Ep.123 Deer Season Prep That Works

Deer season doesn’t sneak up on you, it exposes you. If you wait until September to figure out access, wind, and where deer actually travel, you end up hunting memories instead of patterns. We sit down with Mike Mason to lay out a practical early summer deer hunting prep plan built for real woods, not perfect food plot country.

We dig into how Mike scouts new ground using Google Maps and HuntStand, then confirms it with boots on the ground. Pinch points, funnels, saddles between ridges, hardwood ridges, transition areas, and small natural openings all become high-percentage places to start. In thick timber, he likes walking creeks and brooks to find repeatable crossings, and he explains why mature bucks often use less obvious trails that stay tight to cover.

From there, we get tactical: setting stands for your prevailing wind, avoiding the “wrong wind” sit that blows up your best location, and choosing between ground blinds and ladder stands based on sightlines and scent control. We also talk shooting lanes, quiet entry and exit routes, trail camera timing, and why summer photos don’t always translate to fall movement.

Finally, we hit the most overlooked prep of all: your weapon and your shooting setup. Sight in early, practice with the same ammo you hunt with, and make sure your rest and angles work from the stand you’ll actually use. If this helps you, subscribe, share it with a hunting buddy, and leave a review so more hunters find the show.

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!

Transcript

Summer Mindset And Key Prep

SPEAKER_01 0:28

I'm telling you. I'm your host and with the guide and everything. Associated with stories to have two five years. Welcome. All right, welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. I hope you guys are uh guys doing well and uh getting getting ready for summer because summer is basically here for everybody. Summer is here, which is we don't seem to think enough about the upcoming deer season because October, November, whenever your deer season starts, it seems like so far away. But it creaks up on it fast, and there's a lot of prep work to do before the season starts. That's where Mike Deer Maniac Mason comes in. Mike's been on the podcast before. He's a great guy to talk to, knowledgeable, and very passionate about deer hunting. So we're talking about where to set up, we're talking about pitch points, ridges, transition areas, shooting lanes, exit points to and from the stand, all kinds of things to talk about before deer season gets here. Because you want to be set up and you don't want to be caught with your pants down when you know the opener's the day before the next day and you don't know what you're doing. So you know, we're gonna be talking about uh getting those mineral sites out. And if you're gonna be doing that pro expedition, can't recommend them enough. Check them out. They've got excellent gear and they're gonna help you with your uh hunting this fall pro expedition. And also, we're gonna be talking too about getting ready, get getting your bow ready, set to go, getting your rifle ready to go, shotgun, muzzle loader, whatever you're using, get uh comfortable with it, get it sighted in, and be prepared, be ready. So that's what we're talking about this week's episode. Also, Hooligan Archery Products, if you go on their website and you put use a hunt on 2026 of that code, all caps, all one word, you're gonna get a big old discount at a checkout, which is awesome, right? And that's all part of getting ready and setting up before the season starts, having your arrows ready, your broadheads ready, all that, and hooligan archery products is gonna be able to help you out with it. So let's 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

Finding Funnels On Maps

SPEAKER_01 3:15

on Facebook, Huntson Outfitting, or find myself on there at the end. Feel free to reach out. Some of you guys have been. It's been great talking with you from all over. So, Mike, you're on episode 98 of two giants, one season, real popular episode. Um you got two really nice bucks this year, and that's not by accident. Maybe one could be a fluke, two is definitely not. So it's early summer here, and uh I'm excited to talk to you about just kind of getting ready for the season, early season prep, and I don't mean just food plots, some people are doing those, but not everyone has access to that. There's a lot of other things to do to get ready for the upcoming deer season in the fall.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

There's definitely a lot of work to do. I mean, for me, deer season really never ends. It's just a matter of uh, you know, what kind of work you want to put in and in the off-season is is the way I look at it.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Yeah. Yep. Exactly. Well So because I'm thinking about hunting a new area this year, so anyone listening to this, they're gonna find out that lives near me. But behind my house, it's thick woods. There's not really any trails or anything. There's a there's a hill, there's a brook down below, kind of a bit of a valley. Um so I'm looking for pinch points. Like, what are you looking for in something like that? The like what's a good pinch point for you that you feel like you could set up on?

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Definitely pinch points or funnels. Um, for me, like the the the types of pinch points I look for are like saddles between ridges. I love hardwood ridges. I I mentioned that on the last podcast I did with you as well. Um, so I'll look at maps a lot. So I look at Google Maps and I use Hunstand quite a bit. And Huntsstand is what I primarily use to all mark like uh old scrapes or crossings or a spot where I can see where there was a scrape from last year or or all kinds of trails or or whatever it may be. But for what I'm looking for for the most part, I love ridges. And in between ridges, I call them saddles. I don't know if that's the proper wording for them or not, but it is a pinch point. And a lot of times you'll find deer will travel those. Um and as I mentioned on my on the last podcast as well, is I love transition areas. So if I'm looking at a map and I can tell blatantly that there's a transition area where there's basically one type of forest, as you kind of mentioned, th thick spruce. Um, Nova Scotia is also full of thick spruce, so I'm I'm very used to dealing with that. I'll try to see, I'll try to look for um, I guess, other areas that kind of border that, whether it be a bog or a herdwood or any type of opening, and then I'll explore that. A lot of times if you look at a map, even in a thick spruce area, there's probably an opening somewhere. But whether it's accessible or not is another story, but there's probably an opening. And if there's an opening somewhere that's even remotely close to being accessible from a road, I'm always gonna explore it just to see what it looks like. Because a lot of times you see a lot of travel or a lot of a lot of tracks in there or a lot of sign of some sort, and then I'll, you know, I'll focus on those types of areas too.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Right. Yeah, so do you find that I mean you hear some people say to look for the less used trail, and that could be it. Do you do you find that the bucks are on the main trails as much as the does? I I guess it depends on the area and who you're talking to, but I've heard both both ways. Like the bucks will use this trail that, you know, if you see something that looks a little more faded, not as heavily used, that could be the buck trail, the ones that are worn down a lot more and everything, that's the Doe and Fawn Trail.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Yeah, so you'll see you're definitely right. So a lot of times when you find trails, like if I a lot of times I'll walk the edge of ridges or the edge of a transition area, and there's a there's usually a beaten down trail on that type of transition area in most spots that you walk. But if you go beyond that beaten-down trail into the thicker stuff, there are less obvious trails, and a lot of times, like a big buck, he wants to be covered. And if he's not in deep cover, he wants to be very close to deep cover, so that if you know if if he needs to bolt or disappear, he can do so real, real quick. So I think you're right. I mean, a lot of times it's hard to hunt those areas, but if you can hunt near those areas and find find, I guess, intersections or whatever it may be, um, those are all those are always good areas to look for for sure.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Right, yeah. And then too, I mean, with black bear hunting, they say if you can set up near one, it's great. A beaver dam. Do you find uh do you find that beaver dams come into play any wit with deer hunting at all?

SPEAKER_00 7:49

For me, no. I mean, I uh I do hunt near water sources quite often, more especially for bears. I know bear hunting near a water source is is very important. Um, but for deer, I you definitely need to be near a water source and in food sources for sure, but I don't really take that into play.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Okay. Yeah, yeah. I figured I was just kind of curious about that. Just got you know, bear hunting on my mind still with spring, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Oh, buddy. I I wish we had a spring hunt here again. I I'm not gonna get into that right now, but I I certainly wish we had one. I'm very jealous looking at all the pictures of some of the beautiful New Brunswick bears that I see taken from from several outfitters and just from folks that are residence hunting as well.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Yeah, yeah. No, I I I truly do enjoy it. Um so with with the deer hunting too, so where do you start? Are you looking for sheds? Are you gonna try to find it where the bucks were wintering a bit, things like that?

SPEAKER_00 8:43

You know, for me, it always started with shed hunting. Like I I have a couple of real good buddies who I consider real, real good shed hunters. There's there's one guy down here in Guysburg County who does a lot of shed hunting, and then there's another guy up in Colchester County who does a lot of shed hunting. And when I lived up in Colchester County, I was super successful shed hunting and did a lot of my scouting that way because you learn a lot about your deer. You learn about where they're traveling, where they're bedding, where they're you know, where they're feeding. There's you learn a lot about them. Um down here, since I've moved to Guysburg County just three years ago, or moved back to Geisberg County full-time three years ago, I should say. Um, I I do shed hunt, but I haven't been real successful at it. So I still keep the same mindset. Like I'm boots on the ground, I'm always in the woods. I turn my little hunt stand app on and and I and I mark anytime I step out of the woods, I start tracking where I'm walking. So I can see every everywhere I've walked, I can see. Um, so I still learn a lot about my deer, even though I'm not finding as as many sheds down here. Um so I guess I guess the point is, you know, as much scouting as you can do, as much boots in the on the ground in the woods as you can do, or you know, because of your work or your life or whatever, then I mean you're gonna you're gonna learn a lot that way, and you're gonna learn where you want to set up and those types of things.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Um yeah, those apps make it handy. I've got iHunter. I'm still figuring out how to use it. You know what I use the most though, actually,

Buck Travel Near Thick Cover

SPEAKER_01 10:05

um, is my Tacticam app. There's a map thing on there, and it's not perfect, but it's okay. It doesn't track where you map or anything like that, but um it does you can mark you know mark points on it and this and that. So I I use that a bit, but I've definitely got to try to get into uh like the iHunter, the Huntstand, something like that that makes your life a little easier and you can track things much better.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

It does, and I've I got the paid version of Huntstand, and the reason for that is down where I live, there's zero service. Like I have no service anywhere around my house. I mean, I shouldn't say that. There's a there's a few areas, a few high points where you will get some service. Um, but I I have the ability to download offline maps, and that helps me a lot. So I can download, I download huge maps for different areas, and then when I'm in these areas with no no service or whatever, I can just open it up, start my track, and then you know, mark everything out that way, and I still have access to it when I when I have no service, so it's great.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Yeah, yeah, it'd be really handy. Um so are you too are you big on you know, some guys get into this early in the summer to help the doughs out and stuff when they're ha having the font. Uh the minerals and things like that. Does that help you kind of, if you do it, does it help you kind of keep a tally on the deer in the area?

SPEAKER_00 11:19

It's funny you say that, because uh this year I was supposed to. I was supposed to have a pallet of mineral, but that fell through, so I haven't really got any any mineral. Yeah, I kind of it kind of sucks a little bit, but I've never really been big on getting cameras out early in the summer anyway for deer, not for the most part. Um I don't really start scoping for scoping with cameras for deer until probably August time frame into September for the most part. Now, with that being said, like I do have a couple of areas that I'll use year over year. So there's there's main stay stands I call them. There's those the stands you know you're gonna have year after year for the most part. In those areas, I will throw cameras up early just to see if you know my target buck or a buck that I know exists is around just to see what he looks like this year. Um, but I haven't done that with minerals. And I guess kind of as I mentioned on the on the last podcast as well. So I had three main areas. I have my home, my cottage, and my camp. And in each of those areas, I have multiple stands. Like I have upwards of six and seven in some of those three areas, and I spread them out pretty decently so that I'm not getting the same bucks across all my cameras and such. I mean, my goal is to keep to define and kill big bucks. I love I love big buck hunting, and I've been pretty successful out of the last, we'll say five years or so. So for me, it's divide and conquer, get as many as many cameras in the wooded woods as you can um spread around. And like I said, I use my maps just to see what different geographic areas look like in these three areas, and I just try to cover as much ground as I possibly can.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Uh so what else are you kind of looking for in the right area to set up? Like how much are you paying attention to the wind? Are you using a variety of uh tree stands, ground blinds?

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Yeah, so with Nova Scotia, and I I assume probably the same for New Brunswick, our most prevalent wind here or winds are south and west, so southwest winds. So I would say out of the we'll say 15 plus areas that I set up, I won't call them all stands because some of them are just kind of testers. Um I would say out of those 15, I probably have about we'll say 10 of those that are set up for Southwest winds. Um, just so that, you know, for for my most predominant winds, I can hunt most of the time. And that's I think that's a mistake that even some of my buddies make is they only have two or three stands, which is fine. But the problem is their two or three stands are all set up in the same direction. So you have a tendency with when that happens, you'll have your big buck on camera, and you're like, you'll you'll be excited, but you have the wrong wind. You're like, you know what, I'm gonna hunt it anyway to see if he shows up, and all you're doing is you're blowing your stand. Your chances of killing the big buck on the wrong wind, and and Lane will argue with me on this, is very slim. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So so wins for sure. I I definitely look at wins. Um what was the second part of your question?

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Yeah, well, just just setting up uh, you know, do you use a variety of ground blinds and tree stands or just partial to one or the other?

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Um honestly, the older I get, the more partial I am the ground blinds. And honestly, I've been I've been pretty successful with ground blinds. I just for the most part, when I'm setting up a ground blind, I kind of typically look for a naturally elevated area. Like I'll try to put my blind on on an area where I'm already looking down on something or looking down over, you know, the edge of a ridge or edge of a bog or whatever it may be. Um, but it doesn't always work out that way either. Sometimes it is a straight shot, and it's just, you know, you have to clear good shooting lanes, which is a lot of the work that I'm doing this time of year. Any rainy day or any windy day this time of year, I'm I'm pretty much clearing shooting lanes, or I'm also looking for clearing paths to my stand. So I think your entrance into your stand is also important as well. So a lot of guys don't want to think about that. Like they'll just, you know, you walk into the same trail that you're using to bait on to get into your stand, that's not necessarily the best approach. Sometimes having a hidden path or a path that where they can't see you coming, um, so that you can get into the back of your blind real quietly and quickly, or the vice versa. If you want to get out at night if there's deer standing there when you're trying to leave or whatever, you can kind of get out quietly and without being detected. That's very important as well.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yeah, yeah. That that's the thing. I mean, I when it gets close to the season, I'll even take a rake and like rake out the leaves and all that just to help quiet it down, getting into the stand, because that's the thing you don't want to bump deer in or out.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Absolutely. It's very important for sure. I do the same thing. I I rake leaves and sticks that are my

Creek Crossings And Natural Openings

SPEAKER_00 15:55

way, or just check them out of the way, or whatever, just to have as clear of a path as possible, because it's when you're hunting, especially when you have a big buck coming, or you're trying to walk in on a big buck, it's it's almost impossible. They're just they're such a different creature if you've never seen one in the woods and how aware they are and how they move and how they know you're there before, just without you even giving them a sign that you're there. It's just crazy.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Yeah. And and then too, yeah, I've I've grown a big fan of the ground blinds. I mean, I find that you the chances you getting winded in a ground blind are so much slimmer. The only thing is with the tree stance though, I love the view. I love being able to see all over whereas the ground blind. I find that my view is much more limited, but it definitely helps with my scent.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

It does. And one of the things I do on my ground blind as well, at least in in most areas where I can, is I put moss all around the bottom on the inside and the outside as well. Like I'll I'll I'll pack it down with moss just uh I'll put it exactly. It's that one extra layer of insulation slash um smell barrier, I guess, or whatever you want to call it.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Um but that being said, I do have a couple ladder stands. Um I like I love bear hunting from a ladder stand the most for sure. Um but there's when I'm in a hardwood ridge, I love being in a ladder stand deer hunting. I know two of the bucks I've killed, two of the big bucks I've killed over the last three years, I've killed in a Herdwood Ridge from a ladder stand, and there's there's nothing like, like you said, the view of being able to walk him in far beyond for where you can actually shoot him. It's there's nothing beats it. It's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I I really wish I had a filmed some of my hunts. Like it would have been so cool to be able to share the experience of of seeing a big buck come in on a hardwood ridge. It's just it's something you can't describe. It's just the most amazing thing to see, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Yeah, yeah, it it is. It's it's really cool. So I guess I don't I don't I don't hunt the hardwood ridges too much. There's so much softwood where I'm at. Um But with with Yeah, so like when I was saying it earlier when we first started, but where I'm looking at setting up. Yeah, so like where would you what would you look for exactly where I'm setting up? So like I said, it's it's thick woods, there's no trails or anything, and then there's a bit of a hill, and then it slowly slopes down, and there's a brook at the bottom of that, and then the hill kind of goes back up. I mean, there's deer trails all through there, but what would you be looking for in that area?

SPEAKER_00 18:23

I mean, if it's too thick for you to even get through, I mean I I'd be looking along the brook, I'd walk the brook or the the creek or whatever it may be and look for crossings because wherever they cross a creek for the most part, they're gonna they're gonna repeat that.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Uh-huh. A lot of times, uh and I'll I'll put cameras on creek crossings or brook crossings sometimes as well, just because you you can tell where they where they come in there to those areas and they use them quite frequently, and that'll that'll a lot of the times that'll tell you what's traveling there or what's living there as well. Um, but again, I would also look at I'm sure you've probably looked at maps up around your property as well. And if there's any pockets at all, check out those pockets if they're not too far, not too hard to get to, because I love so I love looking at those pockets because a lot of times they're basically they're pre-built stands or pre-built areas for you where you can kind of just you know already set up or have some type of setup in there if it's not too difficult to get to.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Right. You mean a pocket just like uh like a bit of a softwood pocket in there, or something like that?

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Or yeah, or any type of natural opening. Like, I mean, it could be softwood, it could be anything, like it could just be blowdowns from you know from a windstorm or whatever it may be. Like if you can I mean you may not be able to see all that from a map either, but any type of openings like that, they're they're typically areas that deer will hang out for the most part, because they like to they'll sunbathe during the day or whatever it may be and they'll travel through there at night, type of thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

And too, I mean, are you looking how much attention do you pay to because I mean we all do this walking through the woods, you'll find them last deer's scrates and ruts.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

A lot. For me, I love seeing old scrapes. I mean, old scrapes tells me that you know the deer will move. It doesn't necessarily mean they're gonna move through there again this year, but I mean there's deer in the area, there's a buck in the area, so there's a good chance that you know, if if he was in this area last year, if he's if he's not dead or hasn't moved on, you might be able to get him again this year just to see what he is. So it it never hurts to I wouldn't put a camera on an old scrape by any means. Um, but if there's a trail there, a well-used trail that's close to that area, then it never hurts to throw a camera up just to see, you know, see what's moving through there type of thing. Um but with that being said, like during deer season, if you find a scrape, obviously, you know, that's that's an area you could probably hunt even without bait, and I have done that and I have killed the buck that way as well.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

So yeah, so y you do. So if you come across old ones, you are you're noting that

Scrapes, Sign, And Marking Patterns

SPEAKER_01 20:50

and paying attention to it.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Yep. I will mark that on my app every time. I'll mark. And you'll be surprised on your hunt stand or any apps that you're using to track this type of stuff. Like the more you walk an area and the more stuff that you you're marking in that area that you're walking, once you're like once you're done, or once you take a look at it from uh you know, from a from a hundred foot view or whatever you want to call it, you you'd be surprised at how much you can learn about where they're traveling and where they were traveling when they were retting, or you know, where they're bedding and stuff as well. They they help a lot. They really do help a lot.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Yeah, well, how yeah, it must paint you quite a good picture when you're going through and you're marking all this stuff in your hunt stand, and then you know, do you ever get home and look like, okay, I found scrapes here, I found rubs there, found look looks like a bedding area here, and then how can you easily, I guess you could say, can you pinpoint where you're like, you know what, I think this is the spot here where I'm gonna nail them?

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Well, for me, when I'm walking through an area, I'll typically mark uh I won't say any any given number, but I'll mark a number of areas where when I'm walking a spot that you know, this could be a good hunt spot, this could be a good hunt spot, and sometimes I'll walk an area and I'll have like I'll have five or six of them marked. Obviously I'm only gonna hunt one of them, but if I've marked those five or six areas, I'll typically go back and walk it again and then make a determination on and it's not always correct, obviously, but I'll make a determination on which one I think looks the best, whether it be, you know, old scrapes or where they're traveling the most or just just the type of woods where they're you know, two type of woods that are transitioning together or whatever it may be. It's just I don't know. You get a feel for it after a while, I guess you just kind of feel what might work and what might not work.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Yeah, yeah. Uh so too, I mean, how do you find that between you know the deer summer patterns and their fall patterns? I'm not including the rut, just early hunting season before the rut starts. How much do you find that different? Because you hear about this all the time, guys. I've got buddies that do it's like, oh, look at all these deer got on camera. I'm just gonna be able to take my pick this year. Boom, hunting season starts, gone. They're gone.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

And honest honestly, it's so different. That's the and that's one of the reasons why I don't focus on cameras at all until like August. Like where you're seeing deer now and where you're gonna see deer in the fall are completely different. Yes, you'll see some deer are gonna stay around the same area and live in the same area, but they move so much because of their food sources or because of their cover or because of their wintering grounds or whatever it is. Um, I don't rely on my cameras at all this like this early at all at all. That's that's exactly why I don't really set up anything until August, other than the main areas where I have main stay stands.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

So you find their their patterns are pretty similar if they're doing that in August, chances are they'll be doing that in late October?

SPEAKER_00 23:44

Uh yeah. For for a buck, yes. Like if you can find a if you can find a buck in August, September, there's a good chance early season before he starts running, you could you could nail him before, you know, up until the end of October or maybe a little earlier for some of the bigger bucks when they start traveling or when they start rutting. Um there's a good chance you can nail them in that area for sure. Because I mean they're they'll be on the they may be on the food early enough, or if he's you know, if there's does around and he's hanging around with them, you might be able to get them to come in nice and early as well. Um with that being said, I mean, most of my luck deer hunting has been, or maybe not my luck, but my preference is late season. I I love the late season, it's my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Really? You're not you're not you don't feel pressured, you think they're not gonna be all shot at and and dead by early.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

It doesn't necessarily mean they're in the bait the best shape. I mean the big bucks come late season, are definitely not in you know, they're not in prime shape by any means. But they're definitely more patternable. Like they're gonna come back and they're looking for their food sources, and if there's you know, if you're one of one or two food sources in that area, you're gonna see him. He's gonna be back there late season, no doubt about it. It's just a matter of you playing your carriage right, hunting your proper wins, which is the number one most important rule, in my opinion. Um, if you play your carriage right, you'll uh you'll have a chance of probably lining up with him.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Yeah, so and then um what are some other things that you think people kind of often overlook in the early season to get ready for the fall?

SPEAKER_00 25:20

My opinion, a lot of folks don't necessarily get comfortable with whatever their the gun or their bow or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Absolutely. There's a lot of folks, and I mean, I'm guilty of this in my early hunting years as well, and I learned the lesson the hard way. I've I've missed a big buck because my gun was off because I didn't take the time to side it in before deer season. Oh, really? Oh yeah. And it's it sucks. It's it's a shitty beyond. I'll I'll tell you right now, like my last five years have been pretty successful. The years the years before that, um, I was probably I probably shot one two big bucks in the ten years before

Trail Cameras And Mineral Timing

SPEAKER_00 25:55

that. And there was a lot of misfortunes and you know, but things that I've learned from, which I think is what made me successful the last couple years. And one of those is definitely having your your your gun sighted in, being comfortable with it. There's a lot of folks too, like the first time they fire their gun in during the year is when they go out hunting. And you know, that first couple times you're getting back into the groove of shooting your gun stuff, you're you're gonna be off because you you can be jumpy or you're not used to it because you haven't fired any year. There's all kinds of things that can go wrong, or it can, you know, can be off, which is the the worst thing. But I think being comfortable with it is is definitely very important.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Yeah, yeah. No, I'm glad you brought that up because uh we I talk about this with my buddies and stuff all the time. You hear that. I mean the first time someone shoots a gun, like you said, could be at a deer, and that's that year. I mean, you don't know they might have forgotten that you know they were all excited last year when they got a buck say and they dropped their gun or bumped it or whatever, and now they're scoped off. I mean, we owe it to you. We especially owe it to the deer that we're any core that we're hunting to make sure that whatever you're using bow, crossbow, rifle, shotgun, muzzle loader, that it is sighted in properly. And yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because I think that is often really overlooked.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Absolutely. And another part of that as well is even if you have your stand set up and you, you know, you know where your stands are going to be, make sure that your stand, however it is set up, you are ready to shoot from it. Because I had a buck two years, two years ago, three years ago. His name was Sideshow. He was the freakiest, he's back on my Instagram. You go look at him, he's a crazy looking buck. Um, I had a chance to shoot him opening day three years ago or whatever it was. And the only reason I didn't shoot him is one, my gun was off a little bit, but two, my shooting rest from so I had an old, basically an old swing set. I'll go on Facebook Marketplace, look for old swing sets, and I use them as hunting standards and they work great.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

That's a good idea. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Yeah, man, it works great. But the problem is I didn't really I set it up and I had everything set up, you know, nice shooting lane, all that good stuff. But in the swing set itself, I didn't really have like a a proper ledge to set to rest my gun on, or at least it I did, but it was too way too low. So I was kind of slouching down as I was trying to shoot. Plus my gun was off and it was just, you know, just worked out to be a bad scenario where I missed that buck. And if I had it been set up properly, there's a very good chance I probably would have killed him.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

So Yeah. Yeah, that's uh that's a good idea looking on there uh for old uh yeah, play sets and stuff. That's uh that's not bad at all.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Well, there's a lot of folks that get rid of them because you know they're not they're not safe for their kids to use, so you can take that one big platform, you you put a new piece of plywood down on it, slap it in the woods somewhere if you you know, if you're close enough to a road where you can drag it back with a truck or a side by spot or whatever. Br brush it in and you're you're good to go.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

Yeah, yeah, that's uh that's that's a great idea, really.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Yeah, it works good, man. Trust me.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Yeah, everyone be fighting over them now. No, uh that's smart.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

Um I have so many of those in the woods, it's ridiculous. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure DNR probably probably found a few and they're probably like, what the hell is this thing with an old chimney in the middle of the woods?

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Yeah, yeah. Little steering wheel on them or something. You'll see.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

Yeah, a little steering wheel. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

That's not a bad idea, something to fiddle with while you're sitting there too, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Yeah, but I mean, yeah, I that's the thing. Just just get inside. And I find bow hunters are pretty good because you know, you you're practicing throughout the summer usually and things like that, but rifle hunters, you hear guys like, oh yeah, it's fine, but it's like, well, is it? Yeah, are you fine? Did you bump it? You know, things like that.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

And it takes the slightest thing for a rifle. It could like you wouldn't even think. Like it could be you could have it on a soft back seat in the on the back of your car, and it just you just move it the wrong way, and it it's easy to bump it off. So it's it's worth just going, and the DNR range here in ranges here in Nova Scotia, they're free. Like we can we can book them online and with our wildlife resource card, and we can book like two half hour slots for any time we're booking. So I mean, we can book up to an hour. There's really no excuse for us to not be out shooting. So I'm guilty of it in my past, and I'll never be guilty of it again. I usually typically go two or three times before hunt season even starts just to just to do some shooting.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

Well, e even the ammo too, right? I mean, people don't realize you switch ammo brands, grains,

Wind-Based Stand Selection

SPEAKER_01 30:25

this any any switch, it it definitely can throw off your shot.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

Yep, definitely. Whatever you're practicing with is what you should be hunting with on any given rifle for sure.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Yeah, because I've I've heard of guys doing that, like, oh, I just shoot the cheaper stuff, you know, just to sight in the gun, and then I'll use the more ex you know, expensive stuff for when I'm hunting. It's like, it's it's gonna be different.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

It it is big time. Like I I used to hunt with a 308, which I still have. I've just an old an old Sabbath's 99, nice old rifle. And for whatever reason, when I when I fired core locks at that, Remington Core Locks, that they it would always it would just misfire. It wouldn't it wouldn't fire. It wasn't every time, it was like one and three or one in four bullets. So I switched to Winchester XPs and I love them.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

So yeah. I uh for Michael I got uh 7MM08 and I've I can't find them anywhere, but I've still got some left over. Um I've been shooting the Browning BXR 144 grain, and man, those things work well. I can't find them anywhere else. They used to sell them back when we had a Cabela's here. Um worth the fan, but boy, those things could just blow a hole through something. Like just unbelievable the expansion on them.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

That's awesome. That's a gun I want. The 7 M MOE. That's that's kind of what I'm looking at as my next all-around rifle.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

Yeah, I love it. I mean, I've taken several deer with it, some bear, a moose. Um, there's not much of a kick to it. It's pretty flat shooting. It's uh I love it. I think it's a great round. It's not a real big heavy duty round in comparison to your 30.6 or your 300 and things like that, but it's just real nice, smooth shooting, and it definitely does the trick. I've had uh I've never had anything get away on me that I've shot with that.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

That's awesome. Like and I use a 300 wind mag for most of the time now, which is great, and it'll it'll uh cover up any issues that you have if you you know if you if you don't make a great shot or whatever, but it's overkill too in some situations.

SPEAKER_02 32:25

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

It is a big done. Like it's great moose hunting, and it's great, it's even great bear hunting as well, but uh it's a bit overkill for deer, it's really it's really not needed for deer hunting, so I'd rather have something smaller, like a 7 MmOE.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Yeah, yeah. Uh so what are a couple other things too that you're doing, you know, during early season, Mike? I mean, just the big thing is too cut, probably cutting, like you said, we were talking about cutting shooting lanes, and like people don't realize it it can have a good look because a little branch here or there, it's definitely gonna screw up your hunt.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

Yeah, and it's not just that. Like I do all that stuff now because I think the earlier you disturb the woods, the better. I mean, if if I'm in the woods now, it's really not gonna affect anything that comes September, October, November, December, beyond, whatever, eight. So I try to do all that stuff now. So all my shooting lanes for most of my main areas down around my home are done now. Most of my shooting lanes for my cottage are are done now, and then I still have to get back up to my camp and do some more work up there. Um, but yeah, I mean your shooting lanes are important. I mean, there's nothing worse than sitting in the blind and you're you're like, oh shit, I wish I had to cut that one branch out of my way, or that one tree that's just enough to annoy you and you know ruin your hunt because you're sitting there thinking about the whole time as something walks out, what if I hit that tree? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 33:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

So, you know, having your shooting lanes cut and something I'll do as well as in some of my areas is depending on how you know how thick it is, I'll make like down toward my bait, I'll cut like a trail toward the back. Um, just kind of an another trail for them to pop out of the woods in, just so they know, you know, they know it's there and they'll be traveling early enough. And that's why I do that now this early as well.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's the other thing too. I mean, do you try to stay out as much as you can after this? Are you do you ever try to get the deer used to your scent, or you figure it's just better off just keeping out of there after you get what you need to get done done?

SPEAKER_00 34:18

No, I stay out. For me, the way I look at both my deer and bear spots are the work I'm doing now. When I when it comes time to set up, all I should have to do is go in there and hang a camera, obviously draw a bait, and then set up a stand, and that's it. Like I shouldn't have to do any other work in the woods or make any other noisy or banging or any of that stuff. So the more of that I can get done now, the better.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

Right. Yeah. Yeah, I just wondered about that because uh I've heard some people try to get the deer like, oh, I'll just try to get them used to me, but I mean, they're a wild animal, how used can you really get them to you unless you're, you know, hunting suburban deer,

Shooting Lanes And Quiet Entry Routes

SPEAKER_01 34:55

right?

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Well, that's it. And they you hear some folks saying, you know, you you'll have they'll hang a fake head in their ground blind, so it looks like there's somebody in their stand all the time. Yeah, or they'll leave that is different. Yeah, or they'll leave like a shirt where that has their deodorant on it in their stand all the time, type of thing as well. I don't I don't do any of that.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

I I do that for bear. I do the shirt thing. Okay. Um I found it I found it works quite well for bear. I've not done it for deer. The whole head thing in there, that's uh that's a whole other level.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

Yeah, it's like basically hanging a ball or or a buoy or whatever it is to you know to mimic a a human head just so they think some so they basically they're they're used to that view in the blind all the time, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

I've never done it, but I've heard of it be done, and I guess you know, some guys do do it. And if you uh if you talk to some of the some of the older hunters, they've they've tried things like that as well.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

So Yeah, yeah, I suppose. I mean, yeah, it's it's different. Um I yeah, the shirt thing I've done for bear because I'm I'm set up really close to my bear blind, and um yeah, I do find that works just because the bear's nose is better than a deer's and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

But Absolutely, and they're always curious. Bears are always gonna circle you no mat no matter what. So if they if they circle it and they're still coming in, then you're probably good.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

Yeah, and then I well this year, just to get off topic a little bit, I had my bear blind quite close as 13 yards for my bait, and I heard some, you know, somebody told me, like, oh, they're gonna screw with it. I'm like, ah, it should be fine, my ground blind. Um, and then the first night though that I left my shirt in there, yeah, they jumped on it and put a hole uh through my blind.

SPEAKER_00 36:32

So Yes, sir. And that's funny. Of all the bear hunting I've done, I have never had a bear ruin a ground blind on me. Really? I live by the rule as well, where I won't bait at the same time and I'm going hunting, like I'll bait in the morning. Yeah. Um, come back out, and I use completely different trails when I'm baiting compared to when I'm hunting as well, and I'll never ever go in my stand on the same day I bait or not not with the same boots.

unknown 36:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

And so far it's worked for me. So anyway, that's uh again off topic, but I'm lucky that way so far, knock on wood.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

Yeah, yeah. Um yeah. So what what are some other things that you're doing right now, Mike, just to get to get ready? Because I mean, it comes quick and people don't realize it sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

It does for me, man. I'm so I got a new side-by-side. I spent a lot of time in that. So basically spots where I tried to get with my truck before, I'm taking my side-by-side now. So I'm always in the woods. Like I'm I'm constantly checking out old roads or any any old road that I drive in. If I see an opening as I'm driving by, I'll take a walk in there just to see what it looks like. Like I think the more you know a general area of where you're hunting, the more successful you're gonna be because you're gonna be more comfortable with where you do finally choose to set a spot up if you know what those, you know, what all the surroundings kind of look like. So I think time in the woods is the biggest thing. Like I'm very lucky. I work from home. Um, so I can kind of come and go as I please for the most part. I don't really have a morning commute or an evening commute like some folks do. So I s so during that time frame, you know, I'm I'm usually in the woods doing something and scoting and seeing what I can find.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Yeah, well, that's the thing, right? You just can't beat boots on the ground. Just being in the woods, spending time in there and just seeing how things ebb and flow and think you know, things like that. I mean, you you can't beat it. That's that's how any woodsman become better.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Absolutely. And another thing too is like talk to some of the you know, the elder hunters or the hunters that have hunted your area for a long time. You know, if you can befriend them and get some good information from them, a lot of times they'll give you some tips and tricks or things to look for as well, or maybe even some old areas they used to hunt, whether it was twenty or thirty years ago that you may have not even known existed, type of thing. I I do have areas down here around my home that are like that. Like I'll talk to folks that have hunted it 20 or 30 years ago, and obviously the landscape has changed or it's grown in or whatever, but but the point is there was deer there and a lot of their deer there at one point, so it might be worth a walk in there to see what it looks like.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

Yeah, yeah. And have you ever come across this? I mean, I've I've had videos and stuff with my cameras seeing deer licking an area that like just uh unique natural mineral sites.

SPEAKER_00 39:19

Uh not really here. Not not from what I've seen, anyways. Um I'm the only the only thing I've seen here, the closest thing to it, would be like after winter, you'll see deer on the side of the road licking the salt off the roads and those types of things. Like you do see that. Um

Sight-In, Ammo Consistency, And Rest Setup

SPEAKER_00 39:35

and where I live so close to the ocean, like you if you can find trails where they're coming. I don't like hunting near the ocean. I don't. My my my dad does, but I don't. Um but if you can find trails where they're coming down to where they travel beaches or where they're coming down to get their kelp and those types of things. Um the trails that are the woods, those are you know, follow those trails back in the woods just to see where they're coming from, where they branch off to, because you'd be amazed at what you find and and the deer sound that you'll find in those types of areas.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Yeah, that's really cool. I I never pictured that much deer on the beach eating seaweed and kelp. Uh just where I'm at, we definitely not near notion for that. Um that's that's cool. Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 40:16

We have we have an island very close to where I live that has a deer population that lives on there, and I swear they're like a different breed of deer. They almost look like they almost look like goats. They're short, they're shorter deer, and they have like weird-looking fur, and there's yeah, there's fallows that do go out there every year, and there's there's an old camp out there. Um last year me and my buddy went out there and we tented out there for a couple days. We saw some. We never we never ended up harvesting anything or whatever, because we we went kind of early October. Um but it's pretty cool. It's like it's the only thing that lives out there is deer. They have no predators out there. Um the the deer swim out to the island. It's not super, super far. It's under a kilometer, I guess. But yeah, it's pretty cool. It's uh it's a different territory. It's a lot of fun, and you learn a lot from them because we were we were literally watching them on the beach and they slurp kelp just like spaghetti. It's the funniest thing. We actually I have a video of it somewhere. I'll send you a video of it off to the side. It's pretty cool to see.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

Huh. That is cool. Yeah, it's it's something that you know people listening to this, you Midwest hunters and and that, uh, you'd you'd never think of.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

No, and it's the it's such a weird diet. Like, I don't know I've never eaten a deer that's been harvested over there, so I don't know what it would be like or or whatnot. But I can tell you this, they're definitely built different. Yeah. They literally look like they're just shorter looking deer, and even though even the bucks that are over there, any that I do see harvested, um, they're more like spindly s uh skinny antlers. It's it's the weirdest thing ever. It's it's like a unique breed of deer.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

Hmm. Yeah, that uh yeah, that is cool. I mean, yeah, that's the thing too. You know, it's all white-tailed deer, but you compare a white-tailed deer from Alberta versus a white-tailed deer from Texas, they don't they look like they're completely different species.

SPEAKER_00 42:06

Oh, definitely. I mean, I I'll have Americans that'll uh comment on my post or whatever from the deer that I I post and they'll be like, my that looks like a 300-pound deer. And they you know, they're just a lot bigger than what they're used to. But at the same time, you look at the deer they're harvesting down there, and they got these massive antlers and these small bodies, so it's yeah it's just totally different, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Yeah, it is. It's really different. It's it's really cool too. I mean, you you'd swear yeah, it's just as different as a whitetail and a mule deer, but it's it's you know, same species, the white tail, but it's it's just different areas. I mean, I remember seeing some in Florida and I was like, man, these things are tiny. I'm like, is that a different deer? They're like, no, those are whitails. I'm like, interesting. Like just so much smaller, they just don't get the cold, they don't need to bulk up. You know?

SPEAKER_00 42:54

Yep, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 42:56

Pretty cool. So do you have uh is there a couple bucks from last year that you know that made it that you're kind of gunning for this year?

SPEAKER_00 43:05

Uh so like I said earlier, I have a couple of mainstay stands. Uh one of those mainstay stands is my wife's stand where she harvested her first buck last year. And at that stand, there is a there's a nice buck. Um don't really have a name for everything, but he has tines that are as tall or taller than the rest of his analogies. They're pretty cool. He's a nice big mature buck. Um, so I'd be super happy if she harvested him. I did have a spot that was super close to her as well, which is where I was setting when she harvested her buck last year as well. It's probably, I don't know, we'll say a thousand yards away, I guess. Um, and uh and basically in the ridge that ran parallel parallel with her. But I didn't want to be too close this year. I want to be a little further away so that we're getting different bucks on all the cameras that I have set up. So that really is the only real target

Boots On The Ground And Closing Notes

SPEAKER_00 43:55

buck I have. There's a couple other bucks that I saw pass through in a couple spots that I'll be interested to see what they look like this year. But honestly, for the most part, out of the I guess I know I'm gonna have probably 17 spots to start for sure right now. Out of those 17 spots, I would say and they're not all like again, they're not all gonna be set up to hunt. Some of them are just gonna be cameras, and we'll see what shows up and does it depend on whether I want to put a stand-up. They're all ready to hunt. They all have they all have shoot lanes and everything cut. Um, but it doesn't necessarily mean I'm gonna hunt them. But out of those 17, I would say 13 of them are basically net new spots for me. So I'm always moving. I'm always moving around. One of the things I love doing is exploring new areas, and like I said, I'm obsessed with finding the next big one, so I will move as much as I have to to make that happen.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

Nice. Well, you know, Mike, you've got some great dedication, and from last year and previous years, it's definitely paying off. Um Yeah, thank thanks for coming on, and this definitely gives us you know something to think about, even though deer season seems so far away. Uh it's it's getting there. You know, prior preparation and planning prevents piss poor performance.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

Honestly, man, deer season is all season. Like you have to you have you have to look at it that way, or I do anyways. I mean, I'm completely obsessed with being in the woods all the time. I put as much time as I can being in the woods and setting up stands or exploring new areas or market maps or whatever it may be, and then you know, it's it tends to tends to lead to success, or it has the last couple of years, and I can only hope that it continues.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

So Yeah, yeah, 100%. Um, Mike, I wish you the best of luck this season, and uh I I'm sure we'll be talking again this year.

SPEAKER_00 45:47

Thanks a lot, Ken. Same to you, buddy. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

All right, thanks, Mike. Take care.