Ep 178 / Saddle Up: The Wild World of Saddle Hunting

We're diving deep into saddle hunting in this episode, and let me tell you, Squatch, Johnny, and I are all about sharing our experiences and tips to help you navigate this thrilling method. We kick things off with some lighthearted banter about our personal hunting journeys, including the ups and downs of dealing with the elements—like rain that just won't quit! We'll also be chatting about the gear that makes or breaks a saddle hunting experience, so expect a few laughs as we dissect the ins and outs of our setups. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just getting your feet wet in saddle hunting, there's something for everyone here. So grab your favorite drink, kick back, and let’s get into the nitty-gritty of saddle hunting!

Takeaways:

• Saddle hunting offers a unique experience that combines mobility and comfort, perfect for various terrains.
• One key takeaway is that gear doesn't define your success in hunting; it's about skill and preparation.
• The importance of practice can't be overstated; using your gear regularly helps you adapt to it better in the field.
• Real success in hunting comes from understanding animal behavior and preparing for the hunt, not just acquiring new equipment.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Welcome to the WhitetailAdvantage podcast with your host,
Brett Bovin.
Thank you for tuning in andenjoy the show.

(00:22):
What is up, everyone?
You know, I was listening tosome podcasts last week, mainly in
the hunting realm that we are,and I listen to the same stuff, and
it's the same thing after samething with the same show at the same
show.
They say the same intro overand over and over again.

(00:43):
Generally, we kind of do it too.
But then they try to sell you,oh, you gotta check out this.
And use this promo code right here.
And then check this out andthis promo code.
I'm like, no, I'm gonna feedthat stuff.
I get annoyed by it.
Like, just start the show, andnext thing I know, I'm 30 minutes
into the damn thing, and Ihaven't even heard what the heck

(01:05):
the show is even about or anything.
Maybe it's just me.
I just get a little frustratedwith it all.
Like, let's just start theshow, man.
And we all know, like, theonly everything knows.
Everyone knows how our show isset up.
We're not politically correct.
We speak our minds.
We speak how we see the truth.
But I also do like to say, putyour cord in a slot machine, help

(01:25):
share a show.
Help grow the show.
And thank you to all the menand women in the military.
Thank you to all the policeofficers and the firefighters, corrections
officers, everyone out therefor your service.
We greatly appreciate it hereat Whitetail Advantage.
And that's my spiel for my intro.
Am I wrong?
Do you guys listen?
Do you guys hear the same.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's kind of annoying.

(01:46):
I feel the bearded guys are,you know, from these Duck Dynasty.
They have, like, a.
A good show podcast.
But, yeah, it's like, every 30 seconds.
Well, you know, you shouldcheck out blah, blah, blah, blah.
And it's like, come on, man.
You know, just get to.
You know.
That being said, what youshould do is really check out our
show.
Check us out at WhitetailAdvantage podcast.

(02:07):
Go ahead and follow.
Follow us on Instagram andFacebook and Scratch.
He has a Grinder account.
Brett has a Grinder account.
Don't.
Go ahead, follow us there.
And on that note, going, guys, you.
Got to be more specific aboutmy grinder.
It's a meat grinder account.
That's right.
It shows me in the butchershop grinding all the venison and

(02:29):
stuff.
Grind that sausage if you know it.
Ain't no pornographicgrinders, though.
I got freaking poison ivy.
I had to go to the hospitalagain, get a refill on my steroids.
So that sucks.
Got some on my neck in the back.
I got like this giant scarlike right around like a Mike Tyson
type shit.
And then I got like this likelittle rash right here in my wrist.

(02:53):
Did you climb a tree when youwere hunting with the vines on it?
Nah, I think it was last week.
I was, I, I found a spot.
I'm not going to kill a giantbuck on my property this year.
But I was looking at it fornext year and I saw this tree and
I was like, this would begreat to saddle hunt out of.
It's got everything.
It looks amazing.
It looks perfect.

(03:13):
So.
And I think there are somevines that I was cutting down.
I didn't realize they werepoison oak vines, so.
Oh man.
Yeah.
It's so funny because I wasgonna say the same exact thing.
Dave and I think too much alike.
What he said, how do you getpoison ivy watching football?
His wife made him a talent.

(03:34):
I was gonna say, what the hell?
How the hell do you catchpoison ivy playing golf?
I did play, I did play arounda golf on Friday.
I will say that.
Yeah.
So that was kind of fun to getwith some buddies.
Hadn't seen them in a coupleweeks and played around golf with
them and no, I said it before.
I'm probably say it.
I don't hunt on Saturdays.
I like to sit at home, spendtime with the family and watch college

(03:57):
football.
That's my Saturday.
That's what I do.
So that's a regular.
I don't hunt weekends becauseI have my kids.
But I mean I go fishing with them.
They love fishing so bad.
I was going to take everyone to.
There was my six yearanniversary on Saturday.
We were going to.
I was going to take everyoneto the rise to Gold Medal Farms.

(04:23):
Oh yeah, that's a.
But my son got the croup or cru.
Whatever that thing's calledand the croup.
Call Cr.
Croup.
Croup.
He goes, yeah.
So like nah, we're just gonnastay home like that.
Other than that, I have had ashitty hunting season.
I will say this though.
I did get a chance to run andgun it with Johnny one day on Thursday.

(04:45):
So that was a experience thatwas a lot of fun.
Yeah, yeah it was.
It was actually a lot of funtrying to move things around and
see how that went.
And so the first like couplehours because it non stopped rain.
So we'll backtrack it.
You know Brett, he calls me,he's like, hey, I'm dating off work
early.
Do you want to hunt?
I'm like, well, yeah, that'swhat we're planning on.

(05:07):
Let me leave work early.
We'll meet at my place.
So we meet at my place.
Dude, in the entire ride in,it's raining.
I get to my house and Brett'swaiting for me.
We did inside, I'm like, allright, do you have your.
Any wet weather gear?
Do you have a rain top or anything?
It's like, no, man, I justchecked the radar.
It's not going to rain.
It's going to end at like 15 minutes.
I'm like, all right, cool.

(05:28):
Then I remember the other day,I was sitting on a piece of land
hunting, and it was hailingand raining.
And I'm like, you know what?
I'm gonna bring my raincoatjust in case.
So I packed it in my bag.
I go, we.
Or Brett and I, we leave, weget to the spot and it just starts
pissing.
And I'm like, all right, it'snot too bad.

(05:49):
You know, Brett gets set upand I made sure he's up there.
And I go off and I set up inmy spot and I'm like, fuck this.
Put my raincoat on, man.
I'm like, all right, nice and dry.
Well, man, I feel bad for Brett.
He's sitting there in the rain.
That rain didn't stop, likeall night.
It would like, get sunny andthe rain would stop and the wind

(06:09):
would pick up and just dropall the rain that was on the leaves
onto us.
Yeah.
And then it would startraining again.
I'm like, nope, Raincoatstaying on.
And I stayed dry.
So.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Now I'll say this.
I had my heated vest and I hadthat thing cranked up to high and
towards the end of it, like,it was still like.
Or it was around 4:30, 5:00,and it just went like, black.

(06:33):
Like, it just seemed like itcame out of nowhere.
I blinked.
I'm like, I can't see.
I'm like, all right, so we gota couple hours left.
And towards the end of it, Ithink it was around 6, 6:15.
So we still have a goodanother hour, 45 minutes left of
shooting, like, left.
But I couldn't sit stillbecause my.
Then my left leg has like, threats.

(06:55):
And just flopping around.
Oh, boy.
All right, I'm done.
I can't.
Everywhere around.
And I.
And I couldn't control my left leg.
I had to lock it in just to beable to sit still.
Now, how was it for you thefirst time being out in the saddle
and experiencing rain, like,having to climb back down, pack up

(07:17):
your set in the pouring rain.
I mean, that's.
That's gotta be rough thefirst time, really having to experience
that.
I mean, was it tough for you?
It was nerve wracking.
But I just remember, just.
All right, that's how I got up here.
Just do it all in reverse.
Take your time.
I mean, I've been in stressfulsituations before, so I was like,

(07:38):
all right, just take a deep breath.
This is the situation you're in.
This is how you get yourselfout of it.
And it was a little freaky at first.
And I remember Johnny becauseI was like getting nervous.
I'm like, oh, I want to lookgood in front of Johnny.
And I'm trying to scrumaround, trying to get up the tree
and make it do quick and lookat like this.
And he goes, no, slow down.
Smoothest food.
Smooth as fast as fast as smooth.

(07:58):
And low is smooth.
Yeah.
Slow is smooth and smooth asfast and it's all right.
I just remembered everything Idid to get up there and just did
it all in reverse and cameback down and so.
So I just wanted to Update you too.
That 8 or modification that Idid works great.
It's.
It helped me.

(08:19):
I.
Because I was.
I didn't want to lose how muchI gained with those aiders, you know,
at a.
Instead of carrying that oneextra step.
Yeah.
I gotta tell you, man, I useit the other day.
I mean, it's still not as niceas I wish it would be, but it's a
hell of a lot better.
I can get my center of my footon it and then get my, My next step
down.

(08:39):
I can kick with my toe andkind of get my foot in alongside
of it and come down.
And then the last one I don'teven have to use because I mean,
it's would just be like alittle bit of a step up from the
ground.
But yeah, what a difference, man.
It.
It really, really helped mewith my setup.
That's good.
Two step or three step aider.

(09:00):
Mine is a three step.
It's a three step XOP 8 or it's.
That's the one that they, theygive you like it was.
I want to say it was like19.99 or something.
Yeah, it's like 20, 25 bucks.
Yeah, it was, you know, that'sthe 1xop cells.
But yeah, it's a three step.
It's a three step eight or sowhen I, you know, I'm five.

(09:21):
Five.
So I mean, I put the top ofthe step on my two step, that's about
as high as I can reach.
So you're, I'm probablyreaching almost 6 foot.
I'm, you know, I'm puttingthe, the AM steel around the tree
probably close to, you know,like maybe almost six feet and that
eight or maybe a foot off theground at the first step.

(09:43):
So it's not bad.
And out of my four sticksetup, I'm probably hitting 16, 17ft.
I mean it's, it's just, it'shigher than my ladder stand and my
ladder stands 15.
So it's plenty.
I mean it's, it's perfect.
This setup I just put here,you know, by the house is, it's great

(10:05):
because those sticks andeverything that I have and that,
that XOP superfly that doesn'tmake an impression on like, it's
like everything's see through.
It's hard to as hell to see.
Like I had to like look for itwhen I went back in and.
But it's awesome.
It's like, you know, it's likeskeletonized the way it sits against
the tree so it doesn't blot.

(10:27):
Like, you know, some, somestands stick right out.
They're blocky and they'relike a light gray or something.
Everything's brown and dark,dark, dark brown and it blends in
really good.
And I set right up by this.
I mean, I'm literally abovethe water where I'm sitting in the,
in the tree.
I'm right on the bank of thepond that's there.
And it's just like crucialbecause the way that the run comes

(10:50):
through there, there's bigwillow trees in there that cracked
and broke off where they usedto walk a little bit further away
from the lake and it actuallysqueezes them right to the lake.
And I kicked.
Just so you guys know, rut update.
They're getting musty.
The deer are getting musty.
I kicked the doe up and I hadher on camera down there where I'm
hunting.

(11:10):
It was like 5 o'.
Clock.
It was like quarter to sixwhen I left the house.
And I have literally like noteven a 30 second walk to get to the
stand.
I kicked her up.
I thought she went to the orchard.
She actually was coming backtowards my stand more.
When she bedded, I kicked her up.
She ran in front of me on thatrun and oh my God, it was like I
sprayed pot the trot like upmy nose.

(11:33):
That's how potent she was.
So that explains she's hangingdown there.
That's why that big buck hasbeen coming in there and perusing
around and, and trying to windher and find out when she's in there.
And it's, you know, what thepiece of land is next to my house
is a perfect transition zoneto get out to the good orchard from
the swamp that's across thestreet and then an orchard beyond

(11:55):
that.
And I'm talking, dude, it'slike 10, 15 acres of a little narrow
strip of land.
But there's two ponds in therethat are pretty good size that block
it.
And they're filtering overalways towards my side.
And I have a ladder standright on the edge of the orchard
that I can shoot out into the orchard.
But I was afraid that that bigbuck would come in and skylight me

(12:15):
down at the canopy starting towear out.
And I said, you know, I'mgonna make a sneaky set in there
and just get up in there.
And I found that tree and Ithink it's gonna pay off.
But you know, it's.
They play games and you gottajust watch them.
Daylight, man.
I, I'm watching my cameras religiously.
Everything has slowed down.

(12:36):
I'm not.
I had one buck move over onthe other property where I was putting
a lot of time in last night.
I think he was through thereabout 8, 45, 9 o' clock.
And he didn't hit any of myother cameras in there.
So he's making a hard left andgoing north.
We had a 350 pound mother bearin there with four cubs.

(12:57):
My son was in the tree and aneighbor down the road had the bear
on his trail camera and he'slike, hey, if you're out, be careful.
There's a mother and four cubswalking around.
Okay, I called them guys, Itexted him, I said, hey, be careful
over there on the property.
There's a bear.
My son's sitting there andhe's like, holy pop, the bear's coming.
I'm like, well, get ready.

(13:19):
So she walked about 50, 60yards away from him.
But one cub straight off, hethought it was going to come up the
tree to him.
Oh man, I have to send youguys a video.
I got it on a, on a text.
I, I do know that like mybuddy, I think it was, it was the
week I shot that doe.
He shot a deer, a buck thesame day.

(13:39):
It was like last Tuesday orsomething like that.
And he had bucks station does already.
And I'm like, holy shit, thatwas, that was quick.
Like I said on my phone, likefor the 25th, like the pre rut generally
happens Just like kind of likea basis that go off of.
And yeah, they're already chasing.
And one thing I do want tosay, and I think I caught myself

(14:00):
into it, so maybe other peoplemight be catching themselves in it.
We get so caught up on.
Look at all this new hunting gear.
Like, look at all this newsaddle hunting gear and this, this
and this for all the.
To make yourself more successful.
When we see, like, thesevideos, like, like one of these saddles
I was looking at, you see moreof, like, look at these big deer.

(14:24):
Look at me out in the woodsand the setting on this and that.
And you see, like littleglimpses of the actual product.
Yeah.
And it forces you into, like,thinking, oh, if I get this, I'm
going to have that happen to me.
Instead of, we have toremember that these are just products
to help aid you into beingsuccessful out there in the field.

(14:45):
You have to remember, basically.
And I'm only saying thisbecause I know I've caught myself
into it this year.
That's for fact.
I got myself so caught up in,oh, I gotta get all this sal gear,
this, this, and this and thisto make myself successful.
And I already got a successfullayout for myself already.
I felt like I needed to getall this stuff, this and that for
saddle gear and whatnot.

(15:05):
And I got so caught up intothat that I forgot about the hunt,
forgot about getting preparedfor the deer and stuff like that.
So people to get.
Yeah, I completely get whereyou're coming from.
And that's what the summer isfor me.
That's when I buy all my new deer.
That's when I got all my sop stuff.

(15:26):
I got all my other hunting stuff.
And then that way throughoutthe summer and, you know, as it transitions
into hunting season, that'swhen I start trying out all the deer.
I got a decent tree in mybackyard that I can try all my stuff
in.
Yeah.
I'm fortunate enough that waywhere I can do that.
And I shoot religiously fromthat tree.
I'll try the sop saddle.

(15:47):
Right.
I'll put that on.
I'll shoot with that.
I'll make any adjustments thatI have to.
I'll try different platforms.
That way I can buy all thisthat I need and that I want.
During the summer, I try itout what I don't like or what I don't
feel comfortable using.
Flip around and sell it onMarketplace right before season starts.

(16:09):
That's.
Yeah, that's what I do.
I did that too.
I mean, yeah, right away Ibought the Super Fly because Just
getting older.
My knees have been given outmore and more.
You know, it's just hell on my knees.
I. I love saddle hunting.
Don't get me wrong.
It's fine for a couple hours,but I like to sit for long periods
of time.
I wanted something that wasstill mobile.

(16:30):
I talked to Dave about it andhe uses the roam.
It was a little bit.
Still heavy.
Seven, seven and a half pounds.
I was like, nah.
So I bought the Superfly.
Spent a little bit more moneyon the Superfly.
I like it.
The seat could be a little bitmore comfortable, but you got to
remember it's more of a just arun and gun kind of stand.
It's not like an all daycomfort stand.
So there's gives and takes.

(16:52):
I did buy the micro C strapsfor it.
They're coming.
I think they're coming Tuesday.
Nothing wrong with the.
The am steel cord that holdsyou to the tree.
But going around the treethree times around the button and
then down to a cleat, it'skind of like.
I don't need to do that.
They got a loop.

(17:13):
A loop.
And then you cinch it downwith the mini.
The mini straps and thething's done.
Set it and forget it.
It just adds quickness to your setup.
It's less fumbling around within the dark.
And I, I trust it.
I think I trusted a littlemore than a couple of wraps around
something and something.
Well, that's why I like thatHFAS thing that Dave told me about

(17:34):
it first and then I.
Then I eventually bought it.
That thing like you're.
It's extremely lightweight.
It's.
I'm gonna say it's just apiece of string, but it's a strong
piece of string.
And all you do is just fliparound and then it's just like an
8.
Like it's got a prusik knot in it.
You just pull it tight andthere you go and it's cinched in
and it's going to hold 200pounds of me.
I just weighed myself today.

(17:55):
I reached my goal of getting200, so.
Yes.
Well, where are you at?
I was 225 in March.
I finally hit 200 pounds.
So I got my goal and there's acouple more months than I wanted,
but I'm happy about it anyways.
No, I thought it was really.
I really like that setup.
It's very nice.
Now if I'm gonna lake.

(18:16):
I told Johnny when I went outhunting with him I wouldn't use those
strings if I'm gonna Put thosesticks out there in the tree and
leave them there because I just.
I sunk a lot of money into.
Those are very nice.
It uses more for a mobile setup.
I'd use the cam buckle strapsmainly, but I do.
I love Johnny's one stick method.
Like, if you're gonna do a onestick thing like he does, he's got

(18:38):
the Perfect for it.
Yeah.
So with my setup, what I'vedone is I use a.
So I. I've tried the ETSO piece.
Did.
I tried the ETS2, and it was okay.
It wasn't bad.
It worked.
But what I do now is I.
Well, and then what I did thelast two seasons is I have a muddy

(19:01):
pro.
It's just got one rope thatgoes around the tree and a plate
that you just lock it into.
Right.
That's what I use.
I know ETSAP is a huge sponsorof the show, and I absolutely love
their stuff.
I have a platform that I useof theirs, but what I do is with
that one stick method, itworks perfect for me.

(19:22):
And once I did to the heightthat I'm hunting, I set the platform
up, lock it down.
Then I reached.
Once I'm on the platform, I'llreach down and I'll grab my muddy
stick.
I set that up, and that's nowmy Bowhainer.
And it works perfect for me.
Once every once the hunt'sover with, I'll take that, take my
bow down, lower it down, grabthat one stitch and use that and

(19:43):
just do everything in reverse.
It's so lightweight, too.
And you've done everything,like, perfect.
Like, I want Johnny Lightweight.
Johnny make do a video of thatwith you.
Once I got.
I'm too fat.
I know I'm going to flip overand hurt myself or throw a rib out

(20:04):
of place or something, but Iwant to see how you do it because
I'm.
I'm all for lightweight andgetting into something quick and
doing a setup.
And I mean, I got a prettyslick setup.
I mean, taking it down,putting it up, I'm about 15 minutes.
I mean, that's like soup.
The nuts done, sitting down,ready to shoot.
You know what I mean?

(20:24):
It could be a little faster.
I'm sure the more I'll do it,the faster I'll get, but.
Oh, absolutely.
I'm interested.
I'm interested to see.
I've watched other people doit, and I'm not sold, but.
Oh, Brett, I had a questionfor you.
I noticed in your pictureyou're using your tether with your
bridge as your Safety to climb.

(20:46):
How come you're not using yourlineman's belt when you climb?
I'm actually going to starttrying to do that more.
I just done what Johnny wasdoing with his one stick method.
Just using his tether andclimbing up.
I did notice that.
One, you can't do it with yourbino harness on.
Right.
Two, it seems to take a littlebit longer for me to do it that way

(21:08):
because I got one, I got stickand then I gotta climb up, cinch
in and then do another stick.
Yeah, Johnny's way of doing itwith just the tether.
You have to do it in that wayjust because that way it doesn't
fall down.
Right.
You gotta sit down to hold,reach down and grab the stick up.
I know, exactly.
So to do it with the sticksthat I have, I'm gonna be just switching

(21:29):
and using an actual lineman rope.
So that way I can kind of justgo up and then boom, there you go.
Boom, there I'm up.
And probably get up a lotquicker that way.
So I think that's probably onereason why it's taken me so long
to get up.
But yeah, that's justsomething I've learned from Johnny
doing it that way.
But I realized I'm doing foursticks compared to his one so he
needs to do it that way.

(21:51):
Now I also have a couplepermanent trees that I hunt out of
and what I'll do is I willhave a like a 30 foot rope and I
have two crucit knots on thatand I'll use that rope as my guide
rope.
So I'll clip onto the topcrucible knot and on the bottom crucible
knot I'll sink it all the wayto the bottom and just clip my bow

(22:12):
into that.
So I'm climbing, I'madjusting, I'm climbing, adjusting.
And then once I get to theposition I'm in, I now I no longer
have that lineman's rope tiedto the tree or anything.
I just have that single rope Idid to where the height that I want
to be.
I'm already clipped into the tree.
There's no additional ropesand I just pull my bow right up.

(22:32):
That helps us.
I don't like to have itdangling down.
So I just wrap it all up, setit up there in the tree.
I will say this, Johnny.
I don't even know if Dave'spart of the team anymore because
he doesn't accept, he doesn'taccept anything.
He deleted himself all fromwhitetail advantage and then he doesn't
accepted anything.
So I'M gonna call you out,Dave, you tax and everything.

(22:53):
Yeah, we love you, but I don'tknow if you're part of the team anymore.
Listen, Dave's.
Dave's always part of the team.
I don't want to hear that.
Damn name.
Don't take Dave.
Yeah.
Even though he's.
Well, he's got, he's gotfamily stuff that he's got to attend
to on Sunday nights.
That's why he's not on.
I will say this, though.
Dave's giving me a lot ofadvice, especially when, after I

(23:15):
shot that doe.
So I will say that.
I will say another thing Iwant to say is we get like saddle
hunting.
I. I was kind of skeptical ofeven doing it because I was like,
you know how you.
Those new TV shows, they comeon and you like, like Breaking Bad,
and they're like, oh, everyonecomes to work to talk about Breaking
Bad and you haven't watched it yet.
You're like, you know, fuck that.

(23:36):
I'm not going to watch thatshow because I don't want to be a
part of the clique or anything.
It's kind of like the samething with saddle hunting.
It seems like it's the newclick these days.
Like if you aren't saddlehunting, you're not really hunting,
are you?
And you're not part of thecool clique and shit like that.
Right.
That was, that was me.
I was kind of skeptical to getin this all, but it was a lot.

(23:57):
It's a lot of fun, a lot ofcool things, and all it really does,
excuse me, is it gives youanother option like you can't have,
like.
I love what I call is mytactical toolbox.
Yeah.
Everything I can use to helpme in being successful out there
in the field.
Saddle hunting just gives methat ability to be more successful

(24:19):
out there in the field.
It's something I've added tomy tactical toolbox and I can always
improve upon it.
So just look at it that way.
And we can't forget that atthe end of the day we're out there
and I said in one of thevideos I'll be posting here hopefully
in the next couple months.
We gotta remember at the endof the day, we are shooting, we are
hunting live creatures to fillthe freezer.

(24:41):
And these are, like I said,these are live animals we are trying
to harvest.
We can't forget about theactual hunt itself.
You don't get caught up in toomuch of the gear talk and all this
gear shit.
Yeah, we can talk with thattill we're boo in the face.
But at the end of the day,this is an animal that you are taking
its last.
You are going out there tohunt, to take its heartbeat away

(25:03):
so you can fill it for your freezer.
Hey, brother, I'll be right back.
I don't shut the door real fast.
Be right back.
I'm just gonna mute it.
Yeah, but, yeah, so the, likeyou're saying, you know, you need
to have the tools.
It's the price of doingbusiness, like I always say.
Yeah, you need to have thetools, and you're not going to know
what works for you and whatdoesn't work for you through all

(25:24):
the hearsay and until youactually lay hands on it.
Try it yourself.
And if it doesn't work out,there's always a spot for it on Marketplace.
Like Johnny said, you know,you can always try different things.
I mean, hey, kudos to Davefor, for, you know, getting us the
XOP hookup that we have.
And yes, I, I do, I do liketheir stuff.

(25:47):
I've really liked the waytheir stuff is made.
It's good quality.
They, They've been actuallypretty quick with getting stuff out.
They were out on the strapsand they got them in within, I think
they notified me, like twodays later that they were back in
stock.
I ordered them right away, andit's good, man, but you gotta, you

(26:07):
know, all through the years,like, I was thinking about it, I
was like, God, I used to build.
I miss building the wood tree stands.
Like, you know, put my ownlittle signature on how I used to
build them.
And, you know, you had to comfort.
I'm all about comfort.
I want to be comfortable whileI'm sitting.
My blower back kills me.
My upper back kills me.
Same here.
I got a little back problemstoo, bro.
Yeah.
So you, you sit there and youtry to get comfortable, and I'm in

(26:31):
a lot of freaking pain sitting anymore.
And I'm.
I'll tell you, man, if itdon't get better, I'm starting to
look at, like, I'm probablygoing to be a ground hunter, man.
I'm gonna have to starthunting out of blinds and doing stuff
like that.
Or maybe like a bigger, morecomfortable ladder stand, which I
have a couple of.
But I, I don't want to getaway from the mobility of this stuff,
you know, So I got to startdoing some, like, core exercises

(26:54):
more and different stuff to strength.
Not that I'm not strong.
My back is like, I can pick afreaking car up.
But it's the sitting that theCompaction in my spine.
That really bothers me, man.
It just.
I know Millennium tree stand.
Like, I got a lot ofmillennium tree stand stuff all over
my property.
Yeah, I caught my property,but it's not my property.

(27:14):
And they listen to their show.
I know they do.
You.
You guys know what I mean?
But, like, I got thatscattered everywhere.
Like, before xop, that's whatI had.
Is a lot of millenniumfreestands in there.
There's seating in there,Dude, Squatch, I'm telling you, you're
an old fuck.
But so am I when it comes tolower back problems.
Like, it hurts like a.

(27:36):
These seats that they have, Ican sit there more from sunrise to
sunset.
That's how much comfort are inthese seats.
And I don't have any lowerback problems at all within those
seats.
And believe it or not, thesaddle doesn't bother my back.
It bothers my knees.
It bothers my knees.

(27:57):
My feet were killing me.
You know, my feet are good.
My feet are good.
I can stand the pressure on my feet.
It's my knees.
Now, do you sit with yourknees locked out or do you have a
bench for bit?
But I kind of teeter, totterback and forth on my knees.
But what I do also, Johnny, is I'll.
I'll get by the tree.
I'll turn and put my shoulder,like, towards the tree and just kind

(28:20):
of sit with my legs out, likesitting more in the saddle.
Yeah, I. I experiment withhow, like, I'll put my tether about
eye height to the tree,Sometimes forehead height to the
tree.
And then I adjust how far out,like, I'm off the platform or how
close I am to the tree.

(28:41):
And I've noticed that helps.
Now, Frankie did give me kneepads to kneel against the tree.
But being my legs are liketree stumps, I'm afraid when I move,
and if I turn, they're gonnaswitch swatch against each other
and scare a buck.
So I didn't.
I didn't want to take thechance of being like a cricket and

(29:01):
rubbing my legs together andmaking noise up there.
But I got to try it.
I think it'll help, too, if Ican rest my knees with the pads against
the tree.
But so with.
With the way my setup is, Ihave everything.
Center mass.
My.
My rope is tied up center mass.
Everything is, like, right here.
I know Brett was talking howyou can't really do that with your

(29:23):
bino harness becauseeverything that's all tandled up
there.
Right.
A great solution to that.
Just like any gear from themilitary is I have molly pouches
all over my saddle.
Yeah.
I mean, I've got a pouch formy ropes.
I've got a pouch.
Like when Brett and I wentout, he's like, oh, you know, wait,

(29:44):
wait, don't leave yet.
I forgot my release or Iforgot whatever it was that you forgot
in your truck.
Yeah, I have two of everythingin my bag, like, on my saddle.
I'm like.
Because I don't know how manytimes I've gone up and I'm like,
my release is in the truck.
Oh, wait, I have this otherone that I use.
Yeah.
Or.
Oh, man, like, you droppedsomething up there, right?

(30:05):
I'm not gonna climb all theway back down and did it because
I did that last year.
This year, I have two ofeverything, and it works for me.
And what I really like aboutit is that I. I can flip.
Flip completely upside down inmy saddle.
And I've done it because what I.
When I first started doing thewhole one step method, I screwed

(30:26):
up so many times.
I'll drop this, you know, dropthat step.
And I'm like, well, now I'mstuck up here like an idiot.
Right.
And you have to figure out howyou're gonna get down.
And there's a lot of, like,hudding the tree and like, lowering
the rope and then sliding down it.
Yeah.
But now it's like, okay, well,I have D rings on my.
On my saddle, and I have Drings I'll never use, but I also

(30:51):
have one that I clip, like atether in to my step.
So if my step.
If I.
Like, when we went out, Brett,it was raining, it was wet, the tree
was wet, my ropes were all wet.
I dropped my step and I'mlike, oh, dropped it.
It didn't fall very far.
So it's tethered right to my belt.
Pull it up, set it back up tothe tree.

(31:12):
But again, all spring andsummer, I'm practicing with it.
I'm putting myself in thosescenarios where, okay, well, what
happens if I drop this?
What happens if I do this or that?
You know, my military, youknow, being in the military, it was
your most likely course ofaction and your most dangerous course

(31:32):
of action.
What's going to happen?
Most likely course of actionyou're hunting to go.
Pretty boring, you know, ormost dangerous course of action.
I'm gonna drop all my shit andI'm gonna be stuck up in a tree.
How do I hinder that?
How do I mitigate that risk ofdropping everything?
Simple.
In the army, you Tieeverything down.
And that's essentially what Ido is I have everything tied to me.

(31:54):
Yeah.
Where if I drop something, Ijust lose control of it and I can
pull it right back up.
It works that way.
It takes a lot of getting used to.
And that's what the preseasonis for me.
It's is just I'm in thebackyard either practicing my bull
for el hunting and myneighbor's like, what the hell is
that?
Or I'm climbing a tree and myneighbor's like, man, that John dude,

(32:15):
he's a weirdo.
But it works for me.
When you one stick, Johnny, doyou bring your platform with you
or you're standing just on that?
Okay.
So you do have a platform atthe top.
I have my backpack on me.
I have.
And I have my b.
My platform attached to, withthe twit clips right on the back.
So once I get to the heightthat I want to be, I'm secured in

(32:36):
the tree.
I undo one strap, swing thebat patch around, and I sit it on
my lap.
Yeah.
So everything is right hereand I'm just working with it.
I take it out, set it up, pullit in, lock it down.
Then I climb up to that andthen I bend down, grab the stitch.
I'm always, I always have apositive, you know, control over

(32:57):
everything.
I'm always connected to the tree.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Being a one step guy, you'regoing to get to a point where there's
a giant limb that you need toget your rope around.
So you need to disconnect that.
That's when I have another rope.
So I made sure that I'msecured that rope to the top of the
tree above that branch.
Yeah.
Bring that crucit knot down,clip into that.

(33:20):
Once I have the two crucitknots clip clipped into it, I just
undo that bottom one.
I'm still in the tree.
Take that one down, move itup, and just almost like leapfrogging
it.
And I'll do that, you know,two or three different times if I
have to.
Yeah, I think, becauseobviously I. I got my, my saddle

(33:40):
like two weeks before hunting season.
So a lot of this stuff wasjust learning on the go, learning
on the fly, like this, thisand this, like right off the get.
So I didn't have a lot of timeto like prep and figure out what
I liked.
And then like, I'm kind oflike doing it on the fly.
Right.
So I am excited to finally getmore of a full preseason under my

(34:04):
belt and figuring out.
All right.
And definitely one thing I'mgonna be putting my plat, my platform
right on the tree like 2inches off the ground and just figuring
out where I like my saddle,like where I like positions on it
and everything and this andthat and everything.
Boom, ready to go.
I've always like when I was inthe police academy, they were, I
was taught by military guys,well, be prepared for the unprepared

(34:26):
type of situations.
And so having two ofeverything is like ideal too.
But one thing I Dave asked, hesaid something on here real quick.
It just caught me.
He said, he said my knees killme too.
In salad an hour.
Yeah, I'm sure you see yourknees too hurt after an hour without

(34:49):
having a pillow on your kneesthere, don't you there, D?
But no, I'm excited to get afull preseason under me and get out
there and get some trees moreprepped and put some sticks out there
from xop, get them presetready to go.
Dave asks what platform youguys got right now?

(35:10):
I got the edge platform from xop.
Love you guys at xop.
But if that's a one you'regoing to want to move around and
run and gun with, you're goingto find some.
Is going to find it's prettyheavy, I'll say that.
So workhorse.
Mine's a tethered workhorse platform.
So I run the SOP platform thatyou have, Brett, and it's like you

(35:32):
said, it's about five pounds.
My other platform is atethered predator.
Yes.
Ned's 2.3.
Yep.
That's a lot, you know, halfthe weight.
Two and a half pounds.
You know, some people be like,oh, that's not that much difference.
It makes a difference whenyou're carrying a lot of.
When you're carrying a lot of weight.

(35:53):
Yeah, it is.
Or if like, like I was tellingyou, Brett, if you're gonna go out
for just a quick hunt and youdon't want to carry that backpack
with your platform on it andall your other.
Just clip it right to your,you know, your saddle.
You can de ring it and run aloop around that platform, flip it
into that well.
Now you have £5 on one sideand kind of like leans you over and

(36:16):
running and running out oftrees and stuff, you can't you lean.
And if you have a really longrope, like I use a 30 foot rope,
and once that's up there, asyou're climbing it, if you're not
hugging that tree or you letgo to grab your step to bring it
up, you tend to swing aroundthe tree.
Yeah.
So I'm gonna have to make avideo on how I do it.

(36:38):
It's.
I've learned a lot on what todo, what not to do, and how to fix
those issues.
So, yeah, this, if you wantto, Brett, sometime, either this
week or next week, probablyhit the woods and we'll make a quick
video before we hunt becauseit doesn't take very long for me
to get up and down a tree andexplain what I do.
Yeah.
It's one thing I definitelywant to be doing with Johnny here.

(37:01):
Can't do it here soon becauseI know you and I are going to be
hitting the woods here hardbecause the ruts coming on.
Johnny and I are going to bespending a lot of time in the off
season to make some goodvideos, what to do, what not to do
and like that, prepare, how toprepare and stuff like that.
Because it's going to be goodexperience because he's going to
be kind of playing.
He will be playing the role ofthe more experienced one.

(37:22):
So I'm going to be playing itas the unexperienced one.
So I'm going to be asking, Ifeel like the perfect questions because
I'm gonna be like, I'm notafraid to ask, quote, unquote stupid
questions because I'm gonnaask like, what do you do in this
situation?
Because you guys know I planfor all types of different scenarios.
Yeah.
And so I might have a goodquestion that you guys might not

(37:44):
think of in this and that.
And we're not going to be likeall the other how to videos.
No, we're.
I want us to make sure that wedo videos from top to bottom.
And we're not going to cutcorners of.
Well, we're gonna.
To save time, we're gonnapretend this is already here.
No, I want to know and carry everything.
Yeah.
I'm gonna give you the worstcase scenario on what happens.

(38:07):
And I've had it where I dropand I have to do a complete 180 in
the saddle and I'm upside downtrying to get something figured out.
And a huge thing that I. Ipreach it about checking your gear,
make sure everything is rightand safe.
And when we were out in thewoods Thursday, Brett, I was up in

(38:30):
the tree and I just happenedto look at my crucible that I'm secured
into and that was it.
There's a giant fray right there.
Whoa.
Yeah.
I'm like, well, that's my lasttime using this rope.
Is been a couple, you know,it's lasted me A couple seasons.
And all I did is just takeanother piece of rope like this and
make another double crucit knot.
And that's all it is.

(38:51):
Now that one's going to be a.
Cat toy, so I gotta just askyou guys quick.
I run an ascender from my,from my bridge to my tether and then
I put another ascender, mylineman's belt.
This way I can rapidly adjust,you know, as I go up the tree to
the thickness of the tree atthe bottom as it tapers and gets
smaller near the top.

(39:12):
Because I used to have tofight with the Prusik knot on my,
my, my rope when I. Oh, youmean like a Kong?
Yes, like it's.
Yeah, I got a different brandthan the Kong, but it's the same,
same kind of difference, really.
It's, it's.
Yeah.
My ascender that I have is amad rock on my.
Coming down to my bridge.

(39:33):
That one's either way and thathas a break.
You can actually descend withthat too.
I was talking to a rockclimbing buddy of mine.
I noticed that my mad rockwill creep a little tiny bit if it's
a positioned a certain way.
And other people, other peoplehave noticed it.
I talked to my rock climbing buddy.
You know what he said?
Dude, tie a knot in behind it.

(39:54):
Exactly.
He's like, you got nothing.
He's like, they all do it.
He's like, just tie a knot in,in your, your tether.
Just tie a knot.
He goes, you're not going togo anywhere.
I'm like, yeah, that'sfreaking so simple.
Why didn't I think of it?
And he's like, just do that.
But the reason why I asked mycousin Bry, who's watching right
now on the show here too.
He's new to saddle hunting asof like this last year.

(40:15):
He got into it right near theend last year.
I believe he saw my setup.
I noticed today when he sentme a video.
He's using the Prusik knot onhis bridge and he's using the Prusik
nut on his lineman's.
And I said, hey, I sent them a link.
I was like, buy yourself twoof these.
You're gonna freaking love it.
It saves so much.
We're sitting there having tofight the Prusik knot.
Not that they're not okay.
They work.

(40:35):
But you know how it is.
You want to adjust yourself upa little tighter to tree, take some
weight off a certain wayyou're sitting or lean back.
You can adjust it and you knowit's Great, man.
I mean, you know, I, I, I likesimple, especially in the dark.
You know, you.
I could not stand trying totake hold on to the tree with the
Lyman's belt.

(40:55):
Like putting the Lyman's beltin my loop and then pulling that
freaking prusik knot.
I do notice that the XOP ropewith the carabiner and their prusik
knot is smoother than mytrophy line.
It's, it's, it's.
That one's a lot easier to usewith my safety harness.
That, that tether works goodfor my rope.
So what I want you to do one time.
Squatch.

(41:16):
Yeah.
And you grab it.
Yeah.
And instead of like fightingit and trying to figure out what
to do, all you have to do islight up some slack on it and just
twist it.
As long as you get this or.
A half twist it will loosen itup enough where you can pull it on
down.
Well, you can pull it on up.
It's not so much with thebridge rope because I had that ascender

(41:36):
first.
It's that Lyman's one on my,my trophy.
That, that rope is really good.
I'm not saying it's not goodrope, but it's just like I can twist
it and it still just doesn't.
That's how, that's how my.
On my saddle that I have.
I have a tethered phantom.
Yeah.
And that person out on thereis super tight.
And you have to, you know, onthat one, what I do is I'll take

(41:57):
my thumb and push on that loopand then twist it and it.
It's still a really tight fit.
Yeah.
But at the end of the day,that's really what we want.
Yeah.
Is.
No, it's, it's cool, man.
It's cool.
Like, you know, he just saidhe, he just said he ordered two.
I'm trying to.
Let me find out what the brandname was.

(42:18):
Ones I got it.
I just sent them the leak too.
They're.
I got them on Amazon.
They're good.
And mine actually have like a knurling.
Like a knurling on the, thecam part.
So it actually grabs the ropeversus like my mad rock is smooth
all the way through.
And I'm like, nah, I'd likesomething with a little bit more
bite.
You know?
Like now with that bite,you're going.

(42:40):
To be replacing your rope alittle bit more.
That's all right.
I, I don't Absolutely.
Yeah.
I feel like a rope is good forat the most two seasons.
Yeah.
I agree.
And that's what this one was.
That's two seasons.
And y. I just.
At the end of two seasons,swap out all your ropes.
I mean it's just.

(43:01):
Oh absolutely.
And it's.
You're essentially at the endof the day putting your life in the
hands of that rope.
So why not, you know, spendthe extra money every couple seasons
and get brand new ropes.
Mine's a Sylvan.
Especially when it's only like60 bucks.
I mean I know it makes 60bucks seem like it's only 60 bucks,
like it's cheap but at the endof the day it's, it's 60 bucks and.

(43:24):
Oh absolutely.
Yep.
Yeah, that's a great one.
Scratch.
Yeah, it's 39.99 on Amazon, man.
It's made by Sylvan rope asunder.
Yep.
And it has it.
What I like about it too guysis like look, it has that little
cable on it.
Can you see that?
Trying to get.
Yeah, that's.
That table is great as asafety feature.
And when you want to pull it,you know, you pull it to loosen it
up and give yourself slack.

(43:45):
And like Justin was saying,he's like, yeah, I hate.
He didn't like the prusicknots either.
Justin mentioned that in the comments.
Yeah, he did.
He said it.
I feel you, Squatch.
Yeah, man.
So the, the only reason I useso many cruise nuts on mine is when
I was in mountain warfare school.
That's all we had.

(44:06):
We had to work with the barebones minimum.
Yep.
For the first like week Ithink it was.
And then at the end of that,that's when they're like, oh yeah,
by the way, here's all thecool guy gear.
You know, check this stuff out.
Yep.
But it, it gives you that, youknow, it teaches you to not only
have faith in your equipmentand that, hey, yeah, it's a piece
of rope but it's going to saveyour life or you can put your life

(44:28):
in its hands.
Right Then at the end of thatweek you're like, okay, now that
you've, you've learned thisand you have the warm and fuzzy understanding
about it, here's somethingthat's a little bit better.
And yeah, you can go out andyou can spend hundreds of dollars
on climbing equipment just forthis hunt.
Yeah.
But I got my 13 year olddaughter into saddle hunting and

(44:50):
I started off with just a rockclimbing gear like a rock climbing
harness that should put on andwould hang on trees in the backyard
and should swing from it andrepel down from it.
I'm like, all right.
Great.
Now you have an understanding.
You know how the fundamentalsof it all work.
You know the shitty equipment.
Now here's better equipment to use.
Yeah.

(45:11):
That way once you do use thatbetter equipment and you're like,
oh, man, this is so easy.
Now you're in that pinch andyou have to use that shitty equipment
that you grew up using.
You know how to use it andyou're comfortable with it.
That's smart thinking.
And that's kind of like how mydad taught me how to bow hunt.
He taught me how to bow huntwith like finger releases growing

(45:32):
up.
Yeah.
He said, all right, if youlearn how to shoot a bow with your
fingers and be proficient atit, getting these new releases out
there.
And they just kind of prettymuch started.
But everywhere I was, we were.
He was taking me to get a bow,they were forced.
They're like pushing the.
These new releases on therebecause it was a new up and coming
thing.
It was going to be the thing.

(45:55):
And said, nope, I want my sonto learn to use his fingers.
You have to learn thefundamentals of it.
Exactly.
And he said, you're going to learn.
If you learn the basics ofarchery hunting, you learn this,
everything else is going to be10 times easier and you're going
to master it, basicallybecause you have this great fundamental
base to go off of.
And it sounds like that's thesame thing you're doing with your

(46:16):
kid.
My.
My motto is, you, you can addto, but you cannot take away from.
So I give them the standards.
Hey, this is how we're doing asaddle hunt.
This is the standards right here.
You can add special equipmentto it.
You can add whatever you wantto make it better and easier for
you, but you cannot take awayfrom the standards and the safety

(46:36):
features that I have alreadyimplemented with it.
And with all of my stuff, Ikeep it super simple.
I mean, I use the.
The stuff I'm using now, it'sdefinitely outdated.
There's definitely betterequipment out there that I could
go out and spend the money on.
I'm gonna end up putting thatmoney towards something different.

(46:58):
Because all this stuff thatI'm using now, it's the stuff that
I grew up using.
It's the stuff that I know works.
It's not only been tested, youknow, in a hunting environment, but
I've used it all over.
I do wanna say, to cut you offthere, Johnny, I do have a buddy
test me saying he's watchingthe show during his work time.
So thank you, Sean, forwatching this show.

(47:19):
Right?
Yeah, he Said you look sexy.
Don't smile.
Nice.
Nice.
But no, that's cool.
That, like, you.
You have that mono, and that'spretty sweet.
But we're getting close to theend of the hour there.
You guys may want to do onephone call or just kind of just keep
wrapping it up, I think.

(47:40):
You want to have somebody tryand call in?
Yeah.
All right.
If you guys don't know thenumber and you're right there.
Say if you're.
If you don't know the numberand you're local to west Michigan,
you can hit up any truck stop,and it's usually on the third stall
in.
Call for a good time.
Yep.
You're so funny.

(48:01):
It usually says, for gloryhole attendee dial.
That's right.
Hey, my cousin had a question.
He says, I like the saddle,but how the hell do you guys use
your jacket pockets?
Yeah, I will say, I don't knowhow yet.
Okay.
I have this one out front, you know.
All right.
I can't get in there, brother.

(48:21):
I can.
So when Brett and I went out,I climbed up the tree, and I got
all set up in my saddlewithout my reindeer on, right?
So I'm up in the tree, andit's raining still.
I'm like, all right, break outmy reindeer.
So I'm in the saddle, I put it on.
You know, you're supposed totuck it all in, and I don't.
So with my reindeer, I haveeverything on, and I just have everything

(48:44):
folded into the saddle, like,right into that bridge.
Everything just folds rightinto that.
Yeah, and I've.
I've practiced it here becauseI shoot like it would be the middle
of summer, and I'll shoot withmy cold weather stuff on.
I'll be sweating my ass off.
But I'm gonna end up shootingthat way in December and into January,

(49:08):
so why not practice it, right?
I don't do it all the time,but that goes back to take all your
shit, put it on, go out andshoot your bow.
And I know a lot of people.
It's easier said than done.
And it looks pretty suspiciousgoing out in, like, September on
the public land with all yourhunting stuff to set it up.

(49:31):
Yeah, but I mean, I've done itwhere I just find a good spot, you
know, not too far off thetrail, and I'll set up, and I'll
bring a target bat bag outthere, set it up, and sling some
arrows into that.
Do you guys have the problemof your.
Your tops riding up yoursaddle, too?
Yes, because my lower back andmy front it was just kept sliding

(49:53):
up and up, and I kept pushingit down and down, but next thing
I know, my pants were actuallyfalling down with it too.
So I was like, wait a minute.
Do I need to put the saddle on?
And then.
Then the.
Like the coat and stuff over that.
So I put everything on.
I'll put everything on andthen put the saddle on.
And when I flip the saddle on,I cinch it tight, like, extra tight.

(50:17):
Because throughout all mymovements and stuff, it's going to
loosen a little bit.
But the waist watch wastalking about how you.
Well, we'll just tie a knot atthe end of it.
You know, you don't want thatrope to slide.
Tie a knot.
If you look at our saddles,there's a little elastic band that
goes along it.
I'll cinch tight, fold itover, and put that elastic band over

(50:38):
the part that's hanging overthe tail, essentially.
And that will stop it fromsliding out too far.
That's essentially just liketying a knot into it.
And what that does is it givesit a little bit of play, but it's
not going to be over the top.
Where at the end of your hunt,you have to hike your saddle all.
The way up the trophy line.

(50:58):
What Brett was kind of saying,I'm fortunate with that trophy line.
There's two side straps thatcome up towards your bridge that
are adjustable, and that givesyou more of a cup.
Like, imagine this is your hip.
This gives you more of a cup.
If you loosen it, it spreadsit out more so you're more straight
leg, so you can.

(51:19):
You don't have to, like, worryabout it, like, riding up.
It'll.
It'll kind of stay in place.
I did have to mess with that,though, when I first got it.
So it more, like, it acts morelike a cup, like a seat.
The thing that gets me withthe saddle after a while is I'm.
I'm a fat ass.
I got love handles.
So the pinch of that saddle,and it's an extra large.

(51:41):
I got the bigger one, but withmy other jacket on, it pushes more,
and it actually hurts my kidneys.
After a while, I gotta, like,stand up and take that pressure off,
like, the back part of mykidney, because I can feel it's like,
you know, the tension of therope is digging in that one spot.
You know, it's like.
But it's all little quirks.
I mean, as far as, like,jackets going, like, you got somewhere

(52:04):
to put your hands in yourpockets to keep warm.
I bought a different jacket, man.
And I got this one off of teemu.
It's.
It's like the plush.
The plush hush, quiet, like,you know, it's like that soft material.
But the.
The pockets are up high in thefront, and it's perfect for the saddle.
You can get your hands in there.
And I've got thoserechargeable hand warmers off of

(52:26):
Amazon I bought.
They're like 14.
Dude, those things last 20hours and they're hot.
They're not.
No kidding.
They're not like, oh, my God.
Dude, I will say that's what I use.
I use the shapey ones and I'm done.
No, but I'll send you the link.
They're.
They're hand warmers.
They're 14.
They last 20 hours.

(52:47):
You recharge them on a C cord.
You could charge it to.
It's got a Y in it, so you cancharge them up at the same time.
My old man was here tonight.
He's getting older.
He's got.
His hands get cold quick.
I said, here, try these out.
I had him sitting on the tablefrom, you know, like, charging up.
He's like, oh, my God, buythose for me.
I'm like, I got a set coming already.
I know you need them.

(53:10):
I got the.
It's.
It's a vest from Ventlock Camera.
The name of the actual.
That was a nice vest you have.
I was.
I.
Was I in that thing?
What?
Milwaukee?
Is it Milwaukee?
No, Milwaukee is a nice one too.
It's a nice heated vest.
It cut.
And you can get a differentsize battery pack with it.
I just got the basic small one.

(53:30):
I'm gonna get the bigger one later.
But it's.
It's mainly heated on the back.
Got a little bit feeling inyour chest and.
Oh, my God, I fucking lovethat thing.
It was the best 80 bucks Iever spent.
And the reason I wanted one ofthose is because I wanted to cut
down on the amount of layersthat I was bringing out there into

(53:51):
the woods.
Because I felt.
I think it was a couple yearsago, I felt so thick when it was
so getting really cold.
I was like, I got to wear 10layers just to stay warm.
How can I cut.
Reduce the layers down so Ican feel like I can take an actual
clean, ethical shot.
Compared to feeling like I'mso scratched out with my gear and
I gotta do this with it.

(54:12):
The Michelin man, where you'reway out here.
Yeah.
It's like, what the.
I'm like, I gotta do this.
It's like that.
There's gotta be Something out there.
And I found that best.
And it's the.
One of the best things I'mlooking for.
So I'm trying to find morethings that will allow me to stay
more heated.
I do want some.

(54:32):
Some of those things.
That's the one I'll send you, Johnny.
That's the ones I got.
Well, all right.
What.
What takes you guys out of thestand, like quicker.
Like for me, it's my.
No.
Squatch is trying to get somedick on grinder.
So that's probably his top one.
Well, like, once my toes get cold.

(54:56):
You.
I put flavors on the forest onit too.
So it attracts more peoplequickly, you know.
Sorry, Johnny.
No.
Like, is there anything thatwill get you out of a tree sooner?
So like, you know, I like togo out for all day hunts and I'll.

(55:18):
In the morning I'll pack upall my stuff and I. I'm good for
the day, right?
But it's like there's twothings that would get me.
And the other night it hit mehard where I was.
I had all my reindeer on, butyet I had that one drop of rain that
hit like the back of your neckand went right down your spine.
Yeah, like negative 25 degreeslike that.

(55:42):
I'm done.
I. I got like 15 minutes andthen that was.
That was it.
That and my toes.
Once my toes get cold, I'm done.
Like I turned into a littlebitch at that point.
I can handle the extreme coldpretty damn good.
As.
As old as I am, I've learnedhow to weather it.
But what gets me sittinganymore is my.

(56:04):
My middle of my back, betweenmy shoulder blades, my lower back
and my knees.
That's.
That's.
That's the hurting.
The hurting thing the most,you know?
And I mean, you guys saw lastyear when it got brutal cold.
I got that wooden box blind.
I go in with my Mr.
Buddy Heater in there.
And old squatch is prettycomfortable in there.
I like it.
No, but yeah, I. I would saythe biggest thing is just not being

(56:29):
comfortable in my back.
That's.
That's the killer for me isjust having to.
Having to get out of the tree.
And then, you know, I sufferwith it so much.
Like I didn't even go out to.
I didn't go out today.
I was in.
I was in pain this morningwhen I woke up, I was like, I'm not
going.
I really wanted to, but I wasjust like, you know what?
I gotta work tomorrow and ifI'm hurting, then I can't do the

(56:51):
job.
And I'm like, I, I gotta givemyself a day of rest.
I really do.
Now for me, it, my toes getit, but I suck it the up.
But a lot of my stands, I, Ican sit in there and my knees, once
those get cold and I start toshiver and I can't control my leg

(57:12):
shaking, then it's like, allright, I'm not going to be able to
pull off a clean ethical shot.
So there's no point me sittingin this tree anymore, Right.
Other than that I might sit inthere just to sit out there.
Right.
But I'm not going to pull ashot unless I know I can do it cleanly
and ethically.
Right.
But at that point, no, I thinkonce my knees are done, I'm done.

(57:33):
Now for me, I have like whenwe were going out, Brett, I had some
certain music going on in thetruck and I had it up rather loud.
Do you guys have like a saidsong or music that you listen to
as you're going out?
I know squash, you huntbasically right out of your house

(57:54):
where Brett and I have todrive a little bit.
But do you have that one songthat you have to listen to?
Yeah, like a. Yeah, yeah, Igot one song.
It's Time Bomb.
Okay, Time.
Like I got like, I gotta throwthat into it.
Might not have to be the firstone or anything, but I gotta listen
to that song before Ieventually get to my destination.

(58:17):
I like, I like that.
Rock and roll.
Get me hyped, pumped up, readyto rock and roll type like, get me
the out there and let's dothis thing, man.
I'm ready to go out there and kill.
Yeah, I listen, I get that.
I got that song on there.
I got some other.
I throw in a couple rap songsin there.
But no, it's Time Bomb.
I got that one in there.
Some five finger death punch,Lincoln Park.

(58:41):
I got a lot of those songs in there.
Like, yeah, I'm like, God,yeah, that's me.
So when I go up to themountain, like that's a 45, almost
50 minute drive.
When I hunt with my son upthere, I throw on like old whing.
I, I love throwing on stranglehold.

(59:01):
I'll listen to Fred Bear, I'lllisten to Great White Buffalo.
Anything like along thoselines, you know, the nude just inspires
me to get fired up early inthe morning.
I mean there's nothing likekicking on stranglehold at like 11,
you know, on the volume andjust freaking rocking out to get

(59:21):
old Uncle Ted to get you goingin the Morning.
I, I, that's my go, to's, man.
I mean, the songs, like, I, I,if I'm in the tree and the deer are
moving, it's playing in thebackground in my head, believe it
or not.
No.
Because that happens to all of us.
And I feel like that'ssomething lot of people don't talk

(59:41):
about is the ritual going intothe hunt.
Like, yeah, we talk about ourgear, everything that we have.
But we have those rituals thatwe do y where I have a playlist.
And it's like, it.
It will start, I don't know, September.
And once that starts playing,I'm like, all right, this is deer
killing season coming up.

(01:00:01):
Like, this is my playlist thatI listen to.
Yep.
And one day I was driving my buddy.
It was me, my buddy and my cousin.
We were all going out opening day.
I'm like, all right, we'regoing to go.
And they came into my truck,and I just had it playing.
And they're like, what thehell are you listening to?
I'm like, dude, this is.
This is a killing music right here.
Like, this is music that makesme feel like, deer season starting.

(01:00:26):
Oh, yeah.
And they're like, what the hell?
And it takes me back to mydeployment days.
Right, right.
And I'm gonna feel bad becauseas soon as I say what I listen to,
there's gonna be, like, two responses.
And it's gonna be like, oh, myGod, you're an idiot.
And then there's gonna be,like, the guys who were deployed

(01:00:48):
from, like, 05 to 2010 and belike, yeah.
And the first song that Ilistened to is I kissed a girl and
I liked it by Katy Perry.
Go ahead and laugh.
Okay.
Yeah, that's a good one.
There's that one.
There's.
I'm bringing setsi back byJustin Timberlake.

(01:01:09):
Nice.
That one.
And then.
And then it goes into, like, Ihope you die by Bloodhound gang.
The flip a switch.
Oh, yeah, it flips a switch tothat one.
And then meet the wretched bydevil driver.
Like, those are my top foursongs that I have to listen to.
And, Brett, you've seen howclose I live to where I hunt.

(01:01:31):
Yeah.
I will sit in my truck andfinish one of those songs, whatever
one's playing.
I'm like, the sun will become.
I've done that too.
You gotta go like, no.
Nope.
I'm gonna sit here and I'mgonna finish this song.
I'm gonna enjoy it, and thenI'm gonna go out.
Yeah, I'm the same.
I'VE done that too.
I. I feel like that's asubject that so many people don't

(01:01:51):
talk about and that so manypeople, like, even now people are
listening to this podcast andthey're like, holy, he's right.
Like, I have that on that Ilisten to and I don't even know it.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
Yeah.
I love these.
I love the hunting season.
It's amazing.
But I love having thesehunting season shows because we just.
It's just us.
I mean, we have a guest comingup here in the next couple weeks.

(01:02:13):
I talk to him.
But mainly we just kind ofkeep it us here as a team and we
just talk how this season'sgoing and talk most random as crap.
Generally do that, though,throughout the year with our show.
But we really get into justwho fucking cares?
Let's just speak.
Talk what we want to talk about.
We don't have any game planreally for our our team shows.

(01:02:35):
We just kind of wing it at thelast minute.
We're not gonna lie.
We keep us straight with youguys, but we do.
I do try to think of some ideas.
If anyone ever wants to crawlin, reach out to one of us, we'll
put you on.
Exactly.
But with that being said,we're gonna start wrapping up for
tonight.
I do want to say thank you toall our fans out there and all the
audience out there.

(01:02:55):
We appreciate each and everyone of you.
We love you guys so much.
We couldn't be here withoutyou guys.
I can't say thank you toenough for everything you guys done
here for us and helped us out.
And we want to be able toreach out to you guys and say thank
you.
If you need anything from us,please reach out to us.
We have ample time to answerany of your questions or if you ever
want to be on a part of theshow, reach out to us.

(01:03:17):
Everyone here from WhitetailAdvantage is more than willing to
stop what they're doing, helpyou out and give you the best advice
and steer you into the rightdirection as possible in any direction.
You guys know our personalities.
You guys know us by now.
What we're most kind of quoteunquote, experienced in the most
obvious.
So you're probably not goingto want to ask me a lot of saddle
questions.

(01:03:38):
I can tell you what the kindof stuff to avoid, but Johnny Squatch.
And then there go stuff like that.
Hybr hunting as Dave I can goon and on, but thank you again to
everyone.
Thank you to everyone in the military.
Thank you to the policeofficers, firefighters, doctors,
Shut the up Johnny.
I gotta thank them for theirservice too.
I was, I was them.
I gave thanks to you for yourservice even though you got shot

(01:03:58):
in the neck.
So it doesn't really.
So shut the coach and anymoreyou got to do it all for me.
Thank you.
Yeah, I know.
So again, thank you toeveryone that's in the public service
world.
Thank you.
Our shows do get released inthe hunting season a little differently,
but generally Monday andWednesdays at 5am Eastern Time.

(01:04:22):
Make sure to stay tuned forJohnny's show.
His first show is going to bethis Tuesday, the 28th.
It's not going to start 8 o'clock like his normal shows are,
but this show is going to bestarting at 9:30 this Tuesday.
So make sure to stay tuned for that.
It's a different time for that show.
For this Tuesday, Mysteries inthe Timbers hosting by Johnny.

(01:04:44):
I'm gonna be on, not as thehost or anything like that.
I'm just on there as a guest.
And as you guys know, theFranken Squatch Show, Johnny's show
of Mysteries in the Timber,that's their show.
If I come on, I'm simply as aguest, just as a mere pretty face
to join the show and stufflike that.
It's their show, it's their baby.
They're the boss, not me.

(01:05:04):
So I just want to make sure wepoint that out to you guys.
But with that being said,Squatch, how can people reach out
to you man?
You guys know you can alwaysfind me here and wait till advantage
on Sunday nights.
Tuesday nights usually too.
But we're doing the Frank andSquatch show every other week.
You can also check me outsometimes on Boondocks Hunting Outdoors
with Mike Nitrae, Garden CityOutdoorsman podcast, same title outdoors

(01:05:28):
and more of the squatch onInstagram, YouTube.
All that fun.
Happy horseshit.
Johnny, how about you man?
Yeah, check me out on Instagram.
Johnny Nitro Knight.
I'm on there.
I'm on here every, I don'twant to say every Sunday, but for
most part every most part Sundays.
And then like Brett said,Tuesday, 9:30, we're going to start
off my own podcast, Mysteriesin the Timber.

(01:05:52):
It's going to be a great time.
The first episode's going tobe a hometown legend or not really
legend, but hometown story ofStephen Kubecki, a man who disappeared
and then reappeared.
And there's a whole lot ofstuff behind that.
We're gonna dive deep into that.
And I'm like Brett said I'mgonna have him.

(01:06:12):
I'm gonna have Brett on thepodcast to answer some questions
that I have on how the lawenforcement side side went searching
for them.
So either jump on Tuesdaynight and watch or check us out on
the download once it hits again.
Thank you to everyone and Squatch.

(01:06:33):
Yeah man, Take us on out.
So guys, we're going to takeit on out with prayer like we usually
close our shows down.
I came up with Psalm 104:10through 24 and it starts out, he
makes springs, pour water intothe ravines.
It flows between the mountains.
They give water to all thebeasts of the field.

(01:06:55):
The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
The birds of the sky nest bythe waters.
They sing among the branches.
He makes grass grow for thecattle and plants for the people
to cultivate, bringing forthfood from the earth.
Hell, many are your works,Lord, in wisdom you make them all.

(01:07:15):
The earth is full of your creatures.
On that note, like always,shoot straight.
God bless you all and theWhitetail Advantages out.
Good night everybody.
Thank you for tuning in toanother episode of the Whitetail

(01:07:36):
Advantage podcast.
We hope you enjoyed the showand we will see you next time.