The Southern Outdoorsmen Hunting Podcast

Tim Knight put the rifle down for good in 1985, and he killed most of the bucks on his wall the same way: rattling from a climber with his antlers on the ground. We sat down in Tim's trophy room in Georgia to get into his yo-yo rattling method, why he wants to sound like two small bucks sparring instead of a buck fight, and why his favorite week to rattle comes before the does are ready.

In this episode:

- Going bow-only in 1985

- The "scout hunt": why a climber beats lock-ons and ladders

- Why your first sit in a spot is your best one

- What a 3 AM trail camera photo really tells you

- Calling deer the way you call turkeys

- How a snagged antler string led to yo-yo rattling

- Sound like two small bucks sparring, not two giants fighting

- Why the last week of October is his favorite week to rattle

- The snort wheeze: the most underused call in the woods

- Why he hunts evenings, and taking time off in hours instead of days

- Setting up within 50 yards of thick bedding cover

- The scrape transplant trick to challenge a buck's dominance

- Learning your hard and soft mast trees

- Using the tree for cover

- Calm evenings and swirling wind

- Why small antlers, and making ground noise from the tree

- How often he rattles and why he waits for the sun to set

- The conditions that give him the most confidence

- Yelping like a turkey on a noisy walk in

- Why 3D targets teach you to aim too high

- His 1991 Pope & Young full-body mount

- Paper tuning and broadhead flight checks

- Sharpening and oiling broadheads for penetration

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In this listener Q&A, we walk through a day of post-hurricane scouting: six and a half miles of acorns on the ground and only one spot worth hunting, plus the three-reason test that made the call. Then we run through your questions, hot takes, and some Circle marriage advice before Jacob ties the knot.

In this episode:

- A hurricane knocked every acorn down at once: where do you hunt when the feed is everywhere?

- The bench pinch point: bedding cover, feed sign, a funnel, and two fresh scrapes

- Jumping deer on purpose to learn where they're bedding

- Thermals busting you on a field edge in Kentucky hill country: go low, get on the ground, or move

- Getting ready for the pre-rut: doe groups, cover changes with leaf drop, and travel routes between bedding

- The risk of a mock scrape on a public land rut funnel

- Hunting a buck that shows up on the same December dates two years running

- HOT TAKE: rifles don't belong in "primitive weapon" seasons

- HOT TAKE: does Alabama even need a muzzleloader season?

- Hot tips: annual patterns plus annual weather, and electrical tape over the muzzle in the rain

- HOT TAKE: find grouse without a dog and you're one of the best woodsmen around

- Why every spot needs three reasons to hunt it

- HOT TAKE: is .223 enough for deer?

- HOT TAKE: carbon suits and ozone units

- Hot tip: plan how you'll carry your mobile setup, not just which one you'll buy

- HOT TAKE: "feed trees" are overrated, and browse is the real baseline

- Marriage advice for Jacob from the Circle community

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Check out Latitude Outdoors for your mobile hunting gear - https://2ly.link/1zVDI

Use code TSOP15 for a discount on Mossy Oak - https://linkly.link/2ERb8

Use code SOUTHERN20 for a discount on all Vortex apparel, including eyewear

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Asher Kight found a mature buck in his bed in late summer, filmed him from 20 yards, then set up 184 yards away and killed him early season. We get into how Asher finds and targets individual mature bucks in the Arkansas mountains, why he scouts far more than he hunts, and how he plans to kill a target buck in four sits or less.

In this episode:

- Going from a "brown is down" deer lease to targeting mature bucks

- Why dog-hunted ground can hold more big deer than you think

- Pine beetle kills and why they make perfect buck bedding

- Where mountain bucks bed: ridge points, finger knobs, and thermal hubs

- North face vs. south face bedding through the season

- Reading big sign: licking branches, tall rubs, and why low scrapes are night sign

- Hunting from the bottom up and waiting on the thermals

- The cane thicket buck and the mock scrape set to blow scent into his bed

- Homebody bucks vs. nomadic bucks, and how to tell which one you're after

- Reading nighttime trail camera photos and moving cameras closer

- Why bumping a buck isn't the end of the world if he doesn't smell you

- Giving the deer the wind and still beating his nose

- Why big bucks hook downwind of scrapes instead of standing in them

- Tracking doe groups to stay on a buck through the rut

- Early season browse, oaks, privet, and late season food in the mountains

- What "killing sign" looks like, and why your first sit is your best sit

- Rechecking spots midday on out-of-state hunts

- Why squirrels, turkeys, and bears make you a better deer hunter

- Learning from hunters who have the wall to back it up

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Use the promo code "southern" for a discount on your OnX Hunt membership here - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1tyfm

Check out Latitude Outdoors for your mobile hunting gear - https://2ly.link/1zVDI

Use code TSOP15 for a discount on Mossy Oak - https://linkly.link/2ERb8

Use code SOUTHERN20 for a discount on all Vortex apparel, including eyewear

Our Sponsors:
* Check out MyBookie and use my code SOUTHERNOUTDOORSMEN for a great deal: https://www.mybookie.ag
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In this listener Q&A, we get into whether your wind actually pushes a buck out of his bed, or whether it's the walking in that does it. Then we run through your questions, hot takes, and hot tips as Alabama's opener closes in.

In this episode:

- Bucks bedding off WMA roads on gun days, and why your wind may not move them out of a thicket

- Bumped a buck from the same thicket two years running: is he really bedding there?

- Short on time in thick north Louisiana woods: finding bedding on onX, hunting sign over cameras, and why a saddle helps

- How to hunt a 70-acre cutover that's thick with hard access

- Making the most of five acres surrounded by ag

- Where the big 8 goes when his bachelor group shows up without him

- This year's mast: what a "loaded" tree looks like, and why lone white oaks may not pull deer

- HOT TAKE: no mobile setup beats a pre-hung set with a perfect access route

- HOT TAKE: slip hunters ruin more stand hunts than they kill bucks

- Hot tips: cup your ears, terry cloth for beggar lice, a treble hook for dropped gear, and talk to the old-timer at the gate

- Acorn field reports from Georgia, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania

- HOT TAKE: fewer gun weekends on Alabama WMAs

- Keeping deer meat out of ice water, and what actually makes venison gamey

- New alloy-case ammo and the cartridges it could help most

- Why every hunter should take a Stop the Bleed class

- Early scrapes and licking branches showing up well before the Alabama rut

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Use code "SOUTHERN" for a discount on Whitetail Hill food plot seed & trees - https://linkly.link/2myBP

Use the promo code "southern" for a discount on your OnX Hunt membership here - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1tyfm

Check out Latitude Outdoors for your mobile hunting gear - https://2ly.link/1zVDI

Use code TSOP15 for a discount on Mossy Oak - https://linkly.link/2ERb8

Use code SOUTHERN20 for a discount on all Vortex apparel, including eyewear

Our Sponsors:
* Check out MyBookie and use my code SOUTHERNOUTDOORSMEN for a great deal: https://www.mybookie.ag
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Dr. Bob Sheppard spent 23 years building a database of more than 3 million data points on what actually gets deer moving in daylight. We get into what the data says about the moon, the wind, cold fronts, and the rut, plus how he was hunting from a saddle back in the late '70s.

In this episode:

- How 23 years of hunter logs turned into 3 million data points

- What the data showed about the moon, and why the first two years fooled him

- The three variables that matter most: temperature, wind, and cloud cover

- Why deer movement climbs with wind speed instead of dropping off

- Where barometric pressure fits, and why it can't be separated from temperature

- Why the temperature change matters more than the temperature itself

- The day after the front, and why a northwest wind beats a northeast wind

- How much the rut really improves your odds

- Why he hunts a spot once, and how little it takes to leave scent behind

- Finding bottlenecks and setting up for morning hunts

- How to hunt thick clear-cuts

- Building one of the first saddle setups, and the business card that made him sell every tree stand he owned

- Teaching bowhunters with ketchup-bottle blood trails

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Use code "SOUTHERN" for a discount on Whitetail Hill food plot seed & trees - https://linkly.link/2myBP

Use the promo code "southern" for a discount on your OnX Hunt membership here - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1tyfm

Check out Latitude Outdoors for your mobile hunting gear - https://2ly.link/1zVDI

Use code TSOP15 for a discount on Mossy Oak - https://linkly.link/2ERb8

Use code SOUTHERN20 for a discount on all Vortex apparel, including eyewear

Our Sponsors:
* Check out MyBookie and use my code SOUTHERNOUTDOORSMEN for a great deal: https://www.mybookie.ag
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In this listener Q&A, we get into why the most worn-down trail on the hillside might only see one doe a week, and how to figure out which trails are actually worth hunting. Then we run through your questions and hot takes as bow seasons open across the Southeast.

In this episode:

- Why heavy, carved-in trails can fool you, and why you should follow them until they meet other trails

- The great moon debate: phase vs. position, selection bias, and why weather still wins

- Inside corners and field-edge pinch points (plus a listener who killed one in a spot we found map scouting)

- How to know which direction deer should be coming from, morning vs. evening, in Southern pine woods

- Can thermals swirl when there's no wind?

- What a thermal hub actually is, and the case for ridgetop hubs

- How to pick a tree when trails come from every direction

- How high to hang for bow vs. gun, and hunting low in big cedars

- Scanning with binos every 10–15 minutes, and the one time you shouldn't

- Why track shape tells you more about a deer's age than track size

- Reading feed trees: why beds underneath can make it an evening-only spot

- Trusting your gut on stand selection

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Use code "SOUTHERN" for a discount on Whitetail Hill food plot seed & trees - https://linkly.link/2myBP

Use the promo code "southern" for a discount on your OnX Hunt membership here - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1tyfm

Check out Latitude Outdoors for your mobile hunting gear - https://2ly.link/1zVDI

Use code TSOP15 for a discount on Mossy Oak - https://linkly.link/2ERb8

Use code SOUTHERN20 for a discount on all Vortex apparel, including eyewear

Our Sponsors:
* Check out MyBookie and use my code SOUTHERNOUTDOORSMEN for a great deal: https://www.mybookie.ag
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Phillip Robison (AKA Coyote Rob) is 81 years old and has been chasing whitetails in Alabama's Black Belt since deer first came back to the area in the 1960s. Long before scent control came in a bottle, he was spraying his hunting jacket with deer urine and keeping it in the deep freeze. One morning, an eight-point walked up and blew on the back of his neck.

In this episode:

- The scent routine he's used for 50 years, and why he believes scent matters more than camo

- The piece of string on his gun barrel that keeps him in the wind

- How he learned to stalk ridge points, pine thickets, and woodlots without blowing deer out

- What to look for when slip hunting: an ear, a hoof, a tail twitch, not the whole deer

- Why 10 to 2 on a windy day is his favorite window to ease through the woods

- What to do the moment you bump a deer, and why you should sit your butt down

- Why rutting bucks cover miles, and why sitting on trail camera intel can waste your time

- How he calls deer from the ground with a caller and scent setup at 81 years old

- Growing up hunting turkeys and squirrels in Clarke County when there were almost no deer

- Why squirrel hunting still builds better deer hunters

- A few of his best coyote-calling stories

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Use code "SOUTHERN" for a discount on Whitetail Hill food plot seed & trees - https://linkly.link/2myBP

Use the promo code "southern" for a discount on your OnX Hunt membership here - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1tyfm

Check out Latitude Outdoors for your mobile hunting gear - https://2ly.link/1zVDI

Use code TSOP15 for a discount on Mossy Oak - https://linkly.link/2ERb8

Use code SOUTHERN20 for a discount on all Vortex apparel, including eyewear

Our Sponsors:
* Check out MyBookie and use my code SOUTHERNOUTDOORSMEN for a great deal: https://www.mybookie.ag
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In this listener Q&A we get into why bumping deer is the fastest way to find them on new or public ground — and then we run through your questions and hot takes as archery seasons open across the Southeast.

It's bone dry across most of the South right now and the acorn crop is feast-or-famine, so we start with this week's mast and scouting reports state by state, then dig into how to find deer when the food is everywhere and the sign is scattered.

In this episode:

– Why "spooking" deer is a scouting tool, not a mistake

– Reading feast-or-famine acorn years and finding "the tree"

– Hunting steep erosion gullies and drainages

– Public land vs. private, and the corn-pile debate

– Scouting from scratch with no bait and no cameras

– E-scouting flat swamp ground with leaf-off imagery (finding the high ground)

– How to hunt a tiny 5-acre permission property

– The trad-bow comeback + a hot tip that'll save you a blown shot

– Do you really "outsmart" a mature buck? And do deer know it's season?

– Why we all need to kill more does

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Use code “SOUTHERN” for a discount on Whitetail Hill food plot seed & trees - https://linkly.link/2myBP

Use the promo code “southern” for a discount on your OnX Hunt membership here - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1tyfm

Check out Latitude Outdoors for your mobile hunting gear - https://2ly.link/1zVDI

Use code TSOP15 for a discount on Mossy Oak - https://linkly.link/2ERb8

Use code SOUTHERN20 for a discount on all Vortex apparel, including eyewear

NOTE: Not all advertisements run on this show are endorsed by The Southern Outdoorsmen Podcast unless an ad is read by one of the hosts. 

Our Sponsors:
* Check out MyBookie and use my code SOUTHERNOUTDOORSMEN for a great deal: https://www.mybookie.ag
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David Heatherly has killed mature Alabama bucks for 31 years by doing the opposite of what most deer content preaches: he keeps it simple. In this one, we get into why hunters make deer smarter than they really are, how to read the freshest sign instead of overthinking it, and why grinding the same spot every weekend is the fastest way to educate a buck right out of the county.

What we get into:

- Why deer are simpler than you're making them

- Reading fresh sign and building off every hunt

- How hunting the same spot every weekend patterns the buck against you

- Thermal hubs, travel corridors, and setting up on the ground

- Why cameras lie, and when a daylight picture means go NOW

- Giving a spot three days, then moving on to the next one

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Use code “SOUTHERN” for a discount on Whitetail Hill food plot seed & trees - https://linkly.link/2myBP

Use the promo code “southern” for a discount on your OnX Hunt membership here - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1tyfm

Check out Latitude Outdoors for your mobile hunting gear - https://2ly.link/1zVDI

Use code TSOP15 for a discount on Mossy Oak - https://linkly.link/2ERb8

Use code SOUTHERN20 for a discount on all Vortex apparel, including eyewear

NOTE: Not all advertisements run on this show are endorsed by The Southern Outdoorsmen Podcast unless an ad is read by one of the hosts.

Our Sponsors:
* Check out MyBookie and use my code SOUTHERNOUTDOORSMEN for a great deal: https://www.mybookie.ag
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This week we're back in the mailbag: your questions on early-season food, killing mature bucks without cameras, timing an out-of-state road trip, moon studies — and the noise trick that pulls curious deer right to your tree. Plus a round of hot takes to close it out.

In this episode we get into:

- This year's mast picture — red oaks dropping while a lot of white oaks aborted in the drought, and where that's pushing deer right now

- The opening-day call: scratch the itch on brand-new public ground, or wait for the ground you already know

- What "hunting aggressive" actually means — and when aggression costs you more than it gains

- A mature buck showing up on a travel-corridor camera: sit the corridor now, or push in before gun pressure hits

- Killing mature bucks where trail cameras aren't allowed — leaning on sign and habitat instead of pictures

- Passing young bucks on pressured public: worth it, or are you just handing him to the next guy?

- A first-ever mountain hunt — a 4-day game plan for terrain that looks nothing like the flatlands

- Timing a rut road trip around Halloween: pinch points, scrapes, rub lines, and how to find "the tree"

- Moon studies and deer movement — do they measure WHEN deer move, not just how far?

- Using natural woods sounds to pull deer in: dropping rocks out of the tree, rubbing two quarters like a squirrel cutting a nut, the acorn crunch, and the grunt call

- Andrew's one-stick setup and the cam-cleat system that makes it work

- The handkerchief-and-washer scent trick from the Bill Vale episode — how to use it, and how to check whether it's legal where you hunt

- Hot takes: is planting a food plot just baiting? Are trad-bow hunters better? And what percent of hunting is pure luck?

Watch Jacob's hunt for an Alabama swamp buck here - https://youtu.be/j_25tjxlk60

Join our Circle Community here - ⁠https://linkly.link/2o0Sn

Grab some Southern Outdoorsmen merch here - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1u4aK

Join Woodsman Wire - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1u4aR

Use code “SOUTHERN” for a discount on Whitetail Hill food plot seed & trees - https://linkly.link/2myBP

Use the promo code “southern” for a discount on your OnX Hunt membership here - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1tyfm

Check out Latitude Outdoors for your mobile hunting gear - https://2ly.link/1zVDI

Use code TSOP15 for a discount on Mossy Oak - https://linkly.link/2ERb8

Use code SOUTHERN20 for a discount on all Vortex apparel, including eyewear

NOTE: Not all advertisements run on this show are endorsed by The Southern Outdoorsmen Podcast unless an ad is read by one of the hosts. 

Our Sponsors:
* Check out MyBookie and use my code SOUTHERNOUTDOORSMEN for a great deal: https://www.mybookie.ag
* Check out TruDiagnostic and use my code SOUTHERNOUTDOORSMEN for a great deal: https://www.trudiagnostic.com


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy