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 Kyle McClellan of the Adventure Chasing YouTube channel to kick off our Whitetail Adventure series as we discuss floating rivers for whitetails. All right, welcome back to the Wired to Hunt Podcast, brought to you
by First Light and their Camo for Conservation initiative. Every purchase you make of First Light's gear in the Specter Camel pattern, which is their white tail pattern, a portion of those proceeds go back to the National Deer Association to help them with their mission to protect the future of deer and deer hunting here in America. Good stuff, and today's episode, in my humble opinion, is some good
stuff too. We are kicking off a new series. This is our Whitetail Adventure series in which we are going to explore the many different ways that we can add diversity, excitement, and adventure into our whitetail hunts. I think that we have experienced something over the last ten to twenty years here in the whitetail world, and I think it has maybe been by virtue of the influence of media and social media, but I think that the experience of white tail hunting in many ways has tightened.
And narrowed more and more and more.
Into a very kind of specific way of doing things. There's you know, a lot of folks that want to hunt their manicured private land farms that you're managed whitetail mecca with box blinds and food plots and all that stuff, and that's great. And then you've also got some folks that are hunting public land and they're going in on their day trips, running gun with their sticks in their saddle, and that's great too. But a lot of folks, I
think are falling into a rut. They're falling into like this is the way I do it, this is the only way I do it. And maybe it's because they see someone on YouTube, or they listen to a podcast, or they've read the articles and this is the way.
But as we talked about a week or two ago with you know, Steve Magnus when we discussed how there are some risks to getting stuck in your ways, to narrowing, to specializing too much, there are also huge benefits to broadening your horizon, to adding new experiences, to exploring new ways of doing things, to spicing it up. And I think that's something that at least I personally have felt
like I need. I've definitely fallen into a little bit of a rut with how I hunt, and have been of course really focused on, you know, achieving my personal goal killing a.
Mature bock or this specific deer, whatever it is.
And that's all good and well sometimes, but I have definitely had the feeling lately, and I know other people have expressed this to me too, that a good old adventure would be a hell of a palette cleanser. And so this month on the show, we're going to speak to a number of different people about ways we can do that, different adventures that you can have while also chasing your favorite big game animal. Because a white tailed deer hunt doesn't just have to be sitting on a farm.
Shooting a deer in a cornfield doesn't just have to be slipping in with sticks and stand you into the two hundred acre public land spot for an evening hunt and then going back home. You can have a big wild experience chasing white tails that's not just reserved for people out west going on elk hunts or sheep hunts, or going up to Alaska or Canada for caribou or moose.
You can have a wild adventure with white tails. And that's what I'm hoping I can convince all of us of over the course of this series, and hopefully we can get expired with new ideas, new techniques and ways to really broaden our whitetail experience and bring home some really exciting stories as a result of it all. So, with all that said, that's the plan for the month. And our first guest in this series is a guy
named Kyle McClelland he is a fishing guide. He is a lifelong outdoor adventurer, hunter, angler, and a creator over on YouTube now at the adventure Chasing YouTube channel, and it was his YouTube channel where I first discovered him. He's got these great videos showcasing long river floats, all sorts of adventures all over the place, but in particular he's doing river floats for white tails, and it looks like he's just having an absolute blast along the way.
He's seeing deer fishing, having great camping, you know, adventures too, So it just looks like a very well rounded fun experience and he's bringing home meat as well, so it's a win win across the board. Good stuff. So my hope today with my conversation with Kyle is to better understanding, you know, why adventure is important to him, how he's
been adding that to his hunting experiences. And then specifically, you know the logistics of you know, picking out a place to hunt, picking a river system that could be productive, what kind of boats work well for this, What kind of camping gear do you need? What kind of hunting gear do you need? How do you feed yourself out there? What kinds of techniques work bets? Should you hunt while you're floating, should you pull over and you know, slip
around and hunting the ground? Should you bring sticks and stand? You know, what's the right way to do this or at least what's the way that he's found to be successful.
So that's our plan.
We discuss high level planning, We discuss in the weed tactics and some fun stuff along the way as well. So without further ado, I say we should get to my chat with Kyle. Here we go, all right with me now on the line, I've got Kyle McClelland Kyle welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me, Mark, and welcome everybody who's tuning in.
Yeah, yeah, I appreciate you, appreciate you being here with me.
And I gotta say your your approach to things.
I guess from what I can see with your YouTube channel and everything, that has struck a chord with me because it seems like what you value in a hunt and a wilderness experience is very much what I have sensed that I personally need more of right now. So we're kicking off this series here on this podcast kind of exploring different ways to bring adventure back into our
hunting lives, especially whitetail hunting. I think for a lot of white tail hunters, you know, the standard whitetail approach and something that I have, you know, fallen to a lot is you've got your farm and you you know, try to find your big bucks and you go and you sit these stands you've meticulously worked to make a great deer hunting spot and and that's kind of all you do, but you've got a very different approach a lot of times, it seems like and I got to ask,
from like the from the thirty thousand foot overview perspective, why is adventure important to you? And what would you or how would you define adventure?
Well, I would say adventure is important to me because I love all aspects of the outdoors and you know, going on river float hunts or camping overnight backpacking trips like I've been doing. Yeah, it's such a great way to incorporate that, whether it's cooking, exploring, enjoying the scenery. You can, you know, do some fishing if you'd like, do some hunting. There's so much that the outdoors in Michigan provides and that's successible to us and we're very,
very grateful and fortunate to have this. So, yeah, the opportunities and the potentials, and that's what means a lot the most to me is the adventure and just enjoying the overall outdoor experience.
Yeah, So how did this start for you?
Did you?
I mean, were your hunts and fishing trips and things like this from an early age or did you kind of build up to this point when you realized, Hey, I want to have a broader experience. I want bigger, wilder experiences. Like, what was that evolution for you?
Yeah, So I've been in the outdoors my entire life. I grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and I lived up there until about the end of high school, and then I always had a dream to start a charter fishing business, so I moved down to the Lower Peninsula, Michigan and that's where I started that. But now I'm in a place where, Yeah, I've been creating content and I haven't had a lot of time throughout my adult
life to really hunt. And now that I'm in a place where I can devote more time to it, and I've slowed down on the charter fishing now and directing my focus more to creating content. Yeah, I'm very grateful to be able to get back into the sport and I've been learning a ton and just been able to go on some pretty awesome adventures the last couple of years.
So, the best adventure of your life, what would that be? What would you if you have a slap a label on the best or most memorable outdoor adventure what did that look like?
Well, if I had to pick one, I'll pick one locally here this past summer on Ale Royal. I went out to Ile Royal two different times this past summer. I spent my first trip, I was out solo for seven days, and then I did another twelve day trip.
And I have to say that was probably the most meaningful, well rounded, positive outdoor experience that I've had, Probably my favorite if I had to say, but it's so hard because I've been fortunate been able to travel to a lot of places and see a lot of beautiful countries. So I would say that's probably my top one right now.
Though, So what what made it so great?
You mentioned? You mentioned is well rounded? What does that mean in your view? And what makes I mean? I understand Isle Royal is a dramatic wild landscape. But but but I asked this because I imagine there are people out there who maybe have not done these kinds of things. Yeah, trying to figure out who who maybe feel like that that hole in them that they need to fill and they feel like, man, something wild, some kind of a venture would do it.
But how do I do that?
And what's the kind of thing I'm looking for and what does success look like with that kind of trip. So for you, with that Ile Royal trip, I'm curious you know what that looked like for you? What made it a success? What made it so well routed and special?
So I probably have to say just the overall environment and culture out there. It's an environment like nowhere I've ever experience because it's essentially going out there is essentially a filter, right, So you're to go out there, you have to be well organized, well planned. Everything has to be thought through, and you have to want to be there, like it has to be in your heart. And if you go out there and it's not, then you're probably not going to have the best experience. But the people
you meet out there is second to none. You know, you don't have any cell phone service, So that's something to be said in this day and age as it is so just being able to go out there, connect with nature, connect with other people on a genuine level where you don't have the noise of you know, politics or phone, social media, whatever it may be. You can just focus on just nature and just disconnect yourself. And the scenery is second to none. The fishing is beautiful, obviously,
you can't hunt out there, but I did. I hunted myself. You could with a camera, you could hunt moose, wolves, and I did that. You know, I batpacked into some places. I did some tracking with moose, and I was able to I was able to spend a night with a wolf pack one night. So I've had some amazing experiences
out there. And like I said, the scenery is just second to none, and there are just so many different aspects of the outdoors that you can enjoy and experience out there, whether it's picking berries, hiking, canoeing, taking your own boat, your personal watercraft. If you want a hardcore fishing adventure, you can do that. If you want a well rounded hiking exploring adventure, you can do that as well. So the options are endless. And yeah, the community and
the culture out there. People everybody is just so friendly, willing to help you out. And it's a unique experience to be at one of those campsites out there, because you know, there are designated campsites, and when you reach one of these places, there are multiple other people there.
Usually sometimes it can be busy. Sometimes there's nobody there, but I've met some of the I've met some of the coolest people in my life there and I've built some of the most meaningful relationship to me from my past trips out there this summer, so definitely looking forward to getting back out there and can't wait for future trips.
Yeah, it looks looks amazing. My dad has told me stories about his trip. He took one trip there when he was a young man, and he's wanted to get back ever since. And so that's on the Bucke list that we need to get there someday together. And so so yeah, I'm envious that you get to spend two lengthy, you know, deep.
Trips out there. It looks spectacular.
On the on the white tail side though, what originally caught my eye with you is is it seems like YouTube is feeding your videos all over the place right now. They're really giving you a good algorithm boost because it keeps on popping up on my feed. And so I noticed your white tail hunts from a boat floating down rivers chasing deer that way.
How did that come about?
Yeah, So, you know, I've always had the idea, and it's always something that you hear about out or I would hear about from you know folks who have been around a lot longer than me. It's just kind of one of those old tails, you know, floating down the river for me and the up anyways hunting that way, and so to be able to do it the last couple of years has been it's been an awesome experience.
And for me personally, I was, like I said, I was a full time charter fishing captain on the rivers here in northwest Michigan, and it just kind of connected. Like I'd be out on the river on floatboat trips in my drift boat every single day and then I'd have a day off and I would see nice bucks here and there. So I just decided I'd try to do a float hunt see what would happen. And it went. Well,
it's gone. It's gone well. Over the years, I've been learning a lot, I've been successful, and yeah, it's it's been an awesome experience.
So what's the appeal? Like?
Why why hunt deer with a boat floating down a river? What what makes that so special?
For me? It's the adventure and for me, I get little stir crazy hunting out of a blind To be honest, it's something I do enjoy in something I do do, but it's nice to have that. It's nice to have a break and be able to mix it up and you can go, you can hunt with another person. The river's beautiful, The scenery is always beautiful on the river. So you have that aspect. If you want to take a break and cook lunch, you can do that. You know, you can you know, you can talk and at times
you can talk and be social. And so I think that aspect for me is yeah, just mostly the well rounded adventure aspect is what means the most to me with float hunting.
Yeah.
Yeah, So I've actually been thinking strongly about trying a trip like this myself. I've I've started kind of thinking about earlier this year, just kind of realizing that I need to need to switch up my white tail program. And I thought there's been kind of three different avenues I've thought the most about.
One has been doing a float down a river. One has been doing like.
A boundary water or style, you know, going in on a lake with a canoe and portaging from place to place. And then one has been just doing like a backpacking white tail hunt and finding somewhere you could backpack into and live off your back in that kind of way. But your videos have definitely been one of those things that's reminded me of the appeal of being on the river and being a big fly fisherman myself. The opportunity to possibly pair those two things together is awfully appealing.
I can see that being a really nice way to spend a few days. So that said selfishly, as I'm considering planning something like this, I've got a lot of logistic related questions for you. So one of the first things I've wondered about is just how much thought you've given to time of year for this kind of thing. Is have you been pretty tight to a certain part
of the year. Is there a certain part of the season that you think makes the most sense to do this kind of thing any considerations from a timing perspective.
Yeah, absolutely so. Obviously, in Michigan, our Rifles season is November fifteenth to the end of the month, and then we have muzzle out season after that, So I would definitely recommend going at one of those two in one of those two timeframes. Obviously, with the Bowl here, the opportunities are just going to be greatly reduced, and float hunting is a difficult style of hunting. You have to
be constantly focused. You always have to be focused, you always have to be ready, and you always have to be in high spirits as well, because as soon as you get flustered where something might not be going your way, or you have other people or whatever conditions aren't working out,
that's usually when the opportunity happens. So you know, it's you just have to be and you constantly have to be aware, and it's just a test of your senses really, because when you're floating down river, and the best time to flow hunt is after a snow for sure. If you can hit it the day after a snow, that is the best time because not only will it help you pick out the deer, but can also see fresh tracks and it just gives away a lot of their
sign you know that leads to them. So that's definitely the best time if you can hit it hit a float hunt right after a fresh snow. You can be successful at other times. Obviously, as you probably saw my videos, it can be tough though, as I've experienced some tough hunting this past year with warmer temperatures, high pressured areas, and no snow. When the deer just really hunkered down in the thick brush and you're just looking for a needle in a haystack as you float down. Like I said,
if you have snow, they're easier to pick out. But if you don't, I mean, you know how they get you know, once they get pressured. A lot of times you'll float right by them thirty forty yards and they won't even budge, or you'll just see a tip of their ear, or it can be it can be tricky.
So yeah, So so one of the things I've been curious about it is the hunting pressure thing have you found on these on these river systems? Is there you know, has there been other hunting pressure, other other people doing this same kind of thing as you? And then secondly, does the fishing pressure impact them general recreational pressure, how have you seen have you seen this to be a thing that is getting you away from pressure or are you dealing with a lot of it still?
Both so you can definitely have you know, secluded. I've had trips where I've gone out for several days having saw a single person. But I've also had trips where I go out and I'll see multiple people in the same day, and just like with a lot of things in the outdoors, you know, deer adapt and they catch on. So you know, once that little bit of pressure seems to happen in an area, it can definitely take an effect on the hunting. They just they seem to bump
off the river a little bit. They're far more aware, and your odds of just catching one down feeding or you know, coming down and just hanging out with the
dough by the river is just greatly reduced. So it's definitely tricky, but it is nice because you can if you do have the adventurous aspect to things where you're not just specifically worried about harvesting a big buck and you're more here towards an adventure and trying somewhere new and pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone can really lead you to some fantastic places and experiences and just really surprise you. So I think that's what I've found.
My most successful trips, you know, with duck hunting or white tail have been where I've just kind of you know, got on a map, found a section or river that I never tried before, and just like, hey, we're going to go do this and just go do it. You know. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't, but that's what makes it fun and entertaining. I guess.
Yeah. So I don't want to know anything about specific locations. Yeah, but I am curious about that process you just described, like looking at a map and finding somewhere new and figuring out hand to go do.
A trip there.
Like what are you looking for as far as you know, signs that yes, this could be a good spot for our float hunt?
How do you pick a spot? How like?
What are you thinking about as far as logistics, as far as length, as far as you know, will this have deer? Will it not have deer? Or will this be a good adventure? Will it not be a good adventure? There's got to be a lot that goes into making that decision.
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely there is, you know, and it just so to start, I guess it. I break it down for how many days I have, and I've been able to kind of just through fishing mostly been able to judge how far I can drift a river in a day, So that way it kind of helps me a little bit. But at the same time, it can be tough. I always would recom I would recommend giving yourself an extra day or two. Then you probably you know, expect, just
because the unexpected typically tends to happen. But yeah, well I ran out of my train.
You're good, You're good.
You were just explaining, you were explaining the way, like the ways you're picking a specific river or a section of river to flow. And yes, you know, my question was around, you know, how do you determine what's a good stretch or what's a good area, because there has to be at least when I would think about it, I would be maybe over analyzing a thousand different things trying to figure out, you know, is this a good spot to hunt? Is this a good spot to flow? Is there going to be camping?
There?
Is there gonna be enough public land? Where will I camp? Is there good fishing? How do I get in? Where am I going to get out? It just as seems to be so many criteria to weigh.
Yeah, and obviously number one is finding a section of river with plenty of public property. For me personally, I just use ONYX. That's all I use in It seems to work fine as far as finding public land, And then you can start getting into the details of different train types, the type, the time of year you're hunting.
You know, maybe if you're hunting with some more snow on the ground, you want maybe more dense cedar swamp kind of area, or you know, it's nice to mix in some high oak ridges with a good food source. So yeah, you can really, I mean, as you know, with hunting, you can break things down into any level you want. So I find myself just staring at onyx and for endless hours a lot of times before I
head out. But yeah, but until you get out there and put boots on the ground, you know, that's when you really for me anyways, really learn the train that you're hunting and and you really find a lot of those little, you know, hidden kept secrets that you can put in your memory bank of just because a lot of times from what I found is you'll have you'll float along section a river, but it'll be that same little section for whatever reason that's kind of holding the deer.
And then you can, you know, for future trips go back and kind of plan on that spot as being productive or you know, where to be aware and we're not to be aware, but yeah, and I guess that's what I look at is one stay land where the most public land is. Then to look at different train features I like, you know, I like a lot of areas, especially after a snow down by the river with heavy seedars usually in that type of forest after a snow, you can pick them out pretty good when they're beded
up under the trees. Or if you float through a section with some nice big oak ridges, you can glass as you float down and you can catch them up feeding a lot of times, you know. Or you get by some of that thick bedding area as well, and you can catch a buck with the dough down by the river too. So I think, yeah, that's that's what I look for personally, I guess.
All right, So how about your method of going down the river. I've seen you using just a standard drift boat. I think I've seen you in a jetboat. I've seen you do some trips with a canoe. What's your take on what the best rig is for a white tail float hunt? Well, or pros and cons of the various options.
Probably my favorite or a white tail hunt, My favorite is my stealth craft drift boat. I have a fifteen foot skiff drift boat. It's a stealth craft and that boat is really nice. You can portage it. I have an ATV wench on the front so I can portage it if I need. It's stable, super stable, easy to row, so you have always have a nice stable shooting platform, which is huge because, like I said, you have to be constantly aware, constantly ready, so sometimes the opportunity, the
opportunity doesn't present in the most ideal place. So that's huge. That's really nice. The boat travels well. I can load it down, I can load my gear up in it, take an excessive amount of gear if I plan to be out there for a longer time. And yeah, that is my preferred system of travel, I suppose and method. But with whatever, you can use whatever you have, as I've shown as well. You know, you can use a canoe if that's all you have, or you can use a jet boat, you can use a rowboat. You can
use whatever you want. Really just making it work, I guess.
Yeah, So, okay, other important gear you're going out there, I know for usually not always, but usually multiple days at a time camping out there, You've got your standard deer hunting stuff. We'll just assume like that's a given. You're going to have your rifle, your your basic necessities from a hunting perspective, Can you walk me through some of the things as far as gear that are unique to this kind of hunt.
Yeah, And that's the biggest thing, is preparation and just having two of the essentials. And it depends. I guess it gets down to if you're going to go out for just a single day or if you're going to go out for multiple days. I always like to have two of the essentials. I spend an excessive amount of time. I spend an excessive amount of time preparing, planning, and organizing.
If you're not well organized and well planned and everything's thought through, then it's going to lead to a challenge more of a challenging experience and you're going to face difficulties. So that is definitely something to prioritize as organization and planning. So with that being said, I like to have I like to confine things. If I'm going out for a trip, I like to confine things in a few different dry bags. You know, I'll maybe say I'll have two or three
different dry bags. I'll have one dry bag with you know, say my hunting essentials, you know, first aid kit that sort of thing, another bag with clothing, another bag with you know, food, a food bag filled up. So yeah, just having the uh, I guess might have to edit out.
No, you're a kid. Give give me the give me the camping give me the camping gear program.
It seems like from what I've seen, I feel like I've seen you using kind of like a wall tent style with a stove in there sometimes. But can you walk me through what you'd like to use and why you like to do it that way?
Yep. So if I have the room in the space and I plan to be out for an extended amount of time, having the wall tent is very nice because at the end of the day you can have a hot fire, warm up, dry your clothes out if you get wet. But a lot of times I don't have that luxury, especially if I'm floating in a canoe. So I'll bring, you know, a two person just a batpacking tent,
and you know that that works well too. So especially if you're floating through an area where it's not as easy to set up a camp and you're in a tight spot. You know, I can throw that batpacking tent up pretty much anywhere and call home for the night. So just having those options, I guess, and using whatever your circumstance in your situation, it's best, you know what's best for your circumstance in your situation.
So everyone who camps a lot, especially like backpackers or you know, doing float trips, anything like this, I feel like we've all got a little camping hack or two, or a little idiosyncrasy, some little thing that we do that just makes life a little nicer, little easier out there in the in the field. Is there any little thing you do that makes your camp just a little bit nicer or a little more convenient, or something you've picked up over the years that's a little bit unique to you?
Oh yeah, I mean, you know, pretty I'd say a lot of the things I do are probably unique and not off the book. I just you know, go with the flow and came up with my own systems. So it's kind of hard to pinpoint a specific one not being out there right now.
But yeah, gosh, well, what about here's another thing if while you're thinking about that, is there any weird piece of gear that you bring? Has there been like an item that you've learned over the years, is really nice to have that most people wouldn't think about when planning this kind of trip. Is there something that over the years you've just realized, like, oh man, that ends up coming clutch.
Yeah. I mean there are definitely little things that are escaping my memory right now. But I think one of the most important things is just having dry bags and making sure you can keep all your gear dry, especially the essentials, your sleeping bag, you clothes, you know that. Obviously, that's just something to really prioritize and make important, especially if you're going out for overnight canoeing trips and into the back country. So yeah, I guess i'd have to
think about that. I have little things.
But yeah, so you being on the river, like you said, there's a high potential for getting wet.
Yeah.
Do you have any hack for getting stuff dry other than just having that wall tent with the stove in there. Do you have any elaborate close line systems or anything you figured out to get stuff dry fast if you fall in or get a wet boot or anything of that.
Yeah. Absolutely, I definitely, I definitely bring clothes line clothes lines, you know, if I have to dry things out over fire or if I have to dry things out in the wind and pull off on a nice sunny when you day. That's very important because if you find yourself in a wet and comfortable situation on day two of a four day float, it's gonna make for gonna make
for a miserable trip. So you have to be prepared and yeah, just expect unexpected and just be ready for problems and obstacles because they're surely get You're gonna face them at some point. So just going into it with the right mindset and just embracing that, I guess is important in my eyes.
On a lot of like backpacking hunts have done the past, and just not even just hunts, but just backpacking trips in general. I'm generally a minimalist when it comes to clothing. I'll usually just have like one outfit what I'm wearing hiking in there, and then I'm wearing that the whole time, and then maybe like an extra like a puffy jacket or whatever.
It is like that.
But with a hunt like this where there's that risk of getting wet, do you bring extra sets of clothes because of that? Do you do you do anything on that to account for that?
Absolutely? I always you know, like I said, I'd try to have two of everything, So I'll always have a secure set of clothes in a dry bag that I just don't touch. I stash it in the boat, just doesn't get touched. It's just kind of for an emergency. Same with a blanket or a sleeping bag. Yes, that's
very important. It's very important, especially when you're floating during the cold months and you're dealing with snow or sleep heavy rains, because yeah, you can find yourself in a dangerous situation if you're not well prepared.
For sure.
As far as heat, you mentioned a stove. Do you bring a buddy heater or any other things to help with heat on one of those cold weather hunts.
Yeah, sure, if I'm able to, And it just depends on the hunt I'm going on. I guess at times I do. At times I don't, you know. Sometimes I just rough it and if I have my sleeping bag and can warm up a warm bottle of water at night, that's all I need. But at other times it is if I have the luxury and the option to bring a buddy heater, it's really nice to have one, especially if you get a childer in the day. Was you're floating downstream, you can turn it on and warm up
your hands or warm up your feet. It's nice to put in your tent as well. In my small batpacking tent, it's not practical because the tent's so small, so it's not practical in that sense. So but yeah, if I'm bringing the wall tent, and if I have my drift boat, if I have the luxury in the space to bring a buddy heater, absolutely same with the woodstove, if I can bring that. It's always nice to have off fire
at night. But sometimes the adventure that you plan just doesn't you know, you don't have that option, so just kind of go with the flow of wherever we're hunting.
So, all right, food, what's the food program for most of these hunts? Do you have a system that you like to stick to. Does it get changed up based on the length of time and where you're at. What's your recommendation on that front?
Yeah? Food, So if you've watched my videos, you know I usually like to pack quite a bit of food, and I like to bring fresh food as well. So for me personally, I like to bring a cooler if I'm able to and load it down with some food. You know, I'll bring some backstrap or you know, some bring a steak or some potatoes and eggs and bacon, you know, throw down on some breakfast and food at times, because I think that's important, you know, especially if you're
on long trips. It's just taking the time to just stop sometimes because I find myself always getting so involved and caught up into just the pursuit of a fish or a deer or whatever I'm hunting at the time. So it's nice to just slow down and have a nice meal on the river sometimes, and that is important in my aspect, in my eyes for what I've been
doing anyway, So yeah, I'll bring some of that. But also if I'm not able to where it's getting warm during the day and I'm not able and I'm on an extended trip where I'm not able to keep food cold, I'll always bring, you know, mountain house meals or corn beef, hash spam, just some backups just in case I was able to find myself out there for longer than I anticipated, or sometimes that's all you can bring if I go on long trips. So yeah, if I'm able to, I'll
bring fresh produce, bring some fresh meat. But like I said, it just comes down to the trip you're going on as well, and not every trip you're able to do that.
So you mentioned liking to throw down for a good breakfast sometimes, so I've seen I've seen a few where you'll have a good breakfast and get a late start to the hunt. And that kind of brings me to the hunting side of all this. I'm curious what the typical hunting day looks like for one of these river flows, because I could see I could see a lot of ways going about this, and a lot of reasons to
go different ways. I think I've seen some videos where you're up and at it early and it's dark and you're getting to a spot and want to get anchored in the dark and then head out to hunt on the land. I've seen other times where you've said, well, I wanted to wait till it is light enough that I could see while I float along and looking for deer. So what's what's your typical day and why might you choose, you know, an early start versus a late starter or anything like that.
Yeah, So if I think if I'm if I'm going into a section of woods that I know, I'll get out early, and then I'll put myself in those places where I'm anticipating seeing deer first thing in the morning, whether it's be a food source or an active scrapeline something like that, I'll put myself in one of those
situations first thing. But if I'm floating an area that I've never hunted before, never been in, which honestly, if you've watched my videos, that's usually what I like to do is just take on the adventure and float and explore new areas I've never been. So if I'm in that situation, then I like to let a little bit of light come through where I can just analyze the forest. I'm not skipping over things. I can analyze the forest. I can slow down, and I can just take my time.
And I think that's really important because if you get in a rush, especially if you're in areas or I find myself doing this, I can preach it all I want, but I find myself doing this more times than you'd think, just biting off a hunk too big, where you get yourself too caught up in a too big of a world where you don't know where to slow down and what to pay attention to and what to focus on. So, yeah,
it just depends where I'm hunting. I suppose if I'm in an area, like I said, that I'm familiar with and I know where I want to be, I'll get out there first thing in the morning. But if i'm not, let you know, just half hour a daylight come in where I can start to scan the forest. And being a content creator and filming these adventure videos, you know, sometimes I get to do what I love, but sometimes you do have to prioritize the filming a little bit,
and sometimes that takes up a lot of times. So it give me tough to get out there first thing, you know.
Trust me, I know what you're talking about.
Yeah, what about you know, making the decision on whether to float and hunt versus park and walk around or hunt somewhere planted on the ground. I've seen you do both on that front. How do you go about deciding which of those are going to do?
So, yeah, I pretty much just go with the flow for the day when I start off for the day. So say, if I'm starting off on a float, I start floating down, I'm the first person down the river. I'm seeing deer, seeing activity, then I'm going to keep rolling it. You know, if things are going good, I'm
going to keep it going. But if I get out, say I'm out floating for a couple hours, i pull off for a few minutes, I get passed by another boat, somebody else is floating down, or I'm seeing a lot of traffic on the river, then I'm going to kind of and I'm not, you know, not being successful. Then I'm going to start scheming up some other ideas here where, say I float down, see some nice deer sign, see some rubs, a nice ridge, a good food source. Maybe I'm gonna go sit on a ridge for the afternoon.
Mix it up a little bit. Or if you have snow on the ground and I see a fresh set of tracks that I know that was just made, you could track the deer or you could you have options, you know. And one thing I've been starting to do as well. And one thing I've really learned is with this style of hunting is being patient as well. Like it's and it's hard because when you're floating down river, usually opportunities are coming at a snap of a finger.
You have a split second to see the deer. A lot of times it's a running shot or picking out an ethical shot, you know, and just making sure that you take a clean shot. It's it can be tough. So what I've learned is a lot of times if you've you're floating down, you see a deer that you'd like to harvest or like to have a chance at, or if you've seen a seeing opportunity, just keep floating and I keep my anchor where it's quiet to let down. I'll pay attention to the wind direction. I'll like to
get the wind in my face. So if I see if I see a deer beded up, I'll keep floating down. I'll float around. Usually the river makes big bend, so I'll keep floating around the big bend. I'll get on the far side, maybe a half mile down. I'll slip out the anchor. I'll have the anchor or. I can just slip it out. Then I can get up on a little ridge and start still hunting my way that way and just taking my time. Get the wind in your face and you go really slow, and usually you'd
be surprised you can. You do it right, you can have an opportunity. And obviously it's not an easy style and you're gonna have a lot of learning experiences along the way. But it's like that with anything though, So it's it's exhilarating to say the least.
Yeah, Okay, so that was one of the things I was curious about was going to be. You know, is it is you is the best way to be to go past them, which which kind of would be the assumption because I would assume if you try to anchor.
Right away, they'd be like on it and running out of there.
But it seems like sometimes you have had opportunities where like the deer is there in front of you and you're able to actually get a shot while you're kind of floating by or close to that kind of situation.
Does that occasionally happen?
Yeah, that's what you hope for. You know, in the perfect world, you're gonna come around the corner and there's gonna be a nice buck standing with the dough right there in the brush. You know, all is good, But usually it doesn't work that way. But you do have
your opportunities. So that's just it comes down to one of those things, like I said earlier, you know, just always being ready, always being aware, and just always being ready for that opportunity because you never know when it's going to present, and being able to make it happen too, you know, or putting yourself in the position to make it happen things aren't in your favor per se as well.
So yeah, in a perfect world, you know, every shot would be like that, but sometimes you just got to try different things and push yourself outside of your comfort zone. And that's really where I what I experienced this year is on my float hunt. I set off a few days after rifle season, which is an ideal because at that point the deer pressure, but this year it was warm force as well. So my first few days I
wasn't successful. I didn't see many deer. I saw a few couple of small bucks, but not a lot, you know, not what I was really hoping for. So then I just started trying some different things. I started still hunting. I started you know, looking for food source and getting up on ridges and you know, just and if you just keep throwing stuff at the wall, sooner or later,
something's going to stick, you know. So that's kind kind of where I came from with that, and it's been beneficial and I've really learned a lot this year.
So how you talked about the necessity of just being ready and you know when it happens.
What do you do to make sure that you are as ready as possible?
Because I imagine there's a lot to There's a lot to handle in those moments, because you are trying to navigate down a river and I know a lot of these rivers, there's lots lots of wines and bends, and there's you know, trees hanging out in them, and there's all.
Sorts of stuff.
So you have to navigate the river while also trying to be watching for deer, and then if a deer does happen to show up, then you are, I'm sure, trying to figure out where's my gun, how do I get a shot, or how do I see the deer, or how do I make sure I have time to do this before I have to navigate the boat around
this obstacle or whatever. You must have some kind of system of where you put things or how you do things, or how you have it set up so that you can handle that moment as best as possible.
What do you recommend on that front?
Yeah, there's a lot going on out there, yes, and you have to be ready, and you have to make sure that I think the most important thing is being well organized, having the boat well organized, and just being aware and having a good space where you can operate in case you have to shuffle a little bit to make a shot, you have to roll, pull back, get on the oars quick. Just having everything ready and prepared and thought through, I think is the most important thing.
And it's safety too. I don't know if I've touched on this yet, but yeah, safety as well, and that's being organized and prepared. That's really feeds into the safety aspect too, because when you're on these floats, you know, often, like you said, you have a lot of fast corners, you have a lot of little riffley areas, little rapids, you know, and if you're not constantly on your game and constantly prioritizing safety, there's a lot that can go wrong. So just that's very important.
So have you had anything else? Have you had anything go sideways?
Yeah, anything goes sideways, yet not little.
But I mean, like, have you had anything go wrong in one of these trips where something got got away from you, or you were looking at a deer and you hit a snag or or anything like that.
Yeah, you know, nothing crazy, nothing, nothing dangerous, nothing, but it's I've been through a lot. I can and even I could, you know for the people who fish with me and know, yeah, I've found myself in some interesting situations over the years, and I've learned a lot from him. So it's just, yeah, always being prepared and always being ready and prioritizing safety. I guess.
All right, So back to a hunt scenario, you're floating down the river. You mentioned snare at number one, which is you're floating down the river and there's a nice buck right in the edge with a dough and he's standing there like an idiot, and you have time to grab your gun and get a shot. That's beautiful. Sounds pretty rare, but if it happens, awesome.
Yeah.
There's scenario number two, which is you're floating down the river and you see a deer and you just keep on floating right past it since there's not a good easy shot opportunity, and you get hidden somewhere, you anchor, you slip up, still hunt, get a shot. How about snare number three, which is you're floating down the river, you see a deer and before you can do anything that deer bulger's out of there, you see it run away? How do you what do you do in that scenario?
That's tough too, You know that that's a tough scenario, especially when you're hunting in a lot of the areas I am where it's just big, big woods, and a lot of times those deer catch on dee and they're just gone. You know, you can always try a lot of times, you know, if I do see that, I'll go downstream, maybe float downstream a half mile mile anchor up. Take my time, you know, make you know, just take my time, let the forest settle down, and then maybe
I'll try to still hunt back through there. But it just depends on the deer. I guess if I float by the deer and I catch them beded up and you know, I don't have a shot, but I don't spook them, then you know, I'll get right on them. But if he happens to spook out of that general area, then maybe I'll give it some time and go back in.
But that's a really tough scenario though, especially where you know, I typically find myself hunting and really big woods, So a lot of times those deer get spooked and they're just get gone.
Yeah, what does the you know, I guess I asked this earlier.
It comes to the mornings, but throughout the rest of the day.
I mean, are you are you hunting pretty well in the morning and the evenings and in the middle of the day giving yourself some time to relax. I could see myself being tempted to want to fish through the middle of the day.
How do you balance that out? Do you do you do one or the other?
Or are you constantly hunting the whole time and just occasionally like I remember seeing one video where you were passing through private land and so you took time to
fish while you were passing through private land. But does that you know, what does it look like if you've just got public everywhere and you could hunt all day, and you could have your gun at the ready all day, but at the same time, you've got steelhead or brown trout or whatever around you, or maybe you're doing this down south and you've got bass you could be fishing too. How do you approach balancing all that and what your day looks like?
Yeah? I guess it Just like I said, you know, it just kind of I just go with the flow. You know, if I'm if, I typically always try to make time for a launchers, for some sort of a break middle of the day. But a lot of times, you know, especially where I'm at northern Michigan, you know, if you have a big snowstorm coming through, you can have or you have the right weather, you can have deer moving all day long, or you can catch a buck chase and a dolt. You never know what time
of day, so it just depends. It just really depends, you know, And there are so many other options and possibilities you can do in the outdoors, so it is nice, you know, if you wanted to take a cast and do some fishing for a little bit and kind of reset yourself, so you have that option. But yeah, it just I just go with the flow, honestly, Mark, If I'm going out in the morning, if I know where I'm at, I know the train, I know where some good food sources are, where I kind of predict to
see deer, I'll get out there early. I'm floating throughout the day. Not much is going on at this point, you know, mid morning, haven't saw anything in quite some time. I'll take a break, you know, take a break for a couple hours. But then sometimes you catch yourself on these long I've caught myself on these long trips where I have to keep pushing throughout the day too to meet my goals. So just I always find myself planning and thinking through these adventures to a t what I think.
But until you put yourself out there and the elements, you know, it's really hard to know what to expect on that trip, you know.
Yeah, yeah, I love you keep saying to just go with the flow, and that is to any longtime listeners listening, they know that that is something that I struggle to do because I am like the the planner to a te of everything. So what you're telling me is something that I know I should do more of. And so maybe I just need to hang out with you more often and learn to absorb your go with the flow vibes so I can pick that up and put that into practice, because yes, I imagine that's a pretty good
way to go about things. And maybe what makes an adventure what it is to some degree is the fact that it doesn't have to be pre planned to the minute, that you sometimes take what the adventure gives you and that's sometimes the most beautiful thing of it, all.
Right, Yeah, absolutely, And everybody's different, you know, but yeah, for me, that's uh, yeah, that works for me.
So, yeah, you alluded earlier to a couple of different features or things that you'll look for, and I just wanted to circle back to that to make sure we
covered off on that. When you're floating a river, or when you're looking at the maps ahead of time and you're trying to plan your day, are there any other specific you know, habitat features or some kind of topography that you've learned tracts deer or funnels deer in a certain way that you kind of circle on the map or key in on your mind or throw a pin on Onyx is like, hey, I got to make sure to check this out. Hey, I got to slow down here.
Hey maybe this is a spy. Should get out, get out of the boat and sit for a couple hours. Are there any of those key things that folks should be looking for?
Yeah? Absolutely. You know, if you're floating, and you know, if you can pick out a nice section where or not just even floating, but in general, I guess if you can pick out a nice ridge with some oaks. You know, if you get some nice white oaks. For me, that's what I personally find most of the success around
in the woods that I hunt. If you can find that with some thick bedding area nearby, and then if you can find some nice benches or saddles on that ridge, you know, that's a great spot, especially for bucks to be traveling and trying to pick up a hot dough. So yeah, and a bench is pretty much, you know, just where a ridge kind of comes down, flattens out, comes back down, and you know, and I've been learning
a ton these last couple of years. You know, like I said, I haven't had a lot of time to hunt throughout my adult life until these last couple of years. So these are all things. And that's kind of what I portray my videos to my viewers as well, is you know, you're coming along with me for my learning experiences and for the whole experience. It's you know, we're gonna learn and we're gonna do this together, so I
think and I think people connect with that. So yeah, just so I got off on a tangent again, You're fine.
I think that's uh. I think that's that's that's The great thing about an adventure is that so much of it is unknown. And and I think that's why this whole idea of trying new things, going new places, widening the aperture of what a white tail hunt can be is so appealing because so much of the typical white tail hunting culture these days is you know everything you know. I've got places I hunt where I know for years and years and years exactly where the deer come from.
And there's some spots where I have, you know, changed the habitat in such a way to even further influence deer do exactly what I think they should do, or what when they do something, when they when when I want them, or how they want them to do. So what you're describing is the complete opposite of that, which is I think very refreshing and uh and I can
I can see the appeal to it. Now, Let's say that you've this, You have loaded down the river, you have gone hard on big breakfasts, you have dabbled this and fishing throughout. You have avoided getting too wet, and if you did get wet, you had a good dryer set up so you could stay warm and be comfortable all of this happens. You go with the flow and you shoot a deer. You successfully put a tag on a deer on the river, How have you found work's.
Best to get that deer out of there?
Are you typically gutting it and putting the whole thing in the boat and floating it out. Have you ever tried quartering it anything like that? What's your best practice there?
Yeah? So for me personally, you know, I haven't. I guess it depends on the situation. You know. I shot one this year where it fell off the top of a ridge and went in the river. So I just kind of tied her up and got her in the boat I can. Then I took her out gut her,
you know, after I was done hunting that evening. But typically, if I have the time and you know things are looking, you know, going in a good direction, I'll like to take my time and gut the deer right then and there, get it taken care of, and then yeah, if you can hang it out, hang her up at night, that's the best thing to do. And you know, maybe in some scenarios quartering the deer out would be the best thing to do, But typically I'll just I don't know.
I'll just maybe hang them up at night, or I'll just put them in the front of the boat until I get done with my trip. So that seems to work well.
Have you gotten any crazy looks from other folks on the river while floating down with a dead deer in your boat?
Oh? Yeah, for sure, especially especially in areas you know, where there's yeah other outdoor recreation besides just hunting, you know, So it's yeah, it can be funny sometimes, for sure.
All right, final kind of topic here, just being someone who values adventure in the way that you do chasing adventure, I guess it's adventure.
Chasing would be the title of the YouTube channel.
But what things have you found to be important when it comes to bring adventure to your life. If someone's listening and they just want to add they want to have a more adventurous life, or they want some other suggestions of ways to do this, do you have anything else to add?
Don't be afraid to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. Always try to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. I think that's been one of the biggest things for me, because you never know how things are going to turn out. You never know who you're going to meet. You never know what door is going to open. So just being open minded for one, being apt to try new things, try different tactics, try new experiences in just yeah, pushing
yourself outside of your comfort zone. I think it's been the biggest thing for me being not being afraid to try new things and yeah, go places where you might not typically see yourself. And that's led to some of
my most meaningful and enjoyable experiences. Absolutely, And you know what's been kind of nice what I've kind of learned myself through creating content, just how it's worked out is it's kind of slowed me down a little bit when I go out on these adventures and I have to just prioritize filming and little things because you know, before, I mean, I did this stuff long before I did YouTube too, and these kind of adventures, and I'd always find myself and always such a rush or you know,
or not taking the time to just take a deep breath and appreciate and enjoy the scenery and more that the outdoors has to offer than just the big buck or the big fish or you know. So I think that's really what has meant a lot to me too, is just making sure you prioritize time on these trips to just slow down and just you know, enjoy the trip for what it is, because you can't always go
into these adventures. I'm you can't go in with expectations like, oh, I'm gonna shoot a big bucker, I'm gonna catch this big fish. You just you can't because it's not realistic. And if you set your expectations that high, then you're gonna, you know, be disappointed. But if you don't and you just go in with it with an open mind and I'm gonna do this, and my goal for this is just to complete the adventure, and who knows what can happen, and then you just are surprised, you know, and just
things happen and just things work out. They seem to work out.
So yeah, I think that's that's a great philosophy.
What's uh, what's the next way that you plan to push yourself outside of the comfort zone. What's the the dream trip or the next big adventure where you are gonna try to spread your wings and fly into a new place.
So I'm gonna get into some uh yeah, I'm just gonna get into more I'm going to keep getting into more remote backpacking, camping, big adventures like I started doing this last year, like the Ale Royal and that sort of thing, going to remote places, maybe doing some fly ins, you know, getting dropped off and maybe doing some whitewater raft some whitewater rivers. And I want to get a pack raft and do a lot of portaging through real
remote places. So just keep moving. And I'm just planning to keep moving in that direction and just keep you know,
building my skills and just learning more and more. And that's what I always preach in my videos that I post, you know, is like I try to anyways, like most of the time I'm not going down areas where I've fished or I've been, Like I try to show adapting, overcoming, figuring things out the challenges and I could, you know, So I think I think that's a big part of the adventure, is uh yeah, just being open minded and ready for whatever can happen.
So yeah, I like it all right.
So if folks want to check out your videos or anything else where where can folks go to connect with you or to watch your content or to you know, if there's anything else you want to plug let us know.
Yeah, Adventure Chasing on YouTube. You can look it up. Just Adventure Chasing, simple name, and you'll see my content. It's fishing, hunting, camping, and exploring the outdoors. Done mostly Michigan content. Started to do Alaska, did a few videos in Alaska this past year. I've done some other videos from other places, but as my channel, I've been building my channel. I've been trying to focus on, you know, Michigan content, and that's where my audience is primarily based.
So but as I keep growing, I'll keep expanding.
So very cool, awesome, Kyle. Well, I've been enjoying it.
Keep up the good work, and thanks so much for sharing this list today.
Yeah, thank you, Mark. It's been a pleasure. Thank you.
All right, and that's gonna do it our first episode in our White Tail Ensure series.
Hope you guys enjoyed this one.
Appreciate you tuning in, and until next time, stay wired to Hunt.