Ep. 623: Shawn Luchtel’s Lessons Learned Hunting a 6.5 Year Old Buck Named Caesar

Al Right, Welcome to the Wired Hunt podcast, brought to you by First Light, and this week we're continuing our Big Buck Breakdown series, in which we are chatting with hunters who have been in the midst of years long up and down hunts for one specific buck. We're trying to get into the minds of these people who have dedicated themselves to chasing after to studying, to learning, to patterning, to obsessing in one way or another over a deer and putting all their energy behind it, trying to figure

that deer out and getting a shot at it. We've chatted with a couple hunters already with great stories. We've learned some interesting things. We've got to foul along with our sagas, and today we're continuing that with a story from Sean Luctel. Sean is a Missouri bow hunter. He's a guy that probably a lot of you are familiar with. We've had him on the show in the past. He's one of the co hosts and founders of Heartland bow Hunter. Terrific show, great work they've been doing over the years.

And we have a story today of a deer that Sean called Caesar, and it's a story that he recently shared this past fall on their YouTube channel and a really great film or episode, whatever you wanna call it. But I wanted to peel back the layers of this story, get deeper into it, get deeper into his mindset, figure out what he was thinking about throughout this hunt, how we handled those ups and downs and speed bumps along

the way, how he made decisions. You know, what was he thinking when he did this thing and that thing, and when the buck did this, how did he react to it? I want to know the naty gritty. I think that's an interesting way that we can learn more as hunters from these firsthand accounts. So that's the game plan today. I don't want to beat around the bushes at all. I just want to get into this story

because it's a good one. So without any further ado, here's Sean lucktell of Heartland bow Hunter with the story of Caesar. Al right back with me on the show we got Sean Luctell. Sean, welcome back. Hey, thanks for having me. I think it's probably been about I don't know it was it a year ago that we last spoke. I think I'm here something like that. Yeah, um, And I think did you end up coming on rot Fresh Radio this year with Casey or Tyler at all? Or was that last year last time you were a guest

on that too. I believe it was last year. I don't think it was. I know this past fall. Okay, then it must have been. I think Mike maybe came on to talk about Ohio or Colorado or something like that. Yeah. Well, it's it's always good to get to catch up, especially this time of year like a t A. I was just telling someone the other day about um one of the times way back in the day when we were all young at A t A. And I think you

were here for this night, Sean. But if you weren't telling me, but I was just telling someone the story of you know, like two thousand nine or ten or something at a t A and I was at you know, I don't know, a restaurant or bar, and Brian Craft was there, Mike was there. I'm pretty sure you were there, and yeah, okay. So we're sitting there talking and someone you know, asked the question where where's everybody staying to night? And you guys are, oh, we're at this hotel and

Brian's like, I'm at this hotel. And then it gets to me. I'm like, wow, I'm sleeping the back of my wife's ford, focus on the parking crotch and uh. That night Brian insisted that I'm not sleep in the car, and he got a cot and put in his hotel room and let me stay in his in his hotel room. But it was the story that in mind when I was thinking the other day, but how far things have come since the early days when I couldn't even afford

a hotel room. So good memories I was before, right before we started this, that was that crossed my mind, Like, well, first off, a cross my mind like, huh, March not an a t A. I'm not an a t right now I wonder, you know why, And then I was thinking of that exact time, but I had forgotten the part about you in your car. But as soon as you said that, I remember that. And yeah, we have

definitely all come along ways. It's crazy. Yeah it's pretty wild, but we're still chugging along, still obsessed with deer and uh, we've got slightly better sleeping accommodations, so we're in the right direction. But but yeah, this is a great excuse to get to talk again and catch up because we're doing this series, as you know, UM, covering these you know,

these exceptional long hunts for specific bucks. And you had a great story you guys shared recently over in your YouTube channel about this hunt you had for a buck called Caesar Um that lasted you know, years long, you and your dad getting to know this, dear, and I love that film you put together, and I thought this would be a really interesting story to to dive even deeper into, because you guys did a great job of

you know, showing that visually. UM. But there's so many questions I had along the way about what was going on in your mind, you know, how did you make this decision of that one what were you thinking on

this day? You know, how did all this stuff build up? So, so that's what I was hoping to do today, if you're down for it is to is to go through that story again and then pick it apart, you know, decision by decision and really see what we can learn about you know, how you were able to figure this dear out, how you approach the hunt, uh, and you know what you think ultimately led to that success. So so that's my hope for today. Does that that sound good? Yeah,

that's that sounds great. I'm glad that we're doing this. Um it is a fifty minute long episode or film if you would call it. UM. But yeah, there's there's only so much that we can fit into there. There's obviously not every aspect of aspect of um what goes into this that's that's captured in that film. Um, that just isn't physically possible. And like you said, the things that are going through my mind definitely aren't aren't all covered in that in that film. So I'm happy to

do this. Yeah, it's an amazing too. Like fifty minutes is a long you know, online video like that's basically like like a like a movie, and still, and still, you can only get the tiniest little bit you know, of the story and everything that actually happened in there. It's so hard to convey you know, hours and hours and weeks and weeks and years of this stuff into

this little bite sized chunk. I'm always frustrated when I'm trying to do that and you can never get it out there in a complete way that tells the entire story. You just kind of have to like deliver a sense of it. Um. So it's kind of fun to get to dive in further with this kind of thing. So I guess to to start, Sean, if people haven't seen the film, I kind of want to get a picture for them in their mind of of what this dear is all about, just so they have like an image

as we start, you know, exploring the story. Can you paint a picture for me of this deer of you know, his age, his body size, what does antlers look like, any defining characteristics, just so so we've got that image as we go. How would you describe this dear you called Caesar? Yeah, so Caesar. We we nicknamed him that when he was gosh, two and a half and at the time, I thought he was three and a half.

Looking back through all the photos and once all of our data has been gathered over the years, um and came to the conclusion that he was, in fact only two and a half when he first UM started really taking note of him, and I don't know. His rack was very similar to another book, which we ended up calling Twin Tin Um. So as both of these bucks were at a young age, they looked very similar, just basically typical tins at the time, and I mean their

racks looked like a crown. And so he was more distinguishable from a more distinguishable from Twin ten because his brows curled, but with his rack just looking like a typical crown, I was like, well, I don't really want to call him the king, Um, I don't really want to call him prince or anything like that, because I have already had already nicknamed the buck prince and whatnot. And the thought of just like the king or whatever you want to call it, the ruler of the area,

Caesar came to mind. I was like, I'll call him that Caesar sounds great. And so really he just had a fairly typical ten point rack at a young age with these very distinguishable curl brows that kind of curled outward a little bit. And um, that was obviously the most distinguishable characteristic of his rack throughout the span of his life and up until I shot him at six and a half years old. Yeah, and in like, would

you say he's super heavy? He's not crazy wide, but just like kind of like, don't I has to say tight, but like tall, taller, taller and slightly tighter and heavy is kind of how I would like imagine him. And then those awesome brow tons. Um is that about right? Would you say? Yeah, he was actually tight? You're not taken away from he was like I think fifteen and a half inches wide. Still kind of shocked me. Um. But after so we didn't even cover this in the film.

After I killed him and everything, we gutted him and then hung him up. And where we hang him up, I have a scale attached to that and we weigh every every book that we shoot while every deer for that for that matter, and record the weight, um and gutted and this is uh. I think I killed him on October seventeenth. I believe that was the date, maybe the eighteenth, can't remember one of those two days. But anyways,

a mental late October buck um. Typically they're pretty well rounded out on peak wait for the fall, and he weighed I think in the one eighties. I want to say, I was shocked. So he was a very for six and after a buck um at almost peak weight of the fall he was. He was pretty pretty lightweight, short body. And that's that's why so I believe that's what made his rack look even bigger than it really was. Um

was just because he had a smaller body. And um, I think it just goes to show, you know, like not every buck um it's just gonna be like this giant two d fifty pound animal. Um. And they're just I mean, they're just like humans. Some some humans have genetics to be bigger bodied, some humans like myself a little smaller frame. Yeah, yeah, that's true. But he's he's

an impressive animal. I mean he's even though without that massive, massive body like when you see him on film, I'm sure in person he still was just a cool looking deer. I mean, an absolute mature specimen of a buck um. I mean the kind of you you dream about for sure, Um, I don't, did you guys score the deer. Not that score really matters all that much, but I mean, just for a sense of this is if I were looking this buck, I said, was like a hundred sixty type

category buck or maybe bigger. We did, um. We scored him afterwards. Um, And so like my biggest white tail to to date was a buck. I know you're familiar with Mark, others may not be. That we called Junior. Then I killed back in. I don't remember. I think it was like two thousand, yeah, two thousand ten. Uh, he scored one seventy three. Well, I said this right before scoring season. I mentioned exactly what I just said, and so we scored him, and Caesar scored one seventy three.

I didn't, you know, like, it's just me rough scoring. It's not an official score, and I didn't sco him or anything like that. Didn't care if he was above or or below. But it's funny that they were pretty much right at the same, same same number. So yeah, he was right at one seventy right in that. That's crazy, And I guess I do remember that was at the very end of the episode. I think you guys had that little click. Um. Yeah, that's he's a heck of

a deer. Um. So one thing more before we kind of get into the story, um, without giving away like specifics of the story, I'm just curious, like, for you, what made this hunt and story so exceptional? Like I think you said somewhere, whether it was in the episode or on Instagram or something like this was maybe you know, the greatest hunt of your life for the greatest story or something like that. I feel like I remember you,

you know, categorizing this in that kind of way. Um, what about this deer or hunt or the story makes it so special? Why did this stand out above you know, the so many other deer you've hunted in the past. What made this one extra special? Why is this worth diving into like this? Yeah? So UM. You know, over the years, we've had a handful of opportunities to actually build stories with certain books that we pointed over the

over the years. And that's what makes this one so much more special is because of how long it went on. You know, we we debated shooting him when he was four and a half. We we really try our best, um to let the bucks go um with hopes that they'll make it to five and a half. Very very few do UM, but just for the sheer fact of them actually reaching their full potential at five and a half or greater. UM is is the reason that we do so. And we had full intentions when he reached

five and a half to shoot him. UM, it just didn't pan out. He had kind of just gotten off of his regular routine. Obviously at the age of five and a half that pretty well figured things out and are very intelligent, and I think that was the main reason we only had one kind of opportunity out of My dad almost ended up shooting him UM during the rut Um he had rattled him in. Didn't UM even

expect him to be there. Um. We were on the other side of the farm, which we had never seen or had photos of him on that portion of the farm, and he came running in base way in UM kind of snuck up on us as well and just caught us off guard. And it was a quick thing where he almost had a shot used at full draw. I didn't take the shot and that was kind of the end of it. So it didn't happen at five and a half. UM ended up shooting him at six and

a half. But the story in itself, just with how many encounters from the age of two and a half all the way up until UM six and a half, the sheds the work, UM, just constant thought process putting all the puzzle pieces together up until the end of the story and ending with a great shot and seeing him fall inside was just I mean, that was it was the picture perfect story that I could I mean, if I had to draw one up, that's that's how

it would have would have gone. UM. But with that being said, there was obviously a pile of highs and lows in between, um really, mainly with trill camera photos and whatnot. But so, UH wasn't really thinking we were going to go into this yet, but I might as well jump into it when he was well. So throughout his entire I expanded that I'm aware of from two and a half to up until I killed him, well up until this summer, I pretty much had photos of him all the time. UM, when he had a rack

on his head. If he didn't have a rack, he was obviously very hard to distinguish from the other bucks. But when he had a rack on his head, I he was pretty much there. I from summer until the time that he dropped his antlers in the winter and this summer, Um, I put out cameras like I always do um late June or early July and that time period, and I was specifically targeting the area that he had spent his life in that I was aware of up until that point. So I loaded up cameras on that

part of the farm and I wasn't getting him. Went all the way into August past and then where in the September, and I'm like, okay, this deer must be dead. Um. In Missouri where our farm is, we are not allowed to put out any sort of bait or minerals or anything like that to attract year. You can use water, but you cannot use any sort of mineral or grain or anything like that to attract yourself. Getting photos of them up close can be difficult, very similar to the

regulations and in Illinois. But still I had not had issues of getting pictures of bucks before, especially him in the summertime. And I still had nothing going into the season. And at that point I was very confident that he had somehow died. Um. I wouldn't wasn't sure exactly how. Maybe it was a car, maybe coyotes, maybe it was disease whatever. Um, I didn't have anything. And so September passes and I'm like, okay, he's for sure gone dead. Yeah, exactly.

And so there was another deer that I was kind of targeting and wasn't really very familiar with the buck, and so um we were kind of hunting that that part of the farm. And UM, thankfully while I was there, I UM at the farm, I s kims are amazing and also I feel like a double double edged sword.

And in some instances I got photos of the first photos of him, I think October six or something like that, and yeah, that was I remember, like I'm sure most of you guys that have sell camps can relate in the middle of the night and looked at my phone, which is the worst thing you can do because wake you up. And um, I got photos of him. And that was really the start of the hunt for him

this year, like the real start. And then did you did you fall back sleep after that or we so jack that you were up for the next few Yeah, I was awake, like so far awake after that. I think probably took me in an hour or two to fall back asleep. And so Chandler the guy that hunts with me in films with me, um throughout the fall,

He's in the room next to me sleeping. I sent it to him and I don't think it didn't wake him up, but I just remember sending it to him and like, oh man, I can't wait till he sees this. But yeah, that's incredible. It was. Yeah. So anyhow, that was very long winded. But to answer your question, Yeah, this story was just so with tons of highs and lows and basically, I guess you would say four years of history with the buck going on that long just made it so special. Yeah, yeah, I can I can imagine.

Well let's get let's get back to the beginning. Let's start it out when you you know, first noticed this buck, Like, when did this deer become noticeable? Sounds like when he was two and a half that first year. Can you tell us a little bit about what that year was with him? You know, I'm I'm assuming you noticed like a high potential deer, like, oh man, he's a cool deer. We're not going to target him. But can you tell me a little bit what that first year was like?

And uh, you know what happened with him? Yeah? So at two and a half. I was I didn't see him until late season, but I had photos of him talking with photos of him through the rut and then into late season, and that was when I had started to oh, that's when I named him. And then that late season when we were hunting to standing bean field, Um, that was when we first actually laid eyes on him in person, and um you can see it in the film and he was out there just feeding on standing

beans at a distance. I think we saw him twice that that late season and then um, which is yeah, that's the same field that I ended up killing him, man, um just across the field on the other side. And uh so that was. Yeah, that was the first actual document um experience with him in late season and two eighteen. So did you know, like right then, like oh man,

this is gonna be a good one. We need to keep tabs on him or at that point was he still kind of an average nondescript deer that you know there were several other young bucks that were kind of just like him, and you know, did I guess what I'm trying to say is did he stand out and was he on your mind that offseason already or was he just another one of you know, a handful of young deer that weren't yet to that pom. Yeah, that's a great question. So yeah, he was definitely on my mind.

But I I have also learned that, UM, I'll like to try not to get my hopes up. I don't focus too much on a on a two or three year old. I mean I do, but I don't. I don't. I don't heavily think about it too much, just because there's an abundance of two year olds, then there's a less abundance of three year olds, and then as it goes up, you know, clearly there's far less you know, as they get older. Um. And so with there being quite a few two year olds, UM, I definitely noticed him,

which is why I named him. UM. And for the most part, a lot of the two year olds, I'll just think up some silly, dumb name like I don't know, short brow eight short, you know, split two ten or eight or whatever like that, just quick names because there's

so many of them. UM. But yes, if there's somewhat special, I'll i'll kind of come up with a more distinguishable name, and UM definitely keep him in the back of my mind, but I try not to get my hopes up, just because I've learned over the years that it's it's very often that the deer don't know a lot of bucks just don't end up making it to maturity. And so, yeah, did you find his sheds that next spring? That's a

great question. I don't think I did. I don't fully remember, um, but I don't think that I did at two and a half. And if I did, I have him somewhere stashed away in a pilish Okay, so unsure on the sheds uh as a three year old. Then the next year, Um, at this point, you know, was he doing the same thing? Did you see him that same area? Was he more or less visible? What was basically the three year old

story with him? Because again I'm assuming he's not a targetable deer, but he's still like one that year keeping tab zone right, Yeah, so same, pretty much the same story for the most part. He was actually um, very seldom. Um. Did I get too many photos of him? I had him throughout the year, but it was pretty rare, you know, every few weeks at least. Um. And then we ended up seeing him one time time in person. Uh, late season that that falls as a three and a half

year old, and um that's also in the film. But um, yeah, and at that point I did think he was four and a half. This wasn't until I believe, until yeah, until he was actually four and a half to where I was like, oh, I thought he was five this year. But really in the reason being him standing next to a five and a half year old buck twin ten, the bucket looked similar to him. Um you could see the body size and just the overall characteristics of their

body shape and everything that he was clearly a year younger. Um, at least in my opinion. I you know, I never did take the job on out and have it, um you know, fully aged. But this is all guests a mint. I just believe that at that time he was he was only four and a half the following year. But yes, when he was three and a half years old, I only saw him one time, and head photos of him

sporadically throughout the fall. So that that's interesting then though, because you thought he was four and a half of that year, So I'm assuming then you were thinking, like, all right, next year on a target him is a five and a half year old. So at this point, like, were you starting to at least for me, if I if it is a deer that's one year away from me targeting him, I'm really paying attention to him now and I'm really thinking about, Okay, what's he doing now

that I can take advantage of next year? Um, all that kind of stuff. So when you thought he was a four and a half year old, did you start doing anything differently to try to better keep tabs on him?

Did you, you know, have more cameras out in the area he was living particularly to try to keep tabs on him, or did you stay out of his area because you didn't want to push into a neighbor's and get him killed or anything where you're trying to kill you know, the big bully Buck, the Twin ten or something like that, because you want to open up a spot for him to spend more time. These are some of the things I sometimes thinking about when there's like an up and comer. Did any of that play into

your strategy on that year? Absolutely? So. Yes, he was sharing ring the same pulp portion core area of the farm that Twin Tin was as well, and so Twin Tin throughout those years that Twinin and Caesar were alive together there, Twin Tin was always a little bit bigger, had more mass um, even longer brows, just taller gy too. It's just a bigger, bigger buck. And um at that point we were that year as Caesar was four and a half. Um at the time, I'm thinking he's five

and a half. We were targeting mainly Twin ten. I was like, man, Twinin is just bigger. He's just he's there more often, like this is his spot. Like, yes, I'm keeping tabs on Caesar as well, but it was already loaded up for you know, with cameras and whatnot and strategy for twin Tins. So it's like, well one or the other, but you know it preferably I'd rather we would rather shoot twin Tin and Um. You know

we didn't. We hunted some um for twin Tin. I ended up having an encounter with him around Halloween, but I did not see Caesar. Um. I had photos of him in there, but I never ended up laying eyes on him. And then the ruck came and basically had

kind of passed. Rifle season even passed, and unfortunately I have no idea how both of those bucks survived through rifle season because you know, I know that they lived on the farm, but there is no way that they did not step foot off because there'd be days on end that I wouldn't get photos of him, and and they were living close to the border anyways. Um So there for sure had surrounding hiding pressure. But they made

it through. And at that point, we had gone in to hunt to hunt twin Tin, and I did tell my dad when the hunt started, I was like, there's a good chance that Caesar could come in here, Like, it's your call, whatever you wanna do, Like if you want to shoo him, shoot him. Well, sure enough, Caesar came in this So this was just after Thanksgiving, I believe. And um so the rut was pretty much at we're at the tail end of the rut, so they're they're

basically starting to refuel but yet still checking dose. And Caesar came out at like forty five and was feeding, and um, you know again, I told him like, it's it's your hunt, your call, you shoot him if you want. He's like, let's just see what happens. He's at forty five, Like I don't I don't really want to shoot Um and looking at him now like, yeah, he looks really big, but it would be cool to see him since he's made it through rifles, sceness would great to see him

next year. And then as he waited, twin Tin ended up coming in and that's a part of the film as well, and he ends up killing Twinin. Um and seeing them side by side was really the deciding factor where we were like basically checking ourselves like, Okay, he doesn't really look like he's five and a half compared to Twinin. Twinin just dwarfs him. Um, he's made it

this far. You just killed your biggest buck to date. Dad, Like I personally had already shot a deer, Like, why don't we just let him go and see see what happens next year? Um, you know, making it to five and a happen. So that was that was a deciding factor to really really that where we were like, Okay, he's not as old as we thought he was. Um, let's see what what happens if he can make it the rest of this year and going into the next fall to be five and a half. So then that

would have been was this what year? Was that story? You just described that would have been the fall of so you guys see him, but I don't need to target him because of Twin ten getting killed and all that kind of. So, so now heading into Caesar must have been like, you know, top top of your mind, for sure, he's the big dog. Um, what did you do in the off season with that bucking mind? Were there any changes to your scouting or shed hunting or anything to try to like to narrow in on him

and really figure him out? Now? Was there anything like that where you were trying to put the specific pieces for him, you know, went from being like he's one of several to now that he's the guy? What did you do then give him that? Yeah? Um, So the game plan was pretty well similar to the year before, where I had already had cameras pretty much loaded up

on that side of the farm. Um. I had gone in that march and burned the timber where he spent the most most of his time that I was aware of on that side of the farm, with hopes to just help enhance betting um and and foraged throughout the woods and just have better native growth just in hopes to keep him there um the best that I possibly could. I did pick up one of his sheds, um, and then my mom and dad were around I think after that and ended up driving by another the other side

and it was chewed up really bad from squirrel. So we did end up getting both sides then, UM. But UM anyhow, Yeah, so the game plan was about the same, just trying to enhance habitat and UM plant a couple staging plots which we're already there, but just try to make them the best that we possibly could. And then um, the destination food sources, the field that I that I ended up killing him in, which that was all always

a part of the game plan. Was like, all right, look, here's the timber where we feel he spends the majority of his time. Here's like some food plots in between before he gets there. And then the destination food sources. That's agg field here where we where we often see him UM and had seen him in the years past. UM. So that that was really the game plan. And then if it's the rut, it's like, all right, it's a

guessing game. We know, like the the main area he spends his time for the most part, we can just dive in and hunt him with UM. You know, the best wins possible, the winds that are given in that area, and in hopes that we can get him to come by. Okay, So can you describe for me a little bit about like the habitat where he was kind of calling home, like based on what you were seeing there. I mean, I know you describe destination food, transition food, and then

some timber. Um. Can you can you just tell me more specifically like what is this timber or betting area? Like why was he in this betting area? What made it the place he was at? Uh? And then what were what was in these food plots in that destination field that that led him to making this zoe in his core? Yeah. So the timber where we would often find his sheds um in the years prior to killing him. Um,

there's really um. Well, I would say that it's been poorly managed over the years We've had the farm I think for ten years, and then prior to that, um, at some point in the last I don't know, like seventy years, there were it was definitely some form of livestock. I would assume cows on there. Um you could tell because of like invasive species such as like multi floor rows and whatnot. And then the over UM really like

that there's just over competition with trees. There's a lone of small trees in there, UM that need to be cut out, and that's part of a program that we're in right now where we will perform a timber stand improvement. But my game plan with UM actually going in there and cutting trees has been to run fire through there.

And if I can get a hot enough fire through there, I've actually been able to kill some of those those UM small diameter trees and that's actually performed a sense of t s I in itself, like knocking back some of the trees so that there's less competition, getting more sun life the forest floor, which increases growth. UM you have native forbes that will will come in and that just creates better habitat for not only deer but all sorts for all sorts of wildlife. But it creates groundcover

and food for the deer. So that was my objective and that in that portion of the farm UM. So that was where I was believing that he spent most of his time betting, and then from there he could either travel straight to the destination food source UM and in doing so he would pass through like an area that was a mixture. It was almost it's really like a savannah, so like a mixture of some trees, warm season grasses and like um smaller growth like um maybe

like some small plum thickets and whatnot. So he could go there, um maybe stage up there or even bed there, I guess if you wanted, and then head right out into the field, or he could kind of dip down into the valley and go towards um some staging plots that we have and we really are our theory with those as we just rotate them. So we may have Clover in there for two to three years and then we'll rotate it out and do like a fall Bland, Nebraska plot for a year and then back to Clover again.

And so um, I want to say, we put it into Clover three years ago. Um. And so he really only spent one year of his past the past four years in there when there was brassicas and so mainly it it was always Clover when he would travel through there, and so he may hit that before he would go to that. And the destination food source which was either soybeans or corn depending on the crop rotation of the year, Okay, and was the destination Like when you talk about destination

food source, how big are we talking? You know, I would qualify something as destination. We're talking like a couple acres. There's this like a big, big farmfield, which is probably like a I think like seventeen um ag field. Yeah, and we would all you can see in the film as well. Um, every late season will leave like maybe a couple of acres of that agg standing for specifically for the dear. You've got that whole habitat, you know,

plan and play. It's looking good. I'm assuming you had cameras out in the summer to get a sense of whether he's back or not, what he was doing. What's your what's your camera strategy look like in this part of the farm when you know there's a deer like this that you know, well, you're hoping to get back on him. Um, do you do you put your cameras in the same places every single year or did you

do anything unique because of what you already knew about him? Yeah? So, having um ten years of history on the farm, I have a well up in that to that point, I guess it would have been eight Um, I had a pretty good idea of you know, deer movement. UM. And I've pretty well, I feel like, tried almost everything with camera positions. I've I've got things keyed in pretty well, I believe, as far as where I'm gonna put my

cameras um, so going into it. Yeah, there wasn't too much UM that I had tried differently in in that that summer too, to differentiate myself from a few years a few years past, um to get get deer on camera, um and not with not being able to put anything out in front of them. Might I have their travel corridors, their their pinch points narrowed down pretty well, I believe, and then maybe I might try like a water source

like a small pond or something like that. UM. But yeah, I have I had, yeah, the uh, the little pinch points keat in on pretty well to try to get him in the summer. And I'm sitting here on my computer right now looking back at those photos of the summer of one and I did have him in July. UM,

I don't believe I had any daylight of him. But that usually doesn't discourage me too much, just because I mean, I'm not hunting during the summer anyways, and and that would always change anyways, going into the fall, I knew that like September October rolls around. I would often always get him in daylight. So, and do you shift your cameras to new spots once you get into the fall or is it you know, the same general spots because

it's more terrain, pinch points that kind of stuff. Ah, Yeah, it's pretty well for the most part, the same spots until they start laying down like heavily laying down active scrapes all the time, and that's when that's when I would, uh would shift some cameras over to those spots. And that was that would typically be the deciding factor on on where he was at and what he was doing.

By moving my cameras onto scrapes, and I typically always get him on those that would be the the most active place to get pictures or or of of Caesar.

All right, you're hunting him now the season opens. What was your strategy did you have, like, like coming into the year, did you have something in mind, like, Man, I think, based on what I've learned over the past couple of years, I'm gonna have my best chance at this time or these two times or anything like that, or were you kind of just gonna like start the season and hope to get a visual or pictures or something. Yeah, so I'm sorry you said going into this pass ball,

I guess I was thinking one, right, isn't this? Isn't this right? Because you hunted him one? And then yeah, you're right at five and a half? Yeah, so sorry, can you repeat the question? Yeah, it's okay. So this would be the year before you killed him, and you were saying you had pictures of them in the summer, and now we're heading into the hunting season and I'm curious,

you know what your game plan was that year? Did you Did you have something unique in mind based on his historical patterns or anything, or was it just kind of a fly by the seat of your pants hope he shows up on camera and then move in. Yeah, and so I had gotten him through the summer, um, but my yeah, my plan was just really just stick to his core area, just like like he had done

with with Twin Tin. But now that my my hopes and my beliefs were like, well, now that Twin Tin's gone, like he is going to for sure role the roost.

This shouldn't be difficult. I don't think um to two key in on him, and yeah, we were going to heavily rely on those staging plots, and then as he started to hit scrapes and whatnot, I would try to hunt more on scrape lines, and then, you know, I don't enjoy like letting my My full intentions are not to let a deer get to the rut, because I do believe they're much harder to kill oftentimes during the rut on a farm that you're familiar with them on,

because then at that point they have left their pattern and it's really just a guessing game and it turns into a scramble. I feel like, you know, you know you he You would think that he's going to be right here, but he's completely on the other side of the farm or something like that, or on someone else's property at that point, because he's not he's not too interested in hitting scrapes or doing his regular thing. He's

more worried about finding it out. So really, yeah, my plan was to key in on those those staging plots um, and then if he made it two October, my plan was to try to hunt him just on scrape lines. So what ended up happening? How did that? How did those really hunts go? They didn't pan out? He he turned into a five and a half year old buck and his plans changed. How they do that exactly like?

It never fails, well, very seldom doesn't fail. But for the most part, a dear I feel like, you know, those those early years in his life, you get him patterned really well, you know what he's doing for the most part, and then as he hits maturity, he there's a reason that he's mature now, and his plans change and he's he's definitely smarter, and things don't happen to be the exact same very often sometimes I do in some box it seems like, but more often than not,

they're they've changed their ways, and they're much much harder to kill. What do you do in that kind of situation where you have a buck that seemed to be on a an understandable pattern of some kind of of some kind, and now he hits maturity and he's not showing up. You don't know what he's doing necessarily. How do you try to rEFInd him or reconfigure your strategy to try to get on him, what what we're what were you trying to do too to take the next step?

UM strategized um based on weather patterns, and that's that's really I feel like the deciding factor. Like we often I feel like, you know, we have all this history built up from like, oh, yeah, we're gonna I'm just gonna hunt him hard and get in there and do the same thing that you know I'm gonna be there because he was there in years passed all the time,

and that it's gonna work out. Well. I feel like if you sit back um strategized, focus on the weather, only hunt when it's when you feel like it's truly right and you have your best, absolute best chance. Uh. I feel like that's really the you're pure placing your hots um in favor of killing him if you actually sit back and wait and and and do things right, hunt less really and uh just focus on on you know,

maybe a post cold front to get him. And that was really my my my strategy that year still didn't pan out because we ended up really only having one encounter with him. Uh. That would have been during the rut and we were on the other side of the farm, so I never saw him early season in person. UM never had an encounter with him in October and then November rolls around and we were on the other side

of the farm hunting. My dad and I were I was filming him and hunting another buck and he rattled in see either And that was the only encounter in person that we had with him. I think that I did end up seeing him late season, but never got video footage of him. But at that point it was like right at the tail end of the season, and you know, it didn't that was that was kind of it. So anyhow, during the rut was the only real, like close encounter that we had with him. So do you

have any idea what he was doing? You know, what, how did he did eat? Was he still on camera all the time just at night? So did he become nocturnal in your particular area or was it nocturnal um for the most part, And I only had a hand full of UM photos of him in the in the in daylight in the middle of the farm, which was very weird. So everything up until that point had always

been on one side of the farm. And I mean, there was no doubt in my mind that he was traveling off you know, I never actually saw him do that, but I was like, I mean, he has to be where he's at, like he has to be leaving the farm and going too neighboring properties and U So up until that point, I was thinking, oh, he's on the side of the farm. Well, it was almost as if his his um core area had shifted and moved more towards the center of the farm basically just like right

there in the middle of all of it. And that was not too far from where we ended up having that encounter. And so I don't know if like his core area shrank, it just shifted or what it was, but he was he wasn't spending as much time on the side of the farm that we were always getting him. He was more in the very center of it, which is fine, that's great, not complaining, um, but it did throw us off, so for sure, Yeah, um, what what

do you what were you noticing? I guess as the year progressed and you're seeing pictures of him, his his range kind of shifted. What were you noticing, you know, heading into the end of the year, if anything at all that you thought might be you know, useful coming to the new year, because he only saw him the one time, but you were getting pictures of them. You're

starting to kind of refigure how he shifted. Um moving into two, is that year was ending did you have were you given up hope on him or were you thinking, oh man, we're gonna we're gonna figure out his new thing and we're still in on it. It's funny so um as I've aged with with my white tail hunting. I don't know, man, I uh, I almost enjoyed watching

the year grow up. I do enjoy it more than I do actually even killing them, Like it's weird, but I like it's almost like, oh man, if he goes one more year, would be cool to see what happened. So since he had made it to the end of the season basically as a five and a half year old, like, you know, you only have a few weeks left, I almost started, I do I really just write it off?

I'm like, well, yeah, like if he waltzed right in right in front of me, of course what I'm gonna shoot him, But like, I'm not gonna go out of my way to just full in target him and kill him. Because I was like, you know, um, my dad had shot a buck. I had shot a buck, I'd already feel the tag. I was like, I don't have to go use my other tag, like it's just not I

don't know I could, but I don't have to. And so I was like, you know, if he if he walks in, I'll shoot him, but if not, I'm perfectly fine with letting him go till six and a half and so uh, and I really didn't have him regularly anyways. Um I knew he was alive, but I didn't have

him regularly, like hitting a food source late season. So I did hunt that late season and I was targeting another deer and I ended up seeing him caesar across the field, like a few hundred yards away, not in the field that we would always get him in, but another field in the it all the farm, and um so I knew he was alive, knew he was gonna

make it. Um still was starting to throw me off because I'm like, Okay, he's not doing what he's done in the years past, but it's okay because he's right here in the middle, like he's gonna, I mean more than likely going to make it the season and maybe something will happen. At six and a half Um, like it's very I know there's guys in Iowa and other places that have gigantic farms that that have deer that

make it six and a half. Often it's very seldom for for us because we just don't have enough land for that. Um. And but you know, this was an instance where I was like, you know what, he's gonna make it to six and a half. He has a lot of potential to to be just like a giant deer. Um, so let's see what happens. And so he ended up making it. And I found his shed. I only found one of his sheds this past winter. Um, and it was I mean right in the very middle of the farm.

And that was very reassuring. Um, just like it's like okay, like he's kind of shifted, Like I feel like he's living right in the middle now for whatever reason. Um. But when I did pick up that shed, I was actually surprised. It was much smaller than I had anticipated. Um. And um yeah, I was like wow. So I wasn't too bummed out. It was like this is great, Um, he'll have he'll have another year to grow potentially and

get bigger. Um. He's just not he's not that not as big as we all thought he really was, which you know, like I'd already hit on his body size was much smaller than most year and I guess that's why I thought he was a lot bigger than he was at five and a half. So the new middle of the farm range he was living, now, Um, was there a different betting area that he that he tended to be using. Was there anything different about that terrain there that you think maybe attracted him? Uh? Like described

to me this new zone he was in. So for the most part, the middle of the forum, there's like a lot of open terrain um basically like pray airy slash savannah openness that just has a lot of warm season grasses, a lot of tall native species that are growing up. It's like there's just great cover, they're great habitat um And I assume that's what drew him in. And so then the destination food sources are the agg fields that I'm talking about, and they all pretty much

are on the perimeters of the farm. So the center of the farm for the most part, is where all the great the best habitat is, where like the bedding and all that would be. And then we have some food plots intermingled, and then we have staging plots that may go to these um to these destination food sources and these agg fields. These destination food sources aren't what

we set up. That's just what was there when when my dad bought the farm, so that that's the reason that it's set up that way, which I'm fine with. I enjoy that like for the most part, because then it seems like, you know, the general bettings tends to be in the middle of the farm and then the deer move outward as the evening progresses. That interior of all that grassy savannah stuff, it sounds awesome. Did you

guys make that or improve that? Or is that a natural pasture that just grew up after he gets bothered or how did that get there? So, um, it was there, but um it was kind of a mixture between um some cool season like fescues and um some warm season native stuff that was there. But immediately that was one of the first few things that we did was start

to burn it off. And then we've we've treated some um, some invasive species in there to try to knock those back and then just basically help progress the native habitat that's there. But for the most part, like we have not gone in and like planted any specific species within those areas. We've just helped promote them natively through through fire. Really that's about it. Okay, this off season then to spring,

did you have any other changes to habitat? Given like he's there again, you're hoping he's going to be this great, big six and a half yield giant. Was there anything you did different from the habitat perspective or even I guess prep work two. Did you start setting any new stands or setting up blinds or anything different leading into that year when you're planning and setting the stage for this hunt after this year? Um? Not really. We did treat um some invasive stuff which was like multi floral

rose um throughout the timber, but that wasn't specifically for him. UM. But no, actually I really didn't. UM. You know, I tried my best to plant those get those staging plots UM set up differently, like the one staging plot that he had often used used in years past to enter that that one I had field where I typically always gave him, Um, I split it in half this year, so it was it was all Clover last year. This year, I was like, all right, I'm gonna try this differently.

I'm gonna split this thing half. It's like an acre acre and a half food plut on to split in half and New Braska's on one side and then leave Clover on the other. So then he has, um, he really has a choice which everyone he would like to hit or the deer would like to hit prior to go into that that agg field. And that was about the only thing I did differently. And it did not pan out well at all. We had the driest year

that we've had in a very very long time. So um it changed things drastically, And UM, you know, I really didn't. I didn't have anything too much differently that I that I had done this past offseason. Um, I just based on my my previous knowledge. I'm thinking, are you going into this year, I'm gonna we're gonna have a great shot at him. And in hindsight, like I remember my dad and I talking about, it was really

just it was mainly focused. Our focus was for my dad to shoot him, to be honest, and um, because he'd almost gotten an opportunity yet him there um last fall and and whatnot. And it is his farm, so like that in mind, So it's like I don't we don't ever like are you or fight or anything like that over um, you know who gets to hunt water whatever. I obviously try to give him first DIBs on stuff, um since it you know, I wouldn't have it if

it wasn't for him and my mom. So, um, back to that staging plot real quick, despite that not working out with the moisture. Um, what are the you've mentioned having several of these staging plots? Is it? Am I right to assume that when you say staging plot, this is the kind of plot that you're more often planning on hunting as they transition through to the destination. So if if I'm right about that, how do you or do you at all design them in such a way

to make them more huntable? Yeah, so you're right, it is a staging plot. So like for for them going to that destination food source, it's essentially set up to where they would, um, they would come out of their bedding area, they would hit this food plot and then from there just walk right out of that basically into the destination food source and go out into that agg

field and in that instance, it's great. It's set up perfectly so like if you don't end up getting a shot, most of the deer have already left this food plot and headed into their destination food source, so you can get out of there without interfering um with deer movement or spooking all the deer off. UM. There's a road that goes along the southern edge of it, like just a path for us to either drive a truck or um for whether or whatever you want to drive down

that um to get to that agg field. That's the access and right next to that is the food plot, and it's it's kind of triangular shaped, and really that has to do with the way the terrain lays, and that's the only flat portion of that area because then it leads into like a hillside that goes upwards and UM. And so that's the reason that it's shaped that way. It's really the flattest area we could fit the most

um food in in that particular area. And so it's also set up perfectly to hunt with a north wind where your wind is blowing obviously to the south where the access where we're accessing from, so your wind is blowing right back to where you park your truck or whatever to get there, where you walk in from, or you can kind of hunt it on a west wind where it's somewhat blowing out into the destination food source.

But at that point you're hoping that you're either going to get your shot at the animal that you're hunting um, or you're kind of you're kind of screwed for the most part, because they're gonna get past you, and then some other deer may get past you and you may end up spooking the mall or whatever. So it's typically often it's it's ideally set up for a north or

northwest wind. Okay, um summer, then you you you know, you did your work, you planned your plots, did some burning, You've got your stuff out, you've got your stands ready, you've got trail cameras out in your usual locations. When you're thinking about the year coming up, the season coming up. I know you mentioned you never did get summer pictures of him um, but let's say we're still kind of middle of the summer, so you're not too worried about

that yet. If I were to ask you at this point in the summer of what was Caesar's weakness, Like, what was the thing about him that you thought would lead to you getting a shot, whether that be like a spot you thought he'd be vulnerable, or a tendency or something you learned about him. Was there something that you had identified it for this point that you thought

would be that silver bullet for you? Pre Rut. Absolutely I thought I would have absolutely had my best chances at him pre Rut just because um, you know I would. I would get him early season and throughout the summer. But it was nothing that was like super patternable. There was nothing consistent. I didn't I didn't have it like a defined game plan where I thought, all right, the season is opening September, I'm going to have my best

shot at killing him. Right years I didn't. I did not have that um up until I mean even from the age of two and a half to six and a half, there was never a like a September where I would have been like, oh yeah, he was so patternable then there. I never had that. So he was very sporadic. So I thought, you know what, I'm getting him on scrapes very very consistently every year in October, like late late October pre rod, like he's going to

be on a pattern. He's just you know, doing his thing, you know, setting his territory, waiting for that first dough to come into heat, and you know that that's gonna be my best shot. Um. And so that was really my my main game plan for him, um going into

this pass ball. So would you have avoided or was the game plan heading into the fall to completely avoid his area until then or were you still gonna try to hunt around there hoping he would show and then you know if you didn't, you'd still have that late October,

you know in your back pocket. Yeah, So my game plan with not having photos of him through the song or what's I was really not focusing on him because I was like, man, I have you know, five or six cameras in that general area where where he's always been. If I don't have him that by now over the last two months, like he's not there, Like I'm very well, very well just confident that he's not. He's not he's either dead or not on the farm, like not there. And so I really didn't have a game plan for

him then. And I wasn't gonna hunt over there because there was nothing else anyways that I that I wanted to shoot or um or of that age class five and a half year old buck. So I was like, I'm not even gonna waste my time with going over there, and I didn't um, And there was just one other deer that we were targeting, and so I was I was spending my time on the other end of the farm when I when I was there to hunt. Okay, so you're hunting this other deer, you kind of gave

up on Caesar. What was was that? Is this is this something that you've experienced enough times now with a deer you're excited about disappearing that this was like, well on the next one, keep on going? Or did this were you Were you really disappointed or was this kind of like this is just how it is? I was disappointed for sure. Um, there's there's one other duer that I can think of that um that made it to five and a half of I almost killed one year.

UM just never ended up getting a shot at and he you know, I picked up the sheds and everything and then nothing never saw him ever again. And so I had that in the back of my mind, like all right, well that's kind of what just happened to Caesar, don't I you know, I really don't have any closure, Like, I don't know, Um, you know, I guess maybe he could have possibly been hit by a car or you know,

died from from disease or HD something like that. Um, And I just so yeah, I just it was I was definitely definitely bummed out, but I had pretty well just written it off that he was gone. Um. Other I mean, it's not like I pulled my cameras or anything like that, but I was just like, you know, my focus was elsewhere. Yeah, alright, So we get to October and you're hunting another deer and then you wake up with the middle of night, you check your trail

cameras and he's back. Yeah, you can't sleep. You're waiting for Chandler to get up in the morning to tell him. What did you do that next morning when you were awake and you were ready to figure something out. Did you immediately say, all right, forget the other buck, we gotta we gotta figure out what Caesar is doing or what What was the thought process and what did you do that next day? The thought process did not change at all. So well, the thought process changed, but the

game plan. The strategy did not change because he showed up on the camera right there in this quote, not not the clover plot where I had typically always gotten him. He was on the other end of the farm again well well really where I had never ever gotten him. Um, but I was are we were already planning on hunting there because this other buck was there, and I was, you know, this is another buck that I really wasn't that big in probably like a um, nothing in comparison

to Caesar. But I did not have pictures of this other deer um in years past. He looked to be pretty giant bodied size, like an old deer that I don't know, and I just, I guess just happened to wander in and move into that area. Anyhow, that was the exact same camera that I got Caesar on in the middle of the night, and I'm like, we're already planning on going there, um, not that morning, but that that coming afternoon, Like we're gonna be there hopefully he's there.

This is incredible. It's like this ghost just appeared, um, you know, out of the blue, and uh, this is great. He and he really he didn't appear to have put on a whole lot, Caesar. Um, but that at that point it didn't matter. I mean, my mind was already made up anyways, like we wouldn't It wasn't gonna change it anyways, even if he had gotten smaller, like it was more about the story in the age of the animal and just everything that had gone into it to be,

you know, to want to shoot this deer. So that next day or so, did you So you hunted that night? Right? Correct? Yeah? Okay, So that night you go out to hunt this tree that you dared have been planning and hunting for the big bodied but now Caesar's back, He's in the same zone. So that evening when you sat up, when you set up, did you have a thought in your mind about what you would do if the big body new buck showed up. I wouldn't. I wouldn't shoot him. So that was Caesar bust. Yeah. Yeah.

And and I also do have to keep you know, make sure you guys know this. So I I showed my dad right away and um the next morning, and he's like, you shoot him, like I thought you wanted to shoot him. He's like, yeah, I do, but you know you shoot him? Well okay, And so you know, like it's a good dad. Yeah, I'm like, I don't really want to do this, Like it's kind of his buck,

you know, for the most part, to hunt. And so we hunted there, and sure enough, he didn't show up, and I can't remember exactly what happened if um, well, the wind shifted and we're like, wow, we're not gonna hunt there anymore. And I think we went home. Um after that, well, like in the next few days, my dad had already him and my mom had planned a vacation and so they left and went out of town. And at that point, I'm like, all right, this steers here.

He's told me to shoot him. He's not even he's clearly not able to hunt. He's gonna be gone for over a week. I'm going to hunt this deer. And so that was the game plan moving forward, and um, I'll just get straight to it. Really like shortly after that, I think I maybe got him one more time on that camera. Right after that, Um was that a daylight

picture or still nighttime? Nighttime? We came back and I started hunting him there again, and while we were hunting there, he ended up moving straight back into like his core area where he would had always been like in years past, not the middle of the farm, but over on the end of that he was I was most familiar with him being and where everything was pretty much set up

like specifically for him. Um, he had moved over there, and so I couldn't have been more excited because I'm like, all right, he's back to his home turf, like this is mid October. Like i feel like I've got him, you know, pretty well patterned, like you know he granted he's only been there once, like based on everything I know leading up to this point in years past, like I feel like he's like settled in. There's really no other buck in that area that's gonna mess with him.

Like he's he's top dog, Like he's caees hear he, this is his spot, Like he's gonna he's gonna stick around here. Ye all right. So if if I'm in a situation like this and I've got this buck that showed back up, and I'm sitting there in the middle of the day trying to think about where I'm gonna hunt the next or that evening, i am like looking at the wind direction, of course, I'm looking at the temperature. I'm thinking about Okay, you know the conditions right, is

the wind right? And then I'm trying to make like the best guests like, oh, well, he could be betting in this specific spot maybe, and he might be betting there in this little corner over here. So then I'm trying to like go back and forth between like which one of these possible betting areas he might be in. And then I'm thinking about, well, with the wind direction, where's the best place I could hunt based on where

I think he's gonna go. And and then I'm debating like this trailer, this trailer, this food source or this food store, like I'm going through all these million different things. Um, what does that process look like for you when you are there, like the day of the hunt and let's let's hypothetically say the next hunt you had when he came back to his core and now you're like, okay's

back in the spot I'm comfortable with. Can you give me like the detailed nitty gritty as much as you remember about how you were choosing where to hunt that first night back in the core area. Yeah, so, um, with it being mid October, I was like, all right, weather patterns, like looking at the forecast ahead, Like I'm thinking, like,

all right, I'm gonna play it safe. It's not it's not like, well, let's just dive right into the woods and try and kill him right where, you know, stories betting, Like let's just hunt these food sources in hopes that he comes out there. UM, and I do need to keep um reiterate, Like so when I did get photos of him over there, it was right at last light in that staging plot. UM, So I'm like, he's he's hit the staging plot right at last light. Like he's

pretty much killable right there. Like let's play it safe and not right in that that general area and um, and try to kill him there because it's not very intrusive. Um. You know, he just got back to there for that that I can at least from what I can tell, UM, I don't want to go in and blow him out of there, so we'll play it somewhat safe. And so

that was really that was the game plan. But I'm looking ahead at the weather and I'm saying, like, all right, for October, there's a pretty good cold front coming, Like our odds are very very good that he'll show up into this food plot in daylight if he's already done it prior to this cold front hitting like, odds are likely he's going to be there in daylight after this this front passes, and so um, that was really our

game plan in the next coming days ahead. So walk me through what happened on those that that next hunter several hunts leading into what it will happen. We went in and hung a stand right there, basically intercepting him as he would enter that that agg field right off the side of that that staging plot. I could see the staging plot to my left. I think we had a north west maybe a northwest wind, and so I'm like, all right, well we'll hunt off to the side of

it here where like there's a path. We the path that we drive in like leads straight into the field, um, the agg field, and um, like I said, we can see into the staging plot. There's a scrape right there,

a giant scrape. I put a camera on it. As we're hanging the stand, I'm like, all right, we'll hunt here, um this or tomorrow evening and then like the next few days because we have the right wind and everything as this front passes, So we set the camera there this is just a regular This isn't a cell camera anything, but like you know, you could clearly tell that the box were just like annihilating the scrape, Like I'll have a good shot at him if he if he comes

to the scrape or like right enters the field right here, like he's in range. And so that was our game plan moving forward. And um, two quick questions for you further. First, how do you get out of a spot like this, um? Because I know you mentioned like where the staging plot. Hopefully they've moved off to these destination food plots before

you leave. Button. I feel like I also remember you saying that these these destination food sources on the outside of the property, So how do you get past them to get out to the road or where where you are? Is there a back doorway you can get out or how do you handle that exit? So like this is actually this field is in a valley, um, And so Whey Park is on the top of the hill a little ways away, Like you can't see it from the field, and you can't see the field from the road or

anything like that. But um, we're hunting it with the north wind, so you're walking straight north or west wind and you're pretty much walking straight into the wind to get to this, so there is potential that you could have deer behind you. UM him specifically, I didn't believe was coming from that direction, so I wasn't too worried about it. We had some doves come in from behind us, and they actually did not spook or anything. Um. They came right through and um and walked by. But yeah,

that's our our plan of attack. When we went in to hang the stand, we accessed it the exact same way we hunt and everything. You're not you're not jumping any deer. You're walking down the road that you um that you access the field with anyway, So you're walking down that that road anyways. Then you peel off and you go into the woods a little bit to get to the stand. UM. And in that area where we peel off of our interior road to get to that stand,

it's about fifty sixty yards or so. And so we hanged, we hung the stand, hung the camera, and in our way out, Channe and I both used our boots to clear like every single leaf off of that are walking like, so it's just bare ground UM walking in and out to make it even quieter um for really just for access on the way in, and if you don't end up getting a shot, you can potentially hopefully get out.

And my theory like on this farm particularly, there's a decent sized deer density um decent sized deer heard, so there's quite a few deer. Um, it's it's very tough

to get out without speaking dear. But if it's not the you know, if it's not the particular dear you're hanging, I'm not that worried about it usually, And my like way of really getting around that, I feel like, don't know if it's like it's not foolproof or anything, but oftentimes when I'm wanting to get out and like I have a few deer in front of me, I'll end up playing like, uh, like a coyote howl on my phone. It sounds funny, but pretty much every night at dusk,

like the coyotes all sound off. So it's it's a normal occurrence. And you know, I'm not saying that it's it's the best absolute answer to spook deer off, but it seems to work well for me and um. Fortunately that first night, UM, I didn't have to spook any off, and we didn't end up getting a shot. Um, so we were able to just climb down quickly. We left everything as far as our not our cameras, but like our tree arms, everything else. Um in the tree. We

didn't tear anything down. We literally just grab our packs, throw the cameras in there, and climb right out as quick as we can't leave, just like most normal hunters would. So um, we were able to get out of there very quickly that first night without spooking anything that we're aware of. Yeah, now about picking the tree, Um, I'm

always curious when you're picking the tree. One of the things I'm always constantly debating is this this kind of give and take between picking the spot that's the closest to range to the perfect place where I think that deer is most likely to come through, versus you know, trying to pick a tree that maybe is got a little more cover or is down wind of more of

the deer activity. You know, very at least, you know, sometimes you find the perfect tree that has it all, But most situations you have to kind of make choices. You can't get all five of the perfect criteria you want. You might have to do three out of five or whatever it is, UM, So can you kind of tell me? First off, you know, what did this specific tree set up look like? How did you pick this tree? Why

was this the tree the place to be? And then secondly, more generically, you know, if you had to choose between a tree that is in easy range of the very best like crossing of trails or whatever it might be with the scrape, or pick a tree that's a little bit further away but has better cover better wind, which of those, more generically would you pick? So wind is always the first, um, the first factor that I always weigh on. And with this particular tree, like the wind

set up pretty dayn good for it. Um. With this being a valley, I'm always concerned with the wind swirling, and I was pretty confident with the northwest wind that it wouldn't because it would in my mind theory wise, I'm thinking, all right, this this tree line, UM runs east to west. If the wind is coming in out of the northwest, it's going to kind of hit this tree line and carry off towards my southeast, which is

where some deer might potentially come. But for the most part, that is not where the bulk of the deer coming from there, coming from the northwest. I'm not I'm thinking, like, all right, this is gonna be perfect for the wind direction. Um, I shouldn't. I definitely don't think I'm gonna spook him. And if I spook anything, it's just gonna be a few doughs or something like that. I'm not not concerned, and I think it's great. It's set up perfect then. Um,

So that that was my main factor that I'm factoring in. Secondly, like this group of trees was like some cotton woods, and maybe like some I don't know, there's like some birch trees in there as well. It like kind of stick out a little bit into the field, just a little bit, maybe like five ten yards further than the rest of the tree line for whatever reason. And so it kind of like positions you outward a little bit

into the field for a closer shot. Um where the where it kind of pinches down where these deer are entering this field, and then that's right where that scrape is. So I'm like it it's just the perfect setup. Um. The cotton woods are tall trees. Yes, they're pretty barren um just because they don't throw out a ton of branches and there they're the trunks you know, are pretty straight going upwards. But I was like, we can get up.

There are ways, and I'm not going to get out on that lead cotton wood that's sitting out right on the edge. I'm gonna use it as a sense of cover, and we're gonna hang in the tree that's right with the cotton went right behind it. And so that was in the video you can see that's exactly what we did. Like we used that that one in front of me as like cover. I hung my bow on it. I could kind of like I feel like I could kind of get in line with it. So my body, like

my my outline lines up with the tree. Well, um, and I'm not sticking out too much. And that's another thing that I look at as well as all oftentimes. Um, when I'm hanging a stand, I'll go out to where I believe I'm going to potentially get my shot at and look back at the tree for my my backdrop. And in this instance, my backdrop was fine. Well, Chandler was a little bit higher than I because that's how

we set up for our camera setups. Um, so he's kind of like shooting over my shoulder and my head a little bit. He was a little bit skyline. He didn't have the backdrop that I did, um, and so thankfully he was even he was set up kind of behind the tree that we're hung in, so he had not only the one in front of me, but also the tree that's behind me as his cover as well.

So he he used to hide behind some too. But um, we did in fact figure out that, like some of these deer work, we're spotting him or me just because we didn't have the best backdrop. But um, thankfully, with the wind that we had, I think we had a ten fifty our wind, with all the leaves and branches kind of moving around it, it ended up hiding us

well and breaking us up. But yeah, really that the positioning of this one, being able to get up high, having a good backdrop in that tree in front of me, great wind, and then positioning close to that scrape and the trails entering the field, it seemed to be the you know, the absolute perfect set up. Next question, then, did you get any more sell pictures of him between the time you got that first picture of him back in his core area and when you killed him? I

believe I did. I think I got one in the middle of the night of him hitting that that same scrape on the cell cam. Um. That really just like you know, gave me reassurance like, Okay, he's uh, he's there, so you know, I mean, I believe he's settled in. Um. I'm looking back right now actually as I'm sitting, Yeah, I did. I got him the next the next um, early early morning, at like one thirty am. UM, so I knew that he had, you know, most likely settled into there. And then I had also set so on

that scrape in front of me. I had put a trail camera on video mode, which I wasn't gonna check. I was like, I'm not checking that, Like I'm not gonna walk over there. Um, it's just there for my reference, like just to know if he's hitting that scrape. I'll check it later on. Well after I ended up killing him, I checked it, and he was all over that thing, um all the time throughout the night. So but anyway, anyhow, Yeah, I just I was still very very very confident that

he was in the area. I was like, he's I don't think he's gonna leave. What do you think you would have done. And I know this is you know, hindsight, but if so, let's say you hunted that spot that first night when which you didn't see him. If that night you were to have gotten a picture of him back in the middle of the farm in the other spot he'd been at, you know, over the last period of time, would that have changed your plan at all?

Do you think? Or would you have still stuck with the scrape set up because you liked everything else about it. I would have stuck with it, just um, given the fact of like his history, and um, there's been hand plenty of times where I've gotten photos of deer there in the middle of the farm one evening, and then the following evening I get him not like the complete opposite end of the farm, but down where he was at.

So like it's probably like I would say, like a half a mile to that area down there, and really like I remember when we first started hunting his place, and like I don't know, like that there's a deer herd here in the middle and there's a deer herd down there. Well not really like it's not that that's not far for a deer to travel at all, Like and this farm has really opened up my vision of how far deer actually travel. They're all different, all all

their movements and couriers are different from one another. But as far as like they're traveling goes, they traveled much further than I had um, I had ever anticipated and really given them credit to travel. And then when you really think about us as humans, like if we want to go walk a half a mile, that's like really nothing like walking half a mile is not that far at all. For a year to go half a mile's like, I mean that that's nothing at all to them. Yeah, yeah,

so true. So what happened next? So yeah, we ended up hunting them again the following evening, and um, that cold front had completely passed and like we had pretty steady wind. It was like a fifteen mile per hour wind, but given we were down in the valley, it's a little bit less. Um, and I went, I want to say it was in the thirties. Um for mid October. That was that's pretty chilly for me, at least for us in Missouri. And um, he came out gosh an

hour before sunset into that that staging plot. We could see him over there, and given we had such a terrible drought like the Braskas that I had planned. We're not really there, but something had I mean, they were there, I guess because the deer were hitting that and that's

what he was hitting. Like he he transitioned and moved over to moved over to the clover right next to it for a little bit, but for the most part he was sticking to that brasket plot that didn't come in very well, and the other deer were as well. He ended up kind of feeding off where we couldn't see him because we're kind of looking. We're looking through some trees where where we can see him at and we can't see him all that well, but we're getting bits and pieces he might be in an opening. And

then he kind of goes away. And then it appeared that he kind of left. We had some deer just gets like really skittish and spook off of the act field because of the wind, like it was just blown and they just got nervous and left, which is kind of domino effected to him. And I'm like, all right,

it's over. He's probably leaving, and he was. He would He watched the deer spook off, stood there and stood there for like five minutes just watching everything head up, like looking around, kind of just scanning the whole area, and then he finally calmed down. That happened. They ended up happening twice, and then um, he fed off and it looked like he went up to where that cell

camera was at and was possibly hitting the scrape. We couldn't quite tell where we were at, and ended up um we thought maybe leaving, and then probably right at a little after sunset. Um, some deer kind of trickled in from that that staging plot, and then Chandler was able to see him kind of coming back in that

staging plot. I'm like, all right, like he's coming um and he was at like eighty at that point, I believe, and then he like another younger deer and a three year old came in and we're kind of like one of them hit the scrape. I think it was a three year old. And then they worked in and that was kind of like the the deciding factor for him. I think he knew that other buck was hitting that scrape and just you know, they're starting to get territorial.

That was when that was really just what drew him right in and he came through, walked behind my camera, did not go down the trail leading right to that scrape. I didn't even hit the scrape, went right around it like a few, like a few yards, and stood right there in front of it, and was standing there just looking around and like ate a little bit, like ate some corn in the field there. And then um that was like he's at twenty six yards and that's that's

where I shot him at. Describe to me your self talk in those moments as he was coming out of the woods heading out into the field and you realized I'm getting a shot. Were you just like an autopilot locked in? You weren't thinking about anything except for just you know, wait until he stops, drawback anchor do the thing. Were you freaking out and trying to calm yourself down or anything like that. So when he first stepped out an hour before sunset, I you know, you first a deer,

especially when you're you're hunting the one that you're hunting. Um, you, like all of us, do you, You immediately have that adrenaline rush. And when that hit me, like I said, it was cold for that time of year, the winds blowing, I thought, I dressed warm, apparently not warm enough. I already had that little shiver going on from being a little bit chilly. Then you added that adrenaline. I had like a massive sugar going on, and so pumped up.

I was, like I told afterwards, and like, if you would have came in when we first saw him, I don't know if I would have been able to together because I had that combination of being nervous and cold at the same time. I was shaking like a leaf. So um, thankfully he gave me well over an hour to calm myself, gather my thoughts, and by the time he came in, I was all I had in my mind was shot opportunity, just waiting for the perfect moment, stay focused, think about what you're doing. Um, you know

you've ran this through your mind a hundred times. Part of this like just focus on what's going on, and and you know, shot angle and shot opportunity, and that's that's what happened. And so thankfully, like the way he entered, he entered a little closer than than that scrape for whatever reason, and it's just barely slightly quartered away, if not broadside. Um stopped right there at twenty six yards

and um, you know I had drawn, he's relaxed. I you know, I asked Chainler to make sure that he's got him what he did, and then, um, you know, just like you practice. It was That's really all it was. Was just it turns into that repetition and mental game of what we practiced for. And so you get the shot. He runs off and he he dropped in sight is there, right? Yeah, So he ran right at the edge of the field. He had absolutely no idea because like I didn't have

to stop him or anything. He just stopped himself and he had zero clue I was there. Um, So when I shot him, he turned and ran and you can just see blood starting to pour out immediately just you know, bounds off and stops and you know, stops to look back and looking around, and then it's just the classic like you know, just kind of stumble around and fall over, and you know it's like when that whole moment of relief comes on. Um and in that very instance, like

I'm thinking, wow, this is great, this is incredible. It's a it's a really bitter sweet moment. But like in the back line line, I'm like, man, my dad wanted this year. I don't know, you know, like you have a little sense of guilt. Um, yeah, it was. It

was incredible. And then to be honest, I say bitter sweet because like you've had all those years of that, Like it turns into far more than just shooting a deer and you're like, man, like the whole everything leaning up at this point, Um, there were so many different emotions going on that now it's it's over for him, Like the whole thing's over and he's laying their dad's or like, wow, I just ended that. Like it's pretty, but like stories over, it's sometimes it leaves you a

little empty afterwards. You want to you want to keep going almost it does. It's a weird, weird, weird feeling. Um, but you know, thankfully there's more dear to come in our future. Um, we hope. So yeah. So if you were to look back over this four years or whatever the total end up being, um, and you were to think through all the decisions you made, the work you did, the changes you made to set ups or habitat or the things you did just in the days leading up

to the hunter or anything. If you had to write down a piece of paper three things that led to you killing that deer, like the top three something's decisions or factors that led to that dear showing up at twenty six yards and you get in a shop, what would you write down that piece of paper? Um, one, I would write, Man, it was like divine interventions, so like God man, like I said, prayerwells in the tree, Like I feel like that had that had to be

part of a very large major factor of it. Um. Otherwise I wouldn't even be on this earth if it wasn't for him. But that was one too for sure. Weather like without a doubt, if that weather pattern was not there, like there's no way, Um, I just don't think that it would have happened the way it did. Like the pressure was right the wind um, you know, like that front had passed so it was cool and everything,

like deer activity was just off the charts that that evening. Um, there were deer everywhere moving and um, so that was a very big deciding factor. And then um the habitat and food. I would say we're the number three for sure, like just being able to have, you know, having the way that it's all set up with the betting, the staging plot, and destination, food source all being right there, Like it was like the stage was set, will be for him to do what he did, and and and

the other deer as well. Um, just for all those things that come together. You know that does would be the three deciding factors. Do you do you feel like you learned anything from this, dear? Is there anything that you know now you can look back and say, you know what he taught me this? I learned a lot. I've learned a lot over this, this entire ball um, I think, you know, having pretty much ten years to

hunt this form, it's changed drastically. When we first got it, Um, we were just following like a massive killoff I feel like from E H D. So there really wasn't a good age structure at the time. There was still a heavy deer presence, but a lot of does and I feel like a lot of that's gotten into check. It's changed m quite a bit with that habitat improvements. UM. I feel like it's actually given the deer more variety,

and so they've kind of their patterns have changed. I feel like they've kind of spread out, if you will, Like they don't necessarily all take the same exact out of corridors they always used to to take. So with things changing, UM like that, it's it's changed my mindset, changed my viewpoints each year. UM. And then going into this year, you know you I thought I had this

year like completely figured out, UM, thinking he's living. Oh he's right here in the middle of the forum, like this is this is perfect, like you know, like I don't think he leaves the farm much at all. Well, clearly he had to have because I didn't have him early on, And I think the majority of that had to do with how dry it was us going through a drought. I don't know where he went. I don't know what he was doing, but he was. I don't

believe he was there. And I think a lot of it just had to do with how dry it was the vegetation, UM, water sources all that, Like, just we have water there, But that doesn't mean that he's always using those ponds and whatnot or lakes whatever to to drink from. Maybe he uses a bigger river or stream

elsewhere to drink from, UM or whatever. UM. Just something changed drastically, And it wasn't just him either that I noticed, Like overall, UM, it just seemed like the summer, there were far less deer um summering on the farm, and I it has to do with the trout. I would think, Hm, is there any mistake that you could pinpoint that maybe you've made throughout this hunt over the years. Is there anything you can look back on and say, Man, if I hadn't done that, this might have been a short

story or anything like that. Um, not really in that aspect, Like like I was saying earlier, like I I've I've gotten pretty soft when it comes I feel like over the years with when it comes to like killing a deer, like I'm always wanting to like see them go another year. So I don't really think of him think of it as like a mistake necessary now if you if you

made it to seven and a half. And I'm not saying that I want a deer to always get to six and a half, but like starting to get to seven and a half eight and have something like that, it's like all right, like he's gonna he's going to

get past his prime. But like just being able to see what can happen the following year, I wasn't too bummed about sir and the way things turned out, certainly but I guess the one mistake that I can think back to that we for sure made, Like my dad should have been able to get a shot at this year five and a half, but we did not clear like a branch that was clearly in the way. Um. And that is one thing that I need to be better about, for sure in the off season is going

in and checking, um shooting lanes more often. I used to be really really good about that, UM, but I've kind of put it on the wayside, to be honest, over the years, and you know, then it comes to be the rut and I'm like, all right, we'll go hunt that stand. It's like, oh yeah, I haven't cleared lanes out of there in like two years, sure or whatever. And that was a classic example of why you didn't get a shot. So that would definitely I would say

to be a mistake right there. But UM, as far as like, I don't know, I really wasn't too bummed about him. He was was definitely his biggest um at six and a half, and UM, it was just cool to see the story go that long, but um, they don't typically often go that long. So I don't know, I don't I wouldn't say there were too many mistakes. It's just it was fun to watch the progression of

this animal through the year. Yeah, that's that's pretty awesome to get to see that over such a long period and and then to have the perfect ending to wrap it all up. Like you said that that's rare and uh special when it happens. So yeah, very seldom, you know, like you said, very rare, like most times to end up I don't know, getting shot by someone else or whatever, disease or hit by a car or something like that. Yeah.

So so Sean, give us, give folks who haven't seen the film yet, then the plug on where they can watch this whole thing and see it play out in real life. Yeah so it um right now, the only place that you can watch it is on our YouTube channel, um just Harlan bow Hunters our YouTube channel, and then it's called the Story of Caesar, um Sean's biggest buck to date, So you can find it like they're on our YouTube heck of a Deer. Uh what is the plan with the YouTube channel? You guys are putting out

a lot more stuff there. It's a lot more like full feature length kind of even bigger than the TV episode you guys keep doing that? Is there still going to be stuff on regular cable? Can you not talk

about this yet? Talk about it? Yea. So we will continue to be on the Outdoor Channel as well as motv, which is owned by the Outdoor Channel, and UM, we will can also continue to be put placing stuff regularly on our YouTube channel as well, just because UM, we feel like our audience that is on the Outdoor Channel is different than our audience on YouTube, and we've kind of neglected our YouTube I would say, over the well,

they really the the lifespan of it. We've had it, I think for probably almost ten years, and we have not put a lot of our original content on there. So what you're seeing on the Outdoor Channel is in fact different edits than you'll see on our YouTube channel. UM. Our YouTube channel, we do not have restrictions like you do on TV where it has to be twenty two

minutes long. On our YouTube channel, we can. We can tell the story as it is, however long we think it needs to be, or however long the story was, UM. And that's the beauty of it, and we can UM, I mean that that lives there for free as well, so anyone and anyone that has access to the internet can go and watch it, and so it's there. How painful is it gonna be to have to edit down this story to just twenty two minutes, um, the TV episode. Yeah,

I think it'll be uh, yeah, it'll be tough. Um. I guess it depends on how you like to retain your your content. Um. I guess if you if you don't like to watch fifty minute films, then maybe you should watch it on TV but where it's twenty two minutes. But um, you know, I think based on the feedback we've perceived from the fifty minute one, um, everyone's really enjoyed the length of it, just because there was enough content to tell that story in fifteen minutes. But yeah, tough.

I feel like, as as the editor, that's going to be very difficult to be like happing to slash this and slash this, and you're like, oh, but that's so important and that was so important. Yeah, I'm glad I'm not the one cutting it down to twenty two minutes. Yeah. Just just plug your ears, close your eyes, and just let it go. Yeah. So, but that will be the beauty. So like if you see the twenty two minute version on TV and you've never seen the full length fifteen

minute one. I mean I would encourage people if they if they see that and they want to see the full length and to go right over to our YouTube and watch it there as well. Yeah, it's good stuff. I'm glad you guys are putting more out there. Um, My,

my son, actually my we're getting old here. So I've got almost five year old son and he's become a big fan of the YouTube channel and uh particularly likes it when the kids are in the episodes, so like Skyler having his i think his son shot one in an episode and you know, like having the boys come out to help along in different things. He's always like, yeah, show me a kid one day. Let's see a kid one So some more of that and my son ever

will be stoked. That's awesome. Yeah, that's really cool. It's it's wild, Like you just said, we are getting old. My I have a three and a half year old and then five month old, and it's I already see it because Mike's kids are even old it than your son and your oldest and like it's just wild, like how fast it changes. And I mean, just like you said, you know, literally what twelve years ago, thirteen years ago we were we were at a t A and you were sleeping in the back of your car. Life is

pretty crazy. Well, man, I appreciate you sharing this, telling your story. Um As you know, I've always been a fan of you guys work, and you keep on doing great stuff. So um M, I'm happy for you guys, and proud to know you and excited to see what comes next. Likewise, man, thank you very much for having me on here. I truly appreciate it. And you've definitely earned a name for yourself as well. There's no doubt

about it. It's an honor to be on here. Thanks man, We've we've both been fortunate, that's for sure, all right, And that's a rap. Thank you for listening, Thanks for tuning in. If you want more, be sure to follow me over on Instagram at wired to Hunt. That's we're gonna see different updates from my hunting life from the outdoors, fishing stuff, reading stuff, book lands, conservation, hunting, all sorts

of good stuff like that. That's where I share things that are a little bit outside of the norm for the Wired Hunt podcast. So check that out. Check out the Mediator website. Check out the meat eater dot com slash wired for all of our Wired Hunt articles. We've

got lots of great content. They're coming from folks like myself, Tony Peterson, Alex Gilstrom, Tony Hansen, Beaumartonic, all sorts of really really accomplished white tail hunters sharing their thoughts, lessons and ideas in the written format too, So check it out. Thank you for being here. I appreciate being a part of this community, and until next time, stay wired to hun.