Ep 145 / Limb-Itless: How Aaron Ritter is Changing the Game for Amputee Hunters

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to the WhitetailAdvantage podcast with.
Your host Brett Bovin.
Thank you for tuning in andenjoy the show.
What is up everyone?

(00:22):
This is Brett Bovin andwelcome to Electronic Campfire.
Now we're not politicallycorrect on the show.
Strongly believe hunting andbrotherhood go hand in hand.
So yes, there will be hazingon the show.
And we invite you to hazealong with us.
Be a part of the brotherhoodand welcome to it.
Now I'm not going to gothrough the whole spiel.

(00:43):
We all know Sundays is aroundtable show where we cover a
variety of different topics.
Tuesdays are state specific show.
And that being said, I do havea saying on the show that we like
to say.
Here we are quarter in theslot machine.
I strongly believe hunting isa dying sport.
It's a dying lifestyle.
And I.
I already tell that Johnny andDave and Squash like oh, let's listen

(01:05):
to Brett go on and on aboutthe intro.
Let's get to the show.
I know we're making it brief.
We all know what I'm going to say.
Qu slot machine help share a show.
I do always like to take asecond and say thank you to all the
men and women in the military.
Thank you for your service andthank you for your sacrifice.
And also I want to say thankyou to all the police officers, the

(01:26):
firefighters, the constructionworkers, corrections officers, everyone
in public service.
I just want to say thank youfor your service.
We're greatly appreciative.
Now Today is Sunday, April13th, 2025.
Tonight is episode 145.
Holy.
We're so close.
Episode 150.
I can't that.
Wow.

(01:46):
Time flies by, man.
Tonight we have a good awesomeguest on tonight.
His name's Aaron.
Excited to pick his brain.
Don't want to get too muchinto it and have him give us a little
background about himself.
So now I invite you all topull up chair around the electronic
campfire with us and let'shave an amazing night.

(02:07):
What is up, John?
What is up, Squatch?
Howdy.
What is going on everyone?
It's going good.
See I.
Squatch, I.
I left this the intro somewhat brief.
It wasn't forever.
Oh, Brett, you did a wonderfuljob tonight.
I'd like to congratulate youon your quickness.
It's been really amazing.

(02:27):
I appreciate that.
Yeah, I can feel the genuine,genuine yes.
Yeah.
I was just gonna say you spokevery clearly and very well documented.
But you just went and f thatright up.
Yeah, I just screwed that allup to the pooch right there.
I love your thing, Squatch.
Oh, my feet.
Yeah, he's actually gettingfoot jobs.

(02:49):
No, it's from walking aroundall day today on my big old feet.
What's this say?
Oh, it's blurry.
It was way.
It was way shorter than last.
He's watching it a lot.
He's watched the shows becausehe's seen me hold up the love letter

(03:11):
that.
To Mrs.
Bovin, who I have an awesomecrush on.
I mean, so I had a bonfire.
Beautiful.
She's beautiful.
If you guys.
You got to see Mrs.
Bowen.
What a.
What a beautiful woman.
So we'll say this before.
Also, let me say this real quick.
Hi, Aaron, our guest tonight.
Hi.
How's it going?

(03:31):
Hey, guys.
I am good.
Thank you for having me onyour show.
I'll.
I'll just.
I'll let you guys go ahead andget rid of some of your.
Your excess energy.
Talk about your.
Your wool happy sock for aminute, and then.
And we'll dive into some good content.
Good deal.
Yeah.
I had a bonfire on yesterday with.

(03:51):
To celebrate my son's birthday.
And we were celebrating Easter.
And my mom and I, we had a conversation.
Squatch.
I'll just leave it at that.
And.
Yeah, let's just say you made.
Yeah, I'll say this.
You made.
You made someone very happy.
The other person in my life,that's my father.

(04:11):
We'll just leave that to us.
It's a.
It's a nice.
Nice thing.
But I.
You know, hey, listen, Irespect your dad.
I think he's a great guy andeverything, but, you know, when I
see a man.
Woman.
When I see a beautiful woman, I.
I can't help myself.
I'm.
I'm a Squatch.

(04:32):
I just.
I'm attracted to the female race.
I can't help it.
Michael's asking.
We can call Mrs.
Bovin tonight.
No, we're gonna.
We'll do that for another night.
Yeah, we've got a guest.
Michael.
Yeah.
I'm sorry, Aaron, forMichael's question here.
He's very selfish.

(04:53):
John, do you have any questions?
We want to run your segment or.
We're not going to do that tonight?
No, we're good.
Let's just run a normal show.
I.
I don't have anything planned.
I got in late last night.
I haven't done anything yet, so.
Sorry.
Aaron, can you give a littlebackground about yourself for some
people that might not know you?
So wait a minute.
Are we not gonna ask whatwe're gonna eat, what we're gonna

(05:15):
hunt, and what we're gonna kill?
I mean, if you want to.
I can make one up on the spotright now.
Well, hey, you don't need to.
I have one for you.
Oh, really?
Wow.
Yeah.
All right, so hunt, eat or kill.
A can of smoked oysters, a canof Vienna sausages or a can of sardines.
Those are your three options.
Go to work.
I am eating the smoked oystersall day.

(05:38):
Dollar store oysters, the better.
I will fight the Viennasausages because that's just what
I would do.
It seems easy.
And then I would, I would killthe other one.
I would kill the sardines.
No, I, I enjoy sardines.
They're, they're pretty tasty.
But smoked oysters, all day,I'd eat those all day.

(06:00):
All right.
All right.
Now, now I'm, I'm happy tointroduce myself.
Am I cleared hot?
Yes, sir.
I'm, I'm Aaron Ritter.
I, I currently reside on theEastern shore of Maryland.
I'm, I'm about seven miles offof the Chesapeake Bay and about a
30 minute drive from theAtlantic Ocean.

(06:21):
So I'm, I'm almost as close tothe Atlantic as I can get without
living on the beach.
I was born and raised inWashington State.
I, I grew up in southwest Washington.
Multi generational family ofhunting and fishing.
Grew up fishing for what wecall silver fish, so salmon, steelhead
and trout and, and grew uphunting blacktail deer and elk for

(06:43):
the most part.
A lot, a lot of upland bird as well.
But that's what I cut my, myteeth doing up in the Cascades.
Joined the Navy when, when Igraduated high school in 1991 and
went in the Navy for four years.
Got out, did a lot of things,but ultimately became a firefighter
in the city of Walla Walla.
That's a real, that's a realplace by the way.
And, and I, I was reallyenjoyed serving my community, but

(07:08):
decided that I wanted to goback and serve my country.
So in my early 30s, I put in apackage to go through Navy, well,
EOD school and as a, as a Navyguy and I made it through the program
and I, I just stayed thecourse and I retired from Navy EOD
in 2021.
Since then I have fullyimmersed myself back into the roots

(07:32):
of my upbringing and havesought a lot of mental and physical
rehabilitation and healththrough the wilderness and the outdoors
and hunting primarily archery.
And so now I'm a, like a NavyEOD tech.
I have become a jack of manytrades in the, in the outdoor space.
I have a website, I havepublished some blogs and gear reviews,

(07:56):
but I'M kind of lazy aboutthat and actually I haven't probably
done that for about a year.
I've been published in somedifferent articles and I published
my own book recently.
It was a self authored, selfpublished book.
I have my own podcast.
I've been blessed with theopportunity to travel the nation

(08:16):
and speak at a multitude ofdifferent outdoor shows.
I am the founder and presidentof a national nonprofit that is focused
on putting archery equipmentin the hands of amputees in order
to share what I have learnedand what I use to better our health

(08:38):
and physical fitness, mentalhealth and physical fitness through
the sport of archery.
So that's, that's, that iskind of me in a nutshell.
I am married, my wife and Ihave a fantastic 7 year old chocolate
lab and I am a, I'm a fulltime student at Liberty University
obtaining my bachelor's of inscience in Christian leadership and

(09:01):
Business management.
And, and I serve my church.
So that's me.
Right, everybody?
Well, thanks for tuning in.
Tune in next week.
Yeah, that's been the bestbackground that anyone's ever given
for themselves.
Very organized throughout theentire running of the show.
140 plus episodes.

(09:22):
That's hands down the back.
Take notes, take notes.
That's how you're supposed toopen up.
Appreciate it, guys.
Well, I, I left a couple ofimportant things out.
I.
And maybe this is why I'm onthe show.
I, I love backcountry hunting.
I love tree saddle hunting.
Cool.
I love doing them simultaneously.

(09:43):
And yes, I am a firm believerthat backcountry spring turkey hunting
is no different than Septemberarchery elk.
Yeah, let's get into that,let's get into that debate.
Yeah.
Because this year I'm actuallyhunting my first elk in Oregon.
Nice.
And I can't wait for that.

(10:04):
And I was out there last monthdoing some scouting.
I've got my buddies out therein Oregon.
They're helping me out with everything.
And I just got to go out thereand put an arrow in one.
So that seems easy, right?
But I am so looking forward to it.
And then spring turkey for ushere in Michigan starts the end of
April and I'm doing a veteranshunt for wild turkey.

(10:27):
And I use archery only as well.
And I can't wait.
I will be in Oregon the firstweek of May hunting turkeys.
Really?
Outstanding.
Yep.
Okay.
Yeah, I'll be out there thefirst full week of September for
archery.
Elf.
Good for you.
You're gonna love it.
Are you, are you, are youpracticing with any calls?

(10:50):
No, I haven't Yet I need to.
Well, you're behind thecurveball, man.
Right now.
Right now I'm training forwalking in those mountains because
I'm like, oh, it's the mountains.
It's too easy.
When and when I was out therelast month, I was like, holy crap.
These are not like any.
Yeah, they're.
They're going to kick my buttfor sure.
They're different mountains.

(11:10):
Start calling right now.
Buy a diaphragm.
Start calling right now.
Okay, I will do Amazon.
I'll do that tonight on the truck.
The truck ride to work is agood time to sit there and practice
with the diaphragm.
It is.
Yes, it is.
I'm going to have to do that then.
Yeah.
I want to try and get my firstturkey this year.
I hope the frozen sectionaisle in the grocery store.

(11:34):
Great place to start.
Oh, man.
You know, you get a littlepissed off when you fire off the
12 gauge in there, though.
They don't like that.
Right, right.
Well, what happens if I bringmy bow in the.
In the Walmart and just shoot?
You know, if you bring it into.
Walmart, you'll blend right in.

(11:55):
No one's gonna bat an eye.
So, Aaron, what.
How is your setup?
So which setup?
Being a backcountry hunter.
Okay.
Because I saddle hunt.
I know Squatch does.
I'm a single stick guy.
Me too.
Oh, very nice.
So I pack out light, and Ijust got a new setup I was trying
out today, actually, and I'm.

(12:17):
I'm liking it.
So when you say.
When you say a single stick.
And for my.
From my context, there's.
There's three basic setupswhen it comes to saddle hunting with
sticks and platforms.
So you have.
You have multi stick, whichshould be fairly obvious.
But for those that may notknow anything about tree saddle hunting,

(12:37):
that's listening in.
You have more than one stickthat you're going to climb a tree
with.
So you.
Typically it's three to foursticks that you're going to end up
placing on the tree.
So that's multi sticking andhave a platform for a perch.
For a perch point.
Then you have the one stick,which is a stick and platform that
is integrated together.

(12:59):
And then you have what I callsingle stick, where you have one
climbing stick and then sometype of an additional perch with
you, whether it is a platformor a ring of steps.
And that is my favorite method.
I've.
I've exercised all three and Iown equipment for all three.

(13:19):
But my preferred and most usedmethod is the single stick.
That is exactly How I started,I did all three.
I am a single stick and aplatform type of guy.
Last year I bought a set ofmuddy sticks.
The Muddy pros.
Yep.
And I have a tethered platform.
I was using that.

(13:39):
Is it the Predator?
Yes, it is.
Yeah.
I actually have it right thereand it worked out great.
I traveled all over the place.
I was able to get into somegreat spots.
Some of the spots I didn't usemy platform.
I just kept it attached to myback and just used my stick as a
platform.
Okay.
And I was successful this year.

(14:01):
I absolutely loved it this year.
I traded in for a SOP at twostick, the mut from the muddy to
that.
And that shaved about threequarters of my weight right there
just from that one stick.
And I wear a size 13 boot andthat tethered platform.
Although it worked out great,it was a little narrow for me for

(14:23):
those all day six.
So I traded up to the ETOPplatform and I haven't played around
with it yet, but it's about 4inches overall wider, which I think
is going to help out a lot.
Okay.
So my very first setup was amodified muddy pro stick and the
Predator platform.

(14:43):
That was my really.
That was my very first setupand I hunted that thing for almost
two years.
Yep.
Same here.
Yeah.
Loved it.
So my recommendation for youis to play around with something
very minimalistic.
So my.
If you're going to go.
If you're planning to take itback country, there's a big difference

(15:05):
in what I use.
If I'm walking out behind myhouse, if I'm going to go for a morning
or evening hunt on publicground, driving back and forth to
home, or if I'm going to stayin an Airbnb or, or camping out or
sleeping in the truck,whatever, versus when I'm putting
my life on my back and headinginto the wilderness, regardless of

(15:28):
state coast, doesn't matter to me.
You're heading into thewilderness for multi days.
And I look at it this way.
There is that.
There.
There is that cliche term.
It's.
It's used a lot.
I think it used to be a lotcooler than it is now just because
it's.
It's used so much.
But it, it is very factual.
It's ounces equal pounds,pounds equal pain.

(15:50):
And the more you put on yourback to carry in for the miles, the
more energy you're going toexpend getting there and then carrying
that equipment around with youall day, every day while you're hunting.
And then ultimately the goalis you're going to pack out heavy
because you're going to have atagged critter on your back as well.

(16:12):
So I try to, I'm not anextremist in, in the manner of I
have super crazy expensiveultralight gear that I have to be
really careful with becauseI'm going to, I'm going, going to
break it or rip it.
And I'm not on the other endof that scale where I'm just going
to gut it out and take theentire kitchen sink with me.

(16:34):
If you're into air operationsin the military, we'd call that a
wall locker jump.
I don't take the entire walllocker with me.
I'm, I'm very middle ground on that.
I've trimmed my back countrytree saddle rig down to seven pounds
and it is a, it is a singlestick setup, but I don't use a platform,

(16:55):
so I use the, the latitudecarbon stick.
It has a, it has a 2 step 17inch, 2 step eighter on it and I
use the Bowman platform ringof steps.
Oh, cool.
And that system, I can huntthat thing dark to dark.
Now the key for me is I wearvery stiff, crispy boots.

(17:18):
If you wear a really stiffboot, that's like having an additional
platform on your foot itself.
So when you're on that, thatsmall edge, if you're, if you're
up on the balls of your feeton that, on that stick or on the
pegs off of that platform,that the stiffness of that boot will

(17:38):
provide you an additionalstabilization point or platform and
will assistant in conservingyour energy and comfort.
Can I inter.
Can I interrupt you just forone second though?
You left a very, veryimportant feature about yourself
out and explain to peopleabout what you don't have versus

(18:00):
what you have.
Well, I didn't.
You're making me feel, look,I'm 250 pounds.
I don't one stick it.
I got four sticks.
Oh, I'm like a 55 gallon drumthe way I'm built.
I'm not like trying to onestick it, but it's an amazing feat.
So fill us in, Fill us in on,on what you're missing and how you

(18:21):
do it.
Because I'm sitting here like,wow, that's awesome.
Go ahead.
Okay.
So, John, don't let me getsidetracked and forget to talk to
you about the benefit of notcarrying or strapping a platform
to the back to back to yourpack to get in and out.
All right?
Oh, this is going to go on fora while.
Aaron.
Yeah.
So.

(18:42):
So the Squatch actually meantto say.
I think you were saying it.
It's an amazing foot.
So I am.
That's.
That's kind of how I've builtmy platform.
No pun intended.
John.
On why and how and where I goto speak.
And I have a lot of fun with people.
I'm chatting about this in.
In Squatch.
I'll say that.
You guys.

(19:02):
What's that movie Dodgeball?
You guys ever watch the movie Dodgeball?
Oh, that's a good movie.
All right.
So you know that, you know,they say, you know, if you can dodge
a wrench, you can dodge a ball.
Well, in the world of treesaddles, to me, if you can climb
a ladder stand, you can climbwith a tree saddle.
It's a mindset, right?
So, yeah, I lost my leg in 2012.

(19:24):
I am.
My right leg.
I have.
I have carbon and titaniumbelow my knee with that metal leg.
I served nine years on activeduty and special operations at a
tier level.
I.
I've ran marathons.
I've ran ultra marathons onthat thing.
I backcountry hunt all overthe nation.

(19:46):
I.
My passion is tree saddle hunting.
And.
And I do it all over the place.
And I.
And I do it in the backcountry.
I've done a lot of otherthings on that metal leg, but I guess
those are probably the big things.
Really.
I don't know if you guys wantme to get in the story of how I lost
my leg, but I did not lose itin combat.
I came home from Iraq andtotaled a Harley Davidson.

(20:07):
And my leg hit a tree and itcompletely ripped it off.
We were.
I was.
My upper body or the rest ofmy body was about 100 meters away
from.
From my lower limb.
Whoa.
Damn.
Yeah.
I have a quick story with oneof my.
My dad's buddies.
I grew up with his son.
My.
I grew up with his son sincewe were babies.

(20:29):
So I knew them very closely.
And some jackass.
On a rainy night, there wasroad construction that's been happening
on this road.
Someone took one of the conesfrom a fallen tree.
And his buddy ran into thattree and died from his Harley because
someone stole the cone fromthat man.

(20:50):
That's why I gave them up, man.
I gave him up.
I rode for over 20 something years.
Harley's last one I had was a2016 Softail Slim 110 Screaming Eagle.
And it.
I just got bad feelings everytime I got on it.
So that was it.
I got rid of the damn thing.
Squatched.
I got out of the hospital.
I couldn't even walk.
I wasn't weight bearing.
Found a new Harley, had my dadhook up my flatbed trailer to the

(21:13):
back of my Ford.
We drove across town and mydad and the guy I was buying the
bike from loaded that Harleyonto the trailer and drove it home.
And I rode a motorcycle beforeI was, I was even transferred up
to Bethesda.
I was still hobbling aroundwith bandages on my limb and I had,
it's called a PICC line.

(21:34):
It's like a permanent or it'sa semi permanent IV port inside your
arm.
And I had these pressurizedballs of antibiotics that I had to
cycle through all day, every day.
And, and I rode that Harleyaround my buddy's neighborhood in
that condition on that motorcycle.
My mom and dad stood there andwatched me do it.

(21:56):
At one point I had three bikesin my garage post post accident injury.
And it was the December beforeI, I, I retired that I finally sold
my last bike I had.
I was hunting so much.
Yeah.
That I, when I came home fromoverseas, I ordered a brand new Harley

(22:18):
through the overseas militarysales, had it delivered to the dealership
in Portsmouth, Virginia.
And I picked it up and I usedto ride on the average a minimum
3,000 miles a month.
And I ordered that new Harleyand in, in about three years time,
that bike had a thousand mileson it.

(22:40):
So I took it back, took itback to the dealership and sold it
to him.
And I've, I've, I haven't beenon a bike since.
Nope.
Yeah, hunting will do that.
It's one of those addictivesports and lifestyles.
For sure it is, man.
When you jump all in.
And that's, that's a funquestion I like to ask people.
I did not think we were thereyet, but I'm gonna throw it out there.
Yeah.

(23:00):
I asked this at every, everylocation I go to speak.
Are you a hunter or do youlike to hunt?
Because to me there's a big difference.
Oh, for sure.
That's another rabbit hole wecan fall down.
So getting out of themilitary, I mean, I, I did 10 years
in, got medically retired andit was, hey, thanks to your service,

(23:25):
here's a lapel.
That was it.
So once I got out, I was stillhaving a bunch of surgeries on my
shoulder and everything like that.
And I wanted, I mean, I wasjust pacing around the house doing
nothing.
I mean, like it was driving me nuts.
And I wanted to get intoarchery, but I couldn't pull back
a bow to my shoulder.
I was Going on my thirdreplacement of my shoulder and I

(23:49):
bought an old bear lights out bow.
As soon as I could pull itback, I was like, no, I'm done.
I sold the crossbow, I pickedup that bow and that's all I did
was hunt.
I mean, I was shootinganything I could with that bow from
10 yards to 20 yards, just asfar as I could go.
And then it was like, okay,now I'm in the tree.

(24:10):
And I had, I have a rifle huntor shotgun hunt back home.
But that was like November15th to December 1st.
I was like a family tradition.
If it's brown, it's down.
Now I've got this whole worldof archery exposed to me and I had
no one to show me.
Like I, to actually archeryhunt, right?
So I'm learning everything onthe go.
I start placing trail hammersout and I start realizing I'm like

(24:33):
this.
All I'm doing is buildingtarget packets of deer.
I see a deer, I'm going tobuild a target packet on it.
There you go.
And that's what I did.
And oh my God, it escalated so fast.
Just like, oh, I need this deer.
I need this.
I need to fully understandthis wirely coming from here and
not here.
And I've been addicted ever since.

(24:55):
I, I didn't, I didn't catchthe username, but I'm seeing some
of these comments that are,that are popping up, guys.
And oh yeah, there it is.
Daniel.
Daniel says I'm a killer.
That's, that's why I likeasking that question.
Right.
And, and the easiest way forme to reference that is when you're
heading to hunting camp.
When I'm, when I'm headed outon a hunt, there is.

(25:18):
I no longer ask myself or calla buddy or text a friend and say,
I hope there's no.
I hope I shoot an animal or,or I hope somebody tags out or I
hope we have meat hanging onthe meat pole.
There's no hope.
I split.
I put so much time and energyinto my hunts that when I, when I

(25:39):
depart, I intend to fill a tag.
I intend to, to harvest animal.
I know where I'm going now.
Obviously, if you're going togo out of state, if you're going
to hunt non res, which youguys had a great conversation about
that last week.
Being a non resident.
Brian brought it up at the endof the show.
That's a whole nother rabbit hole.
We could fall down.

(26:00):
You get boots on ground andyou have to change locations sometimes,
right?
Because all of your e scoutingwhen it's in your face.
Sometimes the environment doesnot look the way you envisioned it
or what the mapping engineswere showing you or telling you that
they were going to look like.
So you have to adjust.
But if you spend the time andthe energy and the prep work prior

(26:23):
to you arrive on location witha level of confidence that there's
no hope in the back of yourmind, the hope should be, how am
I going to pack this thing outand get all of this meat home?
Because I am going to be successful.
That, to me, that's thedifference between being a hunter
or.
Yeah, I like to hunt.

(26:43):
Yeah.
I picked up my bow two weeksbefore season started.
I just rummaged through my.
My gear.
I'm.
I'm driving up to hunting campwith my buddies, and I have.
I have more beer than I havegear in my car, and we're going to
go have a good time.
And I'm not.
And I'm not saying there'sanything wrong with that.
If that's how you like tohunt, I think it's awesome.
At least you're hunting.

(27:03):
If that's your tradition, ifthat's what you look forward to every
year, I think that's awesome.
Please keep buying your.
Your license in your tags andgo do that and have fun and.
And keep influencing otherpeople to go have fun in the wilderness.
I have a different mindset.
I go do that for a different purpose.
I'm.
I'm seeking.
I'm seeking things in thewilderness that.

(27:24):
That some people may not be right.
And I take it very, very serious.
So that's that.
That's why I like to ask that question.
Oh, absolutely.
And that was why I wanted toget out, because I'm doing an elk
hunt in Oregon this year, andthat's why it was important for me
to fly out there, see theterrain, actually get boots on brown,

(27:44):
and see what I'm facing.
What part of Oregon, Elton?
So is it the southwest corner?
That's.
That's where I'm huntingturkeys, man.
Is it really?
Yeah, yeah.
Are you going with a guide, oris it do it yourself?
No, one of my buddy.
So my buddies own a seasoningcompany out there, and they're like,

(28:05):
hey, you should come out here,because there's elk in our front
yard all the time.
I'm going to be there thefirst week of May.
That is awesome.
I was there last year.
My dad's in his 80s, and that's.
That's the only thing he canhunt now.
He's had.
I mean, he's my, My dad.
Physically, he's.
He's enjoyed his life andpunish punished his body.

(28:27):
And so he's at a stage in his80s now to where he can't walk that
far.
And he's had both shoulderscompletely replaced, so there's.
There's only so much recoil hecan impart on his shoulder.
So he's limited.
He's.
I bought him a 4 10.
Now he's up to a 28 gauge, andthat's his max.
He.
He can't go any heavier than a28 gauge, so he.

(28:48):
He can't hunt big game.
So he's hunting turkeys.
And luckily, fortunately, heabsolutely loves turkey hunting.
So we turkey hunt together now.
And last year we were inElkton turkey hunting.
Doubled up in one day.
Not together, but we.
We both filled tags first dayof hunting, and so we're going back.
That is outstanding.

(29:08):
Small world, man.
It really is.
That is awesome.
So, yeah, I'll be out there inend of August, first week of September,
elk hunting.
And I have my buddies, they'relike, hey, we saw a bunch of elk
today.
And hey, we.
They'll send me videos.
And they're like, oh, we havethis guy out here scouting.
He's like, we want you to comeout here and be successful.

(29:32):
And being from the Midwest inMichigan here and saddle hunting.
I was like, well, I'm gonnatry to saddle hunt out on the west
coast.
There's nobody saddle huntsout there.
Well, no one that I've evertalked to anyways, especially through
the show, it's.
It's becoming more popular andthat's what.
I.
I am going to make it a pointto try to harvest an elk with my

(29:55):
saddle out in Oregon.
Early, early season like that.
You.
You have the potential ofsetting up on a wallow and.
And harvesting an elk out ofyour saddle.
Question.
I know you like seafoodbecause the first thing you chose
to eat on my list of questionsfor you both, oysters.
Now, have you ever hadDungeness crab?

(30:16):
Yes, I have.
Have you ever had razor clams?
I have.
Never mind.
Then last night I just gotback from Myrtle Beach.
I spent a week out there onspring break and it.
I absolutely love seafood.
Okay, well, never.
I was going to tell you tomake sure to drive down the road
to the coast from Elkton andhave razor clams and Dungeness crab,

(30:38):
but you've already done that, so.
Oh, I can't wait.
I mean, good for you, Aaron.
I think we're gonna end uphunting it at some point together.
Very soon.
Don't threaten me with thegood time.
Oh, I say that all the time.
Brett, you are quiet tonight.
I know what's up.
Brett?
I'm just sitting here.
And honestly, sometimes youjust sit back and.

(30:59):
And enjoy the conversation andeverything that you're saying.
I'm just sitting here, takingit all in.
Well, I just want to add thatJohnny's favorite seafood is the
gooey duck.
And he doesn't eat it for the flavor.
He eats it for the shape.
That's right.
That's right.
But referring to your questionearlier about what was it?
Do you like to hunt or are youa hunter?

(31:22):
My mentality is just ingeneral for.
For hunting is every year whenI get my tag, my mentality is I'm
going to win.
It's me versus them type ofdeal, and my tag's gonna get filled.
For instance, we're going downto Indiana.
I do it.
It's my own internal thingwhere I turn into a competition.

(31:42):
I want everyone to succeed.
And if I see Johnny or Squatchor Dave, whatever the case may be,
get a deer before meinternally, I'm gonna be throwing
like, a little baby fit inside.
Like, damn it, they got a deer.
And I didn't.
I wasn't the first one to do it.
But at the end of the day, I'mhappy for him.
Don't get me wrong.
But I'm like, now I gotta,like, step it up now because there's

(32:06):
one less deer in the area.
I gotta pick up my own gamebecause I need to fill that tag.
And that's just.
The tag needs to get filled,and I'm going to fill it.
And it's just.
That's just how I am.
It's how I'm built.
It's just an internal thing.
I turn it into my own type of competition.
But I also want everyone tohave fun.
And I'm not gonna go like, oh,you, John, you got the deer before

(32:27):
me.
I want to go cry in my tent by myself.
That's right.
It'd be my job to get you on adeer before I shot something down
there.
Because I feel.
I feel better if.
If I help others out.
And then I feel like I'll beblessed for helping you out.

(32:49):
So I would.
I would probably try to bethere more for you, to help you out,
get you in a spot, get you situated.
And then, you know what?
If they come to the old man,I'll shoot them.
I don't care.
You know, it's fine with me.
You know, Then my wife Yelledat me.
I told her I was getting a doetag and a buck tag.
And I said, well, they'reroughly 100 to 200, something like

(33:11):
that.
I can't remember.
She said, well, you're fillingall the tags.
I said, don't worry, they'llget filled.
Whether with my bow or withthe truck.
That's all that matters.
John, we were talking aboutpacking in tree saddle hunting gear.
Yeah, I was about to wrap itup into that.

(33:33):
So the, There's a couple ofreasons why I use a platform, a ring
of steps rather than a platform.
One is weight.
I, I could not have a sevenpound rig if I was not using a ring
of steps.
They're, they're just light.
Yep.
The, the other is packability.
So when I, when I step awayfrom camp and when I'm climbing a

(33:58):
tree, I wear a, I'm a latitudeguy, so I wear, I have a latitude
saddle.
I, I use their dump pouches inone dumb pouch.
I have my, my lineman's beltbecause I always have a lineman's
belt.
I have 40ft of repel line.
I use Canyon C4.
I have two carabiners for saidlineman's belt.

(34:22):
I use a mad rock for mymechanical device.
I have a carabiner for that.
And all of that stuff is inone dump pouch.
It all fits in that one dump pouch.
So that's perfect.
I can fit that ring of stepsin my second dump pouch.

(34:44):
So I don't have, I don't havea platform hanging off of my, my
saddle when I'm climbing the tree.
The, the bigger piece of itfor me is at some point during the
pack in the hunt or the packout, I will end up with my weapon
strapped to the back of my pack.
It's inevitable it's going to happen.

(35:04):
If I have a metal platform oran alloy platform on my pack, it
has to be strapped somewhereon the pack as well.
And I don't want to riskhaving metal on metal or metal on
wood, depending upon whetherI'm bow hunting, muzzleloader hunting,
or, or rifle hunting.
And I have a commonmisconception in the tree saddle

(35:27):
world, especially with guysthat are just coming into it is they
associate it with archeryhunting only.
And I have harvested deer outof my tree saddle with my bow, with
a compound bow, with my rifleand with a muzzleloader.
So it's depending upon whatstate I'm hunting and what time of

(35:47):
year, year it is and whatseason it is and, or when I say season,
it's deer season.
Or it's bear season or it'selk season.
But what, what, what type ofweapon season we are in that's going
to depend on what weapon Ihave strapped to my pack.
And I don't want to havedespite the weight and the size of

(36:08):
a platform.
I don't want to have that riskon my back of if I'm powering down
the trail, especially if I'munder a real heavy triple digit loads,
I'm not really payingattention and, and I've been writing
some notes down here on thingsthat I wanted to talk.
One of.
One of my favorite littlepearls to throw out for somebody
that's going to embark onbackcountry hunting.

(36:30):
Especially if you never have.
I carry headphones in my pack.
So when I'm, when I'mtraveling real heavy and if I'm not
hunting, I mean maybe I'm, I'mgoing from point A to point B, whether
I'm packing into a spot to getestablished and then I'm going to
go hunt or if I'm packing out,especially when I'm packing out from
success.

(36:50):
And I use corded headphones soI don't burn batteries recharging
electronics.
I put in corded headphones, Iput on the music of my choice and
I crank up the tunes and Ijust start heading back to the truck
with that, with that load onmy back.
It's brilliant.
When I'm in those, when I'm inthat mindset I don't, I obviously

(37:11):
headphones in.
I can't hear what's going onin my pack.
But sometimes you don't hearthat contact that rubbing and I,
and I like to try to take careof my, my weapons.
So I don't.
That's another reason why I donot take a alloy platform with me
when I'm back country hunting.
I go with the ring of steps.
I would recommend if you'regoing to go that route that you practice

(37:34):
because one, I never doanything for the first time with
a new piece of kit, especiallywhen it's real time.
Right.
That's John Young.
You understand that mentality.
Brett.
You two.
Squatch.
I'm, I'm not familiar withyour background so maybe you're very
familiar with it.
I, I would recommend that you,if you're looking at that route,

(37:55):
it's a great route that youtry it before you employ it.
Yeah.
Other than that it's brilliant.
So I tried the ring of stepsand I actually this was on me.
I bought the Hawk arena ofsteps and it Was just, I have nothing
against hawk.

(38:16):
It's cheaper material, it'scheaper products.
And I tried the arena stepsand it wasn't working for me.
And it, I think it was becauseI did it tighter on the steps or
I did the tethered tightaround the tree.
And the steps are just turn.
So easy fix, man.
There's, there's two options.

(38:37):
Were you using a ratchet strap?
No, I wasn't.
And that's where I messed up.
The other, the other thing toois depending upon the type of steps.
So the platform steps are wide.
Okay, they're wide.
And then I don't use a ratchet strap.
I use what's called a cam over buckle.

(38:58):
So the cam buckle is not a camover buckle.
A cam over buckle you caneither purchase on eastern woods
outdoors or you can go toMarine West Marine Supply.
They use them on boats, which,interesting fact, the army has more
boats than the Navy.
This is true.
But the cam over buckle partof it looks like a regular cam buckle,

(39:22):
but it has, it has a cam over function.
So you can pull that straptight and then when you lever it
over, it cinches that strapdown onto the tree and it gets your
ring of steps nearly as secureand tight as a ratchet strap can.
But you don't, but you do nothave the weight and the noise of

(39:44):
that ratchet strap.
And what I like about this,the ring of steps that I was using
is you can wrap them up andthrow them right in your cargo pocket.
Correct.
And that's exactly how I was walking.
And because I would walk outwearing my saddle and it was probably
about a mile walk out or so,so I'd walk out there wearing my
saddle.
I got the arena steps in mypocket, got the step, the one step

(40:05):
in the back.
That's all I needed.
And there's times where Iwould come up with, I would have
my, my aider, I would take,you know, on that muddy step, I had
a, actually a latitude.
I actually have it right here,the latitude aider.
And I'll take that off on oneside and use it as a sling.

(40:27):
So I'd carry my bow and justsling that around my shoulder and
just carry my step that way.
And I absolutely loved it.
That being said, I practicedall spring, all summer, trying different
width trees.
I mean, I was going all thetime going out, find a tree, climb
it.

(40:48):
What rope do I want to use?
How do I want to get down now?
Now that I'm up, what's itgoing to take to get down?
And I was doing that weeklyuntil I found out what worked for
me.
And then I didn't just findout what worked for me and never
did it again.
I was constantly going outthere, okay, well, now I'm going
to do it this way and try tomake less noise or what am I going

(41:09):
to do with my gear?
It was constant improvementsand still I was out there today messing
around with it, looking forthat constant improvement.
The other thing I wouldrecommend, maybe you're doing this,
you just haven't mentioned it,especially for anybody that's listening
in, that is going to ventureinto tree saddle hunting.
For the first.
Once you have a grasp andyou're confident on what you want

(41:33):
to do and how you want to doit, go to a, I'm going to use a millennial
term, go to a safe place at asafe height and learn what you can't
do.
Learn what your gear can't do.
Get really comfortable fallingbecause what you're going, what you're

(41:55):
going to find is you don't fall.
And that's a huge key.
And John, again, you're goingto, you'll probably recognize this
saying.
It's one of my favorites.
Calm breeds calm.
And what's different abouthunting from a tree saddle that differs
from tree stands or lock onsis in a traditional climbing harness,

(42:18):
that's a full body harness inyour tether is in your shoulder blades.
So if you come off of yourplatform or your perch, it wants
to pull your back to the treeand your workspace, your problem
and workspaces above your headand behind you.
When you're tree saddlehunting, you're in a harness that,

(42:39):
this is a big crossfit term.
It's called your posterior chain.
So where your, your, yourlower, like your, your buttocks,
your hips, this whole centerof gravity that we have that, that
tree saddle is around themeatiest part of your body.
John, I don't know if you wentto jump school, but that, that is
the meatiest part of yourbody, right?

(43:00):
That's, that's one of your,that's one of your primary landing
points is your buttocks, right?
So that that saddle comesaround there.
And now when you come off thattree, your problem and your workspace
is right in front of you andyour center of gravity around your
strongest muscles, right?
So it's, it's a completelydifferent experience.

(43:22):
The other thing that peopledon't realize is when you're in parachuting
operations or in traditionalfull body harnesses, there is the,
the shock syndrome, right?
So when you fall, one of thebiggest injuries that a lot of guys
don't even realize take placeis the shock from those straps.
In your groin.
You have major arteries, it'scalled the femoral arteries that

(43:45):
run down there through yourlegs and in your, in your groin area.
Right.
When you, when you shock loadin a traditional harness, you're
hammering that point right there.
All of your body weight isdistributed right through that small
webbing.
So the smaller the webbing is,the more trauma to a more finite

(44:06):
surface area is happening tothose nerves and those, those, the
artery in there.
When you're in a tree saddle,where's, where's all that shock?
You're taking it right in the butt.
Brett loves that.
It's the Brett syndrome.
You are taking it right in the butt.
You no longer have that shockload syndrome to the inside of your

(44:28):
groin.
It's spread, loaded acrossyour butt cheeks.
And so when you, when you comeoff of that stick, when you come
off of that platform, and thisis going to lead us into talk, I
mean, we could start talkingabout what I call technical trees.
You're getting into trees thatare leaning into trees that have
major bifurcations or a lot of limbs.

(44:49):
When you're navigating throughall that garbage to get really good
concealment, it's, it's not cover.
I had great cover.
No, you didn't get concealment.
There's a big differencebetween cover and concealment, right?
Yeah.
When you're climbing up intothose trees to get that really good
concealment, if you're, ifyour stick kicks out or if your platform

(45:13):
kicks out, or if you're tryingto take a leak and you're, and all
you're standing on is theperch of a latitude stick and a ring
of steps and, and you come offyour perch, well, it's not a big
deal.
However, guys that have neverdone it, guys that have never practiced
it and, or guys that aretransitioned swiftly, typically from

(45:36):
a tree stand or a lock on anda different type of harness, into
a tree saddle.
They're nervous about it.
And if you don't experienceit, it can ruin a hunt in a hurry.
That's another reason why Iuse a 40 foot tether.
So one reason is because I dohave a metal leg.
If that leg ever happened tocome off and my legs only come off

(45:56):
three times.
It's come off three times, twotimes, three different locations.
All three are great stories.
They've, it's never come offin a training scenario.
It's never come off when I'vebeen climbing trees.
It's never come off during air operations.
The thing is secure.
But if for any reason I wasout hunting by myself because I love

(46:21):
solo backcountry hunting, myleg did come off.
I have 40 foot of rope that's hang.
That's hanging down to the ground.
All I have to do is zip downto the ground.
I put my leg back on, I climbback up, I keep hunting.
If my stick broke loose, I canzip down to the ground.
I can get my stick.
I can climb.
With your mad rock?

(46:41):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, really squatch with.
With any.
With any type of device, youcan get up and down your line.
The mad rock is very efficient.
It's.
It's fast.
Yeah, I like it.
You know, you could use afigure eight.
I mean, there's so many.
There's so many different youcould use.
You know, it's.
It's personal preference.

(47:01):
But you can get to the groundsafely, and you can get back up to
your hunt.
Rock climbing's big out hereby me, and there's a shop locally
by me that, that when I wentin to look for those, they recommended
that I buy that purchase toget that mad rock.
And I'm so glad I did.
Versus, like, the kong,whatever, because you have that breaking

(47:23):
ability.
And if you've got to repeldown, you can take yourself down
as slow, you know, as you wantwhen you're adjusting with yourself
up to a tree.
And it was funny like thefirst time.
Like you said, be in a safearea, like your safe space.
I'm up.
I was getting used to it.
I'm up like one stick, and I'msitting there, and it was like.
And I, like, I let myself backa little bit.

(47:44):
I was like, oh, my God.
And I'm like, oh, dude, you'reonly like a half a foot.
Foot off the ground.
You're okay, you know, so yougot to get used to it.
You got to get the feel forthat stuff.
But that's a great, greatpiece of equipment.
It's a little expensive.
It's, you know, everything'san initial investment.
But if I could recommend onethat's definitely one to have, that's
a good one.
I agree.

(48:04):
I agree.
So speaking of investment ingear, I'm.
I've stayed.
I'm a latitude guy.
I do.
I, I.
I love the guys.
I love their mindset.
I love their focus andcommitment to whitetail.
But they're.
They're also a Michigancompany, too.
That means nothing to me.
I could care less About Michigan.

(48:27):
I have a lot of friends thatlive in Michigan.
I don't, I don't talk badabout any companies in the outdoor
space.
That's just not my style.
It really doesn't accomplish anything.
But I would like to, to giveshout outs to what kind of a shout
out to one company but makemention of another.
So if I was not going to useLatitude Gear, my next two choices

(48:52):
in the tree saddle community,one would be XOP and one would be
Trophy line.
I already, I think I spilledthe beans a little bit to Brett about
this, but I wanted to makesure that, that I threw the shout
out, especially becausethey're one of your sponsors.
Early on in my venture intothe outdoor industry, I had an amputee

(49:12):
I believe from Michigan reachout to me.
And the guy, he's, he's abigger guy and he's not quite as
mobile as I am.
And he reached out to me andasked me if I thought that he could
tree saddle hunt.
And my, my response is yeah,man, you, it's not a really a matter
of whether you can or can't it.

(49:32):
It really boils down to want.
And, and I, I share that.
I share that with a lot of people.
It's like, can you or can't you?
How about do you want to?
If you want to, then we canfigure out a way to get you to can.
But if you don't.
Absolutely, John, if you don'twant to, that the answer is going

(49:54):
to be you can't because you'renot going to have the vision, you're
not going to have the drive todo it when you want to, especially
if you want to bad enough.
You're gonna, you're gonnafigure out a way.
And this guy started doingresearch and it was the year that
XOP came out with theirmodified saddle with the harness,

(50:15):
the upper body harness pieceon it and Mongo.
The Mongo I think it's called, I.
Don'T remember the name of it,it's been out for a couple of years
now.
But he looked at that andfound interest and he found safety
and a comfort zone in itbecause he had been a ladder stand
hunter.
So he was familiar with a fullbody harness.

(50:35):
He knew that it worked wellfor him and that was his comfort
zone.
So I reached out to XOP on hisbehalf and XOP provided him with
a full tree saddle rig for himto use.
Wow.
Yeah.
Most amazing.
Big props to XOP for that.
And I've, I've been friendlywith those guys ever since.

(50:59):
Whenever I'm at an expo in anevent where XOP is in attendance.
I love visiting with them.
I love seeing their booth.
I still have and still usesome of their products.
In fact, I have two XOP lockons on my property right now.
I stage lock ons and in.
In saddle setups because Imean, they work just fine and you

(51:21):
just put them on the backsideof a tree, use them just like you
do a regular platform in atree saddle set up.
Right.
And then you have a lock on there.
So I, I have a set of XOPsticks out on my property.
Great company.
So those are, those are my topthree choices.
Not that any of the othercompanies are bad, but Latitude is

(51:41):
my, my favorite.
And then XOP and Trophy lineare the next two.
And you know, even if, if youraffordability is hawk, the my only
caution to you is, is that ifthat's what you can afford to get
you out into the timber andclimbing trees so that you can tree
saddle hunt, my caution to youis inspect your gear on a regular

(52:05):
basis.
Yep, absolutely.
And realistically, you shouldbe doing that anyhow.
Yeah.
But my recommendation would beif that is your, if that fits your
budget hawk equipment, justmake sure you are maintaining and
inspecting that equipmentconstantly and it will probably work

(52:26):
out fine for you.
If you see something that isnot right, don't climb it and things
will work out all right for you.
And it's the same way withbackcountry hunting.
When I first startedbackcountry hunting, it was 30 years
ago.
The gear that I use then is100% not the gear that I use now,
but it was the gear that wascurrently available and, or I could

(52:49):
afford.
And this boils back to thewant I wanted to do it, so I obtained
the gear that I could affordthat would allow me to do what I
wanted to do.
Anybody can do that withanything in the outdoor industry.
Do we answer questions thatpop up at any particular point, Brett,

(53:10):
or do we just throw them inwhenever we see them?
Whenever we get a kind of a chance?
Yeah, there was.
Michael asked where did thequestion go?
Let me find it real quick.
He asked this question, Aaron,what is your favorite shotgun for
hunting?
So I really only hunt with ashotgun for turkey now.
I, I left.

(53:30):
I've never been a waterfowlguy and I, I don't hunt for upland
bird much anymore, so myshotgun is for turkey hunting.
I've owned several and upuntil this year, my favorite so far
has been the Rete Massamara.
And I, I'VE hunted that for acouple of years.
I absolutely love it.
It's a 20 gauge.

(53:51):
It's light, it's fast, it'smobile and with the right loads.
I'm a big fan of AaronSatterfield and Satisfatties.
He does custom customammunition loads and his turkey shells
are incredible.
And I had a.
I've used pattern master chokes.
I have used what is kind ofthe name of the choke that I was

(54:16):
using last year and I'veswitched to a new choke.
Man.
I'm looking at it right here.
It's right here.
It Jebs.
I used a Jebs last year.
So this Jeb's choke on my 20gauge with Aaron's saddies fatties
TSS loads.
Devastating.
Absolutely devastating.
I can kill a turkey at 60yards with that shotgun set up.

(54:38):
If I have a nice clean shotand a good stable rest.
I can kill a Turkey ethicallyat 60 yards with that 20 gauge man.
This year I put a rectifierchoke on it.
I'm really excited to go outand try the rectifier choke on it.
But I have a custom turkey gunthat is will be assembled next week.

(55:00):
It is an over and under.
I really don't want to let thecat out of the bag.
Well, when are you guyspublishing the show?
Oh, it's live.
Never mind.
Well, the audio version isgoing to be released tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Okay.
So I have a.
Aaron Satterfield not onlycustom loads ammunition.
He is a very talented metalworker and gunsmith.

(55:22):
Nice.
So I sent a 28 gauge over andunder to him.
Vortex sent me their brand newand Viper enclosed red dot.
Aaron was able to mount thatred dot directly onto the rib of
that gun without having to useany like a willow creep mount or

(55:44):
anything else.
He directly mounted thatVortex site to that over and under.
We stripped it down completely.
The stock went to a guy downin Texas.
His name is Scott Paul ofTwisted Arrow Hydrographics.
He dipped the stock for me.
Aaron had a local guy engraveand Sarakote my gun.

(56:07):
So it's a three.
It's a three color Cerakotethat match.
I'm a big Badlands guy.
I love Badlands gear.
My favorite pattern is theapproach pattern.
So that's the gut the stock isdipped in in Badlands approach and
we have a.
The base of it is a like aBadlands brown.

(56:28):
It has a lighter tan turkeytracks along the breach the side
the the the sides of thebreach of the gun.
It has be limitless on theupper Barrel engraved in green.
Be faithful on the lowerbarrel in green.
And then my two differentchokes are cerakoted in the same
green as the engraving.

(56:50):
That is going to be my turkey gun.
It's been nicknamed Maccabee,and that is an old testament biblical
reference.
The Maccabees were.
They were books in the Bible.
Well, yes, but they were aspecific group of people.
They were Jewish.
They were considered guerrillawar fighters of their era.

(57:12):
Yep.
And Maccabee, if it'stranslated into English, means hammer.
So that's why I've nicknamed it.
I've nicknamed it Maccabeebecause it is going to be a turkey
hammer.
I like that.
That's good.
So we were talking on the showfor our spring turkey here that we
were going to go back to theold school traditional bow.

(57:33):
So Dave, who's not with ustoday in Squatch, is using traditional
bow.
And I took it one step beyondand bought a 1953 bear Montana lawn
bow.
And I'm like, I'm gonna bedoing that.
So I've been out practicingall the time with that thing.
And that was such a gamechanger because I shoot an elite

(57:54):
bow, and I absolutely lovethat thing.
I mean, I can stack them in at100 yards all day with that.
And I got that lawn bow, man.
I was like, oh, 20 yards, no problem.
I was like, holy crap.
Let me move it up to five andstart working back.
Yeah.
And it humbles you, man, beingable to shoot 100 yards and then

(58:17):
not even be able to hit atarget at 20.
And you're just like, allright, I'm going back to the basics
right here.
And I'm looking forward to it, man.
I pursued turkey with a bearKodiak for three years from.
From 2000 and spring of springof 03, 04 and 05, I pursue.

(58:38):
I pursued turkeys in the bluemountains of Washington state.
With that, that recurve, Ibuilt all my own arrows hunting them
alone.
I went to full draw a coupleof times.
Busted every single time.
Never even let loose an arrow.
Yo.
I have not bow hunted forturkey since.

(59:01):
And there's a reason for that.
I've had opportunities.
I planted the wrong seed in myhead that the only way I would harvest
my first turkey with archeryequipment would be if I did it alone
with traditional equipment.
That has to be my first bird.

(59:21):
So I've set myself up forfailure, man.
That is.
Yeah, I.
I'm doing a veterans disabledveterans turkey hunt next month.
And I asked the guy, I'm like,hey, can I bring my bow, and he's
just like, really?
Like, we'll have any shotgunyou want to use.
I'm like, no, I, I really wantto bring my bow.
Yeah, absolutely.

(59:42):
Like, go for it.
Good for you, man.
I'm looking forward to it.
Nice.
I'm hoping to get my firstbird with a bow.
I told myself a long time agothat when I get my first bird, it's
gonna, I'm gonna do it solelywith a, with my bow, and nothing's
gonna stop me otherwise fromdoing that.
Nice, Brett.
Yeah.
And they, they helped me getmy tag, so I made sure I got everything

(01:00:06):
set up in the right area inthe zone for where I'm gonna be hunting.
And either Johnny and Dave'sgonna come to the property and help
me get my first bird andlooking forward to it.
And I told him I'm doing thiswith my bow.
I don't give a.
Because I bought my bow.
The bow that I'm going to beusing is a prime bow that I bought
from my dad.
However, he hurt his shoulderthe same year I bought it for him.

(01:00:28):
And it's a longer one becausehe solely used fingers as his release.
And unfortunately, he can'tdraw back a bow anymore, so he has
to use a crossbow.
And so I'm going to say, screw it.
I was going to sell it, but Isaid, no, I want to use it for turkeys
now.
What prime is it?
I couldn't tell you.
I don't remember.
I bought this thing a coupleyears ago, and it's my first chance

(01:00:50):
to finally get out of its box.
I, I, I owned a couple of primes.
My, I had the black, the Blackseries, the Black 3.
Loved that bow.
Super good.
It came out in 2018.
I know that.
Okay.
Yeah, the black series.
I, I had the Black three.
Loved it.
Great bow.
Prime's a great company.
Oh, there now.
What, what bow are youshooting right now, Aaron?

(01:01:12):
I'm shooting a Hoyt.
Okay.
I have a, I have the, theAlpex 33, I have the RX9, and I have
the Ventum 34 battle worn edition.
Okay.
Very nice.
Nice.
This year I, I will be huntingPrimarily with the RX9.

(01:01:32):
Okay.
I'm, that is a awesome looking bow.
I would, I would love to tryit out, but I bought my very first
brand new bow.
To me.
Well, I've always bought usedor something like that.
And last year I was like, youknow what?
I'm gonna buy my first bow,buy it brand new.
And my buddy, he's like, wewere gonna go hunt Colorado elk last

(01:01:54):
year, but we never got drawn.
And he shoots a PSE carbon andhe's like, you have to get a carbon
bow because your hands won'tget as pulled in the winters.
And he's from Minnesota.
I was like, all right.
And I've shot elite for awhile now, so I got the elite carbon
era.
And oh my God, I love that thing.
Great bow, John.

(01:02:15):
Oh my God.
That's a good bow.
That, that bow.
I can see like I have that andI have the, I have the option nine
and I have a cure and I, Iabsolutely love all elite.
But that, that era is justunbelievably smooth and fast.

(01:02:35):
I mean I, I absolutely lovethat bow.
That solid bow, man.
Good choice.
Well, Aaron, we're going to bewrapping it up for tonight and we
want to ask a couple rapidfire segments before we let you go.
Okay, brother.
Send it.
All right.
Besides hunting, do you haveany other hobbies or interests?
I do.
I, I fish.
I don't fish as much as I usedto, but I love fishing out of a kayak

(01:02:59):
and, or fishing off of apaddle board.
My buddy, he's a big fisherman.
Dan, he's.
He's still a part of the team here.
He just hasn't been on theshow in a while.
But when it comes to bassfishing, if I need any advice, I
go straight to him.
And we've been trying to domore kayaking, fishing and, and together,
but we've just been so busydoing with our own things.

(01:03:19):
But.
And I, I love to run.
It's how I met my wife.
My wife and I met at my first ultra.
So we, we've, I've, I've.
I.
I didn't really touch on thisearlier when, when the Squatch asked
me to share about my, my peg leg.
Since losing my leg, I ran myfirst marathon.
I'd never ran a marathon priorto limb loss.

(01:03:41):
I qualified and ran a Bostonthree times.
I've ran the Marine CorpsMarathon a couple of times.
I, I really got into ultras.
I've.
I've ran a 60k since losing my leg.
I really love to run.
My wife and I are returning tothe Marine Corps this year for.
It's a big anniversary yearfor them.
So we're going to go run theMarine Corps Marathon together again.

(01:04:01):
We, we really, really likerunning and, and functional fitness
is, is, is a hobby as well.
So.
And riding.
That's awesome.
What animals on your bucketlist to hunt?
That's.
I really prepped myself forthat, Brett, before coming on your
show, for me, it's not reallyabout the critter.

(01:04:24):
For me, it's the experience.
I just like to go hunt.
And if I can do it in thebackcountry setting or off of that
platform, that's what I wantto go do.
I've.
I've given up the kind of thebucket list items of.
I've got to have this critterand this critter and this critter
and this critter.
I've got to get my this or Igot to get my that.

(01:04:45):
I really don't have thatmindset anymore.
I will say this.
If you back me into a cornerand tell me that I have to give you
one or two animals that I haveto go pursue, I would want to go
after Alaska caribou.
But if I do it, it's going tobe either dropped in by airplane

(01:05:07):
or on an airboat and thenleave me alone for seven to 10 days,
maybe with one or two buddies.
Just.
It is the last frontier, right?
I mean, it's, it's far.
To me, Alaska is well beyondAfrica now.
Besides, the animals that aredown there, it's not what safaris
were 50, 70, 100 years ago.

(01:05:29):
It's modernized Alaska.
You get dropped off by a bushplane in Alaska, you are 100% on
your own.
So for me, the number onewould be being dropped off in Alaska
for caribou.
The other one might soundsimple and mundane, but a backcountry
trip into New Mexico for anice big bull archery season, that,

(01:05:53):
that would be.
That would be second one.
Second runner up.
That would be amazing.
Alaska, last frontier.
I loved that show when it wasout there back in the day, and I
just wanted to.
I almost moved out there to beAlaska State trooper.
I never pulled the trigger.
They give out big bonuses, man.
They did.
They.
They still do.

(01:06:13):
And I think it was at the timewhen I was doing it, it was, I remember
20,000 signing bonus just tojoin them.
I was like, holy shit.
And then you had moving costs.
They'd help you with that.
And I'm just not a big fan of snow.
I can't stand snow.
It's not too late, Brett.
You could always live yourdream out of clubbing seals.

(01:06:34):
I could.
Imagine having a, like a kingpenguin mounted in your office on
the back round of your show.
It'd be great.
Squat.
Did you just say that his lifedream is to go clubbing with seals?
Like going to raves with Navy seals.
That's his life dream.

(01:06:55):
Oh, yeah, he loves.
He loves.
All right.
Yeah, he's.
He's down, man.
So Brad's like, me, like, weshould never be in the seals because
I don't have the hair for it.
I mean, we.
We would work with them allthe time, and those dudes, their
hair was unbeatable.
Brett, I have a really closefriend that's.
That's a Navy seal.
I'll hook you guys up, andmaybe he'll go to a rave with you,

(01:07:17):
and we will fill that bucketlist item.
You can go clubbing with theseal, my friend.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
It's gonna be great.
Get it on.
What is an animal you want totry eating?
So that would be back to myAlaska trip.
I've never had caribou, so I'dlike to try caribou.
And then I'm going to backback my Oregon outdoor brothers play

(01:07:42):
from last week.
And cougar backstrap.
Oh, I hear that's really tasty.
Just to make Michael happy.
Oh, my God.
Have you ever tried possum?
I have not.
I would not be opposed to it.
I've heard it's really good.
Possum.
Raccoon.
And I've seen a lot of trafficon social media from the.

(01:08:05):
The National Forest Serviceand federal.
The federal.
Holy cow.
My mind just went blank.
Guys like Blackwater, Nash.
Sorry.
National Refuge.
Oh, yeah.
That.
They encourage you to eatmountain beaver.
It's supposed to be really,really good, huh?
No, we.

(01:08:25):
We.
When I go to the Upperpeninsula in Michigan, we'll eat
porcupine.
And when I was in New York, weate porcupine.
I've heard that, too.
Yeah, that was surprisingly tasty.
Yeah.
So what else you got?
What has been your favoritestate you've hunted?
That one.
I.
Man, I'm gonna tell you, I really.

(01:08:46):
I don't have a favorite state.
I just want to go put mybackpack on, find a location that
I can get away from themasses, and hunt backcountry style.
That is my favorite.
My favorite state to hunt isthe backcountry state of mind.
How about that?
I like.
Is there a specific words, man?

(01:09:06):
Damn it.
Is there a particular statethat's at the top of your list that
you want to hunt in that type of.
Style that I've never been to?
Yeah.
It would be new.
It'd be backcountry.
New Mexico for archery.
Yeah.
Last two, they're kind of serious.
Now, if you could pickanybody, you need a family member
and a non family member to Goon a hunting trip with or share a

(01:09:28):
campfire with one time.
Who would they be?
Are we able to time travel or,or bring people to a different age
in their life?
If there you can.
Yes, actually.
I like that idea.
Yeah.
Okay.
That would be my dad.
I, I really wish that my, Icould hunt one time with my dad to

(01:09:48):
where he was in a physicalstate where we could pack in together
and share the, the wildernessfor three, five, seven days.
Hunting together in that environment.
That would be.
That's it, man.
That'd be amazing.
That's it.
Now who do you think, what doyou think we as fellow hunters could

(01:10:08):
or should do to improve thehunting community as a whole?
It's the same thing that Briansaid last week.
Man, we are eating ourselvesfrom the inside out and we're doing
it at so many different levelsand there's so much hypocrisy and
if we all just focused onbeing positive and our own hunting

(01:10:31):
space and when I say our ownhunting space, meaning if I'm in
the state of Maryland andstate of Maryland says it's legal
for me to use a crossbow andif I choose to spot in stock on public
ground with a crossbow duringarchery season, then I'm not going
to sit here and throw stonesat you because you want to hunt with

(01:10:52):
a high speed compound bow froma tree stand or a climber stand or
a lock on stand or a tree saddle.
I still respect you for that.
I, I don't like the animal shaming.
I'm not a big fan of naming my deer.
If that's what you want to do,then go name your deer.

(01:11:14):
Just don't slam each other for it.
We're being torn apart fromthe inside out to ourselves.
We do more damage pretty muchon a daily basis than all of the
exterior organizations thatare fighting against us.
And I just, it breaks my heartyou see grown men attacking brand

(01:11:36):
new hunters because they, theyshoot a spike or a two point or you
know, somebody out in theNorthwest would call it a fork and
horn.
Right?
It's my tag.
If I'm hunting public ground,it's my tag.
It might, maybe I have certainreasons for.
I harvested that animal.
It's none of your business.
It's my business.
It just, it does, it's, it'sheartbreaking for me.

(01:11:58):
I am, I'm going to throw thisout there and answer that question.
And it frames it really well.
If you're a compound guy andyou're bashing crossbow dudes, I
just find it interestingbecause you're shooting in a vertical
bow that pretty much has, isthe same, has the same capability
as a crossbow.
Right.
I, I, I own a crossbow.

(01:12:19):
I've harvested deer with the crossbow.
I haven't used that crossbowfor several years.
I now own it as a low barrierof entry for new hunters and, or
if I have somebody like my dadcomes out, my dad can't draw a bow,
but he can ethically andaccurately shoot a crossbow and harvest

(01:12:40):
with it.
But if you really want to getin the nuts and bolts of archery,
if you're against a crossbow,then I really think you should be
shooting traditional equipmentbecause that's really where archery
began.
Right.
And Brian, Brian threw outblack powder last show.

(01:13:01):
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna throwanother abstract way of looking at
that.
If you're an archery guy andyou're a muzzleloader and if you're
an archery guy that complainsabout crossbows, yet you shoot an
inline muzzleloader with amagnified optic on said muzzleloader,
that's no different thanshooting a crossbow in archery season.

(01:13:24):
Now again this is AaronRitter's opinion, but if that's the,
if that's the stand that youwant to take, then shoot traditional
equipment.
And when you're muzzleloading,you probably should be using a flintlock
or a cap gun.
You should not be hunting withan inline because it's the same thing
in my opinion.
So that's, that's, that'swhere I'm at.
I, I just, I just think it's ashame how negative and toxic the

(01:13:49):
industry is.
But most of that's on socialmedia, guys.
If you go to an expo, if yougo to an event, if you're down in
your local shop, it'stypically pretty positive.
But social media and inYouTube and that whole scene, it's,
it is, it's, it's pretty, it'spretty toxic.
People dragging around theirdirty diapers and unfortunately that's

(01:14:12):
where the public gets to see us.
The anti hunters don't go tohunting expos, they don't hang out
in your local hunting store.
They just watch us on socialmedia just tearing ourselves apart
and it's, it's sad.
Yeah, I think Dave had asituation last year, the year before.
I'm not going to say the storybecause I don't know in full detail
or he was on this Facebookgroup, whatever the case may be on

(01:14:37):
social media and this young 20year old kid, never hunted before,
was asking simply where hecould spots that he could possibly
hunt and all these OlderGerman just started bashing the.
Out of him of.
And I'm not going to sayexactly everything because I don't
know the whole details of.
All I know are the things I'mmentioning and Dave stepped in and,

(01:14:59):
and back that.
That guy up.
And I was like the fact.
Because Aaron, you said it perfectly.
The fact that these grown men.
First off, it's hunting.
It's not like we're out.
It's my land or your land.
And you can't know this typeof information.
That's why we do thesepodcasts, these YouTube things to
share this information to helpother people fill tags to give them

(01:15:20):
more information possible.
We want to help other peoplebe successful out in the woods.
It's not me.
Well, look at me and look ateverything I've accomplished.
No, that's not what this is about.
We want everyone to besuccessful out in the woods and enjoy
this great sport, this greatlifestyle that we call hunting.
And it's very meaningful to people.
And when you see that type ofmentality, that type of attitude

(01:15:41):
towards other hunters, it's.
It's pitiful in my opinion.
And you see that type of thingand it just makes you want to like.
And that's when my lawenforcement comes in.
I do exactly the same thingthat Dave would have done is defend
that personally.
Hey, message me get here's my number.
Let's talk off offhand.
And here's my number and stufflike that.

(01:16:02):
And I.
Where you see another thing togo off of that, Aaron, because I
don't want to take awayeverything that you just said because
it was amazing.
We talked about this on showsbefore where people were taking selfies
with the deer a couple yearsago and it was a big meme and they
would.
There's videos now wherethey're taking a deer where they
first met.
And I'm just really, in myopinion that's, that's childish.

(01:16:27):
Like you have to show respectto the animal as well and, and that
type of thing along with what you're.
You mentioned there, Aaron.
I think a lot of things needto be fixed.
I guess maybe the word.
Or just we need to grow up asindividuals and hunters and we're
just portraying that we're abunch of childs.
That's.

(01:16:49):
Yeah.
It's unfortunate.
So that's, that's, that's,that's, that's where I think we.
I think that's what we coulddo better, guys.
I appreciate that.
Well, Aaron, thank you so muchfor coming on the show.
Definitely at the scheduleyou'll come back on.
Because I feel like this.
We can go on so many otherrabbit holes and we can just have
a three hour conversation.

(01:17:09):
But next time I won't actuallyschedule a two hour show with you
because I'd be happy.
I'd be happy to come back, guys.
Yeah.
John will end it with Aaron.
John, how can people find you?
Even though.
Yeah, find me on Whitetail Advantage.
I'm here every Sunday and Tuesday.
Or check me out on Instagramat Johnny Nitro Night.

(01:17:31):
I'm there.
Nitro outdoors.
That's.
That's where I'm at.
Squash.
How about you, brother?
Hey guys.
You can find me always Sundaynights, 8:30 here.
And on Tuesday nights, 8:30 here.
You can also catch me theGarden State outdoorsman, Frank Mystica,
Mike Nitray, all good guysdown there.
And as always, Instagram, my.

(01:17:52):
My YouTube channel, outdoorsand more with the Squatch.
Don't forget guys, I got hatsif you want to get one.
30 bucks gets it shipped toyour house.
You can rep the Squatchwherever you are.
And of course don't forgeteither that we have our Whitetail
Advantage stuff that'savailable on bonfire and you can
also find shirts and stuff forme there too.

(01:18:14):
So that's about it.
I thank, you know, for, forsupporting us the way you guys do.
We love the comments and greatinput tonight.
Aaron.
Very, very interesting show.
Appreciate.
I enjoyed you guys as well.
Aaron, how can people reachout to you and follow along your
journey?
And I also noticed there's acouple things I want you to mention.
You get there is a deadlinecoming up on the 15th and your book.

(01:18:37):
Okay into that.
But can you just dive intothat in a brief moment?
So the most important thingthat's near and dear to my heart
in my outdoor endeavors is my nonprofit.
It's the I Am 501C3 nonprofit.
It's the A3G initiative.
Okay.
It is the annual amputeearchery grant initiative.
Spoke on it briefly when westarted the show.

(01:18:58):
It is a grant.
It's valued at over $30,000.
Now we choose one amputee a year.
We provide them with anincredible archery and outdoor equipment
package.
Hoyt is our bow sponsor.
So they will receive a 2025flagship bow that is best fit for

(01:19:20):
them.
So we send the information to Hoyt.
They make the recommendationon hey for their draw length, their
body size, this, that, andthey will maximize potential of this
bow.
So I can't tell you what itwill be, but it will be a Hoyt flagship
bow.
Then we send Them to the GASbowstring facility in Clay City,

(01:19:40):
Kentucky.
That is where their bow is waiting.
They pick out their stringdesign and Eric Griggs, the owner
of GAS and his team, theybuild the bow with the recipient
there at gas.
And then they get one on onecoaching with Braden Gillentine.
While they're there at gas.
We send them home with theirarchery stuff.

(01:20:01):
They practice all summer andthen we send them to Texas for a
one on one private trophywhitetail hunt.
That's a four day event.
I'm at both events.
Other board members are there.
It's all inclusive to them.
They why we're there in Texas.
I mean we, we throw everythingwe can at them.

(01:20:22):
And included in this, it's alifetime hunt, guys.
Their meat processing is donated.
They have a custom a 3GGrizzly Cooler waiting for them in
Texas.
Their meat is shipped to themin that cooler for free.
Costs them nothing.
They have a full shouldermount of the animal that they harvest

(01:20:43):
in Texas and the shipping ofthat shoulder mount for them to their
home of residence.
It is a lifetime all inclusivewhitetail hunt package.
That is the A3G man.
And it's not just, it's notkill camp guys.
We instill ethics.
We talk about life improvement.
We talk about how archeryimproves you mentally and physically.

(01:21:06):
It's man, it's.
It is my thing.
And again we, we select onerecipient a year and that deadline,
what we call our amp location.
Amp location.
That period ends Tuesday.
This Tuesday, April, April 15,it closes and we will announce our
recipient by the end of the week.

(01:21:27):
And then the, the, theexcitement begins and builds and
we just love this time of theyear when we get to do that.
And so then yeah, I wrote a book.
I have it right here.
It's available in hard copy.
It's available in paperback.
There are on my website whichis spelling guys Limitless Outdoors.

(01:21:48):
It's L, I M B I T L E S S Outdoors.
It's online assigned copies,both hardback and paperback are available
on my website or you can go toAmazon and you can order copies on
Amazon and then the ebook isavailable on Amazon as well.
The book guys is about my 30years of backcountry hunting.

(01:22:09):
I started out in the mid-90s.
There was no such thing ascell phones or GPS.
I had a, I had a photocopy ofa forest service map and a compass.
And I've hunted all over thenation backcountry style.
It's the experience.
It's not the, not the harvestthat drives my train.
And there's some really goodstories in there, but you can find
that at Limitless Outdoors.

(01:22:29):
I'm on Instagram.
Limitless Outdoors, I am on Facebook.
Limitless Outdoors, I am on YouTube.
Limitless outdoors.
A3G is on Instagram, a3G is on Facebook.
Limitless outdoors and a3G ison LinkedIn.
And the Limitless podcast ison all of your major podcast platforms.

(01:22:52):
And I publish all videoversions on YouTube.
It would be awesome if anybodylistening to this show would go like
and follow all of thoseplatforms for me.
It'd be great.
Dudes, I have really enjoyedmy time on here tonight.
I can't thank you enough forhosting me and allowing me to share

(01:23:12):
my story and my platforms andmy opinions.
Oh, man, I love them, man.
Love them.
I am definitely going to beordering that book tonight, so I
can't wait to read it, man.
That's awesome.
I'm going to make sure to gothrough and I'm already following
all those on Instagram, soI'll make sure to go through and
subscribe and follow them andgive some reviews on the podcast

(01:23:36):
platforms tonight before I goto bed.
Thanks, man.
I appreciate it.
Well, thank you, Aaron, forcoming on the show.
I greatly appreciate it.
Yes, we're definitely going tohave to schedule a more because we
only we do an hour length type shows.
Hour and a half.
Sometimes a show will go two hours.
However, I would like toactually schedule a a two hour session

(01:23:56):
with you because I feel likethis show could go on a lot longer
and I feel like there's a lotmore that we left on the table that
we can discuss.
Let's talk about turkeyhunting and elk.
Hunting because dude, I'm.
We need to.
Aaron, whether it's textmessage, phone call, whatever, like
we're going to be hunting thesame area, so I can't wait, brother.
Well, what we could do, wecould do is since you're going in

(01:24:21):
May and and Johnny's going inSeptember, we can schedule a guest
a time in October and Novemberafter you both had your time out
there in Oregon.
We can talk about that right there.
I think that'd be a great idea.
Sounds good.
All right, guys, call it theOregon Trail episode.
Oh, I like that.
I love it.
Well, guys, I hope you have agreat rest of your night.

(01:24:43):
Thank you for coming ontonight, guys.
Hey, be Limitless.
Oh, man.
Thank you, Aaron.
Thank you, Jay, John andSquash, thank you for coming on the
show.
I greatly appreciate it.
Well, everyone, that's goingto conclude another episode of the
Whitetail Advantage Podcast.
I want to say thank you foreveryone that's gathered around the
electronic campfire with us tonight.

(01:25:04):
Now if this show made youlaugh, made you think, gave you a
new perspective, please hitthat like and subscribe button.
If you're listening to this onthe audio version, please give us
a five star rating and give usyour feedback on how you think we
can do better on the show.
Now the audio versions of ourpodcast gets released every Monday
and Wednesday at 5am Eastern Time.

(01:25:25):
If you want to be a guest onone of our live shows or you want
anyone from WhitetailAdvantage to be a guest on your next
episode, head to our website,www.whitetailadvantage.com and submit
your request through there.
Or you can reach out to us onour social media platforms.
Now I also want to say thankyou to all the companies that have
partnered up here with us atWhitetail Advantage, especially with

(01:25:47):
XOP being the newest one.
Thank you to you all.
Now again with that cornerslot machine.
We'll see everyone next time.
Thank you for tuning in to another.
Episode of the WhitetailAdvantage Podcast.

(01:26:08):
We hope you enjoyed the show and.
We will see you next time.

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