Ep. 602: Rut Fresh Radio 11/23/2022 - GUN SZN Brace or Embrace?

to the rut Fresh Radio podcast. I'm your host Casey Smith. Tyler Jones is on the couch here and me and we have another special super special appearance of the one and only chocoed deer hunter Mark Kenyon. What's up, bro? I'm just telling you that if someone made shock gos and camouflage, they would absolutely kill in the field. All right. I think there's people never mind, No, there's not. I don't know that. I don't know people who would wear those. Actually,

how do they do with climbing sticks? That's the thing I would be concerned about. You know, like, well that the functionality is something you're gonna know about. So tell you that's the thing is chockos Like for those who don't know. Chacos are like heavy duty sandals, either like flip flops or there's a version that kind of goes like straps over the top of your foot and stuff like that. And they're made for hiking, rafting, fishing, that

kind of stuff. So they actually have a really thick and really grippy, uh soul that you could go like rock climbing and stuff. And so yeah, I can go up the climbing sticks. I could sit up there company as can be. I'll hike back two miles on public land and I'll hunt you guys in my sands. I can vouch that you will hike two miles real quick too. It's true. You've seen it long shrides. How long shrides. I've had to keep up with that man. Uh you know.

I tried chocos one time and I was in Washington State. My wife had bottom for me, and I thought these would be pretty good for fishing maybe, And they ate my feet up so bad that like I had a hole in my foot for six months. I don't know what it was with the straps just destroyed my feet.

So I never won again. I do feel like there's like a breaking period for your feet like especially if you're wearing the ones that are like the fully strapped ones that you do need your feet to kind of like adjust to them and like develop us a little bit of like a rough spot or something. You know, Yeah, your feet have the rough spots for sure. You used to know that a side it's just like tan, just like tan leather, like a good it looks like an elephant.

You ever seen how when the elephant foot flexes when it hits the ground. That's what you're the size of your feet. Like, So are we talking about what we can we can other people do that? You know in a little bit. You have deer hunted though, right, just not in chocolates, like, but you have not in Chaco. But I have been deer hunting. I hunted the last oh three or four days of the bow season in Michigan and then hunted the last three days um proceeding

this conversation there during gun season. So yeah, we've been out there, have been getting some interesting weather, and uh have been you know, seeing some of that mid November type of action you might expect that lockdown And and now we're starting to shift into like that second phase, that second half of the rut and stuff is gonna be changing here against into So it's Michigan state where they force you to use the weapon that the season is issued as, or can you use a lesser weapon?

You can use a lesser weapon. How do you treat that personally? I personally am not bow only kind of dude. So I will use whatever is legal and whatever is most convenient or enjoyable. So what that means is that I'm using a bow when it's bow season, but when

it's gun season, I'm using you know, uh, rifle. And in muzzleo our season, they actually have changed the rules in our part of Michigan and you can actually use any legal firearm in certain parts of the state during muzzle over season, um, because of c w D issues. So if I'm hunting in one of those regions, I'll use the rifle too. UM. So I'm not not to give for that. We probably aren't either. I do a lot abou hunting because it's just like being close, you know.

But Texas has such a liberal gun season that, uh, you know, if you played by those rules, you'd end up gun hunting for like three months straight, you know. So, but I just kind of wonder you know, growing up, tactics changed drastically when you went from riffle to bow, and I wonder if that's how it works for YouTube up there, you know, yes and no. Um, it opens up new possibilities, you know, when I know that I can stretch out there and shoot. You know, we're a

gun hunt. Most of my gun hunting is in the southern part of the States. You can't use a UM every rifle. You've got to use a straight wall cartridge if you're going to use that, or use a slug gun or a muzzleloaders, so you're not shooting super super far anyways. UM. But you know, I'll stretch out and be like, okay, I I could you know, be in the game at a hundred hundred and fifty yards something like that, where you know, with my bow, I've got to be you know, I'm trying to be within thirty

or forty whatever it is. So it opens up a few new possibilities for me. But I don't just hunt, you know, some big, wide open field and a box blind expecting to kill a big giant buck. If I'm after you know, I'm mature buck. It's usually still pushing back on the edges of cover still pushing back in those spots that I'd be bow hunting. But now I'm

just able to have a little bit more grace. I'm able to set up in a spot that I have less risk of blown him out of town or getting winded by other doors and and still being in the game. Like the poop line. The poop line is a good example that and it worked out swimmingly. Can you talk about what's your what what did your rifle setup look

like for deer? So I've got a couple I've got, uh like my Northern Michigan gun, which is just a thirty at six UM, but that's more of a UM passed down from Grandpa gun, So it's not it's customized for the situation or something. That's just my grandpa's old thirty at six that he gave me that I like to use up there, and then down in southern Michigan,

where I've got to use a straight wall cartridge. I've got a three fifty legend UM, which is, you know, a nice, nice, easy shooting quiet, not a lot of recoil, single shot, just a little tack driver UM. So it's not fancy, but it's like my hundred and fifty yard gun. That's just sweet. So that's why I use my local stuff that's down there in the southern part of the state. Cool.

That's pretty slick man. Well, I uh, I've been still just bow hunting, you know, or even though rifles open, so's the purest you know, it's a it's a weird thing that maybe most people don't think about, but um uh YouTube people that work at YouTube, like, uh, they don't like guns all these so it's a kind of a difficult thing when you produce videos to trade the bow in and hopes that YouTube is okay with you

shooting something with a gun, you know. So I never thought yep, that's why, you know, because we pretty much video every single thing we do. And so, um, yeah, it's it's a odd thing that uh we have to be careful of, I guess. So. And two round here is like if you wanted to shooting you with a gun, you probably could. So like I like to hunt and be out there quite a bit, so like the bow

kind of limits me and lets me hunt a little more. Uh. So he's a limited So I've been hearing actually, and if you put the bottom pain at the top of the bag, you know. But I get what you're saying. I get what you're saying about the self limits. And you know, if I was hunting, you know, I don't know, some mega managed, awesome farm where there was a whole bunch of shooter bucks and I would be finishing off my season right away if they had the gun. You know,

I probably would stick with the boat too. But I know, like you know, for example, in Michigan, like, I've got a very very tiny chance of killing a buck that I'm after, even with the guns. So it's it's still

gonna be a big chance. Like honestly, if I had to bet, like with the spots I have to hunt right now, you know, there might be one night in the next month and a half where that buck will come out, and so I'm gonna have to be very very lucky to be there and to have him and range, even with you know, a hundred fifty yard range man like um, you know, being able to like people. Um. You know that in in the hunting space, there's a lot of uh, I guess, banter about you know, what's

the right way to do things? Ethics, you know, what are ethics even really and Um, it's just interesting that you say that because I feel like that a lot of people should spend more time thinking about, um, you know,

self limiting. I guess a little bit like what do you want out of the out of the hunt and and how can you manage that with your like the time of year you hunt, slash the weapon you hunt west, slash the blind you sit in or whatever you know, And yeah, yeah, I think like that's something to think about, right, Like, um, some guys uh work really hard and get five days a year, so maybe it's okay that they hunt with the rifle and you know, or a crossbow or whatever.

So how much meat you have? That's the thing that I'm in right now. You know, I've shot a couple of bucks, and I shot at Elk and September, so um, you know, I don't really have to go out there and blast one, you know, and get there and sit and enjoy and be kind of um picky about what a shoot at, you know, and and just kind of enjoy the opportunity. Yeah, I'm with you. I feel like, you know, we talked about this, uh and so our

other conversations well the course of this year. But you know, my one of my big goals this year was just to get back to doing what's fun, like not doing the thing that people that I think people think I should do, not doing the thing that other people want me to do, not doing something because I feel pressured for this reason or that, but just going out and

having fun. So if that means that I'm gonna go to my family deer camp for four days and not have a chance to shoot anything really, but you know, get to do something awesome my son, well I'm gonna do that. And if it means I'm gonna, you know, whatever else it is, I just feel like this year, leaning into that has has taken pressure off and and and made it so much more enjoyable. And because of that, I think I've had You know that that has maybe in part led to some of the success I've had.

And you're a pioneer in this space, man, And like I appreciate you saying this right now because I think it's, uh, you're a leader, man, and it's it's good for people to hear. I think it's uh something to think about. Where um. Because I actually had a conversation with the guy the other day, a friend of mine who's who shot a deer, couldn't find it, tracked it for six yards crossing another property, he got permission all this stuff, never found it, and he's really bummed out because it's

happened a couple of times recently to him. And you know, he said, I just embarrassed, man. You know, like people are smoking deer right now and I'm shooting another one that I can't find, you know. And I was like, who are you talking about? People? Because is this Instagram? Because you're only going to see the good stuff and you're only gonna feel these expectations from the people who are you know, I don't know talking talking heads of

hunting or whatever. You know. It's like, uh so, like again, I appreciate you saying it. As a leader in the space, man, it it uh helps people to think about this stuff rightly. I think, Yeah, I think we all just gotta hunt our own hunts and have fun and and then just stop worrying about all the other noise out there and social media and the media and and all that kind of stuff. We just we just gotta get back to doing it for your own reasons, in your own way.

And um and man, it's such an awesome thing. It's a shame for all these other outside worries to to cloud that. So man, Ted Nugent says that you can't do this in France, you know what I mean, he's right. I'll give him that. He's right on that part. Nos do you fella Michigander. He's all about it, you know. You know, I'll tell you what. My son absolutely loves that song, Fred Bear. So we frequently have Ted Nugent top of mind in my truck because we're jamming out.

So if I bumped into news and at the gas station one of these days, I'll always give my firm handshake and a hug. That's good. Oh man, that's cool. Well, um, you talked about a lot of opportunities you've had lately.

We've had some opportunities as well, and across the country, opportunities are opening up with you know, the rut coming in in the South, it's a pretty exciting time for people, you know, and honestly, I know up in the North country, it's a good time of year to kill it here because they start kind of coming off that lockdown and into kind of that postseason type pattern, hitting foods, horses and stuff. So we've got a few hundreds from around

the country who are gonna give us the report. This week, we got Jimmy Shyry in Pennsylvania, Patrick pay Singer in Tennessee, Graham Crowning with a report from Wisconsin, and Daniel Powell from down south in Alabama. He's gonna tell us about a deer. He's big deer he shot down there too. So, uh, thanks are happening all across the country, man, and uh,

I'm pretty excited about it. We're about to go hunt with her buddy Clay up in Arkansas, and once we get done with that, we're gonna hunt with old Mark Kenyon in Texas. As. We've been kind of alluding to here for a few weeks. It's gonna be the super Bowl of the year. Boys, I've been looking forward to it for months. It's gonna be the peak of our seasons.

All Right. We're in the top. We're on the top all the crazy stuff you've been doing across the rest of the country, and we're gonna tear it up wherever

the heck of Texas. We're going better start eating some classy food you can get a little bit of, you know, I mean a little bit of you know, your get your belly ready for it basically, you know, and I know that also the the taste budge, you know, I don't want you to be thinking our ketchup as spicy now here, dude, you don't you know you're love it.

You want your contact point to be the same on your bow, you know, Like I'd hate for like you to eat a jalapeno and your mouth swell up and then it's kind of weird, you know, so that's your face, Stop marking. I guess I'm I'm I don't know. I feel like I'm the guy that likes spicy food up here, but you are. You are kind of getting me worried to see if like the baseline like what spicy and Michigan maybe is not spicy in Texas, So I maybe am in for a whole world to hurt. I don't know,

but it tastes. I can tell you the taste will be good. How much like mild saucea taco bell spicy? Right? Ah? Yeah, totally that's actually what we use, uh, you know as as most condiments is just the miles had every Mexican favorite restaurant you get chips and mild taco bell sauce. I gotta I gotta tell you this. I don't like to throw further under the bus, but further gets mild saucea tacola. I'm not getting ill. Yeah, So to throw a little hunt and kick on it here still mark.

How many deer have you killed from the ground, sir? Ever? Yeah? Or like, um say you like, not in a blind you know, just kind of like Mano imano on the ground with a deer. I don't know, a handful, Okay, cool. So I don't know if you know that or not, but our hunt is gonna be pretty much a hundred percent on the ground, just kind of in the brush. So I'm kind of excited about that aspect of it,

and I hope you are too. So yeah, I killed all of my dear last year from the ground without a blind actually really yeah, but those were mostly with a gun. This will be with a bow, So be a little different around in there, dude, in my sandals, you actually probably get away with it. Outside the prinkle pair. Yeah, there's this thing called chola cactus. You ever heard of that? I have heard of it. Yeah, yeah, so be ready. It's gonna be funny. Actually, you probably encounter some of

that in some of your cou's deer hunting. I would imagine, so very similar to some of that. So I'm excited, gentlemen. I'm excited till Mark. Let's uh get to these interviews so we can get to that hunt pretty soon. Let's do it. This is Graham Crowning with Vortex Optics, has been out doing some hunting in Wisconsin, his home state there. Graham, what's happening, dude? Not too much, Casey? How are you doing? Man?

Doing well? I kind of getting over the sickness. I think a lot of guys struggle with this though you can tell me if you have ever dealt with this, But like, you almost get run down during November because you're eating kind of junkie food and you're out in the cold lot and not sleeping normal schedule, and it's just like your immune system catches up with you. You ever feel that way, Oh, I absolutely feel that way.

I get that way. Turkey season, deer season I turned into, for lack of better term, a piece of garbage with just the jump food, energy drinks. But hey, you get through it, man. That's the black rafel uh, you know, coffee, drinks in some cases, pizza. You know, it feels good at the moment that it catches up with you, you know, so yeah, hold on you after a couple of weeks of it, that's right, man. So, how how has the hunting been up in Wisconsin? The hunting has been really

good here. You know, like a lot of the country experience that, um, you know, really ab normally hot beginning to November, which you know historically, you know, that's kind of where I put you know, my bed on the killing a buck. But it kind of pushed a lot of that daytime movement back a little bit too. You know, around the around the tenth of November, we had a pretty big temp drop. It dropped from seventy to about over night, and I mean after that it was like

lights on. They were just running like crazy. So it's been pretty hot and heavy here. Yeah, it's cool. So it's it's still kind of going how you still seeing quite a bit of movement, chasing and that kind of thing in the past week. Yeah, we've been seeing a lot of chasing still going on. I'd say it's kind of starting to tamper down a little bit. I'd say

we're probably getting close to that lockdown phase of it. Um. Plus, our gun season just opened up, and you know, with all that pressure of the Orange Army out there, definitely takes a toll and kind of pushes down to some of that daytime movement. But yeah, I've got it looks good right now. How do you kind of approach that pressure from the gun season stuff? Do you embrace it or do you kind of not look forward to it? How does that work? Yeah, it's kind of one of

those things. You know, it's out of your control, right, That's what it is. So you can either figure your way around it, or you know, you can sit inside and wind about it. So there's definitely some spots where you can find some unpressured pieces and you know, do

all of that otherwise. You know a lot of times I like to bank on you know, I know what neighbors are gonna be kind of doing what in their hunt style, So I can kind of use that to my advantage of knowing if they're going to start pushing to year round and you know where those doll bed. The more information like that you can have, I mean, you can set yourself up to still be super successful this time of year. Yeah, so our our deer drives like a pretty big thing up there in Wisconsin. Yeah,

oh yeah. That's definitely the popular way to hunt, especially for those guys that are, you know, maybe only hunting that opening weekend where they've got two days to get it done. You know, they can't wait for a deer to walk by. They kind of got to force the issue a little bit. So I'd say definitely that second day. You know, sometimes a lot of people sit that first day and then that second day if they don't have something, they're going in and pushing through. So would you would you?

Would you? Do you like hunting when deer drives are going on like that? Does that you feel like that gives you an advantage where you sit. I mean it's tough to predict what it's gonna do, because I mean they could kick something up and you could all of a sudden, have you know, ten screaming deer running by you, or you know, they could just blow the place up. You never see anything, and you know they could kind of put damper on that area for a couple of days.

So it's one of those things, like I said, you kind of just gotta roll with it more than anything. Um, A lot of the spots where I go, you can kind of tend to get away from some of that pressure. You know, if you kind of bomb into some of those deeper areas where you know the average guy is not gonna get into it. Can you can definitely use those deer drives to your advantage. What's the what's the way to stop a deer that's screaming by you? Oh man? Because y'all, hey at it are just a smoke, you

know that? God? Yeah, yeah, yeah, those tend to work pretty good too. But yeah, I want to think you gotta throw the whole kitchen sink at them to get them to stop. Sometimes you know you got the shot in the running. If you gotta do it, you gotta do it. There you go, there you go. You practice for for a reason, right, It's right, that's right. I got a big buck hunter downstairs for a reason. Let's go.

It's hilarious. So, um, let's talk about maybe a set up or a tactic for whenever there is that big pressure. Are you trying to find like funnels and escape routes whenever that kind of stuff's going on? Are you just trying to find the thickest stuff you can. That way, you're just kind of in a sanctuary or what does that look like? Yeah, kind of a mixture of the

two and kind of depends on the property. But yeah, definitely finding those funnels, um where you think that they could run through, and you know, if you kind of have an idea of what that party or that neighbor is gonna do, um, you can kind of set up based on that. Otherwise I'd like to find some thick bedding cover. I mean, if the doors are gonna be there, especially with how things have kind of shaken out this year,

you know, there's still some hot doors running around. So if you can find those betting areas, even if they're not you know, pushing dear, you know, there's still a really good chance that you get a buck just cruising by checking those areas. Yeah, cool man, that sounds like a good strategy, and I think you are ready to rock and roll. You still have a tag left, right, yep? So I filled my archery tag here in Wisconsin, so I still have my rifle tag though, So I've got

six more days of the rifle season here. Yeah, so yeah, hopefully we can get done nice man. That's cool. So if you had to look forward to the next week, you're kind of three the Thanksgiving holiday and had to rank buck movement on the scale of one to tea in what would you call it? Yeah, so, I definitely think it's gonna be slowing down a little bit from what we've seen in the past week, but it's not

gonna be terrible. I'd put it probably around a six, just with the gun season pressure, and I think they're into starting to get, like I said, a little bit into that lockdown phase. I think they're gonna start slowing a little bit of that movement. But I mean, like I said, anything can happen this time of year. Yeah, six is a good number, man. I mean that's a good hunting day if you're thinking about you know, uh, the realistic terms, and uh we also call that the

mid Midwest six now because all you Midwest. He's love to say six, I think because you're kind of like barely optimistic, but you don't want to give it too much credit, you know. So it's a coming answer. Yeah,

it's not. It's not a complete downer where you're like, I'm not going out, but it's still enough to do some Yeah, that's like the you know how the Wisconsin Badgers do at the beginning of the season, right, they kind of win a couple of games to get you going and then let you down later right too soon. I'm sorry, man, Man. We appreciate the report, dude, and I hope you do find some success very soon, sir.

They appreciate it, guys. Good luck to you out there all right now on the phone, I've got Daniel Powell. He's a realtor from Alabama, and he just shot a buck that I think would make most dudes and most states pretty jealous. How's it going, Daniel, It's coming pretty good. How you doing talking? I'm doing well, man, I'm I'm you know, a little worn out from the hunt this morning, but um, and it wasn't quite as successful as you've had lately. But tell me a little bit about the

buck man and and uh what was he doing? I mean, I kinda want to hear about him. He looks he looks big. Now, pictures can lie one way or the other a lot of times, but he looks like a toad. Yeah. Um, definitely around here we would say he's a mature buck. I mean, he was. We got him scored right now, one sixty seven three quarters. We'll get us opinion on that, but right now I think he's all over one sixty eight for sure. Give him what he got, man, give

him and give him all of that's right. And I really didn't have much history with this dear, I tell you. And then uh, far as what he was doing, he was traveling. This dude was a traveling deer. After talking to neighbors, because I never talked to any of the neighbors about this dear prior horse. But once it got

on social media and Instagram. Two days after I killed that dear, I mean, my phone started drinking, and uh it was neighbors, you know, Collins saying they had pictures of this deer and one of them that had a majority of pictures was three miles from us, and he had them out of the October Um. So that was pretty interesting to this dear. He wasn't in my life real long. He Uh he showed up two weeks ago today and uh it was the first time I've seen them in two years. And it took about a day

looking at old trail cam photos to find them. But we had him as a two and after year old deer. He was real heavy horned, and this a lot of potential, great potential, So he just cruising for those. He wasn't. Uh, he came in later behind those. But all Rudd really does to get kicked off in our area. We're right in the middle of the black Belt from kind of south southeast of Sharp, Mississippi. But we're right here in this black belt and they usually don't take off to

about mid December. Yeah, that's kind of what I was wondering. Yeah, I mean, usually you got some weird ruts there in that state, but there's you know, there are a lot of them are later. So what what what do you think? Why was he traveling so much? I think just the test off erone build up and them and uh, I don't he might have got pressured from the neighbors. They said they weren't really hunting their more rifle hunters, So I don't know if they were in a tree stand

with the bow yet or not. But I don't know if he got pushed to us or he just kind of remembered from two years ago where we were. And for the last two years we've been clearing on this farm. Ground bars with dozers and trackos and whatnot, so making all kinds of racket, but that didn't seem to bother And uh he made home in one of these fingers out in the mottle of field, uh, about twenty yards wide at the thicket with the ditch running through it.

And that was his bedding area. And uh he showed up one morning at seven o'clock and credit to my brother, he was running the silk camera there and he told me and he said, uh, check your phone, see if you can handle my tech. And and we haven't had a deer really worth chasing in the last few years. And I was like, til us a hundred sixty inch

do you know? It's like, yeah, it's time to get Seriously, that day, I went to woods and water or place up the road has everything to do with hunting, and I had I bought no arrows, uh sent locker suit. You know, I went all out. I'm crossing all my tees on this guy, and uh, we're getting regular daylight pictures of them right before dark, right after daylight every day for the rest of that week. I didn't have

a lock on or anything in there. So me and my brother went there Saturday and we hung a lock on and uh, I don't know if that pushed him out or what, because I hunted him that evening and all day the next Sunday, and uh I didn't have a picture of him ever song and so the next or the phone and Tuesday, which was last week, uh I took all work. I went down there and I got about a thousand yards away from that lock on, on the opposite end of where he was coming from.

We had a good idea he was probably in that finger would be in there. So I got on the other end of that where it goes all the way down and makes a creek. Well, uh I hug my cell camera there, and by midnight that night he was in front of it. Yes, he's back. He didn't go too far. So I'm back at work and I'm looking at my phone and I'm seeing all these pictures and

he was off and on from midnight. At four am, Well, I told my boss we have some duty days coming and he said, well, if you're going, he's a hunter, he said, if you're gonna go, he said, you might want to go to this evening Because I said, I'm out, and I got my climber out of my attic and I took off to our farm. And uh, I got hopped in that creek bottom and I walked about a hundred and fifty yards down in there until I could

find a tree. There was only about one tree I could find that was plammable, and it wasn't great tree. It wasn't perfect. When I have a lot of cover, Um is this on the way to food? Or what is? What is he? What is it? So we cleared we cleared up up a lot of ash trees right here, so there's a lot of new vegetation coming up half the ground, just like wild rye and stuff like that. And it's and also it's just some tender grass, and

I guess that's what it what they like. I had a pinch point there because we had all the trees pushed up in windrows and there were five yards long. Well, I put the camera at the end of one of them wind rose and right on the edge of the creek. So to make it around there, he had to come through that little pinch button. And uh and that's that's what happened. He happened to do that that night, and uh, so I went in there and this tree, Like I said,

it was not ideal. I got thirteen foot off the ground how as I could get and uh, and immediately I had to do on Garlan come through. And I'm not feeling a real confident about this spot. But it's the last place he was. So I see right an hour before the ark, see three bucks coming in, want the bigger ones at eight points and like two smaller cold bucks. They come in, come right in front of me, and behind them about fifteen minutes behind them, you know,

probably fifty seventy yards behind them. I catch a glimpse of a big body just splitting a gas in the woods, and I was like, that's the that's mature, dear. I didn't see back. I was just like the way he's acting, walking slow, cautious. I'm thinking it's a another eight point or whatever that I get pictures of that I've seen the previous hunt. I said, he always comes in slow, it's probably him, but it wasn't. It was it was a big guy. He um. He came all the way

down Whin. I had a good uh north northwest wind that day, and he got as far south of me as he could down Win and uh, he came up and I was listening to this here for thirty minutes, walking so slow. I'm cautious. He came out, Uh finally it was just like he walked into a through a doorway, just boom right there, shifting looking there and uh, anyway, I already had my bow in an hour four dark. I'm hunting this year. I grabbed my bow about four

o'clock and hold on. So I already had my feet fitting everything, and I really have to do much movement besides to draw back and uh yeah, calling man. Anyway, he uh, he walked in kind of made an S shape to me, and he was pushing some of them mother bucks kind of out of the way and whatnot.

And he got to I had to shoot windows when he got his head, and the first one he was about to take he did take two more steps and I was gonna draw, but one of them other bucks coughed and uh pretty loud, and it strottled me, startled the deer, and he bolted about fifty yards away from him, and I was like, you kidding, man, it it's five ten here at five ten, it's getting pretty dark. I mean, so I was like, oh gosh, this this is not gonna happen. And sure enough he eases back to me,

and before he gets in that window, he stops. And I was nervous about it being too dark to see my feet socks, and I really could and his legs stopped. His front legs stopped in a gap about a foot light of these two small trees growing next to each other, and about mid distance, ten yards away from me, ten yards from him. He was in a chip shot twenty yards want perfectly brought to up. Well, I just drew back, I put my bead on the back of the front leg and just followed it up to hit that dark spot.

I felt like I was on the money right there. And he's between them two trees. That was just that's awesome. That's awesome. And when he sat all running, he went up these two wind rows and uh, which is out into the open field, and I was like, personally, he's not even gonna make it to the woods. And sure enough he went a hundred and twenty yards. Well, congrats, dude,

that's awesome. I mean, so you know, so you said the mid decembers of the rut Um, I guess you know, coming up here, we're looking at you'll start seeing that. I mean, I really don't call it rut until about December. You'll just say, you know, some bucks start like yesterday I saw a little buck kind of pushing a dove

around it. Yeah. I don't think any of these those are coming and hate quite yet you might have something really so there's there's definitely good times ahead though, you know, I think I think you know, going going forward this week, what if you had to focus on, um something to hunt? Are you hunting um like close to a buck's bed like like you did? Are you still staying with that pattern or what are you gonna be if you have

a good ideas there? Yes, hunt your win always personally, I think about your win because a buck like that they smell or see you. It's I mean, your chances go down about future sound I feel like okay? So last question here, on a scale of one to ten, if you had to rank buck movement and this next week, where do you think we're gonna be at? Uh? This next week I'd say probably a seven day eight just

because it's warming up. We've had some real good cold days and not too cold because here in Alabama, if it gets too gold cook too cold, dear, will bed down? Sure, same here, yeah won't. You won't say much of them, but it's been that perfect, you know. High fifty five degree tich, six degree days, sunshine, a light frost every morning, and that's my ideal. Awesome cool. Well, thank you for hopping on, Daniel, and I appreciate the report. Man. We'll

be talking to you soon. Absolutely. My good friend Patrick pay Singer has been hunting all over the country, but recently he had some real nice success in his home state of Tennessee. Patrick, what's happening, brother, Not much, not much, just uh still riding this high that I'm on, uh kind of not uh still in its belief. Yeah, you know, uh Patrick, if I had to describe you, I describe you as a jolly fella just in general. Man, you're always happy. And then uh, because that's like how we

met you the first time. You're just smiling the whole time. It's like, that's a nice guy. And then right now, I'll bet you about as jolly as it gets for Patrick. Man, Well, thank you, brother. Yeah, my my cheeks has been hurting. I've been smiling, I'd imagine, man. So you uh, you were blessed with a really really great buck. They're uh, kind of close to home, right, Yes, yes, this was actually right on my home farm. Doesn't get any better

than that. I've over the last twelve years I've I've managed this property and it's went from nothing over a hundred inches to where every year I'm getting good quality bucks and only taking this. This is the only second buck I've taken in twelve years. Would you call us East Tennessee. Yes, yes, I'm in uh in the point right right up against the Appalachian Mountains, not too far from Gallinberg Pitching Forwards, sixty miles from Asheville, North Carolina.

So is it kind of hilly? Yes, I'm at the foot foot hills of Appalachian Mountains, about three or four miles pro fly. Um, this is more of the valley it is. Um, it's not flat, it's rolling, so we do have some hills, but I'm not actually in the mountains. Yeah, and this is this is kind of similar to our home where most of the I guess you'd call it agg is actually just hay pasture, right, yes, yes, Um,

for years it was hay pasture, cattle pasture. We're getting a little bit more crops going on, but um, mostly not your good deer habitat. So what have you been focusing on? Uh? As far as hunting deer? If there's no you know, is there is there a bed to food source that you're working with or what are you looking at when you go out and you're trying to

kill a deer this time of year? Well if if if it's public or somewhere that you can't manage, what you're wanting to look for is acorns because we've got a lot of timber is trying to find those acorns are feeding on. You can find an agg field that's being cut, focus on that. Um, those are the couple of things you want to focus on. That's where you're going to find the dose is either cut agg or

on the acorns. Yeah. And then I'm assuming you guys do quite a bit of planting food plots and stuff like that throughout the year on different places and it's no different there at home, right, Yes? Yes, um, we we typically I plant mossy oak biologic and I like the clover, oats and radishes. Never had really good luck with turnips, but especially clover and oats. It just seems like it doesn't get cold enough here. If they hit turnips, it's usually into February March and a lot of them

will wrought. So I usually don't plant that. And you recently killed what maybe the county record there, and I would assume he's pretty close to that food plot there. Huh yes, sir, Um, yeah, I was blessed to kill. Um. He's gonna gross right at right under one one seventy eight and two eights And our record previously from night to two thousand and eight was hundred forty eight inch, so such a huge jump. Um. Yeah, I've improved the quality but everything here at my house over the years.

It's took twelve years, but uh timber, I fended some of the hardwoods down um let one field that's a couple of acres just grow up basically CRP for betting and cover. And then next to that I'll plant the biologic probably just a half acre. They don't spend a lot of time in there, but it gives them something green, something to eat. And then next to it, the farmer will leave about an acre of standing beans for me. That's where the deer this time of year ends up,

is in the standing beings. So this time of year, there's a lot of shifting going on, you know, depending on where you at. You're kind of on the cusp of the south, in the in the Midwest there, Uh, you know, the ruts kind of changing. It might be getting kind of post rut. And then also you have some different seasons coming in and uh, I know you you you embrace the gun season that comes around and make the most of it. Right, Do you change your

tactics some when every gun season comes around. Yes, I don't. I don't want in there super tight. Um. I want to give myself a little bit of a buffer, you know. I like that E D E two a hundred yards back, uh, to give him room. And and where this deer was, he was in the CRP, right on the edge of the hardwoods. There was no way of getting in there. So the closest I could get was on the creek with the biologic in front of me and then the CRP on the other side, setting back overlooking that CRP.

And that was a transition he was walking through. The c RP would come through the biologic going to the beans behind me. So if I would have been setting into beans, I probably wouldn't have shot him because he didn't get to me until about ten minutes of light lesson many kind of late movement there. So as we look forward to kind of like this Thanksgiving holiday weekend time time period, what do you predict the buck movement to be like in Tennessee. I think it's gonna be

really good. Um, it's gonna get a little bit warmer. I wish it was colder. Um. I see that it looks like maybe up in the fifties for a couple of highs um. But traditionally, the thing with Tennessee is is, you know, we've got the three Stars. We've got Eastern, Middle, and Western. So we're such diverse because we're such a

hm uh east to west state. Typically it seems like here in East Tennessee, the some of the best rut is from Thanksgiving through the first week of December, And a lot of people get caught up here because they see uhty buck running doze the first week in November and they're like, oh, they're rutting. Well, I typically don't see the big boys in from now when I killed until that first end of the first week of December.

So so I think a lot of people have got a good opportunity at those big mature bucks, good times ahead of his man turkey, potato salad and all that kind of stuff, and then just gets So if you had to rank one to ten, what would you call it for the next week, I'd say a good solid eight, solid eight. Maybe let's go I like it. Yeah, sure, that's uh yeah, yeah, well cool man. Congrats on the giant buck, dude, and appreciate the time and the report

and the friendship. Man. Uh just can't thank you enough. And and it's just cool to see you know, uh, nice people having having fun and shooting deer and just getting out in God's creation. Man. So congratulations, thank you brother. Nothing like seeing the Creator through his creation. It's exactly right, brother, and and very blessed to call you guys my friend. Thanks Patrick. Yes, sir, we have got Jimmy Shyy on the phone now. He is a hunter in Pennsylvania. Jimmy,

what's been happening, dude? It's been off and on lately. It's what I would say, Yeah thoughts, Uh, you're moving around and then all of a sudden the quit or what there's a spotty where I'm where I've been hunting you you're on them one day and then they're going the next. Of what I've been seeing, I think it's because you just take time off and go take pictures of those gihnt elkoho all the time. I think that's

what what's happening to you? You know that could that could also be a fard of it too, plain that in work. Yeah, it always gets in the White Man dead gum it. Oh yeah, I know. So. Uh it's uh, you know mid tolight November rotten. Now, Um, what has been happening in the deer woods up there? The deer still kind of rutting or they chasing those around or

is it a little different than that. I've been seeing a lot of routten activity here, especially I work night shifts and we have a lot of agg fields where I work, so there's a lot of deer. So I've been seeing a lot of bucks chasing still, and even while hunting, I've seen a few like you know, looking for dose myself and passed up a couple of bucks here in the last week. Our archery season just ended the past Friday, so I hunted that last week pretty hard and passed up a couple of bucks. And I

might kick myself in a butt for later. Yeah, dude, it's always a tough choice for sure. What's the weather been like lately? Um, it's been very very cold the last couple of days. I've got a real big snow storm to begin the week. There is that very cold Pennsylvania style or Texas style, I'd say Pennsylvanias. I mean, yes, your day it was like real feel of like five degrees that terrible. It's pretty cold. We don't really see that every year here. So when that happens, does that

change deer movement much? From what I see? For me? Yeah, I definitely noticed a lot of deer like they don't seem to move as far. I mean, I still saw a couple of bucks that were like kind of like small young box looking for does, But I think a lot of the mature box kind of definitely hang out with the does and bed dose don't move a lot from their bedding areas. So if you're going to hunt that approaches, does it feel like mornings or evenings are

better when those deer aren't moving very far? I'm I'm seeing more movement in the mornings is what I've noticed. Definitely, Like first light for the first couple of hours, you know, to like nine in the morning or so, and then

it kind of dies off. What kind of movement is it like cruising bucks movement or just overall deer movement like to and from food sources or what do you I just think it's I just think it's more overall just deer movement from food sources, getting off, moving around, getting warm a little bit and getting a little bit deat, and then you know the buck hanging out, and I'm sure a few bucks are still chasing around even at that time. You said, well, we go that there's a

lot of egg fields around. What's the primary egg food source in your area? In my area probably would be oaks a lot. We have a lot of like red oak, and our my area where I hunt primarily spotty white oak. This year wasn't a super good years. A lot of you know, a lot of areas were kind of dead because we had a big gypsy moth infestation that's really killed a lot of the trees. So we saw some of those a few years ago, like I coat the

bark in their caterpillars and stuff. Right, it's kind of gross. Yeah, yeah, it's really gross and really bad for acorns. So now the reds do well, those well, those acorns last like for several more weeks or you know, a couple of months, or they pretty much die out as a food source. They I'm sure spots still last, but I mean, from what I see, by the time our gun seasons get in, the pressure really turns up. Because we have really bad hard pressure here in p A. I mean, the deer

really quick. End of looking at it, A lot of you know, they kind of go to thick areas to start just browsing. Yeah, so they're just uh, they'll just be eating like woody browse out in the woods. Yeah, just yeah, a little you know, a little bushes and a lot of I know, like Japanese I forgot exactly called some kind of Japanese like a little berry bush. It's invasive here in pre day a lot of places. I don't know, I don't I don't remember what it's called.

But it's a little dinky bush has a little red berries. They really love that. Really a lot of spikes on it. Yeah, not good for us, good for them. So as as the pressure ramps up there with a gun season, are you shifting your focus kind of more of those deep holes. Maybe that's exactly my game plan. My game plan is to get where other guys either can't or won't go. Yeah, I mean getting that fixed stuff. And you know you might not be able to see, you know, with a

with the rifle. You know, you can't see that two yards or whatever, and you don't see fifty. But that's where that you're going to be, and that's what they gotta that's what they're gonna be, is where you should be. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Man. Cool. So as we kind of look towards this, uh you know, looking forward to it, maybe the start of what people would call late season, right, so kind of end of lockdown, post rut top stuff. Um,

what do you expect the Bucks to be doing? Mostly? Um, I think here in p A, I think you're gonna see a little surge once the first week a Rightful ends here, next week right Fight opens this coming Saturday, and after the first initial burst of people, you know in the woods, I think you'll see a little burst

of rut coming right back. And I think you'll see some box cruising around looking for the last few days, you know, and looking for the end of the end of the rut type phase is I think you'll see a little more movement. Is the Japanese barberry? Is that what it is? That would be it? So that's what people need the key in on going going Flarida. It's an invasive landscaping now can now considered are actually banned in Pennsylvania. But yeah, we had a lot of cool minds.

That's what they use. They use the cheap stuff like that, the black locusts and the barberry, and they plant that edge just spreads like crazy. All right, well it's illegal, but don't tell the plans of the deer. Okay. If if you had to rank what you predict the deer movement to be, like specifically the buck movement over the next week, on a scale of one to team, what would you think it would be? I'd say natural movement a five and pressure movement probably in eight. Really you

like the pressure. So, I mean we have a lot of pressure in public lands here, a lot of people and I mean you know, there's not a lot of places that aren't other than the real fixed stuff. A lot of places aren't gonna be peopleless. I should say, wow, that's cool, man. I haven't ever thought about the pressure like making hunting that much better. So that's exciting. Man, It's a good time to be a hunting sounds like that, sounds like I'm hoping to be anyway. Well, dude, I

hope you find a real big one this upcoming weekend. Man, thanks for the report. Ye, thank you. Sounds like an exciting time to be in the deer woods. I know a lot of you're in despair because the ruts over. But guess what it's not, alright, dear, season is isn't over. The deer have to exist somewhere in that place is out in the wild country, so you need to get there as quick as you can. A couple of things to maybe help you, inspire you, or get you excited

or just past the time. The Element has a new ground hunting video from Kansas where I can put a stock on a giant buck that I have a lot of history with, and man, big bucks just do big buck things. That's all I'm gonna say. Also, Tony Peterson has a new video out on camping on a hunt and some of the things you may or may not want to consider doing while you're on that hunt. It's on the Wired Hunt channel. And the last thing you need to do this week, guys, is to be thankful

for the blessings that you have. All Right, it's Thanksgiving, good time to think about that kind of stuff. Be appreciative for the creation that we have around us, and thankful for the deer we get to hunt, and the families we have, and the people that are around us that support us and help us do what we love to do. And we want to thank you guys as well for helping us do what we love to do, supporting us with this podcast. And remember this is Rot Fresh. Keep you fresh.