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 Wire to Hunt Podcast. I'm your host, Mark Kenyan. This is episode number one, and today on the show, we're joined by white Tail Properties land specialist and renowned deer hunter Gabe A. Dare, and we're chatting with him about how he killed his biggest buck ever this year and his tactics for late season hunting. All right, welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you by sit Ki Gear, and today we've got a great show for you as we're gonna be joined here shortly by Gabe A. Dare. And Gabe is a land specialist for white Tail Properties and he's been he's been a long time member of that team. If you follow their TV show or just the white Tail Properties, you know, real estate and all that kind of stuff, you've likely seen his name around a lot. Because on top of all that, he's just one of the most consistent and renowned big buck killers out there in the country. So um coming up here shortly, we're gonna chat with him a bit about his two thousand seventeen seasons so far, how he killed his biggest buck to date, and spoiler alert, is a two hundred plus inch buck. It's like two hundred and a lot plus. So we're gonna dive into that and spent a lot of time talking about his tactics and philosophies for hunting the late season. So we're talking about what's coming up here in the coming weeks. But that's our agenda. But before we do that, I'm very pleased to say that we are back this week with our pregame show featuring my good buddy, the nine fingered, big bearded hammer dropping Dan Johnson. I'm good, but you set me up for failure every time you throw one of those intros out. It's like whenever whatever. People see a picture of me, they just look at me like, oh, that guy looks like a huge pussy. He's big. All right. It's been too long since we got to chat together here, I know, man, Just crazy crazy schedules. Yeah, not slately, I apologize, And it's not really like just you've been doing on a crazy schedule and I've been on a crazy schedule. It's just this time of year. Man, it's crazy. Yeah, it's it's a challenge to line everything up between us and guests and hunting and other things. And um man, I don't know about what I think I know, Um, but I've been on a little break from hunting just still today I've finally hunted for the first time in ten days. Um. But how about you? Have you been in the woods? I think I think you have been in the woods since we talked last? Yeah, man, um what was it last Sunday or the Sunday before last would have been Yeah, it would have been two sundays ago. Good. Uh. You know Ben Harshein from hunter maps Man, he's a good friend. He's a good friend of mine, and he invited me out to his uh farm and we've shared a tree together and we both had our bows with us and we're gonna try to double up on on some doze and he gave me the first shot, and long story short, I uh, I laid a dough down that night, and uh, it was just I tell you what, there's something about that scenario where you're sharing a tree with a friend and it's like all we did was laugh, right, I mean that's literally all we did and just cut jokes and you know, finally we saw some deer, and these deer worked their way down and I ended up taking one of them, and he was at full draw at one of them, and and it was kind of behind the limb and he couldn't he couldn't make the shot because he didn't want to, you know, push the shot. And uh, it was just fun. And I think that's something that you know, we it's a different kind of fun when you're not focused on, you know, chasing a buck, and it's just, I don't know, it just kind of re reinvigorates the soul. If that makes sense. Oh, it definitely does. But I love as much as I like chasing you know, big mature bucks. One of my favorite parts of the hunting season every year is either I filled my buck tags or I've kind of said, all right, it's just time to fill a freezer. Whenever I changed my goal from trying to kill a buck, too, it's time to kill a dough. Like those dough hunts are just so much fun. Um, because it's a target, it's gonna be a target rich environment, you know, absolutely. And then to your point, I agree, when it comes to hunting with a buddy, Um, that's that's always love fun. I haven't got to do that this season, um, just because the craziness of what I've been up too lately. But man, I'm glad it went well. It's got a deer on the ground right now. It wouldn't be a podcast if I didn't talk about my kids for a second. Um. And I just have to tell this story because it made me laugh and kind of cry at the same time. And I'll tell you why it made me happy happy tears or sad tears, well, sad tears, but let me explain you'll you'll get it. So the other day and it was what was it? It was actually Tuesday because instead of recording our podcast at the regular time, I was outside playing with my daughter and I said, Ava, how was preschool today? And you know, just like a typical kid, she's oh, it was okay. I'm like, what did you learn? And she walks over to me and she punches me right in the balls and I'm just like, what where did that come from? Where did that come from? Just straight up, straight punch right in the nords? And uh, I was just like, why did you do that? Well? Because I like preschool dad, and I'm just like, what are you learning at preschool? Uh? Did you have an explanation? No more? And kids that are that age don't have explanations for the actions that they do. So how do you how do you handle that? What's the what's the teaching moment? Post? Uh? Nut punch from your daughter? Right? Um? Baby? Like I wanted to throw her in time out, Honestly, I wanted to banker, but I just grabbed her by her shoulder and I said, why did you do that? And she looked at me with these big beautiful eyes and she's like, I like preschool dad. And I think it was because we were kind of rough housing a little bit. You know, we were chasing each other in the yard and you know, tapping each other and and uh, I don't know, but it was kind of funny. And then uh, later that night, my son drank an entire squeeze bottle of concentrate juice mix, this little squeeze bottle. Yeah, oh my gosh. He you shouldn't see him. Oh it looked like he had a melted popsicle all over his face. And then I didn't have to change the next diaper, but because he's still in diapers, but it was red. But so that's kind of what I've been doing now that the bow season is over for me. That's what I do when I tag out kids. But dude, it sounds like you had a like a quick trip across North America this week. Yeah. Yeah, you know. Um, you know, since we last chatted, we well we have. You probably didn't hear our podcast I did with Further. Did I'm sure you didn't because you got better things to do than listen to me talk a little bit of it. Okay, well we were giving you some crap, but um, but yeah, so Further was on and I told him about my latest exploits with holy Field. Um. But long story short, since you and meat yad at last, I did have a handful more encounters with him. Um hunted up till opening day of guns season in Michigan, and then after that, you know, went up north for a few days, and then since the nineteenth of November, I've stopped hunting, and um just had to get back to spending some time with my wife and family and doing some things for Thanksgiving with my family and her family, and just you know, um take care of yeah, important real world responsibilities. Um, so did all that. But then yeah, just a couple of days ago, I flew out to Seattle, Washington, UM to do some stuff with Steve Ranella and those guys. UM did a podcast and we went squid jigging, which was pretty cool. Yeah. So so what does squid jigging entail? Yeah, so basically it entails UM going to appear in downtown Seattle and standing on the edge of that pier with a fishing rod and a jig on the end of it. Basically imagine like, um, it almost looks like a bomber like imagine like those plastic bobbers um, like the long the long bobbers um, but instead of that being a bomber, it's a weighted jig with a bunch of hooks all along the bottom of it. Like, um, have you ever seen those hummingbird feeders that are kind of like still that kind of like a tear drop shape, And then there's that tray on the bottom. Imagine that shape that's the shape of the lure. But instead of that on the bottom, those are all hooks stick sticking up and then you just drop your line over down the pier and you shine this huge light down into the water, which I guess attracts the squid and then you drop this jig down to the bottom and then you just dig it up and down, you know, bob it up and down and let's set and then up and down and the squid attack it and that is awesome. You bring it right on in. So, uh, there was there was well, there's four or five. I guess there was four of us for a period, and then a fifth joined and then Steve's son was there and we caught probably I don't know, maybe a hundred squid or somewhere in that ballpark. Um, so it's pretty cool. It was really cool. The Puget Sound up there is absolutely gorgeous country. Oh yeah, yeah, that Pacific Northwest areas super cool. I you know, I didn't have very much time. I wish I could have spent some more time out there and enjoying the mountains and the the uh the ouned and all that. But it was it was nice to get a really quick little trip in there and brought home a bunch of squids. So calmar is on the menu. You gotta you gotta recipe. Uh, you know, I haven't picked out a recipe yet. I just was you know, they were telling me it could be pretty good grilled or just fried up, you know, calmary style. So I think we'll be we'll be trying a couple of different things. But I got I brought quite a lot home, so, um, we're just gonna try some different things and see how it goes. So yeah, man, that was It was a good quick trip. It was. It was there for I flew flew in there one day and flew home the next day. Um. And then I got back from that last night, and then this morning I drove up to or down to Ohio. Um, but I don't know, hunting here for three or four days, the last few days of their firearm season here. Oh cool. So tonight man, that did not. Um, I didn't get much of a hunt in though. Uh. I got a late start, a little bit of late stuff, maybe a half hour late start this morning. And then um our our podcast guest that I recorded that interview earlier today that kind of had some timing issues of that, so I gotta later start on that and was hoping. So I arrived at the property like a half hour to four or five minutes later than I wanted to, And then I was getting ready and I was all set out, ready to head out, and then the landowner showed up. Um So I stopped to chit chat with the landowner for a couple of minutes, and that one a little longer than I was hoping, so already I'm like, oh jeez, I am not gonna get much time, or nearly as much time as I wanted. And then we say goodbye, and I'm about to walk, you know, out of the gate and into the corn field, and then I hear the landowners start like kind of hollering, like something something bad has happened, and I'm like, I could just keep walking and going and go on, but but no, I had to. I had to turn around and see what was going on. So I went back back and uh, long story short, he had locked his keys in his vehicle. Um. And and this is an older gentleman, um, so I just knew he was gonna need some help. UM. So ended up calling and finding uh tow truck company in the area that could come and um and get the keys out. And I called around different people that might be able to help us find some spare keys around the house, but no one knew everyone was and he didn't know and so he ended up calling a tow truck company and then waited with him for like forty five minutes until they got there to help him out. Um. So, so the result of that was that instead of having like a three hour hunt or four hour hunt that I thought I was gonna have, instead I had By a time all this was done, I had like forty five minutes still dark. So I just snuck out to the edge of the corn field and sat in the ground in some brush just to see if I could see anything. And uh, I did not see anything. So disappointing. Uh, this a pointing night, But that was all right. Had to you know, had to help out. I certainly appreciate this landowner allowing me to hunt there. So at least I could do was help out someone that needed a hand, and um, hopefully better things will come the next three days. Did you at least check trail cameras? Why are you're out there? Well, I was planning on it, but because of the fact I wasn't able to get into the core of the property like I planned on. Um, I just was able to pull one camera that was, you know, easily accessible. So I got one card out and there's three more cards that I'm gonna be able to check tomorrow. So here's a question what happened to that property, because because what was it, I don't know. Last year may not have been as good, but the previous years there was just it was loaded with giants. Yeah, man, it has been going downhill. Um. If I had to put a finger on it, my best guess is that it's been increased pressure. Um. I think one thing for sure is that one of our neighbors. The first three years, nobody hunted that property. Nobody was allowed to hunt it, and now this year and last year it got leased. So there are people hunting our neighbor now that I think in the past that serves the sanctuary, and there's a lot of deer in and around that area that that were coming on to our farm and we were taking advantage of that. Now that's not happening. Um. And then also I saw maybe there's more pressure on the other side because today when I was getting ready, I saw two hunters heading into the other neighbor and I've never seen hunters there ever before either. Um, So if I had guessed that's what I would say. I just think there's more people hunting around, pushing it on all the sides of it. Um, we're just not getting the bucks like we were getting on camera in the past. We're not. It never was a property that I saw a lot of deer. It was always pretty low deer numbers. But you knew that there. You know, if you put in enough time and hunting it smart, if you the few deer you saw, a really good buck could be in that group. Um. Now, you know, Josh, you know, we we've seen one nice buck. You know, I passed. I passed on him twice and then Josh killed him. Um, so that was awesome. But hopefully there's at least one more that that will show up. I just don't know. I don't know. There's you know, there's a chance. There's last time when I was down here, you know that trip when Josh killed his That was like November nine or ten that he killed he he killed his buck the day after you and me record that podcast together. UM. So when we checked cameras on that trip, there's this one buck that um there's one like homebody buck that has been showing up in daylight, and and the one like mature buck that's been consistently on camera. And when I say consistent, it's not like he's there every day, but you know, a couple of times a week or something in some daylight. Um, and he's a he's a really nice buck him. He's probably a definitely a five year old, big body, big framed, probably fifty something, uh nine pointer. I think he is. Maybe no, maybe he's a ten point um but really cool dear that we've had on the property for two years now. Um, So my hopes I'm kind of banking on and hoping that he is, that he's still around, and if he is, you know, maybe we'll get a crack at him over this next month. So I'm a hunt him here these next few days during gun season and then go home and focus on holy Field with a big coal fronts coming through, and then, um, you know, as my schedule dictates, try to get back out here again if if I can't get it done on this trip. So, man, that's that's the latest holy Field showing up on camera in the past couple of days. No, but I haven't checked anything. My cell cameras don't work. None of my cell cameras work anymore. It's a very frustrated situation. Um So I have to cell cameras that are just sitting out there not doing anything for me. Um So yeah, So last time I checked cameras in person was like November twenty or something like that. Um So, I haven't been out in like ten days. So when I get home from Ohio, I'll be checking those out and hopefully we'll get an answer on Holy Field. Um The one piece of good news I do have is that I did do a drive by actually this morning just before I left for Ohio, and I saw the really nice three year old that I've been wanting to survive this year to make it to next year. That Buck I'm calling Survivor. So he is alive and well as of this morning. And today's the last day gun season in Michigan, so if he made it through tonight, he made it through the worst of it awesome. So it would be really nice to know there's a four year old that hopefully can make it to next year, or that there could potentially be a four year old for next year. So fingers crossed. Oh yeah, that's yeah. I don't know what my my late season plan is gonna be. I think there, I think I'm gonna be able to get out a handful of times. Um, I don't have any trail cameras out, so it's just gonna be, you know, because I've had a problem with theft lately out on on the main farm, but um, you know, and also on my buddies farm. But these pictures were during the rut. There are some good bucks running around there. Nobody hunts his little piece, so hopefully it turns into a sanctuary during gun season. Um. And then the neighbor across the creek he has standing food plots and then doesn't hunt the late season. So hopefully on my buddies farm, I might be able to run into something. And then on my main farm, if I do go down and hunt, it's just gonna be a wing it. You know. Hopefully there's some snow I can find some tracks or something to to set up on. But you know, late season is late season. It can be a real struggle, or it can be awesome if you find the food to to something you mentioned there. I sure hope we get some snow and some good late season weather because because right now, at least it's not really it's not really promising. It's been like forties and fifties and not what you wants. So right, absolutely, But next next week Wednesday, we've got like a big twenty gree temperature drop in Michigan, so hoping to take advantage of that. I don't think it rained, but one time the entire month of November here in Iowa, so it's pretty it's pretty dry out there right now with the exact opposite of that where I was, I felt like every single day I was hunting, it was raining. It's brutal, But is uh is North Dakota scratch? Then? For this it's looking like it. Um. The only way that could change is if, like if I kill holy Field next week, Um, then there's still a small chance I could try to mount a late season trip to North Dakota. But it's it's increasingly looking like that's a scratch, which is which is disappointing. But um, you know, I put all my eggs in the basket of holy Field and it's it's a it's just limited things and uh that's the risky take when you hunt one deer man. Yeah it is. And um, we'll see if it's uh if I can make it all worth it, or or if not. I certainly learned something. It's right so well, I think uh, I think this is a good spot to to wrap things up. UM. Let's plan on talking again next week, Mr Johnson and UM awesome updates from my hunts and UM maybe we should go get Gabe there on here with us. But first let's take a quick second to thank our partners at sit Good Gear for this week's Sit Good Story. We're joined by Jake Terry, who tells us about a Nebraska public land hunt where his turkey was well earned. UH. So this spring I headed to Nebraska, UH to go out to western Nebraska to hunt some public land. UM kind of running gun style hunting. UM. I got there and it isn't near as easy as I thought I had to. You know, I was walking up to five miles a day trying to find birds. UM. On the fourth day and was going to be one of the final days of my hunt, had a rainy morning, but had finally found some birds at night before. UM. I had just set a couple of hours in the rain, but once the rain cleared, UM was able to call in a couple of long beards UM from the ground. No blind UM with archery equipment. UM shot a bird at twenty five yards. UM ended up being a really nice bird and kind of the into a um A long drawn out hunt. Uh that I think I probably lost ten pounds that week or go in those four days because I walked so many miles but great hunts. On Jake's hunt, he was wearing sick at Subbalpine Pattern. If you'd like to create the sikest story of your own, or to learn more about Sita's technical hunting apparel, visit sitka gear dot com. All right with us on the line now, is Gabe a Dare welcome the show? Gabe? Yeah, I appreciate you have me. Yeah, I wanted to have you on the show for a long time. We've chatted with a number of other guys from the White Tail Properties team, UM good Buddies Alex Gilstrom, and a a number of other folks within the organization, but I've just always wanted to get to pick your brain because you just seem to be one of the most consistent serious big buck killers UM in the whole crew. So so I'm glad we can finally do this. Gabe, and I guess to to kind of get things started, I briefly introduced you before we jumped on here. But you've been a long time, a long time member of the White Tailed Properties team, both from the real estate side and the TV show side. Um, but can you tell us a little bit from your own perspective about what it is you do and what this experience has been like for you. Um. Yeah, So I've got I'm a sales agent for him. UM. Simple that I work in south central Iowa. I'm the last so grown up there, which I think he goes hand in hand with the real estate and hunting. You know, I grew up in this type of hunting environment my whole life. Um. So when it turned into more of a business, you know, it's already something I've lived so um, very fortunate for that. Um. But I've got, like I said, Um, i share a territory with Derrek grimsdrewd We work south central Iowa. Um. You know. And and it's about it. They know them since day one, kind of helped them build it up, knew about it when it was the idea on a napkin, so to speak. Well, it's gonna be kind of amazing for you to see what it has become now. Isn't it. I mean it's from going to Napkin Stage to uh, you know, such a leader in the space now. Yeah, No, it's awesome. It's grown really fast. We've got tons of you know, really good guys on the team. Um, and I think it's balanced. You know, we've got the right owners and the right people in the right places. Um. You know, we're not all exactly the same. And it seems like, you know, some guy's strengths, you know, pick up for other guys weaknesses, so to speak. And so I think it's just a great balance. Got a really smart business crew. Um. Yeah, it's blown up and it went really fast. And when I got in real estated and I'm not surprised by you know, I've been self employing my whole life. I got out of high school and started a construction business and did that and kind of started guiding and you know through my twenties and you know, love the outdoors, and you know, it kind of worked out because I had a bunch of guys working for me and I could leave in the fall, in the winter and kind of do what I love to do is a side job, so to speak. And then and then the whole you know, the whole real estate ball started rolling, and I went and got my license before we were even a company, and kind of got my feet wet, so to speak. Um, you know, I did a little bit of work, kind of getting getting my toe into the water and uh, and just took on, you know, and it really quickly. I knew that, you know, with the team we had and what we were doing was you know, I knew this guy was a limit. Yeah. Now as I understand it, I don't know the details of it, but I believe you own some you do own some deer hunting ground of your own, and we get a lot of questions about how to get started with that, you know, how can I get my first property, especially for guys that maybe don't have a ton of expendable income but they want to start somewhere. I don't want to spend your whole time talking about this, but do you have any quick tips off the get go for people that want to explore that options someday to become a property owner. Yeah, it's it's like anything, you know, the big ones, just that down pain that that first year, you know, so you've got to be able to you know, save ups in cash. You gotta get yourself in the position. But you at the same time start small. You know, start out with something. You know, um improve it, you know, document it, do all the little necessity so to speak, to make it a better hunting farm. And you know, and for the multipart rights. I'm from land, you know, appreciates pretty well. I mean there's some spots in the road where she went flat line. But you know, if you get into one, do some work, UM, give it a few years, it's gonna appreciate, roll that thing into a little bit bigger, and so on and so forth. I've got a lot of clients that started out with twenties and forties and you know, four or five six huntred contracts now. So it's doable. You know, I got a lot of guys that got average jobs and don't have millions in the banks, so to speak. But it's like anything, if you really want to do it, if you're passionate about it, you know, you work hard at it and it'll come around. Yeah. That's that's the truth that, like you said, just about anything in life, so put your mind is something you can make it happen. So speaking to speaking of making things happen. Um, from what I've seen from the outside, it looks like you've had a really good two thousand and seventeen season. I think I saw If I'm wrong, but I think I saw that you killed your biggest buck to date. Is that true? Yeah? I got lucky this year. Man. It was a good one. Um, it was. It was a big non tiftical that we passed last year as a four year old, and it just all lined up. And it's a long story. Yeah, I mean, I'm more nappy to talk about it, but it lined up and and uh, you know, we dug in on and real hard. Once we got him in the area of the farm we wanted him and we expected him to get into and we just borrowed in like a tick and and got him killed. It took about a week, you know, from from what we really got after him to killing it took about a week. And we we played the edges and we were smart, but you know, we dug into that farm. I didn't go anywhere else. I had zero interest and hunting. We're looking at anything other than him. We dug in and it all worked out in together, you know, just uh, an awesome hound gotta got a good pre role, come out fed the food plot bumps some does you know past you know, a couple of forty five yard shots which I had no intention to take in and ended up at thirty And we got a good hit on him and he didn't get out of food plots. So it was awesome. That is awesome. Now, I gotta tell you I like long stories, So can you give us the full detailed kind of saga of this buck how it went from passing him last year to your plan coming into this year, and how it all kind of worked out in detail? Yeah? No, absolutely. Um So last year he showed up on the farm late November. Um, couldn't I've gotten in my later years the last few years, I'm not as good about keeping some of the pictures I probably should. I deal with such a high volume, and then I'm starting to I don't know, don't I call a snob, but I'm getting to wors sometimes I'll maybe not save some of the stuff that I should. Well, anyways, last year we went back here. You know, when he showed up, I started digging. I couldn't place him. Um, I knew he wasn't a five year old You know, it was one of those year I was he was a four year old UM and he showed up I'm gonna say November eighteen twentieth right there when we started getting pictures of him, immediately decided to pass the news on the farm. He spent the rest of the year there. You know, he was there all fall, all winter after that. UM never did find his sheds. And I'm not a big shed guy, you know, I don't spend a lot of time. I got other stuff like doing the spring was going. Never got his shed, but he was in there all when we knew that. So and in that in that part of the farm has got some really good betting and it's kind of going to that deer do gravitate. So this year, you know, he was on the radar, so you know, but I was worried he was gonna show up later November like last year. Last year, he had UM a nice standpoint frame, good mask, good time length, and he had to he had a G two and G three on his uh right side that we're deep four like deep porch is in common base. I mean they were big deep for you know. So he had a couple of a couple of really big split times there and uh, you know, we got this thing could really be something cool next year. Well, this year rolls around saying, get we didn't get any pictures of them. I didn't expect to. You know, you hope too, but we're not expecting to. Um. We finally laid eyeballs on him, you know, doing a lot of glass, and we finally got eyeballs on him. And then once we've seen him, and I wanted to say, I was around November one. He was really close. And so now my wheels returned, I'm thinking, I wonder if last year, maybe you know, he was in here earlier, and I you know, realized, well, sure enough, we got the right wind to check a couple of cameras on the third and he had already been in there. And so immediately, you know, once we got the new pictures, you know, we've already seen him, so we knew what he had done, not with detail, but we do he was bid. When I was figuring he was a two hundred innch animal, um, you know, right in And so once we started getting pictures of him, it was a lot easier to really start critiquing and digging and looking, and we knew he was really good. Um didn't realize that he was as good as what he actually is, but we knew he was two hundred plus and and so we got after it. Um the first the first night, the night we pulled the cameras and got pictures of and then next morning my first move, Um, we went and jumped in the set that was on the edge of betting. Wasn't in the thick betting, but it was on the edge. We had the right wind, it was easy to get into. Hadn't been in that stand all year. I got him be twoint of five years. So my first move was like you know, moved upon up one step and foom, he was the first year we've seen that morning. Um, he come up the crick bottom really fixed uff and he got to a point where nada scrape. And I thought, Okay, if he keeps coming up as crick he's gonna be right in the power out you know, anywhere from a twenty to forty yards shot. If he he turns to his right, it's not gonna be good. Hey, he's gonna be I mean exactly dead down wind of us and you know, fifty yards once he makes that direction and two. There's just no shooting lens there. It's all hedge and nasty and it's just thick. And so sure enough, he goes the wrong way. And I'm a big ozonics guy, um you know, we've ran him for years. I swear by him. Um. Well, anyway, he gets to directly down wind at thirty forty yards and he does what most of all do your do when you're using them correct lazy stops kind of looks over in our direction and you can see that, you know, like always they know something there. He's kind of looking around, trying to feel things out. And as you know, I thought that here's our moment of truth. Ensure enough, you know, a couple of seconds of sitting there look in our direction, he flickers his tail, starts walking, goes right on through them, like perfect, Okay. When that happens to yeah, at that point, it's like, all right, we just dodged the bullet. We're good. You know. Now out I needed to make a move, you know, somewhere to get a shot. So he comes down this trail. I knew at one point if he pops out of this trail to kind of heeps it out of the brush and go up into the field. I knew right when he hit that other that other trail, that was gonna be my shot twenty five yards. And so I'm at full draw along before he gets there, and I'm tippy toning up and down out and rubbing the tree. And later on looking at the camera, it's kind of funny because I was all over trying to just find a hole and there and there wasn't so and so I I let him go. I didn't even I wasn't about to force it. You know, this animal, I I knew once he got in here, his days we're probably numbered with me. Um. So I wasn't gonna push it. I wasn't gonna take a chance. Um. You know. I really wanted to get in with a boat, of course, but I wasn't gonna push it. So we let him walk and uh, and he went right up into the main, Betty, and he was headed in the same direction of all the food sources and food plucks. And I thought I killed him on that food pluck. Tonight, I know I can, but the wind was dead wrong. When I say dead wrong, like dead wrong, and then we can't get in, you know. And that's what worried me. Is you know, once I get into a blinder stand, I'll push the limits anymore because of our seeing control. And it was Onyx and I really will. I'm pretty pretty ballsy when it comes to making a push on a big deer. But we couldn't get in. I mean, there's just no way to even get there, you know. I mean so which I've walked to those NICs in my head before, but I just wasn't gonna thirty. He wasn't gonna push this too early. So the next day we slipped in there wind turns around, we slipped into that food and plot pull the camera twenty yards in front of blind it like four or fifty, I mean tons of daylight left. There's just point right front in front of the ground life. So you know now now you know, I know he's in my wheelhouse and I'm worried. You know, he he didn't have a dough at this point. I'm worried. You know, man, he's gonna get dough here and it's getting you know, it's right, he's moving a lot to find one. Well that next morning, um, we didn't hunt, you know, I didn't want it that we'll closh it the window isn't right, and I'm big on that. I'll I'll take my shots. I'll be patient, and I don't really go to glass something then to go for some a move. And so you know, we that next morning we did a little drive around shure En else he's with a doll, um you know, so we uh, we basically held off. You know, at that point, I knew it was gonna get a little cover because he'd gotten with a doll and so you know, we browed into the food. I thought, you know, at this point, I hope she dragged into the food or he breaks loose and uh, you know, they end up on this food source. So we literally dug in, and I mean dug in. We were leaving all of our equipment, all of our bows are you going? We took out with batteries and and so we we were able to get in and out of this food source. Um literally with deer in the field getting in during the field getting out, um, you know, multiple days in a row about ever getting any sort of you know, busted. How do you how do you think you're able to do that? Which is just because you had planned out great access and entry routes already or were you doing something different now that that was pretty content. I mean when I get these big year, I started making plans for next year this, you know, and so and so we were lucky enough to have corn on the farm, and you with corn, you know these ground blinds. I mean we can just walk down rows. I'll even going with machette and we'll just trim back maybe one road to give us extra room. And and you can get right up in the back of them blinds, you know. And it's funny because I knew cameraman this year, and I don't think he'd ever experienced I like, but you know, we can get in, we can get out, you know, you wait till good and the dark. There can be thirty deer in the field, and you know some of them are only twenty arts. I mean, we can't get out. And it's kind of funny if you get away from the blind you start walking down the trail and you almost start laughing because you know they don't have the flue. You know, it's just because so so I've gotten really good at that. That's a big part of the strategy. I I uh, I'm huge on in and out, you know, I feel like if a lot of these big beer, if you can consistently sit on them and not booger it up, they're good. And you know they're not gonna be there every time, but if you can consistently get in and get out, they're gonna eventually be there. And that's you know, that was the case with this. And I knew he would come to this food source. So we hunted a couple of evenings in a row and no side of him, no pictures of him, but we were scouting in the morning and and you know, and laying eyeballs on it, so I knew he was around. Um, he was just with this dough. Well, the night before we killed him, we should have been November nine, we were sitting on that food and sure enough, famous every night the herd comes to us. Everything's coming out to be little bucks are bumping and chase and you know, we even't had a really good solid ten pointer in the field. Um, and sure enough he goes out the back door and I can see him with his dough going across just a grass hayfield, and he takes her the whole completely different direction. And then and so the next morning I thought to myself, we gotta go there and I gotta check this out. We went over and pulled the camera and he wasn't in the food food clock at night, you know, so we hadn't hadn't been in there since he hooked up to this dough. And we went over, you know, kind of where he where we've seen him. And I thought, you know, I could probably get on this edge and hang a set real quick and wins right, and you know, we could roll the dice and I and I thought about and I thought about it, and you know, I like to gamble. I'm gonna come a gambler, and you know, and so when I played black jack, if I hit off fifteen, I hit every every one of them all my long. I don't get it. And so and so I literally told myself, I thought that my head, I'm like, stay on the food, don't chase. He's gonna he's gonna be to the food. Just stick there. This is you know, if this is the same dough, he's gonna be breaking loose anytime. So we didn't, you know, it could have went hung and we didn't. Thank god we didn't, because that night we went right back in there and got in the blind and sure enough he popped out at you know, twenty five. Um had a dog just kind of bumping around on me. He was with her. I think he broke loose from the other one. And this is a different here worked his way out into the plot, you know, good good light left Um fed a little bit, actually fed hard, you can tell you. And you know he's been out running for a few days, fed hard, and then ended up actually bumping a dog kind of down the fence line and out of sight. I thought, oh no, you know, he's got it all ready. You know, that's the warrior this time of the year. You know, when you start getting into you know, that part of the rut. It doesn't take these big deer very long to get to get back with the dough. And I thought, he's gonna push her off down on these fence lines and he's on. Sure enough, he got lucky, he'd come back. Um, you know at this point, and I had a couple of forty five yards shots. I told him I'm not gonna you know, I wanted forty yards are and I'm not gonna push this deer. It's I just felt too too good. I felt like we're going to get him killed, and we got lucky and he he got two close, he got the thirties, you know at that point obviously you know, put a good hit on him. He barely got out of the food plot, didn't even get over the fence back into the cover and fell that on camera. So that's that's the long of it. That's awesome. It's it's a it's a great it's a great example of of playing it smarter on deer like that, taking advantage of the data points that you were able to collect, and then you know, taking your shots at the right time. We talked about that so much and this is just a perfect illustration of that. So how what did he end up scoring game and change? Wow? Yeah, so he grew up. I mean I remember in the in the garage, my buddies were taking him and and I remember once they got done with the tape and one of you know, my buddy Scott, was adding him up and I looked at because I was hoping he's gonna be in the nineties, you know, before we started adding that fractions. I'm like, please tell me mid nineties, low nineties, you know, And and Scott looked at him. He goes on the two four teams. Still at that point I knew I was in really good. He was way bigger, you know, it just just to tremendus. He put fifty inches on, you know, and you never know what you're going. I knew this year, you know, from looking at him had the juice. I mean, it was obvious that he had what it would take to blow up. But um, you know, he just he put a ton of inches on drop time, split stickers, all the faces. Um. Frame wise, he wasn't a framing year. He's a hundred and seventy five inch main frame ten or a seventeen inch spread twenty four inch beams. But he had fifty inches trash, you know. So he started adding up seven eight nine inch splits and eight inch drop times with kickers off those and triple brows on one side and little stickers on his brind and he just he just kept adding. Know so, well, was there anything that you took away from this experience, any lesson learned or was there something that was just you know, driven home again for you? Um? I don't know what was your takeaway from this whole deal? You know, I don't know, I've kind of it. I mean I've been, you know, I was there again. I'm fortunate to grow up, you know. I mean where I hunt is where my my dad's father homestead, you know. I mean it's it's ground that I've grown up my whole life hunt. And I watched these deer and I don't know, I feel like when I get my eyeballs on them, you know, and I know and they're in the wrong spot, which is on me. I just anymore. I I you know, I feel like I've got the tools and knowledge and I can lay things out, says something up, and I can be patient. That's another you know. And I'm fortunate. I'm blessed to have a situation where I don't you know, rather than go and chase another beer around or all, I gotta be in a stand night because I got a week to hunt, I don't go, you know, I'll go blasts, I'll try to get some work done over the day and we'll take our shot. So I'll be real patient and all push real hard too. You know. It's just I guess it's it's everything you know, you've got. Every deer is different. Um, you know, like a couple of years ago, I chased around a big one that he was kind of a unique buck because every time we hunt him, we've seen him, you know, and and and that's not very common. You know. You get these five and six year old deer that you're hunting. You know, some of them you're lucky to see him once and that's when you kill him. And others, you know, like like this year, you see him here and there, and you know, and finally catch up to him, and then there's deer or you know, like the the unicorn bucks a couple years ago. I mean, I bet we filmed in fifteen huns. You know. He was always an eight or a hundred, you know, it just but it was cool. It was cool because we were on it and he had no idea and and that's and that's probably what I'll take away from it, I guess. And you know, the more I talked things about it is these big deer, they don't know you're on their tail, and you can consistently stay on them. It's a matter of time. And that's what I try to do. You know, I'm really really big about sending control of my boots. I'm big on I was onyx Um. We've used him for years. You know. I'm in the huge on setups and scenarios of getting in and getting out, you know, And I think that's the big one. When you can consistently take shots at them and not bogger it, you know eventually you're going to connect, you know, when you when you take that shot, like you know, when I was younger, I might take that shot and dig in there really hard to get aggressive and blow something up, you know, you know, it sets your back so far that you know, it's it's hard to recover sometimes from. But you can get in and out. You know, when you're on them and you know what they're doing, you know you're gonna connect it sooner or later. Yeah. Other than the other than the setup like you had on this food plot you were talking about where you've got the standing corn trimmed out that you can come in and out of. Do you have any other tricks or things that you've done the past to just help with that in and out? Um? Because this is something that so many people struggle with and it's so important though, Um, anything else you know that you during that on that on that front everything I mean, And it's funny because I drive around my neighborhood now. And you know it's funny how you know, it's just knowledge kind of grows, and you know, and people learn and find out and it everything from planting grasses to stacking hay bals too, you know. I mean, I've even put camo netting on the bottoms of line so we're getting down they can't see us getting, you know, down the ladders, and and so yeah, I use all kinds of things, hay beals or but I love using hay bells, you know, if I last minute kind of deal, and you know, I'll go stack some hay bells up in front of the blind just so that I know I can get out of there and not you know, because that's really all it is. I mean, it's you know, for the most part, these scenarios, and we set up you know, if you can get down and twenty or thirty yards down the trail, you're you're done, You're gone, you know. And so that's that's the big one, just setting stuff up to where you can get out. And it usually doesn't take much, you know, I mean, if you can block visibility like a good good and dark, you know, and some of these spots we put food so close to bedding that you can go get in at noon and there's gonna be eight or ten deer on the feeling. And it's just it's just how it is. Just you're just you're in the right you know. That's when you know you're in the right spot. When when you're going in and hunting stuff that you know at neon one two o'clock afternoon and there's already de in there, you know you're doing something right. And that's where even getting in you gotta have you gotta have a visual barrier to be able to slip in and slip out, and you know, and that's you know, on this dear was everything. Yeah, Yeah, for sure, I've I've definitely experienced on the same things. And I've got a five and a half year old buck that I've been hunting here in Michigan, and it's been similar to that unicorn buck where I'm seeing him almost every time and going after him. You know, this this first couple of the first couple of weeks in November, when I was hunting him hard, I was seeing him all the time, but you know, just out of range, that kind of deal. But I attributed much of that continued. You know, the fact I was still, you know, seeing him. I attributed a lot to that, to the fact that I was able to get in and out carefully without buggering it up. I think that's it's just so important. Um. So before we move on, let's take a quick second to thank our partners at white Tail Properties. This week with white Tail Properties, we were joined by Tom James, a land specialist out of Central Indiana, and Tom is going to be telling us about what the first habitat improvements should be for a land manager. Good question, um. Some of the first key things the fundamentals if you want to think about, is when you think in terms of what a deer requires, the food, security, covering, water and the q d m A has a great analogy of the thinking about the lowest hole on the bucket that you need to plug up to keep the water from leaking out. So what could be missing on your property that the surrounding land may have, and so you want to do a quick assessment. Maybe it's food, maybe it's water. Maybe if you can maybe it's cover. If you can look through your woods and see two hundred yards, then you've got an issue with with too much shade, not enough sunlight, creating new potential brows and cover for your deer. So maybe it's a timber a timber either stand improvement or a harvest or a combination of two that's gonna allow some more new growth to come in and picking up your property. Maybe it's as simple as you're not leaving an area alone as a sanctuary. If you're trapesing all over forty acres and pushing deer off every time you go, then that's that's obviously an issue. So maybe just an adjustment in the way that you move around and hunt the property and approach things. Uh. If food is your lacking ingredient or your lowest hole in the bucket, then even in timber, it takes some work, but you can certainly clear out some openings and plant food. Um and I would suggest considering both perennial food and annual food stuff that you can leave in like clover and chicory as a perennial coming back every year and do some fall planted cereal grains and brassicas for the fall time, so you've got a year round program going on. And typically it's not an issue in the Midwest. But if if water is a lacking ingredient, then maybe you can create a water hole or even some of the new systems like the banks water watering tanks that you can set up that are mobile and fill up and provide water sources for your deer so that they don't have to leave the property to water. Again, it's fairly rare, but that could be a consideration. If you'd like to learn more and to see the properties that Tom currently has listed for sale, visit white tail properties dot com. Backslash James, that's j A. M. E. S So. So I want to transition a little bit now because we've been talking about your success there in early November. People have been, you know, looking forward to November all year and now it's it's came and gone in a flash. It's always shocking to me how fast it gets here and then it's done. Um, So now we're staring December in the face. From your perspective, is the best behind us? Or do you like the late season? Do we have some good things still ahead for us here? Yeah? I love late season anymore. I don't like November. I mean, I know, I killed my two biggest year been killed, you know, in November. My my two archery two hundreds of both November ten and twelve. Um, but you had when when I killed them off the wall, boy, it real quickly goes to late October, late late November and later. You know. Um, I struggled a lot in November, and so you know, I started getting into that tent and twelve and I haven't got anyting killed. I almost start, you know, looking towards the twenty one and on, because I just we really struggle, you know with these bigger gear once they start locking down with those, And so yeah, I love late season. I'm a you know, I don't farm actively right now, but I've grown up farming, you know, and so we've got equipment, We're fortunately got a lot of food, and so I love late season. Um, you know, I would rather give dear a place to live and hunt them on the edges and hunt him on food. That's you know probably you know what you know, you you put that together with interns and exit, and I think he got it picked at that point, you know, I think he gotta made. And so um, you know, with with late season coming up, you've got good food sources, good grain. I'm a big grain guy when he gets late, i'd really have corn beans. Um. You know, when you get to that late season hunt and you've got good food and you can get in out, it's as deadly as any part of the year in my opinion. Uh So, so if someone you know, right now, it's it's today's last day November. So we're just starting to make that transition into December into that late season kind of phase of the year. Um. Is there anything that should be done that people should be thinking about or or even actually physically doing right now to prepare for this late season? Um? Or would you say, you know, just get out and start hunting food or I don't know, is there any kind of transitionary things they should be doing right now to get ready for that best late cold weather and hunts, you know? And I would say, you know, if you've got to do something, you're buying the eight ball, and it always got to be done ahead of time. You've got to kind of prepare and have your stuff set up, because at this point I just locked down everything. I keep everything do a minimum. Um. And I really watched my cameras. You know, we'll we'll run a bunch of cameras. You know, they start coming back with the scrapes real hard once the red lines and it seems like the signpost kind of, you know, so you can run some cameras back on the scrapes and a lot of food and sore stuff, a lot of time lapps, you know, I run a lot of time laps cameras so I can see the whole food plot before the sun goes down. And so that's what I'm doing, you know. And and that's the other thing. You know, a lot of these food plots, I may have them set up to where you know, they are tight to the bedding, you know, which is when you get those beer in the real early. You know, I've killed a lot of here in lots of years. I've killed a lot of ear at three o'clock in the afternoon, you know, five, six, seven year old and hex uh two years ago I killed the nine and a half year old and it was like three, you know, so but that yeah, but that's kind of getting back into that. You know, the foods where it needs to be. It's close to the bedding. They don't have to move very far to get to it. But then I've also got that you know component of if I'm gonna put some food here. You know, how can I monitor? How can I check it? Well, you know that's kind of like the blind deal. I tried to set it up to where, you know, as long as I got the right wind, I can get in there, pull some cards, get out midday or early late morning, you know, and not having the issues. Um, you know, we're big on vehicles too, you know, Well, I'd much rather pulling somewhere like a farmer, would, you know, just in case something is on the food, you know, the middle of the a I'd really pull in there. And you know sometimes I'll even take the tractor and you know, just because they're used to it and it doesn't bother them as much, you know, but I'd much rather you know, take a risk with a vehicle or attractive and you know walking up the hill and blowling out of fields you know, on foot. So a lot of things with the with the trail cameras you were talking about, you know, monitoring these and you talked about using vehicles to access it and things like that. Um, how often do you go in to check these cameras? Because that's always something I struggle with, is to your point earlier you want to keep everything, all your impact as minimal as possible. But at the same time, you need to monitor these somehows that you can make sure you're hunting at the right time. So how do you balance that? Um, you know, if the wind's right and I'm cautious, I'm not going into their bedroom to get these and so I I don't worry about that as much. Not what that said. I'm not checking them every day, but I don't worry about it too much. I'm really careful with my feet. Um, you know, I'll really take care of my boots. But if the wind's right, you know, I'm not leaving a munch of boot tracks, which I'm there again, that's kind of one of my my deals. I really watched my my fliot tracks. Um, it doesn't bother me too much. You know, I'll slip in, slip out. You know. I think I think deer expect a certain amount of pressure. I think that they can they live with the next amount of pressure, and I think that's a pressure that doesn't bother them. You know, you're not going into their bedroom, You're not bumping them out of bed, You're not you know, as long as you're not flowing wind right down into a drawer or ditch or block. The woods are in, you know, and you're careful that's your feet. I'm big on feet. Um. You know, I don't think it really hurts me too much, you know. So you know, if I know there's a good one in there and I'm really monitoring, I mean, I I may check camera, you know, like that big one this year. We were checking the camera every couple of days, you know. But we we got in, got out. You know, we didn't do on the wind at all, but if we had the right wind, we'd go. We'd slip in, slip out, check it, you know, and make a decision from there. Yeah. Do you do any other scouting of any kind this time of year? Maybe glassing or literally walking around at all, anything else other than the cameras. Yeah. Glass, I'm a big I'm a big glass. I've got all kinds of places. Most of my farms, you know, they're tough, but you know we've got advantage points. Um. You know that we can go park and just glass and sit and watch and you know, and I like doing that because I can cover a lot more ground. Growing up, my father was big, you know that was one of the things we did. You know, we covered a lot of ground. We had a lot of ground to hunt grown up um, you know, and so rather than being stuck or can find in one spot, you know, we could bounce around and cover multiple farms and look at stuff and you know a lot of deer I kill. I mean that's kind of where it will start. You know, a lot of times it's all I'll pick them up from glasso or scouting, you know, their picture. But when you can lay eyeballs on and watch them for ten minutes, you know, making natural movement, and then you can really start to you know, connect the dots at that point. And so while was the deer I shoot, you know, that's a big part of it, is his glassing, scouting from the road, pulling into high points, you know, anywhere you can get away with it. So so would it be fair to say that you are doing that more often than maybe you're even hunting during the late season. Yeah. Absolutely. My cameraman's love me. They love you know, because I'm not the guy that's gonna just pound it out for seven straight days. I mean I may hunt one day in seven, you know, if that's you know, because I'm not I'm not big on blind hunting. I don't like to just goes all that's going here the winds right, you know. I like scenarios. I like no big here and there. I like to have a game plan. That's what gets me fired up anymore, you know, And so when I can really start, you know, I like going into a set because I've got a whole bunch of data getting me there. I don't like going and just setting all day and a set somewhere to say I'm hunting. You know, I would rather go go pick in points apart and start putting them together and be really fired up going in somewhere because I know he's either there or closed or he's been there, you know. And so yeah, I do have tons of scounting. I would. You know, this year, we we weren't hunting mornings much at all because I didn't want to go take the chance. I knew I had his I had his kitchen, you know, I can hut him in the bedroom. But I knew I had the food. I knew that we could get in and out super super easy. It was like a dream set up for in and out, and so I just you know, mornings. We we took a couple of shots seen him once, you know, about killed him that first move I made on him. But you know, in the mornings, i'd go run around the sections and part and watch and just see if I put eyeballs on him. And and we did. You know, we've seen him quite a bit. Yeah. So so in the late season then what what has to be present as far as conditions or data for you to take that shot? Um? Like right now, I'm struggling with after that year. Um, I've got a handful of five year olds that didn't grow much. Um. And so I'm really struggling with him. And I'm rolling the dice and maybe all of them, but one for letting them go another year to see what happens. Um. But you know it like that one deer, I'm gonna want to I'm gonna I want to get it. You don't where he's did, right, you know, I know where he likes to bed. I know kind of where his home is. Um, But I wanna I want to get him in on that food plot. I want to see him on camera. I'd like to see him in daylight, you know, whether it's scouting that food plot, from a distance or slipping in and pulling a card. Um. But yeah, I won't, you know. I talked to Adam, a cameraman just earlier today, and he asked me what's going on? I said, absolutely nothing. And it won't be the weather's warm, I said, once it cools off, I said, I'm gonna keep watching camera's'mna keep scouting and once I really get one, you know, once you know one's in there, and then then I'll get after it. But if I don't know there's one in there, I'll leave it alone, you know. And so between cameras or or glassing you know, a field, I'll sit back, um, rather than take a shot and go up in there and you know, just on a whim and and you know, maybe something happens and and figgure it up and you know, and set yourself back. So so would you not even go in if we got a great set of conditions. So let's say you haven't gotten eyes on him, you know, recent in daylight or something like that, but we just get this mega cold front and snow. Will something like that dream scenario be enough to get you to go in there even though you don't have the sighting or the picture to tell you to go or is it you I gotta have that, yeah, yeah, And that's if you get a you know that that big cold push coming down, big front, cold temperature, snow, you know, the perfect storm everybody wants and looks you got all roll the dice on those average conditions. Now I'll just sit back all way. You know. Now I've killed a lot of deer in average conditions because there again I went full of the card or glass the field and wow, he's in there, you know, fortyfore dark and and then you know, the next night getting there on very fair you know, conditions that are fair at best, you know, warm or wind whatever, and get up killed. But yeah, if I get that perfect storm of big front moving in cold camps some snow combined, yeah, then then what I do is if I don't have one, really you know, a beat on one, then I just used my gut up. Okay, I'm pretty sure this is where he's gonna be, this where he's always been, this is where he likes to be this time of the year. And then I'll take my shot, you know at that point, So weather, we'll get me, We'll get me on a food source even without you know, getting some sort of data knowing they're in there. Yeah. Do do you pay attention at all to things like like an annual pattern, Like if you saw a certain buck, you know, show up in daylight last year on December fifteenth and seventeenth and eighteen, would you think about that this year and say, hey, I think it's likely he might start showing up around the same time him. Do you pay attention to anything like that? Oh? Absolutely, the moon, the pressure recently, you know, because I'm that year, like I said, I mean, like that nine and a half year old, like he may have been ten a half. We had pictures of him from either too to nine or from three to ten, so you know, it's kind of at that point is to know it's in the nine or ten year old. But but like that there, you know, once we didn't get it killed and we and we've we've seen him the year before killed him for the first time. But yeah, you know, once I look back at him, I mean his patterns spring and summer and falling winter were the same for eight years, you know, And so yeah, I I had a lot of here that way, where you know, if they do something one year at a certain time frame, there's a lot of there's a good chance that you know, they'll do the same thing in a similar time frame the following year. And and a lot of us do it sing too. You know. On my farm, we've got we've got river bottom, you know, which is always early season. That's where they're at, you know, you can about bank on it. And then I've got these you know, wintering farms or you know areas where they just transition, you know, And so you know, year after year, I've learned that, you know, if there's deer on this bottom and when it when they start looking for that warm spot on the hill, they're gonna be right up here, you know. And so you know, a lot of that weather will dictate that. But then also, like you said, you know, four year old one year, you know he's up here, you know, seting doing whatever. Following year. It's funny how more often than not about the same time they'll do the same thing. Yeah. So another thing that I've personally been trying to to look at kind of similar to this, see if I can identify pattern with this buck that I keep mentioning that I've been trying to figure out, Um, I've started to wonder, you know, does he show up in a certain food source or in a certain area with a given wind direction and try to correlate that. So so, no, Okay, when there's a southwest wind, it's probably my best chance he'll be on the south side of farm with the southwest wind. But then when I got the northwest wind, then it's most likely he's gonna be over here. Do you see common movement with a common wind direction over the years, And then he's dear too. I don't that one. I would say, No, um, you know, I that one. I've not dug in that. Um. Sometimes, you know, and this isn't I mean, I'm not. Sometimes I actually getting too much, you know, I really do, And I mean I I sometimes I listen to people and kind of their theory and stories, and it's like sometimes I remember there an animal, you know, and so is there are there bucks out there that get just so ridiculously smart they don't move unless the winds. Yeah, I'm sure there are. But you know, I'm fortunate up there again to being an area where there are pressure. We keep the pressure low. I just don't I don't see that, you know what I mean? And I'm not saying doesn't happen, but it's it's not something that I've taken note of over the years and thought, you know, wow, this Bucks. I mean with the north Wind, he's gonna go off this side, and with this album when he's gonna go off this you know. Um, that's one I really haven't dealt with personally. Yeah, I think your point about sometimes we take it too far. I think there's something to be said about that. I think you can get And I'm guilty of this because I'm such a data driven guy. I want to analyze things so much, but sometimes you can get that paralysis by analysis, I think, And that's you gotta walk this fine line between being smart about it and making informed decisions, but at the same time not just going overboard. So that's that's tricky. Absolutely not my agree, and it's all calculated. It's just sometimes sometimes you can get taught up and give them a little bit too much credit, you know. I feel like that happens a lot anymore. To be honest with you know, you gotta remember their creature have If they don't reason, you know, I mean, it's they're gonna do things, you know, to survive and they sometimes I think we take it to a level. Probably. Alright, guys, real quick, this is our final break of the day, but I want to take a second here tell you about a deal from our friends at hunt Tera Maps. From now through December six. They've got a special holiday sale offering off any product any other maps on there. You got to check it out between now in December six. You don't need a promo code or coupon or anything, but man, if you are looking for something to put on your own list, this is a great opportunity to nudge your significant other or family members say hey, hurry up and get this deal, or if you have somebody on your list that you need to buy for. Hunt Terra Map makes a great gift. I just end up usingly so often to my own personal life, whether it's you know, standing in my office with my buddies staring at my maps on the wall and talking through strategy, or you know, maybe when I'm in my truck with my buddy further at our Ohio property, We've got our field map laid out in the console and we're planning out which stands to hunt that day. It's just really nice to have something it's high quality and tangible as this. So if you're interested, head over to hunt Terra dot com. That's h U N T E r r A dot com and get twenty off from now through December six. So, so what about this scenario. Then, Let's say you've got a handful of different types of food sources on your property in the late season. Maybe you maybe you've got a grain field somewhere, maybe that's corner beans. And then maybe you've got a green food source, maybe it's brassicas or something like that. Uh, and who knows what else. Maybe then there's a natural forage area. Maybe there's still some akecorns or something along those lines in another section near farm. I find myself in this to lem him, I'm gonna go into a late season hunt. Conditions seem good, and I'm like, Okay, which food source should I focus on? Because so much late season hunting is focused on food? How do you choose the right food? Is there any set of conditions that you said, Okay, now i'm gonna focus on green. Now I'm gonna focus on grain. Now I'm gonna do something different. How do you think about that? Um, that's corn? Is king? That is easy. I mean, I just I've always lived like and here's late season. You know, you get your guys that a diehard being guys, and I always laugh and say, you better hope my corn plotting across the sense or across the road from me, because I'm gonna own them in And I truly believe that. I just don't. I think beans are great. I think they've got this place. I think they're they're awesome food source for a longer time frame. You know, it's like alfalfa. I think alfalfa is probably the one I've taken off my farm and I'm putting it back on my farm. And I think alfalfa's, you know, if you want to hold dear, is one of the most important, you know components. I think beans have an awesome place. But when you get right down to late season hunting and what they really need, it's it's cars, it's corn. You know they're gonna come to you. You know you've got a food plot that's half corn, half beans. I'm not saying they're gonna go all, you know, but that corn is gonna own the majority of them. And I think with consistency, it's gonna there's gonna be some nifer. Yeah, they're gonna they're gonna hit. You're gonna see dearing the beans a little more in the corn. But I think consistently, day in day out, when you're hunting, you know, in our region where you're snow and cold and their survival mode corns game, do you give any do you have any? Um? What am I trying to say? Green food sources like turnips, Brassica's rape kill, all that kind of stuff. Does that do much for you? Yeah? We use them, Yeah, we use them. And I think there's some you know, like post right like right now, you know, first gun season for us early December. I think it's phenomenal, um, you know, because it's the last green rang else has done turned. And you know, if you've got some green and everything else has already turned, yeah, you're you know, you're you're in the chips and so and so that's where you know, a lot of these different you know, food sources have their spots, you know, and out on them and I love them. But when you start talking consistently, day in day out, corn is king. Yeah. Yeah, it's hard to beat that. Um. Now, how about we're actually out there hunting, though, Well, I'm kind of curious about your actual stand set ups for the late season. Are you are you are you hunting on tree stands? Are you just doing ground blinds or box blinds or if you are in a tree stand. You know, I'd be interested in the details of how you make a tree stand set up work in the late season, given you know some of the challenges with cover and stuff like that too. What's what's your take on that the only time I hunt stands laid is if it's the only option, you know, whether it's topography or or there's a deer somewhere you didn't expect and there's just no way you want to risk putting the blind in there. Um, But that there again, you know, I feel like I prepare well enough that that really doesn't happen very often. Um, it's been quite a while. But know, we're technically hunting, you know, some sort of a blind. We're either in banks or in a you know, a hay bell blind ground blind. Um. But you know, i'd say my go too is for the most part of my banks blinds and hay Bell blinds, you know, I love in cattle country, they're used to Hey, bells. I mean, we get in the room and we like them. You know, they work out really well. Um, once in a while we'll run to pop up, just quick and easy, you know. But I like my banks blinds. They're they're they're pretty tough to be when snows on the ground and it's in the teams for highs. Yeah, a little more comfortable too, yeah, Yeah, office chairs or night Yeah. My dad whenever he uses one of my box blinds, he always brings a little Mr Heat, Mr Buddy heater and there too, you can get real luxurious. Yeah if I if I'm in the right spot, I'll do it. We do it too, you know. But if we're we're flirting at the edge, will hold off on that. But if we're in one responses bulletproof and you know we don't have any worries, and yeah we'll fire for heater. You know. Now when you're in a blind like that or maybe your hay L blind. Um, you talked about how much you you use thosonics, which I do too. Um, how do you set up your asonis in that situation? Uh, to to still maintain that you know that that stream of scent elimination of sorts well, I mean we we just mount them. You know, it's like it's it's you know, figure out where your winds at and get them mounted. You know, it's blind like a hay bell or ground by even that's even you know, like a tower blind of banks that's got you know, like ours as mintoles. You know, if you can then ventury or force your your wind through one spot and wash it. And so a lot of times yeah, we'll leave you know, part of the door on a zip or not, you know, completely shut, or we'll crack a window, or in the banks blinds, we'll put our those omics right over that vent hole to where you know you're really really doing it. You know, you're you're washing your sense so to speak, in the best way possible because you're were snarling down to a tight little spot and then you're putting that those ms fry on top of it. So you know, in the in the bank's lines, I'll just walk it. When I get up get up in there on the platform, I'll just put it up on the roof once I know where the winds at. Um. A lot of kids loopen a window, mount one to the window and then shut it, you know, so that it's going in the same way with like our hay bells. Um. You know, I'll just screw the same tree attachment, you know, I'll just screw right into the wall on the outside. Once I know where the winds at and turn it on turbo and and so so it's just about wherever your winds going. Just you know, what I've always told people and the doubters is it's more of a washing mechanism. It's not you know, going on the insinality. You want wherever your winds going, you want you want it going right through that that o zone, you know, And so we just set it up accordingly. Yeah, do you have a specifically made mount to use the with a with a box spline like that or do you make something custom? No, I just put on the roof, um and if and if it's if it's flick or something, you know, then then I improviseed. I mean earlier the year I took a you know, I always carry kate, you know, my backpack, and I really just took a piece of guerrilla tape, you know, and roll it over stuck on the bottom and just you know, and then and then it just stuck to the top now on the windows, they do make that mount word to Cliff on the windows, which is I think it's actually designed for your pull in a pop up wind and you're you know, in those in the pop ups, they've got that one mount um that same mount will hook right on the window bracket of them banks. I know, there's hook right in and hand, you know. So and now I even went extreme before and just screwed a hole right on the side of the line, you know. I you know, if that's what it takes, and I'm on a big one, then I'm gonna screw a hole on the side of my blind. I'm fine with that. So we just find a way to make it work. I guess, you know. It's like it's it's like a throw camera. It's awesome if you gotta you know, though a trail pod or you've got some sort of mechanism to you know, get it all perfect. You know, there's a lot of times I don't have that. I'm using twigs STIGs, and you know, it's just whatever you can get to to get it where you need. And that's kind of thing with once I figure out my wind is I just you know, try to get up above us and downwind yea, do what you gotta do exactly. So is there is there anything else in the late season front, uh, that we haven't talked about? Is there anything you're doing at this time of year throughout the end of the season, um that has led to success for you that we haven't talked about now? I mean it's it's it's basically food and you know, evening hunts very very very rarely morning and I mean I can't even remember the last time. It's been years, you know, But mainly it's you know, take your shots, you know, add up all the data, take your shots, and you feel good, hunt the weather, you know, don't get busted. I mean that's you know, good food. That's and that's the key, you know. And that's tough. I mean, not everybody's got the availability to you know, get you know, the food needed, you know, on farms and they're getting anfortunate up to they do. And then we get tractors and planners and I want a plant ten acres and standing corn somewhere. I go to plant ten a tan acres standing corn and you know, at that point and I know it's gonna make it through season. And then we run the combine through it when it's over, so you know it's it makes you know. So, so that's the big one, you know, basically taking your shots. And if you don't have food, you don't have deer. You know, you're around my area, so you gotta have food, you know. And anymore everybody seems like, you know, food is becoming more prevalent, you know, So if you want to hold your deer, you know, if you lose, if you run out of food, your neighbors are gonna be holding your deer, you know. So you're just trying to You're trying to get them through season with enough food on your farm. They ain't looking somewhere else. Yeah, that's the trick. That is the trick. Sure, absolutely well, I guess you know. Here here's one final thing um that we hadn't mentioned, which is just getting a shot off in the late season when you're wearing more clothing or it's just colder. Is that something you think about when it comes to whether you're still bow hunting or using fire arms or anything specially you think about when it comes to that moment of truth here in the later part of the year, as conditions and and just you're what you're actually wearing out there might be differ. Yeah. I mean, if I'm bow hunting, absolutely, you know, I'm a big fan of heater body suits. You know, if I'm bow hunting late season, I just don't like shooting really bulky and I'm not one of those guys that can do it. I don't like to do it, you know. So yeah, at that the point, if I'm bow hunting late season, you know, i'd much other being a heater body soon with light layers underneath, so that you know, I can I feel normal shooting my bow. Um, you know, that'd be the big one. If I'm gun hund I'm not not worried about it all. I can be as bulky and heavy as I want to be and it doesn't affect me. But with the bow, I like to get in the heater body suit and try to keep you know, my layers to a minimum so I'm not all bound up. Yeah. You know, another thing I've always recommended to folks too, is you know, regardless of what you're wearing, when you get up into your tree, you're blind wherever you're at, make sure you you just test it out. So make sure you draw back and feel how it's gonna feel, and make sure nothing's bunching up, you know, unexpectedly that that you know, if you hadn't practice through that routine wearing your late season gear, you wouldn't have noticed that, Oh man, I got all this huge bunch up on my left arm that maybe would mess up with the with your cables or something. So that's good, just to practice make sure that's happening. Um okay. And then and then I don't even I don't know if this is something you ever do, but I find myself on those really cold days that if you sit if you're sitting there for three or four hours in the evening maybe and it's seven degrees or ten degrees or something, you kind of stiffen up a little bit. So if you if you find yourself where there's for sure no deer in sight, and and of course that's not always a given, but if you can find yourself a little second where you can just draw that bow back just to warm yourself up and stretch those muscles out, sometimes that's a good thing to do too. Yeah. I've even climbed it down the stand on because I was beyond because I was beyond the point of worried about my bow. I was, I was in freeze mode, you know. So I've even yeah, you know, if you look around, if you feel comfortable and it's early, I've even climbed down the tree. And by I mean that will get to warm up in hurry. So, especially when you're in a thirty three stand like most of mine, are you you got mounting up once seriously warmed up for a while. Yeah, and and taking that little risk of going up and down, that's that's better than having to leave completely right and complete. Yeah, I'd rather do that and sit there and like you said, stove up and make a bad shot or you know, not be able to get your bow back or you know whatever. But yeah, I'd rather I'd really take that chance and be able to sit there for another hour and to you know, not be able to get my bow anchored back ride or be stoved up and leave type of deal. So sure, well, Gabe, I'm gonna try to take some of the things we've been talking about today and put them into action. Actually right now I'm gonna I'm down in Ohio for the last couple of days of their firearm season, so I'm gonna wrap this up and try to kill a very late November buck. But for anyone out there who has heard this conversation and wants to get in touch with you about about land or anything else, you know, where can they learn more about what you've got going on or possibly get in touch with you, Well, they can obviously give me a call. I mean, our website, you know, White cell Properties dot Com is gonna have about everything you could ask for, contact territories, you know, regions, states, all that. You know, it's gonna be on there for information. Um But email, text, phone calls specifically wants to talk to me about something in my arie, and I will you know, um by keep an eye on all those and so phone, call, text or email and get a hold of me. Awesome. Well, Gabe, we really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this with us. And uh and thank you so much and good luck for the rest of the season. Yep, no, I appreciate it. Good luck to you and hopefully hopefully your Ohio works out for it. I got my fingers crossed right on and that will do it for us today. Thank you guys for tuning into this one, a couple of quick things before we go. First off, I just want to thank everyone who's left or rating or review for us on iTunes. We have more than a thousand five star reviews. That's crazy. Um, you know, we're definitely one of the highest rated hunting podcasts out there and it's all because of you guys, So big, big thank you. If you haven't left a rating or review yet, and if you'd like to, you just need to head over to iTunes on your phone or computer and uh, you know, it just takes a couple of quick seconds to leave a few thoughts or just click the stars. Um, we appreciate that. Also, we want to give a big thank you to our partners who helped make all this possible. So big thanks to sit to Gear, Yetie Cooler's, Matthew's Archery, MAYBN Optics, Whitetail, Institute of North America, Trophy Ridge and hunt Terra Maps. And finally, thank you again to everyone out there listening taking time out of your day to spend with us, ma'am. That means a lot. We appreciate it. So if you're still hunting, which which I hope you are, I'm wishing you all the luck in the world, and until next time, stay wired to hunt. It can be that

Save this episode