Why this list exists
I was sitting on the couch.
That's all I was doing. Scrolling Facebook like I do every night, half watching TV, thumb going. And then my page was gone.
Not restricted. Not a warning. Gone.
I hit refresh. Nothing. Closed the app, opened it back up. Still nothing. I sat there for probably ten minutes just doing the same thing over and over like it was going to come back if I tried hard enough.
Almost 1.7 million of y'all. Sixteen years of my life. Every deer, every fish, every dumb joke, every buddy I met through that page. Gone in the time it takes to blink.
Nobody called. Nobody emailed. There was no number to dial and no person to talk to. That's the part that got me. I'd built something with a million and a half people in it and I had no way to reach a single one of them.
I laid awake that night thinking about it. Not mad exactly. Just sick to my stomach.
Then something happened I didn't expect.
Y'all found me anyway.
I started a new page and it was quiet for a while, and then people just started showing up. Thirteen thousand of you tracked me down when I wasn't even posting. Some of you searched every spelling of Full Rut you could think of. Some of you asked around. A few of you messaged me just to make sure I was all right.
I'm not going to forget that.
But it also told me something I should've figured out a long time ago. That page was never mine. I was renting it. And the landlord could throw me out any time he felt like it, without so much as a knock on the door.
So this is me buying the land.
This list is yours and mine. Nobody can suspend it. Nobody can delete it. No algorithm decides whether you see it. It shows up in your inbox every Friday because you asked for it, and that's the whole deal.
I'm going to tell you what I'm seeing in the woods and on the water. I'm going to honor the men and women who earned it. I'm going to make you laugh if I can. And I'm going to shoot straight with you the way I would if you were sitting in my boat.
Tomorrow's never promised. So let's get after it.
— Dwayne
THE RUT REPORT
Right now we're in the dead of summer in the deer woods.
If you've been out lately you know what I'm talking about. Everything's green and thick and hot. The bugs are terrible. Most guys have their bows hung up in the garage and they're not thinking about deer until Labor Day rolls around.
That's a mistake, and I'll tell you why.
Right now the bucks are running in bachelor groups. Three, four, five of them together, and they'll tolerate each other all summer because there's nothing to fight about yet. No does in heat. No reason to. They're just eating.
And they are eating. Antlers are growing right now, and growing bone takes protein. Everything a buck puts in his mouth this month is going straight to his head. That's why summer food matters more than most people think. Beans, clover, whatever's green and high protein — that's where they'll be.
Here's the part most guys miss.
A buck in July is showing you exactly who he is. He's relaxed. He's not pressured. He's moving in daylight because nobody's after him yet, and he's using the same bedding and the same food sources on a pattern you can actually read.
Come October he'll change. Come November he'll go completely stupid and end up three ridges over chasing a doe he's never met. But right now, this month, he's telling you where he lives.
So go look at him.
Get a camera on a food source. Sit on a hill in the evening with binoculars and just watch. Don't go tromping through the bedding, don't push him, just find out who's in the neighborhood and where they're spending their summer. Because when the pressure comes and the woods get hunted hard, deer don't leave the county. They tighten up. They go to the thickest, nastiest cover closest to what they were already eating.
Find that now and you'll know where to be in November.
Fall will be here before you know it.
CARRY REPORT
Every week. Gun safety, tactics, and conceal carry.
The number one thing y'all ask me about is carrying. So we're doing this every week from here on out.
Quick background so you know where this comes from. I'm a former Marine. I spent 20 years with the Department of Justice as a firearms, self-defense, and tactics instructor. I finished my career at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia, where ATF, ICE, FBI, Bureau of Prisons and the Marshals all train.
Am I the best shot in the world? Not even close. Plenty of people shoot better than me. But this was never about punching holes in paper. It's about defending yourself and your family, knowing what to look for, and getting out of a situation before it becomes one.
The last thing you ever want to do is shoot somebody. I'm telling you that from experience. That's something you live with.
You've seen the fella at Walmart with it hanging out on his hip. Some folks say open carry is a deterrent. I'll tell you what it actually is — it's a sign.
If I'm a criminal walking into that store, who am I shooting first? Him. Or I'm just taking it off him. I can't tell you how many times I've stood in line behind a man whose hands were full of beer and lottery tickets and could have reached down and had his gun before he knew I was there.
Conceal it.
I carry a Glock 48. Nine millimeter, and I've got big hands so it looks small on me. It's all I need. If a situation calls for a bigger gun, that's a whole different day.
I run it on my hip in a Q Series holster — my buddy Gary Quesenberry designed those, former U.S. Marshal, good dude. Covers the trigger, comes right out, sits in the waistband. I know some of y'all swear by appendix carry, and it may well be the best spot. I just don't like it pointing where it points, and it's miserable when I sit down.
Hip works for me. Everywhere I go.
Watch the video for the rest — including the two times I've had to draw as a civilian, and what I learned both times.
Here's the thing I'll leave you with. If you only carry sometimes, then nine times out of ten you won't have it when you need it. I carry to church. I carry everywhere I'm legally allowed to.
Prepare your mind for the worst. That's the whole game.
ON THE WATER
Fishing's been good here in southern West Virginia.
River temps are running about 82 degrees, which means the smallmouth are up shallow and feeding hard on shad. We've had a lot of rain lately, so the levels have been swinging up and down on us. That's just how it goes this time of year.
When it clears up, though, they'll eat.
Topwater's been the ticket. Flukes are working. Honestly, anything that looks like a baitfish is getting hit right now, so don't overthink your box.
Best times are early morning and right at dark. That's it. If you can only get out for an hour, make it one of those two.
Get out there when you can.
THE LAST LAUGH
Two old timers were sitting on the front porch, watching an old dog cleaning itself.
One guy looked at the other and said, "Man, I wish I could do that."
Other guy said, "Man, that dog will bite you."
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