Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your guide to the Whitetail woods presented by First Light, creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind. First Light Go farther, Stay Longer, and now your host, Mark Kenyon.
Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. This week on the show, I'm running Steve Shirk through our what would you Do gauntlet, getting us insight into exactly how we'd handle some of the most challenging deer hunting scenarios. I can throw them all right, and welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you by First Light and our Camel for Conservation initiative. Every piece of First Light
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across the country. Good stuff. So this week on the show, we are continuing are what would You Do series, in which we are running our guests during the month of August through a gauntlet of different situations, very specific hypothetical deer hunting scenarios to see how they would deal with them, what they would be thinking about, what their thought process would be, what they're going to consider, and how they would actually execute on that plan. And today our guest
is Steve Shirk. Steve Hale's from the mountains of Pennsylvania, where he's made a name for himself chasing big woods, big mountain bucks across the state's vast public lands. And he's not just doing it successfully for himself, he's also leading dozens of other hunters to success through his outfitting business,
Shirks Guide Service. So in addition to all that, he is also somehow finding time to share his insights through articles he writes for North American Whitetail, all sorts of YouTube videos and podcasts, and plenty of other things too. So in short, Steve is a wealth of information and a go to source for expert advice on hunting DIY public land bucks. Which is why I'm so excited to get to talk to him today and to run him through the gauntlet. So that's what we're gonna do today.
I've got a lot of interesting questions and scenarios for him, but before we get into that, I do just want to pause briefly and thank all of you who came out to our Working for Wildlife tour this past weekend in Missouri. Man, it was awesome. We had a great show on showing. I think it's the word I'm looking for you a great showing or turnout. Maybe it would be the better choice of people who came out to volunteer on this piece of public land there in eastern Missouri.
It was a really cool event. We did a kind of a diverse array of different things. We were cutting invasive woody trees out of wetland areas, so we'removing willows and different things are going to crowd out that important wetland habitat in this area. We installed owl purchase for short eared owls, which are an important species of conservation need I believe out there in Missouri, and these these owls are coming from across the continent and wintering here
in this area. So we installed these different kind of wooden snag purchase. Out in the prairie habitat. We were collecting seeds from some of the native prairie in which they could use those seeds later for re replanting and restoration of prairie habitat. Elsewhere, we were building wood duck boxes, repairing blinds for they've got some pre installed blinds for handicap access on this piece of public land. So there's
folks working on that. All sorts of really good things going on that we're going to improve wildlife habitat or improve you know, the situation for hunters or other recorators out there, which was just a really cool thing to be a part of. I think everyone had a really good time. And after the volunteer day there was a social event in which there was a number of different speakers, some from the Missouri Department of Conservation, and then myself I shared a story and talked a little bit about
stewardship and some of my experiences there. So man, great time. Just wanted to again reiterate how much I appreciate everyone showing up for that being a part of it. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. We've got two more events coming up. There's gonna be one in Mississippi at the end of September, and then there's one in Kentucky in the middle of October, so if you're in those regions, stay tuned. More details to come. Looking forward to meeting plenty more of you having good
time out there and doing something good for wildlife. So with out of the way, I do think we should get to our main event today. We've got Steve Shirk, We've got some really interesting hunting scenarios, we got some learning to do. Let's get to it all right here with me now I have got the one and only Steve Shirk. Welcome to the show.
Steve, Hey, thanks a lot for having me.
I'm glad we're making this happen. You've you've made a name for yourself in recent years across the whitetail web, and you've got what seems like a really interesting skill set in your region, and you're doing it at a really consistent rate with a high quantity of success. And the fact that you also, you know, run a guide service I think makes you even more interesting maybe than just a guy who hunts for himself, because you've got a whole different level of pressure and a whole different
level of data points. I've always thought that outfitters have this really interesting, you know, view of the world because they aren't just observing what they see in the woods themselves. They talk to the different people that are hunting with them every day, every week and you get it must
be a boatload of information you're getting in. So it's all that said, I'm counting on you to be like an absolute banger of a guest for our gauntlet we're gonna go through here today, because because you have the minds of like hundreds of hunters in your head, I'm gonna assume right.
Absolutely, yeah, I know that you hit the nail on the head.
So so the gist of what we're doing here is the what would you do? Gauntlet? So I'm gonna run you through a bunch of specific hypothetical hunting scenarios and then you know, I'm looking for you to walk me through how you would handle it, what you would do, why you would do it, and paint me as much of a picture of that as you can. So do you feel like you were up for that challenge?
I'm absolutely ready.
Okay, So in the interest of time, then we're not gonna beat around the bush. I do want to know if you've got a big giant buck you're excited about this season, but I'll just let you slip that in at some point through our conversation today, if and when you feel it's appropriate because I want to get us right into the meat and potatoes and stuff. So let me just throw you kind of a softball ish to start.
I think it'll just warmed up. Given your experience a PA guy who's hunting all sorts of public land out there, it sounds like you've got a really a really in depth knowledge of your home turf, of your corner of the state. You're you're working a lot of land. But
what if I did this. What if I picked you up right now and said you had to move out of Pennsylvania and I'm going to drop you down in maybe like North Carolina or Tennessee, you know, still kind of that Appalachic kind of big timber mountain stuff, but brand new state, brand new area. And I said, all right, figure it out. It's late August. You've never stepped foot
out here. Walk me through how you would approach your scouting and prep if you had to start from scratch in you know, the National Forest down in Tennessee.
Yeah. Just one other question too, that is this like a pre scouting mission weeks ahead of the hunt? Are we talking like coming in five days before the hunt? Yep.
So let's say you are moving end of August. So like, you know, right right about now when people are listening, Let's say that's when you show up, and I guess Tennessee's season though they opened pretty early.
Yeah that's what I was thinking.
Yeah, so you're going to be, you know, pretty if not season's on, it's coming up very quickly. And so so walk me through the prep, the scouting, the prep or anything that might happen before you actually get out there with a bow.
Yeah. No, that's you know, even though I'm kind of stuck to my home area, there's so much ground here that I'm always learning anyways, and you know, I'm a big boots on the ground type of scouter. I've learned on public land you kind of have to look for different things that a lot of people are, you know, not really willing to put the foot work and the sweat and equity into to try to stay away from other hunters and try to find gear and individual bucks
that aren't getting pressured. I also think that a lot of these bucks are catching on to the trends and the patterns and what everyone else is doing. There's so many of these podcasts out there and so much information that it's like there's always something new every year that someone like me or another well experienced hunter starts mentioning that's working for them, and then everyone catches on to that. So I'm always trying to evolve and do things differently.
So I'd be going into that area looking for overlooked areas, maybe some more remote stuff hard to access, but I'd be doing a lot of boots on the ground. Probably the first thing I'd be looking for is trying to see what food sources are in the area, is their mass crops. I tend to stay away from clearcuts more than what I used so I used to love hunting clearcuts, but everybody's hunting them because they're so easy to from the scouting that you know, once again, it's just another
thing you kind of have to adjust to. So I'd be really spending a lot of time and like you know, these more remote heart accessed areas, uh, looking also for like you know, high stem count areas. We spend a lot of time in higher elevations trying to figure out, you know, some betting areas and just covering ground very thoroughly. If it's late August early September, we're probably gonna start to see a little bit of buck sign. I think at that time too, you can catch your buck on
a decent daytime feeding pattern. So I'd probably be trying to find somewhere where you know, food and betting was kind of close. Maybe find some hot sign in those areas, but overall, you know, more than anything, I would be looking for those more remote hard to access that way, especially, you know, when you throw hunting pressure in the mix, that completely changes up you know, bucks, his patterns and
the way he's going to act. So it's so much easier when you can find a buck that no one knows about, you know, no one's, no one's bothering, and you can catch him doing his usual thing. You know, it's much easier to read his mind and what his next step is going to be. So I think if that answers that question decent enough, or if you want to add on to it, I think That's where I'm at.
Yes, So so I'm curious, you know, a day of boots on the ground like that, Let's say, does that look like you pick in a chunk and like grid searching everything in that area, or do you go into it with like some high led places on a map and you're just walking from this place that looks good to this place that looks good to this place. You know what, like how does that actual day usually play out?
Yeah, I mean the first thing, I'm really only looking at a map, like the first time picking out an area, and all I really look for anymore is hard to access or areas that may not have a lot of hiking trails or especially a lot of roads, or you know, somewhere where there's pretty good stretch of ground that you really got to put you know, put the footwork in to get to. I used to not be that way, but like I said, that's what I've had to had to do over the years is you know, things started.
I'm not going to say that the hunting pressure in my area is getting worse. It's just hunters are getting smarter reading maps and figuring out, you know, where they want to be that you know, I've kind of just banked off of that change and you know, adjusted to it. But yeah, just that first time I'm going to look on a map and you know, I'm not looking for much for terrain features right off the bat, or you know, not doing any e scouting where where I can really
see what the habitat looks like. I'm just looking for a really hard to get to area, difficult terrain, because almost always that's where you're going to find a really big deer, especially nowadays these you know, it may not be the best habitat or the most perfect ridge to bet on, but his number one need is security and getting away, you know from other hunters. So I'm looking for somewhere like that.
Okay, So if I were to move your start date up from you know, end of August, and instead I said you're not showing up till October, and like it's hunting season, it's one would you still go and do this major boots on the ground cover everything and just like do a rip off the band Aid kind of thing, or would you approach your scouting and intel much more conservatively because you know it's hunting season.
I think I'd be a little more cautious. It also depends on what stage of October we're talking about. I mean, if it's early October, that's when I'm even more cautious because it really seems like Bucks in my area they really shrink up their home range. Then you know they've just broke up from bachelor groups or solo. They're kind of just in a new world at that time, and they really seem to be really skittish, so I'd be
a little bit more careful. Then I'd probably focus more on high elevation betting and see if I can find some hot sign around the edge of those you know, those betting areas and maybe try to catch that gear, you know, more out of evening feed pattern, you know, coming out of that betting area going to a food source.
But if it's like mid to late October, I'll get a little more aggressive because that's when I start to see Bucks doing what I call the rut shift, where they're kind of breakout of that solo betting feed pattern and they start paying you know, more attention to what does are doing in their you know, in their home range, and they will you know, one day they might bed in one place, one day they might might another because you know they're starting to expand and you know, look around.
So I don't think you're as intrusive that time of year. Plus, uh, you know, there's a lot of sign popping up in areas, and I think it's a really good time to hunt scrapes and rub lines then, so I think you can be a little more aggressive. At that time, you're just defined hot sign.
Okay, let's let's play that a little further than So. Let's imagine you're in there in October doing your scouting, and let's say you stumble onto like a no Questions asked big Buck bedroom. You get in there, and all the alarm bells start flashing, like you're like, oh man, like, I'm in it, this is it? What do you do in like in the moments that follow and then leading
up to whenever you might hunt it? And I guess I will preface that by saying, could you also describe for me what would you need to see for those kinds of alarm bells to go off? So what would it be that would make you think, oh wow, I'm in a big Buck bedroom in the kind of places hunt? And then what would you do you know? Following that? Yeah, either if I'm scouting or hunting perspective, Yeah, so.
Most likely I'm probably not going to run into a bed, but I'm going to run into signs. The only reason why I'm probably not going to look for a bed is I don't really want to bump a deer out of his bed at that time. I'm not saying that.
I do believe that you can bump and instill, you know, dump or whatever they call it, bump and dump, but I really don't want to bump that deer out of that area if I can, so usually what I'll do is, you know, I'll try to get on the fringes of what I think is a betting area, and that's where I tend to find quite a bit of sign I call it like a neutral zone where a buck might have a patch of cover that he's claiming, you know, he's got several beds in, but you'll get a lot
of deer activity on that edge. It's kind of like almost like a transition area that you know, deer may not want to go in there and disturb him because they might get their butt kicked, especially a younger buck, but they will, they'll skirt those edges, and that's where that buck's going to throw a lot of that sign out because he's telling other deer, and he's communicating with other deer that that's his area. It's kind of like putting posted signs on the edge of your property, or
you know, on your property boundary. That's kind of what that deer is doing. So that's what I'd be looking for, looking for some hot, big sign, you know, on the edges of thick cover high elevations, especially because I've at least in where I'm from, uh probably ninety percent of our buck betting is on the upper third, so that's you know, even though that'd be a new area to me, I would relate my past experiences here and find those high elevation covers. But then I'm also looking for an
active scrape on that edge too. What I've found that inside of those betting areas is, you know, a lot of people associate betting is betting only. I find that bucks do a ton of feeding in those betting areas, and even though it might not be their primary food source, it seems like they they don't come out of there as hungry, is what some people think, and they love to work like an active scrape kind of in that
neutral zone area. Even though he might be heading to a primary food source, he might also be going to that primary food source just for the fact that he wants to socialize with other deer in his area. See what you know, maybe what competition he has as well, but I've done really well trying to find scrapes on the edge of that betting, especially if it's on a trail and enter an exit trail right on the edge, like that's been a dynamite spot for me in the past.
That's probably where I would set up. The biggest thing, though, it's going to be in the mountains, is you know, how close do I think I am to where that deer is actually betting? And is the wind going to be consistent or not? So hard in the mountains sometimes to find consistent wind, So that's going to be a big part into it also. But then also sometimes the way I look at it, you know, and even here, because I may get to hunt a few times in the early part of the season and that's it. I
do landscaping, so I'm still a little bit busy. Then sometimes I'll just gamble like this is my time to hunt. I may have three days, and I might just especially if I was traveling on a hunt, maybe I only have five. If I didn't see the right wind and I felt there was, you know, maybe only one good spot to kill that gear, I may just go in there late, like the last hour when the winds die down.
That's what I tend to find is right before right before sundown, you'll see a break in the wind and a lot of a lot of the you know, the activity or air activity is more thermal based than anyways. So I might try to find somewhere where I'm on the downhill side of that bedroom and those thermals are starting to drop, but I'd probably be willing to gamble in a short period of time anyways, and you know,
see what happens. But I'm looking for the hot sign on the edge of thick cover, especially an active scrape, because that's where that gear is gonna want to before he heads to that primary food source. He's gonna want to see who's been around the fringes of his area.
So that situation, when you know you're scouting your way through, you come across this edge where it's like gets really thick, and all of a sudden, you's some good rubs, some big scrape. When you see that first good sign where you get the alarm bells and like, oh wow, here we are. Is that as far as you go because you don't want to spook them, so you don't want to go any further. Or do you say, oh wow, I think there's probably a buck bedded. You know, this
seems like I'm entering a bedroom. Will you do it? Will you explore any more of the peripherary to try to figure out where his main entry and exits out, or to see if there is more signed anywhere else? Basically, are you looking for the perfect spot right away? Or do you say, all right, this is good enough. That's all I need to know. I'm stopping now and I'm gonna set up somewhere on here.
You know, it would depend on if I was going to plan to hunt that area of that day. I say, if it was a day before, I'd probably scout the whole perimeter of the cover just to see. I mean, sometimes you think you found that magic spot, but sometimes the grass is greener, you know, a couple hundred yards away too. So But if I was you know, got
in there late. You know, it's two o'clock and you know I found something pretty good and I wanted to hunt that evening, that I would set up right then, you know, if I felt everything was right as far as wind and thermals, and you know, depending also on how much time I had to hunt there but yeah, it's just going to depend on, you know, when I
find that sign. But like I said day before, I'm going to scout a little bit thoroughly also too, because it's probably a place I've never scouted ever and I'm just just learning this area. I would then do a little bit of e scouting because I tend to find that bucks like to bed on the edge of elevation drops. So if I, you know, looked on my phone or a map and I was like, well, you know, there's a couple more good shelves up above me, I would prefer to set up within the cover, then on the edge.
I tend to find a lot of these bucks don't come out of those thickets until after dark. But you'd be amazed how many kind of used that inside edge of like like a staging area. He'll kind of wait till, you know, he'll browse his way out to you know, maybe to where he can see the open woods. It doesn't quite pop out till dark. I would try to push it a little bit if I felt, you know, if you know, if there is a good flat there that I could cut in on and too close to
an elevation drop. I thought that deer was going to bet on, I would prefer to set up in the cover. You also got to keep noise in mind too, Like you know that deer is also not going to come, you know, if it's like a real you know, thick clear cut or just to thicket, it's so hard to sneak into those spots quietly. Sometimes you have no choice to set up on the edge. But you know, there's so many different factors you've got to you know, you've
got to think about and make decisions on that. You know, I think you are a little bit better to back off and maybe hopefully you're within one hundred yards where that deer is laying. But if you think you can sneak another twenty thirty forty yards further, I mean it doesn't sound like much, but telling you just getting in that cover a little bit could be the factor between ever seeing that year and you know, getting an opportunity. So if I can sneak in there quietly, I'm going
to hunt in that cover. I like it.
All right. Let's uh, let's take you back home. Let's say you're back on your home turf, and yeah, I guess let me clarify. One thing is it right that you've run more than one hundred and fifty trail cameras on any given year somewhere in that ballpark.
Is it true, you mean? Or is it unethical? No?
No, not that not an ethics question. I want to make sure you got my numbers right. You've got a lot of games though, right.
Yeah, last year I had one hundred and round one hundred and seventy five out last year. And that's just also to get to clarify, that's in about a thirty mile stretch too. It's not like I got seventy cameras on a few square miles, so it's in a big area.
Yeah, okay, So with that in mind, you've got one hundred and seventy five some trail cameras scattered across the mountains out there. You've got a plan in place, you've scouted all off season. You're going into the season with a specific set of target bucks maybe you're after. And let's say it's that early ish part of October, so you've got some stuff with regular work going on still, but you do have some spots to hunt, some opportunities.
And let's say you're about to head in to hunt, and what you find out, though, is just before your big you know swipe you're gonna take it a couple of target bucks. You get a brand new deer showing up, brand new buck you've never seen before, a buck that
kind of blows everything else out of the water. So we're going to another level of deer where all of a sudden and he consumes you, and you realize WHOA like, this is a deer that I have to drop everything else to try to get a crack at him, because this would be by far the biggest deer we've ever
ever heard of out here. Yeah, how does your trail camera strategy or placement or checking of cameras change in this case where you had stuff everwhere, you had a plan in place, You had your places in specific spots for reasons, but all of a sudden, new buck in a place that maybe you don't have covered terribly Well, what do you do now in that situation to figure out this brain of deer in a new set of circumstances.
Yeah, are you saying that maybe I just had a random camera in there and all of a sudden I got a picture of this mega deer.
Yeah, let's say you've got one, yep, good.
Yeah. It would depend on the time of day or night when I got a picture of that, dear, and how I would approach you. I mean, if I fits early October and I get a daytime picture of that deer, I'm going to say, like, holy Colin, I'm close to where this geer is betting. If it's a night picture, that's the whole different ballgame. Even though I would say that time of year, you know, they're not covering a ton of ground. That year could be two or three
miles away from where it's betting. You know, I'm a huge uh not as far as how trail cam data goes. And you know, I try to take every little piece of intel of any photo I get, you know, so you know, yeah, I'll make it. I'll make this the hard harder question and say that, you know, I got a picture this year at midnight and it looks like
he's traveling, you know, east to west. I'm thinking, okay, because I you know, if it's in my home range, even though you know, I don't know every square inch, but yet I know I know my woods really really well, I'm gonna I'm gonna try to figure Okay, what was on this year's mind? Where was he coming from? Where was he going? You know, at midnight, he could be doing a lot of different things, but chances are he's
thinking food more than anything, primary food source. So I'm watching, you know, is this gear possibly heading towards a primary food source? You know very likely? Or you know, was that dear heading towards water? But I'm trying to put where he's you know, what what was on that deer's mind?
Where was he going? And especially the same thing, maybe where he was coming from the direction of travel, Uh is huge for me, and as well as too is maybe paying attention to the weather, the upcoming weather and what that was going to be. A lot of times, you know, in a wind shift or weather front, that gear may go on a little even a little excursion during a weather you know, big weather front that time
of year too. But I'm just basically trying to get as much information out of that trail camp photo as I possibly can, and then I will start to make up a game plan from there. If you want to add to that question a little bit, you know, it might it might be better. But like I said, I take every photo. You know, I'm not going to say little Bucks and does. But anytime I get a big
deer on camera, night day, it doesn't matter. I'm taking information from that and I'm trying to think what that deer was doing and where that deer was coming from.
Okay, so you get this photo, you analyze that, You're asking yourself all those questions the next day or the next chance you get when you have the right circumstances to go in there, are you going to do anything to try to put more pieces of the puzzle together? Like will you go and add a bunch of new cameras into that zone to complete the picture, or will you go do some additional on the ground scouting in that zone to try to learn more? Like is there anything like that that you'll do next?
Yeah, the the you know, biggest individual deer that I've ever hunted, I've always clustered cameras in those areas. What I found is, you know, especially in the big woods, it's not like these deer on the same path every day. However, you know, there's these little little zones of movement that you you know that you're going to find and taken advantage of, especially closer to daytime hours and early October.
You know, you might hear a lot of people talk about hotting food sources, but where I'm from, it's all, you know, basically betting, you know, getting as close to that bet as you possibly can. Like I don't find bucks in the daytime unless I'm close to betting, So I'd be clustering cameras, you know, around where I think that deer is betting. But I'd also be real careful
on checking them too. When I cluster cameras, I'm usually also trying to bank off of you know, I said it like this and to other people other podcasts look at it like how a baseball defense or baseball field is set up. You got left right, center field, you got the infield, and then you got you know, home plate. I'm going to be using cameras and focusing more these camera checks, like in the outfield of the field versus
home plate. I may sneak a camera into where I think I'm going to kill that deer, and that most of that data may be more for the fact that if I don't kill that deer this year, I'm going
to learn a lot from that spot. But I try to back off on checking cameras and you know, in spots I don't want to put a lot of intrusion and that you know, want to have less impact on and I try to have more of you know, these these safer intel areas that maybe that deer's coming in at night, but yet I'm still not that far from where he's betting. You know, I would say, like left, right and center field, I'd be trying to play those outer cameras and then based off what I'm seeing on those,
I'm trying to bank off of. Okay, can I get a better idea where this deer is coming from a direction to travel and those things, And a lot of times if I see what I want on the outside edge of cluster of cameras, I'll dive in towards home plate, you know, make a move on them.
All right, So two follow ups. Number One, when you're going to go in season to add new cameras or to check cameras, are you waiting for any particular conditions? So what's what needs to be present, either weather wise or anything like that, time of day whatever to go in and actually do something like that, especially if you're
going to push in tighter closer to home plate. And then part two would be for the folks who aren't familiar with your typical trail camera set up, we should probably just cover that off too, Like what are you usually putting these cameras on? Talk to me about how you're doing that and in a way that you think gets to the right intel without you know, spooking deer.
Yeah. Well, most of my inventory comes from creek bottoms because there's hardly any buck betting here in creek bottoms. I mean that's the lowest elevation. Like I said, most of our bucks are bedding in high elevation, so mostly all that activity outside of the rut is at night. So that's where I get a lot of my inventory. Especially creek bottoms generally have the main water source. It's
a big congregation socializing area. So you know, usually in a good creek bottom, you're gonna have some really good primary scrapes down there that you can get some really
good inventory and pretty decent intel. Also, like you know, say, like it's early October, you know probably a lot of times too about you know, eight nine o'clock, mature buck will work its way down in that bottom and if you can find where you got trails coming off hillsides and mountains, and you can start to get an idea where that deer is coming from, you know, just off of the you know how he's entering that scrape or walking that trail. So that's where a lot of my
my scouting is or checking cameras. Most of it's done in the creek bottoms because like I said, I have very little impact. But then I'm also I also got cameras further up towards betting, and that's going to be also based on what I'm seeing, you know, down in those creek bottoms. If I'm seeing you know, where this huge buck is, you know, hitting this primary scrape down in this particular spot in this creek bottom three four times a week, coming from this same trail every night.
You know, I'm going to know what that ridge is like, you know that that he's coming on. I'm going to know you know where if there may be another secondary food source he's hitting, you know, that might be where I'm going to put a camera midway up. I may hunt that deer midway up or you know especially I'm going to very likely know where that deer's betting. But just because we're talking about you're talking about areas that
I know like the back of my hand. But I would be, like I said, be putting a lot of cameras down in creek bottoms where i'd have less intrusion. But then when I start to see something consistent, then I start working my way up up towards betting further based off what I'm seeing on the cameras.
So you mentioned that baseball diamond shape for the way you're spreading your cameras. I was kind of envisioning that as being like a horizontal baseball diamond and like you're working your way across mountains, But it kind of sounds like maybe it's an upside down? Is it actually that? Usually home plate is like high up the mountain where they're bedding, and then it's and then it widens out going down exactly.
Yep, because I sometimes at backfires because home plate is more based on my prediction.
However, sometimes too, I've got history with a deer where I really am confident I figured out where he's betting, but I keep that, you know, I'll keep one camera up in near betting anyways, but those other cameras further out towards heading down the ridge and you know, down towards the bottom. That's where I can really get a lot of inventory and intel and have less impact. I'm you know what that deer. Honestly, some people might disagree,
but deer mature boxing I bet you would agree. They don't mind human scent and human activity in those nighttime areas because they know humans aren't in there at You know, they they have those areas where they want to feel more secure and that you know, further up into in their betting areas. Those are the areas you got to be more cautious about. But further away where I have these other cameras that I'm getting intel from. That it works out perfect that way, because I can, I can
be a little bit more messy. And you know that deer doesn't doesn't even realize that I'm using all those cameras to zero in on them. But yet, you know, I'm not going in those those core areas or those you know, those hot betting areas. I'm basing everything, you know, off of those cameras further back. If that makes sense.
Yeah, okay, let's let's jump let's pivot a little bit here. I might come back to cameras because You've got a lot of interesting ideas on the camera front. But let's let's shift a little bit, keep you on your toes. Let's let's imagine you're hunting late October, not like the very end of it, but let's say somewhere between, like the twentieth and the twenty fifth, Okay, and you're hunting close to one of these buck bedrooms. You're you're pushing closer to home plate, and you go in for a hunt.
You're all set up, things are looking great, conditions are good. Last fifteen minutes of daylight. The buck shows up, but he's downwind of view and you see him wind you and turn tail and take off the other direction.
Yep.
What do you do with that situation? From there? Are you going to try to keep hunting that buck? Do you give up on him and go somewhere else the next couple of days? You know, what's what's your thought process and plan for the coming days after that?
No, I'd absolutely hunt that buck again, very likely in that general area. However, I would not hunt that deer from the same tree. That's any time I find that deer catching on to me, even if it's uh, you know, other deer that I spook. I'll generally make some slight adjustment, try not to hunt the same tree, just for the fact that, you know, deer start to recognize pretty quickly
that they're being hunted, especially on public land. I've even you know, I've left tree stands and trees and you know, and you can just start to see how And even in the guiding business as well. We'll have a client, you know, hunt a spot two three days in a row and start to notice deer skirting around him. But I would definitely hunt that deer again, but I wouldn't
hunt it from the same spot. That deer when he comes in next time, We'll probably take a chance and go further out around from where he smelled that human scent. You know, I may I'm set up. You know, you said how many yards away, like fifty or eighty yards or something.
Uh, you know, I didn't actually specify how far he was, but if it.
Was out of range, I would probably set up closer to where that deer was, thinking that deer is gonna maybe skirt around a little bit further, especially that time of year two right before the rut, you know, it gets real crazy and they start ranging I'm willing to gamble a little bit more because that deer may not be patternable much longer. So you know, I would gamble, but I would probably hunt that deer from a different tree.
How soon would you go back in there after? Would you go that very next day and make that move?
I probably would go right back in the next day if everything seemed right. Usually that time of year as well. Uh, I'm I'm hunting somewhat of a pattern of a buck, you know, maybe you know, an active scrape line or rub line. Then I'm getting a deer on pretty consistently, so it's probably most likely going to be some consistency of a pad where I'm like, I can't afford to miss out on this, because once again, it's it's not gonna last.
Yeah. So, speaking of you know, observing deer doing something and making adjustments, let's let's run you through one of my favorite things to beat myself up over the head with. And let's put you into November and you're setting in a spot that you don't know super well. Maybe this is one of the first times you've hunted in this little region, but you feel good about it, like you feel like you're in a spot for the right reason, and it's the rut. You're waiting for something to come
cruising through or whatever. And you're sitting there in the morning, we'll say an hour or two into your morning sit and you see a shooter buck come moving through, but he's out of range. And then a half hour later you see another buck come through and do the same thing. Do you do anything with that intel or do you so? Do you do you move or do you stay where you're at?
Absolutely if when you see in the rut two bucks on the same trail, probably nine out of ten times there was a dough that they were following. And I've made the mistake before, and I tell my clients that too. And that's especially why you know we love mobile setups. Is if there's very very unlikely chance you're gonna have two bucks take the same trail for no reason, there's a good chance there's either a hot dough or a dough that's getting pretty close to coming into heat that
they were following that trail. Immediately set up and you know somewhere downwind or you know, on a safe spot too, you don't want to be set up, you know, ten yards off of it. Either, but you'd be amazed how many times we've had success doing that, especially that time of year. You don't have to see the dough. That dough could have came by at four am before you
got there, but you see something consistent. I also tell my clients, and it's the same strategy myself, Like, if you see anything consistent, you know, eighty yards out, but every deer doing the same thing, multiple deer, I always move because generally there's it's not just random, there's a reason for that. You you know, you're hunting that spot for the first time. You may not realize that you're not quite in the zone of how deer use that area.
You know, you're you're kind of observing that area off of that first sit. So any consistencies you see, move on to them as fast as you can. Because especially where I'm from in the big woods, I mean, a good stand here isn't a stand you see a deer from every day anyway. So I mean, if the action's good, get on it, well you can, because it may not be any good there the next day.
Yeah. So so let's say, to be really specific, let's say this happened at you know, eight thirty in the morning when you saw that second buck come through, was say, would you literally move, like as soon as that buck gets out of site or would you wait till midday when stuff's slowing down and you feel like there shouldn't be as many deer on their feet and then tear down and reset up. How quickly do you want to make that change?
As soon as that buck's out of sight is when I would move. I mean, I would be real careful, listen, watch really good. I might even glass, you know, all around me, just to make sure nothing's coming.
But I mean, if you know, if it is a hot dough, it could be a minute or two or I mean, God knows when something is when it especially you know once again, and you know, because I relate to a lot to what we're talking about, big woods and you know, lower deer densities, less doughs.
You know, you might have five or six dos in a square mile and one of those doughs comes into heat. Every buck in that area is most likely going to know. So you want to get on that hot route as soon as you can. You can't afford to wait till midday, and you know, hope nothing comes, especially in the rut too, Like there's just as good of a chance of killing buck get noon or two pm in the rout as
there is, you know, any other time. So I'm going to jump on that, you know, that sequence and consistency and movement as fast as I can, especially based on my own experiences guiding and hunting, like we've had a lot of success doing that. I highly recommend it.
Okay, all right, So then the next thing that might hypothetically happen is going to be another one of those head scratchers or get you stuck there spinning your wheels, which is you go, you tear down your set, you move to this new area, and you get to within the you know spot you think you want to be,
and you're stuck trying to pick the right tree. And let's say there is a there's a tree that is in range, and it's gonna set up nicely for you as far as giving you a good easy shot to that trail that you saw those two bucks coming through. Problem with it, though, is that there's a there's two things wrong with this tree. There is a little bit of a trail downwind of it, so there's like a
secondary trail kind of downwind. See, you've got like a chance that maybe you know, you're going to have deer come down win. The second thing wrong with it is that it is a bean pole, so it's like straight up there's almost no cover. You might be left out to dry up there. So you could pick the spot that's like the perfect location for the tree as far as being giving the easy shot, but you're not gonna have good cover and there's a chance that maybe there
might be some other deer passing down wind. Or you can go and you can kind of move out from that spot, and now you're gonna be forty three forty two yards maybe forty four yards some of that ballpark away from that main trail you saw. But it's a big oak tree with a bunch of cover on it, and now you're downwind of any kind of trail that
you saw when you were walking through there. So do you pick the spot that gives you the slam dunk twenty yard shot but it's a little bit riskier for those two reasons, or do you say, I want the safest tree possible and I'm gonna, you know, hope to make this shot work, or call the bucket an extra ten yards or or something like that.
Yeah, and about forty yards are a little over. I would rather take the safer route just for the fact that, you know, I would say most archery hunters as well, Like I almost almost feel like, you know, ethical shooting is starting to reach out there more than ever. And I'm not you know, I'm not saying that that I think everyone should be shooting deer fifty sixty seventy yards. I mean, that's to each his own, but you know, a forty forty forty five yard shot is very makeable.
I would set up taking the safer tree with a little more cover. I kind of like to stay back anyways, just especially for the fact that even even down wind, you know, or having the wind in your favor, but a deer coming in really close to you, a lot of people don't realize that you kind of have like a zone of scent scattered all around the base of your tree. Anyways, So I like to be thirty forty
yards back. I just feel a lot safer. I feel like there's a lot more room, you know, for to make less mistakes or for a deer to catch on to your mistakes. I'm going to take that that that big oak that has to cover forty forty five yards off. I'd rather take a little bit further of a shot than gamble, you know, being too close and that deer catching on to me.
Okay, all right, that's a that's a fair choice to make. I think you pass the test.
Okay, this one.
You've got a spot you're heading into hunt and it's a slam dunk. You feel really strongly about it. You have trial camera intel that backs up your location, and you're heading in with high hopes. But as you head in, let's say it was kind of like a wet day before maybe, so there's a like soft grown. As you're heading in and you're nearing your location, you see fresh boot tracks and you find out someone else has been
somewhere around here. Do you go through with your plan or do those fresh boot tracks in your zone make you pivot in any kind of way? What do you do?
Yeah, well, it would depend if it was just fresh boot tracked. You know, in the mind, I'm probably gonna gamble and hope that maybe somebody's just passed them through.
You know.
Another thing where I come from, there's a lot of human activity that's even non hunting related, there's a lot of foresters who's biologists. I mean, you name it. So there's a chance that it's not even a hunter. And there's so much area anyways, that and I'm I feel very confident in a lot of my best spots or overlook spots that you know, not to brag, but I don't think a lot of hunters thinking the same things
and the same setups as me. Anyways, Now, if Safer snow on the ground and I see boot tracks, I would literally follow those boot tracks aways. Heck, I might even try to catch up with the hunter just to see what they're doing in there, you know, are you are you setting up somewhere or whatever. I would literally do that. I would. I would rather, you know, lose a little bit of hunting time and just figure out what this this hunter is doing then you know, risk anything,
But it would it would depend on different scenarios. But if I just see sign of you know, human activity, I'm still gonna hunt that area. It's very common situation.
Okay, what about a slight variation of that. What if you're up in the tree waiting on your buck and here comes Jill hunter walking by you, and maybe he doesn't walk right into where you think the core core is, but he walks kind of past you. He waves, then he keeps on going and kind of is cruising along the side of where you were hoping a good deer might come from. Do you bail or do you stick it out?
Usually I'll move, but I might not move real far right. I'm real careful about entering my spots with ground scent. A lot of times I'm jay hooking or doing something real, you know, real out of the ordinary, to make sure that if I think deer you know, or working on this particular scrape or whatever, you know, I try to keep my human send off of where the deer are traveling. So you know, if somebody's going through kind of the hot route that I'm hunting they just went through, I'm
definitely gonna get down and adjust to it. But good chance I'm not gonna leave the area either. I may, you know, unless that person you know followed that trail and came from that route from to and from one hundred some yards this way hundred some yards that way. You know, I might then leave the whole situation. But chances are I should be able to find somewhere without that fresh ground set and you know, I'm pretty quick
about you know, getting set up. I mean I can get out of my train up in another you know, fifteen minutes at the mouse or whatever. So uh, it's really not a huge deal as far as losing time, But it's going to be based on where exactly that hunter came from and where they went, if they left me any room they were adjust or not.
Okay. So another thing that you've talked a lot about in the past that I've that I've really found interesting is your you know, really in depth trail camera analyzes you've done, where you've you've looked at trends across you know, your hundreds of cameras and seeing how different dates and different weather systems and things have impacted the dear activities
sand camera. And one of the things I've heard you mention a lot is just the impact of those cold fronts, when those cold weather systems come through the trigger that seems to pull for deer. So I'm curious about what you would do when you have the opposite situation. For a lot of us. This past year, we had a hot rut that first, you know, depending where you are in the country for a lot of people's the end
of October, first week of November. You know, I was stuck with seven straight days of seventy degrees or more. So let's say it's that you know, last couple of days of October or first you know week of November. And let's say this is your you know, let's say you're not guiding and you have time to hunt during that week and you're stuck with that weather forecast. Does that change your hunting strategy in any kind of way? If so, how If not?
Why not? Yeah, it absolutely does it the whole rot. Like you know, people, some people assume that maybe the way I explained it is that these deer don't at all, and that's definitely not the case. Even you know, seventy or degree day or warmer, they're still rutting going on. You know, you can still have success. It's just you know, the chances are a little slimmer when a buck's moving a lot less. There's a couple of different, different, you know,
scenarios that seem to work in warm weather. Here people would be surprised. But you know this is even based some off trail camera observations too. Is real hot days like we're finding creek bottoms or really good you know, cruising areas are creek bottoms are you know, usually prettyly heavily loaded with like a lot of evergreen and hemlocks,
so it's generally cooler down there. Plus, got a fact you're in that you know, when bucks are are rutting hard and they got those winter coats on, you know, they're thirsty. I would you know, we're definitely focusing more around creek bottoms on those hot days for guiding myself. I'd be keeping that in mind. Another thing, too, is it still seems like there's activity close to betting, which
is pretty normal. Seems like a lot of bucks like to you know, bed maybe just two three hundred yards at the most, or more like maybe one hundred yards downwind of dough is dough betting. I'd be focusing more around those dough betting areas. You know, on those warmer days, you just you can't expect it to be like that, that hot all day action. You know, it's a sluggish movement on those warm days. You gotta be a little
bit more patient. But you can still have success. I mean we've I'm not going to say we have our best success those days and certainly don't get as excited. But you know, we got paying clients that come in and they can't predict what the weather is going to be a year in advance when they book their hunt. So we've had to come up with ways to still
be successful. And like I said, you can still have success, you know, you just got to either set up around betting or like I said, those creek bottoms with a good water source. That's and we've really found to be really good in those hot days during the run.
Yeah, So speaking of those kind of sluggish movement days during the rut, like you kind of mentioned, even when conditions are pretty good, it seems like you can certainly have these like great periods of movement and then like really slow days during the run, even though you would think, like, oh, it's the rud it should be incredible. At least, my experience has often been that there'll be these periods of
where it's dead, it's either hot, or it's not. So I'm curious if you are in a situation where it's you know, November seventh or eighth, one of those days that a lot of people say is like the best day of the whole hunting season for a lot of people. And you've sat in a location for three days in a row, and I've heard you talk about your three day rule. So if that's something you still do, I would be interested in you explaining that a little bit
for folks. But let's say you've done your three day rule. You've sat for three days in the spot. That should be amazing. You feel really confident, but it's been dead. Do you you know, how do you piv it based on that? Or do you for some reason stick it out longer?
Yeah? No, I would never you know, three days of dead movement. You know, I'm looking for something else. I'm probably also looking for a completely different type of setup. You know, maybe I was in a creek bottom. Now I'm gonna maybe set up closer to some bedding or a food source, just based on there's probably a good chance too that you know, something changed as well as you know, within their environment. A lot of times too, what I'll do is grid search for a hot dough too.
It may not even be you know, trailcam picks that time of year, but if you can get on a hot dough you know around that and that's a pretty good period for those coming in to heat that's sixth, seventh, and eighth, just you know, just trying to be in that zone. That's That's another thing that happens that time of year is you might see a little bit las cruise and at least up my way around that time period.
And it's all centralized based on you know, where that that do in that areas you know, coming into heat, that's where all the bucks are going to be. Like I said, but just at least do something different, you know, whatever, you know it may be. You know, you said, even if it was a prime you know, more of a prime weather day and you know, things weren't things still weren't working right. There's a good chance that you know,
you just don't have have it figured out. You know, maybe uh, the deer were eating white oaks and they're starting to become pretty thin. Now they're switching the red oaks, or you know, just do something completely different. But definitely, after three days of nothing, I totally recommend it's not just you know, eventually maybe something's going to come through, but you know, you've put a lot of humans, do
a lot of intrusion into that particular spot. It's time to to readjust and come up with a new game plan.
Now, if it had been just one day or two days, though, would you do you do you still strictly follow that three day rule?
No, not always three days. You know sometimes too, you know, I might hunt us plan to hunt a spot for two days because say it's like a travel corridor, cruising area, and I got two real good prime weather days. Like I love to hunt travel corridors, maybe a pinch point or you know, just a past a pack crew, a past cruising route I've had good experience on. But those routes only seem to be used on those prime days. You know, doesn't always matter whether it's November first or
the fifteenth. But it just seems like our dearm based on a lot of my research, Like you know, you get what I call thirty thirty weather days when you got at least high tempts in the thirties or better or lower I should say, and low times thirty two or lower. You know, those those travel corridors really really
light up. And you can even you know, you can have a camera on a you know, on a travel corridor that you know that has a scrape or maybe even a signpost Roub and it's been pretty dead this year, but most likely you haven't had those prime weather days when these bucks are making those big johnts. I hunt those spots based more on past experiences versus even fresh intel.
But sometimes, if you know, if I'm seeing that we only got a couple good, you know, prime days of weather, I'm only gonna hunt that spot twice because we got that warm front coming up. These bucks are gonna get bogged down, and I'm gonna hunt more warmer weather setups, you know. So a lot of it's based on really a lot of our hunting is based on weather, especially temperature as well.
That brings to mind another situation. I feel like a lot of the weather conversation helps inform people like when they make their strikes or how aggressive they get with their strikes. Right, there's some folks that will play it really conservatively until you get that good cold weather, then you make a strike you know, deep into the kill zone, and then when it's hotter days, they're going to play
it more conservatively. I'm curious though, one of the things that can shift someone's strategy or perspective would be if they knew they weren't the only ones hunting that buck. I think this can be a situation where, you know, folks share a private property to other guys, or if they hunt in a place where there's a lot of hunting pressure, or they hunting public land where it's fair
game for everyone. What happens if you've got, you know, a target buck that you're really really interested in, it's on public land, and you've got a plan and you're after him, but then you bump into some other guys at the trailhead and they show you pictures and like, yeah, man, I'm after this deer. And you find out that there's like a guy or two in the zone that's kind of on the same deer. What do you do in
that situation? Does that change your strategy? Does that change how aggressive you are or anything at all?
I Mean, the good thing is, as I've ran into these guys and a lot of times I may not jump right out and tell them or I'm hunting, but I might. What I'll say is, you know, I just don't want to get your guy's way. I try to play dumb. Although if it's a local guy not bragging, but he probably knows. Steve shirt's hunting that deer too, But I try to play a little dumb and be like, you know, not real, you know, familiar with this area. Guys.
I just want to make sure that you know I'm not hunting where you're at, and try to figure out what they're doing and you know where they're going, and as long as they're doing something different than me, I'm going to hunt that deer definitely. I mean, I'll say, you know, a lot of the deer I have on camera, you know, they're not secrets. It's public land. A lot
of other people have these deer on camera too. But I'm always trying to figure out, you know what, how these other people are hunting these deer and you know, and go from there. And that's why early on I was big about, you know, finding those harder to access areas a little bit more remote. It doesn't mean that these deer secrets, but you know, a lot of these people always or a lot of people say, you know, how, Steve,
how do you get some a daytime? That's because I'm finding deer and I'm learning, dear, you know in these areas that nobody's really going. I mean, these bucks, you know in the middle of the night. They may go several miles from their core area. And a lot of these people are getting these bucks at midnight, one two in the morning, and then they're going in the woods, you know, five hundred yards thinking that bucks there and
they have no clue. They're two to three miles off. So, you know, just trying to figure out what everyone else is doing, you know, and staying away from them, because if they have a pattern to what they're doing, the mature deer has already got them figured out. He'll go in that area at night and he's not going to be bothered at all, but he's going to stay back, you know, quite a way where nobody else has been going, and that's going to be the place where I plan to hunt.
Okay, another camera situation, and this one just kind of popped in my mind. But it's a thing that you
hear about every once in a while. I've I've kind of had this kind of thing happen where you've got to buck that you're kind of closing in on and you're getting daylight pictures of him, but every time you go in to hunt, you don't see him, and then the next day you're not in their hunting, and then he daylights and the daylights the next day, and then you check your camera four days later or you got to sell cameras or whatever it is, and you say, oh, shoot,
he was daylighting, and then he go in and hunt him again, and then you don't see him. But then the next day, when you're not there, he's daylighting. So you get a buck that's day lighting when you're not there, but you can't seem to get on him when you're there. Do you what do you do in that situation? Do you think that it's you? Do you think it's just luck or happenstance that he happens to just not be shown up on the right days and you just need to be there more. How do you approach that?
I would I would go into that thinking that deer was on to me. I wouldn't give up on the deer. I, you know, maybe set up a couple hundred yards differently. This is something too. I like the question because I've had it happened to me several times. It's it starts to make sense when every time you're not there, that deer's showing up or pretty consistently, And I think that
happens a lot. You know, you think you might know where that deer's betting, and he might also know where your stand is, and he's just bedding down wind to that every time. He may adjust every time too, just to make sure he's down wind to that spot. You know, it could easily happen, especially if you've went in there pretty often and you know you're you're checking that camera
quite often. He's got a pretty good idea that Okay, there's a hunter, there's there's someone coming in here fairly often, and I need to pay attention to this. But the good thing is that deer's sticking around. He hasn't disappeared, and you just got to go in there and surprise him once again. That's why you know I love mobile hunting and not so much of a fixed stand person. Is you want to keep these deer, especially in mature bucks. You want to keep them guessing to what you're doing
as well. Like I said, I don't think you're going to have to leave that entire area one hundred two three hundred yards of an adjustment. I think that deer would be surprised, and I if I'm continuing to get pictures of that deer in fact that camera. If that deer keeps coming to that camera, I can keep checking
it every few days too. But then I would bank off of what I'm seeing that deer do if he is coming from the same direction, or if there's like I said before, if there's any bit of consistent knowledge you're getting from a deer on your camera, keep using that, keep basing your next hunt off of those pictures. So I would use that camera as more of an inventory or an intel camera, and I'd keep basing my setups off of that and keep mixing up my setups too.
Even if I went in there another time and I hunted that deer once or twice and didn't see him, I would just keep within that area. But I probably wouldn't keep hunting the same tree, just keep bouncing around. Sooner or later, I think you're going to get in front of him.
What if I did this? What if I took all of your trail cameras away and you had zero cameras for this hunting season, how would you kill a buck in that situation? Like, how would your plan change?
Well? Can I say that I had cameras in the past, or I've never had cameras.
You know, I think I'd be more interested in if you never had camera information, because I kind of want to see, you know, for someone who I'm imagining there's somebody listening right now who maybe only has a couple cameras. They can't afford one hundred and fifty cameras, and so they're thinking, Man, how does Steve get it done in these places? You know, if he didn't have all that information.
So I'm kind of curious. Let's just go extreme here and say you don't have any and maybe this is a newer place, so you just don't have that historical information from them. Yeah, what would you do then?
Yeah, I mean it it wouldn't be I mean, I'd be depressed, don't get me wrong. I'd hate to not use cameras. But it would also be kind of exciting too, just for the fact that I always know what's in the area. So it would be like every time i'd be going into a hunt, it'd be like Christmas morning, but I'd use all the same things I'm still using now. Just you know, i'd be still you know if it was uh, you know, I guess it depends on what time of year. It would be you know, just similar
to the answer I gave you before. If it's early October, I'm looking for you know, sign on the end edge of betting.
Uh.
If it was more in the rut, I probably focus more where I'm seeing dose and still keeping you know, out of out of the way other hunters trying to find more overlooked areas. Uh. You know, still a lot of boots on the ground scouting too. The only thing that you know, those cameras are really doing for me is really teaching me, you know, about individual bucks. But
you know, I still have decent woodsman skills. I still do a lot of things similar to what a lot of other people are doing that you know, aren't running trail cameras. But a lot of it's just based on time of the year. But you know, I definitely scowed heavily and that's what I would do. A lot of boots on the ground stuff, and you know, you can have success without trail cameras for sure.
All Right, we're the last phase of the gauntlet, which is the rapid fire questions. Okay, I've got I think five or six quick questions here. I just need like a one word answer. No, explanation allowed, and then I'll end it with one last doozy in which you can explain yourself. Okay, okay, okay, all right, rapid fire begins.
Now.
Would you take a fifty yard shot at a white tail with your bow?
Yes?
Or no?
No?
If you can only have one of these tools for the rest of your hunts, for the rest of your life, would it be a set of rattling antlers or a grunt tube? Grunt tube expandable or fixed blade? Broadheads?
Fixed blade?
Should you stop a moving buck before shooting with a bow?
Yes?
Does the moon matter to dear? Movement?
Minimal?
Okay? If you could only hunt mornings or evenings this coming season, which one would you take?
Can I at least ask what time of year.
It's for the whole season? The whole season?
All right?
Mornings? Okay, all right. So here's the doozy. Let's say that I rule the world and I have control over your hunting privileges. I'm going to take away your right to hunt for the rest of your life unless unless you kill a five and a half year old buck or older this coming season. The problem is, I'm only gonna let you hunt one day and from one location. So you have one day and one stand site in order to kill a five and a half year old
buck this year. Tell me the date on the calendar you would pick, and then describe to me in as much detail as possible your best possible hypothetical stand site for this situation for that day.
Well, does it have to be a specific date or could it be a time frame with a weather event, or does it just have to be a certain date.
I would say pick a date, but I'll let you be a little loose with the facts. And if you want to say, but I want this weather, I'll give that to you because I don't want to be too mean, because.
I do have I like to hunt individual deer, like from October fifteenth to close to Halloween before they really you know, break out and range. In fact, I have several deers several spots picked from that October fifteenth, you know, towards end of October period, like you know, but a lot of that's gonna be based on weather fronts. But the first first weather front we get around mid October, I'll explain a couple of these spots. Uh, they're they're
pretty close to buck betting. They're they're all on active scrapes, like I mentioned before on the fringes of buck betting. Uh, it's that's a special time of year when I mean I call it like scrape season. I'd say that that mid to late October period. There's probably no other time throughout three hundred and sixty five days a year that bucks are working scrapes as much. And you can you can kind of pattern bucks on these scrapes. I'm not
saying they're hitting the same scrape every day. That's when I love to use my three day strategy. The most you'll have. You know, you'll have scrapes that a buck's coming to maybe two to three times a week in the daylight, and those are the spots that I'm hunting, you know, maybe three afternoons in a row based on what I'm seeing on those cameras. If I'm seeing more consistency in the morning or evening, I'll base whether I'm gonna hunt morning or evening on that year, and I'll
give it three sits in a row. Then I move on to a different gear. But most of my hunting, I will say, is based on weather fronts, you know, cold fronts especially. I have you know those I don't want to say magical spots, but some really good spots that I have a lot of confidence in. But instead of you know, getting excited and jumping the gun too quick, I wait till the time's right, and you know, in
that I've had most of my success. A lot of people are surprised, But from like October eighteenth to Halloween is when I've killed most of my bucks. It and it's mainly using that strategy, incorporating prime weather, you know, on these scrapes and in these on the into these betting areas, like that's just been a deadly tactic for me. The biggest thing is some years you don't get those weather fronts, and you know, you that's what's tough being you know a fair weather hunter is you know, it's
you just you never know. Every year is going to be different. You know, it's funny the year before last and you know, twenty twenty one, our best stretch of activity was November first to like the sixth, twenty twenty two. That was the absolute worst time. So you just from one year to the next, you don't know. And that was mainly based on weathers. So but that's what I
would be doing. I. In fact, I was just scouting the other day what I've been going in like this time of year July August, and because I leave cameras at these spots year round just for the most part, so these bucks are used to the camera as well. And I'll go in about this time of year and just clear some brush and just make sure everything's clear because about this time years when everything in the woods
is reached like maximum growth, and you'd be surprised. I went to cameras the other day and they're just completely covered up with the brush and stuff. But I've already got all my spots pretty much set up for that time period and now it's just a waiting game and pray the weather gods are going to work with me this October. Man.
Well, if that was the case and I had your hunting privileges on the line, I would be crossing all my fingers and toes for you. And with that, Steve, you made it through the gauntlet. Thanks for doing that. I enjoyed it. Before I let you go, though, can you give folks a quick rundown of where they can follow along with anything you've got going on how they can contact you? About the Guide Service anything else like that.
Yeah, you can find me on social media Facebook or Instagram. You might be able to see on my shirt here it's Shirks Guide Service strk Apostrops. I don't have a website anymore. I just it was, you know, it's one of those things. I never thought it was going to be what it is, and I was getting so many phone calls that I just had to find a way to cut back. However, this year, I do still have some spots. I don't know when you're gonna air this, but we do have a few spots, a few openings
this coming season. So if someone's interested in doing, you know, a mountain buck hunt here in northwestern Pa on public land, can definitely get a hold of me on Facebook or Instagram. And honestly, thanks so much for having me. I was honored to get to chat with you. I've been following you for years, so this was one of my I would say, one a little more challenging podcasts, but probably the most fun and I'd be willing to do it any other time to say the least awesome.
Man, Well, hey, right back at you. We'll definitely have to stay in touch and I'll be I'll be keeping tabs this fall. Hopefully you'll be putting another one or two in the truck, and I'm sure you will. So good luck and thank you, Steve.
Thank you, good luck to you as well.
All right, and that is a wrap. Thank you again for showing up for this, listening to this, enjoying this with me. I'm rare to go. I'm actually heading out right now to hang some trail cameras and do some scouting on a new piece. So exciting times all around. I will leave you with one more heads up. After I finished my conversation with Steve, he did mention that he has a couple more openings available with Shirk's Guide Service this coming fall in that mid November time period.
That's the only slot that's open right now. Get a hold of him through Facebook, like he mentioned, and you might be able to get one of the last couple spots available with Shirk's Guide Service. As he heard today, Steve is a wealth of information. He's gonna teach you some great stuff. He's going to put you in a place where you'll have some great opportunities, and I imagine it can be a whole lot of fun too. So give Steve a shout, and in the meantime, best to
luck out there. If you were doing some summer scouting, some summer preps and habitat work, whatever it is, get it done now because the season is just around the corner and I cannot wait. So until then, thank you and stay wired to hunt.