Hunts On Outfitting Podcast

Two Giants, One Season

• Kenneth Marr • Season 2 • Episode 98

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Two mature bucks in the province with Canada’s lowest deer density isn’t luck—it’s a system. We sit down with Mike Mason to unpack how careful scouting, patient all-day sits, and a smart camera strategy can turn scarce deer woods into repeatable success. Mike hunts three different areas in Guysborough County, logs every mature buck’s daytime appearance, and focuses on transition lines where habitat types meet. That structure—plus the humility to pivot when a bear wrecks a set—led him to a heavy, dark-antlered 160-class buck known as Frank the Tank and a second, gnarly old warrior that finally slipped up on a frigid December evening.

We get tactical. Mike shares how he runs 12–16 cameras without burning time or fuel, why community scrapes are worth their weight in gold, and how he chooses stand locations for the winds he actually gets. We dig into seasonal shifts that break summer patterns by October, the value of south-facing winter slopes for learning deer behavior, and why note-taking over 15 years pointed him straight to late-November daylight windows. He also explains his battery and solar approach for remote sets and offers a balanced view on cell-cam ethics—where they help, where they don’t, and why patience still beats pings.

The conversation ranges beyond whitetails. Mike recounts a New Brunswick spring bear hunt that produced a giant boar and highlights what makes spring bear action so electric: boar fights, rut chaos, and true trophy opportunities. We touch Nova Scotia regulations, bonus tags, required courses, and the realities of ticks across the province, then celebrate a milestone as Mike helps his wife tag her first buck.

If you’re hunting big woods, low-density whitetails, you’ll walk away with clear tactics you can apply this season: scout transitions, test before you build, commit to the right wind, and be ready for an all-day sit when your notes say go. Enjoy the story, then subscribe, leave a quick review, and share your own hard-earned big woods tips with us.

Check us out on Facebook Hunts On Outfitting, or myself Ken Marr. Reach out and Tell your hunting buddies about the podcast if you like it, Thanks!

SPEAKER_00:

I'm your host and 50 guides and matter. I love everything. There's stories to have to find it here. Welcome to the podcast. Alright, yes. Welcome. Welcome back to the podcast. We're fired up. Happy to have you guys, gals, listening to this week's podcast. So this week on the podcast, you know, we're talking to Mike Mason. We're talking about deer, big bucks. For a lot of us to be able to go through a season and harvest a nice mature buck, it's a lot of work. It's a lot of luck. It's a lot of skills. To be able to do two in the same year, that's something completely different. And that is what Mike did, and that is what Mike's going to talk to us about. Among some other things, but all the time and effort and work that he put in to harvest not one, but two really nice bucks this year, as you can see from the podcast profile picture. We're happy to have you listening, like I said, as always. And also so you guys know it's no secret. I love it. My dogs love it. I feed a nookshoke dog food. A Nookshook has a free download guide on their website as feeding guides how to feed a nookshook, the Nookshook bag choosing the right formula. But this is going to tell you guys all kinds of stuff on what to feed your dog, how much to feed your dog, because they have formulated formula. So you're probably wondering, well, how do I figure out what to date? Their website's going to tell you all that. How active is your dog, how big is your dog, how old is your dog, that's all gonna help you choose the right formula, take the guesswork right out of it. So stay tuned. I'm gonna talk to Mike. Oh, and if you are looking to get a hold of us to maybe come on the podcast or suggest somebody for it or just reach out to me, you can email me at hunt on outfitting at gmail.com or you can find us on Facebook, Hunts on Outfitting, or find myself on there. Feel free to reach out. Some of you guys have been. It's been great talking with you from all over. Uh Mike, thanks for coming on the podcast. I know that uh you uh from following on Instagram and stuff, you've had one hell of a deer season this year. Um I'm excited to talk to you about that. But before we get into that, uh if you don't mind saying just kind of where you're at and everything, and um and I want to talk a few things before we get into the deer hunting.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, sounds good, man. Uh so yeah, I'm I'm in Guysburg County in Nova Scotia. Um I have a home here in Guysburg County, I have a cottage here in Guysburg County, and I have a camp here in Guysborough County. Um they're all in three different geographic areas within the county, and I hunt two different areas in this area, so I hunt zone 106 and 110. So I'm spread around pretty good. That's pretty much the way I've I've hunted for several years now, which is kind of giving me a little success, I guess.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yes. You you do a lot. You're you're around antlers a lot, because I mean I see on your Instagram you do a lot of uh Euromounce, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, I was doing them for the last couple of years for people as well. Um, I had quite a few people that were sending mounts my way, and of course I was doing mine and my buddies or families or whatever as well. But I think and I was asked this year to do some as well, but I think I'm gonna kind of take a break from doing it. Um only because I find it takes away my own time of scouting or shed shed hunting or whatever maybe in the woods. So it's it takes a lot of time, and I I didn't really charge people very much. I just did it because it was kind of a fun thing to do with my brand or whatever. Um, but yeah, it's probably not something I'll do moving forward other than doing it for myself and for family, and that's about it, really.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well it's amazing how fast it can you can build up uh a clientele without even trying. Like, you know, our mutual friend there, Lane Lewis, he just kind of like, you know, started screwing around, doing it in his garage. And I mean, he's doing as much, if not more, than he wants to, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah. And that's that's what happened to me as well. I did it for fun, probably about four or five years ago, and then people heard I was doing it, so I'd have a few sent my way, and then each year I had a few, I'd have a few more sent my way. And last year was I think the most that I did, and it was just too much. It's a lot, it's very time consuming. It's it's rewarding work when you get it done, but it's really it really is a lot of work. So I envy the taxidermists and the folks that do that for a living because it's it's hard work.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Well, once once it turns into you know work over just a fun little hobby, then it's like you kind of reevaluated, it seems, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And then um so you you do uh you're pretty big into bear hunting too, right? Black bear?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so I've been hunting black bears here in Nova Scotia for probably about 10 years, uh, 11 years now. I think I shot my first black bear in 2014, actually. So I was kind of late to the game and really getting into black bear hunting. Um I've taken pretty much at least one every season since then for the most part. And then three years ago, I actually did I started to do some guiding here as well. Um I had my own outfitting going for a couple of years and it was it was pretty successful. I had uh a couple of guys on bears and stuff. It didn't take very many people because I was by myself. Um, but kind of going back to what we just talked about where it turns into work as opposed to having fun. Yeah um I decided moving forward, I'm not gonna guide for black bear either, unless we get a if if Nova Scotia happens to get smart and gets a spring bear hunt, then I'm absolutely gonna guide that way. Um I'll I'll guide bear hunters that way. Because I still have a cottage that I can use as a lodge for hunters as well. Um that's what that's what I did this year. I had three guys in, they were all successful, they all get bears as well. Um but yeah, unless we get a spring bear hunt, I'm not gonna do it here in Nova Scotia anymore because I found it cut too much into my own spring or sorry, into my own fall season, just for prepping for prepping for bears, prepping for deer, um, and making in you know the hunting part enjoyable for me. So yeah, so I think moving forward, and unless something changes, I'm probably not gonna do a whole lot of guiding in that space either. Um but for this year, I I did I started my bear hunting in in New Brunswick this year, actually. So I went on a my first ever spring bear hunt. Oh, with uh Brian? Yeah, I hunted with Brian down in uh Williams Woods and Waters, and Brian's an awesome dude, and I'd recommend anyone go for a hunt with him. If if you were if you want a truly trophy black bear.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, Brian's your Brian's your guy. He got me an absolute monster. I actually shot the second biggest bear out of his spring camp this year. Oh, really? Um, yeah. My spring bear was 343 pounds, and I know for some folks that hunt fall black bears, they're probably like that's not really that heavy. But for a fall black bear, yeah. And Brian told me that's probably like a 450-pound bear, right?

SPEAKER_00:

So Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well that's the thing. I mean living here in New Brunswick, uh we've just always had a spring season. I just uh I I think a lot of us just kind of take it for granted, not realizing like a lot of places don't. Like I always go down in the fall to run hounds and tag along with a good buddy of mine in Maine. And we got talked about when I first started going down, I was like, oh, I'll come down the spring season. He's like, Oh, we we don't have a spring season. I'm like, you don't? He's like, no, just fall. And then you know, Nova Scotia. I know you guys were uh really close in getting a spring season just because of the overabundance of black bear. And then I think it came down to politics last minute, didn't it?

SPEAKER_02:

It it was down right to the wire. It was pretty much down to from from my understanding. I wasn't involved on everything that happened in the background or whatever, but my understanding is it was pretty much the couple days leading up to when a spring hunt would have happened, yeah, um, that's when it got shut down. Like even some of the some of the DNR officers I talked to as well, like even they said they they thought it was a go, and then it was literally shut down last minute because, like you said, politics and you know, too many, too many aunties that had a say in the decision on whether the hunt moved forward or not. And unfortunately, it's you know, when you put a photo to public to the broader public like that, it's not gonna work. So hopefully, hopefully they'll figure something up moving forward. I mean, this year Nova Scotia took a big step and allowed Sunday hunting across the board, which was really good. I mean, for for folks that work Monday to Friday and can only hunt two two full days, that it was I think that was a big help for everyone here in Nova Scotia. So that that alone was a good step forward for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, I mean the bear hunt, it it like a lot unfortunately a lot of stuff now when it comes to hunting and wildlife regulations, it's not science-backed, it's emotion backed. You know, and which which normally does not make any sense at all. And uh Yeah, I mean uh it's it's New Brunswick. We've had a spring season for as long as I can remember. It's been very good, you know, successful. A lot of locals uh don't take advantage of it the way they should, but it's been excellent revenue for outfitters, and our bear population is still uh thriving to say the least.

SPEAKER_02:

And I'll be honest as well, like that spring hunt I went on in New Brunswick this year was the funnest bear hunting I've done. And like I said, I've bear hunted for over ten years now here in Nova Scotia. But I don't think a lot of people understand that like the bear rut is in the spring. So for the people that love deer hunting for the rut, watching the chase, and you know, you have a chance to see the big guy coming in behind a doe or whatever. It's the exact same thing for a spring bear hunt for bears. Because you have, you know, you have the bears chasing, you can you see the boars fighting, you have a better chance of seeing a monster boar, which is exactly what happened to me. He came in behind a sow, and uh, you know, they normally won't see them guys any other time of year, so it's it's pretty cool hunting. That was just I had a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, it is fun. And then, you know, people are don't normally think, you know, there's much to hunt in the spring and all that. And I mean bear season now, now we're really blessed to have turkey season as well, which I've uh I've been a huge fan of first time going out this spring, and uh I'm hooked.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, nice. I've never done the turkey hunt. The only the only downfall of the spring hunt I found was the mosquitoes. You definitely have to be equipped properly. I was not equipped properly, I didn't have the thermosel or anything until I got there. And yeah, thermosel is your best friend.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it's on I my one of my bear hunts I did years ago in the spring with a friend of mine, he set me up and he's like, Here's the thermosel, should be good to go. I'm like, all right. And uh it died. And I was like, I'm just shooting the first thing that comes in because I I could not stand it, and I didn't have long I didn't have long to hunt, and I was like, I can't do this, I can't sit here all night, like because I was like in a swamp too, and it it was it was brutal. They were about carrying me off.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, my first night there, it was the same thing. I didn't take one with me in the blind, I was in a ground blind that didn't have screen on the front of it, and I almost got eaten alive, and I was the same thing. If someone walked in, I would have shot it just to kind of get out of there. But I learned my lesson and I got a got a monster later in the week, so it worked out good.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. No, Brian has uh he has big bears come out of there. I I saw like it's yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, Brian's a good dude.

SPEAKER_00:

So speaking about big animals, you had a really good deer season this year. Uh didn't come out with come with a lot of hard work and everything, but can you explain to us Nova Scotia how it works? Because you shot more than one deer uh legally.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, so absolutely. So I will say now Nova Scotia has one of the lowest deer, I shouldn't say one of the they have the lowest deer density in all of Canada. So if you Google deer density in Canada, um Nova Scotia, along with parts of DC, will be the lowest in the entire country. So when you're working for deer here, you really have to work for a deer here. It's not it's not like you see on the Midwestern hunting shows where they're coming out in fields and things like that. It's it's much different here. Um but yeah, so for here in Nova Scotia, you have um the season starts basically mid-September where you have uh normally it would have been bow hunting first, then muzzle loader um starts like two weeks after after bow season, um, and then that runs for, I don't know, a month and a half or so, and then the rifle season starts at the end of October. But you can get three tags, and the way you can get three tags is there's there's basically the bow hunting muzzle loader tag, um which requires a special course for you. You have to have your muzzle loader course or your cross goal course um or your bow hunting course, depending on you know depending on what you're gonna do. I I have all of my courses just depending on how I want to hunt. And if you take an animal early enough with your first tag, then you have the ability to go into the DNR head office. Um you gotta basically you have to make sure your gear is registered online, you get a confirmation number through through the system that we use, and then you you give that to DNR, and they will give you a bonus tag for whatever that said area is. Not not all areas have bonus tags, I don't believe. Don't quote me on that part. Um, but if they have bonus tags left, then you have the ability to get a bonus tag. Um that still leaves you with two tags, and then you have the ability to chase the deer with your bonus tag, and you have the ability to chase the deer with your with your rifle tag. Um and like I had said earlier, this year was a little bit different because they kind of opened up. Um the extended the limits on some of the seasons. So the the rifle season went right till the end of the year, like it it actually ended last Saturday. And that's not normally the case. Normally that ends like towards the end of November or this or the start of December, but this year they just changed everything around when they when they allowed the Sunday hunting as well.

SPEAKER_00:

So why if if the density is that low though, how come uh they allow that? People are probably wondering why they allow one person to shoot two, two, three deer.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh well, two deer has been the norm here for a long time. Um I th uh for pretty much the last at least twelve to fifteen years, they've had the muzzle loader, crossbow tag, and then the rifle tag. But as far as the bonus tag goes, you're you're you're you're absolutely correct. Um it's not that I agree with it. Um obviously I took advantage of it because I like chasing I like filling trees, I like filling my wall with antlers. Um I like helping a lot of help helping a lot of other people out. But at the same time, there there are some areas in Nova Scotia. So I used to live in Colchester County, which is central Nova Scotia. Um Stewak specifically. The deer density there I would say is is much, much higher compared to where I'm at down in Gliesberg County. All the egg land out there. What's that, sorry?

SPEAKER_00:

All the agriculture land out there.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, they have agricultural land. That's one thing we do not have down here in Glysburg County, or not very much of anyway. I would say you can probably count the number of agricultural fields in this entire county on you know on kind of on one or two hands, probably. Um but yeah, our deer density here is is definitely much lower. Um, however, they there's I mean the bonus tags were still a go for zone 106 and zone 110, both of the areas that I hunt primarily. Um there's you know, depending on who you talk to, there's some different arguments on what you'll get in terms of why they allow the bonus tags. Some folks think they want to have the mainland moose come back, and as a lot of people know, mainland moose and deer can't coexist together real, real, real well because of you know different brain diseases and those types of things. And yeah, so the reason there's other reasons, other people say that you know they're they're trying to lower the deer numbers because of parents' purposes and those types of things as well. But I I I don't know what numbers are in terms of car accidents in Nova Scotia with with deer and all that stuff, but I don't know, maybe it's a reason. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, I was just curious about that. Yeah, I don't I don't blame you at all for taking advantage of it. I would too, obviously, if uh if I lived there, but um yeah, I was just just curious as to why they do have that. It could be, I mean, I've always heard there's the conspiracy theory in the United States about them releasing wolves in areas, and that's the insurance companies want that because they want them to take out as many deer and elk and and moose that they can to help with you know uh animal-related accidents.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. I mean, even if you look at coyotes, coyotes aren't native to Nova Scotia, but they're here, from my understanding, and nobody will ever confirm this. But DNR introduced coyotes to Nova Scotia back in the 1970s. Whether that's true or not, I don't know. But if you look online, that's that's pretty much what that's out there for Nova Scotia anyway.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, no, I believe it. And then so uh you guys have to take a muzzle loader course in order to use one?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, we do. Yeah. Now the muzzle loader the muzzle loader crossbow course is literally it's an online course. So when you take your Yeah, so when you take your firearms course, you take, you know, you take a one or two-day course in person for your firearm course. Henders education, same thing. It's it's in person, even though you can I believe you can do some of that online now. And then your uh crossbow muzzle course is basically just an online course that really doesn't take a whole lot of time. And once you get that, um it basically just gives you another code on your wildlife card. Okay. Just to prove that you have the ability to use that uh that tool properly.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, yeah, all right. No, I was just interested in that. Um yeah, like here, I have my bow hunting course here. Muzzloader, you don't have to have that. The bow hunting course though is in it's in person and uh separate. You have to be in there for it and everything, and then obviously your firearms and all that. But okay, no, I was just interested in the uh the Mudsloader one. Yeah, so you had a really good deer season, though you put in a lot of work for it. You got some big deer. Uh I mean, I know from the looks of on your social media and your Instagram, deer season for you is kind of a a year-round thing, it looks like, you know, always scouting, always moving cameras around. Uh so if you want to start there on how I mean what led to the success that you did achieve this year.

SPEAKER_02:

Sure, yeah. So as I kind of mentioned on the start of recall, like I'm in three different geographic areas here in Guysburg County. So I have a home here, a cottage here, and uh a camp here. So I I tend to hunt all three of those areas pretty um pretty broadly for the most part. So in each of those areas, what I'll do is I'll usually have anywhere for from four to five cameras in each of those three areas. So I run I run about, I don't know, anywhere from 12 to 16 cameras a year. This year I had I had about 14 cameras on the go. Um, and then what I'll do is at the so at the end of last year, I shot a monster buck last year. I shot a 168 last year on November 23rd, and after I shot him, um I was pretty much done. So my the rest of my season was dedicated to scoting. So what I'll do at the end of my seasons is I'll throw some test spots out. So I'll just take some cameras, take some bait, put them in different areas that I may not have hunted before, and then kind of see what's out there. So at the end of last year, um I had a nice 13-point buck Tom. He was on camera pretty much, pretty much as soon as I set up a test spot. Um he was there steady, he was showing up in daytime, and then once the season was over, I still had pictures of him, you know, coming in coming and going. So I knew if, you know, as long as winter didn't take him or didn't get hit by a car or whatever it may be, then I'd have a shot at him this year. So this year, um I put all my early season focus on that area. I I set up multiple cameras. Um and I set up one, I only have one stand initially, which was an easterly wind facing stand, which is kind of a mistake when you have uh predominantly westerly winds here in Nova Scotia. But uh I was able to find them nice and early. So it was I guess mid October when he started showing up nighttime on camera again. And then October, I keep notes as well. I've kept notes for last fifteen years of so basically I keep notes of every daytime mature buck picture I have on the camera I'll take the date and the time and the location of and I keep it in my notes and same thing for any deer or animal that I harvest I keep the date of it the time of it all that good stuff as well. But so this guy he made his first daytime appearance uh this year on October 28th. Um so I knew I had to and that was that was in the morning pretty early in the morning so I went in that evening there was nothing then all that night he was in with another buck um another nice another nice nine pointer which I'd say it's it's either uh an offspring of his or somehow relate to him because it looked very similar to him. And so then I hunted October 29th the morning and sure enough this other buck walked out but me not knowing like because like I said they looked very similar so I took this other buck thinking it was him walked up to him you know it had a little bit of it was still a nice buff like a nice nine point buff. Oh yeah yeah and then I I walked up to him and I was a little bit disappointed because it wasn't him but at the same time I was still happy because you know I I took a good buck or whatever. Yeah. So soon after that so I kept that spot baited kept it going um and then not long after that he kind of disappeared for a bit and of course a bear moved in and pretty much ruined that spot on me for about a week week and a half or so um so I decided that I would set up another spot about probably about 400 500 yards away um with better wind direction hunting as well. And I was also able to kind of find a better daytime pattern for this for this big buck as well. This big buck I named Frank the tank by the way as well this is that's that's kind of what his name ended up being but yeah I found the spot was it was way better daytime patterns. He was coming through there a little more frequently and the area was just polluted with with scrapes and rubs and a lot more rut sign as well. So he disappeared for a while um then he came back um mid October sorry mid-November um I hunted a couple days mid-November then same thing he disappeared again for another week and then um he came in November 21st daytime in the morning and then again in the afternoon and I went back in the next day I knew I had to be I knew I had to be in there for an all day sit the wind was no good the day before and sure enough he he came out 245 and I was able to get a good shot on him and drop him kind of in his track so it was it was nice that it was actually him this time and I was able to walk up to my trail cam actually got a nice picture of me walking up with my arms in there. I was I was pretty happy because I put a lot of time on this deer. I think I put seven all day fits just on this deer alone before I was starting to hunt any other animals. So it was it was rewarding for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah I'm just I'm just looking at pictures of him now on your Instagram like yeah he he's such a nice rack and like nice he's a dark you know chocolate colored rack too which is cool.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah he's he was a beautiful buck. Now last year he was a 13 point buck um but he didn't have the mass that he had this year. So he had he had a lot more points going on last year but this year he was more he's still kind of uh he looks like a typical straight on um and I think he still scores it as a typical I got him scored he was a 160 and four eighths is what he ended up scoring so I actually got one sixty inch bucks in back to back ears which is something I never I never thought I never thought I'd ever do that's for sure. But yeah he was he's a beautiful buck for sure I was I was super happy with him.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah absolutely I mean yeah like I said we've talked about this in the podcast before people think big bucks they're thinking Alberta they're thinking Saskatchewan they're thinking Iowa Illinois and there are big bucks there but I mean not that I want everyone to flock here but uh Nova Scotia and New Brunswick I mean I think it's a s I've said it before a sleeper areas provinces for big deer.

SPEAKER_02:

A hundred percent if you put your work I mean I followed the New Brunswick hunting page too and there were some true monsters taken there this year. Like there was I saw a couple of 200 plus inch bucks which is which is insane really for anywhere's up here. But yeah New Brunswick it seemed like every freaking deer that was taken there was just a monster deer there were some beautiful bucks taken there. And agree Nova Scotia as well like there's there was a there was a 200 inch deer taken here in Nova Scotia as well and there's other monster bucks here as well so yeah you're right there's it's good hunting here. We might not have the the qu the quantity about there but we've definitely got the quality when we do have them definitely yeah if you work if you work for them I mean and I can't just say that like there's a lot of people work hard and may not get a big deer because I mean some of it Exactly some of it's just bad luck as well right so that that happens too but for the most part if you if you move around I mean I hunt a lot differently than most people I I don't think that there's a lot of fellows that run as many stands as I do but I take the tip the last two weeks of November off every single year from my work. And I'm I'm pretty lucky that I work from home for my job as well. So I can kind of come and go in the mornings and evenings and even sometimes I'm a lunch pine just to go go baiting or do whatever I need to do, right? So I'm lucky that way as well.

SPEAKER_00:

So but you uh I mean you seem very methodical too and you know just the fact like you're note taking I mean not a lot of guys can say they they take notes and have them you said for the past fifteen years.

SPEAKER_02:

I've taken notes for the past fifteen years, yeah and I mean for and which is the exact same reason why I take the last two weeks of November off. Like I kind of went back and looked at my notes from all my daytime mature box on camera or for any of the big bucks that I've harvested and most of them are late November so late November early early December as well which which I guess I'll get to my second buck that I shot this year. Sorry my my second monster buck I shot this year. I don't know if I call him a monster but he was definitely a freak. Yeah yeah he he was unique yeah so so once I harvested the other buck I kinda left that area alone. I I did throw some other cameras up there and some bait but I wasn't gonna hunt anywhere around there anymore. So I kind of shifted my focus to one of my other areas that I hunt and I had this other gnarly buck come in since Halloween night. Halloween night is the first first day that I got him on or first camera picture I got him I guess. And I had him pretty steady all all month of November but it was I shouldn't say steady, it was sporadic, but it was always nighttime pictures um and I put a few other cameras around the area as well and I caught him on camera as well in those areas but never in the daytime. Not a single daytime picture of him ever and then you know I just kind of kept grinding and kept hunting for their you know for end of December and then sure enough um December 5th on one of my areas where I built a massive tree stand last summer he he daylight I wasn't there but he daylighted at it was like 440 so it was you know 20 minutes before legal light or whatever it was. So I knew like next day I was going to be in there and and it was a perfect win so I did an all day sit and it was super super cold so I was froze to death and uh yeah he came out just before just before uh legal light again and I was able to able to put him put him down there as well so it was pretty cool to walk up to him. He's I never got him scored anything yet he's actually going to taxidermy tomorrow morning.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Um so I don't I don't think he'll score super high but he's just a super unique rack. Like it's just just an early I don't even know what he'd call it. Some people some people said his rack looks like the Grinch hands or looks like uh Ice hooks or whatever it may be. It's a pretty cool unique rack for sure. Yeah yeah he is absolutely it's uh it's just a it's a cool very memorable bucket in rack yeah yeah he's a he's a very old deer too I I will get him aged as well because I'm kind of curious myself to see how old he is but I can tell that he's a super old deer he's got a really gray face his teeth are pretty much toast and uh but he was still healthy. Like when I shot him he was for being so late in the air yeah he had a really really big body not much fat on him but he did still have a big big body on him.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah no he was uh yeah it's a really cool deer so I mean you've got the birth set pretty high for yourself now I mean where uh where'd he go next with deer hunting?

SPEAKER_02:

Well I also I guess one of my other achievements that I never mentioned this year as well is I was able to get my wife on her first deer as well so she helped me back on November 20th she got her first buck as well so she got a six point buck. She put the work in helping me bait and helping me set up spots and do all that stuff as well. So one of my main goals this year was that was I wanted to get her her first help her get her first buck. And she did that on her second solo sit of the year which is pretty awesome and she actually she was so excited she blew the front off the ground blind when she shot him so that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00:

So uh is she she hoped for life they're gonna be a little healthy competition going into next year's deer season.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah I don't know if she quite takes it as uh as intensely as I do but she's definitely competitive and she definitely loves it. Like she and she's she's quieter than I am when we're sitting in the stand. She's super patient she's super quiet and uh she's definitely a student of hunting and wants to learn more so I'm happy to happy to help her and try to try to get her on some more animals now her goal is to get a real big buck too so yeah of course yeah but as far as where I go from here as far as where I go from here um I have some targets still um on on my radar I guess so like I said I I definitely spread around and put cameras in places that most people wouldn't think to go or won't go but I'll I'll beat my truck truck to death or wheeler to death to get to places like that. So I definitely have a couple on my radar for next season that I hope I can hope I'm lucky enough to catch up with but I'll definitely put the work in and hopefully find some new ones as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah so you said you're running like 14, 15 cameras?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah I have I have seventeen total tacticams right now. I also have a couple of stealth cam non-cell cameras that I put in areas that I have no service. But yeah I I'll spread them around and run them as much as I can to see what I can see. Yeah I mean I've got uh first time ever this year I've got four and uh I mean that's uh that's a bit of a job in and of itself just you know maintaining those and and checking on them and and all that it is and I'll tell you there's a lot of folks that say that think you have to use like the top of the line energizer batteries or top of the line Duraisol batteries this year I bought the bulk packs of the and I'm not trying to promote anything here but the Amazon basics batteries from Amazon as well. Yeah and they worked great. They other than the real real cold temperatures they were a little bit you know it showed that the battery was really low even though I knew they weren't but other than that they worked they were super reliable they worked just as long as the energizers for me and you know it saved me some running around. And for my real remote spots too I run the solar solar panels on them as well.

SPEAKER_00:

So right yeah yeah and then just having the all those on the app and looking through them and getting all the pictures in and I mean yeah yeah it's a lot. It's interesting it's it is a lot oh I love it.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean it's from September till basically December it's just there's it's crazy the amount of notifications I get on my phone.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah I can't can't imagine. No well I got first time ever using them was this uh this bear season in the spring or spring season that was awesome and then uh I leave the notifications on so even throughout the night it'd be like you know two, three in the morning and then you know ding or something and then I'm like let my wife be like put your phone on airplane mode. I'm like I got I gotta look I was just I was ready to get up and look and uh anyways now I put it you know on airplane mode take it off when I get up in the morning but um before I was like I don't care I want to see pictures anytime they come in.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely I mean and I'll tell you like the cell cameras have changed the game a little bit as well. There's another debate out there on whether you know whether certain deer should be in record books and stuff because of cell cameras and and whatnot like for my own hunting it's definitely helped me on where I need to be at different times sometimes as well. So I'm not gonna lie and say they don't help me because they help me a lot definitely they definitely tell me where I need to be a lot of the time.

SPEAKER_00:

They do yeah they're they're definitely a great tool um but I mean I've been out in the deer stand had a cell camera up and seeing the deer avoid it quite well and you know just not knowing it's there. I find like I said for me anyway it's the handiest was having it right on the bare bait and I see okay I need to go up there and bait or I don't need to and you know what's coming in and stuff like that. It's just kind of cool and for their deer too you're taking inventory and trying to and seeing how everyone's you know the deer's health looks stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02:

There's there's a lot of big bucks that will avoid those cameras. And like you said, I I I mean you can probably see in most of my pictures on my social media I do kind of direct mine toward my bait as well because like you said it gives me an idea when I need to get back out there, when I need to rebate, those types of things is it's super helpful for that. It's not just for the deers either.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah uh we're gonna have a discussion sometime hot topics on the podcast this winter and one of the things will be cell cameras but I mean in my opinion of them they're a great tool but some people using them to like oh there's a deer out there and then rush out and shoot it. I mean I I think that they should have it'd be nice if they had a 45 minute delay so that way it does keep people from doing that. Maybe it's an unpopular opinion but I mean I find that's a little less than sporting.

SPEAKER_02:

Definitely I think like I think you have fellows that kind of put them outside their camps and stuff as well so you know they don't need to be really paying attention and they you know they have the ability to just kind of look up and there's a deer there type of thing as well. So yeah there's there's definitely some gray areas on how it should or shouldn't be used. I agree with that a hundred percent um I personally have never had a picture pop up and then run up shoot a deer that would be that'd be cool but I've never done that yet. Yeah so no it's it's uh but they've definitely changed the game for a lot of people and I mean if anything they've saved you know people uh fuel on going out to have to re-bait or or what have you big time that's where it saves me so much just because I run so many stands like I'll have an idea of the stands I don't even need to go to because I know there's still lots of bait there or you know what I mean? I know there's not much going on there so I don't need to go out there and hunt or whatever. So that's that's where it saves me time. That's why I have the ability to run so many stands.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah yeah so I mean you're you're running that many stands that many cameras you're finding these big deer you're able to harvest them but what what you're out scouting in an area you're looking online or walking in person what makes you think I'm gonna put a camera there and try it?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh for me it's so I love transition areas. So I love hunting woods where you know you have two different types of areas meeting in one spot. So where you have like a thick spruce forest that that meets a hardwood ridge or you'll have uh like a bog that meets a thick spruce or something along that line. And then I'll I do a lot of scouting on my uh Huntstand app and Google Maps as well just to just to have a look at yeah just just to kind of have an give myself an aerial view of what an area looks like and I love hunting hardwood ridges. Hardwood ridges are definitely one of my favorites for sure um I just love that they're so open um and if you can find good transition areas from a hardwood ridge you can kind of see where animals are traveling or now where they'll travel along it. A lot of times where they're rutting along it as well there's usually a lot of rut sign if you look in the right spots in hardwood ridges as well. But uh now down where my home is there's not a lot of hardwood ridges around so I kind of had to look for different types of areas as well. So I'll look for like alder hills like deer love traveling through alders as well. So any type of travel routes that I can find where um where the deer might be you know and another thing I do a lot of is I do a lot of shed hunting. I won't say I'm very successful shed hunting since I've moved back to Glasburg County I don't find a lot of sheds down here but shed hunting is still my number one scouting tool I would say. When I lived in Colchester County it was a different story. There's so many deer up there that I found antlers everywhere. Now I also did a lot of shed hunting outside of agricultural fields in the like the thicker woods out all around fields and stuff like that and that's where I'd find a lot of antlers. But down here it's a different story it's there's not really as many antlers to be found and if they are I haven't found them yet. Yeah they're hiding well um so yeah do you think I I'll go to places that a lot of fellows moan as well like I like I like going into I'll look at a map and look for old roads or old cuts or um even even areas where you know it doesn't even look like you can get to and then I'll go explore those types of areas as well just to see what type of signs are out. Maybe throw a camera up and see if you know see if there's something something traveling the the paths that are there or the the trails that are there and you know that kind of gives me an idea of where I might find a unique animal as well.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah exactly I mean go where others want to get what others don't kind of philosophy. Exactly exactly yeah uh so you you're scouting this much you've got cameras all over and stuff you're watching the deer monitoring them as much as you can uh year round do you find that they switch up where you're at from summer ranges, winter, fall, you know, come the rats do you find they're switching up quite a bit the bucks are oh definitely like I consider myself a bit of a student of hunting as well and shed hunting and one of the things I've learned with shed hunting is you're gonna find the majority of your antlers on like south facing slopes or south facing hills because uh deer in the wintertime they're gonna look for those areas so they can bed down during the day and stay the warmest um even even on the coldest days.

SPEAKER_02:

So in the wintertime you're gonna find a lot of deered sign on those south facing slopes but they're not necessarily the best hunting in you know during hunting season or or where they're gonna be all all summer long. So you kind of have to kind of have to move around and just look for I like looking for old rut sign um so looking for scrapes and rubs and um those types of things. I love finding community scrapes where you know there's like five or six deer using one scrape just to kind of move through an area as well. If you can find one of those then those are typically pretty good pretty good indicators that you know the following season you're probably going to see something in that area whether it's a big deer or not you know that's to be determined but it gives you gives you an idea of some things to look for but but to answer your question now. Like the deer where they winter compared to the deer where where you're hunting is not necessarily always going to be the same area. For me it's just looking for looking for as much deer sign as possible, as much old rut sign as possible and then I'll just you know I'll I'll test it. I don't necessarily build a stand right away but I'll I'll throw up a camera and some excuse me and some bait and just see what's around.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah no that's uh that's a good way to look at it obviously you're yeah you're learning what works and what doesn't and the deer's habits and I mean that's just boots on the ground and spending time in the woods and you know it's paying off it's paying off for you quite well.

SPEAKER_02:

And I I think that's the biggest thing. Like you just said, boots on the ground, time in the woods. Like I I love being in the woods. I'm I'll spend I'd spend every day in the woods that I could so I spend as much time as I can just navigating around in the woods to to see what's there. I love looking for sign. I love seeing different types of animals and trails and just different areas so If I can find something to hunt when I'm doing that, that's just a bonus, really.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. No, it is great being out. So Nova Scotia, too, you guys are getting quite well infamously known for your tick population. Um are you finding a lot on deer?

SPEAKER_02:

No, no, now I'll say this. I I moved out of Colchester County in 2022.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And the the tech population up there is absolutely ridiculous. So my home in Stewiac, I couldn't even I couldn't even leave my yard in Stewiac and not have a tech on me. Now, where I'm at down here in Guysburg County, for whatever reason, the tech population is much, much lower. Knock on wood, I've never had one on me down here, but my dogs, I have two golden retrievers.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And uh they they've all they've already had one on them this year, so like uh just before the the snow hit here. So yeah, so there's a couple down here, but not a lot.

SPEAKER_00:

No, that's it. Yeah, I was I was just kind of wondering about that because you you always hear that Nova Scotia, it's it's bad. So I was just wondering if the deer seem to pick up a lot.

SPEAKER_02:

If you go to the other side of the province, like the Yarmouth area of the province on that shore, and then toward toward middle Nova Scotia, there's lots of ticks. Um down this way, they're they're definitely becoming more prevalent. I don't even remember I grew up down here in Glasgow County as well. I don't ever remember seeing or or hearing about the tick, to be honest with you. But now they're you know, they're starting to you're starting to hear hear more about them down here, and there are ticks here, but definitely not like other parts of the province. Excuse me.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's uh it's terrible. It's smallest, the most deadliest thing in the woods. I don't know, the worst for me anyway, is just you know the size at the end of a pen.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, it's brutal. My buddy, he a fella I used to work with, a co-worker, I guess, he was diagnosed with Lyme about five years ago. It's it's one of those diseases, too, that it's super hard to kind of pick up or determine what that actually might be. He had to go in and do all kinds of different tests before they actually realized it was Lyme disease that he had. So it's scary for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's crazy. It's weird. Like when I go to Maine and I was there in the spring this year, and uh there's ticks everywhere. It's just it's crazy. And then go in the fall, and we were beating through the woods and all that, and I think one, saw one.

SPEAKER_02:

On real.

SPEAKER_00:

It's just yeah, it's weird. I I was expecting a lot more than two, so I don't know, it's a time of year, but Nova Scotia, you guys have them, it's you know, basically year-round, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Yep, exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so um yeah, so what do you do you find two? So do you you run your cameras year round that many?

SPEAKER_02:

No. Well you just quite a few down. I'll just I'll keep a few out on different travel routes and I obviously keep a couple of it around my campus stuff just to make sure no one's trying to bother anything, but also at the same time just see if I can pick up any wildlife walking by and those types of things. I don't really do a lot I don't rely on my cameras very much after the season. I do like putting them on trails to see what might walk by, but in the summer Yes, yeah. So I'll start throwing cameras back out again, usually around June. Um just casually throw a few out and then I kind of pick the numbers up as the summer goes on. Yeah, but I don't obviously you can't really bait in Nova Scotia that early. Well one, I don't even know if you're allowed to or not, but two, I don't, just because of our bear population, it would just it'd it'd be pointless.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I just didn't know if you had them on uh if you started putting more out then just to see, you know, who was growing starting to grow some antlers and just kind of get uh some tabs on bucks then. But I mean from summer to when you start hunting them in the fall, they they seem to change patterns so much anyways.

SPEAKER_01:

Big time. Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. No, uh it's been interesting, Mike. Uh really glad that uh you know I was able to talk to you and hear about your season. And uh I'm sure everyone looks forward to uh not only listening to this podcast, but also uh to see the pictures of the bucks that I'll have on your podcast profile picture.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I appreciate it. If you need me to say anything, let me know, and I appreciate you having me in this up in the chat.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, any time. Thanks, Mike. So if you're still listening and you made it this far, uh rating or review on Apple and Spotify would be much appreciated from you.