Oklahoma Outdoors

This week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, John is joined by Oklahoma Drone Recovery founder Rhett Acker. Rhett was on the show back in September (episode 141) to talk about his company and the services that they offer using thermal drones to recover anything from downed deer to pets and people. This time, the guys dive into Rhett's very successful fall of recovering hunters' deer and all of the lessons he learned along the way.

Rhett did a great job of keeping up with statistics this year, and learned a lot about what a wounded or dieing whitetail does in the moments after the shot. The thing that surprised John the most, was how many deer they found that were still alive hours later. Another interesting point was how the animals acted based on the weapon that was used. This episode is packed full of lessons for beginning and seasoned hunters alike.

John is back this week with another great episode of the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast. This week, John takes a little stroll down memory lane to look back at another amazing year in the great outdoors. From chasing turkeys with a bow in Nebraska to hang and hunts after giant Iowa Whitetails, it was a year he will not soon forget. Though he ended the season with a few tags still in his pocket, John had a great year on his old stomping grounds in Oklahoma. It's hard to complain about a year that involves tagging two mature bucks totalling almost 300 inches of antler.

After a look to the past, John then turns his attention to the future. He has been keeping an upcoming fall hunt a secret for quite some time, but it is now time to let the cat out of the bag. John plans to shift his focus in a slightly different direction in 2024, and a direction he has been pulled in for quite some time. All these plans and more are revealed in this episode so be sure to listen up!

A fan favorite is back on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast this week. John's wife Mackenzie joins him this week to talk about hunting, family, kids, and the balance of it all. This episode was a hit last year, so John decided to double down and go for round two. John and Mackenzie start off by talking about how much more challenging this hunting season was now that their daughter Hallee is getting older and fully mobile. Hallee is at the age where she needs constant supervision and is always getting into things. So when John took off for the deer stand it put a lot more pressure on Mackenzie. On the other side of the coin, John felt that same pressure which made leaving much harder on him.

The hope of this episode is to help all couples out there know that they are not alone. Life balance is tough, no matter if it's hunting, work, or just the hustle of modern day society. John and Mackenzie have found that communication and expectations are monumental in retaining a healthy relationship during the fall, and honestly year around. They go through the things that have helped them communicate better and get through a fun, but challenging state of life. Even if you are young, single, and ready to mingle, this episode is packed full of good lessons for the future.

With deer season winding down across the country, why not get a head start on hunting next year's buck. This week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, John talks about practical things a hunter can do to start putting themselves in position to tag a buck next year. Trail cameras can do more than just take inventory this time of year, and maybe you shouldn't let those food sources dry up just because you can't hunt them any more. John runs through a list of five things that hunters and land managers can do in the coming weeks to get a jump on 2024. Post season scouting is important, but it is also important to have a plan to maximize efficiency and not do more damage than good.

Nick Otto of the Huntavore podcast joins John this week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast. Nick made the long trip from Michigan to Oklahoma last spring to help John with his wild hog problem and try to debunk a few of the myths around cooking wild hog. After the hunt, Nick butchered the hogs into larger primal cuts to take back home and work his magic. It wasn't long before he was sending John photos of beautiful pork that would rival anything you can buy in a grocery store.

Thick cut pork chops, bacon, cured hams, and whole smoked pigs just to name a few of the cuts he tried, and all of them turned out great. Nick also kept track of the size and sex of the hog just to make sure there wasn't any added bias in the results. If you have ever been interested in doing something with all those wild hogs other than throwing them in the ditch, you really need to check out this episode!

As the calendar turns to December, many deer hunters are either praising sweet November or cursing its very existence. If you think your season is over because the rut has come and gone without tagging out, maybe you need to take a deep breath and listen to this week's episode of the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast. John believes that the late season is one of the best times to pattern and kill a mature whitetail buck, and in this episode he is going to lay out the foundation of what has made him successful year after year. It's no secret that food is king when the mercury drops, but there is more to it than just waiting till its blistering cold outside.

This is a very special episode for John, and one he wasn't sure he would ever get to record. On this episode of the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, John gets to tell the final chapter of an eight and a half year old deer affectionately known as... The 2% Buck. The story goes all the way back to 2017, when John got a trail camera picture of a beautiful clean 10 point 3 year old. Later that year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, he watched that buck work its way through a saddle and happily let him go, knowing he might turn into something special in the future. Little did he know at that moment that this very buck would drive him crazy for the next five years!

After years of obsessing and hunting the big 10 point, on the Saturday after thanksgiving, in the very spot he got that first trail camera picture 6 years before, John was able to catch up with the 2% buck. The name came by accident, when John jokingly gave himself only a 2% chance of killing the buck because of the fact he was so nocturnal and lived on land John did not have access to hunt. However, after years of habitat work and studying the deer, John was finally able to kill the monarch 6 years after first laying eyes on him.

Charles Admire joins John this week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast for a little midseason update. Charles was on right before the opening of archery season to talk about some of his plans for the upcoming year and a few bucks he was hoping to catch up with. Half way through the season he and John were both able to harvest one of their target bucks, with Charles taking a personal best!

Charles talks about how Texas's antler restrictions have really helped the age class on their property, and how the last two years they have seen a big bump in older age class deer. Those older age class bucks have generally also sported larger headgear, which led to Charles being able to shoot his biggest buck to date. The buck managed to elude him during archery season, but a well timed cold front brought some opening day of rifle season success!

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This week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, John breaks down his 8 day rutcation, including the Texas rifle opener and 6 full days in Iowa. There was no shortage of bucks in Iowa, in fact John had over 25 different bucks in bow range over the course of 6 days. Finding "the" buck however was definitely a challenge. John gave it everything he had but ended up coming home without filling a tag. That doesn't necessarily mean that his Iowa season is closed though...

John talks about some of the major differences between hunting the midwest and his traditional stomping grounds further south. He was shocked at how similar the breakdown of land was, with your usual ag fields, pockets of timber, and timber lined creeks. One thing that presented a major challenge though was the steeper more rugged terrain that made the wind extremely unpredictable. John was constantly moving and making micro adjustments to his set up, trying to put the wind in his advantage. He did see some really nice bucks, and is counting down the days till his return.

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Cort Travis is back on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast this week with another great story. Some of you may remember Cort as the Oklahoma State University student who killed a 200" buck a few years ago. While this one wasn't quite that good, he is still a heck of a buck and has a heck of a story to go with it. And while two big whitetails are great, the bigger lesson in this episode is that no matter your financial situation, with a little hard work, you too can have a chance at some great hunting opportunities.

Cort's first buck came after getting permission to hunt some land owned by his landlord, and this second buck came from that same property. Being a college student, and now freshly out of college and trying to make a living in this crazy world, Cort didn't have a lot of extra cash laying around to pay for a lease. Instead of giving up or just not hunting however, Cort rolled up his sleeves and made a deal with the land owner to work around the property in exchange for hunting rights. Doing odd jobs and helping work cattle has earned Cort the right to hunt a great property and harvest two fantastic whitetail deer.

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