Hunting Blunders That Turned Into Lessons

You know that sinking feeling when you realize you forgot something critical, rushed a shot, or made a choice you can’t rewind? We’re leaning into that reality with our guest Asha, because the woods have a way of teaching lessons the hard way and then turning them into the funniest stories a season later. We trade honest, embarrassing hunting mistakes, not to glorify failure, but to help you build a better process and a better mindset for the next sit. 

We start with a classic: a new turkey hunter belly-crawling into what he thinks are birds, only to get waved off because he’s about to shoot someone’s decoys. From there we shift into the heavier side of hunting ethics, including how hunters handle the emotional weight of a wounded animal and why “hunters are just killers” is a lazy stereotype. We talk ethical shot choices, what respect for wildlife really looks like, and why good hunters will spend days trying to finish what they started. 

Then it’s rapid-fire practical: forgotten quivers, forgotten bows, missing headlamps, and the value of a simple gear checklist and a repeatable routine. Aaron tells the painful story of leaving a rifle on the roof of the car and hearing it bounce into the ditch, which leads into buck fever, shot process, and how quickly small mistakes stack up. Asha shares the legendary four-by-three encounter that ends with an arrow buried in a fir tree, and we cap it off with ground blind window mishaps that prove one rule: always know where your arrow is. 

If you’ve ever blown a hunt and wanted to quit, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share it with your hunting buddy who “never makes mistakes,” and leave us a review with the most embarrassing lesson you’ve learned in the field.

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Transcript

Why Mistakes Make Better Hunters

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to the Blacktail Coach Podcast. I'm Aaron. And I'm Dave. This week we have a special guest. Asha's with us.

SPEAKER_03 0:07

Glad to be here, guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

We've invited Asha because we're going to talk about the mistakes we've made. And she had a great story that she shared when we were at Hunter's Gathering, which was a great event. Can't stop talking about how great that event was. But a lot of that, and this is what spawned this episode, that we heard a lot of stories, funny stories, because a lot of times you you make a mistake or something happens, and it's really funny later on. Even if it's disappointing in the moment, later on you're laughing about it. And then sometimes it's just things go wrong. And it's not necessarily, I would say, a mistake that somebody's made, but this gets into the mental aspect of hunting. Because I think, and as one of our participants in the hunters gathering had explained, it almost made him give up hunting. Fortunately, he when he went in and he was telling this the story about what had happened to him, he was at a bow shop and he said a lot of people came and kind of gathered around him and listened to his story and said, Keep going, these things happen. Don't let this stop you. And I think that's can be discouraging. Having those, whatever it is, when something messes up your hunt, it can be discouraging. Forget it. We've known people who destroy their bows because they miss a deer and throw them down, throw them down, wrap them around a tree. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

And I want to be clear, that was not me.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

That was not Asha. So Osha's here mostly because for Vince, the four by three with IGAR story.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

Well, you it is episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Although, have you hunted since your incident?

SPEAKER_03 1:48

I have hunted since my incident.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

See, you made a recovery, so it's all good. It's all good.

SPEAKER_03 1:52

I'd like to clarify I have killed since my incident.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

So there you go. But the goal of this episode is to either figure out how to laugh at your mistakes or learn from your mistakes. And one of the stories that so Osh and Dave came up with the idea that most embarrassing hunting story when we were at Hunters Gathering.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

I don't know that that was my idea. I think that was my wife's.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

I mean, you gotta feel better about yourself. So misery loves company. Wanted to hear what the guys had to say.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

So that was the door prize, and I don't know if he was the first. He'll remain nameless, I will say.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

That's fair.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Yeah. We don't want to out him on to our hundreds, if not potentially thousands of listeners, but we're gonna tell your story anyway. And we know he listens, so he'll probably laugh about it, I hope. He well, as he was telling the story, and he won a prize.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

It was fun.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

I don't know. Dave, do you remember enough of the story that you want to tell it? Or I I all I no. What about you, Osh?

SPEAKER_03 2:50

Yes. I recall so newer hunter, yes. Am I right about that? A few years. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Newer hunter, yes, with turkey. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

And so was out on a turkey hunt

The Day He Stalked Decoys

SPEAKER_03 3:00

and spotted a flock and was uh gonna put his turkey stock on him.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Yeah, I don't think it was a flock. I think it was a couple birds.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

Just a couple birds?

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Okay, it was a few birds, yeah. Yeah, but he immediately he said hit the deck.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

The deck, yeah. He was like, he went into go mode. Yeah, and uh he was belly crawling his way on out there with his shotgun and getting ready to put the big sneak on him. Getting ready to take a shot when he gets flagged down by some other hunters because he was about to destroy their decoys.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Yeah, so on the opposite side of this little clearing where the decoys were, he sees his hand go up and slowly wave back and forth at him. And that's yeah, when he realized he was stalking a herd of decoys, decoy turkeys.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

And to be fair, it is important. Get a good glass, take a good look at what you're shooting at.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Even more important, have good decoys, yeah, very realistic looking decoys.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Yeah, I that's what I was like, wow, that guy must have had some great money into some decoys because uh if you're fooling people, even if you're a beginner and you're able to fool them, I'm like, that's pretty impressive. Decoys, yeah. Those are some nice ones.

SPEAKER_03 4:09

Yeah, he was a good sport about it, telling the story. And then we had a few other guys around the campfire tell some stories. And you know, the bear story was one of them. It wasn't necessarily funny, but uh when he was telling about missing

Wounded Animals And Hunter Ethics

SPEAKER_03 4:20

his bear and the just the feeling that he had of being overwhelmingly disappointed, he you know, that feeling we all get when an animal is wounded and you can't recover it is just sickening. And uh and it was a little bit of uh lightness to sad stories too, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Yeah, and he mostly a person who shared that story shared it with me, and it was turned out it was some bad equipment, yeah, bad from the manufacturer that caused him to injure a bear and couldn't recover it and very, very hard to deal with. And so this is part of the thing, I think, that non-hunters or anti, especially anti-hunters, they don't see that the if we injure an animal, that's hard. Yeah, yeah, it's not like and we talked about the hog hunt that we went on, where the point is just to harvest as many as possible, typically, and we all of none of that meat would went to waste. But it's hard to know that you cause an animal to suffer. And that was the hard thing for him.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Have you, Dave, have you ever been in those type of situations where I I think a lot of people view just to springboard off what you're saying there, and uh that uh if you're a hunter, then you're a killer.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

And that's not the way it goes, it's not hand in hand like that, like a lot of anti-hunters and a lot of people like that would view it. Most hunters are conservationists, most hunters are uh very respectful of the outdoors, not just as far as the litter bug side of it. They don't like dumping, we don't like people going out there and leaving trash or anything like that. We also, like you guys are saying, we don't want to harm animals. Every shot that we take, we want it to be an ethical shot. We want it to be a quick dispatch of that animal in a humane way. And it's hard for a lot of anti-hunters to see it like that. But if they were just take and come, I'm not saying come over to our side, but if they would take and just take maybe a how can I say this, a somewhere in the middle kind of stand and step back and take a look at most hunters are good people that want to be good conservationists that want to be ethical hunters and that kind of stuff. We're not just killers.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Yeah. A couple of dozen get on the news because they're poachers. Right. And a couple of hundred thousand don't make the news because they're doing everything ethically.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

Yeah, they're doing everything right.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Yeah. I would say I remember early in our marriage, before I really started hunting hard, uh, if Dave had ever missed a shot or was worried it was a bad shot, days of being out there looking for that same animal. He wouldn't hag another animal. He would go until he found that animal. And I'd say it's one of the things I'm proud of our son for. He picked that up from you, Dave. Um he shot a buck that he was sure he had, but could not get that blood trail. And he spent days getting after it and he found it. I think it was two days later, and was able to still harvest it.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

It was still alive.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

It was still alive.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Well, it had just I take that, it had lived the two days, but it had died just like we're talking hours before he found it. Which was oh, which was incredible. Yeah. And and I think of a buck that he shot when he was little.

SPEAKER_04 7:26

I mean, he was 10.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Yeah, he could barely hold the gun up, you know, and we had to have shooting sticks and everything, and he made a shot on a really nice three by three, uh, and it was a poor shot, and that happens. And I remember I spent that day and the whole next day. But I found it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

And I remember he was out on the soccer field when you drove up to the game, yeah, and uh the buck was in the back, and he literally sprinted off the field elated that you had gotten that buck. It was a good day. But I and I will say for me, that's what took me a little bit of time before I decided I wanted to draw my bow on a on a deer because we had done rifle, I'd gotten a couple of bucks, but I wasn't as confident with my shot, and I didn't want to wound an animal. And so yeah, just building up that confidence and feeling like I can do this successfully before I go out and attempt it was important to me.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:17

And then four by three with IGard happened. And we'll tell that next.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

It's funny you say that because at the last field day, a gentleman was riding with me and he asked me the question. He goes, How many record book books do you have? And I started thinking and everything, and I just started laughing. He goes, What? And I go, Well, I said, in my mind, I feel like in the record books, every other name should be Dave Riley, but that's how many I've screwed up.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

So I I've I haven't harvested near the amount that I've had standing in front of me. And whether it be just not offered a shot opportunity, or whether me just bungling the whole thing up and absolutely screwing it up, it it's always been something. But it's funny. There's been a lot of events where I wish I could go back and do things different. Some events I'll talk about, some events I won't.

unknown 9:02

Too soon.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

So let's talk about forgotten gear first. Yeah, we had to bring that up. When you go out, but I remember back when we talked to Smokey last year.

Forgotten Gear And Simple Checklists

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Uh-huh. He forgot and what Mr. Roosevelt. Yeah. And he forgot his quiver, right? Right.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

And I so this is now let me paint the picture here. This is the first time I get to deer hunt with Smokey. And I'm still trying to figure all this out. And Smokey is so knowledgeable that when he talks, you need to listen because you're gonna walk away with just countless tidbits of information that are just really gonna take you from an average hunter to the above average hunter. And the guy's forgotten more about bow hunting than I'll ever know.

SPEAKER_04 9:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

And so I actually was like, I get to go deer hunting with him. I get to go blacktail hunting with him, and I was all psyched out, and I knew we were going into a spot that was just had a number of record book books. And uh I was every word that came out of his mouth that day, I was just just on pins and needles and just taking everything in. And we drive up there. So I got up that morning, totally excited, decided, yes, this is the day. This is the day. Whether I harvest anything or not, I'm coming home with trophies in the sense that I've got stuff that I can build off of. Yeah. And uh because Smokey already had countless record book box, and uh, so I'm going out with him and everything. I get up first thing in the morning. It's still dark, it's hours before daylight. I get over to his place, and we're talking and getting all pumped up and everything, and we jump in his rig, and he's telling me about habitat, and he's telling me about this and how he found this and all that, and I'm just elated. I'm just filled with anticipation, and we get up there, and he goes, Well, Davey goes, I want you to go down this skitter road here. You're gonna cut up over this ridge, and you're gonna come down the face of this here, and then you're gonna work your way around and come back up, and I'm gonna go over here and I'm gonna do this, this, and this. And we get out of the rig, and I start walking away, and I get all the way down to where he said, and I did the whole loop. I went up over the ridge, came down the face, walked out. I mean, it's like three, four hours worth, right? I get back to the rig and hear smoke. He's just leaning up against the truck and everything. And I he asked me how I did, and I told him and everything. I saw this, I saw that, and nothing, no shooters or anything like that, and everything. He's oh good. I go, Well, how'd you do? He just kind of didn't want to even look me in the face. He just kind of walked toward the driver's door and just said, Yeah, we need to get in. And I'm like, Well, how'd you do? And everything. And he kind of just under his breath said, I forgot my quiver. So he didn't have any arrows or anything. He went out and he did all this big hunt and everything, and realized by the time he got back to his rig that he didn't have a quiver anyway, so there's no, you know, couldn't have shot anything. And and so we laughed at that one as we drove back to his house, got his quiver, and then went back out hunting the rest of the day.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

And by then he'd been hunting for the years. Oh, yeah, 50 years.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

Yeah, he just yeah, and what an incredible he and his wife are both just incredibly gifted at hunting. Uh, the patience, the confidence, uh the knowledge, yeah, just everything that comes along with being successful for that long in in several areas, whether it be elk, deer, bear, cougar, turkey, mountain goat, caribou, moose, they've just they've done everything. And they've got records, countless records, you know, in the books.

SPEAKER_03 12:18

I noticed that you deflected. How many times have you left your quiver at home, David?

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Now, to be fair, no, no, to be fair, I'm modeling myself after Smokey. So the year I hunted Clooney, the second year I hunted Clooney, I had got him down, and I was like, this is the year I'm gonna put him on the ground. This is the year that that Clooney is gonna You had him figured out. Yeah, and I had him patterned and I knew what he was gonna do, I knew where he was gonna be and everything. And man, I got up first day of late season, just this totally sky. Okay, this is my best chance. First day. First sit. This is the one I'm gonna kill Clooney on. I get up at three in the morning because it's quite a drive.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

It's an hour up there, yes. Yeah, because that's the same area I hunt.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

Yeah, and and from our house in Woodland, it's an easy hour. And so I get up at three in the morning, I'm on the road. I get all the way up to the off-ramp. No, no, I take that back. I made it all the way to the gate, the gate, getting ready, get out, get my camos on, get all dressed, get all my gear together and everything, reach in to grab my bow. No bow. I forgot my bow.

SPEAKER_03 13:25

Let me tell you why I remember this.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

My beautiful wife. Oh, that's yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:29

I get a phone call at 4 a.m. Hey, babe.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Are you doing anything?

SPEAKER_03 13:33

Yeah, yeah, I am sleeping.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Yeah, she was so gracious and kind enough to at 4 a.m. to get up, grab my bow out of the garage right where I left it, and bring it out to me. We met halfway, actually. Yeah, we met halfway back at the highway.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

But that meant you had to un put everything back in the bag. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 13:51

Yeah, yep, yeah. But back to the original question, how many times have you done that?

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Well, that's the only time I've forgotten my bow, but I have forgotten my quiver I think two times.

SPEAKER_03 14:01

Yeah, I'd say two or three.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Yeah. It happens. And it just goes to show uh even I still get excited about this.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

And when I stop getting excited, that's when I need to step away. Yeah. But no, I still get excited, and I like to do a little gear check at the be the night before I go out. But obviously, that doesn't always solve all the problems.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

I noticed DJ's done it a few times too since.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

So but even after years of hunting, yeah, you're still gonna make all of these. That's why I and I know we've done at some point the checklist of going, talking about that, about how you remember everything that you're supposed to remember when you're going out, when you're coming back in, because it'll get you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

Yeah, we ended up putting out a table in the garage and dedicating space. So it was like when you come back, it all goes right there. Whatever you need for tomorrow, put it out. Yeah, because there were four of us going at the time, and one of us was always forgetting something, our binos or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

More often than not, it was me forgetting some mountain money.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

I've come back with half shirts and no socks.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

You just keep a stash behind his seat now.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Now the half shirts, and I remember that from when you and

Toilet Paper Problems And Headlamp Panic

SPEAKER_00 15:10

I were roommates 30 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Yeah. That was a sl for some reason, that was a slow lesson for me to learn.

SPEAKER_03 15:16

But well or what socks?

SPEAKER_00 15:18

So, okay, we got to cover this one because the you would come back from a day of hunting and you always had a half t-shirt on. Yeah. And I was like, why is that why is that a thing in hunting to wear a half shirt?

SPEAKER_02 15:31

Because it's just hot out there and the animals they can appreciate the six-pack.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

The beared mid drift and a little Britney Spears action going on there. But I oh that hurts. I seriously wondered. It was like, there's gotta be a reason why it's a half shirt. Because I think I saw at one point Danny with a half shirt. Oh my goodness. Well, you learned it, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:51

You learned it the mother of necessity. Yeah, you improvise, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

And I'm sure at one point I I actually was like, What is that about? Because I just didn't know hunting all that well. And yeah, that's when I found out the story is like, oh, this is the result of forgetting toilet paper.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

Yeah, big time. Big time.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

So mine, I haven't my two things about forgetting gear. And one time it was I thought I'd gone out and didn't bring my headlamp. Well, we walk back out, we walk in generally, sometimes in the dark. So if we're doing an afternoon hunt, that's not an issue, but we always leave in the dark.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

And I thought I started looking for my headlamp and I couldn't find it. Looked through my backpack and looking through everything. Couldn't find it. So, well, I gotta leave during daylight because it was a half mile. And with where we're walking, there's times where it's fine. You could make that with like your phone light or something. Right. But there's other parts where it's like, no, I don't want to do that, you know, with just a phone light on there.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

You get pretty turned around easily.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

And I got back it so I left early while it was still daylight, so probably cut in at least an hour off my hunt and got back to the car, and as I'm unpacking everything, there's my headlamp in my backpack. And I don't know how I missed it, but yeah, it was there. And I looked through my backpack about six times because it was just trying to make sure that I had everything.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

You need to stay on your mic on.

unknown 17:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

So my other story is uh about the rifle going in the trunk. So we've talked I'm a I pistol hunt, and it's always been one

The Rifle On The Roof Mistake

SPEAKER_00 17:30

of those. I want a pistol hunt. It was something my dad did, and it was, and as with Father's Day coming up, we talked about doing a Father's Day episode. Actually, by the time this one releases, I think it's gonna be the following weekend, but it's one of those that connection that you have with a parent or something. So I'd always wanted to pistol hunt, and I have a scoped 44 Magnum, but I also I started out hunting with a Marlin 1894, it's a lever action rifle and 44 Magnum as well. And that's I but I thought, you know what, I'm more proficient with this. I want to hunt with the rifle first till I get my first year, and then I'll consider doing the pistol hunt. Well, I moved that timeline up just a scotch because when I got back out to my car after my hunt one night, and this is it, we've talked about this, is having those patterns. You learn to have those. I do this, I do this, I do this, I do this, and that eliminates these mistakes, hopefully. When I got back, I set my I think I put what kicked it all off is I put my key in a different pocket for my car. And I put my rifle on the roof of my car instead of on the trunk or on a different spot. I start digging around, finding my keys, oh, pop open the trunk, and I start unloading. So usually I put it on the trunk, I have my key, or I dig out my key from that pocket, and or as I'm walking up. So I have to move the rifle, pop open the trunk, and the first thing that goes in is the rifle and unload it and everything. Yeah, I'd put it on the roof because I was digging through, looking through my pockets, trying to find where I'd put my key. So I go through the trunk's open, get undressed, change out of my clothes, put this way, put this way, and everything. Completely forgot that I'd left my rifle on the roof of my car. That's painful. Pull out, start driving up the road. I'm probably doing 20, 25 miles an hour, and it kind of curves in the road, and I hear a clunk and immediately knew what I'd done. And there's it's a spot where there's no place to turn around. And finally I have to go a few hundred yards, and finally there's a spot I could turn around and come back, but there's no real place to pull off the road. So you're just it's just stop in the middle of the road. Oh, and I find my rifle in the ditch, butt stock broken off, other pieces. It's just oh man. So grabbing all these pieces really quick, because I can hear a car coming. It's pretty rural, but so it's just I'm grabbing all this stuff and throwing it in the car, and just to kind of get out of there, because I don't want anybody seeing me picking up a right broken rifle off the side of the road. But yeah, and it was one of those like the sinking feeling. Now I'm laughing about it, even though it's about $150 to fix all of everything on the rifle. But now it's kind of funny, but it was a very big learning lesson. But that's actually what forced me. I'm like, well, my next option up, because you had said, hey, what you can borrow one of your 1008s. Like, that's a weapon I've never shot. I've shot my 44 pistol, I'm just gonna go hunt with my 44 pistol. So that's actually why I pistol hunt because I broke my rifle. Now, then that led into other mistakes of taking not necessarily the bad shot, but when I shot my first deer, uh-huh, it was not thinking through the shot process, all of that, and I believe shooting over the deer at nine yards, my pistol. And but like excited thinking I I shot him, but uh after I'd shot two days later, I shot my first deer. That okay, and knowing how they react when they've been shot versus how they react when they've just heard a loud noise.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

Right, right. Did I get in? Did I not get in? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

No, I know. There's a difference now. So I missed the nicer buck, and then two days later had to go in, and then as a, I don't know, piece of uh the universe laughing at me, I guess. The biggest buck I'd ever had on that set walked in the next day, which was the last day I modern after I shot a spike. But it was still my first buck, and I still got him with with my pistol, all very cool, the trophy thing like that. But it was one of those in the moment, you're just right, right. We just mistake after mistake, and you're just kind of just a little bit of buck fever, kicking yourself, and yeah, and it most of it was just with the rifle. Was like, really? And fortunately, I didn't do anything to permanently damage the rifle, but it was just in the moment you just feel kind of dumb, embarrassed. It took a while to really want to talk about that, what I really did. And then finally, after our embarrassing stories and stuff, and I've kind of briefly mentioned it, but that is the full story. I just completely left my rifle on the roof of my car and drove off.

SPEAKER_03 22:23

But I gotta tell you, the trophy pick you sent us of the buck that you shot with your pistol.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Oh, laying on top of it.

SPEAKER_03 22:29

My favorite trophy pick of all time. That was like dirty hairy pistol just laying on top of it. Dave and I laughed so hard when you texted us. That was epic.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Oh, yeah. Cause that well, no, Dave actually took I because you're like, you want to get a picture? And I was just so done by the end of that day. I said, No, I'll lay my pistol on top of them and just take a picture down.

SPEAKER_03 22:46

And I got that text. I laughed so hard. I thought that was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

And that's what my 44 is the pistol that Dirty Harry used. So, in case you're wondering what a model 29 is, that's Dirty Harry's. So I didn't go through the whole you feel lucky punk spiel before the deer. I just shot him.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

Put him down.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

So, Osh, let's get into your four by three with IGard story. We want to hear this.

SPEAKER_03 23:09

Do we?

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Yes, yes, we do.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

There's another one. There is another book.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

Osh, tell the story. I'm just saying.

A Four By Three And A Tree

SPEAKER_00 23:15

No, I'm gonna have you tell the ground blind story. So Osh gets to tell the four by three.

SPEAKER_02 23:19

I'm talking about her first book.

SPEAKER_03 23:20

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

No, I want the four by three with IGard.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

On her birthday.

SPEAKER_03 23:24

Okay, we're gonna skip over that. All right. We're gonna skip over that. That was my remote.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

I'm gonna I'm gonna take and put this in the vault. Okay. With the knowledge that I get to at some point skip whatever story I want to, because apparently that's how we're doing this.

SPEAKER_03 23:37

No, Erin said.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

No, no, because I want to hear I think actually I've heard the story, but I want our listeners to get the the story. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 23:47

This was early, early in our marriage.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Do I have the right to interject in here and tell what reality is inaccurate if she's oh man, okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

If you're inaccurate or if you try to leave any details out that are embarrassing, you have to tell the full story.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

Okay, full stories. Kids were young, probably four or five at the time. And it took a lot to get out into the woods for either of us. And so I'd finally felt pretty confident with my bow. I was ready to go out and shoot a deer with my bow. And Dave had put in a lot of work on a set that was close enough to the house that I could get in some evening sits and he could be home with the kids. And then if I got something down, he could come meet me. And then we actually had a it was a weekend hunt, and uh, kid's aunt and uncle was able to come over and hang out with both the kids. And so he was able actually to come out to the stand with me. And I had not been in a tree stand much at that point. Sorry. So at that point, I didn't realize how cold I would get in a tree stand. Oh, and uh, Dave's always telling me, Where's your coat? I just go. I never dress warm enough, I'll admit it. And I actually did this time, but it was raining, kind of light. And he was, were you filming at the time, babe? Yes, yeah. So he was filming, it was on the other side of the tree. We had been out there for a couple of hours, and I had started to realize I was starting to lock up. It was so cold that my muscles were starting to get tight. And then I don't know if it was being cold or buck fever, but I think it was a full combination of both. Yeah, gorgeous four by three with eye guards steps out on the set.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

I mean now let me interject here. This buck started out as a four by five, but he was fighting so much every time we would get him on camera, he was missing another point. Oh, and so this was late season, and I was just telling her, I says it can't get here soon enough because he's gonna be a spike by the time we get into stand. He was always showing back up, missing a point, being broke off here and there. So when she finally had the opportunity to get on him, he was a four by three, he was a four by three, and a pretty and not just those points, but I mean he'd taken the tips off of a few others and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 25:46

So he was gnarly.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

He was a fighter, and it showed in his rack.

SPEAKER_03 25:50

And his posture was that way. When he would come on set, he wasn't calm, he was coming through on a mission. And so when we saw him start to come towards set, I knew I'd better get my act together and be ready for the shot because he's not gonna hang out long. And so I am doing all I can to get my bow back, and I cannot. And I've had no trouble. We've been practicing shooting.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Set it up here, set it up here. The buck came in, and we're on the other side, you couldn't see me trying to be filming the whole time, right? And so we had seen the buck before he came in. Obviously, he was coming in from uphill from us, which we knew he would because he's not gonna give up that position of dominance or anything, and and uh keeping the wind in his favor, the approach and everything, and where we had the stand set up, he couldn't wind us, and the approach he was making, he couldn't see us. And so when he came in, we had plenty of time to sit there and watch him. I mean a good 15 minutes because he he he came in, but he kind of circled around for a little bit before he finally came in, and then he came in and he's right he's 12 yards, right under us, 12 yards, and he's just standing there and never looked up, never looked up, and I'm filming. I'm on the back side of the tree, got my camera arm around, and I'm filming, and I'm looking through the camcorder through the sc on the screen rather, and I can see the tip of Osha's arrow and with the broadhead. And I'm sitting there and I'm I'm watching the buck and I'm watching the tip of her arrow and I'm thinking, when is she gonna draw? Go ahead and draw and everything. And I see the arrow moving, and it's kind of doing this back and forth, like like a violin bow on a violin going back and forth like that. And I'm like, what the heck is going on?

SPEAKER_03 27:29

Yeah, I just I mean, it was probably buck fever, I'll admit, but I lost it. It wasn't that cold.

SPEAKER_02 27:34

My muscles were it was like 80 degrees.

SPEAKER_03 27:35

Oh, stop, it was not, it was not. So yeah, I just was locked up. I could not get my bow back. And prior, just a little bit of history with Archery. So Dave and I used to shoot instinctive fingers for a long time before we went to release. And that plays a part in this poor choice that I made. So, but I do have a release at this point. I'd been shooting with a release for quite a while, but I could not get my bow back. And so halfway through my draw, I'm thinking, if I just used my fingers, I know I could get it back. I'm just having a hard time with the release.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

Looking through the viewfinder.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

This is the worst decision.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

And I'm seeing the tip of the air. All I can see is the tip now. So it's the bow of the violin has been drawn back halfway. And so now I can only see the tip of the broadhead, and I'm like going, what is going on? And I come out of the viewfinder and I look around the tree and I see her all of a sudden go up. She's pointing the ball in the air, up, almost straight up.

SPEAKER_03 28:27

And I try to spread my finger.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

And she's coming down with it, and then all of a sudden, it's like a three-quarter draw, and the bow goes off, and it shoots the fir tree across from us. About 12 yards straight across. We're at about 18, 20 feet in the in the tree up, and I see that arrow just fly straight across and I'm very in the tree across from us.

SPEAKER_03 28:50

I had tried like my root my triggers, my release is on the bow. D loop. The D-loop, yeah. And I just could not get it back. And so I thought I'm just gonna stick my bottom three fingers behind the string and pull the rest of the way and get to full draw. Then I'll let go of the string and hit the release. Of course, what as soon as I let go of the string, the release goes off. I didn't even get to full draw and I killed a tree. And to this day, that arrow, we could walk off the end of our old property and it's still in that tree. It's still in that tree. It's the first tree I've killed, I think. It was a good kill.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

So if Warehouser, you're listening, 45. We apologize. Hopefully, no no lumberjack is hurt filmed hurt in the filming of the city.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

I didn't know what happened. I was so embarrassed at that point. I couldn't believe that I had done it. He didn't really spook.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

He ran off. And this is a thing, guys, that so they hear trees, limbs, and stuff pop all the time up in the trees as they fall down and stuff. And so we just held still, and she was obviously visibly upset. And I says to her, just relax, just hold still. He doesn't know what happened, he doesn't know what's going on, he'll come back. And he had run out about 20, 30 yards and stopped.

SPEAKER_04 29:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

And we still had at least an hour of daylight left. Oh. And I told her, just relax, just relax, give him a few minutes. Well, he went out there and he stood there for a little bit and then he bedded down. And then he got up, and 45 minutes later, he had made his way back into the set. And uh, but now we're flirting with lack of daylight. Yeah. And long story short, she didn't end up getting an arrow in that book with about two minutes of daylight left. But to this day, there is still a brand new pink Montec, G5 Montec.

SPEAKER_03 30:30

And that was when we could barely afford arrows. I was so mad.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

In that tree, and uh to mark that occasion.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

Okay, so the next one story I want to go on is I've titled it No Groundblind is Safe in the Riley Household. So because

Ground Blind Window Shot Disasters

SPEAKER_00 30:45

this was a two-part, so Dave, I'm gonna let you tell this story about the first one, the the first part, her shot, her shot, and then your shot.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

You have to tell both. I will tell both. I will tell both. So if you've heard me talk in my seminars, I talk about how there was a we were in a ground blind, my wife and I, Osh and I, and she was the shooter, and I was filming again, and we had been sitting in a rainstorm virtually the whole day. Yeah. And or no, this was the day before that. I'm sorry. No, this was the week before that. But I was still the cameraman and she was the shooter, and we had a deer coming in on this set, and long story short, I kept reminding her you gotta watch where your arrows at in relation to the bottom of the window of that blind. And we're in tight quarters as far as the habitat that we're in. It was really, really dense, probably one of the densest spots that we've ever hunted.

SPEAKER_03 31:39

And that was my first time drawing on a deer in a blind.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Yeah, that was your first, that was the first year you that you got to groundblind hunt, and we were kind of going over some of the mishaps that could happen. And so I kept telling her, you gotta watch the bottom of that window so that you don't hit it. Deer came in, was on the set.

SPEAKER_03 31:53

About 12 yards?

SPEAKER_02 31:54

12, 13 yards. Yeah. Everything's where we hunt, everything is tight like that. Got my bow back that time. She got her bow back, and I'm filming and I'm watching, I'm just I'm focusing right on this deer. And uh, she cuts it loose. And when she does, I noticed there's a little kick in the arrow, and what she did is she unzipped the back of this deer. It just went right and just skipped across the bat, and you could just see the hair flying, you kind of filtering down and whatnot. And uh she was like, Oh my gosh. She goes, I don't know what happened.

SPEAKER_03 32:22

And no, I knew.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

We started going through all the excuses and everything. In the moment she lied.

SPEAKER_03 32:27

Well, the thing was, I knew I was spot on, I was anchored well. I knew where I was aiming, was a solid shot. And then of course I was like, Oh dang it, he told me to watch the bottom of the blind window.

SPEAKER_02 32:37

Yeah. And she didn't, and she hit right off of it. She hit the bottom of the window, and so there was this. We were using uh NAP spit fires.

SPEAKER_03 32:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

And there was this, and if you know those are expandable, but they're a three-blade expandable and great broadhead and cute little hole now. It wasn't a little hole, it wasn't it was this tri-cut of about inch and a half through the bottom of the window on the blind. And I kept telling her it was one of those things where as a husband you need to shut up, but I didn't.

SPEAKER_03 33:07

No, actually, to your credit, that time you didn't say I told you. You just looked at me and okay. Just he knew at that point, don't say anything.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

And so I ended up blood trailing the deer and never got it, never found it. But it showed right back up on camera two days later and was fine.

SPEAKER_03 33:22

You could see where she and I got next weekend.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

Yep, he came in the next weekend, and that's the one where we got the blind that time. That is the one where I talk about in my seminars where we sat in the rain all day, and I told her it's gonna stop here within the next 15 minutes. We got a five-minute window of no rain. So we were right behind that little micro system, and yeah, that deer showed up and she shot him. Yeah, so that's her story.

SPEAKER_03 33:46

And and what I'll say about that is that was a confidence booster for me because sometimes when you make a mistake, you think you're never gonna get another shot on that animal. And now, having both those experiences, I realize if you're just patient, they'll come back. They don't know what happened and they're not seriously wounded. They get curious, they get into routines and they do come back. And that was a confidence booster for me. And you know, it's hard because you get so discouraged when you do something dumb like that.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

They come in for archery, they don't necessarily yeah, maybe for pistol or rifle.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

But a lot of guys will immediately after making a mistake, do the old disgust, make a lot of noise, make a lot of noise, a lot of movement, hang their head, and all that does is help them zero in on what just happened. Oh my gosh, there's a human, and they start tying that in, that human being at that location, and then they're not coming back. Then they're not coming back. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:38

So the following weekend, Dave goes out to the same set, and then we've got about eight.

SPEAKER_02 34:43

No, we've got about 10, 12 inches of snow on the ground. Yeah, and it was I was filming again for Leah.

SPEAKER_03 34:49

Oh, that's right. This was Leah's hunt.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Yep, she was the shooter, and I was the cameraman, and nice would have been her biggest buck by far, came in and uh didn't get a shot. This buck came in super, super cautious. We had zero pictures of this buck on this set. I had no idea this buck was in the area. Nice, nice uh three-point with eye guards, and uh and uh so he comes in and I'm filming him, long story short, 45 minutes, just to get him in on the set. And he was so cautious, he just came in and never offered a shot and left, right? So came in, sniffed around, and then left. Was real cautious the whole time. Then her, we go back out the next day, Leah and I, and this time I'm the shooter and she's the cameraman, and that same buck came back in. Now, granted, you gotta remember, I just spent the entire week prior to this reminding my wife that she's gotta pay attention to the bottom of that stupid window in the blind.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

I remember that. I remember those conversations.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

They were pleasant conversations.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 35:49

And uh so Leah is filming. Well, she's trying to, we couldn't get the camera to come on. We were having problems with the camera, and this buck was so skittish, I just told her just don't worry about it, don't worry about it. And so we stopped worrying about the camera, stopped fiddling with that, and it took another 45 minutes for that buck to come into set. He was super, super cautious. No sooner did he get in on the set that he turned and was leaving, but he was coming straight out as he was gonna walk within six feet of the blind. As soon as he got on set, I saw my opportunity to draw. I came to full draw, and then all of a sudden now he's walking toward me. Now I'm getting a little panicky. He turns broad side at six feet. Now, if you know anything about archery, you gotta use your when you're that close, it's almost a 40-yard pin shot because all your pins are on him, but your 40-yard pin is where it's gonna hit inside of three yards. So I dropped down to my 40-yard pin, not even thinking about where I was in relation to that window. And this buck is walking across the window at four at six feet. I got my 40-yard pin on him, and I cut it loose. Well, I didn't see where it hit him, I didn't see anything, right? All is he just took off. He turned around and went back the direction he just came from, which was back toward the set, and then disappeared in uh this jack for eight inch, eight, ten, twelve inches of snow on the ground. I'm all excited. We're both wondering where did I hit him because it was so close. We didn't have the camera on, it all happened so fast when it did happen, and we're just like, oh, I'm like, there's no way I missed that buck. I mean, he was right there, and I'm looking at the snow, there's no blood, nothing. We're still inside. And then I happened to glance down at the bottom of the window in the blind and everything, and I looked and in the folds of that stupid window, I could see where my broadhead went through. I unfurled, I pulled it up. I had three separate holes in that window where my broadhead, where my arrow went through, and they were all of that spit fire, inch and a half, tri blade expandable. And I was like, you gotta be so then it immediately I started thinking, uh, you know, did it throw the I screwed it up, yeah, yeah. And uh but fortunately he didn't go, I don't think he went 20 yards and piled up no, and it was a great shot.

SPEAKER_03 37:57

It didn't actually, I mean, you were so close and you had the poundage. I remember it being a great shot when we went out on the recovery with you. Yeah, that was a fun recovery in the snow, and both kids were there.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

It was that was but that was it was it didn't hit any of the framework. No, just when it hit the framework, yeah, which causes but now and I don't pull the same poundage as he does.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Yeah, but that blind is still in use. Oh, yeah, to this day.

SPEAKER_00 38:21

So I may now when you're shooting a uh scoped pistol in close, it takes a while for the where the scope is, which is two inches, three inches above the barrel, for those to come together. There might be a small dent in one of the platform railings at where we did our hog hunt. There might be, I cannot neither confirm nor deny this, but when you gotta lead them, that's why after that shot I always stood up to shoot after that because it's yeah, there's a small dent in there. That might be my fault. Okay, so we're gonna wrap up. I've got to tell my funny story of DJ comes out, I get my spike, and we're dragging it out of the woods and everything, and he's there in his

Hauling Deer Home And Camp Pranks

SPEAKER_00 39:05

rig. He's got a Toyota RAV 4. He just bought it not long before that. I'm not gonna shove my dead deer because we didn't have tarps or anything like that. I've got my scent-free bag and I've got a raincoat. And I'm like, yeah, I'm not gonna do that to the kid. Well, then my other option is to uh shove it into the trunk of my Hyundai. And this is funny. So from Fish Hunt Northwest, what's his name?

SPEAKER_02 39:31

Dwayne Dwayne.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

Dwayne. Okay, so he's up at the hunters' gathering, and I'm talking about going in my car, and he stops. We're all sitting by the fire. Your car? I was like, Oh, yeah. Well, let me tell you that story. Yeah, a spiked deer will fit into the trunk of a Hyundai Sonata.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

The best one that's one of the selling points of the Hyundai Sonata.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

Yeah, that's one of the selling points. The ample trunk room. Hyundai, if you would like to sponsor the Black Tale Coach podcast, more than happy to talk to you. But the best part about that is as DJ and I are shoving this deer into the trunk, one of the neighbors, it's rural, but this woman is driving by in her minivan and is looking at us, realizes what we're doing, and the look on her face, I immediately I'm like, sorry, lady. And I and then I just start laughing about it.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

You guys need to roll it up in some carpet or something. It's like a dead body. The Bob is disposing of it. There's the whole dirty hairy theme on that up.

SPEAKER_00 40:29

The part about it is though, you gotta be careful about the legs because by the time you get home, if any stiffness is set in, you can't get it out. Yeah, it that took a while to uh get those legs to bend so that I could get it out of the trunk. Because it had pinned itself, it was like pressing up behind the speakers in the back in the trunk with its legs. Oh, it was wedged in there tight. And so I'm trying to like not destroy the inside of my trunk, but bend its legs to yeah, it took a while. That's why I was so done by the time I got home because it was like, yeah, it was a workout. I'm like, it would just take a picture of it with the pistol on there. But do you have any like just this is hilarious? A quick hilarious story.

SPEAKER_02 41:15

What did I say at the camp? I said every story I have has an unusual amount of fecal matter in it. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of forget the toilet paper and coming home with no socks and half shirts, and that's not just me. That's me, my brothers, my cousin. A lot of people that would hunt with us throughout the years have done this.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

Didn't you wasn't Danny hiding behind one of the rigs because he had to go and you guys just pulled away while that was me?

SPEAKER_02 41:40

That was he and I were up hunting. We were elk hunting late season back when you could actually find elk in Southwest Washington. And uh he had to go to the bathroom real bad, so he gets out of the. I'm driving my Toyota raised white four by four extra cab. He's he says, Well, I'm just gonna go behind and hold on to the ball hitch and everything. So I'm sitting in the cab of the truck, the truck is still running. I can see my cousin's bald head back there and everything. And as I'm looking in the rearview mirror, I can see you know how the login roads will climb around, and you'll have a bend that comes out and then it disappears and then it comes around the corner.

SPEAKER_04 42:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:13

On that bend, I could see there was another rig coming. And you gotta know, you gotta know the sense of humor that my cousin and I have. We're kind of my wife says we're very very middle schoolish, kind of the inner 12-year-old. So as soon as I see, I kind of time it at how fast that truck is going. And as soon as I'm guessing, any second now he's gonna come around the corner, I put my truck in gear and start driving off. And I get about 20, 30 yards, and that car, that truck comes around the corner. My cousin is in the middle of the logging road doing his business, just pants down to his ankles, and this other rick comes around the corner and immediately stops. The guy driving is laughing hysterically. My cousin is standing there, like, what did you just do to me, dude? And the guy throws it reverse and backs around the corner to give my cousin some privacy. And I'm laughing so hard, I'm crying. I am absolutely crying. My cousin finishes his business, climbs in the cab, and we're both just rolling, man. It was hilarious, but yeah, that that was that one's for you, Danny. You made the show.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

I think there was one time Dave decided to be particularly romantic. We were still dating, and it was when you had that little red Toyota. Oh, little low rider, and locked my keys in the cab. Yeah, so we're out in the middle of a login road, and uh, we were gonna stump shoot. So we were gonna stump shoot, I think is what we were doing. And uh we were walking the roads for a while.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

No, we were hunting.

SPEAKER_03 43:39

Were we hunting that day?

SPEAKER_02 43:40

We were hunting, and I had just shot a deer.

SPEAKER_03 43:43

Really? I can't remember that.

SPEAKER_00 43:44

Okay, then maybe you shouldn't tell the story.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

We were hunting and I just shot a deer.

SPEAKER_00 43:48

Or tell the parts you remember, Kevin.

SPEAKER_02 43:50

And my brother Jeff, my brother Jeff was with us because he's the one that had to break the window because I couldn't do it.

SPEAKER_03 43:55

That's right. Yeah, it was the three of us. We were out hunting, and that's right. I don't remember they got a deer down, but I remember coming back to the truck and it was like a half hour before sundown.

SPEAKER_02 44:04

And we were we were miles. We were exhausted too.

SPEAKER_03 44:08

We had been hiking and I just looked at Dave and I was like, You have got to be kicking.

SPEAKER_02 44:12

I didn't realize I had and I've done this on a couple different occasions.

SPEAKER_03 44:15

Yeah, actually, this is not a one-time deal.

SPEAKER_02 44:17

And I had didn't realize I had locked the keys to my truck in the truck while we were out hunting because I didn't want to lose them, yeah, obviously. And safe we got back there and it's an hour before dark, and I'm looking on the bench seat, and I look down in there, and there are my keys right in there. Both doors are locked, and that's right.

SPEAKER_03 44:34

You couldn't bring yourself to break the window.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

I couldn't bring myself to break the window, so I asked my old my older brother Jeff to do it, and yeah, he didn't have any problems. He had no sentimental value like I did. He did, but yeah, I broke it. That was a cold ride home, too.

SPEAKER_03 44:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:48

But yeah, that was that sucked.

SPEAKER_03 44:50

Yeah. I think one time you actually we ended up with a flat and you had to hike all the way down to one of the main lines.

SPEAKER_02 44:57

I'm telling you right now, if it could have happened, it has happened to me. Yeah, it's been flats, it's been locking my keys in there. Yeah, it's it's been a number of things.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

Forgetting stuff, breaking stuff. Yeah, yeah. So that's the whole point of this episode. Things happen, have a backup plan, have a plan. But these stories don't end our hunts. Yeah. No, we just move on to

Learn From It Or Laugh

SPEAKER_00 45:17

the next story. And at some point, you're gonna either learn from it or you're gonna laugh at it. Hopefully, it's laughing at it, and you can sit around and it's good fireside stories. But uh, yeah, that's the whole idea is learn from it or laugh at it. And just keep hunting. Keep at it.

SPEAKER_03 45:33

Keep at it.

SPEAKER_00 45:34

So thanks for joining us this week. Hope you enjoyed the episode. If you could like, subscribe, follow, heart, do all those things that your platform asks. Leave us a comment. That would be great. And we will talk to you next week.