Ep. 506: Foundations - Whitetail Hunt Planning Done Right

hunting in a different environment. Maybe you're still on the fence with one leg straddled on the stay home forever side the one hanging over there in unfamiliar territory. Which way are you going to jump? That's up to you. But I try to make a good case last week that if you've got the itch, scratch it. This week I'll build on that, but mostly push the perspective that the decision has been made and now it's time to

figure out how to just make that trip happen. I know everyone is doing it, and that makes it kind of uncool. At least it does if you're a contrarian at heart, like I am, but some things are just worth it, even if it seems like everybody feels the same way. I mean, I don't know. You wouldn't stop listening to Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd just because they've been popular for like fifty years, right, And no one stops eating ice cream because we all think ice cream

is freaking delicious because it is. People shouldn't stop bringing home adorable Labrador Retriever pups just because they are the most popular sporting breed. You also shouldn't skip out on the over the road hunting craze right now just because every flat Brimmer with fifty seven YouTube subscribers is doing it. That's the real case I laid out for you last week. So let's just assume you're on board with the idea. You don't have to commit fully yet, but you certainly could,

and in some ways you really should. Now. I know I'm being super evasive here, so let me explain. We all know that some states will sell you over the counter licenses. That phrase, coincidentally comes from a time when we actually did have to go into the local wally World and buy our licenses at the counter in the sporting goods section. Now, in most states that's been replaced by your phones and the good old Internet. But some states don't sell those over the counter licenses, so to speak.

Some make you apply. Others will word their nonresident restrictions like you have to apply, and that implies that you might not draw, but it's essentially a guarantee. And still other states, you'll learn through a little research they're not just going to sell you at HAG. Just like it is with Western critters and high priority animals like sheep and mountain goats and now elk, you'll have to play the points game. I know this sounds like a lot,

and it sounds intimidating, but it's really not. The first step is to just make a plan and decide on your priorities. Now, last week I asked you to decide on what's important to you out of a hunt. Fun maybe a big deer. Maybe usually it's somewhere in between the two. That's very likely. Now hopefully you've parsed that out a bit for yourself, But also caution you with something I've learned after visiting a lot of different states for white tails, try to lean toward the experience, not

the big, antler thing. The odds are really good. You're not going to kill a monster book out of state on your first trip. Just remember that the odds are you could lower your standards and have more fun. It's just something to think about, because as awesome as traveling to hunt is, it's a lot of work and there are a lot of parts that aren't any fun. To illustrate this, let me pull out I don't know two

random names out of a hat. The first I draw will call him Marcus, and he wants big bucks number one on his list of priorities, and he's going to build a plan around that right away. Barring an awesome relative who owns tons of good land in a premier state, it's mostly going to be about developing a long game plan and possibly for him sitting out I don't know,

a year or two or more. Marcus is definitely going to buy an Iowa point every year while researching the best units in the state and trying to estimate how many points or years it's going to take him to draw the premier unit that he wants. And he might say I'd love to hunt southern Iowa Bucks, but I think it's going to take five years to draw. He looks at his calendar and he says, well, I guess I'll book that for then. There's a lot of time between here and there. So he starts re searching Kansas

and Illinois to other big buck states. Now he finds something to work in an easier to draw a sense, so he can start picking units in Kansas and he can work toward them and then fill in with hunts in Illinois or maybe certain parts of Ohio. Every year he can hunt a state that very well could serve him up a booner. And while those states might be a little more expensive than others, the opportunity is absolutely

worth it to him. Not only does he get to hunt every year, he gets to plan for some really good states and really good parts of really good states throughout his next five or ten year plan. There's nothing wrong with that. It's a good way to go about it. But let's take this other guy. We'll call him I don't know Antonio. Now, this dude he likes big bucks, but he doesn't care about them as much, and he really just wants to enjoy every second of his time

in the woods. He just wants a good chance to see a lot out of deer fill his coolers and camp with his buddies. Now, this totally made up guy who loves the band tool and bird dogs and anything that's filled with sugar, he might look at Iowa and say, well, I could wait several years and spend elk tag type money to hunt when I draw, or I could hunt two states every year for the same price. So he looks to Nebraska because they'll sell him a tag every year, because he loves that so much and can do an

early season hunt there. He also makes a plan to hunt Oklahoma during the rut because they'll sell him a bunch of tags and they have a high deer density and much of the state and as a bonus, he might run into a pig down there in public land as well. Now, the following year, Antonio, he says, you know that early season Nebraska hunt was really crowded. I

think I'm gonna try in North Dakota this year. He says, I liked Oklahoma, but the spiders were disgusting and competing with the automatic deer feeders and private land around the public wasn't that much fun. So he looks and he says, hell, I'm gonna go east or south to Kentucky. He has options, so it really doesn't matter, and you have options too. The sooner you figure them out and lay them down in a plan, the sooner you can get to the good stuff like east scouting. We got a ways to

go before that happens. You've still got to decide on your state and the likely timing of your hunt. Now, I generally encourage first timers to hunt closer to home. If that's an option. That might mean not driving twenty hours to a premier state, but it will need more time to hunt, and getting the first one out of the way is pretty important. When you start to really narrow down your state, remember this, don't fall in love too quickly. Take some time to really research the season

dates in that state. Take enough time to dive fully into the rules and regulations. Maybe the week you choose because it lines up so well with your favorite time sound at home, maybe that's the week of the general firearms opener in your destination state. Now, if you're plan to go gun hunting, carry on. But if you want a bow hunt, that could be a huge conflict, a

huge problem. Now, maybe there isn't a general firearm season going on during the dates when you want to hunt there, but there is a youth gun season or maybe a pheasant opener. And even though you don't think that's a big deal because your state has like seven wild pheasants in total left, the state you're going to is a huge destination for upland hunters. That's going to kill your public land dear movement and change the game in a negative way. If you're competing for the same acreage as

those rooster junkies. Maybe the state that you want to hunt doesn't allow you to leave stands up on public land or use trail cameras. This might be a deal breaker depending on your style of hunting. It's not just about figuring out what you want out of a state, like an example would be, I don't know an awesome hunt in a big buck. It's also about what you bring to the table. This is just choosing a new

hunting dog breed. We often say stuff like, man, I love the looks of those German wire hairs, or I've always wanted to own a Chesapeake Bay Retriever because it's got that badass sea duck pedigree. That's great, but do you know how to train a breed like that? And do you know if they're really a good fit for your family, your work schedule, you're hunting style, and your hunting environment. When it comes to traveling for white tails, ask yourself what are you willing to do for work

and for fun? Are you willing to camp for a week or are you more of anita hot shower every night kind of guy or gal? Are you willing to saddle up every day morning and evening for a week to go truly mobile and find a book or would you be happier carrying in a heavier hang on and riding out one or two spots for the same amount of time. If you've only ever ambushed white tails, are you prepared to go spot in stock them in the plane somewhere? Have you ever dodged a rattlesnake or pulled

cactus finds from your ass while you're hunting? Buddies died of laughter? Again, my friends, ask yourself what you're willing to bring to the table, and be really honest about it, because all of this should influence your decision of where you'll travel to and when you'll do it. I know I sound kind of like a nagging spouse here, but the truth is I want you to have a good hunt, and I have experienced a million different ways to screw

this process up. A good way to not screw this up is to decide on a state that is close enough to allow you to take a scouting trip. This is something I'll get into more of this spring as we get closer to Turkey season, so I'm gonna gloss over it a little bit now. But it's also one of the reasons I try to encourage people to consider hunting a closer state for their first go at this stuff. But this can also be a double edged sword, my friends.

On one side, you've got the very obvious benefit of boots on the ground now e scouting is freaking awesome, but it only takes you so far. Seeing ground in person is huge. As you've probably heard me say a whole bunch of times last summer in this podcast when I was talking about scouting scouting, scouting scouting. This is no small thing, and it's also a great way to

familiarize yourself with the logistics of a trip. How far is it really, how will the camping actually go in your chosen spot, or how far away from the motel is it from where you plan to hunt, What does the habitat actually look like? What's the dear population really like in your chosen spot? All of these things can be learned, at least to some extent, by just a long weekend of scouting. Now, the other side of the sword, the one that will cut you deep, is the one

that allows the self doubt to creep in. What if the properties you found through eat scouting aren't all that great. What if the camping area you had picked out is closed and now you need to drive forty five minutes to get to the woods. What if the deer sign isn't really you there, but the people sign is. What if you find yourself looking for the escape hatch partially because you ask yourself that, if a scouting trip is this much of a pain in the ass, what's it

going to be like to try to hunt here? That's a fine line to tow. I've driven to a lot of places over the years to scout, and I never drove to a single one of them thinking it was gonna suck, But a lot of them have. I've driven to places I fully thought would be amazing for white tails, only to walk them for hours and days and come away convinced that I wasn't really going to enjoy hunting there for one reason or another. This has happened to me a lot in Missouri. It's happened to me in

the Dakotas. It's happened to me in Oklahoma, in Wisconsin, It's happened to me dozens and dozens of times. In my home state of Minnesota. It's inevitable but also somewhat of a false reality. Now. How I know this is because I've committed to hunts in a bunch of different places site seen. I've shown up to those places and have been absolutely stoked by my first impression or absolutely

bummed by my first impression. But I've also only given up on maybe three or four spots in my entire lifetime of traveling to hunt because they just sucked so much. Most of the time, even when my initial reaction is not so great, the deer show just enough of their hand to keep me in the game and playing. And what I do, I find myself having fun and forgetting that I was about ready to hit the eject button.

I've said this a lot, but the things that hold us back mostly live in the space between our ears. If we decide to hunt is not going to be good. Based on initial impressions, it probably won't be any good. We won't put in the effort necessary, our attitude will suffer, and what do you know, the hunt we expected to be shitty ends up being shitty. Deer hunters are massed tears of this. I encounter it often here in my home state, where we have more wolves than any other

state except Alaska. I challenge you to talk to anyone who hunts the northern third of Wisconsin and just time how long it takes for the topic of wolves to come up once you're in a deer hunting conversation. Usually it's not more than a few seconds. And I get it, at least to some extent. I've hunted around wolves a lot. They are my favorite competition. Other hunters aren't either, but we aren't likely to get a season on them. The thing is, the wolves are just a part of it.

And even if that sucks, it doesn't mean there aren't deer anywhere out there. You just might not be able to sit the same wooden stand that your grandpa shot is first buck in. You might have to go, I don't know, find where the deer are now some of them know where to hide, so the wolves don't eat them. Where is that? It's out there somewhere, and it's probably changing from year to year, But no matter what, you're going to leave you some sign there and give you

a little bit of a clue. But the worst part about this, aside from the fact that the wolves definitely don't make deer hunting easier, is that their existence gives so many hunters an excuse to phone it in. After all, why would you work hard if you're not going to see any deer? To that, I say, I don't know. Could you see some deer if you work harder? Most likely?

So why not try that? And if it doesn't work out, that sucks, But it's a hell of a lot better than not trying and giving up before you really know what you're capable of. The same rules apply to out of state trips, especially when you've just returned from a so so scouting trip. The good news here is that you just got some things wrong. We make mostly the wrong decisions when we hunt, and if we didn't, there

wouldn't be very many deer left out there. But there are, and it's partially because we make a lot of mistakes, we make a lot of poor hunting decisions. The best way to address this in your own life, if you have a so so scouting trip, or even if your hunt planning isn't going all that well, is to understand that it really doesn't matter. You should still go. Maybe not to that first spot you picked, maybe not to that first state you kind of fell in love with,

but you should go. You should just stuff some cash in your underwear drawer every week from now until the fall and just go now. If you keep things simple, a white tail trip can be very cheap, and if you plan a hunt based around your preferred hunting strategy and goals, you can have a hell of a lot of fun. In fact, unlike elk hunting trips and on a state, white tailed trip will almost always lead to

another one. Elk trips, at least for probably half of the first timers out there end up being the only elk trip those people take a lot of Folks underestimate the mountains and the difficulty of most elk hunts while they overestimate their own abilities with white tails. All those sharp edges are dulled, white tails aren't nearly as difficult

to hunt. His OLK, the numbers are higher, the populations better, and if you're willing to do the requisite amount of pre hunt planning, you can usually get away from people. Even if you hunt public land WITHOLK, all of those things are harder to come by. Now, of course, we aren't finished with this topic. I do plan to take a little break in the next couple of weeks to get into shed antlers when you're scouting an offseason gear. But for now, plan that hunt, do the research. You

won't regret it. Next week we'll take a hard turn into the science of shed antlers and the reality of being a mediocre shed hunter. That's it for this show, my white tail loving brothers and sisters. I'm Tony Peterson and this has been the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast,

which is brought to you by First Light. As always, thank you so much for listening, and if you want more white til advice, head on over to the mediator dot com slash wired and check out our Wired to Hunt YouTube channel as well.