Hunting Canadian Whitetail

On this episode of The Nomadic Outdoorsman Dan talks Clay Blanchard from Ontario about his passion for chasing wildlife in Canada.

Clay is a 22 year old Hunter and Angler from Athens, Ontario, Canada. Clay loves chasing after mature whitetail and turkey across his home province. He spends countless hours in the field each year in pursuit of a big buck or a great Tom. Although Canada seems like a wild and exotic place to hunt Clay shares how certain areas aren’t that different from hunting the US. Dan and Clay talk all about the similarities and difference in hunting both of their home countries.

[00:00:00] All right guys. Welcome to you today's show. And I have got an avid outdoorsman from America's Top Hat on today. Yeah, that's right Canada. And I've had some buddies in the past couple years who have gone up and hunted in Canada. And the stories that come back with are insane. So I'm really excited about this episode.

Now I know there's a saying that's like everything's bigger in Texas in all reality, that saying should be, this is gonna ruffle some feathers. By the way, the saying should be everything's bigger in Canada. Cuz when you look at the size of the animals that they are pulling out of Canada every year, whether it's whitetail, moose, elk, bear, you name it it's gnarly.

So I'm really excited to hop into this episode with Clay and we're gonna talk all about what he's been up to, what he pursues and how he goes about it. So let's jump in right now.

Like he was doing things that were just badass. [00:01:00] That was one of the coolest moments of my life. I was really scared, but knowing that Dan had the gun, I did have the rifle, like we would be Okay.

All right guys. Welcome to you today's show. And joining me on the show today is Clay Blanchard from Canada, Ontario, specifically, right? Yes, sir. Sweet man. Thanks for hopping on the call. We're gonna talk all about Canadian hunting because that is a place I used to, we used to go up fishing just north of Minnesota.

But I've never hunted in Canada and I see people that, like obviously everyone follows Jim Shockey and even Greg McKay's Wild Yukon. Have you watched that series yet on Netflix? . I didn't even know that was on Netflix, man. And I don't, I didn't know if it's on Canadian Netflix, cuz I know some shows differ.

Oh, okay. But yeah, no, I've never, I know [00:02:00] Jim Shockey though. Yeah, so there's a, there's another guy Greg Mihail, I think it's called Wild Yukon. It is a wild, it's an insane show. This guy doesn't use motorized transportation to get on any of his hunts. So he'll he'll take his bike and he'll bike on the road for 50.

Everything's in kilometers for you guys, but he'll bike for 50 kilometers then he'll be pulling his kayak behind his bike and then he'll get in the river and paddle upstream for a hundred kilometers and then start his hunt. And I watched the whole first season. I was like, this guy's insane.

But that's about the extent of information or experience I've got. Canadian hunting, and so I'm excited to pick your brain and hear what it's like up there. Cuz it just seems like everything grows bigger up there too. Is that pretty accurate? Yeah, I would say so, but I, I don't want anyone listening to get misinterpreted about that because I would say it's just like any regular hunting that anyone's used to, we're not, I'm not doing that.

I'm not, walking in the woods miles [00:03:00] upon miles and camping out and, horseback or bike or whatever that may be. I'm driving my truck into a field and then walking about a hundred yards into the bush and sitting in a stand, yeah. It's not like the stuff that you see. And man, I'm fascinated by that.

I like, honestly, like when, watching Meat Eater with Steven Ronella on on Netflix, it's just, yeah. Some of the stuff that he does is crazy, but it's also a lot of, it's really relatable too. Yeah. Some aspects of hunting yeah, no, it's, where I'm hunting it's pretty normal. But yeah, there's , there's some places here in Canada and even here in Ontario where, you're going deep in the bush and and you never know what you're gonna, what you're gonna expect.

Yeah, I think for a lot of us down here in the lower 48, we think of Canada as just this rugged wild place. And it's not until like you get up there, you realize it's very similar to some of the northern states here. There's parts that are very close to Montana, some like Wisconsin, some like the Dakotas.

It's not all [00:04:00] that different, even though you guys are an entire nation north of us. But I feel like the hunting opportunities, or maybe the styles, because there's tradit. in each state. I feel like here you can go to a different state and learn about the hunting traditions that they have.

And I'm curious about that. Like what did that look like for you as you grew up as you got into hunting? Is it, does it vary? Excuse me? Does it vary that much from what we've got going down here? Or is it pretty similar like you learn with a shotgun or a rifle, you go out, you sit in your tree stand for, the gun season and then maybe you start picking up other stuff?

Yeah, I wouldn't say it would differ at all, really. I don't, I don't know about other, in western provinces or eastern provinces, whatever, but up here, everyone just gets brought into it, gets introduced to it at a very young age, I would say. Me personally, yeah. My dad, he was a part of a hunt gang just outta town and they had a hunt camp.

And I remember like me being, three, four [00:05:00] years old, go out there and. was introduced to, deer hanging up on a post. And and then, as I got into elementary school I used to go out with my dad just behind our house there. My mom would allow us to for me to take off one day during gun season one day off from school.

So I'd go out with him and and then, yeah, as I got into, even then, I would always play around with a BB gun and all that, and my dad would let me shoot the 22 and all that kind of stuff. And yeah, but then as I got into, middle school, high school area, it, that's when I really took it serious.

You go and get your license. And then I joined a buddy of mine, he has a farm in town. So hunted hunted with him all of high school and really learned a lot Then And then yeah, ever since I've been in college I've just done my own thing with the properties around my house and when I come home from school and yeah, just, going out with my dad or my brother and yeah, man.

It's just [00:06:00] like around here, it's just like a family tradition really. You pick up from what your dad or your grandpa did and hunt with them and hunt with friends. Everyone does it around here, yeah, I would say it's pretty, that's the norm.

Yeah. No, that's cool. It's, yeah, it's very similar and I feel like a lot of places you might get into it in the same way. And then some places the style of hunt changes. I talk to guys who walk the north Woods of Maine and they'll just get on fresh deer tracks and walk on those deer tracks until they try to catch up to the deer and shoot it.

And I'm like, okay, that's pretty wild. And then you talk to people down. in Florida where they're swamp hunting. And so it sounds like most places you get into hunting the same way. It's a tradition, it's a community tradition or a family tradition that you grow up in. And then from there things might change a little bit.

What are like the main things that you hunt? Or do you just go with anything that's open or has the season? Yeah, I mean I've been trying to learn new things. My [00:07:00] I've typically just been doing the whole deer and Turkey thing. I just recently, the past couple years started doing the waterfowl.

And we have a 16 foot aluminum John boat. We take that out on the lake that I live on and and do some duck And my dad is actually a pretty avid moose hunter. That's a big change from down here, like moose, , everywhere down here you're like the luckiest hunter in the world to draw a moose tag.

And I and you know what, man? I would say that doesn't really differ much up here because you have to, you have to draw a bull tag. And that's that's what you want. You even have to draw a cow tag. Okay. So there's been in most recent years, my dad's gang hasn't been as lucky as they have been before.

But yeah, so they travel up about, I think 14 hours north from where I am. So this is they're way north in Ontario. Yeah. And that's what I was gonna say before, like we're pretty, where I am, we're pretty south, like we're by the St. Lawrence River. And I think [00:08:00] if my geography is correct, I think we're actually more south than like the Dakotas.

and Montana, maybe even Wisconsin too. But yeah, so my dad travels up like 14 hours up north from here, which is, pretty north. And that's where he goes to hunt moose. Nice. Yeah. So how many, how many tags has he drawn or how often can you draw a moose tag up there?

I would say that a cow tag is more common than a bull tag. But yeah, I think the last time that they drew a bull tag was like, it had to have been a few years ago. Him, he drew a bull tag in 20, I think it was 2013, and he actually shot a massive bull. And yeah, so but other guys in this gang has have drawn since.

Yeah. It, it's just way more uncommon, than a cow tag. And then even a cow tag is lucky too. And then if you're if you're left without a cow in a bull [00:09:00] tag, then you're stuck with a calf tag, right? So that's how it works up here. Oh, so they've got a spec specific tag for calves.

It's not even like you have an antler bull or you have an antler list. They give tags for young moose also. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's not like gear where you get, an antler or an antler list tag. Yeah. So you once you apply, once you put yourself in the draw in the moose draw, then you'll automatically get a calf tag.

But then one member out of the group will get either a cow bull tag if they draw. Okay. Nice. Yeah. . That'd be sweet just to have a group like that to where you're getting to go out and hunt them. Whether you have the tag or somebody in your party has the tag, like you get to go out and hunt moose and

That's a big feat. That's once in a lifetime for [00:10:00] a lot of people. And so that's definite. Yeah, definitely unique. Yeah. It's wicked man. I think I'm, I haven't been able to go yet just because of me being in college. But, my dad wants me to go this year if I'm able to. So yeah I'm looking forward to that.

That's just, it's just totally different man. Like that when you asked is it like all, like when, Americans think of Canadians it's all rugged up here and all that kind of stuff, but like that is rugged like that up north like that's, down here it's similar, but Yeah, up there is like what on like TV and stuff.

Yeah, I feel like moose hunting, no matter where you are in the US or in Canada or in Alaska, like moose, hunting's, just rugged. Those, they're big animals. They live in very remote places, especially the ones that grow to be huge. Not to mention what else are you gonna shoot that you're gonna get that much meat off of.

That one quarter is gonna be a couple hundred pounds [00:11:00] and , your packout might be forever or you're having a hike through the swamp. That's I can't wait. I hope I get to go on another moose hunt at some point in my life and I plan on it. But, it's time, it's money, it's luck of the draw, I guess it is, man.

There, there's a lot of things that gotta go into it. And even besides here, like I, I wouldn't even say it's. Rugged or interesting than other provinces, cuz you see some guys who like fly into very remote areas and horseback or do all that kind of stuff. Like actually camp, do that whole thing up in the Yukon or up in on Northwest Territories or northern bc, something like that.

No, up here it's the same thing. You just, you're going, very remote, but you're also by the road too. So I think my dad's gang actually they partied up with another group. And so they walked, they both walked away with two cows this year. Oh, sweet. And they shot them.

Yeah. So they [00:12:00] obviously, how it worked was they divvied up the meat with each group. , but they actually shot that pretty close to the road, so they, it was lucky for them. Like they just took the four lower into the bush, however many yards and butchered him up and and yeah.

So it was pretty easy that way. But I th I remember my dad telling me, like when he shot his bull back 10 years ago it was a whole different story. Like it was, he was deep into the bush. Yeah. That's tough, right? When it comes to new hunting, that's what you gotta expect. Yeah. That's, it's wild man.

It's fun, but it's definitely different for people who are used to hunting small game or birds or whitetail. So what kind of hunting do you primarily do? I'm assuming a lot of whitetail hunting in Southern Ontario. Do you guys have mule deer or are those in the western provinces?

those are in the western provinces. Yeah. I think they can be found in, I don't even think they can be found in Manitoba which the province next to us they're in like [00:13:00] Saskatchewan and Alberta. I think there's Okay. But all those provinces also have whitetail deer I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty sure the mule deer stick down to the southern parts of those provinces.

And then the whitetails are more northern. But yeah, here in Ontario, there's no mule deer. We're just, we're whitetail, whitetail and Turkey and bear and moose and yeah, all those sort of things. So I just, yeah, I I'm an avid deer hunter whitetail deer hunter and and then, Turkey hunter as well.

And like I said I've been trying to get into the waterfowl a bit with some with some friends. As I said before, I have the John boats But yeah, that's new. Other than that, man, yeah just avidly with the Turkey and the whitetail. Yeah. All right. For whitetail, are you hunting public or private land mostly?

Yeah. I'm fortunate, man. I hunt private land yeah, I got like we have a hundred acres next to us, like just right next to the house there. My my cousin cares that land and and then I got another 60 acre property down the road and [00:14:00] then another 200 acre property across the road.

So I've been, yeah, I've been pretty fortunate just to hunt around my house and and do that with, just my dad and and my brother. And so yeah, we've been pretty good that way. Like I said back in high school, like I hunted with a gang and that was on all farmland. and it was just like, it was just such a different aspect of honeymoon.

Like you said, it, I think it varies from property to property. Like people do each gang, each person does everything so differently. And so when I was in high school hunting with the gang on the farm, they were like dog and bushes themselves. They didn't have dogs. So we were doing that.

Us being the young lads, we'd we'd be stuck walking through the bushes, , and trying to cause chaos. Trying to push the deer up to the older guys out in the fields, right? And so that was that, that was different hunting. But then being here over [00:15:00] the last five years that I've been in school, like it's just been still hunting.

I just get to go up into a stand and I have my trail cameras out. I know where the deer are, I know when they're gonna be there. And it's just nice, like when I have a target buck, I can just, Personally go out and hunt him and not have to worry about anyone else. Yeah. So yeah, it's just different.

I'm very fortunate that way. There are groups around here who do hunt public land. And yeah. So there's, there's a lot of that around here too, but it's just, I try to stay off of that. I let the gangs who already have taken that, we allow them to continue to hunt there and all that kind of stuff.

We don't intrude on them. Yeah, that's how it works. Nice. What what does your sand stand set up look like? Are you doing blind hangout stand a climber saddle. And then also are you hunting hardwoods or field edge? Where do you have it set up? Yeah, so the property next to my house is mainly field edge.

We, I think there's like total of five fields back there and all divided [00:16:00] by tree lines. And and backed up on some bush. So that's cool. We have a box stand on there. So it's, nice and cozy. I see. Yeah. And and then a few climbers around here and there. Honestly, man, like I, I honestly don't mind sitting on the ground though for some, for some of the hunting that I do on the 200 acre property that I have.

There's no stands in there and I've yet to put one in. So I mainly just walk around and then just sit on a stump kind of thing. That's all hardwoods in there. So honestly, man, like I would love to try out saddle hunting because like in a property like that, like where it's all hardwoods, it would be so nice rather than having to sit on the ground.

But yeah, yeah, not, yeah, to be up and to be comfortable and even I've been talking to different people. I. , I feel like saddle hunting. People think oh, I gotta climb way up in the tree. Honestly, you can treat saddle hunting like a chair that you wear with wear [00:17:00] on you, so maybe you don't wanna sit on a stump and you just wanna be able to sit down, bring it with, and tie it, put your lineman's rope at I height and then just sit back and your feet will still be on the ground, but at least you've got a chair while you're out there and a pretty mobile chair.

You're gonna be able to get up, move around, still move to a different spot if you want to. And so that's one way to do it. If you don't feel like climbing up in a tree yet, and you just want to get used to it, it's, there's a lot of uses for it. Yeah. Yeah, I know for sure man. And like I said, like in a property like that it would be so useful.

I just have never that's a new property that I've got, so I haven't really, got around to that. But yeah the property next to our house is just. , there's box stand up there, so climb up there and same with the other 60 acre property that I have, there's box stand on there as well.

Yeah, that, that's pretty well it it's just, it's a lot of still hunting. It's not a lot of moving around. Yeah. The fields that you're hunting the edge of, or [00:18:00] I guess the layout of these properties, are you able to do any, like habitat improvement, any food plots, anything like that?

Or are you just finding the natural funnels and the natural food sources and playing that game? Yeah, so my cousin who care takes the land next to us he used to do he used to do some co plots on there and he hasn't really much anymore cuz he is, he's hunting on with a gang on another property, so he lets us gun hunting there.

But yeah, just , just hunting farmer's fields, basically, man, like they're all rented out. Every other year, there's corn and soybean planted in all the fields around here. So I think that's what a lot of hunters rely on around here is their farm fields. Yeah, I don't think honestly, I don't think a lot of a lot of people plant food plots around here, and it's just there's a lot that goes into it, man. You have to have a, you have to have a tractor and a bush hog and a seed at all and maintain it all. It's just, and even if you don't have, those cleared flatlands, then you're [00:19:00] stuck with having to clear all that bush by yourself or you don't even have the chance to do it anyways.

Yeah, I don't know, man it's just kind of time and money. The way I look at it is, and maybe one day, once I own some property to myself, if I have the opportunity to, then I would Absolutely. . But yeah, cause I've, there's a few people do it around here and I've seen their deer on their properties and they'll get big.

So it definitely helps. A lot of our deer around here, man, are corn fed. Yeah. All right guys. If you've been listening to the podcast, I'm sure you've heard me talk about the helicopter hog hunt that I did down in Texas. Now, I went down there with rope Texan Outfitters and Landon and Brandon, the owners put us on the animals.

We killed 150 pigs in 19 coyotes, just from the air. On top of that. We went out thermal hunting at night and got up close and personal to more hogs. I didn't have to worry about bringing guns or ammunition because all of that was provided for me, and it is to this day, the most action packed day of hunting I've ever had.

I stand by what I've said in the past, and that's [00:20:00] that helicopter hog hunting is the funnest thing that you can do with pants on. In addition, they offer Sandhill crane hunts, and predator calling. So if you're looking for the most exciting hunt of your life in something that you're gonna want to come back and do year after year, go check out rogue texan.com and book your hunt today.

Yeah. It's definitely beneficial if you can get extra vitamins and nutrients to the deer. You give them, you give 'em a food source for once the crops are down, but you can't really beat corn in beans. That's what everybody plants around here. And I talked to the guy who leases, so I hunt this property.

I've got access to it. I'm fortunate to where I don't have to pay for it. But there is a guy who leases the property for crops and cattle and he just says soybeans. And then a bunch of it, he keeps his pasture to run cows on. And I had talked to him one day, I was like, Hey [00:21:00] man, what would it cost if you just left a strip like along the woods and let me plant a food plot there?

And he is like, why would you wanna do that? I'd plant a 40 acre food plot for you every year. And I was like, yeah, you got a point. But I think, yeah it's beneficial during that season once the crops are down, it just doesn't seem like the deer want to hang out as much anymore. And so if I could give them a food source that will carry them into the deep winter months, that would be a lot more beneficial than only having an early false, an early fall food source in soybeans.

Yeah. Like pretty what I've been doing, man, I've been spending a lot of money on like just bag corn, yeah. This year back in the fields, they were planting beans and. , the deer didn't really seem to be hanging out there as much. They were mainly attacking, the corn pile that I put out for them.

And a lot of the bag [00:22:00] corn buy around here is is all molasses covered too, so they like that. And yeah, extra sweet. It's like candy. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, I do that for them. And I like to do that like right before bow season opens, which is start of October, and I do it pretty well, like right up until Christmas, just to keep them around and especially when we get the deep snow, it it helps them. But yeah, no yeah, we, other than that we just rely on our farmers' fields. It's a great, it's a great resource for sure to have somebody else foot the bill for a giant food plot.

What I mean with you being that far south when is your rut for whitetail? Yeah, it, it really depends and honestly, man, I think it depends on property to property. Honestly. I found that out this year. It's typically at the start of November. Okay. So yeah, I don't really do I haven't been doing a lot of bow hunting because I've been in college.

But but yeah, right when [00:23:00] gun season opens, which is the, it's the first couple weeks in November. That is usually when you see when you see the rut appear this year actually. So in 20, in 2021 season, I shot a nice book on the second day of gun season, and he was full rut this year, however it was the second week of gun season where.

The rut kicked off on our property anyways. Like I w I had talked to other people, man, they were like, what are you talking about? Like the ruts full swing. Yeah. And I'm like, not on our property. It's not, man, I haven't seen any bucks at all. The bucks that would come in, at nighttime, they know they'd still have their thin necks.

You know what I mean? It just, it didn't seem like there was much activity, especially even on those cold mornings, that usually you would expect that it was mainly that second week, man. Yeah, I don't know about you guys, but that's, we have two weeks of gun season [00:24:00] here in, in Ontario, so that's pretty well what we work with, and that's when you really can expect the rut.

Yeah, I feel like almost everywhere I've deer hunted whitetailed deer hunted. The rut is like the beginning of November. But like you said, seeing it different places or different times, different places. This year was wild. I saw intense running activity about a month and a half after what the rut normally is.

And I didn't really see anything during November. I mean November 5th through probably 25th. It just didn't seem like my trail cameras were picking much up. I wasn't seeing a whole lot in person. I was seeing quite a few deer dead on the side of the road, which is usually indicative of the rut happening.

They get stupid, they're running, not paying attention. But honestly there was some pretty crazy pictures and videos that I got and encounters that I had with deer or even reports of my buddies. Dude, they're deer running [00:25:00] hard late December, even into January, cuz our season ends January 15th and I got out of the stand, got back home, and I got a notification on my trail camera, January 15th.

and it had a buck, a big mature buck. The biggest one I had seen all season and I had never seen him in person. And he was in their dog and doze on January 15th and I'm like, dude, this is late. I've never seen an activity. So I don't know if it was just a weird thing this year, but I heard a lot of people talk about it man, it just seems like the rut.

Yeah. We either had a really strong second rut or, the first rut didn't kick off when it was supposed to. Man, that, that's crazy. I've never heard that before. I had heard of of some places having that late of a season. Ours ends on December 31st for Bo. And the thing is, man, it's like as soon as December comes though and the snow hits the deer around here, disappear for me, I don't know where [00:26:00] they go.

It's been like that every year. They used to hurry up actually, like right behind our house, we have a ridge behind our house and we could see them . But yeah, for the trail cameras, man, like I take mine down like mid-December pretty well. Okay. Yeah. Like I, because I don't know, like even if I don't fill a tag, if I don't fill a tag then I'll obviously take mine down, right after deer season ends.

But yeah, man, like in December, I don't expect any deer to be on that camera, let alone running, man. Yeah. That's crazy dude. I think I've heard of the rut lasting up until the last week of November, but never that late, dude. That's nuts. Yeah, it was insane cuz I was like, okay, maybe I'm crazy.

But we, me and a couple buddies, we bought the UMT cam Reveal two, I think Reveal X two maybe, I don't know. Basically a cell. and we can link or share all of our accounts with each other. So I can be monitoring their cameras, they can be monitoring my cameras and my [00:27:00] buddy's place, man. I was like, dude, the rut is still kicking off.

I could go back and look at pictures of bucks chasing do all through December on his property. Middle of the day, like 10:00 AM 2:00 PM they're out there. And I'm like, dude, you need to be up there hunting, man. I don't know what you're doing. You need to get up there. There's bucks every single day in front of your camera.

And then I found that a bunch of my cameras, I think because the limited cell service that I've got, they're not sending me all of the pictures they're taking, I'm getting like one out of every 10 pictures that they take. And so then when I went back and I pulled the cards and actually plugged them in to get the HD video and images, it was like the same exact thing I was having bucks and dos.

Running all over the place, bucks chasing doze way late into December. And then the kicker was that final day of season. Like I said, I got home, 30 minutes to an hour and a half. I don't know what time I got back, but sometime in that [00:28:00] range, after the final day of season ended, I get the biggest buck I've had on trail camera with a bunch of dough.

And I'm like, , what the heck? I need to do some studying and figure out if this is just a weird thing that happened here in Central Missouri, central and South Missouri, or if that was the thing that people saw all over the place. Yeah. Honestly, man I guess the, I think it would be something to do with the very mature deer oh yeah.

Up here in Ontario I think you, a lot more people will see those mature deer that hide all of November start coming out in the daytime, in, late December. , I've definitely seen a lot more bigger bucks be shot in late December. Yeah, cuz they all just start coming out and it might even start chasing dough then.

Yeah. I don't know. But yeah. That's wild man. I've definitely never had that this year, actually, this year was really ticked me off because all my, I had the most target [00:29:00] deer on my camera that I've ever had, but they were all knock journal. Dang. And I was asking everyone, man for advice, I was like, like what do I do man?

Obviously, you get the you just gotta move to where they are in the daylight and it's hard when you're dealing with like property lines and all that, right? And so yeah, we, my brother actually was able to was able to get one, he shot a two and a half year old this year and that, he was coming in like the same time pretty well every day kind of thing.

And so he was lucky to be in the stand when he came out, but as for the bigger, more mature deer they just did not come out in the daylight on our property. Now, with that being said, just down the road from us, one of my target deer was actually shot by someone that I know out in the middle of a field at 3:00 PM in the afternoon.

Oh my gosh. I messaged him, man, and I was I said, you know what? Congratulations. I just wanna share some trail cameras pictures with you. And and he is wow, man. Thanks for sharing those. I'm sorry for [00:30:00] taking your target deer. I'm like, no, man, that's hunting. But I was like, I can't believe that you just seen him out in the middle of the field at three in the afternoon when I, when only I seen him throughout the night.

So I guess he was just and that he was traveling quite a distance too. Yeah, it just goes to show that was, that's four kilometers down the road, so Dang. Yeah, they do a bit of traveling and then as for one of my other target bucks, man, same thing. Just never once seen 'em throughout the daytime.

Just always at night is brutal. So I just, but you can't get around that kind of stuff, you just gotta, wait and see, yeah. Have they, have any of 'em popped up during the day? Did they have those random days where all of a sudden they'd show up and then you wouldn't see 'em again during the day?

Or did they just stay nocturnal the entire season? They pretty well just stayed nocturnal the entire season. And other than that one, two and a half year old buck that my brother got yeah, they we never had seen them in the day just always at night. And I put, I moved around [00:31:00] trail cameras. I tried to figure out their pattern and I just, I could not, for the life of me they, it was almost like they were just working around me.

pretty well, and yeah, but then like I said, with other years, man it's just when you least expect it really. Like I've been out on a cold morning, you get really excited and there pops one up that you've never had on camera at Chase and Doze. And and so yeah, that's just how it works, but then other guys are like, oh no yeah, my deer out at 10 in the morning or whatever, and I get to sleep in and I get to go shoot my deer comes in at 10:00 AM every day and I'm like, wow, man. Yeah. I don't know. It just, I just was unlucky this year, yeah, it'd be nice. I hear about those people that have that where, like the deer out there all day, every day.

I'm thankful. Obviously it's not the rut right now. Obviously they have no hunting pressure at all. But on that 25 acres that we just got, I've had deer. There is one day. , there were deer in there at eight o'clock, 10 o'clock, two o'clock, four o'clock and six o'clock. [00:32:00] And I was like, this is awesome.

I can just pick some random one hour timeframe and get out there and shoot a deer. But it is really unique. I, in fact, I saw it the other day. My wife and I, we were driving out to the property and I had to hit the brakes because these deer had just jumped the fence and it was, I wanna say it was 1:00 PM and these deer jumped the fence and they were gonna cross the road.

And then they turned around, jumped back over the fence, and they booked it, full speed, three deer. All I could see was that one of them had antlers. They could have all been bucks that had already shed, except the small one. But I couldn't fully tell. And they booked it across the field. And I looked at her and I go, this is the weirdest thing I never see, bu I never see deer this time of day just out in the open.

They weren't anywhere close to cover. They were just running around. . Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, maybe they've got some weird disease around here. Maybe something's affecting 'em this year to where everything's delayed because yeah, it's been interesting to see the [00:33:00] movements. Yeah, I just personally think, I think they're just outsmarted me really on our property.

And like you said, that's mainly what I see during the daytime is early morning and late afternoon is usually just dough and fawn. That's for the bucks. Yeah. No, none this year in the daylight. And people will say to me like, oh, the reason why you're not lucky this year is cuz you're not staying out all day.

I'm like, dude, I've never had any deer on my trail cameras in the middle of the day. Never. And I know that there's been big bucks around here, shot at, 10 noon, two, whatever. Those are the hours that I usually pack her in, come eat some breakfast and lunch and lounge around for a bit until I go out for the afternoon.

but I just, I think I just rely on the, my trail camera too much, man. It just I've never seen them in the middle of the day. I've only ever had activity up until eight in the morning and then late in the afternoon, and that's what this year it just seemed like they, I think it was just too warm where they weren't [00:34:00] staying out past sunrise and they were coming back in, in like just before or after Sunset.

And then like you said, like with Pro, when it comes to property lines, like you can't even make a move on them, right? Yeah. So I'll definitely for this year, I'll definitely have to make some adjustments with that, see if I can get some extra property, see if I can find where they're coming from.

Or hopefully it changes this year. I don't know, because yeah, it honestly just depends. See, I feel like that's one of the curses with trail cameras because you put 'em up in. For me, I've done it and I do it every year. I almost rely on them too heavily, and I go exactly what you're saying, man.

I'm not seeing any tear movement midday. I'm just gonna come out for the first two to four hours of the day and then I'm gonna go home. This year, and I think maybe last year opened my eyes to that, my, the main property that I hunt, it's about 80 acres of beans, and then there's like a small, [00:35:00] like 12 to 15 acre chunk of woods that is surrounded on two sides by beans, one side by houses and one side by cattle pasture.

And so it's a, it's just a perfect little sanctuary and I focus a lot of energy on that. And I only hunt the edges of it because it's such a small area. I've got six cameras posted up all along the fence where it goes from the field to the woods. and I think, okay, anything moving through here, I'm gonna pick up, I'm gonna get on camera, I'm gonna see it.

I have seen so many deer move in and out of those woods and they never get caught on camera . And I was like, dude, I'm sitting here all I sit here all day long, I'm thinking, oh, hey, there's deer. Sweet. I'm gonna go pull that camera card and see what they are. If I see 'em way down the fence line or way across the field.

And then it turns out my camera never even picked 'em up. And yeah, I'm like, man, it,[00:36:00] I feel for the people and I hate that I wasted so many years where I would avoid a whole property just because I was like, oh, there's no deer. I haven't seen consistent deer movement. I haven't seen this or that same thing when I went out the other day.

I was shed hunting and I've got one camera on this property. It's not a very long property. And the spots where I figured the deer would be moving the most. . Like I put the camera right there. I walk out there, there are deer tracks all over this field, everywhere. And I'm like, dude, I don't have any of these deer on camera at all.

And my camera's not set up in the greatest spot, but in looking at that, I'm like, dude, if I just went off of trail camera data, I wouldn't know any of this stuff. To get boots on the ground or to spend even two days just doing a full day sit. Cuz then you're gonna go, dude, it's missing my camera by 30 yards.

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That, yeah, it's so true, man. Yeah, I should have realized this year, but I just relied on it too much. I switched to the cellular cameras, so I really thought I had had them out smarter this time. Cellular cameras are awesome. However, my dad was bull hunting this year and he had seen one of our target bucks way across field from our stand and he, where we sit on.

is like a deer funnel from bush out into the field towards more bush. But this deer hadn't even crossed that path. Like he was completely coming from an opposite direction and [00:39:00] headed to an opposite direction, not even towards the food source that we had. Nothing. And obviously my dad wouldn't, wasn't able to poke him with a bow at that distance.

But and then everyone told me like, maybe there's deer out there who, that, aren't walking in that path towards your camera. And that just, that proved it right there. If I was out there and I had a rifle, I would've been able to shoot that deer in a heartbeat. Yeah. But, . Yeah. I definitely have relied on trail cameras too much, man.

Like it, but you know what they do help out in a way. So where I hunt is I drive into this top field, and then I go down like a ridge into the, this bottom field where my stand is on. And you like, when you walk down there you're blindsided. You can't really see into it that very well.

So there's been multiple times where I've walked in and I've spooked deer. Yeah. You know what I mean? And usually I usually like to go in there before sunrise and sit in there for about, 15, 20 minutes in the dark. But even then, man you'll walk in very [00:40:00] slowly, very quietly and you'll see the flags start bopping up and down right in the field.

And so that's what I like about the cellular cameras though now, is that I get to, I'll check 'em once I'm there in the field and I'll say, oh, there's deer there. I'll go set up in a different spot. . And if there's not deer there, then I'll rely on that, that I can slowly make it into my stand and wait for them to come out.

So that's the one thing that's nice about them, man. And also, then you don't have to go and check your card all the, all the time, right? Yeah. But that, but also when it comes to that though too, I miss that in a way. I'd wake up every day. Yeah, no, you wake up every day, you're laying in bed and you check your I, we use spy points, so I'd check my Spy Point app and I'd just see what happened overnight or what's going on.

But I remember I'd go check like my old trail cameras, like every month. And I would just be like, it was like a holiday man. It was just I was so excited to see it was opening up Christmas presents pretty well, right? So people thought I was crazy cuz I would go and I'd check my dude.

I couldn't leave him alone. , I'm [00:41:00] that guy. If there's a Christmas present, I'm like, dude, just give it to me now then I can use it even longer. Why would we wait till Christmas? That doesn't make sense. And it's the same thing with trail cameras. People were like, dude, you're crazy man. You gotta stay off your property.

I would go out there twice a week and pull camera cards and check 'em. And I just loved being on the property. But what I discovered and at first it wasn't intentionally doing it, but then I realized you can almost train these deer to be used to your presence. And yeah, I, it got to the point where I'd be out checking cameras and I'd have deer feeding in the field 40 yards from me.

Yeah. If I moved really fast, they'd take off. But if I was just like going about my business, there was one time I was pulling the card out and I had this camera and it took a micro SD card and it drove me crazy cuz I couldn't get it out. It didn't have a good. Spring where you push it and it pops out.

Yeah. And so I would like always try and dig in there with my fingernails and I was messing with it, getting all frustrated [00:42:00] and all of a sudden I look up and here's a dough that had just hopped the fence and she's just standing there watching me like, what is this ? What is this guy doing?

Yeah. And then I proceeded to close the face of the camera, dump some corn out in front of it and then start working to the other one. And she just fed through the field away from me. Never ran, never blew. And I'm like, this is cool. And so now I, for me it's best of both worlds because I still get the info like right after it happens.

But I go and pull the cards to pull the HD images cuz they don't come through like super high quality through cell service just cuz they're in, they're way out in the country. They're in bad spots where I don't have great service. So yeah, for me it's best of both worlds. I still have that like Christmas.

Christmas morning feel when I go and pull the cards and I check all the videos and pictures. But getting that almost live camera work is pretty awesome too. Yeah, I, [00:43:00] yeah it, it's really a game changer when you think about it. I, so me being up at school, I'd get my, I'd get my brother to do all the work for me.

I'd be like, Hey man, we're outta corn. Can you go? Barrel of corn out for me. It's yeah, sure. So I'd watch him from, three hours away up at school. It's actually funny because this one time this year he called me I see, saw him on the camera with his truck down in the field and saw him that he dumped the corn.

He goes, Hey man, there's four deer and the next field over, I'm pretty sure one of them's a buck. I'm like, oh, no way man. That's awesome. Yeah, just get out there pretty quietly. And they're like right in this next field while he's driving around in the other field. And so it's they've definitely gotten used to human presence around this way.

And actually another funny part of that story was about five minutes after he had left, there was a black bear in front of the, in front of our trail camera and we've never That's pretty cool. Yeah, we've, I'm like, it's a good thing you got out of there, five minutes or five minutes early. But, and it was just funny cuz like [00:44:00] we've never really had black bear around here.

Like they're just starting to become more common. So it was just, luck of the draw. But yeah I mean I've even drove into that top field there where we hunt and I've, there's been deer out in that field, man. And they, especially the Fs, like they'll come, there's that one time where they came right up to my truck pretty well, didn't even let me get out, and I had all my hunting gear on.

I'm like I guess I'm not really, cuz I'm not hunting tonight. honestly so yeah, yeah, it honestly depends though, what the deer around here, man. It's, yeah. But it's nice to see though. It's cool. Do your trail cameras do a live view? I know they send them to your phone, but do they go can you go live on it and just open it up and see what's happening in front of it in that moment?

No, ma'am. I don't think I can do that, honestly. I think it just sends like immediate pictures and if you set it on like a video setting, you could do that too. ? Yeah. No, I didn't know. I didn't even know that was a thing, man. Why couldn't the tactical cams do that? No, they can't. The model that [00:45:00] I have can't, but I saw a debate, I think Mark Kenyon posted it on Instagram or TikTok or something and it was basically like, Hey, what's your guys' thoughts on LiveView cell cams to where you can basic, it's like a ring.

We just got a ring security camera. And so like I can open my app and I can see what's going on in that moment. In fact, I can talk to people through it. All this stuff. We had never had anything like that. And it sounds like with some new cameras out there, the new camera technology, you can just go live and so you can open it up and you can see exactly what's in front of it real time instead of being, having it be delayed.

And you can just sit, you can put it up on your desk at work and just watch it all day long and see, what animals are coming out. I think it's cool. There's a lot of people, in fact I think Mark's stance on it was that it's gone too far. Like we shouldn't be doing that.

It's taking the [00:46:00] sport away from it. Yeah. For me, I don't really think that at all. I'm like, listen the difference is negligible between getting it a second later or 10 seconds later, or having it live. I don't see, it's not that big of a jump for me. I think any type of cellular camera is a huge jump from having to go out and pull cards.

But the ability to go live I think is a cool feature, but I don't think it's a big enough jump to be like we need to stop. We need to second guess this. Yeah. And like I said before, I don't really think. Does affect, cuz I've heard that too. Don't be going and checking it all the time.

And that's what the cellular cameras have changed. You, it limits you with how much you go on it with your property. But yeah, I mean I, I don't even think that it really mattered before anyways cuz like I, I go out midday when, like I said before, the deer activity had just completely shut off.

So don't even think there would've been deer [00:47:00] in, like a, I don't know, two mile radius honestly. Of me. So when I'd go and check them, but but yeah, no, that's the one thing that's nice about the cellular trail cameras, you always get the people who say to you, you don't need them.

Yeah. And we all, we don't need these gadgets that are coming out and helping us. Grandpa Joe used to hunt and red flannel and, take his lunch kid out and. And shoot a deer, right? You don't eat all these gadgets, but I just like 'em, man, just to, it gives you a hope, really.

Like you get to see that's, there's nothing more exciting man than seeing one on your camera. I guess the only thing that would be more exciting would be seeing one person, but yeah, it's just awesome to see them see that they're, they are around in your area to see what time they're coming out and you can work around that.

Yeah. No, I totally agree. I think, yes. Is it cool when people go out there and shoot it with a stick bow or a recurve or whatever and they don't use any modern technology and they don't have to have the nicest camouflage. Yes. I get all of that and I think it's [00:48:00] cool to challenge yourself and to push yourself in to make it more difficult sometimes.

But for the people who are like, you don't need it. You don't need it. I totally get it. I don't need it. But yeah, this is how I would relate it. You've got a relationship with your grandma, right? Is your relationship gonna be better with her if you both have cell phones and com can communicate and you can call each other every now and then and text each other?

Or is your relationship gonna be better when you don't see her for three years and then you go back to your hometown and it's oh, hey grandma, how's it going? And you have to catch up all over again. That's what I, that's how I see it. With no cameras versus cell cameras or no cameras versus trail cameras.

It's not about making it unfair or swaying it in our favor. I like to be connected to the property, like I like everything about it. I like to have boots on the ground. I like to be out there. I like [00:49:00] to go and stand there and do observation, sits with my spotting scope. I like to get pictures and videos and.

So if this is just one more way for me to be connected to the property and connected to the deer, I leave my cameras up all year long. People are like, dude, you pay for that subs, subscription. All, even in the off season, I do, I use it for Turkey hunting. I use it to figure out when the deer dropped their antlers.

I do it for coyote control, like to see how many coyotes are out there, how often they're coming out. And I leave it out there for poachers in trespassers. And so I, that's my take on it. I'm like, dude, if I could have a, if I could have a drone sending me live video flying above the property at all times, I'd do it.

I think that'd be awesome. I'd like to keep eyes on it. If I can't be out there, I'd still like to keep up with it. Yeah. No, for sure. And I like that what you said about, the communication with your grandma and all that kind of thing. And even speaking of that man I honestly like my my dad loves it.

Like he grew up. [00:50:00] Obviously not with that technology. And he gifted me one this year. He loves it. He was like, yeah, it could be for the all be, could be for all of us. And and yeah, no, he loves it. He's always asked me, is there anything on the trail camera, is there anything on the trail camera?

I even gave one, one time to my grandparents, man, just because, and they they weren't even hunting behind their house, but I just gave it to them just to check up on the nature and all that stuff. And they loved it. They loved seeing what was behind their house. So yeah. Yeah, you definitely don't need it, but it's just, it's cool to have, man.

It's just cool where technology is gone. Yeah. There's not many things that we as hunters currently used that we couldn't go without, yeah. There were people shooting deer with rifles and bows long before Rangefinders were out. Yeah. Like you didn't have to have a glowing knock on the back of your arrow.

back in the day, you didn't have to buy $500 boots or a thousand dollars camo set up or all the scent control [00:51:00] stuff. It's Hey, guess what? They didn't have nose jamer either. And some of these guys are just like scent control freaks and they're like, dude, you can't do anything without scent control.

And it's like they used to do it all the time. Go roll around in some cedar branches or smoke your clothes before you go out. Yeah. And so that's where I'm like, listen, if it's legal, just decide what you wanna do. You don't have to do it. I'm not gonna force you to buy a cell camera. I think it's pretty cool and I would encourage you to check it out, to say that I, you have to have one or you can't have one.

If you're gonna be a hunter, a good hunter I think is nonsense. Let people do what they want. For sure. For sure. Yeah. What is what does this upcoming season look like? I know you said you took your cameras down or you take 'em down in December. Do you wait to see what deer made it through or do you pull 'em down before, before you start getting those pictures?

Honestly man, I know that two of the deer that we had on our camera didn't make it through. But as for the other one, yeah, I think I will [00:52:00] just wait until the spring honestly. So what I normally do is like I said, I take them down in December or sorry, in early January and then I'll put them back up come April right before Turkey season, cuz I do like to have 'em out for that.

And then I'll leave them up. I'll usually leave them up for the summer just to see what I'm working with, what deer are living in the area and the antler growth and all that kind of stuff. That's one thing though is that I think for this year, because I'll be home, I'll be graduating from college, I'd really to see what deer are hanging around this area cuz when it comes to bow season.

In, in October, usually all the bucks that we see around here are the ones that have lived around here the entire summer. Okay. And so that the, but the bucks that you see in November, they're the ones that have came from you don't know where. Like they could have came from miles down the road.

And a few of our deer were like that this year, like [00:53:00] just appeared in late October and had not seen them develop throughout the summer. I only had one buck this whole summer man that I watched his his antler growth and that buck actually didn't even stay around, come to rut. Yeah, it's not, and that's the thing, man there's so many people out there that will watch like a specific deer all year long.

I find that. and like they'll name that deer. You know what I mean? Yeah. Around here, man. No, that, that doesn't really happen, dude. Like from what I know of, like all my buddies, they, they all their deer like just pop up in November and that's what they're working with, right?

They don't really pay much attention to it during the summer and like you have those deer living around there. So yeah, I don't know. I like, I'll just do what I normally do, just leave them up from April and hopefully, get a few bucks on there and watch their antlers develop and hopefully they stick around and I like last year, see I've got a love hate relationship with the rat cuz like you said, you've [00:54:00] got deer that will hang out there all summer long and then they disappear. But just the exciting factor of ha or the excitement factor of having some random buck that could just work his way through on any given day.

Chasing a dough. , that's exciting to me. And basically I monitor really closely my properties here in Missouri that I can hunt. But then up in Wisconsin, the hunting property that I go to for rifle season every year, I don't have any trail cameras on that. I don't do any intel. I know the property cuz I've hunted it all my life.

And so I know where I like to sit, but when a butt comes through, I've never seen that deer. I know nothing about that deer's existence until it's standing in front of me. And that's exciting to me. Just, yeah, just the random it could happen at any second. I like that.

And like I said, I'm open to all sorts of different types of hunting. I don't think there's one right way, one way to do it, that's the right way. I think there's a lot [00:55:00] of right ways to go about hunting. for sure, man. Yeah. And so a deer that I shot a few years ago, I had never had it on my trail camera.

It had just, I seen I was out the night before and I had watched a dough and two fond walk in and they nestled in a cornfield and the next day that must have been where they been headed. Cuz the next morning they had bolted outta there at first light and they bolted outta there.

And I looked around, whatever, and the next thing you know, I look over in the corner of my eye, there's this huge 10 point standing right there. And I used a bleed. And when I bleeded him, he'd walked right towards me perfectly broadside at like 40 yards. And I shot him with my rifle and he dropped like 50 yards away.

Like picture perfect hunt, man, . And it was just so crazy to me, man, because let alone like around here, , our, I don't know our bucks. There's big bucks out there. They're just hard to find. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like the buck that I [00:56:00] shot, he was a perfect, perfectly symmetrical 10 point nice buck.

Like it probably would've been like three and a half years old. That's like a big buck for around here. Yeah. You know what I mean? And some people like maybe from where you are, whatever, maybe from northern Alberta or Northern Saskatchewan or whatever, would look at that buck and be like, oh, that's the young guy.

I would've let that pass. But obviously there are, there have been some monsters shot around here. One guy shot a 16 point last year here. I think one of my dad's buddies, like back in the nineties, I think he shot like a 27 point buck. Geez. Had to have been like, had to have been non-typical, but but anyways, yeah.

Like they're just so hard to find. And so once you get, if you get just a mature deer, that's a nice deer. Yeah. Everyone would've likely had their hands on them. . Whereas my brother he shot one, I think three years ago, and he had this buck come in every day at the exact same time.

So he went out and shot this deer at I shot mine during the rut. He shot this deer at on October [00:57:00] 6th, so really early with the boat. And he was like, why not man? He has this deer coming in at the same time every day. He is I'm just gonna go out and I'm gonna shoot it. And what did he do?

He just sat up in the stand and this buck walked out at four 30, like perfect timing. And my brother shot him at 30 yards. And so yeah, just, it honestly depends, but that's like I said, man, it, that's really unheard of around here. It's, you get those deer that do come in daily and all that stuff, but it's just I find it's more exciting seeing those deer that just pop outta nowhere.

You know what I mean? Yeah. But yeah. Yeah. I like being surprised by it. I like the element of surprise with hunting for sure. , what do you have coming up next? It's dead of winter right now, but I'm assuming Turkey is probably your next season coming up. Turkey is the next season, man.

Yeah. Not much is gonna change with that. Me and my buddy, we have this one property and that we were hunting last year and just full of birds. I think this year I'll invest in a ground blind because we could have used it last year. [00:58:00] Last man, last year. It was just so difficult because so the property that we hunt on, there's about a dozen birds in this field that the property sits on.

And so I asked my buddy's dad, who's a real estate agent, said, who owns that property? I gotta get in the property. And so he told me. And so he let us hunt there and man we found out where they were roosting. They're actually roosting in the bush, which I've never seen before. I've always seen birds roost on tree lines, field edges and all that stuff.

Yeah. And these birds were in the roost. So anyways, yeah. Open in morning. We had these, the, this one Tom come out, he didn't come out in close to the decoys. He just stood out in the field and then ran off. And then we made the move into the bush towards where they roosted and they would go the opposite direction from us.

And yeah, man, it just, they just did not cooperate with us whatsoever this year. We don't know if they were seeing us. We were good and camed up, our calls were good, our decoy setup [00:59:00] was good. They just were not having it with us, man. They were just completely going the opposite direction of us.

Yeah, we're gonna try to make a move on 'em this year and maybe with a ground blind and see if we could get it done. Nice. Yeah. Turkey hunting, it's coming up here. I've already seen all the social media posts changing. Everyone's starting to post Turkey stuff and. I am, I'm more excited for Turkey hunting this year than I ever have been in the past, and I think it's because I figured out their movements.

I, I totally thought they were doing a different thing up until this past year. And I sat in a spot that I couldn't see from any of my previous setups and saw turkeys every day. And they were coming through, called my first one in. I had killed Turkeys before, but this is the first one that I was sitting there.

I called the Turkey in he came because I convinced him to. And so that was cool. So I'm pretty pumped actually. I am trying to decide what gun I'm gonna use though. [01:00:00] Cuz I got a couple new shotguns and I want to, I ki, excuse me, I want to try to hunt one with the four 10 or with my bow with the four 10.

Wow, that's challenging. So you want to challenge then this year? Yeah. Yeah. I feel every year I kill a Turkey. And I'm not saying that I don't work for it. Like it's still difficult. It's not like easy I go out there and shoot one every time I'm out there. But I, I'm just intrigued by the four 10 stuff because I've been watching videos on YouTube of guys patterning their four tens out to 60 yards.

Really? Yeah. Go look that up, man. Just, they'll go and buy like a Mossberg breakover single shot four 10, put some tss amo in it with a Carlson choke and they'll be shooting pat, like good patterns at 60 yards with it. And Wow. It's pretty nuts. I've heard of a lot of guys that are switching to four tens, but I really do [01:01:00] wanna shoot one with my bow this year.

Luckily we can shoot two here in Missouri. I I've gotta look at the regulations. I think it's gonna be the same. It's been that way for years. Yeah, but I'd like to try to shoot one with my bow. That'd be cool, man. Yeah, I've never I don't think I've ever gone out with the bow. I actually got a new shotgun this year myself.

It's a benelli supernova. Nice. So yeah, I'm gonna try that. It has a bit of a longer barrel than what I've been working with, so maybe I can get at a longer poke. Yeah. My buddy, we had this one bird come in last year and it was like, I didn't have my ranger, my range finder on me, but I would've had to guess that it would've been at like 50 to 60 yards.

And my buddy had his gun up on his knee and he was like, should I shoot? Should I shoot? And, to, he had never been out before and I'm like, I don't know man. Hold off, and looking back man, I should have let him shoot. Yeah. But yeah I'm, I told him to hold off cause I just thought it was too far away.

Hopefully we don't have to deal with that this year. . But yeah, that was the problem last year, man. They just weren't coming in [01:02:00] close enough. And I don't know, I honestly I think I, I blame it on they, that they got hen up way too quick. Okay. So that first, yeah, that first day that we went out on opening day, we had a loan Tom come in right to my call, like at first light.

He just didn't come into our decoys. But then after that they just, we knew that they were with, hence there was three Toms in that group, and they would just follow them. They just were not interested in my hand calls, man. Yeah. Yeah. And that was the problem, man. Like when, so we weren't getting them out to be challenged with like my Jake decoy, so they weren't even seeing that. Yeah. I don't know, man. There's gotta be some changes made, I don't know. But hopefully we can get her done this year. It's just, yeah, it just wasn't working in our favor last year. And some guys say this, make it look so easy. Like they go out in the first couple days and they limit.

Yeah. And yeah but I think there's just certain pockets, man. There's something about turkeys they'll tuck into a certain area and they're just [01:03:00] in there all the time. And yeah they do the same thing. They're easily patentable. The turkeys where I'm at they're gonna end up in this field at some point throughout the day, but right out of the roost, man, they could go any direction.

And then it might be five hours before they come make their way to this spot. And so that's the challenge. I'll watch 'em do it one day, I'll be like, all right, I'm gonna get down there and get set up. Then they decide to do something totally different the next day. But that's part of it, man, I, the challenge of it is, I think what makes a lot of this, a lot of this fun, if it was super easy, it wouldn't be that exciting if you went out and just shot something literally every time you went out there, it wouldn't be nearly as rewarding each time.

Yeah. Oh man. Yeah, I would have to agree. I've been doing this now for, I think this would probably be like my eight, eight or ninth year Turkey hunting and the amount of hours I've put in there, came back to the house with [01:04:00] nothing, but I yet, I still do it. and yeah, yeah, there's, I just love the challenge honestly.

And I, so yeah, I don't know. Hopefully we can make it happen this year, man. Honestly, my buddy and I were talking about even like trying to, I don't know, just stick one guy on one end of the property and another guy on the other end property, try to like close him in. Yeah. Like I, because it just seemed like they were just going in the complete opposite direction of where I was calling.

And I'm like, I'm not that bad. Am I ? And he's no, you're good. But yeah, maybe that's what we'll have to do. Honestly, I don't know. Hopefully we'll be able to get in early and and before they get hand up and they start chasing hands, hopefully we'll be able to knock a couple off.

But yeah, it's it's the same It's the same limit as what you're doing. We have to shoot we're limited to two this spring season, and both male, okay. Yeah, that's fine. And then we also have a fall season as well where you can shoot whatever male or female, just one, so Nice.

Yeah. The same thing we work with as well. Yeah. That's awesome. Dude, good luck on that. Before we hop off a couple things real quick. I [01:05:00] forget to do this about 80% of the time, but I like to ask if you could hunt anything anywhere with any weapon, what would it be? man. Oh man. I don't, I honestly don't know.

I'll tell you right now, it would have to be, this is gonna sound so weird, man, but it'll have to be with my rifle, I have a two 70 savage axis and it'd have to be Mountain Lion and Northwest Territories . That sounds awesome. . Honest to God, dude, I remember, cuz I remember playing this I remember playing this video game back when I was a young kid called Big Game Hunter.

Yep. I remember one of the missions was Hunting Mountain Line in Northwest Territories, and I would always do that same mission over and over again because I was just in love with it. Yeah. So I know it sounds really weird, man, but yeah, that would have to be it. . No, that sounds like a fun hunt, man. I've never been, I've never been up to Northern Canada and I [01:06:00] want to check it out.

I've never been either man and I like honest to God. I've only been in Ontario, Quebec and bc BC is beautiful. Yeah, anyone listening or even yourself, should definitely travel Canada, it's beautiful. Ontario, like I said, doesn't really differ as, as much compared to.

The states, but yeah, when you travel to those northern provinces, like they're beautiful man. That's, yeah. What Canada is all about basically. And yeah, so yeah definitely get up here once or twice and check it out and yeah. Because yeah, we have a lot to offer when it comes to hunting, man, I would definitely like something more realistic.

I would definitely like to hunt whitetail in Alberta or Saskatchewan. Definitely excited for the moose hunts. But yeah, I would definitely like to hunt just a lot more in my own country, rather than traveling elsewhere first. I think that's really important, no, that's cool man.

That's, I think that's a first. I get a lot of people who want to go out and do elk out west. A lot of moose, hunters, some that [01:07:00] want to travel international, but I think that's the first mountain lion and . I want, dude, I want to get one so bad. I think I would try to do it with my bow run 'em with hounds and then try to shoot one with my bow.

So if I go back out, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try that route. But also, question number two before we hop off. Where can people find you? Where can they follow along? Social media, online, all that. Man, I honestly just on my Instagram, it's Clay dot Blanchard my first name.my last name yeah, I don't, I'm not really, I don't really have a big hunting feed, I guess it's do what I post.

So like in the summers, like I'm always fishing. Yeah. And and in November, I'm always hunting. Hopefully Turkey season will be a bit more, I'll be a bit more lucky. That'll be on there. But yeah, man that's where it's at, honestly. And . Yeah. So one thing that I do want to shout out though if you do, if anyone listening does wanna follow a page that will show, [01:08:00] Canadian hunting Heritage is Canada in the rough.

Okay. They have their own TV show, they're based here in, in Ontario and they hunt strictly in Canada, across Canada, and they hunt everything. Nice. So those guys, yeah, those guys are definitely ones to follow for sure. And if you're looking to see what we have to offer up here for sure. Nice man. Dude, I appreciate your time and yeah, like I said, good luck.

Hopefully this year you're that guy that goes out first day easy success with a Turkey and you make it happen. I hope so, man. I hope so. And then hopefully the rest of those bucks that you had on camera, the rest of those shooters start popping back out. Yeah, man. Hopefully they're, they come. Bigger and better.

You know what I mean? That's what it's all about, dude. That's the hope every year. Clay, thanks a lot man. I really appreciate it and good luck this season. Yeah, thank you very much for having me on, Dan. I appreciate it.[01:09:00]

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