Ep 149 The Hunting Stories Podcast: Daniel Schaeffer

Send us a text The bond between father and son often transcends life itself. In this emotionally charged episode, Maine hunter Dan Schaefer reveals how his hunting journey became irrevocably intertwined with the memory of his late father, creating a spiritual connection that defies simple explanation.Dan's path to becoming a hunter started later than most. Despite growing up with a father passionate about hunting, young Dan earned the nickname "Wiggles" for his inability to sit still in the woods. Years later, he embraced hunting in 2017, diving headfirst into pursuing multiple species across Maine's challenging terrain. Little did he know how profoundly his father's passing in 2021 would transform his hunting experiences.What follows are three remarkable harvests that blur the line between coincidence and spiritual connection. First, Dan wakes from a vivid dream about his father—the first since his passing—and hours later takes a magnificent 13-point buck they had discussed before his father's death. The following season, using his father's rifle, Dan harvests a unique piebald buck on his father's birthday. Finally, Dan completes the tribute by taking a massive 225-pound "Piggy" buck, earning the same "Biggest Bucks of Maine" patch his father had proudly worn on his hunting jacket.Throughout these experiences, Dan feels his father's presence guiding him, steadying his aim, and bringing these deer into his path at precisely the right moments. Each success becomes not just a personal achievement but a shared experience that bridges the gap between this world and whatever lies beyond.Whether you believe in spiritual connections or not, these stories remind us that hunting creates powerful bonds that can echo through generations. Dan's journey shows how pursuing game can become a profound way to process grief, honor legacy, and maintain connection with those we've lost. Instagram SchaefferD TheMaineHunt Youtube TheMaineHunt 155" Buck of a Lifetime Support the show Hunting Stories InstagramHave a story? Click here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Howdy folks and welcome to the hunting stories
podcast.
I'm your host, michael, and wegot another great episode for
you today.
Today, we're actuallyconnecting with Dan Schaefer.
Dan is a listener who reachedout using the form that I talked
so much about.
So, dan, thank you so much fordoing that.
I really do appreciate you,brother.
It was great to hear yourstories.
You did not disappoint.
I think all the listeners aregoing to very much, so enjoy

(00:25):
this episode.
But thank you also for beingbrave and filling out that form
and reaching out to me.
Beyond that, guys, I apologizefor the AI song.
I'm going to go ahead and getrid of that.
I got mixed feedback at best,so we're back to the old school
stuff.
Also, I did release an episodeon Friday.
I hope you guys enjoyed it.
It's just a little bit of news.

(00:45):
I'm going to do it every Friday.
No opinion, just news onconservation, wildlife, public
lands and things like that.
I encourage you to explore more.
I'll throw some of the toptopics up there.
Um, but yeah, let me know whatyou think of that.
Uh, send me some messages onInstagram or Spotify or wherever
you are listening.
Um, that's it, guys.
Let's go ahead and kick thisthing off.
Let Dan tell you some of hisstories.

(01:06):
Thank you All.
Right, daniel.
Welcome to the Hunting StoriesPodcast.
Brother, how are you, man?
I'm good.
How are you?
I'm good, brother.
It's funny.
We talked before and I'm likewhat do you want to be called?
You're like Dan or Schaefer,and I immediately start with
Daniel, so I apologize for that.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Man no worries Immediately.
I screw up.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Either way, man, I'm glad to have you here.
You're another one of thewonderful listeners that has
found my little online contactme form and filled it out.
So thank you, man, I appreciateit.
Yeah, no problem, thanks forhaving me.
Yeah, so let's do this.
Brother, I'm excited to hearyour stories, but why don't we
tell the folks who they're goingto be hearing stories from
today before we kick this thingoff?

Speaker 2 (01:46):
All right, my name's Dan Schaefer and I live in Maine
.
I've been hunting since 2017.
And since I started hunting, Ijust wanted to be kind of
involved in all of it, so I justdeep dove into.
First, I started with turkeyhunting.
Then I'm like okay, white tailbear, uh, applied for moose

(02:09):
permit.
Um, everything that I could do,I tried to do on my and I tried
to do it on my own.
I didn't want to hire a guide,um, and then I actually went and
got my guide's license.
Um, cool, try to do as much asI could in a little amount of
time.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
So Okay, yeah, so you said you started in 2017.
Did I catch that, yep?

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Okay, what, what got you fired up?
Uh, so I was kind of like alittle bit like on a health kick
, like I wanted to.
Uh, I was like, oh, I can getsome, you know some meat that
isn't you know whatever from thegrocery store and what's better
, what's more organic than that.
And I was actually alsointerested in becoming a game

(02:51):
warden, because I was, yeah, Iwas kind of interested in like
the police department and then Iwas like, oh, game warden would
be cool.
But I realized I, you know,haven't done anything outdoors,
so I needed to kind of learn,learn it.
So I kind of deep dove intothat.
And my, my father, who alwayswas a hunter, um, you know, I

(03:12):
always had like knowledge ofhunting, but like not actually I
never really hunted myself, so,um, and then I kind of wanted
to do it for him because he hadgotten sick, so got, he was a
big part of everything.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
So that's crazy man.
So when you were younger, didhe try and get you out and just
as a you know a child, just youweren't interested.
Or was he just sort of like didhis own thing or like why
didn't you kick it off earlier?
That's, that's an interestingorigin story.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, he, uh.
So he was like really into it,like we we lived in Maryland and
he used to come to Maine andhelp guide up here and do some
hunting up here.
And then I can remember himtaking me out a couple of times,
but I was I don't know how, howold I was, but I just like kept
snapping sticks and moving.
Like my nickname as a kid waslike wig for wiggles, because

(04:00):
they just be like oh, you'realways constantly wiggling and
moving around, that's a greatnickname.
Yeah so he was just like.
He's like I don't know ifyou're cut out for it, type of
thing.
That's funny, man.
That's too funny.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Well, that reminds me of something which is like.
I spoke to a friend in the pastand he told a bunch of stories
about someone else and I want toget a bunch of old timers on
Like old timers on like oldtimers don't necessarily listen
to podcasts.
It is a younger demographic andI'd love to get some of those
folks on.
So if your dad wants to cometell some of his stories, I

(04:34):
invite you to have him come onand either I can host or you can
host and I can be a fly in thewall, because I would love to
have it and I and I'm tellingthis to not only you, dan, but
I'm telling this to all of mylisteners If my listeners, if
your dad hunts and you want tocapture some of those stories,
do it on my podcast.
I'll help facilitate.
I can be the host or I can bejust a fly on the wall.
I just want people to be able torecord, because I didn't get
that opportunity with myfather-in-law.

(04:54):
I tried.
He had pancreatic cancer and hedidn't quite understand
podcasts and he always just sortof pushed me off a little bit
back when I first started.
He's passed away now, but Iwish I had his stories from his
mouth.
So to all the listeners, if youhave an old timer, a dad, a
grandpa, whoever it may be, andyou do want, send them my way,
I'll do it or you can do it.
I'd love to have some guesthosts.

(05:16):
I think that'd be a cool thingto do.
So think about it, dan, andlisteners.
But I took us on a littlerabbit hole there.
Sorry about that.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Well, that's all right.
But well, my dad passed away in21.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
Oh, okay, well, I'm sorry to hear that.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, no worries, yeah, so, but, and then all my
stories kind of relate to him,so it'll be Good, good, okay.
Well, I feel a little bit likean asshole there, but I'm
wishing no.
No, you're good.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
My father-in-law.
Same thing, man.
I wish I still had him here toshare camp with, if nothing else
.
That being said, that's adecent transition.
Let's move to your stories.
I'd love to hear about your dad.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
All right.
So, yeah, I started bearhunting the fall of 17, I think
it was, or at least the fall of18.
I think it was fall of 18.
Did my own bait site, thingslike that.
So from 2018 to 2020, I've had,I had bait sites in different
locations and each one gotruined by either like an

(06:18):
anti-hunter or like somebody'sdog or different things like
that.
So I could never like I couldnever get that kind of monkey
off my back.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
As far as getting a bear goes, Did you ever put any
cams out and like capture peoplemessing with your stuff?

Speaker 2 (06:34):
So two of my cameras got stolen, so it wasn't, and I
didn't have cell camera.
So, yeah, never got to catchanybody doing it.
Yeah, but then in 2021, my dadpassed away in August of August,
7th of 21.
And that and like I remember,like every time something would

(06:56):
happen to my bait site, he'dalways be like you know your
time's coming.
Just, you know you've workedreally hard.
I know that you know you'regoing to get one.
Your time's coming.
Just you know you've workedreally hard, I know that you
know you're going to get one.
And, uh, and like that year, heknew I was prepping my bait site
and he's like this is going tobe the year you get one, I can
feel it.
And so he passed away and itwas kind of hard to keep going.
I didn't really want to, Ididn't really feel like hunting,

(07:17):
like that's understandable man,yeah.
So I I just kind of I try tolike keep at it, kind of keep my
mind off it and just like knowthat I was kind of doing it for
him.
And you know something that hewas passionate about, yeah, so,
long story short, I ended up Idid shoot a bear that year,
awesome, yeah, which was cool.

(07:37):
It was just, you know, he cameout and I had actually passed up
a couple small bear before that, and so it was kind of like,
and then towards the end of theseason I was like, yeah, I'll
take this one.
And it wasn't, it wasn't like alike a great big bear, 130
pounds, just kind of averagemain black bear.
Yeah uh, but yeah uh was thatthe start?

Speaker 1 (07:59):
yeah, was it the same site that people had been
messing with that year?

Speaker 2 (08:02):
no brand new.
Uh, I was helping uh I wasactually helping a guide friend
and he gave me a parcel.
He's like you can put a baitsite out here if you want.
So I did and I'd help him baita bunch, and that's kind of how
I got some access to some landthat was a little bit more
remote and, um, a little bitless, uh, a little less off the

(08:24):
beaten path.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
So yeah, that makes sense, man, Are you sure?
Did you?
Do you think that your cameras,when they got messed with and
other things that messed with,are you sure it was anti hunters
?
Or could it also have been somerascally hunters that just like
stealing?

Speaker 2 (08:37):
stuff, other people's things.
Yeah, I mean, it could havebeen like one of my sites did
have like some bleach on it, sooh yeah okay, yeah, I feel like
that's like pretty extreme, butthat's like premeditated gonna
message your site.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Yeah, so interesting.
Okay, we'll continue, sorry,yeah, no worries.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
So then, uh, so, yeah , uh, that was a really tough
year for me and then, um, kindof to lead up to it, I can can
uh, just again talking about mydad leading up to, uh, the fall
season of 2022, um, throughout,I had a camera and I had two

(09:15):
really big bucks on camera.
One was a nine pointer at thetime and another big 10 pointer
in the fall of 21.
I had a run in with the 10pointer and then, in 22, he was
gone, never, never saw him againon camera at all.
But by that time, that ninepointer had really blown up and
he was, uh, I think he was atleast five and a half, if not

(09:39):
six and a half years old and uh,like a 13 pointer, 155 inch
deer and um, and I can rememberlike showing my dad those
pictures and him just being likeyou know, I'd like to see you
get one of those, and we'dalways talk about like those
things and um, so in 22, I uh,it was um November 18th.

(10:02):
I can remember I woke up thatmorning to go out and I think it
was a Saturday and I woke upand I had.
When I woke up, I was like,geez, I just had a dream about
my dad and I hadn't had a dreamabout him since he had passed,
you know, more than a year prior, and so I was just like that

(10:22):
was kind of weird, because he'sjust like in my dream, he's just
kind of smiling at me and, um,just kind of like looking at me
and not saying anything, and Ifeel like I was like trying to
get him to talk and like I canremember like what he was
wearing in the dream and andwhatnot.
So it was kind of crazy.
And then I left, uh, you know,well, before dark to head

(10:50):
towards my, my spot that washunting, and I can remember
texting my wife and just saying,like I had a dream about my dad
and you know, he looked totallyhealthy no hoses, no, because
he was on oxygen, and just likeyou know, I was just like in his
skin, no wrinkles, no gray hair.
It was just kind of crazy and so, um, at that point I had no
idea, uh, or like any like Iwasn't like, oh, I'm going to,
you know, shoot this deer today,because I had a dream about my
dad.
So I'm like walking into mysite and I just, you know, I was

(11:13):
kind of talking to him and so Igo I was actually trying to get
to this one spot and I was like, well, I'm going to check this
field real quick just to see ifanything comes out, because
sometimes they'll cross thefield in the morning.
And so I'm walking up the fieldedge and I see a doe cross, and

(11:33):
then I see another doe, andthen I see like a small six or
eight pointer up on the way topof the field edge, like way at
the top, and I look at himthrough my scope and I'm like no
, not the one I'm after.
So I so I kind of just satthere for a little for a minute
trying to think about you knowhow I wanted to head into my

(11:54):
spot, that I wanted to sit.
And then, sure enough, uh, thatbig buck, the 150, 155 inch deer
, uh walked out and um, I justcalled him like the big nine
because he was a nine pointerfor most of his life until he
got probably about peak age anduh, so then he stepped out and I

(12:16):
can just remember it, it seemedlike almost like, um, it almost
seemed like, you know, my dadwas just like right there with
me and just kind of raised thegun up and like helped me shoot.
It was like 120, 150 yard shot.
Uh shot him in the highshoulder and he dropped it right
there and died.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
That's too cool, Were you?
Were you able to lean up onanything?
Were you just standing?

Speaker 2 (12:38):
there and taking 120?
.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, your dad was definitely there, man yeah.
So, and I was there, man yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
So, and I was carrying my father's .30-06 that
he had let me use because I wastrying to get my other gun
worked on and it's like a heavyBrowning Safari, and so, yeah, I
made a nice shot.
He dropped.
But it was like funny, becauseI don't even like really
remember the shot.

(13:03):
I can still picture the deerfalling, like in my mind, though
, and uh, so it's just.
And then I just like went upthere and I was like I was like
crying, I couldn't believe it.
It's just like put my hand, Iput my hands on his rack and
it's just like one of thosebucks you dream
about.
And, uh, and it was just coolbecause, um, the other buck

(13:24):
wasn't around anymore and it wasthe last buck that my dad and I
had talked about before hepassed.
So, uh, I just thought that wasreally cool to have a dream
about him and then to have thathappen to me the same morning
just seemed pretty unreal.
And uh, you know, I canremember calling my friends and
FaceTiming, and it's just likepretty high emotion.
Um, especially when you know Ican remember calling my friends
and FaceTiming, and it's justlike pretty high emotion.

(13:45):
Um, especially when you have ahistory with an animal like that
, um, and you're after him sohard and you've put so much time
into it.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
That's crazy man, that's a super cool story and I
believe your dad was definitelythere with you.
Man, they looking over you anduh, help you with the shot and
and probably guiding that deerright into you.
Man, he just knew what wasgoing to?
Happen.
Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, it was pretty cool and yeah, I just remember
driving it around town with thetailgate open and the antlers
out and driving around showingall my buddies and just you know
.
It's just a beautiful animaland I don't know.
The rack is just unreal.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
That's awesome, man, and you actually measured him
out to 155,.
You said yeah Well.
I had him scored yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
That's awesome man Were you just completely
overwhelmed, like you said, thatyou were in tears.
How?

Speaker 2 (14:38):
long did it take you to kind?

Speaker 1 (14:39):
of compose yourself.
Were you able to get fromshooting?
Were you able to just gostraight to the deer since you
knew he had dropped, or did youhave, to like, collect yourself
there before you went to thedeer?
Collect yourself the deer, like, how did that?

Speaker 2 (14:51):
go.
So when I imagine beingcompletely overwhelmed with
everything yeah, so when I first, so when I first shot and I hit
him high shoulder and he fell,I had literally like the day
before, watched a video somebody, um, hitting a deer below the
spine and the deer just likedrops, but then they get up and
run away.
So after that, so after thatfirst shot, I kept shooting, um,

(15:14):
so I shot him again and hit himright between the shoulder
blades and then I don't think Ihit him the next two shots that
I took.
So after that I shots that Itook.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
So after that I I'll give you one, right.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, so I I ran up to him and you know I watched
him take his last breath and Iwas just like, uh, yeah, I was
just balling, I called my, Icalled my brother and just told
him like I was like, and I gothim and uh, I just kind of knelt
over the deer and I thanked himfor his life and uh thanked him
for, uh, you know, the meatthat he was going to provide our

(15:48):
family and uh, yeah, I was justpretty high emotion.
And then I probably, after all,my friends had gotten there, my
, uh, my wife and kids andthings like that, things kind of
settled down.
And then I was, you know, I wasjust more more happy than sad,
but it was good to just likethink about my dad being there
with me and, yeah, it was verymemorable.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
Yeah, dude, I believe it.
Your story gave me shivers.
I love it.
Yeah, I also love that you wentaround town with your tailgate
down and just showing off toyour friends Like that's, yeah,
that's good, especially ifyou're that big.
Send me a photo of that thingwhen we're all done here,
because I'd love to see.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
I will yeah, and then my uh, one of my buddies that I
worked with, um, you know, Ichecked my trail camera and I'd
be like, hey, I got him oncamera again or whatever, and
I'd show it to him.
And then we him and I hadtalked about it, um, I was a
teacher at the time and wetalked about it like all the
time he's like you're gonna,you're gonna get that deer, are
you just going to talk about him?
So it was cool to pull up tohis house and show him what he

(16:48):
looked like in person.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
That's awesome man, what did you teach?
I taught PE, okay, very cool.
My mom was a teacher.
My dad started as a teacher andthen worked his way up into the
school district.
So noble profession.
A lot of respect for peoplethat do that.
Kids are a pain in the ass.
The school district.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
So noble profession.
A lot of, a lot of respect forpeople that do that.
I yeah, kids.
Kids are a pain in the ass, sothere's a lot of good ones too,
though.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
There's a lot of great kids, a lot of great
teachers.
So good on you, man.
All right man.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
Well, what else you got?
That was a fun one, yeah.
So yeah, the following yeardeer season rolled around and
you know I wasn't excited fordeer season because I'm checking
my cameras and I'm kind of atthe point now it's like if the
deer is not really mature thenI'm not that excited about it.
It's like I've shot smallerdeer, but once you put your

(17:40):
hands on a buck, like the one Igot in 22, there's nothing like
that feeling.
And not that I don't hunt, I'mnot.
I mean, I don't hunt just fortrophy, I hunt for the meat as
well.
So usually, like with my bow orwhatever, I'll try and shoot
like maybe a, I'll shoot like asmall buck and like expanded
archery, which is just likehunting in city, or or like a

(18:04):
doe or whatever, because themeat's very important to me.
But then at the end of the day,like I also like the challenge
of um.
You know, if I can get a biggerbuck, then that's what I'll
hold out for and it's just likethe accomplishment it kind of
comes with that I really um,like that challenge how many
tags do you get in maine in agiven season?

(18:24):
so typically you get one uh, asfar as you know, you can get one
buck for sure, and then you canput.
You can put in for anantlerless permit and then you
have to specify which zone youwant to be in, um, and then
there is expanded archery.
So if you do have, uh, anarchery, are you bow hunting at
all?

(18:44):
You can hunt inside city limitsand they you can buy basically
as many antlerless tags as youwant and you can buy an either
sex tag okay, there's just oneof those.
So they're trying to kind ofkeep the population down in the
in the cities and uh, you know,stop the car accidents or
whatnot I I wish Texas did thatshit.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
Man, when I lived in Texas I called everybody trying
to be like, can I hunt thesedeer?
And I was like I was callingthe city, I was calling the
counties.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
I was calling game wardens.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
I was calling everyone I possibly could and
most of them were like, yeah, no, no problem, no problem, but
you should probably check withthis next person.
And, as I worked my way downthe list, eventually like, oh
actually, no, you can't.
Yeah, either because, like,your property's not big enough,
or like I think at the time Iwas asking about my
father-in-law's property, helived in San Marcos, texas,
texas.

(19:33):
You're just not allowed to huntwithin city limits.
No hunting, even if you ownyour own property and it's
inside limits, you're notallowed to.
And there were some awesomedeer.
I mean, I don't know anythingabout scoring whitetail, but at
any given moment there were ashit ton of deer in his yard and
some of the bucks were huge.
His neighbor would feed them andhe would shoot him with
paintballs because he's like, Iwant him out of my yard like
yeah ripping apart my garden andso I was like, hey, I know how

(19:56):
to get rid of them.
I know how to get rid of them.
Better than a paintball, butunfortunately, yeah uh, main's
thinking a little bit fartherahead than Texas is, I think.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Yeah, uh it, I, I Maine's tough to hunt.
There's a there's not a lot of,um, not a lot of deer here and
there's a lot of a lot of woodsand it's thick, um, so it's,
it's, it's tough hunting, but I,I don't know anything else
cause I've only hunted in Maine.

(20:25):
Yeah, so to me it's, it's thebest but, um, you know, I know,
I know people talk about outWest and things like that, but,
like I think some of our deerare underrated, like I, you know
there's some big deer walkingaround in Maine and um, they're,
they're hard to, they're hardto get on, but they're just
different.
They're know big, swampy, justnasty.

(20:46):
They got you know cool, coolracks, uh, yeah I don't know.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yeah, texas has so many damn deer that it just
seems to me like they.
They are malnourished becausethere's not enough food for all
of them and they're just skinny,piddly little deer in most
places you go to, like the highfenced areas, and there are some
crazy deer, some giant deerthat are, like you know, fed
protein all year long.
But like the wild deer, thenon-high fenced deer, they don't

(21:12):
.
They don't look healthy.
And I lived in this oneneighborhood and there would,
like you know, anything happenedto any deer you know, on the
the neighborhood app, everyonewould lose their shit.
Oh no, the deer and I'm likethey're starving to death, like
who cares?
Let's, we should get someone inhere to kill half of them.
But, you know, some kid shootsone with an arrow in the ass and
everyone loses their shit okayobviously some deep-rooted

(21:34):
wounds here.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
We'll move on all right, uh, yeah okay, what else
you got, man?
yeah, so in 23, uh, like I wassaying, um, I wasn't that
excited for the season.
I, you know, I checked mycameras.
Uh, I didn't have any maturedeer on camera.
Um, I had like maybe one threeand a half year old, that was

(21:55):
like a nine pointer, and I'mlike I mean maybe I'd shoot him,
but I don't like overly, Idon't know, it doesn't really
get my blood flowing.
And then so then opening daycame around and I went and
hunted this oak flat and I had acamera there that I hadn't
checked yet.

(22:15):
So I pulled that camera at theend of the hunt and got home and
opening day was a Saturday andI checked my camera the next day
, on a Sunday, and opening daywas a Saturday, and I checked my
camera the next day, on aSunday, and I had this beautiful
eight-point, piebald, realthick, racked eight-pointer and
he was a nine-pointer but hebroke off one of his brow tines

(22:37):
and he's probably I don't knowseven-inch brow tine, something
like that.
Six-inch brow tines.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
You said piebald.
I don't know if I've ever heardthat word before and maybe I
have, but what does that mean?

Speaker 2 (22:47):
so his, uh, his coat is uh like, um has a lot of
white in it.
Oh cool, yeah.
So he just has like, uh like,patches of white in his coat, um
, more than you know yourregular white tail, and it's
kind of like, kind of like Idon't know blotchy, kind of
spotty that's cool.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
I've never seen a deer like that.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
I've seen an albino one, but never, you know, it's
like so it's like, yeah, so it's, uh, yeah, it just has more
white in it.
And um, so I, I saw him and Iwas like wow, that's a, like a
unicorn.
Yeah, uh, as far as with withthe rack to match, um, I was, I
was fired up at that point.
I was like I, that's the onethat I want to chase.

(23:28):
And so now that I'm not ateacher anymore, I can finally
take some vacation time.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yep.
So now, um, I, I'm able to takesome vacation time.
So I now, so that was my firstyear working at my new job, and
so I always start my vacation onmy father's birthday, november
7th.
So I was like, well, I'm goingto take my father's birthday off

(23:58):
and then I'll take the weekafter that off as well.
And I remember when I saw thatdeer on Sunday, um, I told my
wife, I was like, wouldn't it belike insane if I shot that deer
on my dad's birthday?
I'm like that's, you know,that's the deer that I want.
But like, can you imagine, um,if that were to happen?

(24:19):
So, uh, wednesday rolls aroundand it's November 7th and I head
out for the woods and, uh, Istop on that Oak flat where I
pulled that camera and I sitthere for a little while.
I had a deer run by me and um,couldn't tell what it was.
And so, um, I do a little bitof self filming.
So I tried to.
I like, kind of, I had gottenmy camera out and I was trying

(24:40):
to film a little bit andwhatever.
And then, um, I, I was like itwas kind of raining, so it was
just like it was really hard forme to sit.
It wasn't raining bad, but itwas just a like a steady
sprinkle and I was like geez,it's just too perfect to not
still on right now.
And so I was like I gotta, Igotta move.

(25:00):
So I packed up my things and Istarted moving.
I checked some different spotsand I got real close to a couple
deer.
Like I got real close to aspike horn, probably like 10
yards.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
Oh, that's cool.
You just saw him and you'relike I'm going to see how close
I can get.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Or did you show up on him at?

Speaker 1 (25:15):
10 yards.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
So I saw him run and then he kind of like came back
through.
I think there was a hot doughin the area, so he was just like
smelling the ground.
And then he kind of came up tome and he's like looking at me
and I'm just like looking at himand he's kind of trying to
figure out what I am.
And then I'm just like I kindof pulled up my rifle and I was
just like, geez, I could justsmoke you right now.
I'm like, but I'm like, but, uh, come see me in a few years.

(25:39):
Um, so he, he ran off and itwas just pretty cool to be that
close.
Then I walk into this kind oflittle cedar swamp area and I'm
looking down at the groundbecause it's kind of palled up
and it's not a, it's not ascrape, but it's uh like a trail
and I don't know kind of likewhat they were using it for.

(26:01):
But I'm just kind of checking itout.
And then, um, I, I take a glanceup and there's kind of like I'm
looking at this edge and it'suh kind of a like a cedar swamp.
And then it's with a um, moreof a fresh cut, a couple year
old, couple year old year oldcut and I see, um, I see deer

(26:24):
like a deer movement throughsome of the brush and I look and
I can see the, the white spotsand it's uh on it and on its
hide and I'm like that's, that's, that's him, and I called him
the white buck just because heis, you know, his white in him.
So I'm like, oh, I'm likethere's the white buck and I'm
like, so I'm thinking all thisin my head and he's got his head

(26:45):
down and he's kind of likefeeding along and I, I just
shoulder my rifle and he stepsinto uh, uh, and this, this is
literally 10 yards max and I putit right on his uh shoulder and
I shoot and he runs off, likeyou know, shot out of a cannon.
I quickly jack another one inand I shoot and I hit him again

(27:07):
and right there he just nosedives into the ground and I'm
just like, holy, he just thedeer just died right in front of
me, at like now he's at like 30yards and.
I'm just, I don't know, on myfather's birthday and so unreal.
And I, uh, so I, I just call mybuddy Jason and I'm just like,

(27:32):
hey, uh, I just shot that whitebuck that we just talked about
and he's like no way, and likeI'm like trying to call my
buddies and kind of trying tocall my brother and trying to
call my wife.
She's at work and like, youknow, it was just chaos and I'm
just like, but we're, we're deep.
I'm deep back in the woods,like, uh, I don't know, it must

(27:57):
have been at least a mile, likeit was pretty far, yeah.
And so I'm like I don't know howI'm gonna get this thing out
and uh, so, yeah, it was justunbelievable to walk up on him
and see his rack and he hadburied one of his antlers into
the dirt and uh, so I got to go,you know, took some, uh, took
him out and just kind of again,I always try to my dad always

(28:17):
said, you know, make sure youthank the deer.
So I always you know, that'sone thing that I always try and
do and I just kind of kneel downover them and, you know, say
like a little prayer and just,you know, thank you for you know
, giving your life for for meand, um, you know, and kind of
thank my dad for being there andso, yeah, trying not to get

(28:39):
emotional about it now.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
Really, dude, it's awesome first off, I want to ask
if your dad will go huntingwith me.
I want to ask, I mean, did youhave much success?
I I mean, I don't want to beinsensitive, but did you like,
did you have a lot of successbefore your father passed away,
or was it, like you know, oncehe passed it was he just there
in spirit and just all of asudden you started crushing it

(29:02):
Cause uh, these are greatstories, they're really cool.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
Yeah, uh.
So my first, my first year,deer hunting six pointer just a
two and a half year old sixpoint, like pretty I don't know.
Pretty good, first year Ithought, yeah, um, I back then I
didn't know anything about bigbucks really, or you know that

(29:25):
there was really such a thing.
I just hunted and didn't reallyreally care.
I was just out trying to learnas much as I could cool.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
Yeah, I was just having fun and I'm still having
fun.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
I just try to uh challenge myself a little bit
more, um and then, like my, goahead go ahead, yeah, and then,
like my second year, I shot a.
I shot a spike horn the lastday of the season.
Um, same, probably the samedeer I passed up the first day
of the season, um, but it's justlike, at the end of the day
it's about getting some food forthe free for me.

(29:56):
So, but I mean, if I can holdoff for a bigger antler deer, I
will.

Speaker 1 (30:00):
But yeah, I've shot in deer every year since I've
started, but the last threeyears I've really done well as
far as, uh, mature deer okayyeah, cool man, I I like it and
I also love that you kind of putyour plan together around your
dad's, that he is definitelystill a part of your hunt.
I think that's a pretty, prettycool thing, like to take your

(30:22):
vacation on his birthday so thatyou can get out there and do it
.
You're not.
You're like hey, this isn'tabout just me, this is about my
connection to my father and it'sreally important to me and it's
it's rewarding you, which iseven cool.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yeah, yeah.
He means a lot to me and, um,like I don't know, I think about
him every day.
So that's awesome, that's great.
And I also got the.
You know I shot that white buckwith with his 308.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
So oh cool.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yeah, so you shot both of the last two bucks.
With two of his guns you shotboth of the last two bucks with
two of his guns.
Well, the other one was myfather-in-law's gun that he gave
me Yep, so yep, but yeah Okay.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Very cool, so yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yep, so that was an awesome deer.
I think if he, you know, hadboth, if he had his brow time,
he probably would have been inthe 150s also.
Yeah, like another really solid.
I did.
Yeah, I got him as a.
It's like a.
I think it's a pedestal mount.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Okay, so a little bit farther back, so you can see a
little bit more of that that.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
What the whiteness Yep, and then I also wanted to
display the the back of themount, so that um cause I wanted
to do a tribute to my dad on it, so Love that man, yeah.
So so on the back I got a plaidbacking and um, in Maine, if you
shoot a deer over 200 pounds,you uh get a biggest bucks of

(31:43):
Maine patch.
And so my dad used to wear hisbiggest bucks of Maine patch on
his plaid jacket.
And so, instead of having mybiggest bucks of Maine pat, I
have a biggest bucks of Mainepatch on that deer on the back
of it.
But instead of biggest bucks ofMaine, it says happy birthday,
dad.
11, 7, 23.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yeah.
So, that was cool.
I'm assuming the two bucksyou've talked about at least one
of them was over 200 pounds, soyou have your own patch.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
I didn't have my own patch yet.
No, so funny enough, both ofthose deer weighed 177 oh huh
and I don't, I didn't, I don'tknow if there's any significance
to that or not, but nothingthat, uh, I could think of
that's crazy they both weigh theexact same amount yeah, huh so
now you need to go find yourselfa chonker so you get yourself a
patch man I know.

Speaker 1 (32:36):
Find some old, beat up deer with a small rack, but
just plenty of meat on them yep,so that'll bring me into my
next story, actually.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
Oh, there we go, let's do it.
Yeah.
So, uh, this past season, 2024,um, I I had this one spot that
I bow on it, um, and I had apretty good buck on camera.
I was like geez, he's prettyfat and he's got a big old rack.
Uh, I think he's probably likecloser to 10 years old.

(33:07):
He's got a nice big, wide rack,but, as you can tell, they just
kind of starting to go theother way.
And, um, kind of starting to gothe other way.
And um, I think I had a runinto him, running with him
during archery season.
I had set up in a spot, like ona point that was close to, uh,
another little island that Ithought he might be betting on.
And, um, just like five minutesbefore the end of legal, I hear

(33:28):
a deer get up out of its bedand I'm like that's probably him
and he's walking.
You know, like mature deer walk, like they just, you know, take
a step and they wait and theytake another step.
You know, they're noteverything around them.
They're just watching, lookingsmelling yeah yeah, they're just
like taking their time, they'renot, like you know, in a hurry

(33:51):
at all and and so he gets up Iassume it's him.
I never got to lay my eyes onhim.
So he gets up past where Ithought I could see.
I draw back and I go to shootand I stand up and I look over
the thing, but there's thisblowdown and I can't see

(34:11):
anything.
And at that point it's likewhatever, if legal ended at 7,
it was probably 6.59.
I couldn't see anything and atthat point it's like whatever,
if, if legal ended at seven, itwas probably 659.
I couldn't see like anything, Icouldn't even so.
I was just like, oh.
And then I could hear likesomething.
I could see her, just like,walking away, and I'm like dang,
that was probably my, my onlychance at him.
So then, um, fast forward to, uh, uh, november 13th.

(34:35):
I was like I hadn't hunted thatspot since I um, bow hunted
that night.
So I was like I guess I'll gotry there, I don't know, um,
rather than my usual spot.
So I went out there and it wassupposed to be really windy.
So I was like, oh, this isgreat, I'll like, I like to walk
, I can't sit still very long.

(34:55):
So I was like, oh, this isgreat, I'll like, I like to walk
, I can't sit still very long.
So I was like, oh, I'll get tomove around and whatnot.
So I went to this big swamp andI stood on the edge of it and it
was really calm.
I was like, geez, I can't walk.
If I do, I'm gonna bloweverything out of here.
You know, it's like one ofthose really cool mornings where
it's probably below 30 andeverything's crisp.
So you step on a leap.
It sounds like one of thosereally cool mornings where it's
probably below 30 andeverything's crisp.

(35:16):
So you step on a leap.
It sounds like it's, you know,breaking glass and, um, so I
stood on the edge of the swampand I let out a grunt and then I
let out another grunt and thenI let out.
After that I waited a little bitand let out like a slightly
longer grunt.
Then I let out.

(35:36):
After that I waited a littlebit, let out like a slightly
longer grunt and then, um, thatwas kind of my sequence and then
off in the distance I could seea movement on the edge of the
swamp and it's uh, I know it's adeer and I'm like, oh, uh,
sweet, there's a, you know,there's a, there's a, there's a
deer there, at least.
So all of a sudden, through theswale grass, I see antlers
coming and he's coming right forme and I don't have my binos.

(36:00):
So I'm looking through my scopeand I'm like, oh, that's the
big one.
I just called him Piggy becausehe was so fat.
I try to name him based onsomething that is pretty obvious
, like oh, yeah, piggy, becausehe's fat, or like white, because
he's got white patches.
So I'm not really like crazyinto naming them, but like, if I

(36:20):
have a couple good ones, I dotry to think like, oh, that's,
that's the one, yeah, just toidentify him.
So, yeah, he just kept comingright to me and, um, I didn't
have a lot of cover, so I waskind of a little bit nervous and
and he, like he was going tocome right for me and he stopped
right on the edge of thislittle tree that was growing out
of the swamp there.
I don't know what kind of treeit was, but I raised up my rifle

(36:44):
.
I was like, jeez, I think I gotto shoot now, because if he
sees me he's gonna, he's gonnarun off, and so.
But at that point I kind of hadhim with his pants down,
because he's in the middle ofthe swamp and you know, I got
wherever.
Whatever direction he goes, I'mgoing to be able to follow him
with my rifle.
So I aimed right for his neck,right where the brown meets the

(37:06):
white, and I was, like you know,I've never taken this shot
before.
It's not really a shot that Ilike to take.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
What's his angle on you?

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Is he broadsideside, quartering towards?
He's slightly quartered towardsme, okay, yeah, and he's he's
looking around for whatever,whoever was grunting got it, and
uh, so it's just his head'smoving and uh, so I've got it
right on the point of his neckthere and I'm like geez, if I
hit him right there he shoulddrop.
But you know, that's all I've,at least what I've heard from
other hunters who've taken thisshot.
So I pull the trigger and hestarts running.

(37:38):
I'm like, well, I must havemissed him.
So then, um, I pull my rifle upagain and he's running and I
fire again, and then he's, hecontinues to run and I fire one
more time and then there's likea little ravine, uh, where the
stream kind of like runs throughthe swamp and I can't see him
anymore and I'm like he eithergot down into that and then

(38:01):
cleared the other side and wentinto the woods, or he's down, I
don't know.
And in that moment, you know,everything's kind of crazy.
You're just like, you know, ishe down?
You don't know what to do, likeshould I run up there, like so,
and it's like the swamp is hardto move through, everything's
soft, um, so I just I had onebullet left, um, and so there's.

(38:27):
Another lesson that I learnedis that I need to start carrying
more ammo with me, rather,rather than just the four shots
that I put in my uh, my magazine.
So, whatever, I run up to himand then all of a sudden I see
his neck like swing up.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
Oh no.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
Yeah, and I'm like, oh, he's, he's down, but he's
he's hurting.
So I get down in and I go and Icircle him and I come up from
behind him and uh, uh, I, I putone more into his neck and
finished him off and and he wasdone.
But he, what I, what I ended updoing is I spined him.
Um so uh, on that last shot Ispined him, and on that first

(39:08):
shot, I think I I think becauseI held my rifle up for so long
waiting for him to come in thatI think I hit low because I hit
him in the high leg area belowit.
So I think I was just holdingmy rifle so long and a little
bit of buck fever, which I'venever had, and I think I just

(39:28):
got shaky and I made a bad shoton the first one.
But I'm glad that I was able tohit him again because he
wouldn't have lived with thatleg injury.
So, um, so yeah, I put him downand uh, geez, he, he smelled
awful Like just one of them.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
That's piggy man, that's piggy for you.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
Yeah, just one of the worst uh run at bucks that I've
ever been around.
Um, just yeah, crazy smell.
And then when I looked at him,he he kind of had like one of
those big like roman noses and Ijust uh, I've never seen a buck
so big in my life in person.
I I was like this is a 300pound deer on the hoof.

(40:10):
I'm like this deer isabsolutely massive.
Um, I bet standing up Iwouldn't be surprised if the top
of his back came up to myshoulders, like he's.
You know, I'm not a big guy butI'm, you know, five, nine, five
, ten, and uh, like his backlegs were so long, uh, his body
wasn't like crazy long but itwas.

(40:31):
It was fairly long but justlike his thickness from like his
uh, it looked like his earswent to his shoulders, his neck
was so okay, that's a gooddescription yeah, like, yeah,
like, like a hunchback like his.
His neck was so big um, I thinkhis neck ended up measuring 26
inches around, okay, so did you,did you weigh him?

Speaker 1 (40:54):
I know you're still in the midst of the description,
but I'm curious.
Like what did he weigh?

Speaker 2 (40:58):
uh, so.
So when we we we had to, wedragged him with a jet sled and
uh and whatnot.
And like I was like you know,do you guys think he's gonna go
200?
And everyone's like yeah, andI'm like I think he's gonna go
200 too.
We're pulling him on the jetsled.
And then we took him out of thejet sled to try and just like

(41:18):
to get a picture with him and wecould barely like we struggled
to pick him up.
Yeah, so we got him to theweigh station.
He ended up weighing 225.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Hell yeah.
So let me ask you about that.
So the main bed box club 200pounds.
Is that with guts in or gutsout?

Speaker 2 (41:37):
Guts, out.
Okay, yeah.
So no heart, no liver.
Yeah, no guts.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
Okay, and so when you weighed him, was he guts in or
guts out at that point?

Speaker 2 (41:49):
Guts out Okay.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
Hell yeah, man.
So where the hell is your patch?

Speaker 2 (41:56):
There we go.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
That's what I'm talking about.
That is pretty cool.
So who is that?
Is that run by like your Fishand Wildlife?
Or who puts that together?

Speaker 2 (42:07):
It's the main sportsman that does it.
It's like a magazine.

Speaker 1 (42:10):
Okay, that's cool, I like that magazine.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Okay, that's, that's cool.
I like that.
Yeah, yep, so I I got my ownpatch now and, uh, I have my
dad's old patch, so I think I'mgonna have that sewn on my
jacket now because I feel likeI've earned it.
So yeah, that's before I waslike before I can't really sew
it on my jacket because I'd be aphony, yeah.
So now, now, um, I got my own,uh, my brother's got one too, so
, yeah, it's pretty cool.

(42:40):
And, um, yeah, that buck wasjust, uh, I wish he could have
seen it in person.
He's just massive.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
Yeah, do you have photos of that one too?
Yeah, I want to see pictures ofall of your deer.
They're all very interestingyeah gosh, I wonder what other
states have cool things likethat, like not necessarily
antler size, just like animalsize, like you got yourself a
chonker, like, and they give youa little patch for it, because
I think that is really cool yeah, I think new hampshire might,

(43:08):
but yeah uh.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
Yeah, I think they have a biggest bucks uh club
possibly, but, like I said, I'veonly hunted in maine.
I thought about going to newhampshire last year because I I
had tagged out on uh the 13ththere, but I decided not to.
Just whatever thanksgivingrolls around, and then you're.
You know, I'm all about my, allabout my.
I got two little girls there yougo bud, so I try to spend as

(43:30):
much time as possible with them.
Like hunting's my one of mypassions, but you know, family's
always first for me and so,yeah, if I'm not hunting then
I'm probably with my girls.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
That makes sense.
That makes sense.
Same same man.
If I'm not hunting, I'm with myfamily, for sure.
I think you told me you hadthree solid stories and a bear
story, so I think we got we hitthem all, or you got any more
for us?
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (43:54):
yeah, that's, um, those are my three best stories.
And, just like you know, at theend, tying in that last year,
just like you know, I'd alwayswanted to get a big buck patch
like my dad had on his jacket,yeah, and so again, you know,
relating it back to my dad andhaving him, uh, you know, again,
kind of with my own patch andbeing able to, you know, live up

(44:15):
to what he was able to do and,you know, also joined my brother
and him and that kind of inthat club feels pretty good.
So, yeah, those are my, thoseare my, my stories that I kind
of I don't know I'm the proudestof, I think.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
Dude, I love it.
Thank you for sharing, Dan, Ireally do appreciate it.
Man Like I've had a few folkson the show kind of like tear up
a little bit because they'retelling an emotional story that
means a lot to them and I thinkthat's a big part of all this.
They can't always be aboutpeople crapping themselves or
like running off for their pantsoff or something.
Occasionally we just need abeautiful story about how stars

(44:56):
aligned and you had anopportunity to do something that
honored someone that's not withyou anymore.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
So thank you, man.
That was really nice.
I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me, ofcourse, brother, let's do this.
Do you want to share anysocials, any business, anything
you're doing, or you just wantto walk off into the sunset?
Your call.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
Yeah, I mean, if people want to uh follow it all,
uh, my my Instagram for mypersonal is just uh, schaefer D
Um, and then, uh, I also do ahunting show with my buddy on
YouTube called the main hunt Um,so you can find us on Instagram
and YouTube with that.
We actually have a story up oncalled the dream buck, which is

(45:32):
the, the one of that big buck Itold on the in the first, uh,
the first story there, okay,where I had the dream about my
dad.
We just called it the the dreambuck, um, so you can watch that
story there.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
I'll watch it right now, man.
I can't wait.
As soon as as soon as we're off, I hear I'm gonna go check that
out yeah, so I, oh yeah,hopefully you like it.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Um, my buddy, uh, zach, uh, does the editing and
does a great job with that andyeah, we just we've kind of laid
off it a little bit,unfortunately, but yeah, I think
we've produced some pretty goodvideos and I got another good
hunt on there from 21 where Ishot a pretty nice buck in there
, nice.

(46:11):
Awesome man Another one I thinkyou'll enjoy.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
Perfect, I'll put links to all that in the show
Nice Awesome man, another one Ithink you're going to enjoy
Perfect, I'll put links to allthat in the show notes, so if
anyone wants just check that out, Click on it, It'll take you
right to it.
Dan man, thank you again.
I really do appreciate youtaking the time.
I know it's not the easiest toschedule, especially you East
Coasters man.
You guys are tough to schedulewith.
So so this is like I've got mywork nine to five and then I got
my kid time and that doesn't mykid time is kid time, then

(46:36):
podcast time, so I'm glad wewere able to make this work.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
Yeah, thank you very much for having me.
I'm happy to be able to shareanything about my about my dad
too, so hell yeah, man, hellyeah.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
And I have a feeling that you're going to have a few
more good seasons and I betwe'll get good.
Yeah, that sounds great.
All right man, Thank you.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
Yeah, take care.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
All right, folks.
That's it Another couple ofstories in the book.
So again, I want to thank Danfor coming on the podcast, being
brave, sharing his stories.
Trust me, guys, if you thinkyou got a good story, let's hear
it, even if you only have one.
I'm thinking about puttingtogether some compilations of
folks who don't want to puttogether a full episode, but
maybe want to do just one.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
Reach out to me.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
I'd love to connect, hear one quick story, send you
on your way.
But, dan, thank you man, Ireally do appreciate it.
Give him a follow, folks.
If you want to.
Again, please check out myFriday episodes and give me some
feedback.
If you think, hey, get minuteclip of what's going on in
hunting, fishing, conservation,wildlife, public lands, et

(47:37):
cetera, then tune in.
That's it, guys.
Make sure you review us, youfollow us and you share us with
one friend.
Thank you so much for tuning in, dan.
Thank you again for coming onthe podcast.
Now, guys, get out there andmake some stories of your own.
Thank you.