Show Notes
On this episode of the Nine Finger Chronicles, and the final installment of WASP Week, Dan talks about his plans for the rest of the year and a couple goals for next season. Dan explains why he is excited for the upcoming late season after the purchase of a CVA muzzleloader. In the second half of this episode, Dan talks about his plans to hunt more whitetails in other midwestern states like Missouri, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Then he ends the episode by debating whether or not he should buy a new bow for next years archery season. Just another fun episode, ENJOY!
Show Transcript
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode number three of wasp week. And I wish we had some kind of interesting guest, but due to scheduling conflicts. Conflicts are third guest of this week had to back out. [00:01:00] And so now it's
just old nine fingers
here talking into a microphone for you guys today, which isn't going to be too bad.
I'm going to keep it short and sweet. We're going to here's some of the things that we're going to do today. We're going to do. I'm going to talk about three facts that most people already know about white tail deer. That I like to share because there's still little bits of the hunting industry that think
a certain way.
And I like to
[00:01:26] Dan: Especially I don't know this perfect examples last summer. I was talking to a guy and he thought he knew a lot about whitetails and he said he made a comment and I
[00:01:38] Dan Johnson: go, actually, that's not true. Most of the time anytime something like that
[00:01:44] Dan: happens I don't know if you guys have ever been in a scenario like this where people
[00:01:50] Dan Johnson: don't understand.
I'm not
[00:01:53] Dan: popular. I'm not like I can't, I can walk into a grocery store and people have no clue who I am. I'm just a [00:02:00] regular dude, right? And that probably is the same way with just about everybody in the hunting industry, just because how small it is. But getting into a conversation at
[00:02:08] Dan Johnson: picnics or sporting events or things like that, and people, they don't know that I am As educated
[00:02:17] Dan: about deer as I am, they don't know how serious I take it.
Most of the time
[00:02:21] Dan Johnson: they don't even know that I had, they may
[00:02:23] Dan: know that I have a a podcast just from, conversations between my wife and their wife and things like that, but they don't understand. How long I've been doing this and how much I actually know. And so they'll,
[00:02:34] Dan Johnson: they'll make comments.
Most
[00:02:36] Dan: of the time, those comments are, I just, Oh, okay. Yeah. Sweep them under the rug. Don't pay attention to them. But there was one example where this guy was spitting
[00:02:47] Dan Johnson: off, like
[00:02:48] Dan: all these facts. He thought he knew everything about whitetail. And he must've been educated by the the outdoor channel back in the.
Late nineties, early two thousands, where it was just like[00:03:00] there's been an education revolution as far as science and and facts about basically the truth about white tails has come out through, the national. Deer association, right? The
[00:03:14] Dan Johnson: NDA, they
[00:03:16] Dan: have, they do a ton of studies, you have Mississippi state university, you have Auburn, you have Penn state, you have all these other universities in places doing basically just studying deer and giving all the facts.
So anyway, this is a long way of saying that this guy just started dropping
[00:03:37] Dan Johnson: fake news on me. And I couldn't take it anymore. And I was just like, actually.
[00:03:42] Dan: That's not true. And I'd pull up the research on my phone and show him. He's are you serious? Are you serious? I'm like 100 percent and he said something else and I'm like
[00:03:52] Dan Johnson: Actually, can I show you something real
[00:03:55] Dan: quick pulled up the research showed him and he was just blown away That I [00:04:00] that all the
[00:04:00] Dan Johnson: everything that he thought he
[00:04:02] Dan: knew was wrong.
And so it's just that's the world we live in right now, right? You scroll through Instagram and I just had a an Instagram reel go.
[00:04:14] Dan Johnson: Oh man, I hit, I might be at
[00:04:16] Dan: 200,
[00:04:17] Dan Johnson: 000
[00:04:17] Dan: views on it. Which isn't too much. I've seen other reels by people go, bigger and into the millions, but for me, that's pretty big.
And all it was two guys. I was talking to two guys earlier on in wasp week about. basically are population control. They run an organization that's population control in urban areas, and they have a total of 300. Acres that they help manage the deer population on now. It's one. It's not one big 300 acre piece There's all these there's all these pieces of property that add up to 300 acres And so I posted a reel on Instagram where I asked them how many deer they take [00:05:00] off of that total 300 acres and even in the
[00:05:02] Dan Johnson: description of that Instagram feed
[00:05:05] Dan: I said hey I gave you know, this is an urban environment.
They have a total of 300 acres, whatever And so obviously people don't read that. And everybody's calling BS. They're like, Oh, there's no way that's true. That's a high fence. They're stock blah, blah, blah, blah. And so those are the type of people that will read a caption or they'll see a clip, but they won't read the caption or they'll just read a title of something and not actually read the story or listen to the entire podcast and then call BS or spread fake information and things like that.
Yeah. And so I love like that guy just had a heart attack at that cookout that day. And I was like actually you're wrong. Oh no. Here's why I'm like, actually, buddy, come on, let's look at the facts. And so I had to basically cite,
[00:05:52] Dan Johnson: Where I got
[00:05:53] Dan: all my information from, pulled it up on my phone.
I was like, here, research shows this, and that. So I didn't want to ruin this guy's day, [00:06:00] make him feel stupid. But at some point, yeah. You hear enough people say the wrong thing over and over again Then guess what you gotta say something. So I did anyway, so we're gonna we're gonna talk about some interesting deer facts and then I'm gonna get into a little bit of a conversation about My plans for the rest of this year and then high level for what?
My goals are for next year. And so that's the intro. What did we get? Let me look at my little notes here. Okay. Commercial time. Let's just get into the commercials. If you're looking for a saddle or saddle hunting accessories, go check out tethered, tethered. offers saddles, platforms saddle hunting accessories, and then they have a huge educational catalog library to make you a better deer hunter in a saddle.
And I used my
[00:06:55] Dan Johnson: saddle a lot. Actually, I didn't even use a safety harness at [00:07:00] all
[00:07:00] Dan: this year. I used my saddle
[00:07:02] Dan Johnson: even when I was tree
[00:07:03] Dan: stand hunting. this year. And so I had an absolute blast hunting out of a saddle. It's very comfortable. It allows you to be, especially if you're hunting in a tree stand, it allows you to sit, it allows you to stand, and then it also allows you to lean off the tree like a full blown saddle.
And then I also saw the true benefits this year. Of running a saddle and a platform. And dude, highly recommend, highly re recommend not only the hybrid method that I use this year, but the standalone version of that as well, which is just a straight up saddle hunt. So go check out tethered nation.
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It ain't
[00:07:58] Dan Johnson: even funny. [00:08:00] I
[00:08:00] Dan: absolutely love that head flies true, obviously. After you shoot field points all summer, you have to readjust your bow, readjust your sight, readjust possibly your rest. There's a lot of things. A field point is not a broadhead, and I don't care. What claims a broadhead company makes it is not a field point.
So you do have to do some adjustments after you shoot field points. And that's why I took a whole bunch of old, thick or mechanicals this year. And I pretty much just shot mechanicals
[00:08:35] Dan Johnson: all
[00:08:35] Dan: summer long into my target. I got a really good Reinhardt target. I beat the shit out of it, obviously with all of that all of all the broadhead usage on it, but,
[00:08:45] Dan Johnson: It.
I didn't need to do anything. I didn't
[00:08:47] Dan: need to change anything before my trip. I didn't need my western trip. I didn't need to change anything before I went down south and did my thing here in Iowa. [00:09:00] And so wasparchery. com discount code NFC20 for 20 percent off. Please go take advantage of that.
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[00:09:13] Dan Johnson: tripod that's out the, they have a new product for kids,
[00:09:17] Dan: A new pair of binoculars for kids. So it's if you wanna get someone their first ever pair of binoculars, they have a new, basically a kid's version binocular that's spectacular.
And it's very affordable. And it's and it goes with the quality that Vortex always brings to the table. So vortex optics.com, check out all their lineups of. binoculars, spotting scopes, range finders, rifle scopes. I just bought a muzzle loader that I'm going to talk about later. I need to go get a Vortex a Vortex scope for that.
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[00:10:28] Dan Johnson: off
[00:10:29] Dan: next on the list. We have woodman's pal this is a serious christmas gift. Leader right here I really think that any serious outdoorsman and
[00:10:38] Dan Johnson: any
[00:10:39] Dan: Serious hunter or even bow hunter for that matter needs to have one of these in their truck or in their pack Now I'm gonna be completely honest.
It's a little it's a little heavier, but it's durable as shit It's made in America and you can beat the piss out of it chopping and hacking stuff. It's [00:11:00] almost like a multi Purpose tool. You can hack trees, you can cut wood with it. You, it's basically a really durable, thick machete.
And the guy that I work with, he calls it a habitat tool. Really high quality habitat to go check out woodman's pal. com. And then last but not least hunt worth, be sure to check out hunt worth Instagram and Facebook pages because they drop a discount codes. And are running sales all like between now and Christmas, pay attention to those discount codes because they are definitely going to be offering some discount codes between now and then on, in my opinion, one of the most of the highest quality with the most affordability I've worn just about ever, every single camel pattern on the market or gear company or whatever you want to say.
There's only a couple that I haven't, but I've definitely used all the elite brands and these guys are 90 percent of that with 50 percent [00:12:00] really of the cost. And so you gotta go check out Huntworth, man. Absolutely love their gear. And then obviously my new company, dude, I just check this out. I just
[00:12:11] Dan Johnson: got I
[00:12:13] Dan: did some research
[00:12:14] Dan Johnson: and I said on full sneak,
[00:12:16] Dan: Full sneak gears, my new apparel company, it's going to turn into a lifestyle brand, but I wanted to get some clothes out, some t shirts out.
And I wanted to be creative in this endeavor and so I, I've launched a couple of t shirts. I've got a sweatshirt
[00:12:30] Dan Johnson: in the making and dude, I just got,
[00:12:34] Dan: I did some research and I was looking
[00:12:36] Dan Johnson: for a company that made death metal. T shirts, right? So the,
[00:12:44] Dan: the bands that play death metal music, they all have these zombie looking gory t shirts.
And I was like, dude,
[00:12:50] Dan Johnson: that would be a sweet idea
[00:12:52] Dan: for a deer t shirt. And so I just got the first concept
[00:12:56] Dan Johnson: back today and it is [00:13:00] sick as shit, dude.
[00:13:01] Dan: It is awesome. And I'm hoping that within the. By Christmas time, I have the final product that I can have available for preorder, but I got this concept back.
Just imagine zombie deer, like a zombie whitetail buck in a forest. Dude, it is, it's, when it's done, it's going to look awesome. And so keep an eye out for that along with all the other products at Full Sneak Gear. All right, I got to put a cough drop in because I've been struggling with some
[00:13:31] Dan Johnson: kind of sinus deal right now.
And it's gone down into my throat
[00:13:36] Dan: my wife She said she's been sleeping on the couch because she said I've been snoring so loud at night And I very rarely snore according to her and so either. I'm getting fat and Because there is this magic There's this magic weight that I have. It's somewhere around 230.
If I go over 230, I start to snore. And if I'm under 230, I don't really snore
[00:13:59] Dan Johnson: that much. [00:14:00]
[00:14:00] Dan: And so I need to drop, I, dude, my shoulder, I'm having a shoulder issue.
[00:14:07] Dan Johnson: And,
[00:14:08] Dan: It sucks because I can't lift. I can't lift upper body with it. And so really what I've been doing is just staying home. I just started going to a steam room at the gym that I'm a member of.
And basically just
[00:14:22] Dan Johnson: trying to steam out. And actually that has, I think, along with icing,
[00:14:28] Dan: has been helping my shoulder. But I have to go to a doctor on... You know how all this insurance shit works. I have to go to a doctor who refers me to another doctor who then will refer me to another doctor to see for an exam.
So my standard doctor needs to refer me to the shoulder specialist and the shoulder specialist will say whether I need an
[00:14:51] Dan Johnson: MRI or not.
[00:14:52] Dan: If I need an MRI, then I need to go to a different doctor. So I, on the 11th, I find out if I'm going to [00:15:00] get an MRI to see if I have a torn ligament in my shoulder.
It's pretty painful. It's, it sucks because climbing tree stands all fall sucked hiking out into the out into the, when I was hiking around and climbing up hills and just day to day activities getting in and out of my truck, it's sore. And I know I, I give crossbows a hard time on this podcast, but I was really close to having to pick up a crossbow.
I thought that my shoulder was roasted and I thought I was going to have to pick up a crossbow this fall get a medical release from my doctor for a crossbow
[00:15:43] Dan Johnson: and and so I'm glad I didn't,
[00:15:47] Dan: My shoulders slowly been getting better, but it's not perfect. And I just want to make sure before I start. Getting back into any type of activities that it's healthy because I want to use this next 10 months [00:16:00] basically from now until September to rehab my shoulder, make sure it's right so I can use a
[00:16:07] Dan Johnson: bow for next year.
But,
[00:16:10] Dan: between now and then, I'm going to put the bow down for the rest of the season. And I went to a store Shields, one of my favorite places to go. And, I've been to Bass Pro, I've been to Cabela's, and...
[00:16:29] Dan Johnson: The people that work
[00:16:31] Dan: at these at Cabela's and Bass Pro are very nice, but there just seems to be a little
bit
[00:16:37] Dan Johnson: of a, how do I don't want to say experience,
[00:16:43] Dan: not like there's a knowledge gap, if that
[00:16:45] Dan Johnson: makes sense.
[00:16:47] Dan: But at Shields, it seems
[00:16:49] Dan Johnson: that they hire.
[00:16:51] Dan: And if you're from the Midwest, you probably know what a Shields is. But if you're down South, I shit, I think Texas has a Shields now, but if you're in the Southeast [00:17:00] or in the Northeast, you may not know what a Shields is. It's basically a Cabela's or a Bass Pro same products.
But these people are very knowledgeable. So I went in
[00:17:11] Dan Johnson: and I.
[00:17:12] Dan: Not only bought a muzzle loader two days ago, but I got an education on how to load it I got an education on how to clean it He took it apart for me He helped me cite it in and so I'm putting the bow down this late season and I bought a muzzle loader and it that's Not necessarily for me.
It's also for my wife as well because she's expressed interest in going late season hunting And so I haven't, I have a place where that's going to be an option now before I got access to this new property. Dude, once the shotgun hunters go through my main farm that I've been hunting for 14 years, game over, it's done.
I'm talking no more deer. Maybe the occasional doe will walk through, but it is, it's a serious... It's a serious pressure and [00:18:00] they relocate until spring, no joke. And so I'm glad I got this new farm. I'm going to go and get a muzzle loader and, or I've already got it. Now I need to go cite it in, but I'm going to go muzzle loader hunting this late season.
And I believe that starts on December shoot. December 18th. That's when it starts. But what do you know? Muzzleloader season. I got four days, four days, four or five days to hunt. Then it's Christmas. Then it's Christmas vacation. And my wife is you are not leaving all three kids with me
[00:18:39] Dan Johnson: at home
[00:18:40] Dan: that week after Christmas before New Year's.
to go hunting while they're on break. So I can't do that unless I drop my kids
[00:18:49] Dan Johnson: off at my dad's,
[00:18:51] Dan: my dad's or something like that, then I can go. But but yeah, man, I'm really looking forward to it, man. Here's my dream. I [00:19:00] really hope that the buck that I shot earlier this year, who, the big 10, he survived,
[00:19:08] Dan Johnson: I hope he.
He sticks around.
[00:19:12] Dan: Last year, dude, I sat in a tree for two days and I
[00:19:18] Dan Johnson: watched a parade of deer come
[00:19:21] Dan: out of this property
[00:19:22] Dan Johnson: onto this standing ag field.
[00:19:24] Dan: That another guy also hunts, unfortunately. Unfortunate for him, I am between. I mentioned this on another podcast. I believe I'm going to launch it next week, but I am between
[00:19:36] Dan Johnson: him and where
[00:19:39] Dan: the deer are coming from.
So at about 40 yards from the fence line is where I'll be. Or I'll be parked pretty close to the fence line, but I'll be shooting into my property and probably 40, 50 yards from the fence crossing because that's literally the best place they come out of the timber. If I go into the timber, I spook them because I'm too close to bedding.
But [00:20:00] then after that, they'll all start to pile out and I will be able to have. I don't want to say fish in a barrel type scenario, but last year they all walked down two different trails that were 50 yards apart. Unfortunately, there were 70 yards from the closest tree that I could get a tree stand in.
So that's why I got the muzzle loader this year so I could reach out. I'm guessing somewhere between a 70 and 100 yard shot. And so I'm really looking forward to that. Other than that, this season is going down as a learning lesson, right? I got my buck fever. I recovered from it. I got a good, I got a real good buck
[00:20:42] Dan Johnson: and I
[00:20:44] Dan: need to focus on buck fever.
I was so amped and jacked for this upcoming season that I lost sight of my control. You've heard me on this podcast. Preach it. You [00:21:00] have to act like you've been there before, especially around big mature bucks. And I did not. I lost I self admittedly lost control and I did not keep it together and I put a shitty shot on a slam
[00:21:12] Dan Johnson: dunk scenario.
[00:21:15] Dan: I should have put an arrow right in this deer's heart and lungs, hard quartering towards me, and I should have watched him drop with insight. But instead,
[00:21:24] Dan Johnson: I damn near
[00:21:24] Dan: blacked out and I
[00:21:27] Dan Johnson: rushed the shot and
[00:21:30] Dan: everything went wrong, right? It just went wrong. Fortunately, that buck recovered. And he has been on trail camera now several times.
So I know he's alive and I'm hoping to get a good idea like a good crack at him this late season. I'm going to monitor cell cams to know when they start to move honestly. I'm hoping for about two foot of snow come somewhere around
[00:21:58] Dan Johnson: December [00:22:00] 18th
[00:22:00] Dan: or something like that. Right before it starts. I would love for the shotgun hunters to push all of that into the, all the deer into the property that I have access to hunt and,
[00:22:10] Dan Johnson: and then late season comes.
[00:22:12] Dan: And then basically it's going to be me and another guy in a box blind on a different property hunting this deer herd. And I'm really hoping that I can connect. So I'm looking forward to that. And I'm also really looking forward to hunting with a different weapon. Believe it or not, I have only shot one deer with a gun my entire life.
I think it was like
[00:22:33] Dan Johnson: 2008 or 9 or something like
[00:22:37] Dan: that. I shot a whitetail doe with... 20 gauge shotgun. That's the only deer I've shot with a gun. So now, like I mentioned in another podcast, I want you guys to listen to next week's podcast with Tony Peterson, because it's going to be, it's a good one, but I feel like I'm coming out of the closet.
When I tell everybody that [00:23:00] I'm, I'm now officially, I'm going to be a gun hunter as well. Anyway, I'm looking forward to hunting with a new weapon and seeing how the late season treats me. Buh. Hopefully the dogs on that property are not an issue. They were an issue earlier this year. The landowner I guess he the DNR officer called the landowner and said, Hey, can you keep your dogs off this property?
They're chasing deer and. They're chasing deer
[00:23:29] Dan Johnson: and I didn't hear a
[00:23:31] Dan: response back, but the dogs no longer were running on the property until after I shot like somewhere around November 15th, I got another picture of them running on the property and
[00:23:42] Dan Johnson: but then I haven't.
[00:23:44] Dan: Since then. So maybe they got out and got loose or something like that, or they forgot to put them in one day.
But it worked right. And there were a lot of people were saying you should shoot those dogs. I'm not going to shoot a dog,
[00:23:54] Dan Johnson: dude. I'm not going to. Why would I shoot a dog? I'll shoot a coyote,
[00:23:58] Dan: but I'm not going to. I'm not going [00:24:00] to shoot a dog, especially when they're collared. That's private.
In Iowa, that's private property, and then I could be in big trouble if I did something like that. So I'm not going to do that. All right. That's this. That's the rest of this year, right? Here's a couple things that I want to focus on for next year,
[00:24:17] Dan Johnson: and I am.
[00:24:20] Dan: Here's what I'm excited about. I've been on a roll in Iowa.
I'm gonna take a drink of water real quick.
I've been on a roll in Iowa since 2016. I've shot a buck every single year. I feel like I've got Iowa under control now as we all know, nothing is guaranteed, but I feel like I have
[00:24:44] Dan Johnson: Iowa underneath under control and I
[00:24:49] Dan: want to. Spread my wings, and I want to see if I can hunt whitetails in a different environment.
Now, [00:25:00] here's what this means.
[00:25:01] Dan Johnson: This means that I might have to... I feel like
[00:25:05] Dan: my urge to kill a mule deer is really high. I really want to shoot a mule deer in that spot and stalk environment. But this year, when I was out there late October, my mind... Like I was all in it. I loved every moment of it, but I kept
[00:25:24] Dan Johnson: thinking to myself,
[00:25:26] Dan: man, I should, it's so good.
I should probably be in a different state hunting. I should probably be in a different state hunting whitetails because I want to go to Missouri. I want to go to Oklahoma, Wisconsin southeastern Minnesota. I want to go to Illinois or Ohio or Indiana or
[00:25:43] Dan Johnson: Kentucky,
[00:25:45] Dan: right? There's good deer hunting in those places.
And they're all within for
[00:25:49] Dan Johnson: four or five hours for me.
[00:25:51] Dan: And so I really, I think next year I'm really going to
[00:25:56] Dan Johnson: try and [00:26:00]
[00:26:00] Dan: I'm really going to try and do some very small, maybe like long weekend, three day, four day trips. So I can be in Wisconsin in three hours. I can be in Minnesota in three hours.
I
[00:26:13] Dan Johnson: can be in Missouri in. Two and a half hours, Illinois in an hour and a half,
[00:26:21] Dan: right? And I really want to I really want to take the opportunity to explore some of those places and kill deer in different environments, right? And before everybody's you're just going to other Midwestern states.
Yeah, you're right, but that's just because of where I live, right? It's not the South. It's
[00:26:41] Dan Johnson: not Michigan. It's not Pennsylvania, right? I,
[00:26:45] Dan: I want to test myself, but I like, I want to test myself in environments that offer the best odds. And I feel like those States offer some pretty good odds. Other than that obviously I want to continue.
I'm debating right now [00:27:00] because I pretty much have to make a decision within a couple months and I don't think I'm going to do it yet because I'm unsure about my shoulder. I am going to. Probably just by another elk preference point this year by my my Wyoming preference points this year, instead of going on hunting, because.
I'm unsure about the hunt and when I do that hunt, I'm going to dedicate two weeks to it. My wife doesn't know that yet. It could jeopardize our marriage, but I want to make sure that I want to make sure that I do it and do it right because I'm going to be, I'm knocking on 10 points. I think this next year I'll have nine points.
Maybe I'll try to draw with 10 and,
[00:27:45] Dan Johnson: And that should put me in. One of the best,
[00:27:49] Dan: if not best units in the entire state of Wyoming with, I'm assuming 10 preference points would get me there. There, there's probably some that are higher, [00:28:00] but then I'm debating on whether I want to go over, go DIY, or if I want to spend the money on a guide.
And do a guided hunt or go with a local and pay them or I don't know that's those are things that I'm thinking about because elk for me is
[00:28:20] Dan Johnson: right now in my
[00:28:20] Dan: life. I've never shot an elk. I want to shoot it. Elk. I want to be. I want to know that when I go out there, I'm not
[00:28:29] Dan Johnson: just chasing my tail.
I'm not young anymore. Okay. I can't sprint up the mountains. I'm from Iowa, so I'm not used to the elevation. I, it's
[00:28:40] Dan: unrealistic for me to think that I can go out there in the summertime with our schedule and do some kind of big scouting mission. That's unrealistic. So I'm left with go out there, figure it out on your own, or maybe have somebody else figure it out.
Help you figure it out. I don't want it to be like an [00:29:00] outfitter where they drive a truck up a mountain They're like, there's the elk herd go down in some guy bugles a couple times and I get it I get a crack at one. I don't necessarily want that I wanted I still want it to be the backcountry experience, but I would like a little bit of help to be honest with you And I'm that's what I'm going for.
Anyway, maybe that's realistic expectation maybe it's not But so there's the elk thing, the mule deer thing. I'm still going to apply for South Dakota. I think I'm just going to go earlier in October maybe the second week in October. Then the third week of October will be at home.
With the kids,
[00:29:43] Dan Johnson: And family.
[00:29:43] Dan: And then the third week or the last week of October could be this year I might attack my new farm earlier in the earlier than November,
[00:29:55] Dan Johnson: I might attack
[00:29:56] Dan: it the last week of [00:30:00] October to try to get a buck
[00:30:02] Dan Johnson: down in
[00:30:04] Dan: October this year. It would be dude, if I shot a buck on October 25th, and then I could go from the 25th.
Spend a week at home, seven days at home, and then go for an out of state rut hunt. That would be ideal. And then be able to come back and do the late season muzzleloader thing again.
[00:30:24] Dan Johnson: Man, that would be ideal. Is it going to happen? Dude, who the
[00:30:27] Dan: hell knows? Right now, my, my kid's schedule is so busy.
When I
[00:30:32] Dan Johnson: leave, I got three kids, right? When I leave for my hunts,
[00:30:36] Dan: not only am I relying on my wife to take control of the family while I'm gone, she did a good job. This year, but I'm also relying on other people. I've had people take my daughter to dance just because they live right across the street from us.
And then another girl in the neighborhood, her mom brings her home. And then our other neighbors [00:31:00] are the same age as my two boys. And so they helped out. A lot with going and going to taking the boys to their basketball practices or their wrestling practices. And then one of us would go. And then now that my daughter is not only in dance, but she's in
[00:31:16] Dan Johnson: wrestling, like
[00:31:18] Dan: it's just, it's chaotic.
And so it puts a lot of pressure on my wife when I go. And we really do. I really do rely on other people for to help basically transport my kids around and I'm glad I have that. I'm going to repay them with some gift cards this this Christmas. I'm just going to say, thank you for helping out.
I really appreciate, just some 10 gift cards to the local coffee shop. And
[00:31:45] Dan Johnson: so that's, what's going to be happening now. I think a lot of
[00:31:48] Dan: that's going to change when my kids get older. I've talked to some other guys before. And
[00:31:54] Dan Johnson: they've pretty much said that
[00:31:58] Dan: once the, once you have one kid [00:32:00] who can drive, then it all starts to settle down because then you can be like, Hey, mom's going to take so and so the oldest kid can either drive themselves to their activity,
[00:32:11] Dan Johnson: or they can, they
[00:32:14] Dan: can be a shuttle bus for the other kid.
And I think I tried dude. Once my daughter turned 16, like I know a lot can happen
[00:32:22] Dan Johnson: between 10 and 16,
[00:32:23] Dan: but she's, she is the girl that I I would trust behind a tractor driving a tractor right now. She's that cool. Now my, my boys, hell no, they might not be ready till they're 30. Out of state, man, I want to hunt more white tails
[00:32:37] Dan Johnson: out of state.
And I think between now, I'd
[00:32:40] Dan: say for the next couple of years, I'm going to really focus on that for out of state white tail hunts, because I just love it so much, man. I feel like here's what happens whenever you get really good. You figured out a property, you get, you know where the deer are moving it's just a matter [00:33:00] of time until, especially if you're doing what I'm doing, trail cameras, check your trail cameras, maybe you have some cell cameras, Intel's coming in and you're like, okay, I know this deer exists, I know he's around here somewhere, for me, it's just a matter of going to the terrain features, just have the best deer movement,
[00:33:24] Dan Johnson: and I,
[00:33:25] Dan: Go sit in those areas and usually it's not rocket science.
Usually the my target deer comes through at some point
[00:33:36] Dan Johnson: And that's how I've been successful,
[00:33:38] Dan: right? And so I want to figure that out in other areas. I think that's where I was trying to go with that. It just becomes easier. And that means the easier it is, the less time you have to spend hunting.
So if I only hunted Iowa and let's see, I got really good this year. It took me four or five, I think it was four. No, it was six. I was gone for six days, I [00:34:00] believe, because I left the afternoon of the first, I hunted the second, third, fourth, fifth shot, my shot, the first deer on the six, then I went home for a while and then I came back to hunt, from the 11th to the, I don't shit the 13th or the 12th is when I shot this buck, I can't remember.
Anyway, I shot my buck. All right. I just want more time to spend in a, I want to hunt more deer. So there's that now the next thing on my list and I don't know what's going to happen here. I have a really good bow. I have a Bowtech solution. I'm a big fan of it. When I perched, when I got that
[00:34:40] Dan Johnson: bow, I shot Hoyt, I shot PSE, I shot Matthews, I shot, I think I shot Elite, and I shot
[00:34:51] Dan: Botech.
And my favorite bow out of that group was that Botech, okay? I've been shooting that, this is my third season with that. And now, I'm [00:35:00] thinking
[00:35:00] Dan Johnson: I want a new bow. And I want to go
[00:35:05] Dan: through the process of doing exactly what I did last year, testing out all these new flagship models and going through the process of finding a new bow.
And that might change though,
[00:35:17] Dan Johnson: right? I don't know.
[00:35:20] Dan: Right now. That's what I've been thinking about is okay, it's time to get a new bow. It's, you've been using this one for three years. Let's sell it or, keep it for somebody else. I don't know but then what happens is my schedule gets busy And then I put all that, you know I put all that away until let's say the summertime and now it's time to start shooting the bow more and Because I'll be completely honest
[00:35:44] Dan Johnson: man.
I'm not an all year
[00:35:45] Dan: shooter. I don't shoot my bow all year round I pick it up June and I'll start shooting it throughout the summer. I wish
[00:35:55] Dan Johnson: I wish You know, you can wish
[00:35:58] Dan: in one hand and shit in the other and see which one [00:36:00] gets filled up first. But, I wish that I would shoot my,
[00:36:04] Dan Johnson: My bow more. I need to. I want to.
I just
[00:36:07] Dan: need to make it happen. Anyway, I don't start picking up my bow until summer. And usually by then I'm just like, I don't want to deal with getting a new bow. I'm just going to either replace the strings, get reset up again. And then shit, this year I even used the same arrows from last year.
My day six arrows, man. I love that company, by the way. Day six. Love
[00:36:26] Dan Johnson: that company.
[00:36:28] Dan: And I think I'm going to try to pick up a new bow this year. I'm not sure if I'm going to ATA show quite yet, but
[00:36:35] Dan Johnson: yeah, I don't know. We'll see if I'm going to go to ATA and that might give me an opportunity to
[00:36:40] Dan: shoot some bows, even though a lot of there's bow manufacturers are dropping
[00:36:45] Dan Johnson: out of the ATA show left and
[00:36:46] Dan: right.
And so they're not going to be there
[00:36:49] Dan Johnson: anyway. And
[00:36:52] Dan: so that limit really limits my option. So what I'll do is I'll go to a couple bow shops locally. I think there's a [00:37:00] really good one within an hour drive. And then there's another one back in my hometown that I like to go to as well. So we'll see new bow Whitetail state really that's high level, man, for next year, I don't have anything too crazy other than.
Wanting to get out and spread my wings in the whitetail world and I think a lot of it has to do with Me
[00:37:21] Dan Johnson: wanting to prove to
[00:37:23] Dan: myself that I can kill deer in different environments Like I don't really care what other people think but they're I hate
[00:37:33] Dan Johnson: how do I put this
[00:37:35] Dan: when someone says it?
[00:37:36] Dan Johnson: Says it must be easy to hunt in, Iowa.
I say you're
[00:37:43] Dan: It's easier to hunt in Iowa than it is Michigan on the farms that I hunt. It's easier to, we have different age class of deer. We have, way less hunters. We have, the odds are definitely stacked in my favor. I'm a product of my environment and and with the knowledge that I've [00:38:00] gathered throughout the years,
[00:38:02] Dan Johnson: that makes hunting
[00:38:03] Dan: easier.
But I want to take that, those same principles and my same method and I want to apply it to another state where I feel like
[00:38:11] Dan Johnson: I can. Hunt hunt some deer.
[00:38:15] Dan: Hunt some deer. I'm rambling now. Let's call her quits. Huge shout out to Wasp Archery, man. These guys have been one of the longest running partners on the sportsman's empire, with the nine finger chronicles, just a great group of people out there.
And I absolutely love their products. I'm a huge fan of it. And I'm not trying to convince anybody to do something they don't want to do. But go check out their website. Go check out their broad heads. A majority of their heads, not all of them, but a majority of their heads are still made in the United States.
[00:38:48] Dan Johnson: And they're dangerous
[00:38:49] Dan: dude, like high quality products that absolutely destroy tissue. And huge fan of Wasp and I'm going to continue to [00:39:00] shoot their heads, hopefully for a long time and and love the people. Huge shout out to Tethered, Vortex, Code Blue, Woodman's Pal, Huntworth, Full Sneak Gear.
Please go out and support the companies that support this podcast. Huge shout out to each and every one of you for taking time out of your day to... Man, listen, follow along Instagram, Facebook, like we, I feel like we've really created a community here and I love that. And so thank you very much for that.
Please go out and spread the word about the nine finger chronicles podcast and the sportsman's empire and full sneak gear. All of that. That when you talk about it, you share it with friends. It just allows me to have a little bit more freedom to continue to do this.
[00:39:44] Dan Johnson: And when I can continue to
[00:39:45] Dan: do this, I, this is free for everybody to listen to, and I don't ever want to charge for it.
And absolutely love doing what I'm doing. And a lot of that is because of you guys. So thank you very much. Good vibes in. Good vibes out. And if you're going to be in a tree, [00:40:00] gentlemen, where your damn safety harness, have a good
[00:40:04] Dan Johnson: day.
