Truth From The Stand Deer Hunting Podcast

I hadn't sat down with Josh in a while. Not because we fell out or drifted on purpose, just life did what life does. Kids, seasons, work, all of it stacking up until you look up and realize it's been way too long. So when we finally got together to record this one, it felt like picking up a conversation we'd never really finished. A lot of this episode is about parenting through the years nobody p...

There are seasons in life that don't care about your hunting plans. They hit hard, rearrange your priorities, and force you to figure out what you're actually doing out there and why. That's what this conversation with Justin was really about. Justin lost his nephew before the season started. I'm not going to gloss over that. It shaped everything about how he approached the woods this year, and ho...

There's a version of hunting where everything goes according to plan. The rig starts, the weather cooperates, your deer or elk are exactly where you left them. That version of hunting isn't what Blake Ledger and I talked about on this week's episode. Blake's a guy who hunts with traditional archery equipment, chases deer and elk in country that earns every inch of access, and has a relationship wi...

Failure hits different in hunting. When a quarterback throws an interception, there's film. A coach. A coordinator breaking down every footstep and finger placement. The feedback loop is immediate, structured, and relentless. When you blow a shot at a giant buck, you drive home alone with your thoughts and a pile of questions that don't have easy answers. That's the part nobody really talks about....

There's a version of deer hunting where you show up every fall, do roughly what you did last year, and hope things go differently. A lot of hunters live there. I've lived there. And for a long time I didn't even realize it was a choice. That's really what this conversation came down to. Chad and I kept circling back to this idea of hunting as a craft versus hunting as a habit. And the more we talk...

There's a version of every hunter that gets comfortable. You find a stand you like, a pattern that's worked before, and you ride it. You tell yourself it's strategy. Most of the time, it's just fear dressed up as confidence. Ty Jennings knows that feeling well, and he blew past it. In this episode, Ty sits down with me to dig into the kind of hunting conversation I live for: not the highlight reel...

There's a particular kind of restlessness that hits a hunter in the off-season. It's not impatience exactly. It's more like a low hum in the background of everything you do. You're mowing the lawn, you're half-present at dinner, but somewhere in the back of your mind you're replaying last season's misses and mentally walking new ground you haven't set foot on yet. That's where K.C. and I found our...

Most hunters spend their off-season trying to make things easier. Better gear. Warmer clothes. Closer access. And honestly? I get it. Comfort is seductive. Your brain is literally wired to chase it. But here's what nobody in the hunting industry wants to tell you: comfort might be the single biggest thing standing between you and consistently killing mature deer. In this episode, we're digging int...

There's a version of hunting that looks great on the outside. Big buck, good photos, done by noon. Then there's the version most of us actually live, which is messy and complicated and tied up in kids and jobs and the slow realization that your priorities don't stay the same forever. That's what Greg Litzinger and I got into on this one, and I'll be honest, it's one of those conversations that kep...

Tom Murphy and I have had a lot of conversations about deer hunting, but this one felt different. We got into the kind of detail that most hunters never talk about out loud, specifically what it actually takes to hunt a mature buck over multiple seasons without losing your mind or your confidence. Tom's account of finally closing the deal on a deer he'd been after for years is worth the listen on...

There’s a moment in every hunt that matters more than all the scouting, all the prep, all the miles you put in. It’s the one where the deer finally shows up. And if you’ve done this long enough, you know it doesn’t always go the way you thought it would. Your heart rate jumps, your breathing changes, and all of a sudden you’re not thinking as clearly as you were ten minutes before. You rush someth...

This week I’m joined by Kolton Schenker, and we spend some time talking through what it looks like when hunting starts to shift from something you do… to something you really commit to. We get into his background—years behind a compound bow, time spent out West, and what came with finally stepping into land ownership. But where the conversation really settles in is around his move to traditional g...

This week I’m joined by Will Coggin, and it’s one of those conversations where you realize pretty quick how many parallels there are between the things we spend our time on. We talk about how hunting and jiu-jitsu have a way of bringing people together fast, and how a lot of what Will learned in the military—discipline, structure, adaptability—shows up again in the woods. Not in some forced way, j...

This week I’m joined by Vince Battiata, and we spend a lot of time talking about what it really takes to hunt public land the way most guys say they want to—but don’t always follow through on. We get into the reality of balancing time, making decisions when things aren’t clear, and what it actually looks like to chase big deer that don’t give you many chances. Vince shares some stories from past s...

This week Chad Sylvester is back on, and we get into some of the parts of hunting that most guys would rather avoid. Not tactics. Not setups. The stuff underneath that. We talk about taking an honest look at yourself as a hunter—where ego gets in the way, how identity can start driving decisions, and why sometimes the best thing you can do is put yourself in a place you’re not comfortable. New gro...

I started thinking about something I’ve run into a lot lately—not just in the woods, but on a jiu-jitsu mat, and honestly even going back to my wrestling days. It’s that moment when things get hard and your brain starts trying to talk you out of it. Not because you’re in real trouble… just because you’re uncomfortable. I’ve felt it getting smashed by guys half my size, I’ve felt it sitting in a tr...

This week Tony Peterson is back on the podcast, and we dig into the parts of hunting that don’t always follow the rules. We talk about how weather, pressure, and the difference between public and private ground shape deer movement—and why woodsmanship still matters more than most people think. A lot of the conversation centers on paying attention to what’s actually happening around you, spending m...

This week I’m joined by Rendell Erik, and we cover a pretty wide range of things that all circle back to the same idea—getting better at the stuff we care about, whether that’s in the gym, on the range, or in the woods. We talk about the transition into traditional archery and how it forces you to slow down and really pay attention to your form, your shot process, and even the way your body moves....

This week Brian Dombrowski is back on the podcast, and we spend a lot of time talking about what actually happens after the plans fall apart—which, if you hunt long enough, is most of the time. We get into his season bouncing between Wisconsin and Illinois, the reality of hunting pressured ground, and why mature bucks have a way of simply disappearing when you think you’ve got them figured out. We...

This week I’m joined by Nathan Killen, and we get into the stuff that doesn’t show up in highlight reels — weather that doesn’t cooperate, thermals that don’t do what you expect, and seasons that force you to adjust whether you want to or not. We talk traditional archery, food sources, scrapes, rattling, and the little woodsmanship details that still matter no matter how much technology creeps int...

Alright, so this one’s just me. I dug into a pile of listener questions and it turned into something bigger than I expected. We talk about antlers, sure—but mostly we talk about reps. About why the time in the woods matters more than the score on a tape. About building a life that actually lets you hunt the way you want to hunt, instead of squeezing it in around everything else. I get into scoutin...

Tim Palmer and I sat down in that quiet stretch after the season—the part of the year where the noise fades and you’re left with what the year actually gave you. We talk winter weather, ice fishing, and why water deserves more respect than most people give it. We get into this past season—what went right, what didn’t, and how Tim shifted his approach away from pressure and back toward enjoyment. T...

On this episode of Truth From The Stand, I’m sitting down with Joe Miles, and we’re digging into the kind of hunting that doesn’t get easier with better gear—cold sits, traditional bows, and the work it takes to stay honest in the woods. We talk longbows, confidence at the shot, and why preparation matters more when you strip things back instead of piling them on. Joe shares what drew him deeper i...

This week on Truth From The Stand, I’m sitting down with Chad Sylvester for a conversation that started light and ended up digging pretty deep. We talk about whether hunting has become watered down, and what that question really means in a world shaped by technology, influence, and constant noise. Somewhere along the way, we get into old boots, old lessons, and the kind of hunting experiences that...

On this episode of Truth From The Stand, I sit down with Travis Keith, and we wander through the overlap between hunting, wrestling, and the kind of mindset it takes to stay in the fight when things don’t go your way. We talk about tracking—both deer and personal progress—the role mentors play whether you realize it or not, and how most of the real learning comes from the hunts that don’t end the...