Show Notes
On this episode of The Nomadic Outdoorsman Dan sits down at the Myren Farm to talk about its history and the stories from the field during the 2023 Wisconsin gun deer season.
Dan is joined by a host of family members as the reminisce about the old days and look forward to hunting at familiar properties for years to come. Dan also shares about his success on a public island that he hunted on opening day and brings closure to an encounter with a buck he shot with his bow earlier in the year. This years annual deer camp podcast is filled with laughs, history and predictions of hunts to come.
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Show Transcript
[00:00:00]
All right, guys, welcome to today's show. Now, this is one of my favorite podcasts that I do all throughout the year. And that's because I'm at deer camp up in my home state of Wisconsin. Now it's been an awesome week so far. There's some stories of success here on the show, including. A wrap up to what happened on the island when I came up here this year for a public land bow hunt.
Now it didn't end up as expected, but I definitely got some closure, so stick around to hear that. But there's other stories of success as well. I'm recording in a new spot that I've never recorded from before. My mom's in laws have an awesome farm, this amazing valley with all kinds of topography.
Different habitats for deer and Turkey and bear and you name it. They probably have it on their property. And so we're going to hear some of the history about this farm, how long it's been in the family, what deer hunting has looked like since they started hunting there and what it looks like now.
So an amazing [00:01:00] episode all the way around. I'm excited. Let's jump in. Like he was doing things that were just bad ass. That was one of the coolest moments of my life. I was really scared, but knowing that Dan had the gun, I did have the rifle, like we would be okay. All
right, guys. Welcome to today's show. Now, this is the first podcast from Wisconsin, 2023. And I'm sitting here with a bunch of family and we're going to be talking about the deer hunt so far. Recap the story everybody heard on the podcast about the island hunt. And the closure that I got from that.
And then also talk about some history of a family farm that we're staying at. So before we start, let's go around the table, introduce yourself, maybe how you're affiliated with this crew. I'm Rhonda, I'm Dan's mom.[00:02:00] Yep, I came right out of her. Yeah, there you have it. I'm Kevin I am Rhonda's husband.
I'm Dave, and I'm Kevin's dad. There you go. There we go. We're gonna have a couple people jump in and out here throughout the podcast, but why don't we start by talking about the farm that we're at? Because, first off, this house is... Awesome. Like every time I come in here, I'm like, this is what deer camp, every deer camp.
There's probably places all over the country that are like this full of family history, full of history of hunts and mounts. And you've got, I don't know, 12, 13 different species of animals in here. So we'll be covering a lot of that stuff. So when did you guys get the place?
It started back, my great uncles had this place where I live now. Okay. But in that was in about 1880 something. So in about 1911, my great uncle Andrew come over and built this place. [00:03:00] Okay. anD then my grandparents bought it. And then in 1980, my cousin Bob and I bought it together. So we had the place from 1980 until just last year.
My son, Wayne, bought Bob's half out, okay. Right now, it's between me and my son, Wayne, to have the property here, yeah. And we've hunted here. Forever that's great. Since when was your first time here? It would have been in 1962 dang, that's cool was how much different was the hunting here then versus now well back then We got together my two brothers lived close by and everything and we'd make drives, you know Because they own property right next to it.
So yeah, then we did a lot of driving And people standing and everything and with the hill country, it really wasn't that dangerous because you're not shooting on flat ground. [00:04:00] But now it's got to be where everybody sits and the deer don't move like they used to when you drove them. Yeah. Was it hot when you were driving?
Or, and did the action shut off when you weren't, or was it just basically all throughout the week you were getting up and moving? We would usually sit in the mornings, and then about 10 o'clock we'd get together and make some drives, and that's when you got the deer moving. Yeah. Yeah, you let them move naturally when they're used to moving.
Yeah. And then once they're bedded down or hanging out in a spot, then you're like, nope, you're still here. Yeah. You gotta play ball one way or another. Yep. That's cool. What about you guys, Mom, how long have you been hunting this property now? Oh 13 years. Yeah, roughly. About 13 years. When I married Kevin, then I started coming over here and hunting and yeah, it's been awesome.
It's a lot of hills, a lot of valleys. The deer are great here. Yeah, it's just an awesome place to be. It is a true hunting camp [00:05:00] is what it is. If I ever had to imagine a hunting camp, this would be it. Yeah, and you opened a restaurant, a pop up restaurant in the woods. I did yeah. So I started cooking in the woods for hunting.
And so I call it my deer blind breakfast or whatever. And so I just start. When I'm sitting out there, I make my breakfast and my lunches and whatever and cook right there on the heater on the cast iron and make venison every time. We've checked the regulations, even though she is cooking venison, bacon, and sausage, that isn't technically baiting, so she can get by with it.
We were checking that quite a bit the other day, I saw a meme the other day, and it was a guy, he brought out snack sticks, like venison snack sticks, and he's bringing them back to the place we first met. And you see him on the stand eating it. I was like, that's pretty good. I like that a lot.
I'm waiting for you to just have a drive thru window, and then they just pull up in the side by side. I was thinking the same thing. That'd be tough, though. I don't want anybody driving over by my stand, so we're gonna have to figure that one out. I cleared everything right around the stand.
It wouldn't be hard to do. I should [00:06:00] just need a little shelf that she could slide stuff out from. Actually, I'm just thinking a drone. I'll just, I'll send it up with a drone and drop it wherever you need it. With the hills, you could probably have a series of ziplines out here, just some to go bags around everybody.
It's interesting, listening to Dad. And talk about, the history of hunting here. I remember when I was younger when I first started hunting here and being part of those drives. Yeah. And it was fun. Cause there was deer running everywhere. Sometimes you'd see 20 some deer coming out of the woods over a field and everything.
And it was always fun, you know what I mean? But now, it has gotten into more sitting. And it's, people are changing the ways around us. Some of the property owners around us has changed. So we've fallen in line with a lot of that. But Rhonda doesn't mind it at all because she goes out before light and stays until dark and everybody moves around her, she's [00:07:00] basically getting people driving the woods for her all day anyway, but yeah this weekend though this first weekend It was slow. Opening morning was probably the quietest I've ever been and I think dad mentioned We broke a record if I remember right First year that we didn't have a deer, first day of deer camp.
Yeah. First season, yep. But like when we used to drive, there was one time I got two with one shot. There were so many of them that I shot one. One right there. That's awesome. I haven't even done that with ducks. I can't imagine doing that with deer. That would be amazing. Yeah the one thing about this weekend though, too it's been a warm weekend.
It was probably one of the warmest weekends I think I've ever hunted and it was in the fifties. For the first two days, which is, Hey, it was nice out in the woods, but, I think it really caused a lot of the deer just to not be moving around. They just were, they didn't, they weren't pressured and they didn't have to do anything.
And, it was beautiful outside, but yeah. What's up with the corn? Cause I noticed a [00:08:00] ton of corn up. There is still up around here and it seems every year the corn is up. I remember, I think it was three years ago, they had a really, you guys had a really wet summer. A lot of guys didn't get their corn out.
And we hardly saw any deer that year. It was just slow. I think Leland usually leaves his up anywhere. There's a food plot over here. It's left quite late. Oh, okay. And then the guy that rents his land leaves his late too because of the deer hunting. Yeah, okay. But with the warm weather, two people probably sit longer and don't move around as much.
Yep. Because if it's colder, they'll, people will get up and move around. You gotta get up and warm yourself, yeah. Try to keep warm, yeah it's definitely been a different year. Seeing all of the texts from you guys, cause this is the first year in a while that I haven't hunted in this area on opening day.
I went back to that island and seeing the texts and it was just you guys had a deer or two here and there, but other than that, not like big numbers, not a lot [00:09:00] of big bucks. It just seemed like an off year. Yeah, and there's been a lot of them on camera and stuff. We haven't had a lack of bucks on camera.
There's been a lot of them on there. But yeah, they just, like you said, if people are just sitting because they're warm already and don't have to get up and try and stay warm, then it's not moving anything around. And I think that's pretty huge for it, yeah. How long have you guys been hanging deer on the windmill?
Oh, boy. I Guess once since I first started hunting at about 62. That's cool. Yeah, we had to modify it a few years back because we started bending the windmill a little bit the support braces and stuff So we had, I don't know what's the most we've had hanging on the windmill at one time, but I don't want to say it, close to a dozen.
Eleven, twelve? Yeah, close to a dozen I think. I'm, if that windmill could talk boy, I'm sure it would have. Have you guys ever hung one like way up? Did anybody ever? Just I'm going to hang mine all the way at the top. No, and let's not bring that up to anybody. What are you talking about? You guys didn't even leave your [00:10:00] feet.
You were like, all right, Dan, he's the monkey. He can climb up the windmill. Yeah. It's just something we don't want to bring up because somebody will be dumb enough to try it. So I want to, yeah, I'll just, how about this next year? I'll just take a winch all the way to the top, hook a remote to it, and then biggest butt gets to hang all the way at the top, and then you're just in tears all the, you know who's in the money by whose butt's hanging from the top.
We could do that, as long as we're willing to climb up there. Yeah. You'll have to hang a winch for each level, though. Yeah, that's true. It'd be in a few thousand dollars by the time we get all the winches hung. Hey, this isn't my property, I don't flip the bill, it's your idea. Yeah. Camping, we have climbed it.
Yeah. You don't want to go up and ring the bell and come back down. Or they've hung the flag way up there before. It's been hanging up quite a ways up there. It's been repaired a few times too, hasn't it, way up there? The what? The windmill. You guys repaired it a few times, it's just a unique spot.
Tucked back here in this valley. And it seems like you've got a bunch of different habitat styles [00:11:00] around here. You've got hardwoods, hills, CRP, swamp bottoms, open field. Some cropland. Yeah, it's just like a deer's paradise. They've got everything they need tucked right here in this valley.
Yup. And, Rhonda mentioned, we got a lot of deer on camera. Zach he's has a lot of deer on camera. We just put a few new cams up the tactic cams. We put those up. We've gotten some nice deer on those. So there's deer out there. Yeah. Nice big bucks out there. But just, like Dad said, the weather and people not moving around, like Ronna said, it's just, it changed that first day especially.
Second day... We had a lot better movement, and whether it was the weather, the dew points, the pressure, we all, the humans, try to figure everything out. What's gonna work? What's gonna work? But it's it was a little different Saturday. Things moved around, or Sunday. Everything moved around. I think we had three within a half hour of each other.
Oh, dang. And [00:12:00] your mom shot The one that looks like it sneezed and blew its horn off, as Mark said, but... It looks like it's doing a podcast. Yeah, it literally does. I actually like to say that. It's talking to itself and its horns, yeah. It's a good way to put it. Yeah, why don't you talk about that deer?
Cause you sent that, you sent the picture, and I'm like, no way. Cause Melissa Bachman just shot, I showed you that one. Shot a big buck, that the same thing had happened. I was just sitting there, and I was watching, actually, there were six deer up in the ridge off to my right, and I was watching those, and three of them came down, and there were three nice big does, and they just stood in the valley.
And, but there were three more behind them, and so I was holding off to see what was behind them. I could only see one of them up. there. And I knew the one was a doe. The other two, I did not know what they were. So I was just leaving them do their thing down in the valley. And I took a picture of them on my phone, sent it to everybody else in the group and said, this is what's in front of me.
And that's how much time I had because they were just standing down there, not really doing anything. And I was keeping my eye on the [00:13:00] two that were up on the ridge. And all of a sudden the, they started walking off a little bit and walking to my right behind me and I turned around and I look at a little bit further to see where they went and all of a sudden this buck stands 15 yards from me and I looked over and I'm like, what is going on with that thing?
And I looked at it and I looked again and I'm like, okay. And so when I looked at this buck, it's a smaller buck, it was a young buck and the right horn. was fine. The left horn looked like it was coming out of its eye and all the way down to its mouth. And so I kept looking at it and I'm like, Oh, you've got to be kidding me because I had my eye on a couple of nice bucks out there that I was hoping would come through this week.
And with the weather being the way it's. I was planning on sitting as long as I absolutely had to get one of those. And this buck just stood there and I kept looking at it and thinking, what is going on here? And I'm one of these people that [00:14:00] if I think something should be taken out of the herd, I'm going to do it.
And I've had to do a mercy killing before with a doe that had been gut shot and stuff. And so I just, I looked at the thing and I was like, Oh man, I really don't want to do this. And then I looked at him again and. He was walking but his horn was not moving and I thought this just does not look good, something's not right with this deer and so I shot him and he, he trotted off and I was like dang, I am pretty sure I just hit him but he didn't act like he was hit or anything, he just kept going up the valley and all of a sudden he disappeared and I didn't hear a crash, I didn't hear nothing, I didn't see where he went and so I, I got out of my blind and Kevin asked if I got him and I said I'll let you know in a minute I don't really know right this moment And so I got out and went up and where he had stepped out of the brush where he was standing in and I went Up to the valley and saw the blood there And so I knew I had hit him and then I saw the bubbles and everything So I knew I had hit him good and he was probably what would you say?
30 yards, [00:15:00] maybe beyond where I hit him, he had dropped and I had gotten him, went over and picked him up just to see what that horn was about. And it wasn't coming out of his eye. It was coming out just above his eye, but it was, it's, it moves in there, but you can tell his skull's busted. And so I'm glad I took him out of there because he would have probably just died a miserable, eventually he would have probably had an infection and something would have happened, but who knows, but his antler.
I haven't looked at him in person. I just saw the picture. It looked like it was a normally developed antler. Yeah. So I'm assuming it probably happened this year. I'm guessing it happened after he grew. I'm guessing it happened recently because it, it's definitely He's rubbed off everything.
Yeah, there was no velvet on it. So it looked like, maybe he got hit by a car. Maybe he was fighting or whatever. I don't know. But it was definitely busted off in the skull. However, the fur and the the flesh and stuff are [00:16:00] still around it. And it's all grown back around there. But it's just dangling there and a little bit loose.
It's not really, you can move it, but it's not like it just is. Flopping there, so it's still attached some, somewhat, but yeah I don't really know what his deal was, but he'll be some good eating, and now I'll have an interesting mount on the wall, are you going to do a shoulder mount?
I think I'm going to do a Euro mount on him. I wouldn't mind doing a shoulder mount, but to me, it's just I don't know that I really need to do one. I think it'd look cool, but I'll just probably see if they can do a Euro mount for me and put him up that way, I think you need to do a plaque Euro mount.
And then you can just have that piece be like a puzzle piece that people can take off the shelf underneath it and put it in. And figure this is exactly how it was. This is supposed to go. Everyone's going to be like flipping it, like, how does this go in there? I know. And I'm, I was looking at you, I'm like, I'm wondering how they would do that as a year remote.
But anyways I'll see if they can do it and we'll figure it out from there. But yeah, I'll have it mounted some, at some point and just see. Cause it's just a unique deer that I've never seen one like that in the woods before. Yeah, [00:17:00] so yeah, so it was interesting. But I still was hoping I would, going to be able to find one of those bigger guys out there, but you know what, that's the year it is.
So yeah, that's my guy. How long have you guys been doing trail cameras out here? I know you had mentioned you just got a couple new ones. Yeah, we got a couple new Tacticams here within the last month. We've had, I guess you, Rhonda and I, you've, you and I have had a few out for ten years. I've left, I've probably had cameras out here for at least six years, I'm sure.
But I leave my bear camera out too, so I see him all year long on the bear camera and stuff. So I just, that's what I've always done, and you've had a few cameras over by the house, haven't you? Over by the house, but not on a regular basis. Just, I see him all the time from the house. Yeah. If I'd hunt from my deck, I'd, He'd tag out right away.
That's like yesterday. I think I've told this story before on recent, or on past podcasts, but. The one time [00:18:00] when Rhonda and my niece Shania were out hunting in the rainy weather one year, and I was in watching the Packers game Go Packers! Yeah. We were We call what we do the drive, and we look out the basement window at dad's house while we're watching the game, and Hey, there's deer out in the valley there, so then we, get the legal distance away from the house, and take our shot.
I got one during halftime of the packet game on here, and come back, and she's who got that doe? I did. How could you? You weren't hunting. You were watching the game. No, I did. I shot it. It dropped up there. I took Dad's mule and drove up there, got it out, hauled it back, and here it is. And went and watched the rest of the game.
Didn't miss a minute. No! Didn't miss anything. So then yesterday... Oh yeah, yesterday then my mom was upstairs and calls down and talks to dad, cause we were down at the base to watch a packing game. Nice buck, standing up in the valley. Just a little bit slow on getting ready for it, but yeah, it was [00:19:00] definitely a shooter buck.
Been at least two, maybe three shot that way. Oh yeah. While we're watching the Packer game, probably could be more if we're paying more attention. Yeah. We gotta get a bigger ring down your basement. Slow up. Making the drive . Yeah. Yeah. You gotta get a sensor up there of some sort. You do? Yeah. Just get like a ring camera and put it out on that field and it'll just ping your phone when they show up.
I like that idea. Yeah, you'll be great. You got a lot of stuff to work on, Dan. I know, right? , you're gonna be busy next couple days. Bill is getting pretty hefty, isn't it? Yeah. It. You mentioned the trail cameras. I think I talked to you on the way up to Wisconsin and you only had your camera out for what, six days?
I had my camera out from the 5th until the 11th and in those five, six days, whatever you want to call it, I had 460 pictures on there and I don't even know how many buck pictures. I showed you those. I bet you there's 40 to 50 of them are just. Bucks big [00:20:00] bucks. So yeah, and some of them were really nice ones.
Some are smaller ones, but yeah, they were really really moving when we were out putting up cameras setting up our blinds and stuff the bucks were chasing and that was in the beginning of november they were chasing after does they could have cared less we were out there we Almost ran us over the one doe and the buck almost ran us over and then this other great big buck came behind it after And they just they were tearing her up the woods and they didn't have a clue care in the world that we were out there.
They didn't, not at all. And it really shows the intelligent as bucks get older. So this little buck's chasing the doe, running right by us. The doe runs over the ridge, towards where my nephew Casey sits. Runs over the ridge. Little buck runs over the ridge. The big buck gets to the ridge, stops, and I'm like...
Rhonda that one stopped. He watches the doe and the little buck run around the other side of the ridge across the Come back through the valley and not back over the same hill towards us again So he just sat [00:21:00] there says alright you guys run like idiots for a little while And then he got right back in the chase and it's oh, it was just it was fun to watch You can tell the maturity of it Intelligence.
I was like, okay idiots go run for a little bit. I'll get back in when you get back up here Yeah, it was pretty interesting, but that is cool. Yeah, what's the Firearm situation looked like over the years. What did you start hunting with back in the sixties? I had a 30 30 then about 1975. I bought a 30 0 6 7 42
BDL and never hunted all during the season, except the last day I got done hauling milk. Yeah. My brother and two brothers. Nephew were going to make a drive. They said you go down there and stand and we'll drive to you. And that's when I got my first 10 point buck. Dang. Never shot the gun before.
That's amazing. And wasn't that the one that dropped and you didn't know what [00:22:00] happened? I shot it, and my nephew come through, and he'd seen the buck on the drive. And he says, he, I shot once, and I seen it drop, it just dropped right there. And I, he says did you get it? I says, yeah, it's laying right up by you.
It was about ten feet from him behind a tree, and that one you spined, didn't you, it dropped. Yep. Yeah, just he didn't have much of a shot at it He just got it right in the right. Oh, yeah the right time. Yeah. Yeah deer drives It's it just seems like it's almost a dying thing all over the place.
I think technology with scope technology Accuracy of rifles people are just like hey, I'm gonna sit I'm not gonna do anything I remember I mean growing up mark would always sit in his spot me and my cousins And my siblings would sit and all over the place and it seemed like about an hour in we'd all get cold Like you said, you know when it's warm people don't want to get up and move And we'd get cold [00:23:00] and it was like 30 minutes, an hour into season.
Let's go see how they're doing. And we didn't have cell phones back then. We had no one. It wasn't my spot, though. I actually stole it from her mom. I don't think she complained. It seems like every spot becomes a big buck spot. It's because your mom's got a big heart. Yeah. Yeah. We, we would just walk and it was like people probably got annoyed with this but typically on the walk we'd hear And we're like, oh shouldn't it got up?
Maybe because we got up that's why people started shooting. But yeah there's also that weird feeling when you're walking through the woods towards a shot and you're just like Do we hit the deck? Yeah. Do we get behind a tree? What do we do right now? Oh, I had that happen one year. Alright, how many of you guys hate dealing with tangled up rope?
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That scared us today because Mark Left the farm here to go over to my mom and dad's which is about a quarter of a mile away, eighth of a mile away maybe to grab some crackers for the venison spread around the [00:26:00] main and as he's going around the corner we hear this It's was that a gun? Was that a gun shot?
Or what was that? And we could still hear the four wheeler running. Then I thought I better go check, see what happened. We'll hear the four wheeler backfired. It was like we wanted to make sure you're all right. But yeah, like Dad was talking with the drives and stuff.
I remember the first time I hunted here where I was just up the main valley here on the other side of the line fence Uncle Richard's. And maybe 20 yards on the other side of the line fence. And I had a single shot shotgun at the time, 20 gauge. And sitting there, first buck I ever shot. And it, driving dearly, they'll come barreling at you, or they get chased just enough, or they get to you.
They're not sure what's going on, and they stop trying to figure stuff out. It sure as heck, this buck come over, just broadside. Perfect range for a 20 gauge, shot it broadside. Fell down, [00:27:00] got up, got to the top of the ridge. Smart enough, even at that age, to not shoot on top of the hill. And it looked like it went down again.
And Dad was actually up here, close to the farm area, by the barn. And it come down, er, went along that whole ridge and came down in front of you. And he tried to shoot at it again across the valley. And it actually got across the valley and then it basically just flopped back down. But, That excitement at that time was phenomenal, being a kid first time out, getting that type of shot is just now my brother, on the other hand, Wayne, not so lucky, he, I think he had to do a SOS shot at a deer because it was going to run him over, if I remember right, wasn't it?
He pulled up the, cause dad had bought us a couple of lever action 30 thirties, I think that next year.
Poor Wayne. The deer, they were doing a drive and he was standing there and deer. [00:28:00] Didn't have a care in the world that he was standing there. And he said all he did was pull up and he's seen hair. That's all he's seen was hair through the scope. So it's like, what do you do? It was a self defense deal. Yeah, but yeah, what's that? And then there was like. 12 of us probably in the group and we had, he'd never gutted a deer. So we all stand in a circle watching. I think that's the best part of deer camp. It's just the camaraderie and just giving each other a hard time. Yeah. I think that was the last time you hunted, wasn't it?
Thought that's enough of that. Yeah. Did you guys do, did you guys do the pranks? On people first deer Oh, you got to take a bite of the heart. You got to drink a cup of blood. You got to, I don't know if you really want to get too far into that part of this podcast. Do I need to rate this one M for mature?
Yeah. No, it's just we're different people, though. Yeah, they are. These are Wisconsin Hill [00:29:00] people. My cousin Mark, he he had a tendency to. do things that would make his dad want to throw up a few times um, cut a deer's tongue out and stick it in his mouth and chase him around with it. Might be one of them.
Different things like that. We never really got into the, Hey, you got to drink a cup of blood thing or anything like that. But we do have a tradition of having a little shot of brandy usually after a deer kill or something, but yeah, nothing major. Yeah, better after than before, right? Yeah. Sometimes. You might be chasing the blood trail a lot longer if you do it before. That, that can happen. It was an after the kill. Yeah. We you ta, dad talks about him shooting two deer at one time and I have to say dad's done that but he, I think you still have the record for the longest tracking of a deer.
Probably. He shot that one right over here by the snowmobile trail. And that thing went all the way back through the back 40 [00:30:00] and on to the neighbor's land before we found that thing. And I think it, it was, it was just, it was smart. It would get into places you couldn't find it and then, it was just crazy.
It was just like going to school. I was uphill all the way. Yeah. Both ways. And back then we didn't have the four wheelers. I think you had your one four wheeler at the time. No, I don't think we did. So everything was dragged. And of course, me and my cousin Mark were the young guys. So we're, yeah. I know we need to get a new generation of young guys over on our property.
They do. It's called their forwarder. I think I probably was sitting with you about when you were my age and I was still dragging. I'm like, I got to get these kids out here. Get them to start dragging. I don't want to do this anymore. yOu're going to have to get Canyon and Ember. Oh, they're excited.
He shot the AR. When was that? A month and a half ago? And got him out there got it all set up I've got a big [00:31:00] caldwell sandbag that I mean, it's basically a saddle for this thing And got him out there and he was oh man. He was so excited and so nervous He's looking at me like is it gonna hurt i'm like no it's not gonna hurt bud He shoots first shot 110 yards on a six inch gong Nice, you hit it dude.
And by the end of it, we went through a 30 round mag. It was him His buddy, Levi, he's the same age and Levi's younger brother, Logan, and out of 30 rounds, they hit 27 of the 30 at 110 yards. And we got to the point where I backed off. I was right next to him, but they did everything. They flipped the safety off, get on or get on target, flip the safety off, pull the trigger, flip the safety back on, get out of the chair.
The neck, it was just like. America around kids just getting in and out and they were eating up with it. So I've got a bunch of archery targets on the property. And so I was like, all right guys here, I'm going to show you. And so I get it all lined up, [00:32:00] get the vice locked in and they're looking at the target.
And I'm like, Hey, right there behind the shoulder is where you want to shoot, right? Where. The red dots on and they're like, so do we shoot it? And i'm like no, don't shoot it I'm, just telling you on a deer. That's where we shoot it. I'm like, this is a brand new target Please don't blow the foam out of it.
Yeah But yeah, i'm excited to get them out I know they're gonna love it canyon and ember are both every year like We want to go we want to go and this year. I didn't know how much i'd be hunting up here Just because I wanted to go close that chapter on the island and so I didn't bring the ar up for them but
Like when Sam and you guys had to be 12 years old before you could do that. Now with the mentor program, what is it, 7? Is there an age requirement? There's no age. Oh yeah, that's right. I was talking to somebody about that and they told me and I'm like, No, that's, there's no way that's true. And they're like, no, you don't, there's no age requirement.
And I'm like, man, I [00:33:00] might have a couple more babies and just put them in a bath and let out here. I can get a lot of buff tags if I do that. Yeah, as far as the farm here goes, like you said, to me, this is it I love coming here it's fun, it, we're open arms to everybody Ron has said it in the past too, hunting's different for everybody, the camaraderie for me here, playing cards, cribbage, whatever, somebody brought up earlier that I've won like so many games today of dirty clubs, yeah, It's not a big deal.
That was the most pathetic plug I've ever heard for anybody. He just slid that right in there. Oh, but you just did on the recording. Yeah, that makes sense. Oh, I guess maybe I did. I apologize for that. Everybody just talks about how amazing I am at cards. And they do talk about you all the time.
But no, it [00:34:00] is fun. We we have breakfast here. We, Just, we have fun. People bring stuff to snack, try different things Rhonda made some venison spread, and that was a new treat for some people down here. That was good. That was really good. I think Zach's got some bacon he wants to try it and have people try it.
I can add that to my recipe book I'll make, from the blind, but I think Mark had some of that for sandwiches the other day, but yeah, it's always been fun down here. Oh yeah. And here there's deer mounts badger, wolf, mountain lion. Okay, I gotta hear the story behind that. Is that true?
Somewhere, someplace. It was one of Bobbie D's purchases, maybe? Trades. Just because they're in here doesn't mean they were taken here. It means that they were probably bought and brought here. He had a friend that he was bringing over here because he didn't dare bring it home. Yeah, there's certain things not allowed.
I mean we got beehives here and we got [00:35:00] you name it. So Wayne Cousin Wayne. He came he moved out to Colorado when we lived out there for a little while We went to my boss's place and he had a bunch of pocket ponds and we would go out there and duck hunt in the Mornings. Wayne's hey, I want to come out and hunt.
So I'm like, alright, let's do this I have no idea what Wayne's hunting history is But he shows up. He shows up with Noah and Wayne is in black and red basketball pants like jogging pants and I'm like You got any camo and he's no didn't bring any and I'm like is Noah coming with two cuz he's definitely Not in camo.
I think his shirt was bright red. And so anyways, my boss's basement Like his lower garage was heated, he had a TV in there. It looked a lot like this, all of these different mounts and stuff. And so we're like, hey bud, why don't you hang out on the couch here. We gave him like, I think Wayne gave him his phone.
And we walk down [00:36:00] 300 yards to the pond and get set up. And we're sitting there and we just hear... And just pounding on the door and we both, I like lay my gun down, we sprint up the hill to the house and he's just in tears and we're like, what happened? What happened? And he just turns and points and there's a full bobcat mount on top of one of the gun safes and he thought it was a real one.
And he is losing his mind that he's locked in a garage with a live bobcat. And that's going to conclude the hunt for today. I said, why don't you take him home or take him to therapy or something? I'll go clean up the duck decoys. I think we'll probably I'll jump off and let somebody else tag in here.
Yeah. What, one neat thing too about here and I think people should know is there is no running water in the house. There is an outhouse. Nobody actually lives here. Oh yeah, on a turf. The resident ghost. The resident ghost.[00:37:00] bUt yeah, it's a lot of history. I used to sleep here with two football players on a queen size bed.
I was the middle one. Oh, you were the meat of the sandwich, huh? Yeah, I was the best. You were the PB and the J. A lot of tortured memories. Oh, gosh. No, it's Why don't you head to therapy? And yeah, we'll have somebody else. But yeah, I appreciate jumping on. We'll let some of these others get in here before it gets too late.
Yeah, we'll we'll get some success stories in here and Cash out to them. Yeah, thanks for hopping on. I really appreciate it. So I finally got out this morning and went out with my bow because none of the podcast listeners know this at this point. I went back to the island and timeline of events I went and got.
My teeth worked on the only time that they could do it was the Friday before opener And [00:38:00] I'm thinking you got to be kidding me. I'm gonna miss opener like I'm not gonna get done I'm gonna make it up there in the middle of the night. And so We left Springfield. I think around almost four o'clock And we left there made it up to my sister's house at Two o'clock in the morning.
Then, this whole time, Sam was asking me about my plans for hunting season. And by the way, Billy and Mark are joining. Aunt and Uncle. Two people that I've spent a lot of time sitting with. More time sitting with you guys than my own mother. By far. aNyways, Sam kept asking me Hey, what are your plans?
Where are we going for hunting season? Cause I told her, I shot that buck on the island. I want to get back out there and get another shot at it or get out there. And if I don't see it, get on the ground and just go look for it and just see, a lot of times pass. [00:39:00] And so I leave their house at 4 a.
m. get to the Island at five 30 canoe out to the Island. And I'm in the stand for probably 20 minutes and only five minutes of legal light. And all of a sudden I hear crunch. And I'm like, no way this is going to happen this early. And I grabbed my rifle and I go to hit record on my phone.
And as I raise my hand up, I look down and there's a buck at 25 yards. And I'm like Ching. And this one's not getting recorded because I can't move now. And he walked through. I pulled up. I just saw a big right side, five points on the right. And at the time didn't register. Was it him? Was it not? You know how you might go into something with the plan as soon as something comes in you're like and there goes my plan I'm just gonna pull the trigger kid in a candy store.
Yeah, so I pull up shoot it runs into the cattails immediately and I'm like trying to see it again because it happened so fast what you were saying mom I was [00:40:00] like, I just I don't even like I pulled up and saw 25 yards on nine power I'm like, I hope I hit it in the right spot And then I hear crunch.
And I'm like, okay, if this is my buck that I shot earlier, I'm going to be so mad. I just shot blasted this one. This other one comes in and it was just a small doe I get down and I'm like on cloud nine. I can't believe five minutes into season. I canoed into it. This was my first ever public land whitetail also.
We've always hunted private land. I don't think I've. I don't think I've ever hunted publicly. Not that I can think of. 35. You're 35? Yeah. Yeah. Cause next year is 30 years we're on. Yeah. We've been. Property we've been on. I think I've only hunted two other people's properties ever in, in Wisconsin for Whitetail.
It's always been Jeff's and then we went to a Lady Maria's and then another person down off the main road. And I don't remember that was your, [00:41:00] that was. Before I could hunt, though, that was just going up there with you guys. And Anyways, I was super pumped. I get down and I hear, Boom! On the island.
I didn't know anybody was out there with me. And I'm like, Oh, I'm not alone. I'm like, that was him. I bet that was him. Because, After, All my adrenaline had weared off, Wore off, I'm like, I'm pretty sure this wasn't the buck. You said he was the biggest you'd ever seen, huh? The biggest you'd ever shot the yeah, the one that I shot with my bow Yeah, I was like he would have been my biggest buck ever and got video of it first time ever videoing or I had my buddy Nick come with me and Anyways go over to my buck and I'm immediate.
I mean he's dead in the cattails at probably 50 yards from my stand And I'm like, holy cow, yeah, like just a great deer. Yeah, but immediately I knew it wasn't him And then I hear another shot and I'm like, I don't know who these guys are out here And I don't want to be the guy that walks [00:42:00] up on somebody but I'm like, I really would like to know More than happy with the buck that I got but I'm like, I would like to know if they shot him And so I'm working on my deer and then I can hear him talking.
I'm like, okay There's multiple guys together. Gotta go look. I'm gonna go look. So I'm walking through the woods and I'm whistling the whole way. They probably think I'm a psychopath. Once I got over there, they're like, We couldn't believe, we thought somebody was doing a deer drive on this island on opening day.
Who does that? And I was like, yeah, what kind of idiot's walking through the woods whistling on opening day? Just don't hurt me. But yeah, I ended up getting over there and Said, you shoot a big one? They go, yep. I said, is he a chocolate tin? Yep. I go. Can I see I have a hurt shoulder? I Don't know about that.
And I walk over. And explain the story to him, lift up his shoulder. And sure enough, I could see the arrow injury. So I was super happy for them. I told him, I was like, I'm glad it was somebody, and he didn't just die. I think he would have made it even if they hadn't shot him. Cause he was looking, oh [00:43:00] yeah, from the entry wound, you couldn't even tell, it looked like he had.
He had just scratched his arm on something. It was like fully healed up. Wow. On the underside, you could see it was pretty swollen. Did they see if he had a limp at all? No, they didn't. I think it was pretty, I think it happened really quick because I think they spooked the deer to me. Oh. Because they said they got into the island late.
Also, two guys had never been on this island. They floated in their canoe, and they're like, we got in late. And I was like that makes sense because typically you don't see a buck leading a doe. It's always the other way around and so I Was like they must have spooked them to me But yeah, he's like man.
He came. This is where he came from and it Where I last saw that buck where I last bumped him that deer that he when he shot it was probably only 80 yards from there so Anyways, it was good to get closure on that. But Kind of a [00:44:00] wild morning. Yeah, I did get a nice buck. And you got a nice buck too.
Very symmetrical too. Yeah. I like, it's a nice rank. And I called everybody that was involved because I had a lot of people that were there for the hunt and helped me try to find it and called them all and they're like, dude, I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry. And I was like, dude, don't be like, I love that somebody else got out there, found this island for the first time, had success.
It would have been nice for me to capitalize on it, but it's like. What was cool is I got closure on that deer, but then also got to harvest a deer. But it just showed me how many big bucks are out there. There was, it was me and those two guys on the island. That was it. And all three of us killed a buck in the first 30 minutes of opening day.
So that was my first day. Mark, you had. You had some action. I mean you had a lot of snack. Not a whole lot. It was really quiet. In fact One of the things I've noticed in the property that we're on Through the years that if you heard shooting on either side [00:45:00] from the neighbor's area You got ready.
You grabbed your gun. Oh, yeah, because Get ready. They're probably gonna be coming our way. Yep, and That's not really the case anymore. I don't know where they go or what happens to them. You hear a shooting close by and, I don't know, they either, apparently, of course, look at I mentioned this a couple years ago too when we were out hunting.
I think we'd, somebody's gotten a doe and we were dragging it out. And and I was just noticing because I wound up grabbing some rifles, and carrying the rifles because My I'm getting too old to drag deer, but yet I started paying attention to everybody's peashooters, and from what we used to use, my first shotgun, or gun, we were strictly where we hunted on the other side of the state, it was strictly shotgun, we didn't use rifles. Now it's, I believe, rifle all over the state. Most of it, there are a couple spots that are just shotgun, but yeah. But mine was my grandpa's, Old [00:46:00] sawed off 12 gauge, and didn't even have a sight on it, in fact, I remember I was shooting at a doe, and it wound up missing.
And so they Stan's friend, I don't remember his name anymore, but they took a big, thick piece of copper wire and they wrapped it around the end of the barrel. And we sighted it in by clipping it until we had just enough. And that was, yeah. Back to the Wisconsin Woods people. Yeah. Did what you had to do.
But yeah, and things have just changed through the years, how everybody's got, and I, maybe that's why we don't see them running through anymore. Yeah. I guess was the point I'm trying to make too, because everybody gets the nicer guns. Everybody's got, you see them everywhere and there, there's some fine shootery out there.
Yeah. Upgraded equipment, like it used to be stumps, buckets, and logs. Yeah. And that was it. For, I never used to have a heater in my stand. That's for sure. I didn't even have a stand. I sat on the fence line covered in snow. And you guys just [00:47:00] got a four wheeler on the way over here. This was an expensive hunt, but in a good way.
Yeah. In a good way. And we've, cause the last how many years we didn't use anything like that you did. Last year. Yeah, last year was the first year. It was the first year. Year we've ever year pulled anything out with wheels first. We didn't drag it out by hand. Yeah. Everything was always on a sled.
Tried a deer cart darn near broke my wrist or doing that 'cause they it too, I was on the side of a hill the sheer weight of the deer and tipped over and I tried to hold it, and that was just. Or you tie its legs up on a log and carry it over your shoulder. I think there was a Walt Disney cartoon on something like that.
We've got, we've tried that multiple times and I'm like, this is the dumbest, this is so uncomfortable. It would be better to make a backpack out of it and one person try to carry it than do the stupid log. And the stick that you girls used wound up being not so strong. It didn't snap or whatever, a little rotten.
[00:48:00] Yes. The thing snapped, Billy was in front and she had it on her shoulder and then we had the deer tied up by the four legs around the log and then I was in the back and I had it hanging over my shoulder and that thing all of a sudden snapped and that, that log came up and nailed me in the back of the head and I dropped the ground.
Oh my gosh, definitely Kodak comics. I think all the cave drawings of that, it's actually like the wall of shame. It's this is what you don't do, but we didn't do it. Figure that out when we discovered it. That was another, the the story behind that deer was the mercy kill in my other mercy killing because I swore at the back of that property.
I always said, if you ever hear me shooting back here, darn it's a big buck. Cause I'm not dragging anything less than that out of this back corner. And I was sitting there that day, and all of a sudden this deer comes walking by right in front of me, and she had been gut shot, and of course, it wasn't a pretty sight, she had things hanging out, and I was like, I can't let her suffer like this, I've got to do something [00:49:00] about it, and so I shot her, and that's why we ended up, because back there, to get a deer out of there was a nightmare, and so So we improvised a plan that we thought was going to work great.
And we got her out. I've talked to, I've talked with Sam about it. I was like, man, if we just got a couple winches and hooked them to trees, like three or four in key spots on the property. We could drag a deer out with just the push of a button all the way. Can you imagine that? Hook it on, re hook it on.
It's like a ski lift out in the woods. You're just like, unclip, clip, and it's all the way out to the road. You could automate it. If you did it right, you wouldn't even have to walk out. You just hook it to the thing and it wheels it out to the road. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Nah, I think that would take some of the fun out of hunting.
Oh, and we would not have that story to tell either, boy. Hey, the sisters got it done. We did what we had to do. I think still my favorite deer dragging story was actually two years ago when I took Aiden out. He didn't [00:50:00] hunt, but I took him out for his first time. And I'm huffing and puffing. We're dragging this buck up the big hill all the way at the back corner.
And I'm just like, Oh, I'm pumped because I just shot a big buck and Aiden's just like helping with what he can. But I can tell I'm pulling a lot of the weight and I'm walking and I'm just thinking about how miserable this is dragging it up that steep hill. And Aiden just goes, Hey, Uncle Dan, I said, yeah, how old's Wyatt?
I looked at him. I'm like, that's really what you're thinking about right now. We're busting our butts, striking this deer up and you're wondering how old your cousin is. Like what kind of weird thing do you have going on in your head? And he just, the whole way up, it'd be every 50, 60 yards, I'd be taking a break.
Hey, Uncle Dan, how do you spell this word? I'm like, what? Let's keep it hunting focus, buddy. Yeah. Yeah. Stay focused, pal. But no, [00:51:00] it's been cool. He got to come out last year and he got, he got spoiled. He got the book. Oh yeah. Those are nine pointer, wasn't it? Yeah. It was a nine point. It was literally 30 minutes.
Yeah. It took longer for him to get his sight on it because he was shaking so bad than it did for us to see that deer. Yeah. And. That was fun. I remember he, he put the rifle down and he looked at me and he goes, I have never had so much adrenaline in my whole life. And I could tell because he was.
Then he passed out. I thought his ears quit working. I'm like, I go, Aiden, you on him? Aiden, are you on him? Are you on him, Aiden? Aiden, are you on him? Aiden, shoot him. Are you on him? Aiden, shoot him. I stopped that buck three times before, it might have been four times before he was finally on him.
I go, you on him? Give me that gun. Yeah, for real. Are you awake? Push him out of his bag chair and just take the shot for him. Good shot, buddy. Yeah. You're adrenaline so high you don't remember anything. [00:52:00] No, he did great. He did great, and he had a ton of fun, but yeah, it's gonna be fun getting new people out there.
It's getting harder though, the last several years, I think. Billy was out opening day, recuperating from pneumonia. Or bronchitis, or whatever it was. And she sounded terrible. My girl sounded like a barking seal most of the time. She was out in the woods. And I was worried that she And it didn't affect the deer.
They didn't care that I was coughing my head off. She saw a small six pointer. And let him walk But yet, she was, yeah, and a four pointer as well, but then she regretted that later because she said, Oh, if I'd have just shot him, I could have been done. I was still done. Yeah, she was still done. She didn't go out Sunday.
Just felt terrible. I knew she was in a rough way when she came by. Sunday night at the close of the day, actually she came out early by a good 20 30 minutes. And when she got to where I was, which she would have had to walk past me to [00:53:00] get to the car. And there was a log and she just flopped down in that log and I thought, Oh God, I'm going to have to drag my wife out of the woods.
That pulley system would work great. Yeah. She'd be in the orange sled, just crude. You'd just hear... Yeah. You know what the funny thing is? No, I, like you had asked, I shot a doe. I shot probably 20 deer through the whole opening weekend. But majority of them were all on the neighbor's side.
And I'm not gonna, I ran into a situation where I'd shot and it was on our side. But after I shot it, it died on the neighbor's side. And no sooner, Sam was with me at that time. He was quite young. We're in a tree. And when we shot, we actually shot two eight pointers. They had to have been brothers.
Four of them, I think. There was a doe and three bucks that came in. Anyway, we shot two eight pointers, and they weren't huge eight pointers, but it was pretty much one of his first [00:54:00] deer, and We're still sitting in the tree, and we hear a four wheeler start up after we had shot. We got two deer laying, and We can hear those four wheelers coming closer and coming closer.
And they're, we can see them, they're just across the fence. And Sam said, what do we do? Let's climb down quick, Dad. And I said, I don't do anything quick. And he said, yeah, that'll look real good. And I said, then how are we going to explain the drag marks if we get to the deer before they get here? And he walked right past the deer and never saw him, the landowner, and he kept sliding over there.
And, he was who's doing the shooting? And I said that would be us. And we're in a tree, and we have a habit, we don't, because it's so hilly here, we shoot down. We don't shoot across ridges, we don't shoot towards the top of the ridges, we shoot down. Yep. And and he was all concerned.
He is, his, he said that we were shooting towards his house. And I said that couldn't have been us, because we weren't, we were [00:55:00] shooting downward. Yeah. And so I said, if it's a ricochet that's a little bit different. I have no control over that, but I... Not aware that we had that idea. Yeah, I don't think a bullet's getting out of that valley.
And he said did you get him? He was a little upset with us. And I said, yeah, walked right past him. He walked right between them. And he walked through. And he was just so hellbent on hollering at us, so now I've learned about that. I don't... Don't take that chance anymore.
And I had actually there was a big buck Saturday night late afternoon and I could see him through the saplings up there, the clear cut that's up there and it's thick with a lot of little saplings and I could see him and I did everything I could to get that guy to come down by me. I rattled, I grunted, I even got one of those canned calls and I'm on YouTube all the time and I...
I think I showed you earlier, but rather than take that little can coal from Primo's and [00:56:00] tip it up, they said, just take him blow into that hole on the bottom. And it sounds more realistic. Yeah. So that's that. I was surprised at how different it sounded. Yeah. When you did it today.
And so I, once I saw that, I had a canned call. I don't know what happened to it because I hadn't used it for a number of years. For all I know I, it's gone or I threw it away or whatever. But so I went and I bought another one because I wanted to try that. And I rattled and I did all kinds of stuff.
And he turned, he's looking, he was huge. Yeah. At least the width of his ears, if not a little more outside the ears. And he was big. And he kept putting his head down and I could see him. It turned out Sam walked up there. There was a dead doe up there. She had been in heat. And he... That's why he wasn't leaving.
Because I'd see him. And he was straight up. I had a busted tree halfway up, busted off, and that was my, my sight picture, so I just looked up over the top of that tree, and there he was. And then I'd see him, he'd do, up [00:57:00] the, on the ridge. And he was pretty close to the top of the ridge.
I'm not gonna shoot. It's on the neighbor's side. And I saw him, and I thought, oh, there he goes. He's gone. And all of a sudden, I'm just being quiet and looking around. And I'd look up there again. I'd see movement. And he's back! Yeah, then I was like in and again head down and it was either I thought there's either something or maybe there's a bait pile I don't know what the neighbor does.
Yeah, maybe he's got a scrap pile up there. Maybe he throws stuff out And maybe there's an apple tree. I had no idea. So anyway, yeah We and then Sam found out this morning. He walked up there to make sense of it all. But and then I saw him go to the left, and he was, and I thought, oh, there he goes.
And they traveled that top ridge back and forth. And when Sam walked up there, he said, oh my god, we were on the phone together at that time. He said, you should see the trail that's up here. It's the highway. Yeah. And but we've always known that they traveled that ridge up there. And we, it's just a really unique [00:58:00] property.
Yeah. It. It's 40 acres, but it hunts like it's a couple of hundred. We've had as many as what, 10 people hunting that 40 before? Oh boy. Yeah, we've had a few where the landowner was a little concerned. It's guys, you get crowded. If you're an avid listener of this podcast, you've probably heard me talking about Infinite Outdoors in the past.
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Yeah, but it's you get out there and deer still get through that 40 without being seen by people It's pretty wild, but I can't tell you how many prayers [01:01:00] I bet you I've prayed more for Billy to get a deer every year than anybody else Because I'm like as soon as she gets a deer I'm taking her spot And you could have had it this year too, but I decided I wasn't shooting a small buck 9 o'clock like usual and I let it, I let the four pointer go.
Actually he laid down by me until I got a coughing jig and then I spooked him out. And about ten minutes later the six pointer came through and I wanted to shoot the six pointer. But when I first saw him he was already, if I was facing south, he was already probably at the seven o'clock mark to my left.
So I had to stand up, turn around and face the other way, move my gun around and get it. Where I could see without blasting a branch off of a tree. Yeah. And and I didn't have a shot that I was comfortable with. My, my record of one shot, one kill still stands. I don't take risky [01:02:00] shots.
Yeah. I want my deer to drop right where I... I don't like tracking, and so I didn't take the shot. You get a box of them. But had I taken the shot, somebody would have had my stand about 9 15. Because you guys don't let the seat get cold. No, and it's always me and Sam. It's we hear a shot and we're both like, Hey, we'll come help drag her so I get her stand, just so you know.
Mom's done. Yep. Yep, so this year I go tagless or deerless I guess but that's right. It's pretty amazing I think we talk about it every year, but how the deer respond to shooting out there, just, it doesn't make any sense. They froze when I shot that doe on Saturday. They just looked around, they had no idea.
Because it's so ridged. Yeah, they don't know where. It reverberates off the hills in so many different directions. It bounces off. Yeah, they just had, they have no idea where it came from. But it's like that last year. The last year was probably the most crazy week or few first few days of hunting that I had seen Because you shot [01:03:00] one Opening day.
I didn't see any or I think you shot a doe opening day too, didn't you? Yeah, in the morning and then on sunday, I shot a buck and While i'm like down at the buck. I look up and there's a doe I shoot the doe, we come back two hours later, Aiden shoots his buck, we ended up, I think we had six gut piles all buried under the leaves in one spot back there.
The coyotes eat well, yeah. And it's just they just keep coming. As soon as you shoot, they might run right to the shot. And it is, I have a hard time sitting back there and you hear a shot and I think it might be you across the road and it's actually Billy the complete opposite direction.
It's I would have swore it came from there. And I think that's a big part of it because I think the deer are confused just like we are not knowing where it's coming from. You can sit there and if the wind direction and the direction that they're shooting and whatever is the [01:04:00] backdrop and whatever, that plays a huge part as to what you are hearing and trying to figure out where it's coming from.
And at one, and you can have somebody standing right next to you and fire and because it's not, Like away from you or in front of you. Sometimes it's even hard to hear that. They can be really close to you and you're like Which way did that come from? And they're not very far from you at all. But it just matters, all of those things take take part in that.
And I think it's the same for the deer. They just, they're probably just as confused because it's, I'm sure they're hearing the same thing we are. Yeah. You got a doe? Mom, you got a buck? Yep. I think I'm the only one on our property where we hunt. I was the only one. The only one that got something so far.
Sam's still hunting. And you guys are heading back tomorrow, right? We're leaving, going home tomorrow. When, are you done hunting or are you going back out? I won't be back out if I go out until the weekend, until probably Friday or Saturday because I really, [01:05:00] we have the venison we need, we're grinding this one for burger and yeah, I can get a doe yet.
I don't know if I'm going to go out for one or not. Kevin wants to get a nice buck this year, and there's plenty of moult there for him to, hopefully get a shot at. And I'm hoping he gets a shot at one. But we really don't need, I don't need to take any more deer than what we... Actually need to eat this year.
So I don't think I'm I probably am not going back out this year I honestly I've always said I would love to go out there and take my camera out there and just sit out there and take Pictures and this might be a year to do that It might be a good weekend this next weekend just to sit out my blind and just get some pictures with my nice Zoom camera and just you know, get some wildlife stuff and you know do some of that the other thing is I've always wanted to write I was out there and if I don't have my gun out there, I don't have any pressure to have to shoot anything so I can just sit out there and enjoy what's out there.
And so that might be another option I might do this year because I really want to sit and look at I would like to write a, [01:06:00] like a kid's book about, about the woods waking up. That's kind of something that I've always wanted to do. Just so I might do that too. So I don't know.
As long as you put in there that yeah. When the woods wake up, every stump, branch, stump buck yeah, rock, tuft of grass, everything looks like a deer when the woods are waking up. And it's insane and, but the thing that I love about the woods waking up is It's almost predictable now since being in the woods, how many years, this year was my 43rd year in the woods, I've never missed an opening season, and so that was my motivation for getting out there after my surgery this year, and anyway, I'll take that mark.
Anyways, but that. It's just fun watching the succession of everything waking up, and it's always the same. It's always the first little mouse, and the little Tweety birds, and the, and this squirrel, and this tree, as all of a sudden they're just, you hear the scratching, and then they're trampling through the, leaves and stuff.
And it's just, [01:07:00] it's the same every year. So much fun watching things just all of a sudden Hey, it's morning. Like yesterday, it's like a Disney movie, but with more violence. I don't know, man, he's pretty violent, but anyway yesterday I almost sent out a message because I was like I almost sent out a message saying, these squirrels have already had their morning caffeine.
We're done. We're done with that because they were just, you'd think it was a herd coming through and it's some. Stupid little red squirrel that just can't settle down. That's why I didn't catch that six pointer, because that black squirrel was up and down The black ones are violent. They're meaner than the other ones.
When is squirrel season? Is it going on right now? It is? Mid September. I might go to Walmart and buy a 22 tomorrow. I love those black squirrels so bad. If you sit in my stand. And you look nine o'clock, there is a big oak tree that snapped off and you'll see the big hole in it. There's a black squirrel in that tree.
Today I went out this morning for a little bit with my bow. And, from where your [01:08:00] stand is looking, I was sitting at four o'clock, about, I don't know, 50 yards. And I could see that freaking black squirrel. He's beautiful. And I'm sitting there and I'm just like... And I'm like, that sounds like an elephant deer is slowly running and then comes to a stop.
And I'm like, Oh, I've got to tell you, so sitting out there yesterday, I was just chuckling to myself because that video of the guy who's dressed up as a squirrel and he's, I can't, I don't know what his name is, but I laugh every time I think of this guy, he is so freaking spot on with. being a squirrel and he's dressed up as a squirrel and trying to make annoying, annoying the hunters out there and the whole thing.
And yesterday when they're doing that, I just started giggling because I'll never scoff at that. That part was the squirrel. I'll never stop because that was one of the nice bucks that I shot a few years back and to hear him that. And all right, [01:09:00] everybody that's listening, it's going to make fun. Oh God, don't do that again.
That they do and. He was sassing the buck that was, I didn't see the deer, but he was sassing them. Blue jays and squirrels, they give away deer so much. And this whole weekend, up there on the ridge in those saplings, there was just a bunch. I could see them when the sun was shining in them. It just illuminated those does that were up in there.
Yeah. But they're on the other side, so I just sat and watched them. I can't shoot them, they're on a neighbor's property, but yet I could hear those squirrels up there just sassing them deer everywhere. And every time I heard that sound yesterday, I'd be like, Okay. Where's the deer? It's trying to tell the deer that I'm here.
No, we we were hunting that island during bow season, early October and the Blue Jays were really bad about, they were awesome. And we were like, man, those are the snitches of the woods. Like you hear the Blue Jay go off. And you know something that might be a coyote raccoon bobcat deer whatever something's coming.
Yeah, or something's moving [01:10:00] And the same squirrel thing happened to me last year first city of the year I had two days to bow hunt in missouri because that's when we were traveling a bunch And I'm sitting in the stand, I don't know, an hour, and I hear all the squirrels and I keep, I'm always looking back maybe this time it's a deer.
Nope. Still the squirrels. I hear them scatter and do that chatter. And I was like, all right, here we go. And then I hear I'm like, that's too consistent to be a squirrel. Look back and there's a buck, they gave it away. I really don't like. Seeing a ton of squirrels, but when they help you out.
Oh yeah. I'm like, oh yeah, they must, they get upset with the deer for eating the acorns. They're like, oh yeah, we're gonna let 'em know you're coming. Yeah. You watch this? Yeah. He's up in this tree. Yeah. They ain't out here hunting me. Nope. I Think we're gonna wrap it up. I've gotta get back and give Sam or her shot.
I gotta head back over to Steph's house, but it's been a fun opening weekend. [01:11:00] Bummer. You guys are heading back. Can I. Talking about, with Kevin and his family and Rhonda over here, this property, and we had a different type of tradition of what they have. They get together here in this house where we're sitting right now, and they play cards, they do all kinds of stuff.
And that blew me away when we, when I met Rhonda. I married Kevin and I got to see this and it was like, wow, an entirely different type and they get together year after year and they just come together as a huge family, which they are, but we didn't have a farmhouse like this that's, what, I think over a hundred and some years old, but yet we always got together, came on, we're from the east side of Wisconsin, so we always drove the four hours over here and we always hung out with you guys and This was a weird year for me, though, because it was the first opening weekend.
You weren't here when I heard you were coming this morning. And I, that made me smile because Dan and, [01:12:00] I always had the boys, my two sons, when Aaron was hunting as well, and you, Josh, and Josh wasn't able to make it up this year. Got a dandy bull, but yet in Colorado, but yet Yeah, it was always something that I enjoyed when we got together and I remember you all would come over by me and It wasn't long and we'd all be sleeping on the same log We'd be whittling sticks.
You'd be snoring. Yeah We take turns keep an eye out take turns. Everybody take a nap. Somebody keep an eye out. Yeah, it was always something so yeah It was definitely a different year. So it's been Just slow. It's just weird, but... It's different now than it used to be. It used to always be so powerful and so plentiful.
Not powerful, but plentiful, but now it's so different. I don't think that... The deer are there, I just think that things change. Yeah. Oh, for sure. The property that we [01:13:00] hunt on I think that... We were talking about that the other day. If we get to figure out something... To make them because they come in, but they don't stay.
They just come through. I think it used to be a lot thicker on that property too. Yeah. Oh yeah. And as the trees have fallen and the leaves just completely cut, there's a foot of leaves in some spots. There's just not a lot of young growth. And I think we need more cover. In 94 when we first started there had to been a tornado or something that had gone through there.
And it was like pick up sticks, the trees were just all over, and the deer were there and they stayed there because you needed a helicopter to get them out. Oh yeah. Yeah, phenomenal. Yeah, I just wanted to jump back in, my dad says, oh, we should have talked about that story. And, like I mentioned before, there's no running water or anything here at the farm, and we have an outhouse.
And there's quite a few stories about the outhouse, but the one dad says, Oh yeah, we should have talked about that was the time. Bobby [01:14:00] T who it's called the DNR ranch for David and Robert was sitting in the outhouse. And next thing a possum come up to the hole next to him. Oh my gosh. Scared him so bad.
When you were talking about the crap out of him, literally. He come running out of the outhouse, pants down to his ankles, just screaming. So when you were talking about weed, dad had thought about that, but then I jumped off. So these guys could get in because I know you got to get going. So yeah, it was a lot of hooting and hollering around here for some good reasons, but when you got a possum sitting in the sugar next to you, it's time to go.
So I can't, yeah, I can't imagine that would, I got bit one time by a bug. I was sitting on the toilet at work, and all of a sudden I just feel a sharp pain on my right underneath my butt cheek. And I get up, and I just see these two little pinchers coming out from under the seat. Listen, you never feel as vulnerable as you do.
I'm not scared of [01:15:00] bugs. I don't really get worried. I've had... Spiders in my boots. We just had a scorpion walking across the floor when we were in florida I'm good with all that stuff when you're pooping. It's a different story like that is sacred time You should not be yeah, that's me And then the other thing that was unique around here and you'll have to take a picture and see if you can get it on somehow but quite a few years ago.
As a matter of fact, I think the date's on there. There was a brain dead deer in the area. Yeah People would drive by it on the road all the time and this thing would just literally walk in circles And nobody thought anything of it. My uncle Orville's seen it And Bobby T and Cuz, they went with the mule, the Kawasaki mule, and loaded this thing up because it was just walking in circles around on the road and it's it's gonna get hit.
So they loaded it up in the mule. Brought it over here to the farm, tied it up, called the DNR. This is the day before deer hunting. And [01:16:00] the DNR says there really ain't much we can tell you to do with it. If it's, let it go. If it's still there tomorrow, shoot it and bring it in and we'll get you a new tag.
Yeah. So that's what they ended up doing. And literally it was brain dead, so they figured it got injured and a mite or something got into it. Oh yeah. We call it the brain dead deer, but Cuzz went in, registered it. And then we played the joke on Bobby saying that he had won a lottery or something because he did this and he won five hundred dollars and another tag and all this.
That wasn't true, but it was it was just an interesting moment for deer out here. And with your mom getting that broken antler and stuff, weird stuff happens. Oh yeah. So those are the freaks that everybody liked. I liked them. Billy liked them. Oh yeah. The oddballs. The ones that really stick out.
Yeah. That's always, it's always interesting to see different antler. And you guys have a lot of deer here that have holes in their horns. Yeah. We. Had quite a history there for [01:17:00] two, three years of multiple horns with holes in the end of them. Yeah. Like from mites or something, but yeah, just strange racks here and there.
But now things other than your mom's things look somewhat normal, whatever that might be. Hold on. Okay, you just, I was like, I don't know what direction, the strange racks, other than your mom's And then you pointed right about chest level And I'm like, I do not need to hear this, Kevin And you're getting tired I just don't I was referring to deer racks, we are talking about deer racks Oh my gosh As the, I didn't know that the talking billy bass made breasts.
That's, wow, yeah. Just saw it. Learned something new today. Just saw it, yeah. Now I know why you guys always hang out over here. Yeah. So yeah, that's why I want to jump on quick and just share them stories. Dad and I got talking about it after we jumped off. Yeah. I know Zach would like to visit [01:18:00] too, but maybe some other time.
Oh yeah. I know you gotta get going and unfortunately you guys are heading out tomorrow, but... Yeah, hopefully we've got some more success stories by... We look forward to this every... By later this week, we look forward to this every year and it goes by so quick that now we're headed home. I think Zach's gonna fry up some venison bacon too.
Oh, that's not yet? Oh yeah. That sounds real good. Before we go... I'm gonna jet. And yeah, maybe we'll knock out another podcast. Hang on, Billy's good, I was gonna say, before we go, I'm gonna put a shameless plug in for my 9 o'clock Saturday morning deer showdown. Yeah. The secret to my success, Little Debbie Snack Cakes, You get cold, or you get bored cause you're not seeing nothing.
You dig through the backpack, you pull out that little Debbie snack cake, start making some noise, and nine o'clock, 9 15, two bucks came out. Listen, every year that's the gig for me. If you don't have little Debbie's, you're not even hunting. Oh, you're not saying that. Oh, wait a minute.
Oh, yes. [01:19:00] See, little Debbie should just sponsor me. I kissed mine this morning. Swiss cake rolls, star crunch, nutty buddies, zebra cakes. Oh, zebra cakes. Why are the Christmas, why are the Christmas tree ones so much better? It's all the same ingredients. I had a zebra cake this morning, I don't know if I wanted to eat it or just rub it all over my face.
Wouldn't that be, oh man. I'm telling you. Listen, if I ever win the lottery, I'm just gonna make, like the ball pit and just have it all be zebra cakes. A zebra cake. Bed. Think about that. Just let that settle. You know what, I bet you could sell tickets to this YouTube episode. Oh, man, that sounds a little creepy for me.
On that note. You're like, yeah, we're out on that. OnlySnacks. com if I can say one thing to everybody that's listening, if you are a hunter, and you've got kids coming up, or you've got nephews and all of that, make, if you're not doing it already, Make her a tradition. Oh, yeah. Because it is [01:20:00] something that as the kids are younger.
Yeah, they're gonna drive you nuts Yeah, you're gonna sometimes think man. What was I thinking? They should have stayed home with mom And they're freezing they want to go or they're wandering around or they don't want to sit anymore But you know what as they get older They're, it's, it's the memories, I think about the 30 years that we've almost got on that property.
We're hunting me and Billy just the 8th of November. We got married in 1986, we celebrated 37 years of wedded bliss. And we waited when we got married, we waited two weeks and our honeymoon was we went deer hunting and we've been hunting together since. And but that's, make the, those traditions, Kevin and Rhonda have got theirs here with with his family and all of that.
We have ours, and they're a little bit different a tradition. We don't have a house that we all, we're, we come together in the woods and everything. And we do spend a little time together. We, your mom's place [01:21:00] in that. And But, yeah, it's you gotta do it to start it, yeah.
If you don't have kids, be a mentor to them. Especially if you are a fan of the outdoors because, just a couple weeks ago we had an opportunity as we're cleaning out 37 plus years of garbage in the garage and stuff that we don't use anymore. And we decided to donate a lot of hunting decoys for waterfowl.
And other gear. And, stuff that I haven't used for years. We just asked a friend of ours in Two Rivers if he knew of anybody starting out that needed some gear. And he says, funny you say that because just this morning I had a grandma contact me that her grandson wanted to get into hunting.
Destroyed. That's cool. And, the very next the very next weekend he had his first spread of all the ducks that he had shot. She had no idea how expensive decoys were. And she couldn't afford it. Oh yeah. And [01:22:00] maybe next year. It might be just stuff that you're discarding because you're like, ah, it's so outdated.
And some of these decoys look terrible. Some of the decoys I've had, you'll hunt it. He was thrilled to. To be able to get out there and hunt it wouldn't have as some of his own gear even though it's you know Like I said, it was a four bags Duck and goose. So you can make a big impact. Yeah, and that's cool They he had looked at him and our friend he had him put his name on everything with a magic marker so he could You know, and after the, okay, let's, that's, got halfway through them and there was still more to do.
And he said put everything back in the bags. And I'll have to find room out in the garage for him. He says, no yeah, I'm sleeping with these. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, and he sent me a picture of him with all the decoys out in his living room. And he says, Marky we made a kid's day today.
That's sweet. Yeah. Good for you guys for doing that. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody get out. Get your kids out. Get other kids out. [01:23:00] It doesn't even have to be for hunting. And, there's so many outdoors things. Just get them out in the outdoors. Get them away from the video games and the toys. Yeah. Oh, man.
Just get them in the outdoors and make memories. Yep. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks guys for having you. It's always fun to do these podcasts and yeah, I look forward to this part of it now every year. Yeah. So yeah. Until next time.
