Ep. 667: What the Best Deer Hunters All Have in Common and Other Q&A

for Conservation program. Every purchase of a specter gear piece of gear from First Letter or anyone else, a portion of those proceeds go to support the National Deer Association. So good stuff there. As we talked last week, we chatted with Matt Ross from the National Deer Association and we are on this whole topic about looking back on the last ten years. This month we've kind of done this retrospective of sorts. We are ten seasons deep into the Wired Hunt podcast. So today I want to do

something that I've never done before. I don't think anything like this has happened over these ten years, which is that I am doing a completely solow podcast answering your questions. So we're going to do a Q and A style episode, which we have done, but today it's just going to be me, no sidekick, no Dan Johnson, no Tony Peterson, no Spencer Newhart, no further, just me and you. And I kind of like this opportunity because this has been

a ten year journey. This has been a ten year ride between me and you folks listening on your headphones in the car on a run, doing the dishes, whatever it is you're doing. We've got to form, you know,

some kind of relationship here. I don't want to sound hokey, but I am appreciative of that, this opportunity that I've had to get to know so many of you and to share this thing that I love so much with you, and hopefully you've been able to learn from that, this passion that I've had for deer and deer hunting and the outdoors and learning about all this kind of stuff, you know, over these last ten years, my goal has been and I think anyone who's listened should know this

hopefully has been to take you along this journey with me. You know, from the outset. When I started Wired to Hunt fifteen years ago. You know, my, my, the thing I had to offer to the world was not that I was an expert. It wasn't that I had all the answers or any of the answers on how to become a great deer hunter or how to do any of this kind of stuff. It was more so this

basic premise. The premise was that I love deer and deer hunting and the outdoors, all these kinds of things, and I so badly want to learn more about it. I want to dive into this world. I want to be consumed by it. I want to consume everything I can to be enriched by it and become better at these things. And I wanted to take you along that journey with me, and we could learn together about all of these things and explore these new ideas and these new people and these new ways of going about this

hunting stuff. And that's what I've tried to do in the fifteen years of What You're Hunting, the ten years of this podcast, that's been the journey, and man, we have come a long ways. For those of you who've listened for a long time, I hope you feel like you've been along for that evolution and that you've grown.

I can't speak for you, but I can speak for myself, and you know, kind of reiterate with Dan and I were talking about, you know, a couple of weeks ago, which is I feel like I've learned so so much. I've learned so many different ideas about deer, hunting, about deer,

about wild places, conservation of these places, and animals. I feel like I'm a totally different person now, and none of that would be possible, I really truly believe if it weren't for this platform and this opportunity to talk to you guys every week, to share my thoughts, to share my stories, to share my questions, to talk through my ups and downs. I mean, you've heard about some of the lowest points in my outdoor journey. You've heard

about some of my best moments. You've heard about my struggles. You've followed along with my peaks and valleys, and together we've we've been through something. So for all of that, this is a long winded, typical Mark Kenyan w of getting to a simple statement, which is that I want to say thank you, thank you so much for being along for this, for you know, for for gifting me your attention, which is arguably our most valuable asset, more

valuable than money. Time is something we can ever get back. That is not a renewable resource. We can't earn more of it. It's here and then it's gone. And over these years, you know, I don't know, this is like six hundred and sixty seven regular Wired Hunt podcast episodes, maybe plenty of other you know, offshoots and miniseries and

different things like that. So I mean we're talking hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours that we've spent together, and so thank you for that and everything that has come from this. I hope it's been as beneficial for you as it has been for me. And I think that's, you know, something that can't be It can be easily forgotten sometimes. I think, at least I can get wrapped up in the what do we have to get done this week? What are we trying to do this year?

What's the new goal, what's the new project? And this kind of retrospective is just a helpful thing to take a step back and look at what we've done, look at this path we've been on, and to appreciate it. So this is me appreciating it the journey in you guys, and today, as I mentioned, what I want to do is answer some of your questions. You know, tackle some of the topics that you the listeners still have questions about.

We've tackled a whole lot over the years when it comes to deer hunting and other outdoor activities, but the questions never end. So that is one nice thing is that there's no shortage of folks that still want to learn. And I think that's a key thing, is to always be learning, and that's what we try to showcase here on the podcast. So with that said, we've got a whole slew of different questions, lots of great submissions from the audience. We're going to tackle some things that are

very core to the podcast. I'm going to take some time to answer a question about the key traits that the best deer hunters in the world share. I want to answer a question about what I think the top three days to be in the white Tail Woods are. We're going to talk about summer white tail scouting. Going to answer some questions from new hunters who are just trying to wrap their head around you. How do you get started? How do you take all of this new

information and drill it down to those core elements. I need to start finding deer and you know, getting my tag on one. I'm going to answer some questions about, you know, kind of continue on the topic of the podcast a couple of months ago about introducing kids to the outdoors. We have a few more specific questions on that topic, a question or two about fishing just for

shits and giggles. We've got, oh some questions about conservation and how we can be more effective, some habitat related questions. Really a little bit of everything. So, if you like to hunt, if you like the outdoors, if you're a wired hunt listener, this podcast should be right in your wheelhouse. But before we get to the questions, since there's nobody else in the podcast and it's just me, I can

kind of do whatever I want here. So I've got a cup of coffee and I would encourage you if you are listening to this in the car, maybe you know, have a cup of coffee or a bottle of water. If you're sitting at home in a safe place, have a cold beverage, have a beer, a whiskey, whatever's appropriate for your age range, and let's kick back and talk

through a couple other things too. You're gonna hear me take nice, long, drawn out SIPs of coffee as I'm going to kind of bask in the luxury of zero pressure, no other people to talk to. I'm kicking it, and I should paint the picture for you since I have the luxury of doing so. I'm recording this in the office of my cabin out in Ida, And the office in my cabin is not really an office. It's my garage. I've got a desk and a computer setup down in the garage. It's cold out right now, so I've got

like a jacket and a hood on. There's a little electric heater down here that I would usually turn on to stay warm, but my podcast editor frequently yells at me if I have any kind of little white noise kind of thing going on. So when I'm in Michigan, he'll make me turn off my heat, or he'll make me turn off the fan. And when I'm in Idaho freezing my tail off and the garage. I have to turn off my electric space heater. So this is for you, Hayden. But yeah, I'm drinking coffee and I want to touch

on two things before we get to our questions. One of those things is a quick rundown of an article I wrote over on the Meat Eater website about volunteer opportunities out on public lands. This is something you've heard me talking about. This year I launched the Working for

Wildlife Tour. I hope you're familiar with that concept. What I'm hoping to do, and what I know you've heard me say, is we're trying to put attention, bring attention to the many different volunteer opportunities that there are out on public land places, times when you can get out there on a piece of public and do something good.

Clean it up, fix it up, improve the habitat for wildlife, improve access for future hunting opportunities, make these places better for you and your families and your friends and other hunters or anglers who want to take advantage and enjoy these places. So the chance to do something good, but it's also a chance to do something fun with other

like minded folks. I can't emphasize that enough. That's what I've been enjoying on my working for wildlife tour events so far has just been like the good vibes and energy. So I did this article over on the Mediatory website called the best public land Volunteer Events for Hunters and

Anglers this Summer. And what I tried to do is I did a whole bunch of searching online, a whole bunch of looking through various conservation organization websites and databases and random things like that, trying to find a selection of interesting, particularly the unique volunteer habitat opportunities this summer that I thought people like you and me would get a kick out of. I want to run you through a few of those events that are coming up, because

they're coming up quick. There's some cool things on the horizon and you might want to get involved in them. So you can find this article that has links to each of these event pages and how to register all that stuff. If you go to the media website or if you just google, you know, best public land Volunteer Days for Hunters and Anglers something like that, you'll find the piece. So let me give you just a quick rundown of what some of these events are coming up.

There is another conservation event with the Michigan United Conservation Clubs Group, who I did an event with earlier this year on June twenty fourth, planting native wildflowers and shrubs for turkeys and a number of different other types of wildlife on a twenty four acre native prairie restoration project. June twenty fourth, from June twenty eighth to July second is a really cool one. This is a one with

backcountry hunters and anglers and they're Armed Forces Initiative. They're sponsoring a multi day backpacking trip into the Bob Marshall Wilderness up there in northern Montana. This is an incredible place and they're bringing a group of I think it's like seven to ten people something like that to work on clearing and maintaining trails. So if you want an opportunity to go into a wild place and do some good stuff, this is it. You're running out of time.

It's coming up here in just a couple of weeks, but if you sign up, you can head on out into the Bob, get some really cool experience under your belt, clean up this place, get it ready. For future hunters and anglers. Another interesting one. This is another not your usual just one day project. This is something that is available to participate in between July first and Otober first, and this is a project where you can do some citizen science with the National Park Service and the US

Forest Service over in Washington State. So if you're on the West coast, or if you are planning on doing a trip to Mount Rain International Park or North Cascades National Park this summer, the Park Service and Forest Service are looking for folks to help them capture and identify butterflies and wildflowers in these different ecosystems to help them monitor the health and progress of these species out in

these landscapes. So this is a really cool opportunity to do some citizen science and a great excuse to go out into a stunning mountain environment. Check that one out. We've got a Missouri River cleanup in South Dakota on July twelfth, and then there's gonna be a couple working

for wildlife tour events. We mentioned these last week with Matt Ross, so I will not give you too many details on this again, but July twenty ninth up in Idaho, and then we've got August no September twenty third in Mississippi, and then October fifteen, I think it is in Kentucky. More details about that on the website as well. And then finally, here's a very interesting volunteer opportunity catching and

eliminating invasive pythons in southern Florida. If you're in Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, anywhere down there in the southeast and you want to go on a hunt of sorts, is actually going to, you know, really help a lot of species from a conservation perspective. It is a chance to get out there and help knock down this very aggressively growing invasive population of pythons in and around the Florida Everglades region. There's

like a contest going on. It's the twenty twenty three Florida Python Challenge, going on from August fourth through thirteenth, and they're looking for volunteers people to go out there find these snakes. And you know, I think the words that they use are gosh, wish I could find out what the word is, capture and humanly kill. There's a different word they use for in there on their own website.

But yeah, an opportunity to do some reptile hunting that will help the small mammal species and another number of other critters out there in Florida who are just being gobbled up by these pythons. Speaking of this whole issue, this is a random aside, but there is a podcast called shoot I think it's called The Wild or something with Chris Morgan. I'm gonna find it because it's interesting and it's related to this, and since there's nobody waiting on me, you can take the five ten seconds to

wait for me to find it. It is called The Wild. Yes, that was right, The Wild with Chris Morgan, and he did a two part series on the invasion of the Burmese pythons. So it talked all about this invasive species issue in southern Florida and what people are trying to do to deal with it. One of the things I talk about is the huge number of volunteers they have out there trying to eliminate these snakes to save the

ecosystem and all the other critics. So very interesting. If this one catches your eye or your ear, I guess it'd be check out that podcast to learn more. I think that's it. The Working for Wildlife Tour events, as I mentioned, you can get those details here on that article page or the Working for Wildlife Tour article page on the site as well. Again, get out there, have some fun. I hope to see you at those events, and just want to run you through those specific opportunities

coming up. Because what I always found is that I wanted to do this kind of stuff I talked about, I gotta do more volunteering. I got to get out there and get my hands dirty. But I never, at least I didn't frequently hear about opportunities when I could actually get out there and do it. You had to really work to find these things. So I wanted to try to make that just a little bit easier for it, which is why we took some time today to talk about it now. Point number three. I'm a big reader.

If you follow me on Instagram social media, you know that I'm really into reading. I share a monthly recap of the best or really I recap all the books I've read and then talk about, you know, a few of my favorites. And I thought, since we've got a chance to do it, I would plug a couple books that I've read recently here in the podcast, since that's something I don't usually get to do one of them.

I just want to reiterate. This is something we talked about a few weeks ago with Steve but Ronella's new book Catch a Crayfish, Count the Stars just came out a few days ago. It's our new kids activity book published you Know with you Know from the media team

and Steve it brought. It breaks down a whole slew of different activities that your kids or any kid could go out there and try to develop outdoor competencies, to have fun in the natural world, to learn to hunt and fish and forage and navigate the wilderness and do all these different things that are foundational in building a young outdoors person. So I can't recommend that enough. My

kids love it. They've already been testing out and participating a number of these activities and it's been a fun thing for the family too, So want to mention that. And then secondly, I am almost done with a book that I know I'm going to look back on. Is one of the most interesting, important books I've read in a while. It's called The Song of the Dodo by David Kwaman. And this is a book for anyone who

is who is like a wildlife conservation junkie. So you know, if that route to Gate doesn't seem to your cup of tea, then don't worry. This book isn't for you, no big deal. But if you are like really interesting, really interested in understanding how wildlife gets to be where it is and what causes wildlife to disappear, and you want a d understanding of that, this book is for you. This book is a very very thorough exploration of the evolution and the extinction of species. So how do critters

evolve and what then sends critters to extinction? And it uses this idea of island biogeography, which is the study of biology the study of life on islands. It uses that as a tool to understand how these things happen everywhere in the world. So the unique thing about islands

is that they're just a microcosm of the world. Things happen in isolation there, so it's easier to study, and it's easier to see and it's easier to notice trends in populations because they happen on this smaller piece of land. But the same kinds of concepts. The same trends do happen on the mainland, and we are actually creating islands on the mainland. So if you can image and there's an island in Hawaii, let's say, and all sorts of things can happen to populations on islands that can result

in the evolution of new species or the extinction. And there has been this. You know, we talked about this this spring with Doug Chadwick and a number of other folks were in the midst of at disproportionately high rate of extinctions across the world, and this is happening notably, very quickly on many islands over the last handful of decades. We're losing a lot of species on islands. But then, as I mentioned, we are creating islands here on the

mainland by a way of habitat destruction and fragmentation. So if you look at something like Yellowstone National Park, one hundred and fifty years ago, Yellowstone National Park was this big chunk of protected land, but all around it was more open wildlife habitat. It was privately owned, it was ranched, it was you know, whatever was done with it was logged. But you know, largely still open wild habitat that critters

could use. Now increasingly more and more and more and more houses and buildings and businesses and drilling wells or oil wells and all these different things are built around it. And it's increasingly being surrounded by civilization and effectively becoming an island. And that's happening to parks and forests and wilderness areas and all sorts of things all over the world. We're creating these islands of wildlife habitats surrounded by human habitat.

And this book looks to help us understand what that's going to mean for wildlife, for deer, elk, bears, pronghorn, all sorts of species that are effectively being crowded more and more into these islands. What's that going to mean for the next ten, twenty thirty years, And are we going to start seeing these species will away and die off? So this book has given me, and this is stuff that I've paid a lot of attention to over the years.

This book has given me a profoundly more thorough understanding of how that happens, like the ecological mechanisms of how it happened. And so if any of that intrigues. You highly recommend the Song of the Dodo. If not, If that sounds like maybe too much scientific garbleygook, then yeah, it definitely is a lot of scientific garbley goop, and it is not for anyone who is not committed to really getting into the nitty gritty on this stuff. So

that is my book spiel for the day. We've covered twenty two minutes now and I haven't answered a single question. But I've talked about books, I've talked about public land volunteering, and I've talked about the podcast in our ten year journey. And I did not expect this to take so long. So let's get into some questions and answers on the main topics of the day. Let's see here coffee break. Okay, at them asks, how do you use summer trail camera

pictures if the patterns change before hunting season? Great question, and it is true, and it's something that if you are relatively new, it's an important concept to make sure you've got locked into your brain. The fact that what deer do in the summer is dramatically different than what they do in the fall. Food sources change, betting areas,

change behaviors, change, Hunting pressure changes. So when we talk about a deer's pattern, that being like some kind of consistent movement, what they're consistently doing in July and August. When a lot of us like to start scouting with our trail cameras, it's going to be a lot different

than what they're doing in October. So I look at my summer trail camera pictures and scouting not as a core piece of hunting intel, like it's not going to help me develop an actual hunting strategy because my hunting season. And then I should preface this, it depends on when your hunting season opens. But you know, in Michigan, my home state, my hunting season doesn't open to October first, So July and August patterns are very different than October

first patterns. If your hunting season opens in late August or early September, like some states do, then your summer pictures can be very helpful. Those patterns can stay consistent through the end of the August, through the end of August through early September. You know, they tend to stick to those general bedding to feeding summer movements for most

of that period. It's not till velvet peels off, which can happen somewhere in that first you know, anywhere in that first maybe ten twelve days of September in that ballpark, most bucks in most parts of the country peel their velvet, and then you start getting some relocation happening. Some bucks shift to a fall range. You start seeing food sources change in dramatic fashion in that mid September window. So you can use your pictures up until that point pretty confidently.

But for those of you that start in late September or October, I would approach summer pictures in this way. Number One, it's just getting a general sense of what's the deer heard like in that area, because even though there will be some deer that move in the fall, what you see in July and August will give you a general census of, like, what's the general thing here. What's the quality of deer? Are there A lot of deer? Are there? Not a lot of deer? Are there? A

lot of bucks? Are there? Not? A lot of bucks? Are there? Does this have a fairly even age class? By that, I mean like, are there mature bucks here?

Are there? Medium age bucks? Are there? Young bucks? Those are the kinds of things that I would like to know when learning a new hunting area, if you have goals related to killing a mature buck or something like that, these summer pictures can go a long ways towards telling you, you know, is that even in the cards in this zone or no. Now, you got to remember you might have a piece of habitat that has high quality summer food that might draw mature bucks in in July, and

then it might not be present though in October, so you might lose those deer or vice versa. You might have a property that you know does not have high quality summer food, so you get no good pictures in the summer. But then in the fall, if you were to stick around, there is high quality you know, late fall habitat, food, dough habitat, whatever might be, and those bucks might come cruising through. So don't jump to conclusions

too much based off summer pictures. Again, it's giving you a general idea, it's giving you a hint of what's to come. But probably the biggest thing for me is just getting you know, some number of bucks on camera that helped me develop you know, a target list of sorts of the bucks that might be around that fall that I'm hoping to hunt that year. And you know, especially in places that you've hunted year after year, you can start seeing like, Okay, this buck is a buck

that's back from last year. Like you can recognize this deer year after year. You can see how they've grown, you can see how you know, you can start to age, start to get a guess of Okay, you know last year this year really looked like a two year old or maybe a three year old. And now looking at him, now he's back again. Okay, I feel pretty confident. Yeah, he's probably still he's probably three, so last year was two.

You can start putting together an idea of you know, is this a buck I want to hunt this year? Is it not? And just you know, start putting those early pieces together. I would guess. And this depends on how large a property is in your area. But for me, you know, most of the places I hunt are less than one hundred acres, and on average, I would say, let's stay with that rough area of one hundred acres that maybe two thirds of the bucks that I have on camera in the summer will still be around in

the fall. But I lose about a third. By that, I mean they shift to a new range in the fall. So that said, though you know, fifty to two thirds of the bucks I get on camera likely still be deer I can hunt that fall, so it is worthwhile to get pictures of him in the summer. It's worthwhile to study to see how they've grown, to help start

to put together an idea of age. And probably the most important part is just confirming that this buck is back around, because I again, if you're hunting an area where you've hunted in the past, you will hopefully have been kind of putting together data on these deer. By that, I mean you know, recorded all of your stings of that deer, different encounters you've had with that deer, trail

camera pictures of that deer from past years. So going into a new season, you know, I would be thinking, you know, for example, there's a buck I'm hunting this year called the Wide nine, and going into this coming hunting season, you know, I've seen him for three years, so I have a whole lot of information about where this deer has been in the past, what he's done

in the past. So this season, if I get confirmation that he's alive, that all of a sudden changes my plans heading the year, because now if I know that the Wide nine is alive, if I get some pictures of him in July and August now and okay, the Wide nine is back, now, it's like all systems go for operation how to hunt the Wide nine. So I'm gonna know, Okay, based on what I know he did last year, I really need to move this stand in that stand, and based on the fact that he disappeared

in November was back in December. You know, I know that I need to have more of my stands or more of my plans focused around a late season strategy or whatever it is. If you get that confirmation of him being alive leading into the year, it allows you to start to focus your efforts in this kind of way.

On the flip side, if you don't run summer pictures and you start doing you know, your prep and you have no idea if he's back or not, you're all of a sudden, maybe wasting your time because maybe he's not back, maybe he's dead, and you're wasting out your efforts putting together the specific plan for him, or vice versa. Maybe there is some other buck that is back that you could have been focusing on, but instead you were just hoping for this one deer that isn't even around anymore.

So your summer trail camera pictures can help you prioritize your efforts and start to get that early list of Hey, these are the deer I'm interested in targeting, and this is how I'm going to do it. So this is only relevant though if you are you know, someone who's going to target mature bucks or specific box or something

like that, you certainly don't have to do that. I guess maybe the last thing worth mentioning is that it is just fun, and maybe that's maybe that you know, maybe I just wasted the last five minutes of your time, because really, more than anything, summer trail cameras are just fun. It is fun to see what's out there. It's fun to follow along with these deer as they grow their

antlers and you get to see what they're doing. At this time of the year, it's just that time of year when our own excitement is growing, and so to parallel that with getting pictures, the first antler pictures of the year, that is just exciting. So if for no other reason, do it for a good time. All the rest of this is gravy on top. So that is question number one. Next question it's from Tommy and he asks, what is it that you think all successful big buck

killers have in common? So what are the traits? What do the best deer hunters in the world have in common. It's a great question. It's something I thought a lot about, mostly because we've had the opportunity here on this podcast to talk to many of those best deer hunters in the world, and we've got to talk to so many different folks, and one thing that I think is really important to note is that many of these people do things in wildly different ways. So there's a lot of

things that are not consistent. There are a lot of things that they do not have in common. There are people that are really, really, really good at deer hunting that disagree with each other vehemently. Like if you took one of our podcast guests who's killed a lot of deer and another podcast guests who's killed a lot of deer and put them on the podcast together, some of these folks might just sit and argue the whole time

about how they think the other person is a knucklehead. Okay, so there are people with very divergent ways of doing this stuff. What's nice about being in my position, in your position as the listener, is that we've gotten to hear from all these different people and we've realized and seeing that they're all having success. They're all doing it, and they're doing it in different ways. So I just want to emphasize, you don't have to do it any

one way. It's not a black and white thing. It's not a you know, this person's way or this person's way, and you're wrong if you're in the other camp. That's just not true. So you know, I won't name names, but uh, there's a whole lot of petty arguing in this community, unfortunately, between some of the leaders I guess in this space successful hunters about who's better or who's doing it right, or who doesn't know what they're doing. And I would just like to step in and simply

say that it all works. There's many different ways to skin this cat. Let's stop arguing about who's better, or who's got the right way, or who's dumb or who's not right, whatever it is. There are many, many, many ways to be a successful deer hunter. Now, all of that said, I do think there are a few common traits that all of these different people with different specific

strategies do have in common, like three foundational elements. I think one of them is that all of the successful deer hunters that I know, that everyone we've had in this podcast that has demonstrated consistent success is always learning. They never stop learning about deer, deer behavior, the habitat. This is a lifelong process. They are always digging in. They are always trying to understand what's going on right now,

and a key thing here, why is this happening? This is something Tony I talked about a couple weeks ago, is a key question. Always ask why. The best deer hunters in the world are always asking why and trying to answer that question. Anytime you're in the woods and you see something, whether it's a deer setting or a piece of sign on the ground, a rub on a tree, a track crossing the creek, a buck running off from the distance out of a brush pile you just walked by,

always ask why why did this happen? Why was he here? Why did he walk through here? Why did he run away? Why did this work? Why did this not work? Why am I not seeing what I thought i'd see? Why am I seeing more than I thought i'd see? Always always ask why? Never stop learning. The best deer hundreds in the world are constantly doing that. They are constantly digging deeper, They are constantly immersing themselves in this world and trying to understand the underlying questions of why is

this happening, how did this come to be? What can I learn from it? That is absolutely essential. Don't ever sit back on your haunches and think you got it all figured it out. Don't kick back and just let stuff happen. If you want to become a better deer hunter, you constantly have to be taking in your surroundings, taking in the situation and processing it, analyzing it, thinking it through. Deer hunting, and really all hunting is basically a data

collection game and analysis. It's taking in a whole bunch of information and then trying to make the best possible decision based on all that information. That process that underlies all of that is this asking why what does this mean? Why this? What does that do? How does this work? Ask? Ask? Ask, search, search, search, keep on learning. Rule number one of being a successful deer hunter right there. Number two and a coffee break here, real quick number two. I think all consistent deer hunters

have to be adaptable. By that, I mean they have to be able to read the current situation and adjust. I think a lot of subpart deer hunters go into a hunting situation with a plan or with a you know, play, a thing they're gonna do, and they just do it. They've got their favorite tree, well, I'm just gonna go to my favorit tree and sit there. Or they've got that blind that they love and it's comfortable and it's dry,

and they just go and sit that. Or they maybe have this one general idea, which is, hey got a lot of trail camera pictures of the old mossy horns, and he's always hitting the corn feeder. So I'm hunting the corn feeder and I'm hunting daylight till dusk for the next seven days, and uh, you know that's gonna be what's gonna be. The best deer hunters do not

do that. The best deer hunters have a plan going into a hunt or going into a season, or going into a day, but they also have a plan B and They also have a Plan C and Plan D, and they know that every time you go into the woods, or every time a hunting season starts, or every time you head out on a trip, you have an idea in your head of what might be coming up, and then when you get there on the ground, you then get to see what the actual pieces on the ground are.

And you also recognize that those pieces on the ground, the realities you have in front of you, they might change today tomorrow, in the middle of the hunt or the middle of the season. The best deer hunters in the world constantly are assessing what is the landscape? So what's happening? And how do I adjust to it? What's changing right now? How do I adjust? What's different than I thought it would be? How do I adjust? They are adaptable, They are capable of adjusting to change. This

is something. This is, you know, an incredibly useful trait in daily life. The only consistent thing in life is change, right, And I think that's very true in the world of hunting as well. Stuff is fluid, stuff's changing. Surprises are inevitable. The best deer hunters in the world know how to adjust, They know how to react. They don't get stifled by change. They don't see something new and get paralyzed by it, or ignore it and just bullheadily plunge forward with their

original plan. If you want to be consistent, if you want to be successful, you have to be willing to pivot. You have to be willing to climb up in your tree stand in the morning, and then as that morning progresses see six, seven, eight nine, deer all pass on that crete crossing that you didn't think they'd be using. That's, you know, seventy five yards away from your stand, and you realize, well, crap, I made my guests wrong. They're

not using this spot, they're using that spot. The subpar deer hunter stays in that tree stand because it's hard to yank down your set and move to the new place. That takes work and it's inconvenient. The consistently successful deer hunter adjusts based on what they're seeing on the ground. They see deer doing something different than what they thought. All right, I'm gonna adapt. Let's pull do my set, move to the place the best deer hun there's the world.

We're head off on a week long trip to some public land that they scout in the spring, and they got to know it well and they get out there and they're excited because they saw great sign the spring and they start hunting and they all shoot. Day one, there's two other trucks there. Day two, three trucks. Day three. Man, I tried this other side of the property. There's people here too, There's people all over the place. The hunting pressures dramatically change the deer activity. Hmm. Do you stick

with that plan you made back in the spring. You invested time and scouting it and figuring it out, and man, now it's just not what you thought it was going to be. Subpar Deer hunters going to say, Wow, I'll just keep doing what I'm comfortable doing. The consistently successful, the elite, the best of the best, the better than the average hunter is going to say nope, news out of circumstances on the ground, I'm pivoting. I'm going to adapt. I'm going to try something new. I'm gonna try a

new area. I'm gonna think about this in a different kind of way. I'm going to adapt to the realities in the ground. I'm gonna analyze this new situation and then figure out what I need to do to find success in this new situation. That is core foundational trade Number two. Of those best deer hunters last, the best deer hunters in the world, consistently successful deer hunters all persevere.

They are all hard workers. They persist through hard times, they persist through challenges, They persevere through the low points, they get through the valleys to reach those high points.

You will not find a good deer hunter out there that I know of that cannot push through and put in the time, the effort, the stick toitiveness to actually be out there, to actually put in the time to learn to actually suffer through whatever challenges there might be that will eventually get you through to the other side where success lives. You have to persevere, you have to be willing to put in the work in the time. It's just non negotiable unless you will, you know, unless

you're not hunting and you're just shooting. If you just want to show up on some outfitter or some preserve or something like that and be carted out to your spot and sit up there and just pull the trigger, sure you can do that without perseverance. In my book, that's not really hunting. If you want to be a real successful out in the real world diy hunter. You

have to be able to push through some crap. You have to be able to weather the inevitable tough times, the bad weather, the early mornings, the long days, the mishaps, the speed bumps. There's a lot of stuff that's going to go wrong. There are going to be a lot of moments where you think, man, I don't know what to do, or I don't know how I managed to screw up, or I can't believe that I screwed this up for the tenth time, or how come everybody else seems to make this look so easy, but for me,

I just can't figure it out. Or maybe you have figured it out, and then today, of all days, you get the chance of a lifetime and you blow it. Whatever it is, those best deer hunters push through it. They look at these obstacles and they say, Okay, the way is through it. You gotta get to the other side of the obstacle to get to the things you want. That is what the most successful deer hunters have in common. They never stop learning. They're always quick to pivot and adapt,

and they persevere through the tough stuff. There's a whole lot of other extraneous things around that that you can do differently. You can hunt food plots, or you can hunt in the saddle. You can hunt in the ground blind. You can hunt public land or private. You can manage habitat or you can scout for seventy five days. You can use trail cameras or zonax. You can use scent wis or no wis, or synthetic based layers or old

based layers. You can do all the cent control in the world, or you can ignore it all and throw it to the wind. Whatever it is you want to do. There are many, many, many, many different ways to do this, but you need to always be learning, always be asking why. You have to stay adaptable. You gotta be quick on your feet and pivot when you need to, and you need to persevere. You gotta push through the swamp to

get to the other side. If you can do those three things, heck, you might not even need this podcast. At this point. You've listened to all the different little ideas, strategies and tips, and then if you can live those three core foundational principles. If you can live those things, you are gonna fill your tags. You're gonna fill your freezer, you're gonna feed your family, You're probably gonna put some bone on the wall. And uh, that's all I gotta

say on that. So question number two in the books, let's move through these a little more quickly. I realized when I'm the one talking, I can be quite long winded. Justin ask what are your top three days to be in the White Tail Woods every year? I Am going to answer this question partly from an effectiveness standpoint, partly from a fun standpoint. So number one, I always want

to be out there opening day. So whatever state that is, and we'll just say Michigan since that's my home state, I want to be out there in October first, no matter what, a opening day is just so much fun. It's that day you've been looking forward to. You've been dying for the season to kick off, so you can't

miss opening Day. But number two, it is I believe one of your best chances to kill a deer, because up to this point, as long as you haven't been out there screwing around, mucking it up, spooking the deer, as long as you've left it alone leading an opening day, those deer on opening days should not be too pressured.

They should not be caught onto what's happening yet, so they're going to be sticking to their patterns, hopefully still moving in daylight, and still going to be doing stuff that you can take advantage of as a hunter, one of your best chances to catch them unaware. So I will not be miss the opening day. And I like, you know, opening nights. I don't like to go in the mornings often, at least the places that I have I do have great morning locations for early season that

don't really risk messing up your evening hunt. So opening evening is like one of my favorite hunts of the entire year. Now after that, I think I'm torn between either giving myself two days during the rut or one day in peak rut and then one day in late season with certain conditions. So I don't know if that is allowed. I'm gonna answer the question both ways. So first, if i'm just picking dates, I'm taking October first, and

then I'm gonna take November first and November ninth. And so what I'm going for here is I'm yeah, maybe November seventh or eighth, November one I want because that's like the rut is just ramping up. The deer out there seeking chasing. They're definitely not locked down yet. They shouldn't be locked down yet, but there's a lot of that travel going on. And really October thirty one, November first, right around there, you're probably still gonna have Bucks, you know,

hanging out in their local areas. So if you know an area, if you know a deer, well, you still have a chance of taking, you know, taking advantage of that knowledge you have before Bucks start really widely ranging beyond their territory doing things that are out of character. If you're out there on the thirty first of the first and you're in a bucks core home range that you know, well, there's a good chance he's still there, but he's moving in daylight more so, that's a great opportunity.

And then I do want that November eighth, We'll say I'm gonna cut the difference. I'mna say November eighth. I like that time period because now you're peak rut. Now you're like fully revved. You're almost to when they're all breeding, but you're not quite to lockdown. There's Bucks running from all over the place. You know, it's hard to beat that seventh, eighth, nine time period when you've just got

a lot of chaos going on in the woods. Hopefully if you've got the right weather, if you're in the right zone near some dough betting man, great time to be in the woods. So those are the three dates.

Probably the only exception I would add is like if I could pick you know, December twenty fourth, with like two degrees and a foot of fresh snow on the ground, and if I had like an amazing winter food source, like maybe the farmer couldn't, you know, harvest the back two acres of beans or something like that, so I've had standing beans and those conditions, that would be an

incredible day. I'd want that. George asks, when you're introducing younger kids to hunting, how long do you think is a good length of time out in the woods for those first hunts and what are some key snacks or activities to bring to keep them occupied when times are slow? So, yeah, great question. Something I've been dealing with in recent years here taking my oldest not hunting so far, my youngest has not been deer hunting yet, but my he was four last year, he was really into it. Took him

on a lot of hunts. I think we did eight or nine days hunting. Some of those days were morning hunts and evening hunts. Some of those days were just evening hunts. But what I found was that, you know, two hours was about the max I was shooting for for a four year old, and you know, I was trying to take him in, you know, at least for those evening hunts, like places where I knew we'd be able to see some stuff. So even if there might not be much in range, there was going to be

opportunities to see deer. So I wanted to make it like exciting from that perspective, So an hour or two, making sure he's warm and comfortable, making sure there's a chance to see some critters, and then just trying to keep it fun. So I did bring tons of snacks.

Snacks were an absolute critical part of the puzzle. It was like every twenty minutes, maybe less, maybe fifteen minutes, it was like some new snacks I was bringing, you know, granola bars, cookies, little pieces of candy, goldfish, apple sauce packets, yogurt packets. I brought a thermisful hot chocolate. So just

lots of stuff. Like that that you know, not necessarily healthy, but in this case, the thing is like, I want to give him these fun little treats throughout the day, you know, to help, you know, continue that positive association between you know, going out with dad to do this cool thing and then you also get to have these

fun little treats along the way. Just makes the whole thing a little bit more special, and you know, it helps them pass some of that time, you know, in which you know, sitting quietly for two hours for a four year old is not easy to do, so food was key. I also brought books and so I would kind of whisper read to him books. On occasion. I let him bring little animal figurines so he could play with his animals down beneath the edge of the blind,

different things like that. Brought his own binocular so he

could scan and search. You know. Something I did one day which was a pretty cool idea was I have an old camcorder that I don't use much anymore, but he's really he thinks it's really cool to take pictures or videos, and so I gave him this little camcorder to try to video some of the critters we were seeing and again, that's like giving him a job, giving him like a role, And I think that helps a young child, you know, feel invested in the activity and

gives them some ownership, makes it a little bit more exciting. So doing something like that was kind of a cool idea that I think helped. So those are the things that I've done so far. I've tried to avoid, you know, placating them with a screen, you know, on one hunt. I feel like there was one night where I really wanted us to make it to the end of the night, but he was struggling, so I'd let him watch something on my phone. I felt really guilty about that afterwards.

So I've been trying to find if he if they can't be fully watching what's going on, having to do something that's still you know, positive other than some kind of technology that's just me. I think being out there is better than not being out there. So if you have to bring a little tablet or something that's that's you know, it could be worse, I certainly think. But I do think there's plenty of options of things to play with, things to do out there in the blind,

sitting on the ground, whatever it is. They can keep them engaged and happy and excited without having to resort to that. So can't tell you how much fun that was to have my son out there with me this past year. He's very excited this year to come again in his younger brother, who's now three, seems like he wants to come out and join the party. So it's gonna be very interesting this year with a three year old and a five year old. Yeah, let's see here.

Next question is from z Minton. This is a quick as he asked me about some fly fishing stuff. What right rod do I use? And for what fish species? So I do love fly fishing. That is my second love after white tail hunting, and been getting after pretty hard these recent years. So I primarily use a five weight in a seven way. So my five weights are my all around you know, do everything trout rod so

dry fly fishing, nymphin small streamers, stuff like that. That's like if I'm gonna grab any one rod, it's that, you know. I've even used it for pan fishing and stuff back east. It's effective for a lot of stuff. You could fish for small mouth, you could fish for all sorts of things. So I've used it for just about all of those small to medium size critters. I do have a couple seven weights that I have been

using for saltwater fishing and big streamer fishing. So if you're fishing, you know, for big browns up in northern Michigan early in the year or late in the fall and you're just you know, houckin' streamers, a seven weight is a pretty good option for that. I've also used that fishing down in Florida for saltwater species snook, and even hooked into a handful of tarpain last year on my seven weight as well. So those are the two that I use the most for the you know, for

those syts of species. Question here from Jack, how do you judge a conservation group's effectiveness? It's a really interesting question, and you know, I think there's a couple of things you can do. Many organizations put out a report that kind of showcase where their money goes and what their

impact has been. So if you are, you know, trying to prioritize where you want to donate your time or your money, your membership dollars, your advocacy efforts, whatever it might be, I certainly think it's a good idea to go and look at their impact report and you know, read up on the things that they are reporting back to their membership as having done. How do they spend

their money? Most organizations, you know, spend a very small amount of their money, at least the best organizations spend a small amount of money on their you know, overhead, like just running their staff and all that kind of stuff, and the vast majority of their funding should go to the resource, should go to, you know, whatever kind of advocacy or education or work on the ground that they're doing.

I think I think it's fair to say most that I can think of, as I'm thinking back on these that I've read, probably ninety percent or more of their funding usually goes to that kind of stuff. I think that's a pretty good benchmark. I would tell you that I look at a conservation group and I look at the impact they have on a couple of different fronts. Number one, Now, every different you know, conservation group is going to have a different mission and model of what

they're doing. Right, There's some groups that are primarily just advocacy. There's some that are primary you know, on the groundwork. There's some that are primarily educating, so understanding you know, what's this organization trying to do? But I want to see like real world impact. I you know, there's some groups that talk a lot. I want to see a group that actually leads to changes happening in the world.

So I want to see an organization that is doing something that tangibly changes either the landscape or the resource. So an organization that is doing something that I can point to that has helped public lands or wildlife or

the protection of wild places on private land. I want to see an organization that is either physically doing getting people out to be out there doing the work, or if not physically, I want them to be an organization that is doing something, whether it's giving money or time or advocating for work that has those things being protected in some way. Secondly, I think, you know, I would judge a conservation group effectiveness by how, you know, well

it can rally public action and support. I don't think many conservation groups that operate in a silo get much done. So if a group just you know, has their staff members doing the work, that's fine, but I would not call that a terribly effective organization. The best conservation organizations are those that can have an effective staff, but then rally a grassroots community to do something together. So you know, that might be an organization getting a bunch of volunteers

to come out and do work on public land. That might be an organization rallying the public to all go and you know, show up at the capitol and you know, hold up signs saying, you know, don't do this or please do this, or whatever it might be. It's an organization that can move a larger group of people to make change happen. That is an effective conservation group in my mind. And then I do think that, you know, as part of that, having influence on decision makers. So

I want a conservation group. Most all conservation groups have this as part of their mission, that being to influence those people that hold the keys, that hold the purse, strings, that hold the gavel, whatever it might be, that have the decision making power to you know, influence on a

high level. So conservation group is most effective if it has influence, if it has inroads, if it has the ability to influence a senator to vote you know, positively towards some kind of conservation legislation, or if it has some form of influence on a fish and Game Commission or a state game agency or you know, the Forest Service,

whatever it is. Those most effective organizations are able to throw their weight around, are able to rally their membership to get big decisions made that influence hunting or fishing or wildlife or wild places. So there's a lot of

different ways of doing these things. You know. The groups that I support the most and that I think do a really good job of this include organizations like Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Trout Unlimited, the National Deer Association, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, which is unique in that it's you know, they're really an organization that rallies a bunch of other organizations and partners together to do this kind of stuff. But they do a very good job of

leading in that way. You know, those are a few of my favorites. There's you know, no shorte of others. I think Pheasants Forever is another really cool example of an organization that has, you know, has a strong grassroots community and then does a ton of really good work on the ground. Like their habitat first model I think is super strong. You know, RF Turkey. There's a bunch of different you know organizations that are doing this thing.

So it's a matter of finding, you know, what's your passion, what's your you know which one of these resonates with you the most. But I think those three main silos of efforts that I mentioned are what I look at when trying to figure out where do I really want to put my money, time, and energy. All Right, Plank asks what kind of tree is your favorite to put a stand in? It's a great question, and uh, I

would say this. My favorite tree to put a stand in is the tree that gives me a close range shot at a spot that should funnel deer into for many different reasons, and that keeps me well covered with safe wind. So that is the perfect tree that doesn't exist in many situations. And I know that's not exactly what he was asking for, but if I had my drothers, I would have a tree in a location like that,

as I mentioned, having lots of cover. So because of that, my favorite kinds of trees are usually like a good oak tree. Oak trees tend to have a lot of branches, so there's a lot of cover up in the tree. They hold their leaves later into the year, so there's a decent chance you're still gonna have some leaves up there,

and then the bark is not too terribly loud. It's not ripping off the tree, you know, like some of those hickories and different trees like that, or birch or you know, certain cottonwoods with like a bajillion dead branches on them. There's certain trees that have sound issues or clearing issues if you want to get that cover. But oak seems to be pretty silent and pretty good for cover. You know, pine trees, cedar trees, those types can be

great for cover as well. And if you have a tree like that that you can prep in the off season, that can be great. You can get very very hidden up in an evergreen tree. The only reason why I would pick an oak over that would be, you know, thinking through a running gun situation, because you know, if I'm going to set up a new set right now, the damn hunting, I don't want to have to cut

down a lot of limbs. And that's the nice thing about oak trees is usually that's say just enough cover, but not so much that you have to cut fifteen limbs to be able to have a way to climb into the tree and clear out a spot to sit and have a few shooting lanes. It's like that sweet spot. A lot of pine trees, cedars, stuff like that. They tend to be on the other side so much cover that you have to carve out a path for you to climb up into it and carve out a window

for you to sit and see. So great if you can do that in you know, spring or summer, but on the day of the hunt, not as ideal. So that's that's why I'm going to pick the oak as my absolute favorite. Schrader Asked in a bar fight, who is your sidekick, Dan Johnson or Tony Peterson. Well, there's no right answer here because whoever I pick the other one's gonna be pissed. But let's weigh the cost benefit analysis here with Dan. Dan's like the bull in the

china shop, right, Dan's wild, Dan's big. Dan is boisterous and full of passion. So in a bar fight, those are helpful things to have that could be good on the flip side. On the flip side, you know, he he, he might have a little bit of reckless abandon in him, to put it, I guess nicely, And so you know, He's probably the one that would start a bar fight. Would be the problem here. I think Dan would be the type, like you're out there like he might be

the one. And I know for sure he has started bar fights in the past, so you know, he'd be a good guy to have with you if you're on the receiving end of it. But he's also a risk in starting one. And I just do feel like he would get this like hysteria, like bloodlust, and he'll be just swinging and spinning, and there could be some collateral damage too with Dan, like you might get knocked over by him, So that's a risk. Uh So Tony, here's the thing with Tony Tony, uh is is like an assassin.

So I think he would be dangerous in certain situations, and that he's very tactical, he's thoughtful, he's smart about what he's doing, and so I think, you know, Tony would not start a fight Tony though, you know he's in good shape, like he he he does his thing, so I think, you know, he could be dangerous in a certain situation. Probably Tony is that I think he's

also a flight risk. Like I think Tony likes to talk a big game, sometimes and he's the class clown, but the pinch he's gonna be like, I don't really want to be around this, So I don't know. It's a really tough call, and I might just cheat here and say I'd like to have both of them because they both bring something to the table and they both

present some risks. Uh So if we really diversify and have all three of us together, there's a chance like I'm gonna be I'm gonna be the mediator and or you know, the thought leader on this, and then Tony is gonna be like, my, all right, we need a quick jab in here, and then let's get out of here. And then Dan is like, if you've got to release the pit bull because shit's really hitting the fan, all right, then we unleash Dan, and uh, you know, all hell

is gonna break loose. That's that's my take on this one. And that's that's all I've got to say on that. Let's see Brett asks, what is my recommended best first like kit for winter and fall? So I'll I'll kind of shorten this up and give you like my if I could only pick like one kit for you know, the hunting season in most places I would buy. I'd start with your outer suit, like your outer layer, which

I would do the Solitude jacket and bib. That's like the mid season the main mid season piece from First Light. That's gonna be something you can wear, you know, with light based layers underneath it. You could start wearing that in like the fifties or something like early fall, and you could be okay and comfortable. You know, it's wind proof, it's DWR treated, it's super quiet, there's lots of smartly

designed pockets. It's got insulation in it, but not so much that you're gonna die from heat in the fifties. At the same time, you can wear it right on down to like the most cold stuff like I've worn it down to like the single digits basically, and just layer stuff underneath it and you can wear it so you can be running it from early fall right through the late season. It's incredibly versatile in that way because it's that outer shell, wind proof, good insulation, but not

too much. It really works well as a versatile all around kit. If I was adding some stuff underneath it. I'm a big fan of the Origin hoodie. That would be my main mid layer piece. That you could wear in the early season as well without the jacket if it's too warm, I'd get some wick bas layers as that next to body you know sweat management system. It's you know, naturally odor resistant because it's marina wool. It's

gonna wick away the moisture. It's gonna kind of help you moderate the climate inside of your outer shell and suit. So that would be my first set of gear i'd be looking at, would be those things there. If you want like late season stuff, if you're trying to layer up to wear your solitude into the later parts of the year, you could add the source jacket, which is like the super lightweight, packable, silent puffy jacket. That would

be a piece you could layer underneath. You could layer in the furnace, long John's or hoodie which is a great late season layering piece. Any one of those things would would really set you well for for a long season. What calls do you bring to the stand, Crundle asks, Well, I always all always bring a grunt tube. If I can only pick one call, it's gonna be a grunt tube. I use the Phelps Beta Pro right now and as

a great grunt really nice consistent, deep guttural sound. It's got the rubberized bellow tube, so you can move it, manipulate it with your hand to get different sounds and tones. But whatever brand you choose, I don't care. I like a grunt tube that has like a deeper, solid tone. I don't like the crappy, super cheap, flimsy plastic ones that sound like like I don't want that rattle. I

want them give me that. I also want to be able to make a snort wheeze, whether you do that with just your mouth or with like a amplifying tube on the side of a grunt tube. This doesn't require you to bring anything extra. It just requires that you know how to make a snort wheeze. The basic sound is that is this very aggressive, like flip in the middle of middle finger kind of call to another buck. It's a great call to use during that, you know,

anytime during the rutting period of the year. That is a very effective kind of challenge call that can get a mature buck to come your way. So grunt tube is the only thing that I always always bring, whether it's early season, late season rut, I always have my grun tube. When you get into the rut. I will oftentimes add rattling antlers or rattling bag if I'm in a relatively low pressure area with high mature buck density.

So by that I mean I don't really rattle ever in southern Michigan because there's not a ton of mature bucks, but there are tons of hunters. I've never I think I can say that I'm pretty sure that I've never rattled in a buck, a mature buck, at least in Michigan. I've tried. Early on, I tried, and more often than not just scared deer. So I've stopped in the super high pressure places I hunt. But I do rattle in those lower pressure places Iowa, Ohio, you know, the Dakotas, Illinois,

those kinds of places rattling can be effective. Texas use it effectively down there, so I'll tag. I'll bring that along in those situations and then a can call. I'll sometimes bring a dough bleat. Honestly, I don't use it a lot, but I will occasionally bring a dough bleat call of one form or another in that you know, sweet spot of the rut, and I have called in

a few bucks with it. One of my first second second, buck, I think ever I killed with a can call, so that doan estrius bleat you know, can be effective in certain situations, but really grun tube. If if I only ever had a grun tube, I'd still be perfectly happy. Let's see what's next. Top five pieces of gear for getting your kids outdoor. This is a question from Brent

so top pieces of gear for getting your kids outdoors? So, I mean it's obviously age dependent, but I'll just tell you for the ages my kids are right My kids are three and five right now, And the items that they enjoy the most and they give them the most enjoyment. The first thing that comes to my mind is a net. I mean, a net is just gold for getting kids outside because kids love chasing stuff and trying to catch stuff, and that is like such an easy thing to do.

Almost anywhere you can be in Massachusetts or Texas or Michigan or Montana, there's something for kids to chase and try to catch with a net, and it helps them engage with the natural world and have fun and feel like they're like actively participating in it. And it doesn't require any kind of training, right, It's like you don't need a train to shoot a ball. You don't need a train to shoot a gun. Every kid can use a net. So you know, my kids are the two

little nets. They're catching frogs, they're catching minnows, they're catching grasshoppers, they're catching butterflies, they're catching turtles, they're catching snakes, They're chasing everything and just having a blast. So I think right there, nets like that is such a great, such a great option. Man. I would tell you that a little like kid bow is a great thing because again,

like you can start really small those things. They can shoot like a suction cut bow in the house or outside, and then as they get older they can start shooting you know, a real wheelbow of sorts. There's even like tiny compound bows that kids like five six years old can shoot comfortably that adjusts down of very low drawwights. And that's like a pretty darn safe, pretty fun way for a kid to feel like they're an adult, to feel like they're doing something that mom or dad does.

My sons have really gotten a kick out of using their bows. They bring them along our hiking trips, are camping trips, hunting trips of course, And again I think it's any time when they can feel like they're a grown up and they can feel like they're doing the same thing when they're a real participant. That's been great. So getting you know, a young kid age bow has

been great. And our kids had little bows, like the tiniest bows when they're like one year old, and then at like two or three we got them like this little plastic bow with suction cup arrows, and then whenever it turned four, I think is when I bought him. It's like a bear spark bow I believe is the one he uses right now, which has got like a whisker biscuit and a little simple metal site pin and he shoots field tip arrows and that can stick in the target. And so he's out there shooting with me.

And now I think this year or next year, I'll probably buy one of those small compounds. There's one I think from Diamond that I've heard good things about that I want to look into more. So those are a couple options. Trying to think here, what are other pieces of gear for kidding your kids at door? I mean, a simple fishing pole. That's another key thing, you know, not worry about getting too fancied, just the simple five dollars,

ten dollars wal Mart kids. But real it's just you know, get them out there catching blue gills or little panfish of whatever type in your area, little little trout, whatever it is. Man, he can't go wrong with that.

are useful. But maybe as I'm saying this, the big thing I'm thinking about is that the gear doesn't matter that much. It's really the thing, like just taking them to these places. The place matters more than the gear. So just getting them outside with you matters more than the tools you bring with you. Because I'll tell you what, I can have all the fancies toys and stuff and hunting gear or fishing gear or whatever. And if I just sat them down in my garage, they're gonna get

bored real quick. But if I take them to the creek, if I take them to the mountain, if I take them out into the woods walking around the fields with me, whether or not I have some piece of gear or not, they're gonna find something that's fun. There's so many things out in nature that enthrall kids. You just have to get them out there. So do that, and I think you're well on your way. Oh boy, let's do one more.

And then we're gonna wrap it up. And the last question here is how can you make this from Sam? How can we turn more hunters into hunter conservationists. It's a great question, Sam. It's something I think about a lot, and I think it just comes down to a realization for each and every one of us personally that this thing we love, whether that's hunting, fishing, exploring nature, whatever it is, none of it got here by accident. We didn't just get a pile of white tails in our

area by happenstance. The only reason why we have great deer hunting today is because there are a whole lot of other hunters and anglers and conservations before us, that we're willing to stand up for it, that we're willing to work for it, that we're willing to advocate for it, that we're willing to protect it. We will not have

these places in the future. We will not have these animals in the future unless we become those people not today, that are willing to stand up for that, are willing to go out of our way and convenience ourselves sometimes to advocate, to work, to volunteer, to vote, to do whatever it takes to make sure this stuff is around

in the long term. It's on us. I would contend that if you are a hunter, you should also We must be hunter conservationists by default if we want to keep doing this stuff in the future, because it just won't be around. There's so many pressures. There's so many other people, other things going on in the world that are nipping away at these opportunities, that are paving over these places that are polluting or destroying or whatever. There's so many things going on with wildlife in America in

the world that's negative. If we want to have these opportunities and places and animals in the future, we have to be that positive. So that's the message that you know, I need to continue to remind myself and I think we each as individuals can try to live that ourselves and share that story with others. Remind our dads, our moms, our friends, our uncles at deer camp, our mind folks say hey, man, I love this opening I love this opening day deer camp thing we got going on. But

guess what, there's this thing going on. It'd be great if all of us could show up and you know, sign this petition or man, just make sure you know about this issue, because this is going to be pretty important for the future of this piece of public plan

that we're all hunting here today. If we can start, you know, sharing that with other people, that leads to this larger trend of people starting to recognize what's going on, understand the issues, understand our obligations, and recognize like, hey, we have this amazing thing. We get to hunt, we get to fish, we get to have these wildlife in these places. Now, what do we need to do to keep them around? Because it's on us. They can't speak

for themselves. The animals can't speak for themselves. Nobody else is running from the big cities to come protect this stuff. Right, there's all these other things going on in the world, a lot of people trying to make money, trying to do their thing. We are the ones living this, We are the ones living outside. Our lives revolve around it. We got to stand up for it. So it's on us and that is going to be it for me today.

Appreciate you tuning into this podcast. Kind of a random rambling Q and a episode of sorts, but I enjoyed it. Thanks for being here with me for my morning coffee break, for sticking with me for ten years now as we've done this podcast, and here's ten more years, huh. Thanks guys, and until next time, stay wired till hut