Ep. 621: Justin Hollandsworth's Four Year Hunt for a Ghost Buck Named Woody

you by First Light. We are back with another entry in our big buck breakdown series that we're doing this month here in January twenty three, folkus. That's crazy. Uh. We're chatting with hunters this month about long, challenging, interesting, obsession worthy hunts for single specific bucks. That's what I wanted to find this month were these these these epic sagas of a single minded deer hunter chasing down a single deer and all the ups and downs I can

go with that. Now, last week we talked to Tyler Utter about a six year hunt that was definitely full of curveballs. Today we've got a four year hunt, a four year journey for Justin Hollandsworth. And if you're not familiar with Justin Uh he films with the white Tail Addictions Crew. He is a deadly serious bow hunter. He's hunted all over the Midwest, chasing white tails from his home state of Ohio to Illinois, Iowa, all over the place, all these different white tail states, and he just gets

it done. He's kind of followed in the footsteps of that Andre de Quisto Um kind of lineage. And he's very mobile, quick thinking, aggressive, but a but a smart,

thoughtful hunter. And he's he's proven it year after year after year with a whole lot of really nice deer on the ground in in a wide variety of settings, so lots we can learn from Justin, and he does a very good job of kind of sharing what he does and why he does it, which I've really enjoyed and all of our past conversation and Justin is someone who we have talked to before on the podcast. This

was probably two years ago. We had a great conversation with him kind of going through his whole style of deer hunting, how he approaches the season, what his general

bow hunting philosophy is UM. So definitely go back and listen to that one and that first episode with him was episode three and fifty seven, and that one's titled getting out of your deer hunting comfort Zone, and that was a great conversation, like I mentioned, so highly recommend going back and listening to that to kind of lay the groundwork, and then with this one, we're going to get the blow by blow breakdown of how this hunt went, how he discovered this deer, everything he did to follow

along with it over the years, and ultimately the crazy things that happened along the way as he tried to kind of close the deal get a shot at him with his bow. He's a special buck, giant deer, old deer um. You know. We cover everything from I think a big thing with him is how he goes about getting access to new properties and how he tries to gain new access around where a buck lives that he's after.

That's a big thing we cover. We talk a lot about trail cameras and scouting and glassing, and and what I think will stand out to you when you listen to the story is how much scouting goes into what he does. It's it's not as much the hunting as it is glass and watching pictures, getting new access, driving around there's there's a lot of that within this story, and um, I think that's something to keep in mind

as we go through this as well. And then also we get to see Justin go through some really low lows in this hunt. Some stuff happens that I think would send a lot of people into a funk. Some stuff happens that would definitely bring your way down when you're chasing a buck like this, and you have that happen, and Justin was able to push through it. So this is a story of kind of battling through some adversity, staying, you know, persevering through it and trying to find that

positive window and keep it ongoing. So we're gonna cover that as well. So we're gonna learn a lot about how he approaches these hunts from a strategy perspective, and then also how he kind of as a person pushed through and kept on going after this deer and ultimately was able to get an arrow in him and a great story to tell and a health of memory. So that's the game plan today. This is a long episode, as you can see, but you know it's it's funny.

It doesn't feel long. At least, it didn't feel long to me. As we went through this conversation, it moved along quickly because there's just so many interesting things that

happened in the story. And then we get into some very, um I thought, you know, worthwhile kind of rabbit holes along the way as we kind of sunk our teeth into a specific decision he made, or a specific set up or or a thing that happened along the way, we kind of try to explore the wise behind each one of his decisions and how he got to where he got. So that's what we have in store. I hope you guys enjoy this one. I hope this series

is a nice change of pace. We don't usually do these story focused podcasts really ever, but I thought it would be a nice way to kick off the year, kind of revel in some success stories and try to learn from these specific hunts and these experiences that other people have to hopefully set us up on a great path heading into our own twenty three seasons. So let's get into this episode with Justin. I know you're gonna enjoy it. Thanks for in here. Here we go all

right with me? Back on the show is Justin Hollandsworth. Justin, Welcome back man. Thank you for doing this, Thanks for having me. I'm glad. I'm glad you can make it. Always always, always a good time to catch up and chat with you. I know, I was thinking the last time we we did a podcast together, I was sitting in my pickup truck. I was recording the podcast from my pickup truck. It was like ninety seven degrees out

in the summer. I didn't want to have the A C on the truck because I didn't want like that noise to distort the audio. So I was just like sweating bullets and miserable. And now it's it's the opposite. It's like freezing cold here in Michigan. I'm in my office, but my podcast editor always complains about my heat kicking on and off in the office and messing up that audio. So now I'm wearing a winter jacket to try to stay warm in my freezing cold office with the heat

turned off. So it's it's perpetual climate issues what I'm talking to justin Uh, that's funny. I didn't know that about the last one. Yeah, it was in the summer when I was at my cabin and I have no good quiet place to record inside the house. So I was always had to go like in the truck or when we have our camper opened up, I'll do that. And on that particular day, it was a it was a truck day. So yeah, this is this is a little better, but just cold. Um. But but more importantly,

today we're talking about your hunt. Um. We're doing a series this month all about you know, diving deep, peeling back the layers on really special hunts for special bucks, and trying to get inside the minds of folks that chase a deer like that, um obsessively. And and it sounds like that would accurately describe your hunt for for the deer you called Woody. Would you would you agree? Yep? For sure? If if you could to kick this off, I'm wonder if you can just paint a picture for

us of this deer. So as we go through this story, as we talk about this deer, as we talk about your hunt and the year's long journey, we've got like something in our mind's eye. Can you can you describe anything about him as far as his age, his his size, his body, his his antlers, his anything that makes him unique? Like, what's the picture you want in our heads as we go through this story. So if I could picture or describe Woody, he is a I had four years of

pictures of the deer. So I was thinking he was a six and a half year old buck. He's either five and a half or six and a half, That's what I think. Um, big dark cherry forehead, um, um, big chocolate rack with um. Not a huge framed deer, but really heavy um with split brow times on both sides, a split G two on one side. Um, he is a he is a five by six with a big inner point as well. Um. So he had um he had a total of sixteen points. Um. Just a just a brute of a of a deer, a big body, dear,

but not I've killed bigger body, dear. You know, somebody, some older bucks are just bigger bodied than others. And he was. He wasn't that two eighty three kind of brute kind of deer? Um he was Probably he's probably too or so I would guess yeah, no, no slouch, No, No, it was a it was a little bit of a roamer too, um in the area. Um. So especially you know, I don't know if you want to, you know, start back at you know the time, you know, it's two

thousand nineteen. That's when I first started getting pictures of the deer. Okay, So before we start with the story, um, and without giving away specifics of the story, I'm curious for this one one additional thing to kind of lay

the groundwork here. When you think about this deer, when you think about this hunt, and maybe if you were to fast forward ten years, if you were ten years older than you are, and you're sitting in the you know, the lazy boy chair, drinking a cold one, sitting with some buddies, and you think back on this hunt and you think back on this deer. What do you think stands out too? Is what makes this hunt and this

deer so special? If you could kind of high level describe what it is about this hunt or or this deer that you think makes this one or will make this one something that sticks with you for a long time. Um. Is it just because of the length of time you hunted him? Is it because of um, the challenge or something like that. Again, you don't need to tell me

the specifics of those stuff. Yeah, but I'm curious, just like, what's the thing we should be paying attention to as we go through this story that made it so special for you, I would I would probably say I would probably say the fact that he he disappeared for a season and I had no clue where he was to reappear last season, and and without giving too much about way and then um, probably probably a lot of the things that were just you know, out of my control

at times, I could, I would say that, like there was just things that happened along the way that I wouldn't necessarily say that I did wrong. It was just unforeseen circumstances at times. So like a lot of ups and downs that you kind of couldn't control that made this a roller coaster. Maybe yes, yes, well let's get on the roller coaster. Then I guess two. You got your first pictures of him. Um, it sounds like he was like a small bodied, young looking deer at that point,

Is that right? Yeah, he was, I thought the deer was by looking at the pictures, he just looked like a two and a half year old to me. Um, But he had a big he had a big frame, but it looked big on a deer of that, you know, with the body got small and he had seventeen points as a two and a half three and a half year old buck. That's crazy. So I just you know, I just, I mean, when you seen the deer, you look at those old trail camp pictures of him, you

would just eat. Anybody that's seen that deer as young as he was, you would just think that's gonna be a two chuito. And and that's what I always thought on my mind. And it's funny too, because one thing that I always thought when I was looking at pictures of mean throughout that that summer, he always reminded me of Gene once So killed a deer years ago back in Iowa that he named Woody. And I just randomly, not purposely, I just started calling this deer Woody in

my head because that's what he reminded me of. M Now Jean had different He had a different reason for naming the deer that he killed Woody. If you listen to any of Jean's old podcast or interviews or anything like that, um, Jean said that he named that deer in Iowa Woody because every time you've seen a deer gave him a woody like that. There you go, that's uh,

that's the kind of buck you want to chase. Yeah, So it was always comical to me that he that he that that he did that and said that, and um, but that the deer just reminded me from the way that that deer was built and everything. I just thought, a boy, he could be he could be like that deer someday. So when you get a deer like that that pops up on a place you hunt, what do you do Because it's a young buck that it sounds like obviously you didn't want to hunt him, you know

at that age. He's a deer that you had like high hopes were in the future. Um. Do you do anything different in that kind of situation where you really badly want a buck to make it a year or two more? Do you do you stay out completely? Do you start putting more feelers out and just start taking extra care to pay attention to what he's doing from

then on? Or do you just you know, go about your hunting like you usually would, chase whatever dear you're after and this buck just is kind of on the back shelf and you know, keeping tab some more far Um, probably a couple of different things. Um. A lot of times I'll try to you know, if I have an opportunity to, you know, maybe to put some food in there and maybe buy some crops or something like that. If a farmer, I'll I'll always try that route just

to keep them you know, you know, keep them around. Um, you know, just try to. I like to just a lot of times put a lot of those a lot of those um trow cameras out and just leave them out for an entire season and just let them soak and not mess with them and just you know, try to give them their space just so they'll, you know, they'll stick around. And the problem when they're that young, though, is they they just you know, they're just squirreling and

they just want to run all over the place. Especially one late October through November hits. I mean, those two and three year old bucks could, oh my gosh, you can end up anywhere, and I just really just try to keep the pressure off of them. Um. I didn't have a deer back there that I wanted to kill, but I did have a deer back there, um that was an old bully buck um that was kind of

running the show back there for quite a while. And I actually had Troy Pottinger out that year hunt during late season, and Um, I told Troy about this deer and I we were trying to get on that old bully buck that was that was back there, and I wanted I was hoping we could get him out of there. Um because he sure, I mean, he had a lot of effect on that on that farm and kicking up other nice deer out of there. So that's about I mean.

And just keep your fingers crossed, I mean, because I mean I think as a two and a half three and a half year old bucker, he was probably um at that age. Oh, I mean, nine times out of ten, it doesn't matter the deer's age. You get a deer, you know that good in front of most guys, and they're gonna shoot that deer. So so what ended up? What ended up happening? Did you did Troy get that bully buck? Did you see you're learning for more about

this deer? Um? How did that year end? So that year as the season went on, Troy, Um, the deer was around here and there. Um Uh, it seemed like he kind of left out of there. Wants the velvet once he shed velvet that year and that bully buck was kind of running the show. Back there. Um So, I didn't get a lot of pictures of him, mostly just summertime pictures that year. And then UM, Troy and I can we could never get on that bully buck

when he was out. Plus he he we ended up finding another buck and that that he almost killed UM when he was out that year. So never UM never did get that deer that year. Um So I was hoping. I actually I think I might have brought my son back there too, trying to get on that bully buck at one point. But season, you know, after season went out, you know, I I walked, I mean I walked a

ton of miles that year looking for those sheds. I never found the sheds to Woody that year, and but kind of just fast forwards into the following summer and I loaded the place up with cameras. UM did a lot of driving around that summer glass In in that area looking for him. And I never got one picture or one sighting from glass In in in the summer or hunting or anything in the two thousand twenty season, not once.

How common is that? Do you think? Justin for you when it comes to these these deer you've chased over the years, where you get them in an area and then a flat out disappear for a full season and then we know that I mean kind of getting ahead

of us ourselves a little bit. But he does come back. So, Um, how often does this kind of thing happen to you or to your buddies when you hear from folks this is kind of a common thing your experience, I would say, I would say the bucks kind of pull that through being act uh at some point. Um, some of them

are homebodies. Some of them never leave and they're always right there, and then others they just um some some you know, when they're they're younger, you know, they might be kind of figuring out where they kind of want to settle in or where they can settle in because of other mature bucks in an area. Um, I think that has to do a lot with it. Um, you know, and I think and I've seen I've seen mature bucks shift two just other farms or other areas before and

here that you never knew was around movement. Um, I would say, of the time, Um, that might happen, I've had only it's only happened to me once where I've had a buck that I was really after completely disappear for a year and then show right back up and

the next year was like right back to normal. Um. And I had always thought maybe it had to do with crop rotation, because he was there the corn year, and then the next year the whole farmer's beans and he disappeared, and then the next year is corn again, and here he was feeling comfortable. Have you ever is that something you ever think might have an impact just you know, and maybe like cover places of light, uncover, we're standing corn so important for cover, maybe that's more

impactful or anything like that. Yep. Yeah, I just think too. Like me personally, I would much rather have of corn on a farm than than beans. I think it just seems like the early season it might not be as good because they're sometimes they sometimes they like they like that cover or whatever, but a lot of times I just feel like that corn holds them later in the year. Um. But I've you know, there's times where um, there's just

so many variables that can come in. Why why I think a deer is you know, stays on a property right, why I decided to leave? I mean, um, pressure, you know, pressure is a huge thing. I don't think people put you know enough, Um, I see two main neighbors from the word go of season. Um, just pound it and on every day, it doesn't matter what the wind is doing.

Ye speaking of like what holds you know, deer and certain properties of certain areas, can you describe what this area, whether this property looks like, like, what's the set up, what's the terrain we're dealing with here? Um? What is this this area that this deer was calling home? So it's a lot of the area is a lot of small woodlots, a lot of wide open fields, um, and a lot of fence rows. Um. There's a couple of pretty good sections of timber around the area, but most

of it is pretty open farmland, pretty flat. Um. But you just had these you know, there's this these there's small pockets of just you know, good cover where that's only going to hold maybe you know, maybe one mature buck typically And I think too sometimes that that's kind

of what made the situation. I would probably say more, you know, definitely more favorable on on his part because of of so many times that a deer, a deer can bet bet in those small woodlots, and you just it's just hard to get to him, so they see so so in this situation, this buck had been on this area he disappeared. Did you ever end up getting any kind of strong guests on on why you think he left or where he went? Did you get an

answer at any point to what was going on? Or was it just you know, a mystery until the next year and you you found him again. It was just more of a mystery than anything. Um. I know some of the other guys in the area too. No, we don't always tell each other about you know, all the you know, the bucks that we're getting on camera. Me and one good friend do we we tell each other. But I would say most of the other guys, you know, we you know, we're not we're not sharing a lot

of that information. I mean, it's just, you know, it is what it is. I mean, that's just that's hunting, you know. And I mean I don't I don't blame them if they know if they were getting him on camera. Um um. But I think that you know, in the area, and that that year, that two thousand twenty season one,

I couldn't find a year. I spent a lot of time driving and trying to locate that deer and being in the bean fields and stuff like that, and even um, even that year I shot my buck here in Ohio that year and like the first week of season, so I was done and had a lot of time two get my truck even during November when I wasn't out of state hunting, and and try to and try to locate the deer. But I I just I could not locate him that year. Absolutely I got an idea but

where he was. But then again later on I kind of figured out through talking through a neighbor that um, he had never been getting pictures of him that season. So from what I thought and where he was and the guy that had permission on that piece, um he was never there. So when you're when you're trying to relocate a buck like that, how wide a net are

you casting? Like when you're driving around glassing in the summer or driving around in November watching fields and all the different stuff, talking to neighbors, you know, what's the range that you realistically are are searching? Is it like you know, a mile square? Are you looking further than that? What's that you know from your experience been the possible range? I would say I try to keep it within that that two miles spam. Um, I feel like UM a

lot of times. And and farm land, you know, open you know, farm country. It seems like that you can usually locate them. But but I've been wrong. I mean there's been times I know a buddy, me and a buddy were just talking about this. We know of a book that I used to get pictures on a farm and and he was getting pictures of the deer um the year after that. And now the deer is like five or six miles away from here. So I can't figure,

you know. I just think they all have their own personalities, and they all have their you know, and just other you know variable you know, just reasons why you know, they want to leave a property. Maybe it's you know, the hunting pressure there, or maybe it's um maybe they're maybe they're a loner and the deer numbers are high there, they don't like that. I've seen that quite a few times with deer before, especially older class bocks, where they

just don't want to be UM. I can say this that I've had pieces before, I've had permission on that I was able put food plots and do a lot of work on them, and thinking I was going to make the property better, and I made the property better from a deer's number standpoint, but from a mature bucks standpoint, I didn't because it seemed like the older class bucks, um, they weren't there as much as they used to be when they're the deer numbers were low. I don't I

don't know why. The only thing that I can well, the only reason I can think of is just because because they're loners and they don't like I don't know. I think we all, I mean us as people, as we get older, sometimes we get like that. You know, it's like it's the grumpy old manufact right. Yeah, I think that. I think that happens with a lot of

deer um where they just want to be mean. Now, maybe they might show back up during you know, November or something like that, because there might be a lot of does or something in there, or maybe late November when there's when they're looking for that you know, last dough or two or something like that. Um. But I think, I think, I think sometimes high gear numbers can definitely be uh contributing factor to maybe the caliber animal that's

not a property. Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. I can definitely see how that would how that could be the case. They don't seem to like that stress of other deer around all the time and competition for food and solitary betting areas and all that kind of stuff. Um, So in this case, though he disappeared, you couldn't find him. How how long do you keep the faith of that deer is even alive? Did you kind of give up on them that at some point that season say well

he probably got shot? Or were you think can man? All the way through that year and into the next, you were still holding out hope that man he could be back this year, he could be maybe five. You know, were you still operating in as if he was going to show up or did you moved on? Well? Late in late season of two thousand twenty, um, a good friend of mine set me a picture of a deer that got killed, probably like three or four miles from here,

and it resembled him. He said, Hey, I think this is that deer that you're called Woody, And um, I looked at the deer, but it looked like a It looked like a five six seven year old kind of buck to me. In the pictures a lot of the same characteristics and stuff like that of that deer. Um, he really thought it was. I didn't so much. At points I thought maybe it hits him and maybe that's what he turned into. And other times I just thought that it wasn't but it um. I honestly kind of thought,

you know, that ship had sailed. Um. Going into two thousand twenty one, I just thought, well, that deer is gone kind of thing. Um, And that's how I went into the season. I just kind of forgot about the deer and kind of went up, you know, I went back to what I always do and you know, trying to locate you know, the bucks I want to go after in the summer. So so fast forward us to him where things changed again continues on. You've moved on to other deer. You've got what you killed some big

flyer buck last year, right, isn't that what I remember? Yeah, I killed a big non typical with a bunch of He has got all these flyers and jump coming off his bases and stuff. Um. So yeah, So two thousand one, so I I had a couple of different bucks that I was interested in and about, and I think it was in July one of my uh, one of my neighbors that um that used to hunt a farm right right by it text me one evening and said, hey, I don't know if you hurt, but we lost permission

over there on our Maine farm. And I said, oh, you didn't. And it was it was by um it was close to where I had killed Woody. And I said, oh really, And I said, I kind of figured out because it's sold the property. There was an older lady that she passed away and they sold the property and then they had hunted it for years and years. And he said, well, I might as well at the call of the bag. And I said, oh, yeah, about what? And he said, I almost sending there were some true

camp pictures. So he said he sent me over some trail camp pictures and Manson's I looked at him, I'm like, man, is that Woody? And the more I looked at him, and I was going back and looked at a mine. And it's funny because then he asked me, like, you know that buck, and I'm like, nope, I know that buck. And and he had told me he said, he was like, you should try to get permission around there, but he said I heard people on the other side over there

do not allow any hunting. And and so I think it was like the next day after he sent those pictures to me. The day after that, I mean I was over there. I think I knocked at four doors over there, and I got two knows because um, they had people hunting already. But then I got two yesses.

And one of the yesses that I got was on acre piece of added right up against the woods that they were getting pictures of him, and and and and he even he showed me, he dropped the pen and showed me this is exactly where my camera was in there where I was getting pictures of him. And so I was only a couple of hundred yards maybe from where he was getting pictures. And then here in Ohio and mean, we can you know, we can run bait

um so in the summertime. Um, I had date out over camera over there, and I was I thought, for sure I get pictures of him. I got pictures of a ten that he was running with, but I never got pictures of him, which was weird. So I drove around a ton trying to figure out because I thought maybe he might be squirting up the backside and heading west out of that place and maybe staying out onto some sense rows. So I was doing a lot of

glass and out through there. Some of the spots I can't really get to though, to see him because the way some of the properties come in there. And and so I never did. I never did locate him. And besides a neighbor um sending me some pictures, and I was just hopeful that he was going to show up on you know, I had three different places I had permission on right there in that little area. So I was just hopeful that he'd show up on one of them.

What was what was the camera strategy across those three properties? Because you've got this buck you're really after, you're hoping he's gonna pop up somewhere. Did you run the standard camera strategy that you always do or did you have anything different in this kind of like search phase for him. Well, the one thing I did do too, because um, I've noticed something the last few years that sometimes not all not all bucks, but some of them get a little

funny around some of these cell camps. Um, So I wanted to make sure that what I was doing was not just the standard you know, sell cam over a bait pile or or over a mineral site or whatever. UM. I was trying to run some just standard cameras too and just kind of keep them trying to keep him up on the line of sight and stuff like that of where he might be, you know, entering or exiting, you know, one of those three properties that I had

access to. And I was hoping that because I've had I mean, uh, I've had some I've had some times where where I've known a particular bucks on a farm and if you didn't know, if you didn't have a visual sighting, you wouldn't even know that they were there because of some of them just don't like these cameras period, and some are you know, some of them are they love to get their picture taken almost the seams, and then others that they just shy away from it. So

I didn't want to. I just want to do my due diligence and tried to make sure that I was covered, you know, uh, both strategies. I had a couple of the spots too. I had mocked scrapes on um and had a lot of bucks on both of them coming into those and he was when he in two thousand nineteen, I had him on a mock scrape a lot that year. Um, so I was thinking that navy, I can get him back onto some scrapes again to get some pictures of him. But I just never did. I never got one picture

of that, dear. And what are you do in a situation like that where you're you're just hoping he'll show up but he never does? Did you did you still hunt those properties hoping to see him? Or were you staying out until you had confirmation he was there and focused on elsewhere? You know? How did that? How does that affect your strategy? Well, I the way I looked at it, I was just gonna stay out and just

wait and see if he showed up. But the one thing I wasn't gonna do is set back and wait for a ghost and waste my whole season wait, wait, and you know, waiting on something that's not there. And so I had that non typical the one with the flyers and the jump on the basis, and he was the biggest buck um that I knew of uh that

year that I was that was around a lot. So I just put all my effort in time into that year and and had an awesome game of cat and mouse with him throughout the season, and then I finally I think it was a November four, I ended up shooting that buck. He I've seen him in the morning and he pushed the dough back into what I thought was his betting area because I found a shed. I found one of the sheds back there from the year before, and so I went in. I hung my one point oh,

which I had two trails coming out UM. One was just beat down with huge tracks and like a couple of just just monster rubs coming off of it. One was kind of a faint trail, but it had a couple of his big tracks what I thought was his big tracks coming out into this cut bean field, And so I went in there and hung that set. Um. He stood up out of his bed when he was

with that dough. He was probably eighty yards away when he stood up UM, and I knew from in the morning because she was wanting to feed in that bean field. I was like, I just knew that more than likely they were going to move back out, and I was hoping that the trail that I there was. I had to split the difference on those trails, and I favored obviously the one with the most sign on it and

set myself up on the left team that shooter. And so I set myself up with that trail on the on the right side of me, so as they moved past, so I can take that shot. Well, you know, go figure. He follows that dough over on the other trail to my left hand side, which was my and and I ended up shooting him. Um, that's probably the part of the center shot up. Shot up a buck with my bow. I think it was like four yards through the woods and and and he ran like fifty yards and died.

But so here's the funny thing about this whole situation is so two of my buddies are all they're tagged out right, and one buddy meets me he needs to meet meets me up at the farm at the barn, and we're setting my truck and we're waiting on my other buddy to show up, and we're going to go pull the steer out that I just shot, and my cell can goes off and what he was on my camera on the main farm where I've been getting pictures

er in two thousand nineteen, that night he's back. Yep, he's back, And now I'm tagged out what did he look like that year? How much? You know? So now he was were you guessed him? And he was he was four or five? Is that right? Yeah? So I would have Yeah, he was either four or five last year, is what I thought. Um, kind of a lot like he did before. It was like he had the same configuration, um,

non typical. He had some stickers and stuff coming off of his G twos and h G twos and G three's that year and which he didn't this past year, didn't have any of those stickers. And so then um still had to like to split rowse. He's always kind of carried at and I'm just you know, just in but I thought he was going to I thought his frame was going to get a lot bigger, um because the way he looked when he was young, and but he was still you know, still an awesome deer, big browse.

But um, so sorry about my domer market. So um, but if I was, I told my I told my buddies, I'm like, how how was it possible that deer is going to show up? I'm literally I just shot that buck like three hours ago, three or four hours ago. Now he's gonna show back up And you know, show up, show up in there. It was funny too, because after he showed up over there, he stayed there all season

after that. Now, what what do you think that was about? Like, do you have any any guesses as to why, like so, why he showed up at the beginning of the rut kind of and then just stuck it out the rest of the year. Do you have any thoughts on what happened there pressure around him or or what. The only thing I can think of is that property that sold, Um was when I maybe when they first bought that place.

You know, I did see them rides and four wilders back that way, um, side by side, stuff like that, and there was a small woodlot. So I don't know if maybe the pressure kind of got to him to where, um where maybe he just relocated. Um, I'm not sure, to be honest with you. That's the only thing that I can think of that made him move over there. And it's funny because he was over there, I mean all all year after that. My my, my, my farmer buddy that lets me hunt there. Um, he kept messing

with me. He doesn't deer hunt, but um, he has a little bit passed and he kept messing with me, goes and he kept sam, want to shoot that big buck. I'm like, and what of I you know, he gives me permission, So what am I gonna say, don't go shoot that buck? I mean it's not but he just liked antagonize me. I think with it is what he was doing. And um, yeah, I think he I think he can call me one time and said, hey, I

just shot that buck. I'm like and I remember sitting there thinking for a second, I'm like, you know, I was like, you know, and then I was like, you want me to come help you and get him out?

He goes, not I didn't shooting? Yeah, So but yeah, he stayed on there all year and then um in December, mid December, I got some try came pictures of him and he was holding up his back leg and and he looked like he lost some weight, looked like he had like something going on like high and and one of his hips but and then his and then his his back hoof looked like it was like really swelled up or something like. I couldn't figure out what was going on in it. And the pictures and it wasn't

a week after that he dropped both. It was like December and he dropped both sides, and I thought for sure, I was like, oh boy, he's this is never good. Nine times out of ten and I see this happen. It seems like they don't make it through the Winner with those kind of injuries. So I don't know if this helped or not, but I mean, I really poor

to feed to that deer. I mean, we can you know, we can date and use minerals and everything here, So I did I really put the minerals out and feed, And I mean I just I was just trying to get him, you know, through that Winner is really what

I wanted to do. But walk my tail off. I think I think I logged like fifteen miles or something like that on Onyx track in my steps trying to find those sheds that I never found either either side, because my hopes was if I could locate the sheds, that was just gonna at least give me a Hopefully if I could, if they were back in a betting area or something like that, maybe that could be like a little piece of the puzzle or piece that I could use going into next season to maybe at times

set up on him the killing yeah, so that that brings up another question. Now that you you know he's there, you're hoping he survives. You had pictures of him on the Aim property again you look for the sheds. Um. Were you doing any other on the ground scouting to

just try to better get to know the area. Was there anything else you were doing to try to kind of narrow or try to kind of get in tight on what the steer was doing and figuring him out for the next year at this point, Oh yeah, Yeah, I did a lot of winter scouting that year, just you know, obviously I was trying to find those sheds that hopefully dial something. But I did find a couple.

I found two different areas. I know for sure that he was betting in a lot, And I mean there was just there was by size rubs and both of those areas and and the only thing that I could figure out what he was doing was those were the those were the spots that he was betting, um based

off of two different wind directions and UM. And what I probably missed on and probably the thing that I didn't, I guess die on myself then is one of the one of the the spots it was I think he probably not so much from a wind standput point, but more so on a visual standpoint, um, because and never it didn't dawn on me at that moment in time, but later it did after I've seen him doing something, you know, after I seen him doing a few things

during the season, um. Because one thing I did, you know, pick up on during the season that I was hunting in this past season was that year like the walk with the wind at his butt all the time. And I've I've killed a lot of deer on you know, those edge winds and and and um, you know, and or just maybe the way that you know thermals work in a certain area or something like that. But I mean that, dear, I don't know how many different times to see him walk with the wind right on his butt.

Why do you think that was? Like? Was there? Was it just something about his betting years that the only betting year he could use would not give him a good win direction to go to certain food sources, or or just a weird personality trader or what I think it was more from a visual standpoint, I think he would bed in these certain spots covers back trail, um, but then be able to walk because of the way that you know, the area was with the you know,

with the small woodlots, you know, flat farmland, you know, a lot of fence rows, that kind of stuff, um um. And I didn't make even even from even this past season hunting him a few times, I still almost had in my mind at times of hunting him more so like he was going to use use the wind a lot more than what he did. I think he used his vision more than anything. Interesting. So so you found

these two betting areas, you never found his sheds. Uh. You're slowly putting some of these pieces together, work me through as you start to see him again. And one of these next steps after that two um, same thing as I typically always did. But I loaded I loaded up UM. I loaded up the farm. Actually, I loaded up the main farm where I've been always getting pictures him where he where. He kind of took up residencity there in twenty one UM and put a small food

plot in as well. And then on the other two pieces that I had just in case, because I thought, you know, this is a good chance to steer goes back to those you know, to that area over there with on the you know, the other wood lot. I put a small food plot in there as well, just in case. I g as a backup plan in case he decided to move back to that area or whatever, you know, i'd have some have some things set up for him. Um he didn't. He never moved back to

that area. He he be in the summer. He stayed on that main farm all summer. I could, I mean I could go over there and watch him almost every single evening if I wanted to in the beans. I mean he was over there with like five or six other Bucks and he was just in those beans, I mean constantly. And I was super hopeful that that he was going to stick around. I I was a little nervous about once he shed velvet, that's he might you know,

do another disappearing act or whatever. But all the way right until season, um he shed his velvet and didn't seem like he was going anywhere. So two weeks prior to season starting, my buddy, that lets me hunt that farm. He's got an old uh grain barn there, and it's got a second story to it and you can open up this this door that's on the top, and when you do that, you can see the entire being filled

out out through there. So I remember, you know, saying to myself, I'm gonna every single evening um for the next two weeks, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be up here and I don't have I'm gonna, I'm gonna have this deer figured out before before season rolls in, and then I'm just gonna, you know, try to play off that and see if he continues to do that. He was super visual. I mean I could go over there and see all the time, even after he shed his velvet. I mean, he was he was, he was in there.

But the one thing that he did, he had about four different places he'd come out, and he had two different fence roads that didn't come out of, and he had two different woodlots that he would come out of. And and it wasn't always based upon wind um. Sometimes it was he come out with the wind in the space. Sometimes he came out with the wind right out of. But so I couldn't quite figure out exactly where he liked to, you know, like where he would like to

spend the majority of his time. There was one little spot that he kind of favored a little bit. It was by some pine trees and it seemed like that was a little more favorable. But there was a location in the field on a fence row, and there was a little waterway that it just seemed like most of the time wherever he came from, he ended up going

through that waterway. And I just thought, well, if I can get a dead west wind and come down that fence row and slide into one of those one of those trees right there, pretty good, pretty good chance I'm going to get a shot at him. So opening a season that morning night glassed seeing him that morning glass that evening again, I didn't have the wind, so I just stayed out because I think sometimes I think that's where all of us make a mistake. Is um, you know,

is uh. We just want to get in there um too soon. Um. Sometimes the best hunting is no hunting. And the next morning, which would have been Sunday morning, the second day of Ohio season, I wanted to play. I was when I was really hoping the wind was

switching and it was going to come. They were saying west, a touch of southwest to it, and I was really hoping that he was going to um um, he was going to go into bed somewhere that morning, and I was going to treat it like a turkey hunt, where basically I put him to bed and that I was going to move it. I didn't want to go in there. I think guys can go in there, you know, mess round, check cameras, hang a stand whatever. I didn't want to. I don't want to touch any of that until like, Okay,

I'm going in there hunt. You know. So I've never seen him that morning, So I was a little bummed about that, But I still had a really good idea and where I wanted to be for that evening because I felt like two, it was a it was a safe it was it was a safe set where I could go in and and get out without too much damage.

It's worst case and he was out in one of the fields or something like that, I could either call my buddy that hunts the place or um that owns the place, and you know, he could drive back and pick me up. Or I could call my wife or something like that and have her come, you know, drive back and pick me up and and and then that way we're going to see me get down and you know that whole thing. Um. I went in there. I hung that one point on that cens row and seeing

a ton of deer. The deer just manny really moving that night, and had um several deer come right by me. And then right towards the end of the evening, probably about an hour before dark, he came out of those pines and he came all the way. He was coming all the way across that bean field, and he was gonna cut. He was gonna come right out in front of me and would have been a twenty five yard shot. And right at the last minute, I don't know why he did this, and he ended up cutting in behind me,

which is something I never needing to do before. And he started to cut him behind me. I thought, and my wind is blowing straight back down that sensor row, and I thought, man, I'm gonna have to shoot him. I'm gonna have to shoot him before he gets that sensor. Because he gets that sensor, I'm done. And I've ranged at as he's walking, I've ranged the opening I had right there, and I thought it was gonna be about

a thirty thirty two yard shot. I drew on the deer and I was at full draw, and I had to let him clear one branch and um that when the wind kicked a little southwest and he got me. He nailed me, And I thought he was gonna get stupid enough to take a couple more steps, because it's really all I needed. And you know sometimes like they smell the smell you and then they're like, m I think I smell but I think, but I'm gonna take those couple more steps so I can get that little

bit more. And he just never did. Um when he did, when he decided to move, he's bolted out of there. Heartbreaker, Yeah, because I felt like a lot of that work kind of put in in the summer was like, man, I just made this way harder on myself than I was expecting. I you know, I would rather not even seen the deer that that happened. Yeah, he had nine of everything go right and then the worst possible thing happens at the last possible moment. It's it's not a good feeling, No,

it's funny. That night and a good friend of mine, like actually my buddy that I was with the evening and I got a truck can picture of him when I shot my buck the year before, he shot a like a just a stud a pointer that night and so he's oxided. So I'm going over there to help him. And you know, I'm over there. It was like He's on the highest of pies and I'm on the lowest

of lows. And you know, we're pulling up this great, huge split G two eight point and I mean just the probably and um and uh and and I I remember him saying, he goes, he goes, Dude, I can see the look on your face. He's like, you'll kill him. I'm like, I feel like I just screwed it all up. I said, it's it's early in the season. I mean, I got plenty of time to recover. But man, I hate hunting them when they know they're hunted. Yeah, so

so what was the what was the next move? Then he he got you, now, what what was the Yeah? What what was the plan? And then walk me through quickly to like the next moment of consequence in this uh in this story. So after that, I decided to back off. I was like, Okay, I'm not gonna hunt. I'm gonna get back in that barn again and just I'm gonna watch my cameras, but I'm gonna I'm gonna

glass a lot and just try to use. That's one thing I've definitely changed as I got as I've gotten older, is I don't feel like I need to hunt all the time. Um, boy, that I tell you. Glassing is just so important. And if you can, if if you can glass a ton and then make your moves according to what you see based off of visual sighting rather than always a trail camp picture like we. I think a lot of us are gotten really used to doing. Um. I think you're you're picking up on things. You're seeing

small things that you wouldn't see from a traill camera. Um. So I spent a couple of nights up in that barn. I've seen him again. Um it was two, three, four nights before I seen him again, and he was not on the not on the cameras to as much as he was either, So I definitely affected what he was doing before. So um he started to be a little

predictable coming out of one spot a little bit. So Um, I made a move, went over hung a set when I got to win, went in there, sat he came out on totally out, but on the other end of the beam field out of another one lot. So um, I've seen that. So I'm like Okay, tomorrow night, I'm gonna be over there. So over there on the other side, he comes out right in front of where I sat

the night before. I know this feeling too well, Oh, I know because you've I've I've followed a lot of your hunts over the years, and you've been through the same thing. So sorry, continue on. So so it was like, you know, you know how you know how it is. It's like the zig day zag, and it's like that's kind of just started with going what was going on? And and then I would think, I'm I'm hunting, I'm hunting too much. I'm gonna back off for a little bit. And then you know, I was just I was in

that barn all the time. I mean I was. I spent a lot of time glass in that deer out of there and then wouldn't make my moves. And I noticed it was probably mid October now. Oast season came in September, I think this year, and it was mid October now, and I noticed that he started coming out of that that little uh spot where the pines were again. So and I noticed hadn't come out of there twice and both times he had the win to his butt, and I thought, man, I need to be able to

get over there. But I'm worried because now I'm picking up on it. I'm like, he's ben where you can see is what it is. And that's why he's not using the wind to come out. He's using his site. So, um my buddy owns the place. He was, Actually he was he They were getting ready to start picking beans and stuff like that, and so I asked him. I said, hey, there's any way that you could, you know, buzz me down. They're on the tracktor and just keep the track or

going and stuff like that and hanging. I'm gonna hang the set and climate, and he goes, I don't care. So he takes me down there and drops me off and just stays there. I hang that set and at night, um seeing a bunch of deer mostly does. And right at last night, I was just getting ready to dig it down and I heard something coming. I mean it was, it was. It was pretty dark and I could I couldn't see because those pines are so dark inside the

woods where those pines were. And the next thing I know, I see a deer and it comes, I mean it comes directly underneath me. And comes out and I was trying to figure out that. I was trying to see where it was. I couldn't tell until he got out into the beans. And then I was able to put my binoculars on him because it was so dark and it was him, and he walked, I mean, right underneath me, and he got out into those beans. And I had a steady, like probably fifteen win that night, so and

it wasn't definitely my favorite. And he got out there and he acteel like he knew something was up. I could tell. I was like watching to the binoculars. I just think they got that I got that six cents and they just know. And I could just tell. And he kind of, you know, kind of kind of walked out of there a little stiff legged, and and I thought, man, here we go again, you know. So he must have knew something was up, because the very next day of my buddy, I got a buddy that hunts just down

the road. And to keep in mind, this deer has not been on him all year, and and he texts me the next morning, said, hey, what he was on me yesterday? And he set me a couple of tropm pictures up and I was like, oh really. And I was sitting there thinking, I was like, oh gosh, you know, here we go. You know, no push him on out. I just thought he was gonna he's gonna end up killing this you know, kill this buck. Is funny we had.

But it was kind of funny because we had a funny conversation because he's like, um, you know, he's He's calls me like the next day, says, hey, talk to you about something. I said, I already know what you're gonna say. I'm like, if if you think then I'm going to be upset mad whatever about a deer if he walks in I've said, if that deer walks in front of you, better killing He said, well he goes. People get funny about these deer and they get attached

to him and this and that. He's an older guy too, and and I said, dude, that thing gets in front of you, gotta shoot that. You gonna shoot that buck, like you know, I know that is what it is. I mean, it's a wild animal. I mean, I don't want him the deer. You know, it's not mine. It's the States, you know. At that point, And and it was funny, but the deer. He don't. He didn't stick around over there but maybe a day and then was

and then was back. So so you you've now had to kind of known educational moments with the deer where he's he's learned something about you hunting him, and then you've been you know, trying to figure him out along the way to um what what was going through your mind?

Not at this point is you're trying to figure out you know, at least one of the things I'm thinking about is you're telling me the story is is I'm getting stressed out because of how you know, you've been very reliant on seeing this deer coming in and out of a bean field, and back of my mind, I'm thinking, man, how much longer is this buck going to stay on this bean field pattern where it's coming in out of here?

And what are you gonna do when he moves off to some other food source and never comes out into that field anymore? So were you feeling like timing pressure with that too, where you were like, gosh, I gotta make him move on him on this thing because he keeps on doing it. But you know, tonight might be the last thing he does this because any time now those beans are gonna be harvested, or you know, he's gonna move on to something else, acorns or corn on

the neighbors or something. So there's this, you know, I think we all have this thing where we know, like we have to be careful with timing and we have to try to take our shot at the right moment, but at the same time, like you never know how fleeting that moment might be. Um, so what how how were those kinds of things being worked out in your head as you're trying to figure out what to do next. Was it like again I gotta fall back and be patient again, or were you starting to Thank God, I

gotta get aggressive because he might he might disappear. Um to me, I felt like I needed to start, like I just needed to get aggressive because I knew, you know, any day, um, um my buddy was gonna pick those beans. Um he was already picking deeds other places and was getting was getting ready to pick those beans over there. And and I knew too from our conversations too, that he was going to put a lot of liquid line on those fields. Um. So that was you know, all

those things. So yeah, I mean I was for I was definitely feeling the pressure to get this deer down, and the problem was like it just I didn't have the wood lots are so small, the French roads and stuff like that, there's not you know, there's only so many moves that you can make, so many different trees

that you can get in. Um, I've gotten permission on a little tiny piece that butts up against the thin the thicket that that one of the thickets that he was staying in, and where I could literally come through their yard and with any kind of south wind in I could I could jump up into a couple of

pine trees right there. And I kind of overlooked that and it was like a real safe in and out and it was like I felt like it was a better morning set because I figured if they're out in the fields, then I can catch them coming back into that spot and maybe milling around before they beat up or whatever for the morning. So I had sat there one morning and I'm pretty sure that I caught a glimpse ofthing one morning, UM, and I was hoping that,

you know, maybe get a crack out of there. So you know, there's just so many places that you can go, and then you start repeating the same things again, and then I feel like when you start repeating the same things again that he's got you at that point. So I was definitely feeling it. How do you how do you go out? You know your hunt? You know, I guess frequency then at that point, because because that then becomes the next question is then you're feeling the pressure

of timing. But like you said a second ago, you only had so many spots you could go, so you, I say, at this point, you're like, Okay, I can either hunt the same handful of spots, like I've got a handful of moves that can play. You keep keep doing those things enough time and hope that you know the volume approach eventually pays off, or did you take the opposite, which is, man, I'm just gonna stay out because I only have three or four good things I

could really do. I just need to wait until the perfect day and then I'll strike at one of those things to keep the pressure low. Like how do you where? Which which approach did you end up taken? I ended up at that point to take acroachokes volume and a lot of sets and a lot of um I because I did, I was running of time I just knew that, you know, once they were going to be in there, they'd probably be in there for you know, two three days, you know, harvest of beans and all that kind of

stuff going on. And then I didn't know. I wasn't sure on this liquid life situation and what that might do to it, um, to the to the whole farm in general. So um, I know that he also had you know, he was also at some point he was going to turn those fields over. And once he turned those fields over, I knew that those deer were I mean, it was going to be like a ghost town as soon as that happened. I just had you know, I've been in that situation before where the fields get turned

over and it's like it's like a light switch. Get who gets you know, turned on or turned off because there's just nothing, you know, there's there's nothing there to eat. They're gonna go find something to eat. And I had a feeling one morning, well I got pictures of a cell camp and I just had a hunch, um where I'm where I thought he might be going back into bed that morning because it was like, um, maybe an

hour before it got light. And so I went in hunt a set and had him coming across the field through that waterway again but was coming over towards the wood lot and you and I felt like he was going to take this. You know, I've gotten some pictures of him over there before taking this one particular trail, and he had a couple of big rubs that just opened up over there, um that I've seen like a

couple of days prior to that. So I just went on a hunch because, like you know, sometimes just calling got you know, I've done that where I followed my gut and killed deer, and I've and and then I've had those gut feelings before where I didn't follow it and would have killed deer, I would follow it. So that's what I did that morning. I went in there and pung that set. He started coming right across that field, and the way he was coming in, I was like, man,

that's gonna be a fifteen yard shot. And about that time as he's coming across, I mean it's just breaking daylight. Um, here come the liquid lime trucks YEP. For three three days straight. It was semi after semi after semi of trucks.

It never let off, and he just kind of disappeared from the farm, and I was so frustrated at that point, um, and all that activity back there, I mean when all that was going on, I mean there was you know, the farmer and the side by side driving around back there, and I mean it's just I mean there's just so much activity back there. I was like, man, it's just no. I was so from I told but we have a

piece that we hunt out in Illinois. And and my buddy Heath was getting ready to go out there, and I said, I told him, I said, are you going out to Illinois that I am? I said, I think I need some new scenery or I'm gonna pull my hair out. I said, I think I'm gonna come out there and maybe hunt for a long weekend or something.

And then it got then not by now, you know, by that time, it's you know, last couple of days of October and the first couple of days in November, and it got really warm and and we were out there and it was like a it was like a ghost town. I mean, there wasn't much going on. Um, So it was kind of a you know, kind of busted little a little trip. Neither one of us had any luck I mean we were I mean it was so warm, it was um, it was an awful spell weather. Yes,

it was bad. Oh so yeah, sorry, continue well, so then I just came back after that, and um, I um, he kind of he just he went missing for a while, and I was just trying to locate where the heck you know he could be. And then my farmer he was getting ready to turn us fields over. And I knew that, you know, once that happened, that was going to be that was that was gonna really really hurt

that farm. So, um, I spent a lot of time driving around in glass and and then he started turning those fields over, and um it was, um, I'm located in and I I there was a couple of pieces I was gonna try to get permission on. When you say you located him, so you were driving around you glassed him in a field on some other property. Is that what happened? Yep? Yep, A glass last him on another property. Um, And I knew that I needed to

get access back in there. He was still showing up like at night, mostly on on the main farm, and but I knew I had to get permission. And so one day during during the day I went and knocked on some doors, got a real hard no my guy. I mean, like to the point where um, and act, it was making me mad just to talk to this guy, like, you know, the guy was ridiculous. Um, and then went

to another place. I gotta maybe I need to talk to my wife kind of thing about it, and then um, and then got a yes um and then then maybe turned into a yes. Later on that evening, the guy called me and he said, did, yeah, we're good. So I just had to go over there and get my permission slip. So what's your approach with this? Because because you've now done this two years in a row, you've you know, learned something about where this buck is and

then picked up additional access around it. That's you know, that's some extra work and extra stress that a lot of guys won't won't go through. Um. And and it seems like this is something that you know has worked for you. What's your approach to those door knocking scenarios? How do you what are you doing that's leading to you know, four yeses and two years in one relatively

small area. You must be doing something right. Um. I I guess my approaches is you know, I just go there and say, hey, look, I would you know I love the opportunity to hunt your property. I'll be honest with you, I'm I'm not interested and all the deer. I'm just interested in one deer kind of thing. And

you know, strictly just a bow hunter. And and a lot of times too, it always it always helps to maybe you know, maybe if you can do a little bit of research on the people to um, just the kind of maybe have some avenues, maybe some things maybe to um to talk about, get them comfortable with you. It always helps to like when you live, when you live in the area, so because that gets that seems like it always gets brought up. Well where do you live? That's it seems that always gets brought up. And so

that all that definitely helps UM. And you know, sometimes too UM maybe just hey, do you mind if I run a camera? You know, and don't even ask him for permission to hunt. But in this case, I I didn't have that, you know, I really needed to um. Well the one lady I did ask, hey, can I run a Can I run a camera? And but it was like when I put that camera out, UM, I think he was one of the first years showed up on it. So um it was I I think the very next day I was like, um, going right back

over there or whatever. And and and I think I was in there hunting and within the next couple of days after that or something. Um, but he was still like now we're talking like now it's you know, first going into the second week in November and so and man, he just seemed to be he was on his feet. He he actually showed back up on my buddy's place a couple of different times in between there and um, but thank god, by then he was tagged out. He had already shot a big tank of a buck and

and he was tagged out. And um, but he would just it was weird. It was like over there he would just show up for a day and then he then you're gone. And and for an older class, dear, it's kind of funny how much he would bounce around

on on these places. What's the distance we're talking about between some of these locations we're talking Is this like he came from this hundred acres to that hundred acres or is it like he traveled a mile or what I would say, Um, probably close to the mile probably, yeah, probably pushing them. Um, that he would travel from you know, the new permission that I got to you know, my buddy's place over there, and um and and these crossing some roads and stuff like that in between there too.

Um that that gets the traffic on them. So you know I had that worry too going on. Yeah. Yeah, So so how are you how are you basing your hunts now? Because you've got these two new extra properties. You have your main farm, if I if my memory is right, you've got these two other access points. You've got the year prior, You've got a lot of access now, you've got cameras across all of it. It sounds like

you've seen him in a handful of different places. Um. The first thing that comes to my mind now is like paralysis analysis um or analysis paralysis. Sorry, you've got a lot of options. You've got a deer that's moving all over the place during the rut. Um, how are you making decisions at this point about where to go?

Because I know that I've been in that kind of situation, not not the exact same, but you can sometimes be like chasing your tail where you get like a picture of him yesterday and You're like, Okay, I'm gonna go there, and then he's you know, half mile away. The next day, were you were you chasing trail camera pictures? Were you trying to predict where he would be and and go somewhere different than what the intel was telling you? You know, how did you how did you approach this next phase?

I was probably chasing trail camp pictures at this point more than anything, just because, um, because I knew that he was getting hooked up with those as well. So I knew that, um, you know a lot of times,

you know, like now, you know, we're in November. I just knew that that, you know, if he was in a spot and say I got pictures of him with the dough or something like that, then pretty good chance that, you know, I needed to be in there because um, more than likely he wasn't gonna be you know, pushing her very far, you know, from from that area. And

one evening I did set up. I did set up in there and set in this little ash tree, and I had a set really low because of the way that brush was in the in the cover there, and I just got in a couple just like a couple of sticks high and I was in this little crotch and um, I set up in there, and he came out of the neighbor's property, out of the thicket, and he was like frantically looking for his dough that he lost.

And he was now he's probably a hundred fifty yards away when he was doing this, and nothing I could do about it because he was over on on the neighbor's piece, and I knew that there was a little hunting that went on over there, so I never did try to get any permission on that piece. And so and he just he was just running all over the place and trying to find her, and UM, I just was trying to be I did have a lot, you know, like the pieces that I picked up were small, you know,

like one was five and one was six acres. I mean, so they're just small, little, tiny pieces. So I just had to, you know, just it was more about getting in a lot of SIPs and so that it's kind of what I was doing. And then um, and then at once and then I went out to Illinois for

three or four days. I was kind of trying to play the weather a little bit, and I went out there and I timed it perfectly, and I was just I was into I was in the Good Bucks every every day and ended up shooting um, a really nice ten point um when I was out there, and then came and then here's the funny thing. Um, I'm out there. I have a good friend that I stayed with when I when I'm remember I'm out there and him and I are out to eat and and I'm getting pictures

of Woody broad daylight pictures, and I showed him. He goes, what are you doing out here? And I'm like, man, I only got you know, like I don't have a lot of time in the year to come out here. I said, but you know, our season at home goes all the way until you know, the first Saturday in February, I got a lot of time to hunt out there, but I don't have a lot of time to hunt here. So I just figured to come out and I was

lucky enough. But you know, I made a short trip out of it and end up putting a good ten down And so I came back, got on got on him, um, and it just I wasn't seeing him in a whole lot, and I got pictures of him. One morning he was on a dough and you could tell him. You could tell he was with this dough. I went in there, Um it was after work hunt and he was real

early on that field the day before. Got in there, set up and him he came out on this dough like I mean it was it was probably three thirty, and followed her all the way across the field. Then they ended up working their way all the way back up to me, and it was a um. She worked her way straight to me, and I had to watch them make this slow walk all the way to me. Remember at one point, like I put my head down because I had myself so worked up. I said, I

can't look at him anymore. And he comes all the way in. Um, the dose starts to angle out. He's at yards and UM, I draw, and when I drew, I think he well, he heard he heard me draw. And then he ended up looking up at me when I was at full draw and shot right over his back and he ducked the arrow or the shot was high. I think it was both. I think the I think the shot was high, but he also watching because I

videoed it. Watching the footage, he also ducked. But I went through a weird situation this year where um, I'd shot a single pin for the last ten years, and then last year, one of my first elk hunt, I decided to put a five pin site on my bow because just um not ever elk hunting. It was the first time I remember el hunted, and I wanted to be I thought, well, I want to have multiple pins. I don't want to have to have a dial where

maybe I don't have the time to do that. You know, there's the uncertainty of the of an elk hunt kind of thing going on for me. And I had I'll just say this when I was in Illinois. The first morning I was there, I missed one high. The second and the third morning I was there, I hit one high through the tenderline. Um. And I'm just being real, and I just went through a bad I had some bad mojo or something going on this year. Now this buck wouldy you miss him high? So you had real

serious mojo problems at that point. How do you how did you handle that? I mean, I've been in a similar situation that is a low pit to date yourself out of. How do you how did you deal with it? Um? I tell you what Mark, I was so frustrated with that whole thing. Um, I I mean as soon as I missed that shot, as soon as he took off of that dough out on there or whatever. It's funny too, because it wasn't shortly after I missed him, like they run out into the field a little bit, he started

dogging that dough again, then they were gone. I just got down immediately, and I was so frustrated. I mean, it was only like I think I missed that, dear. It's probably four o'clock or something that evening when I missed him. I was back at the house and swing because my wife came in back here and she's like, I thought you were hunting tonight. I said, all I already did, and she's like, what do you mean. I'm like, I'm missed him. She's like, oh, are you kidding me.

I'm like no, I'm like, I gotta started because something's going on. And UM, well, what I figured I was doing, I was I was going in the backyard all the time, and I was just um, I was shooting my forty yard pin all the time, is is what I was practicing all the time. And I had I had a twenty that was green a thirty that was read and a forty that was green, and I was just going

in the backyard. And what I was doing throughout the whole season, you know, I would just take a couple of shots before I went out and hunting, and I think what I was doing, um, and I mean, just to be real, because this is really what I did. Is I think that I was shooting that forty yar tin, practicing and all the time. So then when the moment of truth would happen, I would go straight to that forty.

That makes sense, default to the to the to the usual kind of automatic process, right, I mean that moment when it's so hard to be thinking through everything, your body just switched to what I had been doing. Yeah, I mean that's that's what I was doing, and and and but here's the funny thing. It didn't dawn on me when I was at home. The true story I got up that that night in the middle of the

night is about one thirty. I got up in the middle of night to go take a leek, and and I'm literally staying, I'm like, oh, I know what I'm doing. It just dawned because I couldn't. I was thinking about that you know, like I was just thinking the bed and I woke up, and I was just thinking about the whole the whole thing, and you know, and just because those opportunities are just so far and few, and when you get one, you gotta make it count, like

you can't, you know, can't. You can't have stuff like that because there's a good chance, you know that you might not might not get another chance like that. So I got up that very next morning, and I tell you what I took that. I took that site off my bow. I put that I had a spot hog single pen that used for a long time, and I put that thing right back on, got that thing dialed in and got back to what I was comfortable with. And and and uh and I was, you know, shooting great,

you know. And but he disappeared for about four days, like no pictures, no sightings. He wasn't showing up by my buddy's place, wasn't showing up on the main farm, none of the other spots, like he was definitely missing for a while. And it I kind of backed off and was just kind of waiting for him to show kind of backed up, and my farmer buddy calls me and was on and I believe in the November, he

calls me. He says, hey, because in the evening he said, he goes, somebody just hit a deer out here, he said, and uh, he said, I think it was a buck. I'm like, you gotta be shipping me. So I drive over there and the guy hit a deer. I went over to talk to him, and I had asked him, you know, like I said, was it a boker dough? I said a buck. I was like, was it a big buck or you know, I'm like, this guy's hit a deer, you know, trucks all smashed up and yeah.

And he's like, I don't know. I'm not a hunter. You know, it looked like a big buck to me, you know, but you know how that could be. You know, it could be it could be a hundred inch deer or two deer, you know like that. So we jumped on the side by side, his side by side, and we drove around. We were looking out through the fields and everything else, and then stayed had a trollman game, and then he was helping us and we were looking for the deer and stuff like that, and um hm,

so I couldn't find the deer anywhere. So the next morning, I get up to go to work, and um, typically my morning consists of getting up in the morning and it's like, um, during during season, I don't I don't try to. I don't get up and like workout or anything like that during the hunting season because it's like I don't have time. I like it's all about hunting at that point. Like I come back to that later

in the in the in the year. But typically I get up in the morning, makes a cup of coffee and just look at truck camp pictures from sell camps, and I got I got up that morning and had some stuff going on on a job. Um. And because um, I'm a I've run our operations for a commercial construction company and and are I was already mornings, already have the shoes on jobs. So I was on the phone to barely get in the shower that morning to get

out the door. Um. And so I never had a chance. Well, I pulled into the farm, um on my drive and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna pull back there and just see if I can't see what dear that was. And when I pulled back into the farm to look um, I seem deer laying in Fencer and

I'm like, oh, there's a deer over there. And it was like right on the right next to the trees, that the tree that I set up on on the second night of season where I had almost killed him, and I put my buyos and it was a buck and it was a movement, and I was like, was that the buck that was hit? You know? Then it turns, it turns its head and I'm like, that's woody. So I sat there watching him for just a little bit and I pulled my phone out and I looked and I was like, oh, man, kind of a good wind.

I started thinking like and then I didn't have a meeting till nine that morning, will work, So I'm well, I can give this. I can give this a try. In the worst case, I bumped him and putting back over across the street where I think he's more killable. Anyways, were you thinking that he was Were you thinking that he had been hit and that he was laying down there injured or it was that not what you were thinking. I was thinking he was either hit and injured, laying there,

or just randomly betted up there for the night. And got kind of stuck in that spot. It is the only thing that I could think of, or because because I couldn't see any other deer that was with it. So um, I backed my truck up through my stuff on. Keep in mind, I got work pants on, you know, like I got I um like, you know, work cheekings on, and and um throw my boots on, grab my buying, no harness and the whole nine yards. And I thought, you know what, I'm gonna try it. What do I

have to lose? So I just I had a wind that was just blown, you know. I went across me and out to the wide open field, and he was I was. I was east coming west and he was looking west. So I've never done it before, and I thought why not? So I started in and I just kind of pecked my way along and I would, you know, glassing, my ranging, my glassing, and about sixty or seventy yards into that into the stock, I noticed he was better with a doll. I didn't. I couldn't see the dough

before until I got that far. But she was facing looking west too, and so I just kept on creeping crawling up through there. Just took my time and everything was wet from the night before too, so that was kind of the ideal situation. And it was a little bit breezy too that morning, so um, and I just I just kept on and kept on, and I got to twenty eight yards and I thought, man, I'm gonna try to you know, I need to try to get an arrow on the steer because I'm afraid I can't.

I'm afraid I'm not gonna be able to get any closer than that. And at one point he turned his head and he started looking. If he would have kept bringing his head all the way back around, he would have nailed me. And he just stopped and didn't. And then he took his head and moved it back towards looking towards the dough. And it's weird. Um, I've never I've never shot a deer from the ground. Especially I've never shot one laying down, So I mean, angles are

completely different. Um, And where you're going to place this arrow? Because I always like to think too, like whenever I'm shooting an animal, where is it going to exit? You know? I think that's I think a lot of times that's that's probably a big thing that we need to think about when shooting an animal is where it's going to exit just just as as much as anything. UM. So it's just weird, you know. So I just kind of

picked the spot. And here's what's funny. Is like when I was trying, when I was at full drawing, I'm trying to move my body into position. UM, it was covering you know, what was covering up um part of his vitals was some branch is that I had trimmed off those trees when I hunt the irony. So I kind of moved around um and let it fly, and I knew I made a I knew I made a good solid hit on him, and and he ran down and then just kind of went into this other little

section wow. Um and the dode took off with him and they ran down through there. And so then real quick, real quick, before you only further, I gotta get a sense of how you handled that moment of truth coming off of you know, the three you know, prior tough situations with the shots, and then you ripped off the site, put the new site on your shooting differently than you have been all year. Um, Like what was going through your mind when you finally have this set an opportunity

after all of this bad mojo. Were you just on autopilot again and you weren't even thinking about that stuff or did you have a I don't know what was like your inner dialogue during this, because I feel like this is incredibly high stakes after a lot of tough you know, adversity had to push through. This is like, this is a moment. What was going on during this moment?

I'll tell you what I'll be My my mind was in a a in a place of like of almost like almost like an angry state of mind of like just get it done, just get the job done, like this is it, just get it done? Like I wasn't. Um, I wasn't like when I had to watch him when I'm missing that time when I when I had to watch him come all the way across the field and everything. Man, I had myself rattled numerous times in that moment. This I wasn't like that. I was in a different I

was in a different state of mind. And I'm kind of and I would say this, I don't know if this happens to you, Like, um, there's times where certain dear, certain situations whatever, Sometimes Um, I get worked up I mean, I get fired up to where I can just hear my I can hear my heart beat in my ears. And then there's other times that I just don't get like that. Sometimes I just get into like a you know, get it done kind of deal. I kind in my

house called it business time. It's just like you're just locked in. It's how I feel like in those moments, just get it done. I agree, yeah, And that's kind of how I was, you know that, you know, I was dead side in my head of like he's not getting out of your without geting narrow and there's no way. And um, I think you know, you know that that kind of you know, helped the situation really instead of like I think I had to build up what I'm missed him two. Um, I think I missed that dear

for uh numerous reasons. Um, not just you know, poor shooting on my part or using the wrong pin or whatever. But I think too, like I built that moment up in my head. And then when the moment, especially when you're hunting one a specific deer and have long history like that, you you it's easy to build that up in your head where now here is the moment of truth, and like now you've got to make it happen. And and when you got to watch them for a long

time like that too, it doesn't help at all. So I think in this moment, it was all like and I was moving, you know, Um, I was moving and not being and I wasn't forced to be stationary to where when I did make a move it was drawn my boat, get the pin on him the whole nine yards. Um. So I think that just I don't know. I think I had a different state of mind and and I think I think that helped a lot. So he got the shot. You said, they ran off in another direction.

Uh it was this the nice easy recovery we all dream of? Or was there was there more to the story? So um, So after that, I went, Now, keep in mind, I had a I had a meeting at nine thirty, So I went back to my UM and then drove back to the house, sat in my truck and took my I had a a teen's meeting UM for a project. And and it's kind of it's kind of funny that my boss and I were good friends, and and he made a joke kind of he made some kind of

wisecrack or something meeting. Oh, somebody had asked me something about getting them over some some information or something. I said, yeah, I send it over to you, and and he had said, yeah, he probably already have it over to you. He said, but his dog his deer hunting, and and he said and he he said something along the line. He's like, he was like, yeah, but he can't he can't get it done this year or something along you know. He was busting my jobs about something about me not being

able to get my dear this year or whatever. I said, well, it's funny you say that. I said, I just shot him and uh, he said no. I said, yeah, I did he go send me a picture. I said, I ain't even found him yet. I said, I had to get on this call. Oh man, So I called a buddy after that, and then um, yeah, so no, it was. Um it is a pretty quick recovery, um founding. Um

didn't take us very long to find him. And and it's funny, Um, you know, it's just a it's a bitter sweet thing when you've known of a deer that long, um got all this history with them, and then chase him for an entire season like that, and everything is just it's kind of a weird thing. I can't. I mean, I'm sure a lot of guys I know this feeling, but it's you know, you're never going to get to see him again or trail camp pictures again or whatever.

And so it was it was funny because it's like, um, on the recovery and then like even taking some pictures and stuff of him and everything too, it was almost kind of like, ah, this is this is what I've been waiting for. But it's a but it's a very bitter sweet moment for whatever reason. Yeah, it's it's uh, like we were talking about earlier today, it's it's um. It's the ending of something that was so much fun.

You feel a little empty though when that thing is actually done, Like I've always found, like like you said, like you're glad to happen, but the same time you want to keep going um because it's just such a such a cool thing to get to follow these animals and studying them and hunt them and wonder and think and strategize and and see him every once in a while or a lot, and and build that I don't know if relationships the right word, but you build some

kind of connection. Um, yeah, I mean I can definitely can definitely relate to that. And I'm curious with you if you're like me. I've realized with myself, like I need what I found my weird obsession, Like I've I've almost need to have one at least that like I'm

I'm chasing. It's like I'll kill one of these deer that I've been after for years, and then like the very next day, I'm like, Okay, now it's gonna be this buck and I'm like already studying pictures and I'm out glassing or something like I almost have like a rebound like getting over a breakup or something like immediately after I'm back out here because I need to like

be thinking about the next one. My wife's always so confused, like you just kill the deer yesterday, Why do you need to get out watching again tomorrow or hunt tomorrow or whatever. I'm like, you know, I just I gotta just want to keep it going a little bit. You like that, Oh, I'm a d percent like that for sure. I get right back into it and I'm already like thinking about the next one. And and um, I was just telling a buddy what we got talking about the

same exact thing. And I said, and I said, I'll be honest with him, a little depressed, I said, because I don't going into the next year, I don't know if I don't have a whole lot. I think two two of the other two of the other bucks I was excited about maybe hunting next year, I think they're both dead. So um, um, so right now it's not looking very that that part of the very promising. But uh, yeah,

that's fun, you know, that's the fun of it. Um. Also, it is like, you know, I always like, you know, I think I enjoy, you know, trying to find, you know, new ground to hunt, new bucks to hunt. Um. I always think it's you know, it's always it's always exciting when you get a new new piece to hunt and you don't know anything about it. And um, you know, I I don't know, I've probably probably got probably over twenty five bucks that would probably you know, probably gross

over or whatever. And I think over the years, I think I'll bet you, I'll bet you out of that, I'll bet you eighteen of them all came from different properties over the years. Um, just because you know, just because of a piece of ground produced a good deer one year. I mean, it might be another three years before it does again. So I think, you know, you always have to be looking for you know, another piece, um and um and trying to find you know, new ground,

you know, the hunt. M Because if I just stayed stationary on on what I've had for you know, you know, say I was talking two or three different farms for the last or ten years or whatever, um, that gets kind of boring for me. Um. I like a new challenge and I like to I like to find new stuff to to be able to you know, dive into and learn. You know, your buddy, your buddy Andy May Um, he intrigued me on the fact that how quickly he can go out of state and um and get on

good bucks on new ground. UM. That I enjoy listening and until a lot of his stuff because UM, you know, I think that's the other part of this whole journey too, that you go on. It's like you need a lot of really good people over the years, and um, you know, and I me and Andy had chatted a little bit and then just you know, some of my buddies and stuff like that, where you know, you you picked up

a lot of different things. And I think that's probably one of the cool things about you know, you know, I think you're you know, you're the o G of the the whole podcast, the whole hunting podcast thing. It's you know, I would have died to have this information

when I was first starting off. I mean, the infesting that guys have now is just um man, I mean I just used to you know, I'm just trying to pick up magazines and trying to pick up tips from you know, other you know, the just good hunters and stuff along the way. Like I think that's the other part of it too, is like is you know, always keep looking for new dirt and always and be open minded to uh you know, uh taking a tip and listen to somebody and trying something out. And I think

I think that's the fun of it. I think, yeah, yeah, there's a lot of a lot of truth to that. Um Speaking of that, you you you recently posted over on Instagram about some of your your greatest influences when it came to bow hunting, like your most impactful mentors of sorts. When you look at this hunt specifically and the things you did, the decisions you made, things that

happened along the way. Is there any one of your mentors or any other person you know who shared information with you or that you picked up something from kind of like you were just talking about, is there anyone whose insights or guidance you know, lad you or had

the most impact on this hunt. Is there any any one of those people you've got something from over the years that kind of comes to mind, like, Yeah, you know, if it hadn't been for X person telling me this or for me learning this thing from that guy, probably never would have killed this buck. Is there any connection like that when you look back, I would say probably.

They're the kind of two parted. Um. You know, I always look back at the old articles and interviews and stuff like that with Miles Keller, and you know, I felt like Miles was kind of like the he was a master at like, you know, finding finding big deer on new properties, and and Miles was a little bit in regards to like you know, we were just talking about Andy. Um, you know, Miles would find these big deer and I mean he'd have them down in three or four days, I mean quick hunt kind of thing.

But um, you know, he but that's one thing that he was always out. He that's what he was always out doing, and was always out trying to locate um big deer. Not not so much just like wow, that looks like a good piece of property. UM. A lot of times he was visually seeing these deer and stuff like that. And I think that's when I think that's how he killed. He killed a state record in Wisconsin

was an eight point um that way years ago. UM. I think that's that's one part of it, you know, like for me, like you know, um, you know, like this hunt going back and you know what, he's making some different moves and stuff like that and just trying to you know, um, gain access to new properties. Um. UM. I would say that's, you know, maybe something I took for miles um um. But then the other part of it is, you know, I always go back to this is is being mobile and that uh that was you

know Andre, hands hands down. He showed me that whole world um and really has helped me, you know, early on, understand the importance of being mobile, being unpredictable um um, being persistent um. Because he's sixty two now and that guy still hunts almost every single day. UM. I just talked to him today and he's still He's still out there grinding a way after wants to take their buck. I mean, the dude hunts, trust me. I go through his footage every year and he hunts every day. I

mean it's nuts like so, he he's a grinder. So I would say some of that too, just you know, being persistent grinding um, you know, not not giving up until you get the job done. So what do you learn from this hunt when you look back a few years from now and you think back on with this, dear, Tacha, is there is there anything that stands out yet in your mind? I would say it's probably the biggest thing would be UM. I think we all tend to think

that these big mature books always used the wind. And this is not the first time that I've seen this, but he's definitely the one that I've seen UM use a visual way more than he ever used the wind to his advantage. UM. That dear, I've never seen a mature buck walked with the wind but as much as I did that one. But it's I think it probably more had to do with the fact that of the terrain that that buck was staying in. UM. I think if you would have took that, dear, say, you know,

he would have been in hell country. I think he would have been using a lot of thermals, you know, um a little more, you know, rolling hills, farmland. Um, you know, he you know, might have been you know using that you know, uh that quarter and two wind or something like that or whatever. But I just think this, dear, I think the big thing and is just being he had so um he could visually see so much. I think that's that that was his game and it kept him alive for you know, five or six years of

doing it. So I guess it's a good I was gonna say, it's a good reminder to never assume a deer is gonna do like the thing they're supposed to do. Like every deer's an individual, and no rule applies to every deer in every situation. You always hear, oh, you know, they want to have the wind in their favor to some way, and all these things. And you know, if you if you always operate like it's always going to

be like that, you are going to miss opportunities. You do need to constantly be looking for the you the the exceptions to the rule. You can't factor anything. You can't write anything off before you can confirm or one way or the other. Yeah, And I think that's why

it's so like just to become a better hunter. I think it's um uh, you know, I just think it's that's why it's always it's alway is good to just you know, listen to other successful hunters or or even guys that are starting to have a lot of success and stuff like that. Maybe day've caught onto something and you know, and and trying to trying to pick up trips of the trades. You know, I've been I've been in the trades for my my entire career. You know, I never went to college. I got out of high

school and went straight into the trades. And the trades. Trades to me is a is a lot like you know in some regards of being um, a good white tail hunter, Like as you learn the trades, you learn the trips of the trade, and and you you know, as you go along, um, you you hone your skills

over the years. And and I think a lot of times a lot of that stuff comes from, you know, others that you had worked around or in this case, others that you'd you know, Um, you heard say things and you tried to mimic it, and and um, seeing what works for you and and and what and what didn't. But I always think about a tradesman and a woodsman, that's the same thing. Yeah, it's an interesting comparison. Ye. Speaking of the yeah, the the yes, tricks of the

trade that are particularly popular right now. One of those is, you know, this strong dependence a lot of folks have on cell cameras now because they're they're an incredible tool. Um, a lot of people are using them. I'm using them too. Um. But we mentioned you mentioned to me before we started recording that you had a little bit of an aha moment in regards to your very own camera dependence with this dear, Um, can you share the at what you kind of what you realized after the hunt and what

that maybe touch you to. Yeah, so if so. A couple of weeks after I had had shot Woody, I had pulled a cell cam and and when I was going through the SD card because sometimes you don't always get every picture sent to you, or maybe you were buzzing through them real quick, um, because maybe you have multiple cameras or whatever. So when I was looking through this SD card. I had had pictures of Woody at four five a m. That morning, um and on the on the farm that I killed him on, but in

a different spot of the farm. And the only reason that I pulled into that farm that morning was because I was really trying to confirm whether or not the deer bade it and um and what and that he was laying out there in the field somewhere. And if if I would have, if I would have seen those pictures, I doubt I would have ever pulled in there that morning. I probably would have went straight into work, and I probably would have tried to figure out a spot to

set up on for that evening. And and it's it goes back to you know, you get so dependent and on these on these cameras all the time. It's like, well, whatever the camera tells you, that's how you make your next move. And I think it's just a huge mistake. And if I wouldn't have, if I would have went off the if I would have went off that off that camera and not haunted, I may not have had that deer yet. I may not have killed that deer at all this year. And I think that we make

they're a great tool. And like you said, I mean we're both using them and and they're just they're a great tool. But I think, um, boots on the ground, you know, uh, a lot of glass. I don't think there's anything that replaces those two sex. They still I mean, just like any camera, they still just give you a

tiny window into what's going on. And I think the funny thing with cell cameras is that because of that added benefit of giving you, you know, these quick updates and you can see what's happening day by day, we're lured into this false sense that they're more powerful than they really are. Like they seem like super cameras compared to regular trail cameras, and so a lot of folks now, I think are just like sitting back and waiting for the pictures, and then as soon as you get the pictures,

they go. And I'm I'm willing to bet that cell

cameras have led to a whole lot of bucks getting killed. Yeah, absolutely, but I bet you they've led to maybe just as many bucks not getting killed because guys just aren't going out there the way like you just said, with boots on the ground or glass and eyes on eyes across the field and instead of just like overly dependent on a ten by fifteen yard window and hoping they see something that tells them what they need and they're completely you know, forgetting about how important it is to steal,

you know, get that full frame of you. And uh. I imagine there's going to be like a recalibration in the coming years. Is we've kind of gotten like people have started using them a lot now and now they're very widespread and use I think people are gonna starting to realize like, Okay, I can't this is not a silver bullet, even though it's great tool, it's you can't

you can't be so dependent. I think there's going to be like a not a blowback, but there'll be people refiguring it out now and realizing like, Okay, there's certain ways the things work and there's certain ways that they're still not going to be that magic bullet. And um, and I'm certainly seeing that myself too well. And here's a little story to that. A friend of mine. Um,

this is probably about probably eight or ten years ago. Now, no, maybe not that long, because probably it's probably five or six years ago. So you had a farm and there was a giant on this farm. There's in another state the steer whoa world class mega giant. I mean the

deer was around Um. He had a couple of cell camps and then he had a couple regular camps on the farm, and he was not getting any pictures that deer in s cell camps and the other cameras, the standard SD cards cameras were more towards the interior portion of the farm. One was like in a um uh, there's a big fence row that came down, I kind of bottled necked everything down and he had one down there.

He wasn't getting any pictures of that deer. So he didn't go in there and hunt that deer that year, and that buck was later found dead after after season. Um, they don't know what happened to it. And he checked those cameras, those standard dusty cameras in there, and the whole month in November that year had been coming through

that that that little bottleneck like every other day. And if he would have, if he would have just went in there and hunted and just got a visual of it, because and here's the other thing about that deer, which was so weird, is the deer didn't make a lot of big sign There wasn't a lot of big sign in there as far as big rubs stuff like that.

It was just mediocre signed. And then even upon finding the deer, the deer, if you've seen this deer's hoof, you would think it was like a big dough because it just didn't have that big, massive, four finger hoof. And I've seen that other mature bucks before, where you know, a big track doesn't lie. It's usually a big deer, but some times, um you know that sometimes in some ways it can because some of them, you know, I mean some people are just bigger than other people, you know,

um uh. And that's what this deer, you know. And he got so dependent um um on just those cameras and particularly those cell cams. He never went and hunted that deer. They found that dear dead and shed season. It was like two forty something inches, just a slammer as a heartbreaker. Yeah, you know, it's I keep on I kept on reminding myself this past year something that Mark Drey said to me earlier this year, which was was, yeah,

like these these cameras are are great. The cell cameras can give you some very very valuable information much quicker than usual. But there are certain times in places when you need to be the camera. And I kept telling myself that. I kept on reminding myself that I've got to be the camera, like I can't be too dependent on these things. I've gotta remember, like you gotta be

the camera sometimes. And you know, the one of the bucks I killed this year, it was it was exactly a situation like this where I've been debating, like should I wait until I get a daylight picture of him showing back up like he'd been gone for a month, And I kept on wanting to get confirmation he was back. And then I kept on debating back and forth, should I just go for it when the conditions are right, or do I need to wait till I know for

sure he's here? And like that phrase just kept popping up in my mind, like be the camera, Be the camera, and you know, everything else lined up, perfect annual pattern, blah blah blah blah blah. I told myself, I gotta be the camera, and sure enough, Uh I got a picture of that night, and uh it's it's I think something that was a good lesson learned for sure. I mean some of the couple of my probably favorite podcast ever was a couple of different times that you had

marketing on. Yeah. Man, he's so methodical and he's so uh he can explain. He just he has a way of explaining things that, um just you know, make a lot of sense. I remember years ago, H'm saying that, you know, when I started to get like into like doing food plots and stuff like that, because I love doing all that kind of stuff. And I remember years ago he said, you know, you you you plan a food plot, per the tree, per the access. And I'm telling you I've used that, um uh quite a bit

over the years. I haven't shot a lot of deer on food plots, but I've set up a lot of places that way. Um and it does and it works, and you can I mean instead of I mean, ah, I don't know. The guy's just super methodical about a lot of the things that that his approaches. And the people like, you know, there's people out there to give them, you know, grief and stuff like that and say, oh they've got these you know, manicure charms and stuff like that. But to me, I think Mark Jerr is a smart guy.

I think he Uh, I think again. It was a methodical plan, and the methodical plan was of he's a smart businessman. He put himself in position because he knew that he wanted to make enough money to buy his own ground to be able to hunt the caliber and

gear that he truly wants to go after. So if if, if, if there's something wrong and working hard and and put putting yourself in the the right place, and if there's something wrong in that, then like us, I'm I'm probably gonna be wrong a lot because I can't fault him for them that hard work. No, No, because you know that whole you know what they've done with Drewy outdoors in general. I mean, I mean, um, that took a lot of hard work. It had to, if I can

only imagine, no doubt about that. Uh Well, speaking of of door media, I did wonder did you end up capturing the end of this hunt on film? Were you able to sell film that somehow? Or if not? Or I guess either way. Are we going to get to see an episode of this someday? Yeah? So, Um I have, um, I have everything except for the kill shot. UM, I have my mess, I have my full draw I have

other encounters, but I didn't that morning. I had no way to film it, um because all I had was my my, my, my video camera on my with my with my camera arms so and honestly, I it was kind of um you know, I filmed the recovery and all that kind of stuff and everything afterwards. But um, I I got lucky take it when it comes your way. You know, that was luck, you know that. Like I said, that was the first time I had ever shout a deer off the ground, first time I've ever stalked one.

But boy, I could see where that could be addicting, you know, Like I could see why guys get addicted to like stalk and mule deer and stuff like that. Because I mean that was m You know, it kind of got me thinking, like me and I need to get out of Weston on a you know, spot and stock mmulity or hunt. I think they'd be kind of fun. Yea, yeah, you gotta be careful, they'll be new addictions awaiting you

real quick. Where. Uh. I went on an elk hunt last year or last year and yeah, last year, and I got one coming up in Wyoming this year, So um, yeah, I could see myself getting pretty addicted to that. Yeah, that's does That's that's pretty awesome. Well we're uh where, Justin, where should folks head to see that episode? Whenever it's available in all the rest of the the content you guys have got coming out, so um, all of our White Tail Addictions UM episodes are on our lowermost custom

gear YouTube channel. You can go there. You got our website, um any you know Instagram or um Facebook, um, you can find all that there um uh or or the only thing that I really do on social media anymore. It's just Instagram stuff at Mason's day at nineteen um um.

But yeah, perfect, Well, Uh, I appreciate we went longer than I expected to starry for keeping you so late tonight, but there's some good stuff we gotta too there and uh, you know, when you get get us talking about this kind of stuff, it's hard to shut up sometimes, so

so thank you Justin for sharing this. Well. I kind of felt bad because we went so long, but it's kind of a it's to tell the entirety of it, and it's a kind of long drawing out process and all the ups and downs that come along with it. Oh yeah, Well, as far as I'm concerned, those are the best kinds of hunts, the long, drawn out, years long sagas like this, full of ups and towns and uh tough moments in between, and uh that one final highest highest. So this is this is great and awesome,

awesome buck, awesome story. Thank you for sharing and congratulations, what a what a heck of a deer and accomplishment. Thanks man, I really appreciate it. Let's let's do another one of these in a year or two when you get the next big one done. All right, I'll try, all right, justin thank you, all right, and that is it.

Thank you for tuning in. Just a reminder, I know the season is done for many of you, but we are still pumping out lots of white tail content over on the meat Eater dot com, so check out the website for our latest written articles. Make sure to be following along with Tony's Foundations series every Tuesday. He's got those new shorter episodes here on the wire Hunt podcast feed. He's got some great topics in mind for the coming weeks and months here in the off season, so definitely

don't miss those. Uh heading over to the Mediator YouTube channel if you want to scratch that hunting and fishing itch here in the winter, there's all sorts of new fishing shows, hunting shows. There's gonna be some new stuff from our buddies over on the Element coming out on the Mediator channel here in the coming months with some of their white tail hunts from this past year. Uh

one week in November. The show that I was filming this past November, that will come out later this year over there as well, So stay tuned for all that. And I think that's it. Thanks for listening. I appreciate you being here with me. I'm excited to be kicking off this new year with you, sharing my experiences and those of all the great guests that we have here on the show. Along with you, It's gonna be a good year. Let's keep it moving. Thanks for being here. Until next time, State Wired to hun