Ep. 705: Under-the-Radar Big Buck Killer’s Secrets to Success with Brad Davis

get into this thing. So they're doing great stuff. I'm glad we're supporting them. That said, this week on the show, we are chatting with an under the radar big buck machine. This is a guy who some of the best deer hunters that I know say is one of the best deer hunters they know. He's someone who has previously resisted the spotlight. He's someone who has not shared his tactics

or hunting strategies online before or in podcasts before. He's a person who has more one hundred and fifty inch bucks on the wall than I have years of my life. All Right, this is someone you've probably not heard of, but someone you're definitely gonna want to learn from today.

And this guy's name is Brad Davis. Brad's a realtor for Macio Properties, and he's a friend of the Lone Wolf Custom Gear crew over there, and he came by recommendation of a mutual friend of ours, Justin Hollinsworth, who's been on the show here today. And what we're going to do here shortly is talk to Brad and break down his approach to hunting mature whitetails and what makes his approach unique, I think, And the main thing we focus on here today is how he has simplified deer hunting.

A lot of us over complicate deer hunting. A lot of us go in all these different crazy directions and try to pattern this thing and try to think about this thing and consider this factor in this factor in this factor. And Brad says, no, no, no, no no, Let's just look at the terrain of the topography. Think about where deer going to eventually move through, and then let's wait them out. Let's get there with the right wind.

Let's be bulletproof with wind. Let's know a couple key places, and let's hunt they're smart, over and over, and let's hunt the next one over and over. So he's got this I don't want to say simple, but a a uncomplicated but smart way to kill big old bucks. And he does it very well. So that's what we're going to talk about here shortly. I think it's a breath of fresh air in a certain way. So I'm excited about this conversation. I think you guys are all going

to learn something from Brad. That's that's going to be a useful change of pace. But before that, what I want to do is take a quick second here to catch up with my buddy and right hand man, mister Tony Peterson. Thanks for hanging there quietly while I rambled

on my friend. But what I want to do today is something I want to do more often throughout the year, which is take a little time here at the beginning, just catch up on what's going on in our hunting worlds so folks can continue to follow our stories throughout the hunting season and what we're doing and learning as we go. So before we chat with Brad, I got

to hear Tony real fast. Is there anything new in your white tail world since that Minnesota hunt that you filled your tag and we talked about last week?

made it. And now this buck shows up as a two year old and he's got a really wonky one side, which would kind of correlate with where, you know, the opposite side of where she hit this buck last year. So I'm thinking this is probably that deer and he has been crazy consistent. So we we went last weekend and hunted him. And I don't know about what you've been getting out there in Michigan, but we've been getting a lot of southeast wind. Yeah, and I don't set up a lot for southeast wind. So I had a

backup for this dude. I had a backup blind for this deer. And I was like, every other sit after this, we can probably make the spot. I want to go to work. But that first night I was like, we.

I guess five or six sits. So I'm kind of like it should to make something happen here.

the name the buck I'm after usually. So I've got this deer I call the Wide nine, and he is a buck that I have had four years of history now with which is the longest I've ever been able to keep tabs on a buck in Michigan with before. And so you know, I started getting pictures of him again this year. He survived, He showed up in the summer, cool deer, a lot of encounters. I know a lot

about what he does usually. I had a pretty solid idea of like where he beds on these properties I have permission on, so I thought I had him pretty well dialed. The night before opening day, though, I wanted to see if I could get some better like just some really recent intelly. Let's see if he's doing what I think he might do it, or if he's if he's moving in daylight somewhere yet, as you mentioned, like

it's hot. It's been it was very hot spell there at the beginning of October and just preceding that, so conditions weren't great, but I still, you know, anything's possible, right, So I thought, maybe I can learn something the night before the season that will give me either the confidence to move back into something that maybe I wouldn't usually with this weather, or I'll confirm like, okay, play it safe,

do some more observation. So there's a hill that I can access from the road that usually if I get up on this hill, I can glass down into one of these properties, and there's a power line that stretches off kind of heading southeast, and I can basically that power line runs along the southern border of one of the mains zones at this buckbeds, and then there's a that runs to the northeast that kind of forms the border of the north border of one of these betting zones.

So from a specific location on this hill, if I get there, I can see down that creek a little bit to the north side, and I can see down that power line to the south side. I can kind of bracket either side of this betting zone. So it's been a place historically like if I can get in there and glass from this zone, you can learn some good stuff. Well, the problem this year is that a standing corn and you can't see anything from the hill because of standing corn. So I got to think, a man,

I really want to see what's happening. How can I figure this out? And what I decided to do is I actually brought a ladder out to this place. Walk the ladder along the road and then walked into the standing corn from the road. So people were driving by me on this road. There's like a dude and camo carrying a huge silver ladder. And I got into this spot, put the ladder up in the standing cornfield and stood

up on top of the ladder. And from that vantage point it was perfect and it actually worked like I could see down the power line. I could see not as far down the creek as I was hoping. There's still a lot of leaves on, but I could see a little ways. So I'm down there, I'm watching deer. I'm seeing deer move. I actually saw the number two buck in this area on his feet in daylight the night prior opening day, on like a seventy eight degree day.

Something in geez. I can't believe it, but there he is. He's on his feet way way back in this property, hitting a little green field. And as I'm watching him, I noticed something white like down beneath me, like close, And I pulled my bottles down and I look down at the bottom of the hill, and at the bottom of the hill it's just this thick, tall, grassy stuff. There's historically, maybe like some does, there'll be like a dough family group maybe that hangs out down there and

then heads up to this little food plot. I've got up there further down, but it's not a spot that I've ever you know, paid much attention to other than you know, and there's probably a doe or two in there. Well, I look down there, and here's the wide nine like at the base of the hill right beneath me, standing up out of that tall grass. So they're standing corn all around him, and then this tall grass. But then there's also like you know, houses in the road up

there too. He was bedded right up close to the road in the house house kind of area is there. And he stands up and I watch him, you know, walk through this tall grass heading towards that food plot. And then a truck pulls across the road, a big semi and starts backing into one of the houses across the road, making tons of racket and ends up spooking every deer around. All the deer go running away. But I saw him in this place. It was like a

wild place to see him hanging out. I've never seen him in there before, so that was a very interesting aha moment. And I'm wondering to myself, was that a fluke or is this something he's doing more often now Like in the past he's always betted. You know this zone I was telling you about that's probably four hundred yards to the east of this, back in the core of these properties, like the core of the square mile, he's usually where he beds. So it's an interesting aha.

I hunted that following night, opening night in a spot that's kind of right in between where I saw him and where he usually beds. There's an oak tree dropping a bunch of oaks, and there's a little food plot tucked in some grass there, and it's this great transition that's usually tight to where he's bedded.

is a pretty rare deer. So here's a three year old and a three maybe four year old buck on their feet on an eighty three degree night meal movin So great to see that, and I would I did for both of those hunts with that hot weather as I set up in a place, you know, this low impact. I went to very low impact locations, like I'm not going to be risky and push into my best stuff, but I set up in places where it could happen and I could see a long ways like I wanted

to learn. So those are kind of like observation sets with the possibility of something coming together, but mostly you know, being in the game, but really learning something is how I approach those first two hunts and interesting stuff. So those are the first two nights. Now after that I was going for. What I'm doing now is I'm hunting on the back forty, not myself hunting. I'm mentoring two

new hunters on the back forty property. Again. We're doing a project kind of recapping folks on what's going on there on the back forty since we gave it to the National Deer Association, and the story of these new hunters that have been using it. So I'm out there helping two guys having a good time. So far, not a lot deer activity out there yet, but I'm hopeful it's going to get better here soon. But last night I hear from a friend who is able to be in the area and can see this grassy area as

you drive by. The wine nine was back in that grassy pocket again last night. So he was spotted down at the bottomless hill in that tall grass, the same place I spotted him the night before the opener. So now two nights of the last five he was spotted bedded in this tall grass right up by the road. So it's very interesting. And he was moving in daylight, so twice now in the first five days of October. Well one was the day before October daylight up by the road in this tall grass. And now we have

this big coal front that hit. And now I'm thinking, okay, i can start hunting him again once I'm done in the back forty, so I can hunt on October eighth as the first day I'll be to hunt myself again. And so now I'm thinking, do I hunt him the way I thought I was gonna hunt him, back in the core where he usually beds, or do I think this is not a fluke, and he's now a five

year old buck. Doesn't like to be around other deer, wants to He's got this little pocket that there's never I never go in there, there's never people in there. Is that a new thing I need to start thinking about? So that's where I'm right now. It's like thinking this whole thing through and like, is there a way to hunt this deer coming out of this grassy pocket?

it was that really really big deer. I killed Frank like five years ago, but that was just during the rut. What he would do is he would he would lock down with a dough and then like rodeo her into this pocket and then stay with her like all night, and then every morning I would see him coming out of there with that dough. That's the only time I've seen a buck really use that area in the past. Not to say it hasn't happened, and I certainly could

have missed it. I'm just what are you curious about that?

then it was done. And I just think it was like one of those situations where he was catching the wind and avoiding the bugs. And you know when they're kind of walled in with corn like that, they love those spots. But you know, if you've observed it a lot and they just don't historically use it, I just it just I wonder why.

and then there's houses along the road. But the thing is like, you know, it's you know where he stood up when I saw him, he was probably one hundred yards from the road, one hundred yards from like houses. So he's right there, you know, close to people. But for me to get back to hunt him, you know, the way I have to access his property, he's not gonna see me because he's down in that grass, bedded down but if I were to go through with any

kind of southerly wind, he would certainly win me. With any kind of southerly wind coming the way I would usually go into this property. So it's interesting. It changes things up a little bit.

think I could watch it. So I'm gonna try to do that the morning of the eighth, which is the day the next day I can personally hunt and try to get out there and watch it and tell for sure, because that's my big question, is like we have this big coal front that came through, so we're gonna have like, these are the best conditions I've had yet this year. It's gonna be like thirty five degrees cooler than it was, and so I think it's worth taking a good hunt at him. You know, if I had not seen him

twice up in this grassy pocket. My good hunt would have been, you know, way back where he usually beds tied to that stuff. Like I've thought about there's some oaks dropping in this little woody pocket next to his usual betting area. I thought about diving into that. Or I've got this little green field way back there that he off also frequents this on the other side of his betting area. I thought about going in there, but now I'm wondering, like, geez, do I hunt up front?

But the problem is, like if I hunt up front, it's like a it's either gonna be great because he's there, or it's gonna be like a completely lousy hunt because if he's not there, there's nothing else there and it's just gonna be sitting there watching people play with their dog or walking the kids. That kind of thing.

saw him here, what's going on? And then you go in and kill him the next chance you have, and ye would I wouldn't do the Kenyan overthinking thing here. I just Bond's eye in there and kill that bastard.

I mean it's there could be deer bedded on every square inch of that place. It looks it looks like a dreary outdoors Iowa property. Now, Wow, it's pretty impressive. Now, we hunted the last two nights and I saw just fawns, So it was weird. I'm surprised by that, So I do.

I have got questions about what's going on. There's tons of acorns everywhere out here right now, Like the white oaks are raining acorns, and we don't have white oaks on this property really anywhere that I know of, So I'm a little worried that they might be like sitting in the timber somewhere eating acorns, and that could be what's happening. But the first two days we probably had lousy weather. Yeah, the first day was like eighty five.

The second day was like torrential downpour. So because of that, we stayed on the front half of the farm, like the safer part of the farm, and we've saved the back half of the best stuff for the second part. When this cold front hits, it's now going to be like twenty some degrees cooler and great. So we've got this back half of the trip with great conditions, and now the back half of the farm is you know, untouched.

So tonight we're gonna go into a kill spot and hopefully one of them will get a shot.

focus on a couple core things and do them. Well, that's what we're going to focus on here today. So let's get to mister Brad Davis. All right here with me now on the line. I've got Brad Davis. Brad, thanks for taking time to do this.

the podcast Rounds. He's been out there talking to a bunch of people recently, so so Justin was on my mind, and he was talking about some of his different you know, hunting styles and influences, and he brought up the fact that he has this buddy, and he's got a buddy who has this goal of killing fifty one hundred and fifty inch bucks before it's all said and done. And I heard that I was like, jeez, that is an

ambitious guy. And then he said that this friend of his has already killed thirty eight of them, and I thought, Okay, this guy's not only ambitious, but he's really getting it done. So I reached out to Justin after I listened podcast, and I said, who is this friend of yours? And he said, well, Mark that's Brad Davis, and you should talk to him. So so here we are, Brad, we are talking, and I got to ask you about that goal. Is that Is that a goal you are still actively chasing?

I'm still I'm still thinking it's a it's attainable. There was several years I was able to kill two a year, you know, here in Illinois, and that that really flattens the curve. But he was wrong, I think I'm and I might have told him wrong. But I've only killed thirty seven, so he was He's one off.

But you know, you let two or three one fifties walk in a year, and then you know you're trying to kill a one sixty so or a one seven deer, you know, or whatever whatever you've got, But you can only kill what's on the property. And growing up here in Central Illinois, I've been pretty fortunate to be able to be around big deer, you know, and you kind of lose sight of that when you're when you live here and you're in the middle of it, you lose

sight of that. For the guys that are on the out e east or out in the South, you just think, well, this is how do they not killing one fifties? Well, they don't kill them because they're not there. I mean, it's you just got to remember where you live.

never been too caught up and eating tags. It's kind of been more about if I don't want to put a deer on a wall or something, I'm I'm happy with just let it go. And yeah, it's there's years that pays off, and there's years that somebody else kills the deer the next year. You know, you just it's just a crapshoot. You just can't. You can't. You can't

make sure that every deer survives every year. And there's been deer let pass one year, thinking boy, he'll be a dandy next year, and two weeks later you get a picture from a neighbor somebody's killed him. So but as far as I don't know, I think after everybody probably gets into the same When you kill a half a dozen one forties, then you you know, you just keep moving up the ladder. You think, well, I want to kill a one fifty, Then I want to kill a one sixty. Then you want to kill a you know,

and everybody wants to kill a two hundred. But it's it's just a needle in a haystack to find a two hundred. So I don't know, I just I just think a guy's got you got to have. You've got to have some patience and not get too caught up in this. I don't know. Social media, to me, has has changed the way a lot of guys they want to promote themselves, and that's that's not me, but guys that want to promote themselves, they want to kill big deer every year, and whatever it takes is what they do.

But I just I just enjoyed. I actually enjoy hunting more than the killing, I mean, And that's probably part of the reason I don't mind letting one fifties or a one sixty walk is because as soon as you kill that deer, then you're on to the next one, and that deer has gone from the herd. You know, he can't grow, he can't get bigger for the next year. So I think patience and the fact that after you kill a certain number, you just kind of can get

to the that you can let him go. But there's really was nothing that I can say, hey, you know, this is really what triggered did I. I've just always loved chasing the you know, the bigger, mature bucks.

never found a shed. But he put on a couple of stickers and an eleventh point this year, so he's a little bigger, not not huge. I mean he's he might he might be one seventy. But I got another buck that's I think he's a young buck. But man, is he got. He's got about everything you'd want. He's got junk, and he's got tall times. And I don't

know if he's survived or not. I had pictures of him in late January before he shed, so I know he made it that that long, that that far, but I don't know since I've not got any pictures of him. But it's a small plot, like a four acre piece, and it's maybe he'll show up again this year. Late season because he didn't show up there until late last year till December. And I'm pretty okay, I've seen that happen a lot of times. You know, dear will show up late season, and the next year the same thing,

they won't show up till late season again. So that's my two that's the two target bucks I've got, and we'll see what happens. The game begins at the end of one season, the next season starts.

And he was bedding up next to another fence. He was right up against my back, was laying against the fence last year, and he's still and that's where he's bedding this year. He's back there now. But it's an old pasture that I would have to cross, an old pasture, and i'd have to have an east wind. Well, we don't get hardly any east winds here, so I'll let it go. I'll just let it ride a little bit here.

I'm not I know some guys can, some guys don't care, and I and I'm I mean, I'm friends with Andre Toquisto and Cody. Those guys are aggressive. I am not aggressive. I'll be the first to tell you. I'm I'm more sit back, let it play out type type hunter. And I don't use sins. I don't use grunt to, I don't use anything, no rattling antlers. I mean, I just don't. And I've seen pluses and minuses of all that stuff, but I just don't. I don't I play the wind.

And I just think that buck has been there that long. Well, he's grown up there, and does he leave, Yeah, he probably does. He probably gets to the neighbors. But he's made it this long and I feel confident of where he's staying and where he's staying and is what I consider my sanctuary. So I'll let it play out until my conditions get better, as far as I got to get the corn out, and they're they're picking corn here now, but it's got to come out for me to be

able to access my farm very well at all. So it's just patience, and I know some guys really struggle with that.

I've got steps, I've got it pruned, everything's ready to go. But and I'll slip in. I normally go in there with a mow or a boush hog, and I haven't done that. In fact, I was going to do it today. It's raining here today. Now. My goal is to get it done here before the weekend. And I'm going to

get the stand home. I'll go in there with the bush hog and make all the rack and the noise with the tractor and the buuschhog mowing, and I'll just I'll put the stand on the tractor and then I just I'll just get off, hang the stand and make sure everything's okay, and then I'll just get out of there. But yeah, I'm pretty patient on that kind of stuff. I don't get I don't get too rambunctious. As far as running deer around, I never have. But there's there's

so many different ways guys can kill big deer. I mean, it's not it's not I've said forever. It's not magic. I mean you just you just think about a buck that's walking through the woods during the rut. How many trees in a day could a hunter be sitting in,

have the right wind and kill that buck. There's thousands of trees, you know, and it's I'm not trying to dumb it down, but there is literally in a twenty four hour span or a say, a twelve hour day daylight hours, there's probably a thousand trees that a guy could be in that a buck walks by and you could kill him. I I don't get too caught up and trying to make anybals believe I'm doing anything magical. It's a lot of us persistence and patience.

place to even hang a stand in there. It's such a mess. But he gets in there and he's bedding along the he's got an old pasture. Well there's cattle in the pasture, but he puts his back to that pasture and he's laying was basically his back on the fence. And you can't you can't really access it except across the pastures. There's no way to get through the woods

to it. You got to come across the pasture. And I'll just I'll have to wait till there's an east wind, or I'll probably I'll probably try to cheat it a little with the southeast, because I saw what he did both times last year when he worried betted he in there with the southeast wind, So that's probably what I'll wait on. And when I get the right conditions, I'd like to try to get in there before you know, the first part of November, before they really started rolle

running around a lot. I try to like to try to get in everybody. He's pretty consistent staying there. But this this farm actually waned before I bought it. There was an older fellow that owned it, and he actually mowed a trail around the inside rim of that woods and it was because he cut firewood, so it gave him access. It's just like a it looks like a just a mode trail around this inside perimeter. And he did it so he could access for firewood. Well he had.

He started letting me hunt years ago, and I noticed the deer paid no attention to him. I could be in there in a tree stand and deer paid no attention to him when he'd come around there on his John dear side beside. So I bought the farm I think I was seventeen years ago, and I've continued to

mow that trail for a couple of reasons. I think it gives deer, especially bucks, they get that they know where the danger zone is and they know where they're safe, and they can use that little buffer area that I mow. They use it as well. I would just it's just a spot that they know, Hey, this is I can get from here to here. I feel safe once I cross this line. I know I may be in danger. But it also gives me access. That's the big thing. I've got access in and out of there. I use

an electric bike and it gives me access. I'll go in and mow it short. I'll pick up all the sticks, you know, get all the brush out of the way. But then I can access it myself. But for this particular deer, it's probably going to be coming across the pasture. I'm probably not gonna be using this mode trail. But I've kept the mode trail up, kept it mode just because of it had been done for years. And I noticed the deer they'll walk the trail, but the bucks

normally stay inside it doze. And fawns seem like they'll walk the they'll walk that trail, but bucks seem to want to stay on the inside of it. They don't want to see all the younger ones. You know, they'll get to it but walk it. But for the most part, the mature bucks want to stay on the inside of that trail. And it's kind of something I'd noticed years ago, and it's just it's the only farm I've got that's

got that mode trail on it. It's not something I typically do, but it was just there, and I noticed that they like to mature bucks like to stay inside, so it does kind of shorten the woods down for me as far as hunting. But no, I this buck's just going to I'm gonna have to wait till the corns out. It's where I can access it good. And he's he's got a couple of other bucks staying with him. You know, they'll they'll come in their bed right next

to him. And it's kind of odd that I say, next to him ten fifteen yards, but they're staying right in the same spot.

where they hunt. It's it is handy, it's a lot handier. But I'm fifty fifty to fifty minutes to an hour from where I hunt, so I have to I have to spend some time on the road, so I don't get that. The early season thing for me is it's a it's really rolling the dice. I mean, I think you can run some deer out, you can run some deer off your property, because it's hard to beat a

deer back to his bed this time of year. I mean, it's you've got to be in there way early if you think you're going to beat him to his bed, and in this heat. I'm just I guess I'm I've got the time off in November. I've always taken my time off in November, so obviously that's that's part of it too. You can only hunt when you can hunt, but I don't. I don't typically have a buck this one. This year's kind of a fluke for me because I

don't typically have a buck. I can tell you right where he's bedding, I can tell you a vicinity, or I can tell you where he's coming and going from. But I'm not I'm not close enough there to actually stay on top of what he's deer always where they're staying all the time. But and it changes. You know, you get a buck that you're chasing, he gets killed, Well, you then you're starting over square one.

I don't hunt trails. I don't hunt sign Now, well, there'll be a lot of times I'll hang a stand and train won't go back to it for two or three weeks, and you go back and there's rubs and there's all kinds of signs around you. But I'm pretty well a travel corridor type hunter. I mean, it's just basically the whole way I hunt. It's all based on how the ground lays and pinch points, fingers, draws. I

just that's how I hunt. And I know it's not the same for everybody obviously, But you know Andre's gotten he's gotten that perfected on that bumping dump stuff. He's got that perfected now. He and well Cody does it too. Those guys can bump stuff, get in, hang stuff, and get right back on him and kill them. And first of all, I'm not that aggressive. That's why I mentioned early on, I'm not an aggressive hunter. And you got to have some aggression to do that, that style of hunting,

you just got to. And but I also had a guy tell me one time, what would it take to run you out of your bedroom? And when you think of it from my perspective, how many times would you have to have somebody run you out of your bedroom before you to actually leave? Yeah, And you know, when you think of from that perspective, I'm not sure you can run the mature buck out of his bed. But I just that's not the way I have. Not my style of hunting. I just never have been that way.

I'm I'm really a lot more cautious hunter conservative. I should say, maybe not cautious, but I'm a lot more conservative. I just I just kind of let things play out. I always figure that in the end, if I know where that buck's home poor area is, I'll get him killed during the rut.

is it mostly just identifying? Okay, Well, here's the two pinch points coming in and out of his main core area, and I'm just going to volume hunt those based on wind until he eventually does come through. Or how do you do that when you're after a deer. It's not just like you're gonna shoot ten different bucks. You're after like one buck in the rut.

and I have to play. I just I'm playing the game of sit back and wait. You know part of that is because I like being out there part of us. In this part of Illinois, you never know what the neighbor's gonna A deer you don't even know is around may show up. So yes, I'm after I know, like I said this year, at two deer, but I'm two bucks that I know I'm after. Does that mean I may not shoot something I've never seen before. I've done it several times. Several times Buck shows up with the

dough during the rut. You think where did he come from? And you can get him killed. But part of that too is the fact that he's deer that move. You know, they come from a mile away, two miles away. They aren't familiar with the dangers in that specific timber. You know they're they're coming in there and they're following the dough and what she does is what they do. So when you're in a travel corridor, you can get them killed that way. And I've killed a lot of them,

I mean a lot. There's not many deer I've killed that I don't have any pictures or have never seen before. But I've got a handful that you look up here they come they where'd that deer come from? But typically I know what I'm after, and typically it's a waiting game and you're just playing cat and mouse. I'm not bumping them, I'm not hanging sets on top of their beds,

but I typically try to find. Okay, I know this buck's going in this vicinity of this woods or this this this draw, how's he getting there with certain winds? And why is he traveling at the way he does with certain winds? And then I try to set up accordingly and it's I don't know, it's paid off for me through the years. And there's like I said, there's just there's several different ways to kill big deer. I mean, guys that think it's got to be done a certain way.

I just kind of chuckle at because my style of hunting is no ways near what you know andres Is and and Justin those you know, Justin and Heath's heat Cisco, those guys, they do a lot of hanging hunt sets, bumping deer. I can tell you probably I can count on one hand the number of bucks I've set up on their beds and killed them. Most of mine have all been travel corridors hunting terrain.

I typically never walk far into the woods. Most all of my set stuff is and I won't say along the edge, but I'm going to say I've I've got creek access or I've got some way to access to my stand that is not through the woods, minimally evade invasion, you know, to to what So I don't like I don't like tipping deer off that I'm there, you know, so I try to figure out how can I get here? And draws, you know, if you can get in the bottom of them, or if you can come in from

the sides the bag fields. That's typically I approach all of the of those type of situations. But there again, I'm hunting, uh train and features in a draw you normally got low I don't like low ground, typically never hunt low ground myself. Thermals killers as far as spacially evenings. But you know, the thermals of a morning. You can get by with some low ground stuff, but I just I don't hunt it. I mean, i'd be the first to tell you I'm I might hunt one one piece

of low ground in five years. I just don't. Ever, I've had such bad luck with thermals and the way bucks. Bucks know, they know how the thermals operate. They know how to get in and out of places, and that's the reason a lot of low ground stuff is, to me, is unhuntable. But what I'm what I'm looking for in a draw is an area that says is kind of like a flat or a flatter part that pinches down.

And normally it's because of the creek or the way they draw a lace where pinches down and deer have to make a decision do I go to the bottom do I stay on top? And those are the spots I love. I love hunting draws where there's a pinch point because they typically you know a deer's gonna draw. Are gonna travel a draw basically the way the draw runs. They've got to travel at east west, north south. However the draw runs, they're gonna travel it lengthwise. So I'm

looking for a pinch point. And I love a flat a flat area that butts up to a pinch point and it kind of the the flat areas kind of give them a place to uh, to stage, hang out. And then as soon as the buck shows up, it's basically during the rut, Well they got it, they're going to These deer are gonna go down the draw and normally they'll you know, you let all of those go by or the smaller bucks and next thing you know, well here comes a you know, a decent buck. But

ends of draws points on draws. If you get a draw that goes out and forks, you know, you'll have like a two small one big draw forks into two smaller draws. Yeah, those areas. I like to hunt those points and I like to be on the very tips of them, the very ends of them. And it's a tough one as far as wind, because wind can swirl around those points and it'll suck it back into the draw. So you've got to be careful on those points. You

got to pay a lot of times. I'll be able to hunt a point, and it's got to be a northwest wind. It can't be north, can't be west. It's got to be northwest. And something I would something I would really advise people to do. Guys get up in their stands and they hang a set, take your phone in with you, make sure your phone's with you. Sit in that tree and get a good compass app get the compass up and know exactly what dration direction you're facing.

I don't know how many times. And I've got a ground. I've hunted this one farm, I've hundred for over forty years. And you can sit in that tree and you know which way's north southeast. You just know which way it is. You push your compass up and you think, man, that's a quarter turn off or or a little less you know. And so then you think, okay, well I can't use straight north. I've got to have northeast or northwest or whatever.

But take a compass to your tree. And I've talked with some guys that are I mean some through the years we've got killed big deer, and everybody's pretty well, everybody's been in agreement, you know. I don't know if you know Jim Ward. Jim does a ton of deer management for buck beds and killing big deer. Yeah, and Jim and I had this conversation years ago, and he's

the same way. He's like, Yeah, you go to a tree and you think, I know that's north, and you know what, you might be a little bit off and you can't hunt a north wind. You've got to have a little west or little east. Take your compass with you and your phone so you know what direction, what winds you need, because it's too late when you get there the first hunt and you're getting busted left and right. It's too late. Yeah, so now you've already boogered up

a set that you had high hopes on. So but I love hunting points, draws, saddles, ridges halfway down the ridge. It's seldom in this area do I see bucks run the top of a ridge. They're a third or halfway down the ridge. They just travel the backside of it. According to the wind. Of course, you know you've got to got a north wind. They're probably going to be on the south side of the ridge. And I've just

I've also got a kind of an odd thing. I'll tell you that through the years, I've noticed if you pick out the biggest tree in the woods, if you're in the woods, you're looking around, you see one of those giant white oaks or a giant giant tree of some sort. It seems like, and this is strange, people call me crazy, but I swear those huge trees attract the mature bucks. I don't know what it is, but it looks like, year after year, if I got a big tree in the woods, sure buck will go buy

it every time. And I don't know what it is. You can't hunt the tree, obviously, they're too big to even put a stand in. But right I'm I'm strictly I say, ninety nine percent of the time, I'm hunting train train pinch points. And I got a buddy I've hunted with for years, and he always asked me, so, why do you want to be right here? I mean, he's asked me for years, and I get a feel, you know, it's it's kind of hard to explain sometimes, but you get a feel for where you're at and

what you think a big deer is gonna do. And with a certain wind, what's he going to do? Now you'll get you're gonna get fooled. You're gonna you're gonna get in there and think you know what you're talking, you're doing, and what you're talking about, you're gonna get fooled. Deer's gonna do just the opposite. Wind's going to be at his back. He's gonna be hunt traveling thing. You can't you shake your head, think, well, how do you kill that deer the winter? He's not doing anything close

to what you think he should have done. But for the most part, mature bucks are going to travel either with a cross wind or the wind in their nose. They just do. And when you get in a draw, you know, these big timbers, these big woods are hard to shut. You're hard to shut a deer down. I mean, they can go anywhere. And part of the reason I don't like to hunt big woods is because of that. I'll I'll go find something, the smaller something leads up to it a fence row, but I I don't. I

just don't like the bigger timber. I like the smaller stuff. I love hunting five ten acre patches. But you got it. Details That's a big thing on these, especially on smaller timbers. You gotta you gotta pay attention to details. And you can't just go stomping in with any wind. You know, you just run the set one or two hunts, you're done, you know. But boy, if you pay attention to the details and you can get into these small area is small wood lots, uh fence rose out in the middle

of nowhere. If you can get into them right win right conditions, they can be dynamite for killing mature bucks.

travel corridors. There's this dilemma that I face a lot when I'm trying to figure out the right spot to sit in a good looking travel quarter, because there will be the pinch point or there there will be the saddle, there'll be that head of a draw where they're all coming around the ditch. Whatever, it is, And let's say that looks great and it's obvious, so that's the spot. But what happens when you don't have that perfect tree that's perfectly in range of that spot?

you're not gonna have much cover. Do you take that one still, though, because it gives you the easiest shot right to the spot. Or do you take the tree that's farther away but it has great cover and there's no way you're gonna get winded. But now you're talking, ah, you know, well he might be arranged, he might not be in ranged in that one. What would you air towards in that kind of situation?

hours I can spend on one setup trying to figure out. Okay, And I always tell everybody pay attention to how you walk personally, when you're walking a draw or you're walking ground, pay attention how you walk it. Humans are lazy. Mature bucks are dang sure lazy. You're gonna probably walk that similar to how mature buck walks that because they don't want to go up and down the hill five times if they don't have to. They don't want to cross the fence. They don't want to you know, these features

in this ground. They want to walk the easiest way they can, but they want to walk it for darn sure, with the wind in their favor if they can. So I would on what you do the scenary you just said, I would probably say, Okay, can't hunt there, but let's go down there. Let's go where this buck come from? Where's he coming from? Let's go figure out another place that you can. You can shut him down. And like I said, I've spent hours and got I told you

I got this one farm. I've hundred forty years and two years ago, this draw that I've hunted, I've killed probably a handful of one to fifty plus bucks in this one draw. Thought that the east end of this draw, I thought there's no way to get to it, no way to hunt. Just thought. I mean, I just never even really tried because I just thought it was unhunted. I thought, I'm just going to be blowing everything out

of here. There's no way to get to it. So three or four years ago, I'm standing in there in February March, and I'm looking at all these rubs in this little flat and I'm thinking to myself, how can I get in here? Okay, And there's an old logging road that's been in there for I don't know, probably been there thirty years now on the other side of the draw. So now I've made up my mind. I'm gonna walk across this draw to get up to this flat. I'm gonna come up this It's it's not really a bluff,

but it's a real high, real high hill. I'm gonna go straight up this hill into my tree. I'm five steps off the edge of this this flat. It's been a dynamite tree. It's just And in all those years, I thought there's no way to hunt it. Well, there's there's ways to hunt things, you kind of you know. And I think the longer you hunt a woods, the worst hunter you become, because you've had success in here, here, and here, and you keep going back to that here,

here and here. Well, dear change, of course, they get you patterned as well. So I moved to stand put a hung and stand in there. And I first time I went in there had three different bucks over one forty come by me. I thought, you've got to be a kidding. I've never hunted this all these years because I thought it was unhuntable. And here we are in the rut and they're just they're just piling through here. And last year was the second year I hunted it, saying I've not killed a buck out of it, but

I will kill them. I'll kill a good one on this on this spot. And I had probably I don't know, I had one day, I had eight different bucks by me hoping young none of them none of them probably were one forty. But eventually it'll pay off. But yeah, I just I look at an area and if I think, man, I can't I can't hunt here, back up, walk down the draw, go go. You know, it's the same deal that deer is going to get from point A to

point B somehow. And if you think, well, this is where I want to be, you may be making a mistake. Don't be where you want to be, be where you have to be. I mean, that's that's pretty well the way I approach it. It's like, man, I'd love to be here, and you look around, no tree to huntin. Man, I'd love to be here, but you'd walk away, head down the draw one way or the other, or find it,

you know, find another spot. Yeah, I know, I know that almost too simple, but it's that's just the way I approach it as far as.

something like that. So with that being said, a lot of folks I know, and myself included, will try to find ways to set up, you know, where you can hunt where the buck thinks he's using the wind in a favorable way for himself, but also you can get away with it right cutting the edge or cutting the corner or in some kind of way. Can you talk about how you do that in these kinds of setups, in these kinds of like draws that you're hunting, how

do you typically like to hunt that? Is it with the wind going perpendicular across the draw or do you have it almost parallel but just off parallel so it's blowing either down into the valley or out into the field. How do you typically try to set up and use wind in this kind of draw scenario where we've got a narrow finger going out into a field or something, and you're hunting in there.

where they're going to wind you. But if you can get the wind over the top of them, it's a big it's that's that's one thing I try to do. If I think, Okay, this buck may come along this edge, I'll try to get high enough that the wind's over the top of.

dealing with a cross wind in a draw. You've got to hunt it with a north, south, east west, depending which way the draw is running, and I'll try to set up to wear the wind. And it's another It's another good scenario is when you've got this cross wind and you've got this this creek or all that's running east west and you're gonna hunt on the say, the north side of the draw, so you're gonna want a

south wind. And as that south wind comes across that low ground, a lot of times the wind will pick up, it'll lift. It's the thermals it'll lift of a morning. So it actually helps you as well, get the get the scent a little higher over the top of stuff.

But I'll typically look for this spot that has a piece of the a piece of the draw that jets out into a field just and I don't it doesn't have to be five yards, you know, just along you edge, something that jets out and set up on that set up to where you're not really in the main travel area of that draw. Just get get away from and I'm in the I know, I'm When you get into some of these situations, you think, well, yeah, they're that's

one of a needle in a haystack. Well, it may be you may you may walk a whole draw and think, well, there's nothing here that interests me. Does that mean you can't kill a buck in it. No, it just means it's not an ideal situation or an ideal setup. But back to your point on the on the wind, Fellip told me one time years ago, the perfect wind is one that's almost right for the deer and almost wrong for you. And when you think about that, you think,

and that's that is so true. It's almost you know, you're just you're constantly playing that win game and you're constantly cutting you know, situations that are it's always a close call. I mean, it just is. But I square timber. I'll tell guys this, square timber, I like to be

fifty seventy five yards off of a corner. If you've got a square corner, get fifty to seventy five yards off of the corner and hunt it with a wind that don't I don't like a quartering wind when I'm hunting a square woods on a corner, because what will typically happen is the wind will come through and it'll on that corner. That wind will suck right back into

that corner. Every time. If you've got like a say you're on a north end of the woods, fifty seventy five yards from the east side, and you think, okay, I need to have a south wind here, but I could probably get by with say a southwest. Well that's that west will be enough for that wind to come out to the corner and it'll suck it right back in that corner. I don't know how many times I've seen that happen. And after you do it two or three times and you get winded to think, well, this

doesn't work. Typically, I tell guys, you know, on a square woods and not not every wood's lays directly east or west, north and south. But I want to direct straight wind in my face when I'm hunting square woods, because it will suck it back in the corners. I mean, there's a lot, there's a lot of experience that goes

in to wind and thermals when you're hunting. You just it's I can you know you say this like you've you've got this figured out, but I can tell you many times you that I've gotten busted, you know, thinking you had it figured out and that didn't work. Well, guess what, start over and learn. Just learn from it, you gotta. It's a a lot of experience goes into killing mature bucks. As far as you know, you learn from your bad experiences more than you do the good ones.

If this works perfect, let's figure out why it works.

here comes the you know, here comes a buck. They want to shoot well, they all the field scattered and something picked them off. I'm thinking, I don't think there's any shortcuts. I don't think you're beating the deer's nose. I don't care what you do or what you try. People say, well, he was directly down wind of me. He may have been directly downwind, but that's not where your scent was going. Your scent was going somewhere else, either from the thermals, from you know, swirling winds, from

the from the terrain. Something changed the way you think your your scent was going. Something was changing it before it got there. A deer doesn't just stand there with your scent blowing right to him. I mean, it's just not going to happen. So guys say, well, every directly down when they didn't smell me. Well, they may have been what you think is directly down when, but that's not that's not where your scent was actually going. Because I don't think there's anything you can do to beat

the deer's nose. I just don't. I don't think you can do it. I mean, if a dog can smell stuff the way that you know, you've seen all these studies, these dogs pick up stuff it's buried. They pick up all this scent and a deers knows what a thousand times better than a human's or something, and it's what. I don't think you can beat it. I just think you're going to have trial and error. Certain places you

think you can hunt. You it works in certain places you think you can hunt, it's not going to work, but it's experience is huge. In the woods on that thermals and wind.

The buck I killed last year sent right over the top of him. He walked the edge and sam sort of the top of him. But it was a spot that I've hunded for years. I knew, I'm pretty well knew that. You know, I'd get by with it. But twenty feet, you know, twenty feet is pretty high.

these bucks. Of course, I've hundred for years, hundred since I was in high school, so I've kind of got the you know, you got a pretty good knowledge of the woods. But these bucks like to take this corner. They like to make a loop in this corner. They don't go clear into the corner. They want to make a loop. They don't square it off. They'll round off corners. So as they round off these corners. You know, that's the reason I say, don't get on, don't stay on

the corners. You got to get off seventy five yards off of the corner. Because a buck won't go to the corner and turn left and right, makes square corners. They round off corners. And he was in there by himself. I don't know. It was ten, ten fifteen in the morning. I look up and here he comes walking making his loop through the woods. And it's during the rud It's the sixteenth, seventeenth of November, and he's out cruising. You know, he's lost. He's turned his last dough loose, and he's

out looking for another dough. And he rounds the corner and comes walking right to me. I mean he's oh, you can see in the video of it. He gets within I must say, twenty yards of me facing me, coming right. I mean he's coming right at man it's not a very good situation. And he cuts for a doe had walked through that morning. He cuts a track, he turns broadside. I can't even shoot him. Same thing walks and he goes to the outside of the woods. And as soon as he goes the outside, he turns

and walks right down the outside edge. But there's not if you if if I took you in that woods and you saw the sign in that woods where I'm sitting is you would never you would never sit there. But experience, you know, knowing the woods tells you know you you can learn a lot if you just pay attention and carry it over year to year. How did it buck? How I saw mature buck in hear whatever he was, how did he walk the woods? How did

he cover it? What was the wind? And keep just keep the keep that memory bank, and just keep keep remembering that stuff that hey, this is how he traveled this woods. Does it make sense? It may not make sense to you. You may think, well, it's crazy. Guess what. The next year you set up in there where you're going to kill that first buck. Here comes the next one the next year and he's doing to do the same thing. And you think why is he doing this

or why do they do this? But I've been pretty pretty successful being a conservative hunter, so that's you know, guys do what works for them. Yeah, And I've just been successful being conservative and laying back and letting things play out more so than being aggressive. So there is times I killed deer that I don't know anything about. But for the most.

I want to chase? Some years there's not, And don't waste your time. Now. Do cameras tell the whole story? No, not at all, not at all. I mean I had I had two cell cameras, and this's what I'm telling you about. This buck never been on them. So no deer can get mature bucks specially can get by cell cameras or any camera. And you never they've walked ten yards behind the tree or whatever. You don't even know they're around. But community scrapes, especially long edges, I love

those For cell cameras. It just gives you an inventory of what's there, and then I make my decisions on how am I going to hunt this piece. If I know there's a kill a buck I want to kill, then I just you know, part of it. And I get and I know the guy is going to say, well, you know what, I don't have unlimited acreage to just to hunt every year, and I get that. I'm fortunate. I've got half a dozen different farms that I hunt,

so I can bounce around. If you don't have anything to kill go to a different farm, you know, find hunt, hunt where you've got something you want to shoot and there. Again, that sounds simple and easy, but don't waste your time somewhere that there's not something you want to shoot. But yes, I use cell cameras, I use I use a lot of them, and and I I just use it for inventory, you know, to so I just so I know what farm I to avoid or what farm I want to hunt.

And that's the reason Andre doesn't. You know, these guys that are trying to kill a specific buck on their bed, that's the reason they don't like. It's because there's no consistency to what that buck's doing. But that's what I'm banking on, is the inconsistent movement of mature deer. I'm banking on, you know, that buck's going to come through the certain corridor that I'm hunting, or the set up

that I'm hunting. I'm banking on if I'm there for two days, I'm banking on he's coming through there at some point. You know, if I sit all day for two days during the ret he's coming through unless he's you know, unless he's pinned down with another dough or something. But I'm banking on if he's moving, he's coming through here. It doesn't always, it doesn't always pan out, but you're only looking for you know, in a year's time, you're

only looking for two times. You got to be in the right spot, yeah, and things have got to go right, of course, you know, you still have to make the shot. But for the most part, I'm banking on that deer's coming through here when he's out cruising, he's coming through here at some point. You know, in a couple of days, I'll get him killed. But doesn't always work, But need to setting up on the deads.

If I go to a spot like that. And let's say I go there and I sit all day and I don't see hardly anything, and I know, I know during the rut it's a dynamite spot. I've been there before, I've seen them come through here. You know it's I'm going back the next day because I know the odds are in my favor. It's going to pay off at some point. And if you don't see anything one day, you can about bet the deer just weren't on that part of the farm. Uh, you're the next day they'll

you'll probably you'll probably have a better day. But I don't. I don't like to hunt a spot more than two days in a row. I'm normally bouncing, bouncing around, okay, and I normally have I'll have normally twenty five sets hanging. By the time the rut gets here, I'll have twenty five stands out, twenty two, twenty three, twenty five, somewhere in that range most every year. And and then if you know, you get something where you're chasing a buck that you don't have any sets as you think you

can kill him. It's hanging hunt, climbing stand or hanging hunt. You know, I don't. I don't mind doing it. If I'm after a certain buck in a certain area and I think I can't get him killed out of all my presets, but I I do typically hunt presets stands.

that maybe extend out from there. So I don't know, I obviously don't know the specifics, but let's just say there's like two draws and then there's like two other travel corridors. So maybe we'll say there's like four different places where maybe his movement might pinch down eventually at some point where you could catch him. And you're thinking on any the night before the hunt or the morning of the hunt, and you're making the decision of, Okay,

where should I hunt today? Is it solely based on what's the wind and then a hunch based on history or are you ever doing any other level of scouting or anything else is gonna help you choose where you're gonna hunt on that given day. Maybe the better way to phrase this is just what are the variables going through your head when you're trying to pick? Okay, which of these corridors? Which of these features? Do I hunt tomorrow morning?

I like to hit. I like to hit every stand at least once, you know, during the rut and see what see if I'm right or wrong on m my hunch on And there's some stands I never hunt, I'll hang them. I never hunt them. But uh yeah, my decision making is one hundred percent based on wind where I'm going to go the next day, And not very often do I get up of a morning and change my plan from the night before. Now, if the wind's changed, is not quite what it was supposed to be or

something like that, I might. I might change, but not very often. If I make a decision, I'm going to go here, there, whatever. And there's times I'll think, dang, I haven't hunted that's stand I forgot, that's that's perfect for this wind. I might go to it. But normally I make a game plan the night before and that's where I'm going, and it's it's all based on wind. Have I been there? You know? Is there is there a reason to go? That's your first thing is there's

no reason to go there, don't go? But I do. I do most all my hunting based on wind. What stands I'm going to be in it is going to be based on what the wind's going to be.

get out there. And I do move some, but typically if I'm hunting pinch points, I'm you know, you've got betting areas on some part of either one end or the other of what you're hunting. You've got reason for bucks to be either coming by going to betting areas or coming out of betting areas in the evening. So I've got I've got several places that i can hunt an entire day and never move. And it's all because

of where betting areas are and how they're coming. Either they're going to them in the morning or they're coming out of them in the evening, so you're able to catch them either direction. But there are some places as you can't. You can't sit there in the evening, and because you know, if it's wind blowing out in the agfield and that's where they're going out to feed, you know, all you're doing is educating deer in the evening. Then I then I'll move midday, I'll get out out of there.

But I'll tell you something else that's kind of strange for me personally, is all the bucks I've killed, I would say, and I'm not being I'm telling you a truth here. This isn't I've killed probably five or less in the evenings. So it's got to do with the way I'm hunting. And I for me to put a finger on why, I can't tell you that because I've thought about it, I've talked about it with and I got guys that despise hunting mornings, and I would give

up three evenings to hunt one morning. But it's just it's got to do with my style of hunting, obviously, because I'm killing most of them, all my deer in the mornings. Now, I've killed some midday, I've killed some ten o'clock in the morning. But the biggest buck ever killed was in the evening. So it's not that I haven't killed good ones in the evening. But I I think I could probably count on one hand out of all the deer I've killed that have been killed in

the evening. Almost everything's mornings. So that's got to do with my style obviously.

late October all the way through November. And so to do that, you're in these pinch points or in these terrain features where deer movement gets concentrated using the wind the right kind of way. I'm starting to get a

good picture here. But I'm curious if you were a professor, you were teaching a class on this, and you were standing up in front of your class today it's the end of class, and you want to make sure that someone who's listened to you today would remember three things like the three rules of hunting the Brad Davis way. What would those three things be that you'd want folks to walk away with today at the end of your class?

Could you think of those three most important takeaways either when it comes to you know, choosing the train or stand sites or any of the things we've talked about, or something else entirely. What would those top three things be.

whole thing, but that's one reason. I love my electric bike, and I just I've only been using it. I think this will be my fourth or fifth year using electric bike. But I always hated walking in because deer know the cadence of a person walking. They know. I mean they can you can have deer one hundred yards from you in the woods take off running. You hear them running into dry leaves because they know a person's coming. They

haven't figured out yet, now will they. I suppose as more guys use bikes or they get used to it, they may figure out there's danger with a bicycle, but you can drive up to deer forty fifty yards away on a bicycle because there's no human foot cadence to it that they know. But getting in and getting out is I mean. I try to find depressions, creaks, low ground, anything that gets me an advantage, and a lot of times it's extra work. And that's the reason a lot

of guys don't do it. A lot of times that you've got to go around the long way you got to you gotta cross something you don't want to cross. Whatever. But when I hang a set, I look for the best advantage point for me to get to it with the least disturbance. And we've not even talked about it, but there's there was an old barn that was on

one of my farms I used to hunt. I would actually walk through that old barn and it was falling in, but I would walk through it because the the dirt floor in the barn, well, you know what, old dirt, pulverized dirt. It was so quiet, it was like walking on sand. You could walk through it. And I was ten yards from that corner of that barn, I just pop up in my tree and I made no noise, But getting in and getting out is huge to me. I just sink too many deer figure out, hey this

guy this he's walking in this direction. I mean, they cut your track, they know there's something up, They track you to your tree. You know, you see deer do stuff when you're in the tree, But when you leave, they're doing the same thing. When you leave they cut your track, they're still tracking it to the tree. They're still smelling your steps, ear sticks or whatever. But I just think getting to your tree, wind in your face

and getting there undetected is it's just huge. I think at the least amount of disturbance you have with deer figuring out, hey, somebody's hunting me or somebody's here, I think that's big. Nobody's hardly ever. I mean, you can do hours and hours and nobody talks about getting in and out of your set. How do you get to it, How do you get out of it? How do you

get out of it at dark? When you know deer out in the field is if you've got a way to get out of there without running all the deer off, if you have to wade through them to get out and if you do, you probably need to figure out a different way to get out or not hunt it in the evenings. That's one thing that I think guys should really pay attention to. And if you've got to walk in out extra mile, you'll be glad you did.

If you kill a good you know, if you kill a ma at your buck and you've had to walk an extra mile at the end of the day, you'll be thrilled or the And I think I don't mean this to sound bad, but there's a lot of guys are just lazy. And I don't mean that as in in general terms. They're lazy. They hunt lazy. They think, man, I can ride my four wheeler up here. I can you know, I can drive my truck and park the truck right here and I won't have to walk as far.

It's you're only cheating yourself. You know, you're you're the one that's going to be paying the paying for it because it's just going to run a set or guys say, well, dear, don't pay attention four whiders, Dear, don't pay attention to this or that. Yes, they do sit in a tree in the dark and watch somebody, you know, the farmer next door, take his four wheter out to his tree. You got deer blowing carrying on. He can't hear it

four wheels running, he's driving to his tree stand. I just think getting in and getting out out undetected is a big, big thing. That would be one thing I would tell, especially new hunters, you know, guys that are just getting into it. That's that's one thing. The other thing I would I always say is, you know, it's a long learning curve. And I'm not even I mean, I been doing this for a lot of years, but I still learn stuff every year. Wind and thermals. It's just,

you know, lay aground is changes everything. When you think you got something figured out, the ground lays a little different than you figure and it does something different in this spot than it did in that spot. But the wind is it's huge. But if I had to tell some young hunter the best thing to do, like just starting out, I would tell them to stay back, spend more time watching an area before they just dive into it. Hunt from a perimeter spot that you're not doing any damage.

Hunt two or three evenings from that spot, and watch what the deer doing, how are they traveling that draw, how are they traveling that woods? And where are they coming out of the woods? You know, where are they going into it? Just pay attention and then make a move. It's easier to not mess up a spot staying back and watching than it is to just dive in. Some guys just want to dive in right off the bat, and of course that's never been my approach, but some

guys are successful with it. Some guys can can dive in and and they've got it, They've got that part figured out. I never have been able to. That's just not the way I kind of approach it. I just always like to lay back and watch and see what's going to happen, and then make a move and try to set something that hey, I know I can get there of a morning, or I can get there in the evening. I can be there they don't know I'm there.

And that's that's probably the three things that I think guys making mistakes is diving in and not really knowing for sure, they're just it's a crapshoot. Some guys don't have a lot of time to hunt. That's the you know, when you when you spend six weeks a year can hunt every day. It's a lot different than the guy that's got one week off from his job to hunt. You know, he can't sit back two or three evenings or two or three mornings and see what's going to happen.

So and I understand that part, but guys need to pay attention and remember what they what they see a deer, a mature buck do what they see him do. He didn't just do it once. He did it for a reason. And even if you don't see him move through that piece of woods again, the next mature buck's probably going to move through it very similar. They just have a certain way they want to move through a block of

woods or a piece of timber or all whatever. There's certain ways they want to move through it with the wind in their in their favor, and and you know you always have that outlier. Well, I just got this buck. Was he came through here with the wind of his bike. Yeah, I'm sure he did. He had to get from there to there, and that's the only way he was going

to get there that day. Yeah. But I just I think if you're you're three things that you're talking about, I think the getting in and getting out with the least disturbance, at least amount of cent on the ground. Pay attention to the wind, and pay attention to what deer. And I don't mean deer in general, I mean mature deer. When you see three, four or five year old deer,

dou bucks do something, pay attention to it. They did it, they did it for a reason, and it may not pay off this year, may not pay off next year. But if you've got a piece of ground that you can hunt three years from now, you may kill a buck exactly doing the exact same thing that buck did that you saw, you know, two three seasons before. Because they go through, they travel, They travel a piece of timber,

piece of ground the scene for a reason. So pay attention, you know, just don't it's not just happenstance that they do it.

that you could kill mature buck out of. You just gotta have You got to have one around. I mean that's if you don't have one around, you can't kill it. You can't kill what's not there. Yeah, that's you know, it's easy to say, but it's just the truth. And living here in central Illinois typically.

right access, you know it'll it can come together. So that I think almost relieves a certain burden off of you mentally, so you can kind of go into the hunt maybe a little bit. I don't know if this is the right word, but almost lighter. When you're not stressing so much about having to have that one perfect tree, you go in with it a little bit. I don't want to say loose, and you don't want to be

lacks of daisical. But just knowing that, hey, you don't have to have this two thousand percent the perfect tree because there's all these other options and you can it can come together when you do these three, four or five core things right. So that's a great takeaway from this today, Brad. I appreciate you sharing this.

Why go clear in there? Why I have to be deep in the woods when you can catch him coming out or you might catch him coming into the woods. You just cut down your disturbance of and basically you're not warning them every time you're there that hey i'm in here, you know, I just I love hunting. Minimal disturbance.

to have one around. And you know, if I if i'm if I'm hiring somebody, If I've got a business and I'm going to hire somebody and I'm talking to a guy and he hunts, he's a hunter, and he's success a successful trophy hunter, I'm hiring him because I guarantee you he's not willing, he's not afraid of work. The guy that kills the biggest deer is paying his dues every year. Every year he's out working. The guy that wants to kill one, but doesn't spend the time

doing it. There is no part of no part of what gets done on killing mature bucks that you take shortcuts. The guy that's willing to put in the time every year, year after year, pay attention to details, put in the work. That guy is going to be a heck of an employee too, because that's the way you know he's not afraid of work. So if you tell me you're a deer hunter, you never kill a big deer. And there's a guy next to you that's applied for a job,

and these guy's killing him every year. I think this guy he's putting in the work. He knows, he knows I'm not afraid to work, or I know he's not afraid to work. I probably hire him every day because I know how much work it takes to kill a chure bucks year after year. It's not easy, even if you've got him around, it's not easy. And there's guys that think, well, they're behind every tree. No, they're not behind every tree. Yeah.

and he's paid the dues and he knows. Obviously, you're the curve probably does flatten. With a more experience you have, that curve probably does flatten. But you still don't just kill big deer by by not putting in the time and doing your legwork and the homework.

And that's a smart approach in a lot of cases. So so thank you for joining us for that. Thanks for sharing that, Brad. I'm sure you're gonna have great hunting season, but I'll be pulling for you and cross my fingers for you too.

We'd love to see you down there. We're gonna do some work collecting acorns for a native reforestation effort on the Daniel Boone National Forest. We're gonna do some good work. We're gonna have a great time. We're going to share some hunting stories, talk cunting tips and strategies, all sorts of good stuff while we're out there volunteering on public land. Would love to see you spend a little time midday

doing some good stuff out there. So if you want to do that, if you want to join us, just go ahead and google working for Wildlife Tour Kentucky and that will be probably the easiest way for you to find the link to the registration page with all the details and with the sign up link. Hope to see on Saturday number two, Tony wanted me to mention that the Foundations episode this week, which would be coming out

on the what date would that be? October tenth, it would have come out that is very similar in theme to the conversation we just had here with Brad, kind of talking about ways to simplify and refocus your efforts during the hunting season and not chasing every squirrel running around in the distance. So good stuff to think about. I think our conversation here with Brad was a great reminder that sometimes you just got to stick to the fundamentals and do them well and do them consistently. That

is a why piece of advice. So hope you enjoyed this one. Best of luck out there in the woods, and until next time, stay wired to Hunt.