Finding Mature Bucks!

Alex Rutledge and Redbone are live from K-Country 95 in Thayer, Missouri for a packed episode of American Roots Outdoors. In Segment 1, they cover local current events: King of the River tournament results, Cardinals and Royals baseball frustrations, high school football Jamboree prep, and a big conversation about Missouri potentially losing both its NFL teams. Segment 2 dives deep into strategies for locating mature bucks — food sources, water holes, Wiseye camera networks, glassing, and tapping local farmers for intel. Segment 3 covers pre-season preparations: food plot management, soil pH, no-till drilling, mineral sites, and getting your 12 Point Hunting Blinds placed early. Segment 4 wraps with Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame news (Tommy Garner & Ted Nugent), rifle practice tips using Hornady ammo, ethical shot placement, and archery prep. The bonus segment features Redbone's weekend BBQ smoker adventure and the Cave City Watermelon Festival. Powered by Wise Eye Technologies, Eagle Seed, 12 Point Hunting Blinds, Spandau Arms, and Hornady Ammunition.

Chapter markers added (24 total) and ♪ symbols placed before and after each music segment:

• ♪ Show Intro – 1:35
• Show Open & Segment 1: Current Events – 1:50
• King of the River Fishing Tournament Results – 3:18
• Cardinals & Royals Baseball Talk – 4:54
• High School Football & Local Sports – 6:51
• Missouri's Losing Its Pro Football Teams – 8:25
• ♪ Break 1 – 10:52
• Segment 2: How to Find Mature Bucks – 11:46
• Food & Water Sources for Deer – 12:26
• Scouting Techniques: Cameras, Glassing & Locals – 14:15
• ♪ Break 2 – 18:54
• Segment 3: Deer Season Preparations – 19:43
• Food Plot Management: Mowing, Spraying & Soil pH – 21:07
• 12 Point Hunting Blinds: Placement & Setup – 23:15
• Using Wiseye Cameras to Pattern Bucks – 25:07
• Deer Hunting Ethics & Property Respect – 28:07
• ♪ Break 3 – 29:01
• Segment 4: Rifle Prep, Legends Hall of Fame & Closing – 29:47
• Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame: Tommy Garner & Ted Nugent – 30:52
• Rifle Practice & Hunting Prep with Hornady Ammo – 33:31
• Bullet Placement & Harvesting Tips – 36:00
• Bonus Segment: BBQ Recipes & Cave City Watermelon Festival – 39:24
• River Masters Elite Series Tournament Preview – 45:45
• ♪ Show Outro – 47:19

Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation:
https://www.mhhf.us/

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Transcript

 pro-, I mean, I don't own the property that I hunt, so I talk to the people that do, that are out there working their cattle or, you know, cutting hay this time of year, whatever they're doing, and they keep me informed what's going on. Mm-hmm. Where the deer are crossing. Yeah. You know, what times of the day. I mean, you know, most farmers- If they're a good neighbor, they're gonna share their information with you. Yeah, well, most, most- Now, most people, if they find a big, mature buck or something, they're not gonna share that information. No, probably not, but, uh, these are people that don't deer hunt this particular piece of property that I'm talking about, and they don't want the deer there. I mean, if you're growing alfalfa, you don't want deer getting in your alfalfa every night and eating your profits. Mm-hmm. So, you know, a lot of those people, they will tell you, "Here, they're going in that southeast corner. They're there every evening. They're coming out right over there," because they want those deer gone. Exactly. Exactly. Now, Alex, I know it's about food plot planning time. What are you gonna plant this year? Okay, in the spring I like to plant different things, and also in the fall, but my go-to all the time is the Eagle Seed Smorgasbord, because it has a variety of blends. You know, when I was a kid, and even as an adult, I loved to go to a smorgasbord, and I bet it's the same for deer. It is. They l- they have a variety to choose from. Instead of eating one thing all the time, they got a variety, just like you walking into a restaurant. Get Smorgasbord today and you'll hold more deer and turkey. How can I go about getting that Smorgasbord? To go to a dealer near you or go to www.eagleseed.com. 🎵 Show Intro ♪ Camo boots on my feet. Bow in my Walking in the early dawn to climb up ♪ Wise Eye Technologies presents. Show Open & Segment 1: Current Events Welcome to American Roots Outdoors. We are in the studio at K-Country 95, Thayer, Missouri, Mammoth Springs, Arkansas. On the boards again is the Red Bone. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, everybody. How's it going? Yep. And, uh, I'm in the studio. And segment one here we're gonna talk about current events, but, uh, the topic of our show is preparations, how to find mature bucks this time of the year and preparations for the upcoming deer seasons, and it's part two. We had Kenny Zusman with First Class Whitetails on last week. And I wanted to discuss some of my strategies a little more in depth of how to find these mature bucks and things that we can do by using, uh, some of the products that we use, like Wise Eye Technologies. And I think this will be a great learning experience for some of the people. And, uh, always make this statement, some people are, are thinking, how do these guys kill big deer? They gotta be cheating. Well, some probably are. But we're not, because I can't afford to cheat and get in trouble. Right. I don't do that. Uh, my job, my name is everything. But, uh, I'm gonna share some tactics with you and strategies with using technology. It's gonna be good Yeah. So Redbone, current events- Yeah ... uh, King of the River Fishing Tournament Results King of the River's coming. Not King of the River was last weekend, this past Saturday, and, uh, congratulations to Nick Cooper, two-time winner of the King of the River. He had a little over- Wow ... 11 pounds. Second place went to Dalton Yarber. Third place went to Robbie Williams, and we'll go on down the line here. Uh, you can go to my Facebook page on, uh, River Masters page and find out the results. And this weekend we have got a River Masters Elite Series tournament at Van Buren, Missouri, and we've got like, I believe around 10 people that says they're gonna fish this weekend. We'll only accept 12 because we're gonna have to have a, a, a certificate to fish, so the first 12 that's registered is gonna fish the tournament with us. Can we take more? Yes, we can, but we like to stay around 12. Uh, $100 entry fee, $100 membership, $25 for winner take all, $25 for big bass. Those two option are optional. Uh, 11 pounds, over 11 pounds won it this past Saturday. Really? Yeah. That's a pretty good stringer. Yeah, it is. That's over a two-pound average. Uh, big bass was 3.35, and it was caught by Brandon Hampton from Elsomore. Wow. Yeah. Beautiful family, beautiful wife, beautiful baby he had there. I'm so proud of him. Uh, we had 23 participants in the King of the River. Uh, there was over $4,000 raised for the Carter County Senior Center. They feed 500 people every day. They furnish meals is what I was told by Mr. Bar- Miss Barbara Rogers, said they feed 500 people across Carter County. Wow. They, they get free food. That takes a bunch of money. It takes a bunch of money. It's that bad. Yeah. Yeah. Help 'em out if you can, folks. Yep. Cardinals & Royals Baseball Talk Cardinals got beat last night. Yeah, Cardinals, it's about time to give up on the Redbirds. You know, we talked... Well, I, I, I sound like a broken record. Uh, people were pretty excited about this team two weeks ago. They were nine games over 500. Well, now guess what? They're at 500. They've lost nine games in the standings, in, in the record, over the last two weeks. And folks, young, inconsistent, not good management. I've been saying that, you know, Alex, ever since they hired the guy. I do not like Oliver Marmol as the manager. I just don't, and I... Probably a nice guy, and apparently he interviews well, but I watch him on the field, and I just don't like what he does. Yeah. And, and, and, you know, the young pitching's getting racked around. I said yesterday on my show, I, I talk about the Cardinals and Royals every day, and, uh, I said, "When the Cardinals-" don't hit well, they don't pitch. When they do hit well, they don't pitch. It's just the way it goes. They can score seven runs and get beat, they can score two runs and get beat. And you know, a really good team will, you know, the pitcher can tell, "Hey, our guys are struggling against my opponent. I gotta knuckle down. I gotta hold this team to two runs." And the Cardinals don't have those guys. They can say, "We've got to hold them because our guys are struggling today." And that's just the way it goes. It's easy to pitch when your team's scoring 10 runs for you. Yeah. Yeah. But it, it's not when your team's only scoring two. Correct. Correct, yeah. And that's what they're doing lately, so yeah. So the Cardinals are in a bad slump. Uh, the Royals, ooh- It's been a long season for the Royals- It's been- ... already ... a long season, yeah, yeah. Already. Yeah, so Midwest is not looking good for the Royals or the Cardinals. Uh, we got, uh, High School Football & Local Sports high school football getting ready to start. Yeah, I think the, uh, Thayer Bobcats are in Branson at camp this week as we're recording. Mm-hmm. They always go to that Branson camp, and I'm not sure if Liberty goes there or not, or go to a different, but it's that time. And three weeks, as you're hearing this on Saturday- ... three weeks from yesterday- I'm excited ... is Jamboree Friday. Yeah. August 21st. And I believe Thayer's going to West Plains? No, Thayer's going to Mountain Grove. Mountain Grove, that's right. Yeah. That's right. We go to Mountain Grove and Willow Who all be there? For, for West Linn Who all be there? Uh, Fayette, Mountain Grove, and Willow Yeah, and we're going to Sikorsky- Sikorsky, yeah ... where the Eagles are. Yeah, I'm, I'm so proud of our field, our football field. We got new sod put down. Uh, it's, it looks beautiful. I drove by there this morning. I've had back trouble since Sunday. I, uh, fished the r- the, uh, King of the River, ended up ninth, Redbone, out of 23 boats. That's not bad. I lost a big fish at 3:30 that kept me out of the top five. Mm. I would've been in the top five for sure, but it happens. Uh, my brother Jack, I talked to him. He lost it. He lost three or four big ones- Wow ... uh, the bait he throws, but, uh- Needs sharper hooks Well, I think the bait he throws, he loses a lot of fish. A lot, lot of- Yeah, yeah ... need, need a longer handle on your- Yeah, yeah ... on your dip net Yeah. I wanna say congratulations again to the top 10, but also Nick Cooper, two-time winner of the River Masters. That's pretty rare, isn't it? Great news. It is. My brother's won it three times. Aaron Nicholson's won it three times. Derek Hampton's won it twice, and now Nick Cooper's won it twice. Wow. I'd like to bring up one more thing before we wrap up this. Yeah, yeah. I've had some discussion, matter of fact, with two different people this week. Missouri's Losing Its Pro Football Teams Do you realize that in a matter of a couple of years, the State of Missouri will not have a professional football team anymore? That's correct. I've already thought about it. Thought about it. Isn't it crazy? I mean, back in the, the '60s and '70s, you had two. You had the St. Louis Cardinals, had the Kansas City Chiefs, and then, you know, late '80s and '90s, you had the Rams in St. Louis, and you had the Chiefs. And why did all of these teams move? Because of stadium issues. Now, I'm not a big supporter of the state having to build a stadium for a private company to run a football team, but I think there should be some help and some incentive to get them to stay. And, and here's the thing, the And the City of St. Louis felt it when the Rams moved out, and of course, they moved out and had to pay a big- And the Rams won a Super Bowl ... yeah, and one played in another, but, uh, and, and, you know, the Chief, even since the Rams have, have won, you know, played in three. I think Missouri's gonna s- receive a lot of, uh, of bad percussion for this. Well, well, I, I ... The thing I see is, is the tax dollars that you will lose. That's what I'm saying. From the ticket sales, all the merchandise sales, the beer sales, every hot dogs tax, I mean, all those things, all that tax money now is going for the, in the Chief's case, now going to Kansas. Is Kansas City, the city itself, at fault for this, or is it the state? Uh, it, it, uh, more or less is a combination of both Yeah, the city, you know, wouldn't give them the funding to build a stadium. And who can? These things are costing billions of dollars now. And, uh, ownership apparently didn't wanna f- foot any of the bill. That's what happened in St. Louis. Their ownership wanted a new stadium, but they didn't wanna foot any of the bill. And I'm not for cities or states having to build stadiums for professional teams to play, 'cause those professional teams are making a lot of money. Yeah. A sad deal. But it's gonna be sad. Sad deal. I'm still gonna be a Kansas City Chiefs fan. Oh, me too. Yeah. Absolutely. All right, we're going to a break. When we come back, we're gonna talk about how to find mature bucks this time of the year and preparations for the upcoming seasons. Don't go away. We will be back with more right after this. Right here, right now, this is Chance Walters, listening to American Rust Outdoors with Alex Rutledge, the Ozark Herd Bull. 🎵 Break 1 ♪ Hunting off the farm. Wishing on some love. I've been on a big boy for a while. I could load him in the back of my truck. Redbone ♪. Wise Eye has just gotten better with these new cameras that they come out with. How could it get better? Well, they got the new Mini and they've got the new DC2. DC2? They have a... Yeah. DC2 you can actually go live any time you want and film your own hunts with the Wise Eye data cam. Now, wait a minute. You mean I could be getting ready to shoot a deer and I could go on my phone and activate my camera and boom, film- Your own hunts ... my own... Well, that's amazing. That's amazing. Okay, Alex, you've convinced me. How do I get one of these cameras? Go to a dealer near you or go to wiseeyetech.com. Take it to a bar. Order yours today. Take it to a fair. Segment 2: How to Find Mature Bucks 12 Point Hunting Blinds presents. Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors. We are in the studio at K Country 95, and we are talking how to find mature bucks right now. Now believe me, there's a lot of guys running a spotlight right now looking at them- ... all over the country. Oh, yeah, looking at them that way. That's a great way to find them, but it's illegal. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, we're not telling you to break the law, but, uh, I'm sure a lot of them do find them that way. But, uh, one of the greatest ways right now I think that I can suggest to our listeners, not that I know it all, 'cause I don't, I'm just telling you what I do to find mature bucks. Food & Water Sources for Deer Number one, you gotta have the right food source, right habitat for them to want to be on the properties you hunt, Redbone. Right. That's simple. We got a really, really dry summer. Uh, one of the strategies right now, you'll find these mature bucks if you've got great food source around watering holes, creeks, et cetera. Uh, that's a great place to just set up your Wiseye cameras and to collect that data. Yeah. And, and the way it's been the last couple of weeks, water, water, water. Water, water, water. Water, water. That's the key right now. And food, and food. Uh, my Wiseye is showing me pictures of deer feeding all throughout the day during this hot weather. Uh, I've not got any good bucks on cameras yet. Just some nice ones, no good ones. What I call good is mature bucks. I got friends that's sending me Wiseye pictures, not naming their names, uh, that's got bachelor groups of bucks. Right now, the bucks are running in groups. And, uh, the biggest deer probably I've seen is 140s, you know, with some of the pictures people sending me, videos, et cetera. But, uh, food and water is crucial right now, Redbone. Yeah, I would agree. And, uh, and speaking of deer, I'm seeing a really nice eight that is crossing the highway onto a property that I'm gonna hunt this fall. Uh-huh. I've got permission to hunt. And I keep urging everyone I know that travels that stretch of road regularly- Yeah do not hit my deer. Do not hit, you're right. Do not hit my deer. Yeah. If you'll be looking probably behind that deer, there's gonna be other bucks with him. Right now, they're running in groups. Yep. Yeah. So that's one of the techniques. Scouting Techniques: Cameras, Glassing & Locals Another technique, in states where it's legal, is to, say, if it's big blocks of timber or whatever, and you have a lot of cameras, and Wiseye has a program called the Ranch Program- Mm-hmm the Outfitter Program. If you can put bait down, which some states you can, uh, you put these bait sites out, put Wiseyecam cameras on them or mineral sites in these locations, and that's another great way to find these mature bucks. Absolutely. Especially in big blocks of timber. Absolutely, and I can, I can tell you from experience that that will work. Uh, before COVID and my, and before, before the CWD, uh, I thought I had some deer... You, you know where my property is, just five acres. Well, I think I don't tell on yourself for feeding. Well, well- ... this was a long time ago. Uh- Before the rule come in. Yeah, before the rule came in, uh, I put some feed out and I put my cameras, and, uh, at night I was getting pictures of eight or 10 deer crossing right there every night. Never saw the deer in the daytime. Yeah. But I did get out there the first morning and I, I harvested one- Yeah ... uh, that I didn't know was crossing there until I actually put some feed out. Yeah. You know, uh, we could get on this tangent talking about CWD- Yeah ... EHD. You know there's a product out there. This EHD probably kills more deer than CWD. Oh, absolutely Yeah, without a question. Uh, there's a product out there made by Thunder Ridge Outdoors, it's capsules that will kill the larva and the muck in these watering holes and ponds. Right. Kenny Zusman just done a video on it on First Class Whitetails. Uh, if you wanna help your deer herd, look into this product. I can't remember what they ca- correct name of it, but it's something H2O or something like that. I don't remember it. Of course, we had somebody talk about that on the show- Yeah ... once. Yeah, Kenny did. Yeah. And you can put it in your watering holes and it'll kill the muck and the larva and stuff that, that causes EHD. So- Yeah ... yeah. Help them out if you can. Yeah, help 'em out if you can. So we're, we're talking strategies, techniques of how to find these deer. Another way to find deer is, uh, go to food source areas that you know, big fields, et cetera, and use good optics. Uh, early in the morning before daylight, go sit at a high spot where you can watch and l- glass. In the evenings, do the same right before dark. Pull in there thir- an hour or so before dark, sit and watch if you can stand the heat. Glass and watch and find these bucks. That's another great technique, Redbone. Yeah, it is, and, and if you're like me, you go to work before it gets daylight, and you go to bed before it gets dark. Yeah, you gotta look at 'em at nighttime, huh? I, I, I, I, I, I still think the best thing is to talk to the people that i- and I don't own the prop- Well, talk about it, that's another technique ... I, I don't hunt the pro- I mean, I don't own the property that I hunt, so I talk to the people that do, that are out there working their cattle or, you know, cutting hay this time of year, whatever they're doing, and they keep me informed what's going on. Mm-hmm. Where the deer are crossing. Yeah. You know, what times of the day. I mean, you know, most farmers- If they're a good neighbor, they're gonna share their information- Yeah, well, most, most- ... with you. Now, most people, if they find a big, mature buck or something, they're not gonna share that information. No, probably not, but, uh, these are people that don't deer hunt this particular piece of property that I'm talking about, and- They don't want the deer there. I mean, if you're growing alfalfa, you don't want deer getting in your alfalfa every night and eating your profits. Mm-hmm. So, you know, a lot of those people, they will tell you, "Here, they're going in that southeast corner. They're there every evening. They're coming out right over there," because they want those deer gone. Exactly, exactly. You know, and alfalfa, which we're talking about, we got a, a couple minutes left here in this segment, uh, alfalfa's probably one of the best attractants, food sources, but it don't last throughout the winter if it's a harsh winter. Right, right. But, but another great product is the Smorgasbord, you know? Absolutely. And that we talk about all the time. Most of our listeners, if you're a new listener, you need to check it out at eagleseed.com. It's got perennials and annuals, clovers and oats, wheat, uh, kale, high protein stuff, and they will literally eat it down like a putting green on a golf course. I, I've posted videos of it many times. And, uh, we're just sharing techniques with you and strategies how to find mature bucks and talk about pr- preparations for the upcoming seasons. We're gonna go to a break. When we come back, we're gonna share with you these techniques. Don't go away. We'll be back with more right after this. Hey, everybody. This is Michael Wader with Bone Collector, and you're listening to my buddy, Alex Rutledge, on American Roots Outdoors, man. 🎵 Break 2 ♪ Year after year, got my hunting gear Remember when a hunter was measured by how well he shot, not how much he spent? When memories were measured in rooster tails, not dollar bills? We do. We're Spandau, reliable, easy-to-operate, extremely balanced premium firearms offered at a price that proves you still know the true measure of a hunter. Spandau, making the American hunting tradition available to all ... foods passed on down, planted deep in the ground around your heart so you never got to worry ♪. Eagle Seed presents. Segment 3: Deer Season Preparations Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors. We are in the studio at K Country 95, Thayer, Missouri, Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, right here on the state line. Again, Redbone's on the boards, and we're talking about how to find mature bucks. We've discussed several techniques there, how to find them right now. Now we're going to talk about the preparation. This is segment three of the show. So preparation. Some of the things that I love to do right now, what I used to love to do, and you can't do it no more, was put mineral sites out. Right. Now, according to the rules and laws of MDC, you can feed your deer 100 yards of your house, and you can have a mineral site 100 yards of your house. The way, if I read that correctly. If I'm not reading that correctly, correct me if you're watching live right now. But the way I understand it, I don't want to cause anybody to break a law, but you can feed 100 yards of your house to watch the deer as long as you don't hunt 400 yards of your home. Okay. There you go. Well, basically, you can feed in your yard. Yeah. Yeah. You can feed in your yard. You know, birds, squirrels, et cetera, deer, turkeys come up to your yard so people can watch them. Yeah. So preparations. You can't do that anymore on your property that you hunt. Only 100 yards of the house. Right. Food Plot Management: Mowing, Spraying & Soil pH What I like to do right now, coming up here about the second or third week of August, and I've touched on it last week with Kenny Zespin, is go in and mow all of my food plots down Okay? Mow them down six, eight inches tall. Okay? If the clover has come back very thick, a technique that you can use is no-till drilling to go back and replant. Mm-hmm. If you're not pleased with the stand or you got problems with johnsongrass, uh, fescue, whatever, taking over, which is not excellent for t- deer or turkey- Right ... but it does create insects right now. That's why I leave it tall for the turkeys and poults to eat the insects and the seeds off the oats and wheat, et cetera. Uh, but when you mow it, if you're not happy with it, I encourage you to spray it and kill it all out. Yeah. Okay? Pull your soil samples before that, though. Then it's gonna tell you how many tons or what you need to get your pH to the correct Correct, uh, reading for to grow gr- good food plots. Secret to keeping and attracting and preparing your property is having the right pH. Yeah. You got the right pH, you're gonna have the best tasting food plots in the area. Yeah. Well, and they're just gonna grow. I mean, you can g- there's some stuff you can put in soil, some soil, and it just won't grow. Correct. Well, you gotta have, I mean, the soil's gotta be good. A- and a cr- another great thing, and we touched on it last week, I'm reiterating again, is these food plots, you wanna have water source right close by your food plots. These water sources, you're creating great habitat, a versatile habitat to keep deer close to your area. And all of my food plots, I have the 12 Point hunting blinds. I got the Octagon, I got the 6x6, the Double Barrel. I mean, I've got all the blinds. Man, you talk about great blinds. And you wanna s- get your blinds set the sooner the better. 12 Point Hunting Blinds: Placement & Setup In August, late August, September, uh, we're gonna be, uh, Jason Lapp will be coming in to the Ozarks here the end of the month, and we're gonna go visit some dealers and bring some blinds to some dealers here in the Ozarks. Right now, the dealers that's carrying, and you could order them, is, uh, Legacy Farm and Home in Van Buren, Missouri, MFA Exchange, Arch Street Farmers Exchange. You can order the blinds down there. And we're talking to several other dealers right here in the area that's looking to set up with 12 Points. Oh, very cool. In the Mountain View area. We're not gonna name who it is- Right ... but they, they got highway frontage, and they're very interested in carrying the 12 Point blinds, so. Yeah, and you wanna get those out as soon as possible because you want them to become a part of the landscape- Exactly ... and get the deer used to seeing them there. Exactly. 'Cause they're gonna see the blind, and initially it will spook them a little. That's why you don't wanna put it in the day before you go hunt. Exactly. Uh, but once it's been there for a while, they get used to it, it becomes just a part of their habitat. Just like deer coming into your yard. They come into your yard, they're used to your home, as long as you're not shooting and banging or doing anything to scare them. Right. But if you got dogs running loose- hey, deer don't wanna come into your yard. That's right. Especially if the dogs are barking at them or whatever. Right. Yeah, and you know, I, I, I can equate getting the, the blinds in early to, uh, those places where you have farmers that are feeding their, their cattle on a regular basis. The deer get used to that. They get used to that tractor or that four-wheeler. We talk about it all the time. Yeah, we do. You can program deer. Yeah, and, and that's a good person to talk to about where the deer are or if there are any, if you have permission to go on that property and hunt. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So these techniques and strategies we're sharing with you is the techniques that I like to use, and it creates success for me. But Using Wiseye Cameras to Pattern Bucks I really, really rely On my Wiseye cameras. Of all the tools, I mean, all of them's very important, crucial to, to be successful. Do you have to have them to kill deer? No. But if you want to shoot bigger deer, figure deer out, I encourage you to use what we're talking about, the Wiseye data cams and the 12-point blinds, Eagle Seed food plots, you know? Well, with the data cams, you don't have to go out and sit in the woods early in the morning, late in the evening, you know, for days on end trying to pattern the deer because the camera will do all that work for you. Yeah, you don't have to spend as much time in the field. Yeah. And then you're not contaminating your hunting area with your scent. Correct. Correct. Yeah, the, the less pressure, or if you create a routine, a rhythmic routine on your properties and you're not shooting and banging or bothering the animals on your property, they get programmed. They do. Just like cattle, we say it all the time. But if you go in the same time every day to check cameras, if, uh, you're not running a, a cellular type camera like Wiseye, you're pulling cards or whatever, they can adapt to that. Yep. Yeah, yeah. So, uh, once you find a, a, the buck that you want and you target that buck, you can actually take the Wiseye camera and create your own folder in your app and name that buck if you have at least five pictures or five videos. And what you do is you can monitor that buck too separately than all the other cameras. I'm running 23 cameras right now. Oh, wow. Yeah. So the more cameras you have on the properties you hunt, the more successful you're gonna be. Well, you know what's going on before you ever step foot in the woods. E- exactly, and you can always watch your property lines, your gates, et cetera, people trespassing, whatever. Uh, you know, we don't want to do that, guys. Respect each other's property. You know, I was talking to a friend of mine the other day. He was showing me some pictures of big deer, and I told him, I said, "Man, you know, that, them deer right there will make somebody happy." Now if I want to eat a deer, I'm gonna shoot a, a young doe- Mm-hmm or a doe. Mm-hmm. The does are way better eating, in my opinion, than any buck. Right, yeah. Yeah, so that's what I'm looking at if I'm meat hunting. Now if I kill a big, mature buck, uh, I take care of it properly, clean it, gut it quick. Uh, I like to de-bone it, put the meat on ice, salt and vinegar. I said it many times, and it soaks a lot of the blood out of it, takes the wild, gamey rut taste out of it. But if it's very cold, I like to let my buck hang at least a week or so. Right. Yeah. It makes that meat tender. It sure does. You know, before we go to a break, Alex, I just want to mention something that you talked about a while ago. Uh, Deer Hunting Ethics & Property Respect you know, I have permission to hunt this property. I told the landowner, when he told me that, I said, "Well, okay, well that's great." He said, "You just go whenever you want to. You don't have to tell me about it or anything." He, he... A couple of lakes on this place to fish, and- Yeah ... and I said, "No, give me your number. I'm not going on your property unless I call and tell you I'm gonna be there first." Or ask you, ask you to be there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just got a comment on our live feed. J- uh, Jase Whirley says that Brett Palmer and I saw the Wise Eye booth up at the Bassmaster Classic. They are super nice people. Yeah. They are. Well, very good. Hey, thank you for joining us, man. Butch Taylor, my buddy, my Tri Five brother, uh, want to mention this real quick. The Tri Five Nationals are coming up August 13th through the 16th in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and we're going there. Hey, we're going to a break. We'll be back with more American Roots Outdoors right after this. Hey, guys, Bradley Roy, Major League Fishing angler, and you're listening to American Roots Outdoors right here, right now. 🎵 Break 3 ♪ What the wind- Everybody, Alex Rutledge. I'm excited ♪ excited to tell you about 12 Point Hunting Blinds. Seven-foot walls, perfectly camouflaged, snowproof, waterproof, tinted windows. They will not reveal you in the 12 Point blinds. We're proud to work with this Amish-made blind, made in America, made in USA. 12 Point Hunting Blinds. For more information, go to 12pointhuntingblinds.com. Segment 4: Rifle Prep, Legends Hall of Fame & Closing Hornady Ammunition presents. Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors. We are in the studio, K Country 95, Thayer, Menna, Spring, Arkansas, state line right here. We got a 100- Yeah ... mile radius listening area. Yeah, and if you count all the other stations, KSMO and, and KWO- KWOC, KAPE ... KKOZ. KWOC, KAPE, KKOZ. Count 'em all, we cover, we cover probably 400 mile. That's pretty big. That's pretty big. Yeah. Potentially two to three million listeners. Uh, potentially, absolutely. Then we take the radio show Edited in a format to be aired on podcast in 19 countries. Wayne Locke is our director of the podcast, and he handles all that, and Redbone handles all the radio stuff. So if you're listening, you'd like to become a partner with us, uh, contact me in Messenger on American Roots Outdoors or Alex Rutledge, and we'll, we'll be glad to talk to you, help you promote your business, market your business. Redbone. Yeah, we've got just a few minutes left here, Alex, as we're into the final segment of the radio show. I would like to mention and get your take on an event that's coming up in a couple of weeks at Bass Pro Shop in Springfield. It's an organization that you were the youngest person ever inducted into. It's awesome. I know what you're saying. It's the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame: Tommy Garner & Ted Nugent Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame, and their induction ceremony's coming up in just a couple of weeks. Now, I had an opportunity to talk to, uh, uh, Gary Mason, who's in charge of that, Monday. He only had 18 tickets remaining. It's almost sold out. Yeah. Um, our good friend Tommy Garner- Yeah ... is going into the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame. Oh, he's getting inducted. Tommy is- Tommy, and guess who else is? Ted Nugent. Ted Nugent, and Ted, from what I understand, is going to be at the event in Springfield. He is. He said- Yeah ... uh, I talked to Gary la- this last week. He said he'll be in and out. He won't be there the whole time- Right ... but he'll be in and out. He'll be in and out. And he's looking forward- But he's donated a guitar- Yeah that's autographed, uh, the people are gonna have a chance to, uh, to- To bid on ... bid on. And, uh, the, the Rickelman kid, uh, he's building a rifle that is gonna be unbelievable, that they're also gonna be auctioning off at the event. Yeah. I donated a guided fishing trip for two people- Oh, cool ... valued at $500, and it usually sells every year up there. And, uh- Yeah ... uh, the Monk family will be in, uh, next week. Okay. Uh, come in on the 13th, I believe. No, let me see. No, not the 13th. It- They'll come in on the 6th. Okay. Darryl Monk and Papa Monk, and they're gonna spend the night with me at the cabin a couple nights, and I'm gonna take them fishing on the Current River. Cool. And a friend of mine's gonna take them on the 11 Point trout fishing. Uh, then we're all gonna go to the event on Friday evening. Then I got my family reunion- Okay ... uh, going on that time as well, the Rutledge reunion. Well, I'm thinking about being there on Saturday. Yeah. Just because I've, I've been a friend- You need to be there I've been a friend of Tommy's for a long time. You need to be there. I'd like to be there to watch Tommy get inducted. Oh, it'd be, it, it's, it's gonna be huge. 'Cause if anybody ever cried- Oh ... Tommy Garner's gonna cry- Oh, he's so- ... when he gets in there ... spirit-filled, man. Absolutely. He's such a good person. He's got a good heart. And I'm proud for, happy for him. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, anyway, just wanted to mention that- Yeah ... today, and, uh, it really is just a wonderful event. Congratulations, Tommy, Ted Nugent, and whoever else getting inducted and- Yeah ... uh, what a great event. Yeah, and anybody that is anybody in the outdoor industry is probably gonna be there in Springfield that day. Yeah, yeah Hanks Parker tub Exactly. Hank Parker, everybody's gonna be- Right on down the line ... a lot of big companies are gonna be there. Absolutely. Yeah. I wanna make mention right now in this, this is segment four of the show, uh, Rifle Practice & Hunting Prep with Hornady Ammo right now is a good time to get them rifles out and start practicing target shooting. Uh- Yep ... Gray's Hornady ammunition out there, accurate, deadly, dependable. Uh, I've got a new rifle, that 308 we've talked about it. Yeah. Spandau Arms. The Spandau. I'm getting ready to put a ride-on scope on it. I'm gonna go to Raleigh's Powderhorn and have Boob to help me set that gun up. I could do it myself, but always like to let Boob, you know, help Boob out. But, uh, I'm excited about this 308. Mm. You know, you're looking at a, a 300-yard gun. Yeah. Very accurate, 30 caliber, and I'm excited about shooting it this year. Uh, I've got several rifles. I don't like to sell guns. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, well, guns are such a good investment, the longer you hang on to them, most generally, the more expensive they become. Exactly. Keep them in good shape. Now, what rifle do you like to hunt with? I, I, I've gone back to several years ago, my lever action Winchester 30-30, Model 94. I just love it. Uh, here probably- 20 years ago. You know, they're, they're side- they only hold a side mount scope 'cause they eject out the top. So I put a side mount scope on it and I've got a 162 deer hanging on my wall, killed him with a 30-30. 162-inch deer, my. And killed him with a 30-30, killed him at 40 yards. And that's how I like to hunt deer. Yeah. What advice have you got for our listeners that hunt with a rifle? Talk about preparation, shooting and stuff. Uh, your thoughts, I touched on it a little bit, but what are some of your strategies of practicing shooting? How do you start out shooting with a rifle when you're practicing? You know, I'm gonna start out, and first thing I wanna do is make sure my scope is on. So I usually start at about 20 yards, you know- You shoot it at 20 at a dot. Shoot it at 20 at a dot, and if I'm, you know, within a quarter inch or so of that dot, I know we're ready to go. And then we'll back it up to 50, and then we'll back up to 75, and then 100. Now, with the 30-30, that's about as far as I'm gonna try and make sure it's on because- Yeah ... no way I'm gonna try and shoot a deer farther away than that. Uh, but yeah, I've, you know, I wanna be right on at 50. I mean, I wanna be hitting bullseyes at 50. 'Cause you shoot your deer close. I shoot my deer close. And you shoot the, probably the Hornady whitetail ammunition. Yeah. Probably 150 grain. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Good ammunition. And good ammunition. I've never had one run after getting hit. Now, what do you-- Now, when you shoot a, a whitetail- Mm-hmm ... where do you like to aim? Bullet Placement & Harvesting Tips Right behind the shoulder. You want the heart shot. I want the heart shot. You don't want a lung shot. You want a heart shot. No, I want a heart shot because I like, when I hit that deer, I like to see him tense up and fall down. Yeah. Kinda like the bullet knocked him over. And you watch his tail. Watch his tail. If he tucks his tail, he's hit. Exactly. If he humps up, he's hit. Exactly. Yeah. And if he falls over, he's hit. 'Cause I don't wanna have to go chase him 100, 150 yards. Yeah, yeah. It's all about bullet placement. You know, I've shot a lot- It is ... of deer with a 243, with the Hornady ammunition. And again, they drop right in their tracks. I f- I, I'll never forget, I'm not telling people to make long shots because- No ... d- we wanna be ethical. You know, shoot a deer if it, depending on what you're shooting, 100 yards and less. But I did shoot a deer on camera one time with a Thompson/Center Icon back in the day, shooting Hornady ammunition, and it was 189 yards. Danny Barker filmed it, the crack of the gun, behind the shoulders. The deer drops. Don't even... It just... Right there. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good feeling. It is a good feeling. It's a good feeling. And when you look at the camera and you say, "Did I do that?" Well, I killed one at 150 one time when I was shooting my 270, and I love that gun. Yeah. 270's a good round. But I just wanted, I just wanted to go back to my roots. Yeah. Archery. Touch on it real quick. We got just a few, couple minutes left. Archery. Right now is a great time to get your bows out, crossbows, whatever. Start shooting. Practice, practice, practice. Next week we're gonna talk about archery- Okay and fishing combo. And, uh, great show, Landa. I wanna thank everybody for listening, and we're gonna wrap her up here. Hope these things that we talked about helps you in your upcoming season. We'd like to hear from you. Get on our Facebook page, Messenger, send us messages, topics you'd like to hear us talk about. We can talk about moon phases, uh, feeding tables, et cetera. We love talking hunting and fishing with everybody. Remember, this whole world needs more love and not hate. Teach your young boys to become men and your young girls to become ladies. And ♪ When your roots run deep and strong- There is no reason to fear the wind. So you never gotta worry ♪ Thank you for joining us for today's American Roots Outdoors Radio with Alex Rutledge. You can find us on Facebook. Look us up on the World Wide Web at americanrootsoutdoors.com. We'll be back again next week on this great radio station Accurate, deadly, dependable, Hornady ammunition. From a two-man operation in 1949 to a world-leading innovator of bullet, ammunition, reloading tool, and accessories design and manufacturer today. Hornady. Each piece is hand inspected to ensure consistency and quality. Ammunition engineered to perform flawlessly. Simply put, the best. Hornady ammunition. Find Hornady ammunition at a retailer near you and at hornady.com Bonus Segment: BBQ Recipes & Cave City Watermelon Festival Vandal Arms presents. Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors. If you're listening to this, you are listening to it on a podcast carrier. We air in 19 countries, and we've used this bonus segment pretty much for bonus stuff, but we're talking recipes a lot. Yeah. Yeah, we love to talk- Well, just cook, cooking and, and, and before the... During the break, you were saying, "Man, wait till you hear what I cooked this weekend." "Wait till you hear what I smoked." So here it is. Okay. All right. Redbone, give it to us. Well, let me give you the setup here, because Saturday night, Miss Nina and I and my youngest son, Adam, and his daughter, Creedence, we went to Cave City, Arkansas, to the Cave City Watermelon Festival. Uh-huh. You would not believe how this thing has grown over the years. But anyway, there were 10,000 people in Cave City Saturday. It has a car show and lots of food vendors and all kinds of stuff, and then Saturday night, Alex, Sammy Kershaw in a free concert. Sammy Kershaw. Sammy Kershaw. It was fantastic. Now, we didn't get home from that till about midnight or after, and I'm kind of an early bird, so Sunday I was tired. And Miss Nina says, "What are we gonna do today?" I said, "I don't know about you, but I'm gonna go get me something to put in the smoker, and I'm gonna sit out here on the front porch all day- and watch it smoke." So I went to the store and I got a package of country cut ribs, you know, the big thick ribs. Ooh. I like, I like to cook those. And they had some, uh, uh, pork butts that were in fourths. It was just about a fourth of a pork butt, one big hunk of pork butt. So that's what I put in the smoker. Now, I seasoned them. Um, I don't know if I should tell you what I used or not, but anyway- Rendezvous. No, no, it wasn't Rendezvous. It was after, actually, the, uh, Grill Masters Sweet and Smoky rub, all right, which I absolutely love. Um, I also might have put a little bit of strawberries on there too, 'cause I, I do love the strawberries. But anyway, I put these, uh, country cut ribs on the smoker, and I put this pork butt on the smoker. I smoked these country cut ribs for four and a half hours at 275. I had to use a spatula- ... to take them out of the grill because when I tried to use my, my tongs, they just fell apart. I couldn't pick them up without them falling apart. And those ribs were phenomenal. But here's the good thing, I left the, um, the fourth of a pork butt in there for about six hours. Oh. And this thing turned out, it's got a... It had a smoke ring about a quarter of an inch thick all throughout it, and, uh, um, it was just wonderful. So Monday, we had ate all the ribs on Sunday. Had some folks over, all the ribs were gone. So I took half of this pork, I sliced it in half, and it had been in the refrigerator all night. Y'all hard meat gets to- Oh, yeah ... you know, when it gets cold? Oh, yeah. I took the knife and put it in the middle of that thing and it, the knife just fell through it. Mm. Cut it in half, and I stick a fork right in the middle of this big chunk of pork butt and twisted it, and the whole thing fell into pieces. And we had pulled pork- Oh. ... nachos that night. My daughter Mallory loves pulled pork. I do too. Ren, Ren, my granddaughter, loves pulled pork. Yeah. I love it. Well, we made pulled pork nachos, you know, with some baked beans and stuff like that. It was, it was fantastic. Now, the other half still had the bone in it. Now, do you wrap your meat in tin foil after? Talk about that. I did this time. Okay. Normally I don't, but this time after about three hours with the ribs, I put them in a pan, covered them with foil, and put them back in, and this, this piece of pork butt, I covered it in foil, put it back in for the last two hours, and it just cooked- Moist in its, cooked in its juices. And moist. Oh, my, juicy. Oh. You got any left? Uh, yes, actually I do. And, and I'll tell you what else I've got left- You want go to your house, we'll go to your house after the show and go eat ... we can do that- ... 'cause I've also still got some K City watermelon in the fridge. Ooh, we may just do that. Now, last night we just took the pork butt and we just sliced it, and, uh, Miss Nina picked some, uh, okra out the garden, and I picked a couple of squash, and we had some fresh tomatoes and fresh cucumbers, and that's what we had for dinner: fried okra, fried squash, this pork butt that I'd smoked on Sunday, and then just some sliced tomatoes and sliced cucumbers. It was, it was a meal fit for a king. Beautiful. Beautiful. This weekend we're gonna cook ribs Friday night. Mm-hmm. Uh, m- my neighbor Brandon, uh, he said, "Alex, I'm gonna fix you ribs Friday night." Okay. And he cooks his for about four and a half, five hours. Yeah. And what he said he does- You doing spare ribs? You doing spare ribs or- He cooks them at 250. Okay. Spare ribs. Yep. He cooks them at 250, and what he- Probably uses the three, two, one method, doesn't he? And what he does, he does them a couple hours I think on the, the smoker- Mm-hmm ... open, with seasoning and stuff. Then he wraps them in tinfoil- Yep ... and he puts them in the oven. Oh, really? Then he brings them back out. Unwraps them, puts them back on? Puts them back on. Yep. He said, "They're so juicy," and he said, "When you get done you can pull the bone out. The bone will just fall out." But... And, and I've watched a lot of people and I said, "Brandon, have you ever used apple juice on the ribs?" Yeah, to spritz them? He goes, "No," but he goes, "I want to," he goes, "I want to put apple juice on them after the first two hours and let them cook in that." Yep. Yeah, put a little in the bottom of the foil. And just wrap them and put them back in We gotta go eat after this. Yeah. Listen, what a great show, what great information, and what a great recipe. Smoking right now. I love my Oklahoma Joe's. Yeah. They're not a sponsor, but Oklahoma Joe's has great products and this pelletized smoker. We had one to go bad on us. We made a phone call to them. They replaced our smoker. Yeah, see, ours is a Pit Master. That's a good one. Oh, we love it. Yep. Thank you all again for listening. What a great show. Uh, get ready, upcoming season's coming. You get those bows out, the crossbows. We talked rifle hunting. We'll get more into rifle hunting later on. But, uh, we need to get you guys getting ready. We're still fishing tournaments, and remember, if you're listening to this and you're in the area of Van Buren, Missouri, we got the River Masters Elite Series tournament this weekend. River Masters Elite Series Tournament Preview We're gonna give away 13 fishing poles, rod and reel combos, to 13 kids. Come and see who your favorite River Master is, what he's gonna do in this tournament. Who do you predict might win it this weekend? We got about 10 or 12 guys gonna fish it. Cool. Who you thinking? You don't wanna say, do you? Well, I don't know who all of them are. Yeah. Well, if you'll follow my Facebook, you'll see them on River Masters- Okay ... and see who all's gonna be there. Yeah, uh, I, I pick you, Alex. No, I'm not fishing. Oh, you're not fishing. I don't fish it. Okay. I'm the host and creator of it. I don't fish. Either way I could lose. If I beat everybody, then people's mad, and if I lose, then it makes me look bad. So I'm not fishing it. Okay . So, again, thank you for supporting us at American Roots Outdoors. We're all about faith, family, friends, outdoors, and our constitutional rights. Remember, this whole world needs more love and not hate. We may not agree on politics. That doesn't mean I hate you. It means I may hate your beliefs. So think about that. Teach your young boys to become men. Teach your young girls to become ladies. And when your roots run deep and strong- There is no reason to fear the wind 🎵 Show Outro ♪ Sun ain't up, they ain't down. We'll be waitin' when they hit the ground. Big time comin', it's what we do. From a whippoorwill to an ol' owl's hoot. Sittin' still 'til it's time to shoot. American roots. Take it to a holler. Take it to a field. Across a creek and up a hill. Your heart so you never gotta worry ♪ My grandpa said, "When your roots so deep and strong, there's no reason to fear the wind. American roots will rise again." Yeah, I got family and friends and living the truth Yeah. Got family, friends, and living the truth ♪