The Blacktail Coach Podcast
We're here to share tips, strategies, and stories of hunting the Pacific Northwest.
Whether you're a seasoned hunter or just getting started, we'll help you turn preparation into achievement and passion into results.
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The Blacktail Coach Podcast
Four Grown Men, Zero Bucks, Plenty Of Laughs
A season that humbled us also sharpened us. We went all in on named target bucks and ran into a wall of warm temps, atmospheric rivers, and shifting deer behavior that pushed daylight activity into a crawl. Cameras that fired pre-season went quiet. Windstorms changed cover overnight. Predators and pressure added chaos. And yet, we found what matters most when a tag stays unpunched: a clearer system, better timing, and the resolve to hunt smarter next year.
We compare notes across sets and states, from Washington to Oregon, and unpack how habitat and forestry practices affect blacktail behavior. You’ll hear how cougars likely displaced mature bucks that dominated last year’s pattern, how blowdowns turned dark timber into bright openings, and why barometric pressure windows still mattered when a few frosty mornings finally nudged deer back on their feet. We talk honestly about “tag soup” as a strategy, passing legal bucks to stay true to a target, and when it makes sense to pivot late if conditions and intel change.
We also dig into the nuts and bolts that move the needle: separating research cams from hunt sets, using hinge cuts, drags, and entry routes to shape a broadside opportunity, and the nuanced reality of rattling and calling for blacktail. We set new goals with fresh target bucks—Anakin, Hank, Mr. Jones, and Macho Man—and share exactly why age class, character, and multi-year tracking fuel patience. If you’re balancing high standards with hard seasons, this is your blueprint for resilience, smarter scouting, and a better shot at daylight photos that turn into meat and memory.
If this helped you think differently about your blacktail plan, follow the show, leave a quick review, and share it with a buddy who needs a morale boost before next season. Your support helps us bring more deep-dive conversations and field-proven tactics to the feed.
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Welcome back to the Blacktail Coach Podcast. I'm Aaron. And I'm Dave. This week we have Bud and Alex here, and we want to talk about our season summary, how it went, which it didn't go well.
SPEAKER_00:It was a tough season overall for everybody.
SPEAKER_02:But there's always stuff to learn.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:So that's how we maintain our positive attitudes going in from year to year. But we all got skunked. Right?
SPEAKER_04:Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Who had a target buck this year that they were going after that they knew before season started?
SPEAKER_04:I had one from last year that I found after season ended.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. What was his name? Did you name him? Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones. Okay. Why'd you name him Mr. Jones? Well, that's personal, but Okay. Then we don't want to know.
SPEAKER_00:So I I had one as well. I had Hank that I was going after this year. And yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:He's one I've been watching for a couple years, and I I went after him this year.
SPEAKER_03:And Alex? Yeah, I had one from last year, and I never saw him this year on the set. But I did have a Target book that I found right before season. And so I tried going after him, but no luck.
SPEAKER_02:Now, were you going after Curry's twin?
SPEAKER_03:No, I did get a picture of him this year, so it's really cool to see the difference of growth between last year versus this year, but I'm giving him one more year before I start going after him.
SPEAKER_02:Nice. Okay. I was going after Sneaky Pete, who was my he came in the last day of season last year after I shot a spike because I was like, well, okay, I want to get my first buck. And so I had a monster three-point come in last day of season. So I thought I'll go after him and didn't see him at all. And I have a set though, like my particular set, nothing happens until November. And we'll get into talking about the struggles and whatnot of our seasons, but yeah, it was a tough season. I had three mature bucks that came in last year, and none of them came back this year. Oh well.
SPEAKER_00:And that to that point, that hardly ever happens. Where you don't at least see one of those three or two of those three the following season.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02:There was some extenuating circumstances of why I think they didn't come back. Although I did have one of the offspring, I know for sure, of Sneaky Pete. He came in this year, but I'd not at a point where I could get a shot on him. So let's talk successes of this year. What did people have for successes?
SPEAKER_00:The room falls silent.
SPEAKER_02:You went out hunting.
SPEAKER_00:It was a tough year.
SPEAKER_02:It was extremely should we start with struggles talking about what we struggled with.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'm just gonna do, I guess, a quick overview to slide into what I was gonna get to here. It was extremely warm. It was unseasonably warm, and deer activity just dropped. And it was looking great before season. I mean, we had some cold weather, and my cameras were going nuts, and I was like, oh, this is gonna be great.
SPEAKER_02:And then the atmospheric river showed up.
SPEAKER_00:And it just, yeah, it warmed up. There were days where it was 60 degrees out. 60 degrees out in November and December. And it's like, you know, those deer are wearing their winter coats. It's like putting on a parka and it's 70. You know what I mean? You just don't want to get up and do anything. And so then my deer activity kind of fell to next to nothing. Well, it was nothing in the daylight, and then it was even slower than it should have been at night because of it, you know, and and with the atmospheric rivers and the storms and everything, it really made it a tough season. I had several trees blow down, at least twelve around my set. And I mean it was crazy. I go in there one day and it's extra climbing. Well, I mean, it was nice and thick.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And then the trees blow down, and that opens up the sunlight, and it knocks down limbs off of other trees, and now you now it's just like daylight in there. Just super, super bright. Well, it was really difficult to get anything to daylight there. But I do want to say that in light of all of that, all those struggles, I had a fun season. I had a great season. I didn't fill my tag, I passed up six bucks, and uh I had a fun season.
SPEAKER_02:But I was that's a good point. So if you don't have your target buck, Alex, bud, if you don't are you guys tag soup guys, where if your target buck doesn't come in, you're not just gonna take anything, or how does that work for you guys?
SPEAKER_03:I'm tag soup all the way.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:It depends for me. This year I probably would have smoked something towards the end of season if it was decent, even though he wasn't my target buck.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Yeah, and I was even though I had those kind of lined up, the whatever son of Sneaky Pete, when he came in, he's just a it's pretty wide, but a two and a half year old fork and horn, I would have shot him. That was last day of season, and I had no hope of anything else showing up later on that day.
SPEAKER_00:So son of sneaky peat sounds like a movie.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So there is that. So, you know, if we have listeners who are thinking, what what are these guys doing? We have people here who just won't, if it's not the buck we want, we just won't shoot.
SPEAKER_00:Right. So and to that point, Aaron, I'm gonna say this. So I passed up six bucks.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I'm not saying that to brag. I'm just saying that I had opportunity to fill my tag, but I chose not to. And that's my tag.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, where Alex may have chose to. That's his tag. It's his hunt. So I ended my season the way I wanted to. As far as uh like Bud, there's a certain deer I'm after. And whether I get him or not, it's the cat and mouse game, the little chess match that you play with that buck. Whether it's a two-year-old, a spike, a doe, three by three, or a four by four, whatever your target animal is, it's up to you what you want to do with your tag. But for me, and I know I speak for Bud as well, that was it. I bought that tag, I paid money for that tag, knowing that the only gear I wanted to put it on was Hank.
SPEAKER_02:Was Hank, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and so it doesn't bother me to say I ended the season and I didn't put my tag on him. It just I still had a great time. I had I watched several I mean toward the end, and it got my that unit that I'm in went all the way through the 31st of December. So I was able to get a little bit of cold weather here toward the end of the day.
SPEAKER_02:Right at the end, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and it wasn't like really cold, but it was cold enough to get deer activity.
SPEAKER_02:You got some frosty mornings.
SPEAKER_00:We did, we did. I mean, I also was dealing with a bear on one set. My dripper is history, chewed that all up. And again, I had a great time just sitting there watching deer. I I really love that.
SPEAKER_02:You would have actually gotten a shot on Hank traffic car wreck, stopped you on I-5 one day, one morning.
SPEAKER_00:The one day I forgot all about that. Now I'm depressed.
SPEAKER_02:Now, yeah, I want to remind you of these things, but yeah, you I was heading into stand.
SPEAKER_00:I and the thing is I was getting up at two in the morning and on the road by three to get into set before because he was this particular set, and I hate this about Hank, he's a morning buck. I like the evening set so much better. I was getting up at two, leaving the house at three to get in set by four so that I would have a couple hours before he would come in every morning. He would walk through there, and he was getting closer and closer to daylight. Well, the one morning that he did daylight, I was heading out there. Well, there was a wreck on I-5, and I was like the 20th car in line. It had just happened in front of all three lanes were shut down, and I sat there till after daylight, and my phone is going off, and I can see Hank on my drill cam, you know, and I'm like, what do you do?
SPEAKER_02:Giving you the middle hoof.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so but I mean the opportunity to go out and still enjoy this passion that I have is really I mean, it's over season, and I'm all ready to go for next year. I have to do that.
SPEAKER_02:I've already scouted for next year.
SPEAKER_00:I'm ready to get out there a little bit, do some shed hunting, do some scouting, whatever, and let's go.
SPEAKER_02:So, what about you guys? Did you have anything that little curveballs that uh those little it's perfect timing? Uh car wreck, the one day he comes in. Did you guys have anything like that?
SPEAKER_04:I had nothing going on at all. I had two or three bucks on my sets, but no target bucks, no curveballs, no yeah.
SPEAKER_00:That says a lot because Bud is Mr. Locator.
SPEAKER_04:I restrained myself this year and only did two sets.
SPEAKER_00:That says a lot, right?
SPEAKER_04:I said one, so I didn't know.
SPEAKER_00:This is a guy that does nine to fifteen sets.
SPEAKER_04:And I was just after the one buck, and that was it. And he never showed up. I just I kept going for him until season ended, and that was it.
SPEAKER_02:And you're all archery. I'm the only modern. But did any of you do early archery, or do you guys just focus on late? I just focused on late.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, late archery is that's where it's funniest.
SPEAKER_00:I I think myself.
SPEAKER_04:The weather was probably better in early archery.
SPEAKER_00:It might have been a little cooler.
SPEAKER_02:We yeah. We actually uh I think a lot of our success stories, the success came in early archery this year. It happened, I think, bef before November is when a lot of guys got their bucks this year.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. First two weeks of September, guys were putting some toads on the ground.
SPEAKER_02:Cully and we had several guys where we got pictures.
SPEAKER_00:And they were really beautiful bucks, impressive bucks. Yeah, and yeah, they they put them down early.
SPEAKER_02:So, what about you, Alex? What did you struggle with or what went well? Tell us your story.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so one of my sets, which was a new set for me this year. Like I said, before season, I got a couple good bucks on camera. So I was getting pretty excited for the start of season and to run my sets and everything. But yeah, once I started doing the sets and the drippers, yeah, I just I didn't have any luck or those target bucks didn't come in. You know, I got a picture of a doe and a two-point that came into my set a couple times, but nothing uh that I was interested in. And then one of my sets got flooded, so that was fun. And then went to go change the batteries in another one, and then when I opened the box, a bunch of rusty water fell out because water got in the battery box, and then my cell cam stopped taking pictures and sending them to me one thing after another that I was I was struggling with.
SPEAKER_00:2025 could just get forgotten. I know we could just move past it and never look back.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and on my way to my sets, I passed doe's every time. And I and to shoot a doe's legal in the unit I was hunting, but it's not something I was going after myself.
SPEAKER_00:Now your wife got a buck, right?
SPEAKER_03:She did, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, she got a should we have her in here in your suite instead? She should. Show us, tell us how she did it. All of us obviously a better hunter than I am.
SPEAKER_02:She she did better than all of us. Combined.
SPEAKER_00:And she got a great buck, too. She did she that was nice. Yeah, that was a fun experience. Good for her.
SPEAKER_02:Now, were you using the system with her?
SPEAKER_03:Or just no, we're just hiking. We had a couple hours to kill in the afternoon and decided to go for a little hike. Okay, nice within 15 minutes or so from there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and Alex lives at address. No, she can't. I know.
SPEAKER_04:I'm like, Aaron's asking the hard hitting questions. It's like I'm like, Washington, okay. Washington, cold case. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Everybody's scouring on X. Okay, I know his name. You could.
SPEAKER_03:You should probably delete it though.
SPEAKER_02:Don't come looking for us. Yeah, we're all armed. I just want to say that. We have multiple firearms.
SPEAKER_04:Let me know, please. Yes. I can do it.
SPEAKER_02:Well, there is that. So actually, it was funny because November 16th was the last day of late modern. I believe so, yeah. Yeah. So I didn't go back out. I think I went out once, and then I was in California for a week, and then this and that. So through the atmospheric river, I didn't go out to my set at all.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I was just going to say, didn't that happen?
SPEAKER_02:That was the first couple of weeks of the middle of your season? I had one day after I got back from California that I meant to go out, but I was like, I'm not going to. And then we had all that rain. And the two or three days where it wasn't pouring down rain, I didn't go out. But I have to, one of the drainages I walk through normally step over like a foot, foot and a half wide little creek running through there. So I went out New Year's Eve to pull my set, get the ground line. And the whole drainage was, you could tell it was full of water, which is 15 feet, 20 feet maybe wide that I would have had to walk through, probably two, two, maybe even deeper of water coming down this drainage. Yeah, that was but it was what was cool about that is it softened all the ground everywhere. So I I was seeing all kinds of fresh buck track or deer tracks. Some of them were buck, just I could tell by the size. But I also saw another spot which I saw last year where I think a couple of bucks were sparring. Of course, that was right by the gate. But you know how it's all gets all scraped up and the ground. Yeah. One of those. And thinking, wow, I didn't need to walk over a half mile back from the gate. I only need to walk 50 yards. There you go. And yeah. The big bucks can be 50 yards from the gate. We've proven it over the years. Alex proved it last year. Last year?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I did. 20 yards.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. So for next year, one of the things I learned this year, I didn't really want to learn it. I thought I was looking at coyote scat walking into my set. Well, no, it was cougar. And I I caught one of the neighbors. He was coming out. He was just walking up the skitter road. So there's multiple skitter roads by my set. And he was walking out one morning as I was getting dressed at my car to go in, and we just started chatting and everything. And oh yeah, there was a cougar brought down a deer, and he's pointing kitty corner. There's a neighbor there. Yeah, Cougar brought down a doe in their backyard. And I'm like, great. So I had a cougar in my area. And I think because I still had, like last year, I talked about how I created a rub line all along the scotch broom. And I did this year as well. But I'd say everything like all the sign reduced by about 50% tracks the amount of rubs that they did, and I wasn't seeing any. And so I thought, because you talked about how not seeing any of those three dominant or those mature bucks, not seeing any of those three, it had to been because of that cougar that was hanging out of that area. I can't think of any other reason.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, more often than not, the the dominant bucks are the ones that get killed by cats because the dominant buck is usually solitary.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:He's usually by himself, and a cat it's a lot easier for a cat to sneak up on one set of eyes, one nose, and one set of ears versus three or four.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And yeah, most of the time your big bucks, that's that's who the cats get, or the yearlings or fawns.
SPEAKER_02:I did get to practice some rattling this year, which I hadn't done that in previous years. Not effective. But I was doing that more early modern. Late modern, though, those last four days, I could hear them on the hillsides. Lots of animals moving around, especially that last day, because it was kind of a like the barometric pressure, I think, was a little bit higher. I don't know if that was the first day of a red moon. There was a lot of the five factors that were going in my favor that particular day. And I could hear a lot of stuff moving around. I just didn't get anything into my set, but I did have that one, the fork it horn, come by. He was just outside of my set. So I'd kind of hinge cut a couple of branches so that they would come in at certain points, so they'd come in broadside. Yeah, he stayed outside this little bowl that I'd created for about 15 minutes walking back and forth, and then he walked up the hill. But I was doing a doe bleed and he would stop and turn around and look around, but he wouldn't come back to explore what was going on and stuff. So I got some practice.
SPEAKER_00:There you go.
SPEAKER_02:That was good because you always wonder when you're starting that out, am I screwing this up? Like, what should I be doing? And honestly, I've been looking for someone who really knows how to do calling and rattling for blacktail. And if anybody knows anybody who we can get on the show who'd like to come on the podcast and really talk about that and share their knowledge, love to have that. Because I think there's a lot of guys who'd really like to know how to properly call in big bucks. Right. Because I know there's a difference between calling in big bucks and calling in any buck, just like calling in a big bull versus calling in any bull for if you're out elk hunting. So anyway, if you know somebody, let us know. Love to reach out to them. And yeah, somebody who's been successful. Not somebody who says that they're good, somebody who's proven that they're good.
SPEAKER_00:We want some receipts.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And we've talked about that. You want to listen to the guy who's done it. Right. So but learning, what positives are you guys taking away from this year?
SPEAKER_04:I have self-control. Good for you. Two sets. Yeah, two sets. I figured I I figured that out. That was good for me.
SPEAKER_02:Not nine. How far back were yours from the gate?
SPEAKER_04:Not too far either.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, see, there's more self-control.
SPEAKER_00:That's inside his nine mile boundary that he had.
SPEAKER_04:Honestly, I just did.
SPEAKER_00:That's huge, dude. To go from nine sets to two.
SPEAKER_04:I know. It hurt. I was lost a lot. No pain, no gain. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You don't feel like you could have done one or two more?
SPEAKER_04:I thought about it, but killing the buck where I kind of have my go-to spot last year. I always just give him a year off. Just completely. I don't go close to that set. I just I just leave it alone for the the year.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, so you just hunt like every other year in that spot?
SPEAKER_04:If I kill a buck out of it, yeah. Oh, okay. I'll just let everything settle. So that way I don't get my mind thinking that hey, this buck could do this and that, and then you know I'm wasting a lot of time.
SPEAKER_00:So you killed a buck there last year. Is that where Mr. Jones no?
SPEAKER_04:That's a different spot. But where I killed my daughter calls him Duck the Buck.
SPEAKER_00:Duck the Buck.
SPEAKER_04:Duck the Buck. And Charlie. They were killed probably 40 yards apart. Oh, okay. I think two years apart, if I remember right.
SPEAKER_00:No, you got Charlie Yeah, I can't remember.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I three years ago. No, four years ago. Four years ago? And then I got Duck the Buck last year.
SPEAKER_02:Three years ago. You got Charlie the year before I started, and that was that El Nino year where it was really warm and everybody had just horrible luck that year.
SPEAKER_04:I shot him on the first day. I didn't know any of that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I never heard the end of that either.
SPEAKER_04:It's just the first year I saw. I just shot him.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so you shot Charlie. I shot Lucky the next year. Yeah. You had Dr. Buck last year, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:What did you name him? Or does it mat not matter anymore because you're ducked?
SPEAKER_04:I didn't name him at all because it was he just came up so fast and okay. He didn't exist until like the last week of season.
SPEAKER_02:But he was that big fork it horn, mature fork it horn.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, he has a little tiny three point on him that I don't really care for, but I wanted a big fork horn.
SPEAKER_00:He's gonna sand it off. Sand it off.
SPEAKER_02:You know, sand it down. Oh no, he's a big fork at horn.
SPEAKER_00:It's a dandy buck.
SPEAKER_02:What about you, Alex? Any learning experience for this year?
SPEAKER_03:I have uh two new good books at one of my sets that I got on camera. Not while I was doing my sets, but just like my research cameras. Um I'm gonna do some exploring with there within the next couple months and see if I can find a heavier use trail or a better area, and yeah, see if I can pinpoint them for next year.
SPEAKER_00:How big are they?
SPEAKER_03:One's a b a big two with a lot of mass, and the other one's just a wide three. Nice. My wife named the wide three Macho Man. So I got four different pictures of them on this one trail when he was going, like leaving the bedding area, it was nighttime pictures, and then heading into the thick stuff, they were both daytime pictures. Oh yeah, just gonna do some some more exploring those couple areas for next year and see what I can do.
SPEAKER_04:Nice. See, and now as Alex was talking, I completely forgot that I had four sets that I should have checked out that I just completely forgot about. Of where a buck that I called bases. I don't know if you remember bases. He was a big three-point that he just had gnarled like five inch bases on him or something.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, just a monster. I remember that buck.
SPEAKER_04:And he daylighted a couple years ago that I just completely forgot about. That was that year though that I just couldn't miss on deer.
SPEAKER_00:It was well, you couldn't either. I'm telling you, every time he did it, he said there was another at least one, sometimes two shooters. Uh-huh. And it was just it was crazy. I think he ended the season with like 12, 18 bucks that that a lot of guys would just be going nuts over. And and rightly so. I mean, they're great bucks and everything, but if bud, and he's wired a lot like me, you get focused on one deer and and everything else just kind of blends into the background. But four sets that sucks. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_02:So are we switching up sets next year or are you staying put where you're at? So if you didn't get one this year, you can actually stay because you don't have to leave according to your system.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I'll probably try after Mr. Jones again. And I'm gonna poke my head in Oregon a lot more. Try to focus on that and just see what's out there because I know there's some big bucks in Oregon too that need to be checked out.
SPEAKER_00:Higher population, a lot of big bucks. Better season. Good genetics. Yep.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Did you you were hunting Oregon this year, weren't you? Just for elk. Oh, just for elk, okay.
SPEAKER_04:But not deer.
SPEAKER_02:But next year I'll probably go deer. And Dave, you dabbled in some Oregon a little bit this year. At least you started scouting a couple areas. Yep. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. So next year we'll be full swing.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Like I said, I've already got it planned out. Just need the deer to cooperate.
SPEAKER_04:That's it. I'm glad I didn't but go to Oregon this year because it would have just sucked.
SPEAKER_00:It was, I'm telling you, this it was tough this year. It really was. The weather, and you guys have heard me say it umpteen times in the seminars. Weather trumps everything. And I feel bad because we got all these guys that come into the seminars and the coaching and the boot camps and everything, and we get them, they get all excited and everything. And rightly so, I mean, because that you guys are proof the system works, it really does work. But then I can't control Mother Nature. So it we get an El Nino, it is what it is, guys. I can't control that.
SPEAKER_02:Well, this what was interesting this year, it was another week La Nino, which is what it was last year. And so I thought, well, last year was great. I had all this activity, but we didn't have atmospheric rivers coming in. And it was colder last year. It cooled off quicker. And then, well, for my set, like I talked about, I didn't have the cougar last year coming in. So I did find out one of the positives when I was talking to that neighbor who lived by where I park, he was talking about how he goes in, him and his friends, and they bear hunt in the drainage down below my set. And oh yeah, we've taken six bears out of there. His name was Chris. Chris, if you are listening, thank you. I appreciate those bears being taken out of there because I I don't have issues. Like the first year I went in there, or last what, two summers ago when I first went in, I had three bears that came in for a couple of days and never saw them again and never saw evidence of bears all through season. But yeah, they're taking care of the bear problems that are there. So that helps a lot.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Save spawns.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so are you stand put? Are you gonna do some more? It just depends.
SPEAKER_00:It just depends. I've got things I got things, I got people.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, we'll feel it out. I'll see how it goes. I got feelers out right now.
SPEAKER_00:I I don't want to say because I don't want to get my hopes up and then you know not come to fruition and everything. But as of right now, yeah, I'm gonna say for Washington, yes. For Oregon, I still and into the exploring stage as far as finding some good habitat, which I've actually kind of struggled over there with, surprisingly. You know, we took uh one of our guys in coaching out, and boy, I found him a great spot right off the bat and almost wishing that I would have just kept it to myself. Yeah. No, just kidding. Spencer's a great guy, but yeah, we just I looked up and I say, Oh, that's perfect. We walked down in there, we weren't in there 10 minutes, and we found that willow that was just ripping a whole mess of other rubs in there. He did his set there, and he got pictures of a couple good deer and a bunch of smaller bucks, and so he hunted that and I told him if he ever decides to give it up, let me know. But that really is, and we I've spent quite a bit of time, and I think the thing I'm having a problem with is there's a lot of BLM land in Oregon, but there's a lot because of that, there is a lot of people using it recreationally. And I I can't say that's a bad thing because we all enjoy it and their taxpayer money pays for it as much as mine. But there's more of those mountain bike trails cutting through stuff, and motorcycle trails.
SPEAKER_02:One of his Spencer sets, yeah, had motorcycle trails all through there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I mean it was a constant, and it makes it difficult when you're trying to the habitat we're looking for, it seems like that's where they want to build those mountain bike trails a lot.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And so I think Oregon manages their forests differently. Is that true, Alex? Do you know anything about that?
SPEAKER_03:Uh I'm not sure about Oregon. Just Washington. Just Washington. And Oregon, like Warehouser down in Oregon manages the same as up here.
SPEAKER_04:Really? Because like I was in Oregon Warehouser this year, and they were completely different. Like the clear cuts are different, the timber's different.
SPEAKER_03:But they do have different rules in Oregon for clear cutting and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_04:They just take every tree. Yeah. Like Washington knows.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, there's no like RMZs or pips or anything like that. So the rules are different. Yeah, a lot better, I think.
SPEAKER_02:What are RMZs and pips?
SPEAKER_03:RMZs are like riparian management zones, like where they leave the tree buffers along the streams, and then pips is like the start of water and the clear cuts that they'll leave to protect.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. Yeah, Oregon doesn't care. It's awesome. There'll be a river's run through a clear cut, and Washington would just freak out, and Oregon's like, yeah, we're cool. It's the fish still cool down. Like whatever. Yeah. Isn't that crazy?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So the Blacktail Foundation needs a PR guy, and we're all gonna recommend Bud. It's just so much better.
SPEAKER_03:So you switching up, Alex?
SPEAKER_02:Are you gonna stay in your same?
SPEAKER_03:I'm gonna stay in the same areas. I'm gonna try to find a better set location this year because it was kind of a last minute. Like I had my original sets I was planning on doing until I got the picture of this buck, and so I kind of changed on the last second. Same area, just doing some more scouting, and I'll check the cameras I have set up within the next month or so and see if Macho Man's on a different camera more often than a different one, and yeah, just see if I can find a better spot for next year.
SPEAKER_02:Now, when we say macho man, are we a YMCA macho man or Randy Savage? Randy Savage. I would say they're both some strong Gen X, Randy Savage or Oh yeah, they're both 80s. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Village people, late 70s, early 80s.
SPEAKER_04:They were taking Macho Man was in the 90s.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, he started in the 80s. Slim Jim commercials though were like that was because he was too old and fragile. And the Royds had gotten to him. Well, I was gonna say, because you if you have a success story next year, you have to do the success story in like a Snapdown Slim Jim voice.
SPEAKER_04:We'll come track with the headdress or dress up as them. The other part of the culture that thinks Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Well, if you show up in a yellow wrestling speedo, yeah, we're not letting you in the door. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:That's hilarious.
SPEAKER_02:Proper is higher. It might be a podcast, but we're all gonna stay fully clothed.
SPEAKER_00:That is definitely the one that we're gonna put on YouTube.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, absolutely. So when I pulled my set, I went up and I did a set. Last day of the year, I did drags and I left a dripper, put up a camera in the set with Anakin. That was the buck. He was a palmated three point as a one and a half year old. So next year he's four and a half, which is when they blow up. And I have a picture of him last year. So I think he turned into a four-point. It's kind of hard to tell because it was a night picture, and the way he's standing, he's either an even bigger three-point or he turned into a four-point, he grew another point. But and it looks like a big saw blade now. Like they're straight up with these point saw blades coming out as his points. So I'm watching them for this year. I want to get a picture, and that's why I went in. And I know there's a couple of other potential shooter bucks in there as well, but I'm I'm switching. I'm giving up on sneaky peat, high and tight, and brick. Forget it. You guys, you had your chance to hang on my wall. So it's over. Yeah. It says it like they're the ones that are losing out.
SPEAKER_01:You know what I mean? It's not me, it's you.
unknown:It's you.
SPEAKER_02:So I am willing to sell those spots for a small fee. Uh, just have to do a little scudding. It's one of those where I thought, well, maybe if he wasn't Anakin wasn't really impressive this year, if I didn't get a good picture, maybe I'd just switch things up and go after two times, and which is a completely a third set. And there's two times and now junior, which are two four points with eye guards. Anakin go another year. So I have all these bucks everywhere, and it's yeah, it's a good problem to have. I will I will say that.
SPEAKER_00:It's like you almost it almost sounds like you're just kind of flippantly, oh yeah, he's another four point, and it's just is it's so hard, you know, because they just drive me nuts.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:They're just such a hassle.
SPEAKER_02:I have to do the least amount of scouting. But I think it's the least amount of scouting. I know the area the best where Anakin's at. And they're they're two, they're at least two older bucks, if not three older bucks. In that area. In that area. Yeah. And I don't know what they look like. One of them's a pretty nice looking three by three, or at least he was two years ago. So we'll see what happens with that. But I'm I'm gonna switch it up and go in there. Yeah, I can't.
SPEAKER_00:Can't not do it.
SPEAKER_02:Can't not do it. He is he is so impressive with he's such a unique looking buck.
SPEAKER_00:And that's what I'm saying. When you get that, and I think Bud feels the same way, that black tail, there's so much character in these deer. They're not the same. You can't look at one and say it's exactly like the other in the sense that they all have the main two beams, and then on all this, and or they go one beam and it splits off into two, and then it forks. I mean, they're just all so different every time you see them, but it's just like that character is what I love about black tail hunting, and it doesn't have to be the biggest buck. Hank was not the biggest buck. I let the biggest buck in that area walk. I had that buck for 20 minutes in front of me and uh Willie, and he's easily boy, he's right now he's low 120s.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, and which is a great buck, which is a great buck.
SPEAKER_00:A lot of guys be love to get that. Consider Willie a uh once in a lifetime for a lot of guys, and that's fine, you know. It for a lot of guys it wouldn't be, and and for some they just don't care, they're just after me. So I had Willie in front of me, and I man, I wasn't after Willie. Willie is not on my hit list. Willie was not even I I wasn't even tempted. And once you get it in your mind, that's a buck you want, you've you watch him grow like you've got three years on Anakin, but and seeing him that first year And knowing he's gonna be there every year. He was a three point, not counting the eye guards, at a year and a half.
SPEAKER_02:With I'd say the eye guard, but it was so weirdly pollen.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and you're just like that buck has got some serious genes that are gonna you just let him go because you you want to see what he turns into, right? Yeah, absolutely. So you got the three years, and you're like, you're the whole time. I mean, Aaron will talk about Anakin throughout the year. Oh, this and this and this, and I can't, and you could tell he's excited. Well, he's got Anakin, he's Anakin is living rent-free in Aaron's head for the last three years, and it's like you just get excited, and you don't care what any other buck looks like or how big it is, because that's the buck you're after.
SPEAKER_02:But that's also cool about the system that you can watch him and you just well, he'll be there next year. Yeah, and so I was able to go and find these other spots to go hunt, and they both produced these other sets as far as I know where some other great bucks are, but now it just it's like I need to kill three years by going to other places, and it just worked out where next year's he's four and a half, and I thought, and that was the thing. I thought, like in September, yeah, I think I can let Anakin walk another year. I can't. I can't.
SPEAKER_00:We like I said, you look at him and you know, I mean, okay, so that's the body of a young deer. That's the body of a deer that should be a spike, and he's a three-point palmated, yeah. I mean, uh, it wasn't no problem aging that deer. You knew, I mean, he was not old at all.
SPEAKER_02:He looked like a yearly, he was a little guy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're just like, oh my gosh, look at the rack on him already.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so excited about that one. I've got my target buck. Do you have your target buck, Alex, for next year?
SPEAKER_03:I'm gonna try to target a macho man.
SPEAKER_02:Macho man. Okay, Dave, you're going back after Hank.
SPEAKER_00:Hank, I'm officially changing his name to Nine Lives. He shall henceforth be known as Nine Lives.
SPEAKER_02:And you're going after Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones, I think. Okay. Well, I think that sums it up. Our season, how we carry everything into one season into the next. And I know we've done that episode before. So if you want to listen to that one, go back. It's about a year ago. We talked about that. So if you could leave a like, subscribe, follow us, whatever your platform asks you to do. If you could do that, that really helps us to push out the show even more. Subscribe to Patreon if you want to help support the show. Check out our affiliate links down in the description. And thanks for listening. We'll talk to you next week.
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