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Our mission is to take a stand for Christ while hunting from tree stands and enjoying God’s great outdoors. On every adventure, if you look for it, God will teach you something about Himself. That’s what we want to share, a show about awesome hunting and an awesome creator who made it all possible.
00:00 Speaker 1:
The following program is brought to you by The Stand Outdoors and is sponsored by Steel Pixel Studios, Whitetail Heaven Outfitters, Hot Frog Print Media, and Word FM. Well, welcome to the stand outdoors the show where faith and great outdoors come together. I'm Dave Baker along with our famous founder Stand Outdoors, Mike Hayes. And today, we're talking about the summertime blues. What's a deer hunter supposed to do?
00:47 Speaker 1:
But first, a word from our founder, Stand Outdoors, Mike Hayes. Mike, good to see you.
00:51 Speaker 2:
Hey, Dave. Great to be here. And, yeah, we put this ministry together maybe ten years ago.
00:58 Speaker 1:
Yeah.
00:58 Speaker 2:
And it took it a while to to come together, but we had to do a lot of filming. Uh, you know, we film episodes and film all of our our hunting and fishing. And we wanted, uh, we know that outdoorsmen just have a real connection with spiritual things only because they're out in God's creation all day long. And our theme verse is is Romans one twenty, which paraphrase says that God is clearly seen by the things that he's made. And, uh, and so we know that there is a special connection there.
01:28 Speaker 2:
So we're trying to tap in on that, bring in God's word. We've created these bible studies with hunting videos that we that draw them in, and then we can help equip them so that when they go back into their zones of influence, they can be very impactful with the gospel of Christ.
01:44 Speaker 1:
You can get all the details at the standoutdoors.com anytime. And, you know, Mike, um, it's summer and if you're like me, and I know you're like me because you and I love to hunt, we're already thinking, okay, it's June and September is not that far away. And but but I always wondered, you know, what am I as a hunter? I'm always asking questions. What am I supposed to do in June?
02:06 Speaker 1:
Because Right. It's it's getting warm and and there's lots of you know, I know fawns are dropping right now and and that kind of thing, and I'm always thinking about that. But what are we supposed to be doing? Scouting, putting up cameras, building stands? I mean, what what are we what is a hunter supposed to be doing?
02:21 Speaker 1:
Especially a deer hunter.
02:23 Speaker 2:
And especially an archer because our Especially an archer. We come first. Right? We get the first crack out.
02:27 Speaker 1:
That's right. That's right. So so so what are we supposed to be doing in the month of June?
02:32 Speaker 2:
Yeah. Well, really laying by the pool and soaking up the rays really is great. So you have that nice tan. You're not like a white beacon in your stand. You know?
02:42 Speaker 2:
I love that. No. We, uh, you know, you know, deer hunting, especially for archers, it's it's, you know, twelve months out of the year. You're constantly thinking about it. You're doing stuff.
02:53 Speaker 2:
And and in the summer, really, um, what we're doing a lot of times is just, you know, get trying to get the deer on a pattern that they will use because deer love to use trails, you know. And they they they follow each other. And if we be can begin to get them coming to our food, you know, whether it's corn you know, usually in like in Pennsylvania, you can put corn out just about anywhere and or anything you want, uh, deer licks, whatever, uh, pellets. You can put that but you can't do it during the season. But and then in special reg areas, very small area of Pennsylvania, which we happen to live in, you can actually use feeders.
03:33 Speaker 2:
So I would say to get get the food out so that they they're constantly using these patterns. Yeah. Especially, you know, we don't usually have big lots to hunt. Right. So we gotta get them crossing through.
03:45 Speaker 2:
Oh, I see. Okay. And they get into a habit of doing that. I see. As long as you keep the food there, they're gonna keep coming.
03:51 Speaker 2:
And, uh, now they got a lot of food in the summer usually, but, you know, they're so they got a lot of choices. So you wanna get some good stuff, get them out there. And then, you know, you gotta start keeping your areas cleaned up, you know. Uh, I like to do a lot of scouting. You can start I put cameras out, and I usually put them out usually, uh, by August, you know, maybe July.
04:15 Speaker 1:
Okay.
04:15 Speaker 2:
You know, uh, June, I'm by the pool. But but, uh, maybe we get one month off.
04:22 Speaker 1:
Yeah.
04:22 Speaker 2:
But, uh, you know, after turkey season, you kinda slow down.
04:25 Speaker 1:
Slow down.
04:26 Speaker 2:
Yeah. But then you you gotta get out there pretty quick because it's so neat. They're already, uh, growing antlers. Yeah.
04:31 Speaker 1:
It's amazing
04:31 Speaker 2:
how big some of them are. I just
04:34 Speaker 1:
saw one mow in the grass the other day in my yard. He had little stub antlers and all velvety, and he's he was walking towards me. I'm like, what is he doing? Yeah. He's a he's a young buck and he's just out laying around, laying in the hedgerows.
04:47 Speaker 1:
Yeah. They're not doing anything.
04:49 Speaker 2:
Well, you know what's so great about the cameras? The cameras was a game changer. Yeah. The the, you know, the field cameras, the trail cameras. And I love I get a bunch of them and I yeah.
04:57 Speaker 2:
I got some of them on where my feeders are because we're you know, we can feed, you know, during the season, but just according to the rules. And, uh, but I I put them out there real early Okay. So I can get a really good inventory on what's out there. Okay. Because I don't wanna shoot this nice eight pointer if I know there's this big 11 pointer.
05:19 Speaker 2:
Yeah. 12, which we don't see in Pennsylvania too much. But I do have a couple 10 pointers, but it's great to know that they are there. Right. You know, because if you shoot the little ones, you're not gonna see the big
05:30 Speaker 1:
ones. Yeah. And and without the cameras, otherwise, you wouldn't know that they were there. Yeah.
05:34 Speaker 2:
Because you might see them once or twice during the year. Yeah. You might only have one crack at them during the whole year.
05:40 Speaker 1:
Now would you say by midsummer, early July, July that the that the that the mature bucks are getting to the point where they're they've kind of peaked out on what they're going to be? Or is it later in the summer where they get their full I mean, they look bigger obviously with velvet.
05:59 Speaker 2:
They don't stop growing until that velvet's gone.
06:01 Speaker 1:
Oh, okay.
06:02 Speaker 2:
And because long as that velvet's there and they lose that velvet quick.
06:05 Speaker 1:
Yeah. They lose it.
06:05 Speaker 2:
When a matter of just a few days, they can lose it. But that velvet is the blood's still pumping in there, and they'll just keep growing. And, uh, and and it and it's really great to know what you got out there.
06:15 Speaker 1:
Yeah.
06:16 Speaker 2:
And they always look so much bigger than velvet, so it gets you pumped. But another thing that I do that's just as important and, you know, with our compound bows today and stuff, you know, you can start shooting pretty quick. But if you're not really good and accurate, you're really not you could blow your greatest opportunity. And what I like to do in the summer is I'll start shooting pretty early, you know. I mean, right away.
06:42 Speaker 2:
I mean, I'm if I could shoot now but I didn't have shoulder surgery, I'd be shooting now. But what I like to do is I I'll start out with targets that have a bull's eye on them. Okay. You know, so I can really see where I'm hitting. Not not on I don't shoot three d deers yet.
06:57 Speaker 2:
You know, I have them in my yard and everything.
06:59 Speaker 1:
Just a regular bull's eye?
07:00 Speaker 2:
A regular bull's eye, anything. Even those dark targets that have just a white dot on them.
07:05 Speaker 1:
Okay. Yeah.
07:05 Speaker 2:
They'll help you. But you can kinda really you might have to tweak your scope a little bit. You know, you never know. What what happens?
07:12 Speaker 1:
You start? You do twenty, thirty yards? What's up?
07:14 Speaker 2:
I do them all. I I I my sights I have multiple sights, and I have them to 60 yards. Now I probably will never shoot a deer at 60 yards.
07:23 Speaker 1:
You'll probably not take that shot.
07:25 Speaker 2:
I probably won't. Yeah. Because that's a small target. But I wanna be able to shoot good at 60 because then the one at 40 is gonna be a lot easier and a lot a lot more accurate. Like, I'll get more chances to make an accurate shot.
07:39 Speaker 1:
Yeah.
07:39 Speaker 2:
And it's even out of respect for the deer. Right. And we have these mechanical broadheads today that you can shoot those ranges and it's like a field point.
07:49 Speaker 1:
Yeah.
07:49 Speaker 2:
So so really shooting is really good. I and hopefully, you enjoy it. I enjoy it. And I go to the festivals and I'll you know, that really tunes you in. Yeah.
07:58 Speaker 2:
And then when the season starts, you know, you're ready. And when and usually all you get is one shot. You know? Okay. And when that shot comes around, you know, you'll be ready for it.
08:08 Speaker 2:
But it takes a lot of shooting.
08:09 Speaker 1:
Okay. So so far, uh, what we're saying is it might be good to get the deer going in a pattern. So get if you can feed and you're legal to feed in the areas you are in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, anywhere you're hunting, you make make sure you check local laws before you start feeding. But so start feeding or getting deer feed out so you can start getting the deer in a pattern, then get your get your bow out and start start practicing and getting a good shot, and then get your cameras going so you can see what's out there. So those are three things
08:38 Speaker 2:
Right. That
08:38 Speaker 1:
hunters could be doing this time of year.
08:40 Speaker 2:
And try to start with, uh, instead of shooting at the deer targets right away, try to start with little dots or or get an actual target that shows you the inches and everything. Make sure your your sight is still on.
08:51 Speaker 1:
Okay.
08:51 Speaker 2:
And that will really help you. And then maybe a month before the season, you start shooting your three-dimensional deer targets or whatever.
08:59 Speaker 1:
So what else, uh, you know, are are are you putting up stands in the month of July and August? I know it's hot. We've done it.
09:05 Speaker 2:
Yeah. You know we've done it.
09:08 Speaker 1:
We've cleared out trails, and we've done it, and we've been sweating, and it's been miserable. And this
09:12 Speaker 2:
is those deer don't do not appreciate what we go through.
09:16 Speaker 1:
They do not.
09:16 Speaker 2:
But
09:17 Speaker 1:
but we've done it before. And is it something that you should be doing now, getting your stands? I know there's a lot of foliage, so it's sometimes hard to get a good bearing when you're up there.
09:26 Speaker 2:
Right. Uh, I usually don't start that too soon because things grow so fast in the summer. Yeah. Like, if you do it in May or June or something like that, you start cleaning out. By the time September comes around, it's grown up again.
09:41 Speaker 2:
Yeah. It's amazing how fast it grows. I can't believe from one year to the next how much cleaning I have to do out of my stands, because a lot of the stands I leave in the trees. Right. And and you don't have to move them because I hunt the same areas locally.
09:52 Speaker 2:
Right. Right. So but you do have to clean them out. You gotta you know, every couple of years, you should be changing your ratchet straps, you know, because the squirrel and check them out real good because those squirrels, they like to gnaw on things. And I've heard too many stories of guys falling out of their tree steps because on the backside, a squirrel had gnawed through part of it and then it just broke with his weight.
10:13 Speaker 2:
So just be looking them over good, but definitely cleaning them out, making sure your lanes I like to to keep a lot of coverage. That's why I don't use climbing stands much because I have one, but I've used it one season in Western Pennsylvania where they got a lot of straight trees.
10:30 Speaker 1:
Yeah.
10:31 Speaker 2:
But the reason is because you it's hard to get cover. You gotta have pretty much bean poles, you you know, that you go up. But even with ladder stands, I try to put them in areas where I've got like a like cedar trees that will
10:44 Speaker 1:
I can Messle them in a cedar tree.
10:46 Speaker 2:
You can have cover below you and around you. And, uh, I like to have opening lanes, you know, and and then blinds, you know. Well, we're gonna we're gonna probably talk about that another time, what kind of stand to use, you know. Right. Right.
10:59 Speaker 2:
We will. But, yeah, in the summer, I think another thing that I'm gonna enjoy this year, I just bought a pontoon boat. And I'm gonna be doing some, uh, some bow fishing. Oh, wow. I
11:11 Speaker 1:
know a lot of people love that.
11:13 Speaker 2:
Yeah. And that that's gonna be taking up a little bit of my time. And, uh,
11:16 Speaker 1:
now you're gonna use a compound to do that or something like that?
11:19 Speaker 2:
I I have an Oneida Eagle, you know, with the recurve compound. You know, they're great for, uh, that was one of my I used to use that for for hunting deer, you know, for years. But it's a like a 45 inch bow bow. It's pretty big. But they're great for the, uh, you know, for the bow fishing, and I just got it all rigged up with the reel and everything.
11:38 Speaker 2:
And, uh, and, you know, the the carp, they'll spawn in June, July, and, uh, and they come at the surface of the water. And I'm gonna just troll up and
11:47 Speaker 1:
So what you're saying is, you bow hunters out there, if you're itching to shoot your bow Yes, indeed. Here's maybe an opportunity for you to do something during the
11:55 Speaker 2:
Yeah.
11:55 Speaker 1:
The summer to just kinda get used to dealing with your compound or your crossbow and and shoot at some fish.
12:05 Speaker 2:
Yeah. I I love fishing, and I love hunting. So it's a great way to Great way to do it. Yeah. But, uh, you know, fishing too.
12:10 Speaker 2:
I mean, I love fishing. I'm out there all the time, you know, doing bass fishing and going after some some I caught a couple nice big bass out of Nakamix, and everybody told me there's no fish in there. I went out a couple times, and I couldn't believe I caught two two of the biggest bass I ever caught. I went, I gotta talk to the right guys.
12:30 Speaker 1:
So you you've learned a little bit here of some things you could be doing during the summer, and, uh, there's plenty of things you could be doing according to Mike, and they're all great things to get you prepared for when that moment counts. Because really that's what you're trying to prepare for. That moment, like you said the very beginning, you may not get again the rest of your life.
12:49 Speaker 2:
Right.
12:50 Speaker 1:
And you wanna be make sure you're prepared for everything, especially shooting that bow since we're first up to bat, the bow hunters, to get that thing dialed in, get yourself comfortable, get yourself ready, make sure you've got a good shot, uh, because that's gonna make all the difference in the world when that 10 or 15 comes out. You wanna be ready for it.
13:10 Speaker 2:
But you get one shot at, you know. You know, know, another thing too, if I if I could mention one more thing, that I loved learning from my father-in-law. Yeah. He passed a couple of years ago. Some of you saw the episode.
13:21 Speaker 2:
You know? But we would go to a lot of these archery shoots, you know, where they might have 30 targets, you know, three-dimensional targets all around of different animals, elk, deer, whatever. You know?
13:33 Speaker 1:
Yeah.
13:34 Speaker 2:
And, uh, and and a lot of them locally will have these shoots on weekends. Now bad thing is a lot of times they have them on Sunday, and you might have to miss church a Sunday or two, but but we try not to. We try to find the ones that are on Saturday or they're open later till after church. But they were so much fun because we get you know, my dad would go. We get my son-in-law would get, you know, a Joey, you know, and his dad, he's still shooting.
13:59 Speaker 2:
He's 86 now. He's still shooting the bow. Wow. But it was so it's so much fun. And then we'd actually go up to Forksville for the, um, the archery festival up there.
14:10 Speaker 2:
It's the biggest one, I think, in the world. Wow. And we stay for three days, and they got, like, three trails running up the mountains, shooting all these three-dimensional targets. And that's that's done in September. But in the summer, that's when they do all the three d, um, you know, three d, uh, shoots, and they're good to find it.
14:26 Speaker 2:
And they will get you tuned in. Get you tuned in and ready to go.
14:39 Speaker 1:
Well, Mike, as you know, hunters spend a lot of time in God's creation, and there's really no better place to reflect on his wisdom. And today, we kind of dive into a question. How do you prepare your heart much like we prepare ourselves for the hunting season? How do you prepare and how do we prepare our hearts for life's trouble?
15:01 Speaker 2:
Yeah. Yeah. That's a a great question.
15:04 Speaker 1:
That's a big question. Yeah.
15:06 Speaker 2:
And that's more than one summer. That's, you know,
15:09 Speaker 1:
a lifetime sometimes. Yeah.
15:11 Speaker 2:
And it but it's just like preparing for that hunt because we gotta prepare ourselves. And Paul, the apostle Paul told Timothy to train himself to be godly. You know, you don't think about that. And that word train is an athletic term. It means to to get out there, do the exercises, whatever you gotta do to get yourself ready.
15:32 Speaker 2:
It's found in first Timothy four seven. And, you know, I just actually did a big teaching about this, uh, in our adult Bible class at church. And it would it taught me more than, of course, the class did, you know. I can only teach them so much in forty five minutes. Yeah.
15:48 Speaker 2:
Right. But but it was great. Uh, I I had a book I was using that was really good. It's good. Called The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges, and he he was right on.
15:59 Speaker 2:
But the main thing it talked about was this foundation we gotta have, which if you could picture a triangle. Okay? On the bottom left, you got, you know, the fear of God. On the bottom right, you have the love of God. And then at the top of the pyramid, you got devotion to God.
16:18 Speaker 2:
And that that is how we become godly. And, um, that tension between the fear of God, right Right. And the love of God, you know, they both have to be there because the more we understand the fear of God, Like, if it's kinda like you gotta hear the bad news for the good news. You know? You gotta know about hell and that all sinner you know, if you've sinned, even committed one lie, then you're condemned to hell.
16:48 Speaker 2:
That's the bad news. The good news is Jesus paid the penalty for you.
16:51 Speaker 1:
And rose again.
16:52 Speaker 2:
And rose again and get and he defeated death and hell, and now he gives you eternal life as a gift that he paid for that. But he wants you to live this incredible life. He said, I came to give life and to give it abundantly, but it takes preparation. It takes training. And, uh, and the biggest thing is knowing the word of God.
17:10 Speaker 2:
I mean, think about I remember when I became a Christian, I realized that this book was the most important document on the face of the earth, and I had to learn it. I mean, I went I was studying architecture at the time at college. I was 19, And I I quit everything. Quit my job, quit everything. And and I wanted to go to Bible college to learn this book.
17:31 Speaker 2:
Once I've realized this was the word of God, I had to learn it. And that's we gotta have that. We gotta have a desire to know god so much that we'll be willing to do anything to get into his word and to learn it. And it then it takes intentional, you know, like like one Discipline. Discipline.
17:50 Speaker 2:
Yeah. Discipline is one of the fruit of the spirit.
17:52 Speaker 1:
Yeah.
17:52 Speaker 2:
So but you can train yourself, and God will show you. He'll guide you. He'll and, of course, church, I call it the four talks. We gotta have them in our lives. It's easy.
18:02 Speaker 2:
I learned this from Student Venture. I think it was it was I was working with them for a while. But, uh, four talks is me talking with God. That's prayer. Right?
18:11 Speaker 2:
Mhmm. God talking to me, scripture reading. Right? Me talking to other brothers and sisters, that's fellowship. And then me talking to unbelievers about the gospel, That's evangelism.
18:22 Speaker 2:
That. And though all four of these have to be in your life in some way. If they're not, something's not gonna be lacking.
18:29 Speaker 1:
And they and they will help you flex your spiritual muscle
18:32 Speaker 2:
Yeah.
18:32 Speaker 1:
So you can continue to grow in faith. Yes. Well, Mike, I know you wanna hear from our listeners. We wanna hear from you, so make sure you please send us a note or question us with anything by going to our homepage, thestandoutdoors.com, and hit the contact tab. Also, we'd love to pray for you.
18:51 Speaker 1:
Leave your prayer request by hitting the contact tab or do you know Jesus tab right there in the home page. Also, check out those targeting the truth bible studies. I know, Mike, you're excited about those because they really are a great opportunity to get together and help grow those spiritual muscles.
19:06 Speaker 2:
And that's what we're all about. And I don't think there's anything out there like it. I mean, when was the last time you went to a Bible study and got to watch a hunting video? You know? Not too many have.
19:16 Speaker 2:
Not too many. Because I don't I don't think it's out there and especially being free. Right. Um, you can go to our website. We have a six week bible study set up there with a leader's guide, a participant's guide that has five discussion questions.
19:29 Speaker 2:
God some fathers are using it with their kids, and they love it as a devotional.
19:33 Speaker 1:
Yeah.
19:34 Speaker 2:
But you can use it as in a men's group. You can use it a lot of the hunters are getting together, and they're doing it as a home group or even doing it over a six month period where they'll do one lesson each month and get in a bunch of hunters, you know, at the church on a Wednesday night or something like that. But but, uh, but yeah. You'll watch a hunting video, uh, and then you'll go right in at the end of every episode, I do, like, a three to five minute segment called targeting the truth where I share something from God's word that relates to the actual hunt that they just watched. And then from that, the Bible study goes deeper with more scripture questions and and that and and discussion questions so they can talk.
20:14 Speaker 1:
And the best part of it all, it's all free, and it's all available right now at the standoutdoors.com. That's the standoutdoors.com. Check it out. Well, thanks for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, share it with fellow hunters.
20:30 Speaker 1:
You can find us online at the standoutdoors.com. That's the standoutdoors.com. Until next time, for my case, I'm Dave Baker.
20:39 Speaker 2:
Yeah. Remember to stand firm in the faith and keep targeting the truth.