Ep. 603: Late Rut and Late Season Hunting with Clint Casper

and leans cutting clean. It's the most wonderful time to kill deer. There's far too much ice in this glass. It's the half happiest seasing of all. There's gotta be at least twelve cues with grunting and bleating and called from some leading the last week so fun. It's the half happiest season of Oh. There'll be pictures for posting and bragging and boasting and trunk beds with big bucks and tow there will be narrow missed stories and tales of your glories of booner bucks missed with our bows.

It's the most wonderful time to kill dear, not just one lady two. There will be no dose of blowing and loom and knox blowing and blood trails so clean. It's the most wonderful time to kill dean. Excuse me? Can I have a napkin? Please? I just spilt some scotch on my loafers. I can't have dirty loafers in the studio. Thank you tailgate beers for drinking and big buxes thinking and chasing and sent checking doves. They will be fighting and scraping and no more escaping and arrow

shot true hitting, Oh key change. But no one told it's the most wonderful time to kill deer. I was very unprepared for this. There will be much morning sitting in cold fronts, hitting the dawn crispin clean. It's the most s wonderful time. Oh, the most swonderful time. Yes, the most swonderful time to kill dean. There's too much ice in the glass. Two rocks. Okay, there we go. It's time to continue the good times. Let's get to my conversation with Clint Casper. All right with me now

on the line. I have the one and only Clint Casper Clint, Welcome to the podcast, Man, my man. Mark appreciate it. I've been looking forward to this. It's been a couple of weeks since we've talked about doing this, and the whole time I've been like, man, this is this is gonna be fun. I was definitely looking forward to coming on. I'm excited to be here. I am too. I'm really glad it worked out. Um, you're someone who

you know. I've been able to watch from Afar for for quite a number of years now and been able to tune into some the podcast you guys do, and I've read your articles and I've always be like, man, I got to get that guy in the show, and it just hasn't worked out yet. So it's been a long time coming. But sometimes the best of things are worth waiting for it, so U Clint, I appreciate that, and also appreciate the fact that you are doing this. You're talking to me right after getting back in from

the mountains. You're out in Utah right now, right, yes, correct, correct, my man. I just just got off the mountain here about an hour ago and had a long day of chasing bulls and bucks around in the snow. And cold, and uh yeah, man, I'm I was looking forward to. I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna come inside to get a shower, get kind of rejuvenated, do this podcast. That's gonna be fun, and then uh yeah, it'll be a sleep time here in a few hours, and recharge

hopefully for another I think tomorrow morning they're talking. I think up on the mountain range, I'll be on. I think it's gonna be a super balmy nine degrees tomorrow. So that's that's always, that's always something looks forward to. But the bucks are rutting out here like crazy, man, So I'm super stoked about that. Um yeah, I can't wait to get back after it. That's awesome. Well, uh that you know, it's it's kind of funny you mentioned this trip that you're on right now, and I know

that you are just a grinder. Like if there's anything I've noticed about you from Afar, you are you grind? Like you just put in the time. You're going NonStop, you're traveling over the country, You're doing whitetail stuff, you're doing Western stuff. You are a worker. Um, yes, let me take a step back, am I right on that? If I were to like put a label on you, or if I were to say that this is the kind of guy Clint is Is Is that right? Did it?

Did I peg it? Or is there something else? Is there's some other way you would define if you had to over generalize and define, like what kind of hunter you are? Is that it or something else? No, Man's that's spot on. I mean I'd love to say I'm the most athletic guy on the mountain or in the woods, or the best shot or the I mean, I I do have to say I do think I'm one of the better looking ones. Yeah, yeah, I uh no. I mean,

you know I kind of got it from my dad. Um, you know that the guys just to workaholic and a grinder. And he's just you know, growing up on a dairy farm. Um, you know, I still farm with him full time and and just kind of watching him from being a little kid. He's just been a grinder man. I mean, the guy just puts his head down and knows that the grindstone and that's just you know, that's kind of I guess you could say that's what I put my my dollar

on when it comes to hunts. Is um, you know, I just always feel like, hey, there's probably somebody up here that can outshoot me, that can out hike me, that's probably in better shape or you know whatever. But I just I feel like I don't get out worked, you know. I mean, I might not win the race um to the top, but I'm the guy that just every single day is going to keep after it, whether it's chasing a big white tail just day after day after day, or it's just putting in the miles, you know,

chasing bulls and bucks um on a mountain. I just feel like, you know, the guys that the guys that are in that ten percent club, UM, and that's the club I always want to be. And I feel like ten percent of the guys to kill about the animals out there, especially with with me. I've just been bow

only for going on about ten or eleven years now. UM. Loved gun hunting and grew up doing it, but but you know, bow hunting is just my jam and UM, I just feel like for me, it's if I grind and i'm i'm I talk about the three p's a lot um, per systems, patients, and perseverance. I mean that that's just kind of what I stand on. I'm just the guy that's that's real consistent and constant, and I just feel like sooner or later, Um, if a guy grinds and grinds and grinds, he's gonna luck himself into

an opportunity. And then at that point it's just about confidence and bend in the limbs back and you know, I mean, I've I've got a shoot her mentality. Um, I'm not afraid to miss. So it's it's kind of one of those deals where I feel I feel pretty dangerous once I get back to full draw. But sometimes it takes me all season to get you know, get get on that white tail, or it takes me thirty forty days to get on that specific muli or that elk or whatever. And I'm okay with that though. I

like it honestly. I mean, it's a it's fun for me to look back on seasons and be like, man I hunted that buck seventies some days, or man I was in the mountains fifty six days, or you know, I mean, I I kind of I don't know. I guess I've just grown to really like like to be I guess you could say the guy that looks back on a season, even seasons when when I don't kill a lot. Last year, I killed a white tail and didn't feel any Western tags, but I hunted more out

West than I ever did. And I look back on that and I was proud of that, you know, I mean I didn't punch tags, but I also didn't settle. I had goals, and I'm like, hey, if I go down slinging, I go down slinging. But it was a grind and a ton of miles, and um, you know, it's something that I kind of pride myself on, is you know, like you said, just being a grinder, and it seems to pay off. Not not every time, but

it does seem like that gets me into opportunities. And then from there it's just all about, you know, making the right moves in the final fifty seconds to you know, to make an ethical shot and get a bucker bull killed the punch of tags. So yeah, man, I know you were spot on. I really appreciate that. Um. Definitely head down and and uh, you know, both feet forward

type of guy, that's for sure. That's that's kind of kind of where I'm I guess you could say, I'm I'm trying to make my make my living off of Is that mentality? Well, it's it's it's because of that that I think that you are the like two thousand per sent best person we can talk to for today's podcast, because what I want to do um is is kind of a dress where I think a lot of people's

heads are right now. So when this episode drops, it's gonna be November, I believe, And so I don't know how you feel in November twenty four, but I can tell you how I feel some years, and how I think a lot of people feel is is you know, September or October one, whenever your opening day is of white tail season, like you're filled with hope, right, You've got your super optimistic this is gonna be one hell of a year. And then as October rolls along, you're like, well,

late October is gonna be great. So that's okay, And if things don't go good, that's all right, because you know October seven is just around the corner. There might be that big coal from and then that doesn't work out maybe, and then it's well, early November is gonna be sweet. It's gonna be great, and it's not gonna get better, and then that doesn't work out, and then maybe November seven is the best day of the run.

I know it's gonna happen then, and and then that doesn't happen, and then you get to like that tenth or twelfth or thirteenth, and you're like, oh god, Lee, it's getting locked own and bobb. But it could still happen. But once you get to late November and if you still haven't filled your tag or if you haven't achieved whatever goal it is, I think a lot of people, myself included, you get too late November and that's when you're like, oh crap, like this we're getting I'm getting nervous.

I'm getting nervous because what we've been hyping up all year, the best of the best for most people is behind us. So tell me this, Clinton, When you get to this time period during your your white tail season, late November and you haven't killed a deer yet, how are you feeling? Are you nervous? Are you getting stressed out? Or do

you feel like there's still good stuff ahead? To be honest with you, I'm getting excited because if I'm being totally honest with you, I hate the right um and people are right now are probably like this, who's this guy? So my whole philosophy on white tails. And it's been this way since. You know, I've been hunting him since I was thirteen, just turned thirty four. Um, so you know, for twenty years of bow hunting. You know, bucks, Um, I have learned and and this is just what works

for me. But patterns kill big deer. Um. I look around at all the bucks I've killed that are on hanging on my wall, and those bucks it was a pattern deal. Very few were just a random luck. My deal has always been specific bucks. Um. I love the chess match. I love to find a buck, learn a buck, study a buck, and then slip into his bedroom, or slip into his dining room, or slip into the living room and killing. And that that's just my gems. So the ruts stresses me out because I'm a pattern guy.

Patterns still big white tails. So for me, um, those first few weeks in November are very stressful because patterns typically are thrown out the door. But as the late as you get later into the rut, um, I have found that patterns start to show again. Bucks transition back home. I'm now locating bucks again in places that I did

prior to the rut, patterns are forming. Um, I also feel like, you know, and this is just my own personal opinion, but I think your biggest white tails around are on their feet more in daylight towards the end of the rut than any other time, because they know that window to breed is closing. And for a big white tail, it's not like they're like us, where hey, we can go have sex and at any playing time

for for twelve months out of the year. A big white tail knows, especially a five six seven year old buck, he's been around the block. He knows that window gets smaller and smaller and smaller. And he's got three needs. He's got a food and water for one, he needs cover, and he's got to need to breed. So I mean that that breed need. He can't do that every day. So I feel like mature bucks are more on their feet.

They may do more roaming, or you might have more random bucks passing through because they're searching, you know, frantically searching for the last wave of hot dos or oh my gosh, I need to find another dough or two. Before this is all said and done and they know that's coming, they know that windows closing on. So for me, man, I'll be honest, I get super stoked around that Thanksgiving time. I've had great luck, great success with big mature dear

from like to like that. That's honestly probably maybe my favorite week of the entire month in November. Um, you know, for for the reasons I just stated, I do feel like patterns start to show again, and you've got big mature bucks on their feet, moving a lot in daylight because they know they're on a time crunch. Yeah, how long do you think that window last? So I know you mentioned is your favorite, But do you see that lingering into December at all or when? Like, what's that

look like that time frame? Yep, yeah, I really do. I mean I think even into December, you've still got that second wave of doze. You've got yearlings that didn't get caught the first time, or maybe they didn't hit estrus on the first wave, that they're now coming in. I mean, I've had some great, great, great rut hunts into December. Now, I wasn't exactly planning on that to happen, but I've seen frantically great running action I've seen, you know, honestly,

probably the best buck fight of my life. UM with white tails. Uh, two big typicals probably one to one sixty apiece, just absolutely go at it almost to the death. UM. And that was on December seven, I believe it was like two thousand and seventeen, two thousand and eighteen. I'll never forget it. Um. And that's that's the best white tailed buck fight. But it was over a yearling um. And you know, you could tell she was hot. Um.

And I'm sure that was her first cycle. And those you know, obviously those two bucks new Hey, you know, there's not a bunch of does that are left to breed, so it was gonna be a fight to the death. Um. And you know, the one ended up back and down. But I mean it was probably fifteen a good ten to fifteen minutes. They locked up seven or eight times. The one buck, the one buck took a big he took a G two to the side of the neck. He was bleeding out both sides. I mean, oh yeah,

I thought I thought it was gonna die. Um. I never found him. I got pictures of him in January, so he ended up making it. But I mean, I really thought he was gonna walk away and fall over, and I'm like, oh my gosh. You know, but this was all like yards. I actually got down and tried to make a stock on them because they were so tied up with each other. Um. Yeah, but that was December seven, So yeah. I do think it lingers in and I think you can get into some great run activity,

um for sure. Um you know. And and I think a lot of guys maybe don't see this, because I do think a lot of guys. I just wrote an article, uh to last year. Um, I write full time for Peterson's Bow Hunting, and I wrote an article for them and it was titled, don't get in a rut during the rut. I think a lot of guys get in a rut during the rut and they lose their mind

because it's such a guessing game. And towards the end of the rut, I think a lot of guys hang the bows up, and I think a lot of guys hang the guns up, and they're like, you know what, We're gonna take time off and we're gonna go watch football, we're gonna enjoy Thanksgiving, we're gonna go do all this other stuff and I think guys miss a great window. Last week of November, first week in December, there's still some great rut hunting taking place, and patterns are starting

to form again. Bed to feed, Feed to bed. You got bucks going back to their homelands to try to find any dose that they missed. I love that time, and I've killed a lot of great bucks during that time. But it's funny. Hardly anybody is hunting right then and there, and I think a lot of guys they've gotten in this rut. Um so years ago I was guilty of this. UM. I actually wrote the article based off of me because back in my late teens early twenties. UM, I've always

been a big all day guy. UM. I love saddles, I love funnels. I love to hunt. If I'm going to hunt the rut, I like to go in all day and I like to just see how it pans out. So I'd hunt fourteen fifteen days in November. I remember

the one year I hunted nineteen days dark till dark. Um, not in a row, but in the month of November, I had nineteen of them, and I used to I used to run myself down lose ten twelve fifteen pounds, and I would get myself to the point where hunting wasn't even fun and I was in this rut, and then I would take a week or two off, then

I'd get back after it again. Well, I was missing fantastic hunting because I was burning myself out the first three weeks and then hanging the bull up for a week or two, and then I got back after and I was missing this window. UM. So I had to adapt to that and basically get myself out of these ruts in the ut. And I think a lot of guys are guilty of that, um And it's something that you know, it's easy to do because the rut is awesome when it's awesome, and it's terrible when it's terrible.

So it's I mean, it really is. I mean, the rut is the greatest thing ever when and it's the worst thing ever. And I know you just experienced in my home state what sounds like a not so great um rut experience that will burn a guy out quick.

You go five, six, seven days and that farm you're on, or that piece of property or piece of public if it's just not happening and it's dead, the rut can be one of the worst times ever to hunt, dear, because if it's not happening there, there's nothing going on. That's just how it is. It's either all or nothing. So I think the rut itself can put guys in a rut, and if you don't mentally know how to reel yourself back in or pull yourself out of that

ditch that you've done for yourself. Um, I think it can really be detrimental, you know, to to kind of the rest of your season. It really like deflates your tires. Will say, yeah, yeah, I can relate to that, and I've been that guy many times before. Two. So so let's say we've convinced some folks to keep at it and hopefully, you know, hopefully they haven't burned themselves out

so much they can still get after. It's still this can be a little bit of a confusing time for people because of what you just described a minute ago, this fact that you know they're still running stuff happened going going on, but then also some deer going back to their bed defeat patterns. So you've got like a do I hunt rut tactics or do I hunt you know,

late season, you know, betting defeating type patterns. How do you approach when when we're at the very end of November or the first week in December, which one of those two things are you doing? Or do you have some hybrid approach that allows you to take advantage of both of those different possible patterns. So for me, I'm gonna break it down in two ways. So if you're the guy like me mostly every single year, or I've got a specific buck I'm targeting. Um, if you're that guy,

will start with him. What I have found is a lot of these bucks that end up leaving their home ground. So let's say I've hunted a buck. Our season starts in Ohio the end of September. I know he's a south wind guy on this farm at you know, he beds and feeds and does everything in daylight. It's based off of a south wind. Um. Come November he disappears. I'm not seeing him. He's not on camera. He's just not there. He has ventured off. Maybe he bred a few does on his home turf. Now he's heading to

go run other places. Okay, now we're getting towards the end of the rut. So we're in those twenty you know the dates of like second, we're getting close to Thanksgiving. What I have found is a lot of these bucks we'll start to migrate back to home land because they know from experience they did not breed every dough. So they're gonna come back to home. You know that they're coming back to home. And I mean you could almost kind of in a way, you know, relate this back.

I guess too. You know somebody that's I guess you know, maybe you've you've you've traveled around for a few months, you know, things have been great, whatever, but all of a sudden, it's like you're like, Okay, well it's time to go time to go back home, or you know that's that's just kind of or it's like, you know the young kid that's twenty one, that he's got his local hometown bars where he knows all the girls are there, and then he decides he's gonna venture off and he's

gonna go three towns over and he's gonna do that for a few weekends, but all ultimately at some point he's gonna come back to what he knows. Well, I've found these bucks will do the same thing. So I try to get ahead of that. If I know a buck on that farm loves certain winds and likes to bed in certain places, I've got cameras running there on scrapes. I'm hunting transition zones. I'm trying to get ahead the game,

knowing he's gonna return. Now, at this stage in the game, does are obviously still huge because there are doughs still gonna be coming into estrus. Maybe they missed the first cycle. Maybe some yearlings are coming in, so I'm paying very close attention to what they're doing bed to feed, So pattern wise, I'm almost paying more attention to the dough patterns at this time, knowing that the bucks are gonna follow. So that's kind of in my recipe for success is Okay,

what did this buck like? He liked south winds, He used to bed here, This is what he was doing. Okay, I'm gonna now look for those days, look for these places. Okay, what are my does doing? Okay, my dad just cut a corn field a half a mile south. It's hot. That's the hot food source. Now I'm trying to put the puzzle pieces together. Okay, south wind, I know where he liked the bed here's the hot food source. The does are piling in. I'm trying to connect the dots,

and I'm basically waiting on that buck to show up. Now, if you're the guy that had no specific buck and he's just looking for any good buck, you're even in better shape in my opinion, because I feel like, not only are those home bucks gonna return back to your farm, but you're also going to have some bucks that are frantically searching anywhere and everywhere because they know that window is closing. So maybe they're gonna come over to your

farm and check things out for a day or two. Now, they might not be there for long, but if you're they're hunting and you've got opportunities. Because I do think and what I've seen is mature bucks. I think they start to shrink that area that they're running in, and I think they start to migrate closer back to where

their core home areas. But I've still seen a lot of romer bucks that probably lived two farms over or lived a half mile away, that are frequenting my farm here and there, a little bit that I've not seen all year, trying to find that hot dough or maybe

it's a year income into heat. So there again. You know, I think if you can figure out what the does are doing, regardless of whether you're hunting a specific buck or just any good buck, if you can start to put the patterns together of Okay, where's the hot food source? Where probably are all my doughs betting right now? Those but you're gonna have bucks circle back in there and see. I like that because in my mind that gives me

more confidence. Then say November seven, where there are no patterns, the does are scared to death. You don't know what they're doing on a daily basis. We have no clue what are bucks doing on a daily basis, We don't even know what bucks are around. Later on in the month, those patterns start to show. For me, that's a confidence booster. I like that. Like I said, I'm all about patterns,

kill big deer, and that's what works for me. Um. You know, so I get excited come that late time because I can start to use trail cameras, I can glass fields, I can start to put pieces together of what are my doughs doing? Okay, what are my cameras showing. I'm starting to now put pieces together on what these bucks are probably going to be doing, and I try to get ahead of that game, and that seems to

work out really good for me. Now, I've tried to use this same philosophy in the earlier parts of November, and the problem is is the does are not consistent because they're scared to death half the time. The does that aren't in heat are still getting chase, still getting run around, so their bed defeat seed to bed. It's all over the place, so it's hard to pattern them.

It's hard to figure out, obviously, what the bucks are doing because the rutt just started, so every book in the country is covering as many miles as you can trying to find that first hot dough or find a hot dough. So this philosophy has not worked well for me early on in November because the patterns just aren't there. But come later on, it really seems like that pattern game can really put you in the hot seat. Um, especially if you're able to combine some scouting and some

trail cameras. You know, the cell cans are all the rage in the day's world, and this is a great time to go Throw them on a hot scrape, throw them on a field edge of a corn field that was just cut, or maybe you've got a standing uh food plot two acres of standing beans or something. I mean, you can really be in the money if you can figure out hot food source where we're gonna bed. You know. Now, like I said, we can start to kind of triangle

this pattern back together. Um. That gives me a lot of confidence coming coming off of just the chaos of the rut. Being able to put some patterns together. I'm like I said, that gets me super pumped. I feel like that's putting more tools in my tool buckets. Yeah, I get that. I can I can see how that's

an appealing thing because you get kind of that. It's a little bit of what I think makes late October special because late October they're still on a pattern, but you're beginning to get some of that extra rut movement without total craziness. And this is kind of the same thing you've got. There's still a little bit of that

extra movement, but you begin to return to the patterns. Um. So a big part of what you're talking about is it seems like if you're trying to target that single buck, we get to this time period, you refocus on that core range and then you're kind of waiting for him to show back up, So either with cameras or maybe observation. Um, you mentioned a couple of those different places you might

put cameras. When you were talking about that, a random question popped in my mind, which has been something I've been kind of trying to get a handle on in my own personal hunts in Ohio. So you're you're an Ohio guy, and I've haunted Ohio quite a number of years and then disappeared for the last three or four years that other things going on and couldn't get down there.

I got back down to this year and I had talked to so many different people this year who all told me, man, if you don't put out corn, you're not going to see him. And I've never done that in the past down there, I've never had problems. And then this year, two different places I was at I didn't put out corn. Everyone's like that, you're not gonna

see any here, You're never gonna get them. Um, what's this is kind of off topic, I realized, but this just kind of popped my mind, and I gotta ask, how you have seen in a bating state like Ohio, Does it really impact things when you're trying to get a deer in a pattern, when you're trying to take inventory of deer, when you're trying to do anything like that. Does that actually make a difference if you aren't using bait but all the neighbors are. Does that ever happen?

Does it factor in or not for you? I guess when I'm getting down. Oh yeah, absolutely, I mean, and that's that's the nature of the beast. Um. You know, there's great things about being able to do run bait in Ohio, and then there's there's negatives. I mean, and and that's one thing that it is rough about baiting is I feel like you educate people, educate a ton

of deer very quick off of corn piles. Um. People also turn deer, especially mature deer bucks specifically nocturnal, very quick, where they might hit that bait pile consistently sixty days out of sixty days, every single night, but you may not have one day where it's daylight. Um, it's almost like you're training a dog to only eat um. You know, you only put his food in the silver dish, not in the black dish. Okay, So you're training him to only eat out of the silver dish. These bucks, I

do feel like people. I think there's a stigma of all. If I throw some corn down in Ohio, I can kill a one fifty And I really wish it was that simple, because sign me up for that um. But I think it's the opposite. I think so. I mean, I've hunted white tails in a lot of states, have been fortunate to kill white tails in a lot of states. I've never seen white tails look up even half as much as my Ohio white tails do. I think they

are conditioned to look up. And I think a lot of that is guys hunting over bait, not playing the wind, not not really hunting it correctly, constantly hunting over a bait. But you know you're educating deer. So to answer your question, I guess, in short terms, yes, if you've got a farm that's surrounded by guys baiting constantly, I bet you those guys have a ton of deer staying on them, coming and feeding off them. Daylight activity versus night I bet you it's a huge margin. I bet you the

gap is huge there. I will guess it's a ton of nighttime very little daytime. But is that sucking deer away from the farm yur on if you have no food at all? Oh? Absolutely um, And that is just the brutal reality of it. Now, if you've got food plots, or you've got safe standing beans, or you've got something

to compete with that, you're okay. But if you've got let's just say timber, and your neighbors all around you have um their running bait piles, so there is accessible corn there all the time, those dear figure out real quick. We can eat all night, be back to bed before to daylight, not show up until after dark. And realistically, unless they're betting on you, they really don't need to

come through your wood lot. I mean honestly, they really don't unless pressure pushes them there or that's where they bed. So you're kind of caught in this very weird scenario where okay, at this point, now you've got to do food plots or bait or do something to pull deer back to you because they're all on the outskirts or the edges that they're all on the neighboring farms, and

it could be super frustrating. I mean, I've had some really good farms um get ruined that were like um big timber pieces, and all around me the neighbors were running couple hundred pounds of of of of bait piles, and which is legal. And you know, hey, I mean, I'll be the first to tell you. I mean, I'm not against by any means running corn, running bait. I mean, I mean there's certain farms where I do it myself.

But it sucks if you're the guy on the outside looking in there um almost to the point where you're forced to do it in a way, So like the saying is, oh, I gotta keep up with the Joneses, the Jones. The Jones just put a new fence. Uff, I gotta put a new fence. Uff. The jones Is just resingled their house with metal. I gotta do that to mine. They just painted their their door blue. I'm gonna paint my red. It's almost kind of the same

thing in a way. If all your neighbors are doing all this and you're not, you could be on the outside look again, which is now forcing you to either ay, not see a bunch of deer and just accept that, or now you've got to make a change and either compete with them, or figure out how to adapt your property into having food a food source, whether it's food plot or you're gonna bait or you're gonna run um some standing crops or whatever it is. But now you're

caught in the crossfire. Which, like I said, that's that's the good and the bad, you know, I mean, I mean that's the debating thing. Um. I mean, it can be a great thing if used properly. I think it can be another real, a good tool. I think it could be another great technique. Um. But I don't think a lot of people honestly hunt the abait the correct way. Um. I think it's just let's slap a stand up twenty yards over it, and let's just hunt the crap out

of it and show at some point. Um, I think a lot of out of state guys feel like that's how you can come to Ohio and kill a big deer. And I always chuckle because you know, if it was that easy, everybody and their brother would be killing a big deer doing that. And it's it's it's just not

that simple. It would club instead of ten percent. Yeah, let's imagine this hypothetical scenario where someone is maybe right now, this time of year, we're listening to this podcast, they have been dealing with that problem, and they've been they've been like, man, I don't know why my little farm I've got access to. Maybe this is their first year hunting it and it's just dead. Um. Then you catch wind that, oh yeah, this neighbor and that neighbor and

this neighbor they've been running corn. They've got feeders, YadA, YadA, YadA, and so they hear what you're saying, and they're hearing you say, Man, sometimes you do need to, you know, stick with the jones is if someone wanted to try to start running some bait to try to see if they can right the ship and still get some action, what's the right way to do that? If you were going to start now in season, is there any way to do that in a way that could lead to

some good late season success still? And if so, how would you do it? I mean, I think I think if you're going to run bait, I think there's a couple of key factors you gotta look at. Number One, you gotta have a location where deer will feel safe in daylight. So um, for me, I'm not gonna go dump three pounds of corn on the edge of a wide open field. That's but that was that used to be standing beans. Now it's wide open. I'm just gonna dump it on the edge and hope that a big

buck's gonna show up in daylight. That's not gonna be my spot. Um. I'm gonna want something that I can get in and get out, But it's secluded um to me. I think the biggest problem with with the bait thing is deer have to feel safe in daylight being around that area. So if it's a wide open space, a wide open field, big bucks typically don't feel safe there anyway in daylight. Um. Outside of the rut. It's it's not like a ton of big deer like to just

hang out along the edge of some big, wide open field. Um, just hanging out for everyone to see. That's just usually not what how that goes, At least for me. I've never been lucky and had that really take place. If someone else has great, UM, jealous of you, but I would look for you know, I look for seclusion. I'm also looking for south facing slopes. I'm a big south facing slope guy in late season because that's where deer

getting all the sunlight. You've also got the most growth that's gonna stay there if you do get some more some warm spells, you've got the most tender greenery there. So for me, I'm looking at, okay, south facing flow. How can I get into this spot to hunt it, not be seen, not be heard. I want to be able to get in there and refill my bait. You know, that's important. So you don't want to be blowing dear

out constantly going in, going out. So there's you know, so we've already touched on a couple of key factors here and then, um, the winds a big one. So I think where guys really mess up with baiting is they don't play the wind. And it's not just okay, well this buck likes the south wind. So I'm gonna put a bait pile and hang a stand for a south wind. Um, And that's just that's that's all I've got to do. Um, sooner or later he's gonna come walking in. Okay. Well, the problem here with this is

what guys do is they don't stick to that. So they stick to that for maybe a few hunts, and then they get floppy now we're hunting it on and well it's in east wind. Let's see what happened. In my opinion, if you blow a big buck off a bait pile like that and he wins you one time in daylight, I think you've really tipped him off. In Ohio, these bucks have been hunting for a couple of months now, So if you get tipped off like that, I think

you've really, really, really decreased your odds. Um. So I'm not a huge proponent. I would tell guys I don't really want to hunt right over quote unquote debate. I want to kill a buck coming to it. I think a lot of bucks like to get to a food plot or or a bait station right at last light, which makes sense. Um, they're nervous. I've I've seen, you know, I've I've watched countless big deer come into food plots,

come into standing beans, come into a bait pole. They're nervous, they know they need it, they want it, but or a nervous wreck once they get there. But I watched him for ten minutes at a hundred yards away, just meander around and look at the squirrels and look up in the air. And not a care in the world. That's where I want to hunt. So for me, I don't want if a buck gets spooked, I don't want him to correlate me in the food plot or me in the bait pile. I want him to just be like, Okay,

something doesn't seem right. I'm going to back out of here. That's okay, But I'm a hundred yards away, you know. So I like to hunt deer transitioning to or from these spots. I think your odds of tipping them off or lower, and I think you can play with the wind a little more, so you can maybe hunt two out of the four winds instead of just one, because you're not hunting right over that bait. You know. So, I've got a direction of Okay, this deer's betting over here.

He's gonna work in front of my stand, heading to the food plot, heading to the corn pile, heading to the standing beams. Chances are that's gonna be a pretty consistent pattern. So now I can probably base that off of two different winds, So now the time I should be able to slip in there and hunt. The problem with over the corn is you basically have like one wind that's gonna work really good for him. So now you've got to make that one wind work really great

for you too. It's pretty hard to do that because you're sitting right over the bait. So for me, I want to be off. I want to catch that buck in a very relaxed manner. Maybe he's a hundred yards away. He's not close enough yet to where he's getting nervous. You know, he's thirty minutes away from it being dark. He's just kind of doing his thing, but he's working

up to it. I feel like if guys were to hunt more like that, I think food plots, bait piles, even standing crops, I think odds would drastically go up because you gotta remember, these deer been hunted for a few months. So at this point, if they tipped off to anything, the gigs up, they're out of there. You know, they hear something, uh, they get a whiff of anything

they don't like, they see you. You know, there's a lot working against you here, so you've got to really have your teas crossed, in your eyes dotted, and I think this lets you get away with a little more than being right over the food plot, right over the bait pile right over the standing beans. You know at that point if you screw up, um, they are going to correlate that immediately with whoa daylight danger? Nope, nope, nope, nope, Like I mean, it might be. I had a buddy

last year, had a big deer pattern standing beans. He was hunting right over the beans. The buck winded him. This deer was on a pattern five days in a row. My buddy was waiting on the right wind. The wind shifts thermals actually or what got him in my opinion, but regardless, the wind shifts on him. Um the buck busting at sixty yards. This was on January. I want to say it was like the tenth that dear did not daylight again until February eighth. Our season ended the sixth.

That dear daylighted for five days in a row, broad daylight, I mean thirty minutes of shooting light, broad daylight. He got busted one time and that buck said nope, not anymore. And it was seven o'clock, eight o'clock, seven thirty. I think the closest time was six thirty, and that was an hour, hour and fifteen minutes past shooting light. So I mean one time. I mind you, this was a six and a half seven and a half year old buck.

But still regardless of even a three or four year old, Dear, they've been around the block long enough they you know, they can put that together. Hey, no, good smelled something I didn't like. That was the end and we had brutal cold tempts two ft of snow. I mean, January was rough last year, and that buck absolutely would not hit that plot until after dark, after he got winded. Wouldn't do it, not until literally two days after season

he daylighted for the first time. Your margin for error is just so much smaller once you get to the later portion of the year, isn't it. Yeah? Um, so I want to I want to rewind just a little bit in touch on one more rut late rut layd thing before I dive fully into this next late season topic. Um, back to that late pre rut. I kind of took us off track with the corn question, but when when you were in that late November early December period. Still I think a lot of what you just talked about

still applies. But one question that I still was curious about is kind of your rut hunting philosophy. I think there's there's two camps of people, I think, and I think most of us combine these two things. But you have some folks that like during the rut, whether it be early rut or maybe in this case, the late rut, some folks like to bounce around. It's like looking for hot sign, looking for hot action here, and if it's not happened today, they go to the next draw and

see if it's happening there. And if it's not going there, they're gonna hike around midday and look at this and they're bounce and bounce and bouncing. There's another group of folks that have this man I'm gonna stick it out mentality where they're gonna find that great pinch point. Are they gonna find that saddle in the ridge, or they're gonna find an awesome dough betting area that sets up really nice, and they've got a bulletproof wind that blows

out over a pond or something. They say, man, if I sit here dawn to dusk for three straight days or five straight days, eventually that big buck's gonna come through and they'll just wear that spot out volume hunted because they believe in it. Do you prefer one over the other or when do you choose one or the other at this time of the rut, the late rut. UM. I know I've heard you talk about really liking being mobile, but I'm curious, you know, if that applies in this

situation or not. So I'm I'm I'm a confidence guy. Confidence is key, UM. I think if you are confident in a spot and that's what you believe in, that's what you need to do. UM. I think if you or the guy that's like, Nope, I need to bounce, I need to look for hot sign. When I find hot sign that gives me confidence, I'm gonna hunt that. Then. I think that's what you need to do. I don't think there's really a right or wrong answer, UM to

that question. I think it's a great question for me personally. It usually floats back and forth from year to year. UM. I usually try to bounce around in the middle of the early the middle of the rut, I try to bounce around, and then closer to the end of the rut, I try to get real specific and real calculated on what I'm doing because I'm focusing more on Okay, my

bucks should be coming back at some point. Um, So if I find hot sign on a freshly cut corn field, or I find hot sign on the down wind side of a dough betting area that's couple hundred yards off some beans that we just cut, or you know, I'm I'm looking for puzzle pieces. And once I start to find some puzzle pieces put together, that's kind of what I'm doing. Um, I'm not jumping around as much quote unquote being mobile as far as you know, place to place,

spot to spot. I'm more or less trying now to key in on, Okay, what spots are going to be hot right now? And once I find those spots, I'm going to camp out. So I'm kind of combining them a little bit because I do want to see, Okay, what's happening right now? Where's hot sign? Where? What are what are the does doing? Where do they like to be? Okay, now I've got these two things pinned down. Okay, my buck hasn't showed up yet, but chances are I feel like he's gonna come back at any moment in time.

So now I'm gonna transition and I'm gonna hunt these spots that in my mind are hot and I'm gonna probably volume hunt them and hope that I do bounce into him. Now the other side of this lane. Um, if you're not hunting a specific buck, I do think right now is a great time to say, Okay, I got hot scrapes opened up. On the other side of my farm, there's some fresh sign, there's some big rubs. Hey, you know what, throw caution into the wind. I'm going over there and I'm gonna hunt it for a day

or two and see what happens. If nothing happens, I'm going to bounce around to the other side. I mean, like I said, I can see both sides, and I've done both. Um for me, I do tend to kind of side with the I do want to find fresh hot sign, but I'm probably going to camp there for a while because in my opinion, now dear more on the pattern type game. So those hot spots should stay hot for a while, and that's gonna be based off

probably food, Um what the does are doing. So I'm going to focus a lot of attention on finding the hot sign via feed via the doze buck sign should now be there. Um, that's kind of where I'm going to camp out and I'm only gonna make moves if something's telling me that I'm not in the correct spot, maybe I need to move a hundred yards uphill, or maybe I need to you know, uh, swing around to the other side of this this betting area that's been

really hot. You know, Like I m I might make little calculated moves, but I'm not gonna make giant jump over to the next farm or move a mile away type stuff. I'm gonna stay pretty committed to that. But like I said, though, I'm focusing on those patterns, and I'm hoping that if I put all my eggs in that basket, that's confidence for me. It's gonna pay off eventually. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. But for me, that gives me confidence UM to kind of go back

to that um. But but I I definitely can see and I've been the guy that just continues to bounce. I'm gonna hunt this funnel, I'm gonna hunt this dove thicket. I'm gonna hunt the edge of this food slot tomorrow night. I mean, definitely, both sides of that coin can be

the winning ticket. I've got a lot of it. I internally have a lot of questions when I'm out hunting this time of year about my level of aggressiveness, because like, personally, as a hunter, you're trying to take advantage of this vanishing window, right, so you might want to be aggressive.

On the flip side, these deer have been pressured for a very long time now, and so they're becoming more and more, you know, quick to burn out because they've been dealing with hunters for months on end now, especially after you know, the two or three weeks of November where there's been you know, every bow hunter in the world's going out there, let alone a lot of states have a gun season open by now. So I'm constantly trying to balance out. You know, how aggressive can I get?

If I want to camp out somewhere and give it time, How do I do that and not burn this spot out? Um? Calling, decoying, rattling, all that kind of stuff that seems really hot to try out on November one? You know, is that to risk you know in November because every Yahoo's been doing

it for twenty seven days? Um? What's your take on just like aggressive stuff like that, calling decoying, um, you know, just dealing with that pressure versus you know, burnout type of risk reward situation that we have now three months into the year. What's your take on that? So I'm very aggressive in being mobile and moving. I'm not afraid to bump a buck out of his bed. Um, My philosophy was how bucks bed are If they catch you and they blow out the bed did its job, that

buck will come. He's gonna come right back. Why because that spot did exactly what he was supposed to do it either when did you? Uh, he saw you, he heard you? I mean you know. So if you try to break into my house three nights in a row and my alarm system catches you every time, I'm not gonna go move houses. I'm just gonna be I'm just gonna make sure I change my batteries in my alarm system because that's doing the trick. Like I'm not leaving my my house and my alarm system is doing what

it's supposed to do to keep me alive. I'm not gonna go flee the country and move six states away. I think a buck's the same way. So for me, I'm very aggressive. Um, what I'm not aggressive on and this blows a lot of people's minds And I've written quite a few articles, and I've done a lot of podcasts with uh the Gang over at w CB and and even on my own series of DC Hunt Files with Working Class blow Hunter about this, and it blows people's mind every time. And they're like, I think half

people believe me. Half people think I'm a liar. But it is what it is. I do not call, I don't decoy, I don't use sense um. Honestly, right now in my my pack at home, I don't even think I have a call in there. Um. It's just not my jam. I don't want to be seen, I don't want to be smelled. I don't want to be heard. I'm the guy that wants a buck to walk by completely oblivious to me even being there, and at thirty seven yards I left the air out of him. Um.

He has no, no, absolute, no clue. So I am not aggressive in any way, shape or form when it comes to calls sense um. It's just not worked out for me. Um. I got to ask this question not that long ago out of like the one or two P and Y are better bucks that I've killed over the years. I have one that fell um too, calling one um. The amount of big deer that I have blown out and scared away via sense calls. It's a lot. So for me, it's just not my jam I have

no confidence in it. Now. If you were to go call Austin Chandler from Working Class bow Hunter, if you were to go call Ross, Ross, Bigger Um, even Kurt Um. Those guys they get after it, They rattle, they call. They think I'm crazy, but they but they get it though. They're like, hey, man, what works for you works for you, you know. And for me, yeah, I'm not a sent guy,

not a call guy. So when it comes to that stuff, oh, I am the least aggressive you'll ever meet, because I don't even take the stuff to the woods with me. I couldn't tell you last time I packed in whole earns um, rattle bag, etcetera, etcetera. It's just it's just not my jam um. But I'm very aggressive in moving and going after a buck. I feel like, when a buck is killable, you gotta pin your ears back and

go in and go after him. I think a lot of guys sit back and wait for this, perfect opportunity, perfect day, perfect this, and I think guys let opportunities get away from him. Because they don't go hunt a buck because they're waiting on all these stars to align. I don't think stars align a lot. I think a lot of big deer get killed because guys go in and put themselves in a position for that deer to

walk by. He might walk by, he might not, but if you're not there, he's definitely not gonna walk by it because you're not there. So I'm I'm very aggressive on tactic wise with being mobile. Um, I'll get right up in a buck's face, close to her he beds um, etcetera, etcetera. Doesn't bother me one bit. You tell me I've got to go call the buck in and I'm going to be a nervous rect That's just not my camp. Like

he said, it goes back to confidence. Right. Let's say we're kind of transitioning more into and I think this could be applicable to late November, but also December or January or whatever when we're in that late season. You know, you talked about how you you want to be aggressive and finding those deer and getting close to their bedding. Years you talked about how you like to pick up

that pattern again when they return. How how do you go about getting that pattern again, get finding that hot sign, or putting the pieces, the puzzle pieces together to develop a pattern on a deer in the late season when it just seems so easy to trigger this deer. Kind of going back to what we were talking about earlier. Yeah, I want to get all this information about what this buck's doing. But if he wins me one time, he might be nocturnal for the next month and a half.

So how do you personally go about, you know, whether it be getting camera pictures or scouting on foot or whatever you're doing, how do you start putting that late season pattern together without letting them know that you're onto him? So I try. For me, the wind is everything I you know, a white tail lives and die by his by his nose. I'm living and dying by the wind in late season. Um. I try to let my glass spotting scope, binoculars and my trail cams do all my

work for me. I don't go down in the timber. Um I am. I am being as as you know, least intrusive as I possibly can, trying to just find the buck or a good buck. Once I do get some photos or I do see one okay. At that point, now I will start to dive into the timber if need be, which typically usually I've got to do, and I will strategically based off that wind, only go in on days when I know I can step in, hang

a camera, check a camera, hang a stand. You know, everything is based off the wind, and I can't base anything off the wind until I get some pictures of a buck and then I mark everything down. So a buck comes through at ten o'clock at night, what was the wind doing? He comes back through at four in the morning, what was the wind doing? Big dear, do things based off of that wind. There's a rhyme and

a reason why. So my first step is I need to figure out what wind and why that's gonna lead me to okay, based off that, he's probably betting here or here. So now I'm staying away from any areas that he can pick me off, coming and going from a stand, coming and going from a camera while he's betted in those spots. Um last year was a prime example.

I hunted that giant eight that I killed. I hunted him seventy six days for thirty of those last final probably well, let's see the last twenty out of thirty days. Last twenty five out of thirty days, I thought that buck was dead. Um. I got a photo of him on a Tuesday night, right after dark, coming from a south facing slope with the wind out of the west, knowing that as he worked off this south slope that wind was gonna come right across all the wide open

fields he was heading up to cut cornfields. That was allowing him to send check everything as he made his way across the south facing ridge. The next day, another west wind. It's negative twenty it's even colder. Now. I know it's going to be brutal, but I know this buck's gonna be on his feed even earlier. I put a standing stick set form no vic's on my back and I went in and did a hanging hunt, and

I killed him that night at five o'clock. Now that's ultra aggressive, but the window to get that deer killed was about two days. I had west winds for two more days, brutally cold. I knew the deer. I knew that Buck was betting on that south facer. He was gonna try to get as much sun as possible. I knew he had to move because it was so brutally cold foot and a half of snow deer half to feed. And I mean, when you lay all day and get stiff like that, I knew those deer were gonna have

to move. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go in, hang a set and hope that in the next two days this buck's gonna walk by. He ends up walking by at thirty seven yards the next night, and I let the air out of him. That was a super super aggressive move, but that was my window. I didn't have time to get daylight pictures of him. I didn't have time to analyze everything. It was, Okay, he's back. It's a west wind. This makes sense. He's betting back on the same south facing slope that he bet it

on an early season. He's coming to this cut corn. I have got to get my butt in between those two spots and hopefully he's gonna walk by me. I got two days of west winds and after that it's straight north wind for the next four or five. So my window was two days, and I'm like, you know what this is gonna and and I'm not one to sugarcoat it. I'm like, this is gonna suck. Hanging a step. So I left it one thirty in the afternoon. By

two forty five, I was setting ready to go. It's I mean, my hands to this day are still frost bitten, and my right foot it's still frost bitten. Um, you know, I mean, it wasn't fun by any means, but I knew that was my window. Um My mom and dad at friends were like, your nuts, there's a weather advisory. Don't be breathing in the cold, don't be out there. I'm like, I get that, but this is my window. If you're not aggressive and you didn't go hang a stand and you didn't get in there and mix it up,

that deer doesn't die. And that's the only reason why I killed that buck is because I had to, unfortunately pin the years back, put on a million layers stick handwarmers all over myself and just go get after it. And and it paid off for me. But like I said, it was a very short window, and I knew that in and in years past, I've set back, Well, let's wait and see if he shows back up. Well, let's see if he daylights tomorrow. And that's been a mistake

on that book. I said, Nope, Tomorrow's the day I'm going in. I'm hanging the set. If I don't kill him Wednesday, I'm gonna hunt it Thursday, another west wind. You know. So it was a very aggressive move, but like I said, very short time window. And I've learned over the years there's just times when you've got to be aggressive and you just gotta pin the years back and go after it. And you know, hey, he might not have walked by either one of those nights, but I felt like I had odds in my favor. I

felt like those were my windows. I had no choice. You want to kill this buck, You're gonna have to brave the elements and just go get after it. And unfortunately or or unfortunately for him, fortunately for me, it worked out that way, and he walked by at thirty seven and I was able to get him killed. But you know that, I think is a good example um of being really aggressive in late season. But with a plan. I knew I could get in and get out without

being seen and detected. He wasn't gonna see me or win me from where he was betting. You know, I had a very strategic plan. It's just I had to act quick. There was no. You know, I remember changing the kids schedule around with their mom, and she, you know, she works, you know, her and I have a great relationship. She works with me all the time when it comes to hunting stuff. I'm like, hey, I gotta change this around what we're doing, you know. I'm like, these next

two nights, I gotta hunt. She's like, dude, I get it, like get it done like you know. Which was great because the boys had kind of been following me all year with that buck, and I think they did more about that deer than anybody else. Honestly, they were. Yeah, they were talking about him at school and and I'd have you know, I went to parent teacher conference and like November, and the teacher was like, so, did we

kill the Giant eight yet? And she's not, She's not a hunter by any means, but yeah, so so anyways, yeah, it all worked out great. But you know, could you know, is it always gonna work out like that? No? But that was one time where I'm like, hey, history repeats itself if you don't get aggressive right now, this buck's not dying. And I really truly don't think there was another window of time to kill that deer. Because I

shot in January. The season end the sixth of February, there wasn't gonna be maybe but one more west wind night for the rest of the season. So those two days were my days. I had to had to get in there and nix it up. And uh, I paid the price on my hands. But I do have a giant eight hanging on the wall, so it was all well worth it. You weren't kidding about frostbite like that was an exaggeration. You literally are frost bit. Oh yeah,

both both my hand yeah yeah, I did. Uh yeah, both both my hands are Um, they were purple for a while. They didn't turn black. But the doctor told me flat out, you know, He's like, you, You're gonna have this forever, like this is this is gonna be a thing. So like if I have a cold beer, um, I can maybe have a beer or two, um without a couzy. But if I'm gonna sit around and have five six beers with a buddy or something like that, oh, after about the second one, I've got to have a

couzy or I gotta be switching hands all the time. Yeah, it's it's I definitely paid the price. I shoot a hinge. So I never wear gloves, and if I do, they're like cut off. So I had handwarmers in my pocket. But what it was is that hinge is brass. And then the grip on my bow. Um, that's what really got me was I was holding my bow. I was at full draw two different times. I probably had my hands on the release and on the bow for five

or six minutes, and I could feel it sticking. I knew it wasn't gonna be good, but you know, when you've got a world class eight in front of probably the biggest aid I'll ever hunt at that time, I wasn't really too concerned about this, not just different. Yeah, man, Um, So it seems like a big part of the success there is the big part of a lot of late season hunts, which is timing. Um, you had this weather window and then you have the camera picture that told

you like he's close. Um. I want to kind of get a little more detail on both of those things. But let's first start with the camera thing, because I think for a lot of guys, you know, like you mentioned, they're kind of waiting for the stars to align during the late season UM, and pictures. You know, whether you're waiting for all the stars to align or something to align. Pictures can be a big part of that. When it comes to your late camera or certain late season camera strategy.

Where where are you placing your cameras in the late season and are you running all cell cameras during this time of year? Is it traditional and cell like? How does that mix up look at this time of year and how do you use them different? If so so, I'm trying to run as many cells with Lyzie at the ums that I can because that's gonna I don't have to go in and change batteries, I don't have to go in and check the s D card, and I can have up to date real time photos UM.

For me, I'm looking for high volume area of a deer to start with. I want hot food source, standing beans, specially cut corn field UM. Maybe it's an oak ridge that dropped late in the deer or just digging like crazy for it. I want to find hottest feed source. I want to find the main conjunction or the or the main UM. I guess you could say the hub

of where all the local deer coming to feed. There's usually somewhere that's super hot at this time, that's where I want to be, so I'll scout find that um. For me, it's a lot of eggs field, a lot of farm countries, so it's typically usually some type of field or some type of Maybe it's some standing beans, maybe it's um. Like I said, in an an oak ridge that they fell late in it's just getting pounded now.

But I'm looking for highest areas of volume when it comes to deer because I'm not necessarily worried about what time a buck showing up to this At this point, I just need to know, Okay, this is where this deer is concentrating on feeding. Now I can backtrack him and try to figure out where's he bed. Why is he not getting here until an hour after dark? You know? Now I can start to put the puzzle pieces together.

But I'm looking for you know, basically food food food, food food, because right now that's all deer worried about. They're worried about feed and cover. So once I figure out where the hot food sources now I can backtrack and start figuring out based off the wind. Um. I'm a huge note guy. Um. I think I do more homework for Elk white Tail's antelope and mule deer and turkeys than I ever did in any college many year of college or high school. Um, I'm always jotting stuff

down constantly. UM, wind direction, barometer, weather fronts. Um. I'm like I said, I'm a big pattern guys. So the analytics of this for me, you're huge and patterns usually always jump out at me. So on this late season deal, Um, it seems like there's always a certain wind direction that

they love to use, especially in daylight. If they're going to come to a food source or they're coming to a certain spot, there's always some type of wind direction typically that's going to allow them to send check for a few hundred yards where they ever get there. Um, they're on high alert. They've been hunted for months, so

that all makes sense. So that's kind of my philosophy is figure out hot feed and then I'm going to backtrack based off the wind, which should unlock the keys to okay, where they betting, Because once I figure out what wind he likes, that deer is coming from a betting area to get to this speed source. Typically he's going to have the wind in his face or quartering to him all the time. The entire time in the late seas, and that deer wants to know what is

out in front of mean. Um, you know, he's not gonna walk with that wind at his back. He's been hunting for months, you know what. We're talking to mature buck. So that wind unlocks a lot of secrets to me. Once I can figure that out what this deer likes. That usually unlocks where he's betting, where a staging area might be, etcetera, etcetera, and then from there I can figure out, Okay, where's my highest percentage play to kill

this buck? Do I need to be thirty minutes off the food source because he's never getting here in daylight based off my cell camps, but he's here right after dark, so he is moving in daylight. He's just not getting here in time. Okay, I need to I need to kill him where he's staging up, where he's transitioning from that bed to feed pattern, or maybe he is daylighting on the food source, but it's only on a south wind, or it's only on a southeast wind. Okay, when am

I going to have those winds? On those winds? I need to be right there, you know, because it is nice to not have to go into the timber um.

I try to set things up where I don't have to go down into the timber and I can hunt more or less on edges or close to edges where I'm not having to go walk through the woods, because like I said, you know, you bump one dough during this time of the year and she blows for twenty minutes, and then everybody else blows and then before you know it, all thirty deer have blown out and now you're completely

wrecked for the next five days. So I'm trying to be as as you know, the least amount of intrusive as I can with this um, but it is it is a system, you know, and sometimes you gotta kind of think quick on your feet. Just like you know the Big Eight from last year, that was a a picture. He's alive, okay, based off what I know, he's probably been here. He's coming here to feed. I've got the picture of him doing that. I gotta get in the middle tomorrow and kill him. So sometimes it's it's you

almost gotta put together a really quick plan. Other times it might take a week or two to really figure a buck out um and figure out the best approach to killing him, you know, and like I said, the wind in the hot food source. For me, those are the two things that really kind of hold the keys

to the car. I guess you could say, do you give any consideration to these other factors that that frequently get brought up really the whole season, but definitely in the late season too, like the weather, like those temperature drops, the frigid cold, snow, uh moon, anything moon related, bare metric pressure. Do any of those factoring for you? So, I'm a huge red moon guy. You know, there's certain days of the month where the you know, the sun

is setting or the sun is setting, the moon is rising. Um, I like, you know, I like that that new moon right after those red moon dates. I'm a big I'm a big new moon guy. Um. That stuff all does correlate. But weather is king. Um, I don't care what the moon's doing. You get a cold front coming in, cold front coming out, or even the backside of a cold front in the first warm front day where those deer like, oh my gosh, it's thirty degrees instead of ten. Those

big drops higher low are great. And let's be honest, I mean, you know, deer can only sit in the cold for so long before they have to go replenish calories. So like last year was a prime example that Big eight had been gone for a long time. I mean we're talking weeks. I had seven or eight cameras running, cell cams running for that buck. I thought he was dead.

But when that cold spell come in of three or four days of negative twenty negative fifteen two ft of snow, he had to go to a hot food source, and that deer had to start moving way earlier than what he was doing. He come back to his home area, come back to what he knew, bedded on a ridge that he knew was safe. It was south space, and he's getting the sun. So you know, yeah, I mean

weather is a huge factor. You give me cold and snow in January, and I'm honestly going to tell you that's my favorite months of the entire white tail season. To kill a big buck. You give me cold and snow in January. I am a happy, dangerous man. Yeah, especially for someone who loves to pattern deer right, because uh, that works in favor for that style honeying a lot. Always. Yes, my that makes me extremely happy and in my confidence

level sores. When I see January second, it's going to be fifteen degrees and there's a six inches of snow coming tomorrow. Yeah, I'm I'm very if I have a buck tag in my pocket, I am man. I am chopping up a bit to get after it. Yeah, So what do you do when that never comes? Like, what's let's say you're after either you're after a specific buck or any buck, but it's late season and the season is dwindling, and you're just getting mild lousy tempts all

the way through. At some point, do you just say, well, it looks like the forecast is never gonna give me that great temp drop. I just gotta do something crazy. I gotta try anyways, or or what do you do

when you're stuck with lousy weather? Yeah? I mean I think you've got to go back to you know, you you've got to hunt smart and still have a plan, but I think you've got to hunt with confidence that Okay, one of these nights, this buck's gonna get up on his feet and he's gonna want to come to this hot food source and he's just gonna decide, Hey, you know what, I'm just gonna come here early and you catch him working from bed to feed, or you shoot him on the edge of a field or whatever. You know.

I think at that point you're at a crossroads. You can either not hunt because conditions aren't in your favor, or you keep grinding and you hope that the one or two nights out of those thirty days of lousy weather, he decides he's gonna get up and move on a wind that he likes, and you're just there. Um for me, man, like you said in the beginning, I'm a grinder, So I'm gonna continue to hunt. I'm gonna hunt smart, I'm

gonna continue to hopefully let the patterns play out for me. Um. That can be mentally tough, because, yeah, it's not fun to hunt in forty five degree weather and mud and muck throughout January. Um, that's not really forcing deer to move, but that also deters a lot of guys from hunting. You know, there's a lot of guys that don't want to huntree weather, and there's a lot of guys that don't want to hunt negative fifteen. So both extremes usually

take a lot of guys out of the woods. That is one good thing, Um, The other thing you've got going for you is, you know, on on on warmer weather days, UM, when you do have a temperature drop, that usually significantly gets deer up on their feet. So let's say it's gonna go from forty five down to it's fort during the day, it's gonna drop down to twenty at night. The next day it's going to be in the thirties, and it's gonna go back up into

the forties fifties again. Okay, that one day is probably gonna be your window you need to be in the woods because that that weather drop, even though it's still not super cold, you dropped twelve fifteen degrees, And I realized, thirties not that cold in January, but when it was

forty six, Now you're dropping down to thirty. So I guess you just got to look at it as you've got to find confidence, and you've got to find the positive in lousy weather in late season, um, and still find those little windows where Okay, it's not cold, but it is going to go from forty five down to thirty. That's a fifteen degrees drop for a deer. That's a big deal. That's gonna get them on their feet. You know, you've got that brahmic pressure rising and falling because of

that before and after that day. Those are all things that are going to get a deer to get up and start moving. So yes, is it ideal? No, I'm the guy that wants cold and snow the entire month of December, January, and early February, that's me. Do I always get that? Absolutely not? But when I do get that, boy, oh boy, I'm happy. Yeah, I'm right there with you.

Here's my Here's one thing I'm wondering about, Like, I'm curious how you pull this off with the with the late season grind approach, which is, you know, keeping after deer day after day after day, you know, knowing that you got to catch that one or two maybe that one time he makes a mistake in December, January or whatever it is. How do you do that without educating deer? Especially in your exits, you know, those evening hunts. Getting out is so hard, especially when you're trying to hunt

near hot food source. What's your access and exit strategy this time of the year when it just seems like really particularly hard to get away with it, especially getting you know, if you're anywhere near food at the end of the night. How do you how do you pull that off? So for for me, I'm still I'm I'm basing everything off the wind. So I'm not gonna hunt on nights when that wind is not in my favor.

I hunt winds that are good for the deer. So like, if a buck is he's a fan of an east wind, Okay, I'm gonna hunt on east wind night, but I'm gonna make my set up to where that east wind also is good for me and the buck. I think a lot of guys they they want to hunt a wind that's good for them, and that's usually not a good wind for the buck. And you've got to think of it as, Okay, what win does this buck like? Now, how do I make that wind? So there's a lot

of setups of mine that are very edgy. I am quartering a wind, so I am on the verge of disaster. But I'm I'm allowing myself an opportunity. If I play my scent control right, I play my thermals right, I should be able to get away with this. Very rarely is it a perfect scenario. And I think that's where some guys get in trouble. They're looking for this perfect wind for the buck, and then they're trying to make that perfect for them. I'm the guy that floirts with

disaster because I'm a little more aggressive on that. Normally, I'm not able to get a perfect wind for the buck and make that a perfect wind for me. I've usually got to kind of run the quartering wind deal where yes, can I get away with this? Yes? But could this spell disaster for me too if deer would loop around me or they run maybe uh a j hook around me. Yes. So I try to set myself up with all those things in mind. Um, I'm staying after a buck, with cameras, with glassing, with with trying

to figure everything out best I can. But I will not come off my wind plan. I will not hunt on a wind that is not right for me. As far as I know, I'm gonna probably get winded or like, I'm never gonna throw caution to the wind. So I will have multiple stand setups that's gonna allow me to hunt different winds. But realistically, maybe only one or two of those three or four are probably where he's going to be killed. The other ones might be observation sits.

The other ones might be in spots that are a few hundred yards off. Could he walk by, yes, But realistically it's just giving me opportunity. Yes, is there an opportunity, for sure, But I'm not gonna get aggressive and hunt him hard on nights where everything's not in my favor as far as mainly that wind, because yeah, if you get sloppy with entry and exit, if you get sloppy with the wind and you're getting winded, I mean it's it's only gonna take a few times, and every deer

figures out what's going on. Um one or two times in the big buck figures it out. So for me, you know, I'm very very particular with what nights I'm gonna hunt. Entry and exit's huge. Um, I don't get sloppy with that. If i have to loop clear around a half a mile and I'm not getting back to my truck till seven o'clock at night and it's dark at five thirty, I mean, honestly, yeah, it does suck at times, but that's just the game. Sometimes you gotta play. Um trying to get off the fields are off of

food sources where there's a lot of deer Um. I'm a big proponent of ironic Um. So it's funny. I don't call for d year, but I'll call it to get deer out of the field. So I'll run. Um, I'll screech on an owl hoot, which will sound nothing like an owl, but it's a foreign noise that they don't know what's going on, and they'll none of them will blow, but they just get the heck out of there. Forty minutes later, they're all right back in front of my camera. Sometimes I'll bark like a dog. Um. I've

I've taken a coyote haller in there with me. I do things to clear the field that is not human related. Um. I've had my dad drives back before on a tractor. Um, and hey you know it's past dark. Hey you need to spread manure. Come back here close to this field and spread it. And that's going to clear this field for me. They're used to tractors, they're used to trucks, you know whatever. So I kind of get creative on that, because yeah, you don't just want to say as screw it.

I'm just gonna get down and five or six old mature does watch a climb out of this tree walk across the field. Yeah, I'm definitely not playing that game. Um, that is flirting with disaster in a way that I don't want to flirt with it. So yeah, yeah, that can that can spiral a late season hunt real quick. Yeah. Absolutely, What when it comes to that time of year? Client, what do you do? What do you do that other

hunters or that your buddies think is nuts? All right? Like, I know you talked about and during the rut you're not much for calling a lot of people think you're nuts there, But what about in the late season? Is there anything you do that's off the wall or unexpected or just different than the usual that folks when they hear are like, huh. I definitely think the cold weather and being able to grind in that in that type

of environment. A lot of people are like, man, a deer is just not worth it to me for that, And I get that, Um, I mean I definitely get that. But I think for me, my biggest thing is I zero in even harder on my tactic in my plans because I know these bucks are on edge more so, I think I almost get sharper as the year goes on and not lazier, and I think it's a that's an opposite for a lot of guys. I think a lot of guys in late season are lacking confidence. They're

just kind of lacks of days ago. They're just kind of doing it because they need to do it because they still have a buck tag, but they're not really wholeheartedly in it. Um, They're just kind of like, well, yeah, I hunted. Uh, you know, I didn't really have a plan. Um, I'm not really sure what the wind was doing, but yeah,

I was out there, I was trying. I am very, very, very calculated, and I'm I'm probably more calculated then than I am any other time of the season, and me getting floppy in my younger years cost me late season, big deer. Um, there's nothing worse than sitting three or four hours on a fifteen degree day only two have a wind you because you got sloppy and didn't adjust your set up for that wind that day and said, as screw, and I'm just gonna hunt the stand it's

already there. I don't want to climb, I don't want to do a hanging bang or a mobile type hunt tonight. I just don't feel like it. Buck comes in at seventy yards and wins you. I mean that's you know that happened to me a time or two. And you know that kick to the gut was enough for me to be like, Okay, if we're gonna do this late season deal, we're gonna do it with a plan and

a purpose and we're not cutting corners. And I think now for me, I'm honestly more particular and probably more calculated then because I know the stakes are higher times running out or in the fourth quarter. Um, at this point in time, I've got to pin my ears back and go. But I've also got to have a plan of attack that's almost foolproof. UM. So yeah, for me, I I think it's probably my attention to detail is even greater now than it is an the other time.

And I think a lot of people it's the opposite of that, And I think that gets a lot of guys in trouble. And like I said, that has got me in trouble, and I've learned from that. Um put my hand on the hot stove once or twice, and I was like, man, I don't like that. It burnt, So I don't do that anymore, you know. Yeah, it's it's hard though. It is really hard at that time of year, that's for sure. All Right, I want I want to do one last I got one last scenario

to run past you, Clint. And this is a this is a hypothetical kind of situation. I want to imagine yourself in. Let's imagine that for whatever reason, I have control over your hunting this year. Will say it, We'll say it's next year, and before the season starts, I tell you, hey, buddy, sorry, but you can't hunt at all this year except for one day. You only get one day of this hunting season, and you gotta kill

You gotta kill a mature buck. And if you don't kill a mature buck on this one day, I'm taking away you're hunting license for an ten years, alright, man, super super high stakes. And I'm gonna limit your choice of days and tell you that you can't pick any day before November, the day that this podcast would hypothetically come out, So you get to pick one single date on the calendar between November and the end of your

hunting season. I would like to know what date you would pick, why you would pick that date, And then I would like to hear what you would, you know, assuming you pick that day and assuming whatever conditions you want, what would be your best set up? If you could describe for me the kind of spot you'd want to be in, what all all the pieces to this perfect late season set up might look like. To try to kill a buck with these very very high stakes, Can

you walk me through what day and how you do it? Okay, I'm gonna go with probably around January a twentieth. I'm gonna want so. At this point in the game, muzzleoter seasons are over. Shotgun rifle seasons are over. Most guys are out of the woods. I've pretty much kind of you know, everybody's back to the NFL. We're in the playoffs, super Bowl time. College football has done it over with um, but the NFL is still rocking and rolling. So people

still drinking craft beer from Christmas or washing football. UM. I'm gonna want cold and snow. Um, cold and snow. That time of the year it forces dear to feed, forces dear to get on their feet. They're not able to sit there and burn calories all day and into the night. Um. They want and have a need to get up and move and get to food. Sources get to feed. So my plan is on this one day, I've got cold and snow. Um. At this point, I got a buck figured out. I know what wind direction

he likes. Chances are, um, he's gonna bet on a south facing slope somewhere, which is gonna get all the sun that keeps him in the sun. Now, what I've learned from a lot of these mature bucks are they like to move with that sunline, so that deer will get up and do a little bit of moving to keep himself in the sun. But he's not working his way out to a food source. So I'm knowing that we've got all this cold and snow. Um. He probably hasn't been pressured a whole lot here recent because a

lot of guys have hung it up. They're done hunting. Obviously it's the end of season, so he has been hunted for months. But I'm gonna go I'm I'm banking on I have not pressured this buck. I've I've only got one day, so this deer, realistically, he's gotta need to feed. I've got the weather in my favor, I've got the wind figured out. Um, I've got pinned down in the south facing slope that I know he likes

to bet on. I want to be somewhere probably between seventy five and maybe a hundred yards off this hot food store, and as this buck works by at about twenty five yards quartering away, I'm gonna bend the limbs back and I'm gonna crush his soul and I'm gonna party the night of the Probably that's my strategy. That's my game plan UM for me. I just you know, it's tough to be a really really good, cold, snowy, late season day if you got it here on a

pattern and you've got things figured out. I mean, it really does stack a lot of chips in your favorite UM. Second place would be early season, right off the rip, that first week, based off of what summer pattern I have and all the pieces I've put together all summer trying to figure a buck out. That would be if we had a consolation prize date, it would be like September twenty seven, when our Steven opens. Yeah. I like the plan. It sounds it's well thought through. I think

you'd be able to pull it off. You'd be a keep on hunting and enjoy those beers. Oh love and better than a than a good cold a good cold frosty beer after a after an arrow runs through a big Buck in January. I've been fortunate enough to have a couple of those and it, Uh yeah, those beers they just taste a little bit better on those nights. I'm just telling you, man, I believe it. I believe it, Clint.

I I appreciate this, man, It's been fun. I'm I'm feeling good about my late rut late Hunts coming up here now with some new ideas. Um, can you real quick give folks the rundown of where they can see your work, where they can listen to the podcast, where they can find some me or writing anything else you want to plug out? Absolutely, my man. So Um, I'm I'm the host of CEC Hunt Files via Working Class

bow Hunter platform. I do a lot of stuff with the gang over there, Kurt and Doug, Eric, Austin Ross, all the guys over there. I've been with them for quite a few years now. Um still still come on the actual original series. Um, they've got the Jury Deer cast Um series. I get on that from time to time, but I've got my own series. It drops every Wednesday. CC Hunt files. Um as far as writing goes, Man, I've been in that game for I think this will be my twelfth year now. I been with Peterson's Ball

hunting like full time for going on six years. So that's kind of my home base. Um. Shout out to Christian Burg and and all the guys over there. Yeah, they take good care of me. They they let me kind of pick and choose what I want to write and kind of I can throw my ideas out. And it's been a long journey. I remember in college I started writing, and um, man, I think I got turned down like sixteen or seventeen times by like the big

boys in the industry. And then finally, uh, finally, uh Christian pretty much stead He's like, man, I'm I'm just getting tired of you. Like I'm just gonna give you a shot because you know, once again being a grinder. He's like, man, He's like, you know, we don't really have space for you, but we're gonna give you a go. Um And yeah, it's it's just you know, I'm very

thankful for that opportunity and that's blossomed int. I've written for North American Whitetail and Deer and deer Hunting, bow Hunter, Outdoor, live stield, just doing pretty much any of the major ones I've I've been blessed to be in in those, um you know, home base like I said, Peterson's bow Hunting, But I freelanced for a lot of companies and a lot of different publications, so that's been a lot of fun,

you know. And uh yeah, man, just just the dad of two that absolutely loves the bow hunt and and loves to share in my trials and tribulations of you know, my my bow hunting season and whatnot. So that's ah, it's me in a nutshell, man. It's it's pretty crazy really to see. Kind of as a kid, my mom and dad always tell the story. You know, I'm five,

six years old. I'm at the dinner table. I'm eating pork chops, mashed taters and green beans or something whatever, and I got a Deer and Deer Hunting begazine open and they're like, you gotta put this down, you put away, we're gonna eat, you know. And my mom tells the story.

She's like, you know, you were five years old, looked right up at me, mind you I can't read yet at that time, but looked right up at her and my dad and one of these days, you guys are gonna see me in here and they're like, oh yeah, I bet, I bet we will, And so yeah, it's crazy. Man here here I am. I'm a I'm a blessed man. Um. As far as social goes, Facebook, Point Casper, Instagram, Casper Clint, I run the c C hunt fioed Instagram page so

you can catch me there, um and whatnot. But uh yeah, I can't can't thank you enough for having me on Mark, and can't thank everybody enough for all of your support over the years with my writing, the podcast, social media. I mean it's it's honestly of it has been absolutely

positive and great. Um and you know, it's it's just been. Uh, it's been a lot of fun to be in this industry and kind of make a living in the hunting the hunting space and the hunting world, and uh, man, it's been great to connect with so many people guys like you and whatnot. That without the industry and social media and different things, I've never connect with. So yeah, it's uh, it's pretty it's a pretty crazy ride, but it's uh, it's been a fun one and I'm not

looking to jump off anytime soon. Yeah, man, it's uh. It is a a super blessed thing we get to do. I'm thankful for it as well. And uh and really thankful for you taking some time to to talk tonight to this is this is this is great. So appreciate you Clinton. Hey, absolutely Mark anytime. We'll I have to get you on the h c C Hunt files here soon. I'll have to cook up off the brainstorm up a good a good topic of conversation. There's quite a few

of you and I could dive into. But give me, give me a day or two to brainstorm something up and we'll we'll get you on. Sign me up. I'm I'm up for it for sure, and uh go and shoot a meal there right, all right, man, that's the plan tomorrow. I gotta I got a couple of mile hike in to get to this spot. But I think it's uh man, I'm gonna grind it out for another six days and I think it'll pay off sooner or later. We'll see, all right. I believe in your good luck.

All right, And that is it. Thank you for tuning in. I appreciate you being a part of this community. Thank you for taking that action, and mentioned at the top of the podcast, thanks for sending those emails to your senators. Let's get this thing done. Let's have a great hunting season. Let's have fun out there. I think when this podcast comes out, it's gonna be right around Thanksgiving, so I hope you're enjoying some good times, some good food with

your friends and family. I am thankful for you all. I hope you're thankful for what deer and deer hunting in this deer in the community have brought to you. Let's relish it, let's savor it, and until next time, let's stay wired to hunt.