Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Podcast, your guide to the whitetail Woods, presented by First Light, creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind. First Light Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host, Mark Kenyon, Welcome to the Wired.
To Hunt Podcast.
This week on the show, I'm joined by Whitetail Addictions team member Steve Pinkston to discuss the tried and true tactics that he's used to kill mature bucks.
Over the last four full decades.
All right, welcome back to another episode of the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you by First Light in their Camo for Conservation initiative, which sends a portion of every sale of First Light's whitetail gear and their spector cam Camo. A portion of every one of those sales is donated to the Nash Deer Association to aid in their mission to protect and conserve the future of deer and deer hunting well into the future. So that's something
I'm pretty dang happy about. But I'm also happy about the fact that today we have an absolute great podcast for you, perfect for this end of October time period leading into the rut there's a lot of us that are still trying to kill our target bucks, and our guest today is an expert at this. I think that's the big thing that makes Steve Pingston our guests today stand out, is that he is a specialist at killing one or two mature bucks that he's set his sights
on for the given year. He knows how to pattern him, he knows how to find them, he knows how to study all the little interesting things about them. So, whether you've got one individual deer, or maybe there's three or four of these different target bucks that you have over across a multitude of different permission properties or across the public land you hunt, or maybe you've got one big farm and there's just a handful of good deer and
you're trying to figure this one out. Whether it's the end of October or November or right into the late season. Steve has ideas that can help you get it done right now. And Steve has been doing this for decades. He's not one of these young guns just figured this out in the last five to ten years, which you know, those folks can have good ideas too. But Steve killed his first specific mature bucks so the first time he had an individual deer he was trying to kill and
figured him out and did it. He did that in nineteen eighty four, and he's been doing it ever since I was born in nineteen eighty seven. Steve has been doing this for more years than I've been alive. So I know that I can learn a lot from him. I'm pretty sure that you can too. And I'm very excited for our conversation today because we get into all the good stuff topics I've not heard him talk about anywhere else before. We dive deep into his general, high
level kind of scouting process. He's he puts a strong emphasis on seeing things with his own eyes, So how he observes deer from afar, how he uses his glass, how he uses trail cameras, how he keeps track of all these things, organizes this information, analyzes this information, uses all of it to develop patterns or ideas how he can make a target strike on one of these deer.
He's after we discuss all of that a whole lot more, and again, this is stuff that can help you right now in late October, but then also right.
On through the year.
So I'm very excited for us to get into it. I will not be labor the point too much longer. Just want to give you a couple very quick heads ups and pointers. Number one, if you haven't seen my film about the Hunt for the Wide nine, going over to the med Eater YouTube channel and to keep on bugging you about that one, it's called the four Year Hunt for the Wide Nine. Very proud of it, hope
you enjoy it. Number two, I want to let you know that, in addition to this podcast, hopefully you are aware that they're many other shows across the meat Eater network of podcasts that will probably be right up your alley. Of course, there's the other shows on the Wired to Hunt feed. We've got Foundations with Tony Peterson every Tuesday. He's giving you a quick kind of concentrated dose of info once a week, straight from the crazy mind of
Tony Peterson. Every Wednesday, of course, we have our ret Fresh Radio with Casey and Tyler talking to guys all across the country getting the scoop on what's happening right now in the White Tail Woods. So definitely be listening to those. But then we've got a terrific conservation minded show over there on Kl's feed. You've got the Media to podcast, You've got Media to Trivia, You've got Cutting the Distance with Jason Phelps. You have, of course the
Element podcast. You've got Oh gosh, I'm gonna be forgetting something here and I'm gonna feel bad for it. Of course, you can't forget Bear Grease and all the good stuff that Clay and Brenn are doing. So check out all the podcasts across the meator feed. Whether you want tactics and and ideas for how to kill deer other animals, or just some good stories, we've got something for whatever you're feeling.
That said, let's get to the show.
I do want to take note I did not mention this at the top, but what you should know about Steve, other than the fact that he's done this incredibly well over the years, is that he also is a member of the Whitetail Addictions crew, So you can watch some of his hunts over on the lone Wolf Custom Gear YouTube channel. So if you want to learn some more about Steve, you can check out some of his hunts there.
And then also he runs hardcore e cycle so he has an e Byke company, you know, gearing towards hunters people like us, the kinds of products we need, the bikes we need, so check that out as well. So that's it for my intro. Let's get to my conversation today with mister Steve Pinkston. All right here with me now on the line is Steve Pinkston. Steve, thank you so much for being here.
Thanks for having me. I've enjoyed listening to you for a few years here. It's fun to be a part.
Of this man right back at you.
I've gotten to listen to you on a couple shows, and I've heard a lot about you from our mutual friend.
Justin and and that's maybe where I want to start.
With that too loud.
Yeah, he's he's trouble right, but but this is this is what Justin told me once, and this is a big reason why I want you to come on the show here today. He said, and I quote, Steve's ability to document and keep track of bucks is unlike any other person I know. Now, that's that's saying something coming from Justin Hollinsworth, one of the best deer hunters out there today. Do you feel that that is a strong point? Would you say that Justin is accurately describing your specialty.
Well, that's definitely a fair statement. I'm obsessed with it. I'm sure my family would tell you something similar when it comes to that, without the understanding that Justin has. When it comes to the passion, my wife think some a nutcase sometimes, you know, laying in the beanfield and ninety degree heat and trying to slide up on one to get pictures and things like that. Yeah, I'd say that's an accurate statement. I mean, I don't know anybody
quite as nutty as I am about it. But in the last ten years or so, that has been an evolved practice of mine to learn as much as I can about him, as often as I can about him. I spend a lot of time, take a lot of time away from the family, frankly, and spend that time studying and making a plan, always making a plan. So I hope that answers that.
Yeah, In Krim, if I'm wrong here, but I think I heard you once say that the first deer that you specifically targeted, like an individual deer, figured him out and went after him. That was in the eighties, Is that right?
There's nineteen eighty four. Actually, I killed that deer in November twenty second and it was a it was a it was frankly a defining moment for me when it comes to the direction that I was going to go with white tails, you know, and I can't stress to you how different it was then than what it is now. And you know, I made this comment to a couple of friends here a couple of days ago. Guys my age.
You know, I feel like I'm a little bit jypped because the white tail era, so to speak, that's really great. I mean I didn't get to spend much time in it, so to speak. I mean, I'm I'm enjoying the daylights out of it now. But I got to tell you, the first twenty five years were different than where they are now, way different. You know, I could we could spend hours talking about that.
So well, we'll tell me about that first buck, that kind of defining buck there in nineteen eighty four, that started it for you when it comes to killing a specific target buck. You didn't have fancy cell cameras back then, you didn't have e bikes back then, you didn't have any kind of predictive app Is there any of the fancy schmancy stuff we have now, how'd you kill that deer?
Well, it was binoculars back then, a makeshift spotting scope. I will never forget. I rattled that deer in and in a real nasty thicket that I was hanging in, and and homemade tree stands that we'd welded up in a very close friend of mine shop, Jim Baty, as a matter of fact, he's a farmer that got us involved with that at the beginning. And I'll never forget.
I beat those horns together. And there was a railroad track just to the to the south of me, and that deer came over top of that railroad tracks and I heard him hit the rocks, and I turned and I hung the rack, hung the antlers up, and I grabbed my bow and we shot fingers back in those days, and I turned. I'll never forget him come over top of that hill. That rack was just just chocolate looming.
Matter of fact, he's hanging right there that anyway, and he came argin down and in the middle of this thicket. And I'll never forget. I had absolutely no shot at him. This is two years before I killed him, and I had no shot. There's no way in the world. I could get an arrow to him. I couldn't have got a bullet to him, I don't think, truthfully. But he sat there and he tore up a tree and just ripped it up. And I'm searching for a place to shoot,
and I'm shaking like a leaf. I had killed a few deer before that, obviously, but nothing like this deer. It was just a giant to me. And he ended up getting away. He turned and walked straight away from me, and I got to tell you, Mark, I was hooked right then. It was. It was way done for me. I was that's the buck that I wanted to shoot. I ran traps back in those days, and I was quite a infatuated with trapping as well. I grew up
Tom Randa and I grew up together. As a matter of fact, we grew up in the same elementary school, the same high school. We trapped together, and it was just infatuation with me, and it basically ended my infatuation with trapping and again a lifelong chase for white tails.
So, so, how did you end up so you couldn't give him that year? He said, two years later, you ended up killing him. How did you end up closing the deal on.
I had a close call with him the year after that and in a in an early set in the beans, and I didn't get a shot at him. The following year after that, I had set a one of my homemade tree stands up in a tree line that was bordered by corn and beans, and it was November twenty second. I was getting late, and we didn't know a whole
lot back then. I had had lots of conversations with you know what I would call a local legend in the business, Roger Rothar, a long time friend back then, and he basically said, you just got to stay after him. You know, you just got to stay after him. So I was out every chance I could get. I paid as much attention to win that I could understand then.
But I was literally sitting in that tree stand, in that tree line, in a naked tree line, with a standing corp core cornfield on the other side of me, and I shot an no nighty eagle back in those days with fingers and I'll just never forget the moment
with it. I looked up and he was traveling down the tree line straight to me, about ten yards away on the other side of the tree line, and I had just enough time to pull that bow off, get the fingers on draw and send that roth arsnoff for right through him, and he went about sixty yards down the tree line and folded up. I didn't know that at the time, but that that was just it's a memory. It's one of those memories that you just never forget. It was very impacting as far as the future for me.
It also set me up to chase specific deer, you know, And I was practicing back then what I tell guys not to do now. I mean, you know, don't go targeting one specific buck until you've you know, killed a bunch of them. Go have some fun, Have guys stop in the shop here all the time and show me deer this day passed. I'm like, how many of you killed like that? You know? Well I haven't. Why don't you kill a few before you just start passing them
for crime. But it was definitely a life changing but not for me truthfully.
So what was true back then in the eighties or nineties when it came to what you needed to do to kill big deer?
That's still true today?
Well, the work, for sure, there's no doubt that if you put the time in. I mean, I tell people all the time, this isn't rocket science. It's killing deer. It's not caring cancer. You know, it's it's it's killing deer. If you spend the time to understand their social aspects, try to figure them out, you know, versus just walking out hanging a tree, stand in a random spot. It becomes more fun and more focused. But that's that's the
real difference. A lot of guys that they just they go hunting, and you know, they don't necessarily have the results they want because they don't don't have time or they don't have the drive to put the work in. But the work is is definitely the same and some other items that are the same. As deer love the bean fields back then, they still love them today and that's where you can learn a lot about them. Obviously,
crops are a very important part of what they do. Acorns, all those things have not changed.
You know.
What has changed in our area is you know, baiting has become a very large topic. And it's it's you know, you take it or leave it, so to speak, as far as that's concerned. But it's a huge factor here and it's definitely changed what we do. We'd never there was no such thing as that back in the eighties and the nineties, even in the early two thousands, there was nothing in reference to bating. Now you've got you've
got corn stations everywhere. I mean, guys can pull up with their pickup truck and load their truck with a you know, with a load of corn. I mean, it's it's a business. So if that ever changes, you know, that could, I'm sure that'll that'll have an impact on all of the hunting ability.
How do you deal with that?
So it sounds like you don't bait, right, so I do?
How so how do you how do you battle that?
I guess when you've got all these deer that are so focused on everybody else's bait piles all around you, but you don't have that, and you don't want to do that from a tactic standpoint, what do you have to do to to make it still work?
I set up bait stations between where where other guys are setting them up and the you know, the main part of the farm. I do large food plots to try to hold deer and it does a very good job. But no matter what, the corn piles are going to get their attention sooner or later, and you're going to lose a deer there, here and there, and and that's
just how it works most places. I've got pretty good relationships with the guys that are that are up on the borders and uh and they're you know, they shoot a deer, they call me and I, you know, help them, you know, the system and getting their deer. But it's definitely an issue. It definitely impacts the travel patterns. We never had to deal with that back in the day, and it's something you have to have to deal with. Cameras help me keep track as far as that's concerned,
just like now I don't have a tag. Unfortunately, I've already taken my deer here here in Ohio and I'm still running, you know, twenty cameras, so trying to keep track of them taking pictures.
Yeah, so that's a perfect segue to where I wanted to maybe go next, which was seeing if you could describe for us how you killed this buck this month already, and maybe that's a great example we can use to kind of pick apart how you learn these individual deer and plan a hunt for them. Could you get into the details of that one for us.
Absolutely, this buck is really interesting, dear. I've known him for three seasons, and he lives in the area where I don't have access. He doesn't typically show up until November. He's just a gorgeous, really wide heavy I think he you know, and I'm speculating on age because I don't know, but I'm guessing him to be seven because I've known him for three seasons and he was a pretty darn good buck the first year. But anyway, I this past season, I got rewinded a little bit to shed season of
last year I took. I took my deer early last year. I wasn't interested in this buck. I had another buck I was interested in. I was lucky to tag him early as well. Later on in the season when he made his move on to me. My neighbor and I actually have access to joining properties there, and this particular buck would cross from his property over to mine and I would start to get a few pictures of him. He turned out to be very cell cam shy. I can go into that here in a little bit. It's
really interesting. Frankly, it was. It was It was a point about this, dear, that taught me a lot, but anyway, I wasn't looking for him the first part of the season. I had a buck that I had two deer that I was interested in early if I could get shots at them early. One was the one that Justin just tagged. As a matter of fact, I had gotten a pretty good look at that deer and I had made a move to kill that deer when this particular book showed up, and it was very unusual for him to show up
where he showed up this early. He literally stood in front of the camera at eight thirty last Tuesday morning, and the moment I got to picture, I said, Wow, he's in real trouble. He's in real trouble because the area, the access that I have there is relatively small, but it's a great travel corridor between Betting and the Beans. And all I had to do was get in there and get my rigs set up, and I was odds were pretty good that I'd get a look at him.
So I even chuckled about that Justin's probably going to take a breath, because I was pretty beamed in on the other deer. As a matter of fact, I gave him a couple ideas on where to set up on the deer, and he ended up tagging that deer, which is good for him. But this afternoon, I rolled in there about one thirty and very carefully hung my stand. And I'm not as fluid hunting or you know, putting the stands up these days. I used to take a lot of pride and just make it one single trip
up the tree. I'm a little older guy these days, and it's just not as easy. It took me a few trips to get the stand set, and uh, I as long as I got the stand set, I was going to be okay with him. I knew it because either didn't have to go past me to get to the beans or to get to any kind of food source. The camera that I had set up there was on a trophy rock, and uh, he literally took I got two pictures of him, and I knew I wasn't going to get any more pictures of him because he was
so self camera shy. But anyway, about four o'clock that afternoon, I literally watched him stand up. I was that close to him. I watched him stand up and I turned him, I turned, got the camera on, and he closed the distance to me, you know, pretty quick, and I was able to put put a good shot on him and watch him go down and uh and that was it that I mean, I was just it was that fast. I mean we literally it was one set up and
getting it done. Last year, this particular deer would show up on my neighbor's camera, who does not use cell cameras, uses just regular card cameras. I got to set this up for remark, because it's really interesting. My neighbor, Clint's great deer hunter and I've killed a lot of deer together over the years. But Clint's a smoker. He smokes a lot, okay, And this was a card camera, and we're talking about February, okay, where the deer are getting
ready to lose their antlers. Clint is checking that camera every single day. He's walking in there every single day pulling that card. Okay. He'd run over here to the office and we'd look at it here sometimes sure, you'd take it home or whatever. I had. I had moved my cell cameras four different times on the property that I had access, and my access had the betting area
and food. Clint's had a corn pile, okay, and it was just it was driving me crazy that deer would show up for my camera one or two pictures and I wouldn't get him again. So I'd moved the camera and he'd show up for one or two pictures, going past it never see him again. I finally got I said, Clint, I think this deer's got an issue with cell cameras. I said, I'm going to move right next to your corn pile if you don't mind, I said, I'm gonna come over to your property. I'm gonna put a cell
camera up there. He said, I don't care. So I literally put this can I swear mark, I'm hu exaggerating seventy five yards away from Clint's corn pile camera. That's a card camera that my smoking best friend is walking right into every single day pulling the card. Okay, and the first picture I get on this camera is this big deer, and I never get another picture of him again. I'm like, what in the world is going on with
this deer? It says absolutely, it drove me nuts. But then, to make matters worse, two weeks after that, he shed one antler and we get a picture of him well on Clint's camera with one antler. Okay, two hours later we get a picture of him again, and the next day he's got new antlers. So these handlers have to be somewhere close. Clint went one way with his daughter.
I took my property, and with that way, I put twenty four logged miles on Onyx and I never found either one of those antlers, and neither today and to this day we don't. And I don't know where that deer shed. Just an interesting buck. But but the phenomena of cell cameras, I believe, is becoming something that is that's going to be impacting pretty soon. I think, I don't know if it's genetically, they're starting to pass down that you know, there's whatever that whatever's bothered them, the
cell waves. Andre and I Andrea cost I've had this conversation many times. He's a firm believer that that cell cameras put off something that that some deer you know, don't care for.
And I'm I'm only I'm a total believer at this point.
Interesting.
Interesting, So you know this year it was a one hunt and you went in and you killed him because he showed you he was there earlier than usual. Was there anything from the previous two seasons with him that gave you the information you needed or that helped it all.
This year, everything the information that learned about this year in the last three seasons is what got him shocked.
So can you.
Describe those key things that ended up being the puzzle pieces that mattered this year?
Sure, the vetting area that he ended up using that day was a betting area that he developed a liking to because it's really really tight in there. You couldn't approach him from any direction, okay without a perfect wind. I had to have a northwest wind to do anything with that deer in that location. And when the morning he showed up there, he's not going anywhere From eight thirty in the morning, it's well daylight for two hours, and he's not about to get out of there. He's
not the kind of buck. He's seven year old deer. He's not going to go walking across the wide open to go back to his betting area. So I knew he would be there, But that comes from watching him for the last three years. I have pictures of him in both the beanfields. This little betting area is kind of a triangular funnel between two beanfields and last year, it got a little more complicated because the area got developed between my neighbor Clint's property and mine, so there
was a break there in the cover. He had to get there another way, So I ended up figuring out that he was coming on the other side of the road. He would come up and then cross the road at night to get in where I'm at. And whenever he'd show up where I'm at, he's going to be there for the day because he's not moving through there any other way. But it was food and bedding that moved
him here and to where I killed him. Only only whenever the food and bedding where he was living was either pressured because it was a it was a base camp leasing piece of property that he was on, and those guys there were a couple of guys from Michigan that were hunting it, and when when I noticed their trailer showing up, this book would show up someplace else,
you know, where I could see him. But I could take his picture in the summertime and follow him in the summertime to know where he lived, and then developed a pattern as to where he was going to go to. As November approached this year, he just made the move really early in October. Now, who knows if he stayed there and not. He just didn't get a chance to because I was in a situation where I could react, which is pretty much my game plan.
Now.
A lot of folks would point to summer behavior and say, well, that's not very relevant once you get later into October, because a lot of these deer shift home ranges, they're on different food sources, their bachelor groups have broken up, et cetera, et cetera.
That's right.
How do you take.
Info that you picked up in the summer from watching these deer feeding in the summer evenings? How and how much of that and how do you make that useful even in October or November.
Well, with me, in my situation, I watch that transition happen. I'm literally, I don't this is not something I start in October. I'm literally in the bean deals when they start to get this tall and the deer start to love them. I'm starting to watch them then, and I'm watching where they're coming from. I'm paying close attention on a daily basis, and if not on a daily basis, at least every three or four or five days. I mean, I run a lot of times with the camera. I mean,
I take pictures. I love to take pictures, and it's become a real infatuation with me. But that will allow me to keep track of the deer. And that's in that the last five or six bucks that I've killed over the last couple of years has been has been because of that. I mean, I literally have a file that I keep on the different tier that I think I may have an interest in, and by the end of the end of the summer season, what I call
velvet season, I'll pick what I'm going to chase. So this particular year was was good, one of the better years in the past five or six years. Frankly, I had three bucks I was interested in, right.
And so then you can how long do you continue this almost every night long distance glass and that keeps on going right through September up until the season starts, right, and then and then A is that correct? And then B when the season opens? Are you continuing to just keep on doing that until you get these little moments where you realize I can strike or how do you approach that?
Well, that's a great question. It's probably difficult to believe, but yes, it doesn't I'm on them all the time, afternoons and mornings when it gets closer, like we just had a real cold front come in. I don't have a tag, and I'm up this morning at daylight watching a beanfield that just recently got cut to see if there's one particular deer I have an interest in, and at this point is sheds. And I have a guest coming in later on the season that I might try
to help to help them with as well. But no, it doesn't stop. And whenever I make a move and to hang a tree stand, I'm doing it for a different reason than what I did fifteen years ago. You know, fifteen years ago you hung a tree stand and you went in it and you were hoping you were going to see what you were after. I mean, I hang a tree stand now because I saw something the last couple of days, either with my camera personally with my camera or with a trail camera that tells me where
I need to be. And I'm very focused on each move that I make when it comes to that, because the type of deer don't they don't tolerate a lot of pressure, so you have to be pretty precise. And I'm also dealing with a lot of deer. So most of the time I'm trying to put myself in a position where I'm going to get winded the least amount of times before my target shows up.
That makes sense sense, it does? So how do you pull that off? Though?
In season when I gotta believe maybe there's some spots he can go where you're on the road and you're far from where this deer are. But but I'm wondering maybe sometimes to get into where these are, where this deer are, to see them, you have to kind of get in there a little bit. How do you manage that, if at all, to maintain low pressure but still see what you need to see.
Well, if I'm on the road, it's a I'm going to just figure it out. I'm going to jump in there. If I bust them, I bust them. A lot of people believe that, you know, you bust a deer and they leave the county. I'm not that guy. I don't believe they if you pressure them over and over again,
you'll make a move. But I believe that you've got plenty of any of leeway when it comes to that, and you try to be smart about it by approaching where you can all the tools that we have today, I mean, with the maps that we have on these phones. It's just amazing. Like I said, I'm jealous that I'm old as old as I am and I don't have as many years to chase them as as these young guys do with all this great you know, these great tools. But here at home, Mark, I know the farms. I
know the farms I'm hunting. I've been hunting some of these farms for twenty plus years, and I know how to move around them where the deer are going to tolerate my movement. You know that I'm not a threat at those situations. And when I do move in to hang a tree stand, by the time they figure that out, hopefully I've got a shot at the target. I'm trying to get.
So so so question about this.
That's I'm going to use a personal example of mind to see what you would do in a situation where where I'm kind of trying to do something similar to what you do, and that I'm trying to observe, learn and collect data and then strike at the right moment. But right now, my observations and my intel is not getting me what I need so I have two bucks on a particular set of properties that coming into the coming into the fall, I was interested in targeting. One
of them disappeared on September third. I haven't gotten pictures of him or seen him since the second one. I have not gotten pictures of or seen since October fourth, so just about eleven days since I last saw him or go out pictures of him. And he used to be quite active. I've been out glassing a number of nights.
I hunted the first two nights of the season and then have glassed a handful of other nights in addition to that, in spots where I can see a decent, decent area, I've got cell cameras running throughout his property hoping to get sign of him, hoping to get something that's going to give me an indication of whether or not I should strike or how I should strike. Now, all that said, haven't got what. I haven't seen what I've wanted to see. We have a cold front that's
pushed through right now. It is October. It's mid October when we're talking right now, and I kind of wanted to take a strike at him, but I haven't seen them in eleven days with glass or with cameras, and I'm starting to wonder is he doing something different than usual or is he even alive? And so tonight I was playing hunting. I am gonna hunt. But the thought has been, do I push into an area of the farm that I don't have eyes on yet that I've not been able to see with my long distance glassing?
But would be more aggressive? And would you know, potentially you know, educate more dear about my presence. Or do I stick to like an exterior stand where I can see a decent bit. It's very safe to get to, it's very safe to get out of. But the downside to it is that I wouldn't be able to see as much new stuff. I would see some new stuff, but a lot of it I could see from the old when I've been glassing.
Thoughts on that, Well, what you're doing at this point in time from from me listening to you is not working. You're not seeing him. He's not showing up on any of your cameras. So you need to do something different. You need you need to obviously be smart with the wind, okay, but put yourself in a position where you can see more. Now, what what what that means on your property. I would have to know, you know, where where the food is, where the acorns are, like right now, the acorns are
a huge factor here. I mean they're an enormous factor here. I was just telling justin you know, the other day with the deer that they were keen highly on acorns. He shot that deer, you know right there where those deer were just going to that hot tree. Now where we're at right now, all the trees are hot. We had a very dry year and acorns are literally dropping. You can get hit in the head, you know, hanging
right now in the woods here. So acorns are probably a factor and what you're dealing with with your with your deer, but you have to change what you're doing. You can sit back if you want, but if you wait another two weeks, your neighbor's going to kill your deer if he's still alive.
Of course, there's a point.
It's exactly what you just described. It was a few years ago a buck that I had three sets of sheds too, and was committed to that particular deer, and he just went missing, just totally went missing. And I'm like, what the hell happened? I was able to see this deer. You know pretty much what I wanted. I love to I live with a spotting scope in my face, and I just couldn't get it done. And Mark literally one afternoon,
I'm like, what am I doing here? I'm sitting in my truck or I'm on my bike, sitting on you know, a place watching. I've been doing this for six nights and I'm not seeing him. I got to do something different. I literally threw a stand on my back and I rolled in there. And I'm hard to believe. I mean, when when a plan comes together, It really wasn't a plan to kill the deer. It was a plan to
find the deer. But I went in and I positioned myself where I could see or I couldn't see before, Okay, and it and literally at go time, I looked to my right and he's walking toward me. I mean, and I shot that there at eight yards. But my whole point is if you don't change what you're doing, you're gonna get the same results. Now, you may get away with it. You may very well get away with it and just stay patient, but you know what your neighbors are, and you know I could not afford to do that.
In my situation I have, I'm surrounded with corn piles, and if I don't do something, I mean, I'm gonna be regretting not doing something. So I make a move. Now, how aggressive you are is going to depend on how how your property lays out. But I love to put myself in positions where I can see so great advice. That's what I would do.
You brought the acorn thing, which reminded me of something else I heard you say once, which was that in correct me?
If if I've got this.
Wrong, but I think I remember you saying that if you had to choose, you would rather know what they want to feed on right now, like the food source is more important to you than the betting area when trying to kill a buck?
Is that right?
And if so, can you just elaborate on that a little bit?
Oh, it's no, it's hugely important. With my style, I do not penetrate betting areas very often at all, if if ever, truthfully, if I'm on the road, I mean, I may do it to figure out what's going on in an area, but I stay away from betting areas because that's a that's a dependable thing in the properties that I'm on. The food source is something that you can visit when they're not there, okay, and and and
get away with it. It's not often that you're going to get away with especially in season, getting into a betting area without a big deer knowing you've been there, and a lot of guys you know will hunt the betting areas. You better get it done. You just better get it done when you're when you're in there. I don't like my odds on that. Now. If I have to do that, if I'm on the road or whatever, I would probably pursue that. But the food is everything to me. I pay much more attention to the food
obviously before November. Okay, once November rolls around, then you're paying attention to where the does are feeding, okay, and then where the boys will follow. But but yeah, that's an impacting thing for me. Is acorns are very dependable. If you've got a farm that has limited oaks, man, oh man, that's narrowing it down, really narrowing it down.
So do you ever get out and walk some of these areas to determine where those hot oak trees are? Or are you determining most of this from spots you can glass from afar and just zeroing in based on using your glass.
No, no, I watch with the glasses from a distance. And then once we start to get close, and you know, it's always before the season comes in here that you can get in and you can look at your oak trees. Matter of fact, I got a whole phone full of pictures of them, you know, kind of get an idea of which trees are going to be dropping first, where my white oaks are and uh and in the in
years of history, you know, tells me which ones they like. Uh. And unfortunately they don't always you know, one oak won't always have acorns every year. Some of them go one, two, three years without them. And fortunately you're and recently we've had repetitious years of good acorn crops. But which has helped me keep deer in uh in the farms that I'm on. But yeah, I get right in there to find out what if they're falling.
Okay, something I'm curious about. As I listened to you describe you know, how you're doing this, I got to wonder, do you have a rough guestimate of what percent of your available sits so like like an evening or morning that you can go out. What percent of those are just glassing like observing versus actually getting in a tree stand and hunting.
Well, if I'm getting in a tree stand and hunting, I've seen something that is triggering me to get there. So I guess I'm gonna try to answer you this way. I'm scouting every day, every day. It's one of many properties that I have access to. Sometimes I'm visiting multiple properties at different times because I've got a history with deer. But for me, scouting is way more than hunting. You know, I'm making a specific move when I'm hunting and when
I'm hanging a tree stand and hunting night. I can't struss enough that the difference between now and fifteen years ago or whatever. My expectations when I hang a tree stand are so much higher, and it's just based upon what I've observed. And I don't think I'm anything special when it comes to that. I can observe something just the same as anybody else can. I'm just doing it more often than most guys are. And you know, guys get a kick out of me when it comes to that.
I mean, I'm out, I try to make it every day. I try to make it every day. That's it's a it's it's a passion, and it's you know, I'm looking now for the next two years, two years out. You know, I don't have a tag for Ohio, so I'm trying to figure out what's who's gonna make it.
I love it.
See it sounds like ninety seven percent of your available days you're glassing, observing, scouting, and then maybe three percent actual intry stay in hunting or something like that.
Right, it's dramatically more.
I couldn't give you an accurate statement on that, but I I'd say that's fair. I mean, my my dashboard's got two sets of binoculars on it, and right next to my passenger seat is a spotting scope, and I've got a tripod in there, and I carry my camera and and I unload that crap every night and loaded every day. I mean, it's it's just it is it. It's it's what I do, and my business, you know, what I'm in now allows me to have some of
that time. You know, I'm in the kind of I'm in the hunting business now with the with the bikes and the batteries, and and and it allows me to have that kind of time and talk to guys like us all day too, which is pretty cool.
That's incredible.
Now, I know you also, you've talked about it, and I've heard you talk in other places about how you use cameras to supplement those observations. Is there anything you're doing unique when it comes to the cameras that's helping you drill down these patterns with these deer? Well, I guess what I'm getting is what's the Steve you know, what's the Steve Pinkston approach to using cameras to learn these individual deer?
Well, I guess I can tell you one factor that came into play this year. For example, I mean, everybody's using corn piles, you know. And a few years back, for example, one of the bucks that I was able to tag, he got past me the first night when
it was I had my I was very cocky. I was going in there to kill that deer, and I had my big camera with me, and I had it hung up next to me because there were several other bucks in there, and I was going to take some pictures of the other bucks, and I was going to shoot this other deer when he showed up when he came through the gap in front of me, and I literally was stuck with my camera and I was taking pictures of this one buck and I heard something off to my left side and it was the big deer
that I was chasing, and he actually got through the gap on me and went off to and got away from me. That night, I was pretty disappointed to myself, you know, I made that move and I had to get out of there now. Well, the next day, where he came through that gap, I put a little pile of this I can't even remember the name of it, but it had a notre to it, okay, And I needed to stop him right there, and I dropped a little pile of that stuff right there, And man, did
that ever do the job for? It? Was just something different, is what I'm getting at. Now. I've taken that same thing I learned that year and used with my cameras. I don't just put corn out there. I throw a trophy rock out there, and I'll take other stuff that has different that maybe my guys around me aren't using. And I have found that to draw more attention to those cameras and maybe even keep deer closer on my properties. I don't know, I'm convinced. I don't know if it's
real or not. But like this year, for example, I stopped at a at a guy's got apples up here, and he happened to have a bunch of pears, and I got the pears and I threw the pears out. I don't use apples very often because coyotes really pick up those apples. But anyway, this one buck I could see on my camera he really liked those pears. And I'm in tractor supply here one time, about two weeks ago, and there's this bag of pear dust and I'm like, that's interesting. So I bought it and I threw that
pear dust around his corn. Holy smoke, I mean the activity around that camera just tripled. I mean it was absolutely it was amazing. So I started throwing it around some of the other cameras try sake. I had deer all over that. But the interesting thing is my point is I just change it up every now and then when it comes to the camera aspect of it, now I do the same. I'll do scrape cameras as well.
And I've got some areas that I know are travel corridors that I do card cameras on, and I'll go pull those every two or three weeks and take a look and see if I'm right on my guests. But all of it comes together, comes together as you evaluate it. Does that make sense?
Yeah? It does.
And that brings me to the real trick I think for a lot of us, which is how you document and then how you actually analyze all this information gather. So I guess number one question. You're going out every day and watching these deer. You've got cameras running all over the place, You've got thousands of trail camera pictures. How do you actually keep track of all this stuff and organize all this information? Do you have a journal where you write down what you see every day? Do
you have a spreadsheet? Do you have notes? Do you have any way to keep track of it so you can look back on an individual deer? And then also do you do anything like that with pictures like trail camera pictures.
I used to organize my trail camera pictures. It got to the point where it's just too many. Okay, So I and a friend of mine made a comment online here a couple of months ago about him taking pictures of specific pictures in his phone. I now do that. I took that, took that little trick out of his playbook and I and I do that. I organized that in my in my picture files. I do keep a
written journal on every deer that I'm interested in. When they when they make key changes, when something happens, you know, they show up at a different area. I write it down. I write the date, I write the wind, and I pay close attention to that stuff and I use it. I pay the buck I killed this year. I mean, he should never have been where he was. That's just totally out of character for that deer. That would have been if it wasn't in season, I'd have been writing
that down. You know. Since it was in season, I was able to. I was prepared to make a move and rolled in there and made that different behavior count. And I do. I write that stuff down all the time, and I reference it. So how do you do it all deer? I only do it do on deer ometric today. It's got to the point where it's too monotonous.
Yeah, that makes sense.
So when you're when you're sitting down trying to think through when to take a strike or how to take a strike at a given deer, And you have several years worth of journal entries of this deer doing different things, and you've probably got hundreds of camera photos trail camera photos, and you're sitting there trying to make sense of it all. It's like you've got like a puzzle, a whole set of puzzle pieces out in front of you, and you've got to make sense of it. How do you go
about trying to make sense of it? And what matters to you? You know, with some people, they just want to see, like what did the deer do yesterday? And I'm going to try to go see him do the same thing. And then there's other people that try to tie the wind direction when he moved in daylight last year, and the time of the year when he moved last year, or what was the barometric pressure and the weather like
on this day that he daylighted last year? And when will I get the same conditions today and I'll hunt him on that day?
You know, how how deep do you get with it on that front.
Mark that that's a lot right there, what you just said, I mean as a whole bootloa and some of the stuff I could catch real quick that I would that do key for me. You know, weather changes. I pay very close attention to the moon. I pay the attention to the moon rise and to the moon set. The moon rise is very important to me. However, it's not a not a huge factor unless it coincides with a
weather event. When it coincides with a weather event, it makes I mean, I change plans to be where I think I need to be when that particular thing happens. Barometric pressure is typically that's cold front. That's the weather factor that I'm that I'm that we're talking about. I don't give wind direction as much credit as a lot of people do. And the reason I don't is because I have watched years, in years, I've watched deer behave with the wind to their butt. Okay, I've watched it happen.
I mean, they say big deer only move into the wind. That's not that's just not true. It's just it's not even close to accurate. Now, if you're in a highly pressured area, maybe that's more so true. But just consider trying to live your life. You know, only go in the direction that the wind works for you. That just doesn't make any sense.
To me going around circles.
Just I mean that's that I'm going to live in a box, so to speak. But the factors on farms that I know, Okay, I don't do the maps anymore as far as that's concerned. I know those properties like the back of my hand. When I see something happen, I typically already have seen that over the years, and I know where I need to be. I might even know a specific tree. I don't leave stands in trees a mobile hunter. I carry a stand with me, either on my bike or whatever, and and I hang where
I need to be. Now do I prepare trees? Absolutely? I mean I'm in there and you know, throughout the summer, I'll take you know, my wife got me one of these battery powered pruners. Man, best investment I've ever had. Things awesome. It'll literally cut a limbit's big around to snap, and I carry that with me. It's it's on my bike when I'm in there, and I'll and I'll shape some stuff up. And that's the planning that I do.
I know I'm going to be in this area if this happens, if this certain thing happens, I'm going to be here, and I'm going to try to have as best of a shot opportunity as I can have, because my style of hunting doesn't allow me to prune trees. Whenever I get entry, I deal with the shot that I've got, and that's a downside, But the asset from that is way more important than the downside. The surprise
factor of being there right then the first time. I mean, I may not have a perfect shooting lane, but if I if I'm patient long enough, I'll probably get that.
Yeah.
Yeah, And I'll ask you a follow up.
One of the when it comes to knowing when to strike and a discussion of you know, when do you actually go in for the kill. Justin and I were
actually talking earlier this year. I think about how both of us have fallen prey to chasing cell camera pictures where we would be waiting and watching and waiting watching, and then we get a daylight picture of him yesterday, and then we try to go right in there the next day and kill him, and then you end up chasing your tail because you're a day behind him all
the time. What's your thoughts on that and whether or not a daylight sighting yesterday or a daylight camera picture of him yesterday is something that you absolutely should chase and go to today or not.
I don't chase him. It's something that I even had that conversation with Justin as far as that's concerned, that that information doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen again, and you don't know what the circumstances were because you weren't there unless you had Now he likes to use video, and that's pretty helpful, but I would much if I'm going to make a move, I make it off of what I see now a trail camera picture this morning. Okay,
like just what just happened to me this year. That's different. I mean, that's totally different. That's real time. I'm looking at my phone. I'm going I know where I'm going to be in about four hours. I mean, that is the unfairness of a cell camera, so to speak, if that's the way you want to look at it. But
yesterday's information is yesterday's information to me. Now, if there's a reason for him to be there, like he likes that oak, or he likes that he uses that travel corridor to get where he's going, that's a whole different story. I'll make the move based upon that, for sure, but I'm not going to what would I do on a camera picture that I got yesterday or the day before or whatever.
Okay, that's helpful, So how about this scenario. Then, Let's say you, Let's say you see a deer with your own eyes do something. And I know you're not usually hunting unless you actually have a really strong reason behinting. So let's say you're observing from an observation post of
some kind, you see your target buck do something. Can you just walk me through what all you're paying attention to and thinking about as you watch that deer, because I'm sure you're trying to pick some key piece of information from this observation, and then discuss for me how you would go about deciding whether or not you'll hunt him tomorrow and how you would go about that.
Well, there's where I do take some factors into play. I'll play I'll look at it look like not this year's deer, but last year, the year before that, and the year before that. I watched with my spotting scope, and the deer made the same generalized, generalized move for three nights in a row before the seasons came in and I was able to put myself where I needed to be. Last year was opening day. The year before that, it was like the third or fourth day of the season.
A year before that it was like the fourth or fifth day of the season. It's worked well for me to watch and then make a reactive move from that. Now, like last year, for example, we had like three days of the exact same unusual wind for us this time of year. It was a northeast wind, and I was pretty cocky, Mark. I'll tell you that I was absolutely, very very confident. I rolled in there at two o'clock.
I hung that tree stand and I totally expected to kill him right behind me walking to my food plot, and I had a northeast wind. Let's just say it's going this way, because that's what I was doing. Is I was facing this way, and that deer was coming out off to my right and walking across my food plot to get to a standing cornfield, and I positioned
my tree to catch him walking through my food plots. Okay, well, what I didn't know is he was coming from this direction and he was walking there, and he was hooking and going back in, and I thought I was beat I thought he'd beat me fair and square. I literally, when I looked off to my left and I saw him, I didn't even reach for my bove. I literally just I leaned back against the tree and I said, you've
been you've been smoked. You've been smoked. And the thermals protected me right then, and he ended up getting in front of me and I shot him right there. So I can act like I still knew what I was doing, But the truth of the matter was he where I thought he was coming from this way, he was actually button hooking and coming into that food plot from that other direction. So my whole point is I made the move from what I could see, but I got lucky from what I could not see. So you know, I'll
take a little luck anytime I can get it. But when I guarantee you that evening he was going to do the same thing he that I had just watched him do, does that make sense. I mean, I've just watched him from four hundred yards do that three nights in a row on that wound, so I'm pretty confident where he's going. I just didn't know the whole story, and I got lucky.
Yeah, So how long do you think that these observations that lead to a pattern which lead to you striking how long does that hold true? At what point in the calendar do you start thinking, Eh, you know, he's probably you know, what I saw him do last night or the last two nights very well might be different the next day. I'm wondering if you know, once you get into November, if that changes in your mind or when that when that is for you absolutely.
All through, Like if you come in in September, you can put it in the bank all through pretty much what everybody calls the October lull, you can. You can put it in the bank. They're they're there. Once they start to get the itch, you get this cold front coming in, things change and that's why deer get killed on the neighbors okay, or you can't see him sometimes or just gone because that's what happens. They just get
on their bike and they move. And but what what the beautiful thing about that is is you get to see the neighbors deer. It's the same time. So just put yourself in the middle of it. And in my pinion, my this might be a different view than most people think. Oh when when that November time comes, I pay little attention to the wind. I get out there and I hunt because I don't know where he's coming from. You know, I'm the first guy to tell you that I haven't
got a clue. I just want to see them, you know. So I'm going to get out there and I'm going to hunt. But the beautiful thing is after that starts to fade, they go right back to a predictable pattern, and you got a predictable pattern all throughout the rest of the season. And those predictable patterns take time. They take time and diligence, and you have to persevere through. You know, I didn't see anything this afternoon, you know,
but I got I know, I know they're there. But once you start seeing them and you start to get a pattern down, you can make a move.
Yeah.
One last question on that specific pattern style in you know, whether it be October or December right or January right, when they're on that kind of patternable.
Type behavior.
We talked about, you see them do something and you know if they're doing it for a reason, If you know that reason is consistent, you'll go in there and strike. What if the wind direction is completely different the next day, or if the weather is going to be completely different the next day.
So if everything else.
Told you, hey, this should be good, but today it was a north wind and tomorrow it's the south, does that change your calculus at all? Or vice versa. If the day you saw him move yesterday was a great, big cold front day, but then the next day it warms up and is still.
Is that going to impact your thoughts?
Absolutely, because it does impact. Now if you're in the November time and he's with a dough, that's not going to change anything. He's going to still be doing the same thing. Now, you know October early October, when you get into December and January, those actors will definitely change. They might make them move earlier, they may make them move later. You just have to You're going to take your shot at that point in time. I guess you know. My game plan, especially in recent years, is to be
done before all that changes. And if I'm focused enough, okay, and I'm willing to work at it and pay attention, I can put myself in those positions to at least get a shot or get a look. But it does work later on in the season as well as a matter of fact, the later, the later the season, in the season it gets here in Ohio, food becomes a very very patternable thing. It's just a matter of when they're going to get there because that's where they're going.
They got to eat, and as the food sources dwindle, they become more and more focused.
Now, now, god forbid, let's say somehow the deer or the couple deer that you were after, it doesn't come together. In October, member hits and you're still after one of these handful of deer.
But it's the rut.
Now, you mentioned that you're not worried about wind, You're just out there hunting. What does the Steve Pinston rut strategy look like outside of what you just told us.
I want to find that, I want to know where the girls are. I want to find the girls, and I want to be as close to the girls as I can because that's where the boys are eventually going to be. And that just doesn't change. It's it's been that way forever. That's when we talked earlier about what's
changed from the eighties. That hasn't changed. You know, Bucks chase, they chase does, and when you get into November, anything can happen, and you just want to find yourself as close to travel corridors that the does are going to be using, because the boys are going to be in them, that's for sure. They may not be you know, they may be outside the behavior what they normally do, but
their heads not in the same place. You know, their heads in a very foggy, cloudy spot, and you know you see him do things that you never get to see him do in September and October, which is a cool part of the rut.
Yeah, So if you still have a tag in your hand at that point of the year, you're just out there hunting. You're not doing your glassing from a far thing anymore. You're just out there correct.
Most of the time, you know. I mean, if i'm if I'm between things or whatever, I may glass a little bit to see where the does are. But most of the farms that I'm hunting here at home Mark, I know him really well, and I know where I need to be in November or in the chase mode, you know, and I'm I'm there, you know. If it's a target deer that I'm interested in, I'm hoping, which
is a part I hate. I hate the hope. Okay, I don't like that part of it, but I'm hoping he's still on the property because the key properties that I have have a lot of doe and that gives them a chance to stay home, you know, and gives me a chance to see some of the neighbors deer too.
Right, It's something we haven't talked about yet that I know is really important to you, is access, being able to get in and getting out without bothering deer. And I know you use an e bike to do that. Can you just talk to me a little bit about your unique approach to getting in and out without bothering deer and why that's so important for you.
Well, the e bike has added a new dimension to that, and I'll just talk about e bikes in general, not necessarily my brands, but e bikes will give you a chance to approach from a different area where you don't have to work yourself up a big sweat to get there. If the wind's different for an area and you still want to hunt it and you have the access, you can go around and position yourself. And my bike is typically at the base of the tree that I'm in.
If it's not at the base of the tree. It's close. It's in the closest cover. I've never had a deer. I have had one buck over the years. As a matter of fact, he's up over my right shoulder here. That spooked to my bike, and I was actually lucky. I kind of believe that if I had a set of horns on the bike at that particular time, because I rattled him out of the corn and he'd come up. I couldn't figure out what he was looking at. I just had him. I was hooked up and ready, and
he's forty five yards away and he just stopped. He just looked, and I'm like, what the hell's going on? I kept thinking there was another deer. Well, it turned out to be I left my bike on the kickstand and I've not done that since. You know, you got to You have to make sure you're covering your your way in your way out. Don't do something dumb like leaving on a kickstand like I did. But anyway, the bike has been a huge factor as well as far
as knowing your area. You have to try to have your exit routes so that if you don't get it done, you're going to be able to get out of there without disturbing what's going on. You know, I like to hunt my food plots, and I like to hunt the cornfields the bean fields. And if I've got enough time where the deer are going to get past me, I've got to figure out how I'm to get out of there clean, you know, and so that I'm not blowing things up for you know, because obviously sometimes you don't
get it done. You know, you have to be able to you know, be stealthy enough to get out of there and come back another time. So you have to have an exit plan.
So yeah, So when you have the e bike at your disposal, do you ever just buzz by the field on it if you have no other way to do it? And look at that as a less damaging exit because you're on the bike.
There's no doubt that that it's it's very similar to a piece of farm machinery. Maybe I really I don't know what to compare it to, but I over the years I've ridden past deer, not on purpose, you know, just look over and boom, there's one land there, and don't don't stop. You just got to keep right on going. And if you do stop, it creates a reaction. How I've ridden up on strutting turkeys, you know, same exact way. But if you if you use the bike as what,
it's not unusual in my area for people to be around. Okay, it's got farm equipment, and you know, in some areas there's some homes and on some of the lots and kids making noise and places. I mean, it's not totally unusual for deer to see or hear people. Now, when they stop and they notice that you're noticing them, that's
a whole different result that you're gonna get. But I can't tell you how many times I've ridden past beda deer and got my tree stand hung and had a good evening, good afternoon, good morning, whatever it was.
So one of the things I've always wondered about is the sound of a bike compared to the sound of me walking in. And there's been situations where there's been situations where I've had a spot where I knew I would need the bike to get out because I knew, like, there's there's a couple of spots to hunt where I just I have to go buy fields to get out, And so I very rarely hunt evenings in the back of this property because I know I'm gonna have to buzz out of there on a bike, so I save
those times. But when I do it, what I wonder is, Okay, I know that I can take the bike out is you just described, and it won't be as impactful on the way out, But on the way in, I'm wondering to myself, geez, should I just walk in and like handhold the bike because I can more carefully walk my way in with the bike and not make a lot of noise. Or should I ride the bike in even though it makes a sound it's you know, it's not a human sound. It's not footsteps, it's just a just
you know, just the wheels on the leaves. And I've wondered, is that bothering them? Or do they just hear this thing pass by and they have no idea what it is because it doesn't sound like feet, and then they just get past it.
Have you ever thought about that?
Well, I've just come to the conclusion that I'm going to do it and I'm going to deal with the results.
Now.
I think that that the I think you're much less impacting is if you're on the bike and you're moving at a at a speed when you're walking, I think that there's first off, you're putting boots on the ground, and I think that is something that some deer are very sensitive to, not all of them, but some deer
are very sensitive to that. But when you're cruising past on a bike, I don't think you're having anywhere near the impact that you are walking, whether you're pushing the bike or walking by yourself, I think there's a there's a threat determined there. I don't want to give the deer.
I don't want to give them the credit that they're thinking, Okay, that'll stop me from even ever going hunting, you know, But I will tell you that I believe they react, and I think they react to pauses when you stop or you pause, you go wow, you know you're surprised, and they surprised, and they make eye contact. I think there is there is going to You're going to get your reaction. Then the bike allows you to keep right on going. In most cases. Now, talking specifically about bikes,
center driven bikes do make noise. They make a dear noise that that dual hub bikes do not. I build both. You know, I'm just telling you there's a difference between Like a dual hub bike is dead quiet, makes no noise. Center driven bike does make noise. The gears are turning and you can hear it. Even as bad as my ears are, you can definitely hear it. So there is
there's a difference there as well. Now I'm not going to tell you how impacting that is because I've never studied it, but I knew if I can hear it. If I if I can hear it, that tells me that you know, it's there's there's a factor there. No how important it is.
I don't know, right, And to your to your earlier point, they probably don't associate that with any kind of danger or human related thing, right, just like farm machinery.
I was, That's what I would associate it to, you know, somebody running along on a gator or something like that.
You know.
Interesting, all right, Steve, I want to I want to wrap this up with one final question. Sure I heard you say once that failure is a stepping stone to success. Absolutely, I'd love you to elaborate on that for us.
Well, if you're not out there screwing up, okay, you're never going to get any better. And when you learn from what you screwed up, you just keep polishing your tools. You know, your toolbox gets smaller, okay, because you're you use less of them because you're understanding how to use them better. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've messed up over the years, and I'm going to continue to mess up.
I hope.
I mean, but I learned each time what I did. And I'll tell you something else. Every deer is not the same. I mentioned to you earlier about a real sensitive deer that I've that I've noticed to trail cameras. I've had one other deer in my career that I noticed had a sensitivity to trail cameras. The talent here is understanding that and using that. So did I screw up by using that cell camera? And do I learn that I'm observing that he has an issue with trail cameras,
then I change my plan. That's where you you've screwed up and you've learned from it. And there's so many things like that. You know, how you use the wind, you know, you learn how to use the wind, how you use the thermals I mean, nonrmals are in my opinion, are extremely misunderstood. Very few people understand them because they're reading about what they're supposed to be. Like, well, if you go out and get in a tree and see what they do, you learn a lot more and you
can repeat that exercise for future success. And bumping your heads not a bad thing, it's just not. I mean, if you learn something from it and apply it later, I mean, I'm going to keep failing and I'm going to keep figuring it out. So I hope that makes sense.
It does, and it rings so true.
And something else that I recall from hearing in another conversation you had was just the fact that you used to be afraid of screwing up a long time ago, and I was the same way. I was always worried while if I do that, I'll probably spook the bucker. If I do that, I'll probably educate this year. And I was always worried about what I might do screwing
things up. And at some point, a handful of years ago, I realized that you just have to take risks and you have to go for it, and you have to take those swings, otherwise you'll never get in a position for success. And it seems like you've proved that out for for a whole lot longer than I have now to.
Well, it's something that I'm gonna I'll never say I know it all. I mean, you know a lot of those things that you know never and always don't belong in a deer conversation. They just don't. I mean, you know, when you when you jump out there and experiment, you learn, and you find out what works for you, and then you just start you expand on it, it gets really get goosebumps talking about it. It's just it gets really really exciting, you know. Like I got to tell you
when I killed that deer. The other day, I did a little interview I'm doing some filming on this, and I found myself just so juiced up. I mean, I've been doing this for forty five years, okay, and I was just so I mean so three years working on this deer and he made one mistake and I capitalize on it. It's just so cool to do that, you know.
But you don't get there by being perfect. Every time you bump your head all the way through and you pick up little things that you're not going to repeat down the road because you've learned and you've been out there doing it. You don't get that out of a book. You get that out of a tree.
Really, really great place to end this and great words for assault to remember as we head out.
To the field ourselves.
So before I let you go, Steve, could you let us know number one? You know, where might we be able to see some of these hunts? I know there's at least one of them online we can watch and it sounds like you were filming this latest one, So where should we stay tuned for that kind of stuff? And then number two, could you give us the scoop on hardcore e cycles where we can learn more about your bikes than anything else like that?
Thank you very much, it's very nice to you. I do I provide white Tail Addictions some footage every now and then. I'm not the best at it, so to speak. I'm never going to be one of those guys that's the movie star. First. I spent two or three years chasing it deer. If I can get the shot, I'll get it. If I can't, still going to try to kill it. That's just how I do it. This particular year, I got good footage. Last couple of years I haven't given them footage, but they're going to get that footage.
I've got some good footage coming for that. When it comes to so white tail addictions. You can see some of my stuff my Facebook page. I put a lot of videos, and I take a lot of pride in taking pictures these days. I really I get out there and I'm trying my best to get better at taking pictures. And I will tell you that getting better at taking
pictures has made me a much better hunter. I mean, I spend a lot more time getting close to big deer to get pictures, and it makes me just stone cold when it comes to the situation where it's there to kill them. But as far as hardcore recycles, dot com is our hunting bikes. We do specifically hunting bikes designed by me. I don't do single power bikes anymore. All my bikes are dual wheel powered in the front and the back, because that's how I believe I need them,
and that's how I believe very needs them. So anybody'd like to talk to me, my phone numbers on there, I'd be more happy to discuss it with them. If they're in the market for a bike, I'll help them with my bike or anybody else's bike. I'll be happy to do that. But the bottom line is the bike will help you get better, so we choose to use one. I'd love to help you.
That's awesome.
Well, Steve, thank you so much for taking this time talking with us here today.
I've got some new ideas.
I've got a little bit of extra confidence in my plan for tonight and how I'm going to adjust, and hopefully I have something to share here soon coming from this.
So thanks Steve. We're all going to be definitely benefiting from it.
Thank you very much. You've made this very easy. I've been very enjoyed, enjoyable conversation talking to you.
Right back at you, all right, and that's a wrap. Thank you for being here. Appreciate you tuning in. Good luck. This is it.
These are the days we've been looking forward to for the last nine to ten, eleven, twelve months. We'll finally here, the ruts about to explode. Good things are going to be happening if they haven't already, and it's gonna be a lot of fun. So be safe, have fun, and until next time, stay wired to hunt.