EP: 471 | Gamekeeper Scouting School

On this episode we discuss scouting and game camera tips. Our weekends are precious, and knowledge from careful scouting can reveal so much.  There is an art to camera placement and getting the best informative pictures that can help you unlock what’s happening on your hunting area. Our friends at Moultrie are changing the game with technology and we are here for it. 

Listen, Learn and Enjoy. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I am Jeff Foxworthy and welcome to Gamekeeper Podcast. If you want to learn more about farming for wildlife and habitat management, then buddy, you are in the right place. Join the Gamekeeper crew direct from Baltiok Land Enhancement Studio as they discuss the latest wildlife and habitat management practices, news, and of course hunting. There's no telling what you'll learn, but I'm going to tell you, I bet it's interesting. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_05 0:25

We're live in three, two, one. Boy, this is a subject that we can get a lot of comments from. You ask anybody a tip on scouting. Finding a big deal. You get a lot of things, but they they kind of all funnel down to the same three or four. And occasionally you'll get one that's a little more meaningful than others, but it's there's a lot of uh there's a lot of varied opinion here.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

Yeah, it's the time of year. You know, we're talking about scouting, so super stoked to be, you know, starting to talk more about that. We are calling this the Gamekeeper Scouting School.

SPEAKER_05 1:00

And it's brought to sponsored by our friends at the Moultrie Scout.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Yeah, buddies at Moultrie. That's right. And and I have been so impressed with their cameras. Yeah, we've been using the edge products, uh, Dudley, Bobby, Mac, Richie, uh, all of us, and have been really impressed by it. So very impressed. And it's just going to be about cameras, but it's definitely, you know, cameras are a huge part of the scouting uh protocol these days.

SPEAKER_05 1:23

Well, why don't we go ahead and get uh our we've got Todd Emminard, who's from Ham Lake, Minnesota. Welcome, Todd.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Good to be here, boys.

SPEAKER_05 1:36

Todd spod spends his days working on the Game Keeper magazine. That's right. Has for nearly 20 years, and does a heck of a job. Todd, it is the best magazine that I ever produced. I wish more people could read it. I just it's so frustrating. But it's great stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

That's not really why we have Todd here. Why do we have Todd here?

SPEAKER_05 1:59

Todd himself, by himself, has killed over 30 Poping young whitetails. Yes, 30. I mean, he's a heck of a whitetail hunter. He is.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

It's it's a fun sport, I can say that. And I I've been blessed to have a job where I could hunt.

SPEAKER_05 2:20

So you know Well, you must be pretty good because he's uh you you've you've killed a bunch. A bunch of big deer, we your bow.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Yes, like I say, I like to do it. I spend a lot of time at it. You know, I'm here to tell you that if anybody else could spend the amount of time that I've been blessed, like I say, to have spent, they could do it too. You you just gotta find the right places to go. Big deer. That's the one thing I learned from one of my mentors, the great Miles Keller, is his number one tip was you have to hunt where big deer are if you want to kill a big deer. And and it's so true.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

Isn't there a saying about that with real estate? Yeah, yeah. You can't kill him if he's not there. That's for sure. And there's of course, you know, we there everybody always lusts after a property where somebody's already killed a big deer. And then like, well, I mean, they already got it. Yeah, but those genes might still be around there somewhere. So, Todd, when when how old were you when you first harvested your first uh Pope and Young?

SPEAKER_00 3:23

1989. Um, I would have been oh, probably twenty two years old, I think. I don't know. I'm 64 now, or 62 now. You guys do the math. I don't I don't feel like it right now. 1989.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

It's been a while. It's been a while. What were you doing in 1989? I was in in uh, let's see, I would have been in seventh grade.

SPEAKER_06 3:53

So 89, I was six. So I guess that was first grade.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

Yeah. I was probably picking on Richie. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:00

89, I was still in college. It took me a long time to get out of here.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Is that when you were still driving the Nissan with the trailer hitchhoting? Uh no, that only lasted a year. But uh by that point, I was those back in trucks for sure. Yeah. Well, and you know, we've talked about Todd, but we were talking about this before the podcast, Mr. Cole. I mean, you're quite an accomplished southern white tail hunter.

SPEAKER_05 4:20

Well, I you know, I don't know. It's just, you know, when you do when it's what you enjoy doing, you just don't think about it, and every year you want to kill one or two or three. And so you just But I tell you what, once you kind of learn an area and where one likes to be and what he whether they're gonna do this and that, it sure makes it easy the subsequent years. I would hate to have to start fresh on a new property every year.

SPEAKER_04 4:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:47

And Todd makes a see there you go. Todd makes a really good point about time, you know. Uh we've all been blessed here to be able to spend probably more times in the woods than most people with uh careers. But uh and I don't I'm not talking for Dudley, but uh I don't have necessarily have the accolades that you and so here's my analysis of you, Lanny.

SPEAKER_05 5:09

Oh, here we go. Through the years. You know, there's like game shows, and there's door number one and door number two and door number three. You never see door what's behind door number two because when door number one opens, I'm a go-home early guy. Yeah, that's exactly right. There's no telling what you have missed through the years.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

Well, and a lot of my experience has been taking other people and preparing places for other people, especially early in my career. You know, we spent a lot of time uh doing that, and I grew an appreciation for the whole process from does and fawns to the whole landscape of whitetails. And you know, some of one of my primary jobs in the South is is you know, shooting does. And um, you know, so uh that probably does have a big bearing on why I necessarily haven't harvested as many mature whitetails as you have. But I will guarantee one thing if we go pound for pound on meat, oh yeah, you're a you're a meat guy. You're on the top. Yeah, and that's how I was raised, so anyways.

SPEAKER_05 6:09

Yeah. Well, I you know, right or wrong, there's something about antlers that just absolutely I just love antlers.

SPEAKER_03 6:17

Oh yeah. Um big bucks mesmerize everybody, even people that aren't necessarily hunters, they're gonna stop and look at them every time. And it makes me do crazy things.

SPEAKER_05 6:28

Um, I mean, it like like things I need to do at home or skip church or things that I know better. But big antlers just make me crazy. Oh, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Whitetails or turkey? Which is worse for you?

SPEAKER_05 6:43

Which is well, when it's in the season, I'm loving white tails. But but turkey would probably not, I would nod to turkey.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

You don't have to choose one that is what's good. Well, that's yes, that's nice.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

I've I've heard people say, you know, well, he's really good at growing them, but not really good at killing them. Uh I would probably put myself in that category. Uh um I like to scout, I like to get them on my camera and know that they're there, but uh, you know, I may end up going to the football tailgate instead on a Saturday.

SPEAKER_03 7:15

Or you know, you and I are very similar. Or I'm gonna go walk over there and check out and see what I can do next. You know what I mean? It's like, oh, you know, whoo, I'm sitting here for a minute, I'm like, hmm. But and you know, Bobby, he ain't moving.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

I think that's kind of the gamekeeper way. I mean, we're not all, you know, no.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Well, that's what I was gonna say. You graduated to that point, I think, before many of us do, because that's how I feel now. I would just as soon, my daughter or one of the you know, people that I I bring out here, I just as soon see them have success now. I'm not as mad at them as I used to be, right? Now if I shoot when I'm going, oh now I gotta get it and do all this, right? Uh so I I love growing them and I love watching the excitement, especially in new younger hunters. I love seeing the exhilaration in their eyes. It it reminds me of when I, you know, my dad and grandpa first took the time to take me.

SPEAKER_05 8:15

So look, I I totally get what he's saying too. And now, I mean, I I go through the sometimes I think, well, if I kill that deer, that's just another eight point to me. But to some kid, that would be amazing.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

But yeah, so and it could get you know more people into it, you know what I mean? So yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:33

I one of the things I want to do is try to I've got a couple of people in mind. I want to try to introduce them, get them going. You remember uh John Oliver, the preacher that sat here. Oh, yeah. He's I th I want to get him into it, and then he's got a son coming up. He's too young right now, but we can like set him up. Yeah, you've got a pretty good deer on camera. You could probably put John off. Well, no, I don't want to start him off on it. Wow, hey, John is well, I don't want to start him off there. Yeah, he probably well, so yeah, and uh look, why don't we let's throw it back at Todd. Todd, we're going uh most seasons not far away. Yeah. What do you what do you like? You're probably starting to put some cameras out.

SPEAKER_03 9:13

Bucks are kind of you can recognize them now. Yeah, and throw it out there too. You know, Todd is in Minnesota, so Todd is squarely in Minnesota.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

He's a good month ahead of us on all of our doings, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

I guess you can. And he keeps he keeps us in check, our southern ways in check.

SPEAKER_05 9:29

Yeah, he does. He is our token Minnesota person. All right, come on, Todd, let's get serious. It's it's it's time. What are you where are you putting your cameras early season? What are you looking for in terms of sign? What gets you excited?

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Mainly right now, I don't want to get too far back into where they're betting. So most of my cameras right now, in fact, we just put out half a dozen more yesterday, uh, are sitting on destination on food plots. Basically, soybeans, lots on soybeans, clover right now. Um so yeah, most of them would be food, food sources right now. A couple major trails, uh gate openings, things like that. Uh where I've seen uh big tracks consistently uh you know, every few days I'll see a set of big tracks. I might set a camera there. I've got one situation like that, but just getting them out there uh and and you gotta keep them moving around. So uh we'll we'll reposition every week or two weeks. Uh we'll move them around.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

How do you how do you pre-position that much uh and not worry about the pressure aspect of being in there and moving so much?

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Is there you got certainly that's that's a great question. And so I don't know that you necessarily need to move them that much. And I learned this years ago. I I built my home here in Hamlake, Minnesota, so I could watch deer out my back window. And I have uh, I don't know, I suppose about an acre and a half food plot right in my backyard, basically. And I had a boon, I I had at the time probably four or five cameras within a 10-acre chunk behind the my house here. And I had a boon and crockett showing up almost every night, and I never got a picture of him until I started moving those cameras around. I would see him with my naked eye, but but I never got a picture of him. And I don't know whether he was able to hear the cameras, whether he could see the flash, whether he smelled where I put them, or whether it was just because he didn't want to walk where I thought he should walk. He was walking where he wanted to walk. And, you know, I started moving the cameras around, and I'm talking only a you know, a 20-yard move or a different little different direction or a little different angle. And finally I started to to get some pictures of them.

SPEAKER_05 12:07

Yeah. So this was a while back if he had cameras that flashed and all that.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

But but yeah, no, I think this is infrared flash too.

SPEAKER_03 12:15

Oh, we've talked about how, you know, and and I think a lot of people, of course, we don't have it scientifically, but we wouldn't have, you know, deer that are good at avoiding cameras. Yeah. And feed sites.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:27

You know, I don't know. That that's a great question. I don't I don't know that anybody definitively knows.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

But yeah, Todd, what you mentioned, uh moving them around a lot, uh, you know, we were supposed to come up with a tip, you know, and that was the one that came to mind was uh for me, especially in the summer months, uh around here, deer, you know, a good deer doesn't have to move very far to get something to eat. Not at all. And so um it's not always this scenario where you've got a 500-acre soybean field that's a mile away that they're all going to. Um and so, you know, you just have to move them a lot to find that, you know, that buck that, you know, you in the wintertime or fall when they're checking scrapes, you might could get the same buck on five different cameras all in the same day. But in the summertime, you know, they're basically just standing up and eating and and drinking something and then going back to sleep, you know. Not moving.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

I would say that's the sign of a good property, not necessarily a good buck, right? If they've got everything they need in a small area, they don't have to feed or move very far to get what they need. So yeah, I would agree 100% with that.

SPEAKER_03 13:43

Todd, are your bucks, I mean, you know, I'm so used to hunting in the south. I mean, before they shed the velvet, are they all together?

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Sometimes. I I I see it it it really depends upon the buck. I think it depends upon whether they are uh related sometimes. In fact, just uh in my backyard here, uh a doe had twin buck fawns a couple years ago, and and they hung around together for uh I as long as I could recognize the same two deer for at least a couple years together. Um some are gregarious and some are loners, especially when they get to be old. Uh they they'll they probably won't be far from the other deer, but you know, they're 30, 50, 70 yards off, just embedded by themselves. They just want to be left alone. They they kind of react to danger and stimuli. It's like you're hunting a different animal than a year old buck or uh or a doe and a fawn. Um they react to things differently.

SPEAKER_05 14:52

Yeah. So look, why don't we do this? Why don't everybody so we we've we heard from from Todd. I'll go ahead and give you uh some of my thoughts on on the scouting aspect of things. I like to do my scouting in February and March. Uh the woods are just it just lays out, you can just see it all then. You can see those trails, you can see you can see easily see those bedding areas and see the depressions.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Yeah, before stuff started growing again. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_05 15:20

Now that doesn't help me right out of the gate for bow season because things are a little bit different. They're always a little bit different. But I know as de November and December get here, I got a good idea. Unless some trees have fallen or something and move some trails around. Kind of know what's gonna where where that what trails are out there. But I will say that thinking about cameras for a second, first thing I do is throw away that strap. I like to get those little things that screw onto the tree. Oh yeah. And you can put your camera on it and you can adjust angles so much better. That's the first thing I see you see when you're walking through the woods or somebody's got a camera on a tree, is that strap. And a lot of times I you know, the turkey season, you might you know, you might be somewhere on the edge somewhere, and you don't want you know, so you always I'm just talking about you, Laney. Trying to give you a little advice. Yeah, I do like the little screw in things.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

Those things are so helpful with the ball joint thing on it. Yeah, and too. I mean, if you're adjusting angles, it makes it a lot easier.

SPEAKER_05 16:21

Yeah, and I know you like to put up cameras up high, so that even helps you when you get a camera up high, you can angle it down. And so, um, but the other thing is I don't throw any of my cameras away. And I don't I've even I may not even put batteries in them, but I've got cameras staged around where I know I'm gonna eventually want to put a camera, and I just might just get used to them. And after that deer, after two or three or four years of growing up, and there's always something on that tree right there, I don't think they pay any attention to it. Whoa, but using those old cameras as as dummies. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Somebody came up with something new. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:59

Well, I've been doing that for a long time. I'm just I'm just trying to share with you guys. That's a great tip. That's one you've never shared with us before. I thought we were tight. Nobody in the office knew that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:11

So another thing that I like to do is everybody, every tip is gonna say north. Face your camera north. I'm gonna show you a picture where I've got a camera facing due east, and I've got bucks walking through an area, and I get the prettiest sunrise photos, and it's just long streaks and fingers of sunshine, and those bucks standing there, and they're such pretty pictures. Then after then, after the sun rises, it goes back to being just a normal camera.

SPEAKER_04 17:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:39

But strategically, I'm gonna pass you a camera, Landon, and show you a picture here in a second. But while I'm talking about that, can I look at your onyx maps while I'm gonna go? No, you can't look at my onyx maps. But also, like if you've got a creek and you've got a tree that's falling across it, that is gold. May not be to find a deer, but you can put a camera on that. Get a bobcat, couch, all kinds of stuff. Uh uh just comes across those, walks across those logs, and you can get the coolest photos. So you kind of got to get out, you think about other things that you can be taking pictures of. You actually want to know if you got any co are special. So that's that's something that makes a lot of sense to me. Um and then uh last but not least, um I'll take a camera and sacrifice it. So when you come in the gate, you're gonna see it. Yeah, you're gonna see it. But there'll be another camera somewhere you can't see it.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

So I caught a trespasser with that with a decoy camera one time. He he had stolen two of my other cameras and uh so I I put a decoy out and and hid the the real camera very well. And the uh the police went over and got my my two stolen cameras back. Uh I I said I won't press charges if he gives me my other cameras back and uh and caught them because of that.

SPEAKER_03 19:07

Oh wow. Yeah. That'll great tactic. Well, the great thing about these new Multridge cameras, too. All you gotta do, if somebody steals it, turn your app on, it'll drop a pin exactly where they are.

SPEAKER_05 19:18

That's some high tech. I'm telling you, it's a different game. I don't think I don't think people can poach like they used to. No. No, you don't, Landy. I mean, you're being serious. But I I don't think people can access a property confidently. I mean, you there's cameras everywhere. And it sent a picture before you could do anything about it.

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Yeah, yeah. And we were being watched. I mean, you just I mean, when you go in the woods, you feel like you're being watched all the time now. The sales That ought to help with your ethics, though, Bobby.

SPEAKER_05 19:47

It we it yes, it does. It helps with everybody. But the the cell game has changed.

SPEAKER_03 19:55

Yes. And the technology that guys like Moultrie are bringing to the table now, you know, we've just got exposure to these uh the some of this edge product. Uh even the, you know, uh the the artificial intelligence, you know, is as much as I'm like, uh I don't know about the AI, I'm gonna tell you what is really nice uh to be able to sort all your pictures, you know, by what it thinks it is, if you just tell it to show you all the bucks. I'm not saying it's not gonna miss one, but I mean it's a quick, easy way to look at it. So technology has just come so far.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Yeah, like scary. If you uh, you know, just say you put it on a biock or something, uh you can tell it not to send eight million pictures of the same dough. Right, right.

SPEAKER_05 20:37

That's pretty good stuff. It is good stuff. So let I ask a couple other people, and and we have given you all some of them. But hey, hey, like Hunter Crumb, hey man, what is give me a give me a camera tip. What do you what do you got? What you know, Hunter, he's as country as cornbread. He said a corn pile will tell you he's there. If he comes down a trail and sees your camera, he's done with that trail. That's my experience. If it's high, he's less likely to see it. So Laney, he's in that hang them high camp. I like the hang them high. Yeah, yeah. Uh look, here's another one. Um we got.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

Yeah. You skipped over that one. Was that not a good one?

SPEAKER_00 21:17

So the hang 'em high thing is good too for trespassers. Oh, yeah. I I used I used to do that from time to time, bring just a like a two, three-step step ladder with me and hang my camera high because when you're out there not expecting to steal a trail camera, if it's, you know, granted, I'm pretty short, so I had to always go to the top rung, but uh yeah, you then they can't steal your camera if it's too high.

SPEAKER_05 21:44

How about that? All right. So look, I asked Dave Owens. You know Dave. Oh man, he's Pin Hody Project.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

Look, he is a scouting machine on public land. Yeah. So I think what did you you got? What kind of can you give me any good tips on it?

SPEAKER_05 21:57

We'll see, won't we? So Dave. Steve Owens said, I would say early season is more important than ever to try and look into the future. And the big timber, the deer typically don't do the same thing but for a handful of days because a hot food source like a persimmon tree or a muscadine vine usually lasts only a short amount of time if there's a good deer population. So it's very important to have a camera in place so that it will let you know as soon as that food source gets hot so you can capitalize on it. So he's hanging his stuff in anticipation of what's going to happen. He knows that area's got a lot of muscadines, and probably in a couple weeks it's going to start dropping. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

So that just tells him when it's time to move in on it.

SPEAKER_05 22:42

Yeah. I agree with that.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

As opposed to like finding a buck to shoot, you know, in the summertime, he's kind of prepping for the actual hunt.

SPEAKER_03 22:50

Well, and you know, I mean, even if you're not, even if you're just scouting preseason, that persimmon tree is going to be the hottest place for a short amount of time. It's going to turn on, it's going to turn off. You know, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Dudley, you got a tip there from somebody? Uh are you? Um well one thing I used to do, um, I'm a big clover plus fan. You know, the chicory doesn't get enough credit. It's a good thing. Um so at least in my areas that I've hunted, you know, the clover pretty much goes dormant, and the chicory will just jump. And that's at a time of year when there's not much food around. You know, I think deer vetch would probably be similar, but you can kind of find the hot spot. Uh just follow the turds, you know.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

That was gonna be my tip, Dudley.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Sorry, bruh. Sorry, but uh oftentimes it's just a little portion of the field, you know, and then you can stick it on a little baby tree right near that little hot spot. Um, and that's a good chance to get some of those bachelor bucks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

I echo that, especially with so you say little tree. Here's one of one of my tips. I use tripods. Bobby said he he loves to screw them into the tree. I agree with that too. Half the straps they send with you are you know as thick as the seatbelt in your pickup truck, and you know, trying to get it around a halfway decent sized tree is almost impossible too. So uh I use a lot of just plain camouflage camera tripods, and I can put a uh a camera anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

That's a good idea. I mean, you can probably get a a cheap one on Amazon for 10 bucks. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

The one thing though is sometimes you you might want to have to put it out there and see. Oftentimes the the bucks will come up and look at it and push push your tripod over. So sometimes I have to, you know, put the tripod into the ground with some uh fent pegs or something like that to hold it down.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

But I I I love using the that's a lot easier than having to drive a T-post or something like that.

SPEAKER_05 26:55

Well, there's there's companies that make uh just a little thin post that'll just slide down in the ground and it's got an adjustable thing for a camera.

SPEAKER_03 27:02

I think Todd's hunting different deer than I because like mine would freak out. The eyes would be as big as the sun, and the last that's the last thing you'd ever see of them. Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

You won't see mine, Lanny. I use I ghillie everything. The deer know they're there because they can smell them, but you wouldn't see them.

SPEAKER_05 27:21

So look, I got a tip from uh there's a guy down in uh Florida named Justin Perdue. He's a he's a big hunter, manages a lot of property. Um he went in to talking about how he cuts they've got palmetto down there, but we've got a lot of vine. So if you can go ahead and anticipate what vegetation might be a problem, you can go ahead and try to cut that out so that you don't get a bunch of pictures of that. And that's gonna be the number one tip from everybody. Yeah, that's a good one. And then um, and but he's saying that I like to place my cameras at an angle on trails, and that helps him figure out which trails are where the deer are coming from, and then he's gonna move them after that. But the first time he's putting them at angles. But his here's a tip that really reminded me that because I I've done this before, but he said he highlighted make sure you got a signal before you leave that camera. And I've there's been many times when I've shut one and walked away, and I should have done that. I've even not turned them on from to from time to time. Thinking about something too.

SPEAKER_02 28:17

I made that mistake a lot. The angle never done that. I may not be understanding this right, but uh the angle I'm thinking of is if if you're pointing it at a trail or like a little logging road in the woods, you wouldn't want to point it 90 degrees across the trail. Like perpendicular. Because you're gonna get I mean, even with a fast trigger, you're gonna get pictures of a butt sometimes. So if you do angle it a little bit down the trail, you know, it'll trigger the camera and you can still get the the deer in the photo.

SPEAKER_05 28:51

Yep. And I th I tell you, I think if you could develop some kind of system, a mental system, Lanny, that when you every time when you set a camera up, you go through a checklist of yeah, the now with Moltres, you don't have to worry about the SD cards. But if you still have some older cameras, but thinking about that, making sure it's turned on, looking to see if you got a signal, all those things, it so when you walk away and get back to the truck and driving home, you know you did what you were shoulding to go ahead and send you a test picture while you're there, you know?

SPEAKER_03 29:19

Because the worst thing is to get home, then figuring out and having to go back.

SPEAKER_05 29:22

You know, and some of what we're talking about applies to older cameras. These new cameras are so much more sophisticated. These multi-edge things.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

Yeah, they got rechargeable battery packs, built on memory. Uh, we already talked about the AI stuff a little bit. Solar panels. Solar panels, that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_05 29:38

One battery will last a long season.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

A season.

SPEAKER_05 29:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Um listen, here's one for you, though. Let me ask you this, or or or here's a point, and then we can all discuss. So I fear that all this technology is creating, just like smartphones have stupefied our country, our test scores, our education is going down the hill, because all you got to do is pick up your phone and it'll tell you the answer. I fear that all this technology is creating a generation of absolutely stupid moron accounts. And that uh here's uh this was back even early 2000s when you know trail cameras weren't as sophisticated as they they were now. And I remember it was back then because it was still the it was on the quality gear management associated forum. This young man had harvested two back-to-back one year than the net another, 150-inch white tails, and people were asking him questions on this forum. And he this young man didn't know what a rub was, didn't know what a scrape was, he couldn't he really couldn't answer the questions. He just simply got a picture and shot the deer.

SPEAKER_03 30:52

I wish it was that easy for me. Yeah, it's not anything. I know we we talk about this a lot, actually. I don't know if you want to get into it now.

SPEAKER_05 31:00

Uh well, in some parts of the world, it's just stuff like that, it's easier to happen.

SPEAKER_03 31:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:05

Up where Todd is, uh maybe Wisconsin, Illinois, a three-year-old deer can be 150 inches.

SPEAKER_03 31:12

Oh, no doubt, yeah. No, you'll see a giant and it's a one-year-old, which you think is a giant from the south.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

But so uh, you know, one thing I see a lot is uh, you know, and and in a lot of states it's not even legal, but you know, just randomly putting out corn or something and then immediately setting a camera down. For one thing, that corn's probably gonna start rotten and having aflatoxin before the deer even really find it. But so uh, you know, learn like Todd's saying, learn the woods, be a learn some woods woodsmanship skills and find that muscadine vine. Or yeah, you know, you gotta know your tree species, you know. That one white oak you have on your place may be a really good hot spot to find that deer like Dave Owens does.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

You know, you guys are all old enough, so you I know have spent hours and hours and hours with a spotting sculpt mounted to your window just sitting there watching back in the day. So, yeah, and and learn to read the sign, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 35:54

Yeah, so when you're out there putting your camera out, look for deer sign. You know what I mean? Not just run out there and pop it up. That's true. And sometimes you'll be shocked what you'll and I'm with Dudley. My favorite deer sign is turds. Turds.

SPEAKER_02 36:10

I mean I mean, that's like the easiest public land thing to know. You know, if if it's a hot spot, you're gonna see where they've been, you know, the results of of them eating a lot in the same area.

SPEAKER_05 36:23

Yeah, and when they eat, they poop. And it and you can tell the difference in buck poops, too. It's uh we I used to call them bull turds. I think it's all comp all packed together and that gets you excited. It's got a bigger orphice. Speaking of bull turks, um, exactly, Bobby. You got a tip. I I was waiting, I knew that was coming.

SPEAKER_06 36:43

Richie was sitting there ready for it. Yeah, I was ready for it. Um uh, you know, maybe a question for you guys. The fact, okay, um public, uh, maybe you're looking for a new property or just got a new property, you look at the map there, you're looking at your onyx. Potentially, where could what are you looking at that could potentially be somewhere you might want to put the camera preseason?

SPEAKER_03 37:05

First thing I'm gonna do is is look at at food sources to what what Todd's talking about and Bobby's talking about. Then I'm gonna look for blue lines, you know, which are drains, creeks, leading up to bottoms, you know. My uh, you know, theory is you know, to everybody's point, you know, those bucks don't want to move as as little as possible, yet they still want a a great bedding area where they're safe. So um I used to tend to, you know, where's the thickest cedary kind of stuff, but I'm telling you, I never had much success the one. The more we're learning about, you know, the the grasses and where they really feel safe, it's more open than that. Uh so finding that uh that uh ideal spot.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

The first things I look for are are that's I grab a map like like Lanny is saying, and I'm looking for topography and funnels. I I want to restrict their movement to a smaller zone so the traffic is higher there. And what what a lot of people don't think about that on the topography maps is whitetails are just like every other animal. And the best way I can explain this is growing up on a on a farm that uh melt a hundred head of cattle or so a day. Um you put cattle into a new 80-acre pasture and nothing's been in there, and you come back two weeks later, you will see well-worn paths in the ground where they've been traveling from point A to point B, point C to point D, whatever it is. Why did they travel there and not five feet over there, five feet over there? It's because it's the path of least resistance, the easiest path. So look at the, you know, the topography breaks. Uh whitetails are are the same way they will they'll always use that pass, path of least resistance unless they're spooked.

SPEAKER_06 39:01

Sure. All right. So what about kind of leading, you know, the of Dave Owen's question there with uh persimmon trees and uh muscadine there? But early season again tactics, but in a hardwoods where you know, mid-season, you know, during the rut and whatnot, they're dropping a lot of acorns. But you're going out there and potentially setting up cameras now so you don't have to go out there during the middle of the season, set out cameras and stuff like that. So being like in preparation for when the acorns drop.

SPEAKER_05 39:32

Well, you might have cameras set up specifically on your persimmons and muskadines, and you might have other cameras set up in those hardwood bottoms that that you're gonna be anticipating in November that those are gonna come alive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

You know, if if you've got acorns dropping everywhere, it's really hard to pattern them. So you you may want to look for uh some type of bottleneck where like a creek makes a really big bend or something. Um, like at my place, I've got a spot where a creek makes a big bend, but it also backs up to some uh I would say overgrown closed canopy, younger hardwoods that don't really get frequented a lot by deer. So it's like a natural bottleneck. So if they're coming in there to eat acorns, they're likely gonna walk through that spot.

SPEAKER_06 40:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

Um, and then you know, you got uh you got scrapes, you know, in the south. That's for us, it's you know, a lot of November. And for Todd and everybody else up north, that's usually October.

SPEAKER_06 40:37

And that was gonna be my next question, actually, mock scrapes. You know, we've been talking about that, you know, some of these mock scrapes want to talk to Todd about that.

SPEAKER_03 40:44

But I mean, I mean Todd's been using it for years. It sounds like Todd. Mock scraping it for years.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

Absolutely, yes. Yeah, I I think my fascination from it comes because I used to run a trap line and I used to love that that uh feeling of anticipation, wondering whether something's interacted with your with your setup, and I kind of feel the same way with mock scrapes, and that's why I love to use cameras on mock scrapes. Um it it's a it's a great tactic.

SPEAKER_03 41:14

I got one. All right, come on from from the gamekeeper himself. Who is that? Tom Robertson. Okay, my boy down there. Yeah, white horse taxiderma. He's got several here, but uh uh my favorite one is this last one. It says, trap every coon you can to keep from blurring your picks up. No time right there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:35

And Tom, I know he said face them north. Um everybody we ask.

SPEAKER_03 41:40

Everybody face north, and of course, trim the stuff, look out for wind, um, you know, and the angle stuff too. Richie, you got one?

SPEAKER_06 41:46

Uh well, here another question. I guess, you know, this time of year, are you mean you are you worried about scent? Are you worried about I mean you wear a camo, you you bust in, you're trying to get in, get out.

SPEAKER_03 41:57

I'm trying to get in and get out as quick as I can. Always. Yeah. Yeah. And that's the great thing about these new cameras, too.

SPEAKER_05 42:02

But now I'll tell you, this time of year, if I get a chance to go do something, I'm not like saying, Oh, the winds were on for this. I'm just gonna go do it. But I'm not gonna stay in there any because I smell like a you smell worse than I did. Well, in the summertime I'll be working and doing all this. Game peeping. Yeah, I just get in there, get it done, and get out. Yeah, but I try not to I'll I'll walk around stuff. I don't I don't let it well, a lot of that is to keep ticks from getting on me down. Oh, yeah, absolutely. So I just get in there and get it done, Richie, and then get out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:34

See, um so there's something to be said for the opposite side of that too. So I use the same John Deere gator to go out and check my cameras all the time. And I they become accustomed to that vehicle. I will sit there and see 150-inch box bedded 20 yards from me as I drive past them on the gator and check my cameras. And this is one nice thing about the tripods I can drive right up to the tripod and I still use SD cards on some of my cameras. Change out the little SD card, and off I go, and that bucket is still bedded there. If I were to go and do that on foot, he would be two neighbors away by the time he slowed down. So I think there's something, you know, are they is this in the big woods somewhere where no one where they're not used to human traffic at all? Or is it like around here and almost you could call where I live the suburbs of of Minneapolis where they're used to humans uh frequenting? So I I think how they react uh that that makes a big difference.

SPEAKER_03 43:45

There's definitely something different about Todd's deer and the deer I'm messing with. Yeah. Like 20 yards, bedded down looking at you.

SPEAKER_02 43:51

Nope. States that allow feeding and whatnot, I mean, we all know people that just have a route and uh, you know, they may drive by in their Tacoma and fill a feeder and set up a camera and you know, maybe even drop a hunter off, and then that that that motor starts that motor noise starts going the other direction, and the it's like the deer are used to it.

SPEAKER_00 44:13

And they can't count. They can't count. This is one thing I love doing this when I'm when when you have more than one hunter, you drop at least one of those hunters off right at the tree and then drive away. If there are deer bedded in the area, they like I say, they can't count. They don't know oh, there's one guy who's still sitting in the tree, they think everything's already left. So the buddy system on uh you know, stand approach, that's uh that's a wonderful tactic, I think.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

Is your gator electric? No, yes.

unknown 44:47

Interesting.

SPEAKER_05 44:48

Yeah, he is not a Tesla kind of guy. He is we burning we burn dinosaurs out of that all day long. Oh, possible. He's probably got a glass packed muffler.

SPEAKER_02 45:00

But I don't know. Maybe I'm not hardcore enough. I enjoy doing work at my place, you know, after what you know, in the summers when the days are long.

SPEAKER_03 45:08

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:09

I'm gonna go in there and make a bunch of noise and do some hacking squirt and whatever else. And me too. I'm not really worried about bumping the deer.

SPEAKER_03 45:19

Bobby's me, because if a deer's in a food plot at night, I'm gonna get down and leave. Oh my god, you're breaking the rules. I'm like, I'm trying to get back to the house because it's something to eat.

SPEAKER_02 45:28

When September, October rolls around, I'm gonna quit doing a lot of that stuff.

SPEAKER_05 45:33

Yeah, it gets quiet and quieting it down. Uh well, I've noticed it like on days when I'm running a chainsaw and and and doing that work like you're talking about, hacking and squirting away. Sometimes when I leave that evening, I'll they'll be I'll get I'll still get pictures sent to me and the the deer just come right.

SPEAKER_02 45:49

It's a lot of your just resident deer that have you figured out. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:53

I was just gonna say here in the winter time, they will actually come running to the chainsaw during tough winters because they know that that's a treetop gonna hit the ground, and that means browse, fresh browse for them. So uh my my uncle will oftentimes uh have deer 20, 25 yards away while he's running the chainsaw, waiting for that treetop to hit the ground because they know it means food.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

I've I've done that for you know putting a stand up or or even putting a camera up. Back to that pinch on the creek I was talking about. You can you can cut down a 10 or 12-inch sweet gum and kind of block the deer to where they have to go around that tree to get a better shot with your bow or to get a camera photo. The jury's were talking about that.

SPEAKER_03 46:42

Mark talked about a lot. He had a good lot of great scouting tips.

SPEAKER_05 46:45

Yeah, you know, Mark had so many good. But the overall takeaway from Mark is he has kept all this data, all these photos. He can reference, he's got it organized. I don't know how he does all that, but he's run a lot of cameras and he's millions of pictures.

SPEAKER_03 47:00

Every buck since 07?

SPEAKER_05 47:01

Yeah, that's that's that's something we can aspire to because uh a lot of times I clean my cards off.

SPEAKER_03 47:06

Yeah. I I really do. And really, I mean what he's doing, we've talked about this with record keeping. You know, all uh production ag people keep records. You know what I mean? Uh livestock people keep records so they know what they're doing. You know, he's right. We need to be keeping these records because the more we learn about white tail management, it's you know, it's it's not a one-year, two year, five years. It's a you know, eight or ten year thing kind of thing. Look, that leads right in. Thank you for this. Yeah, I'm teeing it up for you there, Bob.

SPEAKER_05 47:35

One of the smartest guys that I know on Whitetails, Mark Thomas from over in Birmingham. So I asked him for a tip, and he uh he sent back, look, here's a tip. He said, most everybody wants to see what their properties in anticipation of hunting season, what I got this year and all that. He said, That's great. You need to do all that. But landowners, gamekeepers, ever need to not only use cameras to determine buck populations and antler morphology and travel patterns, but every few years you should do a census where you determine population numbers, unique buck numbers, adult doughs, uh buck to dough, the buck age structure, antler morphology. Richie, get us you to tell us.

SPEAKER_03 48:20

That's what the antlers look like, man.

SPEAKER_05 48:22

Yeah, fawning and even twinning. So here's some and trip sometimes. Here is uh, yes, occasionally. Here is some record keeping. Yes. And he's saying every few years a guy ought to do that. And um that's probably some good advice.

SPEAKER_03 48:37

Baseline we had the drone uh survey guys on not long ago, you know.

SPEAKER_05 48:41

So look, you know Larry Burns over there, Jeff Foxworthy Commander, he's one of my favorite people. He's so funny. Yeah, but he's so like he never he rarely cracks a smile. He's just always like, uh he's like Eeyore, that donkey on what was the show. Anyway, the poo. Yeah, so I asked uh I asked Larry to send a tip. He said, I don't have any tip other than the obvious ones. He said, Don't buy a cheap camera because you'll get really frustrated with the results. He said, Trail cameras are like pressure washers, they can make you say things or your preacher wouldn't like. But I didn't, you know, I thought, Larry, come on. But really and truly, it's a good tip because the cheaper you go, the more frustrated you're gonna be.

SPEAKER_03 49:24

So and you want to go through the time to go to your place and put it out and do all the work and not work. You know what I mean? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 49:31

And a few dollars more. You can have all these Belgium really and truly cameras are not that expensive anymore.

SPEAKER_03 49:36

The data plans are what's bad.

SPEAKER_05 49:37

Yeah. Can we get a deal on some data plans? Please.

SPEAKER_03 49:40

What in the world is going on here?

SPEAKER_06 49:42

Speaking on the mana camera, so like, okay, you got 40 acres. I mean, how many cameras? Great. 40-50 acres. How many cameras per there is a problem?

SPEAKER_05 49:49

There's a formula to that almost, isn't it? I don't know. I mean, I'd look, I'd like to have as many as I could have, but I would think you I think an average guy needs at least four cameras. Well, it depends on how the property. It totally depends on the property. But but if you've got four cameras that you can move around at your will from time to time, that's a good start.

SPEAKER_02 50:08

Four to five is my comfort zone. I you know, I keep one at the gate or you know, where I could catch a potential bad guy. Um, and then I move the other ones around a lot.

SPEAKER_04 50:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:20

Well, with some of this battery technology that's coming out, you know, you can you can use it longer or or use fewer longer.

SPEAKER_06 50:27

Before that, those batteries for that many cameras in that data plan.

SPEAKER_03 50:30

Changing them all the time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:31

Y'all got any other tips because I'm gonna I got one to close us out with.

SPEAKER_03 50:35

Well, we can tell you guys, I mean, you definitely went through the tips and gave me and Dudley like a couple, then you'd like to get it.

SPEAKER_02 50:41

You know, uh our buddy Jimmy Styles has been on the podcast, really smart guy. Um, he's a he he we did one on snakes with him, but he's he's a just a naturalist. He knows a lot about a lot. Um and yeah, put it on a on a water source this time of year. You know, our our buddy Mark Haslum, he's always posting photos of of deer on a water source, especially if you don't have a lot of water on your place.

SPEAKER_06 51:10

Yes. Yeah, I was gonna ask that, I guess. You know, like yeah, you as you mentioned maybe some places like places we got, we don't really have a lot of water. But making your own waters, I've seen you know, guys getting kiddie pools or whatnot, and you know, digging them up and putting water out there, especially putting the camera on there.

SPEAKER_02 51:25

And it, you know, it's kind of like having little salt licks, you know. You you move them from spot to spot until you find that target buck that's probably not gonna be moving a whole lot this time of year. Um, and they gotta have water. Uh little creek crossings and things are great. Love a creek crossing or river crossing.

SPEAKER_05 51:43

You can find where these going up and down the banks. And that's a great, even if it's a larger river, they go cross it from time to time.

SPEAKER_03 51:50

Yeah, we've we're learning more and more. There water doesn't vase them at all.

SPEAKER_05 51:54

You know, and I've heard guys say, Well, I don't go check my camera unless that's right after a rain or right before a rain, it'll wash my sin away. And I I you know that there was the guys from Southern Aldoorsman that were talking about that a dog trainer had told them that it's exactly the opposite. Things can smell better. That's right. So I think that might be an old wives tale about that.

SPEAKER_03 52:13

So I think I fell prey to that one. Or maybe you go right before and then it washes it away. Yeah. There you go.

SPEAKER_05 52:19

That could make sense. So I'll spend on it for sure. All right, look, I talked to the Dalai Lama himself. Who? Dan Moultrie. I mean, he's probably put out more cameras than anybody I know. He's been in the biz. I said, Dan, give it give us a tip. And uh, you know, he can't he kind of face your cameras north. I said, Come on, Dan. You got it you got to do that. Trim all the limbs. We got that one. But he said the the most underutilized thing is that guys don't turn on the video feature. And a lot of times once you kind of hone in on a buck and you get excited about him, and there's more to the equation, or you can see more of him when you run that well, you can go request a video.

SPEAKER_03 52:58

Right.

SPEAKER_05 52:59

And he he he said that's a game changer when you're really trying to hunt a specific animal and learn about him, see what trying to decide about him, maybe even but that's a big deal. But here's another thing that he told me. He said, you know, sometimes you go on your property, it might have a I remember down at the dummy line, we had no cell service. But we could put a game camera there and and it would get a couple of bars and it would take pictures. But there were I remember there was a couple of places that it it wouldn't work. Right. But he Dan said he's had a few places a few times when it's that scenario, and he said a hundred percent of the time a hundred percent of the time one hundred percent of the time if he would go ahead and hang that camera where his like his ladder stand would be and put it up fifteen feet and then aim it down toward where once it got up off the ground, a hundred percent of the time it would get a cer a signal. And he said, Well, that's a little bit different of a picture, it's your view from that tree stem, so to speak. But all of a sudden you've got the ability to get a picture. Oh, so he's getting in the stand and then hanging them. If he if he can't get a set a signal, yeah, he'll do that. Yeah, but um like one of your tips, I don't know that you've given it yet, but you like to hang a cam uh camera high.

SPEAKER_03 54:09

Yeah, a lot of people are talking about that. Uh Brent uh Brent Lakla, uh that was one of his tips too. Is it Brett or Brent? Brent, I don't know. You tell me. I think it's Brent. Is it Brent? What'd I say? I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 54:20

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 54:21

Yeah, exactly. Anyways, that Lakala boy over there. Yeah, yeah. It was talking about hanging them high. But yeah, and I'm more, you know, to to Mark Thomas's point, I want a census to see what everything's going on. Plus, I want to like get a broader field of view as I can. I think, you know, deer will will get by you. And back on the video tip uh, too, from Dan, you know, I have uh requested a video from a picture uh and then got a completely different another deer. Another deer. Yeah, yeah. It's exactly right. It's like the trigger went off and they were together and they walked in afterwards while it was video. And so, you know, I look let me tell you this.

SPEAKER_05 54:57

My wife, I taught, you know, I'll tell you, getting your wife involved on your property is a great thing. Yes. So my wife loves every weekend we can tiptoe around and find a baby deer laying somewhere. She loves that. But I'll have does walk by a camera, it'll just be a lone doe. I'll request a video. After that doe's gone, here comes both of them come running by. Sometimes they're bleating. It's just a lot more. You miss it.

SPEAKER_02 55:21

And it may only be that may be your one picture of that butt. That's right. So having that video would, you know, like like Dr. Dan said, would would be huge. Dr. Danny give him credit. Being able to figure out, you know, with them moving his head and stuff, you'd be able to get a better look at it.

SPEAKER_00 55:38

Absolutely. The other thing is you can see how they act around the other deer. Let's say you have three, four bucks come in there. Now you can you can you can see with that video clip, you can see which one is is the dominant animal, you know, who's following who. Uh later on in the season you see one buck show up and you go, uh, he might be coming right, you know, right behind. So um because they they like to hang together. So uh yeah, watching the behavior, I think that's the big thing about the video.

SPEAKER_05 56:10

And the one other person, Glenn Garner over there in Georgia. Yeah, I mean I got the most respect for him. He I mean, it it boy, he can figure something out. There's no telling how many cameras he's running. But I tell you what he'll do. I bet it's not as many as Mark. When I ask yeah, I don't know. It could be close. But when I ask him, his tip, it wasn't placement or he said, just get the best dang batteries you can buy.

SPEAKER_03 56:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 56:35

And there's some there's some solid advice there because that's few limits the times you have to go in there.

SPEAKER_03 56:40

Yeah, I think right now you can get a free rechargeable lithium battery pack when you purchase an Edge 3 camera in Multri.com, too. I think you use code Mossy, if I'm not mistaken. Is it Mossy Oak?

SPEAKER_05 56:54

Oh, look at there. Mossy Oak. But I don't know why you need one, the battery lasts so long. I mean, it's I guess you got to.

SPEAKER_03 57:00

I mean, up until now to these rechargeable lithium battery packs. Uh uh my buddy Nick Straham talks about it all the time. He buys, you know, I'm I'm the cheap guy. I'm buying the Energizer Max, and he's like, no. You're buying the Dollar General batteries. I look we did a test. You know, we did a scientific study of the name brand and off name brand. And maybe we can release that later.

SPEAKER_05 57:22

It was exactly what you thought it would be. It was exactly what I thought it would be.

SPEAKER_02 57:26

A lot of the AA cameras, you know, they don't even want you using alkalines anymore.

SPEAKER_03 57:31

Yeah, they want you using the lithiums.

SPEAKER_02 57:32

I've I find on Amazon you can price shop and get lithiums for about half what you can get them.

SPEAKER_03 57:40

There's a scouting tip right there. Go Dudley.

SPEAKER_02 57:42

Yeah, what is your account number?

SPEAKER_05 57:45

Yeah. We just need his credit card. We don't need his account number. So lithium, I think everybody would agree with that. That's the best battery. And they're kind of crazy right now with all this war stuff going on because it seems like lithium hung up at the Strait of Hormouth or something. Well, maybe it comes from Ukraine or something. Can can we say that?

SPEAKER_06 58:02

I think I don't know what you can say, Bob. You can say whatever you want.

SPEAKER_03 58:05

I don't either. We'll fix it in post.

SPEAKER_05 58:07

Is there any other tip we've left uncovered?

SPEAKER_03 58:11

I mean, I I think we're all related to the same thing. You need fine deer sign, trails, scat, you know, uh convergence of areas, natural pinch points, you know, just don't set them up in random places. You know, spend a little time doing your research. How high do you put your camera? I mean, I can reach, you know, about seven feet um from a base of a tree up and strap one. So, I mean, that's typically, you know, where I'm going with just over your head, then. Yeah. Over my head. And it depends, like uh when we were out the other day, I think there'll be a probably a video. Y'all get to see me cutting a lot of stuff. Uh, you know, where that one was, it was a pine plantation, and uh, we only we didn't have to hang it that much higher because it was kind of looking down. But there was a persimmon tree, a clover patch, and and a thicket. And you know, so we were trying to find, you know, the you know, the as you call it, the the buffet. Have you got any good pictures yet? Uh no. That you can share. Actually, uh I'm most proud of, you know, I did have a uh a pregnant doe, and on July 29th, she was just huge. Uh, then two days later she came by and she had twins. Uh so I was stoked about that.

SPEAKER_05 59:23

That's the oldest one of seeing this. Yeah, they're so they're so cool.

SPEAKER_03 59:27

This is an exciting time of the year because hunting season is right around the corner. Well, and the more, you know, the guys that have consistently, you know, kill really good deer, have them targeted and know what they're doing this time of year. It's not just, you know, like Todd said, the good old days where you just wandered out there and waited and saw, you know, they're really getting kind of honing in on some things. And uh, you know, so it's time to find them. Richie, you're a professional camera guy.

SPEAKER_06 59:55

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_05 59:56

Do you I was expecting some kind of really good tip from you about maybe maintaining your camera or cleaning the lens, or I tell you what? Yeah, you can clean your lens with your shirt. Yeah. So spit in your shirt.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:11

So one more tip. Rip.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:14

Yes, and sending those that box of grunt calls.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:17

So he told me, he said, look, you can go to Harbor Freight and get it, it looks like a little dental pick and for pulling back camera for pulling batteries out. He said it's much better sticking your pocket knife down in there because eventually you might mess up that spring in there. But he he sent me a picture, he said this is like a buck ninety nine at Harbor Freight. So, and it fits right in your pack that you can carry everything. Well, you can pick your teeth with it. But that is a good one. We've given some pretty good little tips here. If a guy Well, you've been on a roll for Mr. Like, I don't know what I'm gonna say. I mean, like, I don't think he's been spitting them out.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:52

Have you been been breathing? I prepared.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:54

I mean, didn't did you guys prepared for all of us.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:58

Well, so look, there's nothing worse. I guess there is things that are worse. But if you set up, you go to the trouble to set up your camera, you get back home and you forgot to turn it on. Or you done it, you know, I've done it too. And so I've not only put out one, I've put out multiple ones and hadn't turned them on. So, guys, if there's one thing that you remember from this is to develop a little system so when you get there that you check off the box, because we're all thinking about Lanny's thinking about 10,000 other things.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:27

And I'm gonna give some props to Jess Rayleigh because he is uh he he has some kits and he has a to your point a tran a camera kit that has extra stuff, straps, batteries, cards, you know, anything that he might possibly need.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:41

Yeah. Uh so yeah. That is a good tip. Prep up. I've got a little green box myself. I've got a battery checker in there. I can tell if a battery's gone or bad.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:49

I'll tell you.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:50

Yeah, even got one of those little plug-in things so I can look at are you looking at your pictures at that? SD cards when you had the old SD cards.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:59

So are you are you that's a quick question. Are you going in just pulling cards and looking at them later, or are you sitting out there and going to the card? Yeah, no, I can get the card and get out of there.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:05

Yeah, yeah, us too. Get home and then spend time looking at them, studying them, analyzing them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:12

I tell you what, another thing I like about these cell cameras uh is that it's a lot less time consuming because the you know the the pictures can hit your phone and then you can look at it. And you don't you don't have to sit in front of a computer for three hours going through No, you're right.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:29

And it used to be an event, you know, with the film cameras. You turned and then man, are we going? You know, and then you get it and then you gotta go through 9,000 pictures of coon ears. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:39

So guy, it's easier today than it has ever been. And it and like uh no, not to just talk about moultry, but if you pick up your mould, that camera knows what service is the strongest in your area somehow. I it's like a thermos. I have to do that. How does it know?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:53

Easiest one I've ever set out. And it does it automatically. So and I put it on Richie's credit card. So I mean, yeah, I'm telling you, it hasn't bounced yet. Yeah, it I couldn't get any better. I mean, it really couldn't.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:04

Yeah. All right, guys. Todd, you got anything else to give you the last word here?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

We're good. We're good. I'm just looking forward to hunting season. So uh there you go. Good luck to good luck to y'all.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:16

Thank you, Todd.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:17

All right, I'm gonna need it. You are gonna need some luck this year. Because Hayden's good. This is Hayden's probably at the age where he's like, Dad, I really want to shoot a pretty good one this year. Yeah, I'm like, oh, let's shoot that one.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:27

He's like, meh, I want to wait on a bigger one. You gotta talk him into it sometimes. Like, boy, how in the fuck out of here? Well, I I mean to your I mean, I think like I've got to get him into scouting, you know, is what I've got to do, you know. Because you know how it is. If I mean you you have a you got some proof that one's there, you're gonna be way more engaged about it for sure. Why don't you say goodbye, Dudley? Goodbye, Dudley. Get us out of here, Richie.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:49

Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of the Game Keeper Podcast. And be sure to tune in again. Subscribe to Game Keeper Farming for Wildlife magazine, and don't miss the Mossy Oak Properties Fistful of Dirt podcast with my good buddy, Ronnie Cud Strickland.