Ep. 550: Foundations - Animals Are Assh@$*es

is going to be a weird one. It's about animal behavior and something that I truly believe we can use to our advantages hunters. I've preached this a lot about how important it is to learn dear behavior to really figure out what makes them tick. I think it's the secret sauce to the best hunters, and the key you can find to unlock how to have more fun in the woods. In our backyard, we have a shared pond

with a couple of our neighbors. It's one of the things that sold me on our house, partially because the realtor told me it was spring fed and full of fish. Well that was bullshit, I soon found out, and I should have known better. I grew up in the driftless area in Minnesota, where spring fed streams and the trout that live in them dominated much of my outdoor time

for a good portion of my formative years. Where I've lived now, it's kind of much more like swampy, less beautiful, and definitely not something you'd expect to be spring fed anyway. The only fish in there are mud minnows, which some species of ducks like to eat, other species, the non

pascatarian type ducks. They still swing through the pond at various times of the year, mostly spring and fall for obvious migration related reasons, and during the spring usually because turkey season isn't quite here yet and cabin fever has made Tony a very dull boy. I'll set up a blind in the backyard to photograph the teal and the woodyes, the mallards, golden eyes, I know, spoonbills whoever might happen

to fancy a paddle in our backyard swamp pond. And because of the orientation of the pond, the light gets really good as the evening progresses and the setting sun creates its golden hour. That means I spend a lot of time watching ducks that aren't in the ideal photospot, hoping they'll swim on over and pose for me. When you spend a lot of time watching ducks, even cute little wood ducks, you realize something. They are assholes. They

fight all the time. The mallards do too, and for some reason, maybe because they are more common, so I see it more. Greenheads kind of seemed to have a penchant for violence. I don't know why ducks fight, but they do. I don't know why. As a friend of mine explained recently, after a half ass attempt to shear her pet sheep that her goats attacked it. It stressed her out and explained that it was like trying to

separate dogs that are fighting. That sheep and her three goats they lived together every day, but when she sheared the sheep, even poorly, the goats saw it as something different and they went into attack mode. Why. Who knows, But it goes to show you that not only our ducks assholes, but so our goats and deer are two. And I know you guys love it when I quote tool songs, and if you want to hear a good one, check out Vicarious in It. Maynard says the lines. The

universe's hostile, so personal devour to survive. So it is so it's always been. What he means by that is the demand for personal resources is real high in nature, and we're a part of nature, of course. But even if you decide we are different because we are sentient and deserve the earth resources, it doesn't change the fact that animals are assholes and we're animals quote unquote. Lower life forms are operating on pretty much the same wavelength

no matter what. It goes. Right up through the animal kingdom, just about every creature out there is looking out for itself as far as food and water goes, as well as its most advantageous spot in the ecosystem. Just look at what happens when you've got a mature buck on your lease that is by all accounts of badass, biker, gang enforcer type of buck, and then he gets killed the bench he loved to bet on because it was perfectly unapproachable. Someone is going to occupy that spot almost instantly.

I'm going to talk about that in a few episodes from now when I talk about buck betting. But we've probably all experienced it, and you can see this everywhere in nature, even in herd animals, even in super social animals like deer, dominance, uh dominates and everyone else settles for a little bit less. And we think about this most often when it comes to bucks, for you know, pretty obvious reasons and for starters. We are obsessed with buck behavior and we want explanation. It is for it.

We want to know why the only one fifty in the section seems to show up well after dark and only leave traces of his presence through thigh sized rubs on the island in the swamp. Where to reach him as he naps away the daylight hours, you have to slog through a cranberry bug. He is unapproachable for the most part in that very spot for a very good reason. He kind of won the game. He beat up all the other bucks, or at least he stood them down.

He survived multiple bow and gun seasons, and he's identified the best, most advantageous spots out there. He will cling to them and his safe way of life because that's what nature does. It doesn't give an inch without a fight or a credible threat. It also doesn't suffer weakness very well. We see this most often with turkeys. The easiest example is when you call him multiple birds and you dump one, and then you watch his buddies pile on. We see this in the spring with long beards and

Jake's all the time. But Hen to do this too. And if you don't believe that, shoot a dominant Hen in the fall and watch how Oliver her sisters pile onto her still warm body. The change in dynamics is instant and it's powerful. It's a powerful thing to witness. Hell last year I hunted turkeys on a farm here in Minnesota that was pretty light on birds. Other than

a few jakes. It seemed like there were two toms on the farm, And after an embarrassing amount of trying to outsmart those birds, I finally called him into bow range. But what I didn't do was shoot very well. I hit the dominant tom low, and it gave him an instant limp. In the moment he took a step and it was obvious there was a little hitch in his giddey up. The subordinate buddy went after him. It was the quickest reversal of dominance that I've ever witnessed in nature.

In fact, that bird survived, and I got to watch them several times as the clock ran out of that season, and he never regained his spot. I often wonder if that other Tom said a silent prayer for the bad archer and the blind that night, because I gave him his chance to get called up to the big leagues. Now, when it comes to bucks, we think about this in the get rich quick realm. We think about it as a far as you know calling is concerned. If you're gonna ground out a buck, you might want him to

be a fighter. If you're gonna snort we's at one, you definitely want him to be a fighter. Although I'm calling a slight level of BS on that. I've snort weasd in young bucks and bucks that just didn't seem like they'd be the king of the hill, if you know what I mean. And I think that's important too, because the dominance hierarchy doesn't exist with one top dude and the rest being subordinates. I mean, sure, the rest are subordinates to that guy or that gal, and at

least all the other bucks in the immediate areare. But the second in command doesn't rank as low as the eighties three pound spike who doesn't quite have any funz on his clackers. Yet dominance trickles down, and that means the three and a half year old, then, I don't know, measures a cool eighteen inches. You know, he might not be the top dog in your neighborhood, but he certainly ranks higher than many of the other bucks, probably all the does. And you know what, he might fight to

keep that spot. Hell, he probably will if he's in the right mood. But this isn't really about calling though,

although that's worth thinking about. If you see a buck this fall and you don't think he's gonna come in, take his temperature with a grunt or snortwise, Sometimes they run away, sometimes they ignore it, and sometimes they take off their shirt and they say I do respect you, bro, while huffing and puffing as they come in with their monster energy drink tattoos and their backwards flat brimmed hats.

Dominance is important when it comes to decoying, too. If you want to challenge a buck to come in, you better show him a buck that looks not only like he really doesn't belong, but acts like he does. That Dave smith Fellow who makes the turkey decoys that will change your life. If you're a gobbler bow hunter. He makes the decoys well for deer, and you should take a look at it, and then you should take a

look at the other decoys on the market. His buck just has swagger and it shows his turkey decoys due too. And if you get the chance to chat with him like I have, you'll hear from a guy who has studied nature. He's watched how animals interact and what body language they use to trigger specific responses out of rivals. And it's a beautiful blend of science and art and it works because it plays off the fact that animals are largely assholes. Understanding that about bucks is important, and

it's also kind of inherent. If you watch dear enough, you'll see box bar and you'll see box fight. You'll see young bucks test older bucks a little, but run off. When the older buck pins his ears, back, rolls his eyes and starts to step toward Jr. Usually a side step. This is a clear signal that I'm the man and you're not. And if you're feeling froggy, little forky, you can jump. Okay. I don't know you know what exactly they're thinking, or if do you even know what frogs are.

But you get the point. It's not just the boys who were assholes, though, it's the ladies too. If you don't believe that, google women fights or something similar, you'll see plenty of checks throw down for as dumber reasons as guys do. In the white tail woods, you see this as well. In fact, I think the most underappreciated aspect of white tails. I should say that one of the most underappreciated aspects of white tails is how much

the whole herd lives by dominance. I once owned a property close to my house in the Twin Cities where I put in a small kill plot. While we always had a few deer hit it throughout the week, eventually, when I figured out how to get clover growing in there, we had a big, old, long nose dough just kind of lay claim to the spot. She was in there a lot, and she was a straight up biz natchow. She would rear back and start throwing hooves at any deer that got close to her or her fawns. It

was actually kind of awesome to witness. Now, remember what I said earlier about claiming resources and fighting for them, That's exactly what she was doing. She tolerated other deer in the woods, you know, because they kind of have to, but on that spot with a limited amount of food,

it was a different story. There wasn't a dough I saw her interact with on that plot that she wouldn't push off, And she actually went after quite a few of the younger bucks, And I never got to see her mess with an older buck, so I can't say anything on that, although I doubt she would have been much of a threat to a mature buck, but the smaller ones she wasn't forced to be reckoned with. This is important because it tells you a lot about the lives of deer that little for key on public land

that sets up shop next to the parking area. Sure he might be dumb and not know any better, or he might just not have better options. He might be doing as good as the rest of the deer will let him do. That little dough you see off your favorite stand every night, the one who hits the field an hour before all the other deer, she's probably in

the same boat. Hell. I had one of those does living by a stand of mine in southern Minnesota, and I almost shot her an opening morning because she looked super duper delicious, but for some reason I let her walk, and then every time I sat there she kept me company, and in late October she ran past me with an awesome split brow ten pointer on her tail, and I took him off her hands. It's kind of weird how stuff like that works out in the woods sometimes, but

that makes it really special. In fact, the year after I graduated high school, I sat in a stand in that same spot, but not the same tree. In late September, after sitting that stand quite a few times, I had a two year old eight pointer walk up to my tree in the dark before it got light out. I could just see his shape, and I thought it was weird that I hadn't seen that buck earlier. And the next time I could hunt, I rattled right at first

light and he came in and I killed him. Honestly, I kind of felt bad because he seemed lost, and the only thing I could think of was that he got booted out of somewhere else and he took up residence right around the tree stand I love to hunt more than any of the others. That was a really bad move on his part, and I don't think that buck came in to fight. I think he just came in to see who was around. It doesn't matter really

either way, but it is kind of interesting. It's also an interesting thing to think about how animals, specifically white tails, being assholes can help you kill them. Think about the best spots on the ground you hunt and why a buck would be there. Think about not just that a buck might be bettered on the swamp edge or up on a ridge, but why what does that spot do for him? Doesn't help keep him alive? How? Or think about the caliber of buck you'd be happy with. Is

that a two year old? Where would he live on your ground? Where would a respectable buck take up residence on the public land you might travel to this fall? How does all of this relate to resources like food and water? How does it relate to safety? How would a truly dominant buck use of property versus a younger, less dominant deer? How did the deer interact when you see them? Or a more appropriate example would be what

do your summertime trail camera images show you? Are you seeing bucks travel together like they should in the summer? How many deer do you consistently see on your plot or come into your pond, Who comes in first, who comes in last, who sticks around when a specific deer comes in, or who disappears. All these interactions that we see through piecemeal intel. They don't tell the whole picture, but they can tell you a lot. They tell you that maybe there aren't too many bucks around and the

hierarchy is a little subdued. Or they might tell you that your buck to door ratio is solid and your gear classes are pretty special. Then you'll have some deer sorting stuff out. That's important. This spring. I had that situation with the turkeys on a farm I hunt near my home. It was mostly male birds early on, and calling them in was almost laughably easy the first few

times we went out. In fact, the second night of the season and after one of my twin daughters killed an opening night, I called in nine jakes and five toms to the decoys. That's a record for me, and it was made possible by the skewed sex ratio out there. You know that eventually leveled off. And for the record, when she dumped one of those tom's, the rest of them, you know, they let him have it as he flopped his way to gobbler Heaven. And it was really cool

to see. So I guess the point of this episode is this. The more you understand what makes dear tick, the more you can predict what they'll do. After all, that's what we're all trying to figure out, right, What makes bucks do what bucks do? Why some bucks I don't run away from a decoy, while others just give it a drive by in a few licks of their nose and size up the situation and suddenly come in

looking for a brawl. When you start to pay attention to not only the most dominant bucks, but the rest of the herd and how they interact, you start seeing a clearer picture of the motivations for all of the deer. You see how that plays out in their herd dynamics, but also how they approach food and water and bedding cover and the things they need to survive. And honestly, the more you can unravel those mysteries, the more you'll be able to fill tags no matter where you hunt,

which is something we all aspire to. So that, Oh, that's my spiel on why animals are assholes, But that's okay for you white tail hunters out there. Tune in next week for more white tail, no how, and embarrassing stories about my life. As for now, this has been the wire to Hunt Foundations podcast, which is brought to you by First Light. I'm your host, Tony Peterson, and I truly want to thank you for your support. It means the world to me and Mark and the rest

of the Mediator crew. Feel free to get more your white tail fixed by visiting the meteor dot com slash wired or by visiting our wire do Hunt YouTube channel, where we drop weekly how to videos.