Show Notes
In this episode of the Wisconsin Sportsman Podcast, Josh talks with Dylan Hazen about turkey hunting, learning from the best, and filming your hunts.
Dylan is a Wisconsin native and long time hunter. Growing up primarily as a gun deer hunter, his passion pushed him to spend more time afield so he picked up a bow. That same passion has now led him to a career path where he has gotten the opportunity to film for and hunt with some of the best hunters in the country, including The Hunting Public and Woodhaven Custom Calls. In this episode, Dylan shares some of the biggest lessons he's learned from some of the greats, how his hunting style has changed over the years, and some tips for filming your own turkey hunts. Buckle up! It's a good one!
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Show Transcript
What is going on everyone? Welcome back to another episode of the Wisconsin Sportsman Podcast, which is brought to you by Attack Camp. This is your home for all things outdoors in the Badger State, and I'm your host, Josh Rayley. Thank you so much for tuning in this week. We've got a good one in store for you.
I was able to catch up with Dylan Hazen. Now, if you don't know who Dylan is, just think back a couple of years ago to the t h P interns. Uh, he was one of their interns a few years back then got a job with Woodhaven custom calls right after his time with T H P ended. And, uh, man, he's been killing it. So he is been heading down to Alabama every spring to film and hunt with Mike Pentecost, which as you can guess is a huge privilege.
Uh, I went down to Alabama last year. And caught up with Mike. He actually lives not too far from where we've got some [00:02:00] family and was able to go take a look at the Woodhaven shop, check out everything that they're doing there. Sit down with Mike, record a podcast with him. If you did not catch that episode, I'd highly recommend you go back and listen to that.
I think we called it something like Turkey Hunting then and now. With Mike Pentecost, but it was just really, really good. And we talked about the differences between Turkey hunting, you know, back when he first got started and sort of how things have changed over the years. But yet Dylan is filming and editing and doing all kinds of stuff with, uh, the Woodhaven crew this time of year.
But I was able to catch him before they head out for Florida. They should have actually already been in Florida, but because of a couple of scheduling issues, they're still in Alabama waiting to head out. I think they're gonna head out like, uh, possibly even this evening while I'm recording this. They may be on the road.
We actually bumped up our recording time so that it didn't interfere with their travel. But anyway, was great for Dylan to jump on the show. In this episode, we talk about him growing up in the outdoors, sort of growing up with that Wisconsin gun deer hunting tradition when he shifted, or how he [00:03:00] shifted into bow hunting for whitetails, the transition he made into the outdoor industry and what that was like working with the THP crew for a while.
And then shifting over into Woodhaven and everything that he's doing. Now, if you're not already, please do go and follow Dylan Hazen on Instagram. You can also find his YouTube channel called In Season. So this is a great conversation. I'm not really going to belabor the intro here. Running a little bit behind.
Need to get this thing uploaded tonight, actually. So, uh, yeah, just wanna say thanks to our partners first. UPT cam. Uh, filming Your Hunts is one of the things that we talk about. This episode, one of the things I wanted to talk with Dylan about because man, he's having a lot of opportunities to film a lot of other guys, you know, beginning with the THP crew and now with Woodhaven, he's got a lot of experience filming Hunts.
So I kind of picked his brain about that. And one of the things that you're gonna hear him mention in this, uh, in this podcast is kick it off. If you're looking to film your hunts, especially your Turkey hunts, just start with something simple. And I think Tcam is a [00:04:00] great product for that. Right now, their 6.0 is their, uh, sort of their flagship model of the camera.
It gives you 4K 60 frame per second footage. Uh, it's waterproof, it's got an LCD touchscreen, all the good stuff to help you share your hunts with your friends or your loved ones, or even upload 'em to YouTube if that's what you want to do. They've also got their solo extreme camera, which gets you, you know, one-touch operation gets you hd.
Uh, it's waterproof also has all kinds of awesome mounts and adapters for basically whatever you could want to do with this camera, except it's a little bit more of a budget friendly option. So if you wanna learn more, head over tot to cam.com. Next up, hunt worth. They're making awesome camo without the sticker shock.
If you've not checked out the hunt worth lineup, you need to head over to their website, hunt worth gear.com Here for Turkey season, I'm gonna be rocking their tarn pattern. I highly recommend their early season gear for deer to be used in the Turkey woods. That's gonna be my plan, uh, at least here in Georgia when we kick things off.
I don't know about Wisconsin. I'm gonna be up for period A [00:05:00] and I'll probably be in the Elkins pants and jacket and maybe even breaking out the Saskatoon. Just to try to stay warm. It's gonna be, I imagine, probably pretty chilly for the opener there in Wisconsin, but for later on in the season, highly recommend their lightweight stuff.
And like I've said a bunch of times before, that Tarn pattern is gonna do well, pretty much wherever you are, the, it's, it's a very open pattern. It has lots of light portions in it, so it's gonna help you blend in, in a diverse array of backgrounds. So go check 'em out, hunt worth gear.com. Now with that outta the way, let's jump into the conversation with Dylan Hasen.
All right, joining me for this week's episode of the Wisconsin Sportsman Podcast is Dylan Hazen. Dylan, what's going on, man? Not much. Getting a little break from editing. Right now I'm down in Alabama with Woodhaven, so, uh, it's always nice to kinda not have to stare at the computer screen. . Yeah. So what are you, uh, what are you editing right now?
Um, just doing a bunch of stuff for social media. Um, I'm working on a hunt from last year. That's kind of our last. , uh, [00:06:00] you know, end of the year Turkey hunts don't do really well going into June, July. So we kind of save that and try to put it up before the season goes. So I think our last, it'll be our last video until the spring content starts for this year.
Okay. Very cool, ma'am. Well, uh, why don't you give us a little bit of background about you kind of as we kick off here. Uh, I got a chance to meet you last year when I stopped by the Woodhaven shop there in Alabama. We were visiting family right down the road, and so I reached out to Mike and was like, Hey, I'm gonna be down the road.
Will you record a podcast with me? And he was like, yeah, sure, . And when I showed up, you guys were coming outta the Turkey woods. I was like, oh man, I didn't know it was gonna be like that. So . Uh, but it was, it was a fun interview. We had a great time. You and a buddy of Mike's sat there and kind of made fun of him the whole time in the background, which was awesome.
Uh, yep. And I could just see it on the other guy's face. He was like, Itching to go hunting again. Mm-hmm. and Mike was just going and we were just talking . Yep. And I could tell the guy was like, ready to go. So I was like, I felt [00:07:00] bad, but I was like, man, I, I don't know. Mike doesn't seem to be in too much of a hurry.
No, he, uh, he is, he's a interesting guy. I always tell people like he just gotta meet him cuz there's like nobody else out there like Mike Pentecost, you know? And, uh, but yeah, you get him on a roll and you get him going and it's hard to get him off that train, you know? That he's on. Yeah. Oh yeah. . Yep.
That's right. So tell us about yourself and maybe, uh, give us a brief intro, you know, as how you kind of got into hunting and, uh, how you got to where you are today. Because man, it's been a, it's been a long road, but it's been cool because, you know, from the outside looking in, a lot of viewers have gotten to kinda watch your progression over the years.
Um, yeah, I appreciate that. Uh, I guess when my introduction to hunting, I grew up in a pretty hunting rich family. Um, my grandpa's probably my biggest influence in, in hunting, fishing, that kind of thing. His dad, my great grandpapa was a game [00:08:00] warden. Um, I think when he got back from, he served in World War ii and I think a lot of those vets got hired like that, if I'm saying that right.
And then he turtle trapped, squirrel hunted, deer hunted, did pretty much anything you can think of. Gin sang when he was growing up. And I think that've been pretty cool. Cause I think back then they could just go and knock on the door and go over. They wanted to go, you know? Yeah. But anyway, so growing up, uh, being from Wisconsin, there's a pretty rich, uh, gun season tradition.
And so I gun hunted a lot. Uh, small game, hunted with grandpa all the time. We catfished, uh, Turkey, hunted with dad, stuff like that. So a lot of. Family core values revolve around hunting. And then, um, nobody really bow hunted. I think my dad bow hunted a couple years, but then I was born in his early twenties and he kind of gave it up just in with raising me.
And I picked up his old bow in high school and wanted some [00:09:00] way to basically be in the woods deer hunting more than just the nine day gun season, you know, and really, really liked it. I got injured a lot playing football when I was in school. I was a pretty small guy, but I was also pretty aggressive and so I, I usually ended up hurting myself, just hitting people, you know, not, not necessarily making a form tackle and like, kind of letting them run into me.
I was just like going out there and throwing my weight around. So I didn't get to start bow hunting until I think my senior year. Um, I just like dislocated my hip and my shoulders and stuff in the previous years, so I couldn't really bow hunt. But, um, yeah, so I got started then. And then I guess bow hunting, um, ever since Turkey hunting obviously.
And, and, uh, I still do the gun season tradition with my family every year for opening weekend and have a blast with that. Honestly, if I had to, you know, gun to my head somebody said bow hunting [00:10:00] or really any hunting or gun season with your family? I would, I would still choose gun season, I think, just cuz of the tradition with it, but yeah.
Yeah. Um, and then, yeah, it started filming. I, I saw the guys that are now t h p on Midwest Whitetail back when I was in middle school and, um, you know, you all. Watching like Waddel and those guys. And it really made me fall in love with hunting videos. And then everything kind of switched to the internet.
You know, middle Midwest sweat tail was one of the main first ones to do it. And I started watching Bill really liked what they were doing and then, you know, waring those guys. And Greg kind of started making their name on the show and I figured out that they were doing this internship program and that really caught my eye.
I mean, I, I think I was like 13 when I found that and started watching 'em ever since. And then did their public land stuff on the show. And then when I was in college, they switched to T H P, [00:11:00] started T H P and still did their internship. And the first year that I applied for it, I think Ted and Logan got it.
And then the next year, grant and I got in and then it's just been crazy ever since. Nice freaking Ted Man. Yeah. Yeah. I give 'em crap all the time. And, and honestly, I probably to my detriment sometimes I'm a little competitive. And so for like, a little while I, I remember watching their videos that year and just being really jealous and being like, this guy, man, I, you know, whatever.
And then as the season goes on, watching those guys, I start liking 'em a lot. And then I tell him that, or I told him that when I got my internship, it's like, man, I really used to not like you, even though I didn't know you at all. I just . I was just, but . That's good. Yeah. Wasn't that, let's see, that first year, was that the year he shot that wide buck in Kentucky?
Yeah. He shot that Kentucky buck and then he shot that giant in Missouri. Missouri. And that was all his intern year. [00:12:00] Yeah. Yeah. And so I was watching that. That's nuts. That could be me right now, you know, . Yeah. I, I don't think we've seen a lot of interns knocking down that many big ones since that dude. He, he's something else.
He, he's a heck of a woodsman, you know? He is, he's. Woods. So, yeah. So when did you, so I mean obviously you developed this interest in, in filming hunts and like, you know, from what you're watching, when did you pick up the camera and decide to start carrying that along with you in the woods? So it was kind of one of those things that I always talked about and like wanted to do, you know, and then, um, when I was in college, I got a job part-time at Cabela's and just trying to do whatever the heck I could do to get into the industry.
And I was going to Stevens Point in Wisconsin and it's known as being one of the best natural resources colleges in the country. Mm-hmm doing what I could to build a resume. Um, and then I applied for that internship and the only reason I didn't get it was cuz I had zero video experience other than.
You [00:13:00] know, doing stuff on my phone like everybody else does, and I couldn't really afford a camera, so I bought, I went to a , went to a Biolife plasma place and started donating plasma every month while I was in school to be able to afford a video camera. And then I also just lucky, um, was looking through little college jobs that you could do in the university.
Was looking for a student that wanted to film sporting events and Nice. So I got a job doing that. I was filming like hockey, soccer, basketball, volleyball, stuff like that. And yeah, bought my own camera. I bought a, it's like a Cannon G 40, um, it was like a thousand dollars consumer camcorder and made my own YouTube channels when I was in college, like deer hunting and ice fishing I think was on there.
And a Turkey hunt. And then, yeah, this morning events and applied for the internship and. Next year and got in. [00:14:00] So, man, so you're like literally piecing out your body to get, to get this first camera, man. I, I. Where would you tell somebody to start these days? I mean, I hear different advice all the time. Um, I'm partnered up with, with Tica, which is, you know, the little sort of point, a few cameras you can attach to your weapon.
There's all sorts of ways to get started. You can use attack to cam, you can use your cell phone. You can buy a cheap handy cam. I mean, at this point you can buy some pretty good cameras that, you know, 10 years ago would've been excellent cameras. Now you can get 'em from pretty cheap used online. Where would you recommend somebody starting?
So, honestly, these days, um, in my opinion, if you're looking at a lot of algorithm stuff, like if you're trying to start out on YouTube or making like full length videos, it might be a little difficult. Uh, just with, you know, there's a lot of brands, established brands, a lot of people on YouTube trying to do the same.
And you can definitely make it work. Don't [00:15:00] let me discourage you from that. But if I was starting out right now, I honestly would do just like maybe a 360 camera. I know like instant 360 or GoPro, they make some, or honestly just like a regular GoPro. And um, you can do so much with your phone now with vertical videos.
So Instagram reels, tos, uh, YouTube shorts is a new big thing that everyone's trying to figure out right now. And um, like the thing with Instagram TikTok, it's hard to make money off that if you're wanting to do this as a job. YouTube just in January, started putting, I think it's like half of their creator funds going towards shorts.
Oh, no kidding. Cause they're trying to compete with TikTok and Instagram reels and stuff, you know, by basically paying. Paying the creators way more than TikTok does. And so if you find a way to get on that and just make some short, little cool videos off your phone, I [00:16:00] think that's a heck of a way to start.
And it's way easier than, you know, making these full length, big videos where you gotta spend a little bit more money, you can still do it. I think if I was to do it, I would still go like the GoPro route and then I would maybe just get like a cheap 4K cam order that you can put a controller on and I would do that route I think.
I think that would be the, the way I would do it. Yeah. How important do you think the 4K piece is if people are grabbing handy cams? Cuz what I see right now, you know, there's tons of the, like the generation right before the 4k, a lot of those HTMI cameras mm-hmm , you can get those online right now for really cheap, for, you know, cameras with pretty good optical zoom, the kind of stuff.
Um Yep. How big is that 4k? If folks are hoping to put it on YouTube and that kind of thing. I mean, it's, it's not completely necessary. The thing that I like about it is if you've got a 4K camcorder and you're [00:17:00] editing on a, I don't know if this is gonna sound too, uh, whatever, but, so you can choose how you wanna edit your videos if you're wanting to export it in 10 80, or if you're wanting to export it in 4k.
So if I'm exporting something in 10 80, um, when I'm editing that, if it's in 4k, I can crop it way in and not lose that resolution. So, like for myself, if I'm self filming, I'm gonna do it in 4k. And like, let's say I've got a deer walking in front of me or Turkey walking in front of me, you can leave it cropped way out.
And as you're editing that, you can zoom it way in to make it look like you were really tight on that animal. As long as it's in focus, you can zoom. Put in like 200% and not really lose any quality outfit. And so it's, it's super handy for somebody that's self filming. Like I said, not completely necessary.
I started off with a 10 80 cam quarter, so, um, you can definitely do it. It just, [00:18:00] it helps a lot if you can afford it. Yeah. So a lot better for, um, for the guy who's self filming, especially because of that ability to stay panned way out that way you don't, you know, especially if you're, I mean, I don't know, I, I've done a lot of self filming when it comes to, to Turkey hunts, and I feel like that's a little bit easier than deer hunting.
Mm-hmm. , because I typically, for the turkeys, you know, I'm, if I'm filming I probably have a decoy. Yeah. And I kind of have an idea of a spot where they're gonna come to. Right. With a deer, it's kind of like, ah, all bets are off, like . I'm, I'm panned out and I, I hope the deer's in the frame when I, when I hit the release for sure.
You do. Yep. Yeah, I, uh, I feel that a hundred percent and like I said, it'll just make your life a lot easier. And you hear so many guys talk about, you know, self filming and I mean, myself, I had a few hunts this year that got messed up, self filming on a box. But I can't tell you how, like, if you're trying to get it at a, at a good quality level, just [00:19:00] being able to stay panned out and not have to sit there and be anchored on your camera, you know, you can focus on the actual hunting part and not trying to keep the deer in the frame the whole time.
Yeah. Yeah, man. So let's, let's jump into kind of that transition from viewer into, uh, participant camera guy Hunter with T H P I, I mean, to, to throw out a question like, what'd you learn would be way too much. I mean, you spent, you got with them, what was it like July that year? August that year? Yeah, I moved in in July and then I stayed all the way through, uh, into like mid-February.
Okay. It was, it was actually like right before Covid hit, because I wanted to go to, like, we went to a t a, the N W T F show. I went to the Iowa Deer Classic, and then we were getting ready, getting ready to go to the, some Minnesota Sports show, and Covid hit and canceled that. And then I was, I pretty [00:20:00] much left after that and came down with Mike.
Yeah. Okay. So let, let's talk then maybe, maybe just give us some of the, the, the highlights, right? Like what's something that was, that was unexpected or maybe a top lesson kind of thing. Let's start with that unexpected piece because I, I think as you know, for young guys listening or somebody who's like, Hey, I'd love to jump into the hunting industry.
Um, you know, I know personally I've learned a lot jumping in over the last year. , um, lots of surprises. and some, some great, some, some really, really bad. Uh, what was maybe the biggest thing that surprised you when you sort of got a peek behind the curtain, so to speak?
Honestly, like I said, I grew up watching WA and then Bill and t h p I think the biggest thing that surprised me is just how, like these guys are just normal dudes, you know? Yeah. And you see videos and, and you know that like you watching 'em and you're like, [00:21:00] okay, these guys are just like me and my buddies, you know?
But when you get there, they really are just normal guys that just love to hunt and fish and make videos. And, um, that's really, I mean, this whole, you know, I've, I've seen, you know, the aura of Mike being the public land Turkey hunter, even like with him, , you'd see him on videos and think, wow, you know, that guy's pretty intense, pretty big guy out there.
And then you get here and he's just a normal guy. He is. Got kids, got a wife, got a family, got a business. You know, and so I'd say that's probably the biggest thing I learned during my internship cuz you meet so many different people in the industry and, um, it's, it's crazy that transition of kind of being starstruck to then just being like friends with everybody and just, it's just kind of one big family in the industry is so, yeah.
Yeah. So let, let's boil it down maybe to a couple of lessons that you picked up in that first, in that fall with, with t h p. You know, are there any [00:22:00] big aha moments or anything that like, really changed the way that you hunt forever? Like, like just totally shifted your entire approach? For sure. So obviously you learn the, you know, the woodsmanship skills get better.
Um, I would say the biggest thing that I learn is, I hear guys all the time talk about like, God, I always want to go hunt here. I always wanna go hunt there. Whether it's like going out elk hunting or just outta state deer, Turkey hunting. How easy it is to literally just jump in your car and drive to a different state and start hunting and get a tag.
I mean, , yeah, you can, you can seriously, like if you wanna do it bad enough, there's a lot of guys out there, don't get me wrong, that have so many ties with, you know, family and kids and, and obligations and stuff like that. But if you really just want to go hunt somewhere else, you can take, you know, you got a weekend, you take Thursday, Friday, Monday off, you get done with [00:23:00] work on the day before.
Supposed to leave if you drive there overnight, catch few hours of sleep, get up, go hunting, and then make sure you get home in time to maybe spend time with your significant other or somebody to make sure they're not too mad at you before you just go grind at work the rest of the week. But it's, uh, it's, it's honestly, it changed my perspective a lot on traveling and, and just the different opportunities that are out there to hunt that aren't just right out your back door, you know?
And I think by me traveling and hunting all these different spaces, it's definitely improved my hunting back home too. You know? So there's so many different lessons that you learn while doing that stuff that you can relate to situations that are around the house that maybe you're gonna hunt a lot more often than just doing these trips.
Yeah. Yeah, man, that, that, that's something in the last couple of years that I've done more of is, is just jetting off and going somewhere to hunt for, you know, a, a few days at a time. . Um, this last [00:24:00] November was kind of the biggest one. It took 15 days I think it was, and Yep. Ended up taking a great buck.
And it was, you know, for, for me it was the realization of taking time like that and going to a place. Maybe you haven't done a lot of scouting, picking it apart, and it just seems so out of reach when, when you're not doing it. It seems like a, like fantasy. Right, right. But it's really not that far out of, out of reach for folks.
What about when it comes to the hunting strategy side? Like anything changed as far as like just how you approach, you know, specifically deer hunting, uh, that was different from maybe what you grew up doing? Yeah. I would say, um, I'm a lot more aggressive when I go into spots now at just like looking at sign and, and trying to relate, you know, where things are coming from.
Like, I probably one of my biggest downfalls, I like overthink stuff. . And so when I go in the woods like I [00:25:00] am, I'm not really happy on making a setup unless I've got like some for sure sign, whether, you know, and it doesn't have to be a big blazing sign, but just something that really keys me up to where I'm confident and where, you know, before that internship I may have bounced around edges a little bit or, you know, not been necessarily confident enough to want to deep dive into something.
Now I don't really have that. I mean, I, I would rather set up where I think I'm really close to spooking a deer than to be way back on the edge and wonder like, is he getting here in daylight? You know, that's probably a huge, a huge difference in what I do now. Yeah. Sounds like you, uh, li like a, a lot of folks, I think over the last couple of years that have watched t h p or, or just decided to be more mobile and more aggressive.
Sounds like you stopped settling. , like, stop, you know? Yeah, for sure. And I definitely, like before, so I hunted, I got into [00:26:00] public land when I was in college, and I would fall into that rut of like having these couple spots that I really, really liked any anymore. If I hunt a spot more than a few times, like I just get worth it.
And I, I honestly don't think that you have a lot of success doing that. Like, I can think of so many times where my first spot, or, you know, you hear this all the time, so I'm just kind of beating a dead horse. But like your first time in a spot is always, always, usually your best. Especially if you've hunted it like a year past and you kind of know.
What's Mo or how they move through that area, and you can set up that way. Um, I've gotten to now, like this spring before I got down here to Mike, I think I walked like 40 or 50 miles just trying to learn some new properties and make sure the properties that I have already hunted. I wanted to learn to like the best of my abilities.
So what I'm going into an area, if I see some sign, I know exactly what's going on. I can get [00:27:00] into spots that I need to get into and be really confident that, you know, what I'm doing is gonna work. Yeah. Yeah. Man, I, I used to be really guilty as a kid or, or just even as a young adult of, of finding spots that, like you said, I, I just like the spot, you know, and I can mm-hmm.
I can maybe envision a deer doing something here or envision deer using it this way. And like, looking back, it's like there was, there was no sign or like very little sign or like, you know, basically what I was doing is finding a pretty place to go and, yep. And, and then creating with my imagination, you know, deer traffic and deer activity because it looks great.
They have to use this, right? Yep, yep, for sure. The one that, there's that, and then there's also the, you know, it's your first time in a spot and you end up having a great sit. Whether you see a lot of deer, you see a nice buck or whatever, and then you're like drawn to that cuz you're like, oh gosh, you know, I had such a good experience here once and you wanna keep going back.
Yeah. It just, [00:28:00] it always ends up, it seems like you just kind of burn up a spot pretty quick, especially on public, so. Yeah. Yeah. And you still do a, I mean, so you, you wrapped up the, the internship with t H p, obviously February of that year. Um, yeah. You still do a fair bit of hunting on public. Yeah, most of it.
So my dad owns 30 acres and it up to my uncle owns like 50 right next to it. And if I really want to, I can, I can definitely ask my uncle and go pretty much where I want to go on that piece. But, um, I'll run a camera or two on my dad's little 30 acres. If there's a really good one there, I'll put some time in.
But usually I kind of just try to leave it alone for gun season so that we've got as good of an opening weekend as we can have, you know, and for some reason I just really like being able to bounce around on public and not be tied to one certain property. I really like it. I really like learning new areas [00:29:00] and, and being able to chase a whole bunch of different deer all over the place.
You know, if I hunt that 30 acres and I'm really focused on this one, two bucks, I feel like I fall back into that, you know, kind of wanting to bounce around the. Edges and not be as aggressive as I wanna be. Whereas if I'm on public land, not that I'm like trying to blow anything up, but I'm definitely a lot more aggressive with the way I approach things there.
And it's the way I like to haunt more. So it's just kinda works out that way. Yeah, man, I, I feel that I, I just joined a lease this year. Um, it's a big lease. It's like 2000 acres, but there's a lot of guys on the lease. Okay. Like a lot of guys on the lease. And I joined it really to have a good place to take my kids.
Like a nice, safe place. Yeah. But like, immediately after joining the lease, I started feeling like claustrophobic, like, what am I gonna do? Mm-hmm. , like, I, I don't you know it, it's only 2000 acres. What do you do? You got four or five guys here, and then, then what? [00:30:00] You know, and like start panicking. Yeah. So, um, yep.
But yeah, I, I feel that, I feel that, so the, the transition then, I mean, you, you got done at th h p and really quickly were. We're filming with Mike and, and Woodhaven. So yeah, tell me about how that, that transition happened. I mean, for folks listening, if you don't know, like the hunting and outdoor industry seems gigantic from the outside looking in, and then you get in and you're like, oh, this is really small.
Like mm-hmm. , everyone knows everybody. Uh, yep. So I, I'm curious kind of how you made that that shift and, and made it so quick. Cuz man, that, that's awesome. To go straight from a straight, from an internship to man, I, I landed a job. Yeah. Um, a lot of credit to war with it. Um, Aaron, well, all the guys at T H P, but Aaron is super, super helpful and, uh, with the interns that he has, obviously it's an [00:31:00] unpaid internship.
They catch a little bit of flack for that, but that's how they all got into the industry and they, they really think that, They're getting the best guys that they can get. Because if you're, if you're gonna put in that amount of effort to go into like an unpaid internship, you obviously really want it.
And so they're kind of, their payback is obviously all the stuff that you learned, but they also try so hard to find their interns a job. So, um, Woodhaven I think had kind of reached out to T H P and they were wanting to maybe collab with some stuff. And war was like, well, hey, I got this guy who's pretty good.
I think maybe you guys could just hire him and do this for you. Because I think Woodhaven was wanting to t h p be a contract to have some of those guys come down and film some stuff for them. And Ward was like, why don't you just take this intern that we had that did a good job and have him come down and do some stuff for you?
And, um, that's pretty much the way it ended up. But we were at the Deer [00:32:00] Classic and I didn't wanna leave. Um, I wanted to stay there as long as I could and. for was like, dude, you can stay as long as you want, but at some point, like you need to, you need to make some money and you need to, you know, make your own, uh, your own way in the industry and start branching out a little bit.
And so he kind of pushed me. Um, obviously Covid was just getting going, so I had like no idea how anything was gonna get run in the country. It was a really weird time. And, uh, my grandpa, my step grandpa just passed away right as I got done with my internship. And so, um, I was staying with my grandma at her house just to keep her company, you know, she couldn't go out and spend time with friends to keep her mind off things.
So I was there, didn't really wanna leave. And Ward was like, dude, you just, I packed up my car and drove 14 hours down to Mike's house, moved in with him and his family, and that it just kind of took [00:33:00] off. I don't, it's, it's crazy. It was like, I got a big tour of everything for a few days. He kinda let me get acclimated and then it was like, boom.
We're in the woods. We're off and going, and it's, it just happened so fast, man. Just wanna take a quick minute to let you know that the Wisconsin Sportsman Podcast is brought to you by tact cam makers of the best point of view cameras on the market. For hunters and anglers, they're on the cutting edge, making user-friendly cameras to help the everyday outdoorsmen share your hunt with friends and loved ones.
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And he does a lot of public land Turkey hunting. Um, so for sure wasn't totally different. So I'm curious to hear some of the, the differences between, um, you know, what you witnessed obviously deer hunting with, with th h p, but what you know of the guys and their hunting style and also what you've seen. I mean, I'm sure you've watched their Turkey videos a time or two and so Yeah.
You know, going from their hunting style and woodsmanship skills and kind of their way of approaching things to hunting with Mike. Yep. Who. Yeah, he's been around a lot of places, but he's also hunted some areas for a long, long time. Uh, not to age. Yeah, not to age Mike or anything, but just saying, uh, you know, he, he, he's, he knows he's familiar with some areas, we'll [00:35:00] put it that way.
He's familiar with some areas. Yeah. Uh, you know, so what, what's that been like? So if you can, if you can find some guy that's like in your area that know whether you're hunting or fishing, that knows that place, like the back of his hand attached to that guy, cuz you're gonna learn so much. And that's how it is with Mike.
I mean, he still lives in the same town that he grew up in and Yes, he's traveled all over in shot turkeys all, I mean, he is shot turkeys in Mexico. He is known as Grand Slam. You know, obviously that's a royal slam, but he. Knows where he lives as s Well, and it's, it's honestly some of the toughest Turkey hunting that I've ever experienced as far as public land.
You know, the, the woods here on opening weekend is like for Turkey season is like the woods back home for a season. Yep. Um, he, I would say if I wanted [00:36:00] to compare contrast, Mike and t h p, he's a little bit more patient with some of the stuff that he likes to do.
And I think that just is from him knowing the area so well, and he's so, he does and, and his knowledge that he has. So like, you know, Turkey quits, gobbling, or maybe he's hanging up, he is content to just kick his feet back and sit against that tree and wait for that Turkey to make the mistake versus, you know, maybe getting up and going after him or bailing out and trying to go find a different bird.
Like he will literally, and it used to kind of take me off a little bit. We'd sit there and I would think like, man, we gotta just, we gotta move, we gotta do something. And he's just like, just relax. We're gonna sit here and we're gonna wait for him to make a mistake. And we'll just be sitting there, you know, maybe I'll be responding to stuff on Instagram, on my phone, or we're just sitting there having a conversation or whatever, and a crow will [00:37:00] go off and you'll hear him off in the distance and we just pick up and go after him and end up killing him just because we were being patient.
Man, and yeah, that's patience is probably the biggest thing that Mike has taught. Woodsmanship and patience. Yeah. That's, that's really interesting because, um, you know, and I don't know about some of the places that the, you know, the THP guys have hunted turkeys, but Mike Hunt's in a place that is heavily, heavily pressured.
Like Yeah. Lots of guys. It is, it is not, it would not be my first choice. Uh Right. For, for Turkey hunting. Um Right. You know, there, there's better hunting to be had even not too far from, from Mike. Right. Yeah. Uh, and, and so that, that patience piece and, and I guess that's just something he's learned over the years with, um, you know, and another thing too, there's not necessarily a huge population of turkeys either where he's at, so, right.
You know, you've got a gobbling bird or you've got a bird that you had gobbling earlier and he shuts up. Well, [00:38:00] the odds of you striking another one Yeah. By hopping a ridge or two is not the same. Yeah. As if you're hunting in Wisconsin. You know it's right. You have a, they're very small chance that you're gonna strike one up anyway, so you might as well hang with the one you got until he decides to talk again.
Right. And he, like I said, he just knows, like you'll, you know, you'll hear the bird, whatever he is doing all morning. Like, usually what we'll do is we'll get up high in these mountains and you'll hear one off in a distance and we'll kind of cut after him and try to keep the train in our advantage. And like I said, if he hangs up or he's doing something and not fired up, committing, we'll just kind of get high and be right around that Turkey's area.
And Michael just know, like, okay, they're, he's probably got a few hands, he's down in this correct bottom. They're gonna work around in this area for a little while and then if he loses those hands or he breeds 'em when they go off to nest, you know, he's probably gonna get up [00:39:00] high over here and gonna gobble at some point here in the next few hours.
And if he does that, we're gonna kill him. And there's been. I, I can't tell you how many times he's literally spelled out exactly what's gonna happen and then it, and then it ends up happening. It's crazy. man. That's awesome. That's awesome. So when it, uh, okay. Patience is, is huge there. And knowledge of the area, past experience with the area, what does, yep.
What does, like scouting and that kind of thing look like? Or are you guys mostly relying on, you know, his past experience with the property? Um, I would say if we're not on birds, like one of the things that we've been doing right now is driving around, um, in the morning and listening. So he definitely puts a lot of time into getting an inventory, you know, before season starts.
I mean, and anybody can do this. If you've got a job, just go out for a little bit right before work, step outta your car and just listen. And he finds where birds are roosting, [00:40:00] where there's times in the area every year. And so, you know, like if we're on a couple times that either get shot or we can't just get on 'em, we'll bounce around and start scouting in those areas that he knew there were other birds in and just look for scratching, you know, dropping stuff like that and, and be able to work and say, okay, they're obviously spending a lot of time here.
Those birds are still in this area. And that's the way we get on a lot of turkeys is just knowing that they're there and then going in and finding where they've been at midday and, uh, yeah, a lot of midday scouting I guess would, is what we get on. Okay. How much, uh, how much roosting in the evening are you doing?
Because I know, like for me, um, hunting where I do in Southern Wisconsin, like it is huge for me to roost a bird the night before. If I, if I roost a bird the night before on certain properties, like there's a really good chance he's not making it out in the morning. It's not quite the same way in the south.
I mean, I'm in Georgia right now, [00:41:00] and it, it's, it's not quite the same way here. Uh, a little bit, a little bit different. How, but how often are you guys relying on roosting in the evening and how big is that playing into your hunting strategy? Honestly, not much. Um, the couple times that we've roed to a bird here at night, I can say that we've like, definitely had an opportunity at him the next morning.
Okay. But I hate when people say that whole, like, oh, they don't do that stuff here. Yeah. Cause it, it usually is just they do, you know, but it's truly, um, I know like back home in Wisconsin or Iowa, uh, Minnesota, they'll definitely travel on the roost at night. It's not very often. Birds down here gobble on at night for whatever reason.
Uh, it seems like if we get one to do it, he's definitely fired up the next morning. And I don't know if that's just like they're alone and not really having the hands around him that much, so they're a little bit more ready to go. Um, but most of our stuff, [00:42:00] most of the birds that we get on, uh, is just getting up high and hearing 'em from a distance in the mornings.
And honestly, if we're having a tough time getting on birds, we would much rather like he'll drop me off at, you know, a mile down the road and he'll drive down to another pull off and we'll both get up high and communicate. You know, just sit there for 30 minutes to an hour and. and then come back and reconvene and figure out what we're gonna do.
He is not that, that's another thing I've learned. He's not worried at all about trying to get right up underneath one right away in the morning. Like he's as confident at killing one at noon as he is within the first 30 minutes to an hour. So that, that morning time, uh, weather on the roost is super crucial to us.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, man, I'm, I'm glad you brought that up about turkey's not gobbling as well, um, on the roost in the evenings down south because that's, that is definitely a true, a, a true thing. There are lots of things that we as hunters throw around of [00:43:00] like, well, they don't do that here. They don't do that here.
Deer don't bed like that here. Things don't eat that here. Whatever. That's one of the true ones. Uh, yep. For some reason in the south, birds do not seem to gobble, um, on the roost in the evenings. And, and I've heard, now I've heard you say that I've heard, uh, Dave Owens say that I've heard, you know, lots of people who hunt turkeys say, well, even THP guys have said like, Down here in the south.
Yeah. You can't, you can't bank on that, you know, evening roos, gobbling. Whereas it seems, uh, in Wisconsin, you're at least gonna get a couple out of him. Right. You know? Right. And, and the thing is with Mike too, he's got a business family, like, you know, the kids play sports. He's got calls to make, he's got a business to run with me, you know, I've got editing to do.
And so a lot of art and, and how this kind of can relate to a lot of people. You. , you gotta brand cows while your iron is hot. So you gotta do the things that are gonna be most productive Yeah. In that [00:44:00] time. Yeah. So like if we got stuff to do, we would much rather hunt all morning and then get back to the shop or get back to where I can edit at noon and sit there and do that for the rest of the day till we go to bed.
And then get up and go when it's good in the morning versus, you know, we've got stuff to do, but we're gonna go roost and probably not hear one. It's just not very efficient. . Yeah. . Hey guys, let's go. Uh, let's go try to roo some birds. We're not gonna hear anything, but you know, let's just go do it. It'll be fun.
Yeah, we've got all this stuff to do, but why don't we, you know, go do this and put that stuff off so that, you know, like, but a couple times that I've done that then ended up staying up editing and maybe catch 30 minutes of sleep cause, you know, just did something stupid like that. . Yeah. Oh man. So what does, uh, what does this time of year look like for you?
I mean, is this the calm before the storm at all or are you guys just like. Full bore getting after it. Um, for the company itself, [00:45:00] they are full bore and they've been full bore for a little while. Yeah. Cause you know, they're, they're on production side, so they've gotta have everything ready to go before season starts.
Yep. For me, I'm really starting to pick up right now, but it is, it, you know, it's, it is kind of that calm before the storm. Um, I would say from whenever we get to Florida until the end of May, it's gonna be go, go, go. And, um, so yeah, it's Mike, Mike kind of gets the double whammy, you know, cuz he's doing the business and he's in front of the camera having to hunt and do the video side of things.
So he's been going, going and going, and he's gonna keep going and going and going for a while till summertime. So, yeah, it's, it's a little interesting dynamic. Yeah. And how long do you hang out with the, the Woodhaven crew? I mean, you get down here obviously in March and then Yep. You know, what's that look like?
How long do you stay. . Um, the first two years that I came down here and videoed for these guys, I was down here, uh, you know, about [00:46:00] this time, and then I stayed until we would go and hunt in Maine. And that goes to usually like, kind of into that first week of June. Yep. And so we would do that hunt and then get back to Alabama and get my car and drive home.
And that'd kind of be the end of it. Uh, the last year and this year kind of just said like, Hey, you know, I'd, I'd like a week or two a month to go hunt somewhere myself, you know, and, and get a little time to do my own thing. Just get a little bit of a detox. And there wasn't, uh, like the first two years I was down here, we were pushing.
Hard and has so much work to do that the only time I had a gun in my hand was that last day that we were in Maine and I got super, super fortunate to kill a bird both of those D times. But um, it kind of got to the point where I was just like, man, I was in the industry cuz I wanted to hunt more . And while, you know, while [00:47:00] I'm filming and I'm super grateful to be doing what I'm doing, like I still every day would rather have a gun than a camera in my hands.
Yes. So, you know, I, I've kind of allotted a little bit more time to be able to hunt myself now, so I'll be down here for like two, three weeks and then I'll go home or like I'm planning on maybe going to Missouri or something like that this year. Um, so I've got a few other things I've gotta volunteer, like learn to hunt thing I'm doing at home where I'm taking a few people that don't have a lot of experience hunting.
So there's a few others throughout the season, but yeah, it's uh, It's, it's a lot down here. Yeah, for sure. Do you have any tags there in Wisconsin already or are you waiting on the, uh, waiting on the over-the-counter stuff? No, I drew third season. This is the first year that I've put in for the draw since I was in college because I, you know, knew I was gonna be down here so much.
I wouldn't catch early season at home, but Yep. I put in for first with my second option being second season, [00:48:00] and then they gave that like, okay, if you don't draw any of those, would, what else would you like? Can I put third season? And of course I got third season, but Oh man. So I've got, yeah. And that doesn't start until, I think it's the first week of May.
Yep. And so I'm kind of looking at maybe early season Minnesota or Missouri or Nebraska, just to get some time in, you know, I'd like to be able to hunt in April, so that'll be a, that'll be a big thing. where I go, Hey, Miriam Hunt. Or like I said, uh, Missouri, I've got a spot down there that's pretty good too, so we'll see.
Yeah, I've got, I've got Period A in Wisconsin, luckily, uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm pretty pumped. Um, yeah, I've talked to a lot of people though. I mean, obviously the Wisconsin Sportsman podcast, like I talked to a lot of folks from Wisconsin who hunt turkeys, and a lot of people put in for that first season, but they kind of just do it begrudgingly.
They're like, eh, the weather's probably gonna be garbage. Turkeys don't respond really well to calls that time of [00:49:00] year. They're all henned up or flocked up. Um, and those things can be true, but man, I love hunting, period. A to watch how they just turned inside out for a decoy. Yeah. That time. Like to, to me, I know I'm probably not gonna call one in like in a traditional kind of hunt, you know?
Uh, but I do know if I put a decoy out there, they're gonna break their necks trying to get to it. Yeah. . Yeah, it's, uh, it's definitely different up there, you know, down here it's like, weather's in the seventies, eighties in Turkey season, you know, it's like up there you can get to where it's, I think a few years ago it was in the teens on the first day of, of opening season.
Yeah. So it's a little different. I, when I was back home through high school and college, I always put in for that second season time just because of that. But it seems like the seasons are later now than what they used to be by like a week or two. Yeah, they, they bumped them back, uh, I think like eight years ago, something [00:50:00] like that.
I think it was, Yeah. So then, you know, it's kind of like now you're hunting that first season, it's, it's like what second or third used to be. And so that's why I started, you know, this year I put in for first season because I was, you know, I'm like, okay, it's pumped back in a little bit. I wanna hunt as early as possible and then maybe have time in May to go somewhere else, or, you know, obviously you're gonna get a fourth or fifth or sixth season tag at least.
So just kind of break it up a little bit. But yeah. Yeah, we'll see. I'm a little salty about that at the moment. , what does, um, you mentioned Minnesota. Have you hunted Minnesota? Yeah, I've hunted it one time. Um, it's like an hour from my house, so it was super easy to just go up there and, and get after it. A lot more pressure than what I was expecting.
But I think it's because Minnesota opens up so early compared to Wisconsin. Yeah. Mo , most of the guys that I was seeing in Minnesota were from Wisconsin. Oh, were they? Okay. . Yeah. Pretty [00:51:00] crazy. And it was, um, it's probably the only like northern state hunt that I've done where it's like I'm getting there at 2:00 AM and sleeping in my car to get my spot.
No kidding. Yeah. And it, it's kind of my fault. I think if I would've gone deeper into the state, it wouldn't have been so bad, but I was wanting to stick a little bit closer to home. I had some stuff going on at home that, um, I didn't wanna be crazy far away, you know? Uh, but if I think if I would've gotten further into the state, it wouldn't have been so bad.
Yeah. Yeah. Is it, um, it, they've got some kind of a lottery system, but then I think you can also get some over the counter. How did, do you know how theirs works? Yeah, so their seasons are set up a lot like ours. Um, the only real lottery things that they have that I know of, they have like certain WMAs that are harder.
but mo like last year, I just went to the courthouse in that county and bought my tag and then went hunting, and that was in the first season. [00:52:00] Um, and then M Minnesota that I learned, sorry, Minnesota, you buy a tag for, I think they appeared like A through F or something like that. If you buy a tag in any of the, like first seasons, if you don't fill that, you can go back in their last season and use your tag.
And so, you know, if, like for me, I had three or four days in that first season, get it done, didn't get it done. I was able to go back there in the last season and still try to fill my tags. So that was pretty nice. Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah, man, that's, that's been one of the things about Wisconsin. Like I personally, I didn't grow up with, with this kind of season structure that Wisconsin has.
And at first I thought, I was like, this is the craziest thing that I've ever seen. But now I, I really appreciate it for what it does by spacing out the hunters, but I do really wish, you know, I hunt zone two and those [00:53:00] tags, man, get gobbled up quick. Um, and so I, I really wish there was a little bit more of a chance, you know, if I've got a period A, uh, if I don't make sure to go ahead and buy a period, you know, e and f you know, typically there's like 20 to 40 period Ds left over for, for zone twos, you're probably not gonna get those, but, um Right.
You know, typically there's an E and F left over that you can get, but if you don't buy those the day that they go on sale, there's a good chance you're not gonna get another, another tag. Yeah, for sure. If, if you're fortunate enough to where you can maybe bop over to like zone one and three, I think those usually have a lot of late season tags.
They do, but period or two is, is tough. Yeah. And honestly, you don't really know, like you said, you grew up. , you know, down here with a little different, different structure. I grew up up there and just thought it was kind of the normal thing. And then when I come down here, it's, I'm not really sure how I feel about it.
I'm not a biologist, so I don't wanna speak on that. But to be honest, I, I don't know if I [00:54:00] really love it. Sure. As, as far as just like, yeah, you're spacing out the pressure. But I still feel like through the first few seasons, you know, you still have all the guys that have period one are rushing in there on that, you know, Saturday, Sunday, and I think if you had the whole season, like down here, the first two weeks, it's crazy pressure.
Yep. Late season, we don't hardly see anybody but the hardcore guys. Yep. And I think it would be the same way up by us. Like yeah, the first few weekends might be a little rough, but I don't know. I, I don't really. Know what the right answer to it is. Like I said, biologist or anything that, that knows the best thing to do.
But, yeah. Well, and I don't know. I don't, I don't like it cause I gives guys a hard time to, you know, you're kinda looking at it, it's like, how are we giving people a very good opportunity to spend time in the woods? You know? And if you only have one season, I remember [00:55:00] growing up, like we'd hunt four days out of the whole spring.
Yeah. You know, whereas if you had a structure like down here, you could hunt multiple weekends in a spring and get, you know, five to 10 days in and be fine, you know? Yeah. So, yeah, man. So last year I was fortunate enough, um, I ended up hunting all six seasons. Yep. But it was because of the way I strung it together with me or buddies or my kids or, yep.
You know, I knew somebody with a tag so that even if I wasn't hunting, I was out there with a camera and I'm like, all right, here we go. Like, at, at least I'm out here, you know? Um, but it was tough not being out there with a, with a gun in my hands. Yep. So, uh, yeah, man, I, I wanna, I wanna close with, with this, you know, Turkey season's right around the corner, um, what you do for a living, obviously filming hunts and a lot of that kind of stuff.
Any tips or advice for a guy that's [00:56:00] either I, I think of two different guys. Number one, uh, the guy who says, Hey, I wanna, I wanna sell film. Um, and maybe it's just mm-hmm. for sharing the memories with, you know, kids and friends and that kind of stuff. Maybe it's not like, Hey, I wanna start a YouTube channel.
I just wanna have memories to share. Yep. And then number two. Yep. Um, you know, tips for maybe taking good quality pictures. I hate when I see like, awful pictures of game animals. Um, and I've talked with others before about how to get a good photo of your buck or your deer or whatever. Um, I see a lot of Yep.
Stuff when it comes to turkeys, it's just like, dude, it, it. You put like a jello head in this picture, it just doesn't look, it doesn't look good, you know? So, uh, any, uh, any advice for those who are filming or, or want to take good pictures of their kill? Um, the, the picture side of it, I would say your background and your lighting matters a lot.
You know, like there's a lot of shadow things that can happen, or really, you know, if it's in the morning [00:57:00] or at at night, if there's a cool, you know, sunrise, sunset, that can be some of the best pictures you'll ever get. But then, uh, yeah, cleaning up your animal too. Like, you, in the moment, you're not really focused on it, but then you look back and you might kind of just like, eh, yeah.
You know, like, oh yeah. Something looks really screwed up. But taking that time to be, you know, it, it's not like you're trying to be showy, it's just you want to have a really awesome memory of that moment. And if you just take that time to maybe, you know, brush the feathers a little bit, make 'em look a little nice and, and really set up what you're doing.
And then, like I said, the background, one thing that annoys me a lot is I'll see guys that take pictures, whether it's with a Turkey or a deer, where the background blends that animal together with it. So like, uh, like a buck for example, if you're taking pictures with this buck right in front of like these hardwoods and the racks blending in with all the trees.
I [00:58:00] hate that. Yeah. Or turkeys. You can do that with a Turkey too. Or you've got like a darker background that kind of will blend in with the bird. , just get it out in front of something that's got a little bit of pop to it, whether it's the sky or y you know, some sort of background that it, it really just shows the, the animal more than, than everything else around it.
That's good. That's good. And then I guess the, the filming guys, uh, I would say you're gonna have to learn to, to really love the process of it. Um, you're gonna hate it a little bit, but I'll tell you, it'll get to a point where you'll go to the woods and you'll feel kind of naked without your camera, you know?
And um, it is just one of those things where you see a lot of things on TV or on YouTube or whatever, and you're gonna be like, man, I wanna do that. And you're gonna rush out. and it's gonna be kind of a shock where you're like, man, this isn't, this isn't really as easy as I thought it was gonna be, but just [00:59:00] stick with it and, and you'll learn to really love the process of it, and you'll learn to that you can look back and enjoy those memories so much.
Um, dunno if that answers your question a lot. If you want anything about equipment, but I, I would say that's my biggest piece of advice is don't get discouraged with it. Yeah. Let's, uh, let's, let's talk real quick about maybe, you know, specific things that you try to capture, like when you're trying to capture the totality of, of a Turkey hunt specifically.
I mean, there are different things you'll catch when you're, you know, doing a, um, doing a deer hunt. Yeah. What about specifically targeted for a Turkey hunt? Like what are those things that you're trying to catch to sort of capture the whole story? Okay. I, I love the like, morning. As far as like getting ready and I really love that, like standing there waiting for one to gobble.
Mm-hmm. Or if you're, maybe you're one of those guys that likes to get close to one on the roost. Like I [01:00:00] will seriously sit there and just let that camera run sometimes if I'm confident that like we're gonna hear one pretty quick. And to me there's nothing, like if I think of Turkey hunting, I think of standing there, woods are waking up and then you're sitting there and all of a sudden you just hear that first count off.
And it's just like, that's the, the spark that I think of when I'm Turkey hunting. And so my biggest advice would be to really capture that time in the mornings. I think that really sets the tone for everything. Yeah. Um, , you know, maybe that sun coming up in the background. I do a lot of that where the sun peaks over the horizon and I've got, you know, Mike standing there, you can tell he's listening really intently and you got that sun behind him that makes everything look really, really good.
And, uh, yeah, that's, that's probably my biggest one. Yeah, man, that, that, uh, that first gobble of the morning is something I always like to get. And, uh, last year I was out on a piece of public [01:01:00] and, uh, I'd, I'd hunted this Turkey a couple of times, but I ended up getting permission on this private field because the Turkey was roosting on public, like literally right on the public property line.
And then flying down into a field and, and, and landing in the morning, he'd stru around in the, in the private field, got permission on the private field. Yep. I know where he is. Roosting. I'm set up, I'm aiming the camera up into the trees. It's late, one of the later seasons. This is e r f. And so, you know, you couldn't see up into the trees, which would've been awesome cuz the moon was like behind it.
And that would've been. Freaking sweet if, if I could have got that. But, uh, anyway, he starts gobbling, he's hammering, and I'm sitting there with the camera angled on him. I'm like, dude, I'm gonna catch this thing fly down out of the roost. Like what a cool, you know, video that's gonna be mm-hmm. . And then, and then a gun goes off like two minutes after legal, somebody shot that joker out of the tree.
Really? They walked up, walked up underneath him from the public side [01:02:00] and oh, shot him out of the tree. So I just hear a gunshot and then flapping on the ground and I was like, no, all that is not dude. Yeah. . I was so bummed. And, and I, I did a little, I actually did an episode about it. Cause I was like, man, if that's your thing, whatever, you know, you wanna shoot when I have a tree?
That All right. Um, Dang it. , you know, and it's, it's public. I can't hate on somebody for doing something that, uh, right. You know, it, it's not my land. But at the end of the day, I sure wish he would've. Yeah. I sure wish he would've missed, and that Turkey would've just flown down into the field. But yeah.
Anyway, yeah, there's, there's a lot of opinions that you can add. Like, you don't wanna talk negatively about the way somebody does something, but there's a Yeah, that's definitely a hot topic thing that, I don't know, maybe I pulled my opinion in a little bit. . But , I think we feel probably the same way about that
Yeah. It, you know, for me it's, it's like, Hey, I, I can, I can say I don't like the way you do something, but like, we can still be cool. You know what I mean? Like, we don't, it doesn't have to become a thing. Like [01:03:00] I can say, Hey, I wish you wouldn't shoot that Turkey out of a tree. Right? But if you do it, like, I'm not gonna begrudge you.
And if I run into you at the parking lot and you're like, Hey, I snuck in on this big tom and shot him outta the tree, be like, Man. Good, good job. Like you, you snuck in there on him like, well done. Nice bird. You know, need me to take a picture of you kind of thing. But, uh Yep. Still not gonna dig it . Yeah.
Yeah. Especially if I'm set up on the bird. It probably would've been different if I wasn't set up on him . Yeah, yeah, for sure. That the real shot to the chest there. Yeah, dude, it was awful. It was so, it was just crushing. Like, I imagine you got that feeling in your stomach and everything. Oh, it was awful.
It was awful. But I mean, to be honest, the Turkey deserved it. He had gobbled probably 150 times that morning. Oh. So it's like, it's like it was going to happen, you know? Yeah. He was just hammering. So, yeah. Anyway. All right. Well Dylan, man, this was super fun. Appreciate you coming on the show. Where can folks go if they wanna see more for [01:04:00] you from you and, and, uh, keep up with you?
This. Um, so my Instagram page is Dylan Ha 30. It's just my full name and then I created it when I was in high school, my number was number 30 in football, so it's just, that's what it, it's been. But uh, yeah, I post a lot of stuff there. Um, I'm still posting content for Woodhaven, so you can check out their YouTube channel.
And then I started my own YouTube channel called In Season. Um, and so I've, I've been posting a little bit on there too. So that's kinda the main stuff. Awesome. Cool man. Well thanks for coming on the show and uh, look forward to seeing what all you put out this spring. Yes, sir. Appreciate having me. That's all for this week's episode.
As always, thank you so much for tuning in. If you dig this show, be sure to subscribe to this podcast wherever it is that you get your podcast. 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 how to hunt deer.
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