Ep.141 Snow Tracking Deer In The Big Woods

WEBVTT
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Hunt sun.
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This is Huntson Outfitting Podcast.
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I'm your host and rookie guide, Ken Meyer.
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I love everything hunting, the outdoors, and all things associated with it.
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From stories to how-to's, you'll find it here.
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Welcome to the podcast.
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Alright, guys and gals, thanks for listening to this week's podcast.
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We've got a great one for you.
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We've got a deer hunting tracking story one.
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It's really great.
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We've got Jeremy Howe on.
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Jeremy is well spoken and always a pleasure to have on.
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He's been on the podcast several times before, and we recorded this a while ago.
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Um, and it was nice that he was able to come out in person for this.
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So excited to uh to be listening to him.
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And also, so last week, if you're listening, we had the discussion of what defines a partridge or a grouse.
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So I was sent this by a couple people.
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Uh this one's from Tony Steves.
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Tony said, a rough grouse are shot by men with fancy under over and under guns and a dog and fancy pants and a shirt.
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And partridge are shot by guys driving around in trucks or side by sides.
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And then Wesley had sent me a grouse is pointed by a dog and shot on the wing.
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A partridge is shot on the ground while driving back roads.
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I got a few more uh people message me saying the same thing.
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So uh that clears it up.
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That is the difference between the partridge and the grouse, because around here everyone calls them either or, and um now we know which one's which.
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So thanks guys for sending me that.
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Thanks to everyone that sent me that.
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I got a good laugh out of it, and it uh helped clear that up for me.
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Um so this week here, too.
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Uh said excited.
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A lot of places now are full tilt deer season, so I think this deer tracking one's really gonna, you know, maybe help you.
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Uh there's some snow involved in this one, obviously, with the deer tracking that helps, but um, it's uh it's good.
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It's a lot of fun.
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It's it's always fun to talk with Jeremy and his brother-in-law with Sean was on this, my buddy Jacob Armstrong, and I think Lane's on this too.
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So this is recorded quite a while ago.
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So uh be good.
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Also, the podcast, if you're looking to support the podcast in any way and get your name advertised, I am making a new banner for the podcast.
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Uh that's gonna be at all, I have an old one now that's all at all the big hunting shows in uh New Brunswick, possibly Atlantic Canada, but all it's gone to all the ones in New Brunswick.
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And um the new one's gonna be it's seen by tens of thousands of people.
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And the new one, I'm gonna have all of our supporters and sponsors on there, the logos, names, and everything.
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So if you're looking to get on there, I'll probably be making this in about a month or so.
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Um just reach out to me.
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Uh hit me up on uh on Facebook or email and um and let me know if you want to be on it.
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I think we've got about thirteen or fourteen on there so far, so if uh we're looking to add possibly a few more, so just uh just a heads up on that.
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Without further ado, let's get talking to Jeremy.
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Oh, and if you were looking to get a hold of us to maybe come on the podcast or suggest somebody for it, or just reach out to me, you can email me, hunts on outfitting at gmail.com, or you can find us on Facebook, Hunts on Outfitting, or find myself on there, Ken Meyer.
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Feel free to reach out.
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Some of you guys have been, it's been great talking with you from all over.
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So we're fine.
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So uh Jeremy, happy to have you on here.
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Uh you've been on here a few times before.
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Uh you so you had a great hunting season.
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Was it this past season that you had a your tracking story?
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You did some tracking here in New Brunswick?
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Yeah, yeah.
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I've um been tracking deer now since 2018.
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So a quick story how I how I got into it.
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Uh 2018, my son and I, he would have been like 15 at the time.
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We were hunting populated areas where we were just bumping into other hunters, and I was like, screw this, like let's go up to our to the camp, like where we live in uh western New Brunswick.
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We some high elevation there, we're gonna get into some snow.
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We're gonna let's go look for some deer tracks up there.
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So we went up uh part the truck, walked up through uh clear cut over a hardwood ridge, and uh came across a nice buck track.
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Uh that he this buck was tailing uh a doe.
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And um had my you know 15-year-old son with me, so it's uh quite difficult to uh to be successful when you are carrying other people along with you doing that kind of hunting.
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Yeah.
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But anyway, so we follow that track.
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He was the the buck and doe, they were kind of traversing the hardwood ridge, and then they take took a hard left downhill, and I was like, all right, they're gonna go down to the field.
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They're gonna go down, there's a field down on the lower land, they're gonna probably come down there.
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Let's jump down there ahead of them, get ahead, and uh, and see what happens.
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There's only like 45 minutes of daylight left.
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So we just get down in the field, and and uh my son's kind of you know doing stuff, you know, the ADHD boys do at that age.
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And that was all really and uh I'm like, this is never gonna work.
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And so we're looking out over.
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We have we we own these fields, and our backfield was planted in split pea that year, and there was tons of split pea, and the deer were hammering that field.
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So that's where I expect them coming out.
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Well, I just look over my left shoulder and I remember saying to Alex, look at the size of that fucking deer.
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Yeah, and it was the buck he was by himself.
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He was halfway across our front field, uh, nose to the ground.
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Uh I pull up with the with Browning X bolt 270, made two good shots.
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He ran 30 yards and piled up.
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So that buck was uh some would call it a 10-point.
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It was a solid eight-point.
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Um, it had a couple kickers that you could score if you wanted to, but uh it weighed in at 220 pounds dressed.
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So kind of the benchmark that some people use for size of deer.
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Right, they do.
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But we're lucky to have an official New Brunswick score here with the Slay Lewis.
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Lane, how long does a point have to be for them to say yay or nay?
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Uh it has to be an inch.
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Has to be an inch?
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So the hang your wedding band on it isn't No, I like even my deer this year, I call it a twelve point because the left side G five can hang a ring off it, but it's for scoring wise, it doesn't count because it's not a full inch.
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But so if you score by the the spoon and crock pot, you go by you hang a wedding ring, but yeah, as referring to deer, if it you can hang a ring off it, like I still call my deer this year twelve point, but score-wise, it only counted as eleven.
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Oh yeah, I called it small.
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Me too.
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Yeah, so to jump back um to that story, so yeah, that was a that was a really special, special deer.
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That was my first 200-pounder, and my son was right there, he watched the whole shit show happen.
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My uncle just happened to show up, helped us drag it out of the woods, and uh I got to show my dad that deer on my way home, and he was a big hunter and a big influence on me, and that was a style of hunting that he did when I was a kid, and that would have been so he passed away after that, and that would have been the last big game animal that he put his hands on.
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So it was a pretty special, special one for me.
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So anyways, I got thinking about it.
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Like, I'm like, man, that's how we used to hunt when I was a kid, uh like tracking.
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And then uh I started like getting into podcasts, and I I come into the the big buck or uh big woods buck.
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Big woods buck.
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Yeah, you don't hear those guys going out to the woods with a you know dump truck load of apples and sitting there because one, it's illegal in Maine.
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And even if it was legal, I don't think those guys would do it anyways.
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I think they're they're tracking.
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It's like watching the Northwoods Law, you shot that deer over corn, and corn impacted his molas.
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It's like, oh yeah.
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So you some lucky, man, you some lucky down here.
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I love it, it's awesome.
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Listen, yeah, fucker.
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Yeah.
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I forget, can't eat more than three connots of corn going to jail tonight.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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They're uh they don't uh they don't mess around there.
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But I think it's good.
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Yeah, so that was 2018, and like I'm I've shot tons of I shot tons of spikes and four corn bucks over apple piles before that.
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And like uh but once I started getting into this track, I'm like, man, I remember the doing this.
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This is what my dad and my uncles did.
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Yeah, that's what they did when I was a kid.
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And uh and uh so I get into Big Woods Bucks and and um uh I don't remember 2019, 2020, we didn't have any snow to track.
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Um my son got a got a nice probably two-year-old, maybe three-year-old buck over an apple pile.
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Um second to the last day of season in 2022, big buck showed up.
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I shot that one.
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That one was a solid nine point.
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Uh weighed it.
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Um so we put it up in the garage.
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My garage has somewhat of a low roof on it, so I pulled it up on the scales and uh it topped out in the ceiling.
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The hind legs were touching the ceiling, and the scale said 220.
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And I look and the two front legs are still touching the ground, so I was like, okay, that's big enough.
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So that was that was a big buck.
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Um probably 227, maybe 230.
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Yeah.
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So that was 2022, and then I'm then I'm like, all right, that's cool, but it I I really want to hunt over snow.
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So I I changed professions at that time, and I had I was able to book two weeks off every year.
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Uh so the I just I used to do forestry type work.
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Um left that profession.
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Now I'm more into health and safety, health and safety type work.
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So I worked for a bigger from private company to a larger company.
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So I'm able to get uh two weeks a year off for deer season.
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And uh it was around that time we were they opened the extended season for muzzle loader, so that gave us an an extended week longer.
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So I was like, okay, I'm gonna start shooting deer tracking, or at least attempt it.
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You did you get a muzzle loader?
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Yeah, I went down bombers.
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Because with uh with a week later, I mean the odds of us having snow here pretty good usually.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Yeah, we're and where it depends where you go in the province.
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Certain areas in the province have higher elevation, so yeah, you can usually you should be able to find snow during muzzle loader season in New Brunswick every year.
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Yeah.
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So 2023.
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2023, I have my two weeks off.
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Uh I I keep I keep a journal, which is I handy.
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I recommend people.
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I write down like you know, scrape week.
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I can't read my writing or I would, but yeah.
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I keep keep track of historical sign, scrape week, um uh what deer I see, uh how many deer I see.
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And it's just something that you know, ten years, yeah.
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When I can't remember my name, I'll be able to read this and remember whole.
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Well, you hear guys too that are successful with it.
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A lot of them do keep notes like that meticulously, and they are successful.
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It pays off.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So 2023.
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Um I had my two weeks off.
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That year it was it was hard to find snow, but uh the last day of rifle, so the second to the last week, the last day of the second to the last week, um, I found a couple inches of snow up on top of this ridge and uh cut a track, buck track, and and I'm hunting higher.
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Like I've already hunted for a week and a half straight, pretty much.
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And uh so I'm tracking tracking this deer.
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It was fresh, fresh track early in the morning.
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I had all day to follow this track.
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Um I only went for 20 minutes and I came to uh a skitter trail that had a four-way intersection, and the buck track went straight ahead, and then I'm like, okay, he's I gotta anticipate where's he gonna swing around?
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Because we're now at the very pinnacle of this hardwood ridge.
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He's gonna loop around, where's he gonna come from?
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So I'm just kind of like I'm on my phone looking on Google Earth, where do I think he's coming from?
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Then I can hear crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch.
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I'm like, oh shit, here he comes.
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He started he was brat backtracking himself, stepping right in his own tracks.
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So I get the old 7600 Remington Pump back 30 30 aw6, yeah.
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Yeah, you know, the guys that's what they use, the big woods bucks guys use, so I went out and bought one.
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And uh now what do you have for a scope on it though?
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Because some of them have open sights or yeah, I had so I had I get see-through mounts on that one.
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Oh, nice, yeah.
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Dove dovetail open sights and uh like a one to six power scope.
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I made uh I didn't make a good shot.
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He come, he's coming towards me straight on.
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We lock eyes.
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I'm I'm I've just you know, I'm like, it's gonna happen.
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I just worked myself up, made a shot, and just gave him a haircut.
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And then I'm like, okay, well, I know it's fresh now, so I'm gonna keep track of him.
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As soon as he left the Hardwood Ridge, he went halfway down the ridge.
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We lost snow, and then it's game over.
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So that was 2023.
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2024.
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Uh so yeah, 20.
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So to talk about our deer population, um I can throw some pretty good stats out there because for the last like four years, I've taken the same two weeks off every year.
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2023, in those two weeks, I only saw four deer.
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Three three does and one buck.
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That's still hunting, that's not hunting over bait, still hunting and tracking.
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So we're gonna jump ahead to 2024, and uh my stats for 2024 were 16 bucks and 36 does in two weeks.
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Same two weeks.
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What do you think the difference was?
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I mean, besides more deer, but what what caused it?
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Our winters.
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We're having we're having really mild, yeah, mild winters.
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Yeah, we are, yeah.
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Yeah, mild winters.
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We've kind of screwed our our deer yards, so we've we've basically we cut them all.
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So uh, but we've had mild winters for the last five winters in a in a row.
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Yeah.
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You don't see like we're in February now.
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I haven't seen a dead deer on the road yet.
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Usually you would always see dead deer out on the road, right?
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They get chased out on the road, but they're staying in the woods.
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Yeah because we haven't seen a lot of yeah, yeah.
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So we're gonna jump ahead 2024.
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That was the year that I was seeing a lot of deer.
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Um so I was on I was here visiting you one time and I in 2024, and I said, I think we were talking about our moose hunt, and I said, I've got me my eye on a couple big bucks.
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Yeah, because you had pictures because from the previous year.
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Yeah.
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So I have this one spot.
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I always I like when you're hunting, you know, if I'd call it big woods, like I'm in the middle of nowhere, no agriculture fields around.
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Uh I I always go after a terrain feature.
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Like I don't just go on Google Earth or Onyx and close my eyes and point my finger in the middle of the big woods and say, I'm gonna go check that out.
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I always look for some sort of terrain feature.
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Lakes are the best because you know, obviously it's gonna funnel them around the short the lake.
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But um, this this area that I had the pictures from the previous year of a nice buck.
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Um it the terrain feature there would be uh a swamp and then 300 yards of nice hardwood and then a big lake, and it's gonna funnel them through there.
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So I uh I didn't have any cameras on on this scrape line because they I've historically uh they always have a scrape scrape line through that funnel.
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But I'd go in about once a week during the season, look for look for sign.
00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:49.679
And I think it there was no sign until week three, and I went in and it was blown up like probably 20 some scrapes within 300 yards, um fresh.
00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:53.120
And I'm like, oh shit, like I gotta get in here now.
00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.639
Luckily, it's only 10 minutes from where I live.
00:16:56.960 --> 00:16:59.600
So uh I and I worked from home.
00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:10.559
I worked from home uh a few days a week, and that day I was working from home, so I just as soon as I clocked out at four, I literally grabbed uh a uh like a 12-foot ladder stand.
00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:16.960
I ran in to that spot with everything, carrying a ladder stand, carrying my rifle, carrying everything.
00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:25.599
I set up, and uh we don't have snow, so I'm I'm on I'm on bare ground um hunting the the scrape line.
00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:32.400
So I set up, I let everything cool down, let everything quiet down for about 10 minutes, and then I get my buck grunt.
00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:44.160
And I do so when when I use my buck grunt, which I use quite often, I like to do like an attention call, so I'm just gonna do a just god-awful loud, just brrrrrrr.
00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:51.440
And to me, if there's a deer within 500 yards, he's gonna be like, What the hell was that?
00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:53.359
And then and then I'm gonna go soft.
00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:57.599
So now he's listening, the ears are up, he doesn't know where it came from, but his ears are up, he's listening.
00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:06.079
Then I'm gonna do three or four soft grunts, and he can that's gonna allow him to zone in, and he's in theory, gonna come.
00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:10.880
So I did the first sequence only after 10 minutes of setting down.
00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:14.079
I've only got an hour of daylight to to deal with, nothing.
00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:17.599
Fifteen minutes later, second sequence, nothing.
00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:24.640
Fifteen minutes later, third sequence, I hear something, I'm like, oh shit, something's coming.
00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:26.160
But I'm like, that's gotta be a bear.
00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:27.359
Like it was so loud.
00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:29.839
Just crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch.
00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:32.000
And then I could see, and it was it was him.
00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:35.279
Yeah, I find bears are quieter than deer, really, coming in.
00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:35.839
Yeah.
00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:41.839
So I just felt like this has to be a big animal, a moose or a bear or something coming in.
00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:51.839
So I could hear crunch, crunch, and it's but it's coming from directly behind me, like worst possible direction.
00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:56.559
And uh and I do I also keep really good track of wind direction.
00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:59.759
So if I set a stand up, I always take the wind into consideration.
00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:05.359
Yeah, it's and he's not coming in, he's cut he's not coming in in a good direction for the wind.
00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:09.359
He's gonna cut my my scent cone at some point.
00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:11.440
And then I can see him.
00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:15.599
And I'm looking at him through the scope, and like and it he's a big one.
00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:21.680
And uh he comes in right on a string, comes comes right to the call.
00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:28.559
But then he starts to veer off towards my scent cone, and I'm like, oh shit, this isn't this is bad, this is not gonna work.
00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:35.279
He gets into some alders, starts making a scrape, and it's it was do or die.
00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:43.119
So once again, I made uh you know, I made a shot, and uh I didn't I touched that deer, but I did not recover that big buck.
00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:45.920
That one, that one got away.
00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:50.319
And uh so a range membership was in the future.
00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:52.640
Yeah, yeah.
00:19:52.799 --> 00:20:01.680
I do uh I I I would admit I probably do get buck fever, but um there was that that buck lived into 2025.
00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:02.000
Okay.
00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:02.960
I've seen him since.
00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:03.359
Okay.
00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:04.240
He still lives.
00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:04.720
Yeah.
00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:10.960
So so that I kind of got down in the dumps, but but you know, like it that kind of like that happens.
00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:20.960
Like, you know, if you listen to people that do that that type of hunting, like they're pretty much primarily taking running shots or or moving shots.
00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:24.240
Um so you know, it is it is what it is.
00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:29.279
It was a great experience, but so then we get snow.
00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:33.039
And I'm gonna jump ahead to the last day of the season.
00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:37.279
December 1st, last day of the muzzle loader extended season.
00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:41.599
First time ever we've ever been allowed to hunt deer in in December.
00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:42.400
Right.
00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:43.920
Sunday, last day.
00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:45.920
Here in New Brunswick, here in New Brunswick.
00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:46.319
Yeah.
00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:47.680
Sunday.
00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:53.920
I leave home at uh six inches of snow, super loud, crusty snow.
00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:57.119
So not a good situation, but I'm I'm going.
00:20:57.279 --> 00:21:00.000
I leave home at at daylight.
00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:08.079
I get to where I where I want to head down in where I had a feeling that deer are gonna start congregating that year, or la that time of year.
00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:09.759
Big cedar swamp is what it is.
00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:10.160
Right.
00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:13.839
Big cedar swamp in between two big hardwood ridges.
00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:16.079
So again, I'm using train features.
00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:20.400
And um I just get out of the truck and I I start heading in.
00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:23.119
I cut a big, cut a nice two buck tracks.
00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:26.640
They were go walk they were going together, but they're going in the wrong direction.
00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:29.440
I'm like, I I I don't want to go that way.
00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:35.680
There was a house that was it was not close, but like a kilometer and a half, but I I I don't want to go that way.
00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:38.960
That I went in there with a plan, I want to get into that cedar swamp.
00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:49.839
So I k I cut off their track, I start heading into the cedar swamp and uh super crunchy snow, and I only go ten minutes and I see a tail going.
00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:52.559
Didn't blow, it was like a soft bump.
00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:52.960
Yeah.
00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:57.599
I grabbed my buck grunt, let a let a he knew I was there.
00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:01.039
I didn't do my my crazy uh Growl.
00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:04.960
So I started doing a couple soft grunts and I could hear him stopped.
00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:10.640
We're talking 8 30 in the morning.
00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:12.400
Stopped.
00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:16.000
I do another little call and then I hear crunch.
00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:17.200
He's coming towards me.
00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:19.119
I'm like, oh, this is gonna happen.
00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:24.559
So he's coming towards, and then I can see the buck.
00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:26.880
But again, we're in a bad spot.
00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:33.839
We're in we're in a balsam fur blowdown, and I'm like, this isn't where I wanted to see this buck.
00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:39.039
So he comes in, he's about 35 yards.
00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:45.440
I have a little window, and uh I shoot the mu I take my shot with a muzzle loader.
00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:47.440
Blue smoke goes everywhere.
00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:50.720
Smoke drifts away, buck's still standing there.
00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:52.480
Like he's kidding me.
00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:53.039
Wow.
00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:59.440
I start reloading the muzzle loader, he starts running off, reloading halfway through my reloading procedure.
00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:03.200
Grab the buck grunt, big grunt, he stops.
00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:04.240
I'm like, oh fuck.
00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:05.839
Reloading for punishment.
00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:11.279
Reload the muzzle loader, a couple soft grunts, he comes right back this time at 45 yards.
00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:14.240
But there was no shot, no shot that time.
00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:16.720
He uh he he knew something wasn't right.
00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:20.319
But I couldn't get shot at I couldn't believe well, yeah.
00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:27.759
Like you imagine a muzzle loader in your direction and dirty some yards and coming back to the big old smoke screen and everything, yeah.
00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:28.559
Yeah.
00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:34.480
So he took he took off and he started going down into that cedar swamp where I where I I haven't got there yet.
00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:36.559
I'm still getting down then into there.
00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:38.960
And uh I'm like, what the hell happened?
00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:40.240
How did I miss that buck?
00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:44.319
I walk up, there's a yellow birch tree, six inches in diameter, blown in half.
00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:45.920
Nice between him and I.
00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:47.599
A bit of logging.
00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:48.400
Yeah.
00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:53.440
So he's down in, so I I let things cool down.
00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:55.359
I had a I had a little thermos of tea.
00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:55.920
I sit down.
00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:57.279
I think I texted Sean.
00:23:57.599 --> 00:23:58.799
This is about 9 a.m.
00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:01.039
I'm like, I'm just gonna sit here and chill.
00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:05.920
Drink a little cup of tea, start down into the cedar swamp.
00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:11.359
I'm in I'm now in the swamp, and I get into what we would call a barnyard.
00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:13.440
So there's tracks everywhere.
00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:18.960
And uh you can take you can waste a lot of time trying to sort out these tracks.
00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:28.559
So I'd like to either swing right or left around the perimeter of it and try to find where a buck exited, or this this time here, I just push straight through it.
00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:31.680
Um I want to get to the other end because I was after that buck that I had shot.
00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:34.799
Oh, yeah, and I figured he walked right through it.
00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:37.759
I find a buck track leaving that barnyard.
00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:40.160
I'm like, okay, I'm gonna stay on him.
00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:59.119
I follow him that track for about 500 yards in the snow in the cedar swamp, and he takes a hard right into a god-awful mess of cedar hanging branches of snow, and I'm like, I remember saying, I don't want to walk in there.
00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:05.519
So I literally zippered my coat up tight because I keep the snow from going down my neck.
00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:12.480
I take my scope, put it down because I got a low-powered scope on my muzzle loader, zoom it down to one power.
00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:15.200
And you know, it's like walking through that brush.
00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:23.599
You just one hand in front of you, you're trying to cradle your your gun, and I just bust my way through to the first opening.
00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:31.599
I looked down, and the buck track took a hard left, and I looked, and there he was standing there looking at me with a piece of cedar hanging out of his mouth.
00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:32.480
Wow.
00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:37.039
And up goes a gun, boom, snapshot.
00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:43.920
And uh he stumbled and then took off through, like he only took one step and was out of sight into this cedar hellhole.
00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:46.799
And I'm like, I would look over, I'm like, oh yeah, there's blood.
00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:48.400
Okay, I got him.
00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:48.960
Yeah.
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:52.799
And uh it I uh paced over.
00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:55.759
It was nine paces, so it was about nine yards.
00:25:55.920 --> 00:25:57.599
That's how close he was, broadside.
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:01.200
So he heard me coming in there and just assumed it was another deer.
00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:02.319
Yeah.
00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:08.559
So can't believe he let you get that close, but yeah, so but that's like that's that's how it happens.
00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:13.039
Like sometimes usually it's up gonna be up close and personal when you're doing that type of tracking.
00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:13.759
Oh, yeah.
00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:18.480
So I give him I had another had one cup of tea left.
00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:23.440
I said, I'm giving him half an hour, and I'm going, I'm gonna follow him up up through this swamp.
00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:27.279
Uh half hour goes by, I walk up, and boom, there he is, he's there.
00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:28.160
Got him.
00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:34.799
Well, so that was that was the 2024 buck that I successfully got tracking.
00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:40.000
Um it was in a hellhole, a little two kilometers from a road.
00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:43.839
Cedar swamps are usually never on the top of a mountain, they're at the bottom.
00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:47.119
So I gotta drive I was like, I'm not dragging this buck out of here.
00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:51.119
So Sean, my brother-in-law, had already tagged out.
00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:53.440
So I texted him, I got one.
00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:56.000
Uh, he's like, What do you need me to do?
00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:04.240
I say, you need to go to my house, get a game bag, and get uh my backpack and meet me at this pen on the side of the road.
00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:12.640
So while he was doing that, I scunned uh with gutless method, quartered the deer up and uh hung it up.
00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:30.960
I had I had my tow rope with me to prepare to tow it out, but I used that as kind of like a clothesline between two two trees, hung the quarters up, the back straps up, and uh hiked up and over out of the mountain, down over the other side, got the backpack game bag, went back over, loaded the deer up and backpacked them out.
00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:36.240
So that was 2025 buck successful for uh for tracking.
00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:36.720
Yeah.
00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:46.319
And and like what you have to realize here in New Brunswick, like how you got like how many of what percentage of people in New Brunswick hunt deer over bait?
00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:47.440
Most all.
00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:48.960
95 way too many.
00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:49.519
Yeah.
00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:50.720
Well, I mean it's legal.
00:27:50.799 --> 00:27:52.960
It's not legal, right?
00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:53.279
Yeah, yeah.
00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:55.119
It's legal, so you have that right.
00:27:55.440 --> 00:28:02.799
But um to do it in that that that style, uh I feel it it's uh it's special and it's something that it's a good tradition.
00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:03.839
Feels better.
00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:06.000
Well, it's some it's rewarding.
00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:11.519
Like you shoot like like when I shot when I shot that that and that wasn't a big buck.
00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:12.720
Like this wasn't not a big buck.
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:14.240
But the reward was I almost cried.
00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:16.160
I'm thir I'm 45 years old.
00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:17.039
I almost cried.
00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:18.480
I was so happy that I got that buck.
00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:22.400
Yeah, I shot lots of that was hunting.
00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:23.519
That that that's hunting.
00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:25.440
That's not just sitting over a bait waiting for something to come.
00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:30.400
That's you're actually actively pursuing an animal.
00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:31.680
You're hunting that animal.
00:28:31.920 --> 00:28:36.480
Yeah, yeah, and it's and it's uh it's um it's always up close and personal.
00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:44.720
So you know, you kind of form that that like that whole thing to I think when I kill that deer it was 10 30 or 11 a.m.
00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:48.640
So that whole that whole or that whole chase was a couple hours.
00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:49.119
Yeah.
00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:54.880
And uh, you know, you kind of you kind of get a relationship with these deer when you're doing that.
00:28:55.279 --> 00:29:04.880
So here's uh it's more it's more personable, you know, and you you you definitely have a greater, I think anyways, have greater respect for it and appreciation for the animal that you harvested.
00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:05.279
Yeah.
00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:12.240
Um and the funny thing, when I was quartering that deer up, I heard crunch, crunch, crunch.
00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:15.119
I looked 40 more 40 yards away.
00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:21.119
There's a buck and a another buck and a doe walked right beside me while I was quartering elbow with blood up to my elbows, yeah.
00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:22.480
They're like come up, like, good for you.
00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:24.160
That guy was kind of a dick anyway.
00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:27.279
Um he wasn't a very pretty buck.
00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:34.880
He only this so the one I shot at was was the third, the other, the other one I saw while I was gutting, while I was gutting the one I got.
00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:36.319
That was the first one I saw.
00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:37.680
He was he was a nice deer.
00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:50.720
This one I got, like he had one antler, broke off, like he was definitely a call buck, but it was a trophy in my mind because Well, like I said, I'm I'm not knocking, I don't want to knock b baiting because where it's legal, it's legal and whatever.
00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:59.200
But I mean, there's a difference between just going out in the woods where there's no apple trees around and putting a pile of apples and sitting there watching it and going out like you were and tracking it and stuff.
00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:03.680
I mean, yeah, it just feels like what you did does have a bigger feels like a bigger reward.
00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:07.599
Not that I'm jumping in here, but that's a different type of hunting.
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:14.240
You know, when you're you're actively pursuing and like you say, you you create a relationship with that animal that you're that you're tracking.
00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:16.079
But the same goes with still hunting.
00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:18.559
You're there, all your senses are in tune.
00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:23.200
And you're you're you're walking and you're listening and you're hunting again.
00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:24.880
You know, are you hunting over bait?
00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:26.559
Yes, I do.
00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:28.319
Um, but it's different.
00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:31.119
It's different when you're you're you are using all your sense.
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:35.279
Like a lot of times when I'm doing that, I I I'll smell them before I see them.
00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:37.680
You'll smell literally like you guys ever smelled a deer?
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:38.079
Oh yeah.
00:30:38.559 --> 00:30:40.240
Deer, a bit bear, definitely.
00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:43.279
When you're in there, you just smell like there's a bear coming.
00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:47.759
You just smell that musky single kind of like blood trailed deer before.
00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:50.960
I'm like close, or like how like I can smell them.
00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:51.279
Yeah.
00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:53.359
And you smell them before you walk up on them.
00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:54.559
Yeah, yeah.
00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:58.480
No, it's just uh it's just you know, you brings us back to our primal.
00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:14.640
I'd be curious to know how many deer a year aren't shot or are shot not on a food source, because I mean, between a bait pile and a hunting a corn field, like essentially you're same, it's just no different than baiting.
00:31:14.720 --> 00:31:18.559
You're hunting a food source if you're hunting a field, and just a bigger version of it.
00:31:19.279 --> 00:31:24.079
A little less condensed area because they can come out at any point, but uh you're still hunting a food source.
00:31:24.319 --> 00:31:28.640
They're gonna want to eat, but I bet you it's a low percentage.
00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:29.119
Yeah.
00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:35.759
In New Brunswick, how many deer are like shot not over a food source of some sort.
00:31:36.079 --> 00:31:39.519
And and also not out the driver's window of a truck.
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:41.119
Or with a flashlight, yeah.
00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:42.640
Yeah well, yeah.
00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:47.519
I uh there there's a lot of deer that are shot, guys just drive driving, driving to their stand.
00:31:47.839 --> 00:31:49.680
Oh, there's one in the woods, jump out, boom, done.
00:31:49.839 --> 00:32:01.200
Yeah, no, that's kind of the thing that I don't like about deer hunting away, is that it's I know people have put in a ridiculous amount of hours deer hunting, nothing, and then some people just like they're literally driving, pull over, there's a nice buck, shoot it, done.
00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:07.279
It's like it's yeah, it it you're not always necessarily rewarded by the amount of work you put in.
00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:11.519
You're some people are just rewarded no matter what's that's hunting anything no matter what.
00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:15.599
Yeah, but some stuff you gotta put a little more effort into and and with yeah.
00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:20.000
But even anything any animal luck does come down to it.
00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:21.599
Any animal can get out of their bed.
00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:25.759
If they go right instead of left, you'll n you'll never see that animal.
00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:40.319
Like even if you're hiking in the mountains, no matter if whatever I mean luck does come down to it, but you gotta put every animal's different, you gotta put a certain amount of work into it, but no matter what, there's not there is luck in every animal.
00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:49.279
And buddy that lucks out and finds it on his way to a stand like or gets it driving in his truck.
00:32:51.359 --> 00:33:05.279
Yeah, like he gets one I'm not knocking that, but you when you put the time in, even if you don't get the one that season, or if you go longer and longer and longer, it it's you that knows okay, the I put the time in for this, or yeah.
00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:06.240
It's more rewarding.
00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:07.119
Yeah, yeah.
00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:20.319
And like I don't even if I'm driving to my stand, whether it's not very often I take a gun with me, but whether my bow, it's in the case in the back seat, and all my gears in a scent-proof bag.
00:33:20.400 --> 00:33:23.759
Like I never even prepare myself to see one on the way.
00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:25.839
I'm like, it just that doesn't interest me.
00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:31.279
I want to be in the stand up close and personal, hear them walking in and some people don't mind just driving around though.
00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:32.960
I have zero interesting fields.
00:33:33.279 --> 00:33:35.440
Yeah, we we talked about the big woods buck guys.
00:33:35.680 --> 00:33:39.279
I've heard them say in the they their guns case in the backseat of the truck.
00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:41.039
Like, yeah, I don't want to shoot one off the road.
00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:41.599
I don't know.
00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:45.759
I just got something like I don't like wearing hunters orange and when I'm driving around either.
00:33:45.839 --> 00:33:47.200
I don't it draws unnecessary.
00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:48.319
I just don't like it.
00:33:48.480 --> 00:33:58.720
Even though I'm everyone knows if they see me, driving through the old logging road at before prime time or in the morning, like everyone knows you're going to hunt.
00:33:58.799 --> 00:33:59.119
Yeah.
00:33:59.279 --> 00:34:02.160
But I just I never wear I don't know.
00:34:02.319 --> 00:34:05.119
I just never wear my hunting clothes driving around.
00:34:05.440 --> 00:34:06.880
I like to draw attention.
00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:07.359
No.
00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:08.960
Yeah.
00:34:09.119 --> 00:34:18.239
Uh people then people like watching where you go into, and then if you get a nice deer, that deer ear, they're like, oh well, if someone go in there, if this hunt's orange on, you know, they have a good idea of where you got it.
00:34:18.639 --> 00:34:29.280
Well, talking about hunting clothes, like this up close and personal type of hunting that I I like to do, and I I don't bow hunt, but I assume uh like scent is you take it into consideration, right?
00:34:29.599 --> 00:34:38.960
My my wool jacket is in a tool well, not a toolbox, but a a carry a box on the back of my truck with cedar boughs and fur boughs in it.
00:34:39.039 --> 00:34:43.920
I used to do that's the best scent eliminator, any uh store crap that you buy that right there.
00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:44.559
That's the best.
00:34:44.800 --> 00:34:49.599
I used to do that, and then I bought the tote, and then I just did uh then I bought an ozone bag.
00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:52.480
And I find the best luck That's a gimmick.
00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:56.239
Same thing with with bow hunting, you gotta you gotta be close.
00:34:56.400 --> 00:35:02.159
Like my deer this year, I shot him at 14 yards, and he came completely downwind to me.
00:35:02.400 --> 00:35:07.599
And I have the best luck of seeing big deer on wind that's better for the deer than that's better for myself.
00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:13.440
Especially in a bait pile, because they're not they're not gonna come to a win that you want.
00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:18.400
Whether they gotta do a big loop, they're gonna come to the wind that's like they didn't get big by being stupid.
00:35:18.480 --> 00:35:21.519
Yeah, they're not gonna come down wind at their back.
00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:22.639
It's not the same for people.
00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:24.400
I know some big people that are stupid.
00:35:24.480 --> 00:35:24.880
Yeah.
00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:29.920
So I've had well, both both deer that I shot this year.
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:36.239
Well, I didn't kill the first one, but they both came in within 30 yards completely downwind to me.
00:35:37.599 --> 00:35:39.440
You think it's the ozone stuff?
00:35:39.760 --> 00:35:40.559
Well, I do everything.
00:35:40.719 --> 00:35:47.280
Like completely the last year that I shot, well, I guess this uh last fall.
00:35:47.599 --> 00:35:48.960
The winds were swirling.
00:35:49.119 --> 00:36:01.519
I was in a great big pine tree, and it would and I'm in a two-person stand and it's rolling and rocking, and the does come through, and the buck followed the does, and that wind didn't make a difference.
00:36:01.679 --> 00:36:03.280
It was just swirling, going everywhere.
00:36:03.519 --> 00:36:04.800
He was just following those does.
00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:09.440
There's a lot of times they know that you're there, it's how big of a threat they perceive you to be.
00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:13.360
But yeah, it's hard to fool their nose or anything.
00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:15.840
Oh, you're never gonna completely eliminate it, but same thing.
00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:20.400
I don't want to walk in the stand smelling like gasoline or old spice deodorant.
00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:23.760
Like if you can minimize your smell, that's right, the better.
00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:25.599
You're never gonna completely eliminate it.
00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:27.440
You're not smoking a cigarette while you're wide.
00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:32.800
But you always hear those guys, lots of guys like, yeah, I was smoking a cigarette when I shot this monster buck.
00:36:32.880 --> 00:36:33.679
You hear that a lot.
00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:38.719
Especially like where with bow hunting, like you gotta be you gotta be in close.
00:36:38.880 --> 00:36:48.159
Like rifle hunting, you can shoot one at 200 yards, and like getting one at 200 yards, that's one thing, but getting into 14 yards is completely different.
00:36:48.239 --> 00:36:57.039
And actually, someone, I think I want to say it was one a little while ago, uh, Jelly Roll was on Joe Rogan's podcast, and they were talking about him starting bow hunting.
00:36:57.440 --> 00:37:03.039
And Joe Rogan said a bow hunt starts when a rifle hunt would end.
00:37:04.079 --> 00:37:06.559
Because with a rifle hunt, you see it, you shoot.
00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:11.280
You can shoot in, especially if you're a good shot, you can shoot a distance.
00:37:11.599 --> 00:37:18.079
But a bow hunt doesn't start until you lay eyes on it, and then getting them in is one thing, and especially on a mature animal.
00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:19.679
Sure, sure, yeah.
00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:31.440
Yeah, so uh well, I forgot to mention too that uh uh my first goal is getting letting my kids get a deer.
00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:33.280
So that's always my first goal of the of the season.
00:37:33.519 --> 00:37:34.960
Unless it's big, then it's yours.
00:37:35.360 --> 00:37:40.559
Uh that that hasn't come up yet, but we'll see when that we crossed.
00:37:40.800 --> 00:37:41.760
Oh, that's a nice one, Dad.
00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:43.760
Like you're friggin' right to put your gun down, it's mine.
00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:51.039
Yeah, but um so yeah, that year 2024, uh, I I did tell you when I was on here talking about moose hunting.
00:37:51.119 --> 00:37:56.639
I said, My son's gonna get his deer first, and then I'm gonna leave the bait pile and go track one.
00:37:56.800 --> 00:37:58.239
And that's exactly how that happened.
00:37:58.320 --> 00:38:01.039
He got he got a he got a nice, real nice deer.
00:38:01.599 --> 00:38:06.719
And uh uh and I will praise I'm gonna talk about hunting over bait because I'm not against it.
00:38:06.880 --> 00:38:17.119
So he can't so he can't that that buck came in and and I was sitting right beside him in the two-man stand and and I'll give it to to my son because I was videotaping it.
00:38:17.280 --> 00:38:23.360
He had that rifle up and uh he didn't want to take a front-on shot, he wanted a broadside shot.
00:38:23.519 --> 00:38:28.320
He held that rifle for seven minutes waiting for that deer to turn sideways.
00:38:28.480 --> 00:38:28.719
Yeah.
00:38:28.880 --> 00:38:32.400
And that's I mean, that's good too, discipline stuff, yeah.
00:38:32.719 --> 00:38:36.800
For seven, you know, you know, seven seconds feels like in the stand, right?
00:38:36.960 --> 00:38:41.679
Seven seven minutes he he held that rifle uh you know at shoulder.
00:38:41.840 --> 00:38:42.159
Yeah.
00:38:42.400 --> 00:38:44.639
Crosshairs on that deer waiting for him to turn.
00:38:44.800 --> 00:38:46.480
So so that was Rotlin.
00:38:47.119 --> 00:38:56.960
And then uh 2025, my daughter just uh she just got her hunter safety certification and uh she got her her deer license.
00:38:57.199 --> 00:39:01.920
And uh the good old two-man tree stand across the road.
00:39:02.159 --> 00:39:09.280
Um I told I had, you know, I've got uh I get it all I had it all set up for and uh watching uh a buck come in.
00:39:09.440 --> 00:39:11.519
It wasn't a big one, but it was a good first buck.
00:39:11.599 --> 00:39:14.079
Uh I was like, Laura, tonight's the night.
00:39:14.159 --> 00:39:16.559
Like if you want a deer, we have to go now.
00:39:16.719 --> 00:39:19.039
Yeah, and uh yeah, we did.
00:39:19.199 --> 00:39:28.639
And uh we only waited an hour and and come this little buck, do-do-do, and and she got she got her first buck that year, this year, 20 2025.
00:39:28.719 --> 00:39:28.960
Yeah.
00:39:29.599 --> 00:39:30.639
15 years old.
00:39:30.880 --> 00:39:31.039
Wow.
00:39:31.280 --> 00:39:31.760
That's good.
00:39:31.840 --> 00:39:36.800
Yeah, that makes it memorable being able to do that and share with your daughter and the fact that she's into it too.
00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:42.159
You know, because you know, if you're into you kids are, but if they're not, they're not, but yeah, you're hoping they are.
00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:45.840
Yeah, so I uh I put her in for turkey.
00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:47.119
And oh yeah, yeah.
00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:50.239
She she's like, I don't want to shoot a turkey.
00:39:50.320 --> 00:39:52.159
Well, I don't I have no interest in a turkey.
00:39:52.239 --> 00:39:53.679
I'm like, we're putting your name in.
00:39:53.760 --> 00:39:55.039
It's kind of like the moose draw, right?
00:39:55.119 --> 00:39:59.280
Yeah, like you're legally allowed to put your name in, we'll we'll put it in and cross that bridge.
00:39:59.519 --> 00:40:04.159
But the turkey thing, I mean, I I never understood either because I know the States is massive into it and all that.
00:40:04.320 --> 00:40:04.960
Like, I don't get it.
00:40:05.119 --> 00:40:11.840
And then, like I said, this past year, one of my first couple turkey hunts, got it for it, was successful, and I was like, I'm hooked.
00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:15.119
I said, this, I'd take turkey hunting over deer any day.
00:40:15.199 --> 00:40:19.599
I can definitely see the uh why they like it so much, you know.
00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:28.880
It's uh it's definitely a thrill, it's a lot of fun, it's just the interaction with them and all that, and uh yeah, I I definitely get why there is that obsession there.
00:40:28.960 --> 00:40:32.079
Jacob, I mean, we talked about on the podcast before about your turkey.
00:40:32.239 --> 00:40:32.960
You had a good time.
00:40:33.039 --> 00:40:33.599
What would you choose?
00:40:33.760 --> 00:40:34.719
Turkey or deer?
00:40:39.280 --> 00:40:41.519
It's tough for me because I haven't killed a big deer yet.
00:40:41.679 --> 00:40:44.639
You guys will all kill big deer, but turkey hand's a lot of fun.
00:40:45.440 --> 00:40:46.400
Turkey hand's a lot of fun.
00:40:46.559 --> 00:40:47.039
Yeah.
00:40:47.360 --> 00:40:50.239
Like I just they respond to a call so well.
00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:54.639
And there is something nice about doing it in the springtime, too.
00:40:55.039 --> 00:40:58.880
And I I like too that like their eyesight's incredible, their hearing's unreal.
00:40:59.280 --> 00:41:00.320
They can't smell you.
00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:01.039
That helps.
00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:03.039
They said if they did, no one you wouldn't get a turkey.
00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:06.159
So, I mean, that part of it's nice.
00:41:06.400 --> 00:41:07.760
Yeah, no, I really enjoyed turkey.
00:41:08.079 --> 00:41:13.199
Like, again, I haven't killed a big buck, and so I'm kind of chasing that high, but turkey's a lot of fun.
00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:14.320
It is, it's a lot of fun.
00:41:14.559 --> 00:41:18.800
Lane, you've killed some you've killed a nice buck, a nice buck.
00:41:18.960 --> 00:41:20.719
You guys also got a turkey.
00:41:21.440 --> 00:41:23.920
Since the topic's up, what would you choose?
00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:25.360
Oh, deer all day long.
00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:25.760
Yeah.
00:41:25.920 --> 00:41:29.440
Like even this year, like we were up I get so bored deer hunting.
00:41:29.679 --> 00:41:35.679
We were up turkey hunting and we had big toms just trotting, like cutting me off, gobbling.
00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:40.960
I'm like, oh, that's pretty cool, but if it was deer season, I wouldn't look sideways at these birds right now.
00:41:41.280 --> 00:41:43.519
I just find deer hunting compared to it just boring.
00:41:43.599 --> 00:41:44.800
I like being able to call and go.
00:41:44.880 --> 00:41:49.920
I mean, you called your bucks in, but still just used putting that diaphragm in and going to town with it.
00:41:50.239 --> 00:41:51.280
I just like antlers.
00:41:51.440 --> 00:41:51.760
Yeah.
00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:56.719
Even with bears, like I've in the spring, I'm pretty big into bear hunting.
00:41:56.800 --> 00:41:59.760
I'm fortunate to shoot a pretty nice bear.
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:03.599
But if we didn't have a spring season, I'd I'd never hunt them.
00:42:03.920 --> 00:42:05.920
No, I'm not interested in hunting bear in the fall.
00:42:06.320 --> 00:42:14.400
I mean, if I saw one, if the opportunity can arise, like I would I would shoot one, but I'm not actively looking for them in the fall.
00:42:14.639 --> 00:42:15.199
Yeah, yeah.
00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:20.639
I pity the places that don't have a spring season because it's yeah, they're a lot of fun hunting the spring.
00:42:20.719 --> 00:42:23.679
In the fall, you're not thinking about bear really, unless they're in a year.
00:42:24.079 --> 00:42:25.119
You guys won't even fish.
00:42:25.760 --> 00:42:28.239
Yeah, well, I fish.
00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:29.199
We love it.
00:42:29.920 --> 00:42:31.840
I love like you talk about the spring.
00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:34.239
Like we are fortunate to have a bear season in the spring.
00:42:34.480 --> 00:42:34.960
We are lucky.
00:42:35.920 --> 00:42:42.400
Like show we get a we get a hunting camp and and uh we're lucky that we own some uh quite a bit of family land around that hunting camp.
00:42:42.480 --> 00:42:47.440
We've got a uh uh it's a beaver pond, but it's full of native brook trout right beside the camp.
00:42:47.519 --> 00:42:48.960
Like Sean and I go there in the spring.
00:42:49.039 --> 00:42:52.320
We're like, what would you you're there in what is it like middle of May?
00:42:52.400 --> 00:42:55.119
There's no black flies, the leaves are just starting to come out a little bit.
00:42:55.519 --> 00:42:56.320
Spring is such a magical time.
00:42:56.800 --> 00:42:58.800
Spring peevers, like, where else would you rather be?
00:42:59.199 --> 00:43:01.599
Like this is just setting around the campfire at the camp.
00:43:01.760 --> 00:43:06.559
We're gonna go turkey hunting in the morning, bear hunting tomorrow night, and trout fishing in the middle of the day.
00:43:06.639 --> 00:43:08.079
Yeah, what else would you rather be doing?
00:43:08.239 --> 00:43:11.199
Yeah, it's perfect temperature, no flies.
00:43:11.360 --> 00:43:12.960
Yeah, yeah, no, no, we're lucky.
00:43:13.119 --> 00:43:17.119
We're we're really lucky to have the spring bear season and now turkey to add to it.
00:43:17.199 --> 00:43:18.559
But yeah, I know spring anyways.
00:43:18.719 --> 00:43:23.199
I don't care where you are in North America, it's it's magical, nice time.
00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:32.239
You just you know, you're getting out of the winter and it's kind of a shame that there's not more people that don't take advantage of our spring season and for bear.
00:43:32.400 --> 00:43:32.880
For bears.
00:43:32.960 --> 00:43:36.960
And there's there's guys that would love to have a spring season to chase them.
00:43:37.039 --> 00:43:39.840
I mean, spring's best time to hunt them like prime rut.
00:43:40.400 --> 00:43:41.039
Prime rut.
00:43:41.280 --> 00:43:49.280
Like if you're if your bait's good, because it's either one or the other during the rut, it's either dead or on fire.
00:43:49.360 --> 00:43:52.159
And when your bait's on fire during the rut, it is incredible.
00:43:52.480 --> 00:43:55.360
You know, this thing about bear too, it's all it's all baiting.
00:43:55.679 --> 00:44:04.000
Um, which you won't get bored with, but I don't know, there's I have more fun with My cell cam goes off and I got pictures of bears coming in than deer, honestly.
00:44:04.159 --> 00:44:04.480
I don't know.
00:44:04.559 --> 00:44:05.039
I find it.
00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:07.039
I don't know.
00:44:07.119 --> 00:44:08.480
It's just cool watching who's coming in.
00:44:09.039 --> 00:44:11.039
I find the bears have more of a personality than the deer.
00:44:11.280 --> 00:44:14.000
Yeah, they walk through in a way they're gone.
00:44:14.400 --> 00:44:15.199
That's a good way to put it.
00:44:15.599 --> 00:44:18.320
They kind of hang out and they they're they're their own individuals.
00:44:18.480 --> 00:44:18.719
Yeah.
00:44:18.880 --> 00:44:22.880
And then you'll see another one come over and they'll act a little bit different.
00:44:23.119 --> 00:44:23.280
Yeah.
00:44:23.440 --> 00:44:24.559
Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
00:44:24.639 --> 00:44:25.599
Maybe that's why I like it more.
00:44:25.679 --> 00:44:28.559
But I I get more excited looking at pictures of bear and I do deer.
00:44:29.039 --> 00:44:37.119
Part of it too is you're pretty much guaranteed well, you're not guaranteed, but you're pretty the likelihood of you seeing a bear coming on your bait at night or in the evening.
00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:38.079
Oh, there's in the evening.
00:44:38.400 --> 00:44:42.559
I can probably count on one hand over the years like how many sits I've had not had a bear.
00:44:42.960 --> 00:44:43.679
That's right, that's what I mean.
00:44:43.760 --> 00:44:46.400
So you're almost guaranteed that that interaction.
00:44:46.639 --> 00:44:55.760
And I got like I've had a bait that we've been hunting for six, seven years, probably, and they're uh well, they just know they hear my truck coming.
00:44:55.840 --> 00:44:56.079
Yeah.
00:44:56.320 --> 00:44:56.800
They know.
00:44:57.039 --> 00:44:57.920
Oh, food's coming.
00:44:58.079 --> 00:44:58.719
It's a dinner bell.
00:44:58.800 --> 00:45:01.679
I mean, it's a smaller one, like this little skinny no butt fella.
00:45:02.880 --> 00:45:14.239
It's the yearling cubs that just get kicked off their mother, and they they haven't got the survival instincts yet, and they just know easy food source, and I'll be baiting, and I'll turn around, there'll be a bear sitting there watching me at like 40 yards.
00:45:14.719 --> 00:45:16.320
Yeah, those young ones to get the survival instincts.
00:45:16.719 --> 00:45:21.840
People think it's funny, I'll see a bear, and I'm like, oh, like I kind of like describe, I'm like, oh, that's that's so and so.
00:45:21.920 --> 00:45:22.880
They're like, well, how do you know?
00:45:23.119 --> 00:45:23.519
It's a bear.
00:45:23.679 --> 00:45:26.159
And I'm like, you can literally tell just by their maneurisms.
00:45:26.400 --> 00:45:32.960
Every deer, or every bear acts different, like the way they come in, the way they hit the barrel, the way they protect the bear.
00:45:33.360 --> 00:45:40.800
Like I got some little 150 to 200 pound bears that try to protect that bear of like they're 400 pounds.
00:45:40.880 --> 00:45:46.079
They're trying to run every bear coming off, and I'm like, dude, all these bears are bigger than you.
00:45:46.159 --> 00:45:47.280
Like, just relax.
00:45:47.519 --> 00:45:53.519
I had an interesting uh interaction this fall with the bear because whenever you're sitting over bait, you can never really hear the bear.
00:45:53.599 --> 00:45:55.360
They just appear black.
00:45:55.599 --> 00:46:02.000
Well, this last year I was in a hardwood stand and it was in the fall, so all the leaves were were dry.
00:46:02.159 --> 00:46:07.280
And when you see your bear just magically show up at your bait, they're very cautious.
00:46:07.440 --> 00:46:10.719
They take a couple steps and they sniff and they look around and stuff.
00:46:11.039 --> 00:46:14.960
Well, because the leaves were so dry, I could hear him back about a hundred yards.
00:46:15.119 --> 00:46:16.000
And he was doing that.
00:46:16.079 --> 00:46:18.719
He would take two or three steps and then listen.
00:46:19.119 --> 00:46:25.119
And it took me a while to figure out what was going on because you hear this and then it stops, and it's you know, it's like, well, you never hear bears.
00:46:25.519 --> 00:46:26.159
Sure as not.
00:46:26.320 --> 00:46:27.280
Yeah, it was a bear.
00:46:27.440 --> 00:46:32.079
But to hear him come in from about, well, maybe 80 yards and take two or three steps and stop.
00:46:32.480 --> 00:46:39.519
Yeah, if you're in a hardwood ridge or something with all the leaves and everything, yeah, you can you can hear them a little bit, but I know they're not a squirrel because you hear a squirrel.
00:46:40.800 --> 00:46:46.639
But there is a child and that's kind of how it was like, what is that?
00:46:47.199 --> 00:46:47.840
They're pretty cautious.
00:46:48.079 --> 00:46:50.159
And then it was like, oh yeah, that's a bear coming in.
00:46:50.400 --> 00:46:50.559
Yeah.
00:46:50.880 --> 00:46:51.119
Yeah.
00:46:51.440 --> 00:46:53.760
You you mentioned hunting over bait, Sean.
00:46:53.840 --> 00:46:55.840
I've shot in plenty spot and stock.
00:46:56.000 --> 00:46:56.159
Yeah.
00:46:56.480 --> 00:46:56.719
Bear.
00:46:56.800 --> 00:46:59.199
Yeah, you can't hear the spring or out in the fields and stuff.
00:46:59.280 --> 00:46:59.360
Yeah.
00:46:59.599 --> 00:47:02.079
My my biggest one, clear cuts, a poem clear cuts.
00:47:02.239 --> 00:47:02.800
Okay, clear cuts.
00:47:03.280 --> 00:47:04.000
And logging roads.
00:47:04.079 --> 00:47:05.039
My biggest one.
00:47:05.280 --> 00:47:09.039
I I was by myself and again, butchered it, gutless method.
00:47:09.199 --> 00:47:13.599
Uh it it was 350 probably.
00:47:13.760 --> 00:47:15.119
And and uh yeah, I stalked.
00:47:15.440 --> 00:47:16.480
That's a good size spring bear.
00:47:16.719 --> 00:47:23.119
I stalked stalked him about 300 yards across a huge clear cut, and I got right up to 25 yards.
00:47:23.280 --> 00:47:25.840
I'm like, I did I I really didn't plan on shooting this bear.
00:47:25.920 --> 00:47:29.760
I'm I'm just like, I'm gonna see how big, I'm gonna see how how close I can get to this bear.
00:47:29.840 --> 00:47:31.679
Yeah, I was all I was fishing, is what I was doing.
00:47:31.760 --> 00:47:33.280
He was ruining my fishing trip.
00:47:33.440 --> 00:47:41.440
And uh and I had my dog in the truck, and and uh yeah, I got to like 25 yards, and I'm like, this is the biggest bear I've ever shot.
00:47:41.519 --> 00:47:42.239
I'm gonna shoot him.
00:47:42.400 --> 00:47:43.599
Yeah, yeah, that's him there.
00:47:43.760 --> 00:47:44.400
That's him there.
00:47:44.559 --> 00:47:46.960
But uh yeah, it's a big yeah, 350 in the spring.
00:47:47.039 --> 00:47:47.840
That's I mean that's monster.
00:47:49.039 --> 00:47:49.679
There's another one.
00:47:50.079 --> 00:47:50.400
Yeah.
00:47:50.719 --> 00:47:52.239
Yeah, I didn't take the truck because it was too far.
00:47:52.400 --> 00:47:52.880
It was too far.
00:47:52.960 --> 00:47:54.400
I didn't feel confident to take it.
00:47:54.639 --> 00:47:57.280
And if I did, he was running right into the middle of the swamp.
00:47:57.519 --> 00:48:02.239
But like you talk about any night, you can go in and and and watch bears on your bait.
00:48:02.320 --> 00:48:05.679
Like I've got login roads up home on some of the big forestry roads.
00:48:05.840 --> 00:48:10.960
I can go out any night of the week and see two or three bears eating grass on the side of the road.
00:48:11.119 --> 00:48:11.199
Yeah.
00:48:11.679 --> 00:48:12.559
Man, that that's fun.
00:48:12.639 --> 00:48:13.840
That's really, really fun.
00:48:14.400 --> 00:48:23.599
Um when I take people out, we uh in the morning we'll usually go for breakfast, and then we'll go bait the opposite baits, but we'll spot and stalk while we do it.
00:48:23.679 --> 00:48:24.159
Yep.
00:48:24.480 --> 00:48:29.679
And it's rare that we don't have an encounter with a bear doing that.
00:48:30.079 --> 00:48:32.960
Now, you know, they're skittish and as soon as they see you they run.
00:48:33.039 --> 00:48:38.719
But if you're good and you know you're going slow enough and you're quiet enough, you can uh sneak up on them pretty good.
00:48:39.039 --> 00:48:39.280
Yeah.
00:48:39.679 --> 00:48:40.960
Yeah, no, it's a lot of fun.
00:48:41.039 --> 00:48:41.920
The bear thing, yeah.
00:48:42.159 --> 00:48:46.800
It's just more difficult to judge the size of the bear when you're looking at it 200 yards away.
00:48:46.960 --> 00:48:48.880
And I I only like shooting boars.
00:48:49.039 --> 00:48:49.199
Yeah.
00:48:49.360 --> 00:48:52.960
I mean, some people it don't matter, but and you can tell the difference.
00:48:53.039 --> 00:48:57.519
Uh it just takes a little bit of extra work, but I I like shooting just boars.
00:48:57.760 --> 00:48:59.599
And you know, when you see a big one, you know.
00:48:59.840 --> 00:49:00.079
Yeah.
00:49:00.400 --> 00:49:01.119
That's what I always say.
00:49:01.440 --> 00:49:03.599
Everyone's questionable, it's not big.
00:49:03.920 --> 00:49:07.519
You'll like you'll be in the stand, you'll see a bear coming, like, oh, maybe that's a big one.
00:49:07.760 --> 00:49:10.960
But when you see a big one, you're like, that is a big one coming.
00:49:11.199 --> 00:49:11.840
Oh yeah, yeah.
00:49:12.079 --> 00:49:14.159
Like that the one that I shot two years ago.
00:49:14.239 --> 00:49:17.199
Like, well, I knew it was him coming because he was on a sow.
00:49:17.519 --> 00:49:34.960
He was daylighted multiple times, and as soon as he crossed the the opening, I'm just like, holy, it looked like a Mac truck coming through the woods, and then especially when he was standing at 16 yards, I'm like that 55 gallon drum he's standing beside looks like a five-gallon drum.
00:49:35.519 --> 00:49:39.199
It was yeah, when you see a big one, you know it.
00:49:39.360 --> 00:49:41.360
Yeah, you don't question it when you see a big one.
00:49:42.400 --> 00:49:49.840
Yeah, the woods has uh has lots of things for us to discover, which is the the great part of it all.
00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:50.880
Um yeah.
00:49:51.199 --> 00:49:56.960
It is, it is the great part of it all because you're in the woods and you can't have the encounters that we have sitting on your couch.
00:49:57.119 --> 00:49:58.320
Yep, no, you're gonna be out doing it.
00:49:58.400 --> 00:49:59.920
Even if you're not successful, can't kill it from the couch.
00:50:00.159 --> 00:50:02.400
No, even if you're not successful, you're still successful.
00:50:02.559 --> 00:50:03.199
Yeah, yeah.
00:50:03.440 --> 00:50:04.480
Yeah, it's just being out there.
00:50:04.559 --> 00:50:06.480
So I'll I'll I'll finish this off.
00:50:06.559 --> 00:50:09.840
We started talking about deer and we got on the bears and turkeys and everything else.
00:50:09.920 --> 00:50:13.920
But so 2025, my daughter got her her first deer.
00:50:14.079 --> 00:50:17.039
Uh, then we had snow most of the season here in New Breaking.
00:50:17.440 --> 00:50:22.000
Yeah, but we got it early, and then we didn't get any more, so it was super crunchy.
00:50:22.079 --> 00:50:24.559
Again, not the snow that I'm looking for.
00:50:24.880 --> 00:50:31.360
And then unfortunately, we lost it, I think the last two or three days of muzzle odor season.
00:50:31.599 --> 00:50:36.400
But um this year I had a lot of good deer encounters again, tracked even bigger bucks.
00:50:36.559 --> 00:50:43.599
Uh, I had a I was in one area and eight o'clock in the mor at eight in the morning, my trail camera goes off somewhere else.
00:50:43.760 --> 00:50:45.840
Big, like 10-pointer, walk in front of the camera.
00:50:45.920 --> 00:50:50.239
I'm like, ugh, go get in the truck, drive over there.
00:50:50.400 --> 00:50:57.199
And uh that buck I tracked all day, but he never made like he never made one mistake, he never stopped to feed, he never bedded down.
00:50:57.280 --> 00:50:58.960
He just he was cruising.
00:50:59.119 --> 00:51:02.559
I never caught up to him, never bumped him, and I was only an hour behind him.
00:51:02.719 --> 00:51:05.119
Um you know, a worst case scenario.
00:51:05.440 --> 00:51:18.239
And then uh I ran into a funny situation with uh with uh people stealing our copper commun communication lines here in New Brunswick's a huge thing.
00:51:18.400 --> 00:51:19.599
So is it worth much?
00:51:19.760 --> 00:51:21.119
Just ask for a friend.
00:51:22.000 --> 00:51:23.119
Not if you get caught.
00:51:23.280 --> 00:51:23.599
Yeah.
00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:30.079
I just happen to work for the telecom company, so but uh you get real good deals on copper wire.
00:51:30.480 --> 00:51:30.960
Yeah.
00:51:31.199 --> 00:51:42.159
So a funny story is uh uh I f I so the the big buck I located in 2023 that I shot at in 2024, I relocated him again in 2025.
00:51:42.880 --> 00:51:53.599
Um and uh I I uh he he I had a camera on that scrape line and he was chasing about he had about six doves that he tended for a week straight.
00:51:53.920 --> 00:52:01.599
And uh I I did get to see him, but uh he's alive, he's still alive and unless he dies over the winter.
00:52:01.840 --> 00:52:29.280
Um but uh one day I would had a great opportunity, the camera told me that he came in at about 4 30, which is half an hour before dark, but I wasn't hunting there because the uh phone company and the RCMP showed up because they uh caught somebody stealing copper and they just happened to be burning this copper down in the clear cut that I was deer hunting in.
00:52:29.920 --> 00:52:34.400
So I went home that day, two hours later, trail camera goes off.
00:52:34.559 --> 00:52:35.280
Boom, there he is.
00:52:35.440 --> 00:52:37.119
I'm like, you freaking kidding me.
00:52:38.159 --> 00:52:41.039
So then uh that put me down in the dumps.
00:52:41.199 --> 00:52:44.719
That was the second that was second to the last day.
00:52:44.880 --> 00:52:49.199
Last day of the season, I head out into uh like New Brunswick.
00:52:49.440 --> 00:52:53.360
New Brunswick's we're a huge forestry province, industrial forestry.
00:52:53.440 --> 00:52:55.039
Um it's industrial.
00:52:55.199 --> 00:53:00.239
We have nine million acres of pro of Crown land, that's land that we all own.
00:53:00.559 --> 00:53:01.039
Public, yeah.
00:53:01.199 --> 00:53:02.880
It's all public, nine million acres.
00:53:03.440 --> 00:53:10.079
Um, so I have this one spot where I know the deer go late in the season in the middle of nowhere.
00:53:10.320 --> 00:53:14.159
And uh I drove out before daylight the last day of the season.
00:53:14.239 --> 00:53:18.320
I parked my truck because our logging roads they have kilometer markers on them.
00:53:18.719 --> 00:53:21.920
I parked my truck beside the 34 kilometer mark.
00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:24.719
So I'm 34 kilometers from a paved road.
00:53:24.960 --> 00:53:30.880
And uh the old trussy muzzle loader, and I start down in super crunchy snow.
00:53:30.960 --> 00:53:33.440
So I'm like, okay, I gotta sound like a deer while I'm walking.
00:53:33.519 --> 00:53:37.280
So I'm I'll take four or five steps, stop, yeah, grunt.
00:53:37.519 --> 00:53:39.760
Four or five steps, stop, grunt.
00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.960
I only go 10 minutes down into I was again, I was heading downhill into a cedar swamp.
00:53:45.119 --> 00:53:57.199
I get about halfway there on top of the hardwood ridge because I'm using a terrain feature again, hardwood ridge, a different lake, and uh, and a road system, big road system that funnels them in to the cedar swamp.
00:53:57.360 --> 00:54:02.400
I hear crunch, crunch, crunch on top of this hardwood ridge, 400 yards away.
00:54:02.559 --> 00:54:04.000
I'm like, it's gotta be a buck.
00:54:04.159 --> 00:54:10.960
But I'm in verge and this this because of the these terrain features, this this area has never been harvested lumber before.
00:54:11.039 --> 00:54:14.559
Like we're talking, it looks like it looks like Algonquin Park.
00:54:14.639 --> 00:54:15.440
Like it's beautiful.
00:54:15.519 --> 00:54:16.880
Trees, there's no place to hide.
00:54:16.960 --> 00:54:20.400
I'm staying like a sore thumb in my old man wool jacket.
00:54:21.119 --> 00:54:24.719
And uh so I just literally lay down in the snow, six inches snow.
00:54:24.800 --> 00:54:26.880
I just lay down on my stomach.
00:54:27.119 --> 00:54:34.320
I've got a pretty good shooting lane, and I hear this buck, and and I knew he's coming, so I I don't make any more noise.
00:54:34.480 --> 00:54:38.800
I I want him to cut that distance and uh crunch, crunch, crunch.
00:54:38.960 --> 00:54:41.199
He stops, crunch, crunch, and then I can see him.
00:54:41.360 --> 00:54:48.480
And he's probably a three and a half year old, but like uh a you know, decent deer, but he's full of piss and vinegar.
00:54:48.559 --> 00:54:54.559
He comes running down off the hill like like a I would like a teenager, like a puppy dog looking for something.
00:54:54.719 --> 00:54:55.679
He's zigzagging.
00:54:55.840 --> 00:55:00.880
I can see him, he's zigzagging, zigzagging, stop, zigzag, zigzag, getting closer, closer.
00:55:00.960 --> 00:55:02.559
I'm like, this is gonna happen.
00:55:02.719 --> 00:55:04.000
Last day of the season again.
00:55:04.159 --> 00:55:06.079
This is my dream come true.
00:55:06.320 --> 00:55:12.159
He freaking comes about 20 yards from my shooting lane, and he's 50 yards away at this point.
00:55:12.400 --> 00:55:18.880
He's like, he stops the last time he looks around, he's like, nothing down there, turns 180 degrees and runs right over the mountain.
00:55:19.119 --> 00:55:19.360
Really?
00:55:19.840 --> 00:55:21.199
Gone out of my life.
00:55:22.639 --> 00:55:23.199
Yeah.
00:55:23.599 --> 00:55:25.760
That's something that he he came in that interesting.
00:55:25.920 --> 00:55:27.920
You know, you're saying you're doing a lot of grunting for Colin.
00:55:28.000 --> 00:55:31.280
Do you ever do any rattling and have you had any success with that?
00:55:31.519 --> 00:55:31.760
No.
00:55:32.000 --> 00:55:33.360
No, I I have tried it.
00:55:33.440 --> 00:55:33.760
Yeah.
00:55:33.920 --> 00:55:38.320
And because you hear in like Texas, you start rattling Texas, boom, dear.
00:55:38.639 --> 00:55:41.840
Uh I did try it years ago before I started grunting.
00:55:41.920 --> 00:55:42.800
I tried rattling.
00:55:42.880 --> 00:55:44.639
I bought the rattle bag from Cabela's.
00:55:44.800 --> 00:55:45.440
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:55:45.760 --> 00:55:53.119
I the first time I did it, I was like, okay, this is uh this just sounds what you should not be doing, right?
00:55:53.280 --> 00:55:54.880
Like it's just such a racket.
00:55:55.280 --> 00:55:56.719
So I didn't stick with it.
00:55:57.039 --> 00:55:58.559
But same with same with the grunting.
00:55:58.639 --> 00:56:05.440
Like I'm telling you about my success stories in grunting deer, and I'm not telling you about the the other 90 times that it didn't work, right?
00:56:05.519 --> 00:56:06.800
Yeah, so you have to trust the system.
00:56:06.880 --> 00:56:09.519
Yeah, you gotta try, and I'm sure it's the same way with rattling them in.
00:56:09.760 --> 00:56:14.559
Do you doe bleat like the doe bleat can or estrus can at all, or just grunt?
00:56:14.800 --> 00:56:20.239
Uh the only doe bleed I do is you know the your bat to get them to stop.
00:56:20.960 --> 00:56:23.039
Yeah, if you want to count that, yeah.
00:56:23.360 --> 00:56:26.639
Yeah, so yeah, so that was the 2025 season.
00:56:26.800 --> 00:56:42.079
I uh that that was that buck encounter was like 8 30 in the morning, and uh it's probably minus 10 Celsius out, and it's like winter, and uh so I I get down into the cedar swamp where I was heading to, and that buck he spent all night down there.
00:56:42.159 --> 00:56:43.920
He had scrapes and rubs everywhere.
00:56:44.239 --> 00:56:48.159
And like I walk up to one of the the scrapes on the ground, I could smell the scrape.
00:56:48.239 --> 00:56:53.519
I just pick up pick up a bunch of dirt, rub deer buck piss all over me, and I smell just great.
00:56:53.760 --> 00:56:54.400
Yeah, yeah.
00:56:54.639 --> 00:56:56.400
And uh and I'm like, you know what?
00:56:56.880 --> 00:56:59.119
He he might when he took off, there's no chance.
00:56:59.199 --> 00:57:02.719
Like, I was not gonna track that deer down, it was way too loud, too crunchy, the snow.
00:57:02.880 --> 00:57:06.480
I said, he might loop around the hardwood ridge and come back in the backside.
00:57:06.719 --> 00:57:12.079
I sat there all day long waiting for him to come back into the hit that scrape and never did.
00:57:12.400 --> 00:57:17.920
So 2025 was uh was unsuccessful for me, but successful for the family.
00:57:18.159 --> 00:57:20.159
Yeah, but but you know what?
00:57:20.880 --> 00:57:28.159
I didn't uh that 2024 when I tracked that small buck down in that cedar swamp last day.
00:57:28.239 --> 00:57:30.559
That was my best day of deer hunting in my life.
00:57:31.039 --> 00:57:36.559
Uh 2025 was probably my best season of my life, and I didn't kill a deer.
00:57:36.719 --> 00:57:37.199
Yeah.
00:57:38.079 --> 00:57:44.159
You had the memories, you had the you gained some experience and stuff and encounters, and I mean that's what it's all about.
00:57:44.400 --> 00:57:47.519
You were unsuccessful in the harvest, but very successful in other ways.
00:57:48.000 --> 00:57:48.239
Yep.
00:57:48.400 --> 00:57:48.559
Yeah.
00:57:48.800 --> 00:57:49.039
Yeah.
00:57:49.280 --> 00:57:50.559
People get too hung up on that, right?
00:57:50.880 --> 00:57:51.280
Yeah, they do.
00:57:51.360 --> 00:57:51.679
Yeah, they do.
00:57:53.119 --> 00:57:55.360
But they want the picture for the Instagram.
00:57:55.760 --> 00:57:56.880
Yeah, yeah.
00:57:57.280 --> 00:58:01.920
Yeah, no, you're rich in memories with it and experience with it.
00:58:02.000 --> 00:58:02.559
Yeah.
00:58:03.360 --> 00:58:17.599
So yeah, my, you know, people are like, well, you know, I talk about deer tracking in the snow, and and when I first started it, when I uh this, you know, in later after I shot that big one in 2018, and then I started listening to Hal Blood, Big Woods Bucks, and I'm like, okay, I like this is gonna work.
00:58:17.760 --> 00:58:19.519
Hal makes it look s really easy and real.
00:58:20.719 --> 00:58:25.679
I started trying, and I'm like, yeah, the first 45 minutes, you're like, oh, this is awesome.
00:58:25.840 --> 00:58:28.239
After an hour, you're like, this is never gonna work.
00:58:28.400 --> 00:58:29.840
I'm never gonna see a buck.
00:58:30.000 --> 00:58:34.559
But you have to trust that you will feel that way until you have your first encounter.
00:58:34.719 --> 00:58:34.880
Yeah.
00:58:35.039 --> 00:58:38.719
Or and then after you kill your first one, you're like, oh, I don't want to do it any other way.
00:58:38.960 --> 00:58:40.639
Yeah, well, you you watch their videos, Jacob.
00:58:40.880 --> 00:58:44.320
You want to you and I take up the accents here, be like, there's a deer there.
00:58:44.480 --> 00:58:49.840
You know, there's like we've only been tracking here for all it's about 20 minutes there, and my brother's coming up.
00:58:50.159 --> 00:58:53.440
12 miles down this uh this this hardwood ridge.
00:58:53.519 --> 00:58:54.239
Uh yeah.
00:58:54.480 --> 00:58:57.679
This buck just came out of here, went right at me.
00:58:58.400 --> 00:59:01.280
You talk about too, like lakes being a feature that you look at.
00:59:01.440 --> 00:59:04.079
Because one thing I've thought about was I got a little plastic boat.
00:59:04.239 --> 00:59:10.000
And you see like a lot of guys in Pennsylvania and all all over the states do it, because that's a big public access for them, is the water.
00:59:10.239 --> 00:59:11.519
In Nova Scotia, you see that too.
00:59:11.599 --> 00:59:12.639
They take like a little canoe in.
00:59:12.880 --> 00:59:13.360
Well, that's the thing.
00:59:13.519 --> 00:59:15.679
You can find a lake, like you can motor back.
00:59:16.000 --> 00:59:16.880
March bucks.
00:59:17.119 --> 00:59:24.559
And like then then you can whether you want to still hunt or set up a stand back there, I always thought that'd be a good way to really have some untapped potential.
00:59:24.880 --> 00:59:25.440
I yeah.
00:59:25.679 --> 00:59:26.159
I think so.
00:59:26.480 --> 00:59:31.360
2021 probably I set up a spot where I had a canoe access only.
00:59:31.679 --> 00:59:32.480
Canoe access only to it.
00:59:32.559 --> 00:59:35.039
Yeah, Sean knows where it is, don't say anything.
00:59:35.199 --> 00:59:38.159
But uh yeah, remember we walked in with all that deer sign, we found these.
00:59:40.880 --> 00:59:45.119
But so I so I did, you know, I I didn't kill a deer there, but I did pass one, a buck.
00:59:45.199 --> 00:59:46.719
I was after one I had on camera.
00:59:46.800 --> 00:59:46.960
Yeah.
00:59:47.119 --> 00:59:51.360
And um, and it was an app, it was a natural well, it was an apple orchard, is what it was.
00:59:51.440 --> 00:59:52.400
I didn't have bait out.
00:59:52.480 --> 01:00:00.239
And uh there was one there, a big one coming in that I was after, but uh I did pass on, you know, a little one and a half year old buck, but the encounter was awesome.
01:00:00.320 --> 01:00:04.800
He came in and and did a beautiful ru I get it all on video, I've taped it on my phone.
01:00:05.039 --> 01:00:07.760
He did a be rubbed this tree down just like that.
01:00:07.840 --> 01:00:08.880
That's I think that's the only time.
01:00:09.360 --> 01:00:10.639
Just like a stripper and a pole.
01:00:11.039 --> 01:00:12.000
Yeah, yeah.
01:00:12.159 --> 01:00:20.320
And then uh, and what was cool was uh one of the times I was canoeing into that spot, there was a coyote digging up uh a uh a beaver house.
01:00:20.480 --> 01:00:20.960
Really?
01:00:21.119 --> 01:00:23.840
And he didn't get he didn't get away from that beaver house.
01:00:24.000 --> 01:00:26.159
No, that's where he was where he rested up.
01:00:26.239 --> 01:00:30.719
I've seen stuff where bears have, but the coyote was yeah, shot shot him right out of the canoe.
01:00:30.800 --> 01:00:31.679
Oh, that's cool.
01:00:31.840 --> 01:00:32.320
Yeah.
01:00:32.559 --> 01:00:33.039
Yeah.
01:00:33.280 --> 01:00:35.840
Because I thought like I'd love like my next big purchase.
01:00:35.920 --> 01:00:41.679
I've been kind of slowly getting the stuff to do more of this, but I'd love to get a canvas wall tent with a stove in it.
01:00:43.119 --> 01:00:49.280
Then like then it'd be cool, you know, motor back to that spot and spend it, spend the weekend there or spend a couple nights there.
01:00:49.440 --> 01:00:49.599
Yeah.
01:00:49.840 --> 01:00:51.599
I know some of you guys don't like sleeping outside.
01:00:52.079 --> 01:00:52.559
I'd do it, yeah.
01:00:52.719 --> 01:00:53.440
I'd do it for that.
01:00:53.599 --> 01:00:54.079
Yeah.
01:00:54.320 --> 01:00:54.639
Yep.
01:00:54.800 --> 01:00:55.760
It's all part of the experience.
01:00:56.159 --> 01:01:00.000
I got my little Dutch oven with a little three little feet on it, and I'm I'm ready to go.
01:01:00.239 --> 01:01:00.960
A Dutch oven.
01:01:01.199 --> 01:01:03.679
Tent is all I need all I got left to get.
01:01:03.840 --> 01:01:04.159
Yeah.
01:01:04.320 --> 01:01:10.400
Well, I got the boat, I got the motor, I got the rifle, the Dutch oven, I just need the tent now.
01:01:10.639 --> 01:01:13.599
Well, I even got a I've even bought an axe just to do it with you.
01:01:13.920 --> 01:01:14.800
Oh yeah, I'm ready to go.
01:01:14.960 --> 01:01:15.840
That does sound like fun.
01:01:16.079 --> 01:01:18.719
Oh man, I like that's like I I'd love to do it.
01:01:19.119 --> 01:01:20.480
It doesn't even have to be in deer season either.
01:01:20.559 --> 01:01:26.400
I'd love to go if it's just like small game season, because a lot of times like I I've kind of looked into this too.
01:01:26.559 --> 01:01:29.360
Some spots I've found will overlap with fishing season a little bit.
01:01:29.679 --> 01:01:35.360
So it'd be cool to go back there and you can hunt ducks, you can hunt grouse, you can hunt rabbits, you could fish in the afternoon if you wanted.
01:01:35.599 --> 01:01:38.079
And you get to spend some time out to me, it's just spending time outside.
01:01:38.320 --> 01:01:39.760
Do it back how our ancestors did it.
01:01:40.000 --> 01:01:44.159
Well, literally, it's like it'd be sweet to have a bunch of bucks hanging up on the old school buckwheat.
01:01:44.320 --> 01:01:53.280
Yeah, or biggest the smallest out front, but it'd be just as rewarding to me just to be out there and just spend time overnight or spend time out there and it's at least give it a go.
01:01:53.440 --> 01:01:53.679
Yeah.
01:01:53.840 --> 01:01:59.360
And and and when you're doing if you're deer hunting with that process, any deer's a trophy.
01:02:01.199 --> 01:02:02.559
Yeah, you're shooting the first one you see.
01:02:02.880 --> 01:02:03.840
Oh yeah, exactly.
01:02:04.079 --> 01:02:04.559
Yeah.
01:02:04.880 --> 01:02:05.519
Yeah.
01:02:06.320 --> 01:02:07.039
Well boys.
01:02:07.360 --> 01:02:08.000
That was fun.
01:02:08.239 --> 01:02:09.039
That was a good one.
01:02:09.360 --> 01:02:10.239
Thanks for coming out.