Ep. 544: Foundations - You Do You

I know it's hard to believe the full year has passed since it dropped the first episode of this Foundation's podcast. That's fifty two weeks of white tail talk, roughly a hundred and sixty thousand written word to go. The whole thing started with a bunch of shows about scouting, and then we moved on to hunting Technics, The Winner, scouting, and some random offseason stuff and now here we are

full freaking circle. And I'm happy you're here with me today because I want to talk about you and our future together and how we are going to tackle this dear problem as a team. The next year is going to be different, my friends. While the last year was loosely a chronological week by week breakdown of different deer activities, you should be considering. This year won't be quite like that.

It's gonna be all about the stuff we never really got into last year, and I'm going to cover a wide range of topics in the next fifty two episodes, from I don't know blood trailing to the ethics of certain kind of hunting to really understanding Dear sign hunting in the rain and so on. This year is going to be fun. But before that, I really want to

talk about you. This last year has kind of been all about me, talking strategies and styles and aspects of hunting that should have helped you kill some more, Dear, should help you kill some more, Dear, I guess I should say. But the dirty little secret in all of this is that it's really on you. It really is. I've got a role in this, maybe, I guess, just like other people in the hunting industry that you listen to or read or watch or whatever do as well.

But we don't really need to get into that yet. We need to get into your relationship with hunting and how it affects your success. Because no matter what I say, or what the Jury Brothers do on their show, or what you read about white tails and white tail hunting, the decisions you make are yours and years alone. You can't become a significantly better hunter through osmosis, unfortunately. I mean, if you could, Mark would have bucks on his walls and you'd have to hunt with a rock just to

challenge himself. But he doesn't need to do that because hunting is still pretty challenging for him, despite the fact that he has access to the most successful white tail hunters in the world and has racked up more hours of conversation on the topic than just about anyone out there, and he hunts a lot. What really kills big Bucks is experience and confidence, at least if you don't have a ton of money or a really good spot. In fact, not only does experience and confidence kill big Bucks, it

also helps you enjoy hunting more. It's more fun to not be paralyzed by the second guessing, or to scroll through the Graham during the season only see every other person in your feed post in grip and griend photos with Bucks, you couldn't even dream of shooting. And I've said it's many times before, but enjoyment of hunting will lead you to hunt better. So you're probably thinking, all right, well, where the hell, are you going with this, dude? A

settle down. You're starting to sound like my bride. Just let me get there. That's where I'm going with this is that I actually have faith in you. I truly do. I believe that people are capable of great things, just as they're capable of consistently killing deer that make them happy. I think that you've got this, and I want to tell you why. It's because this is not as hard as you think it is. Now Listen, I'm functionally a dipshit,

and I killed deer, including big bucks, fairly frequently. And if you think I'm being falsely humble, here, let me give you a few examples. One time I rear ended a lady and her daughter who were on their way to church because I was eating a muffin and some of it broke onto my shirt while we were stopped at a red light. When all the other traffic started to go, I was still thinking about the crumbs from that muffin, and I drove right into the car ahead

of me. It was the only time I ever got a speeding ticket for going like three miles per hour. In fact, I might be the only person to ever get a speeding ticket for going as fast as a slow turtle. Another time, I went to load my boat on a trailer and I didn't pull up the trolling motor. Now, it's a bass boat, so you have to powerloaded by driving right up on the trailer. But when your trolley motor is in the way, it doesn't work very well.

And buying a new expensive trolley motor because of a bone head move like that sucks, but it teaches you a valuable lesson um. Another time, I stepped on a moving treadmill in a full gym, which still haunts me. And I mean I think about that moment at least ten times a day every day, and I have no doubts. If I'm lucky enough to get really old, I'll probably still be thinking about that stupid moment when I stepped

on a moving treadmill in a full gym. Uh last March, I was fishing in Florida and I snapped an expensive travel rod on a tie down cleat on a dock, only to lose a different expensive rod the next night by not paying attention when a baff and top catfish took off with my bait. That little series of idiocy there cost me nearly six d dollars in fishing gear in two days, and it was nobody's fault on my own.

In fact, I still have a mullet spine stuck in my pointer finger from that trip, from another stupid move that I'm still suffering from months later. I've missed so many deer it's it's kind of hard to believe. I trip randomly quite often. Twice as an adult. I've shipped my pants in situations where you definitely don't want to shoot your pants. And I still kill deer quite often, so often in fact, that people pay me to talk about it, which is really bizarre. But my point is,

if I can do this, you can do this. You have the skills, the curiosity, the dedication to make this happen. But you've got to remember that it takes time. It takes time to be consistently successful, and there really aren't any shortcuts. You can't send me a d M or some other hunter who you think holds the real secrets to deer hunting success and asked them to look at a mappier farm and tell you where to hang a stand,

and then bam, you're gonna kill big bucks. You can't visit a forum or read an article and uddently clear the hurdle that has been keeping you from frequently filling tags. Now you can glean some ideas from that stuff and maybe put some advice to practical use, which is a good thing. But even so, that's you doing it, that's you taking the time to make something happen. That's yours. You get out there more and you'll get better, you'll

have more fun, and you'll develop more confidence. But do it at your own pace, at your own comfort level, and accept the fact that it will take seasons upon seasons to become happier with your day to day performance throughout the fall. Now, listen, I know this sounds like raw rab bs, but it's not. I've got two buddies who I hunt with quite a bit that have come so far in ten years that it blows my mind. And I know ten years is a long time, but

in a way, it's really not. Both of them got into bow hunting at about the same time serious bow hunting anyway, and both of them took very different paths through their career so far, but they both started out hunting any type of deer not very well. I might add killing those or little Box was a real challenge for both of them. Even though they were full grown adult men by the time they really started hunting hard, what they had going for them was an awful lot

of desire to be in the woods. They liked scouting, they liked hunting, and they were game for at least one trippy year they made it happen. That meant that they were getting valuable home field experience on private farms, but that they were also heading out on the road to hunt with me on public land in various states. They hunted white tilles, obviously, but they also hunted Western game whenever they got the chance, and small game in

turkeys and whatever was open. They hunted when they could hunt. Whatever they could hunt. They stacked up some meaningful experience throughout the years, and while they randomly would kill stuff in those early years, it took them i don't know, maybe seven or eight years before they started putting it all together, and I mean really putting it all together. And now when we travel, I'm not surprised at all when either one of them kills a good one at home.

It's damn near a given that throughout the season, at some point I'll get a text or a phone call telling me that their tag is filled and it's time to call the taxidermist. It's honestly so impressive because not that long ago, neither one of them could hit a

deer to save his life. I got to watch them go through the starvation years and emerge out the other side as good hunters, and I feel like some of you might be stuck in those early years as well, or maybe stuck in third gear where you can kill some deer, but the big bucks really ellude you. Listen, everyone moves at their own pace, so sometimes it's a

matter of struggling through the lean years. I think everybody pretty much goes through them, and that sucks, just like it sucks to be a twenty year old right now, or honestly, just about any time in history where you see what the world could offer you, but you broke, depressed and unsure what to do with yourself, and honestly not feeling too peachy about this whole adulting. For most people, there are just phases of life that kind of suck. And while it's a little comfort to hear that from

some stranger, it's true. And the same goes for hunting. It rarely starts out easy, and if it does, it won't mean anything to you in the long run. To gamify hunting or to shortcut the whole thing if you have the means, it's a great way to find success but not really enjoy it a whole lot. It's a great way to minimize this gift we have, and that's certainly future generations probably won't. So you know what I want you to do. I want you to treat this

year like it's your chance to level up somehow. Set some goals, achievable goals that will make you put in the extra time you need to put in a little bit of extra effort, and don't set them around big bucks. Well I guess you can, but don't solely focus on a goal like that and saying something, well, I've I've killed a buck that scores a hundred and five inches now, so I really want one that is bigger. I mean, that's fine, but you're selling the whole thing pretty short

if that's the sole focus. I look at it a different way. I set goals based around a few different things I want to tell you about, just to kind of give you some ideas. The first goal for me now, which is more important than trophies when I wasn't always that way, believe me, but it's it's where I'm at now, is to fill the freezer. I go into the season and I want five to seven deer because I know that my family can eat that all and I probably won't run out or have to ration venison. I love

that feeling. It's a big one, but it's doable because I know a hund a bunch of states and get enough antlerless tags and have zero qualms about lowering my standards to make it happen. But along with that goal, my main objective is to take five to seven good shots to get those deer in my freezer. Now, actually I said that wrong. It's to make, not take make five to seven good shots. If it takes me six dear to fill the freezer, I want six double lung

or heart shots in my rear view mirror. That's my goal. I want six short, easy to follow blood trails that make me feel like I did a good job as a hunter. I don't want those marginal hits got's liver spine. I don't want them. I don't want missus. I want to draw my bow every time and know that my arrow is gonna go where it's supposed to go. And if it doesn't, and it often doesn't, then I know I've got work to do, but it's something I will

work on. So what will your goals be? Are you dead set on getting your first dear or maybe your first buck, maybe your first pope and young buck, your first two dear season? How about the kind of shots you'll plan to take and make? What about how frequently you'll hunt? Do you have a goal to hunt x amount of days every week regard as a weather that's a good one. I don't use that goal anymore because I don't need it. I hunt when I can always.

Do you do you remember last season? Did you take days off because it was too hot or too cold, or too rainy or too whatever. Maybe don't do that this year. Maybe motivate yourself to hunt when you don't want to hunt, just like you would make yourself go for a run even though you don't want to, because very few people ever actually want to go for a run. Maybe you're going to take a trip this year and hunt somewhere else. What are your goals around that trip?

Kill A big one? Kill a little one, just enjoy some time in a new place. How are you going to make this stuff happen? That's maybe the most important part of this because that's on you. What are you gonna do to make sure you get the most out of the summer scouting window and then this season that's what matters. And remember again, it's on you. Hunting is a personal thing, and even though we have good friends who hunt, or at least most of us do, it's

still an activity mostly done in private. This is probably the best point to wrap this episode on because I really believe it. I say this often on podcast, and it's always good for a laugh if I'm giving a dear seminar somewhere, But no one really cares about what you shoot. They really don't. Now, your wife might pretend she does, a few co workers might think it's kind of cool one way or another, and you might be blessed to have a few good hunting buddies who actually

kind of do care. But it's not going to make or break anyone's day. If you finally arrow that hundred and fifty inch or you've been after or if you eat tag soup. For the seventeen season, in a row. It doesn't matter to anyone but you. It really really doesn't as a matter to your Instagram followers, or your Facebook friends, or the strangers on your favorite hunting form that you like to visit. It wouldn't change their lives

one iota if you filled your tag or not. Now I want to reiterate this because I really want to drive this point home. Hunt for yourself. Do not apologize to anyone for doing this legally in a way that makes you happy. Your time in the woods is yours, and it's important. The decision on when to shoot or what to shoot, that's really important too, but only to you. And I don't know. I guess I suppose the deer but they don't really get to say in it. Well

sometimes they do, but you get my meaning. This is your time and your passion, your hobby or whatever own it. Treat it like something that matters to you, because it does, and just get out there. Set some goals. Forget about what other people think about deer hunting or big bucks or who should shoot what, and you do you make your decisions, hunt your way, follow your hearts. My friends, and I know this sounds like a bullshit pepper rally,

but it's not. The key to happiness might not exist seventeen feet up a tree, or it might at that time in the woods watching nature do what nature does. That's good for the soul. My friends, try to leave as much excess baggage behind as you can. You go there and just try to learn how to enjoy it. And lastly, remember that everyone is in the same boat. If you want to go on Instagram and small buck shame a stranger, don't. Don't be a dick. It's not

that hard. Try to be happy for people's success, because as weird as this, maybe we need other folks out there enjoying the world of a white tale and advocating on our behalf. Even if they just killed the buck you've been watching for three years, or they happen to kill a forky every year when you desperately want them to let them go so they can grow, Just do you and try to love every second of it, because the ability to go out and hunt these magnificent creatures,

it is a gift that we won't have forever. Now. I know I've been like a poorly qualified life coach in Therapist the last few episodes, but I got one more in me. Next week, I'm gonna get vulnerable and I'm gonna tell you about the decisions I've made in my life that made me a way, way better hunter. And it's probably not what you're expecting to hear, but you should listen in. There might be a lesson in it for every one of us. That's it for this show,

my fellow dear addicts. I'm Tony Peterson, and this has been the Wire to Hunt Foundations podcast, which is brought to you by First Light. As always, all of us here at Meat Eater truly thank you for your support. It means the world to us. And if you want more white tail content, please do not hesitate to head on over to our Wire to Hunt YouTube channel or visit the mediator dot com slash wire