Pierce's Wisconsin Gun Opener Success!

In this episode of the Wisconsin Sportsman Podcast, Josh and Pierce recap Pierce's last couple bowhunts of the year and his 2023 WI gun opener buck. 

We all know that the gun opener is a sacred holiday in the state of Wisconsin. And this year's opener did not disappoint for Pierce! He was able to tag a beautiful buck on a hunt that took some strange turns! Tune in to hear how it all went down!

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

Connect with The Wisconsin Sportsman Podcast on Instagram.

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The best part of the hunting season is finally here. We've waited for this all year long. Now let's make it count with some great gear from our partners. First up, Tacticam is our title sponsor and their point of view cameras are my go to method for filming my hunts. Their new 6. 0 camera has added a one inch LCD touchscreen that has totally changed the game for me.

Its lightweight design, weatherproof housing, and one touch operation really simplify the self filming process and make sure that I have high quality footage to share with my family and friends. My personal favorite for archery season is two 6. 0 cameras, one on a stabilizer mount on my bow and one on a bendy clamp mount for an over the shoulder angle.

And I pair this with a Tacticam remote so I can turn both cameras on with a push of a single button. To learn more or pick up your 6. 0 today, head over to Tacticam. com. Share your hunt with Tacticam. Now, as the temps begin to drop, I know I'll be hunting in comfort with my Huntworth camo. Huntworth is making high quality technical hunting clothing at a fraction of the price of other [00:01:00] brands.

This time of year, I'm making sure to layer smart. I start with a set of base layers, either the Casper or the Bangor, which I have found to be very comfortable and moisture wicking. Next, I'll have on either my Elkins mid weight top and bottom. Or my Saskatoon heavyweight top and bottom. Either way, I'm also going to be bringing my Saskatoon vest and because the hunting often gets better when the weather turns nasty this time of year, the Winstead rain suit lives in my Hickory pack all the time.

And I can honestly say that this is the best rain suit that I have ever used. You can learn more or grab your Huntworth gear today at huntworthgear. com. And finally, the Onyx Hunt app is an absolutely indispensable tool for me this time of year. If I'm not in the action, I'm going to be making a move to go find it.

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Get more out of your maps this season. And know where you stand with the Onyx Hunt app. Now let's get into this week's show.

What is going on, everyone? Welcome back to another episode of the Wisconsin Sportsman Podcast, which is brought to you by Tacticam. This is your home for all things outdoors in the Badger State. I'm your host, Josh Raley. I've got my good buddy and my co host, Mr. Pierce Nellis on the line. Pierce, what's up, man?

How much buddy?

Glad to it's an

interesting weekend. Yeah. To say the least, to say the least, I'm glad that we could catch up and Talk about it and hear your input on it. I, first of all, I just want to address the fact that I just called you ban. I was trying to say man or buddy.

There [00:03:00] was a mix in there. So I just called you ban. That's your new name. But yeah, man, interesting weekend. Gun season, obviously in Wisconsin, a very important holiday for the entire state. I unfortunately was not able to partake. Got a picture. Got a picture from the public ground that I like to hunt and boy, a toad was killed out there.

Absolute slob. Good deer. What do you think he scored? Oh, he's 160 plus. Yeah. Yeah, he's 160 plus. It's hard to tell the spread from that picture. Yeah, the angle's kind of goofy. But that was a hell of a buck. Yeah, dude, and the frame on him. Yeah. There are bucks that I look at and I'm like, okay, you're framey.

And to me, that's like a big... Big wide rack, tines that are tall. That buck is what I, it comes to mind, what comes to mind when I think of him is cagey. Cause he just, it looks like a rib cage sticking up off of his head. Cause there are just so many like long tines coming up that yeah, he's just a really impressive deer.

So [00:04:00] congrats to that guy. If you think, you know where I hunt and you killed a big one there. This weekend for for gun deer season, man, shoot me a picture. I'd love to know where you shot that thing and the circumstances surrounding it. Not that I want to steal your spot or anything like that.

I'm just curious, man. I love this property and I want to know, I want to know more about how the deer use it and where they hide and what got bumped to you, how things happen or whatever. Anyway, Pierce, man you had a little bit of success. We're going to talk about that a little bit today, but there are a couple of things that I wanted to talk about before we jump on mostly from our sponsors.

So we've got the black Friday stuff going on right now, obviously, right? Like black Friday, just around the corner. Are you a black Friday guy?

I actually placed a couple of orders this morning, trying to get a jump on some holiday shopping for the the family and the girlfriend. So

I'm not

a, get up and hit Best Buy at two in the morning kind of guy, but the comfort of the [00:05:00] couch and my laptop I'll tend to jump on some

stuff.

How about you? Okay. Yeah. You know what? I am the, I'm the guy that will, I will buy it if I can online, like I will purchase it online if I can do it. I will pay extra money not to have to get up early and go wait in a line with a bunch of fanatical shoppers. Like I will pay more for it to avoid that, but yeah, man I actually bought a TV the other day. Black Friday deal come early. So I was like, yeah, let's buy it. My TV just went out. I need a new TV. It's awesome. Upgraded from like a 40 inch TV. To a 55 inch TV. There you go. My world is different. I watched a movie on it that night and I was like, okay, like this is a different, yeah, this is different.

This, yeah, I was way more sucked into the story. But I do want to say if you are looking for some gear this year, obviously head over to Tacticam. com and shop what you need from Tacticam. Huntworth, I [00:06:00] know has got a great Black Friday sale going on right now. Trying to pull that up and see what their deal is exactly.

I think it's somewhere in the neighborhood of I don't know, 30. Oh yeah. 30 percent off site wide right now, black Friday savings. It ends November 27th, 2023 promo code hunt 30 C Y that is hunt 30. CY. All those letters are all caps. They've also had some flash sale stuff popping up. So literally, you can add that like 30 percent plus like a 20 or 30 percent flash sale and you're getting things at just a really stupid discount, right?

Just a really good discount, and then obviously our other partner, Onyx. Man. Pierce, would you? Where would you be without Onyx? I feel like I need to know,

oh man, probably lost out in the middle of some random patch of public

trying to find my way back home. . Now, did you, okay, Pierce, did you, do you hunt differently [00:07:00] and scout differently now that you have OnX?

Do you, 100%, do you go further, deeper, all of that now that you've got it? Yes,

absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I use it for. And I know you do too prepping like before you go into a, go into a hunt. I use it for fishing, even man, like spotting out where there's an easement in Wisconsin when there's not.

Dude, it's, and there's so many features, right? The tracker feature, the, just having all the different pins that you can drop, being able to share stuff, dude, I would love to go back and. Count how many pens you and I have sent back and forth

this season. Yeah, man. It's people may call me a wuss for this, but like back in the days of paper maps and a compass.

I was not the most confident guy out there, man. You're no Boy Scout? I am no Boy Scout, dude. I would go to a piece of public and dude I'm telling you, I would not want to go in very far. Like I, I was not a let's go a mile and [00:08:00] a half deep kind of guy. gOt a GPS and was a little bit more of a mile and a half deep guy then.

But even then, like I would use, or I was hunting in, places in Alabama or Louisiana that were, There was a lot of water. So like oftentimes if you weren't running an active track on your GPS And you'd just be out of luck. Cause you, you'd come to a spot and you're like, Oh, I'm surrounded by water.

Where do I go? I don't know. I guess you cross and guess you swim across that water to get back to your truck, because that's the only obvious, straight line path to get back there, but it's totally changed the way that I hunt. So yeah, this black Friday, go check out our partners. On X is a really good gift.

Like you can give that as a gift to somebody. That's a good one. Tactic cam 6. 0 or a tactic cam solo extreme camera. Both of those are really good gifts. One of them is a little more budget friendly. So depending on who you're buying it for, if you like them a lot, get them a 6. 0. If you like them, okay, maybe buy them the the solo extreme camera.

Spend a little bit less money if you want to save a dime or two. And then we've got Revo. So why don't you tell [00:09:00] us what's going on there. Yeah, Revo

sunglasses, folks. They have up to 70 percent off with their code Black Friday. However, I'm looking at their site at the moment.

There's a lot of stuff that's still 20 percent off. You could bump up to 30 percent off with code Wisconsin Sportsman 30. Other than that, that's another great gift idea. I, like I've said before, they've got a lens and a frame for everything from hunting and fishing to chilling on the patio, having a couple of beers.

And it's just a high quality lens. It really is. They're outstanding. And yeah, they also do if you're a winter sports. Athlete, or you've got some winter sports athletes in your family. They've got some pretty killer goggles for skiing, snowboarding. Whatever you really want to use them for.

I'll use mine while I'm snowblowing the driveway, even, but Yeah, just awesome company, awesome products go check them out. That's another great gift idea. And we've got some deals [00:10:00] going on right now to save you some

money. Sweet. Also I think underrated use man, like winter driving season is coming.

And there's nothing worse than a nice beautiful sunrise or sunset or middle of the day when that sun finally decides to peak out in the winter and you're absolutely blinded, by the snow and the fact that your eyeballs haven't seen the sun in a while. I was shocked again when I was up there for six days, it was just gray and cloudy and no sun.

I was like, Oh yeah, that's right. This place is really dreary this time of year. This is really different, but it won't be like that soon, folks. It won't be like that soon. We'll get some of those high pressure days after a good snowfall and you'll be really wanting those Revo glasses.

Especially if you're like me and you never wash your car in the winter and you got that film of salt across the windshield.

I know you don't have to worry about that down in Georgia anymore. No, sir. Man, when the sun hits that, that's a, that's just hazardous at that

point. You're just being irresponsible, sir. That's what's going on there. [00:11:00] anYway, Pierce, man, now that we've said a little, thanks to our partners. Why don't we jump in and about the gun open?

Yeah, we didn't,

oh, go ahead. I feel like we didn't highlight the fact that we barely even talked about it in the last episode. Now, granted you had just killed a buck. We were coming off of that high and we had lots of other discussion on just the matter of bow hunting, where we were at in the rut mentally, physically, and the status of our tags and all that.

But I feel like we just for being as big of a deal as it is. We just didn't talk about rifle opener.

Listen, the last couple of years I've made a big deal out of it, right? And this year, if I'm just being honest for myself, and I don't want to speak for you if I'm wrong, so correct me if I'm wrong here, I felt I was just like hung over and done after that rutcation.

Like I, [00:12:00] after the number of hours spent in a stand and how hard that I hunted right there during the rut, man, I was done, man. And no, I wasn't at the top of my game. I was not really and knowing I wasn't going to get to participate, gun season wasn't heavy on my mind. Like it was just sad.

Like the other day you were out hunting and you were like, yeah, man I'm burned out. Like I just. I need to have a reset and you're like, I was like, yeah, go for it. And then I realized like, Oh wait you're gun hunting the next day. Like the day after your reset, in my mind, you still had four or five, six days.

I was like, yeah, man, go, reset, take, relax. No big deal. Take a couple of days. But then I was like, no, dude he's gun hunting the day after his reset. Yeah, dude, I was on empty.

Yeah. So how

did that, how'd that end up for you, by the way? Do you want to rant about this yet? Or is this is this, is that an episode in itself where we just roast this guy?

I hope he listens, I hope [00:13:00] he listens to this show.

I don't have too much of a rant here uh, you know what, I'll go for it, alright.

We preach parking lot cooperation all the time, we always preach it.

And so if you listened last week you know that I had, there's a buck on some public in this real gnarly, bluffy, thick, hilly terrain that I've been putting a lot of work into not that matters, but I'm not trying to create a pity party

for myself here, but you're building the scene, you're building the scene.

Yeah, I've

been devoting time to a specific buck, which I've found this year. I really like doing I forgot how much I really just enjoy like picking out one buck and be like, I'm going to figure you out and I'm going to kill you. You're a weirdo.

Okay. All right. You're this buck right here, man. Same thing.[00:14:00]

But maybe I'll get there one day.

So I. Okay. Bye. I get to this public on Tuesday, after we record, I think I literally put it on the story like that morning. I get to the public, I'm in the lot, pull in, there's another car, there's a guy out there getting ready, he's putting his pack on, I see his got a stand with him, some climbing sticks, he's grabbing his bow and all that, headlamps on.

I park, and I'm like, hey buddy, where are you going? What's the plan for the day? And he tells me that he is going to the, Exact draw that

I wanted to be in. Okay. First, right off the bat, I got to know, I got to know what kind of stands and standing sticks does he have? Or can you, I didn't look that close

there.

I want to say I was running late and I was more, honestly, at that point it pulled down, I saw someone else was there and I was like, crap, I got to get ready fast

so I can get there. I was just curious. Cause sometimes I pull in and I'm like, I'll see a dude in a saddle with some sticks and I'm like, crap he's probably going, if I see a guy with a climber, I'm like.

Eh, [00:15:00] he's probably not . Yeah. It

wasn't a climber. Definitely wasn't a climber. He's probably not going where I'm going. He might've had a saddle. Okay. I really didn't get a good look. Okay. I saw the, however, he had his gear, I saw the sticks on the outside. I didn't see whatever he was using

in the condition there, but he's a, he's probably highly mobile.

He's not wearing a 30 pound climber on his back. He's right. He's okay. All right. . And he's going right where you're hoping to go. Yep.

Exactly. He's going right where I'm hoping to go. He is. Telling me he's going to be out there all day today and the following day. And so I'm like, all right, that kind of sucks.

I really don't want you in this spot all day. Cause you're either going to see who I'm after or. You're going to scare who I'm after. And so I am like, all right, that's fine. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to set up on the the next sort of draw over. I'm going to give you plenty of room, but I'm going to be on the next draw over.

[00:16:00] And so I set up on the, I guess you would call it the. The near side of that draw to the following to the next draw up and I'm set up on there hoping maybe I can catch this buck because the last time I saw him, he worked from the draw that I'm going to set up in over the ridge and into the draw that he was going to set up and so I'm like, maybe I can get in there super quiet.

I can get set up. And maybe I can catch him like right off the get go, hopefully slip in there before him. But, we'll see what happens at the very least. Maybe I'll get eyes on him and I'll have an idea. Okay. He smelled or, got spooked by that guy. Here's where he goes. This is his escape route.

Maybe I'm hoping to just gain some intel. And so I'm hiking in there. And on the way up, I can see this dude's headlamp he's a couple hundred yards up ahead of me, and dude, this thing is all over

the place. Ah, he's a Josh Railey. It is a

light show. I

love it.

[00:17:00] I love it. I'm like, dude.

And it's funny you say that. Cause as I was watching him and I saw his headlamp all over the place, lighting up the treetops, the, the opposite side of this little gully dude, all over the freaking place, I'm like. There is no way in hell Josh is not spoofing deer on the way in. If I'm a deer and I see this rave coming down through the woods, I'm running.

And

granted, you get in there a heck of a lot earlier than this guy and myself were, so I think there's something to be said for that. So we get in there, I'm, watching this guy work across the ridge, I'm going through my draw, I can see through the thick stuff up above me. Over into the next draw and dude, I'm just same kind of thing.

The light is all over the freaking place. I hear a couple of thuds and clangs and stuff like that getting set up. And I'm just like, this isn't good. And so I'm like, set up, I'm feeling discouraged. I'm just not feeling good about the setup as a [00:18:00] whole. Cause I was really pumped to get in there. Like I was really feeling good about it.

I had a game plan, the exact tree I was going to be in. How I was going to access it, all this stuff just out the window and so I probably should have had a better plan B there, but I get in there, I'm set up, and the sun starts coming up, the wind starts picking up a little bit, and around 7, 25?

Or so I hear like a thud and I don't know what exactly it is. And so I'm like, okay, did a branch fall? Did something happen? What, what's going on? And about five minutes later, I see movement through the thick stuff, on this ridge in between the two draws. And I'm like, is that an antler in there?

The heck? I pull my binos up. To see that it is just a big white stripe in his camo pattern as he walks across the ridge.[00:19:00] Into my setup, like 30, 40 yards away and dude at first, like he, he didn't know I was there, but I did tell him, all right, I'm going to be in the draw just down from you, just a heads up,

right?

He knew, yeah, he didn't know exactly where you were, but he knew that draw was occupied.

It's 130 yards wide. It's not that

big of a draw. And I feel like in hill country. Okay. So where I'm hunting an island, Marshy Island stuff, right? If I say, hey, I'm going to head out to this island, the courteous thing to do is to not come to that island.

It doesn't matter that the island is eight acres. Just, somebody's over there, you know that. I feel like in draw, like in hill country where you got draws, if somebody says, hey, I'm going to hunt the next draw over, close enough, there's two of you out, you don't need to go explore that. Just want to take a quick minute to let you know that the Wisconsin Sportsman Podcast is brought to you by Tacticam.

Makers of the best point of view cameras on the market for hunters and anglers. They're on the [00:20:00] cutting edge, making user friendly cameras to help the everyday outdoorsman share your hunt with friends and loved ones. Their new 6. 0 camera has a ton of upgraded features this year, but the one I'm most excited about is the new LCD touchscreen.

In my mind, that is a total game changer. And one area Tacticam really shines is with their mounts and adapters that are made with a sportsman in mind. If you've tried to film your hunting and fishing excursions, You know just how frustrating it can be to try to get an action camera aimed just right or get it attached to your weapon or in a good spot for a second angle.

Tacticam makes all of that a breeze with their line of mounts and adapters. This fall, I'm going to be using their stabilizer mount on my bow with the 6. 0 camera and their bendy clamp paired with the 5. 0 wide camera for a second angle and to make sure I don't miss any of the action. To learn more and check out their full line of products, head over to their website, Tacticam.

com. And share your hunt with Tacticam. And so 730

rolls around. I see this guy working through the, through these, stick kind of saplings and stuff like that. [00:21:00] And, I'm just watching through my binos and I'm like, I don't want to make a bunch of noise and, yell at him or anything. I'm like, he's not looking my direction at all.

He's got his phone in his hand. He's looking down like on Onyx I'm assuming or something like that. And this is what time? It's

730 in the morning and you didn't hear a bow go off or anything like that. No, nothing. He's just down looking around at 730 during the road or just getting set up

during the right.

During the rut. Yes. And she starts working through this thick stuff towards me still, 35 or 40 yards away. He has no idea I'm there and on his phone stops, sets his bow down and he's in some thick brush and stuff and starts like shimmying around with his pack and all that and I'm like.

Is this dude about to take a dump? Like, why is he in the thick stuff at 7 [00:22:00] 30 in the morning, setting all of his stuff down

do I need to shout at this guy?

What's going on?

Oh, gosh. A little strong.

Come on, man. Like either way, you were either walking through my setup. Are you're about to take a dump in my setup what the hell?

And neither is a good option. Neither is a good

option. And long story short, he just keeps on walking, does not drop trow, luckily. Keeps going, walks the whole edge of my draw, like the whole upper perimeter of it. And, I do not see a deer, I see him walk off around. South of me and all that stuff.

And that was pretty much just how that whole setup went. So that was pretty disheartening. And then, yeah, the next couple of days I just went back in there. He was in there two days later, not the following day. Told him where I was going to beat him in there, got to where I wanted to be.

Got super aggressive set up on that buck bed, like [00:23:00] right off of that point, got. Figured out, literally the exact rock this buck is bedding behind and all that stuff. And it just didn't happen for me. Didn't see him in there, anything like that, but I think I've got his number for late season.

If he survives this week and muzzle loader, I think I've got a good shot at maybe getting in there and getting a crack at him. I don't know how much he's going to move or anything like that, but you got a camera in there on him yet. No, not yet. Oh dude. Not yet. I'm gonna get in there soon and do that.

There's ag

around, right? There's ag around? And within a

mile? Within a mile, yes. Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. But it's, I don't know, there's a crop, I'm not gonna say what because it will give away the spot entirely. There is something that deer... Would like to eat. Okay. All right. That is being grown by people.

Seriously. [00:24:00]

Weed. There is. I think we're on weed on this mountain side. Yeah.

That's strange. Couples got a hell of an operation.

Oh man. All right. I hope that didn't give anything away. no, I don't think so.

Yeah, if you got, if you're hunting public near a weed farm, that's a,

you got me figured out all the deer are really slow.

It's weird, but I would love to hunt some hot deer, dude. Yeah, let them be let their senses be dulled like I could use it These are the least

cagey deer I've ever seen. They're

so laid back They're not stressed about anything Man so you think you got his number for late season I'd say get a camera in there, dude Yeah, that's a good one there.

So that's the plan for late season. So then you take your reset day, dude Your reset day sounded amazing. Sounded great Yeah, it was [00:25:00] decent. Then it was time to hop in to gun season Which I don't think is quite as hardcore as some of the stuff you've been doing at least as far as your access And your setup and that kind of thing.

I don't think it's quite as hardcore which I mean I'll be honest with you. I'm thinking about going down to Alabama next week. My dad shot a good one on the, on Alabama's rifle opener. Oh, did he? Did he get one down? He did. One he shot at with his bow and missed. So he had a really good evening the weekend before.

He shot a good buck, shot at a good buck and missed it with his bow. Had another, even bigger buck come in. He hit him in the leg, didn't he? Wounded him. He doesn't know where he hit him. I don't think. And didn't find him. So super disappointing, right? He goes back to the same spot. The first buck he shot at and missed comes in.

He puts it down with a rifle, basically at bow [00:26:00] distances. And yeah, great buck three and a half year old, which for our area, small acreage, a three and a half year old dude, that's what we're, that's a stud that's what we're managing for, and when we're talking South Alabama, we're talking, he's probably 95 inches, 90 inches.

My first buck was a three and a half year old and he was like 75 inches. A 90 some inch deer is a really good deer. Yeah, I can count on one hand the number of deer I know of from that area that are over a hundred. Really? Yeah, it's not many. Like 110 inches is a giant for downtown.

Like it might as well, that's like shooting a Booner in Southwest Wisconsin. Like everybody in town hears about it anyway. Yeah. So my dad's shot one. So I'm thinking about getting down there with my kids, man. And just going on dope patrol. Like my dad's got a buck for the year now. Granted he can shoot two more legally, but.

It's a good time to get the kids out. So I may take them down next weekend. And your kids hunt down there. Oh yeah. [00:27:00] Would you

put them behind the rifle? I give them

a year. This is the first year that we've thought about it. So it would depend on how much practicing we're able to do.

They're not really practiced up with a rifle. With a shotgun. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, but I don't want them. I don't know, man. I've seen too many like smaller shotguns, just not put kill shots on deer. Yeah. So in my mind, until they can shoot, a smaller caliber rifle, a 243 or something like that, we're not gonna, we're not gonna put them, not gonna put them out there on it, but they love to be there for the whole experience though.

They love to be there for the shooting and all that. They got to kill a deer with my dad last year. Oh, cool. Yep. I actually butchered my deer yesterday with my kids, which was awesome. Plugged in on that. Got a seven and nine year old helper. Which is great, but anyway, sorry, all that to say your hunting's a little more comfortable during gun season.

Yes. And all [00:28:00] the right ways in all the best ways.

Yeah. I was, at this point I was very much looking forward to not being in a saddle and instead having my butt on the, pulled hard great of a ladder stand. Yes But the shooting rail and just being able to lean back and relax a little bit So I went up to my folks place.

We always kind of tradition ever since I started hunting We'll do opening morning up at my folks place on the perfect five Brought the girlfriend with me as well. So this is her She came up two years ago and hunted both Saturday and Sunday opening weekend, just a trooper. She hates the cold and she stuck it out that weekend.

And then two days later came down with just a nasty cold. So I felt horrible about that, but this weekend, everything was great. We had pies in the fifties. Like for those of you who are honestly, man, you missed out. It was like. Perfect rifle hunting weather, a little bit warm [00:29:00] for maybe the deer to like movement to be optimal.

But just with the sheer number of folks out in the woods and everything, I think deer were on their feet quite a bit. Bucks were still running. I Heard of a lot of guys seeing bucks still, out there cruising and running around. And yeah, we got in there set up, half hour before first light, everything's good.

We saw a spike. Run it up across the field above us. And he ran by and then a minute and a half later comes running back the way he came. And something like there's either a coyote over there, one of the neighbors drove his truck into the cornfield, or hopefully there's a big buck that just ran him off.

Then he's just hightailing it out of there. Ended up being the neighbor in his pickup truck. So that was a bummer, like 10 minutes into first light walking right across the top of the ag field too, which is a, that dude was

skylined interesting play to the max. Yeah.

Yeah. But nevertheless, he got in [00:30:00] there, he went over the hill, went.

And then we're just sitting there hadn't really heard much. It was really quiet in our valley right off the bat heard a few shots, but the wind was just still like the woods were silent.

Did y'all do anything to get in quiet on such a still morning or is it just you know what?

This is the kind of day where everybody and their brother is getting out here, so we're just going to get to the stand. We walked

in quiet, still. We went slow. And just watched for, piles of crunchy leaves. But it was chilly that morning, so there was frost on the ground, so there was only so much you could really do.

We got in there just fine, and it was, like I said, a half hour or so before first light. And we gave everything plenty of time to settle down and all

that. What's the play there? Obviously we've talked about the perfect five during bow season and like how you hunted it pre rut, like there's a lot of strategy going on there.

What's the play when it comes to, rifle hunting, obviously your reach is a lot further. [00:31:00] Is there a lot of strategy that goes into like how you're thinking about that setup or is it just look, this gets me a shot at everything I want to shoot that one. You just hit the nail on the head, buddy.

Put

your butt in that tree and everything that was out of range during bow season is now suddenly in range so

far. I love that so much on a place like the perfect five. Cause I think about that and like our, the public here that I'm hunting or, at home back home.

Yeah, we've got a lot of acreage to work with, but dude, it's just pine trees and thick okay. I go sit with a rifle in my hand. I can't shoot any further than I could with a bow because I just can't see that far, yeah, so super exciting for your perfect five because you can see the way it's the way it all sets up.

You can see a lot.

Suddenly everything is unlocked, which is just It's just fun. And at that point, like we've got a lot of pressure in our valley just from neighbors hunting and all that. And deer are getting shoved around all [00:32:00] freaking day with guys on four wheelers or guys getting down, going to their trucks or whatever it may be, gunshots over the hill are pushing deer, half a mile towards us.

Like it's just a free for all really. Which makes it pretty fun because a lot of times we're seeing, we have a really good shot at seeing bucks that we haven't seen all season who are a half mile away or three quarters of a mile away. So it's just fun. It's a good time. It's low pressure.

Having that reach. And so it's, we just have a good time with it and all that. Yeah. And so we were sitting in the stand and about seven 20. Or so the squirrels are waking up and stuff and we're talking about, yeah, there's a couple nests just down the hill from us here.

And so you're going to hear a lot of rustling around in there that sounds like deer, but it never is. And then they'll move from there up to this other tree and they'll cause a ruckus up in there. So you got to have your [00:33:00] eyes peeled because everything sounds like a deer, but it's not as we're talking there, just BS.

And we hear. A couple of, that real sharp footstep in the ground, that kind of just that stomp. And I'm like, Oh shoot. Hey, there's a deer behind us. And I think we're busted. Like we're toast. And so I was like, we'll see what happens here. Like it's probably just a doe, whatever that

is a deer.

Yeah,

exactly. And we hear a couple of stomps no blowing or anything like that, but just a couple of stomps and they start to, get a little bit harder and a little bit shorter pauses in between. And I was like, this deer is about to spring out of here. If whatever, we'll get eyes on him.

And so I turned back. After we hear this thing bound off and take a couple steps, I lean back around the tree behind us and see a pretty decent wide rack. And I'm like, Oh, shoot. Good buck. Good buck. All right. I [00:34:00] grabbed my gun. I pull it up. Working back away from us on another trail. And I murped him a couple of times and he paused for just a second, but he was in some really thick stuff.

I personally like those lighter caliber guns, I'll get to this. I did, I felt a lot more confident in them up until Saturday. But I've shot a 243 my whole life. I've had no issues with it with, or for deer or anything like that. And so this buck starts working away and I'm like, Hey, he's in thick stuff.

Like he's not going to do it. And then he gets up to the. Not quite to the field edge but like just inside of it and he's walking along and I was like, all right, I got it. I got to stop him here. And so I, he wouldn't respond to the murps anymore. And so I just started going like that at him and then he stopped and threw his head up and I squeezed off, felt good about it.

And I was like, I smoked him. He is toast. He's going to be laying. On the edge of this field, when we get up there, like [00:35:00] job, well done, seven 20, lock it in, we're in good shape.

Just like gun season should go. Yeah.

And so I was like, at that point, I'm like, ah, man, I'm almost bummed that it was over so quick, like son of a gun.

I didn't even get to really enjoy, my, my toes were hardly cold at that point, and so I climbed down text my dad, Hey. Smoked one feel good about it. I think we're in good shape. My girlfriend's never seen a deer get shot. Animals die. Like she's she's the type who like, if she sees something on the side of the road that got, smoked or if she hits a bird, like she's tearing up or she's checking on stuff.

If there's, an animal in the median of the highway, she's pulling over to try and shoo that thing across the road. Back to safety and all that just

Yeah. Total pacifist.

And so I'm I'm excited 'cause I shot this buck, but I'm also ah, is she gonna be all right?

I don't wanna rattle her too much or anything like that, just 'cause I know she's sensitive to it and doesn't like animals dying. And [00:36:00] so we get up to the field edge and we're looking for blood and all that. And I'm expecting to get up there and see a white belly. There's nothing.

And finally I'm like, all right there's a heavy trail going into this thick stuff. That's probably where he went in and crashed, but I didn't hear a crash. So I don't really know, but maybe he just, he went down quietly or he was up in the field, who knows? And so we get up there, not really finding blood on the field edge.

And so I go over to this trail and then I finally start seeing, okay, there's some blood. Okay. Pretty dark red. The heck. Take a couple more steps. There's bloody kernels of corn. Down alongside it. So I'm like, are you kidding me? Did I seriously like that? I got to shoot this thing. If you got up Josh and you saw dark red blood with bloody kernels of corn, where would you think that you

shot that deer [00:37:00] guts, liver, guts, liver.

Gut sliver. Exactly. My call every time gut sliver, depending on how greedy it is.

Yeah. And so I'm sitting there and I wish I had an arrow so I could figure out like, okay, what's actually on this, is it for sure guts or cause if so, I'm going to back out and, just leave it, but I'm thinking, I hit this thing.

If I hit it in all that soft tissue, that bullets expanding the ballistics of that thing are going to do some serious damage. He's not getting far by any means. You know what I mean? And we just real, real slowly take up the trail and we're just sure enough, goes down into this thick stuff and I keep seeing dark red blood, chunks of corn.

And I'm like, are you kidding me? I was sure that I smoked it. What the hell happened? And tracking super, super slowly a little bit further, we end up getting about 100 yards from the shot site, and I'm like, eh, you know what guys, let's get out of here. I probably should have stopped it sooner, but,[00:38:00] the blood was consistent enough that I was like, okay, like he,

he went a little further than I thought, but this is a lot of blood. He should be about done. So I'm like, all right, let's call it off. Go inside, have a cup of coffee, give it a couple hours. We wait three hours. Go back out, finally find we find same blood where we left off last time, we continue tracking it, maybe another 10 to 20 yards and all of a sudden, dude, he just like specks like pin drops of blood.

And so I'm sitting here man, this is not looking good at

all. Which that also makes me think guts. Cause I've had deer that are gut shot. End up doing that. You have stuff moves around and something plugs the hole. You'll get like an intestine hanging out and all of a sudden the blood just dries up.

So you got to be thinking like definitely guts. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And so

I text this guy who I've had out to help us in blood tracking in years past, he's up north hunting with his son. [00:39:00] And so I'm like, shoot, do you know anyone else who like might be a good option? Sends me another number.

I call that guy luckily he's right up the road from where we live. And so I'm like, Hey, here's what I got. And he's dude, dark red blood, chunks of corn. Get the hell out of there. Get out of there right now. You've already pushed that deer further further than it would have gone, probably get out of there.

And it's dude, you're like, it's what I was worried about, but I really thought that the ballistics were going to shorten this thing up. So what the heck? And so I get off the phone with him. My dad's down in the bottom of this gully, because he was, he stayed or stayed out and hunted while I was my girlfriend and I went in, to rest the area.

He went back to where he was sitting. He said he saw a couple of does come in, go to go through this gully and hang up above it, looking down in there. Not really sure what to do. And then they backed out of it. So he's I think that buck might be down in the gully, like it might be dead. So I'm just going to go over it and I'm going to peek up over the edge [00:40:00] of it and see if there's, if he's just laying down in the bottom and so hang up the phone and go to shout down to my dad.

Hey, let's get out of here. Let's, just give it some rest. The dog or the blood tracker is going to come out, around four and. As I'm like shouting down to him, he looks back at me and he starts waving me over and pointing up the hill on the other side of this draw. And I'm like, do you have him?

What the heck? And so I'm excited now because I'm like. This deer is down right there. What a huge relief. Thank God. And so I start walking down towards him real slowly and quietly. And he's giving me like, the stay down kind of hand motion. And I get about 20 yards behind him.

And then I look up across the gully from him and I see a deer walking up the hill away from us real, real slow. And so I get up even with him. Put the scope on him [00:41:00] and I, he's walking perfectly away from us down this trail. So I can't see if there's a wound on either side or anything like that.

But regardless, I'm like, that looks a heck of a lot like my deer. He's moving really slow. It's gotta be him. Like it's got the same kind of like antler shape and all that. Like he looks like he's hunched over. Looks like he's been shot in the guts. Like Now's our shot. Let's you know, let's get him.

So he goes up the hill and he stops I mean he stood there for probably five minutes just turning his head looking left and right But just was not feeling good at all. So I feel horrible cuz I'm like this poor bastards been, walking around With his guts blown to bits for the last, three hours four hours at this point, right and We're also pushing him.

So like that sucks. And so I was just, I was relieved to have him up there, at least, within eyesight. He didn't go, more than 200 yards or anything. And so finally I set up, leaning against a tree, [00:42:00] wait for him to turn broadside, let one fly, kind of donkey, or goes up on his rear legs and then jumps forward.

And then I don't see him go anywhere else. And, here's some leaves kicking around and stuff. And I was like, okay, I didn't see him go out the other side. So I'm thinking, hopefully he's done. I think he's good. And so I walk up real slow. My girlfriend stays back where like from the spot where I shot and then my dad goes down below up this tractor trail to look up just in case he I did bump him and he was trying to escape out the back there.

And so I get up there. Luckily, normally. All right. I think this is where he was standing. I look to my right. And sure enough, he's laid up their head on a log. Just perfect sunshine on him and all that, so I am relieved get up there. I'm pumped. I wave everyone over. I'm like, Hey, we got them. This is great.

What a relief. Finally got it done. And I can see on, so he's laying on his, let's see here, laying on his left side with his [00:43:00] right side up. And so I see this, the exit shot, or I wasn't sure if it was the exit or if it was the entrance or whatever. But I see a hole, lower rib cage maybe four inches back from the shoulder right where you want to hit them and all that.

And sure enough out the, coming out of the wound, there's it's a bird seed and like chunks of corn and stuff like that. And I was like, is that where I shot him? What the hell? Like, why? Hold on. And then like where's the other, like, where's the other hole? If that's where I shot him the first time, where's the others?

Like where to spot or whatever. And so you get them up, roll them over and mind you the entire way we had. Dark red blood, chunks of corn. And so I'm sitting here looking down at his abdomen, like what on earth happened here? This makes absolutely no sense. [00:44:00] I'm just feeling around on his body and stuff like that.

I learned that my first shot blew straight through his front left shoulder. it Was dangling, like just like whole, I forget, I'm going to be kicking myself for not remembering this anatomy, but it's the humerus. That's like your bicep bone between the elbow and the shoulder. Yep.

I think so.

I'll agree with it.

Yeah. So that thing's shattered in pieces, like leg is held in there by tendons, but everything in that shoulder is just complete mush. Like it's just graveled in there. And so I'm like, okay. That's the only shot that's on that side. That's the shot that I there's no exit from over there.

That's the only shot that I had, when I took the first shot, like I shot him on his left side because he was moving right to left. [00:45:00] How in the hell was he losing chunks of corn?

And I still don't have the answer.

I thought you were gonna, I thought you're gonna be like, and then we cut him open and we realized that.

Yeah, no, we cut him open and we were like, I have no clue how that happened. No kidding. Absolutely no clue. Now, the only thing I can think of. would be that bullet went in through the shoulder or that upper shoulder bone blew through that joint.

Then maybe tore up his esophagus or like the, like that's, I'm not sure where exactly the rumen is on a deer, but I know that they've got one where they store all that cud and then they barf it back up. And then they regurgitate it to chew it up and then digest it. So I don't know if I hit his rumen or his esophagus or the area in between or [00:46:00] what the heck happened, man.

But there were bloody chunks of corn and dark red blood. And that was that. Dude, that's

weird, man. Yeah. It looks like the rumen is way back there. Like it doesn't look, it

wasn't that, so it must've been, and now that's, that was the thing is it's such a far forward shot. Maybe not.

Maybe not. Maybe not.

Yeah. I don't know. I'm looking it up right now. I'm Googling it. And it honestly looks like, okay the rumens towards the back, but there are like, look at the way this dough is standing and you won't be able to see this if you're just listening. But look at the anatomy there.

It points at the different stomachs. Realistically, it shows one of them way far forward through that reticulum then. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know, I don't know, but a weird shot nonetheless, and [00:47:00] obviously you did not have the exit that you were hoping for. Thoughts on any, are you going to do anything different or like you said, you've never had a problem with a 243 before.

Never had a problem with it. Are you going to change anything now moving forward or are you going to, are you going to say, you know what? I think that was just the freak accident. We're going to, we're going to keep rocking. That

was the most rushed shot I've ever taken on a whitetail, I will say that, and I did shoot through just the tips of a honeysuckle bush.

Granted, it was like a 70 ish yard shot. Yeah. But, I don't know, it was a rushed shot, it was. Because as that deer was as that deer was walking along the field edge and going up there I was like, oh, I might get another crack at him. I'm breathing heavy. I look down I fogged up the back of my scope and so I'm digging around in my Jacket trying to grab my lens cloth and I wiped all [00:48:00] that off and then get it set up and all that and I mean I did I felt good about it.

Like I felt really good when I squeezed it off. Yeah, it was just A total freak thing. And last year I hit a dough three inches further back from where I shot this guy. And she had full pass through down like literally four seconds, like just toast. And so I was like, that's what happened here.

That's great. Just didn't happen this time.

Are you going to, I don't know, man. What what kind of round are you using? 100

grain 243. It was like the Winchester super

X. Okay. I like them

because they're, it's a little bit slower round actually. I think it gets a little bit better expansion and the ballistics on it are a little bit better.

Cause I've shot federal premium, same thing, a hundred grain two 43 rounds. And I don't know if they use a different copper or a different, bullet, if they form it differently or what exactly. But [00:49:00] I've never had a good blood trail with those. Really? It's like it's going so fast it just zips in there and then it stops.

And it puts deer down quick. But it's so fast and there's no exit that like if you hit them more than halfway up the body there's no blood at all or if there is you're relying on it being like a double lung shot and You know coming out of the deer's mouth basically, and so I don't know man Like I'm deaf.

I'm not done shooting in 243, but there's the part of me That's like I would have shot, 30 30 or Even like a 6. 5 or something like that, or, yeah, definitely a 308, I think probably would have

done some serious damage

there, but, it's just one of those things, it's if I would have gone a little bit bigger with that of what he had just dropped right

then and there.

Maybe, but you never know. I grew up with a 30 30, then made the jump to the 30 06. I'm, I always grew up shooting like 165, 180 grain. [00:50:00] Bullets at much smaller whitetails down south. That was our thing. One round that I'm wondering if you have ever seen it for for your 243 is some silver tipped bullets.

Have you ever seen those? Okay. So I shot some silver tipped ammo out of my 30 30 and dude, it would go in one side and it'd be like a normal bullet hole and out the backside, it would look like somebody ripped a basketball out of the backside of that animal, right? It would just be a gnarly, just like an explosion happened inside of it.

No kidding. We eventually stopped using it because with the 3030 we were losing too much meat from the front shoulder. And that, that was a good year to try it out. I shot six deer with it that year. When you're a kid in high school and your dad's yeah, shoot whatever you want. I'm like, let's do it.

So like I literally shot. Yeah, I shot a lot of deer and then by [00:51:00] December, cause our season runs November, December, January, and end of February, then it just ended in January. But by the time we hit December, he was like, all right, that whole shoot, whatever you want thing is over. Like we're done.

We're done with that. Do not shoot anything else unless it's a giant. And then I remember him saying and don't shoot anything else with these, with that silver tip stuff because we were just losing so much meat off the front of the deer. But I wonder if it's a hundred grain bullet instead of 165 grain bullet, and a 243 rather than a 30, 30, cause a 30, 30, dude, you hit something with a 30, 30 at 70 yards amount of, the expansion you get with a normal bullet is stupid. Like it's going to, it's delivering so much of its energy to the deer. So I wonder what the two 43 being a pretty flat shooting round already with a little bit of extra oomph from a silver tipped ammo wonder how that would perform. Yeah.

Yeah. That'd be really interesting to look at. Cause I've shot [00:52:00] just like the, the normal Remington two 43. Ammo. I've shot Winchester core Super X Yeah, the core locked. Yep. Yep. Shot my first buck with the core locked. It was good stuff. Yeah. And then I switched over to Federal for the last handful of years and, had, it was the same kind of thing.

It was, like I said, if you shoot 'em in the lower half of the vitals, you'll have some blood, but. If you're shooting that thing, middle of the animal or a touch higher, there's nothing like nothing. And those Federals wouldn't pass through, I could not get him to pass through. I don't know what the deal was with that, these ones didn't, I guess these ones passed through on that, that second shot which again, it was like a 70 yard shot or so uphill and all that.

So I don't know, man, there's part of me that's.

Here's the moral of the story. You got a [00:53:00] beautiful buck on the ground. Your gun tag is filled. You have now shot a buck and a doe this year. So it's been a pretty... It's been a pretty good year, man. It has. You've laid eyes on good bucks. You've had good bucks to chase.

You've got some deer on the ground. Like... Late season is your oyster, man. It's all out there in front of you, right?

I'm very much looking forward to late season I think I'm Chomping at the bit to let an arrow fly on a late season bruiser we'll see what happens. I regret rushing everything about Saturday's hunt like everything about it and the shot the Yeah.

The analysis of the deer, really eyeing them up. Cause dude, honestly, I saw main beam and like the shape of the rack. And I was like, good buck, let's fly. And I have seen on November 1st, I saw one really big nine who is nice. And [00:54:00] then the other on the fifth and on the 12th, I saw that buck out on public.

I have not had eyes on a lot of bucks this year. I just haven't. And the ones that I have been little forks or spikes or, what have you. This was like the first alright, he's actually got, he's at the ear tips, if not a smidge outside of him. He's got a good big body on him and all that.

There's a decent buck. Let's go. And so I, dude, I was just chomping at the bit. I, if I would have seen him 150 yards off and had a little time to watch him come in. I might not have squeezed off But hey, I'm glad I did. He had a big body, big old body and his rack would have been great next year, but It's pretty darn good this year.

Yeah. And he's a healthy, handsome

buck. So I'm happy. Yeah, man. I'm happy for you. I'm glad you got one on the ground. And[00:55:00] yeah, I feel like so much of that whole gun season thing is really has nothing to do with the size of the deer, and it comes to the rack and all of that, like it just gun hunting, I feel like has a lot, bow hunting, I feel like it really hones in on that, that waiting for a mature buck or whatever, but I feel like there's so many.

Not only are there so many other reasons to shoot a deer besides the size of his rack, but there are so many variables once you get to gun season two. It's who knows, the way the neighbors hunted could have made your five acres like dead for the next two weeks. Like for, or for the next eight days or whatever of gun season.

Like you could have not seen another deer. Exactly. I think you made the right call. I'm glad you shot him. Yeah, me too, dude.

Trigger finger was

itchy. Man. I hope I get to get, I get to shoot one with a gun this year. That the last one I shot with a gun was 20.

Eighteen. Oh, are you [00:56:00] serious?

Yeah. 2018 or 2019.

2018 or 2019. That, dude, I hunted with a gun last year one day and I went out and saw some deer and I just didn't sound like

a lot of work. And you were like, yeah, I was like, no, I'm good.

No, it's yeah, no, I can pull the golf cart. Into this food plot and throw it up on the golf cart and drive it back to the truck and then drive it to the processor, which is what we do, at our family land.

So very, just, it's easy hunting bro, but it just, it's it's a 30 minute drive to the processor and 30 minutes back and then a hundred bucks for him. Yeah, son of a gun. And I know the processor, I hadn't seen him in a while. So we're going to talk for a long time, catch up. So anyway, I I'm itching a little bit though this year, man.

Yeah, dude,

especially if you can get the kids out there, if they're into it all the

better. No, if I've got the kids with me, I'm shooting whatever walks out and is legal. Like I want them to have as many [00:57:00] of those experiences as possible. And I've yet to shoot anything with one of my kids.

Like I haven't shot anything with him yet. You've

come close with the turkeys, man. Dude, we've

come so close, so very close, which by the way, I'm just going to throw this out there for everyone. I got back and I have been in Turkey mode and I do not know what to do about it, but it is like a sickness that I cannot get over and I'm.

I'm disappointed in myself because deer hunting is my first true passion. Fishing was probably my first true passion in the outdoors. Then I found deer hunting and that took over. And dude, now all I can think about is turkey hunting. Like seriously, the other day I was just. Watching videos of deer of Turkey's Goblin and I'm like, I need to send all of these to Pierce.

I'm like no, don't do that. Pierce has got some hunting left. Don't do that to him. [00:58:00]

No, man I was gonna text you that opening morning when the those first few shots were ringing out through the

valley. No they didn't. Tell me the turkeys didn't. Dude,

shot gobbles like you would not believe.

Oh my gosh. Like 80 yards behind me. Oh no. Just sounding off.

It was beautiful. Oh my word. It was

absolutely beautiful. And I was, I took my girlfriend out turkey hunting in the spring too. And like we were out at my folks place to start, and we heard a few gobbles, but it wasn't one of those mornings where all the birds are just fired up and on.

Like I said, we heard some gobbles, but it was like a handful right before fly down and then pretty darn quiet. This was dude, a freaking chorus of gobbles. It was sick.

Gosh, those days are so good. Those days are coming.

That's interesting. You say that too, about cause as you were saying it, like that fishing was the [00:59:00] first.

Real passion and stuff like that and then you get old enough you can deer hunt, right? And then you get an old enough that you can you know, maybe you start hunting on your own I want to do turkey. So you got a buddy who hunts ducks No, I'm gonna try a duck hunting man, right? You know all that kind of stuff I was listening to an episode of wired to hunt with it was one of Tony Peterson's Foundations episodes and he was talking about how when he was growing up he had to Work his way.

He had basically graduate from small game hunting Up to deer hunting. His dad wouldn't let him just go to the deer stand. He had to hunt rabbits and squirrels for years growing up before he was able to go out and do that. And it made me reflect on back in September when we chatted with Robert Rosenberger about the dwindling number of small game hunters over in Michigan and how they're like, just like it's a dying sport over there.

And I think that's. The case for the most of the country.

It really makes [01:00:00] you think about what. What the next few years are looking like, cause this weekend seeing, driving down the road and every other car, there's some dude with the blaze orange cap or, blaze orange jacket on or something like that. You're like, ah, like Wisconsin opening weekend is alive and well, like hunters are out and about, they're getting to it, I haven't looked at the numbers or anything for this year yet, but it still makes you wonder, it's in the back of my mind of there's the numbers are still on the decline.

As tough as it is to see this weekend, the numbers are still not great. And so it's got you thinking about, if you're somebody who's hunting this weekend and your experience, or maybe you've got a full, a field tag or something like that, invite someone to come out with you. Yeah. Even if they don't want to shoot, just bring someone out.

Yeah, I'm going hunting. We're just going to get a dough. And I'll show you the process, I'll show you how it goes, or, maybe you guys get a big buck, maybe there's somebody who's just been [01:01:00] chomping at the bit I don't know, go on Facebook and just, throw a post out there would anyone be willing to like, take me deer hunting, absolutely. It's, cause there's something special about rifle season in Wisconsin, right? It's just, it's, it is a holiday, it really is. Yup. Yup. Yup. And. I think the more people we can get in doing that stuff. And just get them just get a foot in the door so they can say they come back from a long weekend, come back to work on a Monday, Oh, how was your holiday?

It was good, I actually ended up going out and deer hunting with a guy. We didn't get anything, but it was pretty cool. Or, maybe we got a doe and yeah, actually I got half the meat from him. It was pretty cool. Like we were getting after it. It was pretty sweet, public land, all that, or he let me on his farm, whatever it may be.

I think as we enter the season of giving. There we go. Give your neighbor the gift of a shared, [01:02:00] maybe new

experience. Yeah. Get them out in the woods. Give your neighbor the gift of a year round addiction that they will spend all of their money on and will Consume their lives. Yeah, will consume their lives and possibly ruin their marriage.

You should definitely take someone hunting. And then take them turkey hunting and then take them fishing. Yeah, that's right. That's right. And then take them fly fishing. Hey, yeah. Then really west. Then really break them. Like then they will have no money left. So no, that's really good, man.

That's, and I think that's probably a good place to wrap it up. That's something I want to do more of this year is not only passing the tradition down to my kids, but making a concerted effort to. Pass it down to others as well and also become more well rounded. Like you were talking about, small game hunting there.

And it's yeah, I have no excuse not to be out small game hunting. As soon as the season opens here, use it as an excuse to go out and shoot squirrels while I deer scout. Okay. [01:03:00] Josh, you don't really dig the whole early season whitetails thing. That's great. Go scout until then, go shoot squirrels.

While you're deer scouting. And then if you find something great, come back the next day and set up on it. You know what I mean? Or whatever, just like. Use that time wisely. So figure out the fall turkey game, man. We don't, we can't do fall turkeys down here. Oh, that's right. Yeah, dang.

Nah, man. Turkeys are big business down here, bro.

You can't mess

with them. You can knock on a door and ask somebody to turn to deer hunt and they'll be like, yeah, maybe, I don't know. You ask somebody to turkey hunt. They're never going to talk to you again. Really? No. Yeah. They'll be like, Oh, he knows I've got turkeys on my property. We can't be friends.

Like it's real serious. So I'm going to change my name. Yeah. Yeah. All right, Pierce. Thanks for coming on the show, man. Appreciate it. Folks go check out our sponsors, especially for this black Friday. Go check out Tacticam, Onyx, Huntworth, Revo sunglasses. And we'll catch you next time. That's all for this week's episode.

As always, thank you so much for tuning in. [01:04:00] If you dig this show, be sure to subscribe to this podcast, wherever it is that you get your podcasts. While you're at it, if you could leave me a five star review, I would very much appreciate that. You can also follow along with my outdoor adventures on Instagram at the Wisconsin Sportsman or at HowToHuntDeer.

That's also the best way to get ahold of me, suggest topics, guests, or questions that you'd like me to explore on the show. Big thanks to our partners, Tacticam, Huntworth, and OnX. Please go support the brands that support this show. And if you're looking for more great outdoor content, check out the sportsmansempire.

com where you'll find my other podcast, the how to hunt deer podcast, as well as a ton of other awesome outdoor podcasts. And until next time, make sure you make the time to get outside and enjoy the incredible natural resources that are ours as Wisconsin sportsmen.

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