Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Stories! As hunters and outdoors people that seems to be a common thing we all have lots of. Join your amateur guide and host on this channel Ken as he gets tales from guys and gals. Chasing that trophy buck for years to an entertaining morning on the duck pond, comedian ones, to interesting that's what you are going to hear. Also along with some general hunting discussions from time to time but making sure to leave political talks out of it. Don't take this too serious as we sure don't! If you enjoy this at all or find it fun to listen to, we really appreciate if you would subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for. checking us out! We are also on fb as Hunts on outfitting, and instagram. We are on YouTube as Hunts on outfitting podcast.
Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Pursuing a Trophy Buck: Caleb's Journey of Creativity and Persistence in Hunting
Join us as we delve into the captivating world of hunting with Caleb Jones, a dedicated and resourceful self-taught hunter from southeastern New Brunswick. Caleb's journey is marked by his transition from bear hunting to mastering the art of deer hunting. His inventive spirit shines through as he shares his unique strategy of crafting a blind resembling a round bale to gain an edge over a wise buck he has been tracking. Caleb’s story is more than just about the hunt; it's about embracing the narrative of persistence and creativity in the wild.
This episode unfolds with thrilling stories of face-offs with cunning bucks, where patience, strategic shifts, and ethical dilemmas take center stage. Caleb narrates a particularly intense encounter interrupted by an unexpected trespasser, offering a glimpse into the challenges hunters face, both anticipated and unforeseen. His post-season reflections, supported by trail camera revelations, underline the dedication and resilience required to track and understand the behavior of deer over multiple hunting seasons, and how those efforts lead to satisfying conclusions.
Beyond recounting past hunts, we explore the future of hunting strategies and the adventurous dreams that fuel hunters like Caleb. He discusses modern techniques like saddle hunting and the tactical use of food plots, all part of a broader narrative of adapting to the changing landscapes of hunting. Finally, Caleb lets us in on his dream expedition to Kodiak for grizzly bear hunting, reflecting the adventurous spirit that fuels his passion. This episode is a tribute to the hard work, satisfaction, and deep connection with nature that hunting brings, particularly when it involves tracking a trophy buck with a story.
Check us out on Facebook and instagram Hunts On Outfitting, and also our YouTube page Hunts On Outfitting Podcast. Tell your hunting buddies about the podcast if you like it, Thanks!
this is hunts on the outfitting podcast. I'm your host and rookie guide, ken meyer. I love everything hunting the outdoors and all things associated with it, from stories to how-tos. You'll find it here. Welcome to the podcast, all righty. Hey, fellow hunters and outdoor enthusiasts, if this is your first time listening to the podcast, thanks, if not still thanks, for tuning in. This wouldn't be what it is without all of you listeners and guests. If you could share us out and leave a review, that would be much appreciated from all of you.
Speaker 1:Alright, so if you were listening to this podcast episode in November, chances are that your area that you live in has a deer season going on right now. For most places, too, it is coming on peak rut, a time when anything can happen in the deer woods and to expect the unexpected. This is when a giant buck you have never seen before could suddenly appear in front of your stand, hot on the trail of a doe. Our guest today has a story about a big buck, but not about one that he had never seen before. Nope, he and this buck have some history, and we get to hear all about it.
Speaker 1:Also, before we start, I have had some people reach out to me asking what I feed my hounds. So I've tried a lot of different brands, but for the past four years I've stuck with a milkshook dog food. The cost of it has been low and the benefits they've been high. I use the 26-16 blend. They have different blends, but I find my hands do the best off that and perform well. They ship all over. If anybody wants some more information, just shoot me a message on Hunt's Outfitting Facebook page and I'd be glad to share some more with you. That's what I like to use and it saves me some money. So, all right, let's get to it. We get to talk to Caleb and his big buck story. Yeah, so, caleb, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:No worries. So I mean you shot we're in deer season right now in our neck of the woods and you shot you know a hell of a buck, and I saw the picture that you had of it and then I looked and then you know you're like, oh, I've got a history with this buck and all that. I'm like, hey, I said there's a good podcast right there. I love the story, right? Doesn't? I always tell everybody it's not the size of the animal, it's the story. But the size of the animal is, you know it's gonna get people's attention, that's for sure it's.
Speaker 1:It's a really nice buck. And then I was about to message you and then you messaged me, you know, probably because you're done deer hunting ask about coming out with me in the coon house.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's, exactly it.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, absolutely. I said I'm glad you messaged me because I was going to ask about you coming on the podcast and you were saying about getting out coon hunting that you have lots of them around and this is uh the time of year where we're going pretty steady with the coon hounds. Just uh, people's deer bait. You know the coon, the coons are coming in, they're charging, they're costing a lot of money in deer bait for people. So thanks to the Inuksuk dog food, the dogs are able to go pretty hard. We're going out every couple days really and that blend of food there is really keeping them going.
Speaker 2:Yep hungry dogs.
Speaker 1:That's right. It helps because we've been getting quite a few still, so it's good. It's helping deer hunters save a couple bucks on bait.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So you know who's the guy behind the mic.
Speaker 2:My name's Caleb Jones. I'm from southeastern New Brunswick, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you've been hunting. I mean, who got you into hunting? You've been hunting. I mean, who got you into hunting? You've been hunting for a while. Your brother hunts too a bit and stuff, but your dad not a big hunter, right?
Speaker 2:no, I'm uh pretty well self-taught. I'd say yeah, so I guess everything I know is uh either from watching youtube or reading or whatever. Just we're talking old guys that you know are willing to share right.
Speaker 1:So you're the hunter of the family. I've never met this the first time, meeting you, but I know your brother, your mom, your dad, yeah, grandparents, all that, um, so you, yeah, you're the hunter of the family and that's how you kind of got into it. You had a passion for it and figured youtube would help, uh, fulfill that, yeah, help you succeed with it yeah, I started out on on bears and I guess I kind of progressed to deer.
Speaker 2:It's kind of a not normal around here. Most people start out on deer and then go elsewhere.
Speaker 1:But yeah so you, um, you got your god license too, right? Yeah, so you do a bit of guiding. Yeah, I do a little bit guiding for some locals and stuff like that yeah, yeah, how's that been oh, it's pretty good.
Speaker 2:It's good fun. Yeah, experience, yeah, yeah sure that's great.
Speaker 1:And then, um, it's interesting running to your mom where she was working, you know, at the bank there, and she was showing me uh, you're blind, very cool, so you had. How did you make it? It's a round. It looks like a round bale. Yeah, but you can go in it. It's a hollowed out round bale. I mean, how did you?
Speaker 2:it's really cool yeah, well, uh, I know it's kind of a in a pinch kind of deal. I uh I had my this deer that I was after. He was uh coming out to daylight in the last week of bow season and of course, where he was coming out I didn't have any, uh, any blind set up and there was no big trees around to set up a stand. So, uh, yeah, I figured may as well make a hay bale, get in it so how, how did you?
Speaker 2:I took uh. Basically what it is, is I just? I just cut out uh round circles out of plywood, run some uh two by fours in between and, yeah, wrap the hay around it and so did you glue the hay on or no, it's all sta, it's all stapled. It's all stapled, yeah stapled it all on On the ends. I went around in kind of like a circular pattern or whatever. Yeah, Kind of the same way that the bales are rolled in the baler. Okay.
Speaker 1:So you know it's neat. She was showing me like that's really cool. That is cool yeah.
Speaker 2:I made it known to the farmers that you know it wasn't a real bale. Oh yeah, there was other bales out in the field as well.
Speaker 1:I suppose that'd be just your luck. You know you're in there waiting for the deer to come in. You hear a tractor. All of a sudden you feel yourself start rising up in the air and a bale spike about, nail you and turns out you're heading back to the farm to get wrapped. So yeah, that's a good thing that you told the farmers that, because on the outside it does look like a legitimate rail bale.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah and uh yeah. I didn't end up getting a shot at him with the bow, but well, uh well, I mean, let's start.
Speaker 1:You gotta be. You had a bit of a history with this. We'll, we'll start. I'll let you start right from the beginning right on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I guess the history really starts the back in 2020 be my first year deer hunting and uh, yeah, my first year. I just, you know, we had some apples out and I drug my grandfather down to the blind and it was like first morning went down, I shot a little four point and after that I figured it'd be a good idea to get a camera out see what's around. Um, I actually I found a few of this guy's sheds before I'd ever deer hunted or anything like that oh, really, before you got into it, yeah, yeah just like walking around the woods or whatever, when I was younger anyway.
Speaker 2:so, um, yeah, so uh, after I shot my first deer, I put, put a camera out and uh, that's when I first got some pictures of this nice deer I was after.
Speaker 1:So, um, and you realized. You know I haven't been deer hunting for long, but that's a nice one, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I didn't have like a lot of pictures of them, but I was starting to get some pictures of them. So I mean, unfortunately I was already tagged out that year. So, uh, come around to the next year. Um, I, I knew I was gonna. I had a couple of deer on my radar there and you know, I just shot a small deer, you know, and get my first deer under my belt anyways. So my target box was between this big 13 point deer, the one I ended up shooting, or a 10 pointer, big bodied 10 point. So I kind of held out for the 13 pointer all season and it come down to the last four days, and uh, the 13 point, he hadn't been around for a while and so I, I passed, I passed the 10 point a couple, couple days before, hoping maybe he'd show back up. He never did so four days before the season was done and ended up taking the big body 10 point. Yeah, anyways, he's just. He's just a big old body, 10 point.
Speaker 2:Small, smaller rack, but you know, lots of meat in the freezer type of deal exactly so then come around to last year where you know the story really starts to kick in. The 10 point was gone, so the 13 was on my radar and starting to get them figured out a little more. I changed my strategies between 2021 and 2022. 2021, I was baiting every day or two. Two, I was putting a bag of apples out, you know, just kind of checking my trail cameras. So 2022, I got some cell cams and started putting more apples out at once so that way I could eliminate my human intrusion. So, and another thing I did was I built a stand further away so that way I could sneak in and out before school or work or whatever, undetected. Yeah, so that started to show pretty early in the season that you know, those changes had made a difference. He was around more, he was more comfortable.
Speaker 1:So do you bow hunt. I'm just getting into it now, all right yeah. So, like this year was my first year bow hunting, yeah, so you did try for him then, because here in New Brunswick we can get out what's it two or three weeks. Three weeks, three weeks earlier than rifle season if you have a bow, so it's a little bit of an advantage you know, yeah, for sure. Gives you a little more time. Time, yeah, the deer more. I find they're less spooky, they're more comfortable and they're fairly predictable in the early season.
Speaker 2:They're still sticking to, um, you know their summer habits. Yeah, it's pretty easy to pattern them. Yes, yeah, yeah for sure. So, yeah, um, my my strategy for kind of you know, putting more apples out and eliminating my scent in the apple pile was, you know, starting to show he was around more and stuff. I still hadn't had any daylight pictures of him. Um, I'm hunting in in agricultural land, out in the field. That's where I'm hunting, yeah, and um, so I was further away and sneaking in and out before before school and work and whatever. So I guess my first encounter with him last year was November 5th. It was an overcast morning and I first laid eyes on him. He wasn't in the field, but he's just kind of skirting around the outside of the field and I had a doe, a lone doe, at my apples, so I was kind of hoping she'd be a you know hot doe and maybe he'd step out for a better shot. You know, I could see, I could see about from his neck up, so I was enough.
Speaker 2:I knew it was him, but there was grass in the way for me to really tell where his body was situated and stuff. And he kind of skirted around the bottom of the field and it looked like he was going to step out. And and it looked like he was going to step out and then all of a sudden he turned down into the woods. So I was like all right, there's my first opportunity gun. And you know you don't want to make a bad shot.
Speaker 1:No, that was very ethical of you because I mean it sucks seeing that walk away, but it sucks more knowing that you shot and then you never find him. Yeah, you know, so that's good.
Speaker 2:So I'll paint this into the picture too. Um my, my, my apple pile. It's, uh, about 260 yards away from my tree stand.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it's a good little shot, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah and uh. Yeah, I'm comfortable shooting out to about 450 yards with with my rifle.
Speaker 1:Oh really, yeah, my 300 wood mags, 300 wood mags. What 300 wood mag, 300 wood mag is what you're shooting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you got to shoot lots to be confident. Yeah, you know the last thing you want to do is shoot a deer at that distance and injure it for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah that's a little bit of a poke, yeah, so yeah, I spend lots of money in ammo, that's for sure, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that was my first encounter with him and that was my first sighting of him ever in daylight. I didn't have any trail camera pictures in daylight of him, so that's when I started to think all right, this deer, you know he's killable.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's doable what you're trying to do with him, and he's coming out.
Speaker 2:So two mornings later I had my second encounter with him. I was sitting in the sand Again, it was an overcast morning and he come in and he was at my apples and it was legal shooting light. But by the time it started to get bright enough that I could figure out it was actually him. He was walking straight away from me.
Speaker 1:Okay, and he was walking Giving the old Texas heart shot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, walked straight out of the field, straight away from me. I had no shot at that point. So one of the more interesting encounters I had with him last year happened, I'm trying to think, november 10th, so almost. Uh, I shot him almost a year later, after this last encounter of last year. So this encounter happened on november 10th and I was sitting there before work and the way I'm set up, you know, I can slide in and out real easy on my stand and uh, yeah, I was just. I was just packing up getting ready to go to work and I seen him. I seen two does slip out in the field, so I'm watching them and then I seen him falling right behind. So I'm like, all right, perfect, I set my stuff back down. You know, I flick the safety off on the gun.
Speaker 1:I'm ready this is it. Yeah, I'm ready to squeeze the trigger.
Speaker 2:He's 180 yards away from me, just like you know.
Speaker 1:Just easy shot.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, broad so yeah, so I I get down into my scope, the safety off, I'm putting pressure on the trigger and I notice a little bit of movement directly behind him and of course you want to check out what the movement is before you squeeze her off Of course, yeah. Anyway, sure enough, it was Blaze Orange. It was a trespasser. He was directly behind this deer.
Speaker 1:So it was his time to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the trespasser's wrong date of trespass. Yeah, so I'm, I'm 90, certain, certain. If I had squeezed that bullet off and I had gone through the deer, it would have been right towards the trespasser, and it all happened so quick so he was taking his chances to be fair.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I ended up as soon as I seen the trespasser. Of course he, the trespasser, is lined up on the deer and thank goodness he didn't get one off. And uh, yeah, the deer, the deer kind of seen the trespass at the same time I did, and they all spooked off.
Speaker 1:Gee, what a pain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was.
Speaker 1:I was. Did you ever find out who it was?
Speaker 2:idea, so I wasn't. I, uh, I got out of my stand. I wasn't overly impressed that we had a trespasser and you know, he just kind of blew off my hunt.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I started walking really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I started walking down towards him. He was. He was in the bottom field, he was I don't know probably 300 yards away or so, and he's a shot. Is what you're saying, yeah yeah, so yeah, he uh, he didn't want to stop and talk to me. He just kept walking the same direction that deer went. I never got a chance to talk to him, but I had a good idea where he was parked, so I went and left him a note of his truck. I found his truck.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah I left him a note basically saying he's lucky I didn't accidentally shoot him.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like legitimately accidentally shoot him Jeez.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's the thing I mean there's. Yeah, I don't even know if you consider those people hunters right, like if you're being unethical in any way, such as trespassing. Yeah, you know, you're not hunting, you're yeah you're doing something that's something completely different, whether it's like poachers too, you know, poachers aren't hunters to poachers yeah, yeah, the guy who I think it is.
Speaker 2:we've had problems with him in the past and told him he's not supposed to be there. Yeah, I guess he just goes anyways. So, anyways, going to ruin it for the rest of the people. Yeah, that's all that's going to happen there. So yeah, that was last year.
Speaker 1:Shit.
Speaker 2:After the encounter with the trespasser I had a week off and I was hoping I'd get on him again. And uh, of course the week I had off he didn't show up at all. So that kind of sucked. And then I didn't. I didn't end up seeing him after that for the rest of the deer season last year, so this year were you thinking, though, that like maybe somebody got him?
Speaker 2:I mean, there was that thought there for a little while and then I got pictures of him after deer season, oh okay, so I knew he made it through your relief. Yes, yes, it was a relief.
Speaker 1:I mean there's a lot of hunters. I know where you're hunting, by your parents, I'm guessing. A lot of hunters around, so me buck's not dumb no he's obviously got to be fairly smart to evade and elude yeah all the people in that area yeah, yeah, he, yeah, he was camera shy. Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd set up a new camera location and I'd get one picture of him and you'd see him look at the camera and then you wouldn't get a picture of him there again.
Speaker 1:Oh really, he'd spot it yeah, yes, sir.
Speaker 2:And there was that morning. I watched him from the tree stand in the first encounter. I guess yeah, he wouldn't go in front of the tree camera.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, he went around. Yeah, smart, right. Oh yeah, it's crazy you don't get big and old being dumb. I mean some people do, but not deer. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so then this year come around and he doesn't. He doesn't summer in our area, he doesn't. Uh, he doesn't summer in our area. He'd move in normally. He'd move in like a little after, uh halloween, or so okay, this year he showed up like two weeks early why do you think that is where?
Speaker 1:do you know where he summers? I? Have no idea where no one told you they had pictures of him.
Speaker 2:No, nothing so, yeah, I have no idea where he spent his summer times, but it wasn't on us. So, yeah, he moved in two weeks earlier than I was expecting him to this year and uh, so I I was able to get a you know a couple of hunts for him with the bow, and that's when I, uh, I used that bail blind to hunt it out of that. So that was interesting.
Speaker 1:Need to get a little closer than your rifle blind. Yeah, yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:Hard to draw back in a in a hay bale but draw a bow back. But yeah, so then I uh I had them real consistently all year on camera. He's there every night and, um, I guess the trying to think what day that was november 9th. I think I was at my tree stand and it was before shooting light, but I could see him at my apples and I watched him walk off my apples 10 minutes before shooting light.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:So I was like ah, frig, like you know, that kind of sucks.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then the morning I seen him was November 11th, remembrance Day. I was sitting in the stand. It was a rainy morning and I got to the stand first thing. You know I'm unpacked. I had just come shooting light. I'd been there for like 45 minutes or so and I noticed there was a deer Probably it was about 600 yards away from my stand, so outside of my shooting range, and there's.
Speaker 2:You know, I watch deer here all the time. I sit every night of the season because you can, you can sneak in there to the stand and I see does beddedded down the bottom field all the time. So I didn't think much of it and I was looking through my binoculars, adam, and there was kind of a grassy background so it's hard to see his antlers, yeah anyway. So I'm looking through the binoculars, I'm like I don't see any antlers on that deer. But it's a big body deer. So I I whipped my rifle scope up it's a little more high power than my, my binoculars and sure enough I whipped her up and I was like holy frig. All I seen was his main beams. I've been sitting here for 20 minutes watching my target buck yeah, yeah, and with the binoculars, not realizing that you know you should have started off with the scope.
Speaker 2:No binoculars first, but still yeah, yeah, but now it's scope time yeah, so the prevailing wind and in my spot is like a west wind and if I had had a westerly wind that day I wouldn't have been able to do what I did. I had an easterly wind, so it worked out. It worked out really good for me. So I knew I had an east wind and he was bedded up and he was facing. He was facing away from me and he was kind of looking towards the neighbor's property. So I jumped out of the tree stand and I ran down a tree line. The it would be on his backside so he wouldn't watch me come down yeah anyways oh so you're going full like rambo on him oh yeah sneaking okay nice.
Speaker 2:well, when a deer knows a tree camera, a tree is a cell camera or whatever, yeah, you gotta pull out all the cards in the book. Yeah, exactly, yeah, good thinking. So yeah, I snuck down and he was kind of over. I had to go over a knoll to see him. So I lost sight of him for a while and I got out to the bottom field where he was bedded and I was probably about 200 yards away at this point and I started and I would be crouched down and then I'd pop my head up so that way he wouldn't watch my head come up over the knoll. You know, I'd just pop my head up.
Speaker 2:And it was one of the times I'd pop my head up and I was like holy frig, he's still there. So I kept creeping forward until I got about 100 yards away from him and I couldn't see his whole body but I could see his antlers and I knew when he stands up and he's facing away from me and he's kind of stretching. And then he turned broadside and as soon as he turned broadside it poked him right behind the leg last stretch yeah, last stretch.
Speaker 2:So I didn't even know he was bedded with a doe until after I shot and I seen I seen the doe stand up oh, okay, yeah, yeah no, it was pretty, uh, pretty cool, but if I, if I had waited another minute and a half, I would have missed my opportunity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you, you know you switching up strategies and jumping down for the stand and getting out there. You know it paid off yeah, it's lucky too, didn't? You didn't spook another deer, that was a bit closer yeah, you, and then ran and then alerted them, yeah you know.
Speaker 2:So you're kind of rolling the dice on that one, but it paid off yeah see, and I knew um the last two years he he'd leave my area like that, that main week of the rut. For some reason he'd be going off somewhere else. So I knew, you know, based off of his history, that it was worth the risk to run down there and try and get a stock on him because you know normally in the next week or so he'd disappear for the rest of the season.
Speaker 1:So and that, yeah, that'd be that, and his, his ticket was going to get punched yeah, eventually, yeah I think very, very few deer ever die of old age yeah, yeah I'd.
Speaker 2:I'd been watching them go downhill ever since I'd first seen them. So after we got to them we were looking at his teeth and he had nothing left. I don't think he would have made it through the year.
Speaker 1:Okay, so how old do you figure?
Speaker 2:I figure he was at least eight and a half.
Speaker 1:Really yeah, wow.
Speaker 2:Because, well, I've got three years of his sheds before I had ever seen him on camera.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then I've never found any of the sheds from him, since I've had him on camera for four years. So, and based off of my first shed of them, he didn't grow that in the first year. Yeah, so I'd say he's at least got to be eight and a half.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's impressive, because when people listening to this look at the, you know we'll have the picture of you with your buck on the podcast cover. I mean he's got a lot of mass, he's thick, you know. You brought him over here tonight for me to see. I mean that feller is thick, so how many points?
Speaker 2:He's 14 measurable points that would count towards Booney Crockett.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then how? Or 15. 15. Yeah, and then how wide is he's wide?
Speaker 2:He's really wide. I don't know what we measured him at. I have no idea how wide he is.
Speaker 1:But he's not narrow by any means, no. And then, like I said, I was impressed about just how thick he is, even you know, further up the antlers there.
Speaker 2:Oh, he's got mass all the way out yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Just just really thick and round.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know it was uh, that's an old deer eating well.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Eating. Really well, you know all the agriculture land.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank the farmers in the area.
Speaker 1:Yes, so you were saying that you found his sheds? Yeah, so he goes there in the fall season and all that, and then he's obviously he's wintering there too, and then during the summer, though you're just not sure why he leaves or where he goes.
Speaker 2:I have no idea. So I assume it has something to do with the doe pressure. You know, I've heard that they don't like to summer in the same you know area as a lot of does, so and we've got a lot of does around the summertime. Yeah, yeah I'd say, I'd say I don't know where he, where he goes, no, one's reached out to you since you've seen the.
Speaker 1:They've seen the picture on facebook, like I've got pictures of him.
Speaker 2:It would be cool, though I'd like to know more you hear about that a lot.
Speaker 1:You know, like a friend of mine, denver, his neighbor just up the road from had gotten shot this buck that he had a lot of pictures of and and all that and he, uh, you know, sent him the pictures and then, I think one year guy got the deer that he'd found the sheds to and you know he gave him the sheds. Yeah, here you go and stuff and now, that'll be the next thing.
Speaker 2:I'll be looking for his last four years of his shade, because that'd be really cool yeah, good luck.
Speaker 1:I mean with all the squirrels and porcupines around. But yeah, yeah you might be able to yeah that's uh, that's cool. So I mean, you have big plans for next year and stuff switching up areas. Are you going to stick with what's working, if it's?
Speaker 2:not, I think. Next year I'm going to get more mobile, I'm going to try and get one with a bow. Yeah, see what else I can find and we'll see what moves into this area now that there's.
Speaker 1:You're thinking spot and stalk or move the hay bale around a little more. No, little more. Probably get some like hang on tree stands and stuff like that. Okay, yeah, have you ever I've heard about? I was all right, that's what I was the saddles. I'd never, ever heard of one in my life until I saw there's a podcast or something. Saddle hunter yeah, anyways. And then, uh, mutual friend of ours, lane, he was using one and I was like what the hell is it like? Yeah so have you used one before?
Speaker 2:I have not. No, I don't know. They sound uncomfortable. Yeah to me, but I get.
Speaker 1:Apparently they're not. But uh, I think I guess that's the way to go if you want to be very mobile, and yeah, and go where they're at. But yeah, yeah, so you've only been hunting deer for how many years?
Speaker 2:this would be my fourth season deer hunting you've got three.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not bad.
Speaker 2:Three out of four yeah, yeah, not too bad.
Speaker 1:All self-taught and you got to put it in time yeah for sure put in a pile of time, you know, getting food, food plots ready and stuff like that well, yeah, so I saw you had a picture and all that, if you food plot this year. So I mean, what did you plant? It looked good, the ground prep looked good, that's what I saw. But what did you plant in it?
Speaker 2:well, it was my first year for the food plot, so I put uh rye grass out to try and start to build the soil okay it's more. I guess they classify as like a kill plot. A food plot is meant to, like you know, feed your deer herd. I guess, like a kill plot is just like a destination spot on the way to, you know, agricultural land.
Speaker 2:We've got so much agricultural land in this area, you know yeah, you don't need to feed all the deer, but if you can create a spot that they're comfortable with stopping into before you know daylight or just before, sure dark.
Speaker 2:You know, that was kind of my strategy with that and did it. I did have some pictures of them in there, not in daylight obviously. I got one picture of him in there and then I think he found my camera and that was it. I never had any more picture of him in there, and then I think he found my camera and that was it. I never had any more pictures of him in there. Doesn't mean he wasn't in there for sure. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like my food plot. This year I didn't have pictures of bucks at all, and then I was walking out there I was in the fall just before deer season, I don't know switch memory cards, something on a camera and, uh, sure as shit, I see a buck standing there, looks at me, takes off.
Speaker 1:Never had a picture from once so you know, that's why cameras I I don't rely on them whatsoever. I don't even use mine. Actually, the last month I hadn't even used mine a deer season, you know still got my buck. I just, yeah, they just show you that the deer was right, exactly there where you had the camera pointed, but the rest of the area yeah, you know, there's not a very big space that your camera's taking pictures of.
Speaker 2:I mean, they're handy, they're definitely handy.
Speaker 1:But they're just a tool that you know you have to do your own. Yeah, people rely on them.
Speaker 2:My opinion too much now you know they're reacting to what the camera's showing them, not getting out there and just hunting when they should be. Yeah, yeah, the reason why I stopped using mine because I just my food plot.
Speaker 1:I knew there's deer out there and just hunt when they should be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The reason why I stopped using mine because I just my food plot. I knew there's deer out there and stuff and I, just when I have time to hunt, I'm going to hunt, I don't care what the camera says yeah you know, it doesn't, it doesn't matter yeah so no, I was pretty.
Speaker 2:Uh, before I shot my deer I was pretty tempted to, uh, take my my camera rate off my apple pile. Yeah, hoping that would make them feel a little more comfortable.
Speaker 1:Just anything you can do to get him to come out in the open eye, yeah, so actually, the bigger reason why I put the cameras out this year is because, uh, there's a big pile of bear shit near there and I was more curious on seeing if I get a picture of that bear, which I did. I was wondering how big he'd be. He wasn't as big as I thought, but that's uh, that was a big part of why I did put the cameras out even in the first place, but they're definitely handy. Yeah, definitely handy, but just a tool don't. You can't rely on them as much as, uh, some people do. So, did you have pictures of other bucks and stuff? Come into your, your food plot I do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've got some other nice deer in there, so but it did work though oh for sure you just planted ryegrass, that's it yeah, just to start building the soil. Really, next year I'll plant something else in there. I don't know yet.
Speaker 1:But I planted uh turnips and radishes and stuff this year and they're still in there eating away at it right now and yeah yeah, that worked out yeah, I think quite well really.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I'm thinking next year like something that deals with shade.
Speaker 1:Pretty good, I'm kind of in a shady area, maybe some clovers or something clover, yeah, yeah, you hear a lot of guys say that, clover, you, you can't go wrong with that. The deer, you know, absolutely love it. That's good. So you had a bit of history with them, you know and it paid off and they're still here. What a couple weeks left of deer season. I mean, it didn't take you the whole season to get them, or anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he wouldn't have been around much longer though.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Knowing his history, he would have been running off somewhere else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and somebody else be getting pictures of him and stuff. But no, it's good. What else you do a little bit of waterfowl hunting too, don't you?
Speaker 2:yeah stuff. You like that quite a bit yeah, we do some some hunting up in northern new brunswick. I got some cousins up there and okay, yeah we've got a pretty good range that we can hunt yeah it's pretty interesting starting to get some some snow there.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's kind of cool watching them.
Speaker 1:I didn't think we had any Actually.
Speaker 2:I've seen some in Salisbury there.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Right behind the Tim Hortons.
Speaker 1:Yes sir, Really snow geese. Yeah, four of them. They weren't swans.
Speaker 2:No, they were snow geese. Okay, I don't know, there's probably 50 snow geese in the field up there.
Speaker 1:Oh, really Wow. So that'll be interesting to see in the next couple of years. We have the odd time one goes through. I haven't seen one. I have some friends that have shot them speckle-bellied geese.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, have you ever seen any? Well, I've seen them. Not in person, though, oh okay.
Speaker 1:Well, that doesn't, yeah, it doesn't count, no, it doesn't. But uh, okay, yeah, no, they've shot some around here, even stuff. I thought that was pretty neat, so you pretty good caller are you?
Speaker 2:yeah, I do some calling yeah one of them, yet, yeah, me and my one of my, uh, brett hodden.
Speaker 1:He's the other caller, yet okay, yeah, yeah, uh, and then when you're you're guiding thing too, you just do a bit of guiding on the side.
Speaker 2:You do what bear mainly, or yeah, I got some bears and stuff like that, just getting some locals out getting some experience. I might start something up myself here in the next couple years. It's a little more oh, yeah, yeah, maybe get some americans in or something yeah, absolutely yeah but yeah, right now just kind of getting some experience and having some fun and yeah, it's uh pretty cool watching some people get their first deer and having all these encounters and stuff like that even people that haven't hunted before.
Speaker 1:Just watching, I just like to look at the little glint in their eyes or something like uh got them. They're hooked on hunting. You know you can tell they're gonna be doing it, but yeah, yeah that's like this year.
Speaker 2:I watched a pile of bears from the stand, but you know, it's pretty fun watching them too after you shoot them. That's when the work starts yeah, yeah, you've shot so many bears why, unless a real big old brute comes in yeah you know, it's more fun just to watch them it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's neat, especially how they just, you know they slip in. That's that's interesting too, as an animal that big yeah you just blink and poof. Yeah, they're. Yeah. Meanwhile, you can hear a squirrel from feels, like a kilometer away right, yeah but caleb, uh, one of your dream hunts. Curious about this dream hunt? Anywhere in the world, money's no object. Where are you going? What are you shooting?
Speaker 2:hunting, probably going to uh kodiak shooting a grizzly bear okay, that's cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So we'll see we'll see how, if we can get there or not, we'll see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was just curious. It's neat. It's interesting to hear people's dream hunts. We're going to do a podcast episode on that sometime this winter.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so good. Well, I can't thank you enough for coming in. You got one heck of a buck, and I'm sure people will to hear this story and be able to when they see the picture of what you're talking about this whole time.
Speaker 2:It's, uh, it's impressive in the fact that you know you had history with them, you put in the work and it paid off.
Speaker 1:Yeah so, yeah, you got to put in the time, that's for sure, that's right. Well, thanks for coming in awesome thanks for having me anytime.