0:02

Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast,

0:05

your home for deer hunting news, stories

0:08

and strategies, and now

0:10

your host, Mark Kenyon. Welcome

0:15

to the Wired to Hunt podcast.

0:17

I'm your host, Mark Kenyan, and this is

0:20

episode number four oh one and

0:22

today's show, I'm joined by a new hunter

0:24

you've heard on this podcast several times

0:26

now, Dan Ja Joe, who

0:28

just recently took the huge step

0:31

of killing his first dear ever.

0:38

Alright, welcome to the Wired to Hunt

0:41

podcast. We have got a

0:43

really cool episode for you today. It's a store

0:45

that I'm so glad that we can share. It

0:48

is the story of how Dan Ja Joe

0:50

has killed his first dear.

0:53

We had Dan on the show for the first time last

0:55

fall, so two thousand nineteen, after

0:58

I met him at a q d M a

1:00

Field to Fork Mentors hunt

1:02

event. This is an event that

1:05

that paired something like a dozen new

1:07

hunters with a dozen mentors, had

1:09

him spend the weekend together and teach him everything they know.

1:12

So I was a mentor on that hunt. Dan was a guy I

1:14

met there and and since then we've stayed in touch

1:16

and I invited him out to the Back forty

1:18

this year. UM and

1:22

hopefully you've heard the stories about

1:25

how that went. He came out in the summer. He

1:27

helped us work on the farm, planning food

1:29

plots, planting trees, um.

1:31

He then came out in the fall for a hunt.

1:34

That hunt was featured on the Back forty TV

1:36

show, which you can see on the Meat Eater YouTube

1:38

channel. So if you were to watch episode

1:41

two of that show, you would see Dan out there

1:43

in the summer working with us. If you watch episode

1:45

six of the show, you'd get to see

1:48

his hunt. We had a really fun hunt

1:50

that you know, I had a bunch of ups and downs and

1:53

ultimately though we were not able to get him

1:55

his first deer. So that was

1:57

disappointing, but but you know, that's hunting. And

2:00

over these subsequent weeks, though Dan kept

2:03

after it and just recently on

2:06

his own, the guy's h

2:09

a tremendous example

2:11

of persistence. He kept

2:13

after it. He he wrote out

2:15

a couple more storms and was

2:17

able to get the job done. Dan

2:20

killed his first dear. He's a tremendous

2:22

example of

2:24

of you know, what's possible for new hunters,

2:27

and his story I think is

2:29

a great example for experienced

2:32

hunters like myself so I think you know,

2:34

even if you're a new hunter, I think this

2:36

is a story to listen to, Beads. I think you will be really

2:38

encouraged by it. I think you'll be inspired

2:41

by the journey that Dan has been on that

2:43

has ultimately led him to now becoming

2:45

you know, you know, he's been a hunter, but now he's

2:48

he's successfully filled his first tag.

2:50

So I think if you're new, they've got to listen

2:52

to this story. It's gonna give you some

2:55

some wisdom and some encouragement that I think will

2:57

help. If you are an experienced hunter though

2:59

already, I think you need to listen to the story

3:01

because it's gonna help you

3:03

see the fruits of

3:06

your labor in mentoring. This

3:08

is something I'm trying to do more of this year, taking

3:10

the time to help other people show

3:13

them what this thing is all about that we

3:15

love so much. Let's let's help other

3:17

people experience that too. I

3:19

think you're gonna even be inspired by what Dan has

3:21

to share about his experience and how important mentorship

3:24

was for him. The impact that

3:26

mentors had on his trajectory is

3:29

huge, and and I think this is evidence

3:31

of the kind of impact that that YouTube

3:34

could make. So give

3:36

this one to listen. I hope that it will

3:39

maybe maybe cue some thinking,

3:42

Maybe it will trigger you to think about you know,

3:44

who is there in your life that maybe has

3:46

expressed some kind of interest in hunting,

3:48

but you know you never followed up with, Or

3:50

who do you know out there that that

3:53

could use some new access so they could

3:55

get their first year, or or maybe you

3:57

don't know anyone like that, but how could you seek

3:59

out and find people who do want help, Because

4:01

there's a lot of them. Guys, more than

4:04

a lot of us have realized there are people out there

4:06

in the world who have never hunted, but

4:08

in the back of their minds are thinking, you

4:10

know what if I you know, if

4:12

I, if I ever had the chance, I

4:15

might do that. I'd like to get some meat

4:17

in the freezer and know exactly how it got there.

4:19

I might be willing to give that a try. But they don't

4:21

know anybody in their family or their circle

4:24

of friends who can show them how to do those things,

4:26

so they never do, and they go through the rest

4:28

of their lives never having hunted,

4:30

never having experienced this thing that's

4:32

so transformational

4:35

that that we're so lucky to get to do every

4:37

year. So listen to the story.

4:39

It's a quick one, it's a fun one,

4:42

it's it's at least for me, really

4:44

damn inspirational. So let's

4:47

get to the story of how Dan killed his first

4:49

dear and let's just enjoy.

4:52

This is a great way to start the new year

4:54

and as a a really important

4:58

bedrock for me at least when

5:00

it comes to what I want to achieve this year,

5:03

which is making these stories happen

5:05

more often. So, without further

5:07

ado, here's Dan Jo Joe and

5:09

the story of his first

5:12

dear. All

5:14

right with me on

5:16

the show today. On the other

5:19

line is the

5:21

wise and powerful Dan

5:23

jo Jo. Dan, welcome back

5:26

to the show any mark.

5:28

I wouldn't say why. It's been powerful, but thank you,

5:30

thank you, thanks for having me back

5:32

on. Well, hey man, you've got a lot to

5:34

be excited about lately.

5:36

You you got engaged. Congratulations

5:39

on that, Thank you. You

5:42

killed your first deer, congratulations

5:44

on that, Thank you man. And

5:47

most importantly, you finished

5:49

up your year of pies?

5:52

Right did you finish

5:54

up the year pies?

5:59

You gotta leave at all plumb. I'm

6:02

throwing it to the bus here. But when

6:04

for everyone listening, when Dan and I hunted together

6:07

this November. He mistakenly,

6:10

Uh admitted the fact that his

6:12

his girlfriend now fiance was

6:14

doing this Year of Pies where every

6:17

month she made a different pie and

6:19

she made Dan taste test it, and then

6:21

she instagrammed every time he tasted

6:23

the pies, and

6:25

and I forced him to let us watch all these Instagram

6:28

videos. So

6:31

please tell me that's done right. She's not gonna do it

6:33

to again. She

6:36

was. She was conspiring for another

6:39

year's resolution, of another year of something,

6:41

but I had to put the brakes on it. I couldn't handle

6:43

it. Though it

6:46

was she did a nice shot. Oh

6:50

man, Well, I'm glad we get to

6:52

talk because we actually

6:54

haven't talked on the phone

6:57

about the hunt itself. We

7:00

first off,

7:02

you texted me and said that you got

7:04

it done, you killed your first deer. And then

7:07

I said, can we can

7:09

you tell me the story? And you said,

7:12

no, I gotta get this dear. Gutted, I

7:14

was talking about it, so

7:17

so then I realized, that's a good idea. Let's not

7:19

hear the full story until now till

7:21

we're on the air, and Uh and

7:23

I can enjoy it for the first time with everybody else.

7:26

I'm so excited for you. It's

7:28

been a hell of a journey. I know, it's

7:30

been really cool to be able to follow

7:32

along with it the last two seasons now. And

7:35

what I wanted to do today, man, was is

7:38

is kind of recap it. So start at the beginning

7:40

again and kind of briefly get

7:42

everybody up to speed on on what

7:44

led you down this path, what got you

7:46

here and then and then dive deep into

7:48

the the final weeks of your

7:51

season and what ultimately led

7:53

to this very exciting conclusion.

7:55

So, um, you feeling good about

7:58

that? That sound good? Yeah, yeah,

8:00

that sounds great. I'm happy to share the story. Cool.

8:02

Are you as excited about this as I am? That this

8:05

happened? Dude?

8:07

I was pumped, man. I mean when when

8:09

it all went down, I was just so

8:12

so happy and just so like,

8:15

I don't know, I don't know if relieved is the right

8:17

word, but just the fact that I got

8:20

it done and I was just like, you know,

8:23

all this work, all this time, so that it

8:25

was just like came down to that moment.

8:27

I was just pumped. So so

8:29

yes, I can I

8:31

can only imagine. Man. Well let's

8:34

let's let's rewind the tape a little bit and just

8:36

get everybody caught up if they hadn't heard.

8:39

You know you you joined me last

8:42

year, I guess for a podcast after we

8:44

met at one of these mentor hunts

8:46

that the quti May puts

8:48

on through their Field of Fork program. So that's

8:50

how we met, um, and since

8:52

then we've been in touch. And then we hunted together this fall,

8:55

did some work together this summer. But

8:57

but real quick, can you just re how

9:00

how this whole crazy journey started for

9:03

you? What? What was the center

9:05

down this path? Yeah?

9:07

Man, so I mean growing up, I I I

9:09

did a lot of fishing with my older brothers,

9:12

and I've always had an interest in the outdoors,

9:15

um, but never had really much

9:18

involvement in hunting. Um.

9:20

As I started to get older, I started doing

9:22

other things outside, you know, snowboarding, mountain

9:24

biking, etcetera.

9:26

Um, but hunting still really never

9:29

never came into the picture. Um,

9:32

you know, fast forward, I

9:34

don't know, A couple of years later, I got

9:37

my hands on a compound bow and I started shooting

9:39

that and having a lot of fun with it, and um,

9:42

you know, I saw it as an

9:44

avenue to get into hunting. But just didn't

9:46

really know how to actually you know, put

9:48

it to work, or or where

9:51

to go or you know, have other people in

9:53

my my friend group or peer group that could show

9:55

me the ropes. Um

9:57

So, so that kind of led

9:59

me into getting you know,

10:02

starting to try to figure it out myself. Um.

10:04

Obviously started doing research on

10:07

my own. I caught window

10:09

meat Eater, started watching episodes on on that

10:11

you know, caught your podcast, started listening

10:14

to to what you had to say, and it was all

10:16

great information, but just found

10:18

that I just kind

10:20

of didn't have the real, i

10:23

don't know, motivation or encouragement

10:25

to really just start doing it on my own. And

10:27

I had had a friend

10:30

at the time that had some property up north, and they

10:32

took me on a uh, you know, my first couple

10:34

of hunts up there. Um

10:36

and that kind of um just got

10:38

me just my my my fingers

10:41

kind of in there. And I don't

10:43

know, it was just a start to what

10:45

I thought could be a lot of fun and

10:47

a new activity that I could I

10:50

could pursue. Um So,

10:53

so yeah, I you know, as I started

10:55

to get more interested, I found

10:57

the field of fork program and um,

11:00

I met yourself and I met Josh

11:02

and Jason and you guys were all all, you

11:04

know, like minded guys that had

11:06

a lot of experience in hunting, and I kind

11:09

of took the leap of faith to to get

11:12

get with you guys, and we did a couple of hunts

11:14

at the program and

11:16

they all went really well. Um,

11:19

and then from there it was just kind of like, all right,

11:21

well, now I gotta start, you know, figuring

11:23

this out on my own and doing more research

11:25

and and you know, keep going and

11:29

um yeah, and you know that's

11:31

that's that was last year, right, So

11:34

fast forward to this year. I started to

11:37

you know, really yeah, before before you go

11:39

too much further to two

11:41

questions about that first year and those

11:44

those years or months leading

11:46

up to it. Number One,

11:50

you got the bow, you liked

11:52

fishing when you started

11:54

thinking about hunting. Was

11:56

it the activity itself

11:58

that you thought like, hey, this would be a one thing to go

12:00

do, Like I like the fish, I like to pursue fish,

12:02

I probably like to pursue animals, or was it

12:05

I really want to get a bunch of meat. Like which

12:07

side of hunting was what

12:09

really drew you in or was it the whole package? Were

12:11

you thinking the whole picture at that point already.

12:15

Yeah, it was definitely the whole picture. I

12:17

mean I'd like, I like the whole kind

12:19

of adventure aspect of it of you know,

12:21

going out in the woods and trying to figure

12:24

out how I can put myself

12:26

in position to get a to get a

12:28

deer. But then also on the flip side of things,

12:30

I also was very

12:32

excited to get a bunch of meat obviously,

12:35

Um, you know, obviously through fishing

12:38

and just growing up fishing my brothers

12:40

and I would I would love to get a good haul

12:42

of while I or perch and have a you

12:44

know, a fish for with family and friends. Um.

12:47

I just saw this as another way to get you

12:49

know, some some food on the table as well,

12:51

and and and enjoy it with family and friends

12:54

like like I do with you know, with

12:56

the fish that I get with my brothers. So it

12:58

was definitely the whole, the whole package there.

13:01

Okay, what about the flip side

13:03

then? Was there anything early

13:05

on that you were worried

13:07

about? I know in past conversations

13:09

you told me that some things that have

13:11

have worried you have been like just being able

13:14

to get the final act done

13:16

properly, getting a good cling kill that

13:18

kind of thing. Um, but were

13:21

you ever apprehensive about, I

13:24

don't know, could you kill an animal? Were you

13:26

ever apprehensive about what would

13:28

your friends or family think did Was there anybody

13:30

who thought, oh, hunting's something

13:32

you shouldn't do, anything like that, or something

13:34

else that gave you worry

13:37

as you started going down this path um

13:41

a little bit. I mean, you know,

13:44

I, like I said, I don't really have many

13:47

friends or any friends really in my immediate

13:49

friend group that that hunted. So

13:52

when when I kind of started getting into it, they

13:55

you know, naturally as friends do you you just start ripping

13:57

on you for stuff that you're doing. So

13:59

you know that that was always kind of in

14:02

the back of my mind, you know, just I

14:04

didn't let it bother me too much. I was going to keep

14:06

doing what I was doing because I liked

14:08

it. Right. Um, My family

14:10

was pretty supportive of it. I mean, any time that

14:13

I was telling them that, you know, we could

14:15

have a bunch of meat here, they're they're all about

14:17

it. So so they were they were gung

14:19

ho um for me to kill

14:22

an animal. You know that

14:24

that lingered in the back of my mind. I knew

14:26

it was just part of hunting, so I

14:28

wasn't gonna let it bother me too much.

14:31

And the fact that you know, like I

14:35

feel like it's it's it's the best way

14:37

you can connect to your actual food

14:40

versus going to the grocery store and and

14:42

and just completely removing yourself

14:44

from from that from that

14:46

kill or or or the harvest

14:49

of that animal. I just thought it was it was if

14:51

I was going to do it, this is the best

14:53

way I could have food

14:56

for myself and potentially for my family

14:58

and friends. So

15:01

so yeah, that that was kind of what was going through my mind.

15:03

Okay, did you ever end up having

15:06

um, you

15:09

know, you you weren't. You weren't worried about any negativity.

15:11

It sounds like you never you ever got any of it

15:14

your friends, other than giving you as a good natured hard

15:16

time, you haven't experienced any any

15:18

negativity around it.

15:21

No, not much. I mean, for the most

15:23

part, you know, it was it was pretty

15:25

supportive. Um.

15:27

I never really had any like, oh, you shouldn't

15:29

be doing that, or you shouldn't go out and kill

15:31

an animal. Um, you know, and

15:33

and if and if I ever did, you

15:35

know, I would kind of explain the whole sustainability

15:38

aspect of it, of how you know this this

15:40

is really kind of like the best way you can go

15:43

out and get your meat. You know that

15:45

that deer lived its best life in and

15:47

its natural habitat. Um.

15:50

I found that it was it

15:52

was, you know, quite okay to go

15:54

out and take take an

15:56

animal from from from their habitat

15:59

and a sustainable way where

16:01

that population is being managed, and you

16:05

know it was okay to do so. So, I mean,

16:08

I I did my research. It was

16:10

of what I'm trying to say, and just made

16:12

sure that if I ever did come across that I

16:14

was I was prepared to

16:16

have that conversation. Yeah. Well, you certainly

16:19

seem that you've given

16:21

us some thought, which which I love. UM.

16:24

And and this is just another example

16:26

of of what I saw this year and

16:28

that I can just see that you've

16:32

This wasn't something that you're like, oh, I'm just gonna give it a shot

16:34

and just gonna go out there and kind of walk around like

16:36

you've really dove into it, You thought about

16:39

it, You've done a lot of preparation,

16:41

You've you've worked hard. Um.

16:43

And then that first year, you know, at least

16:45

last year where you you start taking

16:48

those next steps and you reached out and you

16:50

you met up with us. Uh, what

16:53

was it last year that

16:55

maybe there wasn't Maybe I'm just making assumptions

16:58

here, but was there something last year that

17:01

was that like tipping point for you where this

17:03

went from this thing like you're kind of curious

17:06

about til like, all right, I'm going into

17:08

this and I'm really diving into it,

17:10

um because it seems like

17:12

you're in a totally different place than you were a year

17:15

ago. Is it was there something

17:17

like that? Yeah?

17:20

Well, I think the first thing

17:22

was my hunt with Jason

17:24

last year, where I think

17:26

we were about a step away from

17:29

launching an arrow at a box. And I

17:32

think that moment was just like holy

17:35

cow, that that actually almost

17:38

happened. And I, you

17:40

know, I had that small taste of you

17:43

know, I quote unquote success and

17:46

and I think that just kind of launched

17:49

me down this this black hole

17:51

of Okay, I I have to

17:54

figure this out. I was almost there,

17:56

and you know, it's it's

17:59

going to happen eventually. I just got to figure

18:01

out, you know, that last bit

18:03

of whatever I need to do to really

18:05

get it done. Um. So

18:08

that was the immediate thing, and then part

18:10

of it is I'm I don't know, man,

18:12

I'm kind of a head case, and when

18:15

when I can't figure something

18:17

out, I just kind of go crazy and

18:19

just try to do my research

18:22

and do my work to to figure it out

18:24

eventually. Um. I just I just

18:26

like, I like challenging things,

18:28

and I mean hunting

18:30

is is by no means

18:32

easy, And I just thought it was just something

18:34

that I really wanted to pursue

18:37

and you know, figure out and

18:40

and you know, add it to my list

18:42

of bobbies that you know,

18:44

it seems to be growing every day. Um

18:48

So, so yeah, that was kind of what I

18:51

was thinking. What about that you

18:53

mentioned that experience that Jason Um

18:56

and I'm just curious

19:00

and we talked about this a little bit last year. People should

19:02

go back and listen to this full conversation just

19:04

after that mentor hunt. But what

19:06

and you've also experienced it this year to what

19:09

aspect of spending

19:11

time with a mentor like that did you find

19:13

most helpful because you

19:16

finally had someone to sit with you and and talk

19:18

through some things and show you things. Um,

19:20

was there anything that you can point to that was like, oh, yeah,

19:23

this really made a difference, or this this

19:25

is where I needed help or or maybe it didn't get

19:27

it, and and and you found yourself

19:29

still having questions. But anything like that stand

19:31

out. Oh yeah,

19:34

definitely. I think just having somebody

19:36

out there with me showing

19:39

me kind of what to look for

19:42

and and and you

19:44

know what what's good sign versus

19:46

bad sign? Um? You know what

19:48

hunting pressure looks like? Um,

19:51

what where the deer might travel through?

19:54

Pulling up maps, shown me

19:56

you know, different terrain features on

19:59

on X or whatever. Um. You

20:01

know. Jason also showed me this different resource,

20:03

this other resource through the Michigan

20:05

DNR where it shows all the different um

20:09

I guess trees in a given public

20:11

plan area and where you can point

20:14

out oaks which are good food sources for the

20:16

deer. I mean it was just uh

20:19

a breath of knowledge that

20:21

Jason was able to provide that you

20:24

know, had I been trying to figure

20:26

it out on my own, could have taken me, like you

20:28

know, weeks or months

20:30

or or even years to try to nail down.

20:33

So the the

20:35

intel and the knowledge that he had and

20:37

he was able to give to me, it was just so

20:40

valuable. Um in

20:42

that one, I think it was it was two

20:44

hunts that we did together. And then you

20:46

know, the hunt that I did with you this year was

20:49

I mean, you know, I had had kind of got

20:51

the foundation like Okay, this is what betting

20:53

area looks like, and this is what you know

20:55

sign looks like. But from from

20:58

the hunt we did together, now it's like, okay,

21:00

now we we have a

21:02

legitimate chance of seeing some deer. What

21:05

do we do now? Um?

21:07

And and you kind of guided me through the whole process

21:09

of Okay, you know, take a deep

21:11

breath. We don't need to rush a shot. Um.

21:15

You know, we want to make sure that

21:17

the deer is is in a good

21:19

spot to take a shot. And I mean

21:21

that alone, you know, you can, you can coach

21:23

yourself to do it, but you

21:25

know, um, it's it

21:27

kind of takes that that that

21:30

other guy right next to kind of help

21:32

you and give you those mental cues to

21:34

really to really help you do do something

21:37

well. And unfortunately we didn't get it done in

21:39

that hunt. But like I mean, you know

21:41

in my other hunts that that's that's like

21:43

ingrained in my in my mind. Now it's like, don't

21:46

rush a shot, you know, calm down, just

21:48

breathe, you know, it's it's it's those

21:50

things that that have really helped me. Yeah.

21:53

So so between

21:56

year season one or last year

21:58

and this year, um, heading into this

22:00

season, well, I guess

22:02

would be last season now for us technically, but

22:05

um, what what kind of things were

22:07

you wanting to work on or did you come into

22:09

the year with I'm doing this different and this different

22:11

and I'm gonna do this better or

22:14

was there anything that you brought into two thousand

22:16

twenty as as a to do or

22:18

goal or or something you were going to focus

22:20

on. Yeah.

22:23

Yeah, I had a list of things, and

22:26

um, I kind

22:28

of started. I started

22:30

pretty early in the springtime,

22:33

and my first thing was, Okay, I gotta

22:35

find I gotta find other places to hunt.

22:38

Um because last I guess,

22:40

you know, the season it was just kind

22:42

of me like kicking public

22:45

land spots and me just kind of walking out and

22:48

just trying to figure out what looks good and

22:50

you know, setting up shop right there and then

22:52

um with not much, with not much

22:55

you know, rhyme or reason this

22:58

this upcoming season or I guess this as season.

23:01

Um, I wanted to be a little more methodical

23:03

about where I went and you

23:05

know, have have a purpose as to where

23:07

I was setting up. So, um, I

23:09

started, you know, doing some research

23:11

on ONYX and just trying to find

23:14

public land spots that just looked good to

23:16

me, just you know, different terrain features

23:18

that I thought would hold deer, um

23:21

you know, where I could find different food sources

23:23

that they liked. Um, where

23:25

I where I thought, you know, pressure

23:27

wouldn't be. So

23:30

that was my kind of early season

23:33

start. And then once the weather started

23:35

getting good, I did a couple of boots

23:37

on the ground trips just to check out the spots

23:39

to make sure that what I was seeing online

23:41

was really legitimate and if

23:44

I thought, uh, you know the

23:46

spots that I found, we're worth

23:48

my while. Um So I did

23:50

that, and you know, some of the spots

23:52

that I found online ended up turning out you know good,

23:54

and I ended up hunting them, and then other spots

23:57

I was just like, all right, this isn't what I thought it was.

24:00

So from that aspect, I definitely have

24:02

some some work to do in terms of like

24:05

e scouting and what I think would be worth

24:08

my time actually scoping out. Um

24:11

So that was the scouting aspect of it, and then

24:13

I wanted to get a lot better with my bowl.

24:15

So I shot my bow probably

24:18

I don't know I started. I think

24:20

I got a little late start. So I started

24:22

in this I don't know, midsummer

24:26

UM leading up to leading

24:28

up to the fall, and I tried to shoot,

24:30

you know, three to four times a

24:33

week. It wouldn't happen every week, but I tried

24:35

to get it in even if it was only like, you

24:37

know, five or six arrows. But I tried

24:39

to shoot my bowl regularly, regularly,

24:41

regularly, you know. And that

24:44

that was just all part of like, Okay, if I

24:46

if I am presented an opportunity, I want to make

24:48

sure I'm I'm making a good shot.

24:50

I'm not you know, wounding the deer,

24:52

hurting an animal. So

24:55

that was that was the second

24:57

big thing. And then lastly I wanted

24:59

to get my gear situation figured out.

25:01

UM. And when I say gear situations,

25:04

since I am hunting mostly public

25:06

land, UM,

25:09

I didn't really have like a

25:11

set stand that I would go up and

25:13

and and hunt UM.

25:15

And I had bought late in that first

25:18

season. I bought like a kind

25:20

of a mobile stand that I would you know,

25:22

towed around um

25:25

different my different hunting spots. And I

25:27

just found that I

25:29

wasn't really good at setting it up. It would

25:31

take me a really long time to get up and down

25:33

the tree. I was really uncomfortable

25:36

with it, you know, I was really

25:38

clumsy with it. So I wanted to figure

25:40

something else out. So I ended up looking

25:42

up different saddles that

25:45

I could made me try out, and

25:47

I finally settled on getting a saddle, and

25:50

UM practiced a few times in the

25:53

summer, just getting up and down trees, but

25:55

I really didn't get super good at

25:57

it until, you know, until

25:59

I was doing it in the season and you know, UM,

26:03

really figuring out my process

26:05

to get up and down a tree and my process

26:07

to set up. But no means my super

26:09

smooth. And I mean I still drop stuff

26:12

and you know it happens

26:14

to Yeah, man, I'm still

26:16

clumsy with it, but I just I'm I'm

26:19

way more comfortable than that than

26:21

I was um last year with

26:23

with with my my tree stands. So

26:26

I know, those were my three or four things

26:28

that I wanted to work on over the summer, and

26:31

um, you know, I think there's still work

26:34

to do, but I think that was a good start

26:36

to my season, my season

26:38

leading up to this year. Yeah, so did

26:40

those did those things? Did

26:43

those areas of focus end up? Um?

26:47

Helping you once the season once a year

26:49

two began, I mean, how

26:52

did that all come into play? And what

26:54

did you two look like as you get started?

26:58

Yeah, I mean year two was

27:01

was great. I mean, I'm not going to downplay

27:04

it. Um. The early

27:06

part of the season, when I started hunting all

27:08

my public plan spots, um,

27:12

I mean it was pretty rough. I didn't really

27:14

seem many dear, to be honest with you. Um,

27:17

I think I saw a total

27:19

of maybe two dear that whole time,

27:21

amongst you know, a handful of

27:24

hunts. So it was pretty challenging.

27:26

My my spot didn't pan out like I'd

27:28

like them to, unfortunately.

27:31

M A memorable moment was

27:34

I was hunting one more morning and

27:36

one of my public land spots and I had

27:38

a group of like forty

27:41

people on horseback just tropped

27:43

through the field I was hunting, and

27:46

I was just so rattled by what

27:48

was going on. So

27:51

um, so that was interesting. Um

27:55

and uh yeah, like

27:57

I said, I mean, the public plan spots

27:59

then pan out like I'd like them to. I

28:01

mean, just dealing with with hunting pressure

28:04

and just really you know,

28:06

deer that are really on edge. I just I

28:09

didn't really think it was a

28:12

a success, but I mean I did learn

28:14

a lot that. I mean, I gotta take that away, you

28:16

know, I gotta do things differently for next year

28:18

if I'm going to keep hunting public land, which I probably

28:20

will. Yeah. So then that that took

28:22

you to the back forty hunt, right, Yeah.

28:25

And so the back forty hunt. We talked

28:27

about it, you know, a month and a half ago

28:29

or two months ago, whenever we did that last podcast.

28:32

Um, we had

28:35

three days out there. We saw,

28:38

you know, a handful of deer every hunt usually

28:40

um, and I remember in my

28:42

head, I was thinking, ah, man, this sucks.

28:45

We're not seeing more dear. Dan's probably really

28:47

bummed. And then I remember at one point,

28:50

You're like shaking with excitement, and we saw a couple

28:52

of dolls, and you know, this is more dear than I've seen all year.

28:54

And it was such a great reminder for

28:56

me that I can sometimes get

28:59

jaded because as because

29:01

I've been able to do this for so long, and I have

29:03

been super blessed to be in some really great

29:05

situations. I've got to see the tippy top

29:07

of the mountain um in a lot of

29:09

cases, and it's easy to forget and

29:12

and shame on me for not

29:14

remembering to take joy in in seeing

29:17

a couple of deer. Uh. You know, that's

29:19

a lot of fun. That's a great thing, and for a new hunter

29:21

especially, that's not an easy thing. Uh.

29:24

So that was a huge takeaway from me from

29:26

our shared hunt together. Um

29:30

that not only is that something to be enjoyed, but

29:32

that's also something that so

29:35

many people don't necessarily get to do every

29:37

day. And and that's another

29:39

reason why I want to try to do more of what we

29:41

did, which is bring new folks

29:44

out there to places where they can see those deer.

29:46

Um. Because tell me if I'm wrong. But

29:49

getting to go out and spend a couple of days in the back

29:51

forty as a new hunter who hadn't

29:54

been able to see a lot of deer, who hadn't been able to be

29:56

in many positions like that, was that a

29:58

pretty special thing? And was

30:00

that a great opportunity just to be able to live

30:02

through those moments? And you know you kind of alluded

30:04

to it, like learn what to do when you're seeing dear,

30:07

learn how to spot dear, learn how to get ready

30:09

for a shot. Those are things that you hadn't really

30:11

been able to do much before, and

30:13

then over the course three days we had a bunch of it.

30:16

Um am I right on that. Yeah,

30:18

absolutely, man. I mean just just

30:20

the property alone is such

30:23

a cool thing to see for somebody

30:25

that just doesn't have much experience

30:28

with with deer or or or

30:30

just property management in general. I you

30:32

know, everything is done, you

30:34

know, all your food plots, all your

30:36

all your different you know cover

30:39

screens that you guys planted, everything

30:42

is done with reason. And I just

30:44

thought that was so cool to see

30:46

something like that, you

30:48

know, be worked on over the summer and then come

30:51

to fruition in the fall, and then have somebody

30:53

out you know, hunting it and you know, had

30:55

those things all come together. Just

30:58

from that aspect, just to see a piece of property

31:00

like that was was really was really fascinating

31:03

to me. And then, like I

31:05

said, having all those things come together and

31:07

work and you know, you guys are seeing deer

31:09

now and we're getting actual you

31:11

know, opportunities at deer. I

31:14

think that that's just such a

31:17

neat thing to see as a new hunt hunter,

31:19

just to see what's what's possible out there,

31:21

right, Like you out and hunt public plan. But this

31:24

is a whole another realm of what

31:26

you can do with a piece of property. That's

31:28

that's uh. I just thought that

31:30

was that was pretty cool. Yeah. So

31:33

so we had their hunt. We saw some deer, We

31:35

got a shot at one. You got a shot at one.

31:37

We were counted that whole thing last time, so

31:40

folks know, uh, you

31:42

know, I made the mistake of thinking it

31:44

was a hit based off of what I saw through

31:46

my binoculars. And then we you

31:48

know, went through this whole roller coaster of emotions

31:50

where we're excited we thought you got

31:52

him, and then we started tracking, couldn't

31:55

find any blood, couldn't find anything,

31:57

got a tracking dog, spent all night trying

32:00

figure something out. And long story short, uh,

32:03

we believe it was a clean miss now and and that

32:05

whole thing happened. That was a tough deal. But

32:08

the next day you kind of dusted yourself

32:10

off, grabbed the gun again. We shot

32:13

um, got you, you know, just making

32:15

sure everything felt good with a gun again, went

32:17

out for one more hunt, ended

32:20

up almost getting a shot at a dobe, but she had

32:22

another deer right behind her um

32:24

and it didn't end up panning out but we

32:28

we didn't. I didn't get to hear from you after

32:30

that hunt on the podcast because we recorded

32:32

that podcast the morning

32:35

or no, the day, No, I

32:37

don't know what it was. It would have been the afternoon

32:41

before that last hunt, I guess. So

32:43

with the whole hunt behind you now, and

32:46

and like that week after the hunt, when

32:48

you looked back on the back ford the experience.

32:51

UM, I know you've already mentioned

32:53

a couple of things that that you learned that

32:55

you enjoyed experiencing. But did you learn anything about

32:57

yourself coming out of that experience, having

32:59

the man us, dealing with that, everything

33:01

that went on. Um,

33:04

what was your big takeaway from that experience?

33:09

Yeah? Yeah, I mean the just

33:12

so the experience overall was was

33:14

incredible, man. I mean, you guys

33:16

did a great job. You and Justin did a great

33:19

job of just kind of coaching me through

33:21

everything and and helping me out.

33:23

And you know, I'm gonna remember

33:25

that, you know, for the rest of my life obviously.

33:28

Um, the big

33:30

takeaways from that from that was,

33:33

you know, ship happens,

33:35

right, so

33:37

so I can't I can't let myself

33:40

or you know, a mistake or

33:42

a miss or even a bad hit

33:45

really really get

33:47

to me. Um. And obviously

33:49

just being you know, I like to wear my

33:51

emotions on my shoulder every now and then, and

33:53

and you know, I really can't

33:56

let that get to me too much, right

33:58

like when when something bad happens, you

34:00

know what's good? You know, how are you going to get

34:03

better from it? Um? I

34:05

think that was a huge takeaway of what I learned.

34:07

And and you know, those those things

34:09

happened, and I'm sure you know, like you guys

34:11

said, happened to to

34:13

every single person that hunts

34:16

out there, whether it's dear or something else.

34:18

Um, you know, and you know, it's just it's

34:21

just all part of all part of the hunt

34:23

and all part of the pursuit. So you

34:25

know, you really can't let that beat

34:28

you up too much and let that deter you

34:30

from what you're trying to accomplish eventually, is

34:33

you know, make a make a clean shot and

34:35

get put some meat on the table. So

34:40

what happened from there? Yeah,

34:42

yeah, we sent you on your way off in your

34:44

own again. And uh, and

34:47

I didn't know, I didn't know if you were gonna be done hunting

34:49

for the year or if you're gonna still keep after

34:51

it or what um,

34:53

But but what did you do? No?

34:56

Man? I mean I think after that hunt,

34:59

after that last hunt, and how close we

35:01

were to to to get in one of those

35:03

dose um, that kind

35:05

of like lit a fire inside of me on

35:08

you know, into Okay, I got I gotta,

35:10

I gotta keep going. I gotta,

35:13

I gotta get this done this season. I you

35:15

know, I feel like I feel like this

35:17

is this is going to happen. Um.

35:21

So so I think in

35:23

one of our hunts, you know, we were talking,

35:26

you know, just just different strategy,

35:28

and I was asking you questions you were going

35:30

to be some some good feedback, and you

35:32

had mentioned, you know, um,

35:35

because I was hunting a lot of public land, and

35:37

you had mentioned, you know, you should you should think about

35:39

tapping your network and just seeing

35:41

if you possibly

35:44

can get access to whatever

35:47

private land properties, if you know a family

35:49

friend, if you know, um,

35:51

you know somebody that might have some some

35:54

some property you can hunt. And

35:57

I took that as kind of like my

36:00

my takeaway and just started

36:03

asking, you know, asking around.

36:05

Well I didn't really ask too many people. I asked my immediate

36:07

family and m yeah,

36:11

and you know my dad had actually

36:13

mentioned this. You know earlier

36:15

in the season to me, but I brushed it off.

36:19

He has a friend that

36:21

owns this small, like ten acre

36:23

property, um, just north where

36:25

I'm living now. Um, it's

36:27

probably like a fifty minute drive from from

36:30

where I live. Um. He you

36:32

know, they had bought the property, like you

36:34

know, a year ago. None of them hunt.

36:36

And he said, hey, like if you want, if you want, I

36:38

can give you their number and you can you can reach

36:40

out and see if you can if you can hunt that property.

36:43

And I had dismissed it, and honestly, I

36:46

kind of forgot about it, just thinking, Oh,

36:48

it's it's ten acres like whatever,

36:51

Like I'm not going to see anything on a ten acre

36:53

piece of property or you know,

36:55

I'd rather go out and hunt public land where it's like

36:57

I'm working with like hundreds, if not thousands

37:00

of acres of land. UM.

37:03

And I just kind of said, whatever, maybe maybe

37:05

this property has something something

37:08

that I'm not really you know, seeing

37:10

here. So I reached

37:12

out. Um. This was actually

37:15

the Sunday after our hunt,

37:18

so I think, Um,

37:20

we wrapped up our hunt on the back forty

37:22

I don't know, it was like Tuesday

37:25

that that week, and then the

37:27

following weekend. UM, I had, you

37:29

know, reached out and just said, hey, I'm gonna

37:32

you know, you know, my name is Dan, I'm

37:35

Um, I'm Frank's son. I'm gonna swing

37:37

by and and you know, maybe I

37:39

can you know, hunt your property. I

37:41

went, They're kind of explained to them, like the

37:43

whole hunting thing and why I'm out here

37:45

and what I'm trying to do, because they really just

37:48

didn't have much of an idea. And

37:51

UM, the

37:52

the owner and my dad's friend

37:55

UM and her son, UM walked

37:58

me around like the whole property and would

38:00

be the property line. And I said, oh great,

38:02

this is this is awesome, like, thank you so

38:04

much. And UM,

38:06

I just figured i'd

38:08

hunt that day. So I had all my gear in

38:10

the truck, got it out, you

38:12

know, suited up. UM.

38:15

And then just by the looks of what, you

38:17

know, where they took me around and what kind

38:19

of onyx was showing, there

38:21

was one real spot that I was just

38:24

super interested in hunting on

38:26

that that ten acre piece of property.

38:29

UM. Obviously my first idea was I want to get

38:31

away, you know, as far away from the house as I

38:33

can. UM. And then

38:36

I end up found finding this little corner

38:38

of the property where some terrain

38:40

features kind of all met on

38:42

this little Uh I don't a

38:44

low section. There

38:46

was a few trails that intersected, and there was

38:49

this really big oak tree that

38:52

I thought was, you know, a good

38:54

food source for the deer, at least where

38:56

the deer felt. I felt like the deer were coming

38:58

back and forth from UM.

39:00

And then you know, I went out there.

39:03

I got in my in my saddle and

39:05

as I'm up in the tree and just kind

39:07

of scoping out the surrounding surrounding

39:10

areas. UM

39:13

and uh. I think within an hour of

39:15

my sit I see, you know,

39:18

three deer pass to my right,

39:21

and UM, I'm like, okay, well

39:23

that's that's a that's a great start, you

39:26

know, not thinking I was going to see anything right

39:28

off the bat, I'm seeing I'm seeing

39:30

three deer kind of trot trot right

39:32

next to me. Um.

39:35

From there, you know, I saw some

39:37

turkey. It was. It was really fun

39:39

hunt. And then UM,

39:41

I think probably thinking to yourself, dang,

39:43

why didn't I do this two months ago? Yeah,

39:47

yeah, definitely, definitely. I was definitely

39:49

thinking that, um,

39:52

just because it was a cool area. It was it was easy

39:54

to get to. And you know, I

39:57

saw three deer right off the bat that was that was more

39:59

than I had seen all season just hunting the public

40:01

land. Um.

40:04

So, I don't know, it got to about

40:06

five o'clock and I see

40:09

this dough by herself, just kind

40:11

of coming

40:13

my way, and

40:15

she's coming my way. She's coming my way, and

40:18

she's she's by herself, and she's

40:20

looking behind her, and I'm like, oh my god, like

40:23

this is this is going to happen. Um.

40:26

And she's kind of quartering right towards

40:28

my shooting lane and

40:31

I'm getting ready, getting ready. She's probably

40:33

like, you know, five yards from where

40:35

I need her to be. And

40:38

then as she takes a couple more

40:40

steps, right behind her as a as a buck,

40:43

and I'm like, oh my god, you

40:45

know that, you know there's a buck right there.

40:47

He's doing this thing with a dough. This is like

40:49

obviously some good rut activity happening

40:52

right in front of me. Um. And

40:55

right away, I'm just kind of like, Okay, what

40:57

what do I do in this situation? Um?

41:00

I'm thinking in my mind, like I just want to shoot

41:02

a deer, you know, I know this

41:05

this this buck is right there. But

41:07

like I would be happy to take this dough.

41:11

So um, they

41:13

keep working my way, and finally

41:15

the dope gets in my shooting lane and

41:18

I'm like, okay, I'm I'm gonna, I'm

41:20

gonna, you know, pull back and

41:22

take a shot. So um,

41:26

that day, I was getting some snow

41:28

coming down, and um,

41:31

my bow was all wet. So

41:34

as I started to draw back my

41:37

there was there's this little rubber piece on

41:39

my wrist and it made this loud

41:41

squeak and it

41:45

was like, so as I did,

41:47

it made that squeak. Dude, it

41:49

was like I lit a firecracker

41:52

and and let it off right in front of

41:54

the deer. She spooped so

41:56

hard and I was just like,

41:59

no freaking way, Like, no

42:01

way did that just happen. So

42:04

she spooked and I thought she was going to dart,

42:07

but she didn't. She spooked

42:09

around my the oak tree that I was kind

42:11

of sitting right in front of, and um,

42:15

she ended up going to the trails that

42:17

kind of intersected right behind the oak

42:19

tree, and the buck just followed her.

42:22

The buck just followed her. So at this point

42:25

I'm like, Okay, I don't think I completely

42:27

blew it. I think I might still have a chance.

42:30

Um, this is a little further of a shot

42:32

that I'd like to take, but I'm just gonna kind of

42:34

wait it out now. So,

42:38

um, you know, she kind of did her thing behind

42:40

this oak tree, and they kind of started working

42:42

my way. However, the

42:44

way that, you know, the direction that they were coming

42:47

was just directly down wind of where I where,

42:49

you know, where my scent was. So I

42:52

just knew like at any point, like

42:54

I'm going to get winded. So

42:56

anyways, they kept doing their thing, and eventually

42:59

the do went into this kind

43:01

of brushy area. But the buck was

43:04

right in my white right in my range,

43:07

um, and he was right behind this tree, and

43:10

I thought, okay, well I don't really have a shot

43:13

at this dough, but I have a shot at this puck, so

43:16

I'm gonna try to get ready here. Um.

43:19

So I just kind of got myself prepared, and

43:21

I got myself, you know, mentally

43:23

worked up to try to make a shot. And

43:28

he he

43:30

was kind of lingering there for a couple of minutes,

43:33

um, but but I just wanted

43:35

to be patient. And then he took

43:37

another step. He's in my

43:39

shooting wane. Now now I'm

43:41

ready to take a shot. All of a sudden,

43:44

right under me comes this like uh,

43:47

this this spike, and

43:49

he's freaking out. You know, he knows,

43:52

he knows there's a doe over there, and

43:54

um, but he's right under my tree and I'm like, oh

43:56

my god, what do I do? Like so

44:00

it's just like pandemonium in

44:02

this this one hunt that I

44:04

just you know, it was my first hunt there. I had

44:06

no idea it was gonna go down like this.

44:09

So I said whatever, I'm just gonna ignore

44:11

the spike. I'm gonna draw back.

44:14

And as I draw back, the spike

44:16

under me spoops, the

44:18

dose spooks what the buck stays.

44:23

So the buck stays and I'm like, okay,

44:25

he's looking right at me. He's stomping

44:27

his feet, but I'm just gonna try

44:29

to stay as calm as I can. He's

44:31

twenty five yards, this is this is in

44:33

my range. I put

44:36

I put my sight on him, and I

44:38

let it rip. I

44:41

let it rip, and

44:43

I shot him. Um.

44:46

You know, I I kind of heard this like thump

44:49

that went into went into his body

44:52

and right there and then I just knew I hit

44:54

him. Um,

44:56

And I was just kind of completely

44:59

out of my mind at that very moment.

45:01

After I shot him, I tried to see where

45:03

he went. Um. I think

45:05

he darted out into the neighbor's

45:07

property and I saw him like fall

45:11

um. But then he just kept going and

45:13

I was just you know, my my first

45:15

reaction was, you know, I gotta get down out of this tree,

45:19

um, you know. And I started

45:21

trying to tear down my set. I'm like, hold

45:23

on, wait, wait, wait, I don't want to fall out of this tree.

45:25

I gotta take until of minutes and just relax.

45:30

Um. So I gathered myself and

45:33

got down. Um.

45:36

I went to the side of impact and

45:38

I didn't see any blood, and I immediately

45:40

just got super worried. So

45:43

I kind of walked. I didn't I didn't

45:45

want to completely ruin my track job,

45:47

but I walked probably like I don't know,

45:49

twenty yards from where I thought I shot

45:51

him, just following his tracks. We

45:54

had snow on the ground so it was easy to follow. And

45:57

I found my my arrow and

45:59

my air had been it looked like

46:01

it had been broken off. So um.

46:05

There was a little blood on my arrow and it looked

46:07

like it got broken off, and there was probably

46:10

like five inches or so gone from

46:12

my arrow. So I

46:14

had immediately just kind of like thought

46:17

like, what what happened? Like did

46:19

it pass through? Did it not? Um?

46:22

You know, my fletchings weren't bloody, So I was like,

46:24

I don't think it passed through. Maybe it got broken

46:27

off. Um, maybe I

46:30

maybe I hit his arm or something. Um,

46:33

I'm not sure. So I just got

46:35

I got really kind of down on myself

46:37

on that moment, like, God, I didn't make a clean

46:39

shot. I didn't. I didn't do the right

46:42

thing here. Um. But

46:44

like in the moment, I thought like I

46:46

did everything that you know, I had

46:48

practiced over the summer. I thought I made

46:51

I thought I made a really good shot. So

46:53

I just kind of kept telling myself that, and I

46:57

pulled out my My first

46:59

thing to do with just get permission on the neighbor's

47:01

property to go track the deer. Um.

47:04

So that was my my first my first

47:07

step got permission, that was golden

47:10

um. And then I called my brother. I was like, hey, man,

47:12

like I might need some help, like can

47:14

you come out. Luckily he was only like twenty

47:16

minutes away. Um, So

47:18

he came out. And then my third

47:21

thing was like, Okay, I don't know if I

47:23

made this clean shot, excuse

47:27

me, I should probably try

47:29

to get get ahold of a tracker and

47:31

just see if they could maybe come

47:33

out and help out with the track job. Just

47:37

trying to be safe, and you

47:39

know, rather than myself and my brother

47:41

who don't really know much about tracking

47:44

animals, maybe they could give me some help.

47:48

So I took some pictures of the arrow

47:50

and kind of what had happened, and I

47:53

got ahold of a tracker and

47:56

um, kind of explained the situation,

47:58

sent him the picture. Um

48:00

it was like a Sunday night, and I felt

48:02

really bad bothering this guy. But you

48:05

know, he said, you know, just from what

48:08

I had told him, he said, well, I'm

48:10

thinking this is probably a shoulder

48:12

shot. And if you only got four or five inches

48:14

of penetration, you know, I don't

48:16

think you really hit a longer major

48:19

artery. So I'm not really sure

48:21

if you have a dead deer on your hands here.

48:23

Um, so I'm

48:26

not really sure if it would really be worth it

48:28

for me to you know, come out and do the do

48:30

the do a track job for you. You

48:32

know, it was snowing and it was kind of like it was

48:34

dark at that point. I felt

48:36

bad. So I kind of was just like, you know what, no problem, and

48:38

he's like, well, you should definitely give it a shot yourself.

48:41

And UM, you know, if you think that

48:44

it's really worth it for me to come out, then

48:46

you know, give me a call and I'll see what I can

48:48

do for you. So

48:51

at that point, it had been like two hours from

48:53

the shot, and we, you

48:55

know, my brother and I kind of set set off

48:57

and just try to track it ourselves

49:00

some Being that there was snow on the ground, we could

49:02

we could you know, you know, clearly identify

49:04

some blood. So

49:07

we, um, we picked

49:09

up on a blood trail pretty quickly. And

49:12

the blood trail I thought was pretty

49:15

good. Um, you know, we were

49:17

seeing drops of blood here and there.

49:19

But then we would, you know, every fifteen

49:22

twenty yards or so, we would kind of find this like

49:24

almost like a little pool of blood where

49:27

you know, we thought that we had

49:29

maybe gotten a lung or something. I

49:31

wasn't sure, so I now, I

49:33

kept taking pictures of everything and just try

49:36

to keep track of what we

49:38

were seeing. And we

49:41

kept following this blood trail man for probably

49:44

like three hundred yards three

49:47

or yeah, three or four hundred yards and

49:49

finally I found where

49:51

where the buck had bedded down, and

49:54

he had bedded down right next to the swamp,

49:57

and and it is bad. I could see like or

50:00

blood just kind of like pulling up right there. And

50:03

I just I just didn't know what

50:05

to do at that point, Like did I bump the

50:07

buck out of his bed? Is this thing gone

50:09

now? And you know, just completely

50:11

in the next county or something, I don't know.

50:14

And then I saw tracks across the stamp.

50:17

So I called the tracker

50:19

again and I you know, sent him the pictures

50:22

and sent him everything that I had, and I just I

50:25

just said, hey, man, like this is the situation.

50:27

I've tracked this thing now for like three or four yards.

50:30

I think we bumped him out of his bed. We

50:32

saw these tracks across the swamp. Um,

50:35

you know, do you feel like it's worth it

50:37

to come out? What are you thinking at this point? And

50:40

his feedback to me was like, just by

50:42

the looks of blood and what you're

50:44

seeing the fact that you've tracked him now for four

50:46

hundred yards, I really don't think he

50:48

made a lethal shot on him.

50:52

And you know, I probably would have pulled out

50:54

on the track job, you know, you know, a

50:56

while ago, so

50:59

um, just me not having that experience,

51:01

I was just kind of like, oh, man, like this

51:04

is terrible, Man Like,

51:07

this is just such a bummer. So

51:11

um my brother and I just

51:13

kind of called it, and you just said, like, you

51:16

know, hopefully the bucks survived

51:18

and he's out chasing does somewhere

51:21

and we can kinda let him

51:23

do his thing and not disturb the areas,

51:26

you know, any any more than we did. So

51:30

that was that was a really really

51:33

big low point for me at

51:35

you know, just just having that shot

51:38

wounding the animal and just the fact

51:41

that I didn't didn't kill him was

51:43

just like, you know, at that moment,

51:45

just just awful. You know,

51:47

it was really bad. Yeah,

51:50

man, I you

51:52

went through a rough spell there between that and

51:54

the back forty hunt, and and you

51:56

had some some high highs and some low

51:58

lows. But I gotta give credit you

52:01

then reached out to me after that and

52:04

explained what happened. And

52:06

and I I think that Tracker was

52:08

a little too negative on you and that

52:10

um, you know, with

52:13

that kind of blood trail, Yes, it definitely

52:15

sounded like a potential shoulder blade hit. And

52:18

and yes, uh, there certainly

52:20

was a good chance he was going to make it. But

52:22

at the same time, you you had blood

52:24

for a long time, you had tracks.

52:27

Um. Him telling you that he would

52:29

have pulled out before the end of the blood

52:31

trail is insanity to me. So

52:34

I you know what I told

52:36

you was, hey, man, you might want to

52:39

keep looking. Um. Yeah, there's there's

52:41

certainly a good chance that the deer's out

52:43

there fine, but you

52:45

gotta check that swamp. You gotta check the larger

52:47

area because there's There's also been many times

52:49

that I know people had thought a deer, you

52:52

know, kept going and kept going and kept going like, oh, we'll

52:54

never find this thing, and then you do. So

52:56

to your credit, you went back out there. I don't know if

52:58

it was the next day or two days or whatever it was, and

53:01

you went out there and you grid searched and you kept following

53:03

it after we talked about some things, and you gave

53:05

it a serious, serious effort,

53:08

um in the middle of the night. I know you were

53:10

out there late after work or whatever

53:12

it was. So you kept after it and and I really

53:14

commend you for that. And you didn't find the deer,

53:17

and that deer probably is just fine. But

53:20

these deer always deserve, you

53:22

know, our very very best shot to recover

53:24

that. And if we're gonna, you know, if we're

53:26

gonna take that shot, if we're going to do

53:29

that, we we deserve those animals,

53:32

deserve our respect to take it through the end and

53:34

give it everything. And you did that. Um,

53:37

for the sake of time. I've got so many questions.

53:39

But for the sake of times, I know you've got a hard stop

53:42

in fifteen minutes. We gotta now

53:44

move on to the final piece

53:46

of this of the season. I know that happened.

53:48

We talked about things you mentioned

53:50

like I need to take a little time off. I gotta kind of

53:52

process all this. So you took a week or two

53:54

or whatever it was off, and then you finally

53:57

got back out there. UM,

53:59

give me the epic finale. Yeah.

54:03

Yeah, So so that all happened.

54:05

Like you said, I took some time off just to kind

54:07

of regather and just you know,

54:09

I was super bummed out about it, and

54:12

you know, I took my time to

54:14

to you know, do my

54:16

thing, and I was just like, you know

54:18

what, maybe maybe I'll give it another shot.

54:21

Um. I decided

54:24

to get so we my

54:26

brothers and I will share the shotgun that we've

54:28

had for for ages, and we

54:31

have a slug barrel that you

54:33

know, nobody's ever used. And I got

54:35

it out last year and I you know, I

54:38

shot it, you know once last

54:40

year, and then I just figured, okay,

54:42

let me let me get it out again this year and let

54:44

me just put the bow down and then maybe

54:46

do a late antler less hunt, um

54:49

and see if I can, if I can get into something.

54:53

UM took it out shot

54:55

at a few times. I thought I was good

54:57

with it. By the way, there's no scope

54:59

on this thing. It's it's got an iron sight on it.

55:01

I just figured I'm just gonna roll with it.

55:03

I'm not gonna I'm not gonna take too far a

55:05

shot. Something comes in with like forty yards,

55:08

that's gonna be my max. Um.

55:10

So yeah, man, it was gosh,

55:13

it was what was it? It was the day

55:15

after Christmas and

55:18

I was just like, all right, I'm just gonna try to get

55:20

this hunt in real quick. Saturday

55:22

night. Beyonce wants to hang out,

55:25

but I'm just gonna, you know, I'm just gonna do

55:27

this real quick. Just you know, it's

55:29

all good. Um.

55:31

So yeah, so, um, I had a

55:33

head a couple, you know, at one more

55:35

hunt before that, where I was in that same tree where

55:38

I shot that book, I just got blown

55:40

up by a few doughs and I

55:42

just knew, I gotta, you know, they're

55:44

onto me at this point, I gotta figure out a different

55:47

setup. So UM

55:49

ended up setting up like in a different

55:51

tree fifteen yards where

55:54

I was, you know, I was originally

55:56

was Um this tree had

55:58

a little more cover for me, had a

56:00

few trees behind me, so it kind of like broke

56:02

up my silhouette a little bit, and I just felt I felt

56:05

like, Okay, I'm gonna have a way better chance

56:07

than this tree just being a little more

56:09

stealthy. UM.

56:12

So gotten the tree probably

56:14

like two o'clock. UM,

56:17

I think I was. I was ready to

56:19

go by like two fifteen, and man

56:22

like not fifteen minutes later, I

56:25

saw four dough cruising

56:27

the neighbor's property to my left,

56:31

and I was just like, oh my god, this is this

56:34

is happening way too early. I'm not ready for

56:36

this to be over, Like what

56:38

is going on? Um? So

56:41

these four dough are cruising this,

56:43

you know, the neighbor's property, and there's this

56:45

little betting area that butts

56:48

up right against the property I hunt, and

56:50

but it's in the neighbor's property.

56:52

And they go straight to that betting area and

56:55

um, all four dough just they

56:57

just sit down and they're

57:00

there. They end up betting in this little

57:02

this little thick, nasty stuff and

57:04

all of this is in my range, Like

57:07

I can see everything with my buyos,

57:09

and I see them just kind of all sitting down

57:11

and just just hanging out, and I'm

57:13

like, okay, like holy cow, Like you

57:16

know, if they if they you know, end

57:18

up getting up and work my way, I'm going to have

57:21

a legit shot at one of these deer.

57:24

So it's like two fifteen, and

57:26

man, they were betted down

57:28

for what I thought was like eternity.

57:31

Um, I think it

57:33

finally got to like four

57:36

thirty and they started to move around

57:39

and two

57:42

dough started working my way.

57:44

Um, they were still in the neighbor's property. So I

57:46

didn't want to take a shot just yet. I wanted them

57:48

to wait, wait over till you know the property that

57:50

I was on. They start working

57:52

my way, start working my way very slowly,

57:55

and then finally like they're in the shooting

57:57

lane that I knew I could take a shot through.

58:00

Um. But there was two dough. There

58:02

was a big dough and there was a little

58:05

dough, and I, obviously, you

58:07

know, just of the two, I wanted to

58:09

take a shot at the big dough. Um.

58:12

So I got set up, I got my

58:14

my gun ready, and

58:16

I have my my sight on,

58:19

you know, in the general direction of where the deer

58:21

are. However, the big dough is

58:24

locked off by a patch of these little

58:26

trees that didn't want to take a shot through. Um.

58:29

But the the little dough was kind of like in my sight.

58:33

UM. So I'm just kind of getting

58:35

ready and get ready. She's kind

58:37

of just doing her thing, not moving.

58:40

All of a sudden, behind me, I hear a

58:43

blow and I'm like what, like,

58:45

where did that come from? Like there

58:48

must have been deer behind me, or deer over to

58:51

my right that I didn't see that may have picked

58:53

me off with, you know, the way

58:55

that the wind was blowing. And

58:58

I hear blow, and immediately I

59:00

get nervous and I'm like, okay, like I'm

59:02

busted. Like I could just completely

59:05

blow this thing right here. Um,

59:08

but the deer didn't spook, and I'm just

59:10

like waiting for this The big dough to step

59:12

out, and then I hear another

59:15

blow, and that one got the deer's

59:17

attention, and I'm like, Okay, now

59:19

I have to make a decision. Do I wait for

59:21

this big dough to step out, or do

59:24

I just take a shot at the little dough just

59:26

for the sake of getting a deer and

59:28

just you know, getting some meat on the table.

59:31

And then I heard another blow

59:34

and I was like, all right, you know what, I'm not going to take

59:36

another risk here. I'm just going to take

59:38

this shot at the little dough. And

59:41

I did. I let it rip. You

59:44

know, I felt good right

59:46

off the bat um took

59:49

the shot, the deer

59:51

ran off. Um, she ran

59:53

off into the neighbor's property, and

59:56

UM, you know, I just

59:58

knew right from the start. I was like, I think that

1:00:01

was a really good shot. Just by the way

1:00:03

the deer reacted, it looked

1:00:05

like I had gotten a decent

1:00:07

hit, and UM, I

1:00:10

was just kind of like it's just overcome.

1:00:12

Was just like, oh my God, a sense

1:00:14

of relief and just like thank

1:00:17

you, Like I think I think this is

1:00:19

this is happening. So

1:00:22

UM, I gave it some time. I think it gave

1:00:24

it, like you know, half hour or whatever.

1:00:26

I just took my time, tearing down my

1:00:29

my saddle and um,

1:00:31

I went down and um.

1:00:34

At this point, I had already gotten the neighbor's

1:00:36

permission to you know, um, you know

1:00:38

track a deer if I if I had, you know,

1:00:40

if they had gone over to the property. And man,

1:00:43

it was snowing that day, and the blood

1:00:45

trail was great, and you

1:00:48

know, it was just not twenty yards later.

1:00:50

Man, I saw I saw it

1:00:52

laying down, and I just, um,

1:00:55

I just got so happy. Man. I

1:00:57

think I went over to it, and quite honestly,

1:00:59

I did feel a little remorseful

1:01:01

just seeing it there and just seeing

1:01:04

it kind of you know, I had

1:01:06

just taken a shot at an animal and it and then it expired

1:01:08

right there in front of me. It's just like, you

1:01:10

know, I feel like it's it's kind of a

1:01:13

natural thing for for you to feel a little remorseful

1:01:15

there. And I did get you know, I

1:01:17

did get a little sad whatever, but it

1:01:20

was just quickly overcome with

1:01:23

with happiness and uh

1:01:25

excitement, and I was just I

1:01:27

was just pumped, man, I was just pumped.

1:01:30

It was a good day. It was it

1:01:33

was a great time. What

1:01:36

I mean so many, so many

1:01:38

questions and did it

1:01:41

so? So from there you you you enjoyed

1:01:43

the moment, you gott

1:01:46

of the deer, you brought it home. Yeah,

1:01:49

you eventually butchered the deer, I think, right.

1:01:52

Yeah, So looking back

1:01:54

on all that, what

1:01:56

is the A? Was it what you

1:01:58

expected? Or did you get out of this what you're

1:02:00

hoping you're going to get and be? How

1:02:05

do you sum up your feelings about everything? Now?

1:02:09

Oh? Man? Um? Was it

1:02:11

what I expected? In the moment?

1:02:14

It was not what I expected? I

1:02:17

I don't know. I feel like I feel like

1:02:19

it all happened so fast. Um,

1:02:22

but really looking back at it, I you

1:02:24

know, I think it was like over like five

1:02:26

or ten minutes that I was kind of been the standoff

1:02:28

of those two dear. Um,

1:02:32

it just I think it just happened so quickly,

1:02:34

and um, you know, I really wasn't

1:02:36

expecting to feel remorseful,

1:02:39

like I said, I just thought I was it

1:02:41

was going to be all kind of like happy

1:02:43

and like, oh my god, like I did it

1:02:45

like but no, it was just kind of like whoa Like

1:02:48

I just took I just took a you

1:02:50

know, I just took an animal's life here and

1:02:52

and you know, naturally I just kind of felt felt

1:02:55

weird. Um, but no, I mean eventually

1:02:58

that the happiness did come. Um,

1:03:01

I mean just the whole season in general, man,

1:03:03

was such a grind. I think I told

1:03:05

you earlier in the season where

1:03:08

after I shot that buck, it was like, you know, right

1:03:10

now, it seems like the worst season ever,

1:03:13

but probably gonna look back at this and

1:03:15

and think like this is probably gonna be one of

1:03:17

the best seasons I've ever had, so

1:03:22

um, So from that aspect, yeah, man,

1:03:24

it was. It was just kind

1:03:26

of like so many different

1:03:28

things happened and

1:03:31

none of which I had any idea

1:03:33

We're going to happen, and I just kind of had to roll

1:03:35

with the punches throughout

1:03:37

those months, and I did and ended

1:03:40

up all coming together and I was just so

1:03:42

so happy. So

1:03:45

has this several year journey of ups

1:03:47

and downs and work and challenges

1:03:49

and learning and frustration

1:03:51

and excitement. Has Has it all been worth

1:03:54

it? Oh? Man? Absolutely?

1:03:56

Man, I think, you know,

1:03:58

just like the taste of success was just

1:04:01

so great, and then just the excitement

1:04:03

that I've gotten from you know, my family

1:04:05

and you know just you know, obviously

1:04:07

you guys and you know Jason and

1:04:10

everybody else have been so pumped

1:04:12

for me. I think that was that that's been really

1:04:14

cool. Um. And then

1:04:17

you know, we got we got

1:04:19

the whole family involved in butchering the deer

1:04:21

and that was a lot of fun. Like my brothers

1:04:23

and their kids and my dad came out and he

1:04:25

showed us a finger too,

1:04:27

because he used to do his own butchering,

1:04:30

um, you know, back when he

1:04:32

was younger. So he showed us a bunch

1:04:34

of stuff, and um,

1:04:37

the meat is incredible.

1:04:40

Um. You know, I've I've had a few

1:04:43

meals now from from the deer and it's

1:04:45

it's just been awesome. And

1:04:47

then um, just being able to share it with

1:04:49

with my brothers and my family and I've I've given

1:04:51

them meat and they've been so

1:04:54

happy with it and just saying like thank you, like this

1:04:56

is great, Like you gotta go get another

1:04:58

deer right now. No, it's not

1:05:00

a season. I gotta wait til next season.

1:05:03

So so it's been

1:05:05

it's been awesome. Man, it's been great. That's

1:05:08

that's so cool. I I couldn't be

1:05:10

more excited for you. Uh

1:05:12

So it sounds like I

1:05:14

already know the answer to this question, but I have to ask

1:05:16

it. Uh, is there gonna be a year

1:05:19

three? Oh? Yeah, definitely,

1:05:21

man, definitely going to be

1:05:23

a year three or three for sure. I'm

1:05:26

very I'm very happy to hear that. Okay,

1:05:28

I know you've got to leave here, probably some important

1:05:30

stuff to do with work or life or something

1:05:32

more important than this. But but two really

1:05:34

quick questions. Number one

1:05:37

for other new hunters out there listening,

1:05:40

who haven't killed their first dear yet, who are

1:05:42

where you were a year or two ago, what

1:05:44

would be your piece of advice for

1:05:46

someone who who was in the shoes or

1:05:48

who isn't the shoes that you were in not that long

1:05:51

ago. Yeah,

1:05:53

a piece of advice would be, Um,

1:05:56

you know, don't be afraid to get out of your comfort

1:05:58

zone. Um. You know, I

1:06:01

feel like, you know, I take

1:06:03

this with anything I do. If I'm not if

1:06:05

i'm if I'm feeling too comfortable with something

1:06:08

I'm not, I'm not really learning anything. So don't

1:06:10

be afraid to get uncomfortable

1:06:13

and reach out to like your

1:06:15

local q d m A or I guess now it's the d

1:06:17

n d A, right, Um,

1:06:20

your local NBA chapter and just

1:06:22

try to tap some resources

1:06:24

that you wouldn't normally tap

1:06:27

um and see if you can, if

1:06:29

you can find a mentor that would be

1:06:31

willing to guide you through the

1:06:34

hunting process, even if it if it is

1:06:36

something that you wouldn't normally do. I think

1:06:38

that that knowledge and

1:06:41

the things you learn just hunting with

1:06:43

some someone is

1:06:46

is invaluable, right, Like it's just you

1:06:48

can learn so much um

1:06:50

in in such a small amount

1:06:52

of time, UM, And I

1:06:54

really feel like that

1:06:57

that can really help you out in your

1:06:59

journey me to have some success.

1:07:02

I think that's kind of like the biggest thing for me,

1:07:04

right. It's like if you're if you want something

1:07:06

you've never had, you've got to do

1:07:08

something you've never done before. So so

1:07:11

don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone

1:07:13

and take a take a leap of faith and

1:07:15

you know, do something like that. So

1:07:17

that would be kind of my my big lesson or

1:07:20

you know, my big my big thing for

1:07:22

a new hunter that's just trying to get into it.

1:07:24

It's great advice and any I can you imagine

1:07:26

how different your life would have been

1:07:28

if you hadn't you know, emailed

1:07:31

qtum after listening to that podcast,

1:07:34

UM. A whole bunch of things came

1:07:36

out from that because you reached out to Josh

1:07:38

right after listening to the Mediator podcast

1:07:41

and sent you down a crazy road. Huh

1:07:44

yeah, man, it's been a it's

1:07:46

been a journey, and you know, I gotta thank

1:07:48

you. I gotta think, Josh, I gotta think. You

1:07:50

know, Jason, you know, you

1:07:52

guys are just such, you know, good examples

1:07:55

for I guess this up and coming

1:07:57

generation of hunters, and you guys are doing

1:07:59

the right things. You guys are saying

1:08:02

the right stuff, and you know, you guys help

1:08:04

more than you really know. So I gotta

1:08:07

really thank you guys for everything

1:08:09

that you guys are doing. Um, Like

1:08:11

I said, setting that good example is just

1:08:13

so important for the guys

1:08:15

and girls that are coming up and really

1:08:18

protecting the future of our you

1:08:21

know, of hunting and our habitats

1:08:24

and our dear population all

1:08:26

these other things. Man, it's just big

1:08:28

things to you guys, right, you guys,

1:08:31

I feel like deserve the credit and don't

1:08:33

get it enough. So big thanks. Thank

1:08:35

you for saying that. Dan, And uh, I

1:08:38

know we gotta let you go. So just congratulations

1:08:41

again, my friend. It's been an honor to get

1:08:43

to be a part of it and to see it and watch

1:08:45

it and and see your your progress.

1:08:48

I'm very excited for you, and uh

1:08:52

great, great work pushing through all the

1:08:54

ups and downs and coming out the other side. You are

1:08:57

You've been a hunter all this time, but

1:08:59

but now you are a hunter with with

1:09:02

meeting the freezer and that's an important step.

1:09:04

So well done in Congrats,

1:09:07

Thank you so much, man, I really appreciate

1:09:10

it. And you know, thank you for having me on again.

1:09:12

It's awesome, man, Thank you so much. All

1:09:15

Right, and there you go. Congrats again

1:09:17

to Dan. What what a story.

1:09:20

I wish we had a little more time he

1:09:22

had he had to run off and do some things, but

1:09:25

gosh, there's so much that I would love

1:09:27

to dive in further too, about how he

1:09:30

experienced and and dealt with

1:09:32

all these moments after the hunt. You

1:09:34

know where his head is at now. It's

1:09:36

just it's a lot. And

1:09:38

maybe maybe I'm just really excited

1:09:41

because I've seen what Dan has

1:09:44

has worked through and and the

1:09:47

struggles he overcame in

1:09:49

the experience he had, and

1:09:52

gosh, it's just it's really cool to see a story

1:09:54

like this kind of get wrapped

1:09:56

up with a happy ending. So I'll say

1:09:59

this to all the listening um.

1:10:02

If you're a new hunter, take Dan's advice.

1:10:04

Reach out to someone, reach out to an organization,

1:10:07

reach out to a friend or family member that you know hunts,

1:10:10

and and put yourself out there a little bit.

1:10:12

It can really pay off. And then

1:10:14

number two, to those of you who are

1:10:16

already hunters and you

1:10:18

want to try to help some people like this out if

1:10:20

you'd like to take that next step and you're hunting

1:10:23

journey and become a hunting mentor.

1:10:26

Number one, the most simple thing

1:10:28

you can do, but something that a lot of us don't think

1:10:30

about, myself included, is simply

1:10:33

offer an invitation. If you know someone

1:10:35

who maybe is into some other

1:10:38

kind of adjacent outdoor endeavors. Just

1:10:40

in conversations, say hey you like to

1:10:42

fish, or hey you like to camp, or hey

1:10:44

you like to I don't know, you

1:10:47

like to shoot guns. Would you ever

1:10:49

be interest in hunting? Because I'd love to take you out and show

1:10:51

you around sometime. Just do it. Just put

1:10:53

it on your list this year, you're gonna ask someone, You're

1:10:55

gonna invite someone. It's it's a really simple

1:10:57

thing to do, and yes,

1:11:00

takes a little bit of sacrifice once you go out

1:11:02

there, and spend a day or two with somebody. But it's

1:11:05

man, it's not just a good thing to do. It's also

1:11:07

a lot of fun and I can attest to that over

1:11:09

the last couple of years. It is

1:11:12

so fulfilling to share this thing

1:11:14

that we love with other people. Number

1:11:17

Two. Another great way you could do this

1:11:19

is reach out to an organization like the National

1:11:21

Deer Association which runs these

1:11:24

field to fork mentorship programs.

1:11:26

Reach out to them and say, hey, I'm interested

1:11:28

in being a mentor. They need more mentors.

1:11:31

I'm talking to these guys frequently. They've

1:11:33

they want to scale this program to other

1:11:35

parts all around the country where you can help

1:11:37

educate new hunters and spend a little time

1:11:39

with him out there in the woods. They need people,

1:11:42

they need you, So go to

1:11:44

the National Deer Association website. You're

1:11:46

gonna find contact information there to get

1:11:48

ahold of folks. Hank Forrester

1:11:51

is the guy who who's running these programs.

1:11:53

So get ahold of Hank Forrester. He's going to

1:11:55

help point you in the right direction or touch

1:11:58

base with your regional contacts. Someone

1:12:00

like Josh Hilliard, who was on the podcast last

1:12:02

week. He's one of the regional directors for the National

1:12:05

Deer Association. If he manages

1:12:07

your area, reach out to him and he can help

1:12:09

connect you with people that are running

1:12:11

these programs. It's it's a great way

1:12:14

to get involved, it's a great way to make a difference,

1:12:16

and it's a great way to make sure that this

1:12:18

thing we love continues far

1:12:20

into the future so that our kids and

1:12:22

their kids and future generations

1:12:24

can enjoy wild places and wild

1:12:27

animals and the privilege to

1:12:29

hunt them and to fill our freezers

1:12:32

with the best damn meat that money

1:12:34

can't buy. So that's

1:12:36

all for me. Thanks all for listening,

1:12:38

thanks for your time and your support. Is gonna

1:12:41

be a good year. This is gonna

1:12:43

be a great year, guys, and I'm

1:12:45

excited to share it with you and to be a part of this community.

1:12:48

So until next time, thank

1:12:50

you, and stay wired

1:12:53

to hunt.