WEBVTT - Ep. 269: This Country Life - Opportunities 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:08.639 Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:12.719 from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:13.840 I want you to stay a. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.840 While as I share my experiences and life lessons. This 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:21.280 Country Life is presented by Case Knives on Meat Eaters 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:25.439 Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast. 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:26.239 The airways had off. 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.920 All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tail gate. 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:41.800 I've got some stories to share. Opportunities. Life is full 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:45.200 of choices, and every day those choices lead us down 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:48.479 the path of the rest of our lives. Now that 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:52.000 sounds kind of deep, but it's true. We determine our 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:55.760 path by what we choose to do with the opportunities 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.160 that are presented. I'm gonna talk all about it, but 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:08.720 first I'm going to tell you a story. This week's 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:12.480 story comes from Marshall Day, a nineteen year old lifelong 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:17.520 resident of Story County, Iowa. Story County is located in 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:18.320 what could. 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:21.000 Be the bullseye of the state of Iowa. 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:26.040 Ninety eight thousand, five hundred and sixty six islands lived 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:30.520 there amongst five hundred and seventy four square miles of freedom. 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:34.479 That's one hundred and seventy one point seven people per 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:39.800 square bill. That's not too bad. Everybody would have plenty 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:41.520 of room, and as long as you didn't run into 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:44.600 that point seven fella, you'd probably be able to sleep 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:45.200 good at night. 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:46.040 Anyway. 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:55.200 In Marshall's words and my voice, here we go. Recently, 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:58.120 my dad and I applied for Colorado tags as a group. 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:01.160 We didn't draw the elk tags, but when the uncleaned 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.960 tags came out there was some black bear tags available. 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:08.520 We thought, why not. It's cheaper than an elk. It 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:11.760 sounds like a whole lot of fun, and after two days. 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:14.960 Of driving, we made it to the National Park campsite, 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:17.720 just down the road from where we had been spotting 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:20.880 water holes on the map. The next day, we drove 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:23.640 up to the trailhead near some water holes we wanted 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:27.079 to check out and started hiking. It was fairly easy 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:30.119 hiking at a low incline and with the top has 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.960 got to be around the next ben mindset, We eventually 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:36.919 found ourselves two and a half hours up the mountain. 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:40.400 We sat there for a bit and then we followed 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:42.760 our map the rest of the way to the water hole. 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:45.680 We didn't see any sign it first until I saw 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:47.360 a big pile of bear scat. 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:49.079 We thought that was. 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:51.760 Promising, and judging by the amount of scat, the bear 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:55.240 was pretty big, and we found a big, old flat 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.480 rock to set against about one hundred yards up the 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.119 hill from the water hole, and we waited. We saw 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:03.480 a satellite bull come through in the middle of the day, 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.480 and then around six pm, I looked over my left 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:11.040 shoulders see a little ball of brown fur coming towards us. 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:14.600 I pointed it to my dad, and I saw three 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.560 more that were coming with him. We quickly realized it 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:21.480 was a soal with three cubs. Surprisingly, the mama looked 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:23.399 to be less than one hundred pounds. She wasn't big 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:27.679 as nothing, and we couldn't believe something so small could 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:30.760 make a pile as big as what we saw. My 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:33.600 dad started taking pictures, and when they got about eight 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.640 yards away from us, we realized they had no idea 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.440 that we were there, and they wanted to be right 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:44.080 where we were. Now realizing this, my dad yelled, hey bear, 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.520 and the mama looked up, saw us and ran back 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:49.960 down the hill. One cup ran past my side on 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.560 a rock just less than two yards from me, and 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:55.520 one ran past my dad, and then the other one 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:57.400 just sat there looking at us for a couple of 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:00.960 seconds before running back down the hill after his mama. 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:06.000 We were both super excited and our hearts were racing 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.000 because that was both of our first experience with a 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.600 bear in the wild. After that, we sat with the 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:15.120 with the rest of the afternoon and saw five mule 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.120 deer and a herd of eighteen elkremore. We watched him, 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:20.599 and we could hear the bull bugle, and we just 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:25.320 bashed in God's creation. That right there was worth the 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:29.240 whole price of admission. The next day, we didn't see 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.280 anything until we were driving out that night and saw 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:34.440 a big black bear in the middle of the road. 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:37.800 He ran off up the mountain, so we decided that's 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.400 where we wanted to be when the sun came up. 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:44.159 So on the third day of that hunt, we found 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.719 a trail that went up that direction and we took off. 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:50.000 It was thick and it was steep, but we were 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:54.799 seeing acorns and berries and lots of bear skin. Constantly, 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:57.800 encouraged by the sign, we kept going. After two and 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.560 a half hours, we found ourselves only half a mile 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:05.560 from our vehicle, but up one thousand feet in elevation. 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:08.400 We came up to a spot that leveled off into 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.279 a bench about two hundred feet from the top, and 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:15.760 there was a big muddy puddle. We walked up to 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.640 it and there was bear tracks all around it, and 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:23.880 wouldn't you know, more scat and we found the perfect 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:26.599 ambush spot on the ledge above the water hole. And 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:30.480 right about then we realized we'd forgotten to fill our 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:31.880 own water bottles. 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:34.320 We were too far. 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:37.000 Up to go back, so we stayed there with the 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:40.039 little water that we had. The sun beating down on 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:45.080 us all day, giving us sunburns. It was pretty quiet 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:47.719 day and we hadn't seen anything for quite a while, 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:51.239 and around six that evening, nature called, so I stood 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:55.280 up and turned around the water the plants. No sooner 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:59.359 had I turned around, my dad started frantically whispering my name. 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:01.719 Marshall, Marshall, Marshall. 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.960 I assumed he was teasing me, because the last time 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.479 we were hunting in Colorado, I was doing the same 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:12.000 thing when some elk came out. I turned around to 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.599 see a bear coming to the water hole. Quietly got 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.360 my gun my shooting sticks in position, and right as 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:21.120 I was getting settled in on the bear, he turned 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:25.239 away staring at him behind. I didn't have a shot, 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:27.520 and the bear hadn't moved, and my dad couldn't see him, 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:31.120 but was wondering why I was taking so long to shoot. 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:36.680 Put my crosshairs on the bear and I waited. Finally 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:41.400 he turned just enough and I pulled the trigger. My 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:43.960 shot rang out, and the bear stood up and tumbled 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:45.960 through the muddy water fell down. 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:47.320 He was dead. 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.880 My legs started shaking from the adrenaline as my dad 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:55.520 and I celebrated. We got down to the bear and 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:58.360 we took pictures and we got him quartered and skinned out, 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:00.560 and I have to give a shot. Got out to 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:04.120 my amazing father who not only let me shoot first 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.120 instead of shooting the bearer himself while I was turned around, 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:10.280 but he skinned and quartered the bear for me and 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:13.200 took all the meat in his pack while I took. 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:14.720 The head and the high. 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.920 He really is the best father I could have, raising 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.200 me to follow God and love the outdoors, and. 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:23.520 I just couldn't ask for better Dad. 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.320 After getting the bear broke down and packed in our 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:30.760 backs in the dark, we started the steep hike down. 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:33.280 I've been out of water for over hour and a 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:37.520 half and now Dad was very low. The hike down 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:39.600 was harder than the hike up, and we were carrying 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:41.480 lots of weight in our packs, and it was dark. 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.360 Finding out way down, man, it wasn't easy. 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:49.000 We almost got stuck multiple times, and at one point 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:51.320 we stopped on the mountain to take a breathe, and 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:53.680 I was wondering if we would ever make it off 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:58.000 that mountain at all. Halfway down, ran out of water. 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:00.960 It'd be another two and a half hours of stumbling 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:04.120 down through the thick brush before we finally made it 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:08.400 back to the vehicle, dropped our packs and started chugging water. 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:12.360 We gave thanks for a successful hunt, and more importantly 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:13.840 for getting down. 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:15.040 Safe and sound. 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:18.160 We went out the next day for Dad, but we 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:21.560 didn't see anything. But I thank him every time I 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.240 tell that story and will for the rest of my 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:28.200 life for putting my experience above his and letting me 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:32.120 get the bear. He really is the best father I 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:34.800 could ask for. And now, with some bear meat in 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:36.920 the freezer and a great story to go with it, 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.120 bear hunting might just become a yearly thing for us. 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:45.440 And according to Marshall Day of Story County, Iowa, that's 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:50.120 just how that happened. That story is right on theme 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:52.840 today with what I'm talking about, which is taking an 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:57.040 opportunity seeing where it goes. I got a feeling the 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.839 Marshall that as you get older, the best part of 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:02.320 the hunt ain't gonna have anything to do with a 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:06.160 bear or who got to shoot it first. It'll be 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:09.400 more about the opportunity you had to spend time together, 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:22.000 and y'all did it. Thanks for sharing, buddy. Opportunities come 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:25.160 along every day in one form or another, and what 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:28.360 we do with them can determine the direction of the moment, 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:32.360 the day, or the rest of your life. Some we 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:35.760 may never know the circumstances of based on our decisions. 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.720 A lot is left up to fate or the grand design. 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:41.240 And unless you're reading a fictional book like the ones 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:45.040 they call Choose your Own Adventure, you'll never know what 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:48.680 might have been, what you avoided, or what you gained 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:52.320 in the totality of the circumstances. You can look at 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.320 the obvious example of say skipping out on going to 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:58.080 the movies and watching a scary show. You can say, well, 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.520 I didn't get scared because I didn't see it, But 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.040 could you have met a new friend? Ran into an 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:08.400 old acquaintance found a five dollar bill. Who knows that 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.520 you could have had nightmares. It seems to me that 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:15.280 if a hurricane and the Gulf can be theoretically caused 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.959 by the flutter of a butterfly's wing on the other 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:23.360 side of the planet, the possibilities are literally limitless. Now 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:26.400 I think back on different times when opportunities and choices 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:29.480 arose in my life and how the decisions I made, 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:34.360 even the ones that seemed so inconsequential, continue to have 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:37.839 a measurable impact on my existence and those around you. 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:43.120 Often get asked, what was my favorite part of my 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:47.760 law enforcement career. Was it wearing a uniform or when 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:52.079 I worked undercover. It's hard to really say with absolute 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:56.400 certainty because each was vastly different, But I always say 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:59.880 working undercover and give this analogy for the reason why 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:03.480 when I was wearing a uniform and working patrol, I 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:05.920 was reacting to the situations that arose. 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:07.640 If I sitting on. 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.120 The side of the highway working radar, someone had to 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:13.640 come by me violating the traffic laws before I acted. 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:17.640 The same with answering calls that came in through dispatch. 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:20.719 There had to be a report of a situation requiring 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:23.880 an officer to direct their attention and go to wherever 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:27.840 That report described as needing the police. In other words, 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:32.400 we just waited around for something to happen. Now, obviously, 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:36.439 patrolling throughout the jurisdiction in a marked car, ever vigilant 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.240 has a place and to turn crime and buffoonery. But 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.800 it's hard to quantify how much, because we can only 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.360 estimate the percentage of crime that's being reduced by the 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:49.320 presence of a marked police car in a particular location. 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:54.960 The same for speed enforcement. The goal of writing speeding 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:57.040 tickets is to get folks to slow down. If you 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:00.160 get them to slow down, you automatically reduce accidents and 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:04.240 property damage and injuries and fatalities. But how much is 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:07.640 reduced is only an estimation because there's no algorithm you 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:11.840 can use to get an exact figure. Crime and accident 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:15.480 statistics are all subject to comparisons to the same areas, 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:19.160 using past reporting data and averaging out the differences. Not 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:22.679 always sounds boring, but I'm going somewhere with this. When 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:26.080 I worked undercovering narcotics, I could lay my hands on 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.560 a tangible and measurable amount of drugs that we'd seize 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:33.120 that would not stay on the streets. I could look 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:35.199 and review at the end of the year at what 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:39.319 we'd done and say unequivocally that what we'd seized and 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:43.520 measured down to the ground was judicated through court and 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:46.880 destroyed and it wouldn't hurt nobody. I could see what 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:51.440 we'd done as opposed to what analytical probabilities estimated we did. 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:56.479 That to me was the difference between reactive law enforcement 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:00.520 waiting for a call to come in versus proactive law enforcement, 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:04.280 which was us going out and purposely targeting individuals who 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:08.720 were in the drug trafficking business. We were working hard, 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:11.840 in long hours and season opportunities as that came up 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.520 to do our due diligence of fighting the drug problems 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:19.560 in our district, and doing so, we missed time at home, 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:23.000 time with our children, friends and families, and it was 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:27.199 a heavy cost in the end for all involved, especially 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:29.880 the little ones who had no choice but to accept 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:33.920 the hand that they'd been dealt. I talk about this 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:38.360 only because the pathway we take effects not only us 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:43.640 but everyone around us. It doesn't have to be negative either. 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:46.800 I mean the decisions I made good and bad, all 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:49.240 led me to where I am today, and the same 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:52.160 for you too, and I hope you're in as good 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:54.800 a place as I am. Now, let me tell you 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:56.839 about the place I was in a couple of weeks ago. 0:13:57.800 --> 0:13:59.720 I was hound with a friend and was getting to 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.400 his house late before heading to the stand the next morning, 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:05.920 and I was relying solely upon his knowledge of the 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.199 intel he'd been gathering the weeks prior to my last 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:12.720 minute announcement that I was coming to hunt. His past 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:16.000 twenty plus years of hunting there wasn't hurting my chances either. 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:19.920 It was after ten o'clock when I got there that night, 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:22.800 and my friend Quinton was waiting up for him. We 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.760 sat in his living room until nearly midnight, going over 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:28.640 Moultrie Sale cam picks until we came up with the plan. 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:31.880 The plan was for me to go and climbing a 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:36.000 stand where we didn't have a camera, wind direction, his 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:39.280 history of encounters, how the land laid forming a great 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:43.280 travel corridor, and mainly a gut feeling from Quinton convinced 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.320 that both of us good enough that that was the 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:46.960 spot for. 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:47.480 Me to sit. 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:51.880 And I knew where several other stands were located because 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:54.640 I'd seen him the previous spring when he and I 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:55.840 were turkey hunting up there. 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:58.440 The one that I was going to. 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:01.120 Try and find the next morning, tark cellar from a 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:03.120 point he'd share with me on on axe. 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:04.280 I had never been there. 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:07.320 I admit that not having seen it in the daylight 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:10.080 had me a little anxious as I made the half 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.240 my wall from my truck up to the area where 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:17.080 the stand was looking. They're a good deer on this farm, 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:19.520 and I didn't want to contaminate the area with my 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:22.680 ascent anymore than I had to by walking all over 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:25.440 creation trying to find a lock on stand that I'd 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:30.440 never seen, and it was manufactured purposely not to stand out. 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:33.880 I had my tree saddled in my backpack just in 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:36.680 case I couldn't find it Quickly. I picked out a 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.600 tree from the from the map we'd studied the night before, 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.440 sitting in his living room that while I couldn't tell 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:44.320 how good it looked from the ground, or if it 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:48.360 even offered any concealment or a place to hide and shoot, 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.240 but it was going to be a starting point for 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:53.400 me to find a tree that I could get into. 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:56.880 If I didn't immediately find the stand he'd hung earlier 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:01.200 in the year. There wasn't any reflective tape or mark 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.760 trails that led to the stand, So in my mind, 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:06.720 I decided, as I approached the area where it was 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.960 supposed to be that I just climbed the first tree 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:11.920 that I thought the stand would be if I hung 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:15.400 it myself. I crossed the corner of that field and 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:17.480 I stood thirty yards at the edge of the woods, 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.160 looking into the darkness of the hardwood timber With the 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:24.280 red List headlight. I take comfort in the fact that 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:28.320 the deer struggle to see most shades red. I call 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:32.040 that red light my cloaking device. Now I'm reminded every 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:34.720 time I say that around my friend Michael Roseman, who 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.520 makes the headlight. I'm talking about the same light that 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:41.080 Steve Vanilla likes so much that he bought seven of 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:44.960 them from Michael for his friends and family. I say, 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:49.360 my red List light is virtually invisible to deer. Michael 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:51.920 laughs and says, they can still see you, dummy. 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:53.640 Well that's true. 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:56.560 They can't still see me because they have excellent night vision. 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.040 But if I use the wind to my advantage like 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.400 I had that morning, I take my time keeping noise 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:06.359 to a minimum like I had that morning, and use 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:09.000 a walking life that they won't see from a distance, 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.840 the chances are higher I can get into my hunting 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:15.399 spot undetected like I had that morning. 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:18.520 It's my cloaking device, Michael, leave me along. 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:21.840 Well. I didn't see a stand hanging, so I checked 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:23.920 the map again on my phone, and I walked toward 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:26.520 what I thought was the tree that I'd pick out 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:30.800 while sitting on Quinn's couch. As I got closer, I 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:33.359 saw the climbing steps that were strapped to the tree. 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:38.160 I followed them up the trunk and I found the platform. Bingo, 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.520 I'm in business. I took it as a good sign. 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.240 After I climbed up, my anxiety was lessening with each 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:46.159 full of the rope. As I hung my backpack and 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.960 my bowl, I settled into the seat about forty five 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:55.280 minutes before daylight. I'd rather be an hour early than 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.520 a minute late, and that applies to everything I had 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:01.720 three days delegated at the last minute the bow hunt. 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:03.880 It was a last minute decision. 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.520 After I got home from being in Louisiana, Tennessee in 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:10.879 eastern Arkansas over the past two weeks, my girls were 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.520 headed to the in laws in Texas, and I was 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.400 scheduled to hunt here in Arkansas, but it was insanely 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.600 hot for bow hunting where I planned to go. I 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:21.560 hung a camera over there a couple of weeks ago, 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:25.080 and the mosquitoes were so bad that I knew they'd 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:27.880 still be bad, and too bad for me to sit 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.919 comfortably in the tree. All the activity, according to the 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:32.640 camera was at night because. 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:35.639 Of the heat. So what was a boy to do? 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:40.280 Only one thing to do, go where the mosquitoes ain't, 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:43.320 and that was a few hours north at Quinton's house. 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:47.840 I'd taken an opportunity. I'd made a bold decision on 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:51.240 a whim. I'd driven six hours the evening before, and 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:54.199 was now as silly as it sounds, sitting in a 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:58.160 tree in the dark, waiting on daylight that was still 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:01.960 a little other thirty minutes away. There wasn't a bird chirping, 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:04.359 There wasn't an owl hooting, there was dang sure, it 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.520 wasn't no mosquito buzzing. There wasn't a sound at all, 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:16.080 not one, just silence. Eventually, the sun started rising in 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:18.840 the east and the woods started waking up. Squirrels were 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.280 jumping from limb to limb. Birds were singing, and I 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.359 was straining for the first sign of a deer moving 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:28.840 in any direction. I was also looking around at the 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:32.119 location of that stand, and I swear Quinn hung that 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:35.919 joker in the exact place I would have. Either I 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.080 was as smart as him, he was as smart as me, 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:41.160 or neither one of us knew anything about how deer 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.600 moved along pinch points through the woods, following the terrain. 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:48.879 At seven point thirty, a turkey gobbled like it was 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:51.359 spring less than one hundred yards in front of me, 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:54.879 and I could hear turkeys jumping all through the woods 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:56.960 in front of them. And while I was soaking in 0:19:57.080 --> 0:19:59.959 all that turkey entertainment, I heard a leaf crunched by 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.879 behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, and there walked 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:07.520 the door the size of a yearling giraffe, just as 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:10.760 relaxed as she could be. I guessed her to be 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:14.080 twenty five yards behind me. I couldn't swear to it 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.520 because I left my range finder sitting on the tailgate 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:21.040 of my truck, along with my binos and everything else 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:26.840 I told in my harness. Had I had enough sense 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:29.600 to remember, i'd have known it was twenty five yards 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:32.359 because I'm not sure if everyone else does this or not, 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:35.720 but I memorize every distinctive feature all around me and 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:37.800 get the yardage to it. I know some of you 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:42.040 saying everyone does that, you idiot, but I'm not sure 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:44.760 if they do or not not. Like the way I 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:49.639 do I sing it. I used a tune in my 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:52.400 head and I put the words to it as yardages. 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:55.200 That's a lot easier for me to remember and that 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:59.679 way than it is. Gum tree twenty five yards, bigger, 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:03.160 gum tree thirty four yards, pile of leaves twenty one 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:06.760 so on. I do it clockwise in order from starting 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:09.840 at the twelve o'clock position, which is directly in front 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:12.520 of the stand, regardless of the direction that I go 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:15.919 three hundred and sixty degrees all the way around it. 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:19.600 I don't memorize many, just the ones that naturally catch 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:22.080 my attention when I look in that direction, five or 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:24.800 six of them at the most. But I need a 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:28.119 range finder to do all that, and I didn't have one. 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:32.880 That was an opportunity missed. But I played football long 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:36.359 enough to know what ten yards looks like, and imagining 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:39.639 ten yard increments laid out in front of me. I 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:42.920 guessed the trail I had walked over that was behind 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:45.800 me to be two and a half of them. Now, 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:48.520 my most favorite math teacher on this spinning orbit that 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:52.160 we called home, Miss Brenda McDougall. You can check my figures, 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:55.080 but I think that adds up to twenty five yards. 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:58.119 I was confident it was, and a later measurement with 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:00.959 the range finder would prove I was spot on at 0:22:01.040 --> 0:22:04.520 twenty five point one yards, but that would come later. 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.399 And this was now, And as all of this was 0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:11.960 playing out inside my cranium, that deer trail the football 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:15.840 overlay I imagine intersecting with the trail. The dinosaur of 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:18.280 a doe that had just passed behind me stopped and 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:23.760 looked back the way. She came, y'all know what that means? 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:27.680