Show Notes
On this episode of the Hunting Gear Podcast, Dan talks with public land bowhunter Rendell Erik about the gear he uses every year. The guys get in to a conversation about how he chooses his gear, what his purchases decisions are like, are they get in to specific products like boots, arrows, bows, and climbing sticks.
Rendell is a big dude, and at 6'8" he explains that sometimes it can difficult to find clothing, boots, and archery equipment that fit his size. Another awesome episode where Dan talks with a serious hunting nut. Enjoy!
Show Transcript
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Here we go again, ladies and gentlemen, another episode of the Hunting Gear Podcast. Hitting your ears right now. I'm your host, Dan Johnson, and today we're gonna be talking with serious, hardcore, and absolute slayer of a bow hunter. Rendell Eric the dude is six eight. He's a big [00:01:00] dude, and he talks a little bit today amongst other things.
He talks about difficulties that he's had in the past finding. Boots or the proper draw length or the proper arrow length for someone who shoots a 33 inch draw. And he talks a little bit about some of the complications that he has from being that big. We also talk about how he chooses gear.
We also talk about. What he looks for in equipment when it comes to, we talk about bows, we talk about arrows. We talk about boots, we talk about climbing methods. We he hunts out of a saddle. We talk about clothing and layering and how to layer in a saddle. A whole bunch of really good conversation, and that's why I called this a BS session.
And I think this episode is really relatable. For to the time of year because a lot of guys right now are cycling through their gear. They wanna know if they need to upgrade or downgrade or [00:02:00] get something different. And this is the perfect time to have these types of conversations with yourself.
So I enjoyed listening to, his thought process about gear not being what kills deer. But the woodsmanship and he just, he's, it almost sounds a little bit like he's indifferent about some of the gear that he uses and more of the focus is definitely on strategy for him.
So that's refreshing. That's interesting. And I know you guys are gonna this episode. So before we get into it though, we do have to talk a little bit about Code Blue Sense, right? This year. I have, I've partnered with them and 1, 2, 3, 4, I've put out four. Is it four or five? Five mock scrapes.
And I'm hoping that they pay off, right? I have no, as of right now, I I have no idea if they're being used. The cell cameras that I hung up over these spots,[00:03:00]
wowsers, excuse me. They don't get access or they don't have cell coverage in those areas. So I just have to wait and see until I have my first card pull in October, and then I'll find out a little bit more about the deer that are using these mock scrapes, if they're using these mock scrapes.
And I'll definitely talk about that. Code Blue also has cent elimination products, laundry detergent, deodorants the mock scrap kit, the synthetic and actual urine products. So the best thing to do is go to code blue scent.com, read up on all the products that they offer and see how it might fit your style of hunting.
Discount code there is N F C two zero for 20% off. Go. Support that. If you support this podcast, please go and support Code Blue. So huge shout out to Code Blue. Huge shout out to all of you. Hopefully you enjoy this BS session and man, enjoy. I'm really looking forward to this upcoming season.
Hopefully you guys are as well. Hopefully your gear is in order, [00:04:00] you're practicing shooting your bow 'cause we owe that to the animal, right? And man, it's getting close. And let's get into today's episode with Rendell Eric. What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of The Hunting Gear Podcast.
And today my guest is well-known. Hunter Rendell. Eric Rendell. Dude, what's up man?
[00:04:21] Rendell: Just getting ready for deer seasons. Got a lot of states on the slate this year, so I'm trying to all my duck in a row.
[00:04:29] Dan: You know the way you've set your life up. I will say this, that. There's a lot of jealous dudes out there of the lifestyle that you live.
I'll be honest, I wish I could hunt 40 days in a row. I wish I could hunt seven states. I wish I could. We talked a little bit about this before we started recording. I wish I could do what you're about to do.
[00:04:51] Rendell: Yeah, man. I'm just blessed. I don't even know how I got here, honestly. You
[00:04:56] Dan: just showed up.
Yeah, I just rolled up
[00:04:59] Rendell: to the party, [00:05:00] man.
[00:05:03] Dan: Hey, quick question. Does anybody need a full-time hunter? Because I will do that, right? And we gotta preface this, right? It's not like you are just going out and you're unemployed, right? Everybody's gotta make money. But you're working, like in the past you've worked with tethered, I know.
And then you just had a new position, where're at now. Ozio gear all. And so you're in the product development side of things and you're doing some management over there and working with those guys. And ultimately, look, first off, before we get into the gear talk, I want you to tell us what seven states you're gonna be
[00:05:41] Rendell: hunting this year.
Man, do I really want a hot spot myself? I guess
[00:05:48] Dan: I'm looking at, you don't need to give us the WMAs, right? The wild Oh yeah.
[00:05:53] Rendell: Missouri, Iowa, Alabama Kentucky. Probably. I'm looking at some [00:06:00] wild card too Indiana or Ohio. And then I got a mystery state, but I can't talk about that 'cause.
They'd hang me if I did.
[00:06:10] Dan: Okay. Alright. I tell you what I'm looking forward to following along this year and seeing how you slay. Are you gonna be doing all public on all these spots?
[00:06:22] Rendell: Most, I hunt in 98% public. I will hunt some free permission, but honestly, a lot of the free permission you gets the public's better to me.
You get, you got the permission for a reason, or you got 30 other guys on there. 'cause they think it's awesome because it's private. Yeah. And the farmer just lets anybody in there? Anybody? Yeah. Yeah. I don't really like to keep relationships up with farmers. Yeah. I just like to go when I want to go and just do what I want and I'm my aggressive style of hunting.
I'd need a lot of spots 'cause I blow out deer. A lot of deer sometimes. Yeah. Sometimes I don't, but sometimes I do.
[00:06:58] Dan: Yeah. And [00:07:00] that's the thing about hunting private that is like public, because I can roll up to public and some guy can tell me, Hey dude, I've been hunting here for 30 years. And I'd be like, I don't care.
It's public, right? Like I would say, oh, okay, yeah, cool. Okay. I'll try to, I'll try to avoid this area next time on my way, but man, if it's good, it's public, right? You can say that it's public. Yeah. But on a piece of property that is, Public or private, you could, like if someone's been hunting there 30 years and the landowner lets you hunt, I don't know, man it's just tough.
It's because it's not public and you can't say, Hey man, I have the same permission. You could say, I have the same permission as you, but what you don't want is that guy going back to the landowner, telling that landowner that you're a dickhead. And then, and then it's just like you cause drama right away.
Yeah. It's
[00:07:52] Rendell: happened to me and then you're gone, man. You're just out of there. But I hunt so much differently than most people. Yeah. I'm never gonna be [00:08:00] in that guy's spot. If the guy's been hunting that one area for 30 years, I don't want anything to do with it. I'm gonna be doing my own thing With the mobile gear, I'm really aggressive.
I'm getting in tight on like buck bedding and stuff like that. And most guys don't hunt that way. Yeah,
[00:08:14] Dan: exactly. Exactly. Okay, we know that you're a public land guy. We know that you're extremely aggressive. We know that you are a saddle guy, okay? Yep. You're a bow hunter and you're extremely mobile.
I think I already said that, but anyway, here today, I don't wanna talk about hunting strategy, and I know some of this plays a role in your strategy. But I've never really heard you talk specifically about the gear that you use throughout the year. I know you work for. Tethered or you've worked with tethered, or you have a relationship with Tethered, you're now working with Osseo.
And so maybe we'll cover that stuff a little bit because I want, I wanna talk about stuff like, obviously you're gonna say good things [00:09:00] about tethered and obviously you're gonna say good things about os Osteo, but I want to get into some of the other products and how you make your decision. And I think the fir the place where I wanna start is, How do you make your decision on what Arrow setup and that Broadhead Arrow Fletching setup you use every year?
[00:09:22] Rendell: So I am a big component of knowledge kills deer, not gear. Yeah. So I am not a gearhead guy. My big saying is hunt deer, not gear. Like I don't. I'm not a big, like tweaker on gear and stuff, so I just get by with what I have confidence in. I do look at a lot of reviews and I do some testing stuff.
But to me, I don't like the fiddle, so the less fiddle factor I have like my arrow set up, I just do what I want. Like I don't let in outside influences really. There's certain things I look for. So [00:10:00] Arrow set up. I like really fast arrows that shoot really flat. Flat. And then the less tuning I gotta do, the better.
So I lean towards mechanicals, but I got a 33 inch draw man. So my hunting setup's over 300 feet per second, which is where I want to be. And it'll punch through anything just about it'll just zip right through 'em with the mechanicals. I have to shoot full shaft arrows, like I can't cut 'em 'cause my draw is so long.
Yeah, I don't, so it's really hard to get F O c, which I don't really care about anyways. I just want to keep it so I like the lighter grains per inch arrow shafts to get the weight down. Because when you're hunting public land, you can't cut shooting lanes. And if I see a little hole, I gotta shoot a buck through.
I want to have confidence. My arrow's gonna go through that hole and not like rainbow over the top of it. Yeah. And hit a bunch of stuff. So I, that's main, mainly my reason for this speed.
[00:10:56] Dan: You're looking at more of a flatter traject trajectory, and [00:11:00] the good thing about shooting faster is at your draw length and your arrow length, you don't necessarily need a heavier arrow because your arrow is heavy already because you don't have to cut it down at
[00:11:15] Rendell: all.
Yeah, that's correct. It's pumping out all kinds of kinetic energy yeah. And then See the yardage judgment doesn't have to be as precise. Yeah. If I'm left by five yards, I'm still gonna, I'm still gonna hit the deer. Yeah.
[00:11:28] Dan: Yeah. That's a, that's something nobody talks about, especially in today's world where heavy ass arrows are.
It, I don't know. That's what's going on right now. And I'm a firm believer in heavy ass arrows, but I also have a I don't have a 33 inch draw. I have a 30 inch draw and I, dude I'm packing heat on my arrow. And I also shoot a mechanical, it's hauling ass. Yeah. It probably is not going as fast as yours, but I'm confident [00:12:00] that when.
It hits something it's going through, because before that, man, I had a scary situation with the biggest deer in my life, and I didn't get penetration. And the air was fast as shit, but it had nothing behind it, and it hit bone and it was game over. And so the neighbor shot him the next year. So I've had I like how you said what you're confident in, right?
Yeah. And so when with that setup what, what broadhead do you normally shoot?
[00:12:27] Rendell: I use G five dead meat. Okay.
[00:12:30] Dan: G five. And then what's your arrow?
[00:12:33] Rendell: It's zinger fletching. Make 'em cantana arrows, I think it's called. Okay. I can never pronounce it but they make an a, they have a new arrow out this year that I'm using.
It's like a 2 0 4 diameter arrow. Okay. 2, 2 50 spines or what? A shoot. Okay.
[00:12:49] Dan: And then you use a three Fletch combination.
[00:12:53] Rendell: Yeah, I use the zingers.
[00:12:54] Dan: Fledge. Oh, zinger. Okay. Cool. Cool. And so you like it quick you like it [00:13:00] flat and you like it fast. And then in some of these public spots that you're hunting, right?
I'm guessing that you're not taking 40, 50 yard shots.
[00:13:13] Rendell: I have furthest I've shot a buck is 60 yards. So sometimes I will, some, sometimes
[00:13:17] Dan: you will. Okay. And even out that far, you're confident with that arrow set up?
[00:13:22] Rendell: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I smoked right through the two bucks. I shot past 50, no problem.
Yeah.
[00:13:27] Dan: Okay. And then obviously any, if you're confident out that far, then anything inside is just automatic.
[00:13:35] Rendell: Yeah. I'm just smoking it zipping right through there. Okay. And I'm a proponent of if I don't get the right shot, I'm not gonna take the shot. Like I'm taking my time. I don't really shake when the deer's coming in.
I'm so focused on the deer's body language. What's its tail ears? Do I have to stop it or not? And when's it gonna hit my wind? I'm so keyed in on what the deer's doing and when I need to shoot, like I'm pretty steady. I just, [00:14:00] and then I lose it after I shoot the deer, yeah, for sure. So that's a big component of Keeping your cool will really help you make a lot better shot.
I wait for the right angles, yeah. I try to use the best judgment I can when I actually decide when I'm gonna shoot or not. Yeah.
[00:14:16] Dan: Yeah, man. And then what that does is it takes any guessing on whether or not. If you can maintain that type of composure and wait for the perfect shot, then you don't have to worry about, then you, then, your gear's gonna perform.
Except like when a marginal shot happens, and then, you just hope, oh, geez man. I hope I got what I needed to recover this animal.
[00:14:37] Rendell: And it is bow hunting. Stuff happens. Yeah. Sometimes you hit a camera or whatever, but just with my draw length and the speed and that, I'm still shooting like just over 500.
Grains. Yeah. So I still some weight behind it, like I'm confident it's gonna, it'll zip right through 'em. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:14:55] Dan: So in retrospect, it's still a heavy arrow, but because of your draw length, you get that [00:15:00] extra speed on it. Yeah. Yeah. What boat do you shoot?
[00:15:05] Rendell: Matthew's Atlas.
[00:15:06] Dan: Okay. Is are you how many years old is that Bow?
[00:15:10] Rendell: Two, two or three years old,
[00:15:12] Dan: two or three years old. Are you the kind of guy that likes to go through bows like every year or every other year, or do you if you're comfortable with it, do you keep it for a long period of time?
[00:15:22] Rendell: This is my only, my second bow in 13 years. I had my other bow for 10 years.
Oh yeah. So what was it? It was a Struthers bow. Okay. Struthers. I remember them. Yeah. He was a designer for a lot of bow companies and he came out with his own custom bows. They're really good bows for a non-name brand bow. Yeah. And I got a lot of my big bucks with it, so it's got sentimental value.
I still have it and use it sometimes. Yeah.
[00:15:49] Dan: What was it about that specific bow that you liked so much that to keep it for that many years,
[00:15:57] Rendell: It just shoots really good. It has a good bra height. It [00:16:00] has a lot of speed. I never had any problems with it. Tunes really easy. Yeah.
[00:16:04] Dan: And then what was it about this new bow that pulled you away from that,
[00:16:09] Rendell: that older one?
I. The other bow didn't fit me as good. I didn't have, I had to do a lot of extra stuff to get close to my draw, but it was never quite long enough. So I had to duck my head down to put my nose on the string a little bit. Yeah. And I just wanted better form because when I got that bow, there wasn't really any long draw bows.
But now the Atlas came out like Hoyt has a long draw. Bow Botec has a long draw bow now. I just wanted a little bit better form and stuff when I'm shooting, so I upgraded to the long draw Bow.
[00:16:40] Dan: Yeah. And what's the axle? Axle on the new one? Cur curious.
[00:16:45] Rendell: It's it's almost 35. Okay.
[00:16:48] Dan: And so that angle then allows you to not have to drop your head down to get to the string as much, right?
[00:16:53] Rendell: Yeah. And that bow will go back to 34 inch draw. So Okay. I can get it back a little bit further to get my [00:17:00] nose on the string. Yeah.
[00:17:01] Dan: And then do you use a kisser button or a peep site at all?
[00:17:06] Rendell: I don't use a peep site and I use a nose button. A
[00:17:09] Dan: nose button. Okay. All right. I've never talked with anybody about the nose button.
Describe what that is and then why do you like to use it?
[00:17:17] Rendell: So it's just a little round spike that you put on the string. It's like a kisser button, but it has spikes and it's a lot lighter and smaller than a kisser button, but it goes on your nose. You can pick out where you want it, but your nose is super sensitive.
So when that spike hits in there, you get instant feedback on where it is. And then I put my, like on the inside of my nostril every time and that'll give me a good anchor. 'cause I don't run a peep. So I like to have that second anchor point for reference. Gotcha. Okay.
[00:17:47] Dan: And then what are you using for a release?
[00:17:52] Rendell: I use a wrist rocket. Okay. It's a screw ball beast too.
[00:17:57] Dan: Gotcha. And is that a hinge [00:18:00] release or is that a wrist release?
[00:18:02] Rendell: It's a wrist. It's a wrist rocket. It's got the hook on it. It doesn't have the, I don't like the dual calibers, but I like the hook ones.
[00:18:08] Dan: Okay. So then that it opens up and releases when you pull the trigger.
Yeah, that's correct. Okay. Alright, cool. Alright, so that's the bow setup and all that stuff. Now let's talk about boots. Okay. Are you a rubber boot guy? Are you a hiking boot guy? I take it that you're hunting some potentially wet areas. How do you keep your feet comfortable?
[00:18:31] Rendell: I use I got size 16 feet, so it's really hard to find boots. Yeah. I use squat boots. They're made for like police officers and stuff. Okay. The ones I got, they got a waterproof booty inside of 'em, and they make 'em on my size. I like those a lot. They've lasted forever. I, a buddy of mine that I talked to on like Facebook Messenger or whatever that I met online he was, he is a cop and he.
Sent me the link and stuff. Said he really liked him. He wore him every day for five years while he [00:19:00] was a police officer. So I had a good feedback on that. And I've used those two years. I don't like rubber boots, man. I usually scout for a couple miles every day and then I go in and scout my way in and hunt.
Yeah. Rubber boots just are uncomfortable if I have to go through water. If it's early season, I just go through it. I'll just take my boots off and walk. Okay. Or I got hip weighters. I use those. Sometimes I'll use a kayak if I have to go through like a river or lake or something. Okay. Alright.
[00:19:28] Dan: Okay, so this has me asking these questions.
Okay. So you got giant feet? Yeah. How tall are you? Six foot eight. Six foot. Eight bigger dude. And so is it hard to find hunting gear and equipment that fits, especially bow hunting, which is based off of your dimensions, is it hard for you to find comfortable and I guess equipment that makes you feel confident?
[00:19:54] Rendell: Yeah, it can be tough sometimes. You gotta whittle through a lot of different things to try to find, [00:20:00] but certain companies have extra features that'll make it like a normal fit for me. Like the osseo gear camo, it's got long, longer tails, so you don't get that backdraft. Yep.
So I can wear that and it'll be like a normal shirt. For me it'll be long for you, but it'll be normal for me. Yeah. The boots is really hard. Like I'd love to run like Christie's and stuff like that, but they just don't make it in my size. So the foot's, the footwear's the hardest part for me to figure out.
And the bow. The bow was tough until now when I got those long draw bows come out. Even the release can be a pain 'cause you gotta adjust the release all the way out. And some don't go far enough from, I got giant hands, so that can be. Tough to do, but like all the saddle stuff and platforms, I just use the regular stuff that everybody else uses, so it's not too bad.
Yeah.
[00:20:49] Dan: And you can get a, is it, even the, I have the the XL platform from tethered. Yeah. Okay. And so for me, that fits perfect. But I also your [00:21:00] boots are like, I don't know. What'd you say? 16. So that they're three, or No, they're four, basically four sizes bigger than my shoe.
Is it hard to move around on that? Even the biggest platforms?
[00:21:16] Rendell: I actually use a smaller platform, the original Predator, I like it better than the bigger one. I'm a leaner, I'll run the edges of the platform the whole time. I don't ever stand on it that much unless I gotta get on it and spin around and make the weak side shot.
Yeah. But I don't know. I can float around pretty good in the tree with the saddle. I've been using it for five years, just over time I got really comfortable with it. So I can move around better than what most guys can, and that long and that added length will help me on bigger trees.
'cause I can actually go around the front of the tree and make a weak side shot and still have one of my feet anchored on the platform. Oh yeah, of
[00:21:54] Dan: course. So I, yeah, so there's obviously benefits of being a saddle hunter and being six eight because you [00:22:00] can get away from the tree.
[00:22:02] Rendell: Yeah, exactly. Okay. And when I lean too, I look more like just a giant tree branch in my mind when I'm laying out.
I just like a big branch sometimes a lot of guys will mess with me and they'll say I don't even need a tree. I can just stand there on.
[00:22:17] Dan: That's funny. That's funny. I just stand in the woods and they walk right by me. That's funny. I'm my own tree. And let's talk about, I want to talk a little bit about the progression of gear that you use.
Okay. Were you always a, like you said, five years. For five years, you you've been into the saddle saddle game. What were you using before you were a saddle guy?
[00:22:42] Rendell: Mobile tree stand set up? Yeah. What was that? It was I used a lot of the X L P stuff. And then before that I used like the old school, like hook together steel ladder steps or the rapid rails.
50 pound tree stand and I would carry [00:23:00] that in like on my back or in one arm. Yeah. And then hang and hunting with that. And then before that, I was a typical field edge hunter guy. Ladder stands presets. But as I progressed in the wanting to kill bigger deer, like I got into the whole mobile game, I got really frustrated with the field edge and all the preset TV type hunting stuff.
Yeah. And then I. Yeah, it's just a progression evolution, if you wanna say into the high speed, high tech mobile game. Yeah.
[00:23:33] Dan: And so you went from the field edge with the ladder stands and whatnot. Then you went into a hang on type of system that necessarily wasn't. Low profile and low, like low weight.
And then the, and you're talking about the sticks that stack into each other. And then you would take them down every night. Yeah. Holy cow.
[00:23:55] Rendell: That's all I had, man. Like I did, I wasn't raised hunting either. My dad's not a [00:24:00] hunter. Yeah. Like I could been into hunting in my early twenties.
Okay. And I had no mentor, no guidance. Like I pretty much just went out in the woods and just, I started hunting, yeah. Whatever I saw on tv, DVDs. Then talked to guys and then as I. Then you get into the more mobile thing and then you got the Donna, like YouTube. And then some of the more mobile dudes doing that.
And then it influenced me to get switched and then I got tired of carrying around like 50, 60 pounds of crap loud, banging it every time about kill you if you gotta go a mile, I'm half dead before I get to the tree. Yeah,
[00:24:36] Dan: for sure. So then what was it about? So it was. The mobile guys on YouTube that kind of influenced you to check out saddles and a new lighter way of climbing trees?
[00:24:52] Rendell: Yeah, so like the, going to like the Iowa Deer Classic going to shows, YouTube, like the, [00:25:00] just running the heavier gear, like before I switching this out, I was running like the X O P stuff, like I said. Yeah, it just really I don't know, even that was pretty heavy and. Clumsy up in the tree. And there's a, I'm so tall too.
This eye beams on a tree stand are so short. My knee, I'm almost eating my knees when I'm sitting there. Oh yeah. And so when I get down after sitting there for five, six hours, I'd just be tore up, man. I'm all and. So I like the saddle idea 'cause it was just, it's just way more comfortable for me.
Yeah,
[00:25:32] Dan: I never thought about that. I'm six foot and I can only sit down for so many, so many minutes or hours before I gotta stand up and shake it up a little bit. Okay. And so you started messing, started messing around with saddles. Did you jump right into the ultra lightweight or did you ease in, into the saddle game?
Like saddle first and then climbing method, or climbing method first, then the saddle. How did that progression look?
[00:25:59] Rendell: Yeah, I [00:26:00] just went straight into the saddle and I still had my older climbing sticks that were pretty heavy. Yeah. Okay. Just kinda getting used to it and then I added it like the high end sticks and then started adding on little pieces of gear here and there to make it more efficient when I'm climbing and setting up, and then developing like my own system for saddle hunting.
'cause I saddle hunt totally different than a lot of people do. So
[00:26:25] Dan: why is that? What is that difference?
[00:26:28] Rendell: I usually hunt really low. Okay. I usually don't ever hunt higher than 10 feet. I don't hide behind the tree. I side hunt. I'm on the side of the tree. The deer's usually walking straight at me. Okay.
Okay. And I do a little bit different stuff like that.
[00:26:44] Dan: Gotcha. And you feel that the saddle allows you to do that better than, let's say a Hang on wood.
[00:26:56] Rendell: Yeah. I feel like the. The [00:27:00] saddle. I can get more trees like when you're going in blind moving around. I can shoot any direction I want even though I'm more of a, I predict a trail, like I have full confidence if the buck comes out, he is coming down that one trail. Okay. And I up for that one shot, but I can still make other shots.
It is super lightweight. I can cover tons of ground. Yeah, I can move around in it quickly. I can just jump right down. 'cause I usually carry two sticks in the saddle so I can be up in a tree hunting in five minutes and I can tear it down if a hot dough comes by. 200 yards away, in the ru I can make that adjustment in 10 minutes and be up ready for the buck to come through.
Yeah. There are situations though where I think a tree stands a little bit better. I can use a saddle in those, but it's just a tool. I don't, it's not my, like saddle hunting. I don't know. A lot of people use it as like an identity. I look at it as more like it's just my most efficient tool, but sometimes something else might be a little bit better.
Yeah. And it's [00:28:00] just my preference. If you're a killer man, you're gonna, you're gonna kill out of anything. Like I've shot deer out of everything I've used. Yeah.
[00:28:07] Dan: Yeah. Okay. So then on your climbing sticks, are you. You take two. But yeah, you can get fairly high 'cause you're so tall, right? You could probably have that first step four feet off the ground, and then your second step, three foot higher than that or whatever and be able to get in it.
What, first off what climbing sticks do you use these days? Or what climbing sticks are those two specific sticks? And then do you mod them out with ERs or anything like that?
[00:28:39] Rendell: So I use a whole variety of climbing sticks. 'cause I like the, I've been testing out different sticks. So I really like the tethered one sticks.
I'll use the B sticks and I'll use some lone wolf custom gear compact sticks. Okay. Depending on like the situation on the lone wolf stuff, I run cable eight. Okay. On [00:29:00] bee sticks and the tethered ones, there's. A company called Backwoods Mobile, they make a three step eighter that'll hook onto the step that's made just for a double step sticks.
And I will use that. And then I can get 10 foot with one stick. Like I could literally just hook that on, reach as high as I can and climb up on one stick. But I usually carry two. 'cause you never know, like sometimes I gotta be higher or I might find a tree that's, eight foot down in the ditch and you gotta get up.
20 feet just to hunt 10 feet over top of the bank or I hunt hill country sometimes you gotta get above the crest of the ridge to get your wind and thermals to blow the right way. Exactly. So I like to be prepared. 'cause you never know what you're gonna run into.
[00:29:45] Dan: Yeah. If you need to. So you're saying that if you needed to hit those thermals, you need to climb a little bit higher in the tree?
[00:29:51] Rendell: Yeah. If you want predominant wind to override thermals. Yeah, that makes
[00:29:56] Dan: sense. Okay. So [00:30:00] basically you use a variety of gear, right? Yeah. A variety of gear to get you in whatever situation that you that you're in. I wanna transfer this conversation to to gear like clothing, right? Oh yeah.
Base layers and stuff like that. What's your method on on clothing?
[00:30:23] Rendell: So I do 0 cent control. Don't give a hoot. I'll take it right outta the box. Put it on go hunt. Yep. My woodsmanship conquers that with like the wind thermals where I walk. So I'm not concerned about that.
Clothing, I like mar Marino wool or Marino wool blend for my base layers. And then it just depends on the season, early season, it's a hundred degrees. I probably won't wear the base layers. I just wear like the lightweight pants, lightweight hoodie. Yep. As I progress, I'll go like into a windproof line, like maybe a little bit heavier pant, a hoodie, and then a vest.
I really like a windproof [00:31:00] vest. Yeah. Because I'll be cool and then I get a little chilly, you know that last hour dark. I'll throw that vest on 'cause it'll break the wind off me. 'cause I find the wind is what makes you to the coldest. It takes the heat off your body. Yeah. And then when as it gets later, I'll add bibs.
I'm a big bib guy, especially if they got the top pockets where I can put my hands 'cause of saddle. Yep. So I'll have the jacket, I'll go to a Sherpa jacket and then I'll still have the vest in my bag that I can toss on. If I get a little chilly then, and I'll have the bibs over top, I pack, I usually pack everything in.
Because I don't want to get all sweaty. 'cause that's what makes you cold too. If you're all wet, you don't dry out as good. Yeah. Yeah. And last year I hunted in 30 below zero. I went to some really heavyweight late season gear and Then you don't wanna wear that in, but it was so cold, man. It was like 30 mile an hour winds.
When? When we had that arctic front come through. Yep. For that days in December, like I had to wear it in, man. [00:32:00] I was sweating ice. What I still made. I still made it a couple hours and then got out of there. Late season muzzle over. Yeah.
[00:32:09] Dan: Okay. So that brings me to this point. Okay. Saddle hunting and layering.
All right. Yeah. I just am, I'm only, I'm gonna say I'm 1.5. I'm not a full year into saddle hunting. I saddle hunted a little bit last year. This year I'm getting into it much more. And so my question is how do you layer. Maybe even before you get to the tree. At the bottom of the tree, are you wearing your saddle as you're walking to the tree?
You get in the tree, you know it now, the colds, it's start. You're starting to get cold. How do you add layers? How do you take layers off and a saddle? Break that down for us.
[00:32:49] Rendell: Yeah, so early season, you don't need any layers. You know it's hot, you're sweating. I wear my saddle in every time. As it transition to October, maybe the [00:33:00] rutt I'm still wearing my saddle in.
I just, I'll beef up a little bit before I go in and I'll just open everything up. Like I'll have my base layers, which I'm counting on the Merino, with a little bit of synthetic blend to dry out quick. Yeah. And I'll still retain heat and then I open all the vents on the pants. If the jacket's all the way open, I might just have it on me, yep. And then I'll go in 'cause I'm not transitioned to a bigger pack yet during the Rutt. And then I'll have a couple pieces like the vest, a hand muff, I'll toss in the bag. But I'll still have primarily my main layers on me when I go. I'll just take my time, man. I like to go in early.
It's not everyone's scenario. You get off work, you gotta run out there like crazy. Yeah. You. I don't know. That's different than what I do. I like to go in really early and take my time getting into my setup so I'm not getting as hot as a lot of guys are. Yeah. And then as it gets colder and colder, I'll switch to a big backpack and then I'll pack the bibs, the coat, the [00:34:00] saddle.
And then I'll stop like maybe a hundred, 200 yards out from what tree I think I wanna hunt, and then I'll get everything on. Then I don't like to get dressed at the base of the tree just 'cause I'm so close to like bedding and stuff. Yeah. So I'll get dressed further out and then I'll go in and get set up.
If I'm in the tree and I get a little cold, I just toss it on top of me. Even if the, it bunches up on the bridge, like I don't really care about that much. Okay.
[00:34:26] Dan: What about pants? Have you ever, is there a way to put pants on over top of the saddle or stand up, take the saddle off, stay connected to the tree and put it on or are you just all that's on when like your pants are on before you get in the tree?
[00:34:42] Rendell: Yeah, my pants are already on. I'm not walking out there in my Speedos, no pants are already on. Maybe I'll wear lighter weight pants and then put the bibs on before I get to the tree. Yeah. And I can open the bibs up too. You can open the legs up and dump the heat out. And the top part you can leave unzipped.
Yeah. [00:35:00] And maybe I'll add the jacket when I get there, but I'll have the bibs on. I do there I don't do it one specific way I guess. Whatever hits me that day, yeah. I might try this or that or the other. It depends on how cold it is. If it's super cold, you can wear that mid-weight stuff and still get away with it, if you go slow.
Yeah. Yeah.
[00:35:20] Dan: Is there any type of, like obvi, now you're working with osseo, are you like a, are you a fan of camo? Do you like solids? Is there, do you have a preference?
[00:35:33] Rendell: I just believe movement's your number one thing, yeah. No matter what you wear, if you move or your wind's wrong, you're gonna get busted.
Camouflage. I think where it's big component is if you do move and it's a micro movement, you can get away with it more. Yeah. And if the deer looks up at you, you just blend in with the tree. Yeah. Some camo patterns really stand out, like you can spot 'em a mile away. I don't like those. I like 'em more natural, like SEO gears [00:36:00] based off of an owl's feather pattern.
Okay. Okay. And and they hunt squirrels and rabbits and they see the same way deer do. We're hunting outta trees for deer. They're hunting outta trees for their meals. And then I like super quiet. Everything's gotta be silent 'cause I'm bow hunting. Yeah. And I like to set up really close. Like I'm shooting a lot of deer at three to five yards.
Like pretty much right underneath me almost. Yeah. Okay. So it's gotta be quiet. And where the clothing shines is just the fabrics the quality, the pocket placement. To me, the functionality of the camo is more important than the camo. Exactly. Yeah, I agree. I wanna, yeah, it's gotta be a hundred percent windproof.
It's gotta be warm, it's gotta be a lighter weight. The more premium installations, they weigh a lot less than like Walmart camo, it's a lot bulky. Doesn't dry out, doesn't breathe as good. There's a lot of advantages to going like to a premium camo besides just the camo. The clothing [00:37:00] is what Yeah.
Sells it for me. Yeah.
[00:37:03] Dan: The quality of the fabric, the. The construct of the garment and how, how it's made. And then if it's, I like to have. I like to have a pocket right here on my chest. Yeah. So I can stuff a grunt tube down in it. 'cause I don't like having my, I have, I like having my grunt tube.
If, so I wear a Bino pack. Okay. And then I put my binos in there and then off to my right side, it'd be my right side. My right side is my rangefinder attached to that. And then usually, It's a grunt tube on the other side of it. 'cause that's, those are like the things that I use all the, all that stuff's, the things that I use the most.
Wow. And so I just having that uptight where it's just, minimal movement if I need to, if there's other deer around me and I need to grunt at a, at yeah. A buck or so
[00:37:48] Rendell: yeah. And the cut too, like different materials, like the way the clothing is like. It's designed to help you still climb when it's really cold.
It might have and then when you [00:38:00] draw, late season jacket, a lot of 'em, when you draw, you can't get your damn arm to fully extend. Yep. So having that spandex part right here where you can actually get the draw, having it in your, in the bibs and the knees so you can actually climb, like stuff, little stuff like that a lot of companies overlook.
That's stuff I look for. Like I gotta be able to move 'cause I mobile hunt. Yeah. So it's gotta be able to have really good flexibility. So I, there's certain things I look for when I am looking at clothing. Yeah.
[00:38:30] Dan: Yeah. Comfort is king. I, you gotta be comfortable in the tree. 'cause if you're not, then you're thinking about that and not what to do when the deer walks in.
You run trail cameras at all?
[00:38:41] Rendell: Yeah, I do run some. Okay. What
[00:38:43] Dan: brand do you like?
[00:38:45] Rendell: Oh man, I've tried a bunch SD card cameras. I just run whatever's I can buy. I like the task goes. They're cheap. Someone steals 'em, who cares? Whatever. Yeah. Cell cams. I like, I run tactic cams for cell cams right now.
Yeah, but there's [00:39:00] some, there's a bunch of good cell cams I'm looking at. Some different companies just to try out, but I mostly run the tactic cams at the moment.
[00:39:09] Dan: Yeah. And have they performed pretty well for you? I've heard a lot of good things about the t the tactic cams.
[00:39:15] Rendell: Yeah. They work good.
I've never had any major issues with them. Really. Yeah.
[00:39:19] Dan: Are, in some of the places that you hunt, are you able to get good cell service with even like with one bar?
[00:39:27] Rendell: Yeah, I still get. In places. I don't even get cell phone service. I'll get the service on the cameras.
[00:39:33] Dan: Okay, that's good. That's good.
And so then your other method is cheap, not, I wouldn't say cheap, but maybe like affordable, really affordable cameras that if someone messes with, it's not a big deal. Yeah,
[00:39:46] Rendell: like the task, it was like 30 bucks at Walmart yeah, whatever man. I, it sucks to lose 30 bucks and the batteries are like almost as much as the camera, the freaking $12 SSD card that I hate to lose. But it is what [00:40:00] it is,
[00:40:00] Dan: man. Yeah and I think a lot of that is the style of hunting. Like for me, I love getting pictures of velvet. Camera or velvet deer. I love getting crisp pictures. I love it, but I don't require it. Yeah. 'cause the only thing that I care about, especially when season starts, is that I can identify the deer.
The picture doesn't have to be perfect. I just want to identify the deer and go shooter. And then move in on 'em. You know what I mean?
[00:40:32] Rendell: I do the same thing. Like I use cameras to inventory areas. Yeah. I don't use it to hunt. I think when you start using cameras to hunt, you're in for a, you're going down a bad road, man.
'cause those cameras will fool you. Yep. If you're a scouting and you see a good spot and you were like, oh, I'm gonna throw a camera up now, you should probably hunt it first and then put the camera up. 'cause a lot of times you'll get the picture of that. Big buck. You get a shooter on camera right [00:41:00] away, daylight, but he smelled you, man, you're done.
And that deer never comes back, or he changes his pattern where if you would've hunted that spot first, you would've killed that deer. And if nothing showed up, you could just throw a camera up, to see what comes through later, and you can move on down the road and started hunting somewhere else.
[00:41:16] Dan: Yeah. Yeah. I'll be honest I use trail cameras pretty heavily. The information that I get from 'em. I think I do a good job of not letting trail cameras necessarily influence how I approach a property. Oh my God, there's all this good sign, but I got a picture of a good deer way down here.
I don't know why he was down there. I just know that all the sign is right here I'm gonna go set up over the sign or whatever. But I can definitely see how trail cameras will. Negatively influence people's decisions on where to hunt.
[00:41:51] Rendell: Yeah. Those, I get a lot of guys that are like, oh, I'm gonna go hunt today, but I have nothing on camera.
It's only a 20 yard snapshot into the woods. Yeah. Like you could [00:42:00] have a giant buck going by 20 yards behind the camera every day. Like you should use your woodsmanship skills way more than relying on the camera.
[00:42:10] Dan: Yeah. And here's a perfect example of that. I was trying to get a thief, a trail camera thief on camera.
Okay. And so I set a trail camera up, no, no cable lock on it. I was trying to get this person to steal my camera, and then I had another trail camera up in a tree behind me. Pointing down like the same level that I would treat. So unless he would look up at the tree, he wouldn't. Yeah, I got you. Anyway, so I, I get this guy on camera.
He le he leaves it alone. He doesn't steal it. But the other thing that I found is that there were a couple bucks, and great bucks that were walking behind the tree. That I, that my trail camera was on, and based off of the trail camera [00:43:00] that was low, I would've said, oh, there's no good deer in this area.
But the one up above facing down on him caught these deer going behind the trail camera. And I would've never thought those deer were in the area if I invested all of my decisions on that trail. On trail cameras.
[00:43:17] Rendell: Yeah. Yeah. That happens a lot of times, like if. Like you said, if the sign's there, I'm hunting it sometimes a lot of those old mature bucks don't lay down a lot of sign.
Yeah, they're like ghost in the woods. They all have their own personalities, so that's why I rely on more of I don't know, the layout of terrain. So woodsmanship tracks things like that over the camera. The camera's just I just want one photo. If I get one photo of a deer, That I'm interested in, then I'll go from there and try to figure 'em out on my own.
[00:43:43] Dan: Are there any other products that you've picked up, whether it's for your mobile, whether it's back at the truck, whether it's at, home that you've made a recent purchase on and you're oh man, this thing's pretty neat.
[00:43:55] Rendell: So I hang my cameras pretty high in the tree, like 10 feet.
A [00:44:00] company called Good Sit Mobile, they make a camera bracket that has a, it's a plate that you zip tie on the back of your camera and it has a big screw and you can turn it and it'll level and angle the camera down. Then they got a laser you can put on it. I'll put my backpack down on the ground and use the laser to hit the backpack so I can set up my cameras like 10 times faster.
Okay.
[00:44:23] Dan: That's sweet. So it's a a trail camera accessory.
[00:44:28] Rendell: Yeah, it looks like it's just, it looks just like that. Okay.
[00:44:31] Dan: So is it is it one of these huh How do you screw it into the
[00:44:35] Rendell: tree? So it has a strap that goes on there. It zip ties to the camera. You run a paracord strap on it. That's how it hooks to the tree.
Okay. The strap. And you turn this knob right here and it'll angle the camera for you. Then you can put the laser on the camera. Then you can laser it out. I gotcha. Okay. That's faster from just that [00:45:00] cameras. And then I don't know. There's a lot of different, I got really big in three D printed stuff like that.
Genesis three D has a bunch of like accessory hooks. Like I hang my platform on the back of my saddle. It's like my favorite accessory. It's just a hook like this. Oh, okay. So the front of the platform will just hook in there and this will hang in the molly on the back of your saddle. And then I can hang the saddle, the platform right in the middle of my saddle in the back, and then I can have sticks on the side when I'm climbing up and I can just pull my platform right off.
And that's awesome. Tree and there's all kinds of three D printed stuff, man. Like they got quiver holders now for the Matthews Quivers. Andrew Blair from tethered made it. You can slide the back button on the quiver into it to hold it on the hiss strap. Yeah. You got all kinds of like bow holders and stuff.
Tethered has that little quick draw bow holder that's I use on my bow. Okay. Me, it's like the little things is what I look for. Like [00:46:00] efficiency. Yeah. The details. Yeah. That's what matters to me the most. Like I don't really have any like huge things where I'm like, oh yeah, it's some giant, it's always like the little tiny thing that shaves off like a minute here, a minute there, or just makes it easier for me to get in and out of the tree.
That's That's most important to me, I think.
[00:46:19] Dan: Yeah. This is a random question, but do you carry water or food with you when you
[00:46:25] Rendell: hunt? I do not. Never have. I just don't. I just don't need it. No water. I never no water, man. Holy shit, I die, dude. How far are we going in? I can go. Four. Yeah. I could go in two miles and out two miles and I don't need water, man.
I just never have the need for it. If I break my leg and I'm laying out there, I'm just gonna die. I'll just break my own pee or something. I don't know, man. Oh man. It's a lot more weight sloshes around, like I just don't want to deal with it. Food. I just don't get hungry out there, man. Like I'm [00:47:00] there to hunt.
That's my sole mission is to hunt. I'm so focused on hunting that. I could care less about all the other crap. Yeah.
[00:47:08] Dan: Yeah. I don't know, man, if I walked in, put up a tree, stand climbed, or, did a full mobile setup, not that they're hard, but you get up there and then you just kinda wait. Especially if it's early season, you're getting pounded by sun or something.
I get I'm, I get thirsty and I'm not afraid to carry some extra weight. I usually, I don't know, like a thermos, I guess you would call this like a, Yeah, some little water container. Yeah. Nalgene bottle. Yeah. And I don't know how many ounces this is, but I'd say it's about, 24 plus ounces of water.
So that's what I like to take. But hey man, I really appreciate you taking time outta your day to hop on and bss with us about some of the gear that you use. And good luck this upcoming season, man. I hope you slay.
[00:47:56] Rendell: Yeah. I appreciate it, bud. Any anytime, man. Appreciate you having me [00:48:00] on.
