By Ryan Miloshewski
As the leaves change and the air cools, all becomes right in the world for those of us that take to the woods. Deer season is here, and like any activity, a good playlist is necessary to get you in the mood and stir the visions of big bucks. Included in this week’s edition of Milo’s Top 10: Songs for Deer Season. I hope they get you pumped up and ready to hit the woods!
10) “The Country Boy Song” by Granger Smith
-Starting the list out on a funny note. This song is just a blast to listen to, and memorializes country boys all across this great land. Although it’s humorous and satirical, it has good music and just feels right when I turn it up on the dirt roads near the hunting property.
Favorite lyrics: “I catch bass and cats with a rod and reel/Kill bucks from atop of a windmill all day long”
9) “I’m In A Hurry (And Don’t Know Why)” by Alabama
-Alabama is one of the greatest bands in all of music. Their country theme hits home with me. This song, seemingly unrelated to hunting, is on the list because it helps me realize my day-to-day life needs to slow down at times. And what better way to do it than go hunting?
Favorite lyrics: “I’m in a hurry to get things done/Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun/All I really gotta do is live and die/But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why”
8) “Sweet November” by Kari and Billy
-Made popular by Drury Outdoors’ excellent hunting show Thirteen, Kari and Billy really do a great job of pairing great music and lyrics. Their songs, especially on the show, just jack me up. They take me back to an exact place and time while hunting. Listening to this song brings me back to rattling in a big 12 pointer in the middle of the afternoon in early November back in 2009. November is the month we hunters look forward to all year long. It’s simply the best. Sweet November, indeed.
Favorite lyrics: “I got the perfect stand for a northwest wind and the moon is on the rise/This is gonna be one of those hunts to remember, sweet November”
7) “The Bird Hunters” by Turnpike Troubadours
-First of all, if you haven’t heard of or listened to the Turnpike Troubadours you are missing out in ways I cannot even describe. This song, off their newest album released in September, is sure to catch on as a hunting playlist staple. Technically it’s not a song about deer hunting, or hunting at all, but I’ll make an exception. The constant battle between the love of hunting and the love of a woman is something all hunters experience. “The Bird Hunters” is an excellent representation, and it makes me realize how important hunting is, and how some women just aren’t worth it.
Favorite lyrics: “The country was cold, with the sun westward sinking/It’s good to be back in this place/With my hands around a Belgian made Browning/My mind on the lines of her face”
6) “This Ol’ Tree” by Walt Gabbard
-Walt Gabbard was introduced to me by friend Caleb Phillippi a couple years ago. Walt has a TON of songs dedicated to hunting and fishing (check out “Chasin’ Thunder” to get you in the mood for spring gobblers), but this song in particular immediately struck a chord. Every hunter has their one “go-to” tree stand. Mine was one I hunted in for 10 years. I definitely had an emotional attachment to it. I knew every inch of that tree the stand rested on, and treated it like an old friend. I shot my first buck out of it and had so many experiences it was hard to not show favoritism. This song is a must listen for any deer hunter.
Favorite lyrics: “This ol’ tree is like family, I only get to visit it occasionally/I feel right at home here ten feet high, reminiscing ’bout the days that passed me by/Like when I shot that 10 point and only cut hair the third time I’d ever sat there”
5) “Country Boy” by Aaron Lewis (Featuring Charlie Daniels and George Jones)
-When Staind frontman Aaron Lewis came out with this song back in 2010, featuring country music legends Charlie Daniels and George Jones, many scratched their heads tentatively. Five years later and the song is embraced fully by hunters and country music fans alike. It’s a damn good song that delves into current changes in society and how us country folks need to stay even keel throughout it all, no matter what everyone else is saying. We like hunting, fishing, friends, family, and nobody is going to change that. That’s an attitude I can get behind!
Favorite lyrics: “I got a big orange tractor and a diesel truck/And my idea of heaven is chasing whitetail bucks/And as a country boy you know I can survive”
4) “A Country Boy Can Survive” by Hank Williams, Jr.
-If ever a song embodied the spirit and mettle of a deer hunter, it’s this one. It’s a song that fills every deer huntin’, backwoods living, country boy with pride. It certainly gets me excited to be in the woods.
Favorite lyrics: “And we can skin a buck, we can run a trotline/ And a country boy can survive”
3) “The Outsiders” by Eric Church
-Eric Church has established himself as one of the greatest country musicians of our generation. His lyrics can be interpreted and applied to virtually anything in life, and this song is no exception. Undoubtedly, it stands as an anthem for various entities. However, here at Mahoney Outdoors, we strive to be different and use tactics and techniques others might find downright crazy. And we love being that way. This tune is always on my hunting playlist.
Favorite lyrics: “They’re the in crowd, we’re the other ones/It’s a different kind of cloth that we’re cut from”
2) “Wicked Twisted Road” by Reckless Kelly
-This song is a staple of any Red Dirt fan’s playlist. Made popular by Heartland Bowhunter, this song hits home with a lot of people. It explores the troubles of life and worrying about things that, on the surface, seem important. For me, it hits home on the importance of hunting and what it means to me. Hunting was my first, true love and continues to be to this day. I can’t wait to sit up in my castle in the sky this weekend!
Favorite lyrics: “My first love was a castle in the sky/Never thought I’d make it til I had the guts to try/Then I sat up in my tower while the whole world passed me by/My first love was a castle in the sky”
1) “Fred Bear by Ted Nugent”
-You really can’t find a better hunting song than this one by Uncle Ted. The message, the music–it’s got it all–and has become an anthem for deer hunters. I remember the first time my Uncle Steve played it for me. We were headed down on a late December muzzleloader hunt here in Missouri. I instantly knew it’d be a staple in my music library forever more. I rocked out to it as I was driving down to hunt the weekend I shot my first buck a few years later, and from now on whenever I get close to my hunting destination I blast it. Good luck charm or not, it’s an absolute must for any deer hunter’s song arsenal.
Favorite lyrics: “There I was back in the wild again/I felt right at home where I belong/I had the feeling, coming over me again/Just like it happened so many times before”