THE RUT REPORT Issue #9
Before anything else
I wasn't going to lead with hunting today.
Twenty-five years ago this morning, it was a clear blue Tuesday, and then it wasn't.
Nearly three thousand people went to work, got on a plane, showed up at a firehouse, and never came home.
Cops and firefighters ran up the stairs while everybody else ran down. Regular folks held the door for a stranger one last time.
I've thought about them every September 11th since.
So before we talk about anything else, take a second with me today. Remember the ones we lost.
Remember the families who've carried an empty chair to the table for twenty-five years now. And remember the people who ran toward it when every instinct said run away.
We're still here. We're still free. Somebody paid for that, and a lot of somebodies have paid for it every day since.
We don't forget. Not here. Not ever.
— Dwayne
ON THE WATER The old baits still work
An old favorite the bass can't resist
Let me show you something this morning.
We've thrown topwater all summer long, and you know I love a Whopper Plopper. But I'll be honest with you — I think they've gotten burnt out on it. They'd nip at the Plopper, short-strike it, play with it. So this morning I went back to an old popper. An old-school bait most folks haven't tied on in years.
They're not nipping at this thing. They're swallowing it.
That's the whole lesson. Everybody wants the newest, greatest, hottest bait on the market. And the old ones still flat work — I don't know why more people don't throw them. I might tie on a Jitterbug here before I'm done, just for old times' sake.
Water's 79 degrees, clear, dead-calm. A perfect topwater morning, and I'm throwing it all month because I love it and I know what's coming.
Watch the video, because I got into a good one filming this. Twenty-inch fish, took drag, tried to shake it — big fish, y'all. That's exactly why I talk about it on camera. So you don't have to take my word for it.
When they quit playing along, go backward, not forward. Reach for the bait everybody forgot about.
CARRY REPORT
Sight alignment, sight picture
Where the gunfight actually happens, and how to be ready
Let's talk about sight alignment and sight picture.
First, a fact that surprises people. Most gunfights happen at three to seven yards. Close. Right on top of you. So everything I'm about to tell you is built for that.
When you draw, get your good grip first — we covered that already. Then start creating a little distance. Not so much you trip over something behind you, but enough that nobody can reach out and grab your weapon. That's the worst-case scenario and you want to close that door.
Now here's the part people get wrong. As you come up, bring the weapon all the way up to your eyes. I know it sounds silly. But most folks bring it up halfway and then turtle-shell it — head down, hunched over, peeking. No. Up and out, to your eye line. Front sight post sitting level and centered in the rear sight. That's sight alignment, sight picture, and that's exactly where the dry firing we talked about comes in.
Because I'll tell you what happens when it's real. Your mind goes blank. You panic. There is no thinking. The only thing left is muscle memory, and muscle memory is your best friend in that moment. If you've drilled it, the gun comes up, the picture's there, and you're on target before your brain catches up.
First time I got shot at — the Marine Corps, Desert Storm — my first thought was, "what the heck, people are shooting at me." And then the training kicked in. All of it. That's the day I learned, young, that if you train for it, you'll be ready when it comes.
So drill it dry. Good grip, up and out, front sight level and centered. We'll get into the trigger next week.
Any questions, send me an email. If I don't know the answer, I know the guys who do.
THE RUT REPORT
Filming your own hunts
How I self-film with just my phone
Season's about here, so before we get into the thick of it, let me show you how I film my own hunts.
I'm a bow hunter, first and foremost — haven't killed a deer with a gun in years. And over time I've tried everything to film it. GoPros strapped to my head, the big cameras, a second cameraman in the tree with me. But another body in the woods is more scent, more movement, more that can go wrong. So these days I self-film, and it's a whole lot easier than you'd think.
Here's the whole setup. It's a little magnet mount by a company called Painted Arrow — and let me be clear, nobody sponsors me, I don't have sponsors, I'm just telling you what works. A magnet clamps where my stabilizer goes, a matching magnet sticks to the back of my phone, and I mount the phone vertical right there on the side of the bow. When a deer steps out and you're ready, you just hit record and go.
One thing, because folks online love to comment on it. When you watch my shooting videos it sounds like my bow's full of vibration. It's not. There's zero vibration in my bow. You hear it because the phone is mounted right there and a lot happens when you release an arrow. The people saying otherwise aren't the sharpest. It is what it is.
Best picture, doesn't wreck your hunt, nothing to fumble with, and you've got your phone on you anyway.
And listen — you don't have to film for YouTube like I do. Film it just to keep the memory. That's reason enough. But if you get something good, send it to old Full Rut. I'll put it on the page and give you the credit. I won't pretend I did it.
Wear the brand
Full Rut hats and shirts — $25 at fullrutnation.com
NEXT WEEK
We get into trigger control, more topwater while it lasts, and we're right on the doorstep of the season now.
Got a good hunt or catch on film? Send it to old Full Rut — hit reply. I read every one.
See you Friday.
— Dwayne