2025 was a full send year for Wilder Minds. This recap is the best of the best, stitched together into one run.

We’re talking the Alaska crab boat that turned into something else entirely. A Yukon bet that went sideways. A Navy story that still doesn’t sound real. Bowfishing inside the Bass Pro pyramid in front of a crowd that actually knows what they’re doing. A musky that wrecked a brand new boat. A front yard stranger named Doug, a detour, and the biggest joint you’ve ever seen.

Then we get into the stuff that matters: thermal drone deer recovery, why it should be legal everywhere, the Busch Light hunt giveaway buck, and the public lands fight that isn’t going away.

Thanks for riding with us through 2025. 2026 is coming in hot.

Watch more Wilder Minds, films, and everything we’re building at keeferbrothers.com and in the Keefer Brothers app.

December doesn’t slow things down—it just adds layers.

This episode lives in the stretch between hunts, holidays, and getting ready to roll again. Cold nights. Early alarms. Trucks half unloaded. Christmas is happening, but the work doesn’t stop.

We walk through the gear that’s earned its place—stuff that’s been packed, dragged, frozen, thawed, and trusted. No theory. No hype. Just what actually works when it’s cold and you’re tired.

This isn’t a gift guide. It’s a post-Christmas reality check. Camp lights on. Coffee hot. Gear still getting used.

Watch the full episode in the Keefer Brothers App or on YouTube @KeeferBrothers.

Join the Brotherhood at keeferbrothers.com.

Airtight duffels used for hunting clothes, bulky gear, trail cameras, and tree stand setups. Ozone-ready and built to travel.

• Shop: https://grizzlycoolers.com/collections/bags

Blind-ready heater with dual-tank capability and battery compatibility. Replaced traditional buddy heaters for cold sits.

• Shop: https://www.dewalt.com/product/dxh12b/cordless-propane-radiant-heater

Used for rubber boots, gloves, hats, and shoes. Dries without shrinking and kills odor-causing bacteria.

• Shop: https://www.feradyne.com/product/halo-series-boot-dryer/?srsltid=AfmBOoqXcwlNOoTQ3gW32bUDcCtv0V3tkBiDWOmhHE1ndzOpcDLPVhJp

Lightweight, durable gloves worn from Dropped through whitetail and goose season. Simple and proven.

• Shop: https://www.cabelas.com/p/cabelas-instinct-wool-fingerless-gloves-for-men

Mesh-back trucker hat featuring Ryan Kirby’s hand-drawn whitetail sketch artwork.

• Shop: https://ryankirby.com/products/wild-turkey-trucker-hat?_pos=9&_sid=930756456&_ss=r

Used to power dryers, charge electronics, and keep gear running in cold camps.

• Shop: https://www.dewalt.com/product/dcb094k/20v-maxflexvolt-5-amp-usb-charging-kit

This one starts in camp and ends with a buck on the ground. A giveaway hunt turns real when Sara Haney—taxidermist, longtime friend, and lifelong hunter—steps into Missouri deer camp during the heart of the rut. Base camp is loaded. Cameras are rolling. Ammo is getting tested. And nobody’s sleeping much.

The hunt itself comes together fast. A blind move, heavy sheds on the rattle, and a mature mainframe ten shows up looking for a fight. One shot. A short run. A chocolate-horned buck down in the timber. The kind of moment that hits harder because you waited for it.

Along the way we dig into rattling windows, reading movement, age over inches, and why adjusting on the fly still kills deer. We talk camp life, gear that actually matters, and what it takes to host a hunt when everything else is happening at the same time.

This is deer camp the way it really goes—controlled chaos, good people, and earned results.

Watch the full episode now in the Keefer Brothers App or on YouTube @KeeferBrothers.

Join the Brotherhood at keeferbrothers.com.

Gun season hit Ohio and everything lined up—first snow incoming, pressure dropping, cell cam intel stacked, and the Grizzly Alpha blinds sitting exactly where they needed to. Two mature bucks on the hit list, hours of daylight left, and that first cold front feeling in your chest.

Thirty-plus years chasing whitetails together, and we finally dropped deer on the same damn day. One six-by-six with stacked tines slipped out of the timber right on the weather change. One blade-G2 bruiser followed minutes later in the corn stubble. Two tags filled, two clean shots with the .350 Legend and Deer Season XP, and lifetimes of bow-season frustration erased in under an hour.

We break down cell cam patterns, mineral pit power, food vs. bedding decisions, weather volatility, and the real logic behind when to sit a blind and when to stay home. Shot placement, pass-through myths, bullet performance, and why the .350 Legend is basically the cheat code in timber country. Plus: camp traditions, first-buck shakes, skinning shed fireball rules, and that moment every hunter lives for—the shaky voice on the first recovery call.

This is everything that matters in November: wind, timing, instinct, and a blind full of confidence.

Watch the full episode on YouTube @KeeferBrothers or stream it in the Keefer Brothers App. Join the Brotherhood at keeferbrothers.com.

Three weeks on the road, deer hitting the dirt, and camp stories stacked from Missouri to Michigan. The Winchester camp brought all-day sits, tight setups, and the kind of buck action that turns a quiet timber into chaos. Rattling pulls, missed windows, clean kills, and a sweepstakes winner who brought the antlers—and the heat.

Then we break down the tool that changed everything this season: thermal drones. Marginal hits, standing corn, coyotes in the mix, and finding deer in under two minutes from four hundred feet up. No disturbance. No guessing. Just truth. What that means for outfitters, neighbors, and doing right by the deer is laid out plain.

We close with the state of whitetails across the Midwest—Michigan pressure, doe-heavy ground, pockets of giants, and Ohio loading up for gun season with cold weather, 350 Legends, and the Grizzly blinds finally in the right spots.

Lives well lived. Stories worth telling. Join the brotherhood at keeferbrothers.com and grab the free companion app.

The crew heads back to Deadwood, one of the most anticipated stops of the season, to kick off deer camp in the rugged hills of Ohio. Early mornings, long setups, and classic camp traditions set the tone as the team settles into the rhythm of the hunt. Between gear talk, setup strategy, and plenty of laughs, it’s the kind of start that reminds everyone why this week in November always feels like Christmas.

In this episode, the action unfolds fast. From rattling in multiple bucks at once to executing perfect setups that pay off with mature deer on the ground, every hunt brings a mix of adrenaline and strategy. The team breaks down shot placements, behavior patterns, and the tactics that separate success from near misses. Whether it’s a perfect double-lung shot or a hard-earned recovery, every story adds to the growing legend of camp.

We’re going semi-live all November. Drop your Rut Report in the KB App—state, wind, chase level—so the Brotherhood can stack more deer on the ground.

Three bucks in fifteen minutes. One ghost in the autumn olive. A first archery kill on home dirt and a reminder that big bodies don’t come easy. We walk through the window we picked, the angle that sealed it, and the rattle cadence that actually pulls deer—quick crack, then silence. No concerts, no plastic bags—leaf noise, tree knocks, terrain advantage.

This isn’t ego, it’s honesty. The father/filmmaker tension is real: be present for your kid, then make the story out of what you’ve got. We get into when not to call at 40, why blind rattling works only in the right setup, and how volume and visibility decide everything. Misses included—the “air-mail” gut punch, the “thanks for coming” moment, and what those mistakes teach if you let them.

We’re going semi-live all November. Drop your Rut Report in the KB App—state, wind, chase level—so the Brotherhood can stack more deer on the ground.

Venison sticks, garlic curds in a bush plane, a legit natural gas leak at HQ, and the pre-rut plan from Michigan to Ohio to Missouri. We swap best-ever hunts (Strong Arm, Jumbo, the 182 in Iowa), talk Rage setups, cold fronts, corn coming down, and why burning a set for intel still kills giants. Also: exploding deer scent cans (for real), goose fever, and the new Rut Report Channel in the KB app.

Join the chase with the brotherhood at keeferbrothers.com and download the free KB App.

Bush planes in, storms on the nose, and a bear-ransacked outpost to greet us—welcome to Manitoba. The kids take the mic for the Silsby recap: first northerns, first walleyes, and a beaver-dam giant that lit the drags. Broken boats, six-foot rollers, shore-lunch perfection, and a cabin visitor with flour on his paws.

Ryder won’t put the rod down, Gunner invents the “Ooga Booga” cast, and Kylie gets Pike Fever—plus Pap’s last-cast hammer and why these fly-in trips make core memories for life.

Silsby Lake, Manitoba. Northern pike, walleye, bush planes, beaver dams, and bears in camp—yeah, that kind of trip.

Watch the full Silsby Lake film now — streaming in the Keefer Brothers App or on YouTube @KeeferBrothers, presented by Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s.

Then join the brotherhood at keeferbrothers.com — lives well lived, stories worth telling, and the wild waiting for you.

Ryder kicks off deer season solo on the home place—one bolt in the quiver by dad’s orders. A 4-year-old eight strolls to 15 yards, the bolt flies, and the woods erupts. Then it twists: a bigger ten shows, then an even heavier buck. No second shot. Just a whisper-call with dad, a blood trail like paint, and a rite of passage sealed. “The ice has my heart, but the woods has my soul.” Yeah—felt that.

From there we crack open our own first-buck files: a Pennsylvania stump sit, an orange safety whistle, and a .308 that zipped through; a ladder-stand chocolate-milk moment with a thumping .300 Win Mag; a buddy-stand six-point that lit the fuse for filming it all. Climbers with seatbelts, milk-jug beers, and tree stands that bucked back—plus the tech shift from no-intel sits to cell cams and why stripping it down sometimes makes the hunt again.

We wrap on what’s next: studio rhythm now, remotes all through deer season, Michigan to Ohio to Missouri, waterfowl and whitetails, and Deadwood coming in hot. Buckle up—season’s rolling.

Lives well lived. Stories worth telling. Join the brotherhood at keeferbrothers.com and grab the free companion app.