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 Kenyan. This episode number two and twenty one. Ante in the show, we're talking summer trial cameras, big woods, habitat projects, CWD, hitting close to Home, and much much more. All right, welcome to the Wired to Hunt Podcast, brought to you by Onyx and today it's just me and Dan and thank for this one. We just need to have a good old sitter on the campfire BS session. Um, since since when this podcast will be actually going out to the world. That's gonna be fourth of July week, so hopefully a lot of us will be on vacation. I actually will sort of be on vacation. Um, so it makes sense that we just need to kick back and have a good time, don't don't you think? Dan? I agree, man, we need to just let it all hang out on this episode. That sounds like exactly what everyone's hoping for. Um, we have. We haven't done just like a you and Me BS in a while though, So there's a there's a good amount of stuff to catch up on. I thought, um, you've been up to some good stuff in the woods. I've been up to some different projects. There's some kind of recent news around me in Michigan that I think we should talk about. Um. Plus, I'm taking off on trip soon. I don't know. There's all sorts of good things we could dive into. So what's new with you? Oh, not too much, man, you know, father, husband stuff. Last this this past Sunday, I got a breakaway right from the family and I was able to go out and hang my trail cameras. So they are out there soaking collecting pictures hopefully. And uh, dude, I don't know what it is that now, now that that has happened, that's like a big first step for me, and I know it is for a lot of guys. Once you get those trail cameras out this time of year, that's when for me it's the official start of the upcoming season. Yeah. Yeah, this this time of year, like you've got cameras are going out, you start seeing the batchelor groups out in the fields. And then for me, for whatever reason, when I start driving down the roads and the corn and beans are high enough up that there's no more dirt showing, like, it's just a sea of green now. For for whatever reason, I was driving down the road last night and I was just noticing that. I'm like, oh, this is a new phase of the year has officially started now that that's happening. Absolutely, I just love it. Um, so you got the cameras out, tell me, tell me, tell me all about how many you get out? Would you put them in any new places? This like your usual set up? What was yeah? Man, just my usual setups. I mean every place that I put a trail camera as of right now. Um, I've had trail cameras there's in the past, right so these are my pretty much my set in mineral stations where I've had mineral there in the past. Uh, it's just just now it's like bare dirt right there. Sometimes there's even a hole there and put trail cameras over it. And that's what was it about a month ago, is when I put the mineral out. So they've been hitting it pretty hard and heavy, and uh, you know it's not I mean, there's nothing really too exciting about going out and putting up trail cameras except while I was out, I jumped a stud buck. I really couldn't tell if he was an eight, like if he was gonna be an eight or if he was going to be a ten. He's about three yards away, But all I saw was he was wide, a ton of mass, which all bucks this time of year looked like they're going to be massive, right, But one thing I noticed is his brows. I'm not joking when I say this. They could be like ten inches ten inch brows good night. Yeah, so he was a freaking stud even this time of year, you know, by now. So so now I'm just like geeked out, you know, trying to figure out. I went back looking at all the old Trow camera pictures trying to figure out what bucket could be if it was a buck from last year. But um, there's a couple I think that it could be. But you know, only time will tell on that front. Did he have any time length on like his his uh you know, the other times other than the brow times yet or is it just kind of main beams and brows at this point? Yeah, it was main beams brows. I mean he had he had G two's and what looked like G three's. Um, but he was kind of angling away from me, and then finally he turned and was running straight away from me, and um, right in the middle of a bean field, and uh, like he was wide open. I could see him really good. It was sunny out. I just couldn't see him from the side really or from head on, but I could tell you he was already out past his ears and he had good brows. So it's encouraging. Yeah, so you've got camera locations around that area? Oh yeah, yep. Um, I have this one particular. I think I've talked to you about this before, but I have one particular trail camera set up for the summer that gets gigantic deer on it every single year. So like basically all the deer um that almost all I'm gonna the bucks that I will be hunting this fall will be on this trail camera throughout the summer. And uh, it's just one of those deals. Why do you think that is? Like what is it about that location? Because I've had a couple of spots like that too, where you could have two trail cameras in the summer and they might be just a hundred yards apart, and one of them is just money and gets all the bucks and one of them could be just a no man's land. What's this I'm curious what this spot is like? Um, and then I'll describe my best summer camera location and I kind of wonder if there's any similarities. Right, So, this is in the middle of the field, dude, it's on a terrace, to be honest with you, and it is but the but from the road. For people that aren't like in kind of hilly farmland, can you explain what you mean by like this terrorist thing in the field. Yeah, So farmers will terrace their fields. It's basically a natural retaining wall to keep the like, to reduce the slope of the land so there's not so much water erosion. When it rains, it kind of slows everything down, maybe even at times kind of kind of just drifts up a little bit. But then it has a steep back wall on it that they plant in grass, so there's no erosion there. Hopefully that was an okay description that makes sense. But yeah, so it's it's on this terrace with a little strip of grass on either side of it, and I'm on the I'm on the high end of it. And I'm telling you, right, now, man, it's it's crazy because where the road goes right, the terrace is below the road, so the deer can hang out there right. First off, it's in corn right now, so there is there's no you can't see you can't see anything from the road anyway. Second, if it was in beans or whatever, it would all be below the road, so you can't see you know, you can't see the deer even if they were there. So these deer feel really safe in this area. I have a feeling because there is there's cover, um, there is food, and there's water all in this one little area. Now, when I say cover, I mean the corn and some some taller grass mixed in with some really or you know, scrubby trees. Nothing that you could ever put a tree stand in. But I mean that's this is where they hang out. And a lot of the pictures are not turnal, so they're coming from someplace else to hit this camera. Um some you know, throughout the summer there there's probably going to be a you know a couple of daylight pictures. But it's it's it's a spot that I found on accident. Oh by the way, same field where I found all my sheds in this year. It's that it's that field. So yeah, man, it's it's overlooked. I think a lot of people would overlook areas like this, not not I'm not saying hunters in my area, but other hunters this time of year, deer don't need to sit in the timber and wait because they got tons of cover everywhere else in egg in the egg world anyway. So this is your your main big farm, right m hm. So when you get pictures of deer at this spot, how far away do you how far away could you potentially see these same bucks on different spots of this farm, Like I'm wondering, Like, okay, imagine they dispersed. So in November, do you ever get pictures of these same bucks, you know on the totally opposite side, you know, three cores of a mile away or something like that. Yeah, man, um, So in the peak of the rut, when the trail cameras are showing the most activity is when I will get a buck. You know, these bucks cruising from one end of the farm to the other, and there is a little bit of a natural flow with the terrain, you know, from from one side of the farm to the other. But this particular spot. So imagine my farm being a long rectangle just to make things easy, laid down on its side, uh, running east and west. So this this field is even further southeast of my east side of the farm. So I have access to this field, but it's not in the main farm, if that makes sense. Not a part of the main farm. But but it's like there's a road in another property in between them, another farm like a field. So it's uh, dude, it's it's just crazy how it works. When I stumbled upon it one one year, I was I was just kind of scouting. I went into I parked my truck, walked through this corn field to get to this bean field, and I jumped like five decent size bucks. So I don't mineral out, I put the trail cameras up, and sure enough, that's where they all were. Man, is this where you had that encounter during the hunting season with that big nine pointer? Oh? Um, yeah, yep, And I got got that on film, I believe ye yep, that's correct. Yeah, Okay, I know exactly what we were talking about that I thought that was this place, Um, but that that Yeah, So it's interesting that this is the spot that's great for the summer, but then also when I think you're standing corn around it, it can be a decent spot even during hunting season. Huh right, So this spot will be good until the crops come out and then it's over. Mm hmm. However, I guess I should. It's almost like I say this, but then I have an example of it not being right. So I had two mature bucks, probably both four year old, one might have been three, uh, cruising this field. This last year crops come out, it disappears. However, the two years previous I had that big one seventy t pointer that I believe I talked to you about. He was he was working that field even after the crops were out. So I guess it just depends on where the does are at. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. So how many cameras totally you have out there? Now? Let's see I have one too, three four, five, six, six six out right now? And how many acres is that that you're covering? Um, let's see we're looking at five. Well, probably if you ever run more or is this usually Like the reason I asked, I'm curious, like have you found like is this your usual number, and do you do you usually end up capturing like summer pictures of all the main bucks that you'll see. Or yeah, for the most part, I that that number on this amount of acres is will get me a really good amount of bucks I could go in. But here's the problem. The way I could get some trail cameras closer to certain parts of the farm, but then we start getting into the whole is it too close to where I hunt? And I don't want to take that risk. So I don't even bother putting the um, you know, putting the trail cameras there, because hey, I don't want to risk it and getting in trouble and be The deer will show up, Like the September is a huge shift, and I think you've heard me talk about this on the farm, right, So there's like a week in September, and then after that it's like the second week of September, boom, there's a gigantic shift and new deer come into the farm and the deer that have been there all summer leave and there's just a handful that are there both summer and fall. But it is it's crazy, So it's not like all of the deer. And when I used that when I said earlier, I meant like four deer, right, So four deer four bucks? Will you know, stick around for the summer and then I'll be seeing those shooters or the deer that I want to target on that farm in the fall. So where's your where's your head at for this year? Since you know, at the end of last year, we you we usually have like our debrief session after the hunt, after the season everything, and now we've had some months now that we're looking forward to the next one. I just saw you post something about that bucket killed last year, um, and you know people were talking about what age it was and all that kind of stuff. Where's your head at for this year? Now? Are you do we have a target age? Do you have any more thoughts anything different than how we were six months ago? You know, I think I'm just gonna go out and hunt, right, I'm not gonna I'm gonna pass dear that I want to pass, and if one comes by that I want to shoot, I'm gonna shoot it. Um. I wish I could say I have a grand plan, but here's what I will tell you. I've I've killed deer two years in a row now, so I think that it might be time to up the standards just a little bit and go after some thing a little different. Maybe maybe not, um but you know, I don't think I'm going to be afraid to eat my tag, my buck tag this year, I'll put it that way. So what does that mean? Five year old? Or you're trying to find like a buck like certain antlers or what? No, what's the next level for you? Then? So I'll tell you this to two things that I'm thinking about right now. There are two bucks on the property that I hunt who for the past god knows how many years. I'm gonna say I have five years worth the trail camera pictures of them. They're nothing spectacular in the antler department. They are spectacular in the size of their bodies, right, just these gigantic bodied bucks I have five years. I'm gonna say they're probably seven year old bucks. I really want to find out where they live. I want to find out how their access you know, where they're where they're coming from. Um are they coming? I think they're coming off different properties and hitting uh the property at nighttime? Um So how am I gonna I really want to try to find a way to intercept these two particular bucks, find them, locate them, and try to hunt them if possible, and that. Yeah, and then there is another buck that is was a three year old last year. I'm I'm thinking he was a three year old big ten and if he just I don't know if he's a If he was a one sixty ten pointer last year, I'm really interested to see what he's gonna be like this year as a four year old. So and he he ran the gauntlet a couple of times as well, so I want to locate him. And other than that, it's just gonna be one of those things where if I'm sitting in a tree and depending on my mood and the deer I want to shoot walks by, I'm gonna shoot a deer, right, I mean, either way, I'm gonna be happy. Either way I'm gonna I'm hunting, so that's a plus, or I'm not. I'm not in my cubicle, so that's a win. What's the what's the store or what's the deal with these too old bucks? You ever? Have you ever seen them before? Or is just just trail camera pictures over the last five years? Uh? Do you call his deer or anything? Or how can I remember these deer? Is there like the Big eight in the Big ten? Or do you call it hes like goofy or what? Well? One one buck is named dork, Okay, I remember that. He do look he looks like a pit bull, just like real stock. The other one kind of does too. I feel like you've been talking about this deer since I've known you. You've been mentioning this deer Dork. He's been around forever. Yeah, man, I think the first year. I mean, he could be even older than seven. But he shows up every single year, and every single year I can never locate him, right, So either my trail cameras are in the wrong spot. I think this, I think you Okay, let me back up. You hear these stories, and I'm sure you've probably ran into a scenario like this too, where you hear these stories of these bucks that may not even find breeding real interested. They're not interested in the rut, right They You can't call to him, you can't, um, I don't know. They won't visit food plots in the daytime. They're just a super weary, old mature buck that does will not fall for any tricks, you know what I mean. And I think that's how this buck has made it. He knows is he he probably has been sitting in the same number of beds his entire life, and he's found a routine that has kept him alive, and he's found the exit routes that have kept him alive, and he has maintained that and has been persistent with that his whole life. And he's gonna die of old age, your sickness. I think that's or want to come on, I mean, I mean, but I want to find where or he lives. I want to find how he's coming, even if it's just a corner of the farm for a small period of time out like, I want to find it. So do you have like a game plan for how to do this, like this September. You're gonna put cameras and spots you never have before, or you're gonna do something different. Yep, that's the goal, man, I have. I'm gonna put a couple pictures or a couple of cameras in some wacky places that have some minimal deer sign you know, I mean, unless you're finding where these dear bed um it could be on another farm where he's leaving most of his sign. Then you know, it's it's kind of a crapshoot and truick cameras will help me with that. But so basically, here's what I want to do. I want to get a a picture of him, just one picture of him, and then I can start from there right and say, okay, well here's coming through here at this time of day. Now I can go back and I just go back in just a little bit more to the property and I don't know, I mean, And the other thing is this buck could be right under my nose and just has never been caught on other trail cameras, right, you know, just taking a little bit different of a path every day. Have have you ever got him hard Horn or is it always just summer? Yeah, I've gotten him hard Horn. He came through a pinch point about two years ago. Um, nocturnal of course. UM. And then the other buck that kind of fits the same description came through UM on a trail leading to like the CRP field two years ago. And then other than that, man, it's just kind of random occurrences. Nothing and it's all been early October, but nocturnal. So these deer could shift and go someplace else, but crop rotation, and I think it's going to have a lot to play with this, Like these deer show up more on this particular crop rotation. So it's a corn here, yeah, well it's I don't want to say it's a corner or bean here. It's just how there's and there's corn and beans all over the farms that I hunt. It's just the there, the rotation that it's in this year seems to have more deer on my property, gotcha. So some something to do with where the certain corners to betting areas or whatever. It might be some relationship between the habitat and the food this way right. And the other thing I'm really interested in about in this year is that do you remember two years ago when they cut the farm for timber? Yeah? I do. Is that getting thick? Dude? It is gross thick like it is. It is what whitetail hunters, bow hunters want to set up down window. I'm telling you right now. It's just beautiful. That's awesome. Mega betting area. Huh, just just stick and there's trails like burrowed through it. And oh man, like last year when I ended up when I was hit when I my arrow hit the branch on that big eight pointer. Like four four three year olds came out that night. Uh no, the night before, and then the night that I um ricocheted the arrow on that buck. That was the next night. He came from the same place. So it's a dough betting area just set up down wind of it and wait, sounds money. Yeah, man, I'm excited. What about you, man, I've been talking too much. Uh well, I don't know. I mean I've been doing some work here on the southern Michigan property and then spend a weekend up on the Northern Michigan property. Um so doing work there the Ohio thing. As you know, that's that's gone. So now I'm trying to figure out property this year too. Which one does you lose? The one that killed my buck off last year? Did you really? Yeah? That's Amer the uh the farmer or the guy. The farmer passed away right the sun uh is now kind of in charge of it. And he said him and his son are gonna hunt. And I said, hey, good luck. You know, call me if you need to help dragging a deer so to tell him to shoot everyone in two year old they see, don't worry, just kidding, just kidding. No, It's it's all cool though, man. I mean that's good that they're gonna hunt their property. It's you know, it's uh, I have other places I can hunt. And the other hunter that was there and he's probably pissed that I even came along, but I don't know. It kind of is what it is. There's nothing when when someone tells you yes, you can hunt there their farm and they don't know that another hunter is there, uh, and then I I say to the landowner, hey, man, um, there's somebody else in there. And then that landowner doesn't know who it is and says, hey, who are you? And then then all that kind of Then I get kicked off the farm, and he gets kicked off the farm. So the farmer, so the farmer son and grandkid can hunt. It sucks for everybody, but you know, at least these guys will be actively hunting their farm this year. And you had a fun you had a fun hunt there last year at least, so yeah, absolutely absolute. Yeah as far as me, I mean, the Ohio property is gone, so um, I gotta figure out time to get down there. And pull our stands and everything, but I don't know what I'm gonna do. Um. I I've had a bunch of offers actually to hunt in different places, like we did, uh. We did a live Meat Eater podcast last week down in Ohio, um with Ronella and those guys, and we talked about this a little bit. Just mentioned the fact that I used to hunt, that I hunt down there and don't have a spot anymore. So I've had a lot of people like reach out to me and offer me places to hunt, which is amazing and I appreciate so much. But you know how that is. I mean, um, it's it's hard to to to go into something like that without really knowing what you're getting into and without knowing the people you know. So much of you know of hunting a place, if you're gonna be hunting with other people, so much of like your enjoyment of that situation comes down to who they are and your relationship and all those other intangibles. So it's really hard to just kind of get into something without having that past relationships. So I've always been pretty hesitant to ever do that. Um. So I'm kind of hesitant to do anything like that. Right now. So right now, I'm still kind of trying to find my own my own deal. But um but but who knows, maybe one of these things will pan out. Um So maybe find new spot in Ohio. Maybe just do something totally different. Um. I've been, you know, looking at we talked about me trying to do that public land North Dakota hunt. That's something that maybe maybe I can fit that in now since I'm not going to do the Ohio hunts like I usually do. Um is that over the counter, Yeah, you know, Okay, Um, so that's I don't know, I gotta figure stuff out on whatever. But but right now as it is, I mean, I've got an early season hunt in Montana and then Michigan and that's it right now. So I'm kind of spare sparse as far as my usual plans. But Michigan I've got like a I've got more stuff in Michigan than I usually do because I got that new big property. So, you know, back behind the house. It's been kind of just like habitat work so far, with you know, with a with a baby and stuff with work lately, I just haven't been able to do as much as I wanted to do as far as like moving stands and stuff. There's a bunch of changes I want to make, kind of tweaks to some stand locations. I want to add some cover on some spots. I gotta go and just check straps and do all that usual stuff too. Um And just based off of last year where I was seeing Holy Field during the rut, I want to add some more stands around these betting areas towards the far east side of the property. So I'm gonna have to do that though in in August, because I leave I leave here for Montana shortly. Um. But I did do some habitat stuff I've been maintaining, just keeping my food plots maintained. I uh, you know, I talked about this a little bit a couple of weeks ago, but got got my food plot screen planted around one of these plots, and um, I'm kind of changing the size and the shape of that one a little bit. It used to be sort of, um, he used to kind of look like a pie, like a piece of pie, imagine like a quarter of a pie. And in the uh, in the inside corner of that, there's a local clover plot and then the right the right half of the triangle. Then there was the plot, and then there was a gap or the kind of a section of grass in the middle, like if you just slice that pie into two pieces. And then the left side of it there was another sectional plot. But you know, a couple of years ago, I think I told you about this, Um, the far left pie piece of that pie got overgrown with weeds when I was gone for the summer one year. UM, So this year, I'm kind of reclaiming that. But I'm instead of like doing one big plot in there, I'm kind of just like snaking through, um, like a thin strip through it. So it's gonna be a bunch of tall grass and brambles and stuff all around it, and then just a narrow strip of food. It will kind of weave its way around that, um and I think that will pull some deer past my stand location a little bit better. So, you know, just kind of doing stuff like that, spraying, maintaining, checking on things. That's all I've done on that property. Um. I haven't put up cameras yet. I usually do. But so, how much have you thought about Holy Field? Honestly, you know, not as much as you might think. I mean, I thought about I mean guessing I've thought about a good bit and I've been looking for I've been driving around the roads and scouting some fields here in the summer, And like I told you a couple of weeks ago, I thought I maybe saw him, And then the day after we recorded that podcast, I saw him again. But then this time I got I got a better look on him with a spotting scope and I couldn't see a notch in his ear for sure. So now I'm thinking, maybe it's not him. Um, but man, it sure looked like you know, the brow times and the main beam sure looked like it. So I don't know. Maybe maybe that could heal up a little bit, so it's not quite as it doesn't stand out quite as much as it has in the past. Maybe that's possible. I don't know. It's been it's been four years since I saw him first get that injury, so that's possible. Um, But I don't know. I mean, I I haven't been obsessing as much. I did do some videos recently where I was kind of going through, um, all my video stuff from last year and kind of analyzing what I did right, what I did wrong. So that got me thinking about some of this a little bit, so I have been rethinking how I want to tweak some stand locations. Um, but so much of it with him in this property, there's only so many decent spots I can hunt, And so it's just a matter of okay, you know, just pick the right one of these like four stands you can hunt during the rut and make sure you've got the conditions right and hope that he's going to come cruising through without you messing it up. And just do the stuff that I know I gotta do. And you know, like we've talked, over the years, I've put myself in a position where every year I've had a shot opportunity at him. You know, the first two years I passed. The third year I just wasn't ready for it. So it's not necessarily a matter of me doing something dramatically different. I think it's just a matter of me doing what I know I need to do and executing on that plan the right way. You know, don't take any shortcuts, don't get lazy. Um. And if I do that, I think I'll have a shot or two. Um, if he's still in the air, I'll have an opportunity. Uh, just a matter of if I can you know, take advantage of it. So yeah, that's the Holy Field deal. But you know that survivor buck he could piece hopefully back and he I think will be a really cool deal this year he'd be a four year old. And then that mega giant that I saw at the end of last year a couple of times. Uh, if he hangs out on this property, that would be cool to see because I haven't seen a Michigan buck like that before. Um, So that's all exciting for this little spot here. And then you know question question about your northern Michigan spot. Yeah, okay, so you you got a picture of this drop time buck there right, So you've done some habitat work there. It looks like it's paid off as far as bringing the uh, you know, some deer back into the area. Um, has that habitat work you think directly impacted them the age class of deer that's visiting that farm. So I definitely think it's directly impacted stuff. If it has directly impacted the age class, I don't know about that, but what it has done, you know, it's it's such a small property, just forty acres um and really the the section of it that we can access to make any changes is much smaller than that. I mean, you know, the maybe the front twenty, the back twenty is just kind of swamp in low grounds, so it's kind of all wet and stuff. The front twenty part of that has our cabin and the yard and like some pines. And then so then maybe we're down now to about ten acres where I could do some stuff. And of that, you know, there's only a couple of acres that are workable at all without having some major logging done or someone coming with a doze or knockout trees, and we just haven't been able to do that yet. So to this point we have maybe an acre of openings made now. Um, so it's not you know, sub substantial that we're changing the nutritional output to a to a really heavy degree or anything. But but what it does, what it has done, is it created this focal point that we never had before. So there's just no high quality food like this around the area anywhere, at least you know, really close to this property. Maybe maybe some I have heard some people a neighbor of oursists said that such and such down the road is plant some food plots. And there is one crop field maybe a mile and a half away, um that I've seen before, but um but otherwise there just isn't this kind of food. So when you put in, all of a sudden, a tasty, little green food source like we have here, We've we kind of carved out three little food plots. Kind of it's more so like two because two of them are connected now, um, so kind of one and a half food plots as suppose, and planet oats and buckwheat and so it's just kind of like this little ice cream section now that just there's nothing like it. So we've got all of a sudden, a couple of dough family groups that are hanging out here consistently and consistently visiting this area that we never had before. You know, I've told the story in the past that we hardly ever saw a deer at all. I mean, we would hunt and maybe one person would see a deer or two for the whole you know, we usually go up there opening weekend plus a handful of day. So maybe we'll say four to five day period that there's a group of guys up there, maybe four to five guys, and we might just see a couple of deer over the whole group. Um, and this is hunting our property. Plus was a bunch of public land all around it that we hunt to. So now though we put in this food and now we're seeing deer consistently at least so lots of doughs. I've never seen does as consistently as we're seeing now, So that's awesome. And now on camera we're starting to get mature bucks. I think that's simply because now there's a consistent dope population here, and now that there's a consistent group of doughs that are hitting this food plot, there's a reason for these mature bucks to come through and take a look. And I think the reason why there's mature bucks now, I'm sure there were always a mature bucker too in the general area, because this is like some mega big swamp country that people never get into. So I'm sure that there's been some big old bucks that have made it to old age that just because there's no one out there getting to them. But we're kind of getting those deer to come up towards our area now with these doughs that are kind of readily available, and the Antler point restrictions went into play three years ago, I think or four years ago in this area, So now a lot more of those year and a half old bucks are getting passed on. So I just think you've got more two year olds, which means eventually more three year olds, which means yet more four year olds. Um. And that has seemed to make an impact. So we're seeing way more bucks that you know, fifteen years ago, everyone would have been like, oh, it smokes, that's a nice eight pointer and it was a two year old eight pointer, um. But now we're actually seeing three year olds and four year olds, which um, which is which is like I am, I would be so excited if I could kill a three year old buck on that property, that would be you know, one of the best bucks ever killed up there. And if I could do that, that would be that would be the coolest thing possible. Like then the top goal I could accomplish probably well, it'd be right up there with killing holy Field would be really close to being is satisfying as killing holy Field would be just because the history have you know here, and the kind of the low point that we're at and how we've been able to kind of slowly improve it. So there's so much more we could do. I feel like if we could like hire a lagger to come in and clear out a few more spots for us, or if we could hire a guy with a doze or to come and push open some areas, because because the biggest thing is we just need food. We need edge, and we need food. Because right now, I mean, before we did anything, it's just basically a forty acre square of thick pine trees and swamp, just no transition, no edge, no features at all, just thick crap. And then that continues on for fifteen acres in every other direction. Now, all of a sudden, we've got some companies, We've got some edge, um, we've got some different kind of food. So you you all of a sudden start getting different ways that the deer relate to it. You can start anticipating how they might travel. So now you have an idea. Okay, here's a couple of spots that these does do seem to be betting in relation to this food. Here's how they're coming in during the rout. It seems like we're seeing the one or two mature bucks that have been popping up like last year there was um, there was one mature about the show up on camera. The year before that there was two. UM, and then they seem to be showing up during the ruts. So I don't think we have anything that's living on us consistently yet, but um, but each year during the first couple of weeks in November and late October even they've been popping up. So so yeah, this year we expanded it even more. Again it's just a little forty and UM. You know, this year we decided to try to expand it a little bit more and just try to improve the quality of the little food plot areas we have so far. So we just opened up more of it, took out more trees around the edges, just open up the candy a little bit, put down more line. We were up there, like I said, two weekends ago, so we did some cutting, laid down a bunch more lime on it all again, um, and then sprayed it so because of it, because of the soil quality there and it's all pine trees around there, it's very acidic soil. So I think now it's like year three or four that we've been trying to improve that soil quality that I think now finally we're gonna be in a position that the pH level should be high enough that we can probably start planning some other things. So I might try planning some brassicas or clover um. So yeah, I think, like I said, we might have like an acre of food this year. That'll be great. Gonna have some different stand locations kind of around that, and maybe next year find a way to get some some new sections carved out and kind of go from there. But it's been you know, like I said, it's been really cool to see out there. It's a fun it's a fun it's a fun place to go even if there weren't deer. And now that we're starting to have a little bit more success or at least a little more opportunity from the deer hunting perspective, that makes it, you know, just that much more exciting. So my dad and I were up there together and that was great, and I mean, it was cool we were I don't I don't think I told you this last time we chatted. If we did, tell me, um, But we had a bonfire. We're sitting by the bonfire next to the cabin, just my dad and I talking, and it's just before dark, you know, maybe a half hour four or five minutes before arc. And we hear turkey gobble And this was like June or sixteenth or seventeen, something like that, and we're a turkey gobble off the distance. So then I just start yelping with my mouth and he gobbles back, and so I keep yelping and he gobbles back, and over the next half hour I called in two gobblers right almost to the edge of the yard, just yelping it with my mouth in the middle of June. It was awesome. Yeah, that was fun to have that happened so late in the summer. I wouldn't have expected that. Uh So, yeah, man, I'm I'm pumped about that. And um that that's been the big project I've been working on so far. So we'll come back in August after my Montana trip and um, you know, put down, put down some fertilizer, get him planted, just some stand locations, and then I probably won't go Maybe I'll go back once in Bohan in October and then we'll wait for gun season in the middle of November to try to hit it hard. So that's the game plan there. Alright, let's take a quick break now to think our partners at white Tail Properties, and as we've been doing every couple of weeks here in the podcast, I want to point out a helpful resource that white Tail Properties is put together, which is their new video in this land beat YouTube series they've been putting out, which features my buddy Ben Harshin, who's a white Tail Properties land specialist, and in this video he shares some great advice about using maps to identify habitat and terrain funnels that will serve as this kind of ideal rut hunting set up. And what I really like about this video is that it actually features an example and which Ben shows us what the funnel looks like on a map, and what it looks like in person from the ground, and then finally what it looks like from an aerial drone perspective too. So if you're still trying to wrap your head around what we mean when we talk about funnels and pinch points, this video will be a huge help. So if you're interested in checking it out, you can head over to the white Tail Properties YouTube channel and look for the video titled Locating and Hunting Funnels. And now back to the show I'm Jack, dude. I feel I feel really like, I don't know, just energetic, not necessarily thinking I'm gonna kill anything, but just like really excited to get back in the stand or a hunt period this year. Man, I agree with you. I got bad news to share, though. That is kind of a downer that I want to run past. You get your thoughts on this, um, can I can I take you that direction? Okay, let's hear it, um, sir. So chronic wasting disease. We yes, we um. We just got word. Well, two things have happened. Number One, A few weeks ago, the DNR came out with a new set of proposed recommendations for managing CWD in Michigan. Now um that they were proposing to our Natural Resources Council, and their proposals we're pretty controversial, um, within the state of Michigan. I want to get your thoughts on those. But then, and with all that happening, most of them where the c w D has been located to this point has been north and northwest of where I hunt. UM, handful of counties away, so nothing too close to home. But just last week we got an email saying that a CWD positive deer was found right here by us, um in the county just north of me and so, and it's a county where I do hunt as well. So there is now c w D in one of these counties that I do hunt in, and that you know, my buddies like Corey and Dustin and those guys right there right by them. Um. So that's just a huge bummer that it's it's local now. Um. But that being said, these new recommendations and new proposals, I'm curious such your thoughts are on this. So this is what they're proposing in Michigan. They're proposing to manage the state kind of in two different zones. And not gonna paraphrase here, I might not get the exact details right, So if you live in Michigan, your interest in this, you should just go to the d NR website and read the actual proposal because I'll probably get the details wrong. But as I remember it, Um, they're proposing a few things. They're proposing that in the core c w D kind of surveillance zone that they're calling this, I think this is that the counties where CTB has been found. I think that's five or six counties now UM. And then and it might also then include the counties that touch those UM in that zone. They're proposing that baiting be banned right now immediately, so that would be you know, any baiting, any minerals, anything like that. UM. They're proposing that they will ban all um dear urine based lures and scents UM that are like natural real dear urine unless they are certified by the a t A. The a t A has gotten like a new certification program that's trying to certify c w D free deer farms and stuff. So anything that doesn't get that certification, they're in a band UM. And then here's the controversial ones. UM. They're proposing a mid October gun hunt for doze, so opening up a handful day gun hunt during the middle of what would usually just be bow season UM. And then they're recommending taking our muzzleloader season, which is about a three week long period UM in December and just changing that to a to any firearms season, so basically taking our two week firearms season and expanding that to a five week firearms season UM in that area. So that has got a lot of people up in arms because of the fact that you know, it's just gonna especially for the people that have been trying to push for some changes to management that might help, you know, increase age structure and improve the quality of deer hunting in Michigan. There's a lot of people that have been pushing for things like antler point restrictions across the whole state. Um and now they're seeing this as just being like, man, this is gonna just destroy the quality of the of the deer hunting here even more. Um So. Yeah, and they're also banning things like, um some common sense things like no transport. Well, some people are upset about this too. They don't want to transport deer carcasses across county lines now, so if you kill a deer in a CW deposit of county, you're not supposed to move it outside of that county. Um So. I think some people are worried about how that's going to impact, you know, certain taxidermists or deer processing stations and stuff like that. Since what if you shoot a deer up north and you've gotta take it home, You can't just go home the next day. You have to do something with that deer. Um So, yeah, that's that's what's happened. Now, there's been all sorts of people up on arms about particular that gun season expansion and having that gun season in the middle of October. UM. Now, the Quality Deer Management Association UM, at least the local branches and stuff here have been proposing kind of alternative, which has been, hey, let's let's find ways to you know. Definitely they support everything from um, you know, stopping the transfer of caucusses to de baiting issues and things like that, but rather than the increased gun seasons, they're saying, hey, give us a bone, like, throw us a bone, throw us some kind of incentive to help keep hunters excited and engaged in this area, and we will kill more doughes like because because a lot of these regulation changes, like the increased firearm opportunities, basically it seems to be that they're trying to get more does killed to reduce deer density in these areas, to hopefully slow down the spread at at a high level. I think that's what they're trying to achieve with these proposals. So the alternative ideas, hey, let's reduce the buck, the kill of yearling bucks by introducing an antler point restriction here in these areas. So so we will kill fewer bucks because we're gonna be passing on those year and anfle bucks because the APRS. But that will hopefully lead to an older or a more balanced age structure. So that's like a carrot. That's an incentive for a lot of deer hunters that want to see better deer hunting opportunities in the state. But that will lead to increased dough harvest because now we're you know, we'll take more dough tags um additional maybe archery dough seasons, or or simply because of the fact that now we're not gonna be targeting quite as many books will, you know, the difference will be met by targeting more doughs. So that's this kind of alternative idea that's been put out there, and that might be a way to to keep hunter morale high. Um. The point being that if you go in here and increase these guns seasons, you're just gonna get people disheartened about how deer hunting is shifting in this way, and you're not going to get the hunter engagement. And if you don't have the hunter high morale and hunter engagement. You know, you're not going to get the action that you want anyways, because if people are upset about the situation, they're not gonna go kill these doughs the way you want them to, and you're not going to get that outcome. Um. So those are the two different kind of proposals that have been thrown around here in the state. I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen because cw just keeps on popping up. So obviously, in my opinion and in the opinion of the scientific community, the management community, people have done the research, like CWD is something we have to take seriously. It's it's not a government conspiracy. It's it's not something um that the insurance companies are trying to shove down our throat. Uh. Despite what you know, some people are saying that that aren't actually involved in this stuff. UM, So I think we need to take it serious. Him. So you're telling me that when a hunting celebrity comes on social media and and says a rant about how c w D is a hoax, we shouldn't believe them. Yeah, that's what I'm saying in out there, man. I'll tell you what There's been some frustrating stuff put out into the world from Yeah, I'm not claiming myself to be an expert at all, but I'm going to trust the scientists, the biologists, the people that really understand this. Those are gonna be the people that I take my information from, not someone who is trying to film the TV show about stuff or who wants to sell bait and supplements or whatever. That's so frustrating to see that kind of stuff put out in the world and confusing people, and it's just not something that we can mess around with, you know, right, Absolutely so, man, when it comes to c w D, this is something that I I am like, I have internal thoughts about, right, So, Like it sounds to me that before I say that, let me say this. I bet you if we tested every deer that was killed throughout the United States, c w D would show up in way more places than what it's currently at. Right. Yeah, that's probably true. That sucks to say, but I have a feeling it's it's it is. It's almost like one of those zombie movies where you know where it expands, and it expands fast because a deer exposed to I mean dear. We know deer social we need no dear travel and you know, they touch each other and they eat off the same I don't know the same plants and and food sources, and sniff and groom each other. And you know, if a deer does that a mile down the road to another deer, and that deer does that, and that dear does that, it can snowball really fast. So like, I just think that c w D is going to be inevitable, and I think that it is nature's way. And this is me no scientific background, ain't no research or anything like that. This is just my opinion. I think that nature is gonna take its course, and if a deer gets c w D, it's either gonna die quick where it's gonna die you know, later on after it's well old and mature. Right, So I don't know. I mean, it just seems to me like this is nature's way of figuring things out. And the deer that survived c w D and potentially don't get it or recover from it, if that's even an option, you know, or you know, they they evolve from this, then the deer herd will come back stronger and they'll beat it. Um. But when it comes to like going out and saying, Okay, well here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna shoot every deer in sight, or we're going to um increase gun seasons and stuff like that, I don't think that. Obviously, the there's a lot of people that don't need to be giving their opinion. And I think even that the c w D world, like the people the scientists, don't even know a lot about this yet. So when like the state makes a decision based off of science that is, it's there and we're showing a spread of c w D, but we don't know about it yet, it just kind of sucks to the hunter where they're making these these big decisions based off of science, but not like proven science yet. You know what I mean, I do hear you're saying. I mean, I do know what you mean. But but what's the alternative? Do we do nothing? I don't know, man, I mean, if let's I guess, let's walk through that once doing nothing and continuing hunting, and you know, deer herds increase and decrease, you know, they increase and decrease some you know, maybe winter kills them or or something like that what does I mean, what good does it do to have b w D? I mean, do these these man ask killoffs if it's just gonna it's gonna be around and it's gonna you know, I don't know so many thoughts, you know what I mean. I mean, I think you know, we we We've talked to people that have talked through the the sign that the long term implications. You know, it's yeah, in the short term, there aren't gonna be major issues. But what if we get to a point where we scot parts of Wisconsin are getting now where in some areas something like forty or fifty of all the bucks are CTBD positive. And what if we get to that point where were you hunt in Iowa it's like that, and where I hunt here in Michigan it's like that. And now all of a sudden, you know, we haven't seen it jump to humans yet, but the Center for Disease Control doesn't recommend you eat it because that's not acent for sure thing. So what if now every other buck you kill you can't eat? And what if you know, in Wyoming and stuff where it's been known to be around for a while longer, they are seeing population level declines because of CWD. So what if we get to a point now where and this might be twenty years from now, this might be a long ways away. But what about when you know, when Mac and Everett are hunting, you know, they can't eat any of the bucks they kill, and they can't you know, dear populations are going down by ten percent every year, So that means we have to change our hunter regulations. So now you can't get two buck tags a year in Michigan because the population is going to be going down. Or what if we find out that, yeah, actually some percent of humans that have been eating deer meat now are actually developing some kind of nervous system issues. I mean there are I agree, like there's so many questions, there's so many unknown still. But at the same time, if we don't try to slow it at least or do something, it just seems like the long term impacts are are scary. So I don't know anything about You know, Wisconsin is the kind of hotbed for this. Right they went in when they had this, when the the c w D first became prevalent. Right, they went in and they destroyed the deer population. Right, they tried to wipe it out as much as possible over time it had it been kind of rebounded, right, But what I don't know is are the deer in that area still c w D positive. Sounds to me like they are, yeah, But but here's the thing. What they did is that they did a like the scurse. And again this is me from the outside from what I've heard and read. We're not professionals and we don't live and hunt there, so I'm going to get some of the details probably wrong. But as I understand the situation, right when they first discovered cw D in the area, they did try like the scorched Earth policy, where they tried to really knock out the dear populations in these areas. They really aggressively tried to you know, thin deer populations and do different things like that. But then like five years ago or six years or whatever, they decided to go the complete opposite and they really like went hands off, like they're gonna they monitored the CWD, but then they weren't doing much in these areas whereas being found to try slow the spread or do anything else, so they want the exact opposite direction with it. Now, the last I don't know how many years has been, but five six, seven, something like that, UM to where they're not trying to make any type of changes. Yes, to your point, CWD is definitely still there. It is increasing. The the infection rate seems to be higher and higher every year. It seems to be that zone is growing out from that hot spot. UM So, I don't know. I mean, I don't know if if if the scorched earth policy that they had for a while, if that slowed things down, and if they kept doing something like that, maybe that would keep it from spreading at the rate it is. I don't know if that's the case or not. To your point, though, I feel like the balance with this and this is from a purely just as a hunter stand standpoint, But I think from the way I see things, I think we need to be doing as many common sense things we can do to to reduce the spread as much as possible, to slow the spread as much as possible, um to at least keep things from getting critical critically damaged until we learn something or find some other solution that's going to help us, you know, stop this thing in a more wholesale way. But but we can't lose hunter engagement and moraile either, right, because so if we start doing things that get hunters completely unengaged, then we can't you know, we can't do any of these things like thinning the deer population a little bit, or getting people to even report their deer or get their dear tested. Like if people are so frustrated, or if people's deer hunting situations in their area are so destroyed that they're not going to be part of it anymore, then then you're not achieving anything else either. So there's gotta be some kind of middle ground. I don't know where that is, um where we need to take it. Seriously, we need to learn more. We need to make sure there's money and time and investment going into researching this. We need to stop things that are spreading this around quickly, like transporting deer all over the place and you know, infect a deer getting loose out of captive facilities, or killing a CTVD positive and Wisconsin and then bringing it back to Wiscontin bringing back to Michigan and dropping it in your backyard and then having a new hotspot there. Like that kind of stuff that's like obvious. I feel like it makes a whole lot of sense to knock that out. Um the other stuff I know I've mentioned. I mean I read an article a couple of days ago last week about came out of the Pennsylvania State or University of Pennsylvania or penn State or something like that where they did the research and nine out of eleven mineral stations UH tested positive for c w D and wherever this research was done. So I think that this year is going to be my last year using mineral man that I literally was going to ask you do it? Are we at the point now where that the sypes of studies are showing that these mineral stations or bait stations are disproportionately high areas of concentration for this kind of thing? Yeah? Absolutely So do we have a moral or or or have it or even like a management obligation as hunters to say, you know what, Yeah, these deer can get it in a lot of other ways too, but this is one way that I can reduce the chances are slow it in some ways. So, even if it's not banned in my state, should we stop doing it? So you're saying you would, yeah, I mean, which is crazy? Right? Um? I feel it's my part. I feel it's my responsibility because I am offering Dear a concentrated place to meet, right, which which really sucks because hundred yards from where my mineral stations are are salt a lot locks for the cattle that the deer visit. Right, So if I'm not putting out mineral, the deer are going to be going and getting that mineral from the salt blocks and the mineral blocks that are being put out in On the farms that I hunt, there's deer tracks all over them along with a cattle. So I gonna tell the farmer they shouldn't do it too. They're going to tell you you're crazy. They don't care. Um, but I feel it's my responsibility. Even if it's just a half of a half of a percent, it helps. I think. I think it's just my responsibility to do that. Yeah, I think. Um, I think it's something that people gotta start thinking long and hard about. Um. It sucks, dude, because it's one of my favorite things to do. Oh and I'll tell you what. It's seriously impacts your ability to capture summer trail cameras pictures because yeah, I can't. I can't bait or put mineral in Michigan anymore. And it's really tough to get the concentration of pictures like you can when you have that out there. I mean, it's dramatically different approach that I take now trying to find you know, just setting up on a inside corner of a bean field and hoping that some dey are going to pass through their water source or trail crossing or something like that. It's it's nothing like having a trophy rock or whatever out there. But to your point, I think it's it's something we gotta we gotta think about, because yeah, I mean, there we go. We got Illinois, right, so now we got Illinois. Didn't they banned mineral stations or a while ago? Right? So yeah, it's been it's been banned for a while. But now people are trying to trying to get it reversed. Yeah. The people who are trying to reverse it are the are the people who own I think I want to say biologic, right, I don't. I don't. I haven't heard about that because that's most yoke um, not MASSIOK. But someone who's got supplements companies, Yeah, a company that has supplements is trying to reintroduce it, and their whole push is um the deer need our supplements because they're unhealthy. So the more healthy that they are, they are, you know, they may be able to fight this, which you know is it is an okay you know, is an okay reason. Right. If you think that your mineral provides um uh nutrition to deer, then that would be good to help them fight disease. But this disease attacks strong, healthy animals, right, Yeah, you can get anyone. Yeah, yeah, I don't know, man, I if they can show me the science that says that no way is our bait states and these types of deals impacting this the spread of the disease. But I haven't seen anything like that yet. All the all the research, all the biologists, the experts on this that you know that don't work for a deer hunting community. But the people that work, you know, for the USGS and stuff like that, like the ones that don't have some kind of weird incentive pushing them one way or another, they're the ones pointing to the fact that, yeah, this this stuff is an issue. So I'm gonna I'm gonna put my faith in that. On a positive note, I do have faith that science and the hunting community will work together to help either like reduce this or solve this problem. I I just have a feeling that there's going to be a breakthrough because of how many how much dear means to people. Yeah, I think there's gonna be something positive come out of all this, and in the long run we may suffer short term, but at the end of the day, I think years down the road there's going to be there's going to be I don't know if it's going to be a cure, but a solution. Yeah, yeah, I hope you're right. I think I think you know, I like your optimistic view on it too, And probably so if that's the case, if we're really hoping that something like that could be the case. It seems like probably the weak link right now is research because the charts I've seen recently have shown the funding that has been devoted to research and CWT has just gone down the tubes as of a few years ago, because there's like a bunch of grants that were given back when it was first shown, when it first popped up in the early two thousands, and that money ran out, and so recently I think there's not been very much funding. UM So I think we as a hunting community need to get behind different proposals to start getting some dollars put towards more research to to try to find those kinds of solutions. And I know that I know that there was something proposed earlier this year, a bill proposing some kind of um serious funding being granted to that kind of thing. So I think when those when um, when specific legislation has put out there that we hear about, we definitely need to push that, talk about it, get people on board, to get our representatives behind it. Absolutely, that's always a rent rent on topic. Though I know it sucks. Let's end this positive. Let's end on a on a positive note. I'm leaving for Montana. I know I'm jack for you because again I'll be living through your Instagram pictures and the pictures that you send me to be basically, you're being a dick to me. You send me those pictures like, hey, look where I'm at and you're not. Have you have you taken your kids camping? Do you have any advice for me? Because this is he's five months old, We're taken off for five weeks right now, I've never taken my kid camping, right, But here's what I will tell you. On trips like that, you have either got to get them asleep or you have to keep them occupied. I don't care how old they are. Right, So he's five months old. So what are his favorite things right now? Um? Boobs and probably a mirror so if you can so he'll look at it, or a pacifier or something, you know what I mean. Just like, so get him, maybe keep him up a little bit, make your night suck a little bit, uh, and then put him in the car sheet so when you take off he sleeps, or drive when you're driving out there, that's gonna be the suckiest part of it all. I'm worried about. Right, So maybe maybe you or your wife sleep during the day, you know, try to alter go to bed earlier, or go to bed late, however you want to do it, and then drive through the night so he sleeps on a regular routine and he's not you know, during the day, he's not crying and have to stop and then feed him and then wait, stop and change diapers and all that stuff you can you know, and then there's been a drill. I mean, that's always an option as well. Do they have baby bene drill? Oh? Yeah, you can give a baby ben a drill just a little bit, but you don't want to overdo it. I'm probably not going to do that, but I don't. I was just gonna say, don't do that advice. But your advice about driving through the night, that is a good idea, and it's something we were thinking about. We're we're talking about maybe like just like leaving it like two in the morning or something like just super early. So that um, so that to your point, he'll sleep for seven hours or something before he gets up, because I because I was worried, Like, man, you know, every couple of hours he wants to eat, and every few hours he has to get his diaper changed. And so every time we have to do that, you know that means you have to stop, pull off, take him out his carci do that whole deal. I mean that could really slow slow things down. I might want to be worried about and not. This isn't to go back to Debbie Downer road again. Is elevation, right, You're gonna be at a higher elevation and it could play havoc on his ears. Yeah, I hadn't really thought about that too much, but a little there's something you can do to babies to help them get used to that. Not to look into that, because yeah, I mean, we'll be going to even down in the valleys. You know, that's even that's still five thousand feet of elevation or something. So it's gonna be it's gonna be an adventure and it's going to be different. I don't know what we're gonna be able to do. I don't know what how. You know. One of the big issues. We weren't camping this past weekend with him, just to kind of test the waters here locally, and what we didn't even think about was just, you know, trying to keep him asleep, you know, when he goes down for naps or usually we put him down to bed before we go to bed, but that's in this little twenty ft box that everything's in, so it's not he has a separate bedroom where he can go and not be woke up by us. But it's all in the same place though, So if we want to go in and cook, or if we have to go in and do anything, or if we're coming in and out to go to bed, and we have two dogs, one of which is this big black lab who's really loud whenever he's in there, his tails smacking things, his feet are scratching. I mean, there's no way to quietly get in and out of there. So I don't know what we're gonna do for sleeping. It's it's gonna be like I'm just imagining the worst case scenario in my head right now, and I just imagine about oh two weeks, you and your wife are gonna look at each other. You're going to be fighting with each other, but you don't know what you're going to be fighting about. And it's because your child is continuously crying. And we're gonna say, why don't we just go back to Michigan. That could that could happen, And like we we even like we even have talked about that. We're gonna be flexible. You know, if it ends up being a disaster, then all right, we're just gonna call it. But but hopefully we can, you know, hopefully we have a good time out there and do some basic hikes and just you know, enjoy the western scenery a little bit. Show him a buffalo and h a grizzly bear, from the road maybe, Um, so I added from the road. Yeah, who knows. We're gonna trying to We're trying to take him on some hikes. We got the baby backpack thing for him, so we're gonna try to do a backpacking trip with him. See how that goes. Um, So, yeah, it's gonna be an education in what parent life is like on the road. I'll report back to you in the coming weeks. Yeah, I'm I think next summer is going to be a family Colorado trip. So, um, I might even be taking some advice from you as well. Yeah, man, I think it's just gonna be so cool. I can't wait till he's as old as his a mac when I'm you know, at that age, they're going to really, you know, get excited about stuff and see you know, an elk or the mountains and you know flip out. Yeah like that. That just seems so exciting, all new world, man, Marcus macus potty trained. That's exciting. That's huge. So you're you're down to just one in diapers. Well he still wears a pull up to bed right at night? Yeah, well he can't. He can't really wipe his butt that good yet. But when he's awake throughout the day, no problems, that's gotta that's gotta be a great relief. One less diaper, dude, it's a big thing. It's like I almost feel like I should celebrate with my wife congratulations. I uh yeah, kids, man, it's been awesome so far, you know, the first five months. You know, we've talked about a few times before, but it's it's just been amazing. He's been easier to handle than I expected. Like he's just been a happy baby, a great sleeper, all those things have been great. But yeah, I got lucky. But the big test, the big test is still to come this trip and then hunting season. So yeah, what are you gonna carry him around for like a four week hunt? You're gonna take him in the tree standing with you like that kind of test. Yeah. Man, I'm gonna try the new saddle hunting thing and he's gonna be in the front pack, and uh, that'll make for some good videos. Right. Oh yeah, man, Well, I'm glad we got some time just to catch up. It's uh, it's increasingly harder to do with kids and work, and so thanks for making the BS session here, buddy. Hey man, anytime any any final things we got cover for shut this one down? Not really, man Um. The other day I was going out and checking the mail and I had to stop pop in my head like, man, I haven't had spaghettios in a long time, and I just really wanted spaghettios. I haven't had him yet, but in the next couple of days, my goal is to go to the store get a ken of spaghettios. Man, that that's riveting stuff. And you asked, man, I did ask why what made you think that when you were going out to get the mail, Like what triggered spaghettios while getting the mail? You know, I think, dude, abstract, random, very abstract. Do you remember that one time that you went into your kitchen, you opened up a cabinet door, you grabbed a can of food out of it, You started eating it and you later realized that was dog food. Yeah, it was only one bite. You make it sound like I ate for a container before I realized that there's only one bite that you know, when anyone asked me like, so, what's this Dan Johnson guy, like, I'm just I just tell him that story and that's that's all that needs to be said dude eight dog fed one eight and then talked about it on a podcast He admitted to it. Yeah, I think she's a dumbass. That's that's your most admirable characteristic right there, Dan, You just put it all out there. Thanks man, I appreciate someone's got to do it. That's true. Alright, dude. Well good chatting, and um, next time we talk, I will be able to tell you how Baby Adventure one point oh has gone. And that's at first today, folks, So thank you for tuning in. Happy fourth of July week and until next time, stay wired to