Illinois Expectations

Michigan Wild is kicking off deer season with an awesome episode this week. Drew Hasler and Mason Houston join Nate Rozeveld and break down their recent scouting trip on their Illinois lease. Through the episode they talk about their gear, how they are preparing, and expectations for the lease. The scouting trip was an overall success and they were able to accomplish most of their goals.Takeaways from the scouting trip are the importance of trail cam location, how you hunt this terrain, finding kill trees, and expectations vs their scouting.

Nate looks forward to the podcasts they will do following along on their hunts in Illinois and sharing their camp with the listeners.

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

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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Michigan wild podcast.

We're just here walking around. We're going to go set a tree stand. Don't worry, my dad's weird. He never shot a huge buck. I just shot a frickin big buck.

Get that one. Oh, you hit him. Go get that one, Henry. We're here!

Woo! Look at the size of that deer.[00:01:00]

Welcome to another episode of Michigan Wild. This is the first podcast that's going to launch in this fall for the 2023 Michigan bow season. And this podcast, I think is going to be a great episode for leading into this opening week, it's actually just a conversation with my buddies Mason and Drew that are on the Illinois lease with me, we got together and hopped on the computers and all did a a call with each other and just went over our scouting trip we took earlier this this past month September, I think it was like the second week of September we went down.

And, To our lease and did some scouting and did some trail cam moving and spent some more time in individual spots thinking of how we're going to access that and, get a few trees picked out in our minds that we can hunt. Yeah, it was a great conversation. We talked about a whole bunch of cool things, just like your typical buddies getting together, going over how we felt [00:02:00] about the scouting trip, how we feel about the deer we have on trail camera, some of the gear we're using for this hunt.

This upcoming hunt on the lease. Cause we're treating it like our deer camp for the year. We're, we got a place booked up for, I don't know, seven days or eight days or something like that. And I don't know if we'll all be there at the same time or the whole time, but we'll definitely have people in camp at the same time.

And it's going to be a good time. We're gonna, we're gonna just. Enjoy the company, each other's company. Like I said, it's going to be like that deer camp vibe. And we get the, my dad's going to be there. Mason's dad's going to be there on the lease of the five of us had at least together, and I think even Drew's brother and his dad are going to stay in the same place we are and they're going to they're going to hunt some public land around the area.

So yeah, it's going to be, we could have seven guys in camp. It's going to be awesome. So I think this is just a good episode to lead us into this fall. And to get people jacked up for things to come. I know the first few weeks of October can be miserable with weather conditions and, lack of mature deer or sightings, or, just a good [00:03:00] overall buck movement for some people and some properties that people may have, I think I would be lying if no matter how good of a property I have the first few days of October, I still, my favorite time to hunt is that tail end of October and the first week or two of November.

There's just something about that as a hunter, it's cooler, you get the weather fronts, the leaves are falling the bucks are running or, doing that pre rut and just that's the time we all like to be out in that in the woods, enjoying creation and doing those kind of things. So yeah, I'm not necessarily like I'm excited that it's October 1st tomorrow, but I could do without the 83 degrees and they're, whatever they're forecasting, what I'm still going to get after it.

One of the landowners that I have permission on his property, he would really like to get some snack sticks and some summer sausage this year. So I I'm going to have a mission to go get a dough for him. And I have a lot of doughs on my property, like more than normal amount, especially in one area.

Yeah, I've it's been probably 10 or [00:04:00] 15 years since I've seen this many deer in these areas. So I don't know if it's probably something to do with crop rotation and, maybe easy, and it was an easy winner in some of the spots. I think there was a really good overall rebound, but definitely.

It's I guess it's a good thing to have a lot of deer but I mean there's an overwhelming amount of does compared to bucks So yeah, I you know, take 2023 is gonna be the year of the doe I think for me I'm gonna try to do my part and manage that and shoot what I feel is Adequate for an area.

I don't think I can touch really what? I don't think I can do enough to all the properties I have, but I can at least go through and help. And then, yeah, bring friends maybe and, fam members get out there and, do a nice dough harvest this year. And, that could all change. They might in a way I might just have a skewed Askewed opinion on it because of the time of year and the, like I said, the crop rotation.

So maybe when the deer disperse a little more going into the later October or November, it'll be a little, it'll balance out to what I'm used to seeing. But right now with trail cameras and the scouting, I'm seeing an overwhelming amount of does. And that's, [00:05:00] some people like that going into the, the November, if hunt where the does are.

But when there's a lot of does, I don't even hardly see any bucks because I think they just lock down the doe right away and they don't have to really work to find another one. So they just go doe hopping really quick. So yeah, that's my mindset so far this first few days of October.

I'm going to be aggressive. I was really, I really want to be aggressive tomorrow night. There was a deer that was popping up Mr. Krabs, I've talked about him consistently in a food pot that me and Henry put in. And I was I got I got, it's a really nice area cause I can hunt on multiple winds.

I hang and hunt around this spot every time I don't have any presets. So I was monitoring the wind condition and the conditions. And this deer was coming out, in daylight into this plot. And I have this plot really close to some bedding. So it's a tricky spot to be because.

You got to access it you got to go out of your way and then you got to get in and get set up quick because, does and fawns and stuff, usually move a lot sooner and then you have to be there [00:06:00] and somehow hunt it in a way that you can let all those other deer filter through waiting on the, the mature deer, the deer you're trying to shoot.

So yeah, he was consistent when we had a little better weather earlier this week. And then. Now going into this, this warm up we have yesterday was a little warmer, but he didn't show up yesterday and he wasn't there at any time this morning or last night, so I think I'm going to just play it safe and if he pops up maybe today, or if you know the, I have a, feeling that the cool down going from being hot and sunny is going to is going to happen tomorrow that I can get in there and play the thermal game and, get him going.

You know what I mean? Sometimes it's good when you don't have them every day, cause deer like to run cycles, I feel like, at least where I'm hunting, I never really get a week straight, or even three days straight. It's usually a day here or there. Sometimes I get back to back days, I don't want to be playing catch up, so if he doesn't show up, that's that's the thing I gotta decide.

If he doesn't show up today, and he didn't show up yesterday, he could be showing up tomorrow, I kinda have to weigh that, and I think, I think if the conditions are [00:07:00] right and I feel really good about getting in clean and getting out clean, I'll probably take advantage of that. So yeah, I'm pumped for that.

Everything's dialed. Both shooting great with broad heads. I got my backpack all set up for my, my saddle and my climbing sticks and everything's feeling really good. I'm doing a little, I've been carrying a camera in the woods with me for, probably eight, eight or nine years not consistently, obviously I don't try, I don't have a YouTube channel or anything like that, but I typically always have a camera with me of some sort just to document stuff and it's nice to look back and say, Oh, I did this, two years ago Corn was here when beans were here or whatever I hunted this spot on this day or this time frame and I like to say you know I have this wind I have this kind of a thing and then I just got a little snippet that I can go back and look at it because I'm not really good at writing a list down or I'm doing anything like that or logging after a hunt.

So I take advantage of doing that while I'm in the tree. Cause that's when I actually have some free time while I'm hunting. Yeah, it's nice to go back and look over those, but yeah, the camera is going to be with me. I almost filmed a [00:08:00] doe get shot early doe season. I shot the doe, but she walked off a frame.

So it'd be fun to get that. I've been trying to get a deer killed by a bow on camera for many years. It usually happens when I don't have the camera with me because I'm sick of lugging it around or the batteries are toast. I think the one year I brought the camera up in the tree and had it all set up.

And I had the camera only ran for five minutes and it died. And then then I ended up shooting a deer that night and then I've shot does that same way camera and batteries dead, or I didn't charge it or it's too cold because I didn't really understand how. Temperature really affects those little camera batteries.

So I've upgraded my battery backup battery system and got some things running so I can plug into a bigger power source. And that seems to handle the elements a lot better. Yeah, I think that'll be fun. So yeah, goal is to shoe dough for a landowner and get that out of the way early October.

So he's happy and then I'll be happy cause I love summer sausage as well. And then yeah, then just strategically. I want to be, moderately aggressive, [00:09:00] even though it's going to be warm. And then we really have that good cold front coming in Thursday, I believe. So that is going to, I think that could be a really good hunt for anyone hunting that front that, I've capitalized on fronts like that in early October many times, but you have to make sure your access is money and you have to, it, you don't want to be diving into a spot.

Like just because it's early October and that front is really good, that's not the same way you would hunt a front in, late October, early November, because there's a lot more, there's a lot more leaves on trees and foliage. They might be bedding a little different than you think. So you gotta be, you gotta be strategic with how you do that, but hopefully you guys get after it and someone can connect and have a great hunt.

Going into this week, but yeah, thanks guys for all the support and listen to the podcast. I do want to say a little thing. I did realize that one of the episodes I did with Shane Loney, which was an awesome episode. If you guys listen to Spotify, I, so when I uploaded that file to the empire I didn't [00:10:00] realize that my computer had filled up with storage.

I'm not a techie guy and I have this Mac computer and there was a bunch of I don't even know how to explain it, but I thought I had a bunch of room. But really I didn't, so I didn't realize the hard drive was full because I was deleting stuff and, transferring things over. And I, yeah, the said complete, converted to the file.

It needed to be sent it to him. He uploaded it. And then that more that Monday morning I was listening and I was like, it's only 30 minutes long, what the heck's going on? It was like an hour and a half conversation. I rectified that at my lunch break that day, got it all situated, sent it to him, and he redid it.

However, for some reason Spotify did not upload, re upload it correctly. So if you if any of you guys want to listen to the rest of that episode, you can go onto my Instagram, Michigan Wild Pod, and it's one of the links on my profile. I have that. Or you can go on I think on Instagram.

Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, all those other ones. It upload the full version. Yeah, if you guys want to give that a, if needs has a time [00:11:00] this week and you want to listen to that's a great episode talking about how he was able to connect on. Dude, that buck was like 160 inches. It was awesome.

And it wasn't a typical one 60, but it had some cool character and it was it was a mature deer, he had history with that area, so he knew how to attack it in early season. He had done, mock scraping a spot and he just goes through his mindset with how he attacked it.

And I love it. Very strategic and how he did it and how he's always tweaking and trying to get better. But yeah, that's a really cool episode. And I think if you can, obviously we all have different places we hunt and some properties just are not good early season properties.

But maybe if you have this in mind, you can. When you're driving around the summer and the fall, you can look at a spot or when you're looking at your maps, you'd be like, you know what, maybe that would be a good spot early, early October spot if the weather gets right, knock on that door and you might get permission.

And that might be one of those areas that you only hunt once every couple of years. Or, maybe get 100 a year out of, but hey, if that's what you got to do to get out there, take advantage of it. [00:12:00] So yeah, thanks for the support guys. Hopefully everyone has a wonderful week. And you can get out in the woods, be safe.

Wear your harnesses. If you're hanging tree stands, put that harness on with alignments. To be safe. Have, have a lifeline in a tree for your presets. Spend the, I think they're like 30 or 40 bucks a pop, which I know can add up if you have a lot of presets, but it's a lot cheaper than all the medical bills you may have to pay or what your family have to pay if you're not around and, doing things at the max potentially can do it.

So be safe, get out there. And enjoy it. Also, if you do have the opportunity to release an arrow, be responsible with how you when you release the arrow and when you go track that deer. I know I've made the mistake of tracking too early or, taking a low percentage shot and not just waiting.

And trust me, it's not worth the heartache. So if you need to call a tracking dog possibly, or talk to some, get a good group of buddies in and, discuss what's going on. Give that deer some time or, if you need to, [00:13:00] or whatever it may be, go hop on social media, there's so many deer tracking people out there and a lot of very knowledgeable people that can help you with that.

But yeah, get after it and have a good week guys.

I'm gonna

go ahead and get started.

And we should be hot and we are hot. All right. For this week's episode on Michigan wild. I got my two buddies, Drew and Mason, and this is online. This is [00:14:00] the first three way of a podcast with you guys doing digitally. So hopefully it all comes across good, but. So Drew's been on before a couple of weeks ago, and then this is Mason's on for the first time and we're on this lease down in Illinois together.

Mason, why don't you just give us a little update about what the heck you got going on, who you are, that kind of thing. Cause we all know about Drew a little bit already. So your turn to introduce yourself. All right. I am. Nate's friend, Mason been mentioned in the podcast a couple times I met Nate through work a couple years ago and everything just actually was we met over talking about deer hunting in the middle of February, staying with her out running trucks.

It was cold, and here we are a couple years later on a lease in Illinois together, I think it took about two days and we became best friends, very much. It's crazy how deer hunting brings people together, right? Yeah, that's pretty much how that went. So yeah, we yeah, tore up with deer hunting and yeah, I guess Mason's probably the blame for this whole lease [00:15:00] thing that we got going on.

Cause me and Drew are just the ones saying, yeah, we'll do something. And then Mason saw this and was like, dude, we're doing this. You guys, then we're like, yep. And you were the, pretty much the spear rod on that deal. You got it. You sent it to me in February on just like a whim. I think I was at work on a job in Ohio and I think I stopped everything I was doing that afternoon and called this guy.

And then I was on the horn with you guys trying to figure out if we could do it because. It was a short window to make it happen. Yeah, we didn't we got to walk it. Which was the coolest thing we just talked about. So what was your like first opinion of the property Mason? Cause you had, you work out of state, so like you were in Ohio working at the time.

So like you'd scouted some like hilly stuff in the area, right? Like you walk arounds in public. Yeah, it's southern Ohio. A little bigger country down there, but first take of the property was it wasn't flat, like where we come from, that's for sure. . So everything was up uphill from the road and then once you got to the peak, everything was [00:16:00] downhill.

Right off the bat it felt a lot bigger than. What we thought it was, you can't see the north side of the property from the south side. You can't see the east side of the property from the west side. It hunts a lot bigger than what it actually is. The topography of it's just great because it breaks it up.

Yeah. And you guys both hunted that Indiana the year we became best friends pretty much, that was your first year. So you guys have. I've hunted Hills, but I feel like you guys actually like probably walked more. Every time I've walked anything with Hills and it's like a smaller property.

So I've been like confined to property lines and you guys went down to Indiana, you had the whole place. So you guys walked tons of stuff and you were like, you guys had that mindset going into Hey, we found sign this kind of thing. And I remember we targeted those areas when we first walked it and found what we wanted to find.

Yeah. And I think we realized the structure of Hills pretty quickly once we got to Indiana, because I know. Mason, when we first got in there, it was like, all right, we're just going to, it was only like a mile or half mile, whatever to get into [00:17:00] this one spot. And it's like, all right, we're just going to buy them right there.

And sure enough we look over, there's this big ravine. Mason's like, all right, I think I'm going to buy them down this thing. And sure enough, it took them like an hour just to get back up the other side of the hill. We didn't realize what we got ourselves into here. No, us Flatlanders don't know what the heck we're doing sometimes.

But hey, it's a good learning curve. So we did, so we scouted the first time all together when we, before we, yes, at least we walked it. We liked what we saw. We set a bunch of cameras up and we got a few bucks right away on camera. So we were pumped and then it fizzled out. I would say we were like anticipating this to be.

Pretty fantastic. Cause it's beans. So we're like all through the summer man, where are all these pictures at? And we're like, do we, is there EHD? Is there, anything like that? We didn't really know. So then we set up a time when we got to go down. What was it been like two weeks now ago?

We went down, me and then your dad, what did, and then we, what was your thought when we went back? [00:18:00] I guess we, either one of you guys got there first, the first night, a few hours before me, but you guys walked around and. You guys are pretty pumped up. I feel like yeah, I hadn't been down there since February.

Nobody knows. It looks like it was green. And what we pulled in a little, I don't know, 110. 6 point just popped out of the woods while we were standing by the truck. Yeah, so we were pretty pumped up even walking in there and we were all just ran to the cameras and then. That's when the learning curve started.

realize the cameras weren't at least the standard cameras, not the cell cams, but the standard cams were not, weren't quite spec and, maybe could have lost out on some pictures. But, that's the risky take when you go down there in February and, you put out a bunch of cameras and expect them to.

Work fully, but I think we, we definitely gathered the Intel. We wanted to gather when we were down there. We, you were able to like, see what was going on. We had the few cameras that you saw. So like we looked at them that night. So the next morning we had a good game plan. Okay, deer are here.

There's tracks. You guys can find the trails, like all that stuff. Like we just got to [00:19:00] tweak the location. So pretty much like the first game, like one of the cell cams, you guys moved that first night and we had it, I feel like we had in a decent spot. What we felt like was good for movement, . But we only missed that one by what a, how far would you move that camera? 20 yards. 20 yards. And you don't know yet? Mason, but we got . I think he's an eight or 10, but he's using that scrape at 12 o'clock today. Yeah. No, really nice. So that was like, just that little move. It's crazy. That little move, they're using that topography just a little bit differently.

They found a flatter spot to move across. When we walked in February, we had a whole different take on the property. We figured they were using it north, accessing it north and south. And then we got down there two weeks ago, it was the total opposite. They're running it east and west in a pretty much giant circle, depending on wind direction.

So we were just off, just about where all of our cameras. We didn't move them very far. We moved them up the ridge or down the ridge. Yeah, we were in the right area. They were [00:20:00] just, in front of it or behind it? Yeah, I think for that, it's definitely we felt it when we were walking it. It's definitely that thermal funnel, you got wind coming over the top of the Ridge and then you got thermals pulling up or, vice versa, and you just got to find that right spot and that's where they're moving.

That dead zone in the middle, which is going to make it tough come this fall. Yeah. What do we knew access was like, it's got good access. I feel like. Like it could be way worse. Like we have, we at least can work with it. It's just going to be, like when we went out there this last trip, I brought some milkweed with me and you're just dropping it.

And it's okay, 20 yards over here. It's doing one thing. And then you go over here and it's doing something completely different. So typically I like to access stuff. Flatland is you can make like a wide sweeping, half boon shape into your spot maybe, or you can do like a more aggressive, 90 turn into your spot.

Depending on what you got for cover and stuff there, it's going to be like, we need to just completely avoid you can't even walk across some of that because your set stream is [00:21:00] going to get pulled so far in the morning. Cause one thing we were talking about a lot too, like I've learned with like thermals, like even in the morning, they don't, it takes a while for them to rise.

So I've been. Screwed because I'll think, Oh, it's morning time. My thermals will be rising. Once a dead calm day, you'll walk across. And it's no, for the first two hours, my thermals are just getting sucked into this inside corner or, the low spot that I'm trying to hunt over. So we're definitely going to have to be creative when we go into there for that.

So we learned that and we learned that, Hey, 20 yards makes a big difference on trail cameras because we. Yeah, we set a couple, I brought a couple more cams, a set when we got rid of two of the SD card ones, cause they pretty much died, but we moved them slightly and we instantly saw what we wanted to see.

That's for sure. Within the first night we had a couple of shooter bucks on camera and, using the ridges is how the deer use them, but locations, how they access the ridge or come off bedding. I think we just found those spots. Definitely paid off pretty [00:22:00] quickly. Yeah, go for it, Mason. So again we set up cameras for the fall, too, so we have cameras that are hot right now, but we have also ones all over that are going to be set up for more come November.

We're not, none of us are going back till then, so we're just going to let them marinate and see what the story tells here coming up. A month or two, we've already seen a couple of bucks, hit a cam work, a scrape, that's by either a mock one or one that we've spiced up a little bit.

And I'm like, every time I see that, I'm like, Oh, he's just checking where he's just getting a little inventory himself. That deer is going to be back, but. What do you, so what do you think yeah, like Mason, you were, you really were liking that one spot. That that one Ridge to the North or that kind of right.

That was your drainage or I don't know if it's a drainage or draw wherever I call it, but you really liked that spot. Yeah, it's just impossible to get to, without blowing the whole place out. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh gosh. [00:23:00] Yeah. That's yeah. You were like, just, I, you love that spot from the beginning and what we saw today, like the last trip, this last time it was like, okay, yeah, you're right. I think you're dead on what's going on there, but like you said, how the heck do you hunt that? You got to go in at three in the morning and I'll settle back down by the time you get.

Yep. And that's going to be a big learning thing for us. I almost we might not even be able to hunt some mornings. That's what I'm thinking. Especially that Western Ridge, we've been seeing a lot of that camera activity in the morning, like 5 50 to 6 AM.

And it's like constant, it's within minutes every day of those bucks using that Ridge going back to bedding. It's it's almost impossible because you'd be walking in there and then they're trying to come in behind you. What if we could find their loop and catch them in the evening? I think that's, yeah, they might, they might do that little thing later in the morning.

Once the crops are off or like they're running hard, but that's you don't even want to walk [00:24:00] across there until you can like, see, so we might have played that whole gray light game, which I know like I've done here in Michigan was pretty good success and feel that, ag country, because I just, find a high.

I'm just going to have a hard attack. I'm going to have a hard attack. And if there's nothing in the field, I just, I literally will jog across the field, but this is a little bit bigger and hillier. So I ain't jogging across that. I'm going to have a heart attack. I think that's going to take us learning to it.

If you, if we do find that bulletproof access and you get that first cold front on October, whatever, to get them on their feet just a little bit later towards daylight and you might have a very good opportunity at that spot, or spots like that. So what do you, me and Drew talked a little bit about our expectations.

We're trying to, we're holding out for a four and a half or five and a half year old deer that we can tell, I think, obviously we're not going to know cause we have no history, but we're going to target, mature deer, but from what I've seen on camera, we have. We have four or five bucks that probably classify that age group we're going for, I would say.

And then I'd agree [00:25:00] with that one is man spicy. That's the year that I'm like, yes, we got a picture of what I mean. We're not talking to Booner here, but I'm saying like a really good, like buck, like a top end buck, like bigger than anything I've shot bigger than anything I think any of us have shot.

That in itself makes the trip in the excitement to go down. They're totally worth it. In my opinion. that, absolutely seeing bucks like that makes it worth it. It makes the camera shift and all that. It's definitely told us that the investment has paid off at least a little bit, regardless of the successor or we're in the, we're in the chips, it doesn't matter.

That was the whole, that was the whole point of going, I shouldn't say that far South, but that was the huge draw for us to Illinois was just to increase the odds of an opportunity at a mature animal that you would not be able to find back home. Not that easy. If we just, like in here in Michigan, our lease is 120 acres for us to find a lease like that [00:26:00] and all of us be on it and for it to be, to have a deer, like we've got pictures of, we'd be ecstatic if we had one, one of those, and you go down there and you have that many more, so I think it's just.

Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Drew. So I was just saying, not to mention like even topography, we're releasing 120 acres, but we're not leasing 120 acres of flat ground or ag or, we have ag on the property, but like we mentioned before, it hunts so big that we can easily hunt. Multiple people on the property and not see the same deer probably in an entire day.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. There's spots I hunt that I can see if I was really paying attention and looking for people, I bet I can see five or six people pretty easily, in a half mile area, like just glass and, cause it's so flat, what so what are you doing right now? I know you talked a little bit about four, you just got done shooting your bow, right Mason?

Yeah, I went after [00:27:00] work, went to this around Indianapolis and many chunks of state land to even go throw a target out, so you gotta go to a designated range. I went to this, it was like a makeshift bow shop, and then they had like a 3D range, and then just bags for I don't know, for the...

Competitive competition, ASA guys, more of the paper stuff, but then on the far side they had 20 to 110 yards of block targets. I was like, sweet, sign me up, I'll pay 10 bucks, it's an afternoon, give me some, what am I going to do after work? You know what I mean? And like I said, we're getting close and I have been the most diligent when it comes to shooting bows.

And like I was telling you guys earlier before we got on the call and slashed the fresh batch arrows and wanted to see if they fly straight. So I was like what's better to do? Beautiful evening down here. So I said, let's go let's go shoot at least until dark. And let's just say, I have not shot my bow enough this year, man.

My shoulder is sore.

Yeah. We're not young pups anymore. You guys younger than me, but yeah, shooting your bow, he's never heard at all. But now it's like, Oh man. Yeah. I shot that thing a little too many [00:28:00] times. So how'd you shoot? Like overall, like, how'd you feel shooting? Oh, I felt pretty good. I was probably the best outing of the summer.

Granted. I wasn't shooting at a small target. Does that make sense? I took a roll of duct tape with me, put an X out there, but we were shooting softball size groups at 60 yards. So I feel I'm confident for the season, there's always room for improvement. Yeah. That's all you can always be better.

Yeah. How much do you want to nitpick yourself? Especially at distance, videos of guys shooting a hundred yard groups, you're like, Oh man, I should be able to do that. But it takes a lot of effort to get to that point. And then for me, confidence at 60 is easy at 30.

What was that? What aero setup did you end up going with? I went with, I've got the Easton AXIS Match Graze 300 spine. And then I went with a different fletching instead of like the stock Blaser short fletching. I went with the AA Max, which are, I don't know, I think they're like 3 quarters of an inch longer.

And then they're just a tiny bit shorter. There's not much [00:29:00] of a difference in height, but, and then I put a three degree right helical on them and I didn't even have, I didn't have to retune anything to have to move a rest. Arrow was more jockey. And everything was fine. True. That's good. What are you, do you have an insert on that arrow?

Yeah. Just the stock 50 gram. It's an outsert. It's half in half out. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yep. Half out. Yeah. I think it's, yeah, like you said, 50 grain aluminum half out. That's what they come with. And then, like I said, we're shooting whitetails. Yeah. We don't need something super frontal heavy. Even my 630 green arrows.

Awesome, dude. No, it definitely. Yeah. I'm not shooting that those this year, but yeah, I shot 630 for the last three years and yeah, a bit much, but man, when you hit a deer with them at 20 yards, it zips right through everything, but you really sacrifice If you want to shoot 40 yards, that difference from 20 to four yards is like substantial.

So settled that 500 greens for this year. And [00:30:00] let me tell you what worked pretty good in that dough. I shot early dough season. Yeah. You made quick work of that in the morning. I get out to just crazy first time I've ever done early dough hunt too. It was like, my dad was laughing because he's yup, Nate, pretty much about 10 minutes before dark on Friday night.

It was like, I think I'm going to shoot a dough tomorrow morning. And then goes out there and just goes zaps one. And I laughed and I was like, if it could only work that way every time. But no, that's I shot my first deer ever. In early doe season with a bow. So yeah, so I know the feeling it's hot.

It's buggy and it's, you're never been more excited to get out there and kill a doe. Dude, I had a doe and a couple of does come in. I went to a spot, it's right by my house. So it's like super easy to get to. And I was like, all right, I'm using my bow. I'm going to try to film this. But that was my goal and I went up in a preset stand, actually a stand that Henry hunted with me last year.

It's only 12 feet off the ground. [00:31:00] It's, it's got three separate climbing sticks and then a platform and it's in a, it's in three tree trunks, coming out of the ground and I'm like in between them all. So it's like a sweet little spot and it's right on the edge of a food plot that we put in an inside corner.

And there's oak trees there and then the food plot. It's great spot for does, and I have not had a big buck on that camera yet all summer. So I saw, I glassed a nice one on that out of there early summer, but he's never walked by my camera. So I was like, what perfect spot to go. I don't have any big bucks.

I go there, shoot a doe. It's not going to ruin anything. So I, but I didn't trim the tree out. I, I don't know why I trimmed out like lower stuff. So I like walk to the stand easy, but never thought about climbing up in the dumb thing. I climbed up there and loosen the straps, but never hopped in the stand.

It was like, Oh, I should probably cut some of those branches out because all the leaves around them. So they're hanging, like crazy. So I get up there. I'm like, cool. I can shoot 10 yards into the food plot and I can shoot like. 20, 30 yards out into the woods. Like whatever, if it works.

But sure enough, a doe comes right down the [00:32:00] field edge. Perfect. It's this little mock scrape I made on the edge of the field. And I got the camera on her the whole time. I'm like, sweet, have no shot can barely see her with a naked eye. And I was like, this is great. And then she walks like eight yards in front of me and I'm trying to film it.

And she's it's dead calm. I was playing the thermals a little bit because of the, the way the sun rises over the field that the food plot gets sunned right away in the morning. So my thermals are just like sucking out into the field, which was great. No idea I'm there, go to pull my bow back and like just my body moving and like trying to pull the bow back and made like the littlest noise or something.

And she just freaked she just trotted off. And I was like, sweet. Another video camera, fricking ruined a hunt for me. And I was like, dude, I was like, so pumped. Like my heart was pounding. I was like, man, it's like I'm shooting a buck because you went through the intense or shoot it.

Usually it's I'm hunting and when the doe comes by, I'm like, I think I'll shoot the doe, this was different. Like I was targeting the doe. So I was like really into it. So it was funny. And then fortunately for me, another group of deer came through and this one worked into the woods and went [00:33:00] to the Oaks and was eating some acorns.

This is probably like eight 30 and looped through and came in. I shot the thing at 10 yards, quartering two with a mechanical broadhead. And it went blue through her. I was very impressed. Yeah. You sent me that Snapchat in the morning and I was like, dang, sweet. So it feels good to get that done.

But she walked out of the frame of the camera. So I didn't get my my video kill on camera. I've dude, I've been trying so long to shoot a deer with my bow on camera. And I just suck. I can never do it. Yeah. I went through the links a couple of years ago. I purchased a camera arm and by the time you get set up with the tree and you get everything perfect and then you don't see anything, it's man.

That was a lot of work for nothing, a lot, yes. Just, I had just completely given up on it, but it was nice though, on the video though, I did, so I shot her, and like I knew it was a good shot, it was point blank range, I'm 12 feet up and like just zapped her, right where the neck and the shoulder meet.

So I didn't hit her dead shoulder, I mean I broke her top of her [00:34:00] scapula, but I didn't smoke her I didn't smoke her in the dead shoulder shot, but when I turned the camera. I saw her run off into the cover and I was like, okay, I think she tipped over right there. But I couldn't confirm.

I just heard something. I didn't see her run through. So I like rewatched the video and sure enough. I could see, I see her when she turned and run. I could see like blood coming out of the entrance, like a little bit like where the arrow came out by her, lower side. I'm like, oh yeah, that deer's cooked.

And you could tell how she was running. She was already given up and I was like, yep. So that was nice having that confirmation with having that video. But. It was good to get the year started. So yeah, absolutely. RX 7 got one nerd belt already. Yeah. Like that, but I use the so do you guys you guys are all using fixed blades too, right?

Correct. Yeah. Yeah. I think Helix, I'm using the Helix FJ2. Gotcha. I think Mason's going with the same one this year. The two, yeah the, cause the four has like bleeders on it or something. Or any bleeders, yeah. Yeah, so I just use these [00:35:00] Mechanicals because I bought some of those Those dead meats for Turkey season.

Cause someone told me like, Hey, those were good. Mechanical works good for turkeys. Cause there's a little bigger cutting radius, so I just went to the local shop and bought some, and I was like the night before I'm like going through, checking on broad heads, everything's sharp. I've been shooting my arrow with my fixed blades and it had been flying really good.

And I was like, I really wonder what one of these would do to a deer. Like I've heard good things about them. I'm going to just try it, and yeah, I was pleasantly surprised with it, quarter and two shot zipped right through and. Yeah, I did his job, but that's the thing with mechanicals.

Like when they work, they, when they work, they're amazing. When something weird happens, it's yeah. So I don't think I'll probably, I might have one in the quiver if maybe for another dough shot or cause like doughs are smaller too. So you're not trying to shoot this big four and a half, five and a half year old buck that's, just bigger with a, adult dough was two year old dough, maybe an early season.

No, I don't mean usually no fat. Minimal fat fur was like, [00:36:00] hide was super thin. Yeah pretty easy shot. So I'll take it. I think with with any broad head, I think placement's still key. Regardless of what you're using or, yeah, I think. That explains definitely do help with that.

Those marginal shots, but if you can place it then you shouldn't have any worry. And if your arrows following the broadhead correctly, like Mason just talked about how you reflush arrows. And the first thing you do is check to see how they're flying. That's a concept we didn't know when we were younger.

Like that, you had no idea. Like we just threw them on there and you put brought you. I remember I used to shoot muzzies with my I won my dad's old bows when I was like a teenager and it was probably like 60 pounds. And I went to from aluminum, these big, huge aluminum arrows to these small carbon arrows.

I got on oh man, sportsman's guide. I think I ordered them through sportsman's guide and they came in and I was like, oh, these things are so fast. This is awesome. Threw muzzy on and I had to move my site like six inches because they were playing so bad, and then I wonder why I got no penetration when I hit a deer with it, so I think aero flight is the most [00:37:00] important thing just to get that aero file on that broadhead right. So you drive through it. So just a lot of not knowing when you're going to do. Oh, yeah, I think the first year I killed, I we had a mason jar full of old broadheads and I was like 11 at the time and I went out back and shot a doe with my old Jennings bow and I grabbed a, just an old Grim Reaper out of this mason jar, threaded on my arrow, went out back and killed something with it.

So it's there's something to be said about simplicity. There was no tuning. There was no, I don't know. I don't know if I'm paper tuned or. Anything like that, it's weird. I can tell ya, I shot the old Grim Reapers out of an old Browning bow. And this thing would kick right, kick left, but guess what, it would hit where I was aiming, so it was good to go, right?

Yep. Yeah, and the arrow's going there, it's the fletchings are trying to pass it as it's going up. There's something to be said about that though, to like, when you first go hunting, you don't really like when you're a kid yeah, my dad and uncles, they started shooting bows in [00:38:00] the eighties, but as technology was getting more and more, they didn't, there wasn't like social media or Facebook, you couldn't like.

You just saw stuff at the sports shop, so you didn't really have to update yourself. It took a lot longer. Now you can just go on YouTube and some guy's got a great breakdown of something. It's we can get access to change much quicker. But like my dad, when I first bought those carbon arrows, he was like, what the frick are them things?

Cause you need to shoot the big aluminums or this wood arrows. I have his recurve. And he was like, what's that thing? And I was like, man, watch this. And I was just shooting, at the time I was shooting probably 40 yards. And it felt like I was shooting a hundred because you used to not even be able to shoot that far because your arrow would just plunk in the dirt before it'd get to the target.

The Kentucky windage, I would just aim real high on my 20 yard pin. And then it was like, I remember saying, I don't even have to aim off the target. Like I could aim to the top of the target, 40 yards. My 20 yard pin out hit money at 40, which that was like. I wasn't like, oh, this is amazing. And he's just and the throw brought it on there and I was just perplexed because we never had that [00:39:00] problem.

Bows are shooting slow and heavy arrow. Didn't matter if you threw a broadhead on there, I think still hit where he wanted it. So yeah, just to come from that point to now, it's pretty remarkable. But when we're, so your first doe, you're talking about that when you're 11 and you just went out back and zapped a doe or what?

Yeah, we had a, it's our property kind of butted up to a park, so they were used to park traffic, human traffic, I should say. Yeah so we had this huge, it was like a triple trunk oak tree. You could seriously hide your body in this thing. I remember took this I don't know what kind of camera my mom had.

Now, I was in, I had the hunting itch and that was like when I first got it. And I took that thing out there and just put a stick in the ground and like wedged up the camera and just click record on it. I didn't get a lick of footage on the steer or whatever, but they came down the trail.

They always came. There was just this beat down highway in this bottom behind my house. And every night seemed like a string of [00:40:00] five of them would come out. Come out of the park, come through our property, and then cross the road into the orchard. And, yeah, sure enough, first one came out, it was like, probably like 12 yards.

I don't know how I was able to get drawn on it, but I was. But, and I freaked out. I was like, I had no idea where we went. My dad's cause... I didn't get a full pass zero. I actually I think I was sticking out one side of the deer, so I had maybe blood on one side and it wasn't much of anything.

I'm sure that grim reaper had probably gone through a target a couple times. But it was smart because it was all heated up. Yeah, I get up to the house, my dad's like, where'd it go? And I said, I have no idea. I didn't even watch it. I shot it and just freaked out. But we ended up finding it. I think it only ran like 40 yards.

So it was that's what got me hooked. That was the one. What was the first deer you shot at? That was the first deer with anything, yeah. You never shot another deer before? That was your first? That was awesome. When did you shoot your first deer, Mason, with a bow? I think I was 12. I shot an early [00:41:00] doe season out of this tree stand my grandpa had on his 40 acres that had been there for 20 years before me.

So everything in the county knew it was there. It was only, my grandpa was scared of heights. So it was no, no joke, like 10 foot off the ground. He used to like stick branches in the tree to try to hide himself. But like they would come in, this is back in the Baton area and they already had Japan before they even got close.

They were looking up, they weren't looking down. And we had just built a new rifle blind that day. And it was early doe season. This, I just decided to go out, and here, this is the best story ever, cause I only took one arrow with me. Why I only took one arrow with me, I can't explain it to anybody.

Cause I figured I wasn't gonna see anything, cause we'd just been in the woods with a tractor banging on stuff all day, and here comes this doe. She saw me right away, tried to skirt around me, so I had to quick spun around, drew, and shot. Spined her. One arrow, Josh, didn't kill her. So she's just demobilized on the ground.

And I'm like, [00:42:00] Oh, what do I do now? I didn't want to call my dad and be like, Hey, I only took one arrow. Cause I would never hear the end of it. You'd be chastised for sure. What a terrible situation, man. Yeah, it was definitely a tough one. And you weren't going to like just sneak back to the house and get a new arrow.

Everybody would see you, so what'd you do? Did you club her or something or what? Oh yeah. I had a whole pile of kindling right next to her. But you're 12 years old on your defense. 12 years old, you have this adrenaline dump, a lot's going on through your head and you don't necessarily make the most, level head decisions, very irrational decisions.

Yeah. Cause I couldn't bow hunt until I was 12. So I'm older than you guys. So I didn't, you season wasn't even around early dough when I first started bow hunting. So I really, dude, I hit I hit a doe when I was 12. Bait pile. Cause we could bait still. I remember it was like, we'd always hunt all these balsam trees up north and same thing, like they were like low to the ground, like 10 feet.

You just use branches to climb up in the thing. And I never had the bow rope [00:43:00] and. I was like trying to pull my bow up and it got hooked and I pulled hard. And I had the old school, just like the single fiber optic pin. And dude, I snapped that thing right in half. So like I have the U shaped, site housing with the single pin sticking out and it's like halfway.

And I remember telling myself, I was like if a doe, if a deer comes out, like I'll just aim, middle of the body. With that pen and it should be on the shoulder. Cause like at 12 years old, that was just my thought. And this was the first night it happened. I was like I'm hunting. I'm not like you said I'm going to do climb down and go find my dad.

He would be so pissed if I come walking up to him, dude, so sure enough, a doe comes out. It was probably like a little doe fawn. It was by itself. It was small. And it came to the bait and the bait was at like 12 yards from my tree. My uncle and dad put this bait out real close for me and I pulled back and I put that pin right on the middle shot way over her back because I used my 20 yard pin at 10 yards, so I remember I hooked.

Took another arrow out of my [00:44:00] quiver. And this is actually, how you guys always ask me. I always shoot with a quiver. This happened to my first year I shot at, I'm a quiver like quickie or whatever, just laying in the branches. And I like struggled to get the arrow out of the quiver and my quiver falls on the ground and deer stand out in the middle of the field.

And I was like. I just was like flustered. I put the arrow on, I waited and sure enough, she gave me a broadside shot and the same thing, and I shot, and I just didn't aim back far enough. So I smoked her right in the high shoulder shot. So here's a 12 year old kid. I missed, broke my pin, missed the deer. And then she hit a deer and it ran right into my tree.

And I thought I smoked her cause she did the mule kick, and then we tracked that deer all night and then tracked it the next morning, caught up to it and took off running. And my arrow was only like bloody for two inches, so that happened when I was 12. 13. I hit a six point dead square in the shoulder again with my bow.

And then I think when I was 14, I hit one, I pulled my, when I was 14, I was like, all right, I got a bigger bow. So like I could shoot, like I grew quite a bit, so I was able to shoot my dad's old, like golden Eagle bows and no let off [00:45:00] or anything. So it was just like shooting a recurve. It's cams, or wheels and limbs.

And I remember this spike came into a bait pile and I could not pull the bow back. I was too worked. I just couldn't do it. Like you said, every time you hunt on bait paddles, deer knew you're in the tree. So they come in walking sideways, looking at you and you're all like, don't move. Don't move.

And don't even look at it. You know what I mean? Yeah. So I could not pull my bow back. Cause I was so used to be able to put my bow, like up, like by my head and do the whole sky draw slightly to get it back. So I couldn't do it. Deer finally walks away. Cause I was just like struggling hard and I did the sky draws is walking away.

And I was like, so I used to shoot fingers with my compound. That's what I, my bow before I'd shoot, peep site, one site and fingers, that's how I grew up shooting and this bow, I got to release. And I pulled back and deer's walking, the deer is so far away. And I remember being like, that's way too far.

And I like dropped my bow down and touched my release. And my arrow just goes, it's 65 yards, probably. It was just like arcing and it went [00:46:00] right down. I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm so happy. I missed that thing. Cause it was like, I did not like complete accident. So when my uncle came and was like, what happened?

He told me, he's we have to look to make sure. You didn't hit the deer, and I was like if I hit the deer, I hit it in like the leg. Cause it was like way low, sure enough, by my arrow, there's like the littlest of blood on it. And we tracked that thing. And my uncle was just like, it was, they instilled in me that, you'd never give up.

Even if you make a bad shot, like he just used as an example to Hey you're responsible. You didn't, you didn't make sure your fingers off the trigger, like all that stuff. So it was a good learning experience for me. But that deer got shot. So the buck I hit in the shoulder got shot during gun season.

And then Spike got shot during gun season. So all the neighbors just knew here's this Nate kid out there, just like winging deer with a bow and they're shooting with a gun. So I was like tough on me, but I hit that deer, like the back leg, right where like the, or like calf muscle is, hit it there.

So that was rough. But then when I was 16, I got a driver's license. I started hunting down here by me and I shot a deer off the ground. And then once that happened, I was just on a tear. Like I started [00:47:00] killing deer on my bow. So I just, I had a tough four years. So I went through the same thing. So I shot that doe when I was 12 following year back still in the baiting area.

I missed a 7. 3 times. I'm missing that 15, 20, and 25 yards clean misses all three times. Yup. It's part of, dude, it's part of it. That's a struggle. Like my brother in law, he hit that buck the first night, the first serious night we took, I took him out hunting great deer, he shoulder shot that thing, absolutely devastated.

And it's he was like 20 or 19 or something like that at the time. And I was like, dude, it happens. If only you knew what I went through with bow hunting, it's part of it and that's what makes it bittersweet. Like when you go through that, but then when it actually comes together, you're just like, Oh gosh, like this is amazing.

And like, when I, growing up with my dad always told me, Hey, if you wound one, like that's it, you're done. You know what I mean? Like we're all, we're only going to take good shots. We're not going to force shots. You're going to practice all summer. [00:48:00] You're not going to hunt. And the following year, man, I, had a four point at eight yards and I hit it in no man's land between top of rib cage and spines and just straight through the back straps, just a meat shot. I hung my bow, I hung my bow up that year, man. I took it and I was like, after that, I was like, I am never rushing a shot ever again.

I think the hardest thing, like for me, like there's been times when I pull, it used to be, if I pull my bow back, like I'm shooting that was like the thing. And now there's been, I can't tell you how many times, like even this past weekend, early doe, I had my bow back on that deer and she was probably like, it was probably like in the thirties and there was like, I could see her, I could have maybe I've been like one of those ones, Oh, you could shoot through that branch.

But I was like, Nope, don't need to, not the right shot, let it down. And as the other deer came through. It was like a 37 yard shot. I had another mock scrape. I had two mock scrapes, like one in the field edge and one in the inside corner farther and walks by and she's up in that, up in the licking branch.

And I was like, you know what, maybe we can try that shot pulled back. And [00:49:00] then she started walking. I was like, nope, not meant to be, man. I never would have done that in the past, waiting for, it'd been like, it's just you get so tunnel vision. Like I have to shoot and. Yeah. Waiting for that right shot.

That's a good, that's a good thing to learn at a young age. I think we've all had those situations or, these stories to, we've wounded the deer, missed the deer, or you name it, haven't been able to find a buck we really wanted to find. It definitely teaches you pretty quickly how to react in the next situation.

Yeah, it's a good gut check, like it makes you and if you break it down, it's like it is just a deer, like it's a deer thousands of them get killed a year by cars and all that kind of stuff, they die miserable deaths from coyotes and things like that, but it's just.

Just a deer means a lot more than that to hunters, I lose sleep over it. You feel like crap, all that stuff. But I wanted, so what, so we, what's our game plan again for like our Illinois lease? When are we booked a [00:50:00] Airbnb. What is that timeframe again?

It's six through the 10th, right? We got it Friday that first Friday before the six, but I want us, we've got it for what, seven days. Yeah, 10 days. 10 days, I think is what we got for it. It's like a Friday to Friday window for anybody to coming to camp and we're calling it camp, right?

This is, yeah, it's a good camp for sure. Point 23. Yeah. So yeah, who knows when we'll filter in and out, but I think that's, but we have, so I talked to a guy that hunts probably 45 minutes from us and he is, he's like pretty out of it. That second week in November is really good down there. And that's what we've been hearing and done some research from some other buddies.

Yeah. And I I had a buddy that got it down in Illinois for a few years. And he always said like Michigan rifle opener, November 15th is that timeframe, Illinois was always just on [00:51:00] fire. Yeah. I'm excited to know, as with anything, I think it, it really depends on weather. But the good thing for us is we have all that public around us too.

So yeah, short drive, like we can bad weather, whatever we, I think we can get some pretty serious in season scouting done work our way around or, just have, we're down to have fun. So wander around 300, 000

acres of. Shawnee National Forest that nobody's ever even stepped foot on yet. And we've been down there twice. Yeah. That's a giant chunk. So we're not really giving too much away, but yeah. Hop in the truck and go drive. And if we get bored, we just walk around and do that. Not opposed to that at all. Not opposed to that.

So Drew, do you have an updated hit list for the first week of October? In Michigan? Yep. So yes. Yes and no. I'm on [00:52:00] the bridge of this as I mentioned earlier this wide eight I've had I have a plethora of pictures of him in 2021, a few pictures of him in 2022. Now he showed back up and he's been regular, like he's on probably three out of the five cams I have on this property.

He's been showing up. He showed up in daylight the last two days. He's a regular, he's hitting the food plot every day. But the more I look at them, the more I almost just don't want to shoot them. I know he's four. I know he's ortho fact and it's, I've never had the, I guess I haven't given myself the opportunity to let a deer go to five here in Michigan.

And it was pretty tough, I've given the opportunity. It's going to be a tough decision for me. So that's the only one I have on the top of the hit list. There's some other good mature bucks but nothing. That's nothing. That's a tickling the fancy as much. So you say mature, you saying [00:53:00] like other four year olds or do you have a five year old or two or what?

No, we have, I shouldn't say mature three year olds. Okay. A lot of three year olds on the property. There's one four year old that I saw a couple of times in September, but he hasn't showed up since he was a home body quite a bit last year. As far as him showing up again this year. It's that usually based on past years, late October, it'll swing through and then middle of November, he'll swing through. I've seen him in rifle season, so just dependent on that. Because I last year had a really big three and a half year old. I was afraid I'd shoot him. I saw him. I just didn't go hunt certain spots because I was afraid of myself.

Not really afraid. I just didn't like, why put myself in that position when I'm just going to pass them. So are you not going to hunt if you don't have a target buck or are you still going to go out there and sit? Yeah, the thing with our properties. As I mentioned to you earlier, it's, you can see across the entire 160 acres, in one swing.

Any stand you sit at, you can see the whole [00:54:00] property. It's flat, it's low. I think it's going to be more, if the cameras aren't telling me any stories, then it's going to be more of observation sets. Sitting on a hill, we have a good hill on top that I can glass quite a bit from. Maybe take the spying scope out there and look around, or we have some good observation sets.

I at least have some of an opportunity at a buck that might be cruising coming out of the swamp or whatever, but it's going to be sitting there developing a good game plan and then going in a little bit deeper as the season goes on. So you, do you think there's a potential to have a buck show up that you don't have history with?

That big nine I shot last year, I didn't have many pictures of him at all. But first week of October, he showed up, he started hitting the food plot, and then I caught him after a good cold front and a heavy rain, second week of October. And that's when I kill him. He was going right back to food. He checked and saw him hit six scrapes on the way to food.

And I shot him at nine yards. There's that potential. We have a really good transition [00:55:00] area where we're located. Bucks move across properties. They go from bedding to food or like that deep swamp. They cross our property to get to the big ag across the way. There's definitely the potential there.

Yeah. So you're not like writing off Michigan by any means. Yeah. Based on summer scouting, there's definitely mature bucks in the area. I just, my cameras haven't really told me much. That's cool. Are you able to like, see your spot from a distance, like having that ability, it makes it hard to hunt or like maybe a little less going on, but if you can hang out and make a calculated move, because you can see from a distance that gives you an edge for sure.

Yeah. And then your camera, like your camera doesn't take a picture of every deer. Like I've, we've proved that in Illinois. I've proved them all the times here. So if you just rely on your cameras all the time, you're off by 50 yards, you may never get that. You might never know he's there, and that's why I really stress the observation sits on my property. I think it was three years ago I shot a, it was a hundred and thirty three inch ten good buck, [00:56:00] I mean he was mature but he was running a doe, it was, that was the only buck I've ever shot in November, but he was, I was just on an observation sit and he was just running a doe in the tall grass, and I sat there again the next night in hopes to see him, and came back out of the same section, there's just this little pocket we call the cedar hole, and he was just baying that doe up in there, And finally got the right wind two days later to make the right move.

And sure enough, six o'clock at night, you'd follow that doe came right out in front of me. And he followed that doe behind her right out of the cedar hole and killed him that way. That's the right way to get in there. So he was with that doe you feel like for four days. He was with that doe for four days.

You think? Yeah. That, that spot's common for a buck holding the doe up in there. It's they're pretty untouched. No one can really get in there to hunt it and they have easy access to food on both sides. So nice in there for quite a while. And yeah, sure enough, I was able to watch him for a couple of days and I was like, this is my move.[00:57:00]

Finally made my way in there a little bit tighter and got him killed. That makes it worth doing that. Since when you're just looking out in the nothingness, just see you have, you're the odd man out here for October on. Aren't you? Yep. I I probably won't hop much in Michigan.

If I can make it up to my uncle's property and. Right up there on the border of Claire and Ross Common County. I might just go up there to sit just to hunt for a week. Other than that, I'm waiting for Illinois. My job makes it very hard for me to sneak away on the weekends or. You know what I mean?

So I got approval for at least seven days. So I'm all my ducks are, all my ducks are in one basket. Yeah, but Hey, that's going to be a fun seven days though. Oh, I can't wait. Even if I don't get anything. It's tear camp. You know what I mean? Dude, I love it. I have a high suspicion that somebody's [00:58:00] gonna kill something.

Somebody's gonna kill something. There's too much opportunity in that area for us to not capitalize on. I've hunted a lot of other spots out of state. And it always feels good. And I haven't even seen any like rut sign there yet because, I'm usually hunting in the November. And so by the time you get to this property, you've seen all the October signs been laid.

You got the scrapes and the, the big rubs showing up. I haven't even seen that in that property yet. And I'm already jacked. As soon as I walk into that play to see some of those cedars retore up and, we start getting all these bucks, I was just going to, it's going to be really hard to control the excitement.

And yeah, I think if we, like we talked about, you can tell we have a good game plan. We're all in the same mindset of how to hunt. I think if we stick to our plan and we all pay attention to the wind and do those things, we're going to have real, we're going to have really good opportunities.

I feel like yeah. One of us is going to have to slay. That's for sure. Somebody does. We're not going to. Dude, can you imagine if it's one of our dads? Oh, I would lose my mind. My dad is so fired up about this. I keep [00:59:00] sending over all the pictures from the group text. And we've got our couple cameras running.

He's oh, he goes, I can't wait. He hasn't been in the woods in a long time. Life got busy for him. And now he's pumped. All new gear. He's gone off the deep end with it. But he's ready. He's gotten into the saddle game. Yeah. He's saddled on too. It's awesome. Yeah. My dad, my dad just he's I can't wait to lay eyes on this place because all he's heard is me telling him how cool I think it is and all this stuff.

And he's, he's been in some similar areas and he's you're just, he's you stop messing with me. And I'm like, here's a trail cam pic for you. He's he said something. He's that deer has got zero chance of making it by me, getting some air out of that deer's lungs. So yeah he's pumped.

Speaking of saddle gear, are your guys setups pretty, pretty dialed? Are you guys, do you think you guys are pretty prepared for the season? Yeah, you can go first, Mason. I'm just going to keep losing stuff out [01:00:00] of my backpack because, I don't know, I started saddle hunting and I bought a big backpack and now the next thing I know I'm carrying all this stuff to the woods for no reason, so I'm going to just keep removing stuff from my backpack.

I really just need... Pyramid of Oak. Bare minimum retractable bow hoist, a backpack, cause I, I'm one of the people who just sweat like crazy when I walk in. So I go in with practically nothing on and then I get dressed at the tree. I even pack my saddle in a backpack.

Cause it's it's not worth to me cause then I get just frozen out right at dark. Cause you're damp, the wind's blowing. And then hunt, hunting in saddles without bibs, you get that draft up your back and then you're just... You're sitting there shivering and it's 45 degrees.

He ain't lying to either. I've walked in pretty deep into some spots with Mason with all the saddle gear. And he sounds like a block just got done chasing a doe behind your tongue. Hanging out. What is that? Oh, [01:01:00] that's great. Yeah. I think. The one thing I wanted to do last year, I was like, I'm going to try one of those bigger, saddle platforms is what I wanted to do.

But then I went back and forth on it and I was like, I ended up buying a tree stand, a light tree stand instead, because I have my backpack so dialed with that regular predator platform and those four sticks that like trying to add another thing to it. My system's so dialed because I've been doing it for so long.

So I just, I didn't do that, but yeah, I feel pretty good. I did get I got shorter sticks, same style B stick, but I got the mini version instead of the full length version. So I really like those to probably fit my pack a little better. But yeah, I think I think the hardest thing is going to be due.

So this is going to depend on the weather, right? If we're going to be hunting, it's going to be like Mason said, if it's, 40 degrees in the morning and you sweat your nuts off walking in and then we sit on one of these draws or like one of these hillsides and there's him on our North wind.

We are going to be just getting smoked, even if it's 50 degrees, you're going to freeze because just the way that is. [01:02:00] So I think my biggest thing is just going to be. Making sure, because every time I do try to stuff, sweatshirt in the pack or, you buried in there by the time of the tree, I'm like, I'm not getting that out because I don't move too much, so I think maybe I'll try a fair way to bungee to the outside, maybe in my pack or something, but other than that, I'm pretty, I feel pretty good about that whole, my whole system down with that.

Now, Mason, are you got the larger, you have the larger trophy land platform, right? Yeah, I run the mission. So it's a little bit bigger. It's a little, you lose, you sacrifice some weight. It's a little heavier, but I like a little bit more room to move. I'm not quite as tall as Nate, but I don't know how you stand on that little thing for hours on it.

I, yeah the ability to move would definitely be huge. I know. I know there's times that a little more space on mine, but yeah, I'm a leaner. Like for me I don't. Like occasionally I'll straddle the tree if I'm sitting all day or, I'll use my backpack, like my hip belt.

I like try to put that pack right where my knees go. So I [01:03:00] use like that padding of that hip and I'll put my knees against tree, but 90 percent of the time I'm just lean back. So I don't really, I can put my foot on top of the peg or move over to my tree step if I need to throughout the day, but yeah, I'm pretty much.

I'm, I ain't spinning around on that platform with a size 13 move. I'm committed to it, but it's so light and so easy to set. It just, that's all I've used, so it's like hard, it's hard to convince myself to try something different. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I think that's something I've learned over the past couple of years doing it too, is just the weight reduction, like you're talking about taking stuff out.

The lighter I've gotten, the more efficient I am to get in and out of the tree and, be able to move around and there's just not as much clutter in front of me and I, I'm able to move in the tree too. And, oh, do you guys run the big saddlebags on your saddles? I do. The Hi Secs?

Yeah. I'm thinking about trying to put those on my backpack. That was the one thing I wanted to do. I got to look into that this weekend because I don't like having those things. I mix. I always [01:04:00] wear my saddle walking in and I'm sitting there and I got these big things hanging on me. It feels I just feel like.

I'm already a big dude. So I think that's part of it, but I was actually going to see about putting those on my hip belt or somehow on my backpack. Cause I wear my backpack when I set up and climb the tree. So dude, I can just have my ropes and everything right in there. So that may be the thing I'm going to try to tweak a little bit.

And then I haven't really, the one thing I've tried a couple of different things, I use that one strap from tether that you can just like loop around the tree and cinch it down and you can. Yeah, the history. Yeah. I, I've tried like the hero clips type thing and then I did like last, I think it's been like last year I used like one of those gear tie S's, those really heavy duty S's that actually worked pretty well.

But then, but now my new bow has the quiver is attached to my bow, but I got a little hook on the top of the quiver, so I'm like, Ooh, maybe I got to use something a little smaller. I can just hook that on because that's the one downside to keep my quiver on my bow. My quiver is always up against the tree, the stuff, so it tweaks the bow a little bit. I [01:05:00] can't like hook it to my cam or my limb and my bow because my quiver is right in the way. So I might tweak that a little bit too. I'll probably this weekend it's supposed to be nice. I'll probably just get up in the tree and I got a freaking pile of stuff I've used over the years and just see what kind of works and then focus on that and use it.

Yeah, I tell you what, I got that that like collapsible little bow hanger that uses the S system from tether and I got a stick bow hanger. Yeah. Yeah, I can pull it out of my pack or I could put it in my saddlebags and I can just easily hook it into one of those loops and then my bows home.

Does it work pretty well? Like you, Oh yeah, it's a super efficient system and they even, you can even get a stealth strip on it so you can quiet it up quite a bit. Nice. Do you hook it to your quiver or do you hook it just through your cam or what? I just put on my limb, my top limb of my body. So I should be able to put that through.

I should probably look at that a little more because I think I'd have the way I always know how they fit it through your cam. You hang from your cam. Yeah, I'll have to do that. Cause like [01:06:00] my last time I would have like my arrows a specific way in my quiver. So I had room to hang it on that spot.

So I'm, there's some little, like realistically I can figure some of that stuff out in October before I go down there, while I'm going around here. Cause if you're only sitting for a, hour or two at night, worst case, you just hold the bow the whole time. If something doesn't work, you don't like it because a lot of times I'll just, when it's close to go time, that bow just comes right off and I just sit in my saddle, lean back with a bow in my hand.

So it's, I can play with some of that stuff. All right. So yeah, Mason, what do you did you go with a different release or are you still rocking the wrist strap? I think I'm going to go to a different release. Cause you're talking about that. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm still going to go with the wrist strap.

I just can't get behind the something. I don't want to. I don't want to even mess with it. My luck, I'd drop it and that thing would be gone forever. So I'm just going to eliminate that possibility. I'm going to stay with the hook instead of like the claw style. So I bought a stain one.[01:07:00] And I just think the trigger is too small.

Like it drives me nuts. I know spot Hog makes a hook release that's got an extra large tri trigger on it. And instead of being on a strap, it's like on a, I don't even know how to explain it. It's more on a metal rod that breaks in half that you can tuck it still underneath your, so you're not banging it on your sticks, climbing the tree, whatever.

Yeah. Yeah. And they make it in a bow of wrist strap. So I think I'm gonna invest in that just because it's a little bit bigger of a trigger. It's a little more rigid. I think I'm getting a little bit of string twist with what I have now because it is just on a string. So it just pre dangles until it's pulled taunt, but that trigger is so small that like I feel like it's, I don't know, I couldn't just be making stuff up here, but You can't get your finger buried around it probably is what you're feeling.

Correct. It wants to slide off. And yeah, I haven't quite got used to, I shot well with it tonight. But it was awesome because I was like taking my [01:08:00] time. You know what I mean? I had all the time in the world to sit there and just squeeze it like a rock, like a rifle trigger. You know what I mean?

Instead of being in the heat of the moment, you're walking away. It's quartered away. You've got to draw a letter. You know what I mean? Yeah, but it takes over. There's a lot of comfortability involved. We talk about confidence and stuff. It's. I don't think, I don't think target archery shooters are going out there and they're questioning their release or, any component of their bow.

So it's if you can just pull back and shoot with your eyes closed, that's. Probably makes your bow hunting game that much more efficient. Yeah. I think I, when I switched to a thumb release, I've shot, I got it in the wintertime. So I shot my basement just nonstop because it was so different. I was like, I'm just going to train myself to set it, do it, feel it, shoot it.

And I couldn't imagine trying to do that like right now, or even a month before season or two, because I feel like I had to shoot that thing just. Jobs at times to get over that hump, like now it's second nature, it's been three years. I've shot, I think thousands of times, [01:09:00] but yeah, that wrist, but there is like something to be said about that wrist straps on your wrist, like there have been times where I'm like, man, if I dropped this thing, I'm hosed.

So guess what? I have my backpack. Wrist strap release.

We're trying to save weight here. We are carrying extra releases because we don't trust ourselves. No, is there any other any other hot topics you guys want to talk about? It was just the BS session of us just chit chatting on a Wednesday night about deer hunting. So I got one.

A couple of years, Drew and I have been on. A hunting trip together. We always stop and buy random stuff, right? It's a hunting trip. You got to make a stop. You got to buy something. So is there any... Yeah, we always stop at some outdoor store on the way and pick up something. Oh, so like hunting related.

Oh, yeah. So is there any piece of gear that you're like on the fence that you haven't purchased but you want it? But it's I'm going, i, yeah, this is, this put me over the edge. Oh, I got to think about that. Drew, you go first. Oh, I'll be [01:10:00] honest. I did some online shopping this week and I was just telling you guys, it's man, I really need another Aider.

I really need some stealth strips. I really need all this and that. Got some other tethered accessories. So I've ordered some stuff, but that's not to say that we're not going to stop somewhere. I'm like, Ooh, I need that. And for me, it's, I feel like it's always cameras. Like I just love having cameras like stocked up anywhere.

I want to put one. If we go on public, I'm just going to be itching to put a camera out there. So I think that's going to be it for me. If we stop somewhere, I'm going to probably pick up another cell camera too. If we stop at a shields, I'm buying those. Carbon sticks little speed series sticks from latitude.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, because I've been eyeing them things Like I think that'd be a moment of weakness if I went to one of those and saw that you put my back I'm wondering Illinois like yeah, I would Grand Valley Sports has them Oh, don't tell me that I was just in there last weekend. I was like, Oh, I know what those are [01:11:00] on the way to Illinois.

Yeah. That's out of my way. I have to drive. I'd never drive by there. We're safe. That would be that. And then yeah, the camera game, like I have, I actually have one of my cell cameras I haven't put out yet. And I, if I do put it on, I'm gonna put it somewhere where I can snag that thing and stick it down there somewhere probably if need be, but yeah, the sticks or something, I just got a shipment in.

I bought a, I've been eyeballing that first light origin hoodie for since it came out I don't know how long, two years ago it came out maybe. And I've been eyeballing that thing hard. But you can ask Ashley. She's you never shut up about that stupid sweatshirt. So I finally, yeah, they got me cause they sent a pamphlet in the mail.

And it was like spend 200 bucks, get 50 bucks off of my fricking bargain, so I got that. I did get that sweatshirt. So it's like a quarter zip, I don't, it's not like a hoodie. It's more of a jacket, I think, than a sweatshirt, but it's like that perfect thing for me. Cause I.

I work outside all the time, so I don't get cold very easy. So the same problem Mason does. If I [01:12:00] wear too much, I get just sweaty and then I'm screwed. So for me, I usually go real light and I can, power through usually, but that things I put it on and it's a, it's what I wanted. Like 40 to 50 or 40, 50 degree range.

That thing's perfect for that. Yeah. Cause 90 let's 75 percent of the year. I just wear a regular camel hoodie. Like I've been rocking like an under armor hoodie for. Seven or eight years, like just different versions of that, because man, they're 40 bucks. I'm just going to rock one.

When you try to stuff in your backpack, the thing takes up like half your backpack, cause there's no packability to it, and it's bulky and the hoods always suck. So this thing's pretty sweet. I put it on and I was like, I might even walk around the house with it for a little bit to see how I liked it.

But yeah, I think it's going to work great. So that was one thing I got. But they freaking get you because you have to spend 200 bucks, which is absurd money for camo, so there you are, the hoodie, the, this origin hoodie is not even 200. So it's now I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to buy to get me over that mark.

And I ended up getting one of their muffs. Cause I love [01:13:00] wearing a hand muff. Like I don't like wearing gloves when I hunt. So like I bought, I did get a first light muff too. I, so I feel pretty good about that, but if we go to a store, I'll probably buy a knife. Like I'm a sucker for knives, come out of there that, maybe those sticks.

If I see something like that, or even if it's like a, I think a nice puffy, a can't like some sort of like hunting puffy, that's another thing I've been eyeballing. Yeah. Yeah, I've been wearing one at work. I went to, you guys ever been to Sierra train post? So like we went there, like I know we had this ice storm day and we went, me and a coworker went in there and we're like at lunchtime and we're like, dude, we're frigging freezing.

This is miserable. And we went to this place and I was like, Oh dude, there's like a bunch of puffy jackets. And we bought like this, the cheapest ones we could find like 40, 30 ones. And I wore that thing all winter framing. And working outside and I loved it. So if I could find maybe a nice puffy, I could probably have a moment of weakness and buy one of those too.

I feel like you can [01:14:00] never have enough gear as far as like clothing goes for hunting. It's there's an outfit for every situation. And there's a piece of clothing for every situation. What do you buy a Mason? Oh, I look way too often at everything, I'm going to be totally honest with you.

I'm always looking at new camo, because I got bit by the Cuyu bug last year when I went out west and re outfitted all my camo. So anytime I get an email that says something's on sale, I'm in there just searching for what's on sale, even though nothing is ever on sale. But if I was to buy something to go on this trip, I forget who makes it, but somebody who's making like a that's like a spreader bar that goes between your bridge or your saddle, that's supposed to keep the pinch off your hips.

So that sucker's definitely going to get purchased at some point. I just have to convince myself to buy it. Yeah. Genesis 3d. And he lives not far from me, I was actually been talking to a possibly do a podcast with him about that. He's got that dude. I never thought about [01:15:00] that. But that thing is probably money.

Yeah, because I said, that's one of my big things. It's, it'd be no different than sitting in a tree stand for a bunch of hours. You bought hurts like the big thing that hurts me after five hours in the saddle is my hips. So if I could just keep the weight off my, or not all of it, but just help minimize it, like it would just make it so much more comfortable. Dude, that's like when I invested in that for my tethered saddle, it's that back strap. Oh, the recliner. Yeah. The recliner just give me a little more support back there. That thing is a game changer. Yep. I need to buy that thing too. I've been on the fence about that thing since it came out.

I didn't want this to be able to let you recline without having to support yourself. It's. I might have one of those, another one of those Mason. Yeah. I bought a couple of you, every saddle I've bought has been used. So like I got one that came with one and I kept mine from my other saddle. I think I have two of them things and yeah, they're nice.

Like I don't use them. I only use it if I [01:16:00] sit for a long time in the saddle. And like you said, you can loosen up all your hip straps and slide your saddle way down, and then you can put that recliner right where you need to. And it's Oh gosh, yes. All the, and you don't even like really realize it until you do it.

It folds up nice. I, that's another thing I keep in my saddle. So I can just, I keep it there and I can sit most, I can sit most sets without even needing it. But those times if you're sitting all day or whatever, and you can just easily pull it out and clip it in. It's pretty. Yeah. I don't care what you do.

If you're sitting all day, like ladder stand, ground blind, hang on, stand saddle, you're going to be uncomfortable at some point. No, that's all. It's the whole point, right? That's the part of the all day sit. It's not like you're walking around. You're stationary. Yes. And you just pray he walks by at 1 o'clock.

Oh, yeah. According to my picture today, 11 55 AM. There we go. [01:17:00] There we go. You're going to have to, you're going to have to share that sucker because I have, He showed it to me through the camera on this and it was like, you could see it, it's a decent buck. He's, I think we've got a picture of him before and he's actually a little bigger than I thought.

And we always thought he was pretty spindly, but he's got good mass. He's got some good mass, yeah. He's a good buck. He's a good buck. Sweet. But no, I think I haven't had too many, anything crazy. I had to tell him Drew earlier, but I have that one buck I've called Mr. Krabs. I've seen that dude twice, two years in a row.

Actually. And then I passed him last year as a three and a half year old. I grounded him in and I've seen him on morning sits like October, like 23rd and like 24th, I've seen him like two years in a row and he hangs out in this little area. I think I just got a picture of him yesterday. And he blew up, like he went from like a one 20 ish three year old.

He's in the one forties. I bet like he got a lot bigger. So to me, that's a 20 inch jump is a big jump. So I'm pretty pumped [01:18:00] about him and he's coming and he's doing the same thing. He was, he's always done. So I might actually have him in the chips like opening week is what I'm going to hope for because he's came out.

I seen him on an observation set last year and he came out two hours before dark. And he walked by this camera that I moved to the spot and he walked out two hours before dark yesterday. So if he stays in that trajectory, I might have to put an arrow on him. So we've.

I've been at it for three years, four years now, maybe. Then I had a saddle. I can't remember. I know we both bought them at the same time, Mason, finally getting this thing dialed. I just want to be able to use it more. We got all these presets on our home property here, there's a lot of good state land around us. So I think I'm going to make that jump this year. I have a few extra cameras laying around, see if I can.

Get in there yet before the season starts here in September and pop some cameras in and hopefully do some roaming on some state land around [01:19:00] Maine. Find the hidden scrapes. That's my word of advice. I've got two cameras out right now. And I found a second property that I found a hidden scrape and I'm dying to see what's on it.

And weighing down in Illinois. There's, they're starting to transition to those scrapes a lot more, like for me, the hidden scrape is like just licking branches and you can barely tell it's one. That's, I found a couple of those and that has been pretty good for me. And yeah, I found one that.

There was like 10 licking branches in like this 20 yard area. And I could tell it was, you can tell like it's in a bottom, like with a water running in it, like just depends if it rains a lot and it's mucky kinda. So I think that's why there's, it's not pronounced on the ground, but I'm, it looks way too good.

And I've had another property, I did the same thing last year, left the camera on all year and so many bucks, like one year. I think it's now. It's not what a lot of people look for. A lot of people look for that scrape on the ground. They look for [01:20:00] the clean dirt or whatever, gone, but just, it stands out like a sore thumb once you finally realized what it is, you see those clean branches, just.

Hanging in a tree that's full of foliage and No, how many times have you had a trail cam pic of a big buck working the scrape on the ground? It's that's about 50 50 for me 50. Yeah for me. It's been like Overwhelmingly, they only hit the licking branch. I've got one buck. That was like It's pretty key that he liked to do it, but usually it's, they just hit the licking branches.

If they hit the scrape four times, they'll only pull the dirt maybe one of the four times. I will say it depends where it's at. If it's a, a lot of the bucks that have used the scrape on the ground has been like large community scrapes. Okay. I found these scrapes before I, I didn't put these scrapes there.

I've found these scrapes on the property and you can smell them from. 20 yards away. It's something's in this area and finally come up on it and it's just this huge community scrape and that's when I do think they really do dig into the dirt. [01:21:00] But other than that, if you, I've, we've both had huge success with just hanging the lichen vine too, or, branches and not doing anything.

Yeah. So I, dude, I hope you find something and just get like a giant,

that's like a whole nother game. That's a win for me right there. Just get in a nice buck on camera. If you do the recon and be able to have success that way, I, you don't even need to kill him. It'd be, it's fun. It's fun to hunt, hunt them. That keeps the fact that your mind's actually working.

That's the, keeps the game going in your head. Absolutely. But yeah, I just have two regular cam, cameras, not cell cameras in those spots. And I'm just like looking at the calendar. I'm like, Oh, it's only been like four days to go look at the thing. I'm like, when's the next heavy rain?

When's the next day I ran with sneak in there and check them out. Yeah, just being patient on them. So you think you're going to hunt state land this year? Is there a good chance? Yeah, I think if I don't have [01:22:00] based on the Intel I have, if I don't have, besides my observation, since if I don't have good plays at any of the deer, if I do get more, more mature deer on camera, I don't have good plays on them.

And it just makes more sense for me to try something new, better myself as a woodsman. That's a good goal to always have. So I got something brewing down here. So like I said, I'm in Hamilton County, Indiana for the next year. So I'm in big ag country down here. True. Saw plenty picked me up the other weekend, but I got a couple of calls into a couple of places and you could say I'm in step two of the interview process.

I'm fist bumping. I'm fist bumping. Let's go. So we'll see if anything transpires, but like I said, it's a, one of the only big blocks of wood. It's got a, I don't even know if you consider it a Creek. It's more of a drainage ditch, but it's labeled as a Creek. I drove past it the other day. I was like, that's not a Creek.

You know what I mean? [01:23:00] Yeah. Is there tires in it? It's not a Creek, right? It's. It's not dirty. It's just it's like as wide as my foot, oh yeah. It's just from all the tile from all the surrounding fields and it's, in a low spot. So everything just runs down there and it's created almost like a, you call it a county ditch.

Cause they got bridges built over it, but like it's no more than three foot wide. So the podcast, I did a podcast earlier this week brand Travis it'll launch before this one, he hunts Indiana and he says that they've been there for a while. He's like family property or something. So they always go down there and hunt and they have bucks during the rut that come from.

Just out of nowhere and run through a property. He's we don't hold the deer. They just go through. And he said, they just come from all over the place. It's miles and miles of fence rows down here. There's not big stands of woods. There might be a pocket here, a pocket there, but and I'm on like the North side of [01:24:00] Indianapolis.

So I'm just coming into the city. So I drive 20 minutes North and I'm back in big farm country. So I'm in a pretty cool spot. We'll see if I can. I've got to the point where I've knocked on doors and nobody's been home. I've resorted to the point now where I've drafted a letter and I'm putting it in people's mailboxes.

I'm a little late to the game because it's almost October, but I didn't get down here until a couple weeks ago, yeah, I actually have had good luck getting property this time of year. Like I sometimes will wait until close to the fall just because it's like when you, okay. If someone knocks on my door in February and was like, Hey, can I bow hunt or hunt your place six months from now or whatever it is?

It's dude, no no, I don't like. That's a long time. But if someone was like, Hey, can I hunt your property? Like in two weeks, they're like more yes or no. Like you get like instantly and you're like, Oh yeah, that'd be no big deal. It's already this time of year. So it depends on what I go by the feelers.

When you come in, I'll be here tomorrow. Yes. Yeah. And you can do that and in that conversation, you're like, Hey, okay. If that's cool, like you get everything, all the boxes are [01:25:00] checked instantly for you. And especially, I know you're, I know you're a bit of a goose hunter too, Nate, but using your other tools to your advantage and, I've had a lot of good success asking for goose hunting permission and then allowing that to transition into deer hunting, you get onto a good piece of property and then just.

You just give hints here and there. It's Hey, awesome deer hunt. Hey, I see you got a lot of deer around here. Hey, I killed some deer on your property. Oh, I have a funny story on some permission. I just got, or I got this summer. This is just funny. So I bought a truck, and I hated the wheels set up or the rims and.

Tires and wheels. It doesn't look like an old man truck and I didn't like it. So I've been like searching marketplace, trying to find like another set of used wheels and tires, because good grief, them things are expensive now. Like brand new tires are outrageous. So I was like, Oh man, I was killed two birds, one stone, get a set.

That's already got good tires on it and wheels that I like. So I found a guy. And he doesn't live far away from me at all. And [01:26:00] talking with him and just went over there, met him a couple of times and swap my tires out with him there and just being, good, just chit chatting and talking.

And he, I just, the typical, like every chance I get, I'm like, Oh, you know how much land you have here? He has like. Four acres. And, I just knew the area and I was like, I bet you get a lot of deer that come up and, eat your flowers just send it like that. He's Oh my gosh.

He's dude, there's so many deer always up in my yard. And he's got this beautiful, like landscaping, super nice. And then he said that. So then I was like we're talking about times and how much, how expensive everything is in the store. And he started complaining about how expensive meat was.

And I was like my dad has a hobby farm and we have beef and pork and all that stuff and chickens and all that. So I just said, told, put that bug in his ear that, Hey, and this is all we're working on the truck and, talking. And then I got to the point I was like, Hey, like I'm always looking for new places to bow hunt.

Like I just bow hunt. Would it be cool if I, bow hunted back there? He's Oh, absolutely. And I was like I would love to maybe, give you some meat, in exchange for that. He, his eyes lit up and he's Oh yeah, [01:27:00] absolutely. So you just never know what kind of what kind of property, I haven't even I haven't walked foot on it's only four acres.

My thought process is wait till like in season and just go in there and see if there's tracks in there. And if I see something I like, I'll just stick a camera there for the year. And it's never bad to have backup permission. You can get good permission somewhere and you can just keep that in your back pocket for the right day or whatever.

It's like everything else is fizzled out. Just to be able to have those properties. It's huge. Yup. And I got my foot in a door and a property. I really want a bowl. And I got. Turkey hunt and rabbit hunt on it this year. That was another property. So that's, it's close to the house. It's, I know there's good deer that moved through the area.

I've seen it with my eyes and, step one got permission to rabbit and, turkey hunt. So the nice thing is after season. There, I can scout that whole thing. We'll wrap it on. And so then I'll know if it's worth like pushing a little harder to get boning permission. And then jerky hunt, you can go there and do the same thing and maybe pick up a [01:28:00] shed or two or be like, Hey, I'm going to go in there and do that.

Just very these are other people pay taxes on this property, so I try to my best to be as respectful as possible. Don't go there all the time. Not constantly there, not constantly texting them all the time or calling them, Hey, I'm going to be here today. Hey, I'm going to be here tomorrow.

Like I'm like, Some of those spots I would hunt like three times, maybe the whole year, just because I don't want to like last thing I want to do, if I say, Hey, yeah, you can, you can come over out back and you can use my barn for something, and then the dude is like there every single day I'd get annoyed, so like I do the sporadic approach and do it, but yeah, I'm pretty pumped about that too.

Could be

a you get some permission, Mason. You got a heck of a trip home to go hunting in October. Yeah, I know. I think we can wrap this thing up. If you guys got anything else. That was a fun conversation and I liked that. We can all talk about it. Cause I'm sure we'll be doing the same thing when we're hunting.

You'll update [01:29:00] coming here in the future. I don't know about you guys, but if I have a good opportunity in October, I might be.

Yeah, I would like, dude, shoot hammers in October in Illinois all the people I follow and talk to, they, I think if you can do it in Michigan, which we've had success doing in Michigan, why can't you do it in Illinois, you don't want to be reckless, but you can be calculated to make something happen, especially when we know this property is going to be easier to hunt at night than it is going to be in the morning.

Absolutely. So you can actually get down there. Probably on an evening, get an extra evening. So I'm excited. It's going to be fun. I know. I know we're all pretty pumped, pumped for the season. It's just getting closer and closer. You got blood on your hands, Nate. It's here. Yeah. We gotta get rid of those coyotes though.

I might, we probably should look around and see if we'd find a trapper or something and be like, Hey man, you need to come trap this place. I got 13 pictures of coyotes last [01:30:00] night and I got four daylight pictures of them today. Oh, I don't know if you noticed that, but they're hunters for sure. So it just, I, there's gotta be a den or something close.

Remember when we were down there in February on that saddle on the bottom of the field, it looked like a box that or something. It wasn't like dug up, but it was like an old rutted up tree that they pushed their way into. I don't know. I've never seen this many dogs before. Yeah, it's excessive. Cause I've got them on my cameras too.

Probably the same ones, but that means they're working that whole property. I will say, based on the information I've received from guys in Illinois is there's coyotes everywhere. There's a lot of them. Because no one hunts down there. That's the problem, there doesn't be hunters. We got stopped on the road glassing for deer.

What do you guys do? Why are these people doing this? What are you doing? You're looking for deer? Oh, I do want to touch on, so we talked to one of the neighbors because we try to introduce ourselves to all our neighbors to our lease just because we don't want there to be any [01:31:00] weirdness. But they made a pretty good point, how they help out at a deer processor that's close by.

And they said all bow season, they might get what? 300 deer. And then they said, opening day gun, they'll get 300 deer one day. And I was like, and they were like, that's crazy. And I was like, if you only knew how many deer die in Michigan, opening day gun. You're talking three times that at processors.

This was one of the, like the only processors in the area. You're, they're getting quite a few deer. If you look at what was in Michigan, what, if you looked at what was reported during the Utah, I think it was like over 3000, and that could be not even half of what I actually looked at.

So I. I had to report my dough, and I did that day three. I waited. Cause I was like, I'm just, I just did it last day. Cause then I was like, I'll just look at the harvest report after I do mine. I think it was 4, 700 or yeah, 4, 700 deer got shot in the youth hunt [01:32:00] that were reported. And then 47 got shot in the early doe.

So that was almost 10, 000 deer got shot in those two hunts in Michigan, which is in like the area we're talking about in Illinois, like that area that process recover is a pretty big area. Very large area. Yeah. It's not like this little spot. We're like only 300 deer, like 300 deer get shot, like in 10 minutes in Michigan area, between 7 and 7 10, 300 deer easily are dead, opening day of the season. So that's just the pressure. It's hard to describe that. To people who are in Michigan, that's why we go out of state because we want to go places that the deer actually act like deer because they're not harassed, but no, I think this is a great conversation, guys.

I appreciate you hopping on and doing this. And hopefully hopefully we'll have another one with some. Some antlers may be on the ground or whatever, at least our journey, I think it'll be cool. I always like relating to guys that do this on other podcasts, follow along and, we're, we got nothing to hide.

We'll be [01:33:00] semi open. This thing isn't big enough for us to really have to worry about too much, I think. Yeah. If all of a sudden we start getting Michigan plates driving up and down the roads, wherever maybe a little quieter, but right now, I think if we can just help anyone else.

Like we're just ordinary dudes there's nothing special about us. And we found a sweet lease and we're it to us, it's already worth it. And we haven't even hunted it yet. Anyone else that can get in that, I hate that you have to lease stuff, like you have to pay money to do it, you split something five ways and have a good time.

It really is affordable for that. If anyone can be encouraged that have a good time get with some buddies and have fun go for it but yeah, everyone. Thanks for listening Get outside this week be like drew go find a spot to hunt state land if you're bored I think got to keep you know, the four year old buck isn't big enough for him to shoot this year So he's gonna hunt some state

land I've done the same thing but Yeah, it could change. Yeah. You might get that care. It might go off tomorrow and you're like, I'm fully committed. I can get the [01:34:00] right angle and be like, that deer's dead. Yep, exactly. It could be good, but yeah, Mason, have a good couple of weeks, man. Look forward to seeing you and everyone else.

Have a great week. Thanks for listening. Absolutely. Thanks for having us. Yeah. Thanks, man.

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