00:00:02 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host, Mark ken You. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm your host Mark Kenyan in this episode number three forty one, and today in the show, I am joined by Dan Johnson to discuss it is very exciting, although very long delayed, decision to finally leave the promised land of Iowa to experience a deer hunt in the great state of Michigan. All right, welcome to the Wired Hunt podcast, brought to you by on X. Today, I got my man Dan Johnson with me for from much need to catch up. Um, the main thing I want to at least the main thing I think I want to talk about today is an exciting thing. It's like a fun, happy thing that I am stoked that we're finally talking about after years and years and years and years and years. But yeah, but before we before we dive into that which which folks listening will know what I'm referring to now by the title of this podcast, But before that, we're recording this on Wednesday, March eighteen. This is going to come out a week from now, so who knows. What the world's gonna be like seven days from now when people are listening to this. But I can tell you that right now, Dan stuffs pretty weird, pretty different than the world we're living in about a week ago. Um, how are you? How are you doing? How are you in the family doing well? Mark? We're we're just getting by, you know, I mean, it's kind of it's kind of it's kind of hard over here, all right. I know that you're kidding, because in Iowa you're pretty well sheltered from what it is serious for a lot of people. I know it is. I know it is. They've closed everything in Iowa, bars, restaurants, they've closed school for four weeks. Uh. Rumor has it they're gonna just close schools down for the rest of the year, going right into into summer um. And I'm sure that's the same way it is everywhere. Right We're we're practicing our social distancing. We are trying to wash our hands as much as possible. But you know how little kids are, and they're touchy feely, and you know, it's gonna be one of those things where if one of us gets it, all of us are gonna get it. Yeah, Yeah, it seems like with kids, it's it's inevitable. The the one blessing of this whole thing seems to be that kids are not, in fact and not impacted nearly as much as as other groups of people. So when a very, when a very the first time I start paying attention to it, the first thing that came in my mind was what about my son, who's you know, just a month old and that kind of stuff. That was really scary at first. But knowing that at least there's a little bit of solace and that our kids will probably be okay, that gives me a little peace of mind. But it's pretty crazy stuff out there, man, And I mean, none of us has ever seen anything like this before, no man. And what really sucks is that the voices that need to be heard aren't necessarily the ones that have the microphone. At this point, I feel like, right, I mean, we need to have scientists and professionals talking and not and and then then there's people like I don't know, I don't want to say a name, but there is people out there who get their information from social media and that's the that's the gospel. It's like, oh my god, I have to boil my bed sheets. It's crazy, you know, like or some you know, just the craziness of it all and watching people not even like my dad goes to the grocery store. He lives by himself, no meat, no produce at his local grocery store in a town of a thousand. Man. I'll tell you what, it's a good time to be a hunter or angler or forger because we at least have a good store of food, uh that maybe a lot of people don't have. So I wonder, and I hope I don't think it will get to this, because it sounds like supply chain will be eventually figured out, and I hope it doesn't get to this. But I wonder if there will come a time when we hunters need to think about sharing our stores of meat with people. If it gets to the point that that folks can't get red meat, I wonder if we will need to rally the troops and do something like that. I don't know if we'll get to that point. I hope not, but if we do, maybe that's something that we can help with. You know, let's let's let's talk about some of like the dark thoughts that are in your head. At the moment because obviously we're all playing by the rules right now. I mean I watch videos online of people fighting over toilet paper and the grocery stores, like a little literally fist fighting over toilet paper. Right. So, you know I've seen the movie Mad Max, right, those post apocalyptic movies where people are all in hiding and and they you know, they're scavenging and it's every man for themselves. But you know, you think about that just a little bit, right, just a little bit like if ship got real? Am I prepared for for that? And? Uh, I don't know. I think I think me and my family could get by for quite a while based off of common sense and food supply. You have, you have the leather and metal studded like vests and headgear. M basically just straight, where have your Mad Max appare? Already? My my wife leads me around in a choker all day? Have you seen that? Those movies? The most recent one, oh, the most recent one. Yeah. But remember I'm an eighties baby, so I've seen all the originals. So the Originals, Okay, I haven't seen the Originals. I just saw the newest one. But that's some pretty wild stuff. I hope it doesn't get to that, right. Uh yeah, man, Um, I try. I've been trying to keep a level head on everything and not panic at all, but at the same time take a serious um and like you said, you really gotta sort the wheat from the chaff. I guess is what they say, right, You need to learn how to learn who to listen to, Who are the experts. How do you ignore the noise and the conspiracy theories but pay attention to the stuff that does matter. So I mean, I'm I'm paying attention to the scientists, to the CDC, to the World Health Organization too, you know, doctors like Tony Fauci, I think who has led, uh led the whole fight on HIV back in the eighties and epidemics like that. This guy knows what he's talking about. So I'm I'm listening and taking what he has to say to heart. Um and those folks are saying like, if we do not take this serious, this thing is unprecedented. So I'm taking it serious, but at the same time not not trying to lose sleep over and trying to stay positive, trying to you know, be a good dad, be a good husband, be whatever. I can be um, because he can't can't change the situation around us. All you can do is change what you personally are going to do and how you react to it. So um, but you can't help. But I was talking to Doug Darren about this last week. Um, it's really hard not to get sucked into it and like checking your phone all the time. There's just endless stream of updates and this is happening, now, this is happening, now, this is happening. It's it's like watching uh, crazy apocalyptic drama kind of TV show on Netflix, but I'm watching in real time on my phone. Um, and it's hard not to get addicted to that. But it's I don't think it's healthy probably to do what I've been doing. It's Um, I've been trying to shake it and like put my phone away and not see it for half the day or something, just to somehow disconnect, because I don't think it's probably good for us to just binge that NonStop and stress about it. So my sister in law is a nurse, my mother is a nurse, and I have like a couple of my best friends are in medical fields. So yeah, I watched the news and I'm typically off my phone for a majority of the day, but I'm getting my information from them because I feel like when ship starts hitting the fan with them, then it's just a matter of a day until the rest of the world, you know, the rest of the ship hits the fans. So like, you know, my my sister in law, she's telling me, you know, just follow do what the CDC is telling you to do. You know, wash your hands, you know, stay six ft apart. Um. You know, obviously my wife isn't going to work. I work from home. My kids are not going to school as of now for four weeks. So it's basically just keep everybody's heads on level at this point. Yeah, that's that's all we can do. Um, how's it going so far? With your wife at home, the kids at home? There's a ton of people. I was talking to my buddy been up bright about this the other day that I have been basically living the self quarantine, work from home with kids lifestyle for years. Everyone's now just joining the party with me. Um, what's it been like for you guys with everyone there in the house, are you guys able to get anything done? Has it been a mess? It's a little frustrating. Um, it's a little frustrating for me because instead of having Monday through Thursday, I typically get about three hours to work in the morning where I can throw on cartoons or I can I can like kick a ball while I'm sending emails and and my son will running get it, my youngest son, you know, basically playing fetch with him and keeping keeping him occupied. Now, everybody's home. My wife is home. She's still working full time, right but now from home. So while we record this, she's doing work but watching three kids. And you know, like yesterday, yesterday and the day before, we're really nice outside, so we spent a lot of time outside. But today it's an all day rain. So today is gonna be a really test of what the next four weeks are going to be like. Yeah, man, Um, so you've been working on from home now for almost a year, right, yep, it's been a year, dude, It's been over a year. That's amazing. Congratulations again, I'm making it through your first year. That's badass stressful as ship. Yeah, I guess this might be more stressful right now? Is that is that something you're failing to right now? Well before this whole outbreak, right, So I would say sometime in early February. No, it was actually early January when you know, I, You're getting close to this goal, you know, I said to myself, Hey, man, if I can make it through year one by myself doing this thing and still supporting the family and you know, cutting ins in certain places, I could, Man, I can. I can make it work for year two for sure, right, and year three because you know, the company and the content or just continuing to grow at that point and I I'm doing it and it's it's great, but man, there have been some points along the road. And I actually had a conversation um with Chad Sylvester of Exodus Trail Cameras. We did we did an episode and it was basically about this, right, And it's just the financing some resentment, you know, balancing work in life when you're working from home. Um, and then you know going on hunts is now attacks right off, right, and it's somewhat business related, and people some people still don't see it that way. So it's just this constant yin Yang give and take balance at the house to make sure everybody's taken care of. I'm getting what I want, I'm getting the money that I need to support the family, and uh, I don't know. It's man, I'll tell you what finance. Finance part of it is the biggest hurdle. Yeah, no, no doubt about that. I know that that's something that when it's all on you, um, and there's no safety net with a company, you know, sending you paychecks week by week, that's it takes on a whole different level of significance. Um. So props to you man for making this to year one. That's a big deal. That's awesome. So like like they say in the record company, right, your freshman album, right, you could come out and you could be a rock star, but the sophomore album turns you into a legend. Right, So I gotta make sure that you're two is greater than year one, you know what I mean. So you gotta I just gotta keep building. Same same with you. It's like every year you gotta come out with something new and unique in order to transcend to that next year too. You don't know, keep all eyes on you because let's face it, what we do is all about attention, right. We want people to you are content so we can make money off of it, and so you know, is what that whole thing is. Yeah, if you're not growing and evolving, you're losing. That's that's that's you always have to be growing. So I trust, I trust and believe that you uh, you've got a hell of a great path ahead of your buddy. So just real quick, you know, everybody, please keep an eye out for nine Finger adult videos. That's that's Dan's next step. And this sophomore album is gonna be very different, going from the hunting industry right into the adult industry. You know, I don't want to spend too much time on this, but I'm sure that industry is gonna be doing very well right now with all the whole stuff. Anyways, moving from me trust, moving on working from home though, I want to spend like two minutes just on this because I feel like there's a lot of people listening now that are all of a sudden working from home that haven't and they're working home with their wives at home too and their kids at home. To um. I've been, like I said, I've been doing this a while and it I don't know if it's useful or helpful at all, but a few things that I've done that have helped me here. I thought i'd just share a few couple of tips when it comes to this whole work from home lifestyle with kids and all that. Um, it's been like a a process for us to figure out how to do that because I work from home, my wife works from home. We both work full time, and we don't send our kids to daycare, so we have our kids here too. Um So when it comes to just like being effective from work from home lifestyle, one thing that helped me a lot was waking up before everybody else does. So I try to wake up about two hour hour or two hours before when the rest of the family wakes up. When they wake up the variable part. But I'm getting up at six and they get up between seven seven thirty something like that, um, which gives me a little time to get my morning workout in, to get a little bit of prepara work on the computer done, a few things like that, and just like starting my day on my own, my own time, no one bothered me. That's a great thing. Um. I wish I could get up earlier. I'm just not a good earlier morning person. But maybe somebody I have to start getting up at like five, so I've got more time to do that before everybody else. But that's been a helpful thing, um, And that routine has been something that really helped when I first started working from home. I don't know what it was like for you, Daniel to tell me, but when I start first started working from home back in two thousand and thirteen, it was this novelty. So I was like, I was gonna wake up when I wake up, and I'm gonna work all day in my pajamas, and if I want to go do this thing, I'm gonna go do that thing. Um. And I just kind of dicked around for a little bit because all of a sudden you could. But I quickly realized that did not lead to me being very effective. So what does work is is still having a daily routine, still acting like I'm going into an office. So I guess I've got to set wake up time. I get like a morning workout, and I get some morning journal stuff done, just kind of outlining my goals for the day, what would make today. It's like, ask some things like that just to kind of prep my day. Um, get a shower and put on real people clothes. I used to just work all day in my pajamas, and I just feel like a schmuck. And I acted like a schmuck, and I worked like a schmuck. If I put on regular pants, in a real shirt and look like a normal person, I feel like I can act and work a lot better. It's a little thing, but I really do think it makes a difference, just like your mindset. UM. So that's helped a lot. And then with the whole kid thing, what my wife and I have had to do is we um we split the days. So every day my wife will work a half shift with the kids and I'll work a half shift with the kids, and then we flip flop who gets the morning shift versus the afternoon shift. UM. So that for half the day you got just you in your own office doing your work without any interruptions. And then for the second half of the day you are responsible for the kids and still trying to work. Um. And so that half of the day is less great. UM. So you've got the afternoon shift. That's when or whenever it's got his big naps. He'll sleep for two or three hours, so you can still have really good time of work. But if he's awake. Then it becomes a challenge. Um. So that's what we've done. We flip flopped, and your day isn't as great as to be if you had eight nine hours completely without interruptions. So you do have to work nights. Sometimes you do have to get up early and work in the morning. Sometimes you can really have to relish those nap times. Um. But I can still get a whole lot done doing that. Um. And we do have my mother in law does come sometimes a couple of times a week to help too. That's a great help. Um. Those are a couple of simple things we've done that have helped. I don't know, Dan, what about you? What any quick tips on working from home, working with the kids? Uh, getting stuff done while everyone's all around you. Yeah. So my wife has what I would call a quote unquote real job, right, So my schedule for the most part is flexible unless I have something scheduled that's you know, important. Um. But when she has a work meeting, I mean, she's got a work meeting, so her stuff kind of takes priority and then I'm typically left too. Like last night, I worked from oh seven thirty after supper, you know, clean the kitchen, head up stairs here, and then I worked till eleven thirty last night, so I get the I get second shift, and then I am If I got up any earlier than what I do now, I'd be getting like two or three hours asleep at night. So, uh, it's it's very hard now to even just be alone in the house to get stuff done. I mean, there's times where it's my turn to watch the kids and I'm trying to multitask, and I feel like a piece of ship because I'm on my phone ignoring them, sending an email, replying to an email, doing some social work when they're trying to play with me, and stuff like that. And what I don't want is my kids to see that and think it's okay to ignore people because you have this device in your hand now. So I'm constantly struggling having to tell myself put it away. You can do this later. But you know, when you have a schedule, you know, because you don't want to do all your social work at eleven o'clock at night, right, you don't want to make a post at eleven. You want to do it throughout the day. And I don't know, it's just something that is a continue. Like I have less of a schedule right now other than wake up, take a shower. That's my only routine throughout the entire day. Everything else is balance and going with the flow. Sometimes I just gotta gotta make the best of the circumstances. I guess. Um, yeah, man, the phone thing, that's tough for me to exactly. Like you said, You've got to do it. It's part of your job. At the same time, I'm trying not to be locked on that thing. So I I am trying to set like hours, when like it's work hours, I'll be on it. But like when I get done with my regular work, our day is at five, I'll try to set it. We've got a kind of a I don't know how you describe it. I guess, like a bucket kind of thing on the table, and I'll put the phone in there and try not to mess around with it until the kids go to bed. Um, so at least that time is his phone free. But sometimes easier said than done. Um, what about other stuff? Lockdown? We're on lockdown. We're supposed to be avoiding groups of ten or more. We're supposed to be staying home as much as possible. Staying away from public spaces as much as possible. Uh. Any recommendations for COVID nineteen activities that are safe. I mean, I feel like most anything that we do as hunters is a good option, right Scouting hunting prepent trees. Yeah, man, you've got any plans to do that kind of thing? Uh not in the near future, other than doing some turkey hunting. I mean, right now, it's just been you know, I'm in that limbo of post shed hunt pre turkey, and I mean I'd love to get out and do maybe a day or two more of shed hunting on the farm where I found all of those sheds recently, because I didn't I didn't go into the timber really at all and look for any But you know, with the whole situation with everybody working from home, it's just been if it's nice outside, I'm taking the kids outside. Yes yesterday we actually went on to a piece of state ground, uh near my home, and we walked some deer trails. It was kind of this big open grass grassland area, like not necessarily CRP, but the grass was real short and we just went out there. Oh Dad, look at deer tracks, Oh Dad, look at this. Look at this bug, or look at this. Look at this, Oh Dad, look at there's an eagle nest, and just get him outside. And this is this is actually a really good time because since this past Saturday it's been nice out. We've done just a lot more outside and a lot less TV and a lot less video games, just more outside playing enjoying nature, which is kind of a I guess if you want to call it a silver lining, that's it. Yeah, Thank goodness that we're getting into springtime. If this was going on right in the middle of winter and we'd have a lot less to do. So it's a good point. Uh. Do you have any other recommendations for folks trying to burn time? Book book ideas might not be your wheelhouse. I mean, show ideas got in movies you've watched and he shows you binge watch on Netflix, anything good like that we can suggest. So when I when I finally do have time, and I try to give myself thirty minutes to an hour because I don't know about you, but I can't just go straight to bed after I'm done working. My brains. My brain needs like a decompress, needs to decompress, and so I'll sit right now. I'm watching a show called Snowfall. Um. I don't know if you've ever seen it. It's based off of the nineteen eighties crack epidemic, how crack cocaine was actually introduced to South central Los Angeles, and how the CIA was actually helping provide cocaine to drug dealers. It's like, it's loosely based on on that, but crack cocaine was supported by the CIA back in the eighties. So is this a fictional show or this is a Oh no, it's a fictional show, but it's based off of a true story. Yeah. So, because let's see, the CIA was selling drugs, the money coming in was used to buy weapons that they were flying down to a Southern American country and giving to those rebels to help overthrow a government. Y. Yeah, it's crazy, it's pretty but it's a pretty cool show. I know there's documentaries on it as well. But other than that, Man, I watch one hour a TV and night these days. Man, you're bringing me down with the story about what's going on in the eighties. Well it's it's I mean, you know, the whole Ronald Reagan crack epidemic thing, and uh, it's it's a really cool, it's a really exciting, it's a fast paced show. It's it's kind of like a shoot him up gangster. You know you have you seen Narcos? You haven't. You haven't watched Narcos The Story of Pablo Escobar. No, I've heard about it, but I haven't seen it. Dude, Dude, there's three there's like three or four seasons of it. You definitely need to watch Narcos on Netflix. Now's the time. Yeah, I guess I just don't watch a lot of TV. Um and when we do, I feel like I've been airing towards the comedy right now, Like, if we're getting to watch TV, I need like something's gonna give me those kinds of endorphins or whatever. Oh dude, you wanna you wanna listen to a really funny um god? What's her name? Fortune? I think her name is actually Fortune. She's a bigger, blonde, shorter, curly hair, heavy set lady who's a lesbian and dude, it is. It is a hilarious stand up hour. You can find it on Netflix as well. I think her name is Fortune something. I'll check that out, dude. We did watch the stand up special from a guy named Mike Barbiglia. I don't know if you've ever heard of him. U super funny dude. And it is all about his journey from not wanting to have kids to his wife convincing him to have a child, to then the whole process of his wife being pregnant and what that was all like, and then what the first year was with the baby. Uh, something that I know you and I can both relate to a lot right now. So that's another going It's called the New One. Yeah, really good stuff. So so I also have to tell you what else I've been doing lately too. You know, when I do have time, well I kind of I'm in a way making time whenever I'm uploading a file or downloading a file, or waiting for something to load, or you know, maybe I'm on the toilet or whatever. You know what I mean. Like those those moments, yeah, are spent straight up e scouting nice, whether it's my home farm, whether it's Michigan, whether it's South Dakota, whether it's you know, some other states. Because there's a very small chance that I go to Wisconsin maybe to do a turkey hunt right on the Mississippi River. So h just been doing a lot of getting on on X and just scouting. Well, that's a perfect segue, dude, you just said the magic word. Yeah, it's been years in the making. It's been a dream of mine. It's been on my every every year I set these goals for the year, and then for my five year goals, and for years now, right at the top of my list of my year the goals has convinced Dan Johnson to hunt Michigan. And every year it's there. Every year I check it off as not not achieved, not achieved, not achieved. Now, finally, two thousand twenty, I can say Dan Johnson is hunting Michigan. There's been a commitment made. It's amazing. How I mean we talked years what happened? Like, how did this is? It? Is it? Honestly the fact that you finally realize that you couldn't put off the verbal contract that you made five years ago or whatever, or it was the peer pressure. Did enough people bother you about it? How did this happen? This is a PC peer pressure, to be honest with you, So we there was a little bit of a technicality when we made this agreement if I ever am able to quit my job and go full time. Well, I didn't necessarily quit, oh jeez, I was laid off right, So off of a technicality, I kind of pushed it off, and then I I made the mistake of putting out a post saying, Hey, I'm not going on my elk hunt this year. Give me an over the counter state to where you know, you know where I where I can get a tag easy, where there's a lot of public grounds so I can hunt. Did you not expect that response you got? Well, I thought everybody was going to be real, right, and nobody was real about I mean, people were real, but they were just like, dude, you know you need to go to Michigan because you made a promise, and I was. You know, there were people who weren't even just commenting in that post. They were sending me direct messages saying things like, Hey, Dan, I think it would be really cool if you would hunt Michigan because you know you mentioned you you know, your full time now like going through it, not necessarily calling me out, but just like, yeah, giving me the timeline of what actually happened. I know the timeline, right, but people were just like so here's what happened. Dan. You were laid off right promised Mark, you know this, this, this, and now it's time to pay up. It's almost like it's almost like no one really gives a shit about me. They're just minions for you. You know. It's it's been my plan all alone. Dan. It's worked out wonderfully, right, But hey man, I'm getting I said, you know, screw it, I'm gonna hunt Michigan. And the crazy thing about this whole thing is for everybody who in the past has said Michigan is a dogship place to hunt. I have been getting double or triple positive feedback from people saying, dude, don't sleep on Michigan. You know, if you work hard and you put yourself in the right position, there is a chance that you run into, you know, something in the pope and young category, or a two or a decent two or three year old, or even a chance at a dough And it's it's people are offering me up their properties. People are one to give me spots, and I'm kind of turning them down at this point because I kind of want to go in and do more of a self test and rely on anybody else because I think me and you've had a conversations like, dude, I'll do scouting for you, I'll run show cameras for you, and I'm just like, calm down. Just I was all excited. I was like, all right, I'm gonna help out here. But but I like what you're getting at though. Too. I think it's it would be a good personal challenge for you. Yeah, and you know, for me these days, it's not necessarily about walking into a piece of property and trying to kill the biggest buck that's there. I'm just down for a new experience, right, And I think this is gonna be It's gonna be an awesome learning experience for you because you have done out of state like l cohns and mule deer hunts, but you've never really done a fully focused, just white tail out of state hunt before, right, Nope, never have. So this is gonna be. This is gonna be awesome. You're gonna it's gonna be different, way different than Iowa. It's gonna be fun, it's gonna be challenging. Um, and yeah, you know, we talk a lot about the I talk a lot about the challenges of Michigan, but it is by no means a dogship place to hunt like it's it's a it's a great spot. There's there's good deer, there's good opportunities. Um, I mean you can, if anyone's watched my hunt's over the last ten years, you've seen that. You can. You can see some nice deer and get some opportunities. Um. It's different, it's challenging in certain ways, but by no means is it impossible or not fun or not rewarding or any of that stuff. So, yeah, dude, I'm curious though, given what you've heard from people recently, given you know, you're following my stories and stuff over the last almost ten years, now, um, what kind of expectations and goals do you have for it? So so I guess maybe maybe should rewind. First off, what's the plan? Like when are you coming? For how long? Um? Let's cover that, and then I want to talk expectations and goals. Yeah, so my goal, you know, obviously it's not ideal, right, but my goal is to come opening week, I believe, and I am going to honestly, I think. Let me pull up October here on my calendar, August September, October, alright, So Uh, October one is a Thursday, so I think I might come. I might drive up on Tuesday, the twenty nine, and scout Wednesday before the season opens, and then hunt to Thursday, Friday, Saturday, three day hunt and drive back on Sunday. So I'm back late Sunday night. So I think that might be the the goal there um expectation wise, public ground Michigan. You know it's not Iowa obviously, So I think I'm just I'm gonna I'm not gonna put any expectations on myself. If it comes down to last hunt, last day, and there's a doe standing at ten yards twenty yards from my stand, I'm sending an arrow her way. I guarantee that I would love to walk away from that with something. And I think that that would be a great you know, in a way, it would be a great success. Now, what about a buck? What's it going to take to send an arrow at a buck? Let's say day one versus Dave four or three or whatever it is. Man, I have to I have to answer that question by asking you a question, right, So you know, I have the luxury of hunting in a state that is known for a higher age class, it's known for big antlers. It's you know, I talk about that a lot. I talk about how you know I passed this deer, but the playing field necessarily isn't the same in Michigan. So if hey, I don't, I don't necessarily want to piss people off. You know, obviously I want to hunt my hunt. But if I if I shoot a four cohorn or if I shoot like a fifty inch six pointer or whatever, I don't know. I don't know, like I would love to, but I don't know if that would make me look bad and and being like, oh, this dude's a hypocrite, or if I'm if I'm passing a three year old in Iowa, but I'm not passing a two or three year old in Michigan. I guess that's see what you're saying. Yeah, Um, I mean I wouldn't feel bad about it because everyone's got a hunter on hunt. And when you're on out of state hunt and you're just exploring a new place, and I mean I get that. I would like when I went to Minnesota last year on that hunt, very different experience, had no idea what to expect, new would be low deer densities. I was going to take whatever buck I saw. Um. But when I'm in Iowa or when I'm hunting, like the spots in Michigan that I know really well and I've hunted for a long time, I've got different goals and expectations. So I mean, I I would tell you that Michigan's age structure is definitely different than I was, big time, very very different. But it's getting better, Like from when I first started trying to target mature bucks to where it is now, it's definitely better. Like more and more people are passing on younger bucks. You're seeing older deer more often. Um. But it's it's it's leaps and bounds different than Iowa, Ohio or Kansas. Um. I mean, as you've heard me talk about, I would say I hunt a couple of pretty good spots. Pretty good spots for Michigan is not the best. It's not like a thousand acre managed farms. But I've got a couple of small sixties seven I've got a couple of good spots that are between sixty four and ninety acres or so. And you know I'm seeing one to like on one property, like the back Ford right there's one mature buck I saw um and then got trail camera pictures of a couple. Others never saw them, but I did get pictures on the other main Michigan spoy. I spent a lot of time on um. You know, I had two three year olds that I saw and passed on, and then one buck that I thought was four. Um. Of all these deer though nothing I mean if we're talking like antler size, nothing more than like one thirties mid one thirties. UM. And then another farm my hunt, another property area I hunt, you know, uh, one three year old, couple two year olds, that kind of thing. Um So, I would tell you I think most people around here would point to a three year old and or pope and young type buck, depending on what criteria you want to look at, as being like a top tier buck. Um So, if you somehow shot a three year old or a pope and young buck on your pop on your public plan hunt, that would be like a super Bowl win I would consider for you. That'd be huge, to be amazing. It'd be it's possible. I would not tell it's not impossible, it's totally possible, but it would be a huge win to do that. Um even to kill a two year old, would I would say, like, damn, that's pretty good man, if you killed the two year old. If I walk into Michigan and kill a two or three year old, and I hate to put it, uh a rack size on it, but at the one mark pointer, I feel like that's that would be a win. Yeah. I would be stoked. Even if I mean, even for me to kill public land in type Buck that's three years old, I'd be really stoked. And I live here. Um So yeah, man, I think that's totally doable. I don't know which area you're gonna end up choosing, but the two areas that you and I have talked about that I know of and that I have history with totally possible in either one of those spots. Um. So that said, you could jack to play the game, and that's that's the thing. Yeah, You're just gonna be excited about the game in the process, and as long as you enjoy that, then it's all gonna be good. Yeah. All right, we gotta take a quick break here to thank our friends over at Lacrosse Boots. I was just out yesterday helping a friend do some scouting on a property, and the boot of choice was the Navigator series. The wind Rose boot from the Navigator series of Lacrosse that is their new lace up line of boots. These are comfortable for longer hikes, for preseason work like what I was doing. Anytime you're gonna be putting some miles on the boots, these are a great option. Still waterproof, still comfortable, still going to be like get you into the tree if you have to, or hiking in the woods, whatever kind of plan you have in place, These boots seem to be a great option. If you want to learn more about those or anything else from Lacrosse, visit Lacrosse Footwear dot com. How many people think US hunters are crazy when especially the hardcore guys, when we're sitting I take off the satellite imagery. Once I find a place that I want to hunt, I take off the satellite imagery and I'm just looking at lines on a screen and I'm just like evaluating that in my head. Okay, this is how I've seen de or moved through terrain. How many people are just like, dude, that that's some crazy people stuff. Well, we are crazy, Dan, We definitely are. Um. Interestingly, the two areas that we've been talking about. Both of them are much hillier than almost anywhere else in Michigan. Um So you those if you end up settenly on one of those two areas, you're going to have more terrain features than most Most of Michigan, at least the Lower Peninsula is is pretty darned flat, open farm country. But those two chunks have a nice amount of topography that will funnel deer movement, that will allow you to make some guesses about deer bedding based on ridges and stuff like that. That's not super common around here. Um So that's why I think those are those are pretty cool. Are you Are you still thinking about one of those two or are you looking at anything different? Uh? So, yes, But I found a piece and I'm really interested in this place. I'm not going to give too much detail on it, but I think I could ba door it. So basically, here's what I'm looking at. I'll just tell you what I'm looking for. I'm obviously looking for any piece of public right now. Then I'm looking at the time of year that I'm going around. You know, I'm gonna be hunting there early October, so I'm looking for an egg field that borders it, maybe a private egg field that that borders it. Then I'm looking at access points on this piece of public where this access is, and so far I haven't found any of these giant pieces where you're walking miles and miles to get in. However, I'm looking for us obstacles that I could possibly go through, like streams or rivers or creeks or or marsh where I can back door it and get something coming to one of these pieces of private ground that it's gonna take some effort to just number one get back there. So you know, I'll be hunting a corner or you know, off of a field edge or chline that may have some obstacle between the parking lot and the private ground. Right, so there's there's these little slivers that might be hard to get to. So that's kind of what I'm looking for. And then I'm basically just leaving way points there so I can come back and look look at it. That's I think that's a good that's a good way to approach it. Um, I think that makes sense for these kinds of spots I know of. UM, some of my own hunts in some of these places and a couple of buddies that, um that exactly what you're describing has worked, where finding a crop field that's got bucks in, especially pre opening day, and then looking back from that into the public land to try to figure out where that buck betting area is, and then back during in between it. Um is exactly how a mutual friend of ours killed a nice buck. I'm one of these pieces and uh, and it's how I've tried to a handful of times I've gone in there, um and I have seen some you know, like possible three year old, possible one to any type bucks in adjacent private land fields to these places that we're talking about. Um, so they're they're in the area that kind of buck. Um, it's just a matter of getting a swing at them. And I don't think that you're making a bad decision with that early season. Um, the rut you know, great, but there's will be a bunch of hunters out there. I think you've got a chance to have less pressure and the deer are gonna be more comfortable that that opening day hunt is going to be like a great, great opportunity. Um. I would swing for the fences with that first time, like pick your best spot probably, um, and go for it because you've got a really good chance. I think that first day. What's the let me let me feel you out here. Right. Let's say there's a farmer who his property butts up next to public land, but he doesn't necessarily have any timber on it. It's all egg from your experience. Do do people let you walk through their fields to backdoor? So I'm not necessari if I walk up to a or I have a couple of places like this in Iowa, and I don't want to hunt your property. I just want to walk through it to get to the public Yep. I mean it's totally fifty fifty. There will absolutely people that will be okay with that. But so many places are bow hunted that you're gonna have a whole lot of them that they said, Well, I've got guys that are gonna be out there hunting. I don't want to mess up their hunt. Um, but it can't hurt to ask I had. I've had one person give me permission to do that. Um, others have not. But it's worth a shot. I mean, it's definitely a good idea. Are you are you planning on? Um? What's your plan as far as mornings and evenings, you're gona hunt every chance you can, or you're gonna start What are you thinking there, I'm hunting everything. I think that's I mean, if I was in Iowa, I probably would lay off early season mornings unless I had actual trail camera data that's telling me you need to go hunt right now. But because this is a short time frame and only time you can kill a deer's when you're actually in a tree stand, I'm gonna hunt mornings and evenings. Yeah, I think I think that's I think that's smart. I think in in that circumstance, i'd do the same thing. Um your first night so here, I like, I'm really glad that you're going to come in a night beforehand and scout. Um, will you allow me to help you at least scout that night unless I've got something going. If I if I can get free, I'd love to be able to provide at least a second set of eyes on a different place. You get a cute a few places, um, because I'd be so huge if we can find a nice buck or some deer that are on some adjacent private that will help so much. Just helping you pinpoint where to get in at. Yeah, and I have. I don't know about you, but you know I've done these elk hunts. I've done these mules your hunts now where you're you're constantly figuring things out as you go. But with my Iowa hunts, right yes, I'm mobile. I already know where I need to go because I've been on the property before. What I'm really excited about is this like an early season grind, if that makes sense right where it's I'm doing the same stuff that I would do during the rut, but I'm doing it early season. There's gonna be a lot more vegetation. But I think what's what's gonna what I'm excited about is instead of laying off on an observation hunt, I probably won't do any observation hunts. I'm gonna go straight gut, I'm gonna find the sign, and I'm gonna set up right over top of it, not necessarily any field edges, but doing what I do in Iowa, you know, I don't hunt the field that just go in, but just go in that much further and be aggressive on every hunt, and if I bump something, at least I know where this deer went. And I know when you know whatever, can I can I give you a little bit of, um, a little bit of Michigan insight, Okay, on a few things on those lines. So I'm thinking about like how you're being aggressive and going in and trying to get tight to stuff. Um So, like I said, there's not as much of the hilly country as you have in Iowa, so you're gonna depending on where you pick, there's gonna be more betting. Particularly buck betting is usually going to be I think in the areas you're looking at, it's probably gonna be on points extending into swampy stuff or islands in the swamp. Um that's usually like the best buck bed stuff around here. Um. Now, you might get to a spot where there's some hilly stuff, but most of the hilly stuff around here, though, it's pretty wide open, and a lot of that public land has trails along the tops of the ridges and stuff, so there might be less betting on those than you might otherwise think. Um So not I'm making generalities here, generalizations, but um, I would really focus on those swamp points and islands. That's just like dynamite buck betting and a lot of these Michigan spots. So think about that when you when you find your food source that you like and you're trying to go back from their backtrack from there and okay, figure out where they're betted. Look for spots like that. UM. And then the other thing I tell you is when it comes to like pressure, like there's gonna be hunting pressure, there are gonna be other hunters. UM. It can be variable, like you might get out, it might get to the only spot, especially the first place we talked about. You might get out there and there might not be anyone there. It might be all yours, But at the same time, there might also be guys never parking lot. I don't know. UM. I would have a minimum of three to four backup plans. UM, like, Okay, here's my spot, I want to check out first. If there's people that are there, Okay, then I gotta plan B. Then I gotta plan C. Then I got a plan D. Like I had a day last October where I literally had to go to my fourth spot for an evening on I went out, Oh, there's three guys that went to my number two, two guys that went to this one, three guys that are hiked into a spot ran by two other people in tree stands. Um so, so I would have a whole list. I have like ten and and just so you you do never find yourself like, oh shoot, where am I going to go? Um? That would be that would be a big recommendation. So I like your ideas of scouting the fields the night before, having a bunch of spots of backdoor and them through tough to access places. I think that's smart. Um. Let me ask you a question. What about are there on the Michigan public Are they allowed to drive four wheelers or trucks into it? So most all the spots that we're talking about, no, so you shouldn't have anyone driving in there. On that stuff. There will be like mountain bikes though, and I don't know what the e bike rules are tell you the truth, I'm unsure about that. Um So, I wouldn't worry about trucks though in the spots we've looked at. Um what else? Uh, if you're leaving up to restands, they're supposed to be labeled with your name and information on it. That's a little thing to keep. I know you're probably gonna be running a gunning. But if you decide to leave one up for a couple of days for some reason, that's what you're supposed to do. UM. I don't know what other things like high level would be helpful. I don't know what other things are you wondering about that I might be able to give you some insight too, you know, I really don't. I really don't know at this point. I, like I said, I'm I'm still in straight up scouting mode. UM. Obviously only digital scouting can only only tell you so much. But I'm just looking for corners. I'm looking for, you know, especially inside corners right where the the property is on the outside of it and the field might go into the private or excuse me, the private field might go into the public. And looking for those corners. UM. I've seen deer throughout the years take advantage of those places. UM. But a lot of it has to do you know, just be straight up. Um. You know, once once I get there, once I get the boots on the ground, I'll find out more information. But it's funny that you mentioned these islands and these peninsulas into marshes, because I have let see one, two, three, four points marked on this one piece of public that I've been scouting already that are exactly what you said they are. It's like a point that leads into public or a point that leads into a marsh. So most of these spots that get protected his public land here in Michigan, they're they're usually the spots that couldn't be farmed, and the spots that couldn't be farmed are the wet stuff. So a lot of the stuff that we have is public is super swampy um, which which is good because that's the stuff that most hunters don't want to go into. So you've got you have the possibility to hold some deer um. I know we've talked about this before, but even when I'm looking for private into hunting Michigan, I almost always been trying to get something with a big swamp because that is like sometimes the only place where buck can survive a gun season. So definitely keen in on that. Um. Oh crap, I had something I was just oh, man, I knew what I was going to ask you. I think you may have answered it in a text message. But am I allowed to pull my truck into a parking lot and sleep there overnight? Yeah? So I actually I didn't respond to that question because I don't know. Um, I think the answer is probably no. Actually I'm unsure, but I do know that there are campgrounds um near some of these places where you can camp, but you have to pay the camping fee. Um. But yeah, I I can point to to a couple of close campgrounds to some of these places that Oh, I know what I was gonna tell you. Um, let me write this down before I forget. Yeah, so camping options are relatively close to some of those places that we talked about. And also if you are hunting in some spots that are kind of close to me, like I told you, you're always welcome to camp at my place too. Yeah. So the other thing I was thinking about this is kind of a hot tip that I use a lot here in Michigan. Um, it just takes some legwork that most people probably don't want to do, but in Michigan we're very dependent on other folks. Managing was similar, with a similar mindset to get to the point to have some older box and bigger box. So the good spots of Michigan are usually good because either no one's allowed to hunt around it or be there's a bunch of landowners or a bunch of like minded people that have all decided to pass on younger deer um. And so in Michigan we have I think the highest number of q d m A co ops in the nation, so co ops as you know, Dan, or these groups of landowners that decide, hey, we're all going to kind of manage our deer hunting, our deer populations somewhat similarly, and we're all gonna work to try to pass on your year and a half olds or two and a half year olds or whatever it is. Um. So there's a bunch of these scattered all around the state. And something that I've done when trying to hunt public land around here or trying to find new private land hunt is trying to find pieces that are close to those or adjacent to those, or in that zone where there's a better chance than otherwise that people are passing on younger deer um. So I would look up qu to MC coops, find out where some of those are, and see if there's any of that are near public land you can hunt. Another thing I do that's kind of creepy, but I do it. I did this when I was trying to find the back forty property to to buy that. And then also when I'm looking for just places to ask permission or anything, I would you know, google the area and names of people that own land around there, or hunters and look on Facebook or look on Google and try to see if people have posted pictures of deer they shot around there, or if there's been a news article about a big buck that was shot around here, or if there's a buck pole picture for the QT make co Op in that area. Different things like that can just give you an idea like, oh, yeah, this area is pretty decent, or oh wow, this property that's right next to that piece of public land. That dude posted a picture of two four year olds he shot last year. That's interesting. UM. Basically Facebook, yeah, Facebook, Instagram, Google stock these areas, UM, it's it really can help. UM. I think that's something that is worth doing if you're trying to come in and find a new place, figure out if it's worth spending some time. UM. Now I can tell you, based off my own previous stocking that the two areas we've talked about I have potential for those reasons. UM, but you might find some other spots similarly to that too, So that's something for you to keep in mind and for other people in other states whatever. I mean, I think that's something you can do anywhere, um and help a little bit. Yeah. I don't know, man, I'm just you know, every time, whether it's an elk hunt or a mule er hunt or now this hunt, I just keep going back to the excitement of planning. I don't like, if if there was another job out there other than doing what I'm doing, I think it would help people playing hunts, right, and just it was like, you know, like, hey, man, um, I'm gonna gonna draw an Iowa tag and I want public ground or I'm gonna draw this state. I help them go out and achieve that, like kind of what this conversation is right now, right, I think that would be so cool just to al right, so I'm looking at this terrain right here, you might want to do this and this, this this, you know, hey, this guy does this whatever. I don't know. It's funny mentioned that because honestly, like, I have this boost of excitement because I'm getting to do that with you right now. So I totally get what you're saying, because that is so much fun. Um he Speaking of camping places, what's your plan like camping set up? Are you gonna do a tent or you to sleep out of your truck? Are you bring a camper? What's your thoughts there? Yeah, I'll probably Um, I got a top around my truck, so I think I'm just gonna stuff all my stuff in the back and you know, cook my meals inside the cab. If it's nice out, you know, be outside. If I go to a campground, I'm still gonna I'm gonna bring my tent with me just in case. But I think just camping out of my truck is the best. You know, sleeping in the back is just gonna be the best thing because I don't have to set up or tear down anything. Just wake up, eat my breakfast, get after it. Yeah. Man, that's that's my favorite too. I think that's it's you're so mobile that way, you're not stuck in any place. So when you set up the tent, and not that I don't do this sometimes, but when you set the tent, you're a little bit burdened or you're a little bit locked in, Like the you just have this new feeling like I don't really want to tear it down, all this stuff and go to a new place. But when it's always in your truck, if stuff isn't going good after the day and a half or two days, you're like, whatever, let's just go to the next spot. Ums, nothing holding you down. So I like that truck camper camping lifestyle for this kind of hunt. Um so so that and just you know, other than the potential to maybe have some electricity at some point, you know, like I don't know, charge my osonics or you know, charge my phone or something like that, I might, I might take you up on I don't know your your garage or something like that. But other other than that, man, I think it's pretty self sufficient, especially on that time frame, you know, really just three days, I'll be able to have a cooler of food that that will last me, uh deer salami and cheese and maybe a couple of beers and water, and I don't necessarily need to take a shower, you know, just like kind of a Western hunt and go for it. I love it. I love it. That's a lot of fun. I'm gonna I'll bug you to use my shower and to eat good food. If you're willing to take it, but I also fully support your dirt bag lifestyle of choices to right there. You know how it is, though, there's there's something about going out and doing it all by yourself that it's not like I don't want to hang out with people, but I I just want to. I don't know, there's this this solitude that we all kind of and and not the quarantine solitude, but like the solitude right just like go out and be closer to nature and be by ourselves. And I don't know, it's like I I long for that kind of thing. Uh, right there with you? What do you think we should do as far as covering this, Um, I feel like we should do at a minimum a pre hunt podcast and a post hunt podcast. But I wonder if it to do like a daily breakdown. I'm sure you're gonna do your own thing, but I wonder if we could do some stuff together kind of to to capture it in a special way. I think what we should do is the day that I come into Michigan, I'm gonna I'll go scout or we can go scout together or whatever. Then we do a podcast after we do like a morning or afternoon of scouting. Yep, Okay, we do that and maybe halfway through the hunt we can do a touch base and then after the three days we do a full one. Yeah, that works for me. Um, I think it's gonna be fun. I think it's be awesome, and uh, I gotta I don't know. There's there's nothing I enjoy. There's a few things I enjoy more than when you've got a group of buddies that are all at hunting and then someone has some success and then you get the phone call and everyone's gonna come out and help track or help with whatever it is. Like that group, that that excuse for some camaraderie during hunting seasons. Like my one of my very favorite things absolutely how far does further to live from you? About an hour? An hour? Okay? So he definitely is in in range. Um, And you know our buddy Andy mayor buddy Andy Bradley, Dusty Corey, all those guys are right in this general zone. So you'll we're gonna have to bug you at least one night with beers in the campfire or something. Yeah. Oh yeah, I'm up for I'm up for just about anything. Man. I I uh, I don't know, I'm it's just another hunt to get excited about. You know. One thing to keep in mind, this is a little bit of a jump from stuff to be excited about, but something you will have to take into account if you do shoot a deer. You know, we've got c W D REGs here. Um, So if you shoot a buck, you're gonna have to keep it out and either drop everything off at a taxidermist if you end up wanting to do amount. I maybe if you shoot some huge old gagger buck and you want to get him mounted, you'll have to drop it off at a taxidermist here in um within the county because you can't cross out of the CTBD counties to to do that. UM. Or you can cut off the antlers and remove all the brain tissue, all tissue and stuff off it, so you just have the skull plate in the antlers. You can take that out and you can take de boned meat out um. But otherwise you'd have to do it within the Little Couple county region. Yeah, deal with all that. Yeah, if I shoot a deer, I probably just debone it all right there. Um, Can I have it processed out of state? Like I can take all the meat out of off the bone, yep, package it and then I can take it back to Iowa and use my yes, my process okay, yep. So if you de bone everything, um, you're good. You'll just have to it would be a good idea to get it tested. Um. That would be like the smart thing to do would be to drop off the head or stop at a check station where they can remove the lymph notes to get tested, just to be on the safe side, um, and to kind of do our part for uh citizen science. Um. But then yes, you could. You could take the skull cap and the antlers, and you could take the boneless meat and take off with all that stuff, and you'll be good to go. All your deer get tested. Yep. I'm doing testing forever for everything. Though no positive um so in the county that I'm in, Uh, there's not been a positive yet. But there's a county adjacent to us where there is positives. Um so. Um. One of the spots you and I have talked about should be pretty far from where the CWD stuff is. One of them is a little bit closer, um, But neither one of them, neither one I think, is in a county yet it's they're both adjacent. Um, but still smart to just be safe. Absolutely. Um. But yeah, it's it's a little bit of added regulation, but it's not a huge inconvenience. The whole process is really easy. I've done it multiple times now. You just if it's a dough, you just head in there, you cut the head off, put it in a bag, put in a box, and fill out a quick form and or there'll be people there they can help you do all that. Sometimes it's just a drop stations. Sometimes there's people there to help you with all that stuff. It takes less than five minutes. So not a big deal at all. Yeah, cool man. Um. Yeah, So Michigan, I'm pretty excited about it. I'm gonna keep doing my uh obviously, i love talking to people. I'm gonna I'm gonna keep doing my digital scouting and anybody who's listening out there who you know. I'm not looking for places to hunt necessarily, I can do that on my own, but I just love communicating with people who, let's say, hunt Michigan and have maybe tips and tricks about you know, like this. This whole marsh hunting is new to me because I don't hunt very many marshes here in Iowa. Most of it either if it's wet, it's a river bottom type ground. Right, So just talking strategy with people or you know, hey, don't maybe there's a regulation that I need to know about or something, you know, just like just like an open conversation with people, is you know more than welcome. Well, uh, I'm sure you'll get a lot of help from people. And I know a lot of folks are excited to, uh, to welcome you to the land of the I don't know what it is. Not the land of the giants. It's the land of the of the some opportunity we'll call I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. When I think of when I think of Michigan, I think of a a state that has a deep tradition in hunting and fishing. Um. Then another state that comes to mind right off the top of my head is Wisconsin. Right. So I think of Michigan as people who love to hunt and fish and take advantage of all these opportunities that we have in front of us, and who are sportsman at heart. And I'm excited to go hunt where these people hunt. Yeah, the only regret I have about this is that I wish you could get up to our northern Michigan deer camp and experience that, because that that is the essence of Michigan hunting tradition up there, getting out in the date in the big woods. It's totally different up there, like the cabin in the middle of nowhere and the wall of little tiny antler hers and the wood burning stove. That is uh, that is super cool. So how far is ken Roban from where you live? How many hours north of that? Three and a half hours north? Okay, so not that's not too it's not too terrible. If you if you tag out early and you want to just go for a day trip and check it out, we should do it. Yeah, I know. No, let me ask you this. I love food, and so Iowa is known for the big fat pork tenderloins right like that. They're as big as your play and they give you like a little bun basically, and you know what, you know what I'm talking about. I don't know. If I do, Oh, buddy, then you haven't really hunted Iowa, I guess not if you haven't taken advantage of the of the pork. The Iowa pork tender Yeah, I've always done like fish fries and stuff. Is like the special meal I get out there. Yeah, the I can remember that we went. What was that, like the all you could eat catfish dinner that one night we're there. But I'm talking. I'm talking about like Iowa is known because we have a huge pork producing community. I was known for these big giant pork tender loins. It's a sandwich, right, It's like a big breaded kind of thing, red readed pork tender loin. What is Michigan known for? Oh ah, it's a great question. So Northern Michigan, like the up has a thing that's definitely like I can point of right away. It's called a pasty. You ever heard of a pasty? It is like oversized kel zone kind of or a empanada. So it's like a pastry that is filled with meat and potatoes and rudabaga and other vegetables and like a gravy and it's sealed inside this pastry. Um. That is like an Upper Peninsula tradition um, but Lower Peninsula gosh, we're kind of kind of milk toast. We're just kind of you get a standard Midwest fair lots of greasy fried bar food. Um Man, I'm sure someone's gonna be like, how did you forget about this right? Blanking on what our special food is? I don't know. I don't know why I'm thinking of I think of this, but I just imagined you and your crew up in the cabin during the November gun season eating a like just passing around a jar of pickled eggs. Yeah, you know, that's kind of think my uncle would bring up there totally. So yes, that kind of thing could definitely fit into a Northern Michigan vibe. Um Man, I'm I just feel like I'm letting you down here not being a don to think of what our traditional food is. But um, maybe maybe it's just it's it's anything, but just the quantity is lots of it. Yeah, maybe that's our tradition. Um we will have to think about this and come back and have some kind of traditional good meal at some point. Someone will somebody will tell me about it just from listening to this, someone like Mark Kenyon is a dipshit. Our our state food is this? Yeah, please please inform me as well so I never made this mistake again, you're letting down there. I know it. Well, it's not the first time. Dan, alright, man, well is there anything else on your mind about the Michigan Hunt that we should cover off on, or any other questions or not? Really, Um, I do want to you know, I know you don't want to put any pressure on it, but I do want to stop and just take a look at the back forty see what the hype is about. Not necessarily drive through it or hunted. I just want to take a look and see just like the terrain, right for sure, that's a great idea. And yes, it's not so far away that we can't scoot over there, and you know, we could probably do a little drive around some the edges and pull camera or something like that that I want to do anyways, and give you a view of it too. So what's nice about it is it's in one of those other one of those rare places that has a little bit of a hill to it, so you can get a nice little vantage and see across parts from a few locations, which which can't do in most areas. So I'm excited for you to see it. I'm excited. I'm just excited to kind of show my little neck of the woods to you. Since I've got to spend so much time over by your stuff. Um, it's gonna be fun to get to return the favor. Yeah, absolutely, man, I'm jacked and uh I think you know what, what would happen? What would happen, actually happen if I shoot a frank right out of the gate first time ever day one an all. Obviously it's the os are against that. But would would people hate me more than they already do? Oh, without a doubt, you would be loathed. But that makes it dance gonna be like, I don't know what you guys are talking about. This piece of cake. This is easy. There's booers around every tree, every tree, and then I never could give you sh about Iowa. And after that, Yeah, I I hope for you to have the best luck possible, but that would make my life more difficult if that happened. To defend myself, but not too much luck, right, It's like, but please not too much. Do me a favor and only shoot like one. You know what would be amazing is if you shoot a nice buck and I'm gonna be taking a stab at my best buck on that first night or two as well. So I'm gonna try to kill Tran the first night or two. So you shoot a buck and I kill Tran within the same day or two, and we will have the most epic, celebratory podcasts of Wired Haunt all time. Would this be the podcast where we both get drunk on air? Yes, within within safe limits, we will definitely do that. And yeah, we would have open can policy for the podcast. Oh nice, what's the what's the beer? A choice in Michigan? You should know this, hopefully. Man, It's so diverse, but happy be a Michigan brew brewery. Uh so, Founders is a great Michigan brewery. Um so I'm going for like all day. I p A would be a very good choice. Or another favorite of mine is the Dirty Blonde by at Water Brewing, which is out Detroit. Founders out of Grand Rapids where I grew up. So either one of those would be really good choices. That just tells you how different we actually are in almost every aspect of life, you know, Like here you are, you know, it's like, hey, tell me about a Michigan beer and you're like, well, yeah, we got all these uh these craft beers. It's so delicious and ship just like, Man, I'm gonna bring a thirty pack more than likely of bush light because I've been drinking that ship since eighth grade. Hey man, more power to you. Well, I'm pumped about this. I'm very excited. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun to be able to follow your preparations throughout the spring and summer. And um, I'm gonna have a hard time not wanting to do drive by as these places and get your reports. So I'm gonna I'm gonna do my best to leave you alone and not interfere with your planning. But I'm also excited. Don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong. Mark like help and saying, oh dude, I saw a great deer in this field the other day are two completely different things. Like information is great, but I don't want anybody to hold my hand. Okay, okay, fair enough. Well we'll find a healthy middle point. So just tell me where Andy May hunts and we'll be good. Yeah. I can point you to a couple of spots right now, He's like, he's happy. Don't talk about it. I'm gonna get a phone calling about noon on Thursday. Alright, dude, Well, good stuff, Thanks for taking the time to catch up. Um, be safe, keep the family healthy, and uh let's talk again soon. Alright, guys, that is it for us today. Thank you for listening, thanks for being part of this community, and thanks for being part of this larger community we call humans, we call Americans or North Americans, whatever it is. Wherever you call home, make sure you are thinking about others, practicing safe social distancing, being careful not to infect other people, just being safe and smart. That's all we can do right now. And also support your local businesses in whatever way you can. You probably can't sit in a restaurant or go to many stores right now, but place to take out order or place an online order at a local pro shop or bookstore, whatever kind of thing you want to support. There's a lot of people out there right now that are struggling due to a lot of these current changes and channel and just so do what you can give back if possible, And until next time, thank you and stay wired to hunt h