Ep.127 You Can Build A Great Food Plot With Small Gear

Your food plot doesn’t need to be perfect, but it does need a plan. We’re joined by Neil Connors, a hunter with a wall full of whitetail proof, to talk about how he builds plots from rough timber ground and keeps them producing through dry summers, acidic soil, and real-life time limits. Lane Lewis and Dalton Patterson jump in throughout with their own hard-earned lessons, and we keep it focused on what you can actually do this season.

We dig into the stuff that moves the needle: buckwheat as a fast-growing draw that also builds organic matter, clover management that hinges on mowing timing, and why winter rye can be a secret weapon for both feed and cover. We also talk about screening tactics like Egyptian wheat or milo, how much sunlight different plants really need, and why preserving topsoil and moisture matters more than chasing “magic” blends.

From there we get honest about inputs and prep. Neil explains liquid lime as a quick pH boost and why liquid fertilizer can be more efficient than granular. We also talk weed pressure, no-till attempts, and using glyphosate responsibly when it’s the right tool. Then we shift into early-season scouting decisions: cell cam subscriptions, when summer inventory matters, how mineral sites actually help, and why big bucks don’t always show where you expect them.

We wrap with hunting setups and woodsmanship: ladder stands versus ground blinds, saddles and climbers, mock scrapes, and a few unconventional attractants that have produced real results. If you enjoy deer hunting strategy, food plot planning, whitetail scouting, and preseason preparation, this one is packed. Subscribe, share it with a hunting buddy, and leave a review so more hunters can 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

Welcome And Sponsor Notes

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Hunts on This is Hunts on Outfitting Podcast. I'm your host and rookie guide, Ken Murra. I love everything hunting, the outdoors, and all things associated with it. From stories to how-tos, you'll find it here. Welcome to the podcast. Hey, alright. Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode. We're gonna have a lot of fun talking to Neil Connors. Neil has an impressive wall of big bucks, nice white-tailed trophies, and we kind of get into a little bit how he got there with an emphasis on food plots this week. We talked to him about how he stumbled into it from small beginnings to evolving his skills, learning through both trial and error, what plant species to to do that do what, what's going to build up your soil and organic matter, to what crops work for the best time of year. We talk cell cam placement and if it's worth even having them out, early season. Um we talk about scrapes you're ran for deer. Well, yeah, maybe it's uh something very new that I learned on here. Uh different attractants and um just uh again, what a lot of food plot talk, which I really enjoy, but also a lot of early season prep for deer in general and some tips and tricks that Neil has that he's learned over the years that have helped him be successful. Uh early season planning and preparation. So that's been you know, it's it's it's interesting. Um, and then I'm also joined uh this week with uh hoop crew members, Hunt and Note Fitting Podcast members, Lane Lewis and Dalton Patterson, who have been on many times before, and they are helping with this episode chiming in and sharing some of their expertise along with uh with Neil. So it's interesting. You guys and gals are gonna enjoy it. Also, this year, if you're getting ready, you're doing your preseason prep, uh don't forget about hooligan archery products. They are make excellent gear. I'm looking right now at the hooligan broadheads, the metalhead ones. Uh, super excited to try them out for this dear season. And if you use code HUNTSON2026, all caps, all one word, you're gonna save yourself 10% of checkout. So don't forget to use that if you check out hooligan archery products, arrows, broadheads, all everything that fletchings, you name it, they got it. And uh he's gonna be able to set you up with that one stop shop. And Pro Expedition. We're gonna be talking a little bit about mineral sites and putting them out in summer, and I feel that they do help in Pro Expedition, they ship all over North America. They are gonna be able to help you uh set up a great mineral site and get some more pictures of deer and moose. And um speaking about deer season as well, River's Edge Game Calls, he makes Kenneth McDonald ships all over North America too, and he makes really nice wooden handcrafted with love buck grunts that will definitely uh help up your game, I think, this year during deer season. So don't forget to check them out, Rivers Edge Game Calls. Now let's talk to Neil. Oh,

How Neil Starts Food Plots

SPEAKER_00 3:54

and if you were 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, hunts on outfitting at gmail.com, or you can find us on Facebook, Hunts on Outfitting, or find myself on there, Ken Meyer. Feel free to reach out. Some of you guys have been, it's been great talking with you from all over. Neil, I'm fired up. I'm happy to have you out here because uh it's been a little long time in the making trying to have you out and you know, life's busy. Um, but I'm excited to talk uh about a lot of food plot stuff and just pre-season hunting, getting ready for deer season because you've had some success with some rather large bucks in the past, but that's not by accident, that's not a fluke, right?

SPEAKER_04 4:37

No.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Um, so and then joining me today, I've got Dalton and Lane. Guys, feel free to uh speak up whenever. Well, not right now, Dalton. Um yeah, so uh so Neil, um you've got uh you've got some really nice wall hanger bucks, and uh, but you put in the work for them. And for you, I mean, when does deer season start for you? Or does it end?

SPEAKER_04 4:59

It doesn't really end.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Doesn't end, no. Um what's uh I mean, I guess this time of year we're get we're gonna be by the time this comes out will be early to mid summer. I mean, what are you doing then? Like your food plots. How'd you get into the food plots? I guess let's start there.

SPEAKER_04 5:15

I think I just I was into mineral and then I don't know, I just took the bike out one day with a little bit of chain link vents and hauled it around and did some walk and toss, I think.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:27

And it grew alright, but it was a real small food plot.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:31

And then uh once I bought a tractor, that's when the game changed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Yeah, because you had smaller equipment because didn't you try it before you had like one of those uh what are those called? Groundhogs or ground max. Yeah, groundhog max. So it's uh for those listening, it's uh it's like a di it's a disc that hooks into the hitch on your four-wheeler uh side by side, and you just kind of like put it up, you put the bike up on ramps kind of, and so it hangs down lower, and then when you drive off, it tears had I've used them before. It didn't if the gram was like muddy to begin with, probably would have worked, but did you have any luck?

SPEAKER_04 6:10

You have to go like a hundred miles an hour with it. Oh yeah? Yeah, like you you have to tear the crap out of your bike pretty well. I found it hard, hard on the equipment.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:19

But the tractor and tiller is it's the way to go. Oh yeah. Yeah. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

So but you I mean you did a few years though just with the bike though, didn't you?

SPEAKER_04 6:27

Yeah, I did. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

And then did I mean what was this what size of plot?

SPEAKER_04 6:32

I did probably half an acre.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Well, that's not bad.

SPEAKER_04 6:36

No, it was a it was a good uh start to a plot.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:40

And it it actually grew really well.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Yeah. Well, so what were you planting there? And what was your prep before? Because you weren't like really productive ground, right?

SPEAKER_04 6:49

It wasn't at first, it was kind of just hit or miss, alders and just hitting stumps, roots. And but I found the first year I did the plot, it did the best.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Huh.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

Like with the mulch and that, I don't know, a little bit of moisture in the ground, but it did really well. And I planted clover and buckwheat and oats and that, and it it did really well.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

So I I don't know much about buckwheat.

Buckwheat For Soil And Attraction

SPEAKER_00 7:15

I hear like it's a good way just to kind of feed your soil because some guys will grow it and then just kind of mow it down. I don't know m much more than that about it. I mean, are the deer really they love it. They do.

SPEAKER_04 7:24

Hands down, that's probably my number one go-to. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Yes, sir. I'm learning.

SPEAKER_04 7:30

So I'll do that early spring, like mid-May. Oh, that early. Yeah, yeah. It'll usually uh pop up within, I don't know, four weeks. Yep. And then once it gets tall and goes to seed, I'll roll it, roll it in and then seed into it.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 7:49

And then it just takes off, keeps moisture down close to the ground and the seed. Now you find that like better early season, or like is that a late season? No, I do it early season.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Oh, yeah. But then you but then you use the residue from it to help feed the soil and all that for your next crop.

SPEAKER_04 8:05

Oh, yeah. It builds it builds soil for sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Does it? Yeah. Just adds that organic matter. Because that's the most important thing. I know. Do you do a soil test? I know everyone preaches that I should. And I should too.

SPEAKER_04 8:16

Like it But I don't put a lot of money into fertilizer and that. Yeah. So I'm not I'm not really losing a lot.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:24

But you you probably should do a Yeah, I know they'll tell you that, and it's not a bad idea.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

But so that's what you do with the buckwheat so you roll it in. Because I mean, that's the big thing, is just getting that organic matter up.

SPEAKER_05 8:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

You know, because uh yeah, I know different people that have done it. Actually, I know a guy, um, he had someone come in with an excavator to um to clear out a spot in the woods for his food plot, and the excavator guy just didn't he's never done he all he ever did was building lots before, right? He didn't know. Uh all the topsoil is gone.

SPEAKER_04 8:53

Everything he took everything.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

He thought, you know, the excavator operator thought, like, oh there you go, there's nice, you know, there's no stumps in there, nothing, you're good to go. It's like all the top soil's gone. It's so important. I mean, that's what we all live off of, right?

SPEAKER_03 9:04

Yeah, I think you gotta like pull the stumps and like shake them, shake them, yeah, and get all the tops off of them.

SPEAKER_04 9:09

It's better to have the organic matter of the trees to like say if someone chipped the wood, yeah, it's good to have that stuff on the ground. It really makes a difference.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

But that's gonna hold moisture too.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

It definitely does, yeah. Yeah, you see videos about like the stump grinders in, they'll if there's a plot with stumps in it, they'll grind all the stumps and then mix the grinding up stumps into the soil. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Yeah, because I've heard people do like on dry years, the moisture in that mulch and all that is what's gonna kind of help feed, you know, the soil and everything in your plants growing. So the buckwheats, that's interesting. Yeah, okay. So I thought about doing that, and maybe I should. Yeah. So I just grow I've I've had brassicas in before and all that. This year I'm trying to get the soil built up a little more in some areas, so I've got just straight clover planted. And uh, but I've mowed that's the important thing that people don't realize is clover. You gotta mow it. Yeah, you gotta mow it. But I I tried to mow it when I see it's you know really coming to head, but before a rain. Yes. But then if I'll like last year we had we had no rain for like a month and a half, and I I kind of you can see in the forecast, I didn't see any, so I I mowed it three times, I think, three or four times, and then I stopped and it mowed again. And luckily it lasted fine. But if I'd mowed it just be a little later, I think it would have burnt up.

SPEAKER_04 10:24

It would have. If if you know that there's hot weather coming, don't mow it. Just let it let it be thick and tall. Yeah. Keep the moisture in.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

But it it really helps like mowing, you know, when you've got other species and stuff competing, and then you mow it, and then I find the clover that really it takes over, which you know, what you want. It ad it adds so much nitrogen too, yeah, back or quite a bit from what I've been told. So just helps build it up. But yeah, so what else do you do?

SPEAKER_04 10:53

I I plant uh turnip, oats, uh winter rye.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:02

Like do something for the fall.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Yeah. The winter rye, yeah, I haven't gotten into that yet. So yeah, I guess that's the thing too, is by the t here where we're hunting, deer season, if you're hunting archery, starts early October.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

First week of October.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

First week of October. So that'd be early. Um, but then rifle starts later. So if you're hunting rifle, you gotta keep that in mind of what's gonna be growing then kind of things. So you've the winter rye does?

SPEAKER_04 11:28

Yeah, like I have some planet right now and it's it's up over my head.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Oh, really? Really?

SPEAKER_04 11:34

Oh yeah. It'll grow anywhere. Well, tell us your secrets. Anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Just just regular winter ride?

SPEAKER_04 11:41

Yeah, just winter weed or winter rug. It'll grow pretty much anywhere you think it won't grow, it'll grow. Really? Yeah, you pretty much toss it in the woods anywhere and it'll take off.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

So do you do you find you mow that? Like you said, it's up over your head to the deer. Uh do they mind eating it that high?

SPEAKER_04 11:58

No, I find they eat it. Like even the buckwheat, it'll grow probably, I don't know, two or three feet high. Yeah. But once it flowers, I'll I'll seed into it and then crimp it or roll it. Yeah. Whatever, drag a piece of fence over it. Yeah. Just to get the seed to soil down.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Good roller or crimper. Crimper is some hand.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

A roller a roller would be nice.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

But uh really so that high and they'll still eat it. Oh yeah. Huh.

SPEAKER_04 12:26

Yeah. It'll get so high you'll have to mow it.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:29

Yeah, like I I went back today and tilled a spot and it's over top of the tractor.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Really?

SPEAKER_04 12:34

Yeah. The clover, I the clover's probably two feet tall. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

So what do you because

Clover Mowing And Tall Screening Crops

SPEAKER_00 12:40

remember we were out coon hunting last year, you're telling us about um before you're able to get it, it was like uh liquid um lime. Yep. I'd never even heard of that, but you said it worked really well.

SPEAKER_04 12:50

Yeah, so I just because you need so much powdered lime. Yeah. Well, I I've never done a soil sample either.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

But we have a little context, I guess, here in New Brunswick, our soil is quite acidic, so then the lime's gonna help neutralize it.

SPEAKER_04 13:05

Especially my plot. It's in the woods too. Oh, yeah. Quite a few spruce trees and stuff and pine trees. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:12

Question before we move on. How much sunlight do you need? Depends what you're growing for a plant. Okay, well classics. Rye or clover, whatever. Like, how much sun do you figure you need or did do you need rye and clover? You don't need a whole lot.

SPEAKER_04 13:28

Like it blows right up. Like it's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Like I gotta try the rye thing now.

SPEAKER_04 13:33

Yeah, you'll have to come come check mine out and then kind of see what it's like. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

No, I'm I'm really curious about that rye thing now because I like the cover too. I like having it that tall. Yeah. Because I I because somebody I had somebody out of my plot the other day, and then they're like, Are you gonna mow like around it here, like where the deer are coming in? There's like an old field that I haven't really touched. I was like, no, because if they can see if they have to, if they have to come right up to look into the field, I'm gonna see them. I said, if I haven't mowed further back and everything, I said, they just look from the woods. The bucks are like, oh, no does there, I'm moving on. I said, I want them to come in, so that rye thing is great because they can't see past it, so they have to come in and look.

SPEAKER_04 14:12

So what I've been doing the last couple years is trying to do something like that grows high on the outside of the plot so the bucks can't see it. Yes. So they have to go into the plot to see if there's any does in there hiding. Do you ever plant that for like a cover for your entry and exits too? I don't because mine, if you've seen how my stand set up, it's it's like a thick wall of spruce trees.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:36

So I can pretty much slip into the stand and they they stand right there and they don't even move.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

So but the rye, so do you find the do you use the rye for that?

SPEAKER_04 14:46

No, I don't. Okay. I'm probably gonna plant like Egyptian wheat.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

What is that?

SPEAKER_04 14:52

That grows like nine feet tall. It's just like a wall, and I'll probably just do the tiller width. Yeah, probably four feet. That's all my tiller is.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:01

And I'll do the outside of the plot with that.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Huh. Yeah, because that's what I'm looking into. So it's it's Egyptian Egyptian wheat. Wheat. And it that grows easily.

SPEAKER_04 15:11

Yeah, well, if you if you ever go to a superstore on Main Street, yeah, in Moncton, you'll see it growing by like the river there. I thought it's canary grass. Tall stuff with the canary grass is not that tall.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

That's Egyptian wheat. Because I think like canary grass of Egyptian wheat on the highway before the Irving sign had nanogates too. Exactly, yeah. You where that is, Ken? Yeah. That stuff probably very specific, but Western before the Irving sign.

SPEAKER_04 15:36

Yeah, I mean you can even do uh Milo too. I didn't Milo. Milo grows well, but it's like a real heavy stalk in the spring to clean up too. I just till it in, but same family as corn, isn't it? Yeah, basically, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Oh, but does it take a lot out of your soil?

SPEAKER_04 15:53

It grows a seed head.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Because corn does. Corn wreak havoc on your soil.

SPEAKER_04 15:57

Yeah, I would say Milo would be about the same.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

I thought about uh growing sorghum sudan grass stuff before, but I heard like man, that takes like everything your soil's got and then some like it can be pretty harsh on it.

SPEAKER_03 16:08

Yeah, and you gotta cut it at a certain time and it'll uh it takes forever to dry too.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Oh yeah, yeah. Um so what about we're talking back to the how much sunlight it needs stuff. What about brassicas? How much sunlight do you find brassicas need?

SPEAKER_04 16:22

Uh you should have, I would say, like a 50-50, like half half day. Like I think they should have some sunlight. Yeah. But you don't want to get I find a lot of the stuff I do gets too dried out.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 16:36

And then it just it doesn't, it stunts the growth.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 16:40

But I haven't done a soil sample either, so I'm not I know for all the experts listening.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

I'm gonna do a soil sample sometime. Yeah, me too. I know that you're supposed to, I'm not knocking it at all. Yeah. I know because that's yeah, that's what everyone says. I'm like, no, it's a good idea, I think. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:55

But when I started getting into food plots uh like heavy, like the last five years, I've been doing a lot of liquid lime.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Yeah, yeah. So let's talk about

Liquid Lime And No-Till Weed Control

SPEAKER_00 17:06

that. I've never even heard of it before, but you're saying you got it from like a landscaper guy or something, and used it's like rocket fuel because said uh, so a lot of the farmers around here, because it's cheaper, obviously, and stuff, they use the powdered lime. That's like because they're doing you know hundreds, thousands of tons. Yep. Um, I use the pelletized lime, which I heard that's a little quicker uh that the soil takes, but liquid, how fast did the soil take that?

SPEAKER_04 17:29

It's pretty much instant, but it doesn't last. So it just boosts it right away. But like 2.5 gallons of liquid lime equals like 1,400 libs of AG lime.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Really?

SPEAKER_04 17:42

Yeah. And it's 90, it was $90 for two gallons. Yeah. So it was it was quick like to spray it on. Yeah. And you just put on that with like a basic backpack spray. I I used it, I have a sprayer for the back of my bike.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Yeah, I gotta get it I gotta get what what spray do you have? Because I want to get one.

SPEAKER_04 18:01

I'm not sure the brand. I just uh I think I would get it from uh Princess Auto.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Okay, yeah. So I'm not sure I want to get one because I um I I I I was always hesitant on uh coliphosate. Everyone's like, ooh, but uh it's pretty cool. It is uh holy shit, it's drunk. So I know this guy, and I'm not gonna say his name because I was getting stuff uh from like Walmart or whatever to spray, and like that didn't work. So I know a guy that has his own sprayer and he does stuff. I know a guy in the industry, and he gave me this, and I so I used it so I all my cows and everything. This was a lot of work. I'd whip or snip around underneath the fence once or twice a year, and like holy shit, it took Wally's like spray this around. So I sprayed that. Man Oh yeah, like my eyes were water and put it up now, but I couldn't believe how strong it was, but it worked. So then last year I did my first ever, I sprayed down and I did my first ever no-till, and it worked. Everything germinated, but it didn't really grow because we had a drought here. We didn't have a significant rainfall in a month and a half, but it worked. So I was like, you know, I'm a believer in this. And then apparently, you know, glyphosate, everyone thinks it's so bad. I wouldn't drink it again. No, but um, that's what happened to my hair. Um but uh apparently it neutralizes apparently instantly, basically, as soon as it hits the plants and stuff, they just suck it in, kills them, and apparently it's it's it's completely safe after that. But it it works well, and it's not something that sh you know used responsibly, not near brooks or rivers or anything like that. And uh I think it's a great tool.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Really.

SPEAKER_04 19:34

Well, if not, you can have weeds take it over, like hemp nettle. We have a lot of it in the woods, and it'll take your whole plot over. I've had I've had it happen two years ago. Yeah, it just ruined the whole plot pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

So I I was talking to a guy about this a little bit. So growing clover, there is stuff that you can spray, and I can't remember what it's called, but you spray it down and it'll kill everything but your clover.

SPEAKER_04 20:00

B14.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Maybe that's it. So if you tried that.

SPEAKER_04 20:04

I haven't. My clover comes in so thick now that it just chokes all the weeds out.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:09

But I've mowed and mowed like I had the zero turn in last weekend. Oh, really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Huh. So uh oh yeah, anyways, jumping around here. Um, back with the the lime. So you sp you put the lime on, you've got a sprayer for the four-wheeler, and that just like rocket fuel. Yep. Really, it works that quick.

SPEAKER_04 20:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Huh.

SPEAKER_04 20:27

And now there's a few companies that have liquid fertilizer too.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 20:33

So that's that's a game changer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Well, I had um I had the boys from Domain outdoors on last summer here on the podcast. Awesome fellows. Uh, they're sold all over the states and now in Canada. And I've I've got some stuff from them and it's excellent, great to deal with. Um, they were saying that they did a bunch of tests and studies in-house and found that the liquid fertilizer takes so much better than the pelletized. Yeah. I see I forget the wastage that the pelletized is, but it's pretty high. Really, the stuff is just you just it's not really working.

SPEAKER_04 21:03

And when when are you applying it?

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Yeah. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 21:07

You're you're spraying the plant itself with the liquid. Yeah. So it goes right in the leaf.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah. And it's sucking that in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

I feel like you lose a lot less nitrogen because you'll lose nitrogen right to the air with pelletized fertilizer. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And moisture. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Just if you get a big rain on that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you see some farmers uh in the spring or you know, areas that they're at, the whole when the river rises, it floods. It's like, well, someone down the road's getting lots of fertilizer this year because everything they put on last year, it's gone. Yeah. But uh yeah, so you use that. But uh, what are you so you're planting a bit early in the spring, like your buckwheat and things like that. Um, then see when I think of planting food plots besides clover, I mean you can plant it later too. I'm thinking like here, anyways, uh mid to late July. Is when I really like what are you planting then? What are you doing?

SPEAKER_04 21:58

I told him plant it today.

Planting Timelines And Plot Size Mistakes

SPEAKER_04 22:00

Day oats and uh turnips. Because it takes a while around here to you planted turnips today? Yeah.

unknown 22:08

Fuck.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

I'm way behind.

SPEAKER_04 22:10

To establish, I find. Like if you wait, and the the reason why I don't wait till like mid July, early August is drought.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Well that's la last year.

SPEAKER_04 22:22

Like you're you're screwed.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

So I yeah, experimented. One year I planted mid to late August and everything grew, and it grew decently, and then we started getting frost. And I was like, shit, and it could have grown more, and the frost just kind of stunted it, and that was it. That's it. Then the year after that I planted mid to late July. Much better luck. Really good. And then last year it didn't, but but we had the drought, so I'm not gonna blame it. No, it was definitely drought in mine.

SPEAKER_03 22:50

Burnt up a lot last year. But yours looked like when were we in there coon hunting?

SPEAKER_00 22:55

That was later, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 22:56

December, I think. Yeah, we were in there and like there wasn't much left. Like they had cleaned. Oh yeah. Yeah, they dropped it.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

And I I didn't mow it most of the summer because it was a drill.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Yeah. Well, it's like my clover last year. Like I said, I I mowed it, I think, three or four times, and then I didn't mow it again. And it, you know, it it grew kinda not after that. Just no rain. Yeah. That's your that's your best fertilizer, is rain. Oh, yeah. You know, really.

SPEAKER_04 23:24

Yeah. Yeah, you need rain.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, so what are some of the things that you've learned in all that along the way with your food plot and stuff? Because maybe I yeah, I've seen the pictures, but don't, yeah, we gotta go out and see it in person, yeah, not during coon season. Yeah. Um before they eat it. Yeah, before it.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

There's so much there now that yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:42

For the few deer that are around, they're not gonna clean it out.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Well, that's the thing too. I I've talked to a guy that did a lot on this, Tom Byers, and he's saying like a lot of mistakes people make with food plots is they're they're not seeing how many deer are in the area first. And some people their biggest mistake is to make them too small because they don't realize, oh, I'll just make this little plot. They know 30 deer might move in and clean it out, and then that's that, right?

SPEAKER_04 24:06

So Well, you could have five mature does and they won't let any other deer in either.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 24:12

They'll just sit there and fight them. If it's too small, it'll drive all the bucks out too. Really? Yeah, until late fall, I find.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

They get like that. I hadn't really thought of that, I guess. Yeah. So that's the big thing is give them lots of it. Well, depending on if you know the deer, but the deer are gonna be.

SPEAKER_04 24:29

I find kind of split I I kind of sp split the plot up to different stuff.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 24:35

Just gives them a little more variety.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Because deer are they like goats, they're browsers.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

They don't cows graze, they just graze, graze, graze, eat, eat, eat, go through. Whereas deer and goats, they browse, they pick and go, so you want a variety, right?

SPEAKER_04 24:49

Yeah, that's kind of what I do too.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:51

And then like I'll keep like right now I have buckwheat growing, uh, chronicle, clover.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

What'd you call me? What's that?

SPEAKER_04 25:01

Uh it's just a leafy plant.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Chronicle? Yeah. Is it like um I don't know, kale?

SPEAKER_04 25:07

No, it's like a broadleaf plant. Like it's I've not heard of that. Yeah, it's growing good right now.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Yeah. Yeah. Um what are yes? What are some things that you've learned to get to this point that you're at? Better equipment.

SPEAKER_04 25:20

Yeah, having the tractor helps. Big time.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

And you don't have a giant tractor either.

SPEAKER_04 25:25

No, I only have a 27 horsepower Kubota.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

It's not a huge And then what attachments do you have?

SPEAKER_04 25:31

I just have a tiller and we have a bush hog at home, but I don't use it much. Uh I just have a snowblower for the winter for the tractor, but you find that's handy in the food plot?

SPEAKER_00 25:42

Yeah, just push it.

SPEAKER_04 25:43

I have a blade, push blade though. That's that's nice. Like I cleaned a big area off today.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:49

Just a bunch of dead stuff in the way. I just push it out of the way so I can hang some ladder stands.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Do you do you roll too? Do you have a roller?

SPEAKER_04 25:57

I don't see when I seed, I don't really roll much.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

You just take uh I used to I I'll take I gotta get a roller, I want one, but I take uh like an old piece of uh chain link fence.

SPEAKER_04 26:09

And drag it. Yeah, yeah, I I do that too, but sometimes I find that tiller it build builds your soil up loose. So if you seed into it anyway and then it rains, it kind of settles the seed so it's not so deep either.

SPEAKER_03 26:23

Yeah, good thing the only good thing about a roller though, right, is it'll push your rocks down if you get a lot of rocks. Yeah, right. Yeah, a lot of food plot. Who cares, right?

SPEAKER_04 26:32

That's right. Your mower is the only thing.

SPEAKER_03 26:33

But I don't know what you got for rocks in there. It might not be too bad where you're at.

SPEAKER_04 26:36

I have some. You wouldn't have your mower that low. No, I leave my deck on five. Yeah, yeah. On number five. You don't want to no, I I mow high. Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Like I'll let you cut the grass, just no, but just drive through aimlessly. No, I uh yeah, I leave I leave the what a brush bush hog and I leave it up.

SPEAKER_04 26:53

Yeah, just give it a little haircut. Yeah, yeah, that's that's fine. Let it grow.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

Yeah. Yeah. Um yeah, so that's the thing, you know, but you you were getting by though with your ATV. Yep. Right?

SPEAKER_04 27:04

At first, yeah, it worked, it worked good. And I even I did a little one for my brother in the woods too with buckwheat once, and it worked awesome. Yeah, it worked out good.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

That's the thing, is uh I don't know everyone people think you need the big equipment, all that. I'm thinking I've got to get a sprayer, I really want to get a sprayer in a roller, and I think I can do most everything with that. Oh, yeah, honestly. Because yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:26

You can do a lot, like even with an ATV and a piece of chain link.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:30

If you can just drag the leaves and that off just to soil, and you plant the right stuff like buckwheat, and you do the winter wheat or rye, whatever, it'll grow. Yeah, a lot of guys just overthink it and think they need all these big equipment, tractors, and because you're watching dreary outdoors on YouTube, and that's what they have. That's right. In a perfect world, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Yeah. Um so two, I mean, what what do you find? What's gonna last? Say we're we're hunting, you're going gun hunting, you're in November. What's the best thing probably to have in your food plot that the deer is still gonna be coming and eating then?

SPEAKER_04 28:09

I would do turnip for sure. Yeah, turnip, oats, the oats still.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:15

Winter wheat, that stuff, and Milo. Milo last week.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

I gotta look into the Milo thing, really.

SPEAKER_04 28:21

Yeah, it'll stay standing like half the winter stood in the field at my place.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

Yeah, yeah. Huh. Yeah, I gotta look more into that.

SPEAKER_04 28:28

Yeah, and they ate a lot

Late Season Crops Deer Still Hit

SPEAKER_04 28:30

of it. Yeah, they mowed it right down, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

So, and then too, you know, this is always the debate, and then uh you guys I know you guys can do a lot of food plot stuff. I love the food plot and thing. I always tell people, anyone that listens to this podcast has heard me say this before. I love putting in all the time and effort doing that. I hate sitting there. I'd much rather be in a tractor, bike work in the ground doing this or that than sitting there hunting. Um, but uh about putting up cameras early in the summer or mid-summer,

Trail Cameras And Mineral Site Reality

SPEAKER_00 28:59

I guess. And how do you find that do you find the bucks in your area stay around then? Like how much scouting are you doing for the deer thinking about actually hunting that animal in the fall?

SPEAKER_04 29:11

So right now, or at my food blots anyway, I don't have a lot of bucks kicking around. I never never have really. Like you get the odd small spike or something like, but nothing mature. Usually they're all in bachelor group. Yeah. Like I know now where they are. So I I always have mineral out for them, but and I only run, I don't know, right now I only have two cameras out, I think. One in the plot and one where most of the summer bucks hang out.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Yeah. So you don't worry about it too much.

SPEAKER_04 29:41

No, I kinda once August rolls around, I start putting cameras up where I think they're gonna be like in the fields and that.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

Just to getting inventory.

SPEAKER_04 29:52

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Yeah, I kind of do the same thing. I well, I've always got I like to have one on the plot, see them in velvet, see who's growing, and then I found last year I had two that I had pictures of in uh July, and they ended up staying, they'd pop in and out all during deer. They ended up staying there till about December or later. I guess pulled my cameras then, so they were still kicking around then. Uh and then I had some others pass through in the summer, never saw them again.

SPEAKER_04 30:18

Yeah, I get a lot of different deer in the fall.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 30:22

November, December, like there's a lot of different bucks I've never even seen before.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:27

So that's why I don't get too bent out of shape early season.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

And I got spots too that I know is like right now I'm not having anything on, but I'll put mineral up and I don't even put a camera on it until September because I know it's that's a rut spot, and nothing's gonna be there right now. But I do other spots, I I will find them in the summer, and some they will stay around till till the rut. And I've had good luck doing it too. Yeah, got on them. Not every deer is the same, but if you can get them get them early without pressure, you know, I find they don't leave.

SPEAKER_04 31:03

They don't need to. Like the big buck you found dead there. Yeah, I have velvet pictures of him all the time. And that's always no, that's not far from the house.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

I guess as the crow flies, how far? Seems far.

SPEAKER_04 31:16

300 yards.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

What?

SPEAKER_04 31:17

Yeah, it's not very far across there. I have a mineral spot. That deer and a bunch of other deer always hit in the summertime.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

So mineral, I just kind of got into that a little bit last year and now, uh, thanks to our wonderful sponsor, Pro Expedition, uh, putting out a little more mineral. And um, it's it's good. I mean, the doughs and the fawns is fine, really need it this time of year, but I like you get a little bit of an inventory on the bucks coming in because they will they'll take it a bit. I found they're growing their velvet out, they do seem to need it. And I got access to a new hunting property this year, so I'm gonna be I haven't yet, but I'm gonna be putting mineral out there. And then I do have my regular mineral spot. I actually just put a salt lick there every year uh by my food plot and the deer, the does mainly always use that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Yeah, I mostly have does hitting my mineral, and that's why I mostly put it out for is those does that are that got newborn that need that extra little nutrition boost when they're when they get the fawns with them.

SPEAKER_04 32:13

Your bucks will your bucks will use it, but you gotta find the bachelor group.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:17

That's the hardest part. Finding them in the spring.

SPEAKER_03 32:20

They hide in caves, I swear to god, until about October the 29th, and then all of a sudden they're there's deer that yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:30

But when you if you can find them, if you don't find them, there's probably five or six in one spot.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

I saw them alongside the highway the other day out near uh Hampton there. There's like there's four or five, and they're all they all look pretty good so far for this early in the year.

SPEAKER_04 32:43

And they'll stay together till August. Yeah, once once they start rubbing velvet off, and then they just start breaking away.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

Yeah. Yeah, and it's just picking them up. All right, where are you going? Where are you going? You know, stuff like that. But yeah, the mineral I find, yeah, it kind of helps you take inventory.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

In new spot, and I like that too. But and then but I don't like, and Pro Expedition doesn't do this, but there's other companies that do this. I'm not gonna name names, but where they push the mineral, like, you know, you put this mineral out and boy, you're gonna grow the biggest freaking rack. It's gonna be a year old buck and he's gonna be a huge 10, right? It's like that's not how it works. No, it helps, but it's not. People also think that too.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

They're like, I'm gonna put mineral out this year to help this buck, and he's gonna blow up. No, mineral's a multi-year program. You gotta keep on to it, and it's genetics.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

I take multivitamins, I don't look like a bodybuilder.

SPEAKER_03 33:35

It's pressure, it's it's so many things, right? It's a lot of feed, too. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

Do you take multivitamins, Dalton?

SPEAKER_03 33:44

No.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

I do, and he's twice the size of me.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

Yeah, exactly. That's genetics.

unknown 33:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

So there you go.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

And the thing with mineral, too, a deer knows if they don't eat it, they won't touch it. That's right. No, it's a cow, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:56

A cow will only eat enough mineral. So ruminant animal will need enough mineral to look at what it is.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

But we were talking lane the other day about different areas in the counties where Westmoreland County, the deer seem to like this kind of mineral, and then in Kent County, they seem to like this gun because that's just the soil and that's what they're getting. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

So if I'm putting out an if I'm scouting a new spot and for mineral, I'll put in a like in the camera view, I'll put like a couple test spots of mineral, all in camera shot, so then I can see which one they're hitting the most according to which the soil and what they need, and then when I go replenish it, then I'll put what whatever one they've been hitting the most because every spot's different.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Yeah. Yeah. I find, I mean, we're in a good area. The egg land here, the farmers have the best food plots around going. I mean, the deer here, I find they grow really well, but I just don't like that some of those companies pushing it that oh, you gotta put this in, you're just gonna have the biggest racks. First year, boom.

SPEAKER_03 34:52

Well, they're not how it works. They're not pushing it for the deer. No, they've been pushing it for business. Yeah, no, and a lot of it's just salt. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

Yeah, like but they they like that. See, I get I get salt.

SPEAKER_03 35:02

Salt's the only mineral that they consume for pleasure. I do believe.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

Um, yeah. Yeah, I think so. I forget, I read something about it for cows. They like it just how we like it, because I always put it out for them. Salt's the only one that they makes and drink water and produce more milk, I guess. But um, yeah, it they like it. I put I've I've always put salt out just because I get a good deal in bulk for with the cows for salt blocks and that the deer do like it. And then compared to the mineral blocks, I don't find they touch it quite as much. So yeah, yeah, I think it is just out of pleasure. They like a little variety, right?

unknown 35:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

But what are you putting out, Neil? You put out different minerals and stuff, and then you still make your own?

SPEAKER_04 35:40

Yeah, I still I still make my own a little bit here and there. I it's hard and salt blocks.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

It's hard to make your own because you get all the different mixtures, you gotta buy them in the big bags and and a lot of companies don't have them. I know. And we made it a couple years ago, and like, oh, now we have a hundred and fifty pounds of mineral. Like, what are we gonna do with this? That's why I just buy the pre the pre-mixtured bags from different companies, just because it's convenient. I don't I only need ten pounds of it, so I don't go make my own.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

I like it too with Pro Expedition, they've got them in really convenient carrying jugs. And then when you're done with mineral too, get a nice jug for whatever you need, you know, put water in there.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

That's the thing, you just go buy a 10 pound or the 30 pound or whatever, just can I think there's like 15 maybe.

SPEAKER_00 36:29

Yeah, it's just convenience. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:31

Rather mixing it yourself and then you gotta store another hundred pounds of mineral that you didn't put out and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

Yeah, but what else are you doing for like are you get do you get hung up too much, Neil? I guess on summer scouting, you guys do do you guys? I mean, I I see I've I've got the tacticams, right? Now you guys do too. And then I'm like, do I pay for the subscription a couple months early to put a few more cameras out because I'm scouting areas, or does it matter right now in July, right?

SPEAKER_03 37:00

I personally have two subscriptions running right now for absolutely no reason.

SPEAKER_00 37:05

I've got two running one with bearing.

SPEAKER_03 37:07

But as far as scouting goes, like You don't think it's doing anything? For me personally, no. Like we're not gonna go into great detail here, but where I hunt is like It's late season. It it's late season, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

So I wondered that. See, I've I've got my bear one, I've got two bear ones still going, and then bear season's over here. So then I've got I've got that new property. I'm trying to just kind of get a little lay of the land with that there, and and then I've got one on my food plot, but uh yeah, I know. I wondered about putting any more out, or is it just in July? It's just a waste of money right now.

SPEAKER_03 37:36

That's my opinion, but I'm sure other people do things differently and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

I I got a three out right now. I just enjoy having them out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

I don't get too hung up on it right now if I'm not getting anything on camera. If I do, I'm like, well, it just I like getting fixtures. It's fun.

SPEAKER_04 37:56

I I have three main spots that I always try to keep a camera.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:01

Just for bachelor. I know I'll have lots of different bucks on camera there, that's why.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:07

But normally I don't do a whole lot of summer scouting.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

And same thing, I got spots I know's really good during the rut, and I I won't even bother no, I'm not wasting my time putting a camera on it right now because I know I'm just there's nothing there right now. They'll show up during the rut.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

Yeah, I find, I mean, really, I guess if you're if you're hunting Bo here late August into early September, if you're getting a buck on camera steady there, chances are he'll probably be there in October too.

SPEAKER_04 38:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

I guess. I get well, I guess one of the benefits of putting the cameras out now is uh it I do like to see sometimes the fresh young fawns, and you see kind of what's going on there and like alright, it looks like a good fawn crop in this year, this year, in this area, that thing. But but yeah, I uh no, I wondered that what your guys' opinion was on that. I know it probably won't activate any more cameras right now, probably be a waste of time.

SPEAKER_03 38:59

Yeah, I have the same sentiment about it, but then I'm like, ah, screw it, I'll just put them up, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:05

But I mean, like two years ago, I don't think I put cameras up till like the end of September. Like, and it didn't make a difference in my scouting.

SPEAKER_02 39:13

But the end of August, I'll I'll have all my cameras out and starting to get a little more serious about it. But I'm also starting that's a month before the season, so then I'm kind of yeah cracking down because for bow opener, but right now I'm I'm not real serious about it.

SPEAKER_00 39:31

Yeah, what are your what are some other early summer, mid-summer stuff that you do, Neil, just to kind of get ready, make sure you're shooting. I mean, you've got a very well manicured property we found out when we were coon hunting. So like so we were walking through, we're like, this is great walking. This is really nice. I'm not getting like slaps in the face with branches. You've got like gravel down for the woods, roads, and stuff. This is like really nice.

SPEAKER_03 39:53

I didn't even get my feet wet.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

No, no, could have done it in flip-flops.

SPEAKER_04 39:57

Yeah, there is spots you can get your feet wet.

SPEAKER_00 40:00

Um, yeah, no, it's it's well manicured, and the deer probably find it convenient too.

SPEAKER_04 40:05

It's like yeah, I don't find a lot of deer in the summertime. I find them all in the fall, like a lot of roamers in the fall. Yeah, yeah. Just I do a lot of bear hunting in the spring.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

Yeah, well we'll have you on the podcast get to you another time uh about your giant one there. Because yeah, you got how heavy was it?

SPEAKER_04 40:25

441.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

441 spring bear. Spring. I mean, that's massive. I know it's crazy. Like Lane got his big taxiderm one back, and then I was like looking at it again the other day. I was like, it's kind of crazy. These things are just like strolling around in the woods around here, you know? Like you don't think about it much. That's a big ass animal, predator.

SPEAKER_03 40:45

And people really don't see them that much. We actually saw a sow and a cub on the side of the highway today coming home.

SPEAKER_00 40:51

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Or a mock to but we I mean, here we don't, there's not a lot of bear sightings, unless you're hunting them. It's not a lot.

SPEAKER_02 40:58

Yeah, like that's pretty rare. There's a lot around driving down the road and we saw two bears on the side of the road. No, deer, that's an every drive occurrence. But bears, for as many bears as we have, there's not a whole lot of sightings of them.

SPEAKER_04 41:11

No, there's when people do, they freak out. Oh yeah, there's a lot of bears.

SPEAKER_00 41:15

There is, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:16

A lot of remote woods though, too, still.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Yeah. And that's the thing. People, I mean, you gotta manage your predators, coyotes. I hate coyotes with a passion. Um, but the bears will take a lot of fawns too. Oh yeah. A lot. I mean, they come across, they've got an excellent nose, way better than a deer, way better than a coyote. And uh they come across a fawn. I mean, they're not gonna leave it. That's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 41:37

And they say bears will can smell when a uh doe's is ready to to fawn and they'll follow her and wait for her to drop the fawn, they'll take the fawn.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

Is that what it's called when they when they f they fawn?

SPEAKER_02 41:50

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 41:51

I guess the calves, the cow calves. Oh, we'll call it fawning. Maybe that's called that. Do you know, Neil? I'm not sure. We'll go with that, Lane. It just sounded all the question. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that'll be the this fall's winter deer season trivia question. Um

Stands, Blinds, Saddles, And Climbers

SPEAKER_00 42:09

yeah. So what um so when you do you hunt out of tree stands, ground blinds? I'm always curious if people with this. There's pros and cons to each. What do you find's best?

SPEAKER_04 42:19

For bow, I do ladder stands because of my back. Just I can't handle sitting there for long hours and hang on stand.

SPEAKER_01 42:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:28

I have a climber now, that that's a nice stand. But usually gun season, I'll try to stick to the house. Yeah. Or ground blind. Yeah. Like just to cover your scent.

SPEAKER_00 42:41

Uh pretty much. They do, they really do cover scent. I've not been winded in a ground blind that I know of. But ladder stand I definitely have.

SPEAKER_03 42:51

And you get so much mixed weather too.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:55

The ground blinds are nice for that, but I I hate gram blinds so much. I own two of them. I just hate them.

SPEAKER_00 43:00

Like, well, you can't see as well, but it's nice when it's raining and you're in there too, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:04

Exactly, yeah. Oh yeah, and when like when it's when it's windy and stuff, you know, like you're you're at least out of the wind.

SPEAKER_00 43:10

But you your your line of sight's not awful. Yeah, I know. I do like seeing up and down, right? But I do have one stand that's like up in the air and it's all enclosed. That's nice, but those are a little difficult to put everywhere. Yeah. Whereas the grand blanks just pop up. But you tried the saddle, Aileen.

SPEAKER_02 43:27

Yeah, I've hunted out a saddle before.

SPEAKER_00 43:29

What'd you think of that?

SPEAKER_02 43:30

Surprisingly comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

Really?

SPEAKER_02 43:32

Yeah. I would like to try it. Well, you're stroller and try. It's actually surprisingly comfortable. I don't want to say I'd love it.

SPEAKER_00 43:39

It looks like you'd have a giant wedgie all day that you're in.

SPEAKER_02 43:41

No, I've I've just put her like that's what I like about it. I've had people try it at the house and just put her like a couple feet up on the base of the tree. And it's weird. The first time I used it, I was with a buddy of mine, and we're like 17. You're just in this saddle, and he's like, Alright, hook your strap in. And I'm like, Okay, and he's like Lean back. And I'm like, what? He's like, it'll hold you. Lean back. And I'm like, uh, leaning back. And he's like, keep going. It's gonna hold you. And I'm like, I don't like this. And once you get used to it, it's actually quite comfortable. Like I can sit longer in a saddle than I can and hang on tree stand.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

Really?

SPEAKER_02 44:17

I could see that.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:18

You're letting it take the weight. But you're just in like a like a diaper harness, right? Like that's basically. Yeah, and then it right.

SPEAKER_02 44:23

It's like it sits high above your hips, and there's two anchor points on your hips that go up to your bridge, and then it goes up to the tree, and you could set it.

unknown 44:32

Oops.

SPEAKER_02 44:33

You can set it so there's so many positions you can set it at, and you can have it more forward or more backwards, and you can turn side to side.

SPEAKER_03 44:40

And you hunt with a foot platform too? Yep. I think it'd be good.

SPEAKER_02 44:44

It's I was kind of curious. I was actually surprised how comfortable it was. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

We had a friend lame, wasn't he hunting out of it at first with rubber boots?

SPEAKER_02 44:52

Yeah. He's like, oh, he's like my ankles were just bothering me. I'm like, what are you wearing? He's like, oh, just rubber boots. The old dunlocks like that's your issue. I said, you need a good that's your issue. You're stupid to support your ankles.

SPEAKER_04 45:06

I love the climber.

SPEAKER_00 45:08

I've never climbed never done a climber. Explain that, Neil.

SPEAKER_04 45:12

So I I picked up a used climber from a buddy and just I tried it this fall. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 45:21

So what is it? Like it's a two-piece stand that you just go up, you move, but it has to be a tree with no limbs.

SPEAKER_04 45:28

Yeah, basically I try to stick to like a spruce or a pauple so it digs in good, so you're not like one of them guys that fall out of the tree. But yeah, you just basically hook your top, hook your bottom, and stand up.

SPEAKER_00 45:41

Shimmy up.

SPEAKER_04 45:41

Shimmy up and shimmy down when you're done hunting.

SPEAKER_00 45:44

How long does it take? It depends on the person.

SPEAKER_04 45:47

Yeah, it doesn't take very long to get 20 feet in the air.

SPEAKER_00 45:49

Really?

SPEAKER_04 45:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:50

It's a little noisy at first, but once you get the hang of it, it'd be noisy at first me breathing, like, oh shit, let's get this up.

SPEAKER_04 45:59

Please slide down.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Oh, yeah, I'm out of shape. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:02

As you're as a hunter, though, like everyone's paranoid at making noise.

SPEAKER_00 46:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:07

Like you hear deer come in, and some deer are just noisy.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

It depends on the noise, right? Like a metal noise is unnatural. But if you hit something off wood, wood to natural sound. But yeah. But you know what's funny? So I had hunters sit this year and they they saw lots of deer. And um one of them had to piss real bad. And then when I got to them, he's like, Oh, thank God he hears I had to piss so bad. And he said, I wanted to wait till we got to the house. And I was like, No worries. I was like, just one second, you guys hop on the bike, I zip, unzip my pants, pissed right there. And he's he almost fainted. He's like, I'm like, man, the deer and where I'm hunting, they're used to, it's no big deal. People get so hung up.

Mock Scrapes And Offbeat Attractants

SPEAKER_04 46:48

I do it right in scrapes. I do too, yes. I do it right in scrapes. Everyone's all worried about taking the screen. I do it in scrapes too. 100% of the tree stand.

SPEAKER_00 47:00

I'll go a step further and put my finger in my throat and throw up at the I throw up right in the scrape. No, I don't do that. But I do, I piss in the mock scrapes that I make, and they around my food plot, I put four. Usually two out of the four or three out of the four it used. I always piss in them.

SPEAKER_04 47:17

Yeah, I do too.

SPEAKER_00 47:18

Yeah. People people get way too hung up on that too. It's like, man, don't worry about it. They're overthinking. Yeah. Overthinking. Yeah. Like it's it's it's an animal, not a genius. And the thing about the scent thing is the deer, they're smart, but they're I think we we chalk them up to a lot more than they are. They're they're an animal. They're not necessarily thinking like, oh, he's here, I'm going there. It's just more natural animal instincts about they chose this route because of another reason. Like it's just easier, quicker. After the food is they can smell going down there. But as far as the scent and stuff, I mean, yeah, they're used to it. They don't care. They really don't care. Like I mean, a bear has a ten tons not ten tons. A bear has much stronger nose than a deer. And I've gone bear hunting with guys, they just reek the B O and stuff like that. I don't use any scent eliminator with that. And the bear, I mean, if they're used to it and stuff, they're gonna come in. You know. But yeah. So you you can't.

SPEAKER_04 48:16

I use uh I use a lot of uh vanilla extract to find big deer too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:23

Like everybody I've hung it on rags before and had big deer going up and sniffing it and rubbing their head on it.

SPEAKER_00 48:30

You know what I'll do too, I'll do this with bear. I started with bear and then I started with the deer, they don't seem to mind as much, but the bear to get them used to my scent, I'll be I'll be if I'm out fencing or something like that, just sweating away, shirt soaked, I'll take that and leave it in the stand. I'll tie it to the ladder, I'll leave it in the grambling, something like that, and then I find they're they get used to it pretty quick. Used to your smell. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:53

I like to do if beer sits while while the bear coming there and they get used to you, and you kind of know what to expect and where they come from too.

SPEAKER_00 49:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:02

So it's not a surprise.

SPEAKER_00 49:04

But vanilla extract for deer?

SPEAKER_04 49:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

I've no I don't heard of that for bear. What do you just spray it?

SPEAKER_04 49:11

No, I hang it on rags. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:12

On rags. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:14

Any time of the year.

SPEAKER_04 49:15

I usually use it in the summertime more than the fall.

SPEAKER_00 49:18

Really?

SPEAKER_04 49:19

Yep.

unknown 49:20

Huh.

SPEAKER_04 49:20

And then you're pre-orbital.

SPEAKER_00 49:22

Well, you've got you've got a good wall full of deer, so something's working. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:28

I'll take that. I do a lot of pre-orbital in the spring and getting hard in the spring. Yep. Like I'll find licking branches and I'll make licking branches. I swear by it. Yeah, we'll hit scrapes all year round. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 49:42

Really? Yeah. Yep. What scents do you use?

SPEAKER_04 49:46

Pre-orbital.

SPEAKER_00 49:47

Just any?

SPEAKER_04 49:48

Yeah, any pre-orbital. Yeah, I screwed it.

SPEAKER_02 49:51

I don't put anything in the scrape in the summertime.

SPEAKER_04 49:54

No, I don't use any like uh urine or anything in the scrap. It's pre-orbital. But I will scratch the ground up. Yeah, but I in the summer. Yep. Yep. Really? Yeah, I'll do that all year long.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

Huh. I'd never I'd never thought because I'd never seen any action. Yeah. Like I said, I definitely come fall, I'll a hundred percent make mock scrates, and I said normally half of them are used, but I never thought about doing them earlier in the year. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_04 50:21

Like four. So within like two or three days, you'll have good deer. You find like if you put that scent rate first thing brings a lot of deer in.

SPEAKER_01 50:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:32

Same as like uh cherry Kool-Aid. You ever run cherry Kool-Aid? I've used cherry attractants before. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:39

I've heard I've never used it, but I've heard guys that mix it in with like their corn. They'll get a I like it uh with water. They'll get a or grape, they'll put the in with their mix it in with their corn when they dump it out for feed. I mix it in with mineral too. Oh yeah?

SPEAKER_04 50:53

Yep. Cherry Kool-Aid. That's a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 50:56

They like it that much.

SPEAKER_04 50:57

I like not think of that. You're gonna get bear. Like, oh, you're gonna get bear, but the smell is just like it's out there. Huh. Like, and I'll put I'll put it in a spray bottle. With put it in a spray bottle, walk around the woods, spray it everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 51:11

Really?

SPEAKER_04 51:12

Yep. Swear by it. Yeah, you want deer in the area, you'll you'll have them in the area.

SPEAKER_00 51:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:18

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 51:18

That's pretty cool. Any other little pro tips?

SPEAKER_04 51:22

We're listening. Yeah. I have a list of my cones of little ones. I just kind of think of it outside the box. Yeah, that's you don't know what's gonna work. Yeah, I agree. Try different stuff.

SPEAKER_00 51:32

Different things are different areas. I mean, Lane, you've said this. You've had luck with it. I couldn't get them for the life of me to enjoy them. Carrots. Oh, I can't.

SPEAKER_03 51:40

They couldn't give a shit. I brought it a bag of carrots every year trying. I can't lug carrots to them fast.

SPEAKER_00 51:45

Same as corn, whole corn. I put that in. They couldn't look twice at it.

SPEAKER_03 51:50

I've had really good luck with corn and I've got corn around me.

SPEAKER_04 51:52

I can dump a truck truckload of carrots one night. They'd be gone.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

They won't touch a single apple until every carrot's gone.

SPEAKER_03 51:59

Yep. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 52:00

Note me, whole corn and carrots. I've never been.

SPEAKER_03 52:03

The only problem with corn is turkeys. They're there twice a day. It's ridiculous. See, that'd be alright with two. Yeah, but you can't hunt them.

SPEAKER_04 52:12

No, that's all right.

SPEAKER_00 52:14

Yeah, I like turkeys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:16

Something to watch while you're sitting there.

SPEAKER_00 52:17

As an ambassador of the Canadian Wild Turkey Federation, Dalton, we're promoting having turkeys around. Good job, eh? Yeah. Um, that's good to see.

Turkeys, Predators, And Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_00 52:24

I know I was out today, uh scouting that new property. I saw three, you know, in New Brunswick here, people listen to this like turkeys. What's the big deal? They're quite new to us still, and I saw three Jakes up there, and I was really, really happy to see them up there. I'm like, that's awesome. Because that's an area, never seen them there before.

SPEAKER_04 52:37

Same as my place when I was come out tilling there, there was two families there with the little ones. Yes, I saw that picture. I was like, that's I was crazy. Like you've never seen them at the house before. So awesome. It's good to see.

SPEAKER_00 52:48

Yeah, it is. And you know what, you want to talk about a success story to have an animal that New Brunswick that we've brought here that's not only surviving but thriving where it's never been before, and that we have a huntable season on them, and that they're doing they're doing well. Yeah, they're doing good. It's awesome. It's awesome to see. And then um, I've had some farmers think that they're wrecking more crops than they are, and I got talking to some other ones. They're like, I don't think they are at all. They like if they're going some people, some of the farmers think they're tearing up their corn seed and all that. Like, if they're going through a field, a freshly planted cornfield, they're after bugs. They might grab a couple seeds here and there, maybe, but I really don't think they touch them that much.

SPEAKER_04 53:25

We'd need a lot of turkeys. I don't think we have a problem with turkeys at all. No, no, not like down the states and stuff. Bears are doing a lot more damage to crops than turkeys.

SPEAKER_00 53:34

Yeah, absolutely. Or even the deer are.

SPEAKER_04 53:37

Yeah, I would argue that in some spots, yeah. But a bear can lay down nakre corn in the fall just in the evening.

SPEAKER_00 53:43

Yeah, yeah, just like we see that coon hunting.

SPEAKER_03 53:45

Yeah, yeah, just not even for a reason, just for something to do.

SPEAKER_00 53:49

Well, I think you guys have probably been with me before where I've had farmers call me with the coon hounds there and they're like, You come out here, I got a coon problem. We get out there and I'm looking around like, nah, you've got a black bear problem. Like, I've not seen any coon tract, but there's bear shit everywhere and stuff. Like, yeah, I'll tell the farmer.

SPEAKER_03 54:07

Yeah. Like it's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 54:09

I mean, some of them do have some coon damage, and you know, more than happy to be hunting there, but there's a a lot of times it's bear. A lot of bear.

SPEAKER_04 54:17

There's a lot of bear around.

SPEAKER_00 54:18

There is, yeah. Yeah. Gotta shoot them. But um, well, Neil, this has been a lot of fun. It's been great talking with you. Good to have you on again. Talk about your bear sometime. But uh it's good. It's a little pre season planning, and uh I love talking food plots. I really do.

SPEAKER_04 54:35

Perfect. You guys have to come out and check my own. Yeah, we'll be out. Yeah, yeah. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 54:39

Anytime.