VA Hunting Bros

In this episode, Lowell and Eldon talk about the upcoming archery whitetail season here in Virginia, some deer we've been seeing, scouting we've been doing, and some of the overall approach we're hoping to take during this years deer hunting season.

What is VA Hunting Bros?

A hunting podcast by Lowell & Eldon. We'll mostly tell hunting stories as they happen, and perhaps share some of the things we're learning and trying as we spend time in the great outdoors.

**The following is an auto-generated transcript. Its accuracy is likely not perfect...**

**Eldon:** [00:00:00] Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the VA hunting bruise law in Delta. And are here again to talk to you about all things, VA hunting or something are just about at the beginning of October low, what's the a buck movement been like where you at? You've been at.

**Lowell:** Uh, I'm going to put it on a scale on about a six out of 10.

**Eldon:** Okay.

**Lowell:** Yeah, Um,

**Eldon:** I think we've heard too many episodes of fresh radio lately. I guess, getting the juices flowing the four, uh, our opening day is Saturday.

**Lowell:** wow.

**Eldon:** What did you just do? Oh, wow. We're recording this episode outside while Will's

**Lowell:** sprayed mess,

**Eldon:** strawberry [00:01:00] plants and he sprayed himself.

**Lowell:** woke me

**Eldon:** Fortunately, I think he missed the mic.

So that was a good, good move. So yeah, opening day is a Saturday. Do you have your plans all set up?

**Lowell:** Well, he should probably talk to me. Youth season just wrapped up, which is just a tutor. Today hunt. Uh,

**Eldon:** That was last weekend, right?

**Lowell:** we, um, we've been doing our normal scouting, but then we did a little bit of field inventory, I guess you'd call it the evening before we saw probably close to 20 deer that evening on the neighboring farm, we

**Eldon:** I thought it was only 15.

**Lowell:** whatever close to.

**Eldon:** Yeah.

**Lowell:** Uh, including one, one pretty decent. buck and a bunch of days. And So,

we kind of used [00:02:00] that to um, as Intel, where to go and set up on some Dawson. I went out the following evening and we.

we, we tried to do kind of a stalk on some deer and it's. Difficult with a young person

**Eldon:** Yeah.

**Lowell:** who it's, they just can't pull up the gun and shoot and

**Eldon:** Yeah.

**Lowell:** And

**Eldon:** had a tripod rest kind of a

**Lowell:** Yeah. He really needs that to get a good steady shot off And so we were sneaking through the woods.

there are some young bucks in this corner of a field. which It all, it was kind of. fun. something a little different for him, you know, walking quietly, whatever.

instead of just, you know, sitting there and having to come out Anyway, we, actually got to where he could have shot, I think, but it's, it's always a little bit of, a [00:03:00] Zen.

I'm probably left the thinking about this after the fact, I probably I'm, I'm too cautious with him. Like. Um, I wanted to make a, well, obviously anyone wants to make good clean, shot, but I'm so worried that he's going to mess up or miss or wound something that is, I think I really worry about that. Like about it bothering him and, you know, making you just want their first experiences. I mean, he's already shot one deer, but you went there first experiences.

**Eldon:** Good ones.

**Lowell:** but I think I'm almost so cautious About that, that.

I'm like to, to Don't give him, uh, you know, just the green light to shoot. I mean, when we're kids, we just shot

**Eldon:** Yeah. Well, we, I think we had more, uh, shooting guns

**Lowell:** small grain, small game and,

**Eldon:** [00:04:00] Yeah. Like Groundhog hunting, stuff like that. Yeah.

**Lowell:** So anyway, uh, he didn't get shot on the books. They went back in the woods and then some days came out and he could have, there were definitely opportunities there too.

And I was a little worried about the one direction. where he was going to shoot. And so we ended up not shooting, I was trying to get them out in the field It would be a safer shot and they did eventually work out there and then we were losing light really fast and they were standing and beans, you know, beans up to their, uh, past their bellies. and you're trying to pick them out in the beans. And it was just kind of a zoo.

**Eldon:** been more like. Can I going off of where their back

**Lowell:** No, it wasn't, it wasn't especially early. It wasn't that bad like that. I don't know, it was just a bunch of stuff going on

**Eldon:** Yeah,

**Lowell:** and [00:05:00] we're kept shifting around where we were. We're just inside the woods a little bit which actually we had decent cover for that, but then there were branches in the way. And One of the times they were down over the hill where he couldn't see them and near from where I was us set up. the CFE higher than him, I could see him fine. I was like, you know, I think he could shoot and he was, I can't hardly see them. It's just challenging.

**Eldon:** Yeah.

**Lowell:** But I think a couple of things he needs to just shoot the gun more, get more comfortable where it's not as big a deal. And then I just need. to give him Green light to, you know, you obviously

**Eldon:** some word

**Lowell:** not spray some lead, but, you know

**Eldon:** Yeah. Yeah.

**Lowell:** He can hear, He's going to have

**Eldon:** some point. Yeah. He's going to have to learn to live with the consequences of what

**Lowell:** Exactly. Yeah.

And, and that's something we all had to do. And I think, [00:06:00] I think that could all Work. So Anyway,

**Eldon:** where are you headed

**Lowell:** kind of like to, I kind of like to get

**Eldon:** Cause if we're going to stand and talk, cause I'd rather not have that ASU droning in the background

**Lowell:** I'd like to get him. What do you think about him? using the crossbow

**Eldon:** I mean, I don't know.

**Lowell:** dad's crossbow?

**Eldon:** Probably be okay.

**Lowell:** I was thinking about that a little bit. I wonder, if we shouldn't as never I've always thought, well, he sees he's a rifle, but he can't rifle hunt until the middle of November. So maybe. And I also thought, you know, that doesn't have the recoil, it doesn't have the loud noise. maybe he could actually in some ways he might have been more comfortable shooting that set up a blind and to see if

we can stuff within

**Eldon:** that can be And maybe him and dad could go hunting

**Lowell:** Yeah

**Eldon:** It's a little [00:07:00] farther for him. Maybe dad could

**Lowell:** anyway. I really I, Our neighboring farm, like there was Al there was at least one other person out there during UCS, and then we're starting to see activity around. I unknown. it's going to get pressured. and man, you just don't see 15 deer on field edges in the middle of November.

**Eldon:** Well, maybe we should talk a little bit about

**Lowell:** I just wonder why, I just wonder if.

Well stuff

is relatively on pressured as makes it a lot easier to get on Deere then. So, I wonder if we shouldn't really try to push and see if we can get them into here before. anyway, that's one, one aspect. So both season comes in Saturday, like said, and we're somewhat prepared, somewhat unprepared,

I'd still like.

to do a little more tweaking and [00:08:00] shooting and stuff, but I think we feel probably better than

**Eldon:** We need to climb a tree with our system

**Lowell:** actually. Yeah. Just go through a dry run.

**Eldon:** I mean, everything is basically the same as last year, except for a new platform. So it should be pretty similar, but, uh,

**Lowell:** It's always just a zoo getting up the tree the first time and everything. I feel like we've done more scouting this year, than often we have. So as far as Having some ideas about what we want to do.

I did this, um, little blitz scouting, which I've been wanting to do. I did it a week or so ago on a pouring rain day.

**Eldon:** It basically stopped raining. As soon as you got back in the truck probably came

home

**Lowell:** man, I came home. drenched, but I felt like it was a day. I could pretty much go anywhere and do stuff. without. [00:09:00] Well, I thought it was heavy enough, I think it would wash my son away.

So I hung some cameras. I just went through some stuff that I was wanting to quick blitz through it and look for for our son. And I found a film sign And you know, if you're running through September 20 that's stuff that's been made in the last two weeks, as far as specifically rubs and scrapes, so found some of them both. And I think it's. given us Until about some spots, maybe to key in on here, early See,

**Eldon:** Uh, one thing we've kind of noticed is we really have basically no acorns that we've found. so it almost seems like deer are hitting beans at this point of the year, which has seems a little bit out of the norm.

**Lowell:** As soon as early that they're hitting

**Eldon:** maybe the beans are dryer and

**Lowell:** it's probably a sum of, all of that

**Eldon:** [00:10:00] easier for them to

**Lowell:** Yeah. But I've been, I have been looking up into trees all around. and I have wider specifically. Now. I think we probably will get some Reddicks later on, but

**Eldon:** yeah,

**Lowell:** F the places I was looking for persimmons. Yeah, these yard trees always have a corner though. Even when the woods know why

**Eldon:** even here though, there's ways

**Lowell:** I haven't really found a good persimmon tree where I felt like deer were really hitting it either. I thought earlier, I thought maybe we could key in on that, but,

I don't really think so. so,

**Eldon:** yeah.

**Lowell:** then, Um, well we talked about the one nice buck we with. On the neighbor farm. I saw two the other night after dark with spotlight. Not, it was a little ways after dark, but this time of the year, I don't think they're moving that far. So [00:11:00] I think there probably been not too far I'll tell you,

**Eldon:** there.

**Lowell:** I'll tell you where as soon as we get off the air where I think they're coming from, but they were both definitely though. shooter bucks Pretty nice. and.

Began a little bit of trail Cameron, until that we can't divulge on a public airway. but some deer actually have bachelor group. is very interesting to me. That was still no bachelor group

**Eldon:** That was on the camera that I have to send back to Browning because it

**Lowell:** very frustrating We snuck in on that rainy day. I got.

us. Put a cell camera in a place where I didn't want to have to go back in. And we knew it Wasn't sending pictures inside. I actually snuck in, like

the middle of late afternoon, on a day it was kind of windy and dry and I kind of J hooked around and hoped I could

**Eldon:** and there's way

**Lowell:** in there without [00:12:00]

**Eldon:** here that make noise.

**Lowell:** Yeah, it was definitely worth sneaking in There that camera down we'd been in there for five days.

**Eldon:** Maybe we should just try going inside. It might actually be

**Lowell:** Uh, hung another one back in its place. But

the mice, I don't know. I had this weird thought on that. that Maybe I should go in Friday night, and check that.

camera. What are you thinking about that? Wait till. 10 o'clock nine o'clock. I mean, Well think about us. They clear out the bedding area.

**Eldon:** I was more thinking about staffing, the farm,

**Lowell:** the farm. Yeah.

**Eldon:** little thing we do in the

**Lowell:** Worth a, if they clear out of the bedding area I could slide in. And if they came, if they slid out of the bedding area that. I wouldn't be [00:13:00] disrupting things and that could potentially be in there.

The following morning

**Eldon:** Hey, you're thinking about hunting

**Lowell:** for them coming back. to bed.

**Eldon:** Yeah,

**Lowell:** When that spot. I think it's going to be they're either going to come in at first light or they're not. and then he could slide back out. I don't know. It was just a wild thought I had,

**Eldon:** that's, that's what you need to

**Lowell:** but like I said, we it's very frustrating Cause if that cell camera were. Yeah, we wouldn't have to be sliding in there, for some reason, one of our more expensive, cell cams isn't functioning

**Eldon:** really

**Lowell:** working fine for about eight, nine months.

**Eldon:** eight or nine months.

**Lowell:** And I've got, we have one other camera that somehow. got slipped around on a tree or something some night. I don't necessarily

**Eldon:** It looked like something. I mean, it's like three pictures that it's black, which means that something was over the [00:14:00] camera

**Lowell:** Maybe That would be an interesting one to look at the card

but so that one's not, it's gotten like one dear picture since, but it's, it's kind of hard to get, to. it takes a while to get there.

and I just, haven't got back and it's driving me crazy. but I don't have time to run there actually. I've thought about doing it today. We'll see, and the other camera, which I also have put out on that rainy day, Yeah. I guess not in an awful place, but I'm not getting any bug pictures on it. So I'm not sure if I should slot in and move that one. If it feels, it feels like it's it's to it's at a place where once the pressure gets on and maybe they shift away From where they're going to get haunted, I'm pretty sure. Or you've may where I hunt them. Um, They might get pushed back that way. So in some ways, You could, in Some [00:15:00] ways you could say what it'd be better just to leave it But I feel like it's not really giving me.

**Eldon:** Yeah.

**Lowell:** Intel.

**Eldon:** Well, it is in a way it's telling you that there's not nothing there right now or nothing walking in

**Lowell:** I wouldn't get those on. And actually pretty frequently

**Eldon:** Well, we've talked about, you need to shoot some dose, so maybe you could go in there and shoot some doughs and pull the

**Lowell:** adjust it. Yeah, camera's there. interesting. Like, I definitely feel one of the best ways to use cameras is not like randomly moving them around, trying to

**Eldon:** find

**Lowell:** deer this year though. well, I mean, using them more in the long-term Historical patterns kind of way and learning stuff for like following year, and, you know, we had that one we put on that primary school.

What a month and a half ago, we haven't been back to that one. [00:16:00] Um,

**Eldon:** you mean that one down the bottom,

**Lowell:** yeah we kinda, we had hard time. hanging it,

you know we haven't checked that one.

**Eldon:** That's a non-cell camera. We were going to put a cell camera there, but

**Lowell:** then the

**Eldon:** any reception.

Yeah,

**Lowell:** I've got two over here. that I've not been back to for a long time. It just feels like.

**Eldon:** into right.

**Lowell:** One of them is, and one of them's not ones on sealed edge if feel And then it's an hour, a couple of days before. the season that feels like there's probably relevant, relevant information on those cameras. but then, then it's always a thing.

Okay. Would do you just wait, till season going and possibly check it and hunt the spot based on what you're seeing. If you're going to intrude anyway. the Blitzer, these places, grab these cards and then use that to figure out some strategy for the first week.

[00:17:00] So

**Eldon:** Yeah. Well, there's definitely a number of things that we're, uh, trying to figure out here heading into October into our boast season. Um, yeah.

**Lowell:** but Yeah, the, my, my whole thing, my kind of my game plan is okay. well, Let's sort of view this October as one big out-of-state. Okay. We've done a little bit of our state. hunting.

**Eldon:** You're saying just as far as intensity and like,

**Lowell:** uh, well intensity, but, okay.

So my thing, my, my little. scouting mission the other, The other week Okay.

**Eldon:** about approach

**Lowell:** Yeah. Scouting and continuing to scale and continue to use the most recent information. I mean, we can sit back. I think there you do a little bit differently if [00:18:00] you have private property and you have, you don't just go crashing in.

okay.

As last week I went through, I found rubs on trails, rub blinds, couple spots. Well, we know that was made in the last two weeks. So Davin and Hunam, That's what we do on an out of state hunt. You hunt fresh sun, um,

**Eldon:** feel like just in general, this year we're we're ahead of the curve on what we know or think we know about the current status of things like other years. I haven't done a ton of scouting, maybe a little bit, but then first as the season, we kinda, as dad used to say and the scouting season, uh, where we'd, we'd S not sit back, but we'd ease into places and kind of figure things out as we go, which there's an element of that that

**Lowell:** we have to like even Where we have that one camera? And it's very secure Those deer were only moving on it. I [00:19:00] mean, there were no daylight. pictures,

**Eldon:** Yeah,

**Lowell:** deer bucks are not moving that far. right now. so there's that part of it too. Like you do wait till the conditions are right. Maybe, but I guess there's always a balance, right.

but

if you have a couple of, I mean, quite a number of spots and so where you can go in, and throw a sit at something where you.

say like, Okay. There's good sign here. I know the sun has been laid down the last two

**Eldon:** weeks.

**Lowell:** Going instead of trying to save it for the rut, hunting.

**Eldon:** Yeah. Yeah. Especially if it's close to like some bedding, um, with, with things moving,

**Lowell:** So I don't know. that's kinda my, my thing, like just be very aggressive on with scouting and.

I just. I don't know. I want to try that approach. Maybe we'll end up [00:20:00] hating it and, um, uh, blow everything up. And we'll, it's

**Eldon:** Well, maybe we'll learn how to balance

**Lowell:** we were way too. We S we went into spots we should have not went into, but I'd almost rather try over overdo it one year

**Eldon:** well, so we're pretty limited in when we can hunt knocked Herber.

It seems like. Just looking at it here from here, like being a little more aggressive, like what are you out? I mean,

**Lowell:** yeah, well, yeah. Two things. So one, our time is pretty limited in October so you just will do it. And the other thing is if you were planning to go to Missouri the first week of November. And so if you basically seven to 10 days.

During the

**Eldon:** kind of the

**Lowell:** really good part of the, part of the Rut where you're not even going to be hunting these places. Why not [00:21:00] dive in

and and

**Eldon:** it a whirl. Yeah.

**Lowell:** It all, It always has that period of time to cool down while we're. gone. Anyway,

**Eldon:** there you go. Well from us, anyhow,

**Lowell:** Yeah, that's true. Some of these places are going to get, I mean like our neighbor's farm.

That's place it seems like he gets pounded harder and harder every year. And now his crossbows and everything.

And people were in there during bow season where They wouldn't have

**Eldon:** last year. Like there was people in there throughout the whole rifle season.

**Lowell:** Well, yeah, rifle, seed muzzleloader season. You're really high. Both season.

song,

**Eldon:** They used to be, you could kind of count on like the first week we can have two weeks or rifle season. We're going to be

**Lowell:** Yeah. And then we kind of had a terrorist. I mean, you saw a honk and big buck. Um, It has our shed half its side, right. On a field edge. Like

**Eldon:** it was, uh, [00:22:00] it was right at the end of the season. So yeah.

Ended December

**Lowell:** It just feels a little different, like, and maybe the whole place is getting a little bit more.

stuff too. So it's not doesn't have

those

**Eldon:** habitat wise. It is changing some, yeah.

Well, I don't know We'll

**Lowell:** update people once we get open and we start implementing some of these crazy ideas, and seeing what, what transpires, but I, and I as found screen. no doubt this year, scrapes. and they're, you know, they're not just

**Eldon:** Well, some of the pictures we've we have, or gear work and look and branches and stuff.

**Lowell:** including that, you know, that one woo doggies

**Eldon:** uh, of starting to get twitchy and asleep at night, dreaming about these deer.

**Lowell:** Yeah. There are a couple deer that I really want to see.

**Eldon:** Yeah, very well. You know, I was just thinking the other day, [00:23:00] the deer we had on camera back here, you know, On the bean field and the corner.

**Lowell:** Yeah. Back in July or

**Eldon:** yeah, like we haven't seen a lot of them on cameras recently.

I guess we're not running a ton of

**Lowell:** we don't, we shifted those cameras see, this is the other thing. So my strategy in July and August was okay. Let's just find bachelor groups. and five bucks. Okay. So I shifted cameras out of that area and use them in other places. Well, now we don't have. one there right

**Eldon:** Yeah. You know,

**Lowell:** one

**Eldon:** especially cause they're hitting beans like crazy over here, like there's beans back there.

I guess they haven't caught him yet.

**Lowell:** In that secluded secluded field, which is very near where I shot. my deer,

**Eldon:** And some of the, you probably could set up pretty nicely for bow hunting. Uh, like the, that scrape you [00:24:00] shot your deer on.

**Lowell:** I was thinking about like, we ought to have a, uh, And you could argue it could be a cell camera on that though. I think that one might not be as critical because you can kind of slip in.

um

**Eldon:** about that one is a wind is always a little tricky or a lot tricky. I'm still not sure how you made that work when he shot you. Do you?

**Lowell:** it was a strong, it was a windy evening.

**Eldon:** Well, do you remember what the wind direction was?

**Lowell:** it was

**Eldon:** Southwest?

**Lowell:** And he was quartering into

**Eldon:** it,

**Lowell:** And, but it was strong enough that I wasn't worried about thermals.

**Eldon:** It's kind of in the, in a bottom it's always

**Lowell:** the wind was, was almost coming up the bottom

So I don't think it was swirling that bad because of that. Otherwise I think it would have been more crossing it would've swirled quite a bit.

**Eldon:** a

**Lowell:** I had a lot of deer around me that night and they didn't,

**Eldon:** a ton of dose to.

**Lowell:** smell me. [00:25:00]

**Eldon:** did dad talk to that guy?

**Lowell:** He's gone to

to-do Yeah So,

I mean, I wouldn't not say this, but , okay. Steven's listening to this, but I guess it's, a deer hammer and beans. we said it

earlier

**Eldon:** Well, I think he might know that

**Lowell:** I think he knows that but no doubt about it. If there, I mean

**Eldon:** with no acorns.

**Lowell:** down by church, the other night, dad Pulled out 10, or 15 deer in that there was something about that night too. Like it's one of

**Eldon:** was that the night you saw the deer cross the road to

**Lowell:** Oh, what night was that? Sunday we had seen no, we saw deer over there Friday night. Like a lot of

It was that it was a nice cold. cool

**Eldon:** no, it was me the night you saw the two bucks.

Right over

here

**Lowell:** was just, um,

**Eldon:** it wasn't same night.

**Lowell:** wasn't Last [00:26:00] night. It was night before

that I saw the two books over here. there were actually three of them and one of them, went down into that cut-over and the other one's continued actually ran through the beans, like where it could get a really good view of.

them.

And I don't know. I wonder the one that I, she went down the cutter or what a cell was booger. You never know,

**Eldon:** I don't know. Oh, I know. Six pointers tastes pretty good.

**Lowell:** Yeah. Um, so yeah, we talked about the beans the no yeah, that's pretty kind of go. Oh, I know it was going to say this thing is wandered whale long, too and inspired about season. um, uh, I guess fortunately, or unfortunately, I don't know, but we have corn on the back of our place, which really feels like it has it thickens it [00:27:00] up and provides A lot of cover. Otherwise we're pretty open on the back of our farm. This is our home

Where we have exclusive access.

Um, but the corn is drawn down way earlier this year than normal. I thought it would probably stand well into November or even December. not. So that probably will cut it Monday or Tuesday. which I think we really ought to hammer those fields

**Eldon:** or both fields about the same as far as dryness, huh?

**Lowell:** Sarah cut by field. No, I think we definitely should hop in there. If we get a chance right after they cut him or as they're cutting them, whatever.

But we're selling a

**Eldon:** well, in, uh, those are two places that we'd like, we don't have any cameras back there really.

**Lowell:** Yeah. I scouted, Um, the back on the big hill like right on the edge of that, cut, but that was before stuff would have [00:28:00] been.

to think when that was.

**Eldon:** You mean the new coat on the top part?

**Lowell:** Yeah. which is Really thick I think that would have been before stuff would have shed velvet, so probably not rubbed. So that would be a good place just to slide through and look for rubs right now, right on that transition.

**Eldon:** Or even like right as they're cutting or right after. Cause he figured there'd be enough racket while they're cutting probably bumped stuff

**Lowell:** Yeah, that that cut is thick. It's like, it's right. How you want three years old or whatever. and the field up the road that there's a cutter on the backside of that. And you got that edge. I really think getting up in a tree there and glassing you on that cut-over and watching a big rack stand up and run it down.

Like Zack could

**Eldon:** now if, uh, Hmm. If they cut it early next week, would there be any [00:29:00] planting, a cover crop in it for the winter or not

**Lowell:** we could, I

**Eldon:** maybe we could strategically plant a corner of it where we could

**Lowell:** proudly,

**Eldon:** the deer and, yeah.

Very good. Well, we're excited for hunting season, um, and we'll try to record some more episodes throughout the season and hopefully, uh, we will keep you updated somewhat frequently while we're in Missouri, or maybe I would just keep them on, then put them all into one episode after we come home

**Lowell:** Ideally we do a little updates every day when that just nothing could be valuable information for us to go back and listen

**Eldon:** Well, that's all we do these forest for us, so it's very selfish.

**Lowell:** for us and for the children.

**Eldon:** All right. Well, thank you all for listening. Wow. This is a lot longer than I thought it was. Um, yeah, I hope you have a good [00:30:00] hunting season and hopefully you're about ready to get in the woods or who have been in the woods for a bit already. And we will talk to you again some other time.