WEBVTT - Ep. 30: Charles “The Rabbit Man” Rodney 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:07.039 Hey everybody, and welcome episode number thirty of The Hunting Collective. 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:10.520 I'm Bet O'Brien. Today I am joined by one of 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:13.840 my favorite people on the planet Earth and probably one 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.079 of the best better guests will ever have. And that 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:22.680 man's name is Charles the rabbit Man Roden and I 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:25.080 first met Charles about two years ago on a rabbit 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:29.080 hunt on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and since then I have 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:36.400 been infatuated with his passion for rabbit hunting, just his personality, 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.960 the man that he is is life and times and 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:45.800 why he loves rabbit hunting so much. And hopefully this 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:50.000 podcast will shed some light on all those questions. Um, 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.519 and it's enjoyed. Charles is a family man, a man 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.760 of God, and a man who is the He is 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:00.920 the preacher or the pastor at the Church of Rabbit Hunting. Uh. 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:04.320 He could talk about it all day and all night. 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:08.240 He loves it that much. So without further ado, please 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:14.679 enjoy this conversation I sure did with Charles Rodney. He's 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:36.480 the man. Alright, we're recording, Charles. How are you, sir? 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:40.559 I'm doing fine. Well. Thanks for having me to your home. Well, 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:44.400 you're quite welcome. My pleasure. UM. I want to start 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.800 by saying, you know, how long when did we rabbit hunt? 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:50.360 It was a year. It was about two years ago, 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:55.600 two seasons, two seasons ago, um on Eastern Shore, Maryland. 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:58.560 And I wish we could have done it last year. 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:02.240 We were just talking about having chilled, that being busy, 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:05.280 and how that that does it. But when we hunted 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:07.840 together on the Eastern Shore, it struck me that that 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:10.600 was a hunt I would do every year, and I 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.560 think you should. It was an awesome hunt. Yeah, it 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.720 was a great hunt. And it also struck me that 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:18.240 the one the first thing we should talk about is 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:23.720 how delicious rabbit meat cotton tails are. Rabbit meat is 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:27.600 one of the best meat and it's it's it's all 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:32.600 natural and there's hardly any fat. They eat only natural things, 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:36.160 grass and leaves and twigs out in the woods, and 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:38.799 they're running and they literally eat soybean and stuff that 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:43.480 they can get to. Uh, but they're running, so they're healthy. 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:47.000 There there are no fat on them, and uh, it's 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:49.359 one of the healthiest foods you can find. A lot 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:51.520 of people don't know that, and a lot of people 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:53.720 see them running around their backyard. They don't even think 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:57.360 about what's right. So after that, we hunted in February. 0:02:57.400 --> 0:02:59.840 After that hunt we did, my dad was a long. 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:03.720 We went Super Bowl Sunday. We cooked up a bunch 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.799 of rabbit legs. We soaked him in milk, a little bit, 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:09.560 fried them up, put a little old bay on him, 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:12.880 served him at a Super Bowl party. Great, everybody that 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:14.960 was there eating him like these chicken. These chicken legs 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:17.959 are great. These the best chicken legs in her hat. 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:22.720 So that's a rabbit. Most city people don't know. They 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:27.640 were what where'd you get this chicken? Well? I got 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:29.840 it on the Eastern Shore. And it's a damn rabbit 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:33.400 that always struck with me. Is not only is rabbit 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:37.160 hunting fun were talking about it earlier here. Not only 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:39.960 is it fun, is it easy to do? But you 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.680 end up with, you know, a bunch of rabbits to 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.360 go home, skin and eat. That's fun for a kid 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:48.720 to do. And rabbits um. Not only are they good 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:52.360 and good for you, but they're one of the easiest 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:55.960 game to clean. Yeah, you can clean. I can clean 0:03:56.760 --> 0:04:00.320 a bunch of rabbits by the time I cleaned two squirrels, 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:03.160 and and it you just cut a little slit and 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.680 you pull them opposite in and all of her come off. 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:10.200 You slip behind the tail, I slit. I usually slit 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:12.960 over the back, around the stomach and put my finger 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.159 in and just pull out with yes, right, and it 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:18.599 comes off the off the back, legs and over the head. 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:20.440 Now a lot of other guys do it a little 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:22.880 bit different. And then I just take a knife and 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:27.840 and got them and I'm done. And if they're if 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:30.719 they're a little bloody, I soaked them. I got a 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.839 big one of them, big wash tubs. Soak them for 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:37.640 eight to ten hours overnight usually, and all that blood 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.480 comes out, and then you clean it off, wrap it in, 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:42.880 freeze the paper. A lot of guys you shrink, wrap 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.039 and label them and there you go and you're you're 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.960 ready and so forth. Did your wife cook up a 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:52.160 lot of rabbits? My wife actually is a city girl. 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:57.240 I'm a country boy from Louisiana and we've been married 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:01.719 tomorrow September to twenties, that will be forty six years. 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.560 Can't get her to even go out and look at 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:09.240 the dogs when I get a new one, but she 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.000 gives me support, so I do all the rabbit cooking. 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:14.240 I do all the rabbit cleaning. I have a special 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:18.440 freezer just for a wild game because a lot of 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:23.880 the people I take rabbit hunting give me other games elk, moose, dear, 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:28.440 whatever they hunting while waterfowl, and we eat some of it. 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:34.800 But there are loads of people that I supply rabbit 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:39.440 every year. I have names to give rabbits. In my 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:43.159 cut of the take, in my group, we'll get over 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:46.880 two hundred, and in my take, I usually get about 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.640 forty forty five. So some guys come just to shoot 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:55.120 the hunt, shoot the breeze. Some guys take one or two. 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:57.839 Some guys said, well, I don't want many, So whatever 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:01.000 they don't take, I take because I have a market 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.240 for giving them away. I don't sell anything. I don't 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.120 expect anything in return. All I expect is to thank you, 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:08.920 and and if I don't get that, or a big 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.240 smile on your face, and that's thank you enough. So 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:15.279 there are lots of older people who lived in the 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:20.400 country of Maryland, southern Maryland, and some city folks North Carolina, 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:24.640 South Carolina, they did it. Uh, the family hunted and 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.039 they can't get them anymore, and they say, hey at church, 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:29.360 I got a lot of people say you take rabbits 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:32.320 to church? I say sure, I said, all these older people, 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:34.200 I said, well, what mass are you going to tomorrow? 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:38.000 We're Catholic. And I bring them a rabbit. It's clean, 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:44.440 it's wrapped, it's label and um, they enjoy it and 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.760 and that's my treat to them. That's awesome. Yeah, and 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:50.560 get people. You know, there's a lot of people like 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:52.200 you said, I can't go out and do that. That's right. 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.039 They don't have place to go or time to go, 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:57.599 or if the physically unable to go and share it 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:02.320 with him, that's awesome. So you you're from Louisiana, you 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.800 found your way here to Maryland. And we'll get into that, 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:07.159 but I want to just kind of go back to 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:10.560 your upbring and when you first started hunting, because I 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:13.080 know we talked a little bit about swamp rabbits, which 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:17.480 I thought was fun fun term. When did you first 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:20.280 start hunting and when did you first start rabbit hunt? 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:22.640 What was the thing that got you excited about it? Well? 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:26.680 Growing up, we grew up we were share croppers in Louisiana, 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:29.720 so we lived on somebody else laying my dad and 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:36.720 my uncle next door farm and when we would go hunting, UM, 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.440 he just walked behind the house into the fields and 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:43.720 you would hunt there. I started about eight years old, 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:48.640 mainly following my big older brother who was eleven years 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.440 older than me. He loved to hunt and they would 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:53.880 let me follow him, but the rule was I would 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:55.920 walk right behind him. I didn't have a shot GUNNA 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.040 had a bb gun, and most time nothing carried whatever 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:03.040 he killed. And I learned that way, and as time 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:07.480 got I got older and teenager. There was a friend 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:11.440 who had a couple of dogs, and uh, we hunted. 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:14.080 We hunted in the cotton fields and on the ditches 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:16.720 and in the woods, and we'd get cotton tails in 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:18.960 the field. And then if you wanted the big rabbits, 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.280 you're going in the woods, in the deep woods, and 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:24.840 which was only probably half a mile walk, and we 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:28.760 we would get one or two. But we never had 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:33.360 being poor, we never had quality dogs. Okay, we had 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:37.000 your dogs that could hunt rabbits too, and and do 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:40.200 a lot of other things. Uh. These were multi purpose dogs, 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:44.719 so they would get something. And then I hunted, uh 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:48.640 throughout my teen years and after college in in Baton Rouge, 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:55.320 I moved here in seventy two, got married and started 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:59.240 hunting a little bit here with my wife too uncle, 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:03.120 and we'd go down southern Maryland. We had a couple 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:05.319 of little small spots. We'd get one or two rabbits. 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:10.160 Then when the kids started coming, I quit, And then 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:15.120 as they got older and in college, in in up, 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.600 in high school, I started back. So I told my wife, 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.280 I said, you know, I was relying on another fellow 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.360 who wasn't too dependable and and didn't have good Dogess. 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.839 I liked this so much, I'm gonna start doing it. 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:31.960 So I had an old truck that my family was, 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:34.160 our dads, and when he passed, they gave it to me, 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.000 and I brought it up from Louisiana and we built 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.720 a little common dog box. I got some dogs, made 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:43.560 all of the mistakes, brought the wrong dog. What the 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:48.800 dogs by. First I bought a dog name um Rowdy, 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:52.560 and then I had one name Slim or something like that. Well, 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.040 I didn't know much about dogs, and and the guy 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.720 that sold them to me, he took me for a 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:01.920 ride because I just wanted two dogs, and he told 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:05.319 me one dog that was slower and a fast dog. 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:10.280 Now I know what I know Now that's a bad mixture. 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.680 You want all of your dogs the same speed. You 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:17.120 want them all medium, all slow, are all fast. You 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.520 want them when they're running to be in a bunch 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.120 together on the scent line. You don't want one to 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:26.040 be here in won fifty yards away. So I made 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:29.160 all of the mistakes, bought the wrong dog dogs, and 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:31.200 then I got some other dogs and I didn't know 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:35.680 they ran deer, so I lost dogs dogs, spent the 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:39.800 night in the in the woods. So gradually I started 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:43.720 talking to some veteran hunters that I trusted, who raised 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.439 dogs and bread dogs, and they gave me a lot 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.480 of tips, and I started reading, and I started using 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.400 better judgment of people that are bought dogs from. Because 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:55.800 I don't breathe my own dogs. I buy them when 0:10:55.800 --> 0:11:00.079 they're started one to two years. So they gave me 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:05.320 loads of advice, which I I'm proud to have received 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:07.960 this advice from them. They told me all of the 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:12.240 dudes and don't And I learned from my errors, and 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:15.200 I learned how to break dogs using it was try 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.400 tronics at the time, the training collars. Some people call 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:23.560 him the shock callers now Garmen, and I use those faithfully, 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:28.280 and I put them on live deer and break them. 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.640 Now I don't have to because the deers have invaded 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:33.959 the neighborhood where we live, so I can break them 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:36.760 right here in the yard. And he's got your dogs 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:39.000 chasing deer in the in the yard, he had the deers. 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.480 The deer's coming to yard to eat all the flowers 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:45.960 and things of that sort. So recently last year, I 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:49.360 built an eight foot fence around my vegetable garden so 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:51.760 we can have vegetable It looks like a prison camp. 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.800 All I need is a little towel on there. But 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:59.240 this is a multipurpose dog. You're trading your dogs on deer, 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.800 keeping them hell out of your time. Well, the deer, 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.880 now that the dogs are in the pin, the dogs, 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:08.880 only one out of six will look at the deer 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:12.080 and bark. The other five go about their business, and 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.319 the deer know that they can't get out, so they 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:17.960 go about their business. They just trot alone. But I 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:22.280 learned from these people, so all of this valuable knowledge. 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.319 Now I know how to select dogs, and have known 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:31.120 for many years. So in the last fifteen or twenty years, 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:35.640 twenty years, maybe I have not had one dog run off. 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:38.960 Deers will get up in front of them, will cross 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.800 the track, will be laying in the brush. They'll see 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:44.760 the deer. They paid no mine because you know that 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.959 deer scent is much hotter than a rabbit sense. So 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:50.800 they don't paid any mine, and we keep hunting. So 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:53.480 when they go in the brush and they start barking, 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:56.120 I don't have to panic that a big bucket is 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:58.360 gonna run out the other side. And they're gonna run, 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.720 because if they chase year, then they're no good to 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.679 us as rabbit hunters. And a deer will run straight 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.800 for miles. The dog will if he survived the highways 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.000 that they're gonna cross, then he's no good for you 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.400 because you don't trust him. But now when I go 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:19.480 with six, come back six and and guys will tell me, Charles, 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.120 the deer just got up. What do you want to do, 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.920 I say, don't do anything. They're not gonna chase him. 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:27.880 Just wait for that rabbit to come back. And and 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:32.079 it happens over and over. But when you pick quality 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:39.120 dogs from quality people, because um a lot of guys 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:41.840 dog tree, they'll tell you that this dog will do 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:46.600 all sorts of things, and so forth, and you've got 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:49.200 a deer running, You've got a dog that's gunshine everything. 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:52.320 So I buy quality dogs, I work them, and I 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:55.320 buy my dogs only in the summertime so that I 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:58.920 have time to train them and let them get used 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.520 to my voice, other and so forth. Because the season 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:08.440 starts always in Maryland the first Saturday in November. So 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:12.720 I'll buy dogs in April, May, June and work them 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:16.280 and train them, and when the season come they're in shape. 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:18.880 And so I don't have that problem. I have none 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:22.120 but rabbit ramas. Only rab runs. And I've seen it 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.080 in action. It is unbelievable. That's what those dogs can do. 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:28.840 Let's go back, uh, because we'll we'll talk dogs forever here. 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:32.160 But when you were you mentioned a few things. You 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:36.200 came up poor. Yes, um, you came up it seemingly 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:40.000 close to your family and you came up hunting. You 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:43.680 feel like, uh, how that shaped you as a person? 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:46.360 You know how you became. You know you've been married 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.360 for we say forty eight years, six years when I 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:51.880 get that number correct. Your wife cooks the hell of 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:55.160 a breakfast. You probably we just got finished that. Sure 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.640 you've eat many of those, um, but it seems like 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:05.760 you know, kids, wife, you have a good life. Everything 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:09.720 has turned out well, you know, very happy and productive. 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:12.880 And I always try to look back and and how 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.280 you were raised and what that might have given you. 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:18.160 Do you have any insight as to your upbringing and 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:20.760 what it meant? Well, we were raised in a in 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:24.080 a Christian family in South Louisiana. Most of the people 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:27.360 are Catholic, there are other faiths there and they're good people. 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:32.040 They taught us the value of working together. We lived 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.200 on a farm, so if we finished early, we helped 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.240 the next guy and my uncle next to them. We 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:38.960 help people up and down the road, and they helped us. 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:44.360 And Daddy grew a large vegetable garden. When I mean 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.200 a large vegetable guard. He wasn't selling. He grew and 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:51.840 we kept wondering, why are we growing all of this stuff? Well, 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:55.600 back then we didn't have freezes, so the old mason jars. 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.320 We kenned everything and what we what we didn't use, 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.440 we gave away. And I was the youngest of seven, 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:06.120 so I got the luxury of picking when my older 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:10.640 brothers and sisters started leaving and so forth. So we 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.360 were raised up in in two family and a mother 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:20.040 and a father um and we were raised up in 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.520 Catholic school. We went to Catholic elementary and then on 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:27.440 the public school. But we were raised with good Christian 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.640 values that you help people and you do for people, 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.320 and that's you thank you, and that your enjoyment. And 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:36.440 that sticks with me today because I do some of 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.360 the same thing, even though I hated it. When we 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:41.960 grew all those big gardens and Daddy with somebody would 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:45.160 come and there were certain people who came by. Then 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:47.800 you when the sweet corn made, then you when the 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:51.040 figs made, then you win this made, and the pecans 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:54.120 we had, the countries, and being the youngest, I got 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.280 to go in that hot sun and go get these 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.120 things in boxing things. But I didn't know it. In reality, 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:01.520 I was enjoying it. I do the same thing today. 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:05.920 I grow garden, and many of my hunting friends grow 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:10.000 big gardens. There's a guy that grow greens and he 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:12.600 plants him for the deer so he can stick an 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:14.520 arrow on him because he can't shoot a gun where 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:18.399 he lives, and so he plants the greens for the 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.080 last full or five years. He doesn't sell them, he 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:23.840 doesn't give him away guess what he does. He tells me, Charles, 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:25.680 going there and take him, because you give him the people. 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:29.240 And we, my cousin and I will go and we'll 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:31.840 pick two pickup trucks the load and we'll give to everybody. 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:35.000 And their brother will take him to church, to his church, 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:36.760 to my church and the people, and we can. So 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:40.240 we're giving back the way we were taught to give back. 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:43.080 And his old country boy from Maryland too. So those 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:49.159 family values stick today. And when where we live, everybody 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:54.480 knew us. Okay, the races were separate, Okay, predominantly white 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.560 and black. We will creole. My folks spoke creole. I 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:00.159 know a little bit of it. But they have that 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:03.760 intrinsic value that you help you, fella man, regardless. And 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:08.480 I do the same thing today. Uh. I give people. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.119 I give service to the church. I give service to people. 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.439 I have a lot of older friends, I mean older 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:17.159 friends in the up and nineties and close to a 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:21.280 hundred and one. Man is ninety three, and we still 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:24.000 I take him rabbit on twice a year, the last 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:27.280 last two hunts. He wrote on a little cart, and 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:30.640 he just come to here on a little John, Dear 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:34.280 little John, dear four wheel of things, and he rides 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.600 along and he hunts, and we've become friends in three years. 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:43.199 And he hate. He grows a big truck garden, so 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.120 he sells everything fifty cents a pound. So I go 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:50.119 sometime and I'll buy a truckloader. You'd be surprised how 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:52.159 much stuff you can buy for fifty dollars. And I 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:54.760 give it away and so forth. So I even take 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:57.520 something to that. We have Nun's sisters at the convent, 0:18:57.760 --> 0:18:59.800 so I take stuff to them. They tell me they 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.200 lie deer. So I got some friends who are gonna 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:04.640 who gives me a couple of deers and I give 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:07.760 it away, and so i'm I said, And they're from 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:11.040 all over the world. They're about twelve of them there, 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:13.600 but they're about ten different ethnic groups. And they move 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:16.200 them in and out, so they enjoyed. I give them 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:18.960 all kinds of vegetables and so forth. You spread the 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:23.480 gospel of wild game, Oh, wild game and vegetable and service. 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:27.919 People call me and and so safe Charles, you have this? 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:29.680 Can you tell me why? I said, I'll get you something. 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:31.360 And I get in and they said, well, what can 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:34.280 I pay? You said, there's no money. There's no money. 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:37.639 You give back. When you give back, it comes back 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:41.200 to you. And and we'll talk about that in detail. 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:47.520 How um, the many people who have invited mina hunt 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:50.600 on their lands, and we'll get to that too, because 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:52.280 I want to kind of go in order here. Okay, 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:55.480 go ahead, But but there is this amazing thing that 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:57.680 you do. You said that a lot of people think 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:00.400 you're an outfitter. Right, well, I remember you when well, 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:02.000 when I mentioned we hunted the other you gave me 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:05.679 your business card and it says it's to some effect 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:09.280 like Charles the rabbit Hunter Rodney, and it says the 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:12.200 only game in town for me. It's the only game 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:14.080 in town for me. Because I don't I don't want 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:16.879 to insult any of the other hunters. But this is 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:20.520 all that I do, which is wonderful. And it did. 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:22.600 It doesn't say like call me for hunts. It doesn't 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:25.600 say an outfitter a guy, there's nothing of that. You literally, 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:31.200 for no money, go hunting rabbits with anybody who desires 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:33.480 to do so. And that well, you'll take the time 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:36.359 to do it. And I tell people, as my wife 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:39.560 made the cart up, she said, you could call started company. 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:41.280 She said, you need a card so these guys can 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:43.200 call you. So it's got to sell in the house 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:46.160 and THEMB and the email thing on there. And this 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:50.280 was way before texting. So I passed my out to 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:55.159 various people, and UM, a lot of people say, are 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:57.920 you an outfitter? Well, how do I get on your schedule? 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:00.840 What do you try to say? Up? Let me clear 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:04.080 this up. I am not an outfitter. I'm just a 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:09.399 guy that love I'm passionate about rabbit hunting and having 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:14.040 good dogs, and I enjoy people, and I meet people 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:17.560 easy people. We we tend to take to each other. 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:20.359 I can tell the ones that's laying a lot of 0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:24.280 bs out okay. And I don't hunt with half crazy people. 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:27.280 If if they talk foolish, they won't get invited. And 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:29.399 if they come and hunt one time and they do 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:35.240 something wrong that's not good hunting mannerism, then they're on 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:38.000 their first and their last and they only hunt. But 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:42.199 I'm a good judge of people. And some of the 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:46.280 people I've been hunting with for ten twelve years, and 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:50.199 they've bring many of their friends and family members and 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:53.600 so forth. Uh, and most of them have some of 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:57.240 the same hunting times It's like in February when the 0:21:57.280 --> 0:22:03.040 waterfowl and deer seasons over. Um, the four saturdays in 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:09.119 February and presidency, they belong to the same four people, 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:13.639 and nobody can break that lineup. They enjoy it so 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:16.359 much they won't give it up. That's what it's about. 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:19.040 I mean, if it's it's I think it goes back 0:22:19.040 --> 0:22:23.080 to what you're saying, having a garden, eating what you kill, 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:27.160 having a community people that share those same values enough 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:28.920 to the fact they want to come and get your vegetables, 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:32.560 but they know they're they're ready to be plucked. That's 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:35.680 just a life of giving, right, a life of sharing, 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:38.399 a life of you. You become passionate about something, the 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:40.440 first thing you think of is to share it with people, right. 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:44.280 And we grew up that way. We shared. Um, we 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:48.359 shared with many people. And there were people just as poor, 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:52.040 poor as us or poor and the rich people we 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:53.879 knew who they were. They were the big land on 0:22:54.000 --> 0:22:57.879 us who want all the land. Uh. And you know 0:22:57.920 --> 0:23:01.919 they didn't congregate around you because you of that other class, 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:06.560 whether you're black or white. But um, you know that's 0:23:06.600 --> 0:23:10.320 how it was, and the value was instilled loop in me. 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:15.560 Two treat people the way you want to be treated. Yeah, 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:19.239 and it works well, seems to. So you met your 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:21.520