Hunting is not always fun and games. Sure, it’s an adventure, but you also have to be patient. Being out there in nature is a rarer opportunity for hunters to just ponder and think about things in life. When you’re in the tree stands, think about better ways to love deer hunting. You might have gone into hunting for the thrills and the whitetail adventure, but all of a sudden – you realize that just being out and observing nature is sometimes an adventure in itself. Might as well enjoy nature at its best, considering the hours we have to put in just to get a decent shot.
Robert “Moose” Gendron was born in Montreal, Canada, where the hunting tradition was passed on to him by his grandfather who owned a country estate about two hours north of Montreal. Moose learned to catch trout, skin a rabbit, and hunt for deer at his grandpa’s 200 acres of country estate with a big lake. Robert says that deer hunting gives him time to ponder about life. Indeed, there’s nothing better than sitting in the woods!
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We’re heading to Ohio and talking with Robert “Moose” Gendron. Robert a.k.a “Moose” was born in Montreal, Canada. The hunting tradition was passed on to him by his grandfather who owned a country estate about two hours north of Montreal consisting of 200 acres and a big lake where Robert learned to catch trout, skin a rabbit, and hunt for deer and moose. At the age of fourteen, Robert finally moved to Ohio and he lost touch with the outdoors, but fortunately, he had a few great friends that got them back into the other doors and he’s loved it ever since. Robert says, “I love deer hunting. It gives me time to ponder about my life, and there’s nothing better than sitting in a woods enjoying nature at its best.”
Listen to the podcast here:
Robert “Moose” Gendron – How to Love Deer Hunting & Enjoy Nature at its Best
I’m talking to a guy named Robert aka “Moose” Gendron, and he’s from Ohio. He’s part of the Pro- Staff for Country Camo Outdoors. Moose, welcome to the show.
Thank you.
If somebody wants to get ahold of you and has any questions after the show, what’s the best way to do that? I think you’re up on Facebook. Tell the listeners where to get ahold of you on Facebook.
Go to Country Camo Outdoors and type Moose with your question. I should be able to answer it. We have a few other staff members. If you put Moose on there, everybody will know it’s for me.
You were born and brought up in Montreal, Canada and you hunted quite a bit with your grandfather up there. Is that true?
Yes, he’s the one that got me started. We had a country house out there and a few hundred acres and he’s the one that put the hunting bug into my mind so I have been doing it ever since.
What time of game did you hunt on this land?
Mostly when I was young. I was ten or eleven when I got started with him and that was mostly rabbit and quail. As far as I remember, he used to go whitetail and moose hunting out there every year and definitely enjoyed the moose meat.
That’s one thing you said, you enjoy eating big game. What’s your favorite cut of meat off of the venison?
I definitely enjoy the back straps. That’s definitely one of my favorite parts. The thing I liked the most about eating it is where it came from. No additives and it’s the expression straight from nature.
Do you wrap that up in bacon? How do you cook them up?
Maybe I’ll put a little marinade, a little bit of soy sauce, a little bit of Worcestershire sauce and then let it sit for a few hours. I do the bacon thing and definitely the best way to do it is on the grill.
How long do you cook them?
It depends on how big it is. I’ll try to leave it on there for a good ten, fifteen minutes at least. Then every five, seven minutes, flip it over and see what’s up. I like a little bit of pink in the middle. It’s best way to eat it.
We talked about your love for hunting and the big part of it is being outdoors. Share with our audience what that means to you.
To me, there’s the serenity of being out with nature. You got time to reflect about everything and it’s the serenity of it. That’s what I love about it.
Do you like hunting in the morning or the evening? What’s your favorite time out there in the tree stand?
I love the morning. I love to watch the animals go crazy. The birds wake up and the sun come up. That’s my favorite part of the day. I enjoy hunting in the afternoon also. I’m not too much of a mid-day unless the weather’s going to be right for it. The morning and right before the sun goes down, it’s normally at the time I love to go.
Do you call deer, or do you vocalize with them at all?
A little bit. Mostly during the rut. That’s pretty much the only time I would be vocal. There’s nothing like calling one in and hearing the buck grunt back at you. Seeing them is even better, but normally when you get in this and you hear one of them, it definitely gives me goosebumps.
It gets my blood going, that’s for darn sure. How do you get into your stand in the morning? Talk to us from the time you leave your truck, you’re at the ATV, how you stalk your stand so you can have a good opportunity not to bust a buck a going in?
Normally, I’ll spray before I even go out and before I leave my house. Then once I get there again, I’ll spray it again to make sure I get a good set cover up and going. Depending on the sky, if there are a lot of clouds or if it’s dark and only little light to try to get to my stand, but I’ll try to do it in the dark as much as possible. I take my time. That’s the main thing. You don’t want to make too much noise, trying to make anything move that you didn’t want to disturb. It’s hard though because climbing up to my stand is a little noisy once in a while. I spooked them before, but they ended up coming back into a little later. It’s not guaranteed that you won’t see anything even if you make a lot of movement.
Do you like to rifle hunt or archery hunt?
Archery. It’s more of a challenge. I love the more primitive side of it all. It definitely is my first choice.
Tell us about the type of gear you use, your bow, the type of arrows, and the broad heads.
I was using a Mathews but I upgraded a Mathews that’s a few years old and decide to go out with a Bear Arena 30. Everybody’s different, but I love that. I’m also using a Black Eagle Arrows, which is one of our great sponsors. Those arrows, for me, are the straightest arrows that I’ve used yet. I am not complaining about those arrows at all. For broad heads, I am using Xecutioner, another one of our sponsors. It was my first time using them and I had great results. I’m using Trophy Ridge for the sites. I’ve put that bow together three, four months ago and it’s right on the money. I’m enjoying that both.
What about a scent control? Do you use a ScentBlocker or Scent-Lok or another brand for Scent control on your clothing?
I try different things. works best with the clothes. I put it in my clothes, my clothes bags, just to get that scent in there.
What scent do you use? Do you like acorn or earth?
Mostly just earth, depending where I’m going to hunt. Once in a while, I’ll go hunt where it’s a pine tree farm so I’ll try to find anything I could find with a little bit of pine smell to it. I use the acorn, which I like, but earth is pretty the main thing that I use.
Let’s talk about a buck that outsmarted you. You had him on the trail cam. He was on your hit list, but you never could close the deal.
I’ve had one of those last year, one of the main ones. I can see in my trail cam, maybe a fourteen-pointer. He gave me the bug and I was up there almost every day in the afternoon trying to get off work at 1:30 so I could go hunting in the afternoon. I actually managed to see him. He didn’t give me a shot. He stood in front of me for about fifteen minutes starting to look around and sniffing. He did not give me a shot. He ended up leaving. A doe came in behind me and he ended up coming back, but no shots. It was definitely frustrating. I’ve been seeing him this year so I’m hoping somebody definitely is going to enjoy that once. It was a nice one.
Did you get any pictures of him after the time you encountered him?
I had one after that but that was it. I believe it was before gun season started. I had another one show up. It was a nice buck. Everything I’ve had was pictures, no pictures, and he was a monster but I didn’t get a shot of him either. I’ve never seen him. He’s in the trail cam, all my pictures.
How many cameras do you have in your setup?
I have two on the place that I mainly hunt. I’m using a SPYPOINT and I am really liking that one. I might have to buy a few more of those now.
It's just a great feeling to be able to take somebody out and make them appreciate nature. Share on XTalk to us about the size of the hunting area, how many acres, and what’s the terrain in it?
The land in that one about ten acres, but it is surrounded by about 60 acres of woods. Then I have cornfields surrounding that and they have about 70 acres of CRP that goes right through it. It’s actually a great, great spot because you got food and you get your bedding areas. The terrain is hilly little bit. It’s actually a good spot.
Do you own that land or is it a friend’s?
It’s a friend’s. I wish I owned some land like that. I have a little bit of land, but it’s only for my horses.
How many horses do you have?
We have two. We have five, almost six acres and it’s a great place to live, just not that good hunting area.
Do you ride with your wife or your kids?
I ride with my girlfriend. We take off on weekends sometimes, go camping, have a good time, but mostly go and relax.
Let’s talk a moment for Harry and Jeana Mitchell’s Country Camo Outdoors and share with the listeners why that group is important to you.
I have been with him for a few years and we all have the same passions. I’m trying to get more veterans, more women and more kids or disabled kids. I’m trying to get them out there, to keep the tradition going. We have a great team going and I hope we can influence more people to get into the outdoors, hunting, camping, four-wheeling, anything outdoors, to get people out of the house and put their cell phones down once in a while.
Let’s talk about the veteran part of it. How do you find the veterans that you connect with and take them out for an adventure?
Mostly, it’s with people that I know. I don’t want to say we’re not big enough, but we’re still growing. There are plenty of opportunities out there. The people that I have been out with is people that I know, people that I knew, friends or families like that. It’s just a great feeling to be able to take somebody out and make them appreciate nature.
What type of activities do you do with these people?
Last year, I was not part of the team yet, but they had their first annual fish event where they collected from our sponsor donations. Fishing rods and get kids out to fish and they got certificates, we did a little cookout. I’m planning on doing it again, which I’m glad to be part of that also. I know that’s pretty much the only thing we’re trying to raise more money so we could actually do more with veterans, kids or women, to get them out.
Let’s talk about the youth today. What would you say to moms and dads on the show to get them motivated to get their kids outdoors?
Get them involved in anything outdoors, either cleaning the barn or anything. The way our society is with our phones and computers and TVs, it’s bad for people. We weren’t meant to sit and do nothing. We’re meant to travel and enjoy the outdoors as much as possible because that’s the way I see it. Get your kids out there, get them going. Give them a bow and they’ll never have money for drugs and they’ll be spending money on choosing our bows. To me, that’s the main thing, just be outside. When you think about hunting whitetail, what lessons learned would you like to share with our listeners?
The main thing for me is patience. If you don’t have patience, hunting is not going be an adventure or any fun for you. You have to be patient and make sure you enjoy nature. That’s my biggest thing.
You like to be out there and ponder and think about things in your life. Let’s talk about the other things that you think about when you’re out in tree stands.
I ponder about life, about what have been, what it should be, things going on. When you’re hunting, you have so much stuff to think about and try to improve while you’re sitting there by yourself and thinking about it.
I know a lot of people, they get into hunting, but all of a sudden, they realize that being out and observing nature is sometimes the adventure in itself because we all know how many hours we have to put in to get a shot, a lot of hours to get a shot. We might see deer every time we go out, either close at hand or near our stands, but it’s a big part of our life that we spend. It’s a great time and if you don’t do it a lot, do it as much as you can. That’s my motto.
Any chance that you can, get out there. You’re not going to see anything from the couch. I guess you might, but for me, I’m not going to see anything form the couch. I have to get out there. The beauty of nature, the birds, the ground, just being out there and seeing something motivates me even more. Even if it’s not a deer or whatever you’re hunting for.
The beauty of nature, the birds, the ground, just being out there and seeing something motivates me even more. Share on XWhat would that be? Being in the woods and hunting, anything along the line of hunting, what do you need help with?
Everybody needs help. Nobody knows everything, but for me, I would say probably reading the topography of the land, the bedding areas and the way that deer actually would travel through the land. I guess that has a lot to do with a good spot. Sometimes you think for people, “This would be a great place,” but for a deer, it’s not a good place at all. If I could actually learn to read that better, I believe that would make anybody a better hunter.
I know some guys that use Google Earth, and they’ll find the pinch points and the funnels, and they’ll figure it out and everybody knows that dips or saddles. We call them saddles out west, but dips in the topography where it’s easy for a deer to travel, that typically we find trails and scrapes in those places. Do you find that too?
I found plenty of those. I have a great spot, but it seems like it changes every year. I put my hands up and try to send them all year round. It’s just weird. Where I am, that’s where I’m hunting.
You’ve mentioned a couple of sponsors along the way, but give a shout out to the people who support you in Country Camo Outdoors.
First, I want to give a big shout out to my girlfriend. She understands what I’m trying to do and she’s not complaining the whole time I’m in the woods. She believes I go there wouldn’t be once in a while, but not as much as she would like. I’ll give a shout out to Jeana and Larry for giving me the opportunity to help the people that are trying to progress, the kids, and the women. Hopefully we can help some people out. A big shout out to all our sponsors for helping us out. We have a lot, so I don’t know if I can name them all. We have a lot of sponsors. that’s helping people, helping women and kids mostly for me. I’d love them to enjoy the opportunity to go into the woods and appreciate nature in its relaxed form instead of you’re under fire or anything like that. To me helping people out is the best feeling in the world.
Robert, on behalf of Whitetail Rendezvous, I want to say thank you so much for taking a few minutes out of your day to share some stories, some insights about white tail deer, about Country Camo Outdoors, and it was a pleasure visiting with you. Have a good day.
Alright, Bruce, I appreciate it. Thank you.
I want to thank each and every one of you for spending your time with us. I look forward to sharing with you in the next episode, more white tail hunting tips, techniques, and storage. Until then, keep the sun at your back, the wind in your face, and always be patient. If you have any tips, comments, or suggestions or what we can do to improve because we’re here to serve you, let us know. Thanks for listening to whitetail rendezvous podcast at www.WhitetailRendezvous.com.