WASP Week - Episode #2

On this 2nd episode of WASP Week, John Nalls of Pennsylvania talks to us about living that full fledge bowhunting life. John talks about when he started hunting as a kid, hunting in an area that has a large population of people, and his adventures on both public and private land. He also explains why he decided to pick up a bow over a gun and his love for the chess match that we call bowhunting. The guys finish the episode by talking about their arrow set-ups and their favorite WASP broadheads.

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What's up, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of wasp week. This is the second episode in this series. And today we're going to be talking with John Knowles. Of Pennsylvania. And this is pretty much just a hunter profile podcast, [00:01:00] man. We sit down and we BS about deer hunting. We BS about how John grew up in Pennsylvania in a pretty high populated area where he hunts, how he hunts his adventures on private and public.

And just a conversation really between two hardcore bow hunters, man. And it all ties in because John knows the guys over at Wasp and uses Wasp broadheads. We even end out this podcast with a conversation about our arrow setups. And we talk about our favorite broadheads from Wasp and things like that.

So it's just a really good BS session with a really good guy out of PA who likes to hunt deer with a bow and arrow. Like most of us do. So that's what is on the agenda today. What else do I need to talk about, man? We got a ton of snow here in Iowa. Oh man, a couple of days ago and it's really cold.

And my [00:02:00] cell cameras are now, there's still a little bit of rutting activity. Now it's not going crazy like it was a couple of weeks ago, but I will say this. There's still. There's still a little bit of rutting activity going on, but now I'm starting to see that slow shift back into bed to food patterns.

A lot of deer have moved back into the properties that I have access to. They've gone back to these bedding areas where I'm starting to see, a big number of doe groups. And when I say a big number, what I mean is all of the dough groups seem to break up a little bit in the rut and now I'm starting to see them all come back together and you know when I do get a trail camera picture, there's three, four, five doughs in a In a single picture, right that wasn't happening, 15 20 days ago.

So these dough groups are coming back together the food sources are You know, covered with snow unless they're above ground. [00:03:00] And so any standing crops is a big deal right now, whether it's standing crops or it's food plots or it's any vegetation that's still green above the snow. Those are getting hit pretty hard as well.

And as we get later on in the season and obviously I'm not talking about the guys in the South, but as we get later on into the month of November, December, Iowa has their shotgun season for roughly two weeks, two and a half weeks. Then we get into the late season timeframe and.

What I'm basically, what I'm looking at here is hunting that bed to food pattern again. It's not rocket science. It's pretty much the exact same Places that I will be hunting That I was hunting in the rut. It's just I'm gonna be hunting those in the afternoons Catching deer coming to food and it's gonna be probably 30 minutes before last light on a lot of these I wish it was late season right now And the [00:04:00] reason I say that is because of the snow, because deer are starting to group up and we have extremely cold temperatures and that is a win for late season.

Like all of that stuff just gets deer a little on their feet a little bit earlier. They come to the food stores source. They want to eat. And then they go back to their bed and they just conserve energy all day long. And so that's what they're doing right now. I'm looking forward to hunting the late season this year.

My wife. Might actually be accompanying me and it's the first year. I think I'm going to bring my bow with me just in case there's a, an opportunity, but I feel like this is going to be my first year giving muzzleloader hunting a try. And so I'm going to go probably buy a muzzleloader here within the next, a couple of days, get excited in, make sure everything is is on.

Sites on bullet combination and powder. I've never done that before. So I have a learning curve. I have to go deal with on that and [00:05:00] man, go get something cited in and try to go after the buck that I hit early season. And complete the circle as they say. And so I'm really looking forward to this.

This episode is obviously brought to you by Wasp, but before we get into the rest of the podcast, I do want to go through all of our partners here on the nine finger Chronicles. First is tethered. If you're looking at saddles, I don't care. This is just my opinion. Saddles. are better than safety harnesses.

So I feel like I would rather be in a saddle, even in a tree stand type of environment. And so it's just another tool, right? It's not necessarily, it's not a safety harness, but what a saddle allows you to do is let's just say you're in an all day sit and you're just sick and tired of sitting down or standing straight up, get a saddle on, and now you can lean.

You can take a little pressure off the legs, off the knees [00:06:00] and. Use your legs in a different way and your back in a different way. And it just, it allows you to be a little bit more active in the stand and just another option for staying comfortable along with that. I did the run and gun, the run and gun saddle setups this year.

And I like it. There's, it's definitely way low profile compared to a hang on stand. There's a place for hang on stands, and there's a place for saddles in this mobile game. And there's even crossover, where I personally like to use both at the same time. But also, I see a huge benefit. with the saddle as well.

Go check out tethered nation. com. I know they're probably going to be running. They, we just got done with a cyber Monday and the black Friday sales, but I know for a fact that they're going to be continually running sales throughout between now and Christmas time. So keep an eye out for that.

And that goes with all these people or all these partners that I'm dealing with. Wasp Vortex, Code Blue, Woodman's Pal, Huntworth, [00:07:00] Full Sneak. We're going to be running. All these additional sales. So keep an eye out for discounts on their social or through what I'm about, when I say so tethered.

Obviously it's wasp week. I'm just gonna say the discount code NFC two zero is going to get you 20% off. Buy your Broadheads now and have 'em ready for next season. So was archery.com. Vortex optics, man. They're gonna be running sales on a lot of their apparel line. They have a really awesome apparel line and along with some of the best optics in the market.

Vortex, optics.com code Blue Sense. Buy your Rope A Dope systems right now and have them ready for, have them ready for the summer, this upcoming summer. Code Blue scents, real and synthetic scents, along with scent elimination products like laundry detergent, deodorants, body soaps, all that stuff as well.

Sprays code blue sense. [00:08:00] com discount code NFC two zero for 20 percent off Woodman's pal. This product I feel is perfect not only for the run and gun type guy, but just to have one in your truck. If you need to hack a branch, or if you need to hack some bushes or clear a shooting lane or clear.

A place to hang a trail camera. So the grass and the weeds aren't in the way. Go check out woodman's pal. com, read up on the company history. They're made in America. It's just a bad ass product. Very it's a tool that you can utilize for all things outdoors. So take a look at the woodman's pal and last but not least Huntworth go to huntworthgear.

com, check out all of their. Warm their early season, their mid season, their late season clothing, check out their heat boost technology that they have read up on that. And then my opinion is after wearing a variety of different brands throughout the years, some of the elite camos, [00:09:00] these guys are just as good as the elite brands.

Obviously their price point is lower, which is a benefit to you, but you're still getting a very high quality. But they also from a layering system, They have everything you need from a layering system perspective. They definitely compete with the other brands. So with that said, go check out huntworthgear.

com. They are also going to be running multiple discount codes. And sales between now and Christmas and even past Christmas, I think. And then last but not least, we just got done with a huge black Friday sale over at full sneak gear and go check out full sneak gear. com. My goal is to have. Two more items up on the store within the next week or, being able to ship out and things like that.

And so these make great Christmas presents for a serious hunter, whether it's a dad, a brother, a sister anybody who likes to hunt and keep an eye out [00:10:00] for. The Full Sneak Bowhunting Crewneck Sweatshirt that I will be launching later this week and will be available for pre order. Keep an eye on FullSneakGear.

com. Huge shoutout to all of you for continuing to support me. Thank you very much. I really appreciate this, this time of year where you're supposed to be thankful for everything. I'm definitely thankful for all of you guys. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for the ability to bow hunt and continue to do doing my passion.

And so I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season. I'm looking forward to future seasons to come. I'm looking forward to getting My shoulder fixed because right now it hurts so goddamn bad. I can't, I, there's no way I could pull a bow back right now. And so that's another reason why I'm going to probably do some late season muzzle loader over bow.

I got to get that fixed before next season. So I might have a tear. I actually might have a tear in my rotator cuff and cuff or [00:11:00] whatever they call that. And it actually might be on both shoulders. Just from years and years of wear and tear and lifting and football and rugby and wrestling and kickboxing and Other martial arts that I've been a part of in the past just beat the shit out of my body Basically, and so I need to get that fixed I need to rehab it properly because I have one goal in life like I've realized that I want to continue to be a bowhunter as long as I possibly can and That may mean I need to fall back On other parts of my life, like I really like to lift heavy weights.

Like I really like to get to the gym, push some weights around, and maybe that's not what's best for me at this time. And I like lifting heavy and doing good workouts because I also like to eat. So what's hap what's happened recently is I've had to quit working out as [00:12:00] far as my upper body is concerned.

Because my shoulder is so screwed up that I can like, so I've stopped working out heavy with heavy weights, but I've kept eating like I'm working out hard. So the old belly the last month has gotten a little bit bigger and I got to check that here, which is a horrible time of year to do that because it's the holiday season and I just eat a little piggy.

There that's it. That's what I've been doing. That's what I'm, looking forward to this upcoming this upcoming late season. I wish the best of luck to each and every one of you, good vibes, safety harness, you know the deal. Let's get into today's episode, the second episode here in Wasp Week.

Enjoy. 3, 2, 1. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the Nine Finger Chronicles. Today I am joined by first timer, John Knowles. John, man, how we doing? Good brother. How you doing? I'm doing good, man. Doing good.[00:13:00] When is Pennsylvania's opener? It opens this Saturday here on the East Coast.

I'm actually in the special regs area. I'm like near Philly So it actually opens up I think two weeks before their regular season opens up Okay. All right. Okay. So you live in Pennsylvania. What part of Pennsylvania? I'm on the east coast. I'm probably like 20 minutes from Jersey. Okay. All right.

I actually used to go out to King of Prussia out there. The company that I worked for here in Iowa had a sister company in King of Prussia or Persia or whatever the, however they pronounce it. And and so I liked coming out there because then we'd go into Philly. And we would go get, we'd do the cheese steak thing and then we all, then we would go check out the Liberty bell and all the history in Philly, man, that's a, it's a cool town, but rough at the same time.

Oh yeah. I've been there quite a few times. [00:14:00] I earlier in life, I ran equipment and we did some jobs in Philly. It's tough running equipment when there's big bucks walking through neighborhoods and everything

Wow, I have friends that hunt philly every year do they kill some giants in like people's yard like c1 type stuff? Yeah, it's awesome. Yeah, I ended up driving through Valley Forge and up in that area and that's protected. No one can hunt. And two things I noticed is there were so many deer there and all of the vegetation, except for the grass from about six foot and down was gone.

The deer ate all of it, but we drove through there, man. And I saw multiple deer in the one sixties just hanging out. Yeah. You look in like Pennsylvania every year. Do they kill like a one 90 every year? I know a guy. I think he's a little north of Valley Forge, and he kills a slammer every year with a bow and we're starting [00:15:00] to get the caliber of deer, throughout the state is, some of the U.

S. has, obviously, we don't have the deer eye with us, but we're starting to get it. Yeah. What do you do for a living, John? I'm a plastic grinding manager. We grind up plastic bottles that have defects and stuff like that, and I work for my parents, so it's... Nice when it's hunting season. I'm like, all right, I'll see you around.

But no, yeah, I've been working for my parents now probably two years. Yeah. Okay. All right. And so it's a family run business. Yep. Okay. My mom, my dad, my There. Oh, nice. Okay. All right. So it's wasp week here on the nine finger chronicles podcast. And I asked Fred, I go, Hey, Fred, send me three people.

I want to interview three people for last week. And you're one of them. And he tells me [00:16:00] you're a pretty serious bow hunter. And when did you start? When would you say you became a bow hunter? How old were you?

I think we can hunt 12 here. Actually. I wasn't even allowed to go hunting my first year. Cause my dad told me I had to hit a pie plate at 20 yards with my bow, but three broad heads before I could go hunting. And actually I didn't, I hit two out of three. He's I get to go on bow hunting next year.

Oh boy. Oh, okay. But I really got serious. Probably I get my twenties. That's when I started really killing gear like here. And we're in five C's special regs. unit. I think I killed like 11 deer with a bow one year. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Lots of deer. We have a lot of, yeah, I think they give out like 70, 70, 000 dough tags.

So it's no, no problem. Get a dough tag. What's it like hunting in an area that close [00:17:00] to a major city center? You're 20 minutes from New Jersey. So what town is that Camden? Yeah. No, I'm actually just outside Allentown and Briningston. Okay. Okay. But still, that's a heavy populated area, right?

Oh, yeah. We have a couple warehouses in the Allentown area. Dude, there's deer right in the industrial parks. Jack, you drive down through and telephone, full size rubs. There's nothing I was ever used to. I grew up... Southern PA near the Maryland line hunting like big woods. And it took me a while to get used to hunting out here.

I started hunting out here in 2015 and my trail camera showed deer everywhere. I had all kinds of deer. I was like, Oh, this is going to be easy. It's not an easy way to think. Yeah. I'm talking, I'm actually talking about people. You live in a heavy, like I live in [00:18:00] what is probably one of the heaviest populated human counties, like as far as people are concerned in Iowa.

Okay. But that's nothing compared to the East Coast, right? How hard, like my, here's what I always want to find out about people who live in these heavy pressured States like Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, where there's a ton of deer hunters in a very, just way more deer hunters.

Per mile than any of, some of the other Midwestern states, what's it like hunting in a state where, you know, that there's probably another hunter on the next ridge over? I've learned, growing up, you gotta. Outsmart the guy you're hunting again because, you pull into a parking spot.

You're the first one there. That doesn't mean you're going to be the first one there all day long. You know how it is. You've been hunting people walk in. I actually killed a turkey a couple of years ago. I was walking out a ridge and I heard a bird gobble. So I was [00:19:00] like, I'll walk out through a little further.

See if he gobbles again. And sure enough, Joe blow over here is hammering on his box call. And the bird shut up. So I just sat down and the guy actually walked past me. I heard him walk by me. I just reached down and scratched the leaves and the bird gobbled. And the guy, of course, he's over there. He's hammered him off.

The bird would shut up while I'd scratch the leaves and he'd gobble. And this guy, he didn't know I was, he knew I was in the area, but he didn't know where I was. And of course he gobbled, he was over there calling, and so I actually moved a little bit and scratched the weeds, and the bird gobbled, and next thing you know I seen a redhead coming through the green, and I was like, okay turn the sapes, up he come, and I was on another podcast before, I told a guy, I was actually hunting 50 yards from the road, and I had a guy come in 9 o'clock in the morning, and he's What are you doing?

I was like, I'm deer hunting. He's like you ain't gonna kill nothing by the road I was like, oh, okay, and there's a [00:20:00] major highway across his road and he walked off and It was like 9 in the morning. Sunset came the next thing, I heard a car slow down I wonder if that's a deer coming And next thing you know, I look over, I seen a buck come up the bank and he come walking up to me.

I shot him and I trailed him. He didn't go far. I stood there and waited. Next thing you know, I see the headlight coming, so I flashed my headlight out and a guy comes walking over. He's do you see any deer? I was like, I killed a pretty good buck right there. He's Jesus Christ, you're sitting right next to the road.

Ow! I'm like, you just gotta be smarter. And actually, I had a conversation. A couple years ago these deer were coming out of these fields going into this big cut, and I was sitting on, just outside the cut, and this guy, he was down below me, and in the morning the deer were going to the cut, and at night they were leaving the cut to go down to the field.

He never came in until two o'clock in the afternoon, and I seen him down there. I was probably 100 yards from him, and I seen deer walk down the edge of the cut and stuff, and [00:21:00] It got dark and I got down and I started walking down through the woods and the guys stand there on the logging road waiting for me.

He's you're cutting me off. I was like, what do you mean? I'm cutting you off. He's what you're hunting above me. I was like if you would have been here this morning, you would have known I was here all day. He said I think you're cutting me off. I said, no, I'm smarter than you. There's a difference.

Around people. Oh, I bet you that guy just loved that comment. Oh yeah. And after that, I'd never seen him there. Yeah. Yeah. You're cutting me off. My stands have been here. Yeah. Yeah. You get those guys who are like, I've been here for 20 years. Okay, but now I'm here I don't care what are you supposed to say to that comment?

It's not going to change anything, I'm going to still go up here, and yes, I am actually going to cut you off. Yeah, I've had people walk right up to my tree and look up, they're [00:22:00] like, what are you doing? I'm like, deer hunting, what are you doing? It's I shouldn't say I've had a lot of bad experiences on public land, but I have.

I'm vibrating into some people that... And they can be jerks. Yeah, but I've got to try to get away from the park lots and stuff like that edges of cuts because everybody Podcasts or on YouTube about the edges of cuts and transitions and stuff And now I just try to get back and get away from people Yeah, you go on some game around here You get three miles from a parking lot where there ain't no roads around You're not going to see anybody.

Yeah. How old were you when you started shooting a bow? Actually you mentioned that and actually I want to back up a second and I want to say that kudos to your dad, because I don't think a lot of people like put restrictions on their own kids before they send them out to go hunt, [00:23:00] because if you're not ready to kill a deer then you're not ready to kill a deer.

And if your dad goes, Hey, you got to have three in a pie plate. And you didn't have three? I think I would have done the same thing, man, to my kids. Yeah, and I was trying to argue the point I think I was shooting like xx 75 aluminum arrows I think that arrow is bent. He's like

So you had to wait until you were 13 for your first bow season, Yeah, and actually I missed one my first time out I mean she had me shook and I think the I didn't kill no deer that the following year. I killed my first buck with a bow That was what it really You know, I was like, yeah, this is what I want to do the rest of my life.

Yeah, and so it started right away for you, like you fell in love with bow hunting almost instantly. Yeah, and in Pennsylvania, we got to be 16 to hunt by ourselves. Once I really got, I had a truck and I could go on my own. I had an old climber. Once, I was able to hunt by [00:24:00] myself, that's...

When all hell broke loose, I was killing everything. My dad's don't shoot the first blocks by. I'm like, yeah, okay.

You were the definition of if it's Brown, it's down. Yeah. Cause we could shoot spikes back then. I don't, I think it was like when I turned 18 and when they put the antler restriction Actually in effect here in Pennsylvania. Gotcha. Okay. All right. How old are you now? I'll be 36 here in a few weeks.

Okay. All right. And so you fell in love with bow hunting at an early age. What was it about bow hunting that you like so much? I liked him being close. That first buck I shot, I think he was like a 15 yards. I've shot a few deer with a gun. I'm not saying it's easy, but pretty much just put crosshairs and squeeze and shoot him at 100, 200 yards because we can use the center [00:25:00] fire here.

Both hunting, you gotta play the wind a little bit and it's a little bit more challenging. Yeah. So you liked the chess match. Yeah, and as I've gotten older like them, I've gotten into mobile hunting and I really like that Like I would I have a good buck on my farm right now that I'll probably never kill I should have killed him last year, but some people screwed that up.

I was hunting a cut bean field and Even that morning. I went for a ride. I seen him that morning. I was like, he's gonna be out in them cut beans tonight I think it's 10 degrees. He'll be out there. He can't lay all day I went in, hung my stand and everything, and 3. 30 in the afternoon, he comes walking out with this other buck, and he was like 60 yards, which, that's about where I'm comfortable at with a bow, 60 yards.

If they're inside 60, they're dead. And he was at like 60, and I was just getting ready for him to come out past these limbs, and a car comes driving down the road. They're like, look, Billy, look at all the deer, and he [00:26:00] wasn't having that. He just turned around, ran back in the woods, and last I ever saw him.

That sucks. But that happens often in that stand at my farm people drive by now It's sorghum or something this year. So I shouldn't have too much problem this year. I'll tell you what I think one of my favorite encounters I had was The landowner was renting out a house on their property to a guy who was like dude I'm telling you he was like 90 years old He shouldn't have been by himself on a four wheeler.

I'll tell you that. Anyway, so he's on a four wheeler, and I'm in a tree stand in this money spot. This whole two track is shredded. And I see this buck, a really big buck, working a tree, I'd say about 80, 90 yards, in this clearing on the edge. And then the timber would come out, and then he would follow the terrain.

And [00:27:00] go back into the timbre, and he was coming right towards me. All of a sudden, I start to hear pop. And, 90 year old guy comes down the true track, and he sees me, and he looks up, and he goes, Hey, did you see that big deer? I was like, Yeah, he was coming right to me, buddy.

And he's Oh, that's okay, you'll get another crack at him. And a situation like that was, and I never saw him again.

Yeah, like here I got a spot. It's I think it's municipality land or stuff like that Oh last year I go in with my lone wolf my sticks. I climb up this tree I was looking on Spartan Forge, you know where I was at and stuff I should be far enough away from the houses, so I get up two six high It's cracking daylight next thing, like I see my house light turn on I was like a little closer than what I thought And there's kids out of the yard playing and stuff like that.

And here comes this dough. I'm like. Man, try shoot this thing. I was like no my luck gonna run up in that yard and die [00:28:00] in front of them kids or something They'll be traumatized I got a cup. I'll tell you what I do. Yeah, I got a stand one of I don't hunt it as much anymore because the big deer seem to not be on that side of the farm anymore they're deeper in but for a while there I was hunting this really good pinch point It was real close to the house and on the right wind in the morning from the tree stand I could smell The coffee pot, like the coffee brewing in the house.

And sometimes, depending on what she was cooking for breakfast, I could hear, I could smell bacon frying in a pan. And I was just like, and so that tells you how close I was to that house. Yeah, and I, like, when I first got out here and started hunting this kind of city hunting and stuff like that, I was like the deer really who cares about scent, I gotta shower and wash my clothes and stuff, but I've never worried about the wind. I tell you what, these deer out here bust ya just as quick as a big woods buck will bust ya. Like these [00:29:00] does out here and stuff, they come through. Yeah. They're, oh, see, and this is these urban deer, right?

Every, everybody says they give Seek One, the guys from Seek One, or anybody who hunts city deer, A hard time because there's an assumption that these city deer are conditioned to be comfortable around people, but you're saying that's not necessarily the case. No, there's some like around these industrial parks, like them deer.

I wouldn't say they're tame. You stop your truck and take pictures. I'm sure they'd be spreading like cockroaches. But that's just in my experience, around here in the, okay. So as you were getting into bow hunting then, your early years, did you pick, cause I know some guys who I actually, I just had a podcast today where a guy was like, dude, I didn't play any sports in high school.

[00:30:00] All I wanted to do was hunt, right? And then you got the other guys like me who I hunted for a little bit and then sports and the social life took over and I didn't hunt as much until I was out of college. What camp did you fall under? I played sports when I was younger, but once I could hunt, I still played baseball and stuff, but once I really got into turkey hunting, like my junior year, that was when I was like, yeah, I'm not playing baseball or going to work anymore.

I was like, turkey season is serious. Or going to work. I loved it. And so was that the case from that point on? Or was it just, going straight into bow hunting mode for the rest of your life. Yeah. Pretty much until last year, I actually settled down and got married. Okay. But up until that, it was, yeah, I worked in a steel mill for 10 years and I had, we worked two on, two [00:31:00] off.

So if you played it you could use two personal days and have a whole week off. So we schedule a week vacation on our short week and then use two personal days and you'd have half the month off. Yeah. And it was just, I was killed. Yeah. There was something to be killed. I was trying. Yeah, that's just ago.

Yeah. And so now you're married and your life's ruined forever. No, she goes hunting. I got her off. She goes, but once it gets cold and she's nah, I don't want to go today. I'm like, okay. All right. No worries. I don't pressure to go. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's talk about strategy for a little bit.

It sounds to me like you've always hunted in an area where there was a lot of pressure from Other people, right? We talked about that a little bit but from a strategy standpoint Did you have any like big aha moments, you know in your early, your late teens early 20s or any failure [00:32:00] turn to success Moments that you had to go through but at that back end it made you a better bow hunter once I was old enough to hunt by myself.

I started like really honing in on scrapes Like, I remember seeing them with my dad and stuff, and I remember when they came out with trail cameras. Probably, I was, they were, they might have had them then. But, yeah, I really started focusing on scrapes. And I'm pissed in the scrape, actually, one of the first hunts by myself. I went up this creek, and I was following this deer run, and next thing I come to a pretty good opening, and there was a scrape there, and I remember my dad tied string on the end of my stabilizer, so if you held your bow, it'd tell you which way the wind was blowing.

I come up to this scrape, and I was like, I'm looking around, I got this big climber on my back. I was like, oh, there's a blowdown. I could sit in there, and watch this scrape, see if anything comes to it. And actually a buck came to it that night and I killed [00:33:00] him. That was, I thought that was pretty sweet.

So I wouldn't say I really hunt grapes a whole lot. Yeah. So that was that like an aha moment from the standpoint of how, like, how dear you sign or more like the wind direction on where you should set up based off the wind? More of the wind direction. Yeah. Okay. And then that did that, did that have an impact on your strategy moving forward?

Yeah, I watch the wind now, but I'm more or less hunt. Yeah, you know I try to put myself in a blue or I'm down wind But if not, I mean I've had bucks come right down wind and act like they never knew I was there walk right down the same Trail never caught my ground scent nothing. Do you have a favorite?

I guess first off break down The terrain that you hunt. Are we talking like a timber ag [00:34:00] mix? Are we talking big woods? What's the scenario that you're dealing with out there? Mostly it's mostly ag a lot of like my parents have 50 acres and I think 39 of its fields. Hard to hunt at the morning, but there is some mountains around here, like 20 minutes away.

Are you hunting majority public land then at that point, and then sprinkle in that property? Yeah. Yeah. I still hunt. I have a couple of permission farms here, but I still hunt a lot of public still enjoying it, yeah. And that is a, that's more or less the timber ag mix.

Yeah. Okay. Do you have a favorite? Location or like a bedding area like downwind of bedding or in a pinch point or staging area or something like that. Do you have a a go to or a favorite type of feature that you prefer to hunt?[00:35:00] Yeah, I like to hunt like a pinch or like a transition from bedding to food or there's like a fence gap there.

My parents between the two fields. Yeah, there's a little. Enough for a combine or something to get through there. I hunt there a lot. I've had a lot I've killed a lot of buck right there just in that little fence gap. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Out here like we don't have a lot of trees. We have a lot of thrush And they have these real long thorns on them.

Oh, yeah. I don't know what i've had them stuck in me a couple times Yeah. Okay. And then so outside of that, you just, are the properties that you're hunting fairly small, like this 50 acre piece or are any of them big? No, that's my biggest one. I have a 10 acre permission piece.

I can hunt. It's all fields, but I can hunt the farmer's land that, butts up against it. But those by public here, I think it's 16, 000 acres, right? Okay. [00:36:00] And so that's a big, that's a big piece of timber. How do you go about breaking down where you're going to hunt on that big chunk of public?

I go on my, Spartan or on X or whatever you have, I'll look, see where the cut are, see if there's any draws that lead down to it. When it was cut, you get one that's cut in like the early thousand. You're not walking through their shed hunting. I hate to be the one to tell.

Thick and like now they big thing where they go in and burn everything. I look for draws. I look for flats There's any oaks, Chestnuts or anything like that. If there's any water around that's a problem with my farm right now I have 50 acres and there's zero water within try a mile radius of my farm So actually I put in a hundred and ten gallon water tub from tractor supply.

I fill up weekly And is that performing for you? I take it, you have a trail camera over top of it. [00:37:00] Oh yeah. Yeah. That's where I get a lot of pictures. I had a cell cam there. I probably got 10 pictures a day, but here last week, it was like in the eighties and nineties, and it really, I think I filmed it twice last week.

Yeah. And is that feature something that you are going to plan on hunting in the upcoming weeks with it? Like being early season and having a lack of water. Yeah, I think Saturday it's supposed to be a high of 80 I mean I have a I think it's like an acre of chicory and clover plot right there plus that water tub I'll probably fill that up tomorrow after work But I'll probably, one evening, go in hang and hunt, do what I see.

What is your goal every season? I like to kill a big buck. I think that's everybody's goal. Yeah But as I've gotten older, I enjoy being out with my friends, Brad from Wasp and he comes out every year and try to get Fred to come out, but he don't come out. But I just [00:38:00] enjoy being out with family and friends and enjoying the great outdoors, yeah. How many deer would you say that you kill in a year? Probably five. Five? Some years are better than eight, yeah. And that is... Just any deer or are you looking to shoot one one big buck and then fill the freezer with the rest? Yeah, I try to shoot a nice buck in Pennsylvania a three and a half year old if he walks by me He's in trouble.

I don't you know, I don't try to shoot just fuck Yeah, but if they three and a half in Pennsylvania, especially on public land, he's in trouble. Yeah, okay All right, and then as far as Let's see regulations you mentioned like us this you live and hunt in a special Regulation unit what's what are what's special about this unit?

It actually has a lot of deer We're one of [00:39:00] us and I think it's Philadelphia or Bucks County have the most deer in all state other than profit I think that's part of the special regs area. It's just overrun with here unlimited tags then No, I think you can buy one. I wouldn't say it's unlimited.

You have to actually buy each individual. Yeah. And then in the part of the state that you hunt has, have they made it either, or have they made it legal Sunday hunting yet in. Pennsylvania. Oh, we get three Sundays a year. We can hunt. They're so gracious. One bear and one in season. And so you get a hunt, but it's only three.

Yeah. Yeah. I think they're trying to, I think we're one of the last States where on days us in [00:40:00] New York. Okay. So do you ever travel outside of Pennsylvania and. Go to any other states to hunt? Yeah, I've been to Maine a few times bear hunting. I actually went deer hunting once, but that was not fun.

I've been to Montana and a little puntin Carolina, I went down there deer huntin a couple times. Ohio and stuff like that. Just some surrounding states. Yeah. Is that something you do on a yearly basis? No, not every year. I try to, but like we had I met some guys through some friends that were up in Maine and hey, we'll trade you a bear hunt for a deer hunt.

I was like, all right then I went up there and I shot a bear and they came down here. Then I had to play a guy that was cool running around with them guys, cause they don't have the deer. We do. I think they said they have. One deer per square mile. Yeah. Yeah, I I interviewed a guy from Maine.

And I also [00:41:00] interviewed a guy from Vermont. And there there are certain parts of the state that are better than others. But there, there was a guy there was a guy who was like, If I see four deer a year, that's a really good year. C. Not kill, but C. Four deer a year, that's a really good year. I'm just like, if I go on one sit and I don't see four deer, I think all deer are dead. Something's got to be wrong here in Iowa. Yeah, absolutely. This is a wasp themed a wasp themed podcast. So I do have to ask you, what is, what's your favorite setup? What's your arrow setup and what head are you using on on your arrow?

If I'm turkey hunting, I'm definitely shooting a jackknife, something big. Yeah. Or a jackhammer. Shoot a victory. I don't know what arrow I shoot. BAP TKO. Okay. Like a five inch arrow. But, I shoot [00:42:00] a 32 inch draw. Gotcha. Okay. You got a long, you got a long draw and you said it was a, oh, it's over 500 grains?

Yeah. For turkey. Turkey, do you like a big expandable? Yep, if I'm deer hunting, I'll throw like a jackhammer, a drone, a dart, whatever I grab, that's what I'm using for deer. So you don't have a preference? Yeah, I like the jackhammer. That puts a big pull. I think I killed five deer, a turkey, and a bobcat all with the same jackhammer before I broke a blade.

Okay, I'll just get a new one. I put them on my wall or something like that. Save them. They're just a tough head. Yeah, that's yeah. And that's why I like them. I like those heads. And it's why I continue to go back to and use those heads is because man, every time, even here's the, here's [00:43:00] what I'll say.

Is you put a broadhead of any maker model through the heart or lungs of a white tail, it's going to die, right? But you can't necessarily say that on marginal shots like bad shots behind the liver, right? Things like that. And so I will say, and this has no mark, merit towards the broadhead, but if I put a bad shot.

On a whitetail, I know that my broadhead is going to do a shit ton of damage, and that's why I use Jack, the three blade jackhammer. I know it's going to put a big hole in there. I know it's going to be, and if they're not going to die quickly, I know that they're not going to move around. They're going to go somewhere and lay down, and then I'll have an opportunity to find him at a later date or later time, just like what I did this past year.

Yep. Yep. And I know like a lot of another, I was talking to another guy one time and he's I shot this buck. I hit him like in [00:44:00] the last rib. I never found him. He's I don't even know what kind of broadhead he was shooting. He's but they're junk. I was like, you ever think, maybe it's a Indian or, it's not the boat.

Oh, they're junk. They don't work. I'm telling you, I shot a buck one time through the back legs. Yeah. accidental at full draw, started to touch off and he jumps over this law just as I the bow broke loose and I see the shot him right through the back legs. I'm like, you gotta be kidding me.

Yeah. And went 30 yards and laid down and I'm like, look at it. I think my binoculars. I was like, this is going to not out right here. I was like, how is that even? I cut that for more artery. Okay. Yeah. I've never killed. I'm I've never killed a deer with a shooting. Shooting them with through the femoral artery out in the back.

However I was using a boss for blade in 2018 and I hit. It was just a horrible shot, horrible situation. I hit [00:45:00] him through the back ham, but because there was no energy loss with the deployment of the broadhead, my fixed blade went all the way through the body and it came out his front armpit and there was a, there's a long story after that, but the penetration that I got with a, a well tuned arrow and a very sharp and durable broadhead on front man.

They do some major damage. Oh yeah this buck I shot right here, I shot him 7 yards, and I shot him right here, and I went back and it stuck in his back leg, and it actually broke, it didn't break the bone, but it penetrated, that trail car tip actually went into the bone. Was that a fixed blade head?

Jack knife. That was a jack knife, holy cow, man that's Yeah. Yeah, and I tell you what, guys with 24 inch and 25 inch draws right now are just being like, I hate you. I hate you. Yeah. [00:46:00] Yeah. That's the only good thing about having all the speed out about. I killed my animal up the same exact way I shot him right here, quartering to me at five yards with a dart.

I passed through him. Yeah. What do you got planned for the rest of this year? I don't know. I don't think the wife's going to hunt works a little slow. I'd like to kill that six and a half year old buck, but have a good three year old walks by me. I'm killing him. How many buck tags do you get?

I got lost. Just one. Okay. Okay. And are you in an APR unit?

What's that? Are you in an antler? Restricted unit antler point restriction. Yeah. Yeah, three on one side I think there's two counties out around Pittsburgh. They have four on one side not including the brown sign Okay. All right. So you're in an area where Have you seen let me ask you this. Have you seen [00:47:00] antler point restrictions benefit the deer herd?

Yeah, I think it was 2000, might have been my senior year, they changed it, 2006 or 2004. Guys, if they killed a 120, they were doing pretty good, but now, you see it a lot. Better quality, because what happens in a mountain, you see a buck coming and you're looking and you're like, Oh, I don't know if he has enough points, I don't want to shoot him and have to pay a fine or anything like that.

I think it helps us a lot. That's good, man. I've heard things about that in Michigan, too, where those antler point restrictions are really they benefit, they're straight up seeing bigger bucks. You gotta pass on, I think it has to have four points, some of them have to have four points on one side.

And the days for certain guys smoking a spike. Every single year and now they're starting to see a direct result in that or hey, man, I'm shooting 120 inch deer every year [00:48:00] and I'm a huge advocate for things like that. Yeah. Yeah. I wish I'd go four points for the whole state and get rid of rifles.

Like you let them use a gun or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. But you start talking about taking stuff away from people, then you know what happens. They, everybody starts to bitch. Yeah, cool man. Hey, I tell you what I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to hop on and bs with me for a little bit good luck this upcoming season and keep me posted man.

All right, buddy. Hey, man, take care Thanks,

and that brings episode number two Of Wasp Week to an end. Huge shout out to John, huge shout out to all of you, huge shout out to Wasp, and all of the other brands like Tethered, Vortex, Code Blue, Woodman's Pal, Huntworth, and of course Full Sneak Gear. Please go out and support the companies that support this podcast.

And last, but definitely not least, wear your damn safety harness. [00:49:00] Send good vibes out into the universe. Be a kind person, even when it's gonna, at, even when it's hardest. Be a kind person, right? Fake it till you make it, they say. And sometimes you gotta fake, fake happiness. You don't wanna fake happiness too long.

You need to talk to someone about it if you're struggling. But, there's days where I don't wanna, I wanna be a grump. But, that, me being a grump, then turns my family into grumps. And they see me. And I don't want to be grumpy in front of them. I want to be happy dad. I want to be good dad. And and when I'm happy dad and good dad, even if I'm faking it, that means the rest of my family is happy.

And that's really all that I care about. Good vibes in good vibes out, and we will talk to you next time.[00:50:00] 

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