Ep. 1061: What Would Michael Perry Do?

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your guide to the White Tail 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.

00:00:19
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. This week in the show, I’m running Alabama public Land deer hunter Michael Perry through the what would you do? Gauntlet to find out exactly how he’d handle some of the most interesting and tricky deer hunting scenarios I can throw.

00:00:35
Speaker 3: Out of here.

00:00:39
Speaker 4: All right, welcome back.

00:00:40
Speaker 2: To the Wired Hunt podcast, brought to you by Moultrie. This week on the show, we are kicking off one of our favorite mini series that we do every single year now for maybe six seven years, something like that, called what.

00:00:53
Speaker 4: Would you Do? This is the what would you Do?

00:00:55
Speaker 2: Gauntlet, in which we run a deer hunter through a series of very specific hypothetical deer hunting scenarios to see how they would tackle them, how they would think through this challenge, what they would actually.

00:01:09
Speaker 4: Do, and why they would do that.

00:01:11
Speaker 2: It’s a unique and very helpful way to learn about somebody’s deer hunting approach, at least that I’ve found. We’ve ran many, many different hunters through this gauntlet, many different styles of hunters. We’ve gotten you know, private land big buck managers in the Midwest, we’ve had diy Midwest public land, you know diehards, and today we’ve got someone from the South. We’ve got Michael Perry. He is a deer hunting fanatic from Alabama, hunting big woods, hunting big chunks of public land in low deer density places where it’s not easy to find mature bucks. It’s not easy to kill big bucks. But Michael Perry is doing it at a level that not many people are. He has a state record Muzzloder buck, he has many book bucks under his belt and simply is doing it in a hard to do kind of way that is very impressive. It’s very interesting. He’s the perfect kind of guy for the what would you do? Gauntlet? So today that’s the game plan. We’re going to find out exactly how Michael would think through some of the toughest, you know, scouting scenarios, off season prep scenarios, and in season hunting decisions that many of us have faced. And whether you are in the Northeast, the Midwest, the South, wherever you’re at. I think there’s something you can take away from this conversation. So without any further ado, let’s get to What would You Do? Gauntlet with mister Michael Parry. All right, joining me now on the line is Michael Perry. Michael, thanks for joining me.

00:02:53
Speaker 3: Hey, I appreciate you. How’s our bye? Doing? This is awesome?

00:02:56
Speaker 2: Hey, I’m doing good. I’m excited for this. This is you know, as I kind of told you off air, this What Would You Do? Series is something that we do every year.

00:03:05
Speaker 4: This is maybe the.

00:03:07
Speaker 2: Fifth or sixth, there’s maybe seventh year in a row we’ve done this, and it’s always leading up to opening dates. It’s just before the fall. Everybody’s getting fired up. So I know that when I’m about to have an episode like this, I know good things are just ahead.

00:03:23
Speaker 4: So I’m a I’m a happy camper knowing that.

00:03:26
Speaker 3: It is coming. It’s coming.

00:03:27
Speaker 4: Based Yeah, do you feel ready?

00:03:31
Speaker 3: No?

00:03:33
Speaker 4: I never do either.

00:03:34
Speaker 5: You don’t never feel ready until you’re up in the tray and you’re hoping you’re ready land you know.

00:03:38
Speaker 2: So true, so true, And that’s kind of a perfect segue into how I want to kick this thing off to Michael, because as I as I told you, as you know, the plan for today is to walk.

00:03:49
Speaker 4: You through what we call the what would you do? Gauntlet.

00:03:54
Speaker 2: I’m going to run you through a bunch of different, you know, interesting, sometimes trickier, challenging, dear hunting scenarios to try to, you know, understand how you would tackle these things. So I want to start with preseason. I want to walk you through a scenario in the off season, and then we’ll kind of work our way through the year into the actual hunting season. So I’ll paint a picture for you, a hypothetical scenario, and then if you could just kind of talk me through what you would do, how you would do it, why you would do it, you know what you would be thinking through throughout that whole process. I think that would, at least for me, it always helps me understand how a different deer hunter would approach things in a brand new way. That has just helped me maybe more than any other kind of podcast format or learning format I’ve tried yet.

00:04:46
Speaker 4: So does that game plan sound good?

00:04:48
Speaker 3: Sounds challenging? Yeah, let’s do it all right.

00:04:51
Speaker 2: So let’s rewind the clock a little bit. Let’s say it’s March. It’s March. You’re down in your neck of the woods and you’re out doing some postseason scout. While you’re out walking around this big piece of public land, you run across a big set of tracks. This is a set of tracks that’s big enough to stop you in your tracks and look at it and be like, huh, this is interesting. Tell me this How big would those tracks have to be to stop you in place? And then what would you do in the following minutes or hours after coming across these like show stopping tracks. Walk me through the Michael Perry thought process when you find this big set of tracks in the dirt and you’re trying to figure out, okay, what does this mean?

00:05:37
Speaker 4: Where do I go from here? Can you walk me through that process?

00:05:41
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:05:41
Speaker 5: Sure, uh, you know down here in the south. You know, mainly it is where I hunted it. So a three finger track or more is you know, it’s something very impressive and if I walk up on a track like that, automatically stop. You know, of course you’re looking at your track. I’m thinking about saying, all right, why is that track air? When they put that track air, they put it there for a reason, you know, say February March is you know, is postseason, so they’re back in their home ranges generally, so you stop looking there and I’m trying to figure out, all right, he come from that way or he’s going this way. If I can, I’ll try to backtrack. First off, I’m gonna market you know, with my with my phone, so my app, you know, just trying to save that spot. You know, if I’m on where I can look at it on something online, I’ll kind of look at the train and the timber changes or whatever with it, or is any thickets on one side, or for some kind of food source from where it is coming from or going trying to try to put a start building a you know on the puzzle pieces, because you know, when you’re looking at that track, you know which way it’s going, which way it’s.

00:06:40
Speaker 3: Coming from, but generally you’re not going to know where.

00:06:43
Speaker 5: It’s coming from or why, or where it’s going to and why without either trying to figure out backtracking them using your app or maps you know, arrow footage not that to kind of look at it and just get a general plan or start tracking it if you can track it, you know, if if I can with generally all will I’ll try to walk it, I figure, you know, because you know, bucks like using different trains if they’re coming down from something, if they’re crossing the creek, or if they’re going up you know, so you can kind of look for secondary points or some kind of cover, you know, or if it’s a food source, go to that. See what’s that? See what’s a reason behind that? If it’s just a spring specific food source.

00:07:20
Speaker 3: Or what so.

00:07:21
Speaker 5: And then if you can find the bed coming associated with it, would be would be interesting not breath taking, you know, to me.

00:07:29
Speaker 3: But because that can change a little bit.

00:07:32
Speaker 5: So But but anyway, no one that that track is there, and it’s there for a reason, and then you know, markting it, looking at it and then coming back maybe later if you can tie some rubs or scrapes into it with that area, you know, that might give you a plan for the root part. But that uh but gentally, no one that suckers there is giving you the name starting point.

00:07:53
Speaker 3: That’s the thing.

00:07:53
Speaker 5: If it’s a big track, you got a starting point, So you got a way to come back and check you out, you know, maybe hang a camera that that.

00:08:00
Speaker 3: Depends on if you can or not.

00:08:02
Speaker 5: So, but just I mean a very good starting point, because you always got to have a starting point, and a big track is a number one thing besides seeing him standing in it, you know, to me, it is.

00:08:12
Speaker 2: Very important in your In your book, you wrote that the second most important thing after a big track to help you identify if for big bucks in the area other than cameras, was big droppings. Right, how often is that something you’re still looking at now? And how do you actually determine, Oh, yeah, that’s a big it’s a big turd, that’s big enough.

00:08:33
Speaker 4: For a big bucket.

00:08:34
Speaker 2: Walk me through a little more detail there about how you’re able to actually make that determination.

00:08:39
Speaker 5: Well, you can tell, I mean through experience generally small pellets versus big pellets for big clumps, you know, you know, sometimes a big clump is you know, associated with it’s close to the beds and getting up it’s been laying there a while, That could make it compacted, but that’s not always the case. So you know, another thing determining that is if it’s dry or if it’s shiny and slick, being new fresh. So just but the bigger size, you know, you can look at them and tail by just the pellets first, a little bit small pellets big to determine it’s a bigger deer. So yeah, I mean that’s a key that’s as a key thing to find or key piece of sign to find.

00:09:16
Speaker 2: Some all right, Uh for someone who’s newer, give me, give me like some kind of reference point. Are we talking like minem size or are we talking peanut minem size or or.

00:09:28
Speaker 5: Between the size or bigger so yeah, or it might be hershy kissing side.

00:09:37
Speaker 2: That’s that’s a real big one, all right. So okay, so let’s let’s build this out a little bit further than Let’s imagine you’re out doing this scouting trip, you found your big tracks. You you kind of started asking why you found some big droppings. You follow these these tracks. Let’s say you can backtrack. You go back and you do find a bed like you mentioned. And in that bed, I’m going to say, this is like a little knob pushing out of a ridge, kind of a just a picture perfect buck betting location. He’s off this knob, he can see down to a little draw beneath him, and up on this spot where you find this bed, there is a match set of sheds and this is a jumbo buck this is a buck that you look at and you say, oh wow, Like, this could be this buck this coming year, could be like in the same neighborhood as your you know, state record buck. Like this is a jaw dropper when you come across that, walk me through what you do the rest of that day. So you’ve already found some tracks, you’ve found some droppings, you’ve walked him back to the bed, you’ve found his sheds, there’s still some daylight. How do you make the most of this next couple hours after you’ve found this, you know, kind of jaw dropping set of sign.

00:10:56
Speaker 3: Well, that’s that’s a good question, yo.

00:11:00
Speaker 5: Something you know on a bed and they come, I’ve never found this set of shed in a bed anyway. I mean that that’s wuld be showing up next level. But getting there out of that bed, looking at that bed and standing in it, or some people lay in them. I don’t like leaving no scent in them if I can help it. You know, I’m not extra sent anyway. It’s just looking and see what he’s looking at, Okay, see what he’s observing, you know, because you can generally figure out he’s got some kind of back cover. Okay, see what of deserving because chances you coming in that way on them is impossible, you know, and the chances you beat, you gotta figure out a way either beat.

00:11:34
Speaker 3: Them back or catch them coming out.

00:11:36
Speaker 5: And it’s very like for my hunting process, I don’t never try to beat one back to the.

00:11:42
Speaker 3: Bed because that’s early season is.

00:11:44
Speaker 5: Your best opportunity at that and it’s very hard to do that in the South, in my opinion. So my second scenario, or the better scenario was trying to figure out how he be he leaving that okay, because generally when they come back to a bed, they’re gonna do some kind of jayhook or some kind of circle to make sure their area safe and all that stuff. So you for you get set up for that unless you’re outside of it in the morning and know exactly how he’s coming back, which most bucks don’t never come back the same way consistently, So figuring out pour that is how hard, you know, So him exiting the bed is well, I’m gonna try to figure out how would he leave, where is he going to and why? So so I’ll generally there’s two ways of doing that. It’s the one you’re trying to get up on the same plane with them, because generally they walk that plane late in the evening, right before they come down, they’re observing slowly what’s blowing, watching, waiting on some kind of thermal shift or something like that, or or keeping their nose in the wind before they even go down. If they go down, that’s another thing. They might not go down, they might parallel, they might go up, depends on what they’re looking for, if it’s you know, acrens or dropping whatever. So trying to figure that out what plane and you can kind of you know, I love keeping rubber gloves with me, peel back some leaves, trying to find a track in a direction going away from that bed.

00:13:01
Speaker 3: Then then you’re looking you know, of course you’ve.

00:13:04
Speaker 5: Got ther spot saved, and you’re looking at maps, hopefully if you can look at maps on your phone, trying to find out why or where he would be going to and find some kind of edge or some kind of short pinch to catch him that would make him come by you when he’s leaving that way.

00:13:19
Speaker 3: So that’s I mean, you can spend hours. I mean, you might have to spend.

00:13:22
Speaker 5: Days doing that if you because it’s that’s a hard one. Of the hardest things that are to figure out how he would leave that bed, and and then you got to guess because if it’s gonna go down, if he’s gonna parallel or go up.

00:13:34
Speaker 3: It’s just so.

00:13:35
Speaker 5: But trying to find some kind of short pinch is generally the best option for me. And then you know, I’ll spend a few evenings you know, I’m trying to catch him coming out of that.

00:13:44
Speaker 3: But after that, it’s it’s.

00:13:46
Speaker 5: That is So that’s one of the toughest things to do, especially in the south of the hunt of bed buck. So it’s just they’ll figure you out so fast. And because there’s no way to get in there to me without in a couple.

00:14:00
Speaker 3: Days that I’m knowing it. So it’s just then you just gotta change up.

00:14:05
Speaker 2: So let’s say you have this you have this day where you just you just did the things you mentioned. You try to kind of find some of these first additional sets of information, some edges a short pinch looking more for those tracks. What about the rest of the year, So walk me through kind of like a couple more of those key projects here to get to try your key goals you’re going to try to achieve before opening day. Given the fact that hey, this is a special buck, I’ve got some really important things already figured out about them. But what are those next most important steps as you try to build a plan for that buck given those challenges you just mentioned.

00:14:45
Speaker 5: Yeah, gently, you know, I’m a big creek crossing fans, so you can kind of associate that with, you know, with buck betting. If you can find where he’s crossed or creek you know, or something like that, of course, then Eden you got to figure out how to get there and do that to play the thermal part of that.

00:14:58
Speaker 3: You know, they’re tim and on that real keys.

00:15:00
Speaker 5: So but after when it started getting the pre rut ruts, so they’re gonna start expanding, you know, they’re gonna start laying scrape lines and all that stuff.

00:15:08
Speaker 3: So looking at the overall picture, and this is my favorite way.

00:15:12
Speaker 5: To hunt, you know, is rot hunting is looking at the big picture, you know, learning your area where all the food sources at all worth, all the dough groups, is that, where doe bedding is that at different times because they change up, you know, associated with food sources, or if you have some kind of timber chain cutovers or you know, pine beetle kills stuff like that, so so uh, trying to figure out how he would travel, you know, to get to these areas to look for dose, check for dose, make scrape lines and stuff like that, and associate that with some kind of funnel edge, pinch, timber chain, you know, timber chains a uh, you know upper I really like the upper parts of stuff when I’m doing that above draining, just you know, something that we’re there for coming through there. They’re gonna have to manipulate their way through there, and then pick a tree and make sure you can access it to this place, mark all that stuff. And you don’t find different areas because there’s because you’ve got to have.

00:16:09
Speaker 3: More than one place.

00:16:10
Speaker 5: But do the wind and do to your access or if somebody else figures it out or you don’t have multiple plans on that, but trying to learn your area and how the dose and everything manipulate their areas, and then you try to figure out how bucks you know, more than one is what I generally try to figure out is how more than one buck we travel through that area through the pants to go check those or go check their areas or go.

00:16:35
Speaker 3: On them, meet up at night and spar and all that stuff.

00:16:37
Speaker 5: Just there’s different things you got to kind of look at, just trying to figure out how land learn it, how they use it, and how they’re gonna use it, and also kind of pay attention.

00:16:45
Speaker 3: To how things might change over.

00:16:48
Speaker 5: The years as far as so we’re big woods hunters down here, so you got some kind of mass crop change, drought stuff like that, how that’s gonna affect what the area gonna be in.

00:16:58
Speaker 2: So how many different you know, setups would you want to have for that kind of scenario you mentioned you want to have these different options because things are changing. Best case scenario, how many spots or setups would you want to have kind of preset or at least in mind and prepared to kind of tackle this this opportunity.

00:17:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that’s another thing.

00:17:23
Speaker 5: And me and my wife are generally hunting together most of the time, so we gotta have I gotta have two of each. So and our general plan is, you know, we’re kind of tag team, and you know, if we’re looking at a ridge system or something, you know, something, where how can I place her around me in this? And hopefully if he one of these two ways, if he’s coming through this area that we can get a better opportunity at him. So so you’re going to have, you know, generally side of the root areas that we hunt because we kind of move around different chasing the root. He’s got a two week plan for each area, so so I can spend if nobody’s messing with anything, we can spend three to four days and one spot, you know, just because you know, generally they don’t.

00:18:06
Speaker 3: Just come every day.

00:18:07
Speaker 5: So you got tom especially down here in the morning main area with hunts, it’s a Lord Dear density, so they got bigger travel routes.

00:18:13
Speaker 3: It might take them three days to come back through checking something.

00:18:15
Speaker 5: So it’s just so I was playing, I’ll spend three days to four days and one tree, you know, you know if it’s morning generally, because she don’t gonna hunt mornings during the rough.

00:18:26
Speaker 3: And I’m I’ll have a different place where I’ll hunted in the evening.

00:18:28
Speaker 5: So I pick out, say four spots per area per for a week, and then have another different general area I hold another five miles away, whatever it is, and then we’ll have four spots in them area so that we can tag teams. So try to do that and then every spring I’m always we’re always looking for something new, So I run trail cameras for a year ahead plan. So it’s always trying to look for something new as far as that parts.

00:18:53
Speaker 2: Uh, when you’re doing the scouting back to the back to like uh, you know, you’re figuring out one of these cour zones and trying to trying to find these four spots and trying to find out the why and the how.

00:19:05
Speaker 4: How often?

00:19:06
Speaker 2: How many times can you go into a spot like that in the off season trying to scout and figure it out before you start worrying about spooking this buck messing things up for the future.

00:19:16
Speaker 3: Is it?

00:19:17
Speaker 4: Could you could you go in.

00:19:18
Speaker 2: There every weekend for months on end or are you much more concernedly, Hey, I’ve got I’ve got a couple of visits and then I got to stay out of there till the season.

00:19:25
Speaker 3: Yeah. I can do whatever I want to mostly like in a couple of days.

00:19:27
Speaker 5: So sometimes one day in the area because and what I do, and you know, with these cameras and stuff, and this is contradict some people, is I’ll put a camera where I want to hunt, so I kind of figure out whey to put a camera with a deer won’t notice it in some kind of pints and having a tree already picked out and a way to access without any kind of interference or minimum interference, and then you know, while then that’s it.

00:19:49
Speaker 3: I don’t. I don’t. I don’t plumb around anywhere else kind of looking there for that, and I just that’s it.

00:19:53
Speaker 5: So so finding that one little key spot and then don’t mess around doing anything else, you know, bedding stuff. You know, I say, all right, I’m pretty sure that’s started there. I found something some kind of sign there. I don’t film getting into them areas very minimum. If I walk through on that one time one day, that’s it out. Don’t ever go back through there until after the next season, because I want to keep all.

00:20:14
Speaker 3: That intrusion very minimal.

00:20:15
Speaker 2: So so I want to I want to kind of build further off of this. Let’s imagine that you are now, I guess, let me let me shift my thoughts here. Let’s put you somewhere else. You’re on a new piece of public land you’ve never been to before, and you are hiking out there. You spent a couple of hours, you’re year an hour three and you come across something that looks like I’ve referred to you, I’ve heard you refer to it as a junction, like a very high potential junction. There’s a bunch of different ridges all coming together, and each one of these ridges has a different cover type. So one’s got some pines, one’s got some mixed hardwoods, maybe one’s kind of a cutover. It’s all coming together here in one relatively small zone. How what would you do to make sense of that? How would you how would you analyze this kind of setup? How would you learn as much as you possibly could in this little bit of time you have there? And then how would you think of setting up on a spot like that and feel free to fill in the gaps with some other hypothetical information, you know, to make it make sense to well, you.

00:21:34
Speaker 5: Know, most of time like traveling new areas, you know, especially out of state. You know, I’m starting to do that more now. It’s it’s home, will say, easy. But it’s easier than here because they’re more so food oriented and more visible, you know, So so finding a junction of you know, because they i’d say, I’d say Kansas or are I or something like that. You got a real diverse way that they’re going to bed anywhere. For the crpe stuff, cedars and all that, you can kind of see them and you can kind of see the crops and then you can see fingers or drawers or.

00:22:11
Speaker 3: Points and stuff going to that stuff. So just finding a.

00:22:15
Speaker 5: Pinch or edge how they’re getting it, getting it done in two places and then kind of been a little patient makes that a little bit simpler.

00:22:21
Speaker 3: And of course you need fresh sign for that.

00:22:22
Speaker 5: So that’s so when I’m generally going to a new place, you know, fresh tracks, fresh dropping deer, in visible deer.

00:22:31
Speaker 3: You know sometimes you know, uh what you call.

00:22:35
Speaker 5: Observation sets or glassing or something like that, because you know, scouting is very important going into a new area in season scouting it’s a whole different thing. So you’ve got to find the exact fresh sign associated with deer or the deer you want right then. So you can be a little bit more like I guess say intrus to that point. But but you gotta most of times I do that when I find I wanting to my hunting right then. So so it’s kind of I mean, I love doing that. Now you going that west and stuff, it’s just finding the freshest sign. You know, betting is a little bit easier to figure out, and then the food is definitely easier to figure out.

00:23:13
Speaker 2: So okay, so let’s actually let’s let’s continue on that line. Let’s say you’ve got all right, I’m going to give you an option here. Would you rather play this game in Alabama or a random Midwest.

00:23:30
Speaker 3: State that’s easy? Around on Midwest state? Easy? Okay, Obama?

00:23:35
Speaker 5: The place is the public land down in Alabama or most of it, you know, some of it’s easier. Some of us got more cuts, you know, in a higher deer population that that means a lot.

00:23:44
Speaker 3: But you know, of course the Midwest.

00:23:46
Speaker 5: You know, they’re just there’s less woods, one thing, and the daylight activity is ten thousand times more than Alabama. And in my opinion, now, I mean, we got places we can see playing there. But saying a big old Buck on around daylight all the time, or multiple big Bucks in Alabama, no, I mean, well, let’s say, for instance, last year I was in Iowa, Asty and I’ve seen two of the biggest Bucks I’ve ever seen in my life. And then in a ten days period and ten day period in the daylight and it takes me fifty years in Alabama.

00:24:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, so it’s just and that’s so exciting doing that.

00:24:21
Speaker 5: And so it’s it’s almost again I almost say easy, but it’s definitely easier to see daylight movement.

00:24:26
Speaker 3: So so and then make a plan. Is a lot easier to me, weather not.

00:24:31
Speaker 2: So so, So imagine this. Then imagine that I’m going to give you this dream scenario. I’m gonna let you go to Iowa, Okay, but I’m giving you only twenty four hours or you’re you’re gonna get dropped off just before daylight in the morning, and you have that that you have till dark at the end of the day to do any scouting you want, any set up you want, in any hunting you want.

00:24:55
Speaker 4: How would you use this?

00:24:56
Speaker 3: You know?

00:24:57
Speaker 2: I mean, and we’re gonna say this is in season, you know, let’s let’s put you in the rut. So you’ve got maybe like twelve hours of daylight, thirteen hours of daylight something like that. Walk me through how you would use those hours to find a spot, to set up a spot, to hunt a spot. Are you gonna go and just look at a map before daylight and pick a spot and go in and hunt all twelve of those hours or are you going to go scout the first half of the day walking around Walk me through this hypothetic.

00:25:22
Speaker 4: What would you do.

00:25:24
Speaker 5: I’m definitely not walking in anywhere in the dark and climbing up. That’s very rare for me to do. I want to see something in the daylight first, so kind of looking at me, have some fining edges, you know, see rphs and cedar edge and stuff associated with some kind of food in that area. Corn is the biggest thing for me. I’m going out in places corns even standing corn over the beans to me.

00:25:44
Speaker 3: And then as soon as I can get to the in.

00:25:46
Speaker 5: Place and walk walk corners, low spots and all that, trying to find a big track coming out, and then it won’t take you know, really long for me to figure out the way to where I’m gonna set up at and then spend that time in edge and corners.

00:25:59
Speaker 3: Associated with see it rpeers, cedars.

00:26:01
Speaker 5: Coming out to corn and then you know, and hoping that the butt’s gonna be running the et C RP edges or the cedar edges you know associated with the corn, you know, checking for dover the chection dough. So it’s just tying them maybe three things together, finding some good corners, low spots, and then finding me a thing tree.

00:26:20
Speaker 2: So what if I what if I pulled pulled your lucky four leaf clover out of there, and you couldn’t be an islands anymore and instead you gotta be back in Alabama. So the same rules, same scenario, but now it’s a new piece of public land in Alabama. What would be different anything?

00:26:41
Speaker 3: Well, no, well we don’t have that the corner or anything.

00:26:45
Speaker 5: So just you know, associating pine, if I can find pine, associate pines, you don’t see a smz’s you know, associated with pines and then cut over cut over the key, so.

00:27:01
Speaker 3: You know that’s it’s it’s gonna make it harder. And i’bamine I know that.

00:27:04
Speaker 5: So we going looking at the map stuff and then then been trying to find you know, guessing only if it’s wide oaks or for th red oaks, you know if that or if it’s just gonna be brows dove bed, and you know, figuring out if it’s what wind is the wind is on the cutover, and how you would hunt a card over on that wind. By that day, I mean you’re going to look at that, so it’s just and then maybe uh, that’s you know again upper I love upper elevation on that stuff, so tying into elevation with that to to hunt him, and then of course fresh track and trailer jumping there. I mean sometimes you just walk looking there as you jump there and then kind of figure out a plan that you know they’re right there in that area.

00:27:47
Speaker 2: So you talked earlier about creek crossings, how you really like to focus on creek crossings? Can can you maybe break that down a little bit further? Imagine let’s put you last week of October and you’re kind of in a scenario like we’re talking about here.

00:28:03
Speaker 4: It’s a new spot.

00:28:04
Speaker 2: You’re hiking along, doing some scouting as you go in season, and you come across this really nice looking creek bottom. Let’s say it’s a relatively narrow bottom, but there’s a beaten down trail crossing the creek there, and it’s the best concentration of deer sign you’ve seen yet throughout your day of exploring this new spot. Just just pounded down tracks and let’s say there’s one big rub right down the bottom.

00:28:30
Speaker 4: So that’s what you’ve got to work with here.

00:28:33
Speaker 2: How would you determine if this is a spot worth hunting, and then how would you set up in a location like that?

00:28:42
Speaker 5: Well, look at I’m gonna look at the rubs start with, and you know, say which direction I come from, hopefully, and then kind of figuring out if it’s bed in which side I would think being associated with foods, If it’s a real marow bottom of tight creek cross from, then where you got extreme elevation? I know automatically, I’m not gonna hunt none that I’m closer to that creek crossing because the swirl stuff is it’s hard to control. So so I’m gonna try to find an elevation part to that, you know, and the edge, so you know, looking how if that rub is fresh, you know, it’s gonna help me determine a little bit, you know, hoping I might see more than one rub that’s you know, maybe historical rubs associated with that.

00:29:23
Speaker 3: I’m gonna hunt higher up, closer to an edge.

00:29:25
Speaker 5: Or maybe if it looks like some kind of pinch, maybe some kind of gap or something, I’m gonna figure out a way to hunt higher up on that. You know, in fact, trails like you said, beat down and got fresh tracks in it. You can tell where the where the ground has been cut smooth, you know it’s not war or kind of faded. Then you know it’s a hot trail. I’m figuring out way to hunt somehow or other. So, you know, and some of this stuff, you know, like you know, he’s saying dropping in scenarios. If I’ve got time to walk around and drive around whatever. You also, I’m gonna look and see how people is affecting some of that stuff too, you know, so it’s just if they’re parked or what.

00:29:58
Speaker 3: So you got to kind of play it. And some of this stuff you’re.

00:30:02
Speaker 2: Doing, you mentioned, you know, if it’s a narrow type bottom like that, you would try to get off of it aways, get higher, get to where the wind’s safe. Would you still try to be within sight of that creek crossing or not?

00:30:15
Speaker 3: Always know?

00:30:17
Speaker 5: Just know that you know that, you know, and I use that kind of bake sometimes. Is that’s creek crossing. I really love tiny end and creek crossing with a couple other things. You know, a gap or some kind of secondary points or a bunch of secondary points, you know, some ridge system, maybe a food source.

00:30:32
Speaker 3: Or maybe a cutover. But how they’re why they’re crossing there.

00:30:36
Speaker 5: And then the next thing why they’re crossing the are what they’re usually get to that area. So if it’s a shelf, it’s some kind of crazy edge, I mean looking for other little funnels, you know, because you know, you know, if you go on huntre creek crossing close, you know the best time to do it in eatning. You don’t want the thermos start pulling down, you don’t you try to stay on the down stream side of the trail because of that, what moving water’s gonna.

00:30:56
Speaker 3: Pull your scent, so help with that.

00:30:58
Speaker 5: So but and then especially as as the most majority of times I’m doing this type of hunting is a buff upper elevation.

00:31:07
Speaker 2: How how wide would a bottom have to be for you to actually feel comfortable hunting close to it?

00:31:14
Speaker 4: Down in there with it? Are we talking fifty yards wide? Five hundred yards wide?

00:31:20
Speaker 2: Like, what’s enough for you not to be worried about funky swirling winds and stuff like that?

00:31:25
Speaker 5: Going to have to be one hundred yards probably a wider or a big creek, you know, a big creek will with moving water will help to an extent, you know. So, but it’s got to be pretty wide and so for me to do it in the morning or have some kind of crazy high, high moving wind. You know, I like wind your days. It’s a high constant wind, you know, like a front system, you can play.

00:31:47
Speaker 3: It a lot easier.

00:31:48
Speaker 5: And so okay, yeah, you’re having them relaxing winds, know what I’m saying, relaxing winds, and it just you’re saying it just flood, it just blows out.

00:31:57
Speaker 2: So yeah, did you meant you said that if it’s a bigger creek or bigger stream or river you’re more comfortable. Is that because you’ve seen the your scent kind of go with the current of the of the stream in the past. I’ve seen something like that too, Is that what you’re saying?

00:32:13
Speaker 5: Yeah, you check up pretty easy with milk way and stuff. It’s just it’s amazing how how moving water and the water it is. The more that current something it just pulled, the more air, more volume air. When you like standing there most time you won’t even feel it, but you drop some milk way and it’s coming down hitting that and has gone.

00:32:29
Speaker 2: So yeah, all right, I want to return back to this giant buck that you’ve got the match sets now sitting on the shelf in your house, we’ll say, and you’ve been looking at that match set day after day after day. You went in there, you did that preseason work, you found all your spots. You and your wife are are set. You guys are gonna you’re gonna get this deer. But when the season opens, you’re about to go head in for opening day, let’s say, to your spot or whenever the first time is that you decide you think you’ve got a good chance of this buck, and you’re going to head in there. And as you start approaching this zone, first trailhead you go by, there’s several trucks. Now you get to the next trailhead or the next parking area close to where you hunt want to hunt, there’s several trucks, and you end up finding as you head into your spot that all of the different access points in this zone seem to be you know, multiple people. There seems to be more folks than you would typically expect in this area, and maybe you start thinking, huh, I might not be the only person who knows about this buck.

00:33:32
Speaker 3: What do you do?

00:33:33
Speaker 2: Do you just go hunt your plan just as you were planning on it, or are you now going to have to pivot or rethink what you’re gonna do.

00:33:40
Speaker 5: Yeah, genterally, you know, that’s part of the postag and stuff. I don’t the easy spots or the more common spots that people would hit, you know, that’s I’ll kind of rule them out automatically, you know, And that’s you know experience. So well, there’s never a time that I’ll pull into a place in their first five vehicles ten vehicles where I won’t go ahead and park gently.

00:34:00
Speaker 3: We’re gonna be pretty early.

00:34:00
Speaker 5: We only got you know, you only got a certain amount of days for these prime hunting days. Okay, So I’m not gonna give that up for nobody spot because generally, like you know, where we are at a parking area that suckers.

00:34:14
Speaker 3: The access is three miles or more of whatever. You get huge woods.

00:34:18
Speaker 5: So the chance you walk it up on somebody, yeah it’s possible, it’s kind of slim. So we’re gonna get out and we’re gonna head our head our way, walking the iron half whatever it is, two hours before dark. If we run into flashlight, I’ll never go in front of somebody’s flashlight.

00:34:31
Speaker 3: I mean, that’s I just hope, I hope nobody would do me like that.

00:34:34
Speaker 5: But just pull back and go to a different cause we’ll have back up areas, back up spots in them areas, and just move to the next in that spot. And I’m not gonna give up that spot because there’s four vehicles pen or whatever they’re because because you got anything can happen. The more people sometimes will help you, you know, as far as you know, dear movement. So because generally you know, I don’t know, I don’t know exactly where you’re running out of whatever in the south, you know, gently by then them days, the rut, you’ve already had a month of pressure. So the normal walking around like nothing’s going on, dear movement is very mental, you know, because they’ve already smelt all that stuff, I know, so they’re in their kind of slafe area. So the rut is what you’re keying in on. Then, So that kind of chasing movement you’ll have that. Then you’ll have the people that walk around that can’t stand to sit long or they’re gonna move around anyway, that opportunity of a pushing So I’m never gonna give up an area just because whatever bibles apart there.

00:35:36
Speaker 2: So all right, what if you win. In you get to your spot, you didn’t see any flashlights in there. It’s looking good. Daylight is just kind of arriving. Things are shifting from shadows to actual real things that you can see. You’re feeling great, the wind’s perfect, it’s a nice cool morning.

00:35:55
Speaker 4: And then you hear.

00:36:00
Speaker 2: You’re looking over there waiting for that big old buck, and then you instead see a hunter. And then hunter comes walking in, walks past you and goes on back into the good stuff. That’s let’s let’s say that’s behind you. He keeps on going through, pushing into new country. Does that change your plans at all? Or or what do you do in that scenario when another hunter comes past you and then pushes into untouched country.

00:36:27
Speaker 3: Most of you don’t.

00:36:28
Speaker 5: If they’re going and interfering where I think there’s gonna come from whatever, I’m gonna try to whistle that I’m gonna crow call them, and then try to stop them from going that way. If they don’t stop, then they go that way. Most of the time, I’m we’re hunting some kind of multiple hoob things. I’m just gonna just deal with it. That day I might make some kind of plan to move the next day of that day. Up, I’m not gonna let that part interfere with my hunt. So I’m just gonna let them go on if they do that. So, but I am gonna try to stop them. You know, I’ve had people walk by me several times, I mean over the years without them without him knowing I’m there as well, they’re not interfering more where I’m my key area or whatever it is.

00:37:05
Speaker 3: I don’t let them know why I’m there because I don’t want to know I’m there.

00:37:07
Speaker 5: So, but if they’re gonna go into the dang bed there or go toward a bed in there I think, or the actual walk in the trail that I’m thinking the deer is gonna come from, I’m gonna try to stop.

00:37:17
Speaker 3: If not, then I’m gonna deal with it that day because they could you know, a buck.

00:37:22
Speaker 5: One of the key things about the buck getting jumped, he love doubling back, you know, and figuring out how somebody come in there.

00:37:28
Speaker 3: So I’m I’m going to deal with it for that day.

00:37:31
Speaker 2: So so when you say deal with that, you mean like you’re gonna stick it out, You’ll stay in that place for the rest of that day.

00:37:36
Speaker 4: Okay, so what about the next day? Does that?

00:37:39
Speaker 3: Does it?

00:37:40
Speaker 2: If would you still think, like, if this is your place, if you really like this, and you said earlier you know you might hunt a spot three days in a row, would you just assume he went in there, he probably mucked it up. For day two, I’m gonna go to option B. Or would you go back and hope he doesn’t return?

00:37:57
Speaker 5: And most time in these area like this, I know how anybody you know you want you know, unless why I’m out west or something like that. I know how that somebody’s gonna get in there and how they gonna get out so gently, so I’ll have an idea if they if they walk in and walk back out, the possibility they had a stand or something. But if they walk through and you don’t see them again, they’re just doing some kind of walk about, so so that that’ll give you an evidence on what you want to do. And if they walk straight in and they walk and they’re coming back out at dark or whatever, and then I know, well, if somebody’s got a stand or something, that might change my plan. But if I don’t see them anymore that day and I know they’re just doing a circle fluid.

00:38:32
Speaker 3: I don’t worry about it.

00:38:33
Speaker 2: So okay, all right, let’s imagine then another scenario here. Let’s let’s pivot a little bit. It’s it’s the rut. You’re hunting again, one of these WA’s somewhere down there by you, and you have a plan. You have a spot picked out, you and your wife are out there. You’re tagg team in and you’ve put in your full three days in a location, and you feel all your preseason scouting, all the work it made you really strongly believe that this is a spot. But you put in a full three days there and you saw nothing but a few dos and young bucks.

00:39:13
Speaker 4: But this is like the spot.

00:39:15
Speaker 2: Maybe this is like the best zone right near where this jumbo buck sign had been found. What are you doing at the end of day three when you’re trying to decide, you know, what do.

00:39:25
Speaker 4: I do next? What’s my game plan for day four?

00:39:28
Speaker 2: I’ve heard you say in the past that you know, every day that passes while you’re sitting on a good rut, funnel or location without seeing a good buck, you feel better about your chances coming up. Is that Is that still the case when you get to two three days in and it’s still been slow. What do you do in that scenario?

00:39:46
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know again, that’s most of these if it’s on the area that I’m known, you know, you know which out west is gonna be a little bit different. But in Alabama or somewhere I’m hunting or I’m familiar with that land and I’m using trail camera pictured or data from the previous season, what action I got these days? Kind of figured out when the most movement is coming through, I’ll give it seven days in a row. I mean, without bothering men be I will, you know, being older and I guess been more patient now in the years I’ve experienced that I’ve got or with the area that we hunt that I just low my plan and my wife’s planning our plan that we’re not going to deviate because making a plan and then changing their mind mid season about how you’re gonna do something and it don’t work, you’re gonna be show enough matter yourself or not sticking.

00:40:34
Speaker 3: With your plan.

00:40:35
Speaker 5: So if you stick with your plan it didn’t work, well, I stuck with my planet didn’t work. You know, I still got the rest of the season because most of the time these I want to be moving somewhere else. So it’s not a guarantee. You know, it’s it’s hunting, it’s not shooting. I just could say, and so it’s just so, But I’m gonna stick with that plan because something else could have changed, and something I mean, of course you’re gonna think of your mind, did some kind of food source or something and change and maybe you know, make a move. But but I mean generally, there all the camera dat of I’ve been running cameras for since back film days and say the last ten years or more of me kind of doing a pattern to know that most of the daytime buck moved and where I hunt at is gonna be over a week or two span during the.

00:41:22
Speaker 3: Rut or pre rut, and that after that, you know, there’s nothing.

00:41:28
Speaker 5: So it’s just so, I just I’m gonna spend that time in the mirror, stayed with my plan, and if I don’t see one, I’ve had my plan. I might have been a might have been a holler off when it’s possible, or just something else outside of my control or whatever could have happened. But what I can control and my plan I’m gonna stick with. So it’s just and know that I give my best and not worried about that and just be ready to do the plan for next season. So, but I don’t I don’t like jumping around a bunch because generally these pinches these edges.

00:41:56
Speaker 3: Sooner or later they might let me be the bucking on ship. But you’re gonna see something.

00:41:59
Speaker 4: So so generally, what about this?

00:42:04
Speaker 2: And this is this is a worst case. But let’s imagine you stick with your plan. You’re you’re on one of these edges. You put in your time, and and that big giant comes through and he does exactly what you hoped he would do, and then the wind swirls. When he’s at fifty yards, he catches you up, he boggers out.

00:42:27
Speaker 4: Of there, he’s gone out of sight. Yeah, what do you do?

00:42:31
Speaker 2: Then let’s say it’s like late morning, so you still have half the day to go. If you were going to keep hunting that day, you still have several days to hunt on this particular you know, time of vacation or trip or whatever it is.

00:42:44
Speaker 4: How do you pivot if at all in that scenario?

00:42:48
Speaker 3: Well, after I got through, cryme, that’d be god. Yeah, that would be so tough. Yo.

00:42:54
Speaker 5: Hopefully that that buck coming, you know, if it’s the the monster man, that would hurt so bad. But I’m hoping in my mind that a door or something to come through there earlier. I’m not sure you can kind of tell how they’re acting if they were trailing a doe if if not, i might finish that day up there, but I’m definitely.

00:43:13
Speaker 3: Not going to be back there the rest of the season. It’s just because I’ve my wife.

00:43:19
Speaker 5: Is the only one that I that I know that has seen the same big buck twice and that they come hunting seeing. You know, I’ve only seen one time, and most of the time, I guess because the way we’re set up, you know, they figured me out or whatever, because I’m always trying to set up close.

00:43:36
Speaker 3: You know, like boat range of everything I’m doing because i want that scenario happens. Most of the time.

00:43:42
Speaker 5: I’m hoping I’m set up where if they hit some kind of wind, because it has happened when they’ve hit a wind, but I’ve still been able to kill them because they’re they’re kind of trying to figure out what’s going on, you know, if it’s the buck I’m trying to harvest for want I want to harvest, So I’m always trying to set up because I’ll give up the wind in certain places. So but if it’s rights there where whens at, I generally have a shot. So I already had it or already had a shot. So so that’s but if he gets if he busts me and gets out of there, I’m not if I stay there that day. But you know, generally if that time frame, me and my wife together and so at lunch time we’re meeting, and I’ll go always always hunt somewhere else different.

00:44:19
Speaker 3: In eating so so I won’t be back there in that spot.

00:44:22
Speaker 5: I just I’ll have a different area or a different spot in that area that I can you know, hunt and feel slightly you know, comfortable.

00:44:31
Speaker 3: That I could see him again.

00:44:32
Speaker 5: But that’s boy, it hurts when you do that, because they if they figure out you, especially with my chure buzz man, that things can change, they can they can adjust a little bit, go nocturnal or whatever. But hopefully during the up they might still still stay moving. But that’s it’s not it’s not a good thing.

00:44:48
Speaker 3: I hate that what I have.

00:44:51
Speaker 2: How far is far enough away for you to be able to say, okay, I pivoted enough that there’s a chance again, are we talking like one hundred yard move or like how much?

00:45:01
Speaker 5: That kind of depends a little bit, Like if if it was coming from a specific january been there or something or something like that, then maybe a hundred yards slight movement, a different little edge or something, or it could be a quarter mile or something. But it’s I’ll have some kind of a different plan, you know as far as that, just but it’s got I got kind of.

00:45:19
Speaker 3: Know about what he was doing to do that. So it could be a one hundred yard, it could be two hundred ard, it could be a quarter mile or more.

00:45:25
Speaker 5: Just it just depends these areas where I hunt at. There’s ways to do things a quarter mile or more around. So it’s just and my wife is always it’s very rare for me and my wife to be closer than a quarter mile. It’s just because we’re trying to do the long range plan. You know, we’re trying to you know, we’re trying to. We got pretty strategic about how we do it nowadays, so I can adjust and you know, a completely different edge or a different triftic trail system or different gap system or something like that, or different creek crossing systems.

00:46:05
Speaker 2: So let’s imagine a slightly different kind of angle on this same deal. You’re in this spot, perfectly planned, you’re well positioned. The big guy shows up in sight, but he doesn’t come right down the pipe to you. He takes some slightly different route and he’s out of range. Okay, so he’s now passing by. He’s out of range. He’s probably going to be heading away from you. Now you’ve got a couple options, I guess the first question is would you try any kind of calling of any sort to try to get him in range, or you’re gonna say, all right, he’s gonna go off his own direction. Then I’m gonna adjust. What are you do in that scenario? He’s coming in, he’s not quite there, he’s heading away.

00:46:50
Speaker 5: Now what, I’m definitely going to hit a grunt calls, start off with, you know, and try to say if he can hear me or not. If he hears me and he ignores me, I won’t do anything else.

00:47:01
Speaker 3: You know.

00:47:02
Speaker 5: If he don’t act like you hear me in whatever, then I’ll pick up some rabbling horns and try to do it where the sucker can’t see me or something, you know, and then just do something. I’ll just do like a crash, like a like a two bunch of hit something and just see if he does.

00:47:16
Speaker 3: Anything of that with that.

00:47:18
Speaker 5: But if he don’t, I’m hoping to answer that grunk call. I have crawled him back with a grunk call. But it’s it’s if they don’t ignore that, I just I don’t. I don’t definitely don’t want to learn him to meet. So so what I’m saying so I don’t push that, you know back now, Hung, I’ve done all kind of crazy stuff, so I’ve learned. Man, just pay attention to that body language, you know, because most of time they hear you or something that pause, flicker, that tail or something like that, or maybe a turn that ear towards you. And then if they don’t come to you, don’t do anything else because they don’t. They’re just not there any They’re not in that kind of mooding.

00:47:50
Speaker 4: So it’s a hard lesson to learn.

00:47:53
Speaker 2: You so badly, you so badly want to keep on throwing the kitchen sink at him to desperately get him back to you.

00:47:58
Speaker 4: Right, Uh, what about what about this?

00:48:04
Speaker 2: Let’s imagine again the same scenario, but this time you see two different good bucks, one of them being a buck for sure, you would shoot one of them is like a maybe, but they pass like well out of range. So you see two bucks do the same thing, maybe like one hundred and twenty yards out of range. But you’re in this spot because of these terrain features and this cover. All this stuff’s coming together just right. We’d see in two bucks go in the same place out of range. Be enough for you to want to make a move at all, or are you? Are you sticking to your guns in the spot because you believe in it. In that kind of scenario, I’m moving.

00:48:44
Speaker 3: You are two things doing something like that. I’m moving.

00:48:47
Speaker 5: I’m getting closer to that something going on for that happens, I’m getting over some behind another right then as soon as i can so.

00:48:53
Speaker 3: So I mean, you don’t feel safe about it, you know.

00:48:56
Speaker 5: And sometimes even with a with a with one chase and a doe if they come from some funky area and that that trail or whatever the day we’re running doing that process, if it’s out of my range, whatever, just one dough hot, no buck chasing, I’m moving to get closer to that because that scent trail is still active, you know, I’ve you know, I’ve had bucks over the next couple of hours come through that trail and sometimes a bigger one be the second one coming or whatever.

00:49:19
Speaker 3: So it’s just so I’m moving on that situation. So that’s that’s another hard lesson to learn, so.

00:49:24
Speaker 4: So very true.

00:49:26
Speaker 2: So you would would you go as soon as the last deer is out of sight? Or would you wait till midday when things slow down a little bit?

00:49:34
Speaker 3: Like?

00:49:34
Speaker 4: How how soon is soon?

00:49:36
Speaker 5: Soon as that sucker’s rather out of sight? Soon they’re out of sight, I’m getting out and getting over I mean.

00:49:41
Speaker 3: You don’t.

00:49:41
Speaker 5: You don’t bear sitting there in thirty minutes later, an hour later than another one come by. So because that trail is fresh, get over there.

00:49:48
Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, that’s uh, that’s such a tough scenario because you you know, the the mid day move or the late morning move is always one of those deals where you want to get somewhere fast, but and there’s always that whisper in the back of your mind, like as soon as you become vulnerable, like you’re halfway down your stick, so you’re hanging off the back of the tree, and then then of course the bucks shows up right where you are now or while you’re walking to the new spot, and then they’re there behind you. But but yeah, it’s probably better to give it a try than not and then then watch the big guy go through Buck number three.

00:50:23
Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, Okay, I want to run you through.

00:50:27
Speaker 2: Just a few more fast, kind of rapid fire type questions now, so we’re gonna we’re gonna step away from the what would you do scenarios and instead I’ve just got I think five or six quick hitting just kind of give me your first gut reaction to these things, like a one word type answer.

00:50:43
Speaker 4: We’re gonna run you through this really quick, and then gets.

00:50:46
Speaker 2: You out the door, because because I know there’s there’s a big, old giant buck out there, some are waiting for you to put together that final final few steps of your game plan, and I don’t want to hold you back from that, so rapid fire first thing that comes to your mind. We’re gonna go through these quick. Michael, Does the moon matter for deer movement?

00:51:07
Speaker 4: Yes or no?

00:51:08
Speaker 3: No?

00:51:09
Speaker 4: Would you take a fifty yard shot at a white tail with your bow? Yes or no?

00:51:15
Speaker 3: Yes?

00:51:16
Speaker 2: If you could only have one of these tools for the rest of your hunts, the rest of your life? Would you take a grunt tube or a set of rattling antlers, run tube expandable or fixed blade broadheads? Should you stop a walking buck before shooting with a sound of some kind?

00:51:36
Speaker 3: Yes? Would you?

00:51:39
Speaker 2: If you had to only pick one season to do all of your scouting, you could do it winter, You could take summer, or you could take in season.

00:51:48
Speaker 4: Which of those three would you pick?

00:51:50
Speaker 3: Winter?

00:51:51
Speaker 4: All?

00:51:52
Speaker 2: Right, now, this one you can you can expand on this. You can give me your explanation. This isn’t a one word answer. Imagine that I kind of run the country and run all the hunting opportunities across the nation, and I am going to unfortunately take away your hunting privileges for the rest of your life. No more hunting licenses for the rest of your life unless you can kill a big mature buck this year. So if you kill a big mature buck this year, then you can keep on hunting. If you do not kill a big mature buck this year, you’re done. Here’s the real bummer, though, Yeah, here’s the extra bummer. You only have one day to get it done. Get one single day. So what I want you to do for me, Michael is pick the date that you’re going to select for this hunt. So you get to pick any day in the calendar. Tell me the day you want to pick, and then describe for me the best possible location that you would sit for this one particular day for this very high stakes hunt. And this could either be like maybe you have an actual spot that you would pick that you know of and you can describe that, or you can make up the kind of spot that would be perfect for this. But but give me the day of the year and give me the spot you would go to try to kill mature buck in this very important scenario.

00:53:14
Speaker 4: Paint that picture.

00:53:16
Speaker 3: This is gonna be my home stake.

00:53:18
Speaker 4: You can go anywhere you want if it’s my home state.

00:53:20
Speaker 3: It’s gonna be December. Second.

00:53:21
Speaker 5: I got a creek crossing there that I’ve seen more deer or more chasing going on on that day, So I’m heading that that day.

00:53:29
Speaker 3: So and that, I mean, that’s already that’s the easy one for me. So in Alabama, now.

00:53:35
Speaker 2: December two, creek crossing. Uh, just describe the described for me the perfect creek crossing. Set up a little bit more.

00:53:42
Speaker 5: This creek crossing is associated with some bluff gap systems where when I cross that thing creek, they’re in between this bluff system. One bluff I can see kind of you know, can save it, not really say, but I know it’s there within fifty yards. You know, if a person walked in there, they couldn’t really see it. So then on down the creek system is a high wall.

00:54:03
Speaker 3: That’s they just they just can’t do it.

00:54:05
Speaker 5: So they’re coming through this area and that’s generally in boat range. And that’s I mean, so and during December second sometimes I’ll be bow hunting. Sometimes the big gun hunt just depends on what type of you know, situation going on. But I’m up above that creek crossing, say seventy five one hundred yards, and there’s some pine system, you know, a couple of riding systems over that. They’re they’re coming from that creek crossing going to them dank pines or coming from them pines.

00:54:29
Speaker 3: So it’s just and that’s I’ve seen more deer and heard more deer on that in that area.

00:54:33
Speaker 4: So I’m just just a funnel.

00:54:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, amazing, all right, Michael, Well, I would never do that to you. I won’t take away you’re hunting rights, but I’m but I’m glad that you’ve got a good planning place just in case I and I really do, I really do appreciate you taking the time to to talk me through all this stuff, walk us through your thought process. You are getting the job done in tough places, and it’s very impressive.

00:54:59
Speaker 4: So so keep on keeping on, Michael. It’s been fun to watch from afar.

00:55:03
Speaker 3: Well. I appreciate it. I’ve enjoyed this is really this has been this is fun.

00:55:06
Speaker 5: So I enjoyed it so and I appreciate what y’all doing and that yall’s podcast system and that’s right, y’all keep up what y’all doing for the outdoors.

00:55:13
Speaker 3: And I mean for us the hunting community, you know. So again I appreciate it.

00:55:18
Speaker 5: I appreciate it, and I hope somebody gets something out of this, you know, hopefully I wouldn’t too out there a little bit or or get hung up on anything. But so, but we we’re all a good community and we all know enjoy this, so so kind of think outside of the box sometimes and then sometimes I mean be like, maybe make a plan, stick with it.

00:55:36
Speaker 4: I think that’s that’s very sound advice. Michael. Thank you for that and Uh, that’s the luck this year.

00:55:42
Speaker 3: You totally appreciate it, buddy, all.

00:55:45
Speaker 2: Right, and that’s going to do it for us today. Thanks for joining me today in the show. If we’re doing what would You Do? Series, that means the hunting season is almost here. So getting that final work, getting those reps of the bow, have fun, getting ready for the day because it’s going to be here before we know it, and that’s a beautiful thing. So thanks for joining me, and until next time, stay wired to Hunt.