The Southern Outdoorsmen Hunting Podcast

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Clay Harper is a DIY traveling hunter who's turned breaking down brand-new ground into a system. He picks a state, a season, and a "theme" long before he ever sets foot on the property, then kills mature bucks on public land across the country. In this one, we get into his early-season playbook: how he reads unfamiliar woods fast, why he hunts the mid-morning window nobody else does, and the mindset shift that's put more bucks on the ground for him than any single tactic.

In this episode:

- Why mature bucks get up and move mid-morning in the early season — and the mineral craving behind it

- The "theme of the hunt" framework: deciding what you're hunting before you ever open a map

- Overcoming the objection — the sales-mindset question Clay asks himself before every hunt

- Reading a brand-new property from the food back to the bed using rub lines

- How to speed-scout unfamiliar ground and pick spots that set up in your favor

- Why big deer often hold close to access — and you don't have to hike miles deep

- Using a decoy and rattling to pull cruising bucks off the ridgetops out West

- Why he kills more deer on the ground than out of a treestand

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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. 

We just rolled in from the Mobile Hunters Expo in Dalton, and the season is coming fast so this Thursday Q&A is a loaded one. Andrew and Jacob work through a stack of listener questions and Circle hot takes: reading a spotty mast year, finding bucks when the ground's too dry to track, velvet-buck decisions, doe harvest, neighbor management, and a run of rapid-fire hot takes that'll get the comments going. Grab a seat.

In this episode:

• Mobile Hunters Expo recap and this year's record crowd
• The mast crop report — why Virginia's looking spotty and central Alabama's holding solid
• How to hunt a bad acorn year — beech nuts, browse lines, greenbrier, and other overlooked food
• Finding buck tracks when it's too dry — track traps, leaf-blower tricks, and when to just run cameras
• HOT TAKE: if your whole season depends on the rut, you never learned to hunt October
• Velvet bucks — take him now, or wait for a hard-horned target during the season?
• How many does to actually harvest, and why you can't kill them out on one property
• HOT TAKE: encouraging your neighbor to shoot whatever he wants (reverse-psychology management)
• Velvet hunting West Tennessee public land — where to focus when bucks aren't leaving sign
• HOT TAKE: most hardcore public land hunters would secretly rather hunt private
• Is a thermal drone really any different than a livescope?
• Shooting a bow with no peep sight, brush guns and slug setups, and the high-fence debate
• How to physically prep for the season without living in the gym
• What counts as a deer hunting "hat trick" — and a look back at the Ben Davis feed-tree episode

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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

Have you tagged a deer using something you heard on the show?

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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. 

Archery seasons are opening soon across the country, and early-season success comes down to one thing: acorns. Ben Davis of central Alabama joins us to break down his complete early-season feed tree blueprint — how to find the oaks that are actually hot, the overlooked sign that tells you a tree is about to fire before the deer even pattern it, and how to hunt it without blowing it out. It's a wide-open early-season how-to for every deer hunter, then a deep, technical dive into traditional bow hunting for those who want to take it all the way.

In this episode:

• How deer feeding on green acorns tells you a tree is 1–2 weeks from getting hot
• The oak-drop calendar — chestnut/mountain oaks, then white oaks, then red and water oaks late season
• Reading feed sign — busted hulls, fresh droppings, and ground disturbance under a hot tree
• Why your first sit on a fresh tree is almost always your best one
• Scouting before rain to erase your intrusion and get a free pass
• Late-morning feed tree kills — and why wind gets deer on their feet
• Creek crossings, entry and exit, and the water-scent problem that wrecks slam-dunk setups
• Isolated oaks vs. stands of oaks, and getting tight to bedding cover
• Getting into traditional archery without getting over-bowed — form and instinctive shooting
• Bare-shaft tuning, arrow spine, weight-forward setups, and picking a broadhead
• Sharpening fixed-blade heads and getting a true burr
• The story of a mature Alabama buck taken with a recurve — and the recovery that almost didn't happen
• Plus mentors, hard-earned lessons, and why he'd rather hunt sign than stare at a trail camera

Check out Ben's latest video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRl90uaCoo0

Looking for land in Alabama's Black Belt region? Contact Ben here - https://www.whitetailproperties.com/agents/ben-davis-1

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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

Have you tagged a deer using something you heard on the show? Submit your listener success story here - Share Your Story Here

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. 

Can a mature buck actually recognize your treestand, your climber, or your trail cameras? Andrew opens this one with a story about the biggest buck he'd ever seen in bow range — a buck that stepped out, locked onto the base of the tree he was sitting in, and eased off without a sound. It never saw him. It never smelled him. So what gave him away?

From there, Andrew and Jacob work through a stack of your questions from Circle and the website. Classic Thursday Q&A — straight from you guys.

In this episode:

• Do deer recognize your treestand & trail cameras?
• The buck that busted Andrew's climber — and what gave him away
• Shooting houses, box blinds & the black-window trick
• Why you're giving mature bucks too many chances to learn you
• Will a mature buck abandon his home range under pressure?
• The good bucks you never knew were on your property
• Could you actually pressure a buck out of his core?
• Do deer relocate, or just shut down and go thick?
• You jumped your target buck scouting — now what?
• Scouting in August & September on familiar ground
• Finding a bachelor group in a cool creek bottom
• Are you putting your trail cameras in the wrong spots?
• Cameras on feed trees: before or after they drop?
• Has extreme mobile hunting saved more bucks than it's killed?
• The Who / Where / When of killing a specific buck
• Do bucks bed in the same spot year after year?
• Thermals, wind & hunting tight to water
• Is killing a mature buck more luck or skill?
• Mast crop report

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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

Have you tagged a deer using something you heard on the show? Submit your listener success story here - Share Your Story Here

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. 

Eddie McRae has bowhunted the same Georgia farms for 40 years — and he says he hasn't been smelled by a deer in nearly a decade. No ozone units, no expensive sprays. Just a scent system he runs 365 days a year and a theory that most deer don't even know what a human smells like anymore.

In this episode of The Southern Outdoorsmen, Eddie (of Riverman Custom Calls) breaks down the self-taught, low-pressure approach that's put six mature bucks on the wall in the last four years. We cover deer this time - turkey's coming in a follow-up.

What we get into:

• How Eddie taught himself to hunt with no mentor, and why he switched from gun to bow in the late '80s
• The bow record he almost can't explain — hundreds of deer, and his take on staying calm at full draw
• Paper tuning, shooting at 60–80 yards, and building form you can repeat 100% of the time
• His arrow setup: 200 grains up front, high FOC, and why he thinks ultra-heavy arrows are a mistake
• The scent system in full — unscented everything, baking-soda washes, clothes that never enter the house, dog fennel cover scent, and the e-bike
• Why he believes deer have stopped recognizing "clean" human scent altogether
• The UV/detergent glow rabbit hole — the glove that busted him, the black-light test, and Dr. Karl Miller's UGA deer-vision work
• The four kinds of deer (wild, suburban, managed, public) and why behavior — not bait — drives everything
• Hunting a 400-acre farm like a sanctuary by doing the exact opposite of pressured neighbors
• Why mature bucks lock into tiny core areas — the 11-acre buck that never showed on another camera
• Cutting a ground blind into the nastiest cover on the property, and building a staging spot to kill a blown-out buck
• Hunting major weather swings and "hunting from the sofa" until a deer tells you it's time
• The get-in-get-it-done-get-out access philosophy (h/t Bobby Worthington)
• Eddie's most controversial take: why he doesn't believe the South has a definitive rut, and the fawn-drop evidence behind it

Check out Eddie's calls:

Riverman Custom Calls — https://rivermancustoms.com/

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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

Have you tagged a deer using something you heard on the show? Submit your listener success story here - Share Your Story Here

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. 

Is a National Forest really the best place to find a mature public-land buck? In this Q&A episode, Andrew and Jacob debate whether National Forests or Wildlife Management Areas consistently produce the biggest deer, discuss how hunting pressure shapes age structure, and tackle several listener hot takes covering roadbed hunting, scent control, hunting shows, antler growth, and more.

Topics discussed:

- National Forest vs. WMA for mature bucks

- What creates big-buck public land

- Roadbed & right-of-way hunting debate

- Hunting club vs. public land pressure

- Timing vs. scent control

- Can hunting shows teach new hunters?

- Summer antler growth update

- Rubs vs. scrapes

- Mobile Hunters Expo & Circle updates

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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

Chuck Bailey (Old Timer Outdoors) has killed dang near every deer on his wall while standing on his own two feet — not from a box stand, not over a corn pile. In this episode, the Louisiana woodsman breaks down the on-the-ground hunting skills most of us have forgotten, why the easy way is quietly making us worse hunters, and a few old-timer scent tricks you've probably never heard of.

In this episode:

- Why Chuck refuses to hunt from a box stand — and how "devolving" back to hunting on foot teaches you more about deer than any feeder ever will

- The forgotten woodsmanship of reading the woods: squirrels, blue jays, dropping acorns, and the little signs that tell you where deer actually are

- Slip hunting a square mile until you know it cold — Chuck's approach to learning ground and killing bucks on the move

- The contrarian scent trick: using human hair from the barbershop (and mothballs) to steer deer with the wind and push them right where you want them

- Team drives and working the draws — how Chuck and his crew run deer from one green head to the next

- How the timber cutter-head machine and the loss of woods burning reshaped the habitat — and what it did to deer and turkey

- The bent-sight bow story — three arrows, one very confused deer

- Chuck's single best piece of advice: for every day you hunt the corn pile, force yourself to spend one day walking and looking instead

Chuck Bailey — Old Timer Outdoors:

https://www.tiktok.com/@oldtimeroutdoors

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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

This week we’re diving into another round of listener-submitted Hot Takes and Q&A! We debate whether it’s really possible to consistently kill mature bucks from permanent stands outside the rut, discuss the biggest factor separating consistently successful hunters from everyone else, answer questions about saddle hunting, sanctuaries, and dream hunts, and share a few stories.

In this episode:

• Is it virtually impossible to kill mature bucks from a permanent stand?
• The biggest factor behind consistent deer hunting success
• Saddle vs. lock-on stands after several seasons of experience
• Why “sanctuaries” don’t always work the way hunters think
• Our thoughts on summer scrapes
• Favorite dream hunts if money wasn’t a factor
• Africa, elk, bighorn sheep, and other bucket-list adventures
• Plus another round of listener hot takes and deer hunting questions

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

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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

Have you tagged a deer using something you heard on the show? Submit your listener success story here - Share Your Story Here

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. 

Wes Moye is back in the studio, and this time we're breaking down the "Wolf Pack" - the group hunting system he's spent 40 years refining to kill mature, pressured bucks that get bumped by all the other hunters in the woods. Instead of hiding his scent like everyone's taught, Wes weaponizes it. Here's the full breakdown, plus a whole lot of hard-earned wisdom (and a few stories that'll make you laugh).

In this episode:

• The Wolf Pack method explained — how a group uses human scent (not leg power) to move pressured bucks toward waiting hunters
• Where the idea came from — the African painted wolves documentary that made it all click
• Why it's NOT a "man drive" — and how Wes answers the critics
• Reading pressured deer — why you should treat every deer like it's already been hunted
• Finding the exits — low spots, drainages, and cover that funnel bucks out of thick cover
• Deer pattern hunters — Wes's camera experiment proving it, and how he flips it to kill target bucks
• The Art of War in the deer woods — deception, feints, and beating a buck at his own game
• Hunting thick cover — why the nastiest bedding areas hold the biggest bucks
• Knowledge vs. wisdom — why applied experience beats anything you'll read or watch
• Timing the rut in Alabama and adapting your setup through every phase of the season
• Running Wolf Pack fundamentals solo when you don't have a group
• Plus camp stories, hard lessons, and why the bad days teach you the most

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

Have you tagged a deer using something you heard on the show? Submit your listener success story here - Share Your Story Here

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.