Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, 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 Tony Peterson.
Hey everyone, welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundation's podcast, which is brought to you by first Light. I'm your host, Tony Peterson, and today's episode it's going to be a fun one, well at least for me, because I'm going to talk about some of the things i feel like I've really learned in over three decades being obsessed with deer hunting. It's not very often I watch regular old TV.
With the amount of streaming services out there and the sheer availability of on demand content, it's not all that common for a lot of people to just flip through the channels. If you do, you'll notice that a lot of stations run the same show on repeat for hours at a time, and in between a major redicut Uelesusness Binge. You might also notice a bunch of commercials for products
and services that are thinly veiled frauds. Think class action lawsuits, limited time only amazing products that will change your life, and well a hell of a lot of pharmaceuticals that you might make you skinny, but will probably also give you explosive diarrhea, make you far sighted at night and nearsighted in the day, and cause swelling rashes and open festering wounds on your undercarriage. Anyway, I recently watched some old school TV, subjected myself to those commercials, and voila.
This podcast was born kind of mostly out of a little nostalgia. To be honest, it doesn't really matter, enjoy. One thing that has really taken hold recently amongst us silly Americans is this whole generational divide thing. Millennials in particular seem to have a serious thing against the baby boomer generation and to some extent Gen xers gen Z is out there getting into the workforce and they're starting to figure some stuff out, and other generations they're starting
to figure some stuff out about them. What's interesting is that the complaints from younger generations about the older generations have been largely the same since Socrates was robed up in the town square talking philosophy on a Sunday afternoon in Athens, right now, it seems like the easy target is the boomer generation, you know, because they're retiring, and I guess to a lot of young folks appear to
have had it easy. This is most commonly framed in some way about money, and you'll see memes and all those silly TikTokers out there talking about how it only took a boomer thirteen hours on a minimum wage salary to buy a brand new house, raise a family, put six kids through college, and retire at forty eight, while nowadays they need to work two hundred and ninety six thousand hours at middle wage to rent a spare closet from a slimy landlord who is definitely going to raise
their rent every month, and who is the epitome of corporate greed. They'll gloss over that it mostly wasn't the people born into the system that made the rules, or the fact that for as hard as they think they have it, it's very unlikely they'll get drafted into a deeply unpopular war to go spend some time in the jungle fighting people who not only had a serious home field tactical advantage, but also the emotional advantage of fighting
for their home Land. My dad spent a year and a half over there, and it didn't sound like it was a whole lot of fun or that things were super easy for him. You could gloss over the reality of post World War two America and a long fight for civil rights. You know, those poor kids shot up at Kent State by their own government, and a whole lot of things that wouldn't be all that fun to live through today. And you know, the other end of
the spectrum isn't without merit and their complaints. The young kids today do face a system that is set up to extract their blood, sweat and tears and whatever money they can earn and transfer it to somebody else. They were born into a nerved world to some extent, and that was a lie. Everyone gets a trophy, but also everyone gets an adult world that doesn't give a shit about their feelings. Life is hard for all generations, and
it's hard for almost all people. You younger folks listening to that might not believe it, but you'll get there eventually. That's one of the things that I've learned as an almost millennial but technically a gen xer by about four months. As I get older and I stare down the barrel on my forty fourth birthday. I think about this stuff a lot. It's fun to identify with a specific generation. You know, be a part of the tribe if you will.
We are as humans pretty driven to be around like minded people, and this extends into our world as deer hunters. But one thing you learn about being in the broad tribe of deer hunting and then a smaller tribe of bow hunting, and then the smaller tribe of public land bow hunting is that we are all playing a weird game. It doesn't really matter because our journey is just ours, whether you collectively suffer with a bunch of folks or you go the whole quiet desperation way that Threau mentioned.
The journey is yours. The accountability is yours. Your reactions, it's your effort and I'm a discipline or the lack of it, the enjoyment level, it's on you in life and in deer hunting. This is what I want to start this podcast with because I feel it in my bones. When it comes to deer hunting, we want to be special. We want to fit into the cool kids club, and you know who is really in that club? Mostly just people who kill big bucks quite often. That's kind of it.
Now you can get bonus points for doing it all on public land, or doing it only from the ground with a long bow or whatever. But the truth is that all of us just want to be in the club that kills big Bucks. I can tell you one thing about this after a lifetime of deer hunting and quite a few years in the hunting industry. That's dumb the focus on big Bucks just because they are big. It's kind of weird that club is full of people who have all different levels of opportunity and finances and
believe this or not. Skill keeping praise on anyone for killing big Bucks without acknowledging how they do it is just wild to me. And it kind of confirms how little a lot of people know about big Bucks, because here's the thing. A lot of big deer are killed in ways that aren't challenging at all. If there is one thing that I believe about deer hunting, it's that this is so damaging to so many people because for
most folks it's a nearly insurmountable challenge. It can be that variable, and I'm here to tell you it is that variable. You probably can't actually get admitted into the true big buck club because you'll never be able to afford it, kind of like a yacht club or I don't know, golfing at some of the best courses. Maybe you guys know how little I know about golf. I think it's better to hunt your own hunt, so to speak, find your own reasons to be out there that go
way beyond just inches of antler. I know that most folks aren't pure trophy hunters, but I also know there's a lot of bullshit mixed into the messaging of trophy hunting. And you know how you can tell just look for the weasel words. They exist in all facets of life, and especially with hot button political issues, where the terminology is always changing but the issues never get fixed. It's
also obvious in hunting we don't kill deer. We harvest them. Well, harvest actually is a technically correct word for it, if you want to use it. We all know why we say it. We don't trophy hunt anymore. We target much surbucks. We wait until the deer are prime age, and then we selectively try to remove them because they've done their breeding and they've lived their good life and that sounds great.
You know, until that target buck, the mature one you've waited for, I don't know, five or six years on, walks in and he's busted both of his main beams off. How many folks are shooting that deer? Then he's still mature. He still has all of that challenge old into his existence. So the antler shouldn't matter, right right? Sure, yeah, totally,
never mind. It's a hell of a lot harder to age year on the hoof than people think, or that a real mature deer, say, I don't know, an eight and a half year old instead of a five and a half year old would be a hell of a lot more of a challenge. But no one is letting their bucks start to get on the old downswing of their antlers and killing them is gnarly one hundred inches
with huge bellies and gray faces. Nope, it just so happens that our definition of mature coincides nicely with the biggest racks bucks are ever going to grow and listen. If that's your jam and you love it, go for it. I mean that. But if you're looking to get into that club and feel like the guy working the door just isn't going to open the velvet rope for you. It might be time to look for something different out
of your hunting. That's just one of the things I truly believe after a long life of obsessing over deer. Another is that if you want to truly enjoy hunting, figure everything you can out about venison. Now. This will sound weird coming from a meat eater guy, but I don't mean find the most obscure, show offish recipes for your venicon that no one in their right mind would actually make besides someone who is looking for Instagram likes on their stand in stur videos. I mean the process,
the appreciation of venison. This is anecdotal, I know this, but one of the things that has happened to me is I have killed lots of deer and mixed in some big ones, is that I'm more interested in the meat now than I ever was before. Feeding my family means more to me than another big rack on the wall that has taught me something. Focusing on procuring venison has extended my season, has changed how I feel about hunting.
It's made it more enjoyable, partially just because it makes me go more Now if that seems weird or like bs. Let me explain. I like hunting deer, and I like shooting deer. I like the process of settling my pin on their side or the crosshairs. I like handing my daughter's headlamps and heading into the woods at night to figure out blood trails, whether they created them or I did.
I like the feeling of knowing the freezer is full, or the feeling of a four hour burger grinding session knowing that it'll be tacos and spaghetti sauce all year long. Just that aspect, owning it and trying to appreciate it has changed how I look at my deer hunting. It makes me happy to get dough tags or hunt somewhere for a few days knowing that I'm going to be hunting hungry, and any deer that walks by and gives me the right shot will at least draw some consideration
from me. And on that note, another thing that I've learned kind of relates to me giving different generations at the beginning of this podcast is a lot of people want you to believe that deer hunting is easy for them. This goes for hunting industry folks, and non hunting industry folks alike. But the truth is, most people don't tell you how hard it is for them to actually get it done. They don't tell you their struggles, which far
outweigh the wins. The truth is that hunting is hard for most folks, and if it's not, they aren't looking for much of a challenge. Because, believe me on this, if you think you're really good, you just haven't put yourself in enough situations to learn that you're not. I think this is one of the things that our current life, with our current technology, has really skewed how we see the world. Take Cam Haignes and David Goggins, for example.
They might be two of the most inspirational people out there, and you can see how much amazing shit they've done and continue to do with their lives because they plaster it all over it's everywhere. They will also tell anyone who listens about their struggles. But I promise you that doesn't translate as well as some of their successes at good money that they both experience serious motivational issues probably every day of their lives. They just found the discipline
to tamp that shit down and power through. But you know. The struggle is there because it is part of the human experience, and we always want to project an image of kicking ass and taking name tags. But most of us are just kicking our own asses and well not taking names. I guess this is true for life and true for hunting, but we don't need to pollute hunting with too much stuff that really pisses us off. I see this with a lot of Western hunters who focus
on the non residents ruining their hunting. I see it with a lot of white tail hunters who think the wolves ate all their deer, or that the neighbor who has five hundred acres and doesn't let anyone hunt and always kills giant bucks, you know, and he's the worst guy in the world. And they just happen to be this poor, lowly hunter on twenty acres that borders their property and can barely kill a spike. What I know about life and deer hunting is you can change and better.
Yet should hunters are notorious for resisting change, and I suspect that's probably an evolutionary thing. We put up a lot of guardrails to keep things consistent, because when they aren't, it's just as likely things will get worse as opposed to better. But deer hunting doesn't need to mirror general life. If you're unhappy with your hunting spot, you can find another one. Don't tell me you can't, because you can. Now.
It might not be super awesome, it might not be free, it might not be five minutes down the road from your house, but the options are out there somewhere. Or if you hate non residents and think they ruin your hunting, look at it a different way. Imagine having the advantage of being right there to scout, to hunt, to camp to whatever. Now imagine someone who lives a thousand miles away and has less time than you to do all those things. Don't you think you can out hunt that
person nine out of ten times? And if you can't, why not. There's no way that person can and scout and find every little seat or hidden water hole, every bench that the bulls or the bucks might bet on. There's no way that person can compete with you. Why not get ahead of him and all of his buddies
and use your advantage. Now, I'm gonna rapid fire a few more things that I've come to truly believe about hunting before I wrap this whole thing up and warn my boss about the hate mail that is probably going to roll in over it. I firmly believe that most hunters aren't patient enough when it comes to blood trailing, not only how long they give an uncertain hit, but how long they try to figure it out and grid
search and give it their best effort. Blood trailing is a skill that you can work on, and it's something that requires real discipline and patience. It's also something that you're gonna have to do whether you like it or not. It's a part of deer hunting that can be really fun or downright horrible. Try to make everyone lean toward the fun category if you can, and you'll enjoy hunting far more and feel better about yourself along the way. I also think that we should help each other get better.
I know this sounds woo woo, but I believe it. If you're decent at this stuff, help someone who is new. If you're new, try to find someone who seems to know what they are doing and work with them. I know this isn't that easy, and a lot of stuff comes into play here, but I can tell you this every time I've tried to help someone get better at hunting. Not only has it made me feel better, it's made
me a better hunter. Sure comes with real challenges, and there are plenty of people out there who will take advantage of you, but sometimes you just get to pass along a gift that is worth a hell of a lot. Now, if you're worried about taking someone under your wing who might shoot a buck that you might want to shoot, ask yourself why that matters at all? Does it? Really? The answer is up to you, but at least consider
it before making that decision. Now, another thing that I truly believe is this, If you want to get more out of hunting, try to learn to love the animals. Not just value them for what they can become, but love them for what they are. The sheer existence of white tails or elk, or bears or antelope or whatever just makes our lives better. Kind of like dogs for most of us. And while we love our dogs, we often look at animals we hunt sort of in an abstract way. They are this goal, this thing we want
to possess. But they are also animals with a connection to their world and a will to survive. They're freaking cool and if you learn to love them, you'll want to be around them more, not just while you're on stand with a weapon in your hand, but also all that extra time in the off season. Maybe take the kids for a drive in the summer just to look at them. When you start to think about deer in that way, you start to seek out reasons to try
to be around them. I think that's something that we miss in a lot of our hunting advice because it's all about scouting and strategizing to kill. The one way to get better at this stuff and just like it more is to try to appreciate dear for the many things they represent to us besides a grip and grin photo. Now, lastly, as old gen X or latch key kid who got to see the world before the Internet in the world after. I'll say this, there are very very few reasons to
be a prick to someone. This goes for standing in line at the grocery store or online, and your favorite hunting forum may be parked at the parking area of the WMA. If you're going to be nasty to someone, please make sure you have a hell of a good reason. I don't think disagreeing over hunting strategies is one of them. I think that's dumb. Getting jealous over a buck someone else killed. It's dumb shitting on someone for shooting a dink. Dumb.
It's okay to be passionate about this stuff. You should be, But it's also good to remember that everyone is on their own journey and hunting, and in life, they have their own struggles and their own anxiety us, the secret self loathing, the addictions, the you name. Its. Making them feel worse over hunting is dumb, just as dumb as trying to make yourself feel wildly superior over this stuff is dumb. Well, I could probably do this for a lot longer than I'm going to, but I'm not gonna
subject you to that. Instead, I'm gonna wrap this sucker up and move on to next week, when I'm gonna talk about individual deer and how we don't really factor this into our hunting decisions, but we definitely should. That's it for this week, my friends. I'm Tony Peterson. This has been the Wire to Hunt Foundation's podcast, which has brought to you by First Light. As always, thank you
so much for your support. I can't tell you how much it means to all of us at meat Eater that you guys check in and listen to all these podcasts and Clay's podcasts, and you watch the Element guys hunt Neil Guy or whatever the hell they're doing this week. Your support means everything to us. We don't have anything
without you, so thank you for that. If you want to check out more content, go to the meeteater dot com and you will have more than enough stuff to fill your time as we write out this January and wait for Turkey season.