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Bruce: I’m gonna count her down. Five, four, three, two, one. Welcome to another episode of White Tail Rendezvous. This is Bruce Hutchin, your host. Today, I’m really excited to have really a hunting fool, Lance Miller, who’s sponsored by Boneyard Sea and Hawk Optics, loves hunting Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois for really big bucks. He’s got his focus, and he’s got his hit list. Lance, welcome to the show.
Lance: Hey, Bruce. Man, I really appreciate it. It’s great to be on. Hunting fool. Most of the people who know me would agree with the fool part, for sure. I don’t take much too seriously, especially myself. So I’m from North Carolina, grew up hunting in North Carolina, running, chasing deer with everybody else in the woods, super crowded. Did that until about 10 years ago and went on a hunting trip out in the Midwest, went to Illinois, and actually ran into a guy in camp who turned out to be one of my better friends and hunting partners, Dan Byers.
Dan has brought me in to the wonderful, wonderful world of hunting Midwest white tail. You’re in a place where you literally have good chances of getting [inaudible:00:01:29] deer every time you step in the woods. So somebody once told me, “If you want to kill big deer, go where the big deer are.” So that’s kind of what I’ve done.
Bruce: Let’s just jump right into the white tail hunting and talk about the traditional white tail hunting too and who instilled that tradition into you.
Lance: So I was probably eight years old. My uncle would take me and my brother deer hunting, dog hunting, in Berkey [SP] County, North Carolina. He was the one that really introduced me to it. My dad never hunted. So I was fortunate to pick up the passion through my uncle. So I always give him the credit.
Bruce: Along the way, I’m sure you’ve learned a lot of lessons. Share with our listeners just a couple of things that you feel are important, three to five things that you feel are important for every white tail hunter to know and to share with others.
Lance: I would say the first thing . . . I didn’t really learn this until later in life. As much importance of time and money we put into hunting and chasing white tail, don’t forget your family. There are times when November comes in, and we want to be in the woods every day, but really don’t ever forget the most important thing is your family, your better half, your kids. That would be number one.
The second thing is be safe when we’re out there. That’s not just when you’re sitting in the stand, chasing the deer. That’s in the offseason, when you’re out hanging tree stands. Please, use rackets. Look into the ladder stands that you’re buying. There are a lot that have serious safety issues with them. I feel the industry . . . We tend to overlook that. So that would be the second thing.
The third thing, hunt to win. That’s what sets every hunt that I go on, is hunt to win, and don’t worry about scent-lock products. I don’t mean to name them specifically, but the scent-elimination . . . I don’t think you can completely do that. You’re not gonna fool the nose of the deer. You know? That’s even more true in areas that you have certainly more hunters. I know there’s an old adage. Back in North Carolina, we used to say, “He might see you three times. He might hear you twice, and he’s only gonna smell you once, and then you won’t ever see him again, the big boys.”
So those three things, nothing serious. Again, it’s more about just the simple things, your family, be safe, and hunt the right way.