Nine Finger Chronicles | Sportsmen's Nation

For three days in Des Moines, Iowa the real hunting community gathers to celebrate the notorious whitetail deer. From the big buck and shed contests to the rows and rows of hunting products and jerky booths, I love getting the opportunity catch up with old friends and talk with new ones. On this episode, I talk with Eric Kline of Trophy Buck of Iowa, Buddy Piland of Ozonics and Craig Enervold also of Ozonics about a variety of different hunting related topics. Basically one be B.S. Session. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we talk with Alabama native Nathan Worthington about a wildlife research project he took part in after college where he documented the fawn mortality rate on a specific piece of property in South Carolina. We also discuss, how Nathan got in to hunting at a young age and how he now only hunts with a bow. He shares how his uncles and other individuals mentored him in the early years helping him become the deer hunter he is today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FACT: I love shed hunting. On this episode, I recap one of the best days of shed hunting I have ever had. I talk about where I found the antlers and why I believe it's been such a good spot throughout the years. I also talk about the bedding to food source patterns the deer are on this time of year and why shed hunters should focus on those areas. Announcement: The Sportsmen's Nation has added a new Big Game | Western Hunting podcast RSS feed that will be providing high quality podcasts with a western big game focus. Be sure to check it out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I love talking to every single one of my guest, but every once in a while I get the opportunity to chat with someone truly special. On this episode, I chat with a southern legend Warren Womack of Louisiana about all of the deer he has harvested and documented in his journal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year Brandon Cox of Pennsylvania took a different approach to bowhunting, he went mobile. And, with this new approach means new hunting gear. On this episode, Brandon reviews climbing sticks from HAWK, hang on tree stand from Millennium, and a new recurve from New Breed Archery. He also discusses how he modified his his tree stand and climbing sticks to better their performance for his new mobile hunting strategy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today fellow Iowan Chris Dunkin of Trophy Pursuits stops by the podcast for a discussion that revolves around both his post season and pre season hunting activities. We chat about almost everything including shed hunting, scouting, food plot strategy, and how all those things tie in to how he approaches the hunting season. One topic that really catches my interest is paying a farmer to leave crops up instead of planting a food plot. Something I am now thinking about doing for this upcoming season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Garret Armstrong is coming off one hell of a season harvesting two mule deer and two whitetails in Canada, South Dakota, and Iowa. Garret is as passionate as it gets when it come to hunting as well as the land which led him to Whitetail Properties to work as a land specialist. In this episode we talk Garret about his 2017 hunts and end the show discussing buying and selling hunting property. If you are interested is talking with Garret about hunting property look him up on the Whitetail Properties website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode we talk with good friend Ryan Eyberg about 11 different bow manufactures he recently reviewed at the ATA Show. We discuss bow specs, comparison to last years models, and Ryan's overall opinion of the bows he shot. This review is 100% unbiased as Ryan has no connection to any of these manufactures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now that most of the hunting seasons are either closed or winding down, many of us make the switch from thinking about hunting strategy to thinking about gear. On this episode we chat with Iowa native JJ Pugh about some of the new archery hunting products he use in the field this year. We discuss what products he liked, what he disliked, touch base on the cost of some of those products. Some of the products we cover include First Lite, Kenetrek boots, and quivers from Tight Spot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recently I asking the question on Facebook "Can Money Buy Big Bucks?", and received a variety of results. On today's episode I continue the conversation with Matt Dye and Adam Keith of the Land & Legacy podcast about what it takes to grow, hold, and harvest big bucks on a regular basis. We discuss the big buck equation and what necessities a whitetail buck needs in order to get to big buck status. Those topics include nutrition, age, and security along with a variety of subcategories. This is an interesting conversation that is meant to help open your eyes out the amount of money some people put towards harvesting world class deer. Lastly, we ask the questions "Is the hunting industry... doing more good or bad for hunting overall?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whenever we find a new piece of property to hunt, whether it's a private farm or public ground, there is a process we all go through to find the best possible stand locations on those properties. On todays episode we talk with Andrew Toigo of southern Illinois about how he approached a new piece of public property. We discuss how he used maps to narrow down 4000 acres in to smaller sections and how he focused on access routes to get to the best possible stand locations. We also talk about the success he found over the last three years by basically busting his ass and doing things that other hunter wouldn't do. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We have all had those seasons that seem to grind on. Sometimes those seasons end with a buck in the bed of the truck and sometimes they end with a warm bowl of tag soup. On this episode we talk with Ohio native Nick Sopko about a season that almost didn't happen due to a major hand injury. We discuss how the injury forced him to not only change his weapon from a compound bow to a crossbow, but also how he had to change his strategy and hunt from the because he could no longer climb a tree stand. All that on top of additional hunting pressure made for an interesting. When it was all said and done, he found himself in the right place at the right time as the season was winding down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to having a passion for bowhunting todays guest flame burns bright. In this episode, Iowa native Eyad Yehyawi, talks about how he fell in love with the outdoors and how that blossomed in to a true romance with bowhunting. From an early morning moped ride to chase spring gobblers to an epic mountain goat hunt in Alaska, Eyad shares a couple stories that helped him become the hunter that he is today. He also talks about some of the individuals who helped mentor him as a youth which inevitably put him on the path to becoming a bowhunter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For most of us, learning to hunt was something that we learned as a kid from a father, uncle, or family friend. Today's guest, Scott Emerick of eastern Michigan, didn't get in to hunting until he was in college, but once he did he dove in head first. On this episode we discuss how Scott learned to bow hunt on high pressured public ground and how he found success by going in deeper and working harder than the other hunters on the same property. We also talk about how learning to hunt at an older age helped shorten the learning curve. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we talk with Kansas native, Aaron Coursey, about the last three years hunting a new piece of public land. We cover how he used small scouting trips locate possible stand locations and the steps he took to narrow down 4,000 acres to a couple 150 acre sections that he wanted to focus he attention on. We also discuss how he used run-n-gun tactics along with digital scouting to help find the absolute best terrain features and travel routs to set up his ambush. He talks about how every year he has learned something new about the property. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode we talk with Justin Zarr of Bowhunting.com about the ins and out of the ATA Show. We discuss what products created the most buzz and what products were put on the "laughable list". We discuss new products and the past, present, and future of the hunting industry. We also talk about the people who make the industry spin; the dealers, the retail stores, and the bow shops as well as the trend of companies going direct to consumer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode we talk with Kyle Duneman about how a debilitating knee injury kept him off the mountain chasing elk, but in the right place for his first whitetail buck. We discuss how the rehab efforts forced him to cancel elk, mule deer and antelope hunts as well as the emotions he went through during that period of time keeping him from doing what he truly loved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some hunters say that if you see a buck from the stand or catch them on trail camera but don't kill them, you better be in that same location at the same time the next season. On this episode we talk with Greg Krause from New York about how he used annual deer patterns to harvest a buck he had three years of history with. We talk about how he used sighting from the stand, sightings from the road, trail camera pictures, and shed hunting over a three year period to calculate his annual pattern and travel routes through the properties he had access to. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here is one of the most popular podcast I did I 2017. It's with hunting personality Michael Waddell. We discuss a variety of topics including family, the hunting industry, and even a little politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode we talk with Parker McDonald of Alabama about why he decided to use a kayak to access big pressured public land. We discuss the extra time he needed to allocate to every hunt, getting comfortable with his new set up, and why he feels this style of hunting is something he is going to continue to do. He also shares with us a couple of funny stories about the trials and tribulations of hunting with a kayak. Thanks for listening! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices