January 14, 2025 • 40 mins
Capturing the essence of the waterfowl hunting experience, this episode explores the joy, trials, and camaraderie of the hunt. Through personal anecdotes and practical discussion, the hosts invite listeners into their world of outdoor adventure, food, and friendship.
• Zach shares his first thrilling waterfowl hunting experience
• Discussions about the importance of hunting strategies and techniques
• Comedic hunting blunders and memorable moments
• Culinary delights from the field: cooking and preparing waterfowl
• Insights on gear selection and broadhead performance
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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Hunting just got tactical.
Welcome back to the GardenState Outdoors and Podcast
presented by Boondock Hunting.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
That's why your tagline like JCL known, perfect.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Don't know what that means for the game.
Don't know what that means forthe game.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I accidentally drifted my canoe between a sow
and a cub and she like chargedand hit, like the back of the
canoe.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
But his head hit the ground before his ass did.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Begging, begging and crying to go with my grandfather
and go with my father on thesedeer drives.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
You know, the last trip over I shot a great Cape
Buffalo with my bow, chargingthrough the grass and then the
whooping.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
And then you hear a body drop.
What's up, boys?
Welcome back to Field Notes.
This is our first recording of2025.
So it's been a couple of weeks.
We're at that point of theseason where everything's slow.
We got Ethan and Zach with ustoday.
(01:36):
What's up, guys?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
What's going on, guys ?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And before we get into the show, I'm going to say
in the beginning of the podcast.
And before we get into the showI'm going to say in the
beginning of the podcast we aregoing to be at the Empire State
Show from February 28th to March2nd.
Friday show is from 12 noon to8 pm.
(02:00):
Saturday is from March.
Saturday, march 1st is 10 am to7 pm.
Saturday is from march orsaturday march 1st is 10 am to 7
pm and sunday march 2nd is 10am to 5 pm.
Catch us there at rocklandcommunity college field house in
suffer, new york, um.
And we are going to be at booth207.
Um, 207, 208 is going to be ourboost.
(02:23):
We're going to be at 207.
American mike is going to be at208.
Um.
So the back damn production,and then dave from urban pursuit
, they're going to be there aswell, and also, um, chris from
from only bows is going to bethere, um, so hope to see you
guys there.
Um.
Also check out the discountcodes below for um, for your
(02:47):
tide, tide we.
Um, we are going to be runninga bunch of discounts for tide we
.
So if anyone's interested, gocheck down in below also for
gilly, puck, racketer and andall our other great um companies
that that we use um.
Go check them out in the thedescription below.
But, boys, we're back.
(03:08):
Zach, I'm gonna start with you.
You tried something completelynew and it seemed like it.
It worked very well.
So are you a brand newwaterfowl hunter?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, man, I'm addicted, I'm totally addicted.
We got out the last coupleSaturdays and first time out we
got out in the evening and wewere set up in a cut cornfield
(03:49):
on the edge of a river and, uh,we had.
We saw good action, we saw abunch of birds, but we didn't
have a lot of decoys.
We only had maybe what 15decoys out there and uh yeah,
probably about yeah, and uh, weshot a couple birds.
We got two, you shot one andpayton shot one, and uh, we had
some geese start landing in thenext field over and once that,
once they started landing overthere, um, the action in our
(04:11):
field pretty much died.
Every, every group that wouldfly over would see all those
birds in the other field and gostraight over there.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Um, can't compete with live, live birds.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yep yep, but, and this saturday, this past
saturday was a bit better we, wedid.
What did we get 20, some 20birds or something between the
eight of us, um, yeah yeah,because yeah we got so we got.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
We got 20 out of 21 between the seven us.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
And then plus Peyton with his three.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
And then, yeah, because Peyton had to go home
early to go watch the BaltimoreRavens game, so he dipped out a
little early, but um, um, butyeah, I mean it was great, it
was.
Um, it was a great.
I mean it snowed and anytimeyou can hunt, I think, any
(05:18):
animal in the snow, it's likeit's phenomenal.
But watching the sunrise andthen having geese and ducks and
everything like we were workingducks and something that's
picked up is is the ducks to?
Obviously with the coldertemperatures and everything has
a moving down more south andeverything like that.
But we had ourselves a hell of atime and we actually I think
(05:41):
that was the most work we've hadto put in with goose hunting,
because we had to move.
We moved our setups threeseparate times.
Almost season's almost done.
These birds are pressured ashell.
So you know they were a littlehesitant and what Justin had
said is you know he definitelythought that us, being closer to
(06:06):
the wood, line the birds inthere, they didn't really feel
comfortable with that, probablybecause they've been shot at so
many damn times so far thisseason.
Once we moved into the middleof field, like that first group,
right right after we just satdown and got everything.
They came in from far out andlanded right in and we were able
to to blast them, but um.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Yeah, that was we definitely.
As soon as we moved out intothe field like that, it seemed
like they were a lot morewilling to land.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, um, they, they were comfortable, and it's
something that he even said.
And, um, waterfowl hunting,everything has to be perfect.
That's something that I'mstarting to pick up with the
more, the the more that we do itlike if something's not working
, you're gonna have to changesomething.
It could be your decoy spread,it could be like you.
You kind of have to behyperactive because it seems
(06:56):
like a lot that the birds,except for maybe a few dumb ones
, they're gonna keep doing thesame thing as they're gonna.
They're interested and they'rethey're doing everything they
can.
But then there's just somethinglike all right, now, this isn't
where we need to be, this isn't,this isn't right.
So then they go, they gosomewhere else and then also
something else.
That was crazy.
I mean, we had multiple chancesat a snow goose and I don't
(07:20):
think no one in the group has ashot snow goose yet.
And Justin's brother got alittle too excited.
He got that snow goose feverand the trigger finger got a
little itchy and he shot alittle before he probably should
have.
But it was a fun time and wehave until next Saturday, so
(07:43):
hopefully we can get out like,like, hopefully as a group like
that at least one more time andI'm hoping to get out at least
like two, two or three moretimes, probably two, I think two
will be will be enough, I thinkI'll.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, we got two more weekends right.
What's it go till?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And I and I can't go out this Saturday.
It's my nephew's birthday party, so I don't know if I'm hunting
tomorrow.
I might Well, if everyonelistened to this, it'll be today
, on Tuesday, I'll see.
I'm going to text Justintomorrow.
I'm either deer hunting orwaterfowl hunting.
Tomorrow and then next week.
Definitely I'm going to try toget out Monday, tuesday and then
(08:20):
definitely the last day of theseason.
Definitely get out nextSaturday.
I want to get out at least onemore time.
Yeah, it's last.
It's addicting, Like it'sreally addicting.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It is Now that I've killed a few.
So my first shot, you know, myfirst shot at an animal and with
a gun, and I've never shot a 12gauge.
I was bar, I was me and Peyton.
We're passing back and forthand we had a group come.
A group was, I think it was twobirds came in.
(08:52):
This is our, our.
I think it was the first nose,our second setup.
It was right after, I think, wemoved to the second setup and
uh had to come in and theywanted to land.
They didn't, they didn't, theydidn't quite commit and they
started flying away.
It was a bit of a poke.
They were out there, but uh putthe beat on them and just
(09:17):
followed through and when Ipulled that trigger, man, it
knocked us both down.
The bird fell out of the skyand I fell back into my seat.
I'd never shot a 12 gaugebefore and uh, yeah, I didn't
know how or anything, but hey,I'll tell you it it was.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
It was funny because, like this group that came in,
so we had two new waterfowlhunters with us, um, so we let
them the first, uh, small groupthat came in.
We're like all right, like justjust, these two guys are gonna
shoot, right, and you know, theone guy shoots, shoots and
(09:55):
misses, and right, I think payand I had the same like zach
isn't shooting yet, like youknow, there's already been a few
shots that um, that alreadywent off and like I looked to
zach and he's just like lookingdown the barrel, like he's
perfectly setting everything up,he's being calm, he's being,
you know, patient, he's kind ofdoing it the correct way and all
(10:18):
of a sudden just squeezes thetrigger and the bird, just you
just see it get hit and justjust drops.
And that was.
That was pretty cool and I wasa little I think we were a
little nervous because we didn'tthink you were going to shoot
at all, because I I don't knowif, because I swear waterfall
hunting especially when you havea bunch of birds come in, it
(10:40):
could be sometimes veryoverwhelming where you do have
to pick out that one um and whatsucks about it and will not
suck.
But it's funny like, especiallywhen you get those big flocks,
when you have a lot of people um, hunting, you know you can have
a bird picked out, and thishappens a lot I think more with
ducks than it does with geesefor me.
(11:01):
But I'm like, all right, I'mshooting that.
One boom, somebody else shootsit.
It completely throws you offand then you start like rushing
and then you just start shootingat like whatever and everything
like that.
But, um, I, I love it.
Um, it has become such atradition.
Um, and you know, pan and Ijust picked up, I think, three
(11:24):
dozen decoys.
Um, that were.
You know that we're going to addto the to the collection and
you know, next year I'll I'mprobably going to get my own
water.
I keep saying that but I'mgoing to get my own waterfall
gun.
I have to.
As much as I love the old umpump action, uh, shotgun it's, I
love it.
I've killed all my birds withit.
(11:47):
But I want a proper waterfowlgun, semi-automatic.
Yeah, it's nice.
So, yeah, I mean, it's been aphenomenal season so far with
the waterfowl and we've stillgot two weeks left, so we're
hoping it's warmed up here alittle bit.
I think it's going to be in the40s, but it's supposed to cool
back down, so we should geteverything up and going and have
(12:11):
ourselves at least one moregood hunt.
But how do you like eating it?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I'll tell you what that mallard was delicious.
I did the mallard, uh, with theskin on, I plucked it.
And well, I plucked it andseparated the thighs and the
breast and, uh, just pan searedthe breast the other night and,
man, that was delicious.
Um, I got some goose right nowin the in the dehydrator making
some jerky.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
So yeah, um, I love it.
I mean duck, I like geese, Ilike goose, don't get me wrong,
but man duck, because you know,cooking with the skin on it just
brings that flavor really out.
I also think it's not, as it'sa little more tender than than
goose.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Um, it seemed a little milder too, yeah yeah um,
a little bit of a gamey flavorto it, but it's not bad at all
yeah, yeah I like them both Ilove it.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I still love it, I still.
You know, I have tons of ofgoose meat in the freezer now,
hoping to get more andeverything like that.
Um, I'll actually have some inthe in the fridge.
So, going to be the ones thatwe shot the other day, that in
the fridge, and I'm going tocook that up tomorrow.
I'll usually like, if I'm goingto cook it after a hunt, like
(13:30):
if I don't do it right away,I'll let it sit probably in the
fridge for like two days andthen what I'm going to do
tomorrow is think I'm going togo get some this certain type of
milk, let it sit in that, getmy seasonings and then I'm going
to pound it.
I'm going to try pounding it outJust cause it is a, it is a
little bit gamier.
Um, with duck, I, you'd neverhave to do that.
(13:52):
Um, I think a little bit.
Especially, I noticed a coupleof these birds did get shot, um,
and you know so I in the breastand everything, like there are
a few that were unfortunately on, just just cooked, I mean just
completely shredded, with justthe blood vessel, everything.
It was just and it was.
(14:12):
It was no good but, um, I wasable to salvage some of it, um,
and I think, the last hunt.
What I'm gonna do is I'm gonnatake the, the thighs and
everything, like you do, and doyou throw that in the slow
cooker yeah, I've been doingthem in the pressure cooker.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I throw them in the pressure cooker for like an hour
and uh, and then just shred themeat and that's delicious, yeah
I'm gonna have to, I'm gonnahave to try that too.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
And then I think, the last hunt too, I think I'm
gonna do a full melt, because Iwant to.
I, I should have my, hopefullyI should have my duck done by at
least the end of the year,cause I have a Mallard that
should be getting done.
And then I want a goose donetoo, because I want everything
that I've shot.
You know, I want, like,everything that I shot on the
wall.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Is it going to be in flight, or or?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
I don't.
I'll probably do it in flight,like I think.
I don't know, we'll see youshould get him cupped up, coming
like he's coming down oh, yeah,yeah, um, it'll be a lot easier
once, like we, we find our likekind of like a forever place
where I know like, okay, I, I, Ihave this much room to work
with and everything like that.
Um, but probably cupped upwould would probably be great I
(15:21):
think that'd be awesome.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
I was just thinking about that yesterday and it's
ethan it is.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
It is this thing, because I don't think you've
waterfowl hunt and you have theopen invitation whenever you
want to come out to with us.
Um, it is so majestic justwatching them just soar in and
when they get cupped up it islike a you you get into a trance
of just watching them and it's,it's one of the coolest things
(15:47):
um, that you can watch, becausewith ducks you can, you can kind
of, but ducks go so much faster, um, so sometimes they're in
the decoys, like that, like ablink of an eye, um, where
obviously geese are just so muchbigger.
Um, you get to see in a, youknow, I definitely imagine zach
could tell, because he, you know, he got to see it for the first
(16:07):
time though the last two weeksof just like how they work.
They, you know, especially whenit's windy they'll do these
like back flips and everythinglike that, and they do all these
things where it's like animalsare just absolutely just insane.
They're, they're just so coolto watch yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I mean I've seen, you know you see thousands of geese
every every winter, but I neverreally paid much attention to
it.
But yeah, it's cool just towatch how they fly and how they,
how they uh air out of theirwings, like you were talking
about, when they spin and theyalmost spin upside down.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
It's cool yeah, I, I love them and there's a lot of
communication and that's a coolthing.
Like people talk about elkhunting, you know you're
communicating.
You know turkeys, you'recommunicating.
Geese and ducks, you're, you'redoing just like you're.
You have to communicate.
Your hide has to be perfect andyour decoys have to be good yep
(17:01):
so it takes a little more umthan I think all the rest, but
your, your communication skillsneed to, because they're
actually very, they're veryvocal.
Yeah, and that's something thatboth payton and justin
especially justin doesphenomenally well is the the
calling and when to call, whennot to call, what calls to use.
(17:22):
Like that's the.
The one thing that's also sointeresting about waterfowl
hunting too is like that aspect,and that's what I want to learn
.
You know, you saw me doing alittle bit of calling and that
was my first time actually likecalling out in in a hunt like
that, and it's just a night andday difference.
And then I'll even say, likepeyton's good, but it's also a
night and day difference betweenJustin and Peyton, and that's
(17:44):
no shot at Peyton or anythinglike that, and he'll probably
tell you the same, you know, butjust the knowledge that Justin
has when it comes to waterfowlhunting or just hunting birds in
general, is just likephenomenal.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, it was cool to see Like we were talking about
it before Justin got there.
We were like, man, there'ssomething that these birds
aren't liking.
Every time they would want tocome in and land they would.
They would just see somethingthat wasn't quite right.
And as soon as justin got there, he was like all right, we got
to change this.
We got to make a move here.
We got to move these that setthese few decoys in tighten up
the spread.
We got to, you know, he knewexactly what we had to and we
(18:20):
made those changes and startedknocking them down.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, cause up until that point we only shot one
goose, and it was when I thinkit was kind of like in the
beginning.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
First thing in the morning you guys went back to
the trucks to grab something, Ithink, and me and Peyton were
out there and I think, yeah,peyton shot the first one One
lonely goose and we haven't hadany luck this year with having
solos come in.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
We've had no luck with the solos this year and
that was the one time we hadsolos and and peyton got him.
But funny, funny story.
So we're, we're sitting there,you know we're.
We're all the way on the otherside of the field and we knew
some deer, like a few deerhunters went in all of a sudden
well, I only knew of a few,because I saw that I saw the
(19:08):
three guys.
Yeah, I saw the three guys and Iwas talking to them a little
bit.
But we're all sitting down,whatever, and all of a sudden
you see orange here, orange here, and it's like all right, like
there's a guy that he got up inthe stand real quick, another
guy got in a stand and then allof a sudden we just started
seeing orange, orange, orange,orange, then more orange and
(19:31):
like I think what we countedlike between 15, I think,
hunters 16 and it was insane,like they came out of the
woodworks and just were allpushing this, this property, and
they all met up and there'salmost like 20 guys while we're
waterfowl hunting all the on theother side, just but like we
(19:52):
couldn't believe it because wedidn't know where the hell they
were coming from.
They were just coming fromeverywhere and every time we
would see one, oh, there wouldbe two more, like right behind
him, and they just kept comingand coming and coming.
So I guess that's more the youguys had to be there to to get
it.
But I mean we were, we werelaughing and cracking up and I
mean it was, it was a good hunt,uh, through and throughout, um,
(20:16):
but, but, ethan, your total iseight for the year, eight on the
year.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
You are done 8.5.
I consider the elk a half kill.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Okay, so 8.5.
So you had yourself yet aphenomenal year.
You're able to hunt like youused to and everything like that
no bucks, but you sure made upfor it with the mule, deer, the
does, the half uh, the half ofelk that you, that you got
(20:52):
everything like that a trip.
So kind of take us back of,like, your expectations coming
into the season and now that, um, you're gonna call it for for
the season and everything likethat, so you can focus on some
other things like what goesthrough your mind well, I mean
the whole beginning of my season.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
I uh, I had planned on my western trip this year to
be quite possibly the last onefor a while, just because I
don't, if I don't know if youguys know or not, but I'm
getting married at the end of2025.
I got engaged this pastNovember, so I call her my wife
because, even though it's notofficial yet, I've been with her
(21:30):
for so dang long.
She might as well be my wife atthis point.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
I think you guys were together when we first started
talking.
I believe correct, we've beentogether for 10 years.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Yeah, so definitely We've been together for a while.
We've been together for 10years.
Yeah, so definitely we've beentogether for a while.
Um and uh, I realized the otherday that she was.
We were talking about all thiswedding stuff and I was like I
know, like where we're gonnahave it and outside of that,
like I don't know anything else.
And that's when I was reallylike, yeah, you have two months
of planning on this whole thingand I haven't even lifted a
(21:59):
finger, like I have to startbeing around.
So that's when I was going intothis past week I was like, yeah
, I uh, I think I'm gonna haveone one last week to get after
it and then I'm gonna call it,but when it comes, I went off
track there.
But this past, uh, this pastwestern trip I knew was going to
be the last one, with thewedding and everything coming up
(22:20):
, and I put so much effort andenergy into that and for that to
be such a successful trip.
I came back and I really had nowhitetail scouting, done
whatsoever and I pretty muchjust said, being that I've
killed so few deer the lastcouple years, I don't care if I
shoot a buck, I just want tofill the freezer with meat and
(22:42):
from that perspective, I had abanner year.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
So I'm uh, I'm very happy um, yeah, no, I, I think
it's.
Um, we, we've talked so manytimes and you know, I know it's
something you're always lookingforward to, your western trips
and everything like that.
Um, you know, since the thefirst time you went and you know
(23:05):
it's, it's great.
Um, you know you put so mucheffort into that, especially if
it's going to be, you know whoknows when you're going to get
back out there and everythinglike that.
I know it makes it might be alittle easier now that you're
more of a gun guy too, becausedidn't they take away over the
counters for archery only,though, right?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Correct.
Yeah, they're still over thecounter for rifle in a lot of
units in Colorado.
However, there there is talksof that being taken away as well
.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
So you know, but now it's it's, it's the big step,
it's to plan the wedding andeverything like that.
And I mean you still, you wentthere, killed a muley, shot at a
nice bull, found that, hadsomeone else found that bull,
(23:55):
it's almost, as you know,without getting your hands
actually on him, and finding himlike just pure success of what
you went through, pure successof of what you went through.
And then you come back and youdidn't do much for for scouting,
but seven, yeah, sevenwhitetail does, yep, you can't
that.
That's just as successful asgetting a a mature buck.
(24:20):
Uh, you know, I would have tosay I mean, seven is that that's
a lot?
You put a lot down, you filledup the freezer, you know.
So in the last, the last onewas shot with a.
Would you go with on this one?
Speaker 3 (24:35):
That was the one that I shot this past weekend.
I shot with with the bow.
I used an iron.
Will single bevel?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
And how was that for you?
No, no issues, nothing likethat.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
So this one.
So I shot two deer this year.
I know we talked about the lasttime I was on.
I pretty much use a differentbroadhead for every deer that
I've shot this year, for themost part.
Um, after this one, I've nowshot two deer with the iron will
single bevel?
The first one put her down fast.
I was not impressed with theblood trail.
This one was quite the opposite.
(25:06):
Um, so she was perfectlybroadside and, uh, it was a bit
of a smaller doe and with mypoundage and my setup, I I
didn't have any worries aboutpenetration.
So I actually I put my pinright on her shoulder and I
blasted through both shouldersand uh, yeah, it was.
(25:27):
It was pretty wild.
That single bevel pretty muchcracked that shoulder blade
completely in half and tore theheart apart and, um, yeah, she
just pile drived like 50 yardsto the brush and died and the
blood was pretty phenomenal,probably one of the better blood
trails that I've had.
So, um, both deer that I shotwith the iron will died very,
very quickly.
(25:47):
I was very confused on that end.
One of them there was no blood,the other one there was an
incredible amount of blood.
So I guess the jury is stillout in my mind.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Listen, it's something I will preach forever
both have.
Whether you're shooting fixedor mechanical, there's always
going to be positive andnegative.
Sometimes they're going toperform perfectly, sometimes
they're not Like.
It's just one of those things.
That's archery, and I just wantpeople to kind of relax a
(26:21):
little bit.
Oh, one's better than the other, because I truly don't believe
fixed is better than mechanicaland mechanical is better than
fixed, because I truly don'tbelieve fix is better than
mechanical, mechanical is betterthan than fix.
Honestly, you may have someissues.
Oh yeah, you know what.
You know when you use and youknow a something like I will you
definitely don't have to worryabout the shoulder, but then,
yet again, you may have to worryabout tracking.
(26:44):
You know, with with blood, like, especially if you don't hit it
perfectly, you know if youdon't get that blood, hey, you
could have shot it.
You know as best as you can,you may still not find that deer
, you know.
So there's always going to be agive and take and I, I think
you, using as many broad headsthat you did, are a perfect
(27:07):
example If you killed all yourdeer.
There are some times where itwas really good.
There were some times where youweren't pleased with certain
things.
You know, and that's just goingto be that's.
That's just going to be what itis.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Yeah, and to go off what you just said.
So I shot that deer on Saturdayand to go off what you just
said, so I shot that deer onsaturday.
Uh, I went out on friday and Ihad actually planned for pretty
much the entirety of winter bowseason, up until this point, to
shoot one final deer with the g5mega meat.
That was going to be anadditional, because I just had
one laying in the quiver forforever.
(27:42):
That's going to be an additionalbroadhead and just more test
results and more things to talkabout here and I went out on
friday and I was so pissed I hada stud of a doe like probably
would have been the biggest doethat I shot all year, just an
ancient old nanny at 17 yards,probably 20 minutes.
(28:03):
But she was quartered towards mereal hard and I was looking at
those long slender blades on theg5 mega meat and I was like I'm
not putting that through hisshoulder.
And I was just I had the bow inmy hand the whole time was
waiting for her to turn and shenever turned and she walked off
and I was like that.
That was the reason I put theiron will on the next day,
(28:25):
because I was like I knew thatthat was going to be my last
hunt, no matter what, whether ornot I killed, I didn't want to
have an angled shot like that.
That I didn't want to take,still upset about it because I
really wanted to see how that G5performed.
But that would be for next yearmaybe.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
What iron wills are you shooting the solids?
Speaker 3 (28:45):
The single bevels.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah, the single bevel 125s Just the standard
solid single bevels.
Yep Nice.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
I'm a huge fan of the structural integrity of those
heads.
I've put them through prettymuch.
When I look back on every deerthat I've shot with those heads,
they've been relatively close.
I haven't shot a deer like anyextended distance past 25 but
every one has been directlythrough both shoulders embedded
(29:12):
in the ground.
The other side just carnage.
The only issue that I've had ison some of those deer I had
very, very small blood trailsyep, I've noticed the same thing
.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I've been shooting the magnus single bevels this
year, okay and uh.
Yeah, I've noticed the samething.
Actually, a couple of thesedeer I've blown through, not
even like the, the scapula, theflat shoulder bone, but like the
, the heavy, like what's likethe not the humerus, yeah, the
knuckle there.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
One I split, split right through the knuckle where
that humerus meets the scapula,and the other one I split the
the humerus right in half and um, and almost every deer I've
shot with those things has gonedown within like 40 or 50 yards
yep but, actually, while we're,while we're discussing, uh,
(30:00):
archery gear and all that, Ihave something that I think both
of you are going to find veryinteresting oh boy, here we go I
, uh, I think that this lastdeer might be the last deer I
shoot with a compound for areally long time yeah, really.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Oh, you went trad, you, someone bought you a trad
no, no one bought me one, Ibought one myself for 90 on
amazon, the one I sent to the uhgroup chat.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Uh, possibly the black hunter yeah, yep oh, yeah,
I bought that, I got that whatwas that.
Have you shot it yet?
Speaker 3 (30:33):
uh, just at like five yards in the apartment.
Um, I'm waiting to get all myarrow building stuff so I can
get like an actual arrow set upfor it, and then I'm gonna be
taking it out this week so Iheard heard a lot of what that
is.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
It's about the arrow, more than anything.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Well, so, yeah, so the big thing, and correct me if
I'm wrong, but with compoundsnowadays, like many times,
people will build an arrow andthey'll tune that bow around the
arrow.
It's the polar opposite.
With a recurve or a longbow,there's nothing to tune on the
bow itself.
So you're tuning that arrow,whether it be by point weight or
(31:14):
shaft length or whatever, um,to find the arrow that shoots
best out of that bow.
Yep, but you want to know thereason that I officially made
the switch, and I think I'mgoing to go all trad for the
next at least year.
You know those issues that I'vebeen having I've talked to you
about a bit in the past mikewith, uh, my matthew's bows
having the split limbs yeah hadthis lift for three months dude.
Before I went out for my hunt onsaturday I checked the limbs.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Top limb got split again do you think that's more
just a matthew problem?
I have no idea.
It has to be a matthew problemI have no first things first.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
I know I'm just extremely unlucky with it
because I mean this happenedfour times now over three bows.
I have Matthews on the phone,by the way, their customer
service I'm a huge Matthews guytheir customer service left a
lot to be desired.
But regardless, I'm pretty muchjust saying it's definitely my
(32:08):
fault for doing the work myself,even though I spent all the
money on the Matthews-specificfingers for the press and being
shown by archery shops how to doit properly the whole nine.
So yeah, that definitely left alittle bit to expire.
It's your fault.
Yeah, yeah, they said yeah,whoever's putting that bow in
(32:28):
the press is definitely theirfault, but regardless, whatever
it is.
So, yeah, I got that bow sentback to get some new limbs put
on it, and then I think I'mgoing to put it in the case and
just leave it sit.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
I'm going to go all in with the trad bow for this
offseason and next year, I thinkall in with the Trad bow for
this offseason and next year, Ithink, well, that is going to
make for a hell of a discussionfor this upcoming offseason and
see the journey that you'regoing to go on.
I'm very interested to see thatYou're going to be the first
(33:01):
one in the crew to go Trad.
I mean, I definitely know it'son the on the horizon, I think
for a lot of us, um, but I mean,yeah, when you have that many
issues too with the bow, I meanthey're so damn expensive that
we should not be having theseproblems um, and then you don't
blame the customer.
That's even, that's even wilder, yeah I was.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Uh, I was.
I think I just caught the guyon a bad day because I've talked
with massey's customer servicebefore for unrelated issues and
they've been phenomenal.
This guy just picked up thephone and, uh, you could tell he
was not in a good mood and heshowed and I was pretty upset
and I hung up the phone on him.
After about five minutestalking to him and getting
nowhere, I was like, screw this,I'm getting a trad bow.
And I hung up the phone on himafter about five minutes talking
to him and getting nowhere, Iwas like screw this, I'm gonna
(33:47):
trad bow.
And I went on amazon one up for90 bucks and here we are there
we go, there we go.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Uh, zach, do you have what?
Do you have any uh plans onpicking up a trad?
Eventually, I feel like you'rethe trad guy too I got one.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
I got a long bow.
I haven't I've hunted with it abit.
I missed three does last yearin one sit with it had had a
group of like four does come inand uh, it was late season, like
late January, and uh, had themcome into like 15 yards feeding
per you know perfectly broadside.
(34:23):
I draw back, shoot right overthe top of the back of one of
them and this bow is whisperquiet.
So they didn't even react.
They barely even moved when Ishot.
So I knock another arrow, takeanother shot, same thing right
over her back and I shot allthree arrows that I had missed
and they just slowly fed off.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
There's nothing you could do about it at that point.
No more arrows like oh, do youhave a black hunter as well, or
do you have?
Speaker 2 (34:55):
something else.
No, I got a st patrick lakelongbow.
It's a, it's a uh, americansemi longbow they're called.
It's like a hill style, likehoward hill style longbow.
Okay, it's basically a straightlimb bow where there's no, no
curve to the limbs or anything.
It's just a straight.
I got it right up here,actually on the wall, hanging up
(35:16):
there.
It's just a straight, basicallyjust a straight piece of wood
and, uh yeah, super quiet andit's pretty free.
I mean, I've never shot arecurve, only only these long
bows.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
So how heavy are the arrows you're pushing out of it?
Speaker 2 (35:35):
uh, like 550 or no, no, no, I think they're closer
to six.
600 because I moved up in pointweight, because I was shooting
like a 150 grain head but, thenI felt like they were.
They were tuning a littlebetter with like a closer to a
200 grain head, so that's whatI'm shooting now.
I got like 600, 600 grainstotal arrow weight.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
And what's the draw weight?
Speaker 2 (35:59):
It's just under 50 at my draw length.
It's like 40, 48 at my drawlength.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Going from an 80 pound compound, I picked up a my
longbow.
I got it in 40 and I figured itwould be a breeze and just not
being used to pulling back atrad bow, I was like okay this
is very humbling, in a very goodway very different well, the
good thing about that blackhunter, you can change it.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
You know you can change out the limbs on it
easily, so you want to go up to50 or whatever I got.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
I wouldn't be surprised like in the future I
end up upgrading, but just fromthe little bit that I've shot it
now and the reviews that I'veread like seems to be a killer
bow, for I've heard nothing butgood things about that bow, yeah
yeah, no, it's gonna.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
I can't wait to see it.
I can't wait to hear about it.
I'm really really excited aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
But, um, boys, I what sorry, I said I'm gonna try and
take out the longbow before theseason ends.
Here we got till middle offebruary, so I'll go try and
shoot something with it zach,what's your?
Speaker 1 (37:05):
what's your your plans come the rest of the
season?
Are you on any bucks or are youjust going for whatever?
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah, I'm on a good buck right now.
I'm on a big eight point.
I've seen him twice in the lastlike two weeks, but I haven't
had him.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
So the other thing Is that where you and Peyyton are,
where you guys are hunting, ora different, different piece
it's on a different piece.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Same area it's on a different piece.
This is like a county propertythat I this is the first year
I've hunted it okay, gotcha yeah, um, got eyes on them last week
I think it was a week ago, justa week ago last Monday and just
(37:55):
caught a glimpse of them comingout of the marsh, out of this
Phragmites and can't run trailcameras on this property, so
just going off the sightings andtracks.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Oh, boy, hopefully you can close the deal,
hopefully you can get it done.
You know, boys, it's beenalways great.
We're going to keep this oneshort.
We got two weeks left ofwaterfowl.
Ethan is done with his season,with his eight and a half total.
Um, you know, zach, how manyyou got so far six, I got a five
(38:36):
, so far zach's at six, I'm attwo.
Um, looking to get at least onemore to get in the freezer,
especially for our our gamedinner Cause I usually we
usually use a lot.
We used a lot of meat last year, but, yeah gosh, I can't
believe it's almost over.
We got the goose in the in thein the bag.
(38:59):
After that, we got, we gotturkey season.
We're almost like done withthis and then onto our
preparations.
I gotta start getting myminerals ready and everything
like that, especially because itseems like this is gonna be.
This is already shaping up tobe much colder of a winter than
it has been in years in the past, and you know we're already at
(39:21):
two snowfalls and usuallyjanuary, february, are the
coldest points of of the winter.
So, um, it's all looking good.
Um, everyone, like I said, we'regoing to be at the empire state
show, booth 208.
Alongside us at 207 will be theback damn production and urban
pursuit and only bows.
(39:41):
Um, they will be there as well.
Um, then we are before that,we're actually heading up to the
Great American Outdoors show.
Bianca and I will officially bethere from the first day to the
fourth.
I believe Dave and Chris fromUrban's Pursuit and Only Bows
are going to be up there on theopening day and I think into
(40:04):
Sunday, and then, whenever therest of the guys get to go, they
will imagine be up there atsome point too.
And then April 5th is our gamedinner.
More details will be out onthat, but the date is locked up.
Ticket sales will be going onshortly.
(40:24):
I'll be releasing some of thesponsors that we have.
I'll be releasing um also oneof the um key key speakers there
.
We're at least doing one, maybeeven two, so we will see um.
But yeah, just anyone who'sinterested, just let us know um
zach, as long as oh, how the didhe get backstage?
(40:48):
Give me one sec, we lost you.
Oh, there he is, um, and yeah,that's, that's kind of it
everyone.
I hope you guys enjoyed thisepisode and we'll see you guys
next time.
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Hunting just got tactical.
Welcome back to the GardenState Outdoors and Podcast
presented by Boondock Hunting.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
That's why your tagline like JCL known, perfect.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Don't know what that means for the game.
Don't know what that means forthe game.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I accidentally drifted my canoe between a sow
and a cub and she like chargedand hit, like the back of the
canoe.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
But his head hit the ground before his ass did.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Begging, begging and crying to go with my grandfather
and go with my father on thesedeer drives.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
You know, the last trip over I shot a great Cape
Buffalo with my bow, chargingthrough the grass and then the
whooping.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
And then you hear a body drop.
What's up, boys?
Welcome back to Field Notes.
This is our first recording of2025.
So it's been a couple of weeks.
We're at that point of theseason where everything's slow.
We got Ethan and Zach with ustoday.
(01:36):
What's up, guys?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
What's going on, guys ?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And before we get into the show, I'm going to say
in the beginning of the podcast.
And before we get into the showI'm going to say in the
beginning of the podcast we aregoing to be at the Empire State
Show from February 28th to March2nd.
Friday show is from 12 noon to8 pm.
(02:00):
Saturday is from March.
Saturday, march 1st is 10 am to7 pm.
Saturday is from march orsaturday march 1st is 10 am to 7
pm and sunday march 2nd is 10am to 5 pm.
Catch us there at rocklandcommunity college field house in
suffer, new york, um.
And we are going to be at booth207.
Um, 207, 208 is going to be ourboost.
(02:23):
We're going to be at 207.
American mike is going to be at208.
Um.
So the back damn production,and then dave from urban pursuit
, they're going to be there aswell, and also, um, chris from
from only bows is going to bethere, um, so hope to see you
guys there.
Um.
Also check out the discountcodes below for um, for your
(02:47):
tide, tide we.
Um, we are going to be runninga bunch of discounts for tide we
.
So if anyone's interested, gocheck down in below also for
gilly, puck, racketer and andall our other great um companies
that that we use um.
Go check them out in the thedescription below.
But, boys, we're back.
(03:08):
Zach, I'm gonna start with you.
You tried something completelynew and it seemed like it.
It worked very well.
So are you a brand newwaterfowl hunter?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, man, I'm addicted, I'm totally addicted.
We got out the last coupleSaturdays and first time out we
got out in the evening and wewere set up in a cut cornfield
(03:49):
on the edge of a river and, uh,we had.
We saw good action, we saw abunch of birds, but we didn't
have a lot of decoys.
We only had maybe what 15decoys out there and uh yeah,
probably about yeah, and uh, weshot a couple birds.
We got two, you shot one andpayton shot one, and uh, we had
some geese start landing in thenext field over and once that,
once they started landing overthere, um, the action in our
(04:11):
field pretty much died.
Every, every group that wouldfly over would see all those
birds in the other field and gostraight over there.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Um, can't compete with live, live birds.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yep yep, but, and this saturday, this past
saturday was a bit better we, wedid.
What did we get 20, some 20birds or something between the
eight of us, um, yeah yeah,because yeah we got so we got.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
We got 20 out of 21 between the seven us.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
And then plus Peyton with his three.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
And then, yeah, because Peyton had to go home
early to go watch the BaltimoreRavens game, so he dipped out a
little early, but um, um, butyeah, I mean it was great, it
was.
Um, it was a great.
I mean it snowed and anytimeyou can hunt, I think, any
(05:18):
animal in the snow, it's likeit's phenomenal.
But watching the sunrise andthen having geese and ducks and
everything like we were workingducks and something that's
picked up is is the ducks to?
Obviously with the coldertemperatures and everything has
a moving down more south andeverything like that.
But we had ourselves a hell of atime and we actually I think
(05:41):
that was the most work we've hadto put in with goose hunting,
because we had to move.
We moved our setups threeseparate times.
Almost season's almost done.
These birds are pressured ashell.
So you know they were a littlehesitant and what Justin had
said is you know he definitelythought that us, being closer to
(06:06):
the wood, line the birds inthere, they didn't really feel
comfortable with that, probablybecause they've been shot at so
many damn times so far thisseason.
Once we moved into the middleof field, like that first group,
right right after we just satdown and got everything.
They came in from far out andlanded right in and we were able
to to blast them, but um.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Yeah, that was we definitely.
As soon as we moved out intothe field like that, it seemed
like they were a lot morewilling to land.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, um, they, they were comfortable, and it's
something that he even said.
And, um, waterfowl hunting,everything has to be perfect.
That's something that I'mstarting to pick up with the
more, the the more that we do itlike if something's not working
, you're gonna have to changesomething.
It could be your decoy spread,it could be like you.
You kind of have to behyperactive because it seems
(06:56):
like a lot that the birds,except for maybe a few dumb ones
, they're gonna keep doing thesame thing as they're gonna.
They're interested and they'rethey're doing everything they
can.
But then there's just somethinglike all right, now, this isn't
where we need to be, this isn't,this isn't right.
So then they go, they gosomewhere else and then also
something else.
That was crazy.
I mean, we had multiple chancesat a snow goose and I don't
(07:20):
think no one in the group has ashot snow goose yet.
And Justin's brother got alittle too excited.
He got that snow goose feverand the trigger finger got a
little itchy and he shot alittle before he probably should
have.
But it was a fun time and wehave until next Saturday, so
(07:43):
hopefully we can get out like,like, hopefully as a group like
that at least one more time andI'm hoping to get out at least
like two, two or three moretimes, probably two, I think two
will be will be enough, I thinkI'll.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, we got two more weekends right.
What's it go till?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And I and I can't go out this Saturday.
It's my nephew's birthday party, so I don't know if I'm hunting
tomorrow.
I might Well, if everyonelistened to this, it'll be today
, on Tuesday, I'll see.
I'm going to text Justintomorrow.
I'm either deer hunting orwaterfowl hunting.
Tomorrow and then next week.
Definitely I'm going to try toget out Monday, tuesday and then
(08:20):
definitely the last day of theseason.
Definitely get out nextSaturday.
I want to get out at least onemore time.
Yeah, it's last.
It's addicting, Like it'sreally addicting.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It is Now that I've killed a few.
So my first shot, you know, myfirst shot at an animal and with
a gun, and I've never shot a 12gauge.
I was bar, I was me and Peyton.
We're passing back and forthand we had a group come.
A group was, I think it was twobirds came in.
(08:52):
This is our, our.
I think it was the first nose,our second setup.
It was right after, I think, wemoved to the second setup and
uh had to come in and theywanted to land.
They didn't, they didn't, theydidn't quite commit and they
started flying away.
It was a bit of a poke.
They were out there, but uh putthe beat on them and just
(09:17):
followed through and when Ipulled that trigger, man, it
knocked us both down.
The bird fell out of the skyand I fell back into my seat.
I'd never shot a 12 gaugebefore and uh, yeah, I didn't
know how or anything, but hey,I'll tell you it it was.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
It was funny because, like this group that came in,
so we had two new waterfowlhunters with us, um, so we let
them the first, uh, small groupthat came in.
We're like all right, like justjust, these two guys are gonna
shoot, right, and you know, theone guy shoots, shoots and
(09:55):
misses, and right, I think payand I had the same like zach
isn't shooting yet, like youknow, there's already been a few
shots that um, that alreadywent off and like I looked to
zach and he's just like lookingdown the barrel, like he's
perfectly setting everything up,he's being calm, he's being,
you know, patient, he's kind ofdoing it the correct way and all
(10:18):
of a sudden just squeezes thetrigger and the bird, just you
just see it get hit and justjust drops.
And that was.
That was pretty cool and I wasa little I think we were a
little nervous because we didn'tthink you were going to shoot
at all, because I I don't knowif, because I swear waterfall
hunting especially when you havea bunch of birds come in, it
(10:40):
could be sometimes veryoverwhelming where you do have
to pick out that one um and whatsucks about it and will not
suck.
But it's funny like, especiallywhen you get those big flocks,
when you have a lot of people um, hunting, you know you can have
a bird picked out, and thishappens a lot I think more with
ducks than it does with geesefor me.
(11:01):
But I'm like, all right, I'mshooting that.
One boom, somebody else shootsit.
It completely throws you offand then you start like rushing
and then you just start shootingat like whatever and everything
like that.
But, um, I, I love it.
Um, it has become such atradition.
Um, and you know, pan and Ijust picked up, I think, three
(11:24):
dozen decoys.
Um, that were.
You know that we're going to addto the to the collection and
you know, next year I'll I'mprobably going to get my own
water.
I keep saying that but I'mgoing to get my own waterfall
gun.
I have to.
As much as I love the old umpump action, uh, shotgun it's, I
love it.
I've killed all my birds withit.
(11:47):
But I want a proper waterfowlgun, semi-automatic.
Yeah, it's nice.
So, yeah, I mean, it's been aphenomenal season so far with
the waterfowl and we've stillgot two weeks left, so we're
hoping it's warmed up here alittle bit.
I think it's going to be in the40s, but it's supposed to cool
back down, so we should geteverything up and going and have
(12:11):
ourselves at least one moregood hunt.
But how do you like eating it?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I'll tell you what that mallard was delicious.
I did the mallard, uh, with theskin on, I plucked it.
And well, I plucked it andseparated the thighs and the
breast and, uh, just pan searedthe breast the other night and,
man, that was delicious.
Um, I got some goose right nowin the in the dehydrator making
some jerky.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
So yeah, um, I love it.
I mean duck, I like geese, Ilike goose, don't get me wrong,
but man duck, because you know,cooking with the skin on it just
brings that flavor really out.
I also think it's not, as it'sa little more tender than than
goose.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Um, it seemed a little milder too, yeah yeah um,
a little bit of a gamey flavorto it, but it's not bad at all
yeah, yeah I like them both Ilove it.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I still love it, I still.
You know, I have tons of ofgoose meat in the freezer now,
hoping to get more andeverything like that.
Um, I'll actually have some inthe in the fridge.
So, going to be the ones thatwe shot the other day, that in
the fridge, and I'm going tocook that up tomorrow.
I'll usually like, if I'm goingto cook it after a hunt, like
(13:30):
if I don't do it right away,I'll let it sit probably in the
fridge for like two days andthen what I'm going to do
tomorrow is think I'm going togo get some this certain type of
milk, let it sit in that, getmy seasonings and then I'm going
to pound it.
I'm going to try pounding it outJust cause it is a, it is a
little bit gamier.
Um, with duck, I, you'd neverhave to do that.
(13:52):
Um, I think a little bit.
Especially, I noticed a coupleof these birds did get shot, um,
and you know so I in the breastand everything, like there are
a few that were unfortunately on, just just cooked, I mean just
completely shredded, with justthe blood vessel, everything.
It was just and it was.
(14:12):
It was no good but, um, I wasable to salvage some of it, um,
and I think, the last hunt.
What I'm gonna do is I'm gonnatake the, the thighs and
everything, like you do, and doyou throw that in the slow
cooker yeah, I've been doingthem in the pressure cooker.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I throw them in the pressure cooker for like an hour
and uh, and then just shred themeat and that's delicious, yeah
I'm gonna have to, I'm gonnahave to try that too.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
And then I think, the last hunt too, I think I'm
gonna do a full melt, because Iwant to.
I, I should have my, hopefullyI should have my duck done by at
least the end of the year,cause I have a Mallard that
should be getting done.
And then I want a goose donetoo, because I want everything
that I've shot.
You know, I want, like,everything that I shot on the
wall.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Is it going to be in flight, or or?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
I don't.
I'll probably do it in flight,like I think.
I don't know, we'll see youshould get him cupped up, coming
like he's coming down oh, yeah,yeah, um, it'll be a lot easier
once, like we, we find our likekind of like a forever place
where I know like, okay, I, I, Ihave this much room to work
with and everything like that.
Um, but probably cupped upwould would probably be great I
(15:21):
think that'd be awesome.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
I was just thinking about that yesterday and it's
ethan it is.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
It is this thing, because I don't think you've
waterfowl hunt and you have theopen invitation whenever you
want to come out to with us.
Um, it is so majestic justwatching them just soar in and
when they get cupped up it islike a you you get into a trance
of just watching them and it's,it's one of the coolest things
(15:47):
um, that you can watch, becausewith ducks you can, you can kind
of, but ducks go so much faster, um, so sometimes they're in
the decoys, like that, like ablink of an eye, um, where
obviously geese are just so muchbigger.
Um, you get to see in a, youknow, I definitely imagine zach
could tell, because he, you know, he got to see it for the first
(16:07):
time though the last two weeksof just like how they work.
They, you know, especially whenit's windy they'll do these
like back flips and everythinglike that, and they do all these
things where it's like animalsare just absolutely just insane.
They're, they're just so coolto watch yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I mean I've seen, you know you see thousands of geese
every every winter, but I neverreally paid much attention to
it.
But yeah, it's cool just towatch how they fly and how they,
how they uh air out of theirwings, like you were talking
about, when they spin and theyalmost spin upside down.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
It's cool yeah, I, I love them and there's a lot of
communication and that's a coolthing.
Like people talk about elkhunting, you know you're
communicating.
You know turkeys, you'recommunicating.
Geese and ducks, you're, you'redoing just like you're.
You have to communicate.
Your hide has to be perfect andyour decoys have to be good yep
(17:01):
so it takes a little more umthan I think all the rest, but
your, your communication skillsneed to, because they're
actually very, they're veryvocal.
Yeah, and that's something thatboth payton and justin
especially justin doesphenomenally well is the the
calling and when to call, whennot to call, what calls to use.
(17:22):
Like that's the.
The one thing that's also sointeresting about waterfowl
hunting too is like that aspect,and that's what I want to learn
.
You know, you saw me doing alittle bit of calling and that
was my first time actually likecalling out in in a hunt like
that, and it's just a night andday difference.
And then I'll even say, likepeyton's good, but it's also a
night and day difference betweenJustin and Peyton, and that's
(17:44):
no shot at Peyton or anythinglike that, and he'll probably
tell you the same, you know, butjust the knowledge that Justin
has when it comes to waterfowlhunting or just hunting birds in
general, is just likephenomenal.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, it was cool to see Like we were talking about
it before Justin got there.
We were like, man, there'ssomething that these birds
aren't liking.
Every time they would want tocome in and land they would.
They would just see somethingthat wasn't quite right.
And as soon as justin got there, he was like all right, we got
to change this.
We got to make a move here.
We got to move these that setthese few decoys in tighten up
the spread.
We got to, you know, he knewexactly what we had to and we
(18:20):
made those changes and startedknocking them down.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, cause up until that point we only shot one
goose, and it was when I thinkit was kind of like in the
beginning.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
First thing in the morning you guys went back to
the trucks to grab something, Ithink, and me and Peyton were
out there and I think, yeah,peyton shot the first one One
lonely goose and we haven't hadany luck this year with having
solos come in.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
We've had no luck with the solos this year and
that was the one time we hadsolos and and peyton got him.
But funny, funny story.
So we're, we're sitting there,you know we're.
We're all the way on the otherside of the field and we knew
some deer, like a few deerhunters went in all of a sudden
well, I only knew of a few,because I saw that I saw the
(19:08):
three guys.
Yeah, I saw the three guys and Iwas talking to them a little
bit.
But we're all sitting down,whatever, and all of a sudden
you see orange here, orange here, and it's like all right, like
there's a guy that he got up inthe stand real quick, another
guy got in a stand and then allof a sudden we just started
seeing orange, orange, orange,orange, then more orange and
(19:31):
like I think what we countedlike between 15, I think,
hunters 16 and it was insane,like they came out of the
woodworks and just were allpushing this, this property, and
they all met up and there'salmost like 20 guys while we're
waterfowl hunting all the on theother side, just but like we
(19:52):
couldn't believe it because wedidn't know where the hell they
were coming from.
They were just coming fromeverywhere and every time we
would see one, oh, there wouldbe two more, like right behind
him, and they just kept comingand coming and coming.
So I guess that's more the youguys had to be there to to get
it.
But I mean we were, we werelaughing and cracking up and I
mean it was, it was a good hunt,uh, through and throughout, um,
(20:16):
but, but, ethan, your total iseight for the year, eight on the
year.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
You are done 8.5.
I consider the elk a half kill.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Okay, so 8.5.
So you had yourself yet aphenomenal year.
You're able to hunt like youused to and everything like that
no bucks, but you sure made upfor it with the mule, deer, the
does, the half uh, the half ofelk that you, that you got
(20:52):
everything like that a trip.
So kind of take us back of,like, your expectations coming
into the season and now that, um, you're gonna call it for for
the season and everything likethat, so you can focus on some
other things like what goesthrough your mind well, I mean
the whole beginning of my season.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
I uh, I had planned on my western trip this year to
be quite possibly the last onefor a while, just because I
don't, if I don't know if youguys know or not, but I'm
getting married at the end of2025.
I got engaged this pastNovember, so I call her my wife
because, even though it's notofficial yet, I've been with her
(21:30):
for so dang long.
She might as well be my wife atthis point.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
I think you guys were together when we first started
talking.
I believe correct, we've beentogether for 10 years.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Yeah, so definitely We've been together for a while.
We've been together for 10years.
Yeah, so definitely we've beentogether for a while.
Um and uh, I realized the otherday that she was.
We were talking about all thiswedding stuff and I was like I
know, like where we're gonnahave it and outside of that,
like I don't know anything else.
And that's when I was reallylike, yeah, you have two months
of planning on this whole thingand I haven't even lifted a
(21:59):
finger, like I have to startbeing around.
So that's when I was going intothis past week I was like, yeah
, I uh, I think I'm gonna haveone one last week to get after
it and then I'm gonna call it,but when it comes, I went off
track there.
But this past, uh, this pastwestern trip I knew was going to
be the last one, with thewedding and everything coming up
(22:20):
, and I put so much effort andenergy into that and for that to
be such a successful trip.
I came back and I really had nowhitetail scouting, done
whatsoever and I pretty muchjust said, being that I've
killed so few deer the lastcouple years, I don't care if I
shoot a buck, I just want tofill the freezer with meat and
(22:42):
from that perspective, I had abanner year.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
So I'm uh, I'm very happy um, yeah, no, I, I think
it's.
Um, we, we've talked so manytimes and you know, I know it's
something you're always lookingforward to, your western trips
and everything like that.
Um, you know, since the thefirst time you went and you know
(23:05):
it's, it's great.
Um, you know you put so mucheffort into that, especially if
it's going to be, you know whoknows when you're going to get
back out there and everythinglike that.
I know it makes it might be alittle easier now that you're
more of a gun guy too, becausedidn't they take away over the
counters for archery only,though, right?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Correct.
Yeah, they're still over thecounter for rifle in a lot of
units in Colorado.
However, there there is talksof that being taken away as well
.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
So you know, but now it's it's, it's the big step,
it's to plan the wedding andeverything like that.
And I mean you still, you wentthere, killed a muley, shot at a
nice bull, found that, hadsomeone else found that bull,
(23:55):
it's almost, as you know,without getting your hands
actually on him, and finding himlike just pure success of what
you went through, pure successof of what you went through.
And then you come back and youdidn't do much for for scouting,
but seven, yeah, sevenwhitetail does, yep, you can't
that.
That's just as successful asgetting a a mature buck.
(24:20):
Uh, you know, I would have tosay I mean, seven is that that's
a lot?
You put a lot down, you filledup the freezer, you know.
So in the last, the last onewas shot with a.
Would you go with on this one?
Speaker 3 (24:35):
That was the one that I shot this past weekend.
I shot with with the bow.
I used an iron.
Will single bevel?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
And how was that for you?
No, no issues, nothing likethat.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
So this one.
So I shot two deer this year.
I know we talked about the lasttime I was on.
I pretty much use a differentbroadhead for every deer that
I've shot this year, for themost part.
Um, after this one, I've nowshot two deer with the iron will
single bevel?
The first one put her down fast.
I was not impressed with theblood trail.
This one was quite the opposite.
(25:06):
Um, so she was perfectlybroadside and, uh, it was a bit
of a smaller doe and with mypoundage and my setup, I I
didn't have any worries aboutpenetration.
So I actually I put my pinright on her shoulder and I
blasted through both shouldersand uh, yeah, it was.
(25:27):
It was pretty wild.
That single bevel pretty muchcracked that shoulder blade
completely in half and tore theheart apart and, um, yeah, she
just pile drived like 50 yardsto the brush and died and the
blood was pretty phenomenal,probably one of the better blood
trails that I've had.
So, um, both deer that I shotwith the iron will died very,
very quickly.
(25:47):
I was very confused on that end.
One of them there was no blood,the other one there was an
incredible amount of blood.
So I guess the jury is stillout in my mind.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Listen, it's something I will preach forever
both have.
Whether you're shooting fixedor mechanical, there's always
going to be positive andnegative.
Sometimes they're going toperform perfectly, sometimes
they're not Like.
It's just one of those things.
That's archery, and I just wantpeople to kind of relax a
(26:21):
little bit.
Oh, one's better than the other, because I truly don't believe
fixed is better than mechanicaland mechanical is better than
fixed, because I truly don'tbelieve fix is better than
mechanical, mechanical is betterthan than fix.
Honestly, you may have someissues.
Oh yeah, you know what.
You know when you use and youknow a something like I will you
definitely don't have to worryabout the shoulder, but then,
yet again, you may have to worryabout tracking.
(26:44):
You know, with with blood, like, especially if you don't hit it
perfectly, you know if youdon't get that blood, hey, you
could have shot it.
You know as best as you can,you may still not find that deer
, you know.
So there's always going to be agive and take and I, I think
you, using as many broad headsthat you did, are a perfect
(27:07):
example If you killed all yourdeer.
There are some times where itwas really good.
There were some times where youweren't pleased with certain
things.
You know, and that's just goingto be that's.
That's just going to be what itis.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Yeah, and to go off what you just said.
So I shot that deer on Saturdayand to go off what you just
said, so I shot that deer onsaturday.
Uh, I went out on friday and Ihad actually planned for pretty
much the entirety of winter bowseason, up until this point, to
shoot one final deer with the g5mega meat.
That was going to be anadditional, because I just had
one laying in the quiver forforever.
(27:42):
That's going to be an additionalbroadhead and just more test
results and more things to talkabout here and I went out on
friday and I was so pissed I hada stud of a doe like probably
would have been the biggest doethat I shot all year, just an
ancient old nanny at 17 yards,probably 20 minutes.
(28:03):
But she was quartered towards mereal hard and I was looking at
those long slender blades on theg5 mega meat and I was like I'm
not putting that through hisshoulder.
And I was just I had the bow inmy hand the whole time was
waiting for her to turn and shenever turned and she walked off
and I was like that.
That was the reason I put theiron will on the next day,
(28:25):
because I was like I knew thatthat was going to be my last
hunt, no matter what, whether ornot I killed, I didn't want to
have an angled shot like that.
That I didn't want to take,still upset about it because I
really wanted to see how that G5performed.
But that would be for next yearmaybe.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
What iron wills are you shooting the solids?
Speaker 3 (28:45):
The single bevels.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah, the single bevel 125s Just the standard
solid single bevels.
Yep Nice.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
I'm a huge fan of the structural integrity of those
heads.
I've put them through prettymuch.
When I look back on every deerthat I've shot with those heads,
they've been relatively close.
I haven't shot a deer like anyextended distance past 25 but
every one has been directlythrough both shoulders embedded
(29:12):
in the ground.
The other side just carnage.
The only issue that I've had ison some of those deer I had
very, very small blood trailsyep, I've noticed the same thing
.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I've been shooting the magnus single bevels this
year, okay and uh.
Yeah, I've noticed the samething.
Actually, a couple of thesedeer I've blown through, not
even like the, the scapula, theflat shoulder bone, but like the
, the heavy, like what's likethe not the humerus, yeah, the
knuckle there.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
One I split, split right through the knuckle where
that humerus meets the scapula,and the other one I split the
the humerus right in half and um, and almost every deer I've
shot with those things has gonedown within like 40 or 50 yards
yep but, actually, while we're,while we're discussing, uh,
(30:00):
archery gear and all that, Ihave something that I think both
of you are going to find veryinteresting oh boy, here we go I
, uh, I think that this lastdeer might be the last deer I
shoot with a compound for areally long time yeah, really.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Oh, you went trad, you, someone bought you a trad
no, no one bought me one, Ibought one myself for 90 on
amazon, the one I sent to the uhgroup chat.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Uh, possibly the black hunter yeah, yep oh, yeah,
I bought that, I got that whatwas that.
Have you shot it yet?
Speaker 3 (30:33):
uh, just at like five yards in the apartment.
Um, I'm waiting to get all myarrow building stuff so I can
get like an actual arrow set upfor it, and then I'm gonna be
taking it out this week so Iheard heard a lot of what that
is.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
It's about the arrow, more than anything.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Well, so, yeah, so the big thing, and correct me if
I'm wrong, but with compoundsnowadays, like many times,
people will build an arrow andthey'll tune that bow around the
arrow.
It's the polar opposite.
With a recurve or a longbow,there's nothing to tune on the
bow itself.
So you're tuning that arrow,whether it be by point weight or
(31:14):
shaft length or whatever, um,to find the arrow that shoots
best out of that bow.
Yep, but you want to know thereason that I officially made
the switch, and I think I'mgoing to go all trad for the
next at least year.
You know those issues that I'vebeen having I've talked to you
about a bit in the past mikewith, uh, my matthew's bows
having the split limbs yeah hadthis lift for three months dude.
Before I went out for my hunt onsaturday I checked the limbs.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Top limb got split again do you think that's more
just a matthew problem?
I have no idea.
It has to be a matthew problemI have no first things first.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
I know I'm just extremely unlucky with it
because I mean this happenedfour times now over three bows.
I have Matthews on the phone,by the way, their customer
service I'm a huge Matthews guytheir customer service left a
lot to be desired.
But regardless, I'm pretty muchjust saying it's definitely my
(32:08):
fault for doing the work myself,even though I spent all the
money on the Matthews-specificfingers for the press and being
shown by archery shops how to doit properly the whole nine.
So yeah, that definitely left alittle bit to expire.
It's your fault.
Yeah, yeah, they said yeah,whoever's putting that bow in
(32:28):
the press is definitely theirfault, but regardless, whatever
it is.
So, yeah, I got that bow sentback to get some new limbs put
on it, and then I think I'mgoing to put it in the case and
just leave it sit.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
I'm going to go all in with the trad bow for this
offseason and next year, I thinkall in with the Trad bow for
this offseason and next year, Ithink, well, that is going to
make for a hell of a discussionfor this upcoming offseason and
see the journey that you'regoing to go on.
I'm very interested to see thatYou're going to be the first
(33:01):
one in the crew to go Trad.
I mean, I definitely know it'son the on the horizon, I think
for a lot of us, um, but I mean,yeah, when you have that many
issues too with the bow, I meanthey're so damn expensive that
we should not be having theseproblems um, and then you don't
blame the customer.
That's even, that's even wilder, yeah I was.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Uh, I was.
I think I just caught the guyon a bad day because I've talked
with massey's customer servicebefore for unrelated issues and
they've been phenomenal.
This guy just picked up thephone and, uh, you could tell he
was not in a good mood and heshowed and I was pretty upset
and I hung up the phone on him.
After about five minutestalking to him and getting
nowhere, I was like, screw this,I'm getting a trad bow.
And I hung up the phone on himafter about five minutes talking
to him and getting nowhere, Iwas like screw this, I'm gonna
(33:47):
trad bow.
And I went on amazon one up for90 bucks and here we are there
we go, there we go.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Uh, zach, do you have what?
Do you have any uh plans onpicking up a trad?
Eventually, I feel like you'rethe trad guy too I got one.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
I got a long bow.
I haven't I've hunted with it abit.
I missed three does last yearin one sit with it had had a
group of like four does come inand uh, it was late season, like
late January, and uh, had themcome into like 15 yards feeding
per you know perfectly broadside.
(34:23):
I draw back, shoot right overthe top of the back of one of
them and this bow is whisperquiet.
So they didn't even react.
They barely even moved when Ishot.
So I knock another arrow, takeanother shot, same thing right
over her back and I shot allthree arrows that I had missed
and they just slowly fed off.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
There's nothing you could do about it at that point.
No more arrows like oh, do youhave a black hunter as well, or
do you have?
Speaker 2 (34:55):
something else.
No, I got a st patrick lakelongbow.
It's a, it's a uh, americansemi longbow they're called.
It's like a hill style, likehoward hill style longbow.
Okay, it's basically a straightlimb bow where there's no, no
curve to the limbs or anything.
It's just a straight.
I got it right up here,actually on the wall, hanging up
(35:16):
there.
It's just a straight, basicallyjust a straight piece of wood
and, uh yeah, super quiet andit's pretty free.
I mean, I've never shot arecurve, only only these long
bows.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
So how heavy are the arrows you're pushing out of it?
Speaker 2 (35:35):
uh, like 550 or no, no, no, I think they're closer
to six.
600 because I moved up in pointweight, because I was shooting
like a 150 grain head but, thenI felt like they were.
They were tuning a littlebetter with like a closer to a
200 grain head, so that's whatI'm shooting now.
I got like 600, 600 grainstotal arrow weight.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
And what's the draw weight?
Speaker 2 (35:59):
It's just under 50 at my draw length.
It's like 40, 48 at my drawlength.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Going from an 80 pound compound, I picked up a my
longbow.
I got it in 40 and I figured itwould be a breeze and just not
being used to pulling back atrad bow, I was like okay this
is very humbling, in a very goodway very different well, the
good thing about that blackhunter, you can change it.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
You know you can change out the limbs on it
easily, so you want to go up to50 or whatever I got.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
I wouldn't be surprised like in the future I
end up upgrading, but just fromthe little bit that I've shot it
now and the reviews that I'veread like seems to be a killer
bow, for I've heard nothing butgood things about that bow, yeah
yeah, no, it's gonna.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
I can't wait to see it.
I can't wait to hear about it.
I'm really really excited aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
But, um, boys, I what sorry, I said I'm gonna try and
take out the longbow before theseason ends.
Here we got till middle offebruary, so I'll go try and
shoot something with it zach,what's your?
Speaker 1 (37:05):
what's your your plans come the rest of the
season?
Are you on any bucks or are youjust going for whatever?
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah, I'm on a good buck right now.
I'm on a big eight point.
I've seen him twice in the lastlike two weeks, but I haven't
had him.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
So the other thing Is that where you and Peyyton are,
where you guys are hunting, ora different, different piece
it's on a different piece.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Same area it's on a different piece.
This is like a county propertythat I this is the first year
I've hunted it okay, gotcha yeah, um, got eyes on them last week
I think it was a week ago, justa week ago last Monday and just
(37:55):
caught a glimpse of them comingout of the marsh, out of this
Phragmites and can't run trailcameras on this property, so
just going off the sightings andtracks.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Oh, boy, hopefully you can close the deal,
hopefully you can get it done.
You know, boys, it's beenalways great.
We're going to keep this oneshort.
We got two weeks left ofwaterfowl.
Ethan is done with his season,with his eight and a half total.
Um, you know, zach, how manyyou got so far six, I got a five
(38:36):
, so far zach's at six, I'm attwo.
Um, looking to get at least onemore to get in the freezer,
especially for our our gamedinner Cause I usually we
usually use a lot.
We used a lot of meat last year, but, yeah gosh, I can't
believe it's almost over.
We got the goose in the in thein the bag.
(38:59):
After that, we got, we gotturkey season.
We're almost like done withthis and then onto our
preparations.
I gotta start getting myminerals ready and everything
like that, especially because itseems like this is gonna be.
This is already shaping up tobe much colder of a winter than
it has been in years in the past, and you know we're already at
(39:21):
two snowfalls and usuallyjanuary, february, are the
coldest points of of the winter.
So, um, it's all looking good.
Um, everyone, like I said, we'regoing to be at the empire state
show, booth 208.
Alongside us at 207 will be theback damn production and urban
pursuit and only bows.
(39:41):
Um, they will be there as well.
Um, then we are before that,we're actually heading up to the
Great American Outdoors show.
Bianca and I will officially bethere from the first day to the
fourth.
I believe Dave and Chris fromUrban's Pursuit and Only Bows
are going to be up there on theopening day and I think into
(40:04):
Sunday, and then, whenever therest of the guys get to go, they
will imagine be up there atsome point too.
And then April 5th is our gamedinner.
More details will be out onthat, but the date is locked up.
Ticket sales will be going onshortly.
(40:24):
I'll be releasing some of thesponsors that we have.
I'll be releasing um also oneof the um key key speakers there
.
We're at least doing one, maybeeven two, so we will see um.
But yeah, just anyone who'sinterested, just let us know um
zach, as long as oh, how the didhe get backstage?
(40:48):
Give me one sec, we lost you.
Oh, there he is, um, and yeah,that's, that's kind of it
everyone.
I hope you guys enjoyed thisepisode and we'll see you guys
next time.
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