EP. 513: Old-School Deer Hunting in a Hight-Tech Era

It had been way too long since Ryan and I sat down together. Long enough that we had some catching up to do, and long enough that a lot had changed — most of it on his end. Ryan spent a big chunk of the past stretch recovering from a serious arm injury. If you've never had your body take hunting off the table, even temporarily, it's hard to explain what that does to your head. The physical rehab is one thing. The mental side is the part nobody warns you about. Ryan was forced to slow down, and in slowing down, he had to take a hard look at what actually mattered — family first, then what he really wanted out of his time in the woods. That reset showed up in how he hunted last season. Ryan walked away from a lot of the tech. Fewer trail cameras, less leaning on years of historical data, a lot more trusting his gut. That's not a knock on cameras — I run them, you probably run them — but there's a point where the data starts hunting you instead of the other way around. You end up chasing a buck that was in a spot two Novembers ago instead of the deer that's there right now. A big part of our conversation was about hunting mountain country, which is its own animal. Deer don't move through steep terrain the way they do in farm country, and the sign doesn't always tell you what you want it to. Ryan's approach leans hard on postseason scouting — getting in after the season when you can't hurt anything, walking the ground, and figuring out how deer actually use it. From there, he hunts more aggressively and stays flexible. If a spot isn't producing, he moves. No marrying a stand because it worked once. We also got a little nostalgic. Both of us miss some of the old-school way of doing things, when it was just you, a map, some boot leather, and whatever you could figure out on your own. There's a version of hunting that's more about solving a puzzle than checking an app, and I think a lot of guys are drifting back toward it. What I appreciated most is where Ryan's head is at now. He's enjoying the experience more and worrying less about the outcome. That's a hard place to get to, and it usually takes something going sideways to get you there. We wrapped up talking about plans for this fall and how good it is to hunt with friends again. If you're stuck in a rut — too much data, not enough instinct — this one's for you. SHOW NOTES AND LINKS: —Truth From The Stand Merch —Check out Tactacam Reveal cell cameras — Save 15% on Hawke Optics code TFTS15  —Save 20% on ASIO GEAR code TRUTH20 —Save on Lathrop And Sons non-typical insoles code TRUTH10 —Check out Faceoff E-Bikes —Waypoint TV Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices