodline, is to help people, and yeah, I just love it. I appreciate you guys letting me hop on, man. Long time coming definitely have to get you guys on my podcast and here in BS again Yeah, I definitely [01:05:00] enjoyed it cuz I haven't been on many podcasts I've done a lot of podcasts, but I haven't been a guest on many so I truly appreciate it guys Yeah, no, we appreciate you coming on man and everybody go check out Gavin and what he's doing.

I enjoy listening to him I enjoy listening to people I feel like it's a lot like me, just I don't know, some of the names in the industry are much bigger than us, and that's awesome, I love them, but, sometimes you're just like, I want to listen to me, and I don't like listening to me, so I need to listen to someone else.

I want to hear the guy that's only got 27 acres, that is his parents and stuff like that yeah. Gavin Saunders, Whitetail Bloodline, thanks for coming on, bro. Yes, sir. Y'all be a good man, appreciate it. Alright, see ya.

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