Whitetails, the Little Things w/ Joe Miles

Hey everyone, welcome to episode 191 of the Antler Up Podcast!

On this week's episode I was joined by none other than Joe Miles.  Joe is the owner of ASIO Gear and resides in South Carolina.  Joe also runs the Mission Whitetail Podcast.  Whenever Joe is a guest on a podcast, I always seem to pick up a few things and just truly enjoy his philosophy on hunting and more.  So, Joe has always been a top guest for me to have on the show and speak with.  He didn't disappoint on this one.  Coming off an early season successful hunt in his home state of SC, Joe talks about how this hunt worked out.  We get into more questions about individual growth, going after mature bucks, hunting stories and more! 

We begin this episode by hearing Joe discuss his successful early season hunt and how over the last 30+ years all the aspects of his training & hunting skills played a role in this hunt.  We get into the important things we as hunters need to take care of throughout the year, but specifically during the early hunting season.  Patience. You will hear Joe say this word and why it is vital to hunting mature bucks. We get into what hunters need to do to take care of the little things and his top rules when chasing mature bucks.  We wrap up the episode with Joe discussing a little bit about his company ASIO Gear. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation with Joe and I hope you all will enjoy it as well! So, tune in and listen to some stories and a fun conversation with Joe!  Enjoy this fun episode and see you next week! 

Thanks again for all the support and best of luck out there and Antler Up!

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

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Jeremy Dinsmore: [00:00:00] Welcome to the antler up podcast brought to you by tethered the world's best saddle hunting equipment, and we have a fun show for you all today

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to this week's episode of the antler up podcast. We are on episode 191 we got a really fun show for you all today hunting season is happening. I've been on a hunt Pennsylvania in certain units is opening up success stories are piling in What a great time. That's the best time of the year going on right now.

But man, we got a really fun episode for you all today. It's episode 191. Like I said, we are joined by none other than Joe Miles. Joe is the owner of [00:01:00] Osseo gear and resides in South Carolina. And Joe also runs the Mission Whitetail podcast. And I will say this, whenever Joe is a guest on a podcast, I always seem to pick up a few things and just truly enjoy his philosophy on hunting and everything else that he has going on.

So Joe has always been a top guest for me to have on the show and to speak with. I'm really excited. He took the time out of his day to have this discussion with me and man, it did not disappoint. So coming off an early season successful hunt. In his home state of South Carolina, Joe talks about how this hunt really worked out for him.

And we get into more questions about individual growth going after mature bucks, hunting stories, and a whole lot more, really, we dive into a keyword patients, especially during early season as when it comes to hunting mature bucks, we get into what hunters need to do to take care of the little things and his top roles when chasing mature bucks.

And towards the tail end of this, [00:02:00] Joe goes over some of what Osseo gear is offering and just here again, hearing his perspective on things. It's just really awesome to hear. And I can't say thank you enough for Joe coming on. If you're like. Just straight up killer who gets shit done. You will enjoy this episode.

So I want to say thanks again, everybody, for all of your continued support. If you like what you hear, it means a lot and it helps out the podcast a lot. If you go and leave a five star review and write something up as well, really means a lot to me if you do that. And man, thank you so much. Enjoy this episode.

Best of luck to you. And looking forward to this also. Really quick important. We are going to be dropping a bi weekly episode on Fridays It's just going to be a 20 minute hit banger real quick talking about Maybe some past guests that we've had on maybe other podcast discussions with the guests that they're listening to some [00:03:00] Kind of topics are taking away from it and also what's going on in the woods or in their lives when it comes to hunting at that moment, do the same thing 15 minutes from them, maybe 5, 10 minutes from myself, but it will air biweekly as of right now on Fridays, just to as another little piece of antler up going into your speakers.

Want to say thank you to for all the support listening and for the guests for coming on and doing that as we go throughout the season. If you're interested in hopping on and doing that, just hit me up, send me a message. If there's someone that you would like to hear, please share those people.

Even if they don't have never been on a podcast before, those are people too, that I think would be fantastic. Cause man, there's millions of straight up killers out there that haven't ever done one. So really appreciate it. Thanks again, tuning in. See you next week. Antler up.

What's up, everybody? Before we get into this week's episode, I do want to give a quick announcement. The Allegheny chapter for [00:04:00] turkeys for tomorrow will be holding a social event, Columbus Day weekend, October 8th from 3 p. m. to 8 p. m. at the Angry Goat. It's going to be a really cool, fun day. All are welcome.

There's going to be raffles. There's going to be a shotgun raffle door prizes. The football games will be going on. Cornhole. You can buy your own beer, food and beverage will be provided with a donation to turkeys for tomorrow. So come support this new chapter. That's here. It's going to be really a fun day of hundreds getting together.

And all the proceeds are going to go back into this chapter for our area here in Pennsylvania, which is really cool. So come support at the Angry Goat in Dubois, Pennsylvania, October 8th from 3 p. m. to 8 p. m. and check out Turkey's for Tomorrow.

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You have deer prediction, journaling, and the best maps on any hunting app platform there is. Use code ANTLERUP to save 20 percent off your Spartan Forge membership at spartanforge. com. I welcome back everybody to the show this week. I'm joined by Joe miles, Joe. Welcome to the show,

Joe Miles: man. Thank you so much for having me.

I really appreciate it. Really humbled to be here and excited to talk some deer killing with you.

Jeremy Dinsmore: Me too, man. This is off air. I just said how much I've been always listening to your podcast and how much I really respect what you say and what you do not only in the whitetail woods, but outside the whitetail woods with running a business.

And we'll dive into that. stuff, man, because I'll tell you what, Joe, other than talking white tail, I love talking to the very I don't even know what you would what category it falls into, but just individuals that are really motivating in the sense of working hard, just seeing that you put into hard work behind the scenes, that type of stuff of running a successful business and really obviously then [00:07:00] factor all that in with the success that you've done.

Just kinda, If those of you that are listening, don't know who Joe is. Joe is the owner of Osceo gear. And, other than that, Joe, if you want to just give a quick elevator speech of, who you are, where you're coming from real quick, and we could dive down some fun rabbit holes.

Joe Miles: Sure, man. Absolutely. Yeah. So Joe Miles grew up in South Carolina, still live in South Carolina been hunting and really bow hunting since I was 16 and have been passionate about chasing whitetail with bow and arrow all across, their range from here in South Carolina to Montana and from Alberta to Mexico.

I just love chasing them and have been doing it for years and years. And, that's always been my passion and something that, I shot 115 120 inch velvet buck here, about a week ago. And people are like, man. You've shot these 180s, 190s, 200s out in Illinois and Kansas, and what in the world, how can you get excited about shooting a, 115th, because it's home, and [00:08:00] that's, that's a relative to our area, and it's a very cagey tough animal to hunt.

And I just enjoy all of it. If I'm in South Carolina, I keep it in perspective. And if I'm in Kansas, then that's a whole nother animal. But yeah, so that's it. And, we started ICO really got it in the works four years ago, and we've got Three seasons under our belt going into our fourth year now.

So that that's me in a nutshell. That's

Jeremy Dinsmore: awesome, Joe. And I'll say this, man, I saw that buck. It's a great deer. I, man I would love to, to get one of those 1 25, 1, 15 inch good, solid, couple year old buck from PA here from a mountain and that's really awesome stuff.

Exciting things. I was listening to how it played out for you on By the time this airs would've been a couple weeks ago. Just, but, listening to how that kind of played out for you, you said he had a little bit more pressure too for that early season hunt than he normally would Ha, used to have and you found him on a camera and he day daylighted right at that last second.

And, there's bits and pieces of that conversation that I [00:09:00] really want to talk to you about, and it was even prior to listening to that just because there's little things. I think as bow hunters and as individuals that we need to take care of and that's the main little bit Of meat and potatoes that I want to go down with you let me ask you this question just regarding that hunt because early season for me I don't for pennsylvania There's two units across the state joe that it opens up where it's philadelphia area and pittsburgh area I normally don't hunt The two weeks prior, because then two weeks later, it's a statewide for that either for us this year, it's September 30th.

So it's usually that end of September, early October timeframe like that. Where's your, how to, what's the difference in your mindset? Like when it comes to that early season versus later in the season, does anything change for your mindset? Obviously tactics change, but like where you are up here, does anything change for you there?

Joe Miles: Really the patient. You've got to be patient that [00:10:00] time of year, it's opening week, guys want to rush in, guys want to hunt in the mornings, the season's in, I hadn't hunted in two days, I got to go, and the rut, you can do that, the rut, you can dive in, you can hunt all day, you can hunt morning, you can hunt afternoon, but these mature bucks are so you.

It's so easy to kill the opening week of the season if you're able to do things exactly right. And on the flips of that coin, they are so sensitive to pressure then, and once they know hey, we're back into hunting again, they'll vanish and not daylight and be absolutely ridiculously hard to kill.

So you have to be... cliche or whatever, but you've got to be an ambush predator and you've got to be a quick strike, get in killing. But because your exit is so difficult in the afternoons, we can talk tactics if you want, but that's the whole mindset early season [00:11:00] is a lot of glass and a lot of trail camera running and then a lot of patience for the exact right condition.

Jeremy Dinsmore: Yeah, so let me throw a quick scenario at you early season hunt, think of a different state where you're out of state. It's a quick one. You only have a couple of days. You know what I'm passing through here. I could hunt two, three days. I'm going to throw everything I got at you, at hunting and in these three days and in an early season, we're talking like this timeframe right now.

How does that, maybe differ? As far as that mindset go, cause since you're out of state, you're going in there go and being a little bit aggressive in, there's the tactics and mindset still be the same in that

Joe Miles: category. Here's a prime example. I went to Kentucky for the opener.

I got into Kentucky on Thursday and I glassed all day and all morning and ran cameras all day or Thursday evening, all day Friday, all day Saturday. The season actually [00:12:00] opened Saturday and I did not see a buck. I saw probably 15 18 different bucks, but not one that is, at home, I would have smoked a bunch of them.

But Kentucky's got some western Kentucky and I didn't see anything bigger than about 135 inches. So I left, I came home because I've got some swamp bucks here at home that I can hunt. So I see what you're saying is hey man, I've got three days. To go out and hunt and I've got buddies that went out there and hunted for a week.

They were hunting mornings, afternoons, they were glassing in the mornings and trying to see where they were going into bed and then getting them on them in the afternoons. And if they didn't have any luck in the afternoons, they were going back in there and try and shoot them coming to come into bed.

It's completely up to you from a success standpoint, you were early season, you are far more likely to kill one in the afternoons. And it's far better, even if the season is in, [00:13:00] even if you're out of state is it only takes one afternoon. If you're glass and you've got three days and you scout for two of them and pinpoint him and you're able to move in that last afternoon with the right wind, then it only takes that one afternoon to get him killed.

Yeah,

Jeremy Dinsmore: I like that, Joe. I like that a lot. Switching gears just real quick. And like I said to you earlier, I really respect what you're doing in and out of the woods. What would you say contributes? To personal individual

Joe Miles: growth. Oh, yeah, I think that you got to block out the noise, man.

There's so much. I can't tell you. I'm actually going to do some of this on the next podcast. I do and get up on a little bit of a soapbox, but I can't tell you the number, especially now that the season's opened of Facebook and Instagram messages. I get of trail camera pictures of deer and is he old enough and should I shoot him?

Is he old enough and should I shoot him? Man, set your parameters, [00:14:00] set your goals, and don't listen to what anybody else says. If you're hunting, if you're wanting to go to Iowa, you get drawn for Iowa and you want to shoot 140 incher because you've only shot, 120s or 110s. Yeah, you're hunting Iowa.

And yeah, there's a chance that you could shoot a 170 or better. But man, if you are going to get fired up and happy about shooting 140 inch deer, 130 inch deer, who cares what anybody else says? You said that the thing I say is set your parameters, set your goals and stick to them. Now, if your goal is a 170 and you're going to Iowa, and then you shoot a 125 man, that's not, that's not what you set out to do.

Yeah. And it's hunting, right? And maybe it is. May, maybe your goal is a one 70 and you get out there and a 125 inch eight point comes by you and he fires you up and you shoot him. That's okay. That's not your goal. So that's my thing is just set your parameters and what I mean by that is, okay I'm gonna shoot a [00:15:00] compound bow.

Alright, so that's what I'm going to use. I'm only going to mobile hunt. So I'm only going to be mobile hunting. I'm not going to hunt out of any preset stands. I'm only I'm not hunting over any bait. I will not hunt over any bait. Whatever your print. Those are just examples, hypotheticals. But whatever your parameters are, if you set those, then you start building discipline and then you start going to your goals and block the noise out.

Who cares what anybody thinks or says about the way you hunt, how you hunt. If you're doing it legally and you're happy and having fun with it, man, knock yourself out.

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One being the MMT arrow, [00:16:00] which is a 2 4 6 diameter shaft and the new NIS, which is a 2 0 4 diameter shaft arrow. Use code AU to save 15 percent off your tailored arrow order at exodusoutdoorgear. com. Yeah, preach. I like that. It's funny that you say this because you were talking about it to on that same episode a little bit where, there's there seems to be a trend right now where, obviously, technology is a huge thing in the outdoors and all just so many new variables, right?

There's debate question. There's this, there's that, right? Last week on the episode I did with one of my best friends, Jim DeAgostino. We were talking about an area that I scouted back at home with my dad in Northeast Pennsylvania. And what I did was it was a spot that I scouted the year prior, had some really good mountain bucks on it.

It was some really good deer, had a pretty good close encounters with them and would have been my biggest buck to date. If I would have been able to, if he would have came [00:17:00] in instead of going in the opposite direction, but. Long story short, my dad said, do you want to go down there and fix that camera?

Cause I think my memory card, it just needs reformatted. Something was wrong with it. And I said, you know what, dad? No, I, let's leave it go. I know last year it was hot. We went in there post season. We went in there this past June. We saw tons of sign in both of those visits. Basically, we I have a game plan of how I would make adjustments to hunting it.

I'm like, that scrape was still hit in June. It's going to continue to be hit all summer. And right now. No, I don't. Let's leave that camera go. Maybe if I go in there hunting in middle end of October, sure, I'll make it that adjustment there on it. But till now, let's go in blind. Let's go in surprise. Let's go.

Let's use some woodsmanship and find the sign and set up on and have fun. So I'm excited for that. And I know that's also been like a trend where people are doing that as well. But, I'm excited and it's a fun goal where yeah, I, I feel like we've come too [00:18:00] complacent and really relying on the cameras.

And it just seems like the more people that I've, I speak to, especially on podcasts, some really phenomenal hunters, man, they're like, man, I was bitten by that. I was bitten by that, like relying on the cameras. And it's interesting to see how. People are growing and developing and not doing that

Joe Miles: now.

Yeah, no doubt. You're seeing, a lot of guys bring in the traditional equipment, No, no cameras, no cell cameras, just stand on the back go in the woods and get after it and you know you start looking at ethics, right and what is ethical? And the only person that can decide that is you and unless you are walking naked and hunting government land and killing the animal with your teeth and claws, you can't say anything to anybody else, right?

Because if you're driving your truck out there, there's an advantage. If you are using a bow and arrow, that's an advantage.[00:19:00] It goes all the way from naked with your teeth. to a 300 wind mag and a one acre high fence with a 190 in there. Everybody falls in between there ethically. Yeah,

Jeremy Dinsmore: so here's what, here's one of the big things that I wanted to talk to you about specifically, like I said earlier, asking you about, the business side of things and the mindset coming from someone that is successful in hunting and also in the business world, I have to believe you really take care of the little things, Joe.

So I would love to hear what Joe miles talks, hear you talk about the little things that make. Either you or someone else can make someone else, a successful, more efficient hunter in and out of the woods.

Joe Miles: Yeah so the thing, you hear this a lot but it's so true.

Everything that you can control, you need to be very proficient at. And what do I [00:20:00] mean by that? Okay we can go down a little bit of a hole here. Like you're, I've got a. A site, right? A site on my butt. Okay. And my buddy said it was a good site. So I'm going to put it on my butt. Okay that's okay.

And that's a step in the right direction. But if you really want to understand that site. What size pens are they? What pin do you have at the top? Which pin is going to be the brightest earliest? Green gets brighter the fastest. So you want your top pin to be a bigger pin. That's your closer range shot.

So in low light you're not going to be taking 30 40 yard shots. You're going to be taking probably 2025 and in very low light. So that top pin being 0. 019 with green on top and then red underneath, at 0. 010. Those are just little things. that are things that you can control.

And then, we can get into broadheads, we can get into errors, we can get in stands, we can get into [00:21:00] trail cameras. All of those little things that you can control, you've got to be really proficient in it. And you have to ask the question, why am I doing this? Why am I using this product?

Because Joe Blow, it On so and so YouTube channel said this was the best. Okay. We'll look into that, right? Who is Joe Blow? Is he quote unquote sponsored by that company? Not all companies that sponsor people are just getting their stuff paid for you to say it, you know There's really good products out there, but dive into Joe Blow that you're getting your advice from, you know I'm trying to I want to be a better hog hunter how many hogs has Joe Blow actually shot, and where has he shot those, and how has he shot those?

And do those line up with how I do things, in my area? Don Higgins is a really good buddy of mine. But his hunting tactics in Illinois work great for the Midwest. And if you're hunting in the Midwest or anywhere like that, man, [00:22:00] he is spot on with how he sets up farms and does things.

But if you're hunting in South Carolina or Florida or some of the places that I hunt those things, they won't work. It's not universal. So you have to... Put everything into good context and where you're getting your advice from, make sure it's what you're trying to accomplish.

If I'm trying to shoot 200 inch deer, yeah, I want to listen to Andre D'Acquisto. I want to listen to Adam Hayes. I want to listen to Don Higgins. Because they've killed a lot of 200 inch deer. You, if I want to shoot, a bunch of hogs in Texas, I might want to listen to the Ranch Fairy because he shoots a lot of hogs in Texas.

So again I'm not trying to be long winded here, but those are the things that you can control and where you get your advice from. If you really ask that question as to why I'm doing something or why I'm using something and figure it out for yourself and test it really before season, those are things that can help you a lot.

Yeah,

Jeremy Dinsmore: I'll you know, just quickly Joe background on me [00:23:00] is had a management degree, went back to school after working in that world for a couple years, got a kinesiology degree with a certification to teach and did a little bit of personal training as well after getting that certification. I'm a big believer in education, so like this aspect of things of how can we be more efficient?

Learning and growing that is you're talking my sweet music to me. . And I remember hearing you say on that podcast where you were talking about killing this velvet buck this past year already, a couple weeks ago, there was a I'm gonna misquote you, but you were in this.

In this vicinity of saying for the last 35 years, everything that you've been preparing for in that moment came to light. It was like in that situation, it was, you talked about your peep site, you talked about your your site and all those things. And I think. Those are things that we take for granted, right?

Like those are the aspects that when you were saying about practicing, I, I stayed on the podcast and I love the opportunities when I'm with my daughter and my wife at my in laws when it's, Hey, do you mind if we go up there and we could go for [00:24:00] dinner at the state till this time so I could climb up a tree and just get three meaningful, purposeful shots.

Cause I might only get that one shot, obviously. Can I just climb up a couple of feet because it's the last light. I want to make sure I'm ready to rock and roll. Like I do that because if I don't, you can't plan, you can't control what that deer is going to do in the woods. But if that opportunity where it falls in line with what we could actually control in that heat of the moment, You better be ready for it.

And that's the stuff like hearing you say that. I was like, man, that's the little things that I know I wanted always to talk to you about is how can we take care of the little things? So the big things take care of themselves. Yeah.

Joe Miles: That hunt was, it really was a culmination of everything. The arrow build, the broadhead the angled practice being able to slip one right in front of his hip.

The access, the trail cameras that I was using for that thing. I got a good clear right at dark because a lot of times those cameras, that when they're switching from daylight [00:25:00] to our the pictures, you don't get a good picture of that animal. Then the way I had the camera position, so it wasn't facing dead west, so I didn't get any residual sunlight coming in.

Every single thing it just happened. It doesn't always happen like that. It seems like there's always, it's always something you could have gotten away with. He was perfectly broadside or, he came in 10 minutes earlier. There's always, it seems like always there's something that, oh yeah, that could have been better, but I didn't need it.

And this time it was every single thing played into effect. And if I didn't have the right broadhead on there, I know it would have been the next day when I found the deer and he would have spoiled. He would have been rotten because it was 96 degrees and about 70 percent humidity that night.

And I was able to get to him, get him gutted, get him into a cooler. And yeah, I don't want to beat that up too much, but yeah. Opportunity that everything and I was like, check. I'm glad I did that. [00:26:00] Check. I'm glad I did that. Check. I'm glad. Yep. It worked. It worked. It worked. So those are things that all that stuff was controllable.

And, it, you hear guys like Nick Saban and Tom Brady, that are in football and not to beat up Alabama bandwagon but those guys are perfectionists and they don't care about, they care about it, but the focus is not on the end result. The focus is on the process.

and the discipline, during the process. And if you look at hunting that same way, the discipline of what you're doing. I know that I need to shoot five or six arrows from an elevated position, every day of the season, or, four days a week. I know I need to do that, but ahhh.

Lay in bed a little longer this morning, or you know what? I got a grill tonight, so I'm just not gonna do it. The boys want to go out, whatever it may be. That's not gonna get you where you need to go. There is no happy median, you talk about [00:27:00] balance and happy me and if you want to be really good and really successful at it, you got to be a little bit obsessive.

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honed in on, right? And you really are controlling those things. What were some of those overlooked tasks or aspects that maybe that you really needed to conquer?

Joe Miles: I think some of the stuff was, was the site set up. I figured that out about I was in Mexico in a ground blind and I had.

Really nice, but it was dark in that ground by super dark, and I had the buck. I was trying to kill had come in that morning and I could start seeing him through my binoculars and I have my sight sitting on my knee or my bow sitting on my knee and I'm looking at my site and I'm going my middle pin.

I can see it right now, but I can't see my red top pin. And I'm waiting and I'm [00:29:00] waiting and I'm waiting and I'm in my green when I can see it clear as day in the red. I can't see it. And I'm like, I gotta switch that up. I gotta put green on top because this bucks 20 yards away and I could technically shoot him right now, but I can't see my pen and I could take my 40 yard pin and aim under him.

I could do that. But in that super low light I didn't want to risk that. One example. I think another thing is I have really the last two years gotten into shooting these different angles and distances, like soup taking my 3D targets and turn them super quartering away or really quartering to and studying, where you can zip that area in and get into the vitals.

And then obviously arrow set up, poundage of the bow, broadheads, arrow builds, all of that stuff is stuff that I've worked on hard the last few years. Yeah. The fun

Jeremy Dinsmore: thing about all that stuff too, Joe, is you can go down a lot of rabbit holes with that stuff, test a bunch of different things out.

So what did you end up settling on as far as your broadhead [00:30:00] goes?

Joe Miles: So for whitetail deer, I'm a raged tri pan guy. The first rages that came out were junk. I'll definitely get on that bandwagon. But then when they developed the tri pan, it has a little bit different blades. They're a lot thicker.

They're 039. thickness blades, which are some of the thickest in the mechanical world. And then they have a titanium ferrule, which is really strong. They have a hypodermic point penetrates really well. And, I was back and forth with mechanicals and fix in a lot of a lot. A few years. I ran both in my quiver, depending on what kind of situation I was going to get into.

But now I am 100 percent Rage Tripan. And I actually had the opportunity to go over to Africa earlier in the year and shot a bunch of big stuff. Kudu, three sable some big animals over there. And I specifically used to try pan to see how they would perform over there. And that's the second trip I've taken them over there.

And they've just proven time and time again to be really deadly. [00:31:00] They're super quiet. They're super accurate. And they've got a big two inch cutting diameter and they get plenty of penetration on whitetail. Really up to elk size animals. I shot a sable, which is the third largest antelope in Africa through both scapulas and, it didn't get a hundred percent pass through, but I got an exit hole shot a big kudu quartering two, we're talking a 600 pound animal quartering two and got all the way back into the rib cage.

So it's a good, they get. They get beat up good, a good bit on, on some forums and it's forum even still a thing, chat room. Like these Facebook pages and groups and stuff like that. They get beat up a good bit, but man I've over the last probably seven or eight years I've shot a bunch of stuff with them and really like them.

Jeremy Dinsmore: Yeah. Hey, it's not broke. Don't fix it. Yeah. So here's what I want to ask you because you've been successful for many years, already touched upon that, but over the last couple where do you think you really grew? Most [00:32:00] as a hunter,

Joe Miles: I think dialing in my access, that's, to me, that, that is actually the most important thing you can have the best bow set up.

You can have the best broad head. You can be the most accurate archer. You can be the best hunter in the world. If you don't have access to where the quality or the not quality, the type deer that you want to shoot, if you don't have access to those areas. It's all a moot point, right? So so that for me, probably the last three or four years has really been a focus is drilling down on great access.

It's like here at home. I'm a member of a hunt club. It's got 12 members. It's pressured, but it's close and there's some good spots. You can get away from some guys and get on some decent deer. And then the next door property is a big like 2200 acre, old plantation farm that I [00:33:00] basically have the entire bow hunting rights to myself.

My best friend's family owns it and they've just Turn me loose in there. So I've, gotten access to get there and it's a heaven and I try to stay down there as much as I can. But then out of state, properties in Ohio, I've gotten in with some guys up there properties in Kansas, starting to learn those better and not just, What actually, here's an example, I just got back from Kansas, obviously the season's not even in, and I've got two properties that I'm very familiar with, but I killed, actually killed the buck on one of those properties that I've been after for several years, and I knew that property backwards and forwards, but now there's not necessarily a target buck, and so what I did is I went out there and learned like five new properties.

I put pins in, I went and learned those properties because, when I get back out there, I'm way ahead of the curve. If something does pop or something [00:34:00] does show one of those other forms, I'm not starting from zero. So that's something and that equates to pup guys that are hunting public too.

If you're hunting. When you're public land and you've got your one spot where you go every year my, my advice would be man, branch out, find seven other public spots in Pennsylvania and go tear those things apart in the off season and during the summer and get a good feel so you've got backup plans because you can never have enough places to hunt.

Really, that's something that I've worked on the last couple of years that's going to make me more efficient.

Jeremy Dinsmore: Amen, Joe. That was one of the aspects that I really took to heart this past year. And one of the key things that I really dialed in on for myself. Yeah, man,

Joe Miles: access is having access to different properties and understanding them is number one.

Yeah,

Jeremy Dinsmore: I agree with that. So here's another one that I want to hear from you because looking behind you, you got some doozies and it's just it's like the endless wall of bucks behind there, Joe. I like it. [00:35:00] So what are. Your top three rules when hunting mature bucks.

Joe Miles: Top three rules.

It's not, it's, I'm not going to have anything super profound here. These things have been beaten up a lot, but I'm going to scout. More than a hunt. So that would be rule number one. I guess that would be rule number two. Rule number one would be what we just talked about continuing to gain access and flip over every single stone that you can to get access to places.

And sometimes no doesn't mean no. You might have to find another way. A quick tip, if you got a landowner out there that's always no then you do a deep dive on him and figure out what he likes. He might like NASCAR. He might like South Carolina shrimp. He might like a vacation in the Caribbean, whatever it may find out what that old.

And then you go back to him and you can make it jokingly, [00:36:00] but seriously too. And so again, number one rule is as much access as you possibly can. Once you get that access, scout as much as you can. And then number three would be discipline in your approach. And what does that mean?

So you set up a. you set up a plan. That's what I, I get a lot of new guys that are getting into hunting that contact me. And it's just so much you guys have got to get out and do things right. You got to get out and experience it for yourself. And what I always say is make a plan.

What is your plan? What are you trying to do here? Okay. I think the deer are bedded over there. I think they're going here to feed, and I think this trail right here is the trail they're going to use to do that, and the wind is going to be coming out of this direction, so I'm going to get on this side of the trail, and my access is to stay disciplined with that plan, go in, execute it, and learn from it, okay?

They all got downwind [00:37:00] of me and blew, why is that? What were my thermals doing? And then file that away, and every time you go hunt, have a plan, And then when the mistakes happen, because you're going to fail, it's like baseball, man you're going to hot more than you're going to be successful but file that away and stay disciplined.

That, that would be my rule number one, rule number three is to develop your plan, stick to it, be disciplined and continue to grow from the mistakes you make.

Jeremy Dinsmore: I like it. So Joe, like of all the years you've been hunting and all the success that you've had. What would, what chalks up the most dear movement for you?

Is it the weather is it, other factors? What, what's your belief as like, when you see something as far as the weather goes or anything along those lines where you're like. I gotta be in the woods tomorrow.

Joe Miles: Yeah. Yeah. Weather's number one. I used to have a, an interest in the deer hunter's moon guide.

I resurrected that brand, so I, obviously I had a dog in that fight, but I used it a lot before I [00:38:00] bought it and, The overhead moon and underfoot moon definitely have effect on deer movement. All these studies with these radio collar deer that try to debunk that, it's different type of animals.

It's different controlled environments. In my experience, when you have the overhead and underfoot moon during prime hours, that first hour but it's not a phase. You hear guys, they don't do this. I agree with you. The phase really, I've not seen much of that affect deer movement, but the position of the moon, overhead and underfoot moon, and that's what that red moon and that deer hunters moon guide is talking about, is the overhead and underfoot moon.

But weather is it early season, you can look at it a couple of different ways. Early season, especially I'll equate it to here in South Carolina, it's hot, the deer are hitting ag right at dark. If you were to get a four, even a four degree temperature change where it dropped just four degrees, I can guarantee you they're going to be out a little bit earlier.

Same, and then we fast forward to pre [00:39:00] rut. If you get something that's 10 degrees warmer than normal, it's gonna, it's gonna shut it down. It's gonna make it really difficult. If you get something the opposite side of that, where it's 10 degrees cooler than the normal boy, you better be ready to go because they're going to be active.

And then late season, we'll get back on food. And that's where you're looking for, 34 inches of snow and bitter cold that they get. They have to eat. So weather and cooler temperatures. I like the high pressure when it feels really good to you. If you get a Halloween that's crisp and 10 degrees cooler than normal and you've got an idea where a buck might be hitting scrapes or where he's bedded.

Boy, that is an incredible time. to kill a giant. When you get out there and it feels good to you and the air is crisp, you don't have to be a meteorologist and look at barometric pressure and all that. But when it feels good and I'm all over the place here, but when it feels good to you, you know that's a good time to be in the tree and vice versa.[00:40:00]

Like you're in the swamp, it's 90 It's 102 today, but I was moving some cameras around and I found, I started walking in almost like a tunnel in the timber and it just got, it was eight degrees cooler in there and boom, there's four rubs where they had come out of come out of velvet and there was already a scrape in there.

And so just because of that cool, it was, it felt good to him. So when an area feels good to you, temperature wise, I promise you, it feels good to those deer. So that's something to follow.

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Could you make it four? We will see next year. So like you hunt all these other States and how do you, what's your game plan when you see. You have a pulse on like hunting pressures increasing a [00:42:00] little bit. Yeah. What's your game plan regarding that?

Joe Miles: So my whole, my stuff is all pretty much do it yourself.

And so I'm a big camera guy for out of state hunting and I'm I'm a high percentage. Hunter, meaning that I want to go when it's right to the right area. And the cameras really dictate that. It doesn't have to be necessarily a daylight picture. But if it's on a like the edge of a field, Or something that, that I've got a camera set up on a scrape and the deer I'm after, or a big deer shows up on that.

Then I've got probably four or five places back, and funnels that if it is getting to be the rutt where I can kill him. So th that's my, that's how I manage my out-of-state stuff. Like right now I've got cameras in Kentucky that are in Rutt spots. I got cameras in Kansas that are in Rutt spots. And then I've got that new spot in Ohio.

It's only 37 acres. That a guy's gonna let me hunt this year and I've got ca. camera scattered all over. I did find a good fence crossing and [00:43:00] then another spot that's going to be a good funnel. And I've already got cameras there. So now I'm just really I'm hunting here at home, just like a normal guy, if you will, I'm going on the weekends and I'm going in the evenings when the life wife lets me sneak out of the sneak out of the house.

But I'm sitting on go on those other states. And when those, when they start hitting that that's when I'll move and I'm pretty certain that one of those, one of those spots, a giant is going to show up and, I'll be ready to tackle it.

Jeremy Dinsmore: So talk about that timing aspect. Cause that's a big thing, right? Cause it changes. Year after year, like I could sit here and say, man, November 8th is always really good for me in the woods. November 8th, this past year was super warm. It sucked my best day was, my, my best day was actually October 29th.

That was like nuts in the woods for me. So talk I guess a little bit about, like how you said, hitting it at that right spot, the timing and go from there with that.

Joe Miles: Yeah. I mean for [00:44:00] me personally with what I have set up, it is super weather dependent. I know that come the very end of October, that bucks can get killed on scrapes if the weather's right.

If it's cool and you've got a big deer found and you get a 10 degree cooler week coming up the end of October, I can guarantee you I'm going to be wherever that biggest deer is and I've got that weather. That might be Kansas, it might be Kentucky, it might be Ohio. But that's how I would time that.

And let's say I don't have anything, right? Let's say I have nothing and I've got nothing on camera and I don't know exactly what. or where I'm going. What I would do then I would wait until we did get that 10 degree, five degree below normal. And then I'm gonna go to my tightest rut funnel in a big buck state.

I'm going to my tightest rut funnel. And this year it's probably gonna be Kentucky. I've got a super [00:45:00] tight rut funnel in Kentucky, and I know if I sit there long enough, I'm gonna get a crack at a big one. It just the law averages are there. And like we talked about early being disciplined and sitting there during that weather.

front where you've got, 10 degree cooler than normal temperatures and just logging hours in that rut funnel, that would be my strategy if I had nothing to go and

Jeremy Dinsmore: hunt. Yeah. So here's the build off of that. You're talking about sign and everything like that. This is a, man, this is such a, it's a broad generic type question, but I always like to ask especially the killers, man, like yourself, when you are traveling through the timber and you're trying to find that hot sign, when do you, Stop yourself and don't push further.

Like you find that little bit, what's what is your setup maybe, or like you were saying that rut funnel that one little spot, and obviously that's like more of that terrain feature. But as far as the sign goes. When you're walking in and you're like, man, it's just, this is [00:46:00] where I know I need to be.

What are you seeing in the woods?

Joe Miles: So that's an interesting thing. And it's good. This is going to be contrary to a lot of guys. Early season food. I'm Ag or muscadines or briars or cut over browse. I'm on food and so that's normally 99% of the time is in the afternoons.

And when that buck, either I see him in my binoculars or I get a picture of him at dark I will go in and strategically try and kill him that very next day. Okay. When we get into later in the season, we start getting into October and November into the rut, man, I'm not a guy that just goes be bopping through the woods looking for hot sun.

If I have my cameras in the tightest. funnels I can find. And when that buck comes through there, even if it's at night, then I'm going to get in that funnel. I'm not looking for his sign. Eventually, [00:47:00] he's gonna come back through that. He's gonna come back through that phone. And like Andre Dequisto, a good buddy of mine, a killing machine.

He couldn't do that. for three hours. He couldn't sit in a rut funnel. It would drive him stone crazy. He will hunt for two out two or three hours in the morning, break all his stuff down, walk through the woods, find fresh rubs, find fresh scrapes, set up on them and hunt. I don't. I'm more of the Bobby Worthington approach.

And I am, I don't, to say I don't care about sign is an understatement. I do care about sign, but I'm more concerned about that super pinch point during the rut that's going to force them by me and then sitting there till they come by. The buck I killed last year, the tracks buck, the one we had hunted for.

ever since he was a four year old, and he was nine when I killed him. It was a super tight funnel, and I got an October 17th picture of him coming through that [00:48:00] funnel right. He was coming. He was going out right at dark. It was dark. The first picture, the next morning, I got a daylight picture of him going back into the bed through the funnel and I flew back the next day because we were getting some super cold temperatures coming.

I killed him like on the 19th of October, coming out of that area through that tight funnel. I wasn't on a scrape. I wasn't on a rub. I was on a trail in a funnel. So that's my philosophy is sign super important and like here in South Carolina, we, the terrain doesn't set up real well for funnel type hunting, we're real flat, real swampy, but, I can, and there it's more about edges and mock scrapes and creating some manmade funnels with brush piles and stuff like that but it all depends on where you're hunting and how you're hunting and what you like to do.

But I'm not the guy that's gonna, I won't, nothing is never 100 percent in hunting, but I'm normally not the guy that throws. A mobile set up on his [00:49:00] back and goes sneaking through the woods and finds fresh scrapes and rubs and sets up on them. During the rut, that's, yeah, I'm not going to do a whole lot of that.

Jeremy Dinsmore: Yeah. No, that's awesome, Joe. To to wrap up this conversation and great frigging tactics, I greatly appreciate you sharing your wisdom and answering those questions. I do. I do want you to. though, to talk a little bit about Osseo gear, just because I don't feel like it would be that very kind of me to not at least talk a little bit about this, about some of your own company that you have.

And right now I, this will air. In september so early season is still going on You just said this is coming up to year four a lot of growth going on. I love seeing like I said great individuals having success no matter what they do and no matter what field of professionalism they're In here and it's awesome.

Like I said to you earlier. I love seeing my friends that represent osseo gear They're good people. You just hired rendal erica as your show type of individual for the manager I just messaged him a congratulations the other [00:50:00] day all that stuff seeing tyler wolber and the guys from legacy pursuit, you know So you do offer some really great products and you know the story behind it.

I don't want to butcher it but it's really cool as far as the pattern goes, whether it's the early season, mid season, late season, whatever fit Joe, that you would like to cover, please go ahead and touch upon some items.

Joe Miles: Man I really appreciate that. And yeah, we developed the line for whitetail tree stand.

bow hunters. That's our niche. That's the gap we wanted to fill with real premium quality apparel that you could when it was hot, you could hunt when it was hot and when it's bitter cold, you could sit for hours in the tree and be comfortable. So we nailed that with the quality of the stuff.

And there's other stuff out there that, the quality is good. There's some really well built stuff out there that we compete with, on a quality perspective. But where we really win is with our camo pattern. Yeah. And the camo patterns to us over the last probably 10 years have really gotten overengineered and they don't make sense, if you look [00:51:00] like a digital stuff was created for the military to hide men from men sticks and leaves.

Yeah, that, that, that was better than the old military, like tiger stripe and stuff like that, but it's outdated and it only works in that one exact environment, right? Where you, yeah. Sleeves of that color. What we did is look at nature and we looked at ambush predators because there is no predator in nature that is not camouflage, no ambush predator, whether that's an owl, a hulk, a leopard, a cheetah, a bobcat, a mountain lion.

Wolves coyotes they're all camouflage and there's a reason for that. Camouflage works or they wouldn't be. Yeah. They wouldn't be naturally camouflaged. So that's what we did, is we looked at what we considered the best ambush predator from above and that being owls.

And then we looked at the eyesight of prey animals, like the scientific eyesight of mice, of squirrels, of rabbits and how they equate and how they're. Either identical [00:52:00] or very similar to the white tails eyesights, and we're not rocket scientists here at os e o by any means. I'm certainly not.

But it, it made a lot of sense to me that if an animal that hunts out of a tree is hunting animals that have the same eyesight as me, Why? And I don't want to get as close as I can to bow hunting while on earth. What? I'm not trying to emulate that camouflage. And so that's exactly how ICO was created.

And, I had worn a lot of the other high end stuff and continuously, I killed good stuff, man. And you can kill stuff and red flannel and blue jeans. But I got busted a lot more than, and obviously I have a dog in the fight here. I've got a camouflage clothing company, but don't ask me, personally, ask a bunch of the guys that have actually tried it what their thoughts are on how much better they're hidden, how they can get away with more movement now.

And that's the key is to be able to get away with a little more movement and stack the deck a little bit more in your favor and where the really. [00:53:00] quality stuff so you can sit and be comfortable being to draw your bow when it's negative 15 out and you've been sitting there for three hours and you've got on you know our late season bibs and jacket you're toasty warm and yep here he comes and you're able to get drawn no problem and you know he doesn't see you get drawn so so That's the whole thing.

That's the niche and the gap that we saw the one we filled and we're so excited with what's going on. And we're really excited about the success that guys are having. We've already gotten probably 15 pictures in from guys early season that have taken deer. And so it's really cool to go from an idea to being on guys backs that you don't even know.

And they're sending you messages. That say, man, thank you so much for getting this out there. This is what we needed. So it's neat. It's really humbling and exciting at the same time. That's awesome.

Jeremy Dinsmore: And like you were saying about the movement, right? No matter what style of hunting you're doing, you're going to have some movement, right?

And. You're not a small individual. Rendell Eric's not a small [00:54:00] individual. That, that goes into, I would love to see what I could do being only five foot, five foot six, and I could probably get away with everything. But no that's really cool. And like you said, I have some really good friends and they've talked nothing, but some really great things.

I was working to. The outdoor show and in Pennsylvania, I think you guys were set up over in the archery hall while I was working at tether booth. I didn't have really much or any time to walk around at all to come see the products. There was an individual over next to, I think there are a booth down from us.

I think it was zinger. The zingers fletching company, one of the guys had on, I think one of the heavier jackets because it's obviously during that February timeframe. And just looking at it and getting a a hand on it to touch it. I was impressed, Joe. So that it was really cool to see that.

And again, it's just really cool to see that, that success and what kind of new items do you have coming out this upcoming year?

Joe Miles: Yeah. Yeah you mentioned that. Sorry. So we've got a set of lightweight and mid weight base [00:55:00] layers or really it's a light and a heavy base layer and it's a blend of merino and synthetic so it dries really fast but still has the real good merino warming capabilities and scent control capabilities.

So we've got base layers, we have a late season vest which is basically our late season jacket without the sleeves. M's of Primaloft insulation, completely windproof, got a waterproof membrane. It has our new archery collar. So it's a super low profile collar design that I came up with. And we actually have that patent pending.

So it doesn't interfere with your draw or your shot because so many guys were tucking their vest collars and jacket collars in. They didn't get interference, so we eliminated that altogether. We, so we've come out with our 2. 0 fabric design, too. We've got a panel design where it's a high definition, quiet fabric on the front that really shows the camo well.

And then under your arms and on your back that are gonna be up against the tree or movement areas. We used a little [00:56:00] higher pile fleece. So so it's even quieter in those areas. So we've got those in bibs. We've got the new Sherpa jacket, the late season the late season vest. We've got a new mobile backpack.

Our backpack has been for some reason. It's a good pack, but it's been insanely popular and we've sold out of those things. every year and we created a new one that's a smaller version. A lot of guys liked our pack, but they wanted a more mobile, smaller pack. So we've got that added and then we've got a hand muff.

For guys that they like to run a hand muff and, instead of gloves or maybe with a lighter glove. So those are, oh, we've got a belt. We've got a non metallic belt. So no, no buckle. It's a buckleless belt. It does a real good job and very quiet. So those are all the products that we have for 2023.

Jeremy Dinsmore: That's awesome, Joe. And I'm telling you, man like I said if you like Joe and the things that he represents, why not go support his company? Looks fantastic again, just from my knowledge and going from word of [00:57:00] mouth and these individuals. Would not BS me just because either they're whatever working with Joe or not working with Joe and actually a couple of them were representing Osseo gear and wearing it before things maybe even came about.

So it's really just really cool things. And I'm really happy for you that things are going well. It's continuing to grow. Just looking at your 2. 0 vest, they didn't look sharp. It looks great. I like that collar. Kudos to you guys developing that and getting something out there.

I'd love what you said. It's mainly, you mainly went after it and it's made for elevated bow hunters and you can't go wrong, man.

Joe Miles: Thank you so much, Jeremy, man. I really appreciate it. Enjoyed our time today and man, I'd love to do it again. And maybe we can get you on the Mission Whitetail podcast one of these days.

Be honored,

Jeremy Dinsmore: Joe, would be honored. Joe, where could people find you? Find Osseo gear, all that stuff before you head off.

Joe Miles: Yeah, man. Joe miles hunting on instagram and facebook that those are my social media handles and I'm real active on there. So if anybody's got questions or anything, [00:58:00] be happy to, give me a day or so, but I'll get back just as fast as I can.

ICO gear dot com. That's our website. Everything's customer direct. Everything's got a lifetime warranty, 30 day money back guarantee. Free exchanges. So we try and really take care of our customers cause we're bow hunters and we know how important our gear is. So we want to be as accommodating as we possibly can.

And then ICO also on on instagram and facebook under ICO gear.

Jeremy Dinsmore: Awesome, Joe. Thank you so much again. Like I said, this was a true honor having you on getting a chance to talk. So I appreciate that. Please, everybody listening, go check out Joe. Go check out Osseo Gear. Really appreciate it. Best of luck to you.

Those of you that are heading out here soon this upcoming week for Whitetail and PA and across the world, across the nation. We'll see you next week, everybody. Antler Up. Thanks for listening

Joe Miles: to this episode of the Antler Up podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. Please go check us out on our Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and GoWild and at [00:59:00] antlerupoutdoors.

com. If you enjoyed this episode, go leave a review and subscribe for next week's episode. Until then, Antler

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