August 11, 2025 • 32 mins
We break down the five key factors that significantly increase your chances of a successful hunt when combined. These natural indicators compound to create optimal hunting conditions when your target buck is most likely to be on its feet during daylight hours.
• Barometric pressure of 30.2 and rising creates increased deer movement
• Moon phases, especially "red moon weeks," trigger feeding due to gravitational pull
• Temperature drops of 20 degrees between daily highs push deer to feed earlier and longer
• Weather fronts cause deer to feed heavily before and after storms
• Understanding the different phases of the rut helps predict specific behavior patterns
• The science behind deer movement doesn't need to be complicated—focus on recognizing patterns
• Success story of pro staff member Chris who tagged "Bambino," a monster 6x6, by following three of these five factors
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Aaron (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to Blacktail Coach Podcast.
I'm Aaron and I'm Dave, sotoday we want to talk about the
five factors leading to asuccessful hunt as part of our
program, and these are differentindividual items that in and of
themselves help increase deeractivity, but when you start
adding, it's kind of compounded.
(00:22):
When you add another one ofthese factors in, it means
you're more likely to hit alevel of success.
We're going to cover these andshare with you a couple of
stories of of how these havereally piled up and brought some
big bucks in yep, I get a lotof guys asking me well, what do
you look for?
Dave (00:38):
what are the days that you feel like you have to be out
there?
And these are the five thingsthat I look for and and.
If I have two of them, I feellike, well, you know, it could
happen that day.
It may not.
And and and and.
This is not a guarantee by anystretch of the word, but it's
like you said it, it doesincrease deer activity.
And then, if I have three outof the five, well, I feel like I
gotta be in stand that daybecause there's a good chance
(01:00):
I'm going to see my target buck.
If I have four out of five, I'mprobably going to quit my job
so that I can be in stand thatday.
That's how it doesn't happenthat often and when it does,
it's like no, today's the day.
It's like a 90% chance I'mgoing to see my target buck.
If I've got five out of five,the first thing I do is go down
(01:21):
and buy a lottery ticket andthen I go into stand.
Aaron (01:24):
Yeah, okay.
So the first one is thebarometric pressure, and so
we're looking for barometricpressure and it depends on—so
there are different sources thatsay different level, but you
say 30.2 and rising.
Dave (01:42):
That's what I like is 30.2 , the barometric pressure is
30.2 and rising, because thatjust is going to be one of those
factors that's going to getdeer up and moving and they're
going to be up earlier andthey're going to be up longer.
Aaron (01:53):
So why does the barometric pressure cause them
to move?
What's the science, I would say, behind that?
Dave (02:00):
So barometric pressure tells them.
You know, if there's a highpressure or a low pressure it
usually signifies some kind ofweather change, you know.
But deer, that inner ear ondeer, is really sensitive to
barometric pressure.
And when it gets to 30.2, someguys will say 29.
(02:20):
I like 30.2.
I tend to see a lot more deermovement at 30.2 and rising.
Now, that's not to say that ifit was at 29.9 and holding,
that's still not a badbarometric pressure.
I don't think barometricpressure is bad until we get
down to 28.
And then the deer movementseems to nearly drop off
(02:42):
completely.
But that barometric pressure at30.2 and rising, yeah, I always
see a lot of deer movement whenI have that.
Aaron (02:54):
I had.
So this was during actuallyWashington's extended buck last
year.
For Modern we had every singleday and maybe you want to think
about if you're a modern riflehunter, think about if you did
that extended season.
Were you seeing more activityduring the extended buck?
Right.
Because we did have.
We had 30.2 to 30.45.
(03:18):
Uh-huh, All four or five ofthose days during that last year
.
And there were a couple otherfactors that we'll get into
Right, right.
Dave (03:30):
And most hunters don't even stop to think about
barometric pressure, but it'ssomething that you can look up
days in advance and recognize.
Oh, look at there, it's 30.1 andrising 3021, and rising 30.3,
you know just anytime it getsabove 30.2, I just feel like
(03:51):
there's a good chance that I'mgoing to see a lot of deer
activity, a lot of deer movement, and a good opportunity for me
to see my you know my targetbuck.
And so a lot of guys, like Isaid, don't pay attention to it
because they don't necessarilyunderstand it, and I think we
make things more difficult thanthey need to be.
I mean, essentially all we needto know is that at a certain
(04:11):
mark at barometric pressure,you're going to see more deer
activity.
You just are.
You don't even need to know thescience behind it, you don't
need to know the history of it,Just know that.
Start checking your ownexperience when you see a lot of
deer, check what the barometricpressure was that day and
you'll start correlating acertain point and it's usually
(04:34):
about 30 that guys will startseeing a large increase in deer
activity.
Aaron (04:40):
Okay, and so if you're wondering how can I check that,
going out, checking out a fewdays, I know, with my iPhone,
the weather app that's on myiPhone, I pull it out, I look at
because it gives you theweather in your area and if you
scroll down that page it'll showyou what the barometric
pressure is for that particulartime.
But if you click on it, on thatbarometric pressure for right
(05:03):
now, it'll pull up a differentscreen and it'll let you see out
for like a week.
Dave (05:10):
Right.
Of where the barometricpressure is going and I think a
lot of the apps like HuntStandor Onyx, I think a lot of those
apps have barometric pressure onthem as well.
Okay.
And I know that the Mike Hayhayes or no, I'm sorry adam
hayes.
Aaron (05:29):
Adam hayes, I got a friend of mine's my case.
Dave (05:32):
Adam hayes, the the moon phase guy.
Uh, I know on his app every dayit gives you the barometric
pressure yeah, and and it's andyou talk to a lot of guys that
that are serious trophy huntersand they'll verify that they pay
attention to that kind of stuff.
Yeah.
And there's no.
Like I said, it doesn't have tobe any kind of witchcraft or
(05:54):
deep scientific explanation.
All you need to know is that ata certain point you're going to
see more deer activity.
There's going to be more deermovement because the barometric
pressure is up.
Aaron (06:04):
Yeah, that's telling something to their instincts to
get up and move.
Dave (06:09):
Right yeah, start feeding.
Feed up while you can.
Aaron (06:13):
Okay, I brought up where you find it because we have a
lot of guys who have.
Well, how am I supposed to knowwhat the barometric pressure?
Dave (06:19):
is.
That's how you find it Rightand, like I said, they've never
paid attention to it before sothey have no idea.
Aaron (06:25):
And, honestly, before last year I didn't either.
Yeah, now you mentioned AdamHayes, so that's actually the
next thing is what he created?
The moon guide, but it talksabout the moon phase, so tell us
about that.
Dave (06:38):
So Adam Hayes has the Deer Hunter's Moon Guide.
You can get the app for yourphone or you can uh, you know,
get online and order the thesundial that he puts out every
year.
I think it's like 15, 20 bucksor something like that.
And, uh, basically, to explainit in a way that that that's
(06:58):
going to make it easy foreverybody, is to simply say that
he has already done all thework for you as far as the moon
phase and he tells you at whatpoint is the best.
Two times or the strongestgravitational pull of the moon,
twice a day when that happensand there are certain times when
(07:18):
those strong gravitationalpulls of the moon are during
hunting hours and he tells youwhere it would be.
And then he has thesesuggestions on there hunting
near field edges, hunting nearbedding areas, hunting in
transition zones and whatnot.
Now, I don't go that in depthin it and I don't claim to be an
(07:41):
expert as far as to explain thescientific side of it, other
than when those phases comeduring daylight hours.
Those deer, it's just anothersomething to get them up out of
their bed to feed.
To feed earlier, to feed longer,to come out in the open a
(08:02):
little bit earlier or whatnot toget them to daylight, and it's
simply the gravitational pull ofthe moon again on that deer,
whose inner ear is sensitive tothese things.
So you start combining some ofthese things and all of a sudden
you realize there's a goodchance that deer is going to get
up and feed when I need him to.
Aaron (08:22):
Yeah, is going to get up and feed when I need him to.
Yeah, so it was similar togrowing up on the Puget Sound.
We had the tide books that wewould go and it was a little
cost us like a buck, and itwould have, and we just called
them big dot days, right,because it gave you a dot next
to the date of when it would bea good day fishing.
Dave (08:43):
Yeah, and Adam Hayes uses the red moon.
Aaron (08:46):
Yeah.
Dave (08:46):
So there is a week I want to say it's every three to four
weeks there is a week that is ared moon week, and during that
week is when the gravitationalpull of the moon, because of the
phase that it's in, is thestrongest.
Yeah, and you want to huntthose days, and that's not to
say that you can't kill a bigbuck on any other day of the
(09:07):
month.
You can, you absolutely can,and it happens all the time.
What we're talking about isputting more odds in your favor
there is a high probability thatyou're going to see your target
buck during this week, if youcan hunt during that red moon
week.
Aaron (09:22):
Well, it was the same thing with those tide books.
So if it was a small dot dayeven if it was great weather and
there was going to be no windout on the water and it was
going to be super calm and itjust looked like a great day of
fishing if it was a small dotday, we probably wouldn't have
gone out because those were soaccurate.
Dave (09:44):
And that's all based on moon, on the moon phase, yeah.
Aaron (09:48):
And it just ebbed and flowed like every couple of
weeks Right Followed the mooncycle, and there were certain
times where, yeah, it would bethe big dot days and we didn't
know how to explain it, butthose were the days you made
sure you got out and wentfishing, like I said with
barometric pressure and the moonphase, guys, you don't need to
know the science behind it otherthan just to make it easy on
(10:09):
yourself.
Dave (10:10):
Somebody's done the work for you.
It does correlate with deeractivity.
Uh, you know, during that redmoon week we're not saying that
you can't kill a big buck anyother time of the month, but
what we are saying is is thatduring the times when that deer
would normally get up and feed,there is an extra pole, that an
(10:32):
extra pull on that deer to getout of his bed and feed earlier
or during daylight hours.
The same with the barometricpressure.
It's exactly the same.
It's just an extra pull,something else that's going to
motivate him to get up and feedand come out to where you want
him to.
Aaron (10:52):
Yeah, and one of the other things with the moon guide
is he'll also tell you whetherit's better for a morning hunt
or an afternoon hunt.
And it was funny.
So last year I went out and theparticular spot I was hunting,
a couple of guys were doing amorning hunt and I was doing an
afternoon hunt.
They were leaving as I wascoming in and I'm getting all my
(11:12):
gear on while I'm standingthere and oh, you're doing an
afternoon hunt, because I thinka lot of it with Go Hunt, the
Clear Cuts.
It's that same idea of you justget up at 3 am and go out
hunting and you always go earlyin the morning to go hunting.
And so they said, oh, you'redoing an afternoon hunt.
I was like yeah, the moon guideand the moon phase and
(11:34):
everything else was pointing atcome out this afternoon and they
looked at me like, huh, whatare you?
Dave (11:42):
what are you even talking?
And it it's really a resourcethat that a lot of hunters I'd
say 95 of hunters really don'tknow about yeah and and they're
intimidated by it because theyfeel like for lack of a better
term, they feel like it's abovetheir, their thinking yeah I
guess and you know I I'm nogenius by any stretch of the
word, so it's just a matter ofit doesn't have to be hard.
(12:03):
Make it as easy as possible.
I don't need to understand itother than just the basics.
If you can put it to me in athird grade level, okay.
But if I see that it works, I'msatisfied with the third grade
level, so long as I can readthat thing and tell when I need
to be out there yeah.
And Adam Hayes has made itreally easy.
Aaron (12:21):
I mean it's super easy.
Dave (12:23):
A kindergartner really could do it.
Aaron (12:24):
Yeah, because it's that simple.
The app is even easier than thedial.
Yeah.
And even that I could figure itout, and I had no basis, no
context to really understandwhat I was looking at, and I
could still figure it out lastyear being my first year, so
yeah, I mean in all honesty, youdon't need to know anything
about the moon phase, becauseAdam's done the work.
Yeah.
Dave (12:45):
Okay, I need to be out there at 245.
Yeah.
Aaron (12:46):
It's like which where's the red part of this calendar?
Okay, that's when I need to gohunting.
Dave (12:51):
That's it.
Aaron (12:52):
And that's literally all I looked at.
Morning or afternoon, all right, there we go.
Dave (12:56):
And again, it's not to say that you can't kill a buck any
other time, but it's just sayingthat the probability of you
seeing them are much higherduring those times.
Aaron (13:03):
We could catch fish on a small dot day, but we weren't
going to catch as many, theyjust weren't as active.
Next thing we want to get intotemperature drops or changes in
temperature.
Dave (13:15):
Now, is it just drops or Whenever it goes from warm to
cold.
Okay, yes.
And I like a 20 degreetemperature swing.
So if it was 70 degrees for thehigh one day and the next day
the high is going to be 48 or 50.
Yeah.
You need to be out there becausethat's the day that those deer
(13:37):
are going to get up and moveearly, just because of that
swing in temperature.
You know, if it's 10 degreesyou might see a little bit more
activity, but not much.
It's that 20 degree mark seemsto be the difference between
seeing one or two deer andseeing.
You know, I've had as many asseven come in on a set and be
there almost at the same time,just because we've had a
(14:00):
temperature swing of 20 degreesor more.
Yeah, and that doesn't happen alot 20 degrees day over day, not
a lot, yep.
Aaron (14:08):
And it wouldn't be necessarily the high of one day
versus so today, let's say today, got up to 75,.
So today, let's say today, gotup to 75, but tomorrow morning
it's going to be 48 degrees, sothe high temperature is going to
be 55 tomorrow.
So it would be the hightemperature swing of 20 degrees,
(14:28):
not 20 degrees between high andlow between the two days.
Dave (14:32):
Correct, correct 20 degrees between the highs is
typically what I like to see,and going from warmer to colder.
Aaron (14:39):
Okay, that actually probably ties in with the next
one quite a bit is if you'reseeing those temperature drops,
it probably has something to dowith weather fronts coming in.
Dave (14:50):
Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.
There's times where we havehigh pressure and it's just cold
out.
You know it's in the teens orthe 20s, but it's sunny yeah and
so and it's, uh, barometricpressure is 30.27 and you know
it's holding or it's rising to30.29 and uh, yeah, that's,
(15:15):
that's going to be a great dayto see a lot of deer movement.
Now, you know, it doesn't meanyou're going to see deer
movement in the, you know, inthe middle of the day, in the
afternoon.
You know I I'm always checkingon that red moon and seeing what
time.
But I mean, you know me, you'veknown me for years now.
I typically hunt the eveningsyeah and uh, and I'll let the
moon phase dictate that a littlebit, in the sense that if it's,
(15:37):
if it's not, a red moon week,I'm going to stick to my evening
hunts, uh, just because I don'tlike going in on the dark into
my set, because I don't knowwhat I'm bumping yeah and I just
you know I'm after a maturebuck.
I don't, you know you're notgoing to get many opportunities
you know, and I mean, you'veheard me say it a hundred times
the easiest buck to kill is theone that doesn't realize he's
(15:58):
being hunted, and so I don'twant to go in the dark take a
chance of bumping him.
I always like to go in about oneo'clock, sometimes 11,
depending on the moon phase ifit's a red moon, if it's no red
moon week whatever, and then thebarometric pressure, and so
that will dictate, you know, alot of what I and we'll get into
(16:20):
that more but it dictates a lotof what I do and how I approach
my hunting throughout theseason.
Mm-hmm.
Aaron (16:25):
But as far as weather fronts now, is that because a
strong high pressure systemwhere it could be sunny, if
that's pushing out a rain systemor cool weather, that's a
weather front?
Is there a particular type ofweather front we're looking for?
Dave (16:45):
or it's so it.
With weather fronts, if it's astorm, they'll.
They tend to feed up before thestorm and after the storm okay
okay.
If it's just showers, say wegot a day.
If where it's just uh, showerson and off, they're gonna feed
between the showers.
So between those those littleweather fronts that are coming
through the micro weather.
(17:06):
You know bands and whatnot and.
But, like on a big storm,they're gonna feed in front of
and behind, they're gonna beddown during it and yeah, they're
just gonna hunker down and thenthey're gonna feed up before
front of and behind.
They're going to bed downduring it and yeah, they're just
going to hunker down and thenthey're going to feed up before
the storm comes and after thestorm comes.
Now, if it's like thedescription that I told you,
where we got a sunny day butit's super cold and whatnot,
(17:29):
that is a change in weather.
So, that is kind of a weatherfront and they'll feed up before
that and, depending on how coldit gets will determine how much
feeding they will continue todo, because in the winter time,
you know, they burn caloriesjust trying to stay warm, so
they have to feed about everytwo hours.
Yeah.
But they can hold up for a fourhour stint, you know whatever if
(17:51):
it's you know, rain, showers orwhatnot for four hours.
But they have to stay warm andit's a matter of survival.
So they're going to get upabout every two hours.
Now that doesn't mean they'regoing to get up and walk a
hundred yards.
They may get up and go fivefeet, move over and bed right
back down and start eating thestuff that's on the ground
around them.
Yeah, so they're going to feed,but it doesn't mean they're
(18:11):
going to get up and move, ifthat makes sense.
Aaron (18:15):
So Especially if they bedded down, yeah, in a place
where there's plenty of foodaround them.
Dave (18:21):
Yeah, they don't have to.
Which?
Aaron (18:23):
you know they very well could.
But yeah, if it's cold, justthat movement, yep, it's going
to cause them to get up and movearound, just to probably warm
up versus the rain.
Dave (18:36):
They're just trying to stay out of the rain, right,
right, but I mean we've had coldsnaps here where it's down in
the 20s and the teens andwhatnot, and it takes deer from
you know showing up on my set,say first light or last light,
to showing up every two, threehours you know passing through
(18:58):
and stuff because they're goingfrom, you know feeding area to
feeding area.
Aaron (19:03):
Yeah, and we talked about this on the last episode you
had mentioned where, asha, youwaited and there was a little
15-minute window where itstopped raining Right and you
waited and deer came in.
Dave (19:15):
Yeah, as soon as it stopped raining.
And I told her, I says we gotthis window coming up and as
soon as it stops raining, I saysyou need to be ready.
And it stopped raining.
You know, we're looking on theradar, we're about five minutes
out.
Well, five minutes went by andit stopped raining, and not
three, four minutes later thatdeer showed up on the set and
(19:36):
she shot it you know.
So it was uh experience orwhatnot.
You know, it's not a skill setto to read a radar.
You can see the front, you know.
You can see the storm line.
You just have to know what todo yeah you know, do I need to
be out there during the rain?
Probably not, unless I'm tryingto be there as soon as it stops
raining.
Well then, when am I?
(19:57):
I guess what I'm saying is whenare the key times that I need
to?
Aaron (20:00):
pay attention.
You know, and I said it's easyto read the weather report right
so to have an idea to game planunrelated but yet related
somehow.
So I was just in, uh, disneyworld and they have those
afternoon monsoons every day wewould watch the weather report
okay, when are those coming in?
(20:20):
Because we would have to planaround those particular times of
what we were doing.
That's exactly.
Dave (20:25):
You know, again going back to the inner ear of deer, and
how sensitive it is yeah they'retuned into that weather so they
know when it's coming and whenit's leaving, and that's all it
is.
You know, every phone has got aradar app.
Yeah.
Everybody can pull that up andyou can watch that storm coming
off the coast, as long as you'rein an area with cell coverage
(20:47):
when you got cell coverage, yeah.
Aaron (20:49):
Which I kind of was, but then I kind of wasn't.
If I were up in my stand 20feet off the ground, I had cell
coverage.
Down on the ground I would havethe occasional ping but nothing
.
But that did have the weatherand, as you say, as those fronts
come through, when it stoppedraining it was raining lightly.
(21:12):
Three storms kind of blewthrough there, but as it rained,
when it came to a stop for 15,20, 30 minutes, I would hear
that all the deer get up andstart moving around, because I
had my game ears on.
Then it'd get quiet again andit'd start raining and by the
third time I was like okay,they're not moving anymore, so
it must be about to startraining.
(21:33):
You could predict that, yeah,by by just listening and that's
just it.
Dave (21:38):
You're just reading deer behavior, that's all you're
doing, you know.
And when you start putting itdown like this, you start.
There are seasons I guess I canrelate it to.
There are seasons where youfeel like you're on this bike
and you're pedaling as hard asyou can and you look down and
the chain's off you know, andyou're just discouraged because
(21:58):
you've put in all this effortand time and money and all these
things that we do to create anopportunity.
And when you can sit there andput these factors into play, you
can realize okay, maybe thismorning is not the best time for
me to go hunt.
Maybe, you know, cause I'mlooking at it, later on in the
(22:19):
day seems to be a higherprobability.
And you know I can, I can usemy time more wisely or
effectively, I guess is what I'mtrying to say and so you're not
out there on days where youknow you're not going to see
much but, again, that's just.
That's not saying you can't beout there and that you can't
kill a big buck on those days.
Aaron (22:38):
You can, but if you're playing the odds, yeah, you know
what I mean it lets you knowkind of what the house is
holding there you go but ifyou're the type who I'm going to
take some time off to gohunting, if you're factoring in
all of these, well, first thingyou're going to do is look what
wins the red moon yeah okay, goto the deer I'm going to
(22:59):
prioritize those days topotentially take time off, work
or looking towards when is itmost likely that I'm going to
see weather coming through.
So we know, I know a lot of guyshit early archery this year or
do that every year.
Well, there's not as much aschange in a typical year.
There was this year.
(23:20):
Not as much of a change inweather.
It's going to be 80 degreesevery day, so that might not
factor into it, but it can helpyou plan ahead.
Dave (23:30):
Absolutely.
Aaron (23:31):
And with a plan, the odds on being more successful with a
plan are just there.
Dave (23:37):
Success is no accident.
Aaron (23:39):
Yep, so the last thing is phase of the rut.
So how is that one of thefactors leading to a successful
hunt?
Dave (23:46):
Well, so phase of the rut is something that I don't think
guys pay too much attention to.
I think they view the rut asjust one big giant, for lack of
a better term.
Rut fest, yeah, where you knowthese deer are going around the
whole time and just breedingnonstop.
And the reality is is there arephases to the rut.
(24:08):
You've got the seeking phase,you've got the lockdown phase,
you've got, you know, the heartof the rut, you've got the post
rut.
You've got the post rut, you'vegot the pre-rut.
All of these phases willdictate certain deer activity
that that is unique to thatphase.
Um, the best time to rattle, Ifeel, is during the seeking
(24:32):
phase of the rut.
You know that pre-rut, duringthat pre-rut, when there's fewer
does in standing estrus, thosebucks are really susceptible
because they know there are afew does and when they hear two
bucks fighting, they assume thatokay, there's a doe that is in
standing estrus over there, andso they they come running in on
(24:52):
that and then I feel like alsopost-rut can be effective as
well.
But I, just once I get out ofthat pre rut, out of that
seeking phase, I don't like torattle much anymore, simply
because those does get tired ofbeing chased and they start
hiding from the bucks.
So if I start rattling, I'mjust blind rattling, blind
(25:14):
calling.
Then if I do that and she'stired of being chased, she's
going to turn and go away fromthat rattling.
Yeah, and if my target buck istailing her.
He's just going to turn and gowith her.
Aaron (25:25):
Yeah, she's going to take her scent with her.
Right, exactly so even if he'snot with her, if she's moving
off.
Dave (25:33):
Yeah, he's going to go.
Aaron (25:33):
Quarter mile to the left.
Dave (25:35):
Yeah.
Aaron (25:36):
He might be.
Dave (25:42):
When I get to that, when I get to the post rut, I like to
see the buck before I startrattling.
But that's just me.
There are guys out there.
I said this in a previousepisode yeah, that that rattle
in 30 bucks a season.
You know, hey, they're good atit yeah you know I I'm not, I'm
not the guy that's good at it.
So that's just that's myopinion and that's how I kind of
approach it.
But you know, that's, it's justnot my thing.
Aaron (26:05):
Okay, five factors.
I'm going to go over them againreal quick.
Barometric pressure 30.2 andrising the moon phase.
You're looking for red moons,temperature drops of 20 degrees
and weather fronts in betweenthe storms and knowing what
phase you are in the rut.
So recently we had one of ourpro staff, chris, got a monster
(26:28):
buck.
He got a giant and he had a lotof these factor in to his
success Right, Because he waspaying attention to these Now.
The rut wasn't much of a factorright now, but why don't you
tell us about what he had goingfor him?
Dave (26:44):
So Chris was chasing this buck.
He called Bambino and it is a.
What is it?
A 7x8?
Aaron (26:54):
6x6 with eye guards 6x6 with eye guards.
Not counting the eye guards.
Dave (26:58):
Oh, 6x6, not counting the eye guards, but just an absolute
giant of a black tail.
Six by six with eye guards, notcounting the eye guards.
Oh, six by six, not countingthe eye guards.
Yeah, but just an absolutegiant of a black tail, bigger
than anything I've killed, andso he came on pro staff here
last year, so this is his secondseason with us.
Aaron (27:12):
But third season using the system.
Dave (27:14):
Yeah, I'm sorry, third year using the system, second
season being a pro staff andChris just a great guy.
I call him a good kid.
I'm 55.
He's easily 30s 40s.
Aaron (27:29):
He was in your youth group when you were a youth
pastor 30 years ago.
So that's why he's a kid,because he's never left that
stage of life.
Dave (27:38):
But he's just a great guy and I'm so happy that he got
this buck.
But so what it was is he had a20 degree swing in temperature,
so it had been a high eightieslow nineties for three, four,
five days straight.
Yeah.
And then it dropped down to 68,.
(27:59):
I want to say so there's the 20degree swing right there and
that was the high for the day.
And then the moon phase it wasduring a red moon week yeah and
I don't know that he realizedthat, but it was during a red
moon week and I think he did,maybe he didn't I?
Speaker 3 (28:17):
I don't, we'll find out.
Yeah, we're gonna bring him onand have him tell his story.
Dave (28:21):
But uh, and then the barometric pressure it was at
29.99 and holding okay and so,uh, yeah, I mean he had three
out of the five and I alwaystell guys, like I said at the
beginning, if I have three outof the five, I I feel like I've
got to be in stand Now.
I typically like 30.2 on thebarometric pressure and rising,
(28:43):
but, like I said, 29, until youget down to 28.
Aaron (28:47):
29.99.
Dave (28:48):
Yeah it's really close to 30.2.
Yeah, so when you get down to28, that's when it becomes a
real negative you know yeah.
But at 29.99, that's stillreally good.
And he went out there and 20minutes before dark, bambino
came in and he shot him at what?
Six yards, something like that.
Aaron (29:10):
Nine yards something.
Dave (29:12):
Yeah, it was ridiculously close, it was super close.
Aaron (29:14):
Yeah, well, he said it was six yards from the base of
the tree, but because he was up,in stand.
That added another three yardsbecause he was shooting down at
the angle.
Dave (29:24):
But you know, and I mean just guys, I believe pictures
are up on Facebook.
Aaron (29:27):
They are on Facebook.
Dave (29:28):
If you haven't checked it out, do it, You're going to.
What a spectacular buck.
Aaron (29:33):
Yeah, blacktail Coach on Facebook, and it was the envy of
us all.
Yeah and yeah, it was, yeah, theenvy of us all.
Yeah, so part of what we aregoing to do, that we want to do
with the blacktail coach podcast, is we we're going to actually
bring on and we're going to callit our success stories.
So guys who've used our systemor who have been successful
(29:54):
during the season, we want totalk to them, mostly to find out
about their history of hunting.
Uh, like you said, three yearslast year he got bit by the bad
weather bug and didn't, wasn'table to get a shot on one yep,
uh year before he got a nice healso had a cougar in his area,
though, too yeah, so heended up killing that cat, but
it had managed to chase all thedeer out of the area but we're
(30:18):
going to do some podcast successstories and hopefully you can
pick up some of the things thatthey've done or just the
encouragement of knowing thatguys who have just gotten
started hunting.
He's been hunting for a longtime but has really gotten back
into blacktail hunting since hemoved back to the area.
Dave (30:36):
Yeah, he was a whitetail hunter for a long, long time,
simply because he wasdisappointed and frustrated with
blacktail hunting not seeingany of them and always hearing
about big ones but never seeingthem.
And so this is his first yearharvesting using the system.
But he has been on the cusp allthree years because he's had
(30:56):
pictures of big, dominant buckscoming through his set.
He just hasn hasn't been in set, whether it be a ground blind
or a tree stand when they'vecome in when they've come in and
so this one here, he's finallyputting it together.
As far as the five factors, andhe held to him religiously, I
mean he was checking them everyday, he was checking weeks in
advance and and realized, youknow, I mean he was telling me
(31:20):
four days before he shot bambino, he was I need to be out there
on that day.
That's the day he's going tocome in yeah you know, some
people say, well, it might bejust luck.
No, it's not luck, it's notcoincidence.
He put all the factors thereand it's like no, there was a
reason why that buck moved thatearly yeah you know.
So it's like he knew he wasgoing to see him that night and
he did.
Aaron (31:40):
And he did, yeah, yeah, all part of the system to have a
successful hunt and making thatplan.
So, anyway, thanks for joiningus.
Have a bit of a quicker episodetoday, but hope you got a lot
out of this one.
If you can go on to where youget your podcasts and leave us a
review, we'd really appreciatethat and we will see you next
week.
See you later.
Hello and welcome back to Blacktail Coach Podcast.
I'm Aaron and I'm Dave, sotoday we want to talk about the
five factors leading to asuccessful hunt as part of our
program, and these are differentindividual items that in and of
themselves help increase deeractivity, but when you start
adding, it's kind of compounded.
(00:22):
When you add another one ofthese factors in, it means
you're more likely to hit alevel of success.
We're going to cover these andshare with you a couple of
stories of of how these havereally piled up and brought some
big bucks in yep, I get a lotof guys asking me well, what do
you look for?
Dave (00:38):
what are the days that you feel like you have to be out
there?
And these are the five thingsthat I look for and and.
If I have two of them, I feellike, well, you know, it could
happen that day.
It may not.
And and and and.
This is not a guarantee by anystretch of the word, but it's
like you said it, it doesincrease deer activity.
And then, if I have three outof the five, well, I feel like I
gotta be in stand that daybecause there's a good chance
(01:00):
I'm going to see my target buck.
If I have four out of five, I'mprobably going to quit my job
so that I can be in stand thatday.
That's how it doesn't happenthat often and when it does,
it's like no, today's the day.
It's like a 90% chance I'mgoing to see my target buck.
If I've got five out of five,the first thing I do is go down
(01:21):
and buy a lottery ticket andthen I go into stand.
Aaron (01:24):
Yeah, okay.
So the first one is thebarometric pressure, and so
we're looking for barometricpressure and it depends on—so
there are different sources thatsay different level, but you
say 30.2 and rising.
Dave (01:42):
That's what I like is 30.2 , the barometric pressure is
30.2 and rising, because thatjust is going to be one of those
factors that's going to getdeer up and moving and they're
going to be up earlier andthey're going to be up longer.
Aaron (01:53):
So why does the barometric pressure cause them
to move?
What's the science, I would say, behind that?
Dave (02:00):
So barometric pressure tells them.
You know, if there's a highpressure or a low pressure it
usually signifies some kind ofweather change, you know.
But deer, that inner ear ondeer, is really sensitive to
barometric pressure.
And when it gets to 30.2, someguys will say 29.
(02:20):
I like 30.2.
I tend to see a lot more deermovement at 30.2 and rising.
Now, that's not to say that ifit was at 29.9 and holding,
that's still not a badbarometric pressure.
I don't think barometricpressure is bad until we get
down to 28.
And then the deer movementseems to nearly drop off
(02:42):
completely.
But that barometric pressure at30.2 and rising, yeah, I always
see a lot of deer movement whenI have that.
Aaron (02:54):
I had.
So this was during actuallyWashington's extended buck last
year.
For Modern we had every singleday and maybe you want to think
about if you're a modern riflehunter, think about if you did
that extended season.
Were you seeing more activityduring the extended buck?
Right.
Because we did have.
We had 30.2 to 30.45.
(03:18):
Uh-huh, All four or five ofthose days during that last year
.
And there were a couple otherfactors that we'll get into
Right, right.
Dave (03:30):
And most hunters don't even stop to think about
barometric pressure, but it'ssomething that you can look up
days in advance and recognize.
Oh, look at there, it's 30.1 andrising 3021, and rising 30.3,
you know just anytime it getsabove 30.2, I just feel like
(03:51):
there's a good chance that I'mgoing to see a lot of deer
activity, a lot of deer movement, and a good opportunity for me
to see my you know my targetbuck.
And so a lot of guys, like Isaid, don't pay attention to it
because they don't necessarilyunderstand it, and I think we
make things more difficult thanthey need to be.
I mean, essentially all we needto know is that at a certain
(04:11):
mark at barometric pressure,you're going to see more deer
activity.
You just are.
You don't even need to know thescience behind it, you don't
need to know the history of it,Just know that.
Start checking your ownexperience when you see a lot of
deer, check what the barometricpressure was that day and
you'll start correlating acertain point and it's usually
(04:34):
about 30 that guys will startseeing a large increase in deer
activity.
Aaron (04:40):
Okay, and so if you're wondering how can I check that,
going out, checking out a fewdays, I know, with my iPhone,
the weather app that's on myiPhone, I pull it out, I look at
because it gives you theweather in your area and if you
scroll down that page it'll showyou what the barometric
pressure is for that particulartime.
But if you click on it, on thatbarometric pressure for right
(05:03):
now, it'll pull up a differentscreen and it'll let you see out
for like a week.
Dave (05:10):
Right.
Of where the barometricpressure is going and I think a
lot of the apps like HuntStandor Onyx, I think a lot of those
apps have barometric pressure onthem as well.
Okay.
And I know that the Mike Hayhayes or no, I'm sorry adam
hayes.
Aaron (05:29):
Adam hayes, I got a friend of mine's my case.
Dave (05:32):
Adam hayes, the the moon phase guy.
Uh, I know on his app every dayit gives you the barometric
pressure yeah, and and it's andyou talk to a lot of guys that
that are serious trophy huntersand they'll verify that they pay
attention to that kind of stuff.
Yeah.
And there's no.
Like I said, it doesn't have tobe any kind of witchcraft or
(05:54):
deep scientific explanation.
All you need to know is that ata certain point you're going to
see more deer activity.
There's going to be more deermovement because the barometric
pressure is up.
Aaron (06:04):
Yeah, that's telling something to their instincts to
get up and move.
Dave (06:09):
Right yeah, start feeding.
Feed up while you can.
Aaron (06:13):
Okay, I brought up where you find it because we have a
lot of guys who have.
Well, how am I supposed to knowwhat the barometric pressure?
Dave (06:19):
is.
That's how you find it Rightand, like I said, they've never
paid attention to it before sothey have no idea.
Aaron (06:25):
And, honestly, before last year I didn't either.
Yeah, now you mentioned AdamHayes, so that's actually the
next thing is what he created?
The moon guide, but it talksabout the moon phase, so tell us
about that.
Dave (06:38):
So Adam Hayes has the Deer Hunter's Moon Guide.
You can get the app for yourphone or you can uh, you know,
get online and order the thesundial that he puts out every
year.
I think it's like 15, 20 bucksor something like that.
And, uh, basically, to explainit in a way that that that's
(06:58):
going to make it easy foreverybody, is to simply say that
he has already done all thework for you as far as the moon
phase and he tells you at whatpoint is the best.
Two times or the strongestgravitational pull of the moon,
twice a day when that happensand there are certain times when
(07:18):
those strong gravitationalpulls of the moon are during
hunting hours and he tells youwhere it would be.
And then he has thesesuggestions on there hunting
near field edges, hunting nearbedding areas, hunting in
transition zones and whatnot.
Now, I don't go that in depthin it and I don't claim to be an
(07:41):
expert as far as to explain thescientific side of it, other
than when those phases comeduring daylight hours.
Those deer, it's just anothersomething to get them up out of
their bed to feed.
To feed earlier, to feed longer,to come out in the open a
(08:02):
little bit earlier or whatnot toget them to daylight, and it's
simply the gravitational pull ofthe moon again on that deer,
whose inner ear is sensitive tothese things.
So you start combining some ofthese things and all of a sudden
you realize there's a goodchance that deer is going to get
up and feed when I need him to.
Aaron (08:22):
Yeah, is going to get up and feed when I need him to.
Yeah, so it was similar togrowing up on the Puget Sound.
We had the tide books that wewould go and it was a little
cost us like a buck, and itwould have, and we just called
them big dot days, right,because it gave you a dot next
to the date of when it would bea good day fishing.
Dave (08:43):
Yeah, and Adam Hayes uses the red moon.
Aaron (08:46):
Yeah.
Dave (08:46):
So there is a week I want to say it's every three to four
weeks there is a week that is ared moon week, and during that
week is when the gravitationalpull of the moon, because of the
phase that it's in, is thestrongest.
Yeah, and you want to huntthose days, and that's not to
say that you can't kill a bigbuck on any other day of the
(09:07):
month.
You can, you absolutely can,and it happens all the time.
What we're talking about isputting more odds in your favor
there is a high probability thatyou're going to see your target
buck during this week, if youcan hunt during that red moon
week.
Aaron (09:22):
Well, it was the same thing with those tide books.
So if it was a small dot dayeven if it was great weather and
there was going to be no windout on the water and it was
going to be super calm and itjust looked like a great day of
fishing if it was a small dotday, we probably wouldn't have
gone out because those were soaccurate.
Dave (09:44):
And that's all based on moon, on the moon phase, yeah.
Aaron (09:48):
And it just ebbed and flowed like every couple of
weeks Right Followed the mooncycle, and there were certain
times where, yeah, it would bethe big dot days and we didn't
know how to explain it, butthose were the days you made
sure you got out and wentfishing, like I said with
barometric pressure and the moonphase, guys, you don't need to
know the science behind it otherthan just to make it easy on
(10:09):
yourself.
Dave (10:10):
Somebody's done the work for you.
It does correlate with deeractivity.
Uh, you know, during that redmoon week we're not saying that
you can't kill a big buck anyother time of the month, but
what we are saying is is thatduring the times when that deer
would normally get up and feed,there is an extra pole, that an
(10:32):
extra pull on that deer to getout of his bed and feed earlier
or during daylight hours.
The same with the barometricpressure.
It's exactly the same.
It's just an extra pull,something else that's going to
motivate him to get up and feedand come out to where you want
him to.
Aaron (10:52):
Yeah, and one of the other things with the moon guide
is he'll also tell you whetherit's better for a morning hunt
or an afternoon hunt.
And it was funny.
So last year I went out and theparticular spot I was hunting,
a couple of guys were doing amorning hunt and I was doing an
afternoon hunt.
They were leaving as I wascoming in and I'm getting all my
(11:12):
gear on while I'm standingthere and oh, you're doing an
afternoon hunt, because I thinka lot of it with Go Hunt, the
Clear Cuts.
It's that same idea of you justget up at 3 am and go out
hunting and you always go earlyin the morning to go hunting.
And so they said, oh, you'redoing an afternoon hunt.
I was like yeah, the moon guideand the moon phase and
(11:34):
everything else was pointing atcome out this afternoon and they
looked at me like, huh, whatare you?
Dave (11:42):
what are you even talking?
And it it's really a resourcethat that a lot of hunters I'd
say 95 of hunters really don'tknow about yeah and and they're
intimidated by it because theyfeel like for lack of a better
term, they feel like it's abovetheir, their thinking yeah I
guess and you know I I'm nogenius by any stretch of the
word, so it's just a matter ofit doesn't have to be hard.
(12:03):
Make it as easy as possible.
I don't need to understand itother than just the basics.
If you can put it to me in athird grade level, okay.
But if I see that it works, I'msatisfied with the third grade
level, so long as I can readthat thing and tell when I need
to be out there yeah.
And Adam Hayes has made itreally easy.
Aaron (12:21):
I mean it's super easy.
Dave (12:23):
A kindergartner really could do it.
Aaron (12:24):
Yeah, because it's that simple.
The app is even easier than thedial.
Yeah.
And even that I could figure itout, and I had no basis, no
context to really understandwhat I was looking at, and I
could still figure it out lastyear being my first year, so
yeah, I mean in all honesty, youdon't need to know anything
about the moon phase, becauseAdam's done the work.
Yeah.
Dave (12:45):
Okay, I need to be out there at 245.
Yeah.
Aaron (12:46):
It's like which where's the red part of this calendar?
Okay, that's when I need to gohunting.
Dave (12:51):
That's it.
Aaron (12:52):
And that's literally all I looked at.
Morning or afternoon, all right, there we go.
Dave (12:56):
And again, it's not to say that you can't kill a buck any
other time, but it's just sayingthat the probability of you
seeing them are much higherduring those times.
Aaron (13:03):
We could catch fish on a small dot day, but we weren't
going to catch as many, theyjust weren't as active.
Next thing we want to get intotemperature drops or changes in
temperature.
Dave (13:15):
Now, is it just drops or Whenever it goes from warm to
cold.
Okay, yes.
And I like a 20 degreetemperature swing.
So if it was 70 degrees for thehigh one day and the next day
the high is going to be 48 or 50.
Yeah.
You need to be out there becausethat's the day that those deer
(13:37):
are going to get up and moveearly, just because of that
swing in temperature.
You know, if it's 10 degreesyou might see a little bit more
activity, but not much.
It's that 20 degree mark seemsto be the difference between
seeing one or two deer andseeing.
You know, I've had as many asseven come in on a set and be
there almost at the same time,just because we've had a
(14:00):
temperature swing of 20 degreesor more.
Yeah, and that doesn't happen alot 20 degrees day over day, not
a lot, yep.
Aaron (14:08):
And it wouldn't be necessarily the high of one day
versus so today, let's say today, got up to 75,.
So today, let's say today, gotup to 75, but tomorrow morning
it's going to be 48 degrees, sothe high temperature is going to
be 55 tomorrow.
So it would be the hightemperature swing of 20 degrees,
(14:28):
not 20 degrees between high andlow between the two days.
Dave (14:32):
Correct, correct 20 degrees between the highs is
typically what I like to see,and going from warmer to colder.
Aaron (14:39):
Okay, that actually probably ties in with the next
one quite a bit is if you'reseeing those temperature drops,
it probably has something to dowith weather fronts coming in.
Dave (14:50):
Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.
There's times where we havehigh pressure and it's just cold
out.
You know it's in the teens orthe 20s, but it's sunny yeah and
so and it's, uh, barometricpressure is 30.27 and you know
it's holding or it's rising to30.29 and uh, yeah, that's,
(15:15):
that's going to be a great dayto see a lot of deer movement.
Now, you know, it doesn't meanyou're going to see deer
movement in the, you know, inthe middle of the day, in the
afternoon.
You know I I'm always checkingon that red moon and seeing what
time.
But I mean, you know me, you'veknown me for years now.
I typically hunt the eveningsyeah and uh, and I'll let the
moon phase dictate that a littlebit, in the sense that if it's,
(15:37):
if it's not, a red moon week,I'm going to stick to my evening
hunts, uh, just because I don'tlike going in on the dark into
my set, because I don't knowwhat I'm bumping yeah and I just
you know I'm after a maturebuck.
I don't, you know you're notgoing to get many opportunities
you know, and I mean, you'veheard me say it a hundred times
the easiest buck to kill is theone that doesn't realize he's
(15:58):
being hunted, and so I don'twant to go in the dark take a
chance of bumping him.
I always like to go in about oneo'clock, sometimes 11,
depending on the moon phase ifit's a red moon, if it's no red
moon week whatever, and then thebarometric pressure, and so
that will dictate, you know, alot of what I and we'll get into
(16:20):
that more but it dictates a lotof what I do and how I approach
my hunting throughout theseason.
Mm-hmm.
Aaron (16:25):
But as far as weather fronts now, is that because a
strong high pressure systemwhere it could be sunny, if
that's pushing out a rain systemor cool weather, that's a
weather front?
Is there a particular type ofweather front we're looking for?
Dave (16:45):
or it's so it.
With weather fronts, if it's astorm, they'll.
They tend to feed up before thestorm and after the storm okay
okay.
If it's just showers, say wegot a day.
If where it's just uh, showerson and off, they're gonna feed
between the showers.
So between those those littleweather fronts that are coming
through the micro weather.
(17:06):
You know bands and whatnot and.
But, like on a big storm,they're gonna feed in front of
and behind, they're gonna beddown during it and yeah, they're
just gonna hunker down and thenthey're gonna feed up before
front of and behind.
They're going to bed downduring it and yeah, they're just
going to hunker down and thenthey're going to feed up before
the storm comes and after thestorm comes.
Now, if it's like thedescription that I told you,
where we got a sunny day butit's super cold and whatnot,
(17:29):
that is a change in weather.
So, that is kind of a weatherfront and they'll feed up before
that and, depending on how coldit gets will determine how much
feeding they will continue todo, because in the winter time,
you know, they burn caloriesjust trying to stay warm, so
they have to feed about everytwo hours.
Yeah.
But they can hold up for a fourhour stint, you know whatever if
(17:51):
it's you know, rain, showers orwhatnot for four hours.
But they have to stay warm andit's a matter of survival.
So they're going to get upabout every two hours.
Now that doesn't mean they'regoing to get up and walk a
hundred yards.
They may get up and go fivefeet, move over and bed right
back down and start eating thestuff that's on the ground
around them.
Yeah, so they're going to feed,but it doesn't mean they're
(18:11):
going to get up and move, ifthat makes sense.
Aaron (18:15):
So Especially if they bedded down, yeah, in a place
where there's plenty of foodaround them.
Dave (18:21):
Yeah, they don't have to.
Which?
Aaron (18:23):
you know they very well could.
But yeah, if it's cold, justthat movement, yep, it's going
to cause them to get up and movearound, just to probably warm
up versus the rain.
Dave (18:36):
They're just trying to stay out of the rain, right,
right, but I mean we've had coldsnaps here where it's down in
the 20s and the teens andwhatnot, and it takes deer from
you know showing up on my set,say first light or last light,
to showing up every two, threehours you know passing through
(18:58):
and stuff because they're goingfrom, you know feeding area to
feeding area.
Aaron (19:03):
Yeah, and we talked about this on the last episode you
had mentioned where, asha, youwaited and there was a little
15-minute window where itstopped raining Right and you
waited and deer came in.
Dave (19:15):
Yeah, as soon as it stopped raining.
And I told her, I says we gotthis window coming up and as
soon as it stops raining, I saysyou need to be ready.
And it stopped raining.
You know, we're looking on theradar, we're about five minutes
out.
Well, five minutes went by andit stopped raining, and not
three, four minutes later thatdeer showed up on the set and
(19:36):
she shot it you know.
So it was uh experience orwhatnot.
You know, it's not a skill setto to read a radar.
You can see the front, you know.
You can see the storm line.
You just have to know what todo yeah you know, do I need to
be out there during the rain?
Probably not, unless I'm tryingto be there as soon as it stops
raining.
Well then, when am I?
(19:57):
I guess what I'm saying is whenare the key times that I need
to?
Aaron (20:00):
pay attention.
You know, and I said it's easyto read the weather report right
so to have an idea to game planunrelated but yet related
somehow.
So I was just in, uh, disneyworld and they have those
afternoon monsoons every day wewould watch the weather report
okay, when are those coming in?
(20:20):
Because we would have to planaround those particular times of
what we were doing.
That's exactly.
Dave (20:25):
You know, again going back to the inner ear of deer, and
how sensitive it is yeah they'retuned into that weather so they
know when it's coming and whenit's leaving, and that's all it
is.
You know, every phone has got aradar app.
Yeah.
Everybody can pull that up andyou can watch that storm coming
off the coast, as long as you'rein an area with cell coverage
(20:47):
when you got cell coverage, yeah.
Aaron (20:49):
Which I kind of was, but then I kind of wasn't.
If I were up in my stand 20feet off the ground, I had cell
coverage.
Down on the ground I would havethe occasional ping but nothing
.
But that did have the weatherand, as you say, as those fronts
come through, when it stoppedraining it was raining lightly.
(21:12):
Three storms kind of blewthrough there, but as it rained,
when it came to a stop for 15,20, 30 minutes, I would hear
that all the deer get up andstart moving around, because I
had my game ears on.
Then it'd get quiet again andit'd start raining and by the
third time I was like okay,they're not moving anymore, so
it must be about to startraining.
(21:33):
You could predict that, yeah,by by just listening and that's
just it.
Dave (21:38):
You're just reading deer behavior, that's all you're
doing, you know.
And when you start putting itdown like this, you start.
There are seasons I guess I canrelate it to.
There are seasons where youfeel like you're on this bike
and you're pedaling as hard asyou can and you look down and
the chain's off you know, andyou're just discouraged because
(21:58):
you've put in all this effortand time and money and all these
things that we do to create anopportunity.
And when you can sit there andput these factors into play, you
can realize okay, maybe thismorning is not the best time for
me to go hunt.
Maybe, you know, cause I'mlooking at it, later on in the
(22:19):
day seems to be a higherprobability.
And you know I can, I can usemy time more wisely or
effectively, I guess is what I'mtrying to say and so you're not
out there on days where youknow you're not going to see
much but, again, that's just.
That's not saying you can't beout there and that you can't
kill a big buck on those days.
Aaron (22:38):
You can, but if you're playing the odds, yeah, you know
what I mean it lets you knowkind of what the house is
holding there you go but ifyou're the type who I'm going to
take some time off to gohunting, if you're factoring in
all of these, well, first thingyou're going to do is look what
wins the red moon yeah okay, goto the deer I'm going to
(22:59):
prioritize those days topotentially take time off, work
or looking towards when is itmost likely that I'm going to
see weather coming through.
So we know, I know a lot of guyshit early archery this year or
do that every year.
Well, there's not as much aschange in a typical year.
There was this year.
(23:20):
Not as much of a change inweather.
It's going to be 80 degreesevery day, so that might not
factor into it, but it can helpyou plan ahead.
Dave (23:30):
Absolutely.
Aaron (23:31):
And with a plan, the odds on being more successful with a
plan are just there.
Dave (23:37):
Success is no accident.
Aaron (23:39):
Yep, so the last thing is phase of the rut.
So how is that one of thefactors leading to a successful
hunt?
Dave (23:46):
Well, so phase of the rut is something that I don't think
guys pay too much attention to.
I think they view the rut asjust one big giant, for lack of
a better term.
Rut fest, yeah, where you knowthese deer are going around the
whole time and just breedingnonstop.
And the reality is is there arephases to the rut.
(24:08):
You've got the seeking phase,you've got the lockdown phase,
you've got, you know, the heartof the rut, you've got the post
rut.
You've got the post rut, you'vegot the pre-rut.
All of these phases willdictate certain deer activity
that that is unique to thatphase.
Um, the best time to rattle, Ifeel, is during the seeking
(24:32):
phase of the rut.
You know that pre-rut, duringthat pre-rut, when there's fewer
does in standing estrus, thosebucks are really susceptible
because they know there are afew does and when they hear two
bucks fighting, they assume thatokay, there's a doe that is in
standing estrus over there, andso they they come running in on
(24:52):
that and then I feel like alsopost-rut can be effective as
well.
But I, just once I get out ofthat pre rut, out of that
seeking phase, I don't like torattle much anymore, simply
because those does get tired ofbeing chased and they start
hiding from the bucks.
So if I start rattling, I'mjust blind rattling, blind
(25:14):
calling.
Then if I do that and she'stired of being chased, she's
going to turn and go away fromthat rattling.
Yeah, and if my target buck istailing her.
He's just going to turn and gowith her.
Aaron (25:25):
Yeah, she's going to take her scent with her.
Right, exactly so even if he'snot with her, if she's moving
off.
Dave (25:33):
Yeah, he's going to go.
Aaron (25:33):
Quarter mile to the left.
Dave (25:35):
Yeah.
Aaron (25:36):
He might be.
Dave (25:42):
When I get to that, when I get to the post rut, I like to
see the buck before I startrattling.
But that's just me.
There are guys out there.
I said this in a previousepisode yeah, that that rattle
in 30 bucks a season.
You know, hey, they're good atit yeah you know I I'm not, I'm
not the guy that's good at it.
So that's just that's myopinion and that's how I kind of
approach it.
But you know, that's, it's justnot my thing.
Aaron (26:05):
Okay, five factors.
I'm going to go over them againreal quick.
Barometric pressure 30.2 andrising the moon phase.
You're looking for red moons,temperature drops of 20 degrees
and weather fronts in betweenthe storms and knowing what
phase you are in the rut.
So recently we had one of ourpro staff, chris, got a monster
(26:28):
buck.
He got a giant and he had a lotof these factor in to his
success Right, Because he waspaying attention to these Now.
The rut wasn't much of a factorright now, but why don't you
tell us about what he had goingfor him?
Dave (26:44):
So Chris was chasing this buck.
He called Bambino and it is a.
What is it?
A 7x8?
Aaron (26:54):
6x6 with eye guards 6x6 with eye guards.
Not counting the eye guards.
Dave (26:58):
Oh, 6x6, not counting the eye guards, but just an absolute
giant of a black tail.
Six by six with eye guards, notcounting the eye guards.
Oh, six by six, not countingthe eye guards.
Yeah, but just an absolutegiant of a black tail, bigger
than anything I've killed, andso he came on pro staff here
last year, so this is his secondseason with us.
Aaron (27:12):
But third season using the system.
Dave (27:14):
Yeah, I'm sorry, third year using the system, second
season being a pro staff andChris just a great guy.
I call him a good kid.
I'm 55.
He's easily 30s 40s.
Aaron (27:29):
He was in your youth group when you were a youth
pastor 30 years ago.
So that's why he's a kid,because he's never left that
stage of life.
Dave (27:38):
But he's just a great guy and I'm so happy that he got
this buck.
But so what it was is he had a20 degree swing in temperature,
so it had been a high eightieslow nineties for three, four,
five days straight.
Yeah.
And then it dropped down to 68,.
(27:59):
I want to say so there's the 20degree swing right there and
that was the high for the day.
And then the moon phase it wasduring a red moon week yeah and
I don't know that he realizedthat, but it was during a red
moon week and I think he did,maybe he didn't I?
Speaker 3 (28:17):
I don't, we'll find out.
Yeah, we're gonna bring him onand have him tell his story.
Dave (28:21):
But uh, and then the barometric pressure it was at
29.99 and holding okay and so,uh, yeah, I mean he had three
out of the five and I alwaystell guys, like I said at the
beginning, if I have three outof the five, I I feel like I've
got to be in stand Now.
I typically like 30.2 on thebarometric pressure and rising,
(28:43):
but, like I said, 29, until youget down to 28.
Aaron (28:47):
29.99.
Dave (28:48):
Yeah it's really close to 30.2.
Yeah, so when you get down to28, that's when it becomes a
real negative you know yeah.
But at 29.99, that's stillreally good.
And he went out there and 20minutes before dark, bambino
came in and he shot him at what?
Six yards, something like that.
Aaron (29:10):
Nine yards something.
Dave (29:12):
Yeah, it was ridiculously close, it was super close.
Aaron (29:14):
Yeah, well, he said it was six yards from the base of
the tree, but because he was up,in stand.
That added another three yardsbecause he was shooting down at
the angle.
Dave (29:24):
But you know, and I mean just guys, I believe pictures
are up on Facebook.
Aaron (29:27):
They are on Facebook.
Dave (29:28):
If you haven't checked it out, do it, You're going to.
What a spectacular buck.
Aaron (29:33):
Yeah, blacktail Coach on Facebook, and it was the envy of
us all.
Yeah and yeah, it was, yeah, theenvy of us all.
Yeah, so part of what we aregoing to do, that we want to do
with the blacktail coach podcast, is we we're going to actually
bring on and we're going to callit our success stories.
So guys who've used our systemor who have been successful
(29:54):
during the season, we want totalk to them, mostly to find out
about their history of hunting.
Uh, like you said, three yearslast year he got bit by the bad
weather bug and didn't, wasn'table to get a shot on one yep,
uh year before he got a nice healso had a cougar in his area,
though, too yeah, so heended up killing that cat, but
it had managed to chase all thedeer out of the area but we're
(30:18):
going to do some podcast successstories and hopefully you can
pick up some of the things thatthey've done or just the
encouragement of knowing thatguys who have just gotten
started hunting.
He's been hunting for a longtime but has really gotten back
into blacktail hunting since hemoved back to the area.
Dave (30:36):
Yeah, he was a whitetail hunter for a long, long time,
simply because he wasdisappointed and frustrated with
blacktail hunting not seeingany of them and always hearing
about big ones but never seeingthem.
And so this is his first yearharvesting using the system.
But he has been on the cusp allthree years because he's had
(30:56):
pictures of big, dominant buckscoming through his set.
He just hasn hasn't been in set, whether it be a ground blind
or a tree stand when they'vecome in when they've come in and
so this one here, he's finallyputting it together.
As far as the five factors, andhe held to him religiously, I
mean he was checking them everyday, he was checking weeks in
advance and and realized, youknow, I mean he was telling me
(31:20):
four days before he shot bambino, he was I need to be out there
on that day.
That's the day he's going tocome in yeah you know, some
people say, well, it might bejust luck.
No, it's not luck, it's notcoincidence.
He put all the factors thereand it's like no, there was a
reason why that buck moved thatearly yeah you know.
So it's like he knew he wasgoing to see him that night and
he did.
Aaron (31:40):
And he did, yeah, yeah, all part of the system to have a
successful hunt and making thatplan.
So, anyway, thanks for joiningus.
Have a bit of a quicker episodetoday, but hope you got a lot
out of this one.
If you can go on to where youget your podcasts and leave us a
review, we'd really appreciatethat and we will see you next
week.
See you later.
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