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The Hunting Stories Podcast
Elk. Bear. Hog. Turkey. Deer and More. Hunting Stories that will make you laugh or maybe cry; real life chronicles from the field.
The Hunting Stories Podcast
Ep 141 The Hunting Stories Podcast: Iain Anderson
The wilderness of Southern Ontario comes alive through the captivating hunting tales of Iain Anderson, a passionate outdoorsman whose journey didn't begin through family tradition but through personal curiosity and friendship. Unlike many who inherit hunting knowledge through generations, Iain found his calling alongside a childhood buddy, starting with pellet guns and squirrels before tackling bigger game.
From his first turkey at age 14 to surviving a spur through the hand during a Northern Ontario adventure, Iain's stories resonate with both newcomers and seasoned hunters alike. His account of watching five wild turkeys attack a decoy before one of them literally left its mark on him will have you wincing and laughing simultaneously. The hospital visit that followed—where multiple doctors kept asking "Did you get him?"—perfectly captures the essence of small-town hunting culture.
Perhaps most compelling are Ian's reflections on what he calls "hunting karma." After shooting a buck from under an older landowner as a teenager, he experienced a five-year dry spell that only ended when he refined his approach. This theme of ethical hunting affecting future success runs throughout the conversation, including a parallel story about a hunter who poached turkeys and subsequently couldn't harvest anything for years. These aren't just entertaining anecdotes—they're powerful reminders about respecting both the animals and the unwritten rules of the hunting community.
Whether you're fascinated by Eastern turkey tactics, curious about shotgun deer hunting challenges, or simply enjoy authentic stories from the Canadian wilderness, Iain's experiences offer both entertainment and education. Subscribe now to hear more real-life hunting adventures from everyday outdoors enthusiasts who, like Iain, have learned their lessons the hard way.
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Howdy folks, welcome to the hunting stories podcast. I'm your host, michael, and we got another great episode for you today. Today, we're actually connecting with a listener. He has some amazing stories. His name is Ian Anderson. Ian, of course, reached out using the handy dandy form that I've put together. If you're interested in telling some stories of your own, please check out our website. It's in the show notes. It's also on our Instagram. You can find that survey basically anywhere.
Speaker 1:But thank you, ian, for being brave, reaching out and sharing some stories with us today and to you listeners, thank you, guys for tuning in. Let's go ahead and kick this thing off. Let Ian tell you some of his stories. Thank you, all right, ian. Welcome to the Hunting Stories Podcast, brother. How are you? I'm doing great, man. How are you doing? I am doing well. It's a beautiful Sunday and I'm excited to be here talking with you. Man, you're another one of the listeners that somehow found that form I put together and you reached out. Man, I appreciate you for that. I'm encouraging more and more people to do it. I've got, I think, five guys right now scheduled to record with that have all filled out that form. So thank you, but let's be on the forum and screw that thing. Who are we talking to today, man? Ian, tell us a little bit about yourself so that listeners know who they're hearing. Some stories from, all right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my name's Ian. I come from Ontario, canada, sort of down on the southern end of it. I have always been in the woods. I've loved it my whole life, always been in the water, you know, always been into firearms and trying to figure out how to work animals and all that stuff. Yeah, you know, it's just, it's my livelihood, it's my passion. I can't I really can't figure out anything else in life that I would rather be doing than sitting out in a tree stand or in a blind or on the boat or whatever right, Perfect man, Perfect.
Speaker 1:So I assume it was in your family if you've been doing it your whole life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, kind of. So growing up my parents didn't get into it and then my buddy he was into it, so I've known him my whole life. We kind of got into it when we were younger so our parents bought us like pellet guns and all that stuff and we would go out when we were younger and we'd be walking around the bush shooting squirrels and stuff with pellet rifles and we just thought we were so tough and badass back then Like, oh man, if a coyote comes out here he's going to get it and it's like, yeah, yeah, no way, man, not gonna happen.
Speaker 1:But that's awesome. So your parents didn't necessarily do it.
Speaker 2:You just went out in the woods with your buddy and just fell in love with nature and putting critters down huh yeah, it's always sort of been in my roster in my livelihood, um, even just as a little kid, before I even got into hunting. You know, my dad introduced me into fishing and all that stuff. But I've always just been so fascinated when you get a close encounter with an animal and how it's like if you stay still and you know he'll be able to, he won't see you, he won't sense you. You know, obviously back then we didn't know about wind and all that stuff as a small kid, but yeah, yeah yeah, that's pretty cool, man.
Speaker 1:I think that's a relatively unique story. You get a lot of guys that their family you know it's just ingrained in the family for generations and they learn it from their grandpa or their dad or their uncle or whatever. There's plenty of guys that fire it up once they kind of come of age, you know in their late 20s or whatever, and you know adult onset hunter. But not many people didn't have that family influence but still started really young. So that's cool. Um, I'm excited to hear some of your stories, brother. So where are we going with this?
Speaker 2:well, we'll, uh, let's see, here we'll start off. Let's just say, when I was like very young, so my stepfather, he, he was, he's a hunter okay so he did a lot of influencing on it too.
Speaker 2:He didn't hunt back when, uh, when it all got started, sort of thing. I it's all he would show me like his hunting stuff and it was, oh, that's a cool buck knife or whatever, like this shotgun shells, all that stuff always been just fascinated with it, right, yeah, so I actually got him back into it. He did about a five or something year pause where he didn't do it much and then he's just like you know what, let's get back into it. We got a young guy we can bring out with me. Now might be a little bit more fun that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's cool rekindling the older generations love I love that, okay, yeah, no, it was a lot of fun, so I shot a lot of my first with him around. We'll go off with the, let's just say, my first turkey I ever got. This is going back 10, 15 years ago, probably something like that. I was a young kid, did my firearms course and my hunting license when I was 13, so I was sitting with him. We never did any scouting back then. I just sort of started getting into that the past five years, figuring that stuff out and all that. So we go out there and it's like April 27th or something like that, and I'll try not to get too far into detail with it, but we're sitting out there and it's an afternoon turkey hunt. So we're going from, like, let's say, four to seven, because seven's the cutoff around here.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Because that's when they start roosting. They don't want guys walking around blasting gobblers out of the roost. So it's probably about 5.30. We've been out there for probably about three hours now. We like to get out there early and figure it out.
Speaker 2:But I'm sitting there. I'm just a young kid, I'm maybe 14 at that time and he's sitting there with a box call calling and we're not hearing any gobbling, nothing's going on. So I, as an antsy 13, 14 year old, I'm like come on, let's go. There's nothing here. And he's like, no, just wait. Yeah, you know, just wait, it's gonna rain for the next four. Do you really want to not be able to out here hunting? I was like, okay, yeah, so we'll sit. 20 minutes goes by. He gets back on the box call and he gives off the third little yelp in it and then on the fourth one he kind of hits it too hard and then just an explosive gobble from like just right behind us goes off. So then we're just quiet. Yeah, so this um, it was a jake that came in, just one lone jake, and I remember when he came out of the corner of the field he just came booking it straight running yeah and so I'm young.
Speaker 2:so I just get my gun up and I hit him and he doesn't go down. But he kind of stops and he starts spinning in a circle and my stepdad's going shoot him again. I'm like, oh, rack another load into the gun. And I he was sort of keeping his head tucked in going around in circles. So I waited for him to give me that one chance where he sort of poked his head out a little bit and then I got him, dropped him right there on the second shot, and that was pretty exciting back then.
Speaker 1:when you're 14 years old, that's just the coolest thing you could ever see, I bet, and so that was your first ever hunt. Was that turkey hunt with your? With your uh stepfather?
Speaker 2:first ever, um first ever hunt getting something okay, so like I've. I've always been out like in the tree, stand with them and stuff.
Speaker 2:First ever hunt we went on was a deer hunt okay and we're sitting in the tree stand and about five or six does come out and they're probably 10 yards in front of the stand, like almost right underneath us, and just I can't help but smile and I'm almost laughing because this is great. I've never seen something like this before. And they walk away and I was like why didn't you shoot one? He's like I don't have a tag for a doe. That's why I didn't shoot one. I didn't understand back then.
Speaker 1:But yeah yeah, no, it's that's funny man um, what kind of birds do you have out there in ontario easterns, I assume? Yeah, we got, we got easterns, yeah, okay yeah, they don't?
Speaker 2:they don't stretch very far. They hang around the southern part of the ontario probably get to, I'd say, sudbury. That's about as far as they get to, and then they don't really go much further north across the whole country. They don't really go much further north than that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, turkey hunting is so fun. I'm pretty excited to get out there. The season kicks off here in a month or so and man, it is just so much fun just hollering at those birds. It's. It's funny that they're so stupid and you yell at them, they yell back at you and you just still can't get them like here we have mostly miriams and they're just they just roam and like I've put in 15 mile days, like I've hunted turkeys as hard as I've hunted elk, and it's just so fun.
Speaker 1:And then you get two real good meals out of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, depending on how much you want to do it, like around here. I don't know if the laws are different or anything down in the states, but you can take the breast meat and the rest of the bird. You can just toss that. But we like to try and take the legs, make that for soup, because they're just legs, are just tough, because it's nothing but muscle in those things right, exactly, yeah, I make like a pozole, like a nice chili soup.
Speaker 1:It's just so good, but you got to slow cook the legs. It's not a butterball turkey. No, exactly, yeah, but yeah, I take the breast. Recently, actually, someone I had on my podcast it was actually like episode 10, so 10, so a long time ago. Um, but jeremiah darty, uh, he's a chef and he has a recipe for like a I don't know if you have kfc kentucky fried chicken up there in canada oh yeah we got, um okay.
Speaker 1:So he basically had a recipe to make kfc bowls. It's like mashed potatoes, corn gravy, like with like a breaded chicken or turkey. Oh my goodness, I'm gonna. I'll share that episode or not that episode, but that uh recipe maybe on my Instagram or something, because that thing was delicious. I love wild turkey man, it's so good.
Speaker 2:There is nothing better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're really well. I mean there's plenty of great things. I'm going to say it's a tie with a lot of delicious game meat out there, but it's awesome. I wish I could get more tags. In Colorado you can get, I think, two birds all year, like if you wanted to also hunt them one in the fall, one in the spring. But other states you know, texas, I think you get like four or five birds. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I think we can do in Ontario, I think we can do three. So we can get two fall, we can get two spring turkey tags and that runs from April 25th to the end of May.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And then we have a one month long, from the 1st of October to the 31st of October, turkey season in the fall, and you can get either a hen or a tom, but you can only get one tag.
Speaker 1:Okay, interesting, cool man. Well, what other stories you got? So you had us turkey sneak up behind you at 13. Where else are we going today?
Speaker 2:Let's tell I don't want to give away the location of the place. It's not my place to say it's my buddy's place. But we go up north a lot and we never hunted at this place before just because we never really saw them, we didn't think there was any really up there. Then the first time when we saw the first flock up there there was 30. So we're like we're coming up here, yeah, in, you know may, and we're gonna hammer them. Right, we're gonna get out there boys weekend, we're gonna get out there.
Speaker 2:So our first time we ever did that, we get there and, you know, we're unloading our stuff. We're all super excited and, as you know, canadian guys too. Right, you can't help. But have a few beers before you. You know, go out in the morning. It's time to have some fun. Let's, you know, let's get ready. So we ended up going a little too much that night and we woke up early and my buddy likes to snore like a chainsaw I, unfortunately, do it now too, but we used to make fun of them for that, but now I can't so. So I ended up getting out of my bunk, going to sleep in the couch and you know, I got no. I got no sleep that night and we, we all decided to lay our heads down at like one in the morning, and we're getting up at four.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's tough. So we get up at four I was up already the whole time and you know we cook breakfast and all that stuff and instead of jumping on the quads and doing what we did, we decided to do a Christ. It was like a 10 mile hike Almost. It was awful. But I was so excited, yeah, so excited, and I'm nervous and just ready to go.
Speaker 2:I start getting that anxiety, nervous, belly kind of thing going on. And I'm walking through the northern bush and my anxiety is like way past where it should be, because I got a little problem with that. But it doesn't stop me from doing what I love to do. But I'm sitting there and my heart's pounding out of my chest and we're just. And my heart's pounding out of my chest and we're just walking, heart's pounding out of my chest and my vision's getting blurry. I almost told them. I was like leave me here, boys, I'm just going to lay on this tree and I'll see you back at base camp later on. But I push through.
Speaker 2:We get to the top of this ridge and we're sitting there, we're doing owl screeches and all that stuff, trying to shot gobble, and we finally get one to shot gobble. So we do another 25, 30 minute walk to where the front of the property is open field. We got some pines and on the other side of that's the road and whatnot and my buddy's going should we set up just on the other side of these trees? And I was like no man, listen to them, it sounds like they're on the road. Let's get through the field, get into these pine trees, sit down there. So we get into the pines, we set up our decoys. We got one buddy here, one buddy here, one buddy here. We're in a straight line, okay.
Speaker 1:Along the side of the road in the trees.
Speaker 2:Is that? No, we're still on the property.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, okay, yeah, we're. We're probably like another 70 yards from the, from the road, so got it. So we're sitting there and my buddy starts calling and they're going off. I've never heard so many gobbles at once, and it's crazy because when you go that secluded into the bush, turkey sounds completely different. They could be a hundred yards away and you can feel it in your chest, you can feel it in the ground when they gobble. It's insane, insane.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we get out there and we're calling them in. They're finally working in and five turkeys come in, two gobblers, three jakes, and they come up to the. We got a quarter strut decoy out there just a jake decoy and they start beating the hell out of this thing, putting on a show. And this is the first time any of us we've turkey hunted for years and we have never seen turkeys beat up a decoy before.
Speaker 2:So we're sitting there watching the show and then my buddy goes to shoot because he hasn't shot one in a long time. Me and my buddies already filled our first tags, so he shoots. He misses Me and my buddies already filled our first tags, so he shoots. He misses my buddy to my other side. He shoots, he gets one, and then all the turkeys are starting to disperse and I just hear my buddy going Ian shoot one. I was like, oh okay, it's my turn. So I get my gun up and I just look for the bluest, reddest head and I shoot. First shot I didn't hit him, but on the second follow-up shot I got him.
Speaker 2:And so we go up there and we're all excited. We thought I didn't know at the time that he shot, that he'd missed his. So now we got we think we got three. So I go to mine, my buddy goes to his, and then the guy that missed, he's like, um, oh, I missed, I didn't get one. And we're like, oh man, that sucks, blah, blah, blah. I go to get my bird and, stupidly enough, I grab him underneath the spurs and I go to lift him up and he gives me one last hard thrash and he spurs me right through the hand here. So now I'm in Northeastern Ontario, way back in the bush. I got a hole in my hand. Nothing crazy, but there's a hole there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, through the, through the, the cam here, which is not the greatest quality, I can see the scar, I think yeah, just a little bit right there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, yeah. So now we're walking back with a hand. I'm still all worked up getting all now. I got a hole in my hand, so it's even getting me more worked up. I, when it comes to blood and all that stuff like human blood, I'm not a fan of it, especially if it's mine. So now I'm even worse off than I started. So I'm carrying back my bird. I got my shotgun. Then I'm just huffing and puffing. I was like man I don't want to put this on you. I know you missed your bird. Can you please just carry my bird back? And he's like man, you fucking suck, you know whatever I'll carry your bird back and I was like thanks, man're the best.
Speaker 2:And so we get back to. We get back to base camp and my buddy's dad's there and we're showing him the birds and I was like, yeah, I got spurred. And he's like, oh, that's nasty, go over to the well, pump and clean that out. So I start pumping the well and I get water in it. And as soon as I got water and it's like someone stabbed a knife in there and twisted it there must have been a nerve in there or something, or it hit a tendon because that's hollow surprisingly enough. Yeah. So I was like, oh, that stung like a lot. I start shaking my hand like crazy and jumping around like a little goof. But so I didn't have my truck there that weekend. My buddy's dad was there, we drove up all together. So I was like I I gotta run to the hospital, get this clean, get this stitched up. And he's like, all right, you can take my truck. And I was like I am on zero sleep and I'm all worked up.
Speaker 2:I was like I would much prefer not to crash your truck on the way there and I was like I hate to wreck your day, I hate to wreck your morning, but you know I'm gonna need a ride there. He's like yeah, no worries, we'll get you there. So hour later we're in small northern, on small northeastern Ontario hospital and I walk into the ER and they're like oh, how can we help you today? I was like yeah, I got spurred by a turkey. And everybody's like you got what. I was like no, I got spurred by a turkey. I got a hole in my hand. I need it cleaned out and stitched up. They're like okay. So now I'm sitting in the waiting room for two hours and a couple doctors come up to me. They're like well, did you get him? I was like oh, yeah, he's dead. I got him.
Speaker 2:But he put up a fight right at the last second.
Speaker 1:He wasn't going down without putting me out for something, so I got him, but not good enough on the first go around. Yeah, I had three.
Speaker 2:I had three doctors come up to me and ask me that question. And then the guy who came in and stitched my hand asked it again well, did you get him? I was like, oh, he's dead, he's, he's gone. But and then he's like I've never heard that before. He was so fascinated by it. Right, yeah, and then you know, let me ask this.
Speaker 1:I know people measure spurs. I've never measured any of mine, but what did he have decent spurs on him he was not a limb hanger.
Speaker 2:He would have been a limb hanger the next year, but he was he. He got me good enough and then, yeah, yeah, if he was a limb hanger, I think that would have been a real issue yeah, if he got all the way through yeah, if he got me with like almost a one and three quarter to a two inch spur, he would have screwed me over big time yeah, that would have been nasty, okay, well cut the tendon or something in my hand right, and then it would have been a real problem just take the whole thumb off
Speaker 1:yeah yeah, that's crazy man. Okay, so did you get back to camp and did your boys have any more luck, or is that kind of where the story ends there?
Speaker 2:nope, story ends there. We got our birds. We didn't. We tried to go out the next morning to redempt our buddy and he we didn't end up redemption. But you know, we go out there every year and every year it's been a success.
Speaker 2:My buddy who missed, finally, like two, three years down the road, we got him his bird. We're out on the road and we're in the truck. We're just finding gobblers at this point we're trying to find some public land where they might be. Yeah, so we're on the road and we hear some gobbling down a power line and we're like, oh okay, let's um, let's just sit in the truck see what they do. We're not going to shoot, you know, we don't play those games.
Speaker 2:So we're sitting there and we got three gobblers right in front of us on the road, full strut, gobbling away, dumb as can be. We couldn't believe it. Just for for 15, 20 minutes just sitting there, gobbling away every call. But we get back to camp, we're going down the laneway and I was like we're like let's just stop midway and we do another owl screech, we do some yelping and we finally hear one again. So there's one on our property now. So we get set up and I'm a nice guy. I wish I wasn't, because my buddy, who actually shot his turkey, who missed a few years before, finally got his redemption. That bird walked right in front of my gun and I could have drilled him at 15 yards and I was like, no, this is my buddy's time, this is, I'm not going to wreck this for him.
Speaker 1:Good for you, man. Good for you. That's good karma. You probably had success in another hunt in the future. You wouldn't have if you had shot that bird. I'll tell you that right now.
Speaker 2:Oh, I know it would have been hunting. Karma exists, for sure it does, and I've been there many times. I I stole a buck out from under the one landowner one year when I was younger, probably about 17, still in high school. He's sitting in a tree stand like 100 yards from me and I'm sitting in another stand. It's morning, or no, it was evening, sorry and this little five-point buck comes walking right in between us.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I shot it out from under him and he would never let me down with it. I shot it out from under him, I drill it, it runs off, he shoots, and then I reload, I shoot it again, it goes down. We go and find it and, um, not a perfect shot, because I was using a uh 870 smooth barrel rifled slugs shot him in the liver. He, you know, he, he died pretty quick. He wasn't. You know, I prefer a heart or a lung shot. But when you're that young, yeah, you know, with you with you don't have the proper gun and whatnot. So we ended up getting them and he's yelling at me, he's used. I can't believe you stole that buck out from an old man. Blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, oh, come on, you wouldn't have hit it anyways, laughing at him, joking with him so I was like what are you shooting with?
Speaker 2:he's like I got buckshot. I was like you wouldn't have shot him with that anyways. Blah, blah. And then you know, we get him hung up in the barn and I go home. I come back the next morning. They decided to stay there, drink beer and clean the deer with me. What he does is he. Once he got the hide off the deer, he takes a screwdriver, pokes a bunch of holes in the vital area and then I get back in the morning he's like nope, that's my deer. And I was like, oh crap, that's not yours, man, you didn't freaking.
Speaker 1:I'm laughing at him.
Speaker 2:I was like no way, there's no way in hell, that's yours. I was like what are you using? He's like oh, I was using double op buck. And I was like there's 14 freaking holes in here. Man, you were not, you were. I know that gun doesn't shoot three inch shells you are not using. You got nine pellets in that thing, you don't have 14. And he's like, oh, okay, I poked it with screwdriver. I was like, yeah, that's what I thought. That's funny, man, that's funny.
Speaker 1:I've, uh, I have a funny it's actually a part turkey story about my buddy, about bad hunting karma. Right. So he's, he's duck hunting in south dakota and they have a pretty good trip, but they were basically walking back as they walk to this cabin to where they hunt back and forth, and so there's just turkeys everywhere and it's not turkey season, and so he gave himself some bad karma because him and this other guy there's like five turkeys. They fired three shots, killed all five turkeys, so it was jakes and hens and not even a tom in the bunch, but it was also off season, basically they poached. He came back and he didn't't tell me but like one of, uh, an acquaintance, like the story got around and I found out. I was like, did you just poach a bunch of turkeys? Like, well, you know and you know, kind of making it seeming not a big deal, and I'm like well hey, if that's what you want to roll like, that's on you.
Speaker 1:like I wouldn't do it. But you know good, you know, congratulations I, I guess how was the duck hunting? Um that, you know, years down the road we're talking like four years later, the dude has not killed a thing, not a duck, not a turkey, not a deer. Like he just went on the the driest spell of his life and so we were actually hunting this last um September and we were archery hunting and he was just like you know what man like I just haven't killed anything since I did that. He's like maybe I shouldn't have done that, gave myself some bad karma, maybe I need to and like he just like owned up to it, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And the next day I killed an antelope. So it was the first thing, first animal. He has been around someone killing something in years, like he wasn't there for my elk, he wasn't there for my moose, he just kept missing everything that I was putting down, kept missing all of my hunts. He would be there, he would leave and then, as soon as he would leave, I would kill something. Yeah Right, and so, like he finally owned up to it. And then that day we go out and I put down an antelope and he's like maybe I just got that dark monkey off my back man, maybe, maybe I just need to be a more honest hunter.
Speaker 1:So there's. I mean, I don't know if you believe in karma, if you believe in that kind of.
Speaker 2:You know, juju, that stuff, but I believe in it. 100 man, it's real yeah, man this stuff, is it? It? And it'll wreck your whole freaking year. It'll wreck your whole multiple years four years man, it makes four years.
Speaker 2:I had a dry spell with deer hunting for five years after I shot that buck out from under the farmer yep yep, and I've gotten bucks walk through and you know I have so many bad stories and I don't want to really get into them because they get. They get pretty embarrassing, but those are my favorite kind of stories but, yeah, no, it's a real thing.
Speaker 1:So all you hunters out there, you know, stay within the rules. So you know, uh, etiquette, this is proper etiquette, most things, pretty common sense stuff. Um, do it right and I guarantee you'll be more successful. But that was a little bit of a tangent that I went on there, so sorry about that, ian no, no what other stories you got for us, besides stealing deer from old men?
Speaker 2:well, you know what, let's get into a deer story, since we're still on that topic a little bit. I'll tell you my first buck. I ever shot this buck, just for reference of it he was, I would say. He was on the decline on his downgrade for two, three years. Okay, he was old, he was huge in the body, but he had just the he had a good base and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:But his one side was a good five point and his other side just looked like a saw, just small little points on it you could have got a two by four with this one side.
Speaker 2:But this is also this is probably the year either the year I shot that turkey or the year after. So I'm 13, 14, 15, whatever it is. I'm in high school. I remember the day it happened and, um, I'm sitting there. I never really liked the stand I was in. Now that I think back at it, that was a great spot, because you go there on the proper wind, that's where they bed. So I'm guessing this is the proper wind or whatever I've been waiting for.
Speaker 2:And I'm sitting in the stand and I'm just being the worst hunter you could ever possibly be. I'm kicking my feet up, I'm moving around, I'm not having fun. I was like there's no deer on this property. I'm all ticked off and screwing around, my grunt call, making noise and all that stuff. And then, um, I hear a snap behind me and I just sort of go, I go, that was a squirrel. Snap behind me and I just sort of go, I go, that was a squirrel. But you know what? I gotta look. So I look over behind me and I just see this tank of a buck, just big, and I'm 15, this is like the biggest buck I've ever seen while out hunting.
Speaker 2:So I got him and I go holy fuck, and I get my gun ready and he comes out from behind me and he comes off to my uh, to my right side I'm a left shoulder shot, so he couldn't have came. Perfect, more perfect. He was at like 15 yards. I remember I had my gun over the railing of my stand and then he just kind of got closer and I was like, oh no, so I had to go under it, move the gun under it. So now I'm aiming at him and he's looking at me and I was like, oh no.
Speaker 1:So I had to go under it, move the gun under it.
Speaker 2:So now I'm aiming at him and he's looking at me, and now my heart's pounding on my chest and I'm 15 years old and I just remember going three, two, one Boom Dropped him right there.
Speaker 1:Pinned him to the floor of the forest. Pinned him to the floor.
Speaker 2:It was a spine shot because 870 rifled slugs. It was a spine shot because 870 rifled slugs. I don't shoot that anymore because I've had a really bad mistake with one, so we don't play that game anymore. With that gun we got a rifled barrel and all that stuff now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when this story wraps up, you mind sharing that as well. I'd love to hear kind of what went wrong with that caliber for you. Yeah, for sure, maybe it'll help somebody else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll tell you. Actually I got two stories with it, I'll tell you. But um, so that buck, he's on the ground, spine shot, he's roaring, he's grunting, he's roaring. I'm like, oh my god, I've never heard a deer do this. So I had racked another round and I put one in him again and that sort of knocked him down then and he was done for the count. But so with that 870 to all hunters listening, you know what I've had. Guys say use buckshot, don't use buckshot. It's I, my buddy shot a deer this last year. We found buckshot pellets in the hide. Don't use buckshot, I don't like. Maybe if you got three and a half inch buckshot and the deer's at five yards, blast them all day long. But if you're gonna shoot a deer outside of 20 yards with buckshot, just don't do it.
Speaker 1:But with right man so I've only killed one white tail, shot him with buckshot probably 45 yards, 50 yards and I dropped him. He he ran 30 yards, maybe really yeah, so when I shot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he, I knew I hit him. My buddy thought I missed, but I knew I hit him because he pulled his front right leg in. So I was like he ran out on three legs and I was like I know I hit him. I know I hit him and that's a good spot to hit him, but I didn't know how bad and I will say buckshot, you're not gonna get a blood trail at all like yeah, you're not getting any blood.
Speaker 1:We did not get any blood, did not find blood. We just managed to spot him but uh did, did kill him at that distance. So that's just my anecdotal one time I killed a white deal. It was with a buckshot, but continue.
Speaker 2:I'd love to hear more. Yeah, so if you're gonna get into your, if you do a shotgun hunt or something in your area most people have the rifle hunts and all that stuff. We get those further north. But around where I am we get shotgun hunts and all that stuff. We get those further north. But around where I am we get shotgun hunts.
Speaker 2:And for the longest time I used rifled slugs, 26 inch barrel on my remington 870 smoothbore and yeah so I have killed deer with that before. Never the best of shots, but they went down. So with that, here's my horror stories with it. That made me completely stop using it was I was sitting in the stand. One of the hunters on the other side of the property shoots. We have a whole group chat going on on our phone so somebody shoots and we're all like who was it? Who was it? And they're like, oh, that was bill. And we're like, oh, yeah, bill, good job. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Oh yeah, bill, he actually missed, but he was with a muzzleloader and he was like 80-something, he was an old guy. So he just shot at a doe and he shot and five minutes later I'm this absolute stud Boone and Crockett of a buck. I've never seen one bigger in my life and I see a Boone and Crockett almost every year on my trail cameras around here and I've never seen anything bigger in my life. And he's chasing this young doe.
Speaker 1:What is big? Big is very relative to the territory, so I'm just curious what is a big Ontario buck?
Speaker 2:Big Ontario buck would be your standard Boone and Crockett 170 and up to 160, even 150. If you get a good 150 with a lot of character, it's a really nice buck. But it is pretty standard still. Like big is big right. So when you're 170, that's your Boone and Crockett, that's your, that's your ticket deer and all that stuff. They're hard to come by but if you're in the right spot with the right crops and everything they do show up. I've seen 160s to Boone and Crockett's almost every year for the past, probably the past 10 years. But they're smart man, they're not dumb around here. They are the smartest things. People say dolphins are smart. It's like no, you put a Southern Ontario whitetail in the and that thing will do your taxes for you.
Speaker 1:That thing's the smartest thing in the frigging world man.
Speaker 2:And so.
Speaker 1:I remember an interesting dolphin fact. I'll share with you later because it's very interesting, but continue.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I see this just stud giant monster pushing this deer and now I'm excited, I'm like 17. And now I'm excited, I'm like 17. And I see him walk behind some sort of like shrub and he disappears for like 20 minutes, 30 minutes. I'm like where the hell did he go? What's going on? And then I see that doe he was chasing, comes back down the hill and then just lies down like 90 yards from my stand. So I get on the phone and I'm like I got a doe laying down 90 yards. What should I do? They're like if it gets up, blaster. And I was like, okay.
Speaker 2:So I'm in my stand, I'm stomping my boots on the metal grating and I'm breaking sticks, throwing sticks and I'm shaking everything and I'm trying to make as much noise as I can to get this deer up. So I was like you know what? I've never tried it, but let's try the snort wheeze. I blow the snort wheeze. This thing gets up, I shoot it. I hit it, surprisingly enough, with that inaccurate gun at 90 yards. I hit it perfectly. It drops. I was like wow, no way. That buck that I saw 30 minutes ago chasing that same deer, bedded down behind that shrub. I saw him disappear behind. So now he's walking real slow and I can see him. And he's so big I shit you not. He is swaying like a moose would sway through the bush.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So now I'm like you know what. We got five guys here. We got all tags. If five deer walked in front of me, you can, you're party hunting, you can shoot all five guys here. We got all tags. If five deer walked in front of me, you can, you're party hunting, you can shoot all five. You know, you got your tags and all that stuff. So I unload on this thing at he's at like 110 yards. I'm shooting through the hardwoods and he's just standing there looking at me Boom, miss, rack, boom, miss, rack, boom, miss. And I'm like what the hell's going on? And I I shot eight rounds at this thing before I ran out of shells and he just turned around, swayed into the bush, never hit him, and I was like what the hell just happened? And that's, that's just. You know, they are super smart but they are super dumb at the same time. Dependent, like that buck was full rut yeah he was full swing rut.
Speaker 2:He was as dumb as he could get, but he but. I wish I could go back there now and just stayed calm and use that snort wheeze again, because I guarantee you he would have came running. And, surprisingly enough, I have had a lot of deer big bucks too, like ones you want to shoot your target bucks if they're in the area and they're in their rut time. There's nothing more important than knowing how to like, do the right communications, and I'll that was the one horror story with that buck totally missed him. It was fine, whatever, you know. Everybody's laughing at me. Oh, you got buck fever boy. I'm like, yeah, I know what I got, leave me alone.
Speaker 2:So now going back to this is a few years later I get my own spot of property and it's the shotgun season. I'm using that same stupid gun and I remember I'm sitting up in my stand and I'm rattling and I see just the ass end of this deer. It looked big. This is probably at like 150 yards, just sort of run, go up the hill. So I'm like, uh-oh, I just spooked one. But I got the snort wheeze going and within two minutes, here he comes to my left side now on a, just ready to fight. He's not charging, but you can see him. He's mad, he's ready to go, he's got so much power in his walk that he's ready to mess up anybody. And he gets to 51 yards and he stops. I shoot, he kicks, and then he just sort of runs even closer to me, cuts around and just starts walking out of my life. So I'm like, oh, that wasn't good.
Speaker 2:I didn't like the way that happened and this was a. This was a big buck. This would have been my biggest buck to date that I ever got. He was probably like he's, he was a high 140s to a 150s for sure. And I went and found the blood trail. He looked like someone was pouring a can of paint through the bush. Never found him. Last, last drop of blood was at like 700 yards. Never found him. And I went into a was at like 700 yards, never found them.
Speaker 2:And I went into a depression for like six, seven months. Over that it broke my soul. It was the worst thing I've ever done and from that day I was like we're never using this gun again. We're going to figure something out. That day I went out and bought a muzzleloader.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So now I'm out tightening this muzzleloader. Okay, so now I'm out sighting in this muzzleloader. I have no idea how muzzleloaders work. I was still young at the time, I think I was 20. Okay, and then I'm sighting in the muzzleloader. I got it sighted in and I'm about to take this last shot. But now I got a squib because it didn't go all the way down. It's like got that much further to go. And now I'm like oh no, how the hell am I going to get this out of here?
Speaker 2:So I get on the phone with our local gun shop in town and I was like yeah, I got a. I got a muzzleloader. It's not going all the way down. I didn't lubricate it properly. Blah, blah, blah. And I was like Is it okay to fire? And he's like Don't fire it, it'll blow up in your face. And I was like okay, I won't fire it. While I'm on the phone with him, I have a small six-point buck walk right towards me 20 yards. I got my truck there in the field, winds blowing in his face, just standing there making fun of me and I was like you've got to be freaking, kidding me, man, like are you serious?
Speaker 2:Just to put the icing on the cake, like I'm, like are you serious.
Speaker 1:Just to put the icing on the cake, like come on, I couldn't believe it, that's crazy. That's crazy. So how did you fix the gun, like did you have to take it to the shop, or what did you get to do?
Speaker 2:I took the barrel off and I pushed it from the opposite side to where you would load in your power and stuff. So I took off the back plate. I can't remember what they're called, but I unscrewed it Break plug.
Speaker 2:Yeah, break plug. So I undid the plug, dumped the powder and I just rammed that rod into it and then I was like you know what, there's too much screwing around with this. I'm not dealing with a muzzleloader either. I had it for a week sold and then, um, and I didn't probably right after you cleaned it the first time, right, yeah, you get a muzzleloader and you got to clean it. That takes forever and so dirty. And I, I didn't, I didn't cheap out on it either. I, that was a 16, 1700 gun.
Speaker 1:I went all out on it and you know what did you sell it for?
Speaker 2:roughly what you paid for yeah, I think I got like 1500 bucks for it just because I busted the ram rod, I broke the tip off it and stuff, so I was like $1,500, the guy bought it like the next day, so I got lucky with that there you go.
Speaker 2:But now I got a. I surprisingly enough used the 870 that I had all that bad luck with, but I got a rifle barrel for it now. Now I got like a one, one and a half inch grouping at like 60 to a hundred yards, so I'm doing a lot better now.
Speaker 1:Okay yeah, interesting man that's. That's crazy. It's crazy to take eight shots at that giant buck and nothing, nothing land.
Speaker 2:I couldn't believe it. I'm sure someone's got a story like that too, where they're just rutted up and dumb looking. But me and my buddy that later that year, like the spring, we went out shed antler hunting and he's like here, hold on, I gotta take a leak. And we're walking around and he's like he's taking a leak and he's looking in the trees. He's like where was that buck you were shooting? I was like I think we're standing in the area where I was throwing lead down range. Why? He's like, look up, all the trees have bullet holes in them oh geez yeah, like, come on, there's one snapped right over.
Speaker 2:It was just like a sapling, like that big, and I couldn't believe it they were. So they were all getting close, but they were and I had. I had an open shot, surprisingly enough not as open as you'd want, but open enough where it's like if I had a scope I would have drilled them if I had the proper gun.
Speaker 1:But yeah, well, you live and you learn, man. The best lessons are self-taught, so you learn something that day. Yeah, cool man. Well, and then the deer that you shot do you think it survived? Do you think that it was maybe not that bad of a shot and it lived and just had a tough winter, or do you think that it just ran off?
Speaker 2:and eventually expired in a day or two?
Speaker 1:No, I I think so, or do you think that it just ran off and eventually expired in a day or two?
Speaker 2:No, I think he survived. I went and I probably did a full week of running around that bush trying to find it. Never found it, unless he buried himself underneath like a bunch of cedar boughs or something right in the dense swamp. But I think he survived. If he ran that far, I think he survived. They're resilient as all hell. There's nothing stronger out there than a whitetail, especially when he's in his full maturity.
Speaker 1:We've all seen those videos of whitetail that have just had huge chunks of their back missing or their neck or whatever. So they are gnarly critters. It's pretty crazy.
Speaker 2:Well, speaking of resilience and toughness, I don't know if you've ever had anybody on this podcast. Talk much about coyote hunting or not.
Speaker 1:I've had a couple of people put some down. Usually it's like a complimentary story. They're sitting there and I shot a coyote or something like that. But I don't know if anyone's ever like told anything too exciting. What do you got In southern?
Speaker 2:Ontario coyote hunting is your all winner because it's open all year round. You can shoot as many as you want. Yeah, and like. There's no limit on it. There's no tags, there's no limit, it's open season. Shoot as many as you want, because we got way too many. Yeah, I've heard that they're crazy we're.
Speaker 1:Like when you start to kill them, it like makes the females go into heat, right. So like when you start shooting a bunch, like when they do coyote drives, and it doesn't really have an effect on the population because somehow they know and genetically they can or biologically they can, fire up them baby makers and just start cranking out more yotes. So they're crazy critters.
Speaker 2:Well, surprisingly enough, I've started coyote hunting years ago. I've only shot about 10, but only one was a female. Oh, so when you're shooting males, that's not really going to do anything. You shoot females. You shoot one female, there you go, you're taking out a whole litter of coyotes.
Speaker 1:I don't know Taking out a coyote factory right there. Whatever they do, right yeah.
Speaker 2:But the past few years these coyotes have been tough, and when I mean tough, I I mean listen to this story, me and my buddies. We go out to this one farm close to home. We get our fox pro out there within a few minutes. We get a coyote coming in. Okay, my buddy shoots it with number four, three inch buck, and he starts. He hunches, he starts spinning around in circles. He's using a single shot, so he's reloading. My buddy shoots it with more buckshot. I shoot it right in the boiler room with a 22 250 and then my buddy hits it again. This thing got shot one, two, three, five times before it hit the ground and died jesus and then was he particularly large, yodi, or was it just no, he was your mid-size 45, maybe pushing 50 pound coyote wasn't too big, but they're tough.
Speaker 2:And to put the icing on the cake with that, the next year I go with my buddy he's never shot a coyote before he's all excited. He's like let's go coyote hunting saturday morning. I was like, well, it's going to be a really good morning, for it's gonna be nice and still really cold. Let's go. We get out there and when we're walking to where I wanted to sit, there's one in the field.
Speaker 2:Yeah I was like, shit, get down, get down. And I get my gun up. I just sort of kneel down. I'm shooting off my knee. He starts to run. I give him the woo and he stops. I shoot. I send a 22 tooth, 50 through his teeth, out the back of his neck and he's still standing jeez, and he's limping. I was like, well, that freaking hurt him. So I rack another round and I get to the rock in front of me and I put one in his boiler room and he goes down and I was like, no way, that just happened. That was super cool. I've never. I've.
Speaker 2:There's been tons of times where I've seen coyotes walking in while I'm hunting and I don't ever get the shot. But I finally got the shot on that one. And we get to him there he is looking at us and I was like are you freaking kidding me? You're not dead. And my buddy's got a 243. He's like I'm going to finish him off. I was like, all right, well, get a little closer than that. He's like stepping back because he's all nervous. I was like, well, make sure you fricking hammer them. And they're like they're insane, I can't believe it. And they do nothing but wreak havoc on the deer population. We have had pictures on trail cameras of them walking with fawns in their mouth and like the spring, that's crazy, man, that's crazy.
Speaker 1:I uh, I actually I shot a moose this last year here in Colorado and when we were rolling in to find her because I shot her last light and you never know Like we had plenty of blood on the arrow because the arrow was full pass-through but we couldn't find any on the ground. So we're like let's give her the night Like it's a pass-through. It's not gut. We see bubbles Like that's a lung shot. She's dead. Let's just give her time, not bump her. So we get out of there the next morning we're hiking in and it's a beautiful morning, the crisp ice on all the plants, like really, really cold, crisp night. And we get in there. The sun's just hitting, so everything's like glowing, sparkling and a coyote walks out. My buddy goes Like no, it's not, dude. We're like 150 yards from where I might have a moose, like I don't want coyotes right here. We eventually find, well, we roll a little farther and there's a giant bull moose just in that field that I shot the cow and he's just ripping trees out with his antlers.
Speaker 1:It's super cool, that was cool. But we get to the spot that we think she is and she's exactly where my pin, where I pinned, I thought she laid down in like the dusk light, uh, and there's about 10 pounds of 10 pounds of her missing. That coyote went in the because it was with my bow, so went in with the, the front side of the wound ripped up, her front left shoulder, and then, you know, backdoored her for another meal.
Speaker 1:So there was owe a well, no coyotes, owe me about 10 pounds of moose meat.
Speaker 2:Bastards. Well, 10 pounds of moose meat, you go and get your. You'll get your revenge, but you got to shoot about a hundred of them to get that back.
Speaker 2:So mostly just cause you know what they that's? Um, it's just a tax on them, right? It's like you screwed me over. You know what we're going to. We're going gonna really put a damper on your yeah, on your livelihood around here. And but around here, where I am, man, there's so many coyotes. I've had them. I live kind of like in town, in a small town, you know, but I wouldn't say it's the boonies. I've had coyotes middle of the night, me and my buddies hanging out by the road, having a beer, talking by the car and whatnot. Coyote comes running it's two o'clock in the morning, comes running right by the road, having a beer, talking by the car and whatnot. Coyote comes running, it's two o'clock in the morning, comes running right down the road right beside us. I was like, did you just see that?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They're bold around here. I've seen them in the middle of like the cities and stuff too. They're getting really bad in Toronto actually, apparently.
Speaker 1:Yeah, actually it's funny that my moose is when. I'm like this is what we had a cat. We had a cat, uh, and it stayed out one night and now we no longer have a cat. And it was coyotes, because they're all over the place. We found fur everywhere. He's this big orange cat, lots of fur. Yeah, that's all we found. It looks like. It looks like there were lots of coyotes that got in that fight with him because he was a big cat. I don't know if anyone knows main coons like the largest oh yeah, yeah, he was like a 30 pound cat like big big cat, not fat, just a big cat yeah.
Speaker 1:No, they get put up a fight, naturally big yeah yeah, yeah, he just uh, but he got ripped up, and so there's another reason why I owe coyotes one. So yeah, by the way, you got any more stories for us? You and I know I uh booked you for a certain amount of time. We're coming up to that, that limit here, but uh what else?
Speaker 2:you got for us well, I'll tell you one more, and this is also the kind of I know it's. It can kind of be against the rules. I guess I'm not 100 sure, but from the amount of coyotes there is around here now, I always like to take my 22 with me when I'm out deer hunting, I don't have it loaded, but when a coyote does come out I will try to load it quick and shoot that coyote.
Speaker 1:But yeah, um, this is a 22 pistol, 22 rifle no, we're not allowed to.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, we're not allowed to hunt or carry or now even um buy handguns in canada anymore that's what I thought.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I talked. I talked to some guys that were like I wish I could have one when I'm out in grizzly bear country.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you're out in alberta bc and stuff like that. It's like no, a 10 mil would be pretty nice to have, at least you know yeah, yeah, but okay, so, okay.
Speaker 1:So you're carrying that with you where is this. Where are we going with this one?
Speaker 2:so, this is deer season. It's like october 3rd, it's the third day into the season, and I'm sitting there and I hear this rustling and I know for a fact now it's not a squirrel, it's quicker, it's heavier, so I ooh, that might be a deer. Sure enough, three coyotes come out into the field at like 70 yards. I just got my crossbow. I'm a crossbow hunter because deer hunting here is hard enough as it is. I know some guys that are really really good and they use the compounds, but around here it's just for some reason that deer we don't have deer populations like you guys do, and you know they're just when you do get good. Like there is good deer here, but they're not as plentiful.
Speaker 1:Yeah gotcha.
Speaker 2:So I'm sitting there with my bow and I see three coyotes walk out in the corner of the field. I was like really. And then, five minutes later, two more walkouts. Now I have five out in the field screwing around with me. I'm like this is bullcrap man. So I'm just I just end up going. Uh, it's the end of the night, they're still in the field. I get down, I walk into the field instead of like the tree line where I'm at. Yeah, they followed me at the. They're at the top of the hill in the field and they're following me, yipping and barking at me the whole way out. But that year actually that year I ended up breaking my curse with the, my whitetail. I had a five year spell.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So now I went and bought a Winchester SX four, still being dumb, using the smooth bore, you know, 28 inch barrel. But we were out at my buddy's place and he's like let's just see how your shotgun works with slug. So I was like, okay, we set up a log at 60 yards, boom Hole, that big, right in the target, that big. So I was like all right, we're perfect, we're mint, let's use it. Shotgun season comes around. I think it's the. It was like a Wednesday. I remember I called in sick to work because I just knew it was going to be a perfect morning. I mcmorn, I was like I'm not going to work today, screw that. So we get out there. Well, I get out there and I'm sitting and then I hear this same rustling. So I was like it's a freaking coyote again. Are you kidding me? And then I sort of turn over to my left, sort of almost behind me, and I just see rack and I was like, oh shit, that's a buck.
Speaker 2:So I get up, kind of manipulate myself so I can get a good shot, and he's walking straight down the path, walking away from me, straight down the path that I walked in on, and now now the wind. I am downwind from him or upwind from him, so what? Either way, the the wind is hitting him in the face. So I'm like let's not screw this up. This is my chance to get my redemption, to break my curse. So I get my grunt tube out and I grunt and he stops. I give him a second grunt and he turns around with his head and he kind of just starts licking this one branch above him. Give him a third grunt, turns around, walk straight to me at like 20 yards, cuts off to get broadside hammered him, blew his lungs apart and took off the top of his heart.
Speaker 2:And then when I went to track the blood trail, I found chunks along like that big in them and like outside, like they blew a hole right through them, and I and he only went probably about 25, 30 yards and dropped dead there. So I was like this is great, and that was a nut I wouldn 530 yards and dropped dead there. So I was like this is great and that was a nut. I wouldn't say it was anybody professional, their shooter, but for me it was a. It was a nice eight pointer to a nice symmetrical eight pointer to break my curse with.
Speaker 1:So that's awesome, man, that's crazy. God, I can't even imagine a chunks of lung hanging out. I've pulled out some like I've actually never killed anything with. Uh, I've killed one deer with my shotgun, double hot puck obviously no pass through, just just got the lungs and broke the leg on the on the front side. But I've actually never killed anything with my rifle other than a turkey, otherwise I've only. I've only had success with a bow, which is funny because you know it is arguably more difficult, yeah, um, but I just I've never had the opportunity with with a rifle. I've got a great rifle. Now I got christiansen arms um, phenomenal gun with a great vortex scope on it, but not, I can't seem, to find animals when I have an easy to use tool yeah, no, funny enough.
Speaker 2:You said you shot that with your 270. I was listening to that podcast when I was at work and you're like yeah, I killed a I've. You were like I've killed a turkey with this, that and my 270. And as soon as you said it, I was like, oh, you shouldn't have said that. And then you're like it was in texas, it was legal. I was like, oh, okay, fine then I guess in colorado it's legal too.
Speaker 1:for the fall turkey spring you got to use a shotgun or a bow, but in the fall they're like whatever You're out there hunting. You got a turkey in front of you Take it down. So the rules are different for everywhere. But yeah, I was surprised how much meat was left, but I was desperate at the time. I literally was. I mean, if you've listened to it, you know I was packing up ready to go home.
Speaker 2:And he just happened to poke his head up and holler at I'll take I would be rather be lucky than good any day. Yeah, no, that's the way to be man. And just you know what, most of my stuff that I have been on in the past, that was all luck. It was all luck. I never had my wind right, I never scouted, I never did this. So everything from the past until, like the past, maybe three to five years, everything was luck.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And now I'm getting more into the scouting, getting my wins proper and all that stuff. Now it's getting more into the skill aspect. But there always is luck in there.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, good on you, man. I'm excited to hear where that takes you because, like, when people start to devote themselves like that, start to have some pretty fun hunting stories. So we're going to have to keep in touch, man, sound good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, I got stories for days. Man, if you ever want me back, or if I'm ever allowed back, I would love to and I'll tell you more.
Speaker 1:Sounds good, man Sounds good. Well, let's do this. Let's wrap it up. Do you want to share where?
Speaker 2:the people can find you anything like that, or you just want to walk off into the sunset. Your call brother spelled I-A-I-N. Ian Anderson, a-n-d-e-r. S-o-n. 1-2-3.
Speaker 1:Easy enough 1-2-3. And I'll put a link to it in the show notes. Ian man, thank you so much for one sharing your stories with us. They were a lot of fun. I really do appreciate it. I think I've said this a couple times, but I get a lot of requests for more whitetail stories, cause I'm in the West.
Speaker 1:You know I connect with guys from the West, so it's I love hearing these whitetail stories, and so thank you for sharing with us, and then two men for just reaching out, for being a listener that went on and filled out my form, cause I want to get more and more people doing that, so thank you.
Speaker 2:No, thank you man. And I was like, oh, I'll try it and he might never get back. But you respond the next day, not even like 12 hours later, Like this guy, this guy's on top of it.
Speaker 1:Well, you're lucky because I made that form and forgot I did it, so I had like a year's worth of people that I never responded to, so it was just recently I started paying attention to it and I was like, oh man, I got to pay attention to this thing.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, but to you listeners guys. Thank you guys for tuning in, but make sure you check out that forum. If you do have some fun stories, share the podcast with at least one other person and give us a review, ian, thank you, brother, I appreciate you, man.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much, man. I appreciate you too.
Speaker 1:All right, have a good one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you too.
Speaker 1:All right, guys. That's it. Another couple stories in the books. I want to thank Ian for coming on the podcast, filling out the form and being brave and coming out here and, of course, sharing some of his best stories with us. Thank you, sir. I do appreciate you To you listeners. Thank you, guys for tuning in. I really appreciate you all as well. I'm trying to get to 100 reviews on both Apple and Spotify, so, whatever you're listening to right now, if you haven't given us a review, please do. I would very much appreciate it. Beyond that, share the podcast with at least one other person. And that's it, guys. Thank you for tuning in. Now get out there and make some stories of your own.