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Little Woods Season 1: Episode 2- "Hey dude, what luck- deer hunting with John Bell
105 Plays3 years ago
Additions of John Bell and the regular crew member Cole to chat about this years deer season and a mixture of other hunting topics the Little Woods group has been up to lately.
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Transcript
Introduction & Guest Introduction
00:00:02
Speaker
Okay. We're back at it. Been wanting to do this episode since we quit the last one. I've got a few new faces on here today. This is the little woods outdoors podcast. Made it all the way to episode two. Haven't quit yet. Title of this is Hey dude, what luck. It's deer hunting with John Bell. Somebody say, Hey John.
00:00:33
Speaker
We're going to kind of introduce him just a little bit real quick. He's obviously my brother. We've got him on the FaceTime on the, on his Apple computer. So if it's a little loud, we apologize.
00:00:48
Speaker
John, tell us a little bit about yourself and we'll move on real quick. All right. So I'm John. I just recently I graduated from Arkansas State University. It was actually last Sunday and I'm back here. I've lived here my whole life. I helped my dad on the crop farm every now and then. We farm close to
00:01:18
Speaker
probably 2,400 acres and we, and yeah, that's, that's about it. I'm just helping him right now until I can get old enough to take over and learn and just progress and progress. Yeah.
00:01:36
Speaker
Yeah. Congrats on that graduation. He was like the fourth person to walk across the stage. So if you were running late, you were not going to see him at that one. So, um, the, the keynote speaker was nice and short and sweet, not long winded like me or Jake, uh, another person last time we had Tyler Burchfield T bird on the show. He's off tonight. Um, but we do have our other member on.
00:02:06
Speaker
Mr. Cole Martin, the legend himself. Give us a little bit about yourself, Cole. What's going on, guys? Man, I'm a husband, father of four, a farmer. And now I guess I'm going to be a salesman in the seed industry. And that's about it. Me and my dad, my uncle, we farm all together, corn, rice, beans. And like I said, just
00:02:34
Speaker
Grew, been around the farm, grew up on it. And that's what I love doing. Perfect. Perfect. Glad to have you on here, Cole. Hopefully it's every night thing. Other two on here, Jake, he's made it back. Second appearance. He's not in jail yet. And then Drew Hampton, he's, nobody can see it, but he's wearing a really awful Christmas sweater tonight. So.
00:03:01
Speaker
Uh, that's pretty pork choice of clothing there, Drew. At least you got something on. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. You know, and, and after all the introductions, the awkward stuff is over here.
John's Hunting Success Story
00:03:18
Speaker
Kind of what we're, what this whole episode is going to be about. And the reason we brought John on.
00:03:24
Speaker
You know, I love him as my brother, but the only reason we're gonna bring John on this episode is because he's actually killed really good deer. The record deer. It was a record deer. He's had a lot of success. He might have a hint or two, you know, a pointer, something to kind of sway somebody. But I will tell you, as the episode title goes,
00:03:51
Speaker
The hay dudes must've been good luck this year because he shot both of them in them. But I'll let him kind of talk about that a little bit more, but just kind of starting it out their season, 2022 here is kind of in Arkansas anyways. The modern gun season in our zone is ending as of today, it's Sunday, December 18th here.
00:04:20
Speaker
You know, we're, we, we like to chase them after that, but most of the time we're kind of transitioning to waterfowl, pretty good duck, deer, or duck and geese, pardon me. Um, but we'll kind of do a little couple stories there. Um, without further ado, tell us how big that last, that first one was, John. It was, it was kind of lucky. I, uh,
00:04:50
Speaker
I actually saw this deer that morning around 6 a.m. or somewhere around 6 to 7 a.m. in the morning. I was sitting in a box stand and he was probably 350, maybe 400 yards away. He was a long ways out.
00:05:09
Speaker
He was a piece. I could barely see him in my scope when I scoped down there on him, but we've actually had this deer on camera before in, let's see, late October.
00:05:25
Speaker
He's a, I had, I had him the night before on camera on your side. Yeah. On my side. I was ready to get him. Yeah. So, uh, he, uh, I actually had my gun. I don't know if my bolt was all the way down on the 270, but, uh, I had locked one in.
00:05:46
Speaker
I had the bulletin chamber, but I don't guess my bolt was all the way down. So whenever I flicked it off, safety on a fire, I was, I was zoomed in, ready to go. And you know, these big, these big bucks don't give you the time of day to shoot. I mean, quick enough on, or on a lane anyways. So I, uh, I ended up clicking or my trigger wouldn't engage. So.
00:06:17
Speaker
I mean, it was, it was a blessing in the skies, really. Cause, uh, he was pretty far down there. He's a ways. I mean, I've shot him that far before, but I mean, just, I'm just glad I waited because that afternoon it, it all panned out. You, uh, so kind of like that part of, uh, the story where you've gotten to.
00:06:43
Speaker
When he got by, do you ever think you'd see him again? No, I thought he was gone. I said he's gonna go to Whit and Whit's gonna shoot him. I was gonna try. I was gonna try. But I ended up making it back to the house.
00:07:05
Speaker
And I actually took about a three hour nap, you know, that's about my average nap. That was that, that was that adrenaline dump, you know, slipping off. You had to go sleep that one off. Yeah, I was disappointed. I was like, well, that's the last time I'll get to see this, but he's gone. And, uh,
00:07:30
Speaker
I woke up, I bet it was about 4.30. It gets, now it's 4 o'clock because it gets dark at 5.20 or somewhere around that time. I walked out there as fast as I could, my hey dudes, being as quiet as could be.
00:07:51
Speaker
They would be a pretty good, like set of sneaking shoes though. I mean, yeah, they comfortable. They're comfortable. They could be the sponsor. They could, they could, but I've had a pair on order ever since. Do you get those things in check? No, not yet, but I'll be prepared next year though.
00:08:21
Speaker
Yeah. In a little bit, we're going to have to talk about your spot there at your house and about how them. Hey dudes would really help you. So let me forget that we'll get on that in a sec.
Hunting Stories and Strategies
00:08:31
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, John even as cool, you know, kind of, uh, asking a few questions here, were you going to hunt the same spot you had saw him or were you trying to get ahead of him? Where were you?
00:08:41
Speaker
Well, I planted out what I thought he was going to do because he ended up walking off the neighbor's property and onto us. So I knew he was in our general area, in our our woods at least. And it turns out he was and it was the easiest shot I've ever had on a deer. It was just
00:09:11
Speaker
150 yards, you know, just easy shots. Easy now that he's dead. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And my window of opportunity was
00:09:28
Speaker
really small because so I had a huge north wind that more or that afternoon when I was up there and I was I was like well at least I'm out here I can uh give it to the dart you know hope for the best just maybe maybe something walks out and and in 15 20 minutes
00:09:50
Speaker
wind was blowing right at him and I think he was bedded right in front of me probably 70 to 100 yards and he I saw him get up and kind of tiptoe out of there he didn't want to make a scene you know blow at me or anything but he was easing off and I could see him and he was walking from left to right and I remember
00:10:19
Speaker
I'm not going to get a shot at this deer because there's all these trees in the way. So I found there's two sweet gum trees about two foot apart and they're about four inches wide on each other. And he walked right in between them. And as soon as he walked right in between those sweet gums, I let it fly. That's awesome. Yeah. Those big deer. I mean, they're smart about what they do. I mean, everybody can tell you that.
00:10:50
Speaker
Um, the amount of times that we've been looking at one and trying to take one, you know, humanely, it's, it's tough, especially, especially those big ones that are on the prowl, uh, probably chasing a woman around a little bit. You remember what day of the month that was kind of give us some reflection on that. Was it mid November there, like the 20th or so?
00:11:15
Speaker
It was the weekend of opener deer season, but it was Sunday. Okay. And I had hunted Saturday, but it, it was my second day deer hunting for the year or rifle anyways. I would say that's, that's pretty awesome. That's pretty awesome. It worked out. I remember when John sent me that, uh,
00:11:44
Speaker
that deer camera shot. And I was like, man, that's a nice one. And then I, then I seen that picture after you got him down. I was like, that picture didn't do him justice. He was way bigger, you know, once I seen him. Yeah. Yeah. He was.
00:12:02
Speaker
He was huge. He had some not beautiful chocolate horns and it, his bases were five inches and at the very tips they were close to five inches. You know, like he, he just kept that mass all the way up, but I'm thankful. Yeah, that was a great deer. I mean, seeing it in person, I've, I thought I've killed big deer, but in the past, I don't know. I know Drew hasn't. Um,
00:12:34
Speaker
When I saw that deer, I was kind of embarrassed to shoot anything else this year. I was like, Oh my gosh, my little brother did that. And then I'm going to have to go out here and try to replicate. That was, it was a good once in God, I hope it's not once in a lifetime deer, but hopefully a once in 10 year deer. There you go, John. Yeah. Now you've got some way to look up to if you need to. Yeah. I might look at him on the wall. Yeah.
00:13:05
Speaker
But that was a great deer. He was, we scored him first time. He was at 168, but I don't know if we did it right. And then we did another score. I think we did it right. He was, ended up being 164 inches. So 164 inches of bone. Yeah. And I'm pitching here. I mean, it's a stud.
00:13:35
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, it's huge. Did you have the stash when you killed that one? Uh, did I? I think so. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I'm looking at the picture right here. I had the stash. I don't know if I had the beard going, but I know I had the stash. John, he had 12 scoreable points, I think, or no. Yeah, right at 12. Yeah. He had a little kicker on the backside of his brow time.
00:14:04
Speaker
It's about an inch, you know, adds to the score. Part of it was broke. Am I wrong? Oh yeah. He's at the end of his main beam on his, I think his left side is broke off and it just continued growing on that G4 all the way up. And that's, it looked like a main beam, but it was actually G4.
00:14:34
Speaker
We had a lot, and I don't know if anybody else kind of across the country or the state of Arkansas, we had a lot. And I'm no biologist. I'm just a veterinarian. I don't know if the drought had some play in it, but all of our deer were fighting so hard. We had so much broken. I mean, just broken. Me and you've talked about that, Jake. Does drought affect them? I don't know. We'll have to ask.
00:15:03
Speaker
I seen a lot of deer broke off too. And I don't know. It's weird. Or they just may be, uh, throwing down, you know, they might be rowdy. Our part just getting wild. You know, they're, they're fighting over that last acre and pine cone over here. So, you know, they gotta do what they gotta do. Ours over here might be dodging, uh, uh, foilers running them out of the bean fields during the summer. Who knows? Or the combine header, you know, either one.
00:15:34
Speaker
Gosh, they will, and Cole can kind of attest to this, they'll wipe a bean field out, won't they? Oh, they'll absolutely destroy it. I'm not even a big deer hunter. I'm not like John and Whit and everybody that kill big deer. I kill big doe. I measure them between ear to ear on the doe. That's what I'm worried about.
00:15:56
Speaker
Yeah, we got that. We measure them back straps. Yeah, that's right. There you go. Yeah. There's definitely both sides of the equation there. I've got friends that are like you Cole and I got friends like John. He's out there now. He's going to be looking for the next Arkansas record, state records. Yeah, my hunting's probably running.
00:16:25
Speaker
You know, we're in Kansas or Missouri. Oh, that, that's not that big a deer, but y'all come try to find 160 incher in Arkansas. It's, it's, it's, it makes it worth it. So, uh, proud of you on that one. I'm proud of you on that one. That was a good, good deer. We got, we got, we got, we got,
00:16:52
Speaker
The next thing, you know, kind of, kind of transitioned period here. Not only did he kill that one, that was nice. He had, he had success and that's why we wanted to bring him on here. He, he had a second deer that was just as good looking. Um, I let him kind of explain that one. That was that weekend, Jake, you were down, uh, fell in that hole you were talking about at Cole's place.
00:17:23
Speaker
Yeah, let's talk about that for a second. I carried, I carried me and the boy. So that's about 80 plus pounds through the same hole you went through. Well, I know it doesn't have a bottom to it cause uh, I walked the rest of the night with a wet leg and a boot full of water. So that's cause you hit boots.
00:17:49
Speaker
Yeah, Cole said we won't go walk through no water. Luckily I was walking to a tree with a red bone with a coon, you know, so it's made it a lot better. Does make it better. I'd get both feet wet, walk to a dog with a coon and a tree. You got to sometimes. It's pretty awesome. Pretty awesome. But anyways, talking about his second deer there, that was
00:18:20
Speaker
Oh, was that last weekend, weekend for last? It was recent. It was pretty recent. I bet two weeks ago, two weeks. That, yeah, that deer was, Oh man. That was a cool one. That was, that's the kind of mature body. He had some character, which is why I ended up shooting him. But, uh, you want me to go ahead and give the run through?
00:18:50
Speaker
Yeah, there it is. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Give us the kind of the low down. What were you doing? What were you thinking? Well, my plans were to go to hunt the corner of our bean field where we usually have a lot of dough that come out right at dark, you know, just and feed on whatever's left in the bean field. That's a coal hunt. It is a coal hunt.
00:19:20
Speaker
Amen. Amen. And, uh, go ahead, Jake, you got something. Yeah. Uh, this is right after our, uh, our little crow hunt we put on. Uh, and I told, uh, John, I said, I said, go shoot me a doe over there and we're going to go sit back here and shoot another doe. Well.
00:19:43
Speaker
Yeah, they got a phone call later on that he didn't shoot a doe. Yeah, that wasn't what he said at all. But that was after, that was after that crow hunt. Yeah. I got you something you can take home that had a lot of meat, you know? Yeah, I appreciate it. Oh yeah. I bet it was tough. Oh
Challenges in Deer Hunting
00:20:05
Speaker
yeah, I'm still chewing on it. It's not as tough as that crow, I promise you. Oh man.
00:20:13
Speaker
Uh, bless wasted. I thought y'all were kidding me. I ate that whenever y'all, whenever y'all came out there. I really thought y'all was kidding. Y'all were sitting there saying, you ate it too. So I was the only one that ate it last time. I couldn't really, I mean, I thought everybody's tough, but you ate it. What'd you think? I had a, I had one, probably one breast play and it was just, it tasted like beef jerky.
00:20:39
Speaker
So that might ruin it for y'all next time I eat meat jerky, but think about crow. It was tough. Yeah. Y'all aren't selling the crow thing very much. We're still working on it. Yeah. Wasted good dales. That's a good way to put that. Yeah. You know, that's what they use at restaurants instead of dough. You know, it's the, they sneak in the crow meat.
00:21:07
Speaker
That's a, that's a big conspiracy right there. That's what I think. Well, I don't, I don't know what Sam put on there, but, uh, it was spicy as could be, but I tried knowing that one piece and I just gave it to that, uh, gave it to your dog, Bruce. He didn't think twice about it, did he? No. He just gulped it down.
00:21:33
Speaker
You know, I just want somebody else to elaborate on the crow besides just me. Yeah. What do you different opinions on it? I didn't try it. I, I, uh, Jacob, as he would say, I talked down to y'all pretty hard about that one. So I thought it was a poor idea and it turned out I was right for once. I'll be dang. Well, and
00:21:57
Speaker
After the fact, thinking about all the, the bird flu and stuff, they keep talking about, I'm like, well, the crows get that, you know, I don't know. Yeah. Um, yeah, we can have a big chat on Navy and flu, but not today, not today. The, uh, that'll be in that duck hunting podcast, but yeah, John ease to that field and, uh, his full intentions, he told us when he left the house was he was gonna.
00:22:25
Speaker
He was gonna shoot us a doe. I think, I'll be honest, I think the only person that was really hunting hard on our farm was saying, no, it was our dad, wasn't it? He was the last one and you should have seen his face when I showed up and said, John just shot another big one, dad. He's like, oh my gosh.
00:22:50
Speaker
Yeah, I think there was a split second of jealousy in his eyes. Yeah, there was, there had to have been. He, uh, and I could tell he, he was hunting hard there for a little bit. He was hunting hard. He just funny watching him walk past that game camera and just peace out on it. Yeah. And he's still hard at it right now. So hopefully he gets a good one. Well, at the end of the day,
00:23:18
Speaker
Oh, we did end the day. Well, we got a Christmas hunt on the way. But that was a, that was a great deer. And, uh, you know, just kind of the story behind it. I mean, that's when you least expect to kill one like that. I mean, that, it makes it pretty fun. It makes the, makes the deer hunting, you know, you, anytime you go, uh,
00:23:43
Speaker
There's no telling how far they adventure, uh, talking to some friends that, uh, have farms nearby. They had had that same buck, John, I don't know if I ever told you that or not. They had that same buck on camera back in October. And yeah, it was a good travel. Oh, it was a good two, three miles over there. Yeah. Across a highway. That's usually where our good deer die, but they're on the highway. Yeah. So.
00:24:13
Speaker
That's pretty awesome. I guess he just caught a good north wind of a doe or something. Decided to come up, but he was chasing that afternoon and he was chasing in the wrong spot, apparently. Big John was on a heater. I was on a heater this year, yeah.
00:24:34
Speaker
still on fire, you know, it kind of rolled over in the duck season, you know. Yeah. Me and Whit was sitting on that deer stand, that phone ring, he said, and you could tell he was kind of shook. He said, I think I killed one bigger than the last one. We just said, Oh man, we crawled out of that deer stand and headed to the farm. Yeah. I heard y'all almost fell out trying to get there.
00:25:02
Speaker
Oh, I don't know. We had to, we was trying to stock a whole eight point that was going to shoot, but he just slipped off before we could get on him. Yeah. Yeah. That, that buck, that was, that would have been a good one to get. I think our main problem was, is we were shooting at Crow right behind his, right where he was bedded down. Got her right behind him. Yeah.
00:25:25
Speaker
We got him moving in that date during daytime. So unintentionally. So we, we just couldn't put it on him. Couldn't seal the deal. My, uh, my, my favorite probably hunting story this year. And I think I might've touched base on it just a little bit with you guys on the last episode.
00:25:52
Speaker
It's not a big buck deer that John shot this time, but it was Cole's son Samuel shooting his first ever deer. That was, that was awesome. That was, uh, that was, uh, Cole in all honesty, I appreciate being a part of that.
Deer Impact on Farming
00:26:10
Speaker
That was cool. I can't, in all honesty,
00:26:15
Speaker
remember my first deer that I shot, like the feeling anymore. I was so young and I just remember what the deer did, but watching him just shake that whole stand from buck fever, that was pretty cool. That was pretty cool. Tell us a little bit about that story, Cole, if you got a second. Yeah, man, you know, I'm not a deer hunter. I'll kill some doe and keep them from eating beans, but
00:26:43
Speaker
Man, I remember my first deer and shaking and everything. Man, he got to shaking and I got to shaking. And I ain't had that feeling since a big group of geese or some ducks coming in. I ain't had it on no buck in a long time, especially being that doe. But I appreciate you letting us come out there. We tried to go that morning, but I think it rained, did it not, that morning. And it was gonna be real cold one of the two.
00:27:12
Speaker
And I was going to be freezing, I think. Yeah, that's right. That's right. And now, now, now, now that we got all the, you know, stereotypical stuff out of the way now, let's hear the full story. What really happened out there. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's start from the beginning of the day. You know, like I said, we were going to come out there and, uh, so, um, it was going to be cold. And I told him, I said, man, let's wait. Let's go out there. Let's shoot you good. And heck is the first time I even shot a rifle. He, you know, he shot a 22 and.
00:27:42
Speaker
his BB gun everywhere. And, uh, we got up there and, uh, he asked me, dad, is it going to kick? I said, nah, you'd be fine. Well, we got up there and it was pretty bad off. It hadn't been shot in a while since Jackson, you know, uh, Jackson's killed a bunch of deer with it, but, uh, I got there and it's about three foot high and we got her centered up and I shoot no lacrosse, uh, you know, boot box, you know, it's a little bit bigger, you know, what a, you know, target. Yeah. Yeah. High taller. But, um,
00:28:12
Speaker
He hit it twice, man. I couldn't believe it. And I said, how you feel? He said, good. So I texted, uh, we had told him we was going to come on out and, uh, we did. And, uh, man, he was that first year come out and he's like, daddy, can I shoot it? And I said, yes, we had. And we said, go ahead. And, uh, he shot. They went right over the top of him. And, uh, I said, Oh man, it didn't miss by much. Did it?
00:28:37
Speaker
No, I mean, just right over the top of him, but every time you knew he was kind of getting ready for that kick a little bit. Yeah. I don't do that. I've done it before. Yeah. I was just helping him on the back and after that second shot. I mean, how old is he? Sam is six. He'll be seven, what? A couple of days, about three days, but he's six right now.
00:29:04
Speaker
You know what Jake was probably doing when he was six? I wasn't killing deer. You're probably playing in the dirt, weren't you? He's playing in the pine cone of rocks. Yeah, I was playing in or eating it. Well, either one. Oh, I've missed some deer. I ain't even gonna lie.
00:29:27
Speaker
But the best thing about it is the further that we set out there, the more Samuel, that's, that's his boy's name. The more he kept telling us, Oh, that next one comes out. I'm going to rip it open. I'm going to rip it open. I said, rip it. All right. Let's see this. So we keep sitting there, Cohen. And he missed that first one. It stood there for a second. We did. We'd let him shoot at it again. I think we did. I think we did.
00:29:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. He, it just ran just a little bit and come out and, uh, Manny shot right over at the same spot. I think it's the same spot. Yeah. That's whenever, uh, you noticed, uh, he was pulling a little bit, which I was behind him, you know, trying to help him, you know, keep him, I was shaking. He was shaking. I probably, you know, made it worse for him, but, uh, Hey, uh, you know, after that second shot, we kind of seen that, uh, where he was missing and, you know, we'll take a breath and then, uh,
00:30:26
Speaker
You know, that one, after that one ran off, another one come out and he's like, daddy, can I pull a trigger? I said, well, come on, you know, let's shoot the woods up today. And, uh, well, he shoots again, same spot. He misses. Well, finally we get him some practice shots and, uh, the other deer is about, what, about 125 yard shot. That, that, that last shot. I ever bit of it ever bit. Yeah. And, uh, after we made him practice right there, he squared and he said, this was going down.
00:30:53
Speaker
Well, he double lunged it right there, man. I'm talking about it. It didn't go about 25 yards. Yeah, but it went 25 yards into a thick gets. Oh my gosh. Oh, it got off in the thick worst ticket. I mean, John knows through those. Yeah. That's why I said a snake won't even crawl through that now.
00:31:20
Speaker
We, we killed a buck out there and he had to make sure he, uh, heart shot it, didn't you? Yeah. If you don't, if you don't shoot him in the heart, you better be shooting him in the neck. Cause you do not want to have to look for him out there. It's bad. John was out there last year on our next shot them too. He's probably a little too close maybe. Yeah. I might've been down the shooting range. Uh, I think that was a little, that was a little danger close, wasn't it?
00:31:50
Speaker
It was like I was in Vietnam or something, a piece of shrapnel went by me, you know, I was in bad spot. Yeah. I, you know, when we walked down there and, and there's probably several people that listen to this have the same problem, but, uh, all of us bell boys are colorblind. We're red, green, colorblind. Jake, are you colorblind? I can't remember if you told me you were. No.
00:32:19
Speaker
I don't think I'm kind of blind at all. Drew, you're not either, are you? No, I just can't see out of one eye. You just are almost legally blind, I guess. I'm just blind completely. That's good. I'm glad you're on the highways. The main thing though, I mean, we walked down there and both me and Cole were looking for blood for Samuel's deer.
00:32:44
Speaker
And about that time we were just wandering around. I was, I had this fancy blood hunter light or something is supposed to reflect it real good. You know, about that time, Samuel, he just looks over at a six year old kid and say, Hey, look at all that blood right there. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, that's a ton. And then it went right off into that thick that we talked about. It was, it's kind of give everybody perspective. It's, it was a, uh,
00:33:10
Speaker
pine tree, complete demolition, harvest. There's nothing like... They do not care. When they get in there cutting pine trees off, they make a huge mess. And so we have a bunch of volunteer pines that grew back and it's pretty thick. It's pretty thick in spots. It goes for some good cover, I guess, for deer. Oh, yeah. No one else lives in it.
00:33:40
Speaker
whatever else could live in it. Yeah. I feel sorry for whatever has to live in that. Well, some Bobcats used to, but they don't know more. No, we thinned them out. It is good for predator hunting, I guess back there. I mean, we don't really try it, but it's full of them. It is pretty full of them. Uh, you know,
00:34:08
Speaker
Drew, for the most part, you've kind of been quiet this episode. Are you just like too much in the Christmas spirit tonight? What's going on? Well, I'm just in the spirit of giving. I think some people are like the less he talks the better sometimes. Cause I can tell some stories as you guys know, I'm good with stories and things like that. And it's been a good year for you guys and
00:34:36
Speaker
I actually shot my first year. It's probably been seven or eight years since I've actually shot one and took a couple of dough out there on your place. And I believe it or not, I was actually able to track down that dough that went to the ticket and never would have thought I'd have found that thing. Yep. That was our, that was our, uh, I guess our first year that we shot out of this year. I mean, you got back there.
00:34:59
Speaker
trying to do a little, uh, freezer hunting before rut really kicked off. And we're pretty fortunate and shut to pretty nice dough that we're moving that day. So that was awesome. That was awesome. Somebody needs a drone though, to find these deer afterwards with some thermal or something though. I call, you might, uh,
00:35:28
Speaker
You and, uh, wit went duck hunting this past weekend. Samuel, he was a little trigger happy, huh? Oh yeah, we on Samuel. Yeah. He, uh, man, he goes with me everywhere. I take him, but, uh, man, uh, he was back there and we went down there in an old swamp that we usually hunt. And by golly, it got a new growth in it. Didn't it wit? I mean, it turned, it's turned, it's turned into the Amazon down there. The drought.
00:35:57
Speaker
Just let, I mean, it dried that slew all the way up. The grasses that grew back was awesome. It really was. It was thick, but finally got water back on it. Yeah, and we went out to the edge as far as he could. He just had his boots on. I don't have any wages yet, but he was right there at the tip of his boots. And I said, man, why don't you, he said his feet was cold. So I said, go back up a little ways back. He's about 10 yards behind us.
00:36:26
Speaker
Man, we had a group of about five mallards coming in. You can see they was locked up and they were high. Oh, working. Yeah, working. The cuffed up. I'm talking about coming in and all, all you hear behind us is this little thump, that old, that old red rider thumping, son. He was, he was shooting them in there. I have never, I mean,
00:36:48
Speaker
Just ready to go. First duck hunt. We talked about it on the last podcast. We were about to go duck hunting, you know, that's, we're gearing up, putting the waiters on. We show up to a slew that stick with Cole and a couple other buddies and, and Drew was out there with us and full fledged about to kill some dogs. And then we back there. Every time our birds would be passing, it was like we're on public ground or our past birds got shot at.
00:37:20
Speaker
Sam was back there sending them. That BB gun was laying it down on them. In all honesty, he might've hit more than Drew did that day with this 12 gauge. Hey, I don't even think I fired a shot that day. I was doing all of how we finally got to do some duck hunting this year. Some of you here in Arkansas know how dry and how warm it's been.
00:37:48
Speaker
And really, I feel like some of these local landowners that do have water, they've had some good success, but it was nice to finally have a cool morning. It was quiet, it was still, I was expecting to be a little more wind to kind of help us out a little bit, but it was finally time. I feel like we're starting to get into duck season full fledged. It looks like we're going to have a really good cold front come through this week and getting ready for this second half for Arkansas. I think it's going to be good.
00:38:19
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to be cold. I got to thinking, I mean, the futures for this next week is Northwest Arkansas negative 30 wind chill. That's just, that's unbelievable to think. So not used to that at all. I've had to work in that before and it's just, it's not fun. Back in that oil field business. Yeah, it ain't fun being out there. Oil field and cold weather don't go to
00:38:49
Speaker
Doesn't go together good at all anyway. But usually you got a couple of beer in you though, when you're in the oil field, huh? Well, depending on where you work. Okay. Another thing, you know, kind of the duck hunting. Yeah. We're about to get fired up on that, but kind of transitioning back here to a little bit of that deer hunting.
00:39:14
Speaker
I know there's a, uh, plethora of things we could talk about for a season, 2022, but kind of two things that, uh, really stand out to me is my favorite thing to wake up to in the morning is a text from Jacob and he's been out and checked his game camera. Huh, John? He's got, he's got, he'll text. That's a scrub. That's a scrub. That's a new one.
00:39:43
Speaker
all those new rubs on the trees. Oh, we get a picture of them. I got them dialed in back here, but they got me dialed in more because I could write an autobiography or whatever you want to call it on every deer out there. And I go sit out there and I don't see anything. So yeah, but now I've been hunting a few nice deer behind the house and
00:40:09
Speaker
for some reason they're just nocturnal as they get for some reason. That's that Fort Smith Little Woods we were talking about right there. It is a Little Woods from Fort Smith, baby. And it's kind of a urban area just outside of town. I'm surrounded by some, some land that I have permission to be on and try to catch them slipping, but I ain't caught them yet.
00:40:37
Speaker
I got a nice nine point. I was hunting last year. I called the pine cone King. And I don't know if I, I got another one about like him this year. And he's a nice dear. He just, I just can't, he's got, he's got it on me. I can't figure him out, but I didn't give up yet. Hey, what Peter back out.
00:41:04
Speaker
I just put my feeder back out like it was October again last week. Cause the leaves were still on the trees at 70. So they might pre-rut again, who knows? Maybe you need to get some of them hay dudes, you know, contact them, see if you get a pine cone addition or something. You know, maybe if you step on something with them hay dudes, it won't crunch as much. Maybe that's your problem. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, or that or get John over here to see if he can give me some muck.
00:41:35
Speaker
We'll go in together and get you a pair. I mean, we might have to start that account. I mean, they're, they're comfortable. They already look pretty camo, you know, and, uh, they're quiet. You know, to our listeners out there, if y'all got a pair of Hey dudes around the size, what are you wearing nine and a half?
00:41:58
Speaker
Yeah, somewhere in that ballpark. And y'all just do not wear them anymore. Don't respect them. Send
Concluding Reflections & Audience Engagement
00:42:05
Speaker
them, Jacob. He'll take them. He needs a pair. Oh yeah. I put some owls on them. Do you wear any Crocs? I know Crocs are popular before the Hey Dudes for John. You wear any Crocs, any Jake? No, I don't have any Crocs. I probably would wear them if I had some, but I just never do.
00:42:28
Speaker
I wear them boots all the time because you never know when I'm chasing a dog through a briar thicket. So gotta be prepared for that. That's right. Yeah. Last time I hunted them deer behind the house, I got in that climbing stand and it was early and cold. I was like, well, I'm going to ease up here and try to sit on for a minute, sit on them for a minute. Picked up my top, my top piece of my climber.
00:42:56
Speaker
And I went to bite down on it about the same time I picked up on my feet. Bam, face planted right in that oak tree. And I was like, man, this is not a good way to start it out. So I was sitting there, I was aggravated. I finally got there and sat down. Then this little small buck I had on camera came up and just stood right beside me.
00:43:22
Speaker
I didn't have my release ready. I wasn't even, I wasn't even set right. I was still trying to see if I was bleeding out of my face. You took a shot, huh? I just put 205 pounds of body into my face on that bar. It was rough. And I was like, well, I'm just going to try to slip this on. Well, he knew something was up. He kind of eased off. And that's when that, that Bobcat came slipping down off the side of the mountain there.
00:43:51
Speaker
I tried to get him to stop. I never could get him, never could get him where I could shoot him. And are you shooting that Matthews bow? Jake, is that what you have? Yeah, I'm shooting that Matthews that John had. Yeah, that's what I thought you had. It's a, it's a sweet bow. I just, uh, haven't had that, that right time to use it.
00:44:13
Speaker
Oh yeah. You know, and, and you got one of those new summits and that's what I've had. And I think Sam and John, they, they have one as well. That me and drew this year have been the bow hunting and all we, I get bored out there sitting every single day. That's just me. You can tell I'm doing, I'm on a podcast right now. So I like to talk to people a lot.
00:44:41
Speaker
Sometimes I get tired of talking to people, but me and Drew set out and I had a lock on. And the way that he had to get into that climber above me is about the funniest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. I just, I just waiting on him to fall, I guess. But we were out there one day and had a nice 10 point kind of trail and a doe through there.
00:45:07
Speaker
Drew said, oh, I'm gonna be your video man. I'm on video camera and we're gonna see if we can't get one of these deer shot with a bow on camera. Comes right under the stand. Nice sunny day. Should've been a great camera shot. About that time, he's got one of those Galaxy phones. I'm a iPhone guy. He's got one of those Androids.
00:45:33
Speaker
I don't even know what that is. And it just, yeah. And it just goes bleep. Oh my gosh. John, you swapped over to a saddle setup, right? Yeah. Well, I haven't used it yet, but I got a, I think it's a latitude outdoors saddle. It's pretty nice, but I'm excited to use it. And of course I'm not going to do a hunt this year after
00:46:02
Speaker
What happened? You kind of look like a saddle guy. Yeah. I call it the diaper. I don't think I can get in a diaper stand. I think one thing we forgot to mention how I got up to this climber stand was we had a lean two that was locked onto a tree.
00:46:29
Speaker
And as I'm climbing up this, I have to stand on the seat of a 25 foot lean tube.
00:46:34
Speaker
to then try to get up to about 28 feet onto this climber platform that one, I don't have a harness, which by the way is not the greatest and safest thing. I have not recommended. Yeah, he and I were talking about that in the climber about some of the things that I've seen at work where people have fallen and some of our friends who have fallen and just use your safety as best you can. But I felt very safe with where I was. I had a way to catch myself if I did fall. So we were protected. Yeah, that would have been me.
00:47:05
Speaker
Yeah, I would have had a six foot three guy trying to catch me and that would have been quite hilarious. And if you could have seen my little feet dangling that would have been even funnier. But to go back to the phone, I was literally filming this deer literally right below my feet. I mean, I could see the top of his brow tines.
00:47:26
Speaker
And for some reason I hit the volume button and it beliefs. And sure enough, that deer looks me square in the eyes and I've got my sunglasses on. And so hopefully I'm trying to be as still as possible. And sure enough, she blows at us while we're kind of on the other side. Yeah, right after that, since he had that volume up song by Ariana Grande started. Hey, that's a squirrel.
00:47:52
Speaker
I'm waiting on is a YouTube of the free solo and these deer stands. You ought to see me when I'm climbing up those things, I'm wearing my lacrosse rice boots out there and you can just hear the strap jingling from how I'm shaking so bad, making sure I don't fall. But, uh, but it's, it, it was a joy to be out there. It was so hot this year when we were out there and they had to be in the sixties and seventies. I was wearing my Turkey stuff out there hunting just because it was so hot. But.
00:48:22
Speaker
That was a fun hunt. That was enjoyable. Still got to see some pretty good deer that day. But you're right, man. All seriousness, it's dangerous to be in there without a harness. And Cole, you got firsthand experience with that just here a couple weeks ago. If you want to talk about that a little bit, I mean, it's a bad deal if you fall out. Yeah, man. My brother-in-law, he was over here on the WMA next to us.
00:48:51
Speaker
Got up in a stand about 25 feet. And I get a call about dark. He done hit the ground, blacked out. Luckily he had a buddy with him, marked his pen. So always share a pen with somebody. And you got to, you got to. Yeah. And he had his harness on and everything. He actually would turn it around, I think was about to get off and he was readjusting and unhooked his safety. And the bottom broke on him.
00:49:21
Speaker
He hit face and messed up his face and back. And like I said, he's lucky to be alive, you know, but, uh, like I said, always, always wear a harness, always be safe. Cause, uh, you know, sometimes you don't get a second chance like that. Right. If you're 15 feet off the ground, you need, well, or 10 feet, you know, or a small ladder stand, you're going to need a harness. Coach says, Ochs says anything above four feet.
00:49:48
Speaker
Yeah. Cole, do you wear a harness in your pickup truck when you're out there doe hunting? Yeah, man. I've got a three point harness buckled in. You know, everything's in there. Everybody's buckled in in this thing, but yes, 100%.
00:50:04
Speaker
They all hate on me because I don't, you know, I can't, I can't sit out there, man. I like to talk and, uh, I like anybody knows you. I mean, you're, you're full throttle all the time. So I love it. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. For a four by four little, uh, you know, box, it's hard to hold me in, but, uh, no, them dope, those, those will catch anything as much as they eat. Uh, I throw some lead at them every day.
00:50:31
Speaker
The, uh, the, I can't wait till we get to your prime time, which it's a lot later this year than it usually is. When we get out there, that goose spread and watch you stomp around in front of that blind. I can't wait. Can't wait.
00:50:47
Speaker
It's good. We're going to do it this week. Hopefully, hopefully the next episode we can, we'll have a story about it. Uh, you know, it's, uh, hopefully it's a good story. Yeah. Oh, it will be. I'm just ready for one of them. Pre-hunt pep talks. That's what I'm talking about. They're good. I don't even know what that is either. Y'all don't take me on them.
00:51:10
Speaker
I mean, I get, I get the church rallies, you know, uh, uh, we're, we're going, we're going to be coming strong, you know, wall of steel coming at them and, uh, you know, there ain't nothing like having your boys out there and, you know, killing some limits and then putting it up. I mean, it's so, so what there's a little bit of mud, Jake, you know, if you're laying in it, you know, I mean, it's just a little mud. Well, I mean,
00:51:32
Speaker
I see y'all taking all these keel shot pictures whenever it's dry as a bone. And then I go out there and you're like, well, that's a little muddy out here stomping around. You don't see the behind the scenes though, do you? Huh? I think, I think it's all good. I like killing in the mud. Yeah. Yeah. Jake has hit every one of them. Like it's like rain dropped before he comes down. He has bad luck. So anyway,
00:52:01
Speaker
Uh, my favorite, you know, kind of wet hunt story was that time that we finally taught my dad and, uh, his buddy, Jess Smith, into coming. We said, Oh, it's not going to be too wet. Well, where we were looking at that bean field, it wasn't bad, but you go on down to the bottom end of it. It was where the actual geese were. We, uh, we shouldn't have done that. That was bad. Yeah. I actually told him before we went, I said, you better bring your waders.
00:52:31
Speaker
Cause you're going to need them. And we had those, uh, lay out, uh, where are they called? Those boards. Yeah. Those boards you lay on. I was like, well, you're going to need your waders too. But now it, it's all good. I'll go any way it is, but it just seems like every time I go, it's a little swampy.
00:52:59
Speaker
Yeah, man. Uh, uh, no, the, no, the wet, the worst wet one is we'll have to tell the story. It's what got me into goose hunting and, you know, uh, it was really aces first goose hunt, but that's a, it's a long story, but that was a wet one. I mean, the whole field was a heel and we go down to the Valley of it, you know, and we're just sitting in the, you know, four foot of mud. Anyway, like I said, it's a long, it's a, it's a good story. We'll have to have a podcast on it. I had partial fault in that one for sure.
00:53:29
Speaker
Oh yeah boy that's for you there. But hey that uh that's what got us going on I'll never forget that that that hunt right there. You know and and looks like oh Drew he's he's tapped out on us here but kind of amongst you guys the last topic I was going to kind of hit on the deer hunting while we were still on it and
00:53:52
Speaker
And we'll probably come back to it. I think, uh, get somebody on here that wants to tell us a couple of stories and especially T-bird, he's got the Northwest Arkansas scoop. He knows what those hill deer are doing, but kind of the last big ones. Yeah. Some huge deer. I just don't know if he hunts. Does he hunt? They said they just don't show up. They're like my deer over here. They're shy. Boy, that'd make you mad.
00:54:22
Speaker
Did, but they just need big John over there. He'd take care of those deer. Oh yeah. About four o'clock and get on, you know, that last, that last topic, uh, this year.
00:54:38
Speaker
My father-in-law, he hunts with me quite a bit and we have a great time together, great relationship. He is big into guns, big, big, big into guns. And the thing that he got this year that was new for me was he purchased a silencer for his rifles. And let me tell you, I like to bow hunt a lot. I love gun hunting in those stands and my current setup.
00:55:08
Speaker
You need earplugs or you're about to blow yourself out of that stand and, and not so much for, it still makes a loud enough noise that it messes deer up to some extent, but we shot two doe out of that box stand. Neither one of us needed earplugs. You didn't need to hold your ears or anything. Y'all y'all have any experience with those silencers or anything of that nature? Man, I've, uh,
00:55:37
Speaker
I've never hunted with one. I've been around a few, you know, not necessarily at the range, but I've been around some guys that ran a can or a silencer on the end of their rifle. And man, it's, it's a game changer. And if you, you know, put the right round with it, it's really, uh, it's really, uh, low decibel shooting. I mean,
00:56:05
Speaker
I know gun expert, but I know guys do the 300 blackout with it and some of the, some of the slower or like the subsonic subsonic. Yeah, that's what it is. And, uh, I wish I had that set up, but I, I've never really dabbled in it much. Yeah. I hadn't, uh, I've only had like a guy had a 22 and man, it makes a difference. I, I guess as the boy gets older, so same, you know, I'm gonna have to get him one, you know, I,
00:56:35
Speaker
I know I talk about, you know, it's just shooting these doe, but I mean, it's a really problem for us. And, you know, them silencers I've seen where, uh, you know, you're able to kill four or five in one, you know, setting. And, uh, that's what we need. I mean, on our farm, you know, we're, we're, we're killing 40 doe a year just to help maintain, you know, for our bucks. That's part of that problem, isn't it Cole? Uh, what do you got that program? Uh, yeah. Oh, um, the map, isn't it?
00:57:04
Speaker
Yeah, that's it. That's it. Um, you know, and we gotta have it. I mean, cause you know, you take the farms right around us, you know, we're kind of the only food and, you know, especially like a dry year, like this year, there ain't no food in the bottoms for them. And, uh, you know, them silencers, I, I have done some research on them. I think that would be a, uh, you know, it's something in the future that I'm looking for. That's all about being good.
00:57:32
Speaker
Come on that year. I was down there in the bottom flooded and you see a lot of deer in that area compared to my area. And that year it flooded down in the bottoms over there and all that push all them deer up on y'all that day we left was, was actually duck hunting over there and we rolled out on the ranger. And I mean, hundreds, I mean, it looked like a hard ale out there. Just saw a white tail deer. It's crazy. I never seen it like it. You know, go ahead.
00:58:04
Speaker
I just, you got another story there on that deer, boy. Yeah, I mean, you know, growing up down here where I have, you know, I've seen a bunch of doe, but it seems just kind of like Jake said, you know, this past year I was cutting beans and I was in a field and that's the only field there, you know, within a mile or so and got bottoms on the east and, you know, the south there where it connects up to the White River. Man, I counted 100 deer.
00:58:34
Speaker
in that field, and that's the most I've ever counted in one field. And I've seen quite a bit, but the next day we went to go do some work, and the guy that helps us, he counted 120. So that's unbelievable how they're coming out. What's the average whitetail eat? Was it deprivation on the crop? I mean, what was one, what damage does one deer cause?
00:59:06
Speaker
I mean, it, you know, it varies, but I mean, it, you know, that 75 five acre field I was in, I bet I only cut, you know, 50 of it, you know, they probably ate 20, 25 acres of it. Just, you know, from, you know, just stomping through there. But I mean, it's a, it's very devastating to us. That's wild. Yeah. You probably see that on your farm too, huh?
00:59:32
Speaker
Yeah, we usually have to drill our beans in around the edges of the woods because it gets so bad. We can't use a row planter, you know, sing a row because we'll just run right down the beds and just mess them up.
00:59:49
Speaker
Yeah. Kind of the difference for people there, drill has tons of ports, plants, a lot of rows versus, uh, just a row planner, just like an eight row planner, et cetera. So yeah, that's a good point. And I mean, it's kind of sad to think about it. You're just literally just putting it out there for it to be, for it to be eaten. But I think, you know, that kind of the farm aspect to the deer in our area, kind of how they've gotten bigger.
01:00:19
Speaker
You know, we look back 10 years ago, corn wasn't very plentiful around, was it Co? I mean, they kind of acorns and what they could find in fields and soybeans have been around for a while. So I think the, the corn's playing a big factor in size of deer around here. That's just my opinion.
01:00:42
Speaker
Yeah. Um, you know, you, you know, this is rice country, you know, from whenever daddy grew up, you know, y'all's dad, our dad grew up, but now I bet half the acres are turned into corn and you know, uh, it has helped the deer do eat it as well, but not, you know, not as bad. And it seems to be, uh, I w I would say yes. You know, like you said, helping out, but you know, we got a property right next to us and, uh, it was kind of, uh,
01:01:10
Speaker
hadn't been took care of or it need to be cleaned up. I guess is the best way I've seen it. And it got cleaned up last year and we rolled down there and man, we didn't see one deer. I mean, Dan went down there three times. I went down there through my uncle and we didn't see one deer. Well, this year after they cleaned it up, we seen about, they started seeing deer in the bottoms. And I think that's kind of hurt us as well. Whenever it's not managed there, there is no food source for them there. That's crazy.
01:01:41
Speaker
I'll tell you all that I'm not a big farmer, but I do farm about two acres of sunflowers and I'll tell you that deer make me so mad. Oh, that dove, that dove destroyers. I've tried everything. I mean, I mean to tell you, I've had two strands of hot wire that works till one of them gets hung up in it and I have to re-strand it the next day. That's tons of fun. But.
01:02:10
Speaker
Every year I fall under the victim of, of the deer apocalypse because they'll wait till those sunflowers head out. Nice. Pretty. It's like, you know, invite somebody over. Let's take a graduation shoot out here.
01:02:26
Speaker
Next day, every head will be gone or those sunflowers. They'll eat every single one of them. It's unreal. I guess you need to get a few pop cannons over there. Explain a pop cannon. Oh, a pop cannon. It's just some propane powered guns. It sounds like a big firework every time it goes off. So they actually have a timer on them.
01:02:56
Speaker
You can set it for every minute or every five minutes to save on propane, but there's a striker that comes down and once that propane gets packed in there real quick, it ignites it and makes a big loud noise and it's supposed to get the deer out of the fields, but it's not doing too hot.
01:03:26
Speaker
They kind of get used to it, don't they? They do. Yeah. You're just going to have to keep that 270 on them. Yeah. Yeah. What about you, Cole? You got any pipe cannons? Yeah, it's a 243 or something like that. Man, we tried everything. We tried everything, man. They get used to it. I mean, it's just, I mean, you know, just lasers and whatnot, man. They're just,
01:03:56
Speaker
They get used to it. They don't care, but yeah, them pop can, you know, it's just a mixed variety I think is what, but somebody needs to come up with some beans that a deer don't like, you know, some non-edible beans for deer. If you do that, you know, you may be sitting somewhere big. Then y'all be hunting the deer that I'm hunting. You probably need to just make some crow with it. Yeah, they ain't going to eat that. I promise you.
01:04:23
Speaker
That's good. Well, guys, I enjoyed it. Everything tonight been said probably halfway was a lie, but you know, just put that disclaimer out there. I really appreciate everybody listening. Thanks to John making some time, making an account to come on with this.
01:04:44
Speaker
Cole, Drew, Jake, myself, Whit. We really enjoyed it. And if anybody has suggestions in terms of what they want to hear about, I know somebody said they wanted to hear about that Hey Dude story. Well, look, right off the bat we provided, we got a Facebook page, Little Wood Outdoors. By the time that this episode is airing, we're on Sunday. We're looking for midweek drop.
01:05:11
Speaker
Uh, hopefully we'll have a couple of pictures of John's deer on there so y'all can check those out. Uh, see what we're talking about kind of mid episode. It's they're really, really nice deer. So if anybody has any suggestions or problems, uh, let us know. Thanks again. Um, anybody got any last minute thoughts? I'm just going to say, uh,
01:05:34
Speaker
If you listen to the episode and you like it, give us a rating, comment, we're working on setting up an email. Just let us know what you think and I hope you enjoyed it. That's right.
01:06:12
Speaker
Yeah. Thanks.
01:06:37
Speaker
That's a good way to end it, Drew. Uh, everybody have a good night and, uh, I'll see y'all next time. I'm pretty sure episode three will be at least an hour long too. I love talking like this. You guys are good. Peace. See ya.