You're listening to the Sportsman's Empire Podcast Network brought to you by Full Sneak Gear.
Check out their entire lineup at FullSneakGeer.com.
Also be sure to check out our entire stable of podcasts at SportsmanEmpire.com.
Thank you so much for joining us today at FullSneakGeer.com.
That means Black Friday, Cyber Monday.
Today we're going to be talking with Jacob Coons, who is a bit of a gear nut.
He thinks this time of year, Black Friday, that weekend and Cyber Monday,
is an excellent time for hunters to take advantage of a lot of discounted, deep discounts for hunting gear and equipment.
That's what we talk about today. He's going to throw some suggestions my way.
He's going to talk about why this might be important.
Also, we talk about planning for this date.
Right now, just write some of the stuff you need down on a piece of paper
and then keep an eye on that type of stuff.
He even talks about a couple of apps that he uses to find good deals.
Very cool, very unique and interesting podcast that's pretty relevant given the time of year.
Hopefully, all of you guys are out there grinding.
You've either found success or you're in the process of getting the job done,
sending good vibes your way. Huge shout out to CodeBlueSense.
These guys support this podcast and the cool thing about that is,
man, I have got a ton and I mean a ton of pictures with Bucks and Does,
all deer, visiting my mock scrape kit that I have, the RopaDope system.
I do have a discount code NFC20 and that's going to get you 20% off for CodeBlueSense.
Not only do they offer the RopaDope system, the preorbital gland kit,
they also offer synthetic and real deer scent products like urine.
And then, of course, your scent free or scent elimination products like laundry soap,
or laundry detergent, bath soap, shampoo, anything to clean your clothes or clean your body
and make it scent free, including sprays if you're into that.
Go check out CodeBlueSense.com and use the discount code NFC20.
Alright, that's the intro. Let's get into today's episode with Jacob Coons.
Three, two, one.
Alright, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Hunting Gear podcast on your host, Dan Johnson.
And today, we are joined by Jacob Coons and, dude, we're going to talk about Black Friday.
That's right. We've got to have, I mean, we're in the peak of the rut right now, Dan.
And I know, I know you've been experiencing it.
We've all seen and heard about, you know, the buck that you shot recently.
And before we get into the gear stuff, I do want to say I think what you're putting on on Instagram right now
proves that you're the Hugh Hefter of Whitetails.
Wait a second. We're all, okay. No, no, no, no, you finished. You finished.
We're all upset for you. We're all really upset about this buck you shot.
But let's be clear. You're showing pictures of new bucks and maybe this is the buck and all this stuff.
And I'm like, holy crap, man. I mean, this guy is like any of these on their all tents are all perfect tens.
And so you're the Hugh Hefter and in full sneak deer needs to have a playboy bunny or a deer head shaped in the form of a playboy bunny because that's you right now.
Okay, you're killing, you're killing everybody else.
You know, I'll take that as a compliment because like who growing up, even from the 1950s, I think it was the 40s or the 50s when playboy started.
Even today by today's standards, who would not have wanted to trade places with Hugh Hefter at some point in their life?
Well, I know you just read the article. So I was an article guy. I was definitely an article guy.
It is, it is an interesting dynamic. He would have three women around him all pretty much the same. And you know, they're all 170, 180.
I mean, they were all booners. They were all booners. They were all booners.
But here's the thing about having, having multiple girlfriends like like he had. And that is if he was a bow hunter or a white tail hunter.
And it was, yeah, it was time just going hunting. He's getting it three ways before he walks out the door every day.
I went yesterday, exactly.
Yes, you're a evening, Dan. And it's just like, I'm on the way home. And all, you know, all havoc is broken loose at the house. And I'm just like, honey, I'll talk to you when I get home.
But anyways, yeah, there's no way. I don't, I don't want to live that life. I don't want to be Hugh Hefter.
No, no, but not anymore.
I want to be the single guy. I want to be the white tail bum at the hunts three different states and all that's the out of the hand by the river.
Right, right. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Okay, dude. Black Friday. Why should us hunters be concerned with Black Friday? And I'm going to say this. This may sound controversial.
I take it. We're going to talk about Black Monday or Black Black Friday, that weekend and then cyber Monday, right? So, so I think of that as that's a woman's thing.
And I know that sounds, you know, like my wife, she gets together with some other family members, all women, and they go do their thing and I stay home and I watch football.
And I watch the kids. It's not a big deal. I actually enjoy it.
But that's like a, you know, why should we as men? And I say that confidently because 97% of my demographic who listens to this podcast and follows me is men, right?
Why do we need to be concerned with Black Friday and cyber Monday?
Well, I mean, I, I'll counter that with another question. Like when you go to your, well, yourself Dakota, your meal dear, huh?
I am sure that maybe there's some gear while you were out there, maybe you're like, you know, it sure would be nice to get some down pants.
I've never, I don't have any down pants or I want to upgrade these down pants while I'm glassing or I want some, some binos with image stabilization, but man, they're super pricey or I got to replace my, my boots, my boots aren't, aren't doing what they should do.
And so, or even as you hunt, as we hunt White Dells here in the east, it's like, hey, you know, I've got these sticks that are sort of outdated, they're heavy, they're noisy, or I want to start one sticking, or maybe I, I'm hunting public and I'm, you know, I see these guys using kayaks or canoes and I'm like, crap, I don't, I got a little sedan, I can't transport something like that.
How could I get, maybe I want to get a kayak or canoe or maybe I want to get something else that might work, help me get away from hunting pressure or across a river or a creek or pond.
And so, I think this is the time to really look at things and this is when these companies, these hunting companies or just outdoor companies really want to move inventory.
They're trying to, I mean, they obviously call it Black Friday for a reason, or like Dan, you talked about your e-bike, how much you like it.
You know, I could maybe get a deep discount on an e-bike.
And so that's why I think it's important right now, even though we're in the middle of the prime White Tail season, just to keep an eye out and look at, you know, some of the big companies, some of the small companies and start keeping tabs on prices and get ready for, you know, Black Friday sometimes starts a week before, you know, the traditional Black Friday.
Right. Sometimes the sales are in the store only or sometimes they're online.
And you've got these other websites, Dan, that are retailers like Midway USA or Black Ovis or Go Hunt or Gearful, and they may have like a big sale on, on a particular, a particular boot that you're looking for that you might not be able to get anywhere else.
And so I think to answer your question, yeah, I mean, I totally get it. Like, it seems like it's a woman's thing, the women go out shopping and all that stuff.
But this is a real, every year, I buy something big for myself, and I've saved some significant coin on it.
Yeah. Okay. All right. So what you're saying now is, as we start to listen to the, you know, as people are listening to this podcast and the clip start to go up on Instagram.
Really what we're trying to convey is start keeping tabs on what it is that you need or would like to upgrade in your gear and then start looking for those as Black Friday and Cyber Monday start to approach.
Exactly. Exactly. Like, and I think, you know, in a few weeks here or few in January, you're going to have the ATA show.
And, you know, go back to ATA stuff from last year and look at the stuff on YouTube for products that jumped out at you and you thought, man, that looks pretty cool.
Now, some of these are from smaller companies, like, and I'll go ahead and dive into one of my purchases. Like, I, I had some old climbing sticks.
I bought the latitude SS carbon sticks this year.
And it wasn't on a Black Friday sale or anything like that. I pay full retail.
But those freaking sticks have changed, you know, have, have been a significant upgrade for me in my white tail hunting because they are super lightweight.
They're half the weight of what my previous thick way, they attach really well to the tree, their rock solid.
They're not, there's no moving parts. There's no metal.
And so for me, that was a significant upgrade. And so I'm continually looking for other upgrades in my white tail set.
The, you know, one of the things that I'm looking at is maybe going to one stick.
And, you know, Eastern Woods outdoors has, you know, a really solid one stick. I think it's called the ultimate one stick.
It's a, I'm going to look at my notes here. It's a couple hundred bucks.
And it's a small company, but maybe the smaller companies like Eastern Woods outdoor or some of these other smaller organizations.
Maybe they offer some additional incentive at this point in time, like the Round Black Friday to get you to spend your money.
Maybe they throw in something like some straps or some sort of some sort of extra gear.
So they might not give you a discount because they can't do that because they're so small.
But I think for me, it's about trying to identify some of those, some of those upgrade products. And sometimes I look back again at ATA stuff that jumped out as being innovative in those latitudes sticks.
I think they want some sort of award at last year's ATA.
Yeah. So I think that that's always exciting to sort of circle back to some of that.
Yeah.
This is just a random question that popped into my head. But now is the time of year.
Some companies have already done it. Others are in the process of doing it or coming up fairly soon between now and January one.
And that's when these companies release their new bows.
Okay.
Yeah.
And so my thought that popped into my head would be as the hype builds for these new bows from these manufacturers.
That the old bows become less relevant, but they're still brand new.
And they still haven't been shot.
And these bow companies have put themselves into a position where they have to release, especially the flagship, you know, models.
They have to release a new bow every year to stay in the market. Right.
And so my thought goes to wait until the bow is released.
The new bow from your favorite brand, whatever that is is released.
Maybe it's time for me.
I've been shooting my bow tech now for three years.
And this is my third season with it.
And I'm going to upgrade this next year.
Okay.
And I'm probably not going to buy a brand new one thousand shit up to two thousand dollar bow brand new bow.
Probably buy an older model still a new bow.
But you know, you're going to be able to say, hey, man, I'll take it off you for cheap because I know that you know, it's like you're not going to sell it with the new flagship center out.
No, I totally agree with you.
It's funny.
You mentioned it because I I bought my bow 10 years ago.
It's it's over over 10 years old.
It's a quick vector.
A bunch for 500 bucks off eBay.
And it's it's been a great poll.
I've shot I've filled a million things with it.
And I'm probably not going to upgrade for a long time because I it shoots so well.
But I was on eBay the other day just looking at the like point just released their new bow yesterday.
And Matthews is going to release theirs into your to your to your point exactly as we wind down out of hunting season, December, January, etc.
Everybody that has the face for Matthews that's been using it this year.
It's going to go up on eBay.
It's going to flood that site and you might be able to get a good deal.
They're going to hold their value because they're good bows.
But but you're going to save a couple hundred dollars.
And that guy may have shot it, you know, 50 times or 75 times who knows.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'll say this specifically about Matthews.
One of my gripes with that company in the past has been.
I've there's certain brands that do this and I'm not saying it's just Matthews, but Matthews is one one example.
And they are they they are a very well built bow of very good bow.
But there's something about their marketing that I just couldn't get around like just like I felt like it was an elitist type company.
You know what I mean?
And you said you're a couple years ago, you had the Matthews guys on.
And and I actually messaged you.
You probably don't remember I messaged you because it came off that way on one of your podcasts.
I don't know if it was hunting gear or nine finger chronicles.
And it was like, well, we're just the best.
We're just the best.
And and I sort of agree with you.
I think they've changed that tone a little bit.
Exactly.
I've noticed that I feel I feel like they've come.
They've taken a step back from that.
Like I'm a huge fan of companies and I'll I'll say one right now hunt worth.
I'm a huge fan of hot worth because they're marketing.
Their their their clothes are badass.
My first year wearing them.
Dude, love it.
Love it.
What I'll say is.
Aside from the the elite brands like Sitka Kuu.
First light.
I consider those three elite the elite top tier gear companies.
If you want to take just a step down, you go to hunt worth and their marketing is very
inclusive to all people.
Whether you are filthy rich or you know, you have no money for hunting gear.
I feel like that's an every man's brand.
You know, I was looking at that this morning.
Their website this morning because of how much you've talked about them and.
Because I was thinking about, you know, well, hey, that's another brand that you want to put on your radar for black Friday.
As we approach that will they have cyber deals or you know, I don't know where they're look what retail is.
They're in but.
Definitely.
Some of these off brands like like not off brands, but brands that you just hear less of.
Like like a like a hunt word.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so the saying with hunt worth is 90.
I think the guy said 80 90% of the quality of the elite brands, but 50% of the cost.
Right.
And so.
I don't know.
And definitely they're going to I'm almost positive.
They're going to throw some kind of black Friday deal at you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, I bought.
So last, I think it was last year.
Now, I don't know if you've heard of mountain ops.
They used to.
They're a supplement company, but they've also in it's sort of Western focused.
Yep.
But they're also.
They've also started adding some clothing and some arena.
And I bought last year for a.
There were 100 bucks normally.
I think they're still 100 bucks.
But I know that I just got an email this morning about an upcoming black Friday sales 30% off.
I bought these zip off.
Marino wool.
Long underwear.
And.
I love them.
I mean, Dan, I absolutely love them.
Because.
And I used them earlier this week.
It was in the 30s in the morning.
You got 70s in the afternoon.
And.
I just.
I was getting more.
And I just pulled those zips down.
I did the velcro.
Yank them up.
It's almost like.
Like a chip.
And it's almost like chip.
It's almost like.
Like a chip.
And it's almost like chip.
Wow.
Exactly.
So.
So anyways, I just.
To your point, like, I mean, there's other.
We talk about sick as the koo using versatile.
But there's a lot of other companies out there.
Yeah.
Where we can.
Like look for different types of gear.
Whether it's hunt worth or some other company.
Other brand.
Like mountain ops where we can find a deal on something that's going to help us in the field.
Maybe it's new base layers or.
Or what happy.
But.
I totally agree.
Totally agree.
I like what I see from hunt worth so far.
I need to spend more time on that.
Yeah.
And so.
There's a lot of companies that.
Are bringing out everything new and exciting right before Christmas.
Right.
But they're old stuff.
Still real good.
And so.
I feel like whether it's second hand, like on a craigslist or a Facebook marketplace.
Or eBay, like you said.
You're going to be able to find some great deals.
Not necessarily just from a black Friday sales point before discounted older models of whatever it is that you're looking at.
Yeah.
I mean, I think.
You know, one of the things that I've I use a lot is.
You know, I'm looking at I mentioned those websites that sell product.
But there's an app that you can get on your phone.
Uh, called black Friday.
And to your to your to your earlier point, Dan.
It's got, um, a lot of women's stuff on it.
It's got, you know, JC pennies and, and you know,
bad bath and beyond.
It does that have that.
That's my favorite store.
One of my favorite stores.
Oh, wait, you know what?
I think that went bankrupt.
Honestly.
Bed bath and beyond went bankrupt.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's gone.
Actually, I know it's gone.
I think beyond is no longer.
I'm sorry.
That's awesome.
Dang, man.
I really loved going in there with my wife and smelling candles for 20 minutes and smelling
hand lotions and just like walking out of there going.
For some reason, I felt like my testosterone dropped dramatically,
like dramatically after walking into that store.
Well, I mean, yeah.
But I did walk out smelling like cucumber melon.
So, I mean, I'm the black Friday app, for example,
it has all the ads for all the different stores.
And so, but it also has like fast pro shop,
shields, uh, Academy, rural key.
And so instead of you searching through those ads,
you can type something in that you're looking for specifically.
Okay.
Like say, uh, you know,
and it'll pull up all the clips of Sitka.
Or cool or first slide or whatever that it's actually sold through a retailer.
And so, um, I think it's a great way to start looking for gear that sort of.
You know, we don't get the newspaper anymore, right?
So, you know, use that app to find the deals that you're looking for.
I'm looking for a new shotgun.
And, you know, I'm able to just type in shotgun and it'll pull up all the different.
Shotguns that are available at these different retailers.
But I think, I mean, to your point, Dan, as we approach, you know,
the end of the year, I mean, the end of the hunting year is sort of,
gotta be sort of the end of the fiscal year for these hunting companies.
And they gotta be looking to get rid of stuff.
You mentioned the new bows.
I think, um, you know, I think Camo gets, you know, can get the,
just count it as we get in the January, February at some of these retailers.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Um, and I think, but, but I'll ask you, I mean, what about, you know,
what do you think are some of the gear things that you're,
that you would want this year?
Do you feel like your, your set is tight for both when you're hunting mule deer
or when you're hunting whitetails?
What are your thoughts?
Yeah, so gear for me right now.
And you got to remember, I have,
what's the word curated?
Yeah.
My gear set for 15 years now, right?
And so everything that I have is something that I actually need.
And so not only have I gone through the phase of collecting all of this gear
and equipment, but I'm also now into the stage where I take that gear
and I start to weed out things that I have not used in previous years anymore.
And I give it away like my stepdad or I throw it in a corner
and maybe my kids can use it when they get older or, I mean, even like most,
most of my other camel brands that I don't wear anymore,
I've thrown on Facebook Marketplace and I'm just like five bucks,
come pick it up type stuff, you know what I mean?
And so right now I would say,
I'll be honest, like I'm all about mobile hunting.
Okay.
Been hunting out of a saddle a ton this year, all right?
I feel, I'm feeling comfortable in a saddle,
but I have a couple rut funnel type scenarios
that a tree stand goes in there and it's permanent,
like it's going to be permanent.
I'm a huge fan of the Old Loan Wolves,
I believe now they're Novex, right?
That same style of hang on, you know, that they have.
But as I get older,
it's going to, like some of the hardcore mobile guys that follow,
like follow this might get a little pissed at me,
but dude, I saw one of those,
where they call those the jumbo from millennium.
That's like the 250 or the monster or whatever,
I forget it's called,
but it's huge platform, very comfortable seat.
It's almost like a recliner and you can just,
you know, obviously it's not a mobile setup,
but it's something that you can put into a,
like a permanent rut type situation
and it will, it will be there forever
and you just kind of relax in it, right?
And so I find myself thinking about stuff like that.
As of right now.
I was watching an episode of Heartland Bowl Hunter
and I really love the content that those guys put out.
It's really well done, really well produced,
but I do see them sit in those box blinds
and I'm kind of jealous, I'll be honest with you.
Like I just, I'm like, gosh,
it looks so freaking comfortable.
It feels like it could be like a minor little office
where I'm standing out in a cordon field or whatever
and I'm just working and I'm like, oh, there's a buck.
Okay, here we go, you know.
And so I hear you, man, comfort.
I mean, I'm getting old and I'm hunting out of a saddle myself.
I'm trying to be light and cover ground and cover miles.
But boy, it would be nice to get something
where I just sort of chill and hunt
and search that there are days where I sit
and it feels like I've wasted the day of productivity.
I'm not working, I'm not doing anything
and nothing came through, no bucks, nothing, you know.
So I hear you a big tree stand or a big box blind.
I think it would be pretty awesome.
I'll say this before a box blind though,
before I go and get a box blind,
I need to plant food plots.
I feel like I would need to plant some food plots
because I need to get the deer in front of me
while I'm in the box blind, right?
And so unless they make some kind of very mobile,
like I just remember growing up,
all the farmers had old grain wagons
that they would build a platform in it
and then they would build some kind of like really poorly constructed cover
over top of the grain wagon.
And then you would just stand in the grain wagon
with your head or your shoulders above.
And then, you know, if you wanted to move it,
you'd hook it up to your truck
and you'd pull it to the next spot.
So whatever.
Yeah, I mean, that's a whole new, you know,
the food plots and then the meticulousness
of how these some of these properties are laid out.
I mean, that's a completely different podcast
but it's kind of interesting.
It almost, it almost takes some of the fun out of it
but in terms of like, oh, if I sit here, my wind,
they'll never get me and they always go through here.
But ultimately, it would be nice to have a big tree stand
or a big box blind.
Other than that, though,
really the things that I find the most interesting
are like accessories.
Yeah.
And what I mean by that is because like,
I like my broad heads.
I'm not going to change that.
Like my arrows that I use.
Huge fan of my, my rest, my site.
Maybe, maybe I'll find a site that I want to change
this upcoming year.
But like tree, like screw in accessories
that you can screw into a tree, like the little bow hooks
or the bow holders.
And very simple things like that because there's a,
like you can go to Walmart and you can buy a three pack of hooks.
They're tall.
You got to like, almost put your entire body weight into it
to get it into the tree.
And so there's, there are a couple of brands out there
that I have found that are, man, very sharp,
very well engineered to where you can just go pop and twist them
and then they, they, they basically self-screw in.
So I'm going to ask you a series of questions, Dan.
I'm going to make you feel like you need more stuff.
Okay.
Are you ready?
Yep.
Yep.
All right.
So, um, I don't know, I don't know how your, um,
South Dakota Mule deer hunt went.
But I went on a Wyoming elk hunt this year.
Solo.
Mm hmm.
And, um, it was, it was epic.
It was, I'm in every single way except I didn't fill my tag.
Mm hmm.
So I, I had elk bugling every morning and every evening.
And everything that I did was on point from a prep standpoint.
But I got busted of too many times.
Okay.
And I've, and I've got something I want to show you that I bought a couple
years ago for hunting pronghorn.
And I wish I would have got this for when I was elk hunting.
It's a, it's a be the decoy hat.
Yeah.
That is also a decoy, of course.
Obviously you don't want to use it during gun season and you want to make sure
you're not hunting near a bunch of poachers.
But I think if I would have had an elk.
Hat.
A cow elk hat like this.
Um, I think it might have given me a split second longer with some of those,
with some of those elk that busted me.
But I can't tell right now.
I can't tell right now if you're trying to feed me shit or if you're being serious.
No, people have killed, I'm not, these things freaking work.
So these things freaking work.
And I'm just wondering, do you feel like on your solo hunt when you're hunting
mule deer, have you ever wished that you would have had something that covered
your movement like, like, oh, that mule deer buck thinks I'm a doe or a mule deer
doe or whatever.
Do you feel like, because I, again, I don't know what your experiences are like out
there.
But I just know for my solo hunt, I wish I had had had something like this,
even though it looks freaking ridiculous.
Uh, because I'm like, that gone and I got busted so many different times.
And I, if I just had a split second, I probably could have got a shot
off or whatever, but yeah, so it sounds like you're a no go on the be the decoy.
I'm not gonna wear a decoy hat.
I mean, I don't fit with man.
It work.
Okay, okay.
Well, the next time I find myself and if one happens to find its way into my truck,
I will, it just reminds me, because it's probably the same exact material
material that it's used to make the green bait packers cheesehead.
So whatever, what I need is an invisible suit.
That makes me invisible because my clumsy ass going through the prairie,
trying to spot and stock mule there.
It just isn't working right now.
All right, all right, but fair enough.
I respect you for bringing that up.
All right, here's my next one.
OK, I'm going to throw this at you fastball.
Do you process your own deer?
No, boom, got you.
OK, all right, here you go.
You need to get a three quarter horse meat grinder, horse power meat grinder.
To be like 450 bucks from Cabela's.
A full lane knife.
And then I think it's called a gamble or whatever it's the thing
that sort of holds the invest in that this this black Friday and quit sending your
deer unless it's family or somebody or somebody that you really like to send your
deer to ain't saved you.
How much does it cost you every time you send your deer off between 250 and three.
Oh, but, but that's with additional like beef added to.
So I always for my family, I get 25% beef added to my my ground deer.
And then I also get sausages or like deer sticks and deer salami made as well.
OK, all right, so admittedly, you know, when you get that meat grinder,
you're going to be just making a lot of burger.
And then if you watch enough YouTube, you can figure out how to cut your
steaks like like a sirloin tip, you know, it's on the it's on the back, you
know, thigh of white tail that's your one of your best roast roast cuts.
But and then a dehydrator to make your own jerky.
I mean, a dehydrator, I think it cost me maybe 250, 300, a nine trade dehydrator
from ex caliber.
I make my own deer jerky.
And and and so I don't know how much it would cost me to get a deer process
because I haven't done it in so long, but I think it used to be like 150 bucks.
And and if I got, if I didn't have that grinder, every time I shoot a deer,
I'd be like crap, it's going to cost me another 150 bucks.
Like I don't want to shoot this though, because it's going to cut in it.
Now I process it myself, I never lose any meat.
I know where the meat comes from.
It's never mixed with anything else.
And I get all the cuts that I want.
Now again, I don't make the the summer sausage and the meat sticks and all that kind of stuff.
So I missed out on on some of that.
But I bet you I could take some of that burger to someone and say,
hey, can you make some of this?
And it would cost me, you know, 75 bucks or 50 bucks.
Oh, yeah, 100% I'm in on on that.
I did.
If I could, I have a little bit, little corner in my garage right now.
There's a whole bunch of just like stuff stacked.
I would love to get some kind of little pulley system to hang a gear up in there.
A stainless steel table, like a electric meat grinder, like what you said.
And maybe even I have the knife set for I have an a handful of really good knives from.
Oh man, what's the popular knife company?
That's this bozable razor blades.
Yeah, I know what you're talking about.
It's the outdoor edge.
How's it?
Yeah, outdoor edge.
And so I have a whole butchering kit from them that works very well.
And so I got the knives.
And then obviously just like the plastic wrap in the freezer paper and dude,
like, yes, I'm in on that.
I want that.
And you go to bearded butchers, the bearded butchers YouTube channel.
If you haven't seen that, I mean,
they process everything.
They process their hunters and but they big time YouTube channel.
And they'll show you how to process your own, you know, the shoulders and cut, you know,
cut out the, you know, this particular stake out of the front shoulder and that sort of thing.
It's so there's enough YouTube stuff where you can learn that stuff, how to process your own
game and make your own steaks.
All right.
Here's another one.
You ready?
Yep.
When is the, now you had your bow for three years.
Have you changed out those bow strings?
Yes.
This year I did.
Did you hire someone to do it or did you do it yourself?
I had a bow specialist at sheels in Iowa City do it for me.
Okay.
So how much did it cost you remember?
Just the price of the string.
So they don't, if you buy, if you buy the string from them, the labor is free.
Hmm.
Okay.
Yeah.
So, but you don't remember how much that was.
The string was like a hundred bucks.
I think.
Okay.
A hundred or a hundred and twenty bucks.
And then I think that was it like one between a hundred and a hundred and twenty bucks.
Okay.
You know what?
That's fair.
I'll give you that.
But I bought a broke press from last chance archery a couple years ago.
I bought some new strings this year from gas bow strings.
Now the strings are, you know, they were 180 bucks and our strings and cables,
strings and cables, very, pretty expensive.
I could have taken them somewhere that had someone do it.
And what might have cost me another, I don't know, a hundred bucks or whatever.
I have no idea what it cost.
But I change my own bow strings for my bow for my kids bows.
I have two kids that shoot.
And so investing in a bow press in my opinion is a good investment because you do
all that work yourself.
You're not leaving it up to some kid at best pro or Cabela's and you get to become,
you become a better archer or I have anyways.
Because I have had to teach myself some of this stuff.
Again, you know, there's so many, you know, gone,
Dudley has a school of knock series on literally everything in terms of time,
your peep site and, and, you know, putting, you know,
changing out your cables and strings and all of that stuff.
And so I think, you know, if those that are listening are interested,
this is the time to keep an eye on those big ticket items like a bow press or a
meat grinder or the hydrator because you can really save yourself some money.
And over time, it's going to save you money in the long run because you don't
have to go to a bow shop to get stuff done.
You can just do it in your basement.
Right, right.
Yeah, man, that makes a lot of sense.
And before I buy a bow press, though, here's what I would need to do.
I would need to, I would need to,
learn from someone I would need to go through some kind of class.
And I know YouTube has all that stuff, but YouTube's great.
But I, here's what, here's what I've had a couple buddies.
I've had a couple buddies who have, um,
actually gone and worked at a bow shop to learn how to do that.
Telling the guy, listen, I want to learn how to do this so I can do it myself.
And then I'm going to quit.
And the bow, the bow managers like, yeah, that's fine, whatever the shop.
And so he gets a little extra help for a while if he's even paid at all.
And, um, and so I would need to have that type of education before I bought a bow press
because there is some, there's, there's a whole bunch of stuff that you have to
learn, uh, with a bow press.
Like for me, um, a lot of stuff that I've learned in the past five years, like
cam timing and being able to put in or take out twists and string and where
kisser buttons go and where peep sites go based off of whether you're using
a wrist release or attention release or a thumb release, like they all have
different, everything, every time you change something, something else has to
change, uh, in your, uh, in your lineup, right?
Even in through your site.
And so I would need to feel more comfortable with that type of knowledge
base than I would just trying to watch a YouTube video and making it work.
If that any of that makes sense, it does, it does.
I mean, I, and I have to do trial and error with some of my stuff with, you
know, I do paper tuning and, and all of that.
And, and, you know, it's not hardwired into my brain because I don't do it
a thousand times a day, like someone in a bow shop would, yeah, it's like,
oh, I got to go find that video to watch that again on how to tie my
peep set, you know, I put it in or whatever.
Right.
Um, but I will interrupt you here and I will say this, the meat grinding
would love to do it.
Working on my own bow would love to do it.
To me, I pay for those things for, for one reason, and that's convenience
because I, I have little time as it is already.
I'm paying someone else to take care of that problem for me.
Like when I go, you know, like, here's my deer.
I can drop it off the place that I take it.
I drop it off.
All I have to do is gut it.
And then I have my tag on it and they will cap it out for me or, you know,
whatever needs to be done, they handle it from there.
I walk in the shop, I check some boxes saying this is what I want.
Hand it to them.
They go cool.
We'll call you when it's ready, right?
And then for the bow, I go in.
They do everything right there with me.
I shoot my bow.
They go, okay, well, let's try this twist in this string.
Okay.
Now let's get out the paper.
How's this looking?
Is it looking good?
Knock up, knock down, blah, blah, blah, blah.
That I walk out of there feeling very confident
that it's been worked on and worked on properly.
Okay.
No, that's just me.
If I had more time, 100% I'd be doing, doing all that stuff.
Yeah, it does take up a lot of time for sure.
And it's a mess, too, honestly, I got to fly everywhere.
But I will say this, I will say this.
Some of the big box stores, I'm not going to name which ones are dog shit,
but there are places out there that, like you said, have
just some average Joe who's been hired off the street to come in there and work.
Oh, for sure.
The reason that I like going to shields is because the people who work there
are participants in the activity of bow hunting, right?
They're all hardcore bow hunters.
So they all know how to do all that stuff.
And so I like going there.
But if it wasn't, if there's not like a shields in your area,
I would say go to a local bow, an actual bow shop and not a big box store for that kind of work.
Yeah, no, that's fair because I have been in big box stores that where I'm like,
I know more than that.
Exactly.
It's like that office meme that goes around where that kid goes up to one of the guys and goes,
Hey, can I help you today?
And the guy goes, I know more than you.
I've seen that.
I've seen that.
So all right, I'm going to throw another one.
Here we go.
Okay.
You are, I think being very selfish with your time in the hunting woods by not filming your
hunt stand because your audience wants to see it.
And so I know you used to film your hunts.
Here we go.
So what, so what, what can't, what keeps you from, I know, obviously there's more to carry.
There's like holy crap.
He's moving into this from here to here.
I got to move this thing.
But the lot of camera gear and cameras have changed a lot since the last time you did this.
Yep.
So, so let's talk about what's the reason why you don't film your hunts anymore?
I mean, more specific than it messes up my, my shot or whatever.
But that's it.
That's it.
I mean, really, that's it.
My, I don't film my hunts anymore because in 2014, I was trying to film the biggest
buck that I would have ever shot and I did not get it.
Number one, I was trying, I was messing with a camera when I should have been drawing back my
bow.
I watched him walk through two shooting lanes and then I took a poor shot on him on video.
And so that was the time where I said, what, what am I trying to do here?
Am I trying to kill deer or am I trying to take pictures of them?
And so I made the decision that you like, I'm not good at self-filming.
I know there's a lot of guys out there who art can do it both, but the, the predicament that
I, let's, let's just say the last, this last week when I, you know, I had that encounter
with that big buck, I hit him high, whatever.
I trying to do that while he's 10 yards, or excuse me, 20 yards, 30 yards closing in and
then having like, with a hot dough in front of him who's bouncing around and I'm trying
to move it in the tree, but also try to clip in and, and do this, do this whole thing.
I'm not, I'm not going to, I'm not going to add that chaos to my, not right now anyway.
Like, I'd love you, dude, I would love to.
You brought, you said in your podcast, it said, I rushed the shot.
I really think if you had a camera there, you would have slowed down.
I would have. Thank you.
Are you serious?
I was like, you're out of your mind, dude.
Yes, I'm not allowed to be frivolous.
Okay.
Like, and I'll just, I'll just mention a couple products out there for everybody.
Yeah.
If anybody is interested.
So obviously you get your, you know, your gold pros, which are not, they're fine.
But, you know, they're very small and they catch your, capture sort of a wide ankle.
But this year, Genesis 3D printing came out with a, it's called sub one camera arm.
It's 160 bucks, super small company, but they make a lot of mobile hunting gear.
And, you know, it might be, and I, it might be good to keep an eye on that, you know,
that website to see if they throw something in or follow them on social media.
And then long will custom gear has a pretty good camera arm.
And I know a lot of folks use, I personally, I'm sort of at the same mindset.
Dan, I, I bring admittedly, I bring a GoPro, like I said, I went yesterday evening.
I have a sort of an attachment for my phone onto the tree.
And every single time I get in the tree, it's like, do I really want to get that out?
Like, I really want to get out my GoPro.
And like, as I, I really do, like I showed it, I was fortunate to shoot a buck on October 1st.
Earlier this year, and it was really the last thing I was not going to hit record.
Like, you know, he came in, you know, thermals were running down, you know, last light,
all this stuff. He was at 10 yards.
And I'm just like focused on making a great shot.
So I'm right there with you.
I mean, I'm in the same campus you, even though I'm sort of playing with you a little bit.
Yeah, it's just a lot of stuff has changed with camera gear.
And, you know, you're obviously, everything smaller, everything's lighter.
I mean, they got fourth arrow camera arms.
I've, I've seen those held those in my hand.
They're very light, right?
So it's not like you're adding a ton of weight to, to that.
It's just more stuff to set up and tear down when the tree.
I mean, I'm already running in, in Ozonix in the tree.
So when I get there, I clip in, right?
And then I got to put up my Ozonix and I got to screw in my bow steps.
You know, my boasts, you know, it's just, it's one more thing.
Again, everything's lighter.
Actually, I have my camera right here for those of you on YouTube.
You could see it.
I still have the video camera, but I don't, it's a good video camera.
I just don't use it anymore.
You mentioned Ozonix.
So I have a Ozonix unit and I feel like I, I'm in the same thing with the camera.
I almost don't feel like bringing it because it, it's, you know,
I got to screw in the tree or attach it to the tree somehow.
But so you, you use that, um, do you feel like, uh, I mean,
you feel like it's still pretty, pretty effective when it comes to, I feel, I feel that the company
promotes it like it's like for the tree, like a majority of the promotion comes.
Hey, this is what, this is how our product works in the tree.
I feel it shines outside of the tree back at the, back at the shopper, uh,
at your house or garage or whatever.
When you take your clothes off, you put it in their closet or their dry wash bag
and run a dry wash cycle and it kills all the odor and bacteria on your clothing.
That's where I feel like it shines, right?
However, I have had, like this year, I was running in Ozonix.
I've had dear get downwind to me, um, and I got busted, right?
Ozonix really shines when you have an absolute, um, straight wind.
There's not a lot of movement in it and they're, and you're not fighting any type
of thermal current, right?
So here's the example, uh, I'm on a south facing slope with a south wind.
The sun goes down, thermals are pulling down, but the predominant wind is
pushing against it and you get like a distorted, everything's distorted, right?
Ozonix doesn't, doesn't necessarily shine at that moment, okay?
Because the, the back and forth of all of the air, air currents and air movement
there where it does shine is a real consistent wind where you can place that
thing over your head and that goes down over top of your scent.
And that's where it shines, but on inconsistent winds where they say, you
know, you should be moving it back and forth all the time and adjusting it
when the wind adjusts, but there's times where the wind is so sporadic,
especially like, uh, guys who hunt big hill country or like big timber country
and up in those, up in the bottoms there where the wind shifts so much,
it would be very hard to use it and use it accurately.
Yeah. No, I, and I get it like, I think if they do catch a combination of
Ozon and your scent, it maybe it feels like you're further away.
That's, that's what I feel.
I feel like 40 yards instead of 40 yards.
You're maybe a hundred yards away, right?
They still don't take too many chances, but there are times when, you know,
you'll catch a dumb one, especially in the rut.
He'll, he'll catch you, but he sees a doe that he's got to go chase, right?
So I had a couple of years ago when I was using that product regularly,
I had a doe literally catch my wind and come in, I think,
out of more out of curiosity, right?
And, and she got shot, but, uh, but I just haven't, you know,
I tend to play the wind more now, but I always, you know, yeah, for the listeners,
that's another product to keep in mind if you're in the market for nozonics.
Here's what I'll say about in Ozonics is I am very aggressive with my wind.
All right.
My number one target, but got down a wind to me one day before I put an arrow in
him and he busted me, okay?
Why?
Because of a shifting wind, right?
It wasn't, it was, it was a little, a little straight south.
I needed it to be, or southeast to, I needed it to be south, south west, okay?
And so it does, I'm really aggressive in my wind setup.
I would be less aggressive if I didn't have an Ozonics.
You know what I mean?
I would be more, hey, I need a west wind only anything out of the South.
I don't want to take a chance.
I think you've just sold me on reusing my Ozonics.
Dan.
Yeah.
I, I've, I've had some, uh, some swirly.
I've been hunting the bottoms of the morning.
That's where, you know, a lot of the bucks are coming off the ridges trying to get
as much, uh, uh, detail or intel as they can and, you know, processing, you know,
we got hub scrapes and we got, you know, do tracks.
And, and so it can be very swirly down there.
So, um, in fact, some more morning, I'm going to go out and I might, I might bring
medals on.
You do it.
So you do it.
Well, Dan, I think I stumped you.
Um, I really tried hard to sell you on, especially the, the heads up decoy.
I was, I really thought, I thought, uh, you know, I thought you, you were going to
bike, but, uh, I thought you were going to pull out after that one, like, okay,
the acorn cruncher or, or the, you know, back in the day, there was a product called
the deer view mirror.
Do you remember that?
I've seen that.
I've seen that.
So it, so it was a mirror, a rear view mirror attached to this long cable that you would
put out in front of you so that you could, you could see behind you without having to
turn around.
And I'm just like, holy shit.
Who, that guy is going to go bankrupt.
No one's going to buy that product.
We are us as deer nerds are, I mean, I, I'll tell you another one that's a little bit
like that.
And you may remember this one.
It's a grunt tube that runs the full length of, oh, yeah, remember that?
Yep.
Yep.
So it sounds like the grunt was coming down from the bottom.
Yep.
Yes.
That one.
But just imagine if that was hooked up next to your tree stand urinal, do you remember
that where you would piss in a urinal and it would go straight down to the ground.
A tube would go all the way down the ground.
I just imagine like taking that down and then forgetting about it.
And it just like destroyed the scent, so disgusting after an entire winter of it
sitting there and I never cleaned it.
You know, if they would have made it like you could use this as a urinal or a grunt tube.
It's, it's dual.
But unfortunately, they only marked it as a grunt tube.
But I just thought, how ridiculous.
I mean, I'm going to carry that big old thing in and strap that to the tree.
Anything, anything, anything to make some money.
Yeah, I mean, we really just need to save our money and move to move to Iowa.
That's, that's the key.
So.
Yep.
Yep.
Don't do that.
Well, hey, Dan, I appreciate you having me on it.
I appreciate you letting me challenge it to, to, to, to spend some more money.
But I think you, I think you beat me.
So that's all right.
Hey, that's all right, man.
The good thing is, is that we talked about gear on the episode.
We talked about the fact that people really need to pay attention to the Black Friday sales.
Keep an idea of what type of gear that you need to upgrade.
And then keep an eye out for, you know, those Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.
And maybe you can take advantage of finding some very good price cuts on products that are otherwise super expensive.
Yeah, for sure.
Like I said, this is, this is at that time of year, every year, I pretty much earn every other year.
Maybe I'll buy like my crispy boots, for example.
I know you like them like crispy, you know, they'll go on sale.
And, you know, they, I mean, you can save a lot of money on stuff like that.
So it's just all about being proactive, keeping an eye out, get the app, get the,
go to those websites and, you know, and keep track of whatever it is that you feel like you need.
For this honey season and, you know, but yeah, I appreciate you having me on Dan and, you know, I, I do have a new podcast myself.
You might if I mentioned it.
Yeah, go for it.
Go for it.
Yeah, so I recently launched a hunt detail.
It's a podcast about a little bit about gear and a little bit about woodsmanship.
It's a solo cast where I'm just sort of sharing my thoughts on some of this stuff.
I found myself listening to a lot of solo cast and so that's recently launched.
And then my YouTube channels by the same name and so also by hunt detail.
But so yeah, hopefully you folks can, can take a, can check that out if they're interested.
Absolutely, man.
We'll send them your way.
Appreciate your time and good luck for the rest of the season, man.
Hey, likewise, Dan, I know you're going to kill a big one.
I appreciate you having me.