Hunting podcast has tips learned the hard way
No one is born knowing how to scout for deer, call in a gobbler or sight in a gun. As hunters’ numbers dwindle, there are fewer mentors to pass on those skills. But George Konetes of Delmont is doing what he can. He learned to hunt the hard way.
“When I was a kid I heard about all these people going hunting, on this mystical journey to do things that I didn’t know how to do,” he said. “No one in my family did it, and no one I knew did it.”
He started as an adult with a heavy 1945 Bulgarian 726x54 and no one to help him learn.
“I read book after book and watched YouTube videos by the hundreds,” he said. “When I finally got out in the woods, I realized how much more I needed to know. If I had known it was going to be that hard I probably wouldn’t have started.”
When he had a few years of hunting kills under his belt, Konetes wanted to share his newfound knowledge with greenhorns learning as he did without instructors. In 2018, he launched “New Hunters Guide” (www.newhuntersguide.com), a weekly podcast of 15- to 20minute audio clips explaining in clear, helpful terms how to take the first steps toward becoming a hunter.
What gear is essential for hunting specific game? What does habitat tell you about local wildlife? How can you find a place to hunt, and how should you deal with other hunters? Konetes has it covered.
“I thought at first I’d do this for a year and get all the entrylevel stuff out there, but as I got more experienced the content grew with me,” he said. “People can come in at Ground Zero and grow with the show over time.”
The “New Hunters Guide” now includes more than 140 episodes heard in nearly 60,000 downloads to 50 states and 61
countries, said Konetes.
A timely podcast that premiered in January explained the two types of calls coyote hunters need to bring in Pennsylvania’s most wily predator.
“There are manual calls and there are electronic calls. Which calls are better for beginner hunters, and which are better for experienced hunters?” he asks in the show. “The answer to both questions is electric calls. ... There’s more to it than that, but that’s the broad-brush answer.”
In the next 14 minutes, however, Konetes goes further, explaining that the “dynamic realism” created with call-and-response cries combines electronic and manual calls. He encourages hunters to find ways to enjoy the experience whether they get a shot or not.
In “Turkey Hunting Food Plot Basics,” he explains that planting commercial mixes is no way to condition spring gobblers.
“The thing that most people miss is most of what you’re planting for turkey food is going to provide them with food in the fall or in the summer,” he says. “If you’re planting wheat, for example, or you’re planting oats or you’re planting rye … it’s not going to be something they can eat or that’s going to have any draw in the spring turkey season.”
Konetes tells new hunters that in the season’s first weeks the birds scratch for grubs and nuts that dropped in the fall. But after poults hatch, the hens lead them to grass in search of grasshoppers and the toms chase the hens.
In his most recent podcast released Thursday, Konetes announced the launching of the “New Hunters Guide” video channel on YouTube, where he promises more assistance for burgeoning hunters.
Listeners can also subscribe for free to “New Hunters Guide” via Apple Podcast, Spotify, Android Apps and basic email.