00:00:00 Speaker 1: What is going on? This is Jake Hofer and welcome to another episode of Back 40. We are here with a new fresh panel of guests for now until the end of the year. And so leading up to this point, we had talked about all the different dilemmas and questions that lead into the season and now we're already into. mid-October. And so each week we're diving into something that will hopefully provide you a sense of direction and guidance through the end of the year and capitalizing on the remaining of October and hunting through November and December and so much more. So I want to take a chance to introduce our new panel. And so we have Tony LaPrat, met up with Tony in Michigan when we're recording his Whitetail Cribs episode. And Tony runs a boot camp, is really one of the original pioneers of whitetail consultants, a thought leader, and ultimately has not done a lot of podcasts in the past. So it's a real pleasure to have him on this leg of Back 40. Tony has a very unique perspective and has really, honestly, and I mean this, come up with some unique tactics of hunting pressured bucks. He hunts in Michigan on his farm that he's worked on over the years. And have Dr. Bronson Strickland and Dr. 00:01:20 Speaker 2: Deer. 00:01:21 Speaker 1: You may know him as that as well. Has been a longtime professor at Mississippi State. A lot of the deer research that we reference that we've been interested in in the past, Dr. Strickland has had a hand in it. So some of these guests are more big picture hunting strategy. And what I really liked about having Bronson on was him tying in research data throughout now until the end of the year. And so we have Dr. Strickland as our second guest. And then we have Jason Michael. You may not know who jason michael is he's been bow hunting for a very long time across the entire country very very relatable and very positive he is the pep talk in each episode that we all need as we get through sometimes an exciting time of the year and sometimes a frustrating time of the year and jason brings in that perspective each episode. And then lastly, we have Skip Sly, originally from Michigan, lives in Iowa. And I think it would be fair to say he is one of the most successful Habitat managers. And what I mean by that is from being strategic with TSI, selectively shooting bucks, being in tune with the land, understanding deer behavior and deer patterns. We have Skip working through the end of the year. So those are our new panel of guests. I hope you guys enjoy this fresh panel as we get through the rest of the year. This is a much longer intro than what I necessarily anticipated, but I hope you guys enjoy it. We're going to kick things off with Tony LaPrat, and here is this week's episode of Back 40 presented by Moultrie. All right, Tony, it's October 15th in this scenario. Guys have had velvet pictures or maybe even bucks that weren't on them during velvet season. And now, you know, late September, early October, there's this buck that's kind of hanging around a little bit. But as you know, you typically don't start hunting until October 25th. There's usually more deer that move around in the later half of October versus the first half of October talking about you know, bucks moving around. So the question is somewhat simple, but should I be hunting the deer I have now on camera from summer to now, October 15th, or should I be more excited on what potentially shows up for the next three or four weeks in your experience? 00:03:35 Speaker 3: Well, basically you should never shoot nothing that you're not happy with. 00:03:40 Speaker 2: Okay. 00:03:40 Speaker 3: So if the buck early is something that you'd be very proud of, then I see no reason why not to try to get him. But usually, if you haven't been killing big bucks on a really consistent basis on that property, there's probably a chance the bigger bucks are going to come later. And if you really want to try to kill a better buck, I would be waiting for that buck. And at that time, the bucks are very You should only hunt a couple of times in the early season, in my opinion. And if you don't get him, you need to get out of there because these bucks have a hundred reasons why they may not move and you're leaving clues. So I'm notorious for waiting till the scrape period. And a lot of guys don't realize every 10 days, roughly to 15 days, that buck's got a whole different mindset. So in the early season, they could still be transitioning to a new spot and And another thing people should know about this to help guys understand big bucks and deer is in the summertime, especially in the early summer and early spring, you should not have the buck you want to kill living on your property unless you own a lot of land. Because the does kick the bucks off the best habitat to have their fawns because there's thick cover, lots of food, a lot of places. So the bucks usually are summering in a park effect woods, bigger bean fields, and you can see them from long ways away. But when he gets his velvet off, that's the place he'll never visit until nighttime from now on. So my big bucks on my property live on my neighbors in the summer. But then once their velvet comes off, they all come back home because the does don't kick at them. And now they're living in my river and all my bedding areas through the fall. And next year, they're getting all kicked off. So the more you get information on how deer are doing things makes you make better decisions. And that's what a lot of guys haven't got a great game plan for what their deer are doing, why they're there, and why they're not. First thing I would want to do is why ain't he there later? if you ain't got big bucks. There is a reason. And until you change it, you're going to live Groundhog Day over and over. And a lot of guys, that's why in a 10-year period, they only get a couple of bucks that are really nice because they got too many pieces of the puzzle missing. So there's no easy answer. But all I would say is if that's your standard, Then you should make your move on that buck and give him a shot. But you got to remember, I don't like to hunt an upswing in temperature. I like only a downswing in temperatures. And you want to hunt a front even early. Use everything to your advantage when you make your move. Don't just go because it's Thursday and you got time. 00:06:34 Speaker 1: Why do you think, you know, that scrape period, if you had to, jump in the deer's brain, why they expand so rapidly or, or completely shift to new areas where, you know, you didn't have them in the summer, hardly ever, you didn't really have them in September, hardly, you know, at all, but then come October 25th to November 25th, they're there. Is it, why do you think that is? 00:07:00 Speaker 3: Break it down very simple. 00:07:01 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:07:02 Speaker 3: From the day a buck is born, he lives his whole life for two weeks. That's his mindset. So in the spring, the salmon go upstream. They know nothing else. That's what they do. They spawn upstream. A buck, that's why he hits licking branches 12 months out of the year. He's getting ready for that two weeks. And that's why all year long, he's figuring out where he's going to make scrapes. And as soon as that velvet comes off, he makes a move to every one of them branches because that's all his mind is set. He is literally there to reproduce. And he is a travel quarter. So, guys, you need to make sure that yours is the social hub of all these different bucks. Even if you can't control the bedding area because of your farm, you need to make it the social hub where they believe that's the best place to communicate with the girls and other bucks. They hate competition. The more bucks you make go to your property, the more the other bucks want to go there because they're trying to compete. So, again, it's all about understanding the animals. And that's why I'm always plugging my boot camp. At the boot camp, we cover hundreds of things, and I get people to understand not just deer behavior, big buck behavior, why they do what they do, why every 10 days you need to be having this by your stands. And then... understand how to fix your property, that's what they want. Properties are not at 10% of their potential. And even the guys that put in food plots and think they're doing a great job, they're only about 25%. And they don't realize it's the little things that make the big difference. It's never the big thing. Putting in a big food plot, he'll eat from 10 o'clock at night until three in the morning. Did you no good. 00:08:47 Speaker 1: Give us one little thing that would be beneficial for someone from now to the end of October that they could implement still. If they listen to it today and they go do it. 00:08:55 Speaker 3: Make sure that you have the branches available for the books to scrape on. And you've got to understand they want lots of licking branches. And you've got all kinds of opinions on the Internet. You know what the Internet does? It lets everyone have an opinion. The problem is 99% of them should keep quiet because I honestly believe if you're going to talk, And you want people to listen, have some real information. This buck wants to make tons of scrapes. He makes scrapes all night long. A hundred scrapes for an average buck is nothing to hit in a night. 00:09:27 Speaker 2: Okay? 00:09:28 Speaker 3: And then you've got guys who tell you to put one. Oh, you want to know. That means 99% of all the deer activities on somebody else's property. That's the other side they don't think about. 00:09:37 Speaker 1: So you think that they're urged to lay down all that sign. They'll just go somewhere else to lay down that sign. 00:09:41 Speaker 3: That's it. They ain't quitting. It's like when they breed, they're going to breed five to six does. You only got one for them. It ain't that he goes, well, I'll just get one this year. No, he's going to find five or six other does, and he don't care if he travels three to four miles. He'll do the same thing with scrapes. People don't realize they have a certain thing they're going to do every day at different times. 00:09:59 Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. 00:10:00 Speaker 3: And if you only have this much, and they're going to do this much, and this is all the farm you used up, you are never going to be a guy that piles up big bucks and do it in a couple of days. Because why? You don't have enough of the puzzle. And I show guys how to put– I'd rather have– 30 scrapes that never get hit than to have 30 that they never did. Ain't even available. 00:10:21 Speaker 4: Right. 00:10:22 Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I think that's, that's a great, great piece. We're going to have you on next week to, to work us all the way to the end of the year. Real quick. Tell us again who you are, and if someone wants to learn more, what's the best way to track you down? 00:10:34 Speaker 3: Well, I'm Tony LaPrate, and I run the Whitetail Boot Camp, and I do the ultimate land management. My boot camps, I've done over 200 boot camps. I've been doing them for 30 years. I've been doing land managements and 25 years on the boot camps. And I've done several hundred of them, and the land management, I've done over 2,400. 00:10:54 Speaker 2: Wow. 00:10:55 Speaker 3: And I've been in 31 states. And, guys, I'm one of these guys, you don't find a ton online about me and stuff because I'm a guy that I'm the busiest man in the whitetail world in land management and school. 00:11:09 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:11:10 Speaker 3: I don't need it because word of mouth is what keeps busy. 00:11:14 Speaker 1: Yeah, when we grabbed lunch, I said, how many miles on this truck? Nice new truck, and two years old, it's 120-some thousand miles. 00:11:20 Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's what I do. 00:11:22 Speaker 1: There you have it. There's Tony's perspective on what to do. Do you make a move now? Do you wait till later? And so much more. So I hope you guys enjoyed Tony's take on this. Now we're going to jump into Dr. Bronson Strickland's perspective on this specific question. All right, Dr. Strickland, welcome to the next series of Back 40. You're one of the new experts I've brought in, and I'm going to be asking you questions biweekly, all the way till Christmas Eve. And so we're going to meander through the remaining of this year as a whitetail hunter, as someone that has a lot of questions, a lot of dilemmas, all these different things. And so to kick things off, right now, people have been running cameras throughout all summer. We've gotten through September. We're halfway through October, and there's a lot of shifting going on. And right now, someone is thinking, man, I don't know what to do. This deer, this one's getting a little bit more consistent. This one, other one's getting less consistent. And to boil all that emotion related to this question, is should I be hunting the deer I have or the deer I hope to show up? Someone's sitting like, man, if season ended today on October 15th, I don't know if I would be all that excited. So what's your opinion? 00:12:35 Speaker 5: Well, I would say both. And how I would qualify that would be we see with movement behavior, there are some distinct differences in some bucks. And what I mean by that is There are going to be some bucks that show a great deal of site fidelity, even from where they are at bachelor group and bachelor group breakup. They're going to remain there all the way through the rut. They generally don't move from their home range. They just utilize different parts of their home range. But then you have another group of bucks, about a third of them, maybe more, maybe less. They are going to do very distinct shifts. And it begins typically with right after bachelor group breakup down here, that's going to be in September. So the data are really clear. There's their home range and the center of it during the summer. And then you'll see a shift in September for us. And then you will see another shift in November, kind of the pre-rut. And for us, remember, our rut's going to be mainly in December, not November. So right prior to the rut, another shift. So it really is, it's early in the episode, and I'm already going to say it depends. It depends on what kind of buck it is. Some of them are going to be there, show a lot of sight fidelity. Some of them are going to move. The good news is, is that if you have history with a buck, seeing it year after year or photos of it, if he's going to shift, they typically do it every year. So in other words, if he shifted the last year and moved on your property in November, probably going to move on your property in November again this year. 00:14:23 Speaker 1: So to boil that down a little bit more is if you're in the camp of, I'm hoping this deer shows up, it's not naive to bank on that. Because I think some people, and this has become a lot more common and accepted, but there's still a group or a camp when, you know, if I said, hey, Dr. Strickland, I got this buck, he's going to show up late October. And that's when my season really starts. That's much more accepted than what it probably would have been what would you say, five or six, seven years ago? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. 00:14:55 Speaker 5: If he's alive, assuming he didn't die during the summer, but yeah, I think it's very reliable he will show back up again. 00:15:01 Speaker 1: I know most of your research has been in the South. As far as the Midwest, would it be a fair assumption to say from the 15th to the end of October is likely when that rush shift may occur? I know it depends, but if we could just overgeneralize Is that a fair assumption? 00:15:21 Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah, I would generalize and say the month before rut month. So it even makes me think, too, for you guys in the Midwest about the October lull we hear about. So my interpretation is that it's not a lull. 00:15:37 Speaker 1: It's a shift. 00:15:39 Speaker 5: They are moving. So you were getting a buck on camera, and now you're not or not as frequently. I think they're just moving and changing their home range a little bit. And so you don't see them as frequently or don't see them at all. 00:15:50 Speaker 1: If you had to put your finger on it, do you think that part of that shift, is it in relation to does or in relation to the habitat changing so drastically throughout the Midwest in that month? Right now, I think on the 8th here today, 17% of row crops in Illinois are picked. And so that's going to continue to exponentially increase as we get deeper. So is it the does in relation to habitat? Or is it solely habitat, if you had to just arbitrarily say? 00:16:19 Speaker 5: Yeah, if you had to speculate. To me, I think it would be, I mean, it's got to be food and cover. You know, those are the requirements of life. But I would add in, there's probably also some social aspect to that as well, relative to buck hierarchies and dominance and all that. Where are they going to fit in? and have a spot where they're not going to maybe be as harassed. So maybe if they're a middle-aged buck, where can they move in to where they're not going to overlap as much with maybe a more dominant buck? Again, speculation, but I think that could play a role as well. 00:17:02 Speaker 1: Okay, so for someone that's listening to this on October 15th, and they're just in a holding pattern, tell them to take a deep breath and stay the course of this plan that they've developed since the end of last year? 00:17:14 Speaker 5: Absolutely. Stay the course. 00:17:16 Speaker 2: Okay. 00:17:17 Speaker 1: That's what I need to hear. That's what a lot of people need to hear. So it's helpful to share that. Anything else that comes to mind when it comes to mid-October deer behavior from your neck of the woods or all the way up further north? Um. 00:17:32 Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, y'all, you know, you're a month ahead of us. So, you know, right now we're still getting photos of bucks that are out of velvet and just trying to figure out what your inventory is for bow season. And then there's going to be a change probably before gun season. To me, it would be running as many cameras as I could and figuring out if a buck was on a particular part of the property that finding out maybe where he moved to a different part of the property, especially if it's a big, large acreage property. That would be what I would focus on. I would also be using that opportunity to look at age of the bucks. And, you know, harvesting good bucks too young is the downfall of so many management programs. People want 180s and above, but You got to pass them when they're 150s and they're three or four if you're going to do that. So use that time before you have the adrenaline and he's in front of you at 30 yards and make that decision now with photo evidence. 00:18:38 Speaker 1: I think that's a healthy exercise. Definitely a healthy exercise. Well, where is the best place for people to find what you have going on in 2026? 00:18:48 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:18:48 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:18:51 Speaker 5: Just go to either social media or a website, wildlifeinvestments.com, and there you can learn about me and the team and the services that we offer. Essentially, we help people manage their land, whether it be a leased property or an owned property, but we help them fulfill their objectives, and we use science-based solutions. 00:19:14 Speaker 1: Is that primarily focused in the south, or do you venture out further than the southeast? 00:19:19 Speaker 2: We do. 00:19:20 Speaker 5: Certainly a majority of our properties are in the South. But yes, we have some in the Midwest. We have some in Texas and some on the East Coast. So we're everywhere. 00:19:30 Speaker 1: Very cool. Well, thank you for this insight. We're going to take a two-week break and we'll be back with another dilemma. All right, next up we have Jason Michael. Like I said, Jason, he's going to be our North Star of having a good attitude and not getting caught up in this season. And here's Jason's perspective on are you wasting time waiting on a buck to show up? All right, it's October 15th. And I've been watching this deer through August, September, first part of October, and we're in the middle of the month of October. And there's a lot of things that are about to change. So my simple question to you, should I be hunting the deer I have right here right now, or should I be hoping for a deer to show up in the next two weeks, later part of October. So based off of all your experience of hunting public land, permission, hunting for a very, very long time, and picking up on patterns, what is your opinion on that question? 00:20:23 Speaker 4: That's a dang good one. So what I'm going to say is what I told a friend probably 15 years ago, and I meant for it to come across in a nice way when I told him, and I'm probably going to tell you or that individual to be just a touch greedy. You want the best of both worlds. And I would tell you to stay intent on both those deer. The deer you're going to hunt currently right now that you've got history with in the last up to maybe the last two, three days, you've still getting pictures of him. Or you're going to hope that something shows up in the event that you go over the next 10 days and get through maybe even the scrape period. We get in past maybe November 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and then boom. something daylight's on you that you had no knowledge of, not back through minerals, not back through acorn drop in late September, early October, boom, a new deer shows up. So now you have two deer to hunt potentially. So stick to your game plan, hunt deer one. It sounds like you said the October 15th. So we got the 20th through the 25th coming up. And this year is an October 26th full moon. So I'm going to revolve some things around that because of the peak daytime activity. I'm going to hunt the heck out of that deer the best I can based on what I think he is doing for bedding. As always, I use this same analogy. He's going to get up, stretch, and he's got a mindset of where he's going to go. He's not just going to walk around at random at that time of the year. He is heading to a destination, probably down his scrape line, probably down a combination of his rub line. and he's probably going to a food destination because of the does that are going to be there. And I'm going to try and intercept him at that time of the year. I'm going to do my absolute best, proper wins, fronts coming and going, and try and kill that deer the 20th through the 30th. 00:22:11 Speaker 1: How often for someone that's like, man, I wish I knew of a deer that I've been watching for the last couple weeks, and it's already mid-October, and I'm kind of sitting back on my heels. Do you think that some folks should have some optimism for what may or may show up in the next Two weeks? 00:22:26 Speaker 4: 100% always from this day forward. 00:22:30 Speaker 2: It just happens. 00:22:32 Speaker 4: And especially for a guy that's maybe got some private land permission, doesn't got to be a true landowner and have 100, 200, 300 acres where he's got a tremendous amount of knowledge of deer at three and four and five years old. They're there every year and they're getting bigger and bigger and bigger. But yeah, you just want to be ready to strike, move in, get the job done as quick as possible. And in the event that it doesn't work, optimism, absolutely. Because first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth of November, there's just that deer that has that lifestyle. That's when he shows up on some people's farms. 00:23:11 Speaker 1: How often have you seen where you've followed this deer loosely? It's not like he was there every single day, but two or three times a week in September, three or four times a week, maybe in the first part of October, how often do they you know, there's a complete reshuffle and you know, you were sitting here on October 15th and I haven't got him for two or three days. And I don't know if he's going to come back again. Is there, you've been able to pick up on any pattern like that over the years? 00:23:36 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:23:36 Speaker 4: And for me, to be honest with you again, pretty much a public land hunter, but dealing with some of these private farms, I'll give this example right now. I'm watching probably three deer this year between Iowa and Ohio. and I predict one of those deer is going to stay around, and I got a legitimate shot to get an arrow in him. The other two, I would almost bet my truck that they're going to disappear, and I won't see them after October 10th or 15th ever again, not even late season. They're just gone, and that's that particular deer. 00:24:11 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a game of chance, and the more data, the more bucks you have to potentially hunt, the better your odds simply get. So that's part of it. And then, to your point, having a sense of optimism of, Hey, if I'm not sitting in a great spot right now, it's going to get better. It's going to get better from here on out. So that's a great thing. Jason, where can people follow you? 00:24:30 Speaker 4: JasonMichael803 on Instagram. That's all I really got. And we'll just leave it at that. 00:24:36 Speaker 1: And last but not least, we have Skip Sly closing out this episode of Back 40. Here we go. All right. It's October 15th. 00:24:44 Speaker 2: Okay. 00:24:46 Speaker 1: And people have had summer pictures. Maybe now they're hard horn earlier sometime in September. And there's this great debate where like, hey, maybe there's nothing that's super exciting. It's mid-October already. The question is, should I be hunting the deer I have or the deer I hope to show up in the rut? 00:25:04 Speaker 2: Do you own your own land or what state would it be in? 00:25:08 Speaker 1: Not Iowa. 00:25:09 Speaker 2: Not Iowa. 00:25:11 Speaker 1: Anywhere USA. Just the common guy. This is the everyday dude. 00:25:14 Speaker 2: So I'll just answer this really simply. If like the deer you're hunting, if I'm after fill in the blank, you can just put an age on it or whatever score. I'd rather put people put age on things, but whatever. So I'll put an age on it. I want to hunt four-year-olds. There's not a four-year-old around. So I'm going to lower my standards and shoot a three-year-old. Then I would wait. If there's a, if I want to shoot a four-year-old and there's a four-year-old there, then go hunt and try and get them early. And don't worry about what moves in later. I think that one's pretty quite easy. 00:25:44 Speaker 1: Okay. What if there's, You're like, it's mid-October. I'm panicking. There's nothing exciting. Why panic? I'm asking. A lot of people panic. 00:25:50 Speaker 3: Why? 00:25:50 Speaker 1: They just do. 00:25:52 Speaker 3: Why? 00:25:52 Speaker 2: Because they have to fill a buck tag? 00:25:54 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:25:54 Speaker 2: They have to? 00:25:54 Speaker 4: FOMO. Why? 00:25:55 Speaker 2: Why do you have to fill a buck tag? 00:25:57 Speaker 1: I mean, I think... Imagine you're at the Iowa Deer Classic. It's October 15th, and you're like, hey, you got anything to hunt? 00:26:04 Speaker 3: Oh, no. 00:26:04 Speaker 1: I got nothing. 00:26:05 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:26:05 Speaker 1: No, I get that. 00:26:06 Speaker 2: No, I get that. And I've been that guy that's like, yeah, I don't have a deer I really want to hunt this year. And I understand that I'm in the minority... That says, what's the matter if you don't have a deer to hunt? What if you don't fill a tag this year, rather? 00:26:19 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:26:19 Speaker 1: Okay. 00:26:20 Speaker 2: So I don't fill a tag this year. What am I, not a man? Am I not cool? I can't post something on Instagram and Facebook and brag? Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong. I want to fill, I want to connect with a buck, but, and I want to connect with the buck that's whatever the goals are, whatever my goals are, I want to connect with that buck. But if it doesn't happen, then that means I have to lower my standards just so I can, you know, say, hey, I got one. 00:26:43 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:26:44 Speaker 2: I don't have that panic at all, but I'm also older. And now if we're being real, when I was younger, did I get like that? Like I got to get a buck. Uh, I got to go hard. Yes, I did. And now as I just get older, um, I don't have that. And I do wish more young people had that. And I'm knocking myself really with this statement. I'm knocking myself 20 years ago. I'm going, you were, you did have kind of need to get a buck or have that little pressure. And, and all I'm saying is, is, um, don't worry about it. I mean, The years where I look back and I had down years where I didn't get deer and there wasn't a deer I didn't want to shoot. And then the next year maybe I did and it came together. I love how that works. It's very rewarding that following year when you're like, dude, I had a whole season that was very difficult and finally it comes together later. And it's more rewarding. So if you have a down year and you don't tag a deer, oh well. Shoot a doe. Find a management buck that you're like, hey, he's really old. He's taking a spot up. He's still smart. Go after that. Stuff like that. But if I don't take a buck, I don't pay it. 00:27:49 Speaker 1: What about from a deer behavior standpoint where, and think of all the different cameras in different places that just different experiences are talking to different guys where there's this thought process of October 15th, he's going to get crazy and start leaving or it's going to be way harder to potentially kill whatever buck is on there now where the snow globe gets shaken up in two weeks from now. 00:28:13 Speaker 2: So that's fine. It's true. It's going to make it more difficult. But then you're playing just a game of who knows where the heck he's going to show up, which is kind of fun. All I'd say is go hunt. Just go sit in the woods. Go have fun. Go enjoy nature. I mean, that's oversimplifying things, but that's honestly what I believe. Like, I go out when I don't have a deer to hunt. Like, I know if I go hunt this portion of my farm, there's zero deer I want to shoot. I go sit up in a tree stand. That's where I want. Yeah. 00:28:44 Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. 00:28:45 Speaker 2: I put you in the worst spot. 00:28:47 Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. 00:28:48 Speaker 2: And then ruined your hunt. And all of a sudden came back and I'm like, what were we doing that night? Were we shooting? 00:28:55 Speaker 1: You were working on something. 00:28:57 Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. We were making all this noise. I felt bad about that. But like, I go out and I'll go sit where you sat or a million other spots where I'm like, well, what am I going to do tonight? Uh, it's my time of the year where I get a break. I'm just going to go sit in the woods and watch stuff. I'm not going to shoot anything. I know before I go out. Now, if a coyote comes out or some fluke happened, of course, like, oh my gosh, look at this buck that did come out. It's never happened in my whole life. Uh, but it could happen, but I just like going out and spending time out there. And I would encourage people that that would be my goal. Not like This is how you remedy the panic. Go out there and spend time enjoying yourself and don't worry about filling a buck take. Don't worry about social media. Don't worry about other people. Go out there for yourself so you can have that experience outdoors and go enjoy yourself. It's the greatest thing you can do. 00:29:51 Speaker 1: Well, you sniffed out the root of the question was people have panic at this time of year in October and you sniffed it out. So I appreciate that. 00:29:59 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:30:00 Speaker 1: It's going to be all right. 00:30:01 Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. There's, there's up years and there's down years. I don't care how long you've done this. I've done it. Okay. So I've done a 35 years, 34. So I'm 47 started at me. I think I started at 14. So, and I've had, and I look back and I'm like, Oh, I had a couple of really bad years in a row. And then the third year was good or, you know, whatever. I mean, there's ups and downs when you look back historically and everybody wants to have the Rosie view. Like, I got a buck every year and it was always a big one. It's never like that. There's always down years. And there's always years where you're like, there's a deer that are one year away from being the deer I want to chase. And the guys who can refrain and be like, I'm going to let them go. And that might mean I'm not going to tag a deer this year. If your goal is to shoot an older deer and let them go. And it's like, you're setting yourself up for next season, this season. 00:30:54 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:30:55 Speaker 2: You know, so really I'm hunting. I'm hunting for this season and I'm hunting for this experience. but I'm also hunting for 2027. I'm looking and I'm saying that buck is a stud next year or two years from now, please be safe. You know, and I'm thinking through, and this season comes and goes so fast, like, you know, and like it might get to the very end of the season too. And a buck that I might've, you know, I'll be like, yeah, he probably needs to, well, I'm on the fence about him. And then if I'm on the fence about him, like, you know, I wasn't quite sure in the age or I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to shoot him. And then all of a sudden it gets to be like late December or January. I'm like, he, he made it. He went, he got through all the bow seat, bow, the gun season. Then I'm like, ah, a buck. Maybe I would have been on the fence on like early on. 00:31:50 Speaker 1: Be like, if it gets easier at that point. 00:31:52 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:31:52 Speaker 2: It gets easier. And, and, and something I'd be like, I would want to shoot him. Maybe as three months goes on and then I see him three months later and I didn't get an opportunity. Sometimes I will change my mind and be like, you know, he has made it. So let's just let him go. And my son did that last year with, um, a six or a seven year old buck. It was an eight point big, heavy sheds are over there actually. Uh, and he tried to get him with a bow. And then by the time, you know, gun seasons, we, it was really late and, by that time it was close to the end of the season when he started hunting for him again. And finally he walks in here and he just says, you know, dad, I think I'm just going to wait to hunt him next year. Cause I don't want to shoot him with a gun. And he, I think he continued to try and get him with a bow or something, but he pretty much in his mind said, I'll, I'll pick up a sheds and we're going to hunt for him next year. And that's the deer he's hunting for this year. So if I were to post a buck that my son shoots to big, heavy, Big, heavy eight-point with some trash and kickers. His sheds are right over there. I should just grab those sheds. So a 14-year-old passed him up, and this is the biggest year I would have, in his whole life, I'd let him shoot. I would have let him shoot it, and that would have been his biggest one. But we let him go, and then he's like, I'll hunt for him this year. And he's probably... a little bit bigger this year, a little bit. I mean, he, he added a flyer up here and something off his base. And, you know, he's got heavy, heavy bottoms. And I mean, seven or eight, I don't know, seven or eight probably. And he wants to get them with a bow, but here's the problem. My boy's 15 and he's a good hunter. This is like his fifth or sixth season now. And we've graduated him up. I mean, it was two or three years on does. Then he could shoot a buck and then a little bigger and a little bigger. And, and, The problem is, this is a really hard deer to hunt. And I have deer on the farm that I'm like, you know, I know his pattern. I know what he does. He lives in this tiny area. This deer is incredibly unusual. 00:34:06 Speaker 1: Very hard to get. 00:34:08 Speaker 2: So, if he gets them, it'll be awesome. 00:34:10 Speaker 1: Yeah. We'll roll into the next week. We'll have you on in two weeks for the next Back 40 episode. Where can people follow along? And, you know, it's October 15th. He might be dead by then. That buck. 00:34:21 Speaker 3: Uh. 00:34:22 Speaker 2: I have Whitetail, and then if I shoot a deer, I'm usually, I won't post it for quite a while. I think last year I waited until the season was even over to post any pictures. So I have Whitetail, and I'm on social media for maybe three minutes a day. Like Instagram, I'll click through like three or four posts, and somehow I think the algorithm has it popped up to where it's like friends of mine or people I really like, and I'll go through three posts, and I'll like them, and then turn my phone off. So I'm not on there very much. And then Iowa Whitetail, the website. And then I am helping Tacticam with Habitat IQ, which we can chat about later. Just helping put all my habitat knowledge into their Habitat IQ system and helping those guys out. So those will be the places you can find me. 00:35:09 Speaker 4: Perfect. 00:35:09 Speaker 2: And YouTube. We'll do a few more things on the Iowa Whitetail channel just to teach and just for fun. 00:35:15 Speaker 1: All right, there you guys have it. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode of Back 40 presented by Moultrie. Next time, it'll be October 29th. Good luck over the next two weeks, and hopefully some of this information will provide you a little bit of guidance to make the most out of your time afield. We will see you next time. See ya.