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
Big Bucks And Brotherhood: Corey And Luke's Hunting Tales And Tactics
Unlock the secrets to harvesting big bucks as Corey and Luke Chase, two passionate hunting brothers, share their tried-and-true strategies in this captivating episode. We journey through their early days of hunting adventures inspired by their father and discover Corey's unique insights, honed through years of dedication in the challenging deer management landscapes of New Brunswick. From scouting year-round to mastering the art of shed hunting, Corey reveals his methods to ensure success in the woods.
Join us as we track the thrilling narratives of two specific bucks, weaving through years of pursuit, unexpected appearances, and the meticulous planning involved. Experience the rush that comes with muzzleloader hunting as the brothers share tales of patience, timing, and the emotional rollercoaster of close encounters. The stories offer a glimpse into the deep camaraderie between hunters and the shared passion that binds them, highlighting the value of ethical and respectful hunting practices.
We wrap up with invaluable lessons on maintaining good relationships with landowners and the advantages this brings to securing prime hunting spots. Listen to the heart-pounding moments of scoring big bucks, where patience and quick decision-making pay off, and witness the excitement of a successful harvest amid challenging weather conditions. This episode promises thrilling hunting stories, ethical insights, and the joyous victories of the Chase brothers, leaving you eager for more tales of the hunt.
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this is hunts on outfitting podcast. I'm your host and rookie guide, ken mark. I love everything hunting the outdoors and all things associated with it, from stories to howos. You'll find it here. Welcome to the podcast. Hey, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1:This week we have a tale of two big bucks taken from the past, 2024 season, told by two brothers who were fortunate enough to harvest these monsters. Older brother, corey Chase, wearing all camo in the picture, and younger brother, luke Chase, wearing an orange hat and a giant beard, are lucky enough to be able to live near each other and bond over big bucks nearly every deer season. A successful big buck hunter most years. Corey shares a few of his tips, tricks, tactics and while Luke tells us about some of the patience needed to make a good shot and wait for the right moment. I had a great time chatting with these two and I think you'll enjoy listening. If you get a chance, it would be great if you guys could leave us a rating and review on Apple or Spotify. Also, if you're looking to reach out to the podcast, you can find us on Facebook, huntsman Outfitting, or send us an email, huntsmanoutfitting at gmailcom.
Speaker 1:Also to my Canadian listeners if you want to be in the know about the latest and greatest updates on firearm legislation. Not all of them are the greatest, but they are the latest. Find out what hits the market first and learn about various gun shows happening in the country and more. Head on over to the Canadian Access to Firearms and sign up for their print newspaper With tons of gun sales articles and lots more. It'll surely become one of your favorite publications. So, boys, thanks for coming out here. You know they say that brothers who hunt together, there is a bond created that is just unparalleled and unmatched to anything else. Would you guys agree?
Speaker 2:I would say so, yeah, I think so okay fair enough.
Speaker 1:So, uh, cory, you are the older brother and more of the deer hunter were you. I mean, where was your start in hunting?
Speaker 2:I would say I started hunting when I was well, as soon as I was legal, so 16 years old would have been 2004 maybe yeah, um, just my dad. My dad got me into hunting, right your dad did. Okay, he was a big hunter, so I get into it that way and just consistently hunted every year.
Speaker 1:And then, luke, were you to tag? Did you tag along with cory, or were you the apple carrier for going out to the deer stand, or what?
Speaker 4:yeah, probably similar to cory, corey, like my dad got me into it, probably, I don't know, maybe a younger age than Corey, since he got into it and I was just always around, so I always had to be drugged with him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we actually have a picture together. I was 16 or 17, and you would have been 6 or 7, with a Buckeye shot. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you've always been after. Yeah, cause you're, you're a big, uh, you're, you're deer hunter. Basically, you're not going to see pictures with you out hunting geese or squirrels or rabbits or anything else. You focus on deer and you do. You do a lot of scouting. You're in the woods, corey, you know all year round deer, a shed hunter in the area here of New Brunswick. What do you think helps with your success with getting big deer fairly consistently year after year? Is it the scouting? Is it just time in the woods? Is it shit luck? Is it the area you're in? A combination of all of it?
Speaker 2:I'd say a little bit of everything, right? I mean, the first step is you've got to locate a big buck. So that's the first challenge. You definitely need luck, but you can increase your luck by time in the field, scouting, doing your homework, right, right, playing the wind, you know every advantage you can have. You can increase. You're looking at. You're looking at everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah and then what got you really into? Uh, to the antler, you know finding sheds, because there's a lot of people who are deer hunters that they're not. I don't know if they're much for shed hunters, maybe they're just not successful ones, but you've. You find a lot, year after year, very consistently. What kind of got you into that? Was it because of deer hunting? You liked finding them? Was it because you're looking for a certain buck to see if he lived?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd say just any time I could put. In the woods looking for deer is what really got me into it. I remember I found my first set of sheds when I was 15 years old, so that'd be 22 years ago, right? So I found my first set of those mathematicians.
Speaker 2:We know your age now yeah, I was, uh, I was 15 years old and then I kind of got out of a bit because I went to, went to college and was working, putting in a lot of hours, and then I really started getting back into it in 2015, 2016. Yeah, uh, one of my close friends, he's a he's a good shed hunter. He found 50 sheds one year.
Speaker 2:So I started hanging around with him a little more and, you know, get back into it. Now I'm finding, like you know, 20 sheds a year and he kills big bucks. So you know, there's that old saying show me your friends, they'll show you, your future. So you hang around little big bucks. You'll probably kill them yourself. So yeah, that's what I do true enough.
Speaker 1:And then you know, finding the sheds too. There's some people that might be listening to this and other provinces or even states that thinking that 20 sheds a year is not that much. But for our area we've got deer but it's not, it's not managed at all. We don't have, we don't have deer management here and uh, for the we have a good population but it's not big population. Some, some of the States and or provinces you know. So that's that's really good. I mean most people if they're funding three or four a year a year, they're pretty happy about that. Yeah, yeah. So to be able to find that many consistently, uh, for the profile picture, this podcast, that Corey's nose is a little bit crooked. Corey, you did some boxing. You were really into the boxing before. Do you think that the dedication and the work involved in being a boxer helped that's just your personality with deer hunting, because I mean you're pretty committed to deer hunting. All the scouting and trail cameras and stuff. Does that carry over? You find?
Speaker 2:your personality. I would say it definitely helps, right? You know the dedication you put into the sport now that? I would say it definitely helps, right, you know the dedication you put into the sport Now that the sport's out of my life. I'm just a fan now. So I take that dedication and apply it to that. So that's my challenge now.
Speaker 1:All right, yeah, so that's kind of what I thought. Right, yeah, that's exactly right. Then Luke, what do you do for work?
Speaker 4:I work for the New Brunswick Milk Board. Okay, that's right.
Speaker 1:keep the farmers happy, get paid every month yeah, they appreciate it they got the bills, so where do you so, where was, what was your start in hunting?
Speaker 4:you're saying kind of just going along with cory and yeah, yeah, I uh always, uh always, went out with my dad every year. Wasn't too too big into kind of pursuing anything by myself, I guess I always accompanied somebody. And then I think it was 2018 or 2017, corey had tagged out for the year and he had some stands already set up, so he told me I should move in on one of his stands and try it out, it's very brotherly of him.
Speaker 1:That's right 2017.
Speaker 4:Yeah, 2017. So I got my butt out of bed every morning there for about a week and, uh, and I I shot a nice buck that year and that kind of got me hooked on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah yeah, so did you hunt like small game a bit before yeah you weren't into, like the duck, hunting geese, stuff like that, because the area you guys live in too it's. It's really good for that. If you're into waterfowl yeah but it, uh, it grows big bucks. So you guys had a good year this past year. 2024 season. Um cory, if you wanted to start us off now, you guys, you got a little history with the deer yeah, with both deer, with both deer yeah, luke, you do, or you're just kind of taking cory's yeah, orders.
Speaker 4:Yeah, working together with cory, okay, yeah, being an extra set of hands.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there you go it's a lot of work yeah um, because I mean how many cameras are you running, cory? Roughly close to 30 yeah, it's a lot to keep track of. That's a lot. That's almost a full-time job right there of itself, but yeah, uh. Well for an outfitter saying here, it's just for you. So yeah that's good.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of work. Um, I don't know who wants to start us off on this season, how we got started, because I know it didn't just start the first day deer season. It started long before then.
Speaker 2:I'm assuming yeah, no, that's right, I can kick it off.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you go ahead because you, you killed yours first. Yeah, okay, yeah, fair enough.
Speaker 2:so if I rewind the clock, um you know when I think of the 2024 season. I mean it's going to be very hard to top this season right. We both tagged two bucks in the first week that you know. We're almost 160-inch deer, so real good year in that regards, but started out just like a normal year. I'm running my cameras, I'm scouting, not too many targets in mind.
Speaker 2:Because you keep your cameras out year-round, right, yeah, year-round, yeah, the only time they're out of the woods is like probably from middle of February till maybe June. Okay, and then I put some salt or whatever and start getting some cameras up. So same thing, put the cameras up seeing what's around, Don't get too excited, unless I started getting, you know, something really big on camera. So, um, I'd actually had cameras set up for Luke's buck in June because I actually had, what did I say, eight years of pictures of that buck Luke.
Speaker 4:Yeah, eight years, eight years, 2018.
Speaker 1:The one that you got this year Luke. Yep, because that was eight years old, or at least, at least no, it was probably, maybe not eight years of pictures.
Speaker 2:Six years of pictures and we figured it was two and a half.
Speaker 1:Three and three and a half when I started getting them. Yeah, wow, at least eight, nine. Probably had you been trying to get him before or just want. I mean, do you, you pass up on a lot? Right, gory, you shoot big deer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, obviously, so you have to pass up on a few I had hunted the deer um, not hard, periodically, because I was after the one that I shot in 2022, so I had hunted that deer for four years, yeah. So I didn't put a lot of time into the one luke killed in 24, but lots of pictures of him year after year had to shed off him from 2021, I believe. So I knew he was around, so put cameras out for him. Um, sure enough, started getting pictures of him all summer into the fall. Um had another spot set up, nothing big on camera, and then, lo and behold, I think it was like the third week of bow season I started getting pictures of this high rack 10 pointer. Yeah, and I knew the deer because I'd actually had pictures of the deer since since 2021.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Um had a shed off him from 2021, baited them all winter in 2022, trying to get his sheds. He shed. I never found the sheds. Not many pictures in 23. And then he kind of showed up out of nowhere the third week of bow season. So I think I put two hunts on him in bow season, Just kind of picked my days. No luck, and then I ended up getting him the second day of rifle season.
Speaker 1:Did you? Yeah, yeah, I mean so, those listening. So Did you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean so, those listening. So in New Brunswick, here you get out an extra three weeks early for bow, ahead of the gun hunters. Um, so that can help us fund the deer and to their, their summer habits. They're as predictable as animals can be, really. And then, um, yeah, so you hunted him then and you didn't, uh, you didn't have much luck during bow season. How much, since you do shoot big bucks, how much attention do you pay to like barometric pressure, the wind and all that? Do you look at that much the moon phases?
Speaker 2:No, the only thing I really pay attention to is the wind, yeah, and the frost, like if it's a frosty morning. I won't go because I think they hear you.
Speaker 2:You won't. No, I think they hear you walk in right, huh, right. Yeah, I've had experiences in the past of deer hearing me walk in. I actually did a trial one time in 2018. I was after a buck. He was about 140 inch buck. Yeah, every time I go to the stand he wouldn't show. He'd show after I was gone. Like you know, if I took a day off, I did a, did a test. One time, I took Luke with me. That way, he left when I got in the stand and the buck came out that night.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think they sometimes are bedded closer than you think.
Speaker 1:So with the frost? Yeah, frosty mornings, they hear you walk in. Yeah, they won't come in. I don't think. Anyways, Paint us a picture of what kind of area you're hunting. You're kind of in a cedar swamp.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cedar, a little bit of hardwood mix, yeah. There's a lot of agriculture around Good farm fields, corn fields, alfalfa, stuff like that.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so then this season.
Speaker 2:So if you just want to walk us through, yeah, so anyway, this high rack 10-pointer shows up and of course I got histories of the deer. So I automatically divert my attention from the buck that Luke ended up shooting because I wasn't getting a lot of pictures of him at the time, didn't even have a spot set up but we had permission on a lot of pictures of him at the time. Didn't even have a spot set up but we had permission on a place property. I had the cameras up, knew he was in the area, but this buck that I ended up shooting just showed up and I said, you know, oh geez, this is a good opportunity because I won. I got a shed off the deer. Yeah, and that's always been kind of a goal of mine is to kill a new brunswick buck that I have sheds off. All right. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Which is very hard to do. So he became target number one and it was really strange, he was daylighting at like 11 in the morning, 10, 11 in the morning. He did it four mornings in a row on the last week of bow season I sat two mornings, and the two mornings I sat he didn't show up and I was like he's got to be here Was it frosty that morning.
Speaker 1:One of the mornings was frosty and you still went out.
Speaker 2:Eh, I did Just because he, you know, you get a little anxious.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, no, I definitely would yeah.
Speaker 2:And he didn't show. So I changed it up. One night he actually showed up like 20 minutes after I left. Oh, yeah, yeah, so I mean I was confident he was bedding close, he was just hearing me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and there's a. I think there's a fair amount of hunting pressure around you too so. I mean, you're like you said about uh, going in, not trying not to go in when it's frosty. It's like it doesn't like. Hey, this is a safe place for you.
Speaker 2:In our area it's almost critical. You know, if you're on a big buck, it's almost critical to get them a bow season Cause if you don't, your chances in my mind go down every day.
Speaker 1:Talking about a couple episodes ago. You know a few episodes go through Ryan on saying when he got the bow he knew if you didn't get him during bow season it's not happening because of all the hunters around you get a shot in the dark and the rut you know. Yeah.
Speaker 2:The rut is late here, I find too, so it's not even that great.
Speaker 1:It is, yeah, the bucks. That's when, like, all bets are off.
Speaker 2:then I mean somebody randomly just driving by.
Speaker 4:You know can probably 6k okay that's not real far.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, and you're getting the same bucks on camera, yeah okay, yeah yeah, yeah, the bucks that we've killed.
Speaker 2:Like I said, I've had them on camera. It's funny, you know the for years, 10 years of history between the two deer wow, that's crazy, you know four years of the one I shot and six years of the one luke shot and those are the deer worth getting too right.
Speaker 1:I mean it's nice to get the one that, like I didn't know he was here and dropped this monster, but I mean just having the history like that. You have so much more invested into it so that when you do, you know, pull the trigger, let the arrow go on it. It's just, it's that much more of a you know, wow, I did it. You know it's a big accomplishment, yeah, so yeah, uh, yeah, cory, sorry, I'll let you know, pick it up yeah, no problem.
Speaker 2:So anyway, I tried them a couple times in boces, no luck and all day sets. I went in one morning, sat right from you daylight. I went in the dark, sat from daylight to dark, seen some deer, had some small bucks come in. That one day I think I don't know if you remember, luke, I think it had a four or six pointer come in like three times that day, and I'm talking 12 yards. I'm hunting a ground blind.
Speaker 1:So the wind was in your favor, or he just didn't see you wind was in my favor, but I'll tell you that's one of my little little trade secrets.
Speaker 2:You'll never see me sitting in a tree stand. Oh, you don't. No, okay, I've done that. I did that for years growing up you're in a ground blind I'm in a ground blind, okay, and. But the ground blind is well, well secured. You know the the the edges are buried in the sod, the windows are tape shot with duct tape. There's just one hole big enough to shoot from, that's it. So the scent can't get out of the blind.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I did not know that. That's just my little trick. Yeah, this was the first year I hunted in a grand blind. I didn't like that. I couldn't see as well, but I did feel a lot better concealed and I felt that my scent was better concealed, all that you know.
Speaker 2:So I'll do it again, even in a tree stand if you're hunting a good wind. Sometimes it does weird things.
Speaker 1:It swirls you know, they just.
Speaker 2:Sometimes they catch your wind right. Yeah. And there's always big box, usually always circle too, if they're coming into a bait or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, you'll hear them go around. I mean they're not that big'll be checking it out and I find this year, yeah, the ground blood did. It was that difference, you know the deer, just they just weren't winding me at all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's a big difference, it was a game changer for me. So I'll never, I'll never go back to a tree stand. And oh, the last three deer we killed, you know 160 inch box. They've all been shot at a ground blood.
Speaker 1:Okay, yes, sir, yeah, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so anyways, all day sits. Never came in. I go home, he shows up, yeah, so I know he's close, right, so I'll give him a couple of days off. You know I don't like to hunt two days in a row.
Speaker 1:I don't even like to hunt a spot anymore in like four or five times Because you're really careful with the pressure, Real careful. Your first set's your best one, right yeah?
Speaker 2:I get nervous If I don't get on my first set. I get nervous. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So anyway, give him some time off. Like I said, a couple of sets in bow season snuck into my stand, knew I'd get in. You know I thought undetected because I had deer coming in all day. So that was a good sign. But something just didn't feel right. I felt it was the second day of rifle season. I guess I went to work that morning. It was kind of wet that day and he'd been coming in between 10 and 11 in the morning and I said this is the morning. So I went out. I got in the stand at like 9.45 in the morning, crawled into the stand.
Speaker 1:A bit late by most guys' standards. Yeah, a bit late by most guys' standards yeah, a bit late.
Speaker 2:Killed a deer at 1026 or something. You did get him. Huh, yeah, what'd you get him with Muzzle loader? It was a muzzle loader. Yeah, got him with a muzzle loader.
Speaker 1:So in New Brunswick, here we have an extended they just started this a few years ago extra 10 bucks and you get an extra week. Uh, but you were hunting during the regular rifle, so was there?
Speaker 2:a particular reason you decided to break out the muzzleloader. One of the main reasons was I I mean, I'm not a real, real muzzleloader. Uh, it's just unique. It's a unique weapon I didn't know anything about them going into it, I bought. The only reason I bought one was for the extra week the year before, right yeah so I started shooting my muzzleloader in the early fall of 24 just to get ready, and I fell in love with the gun. It just shoots. Beautiful, it's not a high-end muzzleloader.
Speaker 2:It's a Buckstocker. Buckstocker Got it at Bass Pro. Who makes that? I'm not even sure.
Speaker 4:It's like the Cabela's Value brand.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But if you look at the ratings of it you know, like the, the trigger pull or the ratings are, the ratings of it are through.
Speaker 1:So how many grains? Are you measuring the grains?
Speaker 2:because we talked about this last week. I use the hot shot okay, are you?
Speaker 1:are you measuring the grains and the powder you put in or the, the actual lead itself, the powder I guess you are okay with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're all pre-weighed out for me, like you know. Some know, some guys do measure, but Because I didn't know.
Speaker 1:I know with you know, rifle bullets. I was like the powder by what they put it, the grains by the powder they put in there. But I thought for the muzzleloader they more measure it by the grains of the bullet itself. I don't know, I don't know anything about them Could be. I'm not, I don't know at all, but same same here, so yeah anyways, started shooting the rifle, fell in love with it really.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's the sweetest, yeah, so how?
Speaker 1:many yards, because we talked about this a few weeks ago too. How many yards are you accurate with it?
Speaker 2:because I've I know some guys had a lot of trouble sighting them in I was shooting 50 okay, 50 yards quite confidently quite confidently, but keeping the gun clean was a challenge, right that's what I've heard. After two shots, three shots, three shots maximum. You can hardly push the bullet down the barrel after three shots, really, yeah, wow, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's phenomenal how dirty they get that's what Kyle Gillies was saying on our trivia night there about just keeping it clean. Keep it clean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's probably the biggest thing in your accuracy and consistency.
Speaker 1:Compared to I mean, you've bow hunted Compared to, bow hunting is muzzleloader. Do you have to get that into it? You know what I mean. Like for bow hunting. No one's just like I'm just going to buy a bow and just shoot it. You have to get into it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think. So you definitely got to know your weapon, right?
Speaker 1:Every weapon shoots a little different. Yeah, just find that. With the bows, you know, obviously the practice, but just like your broadheads, your arrows, your fletchings, your the release you're using If you're shooting, compound all that stuff, do you have to get that into it with the muzzleloader, do you find?
Speaker 2:I would say not Okay, there's less gear. Right, there's less things you know, there's less less you know there's really hard yeah. I couldn't like Luke's never had a chance to fire it. I told him he's got to try it. You love it yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know I fired a buddy of mine, denver's, and uh, it was a lot of fun. It was. It was fun to shoot. It was.
Speaker 2:his wasn't sighted in at the time we were just like kind of you know, randomly shooting you can size the bullet and stuff, but no really nice weapon to shoot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's how you got. The buck was with that. You just chose that gun and enjoyed it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and just the setup right, the yardage of the shot. I mean the farther shot I would have had. I was hunting them with bow, obviously, so the farther shot I would have had, even with a bow, would have been 20 yards, just at a little tiny thing and you weren't having trouble with being winded no at all.
Speaker 1:So do you wear scent eliminator? Yes, you do. Yeah, okay, I always ask everybody. I don't really believe in it much.
Speaker 3:You know what I didn't believe in it, but I don't change my mind, really I did I see I wash my clothes in the sun eliminator detergent.
Speaker 2:I shower before I go I find it can help.
Speaker 1:But I mean, do you even put on, like the lip chap and all that? See what I mean? Your lip? You're shedding skin cells, right? That has scent, yeah to it. But I find it helps. I don't I don't wear it at all, I don't really believe in it with the how many million cent olfactory scent receptacles, whatever the deer have. But I'm always, I always like to ask everybody, you know, if they use it or not and stuff. But yeah, I think it helps what you do. Yeah, and stuff. But I find that deer, depending on the wind, they always know that you're there. It's just how big of a threat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they feel that you are that is definitely not going to save you if the wind's on your baby no it's definitely not, but and just to kind of paint the picture for like the listener.
Speaker 4:And the reason why the frost and stuff matters is because we're hunting from a ground blind. But generally speaking it's not like a 200 yard rifle shot or something like. It's up close and personal, yeah in the bedding area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly yeah yeah, I mean you hear a lot of guys talk about that's uh, that's tricky zone getting into the bedding area because I mean you, you really don't want to spook them out of there at all. So you got to be real quiet, careful and mind your scent as best as you can getting in and out. You know we've talked about that before too on here about a lot of guys. They might have the great setup and all that, but when they're leaving they're bumping deer when they're leaving and then the deer are like you know what, screw this, I'm done, I'm leaving and stuff. So that's important too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, for sure. And yeah, like we won't even set up honestly, like we find good spots but we won't even set up if it's not a good spot to hunt like dominant wind right yeah, like the spot where I killed my deer. Perfect spot. Yeah, I could hunt it, like you know, nine days out of ten, yep, just good spot for the dominant wind. Um, easy in, easy out, that's the key, like you said, same with yeah, same with luke's spot too.
Speaker 1:So you end up dropping with muzzle loader. You're happy about it. So he was big deer. So you, you scored him. What do you score?
Speaker 2:yeah, we actually had just had him, uh, just had him officially scored last weekend. So when we, when we, when I shot him, I think I green scored him. He's like 161 inches or something like that. So we officially scored him last weekend he was 157 and seven eights.
Speaker 1:That's a big buck. So in New Brunswick for rifle it needs to be 145. 140. 140? Yeah, Okay, the net to get into the record books. So you definitely made it. That's really good. We were talking earlier. You're going with a friend of ours to take the course to learn how to officially score deer. Oh, is it just deer? Are you doing? Are you taking the course for deer?
Speaker 3:moose bear, uh that I'm not sure I think so lane was talking.
Speaker 1:I think it's all of them, it's everything, because he was asking about maybe taking mine and my uncle's moose skull the antlers in to score that too.
Speaker 2:So I'm guessing it's all of it okay which is really good, just to keep that I think deer the hardest thing to score, like. I think, yeah, pretty simple. I think bear is pretty simple there, I'm pretty sure Just measured the skull Skull width or length yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right, luke, your turn, you're up. That's how Corey got his deer for this year.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I guess. Yeah, kind of similar to Corey's buck.
Speaker 1:Beat that story right. Yeah, that's right. Maybe you should have went first.
Speaker 4:No, Kind of. I guess what, like what Corey was saying earlier, is we had six years of pictures of the buck pretty pretty well in the summer and then sporadically during hunting season. I think never really had them consistently during hunting season. This year, I think, kind of we found the. We kind of got the missing piece of the puzzle and got permission on a good piece of property where we thought we, I guess what turned out to be his home range, had a feeling he was there.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So do you hunt with a bow too, or no? No, just rifle, just rifle, okay yeah.
Speaker 4:And yeah, so so we we hadn't even set. We had a. We got permission on the land for rifle. We hadn't set up a spot yet in rifle. We, um, we hadn't set up a spot yet in, uh, in rifle. We we were kind of did we have a camera up at the time?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had cameras up?
Speaker 4:Yeah, but we're getting pictures of them. Didn't have a specific camera at the spot. We we were going to try and kill him at, but, um, yeah, so I guess we trying to think.
Speaker 1:So are you hunting out of a grand blind as well?
Speaker 4:Yeah, you are. Okay, are you? Hunting out of a grand blind as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you are okay, yeah, so cool you listen to cory on that one.
Speaker 4:Yes, yeah, is that why you do it, yeah, or is it just more convenient? Or yeah, I'm not the, I'm not the smallest guy, I'll tell you.
Speaker 1:Well, it definitely comes in handy this year. This past fall, as you guys know, we had a lot of rain. Yeah, we had a lot of rain. Remember just sitting on my grand blind a little bit, like you know, this is pretty nice. Like I was dry, I was expecting a couple drops here and there, but no, it's good. You know, yeah, I was just like that kid. You know, with adhd, when it's raining, your parents tell you not to touch the side of the tent. I was like fiddling with a little bit, but it was okay because I wasn't laying down, you know.
Speaker 4:So yeah, like cory said he had been, he had been hunting this deer but never really never really had pictures in hunting season. So another buck that showed up would take president or something like that. And once cory got his deer, was it october 20, 28, I think. I shot mine the 29th, 29th of october. We kind of we set our sights on, uh, where this buck could be, because he in 2021 he was probably at his prime for at the moment and then he 2022 went downhill and I think 2023, 2024 we had good winners and he really rebounded nicely in 2024 and we figured it was going to be his best year so you figure how old.
Speaker 1:Roughly was he going? Nine and a half.
Speaker 4:Wow, that's crazy and uh and yeah. So so we got permission on the. What we figured, I guess, when bucks get older, I guess we figure their home range gets tighter and tighter.
Speaker 1:That makes sense. Yeah, less walking.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I guess once Corey got his buck, we focused all of our efforts on on him. We I think it was the next weekend we went in, set up a camera, threw some apples down where we figured we could, uh, we could get him on camera, set up the ground blind. Right then and there, just in case uh, this is the first week of rifle season just in case he started showing up. Uh, buried, buried, the blind and the around the edges and everything was.
Speaker 1:That's good. I don't do that, that's.
Speaker 4:That's a good tip right there yeah, taped it up and uh, I think he was sure enough it was that night he showed up. He showed up to the camera and uh, the spot you you couldn't draw it up any better for getting in and out of. It was quite a decent walk to get into, native, but uh, I couldn't hunt it in the mornings. There was, there was always, there was does all over the fields in the mornings and stuff. So I there was no way for me to get into the spot. But in the afternoon, like I was, uh, I think I only sat four times for forum oh wow, yeah yeah, on my second sit, uh, I was.
Speaker 4:Uh, well, I was just. I was hammering it on my way home from Sussex to get to the spot, walking in, sweating my ass off, getting in the blind, just racing home from work for you. Yeah, getting in there and sitting because it was perfect. The wind was dead into my face while I was walking down every night. And, yeah, every night there was action at the spot.
Speaker 1:Were you seeing other bucks?
Speaker 4:but you're holding out, knowing that there was multiple other other deer there, another good size deer, um, but specifically you didn't want to.
Speaker 1:you know big brother Corey had set Yep For a certain one. You're like I don't want to be showing them.
Speaker 4:you know some three point exactly Well that these ones could be, that we could have eight years, six years of history with them at some point, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:If I pass them. So so, uh, yeah, I think it was the second sit I was in there. He, uh, there was a lot of action that night. It was like a dreary, overcast night and uh, the kind the kind of the scenario. I'm sitting in a ground blind, about 100 yards away from an apple pile and it's kind of an old ran down not ran down, but just an old field that used to be farmed at one point that hadn't been farmed.
Speaker 1:Just overgrown yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and beside it was a kind of a even more overgrown field with a bush field Bush field- Did you?
Speaker 1:have like good deer trails going through it. Is that why you okay? Yeah, it was hammered.
Speaker 4:That's why you're sitting up there, yeah, and uh, about, uh, probably about an hour before dark, like the, the group of does came out, a little little spike, and then, uh, little basket buck came out and uh, I, I started. I, I just knew from our cameras that, uh, whenever this group of does came out, the buck I was after was coming out right behind them.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, so new, huh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was just according to the cameras. I guess you never know. But uh, uh, so he, he came out on my second sit and he stood right at the edge of the bush field and he knew I don't know he's. It seemed like he knew something was up. I couldn't tell if the deer in the field were kind of spooking him or not, but uh, he, he was standing uh, square onto me, like all I could see was the white patch in his neck is in his antlers and you knew, you knew it was him.
Speaker 1:Though, yeah, yeah, yeah I had a.
Speaker 4:I had a like a, a tripod, like like one of those uh, or I guess is a tripod or a bipod, or what do you call it. Yeah, yeah, you had a how many legs like a shooting stick.
Speaker 2:One, one stick you didn't get the one leg.
Speaker 4:What's that?
Speaker 1:called monopod yeah, monopod okay so that's just a shot in the dark there, yeah, so I.
Speaker 4:I had that and all and I had my gun line lined up on the blind like resting in the little there. Yeah, so I had that and all and I had my gun lined up on the blind like resting in the little crevice I had to open and I had the scope right just below his white patch and every time I harpeed it was bumping about an inch left.
Speaker 1:What are you shooting?
Speaker 4:It was a 270.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, from about 125 yards oh yeah. Every time I har about 125 yards and oh yeah, yeah, every time my heartbeat I was the scope was jumped in, jumping an inch left, an inch right. I could not, I could not, uh, I couldn't keep it on him and I wasn't confident enough to pull the trigger, and so I sat there and I watched him that's good, though that's really responsible of you. Yeah, yeah, no, that's good and yeah, looking back, it was probably a good thing you weren't feeling confident with it.
Speaker 1:No, right, so you didn't shoot yet. A lot of people might not have that kind of self-control.
Speaker 4:To begin with, I'm not a real experienced shooter. I shoot maybe a round or two every year to make sure, and he's honest too, to make sure my gun is shooting where I intend it to.
Speaker 4:That's good to do too. I'm not shooting boxes of ammo like for for for fun or anything like that. So, um, he, uh, I was, I watched him it felt like hours, but it was probably only like 10 minutes, five minutes was just waiting for him to take a step broadside so I could just calm down and hopefully put a good shot on him. Then he he stood there staring up up my way, but there's, there was those between us and him. So I I don't think he ever winded me because the wind was he's 100 yards away, wind dead into in, probably off him into the blind. So and he took one step forward and I thought he was gonna, I thought he's gonna, show me his broadside. And then he hopped back into the woods, oh, and I said, oh, shoot, that's it, I blew it. Okay, tell my brother about this one. Yeah, he was giving, he was broadside, and then he hopped back into the woods, ooh, and I said, oh, shoot, that's it.
Speaker 1:I blew it right there. I'm not going to tell my brother about this one yeah.
Speaker 2:He was giving me updates.
Speaker 1:Oh he was. Yeah, I was sitting at home just waiting. I was like waiting for him. It's like he just went back to the woods. We're like what in the fuck?
Speaker 4:eric there and he came to the apple pile. But there was there was five. Does the button? Buck was right there on the pile. It was like five minutes before dark, but it was a really, really dreary, overcast night yeah, so it was darker yeah like I.
Speaker 4:I looked through the scope, couldn't. Couldn't see anything but a blob of brown bodies. So so I sat there and uh it was. It was probably a minute or two before dark. I backed up everything and just got out of there because the wind was. It was probably a minute or two before derek. I backed up everything and just got out of there because the wind was perfect and I wasn't gonna judge him from past. Uh, pitchers like they would eat at the apple pile, then kind of feed up the field towards the blind. So I said I'm just gonna get out of there and not disturb anything. It's too close to derek, I can't see anything.
Speaker 1:So so you didn't get him that night. No, no, that's good. You're really responsible about that one, though yeah yeah, I came back.
Speaker 4:Came back home was, I guess, called cory on the drive home I said I blew it, I don't want to talk to you.
Speaker 1:I'm not even answering your call. He was sitting brecks. We figured he had the first week to kill him yeah, on the first week it was curtains no, that's good though, because some guys, some hunters though I mean we all know them they'd a buck like that. They just give him a Hail Mary, just send shots down range and hope for the best Right, but I mean you feel 10 times worse wounding him.
Speaker 4:Exactly.
Speaker 1:You know. So no, good for you, that's good.
Speaker 4:Yep, so I sat. I think it must've been five sits Cause I sat. I sat one more night after that.
Speaker 1:It was dead was a really weird weather pattern that night, like it was like hailing, then it was windy like crazy, and then thunder and lightning. We had a weird deer season. Yeah, what weather? Yes, that's right.
Speaker 4:And then then I had five coyotes for it run by me like really yeah, and I was just like I blew it, I, I was about ready to hang it up and uh, so I and another thing too like I was financially speaking, I was getting ready to have to hang it up. It was costing $200 every other day to keep apples.
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 4:We were hauling 200 pounds of apples.
Speaker 1:You mentioned. There's people listening to this in Maine and stuff, where they're not allowed to bait at all, and they're listening to this, hearing that you guys are spending what? Just $200 a day in apples.
Speaker 4:Every other day.
Speaker 1:Every other day. That's insane.
Speaker 4:I I don't even do that, but you know 100 pounds of apples 100 pounds, if you can do it why not, and there wasn't a scrap on the ground three days later you're fattening up everyone else's deer so I said I gotta, something's gonna happen here. I'm gonna have to take out a loan or something, yeah and uh.
Speaker 1:So I can't Imagine explaining that one to the bank.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's right, or the wife.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or the wife, or trying to put it through your dairy thing. Well, guys, your dairy check's going to be a little slower this week. Got some apples to buy.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I guess, so it is go time.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and like I talked, so it was go time. Yes, and, and like I talked about it with cory, quite a bit like the spot was, the spot was fine and he was still showing up on camera. Just an hour after yeah like we. We knew the spot wasn't ruined.
Speaker 1:It was too clean of an exit and too too good to but you're trying to reassess if, if you set up another spot, would you have a better shot at him. But you know he's coming into there. Yeah, you could enter and exit exactly easily, which is really important. So you figured no, I'm just gonna stick it out just need the cars to align and uh, and the next night I sat it was sunday, november 3rd I think.
Speaker 4:Um, it was kind of another overcasty day and a lot of action, like super early it was. Like it was like I think it was dark at 5 30 that night and at like four o'clock, like the, there was five or six does and the and the spike horn out at the apples eating he never showed.
Speaker 4:He, he wasn't there and he always followed that kind of that group it seemed like from the camera never showed. Uh, they, they sat around. Eight came back, came, fed their way around up towards the blind, then went back into this uh, bushfield. 15 minutes later they came back yet again, but this time I could tell there was there's something off about them. Like they, they would, they would walk a walk a bit, eat, stick their head up, look back towards the, the bush field, you figured a buck was coming in.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I figured there was something, something was going on. So they fed their way out towards the apples and it was like they kept looking up towards the blind. They stopped looking at the bush field, kept looking up towards the blind and kind of my area.
Speaker 1:You're thinking, is there a buck that's going to come right in behind me?
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's right. So I said something's weird. I didn't know what to think. I was just watching. I was watching the same area of the bush field he came out to two nights ago. I was thinking he was going to come right back out of there. I was ready this time I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass, so he wasn't showing. Gonna let the opportunity pass, so it was he wasn't showing. He wasn't showing. It was about it's probably like it was 15 minutes before legal shooting light. I had been, I'd been sitting staring kind of at the left, uh like at the right of my blind for so long looking at these does just feeding up and down the edge of this bush line. I was, uh, I had to like readjust my seat so I I kind of sat up this board and there's a squeak in it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, looked at the, looked out the left of my blind and he was in the buck I shot was standing broadside, 30 yards from me oh really, he's that close I figured he circled the blind when he came out of the bush field.
Speaker 4:Yeah and uh, I didn't have. I didn't have any time to get nervous this time, so I hauled my rifle up and I had to. The blind was kind of in the way of my scope. So I pulled it up over the scope and he started. He started kind of trotting towards the does as soon as I had it on him and I just said hey, and he stopped and I hammered him, he, he kind of hobbled off. I was getting ready to rechamber another round because he was still out in the field and he kind of hobbled behind a patch of trees and I couldn't see him anymore. Before I was able to get another shot off and I sat and just kind of listened and waited and I called Corey and I said I let a shot go. I think I hit him pretty good.
Speaker 1:Of course, you better have made it count.
Speaker 4:I think I hammered him, and so I waited a little bit until it was dark.
Speaker 1:Wait, you never got a chance for another shot.
Speaker 4:No, okay, and the last I seen he hobbled kind of behind this clump of trees in the field and so I put my gun in the case, got out of the blind, I had a pair of binoculars on me and I walked up the, I got out the exit and I kind of I got to a place kind of maybe like 100, 200 yards away where I could. It was kind of a high point where I could see actually in behind this little clump of trees, and I took out my binos and I glassed down there and I could see a white belly laying on the ground. So I I called cory and I said I'm getting out of here. Anyways, I don't know, uh, we'll, I'll get out of here, we'll come back, we'll group up and then we'll go. We'll go back and see what happened. You never know, I guess, if he was wounded and just laying there or if he shot the wrong deer or that's somebody else's deer.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's right. So, so I got out of there, got got, uh, got resituated, we, uh, we came back in, walked down and, uh, we tried to find where, where I had shot him. Couldn't find any blood at all, like 30 blood at all, like 30 yards didn't look good cory was kind of he was.
Speaker 1:He said you missed him. You missed him like he blew it. Of course, boxing skills. So that's it.
Speaker 4:You're getting there, we get home so I said well, I know I've seen him go behind here and I knew I seen a white belly laying down, so let's just creep around this angle and see if we can see him. And the white belly was still there, so we crept up on him just to make sure he wasn't still alive or anything, and he was landed. He was it.
Speaker 1:It was a clean, kill, yeah, good. Did you end up getting that deer scored?
Speaker 4:Yes, I did, yeah, and he was 156 and 7 eighths.
Speaker 1:Hey, that's not bad at all.
Speaker 4:And he had a 3 inch abdonable.
Speaker 1:He was 160 and 1 8th gross 160 and 1 8th gross.
Speaker 4:with the 3 inch he has a split brow time. He ended up netting 148 and 7 8ths.
Speaker 1:That's a good buck. You guys had a great season.
Speaker 2:I can't beat that. I was just as excited as luke was. I mean, I six years pictures of this deer and I never laid eyes on him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I mean you're happy that someone you knew, especially your brother, got him right. You know that's nice too, that's just not no offense. But you know it wasn't just some random person from out of town cruising by like, oh, there's a buck with antlers, drop them right. You know there's something that you had history with and your brother got them, and you know it's really good yeah, and the score doesn't really do his buck justice, like the mass on this deer was incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know. The first circumference measurement between the six inches oh really something like that, just massive wow, yeah, he was eating well. Yeah, and nice, right out to the tips of the tines, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Just a huge yeah. A hundred dollars of apples a day. You'd hope he'd have big old antlers on him right, yep, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4:And I guess, in looking back at that story, like I don't know, in regards regards to the new rules and new runs, look like, uh, permission and stuff like that, like we needed the permission this year on this land you need written permission to hunt on agriculture land. That's right and we secured the written permission early and I know the farmer or the yeah, the. The landowner had multiple other people ask and okay, yeah, they were denied because uh, because he had already signed a form for someone.
Speaker 2:So I think that has changed the game a little bit. I've noticed a difference in our area in terms of drive-bys.
Speaker 1:I think it's helped. I mean those that are going to break the law anyways you're not going to stop them.
Speaker 1:They're going to do it. But I think the big thing with having written permission to be on agriculture land in our area is going to help with the farmer, saving them in arguments with people. You know, I think it's going to be a lot of. It is saving them like someone's, like I can hunt where I want, like well, no, you can't, because I mean you do get a bit of that, uh, entitlement. I guess you could say yeah it was kind of.
Speaker 4:It was kind of music through our ears when we heard it, because we uh we don't always hunt on our own land and we never hunt without permission, even if it's unpostered or not. We've got permission wherever we go. So the only one of the major battles we always face is random people showing up to our spots that don't have permission. I guess Not that they needed it in certain locations, but Ethically, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:But I personally found a lot less traffic in our normal hunting areas yeah, yeah no, it's good. The only thing I can think of is uh, reason right, but yeah, I know, uh, out of my parents place.
Speaker 1:I don't hunt there because of all the traffic but after fencing in the field for the cows, that helped a bit with, you know, four strands of electric fence with nine and a half thousand kilovolts per line. But you know, not everyone can do that, but that helped. But yeah, ethically everyone should be, you know, hopefully asking permission to where they're hunting, but it doesn't mean everyone will. But no, boys, that was a good story, both of you guys' stories. You guys had a great year. Can't wait for everyone on the podcast profile picture to see what you guys got hanging on the walls now. That's really good. I plan on having you guys both out again. Corey, you have a lot more hunting stories. You do too. Luke, thanks to big brother Corey, though right Yep.
Speaker 4:I'm lucky if I'm anything.
Speaker 1:Hey, I'll take luck over hard work any day.
Speaker 2:Alright, thanks, boys, thank you.