00:00:02 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host, Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Podcast. I'm your host, Mark Kenyon, and this is episode number four hundred and today I'm joined by my buddy Josh Hilliard for some New Year's resolutions and end of year reflections, and we're also going to get into some late season firearm considerations with Luke Torkinson. All Right, welcome to the Wired to Hunt Podcast, brought to you by Onyx. It is New Year's Eve when this episode is dropping, so first and foremost happy New Year's Hope you guys have got some fun plans in store for today, or if you're listening to this later, I hope you did have a good time. Um, what I want to do today is is kind of have a two parttern. We've got my buddy further, Josh Further Hilliard on the line here momentarily because we started the hunting season with Josh. The very first episode of my two thousand hunting season was with Josh talking about our upcoming hunt and some of our hopes and dreams of the year, so it seemed appropriate to end it with him as well. We're gonna wrap up the year talk about some of our highs, some of our lows, our toughest moments are our most proud moments. Josh is gonna walk you through his season, which he hasn't shared yet here on the podcast this year. Um So you're gonna get to hear some cool stories there. I had an amazing, really cool experience with my son the other night. I took him on his first track job for a deer, So I want to tell you guys about that story. Um So that's part one. We're gonna wrap up the year with some stories and some reflection on what a despite a lot of challenges in um, at least Josh and I are able to find some silver linings with our hunting season that we wanted to talk you through. And then secondly to wrap it up slightly different take. But you know, the is that time of the year when a lot of us, Josh and I included, are out there trying to kill does with our guns. There's a lot of people with late firearm seasons, late ant lotoists, firearms seasons, stuff like that, and and I personally have not done a good enough job talking through firearm gear, firearm practice, firearm maintenance, that kind of stuff that's especially important come this time of year when the weather can get things kind of wonky. So I found I pulled in who I think is gonna be a great resource to talk about this. His name is Luke Torkleson. He works at Weatherby, and he's gonna walk us through a bunch of things to be thinking about when you're out there using a gun in cold, nasty weather. So, how to make sure we're not surprised by any weird malfunctions because of the weather. How to take care of your gun immediately after coming in off of a nasty snowy hunt in January or December. Um, what to do when you're done for this season, and putting away that gun to make sure that it stays in good working order and is ready to rock and roll when you pick it back up next year. So that's what we're gonna cover in part two. It's a far rangine conversation across those two, but I think we'll give you a couple of laughs and a couple helpful pieces of information to uh close out your year. And the final thing I'll say is this is episode four hundred, four hundred. Um. That's pretty wild that this podcast has been going on for that long, for that many episodes. And the only reason that's the case is because all of you, Because all of you've tuned in and listened and supported this show and supported me and what we're trying to do. And I want you to know that I don't take that for granted. I really appreciate that. I appreciate your time, your tension, your interest, and I can also tell you that I am ready to take it to another level. That's coming year is gonna be a really big one for Wired Hunt. We've got some new things in store. We've got I don't know, Uh, We've just got a lot of cool stuff coming up. And we are really going to try to take what we've built here with Wired Hunt and scale it so that we're able to help more people, introduce more people to hunting, help more current hunters take their hunting to the next level. Um, and do it in a way that's a whole lot of fun too. So stay tuned. It's gonna be a great year. We're all going to grow together, we're gonna have fun together, and sure as hell hope we're gonna kill some deer too, and with that we'll wrap it up, send it to my conversation with further and then soon after that you'll hear from Luke. All Right, man, Josh, thank you, thank you for being here for this one. It seemed appropriate that you should be here for this podcast because something like four months ago you and I recorded our first podcast Hunting Season in I don't know, one of the first couple of days September, and and now it's the very last episode of season when this episode is airing, Josh is actually New Year's Eve, so this is this is the New Year's Eve podcast that we're doing. Uh, So it seemed fitting that further be here at the beginning of the end. Well, hey, I appreciate it, thanks for having me on. I can't believe that was four months ago already that we were on Idaho. It's crazy, right, It's uh, it's been a wild ride. I'll tell you what, looking back on that that first week of the season, I was just thinking about this a little bit ago. Um. Even though during that hunt we were both a little frustrated with how the hunting was going at times, that was a damn good trip. An. I was just looking back at pictures of fishing and some of the hunting, you know, some of the pictures we took. It was a lot of fun. We had a great time. I wouldn't mind being back there right now. Um, yeah, sure, it's beautiful the snow. I was, I was thinking back on that that episode and um, and it got me thinking a lot about I guess between that episode and then what naturally happens at this time of year, which is, you know, it's New Year's Eve, we're thinking about the new year. It seemed like this would be a good chance to do some reflecting back on the season, on some things we learned on you know, some things that are rememberable. Um. And I haven't gotten to have you on the show. I don't think you've been on the show since that, since that trip. So I figured we should, uh, we should hear a little about your season. UM. So that said, do you remember that first one we did at the very beginning of the trip. It was I called the ten Steps to the Best Season of your Life? Remember that? Yep, yep, yep, I remember that. So here's the quiz, and this is this is gonna be a test of how well you pay attention. Do you remember any of the steps that were listed in that episode? Oh? Man, Um, probably one about like having a positive mindset and trying to overcome adversity because you're gonna face that at some point during the year. That's gotta be one. Okay, I'll give you, I'll give you credit for that, but no, Okay, man, There's been a lot that's happened between now and then. I'm remember our conversation, a lot of things we talked about, but I couldn't tell you that that the ten things or whatever. Yeah, that's fair. I was going to ask you if you could remember any of them, if you could remember any any of those things that ended up actually helping you. Do you think that anything that we talked about in that episode actually helped you over the course of the season. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure they did. I'm sure they did. You know, probably, Um, not even thinking about them at the time, but I'm just ingrained in me that they probably did help me. Um, just kind of thinking about back how my season went, you know, it was it was starting off really slow and just keeping at it and trying to to stay positive. I think definitely helped me. Um helped me to where I'm at right now with how I'm feeling about my season. How do you feel about your season? Oh? Man, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm feeling pretty darn good about it at this point. So, Um, I didn't I didn't think I'd be saying that a couple of weeks ago. Um, just how things had gone up to that point. But things should have changed in a in a in a short amount of time. That's h in a nutshell, right, there isn't all it all can change and just the matter of seconds, and so can you can you keep at it and stay focused and stay positive till that does. That's It's one of the toughest things to do every year, that's for sure. Yep, yep, for sure. Well let's let's just talk about that. Let's let me let's hear the story of the season. Um. I mean it started off a lot of optimism, excitement, whether Idaho trip um and that first night you saw like two deer and like nineteen different shooter bucks or something, and You're like, Oh, that's gonna a piece of cake. Sure, I'm gonna shoot a booner tomorrow. Yeah, you set me up for failure. I think that the podcasts are required because the one thing that the one thing I do remember from that podcast, as you given you know, hey, how confident are you tomorrow? You're gonna kill that buck? And I get a stupid number. I thought that that's the one thing I can change about my season. That might be going back and and putting a much lower because I think I think that jinks that's done for for the rest of that trip. Yeah, thanks, interesting after that, Yeah, yeah, yeah, but no, a lot of optimism kind of deer That first night had like a borderline shooter and range. Um, yeah, I saw like twenty different bucks or something like that, and it was it was it was a wild night and then uh, just kind of steadily headed down after that. Yeah, we had our we had our challenges. Um, we didn't end up filling our tags on that trip, which we were counted in the podcast we did at the end of it, which I think was something about like the trials and tribulations of publicly and deer hunting. I think that's what I called it. Um, it's a fun trip, but it ended up being tough. And then what it was it was Michigan from there and out for you. Yeah, I just I just hunted Michigan and the rest of the season. So we had a you know, a few weeks when we got back there from Idaho to kind of regroup and lick our wounds and and kind of getting the right mindset for for a Michigan season and and honestly, things just we're slow here for me. Um all of October. Um, I didn't have very many encounters at all. Um. Early season, spent some time doing some of our Field of four hunts and got out with some new hunters and didn't really focus too much on myself early in the season. And um, I'm sure that kind of cut into some of my personal hunting time. But you know, I started to get to mid to late October and started to be in the woods more and and uh man, yeah, just nothing was happening, seeing seeing some does and seeing some young bucks, and passed a couple of a couple of different two two and a half year old that were that were nice, dear, but just weren't quite what I was looking for. And um, yeah, October was October is a little rough in terms of just overall sighting seemed to be down to from what I've been seeing at my primary spot, I hunt. How did the field of fourk ones go? The field the fort mentor hunts? Did you do one of those? Two of those? How many this we ended up? Yeah, we ended up just doing one. We we canceled one of them because of covid um just weren't able to do it with like some of the lodging things that we were hoping we could do. So we just did the one um the one event at the beginning of October, and that went really well. We got um, we got one of the hunters in that program their first buck. Um. So we did have a deer to kind of show some some of the new hunters how to you know, feel a dressed the animal and we we skinned it out and quartered it there for people to see how to do that and just try to make them more comfortable with that whole experience. And um, so that was great. Now, that was that was a really good event and um yeah, I wish we could have done more this year for sure. Yeah. Do you think or do you have you heard from anyone coming out of that anyone keep keep going out on their own, keep trying. Yeah. Yeah, actually had a I got a text from one of the one of the participants. I think it was like the second day a gun season. I got a text from him with a picture of a dough that he shot and said, Hey, he went out and went out and I got it done all by myself. Thanks for all the thanks for all the help. So um, that was cool to get that text and know that he's stuck with it and we gave him at least a little bit of a um, you know, at least a little help and giving him the confidence to get out there by by himself, and he made it happen. And um still I've been talking with the guy I hunted with him. We're trying to get him out here. Hopefully by the time this airrors will have a deer down for him, or at least get him out another time. So nice trying to think that happen. Where are you gonna take him? Uh? To be determined? To be determined. Get got a couple of leads on some places we may be able to get him to to go. Um have an opportunity at a hopefully a dough on on private land where we can still use a gun here in the late season. Well, we should talk. We should uh, we should talk off air and maybe see if we can work the schedules out, because you could bring him down to my other Michigan spot. I think, I think I think we could try to get him done, get him one Huh. I was going to try to get Dan out here again to get him another shot. Yeah. So as you know Dan, or as you know Josh, our mutual friend and now Dan Joe. Uh, he did the Feel the Fork hunt last year that both you and I were at, which is where we met him. Um and and that's what led me to invite him out to the Back forty this year. And he did all that work this summer and then came out for the hunt opening weekend a gun season um, and then ended up you know, he got a shot of buck but missed and that was you know, an exciting experience, but of course the let down. UM. So I'll tell you what, I've been super just impressed with him though, because he's been still getting after it, trying hard, still you know, giving it a shot. And and we're gonna try to link up after Christmas and uh and and get him another chance. So yeah, maybe we can time all that to get your your guy out there too. Yeah, No, that'd that would be great, that'd be great. It's uh, it's it's been. It's been really cool to see examples like that, you know, where these people have an interest and then get that chance to take the next step. It just seems like every every time I've seen it where they get to go out with somebody and and have that little extra guidance, especially if the shots taken and they get to see what to do after that, or how to gut or how to butcher deer. It just makes such a big difference, um, which you know as as you know, which is which is why we're so gung ho about the field of fort program and everything that the National Deer Association and you guys are trying to do. Um, which is ultimately why we decided to do what we're doing with the back forty. So I'm I just don't think that you know, doing the stuff that you and I doing that everyone listens does, which is get to deer hunt a lot and have a great time and then have it be a part of your life. We're just not going to have that around if hunting numbers continue to plummet and uh, we've got to find ways to get new folks out there and introduce people to this and and and make sure that they have the opportunity to see what a great thing this can be, or a great lifestyle this can be, with a great activity this can be. What a great way to feed your family this can be. UM and um feel the field the FORK program, it's it's doing that better than anything I've seen. So yeah, no, and hey man, can't can't thank you guys and media enough for the for the for the donation, and and uh, we're definitely gonna make sure we put it to good use and and try to introduce as many new people as we can. UM. You know, it takes places like that to uh to be able to have the resources and and you know, places to to to introduce new people. And then we're thrilled. So thank you guys. Well yeah, you know, you're welcome to everyone at the organization. And you know, out of conversations that we've that we've had both yourself and and Nick and Madden, everyone from the National Deer Association, I've heard from you guys that um, you know, one of the challenges has always been like finding good places to do these events right. You can do public lan and that's great, but you know, it's it's not nearly as guaranteed of a of a good opportunity to see deer, actually get a shot at deer, as opposed to a private piece that's managed and you know, set up nicely for new hunters. So, you know, when we were thinking about what are we gonna do with this thing, um, it just seemed like it just seemed like it would be a shame too to have this piece of property and then you know, do everything we're trying to do and then have it turned into condos or someone building a housing complex on on it or something. So you know, when we originally purchased the property, we knew, like we have to, we're gonna give it away. We're not going to keep this thing for us forever. We're gonna we're gonna use it to educate and helping the people. We're gonna tell this story, we're gonna improve as much as we can, and then we're gonna pass it on to someone in some way. And you know, and I guess I want to provide a little more context here because, um, after we announced the plan earlier, this you know earlier this month explaining what we were doing, I got a decent not a ton, but a handful of comments where people felt um upset or or misled that we weren't doing like a sweepstakes. Some people thought that we were doing a sweepstakes where you know, a listener or a fan was going to win the property. UM and so I wanted to make it clear to people that you know, that was never our intention to mislead people into thinking that was the case. What we were doing was from the beginning, we we wanted to announce two things. Number One, we announced we're doing the hunt giveaway. That was a sweepstake, So we're giving away a hunt with me and Steve on the property. So that was the competition, not the competition, but that was the giveaway sign up that people gave us their email and their information for UM and Dana Savada one that and he came out and hunted with us in November this year. There was never a sweepstakes thing for the property. We did say that we're giving the property away, but we just simply couldn't provide all the details at that point when we announced everything because it is a long process to figure out exactly how to be able to give this to an organization and how to have a plan in place to make sure that the right things are done with it. Like that took a long time, a lot of process there, so you know, we shared as soon as we could share the plan um and and it's a plan that I think is really really good for the larger hunting community. It's good for everyone, it's good for new hunters. It's good for the future of this thing, because now this property is not going to be used just by me and a couple of friends, or me and my dad or or whoever. It's not gonna be used just by Steve and Janice. It's gonna be something that you know, through the stewardship of the National Deer Association, is going to open the doors this property to too many new hunters, and and not just to hunt, but actually to come out there in the spring and learn about year and learn about habitat, and to come out in August and do some work and learn about habitat management and native prairies and wetland species and all this kind of stuff that's that's hard to learn about unless you've got a great classroom well, the back fort can be that great classroom for dozens and dozens and dozens of people, um, and then actually take some people out for hunts too, And and that's it's just something that we're really excited about because it's gonna let the mission of the Back forty continue on. It's not just a two year thing now, this is something that you know, people can benefit from this thing for a long time. And and I'm I don't know, I'm just genuinely thrilled and really confident that this is the right thing to do and and a lot of people are gonna benefit from it, and we're also really excited. I don't know if you know this, Josh, I think you know this, um, But we've we've put a plan in place to continue documenting the property in some different ways next year. UM. And we're actually going to have an opportunity for people to sign up or I don't know, sign up the right word. The official legal documentation will be announced sometime in So don't quote me on this because we're still getting all that fine print figured out, but in in generalities, what we're basically going to do is have an opportunity for people that are part of the Mediator community, listeners of the podcast and everything. You'll be able to sign up to possibly win a chance to come and be a part of one of these mentorship events next year. So we're gonna give away the chance for someone to come to the property. I think we're trying to have it be like a winner and a guest. Maybe um that's still being sorted out, but a winner and a guest or something like that is gonna come out to the property with us. We're gonna do a series of educational events and then an opportunity to come out in the fall and and have a mentored hunt out here. Just like what Dan got to experience and and what Dane the Hunt winner got to experience. We're gonna do something like that for somebody else, um as well as a bunch of other people probably that will just be here as part of the local field the four programs that that you guys put on UM. So again, we want to share this place. We want people to get a chance to to learn from and experience it. And and that's a long winded way of me saying I'm I'm really excited. So good stuff ahead for the back forward and hopefully good things for for a lot of new hunters too. Yeah, we're we're really looking forward to seeing where all this goes and and like you said, being able to showcase it and let other people see it and and show what we can do on it and get some new people out there. So yeah, we're we're super excited and and just really looking forward to see when where this all goes. Yeah, it's uh, it's good stuff, man. So so back to your season though, You're your early season was kind of taken over with planning and executing on your field of fork hunt, and then October goes along and you're hunting the public land I remember, and then you're also hunting the main spot. Yep, yep, so hunting some public land. I've I've had a uh antaly list tag here for the unit I'm in the d m u UM for public land for a number of years and I just have never filled it. You know. I spend a lot of time in the early season, you know, trying to maybe get on trying to pattern a book or something that's some of my primary spots, and just get caught up in that and just don't spend as much time trying to fill that tag as I should. And I decided I was going to try to give a couple of a good hunts early in the year to try to fill that tag. And had one night where um, I had set up and had two doughs come out of this swamp and into this point of timber, and man, I needed her to take like one more step. And this this little peninsula there was a ladder stand at in it end. Like last year, there's a ladder stand at the end of this point. And I swear she came into those that little patch of timber there and look was starting to look straight up in the trees, and I was I was maybe twenty yards maybe down from that, and they just knew something was up, and um, I needed about one more step and and what I had a like a ten fifteen yard shot something like that, and uh they buggered out of there, and uh that was that. I didn't I didn't have another encounter in that spot. I tried going back there maybe once or twice more, but nothing happened so close. But no cigar there. And and that was I guess maybe towards the end of October when when that encounter happened. And then I really shift focused to trying to trying to get on a good buck down at my um my primary spot that I hunt of private land. So it's it's a forty acre spot right here, your main chunk. Give me the give me the cliff notes. What was what are the high notes there? As far as like the memorable things that happened, because it seemed like it was a little tougher this year the previous years, Um, what was what was the story there? What are the highlights? Yeah, I mean the memorable stuff was that there was not very much memorable stuff, which was different than the year before. I had. I had seen quite a bit of mature buck activity on that a farm um early and often, like I first night I ever hunted it, I had a I had a a shooter buck at at twenty yards, but I he was behind some thick stuff and walked straight away from me. I never had a good opportunity. And it was just like it seems like every time when I was out there, something that was happening um or ear least there was some excitement. This year was you know, I saw a lot of dose um some young bucks. Um man. It just it was not there wasn't hardly any sign in the woods up there. Um just it was just very interesting as running trail cameras wasn't getting much on. I had had a bunch of pictures like early um like late August, early September, and I just really, um really kind of shut off. UM. So I don't know what was going on out there. Um, but it was like that really all the way through um, even even the first couple of weeks in November. Um. I was the first buck, the first mature buck I saw out there was uh November, remember this Friday, Um, and uh kind of mumbled up an opportunity and and just spook that deer and and that was that. So I was, you know, two days away from gun season. That was really the only good encounter I had the entire first thirteen days in November. And I've been out quite a bit. Um you know again some some young bucks and pasta, and I think what would be a good deer next year. Um saw one shooter like way off a couple hundred yards like to neighbors properties over that I could see in a field. Um. But man, yeah, it just it's a weird year, weird year out there. Just not much happening, all right. I want to cover for both you and I two things. Toughest moment of your season and the best moment of your season. I'll answer mind first and explain that, and then I'll let you you share whatever you want from years. And I think I know where your highest moment is. I've setting you up here to to share your high moment. But but my toughest moment would have been right around the same time when you just described your Friday the thirteenth encounter. I think mine was Thursday the twelve, which is the much discussed miss of Tran when I had been grinding out all season and having all these close calls, couldn't get a shot, couldn't get a shot, and then I finally have him coming into range. He gets into that thick cover, and I felt this pressure to to to force a shot, and I made a stupid mistake and took a shot I just shouldn't have and uh, and I missed him. That was definitely my low point of the season, I think, Um, yeah, I got I mean, without a question, that was my low point of the season. Um, But I will tell you it did give me a chance to practice what I preach, which which I discussed an episode whatever it was when we did the ten Steps to the Best Season of your Life, I had to I had to ex on one of those things, which was control which you can and relax on what you can't. And so in that moment, I remember, it was really shitty and I was very upset after it. And then later that day I said, all right, man, you it happened. Like you can't control that anymore. So there's no point like kicking yourself about it, or hating yourself for it, or um stressing about anymore. It happened. All you can do is is figure out where to go from here. And so I'm pretty proud of myself for turning that around pretty quick. And I kept at it and uh, and you know I was able to turn things around later in the year. Um. If I look back on my season and try to think about what my highest points were, um, I've got three of them. Um. One was the one to end up killing Tran uh ten days later. So that was an obvious high point culmination of three years and you know that it's actually well, I guess it wasn't the next hunt, but um, yeah, I mean it was. It was definitely a clear outcome of being able to turn around and keep at it and adapt and push on. So I was, I was. I was happy about how that all came together. But then the other two high points were related to, oh, you know what, I've been another low point. I would say that another low point, maybe worse honestly now that I think about it. Um, the trans miss was a major low point, but I probably felt even crappier when Dan missed his deer on when I was mentoring him. I felt so horrible about that whole situation about you know, just especially because I thought after the shot, I swear I saw him go down once he got into the timber, and and I even looking back on the footage, you can see he gets in the timber and that it looks like he falls down. And that's that was the thing. I remember seeing my buy notes, and it almost looks like it was like a big berm and he went over berman underneath it, and it almost looks like he does like trip and fall. Um. But but obviously you know, after everything, you well, no blood, no nothing, it was not. But I I feel the worst about the fact that after the shot he was kept saying, I'm nervous about the shot. I'm not sure about the shot, and I was like, you got him, you got him. I was so pumped, and I was trying to get him excited, and like, you know, I was so thrilled for him, and I was hyping him up and then ended up getting his hopes up. So when it all came down the way it did, I just felt super bad, super bad, and just you know, just I didn't want that to be something that would detract from him wanting to keep doing it, you know, like you're mentoring something like that. And even before the hunt, and one of the things he was most worried about was like, gosh, I just want to make sure I get a good shot. I don't want to wound something. I don't want to miss something. And then his greatest fear ends up, you know, happening he misses the beer. Um, my greatest fear was like, I don't want this thing to happen. And then it turned him away from wine and hunt again the few sure, I don't want him to have such a negative experience that he won't keep trying. So that was that was That was a low point. But fast forward to what then I'm talking about the things I'm excited about. I'm proud about it. I was proud about me getting the shot tramp, but then back to helping someone else. So super super high point of the year was getting to help my dad get his first year with the crossbow. That was that was that was such a great experience and such a great memory for us, um and just seeing how excited he was for that. Dear, I love getting to watch that video now I can like relive that. And then my son really likes watching He always wants to see Grandpa's bucks. We watched that video, and I love when my dad's like, and you know how how dead is with like points. He's like he's like, oh, yeah, that's a that's a nice six point. All right, Mark, that's a nice six pointer. Like, yeah, Dad, it's a great six pointer. Just you know, just Dabby and Dad and he was so excited the whole way and me too, and um man, haven't that come together? You guys have that picture you guys have that was at the end of the episode, and see both of you guys with that with that dear, that that's such an awesome picture that should be in a frame in both of your guys in's house. That was that's a great memory. Yeah, I agree. That's uh the Life for Life list right there. Um, which brings me to the final high point, which just happened last night, which is, uh, last night I killed the doll and and so last night when people listening to this, this this will be about two weeks ago. But I killed the doll and. Um, I was able to track her and find her pretty close. And it was a situation where it was early enough that I could get my son Everett, who's too and take him out to go and try to recover it for himself. So I went and got ever brought him out. Um. It was just a good situation. We didn't have to go too far. And um it was the coolest thing. Man he is, you know, he's like super amped on everything hunting. He wants to watch all the hunting every night. Like he doesn't want to watch Sesame Straight or Mickey Mouse or something. He wants to watch Chasing November or Back forty or some deer hunting show, and then he will every day. His main thing is he's hunting. He's hunting. He's got to fake guns and he's got a fake bone arrow and he's constantly playing out different hunting scenes, like all day. He's this kind of thing he's doing. So he finally got to go out in his first real track job, and we got him out there and he was like super excited. As soon as I got out of the UTV, turn on the flash that got a head lamp on him, and first thing he says, DADN, where's the blood. Damn, where's the blood? And so I get him on the trail and then right away he starts seeing it and he's like, look, look, there's more and and and he he is honestly better at tracking blood than I am. Dude, he's I mean, that's that's not too hard to You don't have to bar set very high on the blood track. Yes, yes, I know. Admittedly he's not not color blind, so he's got that going for him, which I do not have going for me. Um, but it got me really excited for future future track jobs because he can see it so much better than me. Like, honestly, this two year old was like, there's some, there's some, and I wasn't saying that. Um. So we we tracked the deer back to where I had left her and U and it was the first, you know, dead deer he had seen out in the woods, first time he's ever been like out walking around the woods after dark two, you know. So it was a whole bunch of is he gonna be scared of the dark out here? Is he gonna be scared of seeing this dead deer in the ground and and everything. He was just like a pro He was just excited. It wasn't scared when he saw the deer. He was so excited, like yelling an excitement, and I wanted to touch her and look at her, and and then he's like, Dad, let's take the dear made out? Can we take the dear maid out? So I wasn't. I wasn't going to get the deer in front of him. I was worried, like maybe that's too soon to do that. Some idea was to drag the deer, get the deer into the UTV, and then not bring ever back and then come out there myself later and gut her. Um. But I couldn't lift her up into the canyn and she was just big, big deer full of all the guts and stuff. I was like, I can't I can't big her up. Maybe I could have forced it, but I decided, you know what, I'm just gonna gut her and make this easier. And so I had ever sit up at the front of the deer, like up by the head so he wouldn't see too much gory stuff. And the whole time of Daddy, I want to see, Daddy, I want to see show me the deer, Danny. And so he sat up there and then he kept standing up and trying like walk towards the back and see what's going on. Um, and he saw a little but uh, but you know, at no point did he get like grossed out or worried. I kept saying, was like, hey, if you don't like this, we can stop. I'll take you home. Um. You know, you let Dad know, You let Daddy know if you're cold or anything. And that's the whole time. He was just just wanted to be a part of it, wanted to see, I wanted to touch, wanted to help. He helped me drag it. He helped me quote unquote lift her up into the u TV and all that stuff. It was just it was the coolest thing he was. He was just so into it, and uh, came home and had to show mom the pictures, and you know, he wanted a picture of him holding the deer's head like Daddy does with a buck. So we did all that and it's just, oh man, it's got me so excited for the future with him. That's fun. It's great. And then you know, we do this thing with elf on the shelf. You know that Christmas deal a lot of people do, right, and so so our ELF's name is Eddie. And so this morning, whenever woke up, he has to go look for Eddie the Elf in the morning. And he went into the living room and then a blood trail began, and then he followed the blood. He followed the blood trail to the table where Eddie the Elf was gutting a doll. So I had a little dear figuring flipped upside down in a knife, a fake knife taped to Eddie's hand, and he was working on the deer. Ever came run. I was like, look ed, he's gotten the dough too, getting the dear me. That's great, that's great, that's a lot of fun. Yeah, I was, I was ecstatic. I was. I was really riding the high last night after all that so that those are my three highest some some some big ones there. So now now it's your turn. Lowest moment, highest moment, all right, yeah, I mean lowest moment would be a day after your lowest moment. Um. Yeah, I think I even texted you, like in our group chat, I said, I don't worry, I'll screw up for something tomorrow to to make you feel better or something like that, just joking around. And sure enough, you know, one of the first year I see in the morning is it is a good buck and just totally screwed that whole situation up, just just dumb and uh so, yeah, I stepped in and helped take some of the some of the pain off you and put it all on me. And that was my lowest moment that Friday. And now again, are you are you willing to like how you can describe it all? How? Yeah? I haven't. I haven't said anything to anybody about this. Don't You don't need we can cut this out. You don't need to, but if you want to, I'd be happy to. It would be a good therapeutic exercise, I think here, but I had a very similar situation actually had had a nice buck come in from um an area where I didn't think he would come from. And he's just I had to get kind of all twisted around and in my saddle to try to get a shot. And he was going through my really the only good shooting lane that I had, and Um, I just rushed the shot. And there's a there's some brush in in the way that I had had not seen, and and my arrow deflected off of it, and then it deflected and missed it behind him. Um the arrow ended up like behind a tree. I couldn't even see it. Um from where I was. Um, you set up. So I had a pretty good deflection there, and and that deer trotted off and looked back at me, and I just saw my season, you know, trotting out of my life again, right, I mean, just up over the hill. And and I thought that was that. You know where we're at in Michigan, we don't get too many opportunities at hat um, you know, mature deer. Um there are few and far between. And you know, just how is the process coping with that? Oh my god, it's horrible because um, of course I had a miss last year too, So it's just like I need to I need to really kill a doe with my bow and just kind of get some of that confidence back, um, because I'd be lying to you if I said, I'm I'm still not a little shaking with the whole bow and sit in the backyard and shooting and feel super confident with it, and and I just got to get that back. I don't know what's going on with me, So definitely some some things to still work on here in the off season and try to get some of that confidence back. Um, I don't know, but um yeah, man. So I just like I was just sitting there. I was planning on sitting all day, and this happened like first thing in the morning, like fifteen minutes twenty minutes after first light, and I was like, oh my god. So I just like I had to sit there all morning. Just I just replanned that over in my head again and again and again, and and you know, there's another slow morning. He saw a couple of dolls and falls after that, and I was like, you know what, I'm getting down. I'm gonna go back to the truck. I'm gonna regroup, I'm gonna have some lunch, give my wits about me. And I went back out that sat that afternoon and and again no luck. So I just I was just down. I think I hunted the morning that next day. Is that the day before gun season? Actually, I don't even think I hunted that next morning. I think he's like, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna try to regroup and get get mentally better and and uh so done. Opening day gun season rolled around. Um, I went back out to that general area. Again, I didn't see anything like the first two days of gun season. Just a couple of bikes, a couple of couple of doughs, and that area gets a lot of hunting pressure and there was some there was we had that really bad windstorm on remember that. It was like yeah, yeah, it was dead. Um that morning, very few shots. Um, I saw two trees come down. I was like, okay, I get not hear this, Like one was like within fifty yards and he was like, all right, this is probably not not safe. I hundred a couple of hours that morning and then bailed. And and then the next couple of days of the same kind of story with just about the weather just slow, heard quite a few gunshots, but just nothing is really moving. Um, nothing is really getting pushed around and and uh man, I was just um. I remember I was driving down my my som running late. I had a bunch of work to get done. That took me longer than I thought it would. I'm driving down, I called you, and that's like, yeah, I don't know. I'm thinking about still hunting through these these pines. Is betting areas a few days after gun season. They may be in there, and I'm running late. I don't have time to go hang a set um windows wrong for this little ground blind that I wanted to sit, and uh, without saying you basically said you're an idiot. Don't do that. So I'll give you some some credit for what happened, because I ended up just going to sit that ground blind. You know, the wind was supposed to be like kind of like a southwest, and it was definitely not southwest. It was south and that was I could have got away with the southwest. Um, but once I got into blind it kind of switched up and and I was like, Jesus is terrible. I'm blowing right into this these pines. But just describe this, describe the set up a little bit more before you continue, because I think one question that a lot of people would have is, all right, you're hunting a forty acre piece and you find you've founded a decent amount um and you talked about how there's a lot of hunting pressure all around. So a lot of people struggle in situations like that. So, so what I want to know is, you know, how how did you manage to put yourself in a position where, you know, a week earlier you gotta shout him mature buck on a forty acre piece surrounded by lots of hunters, and now you're back in there again and you're about to tell me something good's going to happen. Uh, how did you? How did what's the set up? Where'd you find them mature buck in this kind of situation on a little piece of property? Yeah? Yeah, So a little piece of property. Um, it's a really kind of an interesting spot. Um, it's a little piece of property. And the house on the property is like back towards the back of the property of this forty acres on top of this little ridge. It falls off into this creek bottom. And so there's this two lane you know, basically the driveway that cuts all the way kind of winds around all the way through this property. UM and it's a bunch of it's just real open timbers really all it is UM with some some ridges and stuff, some little rolling hills in it, UM that breaks up the topography a little bit. UM. But it's really just a big open woods with a bunch of hickories and a few oaks. And then in the in the what would be the northwest corner is this heavily um I shouldn't they have it, But it's a it's a about an eight to ten acre patch of like pines and conifers that the landowner planet years ago, just real thick, nasty um vetting stuff that I think a lot of the deer just pile into um because it's the best security cover around um And and really that's where I focused. The majority of my hunting is is on the outskirts of that little chunk of pines that seems to be where all the activity is. UM. So, I think UM had this This general section has not this general property has not been hunted much in the past. UM. So I think they're used to some human disturbance in there with you know, cars going and out all the way through the property. You know, the the landowner box or dog along the along the road and and the lanes. I think they're used to a certain amount of human um no presence um. I just try to still be really careful and calculated about how I get in there and out of there and when I'm hunting it, because it can get blown up really quick to just being a small little property like that. Yeah, I mean you have been careful. I remember a couple of times during the rut and like we're all on the group text exchanging text messages of where you're going, what are you doing? And there were some days that you weren't even hunting on your best spot and and we're like, what are you doing? Man? But you know the fact that there's really just one little courier that's your very best and the best. You've had to get careful. And this this this early November was so weird with the weather. I mean it was so hot, um relatively speaking for like November, and we we had so many days of the same like south southwest winds that it's really difficult to hunt that property in that wind um like like this day, Like if it was if it was both season, I probably would not have gone down there to to hunt that that piece, but given that it was a gun season, I was being a little bit more. I don't not as conservative as I would have been. I was just like, you know what I need, I need to be in there and hunting that. You never know during gun season, who's pushing stuff around and what's happening, and um, you know, throw caution to the wind a little bit. And I and I ended up sorry, I was just gonna add one more piece, which was I remember on that phone call you you were pretty down and kind of frustrated stuff, and and you were talking about like just walking through the pine still hunting it and stuff. And I think I think what I remember telling you was kind of what ended up helping me kill a deer later, which was you know, sometimes you just gotta like, are there still does there? He said, yes, Are you still seeing a lot of doughs moving through? And he said yes, Okay, well then you haven't overpressured that chunk would cover too much yet then, and right now these bucks could be all over the place. If you've got the dos there, just keep hammering that best place until either a buck does come through or the does tell you that you've pressured it too much, um, because I remember you thinking that maybe I've been mucking up, mucking it up too much. And and when you said that you were still seeing all those doughs. I was like, man, you just got to keep on, just keep doing the right thing, and then finally you'll get lucky, which is the thing I kept having to tell myself. And it kind of worked out. But that's that's what you end up doing. You end up going to that corner where you thought you see the worst dos, right, yep, exactly, That's exactly what happened. I ended up going to that um that same spot little ground blind I had sat opening. I guess it was not opening day. I said that the second third day of gun season. UM. And I just said, I'm going back and going back there and we'll see what happens. And and uh man. I wasn't set up for more than minutes, and I saw Spike come out of the pines and go up over the uh the lane, and he was there's a food plot in the neighbors. I was kind of set up between my um, the betting on on my property and then the food plot out of the the neighbors. Almost in a straight line, and that's where that buck was huddled. Um. And a couple of minutes later he crunch, crunch, crunch, coming back and the other way as I got here, coming back. So I scooped him and I look out and I just see times. Um, I got up. That's a shooter. And I just kind of went into all the pilot mill. I can't even tell you that everything. I don't even remember if I stopped him or what, but um, he stopped and and I shot and hit him, hit him a little back, and he kind of bounded into the um kind of the first oral pines there and started walking down back in my direction and gave me a little spot where I could squeeze one more off at him, and and I ended up dropping him right there, right in the pines. And and uh, I didn't have any blood tracking to do, which was nice. So that was that was definitely the high. That's the first buck in Michigan I've killed in a number of years and by far my best Michigan buck. And and that, like I said, you can all change in a second, and totally changed how my outlook was on my season. Yeah. So after so that all happened did so. So sometimes after you have like a conclusion like that where where the season ends in one way or another, um, you're able to see other things that led up to that in a different way or more clearly. So when you look back on your season now after you had that happy ending, um, do you look back and say, oh, you know what, I did do some things right that I'm proud of or there you know, even though it was tough of him that moment, you know, actually I was doing something that I can learn from. Uh. I guess what I'm trying to say is when you look back in your season, what are you most proud of or what can you point to as being like, oh, yeah, this was I was doing this right right? Yeah, I think, um, yeah, that's a good question. And I thought about that a little bit. And you know, not even just this season, but like for the last several years, it's kind of really like, um, doing the right things and making sure that I'm preparing right and all that kind of stuff, because it can, you know, it can change in a second. And I think in past years and they've been down and maybe not just hunting as much, and and um, you know, I think The one thing that I did do right on that piece was for the most part, being somewhat conservative on it and not hunting it in bad conditions, not being done with my access, um you know, making sure that deer we're still comfortable around there, um, you know, not walking all over it and checking jail cameras. It's it's so easy to want to go check chail trail cameras. But I was very cautious about that, maybe too cautious. I wish I would maybe do it a little bit more, have a little bit more like you know, valuable recent and for um, But I just I haven't done that. Um. So I think that's one thing I'm very been very smart about limiting my my pressure on that property, um to where I haven't ran a bunch of deer out of there. Yeah, it certainly seemed to make a difference. I mean, the fact that you still had a bunch of deer they're hanging out there three or four days in the gun season. Uh, that was that was key. That was key, and daylight acted and that were daylight active too. I mean that was like three thirty I think something like that when I shot that deer well before shooting. Like, remember getting the phone call from you. We talked a few hours earlier, and then you're calling me again. It's like four o'clock or something like that, and I'm like, man, he this phone call. I remember seeing the phone and I was like playing with the kids, and I saw the phone call come through, and I thought one or two things. Either number one, he just shot a buck and he's called because he shot a buck, or number two or number two he was so frustrated he decided to call off the hunt completely and turned round. That may have been me in the past, you know that, that may have been what I've done in the past, like screw it, you know, I'm not going in there. Winds bad and just bailed. But um yeah, I just yeah, it's one of those things where, yeah, I've been smart about it. Maybe that wasn't the smartest spot to be sitting that day with that wind, but I think because I had been smart other times of the year, I think that was that ultimately benefited me for that particular hunt. Yeah, yeah, Sonny, how it all works out sometimes like that. Um yeah, yeah, man, that's awesome. That's uh. That was definitely my That was definitely my high and then I did have another really awesome hunt this past weekend shot. I ended up filling my public land aunt with this tag. Um on a on a fun little hunt with somebody's that we you know, went and bumped around a little bit of a few betting areas and some public and some real marshy stuff. We had eads on. We're we're wading through like waist deep stuff and get into some of these little islands and pockets of bedding and uh it, it it has a lot of fun. We had a we had a blast um and ended up getting lucky and filling my dough tag midday um the last day of muzzle lotter season, So that was a lot of fun. Did anybody else see any deer? Were you the only one to see that? Those are the only that was the only deer we saw the whole day. And it wasn't even any of our group that push that deer. We had just gotten set up and they were taking up we had like a boat and so they took the boat around the other side. There's actually a couple of trappers that pulled up onto this little um marshy area where there were some I think some muskrat dens that they were gonna set some traps on. They started, you know, they got their axes out and hacking down some stuff, and I, I guess there's two. I only saw one, but they popped out right there, and and man, it was crazy to see where they were betted at, Like um you had to have water access to to get in there to see them, and they were sitting there where they could see everything coming in. UM. So it's pretty pretty cool to see where they came from and how they were using that little piece UM at this point in the year when there's been so much pressure on him. Did those trappers did you talk to him afterwards? Did you scare the crap out of him? I probably did. I probably didn't scare him, but I knew right where they were and it wasn't it wasn't in their direction, so it all worked out well. But um, we ran into them at the boat launch and and we just kind of told him we're gonna be out there, and they told us the same, and and so they we had just dropped off um myself on one of the other guys, uh, right by them where they were, so they knew we were up in there, So it was. It was all good. But I'm sure they sure they need to check their underwear after that. Yeah, that's awesome, that's we do. It must have been a chore getting her out of there. Do you have to uh float her out in the waiters or just throwing the canoe? No, it's actually we Yeah, we put her right in the boat. We killed her in like the edge of the timber in the marsh and and uh just drugger to the We could drive the boat right up to that marshy stuff and and loaded her in and and got her out pretty easily. So, um, it was. It was a pretty good, pretty good set up. But you know, like like you were talking about Whateverett, like, man, haven't now have wade to see a couple of deer? Um, he's I think he's gonna love it. Man, he's, Um, I got that doe hanging in the garage right now. And every time someone goes in the garage, dope dope just imitates like that dough and then you know dough and then buck and so he's he's all about it, and he'll touch the deer and check him out, and everything to him right now is no it gets like very animated about it. But like I think a lot of times there's no means yes, and so just no no, no no. He was like you want to touch it? No, no, no, But then he touches it right like so he's just like loving it and and uh yeah he's he's Uh. I think he's gonna be very much like Everett and wanting to go and track jobs and do all that kind of stuff. So I'm excited about that. Yeah, it's it's the best. It's the best. Oh man. Um, So let's let's wrap up with this. It's New Year's Eve when it's coming out, so let's uh, let's lay out a new Year's resolution for each one of us. You have anything in mind? I had, I had something that I was thinking about, So maybe I can go first and give you a second. Um. I think for me, my New Year's resolution, UM, is to practice what I preach. This what I preached a lot this year, and that the past couple of years I've been trying to do better at But I think next year is gonna be harder to do. Which is I want to keep up the mentorship. I don't want to be a couple of years and done type of thing. Even though the back forty is gonna be wrapping up next year. UM, I want to make sure to find a way to fit that into my schedule. So gonna hold me accountable next year, Josh, I need to mentor I need a mentor two at least next year, so I know I'm gonna do at least one on the back Ford through the program that we're putting together, but I need to do at least one more at a minimum, if not more. So that's gonna be my years resolution. UM, do that help some more people out share those experiences? UM, I gotta make sure I keep I gotta keep that up. So that's gonna be mine. Um yeah, that's that's that's my goal. I can, I can. I can say that. You know, looking back on this past year. Last year, I think my resolution was to get better at handling um you know, moment of truth shots and then also to become more adaptable my hunting style, and and I sort of achieved those. I definitely got way more like adaptable mobile. I if I'm proud of myself or anything this past year, it was that I was more aggressive and mobile and and quick to adapt to change than I've ever been by long shots, So that year or this this year, that's the big thing. I'm proud of, the moment of truth thing. I've had my win, I've had my good, my bad. I missed tran, but I got a good shot with my boat the drop time back on the back forty um, and then killed two deer with my gun now um, which both went pretty decent. So um So I'm gonna give myself a B on that and an A on being adaptable, and I need to get an A plus on mentorship next year. That's that's my end of year assessment there. What do you got? Yeah, a couple a couple of resolutions for I've got a few things I want to make sure I do. One similar to you is keep up the mentorship. Um. I want to make sure I'm getting people out. I've taken several people out over the last couple of years through our programs, and I actually have not set with anybody who's kill a deer yet. So I'd really like to um get a hunter their first year, UM being their personal mentor so that that would be awesome. UM. So I need to to make sure I'm doing the things I need to do there to make that happen. UM too, I need to get my mental game right with my bow. Um whether that's changing some uh maybe it's a release, maybe it's um some other aspect of my shooting. I need. I need to get that figured out and really dive into that and see what's going on there. UM. And number three, I'd like to I'd like to kind of force myself to to maybe make a few um, kind of put together a little bit more of a of a habitat plan for um, this little chunk of property that I hunt, that little forty acres the landowner has that I can do some some minor improvements to us. So I'd like to um kind of challenge myself to think outside of the box. They're and not really having a ton of tools at my disposal of in terms of like equipment and stuff like that, but using the chain, so I'll use use some hand spreaders, UM, do a little bit of a maybe a small food plot, carbon a small food plot, or or do some sort of habitat improvement project down um at that place and make it a little bit better. Um. I'm have a test side of things. Nice. I love it, so yeah, you got your you get your work cut out for you, buddy. I do, I do, I do. Well, that's what the end of the year is all about, is uh, setting setting high hope so the next year and then very quickly failing, right, get kicked off and right away I'll screw it up somehow. Yeah, exactly. Need I need to write those things down now and put them like I'm a computer or something like a sticky note on a computer. Some seen it every day, so I don't let myself fail on them. Yeah, that's a very good point, man. All right, Well, let's let's wrap this up so people can get to their New Year's Eve festivities and send the year out hopefully on a really high note. Um, it's good to end the year with you, buddy, it's good to begin it. It's good to end it. And uh and let's uh, let's hope is uh better for a number of reasons for for everyone, So hopefully hopefully we get the year started off good. Agree with that, thanks man, Yeah, thanks for having appreciate it, all right, and now we're gonna hop over to my conversation with Luke Torkleson over at WEATHERB talking late season firearms all right with me. Now on the line is Luke Torkleson. Luke, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks glad to be here. Mark, I'm glad you are to this is uh, this is that time of year when a lot of people are are busting out the rifuler shotgun or whatever it might be in their state and area and heading out for some fun late season hunts, you know, around the holidays. I know, for me, this is my favorite time of year to fill dough tags. So it seemed like we really need to get an expert on that kind of stuff on here. So so thanks for making this happen so close to the holidays too. I know it's a busy time of year for you. It is a busy time of year. It's a it's a crazy busy time generally for the firearms industry, but especially in this crazy year. So I'm happy to be on with you though. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's for sure. So real quick, before we dive into some of the kind of the information piece of this, can you just give us a little background as far as your story. You know, how you got to do and what you're doing within the firearm industry and what exactly you do now today? Yeah, great question. I'll probably start with where I'm at and work backwards a little bit. But UM, I'm the vice president of sales, Marketing and product development and that also entails customer service here at Weatherby and UM I've been here about two and a half years, UM with super fortunate to get to move to the great state of Shridan, Wyoming. UM. If you don't know, UM whether we moved to hear it and uh they announced their move at the beginning of two thousand eighteen. UM as one of the first part of the new team hired. And we've built a new team here and shared in from about eighteen team members that moved with company from California to share it in and we're about a hundred strong now. And uh. Then it's been a crazy wild ride. But UM my foray into the outdoor industry started uh quite a few years ago, UM with Coleman the outdoor Company. UM I came up through the product management product development side of things and originally was in the construction products industry. And I just always loved being outside. I actually didn't grow up hunting. I just always had been a gear head. UM I grew up outside and college as a whitewater rafting guide and just love being outdoors and really hunting became more of a passion just to spend more time outside. Really decided I wanted to work in an industry where I was able to play, and uh I got into Coleman the Outdoor Company. Went from Coleman to Bear Archery, Bear Archery to Walter Arms, and now Walter to Weatherby, and uh man, I feel like I'm home here in Wyoming and with Weatherby, it's been awesome. Yeah, it seems like at least from every dancing social media you have made up for lost time when it comes to hunting with a whole lot of pretty uh pretty awesome hunting adventures. It looks like over recent years, huh I have. I I've been crazy fortunate. This year has been one for the record books for me personally. I've never been to Alaska before and got to go twice this year. I got to do a e I y caribou hunt up on the North Slope and then went back months later on a moose hunt um and was able to score both times. And just yeah, and it just that was getting just getting started for the season. Able to feel pretty much all my tags in Wyoming this year and a couple of other states as well. So no complaints this year, that's for sure. Yeah. The hunting, uh for for those of us who had good seasons, it made up for a weird and a lot of other ways. So uh, what about the what about the white tail side of things out there? By you guys? I know, um, I know that there's actually some pretty good deer in that neck of the woods, isn't that the case? Yeah, maybe not compared to some of the Midwest white tails, but um, I think that there are some pretty good to you here. I think the best deer shot this year that that we know about. I actually just got the Wyoming um Outfitters Journal yesterday, and I believe the best white tail shot in the state this year was like a one seventy. Nice. It's a good buck, a great luck. I think thrilled the shoot of one seventies most would, um, but right here where we're at and shared in um, if you if you see a one fifty, you better you better be pumped to pull the figure right away. Um, we've got We're we're right on the edge of white tails really being a problem here because of the mule deer population. That's why everybody wants to see thrive. And as you know, the white tail are quite a bit more aggressive and prolific than the mule deer. And so we've got we've got some private land here that if you drive out on some roads any given evening you could see it's it's not an overestimate state. You could see thousands of white tailed deer in an evening on the field like it's it's ridiculous. So, um, we've kind of got an issue with private land versus public land and access uh and and how that all works out. But man, there's there's tons of deer. There's almost too many white tails. It's it's becoming an issue for sure. C w D is creeping into and it's it's problematic. Yeah, that's a good point. I was about to make light of it and talk about how I wouldn't mind that that many deer, But but you're right for in a more serious note that the yes, there are some serious management disease implications. So I guess that the point being that I probably needed other and help out and try to call some of the population. No doubt that buck hunting can be a little bit tricky because they like to hang out in the flattery areas for whitetail anyway, where where it's a lot of private land. But after buck season's over, it's pretty easy to get permission if you're just on a meat hunt. I want to go shoot some doughs, and it's pretty easy to get access for for for dope patrol, Yeah, which is which is a whole lot of fun. That's that's exactly what I'm on right now here in Michigan. It's still patrol. And and put my first one down a couple of nights ago, and I guess it's it's got me thinking about this whole topic that I wanted to bring up with you, which was late season firearm hunting. Um, you know, I've I've I've done it with rifles and muzzleloaders and shotguns and everything in between. And regardless, it just seems like things seem to go haywire on occasion when stuff is really cool or when it's yeah, just inclement weather, snow, when frigid temperatures. It just seems like these variables can can throw off a hunt and nobody wants this thing they've worked all year towards to then get botched because of some weird equipment issue or something they hadn't thought about as far as how weather or or whatever could impact things. So I was just kind of curious if this is something that you or anyone at weather be has, you know, spent some time thinking about as far as special considerations to think about at this time of the year, whether it be in that you know, zero degree, whether or whether it be in really windy blizzards, or anything that jumps to mind that you guys think about as far as that kind of situation when you're out there with a gun. Yeah, there's a couple of things. So I think there's actually two parts to it. There's UM in the field and then after, and I think they're they're both important. UM, especially after if you're in UM wind driven rain or or heavy snow, Potentially I get water into places in your in your rifle that it's not been before, and it's going to require a lot more meticulous cleaning, even if it's a stero coated You know that we were like man Sarracoa's great corrosion protection, but man, even when you're applying seracode. At the manufacturing level it is it can be tough to get it in the smallest nooks and cranny inside the trigger group and all that. And when you start getting forced elements in there where they don't belong and you you put a gun away, or even worse, you you leave it in a soft gun bags, like in your car for a couple of weeks. UM you're asking for some corrosion problems in the field. UM. I think that just taking an extra level of precaution around how you're carrying your gun, UM goes a really long way. Uh. We do a lot of back country hunting here in Wyoming in the Midwest that might look a little different, but um Man, just trying to cover up as much as you can. Most people want to cover their scope obviously, but if you can cover up the action area and and you're trigger, I mean where the trigger shoe comes out of the action, there's generally a pretty big gap in every rifle on the market. UM. And if you get junk in there, even just moisture, you may not have the desired effect or the normal trigger feel that you're used to. UM. I have one freeze up on me A couple of years ago where I was crossing a creek and I kind of took a stumble and splashed some water up. Didn't think anything of it, but then that water froze and actually didn't get up in my trigger group. But just like the way I was holding the rifle, the water hit the trigger. It's just like perfectly unfortunate. But the drip, imagine the rifle be in vertical and then water dripping off the back of the trigger, and it's it's like blocked. It froze and then blocked the trigger from being able to pull back far enough to actually break this fear, and so it almost rendered the rifle and nert And so you just gotta be extra careful. I think on how you're carrying your gun is really important. M what about the the muzzle, the opening at the end of the barrel itself. A lot of people will put tape over the end of the muzzle. Is that something that you think is worth doing or is there any worry with how that might impact anything downrange? I am a big fan of covering the muzzle. Um, I think it should be done. I do it no matter the weather. Again, that country hunting, whether it's pine needles or whatever else that might get in there. But if you get moisture in there, water water doesn't compress, So if you get enough moisture inside the barrel, you it could get dangerous. Number one. But number two, even if it's not an actual safety concern, um, it could affect how your bullets traveling, and so keeping keeping your bore free of obstruction is is I think it's paramount, so speaking about you know, shooting in those situations, so keeping them clean that makes sense, keeping anything from getting down there. What about the impact of cold temperatures on ballistics or the impact on a bullet I've read I don't know much about this stuff myself, but I've read and seen some things about how ultra cold weather supposed we can have some impacts on that. Is that something that your average hunter needs to think about when it comes to this kind of thing. I think every rifle is a little different. Um, how how you're done reacts to temperature is probably best not left to chance, right, So it may not be possible, but if it is possible, I think it's a great idea to experiment in different temperatures. UM. If a if a massive cold front. First one of the season is moving through and you haven't had a chance to go mess with your particular rifle. UM, I think you need to be aware of your shot distance. I think out to a hundred yards you're probably not going to see a massive variation. But if you're talking about shots from a hundred to three and beyond, then I think you really need to understand what what's happening with your particular firearm. UM. Even gun to gun, same model, you could see a slight variation. Every every barrel is different. There's a lot of science behind it, but I'd like to say there's a lot of voodoo too, And I don't think even the best ballistic expert can understand the exact voodoo. Why one barrel that's come off the exact same production line, the exact same rifling, everything is the same, may may react completely different. It's wild. So if given the opportunity to um shoot or or test your your weapon in a sub zero environment, it's not fun, but head to the range if you can, and to just see what's happening. UM. I think it's I think it's wise to do that, especially if you're you're chasing out big buck and you don't want to leave anything to chance, right, No, no, you don't. You definitely don't want that to be the thing that ruins the hunting there at the end. That's for sure. Now, what about another thing that might come up at this time of year, which is, you know, when you get that nasty cold coming through, it's it's usually paired with a storm. So you've got the snow blowing and you've got some significant wind. Maybe yeah, but you're a trooper and you're still out there, Uh what what speed wind? Do you start worrying about wind deflection? And or what distances as far as your target being? Do you worry about that at a hundred fifty yards or how many? That's so I almost would say that's the how long is a piece of string? Question, which is like, you got it. You need so many more inputs to solve that blistic solution. I mean, are we talking about like a three fifty legend where you're sending a pretty low BC bullet at a at a at a low velocity, then you're going to see substantial wind variation versus like a weather b If you're shooting our six three hundred with a HIGHBC hundred and forty grain bullet at almost per second, I would say, yeah, don't don't worry about wind out to two yards almost no matter what it's blowing. Um But if you're if you're using a bigger, slower bullet, for sure you can see some deflection um even at a hundred yards. Hopefully not enough that it's going to affect hitting the kill zone at a hundred yards, but um man, anything's possible depending on how stiff that wind is. And really the blistic coefficient of the bullet and and the velocity I think are the two most important factors there. So so really knowing your rifle and knowing your what you're what you're putting through it, and exactly how it's going to react. I mean, like you said, so much this comes down to the specifics that something that I'm lt I sometimes is wanting to stick too simple and not dive into the details when it comes to firearms though, and really getting the very most out of out of your cartridge and your and your rifle that's you need, you really should go deep into it. Yeah. I am not a professional sniper by any stress of the imagination, um, but I do recommend to people that I think it's good to to train or practice at at nearly double the distance that you're comfortable harvesting an animal at. So if if you're only gonna feel comfortable shooting to three yards, I want to be or have the guy I'm hunting with, I want them shooting at six and understanding what what they're guns doing at six yards because it just completely increases the confidence that you're going to have a three D. Yeah, yeah, that makes this makes a lot of sense. And the same same principle, same theory applies to bow hunting lots of times, right you if you want to shoot a deer at forty yards, you better be practiced at sixty yards, and then that forty yard shot is a piece of cake. Exactly the same obviously magnified greatly by by archery, but exactly the same principle for sure. Yeah, that that training and pushing yourself in training just it's it's never a bad idea, it's never it's never gonna hurt you in the long run. Um okay, So, so, cold temperatures and winds certainly can impact you depending on your setup, even when you're hunting in white tail country, shooting a hundred yard shots or two hundred yard shots. But what you alluded to this in the beginning, but a lot of a lot of making sure your gears and working order is taking care of it afterwards. Um you mentioned, you know, don't put it in a soft case and leaving your truck for two weeks or something like that. What are the what are the things that somebody should do immediately like that they come in from the hunt and before they put it in the truck or the house or the case or whatever. It is. It as simple as just just wipe it down with a dry rag or is there anything else on there? Do this immediately checklist when they're coming in after a cold, snowy day. Yeah, definitely. It depends on the rifle. Again, if if it's a stainless steel rifle, or if it's Sara coated, or if it's carbon steel that's been blued. Um, it all looks a little bit differently, but I think at the core it depends on the conditions. If you were out and it was um when they and any form of moisture, snow or rain, you need to get the bolt out and do your absolute best too at a minimum, clean throughout that action the best that you can and apply some oil so that there's some protection there. I like to leave mine out for a little while before I do that, so that any moisture that was in there can dry a little bit um and then go through the cleaning process. You're not going to get a lot of oxidation in just a few minutes. We're the super dry climate here in Wyoming, so keep that in mind. If you're down in Louisiana and you're like humidity, it's probably not going to dry and you need to You need to take a little extra steps to get every bit of water out of that action area that you can. I mean the way that the lugs of every rifle are gonna fit, with the mating lugs, with the barrel or the action. You have got to make sure that you get all the water out of there or you're gonna run into problems down the road. Um, and then the board I think is super important. If you hadn't protected the muzzle end and you get any moisture down there. Even on most serracoated rifles, there's still gonna be a carbon steel barrel. There's no stereocoat inside the actual bore of the rifle. You need to be running some rods through there with with a patch with that's got some protectible oil on there, or you're gonna build up some some corrosion that's going to affect your bullet performance down the road. Putting the gun away dry is critical. If you don't do that, you're asking yourself for problems. Yeah, Now what about going from different temperature zones? So by that, I mean you're outside hunting it's freezing cold, and then what if you were to bring it inside the house where it's warm, and then I I you worry about condensation and stuff like that. Do you recommend anything around that. Should you leave it outside for a while, Should you bring it in and then wait an hour and then dry off and everything? That? Is that something you think about. I like to bring my gun inside and then you know, take care of my other stuff first, um, whether if there's meat involved or clothes, whatever, try to get that stuff taken care of. It would be a pretty extreme instance that condensation is gonna build up on your on your gun like it would on a on your your coker beer can, Right, But if it was in the bed of your truck and it's sub zero and you come in and it's seventy degrees and you've got the fireplace going. Yeah, it's possible, especially if it's in a soft case. Um. It seems to we get most of our service call are on rifles that have been blued that gets stored in the soft case where they come back in any bit of moisture just kind of it's like it's like wapping, wrapping your barrel and a wet rag. It's like it's just it makes it worse, and you get these oxidation issues in a beautiful blued rifle. It's it's brutal. So I to get it out of the stop case as quick as you can, if there's any way to get some air circulation on it to bring it up to kind of room timp then clean it and then store it. Okay, that that makes a lot of sense. And then I guess the final thing then is we're doing that. We've we've filled their dough tags or a last buck tag. We've put a couple of deer in the freezer. The season ends, I know a lot of folks will just shelf the gun. I've been guilty of this in past years. I shelf it, and then I kind of forget about it because I've moved on to all these other things. And then six months passes by or ten months passes by, and then it's September and I'm thinking, I got a gun hunt coming up soon. I better get that out. And then I realized that I didn't do my end of your maintenance on it, or I didn't do something quite right, and there's there's some rust or or something goes wrong. I am guilty of that, I admit it, and I hate myself for that. Um, can you walk me through what the correct postseason process would be as far as cleaning, storage, any maintenance related thing to make sure that we are doing this one right. If so, I would just say, there's a precursor to this question. If the last shot that you fired hit where you wanted it to hit them, in your confident and you're set up, then then go through just like I said before, get everything dried up, cleaned up, and then I'd say, apply a pretty liberal amount of oil into the bore of the barrel or on a pat or two through there so it's got a protective coating. Be a little more liberal in that bolt and um action mating surfaces so that you're good. You can store that thing for years if need be. Now, if you weren't confident in the last trigger, poole, if the bullet was like, man, I don't know that that impacted where it was supposed to impact. I recommend you go and get that sorted before you put the gun away for the season, because you don't know. If you hopefully you remember to get your gun out before next season, then and get it dialed again. But I like to put it away with confidence so that if a buddy calls, like, man, I'm having a coyote problem, you want to come toot so kyotes with me, Like, I don't have to worry about anything, Like I know, I'm confident in the condition of the gun when it's put away. Yeah, that's that's a good forward thinking move that I will aspire to be on top of it as well as you are, Luke, I to like that. That's that's good. Um okay, So get it all taken care of in that kind of way, and then um put it in the safe and and call it good. Huh. That's it. Yeah, I like said, I like to know the condition of every firearm that I've got so that they're we're talking about uh when it hits the fan type of moment, or if we're talking about UM, an impromptu hunt or opportunity to go to a shoot that I know with be on the shadow of a doubt that I have to pick up in your rifle in my safe and it's dialed and ready to roll, and the next time I pull a trigger, I know where that bullets going to go. I think that's I think that's important. Yeah, well, you know it's It's so in line with almost everything else with deer hunting. It comes down to the details and executing on all the little things you know you need to do. And if you pay attention to those little things and you follow through on them, whether it be properly taking care of the gun while you're out there in the field, or maintaining it afterwards, or double checking your zero before the end of the year, all that stuff adds up. When you allude to the beginning, there's a lot of stuff we can control. So if this is one thing we can you gotta you gotta check that box. You have to. I think having confidence in your tools, all of them is just so critical. I did one hunt this year, UM where I took a gun that I hadn't had a lot of trigger time, and I had a good buck just passed what I was comfortable with with that rifle because I I wasn't a thousand percent confident in my setup. It was, you know, as a as a marketing side at whether it be I get to do some cool events and I was invited on this hunt. I had to take a firearm that I hadn't hunted with yet and with a round I wasn't familiar with, and I got a little bit of arranged time, but I didn't have it dialed. If I had had a gun I'd been hunting with all season with me, I would have shot a better buck than ended up shooting because I just wasn't confident to pull the trigger at the distance when I encountered this this great white tail. I still got a good one, but it just it bothered me so much that I wasn't a thousand percent confident in my setup that UM, I was like, I'm not doing it like this again. I've got to make sure that I'm full confident in the tool that I have. Because everything else worked out, I could have executed in my shooting ability, but I wasn't competent in my tool and that just hurked me to no end. Yeah yeah, that uh that one will linger, I know how that is. Well, look, this is this is really this is really helpful stuff and in a perfect way for us to wrap up the year. I think there's there's a lot of people that will be putting this kind of stuff into play over the next few weeks, So so thank you for that. And if people want to either follo along with anything you've got going on, or whether it be in general, is there anyone online they can connect or or learn more you bet um, whether it be inc on Instagram, whether be dot com, personally um Luke Torque on Instagram, and um yeah, we're happy to have people come and follow and and see what we've got going on. I think I think as whether be we do a pretty good job with a personal connection to the brand. Adam weather be Um respond to a ton of our Instagram messages and if you've got any questions messages there, send us an email to marketing at Weatherby dot com. Whatever we can do, We're we're accessible and try to respond to everyone. That's awesome. I'll add another plug. Adam was on one of the recent seasons of the Mediator TV show, and my my two year old has been really into watching Mediator on Netflix over the last couple of months, and that episode the Adam was on. The mule deer hunt is one of his favorites. So we frequently will try to play out that hunt and Adam seeing that buck and going in after him, and so my son effort will go running down the hill and then get his gun, his fake gun up and then said, I see antlers. I see antlers, So go go watch that one. That is a good one. That was the two parter too, I think I remember right, and it ends in a crazy fashion with a bit of a old fashioned drive. Yeah. Yeah, they made They made for some interesting, uh some interesting hunts. The that always it's always an adventure of with Steve and Joanny and crew, so uh it it worked out well for him. They put some nice bucks on your ound, no doubt. And I was pretty fortunate back in October to have Steve and Yanni host them down here in Wyoming on an antelope hunt with surprise guest Luke Holmbs, which was which was an amazing experience, really cool trip. Yeah, I've heard from at least Yanna, So that was a really good time. Do you guys had an enjoyable hunt and successful hunt? It looked like, yeah we did, and I believe that will be on the next next year's uh Netflix episodes, But we we did. We had a blast. Luke Holmbs was awesome, better than expect. You never know what you're gonna get with some of those you know, quote unful celebrities, right, but yeah, he was about as normal a guy as you could get. Um that has a fleet of tour buses, you know what I mean, Like you said, that could be you just never quite know where that could go. So I'm glad it worked out. I was talking to I remember sitting in the grocery store parking lot talking to you honest on the phone just before that hunt, and he expressed the same thing as like, you know, I hope this works out, but you just you just don't know. Yeah, we're gonna write it out and see what happens. It's good. All right. Well, look I'll let you get back to all the end of year craziness, but thank you again, and uh, I hope one of these days I'll make it out there to Wyoming and see the see the headquarters and everything, because i've heard it's pretty incredible. Thanks Mark, You're welcome anytime. Alright, and that's a rap. Thank you again for tuning in. Hope you enjoyed this one. A little bit of story time, a little bit of info. I like that mix. That's uh, that's usually kind of makes me try to hit. We just took two different people to do it today. But I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, the first couple of weeks of the year, whatever it might be. Thanks for tuning, and until next time, stay wired to hunt. W do you that