The Archery Project
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The Archery Project
Beyond the Backyard: Planning Your First Out-of-State Hunt
Every hunter dreams of exploring new territories, but planning a successful out-of-state hunt requires more than just booking time off and hitting the road. In this candid conversation with experienced hunter and outdoorsman JR Owen, we unpack the essential elements that separate triumphant adventures from disappointing expeditions.
Fresh off his 700-mile journey on the Appalachian Trail, JR brings his methodical planning approach to hunting preparation. He breaks down the critical first steps of selecting a destination based on budget, species availability, and terrain preferences. The conversation takes a practical turn as we explore the often-overlooked importance of thoroughly understanding state regulations, which can vary dramatically across borders and change yearly.
Equipment preparation emerges as another cornerstone of success, with JR emphasizing the value of "shakedowns" - comprehensive testing of all gear before departure. From proper sleeping systems that match anticipated temperatures to ensuring your bow or rifle is perfectly tuned, these preparations prevent the heartbreak of equipment failures in the field.
What truly sets this discussion apart is the tactical wisdom for hunting unfamiliar terrain. JR shares his approach to scouting new areas, building rapport with locals, and adapting to different deer behaviors across regions. His experiences hunting in Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, and Arizona provide real-world context for these strategies, highlighting how terrain differences demand flexibility in hunting approaches.
Whether you're planning your first out-of-state adventure or looking to improve your success rate on established trips, this episode delivers actionable insights from someone who's learned through both triumphs and failures. Because as JR reminds us - you're not getting any younger, so commit to the adventure. The memories will be worth every moment of preparation.
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All right, we are live, JR. Thanks for joining me.
JR Owen:Yeah, man Appreciate being on here.
Zakk Plocica:You're in town for a couple days. It was kind of a last-minute thing, flying by the seat of our pants with this one.
JR Owen:Hopefully I don't mess it up.
Zakk Plocica:Dude, it's literally impossible to mess up. So we had Ruben on, joe, all our buddies, levi and I finally had an opportunity to get you in here, which I was kind of curious if I'd ever be able to get you in here, cause I remember it's been a long time since I've seen you. Right, you left Lejeune and you're like I'm never coming back, pretty much, and I was like, well, and here you are welcome back.
JR Owen:It's, it's uh, it's definitely weird driving back into town and seeing some of the change and then some of the I mean it doesn't change. So, um, I was excited to get down here off my trip from the AT and then, like, just coming in here and seeing all the changes y'all got going on in the shop, I was like, wow, this is, this is amazing.
Zakk Plocica:It's come a long way. Yeah, because, because whenever the first time you came in, like when we first started the archery side of things and I think it's been six years now you know we had we were talking about this yesterday you know we had our first we started with an indoor archery range. You know our 30 yard indoor range. The backstop was made of uh, cardboard trash from roses next door that we got and we shot our first like event and every one of your arrows got lost in our backstop.
JR Owen:Yeah, I had to buy you new arrows. Like every time I was like, where'd my arrow go? It's like, oh man, I'll get you another arrow. Or at the end of it it's like, hey, I'll hook you up, I'll make this right. I'm like, yeah, you're good man, not a big deal we lost a dozen arrows, I'm sorry.
Zakk Plocica:We'll get them out eventually when we get a real backstop, yeah, but yeah trail, which was three months uh yeah, so I did 702 miles um.
JR Owen:We started march 3rd and I hiked until uh. The original plan was to come off trail yesterday, the 22nd, but I came off trail on the 17th. I had gotten sick um being up in the mountains hiking.
JR Owen:I just got to the top of the last summit um just outside of uh buena vista for me and uh virginia, and I was like I'm done that's good, I was already, I was already going to get off like 40 miles later and, honestly, my shoes were spent, I was spent, I was sick, it was hard to breathe. I'm like, yeah, this is far enough.
Zakk Plocica:700 miles is plenty. That's impressive, man. You know what was kind of the thing that led you to wanting to do the AT trail.
JR Owen:It's kind of funny, my buddy in Iowa that I live with. Before I started living with him I was just helping him with deer hunts up in Iowa. He invited me up there on a veteran's hunt through Operation Second Chance and he asked me one day he's like, hey, I'm going to do the Appalachian Trail. It was a lifelong dream for him and I was like what's the Appalachian Trail? As long as I have lived around this area I had no idea what it was. He goes oh, it's 2,100-something miles from Georgia to Maine. I'm like he goes oh, it's 2100 something miles from georgia to maine. I'm absolutely not, do not want to do that, do not pass go um. And then I gave it some thought and then it was like november I went up there for the veterans hunt to help out and I was like you know what? I ain't got anything else better to do, I'll do it.
Zakk Plocica:So, 700 miles later, so the training for that was pretty extensive, wasn't it?
JR Owen:right, uh, yeah, absolutely did no training other than my day-to-day routine of working out. I might have hit legs a little harder, a little bit more intense, but it didn't matter. Yeah, as soon as you got in the georgia mountains.
Zakk Plocica:Yeah, that's funny it's funny because joey did part of the appalachian trail too and I was talking to him about it. He's like dude. Georgia is absolutely oh it's horrendous atrocious absolutely.
JR Owen:Um, the worst mountain out there for me was mount sassafras and I I just I couldn't stand it, like I could not wait for that mountain to stop. Um, the switchbacks and and the thing about georgia it's got like a little bit of everything um, all the terrain and it just all sucked, because you're starting out if you've never hiked before and it had been I don't know four and a half, probably really five or six years since I've done any like heavy pack movement for long periods of time, and that was all forced through the military. So, um, that's the reason why I was like, yeah, I'm not gonna do this.
JR Owen:But then I get out there and I'm like, yeah, this is pretty cool, like you get into it a couple days and then then, once you're in like a month, it's like it's just, it's kind of a part of you. It's like you, you like to be out there right on the trail it's definitely a cool experience.
Zakk Plocica:You know, it's not everybody has the ability to go out and spend three months in the wilderness. Yeah, you know which you know. I think a lot of people would really like to give a shot. But yeah, it's cool you got to do that. Definitely it seems like a pretty eye opening experience.
JR Owen:It definitely was. I mean it usually takes around six months to finish it Six to seven depending on how fast you go guys like haul butt through it and finishing like four months but when you're doing that you just head down and you miss everything right so they've.
JR Owen:They've got a uh saying uh for the through hikers, the guys that start from georgia and go all the way to katahdin, the end point, or they do a sobo reverse and uh, it's a last one to katahdin. Uh is the winner because you took your time and you got there and you got to see all the stuff. So instead of just like blazing, yeah blazing through.
JR Owen:I mean, we blazed through like the georgias as much as possible, because we're trying to like get our feet underneath us and get out the door and everything. And it took a little while to like reset and, uh, it was a good reset, because then it was like okay, now I know what I'm doing out here, right, I got my time off, um, away from everything and just really like reflect, yeah, in the mountains and suck as well well, let's go ahead and jump into it.
Zakk Plocica:So today we're talking about you have a lot of really like reflect in the mountains and suck as well. Well, let's go ahead and jump into it. So today we're talking about you have a lot of experience. You have an extensive background hunting. I mean, you've been hunting, fishing outdoors your whole life, since you were a young kid, so you've you've really got a lot of experience. And that was one of the things I want to talk with you about today is because you've done a lot of out of state hunts.
Zakk Plocica:I don't know why that was so hard to say Words, yeah, right, from all over. And that's what we're talking about today, kind of the planning process for a do-it-yourself, diy out of state hunt. What are the things to consider? And one of the things I wanted to kind of you know, ask you and I know it's everybody, it's different from everybody but what really determines where you plan to hunt? I mean, is it time of the year? Is it where you have, you know, places you have access to? Is it past experience? You know what kind of is your the starting point for you?
JR Owen:So I think with a lot of people it's uh, want to hunt. Like I always wanted to hunt the Midwest and growing up there was no chance I was going to ever hunt the Midwest because all I saw at the time was all these outfitters and like the big name people going out and they're killing like these huge bucks and I'm like I'm never going to get to Iowa, I'm never going to get to Ohio or something like that to to hunt the midwest or even like, say, elk hunting I have not got to do elk hunting yet, but it's a bucket list thing, um.
JR Owen:But like going out west and doing mule deer hunting, you know the access to to get there and then like so which state am I able to get to with a, a, a budget? So there's, there's a number one.
JR Owen:A restrictor right there, right so budget, uh, time of year, and like the animal I want to hunt, um, and then the access to it, like, do I have the ability to hunt a public land or just public land or private land? And if I have the ability to hunt private land, I'm gonna hunt private land absolutely. But there's also a piece of like the going to public and really grinding it out. Now you can grind it out on public land, or I mean private land, just like I mean we did it and like I don't know, like 2018 or something in kentucky, yeah, and it was we, only we wasn't there for long.
Zakk Plocica:We weren't. That's one of the things. That's really that a lot of people you know if you've never done it and I don't have a lot of out of state, out of state experience, just a handful of trips that you know I go to Kentucky every year and you know, if you've never been there and you've never stepped foot on that property and you don't really have any good intel or information on where you need to even begin, it can kind of be overwhelming and you're like, where do I even start? You know, so that's, that's one of the things too. Like. So when you've keyed in on to where you want to, where you're, where you're going, you know what state you're headed to, what part of the state you're heading to, where you're, where you're going, you know what state you're headed to, what part of the state you're heading to.
Zakk Plocica:What is the beginning phase of the planning process for you? Cause it's a lot to take in, it's a lot to consider, because it's not like I can just run home and you know I forgot this. Oh man, I got to go home and grab my release. There's a lot that goes into it. What's kind of the starting point for you?
JR Owen:So, um, um, I kind of relate it to mission planning for, um, military operations and uh it you know, starting point is once I have an idea where I want to go, like in a mission, like, hey, we're going to country x, well, I'm going to state whatever to to hunt this animal. Um, what are the tags Like, how do I get access to it? Am I just going to hunt public land? And then, um, am I flying? I don't fly, so that but that's out there.
JR Owen:Yeah, so when, when you're flying, you got to think about how you're going to transport your weapons and then how you're going to get your meat back, uh, how you're going to get your trophy back, all that type of stuff. So you start doing the back planning, and I would say the back planning for infield, or just getting there, and then you know, start thinking about the gear I need, how long I'm going to be there, and then I should always be prepping as far as physically fitness, physical fitness and my weapon of choice, like, right, you know, to get better with your bow, you got to be behind your bow. I feel like I saw that somewhere yeah, it's weird, isn't it?
JR Owen:it's crazy um, so, uh, where am I at on this? Uh, how do I decide and what do I do? So I want to. I want to go to, uh, to Missouri or whatever. I pick out a couple different state or public lands, because that's basically what I'm going to do, and then I try to move it away from the big city areas, because public land just gets oversaturated nowadays.
JR Owen:So I pick something that is somewhat easy for me to access. I don't have to be around a lot of stuff. Maybe, like a grocery store is like within 10, 15, 20 minutes of me, right, so I can resupply myself, because that's really important. Am I going to be able to do that? So that's another checklist on there. But then, as far as like hunting, like I get that that piece of property that I'm going to do that, start e-scouting and you can go like way into the weeds on e-scouting and just spend all your time, uh, like clicking, like, oh, I want to check this out, I want to check that out, but I can only do that so long because, uh, it really begins when boots are on the ground.
Zakk Plocica:Right. So you've got to kind of prioritize. You know areas of interest, but you've got to be realistic with it because, again, there's only so much time when you're there and so whenever you do go on an out-of-state hunt, do you have like a minimum amount of time you're going to spend there, like, hey, I got to spend at least five days there, or it's not worth it.
JR Owen:Yeah, so I, I would like to do five to seven days. Um, because like day one, two, maybe even three, like three you may start seeing stuff. I mean, you could get it done day one right.
JR Owen:If you're lucky, right? Um, that doesn't always happen, but you know, day one is me figuring out where I want to camp, or reconfirming where I want to camp, or stay in a hotel or whatever it is, and then road scouting or maybe just walking the public and just doing a morning, or maybe a whole day of just scouting, and maybe scouting in and then doing a hang and hunt that evening and just being mobile, right be scouting in and then doing a hanging hunt that evening and just being mobile, right.
Zakk Plocica:So? So that's one of the big things too, is, you know, planning gear accordingly is, whenever you go into an area that you're unfamiliar with, being able to be mobile, like you said. So that's why, where the equipment that you take is so important that you're, one, efficient with it. Two, you have it set up correctly so you can access it and utilize it in a way that makes sense. Uh, and then you just have the ability to go kind of anywhere, because out of state hunts, especially public land, I would assume. Um, you're going to spend a lot of time, you know, walking initially.
JR Owen:Yeah, um, yeah. I think this last year I went to Missouri and did out of-of-state hunt. Reuben went with me.
JR Owen:Another buddy of mine, aj, yep, he showed up out there and I would say day one, like after we got everything done, like I already had a pinpoint on the map of where I wanted to go, we hunted that evening, we did some scouting the first evening we got there, just kind of drove around and then the next morning we had to get some camp chores done, set up camp and get some groceries too, because we were waiting on Reuben and then just e-scouted some more on that area because we changed our main focus from one portion of public land to another piece of public land that was across the road that we didn't really look at and we thought this might be easier because it's smaller and it ended up not holding a lot of deer, at least where we were hunting. My other buddy, aj he, he was in deer like immediately, um so, um. So you're sacrificing that time you. You know I could spend all day like going to these points I put on my map.
JR Owen:And just hanging and just hanging, and just you know. But you get there and then you're. You know, as silly as it may sound, you've got to hunt where the deer are at Right.
Zakk Plocica:People forget that. I mean it's easy to do because you know, I always say it. I'm like we had our 3D shoot this past week. I think it was this weekend or it was the previous weekend, I can't remember. Everything's kind of running together right now, but every time I walk in my woods I'm like, oh man, these woods, these are deery looking. If I was a deer, I feel like this is where I would hang out and it's easy to get sucked into, like this looks like a good spot. There's literally no sign, or very minimal, and you're like I'm going to hang in that tree and you just man that looks like a great tree.
JR Owen:Wasting time, no tracks, no, no sign at all, but the tree looks awesome.
Zakk Plocica:Tree looks great.
JR Owen:I can spend hours in the woods just staring at other. Oh you know what? I'll just be bored over here for a little while now, yeah.
Zakk Plocica:Yeah, cause whenever time is is is critical.
Zakk Plocica:When you, whenever you're out cause you want to invest, you're going to spend the money to go on the trip, you need to be as efficient as possible and maximize your time in the woods and that's that is one of the cool things about. You know whether getting away from a local hunt and really either you know you're traveling a bit, you're actually going out of state and getting kind of off the grid is going out there with a in really planning. And whenever I talked to Joe long about this, you know, one of the things he brought up a good point was you know the difference whenever you go on and like an out of state hunt or a hunt where you're away for a few days, is you really it takes a couple days to really disconnect and get in tune. So the first couple of days are really kind of just disconnecting from your everyday life and you know the re kind of honing those woodsmanship skills and whatnot and really being able able to to to get in tune with what you're doing.
JR Owen:Right, and and I think with that goes the whole like you should always be a student, Absolutely I don't. I don't know everything. I don't know everything about out of state hunting. Just because I've done it doesn't mean I can't continue to learn. Uh, and that's every time I go in the woods I try to learn something. And's every time I go in the woods I try to learn something and unfortunately, there's several times that like I'm like okay, I'll never make that mistake again and then the next year I make the same mistake.
JR Owen:And oh, you remember that last year, yeah. So, like I try to learn from my, my, my lessons learned that I do at the end of the hunts or whatever, but some, some years, I I end up uh have to repeat them once or twice yeah, it's, it's horrible sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes, um, because you know you do, you do, uh, forget about some of that stuff and right, and that's.
JR Owen:That's the cool thing about logging stuff. Like, as much as I don't like being on my phone, um, I can log what I did, um what I should have done, um why I got busted or whatever. So that's another thing for, like, if I do go back to Missouri, to these different places this next year, now I have some intel to go off of, like, hey, this is what was going on during that time frame and hopefully that will help me shorten the learning curve the next year. Helped me, uh, shorten the learning curve the next year. Um, maybe I bumped my my hunt one week to the right instead of last week of october, because it was just horribly hot in missouri.
Zakk Plocica:Yeah, yeah, that's what you were saying and that's one of the things for me too. Right, we were talking about it. This, my last trip, um, when I was up in kentucky is, you know it wasn't a six, it wasn't a successful hunt in the sense that I came home with. You know, I shot a good doe, but not what I was after. But I came home with a ton of intel that I've collected over the last couple years. You know that I've continued to pin on the map and each year has gotten better and better and you know, hopefully I can utilize that information to my advantage this coming year, from the time of the year that I'm going to be there, to the points of interest, to betting areas and all these different things that I've documented over time that I can use this year and actually hopefully be successful.
JR Owen:Well, dude, you're going to, you're going to get one of those hammers on that property. Yeah, that, that that property was amazing. When we went out there, and that was a steep learning curve one. You know, I was dealing with migraines while I was out there yes and it, it.
JR Owen:We got there and it was like 70, 80 degrees the first day and then it started kind of misting raining uh, but then it got super cold it got super cold, freezing, and I didn't realize that I didn't have the right equipment. Yeah, um, and that's a hard one to learn when you're in the middle of it and you don't have the right equipment because there's cold, nothing you can do.
Zakk Plocica:we learned that really the hard way and that's super important, because we couldn't go home and get the, you know the rest of the stuff that we had. So looking at the weather ahead of time when you're planning to go out of state is critical, because you want to, like you said, we said, you want to maximize your time in the field or on the ground and if you're miserable or you don't have the, the, the gear, warming layers that you need, buddy, yeah, I don't.
JR Owen:you know, I can go internal on anything and and just ride it through the suck, but when I go out to do what I'm, you gotta have that level of like grit right to ride through some. You're in in the outdoors, so you got to have that mentality that you can stay, stick it out, whether it's through physical or mental as well.
JR Owen:It's going to get cold right it's going to get cold, it's deer season, it's going to get super hot. Can I flex off of that? But do I have the right equipment to do it? And have I set myself up and then having expectations of it? Because if I look at my hunt, the time frame, and then I start getting closer to the hunt, and then if I have the ability to slide my hunt because of the weather, the moon phase or whatever it is, that is going to affect me and that's part of like not dying on on that hill, not dying with your plan, like, oh I, I do, I have the time to to move, can I?
JR Owen:or do I just x this hunt and then try to come back later?
JR Owen:right is, I'm not going to go deer hunting in in a monsoon and think I'm going to see everything right now, and because that money factor goes in, it's like, okay, well, more bang for my buck, maybe I can come back later, or do I have that opportunity. So, and some people don't have that, and so they they put all their eggs in that basket of you know the rut, and that's when they plan all their stuff. Well, then you start looking at everybody else's and then it's everything's piled on top, and now it's oversaturated with a bunch of hunters as well. So you got the hunting pressure too.
Zakk Plocica:Yeah, I think yeah, that's a really good point is, whenever it comes to planning your hunts for the year and you're trying to maximize it, looking at previous weather patterns for that time of the year, you know um how the weather moves through there, your different winds are all things to consider if you have, because you you should be planning this right. Ideally, you're going to plan um as much as you can in order to maximize the money you spent and the time on the ground. So, looking at weather patterns and from previous years I mean because you can pull all that information up on the computer and stuff to kind of get an idea what you're getting into, so you don't really get surprised right, you can open source all that stuff, yes, and.
JR Owen:But you know, maybe I should have been a weatherman, because it's the only job I think you can do to be completely wrong. Every time, yeah, and get paid still, okay. Well, I need to do that job.
Zakk Plocica:Right.
JR Owen:So I can go off of that like back data, so I open source all that stuff and then you know, and then not being afraid to ask the questions to locals too and some locals are very, uh, helpful in that like, oh yeah, you know, like there's good deer here, whatever. And then you have to weed through all that stuff too to like you got to kind of in, like hone in your interpersonal skills. Absolutely you can't just go out there being a dick because they already don't like you because you're out of state hunter. Now you're just like, okay, look man, hey, yeah, I'm out here.
JR Owen:You know, just build some rapport with them and like, help them out, like I've, you know, help drag deer out or help them out at camp or whatever. Just talk to them so you get that side of it too. Um, and then you may get little tidbits of like where they hunt, where they've killed in the past, what crops are in, what crops are out, how it was last year compared to this year. Whatever it's going to move you towards your end goal of killing. I mean, we hunt to like I like to go out in the woods and be there, but I also like, at the end of the day, like I'm trying to take an animal absolutely.
Zakk Plocica:That's the. That's the end goal, right? Yeah, that's a really good point that I didn't even consider is building rapport with the local. You know community and a great way to do that is, um, be providing value to them, right? So, like you said, helping drag animals out and all that Um. But that's good too, cause if you plan on hunting there in the future and you build that rapport, that relationship, that really helps you hone in over time where the best place is to be, because not everybody has the ability to go out prior to their hunt pre-hang cameras, collect information and then when it's time to hunt, they have that information. A lot of people, you know just it's hey, we're flying by the seat of our pants here. You know we've got an opportunity. We've got seven days on the ground. These are the places of interest that we've got. Here's our starting point. That's all the information we've got. We've collected information on weather. You know we've reached out, done some research on the local area, but you know we don't have eyes on anything.
JR Owen:And then a step further is like the legality of being able to do cameras as well.
Zakk Plocica:Yes.
JR Owen:Now I mean like you can't hang cameras on base Right.
Zakk Plocica:That was one of my next ones. I got for you State laws and hunting regulations. So critical, oh super critical, Because it's different. It's things are constantly changing, evolving every year, to you know, with legislation and all these different things that come into effect in every single state has got something different and if you are not careful, I mean it can come back to bite you.
JR Owen:Yeah, I mean, don't intentionally get yourself in trouble.
Zakk Plocica:Don't be that guy.
JR Owen:I mean accidents happen. I had my own accidents. I'm not going to sit here and talk about my past, but I learned from that.
Zakk Plocica:Yeah.
JR Owen:And it was just not having the right tag for the season. I was in the right season but I just didn't have the right tag and it cost me dearly. And I was lucky enough that I'm not a douche. So I was able to build rapport with the game warden, Mr Greenpants, and he helped me out. Uh, still a less hard lesson learned, Um. But you know, dig into local laws, uh, federal laws, whatever it is, and then don't be afraid to just call the game warden too, and you may get the game orders Like what does it say in the book? Well, sometimes those are really gray.
Zakk Plocica:Yes.
JR Owen:And after I had my run in, I will call the game warden every time, dnr, whatever it is and figure out, because not only is it, some of the laws are different, say, like state, but then, from land to land that you go on public land, can I cross a fence to go recover an animal? Do I have to gain access from the landowner? Or you know like, is there an antler restriction on that property? Or can I shoot, does Whatever it is I need to, like, make make sure I know, like cross, cross my t's, dot my eyes, because if not, then you're in a world of hurt financially and you may not get to hunting right, yeah, you get blacklisted, like there's.
Zakk Plocica:There's this one dude going around and, like I said, I think that was pretty self-inflicted. Yeah, um, obviously, um, very intentional from from what we've seen. But you know, like you said it, things change from year to year. A prime example is like base right, you've hunted base forever. Now if you were not up to date on you know no longer able to hang cameras. You know the certain access I mean that could, you know, cost you if you ever wanted to hunt base again.
JR Owen:I mean potentially and and and there's guys that they just go into it and like tell you right now the oh, I didn't know that doesn't work because you have to read the regulations.
JR Owen:Because, like for years on base I don't know how it is now but you could bait and you could hang cameras, but the one thing you couldn't do was have a feeder and every year game wardens would like take somebody's feeder, like an actual tripod feeder with a spinner. I'm like dude. And not only that, it's like 100 yards off the road you could probably see it, but guys are out there and they're just like hanging stands all around it or whatever, and it's like what are you doing?
Zakk Plocica:yeah, yeah you definitely have to be very careful, uh, I mean even from the amount of like for like during rifle season. The amount of orange you have to wear, does it have to be 360 degrees? Does it have to be hat and vest? You know there's a lot of things to really uh consider and, um, if you don't like we talked about, it can be a costly mistake.
JR Owen:Yeah, you could never hunt again. Yeah, you could end up being banned from that state or just felony right. It'd be a big thing.
Zakk Plocica:So yeah, so always check your state and local hunting laws yeah, and don't don't go off of.
JR Owen:You see it on forums all the time, or whatever. Somebody asks a question and I don't think there's a stupid question, but come on like do the research, or whatever. Somebody asks a question and I don't think there's a stupid question, but come on like, do the research, but don't go off of somebody else saying this.
Zakk Plocica:That's a very good point, because they might be a little outdated or just intentionally.
JR Owen:Yeah, yeah. I mean, oh well, do I have to wear Hunter Orange? No, you don't have to wear Hunter Orange. And then you get rolled up and you're supposed to be wearing hunter orange. And then what are you going to say? Well, jim Bob from Facebook.
Zakk Plocica:Turns out I didn't have to wear it on his private property, but I do that I'm on public land. Yeah, exactly, yeah. So lots to consider and highly encourage you check the state and local hunting regulations.
JR Owen:But with that too, like I say, the forums, like the best thing we can do as hunters is help other hunters out. I'm not saying give them the pins to your favorite spots or whatever, but you run across a guy like or a gal like, help them out if because I would want them to help me out, whether it's dragging a deer out, or if they're in trouble or or whatever just talk. You don't have to be that that grumpy guy's like this was my land, I've been here because that you run into that too. Um, squatter rights, it's uh, whatever it's like. I've hunted this land for 20 something years. Okay, cool, it's still public, like it's not your tree, right, but whatever, yeah, I mean hunting is already under attack enough by politicians and stuff like that.
Zakk Plocica:The last thing, and it is big, I mean hunters kind of eat their own. That's the last thing. You want to turn people off and not support hunting. People get turned off or burned and they're like yeah get it.
Zakk Plocica:Outlaw hunting, bad guys, right, whatever, whatever, yeah, that's the last thing we want. So the other thing too is um your tags and permits. You know that goes along with understanding the the state um hunting regulations, because there are apparently different tags based off of the seas, even though it's you've got your deer tag that you could have potentially muzzle loader, shotgun, rifle, archery, I mean. So those are all things, because I was not aware of that. You know, because here in north carolina it's you have your, your hunting tag, um, and your license and you can hunt rifle bow crossbow.
JR Owen:I mean it's a tag. Some states that have broken seasons. There's like, oh, first shotgun, second shotgun, first bow, whatever, and then primitive or general. So you've got to be on your dates. And then am I allowed to hunt during that time frame with, say, say, I've got an archery tag? Can I hunt during shotgun season with my archery tag and take a deer legally? In some places it like back home in texas, I have my archery tag and, yeah, archery season goes from this date to this date, but you can still harvest a deer all year with that archery tag that archery tag, um, or with that that bow, uh, but it doesn't go the other way, because rifle season you know opens up later, later on, yeah, so you just paying attention which has been there yeah
Zakk Plocica:in in the wrong which, if you're unfamiliar with that and because that's not even anything that I really would consider which obviously probably should. You know and this is why this is such a great conversation is all these different learning curves. This is a great opportunity to pass that experience on to other people who might not know, and they're excited to go on their first out of state hunt and they overlook the little things that are probably the most important Absolutely, because the last thing you want to do is show up during rifle season somewhere with a bow and you're not allowed to use your bow.
Zakk Plocica:And, under your assumption, right so you know, assuming is yes, yes, it can go bad quick, so and then. So for you, whenever it comes to like you've done all your research now, so you've looked at your your research now, so you've. You've looked at your States, um and local hunting regulations. You've um, got your tags and your permits. You're set. Now, you're committed to this hunt. When it comes to do, you build a packing list for everything that you're going to take?
JR Owen:Like, uh, so packing list as far as like, okay, okay, so I try to get a baseline Like obviously I want how many days am I going to be out there? Do I need to pack food? If I'm going into backcountry type stuff, then I obviously need to have the ability to either have a jet bowl or one of the pocket rockets, whatever. Do I need fuel, all that type of stuff? So how's my logistical food? How am I getting that? Am I going to be able to just have a cooler with water in it, make a bunch of bologna sandwiches, or am I going to take some peak meals or whatever? So that type of thing is one, so my food. And then as far as gear, like what time of the year, I'm always going to have probably like a. I'm always going to have warming layers, right, because weather changes so quick, I'm going to have rain gear as well. So I try to narrow it down as much, because you don't want to take your whole garage, because I've done that.
JR Owen:I have done that. I do that on any type of trip. I overpack all the time. So there's some good things about overpacking. For me it's not that big of a deal because 90% of the time I'm driving my vehicle there, so I can have a plethora of things in in my toolbox or whatever and not really worried about it. But well then, once you get there, are you a yard sale, you know. So it can be good and bad, so I try to limit what I take and Um, and nowadays, because there's so many great like hunting systems out there for us, um, like gear to wear, uh, you can layer up and you don't have to have a like a super heavy jacket and you know, so I can have a layering system and.
JR Owen:I can go off of that Um, and then, uh, camping, am I going to just truck camp? I'm going to tent um, so there's, it can be a logistical nightmare and the better you are at starting early at it then and then doing a shakedown, like setting your tent up, getting inside your, your, uh, your sleeping system, cause when we went and I, I had the wrong sleeping system for that time of year. Well like oh, celsius and Fahrenheit are two different things and that's stupid.
Zakk Plocica:That is like the comfort level supposedly, and that's not, you know. When it says like a comfort level of like 40 degrees, that's like you survive, yeah, it's not actually comfortable.
JR Owen:Yeah, so necessarily there's a couple different sleeping bag stuff out there, especially learning this from being on the AT and seeing all the different gear.
Zakk Plocica:There's a ton of carry over there. Oh my gosh, Carry over.
JR Owen:Yeah. So I messed up and I had the wrong sleeping system on the AT. It was great, but it was too small for me. I had got in it back home and laid there. I was like, oh, this is good, like I'm comfy. Well, two weeks into the AT, or three weeks in, I was like I need to change this out because I can't zip myself up because I was too wide. Oh, okay, because I was thinking, oh, I'll just use this as a blanket or a quilt, so I'll just keep the toe box, the foot box, closed, and I'll just slide into it. Well, it started getting colder and I was wanting to zip it up and I couldn't zip it up all the way. So now I'm like wearing my puffy or something. So as soon as I got into town, I switched it out with a better thing and it also.
JR Owen:So those sleeping systems some of them say comfort, some of them say survive, like what's your? Yes, and when we did that hunt in, uh, kentucky, see, these are the things that I should have learned and I didn't learn very well. Um, so I, I paid the price later on. So I, I had two sleeping systems and I was like, oh, I'll just use this for my mat and then I'll get inside this one. Well, it was like a summertime sleeping system and it dropped down to like 15, 18 degrees at night, and then I'm just jackhammering and I don't think I slip at all at night.
Zakk Plocica:Yeah, there's. It's really hard to recover from that, you know. I mean you can throw some foot warmers in the bottom, you can throw a heated Nalgene, you know hot water in there, but that only goes so far. And also, too, with your sleeping system you've got to consider if you keep that thing bunched up all the time and you don't open it up throughout the year, it loses its ability to retain heat. So that was one of the hard lessons that I learned. Because I'll keep it bunched up in a closet, yeah, you know, and you go to get in it and I'm like man, this thing doesn't work at all and it's the same way with, like your puffy jackets right so everybody always stuffs their puffy jacket down, um, and then, like it does the same thing you.
JR Owen:it loses its warmth because everything's like stuffed into it. The down has moved and now you got to pull it out and like fluff it out and like wear it, hang it up during that off season when you're not using it. So same thing with your sleeping system.
Zakk Plocica:And one of the things if you're going to invest that kind of money to really go to an out of state hunt and it's whether it's a dream hunt or it's just you know you do it every year Investing in quality equipment is key because the last thing you want is your hunt to be a bust because of equipment failure. Yeah, or you're just not able to gut it out because one you don't have the right equipment or there's failure within some of the equipment that you've purchased. So I'm a I'm personally I'm a big believer in um buying the best quality of gear that I can afford and don't kind of with that approach buy once, cry once, and that might take time for you to do. You know you, you spend a little bit at a time, but you buy the best quality that you can because it's going to last and you know that you invested all this money in the hunt, that whenever you get out there, if the only reason you're really going to fail is because you Right and you know, not your equipment.
JR Owen:Yeah, I don't. That should be. The last thing I worry about is my equipment.
Zakk Plocica:Absolutely. If you don't have confidence in your equipment, it's I mean you don't have confidence in the hunt.
JR Owen:In my opinion, so that is a big thing.
JR Owen:We had talked about yesterday was like the, the shakedown, so like, just like in the military, we're always practicing. It doesn't matter what you're doing, you gotta, you gotta know your equipment and then, once you get a system down, like you're confident in that system, it's okay to change things here and there, like a little bit at a time, but then practicing with that system as you go, it's the last thing I want to do and I've done this before is not shoot my bow all season and then, day before the season opens or day before I get to go hunt, I'm like I'm good man, sound good in the air, yeah, and I've got lucky and and killed like the very next day. But was I really doing the right thing In my eyes? No, I wasn't. I just I needed to go hunt and get in the woods and I was lucky that my gear was good, because I had quality gear and I do have some muscle memory on some stuff. But you're doing yourself, I I guess, a disadvantage or whatever to yourself.
Zakk Plocica:Your, your hunt and and that's the last thing you want to do is go on an out-of-state hunt and you haven't done a gear check and you get there and, oh, you open your bow case for the first time and it's blown up which we've seen that because we get guys, you know, obviously we're, we're an archery shop right, and we send a lot get, we get, we service a lot of bows and equipment prior to it going out of state on big hunts you know Western hunts, you know hunts that a lot of people have spent really, really big amounts of money on. And they'll come to us a week before this they're, they leave and they're like, hey, I need to restring this or I need to tune this. And we're like, man, it's, it's August. Lead time on strings are eight weeks.
Zakk Plocica:Now you know it's never going to happen and your string is frayed yeah, you know this thing needs to be replaced or this bow is way out of tune. You know, and you've done, you haven't shot it at all and you know we'll tune it and they'll send it and now they'll, you know, put it on a plane or they'll drive it out there and that's what they're gonna hunt with. And to me, you're one just doing yourself a disservice and the animal too, because if you're not comfortable and confident with your equipment, the last thing you really want to do is go out and wound an animal. Yeah, you just paid, paid thousands of dollars for one.
JR Owen:You feel terrible until you wasted all that money yeah, and and that's not just with, uh, you know, with a, I mean it gets really in the weeds with a bow because you have your arrows and everything, all the components, but same thing with a rifle too, you got to be confident in your equipment, no matter what it is.
JR Owen:be confident in your, in your weapon of choice, your stand, how you're setting up your stand, how you and then and how you're getting in and out, Like that stuff kind of comes with it, like the like, the woodsmanship right time.
JR Owen:That's time in the woods yeah, you have to develop that and but setting yourself up to to become that woodsman instead of like getting out there and it's like, oh man, I'm really worried about my pack straps, like banging off this all the time, or I hope, I hope this thing doesn't blow up, it's got a fray on it right why would you want to think of that the whole time?
JR Owen:um so and I've been in here when guys come in, it's like a day before season. Hey, I need. I need a dozen arrows for the hunt tomorrow and we're not.
Zakk Plocica:So are we just emulating an arrow that you're shooting? No, no, no, I don't have any errors. Like oh, I mean, that means we got to retune this thing right, yeah you know, some people just don't know, right Um and that's our job too.
Zakk Plocica:So that's one of the big things where we I feel like we're responsible for either, you know, as a shop and then, as you know, prior hunters is educating people you know from past experiences, like we talked about, and guiding them along the way, and that's one of the big uh missions behind our social media. Stuff that we do is providing some kind of educational value for the end user to to take from and say, okay, I found value in that. That's. You know, that gives me good information that I need in order to excel in what I'm doing. I think that's important versus.
Zakk Plocica:I mean, obviously some of our stuff is on the entertaining side I mean a little bit but my main focus with our brand and all the stuff we put out is just provide information and value. And you know, obviously it's not value for everybody. There's some really great investors who are light years ahead of what we do, but there are a lot of people in there who are interested in getting into this and need a little bit of a guidance and being able to sit down and talk to guys like you and a handful of the other guys that we've talked to. There's just so much experience, that you guys have just good information that we can pass along and hopefully make their you know learning curve a little bit shorter?
JR Owen:yes, absolutely, and you're always learning like you said, and that's the great thing about, like you know, social media or internet or whatever now is, is it? It shortens that learning curve for a younger generation, or a generation that's you know it could. They could be my age or your age or whatever, um, and they just want to start out and cause I got into it later.
Zakk Plocica:You know, and this was still prior to like the amount of information that's out there now, but um, it was. You know it's kind of intimidating too. It's like guys that are girls that are a little bit older. You know, starting something new, it's intimidating for a lot of people, but you know, being able to find information out there. And you know, shorten, like you said, shorten that learning curve is, you know, critical because you get you start hunting in your mid or late thirties. You know you got a lot of catching up to do.
JR Owen:Right and, and I late 30s. You know you got a lot of catching up to do right and and I'm not a person that is going to be like, well, you need to. Yeah, you need to grind through some of it and learn, but you know it's your hunt like right, be ethical, um, and set yourself up for success and then just be a good dude on it or whatever you know, um, and enjoy it.
JR Owen:If you can enjoy it. You know that's the greatest thing. But I, you know, I started hunting just in texas over a corn feeder and when I moved out here I had no idea what I was doing and it was a steep learning curve, going from hunting a bait pile or a corn feeder to hunting swamp deer or you know finding any deer out here right finding any deer out here and it took a while.
JR Owen:and then I met um guys in the community at an archery shop or um archery range at a tournament um and he ended up being one of my lifelong friends and that's how I got to hunting in missouri to build a relationship and he showed me how he hunts out here and then I started adapting that and then once again going into social media, like there's so many guys out there doing this and showing their tactics or tips. I just try to learn from that and some things don't work for me here or in the Midwest or in Texas that they would like say in the Midwest or whatever. Wherever they're at. However, it works.
Zakk Plocica:Yeah, so that is. That's another really good point too is depending on where you're hunting, things change, right, based off terrain, right, environmental's, weather, all of these different things Like. So I'll reference Kentucky again, where we, where we went. In Kentucky, there's a lot of elevation compared to here, right, which was really cool to see because here it's so flat. You know you're looking for ridges and stuff here and it's like a ditch and not even like enough to like. It's like you're looking at like a foot difference in terrain elevation and it's just so thick here. But you know, we go to Kentucky and there's all these different ridges and bowls and you can really learn how wind reacts to the elevation there and how it's. You know swirls or how it comes in or how thermals actually work, because those are all they're hard to learn here right, in my opinion, on the east coast, where it's just perfectly flat. But when you go somewhere different, where there is that elevation, you can really you're like, oh man, I can actually utilize this to my advantage.
JR Owen:Right. And then you look at your map or like the weather and it's like, oh, it's a North wind, and you get out there and it's hitting you in the face from the South.
Zakk Plocica:Right, oh, it turns out it's following this ridge, and you know it to your thermals and that's like, that's a whole thing too.
JR Owen:It is, um, how high up on the mountain you need to be where the animals are especially like, and I don't know anything about elk hunting, but it's a like, that's a, that's a thing too like. Where are they at this time of season? Are they up, are they down, like, and then physically, can I get up there right, be okay with it, and then do I have the gear to come out with that animal as well too? So I don't know like it. Like I said, big learning curve, um, different areas being different types of terrain. I absolutely love hunting.
JR Owen:Missouri, um, iowa, where I was hanging in iowa it, you know it was. It's flat, but there's rivers and there's a little bit of contour. At the end of the day, an animal is an animal and they're going to follow the terrain path of least resistance. Then you're going to always have the animal do animal things. You set up, like what we were saying to the most common denominator this is where he's coming from, this is where all the deer come from. And then mr big comes out from over here and bust me. I'm like, how'd you come through the brick wall? Yeah, I put that brick wall up there because I saw that I'm like there's no deer gonna come out of that, and then that's where they come from and behold, here he comes oh cool, you're at the bottom of my tree, awesome.
JR Owen:Yes, and my bow is still downstairs, right yeah, I haven't even got my bow up yet, cool yeah.
Zakk Plocica:And I think, too, you need to be open-minded whenever you go from area to area or state to state, whatever it is, just because of you know whether it's different terrain, different tactics. And that's again coming back to you know, reaching out to people who have been there before and getting a little bit of advice, because Jr is getting ready to go. He's supposed to go in September out West to Colorado, I believe, on an elk hunt. He's never done it. So you know he's talking to guys who have, you know that come in the shop, that have been out West trying to pick their brains. You know what kind of. You know what. What can he expect? What does he need to consider? You know what gear should he consider taking out there? Um, you know what? What kind of terrain is he going to expect? If you've never been on a mountain and you go from sea level to mountain, what's fun? Yeah, how, how long to take to acclimate to that. You know how much of a liability are you going to be for the group that's been there before?
JR Owen:That's a yeah. The steep learning curve on that. Are you going to get elevated, or yeah? Altitude sickness.
Zakk Plocica:Altitude sickness yeah.
JR Owen:And then you know, like what are my shot opportunities, how far? Like, yeah, deer or elk or mule deer could always come into five yards, but what is the most likely? Am I going to have to take a 60, 70 yard shot and am I comfortable with doing that? Um, a lot of people are like I don't want to take any of those shots. But guys do it. But don't do it if you haven't practiced at that and you're not comfortable in it.
Zakk Plocica:Yeah, I didn't think about that either. That was a good talking point. Is, you know, hunting here, you know average shot 18 yards Short ATA bow doesn't matter, you don't need something, that's you know. It doesn't matter your shot's close for the most part. But yeah, going out west or, like you said, hunting mule deer, you know maybe that short bow, you know that 29 inch, that 30 inch ATA platform isn't necessarily ideal for you to take those longer shots because it's, you know, not quite as stable as a platform as like a 32 or 33 inch ATA. So equipment, that's. Another good point is where you're, where you're hunting. You know what's the average shot distance that you, you know someone's taking with a bow, how steep of, uh, the elevation are you shooting up or downhill versus just you know, 12, 15 feet out of a stand because second, third axis on your site.
JR Owen:Yeah, that matters, yeah A lot.
Zakk Plocica:A whole lot and you know, if you don't have the ability to practice those things, you need to at least know that your equipment's set up to you know as best as possible for you to be capable. And if you're planning on, you know, I'm sure I'm going to have to shoot a 40 to 60-yard shot. You might want to be shooting 80, 90, 100 yards, right, so you're comfortable and confident whenever it comes in to take that, you know, 50-yard shot.
JR Owen:In different shooting positions.
Zakk Plocica:In different positions.
JR Owen:Yeah, Don't be overboad. Like you know, sit down, take a shot from setting kneeling, uh, like coming out of cover whatever, like mimic your environment as much as you can where you're at you. You can't do that, right, but I mean 100. But you know, like you, you've got to. You got to be prepared to be able to take that shot and then recognize that my shooting position is off. And how do I fix this at in in the sitting position, right, so I'm not twerking my bow or like hammering my my release in there, like I think we all have yeah, you get, because, at the end of the day, animals are going to do what animals do and we're going to do what we do.
JR Owen:And in the heat of the moment, can I rise to the occasion to to put a good shot on right and I've, I've had missed opportunities because I was messing with a camera. Uh, drawback didn't hit the record button, or so that was something like practicing with with that gear as well. Um, or I didn't set my stand up right, um, just there's a host of things, yeah anytime you put something else into it, like I'm gonna fill my hunts.
JR Owen:Now you're putting a whole nother level of stuff right now you're moving more want you to kind of develop your loadout or your kit.
Zakk Plocica:You know we see it a lot of times because buying gear is fun man who doesn't?
Zakk Plocica:You know it is and everyone kind of keys on, keys into their own thing, whether they're they really enjoy packs, they like different stands, bows, whatever it is. But one of the things you can kind of get yourself in trouble with is constantly buying new things in the middle of the season. Right, the best time to really um try something new out is off season or when you're not out on a hunt. Because even when it goes, when, for me, like when I go to buy a new pack, if I run a pack or a fanny pack, right, I like hunting around here, I like minimalist, I don't like to carry a lot with me, but when I set that up, there should be an order of operations in which I'm able to access what it is I need to get to right, because if I go to and I'm I'm hanging, uh, for example, a stick, I go hang that initial stick. I need to. I use a um an aider to get up Right and it's attachable.
Zakk Plocica:It's attached to me, so I make sure my aider is attached at my vinyl harness at all times, so it's almost like second nature. As soon as I hang that stick, I know that I've already tethered my bow to the tether that I'm going to use to haul it up. If I have a pack on it's on my back, I have access to my additional sticks which are on my side and my ater is attached to me and that's the next step. I'm not guessing, searching, looking, making additional noise, going through pockets, trying to track something down that I need, you know, pack efficiently.
JR Owen:Yep, so you set yourself up. Yes, you have your gear laid out and that's that whole gear shakedown that I want to do Right, multiple times really, not only like me remembering where it's at, so it's second nature. I just grab in that pouch in my cargo pocket.
Zakk Plocica:So you can do it at night or in the dark Right.
JR Owen:And then when I come down, I have a system. I come down, I put it in my pocket or whatever. I let the. I'm going to let everything down on my left side if I can, or I'm going to do it on the right side, and then, once something enters that is foreign to that, it's just.
JR Owen:It can disrupt your entire flow, you leave something, lose something, and I mean you get out of it what you put into it, right, so, and then not changing it. Like, yeah, there's sometimes you might change something in the middle of the season. I've seen guys change arrow like builds, builds, throughout the season. I'm like man, that's a lot to do in the middle of the season. And now I have to like, retape or like, and now, like I've been like oh, 20, 30, 40, I'm good at this, whatever.
JR Owen:And holds are different right now I've got a i't know. Let's just say a 550 grain arrow versus a 450 grain arrow.
Zakk Plocica:Oh, look at that pin gap yeah Wow.
JR Owen:Now I'm, now I'm super, now I'm anxious, and that's the last thing I want to do is get in the woods and be anxious, because that's where I go to not be anxious, right, yeah, and absolutely, and there's nothing wrong with running that heavy or narrow if that's what you want to, but it's something that you should have set yourself up for initially and then just practice with it.
Zakk Plocica:you know it's, you're not fumble around, like you said, losing things, um, or you know potentially, uh, getting yourself hurt or whatnot, because you know you didn't hang something correctly or you're not used to how hanging your seat. You're trying a new method for hanging a stand or sticks. It's all things you should work through. And and Brian um, who's a good friend of ours, he, he, uh is big on that. He gets in the woods, like in July, or not gets in the woods, but he starts hanging stands and shooting out of stands in July, which I'm like dude around here, it's so hot Dude.
Zakk Plocica:That's miserable If I can't hang it in my house, I'm good.
JR Owen:Well, that's something we talked about yesterday too. Levi's super in tune with Whitetail. Yes, he is, he is a nerd with it and I love that and I want to be that way. I wanted to be that way in like oklahoma and texas, but I just don't have the drive in 110 degree weather to be walking through rattlesnake infested place and and doing that during the summertime.
Zakk Plocica:Well, he made a really good point, um, so typically so for, like after, after the season's over is when he gets back in the woods and he hangs cameras right away, and then he'll stay out of the woods pretty much all summer until it's time to get back in there and he's just, he is big on hunting the fringes until you know exactly where I'd be, which is, you know a lot of people. It's, it's, it's. You can get really eager and you want to just dive in there and then you just blow everything out. Even, especially um, out of state, whenever you're new to the area, the best thing you can do is hunt the fringes. Yep, you know, avoid and don't just push in right away and ruin that spot, because there could be a lot of potential there that you're not aware of because you don't have any of the intel on it. So you jump right in it, blow everything out and then you're like, oh, there's no deer here, but there's a lot of sign. Well, yeah, you kind of ruined it right and and that.
JR Owen:Going back to what we talked about earlier, about you know, doing that, that e scouting, and then getting there and getting boots on the ground, stalking, to like, even when I'm scouting I'm still hunting, right and's, I'm hunting to my area, I'm not just e-bopping through the woods. How many times have you just caught yourself like ah, I've been walking like an idiot through here? Yep, just because people do that, like, oh, I've got my trail, I just haul butt up to the trail and then it's like 100 yards from my stand and now I've got to be quiet.
Zakk Plocica:Yep, it's like 100 yards from my stand.
JR Owen:And now I've got to be quiet, yeah, when you should be, Because you never know Potential is right around the next tree or whatever, that a shooter could be there or something and you may get that shot off. So where was I going with this? Thank you, TBI. Oh my God. But so, yeah, the time frame there being able to do that scouting and then having some expectation management, I guess, on it, and then like, okay, I'm not expecting to get one day one, but I'm still going in for a kill Right, I want to put myself in the best possible position to kill each time and then learning as I'm in there, like, okay, those deer are coming from over here, there's no sign here. I wasted. I don't want to waste a day, but I've.
JR Owen:I've done that, but in retrospect I may not have. So am I going to hunt, just set up in an area after I've picked a spot, and then now it's getting late. Do I just keep scouting or do I just hang just to hang? And I've done the hang just to hang. And it was like, why did I do that?
JR Owen:Because, then I get mad because I didn't see anything. So a lot of times I have to really dial back in like, okay, you're still scouting, we're still hunting, because I'm still hunting to where I want to get to.
Zakk Plocica:Right.
JR Owen:And, like Levi was saying, like hunting the fringes, like they're deer creatures at edge, like putting myself in the best possible position day one, and if I ain't there by day seven, what did I learn from that? For maybe, hopefully, the next trip?
Zakk Plocica:Yeah, and that's right, absolutely, and that's a big part of it too is is educating yourself on the animal that you're hunting in that particular environment, right?
Zakk Plocica:So, like anybody we've talked to here is, you know, the white tail here are very, very skittish and on edge.
Zakk Plocica:You know you got different factors that impact that, one particular being dogs that are run year round here constantly. So those deer are constantly in edge on edge and there's you know it's very thick here, um, you're not going to typically not just going to see in a big buck in the middle of the field in the middle of the day around here. They're going to be skirting the edges. They're in the swamp, right, you know anybody talked to you to here they're going to encourage you go down to the swamps, you know, getting that information, researching the animal, um, that you're going to hunt in the area you're going to hunt, because they do act different based off wherever you're at right so it's just constant education and that was something you know going and hunting the midwest and seeing, uh, like using antlers for the first time to really see them react, like in Iowa, like realistically you clank antlers together in Iowa during the right period and there's a shooter there, he's coming.
JR Owen:Like that's what I have learned, like it's very it works there.
JR Owen:But it also depends on what part of Iowaowa I was in. In the area that I was in, I'm taking antlers with me, um, so I can at least try, if I see him a ways away, so, how they react there versus how they react here. I'm never taking antlers in the woods here because, like, the moment I start hearing somebody, I remember years ago, oh, yeah, man, uh, I was like, hey, dude, did you hear fighting in the woods? Oh, that was me rattling. It was like september, like the first weekend of september or whatever that we were able to hunt like, and it was like, not like tickling tines, it was like, wow, what are you doing, dude? Like, and then so, deer, here, at least it was on base, in my experience, as soon as somebody started rattling antlers together, it came off like, yeah, and then, obviously, hunting public and hunting on base, you can hear antlers over here. And you can hear antlers over here just because of the pressure.
JR Owen:Right, are you opening morning, you, you set up, and you're like, oh man, this is, this is my spot. You look over and like, 100 yards over there's a guy climbing the tree or he's walking underneath you. What is so? That's the other terrain you have to to navigate. Yeah, navigate. Is the human populace out there too? How other? Because your wind direction may be awesome. His wind direction over there that set up 50 yards from you ain't awesome.
Zakk Plocica:Yeah, not for you anyways.
JR Owen:Right, because I was hunting on a whiskey wind and now he just screws up my whiskey wind.
Zakk Plocica:So, whenever you're headed out of state, do you set goals for yourself Like, do you have like a real, like I'm going out here, you know, I know I'm going to Iowa, so this is the minimum size deer I want to shoot, or you know this is do you key in on specific goals for each state you're headed to?
JR Owen:I, I say yes and no, like day one, um, I'm not going to get super antsy, but I'm not going to pass something up on day one that I would shoot on the last day because I could sit there at I go, I go to missouri or iowa. I'm like the potential of me shooting a 150 there is, is is high, I, if I put myself in that position. But if a deer walks in, that's 130 inch deer and it gets me jacked up or whatever. Whatever it is for me, it's for me, um, if I get jacked up on it, it's getting an arrow, like that's. That's the way I look at it, um, and then now I'll, but to an extent I'm not going to shoot a young deer, right, I don't, I don't.
JR Owen:If that is a three-year-old, then it's a three-year-old, um, and he's not going to get any older, if I have anything to say about it. Or maybe it's a six or seven and a half year old deer, um, like. So I, I try to just like go off my experience like is, like, how is this hunt? Obviously I go out of state to kill any hunt. I want to set myself up to kill. But my expectation management of getting there and seeing what I see, it may differ because, like, if I'm gonna go try to kill 150, 160 inch deer in south carolina or here on base, I ain't hunting, like I'm not, uh, I ain't bringing home any, any meat anytime soon right a lot of does you know, because it's probably not going to ever happen, but having that opportunity to maybe get a 180 and somewhere, if they're on there and I've seen them and I can put myself in it.
JR Owen:But if a smaller deer comes in and gets me jacked up, I'm going to let them have it.
Zakk Plocica:That's the way I look at it, right.
JR Owen:Your trophy is your trophy and people get so wrapped up around inches and age and stuff. I'm like, no, I'm not telling you to go knock the spots out for one, you know, but they're tasty out here, yeah, but like, let's not do that. Like let's try to gain or gain, uh, grow the deer population. You know, be ethical in what you're doing. If you, at the end of the time, you you're able to shoot a doe and that's all you can take Shoot a doe if you want to.
JR Owen:Yeah, I'm not going to be the person who's like, well, you shouldn't have shot that or man, that's not a four-year-old deer, that's not a five-year-old deer. I'm not going to do that, yeah.
Zakk Plocica:One of the other things to consider, too, is managing your goals and expectation based off experience level. Right. So if you're a brand new hunter, you're probably not. You know your. Your goal is probably just one. I would assume. Seed year, you know, is a big thing for people. I mean, I don't know if you're planning out of state hunt, if your goal is just to see deer, but you know, maybe it's. You know your expectation is a little bit less than somebody who's got a lot of experience right. You go there, you're this guy's looking, he's like I'm only shooting 180 or bigger and you're like dude, I'm just you know, if a 120 inch deer or 40 inch deer walks out, I, that's, that's perfect.
JR Owen:Yeah, that's, that's realistic for me, yeah. And so that takes me to like I went to arizona a couple years back and did a mule deer hunt and I love mule deer never taken one and I want to um, but I was so jacked up on getting to do a western hunt and one of my buddies from high school lives out there, he's in the forest service, so I had a place to stay, easy access to the property or the the forest out there. He kind of understood how it was. You know, he did some hunting out there. He's killed. So I had that wealth of knowledge there. And then talking to some guides out there too, while they're out there, that would that kind of got sickening as well, because they'd be like oh, y'all see anything and like, yeah, you know, we saw probably like some 150 inch, you know, mule these. I'm like these are big, I saw them, man, those are big. And then he's like yeah, we got a, we got 180, we got 200 over here. I'm like cool, just stay over there, don't you know?
JR Owen:and just talking, a big game like, and you can tell when somebody's like the bravado starts coming out and like all right dude, like I get it, you can zip it up now, right, I'm like I don't, I don't care, like so you know that. But so I go out there and day one, uh, we're driving around and we see it was like a two by three, a five point just, or however you want to say it, like Western whatever, it was a three point out there because they had three on one side or whatever. It was chasing the doe, but it wasn't what I wanted and I got out and was able to get once again legal parameters. I got out to where I could take him and I decided I didn't want him. I got to watch him how he reacted and then waiting, I was out there for 10 or 12 days and we were on some really big deer and it took us about five days to get on those big deer.
JR Owen:We actually started seeing them, took us about five days to get on those big deer, like we actually started seeing them and it, you know, just having that management, and my buddy was like, dude, you could have killed that day. I was like, yeah, but I had 10 days and that's not what I wanted. I had an opportunity at a huge like two point and it's like just big four corn, huge, and it was probably, I don't know, like 150-inch deer.
JR Owen:His tines were huge, wide, and I saw him and it was like you know, the bottom of his bases were like Coke cans.
JR Owen:I'm like that's him, I want that one. And from that point on I hunted that deer and I never got. I got close to him like 50 yards and I was on the phone talking to my buddy. He was up on the ridge and he was trying to find me. He's like he's moving down towards you and I got there and I did my little range card, laser range find a spot, and then I put it down and then he's like talking to me.
JR Owen:Well, I had a sight dial and I never dialed because I was just like yeah, yeah, yeah, I thought I had time, I didn't have time, and the doe that he was following walked right there and I thought she was out of my sight and I put my hand down like slowly, like melting, and she just looked at me and the gig was up and he could see it and it ran off. And the gig was up and he could see it and it ran off and the buck was gone. And then it was like reset. So like if I had only because she was right there at the 30 yards or whatever it was, if I just dialed it, I wouldn't have done this. Oh crap, I didn't dial, so that was a lesson learned.
JR Owen:And then that also made me think about what type of sight I wanted to use, because I was a single-pin guy and then I had a double pin and I don't go out there that often. But now my thoughts are having like three pins and a floater. That way I can take that longer shot, but I also have if something happens. I've still got those three pins that are fixed.
Zakk Plocica:Yes, yes.
JR Owen:And I was that way before I went away from it. You know what are you comfortable with Right. And then I said my expectations are going out there. I didn't kill, but I had. I probably had the funnest hunt I've ever had out there.
Zakk Plocica:And that's part of it too, right? I mean just that, different experience, learning what works for you, what doesn't work for you, and then it gets you hyped for the next year. You're like, oh man, the opportunities there. I've just got to hone my skills a little bit, fine tune my equipment and my capability, and you know, I know it'll happen. So that's what keeps it fun, man, it's hunting, it's not killing, right, you got to outsmart these animals and their environment, their homes, and beat them at the game, and I think that's the fun part of it. But so far, I mean, you've hunted a lot of different states. If you had to narrow it down, what's been your favorite state that you've hunted so far? Probably Eastern North Carolina, I'm sure.
JR Owen:Oh you know, the deer out here are just so elusive, Incredible.
Zakk Plocica:They look like dogs. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. The deer out here are just so elusive, incredible.
JR Owen:They look like dogs. Yeah, uh, yeah, absolutely I love hunting Iowa, I think, I think it's great.
Zakk Plocica:So and I'm not acing just off, just off the, the, the, the animal itself, like if you had to take into account terrain, um, weather. You know all the different factors, you know what you know one, okay, what was the best one that you as far as hunting the deer, but what was your favorite state as far as, like actual terrain, just enjoying being out there? So two first one was for deer.
JR Owen:Second is just state I would say state in general was Arizona really. Cause it was? Because it was different. It was so much different out of my comfort zone.
Zakk Plocica:How was the terrain?
JR Owen:there it was mountainous terrain Like rocky.
JR Owen:It was rocky the time of year it was December, which was the rut for them and it snowed, oh wow.
JR Owen:So I was hunting in the snow Absolutely gorgeous Like hunting in the snow. It was cold, it was like negative three, jesus yeah. And I'm like in my truck and I'm like I'm going to go up to this Ridge where we drove up to and I'm going to get out there and, uh, in glass, and I went out there and I was out there for like two seconds and I had good gear and I'm like, nah, I'm going to get back in the truck and we drove to where we could sit in our truck and glass out. And that's actually how we found the big deer just paying attention and spending time. But I loved it because you could get up on a ridge in glass like a long ways, and the fact that I was able to see elk and I and in the snow and and, uh, just different terrain and being able to stalk I was hunting, like stalking and stuff. It was really testing my, my woodsmanship, yeah, and at a totally different level, because I'm yeah I can hang a stand, I can, I can read sign.
JR Owen:Now I'm in the snow in the West, I don't know what I'm doing, I'm learning, uh, so I love it. I love that. Uh, I definitely like hunting mountainous terrain, um, at least for mule deer, um, because there was that, that ability to like sneak, you know, here and there and using the terrain to get into a position and then you know that's cool because you're actively hunting, right, right.
Zakk Plocica:So it's not. You know, you've done all your, you put in all your work, you know where deer are moving through and it's basically an ambush from a tree. It's actually you're stalking an animal and you've got to actively hunt this, which has always been super appealing to me. I've never been out West to be able to hunt. That's one of my goals One of these days to be able to just to give it a, not just to give it a shot and see. But to me that is super cool. That is actively hunting.
JR Owen:Yeah, and, and you can run into those scenarios all over the.
Zakk Plocica:U S.
JR Owen:Um, I would say it's a lot harder to do that here.
Zakk Plocica:Yes, uh, just because of the briars and like it's a jungle, and it's just.
JR Owen:It's just. It's bad, uh for me.
Zakk Plocica:But yeah, I would.
JR Owen:I would say Arizona was my favorite place to hunt, and then I love hunting iowa. I love hunting in general. Yeah, you put me. I, I enjoyed, highly enjoyed, and I would love to go back to kentucky one of these years yes I enjoyed hunting there because it was so much different. Like we're saying, the terrain was different. And then missouri is awesome. Missouri is like the one I keep going to, and this is because it's cheaper oh really there really, so that's a major consideration budget.
JR Owen:Yeah, so, especially being a disabled veteran, you can go there and get a tag for a resident price. It was like $20 or whatever. So now I don't have to worry about a tag going to Arizona. It was like $700 or whatever it was, you know. Or I don't have to do a lottery because iowa, you know, you got to get points and get drawn and all that other stuff. Um, but like, that type of thing goes into consideration as well. What do you want to do and I know I can go back to back to back years where I'm at, it's not that far um, to drive and stay a week, weekend, whatever. If I wanted to do a weekend hunt, I could, um, depending on where I'm at there, and there's a lot of different um, uh, you know river bottoms there that you can hunt in, or you can hunt like a hilly terrain or whatever. Uh, so, but Missouri has always just been outside of my grasp to take an animal.
JR Owen:And that's something that's like. That's like my thing. I was like I've hunted there probably four or five times. It's like they just just hard to seal the deal. Oh man, I can't, I just, I just haven't been able to yet.
Zakk Plocica:That sounds like when you were telling me about you and Ruben and AJ going down there. That sounded like it was a fun time, man. It was Just one as a group, you know, to hang out with some buddies for a couple days and spend time in the woods and, you know, actively pursue something. I think that would be a good time.
JR Owen:Yeah, and that was a great time because you have camp Right Deer. Camp is awesome and that's something that I have missed about, you know, being out here, because this shop did a lot for me when I was getting out of the military and this completely off subject, but the camaraderie yeah being able to come here because I was going through some stuff and shooting in the shop definitely helped me grow um mentally.
JR Owen:It helped me grow Um mentally. It helped me um grow. And then physically I think the same way, cause we had a lot of the like, like-minded, like working out.
Zakk Plocica:We've had a great group of people come through here over the years. Uh, and it's always a bummer because it's we're such a transitional area. You know we always lose, you guys. You know everybody moves away at some point and you know the area that we're in. We get some really great individuals and, like you're talking about, who are very like-minded, who you know are get after it physically, you know, really dive into the weeds on the hunting side of things and have a lot of experiences and all different areas of life. It's always, you know.
Zakk Plocica:That's why I one of my favorite things about being able to do this show is whenever you guys come back in town, I always get to talk to you guys. You know it's, it's just awesome, man. But yeah, I think even for me I mean, meeting all of you guys over the years has helped me tremendously in the business side of thing, in my personal life. You know, physically, you know the the physical side, it's just great to be able to talk to guys like you that really, you know have just tons of experience in all walks of life. I mean, you know the the shop is.
JR Owen:You know the camaraderie like you were talking about is just, I think, important it is, and that was something I missed so much when I transitioned out of the military back to texas and I I didn't shoot. I haven't shot in a tournament since the last one. I shot here, right, and that's been over four something years ago. I could. I and part of that's on me like not I, I hit a wall with a couple of archery shops and I was like I just wasn't feeling it. Like here we, it just we all meshed right you know, and it was was.
JR Owen:it was cool. So we had that Um and then it helped build me as a hunter because we had that group. Like Levi and I hunted together all the time, ruben would tag along.
Zakk Plocica:Ruben's come a long ways too.
JR Owen:Um, and, and we all hunted together, but that was all through camaraderie. Now you and I have hunted together and just learning how each other hunts and learning from, and unfortunately, this is not a hunting destination that I care to come back to.
Zakk Plocica:It's not for anybody.
JR Owen:So it's not on the bucket list to come here all the time and that's where we're all at. So everybody that's here wants to go somewhere else.
Zakk Plocica:Which is cool, though, because we've got friends all over the country. So, in, the goal for me is, is, long as people are willing to link up with people and do some out of state hunts together, I mean, that's kind of my goal in the coming years Um, just one to reconnect, uh, to gain some different experiences, you know, and and just do something together, because we have so many good friends that we've come in contact with and, like we said, everyone's moved away, but it's awesome, but which really creates a great opportunity for us at some point to link up together out of state and kind of get after it and and just and that's the thing is like we had talked about doing that in that group chat and it some of it just doesn't line up Some of us will be able to go, but the biggest thing is like make time for it.
JR Owen:Yes, because it's important. Everybody's got a clock to be punched and we don't know when we're going to punch it. This is true. So you may as well make your memories as much as you can, and if you can do it with a hunting camp, it's freaking awesome.
Zakk Plocica:Nothing better.
JR Owen:And if you get to draw blood, great, yeah, um, but you'll be there at the camp with your buddies sharing that camaraderie, cutting up, laughing, whatever it is, and then some of us like really need to see that and you, you get that like the emotional draw too. Yeah, absolutely, especially as a veteran community too.
Zakk Plocica:Yeah, I mean, and that's what our community is right. That I mean everyone that has been through our shop is some way shape or form, whether they're active, retired, prior guys, family members, I mean all of it. I mean and it is. It is an incredible community and I'm very thankful for the individuals that you know we've come across as a shop that has supported us and helped us grow as a brand. I mean, without all of you guys, we wouldn't have what we have Extreme team.
Zakk Plocica:Extreme team buddy. So, yeah, we've got some really great guys. Yeah, man, I think you've provided a ton of information, man, and I think if one thing that I've taken from it talking with you was how important it is, Just commit plant dude. You're not going to regret it, Even if you're not successful in your initial hunt or out of state or wherever it is. Just do it for the experience You're going to gain so much.
JR Owen:And that was the biggest thing about getting uh AJ and uh getting AJ and Ruben out there. Ruben's down, he's always down to go Dude.
Zakk Plocica:Ruben. I could say hey, ruben, we're going this weekend to Canada. He's like all right, I'm clearing my calendar now, I'm already on the way.
JR Owen:Yeah, cool, I was already doing that. Yeah, and he's going to go all in on it.
Zakk Plocica:He does.
JR Owen:But sometimes you have to work around and figure that out for for the other guys or whatever may not be able to do missouri or you may have to go to arkansas or whatever, wherever you can go, and just hunt and the expectations there.
Zakk Plocica:But yeah you, you're not getting any younger, maybe not do it do it, commit, make the plans, go for that hunt, take the risk, spend the money. The memories will be worth it.
Zakk Plocica:Absolutely so well, I think that about wraps everything up. I mean, there's just a ton of great information. Man, you really need to prioritize your trip. You need to really study the weather, you need to study the animals, make sure you study and look into the state laws and hunting regulations, um, and then you know, like anything else, you can apply this to all aspects of your life when it comes to preparation and preparedness in order to be successful on this. So, jr, I really appreciate you coming on. Man, um, I know you put out a lot of great information, good content, on your social media, um platforms where, if anyone wants to follow you along for any of your adventures, whether it's hiking the Appalachian trail, you know, bow hunting, rifle hunting, traveling the U?
JR Owen:S doing all the awesome stuff that you do and the organization, organizations that you support. You know where's the best place for them to find you? Uh, instagram. It's Jr underscore, uh, owen, but it's the.
JR Owen:The E is a three super uh secret squirrel there so yeah, uh, but that's that's where I'm at is, uh, mainly I do all of my stuff on Instagram and it's just a way of life. I, you know, I started a long time ago a YouTube channel and I got away from it cause I got tired of being on there. It was a lot of work and like I'd like to be able to put out whatever it is that is going to help somebody else, whether it's spiritually, physically, because I've had my own battles with all that stuff. So, yeah, follow me on social media.
Zakk Plocica:Dude, check him out. We'll have a link in the description below if you're interested in following him. And, like I said, he's a true outdoorsman from the fishing side, hunting and now the hiking side. All of his prior experience in his career background in the military, he's a really great individual to follow and check out. So follow him in the description below. And that wraps up this show. Again, I appreciate him coming on and we will see all you guys in our next episode of the show.