Field Notes 12: 48 Hours on the Move — Whitetails, Fallow, Aoudad & Red Stag

We sprint through a 48-hour run that starts with a long-range doe in brutal wind, adds a dawn 10-pointer, then rolls to Texas for fallow, aoudad, and a red stag. Along the way, we talk wind calls, safety checks, minimalist waterfowl tactics, reliable gear, and why the right outfitter changes everything.

• long-range whitetail shot selection and wind calls
• safety discipline under adrenaline at first light
• fallow and aoudad timing, angles and tracking
• red stag stalk with wind and terrain decisions
• why 4B Outfitters’ logistics and hospitality matter
• Osseo camo performance, warmth and quiet fabrics
• one-bird waterfowl strategy without decoys
• winter grind in New Jersey and tag planning
• gratitude for spouses, partners and sponsors
• upcoming events, booths and community meetups

Wild Game Dinner March 7, 6–10 p.m., Knights of Columbus, 60 Harvard, Springfield. $35 now, $40 after March 1, $50 at the door. RSVP for details. Booth 232 at Empire State Show, Feb 20–22, Rockland Community College. Check us out on Patreon, $5 per month.

Transcript

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Cold Open And Season Context

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Is the Garden State Outdoors and Podcast Built on early alarms, muddy boots, and stories that only the woods can write. New Jersey is one of the most underappreciated states in the outdoors. And little do they know what it really holds. From hard-earned public land deer to waterfowl, predators, and everything in between. This state produces more than people give it credit for. Now let's dial in with the men and women around the state of New Jersey who live this life every day. In New Jersey, excuses don't survive. Only the grinders do. Alright, everyone, we are back.

Zach’s 48-Hour Multi-Species Plan

SPEAKER_00 0:42

We're getting to the end of the season, the end of the field note segments here for us. Um it is now January 19th. A lot of seasons are closed or are about to close, but our guy, uh Zach, you you went out and you did yourself a great trip. So we were there earlier in November, and then you you went back and everything like that, and had yourself an incredible what was it, 40 48 hours? A remarkable 48 hours.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Um near, yeah. Yeah, so uh just hit up 4B outfitters and uh asked them what kind of hunts he had coming up, and he hooked it up, man. Um, so I had two Whitetail and Al Dad, a follow, and a red stag. So flew out here and got stuff to work and literally the night that night flew in, got here. We sat around for probably like two hours, and uh, there's some other other hunters here. Um they were doing meat hunts pretty much, based basically just going after dough. So I told them I was like, I'll I'll go out and get a dough for you. And so I went out into this field and I was in this tree line, no blind, no nothing.

Long-Range Doe In Heavy Wind

SPEAKER_01 2:03

I had a uh 6-5 PRC, and man, that thing was beautiful. So I get out, I start making movement through this like game trail, and uh I find this like a little edge, like a little finger that's sticking out that just sees this huge field. Like from one end of the field from where I was at was like 550 yards. Well, I get out there. I start setting up my cameras and stuff, and uh I was like, okay, cool, we're good. I start doing a little bit of filming, talking about like what's what's going on, what the area looks like and whatnot. Well, about like an hour or so passes, nothing. I have to use the restroom, and I'm like, this is what's gonna happen. I'm gonna sit up, and as soon as I start to piss, they're gonna come out. Naturally, what happens? I get up, I get you know, I roll over, get to my knees, and start taking a piss, and I look over, and there's these three dough that just come out of the field. I'm like, oh, of course. So I finish doing my business, I make sure my cameras are set up perfectly, and of course, as I keep going into the field, I'm turning like this, and I hit my camera, and my camera falls. I don't feel it. I'm like, oh no. So I laze this dough, she's at 430 to 44 uh 435, and then I laser again, she's at 436, laser one more time, 436. I was like, okay, it's a good shot. Um, put the crosshairs on her. The one thing I don't do is I don't make the wind call. The wind was swirling, it was like 30 to 35 mile per hour winds, and they would gust randomly up to about 45. So I'm sitting there, I'm waiting for the wind to die. I'm watching where she's at, and I see like there's no trees, no nothing moving, no leaves, nothing. I'm like, all right, cool. As soon as I no longer feel the wind in my face, I'm starting to slowly squeeze the trigger. And as I start to squeeze the trigger, the wind just picks up from where she's at, and I pull the trigger, and she immediately drops. But I hit her back, I hit her in the hindquarters. I was so upset because I made my way up to her. But uh, as I get up to her, she was already expired, thank god, and I hit her in the artery, so she was down. Um, but that was that was a good kill. So I ended up calling Jeff. He came out, we got her, and then um came back here and just relaxed for the night. Got everything done. I didn't have to touch the animal. Um, the guys that wanted the meat, they took care of everything, so that was nice. So I just came in and had a beer and just relaxed for the rest of the night. So that was day one.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Oh, that's first of all. That that's it, that's uh when you're traveling out there, it's kind of like a nice thing to to have because you don't have to do you know what you got. Exactly. Very rare that we get to that we get to do something like that where usually there's so much work involved with everything that we're running after.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Yeah. And then it hits into day two.

Dawn Buck And The Safety Mishap

SPEAKER_01 5:04

We wake up, we go, I go out to a blind. Um so pitch black, he just tells me where to go, and I just pull out my TAC nav and and recognize where um he was showing me on his uh Hun X, like where the blind was. So I make my way out there. I end up walking a little too far because I see a feeder and I'm like, crap. So I had to bank a left and uh finally made it to the blind, sipped everything, get the cameras rolling, whatnot. It is pitch black. I get on my phone, do it on my phone for a second, and then finally the sun starts creeping up, beautiful sunrise. Like, couldn't ask for anything better. Uh gave a little prayer to God that hopefully this will be another great harvest. I wouldn't care what came out, but I knew that there he did tell me there was a buck in that area, so I was like, I'm just gonna wait and see what happens. Yeah, a doe comes out. I watch her for about 10 minutes, and she's just hanging out, and then her fawns come out, which is weird to me. Usually you see the yearlings and the fawns come out first before the the older doe, mature does come out. So, like, that was off. That's weird. So I'm just watching them, they're feeding, and then I look over to my right, and there's this tall buck coming up, and then right behind him is another tall, wide, wider buck. And I'm like, oh man. So first buck comes in. I'm looking at his handlers, he's probably a seven, maybe an eight. And now see the one behind him, he's just tall and wide, and I'm like, perfect. He's uh he ended up being a 10-pointer. He broke off one of his brown tines in the fight, in a I guess like a fight, or maybe he was just yeah rubbing rubbing really hard somewhere. Well, back in November, my buddy took a photo of this deer where he was hunting, and I compared that buck to that deer, and it was the same deer. So it was it's really cool that you know, a few months later to still see that buck in that area on free range. So he's coming up. I put the weapon on fire. When I start to slowly squeeze the trigger, nothing happens. I'm like, no, I knew I put a round in. I look at the safety again, and it's not all the way forward. I'm like, rookie mistake. So I slide it forward again. He's now facing me, and I wait for him to fully turn. He turns, pull the trigger. That bullet traveling so fast, just zings through him. Man, he turns and runs, all the deer scatter, and then I see more dough, uh, just going bananas behind the feeder. So they take off, and I'm just sitting there, just like I know that was a clean shot. So I give it about maybe 20 minutes. I get out, um, head to where I hit him. Saw it like a little chunk of blood, and I was like, all right, cool. It's already quaggulated and whatnot. And then I know the trail that he went, there's no blood whatsoever. But literally 15 yards in, there he was, just piled up underneath a tree. And I was like, Thank you, God. And man, he turned out to be probably one of the prettiest bucks I've ever taken. Just the color of the antlers. Yeah, like I was like, This is so cool. So thanked him for his life. The hunters wanted to meet. I'm I kept the the rack, um, gave it to a guy out here. He's um doing a euro for me. So I'm really thankful for that. And but yeah, called Jeff. He came out and said, Good job, buddy. Let's get him loaded up. We got it loaded up, got some pictures done beforehand, and man, like gave him a fist bump, and I was like, dude, this is amazing. I'm never changing any outfitter whatsoever. Like, this is like my permanent outfitter for life, and I highly recommend it to anybody else. Like, I've I've been hitting up people since I've been here, like, you guys gotta check out 4B outfitters. Like, they are just top-notch, they they house you, the hospitality is amazing. Like, I just absolutely love it, and I I encourage everybody to check them out. So now's

Why 4B Outfitters Stands Out

SPEAKER_01 9:01

day, that was the morning of technically still within the 24-hour window, 16 hours in. I have two deer down. So that was cool. Um, then we just came back here, got all cleaned up, packed, wait for the other guys to to finish processing and whatnot. And then uh they loaded up and they headed out. I took a quick shower and we loaded up and started making our way down to Texas.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

So that was so how how do you guys get so you flew you flew to Texas? What what was that like? Or you guys showed what was that kind of like? So they have so they have an outfitter in Oklahoma and then also one in Texas, correct?

SPEAKER_01 9:41

So he went through, he contacted another outfitter that had these animals that he was looking for, um, or that the outfitter was trying to sell these animals, and um, so they kind of got in conversations with one another, and then Jeff hooked me up with it, and so essentially it was just a a quick deal. Um, I didn't have to worry about any of it. And so, like, it's just they took he took care of me and he took care of everything for me, and I just had to show up and we had to go. So ended up driving flying out to Oklahoma, driving down to uh his place, and then we loaded up from here and drove to Texas. So it was only like uh three, three and a half hours, maybe four-hour drive. So it wasn't too bad. It was pretty chill. And then uh we get out there. The outfitter up there is called Poor Boy Hoggers. Um, I I just I'd still highly recommend to everybody, I encourage everybody to go through 4B just because 4B outfitters is just to me top-notch compared to a lot of other outfitters. Because a lot of other outfitters that I've heard of and seen, they're not really around their hunters. They just, you know, like, yeah, we'll we'll load up tomorrow, I'll shoot you, I'll I'll let you know a time, and then we'll bounce. Now, just with you 24-7, you communicate with him, you get to know him like on a personal level, he gets to know you, and it's just great. It's like the whole way down, we just talked about life. So it's it's really really appealing to me when an outfitter

From Oklahoma To Texas Logistics

SPEAKER_01 11:16

does that for you. Yeah, so we get down to Texas. Um, we stay in a hotel that night, uh, just chilling, just getting some rest, getting some shut-eye. And then the next morning we woke up, made our way out to the uh to the ranch. And uh yeah, we we kind of knew an area where the fallow was gonna be where we're pretty much the three animals I was after were gonna be. Um the area that we went to in the morning, we expected the stag to be in that area that we're that I was after. Um so we get into the blind and we're just talking through a game plan of what we're gonna like set up the the views, how this is gonna look. Hopefully, he comes out at this time where the sun has come up. Like at any point, those animals gonna come out. So, first thing that happens, we get in there, and I thought I saw a pig. Well, it was just like a a black barrel off to the side, but then you see the fallow come out, and I'm like, Oh my gosh! And with that fallow, it was also an odd dad, two odd dads, and I was like, Oh my goodness. So, of course, I want the white fallow first because that's like to me, that's a like the this this fallow is massive, like his spread, his beams were just beautiful. So he comes out, I'm ready to punch it, and uh Jeff just tells me to calm down, just wait, did great job guiding me.

Fallow Buck Down Fast

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Like I expected nonetheless, and he just basically coached me through like what to expect this animal to do. So finally get my crosshairs on him. I pull the trigger, and it it looks like I hit him back just because the way how he fell back, but actually I hit him like perfect broadside where you want to hit him. He went maybe five steps and he expired there. And man, my just let out like a like it was just so fast. Like it was I did not expect it to happen that fast. I expected it to probably be like maybe an hour or two before we saw any animal, and he just came out. And the two owl dad, they bolted, and obviously, like they took off, but then they turned back around. And so it was what was so cool about it was just seeing them go do their thing. Well, I didn't punch it that day, so we waited till the later that day. Um changed up locations a little bit, and then uh from there we just waited on the audad to come back out, and there's this one a dad that had these amazing chaps just like dragging on the ground, he was huge. Um he kept staying too far out, and there's a lot of debris and a lot of brush and trees in the way, so I couldn't get a good shot on him. But this one that came out was at I want to say roughly 90 yards. Um, but you could just tell, like, he had long beams, and like you could just see the horns on this thing, like it they're long. This is at least maybe 29

Aoudad Shot And Tracking

SPEAKER_01 14:30

inches. So like he's just a hoss, he's just an absolute tank. And what's so cool about the horns, like the guy who does the euros, they they come off with heat and stuff, and they they use a rubber mallet to take them off, so it's easy to pack and whatnot, and you can put them in your uh your carry-on so that way you don't have to worry about any damage when you uh get back on the plane. So, anyways, this this odd head comes out. There's a white tail as well, right? Like just a little bit higher above him. Um, so it was like really cool to see that animal. And then when he came out, I just waited for him to get more broadside. And he was Jeff was filming. Asked him if he was ready before he can say, Yeah, I'm already pulling the trigger. Just send this around. And I'm like, I hope he got that. I already knew he did, but I was like, I said, You ready? Boom! It's like, man, I should have just waited for him to say, like, yeah, we're good. But got a good shot, got good film on it, and watching him take off, like I was a little worried. I was like, Oh no, that hit him high. We watched the film back, and no, it was a perfect shot. So a little a little far back, but still it got his long, um, both longs, so that that was good. And then uh got out and went to go track. And as we went to go track, he just followed me my every step of the way, just getting great film, like amazing work. Like he worked with uh Buckmasters and did a lot of film work with them uh when Jackie came here to to do a hunt, and um yeah, so like he knew it, he knows what he's doing. And then uh as we get to the odd dad, you know, just like just admiring this beautiful animal in front of me. Um so like it was just like another like a bucket list dream come true. Like the first time I saw an odd dad, I was like, I want one. So yeah, and like literally comes into fruition like not much farther down the road. So here I am. Um donated the meat to a guy who was in a motorcycle accident. Um, don't know a lot of people that eat oddad because uh it's not really the best-tasting animal, but the guy liked it, so we donated the meat to him. Um and then that was yeah, that was day uh day two so far, and then we saw the evening hunt. Then uh we just pretty much went up, put the uh odd ad up, put the fallow up and just cleaned it, caped the fallow, and obviously got a euro for the odd ad. So Jeff and I were just talking about the the plan for the evening and what we wanted to do and see how that would work out. But yeah, it turned out amazing. That that morning slash afternoon time frame was great. So and then uh yeah, we just waited a little bit, then we went out for the stag.

Stag Spot, Stalk, And Finish

SPEAKER_01 17:26

And on our way out, we ended up seeing him. So we had to he saw us, we saw him, so it was kind of like great. Um we we stopped him down for a bit. He went up this this ridgeline. We followed in pursuit, but we went around the ridgeline thinking that he was gonna go up and over because the wind was coming in from I want to say it was going east to west, and he wanted to be on the west side of the uh hill, obviously get out of the wind. So we go to the west side and we start glassing this whole entire ridge line, not seeing them, not seeing them at all, no movement. Um, so as we keep creeping up, we get into this box blind, and then nothing goes quiet. Well, all right, so we get out, we go back to our lap where we last saw them, we start coming up with a game plan. So as we're coming back around the mountain again, kind of like in the direction that we came from, start glassing a little bit, we see them like perfect. So now we know exactly which way he's heading. I mean, if it wasn't for Ossias like camouflage, I don't know if if I would have been able to get that done because it blended in perfectly with the environment that I was in, and with their new pattern, the wrap X is just great. So now I used uh use the new stuff, yeah. And it dude, it blends in so well. Like, as you can see, like the pattern on this hat, like it looks like it's the same stuff that we've been using all year, but no man, it's the the new pattern, and I I enjoyed it. Super comfortable, super light, very quiet. So uh, and their new pants is definitely like the go-to now, man. Like, we're kicking through some rough

Gear Talk: Osseo Camo And Comfort

SPEAKER_01 19:10

brush, and it wasn't sticking to it, nothing. It was it was just going through it like it was nothing. So, like that, those pants are great. Um, so as we start getting closer into range of him, we're about 90 yards at this point. I get down, throw my pack in front of me, put my rifle down. He's bedded up, so he's laying down now, and we're just like, okay, we gotta get him up on his feet. So we just waited. And as soon as he got up, he turned broadside, put the crosshairs right on his shoulder, pulled the trigger, and it happened so fast, we forgot to get uh footage of it because it was just like dang, there it is. We get I get down, and it was unfortunate that we didn't get the footage footage of it, but man, it was absolutely incredible to watch. Kim kick up and only go 15 yards and then pile up. And dude, it was like the fastest drill and rush in 48 hours you could ask for. Um but yeah, like it was so fun. Um trip of a lifetime. I'm never gonna forget this. Next year, I want to I want to come back out here in in November and try to bring some of our guys out with us as well. So I know John Nitro wants to come out, so I'm gonna get he's coming out, he's calling Jeff tomorrow and putting his deposit down and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

We gotta tell him there there's there's one factor in that he's gotta join the uh join the boondocks hunting crew. Yeah. I mean why not? Uh but yeah, I mean shit. Um this place sounds amazing. Uh yeah, I I want to get out there. Um, I did speak to Jeff earlier in the summer, and he did sound like a great guy and everything like that, unfortunately, you know. Yeah, just timing timing and everything like that. I'm sure, you know, it's it's crazy, and it's crazy. And me and the other Zach were we were talking about this a lot because we have so many hunts planned, and all right, we're gonna go here, we're gonna go here, we're gonna travel here, you know. And then like after it's all said and done, it's like, yeah, we didn't really do 50 percent of what you know the places we want to travel. So the it is going to be on on the list and everything like that. Um yeah, I know now knowing with my hockey schedule, I'm gonna have to get everything done by mid-December, you know, Christmas kind of kind of time. Um, and after that, I've I've gone out on two waterfowl hunts. And when I mean waterfowl for geese, everyone knows our limit is one. So no spread, no one spread. I right now, yeah, it's crazy. We can get one, it's we have one man limit here. Um, so it's literally been going out, finding where the birds are and pushing

Waterfowl Tactics Under One-Bird Limit

SPEAKER_00 22:05

on on them and trying not to get busted and just have birds just fly in close enough where I can get a shot. It's like I'm it's kind of like hunting white tail. I'm using the how I hunt white tail to try to hunt geese and duck because it's only one. Like, this is the only way it's going to be fun. Like, I don't who you know, we haven't really wanted to set up spread, do this, do that, get the guys coming out, all these decoys out, you know, yeah, and uh, you know, Zach and all these guys traveling an hour to get up here just to shoot one bird, you know what I mean? So yeah, um, I'm probably gonna get out tomorrow. So, like, I've been out, I was out two hours today, a couple hours the other day, where I have hundreds, hundreds of geese flying in on me, like literally flying in on me. Almost shot a couple mallards and everything like that. Uh, the no decoys, it's it's it's kind of fun. Um I'm not gonna lie, it's not the it it is, it's not like I'm gonna this is how I'm gonna hunt these animals moving forward once the uh limit gets back to a normal um normal limit, but um, yeah, for now, it's not bad. I just go out myself, grab my gun, grab, you know, osseo camera camo. I've been using their their camo that's not just for for white tails and everything like that, worked really well. Um, and with the leafy suit works really well with um goose and and and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

So yeah, that's I understand that just because their eyesight's so great. And uh definitely you being able to blend in to the environment around you is just uh obviously ideal. You're a hunter, so yeah. That's the other thing I was gonna ask you. Like, when you when you change up your game from going to white tail to to uh waterfowl, do you have like do you have any different way of how you're thinking of how you're approaching waterfowl?

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Like, do you like immediately change gears and you're just like all right from here to there? Like it's it's so different because you're not you're not hunting them typically like you'd hunt deer, right? You know what I mean? So one, you know, your decoy spread is usually a big factor, and then you're you're blind, which you got to brush in and everything like that. Like from what I've learned from from Justin and Peyton and some of these really experienced waterfowl guys, is you know, every little detail matters because they have good eye, they have better eyesight, and also they're coming up from high above, you know. So they're it's not like they're coming from the ground, they're coming up from high, so every little movement matters. So, like in years past, or like if we're actually gonna do a proper waterfowl hunt, you know what I mean? Or we're actually gonna go set up decoys, spread, you know, the wind, the wind, the wind plays a factor in a different way of just the way the birds are gonna come in. So you gotta start your blind and your spread, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Um they fly in first, they do like a loop to make sure it's a good area to land, and then they come in again.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

It it depends sometimes. Yeah, sometimes we've had just birds just come straight down and just straight into the decoys. It really depends. It depends like last year. We we did some crazy windy hunt last year where you could see where the birds are cupping and everything like that, and what they're doing is they're going like this, and they're I I can't remember the exact term of it, but they're coming down, and then all of a sudden they they just flip like this, and it's something with the the wind and everything where they're able to shift stuff, but they'll have to come down and try to come in multiple times because they can't they can't get in, they you know they can't get in for a while like that. Sometimes, yeah, you'll see birds and they'll they'll come in and then they'll do the loop and then they'll come in again. It really just depends. Like um the the other day, like the most of these birds weren't coming. It it was pretty calm and they weren't doing the loop. A lot of them were actually getting off the water, flying up, and then just coming, coming straight down and and everything like that. Um, so it it's not my mindset changes in a tone of ah, now we can relax. Now we can talk, now we can have some like not saying white tail, I love white tail hunting, and I think it's so much fun, but it's a like I've I've talked about so many times, like just waterfowl is just a different type of fun because you can relax, you can talk, shit, you can smoke a cigar if you want to, you can grill up food if you if you want to. That's why I think it's a you it's a it's a great way to get people into hunting and get new hunters, and because you get to talk, yeah, you get to actually have fun with it. Whitetail hunting and blah bear hunting and some of these other things, it's it's just a grind, it's a different type of pace. It's a slow, it's a slower pace where you have to really check your patience. Like, you know, the only hunt that we've done for waterfowl this year where we actually set up uh a spread and a blind is once we were set up, we were just sitting there talking the whole entire time. No, like that that's that's really about it. Um camo for me, like usually yeah, I usually

Wind, Spreads, And Blind Strategy

SPEAKER_00 27:12

have different camo, but now that I honestly have the auseo gear and then also have my sick and late season gear that works very especially with the snow and everything, it works very well as well. Um it's really at that point being a being comfortable. You want to be comfortable, especially like sometimes if you're doing it like last year, we did all day sits. Last year we're shooting birds in the morning. If we didn't lemon out, we would just chill there all day, order food, cook food. You know, you you get a few birds flying here and there in, and then you have the um the evening hunt, and then it's it's just the same thing. So being warm is is kind of like all right, you you need to be you need to be warm. That's that's the only thing. Yeah, but um, yeah. One of these years you you'll you'll have to come up and everything like that. We'll get a big um waterfowl hunt. Once the limit is back up to to three. Um, we'll is it just a thing this year that they're doing one, or is it so? This was a thing, so it's crazy. And how it kind of works, like different areas. It really, from what my understanding, and somebody if they know better, can correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I heard has to do with their like not their breeding, but their hatching hatchlings or whatever oh like birds during yeah, during their their whatever active breeding cycle, yeah, yeah. Um, I guess our for our birds that we specifically have didn't do as well. So if you go up to PA, I think, or certain places in PA, it's three. So everywhere has different, like because those might migratory birds are hitting it. So I guess it goes on where your your birds are really flying from and how they did well breeding and and everything like that. So like I know like up northern drones zones, we have an extended period that starts here soon, and that's a five-bird limit. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

I'm not a big bird guy, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

I'm I got I got up on it. I wasn't up until I started doing it. Like, like uh Justin and Peyton, especially Justin, got me into a full-fledged waterfowl hunter. Like, I'm that's awesome. Um, you know, I it's my top three thing to do, so it goes probably deer, bear, waterfowl, or deer, waterfowl, bear. Somewhere, you know, if bear was longer, it probably depends on depends on the day. It depends on the day. Like, you know, um, it just sucks that our limit is is one. Like that just kind of makes it boring. So now I'm trying to do something where you know, I tried shooting the the one day we went out, I didn't even use a gun. I tried using the bow. Like tried killing one with the bow. Like trying different things to to make this kind of fun. So, you know, yeah, when you get hundreds and thousands of birds coming in on you and they're flying around, and it is, I'll tell you, it is oh dude.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

When swan season opens up, my buddy Matt, he goes berserk. He goes out there with all his decoys, and swans just come flying in, geese will be mixed in with it. He like fills his his limit like quickly, and he's just out there with his buddies and they just hang out. They're literally like laying down in these like little bags and they like pop open and they're right there with their shotguns, and then they just come back down. Dogs go get the bird, and they like throw the blanket back up, but they have like these little shooting uh or not shooting holes, but like little visors where they can see through and stuff. Like, dude, that's so sweet.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, it it's waterfowl's pretty damn cool. Like, I'm not gonna lie. It is, and especially like moving forward of what some of the things that we want to do and stuff like that. I think that would be like a perfect way to you know get people into the outdoors and and everything like that. Um, but um also that like tomorrow I'm going on a deer hunt. This would be my I think my first deer hunt of 2026. It is supposed to be a high of I think 19, 19 degrees tomorrow. This is in Jersey, yeah. This is in Jersey. So for the upcoming where roughly where I'm gonna be anywhere, it's gonna be a few degrees, but Tuesday we have a high of 18,

Social Side Of Waterfowl

SPEAKER_00 31:12

low at 10, and Wednesday 28, 27, then 40, 25, which will be like our only warm day of the the next like 10 days. Then we have 29, 10, 11, 6, 14, 10 with snow, 2011, 22, 14, and 24, 13. We we got some good snow the last couple days. Um, we go till February, I think, 20th, I think, 20th, 21st. 21st. Um, so looking to get one more deer down with the bow. Um good. Would like to get a buck down. Um, if I shoot a doe tomorrow, if I it really just depends.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Like, I hope you miss or wound it so that way my team wins this tournament or in it.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Not not wound it, but miss. It it's it's pretty we're it's pretty close. Um yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, my buddy, he's they got I don't know if I told I think I talked about it, but yeah, we we're dealing with dead bodies and all these fucking fucked up shit at work. So things got really hexed for him.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

Um sorry, y'all had to deal with that, man. That's that's it wasn't me.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

The good thing is it wasn't me. Like my floor was great, you know what I mean? He has to he had to deal with it and everything like that. Yeah, y'all have an intense job. Dude, I fucking got juice thrown at me yesterday. Scratch bit. Uh, two kids fought and just absolutely beat the living shit out of each other. I'll I'll go over another. Well, I'll talk about it after, um, just in case um and then yeah, I mean, we still have some deer hunting. We we actually have a month of deer hunting still left. That's wild.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Yeah, my season goes from September 7th to that's North Carolina. That ends January 4th, and then Virginia opens up October 7th and ends January 4th. Yeah, it's like that's the perks of living on the border. Like, I can go back and forth like North Carolina dominantly for a month before Virginia opens up.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

Yeah, yeah. Um, hey, you know, hopefully next year you're doing some more hunting, you're coming down Delaware with us or coming up to to Delaware. Yeah, that's the goal. That's where that starts September 1st.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

Um, oh yeah, because y'all went up there opening day for that, and I was trying to make my way up there, but I can't. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

We I know I I told you shortcuts and everything like that. So um, yeah. It's a hard drive, so it's easy to do. I could probably make it. It's a two it's a two-hour drive for us. We stay for a couple days. Honestly, we're probably gonna try to stay for a week. Um, we're gonna try to get at least one buck down and then go back in October to go get another because you have two bucks. It's a two buck, two buck five dose state, from my understanding. So you have your you have a buck that you can shoot and a that I think has to have a 15-inch spread or more, and then you can get a scrub buck too. You have a you have a chance to shoot like whatever, like one of the bucks I kill is going to be probably a whatever buck. Like, I'm looking to get my first buck on the ground polar

Winter Hunts And Regional Regs

SPEAKER_00 34:10

wear and then go from there. Um, but yeah, I'm really looking forward to next year already, but still gotta, we still have time here, everything like that. So really, really looking forward to it. Um, but um, anything else you want to add? Uh you know, anything there, give another shout out to the to the outfitter, and anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Yeah, so obviously, I I thank everybody that supported me for this hunt, and uh a huge shout out to once again for the outfitters. They Ashley and Jeff went above and beyond. They always take good care of me, they take care of all their hunters without any complaints or anything, and they just you want to do something, they'll make it happen. And it's just awesome to go through them. So highly recommend everybody go through them. And then, of course, osseo, like with the other camouflage, the most lethal camouflage on the market right now. Like, you have to be so considerate of their camouflage. You if you're going somewhere else because of whatever reason, just check out osseo. You can't say no to their gear, their gear's great. So once you get in it, you're you're never gonna turn away from the osseo. So, but yeah, and then of course, Sarah, my wife, like without her support at home taking care of the kids, like I would never be able to pursue this dream of mine of just constantly hunting, chasing big game animals that are just it could be from whitetail, exotic to anything, and she's just constantly encouraging me to go out. And so I can't thank you enough, sweetheart. I love you so much for the support.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

So, yeah, no, um, perfectly said. Um, all three of the the two companies and your wife and everything mentioned. Um, you know, it's it's for for the companies that that we work with and everything like that, you know, we we definitely want to say thank you and everything like that. Um, yeah, and then you know, we always gotta thank our spouses and and our significant others and and family members for taking up a lot of the slack of uh what is missing during during this time of the year. I always say like this is the time where you know Bianca knows that like she spent a good time during during this time and everything. Like I am kind of non non-existent from from a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Um yeah, wife's got a hoodie or a uh crew neck that says like he's hunting from her mom. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

I I love that so um but yeah, no, um shout out shout out to to all of them and everything like that, and also everyone, um, you know, before we we wrap up here and everything like that, we do have our wild game dinner March 7th. It is official, it is gonna be from 6 to 10 p.m. down in um the address is I think 60 Harvard in in Springfield, but um it is the nights of Columbus. Please hit me up for the details. We also have a thing where you can RSVP. Um, right now it is $35 tickets after March 1st. It goes to 40. And then on the date of the event at door tickets will be $50, giving you guys a big discount if you RSVP now or or buy your tickets now. Um, things will move up. We did get a shipment from Ossio that is going to be one of the the raffles there. Um, we're going to be adding more raffles as we go. Um, we have three we have four sponsors. We have Marsh Boys Returning, um, we have Backdam Productions. Uh we have um Racketter as well. And then we also have some amazing food um from Cali Caliente's LLC. As you know, they are they are um it's American Mike's family, and they have some phenomenal food, um, baking, um, pepper sauces, everything like that. Um, so make sure you check them out. They're gonna, those

Next-Season Travel And Tags

SPEAKER_00 38:10

are our four great sponsors. If you're looking to be in sponsor, you're you're more than welcome to just just hit me up and I will I'll find out. I'll give you more information and everything like that. Um, and I don't know, I haven't publicly announced it yet. I guess I'll do it here right now. Um, our guest speaker will be Gerard from from Rack Utter this year. The the OG, um, you know, really looking forward to to having him and everything like that. So um things things are great. Also, before that, we will be at the Empire State Show yet again. We will have a booth up there. Um the dates are from February 20th to the 22nd at the Rockland Community Count uh Community College in Suffren, New York. Um, please, if you're gonna be in the area, come come look us up, come come check us out. We are going to be what what kind of booth are we gonna be at? I think it's two something, if I remember correct correctly. Um, we are gonna be at booth 232, so come check us out. Also, Backdam Productions will be there. I Gerard will be there for for a day from from my understanding and everything like that. Um, come check us out, have some fun. Um, looking for for having a good time. Last year was was tons of fun. If you want to catch dinner with us or some drinks and everything like that after the event, you're more than welcome. Let just let us know. Um, and then we are gonna also be looking to do our bow shoot probably in June as well. That will be coming out. That will be coming out um in a little bit once we we get probably after the game dinner. I'll be I'll be announcing that and everything like that. Um, those are the three upcoming events. Um, make sure you guys. Check us out at our Patreon account. If you have not subscribed, please do subscribe. It is right now, it is five dollars um per month. You get all of our shows from the garden state to the chase the unknown, and you have Zach's segment, um, Echoes of the Hunt, where we dive further into his stories and everything like that. We have a great episode coming up uh soon. So really looking forward to that. All that is going to be video version is going to be on our Patreon account. Once we get up a good a big enough following, we will be doing monthly drops for you guys, whether it's merch or or you know, some Sever Broadheads or some Ratgetter or whatever the companies that that we're working with and everything like that, to say thank you to all of from to all of you guys. We will do monthly random drops. We will send somebody a little care package or or something like that once our numbers get to where where they need to be. Um, but really looking forward to that. We have big things coming for 2026. Um, and yeah, but we we can't wait. Zach, any any last words? No, man.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

Just looking forward to this uh this year. It's gonna be a big year for uh BD hunting. So let's keep going, let's keep digging at it and just see what we can get going for us.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Definitely, definitely. Um, really looking forward. Everyone, thank you so much for listening to this episode. Make sure you check out the outfitter. If you have any questions, please hit up

Gratitude For Outfitters And Family

SPEAKER_00 41:30

Zach. You can uh you can hit them up uh yourself as well. Um great, great guys. Um, really looking forward to to what's to come and the other hunts and and everything like that that you guys are gonna be doing, whole and hopefully ourselves as as well here. Um, you know, and yeah, we we'll see you guys uh hopefully next week with with a couple more deer on the ground so I can you know celebrate hopefully winning this hunting uh tournament or over here. I think we need one or two more deer to to kind of clinch. I think we're we're kind of neck and neck. Neck and neck right now, man. Yeah, I know I have five points deducted. Um that's right, you sure do. Yeah, yeah. Me, Kyle, and um what's the face from uh Brad's brother all hit deer um and and didn't recover this year. So but oh but you know, I got three deer on the ground. I think uh Zach has seven. I think Zach shot seven, so yeah. We should we should be good. But all right, guys, we'll see you guys. See you guys later. All right.