Packer Maxx

Lincoln Rohn, owner of Packer Maxx, came into the studio this week on Michigan Wild. Nate and Lincoln talk about Lincoln’s passion for deer hunting which started in the late 80’s. Ultimately his passion for deer hunting led him to be the owner of Packer Maxx. Packer Maxx was a company that Lincoln purchased after using the product for a handful of years on his family’s property. A tool that has been key to increasing his habitat and deer quality for years as well. Lincoln gives a good breakdown of all the different products at Packer Maxx and the uses for them. He also owns Five 2 Outdoors, a food plot seed company. So his local shop in West Michigan is really a one stop shop for all food plot needs. Nate explains how he has been there and finds great value in the opportunity to see and feel a product before purchasing. The podcasts ends with lots of whitetail talk, including the great fall Lincoln had last year. Some big whitetails hit the dirt. If you are looking to aid in your food plat game make sure to look to Packer Maxx and Five 2 Outdoors.

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

‍

Nate Rozeveld: All righty. We have episode five and tonight or this evening, I have a good friend of mine, Lincoln, and we've known each other kind of off and on for a few, handful of years. Yep. I think in, I guess I actually first, and you're with Packer Max. Mm-hmm. And I first, uh, saw you on Facebook. Yep. Let 'em go, let 'em grow.

Page,

Lincoln Rohn: yep. On the Michigan Deer Hunters page. Yep. How many years ago was that? Oh, started that, uh, about. Gosh, it's going on 12 years ago. Yeah. I'd say

Nate Rozeveld: a, I, I've been married this my 11th year, I would say early when I was first married I found that page. Yep. And that was, that was pretty cool. But that's, yep.

And then come to find out, you, I had do construction and you had made a post on Facebook Yep. Or something needed something done. Yep. I was,

Lincoln Rohn: I reached out asking about a, a leaned or a cover for my back door. Yep. And, uh, yeah. And I posted anybody know anybody and you were like, Hey, I do that. Yeah. And then I,

Nate Rozeveld: then I got experienced the packer [00:02:00] Max

Lincoln Rohn: back then.

Yep. Yep. That was when I was doing it in my barn.

Nate Rozeveld: Yeah. That was pretty cool. I mean, I never seen all those things and I was like, wow, this is sweet. And were you full-time at that time? Packer Max? Um,

Lincoln Rohn: you're clo I feel like you're really close if you were not. I think we were. Yeah. We were. Really close at that point.

I don't think I quite was yet, but yeah. And then

Nate Rozeveld: come to find out, you actually grew up and were friends with like my godfather growing up. Mm-hmm. Jovin Heist Joe. Yeah. So, yep. You knew him. So it was kind of like this network of Yeah. Joe

Lincoln Rohn: and I go back ways. Yep. We got into some

Nate Rozeveld: trouble lately. Yeah. I'm sure you did.

Knowing him. But, uh, and then now, since you actually have a shop now mm-hmm. And that's pretty close to where I live. Yep. Right in Rockford. Yep. Yep. Right off 1 31. Yep. Just north of

Lincoln Rohn: Grand Rapids and 57. Yep. Um, yeah, just, just north gr about 10 minutes. Yeah. And we're half mile off the highway. It's a really, really great spot for us.

So,

Nate Rozeveld: yeah. And I, I actually, I've been there a couple times mm-hmm. But I actually got go there and get some food plot seed. Yeah. Yeah. And really cool, I mean, We'd get into [00:03:00] 'em maybe a little later, but like, that was a really nice experience. Like, you have everything you need for food

Lincoln Rohn: plots, pretty much. Yeah.

Nate Rozeveld: And it's really cool. Yeah. But, yep. But no, so I kinda wanna go a little backstory on mm-hmm. Like, you, I mean, you've obviously been in Michigan your whole life, I believe, right? Yep. Yep. And always bow. When did you start

Lincoln Rohn: bow hunting? Gosh, I've been bow hunting since I was, uh, 14. 12, well, 12 actually. Yeah. Um, started bow hunting and my, my dad, you know, really wasn't a hardcore hunter.

He was kind of a, kind of a novice and, but he liked to gun hunt. And, uh, they and him and my uncles bought, uh, the property we still have today. Mm-hmm. Um, And my uncle actually kind of probably got me a little more into it than my dad did even. And, um, but then as we went along, you know, my dad started getting a little bit more and more into it.

And, um, I think that it's pretty cool because like if I, if we would've had that property growing up, I was kind of a wild [00:04:00] child as Joe would attest to. But if I didn't have that property to go to, like my whole, basically my whole adult, my whole life, I probably got a lot more trouble than I did

Nate Rozeveld: already.

But, and it was kind of like, how far of a drive was it for you then? It's a little farther north when you grew

Lincoln Rohn: up, right? Yeah, I lived in Hudsonville at the time. Okay. So it was about an hour and a half drive. Nice. And so, you know, still just, you know, I mean, you could do it on a day trip if you wanted to.

Mm-hmm. Go up and screw around and come back. Yep. And you know, or go up in the afternoon and do the evening hunt, you know, come back the next day or whatever. Good, clean,

Nate Rozeveld: fun. Yep. That's why I like to say that back then. Yep. Because I did the same thing like that when I first got my driver's license. Yep. I would drive all over the place.

Oh yeah. Just do it, go hunting. I'd be like there. If I didn't have that, who knows. What would've I know. Serious. I got into, like you said, seriously. Seriously, seriously. So, so when you started bow hunting mm-hmm. I know you're old, you're older than me, and I don't think you're quite as old is my dad, but like, he talks about how it was like this, you didn't know really anything.

Like there wasn't a lot of people doing it. Like people are kinda like, you're trying to shoot a deer with a bow,

Lincoln Rohn: right? Like what? Yeah, the old, the old, uh, [00:05:00] um, two blade broadheads, you know? Mm-hmm. With the bleeder blades and, and yeah. I, we, we always joke about, you know, everybody's speed now. Speed, speed, speed, speed.

Back in my day we were like, Throwing Lincoln logs at deer with, with big aluminums. Yeah. Did, somebody would probably recognize this, but the, the old super slam XX 75. What was there, 23,

Nate Rozeveld: 17? Yeah. 2317. My dad's last. Some of those big as your

Lincoln Rohn: arm and you just chuck it out there about 180 feet percent. It was flu.

Were shooting those. We knock some deer off their feet with them things. So. Nice. So did

Nate Rozeveld: you shoot at like, was the outdoorsman your place to shoot them back then? Yes. So, yeah. 'cause I think I remember, that's what Joe had told me. Yeah. And like when I was a kid mm-hmm. Joe would take me there. Yep. And I shot, you know, the range and stuff.

So like I did that. Quite a bit mm-hmm. When I was a kid, so I kind of know the area. Mm-hmm. And then I guess kind of full circle the outdoors, but now I actually bought Sparta Sports Shop. Yeah. Yeah. So that's a part of that. So it's kinda like, oh, that's kind of cool. You know, 20 years ago I was over there as a little kid doing [00:06:00] that.

Yep. But yeah, he shot a lot. I know a lot of league, lot of foam has

Lincoln Rohn: been shot that place. Yeah. We shot, we shot leagues, we shot, uh, we were constantly down there shooting bows. Uh, you know, and then Nate, um, Garrett, who's the, the current or the own one of the owners I think, or, or the general manager, I think.

Mm-hmm. Or he might be part owner. Um, but he, he started his, I mean, he worked there for his whole adult life. Yeah. And, um, yeah, we've, you know, we were, became pretty good friends and, um, jeez. Like I said, like I said, there's a lot of foam shot there, man. Yeah. We, we spent hours and hours downstairs just pounding targets and now

Nate Rozeveld: like, then like when you guys got to do that as your generation, that was kind of like, Like, my generation doesn't have that as much like Right.

Because there's a lot more people started doing it. I think may, maybe it was busier life, but like you guys had, like always Joe was always there. My dad too. Like, he tells me how like, man, that's what you did. You played softball. Mm-hmm. And you went and shot balls. Like that's what [00:07:00] life was back then. Yep.

And then now, you know, this time and day, we know it's, we, maybe it's 'cause we have better targets or Yep. Bows are set up, but we're always kind of shooting by ourselves. Like, and remember when I was a little younger, I'd be like, Hey, can everyone come over and shoot bows? But now, like, I pretty much shoot my bow just by myself.

Yeah. So it's like sometimes I hear that and I mm-hmm. You know, always talk about how, oh, you got the guys together and going and shooting league, which is really cool. Yeah. But, uh, so when did you, like, did you find success with shooting a

Lincoln Rohn: deer? Pretty quick with a bow? It took me a couple years. Um, actually, so, um, I shot my first deer, uh, with a, with a deer rifle.

I shot a dough. Mm-hmm. It was my very first deer. Thought you, you'd have thought I won the World Series, you know? Hell yeah. My old bolt action 30 out six, you know, and, and, um, but then it was, uh, I think I was probably on my fourth, let's see, I believe it was 1989. No, 1987. Okay. Because I was, the year I graduated from high school, I shot my first deer with a bow.

Wow. And it was a, [00:08:00] um, a five point, and I bet you were the talk of the area. Oh man. The broman buck started hitting the ground after that.

Nate Rozeveld: Yep. That's, that's how that was though. Like, because like it was so unheard of to shoot one with a bow. I mean, dude, my dad tells me stories how you just have a quiver full of whatever arrows you have.

Oh yeah. You go climb up this tree where you nail some two by fours and a two by four block on stand on a piece of plywood. So funny. And if you would come out in a, in a hay field or whatever they had, or carrot pile. Exactly. And you're like, just launching arrows at 'em, you know, doing that.

Lincoln Rohn: It's funny story.

The first, the first deer I ever shot with my bow there, the platform is honest to God, still in that tree. It's a white pine. It's, yeah. Between two white pines and it's still there. I was just, I have a water hole that's by it. And I just drove by it the other day and saw that stand. I started reminiscing, like shot my first deer with a bow eye there.

Yep. And I spy that thing and it's rolling around on the ground doing what they do. Yep. [00:09:00] And I'm just pin cushioning that thing. I actually had to get down to pull an arrow out of the ground and finish it out, shoot it again.

Nate Rozeveld: Oh yeah. Good stuff. But I, but I mean the equipment, like you think about like Yeah.

Recurves and all that stuff. Yeah. But like, I don't, like my dad talks about, he is like, yeah, we, you know, we shot those big arrows and you threw Broadhead on there and you shot like you got pretty efficient. Oh yeah. But you know, That was at like, what was that range? He's like, I could shoot really good at 20, 40 yards, but like I remember watching my uncle get ready for elk hunting.

Yep. And this is like one of my memories of like the bows with not much let off. Mm-hmm. And he was pulling like 80 pounds. Oh yeah. Gotta shoot big poundage. He was shooting like 60 yards. And I just remember that arc of that arrow. Yep. Like 60 yards

Lincoln Rohn: was incredible. Now, but they hit like a freight

Nate Rozeveld: train though.

They do? Yeah. 'cause you had a big, like you said, the big two blade broad head. Yep. And they had, I remember always messing around with your boat to try to get to shoot a broad head, right? Yep. And like, that's kind of funny how that's kind of come mm-hmm. Full circle once again, you know, the heavier arrows and then you also talk about your water holes where you had a mm-hmm.[00:10:00]

The woods. How many times did you go to a place and you see an old, like wood stand? You're like, I wonder what that, if that used to be good, I wonder what that Yeah. And it's, it is like, as you say, now you have a water hole there, so something going on. Even

Lincoln Rohn: then, you know, I'm telling you a lot of times when I'm hunting state land, especially if I'm, if I'm out walking state land and I see an old stand like that mm-hmm.

Guess where I'm gonna be. I'm not kidding you. I, I will set up by that stand. Yeah. 'cause it, there's a reason that they, they took the time to build a stand there. Yep. And there's a reason for it. Yes sir. And it's not letting me down. Yep. I've done very well

Nate Rozeveld: doing that. That's, that's a hot tip. I don't, I don't.

I mean, I get lots of different permission properties all over. Yep. And when I do my scout, and if I find those stands, I'm instantly like, boop, pile up the map. Yep. Oh, there's a little subtle terrain line here, maybe, or, yep. 'cause I mean, the guys, like back then when you guys had to find deer mm-hmm. You were fine trails.

You were looking for tracks, you were doing all these things. It wasn't like, you're just like, oh, here's a camera and you just let it sit all here. Right. You actually had to go find these areas. Right? Yeah. And you weren't targeting deer. You, you weren't targeting big bucks. [00:11:00] You were targeting deer. Right.

And yeah. That's a good, that's a good rule of thumb. Yeah. So, so yeah, you go, you shoot your buck. Like what? What point in your life? 'cause you actually are like, I think you actually might be the same age as my dad, because I think he graduated in 87 also. Yeah. But when. Did you kind of like go from shooting deer with your bow or killing deer to like this whole more of like big picture, I guess like, so bigger deer, food pot stuff, like all that.

Lincoln Rohn: So for, for years, uh, I was brought up and, you know, as many people my age, uh, were, um, in Michigan, man, you had to get your buck and you shot the first buck You saw be, didn't matter if it was a spike horn or a 10 point because you probably weren't gonna see another one. Mm-hmm. You might see a hundred dose.

Um, but I remember like in 1988, for some reason that year sticks in my mind. But there we, I mean there was so many deer. I mean just tons of deer and, uh, but there was very few bs. Mm-hmm. And so, [00:12:00] um, you know, I went through, uh, the first, I don't know, I don't think I passed my first B until I was 30 years old.

And my uncle, who was a D n R officer in the up over in waters meat. I used to go up to his place every year in November, first week of November. And I shot really good deer up there, shot a beautiful 10 point. Um, but he's like, you gotta start letting those smaller bucks go. Mm-hmm. Like, seriously, if you can get the, you know, you let that spike horn go, he's gonna be an eight point next year.

So he kinda was like, probably the leading edge of that. Serious. He was, he was the, he encouraged me. He was my uncle Phil. And, uh, he encouraged me to, I, I passed my first deer, my first eight point in the up. Really? Yep. Yep. Very first one. Well, there's no

Nate Rozeveld: deer or there

Lincoln Rohn: used to be there, there used to, there used to be.

It used to be that heyday back then, but, um, yeah, it was a, my very first buck that I passed was a, was a, you know, up there is probably a three year old eight point. Mm-hmm. And, and [00:13:00] I was so proud of that. And like I could have shot that deer. Mm-hmm. But I didn't. And, you know, I, I don't know. It was just a cool feeling.

Yeah. And, you know, so then, you know, we took it a, a step further, uh, on our property in Newaygo. Um, you know, we started making a property rule where you could only shoot three points or better, or, you know, three points on one side or better. Yep, yep. And we started carving out food plots and, you know, just little crappy ones.

We'd throw some rye grass or, you know, cereal rye in. Mm-hmm. And, um, Those were super effective back then, you know? Yeah. And then of course we did bait back then. Um, and so it just became more of a, and I used to fish like a madman when I, when I was in high school, man, if we had a pep assembly or something on a Friday afternoon, the, the, the principal would have to chase down to the parking lot to try to catch me and my buddy as we were pulling out in the truck.

'cause we were going fishing and, you know, [00:14:00] we, so it about then I kind of transitioned from, from hardcore fishing to almost ex to almost exclusively to hunting. Okay. And that's when I, I mean, I shot my bull. I mean, just. Oh, I was, we shot a lot of tournaments. Mm-hmm. A lot of three D tournaments. Um, won a couple big tournaments.

Um, and, you know, we, you xxi legacy, you know, the Golden Eagle evolution mm-hmm. The bows back, you know, back then those were, those were toping. Yeah. Like Golden, golden Eagle,

Nate Rozeveld: right. Yep. Golden Eagle. That was my first compound that I Yep. Or first bigger bow, my dad had one. Yep. I outgrew my youth bow. Mm-hmm.

Because, you know, youth bows back there, nothing like they're today. Right. And he let me use his old Golden Eagle and man no. Let off hardly at all. Oh. But yeah, I shot my first, I shot my first deer with that bow. Yep. So, yeah. Cool stuff. Yep. So, so you pretty much like you, you started this, you were in like mm-hmm.

Like you just said, you went from being hardened into fishing to all of a sudden, like this white tail thing is your jam. Yep. And you really. Took off and you've [00:15:00] kind of, to me, I mean, I've known of, you know, we've been acquaintance mm-hmm. You almost 10 years Right. Or eight years, let's say through Facebook and social media.

But you're just constantly climbing this like ladder. Mm-hmm. And like, it's, it's pretty, it's pretty cool. 'cause you've carved a path for yourself Yeah. In the, in this hunting industry. And now, you know, so through the years you started over like these small food pots. Like I, so I'm trying to think how old I was.

I wanna say I was probably 10, so like early two thousands. Mm-hmm. Um, my grandparents' farm up north. My dad and my uncle like, blessed with like a lot of deer. Like you're talking like it was, you'd see. Tons of doughs and like that kind of stuff. Mm-hmm. And bucks and all. You'd see little bucks. A lot of little bucks.

But for some reason my dad and my uncle were like, okay, we're only shooting four buys. Yep. That was kind of like, that was the rule they did. And you know, it wasn't uncommon to see a year and a half old eight point. Mm-hmm. And lots of spikes and six points. My grandpa still shot whatever to this day. Yeah.

That dude shoots what he wants his property does. But that was, so I kind of grew up before I could hunt. 'cause I had to wait until I was 14 to gun hunt 12 with the bow. Mm-hmm. Yep. Like [00:16:00] you, I saw, I would sit with my dad and my uncle and here comes a buck and you don't shoot it. Mm-hmm. You know, here's, you see 20, 30 do's and you.

You know, select which one if you're gonna shoot it. Yep. You know, so like I kind of grew up with like that as my mm-hmm. That's normal to do, you know, I didn't really have to have the sit all year to maybe see one buck. Right. Like, I was blessed with that. So for me, when I started hunting, I got, you know, you're sitting underneath that first buck I shot and I ended up being so pumped.

'cause it was the seven, the smallest seven point you could probably get, there was four on the side. I was pumped maybe. Yep. So I did that and I shot a, another year and a half, probably two other year and a half old bucks. And then I kind of started my trajectory of shooting bigger deer. But yeah, that you guys kind of were the pioneers for that.

And back then there was no Facebook or like that you just talked to your, I think there might have been like Q D M A was out, obviously

Lincoln Rohn: magazines and stuff. Yeah. They started and they, everybody hated Q D M A back then, but, but, uh, yeah, that's, and if you look at, um, we, we just [00:17:00] redid the inside of our cabin up north, but.

Um, you could literally see, uh, the progression on that property. And that's kind of been neat owning that property for 40 years. My dad then had, I don't know, 25 years ago, bought out my uncles. Mm-hmm. And so was my dad said, you, you can do this property, you know, start managing it. Mm-hmm. How you see fit.

And so of course then we upped our, our standards to mm-hmm. You know, four, not four on a side. And then, um, you know, we were shooting, then we were shooting some pretty good two year olds. Mm-hmm. You know, and, and in new Igo County, I'm telling you that was a big deal because that was like display corn capital of the world.

Yep. You know, and so that progression, then we moved to, okay, now we're gonna do four on a side, but now we're gonna try to only shoot three year olds or better. Mm-hmm. You know, and that wasn't that long ago. No. You know, and, and you know about the time I probably started the page when we. But the, when we started doing, you know, three year olds are better.

Yeah. And, but you can see that progression of the [00:18:00] bucks that we've killed just getting bigger and bigger. Mm-hmm. And um, you know, we have 11 of the most beautiful food plots that you can possibly imagine. Uh, especially in that old sandy soil up there. You know, we put some good groceries out and, you know, we had a big pond dog.

It's a, like an acre and a half pond. Uh, right now it's not because it's four feet down 'cause of the drought, but, um, you know, uh, we've got water holes around the property, you know, we've got it set, it's set up to hunt. Yeah. And, you know,

Nate Rozeveld: yeah. It's your hunting property. Yeah. It's a set up for that. Yeah.

So now as you ramped up these improvements on this property mm-hmm. Where did Packer

Lincoln Rohn: Max fit into this? So, um, I, my, my, my career started out in the car business, so I was a manager, like a fixed operations manager, parts and service. And you know, basically I, I worked at some various dealerships and, um, went through a couple life changes and I ended up, um, moving from Marshall, Michigan.

I lived there for a few years, backed to Hudsonville, and I [00:19:00] started at a small company in Grand Rapids, um, plastics company. And I was there for 15 years. And, um, after I started the page, I. Got an, i, I got to know the previous owner of Packer Max pretty well. Mm-hmm. And we had done these summits, you know, we had mm-hmm.

Three, 400 people at these, these events. Yep. I went to those. Yep. And, um, you know, he would donate, uh, a unit to us for the, you know, for the, uh, event. And right outta blue one day he calls me and, uh, Jeff Best called me and said, Hey, um, can I post my business for sale on your page? Like, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna sell it.

And we had bought a packer Max 10, about, well, my, my current one's about 10, about 12 years old. Okay. And so I knew it was a great product. You know, it was a game changer for our food plot program. Mm-hmm. It was like that missing link. Yeah. 'cause

Nate Rozeveld: your property, we can touch on it a little more. Mm-hmm. It's not like AG Rich.

No, not at all in the area at all. So it's not like you're like, where I grew up hunting and like some of the spots are around here. Mm-hmm. There's ag ground, so like access [00:20:00] with tractors is easy. Yep. You know, that kind of thing. So. Yep. You have created this property of Sandy soil NGO's? Not known. No. I was just on, I just did a fishing podcast.

Mm-hmm. With my buddy last week. Yep. And he grew up in the Baldwin area. Yep. And like for me, I've always went north on 1 31 and then east. Mm-hmm. To me everything to Wago West Baldwin. Yep. Pine trees and sand. Yep. Like not

Lincoln Rohn: good farming. Yeah. We're, we're literally cutting down pine trees to put in food pots.

Food pots. And so, yeah.

Nate Rozeveld: So, um, so Packer Max was pivotal on that Yeah. From the

Lincoln Rohn: start. Yeah. And, and, you know, getting our Food Pot program dialed in. And so, so I knew it was a great product and he's, you know, and I said, well, let's talk about that first. Like, I'm, I'm, I'm interested, you know. Mm-hmm. So we, we negotiated, you know, a price and a deal and I call it my Shark Tank deal, you know, um, I, I, I just didn't have the money to, to, to buy it outright.

And so he basically financed it for me and I paid him, you know, a royalty until I got the business paid [00:21:00] for, and I got the business paid for, uh, a year and a half early, which was great. Mm-hmm. Um, and then, you know, the, the rest is history. We, we, I started the business in my garage in Allendale. Okay. And I.

Completely ran outta room. And I mean, it was very quick. It happened because the, the previous owner, Jeff, God bless him, was not social media savvy at all. Mm-hmm. And as soon as I started launching this thing on social media, that it had already been around for a while. Mm-hmm. But nobody knew what it was.

Yeah. Nobody had seen it. I'd

Nate Rozeveld: never seen one until, right. You had it on for the summit or whatever that was, that was the first time I was like, oh man. That's sweet. Yep. And yeah, that's just, that's the power of social media and that kind of stuff like. You can say all the negatives you want, but like, as a, as a positive, like it's been good for a lot of things.

Oh, yes. Your

Lincoln Rohn: business is one of 'em. There's there's been, yeah. I wouldn't be, we, we wouldn't be where we are without it. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, I started posting it and it's just been a, it's just been a steady climb and quickly ran outta room in my [00:22:00] garage. And so Grand Valley was expanding and I said to my wife, let's, let's sell the house and move, and I need a pole barn.

Mm-hmm. So we started looking, we ended up buying a lake on, or the house on Lincoln Lake. Yep. Where I helped you out at. Yep, yep. We built the awning over my back deck or porch and, um, not a huge pole barn. I think it was 30 by 40 or 40 by 50 or something. Not to be

Nate Rozeveld: punty, but that thing was packed. It was packed, right.

Lincoln Rohn: Yeah. Part in the pun. I, theres drum stack of the ceiling. Fricking believe it frames everywhere and Yeah. You know, and. And I started doing that all myself. Like I, you know, I, I'd unload three or 4,000 pounds of frames, you know, outta the back of my truck. My poor truck would just be resting on the stops, you know, and, and, uh, driving over to Howell to pick up the drums and, you know, unloading those things in and stacking them.

Yeah. And, uh, I would've, back then I'd arm wrestled anybody, like, I'd have whooped 'em too, but not so much now, but kind of pudgy.

Nate Rozeveld: Now you, you're, you're in the glory years, [00:23:00] right? Right Now, you know, you're in the glory years. I worked,

Lincoln Rohn: but, you know, and that's what it was like. I worked a 40 hour week job and I got home from work and I ate dinner with my wife and I went right to the pole barn and worked till midnight packing and shipping.

Yep. And, you know, doing labels and invoicing. And I can testify to that. '

Nate Rozeveld: cause I mean, I was, I'd used your job. I was doing side jobs a lot of the time. Yep. That was how the thing was. And you're like, Hey, I don't care. I wanna be in my barn working Right. And Yeah. You get home and you were working. I was like, man, I'm working late.

Nope. Lincoln's still out there going strong when I'm leaving. Yep. So, yeah, you definitely, uh, this company became what it was because you put the sweat equity in. I did. I put

Lincoln Rohn: a lot of sweat equity in and, and, you know, and then, and I, and I, I was, I've been very fortunate. Um, I'm all about building relationships with people and I'm not a hard sale guy.

Mm-hmm. You know, I would ra I, I, I've just, I've been very fortunate in some of the contacts that I've made that have helped me along the way, and I'd be, I, I didn't do this all by myself, you know what I mean? I did, I put a lot of work into it.

Nate Rozeveld: Especially first You did, yeah. You did the [00:24:00] manual stuff. Yep.

Like the getting the, I'm saying like getting the pieces put together. Yep. Building the packer Max. Yep. You know, assembling and all that. Yep. Yeah. But then like you, yeah. You've always been a standup guy. Like, yeah. Thank you. You've always said like, I mean, from, from outsiders mm-hmm. View, looking into like, you know, all the stuff through Facebook or whatever I've seen mm-hmm.

And like the line of communication we have now. Yep. Like, I've always really enjoyed it. Like, you're my kind of guy, you know, appreciate that. Like you're a hardworking guy and that kind of thing. Yeah. And I think that's what I mean, I'm assuming that's what draws a lot of people into it. Mm-hmm. Because Lincoln is who Lincoln is, you know, that's the, that's the thing, you know, this is what it

Lincoln Rohn: is.

You are, I am what I, what I, you see what you

Nate Rozeveld: get basically. And you, and, and those, the bonuses you love killing deer. Yep. You love the white hill hunt. You like that. So, yeah.

Lincoln Rohn: A really good combination. I just love deer in general. Like I, there's, there's nothing more rewarding, rewarding to me than planting a food.

We have a beautiful clover plot behind the cabin and watching a dough and a fawn come in there and eat. That [00:25:00] clover and just know that that's some of the best nutrition that, that deer could possibly get in that area, especially in that area. Yes, exactly. And, you know, um, there's something so rewarding to me about that and then to have it come full circle, you know, and manage this property and manage the deer herd mm-hmm.

To the best of our ability. I mean, there, it's, it's Michigan and, and the d n r as you're aware, has fought me and this our group, many other people, not just me, uh, along the way, uh, right up till this couple months ago. Mm-hmm. You know, when we had that, that possibility of getting, you know, some say antler point restrictions and Yeah.

So you've,

Nate Rozeveld: you know. Yeah. We don't, I mean, yeah. There, that's a huge rabbit hole that we'll dive into one of these times, but it's not like Michigan hunters mm-hmm. Are passionate and like, love that, that's like the culture. Mm-hmm. All these other people. Like, what do you, what do you know, what's the Michigan culture?

It's like, well, it's hard to explain, but. It's just we're so, like there's group of guys that you know, are so passionate [00:26:00] about this Yeah. That they try to make it better. Mm-hmm. So like they are taking time and effort and money. Mm-hmm. And resources, like you said, this has been a family generation. Right.

Generation. This has been your family for mm-hmm. And you're trying to create something better because you just get a kick outta seeing deer be deer. Yep. Love it. And it's, it's, that's the thing and that's the passion that mm-hmm. Led you, I think, at least from the outside looking in, you had this product Yeah.

This packer Max that created a better opportunities on your property that was not known for a good food plots and stuff. Right. So you believed in that. Mm-hmm. You're able to take that and you worked hard and did that because you knew that it was gonna help other people. Right.

Lincoln Rohn: And that's exactly, and it has been for years.

Yeah. You know, so we've, we've, you know, now we've sold, we've sold thousands and thousands of them, and we've, we've got, you know, we've added, we've added, you know, attachments, we've got a wheel kit, we've got a crimper, we've got, you know, a two inch ball, extension hitch, you know, and now, um, you know, we've listened.

That's one thing that we, we [00:27:00] really, really try hard to do, is we try to listen to our customers mm-hmm. And what they want and how to make things better and how to make, you know, maybe do things a little bit differently. And, um, One thing that we got asked a lot about was, do you guys, because we have a four footer and an eight footer.

Do you guys got a six footer? No, we don't had to say that for the last, you know, five years. Mm-hmm. Nope, we don't. Well, we finally got in the position where we could give a, have a mold made. They're not cheap. Yeah. And they're big mold. And, uh, so we, we launched a six foot packer max this summer. This summer, yeah.

Earlier this year. Yep. That's been, that's been a huge, uh, product for us. It's been doing great. Um, customers that have bought 'em love them. Mm-hmm. They're, they're, they're just, that it fills that gap. And, you know, when you're doing a f if you're using a four footer and you're doing a two acre field, you pick up a full pass every second pass.

Every second pass. Yeah. So you're, I mean, it's just, it's so much faster. And, [00:28:00] um, yeah. So it's helping

Nate Rozeveld: guys with limited time. Yep. If you're going, like I've, I haven't done a lot of like little food plots. Mm-hmm. Like, I've been blessed with the ag field, so Yep. But however, like this year, this is why I kinda wanted to talk in Yeah.

I actually have like a pretty good, this is, I can really relate to this mm-hmm. Because there's a lot of wheat out planted around me this year. Yep. And for some reason, most of the ground I have the, the farmers lease the ground so they don't own the ground, they're farming. Right. And. Yeah, I get in touch with 'em.

They did wheat harvest wheat. I'm like, Hey, what you guys doing for cover crop? Usually rye or winter wheat goes in. Mm-hmm. And I had two spots that're like nothing. We're gonna just no-till drill next year into it. And I'm like, oh my gosh. I just lost like Right. I have nothing. Yeah. So fortunately I have a father who is Hobby Farmer with tractors and implements and like a rotor to access to Rotar Tiller.

And then my father-in-law has the same boat. He's got access to the equipment. But like even with the amount of time I had, just getting like that all set up mm-hmm. And driving a tractor and like I had big co packs and did, I did, I did a one acre spot, one spot, and I did two [00:29:00] half acres in Lar spot. Yep.

Like even with those big, like I had a 12 foot co packer. Yeah. For behind the tractor, like, and then I had a eight foot one. Mm-hmm. The amount of time that took just to do that. Mm-hmm. I can't imagine a guy trying to do this all like, At a far away location. Right. So if you, and if you can't get a tractor in there Right.

What do you do? Right. Exactly. And then you guys have come out this, this, and I've watched these videos mm-hmm. And I've seen how this stuff works, and I'm like, dude, that is, yep. I almost think I would've been better off if I just had that packer Max sit in my barn. Mm-hmm. I could just hook up to that and just go do it.

Instead of like, running over here running, do this. Yep. And then, no, I gotta drive down the road only going 10 miles an hour, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, and you can like do the efficiency with that thing is so nice

Lincoln Rohn: and they're so, they're so easy to handle when they're empty. Like, you're a hundred pounds empty.

Like, I'll, I'll people look at me sideways and I'll walk into a show with a four foot HD slung over my shoulder. Yep. I just walk in and they're like, what in the world? What is going on? You know? Geez, that dude. But you know what I mean? It's, and they're, they're just super, they're super handy. You can bring it to another property.

Yep. You can, you know, [00:30:00] um, even some people get pretty creative in how they fill 'em up. 'cause sometimes they don't have a water source. Yep. At the property, um, you know, they'll back it into a creek and stand on it. Yeah. Or, um, uh, get those poly 55 gallon drums and put a spigot on the bottom of it with Yeah.

With hose and gravity, feed it out their trunk into the, you know, into the pack. There's wax.

Nate Rozeveld: Right. There's always a way. But yeah, I think it's a really good product for that. And yeah, I, it's definitely piqued my interest more. Mm-hmm. Like, obviously I've, I don't like when we do do food plots mm-hmm. In other spots, like my, my grandpa or whoever, he just kind of takes care of it.

But there's a come point in time when I'm not gonna have that. Mm-hmm. That, you know, that resource. Right. Because he's getting older and, you know, time is always one of those things you're fighting. Mm-hmm. And like me and my dad have already been talking and it's like, that's gonna be an investment that we make.

Mm-hmm. Because it just makes sense. Yeah. And now we have a lease in Illinois. Yep. So you're like trying to coordinate, okay, okay, what are we gonna, you know, a group of guys are going down there, what do we need? Do we have one? What do we have? And it's like, man, I literally could take that thing by hand.

Mm-hmm. And just. Put it in my truck Yep. And put it off the side. [00:31:00] Done. Yep. Don't have to worry about anything else. It's just a takes up space. Yep. And then you can focus on that and then you just bring a quad. Yep. Or what, or side by side, whatever you may have. Yeah. And you just are ripping on that thing.

Like, guys go, you don't have to go like super slow. Like you can, you know, granted there's the, the terrain and the Yeah. You gotta, you got

Lincoln Rohn: accounts, but you're efficient when you're doing it. Yeah. You can do it really efficiently. And, and you know, that's the thing too. Um, if you, if I have so many people that say, well, we just drag our food plots.

I'm like, I'm telling you, it makes such a huge difference. And, and that's why I believe in that product mm-hmm. So much is because I've firsthand, before I ever even thought about owning a company mm-hmm. I was, I was, we were like, we, you look like a rock star when you're done. You know? I mean, it, it really makes a difference.

Nate Rozeveld: Well, it's all about the soil contact of the seed. Correct? Yeah. I mean, why do farmers ba for years? They use those Exactly. Exactly. And they're making a living off that if And they won't

Lincoln Rohn: sell 'em. No, they won't sell 'em. Nope. They would not

Nate Rozeveld: part with 'em. Things they could just throw And they're cheap.

Farmers are usually [00:32:00] cheap. Yep. If, if, uh, if just dragging something behind their tractor was as effective as a co packer, they'd do that. Right. So, I mean, that's how I kind of Yep. Look at it. And, um, yep. Sure. Yeah. The six foot. How so? The, the six footer, like you have the crimper attachment, all that stuff too.

'cause like the no-till thing is we have done that. Mm-hmm. Me and my dad and you know, like where we've done it. Like I said, we got big equipment. Mm-hmm. So we've been able to do that. So how, like, how well does that crimper work for that? I've seen videos and I'm just like,

Lincoln Rohn: wow. Yeah. It works really well.

So the, the, the crimper is, um, we haven't gotten the crimper onto the six footer yet. It's only for the four footer. Mm-hmm. But, um, It. And, and I don't ever try to oversell the crimper. It, it's, it's made to crimp as even the big Goliath crimper is made to crimp rye, wheat, oats, you know, cereal grains. Yes, it works good on buckwheat.

Um, it had somebody try it on sorghum, it actually worked pretty good. Okay. Um, the sorghum gets a lot more [00:33:00] stocky. Yeah. It's a lot more stocky, but, um, and it has to be done when it's in the dough stage. And again, I don't care if you're using a, a $8,000 Goliath or if you're using our packer match crier combo, you have to do it at the correct time or it's not gonna work.

Okay. And so, um, so yeah, like one field in particular, we, we, we, it was a quite a thick stand of, of rye and we crimped it down and then we just left it. For the summer, we didn't do it. Mm-hmm. It, it kept all the weeds suppressed. Yeah. And we had that matting, you know. And then in August we came back and broadcast brassicas.

'cause it's a tiny seed. Mm-hmm. Just broadcast brassicas into that matting. We called a packed it, you know, pressed it all in. Mm-hmm. And it was, I can't even believe how good that worked. And it almost acted like a greenhouse effect because it protects the soil from getting direct sunlight. Yep. So it retains that moisture that's, uh, that's in there.

Mm-hmm. And it, and it, it just acted like kind of a greenhouse. And those things shot up [00:34:00] and then all, you know, by, by the following year, um, all that thatch had broken down for the most part. Mm-hmm. Built the soil up, all that. Yeah. That's feeding your soil. Mm-hmm. And you know, it's keeping your weeds at bay because you're not continuously stirring up that weed bank.

Yep. Now, you know, crimping isn't for everybody. I mean, it, it. Y you know, we're still doing a lot of testing with it. Um, but, you know, we've also gone through some, some, a little bit more minimal tilling. Like, we'll go down two or three inches, we'll set our skids on our tiller. Oh yeah. Yep. And, you know, try to, try to minimize that tilling.

But, um, man, I tell you, if you're, if you're doing it conventionally, um, you know, you, you broadcast your seed that call the packer, the, the packer max presses that seed into the soil. Mm-hmm. It leaves that channel, that moisture channel. And so when it does rain, it holds that moisture there. It doesn't let it run off.

It holds it there, and it ups it absorb and germination rates skyrocket. Um, the overall food pot performance [00:35:00] skyrocket. It's because you're retaining that moisture. Mm-hmm. And you're getting the seeds up and going in good shape. Um, you know, it's just a, it. It really makes a

Nate Rozeveld: big difference. I just, it's so versatile.

Yeah. And I like, and you know, I, uh, I was listening to the Habitat podcast and I did one plot and I just, I rotor tilled 'cause I was, I had nothing else. Yep. I did that and I was broadcasting the seed. Mm-hmm. And then I heard him talk about how he called packs first, then broadcast, and then call PAX again and PAX again.

So I'm like, I'm doing that the next, so like couple nights later I did my other spots. Mm-hmm. That was so nice. I could see the seed where it was going better. Yep. It was all landing good. And like the way my mind works, it's like, okay, I'm probably saving myself money doing that. Mm-hmm. Because I'm not spending as much money on seed about having to go back later and broadcast.

Like that's my thing. Like, yep. It helps with efficiency, it helps with that. This makes

Lincoln Rohn: sense. That's, that's one this, that's a, a key point is if I put 50 pounds of seed down on the ground to grow, [00:36:00] I want 50 pounds of seed to come up. Yes, exactly. And, and if you're not called a pack and you're not getting the germination rates that you should,

Nate Rozeveld: even with rye Yeah.

Because I've brought, because like that's in the past, if I have done something like the corn gets chopped mm-hmm. It's like, okay, well it's, you know, September I gotta do something. So like I just throw rye out there, spray some

Lincoln Rohn: rye out there. Yeah. And you, you just.

Nate Rozeveld: Pile the rye out there. Yeah. And then it's like, that's all that's coming up.

Yeah. And you do it right before rain or you know, these are all like good soil fields because they do great with corn and beans and all that. So you're like, oh, this is premium. Alright, it's raining. I'm gonna quick it out there, do it in the rain and like you, what you get. It's like, really? Right. I just put all that, but then you start looking into like this farming practice stuff.

Mm-hmm. And how you guys do this for food pots. It's like just, it just makes sense. Yep. Like, but um, so like, What if you're recommending like a guy like me mm-hmm. Who, who does not have a packer Max, but is like interested in, you know, there's a possibility I could be getting into more food plots that are not necessarily like on farm fields.

Most of 'em will be. Mm-hmm. What packer [00:37:00] Max kind of combo, do you think like the six footer maybe? Or do you think, is it worth the investment to have the crimper attachment for possibility of, you know, buckwheat and that kind of stuff? Or rye and then crimping? Like, what, what would,

Lincoln Rohn: would you recommend? I guess it kind of depends on what your, what your end goal is.

Um, a lot of guys wanna minimize SS spraying. Mm-hmm. Um, I'm not an anti glypho fate guy. I, you know, we use it. Um, I, I don't like to use too much of it, you know? Um, but we still use it. But if you, if you, if you don't wanna spray, um, I would definitely get a crimper. Okay. Um, you can, I'm not gonna say you, it eliminates having to spray, but it helps reduce it significantly.

Mm-hmm. Um, you know, and then. The crier combo, like I said, the six footer, we don't have the crier for yet. We're gonna hopefully launch that next spring. We gotta, you know, we had to launch the six footer first. First things first,

Nate Rozeveld: and always innovating, right? I mean, how many, yeah. Not to get you sidetracked, but like, How many different things have you done since you've had a packer Max?

[00:38:00] Um, like with the packer, max, there's a, you, because you only had the four to start, right? Yeah. We had, well

Lincoln Rohn: we, we had two, four footers. We had a, the standard unit and the hd. Okay. The standard unit is a tubular frame. Okay. And, uh, we actually discontinued that because it was only about 8% of our sales.

Everybody's wanting an hd and we've quickly recognized that as with us. The same reason I bought an HD when I bought one. We're hard on equipment. Mm-hmm. The guys are hard on equipment. They just, are they, I mean, if they can break it, they will. Mm-hmm. And, um, fortunately this thing is, I'm not gonna say they're bulletproof, but they're pretty dang durable.

They can handle it. Yeah. And, um, I've got videos on our Facebook page of me beating on the drone with a hammer and you know, we use three H Steel. If you bend that. Side frame. You really did something stupid. Yeah.

Nate Rozeveld: You're going too fast

Lincoln Rohn: in the quad going, or you jackknifed it and backed the quad over.

Nate Rozeveld: One guy drove over, so yeah, you did, you've got that.

Then you, I mean, you've done, you have a eight footer now.

Lincoln Rohn: Yep. So we have a, we have the, the four footer, the six footer, the eight footer, [00:39:00] and we have a three point hitch, four footer, a three point hitch, six footer, and we used to have a three point hitch eight footer, which we disconnect or discontinued also just because it was so much metal to, to try to inventory and we, we just, we just didn't sell that many of 'em.

Mm-hmm. So we, we said, okay, we're gonna, we're gonna push the pause button on the eight foot three point, and we're just gonna focus on the 3.6 footer. It's 90% of the guys that are doing food plots are using a, a small John Deere Kubota. Mm-hmm. You know, uh, uh, Maxie Ferguson, whatever. Yep. Um, 25 horse. Yep.

Almost, almost. I mean, 80% of the guys are are 30 horse or lost. Yes. And so, so that's what we kind of just focused on. Nice. And, um, in a

Nate Rozeveld: handful of years, like, it's not like you've been doing this for 20 years. No. Like, you guys have every year you're, seems like something, try to do something every year moving.

Like I said, you're climbing, you're still going that ladder and your, your way tailed journey [00:40:00] and your business journey, you know, that's, that's a good place to be. 'cause it keeps you young. That's what dad always says. Least like, you wanna keep going, you know, you know, and it,

Lincoln Rohn: and then again, I, I've, you know, I said it before, you know, I've been very blessed with, with the right contacts, the right people, you know, people that have helped me along the way.

My son actually works for me full time now, which is a blessing. I mean, that's just, it's awesome working with my son. Yep. And, uh, or one of them anyway. And, um, Um, he was in the Marine Corps and he got out and, you know, we're kind of going like, what am I gonna do now? Like mm-hmm. You know, and he went into the electrical trade.

It's great, great trade to be in. Mm-hmm. And I was just buried right up to my eyeballs. I didn't have time to blink. Mm-hmm. And I, I, I needed help. I needed to hire somebody. And, and, uh, I asked him if he'd be interested and, and he said, yeah, absolutely. And I said, well, I want you to get your, your journeyman's first, because I want you to have a fallback.

Yep. And he's like, I. I can go back and get my Germans [00:41:00] anytime. He's like, if we're doing this, let's do this. Yeah. Nice. You know, and I'm said, what does your wife think? And he said, she's all about it. And I said, all right. There you

Nate Rozeveld: go. So, so I've worked for my dad since, took it off, took off, I mean, construction.

Mm-hmm. Worked with him for, I mean, I think it's my 15th year. Yep. I'm, I'm kind, I'm on my own now, but like, still very involved in my dad doing things and what a, what a great thing to have. Yeah. It is. It is. And not every father-son combo works well, but like, I mean, I mesh really well with my dad. Mm-hmm.

And it's been, um, it's been a really, like you said, a big blessing. And I got to see your, your son when you were out of town. I was show, and I went and, and got some seed and stuff and Yeah. Top notch guy too. Like, walked in there, it was great. Like it was right before he closed. Mm-hmm. You know, like the typical, like, right.

All right, quick get over there. Like, oh man. Then I'm like, Hey, do you, he's like, oh, no problem. He, you know, answered questions. Didn't rush me outta there. Nothing Great. Yep. But, uh, so yeah. So we'll kind of cool loop back to like, for, so you think like, If a guy is, so, like for me, like, because I versatile factor mm-hmm.

With like limited time out state, maybe the forefoot of the crimpers is a good [00:42:00] option to have. Yep. It still suffices for not needing to crimp. It does a lot of beautiful food

Lincoln Rohn: plots and you can out, and you can, you can do conventional also. You can still till and use the call to pack. Correct. You can crimp and call a pack because you know, if, if you're putting that, if you're putting that seed down before you crimp, like if you're gonna plant, I'm gonna say like if you're gonna plant, uh, more cereal, you know, cereal grains into that, you'd wanna cri you'd wanna crimp it after you spread the seed into it.

Correct. So you crimp it down and then you can call the packet at the same time. Yeah. You know, after you're done crimping after done down the same day. Yep. And, uh, just increase that, you know, that seed to soil contact and it just, you know, it's a win-win.

Nate Rozeveld: Yeah. Now if you go to like the six foot. Like what, what if you're using like a quad?

Mm-hmm. Is like six foot too big for a quad or Nope. You still can.

Lincoln Rohn: Nope. We, so all of the testing that we did with the six footer we did with a can-am four 50. Okay. Um, whether it was a Commander Outlander. Yep. And, um, it worked absolutely

Nate Rozeveld: [00:43:00] perfect. Yeah. That's so nice. Like that's just, that's why I like it because like, you know, like an investment for a quad, like I'm kind looking at tractors and stuff too.

Like I said, I'm blessed with father and Sure. In-law has that kind of stuff. Mm-hmm. But it's like, I don't, I kind of want one my own. Mm-hmm. And, uh, yeah, that's a little bit bigger investment than a quad. Yep. So like, looking at this from like a, you know, maybe more of a short term thing. Mm-hmm. Hey, let's rock this.

And then even if you get to the point where you have like a bigger implement or a, you know, like you said, a 30 horse tractor to use mm-hmm. That forefoot with a crimper is still a tool that will be used. Oh yeah. Even if it's not used every time, like it's a good investment. Something like I'm not a gear snob.

Mm-hmm. I don't need to always have the nicest thing, but I'm not afraid to have something nice. Right. Because I mean, we're sitting down here, my area with stuff like, I got, you know, high, some high quality things that I believe in, and to me it's an investment. Yep. And I might not use it every single day.

Mm-hmm. But when I need it, it's sitting there. Right. And it's ready to rip. Yep. So I do like that. Yep. And then when you, uh, so when you, I kind of want to, selfishly, when you do the, you have a area you hunt in Illinois, at least in [00:44:00] Illinois, what do you do food plot wise down there? So it's funny because you also have your own food pot company too now.

Yeah,

Lincoln Rohn: we, we own Seed company now. We bought, we bought earlier this year, it's five two Outdoor seed. And, um, so oddly enough a guy that owns a Packer Max and a seed company, I can't plant. Food plots on either one of my out-of-state leases. Oh, my Illinois leases in the Tree reserve program. Okay. And it's just a big, it's a, it's, it's Mississippi River bottom.

Okay. And it stick his hair on a dog. And it's nothing but a giant travel corridor. And we don't, can't do food plot. We set up on tra, you know, pinch points and corridors and we, we can't plant food plots. It's, it's rather, rather comical is funny. Yes. In our, in our Ohio lease is 300 acres of, uh, giant like.

I, I had my drone out there. I went to the very top of the mountain and I flew my drone out over our lease and I went down into the bottom and I was [00:45:00] 160 feet below my, or above my drone, and my drone was still 160 feet in the air. Oh, wow. So, I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's steep, steep, steep. And you can't, you can't, we can't plan anything.

It's,

Nate Rozeveld: and well, in the investment that you would need to make to be able to do that. Oh, yeah. For a lease is

Lincoln Rohn: not Yeah. Yeah. And we're, yeah, we're le we, I mean, you could lose it in few years. Yeah. We don't, it's a, it's, it could be clear cut, it could be, you know, whatever. 'cause it's part of the timber program, what I

Nate Rozeveld: have going on, so I can, I, our lease is mm-hmm.

Hilly and it's got soybeans. Mm-hmm. And it's like the only food in the area. Soybeans come down before October 1st. Yep. So, like, we're talking about possibly the farmer, you know, hey, we'll pay to leave some soybeans up, but we're like, We need to broadcast or do something. Mm-hmm. But the soil's kind of hard down there.

Like if it's wet, it's snot. Right. We, when we got there, it was, you know, it just rained and we were walking around, we're like, man, this is how we ever gonna get, how does this dude farm this field? It's like, oh no, that gets hard. And you know, it's dry. Yep. Dries up. So we're, and [00:46:00] there's a couple areas he doesn't farm because of that terrain.

Mm-hmm. But it's like grassy and up to the woods, like these little bends and mm-hmm. Like here in Michigan, our farm fields are squares. Right. You don't really have this bendy. Right. And all

Lincoln Rohn: that. You don't have fingers and points and all that.

Nate Rozeveld: Correct. So this has that. Mm-hmm. And it's like, well we could get a little food plot in there.

Yeah. And like a quad. There's more than cable handling that mm-hmm. You know, the terrain. So yeah. I think that's what we're, you know, this is our first fall. We didn't wanna go too crazy this year because, but we can, we have the opportunity to lease it for many years. Mm-hmm. But uh, going into the next year, we're like, okay, get there right away in the spring.

Yep. It's not super far. It's Southern Illinois. Mm-hmm. It's not super far. Mm-hmm. Bomb down there. Get ahead of the start, do the rye. Mm-hmm. Grow, help with weeds, and then yeah. Come by in the fall and do it. So that crimper thing, four foot, that, that's mm-hmm. That's calling my name. Yep. You know? Yep. Um, you wanna be a Christmas

Lincoln Rohn: present for myself?

Like I said, next year we're gonna have the, the crimper on the six foot or two, but Okay. But, um, you know, I'm gonna say, you know, obviously it's, it's becoming a fad and, and it's, and it's very useful, but I'm gonna say probably [00:47:00] most of my people that I talk to on a day-to-day basis all over the country, um, till or disc, yeah.

Disturbed the ground broadcast pack and call it a day. Um, so, you know, again, it's, it's that, that whole, the whole no-till crimping thing, if you looked at a lot of the pages on Facebook, you'd think it's the only thing people are doing. I know, but you get, you almost get shamed if you're not doing it now.

Correct. Like, well, it's a, it's the, you know what I mean? Like, you know, the hunting industry. I do. You've been a long and like, okay, well, You know, there is another way to do it. You can still till and disk and mm-hmm. Pack and it's still a very effective way to get excellent crops in front of your, in front of your

Nate Rozeveld: deer herd.

So, correct. And that four footer will

Lincoln Rohn: do both. Yep. Which I like for that. Yep, yep. And then you can, you know, you can, the other thing that we've, we've tested up, up on our property, we've got a couple of spots where there's a couple low spots that we can't get the tractor through without burying it or up the axle.

So it's all swamp grass, I'll call it. [00:48:00] Mm-hmm. And it gets, you know, it gets to be, you know, 12, 18 inches tall. Well, what we'll do is we'll go in there and spray that with glyphosate and kill it. And while it's still standing, we'll go in and broadcast our food plot seed into that, whether it's, you know, our grain bin, which is, you know, rye, wheat, oats, and peas, or brassicas, or clovers, whatever it is.

Broadcast into that standing swamp grass and we'll just smash it down. And then, you know, we spray, we, we switched almost exclusively to, to, um, liquid fertilizer now from plot doctor. Mm-hmm. And, um, you know, we'll, we'll crush it all down. And I'm telling you, man, it works good. We got good food plots doing that.

The gears are turning right

Nate Rozeveld: now because I know spots like Yeah. And you don't,

Lincoln Rohn: you don't need a tractor. You don't need a tractor. If you've got a quad and a sprayer and a call to Packer, you're good to go, man. And, um, you know, and that's the, that's the other thing too. A lot of, you know, uh, I, we have 11 of the nicest food plots money can buy in Newaygo and sandy crappy soil.

We've worked the soil, we've, we've, [00:49:00] you know, we've done amendments, we've got the pH. Right. And up until last year, and now we still only have a John Deere, or, I mean, a, we had bought a Kubota with a B 2,400. It's not a big tractor. Mm-hmm. And, but we've, all of our food plots before that, were done with a fricking John Deere six 50.

Yeah. Little guy. Little guy, you know, with a four foot tiller and you know, and we, we got work, some sweet food plots. Man, that poor tractor's just been put through the ringer, but. Just keeps coming back for more. But So now doesn't, that thing doesn't owe you nothing. Oh, it doesn't owe me a penny. I think we paid like six grand for it, and I could probably sell it for seven grand now.

Yeah. But you know, now we got two tractors, so, and two tillers, and so we're twice as effective. Yep. And you know, with the, if you're, if you're call to packing with a quad, if can knock out a food plot in a, in a pretty, you know, pretty quickly. Yeah. And so, you know, it's, um, it's been, it's been, we have a, a system, you know, we have a food plot weekend, we have a bunch of guys come up and we knock out [00:50:00] 11 food plots in one weekend.

That's so cool. And, you know,

Nate Rozeveld: so that's the deer camp right there, kind of like that vibe for that

Lincoln Rohn: in the summer deer camp. Yeah. My boys, you know, they, they've grown up planting food plots right from the, you know, time. They're mm-hmm. You know, old enough to hunt and, you know, they've, that's another thing, you know, our, uh, having that property, you know, my relationship with 'em is, is, is solid because I always say a dad that hunts with his kids will never have to hunt for his kids.

Mm-hmm. And that's been the case. I love it. You know,

Nate Rozeveld: and they do like it. My little guy's seven and yeah, doing f he loves all things farming too, but farm for deer, he is loving it. He's out there running around looking for feathers and rocks and acorns. You know, he, he's, he found acorns yesterday. They're like, oh man.

He's like, I was like, what kind of treat, what acorn is that? He, oh, dad, it's a white acorn. You know, he just broke 'cause of the leaves, you know, he saw what he, he went and searched what tree was falling and Right. That's a really cool thing. Mm-hmm. And he's, he, he's learning things that Yep. He doesn't even realize at this point.

Yep. But yeah, it's a good, good

Lincoln Rohn: family. I absolutely love it when kids come into the shop and, and I, [00:51:00] I'm notorious for, for giving a kid a bag of food pot seed. And I'll say, here, this is yours. I want you to have this, but you have to plant it. And then when you shoot a buck off it, I want you to bring me a picture of it.

And they, they're just, they're just into it, man. They're like, oh man, that's awesome. You know? And it, you know, it's, it's an investment for me too, because, But I'm, you know, hopefully we're growing that. Yes. You know, and hopefully a future customer and he will not forget

Nate Rozeveld: that. No. Or she will not. Right. Like, those are memories you,

Lincoln Rohn: and it's about getting those kids out in the woods and getting them, you know, getting them, Hey, I'm gonna plant this food plot.

I'm not gonna sit inside, you know, he is probably just bugging their dad. Let's go plant this. Let's go

Nate Rozeveld: plant this. It's good for 'em. The whole time we're like, man, Lincoln, come on. Dang, I'm killing me here, dude. But no, I think, uh, I, yeah, so like, I want to kind of touch base on your food plot seeds. Mm-hmm.

Like you, you listed off a few. Mm-hmm. I actually purchased some of the grain bin. Yep. Um, and then just because of where I was going, your boy helped me out and mm-hmm. Point in Right. Direction was like, yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Mm-hmm. Like, I just need something that's [00:52:00] got a, you know, decent, like, it sounds like it's gonna be successful.

Yep. Like easier to be successful. Yeah. So what's some of the, what is grain bin again? So, grain

Lincoln Rohn: bin, um, that's kind of, we sell a ton of grain bin and we plant a ton of grain bin. It's really, it's, it's cereal rye, uh, wheat, oats and peas, winter peas. And, um, early season we, we plant usually the last week of August in Michigan.

Mm-hmm. Um, you know, right in that range for pretty much the northern tier of the co of the country. Um, early season they'll, they'll key deer love oats. Mm-hmm. And they love peas. And so early season they're, they're smashing the oats and the peas. And then you've got the winter wheat and the rye that are, you know, gonna be the staple, you know, as you get into November and December.

Mm-hmm. You know, they're still in there just killing that stuff. Yeah. They'll take the snow to get to that. Yeah. They'll dig through. Definitely. And then it's also helping protect the oats. Because it's kind of a cover, so they'll, you know, the helps the oats last that much longer too. [00:53:00] Yeah. 'cause they're not

Nate Rozeveld: just gonna, they're not able to pick right through it out.

Right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And the rye will get Yeah. 'cause like, you know, my grandpa uses that for cover crop. Mm-hmm. And like the deer, you know, it gets big enough, quick enough, and then it'll lay over and then the deer dig through it. And they're still, if you look where they dig mm-hmm. It's nice green Yep.

Down there for 'em. So that makes sense. So that's

Lincoln Rohn: green bin. And so, so they're, and then that, that, that is one of the first things to green up in the spring too. Mm-hmm. And so you're, you know, when they need it the most, especially here in the northern tier when they need it the most, as soon as that green's up, man, they've got, they've got, you know, winter wa mm-hmm.

Winter, winter wheat and, and rye. Yep. Uh, greenage. And then, you know, we also will top seed a lot of those plots with clover. Okay. So you'll get some good clover growth in the fall, but then in the spring that clover pops too. Nice.

Nate Rozeveld: So it helps with weeds and like that kind of

Lincoln Rohn: stuff too. Just good food and soil builder, you know, the whole nine yards.

And so, yeah. 'cause

Nate Rozeveld: what a, well, I mean, here Yeah. As soon as the snow melts mm-hmm. You see deer will be hammering, like, wherever that is. Anything,

Lincoln Rohn: anything green [00:54:00] it green, they're eating it. And so, so that's been a, that's been a staple. Um, it's a great blend. It's, it's, uh, um, it's, like I said, we plant a lot of it.

And you know, as far as brass go, that's a super popular. We have a, it's called lots of leaf, which is all, uh, forage brassicas. Um, it's exactly what it says. It's a lot of leaf, you know, it's leafy brassicas. Mm-hmm. Uh, we have just bulbs, which is exactly what it says. Mm-hmm. It's all bulbs. It's got, you know, uh, a variety of bulb turnips, and it's got radish in it.

Trophy radish. Um, and then when, before I bought the company, the previous owner, I had him make a blend for Packer Max, and it's, it's a blend of the forge brass and the turnips. And then I keep the radish out of it because I am one, I always put too much turnip seed down. Mm-hmm. And with that, with the radish, I had to open that gate up just a [00:55:00] little bit more to get the radish through.

Yep. So I'm always putting down too much turnip seed. So, so then they're choking themselves out, right? Yep. Yeah. So the, you know, you look like a rock star for, you know, the first three weeks and then they choke out and they're falling over purple. Yep. Um, 'cause they're, you put too much down and so I keep the radish separate.

And if you want to add radish, we sell a smaller bag of radishes, you can, you know, just top seeded top seed. Okay. Lightly. And, and, um, so. That's been a solid blend too. I like it because

Nate Rozeveld: you can go to your shop. Mm-hmm. Like, and I encourage anyone who's around. Mm-hmm. Because A, you get to see some sweet mouths.

You got some I a few? Yeah. You got some cool from That was the one spot all your candle bucks. Uh

Lincoln Rohn: yep. On that one wall. You walking

Nate Rozeveld: wowsers like they're necks and they just, you can just tell Yeah. The one I shot last year. Fricking beast. So it's a good spot to go see that, you know, you can see some of that stuff and like you, you have all these things that can help.

Like, I'm not super experienced with food plotting and this kind of stuff, so I like it. You go there, you see you guys, you have the system in place, you have these options. Mm-hmm. And you have [00:56:00] knowledge to back it up. Yep. 'cause it's not like you just started this last night, right? Like, you've been in this game for a long time.

Mm-hmm. You've in Michigan in our area. Yep. You're not, you know, I

Lincoln Rohn: even before I bought five two Outdoors, we sold five two Outdoors. Correct. And we've planted every blend they had. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, we've got Clover, chicory blend, we've got, uh, a, a one we call Frosty. Um, that's a medium red clover and that's a great.

To top seed the grain bin. Or you can, you can also, if you planted grain bin in the fall, you can frost seed that frosty into that in the, you know mm-hmm. In like in March. Um, so you can go that route or you can just frost seed the, the clover into, you know, in an existing clover field to, to help you know along.

And what a great

Nate Rozeveld: resource, like I'm just saying for like, you, like obviously live close to me, so I'm like, man, I need to take advantage of this. But like anyone else who's local to the area. Yep. Like what a great person that's in your back pocket that you can go to and have questions. You can see you face to face.

Yep. You can see hold the stuff. Yep. Like I went to [00:57:00] the mobile huddle, the mobile expo, uh, this weekend. I barely made it there in time, but just 'cause I wanted to grab something, feel it before I bought it. Yep. Like, and I just literally had time to do that. Bought it before everyone was like, everyone's taking their boost down as I'm buying it.

Yep. And I like that. That's still cool to see that. Yeah. So like, you have that resource and then also not trying to like, you know, lift packer max up anymore. Not, that's not my intent, but like Packer Max and stuff is. This is through the Midwest. Mm-hmm. Like this is not just a Michigan thing. Like I've seen this stuff pop up.

You have a lot of Packer, maxes are being all over the, you, you're just down in Mississippi for a show, right? Alabama. Alabama, yep. So, I mean, southern stuff. And you got Midwest. Oh, we, we

Lincoln Rohn: ship 'em, I all this stuff. One, one day, uh, early this year and one day we sent one to, uh, Florida. We sent one to, uh, Alabama.

Texas, um, Kansas. We made a big circle. Um, Nebraska, we went up into South Dakota. I sent one to Spokane, Washington. Wow. And then one [00:58:00] to Maine and one to like Minnesota and New York. I mean, it just, we just like a shotgun pattern across the whole country in one day. And that's, I'm, we send probably Wisconsin is our number one state.

Um, Texas is probably right up there. Michigan's pretty, pretty, pretty, you know, top end. Um. And Iowa. I mean the, all these, they're all over it. Mm-hmm. And every kind of soil condition you can imagine. That's what was my next

Nate Rozeveld: thing. You know, all different varieties. It's not like this is And your seeds the same way.

Yeah. It's not just specifically for this area, which I think companies have gotten better and mm-hmm. The industry and the whole, I think has done better at that. Yep. Um, just trying to help that. But yeah, it's a, this is a, this is a very, mm-hmm. Like you said, there's a shotgun pattern across the United States of where Packer Max and that kind of stuff is.

So what a great product for that. Yeah. Thank you. I love, I like that. And yeah, right in our, right here in Michigan,

Lincoln Rohn: kind of cool. It's been, it's been, like I said, it's been awesome, you know, and, and you can, you know, most of our, most of our stuff is done, uh, direct. [00:59:00] Direct to consumer on our website. Um, but a lot of guy, a lot of guys like you.

That's why we do all these shows is because I wanna get it in front of people so that they can kick it. Feel it. Yep. Oh, pick it up. Oh gosh. It's only does weigh a hundred pounds, you know? Mm-hmm. Um, you know, and, and I have a cutaway in the booth of the, of the drum. You can see it's a half inch thick. Yep.

And you know, like, oh man, that's like, and then you can. Bend it. Try to, you know, yeah. Feel it. Try to break

Nate Rozeveld: it once I did see a cutoff at your shop, and I was like, whoa, that's a lot thicker sidewall. Or I don't if sidewalls are right. But the walling is a lot thicker than I

Lincoln Rohn: anticipated. Yeah. It's, it's legit.

You can smash it with a hammer and not break it. You can, you can hit, you know, when we were testing it, like I said, we were hitting rocks at 13, 15 miles an hour. I was mad at Jeremiah. I'm like, slow down, dude. Like, nobody's gonna hit a rock going that fast. He just hammers on it. You, he just going for it and just, just smokes that thing and it just took it like a champ.

Nate Rozeveld: So, um, so let's, let's dig into the pricing a little bit. Mm-hmm. Because, so you, like, if you want break down, I guess, what you have and what the prices are for [01:00:00] that.

Lincoln Rohn: Yeah. So like the four foot, the, the, the entry model, I'll call it, uh, the four foot hd, uh, without a wheel kit is 8 99. And then, uh, we'll ship it anywhere in the country for 50 bucks.

Um, the six footer is 1399. We'll ship it anywhere in the country for a hundred bucks, and then you can add a wheel kit to either one of those models for another 195 bucks. Okay? Um, the flip over wheel kit. Yep. Which some guys need, some guys don't. We? My personal one, I don't have a wheel kit on it because we're pulling it over, you know, grassy trails and whatnot, and sandy trails.

You know, if you've gotta go down a, a, a gravel road or a pavement, you know, to get the other side of your property or go through a, you know, a shale creek crossing, you're probably gonna want a wheel kit. Um, and then, um, the eight footer is 1695. And then, um, you've [01:01:00] got the three point, the 3.6 footer. Um, you're testing my memory is 1599 and then the three point.

Four footer is, uh, 1,099. Okay.

Nate Rozeveld: So for me, like those numbers aren't really, like, I'm not getting much sticker shock there because No, you just told me how you had one for 12 years. Yep. You know, I don't know. Obviously the pricing was probably different 12 years ago. Mm-hmm. But, Yeah. If you think of it from a long-term investment mm-hmm.

Lincoln Rohn: That really isn't that much easier. No, it's not. Honestly, and I mean I you, you'd be surprised what you spend a thousand bucks on in hunting industry. Mm-hmm. And then, you know, and this thing is gonna last you, I mean, it's like I said, you know, I think it was my, my unit was 10 years old doing 11 food plots sometimes twice a year.

And before I put the first set of bushings in it, you know, otherwise you spray it off and you're done and

Nate Rozeveld: call it a day, well, you just like, yeah, you a thousand dollars. Mm-hmm. Doesn't even really get you a new bow anymore. No. Like, it's how you tough to find that

Lincoln Rohn: close. Like

Nate Rozeveld: you can't even buy a f [01:02:00] flagship bow for a thousand bucks, you know, and then you go up to like a carbon bow or whatever, then you need, you know, all your accessories, like cross bowls are

Lincoln Rohn: fricking three grand

Nate Rozeveld: now.

So Yeah. So like to me, like something that can be used. Mm-hmm. And you know, yeah, I shoot my bow a lot or you might shoot your gun a lot, but like to the hunting aspect of it, how many times do I pull my bow back on a deer in a year and shoot it Right. I guarantee you that Packer Max is doing more for hunting purposes mm-hmm.

Than what my bow or some of these other things do. So to me it's like, man, that investment makes sense from

Lincoln Rohn: that. Yeah. And it's a quality piece of equipment. It's, you know, we built them, we over, we overbuilt them. Um, you know, and the other thing is, again, 90% of the people that I talk to are more, you know, they're made right here in the us.

Mm-hmm. You know, we have all of our drums made right here, or our, uh, our drums are made right over in Milwaukee. And, you know, all of our steel is done right here in, in Grand Rapids. And, you know, they're right, right down. Our packaging and fulfillment facility is two miles from your, three miles from your house.

Yep. [01:03:00] Not far. And, you know, and it's all shipped out of there, our headquarters in Rockford. And it's just, again, it's, you know, made in the u s a American dream right there. Yeah. And it's gonna stay that way. I've committed to that. I'm not, that's good. I'm not, I'm not gonna, I'm not. You know, I'd rather make a little bit less on them and than, than try to, you know, work out and

Nate Rozeveld: import Yeah.

Packer, Max's name is gonna stand. It's already been around long enough that I feel like it's passed the test of time. Yep. And it's just gonna keep doing its thing. Yep. And, uh, so

Lincoln Rohn: we, we've, we just, we just, uh, launched our first, uh, got our first order from a, a, a. Company in Poland. In Poland. In Poland. So we're gonna be sending a container over to Poland and, and, uh, we've, we've teamed up with a, with a European distributor.

And, um, we've got a, a target of five countries. Poland was the first one. I don't know, were they

Nate Rozeveld: targeting over there? Like, uh, like fallow deer or something? Yeah.

Lincoln Rohn: Those little guys. Dude, there's, I guess hunting is huge [01:04:00] there. Yeah. And they, and so is, uh, hobby farm plot. Oh yeah. Hobby farm is huge. We didn't break into that about the hobby farming aspect of this.

Yeah. And so that's a whole nother thing that we've been targeting. Yep. And it's not just deer for food plots. Guys plant. Like when I was down in Alabama, this guy was like, oh, this gonna' be great for dove plots. Oh yes. This gonna' be great for pheasant plots. Mm-hmm. For sorghum, I worked cost on sorghum.

Yep. You know, you get your groove, you, you pack, you get your grooves in there. Mm-hmm. You broadcast sorghum, you pack it and it looks like you're using a fricking planter. Yep.

Nate Rozeveld: Them guy, I've, I have relatives in Tennessee and Yep. I went down for hunt one time and I was like, wow, this amount of effort they put into that same as deer.

Yep. And that's

Lincoln Rohn: exactly, and turkeys, I mean, you know, guys are down there especially, they're planting food plot for turkeys. So, anyway, so, and then, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna go to, uh, start targeting New Zealand. That's where a lot of the food plot seed comes from. Uhhuh and the deer farming industry is huge over there.

And so that's exciting for us. It's so, yeah. You got more stuff coming up. I like it. You know, a whole new deal. We, we started shipping into Canada, [01:05:00] um, and, uh, we're looking for a distributor up there and

Nate Rozeveld: that'd be cool too. Just keep, keep going. Plug, man. So, okay, let's, let's kind of tie this back into some white whitetail hunting.

'cause uh, I, I love the Packer Max thing and all that. Mm-hmm. But like, you, you like killing deer. Mm-hmm. So where are you at, like, currently with. All right. Are you like a buck in new AO that piques your interest? Like what's a realistic thing, I guess, for you?

Lincoln Rohn: So, realistically, a new ao, um, and, and I, I hate to say that my standards change where I'm hunting, but they do.

Mm-hmm. Um, you can't kill what's not there. I can't kill 150 inch buck in new AO County. It ain't gonna happen. It just isn't. I don't, I could pass up every single deer for five years and still not kill 150 inch buck in new ao. So, um, we target three year olds and older, and I'm gonna say you start getting my interest around 125 inches in new ago.

Nice. And we, we mainly, [01:06:00]

Nate Rozeveld: if you would've shot, if you would've shot 125 inch buck in Newaygo County 15 years ago Right. You would've been. And I did. Yeah. Well, what did you do? You drive around with your tailgate down, everyone see it, right, right. That was back flips and I, I

Lincoln Rohn: hit it from all the neighbors.

Nate Rozeveld: Yeah, exactly.

Lincoln Rohn: Yeah. But, um, but no, so, you know, in, in. That's a realistic goal. Yes. 125 or better if I see a, you know, if I see a one 30, it's definitely getting it. Mm-hmm. Um, and then, uh, you know, Illinois, or at least in Illinois, we see, gosh, we, we get some big deer down there, but I'm, you know, if I see 145 inch 10 to a one 50, it's, it's probably gonna, gonna a ride in the truck also.

Yeah. It's probably gonna, hopefully get a ride in the truck. And then, um, you know, our Ohio lease, you know, we want five years old and I, you know, 150 inches pretty much. Yeah. Um, Now, last year I was really tempted by a 1 [01:07:00] 45 ish, and I don't think it was one 50, but it was, it was a mainframe eight, but it was a giant frame.

Yeah. And it takes a big eight to get to 150 inches. Yes, it does. I don't think he was quite there, but he, the, the clock saved his life. I'm not, I'd like to say, say, remember the story. I'd like to say it passed him, but I didn't, I passed him because I had to, uh, and then I was rewarded the next day. You know, I could've, it was, it was right on the bitter edge.

I mean, I You could've pushed the envelope. Yeah. But it's just not the right thing to do. And so, so I let it go. And then the next day I was rewarded with 163 inch template. Just the beautiful deer. I mean, wow. Yeah. Yeah. To me. Buck of a lifetime. Yeah. It's the biggest buck I've ever killed. So. Fantastic. But, you know, and so it's,

Nate Rozeveld: it's uh, so you, so like just kinda hearing what you're talking mm-hmm.

So like I have, I'm similar, I have, um, maybe my neighbors are better in my northern spot where I hunt mm-hmm. Because we kind of have more ground that's tied up. Mm-hmm. So I've only shot a handful of deer in 20 years on this, this my grandpa's property, my bow, because like trying to get the [01:08:00] bigger deer.

And once the different neighbors started popping up and the line of communication started, we were actually like, like, uh, I kind of feel like we're crazy. 'cause like I have like not hunted four and a half year old bucks because like all of a sudden they're like four year olds are showing up. We're like, went from that, like you just said, like, I feel like a three year old, three and a half year old buck in Michigan could be 1 25, 1 30.

Very realistic. Yep. If you get 'em that old, if they get to that old Right. And then when you see what they do from that to like four and a half, you're like whole. And then you're like, Well, we've passed him as a two, we've passed him as a three. And if we all like passed 'em as a four, what could he do? Is then we all get on the same page.

Mm-hmm. And then like last year, one of the bucks got shot as a four year old. Yep. He was like on one, he was like 1 51 with a little trash. So you didn't net that. But um, it's like, are we crazy for that? That's our for fishermen anyway, I guess, sir. But, uh, I'm like, I didn't even wanna hunt that deer. We were like, we're gonna pass 'em.

Right. And it's like, man, are we dumb? But also it's like, I feel like kinda like you just talked about the first buck you passed, how cool that was. Yep. And this [01:09:00] progression. But like, we never would've even entertain this idea if we didn't have more neighbors involved. Yeah. Because my dad and uncle did the four by rule for 20 years.

Mm-hmm. And only one, maybe a handful of two and a half year old eight points got shot. Yeah. Because we didn't have, we don't have enough property. You know, the neighbors did the same thing. Yep. Until we started getting more neighbors involved and all that. Yeah. That's when it started getting better. So like that's one thing.

Yeah. And that's a, that's probably a not realistic thing, trying to shoot a five-year-old up there, but we're trying. Yeah. It could happen. But then

Lincoln Rohn: down co-ops are, co-ops are awesome if you can get 'em set up and, you know, we have some, some, some, um, neighbors on board with us, with, you know, the guys around us have 400, but the hundred, if you look at the hunter density mm-hmm.

And where we're at, they have, they have probably 20 guys hunting that 400 we have probably, we probably have. Not at all one time, but we have eight guys hunting our one 60. Yep. You know, and so, and then we have a thousand acres of state land next to us, and it gets pounded, it just gets hammered and everybody up there knows we're passing [01:10:00] deer.

And guess what? All the locals flock over there. Yep. And I can't tell you how many times my, put my poor nephew, God bless him, he started out, it was hard for him because he'd pass a four, you know, four or spike up. Mm-hmm. And he'd watch it head east and then jump the fence and Woo. Yep. You know, every time it'd die.

And, you know, that's, that's the Michigan

Nate Rozeveld: thing. That's hard to, so it's hard to explain until you see it. Right. Like, you know, like I had down here where I, where I live in this area that I hunt, you know, a bunch of different places, uh, I can, I've shot one forties mm-hmm. In that, but I'm not waiting for a five and a half year old.

Right. Because there's too many people that shoot deer. Mm-hmm. Like one year I had, I think it was 18 bucks that were two and a half year old, all the way up to four and a half year old. Mm-hmm. And one of 'em was only four and a half. The rest were like, you know, two and I think I had like ten two year olds.

Mm-hmm. And I figured there was six to seven, three and a half year olds, one, four and a half year old. And I shot one of the three and a half year olds opening night. And then by the end of the year, I think [01:11:00] of the 17 or 18 bucks I counted in one field that, 'cause they all summer and the field I have access to, I think only three of 'em lived.

Yeah. 'cause that's how many of 'em got shot that I, and they, and they, I just assumed those three made it. Mm-hmm. Because I didn't hear of anyone shoot 'em and see the picture. Right. So like that's, that's the efficiency of Michigan and hunting. Yeah. So like when people talk about what, why is it so hard to Michigan?

Well, compared to like other Midwest states, I think if a guy has 18 bucks in a field, Uh, I don't think 12 to 14 of 'em are getting shot in one year. Right. I think maybe five are right. Or maybe six are just because the hundred numbers aren't as much like that right there.

Lincoln Rohn: Well, and Michigan deer hunters are such good at killing bucks.

Yes. They just are like they're, yep. And so, like you said,

Nate Rozeveld: you had to shoot your buck so you learn how to do it and then, That's, that means a lot still.

Lincoln Rohn: Yeah. So, and you, you'd have a guy pass up, like I said, 20 do, and then they'll shoot a fricking spike horn, like mm-hmm. Okay. Yep. That's

Nate Rozeveld: the thing. 'cause you got antlers.

Yep. But, uh, and then so now you kinda have, but I think, you know, Michigan's slowly getting better. Mm-hmm. Like we've talked about that, like food, food pots and all that stuff is, [01:12:00] and, you know, maybe a different day we'll get into the a p R stuff and like how mm-hmm. How we feel about that. But yeah, I think, and then, so I have that mindset in Michigan, you know, and that's, you know mm-hmm.

A hundred miles different of

Lincoln Rohn: separation. And it changes, I'll, changes you. If I hunted down here, it'd be, I'd, it'd be, I would definitely, my standards would be higher for Michigan. Yeah. This area definitely is, is significantly better. And there's, there's bigger properties too. Correct. Um, you know, so it's, it's, it's just a little bit different here.

Plus there's a lot more ag they get, you know, a, a three-year-old down here is. You know, a pretty good buck. Yes. Um, if you can give him to four, he's gonna be something special. Correct? Five is gonna be insane.

Nate Rozeveld: Yeah. There's trail camp pictures and videos. You know, I'm not, we're not Southern Michigan quite, we're close, probably MidMichigan, I'll say Michigan, you know, but, uh, yeah, it's definitely a cool thing.

Mm-hmm. And then now I've been outta state for seven or eight years and you see the bucks down there and you know, I've been to Iowa, I've been to Illinois, Missouri. You know, Tennessee, Kentucky, and, um, I have the lease in Illinois and it's like [01:13:00] southern Illinois orbit in that area. Mm-hmm. So going into year one, you know, you talk about how you're, you know, you got your standard there, like a 1 45, 1 50.

And I'm thinking like, I feel like that's kind of where we're at as a group. 'cause we don't know. Yeah. We've had some trail campa bucks and see and stuff. Mm-hmm. But it's hard. It's, it's a game that I like, enjoy playing because it's not overnight. Yeah. You have to like, develop this and we could all sudden get some pictures of bucks.

And it's nice because you have a group of people who are on the same page and it's fun and just go have fun and go do that. Yeah. And a one 60 could walk by. Oh yeah. It could. And then, you know, and like you have two states like that. Mm-hmm. And then you've also throw some, sprinkle, some Canada hunts in there.

Oh yeah. That you get to see a, that's a whole different ball game's. You see mature. You see

Lincoln Rohn: mature butt there. Oh gosh. The buck I killed last year. It was, it was just an insane It was, it was the, the deer was so big. Um, Uh, just think of a, of a tannery, how many deer they, how many hides they see a year. The tannery called my taxi dermis and said, what in God's name is this thing?

It was, I [01:14:00] mean, it was in, it's just incredible. And it's so, the head is so giant. It was 141 inch buck. It looks like it's 120 inches. I agree. You know, and it's, you see that thing on the wall and you're like, yeah. And it's sitting next to a 300 pound white tail. Yeah. The, the buck that it's on that's left is 300 pounds.

Okay. And it dwarfs that deer,

Nate Rozeveld: the neck, like, you know, the, the head and neck, like you said is literally like double. Yeah. Like I have these ones down here, my, in the podcast area here. Double that one.

Lincoln Rohn: Oh yeah, for sure. And those are good bug. Yeah. And but

Nate Rozeveld: just And then the mass coming out of that Yeah. Head going out into the beams, it's like, whoa.

And it

Lincoln Rohn: carries it all the way out. Yeah. And, and uh,

Nate Rozeveld: and you look at it, you're like, okay, that's, that those beams are that big. Yeah. Those tines really aren't as short as they look. Yeah. Because you start looking, as you walk up to, you see it, you're like, Judas, that deer had to be just a, and then there's a picture of you holding it and you're not a little guy.

Like you're not giant, but you're also not like, right. I'm not a fuck guy.

Lincoln Rohn: And you look like a little kid. Right. I'm like, Hey, look at, but you know, that's, that thing was insane. And I had a, I had a 250 [01:15:00] plus deer pound deer in eight point eating when that buck walked in and that deer backed up. And like, I'm not, I am out here.

See? And that deer would just ruled the roost. And I couldn't, I couldn't even believe my eyes. How big that deer was crazy. It was insane. And you know, the other deer that I've shot up in Canada, they're the smallest one had the biggest rack. Uh, the smallest one was 265 pounds dressing it, it was, uh, scored 1 58.

Yep. And then the very first one I shot was 300 pounds, right on the button, like literally right on the button. That was 148 inches, but it was a mainframe eight point, just massive. Mm-hmm. You know, and then, um, I shot one that was 2 75. Remember the pedestal mount that's off to the right? That deer was 2 75 and it was 146 inches.

But he had, he's got a lot of points and he Yep. That's what got him killed. When he turned sideways. Saw a picket fence. I'm like, yeah. And there's just monster deer stand there. I was on the ground and he is about [01:16:00] 4,500 away. I was like, oh my God. I think it's like a T-Rex standing there.

Nate Rozeveld: Oh gosh. Yeah.

What's that dinosaur doing over there? You smoke that thing. That's

Lincoln Rohn: Oh, so such a cool thing. Love, love Saskatchewan, man. If you ever get a chance, it is, it's special and you never know what's gonna step outta that Canadian bush. And it is, it's just. It's just a whole different ballgame. The, and I've hunted up there.

I killed a big bear up there too. That's the one above my desk. Yep. Um, I've hunted there 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5 times. And I've never heard another gunshot up there. Not one time.

Nate Rozeveld: Blow your mind. I've never. And you've been there for multiple days, like, oh yeah. Like sometimes you shot your deer like day, what day?

Lincoln Rohn: Six.

Six. Yeah. So you smell this past year? I shot day six. Um, and you don't hear a gunshot. Not one that's, I don't see other people. You don't. I take that bag. I did see, I was hunting a clear cut and um, I did see moose season was open and they can hunt moose. Mm-hmm. In those clear cuts. Mm-hmm. And so I did see one truck [01:17:00] drive by, but one truck, five trips.

The first year I was there, I was 56 hours on stand. The second year I was in the forties. Third year I was in. The sixties.

Nate Rozeveld: And my dad, that's a lot of hours on a stand opening day in Michigan, November 15th up north or in farm country. So you can hear a long ways. Yep. He counted 300 and like 20 shots before like 10 o'clock.

Yeah, I

Lincoln Rohn: don't doubt that one bit. I've never heard a gun shot there.

Nate Rozeveld: And he, you know, that's, that's Michigan. That's

Lincoln Rohn: so cool. So yeah, that's, and it's just the country's massive. Like the first year I was up there, I, I'm thinking, where is Chris bringing me, man, he's gonna bury me out in the back 40 there, 45 minutes on a quad.

I didn't mean to piss, I

Nate Rozeveld: didn't mean to piss you off. Right. Sorry, dude.

Lincoln Rohn: Like 45 minutes on a quad from the truck across the wheat field. This is the biggest wheat field I've ever seen in my life. Like it, we, we went back later on that week after I shot my deer. We were gonna go back and feed that [01:18:00] spot. And there was a combine, dry combine in that wheat.

Oh, okay. And he was going in one direction and we went by him and we were back in the bush for 45 minutes or so, we came back out. He's still in the same path, still going that way. Wow. It's still in

Nate Rozeveld: the same role, like just other country. I mean, it is other country, but just it's, it's hard to grass huge country because we don't have that.

You you have that vastness

Lincoln Rohn: out here? No, it's just, it, they think, they say Montana and south, like South Dakota is pretty vast. And, and Saskatchewan is, it doesn't, it's way, way more. Yeah. And then you break up, right where we hunted is right where the, where the, um, farmland broke into the bush. And so like a couple of spots I had kind of the best of both worlds.

I had, you know, canola and wheat fields and I had butted up to that, brought it up against the bush and so, yeah. That's cool. Yeah. You said

Nate Rozeveld: you never know what's gonna walk out there. Nope. That's fun. And then those deer, like you see the pictures are just big, like you said, giant bodies, dark,

Lincoln Rohn: mature bucks.

I did a live feed. And, you know, I can't get service at our [01:19:00] property in NewCo County, but I can do a live feed in fricking the middle of Canadian wilderness. Yeah. And I, I did a live feed of passing. I was a, it was a, just a massive wide eight point big giant body, like a, you know, 275 pound body uhhuh, and I'm live feed.

And they're like, shoot, that day. I'm like, no, you don't understand. I'm not shooting right. I'm not shooting that deer. You don't understand. And then I was rewarded by not shooting it the next day with a, you know, a bigger and better and you know, and so, um, but yeah, people are just like, on my, I like the thing looks like a cow standing there.

It's just a massive, like I said, the.

Nate Rozeveld: In the Mount, the guy who your taxidermy

Lincoln Rohn: did a great job mounts 'cause it woodland, taxidermy, and big rapids. Yeah. You

Nate Rozeveld: did not Jeff Tyson. Yep. You did not You. You understand how big that deer is. Yep. Anyone who's seen mounts and seen whitetails, you look at that, you're like, yep, that thing was a monster.

It

Lincoln Rohn: took 'em a while to find the correct mount. Mm-hmm. Because they. And it's the biggest Mount Mackenzie made. Absolutely. Biggest mount. They had an elk mount there that was 30 [01:20:00] inches. My bucks, 30 inches. Like Yeah. You shot elk.

Nate Rozeveld: Yeah. Pretty much. It

Lincoln Rohn: was. That's so cool. You know, I'm like, holy cow.

Nate Rozeveld: That's, and like, that's the thing, like, we do this

Lincoln Rohn: and it's eight and a half years old.

Really? I sent the tooth in to the, uh, deer age. Yep. And they, they slice it with a laser and it's eight and a half years old. Wow. Certified.

Nate Rozeveld: That's so cool. Like, that's the thing. Like that's,

Lincoln Rohn: we're not, we're, you know what that thing's seen Yeah. In eight and a half years up

Nate Rozeveld: there. Well, and we're not just for the antlers.

Right. It's like, you know, we, it's this whole experience, like you're talking about how this gets you jacked up because it was this big and the other deer and you're seeing this dynamic and Yep. We're laughing about how big it was. Yep. Like, and yeah. And it had an imp impress and it was only 141 inches.

Right. But it's an impressive 141. It's still, you know, it's eight years. Crazy old. What was he at six? Right. You know, he could have been, you know, who knows? Who knows. He said how many bears is the thing walked by? Yep.

Lincoln Rohn: The wolves and cougars and just lift. Yeah. So it's, it is pretty sweet up there. I I, are you going this fall again?

So, I am not okay going this fall because last year when I shot that big one, the mature [01:21:00] bucks were few and far between. They had a super hard winter. Mm-hmm. And so we decided to, we're gonna give 'em a year before we go back and plus, um, so I'm hunting in, uh, Iowa this year. I drew a late season muzzle loader.

I got the gun tag.

Nate Rozeveld: Yeah, I got a gun tag. Did you first gun? Yeah. So December

Lincoln Rohn: 4th or something like that? Yeah, mine is mine. Mine is second, or it is late muzzle loader. It's like, I dunno, December 10th, or I don't know what it is. I didn't, but I don't care. I'm going So you're gonna Iowa maybe. Right. And then, uh, I'm hunting with Eric Ham from Jewelry Outdoors.

Oh, sweet. That's gonna be a fun time. So I've taken good care of him over the years with Packer Max and he, he called me and said, Hey man, I wanna return to favor. You wanna come hunt with me? I'm like, uh, yes please. Yeah. That dude giants too. Yes, he does. And he's such a cool guy. Like, I never met him until two weeks ago.

Okay. In person. Yeah. We talk on the phone all the time. He's just, just a good dude. Loves be cool. Killing big deer and cool. Coolest to out there. Yeah. And I met him. Just first time I met him, he comes walking out with, uh, sheds that he found a matching set of sheds that [01:22:00] was one was 87 inches, one with 96 inches.

Oh gosh. And that's not with the spread. Wow. And he's like, yeah, this is, wow. This is what I'm hunting. You're not hunting this, but Exactly. I

Nate Rozeveld: think I remember when I was younger, I, yeah, I have a bunch of the jury videos. He shot this buck, I think it was Wisconsin. Mm-hmm. Or maybe, I don't know. You'd have to ask him, but it was like an old farmstead kind.

He snuck up to this fence row and smoked that buck in the middle of that field,

Lincoln Rohn: 190 inches or 180 inches. Yeah, I vividly remember that. Huh. It's so cool. You know, just a

Nate Rozeveld: monster. Yeah. And now look at, you're coming full circle, you know, doing this

Lincoln Rohn: dream. I've been watching. That's what's funny is I've been watching him since the juries began.

Yeah. I mean, he's been with the juries for 20 years. Mm-hmm. And, you know, and I've watched him the whole time. And then to be able to talk to him and, you know, love of him or hate him, I've, you know, I've gotten to know Chris bracket really well. Mm-hmm. And the dude is a solid guy. I mean, he screwed up. He knows it.

Yeah. And he paid his dues and he kills big deer. Yep. And he's taught me a lot about the, the business and about killing big deer. Yeah. And [01:23:00] I've called him last year, two years ago, I was all freaked out. I hit that shocker or that, uh, the Triple X in, in Illinois. Yeah. 180 inches probably. Yeah. Fricking hit him.

Couldn't recover him. I had just had a, I was having a rough year, man. And he's like, listen, listen, the good thing is you're getting in front of big Deer. Like you've, you've, you've had opportunities that. Multiple, very large deer. And he said they're just deer. Mm-hmm. Like, just keep that in mind. Yep.

They're just deer. Yeah. That's a great, you know,

Nate Rozeveld: that's, that's helped me a lot. Like Okay, that's a great point. They're just

Lincoln Rohn: deer. Like they are, they're just an animal. Like, you can, you know, we can outthink them, we can out reason them. We can all do the, you know, they have these incredible senses. Yes. But they're just deer.

They're just deer. So don't freak. The hell out when one comes walking in. Mm-hmm. Just chill. Yep. Yeah. Just slow it down and, you know. Yeah. I mean, Chris,

Nate Rozeveld: you know, like, I don't, I don't know much about Chris Bracker other than what I've just seen. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like, yeah, he's screwed up,

Lincoln Rohn: you know? But like, yeah.

Everybody knows he's screwed up. He

Nate Rozeveld: knows he's screwed up. Everyone's screwed up. And if, you know, if he's choosing mm-hmm. [01:24:00] I, I tell my kid this all the time, just because something doesn't go your way or you make a bad decision, how you handle the repercussions mm-hmm. Is what is most important. Yep. And if he's, you know, doing this thing and he's being a standup guy and learn from it, moving on,

Lincoln Rohn: why not?

Yeah. Before I, before I gave him, you know, kind of, we kind of teamed up a little bit. Um, not nothing ever official, but again, we become good friends and I talked to him about two hours, about the whole situation. And what I was hearing was a guy that has been humbled incredibly. Yeah. You know, when, when you, when you do that and you are brought to your knees and before God and everybody, it, it's humbling.

And the dude is humbled and mm-hmm. Um, Some people think his, uh, knowledge, he's arrogant. He's not arrogant. He didn't knows, he knows how to kill big deer. Yeah. And he, and he knows that like, so he'll tell you you're wrong. You know you're doing it wrong. Yeah. So, you know, and, and again, are we gonna, are we really gonna tar and feather a guy for life?[01:25:00]

Because of making a mistake. And, and then he pays for his mistake. Yep. He paid for it, you know, and he sat out three years, he paid 200 and some thousand dollars in fines and, and, um, you know, he's been kicked back a notch, but now he's, now he's into the land management. He is doing all this other, there's good stuff and he's, he wouldn't good C

Nate Rozeveld: guy, you know, if he didn't love it or have a passion for being outside and doing hunting stuff like we are.

Right. We, he wouldn't still do it after

Lincoln Rohn: what happened, so. Yep. And a lot of people don't like it when I, when I say that, but I, I don't, I don't care. I'm, you know what? I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now if I wouldn't have got a second chance. I'm a 21 year recovery alcoholic. Guess what? I made a lot of mistakes.

Mm. And I wouldn't even be sitting here except for the grace of God. Yes. So how can I look at him and say, screw you. I'm not giving you a second chance. Because it's easy to

Nate Rozeveld: do it on social media. It is. You know, that's the thing. But I ain't doing that. So, you know how many people can say, like, I, like I said, I, if the opportunity ever does come, like sit down and talk with a guy mm-hmm.

Who's had all that experience and that. What can I learn from that? You know, [01:26:00] the dude's like, doesn't doubt one bit. A guy has a lot of whitetail knowledge. Oh, he's incredible. I've, I think, you know what, incredible. I might follow him on Instagram. Mm-hmm. And I've seen some of the stuff he was doing. Yep.

And he is like, this guy just loves it and he's doing

Lincoln Rohn: it. And yeah. Good for him. He eats, breathes and sleeps it and, and you know, he's got great farm down there and everything. And again, you know, I've, I've watched him through all the, all the, you know, all the shows and then all the mess and, and uh, you know, to be able to meet some of these people is pretty cool.

Yeah. And you know, I've met a bunch of the jewelry guys and I'm friends with Sean Lundy, and I don't, I don't, I don't, I. I mean, they're just good people. Yeah. And they love deer. Yep. And I've been fortunate enough to, you know, be able to, he knows that, you know, so Cool. And go to the Iowa Deer Classic, man.

It's a fricking hoot. Yeah. Going to that show, you know? And so I don't, it's

Nate Rozeveld: a cool life. Yeah. That's what you do it though, right? It is. You have a passion for and you get to enjoy the people and like, what a great job to have. And it is. Do that. But, uh, so this fall, what is, are you gonna shoot a buck? [01:27:00] Oh, I'm sure Iowa's pretty high up there.

I hope so. Like, you're gonna get one. Hopefully there. But do you think your Ohios is looking pretty good? Or like, where's how they're

Lincoln Rohn: looking? It's hard to tell right now because our buck in Ohio, uh, they're always out in, in beans. Mm-hmm. You know, they're, wherever the beans are on there, that's where they're gonna be, um, for the summer.

Mm-hmm. And, you know, we're starting to pick up some bucks on minerals down there. Uh, we've got a couple dandy, we have a mainframe 12 that was probably bigger than the one I shot last year that we didn't hear of anybody shooting him. Okay. I haven't got a picture of 'em yet, but a buck like that we done known about it.

Oh yeah. And so, um, we have some really good up and comers that we let go last year and I really expect big things. Excuse me. And then I. Um, our lease in Illinois, dude, we get, we'll get 25 to 30 different shooters every year on camera, but we don't start getting pictures of deer until, or bucks until about the 15th of October.

Mm-hmm. When [01:28:00] they start, they start getting that pre rutt going where they're gonna start searching for dough groups and they drop down outta the high ground across the road and the ag drop down into our river bottom and start searching these dough groups that lived down Yep. Cut across trying to find everything.

Yep. Yep. And they, they travel that, that river bottom dude. And, and we have a scrape. I've hunted, the scrape has gotten more 180 plus deer on it than any price, any scrape in the country. Like I every year, man, I doctor her that scrape and the Boer, the Boer scrape It is, it's like, like I got pictures like you handle weave on that scrape.

And last year, unfortunately, I had one come in and, and uh, um, I had shoulder surgery seven years ago roughly, and I've been shooting a cross bull. I did buy a Matthews, I've been shooting it from my desk. Yeah, there you go. I dunno if you saw my target in this shop. I did. Yep. I shoot right from my desk. Oh, nice.

And uh, um, just trying to get those reps in, you know, get my shoulder built back up. Yep. And, uh, so I bought that, that 10 point with the [01:29:00] Garmin zero range finding scope. Mm-hmm. I can hit a quarter at 75 yards of that thing and deer comes in, I range him 21 yards and I pull the trigger and nothing happens.

I forget to take the safety off every time. Oh yeah. Because I'm ranging the stupid thing.

Nate Rozeveld: Mm-hmm. You're already hitting a button thinking it's good. Yep.

Lincoln Rohn: And the heart, excuse me. And the heart's going a little bit. Oh yeah. And of course that cost me that buck. And then finally, that was about the third one that it had cost me.

And so I went right to Quincy, Ohio or Illinois and, and, uh, been whatever that outdoor shop is. I wish I could remember the name went down there, excuse me. And, uh, got a new scope put on it. Just a regular scope. Yep. And I killed a buck two days later. Nice. You're like, smoke,

Nate Rozeveld: so, oh, good. Well, sometimes, you know, you get a little too much technology involved and you still gotta keep it simple.

You said they're just deer, right? It's also killing them. Keep it simple.

Lincoln Rohn: It's, and it's all, it's all, it's all muscle memory, you know? Mm-hmm. Like you said, I, I push the button, so safety's off. Mm-hmm. Yep. Good to get in my mind. And [01:30:00] so how do you,

Nate Rozeveld: how does it feel shooting the compound again? Like, how great does

Lincoln Rohn: it Great.

I love shooting bows. I'll just love

Nate Rozeveld: it. Yeah. Because let's say you, like, we talked about that earlier, like that's what you did. Yep. And, uh,

Lincoln Rohn: in crossbows, everybody thinks, oh, you just like shooting the gun. Well, the, the, the only advantage you have with a cross bows, you don't have to shoot all summer, you cited in and you're good.

Mm-hmm. I apologize man. No, you're fine. A tickle in my throat, but, um, they're a pain in the butt to hunt with, especially out of a tree. Mm-hmm. They suck to hunt with out of a tree. Yeah. They're,

Nate Rozeveld: they're, they're terrible person. Like, I just did that podcast with my brother-in-law. He had brain surgery last year.

Mm-hmm. So he had a weight limit, so he couldn't pull his comm on back. So I got him, it's sitting over there. I don't know. It's a wicked or something. Yep. With a hand crank on it. Yep. Shot his first buck last year. Awesome. You know? Yep. And, you know, I, you holding it and stuff. Yeah. It shoots the lasers.

Mm-hmm. Like you said, great. You don't need to practice with it. Right. It's a little wide. Mm-hmm. But, you know, I have no issue. Like you just said, you get your shoulders jacked up. Mm-hmm. And you, you did this for a few [01:31:00] years and you used it and you've had success. You haven't, it doesn't assist in killing deer, but it's not like you had a world class buck at 21 yard and you didn't steal a deal because there's still hunter error and stuff involved with that.

And it's not a, it, some people say, oh, you just, it's instantly dead. Well, no, not necessarily. Mm-hmm. You know, I think. I've

Lincoln Rohn: missed. There's a time I've missed deer. There's so much louder. Yeah. I had a deer at 35 yards and I, this fucking thing was laying on his belly before the arrow got there, you know? Yep.

Nate Rozeveld: And like you said, you're, but you're still trying to hunt, you're hunting places like we would with a compound. Right. So, you know, if, maybe if you had like a, a place set up where you have a nice block spine or death grip or something odd. Yeah. You're, that's a little different, you know, style. Like

Lincoln Rohn: in my new farm, I don't even hunt outta trees anymore.

It's not Yep. You got all that set up. I mean, not like, it's not worth it. Yeah. Goes through the hassle. I'm gonna be comfortable, I'm want

Nate Rozeveld: new. I know I have a barn full of stuff that makes some more binds because that is a powerful tool to have that too. Yep. But no, so I, so you think, uh, so you kind of have this setup where it is like Illinois gonna be like your pre ru rutt [01:32:00] spot or, so I'm gonna,

Lincoln Rohn: I'm gonna hunt.

Um, I, I tried to hunt with my dad. He's 80 years old. I really apologize 'cause I got a really tickle in my throat when it's not going away. Um, try one more time and, um,

Nate Rozeveld: Yeah, take a drink. Go for it. You edit this out. Yeah, we could do something. You, no big deal. This is real man. I was doing, I was doing straw bales a couple weeks ago from all the wheat straw.

Oh yeah. Dude tore me up. I was, my arms were like popped out. I was blowing chunks of my nose. I don't know why. And then like a week later, just get through. I was like, oh man. It must've been from all that straw. Yep. And I completely got a head cold of some sort. I don't know if allergies came, but I was like, I had two week period.

Like what the, it's summertime, right? Why have I got this going on? Yeah.

Lincoln Rohn: Yeah. So anyway, so early season I'll probably hunt new aga with my dad and um, That first week of November, [01:33:00] last week of October. I think we're going that la that la last week, early season. I'll probably hunting new angle with my dad and end of, um, that first week of November, last week of October.

I think we're going that last week of October. No, I don't care. But um, then I'll hunt that Illinois farm and then I'll probably come back. Of course this happens when we're doing a podcast. It never happens. I'll go back to Illinois for, but um, then I'll hunt the Illinois farm. Mm-hmm. And then I'll probably come back and hunt with my dad during gun for a couple days.

Mm-hmm. We go back to Illinois for, for their shot or their gun season season, and I might take a couple trips down the Ohio

Nate Rozeveld: depending on up that then, you know, when you're here working, you can, you

Lincoln Rohn: bounce around the farm or whatever. But then that's gonna be my, mainly my late season. Mm-hmm. Yep. So, mm-hmm.

When you're here,

Nate Rozeveld: so, okay. Where are you shooting a buck this year? Where it gonna happen?

Lincoln Rohn: Yeah. In our property in new from

Nate Rozeveld: my shop, including Iowa. Let's say you, [01:34:00] Michigan there, Illinois,

Lincoln Rohn: Ohio, pop up there. Where are you shooting a buck this year? Where it gonna happen?

Michigan, I think. I think I'm feeling good about it. It's hunting, but I'm feeling good about Iowa. Um, and something's gotta screw up Ohio. Mm-hmm. It's hard to say because stars need to line up down there. You know, we're hunting, basically we're hunting bait and something's gotta screw up. So anybody's gus down.

There's still a lot of, there's ledgers around everything else that we're still on, but we, I'm feeling good about Ohio. We're mainly hunting bait, so it's kind of, it's kind of anybody's guess down there.

Yeah. I'm feeling, I'm feeling good about Ohio and Illinois. I always feel good about. Um, but we, that rutt man, we have to hit it just right. We got about a, we got about a five day window the year I shot Triple X [01:35:00] down there. I left a hunt in, was Buffalo County, Wisconsin. I left the last day because I got a daylight picture of Triple X and I told the outfitter, I said, I got a, I got a two day window to get this done.

Like I jetted. He's like, dude, we got it, you know? And I, I had just passed up a hundred and now we know it was 152 inches. I didn't know it at the time. I thought it was like 1 48. Nope, I gotta go chase this deal. But he didn't quite hit that one 50 and so I let him go. Well then somebody shot 'em the next day or two days later.

It was 152 inches. So I, I booked it down to, to, I went, I drove from Buffalo County, Wisconsin, right to my lease and I'm a cent control freak. I went right from my truck to my, to my tree stand. Didn't I showered that morning, but I mean, I normally shower twice during the rest is history. Jumped in the stand and 45 minutes later here comes that get me

Nate Rozeveld: all fired.

This whole annoying thing too, like, because I like, that's what I'm trying to [01:36:00] do. I'm trying to have, and then I, yeah, and

Lincoln Rohn: then he picture, try to be spread out here, wind switches, fuel feel in the back of my

Nate Rozeveld: ears and then, you know, getting the whole

Lincoln Rohn: crap crap. So it's never really

Nate Rozeveld: guided, but you pay for a week or whatever for a farm, you can do whatever you want.

So always bring your hang ons or saddles and mm-hmm. Me and my dad do that. And we, we liked that because it was like easy to be like, this is our vacation, it's on the calendar, we're construction busy. Like you own your business, you know how it is. Yeah. Um, so we really found enjoyment in that. But now it's like, okay, let's lease something.

This we have a little bit more flexibility. Right. Um, people are used to us being gone that time of year 'cause we've always been doing, you know, two weeks or a week. You know, it's deer season uhhuh. So I really like that. So yeah, we got the Illinois thing and I'm really pumped to see what that farm's gonna end up being like for the year.

Lincoln Rohn: And got really knows I'm not gonna be there. We're we're there. I mean, I just, I just love hunting. I love hunting. I love hunting. Big deer. Mm-hmm. It just gets my blood boil again. You know? That's the frustrating part. I just love hunting. I love hunting. I [01:37:00] love hunting. Big deer. I, it just gets my blood boiling and you know, that's the frustrating part with Michigan and I said it before.

Yep. Babe Winkleman I think said this. If you tell me that a small buck doesn't get your blood pumping as much as a buck, big buck's, your first one. But

Nate Rozeveld: you don't need to do that after

Lincoln Rohn: five because it just three. Yeah. You don't, that's the thing. Shoot, showing everybody a fricking four points. That's, you know, I mean, your first one.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Kids, I don't, you can shoot whatever you want. My right. This, this last antler point restriction thing that we had in Michigan here. Yeah. Um, before they went to vote, they made an amendment for anybody. It was already 16 and under were exempt. They made an, they made an, an amendment to the proposal.

Yes. Saying by 70 and over. Was example and, and I fully support that. Mm-hmm. If, you know what, if you've been hunting that long and you're 70 years old and you wanna shoot, you do whatever you want. But let's [01:38:00] try to save some young bucks and get, you know, get people to where they want to come to Michigan and hunt like I'll still travel.

Mm-hmm. If we, if we all of a sudden get, you know, some, by act of God, we get antler port restrictions or somebody gets a wild hair and we actually, you know, start letting deer walk mm-hmm. And we start killing good deer here, I'll still travel, but I'm gonna spend a whole lot more time there. And if you look at, if you look at the dollars that I spend.

Every year outside of the state of Michigan on food and fuel and hotels and leases and licenses and bullets and ammo and everything else. One of these days, Michigan gonna figure it out. They're gonna go, okay, that money could stay here. And it's happening. I'm not the only one doing that. It's happening thousands and thousands of times over.

So one of these days, mission's gonna figure it out and they're gonna go, okay, yeah, we gotta keep our hunters home because we're losing hunters. They're losing, they've lost 123,000 deer hunters since [01:39:00] 2018.

Nate Rozeveld: Mm-hmm.

Lincoln Rohn: And by 2030, we're gonna be below 300,000 deer hunters. That's gonna be a problem because we can't shoot enough deer.

We can't,

Nate Rozeveld: we'll be overrun. Well, I mean, yeah, there's a lot of, like you said, you're not the only one involved in the APR movement, so there's

Lincoln Rohn: lot of you guys I'm hoping to have them on. It's, it's to the tipping point. Maybe you, again, I just hope Michigan figures it out

Nate Rozeveld: sooner later. It's, it's, you go to these other states and it's different.

Right. Everywhere

Lincoln Rohn: I go. Yep. Everywhere I live. Mm-hmm. Michigan, Ohio, all Michigan plates, Illinois, all the hotels I bump into guys and it's all in any, everywhere I go doing, everywhere I go, it's Michigan plates. I go to Ohio, all the hotels, Michigan plates, Illinois, all the hotels, Michigan plates. I bump into guys in Michigan that I know down there, Hey, geez, what do you doing?

Oh, we're out over Missouri. Missouri. Or you know, whatever. I'm, it's like, I'm gonna kind of wrap

Nate Rozeveld: this up and this is what, how I feel. I think it's important. Hundred percent support Packer Max, because you care about Michigan. You're Michigan companies, says Michigan [01:40:00] Wild. We're doing that because you care about deer hunting.

You do that. Why not use the money on spend your money on that if you're gonna spend the money. I think it's a good thing to go. And if you do get to a point in your time where you have some free time, you're not afraid to use that, to try to better other people. You know, you've spent a lot of time trying to help state of Michigan where you didn't need to and you know you're still doing that and there's a group of guys that are like that and like, let's support someone local like that.

And I think that's a great thing. So yeah, thanks for all that work. And yeah, I think I've shot some of his deer on my wall because people have the same mind. Mm-hmm. I know. Let 'em go, let 'em grow. Like we've done that. Yep. Thank you. We've got friends and neighbors and I appreciate that very much. You know, they, I would never would've had the opportunities I had without it, so, you know, it's a cool thing and yeah, anyone who's, who is listening to this give, you know, go on Packer Maxes, uh, Instagram or Facebook and make sure you like 'em and watch some of those videos.

Two Xs. Yes sir. Yep. Go do that. And then you can go on the website and yeah, if you want to, you know, swing by the shop anytime and find all that information and yep. Packer Max,

Lincoln Rohn: two Xs. That would be a good thing. To [01:41:00] have you, I remember. Yep. And

Nate Rozeveld: yes, sir. Sold

Lincoln Rohn: out to deer hunting. Yes. And, uh, we'd love to have you and, uh, you know, appreciate having me on.

And, uh, we're both sold out and, uh, to deer hunting and, and, uh, that's my whole, you know, it is pretty funny when you think about it. My whole life revolves around deer. Not just deer hunting, but deer. Like I sell hunting properties in Michigan, you know? Yeah. You know, that's a whole nother thing. Yep. You know, and I, you know, we have food pot seed business.

We have call to pack business,

Nate Rozeveld: property pack. I literally go

Lincoln Rohn: to the shop or reach out. We, you know, we have a storefront. Right. Direction. I mean, so literally everything I do, you've shooting a bow revolves

Nate Rozeveld: around all that. Like you said, the late eighties, you've done this, you've been doing food plots for many years.

Mm-hmm. Wealth of knowledge, let's take advantage of that. Yeah. You're not necessarily like the big YouTube guy or anything like that. You know, some of those guys, you know, I've learned a lot from them. But to have someone that's local to you, they can sit down and have a [01:42:00] conversation that's worth something.

So yeah, support Packer Max and appreciate everyone listening to this. And yeah, enjoy. Get outside, enjoy creation. Get out there and do some food pots. It's fun. Take the family. Just did that little man and he was, yes, he was having a time of his life. I mean, cool. Into the shop. There you go. Playing a quarter acre clover plot.

It's fun. Well thanks Lincoln, appreciate it. Very rewarding. Appreciate he was having a

Lincoln Rohn: time of his life. Bring your kid into the shop, you know, probably walk out with a free bag of seed.

Appreciate it, Nate.

‍