Episode 5: What Happens After the Season Ends?

The season doesn’t end when you tag out or when the calendar says it’s over.

It begins.

In this episode of Behind the Bone, I walk you through the exact system I use from January until opening day to consistently find and hunt mature whitetails on public land. From shed hunting and post-season scouting to spring e-scouting, summer trail camera placement, mock scrapes, and picking the right tree before the season even begins, this is the blueprint that’s helped shape some of my biggest successes in the woods.

But this episode isn’t just about strategy.

It’s about one of the biggest mistakes I made as a hunter—letting trail camera pictures dictate my decisions instead of trusting the work I’d already put in. That lesson takes us back to the 2022 season, where I watched two of my target bucks get hit by cars, including a giant double main beam buck that walked underneath my stand before meeting an unfortunate end.

Instead of chasing the next notification, I stayed committed to my plan. That decision eventually led me to a beautiful drop-tine 8-point—but more importantly, it gave me one of my favorite hunting memories of all time as my son Antonio helped me recover and drag that buck from the woods.

In this episode we cover:

* Why shed hunting is about far more than finding antlers.

* Using snow to decode how mature bucks move after the season.

* Spring scouting and e-scouting in flat terrain.

* Trail camera strategy that builds confidence instead of dependency.

* Mock scrapes and preparing bucks months before opening day.

* How to choose the right tree before the season starts.

* Why discipline beats chasing fresh trail camera pictures.

* The 2022 drop-tine 8-point story and why the memory with my son means more than the antlers.

Every hunt leaves behind a lesson.

This one taught me that trail cameras are incredible tools—but they should never replace instinct, woodsmanship, and trusting the work you’ve put in long before the opener.

Real Life. Real Grind. Not Just the Kill.

Four months.

Sixty-plus sits.

Hundreds of miles walked.

One arrow.

After an entire season of sacrifice, heartbreak, and refusing to quit, everything comes down to a bitter January morning on a small piece of Long Island public land. With temperatures in the single digits and a mature buck slipping back toward his bedding area, every decision matters. One wrong step. One frozen carabiner. One gust of wind. One mistake… and the season is over.

As daylight breaks, the woods come alive, and the buck I’ve spent months chasing finally appears.

This is the story of 10/10 Wins—the hunt that almost never happened, the season that nearly broke me, and the moment I learned that success isn’t defined by the size of the rack… it’s earned through every setback you refuse to let define you.

Because sometimes the greatest trophy isn’t the buck.

It’s proving to yourself that you never quit.

Real Life. Real Grind. Not Just the Kill.

Episode 3: The Season That Changed Everything

Success isn’t what made me the hunter I am today…failure did.

After walking away from an Ohio outfitted hunt, my brother and I committed ourselves to earning every opportunity on public land. What followed was a season that tested me in every way imaginable.

We discovered what we would eventually call the Bachelor Pad. We found a buck that consumed our thoughts. We switched to saddle hunting and questioned everything we thought we knew.

Then the season unraveled.

Target panic.

A wounded mature buck that still haunts me.

Watching my brother tag out.

Watching a close friend kill a buck from my own setup.

By January, even the people closest to me thought it was time to quit.

But quitting was never an option.

This episode isn’t about the buck I killed.

It’s about the season that almost broke me—and why I kept climbing back into the tree.

Because sometimes the greatest victories begin when everyone else thinks you’re done.

🎙️ Sharpen the axe… and I’ll see you Behind the Bone.

Episode 2: Two Bucks. One Journey.

What happens when your confidence is shaken… and you’re forced to rebuild it from the ground up?

In this episode, I share one of the most important weeks of my hunting life.

It starts with an outfitted hunt in Ohio that I thought would reignite my confidence. Instead, it ended with controversy, embarrassment, a $1,000 fine, and one of the most uncomfortable experiences I’ve ever had in deer camp.

Just two days later, I found myself back on Long Island public land with nothing but my bow, my brother, and a chance to prove something—not to anyone else, but to myself.

Neither of these bucks would make the cover of a magazine.

But without them…

There is no Behind the Bone.

This is the story of two deer that changed everything.

Before there were mature bucks, years of scouting, and unforgettable public land hunts, there was Pine Ridge. This is the story of my grandfather, Poppy Hans, the cabin that shaped my love for hunting, and the loss that forced me to start over. Sometimes the greatest chapters of our lives begin when we think the story is over.