DIY Sportsman - Sportsmen's Empire – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this episode of the DIY Sportsman podcast, Garrett discusses what has become his favorite shotgun setup for specifically hunting turkeys. This is a gun he originally purchased for his wife, but after setting it up and making a couple of customizations, Garrett has been using it for all of his hunts as well. In the episode, Garrett breaks down the actual make and model of the gun, the choke setup, after market stock, pistol grips versus standard sporter style grips, sling mounts, and red dots compared to the standard bead sight. He also mentions a couple drawbacks of the concept that could be noteworthy depending on your preference. 

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On today's episode of the DIY Sportsman podcast, Garrett sits down with Mike Funderburk out of South Carolina to talk about the Hunt Better platform. This new content platform puts a focus on teaching and preserving woodsmanship skills through livestreams, detailed video hunt breakdowns, and long format video conversations. Mike explains what initiated the idea, what people can expect, and where things are headed. In addition to talking about the Hunt Better platform, Garrett and Mike talk about hunting in the South and how it differs from the Midwest, what types of deer habitat features that seem to be common across the country, technology, challenge hunts, and how experience can often be one of the best guides for learning skills first hand. 

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On this episode of the DIY Sportsman podcast, Garrett does a recap of the season thus far, including early season hunts with the recurve, some things that really surprised him about observations in the woods and on camera the past couple of weeks in October, dealing with nearly record high warm weather in the pre-rut, and a breakdown of Sam's recent successful solo hunt on public land.

Aero Hunter is releasing a new saddle to their lineup. The Kestrel Flex offers minor, but significant changes to the popular Kestrel saddle that really put them on the map in the bow hunting community. After tweaking multiple designs since the release of the Kestrel, tested and modified by people like Bobby and others, Aero Hunter finally got to a design they were happy to release.

This podcast goes over the key attributes of the Kestrel Flex and answers some of the main questions a consumer might have. For instance, what are the main differences between the Kestrel and the Flex? Will the Kestrel be discontinued? What will the price point and order delivery times be like? Is there a difference in comfort. In addition to answering those questions, Bobby gives additional background to help explain the thought process and reasoning behind bringing the Flex to the market.

In this episode Bobby talks about his recent Utah turkey hunt. Yes, Utah has turkeys - and yes, they do live up in the mountains. This is the third straight year that Bobby drew an early season tag to hunt turkeys in Utah. Typically it's the type of tag you'd only draw about every other year. Most of the birds he was able to locate were not too far under the snowline on the mountains. In the past he'd attempted to hunt these birds by roosting them and then sneaking close to the roost trees before first light the next morning. This year, he changed up his tactics and had success.

Bobby talked about what calls and gear he took into the woods for this western style turkey hunt, and the two discuss how often times minute differences in the particular call's sound can get some birds to respond when nothing else will. Garrett also discussed his first season experience in Minnesota and upcoming plans to hunt Wisconsin with Shane Simpson.

This week's guest is Harmon Carson, located in the state of Louisiana, a state not known for good deer hunting. Hunting pressure is high, the firearms season is extremely long, the woods are dense, and hunters are able to use dogs. Despite all of this, Harmon has had consistent success, and he gets it done with a traditional bow.

Much of this podcast focuses on Harmon's strategy for hunting deer in these dense Louisiana landscapes. He heavily relies on trail cameras due to the lack of agriculture, and he puts a ton of time in the woods with boots on the ground. We also talked to him about some of his hunts out west, about traditional archery, self filming, and saddle hunting.

Garrett went on a scouting trip with Sean McVeigh from Sean's Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel. The two have been trying to plan a group hunt for the past couple years and should finally be able to make it happen this year. The location chosen was an area of "big woods" habitat in Central Wisconsin that neither person has been to before. The idea is to have a March scouting trip, and August follow-up scouting trip, and finally a weekend hunt in early October, before the rut.

Sean and Garrett primarily chose different areas within the forest to focus their time on. So much of the discussion in the podcast goes in depth on why certain terrain features or strategies were focused on. Sean's strategy focused largely on the combination of oak trees and topographical funnels. Garrett's strategy also focused on oak trees, but mainly those located near bedding in swampy areas.

In this episode Garrett and Bobby cover a wide range of topics. Rapid thawing is happening in many areas, which affects spring scouting plans and has caused localized flooding in areas. The absolute best time of year to cover a lot of ground in marshes or wooded swamps is the narrow strip of time when the water is still frozen yet most of the snow is melted. Food sources can become really obvious if there is some remaining snow. Garrett noticed a large volume of tracks moving through and around a tamarack swamp. While pressure and thermal cover could have been good assumptions for why the deer were there, the pressure hasn't been strong in months and the tracks are too sporadic to be just bed to feed. Bobby and Garrett talked about what type of secondary browse sources could be located in that swamp.

While discussing upcoming plans for turkey hunting and western trips, Garrett and Bobby talked about why some states ask for additional costs when applying for tags, such as mandatory small game or fishing licenses, while others allow you to apply with just a few dollar fee. Many midwestern states manage their tags through OTC purchases and doe harvest numbers. Would creating a limited draw system for bucks with easier tag availability to meet doe harvest numbers create more revenue for the state and its conservation related programs? Or would it cause fewer people to hunt? In addition to those topics, Garrett and Bobby talk about how they'd potentially change access or hunting strategy in the Missouri hills based on thoughts and observations after the season.

In this podcast Garrett does a quick review of all of the boots he has used for whitetail hunting over the past several years. Some boots have served as great all around options for scouting, turkey hunting, and western hunting in addition to whitetails, while others are very specific use.

The boots reviewed in this podcast share a similarity. None of them are rubber. That isn't to say that rubber boots are inferior - certainly they have their place. That being said, there are lace up options that many whitetail hunters overlook because of reasons such as scent control that can really be great options due to their support, weight, and breathability.

One important characteristic of boots for the later whitetail systems is insulation and warmth. While Garrett has packed in heavy pack boots to change into at the tree, he also believes there can be better options to have insulated feet without dealing with moisture from sweat on the walk in.

In this episode, Garrett and Bobby talk with Kyle Null, president of New Breed Archery. Kyle basically started building bows in his garage for himself and his friends. That eventually grew into a full time business. Now New Breed specializes in one-of-a-kind bows direct to consumer. Kyle explains the logic and reasoning behind how he designs his bows: axle-to-axle length, titanium limb bolts, the cam system, limb stops, etc.

Kyle isn't just a bow designer, he's also an avid bow hunter and target archer. So Garrett and Bobby made sure to ask all sorts of questions regarding shooting, tuning bows, and arrow set up. If people are interested in getting a new bow, there's also a discount code introduced in the episode.