Field Notes 7: Big Wins, Bigger Heartbreaks- A Pre Rut Week

A cold front flipped the rut switch, and we ride the highs and lows: Peyton’s 650-yard recovery, Zach’s near-misses, a field-edge long shot with a dog track, and Connor’s October 28 magic. We dig into weather, wind, calling, ethics at low light, and why access wins.

• reading the wind and barometric pressure for rut movement
• edge sits with standing corn and late-morning cruising
• when to get aggressive with grunts and snort-wheezes
• low-light restraint and shot accountability
• long-range bow practice for field edges
• tracking strategy with and without a dog
• October 28 timing and midday sits
• scrapes, swollen necks, and pre-estrus tells
• safety harness reminders and lightning bail-outs

“Just wear a safety harness for God’s sakes. You owe it to your family to come home.”

Chapters

• 0:39 Kicking Off Field Notes Week Eight
• 1:47 Peyton’s Season Grind And Saturday Buck
• 3:24 The Two-Hour, 650-Yard Blood Trail
• 5:00 Delaware Encounters And Low-Light Ethics
• 8:35 Weather Shifts, Winds, And Deer Behavior
• 12:17 Luck, Skill, And Stacking The Deck
• 15:52 Zach’s Close Calls And Tough Misses
• 19:20 Edge Sits, Corn, And Playing The Wind
• 22:29 Hot Field, Coyotes, And Calling Sequences
• 26:05 Long-Range Practice And A Marginal Hit
• 30:05 Dog Tracking, Blood Sign, And Next Steps
• 35:01 October 28th Magic And Midday Movement
• 39:05 The Shot, The Wait, And Recovery
• 43:28 Scrapes, Rut Signs, And Big-Body Bucks
• 46:40 Family, Faith, And Perspective
• 50:10 Safety Reminders And Weather Watch
• 52:31 Closing Thoughts And Halloween Sendoff

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:39

All right, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Garden State Outdoors on a podcast. And another, it is week, I think, what, seven or eight? I want to say week eight of um our series that we have here, field notes. And it is a it's been an absolute crazy busy week. Highs, lows, another high. But we're gonna actually start it off real quick with Peyton, who's currently driving, uh is on the road right now. So he's gonna, we only got a little bit with him, so we're gonna have him start it off. Um, and he got himself uh an absolute pleasure, him and Zach were out uh during the week and started things off really for us here. Peyton, well, welcome back.

SPEAKER_04: 1:28

Yeah, it's been a little while. Um yeah, it's uh yeah, it's been like a year. Just life has uh gotten in the way.

SPEAKER_02: 1:37

Yeah, yeah, we we we've missed you, but you know, why don't we you go in and and tell us, you know, kinda everything that went down for you.

SPEAKER_04: 1:47

Yeah, so um I mean been hunting pretty hard this season. You know, whenever I can get out, you know, I couple years ago I could get out more, but this year it's just you know life happens, so I try to be get out as much as I can. And it's really uh I feel like starting to pick up, like starting to pick up for me in the last like week or so. Um a little slow at the beginning through October. Um picked up a little bit like in the middle of October, you know, during uh our bear season, you know, starting to you know put the pieces together a little bit more. And uh, you know, last weekend was Saturday, Sunday was pretty pretty awesome. You know, sat uh kind of just wasn't even really planning on haunting this spot. It's a spot that I had scouted earlier in the season and found uh a lot of security cover in and kind of just like put it on the back burners, the place that I know that they cruise through in the rut from last year and um spots that I've seen, like the higher concentration of doughs on this property just from like you know, cameras and and uh what I'd seen. And I was like, well, it'd be probably a good spot to uh sit when they're start to search in the morning. And uh you know, it was like the last weekend that I was gonna get to hunt on like the fall bow tag. So really the last day probably that I could get to hunt on that fall bow tag. So I wasn't gonna be too picky. And uh got lucky. I think it was like uh you know 7:30, uh Spike comes in. Kind of watching him, and then I see a little bit bigger deer come in behind him and got to like 30 yards, and you know, I think he was like just you know at the ears, probably. Um I was lucky enough to uh to take him on Saturday morning. I thought I'd missed because he's like very confident that I'd missed just he was teed up at 30, which and I put low, like that held that pin low, but he dug the string, I guess, really hard and wheeled, and I had written it off as a miss. Got down and you know was just gonna do my due diligence and ended up finding some blood. Zach was in the area and came over and had a the toughest track, I think, of my life. But uh like two hours, 650 yards, and we found it. And like talking to people, like trying to I guess talk to a bunch of trackers in the area. And uh, I guess they were all busy at an event at the same event, so uh couldn't couldn't get any help, but you know, it felt you know it would have saved me in Zach probably like an hour and 45 minutes if we had a dog, but you know, it felt good to like do it on our own. Like it was a a second grade feeling of accomplishment. It was like a pretty crazy track, but then you know, got that all buttoned up and uh went to a different state on Sunday and uh had probably the best day of deer hunt without shooting anything that I've ever had. Um saw a nice one in the morning around 7 30 again. Watched this buck come across the field, get to like 20 yards, and kind of just like hit this wall of rush and it didn't really look like he wanted to come through it. Like he hit a limp. And uh it was pretty thick. And I just like I don't know, if he it kind of almost seemed like he was doing like a calculation in his head if he wanted to bother going through it or not, because he just kind of stood there for a little while before he kind of eventually decided he was gonna take the easier route um up the field edge and through a different opening. But you know, came real close, so you know he was like making a beeline to my tree and thought I was gonna get a nice shot. And I mean it was a really cool looking deer, you know, um like a f like a like probably a you know four with a main frame eight on the one side, pretty wide outside the ears, but then just like a crab claw on the other, just you know, so like a not even like a six point, just like two. Like he must have had like pretty serious pedicle damage. So he was a cool looking deer.

SPEAKER_01: 6:27

Um that's awesome.

SPEAKER_04: 6:29

Yeah, then went in the the evening and it was slow, but then uh had some does come through and we didn't last light. Like, you know, on the canopy last light like lineup, obviously, with what leaf light is. You know, you really live as like five, maybe sometimes even like ten minutes where you can't see the pins anymore. But I was just about to get down, you know, it's like the coast seems clear, let me just get out of here, you know. I can't see the pins really. But uh it's like at that time, like a button buck comes in. I'm like, alright, well maybe he'll just feed off. And then there's like two minutes left to legal light, but it's really dark. And uh I think probably one of the biggest ears I've s probably I've seen in the stand just kind of comes into 10 yards. Broadside, I draw, and I'm like looking through the pins, like he's like 10 yards, just perfectly broadside, just like eating acorns, like not a care in the world, and I'm just like gray. Like a light to like come through, the moon to shift, the cloud to move, like something to like illuminate. But I just like it was just there's nothing, it was just black. I just it was just three minutes maybe too late. He hung out for like 10 minutes, chewed like it was like peed out of the stand. He was sniffing the pee onto the bottom of my tree. He was chewing on my step aider on my bottom stick, was like nuzzling the rope. Like it just stayed there. I'm like up in the tree just above him, just like looking down, just like like hating my life. I was like, why couldn't you come by like five minutes later or five minutes earlier? Um but it was good.

SPEAKER_01: 8:17

That that's why they need that's why they need to uh I I've been trying to find a way to be great to put my thermal scope for my AR on the bow.

SPEAKER_05: 8:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 8:28

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 8:29

I don't know if that'll fit through the peep site.

SPEAKER_02: 8:33

Listen, they the I mean up at um the Great American Outdoor Show, they do have like bow scopes and and everything like that for your for your bow and everything like that that I was seeing. It's something I don't think I'd I would ever want to want to use, but it is probably I imagine it's probably not too far off in the works.

SPEAKER_04: 9:00

If like the last two days I've had the conversation with Zach about he shoots no peep for that reason. And I'm trying to like think like if I didn't have the peep, like it was like shooting with like the bow mar like nose button or something.

SPEAKER_03: 9:14

Like what I've been able to do if you could s if you could see the outline of the deer um pretty much, and you can see your pin, you can shoot him if you don't have a peep site. I'm trying like I don't I don't know if he was that close, and that's what I was saying the other day, like good on you for not forcing a shot in that situation. Because it's so easy to just be like, oh man, I th I got he's right there at 10 yards, like how could I possibly miss? I think I'm on him, you know.

SPEAKER_04: 9:40

And I mean, like statistically speaking, like I like I there's like a good chance I could have hit him with a lethal shot, and you know, that like that was a good thing to do.

SPEAKER_02: 9:54

And uh, you know, they I just yeah, it would have yeah, it's like you know it's it's a tough like it it is tough getting put into those in those situations and everything like that. Obviously, everyone, you know, you guys know my situation and everything like that, but um I think when you really can't see like and what we have this conversation, Peyton, like you're in a canopy where it's just so much darker. Um yeah, I mean you it's like five to ten minutes, you know.

SPEAKER_04: 10:27

Like say like end of legal light, 6 30. If you're in that canopy, it's really like 6 20, 6 25.

SPEAKER_02: 10:35

Yeah, I I agree with you on on that and everything like that. Um so it is it is it is one of those tougher just tougher things that you kind of gotta work with and everything like that. Um but it's at the end of the day, the best the best decision was definitely was definitely made in in that aspect.

SPEAKER_05: 10:57

You've got to stay with your guy.

SPEAKER_02: 10:58

Yeah, you don't want to come under, you want to stay there and go your lane depends on the other. And you know, you you got I mean, and that's crazy, and and things have you know, everyone I've talked to, like everything has kicked off in a lot of states a lot earlier than it has in the last couple years. A big part of that, I think we've just had a lot cooler weather this year. Granted, we did have that, like after where me paying Zach started down Delaware, like it was nice and cool, like we had that cold front, and then it like we got back home, and I think it kicked up. The temperature got like high again for like maybe two two weeks and everything like that. But for the most part, like I feel like it's been a really nice, cool, actual fall like weather, basically all of September, all of uh most of September, all of October. Um especially the mornings, like you're getting we're getting mornings where you get the freeze report, and like it's like, yeah, you know, frost and everything like that. I think if that has just kicked these deer into their normal patterns, which we haven't seen in the last uh couple years and everything like that, and things have just gotten crazy, and you know, that's that's one thing, you know, you shot your buck, um, you go to Delaware, and then you know, you have uh success, like without killing a deer, um it is that is just pure just success, just in in that case alone, you know what I mean? Um we don't get to scout there, we don't have any cameras there. We haven't you haven't been there, we haven't been there since the beginning of September and everything like that. And to go there and to have the encounter that you did, like that's just uh that's success in its in its own, right there.

SPEAKER_04: 12:46

Yeah, I mean for sure. Right. It's you know kind of find the fresh side. I mean you scout it over the summer, and you know, you do your preseason scouting and you kind of find some uh you know what looks like funnels. And I don't know. This year if I'm just like paying better attention in the preseason, I'm just like learning, but it does seem like this year. I don't know. Last year I was seeing a lot of running activity too in the area. Zach and I plus a lot of games. And uh last year was really good as well. Uh but yeah, I don't know if it's just limited. If it is something to do with the weather or what it is, but uh, yeah, that's that's one thing I didn't see last year. Oh, did you gotta I gotta get in some more time down there? So try to get down and put the time it goes up here.

SPEAKER_02: 13:45

Yeah, I mean we can't hear you, Zach. If you're talking. Yeah, we can't we can't hear you right now. Try leaving and and coming back.

SPEAKER_04: 14:00

Is that on uh like hearing like uh lion made the save? He's staying in the case. Can you hear me in the hockey game? I think.

SPEAKER_02: 14:07

Oh yeah. Oh, sorry, boys. I'm watching the frozen uh I'm watching the frozen frenzy um right now. My my my bad boys. Um yeah. Um Zach, I I don't know if we we can hear you.

SPEAKER_03: 14:22

Can no, you can't hear me. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 14:24

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're good. We're good. We can hear you.

SPEAKER_03: 14:26

Yeah, no, I was just trying to tell you that I was here in your hockey game.

SPEAKER_02: 14:30

Oh my god. Damn, I'm sorry, everyone. I didn't hear it in my in my headphones.

SPEAKER_01: 14:38

I forgot to text you, text you this. We were at uh one of our friends' uh 40th birthday party this past Friday, and that 40th made me feel old. Um and uh one of the I didn't even know they were coming, but one of our friends is dear friends with uh but Ben Street was there. Oh, really? Yeah, from the as you know, from the Badgers, and then I think he I don't know, played six or seven NHL seasons. So man, talk about a down-to-earth, really cool guy.

SPEAKER_02: 15:13

Oh man, that that's so cool. Well, yeah, that's that's great. Um always love those surprises. Um for sure. But yeah, so sorry everybody out there that I I didn't even realize that uh I thought I had my volume all the way down, and I guess I put it right next to next to the mic. Let me move the phone. I I turned it off and everything like that, but um well, it's all muted and everything like that. But um oh, Crossby just scored.

SPEAKER_01: 15:42

Um you know, um Mike, I just wanted to point out, you know, uh last week and last week's show, and maybe even the week before, if you recall, I had mentioned, like here in Wisconsin, it was one of the things that's just been really weird. You know, as we all as bull hunters, typically the you know, the last 50 minutes, you know, or literally when the sunsets, you know, depending on where you are in the country and however the DNR does that with you know 20 minutes or 30 minutes after sunset for legal shooting, um, you know, that's you know, sunset, that's when the wind dies down and it just gets totally still. And if you recall, like I had mentioned, like it's been weird here in Wisconsin this fall to where I mean it's like 45 minutes to an hour before sunset where it's gotten totally still. And this morning, um when I got on stand, I I tried to change it up a bit just because, as I've told you, the how tough access is on uh on the farm to get in there, and I opted to not go in, you know, the 45 minutes to an hour before first light. I went in, um, you know, legal shooting was at like 7 a.m. on the dot, and I got I was in my stand by 10 after 10 after 9, and you know, didn't bump anything, didn't spook anything. But point being is that this was the first day, and I can't know I I don't even know how long to where there was like a legit 10 to 15 mile an hour breeze, and it was out of the east, which is never the greatest, because I you know always heard from people never trust an east wind. But um, yeah, today today was magic, but it's just been crazy how there's just been little to no wind, and then you know, warm temperatures early on, and now things have just started to finally cool off. So big day here in Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_02: 17:48

Yeah, very very different for for you over in Wisconsin than I think what it what it has been for us. Um we've been on that west, I think northwest now for the last couple days, and cool temperatures and some of the best action that we saw were on the windier days. You know, Zach and I talk uh talk a lot and everything like that, and we go through our our hunts, but like some of the best action that we saw during the during the week were on the windier days now. On the the other day, it was like we had that four or five at least where where I was, and then actually like right at sunset, it just completely just just dropped off and everything. I don't know, you know, the rest of the guys that are on our side, Zach and Peyton, if that's something they've noticed as well.

SPEAKER_04: 18:33

Yeah, like I feel like it has been like you know, getting a better freeze. Yes, Sunday was pretty still. Um I I always like it, you know, a little bit of movement, consistent wind, a little motion cover. I always like that, a little sail cover. I always prefer that. But you know, depending on where you are, you could play a bigger role than you know, it's just a little defense.

SPEAKER_02: 19:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 19:05

When I was sitting in that spot on Sunday, like not a breath of wind, you know, it was it was like eerily quiet. And uh the point where when that deer came in, I could hear like the bass like from his hooves hitting the ground. Um that I get like 30 yards. Um and I wonder if like, you know, maybe that's why he came in later, you know, so late or you know, what it could have been. But yeah, it definitely seems like the weather's been cooperating lately.

SPEAKER_02: 19:38

I love the weather, what what what we've gotten so so far. Like I absolutely I I I love every morning, love every every evening. Um you know, things have been.

SPEAKER_03: 19:49

We haven't had uh this kind of weather that you know this time of year in a while. It feels like since I don't know, at least the last four or five years, it's all it's been just abnormal abnormally hot, like late October, early November. Last year it was like 80 something degrees on Halloween, I remember.

SPEAKER_01: 20:05

Yeah, it was the same here in Wisconsin. I think we would probably have that a day and a half before you guys, and it it was brutal. I mean, sweating to death. I mean, I literally I think on Halloween last year, I walked to uh my stand in a t-shirt and had everything on my pack, and I was still sweating to death. I haven't been able to get the camel paint off my face tonight, so yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 20:37

Last year I was in Virginia and it was just like sweating to death, like walking in to the spot that was like way in the back, and remember like getting set up and like taking like everything off just out of my base layers in the tree just to like full off. Think I'm gonna get sunburned in November.

SPEAKER_02: 20:54

Yeah, it's it that's one of the crazy things that it's that it's been and and everything like that of last year, the last two years, just just so hot. Um so miser just like you're miserable. You're like you're you're generally just just miserable. Um and imagine how like the deer feel and everything like that, especially you know, they're they're chasing, they're doing all these things. Like, so um for for us and everything like that, um it's it's definitely like great to see and experience like normal rut behavior. Um, you know, um and it's I don't know, I'm loving this share. Like every sit has been has been a blast, you know. We'll we'll get into my hunt uh in a in a little bit here and everything like that. But um, you know, Zach, I I know uh alongside with with you, you've had a lot of good um good activity, good sign. You've been on you've been on some bucks and everything like that. And at this point, it's it's kind of like just that game of just like just when's it gonna happen? You know what I mean? When we you know, every day where it's like it's it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen, which it is, you know. Um but it's like you you you you have that itch, I imagine. I have that itch, you have that itch, you know. Kind of kinda go over your hunts too. Oh, we we lost you again, uh, Zach. We can't hear you.

SPEAKER_03: 22:26

Can you hear me now?

SPEAKER_02: 22:28

Yep.

unknown: 22:30

Alright.

SPEAKER_03: 22:30

Do you gotta echo because I took my headphones off?

SPEAKER_02: 22:34

No, we are you're good. You sound good.

SPEAKER_03: 22:37

Alright. Um Yeah, the last week and a half have been pretty good. The mornings have been on fire. Um the evenings have been kind of slow, but I've been sitting till at least 11 every morning and just seeing a lot of bugs on their feet cruising like between nine and eleven. Um three of the big boxes that I've been on that I've been keeping down since the summertime. Um I haven't seen them. I actually had one of them walk by me at like twenty he sat within twenty-five yards of me for like an hour on uh on like the second night of the season before I shot it out, so I couldn't shoot him. But I hadn't seen any of them both since then. This week they all showed back up on camera. I saw all three of them version this week. I had I had one of them at 40 yards. And then the the morning uh just happened to me that you missed one. And uh probably about ten or fifteen minutes after he sent me that after I had a ball come in. It was uh it was a really nice A point. He was a younger deer, but he was he was outside the ears and had a good time like and uh you know we're getting toward the end of all though and I'm I haven't I need to start filling the freezer. So I was I was uh I decided I was gonna try and shoot him. He came into like 20 yards and um he stopped in an open I had an open I thought I had a good opening, he had stopped it like under a holly tree. And uh there was a bran a holly branch covering like the top half of his body. I thought I could sneak it underneath that branch. And when I took the shot I just heard it ricochet off that branch, and I guess I I think I shot over his back. And then he bounded out to like 35 yards, and I was able to get another aeronaut and drew back again. I guess him at 30, he must have been a little further because I shot uh right under him.

SPEAKER_02: 25:17

And and that's kinda that's kind of just like how it how it goes sometimes. I mean, it's it's the luck it it's sometimes the luck of the drawing. Sometimes you just gotta be there's skill involved, but there's also sometimes like in bow hunting, I feel like luck that has to be involved too, you know what I mean? 100% yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and it and it and it actually it comes into play also a big big part with with Hayton's uh buck and everything like that of you know of luck where at the end of the day it got him and he was able to to actually just to to recover that deer and everything like that. Um, you know, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_04: 26:02

It's sometimes like I love it knowing the skill, and I love but sometimes, man, the people that are just lucky and they get things that go from it's like sometimes I I wish it's like gambling, you know, people that are like I guess like really like I mean it's not even really I guess gambling, it's a little better than that, but it's like the skill comes in like putting yourself in the position to get lucky.

SPEAKER_01: 26:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 26:25

Like stacking the deck in your favor, you know. At the end of the day, like they're like luck has to hit, but it's like you put the investment in, like the time and and knowledge that investment in, and the more time and knowledge you know you have to bring, I think uh that's like where you can stack the deck in your favor a little bit and increase your odds, but at the end of the day, it's still odds.

SPEAKER_01: 26:52

Yeah, and I think I think I think a lot of time like there's there's kind of a happy balance between, you know, like I'll come home, you know, after sis and I'll say to my wife, like, gosh, like I'm playing the win right, I'm I'm only going to the stands. Like today, um I still have not hit the timber yet on the farm. I've just been hunting edges because there's still 36 acres of corn up, and you know, I think they're betting in the corn, and it's just like playing the game, like exactly where are they, and the best stand on the farm. Um I haven't even touched yet. And, you know, so you know, you sit at home and and my wife doesn't hunt or anything. She came from a hunting family, but doesn't hunt, and she'll be like, oh Connor, you know, it'll happen, it'll happen. You just gotta put in the time. And you know, to your guys' point, like I think there's luck involved. Um, but it it's it's just bizarre how you know, like what you were just saying, Mike, like it's just like this morning was was crazy. I mean, all of a sudden, my one buddy was at work. His, you know, I had my phone in my uh um binocular, you know, holder, whatever, and I didn't see it, but you know, I just happened to look at my phone for a minute, and uh, he said there was a dough that was hauling through at like 9:30. I waited 10 minutes, texted him back, and I was like, well, is there anything behind it? And uh there was five different bucks that came through. So she was either on her way to Esther or was just hitting. But you know, as I said, every single buck in the area was all over the place, and it was bizarre. Um, and as I as I've said before, Mike, like October 25th or 26th Halloween, every single outside of last year.

SPEAKER_02: 28:58

I think we I think we lost him for for a second. Um you know, but well, I'll I guess I'll I'll do some. I'll I'll talk until he comes back in. Um you know, it's I I kind of agree, like I actually haven't had to hit um into the woods really at all as well. Um, you know, for for everyone who who knows, like I've had some great encounters the the past week and everything like that. Um you know, um a buck that I passed and you know, I I was like, oh, do I regret this? Do I regret this? Now hindsight, I definitely don't regret it. Um, you know, but I've I've been sitting a a filled edge uh in between two going back and forth between two different spots, between two different tickets where where deer come out of and and and everything like that. And what I think I've I've had encounters with three shooter bucks. And probably um one borderline book, but um Connor's back. So Connor fit finish up. We were saying we got the last part of October, um, where things really really heat up and everything like that.

SPEAKER_01: 30:14

Yeah, and I'm sorry that I had uh I don't know where I cut off. Where exactly did you last hear me?

SPEAKER_02: 30:21

Um October, uh Halloween time where things are starting to heat up.

SPEAKER_01: 30:25

Yeah, yeah. So I, you know, my thing is is like I don't know what it is, everybody's different. Obviously, it depends where you are in the country, where stuff's moving with weather, and you know, so I'm always big and watching like the barometric pressure. Um, and you know, for me, like stuff just went off this morning. It was crazy. And and, you know, as I've said on the show before, like for this is me personally, um, October 25th or 26th to Halloween. Every single bull buck I have ever shot, excluding last year that I shot on November 15th, was during that time when that first dough, you know, gives off some sort of scent or whatever, whether she's actually in estrus or not. But it it was just crazy this morning. I I haven't experienced what happened. I mean, uh three bucks in 30 minutes, and it it was just crazy. So I don't know what it is. My wife says that uh October 28th is is my day. It's the third buck that I've shot with my bow on the 28th of October. So I don't know. That's the way it's always been for me. Some people say, you know, the first week of November, November 7th or 8th, you always got to be in a tree. But me personally, the 25th or 26th of October through Halloween is absolute money. So if you've got the time, like that, that's for in Wisconsin, that's when I feel like every year, no matter what they're saying, that that for me, that is money time.

SPEAKER_03: 32:05

Did you shoot all those all those October 28th bucks in the same area?

SPEAKER_01: 32:10

Um so no. Um, so that the one I got uh today was on our our friend's farm, only about 40 minutes from my house. Um, the other two, if you can believe this, in my neighborhood, probably 10 years ago, the area that used to be all um it had like a draw of woods, probably 200 yards long. And the rest of it was all just you know crazy set-aside grass. Well, that's all totally developed with homes now. I shot a buck there October, I was only like 12 feet up in a tree, and then the following year, um, it was a lease only 10 minutes from my house on the north side of town. And that was literally, I cut out of work early. My boss is cool. He's not a hunter, but he's just a good dude. And he didn't care that I cut out, and I knew there was a huge cold front coming. And I at that time they didn't have uh cell cams, it was still just the SD cards. Switched the the SD card, got up in the stand, crazy wind came through, rained hard for about six minutes. I grunted once, and the butt came right out of uh the uh set aside or whatever, and then pounded that thing at 14 yards. So no, you know, to answer your question, they all three of them were on different properties. So I don't know what it is about October 28th, but you know, and and today I said a little prayer to my old man when I got on stand if he could uh you know help me uh watch him from above. And it shit, it wasn't 43 minutes later I shot him.

SPEAKER_03: 33:56

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02: 33:57

Jesus, yeah, that's incredible. Nice, yeah. That's that's insane. Um thank you, buddy. Appreciate it. Yeah, we're and and we're gonna get more into into into yours too, um, pretty shortly. But um with with that, I mean we'll we'll get to the I don't even want to call it a low, and I know I said we're at a high, low, high.

SPEAKER_04: 34:20

Um I gotta run here, guys.

SPEAKER_02: 34:23

Um problem.

SPEAKER_04: 34:26

Appreciate it. Good talk. Take care, brother. Drive safe. See you next time.

SPEAKER_02: 34:31

Appreciate it. Take care, brother. Um, so like I was saying, like I'm actually really proud of myself. I'm I'm I'm not gonna lie. So we'll we'll back up and go to I want to say like probably last week. Um and they're cutting, they were doing a partial cut in the cornfield, and I had noticed that. Um, we just got out bear week. Um, so like I was actually really run down and tired. Like Zach and I were we hunted every day except for one evening I didn't hunt, and one morning I didn't I didn't get to hunt. Besides that, like we were running, gunning, and and going for bears the the whole entire week. Um, not going on much sleep and everything like that. Um, so I was pretty run down. Um get back from from bear camp. Went and moved some cameras, things like that. Um, I did get in two hunts, but nothing crazy.

SPEAKER_01: 35:28

Um, and slowly butcher now to cut you off just so I understand because I know it's it's it's different here in Wisconsin. Is is the bear week um for you all out there, is is that a six-day hunt, or is it a like unfortunately?

SPEAKER_02: 35:42

Unfortunately, it's a six-day hunt. Okay, um Monday.

SPEAKER_01: 35:46

I didn't mean to cut you off. I just I didn't know.

SPEAKER_02: 35:48

Yeah, no, no, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, so for all our non-Jersey people or people are not uh used to to listening to the show or anything like that, we only get a chance to hunt black bears for six days, and that's gonna be Monday to Saturday. Doesn't matter the weather, doesn't um like on we got that northeastern um going off that back, so probably started late Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and I think Tuesday is like we where we finally it like clear it cleared up um and things like that, right? So a lot of hunters just didn't get out on Monday, you know. The diehard hunters did, like uh all of us were out, like the big bear, bear hunter guys, like I they got out, you know what I mean? Um but it's it's just one of those tough things. So and we're allowed to again, we are allowed to shoot a deer also during bear season. So it wasn't like if deer would have popped, came off, we would have killed one. Peyton's buddy, he killed a um a buck and everything like that. Um at the last three minutes uh before he had to head home and everything like that. So we could do both. So we're yet again, we're running, gunning, trying to try um trying to get as much distance as we can. Exhausted, came back, and now the focus is back on deer. Um, and I remember I was I was going out to hunt, and this is a corn field. This year it's corn, and I've always seen giant deer in here, but also so does everybody else. And I am not somebody last year, it seemed like there's a lot of guys there. Um, and you know, there are people that I know are that are still hunting it or or doing whatever waterfowl hunting and and things like that. So, like I do know it gets some pressure, but um there was a day where I was like, I don't know where to go. You know what? I don't want to go after my number one hit list buck. I'm gonna come over here and try to shoot a dough or get eyes on a big buck. Well, I get into to the stand and everything like that, and I see my first deer, and at 4 30, I look behind me, and there's a big buck just right behind me. 12 yards, couldn't get a shot because there's just it was it would have been there, there's just no shot opportunity. And he ended up working himself to the left, and instead of coming in front of me, he just heads directly to the middle of the field and onto the other side. Um, when he got to the middle of the field, that's where I was able to see his his size, and he was a big wide eight-pointer, a beautiful book. Um and of course, I didn't have my grunt call with me. Somewhere at Bear at Bear Week, I dropped it or something, but I couldn't fight it, so I had to order a new one. Um, and all of a sudden, maybe like 20 minutes later, there's a co-I see a coyote all the way to my left. I'm like, oh, like I'm I'm filming and everything like that. And all of a sudden this thing beelines it toward towards where I am. And I'm like, oh my god, like I'm I'm freaking out. I'm like, fuck, there's a big buck. I was like, okay, maybe God put it that I wasn't supposed to shoot that deer tonight. I'm supposed to shoot this this coyote tonight. Maybe that's that's what he has in store for me. So this coyote came in perfectly, like the way I wish the deer came in, and he came out a little farther than than I wanted to, but I don't know if like I know you're supposed to you could stop coyotes. I don't know what was going through my head. This is my first time ever having like this actually happened. So I guess the the brain got all foggy, and I didn't stop the coyote, and I tried shooting him what I thought was on a walk. He was walking, he was actually on a trot, and he was going a little faster than than I thought. So I ended up shooting behind him. It would have been a perfect shot. Everything looked looked great. It just skimmed maybe like a hair or two, just right behind him. Um, and he ran out, saw a bunch of deer, so I was like, you know what? Like, this feels hot. Like, I'm coming back tomorrow. Um, I'm gonna get into the morning. Got in the morning, was able to sneak in. Uh, saw a couple bucks um chasing and everything like that, the smaller ones, and headed back into to the evening. And I grabbed the saddle and I was like, listen, where that buck went last night, that's where I'm going. There's another thicket on that side. So I go over there, I get set up. I love the spot. Um, and what do you know? I see a bunch of deer, the smaller bucks chasing. Another shooter pops out to exactly basically where I was sitting the other the uh the day before. And this is a a beautiful buck, too. Um, he's got I think four or five on one side, and then his other side is it's kind of messed up. I don't know if he had an injury or something like that, but it only grew to like maybe two points. Um real interesting buck. And honestly, I would have 100% shot him and not hesitated and stopped him, but I was able to grunt and snort wheeze him in to 20 yards on a string. Um, and just because of the other deer that I knew that was there, and it was still early in the day, I was like, I'm not gonna shoot this deer, right? I I made that decision. Um, he ended up working behind me, and I was like, if he gives me another shot opportunity later in in the evening, I'll definitely take him. But being as early as I did, I made it was it was the best decision that I that I made, and I'm happy with that decision. Um so fast forward to to yesterday. Um, a couple days had gone by, and I'm like, all right, like heading back, same exact tree. I this this field is hot. Like, I'd be stupid not to hunt it. Like, I don't care about any other spot right now. Like, this is the spot to be in, and I still believe that to this day. Um, so that's where I'll be tomorrow. Um, but nothing, it was slow, and I was like, oh my god, I'm like, maybe this, maybe the magic is done in this field. Like, all right, like maybe I'll move move on and go go to another spot. And then all of a sudden, I hear I get a trail cam picture of Doe's coming. And I was like, I know there's gonna be a young buck or a decent buck like chasing. And what do you know? I hear like grunting, so I start grunting back. Doe comes out, borderline shooter um steps out, and I just started having fun with this guy. Like, I wanted him to come in. He was chasing the doe. I'm hitting the grunt, I'm hitting the snort wheeze. It catches his attention now. He's looking and he's trying to figure out where it's coming from. And um I'm like, all right, like screw it. I got like 15 minutes left. Like, I'm gonna get a real aggressive grunt and snort wheeze sequence going. And I really put an emphasis on that snort wheeze, and I made it as aggressive and as loud as I could. And the buck in the field gave away that there's a big shooter coming. Uh, because he was looking directly behind me down the field, and I I was like, oh, like that's gotta be one thing. And then you could hear the the footsteps, and then you can hear the grunting and everything like that. And I'm I'm like, oh, I get I get the camera set up, and I see him at the corner of my eye, I'm like, all right, like he's on a strength 20 yards yet again. He gets to the part, I draw back, and he gets to right where I'm like, all right, man, and he just banks off. Um, and he he jumps and he he runs a little bit, and I think he gets to like anywhere between 40 and 50 yards. I put my pin on him, and I have the confidence, and I'm very happy to say that the last two years I have made it a big thing with hunting in Delaware in this new southern Jersey spot. That um it's a lot of Ag field. I'm not hunting in the swamps, I'm not hunting in these giant thickets. Like I want to be able to kill a deer in one of these fields, and the best way that I need to do that is to practice at long ranges. Um so that's exactly what what I have done um over the past two years. So when I put my pin on him, I release and I hit him. I knew I hit him. Um I wasn't sure how good I hit him. I went back, rewatched the film. I'm like, all right, like it looks good. I watched him. He ran. He stopped at the corner of he stopped at the corner of the field and he stood there and he looked hurt. Like I knew I I had hit him, and he he looked hurt. Um, and then he finally like trotted off into the woods. I'm thinking, like, all right, like I'm nervous until I get down and I find blood. And that first pool of blood where he was standing looked excellent. Somehow I don't know how it had bubbles in it, but it did. I don't know if that was just I I generally don't know. I don't know if I hit a vein or something like that. That's just carry I I don't know anatomy like that. I don't know if I was I hit something that carries oxygen, obviously, to the heart. Maybe it's oxygen-rich blood that that I was seeing, you know. Obviously, it did not look like a lung shot.

SPEAKER_01: 45:28

Um, the shot did it, it looked smoked though, Mike. That picture you sent. I mean, that was crazy blood.

SPEAKER_02: 45:36

It it did. It it it really did. Um, and then I found another puddle just like that, and everything like that. That that bright red, not pinkish, but that bright red, like you hit heart. Like, I'm like, all right, like I'm talking to the boys, every da-da-da. Yes, it seemed like a little low, but it seemed like I I was able to stick it in there. Um, and that's kind of what our mindset was going all last night. Um, I backed out, met up with Bianca, and met up with the dog tracker. I didn't want to, I tracked a little bit, and I was like, you know what? Better safe than sorry. We tracked this deer a mile, and I've had way, way worse blood on better shots than this. Um there were spots where it was like, we're gonna find this deer at it at any second. Like, we're gonna find this deer at any second. We went a whole mile, we we lost blood, probably roughly close to that mile marker. Um, and I think I did hear him at one point. Um, and I'm pretty sure I think I actually heard him twice. Um, yet again, I don't know if it was another deer. It obviously could have been another deer, but now looking at it and thinking at it, um, I think it just hit a little too low. I think the reason why we're getting all that blood and everything like that was because it was it was low and everything like that, so it was just coming down if he had to get low or anything like that. Um I still haven't given up tomorrow. I'll be when I go out in the morning and everything like that, I'll be checking for for buzzards in the area. He a bit did a big loop. He was actually, I think, working his way back towards that cornfield or wherever he came from. Um, so I'm I'm actually really proud. Like I like I said, um, I think I handled it and did everything that you're supposed to do. Um I generally the only thing that I would have played differently is maybe now looking at it, maybe a softer met, maybe I'll I'll do a softer one next time. Um I've met at deer before, and I've had I've never had that issue. You know what I mean? But this was a big mature deer, and I imagine, and you know, Brandon Barlow said it, he goes, that deer has definitely been met at before, and somebody has definitely, especially in New Jersey, has definitely shot at that deer. And it's probably could have happened multiple times, you know what I mean? Because the minute he heard that, it's like he knew something was wrong. Instead of stopping out of the curiosity, he was like, Nope, let me get farther away from from where where I am now.

SPEAKER_01: 48:26

Um, because that because that was like uh if from your video, I think it was did you do it three times to get him to finally yeah, and you know, like everybody else on the team, I zoomed in on that. And I mean, dude, we we've all been there. I feel for you, man. Uh it it it sucks. Um, but again, like everybody said, there's so much time left. Um, you're gonna get another opportunity, but like after zooming in, I mean, it between 40 and 50 yards, I mean, you made an absolute hell of a shot. I thought that that was a no-doubter. I mean, you I felt like from what I could see that you put it where it needed to go. But I mean, we know how tough these animals are, and uh the only other thing I would ask you, and and and this is something, Mike, that I've learned uh from some c a couple of local guys here in Wisconsin, that um for their dogs, depending on you know the dog that that is tracking, but um, I've been told quite a bit that after um I know a couple guys who both of their dogs will say when they're on the the track, if they lose, like to when you guys lost blood, they they said that both of these guys don't even know each other, said that their dog, I guess in their training, will look back at them like two or three times. And basically they said when they do that, that is like when the dog says, I I've lost the trail. I I don't yeah, so is did any of that happen, or is you know?

SPEAKER_02: 50:05

Um I don't the dog did want to keep going, but he even said he goes, she was moving at such a fast pace that he was like, I when she moves like that, it's because the deer is still alive. Um like she was she was actually there was a part where she was just beelining it. Um and there was actually a part where I where I think I heard the deer is where she just went not even nose ground, just from maybe like 40-50 yards away, just looked right into the thicket and just wanted to go to that thicket. And you know, obviously we're looking for for blood and everything like that, and all she wanted to do was go in the thicket. And when we got into the thicket, then I heard a I never heard him run, but I did hear um some branches and and and trees snap. And the blood that we were finding wasn't dry yet, and I had waited probably a good no, I shot the deer probably at like 615. Um, I don't think we got back out there and we didn't start tracking till eight. Eight, probably like nine o'clock. Right. So the original blood that we found was definitely dry, but it was getting wetter and wetter and wetter um as we were going.

SPEAKER_03: 51:35

Um was he still bleeding really good there at the end?

SPEAKER_02: 51:41

Yeah, there were there were there there were points where he was still bleeding really good. Um but it yet again, I think it's just where the shot was because it was low. It was just one of those you're gonna get good blood. Like I I generally just think it that leg, especially with that leg and everything. So anything he touches, that you know, the sever 2.0 hybrid rips, you know, probably opened him up. Um did you ever find the arrow? Nope, never, never found the arrow. I'm gonna go look again in the field. I have like I I never it like and a bunch of people never even saw like once it went in him, like no one saw it go through. Like, I didn't, I don't know if it went through, got stuck, part of it broke, and the knock is inside him because we I never saw that green knock after after it went in him. I never saw it.

SPEAKER_01: 52:39

Yeah, and that's the same thing I thought was strange. Like, I didn't know if it was just buried in the silage in the corn because once it made impact, yeah. I I didn't see as he bounded away and you were trying to follow with your camera. I didn't see the green knock, so no, yeah, it just like disappears at impact.

SPEAKER_03: 52:58

It's weird.

SPEAKER_02: 53:01

It's crazy how listen, it's crazy, it's crazy how these animals are. They're a hundred percent so tough and resilient, and um, you know, it's just one of those it's just one of those things where it's like, all right, like you know, it's there's nothing I you know, and I hate wounding animals. Like it's you know, it's definitely, but I think now looking at it, you know, um, like again, I think tomorrow will definitely give me some more clarity and everything like that. Um But I think it's a shot where it's I think if he is gonna if he did make it, he's he's gonna survive and and be fine. Um, you know, and I may even get another shot at him at him. Um and that's kind of like going in in the mindset now. If he is dead, like kudos, like then he must have probably bled out late, like just late after he bedded down and probably never got back up, but we didn't find any beds either. And that's another thing that makes me like he didn't bed after, like he was up and moving that whole entire time. Um so we we didn't find a single bed um or anything like that, and he might have been feeding. I've seen deer, especially in the rut, where I've shot deer, and I was like, all right, like I'm gonna go try and they're back on the camera chasing chasing does and and and things like that. You know, I my number one hit list Bucky showed up on the camera with a huge gape in his he got shot by by another hunter, which I actually can confirm um somebody else shot him, and he was up on that uh get eating and and everything like that. So um, you know, it's it's crazy to to think about, um, but that's that's how it goes.

SPEAKER_01: 54:54

Yeah, and I and I think you know we've all been in that situation, buddy. Um, it sucks. It's it's hard to move past, but as we all know, I think that that's something that brings us back year after year as bow hunters, and and to your point, like, you know, you haven't given up. We respect the heck out of these animals for how tough they are, and we're we're in their house, you know, trying to outsmart them and whatever. And you know, obviously, clearly you're doing your due diligence and doing everything you can to try to recover and you know, um, respect this uh mighty animal. But um, yeah, I mean, for anybody that says that they've never been through exactly what you're saying, they're full of baloney because everybody's missed a shot, everybody's made a subpar shot, and and you know, sometimes the the stuff just doesn't go our way. Um, but uh I have full confidence, Mike, that uh you're gonna get on one and uh there's gonna be glory. So keep your head up, brother.

SPEAKER_02: 56:00

Yeah, I'm I'm I'm pretty I'm pretty confident um with with everything and and like that. So I'm not too too worried right now. Um, but I it's it's a great learning experience at the end of the day, and I got a lot to be proud of and everything like that. But we're gonna get to the ultimate high. And Connor, we're gonna get to you of just like, and I know you talked about it, you know, you know, you killed a buck, but you know, a big thing and something that like you know, I I talked to my grandpa the uh yesterday and I was I was praying to him, and I was like, listen, that's one thing, like I'm not the biggest religious um person, but I do like to pray during hunting season and and things like that, and ask family and friends for for their guidance and help and everything. And all I ask is just give me an opportunity. The rest I got you, you know what I mean? Um, so you know, kind of go through through that process and something that like I can't believe the 28th is is just your is just your day is just absolutely crazy.

SPEAKER_01: 57:05

Yeah, no, I I appreciate it, man. And you know, I you know, I was raised in old school Irish Catholic family. Um you know, I'm the youngest of three. I I you know I went to parochial school from kindergarten to weight, but then wanted to, you know, play football at the big high school. And and so I've you know, I have my values and all that, but I but like you said, I'm I'm not like a big, you know, churchgoer or whatever, but I have my values and the same thing. And uh, you know, losing my dad to uh pancreatic cancer suddenly a couple of years ago was a real eye-opener, and I realized, you know, how much like family and friends and just everything about life, like you just cannot take for granted. And, you know, anybody else that goes through you know the same kind of scenario, I truly feel for them because I I know what it's like. I know the heartbreak and the the nervousness and the unknown that it causes. So yeah, I I don't I don't know what it is about October 28th, but um, you know, as I texted you this morning, I got on stand and I just had this weird feeling, and my wife had to leave for St. Louis for work, so she flew out and got the girls off to school. And, you know, I I decided, as I had said earlier, to try to, because this farm is just so tough to access um without bugger and getting the deer to bugger out of there. And I'm like, you know what? I don't want to go in there with the corn still up and the food plot. This stand that I planned on sitting with the the east wind, I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna try some of what I've read a little bit and you know, try to go in there after, you know, a lot of people sometimes will go in during that gray light, but I was like, you know what, I wanna I want to make sure that they've done their feeding and are back in their beds, not knowing if there's you know any sort of you know, dough getting close to Estris yet. So like I said earlier, I was on stand. I think I was all set up at like 9 14. And uh yeah, just not not to go over it again, but I I just like like you said, I I just looked up to the sky and you know, still struggle with uh losing my old man. Uh, you know, we had a a challenge relationship. Um just, you know, that that's another story in itself. But my brothers and I were were over the past few years really trying to rebuild our relationship and and just knowing how precious life is and whatever. And uh I just looked up to the sky and I said, Hey dad, I said, you know, I I just want to make you proud. Is there any way you could just watch over me and help me today? And uh that was it. And I think it was like 40 43 minutes later. Later, um in the in the span of like 38 minutes, I had three bucks. One of the big shooters um came through behind me after I shot uh the eight-pointer, and it was just crazy. I mean, how fast it happened. Um, as I said earlier, this was the first time in this season that I've actually had a sustained wind of at least 10 miles an hour. And this is just personal for me. Like a lot of people will say, Oh, when it's completely still, it's great because you can hear them coming. But I've always been from the camp that when it's still like that, being their number one defense mechanism is their nose. And when they can't for me, I've just never had any luck when it's completely still. So I was like, Oh, this is sweet. And literally five minutes later, I looked at my phone and my buddy texted me and said that uh the smaller secondary field, um, where we've got a mini food plot, he said a doe buggered through and it looked like it was hauling ass. And so I waited 10 minutes, texted him back, and um he said that yeah, there were actually five different bucks that came through in the span of 10 minutes. I'm like, oh shit. I'm like, if if that doe's not in asterisk, it's about to pop. And this is where every buck, no matter where you're hunting across the country, I mean, I've read they can smell that from miles away. And I think most of these bucks were fairly close because as I've told you before, Mike, uh, our friend's farm butts up to 3,000 acres of uh what's called the Cherokee Marsh, which is all public. So you just have no idea what's in there. I mean, there could be a buck of a lifetime, whatever. So, yeah, so about I think it was between 10:30 and 1040. I looked over my shoulder and here he comes, just right down the middle of a main food plot, heading uh east towards the corn, and the wind was right in his face. He had no clue I was there. You know, I I had the ozonex running, you know. Some people say they, you know, they like it, some people think it's just a gimmick. I I don't know. I use it, but that that buck had no idea I was there. He was certainly on the prowl, you know, because I think this buck was on the camera, you know, before when my buddy sent the text message. So he came to 20 yards. Um, it the setup was great because I there was a big uh some garbage tree like 10 yards in front of the tree I was in. So I had the ability to draw back with nothing being able to see me. And I just, you know, did the vent once and perfectly broadside at 20 yards and smoked them. But I you know how it doesn't matter where you put it, if you don't see them fall, you question yourself immediately. And um, I I took my binos out, glass, and I'm like, because there was a lot of you know whatever, just random grasses in there, and they were still quite green. And you know, your your mind starts playing tricks on you, like, oh, I think I see the arrow there. Well, they were just sticks. I mean, they they weren't so I I literally sat on stand for almost an hour just trying to gather myself and if anything, you know, just enjoy the moment and and being out um in the woods and nature and just what we practice and prepare for all year long. And uh so finally lowered the bow. I got down, I walked up, I couldn't see the arrow at first. I'm like, oh god. And after what happened last year, I'm like, I this can't happen. So finally, I just looking around and boom, I saw the arrow, and it was literally 90% of it was embedded in the dirt. I pulled it out, and as you saw in the video, I mean that thing was soaked in blood and uh smelled it. It didn't have a foul smell to it, like you would think if you hit gut or intestines. But after what happened last year, we waited two and a half hours to three hours, and you know, that buck is, you know, you know, that ended up getting pounded by coyotes. They literally cleaned that thing off to the the skull was cleaned off, but I at least I recovered the rack and whatever. So I was thinking back to that. So I left um our friend's farm at I don't know, like 11 15. And then I drive back and and Mike, love you, buddy, but I but I I did another one of your things.

SPEAKER_02: 1:04:53

What'd you forget?

SPEAKER_01: 1:04:54

I left my house and my buddy's like, let's go, it's been five hours. I put my uh base layers on and I'm just fired up, and I get in the truck, drive to my buddy's farm, get there, and I realize that I don't have my freaking pants on. I left them.

SPEAKER_02: 1:05:17

Oh, we lost them again. Um, I don't think I've ever left the house without pants. Yeah, yeah, I don't I don't I don't think we I've ever done that.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:27

Dude, they they were sitting on the front porch, so I went in and and just uh took my dog for a walk and um just tried to chill out for a couple hours and I just put them there to air out. And yeah, I just was excited and then left the house and my buddy's walking down the long drive and he's like, You ready? And I'm like, Oh shit. And he says, I was like, What? And he's like, dude, where's your pants? So I was like, Oh my god. So I had to zoom all the way back to my house, got the pants, got back, and you know, the way I look at it, I'm like, yeah, this this can't be a bad thing. There's still three hours of light, and I'm thinking, um, let's just look at this as a positive. So, in total, I think it sat um after I shot it for like five and a half hours. Um, I stuck the arrow in the ground when I left, and uh the first 12 yards, he ducked around the corn that is still up, and then there's probably a six, seven hundred yard uh length of the woods that runs west to east, and uh I didn't see any blood at first. And I'm like, I mean, the arrow is covered. So then we we walked around the corn, and then there was blood everywhere, and I went from the impact. I said, like at first I thought 60 yards, then I thought 50. My buddy and I think it was think it went no more than 40 yards, and I think it was right in his bedding area. And to your point earlier, Mike, you you had mentioned something about um I don't remember what triggered it, but there was there was a scrape that was crazy active, literally six yards from where he was laying and it was thick, like bramble, briar, you know, crap. I had to like take a saw out to cut through to get to it. And wouldn't you know it, six yards from where he was laying, the scrape was soaked in blood. There were a few leaves there, there were bubbles in it, and I it almost looks like he actually tried to freaking make a scrape before he bit the dust.

SPEAKER_02: 1:07:35

I wouldn't be surprised. Uh, I I I generally wouldn't I um I wouldn't be surprised just because of on their mind right now is doe and fighting and marking their territory. Like it's they they want to fight, they want to show that they're the dominant buck, they want to be able to meet all the doughs. That's why right now the grunting and snort wheezing has worked so well for me, is because right now we're and they're not the mature bucks know that at the end of the day there may be a doe here, a dough there that's probably already getting estrus. Kyle had on film um in in centers in the in the hunting chat of the the buck uh mounting the dough. So, yes, you do have that sporadic certain does are in heat, but they know for the most part, majority of the does are not there yet. Let the younger ones run run around and everything like that, and we're gonna show all the bigger mature deer who's in charge, who's the boss. This is my territory and my does.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08:43

Yeah, yeah, and this definitely, you know, as as you saw in the picks, I mean it had a just crazy swollen neck, really big body. Um, he was not the king tut by any means on the property. So I'm I'm hoping my buddy that owns the farm um and another buddy will get an opportunity at the at the two big shooters. But you know, I'm tickled to death. Um, just blessed to be able to go out there and and uh do what I love to do. Um, you know, with the support of my wife and my two daughters, because you know, us as bow hunters, we're we're knuckleheads 365 days a year because that's what it's all about. But um been a heck of a day, you know, it's been crazy, crazy highs. And then as I had let you know later, uh my mom's in the hospital now, and um I don't know what the heck happened, but she was sitting on a stool um in her kitchen and she fell back and hit her head on the hardwood floor, and she's in the hospital now. I I've gotten confirmation that she um broke her collarbone, but she was also having a brain scan. So, you know, uh it's tough. So even if you know you aren't people that you know go to church and everything, whatever, I still believe that there's an almighty something up above. So any prayers would be appreciated. Um, because it's it's been like the highest of highs, but you know, my mom is, you know, pretty, pretty special. So, you know, to me and my brothers and and our family. So as excited as I am, it's kind of it's bittersweet because I can't, you know, I'm three hours away. My middle brother, God bless him, is at the hospital with her and my sister-in-law. Um, so it's just uh it's not it's not the end of the evening I was I was expecting, but you know, one of the things that gives me solace, it's it's cool to be on the podcast tonight, uh talking with you all. And um, all I can hope is that uh we get some good news.

SPEAKER_02: 1:10:43

So yeah, yeah, we're we're we're praying for your for your uh mother and everything like that. Uh um I my my grandma over the summer, I was dealing with that all over the summer with my grandma. She fell twice, broke one hip, needed surgery, broke the next hip when she fell again, needed surgery. And um, you know, uh I'm dealing with some some stuff with with my mom and everything like that, which I'll I'll announce uh eventually at some point. Uh most you know, most of the people may may remember and everything like that. So she went for her one-year scan um uh for her for cancer and everything like that. Because last year she had she had cancer, had to get surgery and everything like that. So um, you know, when we find out more and everything like that, I'll I'll make an announcement with that. But it's yeah, it it's you know, it's it's how do you it it it's just those one of those things, like there's sometimes life can give you your your biggest like, and then next thing it's like you're right back to reality, you know. And that's why like I I think it's so important um for people to you know cherish what they have, but also go out and do what you you love to do because you never know when it's gone. Like my thing is, and I I'm very thankful for my family and everything like that, but I I get to hunt. I mean, sh I think I'm almost at I think I'll be at sit number 40 or something like that um tomorrow or uh and I know uh Zach too. Zach's been hunting every day. Like we get to cherish that we get to hunt, and at the end of the day, I don't ever want a job or a career or or something where I can't do the things that that I love as well, and you know, um, or or work all day where I can't see my family or or or stuff like that. Like that, that's never gonna be me. And you know, it's it's why I I do what I do is because like it could be gone like this, you know, 100%.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:37

So and I and I know Mike that you uh haven't I didn't want to pry, haven't given an update since yesterday morning. But uh do know, brother, like you're in my and my family's prayers, and uh I didn't want to pry, but just just know uh everybody's thinking of you and wish nothing but the best for your mom, dude. So whenever you're ready to talk more about it, man, um praying for you, buddy.

SPEAKER_02: 1:13:01

Appreciate it, appreciate it. Thank you, thank you so much. But um I think that's gonna, I I think we'll we'll end it there. I know everyone's like, oh, we we ended on a sad note, but um, you know, it's things are just getting better, um, you know, at the end day, and and and things are gonna are gonna keep climbing and everything like that. We'll we'll give everyone, you know, obviously updates on about our family. We really thank you for for all the prayers and everything like that. Happy Halloween. This was supposed to be our Halloween edition, and just so much things have happened in the last 24 hours, um, and and and everything like that. So happy Halloween, everybody. You know, I I hope uh everyone is able to get out, be safe, get some get some good action, get some some bucks on the ground. And I imagine next week it's gonna we're gonna be having uh some hopefully good conversations, and you know, more of the more of the guys get get some bucks down. But um boys, and I think we'll we'll end it there.

SPEAKER_01: 1:14:01

Yeah, and I know just real quick, Mike, uh something I just want to point out there again as we all get so pumped up and excited for the rut, like you said, things are starting to kick off right now. Um, this obviously weather's coming to you guys, but I think Friday and Saturday, I mean, we're like high of like 47, lows getting down to 29. So that's gonna be just smoking. But um again, like I had another thing happen to somebody I know through my daughters. I'm not gonna get into the story because, like you said, don't want to end on a sour note, but like I'm freaking implore anybody who's listening, just wear a safety harness for God's sakes. Just wear a safety harness. Like, you know, I have so many friends who like grew up not wearing them, and they still just do yourself a favor. You owe it to yourself, and you owe it to your family and loved ones to come home from that stand every single night, and uh it's getting tired of hearing stories like that. So just be safe out there, like you said.

SPEAKER_02: 1:15:08

Yep, I I definitely, definitely agree. Um, we actually have radar um yet again. Well, last thing on our radar, we have lightning on on Thursday. I know Thursday is gonna be a washout for for us here and everything like that. Um, you know, I know a couple other people pass away again um in the hunting community from from lightning and everything like that. I think that's like three separate um groups of of individuals who's been affected by by lightning. It ain't worth it at the end of the day. Like wear your safety harness. And if you know, we're we're mostly past all the thunder and lightning, but if there is and it's rolling in, it ain't it ain't freaking worth it. Just just get out of there. Um, but um everyone, we'll we'll be seeing you guys shortly. We'll see you guys next week. I hope you guys enjoyed and um yeah, we'll we'll see you guys. And devils are down to nothing. Um we're we're done with this show for today.